“Coffee?” Fleur stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes, wearing the cutest ugly pajamas he’d ever seen. She had sex hair, no make-up, naked toes, and the most amazing blush to her cheeks.
If he wasn’t already in love with her, he would have fallen hard right then. He was this close to picking her up and taking her back to bed again.
That hadn’t worked out great last night. He’d ply her with his skills in the kitchen instead of the bedroom. For now.
“Hungry, babe?” He set the stack of pancakes on the table in front of her. She stared at them, then looked up at him.
“Coffee?”
She was probably still pretty damn worn out, and he didn’t only mean from the battle with the dragon demons. He grabbed the coffee and mugs and poured her a hot cup.
She frowned at it.
Steele swallowed a chuckle. His little flower was not a morning person. There had been a big jug of Southern pecan almond milk creamer in her fridge, and as soon as he grabbed it and poured a couple splashes in, she wrapped her hands around mug.
“Mmm. Coffee.”
“Such a sexy sleepyhead you are.”
She took a couple sips before she answered. “Long night. Crazy dreams.”
Oh, he knew all about her dreams. “What did you dream about?”
Fleur’s cheeks went even more flushed and a little daisy popped up in the middle of the table, growing into a full-grown bloom in an instant.
“Nothing.” Her voice came out as the tiniest of squeaks. She snagged the flower and shoved it between her legs under the table.
Steele pretended to pout. More so because he was envious of that daisy. He ought to be the one between her legs. “Aww, babe. You’re going to hurt my feelings. Your screaming orgasm didn’t seem like nothing to me.”
Three more daisies sprouted around her chair. She stood up, sloshing her coffee on the table. “Were you eavesdropping on me while I was sleeping? That’s just weird.”
Steele picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it, watching her get all riled up. It was a bluff of course, she wasn’t mad. A little embarrassed maybe, but what he mainly scented was her arousal and the sting of sexual frustration. He could fix that if she’d let him.
Maybe she would once they cleared just one thing up.
He stood and walked around the table. Fleur stood there, stiff as a tree trunk. He circled her, skimming the backs of his knuckles down her arm, to her waist, and then over her hip. Her lips parted as her breathing ratcheted up.
He walked behind her and slid his hand across the small of her back, to the dip at her waist, and then cupped her body to his. Fleur turned her head, unintentionally exposing the other side of her neck to him.
He bent his head, wanting so badly to kiss her neck, to suck on it, to bite her and make her his. Instead he pressed his lips to her ear. “I didn’t have to eavesdrop, my love. I was there.”
She gasped and three more flowers sprung from the floor.
“I was the one who made you scream. My mouth on your clit. Your hands in my hair, showing me just how you like my tongue to fuck your sweet hot pussy.”
The flowers were popping up in bunches around their feet now. “Meep.”
“You’re right, it was a dream, and your poor little body hasn’t gotten the satisfaction it’s craving. I can scent how hot and needy you are for me right now. I’m fucking titanium hard, aching to get inside of you.”
Fleur laid her head back against his chest, and groaned. “Steel.”
She was so fucking hot. “Yes, baby.”
“You’re hard as steel.”
He ground his cock against her backside, reveling in both the feeling of her body and the moan coming from her throat. “Yes, I am, and I’m going to stay that way until you let me take you to bed, to claim you.”
“But the mating ritual.”
He’d be worried, but her words had no oomph.
“We cleared that up last night. You’ll never belong to any wolf. You are mine, and I am yours.”
She sighed into his chest. “It was only a dream.”
“Then let me make it a reality.”
A daisy grew and encircled his leg.
“I...I want to. But what if that’s not what is supposed to happen? The one thing my mother told me was that my destiny was here in Rogue. You’re not from here.”
“I’m here now.”
“Why are you here?”
“I’m on R&R. This is a town full of shifters. Seemed like a good place to hang out and have some fun.” But maybe something else had attracted him to Rogue. Something much more important.
Fleur nodded, and he could practically see the thoughts burning through her mind. “You don’t plan on staying, do you?”
He’d never even considered it. He had a job to do. The demon dragon population in Europe was growing, and he had to keep the people in his area safe. “You’ll love the Czech countryside, where I live.”
She pushed against him and stepped out of his arms. He let her go, because this was not part of the chase. She truly wasn’t sure she wanted to be with him.
“Steele, this place, the people who live here, are the closest I’ve ever had to a family. They accept me, and don’t think I’m strange. I don’t want to leave. The mating ritual gives me the chance to truly become part of their family.”
A growl rumbled through Steele’s chest. He was her destiny, her family, not some damn wolves. What did he need to do to prove that to her? “Look around. Even your powers are reveling in being with me.”
“They’ve never been like this before.” She reached a hand out toward a basket of herbs. The small plant doubled in size, filling the air with the fragrance of spices. “I can’t deny it reacts to you.”
“Because we belong together. You must see that, feel it.” His own soul was on fire for her, pushed by his dragon to claim her now, make her understand there would be no one else.
Fleur placed a hand on his cheek, quieting the animal inside with her touch. But she incited it again with her words. “I do, but it doesn’t mean I’m not confused. I still want to go tonight. I need to see what happens.”
Fuck. He could lock her up, or better yet, fly her far far away, then lock her up with the rest of his treasure.
His gut clenched at the thought. His little flower needed sunshine and freedom to thrive. He would have to come up with a different way to convince her they were meant for each other.
He knew what to do. His dragon thrashed and writhed inside of him at the thought. It would never let her go. He had to trust that he wouldn’t have to.
“I’ll make you this deal. Go to your mating ritual tonight. Tempt every wolf there with your body, your beauty, inside and out. But understand I will be waiting. Because I know with every part of my being, my soul, that you are mine. Forever.”
Fleur swallowed and stepped further away from him. The green of her eyes glowed along with her necklace. Steele knew without looking his own shard returned the light.
Before either of them could say anything more, Fleur’s phone beeped with an incoming text. She grabbed it and flicked her thumb across the screen.
Steele saw the relief on her face, scented it from her, at having something else to do. But the relief turned to the acrid smell of worry and fear.
“What is it?”
His own phone dinged with a message from Dax.
“We have to go to the Sleepy Folk. Zara says there’s trouble, and they need you.”
“Yeah, Dax sent me the same thing.”
“I’ll go get dressed and drive you over there.”
He nodded and let her escape the kitchen without agreeing to his deal. He would hold her to it regardless. One night. That was all he would give her. Anything more, and he would lose the battle with his dragon. He wanted to give her the time she asked for to appease her mind. It still blew his own that in one night he could go from being sure he had a lifetime of nothing but meaningless sex to having a true mate.
&n
bsp; It was only fair he give her some time, too. The threat of the demon dragons meant he couldn’t give her more than tonight.
He would risk her wrath over losing her.
They were silent on the way across town. They hadn’t said so much as another word when they walked into Kosta’s Speakeasy.
It was closed for the day because of the mating ritual, so while the wolves met in the office, the girls pulled Fleur away to a booth in the corner.
Steele watched her go, wanting to kiss her again, make sure everyone here knew she was his. Instead he joined Dax over at the bar.
“I could use a fucking drink.” Dax jumped over the bar and searched through the bottles.
Steele doubted the wolves had anything strong enough. “I think I talked to the First Dragon last night.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“No.” The shock and awe of everything that happened had him shaken. But at the same time, he felt a new sense of power and purpose.
Dax set two whiskey glasses on the bar and pulled a flask out of his back pocket. He poured two fingers of the red and amber liquor into each glass.
“This calls for some Dragon Spirit.” Dax blew a puff of fire, lighting each of the drinks up. What did he say?”
Steele stared at the glass and frowned. His memory was foggy but a few things he remembered. “He called me a dumbass for dying.”
“Uh, that’s weird. I mean, that was a pretty dumbass thing to do, but does the First Dragon even know words like that? He died in the 1300’s. Didn’t he call you like a crooked-nosed knave or something? That’s what my dad always called me.”
“Maybe that’s just the way my mind translated it.” He took a swig from the bottle. “The White Witch was there too. At least, I think that’s who she was.”
“Holy shit. What did she say?”
“I don’t think she ever spoke directly to me. She spent most of the time chastising the First Dragon. They argued. A lot. I can’t really remember it all very well.”
It was like a dream, fading already the second he woke up. He had the feeling they’d laid some pretty heavy truths on him, but he couldn’t grasp them in his memory.
Dax shook his head like he couldn’t believe a word coming out of Steele’s mouth. Steel could hardly believe it himself. Dax poured them both a second drink. “She argued with the First Dragon?”
Steele down it too, wishing another green dragon was here to put a little healing dragon’s breath into the drinks. “Yeah, like an old married couple.”
Dax shivered. “I’m so uncomfortable with this entire conversation.”
“He also gave me sex advice.”
“Dude, stop.” Dax lit up another round of liquor. “He’s our great-great-great-great and so on and so forth grandfather. He should not be giving anyone sex advice. Not to mention the fact you were both dead at the time.”
The First Dragon and his mate, Ina, I-, crap he couldn’t remember. They hadn’t seemed dead. Especially when he’d been giving Steele instructions. Wake up. Claim. Protect. Orgasm.
Or something like that.
Wake-up and protect were as far as he’d gotten. Fleur wouldn’t let him come even close to claiming her.
“Alright, dickheads, I mean dragons. What the fuck is going on, and if we kill you, will it go away?” Niko swaggered out of the office, flanked by his two less than happy looking wolf-shifter A-team.
All three of their faces were barely human, more wolf. Their eyes glowed silver around the edges. They were in protection mode, and Steele completely understood.
He stood and balled his fists at his side. Fighting with the wolves would not help him win Fleur. But it would make three less of them to be sniffing around her.
It also would not help him defeat the demon dragons, but kicking their asses would feel pretty damn good.
“If you kill us, you’ll have a shitload of demon dragons in your backyard. I don’t think you want their death and destruction wyrming its way into your mating ritual.”
Dax poured each of the wolves a shot of their own whiskey and breathed just enough fire to set them all alight. “I’ve already contacted Match, the red Wyvern. He’s making arrangements to fly here in time for the ceremony tonight.”
If the red Wyvern himself were coming the situation was grimmer than Steele had first thought. His next call had better be to his own Wyvern, Jakob.
“We need less dragons, not more.”
“Unless you want less wolves, you need more Dragons.” As Dax spoke his voice got lower and darker. “The demon dragons are the purest evil in the world, and now that they are here, they’d like nothing more than to murder each and every one of your mates and spread a plague throughout your town.”
The fire in each of the little cups grew from a tiny flame to a full on blaze, reacting to the heat coming off Dax.
Steele put his hand on Dax’s shoulder, bringing his friend back from the darkness in the soul of every red dragon.
“Well shit,” Max said, “Mom will kill us if we let anything happen to screw up this mating ritual. Just ask them to help us, Niko.”
Niko snarled at his brother, then sighed. “What we should do is cancel the whole thing.”
Max folded his arms. “You know Gal and I are ready to have the whole thing upstate if we need to.”
“We can’t.” Niko shook his head. “Jules pulled one of her eyes roll back in her head and spoke in tongued thing. She told Zara it has to be here and now.”
The flames in the drinks fizzled for a second at Jules’s name. Dax had a look of more than interest on his face. Redheads were his thing.
Kosta sat on a stool and stared at the flaming shots. “Yeah, we have to do it. Mom isn’t the only one who wants this to go well. Heli has already threatened to build me a doghouse in the backyard if I cancel.” He pointed at Steele and Dax before downing his shot. “You assholes can figure out the fucking logistics of getting enforcers from three packs to work together.”
“We will not let anything happen to anyone’s mates. This I promise.”
The future of his own mate depended on this damn mating ritual, so he’d do everything in his power to make sure it went off like a fucking birthday party if he had to.
At the end of the night, he and Fleur would be the one’s celebrating.
CHAPTER TEN
Scent of a Dragon
Fleur was a hundred percent going insane. How could she be so damn sure she was destined to be a wolf mate and have absolutely no desire to be with one in the slightest?
Because that stupid dragon had gotten into her head, and had come pretty dang close to getting in her pants, too. That was all she could think about.
He was so sure she was his mate.
No way.
Maybe.
Damn it.
“Fleur, dear. You seem a bit distracted. Can we help?” Thank goodness for Selena and the other Troika women.
“Not unless you know where I can get some dragon repellant.”
“I wouldn’t repel anyone that hot,” Jules said. Zara slapped her on the arm and Jules shrugged. “What?”
“You’re standing at a mating ritual about to find a wolf to mate. Remember?”
“Sure, sure.” Jules waved her hand shooing Zara’s concern off like a fly. “But if I wasn’t. Mmm-mmm.”
“Why are you avoiding him?” Heli asked.
Seriously? Fleur almost rolled her eyes. Heli had been with Kosta longer than any of the rest of them had been mated. She didn’t even remember what it was like to be single in this town of hot wolf shifters. “The mating ritual is tonight. I don’t want to show up smelling like a dragon.”
“Uh, I don’t think you can help that.” Zara guffawed, but when she glanced at Fleur’s face, she turned contrite. “Sorry. But it seemed like you two had more than a connection.”
Fleur almost sniffed herself but held that impulse back. “Yeah, there’s something there, but I don’t know if he’s the one I’m meant to be wi
th. I just have this feeling that something is going to happen tonight.”
Heli grinned at her. “How could it not? Wolves are coming from all our packs. A lot of somethings are going to happen.”
“I know I’m not a wolf, but I appreciate that you invited me to come.”
“Since the Troika alphas all mated the three of us a lot of wolves are interested in meeting humans and...,” Zara motioned toward Fleur.
“Whatever I am,” Fleur supplied. It was okay. She’d lived with knowing only a part of herself for long enough that she’d accepted that nobody else understood who or what she was either.
“Right. Whatever badassness you are, to see if their true mates might not be wolves. So, of course we invited you.”
“We just want to make sure you still want to come.” Galyna’s voice was gentle and sincere.
“I do.” She had to know for herself.
Selena searched her eyes and smiled. “Okay, then. While the guys are having their freak out over the security, I declare a spa day to remove the l’eau de Dragon from you. Besides, I could really use a massage from the sexy new masseuse I happen to notice started working at the Rogue Spa last week.”
“Saleeeeeenaaaah.” The girls all pouted.
“Fine, you one of you girls can have him this time. I’ll make sure to request him for my next one. I bought one of those massage subscriptions.”
Heli rolled her eyes.
“I’ll get Kosta to make the arrangements to have several enforcers accompany us, or we’ll never hear the end of it. I suggest each of you go give your mate’s a quick kiss and snuggle and reassure them, too.”
The girls each went to find their mates and seeing the clear connections and affection between the pairs, a deep longing burned inside Fleur’s chest and stomach. She glanced over at Steele and felt a sad hollow open inside of her. Was she wrong to want to go through with the mating ritual?
She slid out of the booth and walked over to Steele. This was probably a bigger mistake than wanting to go to the ceremony.