Chapter Draco #2
“I had to handle the paperwork, Draco. Someone had to. Mag—” Eduard’s voice faltered. He cleared his throat nervously. “Magdalen’s estate needed to be dealt with.”
“By you?” Draco asked. “Right now?”
He stalked closer, rounding the desk so there were inches between them.
“Yes. It needed—”
“No. Tell me.”
Eduard huffed and pushed Draco’s chest, but he didn’t budge. “Draco, I have to—”
“No. Tell me.”
“Tell you what! I need to take care of—”
“No.”
“Draco, stop interrupting me. Magdalen’s will—”
“No. Tell me what is bothering you.”
Eduard huffed again, shoving Draco harder this time. “My cousin died, you insensitive prick. What do you think is bothering me?”
“You’re lying to me. I want to know why.”
Eduard growled, his eyes flashing black and his features beginning to shift. “I’m not lying to—”
“I have failed as your mate. You do not trust me with your heart, with your truth.”
Eduard snarled, shoving at Draco’s chest again. His hands had become talons and they scraped across Draco’s chest, little pinpricks of pain in his skin. “This isn’t about you. Why are you being such an asshole?”
“Why are you lying to me? Why did you not come to us when you returned?”
Eduard heaved, his breath coming in angry bursts.
“Do not feel bad for killing her,” Draco commanded. “I forbid it. She tried to kill your mate. There is no worse crime—”
“I don’t!”
His heart had skipped again, that little flutter of a lie. “You do. Why? She hurt him, wanted him raped and tortured. She put her mark on our mate. She wanted to murder him horribly. You may not feel bad for that!”
“I don’t!”
“You do. You’re lying to me! I would have slit her throat the moment we arrived back if you’d allowed it. But you did not. She shouldn’t have been allowed to breathe the same air as my mates for one moment longer! Her life was forfeit the moment we learned of her treachery!”
“I know! She had to die!”
No lie. Draco cocked his head to the side, and then pushed closer.
They breathed the same air then, the hot puffs of Eduard’s frantic breaths brushing over his face.
He searched the eagle’s eyes, looking for some clue, but he found nothing.
“Tell me,” he whispered desperately. “Please, Eduard. Trust me.”
Eduard threw back his head and roared, his lion as close to the surface as Draco’s dragon.
“Tell me, love. Tell me what is eating this hole in you.”
The dam broke and Eduard’s breath caught in his chest. “I killed her.”
“Yes.”
“But she wasn’t the bad guy, Draco. She was but… there was something else there and instead of trying to figure it out, instead of using my damned brain and trying to find out who is after our mate, I was impatient and just… slit her throat. I didn’t even try! I could have stopped this if I’d—”
“No.”
Eduard snarled again, but when he tried to push against Draco this time, Draco caught his wrists in a tight grip.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” Eduard threatened.
Draco tilted his head to the side, smirking at Eduard and infuriating him further. “I’d like to see you try.”
Eduard tried to pull his wrists away, but Draco held firm.
It was his turn to push, but he used his foot to tuck around Eduard’s ankle in a move Andvari had taught him.
He had Eduard flat on his back across the desk in seconds.
He trapped his wrists against the dark wood, leaning over him as Eduard struggled. “You’re going to hurt yourself, love.”
“Don’t call me that! I don’t deserve—”
Draco tutted then leaned in and nuzzled Eduard’s cheek. “You protected our mate. I’ve never been so proud of you. You kept him safe. You did that. You were brave in a moment of horror. You faced her down.”
“I should have—”
“You did what you should have done. You did what none of us could have. You confronted her, you learned more, but Eduard, there were others in the room. Andvari told us what happened, how strong she became. Would you rather have cost your father his life? Or Andvari his? Or would you rather Sawyer face this world without you in it? Is that what you hoped?”
Eduard snarled again, but it wasn’t as fierce. “No. Of course not.”
“My fierce mate, so beautiful and strong. Smart and brave.”
Draco released Eduard’s wrists and nipped at his neck.
“Draco—”
“Perfect. The goddess has blessed me.”
“But we don’t know who is after him,” Eduard whispered. His voice broke, a choked cry that Draco swallowed with his lips. He teased them for a moment, tasting Eduard’s heat. He pulled away when Eduard began to soften, his anger slowly fading as something else bloomed between them.
“We will find out,” Draco promised. “But not at the cost of your life. We are his guardians. His, Eduard. We cannot throw ourselves into danger unless it is to keep him safe. We will find answers. I swear to you.”
“But— I could have tried.”
“You did try. I should have gone with you,” Draco muttered. “I could have—”
“No. Your place was—” Eduard stopped and let out a sigh. “I see what you did there.”
“Yes. Our place is with him, first and foremost. He is our destiny.”
Eduard ran his hands up Draco’s arms and squeezed them tightly. He shifted his legs, allowing Draco to lean further against him. “Yes,” he agreed finally.
Draco grumbled his approval as he captured Eduard’s lips again.
His griffin opened for him, their tongues tangling as the heat that had built between them earlier in anger, now became flames of a much different variety.
He took control, forcing Eduard to allow him deeper, taking everything he had to offer and demanding more.
He ran his hands down Eduard’s chest then back up again before gripping the sides of his crisp white shirt and ripping it open.
Buttons pinged across the room as he revealed Eduard’s chest. He rose, breaking the kiss only to trace his lips down.
He plucked one nipple between his teeth, bit it teasingly before laving the mark with his tongue.
Eduard cried out at the sensation. Draco pinched the other bud between his fingers, teasing it to a peak before moving his mouth to it. He sucked the little nub into his mouth then nibbled on it for good measure.
“Draco!”
Draco pulled away long enough to grab the button on Eduard’s slacks and give it a tug as well. He had the pants down seconds later, pooling around Eduard’s ankles. “Roll over.”
Eduard’s breath heaved in his chest, but he complied, rolling onto his belly and baring his ass to Draco’s gaze. He pushed the tattered remains of Eduard’s shirt out of his way, running his hand down Eduard’s spine to the taut globes of his ass.
“Lotion in the drawer,” Eduard mumbled. He pushed his hips back into Draco’s crotch, so Draco smacked one muscled cheek with a sharp slap.
“Still,” Draco demanded.
Eduard grumbled out a complaint but complied, stilling as Draco flung open the desk drawer and dug around for the little tube of lotion.
He glanced at the label as he flicked the top open, pleased to see it was some fancy organic blend.
His mate did prefer the finer things in life and Draco had never been more thankful than this moment.
After getting a dollop of the thick cream on his fingers, he traced them over Eduard’s hole.
“Don’t move,” he warned when Eduard began to slide back toward him.
He bent over Eduard’s back, his fingers dipping into his body even as he whispered into his mate’s ear. “You belong to us, to me. I’m going to remind you of that, Eduard. Remind you that you cannot sacrifice yourself. Where would we be without you?”
Instead of allowing Eduard to reply, he shoved two thick fingers deep inside his hole. Eduard’s breath caught, and he cried out at the intrusion.
“Say it, Eduard. Who do you belong to?”
He added a third, stretching him wide and barely giving him time to adjust.
“Sawyer,” Eduard gasped. “You and Sawyer and Andvari and Henry.”
“That’s right,” Draco said. He added a fourth finger, twisting them deep as Eduard lay compliant and willing on the desk before him. “Mates first. Always.”
“Mates first,” Eduard replied.
“Good boy,” Draco purred. He removed his fingers and replaced them with his cock, thrusting forward in one swift motion that drew another pleasure-filled cry from his griffin.
He pounded him hard, not giving him a chance to recover from a thrust before another replaced it.
He wanted Eduard to feel him for days, to know that he was loved and needed.
No more of this sacrificial guilty conscience nonsense.
Draco powered forward again, holding Eduard’s hips tightly in his grip.
He changed his angle slightly, knew exactly where to aim his next dozen powerful thrusts to make Eduard scream his pleasure.
He didn’t even have to touch his cock. He knew Eduard’s body, knew how to give him the type of pleasure he preferred.
Eduard’s hole tightened around him even as he began to cry out his release. Draco pounded him through it, demanding more and more as he reached the crest of his own release then gifted it to his mate with a roar, filling Eduard’s ass with his spend, his dragon thumping its chest in victory.
Yes, Eduard was theirs and he wouldn’t be allowed to forget it again.
Draco pulled out of his body, watching as his come dripped down Eduard’s legs.
Eduard’s eyes were closed, his mouth curled into a pleasure-filled grin.
Draco rolled him over and scooped him up in one powerful movement, ignoring the mess he made as he walked back toward the other side of the house.
Eduard wisely didn’t protest. He simply lowered his head onto Draco’s shoulder, as Draco returned them to their other mates, where they were supposed to be.