The Christmas Dragon's Mate Read online

  “Don’t you?”

  He ran his teeth over his bottom lip. “I’m not sure. I told you I don’t usually… with a stranger.”

  How innocent was this beautiful boy? I held out my hand. “My name is Laszlo.”

  “I’m Roman.” He took my hand. As we shook, I stroked my fingers over the pulse point at his wrist, sending a shiver through him.

  “Now we’re no longer strangers. Let’s go.”

  “Um… I need directions to your house.

  “Don’t worry about that. I have a driver.”

  “I don’t think I should…”

  I was going to have to risk pushing a little harder. “Do you feel it? How close your heat is? We need to be safely tucked away in my lai—house before it overtakes you. I wouldn’t want you caught unaware while driving.”

  “How do you know my heat is near? I shouldn’t be close enough that you can smell me. Really, we shouldn’t be talking about this at all.”

  “Do you have someone to help you through your heat?” If he did, I would simply have to kill them. There was no way around it.

  “No. I take suppressants and handle things myself.”

  “This time, I will take care of you.”

  He shifted from one foot to the other. “I agreed to deliver your packages. I’m not sure about the rest. I really shouldn’t—”

  I took his hand again. This time I pulled it up to my mouth and brushed my lips over his wrist. “Forget about what you should do. What do you want to do?”

  “It doesn’t matter that I know your name now. You’re still a stranger. Literally, you’re quite strange.”

  Show him, my dragon demanded, wanting to be freed. I ignored him. “I am… not like most people, but does that change what you feel?”

  He studied me, seemingly mesmerized by my eyes. “No, it doesn’t. I… There’s something about you. Something intriguing.”

  “I promise you will want for nothing if you come with me. I will not only give you what your body craves, but you’ll be well-fed and surrounded by all the luxury you can imagine.”

  “Just how rich are you?”

  I smiled, hoping I didn’t look too predatory. “Very.”

  “I don’t…”

  “I think you do.”

  “Tell me your address so I can text it to a friend. I won’t go with you unless someone knows where I am.”

  I suppressed a sigh. These humans and their modern sensibilities. I didn’t like revealing the location of my lair to anyone, but I wasn’t quite barbaric enough to throw the boy over my shoulder and run. “Privacy is very important to me, so please ask your friend to keep my location confidential.”

  “That won’t be a problem unless you’re actually kidnapping me or something.”

  I forced myself to laugh. “Of course I’m not.”

  After he sent the text, he seemed a little more at ease. Once we were at my lair, I’d get him so relaxed he’d swear he was boneless. “Are you ready to go now?”

  He glanced around the shop as if reconsidering.

  “I promise, you won’t regret it.”

  “I’m sure that’s what a serial killer would say.”

  “It’s not.” I knew better than he did. He’d probably never eaten one or… ten.

  “Everyone’s always saying I don’t take enough risks,” he muttered.

  “I’m no risk. I’m a sure thing.”

  2

  Roman

  My body was all for leaving with Laszlo, and I wished my mind would stop finding reasons to protest this very-unlike-me adventure. I’d never been into sleeping with strangers, and I was plenty smart enough to be wary of letting one take me home, but there was something about this man, something drawing me to him that I couldn’t explain. While I wasn’t a risk taker, I did believe in listening to my instincts, and despite his strangeness, my gut told me this man wouldn’t hurt me. In fact, my instincts said to follow him wherever he wanted to take me. But that was probably my heat talking.

  This morning I’d thought I had another few days before it would be here. Now I felt like I only had a matter of hours before I was ready to beg Laszlo to show me exactly how well he could take care of my needs. My heat seemed to be growing closer the longer I was with Laszlo. All alphas had pheromones that called to omegas, but there was no reason why that should bring heat on more quickly. I’d certainly never been affected like this before.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Give me a few minutes.” I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready for what was about to happen, but after checking out another patron and making sure the shop was empty, I sent a quick text to my boss, telling him an emergency had come up. Then I gathered up the bags I’d filled with his glass ornaments along with the backpack I always brought to work and followed Laszlo to the door. As I walked behind the enigmatic man, I took the opportunity to look him over more carefully. His dark brown hair was thick and looked like it would be incredibly soft to the touch. I would guess that the suit and topcoat he wore were tailored for him, and if that and the way he threw his money around in the store weren’t enough to tell me how well-off he was, the diamond-studded Rolex on his wrist sure had. On anyone else I would have assumed it was a fake, but I had just known his was the real thing.

  I’d been working at Tolliver’s for over a year, and I didn’t think I’d ever had a customer spend as much in a single day as Laszlo had. I couldn’t even afford one of the glass ornaments. I was making do with a few boxes of deeply discounted decorations I’d snagged in the post-holiday sale the year before.

  But it wasn’t Laszlo’s obvious wealth that drew me to him. It was the way he looked at me like I was something special. Of course, he also looked like he wanted to eat me up. And his eyes. Had I really seen them change to a swirl of rainbow colors? No, that wasn’t possible. Maybe my heat really was making me crazy. Why else would I be going home with a stranger I knew nothing about, other than his address and the fact that he had plenty of money and good taste in ornaments?

  When we reached a large black sedan, a tall man in a uniform hopped out and rushed around to open the back door. Laszlo gestured for me to enter. I slid across the wide leather seat, and Laszlo settled himself next to me.

  As the driver pulled out into traffic, Laszlo laid a hand on my thigh. His thumb moved slowly back and forth, caressing me. Had I not looked down to make absolutely sure I was still wearing my jeans, I would’ve been certain he was touching my naked skin. I looked up and saw that he was watching me intently. “You are delectable.”

  “I… um…” He was dangerous, but he wouldn’t hurt me, or at least that’s what my heat-addled brain told me. It was definitely starting to get on board with what my cock wanted. At least my friend Holden knew where I was.

  “You’re afraid,” Laszlo said.

  Again, I would swear his eyes had changed, just for a second, and his voice was lower and rougher. Maybe that was just from his arousal. He had to be affected by my heat pheromones if I was being affected by him. Unable to help myself, I glanced down and saw that his cock was as hard as mine. Based on the outline of his bulge, it was also very impressive. He would fill me so much better than the fake alpha cock I had in my nightstand drawer. A whimper escaped me, and I winced, hoping he hadn’t heard.

  He leaned closer and whispered in my ear. “I like that you’re so responsive. Once we’re in my lair, I want to hear every moan, every cry. I’ll treasure all of them.”

  I should ignore him. He was just flirting. Yet I had a feeling he somehow knew all my secret desires, and he was going to give me exactly what I wanted. But what would happen after that?

  I pulled away from him. “I really shouldn’t be doing this. I should leave the ornaments with you and then—”

  “Your heat is so close. I can smell it. I can feel it. You need someone to see you through it.”

  “I…” He was right. I doubted I could make it home before I was fully in the throes of my heat, and I didn’t ev
en have any suppressants in my backpack.

  “You need me.”

  I took a deep breath which turned out to be a mistake. His scent was intoxicating, better than any man I’d ever smelled. “I do.”

  “That’s right my little morsel. You need everything I can do to your delectable body.” His eyes changed again, and the swirling colors lasted longer this time.

  “Your eyes. What just happened to them?”

  He smiled. “Magic. I have so much magic to give you.”

  No. This was not okay. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but it couldn’t be magic.

  What other explanation is there? A seductive voice inside me asked. What if he really is magical?

  No, I was either hallucinating or dreaming or something else I hadn’t thought up.

  “Who are you that you can do magic?”

  “Your alpha. Your destiny. The creature who’s going to possess you.”

  Creature? Destiny? This was insane. I was insane to have ever left the store, and yet my instincts, the ones I usually trusted were crying, yes, yes, yes. This is the man you’ve been waiting for.

  Maybe this was a dream. Maybe I should just go with that because if it was a dream, I didn’t have to stop it.

  The driver turned off the curvy road we’d been traveling and followed a long driveway to a house that could only be described as palatial. But unlike most homes in the nicer parts of town, Laszlo’s lawn was absolutely covered in Christmas decorations—shimmering ones in gold, silver, and white. Fake snow was sprinkled over the grass, and there were so many lights strung on the house and in the trees, that Clark Griswold would have been in awe. “You must really love Christmas.”

  Laszlo grinned, and it made him look younger and less intimidating. “I do. There are so many treasures, so many things to collect.”

  He looked as excited as a child. Could this man really be dangerous when he found Christmas so exciting?

  The driver came around and opened the door, so Laszlo and I slid out of the car. I had one more chance to demand I be taken home, but instead, I simply said, “Your house is enormous.”

  Laszlo’s eyes lit up. “You’re impressed?”

  He seemed so sincerely pleased that I appreciated his home. He’s the one. The voice inside said again. I just hoped he wasn’t “the one” who was crazy as fuck.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house as large as this except when I toured the Biltmore Estate as a kid.”

  Laszlo waved his hand dismissively. “Vanderbilt may have had more square footage than me, but he had no true vision for decor.”

  I frowned. He spoke as though he’d known the man, but if I remembered right, George Vanderbilt had died over a hundred years ago, and Laszlo couldn’t be more than forty-five.

  “Come inside, Roman. I want to show you my lair before your heat overtakes us both.”

  His lair? That was the second time he’d used the odd term. I would have laughed if another man had said it, but somehow it seemed just right coming from Laszlo. He seemed to exist outside of normal reality. “Am I dreaming?”

  Laszlo gave me a seductive smile. “If you are, then we should make the most of it.” He took one of the bags I held and clasped my hand. “Come.”

  I let him lead me through his front door.

  The moment we entered the foyer, a man appeared as if out of nowhere. He wore a white shirt and a dark suit with a crest on his jacket. Was that a uniform? Did Laszlo have an actual butler? “How may I help you, sir?”

  “Bring some champagne and truffles to my nes—bedroom and also—” Laszlo turned to me. “Are you hungry, pet?”

  Pet? I shouldn’t like him calling me that as much as I did. “Um… Can you repeat the question?

  “Is chocolate enough, or would you like a meal?”

  The way he said the word meal and looked me up and down, I was sure he considered me his dinner. I had sudden wild fantasies of him being a monster who would transform and eat me for real. No one would ever know how I’d disappeared. “Chocolate is enough. I’m not very hungry.” At least not for food.

  “Richards, we’ll just have the truffles. Please take these bags to the conservatory.” Of course Laszlo had a conservatory.

  Richards picked up the carrier bags filled with ornaments. “Yes, sir.”

  Once the butler, or whoever he was, left us, Laszlo stepped toward me and took my hands in his. The warmth of his skin seemed to radiate into me. When I met his eyes, my breath caught. They were shimmering again, a kaleidoscope of color. “Y-your eyes.”

  He just smiled. “Do you like them?”

  “Yes.” It was the truth. Maybe I’d been transported to some other world. How many times had I wished for that as I devoured one fantasy book after another? “I shouldn’t be here.”

  Laszlo snorted, and once again, I was sure I saw smoke in the air. “This is exactly where you belong. Here. With me. Besides, it’s no fun to only do what we should. Indulge yourself. I promise that with me you’ll experience things you never have before.”

  Since I’d never spent my heat with an alpha, that was certainly true. And if I were ever going to experience that, why not have it be with Laszlo? He wasn’t simply gorgeous, there was something about him that called to the most primitive part of me, the part that longed to revel in the wild uncontrollable urges of my heat.

  Laszlo rubbed his thumb over the inside of my wrist, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe at all. Just that simple touch made me ache for him. My cock had been at half-mast, but now it was fully hard, and I could feel my slick dampening my briefs. If he kept this up, I was going to be so wet, I’d soak through them.

  Laszlo drew in a long, slow breath. “I can smell your need. Come with me, Roman. Let me claim you.”

  Claim me? That was just as wrong as him calling me his pet, but it only made me hotter. Maybe, just this once, I could have something wrong and wicked instead of just fantasizing about a strong, aggressive alpha taking me and telling me I belonged to him.

  “I don’t have any suppressants with me, so once my heat starts…”

  He caressed my cheek. “I don’t want you on suppressants, pet. I want you wild, raw, and open. I want to find the animal in you.”

  My mouth fell open. How could he say such things? How could they turn me on so much? “Take me to your nest.”

  He tugged on my hand so I would follow him. It was only after he led me down a long hall that I realized I’d called his bedroom a nest. Maybe I really was dreaming?

  3

  Laszlo

  I kept turning to look at my little omega as we hurried through my house. His eyes were wide as he took in all the treasures on display. My dragon loved how impressed he was with my possessions, and my human self was equally pleased that I could sense Roman’s body readying to take me. It was as if my being near him was bringing on his heat.

  Mate, my dragon insisted. Breed our mate.

  I bit back a groan at the thought. If he were my mate, he’d be receptive to my seed. There weren’t many dragons in existence, and many lived for centuries or even millennia without producing any whelps. But for a dragon lucky enough to find their true mate, the chance of the dragon’s seed taking root rose exponentially.

  Mate. Take him.

  The scent of Roman’s slick was clouding my thoughts and making it more difficult to keep my dragon at bay. I’d intended to move slowly, seducing him until he was thoroughly convinced he belonged to me, but his heat was coming on more rapidly than I’d expected. I didn’t want to scare him, but my dragon was growing desperate to make him ours.

  We reached the room I thought of as my nest, but humans called it a bedroom. Centuries ago, I’d slept in an actual nest with a base of straw covered in fine linens which my subjects brought to me to keep me pacified. I didn’t actually eat any village virgins. Blowing some fire around and roaring a bit was all it took to have villagers eager to do my bidding. But it was the twenty-first century now, and while I could no longer
make subjects of entire villages, I no longer had to sleep on straw either. I still preferred a circular nest, though. Fortunately, for the right price, one could have a round bed made to order as well as the mattress and linens. Amassing treasure certainly had its advantages. My bed was even large enough to accommodate me in dragon form.

  “Wow!” Roman exclaimed when we entered the room. “Your bed is huge.”

  “You’ll appreciate that later.”

  “Everything about this house is amazing.”

  I preened, wishing I could show him my beautiful scales and impressive talons, but he wasn’t ready for that yet. He needed to be deep in the throes of his heat before he learned exactly what I was and why I intended to keep him.

  My treasure. My mate. If my dragon had his way, I’d be half-transformed and using my talons to slice Roman’s clothing away and expose his gorgeous body.

  I took a step closer to him. He watched me warily, likely sensing the predator in me, but his cock still strained against his pants, and I could tell from his scent that his ragged breathing was more from lust than fear. “Come sit with me, pet.”

  “I’m not—”

  A knock on the door stopped his words. “I have your champagne and truffles, sir.”

  “Come in.”

  Pierre, another of my servants, entered. He was nearly as young and as pretty as Roman. I’d enjoyed him on more than one occasion, but I didn’t like the jealous look he gave my mate as he placed the tray in front of the fire. I might need to find him employment elsewhere. As soon as I had a chance, I would message the rest of the Lonely Dragons to see if any of them were in need of Pierre’s particular talents. I wondered how they’d react to the news that I’d found my mate, but I wasn’t quite ready to share that yet.

  “Will that be all, sir?” Pierre asked, flashing me an adorable, impish smile.

  “Thank you, Pierre. That is all.”

  He looked disappointed not to be asked to stay, but he turned and left the room without another word.