Ours, my dragon said over and over again, like a mantra.
Yes, ours.
I met each thrust, like our bodies knew what the other needed. It became increasingly difficult to hold back, not to come too soon.
He pulled nearly all the way out and slammed in again, and it made it nearly impossible not to orgasm. He slid his hand between us and wrapped his fingers around my length, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. I came, shooting my cum between us.
My dragon pushed me to mark him, my teeth elongated, the urge intense. I froze, looking up at my mate. I couldn’t do this. It wasn’t fair to him.
I turned my head, biting the pillow instead.
He helped me ride out my orgasm and then found his own, coming with a growl. He filled me with his cum and then his knot. I felt full to the brink of pain. He collapsed on me, spent and sated.
We stayed like that for a few seconds and then he rolled us over, so his weight was no longer on me.
We didn’t speak. I should’ve been happy—it was the most amazing sex I could ever imagine. But also, I was sad. We were mates, though none of our bodies showed the proof my beast and I desired.
I’d made the right call by not marking him, though. He hadn’t marked me either. I wasn’t sure what all this meant, but at a time I should’ve been feeling complete bliss, I felt like I was missing so much.
I needed to remind myself I was here a year, that was it. A year. Even if he had declared me as his, it wouldn’t be fair for me to mark him. I’d made the right decision, but even so, it still hurt.
“What was that?” he said. We were no longer bound by his knot. He had me in his arms, holding me tightly.
“What do you mean?”
“You bit the pillow.”
“Yeah, dragons are weird, and I’m only half dragon, which makes me weirder,” I said. “I want to take things slowly. Okay?”
He sounded disappointed. I felt disappointed. But what else could I do? I couldn’t tell him that I was scared, that I already imagined how much it would hurt if I lost him. I couldn’t. So instead, I kissed him, ending the conversation.
I was going to pretend everything was fine. What choice did I have? My dragon was mad. He thought I’d made a mistake. Maybe he was right. There was nothing we could do about it now.
7
ZACK
Ford had been sharing my cabin for a few days, and we’d been muddling along together.
I started work earlier than he did, so I had my shower first and got the coffee started while he was in the bathroom. He’d wash the dishes and lock up when I left, so we didn’t see much of one another during the day. Whoever made it home first would start dinner, and I enjoyed not having to cook each night.
We were steering around each other as if we both had a different road map, and we never bumped into one another. But that wasn’t what I needed. I wanted him to be in my face, laughing and making plans for something beyond what to cook for dinner.
He was my mate, but dragons must’ve been coded differently to other shifters. We’d had sex and should have marked one another. That was what was supposed to happen.
I’d been yearning for a mate and one had been delivered as if the goddess had sent him in the mail. And it had fallen apart at the last minute.
This is worse than not having a mate.
My polar bear wasn’t wrong. Before I’d met Ford, I was lonely. Now I was agitated and couldn’t sleep, found it hard to eat or even to swallow food, and I couldn’t concentrate at work.
Ford and I were driving home from opposite directions, and we met at the end of my driveway. I waved him forward and followed him to the cabin. It was still light outside, and I refused to spend another awkward night eating, clearing up, and watching TV.
“Have you ever been to a bingo night?”
Ford put down the knife he was using to chop onions. I was mystified why they didn’t make him cry? I howled like a baby when I was within ten feet of an onion.
“Can’t say I have, but I know enough that it won’t be much fun with only the two of us.”
