Chapter 11
Please let him be okay.
Brooks studied the still figure stretched out in his bed. He reached forward to brush his hair from his eyes. His fingers lingered on that red streak.
He has to be okay.
After the first message, Brooks had jumped to his feet and raced for the square. He found Keres holding a limp figure, with Drake in dragon form spitting fire down the alleyway. Drake had blocked him from running to Rogan.
When Drake stopped the flames, Rogan hadn’t moved. They’d brought him to his mansion, hoping for the best. Brooks guessed from their faces, they didn’t think he’d recover.
Daddy? Can you hear me?
Brooks tried communicating through their connection for the millionth time. Rogan didn’t answer.
Struggling to hold on to hope, Brooks dropped his forehead down to Rogan’s hand. He had to get better.
The press of Rogan’s hand against his skin reminded him of the tour through his head. That door. Three locks secured the door. His connection with Rogan had strengthened when he’d opened that second lock. What would happen if he unlocked the third? He’d never asked.
Could he find his way back to the door? He had to try.
Brooks focused on Rogan’s hand pressing against his forehead. He followed the steps Rogan had coached him through. When he faced the darkness of his mind, Brooks searched for the red light. It darted here and there, eluding him. Stubbornly, he focused.
There!
He traced the light back to his door. The sight of the heart with his and Rogan’s names made his eyes water. Brooks ignored his tears. He could cry later. He reached forward to that third lock.
Expecting it would be as tough to rotate as the second was, Brooks powered it open. A rush of sensations flooded him as the lever turned easily. Suddenly, he had access to Rogan’s mind.
Nausea welled up inside him as absolute dizziness struck him. How was Rogan surviving this? Brooks had no idea which way was up. He tightened his fingers on the soft bedding on their bed. That tethered him slightly, slowing down the spin of the images swirling around him.
Brooks?
Daddy. I’m here. Help me find you.
Get out of my mind, Brooks. It’s too dangerous for you here.
I’m not going anywhere.
It took every ounce of his concentration, but Brooks searched for something to help him. A red flash appeared on the fringe of his sight. Before he could lock in on it, the light was gone, but now he had a plan. He ignored the topsy-turviness around him and tried to spot it again.
The third time, he had the red streak fixed in front of him. Wading through the chaos streaming around him, Brooks ignored everything except that light. With each step he took, Rogan’s presence grew stronger.
Daddy. I’m coming. Look for me.
Brooks, the longer you stay in here, the harder it will be for you to escape. Go now, mate. I love you.
To hell with that. You’ve fought this long. Fucking swim through this nightmare to meet me. Come now, Daddy.
I’m going to spank you so hard.
I’m going to hold you to that promise, Daddy.
His energy faded each second he stayed in this disorderly space. The whirling memories and information inside Rogan’s brain tempted Brooks to lose track of that path he followed. Brooks pushed away his curiosity and put one foot in front of the other.
Frightful creatures beset him. Most kept their distance, but as he got closer, Brooks had to dodge a few and chanced losing his connection with Rogan. He didn’t know if they would or could hurt him, but he wouldn’t risk it.
Brooks reached a section of a deep valley between steep cliffs. Once inside, the smooth rock faces would pin him inside like a trap. He debated. Scale the mountains or take that dangerous path through the darkness? He chose the quicker path through the valley. Climbing over the mountains would take too long. His energy wouldn’t last.
Entering the dark passage, Brooks didn’t glance left or right to spot anything lurking to harm him. A vicious swipe of something sliced his arm. Blood welled from the wounds and rolled down his arm. Red droplets soaked into the dirt. He jogged forward, wasting part of his dwindling energy to get away from whatever that was. Brooks ripped his T-shirt down the center of his chest so he could maintain his focus and wrapped the material around his biceps.
An ear-shattering roar sounded above him. Brooks sped up into a run. He could see the end of cliffs in front of him. The rush of wind ruffled his hair. He threw himself into the dirt and shouted when talons raked over his back. For the first time, Brooks doubted that he’d reach Rogan. Out of the edges of his fixed gaze, he spotted familiar red scales.
Daddy! Call off your dragon.
He’s not listening to me. Get out of here, Brooks!
The desperation in Rogan’s voice sent bone-chilling fear through him. He pushed himself up to his feet and pelted forward. Rogan’s presence filled his senses. Brooks could feel and smell him ahead. His Daddy was close.
The dangerous sound of flapping wings sounded above him. He had to make it a few more feet. The temperature rose around him. Brooks heard the dragon inhale and knew flames would follow.
I love you, Daddy.
Red light flared around Brooks, obliterating his vision. He squeezed his eyelids closed as he continued his forward progress and slammed into an immovable object. Daddy, I’m not going to make it.
I’ve got you, Brooks. A powerful arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him close.
Brooks forced his eyes open. Daddy!
Relief burst over him as Brooks realized Rogan had him. Brooks peeked above them to see a red glowing dome extending around them. Rogan projected the barrier from the fingertips of a hand he held over their heads.
Somehow with that flickering shield, Rogan protected them from the dragon’s fire. Brooks could feel Rogan pulling the dragon toward him. Rogan needed to reconnect himself with his beast. In the tumult, the dragon shifter had lost the other half of his essence.
Brooks could see the dragon hesitate. He had to be attracted by the red light of the protective shield. The fierce creature landed and paced forward. Pressed against his Daddy, Brooks hugged him tighter as Rogan begin to shake from the effort to reconnect with the rampaging beast. Brooks funneled the last of his energy through their mate connection and Rogan drew on it to steady himself.
“Come on. Just a bit closer,” Rogan commanded, his voice strong and convincing.
Taking one more step forward, the dragon’s snout touched the projected light. Red sparks flew in all directions around them like a breathtaking firework explosion. Brooks buried his head against Rogan as his mate’s other arm hugged him close.
You did it, Adventurer. Rest now.
The last of Brooks’ energy drained from his body, and blackness filled him as he crumpled.
* * *
Brooks snuggled closer to the hard chest he slept on. He blinked his eyes open as his mind burst into alertness. Pushing himself up on a forearm, he studied his mate. Rogan slept peacefully. Gone was the torment that had floated across his features.
Gently dropping his head to Rogan’s chest, Brooks celebrated. He suspected his mate would never have escaped from that nightmarish environment without him opening that third lock. Brooks couldn’t imagine how his mate had survived, divided with the two distinct parts of his psyche split apart. Had the powder done that to him?
“You’re thinking very hard, Mate,” Rogan’s voice interrupted his wandering mind.
“Rogan. I thought I’d lost you,” Brooks told him, trying to hold all the emotions inside him at seeing his mate’s blue eyes staring back at him.
“I owe you a serious spanking. Luckily for your bottom, I need food and water first.”
“Do you need to go hunting?”
“Yes. Run to tell Sara to send word to isolate a half dozen cows in the back pasture while we get dressed.”
Rogan had never taken him when he’d eaten in dragon form. “I’m going this time?”
“I can’t be away from you. And my dragon needs to see you,” Rogan told him.
“Um… I’m not sure I want to see the beast that attacked me.”
“That’s why he wants to see you,” Rogan told him.
Brooks nodded. He wouldn’t argue with Rogan this soon after almost losing him.
“Should you tell the horde you’re okay? Someone came every day to check on you.”
“They felt me wake up but aren’t intruding in my thoughts now. Where’s May?”
“She’s staying with my grandmother.”
“I owe Elenore my thanks. May needs our help,” Rogan shared, sitting up. “Food first. Dragons and May next. Spanking and burying myself in your bottom after that.”
A wave of heated desire filled Brooks’s mind. Instantly, he was harder than steel. “Whoa!”
“You’re going to want to close that third lock, Adventurer. There is no buffer now between our minds.” Rogan stood up and stroked over his own hard shaft.
Brooks struggled to keep his eyes from rolling back in his head. “Daddy,” he whispered.
“Perhaps there’s one thing I need to do before you flip that lock closed, Adventurer.”
Rogan dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed and pulled Brooks close. Grabbing the elastic band of the borrowed sweatpants Brooks wore, he ripped them down the front.
“Those were yours!”
Passion filled Rogan’s eyes, taking Brooks’s breath away. Who cared about pants? He leaned back to watch as Rogan wrapped his powerful hand around Brooks’s now exposed shaft. Arousal overwhelmed him. He could feel everything Rogan did.
Rogan slowly lowered his head to wrap his lips around his cock. Liquid warmth surrounded him, making Brooks groan. The reciprocal taste of his own skin filled his mind simultaneously. Brooks’s cock spurted a small amount of fluid, giving Brooks a taste of his own come as Rogan hummed in delight.
“This is mind-blowing,” he whispered, and Rogan intensified his pull on Brooks’s erection. A deep groan tumbled from Brooks’s lips as his fingers curled into the covers below him.
Just wait…
With that mental message, Rogan swirled his tongue along the sensitive length of Brooks’s cock. Brooks shook his head, already struggling for control. He didn’t want this to end. Not yet.
Rogan slid a hand up Brooks’s thigh to cradle his balls in a gentle grip that contrasted infinitesimally with the power contained in the dragon shifter’s grip. When Rogan tugged, Brooks thrust his hips up toward his mate, driving his shaft into the warmth of Rogan’s mouth.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Brooks chanted, not sure how much Rogan could handle.
Amusement filled Brooks’s mind. Pleasure pushed that away as Rogan swallowed. Brooks had never experienced anything like this. Rogan pushed his arousal hard, raising and lowering his mouth around Brooks’s cock. When Rogan’s finger strayed to press on that small patch of flesh between his sac and his puckered opening, Brooks lost it.
“Fuck!” Brooks shouted into the room as he exploded into the heat of Rogan’s mouth.
When his mate released his cock and sat up to meet his gaze intimately as he licked his lips, Brooks’ mind was too shattered to talk. He shook his head at Rogan in disbelief.
Rogan smiled and gathered Brooks’s torso to his own. He held him tightly until Brooks recovered.
“That’s dangerous,” Brooks whispered.
“Thank you for thinking of deepening our connection. Torn apart from my dragon, I don’t think I would have escaped from my mind,” Rogan admitted.
“Whatever that powder is, we need to stop them,” Brooks told him.
“We will. First, close the lock?” Rogan asked.
When Brooks nodded, he continued, “Then, food. Let’s go get dressed and we’ll alert the household that you rescued me. That is, if they didn’t hear you,” Rogan teased.
Brooks stuck out his tongue at his mate as his face heated. He’d blushed more in the last month than he remembered in his teen years. And he loved every minute of their time together.