Page 34 of Dragon's Code

“I don’t disagree, but if we’re going to do that, we need to be smart about it,” Jerrick says, surprising me.

This is going to be a lot harder than I initially thought.

* * *

The talks goon for a long time, long into the early morning. I head up to my room feeling awful about my last interaction with Athena. I should’ve never kissed her back. I should’ve never allowed myself to get caught up in the moment. Worse than that, I just yanked away from her.

I dread going back to my room, knowing that the adjoining door is going to be closed. It feels like I’m shut out of her life with that door closed. What if she left to go home?

I open the door with the intent to just go in and go to bed, but inside is not pitch black. There’s light coming from the adjoining door that is wide open. I see Athena lying in my bed. She’s curled up and fast asleep.

I strip out of my clothes down to my boxers and crawl into the other side of the bed. I stare at the ceiling for a long time. My thoughts are running in a circular motion spinning me right into oblivion. I feel like we’re fighting on too many fronts. Now I have to worry about Athena, her potential mate, and the danger she’s in. I have to tell her, but I’m afraid it’s going to send her right into a bunker or something. She already has issues with trust and feeling safe.

Why is Grey so intent on exterminating the dragons? What the hell happened back in those days?

It seems like hours before I fall asleep, but like seconds before I’m forced to wake up again. My alarm goes off way too soon. I had it on vibrate, knowing it would wake me up and not Athena. At least that was my hope.

I find my phone blindly and shut off the alarm. I’m still heavy with sleep and I know if I don’t move soon I’ll never get up. Now is not the time to indulge in sleep.

As I wake up a little more, it’s then I realize that I’m wrapped around someone. I don’t move. I take in everywhere I’m touching her. My arm is around her middle, holding her tightly against me. My chest is pressed against her back. Our thighs are lined up, bent together, her ass pressed into my crotch. Her scent wraps around me. I bury my face into her hair at the back of her neck and inhale her scent deeply. Her body wash smells like roses and her shampoo is exotic and enchanting. My arm tightens around her, pulling her in closer to me.

She stirs a little under my touch. She pushes back into me and lets out a small whimper. I slide my other arm under her and wrap around her stomach from the other side as my now free hand slides up her body. Between her ample tits. Until my hand grazes the top of her breasts, up over her clavicles, until my fingers wrap around her throat. I press my mouth against her shoulder, the tee shirt keeping me from her skin. I graze over her clothed shoulder until I hit her bare skin. I don’t kiss her skin, but I lightly drag my mouth over her shoulder to her neck until I bare my teeth and gently caress her with my teeth open like I could just take a bite.

“Kashton,” she moans. Her hand glides up over my arm, following it to my fingers wrapped around her throat still.

“Hmm?” I all but growl against her ear.

Her chest rises and falls with heavy, panting breaths. “What are you doing?”

My fingers flex against her throat and her stomach. Her tee shirt is riding up over her gloriously thick thighs. “I don’t know,” I murmur at last, unable to articulate what’s going on inside of me.

This deep need to slide her red panties to the side and guide my quickly hardening cock right into her pussy. To fully ruin our friendship. To fully change everything about us.

She reaches back with her hand, wrapping around the back of my thigh. My hips buck into her ass, my dick wanting more by the second.

“Kash,” she hisses and rocks back against me.

What’s happening? Is she feeling this craziness too?

A loud pounding on the door jolts us apart like water hitting hot oil. I grab a shirt from my bag as I head to the door. I turn around to see where Athena is but I only catch sight of her face as she quickly closes our adjoining door.

I open the door without looking through the peephole.

Jonathan stands on the other side holding a tablet and a solemn expression.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ve been informed on Miss Athena’s situation with her being a mate and possibly a mark. With that information I set up extra surveillance. I have been going through the footage as often as possible. With what I’ve found tonight, I’ve put someone on surveillance twenty-four-seven.”

Every single muscle in my body tightens with tension. My dragon shoves into the forefront of my mind, demanding answers. “What’s on there?” I all but growl.

Jonathan either doesn’t care, understands, or is just ignoring the anger wafting off me.

He produces the tablet and starts the video. At first it’s just an empty hallway, but then I see a man strutting down the hall like he owns the joint. He comes to a stop at Athena’s door. He checks the lock and then he holds his hand over the locked mechanism. He glances around as he does this. After another second, he pops open the door like he had a key and goes inside. I clock the time stamp in the corner of the screen and Jonathan speeds up the video ten minutes, when the man reappears, closes the door, and goes back down the hallway the way he came.

I stare at the screen and roll back the video and freeze it on the best angle for his face which is mostly blocked by the hat he’s wearing. It’s like he knew the surveillance was there. I mean there’s the normal cameras, but these are blessed with some witch magic, they’re supposed to be invisible.

“Did you get a clear shot of him anywhere in the hotel?” I ask.

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