Chapter Four
It started small. Maverick seemed calm enough sitting with Isaac and speaking with his family.
But the third time his cousin approached with questions that Isaac only heard half of, the growling started.
When his sister came to join them and started telling stories about her latest adventures traveling with a group that might be considered modern day pirates, his grip around Isaac’s waist became uncomfortably tight, and no amount of steady reassurance along their bond seemed to help.
His breaking point came when someone started asking Isaac about school and somehow the topic of his old professor came up.
Just the reminder of the attempted attack set Maverick off and smoke started filling the room as his temper held on by a thread.
Not wanting Maverick to blow up at his family, he stood and ushered his mate toward the front door. “I think we’re going to take a walk. I didn’t get to see everything the last time Maverick gave me a tour.”
Since they were all dragons or mated to dragons, no one commented on the lie.
It wasn’t technically a lie, it would take days to see the whole city, but it wasn’t why he was taking a break from the festivities, and they all knew it.
No one complained about their leaving, not even Maverick’s mother, who gave him an almost imperceptible nod before distracting everyone else with more snacks.
Stepping outside, he drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
With their bond fully formed, he could sometimes settle Maverick with his own meditation and deep breathing like he had when they first started the bonding process.
As long as people didn’t continue to pull the dragon’s tail, that is.
Maverick let out a grumble, wrapping himself around Isaac’s back and pressing his face into his hair again. His grumpy dragon was at his limit with his family, and they hadn’t even served dinner yet.
He considered his options carefully. In the office, if Maverick got to this point, he distracted him with sex.
It was his favorite way to settle his mate, and Maverick had even made noises about making the office soundproof while they were away on holiday so they wouldn’t be overheard in the future.
He obviously had no intention of changing the way Isaac settled him.
But he found it hard to imagine they could disappear into a back room somewhere for a quickie with the house filled to the brim with Maverick’s family.
Dragon shifters had good hearing. He wasn’t sure the house was big enough for them to get away with it without being overheard.
The whole city was full of dragons, though. Even if they found a hotel, his possessive mate would take issue with anyone being able to overhear them. And he wasn’t interested in going all the way home just to settle the dragon.
He scanned the city with a frown, his eyes skipping back to the waterfall after glossing over it. That might work.
The door to the house opened and Ferina stuck her head out, making a face at her brother. “Mav, stop being such a grump and get back in here. You’d think at your age, you would have learned to control your temper!”
Maverick’s responding growl was threatening, but Ferina either didn’t hear it for what it was, or didn’t care. She turned her attention to Isaac instead.
“Come on, Isaac. You shouldn’t have to miss the party to baby him. We’re bringing out board games, and I’ve heard of your scrabble skills. Ditch the grump and get in here.”
Oh. Oh no. Ferina was off her rocker if she thought it was a good idea to try to lure Isaac away when Maverick was already close to losing his temper.
His head whipped up, and he bared his teeth at his sister, the snarl he let out enough to make her hesitate.
It was enough to make Isaac stiffen, and he wasn’t in any danger.
If he was on the receiving end of that snarl, he might have actually been worried.
“Ferina, maybe you should go back inside,” Isaac suggested cautiously. “Maverick needs a break.”
She studied her brother a little closer, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “You know, I’d probably lose my mind if my mate was that possessive and annoying. How can you stand it?”
Wrong thing to say. She was basically waving a big red flag in front of a bull who looked ready to tear his little sister to pieces. As a member of the younger siblings club, Isaac knew when a fellow younger sibling had gone too far. Time to get the dragon’s focus back on him.
Twisting out of Maverick’s grasp, he took a few big steps back, eyes locked on his mate when he swung around with another snarl.
Isaac felt his heart rate kick up, a delicious trill of excitement zipping up his spine.
The last time they played this game, he’d been too reckless.
This time, he had better control. And there were no tall buildings to make things scary.
“Come on, baby. You want your mate so bad, you need to catch me first.”
He didn’t wait for Maverick to respond, spinning on his heel and racing out the front gate, heading in the direction of the waterfall.
He used a bit of magic to give him a boost of speed, ducking down an alley to force Maverick to use his human form to keep up with him.
He did not want his dragon out right now.
That would almost guarantee a rage if someone got in his way.
He could hear the pounding footsteps as Maverick chased after him, and he felt a grin stretch across his face as he raced down another alley, following the pull of water on his senses when he got deep enough into the city that he couldn’t see around the buildings.
He didn't want to make the chase too easy, so he hid at least once, watching Maverick pass him in a hurry only to snarl and make chase again when Isaac darted in another direction with a laugh.
It wasn’t terrifying like the first time.
Instead, it was thrilling, especially knowing what he had planned for when he eventually got captured.
Even Maverick was enjoying it, if the underlying lust thrumming along their bond was anything to go by.
He was still riled up, still pissed, but the distraction was definitely working.
Now all Isaac had to do was to get to the waterfall without getting caught first. He wasn’t sure he could trust his dragon not to attempt to take him wherever he was caught, just because he wasn’t entirely in his right mind.
Maverick always said his dragon side was a horny bastard, which was why he couldn’t resist knotting Isaac every chance he got.
He felt a tug on his senses, fire approaching too close, and ducked, missing getting tackled by Maverick by just a hair. He yelped, heading down another alley and out onto the street that followed the river. Almost there. Almost–
Isaac made a crucial mistake when he left the safety of the alleys. He exited in an area big enough for Maverick to shift, and while his little mate was fast, his dragon was faster, and he caught him up with his claws before Isaac could get more than a dozen feet away from him.
An image of the waterfall flashed across Maverick’s mind, coming from Isaac. His intention had been to find privacy and give Maverick a chance to run out his energy. Smart mate. He deserved a reward.
Maverick dove under the water with Isaac still clutched against him, using the momentum of his shift to shove them out of the water on the other side of the falls. There was a small cave there, one he’d been to before, and it would definitely serve their purpose.
“Damn it, Maverick! You couldn’t have gone around? Now we’re both soaked!”
He could have commented that there was no other way to get to this cave, but instead he chose to fix the issue by stripping Isaac out of his clothes and tossing them aside.
And because his mate was absolutely perfect, Isaac fought him just enough to trigger his instincts, giving his dragon even more time to work out his energy.
Oh, he definitely was getting a reward later.
Flipping Isaac onto his hands and knees, Maverick ignored his startled noise, spreading his cheeks and running his tongue along Isaac’s crease, paying special attention to his hole.
“Oh, gods…” Isaac moaned, the fight leaving him in an instant.
Maverick’s growl turned pleased at the mage’s submission, and he rewarded him with another long lick. He made a meal of his mate, licking and stabbing his tongue into his hole until Isaac’s writhing movements made it almost impossible to continue.
When he sat back to fetch the lube from his wallet, Isaac flipped over, going for Maverick’s suit with frantic fingers. He tore his shirt open, buttons scattering everywhere, and Maverick growled in response, seizing Isaac’s hands and forcing them over his head.
“You’re going to regret that.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Isaac answered with a breathless grin.
No longer distracted by Maverick’s tongue, he went back to fighting, squirming in Maverick’s grip and trying to escape when Maverick pulled away long enough to shrug off his ruined shirt and jacket.
Maverick found himself grinning as well as he dragged Isaac back underneath him, only pulling his slacks down enough to free his erection.
“You’re asking for a rough ride,” he warned, ripping the lube packet open with his teeth.
Isaac’s chin lifted, defiant as always, even when he was pinned and hard underneath him. “I’m not afraid of you, dragon. Show me what you’ve got.”
Oh, he’d show him alright.
With the full knowledge of how much Isaac loved the stretch, Maverick skipped prep entirely, yanking one of Isaac’s thighs up to expose him and lining himself up to his hole without warning.
Isaac’s eyes widened in surprise, his body’s only prep being the way he softened under Maverick’s tongue, but he didn’t stop him or even protest. He wriggled to get closer, gasping when Maverick pushed inside him, and threw his head back on a moan as Maverick sank into him, slowly so as not to hurt him, but steady and without mercy.
“Oh, gods, oh, gods, oh, gods!” Isaac shouted, his unpinned leg wrapping around Maverick’s waist to drag him closer. “Maverick!”
“You should know by now what happens when you run from me, mate,” he growled against Isaac’s ear, bottoming out with a grunt.
He gave his gorgeous mate no time to adjust before drawing his hips back and slamming back inside again.
Isaac wailed, head lashing side to side as pleasure and pain mixed together.
Maverick felt the echo of it along their bond, the burn only amplifying the pleasure until he could do nothing but feel it.
“No matter how far you go, I’ll always catch you and remind you exactly who you belong to. ”