Dragon's Lover: Part One Read online

  Dragon’s Lover

  Part One

  Carina Wilder

  Wolf Ear Publishing

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. Goldilocks and the Three Orgasms

  2. Goddess

  3. Fleeing the Scene

  4. Trapped

  5. Getting to Know…

  6. Scales

  7. Questions

  8. Flight

  9. Shelter

  10. Everything

  11. Epilogue

  12. Preview of Dragon’s Lover, Part Two

  Also by Carina Wilder

  About the Author

  Introduction

  Dragon’s Lover, Part One is the beginning of the third story arc in the Dragon Guild Chronicles.

  The first two full books can be found here:

  Dragon Hunter

  Dragon Seeker

  Happy reading!

  xox

  Carina

  Goldilocks and the Three Orgasms

  In a corner of the Saddle and Stirrup Pub, Ashlyn Raleigh sipped her red wine, oblivious to the fact that her index finger had just begun to stroke the glass’s stem with all the tenderness of a lover’s caress.

  Her eyes locked on the three magnificent specimens of manhood who were in the process of stepping into the pub, and her stupid, selfish body was reacting accordingly. Pulse quickening, breath catching in her throat. And the place between her legs was betraying unexpected, profound arousal.

  “What the actual f...?” Her mouth formed the words, but no sound came out. Trying to regain control over her tremulous extremities, she set the wine down, her lips parting in the sort of open-mouthed expression that her face only assumed when she was too overwhelmed to think straight. An erotic stupor. Yes, that was it. She was too consumed by desire to function like a normal human being. And who the hell could blame her for it? The guys were impossibly sexy prototypes of the perfect man. And there were three of them.

  Each had different coloured hair from the last, but other than that they all fit a certain type:

  Broad-shouldered.

  Gorgeous.

  Unbelievably powerful.

  They were the sort of masculine beasts who looked like they could walk up to a woman, say something—anything—and then count the seconds until their unsuspecting victim would tear her clothes off and beg them to fuck her until she was screaming with pleasure. In other words, they were walking orgasms. In t-shirts, jackets, and jeans, no less.

  Ashlyn suddenly felt like Goldilocks. Well, if there was an X-rated, adult version with hard nipples and "horny" written all over her face. And now she was sizing up the three Orgasms to decide which one she wanted most.

  The first of the men had light brown hair and flashing blue eyes. His arms and shoulders were massive, and he moved with utter confidence, like he’d taken charge of the place before even setting foot inside. He seemed preoccupied, though, as if his mind belonged somewhere else, and very likely to someone else.

  Okay. Number One’s super hot, but something tells me he’s not available.

  The second was equally tall and muscular, with dark hair and intense, alert eyes. Between his eyebrows was a set of parallel vertical lines that made him look pensive, stern, and more than a little terrifying.

  Number Two is way too cold.

  But it was only when the third entered that Ashlyn totally lost control of her body and mind. He was a behemoth like the others, but something about him called out to her. An invisible sexual mist blasted her way, wrapping around her head and drawing her towards him. Number Three was blond, green-eyed and sexy as hell. His face told her he had a sense of humour, intelligence and seriousness, all rolled up into one delicious package. And speaking of packages, those jeans of his were just tight enough to reveal a thing or two about a very generous set of goodies.

  Dear God. Number Three is juuust right.

  Inadvertently, Ashlyn began to sink deep into her chair, shrinking out of sight as best she could. Mr. Fuckable, she named him in her mind. A living, breathing, golden god who by some miracle rendered the other two gods dull by comparison.

  She reached into her lap as she observed him, clutching her canvas satchel close, as though it would somehow protect her from the violent urges that were now assaulting her body and mind.

  When the men chose a distant table, she let out a prolonged sigh of relief; she wasn’t sure how much of this sensual overdose she could take. But a quiet disappointment set in when Mr. Fuckable draped his jacket over a chair with its back to Ashlyn, robbing her of the view of his face. All she could see when he sat down were the broad shoulders that stretched his t-shirt paper thin, the muscles in his back rippling like a moveable mountain range. His massive right arm displayed some kind of ornate black tattoo—a snake, or maybe it was a Dragon. Either way, rowr.

  Well okay, maybe this wasn't such a bad view.

  For just a moment she wondered what it would feel like to accidentally lay a hand on him, just to see what the hell muscles like those felt like under her touch. He looked so damned…hard. As she sized him up, assessing every perfect inch of him, an invisible blast of scalding heat shot through her chest and exploded in a series of hard-edged waves that compelled her to press her palm to her forehead and make sure she wasn’t hallucinating from some sudden onset of fever. Surely Mr. Fuckable was just a fabrication of her deluded mind. He wasn’t real; he couldn’t be.

  No man was that sexy.

  * * *

  “Hey Aegis, there’s a woman on the other side of the room who’s been ogling you since we sat down,” Minach said, his voice a little louder than it should have been as he leaned forward, elbows on the table, palms cradling his face. “I’ve never seen anyone so intoxicated by the back of a man’s head.”

  “A woman, you say?” Aegis sipped the last of his pint and lay the glass down. He was playing coy, of course; he already knew perfectly well that she was there. Whoever she was.

  The heady, arousing scent had come at him the moment he’d taken his seat at the table with Lumen and Minach, and he’d immediately hated himself for choosing the chair with its back facing her. It was far too late now to switch seats without making his intentions obvious so he’d have to suffer in silence, leaving it up to his imagination to design the woman who might accompany that luscious aroma.

  “Yes, a woman, you idiot,” Minach replied. “A very lovely young thing who’s apparently quite excited about her wine glass. She’s stroking it like she wants to make it come, and all because your sodding hair is apparently the hottest thing she’s ever seen,” he added, leaning to the side, scanning the back of his friend’s head. “Though I’ll be fucked if I can tell what’s so captivating about your noggin. It’s really nothing special.”

  “All right, all right,” Aegis replied, “now that you’ve pointed out that I’m unworthy of her admiration, tell me more about her.”

  “Well, she looks as though she’s about twenty-five, but then so do you, and we all know what a lie that is. She’s also very attached to her canvas bag or something inside it. She clutches the thing to her belly like it’s her firstborn still in the womb.” Minach managed to say all this without so much as turning his head to look at her; he’d obviously done a fine job of examining her already. “And as I suspect you already know, she smells…aroused.”

  “Yes, I’m well aware of that, thanks. Her pheromones are circling my head like a swarm of very welcome gnats.” Aegis ground his teeth for a moment, the Dragon inside him pacing. He too knew that something special was close by, and his desire was mounting as quickly as Aegis’s own. “So how the hell am I supposed to resist running over to her and promising to spend at least three hours eating
her out if she comes home with me?”

  “Well, there is the fact that doing so would make you a sexually aggressive sleazebag,” Minach replied.

  “Damn. I do hate the rules of etiquette sometimes,” Aegis groaned. “Why must we be so civilized?” But the fact was that the very uncivilized Dragon inside him was getting pretty fucking worked up with every inhale of the erotic aroma that came at him from across the pub. The unruly creature knew what Aegis’s man-brain hadn’t yet grasped.

  The woman was to be his.

  Seek her out, his Dragon commanded silently. Find the sex goddess attached to that magnificent scent. She smells like walking desire and you know why. You want to taste her, don’t you?

  No, you bollocks-headed reptile, his human brain replied. I’m not here to pick up women. Traitorous beast, you are.

  And indeed, this night wasn’t meant to be about Aegis, about his déor’s urges, or about his ongoing life of solitude and sexual frustration. It was meant to be about everything and everyone else.

  A quiet celebration, that’s what the lads were after. The second Relic had been recovered. Neko was pregnant with Lumen’s baby. And Lyre and Trix were safely home, together, and happy. Those last two had said they’d join the others at the pub, but somehow they’d gotten sidetracked. Which was code meaning that they were no doubt in bed doing the horizontal mambo for the seventeenth time since their return to London.

  Meanwhile, Aegis was still single, still lonely and still a giant, book-loving Dragon shifter who was quickly running out of single friends with whom he could spend his evenings.

  He’d hoped to forget all that and have a good time, if only for one evening. But now here he was, tormenting himself. Trying to ignore the scent of a very desirable female while suffering the agony of a throbbing erection that would never be touched by any hand but his own.

  Not exactly his idea of a grand time.

  “Oi, Mr. Pouty,” Minach said, interrupting Aegis’s string of thoughts as he jabbed him in the shoulder, “Your lady friend is still examining your stupid head as though she wants to lick it.”

  “She probably has some kind of fetish,” Aegis replied. “No doubt she’s contemplating shaving her phone number into my thick mane. Well, all I have to say is she’d better do it backwards. I need to be able to read it in the mirror.”

  “You know what I think?” Lumen said, breaking his silence for the first time since they’d begun talking about the secret admirer.

  “I think you’re going to tell me what you think,” Aegis replied.

  “I think you should get off your arse and go talk to her. What’s it been, anyhow? Eighty, ninety years since you were last on a date?” The Dragon Guild’s Alpha smiled wryly, cruelly enjoying the taunt he’d thrown at his best friend.

  “Hilarious. Make fun of the sad, single bloke, just because he’s endlessly pathetic.”

  “Not making fun. I simply think you could use a one-night romp in Pussyland.”

  “He’s right. Think of it,” Minach said, leaning in to speak in hushed tones. “Lyre’s at his place getting it on with Trix. Lumen has been getting so much action that Neko’s now carrying his spawn in her belly. So it seems reasonable to think you’re due for a bit of fun. Just make sure you wear a rubber. You wouldn’t want to accidentally put a Dragon-baby in her belly.”

  “Me, due for a bit of fun? What about you, Mr. Lonely-pants?” Aegis asked, narrowing his eyes at the dark-haired man beside him.

  “I’m alone because I choose to be alone,” Minach shot back, his tone typically defensive. “You, on the other hand, exude the saddest sort of desperation. You need to find a naked dance partner immediately if not sooner, I can’t stand looking at you in this state. All horned up and no one to blow you.”

  “Well, you’re certainly helping the cause, aren’t you? Filling me to the brim with confidence. Why don’t I just wander up to the lady in question and say, ‘Hey, baby, I’m super-desperate. I haven’t had a grungy tumble in decades. So what say you accompany me to the filthy public toilets, take off your trousers, bend over, and let me have a go at your nethers?’ Women love that sort of raunchy talk.”

  “Or you could just try being yourself, you tosser,” Lumen interjected, letting out a deep chuckle. “You’re a Dragon shifter, for God’s sake. You’re not exactly lacking in attractiveness. And there are some who even say you have a decent sense of humour.”

  Aegis stared blankly at him. “Meh.”

  “Anyhow, stop looking so serious and pitiful. You’re not meant to be deep in thought tonight. You deserve to have fun, just like the rest of us.”

  “Fun, yes. You’re quite right,” Aegis said. “One of you bastards tell a joke, would you?”

  “You’re the joke-teller,” Minach grunted, not yet relaxed enough to pretend he had a sense of wit. “You go first.”

  “Fine,” Aegis growled in response. “A dyslexic man walks into a bra. Ba dum bum.”

  After the men had let out the requisite snicker, Minach jabbed Aegis with his elbow and mumbled. “She was playing with her phone for a bit, but now she’s back to staring again. Still fondling her wine glass, too.”

  “Is she then? So, does she look like she knows how to handle a stem?” Aegis asked.

  Minach nodded. “She’s contemplating doing something to your stem, from the smell of things,” he replied, his tone earnest as he took a few quick breaths through his nose. “I know that scent, and it isn’t one that says ‘Let’s go to my place for a nice game of chess and a long discussion of Aristotelian philosophy.’ She wants to do unholy things to you, that one.”

  “I know that scent too, though I’d nearly forgotten how delightful it is,” Aegis all but sighed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten my nose between a woman’s…” He let out a long exhale, cutting himself off mid-thought and succumbing to a moment of weakness. “Tell me, is she totally blue-balls-inducingly beautiful? She is, isn’t she?”

  Lumen and Minach exchanged the sort of expression that men adopt when propriety forbids them from saying something stupid.

  “I’m not going to comment on the appearance of any woman who isn’t Neko, and I suspect that Minach is feeling too polite to discuss the blueness of his balls this evening,” Lumen replied with a crooked smile. “So you’re going to have to man up and judge for yourself, Aegis. Go get us some more damned beer, you lazy git, and take a good look at your secret admirer while you’re at it.”

  “Fine, then,” Aegis said, pushing himself to his feet and feigning grumpiness. “Tease me with your secrecy. It doesn’t matter; even if she looks like Quasimodo, she’ll be more attractive than you lot.” He tried his best to act nonchalant as he turned and walked to the bar to order the pints. But inside he was a tangled mess of nerves and desire for a woman he’d never seen or met. Not to mention frustration at the ridiculous, primal beast inside him. Thanks to his hyper-sensitive Dragon he could feel the object of his horniness staring at him, could sense her eyes heating his flesh before he’d even seen what colour they were.

  Discreetly sniffing the air, he sought her scent once again, all but concealed by the aroma of ale taps and open bottles of whiskey. But he found it after a second, lingering delicious on the air. Sensual. Mouth watering. Cock hardening.

  But it was when he turned his face to look casually in her direction that he finally began to fully comprehend the impact of her presence. His heart became a hammer in his chest. Sweat trickled in a slow stream down the small of his back. And his hard-on throbbed as it had never throbbed before.

  Aegis Dunkirk and his erection were both in serious trouble.

  Goddess

  Holy. Shit.

  The woman was sitting alone, her back facing a dark wall coated in old framed photographs. A solitary light fixture illuminated her features, but the Dragon shifter’s keen eyes had no trouble taking in every visible inch of her. And damn it all, she was even more exquisite than her scent had foreshadowed.

  Blond, wavy
hair trailed down over her shoulders, amplifying a long, pleasing neck and prominent cheekbones. Her eyes were the palest blue-green, rimmed by black eyelashes and accented by dark, thick brows. She wore an olive green canvas jacket over what looked like a see-through black blouse, and much to Aegis’s disappointment, a tank top covered most of what lay beneath. Thankfully its neckline was cut just low enough to conceal a sweet line of delectable, kissable cleavage.

  The woman's delicate fingers were playing with the stem of a wine glass, just as Minach had described. She was perfect. And dear God, she was staring at him.

  “Feckin’ hell,” Aegis murmured as he fixed her with his gaze, reminding himself that he was a powerful Dragon shifter and not a shy teenager. He had the advantage here, or at least he was supposed to. It should have been easy to win over such a woman, at least for a night. Even so, he wondered how long it would be before she grew irritated by his open-mouthed stare and looked away.

  But even as an unavoidable smile spread across his face, she somehow kept her eyes locked on his. Her scent intensified, pheromones sending aromatic delights raging through the air about Aegis’s head. He cursed his jeans for growing even tighter with the hard-on that was trying with all its might to reveal itself to her.

  His body had never wanted anything or anyone more. And neither had his mind.

  * * *

  When the blond god stood up to walk to the bar, Ashlyn was treated to her first sustained look at his legs.

  Oh, my.

  His jeans fit him very, very well and provided her with a great view of a round, tight butt, not to mention the tantalizing side view of the bulge behind his fly. His thighs looked as though they’d been carved out of marble by Michelangelo himself, and his gait was smooth and elegant. The guy knew how to move. Despite his massive size, he eased across the floor like a large cat stalking towards its prey—which in this case appeared to be a stocky bartender.