Burning for the Dragon: BBW Dragon Shifter Paranormal Romance (Fated Hearts Club Book 1) (9 page)

He ran the length of the cave and tackled Alexa, dragging
her to the ground and away from Penelope. He kicked out and sent Alexa
sprawling, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough to end the battle.

“Run!” He snarled at Penelope through a half-formed face.
His mouth changed shape to fit the sharp fangs he would use to rip our Alexa’s
throat given half a chance.

But no, it wouldn’t be as simple as that, would it? Luca
swore. He’d carved straight into the mountain and didn’t bother making trails
to his lair. He hadn’t wanted the space disturbed by curious hikers.

Alexa crashed into him and all thoughts of Penelope’s escape
were turned to their shared survival. Alexa was a ferocious fighter in both
human and dragon forms. They trained together as children and knew each other’s
style. Alexa would pour all her energy into one target before doing the same to
another. Even without learning to multitask, she could beat nearly any other
fighter with her flurry of blows.

They rolled together, snapping and slashing at one another
wherever their fangs and claws could reach. They were creatures of the air, not
ones for fighting in close quarters. He tried to lure her out on the ledge and
take to the sky, but she fought him. He was bigger in his dragon form and would
be more of a challenge to kill.

A sharp punch to the face crushed his nose. Blood streamed
down his face. She followed the blow with several punches to his stomach and
solar plexus. He stumbled back, barely dodging a sweeping kick that would have
taken his legs out from under him.

Alexa danced on the balls of her feet, her hands in loose
fists ready to strike him again. “You’re weak. Like your brother. Like your
mother. Like your father.”

She bobbed into his space, testing his reactions and dodging
back when he made the mistake of striking too soon. “You’ll die just like Leo
did. Then I’ll kill your parents. Is that human trash worth losing your life
and family? We could have been great together.”

He wanted to roar with rage. He would not allow threats to
his family. His dragon welled up inside him and readied for the change. But
Penelope was too close. He tried to find her while keeping his eye on Alexa,
but the damn woman moved too quickly to track his mate.

The cave wouldn’t hold two dragons. Penelope could easily be
crushed between their bodies, or cut by a thrashing leg. It was imperative that
he get Alexa on the ledge and into the air.

“Luca, watch out!”

His head snapped toward Penelope’s scream, then back to
Alexa. She pulled a silver knife from her belt. Her hand smoked and bubbled
where she clutched the silver, but she only drew her teeth back in an anguished
snarl.

It was a weapon hunters and dragon slayers used to kill
shifters. The wicked curve of the blade was likely enchanted to slice through
tough flesh and hard bone, perfect for murdering any shifter. The silver of
hilt and blade meant no shifter would use it against their attacker.

Unless, of course, they were crazy or desperate. Alexa was
both.

He charged at her, leaping and throwing himself into her
legs. They rolled again. The hard edge of the knife slid against his skin and
burned as the flesh parted underneath. Using the coiled strength of his dragon,
he brought his legs up and into her stomach to kick her body over and off the
ledge.

Luca rolled again to his feet and hesitantly walked to the
edge of the ledge. There was nothing but silence on the air. No screams. No
beating of wings. No thumps of a body rolling down the cliff side.

A hard moment passed. He held his hand back when he heard
Penelope rushing for him.

Then he heard the beating of wings.

Alexa’s black dragon body rose into the air. Her tail
swished in balanced agitation and hate gleaned in her eyes. Penelope screamed
for him to get back.

Alexa’s maw opened. The black depths sparked with the fire
from within. It boiled and grew and she inhaled a great breath to spew a jet of
flame into the cave, where human and rock alike would melt.

He raised his arms to the front of his face at the last
second. The shift rippled through him, turning arms to scaled wings. The full
force of her flames hit him. His flesh burned under her, but he was to be the
Dragon King. Some maddened subordinate would not beat him.

He ignored the pain in his wings when the flames subsided
and launched his bulk into the air. Dark red scales the color of blood glinted
in the air. Fear glazed over Alexa’s black, faceted eyes and she tried to pull
herself away from him. She managed to turn and flee.

She didn’t get far. His wings swept downward with power
fueled by threatened rage. She would have killed his mate, then him, and she
threatened his parents. Attempted regicide wouldn’t endear her to any of his
kind even if she managed to survive. He would ensure she didn’t.

His large jaws snapped at her tail, her wings, anything that
came near. She dodged him with quick tips of her wings, spinning upward to spit
fire at him or angling downward to avoid having a chunk taken out of her scaled
hide. They danced in the dark clouds of the storm, hidden from any who would
try watching them from below.

He spewed a jet of flame in her direction and she was slow
with her dodge. The flames grazed over her wings and bubbled blisters under the
scales. She was tiring. He just needed to push her more and then he could end
their battle.

His own dragon protested when he beat his expansive wings
down and shot straight into the air. It was thinner at that height, but he also
had the advantage of diving down onto his enemy if she couldn’t dodge him. He
found her easily; the black of her body streaked toward him. He tucked his
wings and dove, a blast of flame leading his way.

The fire hit her before his body did. They tumbled through
the air and toward the ground far below. She clawed at him and roared. He
snapped at her and snarled. They needed to part ways or they both would crash
to the ground. Even a dragon wouldn’t recover from such a fall.

His hind claws got a purchase in her belly and he dragged
viciously downward. Her roar of anger turned to a scream of pain. Luca pushed
her away and unfurled his wings, letting the air catch him and slow his fall.
Weak beats kept him aloft, but Alexa continued to tumble below him.

His heart heavy, Luca used drafts of air to carry himself
lower while using as little energy as possible. He was cut, bruised, and burned
in countless places in his dragon form and knew he had similar injuries in his
human form. Even with increased shifter durability, he would need time and
energy to heal.

But he didn’t think he would ever heal from the necessity of
killing one of his own. He circled Alexa’s broken body and made sure no life
lingered on. She had gone mad and no one noticed. If they had, no one tried to
stop her. She needed to be put down, but he didn’t feel good about it. The
dragons of the world had lost two in as many months with her death.

Luca let his wings and the air currents carry him higher. He
turned back toward the cave, Penelope, and the future. Their future, should she
still have him. Dragons needed their mates to have children, and the recent
deaths drove home that need. He wanted to replace the loss with happiness. But
more than anything, he wanted to hold Penelope in his arms and soothe away all
the pain she’d ever experienced.

Penelope wasn’t happy to experience her second flight with a
dragon so soon. But Luca’s tired eyes tore any objections from her throat. He
needed to be home where he could heal, not in some cave where he’d likely get
an infection. Did shifters ever get infections?

Instead of hauling her off in his claws, Luca lowered
himself to the ground. She hauled herself up his back and settled between the
ridges of scales and spikes that ran down his spine. Heat pressed against her
legs and she was reminded that dragons were fire made flesh.

Luca jerked forward and she flung herself over his neck. Her
hands scrabbled to hang on to his spines as his wings moved away from his body
and he jumped into the air.

Rain slashed across her eyes and soaked her in moments. The
clouds hid the ground below, but she wasn’t sure if she would be better off seeing
her potential demise or simply imagining how far she’d fall if she slipped from
his back.

It wasn’t long before she noticed the dragon between her
thighs dipping downward. Her hands again clutched at the ridges. She didn’t
want to even chance a fall. She shut her eyes when the buildings appeared from
between the clouds. The structures were too close; surely they would fly right
into them.

Luca landed while her heart thudded in her chest. She threw
herself off him as soon as he was on solid ground. It wouldn’t be kind to throw
up on her ride if her stomach went as far as that in its betrayal.

Pale, but keeping everything down, she turned back to the
dragon and found he’d shifted back into a man. A very tired, very naked man.
She jerked her eyes back to his face.

“Luca, what happened?”

His smile didn’t reach his eyes and quickly faded. “She’s
dead. Come, we’ll talk when we get below.”

So she followed him. He held the door open for her, then led
the way down the dark staircase. He pulled open the door at the bottom. It was
as finely decorated as the rest of his apartment, but held all the necessities
for an office: a computer, a chair ready to sink into and roll toward the heavy
desk, lamps to brightly or softly light the room. A picture frame on his desk caught
her eye and she picked it up.

The two men looked alike, though not entirely similar. One
was taller by a few inches; the other had more smile lines around his mouth.
Their eyes and noses were the same. She traced the lips of one. She was quite
familiar with how those lips felt on her skin. There was no possible way that
the second man was anyone but Luca’s brother.

“She killed him. Your brother. Luca, I’m so sorry.”

She turned to find him right behind her. She pressed her
face into his chest and wanted to sink into the warmth of his body. Tears
spilled over her cheeks as sobs overtook her. It wasn’t fair of her. She tried
to dash them away. Luca had lost his brother. She’d only been scratched. He
should be the one receiving comfort, not her.

His strong hands held her to him as her body shook. He
stroked her wet hair and held the small of her back. She felt safe in his
embrace. Safe, and selfish. She bit her lip. She didn’t want to be the one to
fall apart. She wanted to be strong for him.

His voice was heavy when he spoke. “Shh. It’s over now.
Let’s get you out of these clothes and into something dry.”

Her cries under control, she followed him into his bathroom.
He opened the glass door of a shower stall large enough for a football team and
fiddled with the knobs until hot water started steaming the room. The bench
lining one wall looked too tempting for her tired body. She wanted to sit and
let the steam soak every sore from her body.

She didn’t protest when Luca started slowly stripping her
and checking the wounds left by Alexa. “Penelope, sweet… I’m sorry this was
done to you.”

She winced when his thumb grazed over the cut on her
collarbone. It was truly the deepest one. All the others were scratches
compared to it. She took his hand in hers and pressed her lips to his palm.
“It’s fine.”

With sorrow in his eyes, Luca pulled his hand away. A pit
grew in her stomach. It ate into her with acidic worry. She didn’t like to see
Luca defeated. He acted as if he’d be sent to the executioner at any moment.
She swallowed hard. She would tear down the walls he was erecting inside
himself if it was the last thing she did.

He urged her into the shower and followed after, shutting
the door behind him. Steam billowed up from their feet and into the air,
swirling around them as the clouds of the storm on the flight home. Penelope
soaked under the stream of water and washed away everything wrong from the day.
She was with Luca and that was what mattered.

She reached for him and pulled him to stand under the water
with her. He reluctantly stepped forward. His soaked curls were straight under
the hot stream, but it was his eyes that held her. They were darkening and
eating away at the white of his eyes. His dragon was watching just as much as
his human side. She didn’t pull away. Even after what she’d suffered at the
hands of shifters, she wasn’t scared of Luca. How many people in her life would
come running to defend and kill for her as he had? He was good and honest and
wonderful. Hers, if he still wanted her.

She pushed at his chest and forced him against the wall of
the shower. Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his.

She was hungry for him. He was fire and life. So much had
happened in one day, in one week. She’d been a sad, lost woman before Luca.
Then he ignited her life. She’d been crushed emotionally, physically beaten
down, and thought she would die. She needed the reminder of what life felt like
under her palms and in her heart.

She opened her mouth and swiped her tongue against the seam
of his lips. He groaned but opened for her anyway. She devoured him, sliding
and stroking her tongue against him and tasting every part of him she could. He
warmed her from within.

Disappointment roared through her when he pulled away from
their kiss and shifted their positions. Luca rested his chin on her head and
pulled her close to his chest. “You can’t tease me like that.”

Penelope pushed at his chest so she could look him in the
eyes. “Tease you? Luca, I want this.”

He shook his head. “I won’t let you lie to yourself. I
shouldn’t even be in here with you. You’re too great a temptation. You won’t be
able to look at me in the morning.”

Truly confused and dreading his answer, she asked, “What do
you mean?”

He pulled her to his chest again. His arms closed around her
and he dug his hands into her wet hair. “I let you leave and she took you. I
failed you.”

She pushed at him again, but he held tight. For someone who
was trying to turn her away, he was holding on strong. She mumbled into his
chest, “You’re not to blame.”

It was his turn to step back. “I am. You were injured
because I didn’t see the threat. I let my ma—”

She took a deep breath when he cut off words and looked
away. Mate, that’s what he was going to say. She knew there was significance to
the word. The Fated Hearts Club advertised finding fated mates to their
customers. The word held loyalty and love in it, even if she didn’t know the
specifics. He’d called her his mate during their night together.

She put her palm against his cheek and brought his attention
back down to her. “Luca, I want you. I want to be with you. Even if you’re some
sort of dragon king and I don’t know everything that’s involved. I want to
learn and I want to be with you.”

It was as if a dam broke inside him. His eyes filled with
heat as they stroked down her body. He stepped closer to her again, but instead
of the crushing embraces before, he held her with the surety of a confident
lover. He pressed long, lingering kisses along her neck. “You would be my mate
and rule at my side.”

“Consort?” That was the word Alexa had used. It sounded
unfamiliar on her tongue, but she’d need to get used to it if she was to be
one.

“A type of queen. Our term for it.”

“And mate. What does that entail?”

“You’ll live as long as any dragon. Hundreds of years.” He
pulled back and took her chin between his fingers. “Truly think of it. You’ll
see all your human friends die while you barely age. It’s not an easy thing to
do.”

She chewed on her lip and considered everyone she knew. Vera
was her closest friend. She didn’t care for her family very much, but they were
still her family. All her coworkers and acquaintances. She studied him from
under her eyelashes. “You’ve done it? How old are you?”

“One hundred and three. I’ve seen many friends pass, yes. It
doesn’t get any easier.”

“But you’d be there with me, through it all.”

“Yes. Never leaving your side.” He squeezed her hips to
emphasize his point. His lips found her neck again and he dotted her skin with
light kisses.

“Is that all? I won’t become a dragon?”

“So brave,” he murmured into her shoulder. His hot breath
tickled against her skin and her eyes fluttered closed.

“I haven’t agreed yet,” she said, but she knew she had.

He nodded. “You won’t become a full dragon, no. But you’ll
become dragon hearted. Part dragon. Age like us, like I said. In times of
danger, your skin will become scales like dragonhide. Not much can penetrate
dragon scales.”

She snapped open her eyes and glared at him. “That would
have been damn useful today!”

“I didn’t think you would be in danger simply from my desire
to be with you. I’m sorry. Truly. There’s nothing I can say that would undo
what’s been done here, but I regret everything.” He swallowed hard, and she
could feel the distance growing between them again.

“Luca, don’t blame yourself. She was insane.”

“I should have seen what lengths she was willing to go for
power.” He spat through gritted teeth. His hands tightened and the veins stood
out in long lines of tension.

She was quiet. She didn’t want him to check out again or try
to push her away. She stood on her tiptoes again and planted a slow line of
kisses along his jaw. She distracted him from his dark thoughts with roaming
hands over his chest. Slowly his breathing returned to normal and fists
unclenched. He was back with her in that moment, not reliving the previous
horror.

She held his hand to her heart. “This is what you want?
To...mate me?”

“Yes.” Heat flooded his eyes. “I wanted it from the moment I
met you. I didn’t want to rush you.”

“I want to be your mate,” she told him softly. A blush rose
on her cheeks, though she was sure the heat of the steam and water hid it.
Would he still reject her and tell her she didn’t know what she was saying? She
didn’t think she could stand the humiliation or disappointment.

His hand slid lower and cupped her breast, his thumb grazing
her nipple to a hard peak. His other hand ghosted over the wound along her
collarbone. “I would put my mark here, and cover over what she did to you.”

Penelope nodded, a smile lifting her lips. “Do it...my
mate.”

***

Those were the words Luca craved to hear.
My mate
.
She would belong to him.

His cock jumped to life as her words faded into the air.
From limp to stiff as a post, he was ready for her. The witch had an undeniable
power over him.

He slanted his mouth over hers and snared her lips. Slipping
his tongue into her, he lapped at all her delicious flavors. Spicy cinnamon
swirled on his taste buds and zinged awake all his nerves.

She was
his
. There was no doubt. She’d agreed to
become his mate and carry his mark. Despite all that had happened, his failure
to protect her, she wanted to be with him. It was more than he hoped when he
caught her sweetly spiced scent in the club.

It made his cock pulse. He wanted to be deep inside her and
slide his fangs into her skin.
His
.

He pulled her down to the bench with him. Her thick thighs
straddled his lap and his hands slid up her milky skin to hold her hips. His
cock was ready, but he wouldn’t force himself on his mate. He wanted her to
enjoy herself as much as he did.

His lips didn’t leave hers. He drank from her and savored
her. Penelope whimpered against him and the heat of her pussy burned against
him. Her sweet musky scent drifted up to his nose, teasing and tormenting him
until he thought he could take it no more.

His beast roared within him, growling and urging him to take
her then and there. It was hard to resist when she ground her hips into him.
Her moist heat pressed against him, begging him to sink deep inside her.

“Luca, please,” Penelope panted.

Who was he to deny a begging woman?

His hands at her waist, he lifted her. She reached between
them and stroked his cock. “Need you.”

“Take what you need, sweet mate.” His breath caught when she
fit the head of his cock to her slick pussy. She rocked against him, coating
him with her cream. He groaned. When he opened his eyes, he found her grinning
at him.

“Little minx,” he growled. He shifted and reached between
them, closing his hand around hers. He squeezed just below his head and
relished the extra bit of pressure. His other hand pulled at her waist roughly
and he watched the first inch of himself disappear inside her.

“God, Luca.” Penelope moaned, all teasing tossed aside.

He grit his teeth and let her settle against him. His dragon
snarled and rode his control. He wanted to pull her down, feel her surround
him, but he wouldn’t cause his mate any pain. Not yet.

Inch by slow inch, she slid down his cock. He twitched
inside her and murmured his lips against the skin of her neck and shoulder. His
breath came in short pants. He wanted to flex his hips so badly.

His hands slid up her thighs, just wanting to touch
something more of her. Her creamy skin was smooth under his palms, closer to
silk than anything he’d ever felt.