Chapter 13
The next fewdays were peaceful.
It was strange to experience peace in the middle of heat’s intense magic, but we did.
We spent hours and hours on the porch together. I made a ton of progress on my schoolwork, and he massaged my feet like he was being paid to do it.
He wasn’t.
He just liked touching me.
Eli and Gordon had spoken with the school and gotten permission for me to finish everything as soon as I could, so I’d been working with my professors to wrap my classes up early. I needed to be done before we reached the worst of heat’s magic.
They set up my finals online, so I made my way through the last exams. The pain and warmth started slowly seeping back in, but it wasn’t too bad.
My sense of smell didn’t fade in the days that followed the bite. I found myself lifting the collar of my shirt—August’s shirt—just to inhale his scent.
He always smelled amazing.
And when heat’s magic got too difficult to deal with, we had no problem slipping into the bedroom together.
Or the shower.
Or the kitchen.
Or the living room.
I finishedmy last final a week later.
It didn’t feel as good as I’d expected it to.
It felt sort of… empty.
I blamed the feeling on heat so I didn’t worry about it.
We celebrated with an afternoon of flying, finally getting back late at night. After we threw together a dinner of leftovers, we collapsed on the couch, and August turned on a movie.
We ate while it played. Though I was snuggled up in his arms, my entire body hurt.
I was coated in sweat.
Exhaustion had set in so deep, I could almost feel it in my bones.
“Your scent tells me you’re hurting, Fireball.” August’s voice was gravelly. Though he still passed Eli’s insanity checks every day, August was getting more animalistic each time. I didn’t tell his brother that, but he had warned me repeatedly to let Eli know if I ever felt unsafe.
Even when he seemed animalistic, his focus was on making me feel good, so I wasn’t anywhere near afraid of him.
“I’m surviving,” I whispered.
It was an automatic answer.
The only one I could give without making him worry more. And despite us being a team, I didn’t want him to worry. Not if there was nothing we could do about the pain.
He pulled me closer, his chest rumbling unhappily. “We talked about lying.”
“I told you the truth. I’m surviving.” My voice was raw. “At least I’m done with school.”
“And you deserve a real celebration for that. More than I can give you.” His fingers slipped into my soft waves, and he slid them through the loose strands slowly. When he reached the ends, he looped the length around his palm and lifted it to his nose.
Though my hair was slightly damp with sweat, his cock jerked against my back.
My lips curved slightly. “You give me plenty, Auggie.” Though my voice was quiet, I hoped he could tell the words were genuine.
“Not enough.”
“I’ll go out with my friends to celebrate after this is over.”
His grip on my hair tightened. Not enough to hurt—just enough to tell me how much he hated that idea. “Where?”
“There’s a place in town that we like. Not one of the vampire clubs.”
His chest rumbled fiercely. “Stay away from the blood-drinking bastards.”
I’d told him how everything had progressed with Dickwad, so he knew what I’d been through for the most part.
We’d met at a vampire club after Randa dragged me and Vi there.
“I know.” I closed my eyes, letting out a long breath. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
Every part of me ached.
I wanted a distraction, but I was tired of what we’d been doing. He touched me, or tasted me. I touched him.
We needed more.
I bit my lip when an idea came to me.
“Your scent changed.” His growl was immediate.
“Mmhm.” I bit my lip harder.
I wasn’t sure how he would respond… but I wanted to find out.
“That smells like lust, Fireball.”
“Can you let go of my hair?”
He slowly untangled his hand from the strands.
“And put your arms up along the back of the couch?”
He worked his jaw as he forced himself to let go of me, and do what I’d asked him to with his arms. I rarely took control when we were together—and he loved being in charge.
But maybe he’d let me have a turn.
I rolled over on his lap, easing myself down over him.
When I lifted my eyes to his, I found him staring at me.
The fire that had taken over those pretty blue eyes was burning for me.
He’d realized what I had planned.
My gaze followed the thick muscles of his arms down to his hands, and found them gripping the couch.
His abdomen was tensed, too.
He didn’t move a muscle as I pulled his boxers down far enough to free his cock.
Or as lowered my lips to his hardness.
He choked on a curse when I wrapped them around his massive erection.
His hips jerked when I flicked my tongue against the underside of him.
He shook as he fought his desire when I bobbed over him, taking him deeper into my mouth.
My eyes lifted to his, and the ferocious intensity in his gaze nearly took my breath away. His jaw was clenched, and veins bulged on his neck and forehead.
He was struggling to stay in control.
To make the moment, and his pleasure, last.
I gripped his cock in my fist and released him for a moment, speaking against him. “That feel okay?”
He throbbed hard in my hand, grinding his teeth.
My lips curved upward, the bottom one still against his cock.
“If being inside you is even better than this, I don’t know how I’m supposed to make it through heat without it.” His voice was strained.
My smile curved wider. “After you finish in my mouth, I’ll let you take over.”
His eyes slammed shut.
His cock throbbed a few more times.
“You’re unreal, Fireball.”
“My specialty,” I agreed, and wrapped my lips around him again.
He choked on his chuckle, and swore viciously.
His hips jerked roughly.
His abdomen tensed, and flexed.
I bobbed once, twice—and he snarled as he lost control.
The taste of his pleasure was incredible.
It made me hotter and wetter, but not because of the heat.
Because he tasted just as good as he smelled.
Eventually, his climax ended, and I opened my eyes.
His gaze was predatory.
Fiery.
Feral.
He reached out to my face and dragged his thumb slowly over a drop of his pleasure that had escaped through the corner of my mouth.
My body throbbed too.
I wanted him to touch me.
Neededhim to touch me.
After he had the chance to take the control he craved so desperately.
August slid the bead over my top lip, coating me in more of him.
It was possessive.
Hot.
A declaration that I was his, at least for the moment.
His hands slid into my hair, taking the reins.
“You’ll tell me if I’m too rough.” It was a command, not a question.
I dipped my head slightly, and his grip on my hair tightened.
“You look perfect with my cock in your mouth, Fireball. You like the way I taste?”
I nodded again, and his grip tightened further.
“After this, I’m going to fuck you with my tongue while you blow me. Got it?”
I moaned around him.
His chest rumbled. “Good girl.”
His hips rocked slightly, and he moved my head just a little, testing me. Seeing what I could handle.
It felt good to give him the lead again. To let him decide what he wanted, and how he wanted it. To be the one giving him pleasure, instead of the other way around.
And soon enough, we ended up positioned just like he promised.
My clit on his face. His cock in my mouth.
Both of us reaching new heights of ecstasy, as we fought like hell not to let ourselves give in to what we wanted even more:
Our bodies intertwined the way they were meant to be.
We spenta few more days in bed and on the couch. We watched movies and made love with our hands and mouths, and it was amazing.
But the pain was getting worse.
I hurt constantly, only getting a break when we were actively bringing each other to climax.
Eating was a struggle.
Movingwas a struggle.
August carried me everywhere he needed to go—mainly to the kitchen, to cook more things he could try to make me eat—and growled every time my scent changed to indicate I was in more pain.
He no longer passed Eli’s sanity checks, but I’d told Eli to screw off when he asked me if I wanted him to get rid of his beastly brother.
August and I were a team, even when life was shitty.
And heat was being really shitty to me.
But I would survive.
I had to survive.
Neither of us could accept me going to jail, so survival was the only option.
I wokeup in the middle of the night in so much pain, I couldn’t rest.
I bit my cheek to keep myself from crying out, but the change in my scent dragged August from sleep as well. My back was to his chest, and we both had on underwear and nothing else. Though we wanted to sleep naked, we were both worried about what it could lead to.
“Where’s the pain?” His voice was groggy but feral.
“Everywhere,” I whimpered.
His body shook against mine as he fought his instincts.
The instincts I knew were screaming at him to strip me bare and fuck me hard.
He reached between my thighs, tearing my panties with the slightest of motions. When he pushed the fabric up my abdomen and opened my legs, I didn’t protest.
I didn’t want to protest.
I wanted him to take away my pain and fill me with his cock.
August draped one of my legs over his hips, holding me open for him, and slid three fingers inside me roughly.
The way I knew he wanted to take me.
I choked on a breath as his thumb found my clit.
As he fucked me with his hand.
As his cock throbbed between my ass cheeks, only inches from where I needed him.
The climax that followed didn’t give me the relief I needed.
“Please,” I moaned, my hips arching of their own volition, trying to pull him closer. To take what I needed.
“It kills me when you beg for me,” August snarled into my ear. “You will never have to beg when heat is over. Never. You take my cock wherever and whenever you want it.”
“I want it now.” My hand slipped between my thighs, looking for him.
He rolled me onto my back before I could grab him, pinning my body beneath his. When I fought weakly, the fire in his eyes flared brighter.
He captured my hands and pinned them above my head. “Look what you do to me, Fireball.” He sat up on his knees and fisted his cock. Drops of his pleasure dripped down to my core, and my back arched as the scent of his need mixed with my own, flooding the air.
“You like that?” He pumped his cock again, and more of his pleasure melded with mine.
I cried out, and it pushed him over the edge.
He roared, covering my clit with his desire as he lost control. His thick fingers were sliding over my hot skin again in a heartbeat, pushing the slickness of his pleasure inside me while he got me off once more.
The pain came back as soon as my lust faded away… but the scent of us lingered in the air.
It smelled better than anything else ever had.
It smelled right.
The next day,I started shivering.
Not because of the sexy times.
Because the pain was so bad I just couldn’t help it.
August swore viciously as he held me in his arms, gripping me tightly and promising he would make sure I was okay. That he would do whatever he had to, to make sure I was okay.
That washow we spent the rest of heat—trapped in bed together while I suffered and August wrestled every instinct he had.
It felt like a lifetime of pain and pleasure.
But the final day eventually passed.
As if someone had flipped a switch, my agony eased suddenly, and I could breathe normally again.
The fire in my veins seemed to be seeping out quickly.
A tired glance at the window showed there was no light creeping in through the edge of the curtains.
It was probably the middle of the night.
August’s hand slid slowly up my back. “Your temperature is going down.”
“I’m feeling better.”
“Finally.”He sounded just as exhausted as I was.
Though he hadn’t been feeling the same pain I dealt with, he’d been through his own personal hell.
“Did we make it?” I whispered.
“I think so.” His hand continued moving over my back, though the magic forcing us together was literally disappearing as we spoke.
“Holy shit.”
“Understatement.”
I laughed softly.
It didn’t hurt as much as I expected it to.
He continued rubbing my back.
The warmth I felt vanished completely, leaving me coated in a layer of cooling sweat.
Thankfully, my pain was vanishing along with the fire.
“I need a shower,” I said, suddenly very aware of the dampness between our bare bodies.
The clothes that had been in place to keep us from sealing our bond were long gone. I didn’t care where they went, either.
“I can manage that.” August’s voice was still gravelly.
He eased me into his arms, and carried me to the bathroom without pause.
My cheek met his chest. “I can handle it myself, if you want space.”
“Space is the last thing I want right now, Fireball.” His blunt answer eased my uncertainty. He set me down on my feet, and my legs shook. So, he lifted me onto the countertop and set me there. “Let me find Eli. I’ll send him into town for food.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You will be.” He kissed my forehead lightly, but lingered for a long moment before he finally left the bathroom.
Shock set in as I stared at the empty, open doorway.
We’d done it.
We’d actually survived heat without sealing the bond.
August had been right. We’d needed to become a team, and we had.
But what came next?
Uncertainty warred in my thoughts as I waited for my dragon shifter—who wasn’t mine anymore.