Love Bites Extra Hard (Mated to the King #5)

Chapter 4

four

TALON

Avery was fighting to keep her eyes open when I finally set her down on the bed in her room. I inhaled discreetly, making sure there were no other scents from curious dragons inside. I’d marked her bedroom as off-limits, but they didn’t always listen.

Everything that had happened in the last handful of hours was a mind-fuck.

Her offer to come with me, for the sake of preventing a war I’d never be stupid enough to start?

Much better than I’d hoped.

Landing on the roof and catching her scent? Having to fight to stop myself from taking her in my arms and pinning her to the nearest wall?

Disorienting, to say the least.

Losing my first scale and realizing exactly what she was to me?

It was enough to drive any sane male mad with lust. And given my job, I barely qualified as sane most of the time.

“We should talk about you biting me,” she murmured, adjusting her pillow as I straightened.

“There’s nothing to say. Your magic was strong. I was either going to bite you or fuck you, and I figured you’d prefer my teeth to my cock.”

Her eyes flashed with heat.

Interest.

Her scent changed with it, too.

The woman had been lusting after me since the first moment I saw her, and the feeling was mutual.

“Biting is supposed to mean something, Talon.”

I knew damn well what it meant.

It meant she was mine. Permanently. That no one else could have her. That there was a male who had claimed her, and anyone else who tried would have to deal with a big, angry fucker.

And it meant exactly that to me.

I just didn’t want her to know it. Not yet. Not when she still thought I’d abducted her to force her to mate with me.

“If you don’t have a problem with casual sex, I don’t see why casual biting should be any different,” I said instead.

Her scent thickened. “You’re attracted to me.”

That was such an understatement, it felt like a joke.

“Don’t pretend you don’t feel the same. I can smell how wet you are right now, Ave.”

“If I feed from you right now, we’re going to fuck,” she said, studying me.

My cock throbbed.

I liked that idea. A lot.

“Might have more control in the morning,” I forced myself to say.

She nodded. “Probably better to wait.”

I didn’t move, though.

I wasn’t sure I could.

Sleeping away from her would be difficult, to say the least.

“Can you get all scaly like he can?” she asked me.

She didn’t want me to leave either. Our attraction was all physical for the moment—but it would grow into more. It always did.

“Of course.”

“Can I see?”

“I’m not a zoo animal any more than I’m a pack mule,” I grumbled, but pulled my shirt over my head. She watched in fascination as I shifted my skin to scale. The scales were smaller in this form—more like a snake than a dragon.

None of us spent time with just our skin shifted. It was uncomfortable.

She lifted a hand to my scales and carefully dragged a finger over one of them. The sharp edge caught her sensitive skin, and a drop of her blood polluted the air.

I growled, lifting it to my mouth and sucking it clean.

She let out a soft breath. “We might as well just get it over with. Fuck it out of our system. I never want the same man twice.”

I scoffed.

If she had me once, she’d never want another male again. I’d ruin her for them.

And that was exactly what I wanted. Needed.

A few of my scales were uncomfortably loose. When I released her and dragged a rough hand over my chest, two of them fell. They’d grow back to their dragon size after a few minutes.

“If you want to fuck me, then fuck me,” I said, and her lips curved upward.

“You like a dominant woman, Tal?”

I liked her .

Whether she was dominant, submissive, or both, we’d both have the time of our lives when we were together. Fate wouldn’t allow it any other way.

“I like a woman who knows what she wants and takes it.”

Her smile grew sharper.

More wicked.

She grabbed the beltloop on my jeans and tugged me toward her, until I was on the bed and positioned over her.

“Shift back,” she said, her gaze hot.

I followed the command, lowering my cock against her. I heard the soft falls of a few more scales, but ignored them.

The last thing I needed was for her to ask questions about them.

“Roll over,” she ordered.

I grabbed her by the hips and rolled her with me, positioning her over my cock. The sharp side of a fallen scale was digging into my lower back, but after the way they’d cut my female, I deserved much worse than that.

“You like being in charge, A?”

“You have no idea,” she breathed, and kissed me.

The first brush of her lips wasn’t soft. It wasn’t sweet. There was no wondering, or questioning.

It was taking. Demanding. Burning.

And the first pull of her magic?

It was electric.

The second was pure, unbridled pleasure.

The third was so good, I almost came in my fucking pants.

I had myself under control with the fourth. The bite of her hunger was ecstasy, but after my first exposure in the prison, I was better equipped to work with it instead of against it.

A brush of my hand under her sweater, over her bare ribs, eased my need.

She deepened the kiss.

I pushed her sweater up further and her top with it, exposing her perfect little breasts in the thin, unpadded bra she had on. I pulled my mouth from hers and caught her nipple between my teeth, over the sheer fabric. She sucked in a sharp breath, surprised that I’d managed to resist her complete and utter control.

I’d researched sirens, when the other kings started mating with them. I knew enough to be sure that when Avery said she was stronger than most, she meant that her magic was a wrecking ball. She never wanted another man twice because he couldn’t fight her magic—but I could.

And I would.

In every way she could ever want.

Her power felt good, but the forceful hit of her magic as she pulled my mouth off her breast and back to her lips was even better.

I let her have her way, kissing her brutally as she rocked against my cock. The scent of her need was getting much stronger. She was realizing that she could take what she wanted from me, but that I’d take what I wanted right back.

I pulled away long enough to tug her sweater over her head. Her top went with it, and her bra, too

The thing was barely a bra. I’d seen the points of those sexy little nipples through the thin fabric of her top the moment I’d walked through the room. Even if it hadn’t been cold, I would’ve come up with an excuse to get a sweater on her.

Her body was mine to see, and mine alone.

She recaptured my mouth and leaned into my touch as I grabbed those perky little tits, squeezing and kneading. She rocked against me. The scent of her desire, of her desperation, was so thick I was basically drinking it.

My little female wasn’t used to men who could match her.

Men strong enough to have their way with her when her magic hit them.

But she was going to adjust, and she was going to enjoy it.

I rolled her over again, making her gasp into my mouth as I ground my cock against her core. She felt so fucking good, but I wasn’t going to take what I wanted.

Not tonight.

Tonight, I was just going to make her feel good, and prove to her that she’d want me more than once.

I thrust against her clit, and she cried out with every motion. Her fingers moved over my bare shoulders, desperate and searching. Her hands finally found my hair, and tangled in the strands.

She came with a cry, and I took the opportunity to get my mouth on those pretty little nipples again. I licked. Sucked. Played.

Avery’s hips rocked, her entire body flushed as she panted and fought, trying to retake control.

“If you want me to stop, say the words, Ave,” I growled.

“No. Don’t stop,” she moaned, her body still rocking and fighting.

She wasn’t used to letting go, but she’d get there.

I pressed a palm between her thighs as I devoured her tits, and she pushed it against her harder as she writhed for me, her movements growing desperate.

I dragged my teeth over her nipple, and she screamed as she shattered.

I wanted my mouth on her center. Her pleasure on my tongue. Her body wrapped around my cock.

But with our future on the line, I could wait as long as I needed to.

I gave her nipple one last suck before I pulled my hand out from between her thighs and kissed the mark I’d left on her neck. She was panting, her gorgeous hazel eyes bright and dazed at the same time.

“If you’re still hungry in the morning, I’ll feed you again,” I said.

Confusion fluttered in her eyes for a moment, but she was so satisfied, it didn’t last.

I stood up, grabbing my shirt off the bed and tugging it over my head. There were probably half a dozen scales on her mattress, but it was better that she find them than I mention them.

She was nowhere near ready for that conversation yet.

“I’ll bring breakfast in the morning. Stay here until then, to avoid the unmated males.”

She was worried she’d be one of their fated mates, but I knew that wasn’t a possibility. I just didn’t want her near them.

She nodded, her eyes growing heavier with sleep.

“You did good today, Ave. Thank you.”

She made a soft noise of surprise, and I strode out of the room. I didn’t bother locking the door behind me. After I changed, I’d be back to guard it all night. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d be able to sleep with that much space between us, so sitting outside the door was the best I could do.

Stella was waiting for me in the hallway, leaning up against the wall. She was spinning one of my fallen scales between her fingers. I plucked it from her grasp and tucked it in my pocket. I would add it to Avery’s stash in the morning.

“Can’t say I saw this coming,” she remarked, stepping away from the wall to walk down the hall with me.

My room was only a few yards from Avery’s, but my sister wouldn’t leave without an explanation.

“What happened?” she asked.

I lifted a shoulder as we stopped in front of my door. “She smelled good when I landed on the roof. When the first scale fell, I realized why.”

Stella’s forehead creased. “Did you tell her what it means?”

“No. I told her it was normal, and didn’t explain the situation that made it normal.”

The crease deepened. “Lying seems like a bad call in this situation, Talon.”

“I didn’t lie. I just didn’t offer up more information than she needed. She thinks she sacrificed herself to the big, bad dragon king to save her sisters from war, Stell. If I tell her now, she’ll go on the defensive.”

“If you don’t, she’s going to be pissed that she fooled around with you without knowing it meant something,” she warned.

“Even if she knows the truth, it’s not like I’ll force her to seal the bond. The fact that it exists doesn’t negate her free will. This is my opportunity to make her see that fate knows what it’s doing. If I tell her and she runs, I’ll never get that chance.”

“If she ran, you could catch her.”

“And confirm what she thinks about me being her abductor.”

Stella sighed. “I get it. It’s not an ideal situation.”

“No, it’s not.”

But she was my ideal woman.

“Alright, I won’t say anything unless I have to,” she agreed. “But you can’t wait too long to tell her. She deserves to know.”

That perfect little female had no idea what was coming for her, and the thought made it hard to suppress a wicked grin.

Because she was my fated mate.

And she might not want me yet, but by the time I was done with her, she would be mine in every fucking way there was.