Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
D aniel woke up on Christmas Eve feeling a little bruised and battered. Not in his body of course, although it was a little heavy and he was still so hungry. Hayden would never hurt him, and he was certainly not actually bruised.
But he didn’t know how he was going to handle all this dragon stuff, and what was worse was today was Christmas Eve, so he had to put it all aside because he wanted to give Jacks a really good Christmas.
He was trying so hard to get all the stuff. The house was decorated, and the cookies were made because Denise had worked on them all day yesterday. So he just needed to get his shit together, get out of bed, and do what needed to be done.
He started to flip the covers off, and Hayden reached out, snagging him around the hip and pulling him close, not letting him slide out of bed.
“Mmmm. Where are you going, love?” Hayden kissed the side of his neck, making him shiver.
“I was going go get Jacks. He’s probably awake by now.”
“Aw, it’s early. I bet he can sleep a little while longer. He has the kitty to watch over him now.” Hayden’s heat was delicious and wonderful against his chilled skin.
“Maybe you’re right.” He put a hand on Hayden’s chest, willing to make up a little bit. Well, they’d made up last night, but he wanted Hayden to know he wasn’t angry. He was just upset.
“Thank you, love.” Hayden kissed him then, as if to reward him for good behavior, and he reached up to sink his hands in Hayden’s hair, holding on tight.
Hayden rolled Daniel beneath him and settled between his spread legs, and he couldn’t resist any more than he’d been able to since the very beginning.
“Such a temptation. I have to not get my knot involved though.” Hayden leaned down to rub noses with him. “Because if I do, there’s no way Jacks isn’t going be awake before it goes down.”
“Oh, so mean.”
“I know, because there’s nothing on Earth that’s more fun than loving on you.” Hayden reached down between his legs, fingers pushing deep into his hole, stroking him inside.
“Hayden!”
The sharp cry earned him a warm grin. “Just because I can’t knot you doesn’t mean I can’t watch you get off. Then afterward, when everyone’s eating and sleeping later, I can bring you up here and have my wicked way with you.”
“Listen to you,” he grinned. Hayden made him ridiculously happy, and he couldn’t deny it.
Hayden kept stroking long fingers inside him, and his free hand wrapped around his cock and held him tight, stroking him and making him gasp.
“You’re going to make me come,” he groaned.
“That’s the point. A happy little good morning orgasm. A merry Christmas to you.” Hayden looked absolutely wicked, and suddenly Daniel felt it, the dragon surging inside him.
“Hayden.”
“Mmm?” Hayden glanced up again, his eyes flashing gold, and he moaned, arching his back. “You want me to suck you, baby? Would that make you happy?”
“Fuck yes.” He pushed at Hayden’s shoulders, wanting him right there, wanting that mouth on him, his ass clenching because he was so wet and needy.
Hayden slid down obediently, spreading his thighs to lie between them, mouth right there hovering over the tip of his cock.
“Please, Hayden.”
Hayden’s soft chuckle blew air over his dick, but then he gave Daniel exactly what he needed, opening up and swallowing him in.
Daniel’s eyes rolled up and his entire body tensed. It was magical.
He fought his roar with everything in him because he didn’t want to wake anyone or scare anyone, but oh, it wanted out.
He needed to make this sound so that his mate could hear how good it was with him and how happy he really was.
It didn’t take long—a few hard sucks, and he was over the moon, crying out and shooting deep into Hayden’s throat.
Growling, Hayden climbed up over top of him, reaching down to grasp his own cock. He stroked two or three times, and then he was shooting over Daniel’s stomach. The smell of his release was so perfect, musky and wonderful.
Not as good as being knotted but certainly satisfying. Which was just too tame a word for the tingles that shot through his entire body and the flushed feeling of love for Hayden that filled him.
He found a smile for his lover. “That was amazing.”
Hayden chuckled and licked the frost off his lips. “Feel better?”
“I do. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I know?—”
Hayden shook his head. “I’ve been honest with you, but I know it’s a lot. I’m so pleased that you’ve been willing to walk this road with me.”
“Hey, we’re dragons. I’ll fly this road with you right?”
Hayden chuckled softly. “Right. I can’t wait for you to fly the first time.” One hand landed on his belly, Hayden cleaning his skin off with a soft towel.
“It still seems so…impossible. Do you think I’ll have wings?”
Hayden nodded. “Of course you will, love, and if you don’t, you’ll still be able to fly with me.”
“Oh, I could do that anyway, even if I’m pregnant, right? Maybe? I know you said balance is an issue, but I could either ride you, or are you big enough to do that? I think you are. It’s hard to know because in the sand pit, you were inside, right?”
Daniel knew he was babbling, but he couldn’t help it. The very idea of being able to see Hayden in his natural form, in the sky, just free to be himself fully was amazing.
Hayden beamed at him, gaze warm. “Of course. We’ll go up the next time we have a clear day. The snows are deep. No one will be here.”
“What do you do if someone sees you?”
Hayden shrugged. “Usually they come up with the idea of what it is that they saw wasn’t right because, you know, dragons aren’t real, remember?”
“Right? It’s like babies don’t grow really fast and…” He rolled his eyes.
“Exactly. It’s like babies don’t grow really fast and dragons don’t fly.”
“Little ones can’t set a fire in the carpet,” he added.
“Yes, and music can’t make things grow. Like I can’t talk to snakes.”
His lips popped open. “The snake from the bedroom.”
“I put him in the garage. He’s very happy. He was just lost looking for a warm place.”
Yay. Hopefully he’d stay there. “That’s good.”
Hayden nodded. “We like warmth.”
“But you’re obviously not cold-blooded, dragon.”
Hayden kissed him again. “We’re magic, dragon.”
Oh, he liked that. They were magic. “This place is magic too, I think.”
“Yes.” Hayden nodded to him. “Some places just are. Mountains especially, with their peaks and caves. They were made for us, so we could see for miles and protect our hoards.”
Oh, that was an interesting thought.
“Do you have one? A hoard? Does Jacks?” Would he?
“I have one. I’m not terribly creative about mine. I like precious stones and rocks and volcanic glass.”
Oh, cool, volcanic glass. Daniel had to admit that sounded really neat.
“I’ll show it to you sometime soon, but of course not today or tomorrow. It’s Christmas Eve after all. We have to do all the Christmassy things.”
“So we celebrate the solstice and Christmas?” Daniel asked, wanting to know how it worked with dragons.
“We celebrate whatever we want. I find Christmas a magical time of year, and the solstice calls to our souls. We are very much part of the rhythm of the year.” Hayden stroked his back up and down, keeping him from getting chilled. So warm, they really were like a thermal current from the Earth.
“I like that too. I like celebrating the seasons. I always have more than arbitrary holidays.”
“See? Dragon. You just didn’t know it.” Hayden kissed his temple. “Do you want to take a shower with me before we get up and face the excitement of the Jacks monster?”
“And then I need to do some present wrapping sometime while he’s napping later on.” Daniel felt his cheeks heat. “I’ve been meaning to do it, but you and I have just been a little bit busy.”
That got him a wicked grin. “We have been. And it’s been wondrous, so I’m not going to complain.”
Slapping Hayden’s chest, he shook his head. “You’re evil. Come on up, let’s go get a shower. I’m starving.”
“Ah, no hangry Daniels. Or hangry Jackses for that matter.” Hayden got up with him and padded toward the shower. So beautiful when he was without clothes. Daniel could see a hint of wings where his shoulder blades met, and a suggestion of a tail right above his tailbone.
It was truly fascinating, though even more fascinating was the way occasionally he would swear he saw a shadow of his wings on the wall. As if Hayden couldn’t completely hide what he was.
“How do you hide that when you’re out in public with humans?” Daniel asked.
Hayden raised an eyebrow at him as they stepped into the shower and got the water nice and hot. “Hide what?”
“Your wing shadow. I don’t see it all the time, but every once in a while I see it when the light is just right.”
“No one would see it but you. We have to see one another, so we can recognize we’re in another’s territory. It’s one of the reasons that I knew that you had some magic in you. You saw Jacks much earlier than anyone else would, and Jacks knew immediately that you were his Dan Dan.”
Daniel had to smile. He didn’t have the slightest chance not to. “I love that. I love him so much—not because he’s dragon, but because he’s this amazing wonderful little boy who makes me smile.”
Hayden grabbed him up and squeezed him. “That’s how I felt too the second I saw him. I was excited to see him, to meet him of course. As soon as they told me that I had a chance to have a child, I was over the moon, but that said—he is special and I am so honored to be his father.”
Daniel loved how Hayden spoke about Jacks. “Where did they find him?”
“Montana, I think. They have a system, and I’m not sure what it is. To be honest, until Jacks came into my life, I didn’t even think about it.”
Daniel guessed that made sense. If one didn’t need to know, it just didn’t cross one’s mind.
“I just happened to meet Declan and all of them, and they told me what it is they did—putting orphan dragons with foster parents and adoptive parents.”
“Does it happen often?”