Scorch: M/M Gay Shifter Mpreg Romance (Dragon's Destiny: Fated Mates Book 2) (8 page)

S
arah was squeezing
my hand so tightly that my fingers were turning blue. Maks was supposed to arrive any moment, and he was bringing Luke.
Luke.

He’d called the day before with the news that Luke was alive, and it hadn’t occurred to me until after we’d hung up that finding him must have been the reason Maks went to Alaska in the first place. I had no idea how he’d managed to do it, or pulled off the miracle of finding him
alive
, but I was suddenly sure that he’d done it for me. And that was… amazing.

I hadn’t been able to stop smiling since.

And Sarah hadn’t been able to stop crying. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she’d never looked happier. She didn’t let go of my hand until Maks and another man helped Luke through the door, thin and shaky but one-hundred percent
alive
, and then she dropped it and ran to him.

“Sarah,
” he said, his voice breaking. He leaned on Maks for support, but wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him with a look of utter bliss on his lean face.

I could see that Sarah had been right. He and Sarah really were two halves of the same whole. It was unmistakable now that they were together, and even though I’d never noticed it before, it was easy for me to recognize now—because I felt the same thing for Maks.

Luke was one of my best friends, and I’d been so focused on taking care of Sarah after we’d heard that he’d died that I hadn’t fully let myself grieve for him. Watching them together, the tears I hadn’t realized I’d been holding back for all of these months finally came. I took off my glasses so I could wipe my eyes. As happy as I was to see him, though, this time was his and Sarah’s. They had eyes only for each other.

And that was fine, because even though it had only been a week since I’d seen Maks, I needed to be with him. I needed him, period.

And Sarah had been right about another thing. Maks was looking at me the way Luke looked at her, and it made my breath catch. His eyes were glowing, burning into me from across the room as he smiled at me. Oh, God. I wanted him. And now there was no reason not to go to him.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the door. Down the hall. To my room.

My pulse was racing, and I knew it was time to keep my promise to Sarah and go after my own happiness. I wanted to see Maks every day, and laugh at his jokes, and tell him that he made my heart pound every time he was near. I wanted his voice to be the first thing I heard when I woke up in the morning and his face the last thing I saw before sleeping. I wanted him to pick me up for lunch and hold my hand while we ate and always look at me the way he was right now. But first, I wanted to do what I’d been dreaming about since the moment I’d first seen him.

I was finally going to ask Maks to fuck me.

T
he entire time
I had been away from Devin, I’d felt the pull to return to him. It was in my mind, and my heart—it was something almost physical—and as soon as I walked into his house my whole body started humming with the need to go to him, to hold him, to finally make him mine. Which made following him to his room one of the hardest things I’d ever done, because I knew he wanted it, too, and I was going to have to say no.

A month ago, if someone had told me that I’d deny myself something that I wanted more than my next breath, I would have laughed in their face. Denying myself had never been in my nature, but Devin was more important to me than what
I
wanted. And even though I knew he wanted me… even knew that he felt free to give himself to me, now that Luke was back… I also knew something else about him.

He’d told me his stories during the weeks we’d spent together, told me silly things, and sad things, and things that he normally held close to his heart. Even some things that he probably hadn’t meant to say. He’d told me things that had made his brow furrow and his fists clench. Stories of his life growing up, and the things that had shaped him into the man he was today.

And I’d listened to all of it, captivated, because they were
his
stories. I’d listened so closely that I’d heard more than just the words he’d spoken—I’d also heard him telling me about what mattered to him, and why keeping his word to Sarah was so important. Why honoring his marriage vows—no matter why they had been spoken—meant so much to him.

And because I loved him, I wasn’t going to be the one to make him break those vows now—no matter how much I wanted what he was offering.

“Maks.” He said my name like it was a blessing, stepping into my arms the minute he’d closed his bedroom door behind us. He slid his hands over my shoulders and pressed himself against me, and when he raised his lips up to mine he was irresistible. He was everything I wanted. He was
mine.

“You’re killing me, baby,” I said against his lips, trying to make myself push him away even as I started to kiss him. My dragon roared to life, insisting that we claim him,
now
, and the fire rose within me hot and fast, coming close to burning away my resistance.

Devin felt my heat and gasped into my mouth, grinding himself against me until I almost forgot my good intentions. My hands were on his ass and I was licking my way down his neck as I tried to remember why it was important to stop. My name kept falling from his lips in panting little whimpers that made me want to fuck him until he shouted it.

But.

I.

Could.

Wait.

Because I loved him, and I knew that once I claimed him, he’d be mine forever… and I never wanted him to regret that.

“Devin,” I managed to say, pushing his hips away from me with a groan. “No.”

“No?” he repeated, looking dazed. Licking those soft lips that I was suddenly imagining wrapped around my cock. Twining his fingers in the back of my hair and pulling himself closer to me again.

My otherself ignored my struggle to do the right thing and
reached
for him, heat flaring between us as the bond we shared roared to life. Devin gasped, lurching against me, so fucking tempting that I almost gave in, almost took what we both wanted. Resisting felt physically painful, but he was worth it. Somehow, I managed to put a little space between us again.

“Maks?” he asked, biting his lip and suddenly looking unsure of himself. “I- I’ve dreamed of you. Don’t you want me, too?”

“
Yes
,” I said, running my thumb over the lip he’d just had between his teeth, wishing it were my tongue instead. “But I want to do it right, Devin.”

He sucked my thumb into his mouth, looking up at me with those light eyes that I could get lost in as he stroked it with his tongue.

“You’re still married,” I groaned, forcing myself to remind him of the reason we were going to wait as I pulled my thumb out of his wet, seductive heat.

Right then, if he’d told me that it didn’t matter, I would have had him naked and underneath me before he drew his next breath. But he hesitated, and despite his next words, I knew by the look on his face that I’d been right.

It
did
matter to him.

“I know, Maks, but… it’s okay. I
want
you,” he said, clearly trying to ignore the doubts I could see in his eyes. “I don’t think I can stand waiting anymore.”

“I want you too, love. Don’t ever doubt it. But I want all of you, not just your body. I don’t ever want you to feel like you had to compromise your own heart to be with me.” I made myself take a step back. “I can wait.”

“Oh, my God. I don’t think
I
can, Maks,” he said, blushing. “I know you’re right but…” he was biting his lip again and staring at my cock. Which was, of course, as hard as a rock now. All too eager to be inside him. His hand unconsciously moved over his own straining erection, and I groaned, backing up against the door to add a few more inches of space between us.

“Devin, you need to stop looking at me like that.” Without meaning to, I let the words come out with my dragon’s voice, an echoing vibration that should have compelled him to obey me.

But he was my fated mate, and I couldn’t force him against his will.

“I can’t help it,” he whispered, ignoring the power of my otherself. Still staring at me hungrily. “I want… I want you to fuck me so bad. Maks,
God,
I’ve been dreaming about it. Every night.”

“Tell me,” I said, torturing myself.

His hand was still moving over his cock, stroking it slowly through the fabric of his pants as he stared back at me. Begging me with his eyes to do something about it. “I dream that you’re behind me,” he said. “Touching me.”

“Where?”

“If I show you, will you do it?”

“
Yes
,” I promised. I clenched my hands into fists, determined not to reach for him. “Just not tonight.”

He hesitated for a moment, then pulled his shirt off, revealing all that smooth skin that I wanted to feel underneath me.

“When I’m dreaming, you’re behind me. Putting your hands on me, like this.” He ran his hands up his slim abs, letting his fingers graze his small, pink nipples. Sucking in a breath when they did, then letting his hands linger there, circling and pinching them as his breath started coming faster, making that vein at the base of his throat throb.

“And it feels so…
God
… so good… to have your hot hands on me,” he went on in a strained whisper. “So good to feel you pressed against me.” His eyes were back on my cock, and I rubbed a hand over it as he licked his lips and nodded. “To feel
that,
throbbing against me. Knowing you’re about to fuck me with it.”

My shaft jerked against my hand, and I fumbled to free it from pants that had suddenly become painfully tight. I wouldn’t touch him, but that was as far as my self-restraint went.

“I want you naked,” I told him.

This time, Devin obeyed me, and he was fucking beautiful. I wanted to taste the drop of pre-cum beading on the head of his cock. I wanted to lay him down on the bed and swallow it until I knew his taste completely. Then I wanted to cup my hands under his perfect, round ass and slip my fingers into his hot crease, slide my hands up the back of his thighs and push them high, until he was open in front of me and I could taste the rest of him. I wanted to fuck him with my tongue until I could hear him moan, and beg, and be so ready for my cock that when I finally gave it to him, I could drive all the way into his tight heat with one, hard thrust.

“Oh, my God,” he panted, his fist working over himself faster and faster as I told him what it would be like. “
God
…I…
yes…
please
… Maks, please…do it!”

“I will. I’m going to bury myself inside you, baby. I’m going to fill you with everything I have, and you’re going to take it, and love it, and ask me for more.”

“
Yes
!”

“You’re going to be mine.”

“God, Maks, I
am
. I am yours.
Please,
fuck me, oh, God, please…”

I didn’t realize I’d moved toward him until I was close enough to feel the heat of his body. He stared up at me with wide eyes, his pupils blown and his whole body flushed and pink and ready for me to claim him. His cock jerked in his hand and I wanted it. I wanted him. He was
mine.

“Come for me, love,” I ordered, begging him with my eyes to obey. It had to be
now
, or I would reach for him.

“Maks!” My name burst out of him as the hot spurt of his climax shot over his fist.

He moaned and fell against me, and my own release hit me hard and fast, whiting out my vision as his sweet, dripping cock rubbed up against mine. My seed pumped out between us, and I kissed him, devoured him, crushed him against me for a long, hot moment until the fire I needed to give him threatened to burst out of me. I ripped my mouth off of his and clamped my lips together, the flames scorching my throat from the inside out as I held it back.

I
would
claim him.

But not today.

“Maks,” he said, stroking my jaw and looking up at me with his heart in his eyes. “When will you do it?”

“Soon,” I promised, once I could speak.

It was going to have to be.

W
e were at the courthouse
, Sarah and I standing at the counter and Maks behind me. Fidgeting. I could
feel
it, and I had to bite back a smile at his impatience. I still didn’t quite understand how he’d managed to talk the sour-faced woman at the county clerk’s office into waiving the ninety-day requirement for an uncontested divorce, but it was just one of the reasons I was glad he’d come with us. Somehow, with his help, we were going to manage to get legally divorced and have Sarah and Luke get married all in one fell swoop.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait on the wedding, Sare?” I whispered to her as the clerk prepared our paperwork. “We could plan something nice for you and Luke.”

“No,” she said forcefully. “I don’t need a dress or flowers or any of that, Dev. I just need him.”

I smiled and squeezed her hand, knowing exactly how she felt.

The way it had all come together so easily—having Luke back so suddenly and being on the verge of being free to be with Maks, when I’d thought I might have to wait years—almost felt like a fairy tale. It made me giddy, and Sarah and I were both giggling as we signed the forms that would end our marriage. The clerk frowned at us, but Maks leaned past me and whispered something to her that made her face smooth out. The effect he had on her really was amazing.

“Is that it?” he asked when Sarah put down the pen. “Is the divorce finalized?”

“Yes,” the clerk answered, her brow creasing again for a moment before she shook it off. “These two are no longer legally married.”

Maks’s face split into a huge grin, and he grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the door.

“Wait,” I said, laughing at his enthusiasm. “Maks, Sarah and Luke aren’t married yet. I need to be a witness for them.”

“Ben will do it,” he said without slowing down.

I dug my feet in, yanking on his hand. “Maks!”

My voice stopped him, and he turned back to face me with a hot look that made my toes curl. “You really want to… wait?” he asked in a low voice.

Nnnnngggghhh. NO. I didn’t, really. Not when his words rolled over me like warm heat and my cock sprang to attention as I imagined—vividly—
not
waiting. I shifted my weight, discreetly adjusting myself as he stared at my mouth. Oh, God. But… this was Sarah and Luke. They were the closest thing I still had to family, and even if the ceremony wasn’t going to be much, it was still something I wanted to be there for.

“I don’t think it will take long,” I finally managed to say. “Please, Maks, they’re my friends. It’s important to me.”

“Okay, love,” he said, the words coming out in a patient tone at odds with the heat in his glowing eyes. “Then we’ll wait.”

I shivered. It always gave me a little thrill when he called me “love.” It was probably much too soon to assume he really meant it, even if it
felt
like he did.

Luke and Sarah walked up, holding hands. “Ready, Dev?” Luke asked, his face radiant as he looked at Sarah. “We’ve got to go down the hall to one of the courtrooms for the wedding.”

We followed Sarah and Luke down the hallway, Maks holding my hand and rubbing little circles on my palm, where no one could see. His touch was like being plugged into an electrical circuit, and little shivers of erotic energy started shooting up my arm, spreading throughout my body, making me forget, for a moment, why we were still here and not somewhere that he could fuck me.

But then the ceremony started, and even though it was fast and simple, I was glad we had stayed. There were no bells and whistles, and it might have felt sterile if it weren’t for the way Luke and Sarah looked at each other. Luke’s eyes were shining, and Sarah was positively glowing. Having Luke back seemed to have been the cure for the heavy toll the pregnancy had been taking on her, and she no longer looked exhausted and worn down. She looked radiant.

They really were meant to be, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed it.

“Do humans have fated mates?” I heard Ben whisper to Maks behind me.

We were standing near the doors of the small courtroom, and Maks had his arms around my waist as I leaned back against him. I could feel him shrug, and even though he was silent, I could also tell that he was smiling.

I had stopped questioning how I always knew what he was doing, even when I couldn’t see him. It felt natural, like he was a part of me that I couldn’t help but be aware of whenever he was near. It felt like what Ben had just said.

I’d never heard the term he’d used before, but I liked it.

Fated
.

Mates
.

Luke and Sarah did feel fated to be together. The two of them were just… right. And thinking back to my own lack of real interest in anyone before Maks, that suddenly seemed right, too.

Even though I’d felt attracted to other men the past, I’d never really wanted to be with any of them. Now I wondered if all the reasons that I’d given myself to justify why that was so had been wrong. Maybe it hadn’t been because I’d been too young, or too awkward, or too shy. Maybe it was because I was meant for this man. For Maks. Maybe we were fated, too.

I pushed my glasses up higher on my nose, grinning at the romantic fantasy. It was a nice thought, even if things like that didn’t happen in the real world.

And then Luke and Sarah were pronounced man and wife, and romantic fantasy or not, I would have sworn that I could feel their joy rolling off them in waves.

“Congratulations,” I said to them, hugging them both. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thank you, honey,” Sarah said, squeezing me tightly. “And I’m happy for you, too, Dev. I still can’t believe Maks made this happen for us. Go be with your man. You deserve it.”

Even though it had come together quickly, Sarah had managed to invite a few friends to come witness the simple ceremony, including Wes and his family. He was going to take Holly for the night so that Luke and Sarah could have a wedding night back at the house. Back at
my
house.

In the whirlwind of wedding and divorce planning, I hadn’t made any plans of my own. I’d just assumed that I’d be going with Maks and would be able to give Sarah and Luke some wedding night privacy, too, but now I wondered if I should have asked, instead of just assuming. We hadn’t talked about any specific plans for after the ceremony, and even though I knew he was impatient to be with me, too, I suddenly realized that I didn’t even know where he lived. Which was odd, given how well I felt like I knew him—but it just hadn’t come up.

Before I could worry about it, he was already at my side, congratulating the newlyweds, and then, as soon as it was polite to do so, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the door. My heart started racing with excitement. No, I hadn’t needed to ask, and I was happy to let him take charge. I had no idea where he was taking me, but that didn’t matter. I wanted to be wherever he was.

Always.

M
aks pulled
me down the hallway and into a stairwell, then pushed me up against the wall and kissed me. Every other time that he’d touched me, kissed me, pressed his body against mine, one or the other of us had been holding back. Now, even though we were in a public place, I could tell it was different, and my body responded instantly. Heat shot through me, pouring off of him and through me, swirling into a tight coil of urgency that centered on my cock.

Maks’s hands were on my waist, then my ass, and he ground himself into me until I thought I was going to explode right in my pants. He lifted me up, his lips leaving mine and moving down my throat, sucking at the base of my neck, and I completely forgot about where we were, or that someone might see us. I wrapped my legs around his waist and grabbed the back of his head and let him have his way. He was taking control the way I’d dreamed of, not asking or giving me a chance to say no, handling my body like he owned it.

It was exactly what I wanted.

My head fell back against the wall, and nothing existed except his mouth and hands on me, the burning length of his cock throbbing against mine through the annoying layers of cloth that separated us.

“Oh!”

Maks’s head shot up, his eyes literally blazing, at the sound of the intrusion. The short woman in the bad suit who had interrupted us froze, and Maks lowered me down to my feet and pushed me behind him.

“Leave,” Maks ordered her, his voice echoing in the small space as it vibrated off the walls with a weird resonance.

Her eyes seemed to glaze over, and she turned jerkily, as if her body were on puppet strings.

“Wait. Stop,” Maks said in that same odd voice.

She did, but didn’t turn back around.

“Make sure we’re not interrupted here. Now go.”

She left without a word, and Maks turned back to me and rested his forehead against mine for a second, breathing heavily. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Do you think she’ll do what you asked? Oh, my God… maybe we should go somewhere else. Anyone could come—”

He cut me off by covering my mouth with his and unbuttoning my pants. “No,” he growled as my shaft jerked against his hand. “I’m done waiting. I need you.
Now.
”

A part of me thought I should care that we were in public. I ignored that part. Overwhelmed by the heat of his hand on my leaking cock, the feel of his large body pinning me to the wall, the trail of fire that he left as his mouth moved across my jaw, down my neck, then lower—I just couldn’t bring myself to care about anything else.

“Are you going to fuck me right here?” I asked breathlessly, clutching at his head.

“No, baby,” he said. “I can’t do that yet, but I need to taste you.”

I wanted to ask him why he couldn’t just fuck me—he didn’t seem to care that we were in public any more than I did, so it must be something else—but he’d continued to kiss his way down my body, and before I could get the question out he’d shoved my pants and underwear down to my knees and had swallowed my cock down to the root. Which made it impossible to ask anything at all.

I’d never imagined… I
had
imagined… but I hadn’t known that it would feel… like…
this
…

The world around me disappeared and there was only the hot, wet heat of his mouth and the hard, relentless suction of his cheeks, the incredible feel of his tongue massaging my shaft, the tight fit of his throat around me and oh
God
—I couldn’t stop my hips from thrusting forward.

“Maks… I’m… I’m…
oohhhhhhhhhhhgodddddddd.
” My head cracked into the wall behind me, but I didn’t even feel it. My eyes rolled back and I saw actual stars, pouring myself into him as I came with a hot rush that left me gasping and clutching at him as my knees buckled and his relentless mouth milked every drop from me.

I would have fallen over if he hadn’t held me up.

I felt dazed, and I’m not sure I could have moved if Maks hadn’t helped me. I was more than happy to him let take charge, helping me fix my clothes and straighten my hair and adjust my glasses. He kissed me—looking pleased with himself, and tasting musky and hot and like he was
mine
—and then he led me down the stairs and out of the building and into his car. It wasn’t until we’d hit the freeway and were headed away from the lights of the city that I found my voice.

“Where are we going?”

“I need to show you something, love,” he said, his hand resting possessively on my thigh. “It’s something you need to know about me before I can ask you for more.”

I was still feeling boneless and satisfied from what he had just done, and I couldn’t muster the curiosity to press him about that cryptic comment. I trusted him. There was nothing he could tell me that would change how I felt. I lay back against the seat and enjoyed the feel of his hand on me, and when I caught his eye in the rearview mirror a spike of heat shot through me again.

I shivered, swept with the inexplicable certainty that my life was about to change.