Chapter 5
SLADE
My dragon was restless, but not in the way he’d been for most of my life. This was a restlessness built of needing to finally claim his mate and pack.
In all other ways, the discord between us was settled, the distance that had kept us on opposite sides of our essence closed.
We had a new connection that both thrived and brimmed with power.
Before bonding with my twin, I hadn’t realized how weak I’d been, at odds with myself and fearful of the beast within.
All along, that disconnect had been the missing part of my soul.
Or parts, really with my twin, Talon, and my mate, Emme.
Emmeline Anders was the reason I breathed. The reason I killed. The reason I existed.
Now that I was secure in my beast, and had made the decision to bond our souls in the way designed by the goddess, she would be eternally mine.
My mate was about to find out the true depth of a dragon protecting and hoarding his treasure.
Emmeline would be owned, claimed, and fucked until she couldn’t breathe or stand, and while there was nothing gentle in my soul, for her, I’d temper the fire.
The worst symptoms of my touch aversion had faded with the healing of the rift, until it was almost nonexistent within my bonded group.
But I would still need to be the one in control.
Hunter had told me that our mate was fairly submissive during sex, which wasn’t a surprise. Her strength came in other ways.
I had no idea how this would all play out today, but every part of me was ready to take this step—denying myself for so long had been both painful and exhausting.
Emme’s scent deepened when the large, ornate elevator opened to reveal the top-floor apartment. It was a private entrance for my penthouse, though we also owned the whole building. Which, outside of occasionally hosting friends and family on the lower levels, remained empty.
“Oh my,” Emme breathed, pausing to gawk at the interior. “This is impressive, and very much how I imagined billionaires would live.”
It was plain and cold compared to our home, but filled with luxuries. “This has never been more than an escape for me. A way for my dragon to sit up here, above the world, watching over our domain.”
Emme nodded as if she understood. My little Snow was always so understanding.
As she stepped closer, her scent engulfed me and my cock throbbed. I’d been hard for hours in anticipation of what today would bring, and while I might not have experience with my mate yet, instinct was already guiding me.
I brushed against her, needing to feel her soft skin.
Her breath hitched, and she tilted her head back to meet my stare. Emme could meet my gaze in a way that few managed, and when my beast flashed into my eyes, she did the opposite of most. She stepped closer.
I brushed my fingertips down her soft, perfect skin, tracing freckles until I dipped down to gently grasp the dragon necklace she wore. She hadn’t taken it off since her birthday, and fuck if the sight of it didn’t send another wave of possessive need through me.
“My pretty little brat,” I rasped, the beast joining in my tone.
Emme’s lips parted as she swallowed roughly, her throat moving under my touch. “What are you thinking about, Scary Shifter?” she asked, her eyes so blue and wide.
My prey caught in her trap.
“I’m going to claim you very soon, Snow,” I promised, tasting her on my tongue though I hadn’t kissed her yet. “And taste that perfect cunt.”
Her scent flared; her cheeks pinkened with both need and surprise. “Fucking hell, Slade. You need to warn a girl before you descend into dirty talk. I’m not sure I’m equipped to handle that without combusting.”
Releasing the dragon pendant, I slid my hand behind her head to grip the back of her neck. When I slowly dragged her forward, she tilted her face up, not even remotely fighting my hold. She handed over control without a peep from her plump lips.
Leaning down, I scented along her throat, picking up the sweeter, deeper notes of arousal and… more. “You’re fertile,” I noted, inhaling stronger, needing more. “You want dragon babies, little mate? You want us to breed you?”
Her entire body shuddered, and she was panting in her reply. “I took the birth control potion, since my period is due any day.”
My dragon roared loudly, and Emme jerked back as if she’d heard that internal sound. Talon stepped in on the other side, trapping her between us. “Our beasts don’t like the magic blocking your fertility from us,” he murmured, voicing my internal rage.
Emme couldn’t meet his gaze as I held her chin captive, keeping her focus on me. “You’re not ready for young yet,” I said in my deepest tone. “Which we understand. But I don’t like the taint of that spell in your arousal. We want you filled with our younglings. We want to breed you.”
Her breaths came out faster and faster. “Would…” She huffed. “Would I have eggs?”
Oddly, she didn’t sound disgusted by that possibility.
“Your curiosity makes sense,” I noted, forcing myself to fall back into logic and reasoning.
I was spiraling out of control, and she was far too breakable.
“While the egg is more like an external amniotic sac, we honestly have no idea what would result in dragons born from a wolf shifter. There’s no precedence for it.
It’s been a long time since there was any of our kind to know, and we were both born from two dragons. ”
A bitter tinge edged out the sweetness of her scent. “You don’t even know if I can carry a dragon baby, do you?”
A truth I couldn’t deny, but it didn’t matter. “If dragons die out with us, then that was fate’s design,” I reminded her. “It will be a life well lived.”
Conversation faded as I leaned down, knowing that if I didn’t finally taste her, I would spew enough fire to burn the city around us. Emme gasped once more, and the sound was absorbed by my lips pressing against her. My first kiss.
Our first kiss.
My dragon heat filled the apartment and Talon’s surged as well, even as he backed up a step to give me this moment with Emme. When her lips parted under mine, her sweet taste filled my mouth, and with a roar of need I wrapped an arm around her waist to bring her closer to my height.
Hunger was an avalanche. I’d never been swept away by anything before.
But today my need crushed me.
As my tongue tangled with hers, I wanted to be closer. I needed more.
I wanted to fucking devour her.
I pressed her into the wall, her dress hiked up over her tights, and she gave herself into the kiss as she arched against me. Her scent and those small mewling sounds she made drove my beast insane.
Very quickly, I learned what she liked as I kissed her, what pressure of my lips had her scent spiking, and the way I could use my tongue to bring about a tremble in her limbs.
She was soaking through my pants as she rubbed against me, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to stop touching and tasting her. How I’d lived without Emme was beyond my understanding. Not even death could steal this bond.
“Slade,” she cried, really arching into me. My dick throbbed in my pants, and all I could think about was slamming into her, claiming and possessing. “I thought you said you hadn’t done that before.”
“I haven’t,” I said, licking up her throat, my jaw aching as I fought the urge to bite her.
Not yet.
Her pulse beat hard and fast under my touch, reminding me how delicate and soft she was.
Anyone who wanted to hurt her would have to go through me. I’d tear them into so many pieces that not even DNA would identify them.
Dropping her head back, she breathed out a reverent sound. “If this is you without experience, I might not survive experienced Slade.”
It was all instinct. “Experience isn’t important when my soul knows you better than I know myself.”
Her sob was ragged as I dragged my tongue and teeth across her jaw. “Slade, please,” she begged, and the rush of fucking power I felt wasn’t safe when dragons craved that above all else.
“Patience, Snow. Not even if the witches were standing outside our fucking door would I rush this moment.”
Her eyes rolled back in her head; small cries and moans spilled from her lips. She moved with wild abandon in my embrace, chasing her pleasure, and I had to admit that she was more than strong enough to survive this bonding. She’d been strong enough all along.
I would finally claim my mate.
By the time I set her on her feet, her pupils were blown out, and her legs buckled under her. I kept hold of her until she pulled herself together.
“That was…” She shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t have words to describe it, but high fucking five on a perfect first kiss.”
The flushed pink in her cheeks slowly dripped down her throat and under the neckline of her dress. “Take it off,” I ordered, my gaze dragging along her body. “I want to see my mate. Mine.” The last word was guttural and all dragon.
Emme’s eyes widened, but she didn’t argue, slowly lifting the blue dress to reveal a black bra beneath. “Good girl,” I murmured, and was rewarded with more pink tinting the exposed skin on her arms and chest.
As her body shuddered, she closed her eyes. “You’re going to control everything that happens here today, aren’t you.”
It wasn’t a question. She knew me.
Despite the brief time we’d truly been in each other’s lives, Emme had seen the real essence of who I was, and she was well aware of the beast and our needs.
“Will you fight my control, little one?” I asked. “You should be well aware that you’re the sole reason for my existence. I will deny you nothing. But my beast is all instinct in this claiming.”
The blue of her eyes was piercing, and she didn’t flinch away from my gaze. “No,” she said, her expression filled with a dozen emotions, but none of them fear. “I will not fight you, Slade Riverson. I want your control, because I know it won’t be for your gain. It will be for mine.”
Ah, my clever omega. “Always, sweetheart. Your pleasure. Your needs. Your release. Your desires are what makes me happy, and even more, knowing I’m the one to fulfill them.”
“And me,” Talon added, a hint of amusement in his dry tone. “My dragon likes control too, but thankfully not as strongly as Slade’s. Otherwise, we’d be in trouble here.”
Emme looked between the both of us. “Should we— is it better to do this apart? I don’t want…” She broke off again, as if searching for the right words. “I don’t want to take away from this moment with either of you by doing this together to save time.”
Until I met my twin, there would be none I’d have shared this moment with. Not even Hunter.
It wasn’t in my nature.
I was too dominant, and would be a danger to any who touched my mate during my time to claim her. But Talon was different. He was the other half to my soul, and our beasts knew we needed to do this together.
“Together,” Talon confirmed, the word echoing through our mental bond.
A smile split Emme’s face, and with it a sprinkle of nerves, but she didn’t back away.
“We will do this together, and it has nothing to with the witches,” I told her, needing to set her mind at ease. She hadn’t said anything, but I knew the way she thought. “I would be claiming you today, curse or no curse, Snow.”
She choked back a happy sob, and I wrapped her up in my arms once more.
My dragon needed his mate, and so did I.
Emmeline would be ours today in all ways, and nothing would fucking stop us.