Treasure Lane Dragons: Complete Series (BBW Paranormal Dragon Shapeshifter Romance) (35 page)

Then, when she pulled back almost all the way and swirled her tongue over the tip of his penis, he was gone. She sucked him in deeper just as he couldn’t take any more, and he shot his heavy, thick load into her mouth. Long ropes of cum filled her mouth, and she swallowed it down without hesitation, licking him clean as Cillian groaned under her touch.

When he regained what modicum of sense he could hope to have after being so thoroughly decimated, he pulled her up to him, cradling her against him in his arms. He kissed her on the lips, tasting himself in her mouth as she was sure to taste herself in his. Ruby purred a little moan of satisfaction, and the beast within him settled with exhausted relief. She was his. There was little else to worry about.

„I love you,“ he said, liking the way those words rolled off his tongue.

„You better, or we’re going to have a very awkward ceremony,“ Ruby said, giggling.

Cillian kissed her on the forehead, holding her against his chest as if he was never going to let go of her again. Considering the way he felt at that very moment, he might not. She’d been taken from him one too many times, and now he was intent on keeping her safe, close and happy for the rest of their days.

„I love you too,“ she said in a soft voice, and the fire that always burned within Cillian roared to life larger than ever. It was like a kick of power straight through him, awakening his most ancient, primal parts. The love of a good woman – what couldn’t it do?

EPILOGUE

Ruby

Ruby surveyed the grounds quietly, her arms crossed on her chest as she leant on the stone railing of the Emerald Ridge keep. She’d quite taken to leaning lately. A tummy full of rambunctious dragon babies did that to a woman, after all. Well, in truth, there were only two (according to Cillian, and she was quite sure that she could take him for his word), but those two were handful enough.

Absently, she stroked one hand over the swell of her stomach, feeling a kick as her hand went over one of the dragonlings – twins were supposedly a good sign.

„There’s always more power in two than there is in one,“ Apollo Goldplains had said when he and his brother Alexander had been over for dinner some months ago, celebrating the good news.

Cillian, of course, had retorted that there was plenty of might in any Greenmeadow, alone or multiplied. The memory brought a smile to Ruby’s lips.

The horrific crashing, booming and banging had settled for the day, and Ruby had every reason to expect her husband home any moment. Their life had been a bit of a whirlwind since the wedding ceremony during the gold moon. The Goldplains had been there to bare witness, along with Devon Bluewing and his wife Gemma (also rather notably pregnant), and though the ceremony was short, Ruby could only think of it in the grandest of terms.

Cillian had taken some time off to rest and recuperate, but had taken up fixing his own problems, instead of everybody else’s soon enough.

That same night, after the ceremony, he had taken her down to the vaults under the keep and shown her his fortune. To her, it looked like countless lifetimes worth of wealth, and it had certainly felt more than enough when he made love to her on top of the piles of gold. Still, she could see it in his deep green eyes and the way his voice fell when he talked about the downward spiral of his family’s name that her husband was not quite done building the Greenmeadow riches.

Whatever he wanted to do, Ruby would support him. Considering that his mode of fixing the predicament also kept him close to home, instead of running around fixing issues for dangerous people, Ruby couldn’t really complain.

She squinted slightly, seeing something move over the mountains in the distance. It grew larger with each moment until the afternoon sun glinted off the golden green scales of her husband, heading home after a long day of literally digging for gold.

„Your daddy’s almost home,“ she whispered, looking down at her belly.

The closer he got, the better she could see that Cillian was again covered in mud and dirt, and he was loving every second of it. She watched with a sense of happiness as the large dragon landed on the roof of the keep, making the whole building shudder under his weight. Soon, there would be three dragons bounding around Emerald Ridge. If nothing else, at least the townsfolk at Emerald Court would have something to talk about.

Cillian shifted, and as soon as he was in human form, Ruby found herself in his muddy, dusty arms, getting the breath kissed out of her. She laughed as he finally let her come up for air again, grinning brighter than the sun.

„Good day, I take it?“ she asked, letting her hands trace over his wide, strong shoulders and the tattoos that ran down his arms.

She knew that under his shirt, right above his heart, he now wore a tattoo with her name and a golden green dragon coiled protectively around it.

„We’re getting close, yes,“ Cillian said with a nod, before leaning down and laying a smacking kiss on her stomach. „And you three? On your worst behavior?“

„Always,“ Ruby promised with a smirk.

Things were finally coming together. Uncharacteristically for a dragon, Cillian had turned out to be an avid, relentless worker. He knew there was gold in the mountains around Emerald Ridge, and he was determined to find it. His enthusiasm was infectious, and soon, Emerald Court had started teeming with life again.

The only real dark spot in their lives at the moment was Carrick. He’d all but disappeared after Cillian’s impromptu meet-up with him. Ruby had just about had to rip the words out of Cillian to hear what had happened. She understood why he didn’t want to dwell on it. If Carrick ever showed his face again, he would have to be shunned from the family. A dragon without his family wasn’t much of a dragon at all and Ruby knew it must have been eating at Cillian to make such a decision. It was the only right thing to do, though. Carrick couldn’t be trusted anymore.

Families long lost had returned and joined Cillian on his quest, setting to work on the little streams of gold he had already uncovered, while he dug for the mother load. His family barely approved, but when their coffers started filling with gold again, they couldn’t really grumble for too long. Even Cillian’s younger brothers had promised to come pitch in as soon as the babies were born.

Births were far too rare for dragons those days, and it was not unusual to have most of the kin gather when there were new dragons to be welcomed into the fold.

„You look radiant,“ Cillain said, straightening up again and kissing her gently.

Ruby’s heart warmed. Forgotten were the days when she couldn’t wait to run faster and further away. Now she was staying put and all her adventures involved the most caring, brave and smart man she had ever known. Chicago was just a distant memory, though judging by her parents’ calls, things must have been going well.

The Accardos and the Crimson Fang Riders had stuck to their deal, and it seemed it might have been the best call they could have made. With less reason to oppose either faction, the streets had become calmer and even safer – funny how life worked itself out.

„I look pregnant,“ Ruby bit back, laughing.

„I believe the two are not mutually exclusive.“

Cillian’s arm wrapped around her, and she sighed contentedly. She had gold chains braided through her locks that made her long red hair twinkle with a gilded glow. On private days like this, she also wore the tiara Cillian had meant to give her when she went missing. A gorgeous emerald pendant framed in bright and gorgeously carved gold rested around her neck. It had been the dragon stone that had brought her back to him, and now it was a symbol of their love, turned into the emerald necklace during the ceremony.

In the beginning, it had felt odd wearing such lavish jewelry, but the way Cillian looked at her when she wore them – as if she were the most precious gem of all, making the jewels pale in comparison – gave her plenty of incentive to keep wearing them.

„You know, Apollo invited us to one of their concerts,“ Cillian said, leading her towards the door that would allow them entrance into the keep.

„I have not seen him or Alexander for much too long,“ Ruby said, leaning against Cillian.

The Goldplains brothers held a special place in her heart. As if called by some greater force, the duo had arrived in Chicago just in time to help her get Cillian back to Colorado. They’d healed him with their presence, and Alexander had even helped Ruby find a doctor in the area so she could finish her residency. She was going to start her own practice in Emerald Court as soon as she had had the babies and felt comfortable with spending some time away from home.

Considering how fast the town was growing, they were going to need a good doctor.

„Well, hopefully their absence has been due to happy reasons,“ Cillian said with a chuckle. „We haven’t exactly made ourselves publicly available either.“

„How about you make yourself privately available for me?“ Ruby teased, ducking into the keep. She yelped as he grabbed her ass, batting him away.

That man could make her flame with need at the slightest touch, no matter how pregnant, tired or grouchy she got. And, best of all, she was sure it would never change. This one was for keeps.

„After you shower!“

„Only if I can take you with me,“ Cillian growled, picking her up in his arms like she barely weighed more than a feather.

Her hands locked around his neck, and Ruby gladly let herself be carried off to a very
steamy
shower. Rebelling was so much more fun when there was someone to do it with.
 

B
ILLIONAIRE
D
RAGONS’
F
ATED

T
REASURE
L
ANE
D
RAGONS

B
OOK 3

BY

A
NYA
N
OWLAN
 

CHAPTER ONE

Jade

Jade watched silently as the streetlamps passed by one at a time, lighting the inside of the tour bus with a ghostly glow. She had one hand against the glass with her head resting on it, and her legs gathered up to her chest. It was late at night, and their sizeable convoy was rolling down the long, empty highways somewhere in Arizona. They were heading for California, if Jade remembered correctly.

She’d been on the verge of tears and panic for a day now. Jade still couldn’t believe what she’d seen. How could something like that happen at all? She ran her hands through her hair, frustrated at the turns her life had decided to take.

The bus was eerily quiet with the crewmembers huddled up on their assigned seats and trying to get some shut-eye before another grueling day of concerts and rock magic.

The Death Wing tour bus wasn’t particularly inspiring – at least not the one Jade was in. She knew that the leads of the band, Cameron and Colt Blackscale, had pretty lavish digs, but the rest of the band had to be thankful for twin seats on a rundown bus that could just as well have been a Greyhound, only with more equipment crammed into it and less space to go around.

How the fuck did I get here,
Jade wondered for the umpteenth time, honestly confused as to how her life had manage to take such a sharp turn into the fantastic.

Visions of last night still danced in her mind. Leathery, shiny black scales, red eyes that burned like the flames of hell, bodies that looked like a cross between long lost dinosaurs and the most fearsome snakes… Jade shook her head.

Dragons. How dumb is that? Dragons aren’t real!

Jade tried desperately to convince herself, but it didn’t seem to stick. She’d been telling herself the same thing ever since she’d snuck into the arena where her band had played that night and paid witness to Cameron and Colt Blackscale morphing from towering, handsome men into terrifying monsters that lorded over the arena like something out of fairy tales. Her stomach churned.

What the hell was she supposed to do after something like that?

Sure, she knew shifters existed. And she knew that they liked to keep out of the public eye just as much as the public at large wanted to forget all about the fact that they ever existed. But dragons? You’d think someone would at least write a sensational headline if there were actual
dragons
out there, wouldn’t you!?