Scorch: M/M Gay Shifter Mpreg Romance (Dragon's Destiny: Fated Mates Book 2) (10 page)

I
woke
up alone in Maks’s bed, warm from the inside out. I could tell by the frost on the window and the visible plume of my breath in the air that it was cold in the room, but I could still feel his heat inside me and the cold didn’t bother me at all. Maks had said that claiming me would change me, and now I wondered what exactly that meant. Was this inner warmth part of it?

And where was he?

The room was so bright that I figured it must already be the middle of the morning. I didn’t normally sleep in this late. I bit my lip, holding in the smile that threatened to burst forth as I thought about being kept up all night by Maks. And then I laughed, unable to contain it, because I realized that, one, Maks had turned into a
dragon
, and two, I was no longer a virgin.

Of the two, I was spending way more time thinking about the sex than the fact that my lover was actually a mythical creature. Not that the dragon thing wasn’t amazing, too. But
God
, the sex was… better than I’d imagined. Incredible.

And I wanted to do it again.

As if my desire had conjured him, Maks walked into the bedroom. He was carrying two steaming cups that smelled like coffee and had a bag in his hand with the name of a bakery on it. He set it all down on the nightstand and kissed me. I tried to pull him back into bed, but he resisted.

“You need to eat something, love,” he said, laughing and sitting down next to me as I sat up.

His eyes were doing that glowing-with-fire thing again, which made me think that I could probably talk him into getting back into bed with me pretty easily… except that all of a sudden the coffee smelled really good, and when he opened the bag and pulled out an assortment of pastries, I was suddenly ravenous.

“I’ve been talking to Dane and Anik,” he told me as he handed me one of the cups. “They’ve been telling me what to expect now that we’re fully bonded.”

The coffee was sweetened, with cream, and I smiled as I sipped it. I couldn’t remember ever telling him how I took my coffee, but he’d obviously noticed and remembered. If I’d ever doubted that he loved me, the way he paid attention to the little things would have proven it.

“Dane and who?” I asked. I’d met Wesley’s husband, but I didn’t recognize the other name.

“Anik is a mated dragon shifter who lives up north. He’s my friend Ben’s father.”

My eyes widened as I jumped to the obvious conclusion. “Are you saying that Dane is a dragon shifter, too? How many of you are there?” The world had seemed so normal before yesterday. Today I felt as if a curtain had been pulled aside, revealing enchantment and magic and things I’d never dared to dream of, all of which had been hiding in plain sight. “How did I not know that things like this existed?” I whispered, my lips curving up.

“Well, we like to keep it that way,” he answered, laughing. “And yes, Dane is also a dragon. There really aren’t that many of us. Just four in North America.”

“Ben?” I guessed, then smiled when he nodded. “All men? What about Ben’s mother? You said the other one… Anik? Is his father? Is his mother a dragon, too?”

Maks’s eyes softened, and his smile got even bigger. “That’s actually something I needed to talk to you about, baby. It’s one of those mating changes that Anik said would make you hungrier than usual today… and for a while.”

He was right about the hungry, I suddenly realized, reaching for a croissant. My glasses were next to them on the nightstand, and I grabbed those first out of habit, slipping them on without thinking. And then I blinked, and took them back off. They must have been dirty, because everything had become blurry when I’d put them on.

“I’m warm,” I told Maks as I tossed the glasses back on the nightstand and bit into the croissant. “Is that one of these ‘changes?’”

He nodded, and the way he was looking at me was making me even warmer. I always felt warm around him, actually. I’d dismissed it before, but now I realized that it was probably a real thing. That same delicious heat I’d come to associate with him now felt like it was a part of me, and it had flared inside me when he’d fucked me the night before, burning me from the inside out in a way that wasn’t painful at all. It had been almost orgasmic.

Okay… not “almost.”

Was that a dragon thing? What we had done had felt like more than just sex to me, but I didn’t really have anything to compare it to. My memory of arriving at Maks’s house the day before was hazy with the desperation I’d felt to finally have him fuck me. It was a blur of his big hands and thick cock and that exquisite heat licking all over me, through me, moving inside me—and then coming so hard that I hadn’t been able to remember my own name, much less care about these “changes” he’d been trying to tell me about before we started. And then he’d carried me into the bedroom and fucked me again. And then again. All night long.

And every time, I’d felt like I could
feel
Maks, inside me—I mean, obviously—but not just in my body… also in my head. In my heart. And there had been…

“Fire? Do you breathe fire?” I asked, certain details suddenly coming into focus. “Did you breathe it…
into
me?”

“I did, love,” he said, cupping my cheek tenderly. “It bonded us together, for life. It lets my dragon’s power flow to you. And it made you fertile.”

I blinked. “What?”

He slid his hand down my body, flattening it on my stomach, just a couple of inches above my very-happy-to-see-him cock. His touch was much more interesting than croissants or breathing fire and it made me want to get back to what I’d been thinking about before he walked in. What we’d done all night. I put my coffee down and covered his hand with mine, trying to push it lower. He resisted, stroking my taut stomach and ignoring the part of me where I wanted his attention.

“After last night… you should be pregnant, Devin.”

He wasn’t cooperating, wasn’t moving his hand where I wanted it, so I decided to try another strategy. I would have to ask for what I wanted. I pushed the covers off and straddled his lap.

“Maks, please fuck me again.”

That seemed to work. He groaned, pulling me against him and giving me a hot kiss. I ground myself against the hard length of his erection, as hungry for him as if he hadn’t just been inside me a few hours ago. I had wanted him for so long, and now that I’d had a taste I felt like I would never get enough. I was suddenly desperate to feel the hot rush of him coming inside me again. Just thinking about it made me… Wait. He’d come inside me, filling my body with his seed, and now he was saying—

“Pregnant?” I leaned away from him, going still. “Did you say ‘pregnant?’
Me
?”

He nodded, looking at me like he wanted to lick me. I’d clearly succeeded in distracting him from whatever he’d been telling me. He was kneading my ass with his big hands as he rocked underneath me, and
God
, it felt so good that I… but no. First I needed to know whether I’d actually heard him correctly.

“Maks, stop.” It didn’t sound like I meant it, because I kind of didn’t, but this was important. I pulled his hands off me. “Do these dragon powers you keep talking about include getting me…
me
… a
man
… pregnant?”

“Yes, love. It’s how dragons father children. Human men carry our babies. You asked about my friend Ben… he doesn’t have a mother, he has two fathers. Just like Elise has Dane and Wes.”

I caught my breath. “Wesley… he’s… they’re
both
her fathers? Biologically?” He nodded, and my heart started racing with excitement. “Wes is human, right? Just… normal. Like me? And you’re saying that he actually… he was
pregnant,
with Elise? He gave
birth
to her?”

The flames in Maks’s eyes started to dim, and a look of concern crossed his face. “Yes,” he answered me cautiously. “I tried to tell you before I claimed you, Dev. My heat makes you fertile. It’s part of being my mate and… I hope you’re okay with it, because I’m pretty sure it’s already happened. I love you, baby, and I want you to bear my child.”

I was almost afraid to let myself believe him. I knew that men couldn’t get pregnant. But then again… up until the day before, I’d also known that dragons didn’t exist. But Maks
was
a dragon. I’d seen it, ridden it, felt his fire. And if that could be true, then how could I doubt it when the man I loved told me that he’d gotten me pregnant?

“Devin?” He was looking at me anxiously. “I’ve seen you with Holly. I thought you liked kids. Are you— oh,
shit
.” I hadn’t realized I was crying until he wiped the tears off my cheeks. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said softly. “I’ll… I don’t know.
Fuck.
We’ll figure something out. I’ll ask Anik—”

I kissed him.

He pushed me away, his eyes filled with worry. “We can ask Wes about the pregnancy, Dev. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before—“

I kissed him again, the happiness bubbling out of me until I was laughing into his mouth. I pushed against his shoulders until he fell back on the bed, and then I crawled on top of him, smiling so wide that I couldn’t talk.

I was
pregnant!

I’d never wanted to be. How could I have? Before Maks, it had never been an option—but he’d changed everything. He was giving me every single thing I’d ever dreamed of, including the things I had never let myself want.
Everything.

Even the impossible things.

The love in me was too big. I didn’t have words. But we were bonded now, so I didn’t need them. The fire rekindled in Maks’s eyes as everything I was feeling spilled through that connection between us.

“You’re… okay with this?” he asked.

Sharing things through our bond was still new to both of us. I could tell that he felt it, but I knew he needed to hear me say it, too.

“Do you want my baby, love?” he pressed, taking my face in his hands and searching my eyes to confirm the truth.

“
Yes
. Oh, my God,
yes
, Maks. I do, and it’s…
amazing
. I can’t even—”

I was babbling, trying to wrap my mind around this new, magical reality. But this time he was the one to cut me off. He crushed me to him, kissing me until I was breathless and then somehow flipping me over so that I was under him before I even realized we’d moved.

And I felt
his
happiness, too—I heard it—his thoughts in my mind and his joy in my heart as his body covered mine. He touched me everywhere, loving me with his hands and mouth and lips and tongue, until thoughts of the pregnancy and magic and dragons were all pushed aside and there was only
him
, moving over me, thrusting inside me, making me his—again and again—until long past the coffee got cold.

A
fter two weeks
of having Devin all to myself in Wisconsin, it was time to bring him back to Washington. We’d have to leave again once his pregnancy started to show, but he had a job and a life and friends to explain his absence too, and the changes in his body were still subtle enough that no one but me would notice them yet.

I’d flown us into a remote part of Capital Forest to avoid having to deal with compelling humans to forget that they’d seen me. It was where I’d originally intended to bring Devin to show him my dragon. Doing it in Dane’s backyard had meant that the other dragon had had to visit the neighbors after we left to ensure that they forgot anything they might have seen. I’d forewarned him in a note when I’d dropped off his car, but I knew he was still going to give me shit about it.

We’d made our way to the parking lot where Dane was going to pick us up, and my mate was biting his lip the way he did when he was thinking about something—which always made me want to bite it, too.

Devin was like a drug. I couldn’t get enough of him. I pulled him against me and kissed him, and he laughed in that sexy little breathless way that I knew meant he would be climbing all over me in about two seconds… which was exactly what I wanted. But instead of wrapping himself around me the way he usually did, he put a hand on my chest and pushed me away.

“I just saw headlights,” he said, looking over my shoulder. “Do you think it’s Dane?”

I hoped it wasn’t. If it were anyone else, I could compel them to leave us alone.

It was. I sighed, willing my cock down, and turned to face my oldest friend.

“Thanks for coming to get us,” I said, ignoring Dane’s knowing smirk. “Are Wes and Elise with you?”

“No, I dropped them off at Devin’s house. Wes is going to help Sarah get dinner ready for us.” Devin had stepped out from behind me, and Dane directed his next comment to my mate. “Congratulations, from both of us, Devin,” he said warmly. “Wesley is excited to see you again. He and Anik’s mate, Mikkel, can go on about the joys of pregnancy for hours, but it’s been over five hundred years for Mikkel. I know Wesley is looking forward to hearing how you’re doing.”

Devin beamed. Despite some morning sickness, he was thrilled to be pregnant. I knew he’d been looking forward to talking with Wes about it, too. Any mention of the baby that was growing inside him made him glow, and he was so fucking beautiful that I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

Dane was still talking to my mate about his pregnancy, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was thinking about Devin’s excitement about the baby. He’d talked to Sarah almost every day while we were in Wisconsin, but of course he hadn’t said anything to her—even though he’d grilled her about every detail of her own pregnancy.

He wanted to respect our secrets, but I knew that Sarah and Luke were like family for him, the way Dane was for me. The two of us may not have become the kind of dragons who saw humans as disposable and coldly used them for their own ends, but we’d also spent centuries keeping our secrets from the people that we lived among. Keeping our distance. But things were different now. Neither one of us was quite so alone, and I was discovering that I liked it that way.

Dane was mated, and his mate’s human brother knew about us, too. They were family, as much for me as for him, even if it wasn’t by blood. We had also met the dragons to the north, and despite the distance, had become close to them. And now I had Devin, and I didn’t want to force a distance between him and the people he cared about. I was tired of living a life so separate.

Like Wes had said to me once, I hadn’t often been alone in my life, but now that I’d found my fated mate, I realized that I’d been lonely and hadn’t even known it.

I didn’t want that for the man I loved.

“We’re going to tell them the truth,” I said out loud, interrupting the conversation I hadn’t been paying attention to.

“Tell who?” Dane asked.

Dev smiled, glowing up at me. He squeezed my hand, hearing what I meant through our bond. “Good,” he said. “Because Sarah had morning sickness, too, and I want to ask her what she did about it.”

“
W
here are your glasses
, honey?” Sarah asked Devin after she’d finished hugging him. “And your coat? It’s cold out.”

He pushed a finger toward the bridge of his nose, a habit he still hadn’t broken, and glanced over at me with a raised eyebrow. We hadn’t exactly decided
how
to tell Sarah and Luke that I was a dragon and that Devin was pregnant, and the answer to her question was tied to both those things. I shrugged. I would back up whatever he wanted to do.

“Uh, I don’t need them anymore, Sare,” he said, flashing me a quick smile. “I’ll tell you about it over dinner.”

She pulled him into the kitchen, and the sound of his happy laughter mingled with her and Wes’s voices, making me smile. Ty walked out of the kitchen, holding a couple of beers. He took one look at me and started laughing.

“Dude, you’re in deep smit.” He winked and handed me one of the bottles. “What is it with you dragons and your fated mates? Turns you all soft and cuddly.”

He was right. “You’re just jealous, Ty,” I joked. “You know, Ben still isn’t mated…”

“Stop,” he said, holding up a hand with a strained laugh. “Even I know it doesn’t work that way.”

“Work what way?” Dane asked, joining us.

“You guys and your fated mates. I’ve already met Ben, and clearly I’m not it for him. You guys knew, like, the minute you fucking saw your men.”

Dane gave Ty a weird look. “Which is good,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Since Ben is a
guy
. That would be awkward, straight boy.”

“I know, right?” Ty said, taking a drink. “Totally not my type. I’m gonna go check on dinner. I think Wes is making his lasagna.”

I’d had Wesley’s lasagna, and the man could
cook
. It used to be one of the many little things that made me jealous of what Dane had found. As we gathered around the table, though, I realized that those feelings were completely gone. I kissed the back of Devin’s neck, loving how it made his skin flush, then sat down beside him.

He was the only thing I needed.

“I need some of that lasagna,” he said, reaching toward the center of the table for the dish. “I’ve been hearing amazing things, Wes.”

“Careful, Dev!” Sarah blurted, coming halfway out of her chair and reaching a hand out to stop him. “We
just
pulled it out of the oven. It’s—”

“Hot!” he yanked his hand, back, shaking it with an embarrassed laugh. “Of course it is.”

“Oh, honey. Let me get some ice.” Sarah was already headed to the kitchen.

“It’s fine, Sare,” Devin called after her.

But she was already back. “I did the same thing earlier,” she said, holding her hand out and showing an angry red burn mark. “It still stings.” She grabbed Dev’s hand and then crinkled her brow in confusion. “Was it the other one?”

“No, it… Sarah, it’s already healed.” He swallowed, looking both nervous and excited to share his news with her. “Remember I said I have some things to tell you?”

She had both his hands in hers now, flipping them over again and again as she looked for signs of the burn. Of course there wasn’t one. Now that I’d given Dev my fire, my dragon’s powers flowed to him and he healed as quickly as I did.

He needed that fast-healing ability to carry my child, as the babe took what it needed from his body in order to grow. He wasn’t naturally designed for it, but just as the dragon let me change shape, it was reshaping him on the inside to accommodate the baby and then allowing him to heal and replenish as the child grew.

Sarah had finally given up on finding any evidence of the burn, and she looked at Dev expectantly while Luke raised a curious eyebrow behind her. I could see my mate fumbling with what to say, nibbling on that lip that I wanted to taste again. I could “hear” him trying out different scenarios in his mind, searching for something that didn’t sound crazy.

Ty was sitting across from us, and after a few minutes of silence he started laughing. “Dude, just tell them. Trust me, there really isn’t any way to ease into it.”

Devin ignored his advice, still searching for something to tell her that would sound reasonable. I agreed with Ty, but it was still cute to watch him try.

“Sarah, the thing is… Maks and I are going to, um, have a baby.”

Her eyebrows shot up, and she glanced at me in surprise before turning her attention back to Dev. “That’s pretty serious, honey. Pretty… fast. You guys have only known each other… what? A month or so?”

“I know, but… remember what you told me about Luke? The way you’ve always felt you were destined for each other? It’s like that.” He was blushing. Fucking adorable.

“It’s fated,” Wes said, winking at Dev in support.

“O-kay,” Sarah said, drawing the word out. “Still, thinking about a baby is a big deal. Although I’ve heard adoption can take a while, so I guess—”

Ty’s bark of laughter interrupted her, and when Sarah looked up her eyes narrowed.

“Why do I get the feeling that everyone here knows something I don’t?” she asked, her eyes moving around the table suspiciously.

“Not me, pumpkin,” Luke said loyally, tipping his glass at her and taking a drink. “But I’ve got to say, this is classic Dev.”

“What are you talking about?” Devin asked, pushing at his non-existent glasses again.

“You’ve always gone all-in whenever you did anything, Dev. Why should it be different now that you’ve finally decided to start dating?”

“It’s actually more than dating. I love Maks,” Dev said, his blush getting even deeper. “And we’re not adopting.” He took a deep breath, and just blurted it out, “I’m pregnant.”

Luke started laughing.

“Funny,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes. She rested her hands on her baby bump and smiled, adding, “Although oh, Lord, I would love to see a man have to deal with morning sickness and food cravings.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask you about that… I mean, wait. I’m serious, Sarah.” He pushed his bangs out of his face and then dove into it, the words tumbling out in one, long rush. “So here’s the thing. Maks and Dane can turn into dragons, and Wes is really Elise’s father, and now that Maks has breathed fire into me I can heal from things like burns, and I don’t need my glasses anymore, and I really
am
pregnant… probably due in October, because I guess it happens faster for dragon babies. And yeah, morning sickness has been a drag, but I’m still really excited and I wanted you and Luke to know about it because, well, for obvious reasons I won’t be able to stick around once I start to show so I didn’t want you guys to wonder why I’m going to disappear for a few months.”

Crickets.

“Dane stuck a knife in his arm,” Wes finally volunteered after a minute, breaking the silence. “Seeing it insta-heal was the only way Ty would believe him.”

“No one is sticking a knife in anyone,” Sarah said forcefully. Then, to Dev, “Honey, what’s going on? Seriously.”

He looked over at me, lifting his eyebrows.

“You want me to cut myself, love?” I asked, willing to do whatever he needed.

“No!” Sarah said again. “What is
wrong
with you people? Maks, do not cut anything. We all know you’re not going to turn into a dragon—”

“I vote fire,” Luke interrupted her. “I mean, if you guys are gonna go with ‘dragon,’ I’d like to see the whole breathing fire thing.”

“That’s what
I
said,” Ty mumbled under his breath, his eyes dancing as he tried to hold in his laughter. He was enjoying this.

“It’s true, Sarah,” Wes said. “I know it sounds crazy, but all of it is true.”

She sat down, shaking her head. “Is this why you wanted to get everyone together for dinner? Because you’re all in on the joke? Sorry, honey, I don’t get it.”

“It’s not a joke. You saw my hand, Sare,” Dev said. “And you know I didn’t used to be able to see without my glasses.”

“Contacts,” she answered, frowning and ignoring the hand comment.

“Can you guys actually breathe fire? When you’re human, I mean?” Ty asked. “I never did get a good answer to that one.”

“Yes,” Wes and Dev said at the same time, both blushing.

“Oh, that’s right,” Ty said. “Maybe I did hear something about that. But I mean, can you do it when you’re not fuck— uh, can you do it when you’re not… when you’re… without being…”

The man was flustered, and Sarah was starting to look irritated. Those two things were actually kind of funny, but since I could also tell that my mate was getting frustrated I decided to jump in and help.

“Yes,” I said. “We can. Want to see?”

Ty grinned, mumbling “finally” under his breath, and even Luke perked up.

“Fine,” Sarah said, waving a hand in the air. “Wow me with your dragon fire.”

“Really?” Dane asked me, quirking up an eyebrow.

I nodded, shrugging.

“Then it’s probably best outside,” he said, pushing back from the table.

Wes, Ty, and Luke all hopped up eagerly to follow him. Sarah rolled her eyes again and mumbled something about men and the meal getting cold, but she headed toward the backyard, too.

“Is this okay?” Dev asked, lingering behind for a minute.

“Of course, love,” I said, pulling him into me. “Whatever you need.”

“Enough with the lovey-dovey shit, Maks, come
on
,” Ty said from the doorway. “I’ve been waiting to see this for-fucking-ever.”

The sky was still overcast, but the light drizzle that had been coming down earlier had finally let up. Everyone had gathered around a stone fire pit set into the back patio, and Luke had already filled it with firewood. Ty was practically bouncing, and even Wes had a smile playing around his lips.

“Seriously, guys. It’s cold out here,” Sarah said, even though I couldn’t feel it. “Can we get on with whatever?”

Luke pulled her back against his front, wrapping his arms around her and clearing his throat. “Give them a chance, pumpkin,” he said. “I’m… interested to see what happens.”

She looked back at him sharply. “Luke, please don’t tell me you’re in on this, too.”