Chapter 12
HART
When we finally tumbled into bed, I couldn't shake the inkling I'd let Santa down.
His idea of restful sleep would have to wait.
He wasn't a shifter, so he didn't know how taxing it was to prance and play with his mate's beast for the first time.
Flying the sleigh was one thing; air dancing required muscles I didn't use all that often, and boy, were they tired.
Silver got ready for bed first. When I joined him under the covers, his light snores were too adorable to resist. I cuddled against him and fell asleep.
"Keys to the Volkswagen. Fill 'er up when you're done. No flying dragons in Copenhagen."
Well, that was a problem. "I don't know how to drive."
"I do," Silver said from behind me. "Coffee?"
I poured two cups and showed him the note from Santa. A set of keys on a race car keychain lay beside it.
"How do you know how to drive a car?" I asked.
"Gold and I haven't always had a bakery in Christmas Village. We used to fly to Longyearbyen and then drive to work."
Once we finished our coffee, I tucked Santa's purchase order agreement into my jacket pocket, and we were off.
Silver's driving reminded me of my papa on a snowmobile, slow and careful.
I plugged the address into my phone, and we followed the turn-by-turn directions to a lovely brick storefront decorated for Christmas.
Inside, we found all the trappings of a dry goods store and some amenities I wasn't expecting, like a phone charging station and an ATM.
The shop mixed old-fashioned flair with new technology.
I was surprised to find the same brands as the North Pole.
Santa 30 was on the board to provide food for Christmas Village, but I hadn't realized how much had come from here.
I also found it interesting that we wouldn't buy enough salt for everyone at the North Pole. We would provide only for Gold, Silver, and Laurie. If the Christmas Village bakers had misused their salt, that was their fault.
Since Santa 30 insisted on our daily runs to Gold and Silver's, I couldn't remember the last time I ate something from a village baker. Now that I knew Silver was my mate, I was even less likely to shop in the village.
I didn't want to examine my reasons too closely. Was that because the village vendors were snobby? Or was it because my cousins might see me in the village? Yes, the vendors could be snobbish, but my cousins were assholes.
No Comets would catch me shopping in Denmark. For the first time in a long time, I felt comfortable in my skin. My confident swagger returned when I thought of Silver. My mate was a giant silver dragon! I wished everyone at the North Pole could see us fly together, the way we had last night.
Silver and I split up to search the aisles. I found a young woman stacking cans into a pyramid and asked, "Where's Les?" Their name was at the top of the purchase order.
She smiled and nodded at me, said something in Danish, and pointed to the door on the opposite end of the building, beside the cash register.
"Thank you." I met Silver at the register, and together, we knocked on the door. "Les?" I called.
The door creaked inward, and a small person with a thick mop of dark curls looked up at me through thick glasses. "Who's asking?"
"I'm Hart Comet, and this is Silver." I waved, hoping the first name and the color of his hair was enough to pass muster. My cheeks heated as I realized I didn't know my mate's last name. Maybe dragons didn't have last names. "We have a purchase order for two bags of salt."
They nodded. "Come inside."
I gave them the purchase order, and they read it with a smile. "Dante's been busy this season, I take it. Or are you his favorites?"
"Dante?" He'd always been Santa 30 to me.
"My sister and I own his favorite bakery," Silver said. "He sends his team every weekday, and he often stops by on the weekends."
They smiled. "He always had a sweet tooth.
It's good to know he's found somewhere he likes.
For years, he complained about the horrible village bakeries.
" They winked. "Never said what village, though I have my guesses.
" They motioned for us to follow through a narrow door into a large storeroom.
Along the back wall were large bags of sugar, flour, and salt.
"Two of these," Les patted the stack of twenty-five-pound bags, "though I'm willing to part with a third if you'll tell me where you're going. "
"Near Longyearbyen," Silver said. It wasn't close by human standards, but I didn't argue. "Beautiful place."
"Cold." Les shook their head. "No, thanks. I'll stay where we have mild winters."
We packed the three bags of salt into the back seat of the Volkswagen.
On the way back to the cabin, I was grateful for the way Silver eased on the gas pedal instead of trying to get from zero to sixty in however many seconds.
If we'd wrecked, or even stopped too quickly, the salt could have ruined Santa's car.
Back at the cabin, my skin prickled with anticipation the moment Silver switched off the ignition.
I hurried out of the passenger seat to grab the top bag of salt and secure it to the flatbed behind the practice sleigh's bench seat.
Silver helped me secure the bungee cords so the bags wouldn't shift during the flight. We worked well together.
I hooked the last cord into place and looked up from where I kneeled beside the sleigh.
Silver stared down at me from his hunched position.
The moment our gazes met, I could no longer resist my desire to kiss him.
I lunged for him, and he leaned into me.
Our mouths collided in a flurry of lips, teeth, and tongues.
Despite being so far from the North Pole, it felt like a homecoming.
Somehow, we made it back to Santa's guest bedroom, our clothes flying along the way until we both stood naked at the foot of the bed, unable to let go or stop kissing long enough to get comfortable.
Finally, Silver dropped his forehead to my shoulder, his breath tickling along my collarbone. "I'm so turned on, I could probably come like this."
I swallowed hard against the lump of fear in my throat. Never before had I asked for my most taboo desire. If my gorgeous omega turned me away for wanting something no alpha should want, I would be devastated.
Instead, I put my trust in fate. "What if I want you to come inside me?"
He lifted his head, and his steel gaze bored into me. "Yes."
If he'd have questioned me, I probably would have chickened out and settled for mutual handjobs or blowjobs, but his immediate agreement activated my submissive side, a part of me so small and abandoned, he rarely saw the light of day.
Beneath Silver's intense gaze, I felt seen: all my broken parts, habits, and foibles that didn't fit with being an alpha Comet. I wanted my omega to fuck me, to hold me down and shove his cock inside me until I was full enough to burst from the sheer humiliation.
I tried to turn away, but Silver grabbed my chin and held my gaze. "It's okay to want me to fuck you," he whispered. "What two people do in their bedroom is nobody else's business."
I nodded. "It's not fair to you if I can't shout it to the world. I always wanted to try it, to see if I was vers, or even if I liked bottoming more."
Silver's grin was full of sunshine and sugar. "I'd be happy to experiment with you, to see what you like most."
"Even if the results aren't … typical?"
He laughed. "They'd be our results, and no one else's business.
Who cares what other people do in the bedroom?
Besides, you'd never know by looking at them.
I've met alpha dragons who only ever get off with a vibrating egg up their asses, which is just as acceptable as any other sexual pleasure.
I know people who don't experience sexual attraction and who would rather eat cake than get naked with another person.
That's perfectly fine for them. Sexuality isn't a menu. It's more like a recipe."
"Add ass play and dragon dick, stir, and bake for fifteen minutes?"
"You won't last fifteen minutes." He winked.
I was too astounded by his confidence to fight when he picked me up and tossed me onto the bed.
Santa's sleigh bed was another exceptionally long king.
My head didn't touch the pillows, and my feet landed inches from the footboard.
Silver found towels in the bathroom and spread one under my ass before lying on top of me and kissing me until my insecurities faded, replaced by the singular need to feel him move inside me.
Silver kissed and nipped my neck, my nipples, and my abdomen before pulling my cock into his mouth.
I wanted to protest, since I wasn't going to last, but then his slicked fingers pressed against my entrance, and I couldn't think beyond experiencing the sensation.
No one had touched me there, not even me.
It felt better than I had imagined, especially after hearing Bopp's crass jokes about betas.
Silver worked me open while distracting me with his mouth on my cock. Just when I thought I would burst, he added another finger, stretching me even wider. It burned at first, but then Silver added more slick, and the magical stuff turned the burn into a gentle tingle of anticipation.
"Need you." My voice was too hoarse from want to recognize.
Silver moved off my dick with a pop. His lips shone with spit and his eyes glowed in the low light.
When he smiled, his teeth looked sharper, like they did when he partially shifted.
Instead of fear, an overwhelming need for him to fuck me, to consume my every doubt of who I was, left me trembling beneath his touch.
"Hey," he whispered. "Are you sure?"
I nodded so there was no mistake.
He added more slick around my entrance before pushing inside me with three fingers again. When he curled his fingers against my prostate, I threw my arm over my eyes and moaned. I was exposed as an alpha fraud, but everything Silver did between my legs felt too good to turn back.
His cock nudged my entrance, and I reached for him.
He was magnificent, with all-powerful arms, thick shoulders, and hard pecs above his soft, hairless abdomen.
His legs were just as muscular as his arms. As he pressed against me, I explored his soft middle, rubbing my thumbs around his navel tattoo and smoothing my hands down his sides.
When his cock sank past the tight muscle, I wrapped my legs around his hips, needing more. He fell forward, and I pulled him down, loving the glide of my leaking cock against his abs as he spread out above me, resting the bulk of his weight on his elbows and knees.
"Need to feel you move," I whispered.
"I'm not all the way in yet." His laugh was strained, like he couldn't contain the dragon who wanted to fuck me senseless.
"I can take it." I rolled my hips up to meet him, and his cock sank another inch inside.
"I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't." His slick eased the way, even when we weren't moving.
He brought his knees up under my back, and his cock slid all the way in. It stretched me even further than his fingers. Instead of burning, it felt wonderful. This was where his big omega cock belonged.
"Mate," I whispered. "Mine."
"Yours." Silver cradled the back of my head and kissed me, long, deep, and possessive, the same way his cock claimed my ass.
He moved in time with his tongue, fucking me on both ends.
When it became too hard to breathe, he dropped his head to my shoulder and fucked me harder, his flared head finding my prostate on each stroke, faster until I couldn't tell when pleasure ended or began.
All my stereotypical views of alphas and omegas shattered into a million pieces when I came from the pounding against my prostate and the rub of my cock on his abs.
Stars burst in my vision, exploding the last of my guilt.
Silver was my omega, and he wanted this as much as I did.
He froze above me as his cock pulsed deep inside, sending more waves of pleasure rippling through me.
This was what fate intended when she'd paired us together.
Refusing this part of me wouldn't be fair to either of us.
"Please say you'll fuck me like this forever," I whispered.
"Only like this?" He chuckled in my ear.
"No." I loved fucking Silver, too, and I wanted to watch him ride my knot. "All of it," I amended. "I want everything with you."
He bit down on my earlobe and then kissed along my jaw before sweeping his tongue into my mouth again. I sucked on it as though it could provide real sustenance. Maybe it did, because my heart felt fuller than ever before.