Dragon Around (6 page)

He leaned down and parted her folds with his tongue, taking in the salty-sweet musk that was Dira alone. His senses delighted in the moans that she offered him, the high-pitched whine that was accompanied by her grabbing his head and holding on as soft contractions of her inner walls clasped his tongue. He continued to stroke his tongue from her opening up to her clit and back again until the arch of her body relaxed again.

With a groan of relief, he fitted his cock to her, and he thrust into her with a grunt. The hot, wet clasp of her was dizzying, and he started to count backward from a hundred as he rocked against her, trying to bring her back to the heights of arousal.

By the time he worked down to ten, she was gripping his shoulders, had her legs wrapped around his waist and she bit down on his chest as she came.

Oh, thank the first horn.
He let his body go, and his cock jerked and flexed as he shouted loud enough to make Dira flinch. It felt like his balls had been turned inside out, and as the light danced behind his eyes, he grinned. He definitely wanted to do this again.

* * * *

Dira looked up into Mak’s face, and his grin was triumphant. She stroked his cheek and ran her hand through his hair. “You look smug.”

“I feel smug and satisfied and thoroughly content.” He eased off her and pulled her over him on the mat of flowers.

“I feel like I have a mate.”

He kissed her nose. “That you do.”

She smiled and stroked his chest, repairing some of the damage she had caused with her bite.

He looked down at her hand. “Aw, I wanted to wear that as a reminder.”

She blushed. “Sorry, when I am close, I get bitey.”

“I am getting that idea, and I don’t mind.” He squeezed her and she sighed.

Dawn was starting to peek through the trees, and Dira winced. “We were out all night?”

He laughed and squeezed her again, trailing one hand down her spine to massage her tailbone.

She gripped his hand and pulled him away. “Stop that. I have guests arriving this morning, and I need to get breakfast going.”

He grinned. “All work and no play…”

“We just played. Now, time for work.” It was like moving away from a part of herself when she got to her feet. Her body was dusted with golden pollen, and it gilded Mak as he got to his feet.

He stretched, and her mouth watered. All those muscles and skin moving in coordinated harmony brought her attention to the erection that had as much pollen on it as her body, but on him, it looked sexy.

He wrapped an arm around her waist as they returned to the B and B. Dira was amazed by how easily he touched her now. Waiting for a male who appealed to her had meant that she spent a lot of time alone. Being this close to a male was peculiar, but it wasn’t a bad thing. She would simply have to get used to having a mate.

She grinned and chuckled as a thought occurred to her.

“Why are you laughing, my dear mate?” He whispered it in her ear.

“You don’t want to know.” She slipped the shirt back on when they reached the house.

“Oh, but I do.”

“If this doesn’t work out between us, I can always eat you.”

He froze in place, and she laughed wildly as she entered her house. “Told you, you wouldn’t want to know.”

Chapter Nine

Dira quickly fixed a batch of muffins and baked them while Mak watched. He was grappling with her sense of humour, and she regretted her words when she saw his face as he entered the kitchen.

“I am sorry that I mentioned eating you. I haven’t eaten anyone in a very, very long time and never another shifter.” She didn’t add that she used her fire on any number of attackers. Killing was different than consuming.

“It is fine. I suppose I could simply spear you with my horn and call it a day.” He crossed his arms over his chest in a classic defensive measure.

“I thought that is what we were doing in the meadow.” Dira winked at him, and he was startled into laughing.

She felt the door upstairs open, and she quickly put a dozen muffins on a plate, moving around her mate to set the table for her incoming guest.

While Mak watched, she heated water for her coffee press and cooked a rasher of bacon with her hands extended.

“So, heat just comes out of your hands like that?”

She winked. “Yes, yes it does. I am a fire-affiliated dragon. Learning how to bake with precise control took practice, but I really enjoy it now.”

When Theodore called out from the front room, the tray was ready, and she started to bring out the bacon and four cups of coffee.

Mak stopped her and took the tray. “You are not going out there until you are dressed, young lady.”

She laughed and slipped the shirt from her shoulders, tucking it over his arm like a napkin. “Be a good host, and I will be back in a moment.”

She left Mak to serve Theodore and his new ladylove while she headed to her lair.

He was around the corner when she opened the door to her private rooms and headed down the stairs. Images from centuries of life covered the walls. She had to admit that she liked having her picture taken, even with oil paints and grouchy artists.

Her mother had been an Asian dragon, but her father was a European griffin, and the European artists had called to that part of her soul.

She walked around the room quickly and visited all the images of her around the room before taking a fire bath and getting dressed. Her floor was paved with gold coins, and she enjoyed the slick feel beneath her feet until she put on low-heeled sandals.

While she puttered around and put on earrings, she made the beds and checked the mattresses for damage. It was a routine that grounded her for the uncertain day ahead.

Dira looked around her lair and calmed herself with the familiar surroundings before she climbed up the spiral staircase and reappeared in the kitchen.

She walked out into the dining room and took a seat. “Good morning, Theodore. Is this your charming mate?”

The woman was a bear shifter, but she looked like a pixie that Dira had met centuries earlier.

Theodore shyly introduced his bride-to-be. “This is Amalie.”

“Welcome to the Open Heart, Amalie. Congratulations on finding a mate.”

“Thank you, miss.” The woman had honey-brown hair and huge blue eyes.

“Can I get anyone some eggs, toast or pancakes?”

Mak was busy munching. “I am good with these muffins. Are these the blueberries we picked?”

“They are. The bacon was brought in from an artisanal butcher shop.”

The platter of muffins was down to three, so Dira got to her feet. “I will get some more if you like.”

As one, all three people sitting at the table grabbed for another muffin.

Dira laughed and returned to the kitchen, preparing a fresh platter with a dozen muffins from her earlier baking exercises.

When she brought the muffins in, everyone smiled with relief and took another one of them.

Theodore looked at Mak and then at Dira. “Mak mentioned that you two were going to formalize your union today. Congratulations are in order for you as well.”

Dira sucked in a deep breath. “I suppose they are. I have never thought about me finding a mate, but in keeping with the name of my bed and breakfast, I suppose that keeping an open heart wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

Mak munched a strip of bacon. “Sucks when it applies to you, doesn’t it?”

She reached out and flicked her fingers across his sleeve. He had shrugged into the shirt she left him. She left a scorched mark across his shirt, and he winced at the heat.

Theodore blinked in alarm, and Amalie moved closer to him. “I will be leaving today. It is time to meet Amalie’s family and then mine.”

“Congratulations once again. May joy find you every time you need it.” Dira grinned.

Theodore piled three more muffins into his hands, and he chased a giggling Amalie back up to his room.

Mak looked at her. “You really make good treats. I am going to weigh a ton if I don’t watch myself.”

She took one of the muffins and perched it on her fingers, warming it for her. “It is practice, like anything else. You mix a little of this, a little of that and you find out what works. The first guests here gnawed on something resembling a baseball. That is why I started to make doorstops…I mean pancakes.”

Mak snorted and picked up a piece of bacon, “So, is there someone who can take over for you if you take a day or two off?”

She scowled. “I suppose that I could. There are other facilities that can be opened to take in guests. When Theodore leaves, I will technically be empty for a few hours. Why?”

“I want to introduce you to my family.”

She sat back and blinked. “Well, in that case, when we get to the human world, I will make a few calls and have what is left of my family meet you.”

Mak jolted in place. “What? I thought you said your sisters were gone.”

“I did, but Dinyali had daughters with a djinn, and they had daughters, lots and lots of daughters. I still keep in touch, but none of them are shifters.” She sighed.

“Really? What are they?” He leaned in curiously.

“They are my nieces, and I enjoy my time with them, when I can get away. It has been a few decades since I have seen any of them, but I call them frequently from the Meditation Centre.”

“This is mindboggling. I had you pegged as all alone in the universe.”

“No other member of my family is a shifter. They are all gone. Mixing the blood with the desert fey makes children who have magic in them but not the ability to shift. Same as a half-breed with a regular human. Loving family but no more shifting.”

He nodded. “I see. My family prides itself on bloodlines.”

“That will change once you mate with a dragon. Bloodlines are harder to adhere to when you live longer than most species and several civilizations.”

“So, if our children wanted to marry a human or a magical one, you wouldn’t mind?”

“If they loved and loved with their whole heart, I would give my blessing with a threat by the soon-to-be mother-in-law.”

He grinned. “You seem like you would be a good mother.”

“Dragons are good mothers by our very nature. We dote on our young.”

“I am relieved to hear it. I would like at least three kids. Four if you are willing to keep going.” Mak grinned hopefully. “We are rare creatures, and we need to keep the odds in favour of mythic shifters.”

Dira cocked her head. “I agree, but the Crossroads is no place for children.”

Mak took her hand. “That is why I hope you will give my family a chance to offer you a life in the human world with minimal contact with actual humans.”

She smiled back and squeezed his hand. “When do you want to go?”

“Let me just change clothes and we can register at the Meditation Centre and then head to my family’s country home. We keep a spot with plenty of room to run.”

Dira imagined the open space, and she bit her lip. “What is the air corridor like?”

He blinked. “Oh, you mean for planes?”

“Yes.”

“We are against a mountain range, so there are no aircraft overhead.”

She perked up, “Mountains?”

He grinned and kissed the back of her hand. “Intrigued?”

“Willing to try it, but we need to get to the Meditation Centre before my guests start arriving so Tony and Teal can redirect them to the other B and Bs. We need to move fast.”

He was on his feet and sprinting up to his room in a moment.

Dira called a bag, with underwear and a few changes of clothes, up through the floor. It would be strange to be away from her lair, but she focussed on the adventure of doing something new with someone new.

She felt him return, and as Theodore and his lady left the building, Mak was on their heels with his key in his hand. Dira filed all the keys, picked up her bag and the paperwork and took his arm to make their way to the Meditation Centre. “Damn it, the cake!”

She dropped his arm and her bag, returning to her home to get the strawberry shortcake that she had made before everything got intimate the day before. She put it into her delivery basket and closed the lid. Grinning, she locked up her door and returned to Mak’s side. “It’s tradition.”

He carried her bag and she carried the cake and the reservation sheets to the Meditation Centre. As they walked through the door and the guardians looked up, she smiled. “Happy Anniversary.”

She offered them the basket, and Teal rushed forward to take it with a one-armed hug. “Teal, you may know Mak. He and I are taking a few days to meet his family.”

Tony grinned. “Are those the reservations?”

He took the paperwork from her and gave her a hug in exchange. “I will take care of them. Take as long as you need, the Open Heart will officially be under renovation during your hiatus. The beavers are eager to give it a face lift.”

Dira scowled. “Just the exterior. If they touch my rooms, I will burn the fur off their furry butts.”

“No one will set foot inside. I will keep an eye on it. Now, go, enjoy seeing the human world again. You won’t believe the changes that they have gone through in the last few decades. I can’t wait until you see the Internet. You are definitely going to want to install a computer in your B and B.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I have heard about them but still haven’t seen one, so I will simply keep an open mind until I experience one for myself.”

Mak was staring at her in shock. “You haven’t seen a computer?”

“Nope.”

He put an arm around her and whispered, “This just might be a deal breaker.”

She punched him and her friends laughed, hauling them to the transport zone. A moment later and she was back in a world that she hadn’t seen for a very long time.

Chapter Ten

Cool air and a bright band of sunlight brought Dira’s senses to life. “I had forgotten what it felt like.”

Mak wrapped an arm around her waist. “I am going to put our bags inside and call my mother. She will send out the alert, and the family will descend upon us.”