Chained: Reckless Desires (Dragon's Heart Book 1) (12 page)

The wind caught her and spun her with an intense gust. Bella had never liked heights, and she could hardly bring herself to stand on the mansion’s wide, gently sloping roof. The area around the skylight was marred with thick gouges, like someone had taken an ax to the roof. Or, Bella thought, like a dragon had landed on it.

“I’m okay,” she yelled down to Chloe. “Stay safe!”

“Just hurry, girl,” Chloe yelled back.

Bella crawled a few feet away from the skylight and then saw more skylights dotting the roof. Each of them had deep gouges nearby where, she guessed, Octavian had landed. It was unreal. The view from the roof was spectacular. Behind her was the peak of the mountain stretching only a few dozen feet over the zenith of the roof. Beyond it was the Pacific, rolling and crashing and always hungry. Ahead of her the mountain dipped down precipitously. She knew there was a road that led all the way down to Bearfield, but from her vantage point all she saw was trees and fields and rocky cliffs.

Bella walked carefully to the edge of the roof near the front door and saw a half dozen SUVs parked in the driveway. A pickup with monster truck tires had driven right into the hedge maze, crushing the bushes.

She saw no way down. Bella checked all around the perimeter, hoping for a ladder or fire escape or secret slide or something—anything—but there was nothing but steep drops all around.

She’d have to go through one of the skylights.

Bella walked along the roof, keeping her body as low as she could. The wind was unpredictable, dying off into sudden stillness and then roaring back, nearly knocking her off her feet. She checked each skylight, glancing down into them, looking for some way to get down. Mostly she just saw skulls when she peered through the windows. But one of them led to the main third floor hallway. She remembered the way the dust looked when it floated in the light. She found the right skylight, popped it open and dropped down through it, falling ten feet to the floor with a thud.

Something in her ankle popped when she landed, but she had no time to worry about it. Sounds of crashing and hollering came from the second floor. It sounded like Heath’s associates were ransacking the house for valuables and smashing out all the windows they could find.

Bella stilled herself and listened to where the noise was coming from, then walked as quietly as she could to the other wing of the house and found stairs down. She took them slowly, trying not to make the metal groan. Once she was on the second floor the ransacking noises were louder. Heath was shouting at someone in Dorian’s office.

Bella crept through the second floor to get close enough to hear.

“We can’t kill him,” the new voice said. “We need him. Do you know how little we know about these things? Are they dead or alive? Are they from space or man made?”

“No way,” Heath barked. “You didn’t see what this guy did. You didn’t see him change. He’s too dangerous to live. We need to kill him now.” The sound of a gun being cocked echoed out of the office, down the stairs and off the front door.

There was no time.

Bella looked around and found a small vase. It was probably a priceless heirloom, but so was Dorian, wasn’t he? She hefted the vase in her hand and hurled it out across the foyer so that it smashed loudly enough to draw their attention.

“Bella?” Heath called out. “Is that you?”

But Bella was gone, darting through the back rooms of the second floor before looping back to the rear entrance to Dorian’s office. If Heath and his violent friend were distracted, maybe she could grab Dorian and get him out of there. It was worth a try at least.

She opened the door and crawled in, keeping her head low. What she saw broke her heart.

Dorian was chained to one of his straight-backed office chairs with so many loops of steel chain that his chest wasn’t even visible. His head hung to one side and his face was a mask of blood. Heath had been beating him. More blood pooled under him, dripping from a wound somewhere under the chains. It must’ve been a gunshot.

Bella crept up to him. “Dorian,” she said. “Dorian, please wake up.” But he was motionless. His breathing was shallow and quick.

“Valdemar,” she tried. “Are you awake.”

Dorian blinked. “That’s not my name,” he said with a groan. “Please don’t call me that.”

“Oh my god, you’re still alive. You’re okay,” Bella said. “For a moment I thought you were dead.”

“I will be, soon. These men are hunters, Bella. Professionals. You need to get out of here before they find you. Please, go. Run. Get somewhere safe. I couldn’t bear it if you died because of my stupidity.” His eyes weren’t opening. His breathing grew even more labored. He was nearing the end.

“You can’t die, Dorian. You just can’t. I’ve only just met you and there’s so many things we still need to do together. I want to take you to San Francisco and show you this bakery that makes little caked that look like baked potatoes for some reason. I want you to show me the town where you grew up. I want to argue with you about what to watch on Netflix and to cook dinner with you and to go out dancing and to do all of the silly things couples do together. Please stay.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She hugged Dorian tightly.

“I ruined everything, Bella. I’m such an ass and I’ve treated you so cruelly. Please tell me you’ll forgive me. Please tell me you can still do that.”

“Of course I forgive you. I love you. I have this crazy feeling like we’re supposed to be together, y’know? So please don’t die. I forgive you completely, for all that you’ve done,” she sobbed. “Just please don’t go.”

Bella heard a
clink
sound. And there, at Dorian’s feet, was his cold iron bracelet. It had unlocked and fallen from his wrist, impacting the rug and staining it with scattered rust. They’d never know if it was her love or her true forgiveness that shattered the curse. It didn’t matter. After two years of being split in two, of his human side and his dragon side being divided, he was whole again. Bella was the key. She’d always been the key.

As she watched, Dorian’s wounds healed. It took little more than an instant. His heart beat steady and strong, color returned to his skin. His eyes opened slowly, glowing with a golden light and he snapped the chains binding him as if they were nothing. In one moment he was at death’s door, and the next he was looking healthier than she’d ever seen him.

“I’m sorry for what you’re about to see,” Dorian said to Bella. He walked out of the office and the lines of his body
blurred
and expanded outwards. The air filled with the spicy scent of cinnamon and where the man had been, there was now a golden dragon with reddish wings, a massive tail, and claws three feet long. It stood on all fours and let loose a bellowing roar that echoed magnificently throughout the house. The beast was huge. His bulk filled the staircase. But it was Dorian.

The man she loved was a dragon.

He swiveled his head around on his long sinuous neck and fixed Bella with a look of profound sadness, before turning back towards the front door where Heath and the hunters were standing, open mouthed with terror.

Dorian walked down the grand staircase, his talons clicking on the marble.

“Go,” he said to the hunters, who gawked at him unmoving. “Go!” Dorian roared and the men raced out of the building, colliding with each other in a rush to get out of the house first. Heath raced out, too, his face a mask of terror. Dorian chased after them, barely fitting through the front doors.

At least now she knew why the doors were so huge.

Dorian hurled himself into the air, beating the sky with his massive wings, pursuing the hunters and Heath all the way down the mountain.

He didn’t kill any of them, but they’d never be able to sleep again without seeing his hungry mouth in their dreams.

S
he was waiting
for him on the front steps when he returned. He glided over the mountain, his body immense and incredibly graceful at the same time. He circled Winter’s Breath three times before landing in front of the big house. He walked up to Bella slowly. His dragon eyes were unreadable to her, but his scales were a striking golden color.

Bella reached out as the dragon approached and touched him with her hand, stroking his strong flanks. She gasped at the touch. He was dry and warm, but with some energy crackling through him that made her fingers tingle. She could see it, like golden fire leaping between them.

The air seemed to catch fire around the dragon and then, where the beast had been, was Dorian standing in the middle of a blackened circle.

He was completely naked.

He looked morose, which puzzled Bella. Hadn’t he just won? Hadn’t he chased off their attackers and found the key to saving his life? Her heart leapt with joy. Why didn’t his?

The sun was lower in the sky and the hint of a spectacular sunset was already gathering in the west. Night would be coming soon.

“What’s wrong?” Bella asked, taking a step towards Dorian.

“You’ve freed me. There’s no way I can repay you, no way I can thank you enough,” he said. “I was sure I’d die because of that foolish curse. But you saved me.” He seemed so different with the curse lifted. All of the rage was gone. The twitching and the tantrums—it was all gone. What was left was like a purified version of the man she fell in love with. Or what if she’d loved the broken version, and the healed version of Dorian was a stranger to her? Could he still be the same man?

“You saved me first,” Bella said with a smile, but Dorian just looked more glum.

“You don’t have to be kind to me, Bella. You’ve seen what I am, what I can do. I’m a monster underneath. I’m a dragon. I know you’ll leave now, just please do it quickly. Don’t draw out your goodbye. There’s no way anyone could love a monster like me. I’ve got too much of my father in my veins.” He turned from her, staring out across the estate.

“You think I want to leave?” Bella asked. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“How could you not?”

“I’ve just saved you, Dorian. I’m not letting go of you that easily.” She took his hand and pulled him back toward the house. He gave her a look like he couldn’t believe she’d want to touch him after seeing his other side.

“But you do owe me, thief.”

“Thief?” Dorian said with a look of alarm. “What did I steal?” His glum mood burned away when confronted with her smile. He clearly couldn’t believe she still wanted him after she’d seen what he could do and what he could become.

Bella pulled him up the front stairs, under the statue of the dragon, and into the house.

“You know what you’ve stolen, thief,” Bella said imperiously. “You’ve stolen my heart. You’ll have to work off the debt.”

She tried to ignore Dorian’s nakedness, but it was impossible. The man had spent all of their time together wrapped head to toe in suits. She knew he was lean underneath, but she hadn’t been prepared for how incredible his body was. His muscled chest and rippling abs were a surprise—a very pleasant surprise. And he had a beautiful cock hanging half-hard between his legs—a human cock, for a moment she’d been worried. How would it feel to have his fever-hot skin pressed against her? She’d find out soon enough.

“How shall I work it off?” Dorian asked, his voice low and sexy. The golden light shone in his eyes, but underneath it he was still Dorian.

“I’m sure you can think of something,” Bella said. Electricity passed between them where she held her hand. It buzzed within her, melting her. Her bones turned to liquid and her skin felt alive and like it needed to be kissed all over. It was amazing that she was still standing. “I’m sorry, do you feel this, too? I’m finding it impossible to walk any further.”

“It’s the mating magic,” he said, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her up the stairs.

“Well, of course it is,” Bella agreed. The more he touched her, the more she felt like a cat in a sunbeam. She was getting drunk just from having his arms around her. How would it feel when more of their skin touched? “What’s mating magic?”

“Every shifter, like me, has one true mate in the world. My father spent centuries looking for his, and never found her. While I fell on my ass, and mine showed up to pick me up and dust me off.”

“It is a nice ass,” Bella laughed. “You shouldn’t hide it so much in those suit pants. When I’m queen of the dragon castle, my first order will be to mandate that you always wear very tight clothing to show off your rear. And no shirt. You’ve been holding out on me, Lord Winterborn.” She ran her fingers across his chest and gasped as gold sparks erupted from his skin.

“I have been holding out, but not anymore. You’re mine now. Forever and ever,” he said the words, but she could see the question in his eyes.
Are you mine?

“Maybe you’re mine, forever and ever. You ever think of that, thief?”
You are mine, and I am yours.

“How long until I work off the debt?” he asked, a smile on his lips.

Bella put her arms around him and pulled herself in close for a kiss. She kissed him tentatively, tenderly, as if he might shock her or taste weird, like whatever it was a dragon tasted like. But he tasted like she’d always wanted kisses to taste like. She kissed him again and again, hungrily, as he carried her all the way to his room. The electric buzz tickled her lips as they kissed.

“Will we always make sparks like this? Because it might make dates and dancing a little awkward.”

Dorian kissed her greedily. “It’s a side effect of the shifting, I think. It should pass in a while.”

“It might take you forever to work off this debt, thief,” Bella murmured in between kisses.

Dorian nudged open the door to his room and carried Bella to his bed. “I have to warn you, dragons are known for their greedy behavior. We’re covetous and jealous. And intensely possessive.”

Bella stripped off her ripped and stained dress and lay back on the bed. “So possess me already,” she said with a laugh. In the moments he wasn’t touching her, Bella missed it intensely. She wanted him always beside her, always brushing her hand with his, always finding an excuse to lean closer.

In an instant she understood—she’d freed Dorian from one set of chains, only to replace them with another tying him to her. Love was a chain that bound them inextricably together. But it wasn’t a curse, it was a blessing. Some chains restricted you and held you down, but others—other chains lifted you higher.

Dorian crawled onto the bed and ran his hand up her leg. The electricity bounced between them with an erotic energy. He kissed her toes and her ankles, the insides of her knees and her thighs. Every kiss melted her more. She felt like she could hardly move. The magic flowed between them, slowing time and making every touch last forever.

“What’s going on?” she gasped.

“I have no idea,” he murmured as he kissed his way up her thighs. With his big hands he spread her open and then dove into her. He watched her with his golden eyes and Bella found the strength to grab onto his hair and hold him close. His tongue was everywhere that mattered. His lips found her clit and sucked it, rolled it around, lavished attention on it. Bella didn’t know if she could stand it. It was too much and not enough all at once. The electricity was entering her all over and the effect was mind blowing.

Would sex with him always be like this? Could she live like that? She’d have to clear her schedule and make no plans for three days after, she’d still be a puddle of quivering happiness for at least that long.

She whispered encouragements to him and directed him with tugs of his hair until in a rush her climax took her. She curled herself around her lover’s head and he sucked and licked harder, slower. Time moved slowly and her orgasm seemed to roll on and on. Her legs shook uncontrollably, and she felt something change inside of her.

The magic, it’s altering me, Bella realized. Did Dorian know this would happen? Is this what it meant to be a dragon’s mate?

She was still trembling and quaking with the aftershocks, when Dorian pulled his mouth away and stood up. For a moment they weren’t touching and a sense of anguish filled her. Him too, by the look on his face.

“Come back to me,” she pleaded.

“The way you come, it’s amazing. I want to see it again. The way you cry out—I’ve never heard anything like it.”

“Is this more dragon magic?” she asked.

“I think, maybe, you’re just really fucking sexy,” Dorian grinned.

He moved closer to her, lying next to her on the big bed, and stroked one hand up her belly, to her breasts. Lightning danced between his fingers and her nipples making her gasp and writhe.

“I’ve never felt sexy like this, not even close,” she said.

“That’s a shame,” Dorian said. “Because you’re gorgeous.” He bent his head and took a nipple in his teeth, licking it roughly.

“Not every guy is into curvy women,” she said, though words were becoming hard to form. Dorian’s cock pressed heavy and hard into her thigh.

“You’re the sexiest person I’ve ever met, Bella. And I’m going to make you my mate now.” Dorian’s voice came out like a growl. His eyes flashed with a deeper fire. Something was happening inside him, too.

She reached down and stroked his hardness where it pressed against her. He was hot, feverishly hot, and big. She wondered how he’d taste in her mouth, what sounds he’d make if she was the one on top lavishing attention on him, but her body was too liquid, too molten to even consider it. Later, she promised herself. Later she’d have a turn blowing his mind.

“What does being your mate mean? Do we need a contract? A pre-nup?” Sometimes it was had to turn off her internal lawyer.

“It means that I will be by your side forever and never stop loving you,” Dorian said softly.

Bella smiled at how good that sounded.

“Well, you better get to work, thief. You have an awfully large debt to pay off.”

Dorian kissed her again, but this time felt different, more tender, not as greedy. Had she just agreed to marry him? It sort of felt like it. She wanted to ask more, but then Dorian was on top of her, his knees spreading her legs apart and the head of his cock was right there, against her.

He kissed her again and she couldn’t believe where her life had ended up. She thought she’d burned her life to ashes, but instead she’d found something better in the arms of this generous, gorgeous man.

Bella moaned uncontrollably as he entered her, the lightning they’d been playing with danced between their skin all over but inside her it was overwhelming. Dorian looked down at her with a look of shock, he was feeling it too.

“Slowly,” Bella begged. “Slowly.” He was bigger than she expected. Bella wrapped her legs around him, her arms too, trying to get as much of their skin touching as possible. The magic pulled them together and she never wanted to let go.

Dorian growled as he slowly thrust into her and Mina cried out. Time went all liquid again, with each motion of Dorian inside her lasting a thousand blissful seconds. Her lover thrust deeper into her with each thrust, opening her deliciously, filling every inch of her cunt. It was like he’d been made just for her, just in the right perfect size and shape to scrape against all of the sweetest spots inside her. He was fire and electricity and magic and patience all at once, and he’d be hers forever.

She’d never leave the bedroom again.

Dorian wasn’t wearing a condom and the sensation of his skin on hers, of the rawness of their sex was hotter and dirtier then she’d ever felt before. Why wasn’t he wearing a condom? She’d always insisted on it before? But no, she knew on some primal level that for the magic to work they’d need to skip it, at least this one tie. He surged into her, again and again and she screamed encouragements and reached between them to rub her clit.

He was kissing her then, and murmuring her name over and over, telling her how much he loved her, how he’d never leave her, how perfect she was. And with every minute his thrusting grew harder and hotter until he was groaning with need.

“Yes,” Bella moaned. “Yes. Come for me, baby,” she gasped.

Dorian seized her hips in his hands and fucked her hard and deep and fast. She could feel her world shattering apart. “I’m going to mark you now. I need to mark you now,” he growled in her ear before kissing his way down her neck to her shoulder.

She was at the edge, right on the precipice. Time had stopped and she was doomed to stay there at the edge of coming forever and ever until she lost her mind. But then Dorian bit her, sinking his teeth into her shoulder deep enough to scar, but it didn’t hurt. It felt amazing. The mite triggered something in the magic and suddenly time moved again and Bella was screaming herself raw as her orgasm crested and broke and rolled on and on. And then Dorian was coming too, his cock swelling and bursting inside her, filling her with a liquid heat that surged through her bones.