Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4) Read online

It was a formality he intended to rectify in regard to Holly, at least, at the earliest opportunity.

  Chapter 10

  “I really do apologize for Gayle’s behavior earlier.” An obviously slightly flustered Holly joined Dylan in the sunken sitting area an hour or so after he’d shown her and her sister to their suites before leaving them to get settled in.

  He would rather Holly shared his bed, of course, but giving her and Gayle suites at opposite ends of the hallway had been the best he could do to ensure he and Holly had privacy if they wanted it. He couldn’t take too much for granted, still had a long way to go in convincing her he was what he said he was.

  His lids narrowed as he took in Holly’s flushed cheeks and over-bright eyes. “Where is Gayle now?”

  “Luxuriating in the bath in the decadent bathroom adjoining her bedroom,” Holly answered with relief. “Our suites really are beautiful, thank you— Dylan?” she murmured uncertainly as she saw he was stalking slowly toward her. “We can’t do this here,” she squeaked in protest as he took her in his arms and molded the soft curves of her body against his much harder ones.

  Dylan nuzzled his face against the side of her throat. “You said Gayle is otherwise occupied.”

  “Well. Yes.” Was he sniffing her skin? It certainly seemed like it. Oh God, was he breathing in what he called her unique aroma of honeysuckle and ripe peaches? “Just because we’re alone for a few minutes doesn’t mean you can—we can—”

  “I’m afraid it does,” Dylan insisted. “You’re uncomfortable, right? Hot, fevered, aroused?”

  Holly’s cheeks burned. Because she was all the things Dylan described and more. But that didn’t mean she wanted to talk about them.

  It was embarrassing how aroused she felt. Her skin was ultrasensitive. Her breasts ached so badly, they were painful, and she’d already had to change her panties before leaving her bedroom because they were so damp from her earlier arousal.

  None of which was helped by the fact that the moment she rejoined Dylan in the sitting area, she’d wanted to rub her body all over him to alleviate some of that burning discomfort.

  Oh God, she was rubbing her body up against his!

  She pulled out of Dylan’s arms to move quickly away from the temptation of him. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.” She pressed her face against the coolness of the huge picture window. “I’m burning up, inside as well as out.”

  “Let me help you.” Dylan’s reflection appeared in the window in front of her as he stood directly behind her.

  “How?” she groaned.

  “Like this.”

  Holly looked down as one of Dylan’s hands moved about her waist to unfasten the button on her jeans before sliding down the zip. She watched, mesmerized, as his hand slid inside and beneath her panties. His deft fingers easily found and then caressed the needy throb of her clit.

  Holly’s climax was immediate, the fierce release causing her body to shake and her knees to buckle. She would have fallen if Dylan’s other arm hadn’t moved to hold her securely about her abdomen.

  That arm continued to hold her firmly in front of him as his fingers caressed lower, stroking her wet and swollen nether lips.

  Holly’s head fell back onto his shoulder. She still wanted. Still needed.

  Dylan’s lips returned to nuzzling her throat. “If you agree to mate with me.” His lifted his arm from about her abdomen, his hand gently sweeping the hair off the back of her neck to give his mouth free access. “I’ll enter your pussy from behind.” He rubbed his erection against the swell of her bottom. “And I’ll bite your nape. Like this.”

  Holly felt the sharp sting of his teeth against her vulnerable nape, not quite penetrating the flesh, but hard enough to send another quiver of pleasure down the length of her spine.

  “I’ll pierce the skin. Then suck on you. Like this.” He drew some of her flesh into his mouth, hard enough that Holly knew it would leave a bruise. “Take some of your blood into my mouth, and in exchange, I’ll give you much more of the mating aphrodisiac.” His fingers stroked and then pressed hard on her pulsing clit.

  Pleasure slammed into Holly for a second time, robbing her of breath, her body trembling and quaking. Once again, she would have fallen if Dylan hadn’t held on to her.

  “The barb on my cock will come out and latch inside you,” Dylan continued once that trembling had eased slightly, his tongue now a sensual rasp against that sensitive spot on her nape. “It will bind the two of us together for hours. Days. During that time, we will mate over and over again.”

  Holly was a seething mass of want and need, of renewed pleasure as Dylan continued to suck on her flesh, his fingers lighter against her sensitive clit but just as relentless. Enough to cause yet another body-shaking climax seconds later.

  “What barb?” she finally managed to gasp. She didn’t remember seeing anything like that when she made love to him earlier.

  “It only shows itself when we have full-on sex with our fated mate.” His breath against her nape sent yet more quivers of heated pleasure through her body.

  A blush warmed her cheeks. “I didn’t see it earlier.”

  “It only appears when I’m inside you. My brothers tell me it’s the most sensual experience they’ve ever known. Will ever know. Dragons mate for life, Holly. If you agree, the two of us will mate for a very long life,” he added firmly.

  “What happens if I don’t agree?”

  “You will,” he stated firmly. “And we will have a long and fruitful life together. Because, as my mate, you will age very, very slowly and live as long as I live.”

  He sounded so certain, Holly found it difficult to continue disbelieving him. What if he really was—

  No!

  None of the things Dylan had told her could be true.

  Could they?

  She hadn’t seen Dylan drink so much as a single drop of alcohol in the past two days. Not even with dinner the previous night. So what if that had just been something Garrett made up to explain Dylan collapsing and also taking back his blood samples? What if, fantastic as it seemed, everything Dylan had told her was the truth?

  But it couldn’t be.

  Could it?

  The fact Holly had doubts made the subject worth exploring, surely?

  “Come for me again, Holly,” Dylan instructed in that compelling voice that seemed to vibrate and resonate deep inside her.

  Holly drew in several deep breaths before she pulled his hand from inside her panties and turned in his arms to face him. “Why do you do that?”

  He smiled as his arms once again wrapped about her waist to hold her tightly against him. “For the sheer pleasure of having you disobey me.”

  She gave a puzzled shake of her head. “I don’t understand.”

  “Remember you asked me what other things dragon shifters can do?”

  Holly eyed him uncertainly. “Yes.”

  He nodded. “We have preternatural movement, hearing, and eyesight as both human and dragon. The hearing to the degree I can hear conversations in the next room and beyond. For instance, right now, I know Gayle is stepping out of the bath, reaching for a towel, wrapping it—”

  Holly gasped. “Did you hear me in the bathroom yesterday?”

  “Yes. There’s no need to feel self-conscious, Holly,” he soothed as she gave an embarrassed groan. “I very much enjoyed listening to the noises you make when you come.”

  “Oh God.” She dropped her head forward onto his chest.

  “Hey.” Dylan leaned down to gently kiss the blushing heat of her cheek. “Look on the bright side, at least I didn’t ask you to collect up your release in a plastic cup so I could test it.”

  She didn’t raise her head. “I can’t believe you did that to Grigor.”

  “Many times,” he confirmed ruefully.

  She gave a shake of her head. “Grigor is far too dignified for you to have done something so cruel to him.”

  “That’s what made it more fun.”
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  “What else can dragon shifters do?”

  He shrugged. “Well, I stopped aging as either human or dragon at the age of thirty-five.”

  “That doesn’t seem quite fair.”

  “To quote you, it is what it is,” Dylan dismissed. “As dragon, I can heal any injuries I might have. I can fly. Cloak my appearance, so that humans can’t see me. Something I can’t do as either human or dragon is get drunk,” he added dryly. “Alcohol has no effect whatsoever on dragon shifters.”

  Holly let that one pass. “And you can use compulsion with your voice alone?”

  He nodded. “On everyone but other dragon shifters and my mate,” he added the last with satisfaction. “You have no idea what a refreshing change it is to have someone, you, disobey me.”

  Holly was aware of when Dylan used that compulsion in his voice, but she certainly had no feelings of wanting to obey him.

  Because she was his mate?

  Dylan remained silent, watching the expression on Holly’s face as she continued to turn over in her mind the things he’d told her, both yesterday and now.

  Doubt.

  Confusion.

  Grudging acceptance that maybe, just maybe—

  She frowned up at him. “Will you show me your whole dragon and not just your talons?”

  He drew his breath in sharply. “If it will help you decide to believe me.”

  Holly look at him searchingly. “You’re disappointed.”

  “I…would rather you believed on my word alone,” he conceded.

  Her hand was warm against his cheek. “I’m sorry, but I’m just a human trying to understand.”

  The important thing, Dylan reminded himself, was that Holly was trying to understand. Having her hand touching his cheek was also a balm to his and his dragon’s injured pride. “Tonight, then.”

  “Here?” Her hand dropped back to her side.

  Dylan immediately felt the loss. “Up on the roof, once it’s dark. This building is higher than the others around it, so the roof isn’t overlooked. It’s the reason we bought the building,” he explained.

  Her eyed widened “You own the whole building?”

  “And many more, both in London and around the world.”

  A frown creased her brow. “You really are super rich.”

  Dylan gazed down at her searchingly. “That bothers you,” he realized incredulously. His past dealings with women, especially in both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, had shown the majority to be mercenary rather than otherwise.

  “Well, of course it bothers me.” Holly attempted to pull free of his arms, and rather than risk bruising her creamy skin, Dylan allowed her to do so.

  “Why does it?” One of the many pleasures of finding his mate was the knowledge he was wealthy enough to give Holly anything she desired.

  She refastened her jeans and straightened her blouse before answering him. “It’s an imbalance. And God knows, there are enough of those between us already,” she added heavily.

  Dylan scowled. “Such as?”

  “You live in a castle, I live in a horrible apartment. I’m an overworked doctor, you own and run your own business with your brothers. I have family responsibilities, you don’t. You’re— Well, you look like you do.” She waved an arm in his general direction. “And according to you, you always will look like that. I look like me. Will always look like me.”

  “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.” But as it was something that troubled his mate, Dylan was willing to do so. “The castle was built for us, and I’ve lived there all my long life. We own and run Pendragon Security because it’s a legitimate way in this century in which we can rid the world of the some of the scum that inhabits it. I’m our healer, so I have the health and welfare of all my family as my responsibility. That last comment…” He gave a shake of his head. “I really don’t understand that one.”

  Holly could see that he didn’t. “Gayle was right,” she sighed. “You do look like one of the men off the covers of glossy magazines. Very tall, dark, and very handsome,” she explained as Dylan still looked mystified. “I’m short, I have red hair, pale skin that won’t tan, and I could do with losing a few pounds in weight.” Her cheeks became flushed as she stated her inadequacies. And she hadn’t finished yet. “I’m also, quite possibly, the last twenty-seven-year-old virgin in London.”

  “O-kay, well, I think I’ll come back later, if it’s all the same with you two.”

  Holly turned to see a red-faced Gayle standing in the doorway. Instead of retreating as she’d said she was going to, her sister remained transfixed. “You weren’t meant to overhear that.” She should have realized when Dylan told her Gayle was getting out of the bath that her sister would be joining them sooner rather than later.

  “Obviously.” Gayle turned her accusing gaze on Dylan. “What the hell have you done with my prudish older sister who never talks about sex?”

  A couple of minutes earlier and Holly knew Gayle would have seen exactly what Dylan had done and continued to do to her whenever the two of them were alone!

  “I have told you not to talk to Dylan that way,” she snapped to hide her embarrassment.

  “Ah, there you are.” Gayle’s brow cleared in her relief. “So, I’d appreciate it if the two of you…ceased doing whatever you were doing, while I’m around.” She dropped onto one of the couches in the sitting area. “In the meantime, what’s for dinner?” She looked up at them both expectantly.

  Dylan thought that he might, just might, with time, grow to like his future sister-in-law. She was young, brash, and a bit of a brat, but she possessed the same verbal honesty and beauty as Holly.

  His mate.

  The mate who had just told him she was a virgin.

  He hadn’t thought, dared to hope… The thought of being Holly’s first lover, and her last, filled him with such tenderness and fierce pride he wanted to carry her off to his bedroom and lay claim to her right now.

  “I’m starving over here,” Gayle complained.

  Except for the fact he had Holly’s demanding little sister in residence too.

  “We’ll finish this later tonight,” Dylan leaned down to whisper in Holly’s ear before walking over to open the drawer where the takeout menus were kept.

  There was usually at least one of them in residence at Pendragon Castle, so they employed a local woman to cook for them. Unlike Izzy’s family in Russia, Mrs. Evans had no idea she was working for a family of dragon shifters.

  But the apartment in London was often unoccupied for weeks at a time. None of the brothers were particularly into cooking, and the range of order-in food available in London was vast.

  “Chinese? Italian? Burgers? Sushi?” Dylan held up an array of menus. “One of you choose.” All he could think about was the time when he and Holly could be alone again later tonight. In the meantime… “Whichever you choose, order a steak for me from Romano’s.” He placed the menus down on the coffee table. “Call me when the food arrives, I have a few things to do in the study before dinner.”

  Holly frowned as Dylan left the room. She couldn’t help but question if one of those “things he had to do before dinner” was telephone Gregori Markovic.

  “So,” Gayle said speculatively. “Feel like telling me what’s going on between you and the cover model?”

  Holly’s narrowed gaze settled on her younger sister as Gayle slouched on the expensive couch. There were a few things she needed to say to Gayle before Dylan rejoined them.

  “Ready?” Dylan held his hand out to Holly.

  She chewed nervously on her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure she would ever be “ready” to prove or disprove the things Dylan had told her over the past two days.

  If Dylan really could transform himself into a dragon, then every fantastical thing he’d told her was true.

  If he couldn’t shift into a dragon, then she would finally have to accept that he was suffering from a mental illness.

  Holly wasn’t sure wh
ich was worse.

  Dinner had been surprisingly pleasant. Gayle had taken Holly’s earlier rebuke to heart and behaved herself. Dylan had been a charming and entertaining host to both of them.

  It was only once Gayle had excused herself and gone to her suite, no doubt to spend hours on her laptop, that Holly’s nervousness returned.

  She liked Dylan. Possibly more than liked him, if her explosive physical response to him was an indication. But if he really could turn himself into a dragon, then every certainty she’d believed all her life—birth, life, death after the nominal “three score years and ten”—would be put in question.

  It would also mean she really was Dylan’s fated mate.

  He’d told her a little of what that meant, especially the sexual aspect, but what did it really mean? If she became a dragon’s mate, then surely she wouldn’t be completely human anymore. Dylan said she would age more slowly, live as long as he did. Possibly centuries. She had a sister, a job… She couldn’t just—

  “Stop thinking so much, Holly,” Dylan said softly. “Everything will work out. In whatever way it’s supposed to.”

  She stood up but didn’t take hold of the hand he held out to her. “I’ve never been a fatalist.”

  “Then take one step at a time,” he advised as he took the initiative and grasped her hand tightly in his. “Put your jacket on,” he encouraged. “It will be cold on the roof.” He waited for her to do so. “Now let’s go and prove to you that I really can shift into a dragon.” He kept a tight hold of her hand as she followed him up the spiral staircase leading onto the roof.

  Despite wearing her jacket, Holly gave a shiver as they stepped out onto the roof of the fifty-story building, whether from cold or nervousness, she wasn’t sure. Dylan, still wearing only a T-shirt and jeans, seemed impervious to both.

  Her fingers tightened about his. “What color is your dragon?”

  “My eye color. Our dragons are all the color of our eyes,” Dylan explained as he released her hand to step forward into the center of the roof space. “My dragon is blue. Nathaniel’s is green. And so on.”

  That made a certain sense to Holly. If any of this could make sense. She was still highly skeptical that any of what Dylan had told her could possibly be true.