STORY EXCERPT

"We gotta do something about this,” Mark said, cringing. “If he’s taking Ian’s pain—”

“Don’t kill Josh!”

The one named Kaiden flung himself on the mattress, pressing his body over Josh’s, as though expecting punishment or more pain to come, shielding the man with his body. “D-don’t kill him! It’s not his fault!”

“How else are we to stop him from helping Ian?”

The sooner Ian’s mates stopped taking his pain, the sooner Alex could defeat him and send him packing.

Alex wouldn’t want to kill his own cousin, after all.

From the look of the human, of Josh, death might be welcome for him.

But if he wanted to live…?

“Are any of you taking his pain?”

“A little,” said a female. “We have to, but he takes the most. He always did. Ian treats him better because of it, but—”

“So if we were to stop him, would any of you take Ian’s pain?” Mark asked.

Trevor felt something hot and angry ignite inside him. Had Mark already decided to kill the human? He would have thought he would give it more consideration than that.

“Are you going to kill him?” Kaiden asked.

“That’s not what I asked,” Mark said. “Will any of you take Ian’s pain or injuries for him if we stop your friend there from doing this?”

They all looked among each other. No one said anything, not even the brave one protecting Josh.

Mark had to know it would be an unfair question to ask.

Betray an old master before he was out the door? Or make good with the new one when victory had not yet been established?

Trevor had a thought, and he acted on it before anything else could happen.

“I know what to do,” he said, getting to one knee on the mattress.

“No!” Kaiden yelled, but he was no match for Trevor as he grabbed the man’s skinny arms and gently eased him off the bleeding human.

“D-Don’t hurt him! Please!”

Others around Kaiden grabbed him, holding him back from the dragons he had no chance of defeating.

The man looked on the verge of tears. He clearly loved Josh.

Trevor looked once more at the male beneath him. The eyes were swollen shut, lips crackled and bleeding, nose at an odd angle from Alex’s blows.

Taking pain was one thing, even a little bleeding, but if he was getting broken bones from Alex’s fists hitting Ian, then this man’s ability to focus in on his mate was powerful indeed.

It was a good thing Alex could not see the damage he was doing by fighting with Ian. Otherwise, he might hesitate and lose the battle.

That was Ian’s mistake. He should have brought his mates, all of them, up above to show the damage he was doing. Alex wouldn’t be able to fight if he could see this.

Trevor pulled aside the torn shirt the human wore, revealing a nasty-looking bite scar on his shoulder.

Ian hadn’t been careful at all when making it.

He’d probably bitten the rest of these humans with equal ferocity.

“Fuck me,” Mark said, coming to realize what Trevor had planned. “Trevor, are you sure?”

Trevor leaned in. He could smell the human beneath the sweat, dirt, and blood.

He smelled like he belonged with Trevor and no one else. He smelled like he belonged to Trevor already.

“It’s the only way without killing him.”

Hopefully.

Taking multiple mates was considered dishonorable, a savage, disgusting practice.

Because the more mates one took, the worse the bites hurt and the more difficult it was to care for them.

And to have more than one bite, to be taken by another dragon before their first mate had died…it wasn’t much better.

Trevor hoped he’d made the right decision, but with a new mate, this human, Josh, would be bound to him instead and he would begin to heal faster using Trevor’s energy.

He would likely hate Trevor for taking the decision from him, but there was no choice.

Trevor bit the place where neck met shoulder, fitting his teeth over Ian’s scar, hoping to erase every trace of the man.

In the back of his mind, he felt the echoes of agony Josh suffered through, saw flashes of memory—laughing children, fields of green, a sense of happiness and belonging—but it all flashed by so quickly that he couldn’t hold on to it.

It felt good, clean, and pure, and now Trevor knew why Kaiden loved Josh so much.

They were brothers.

Trevor kept his teeth inside the new wound only long enough to make it permanent. He pulled his teeth back as quickly and gently as he could, licking the wound he made, relishing the taste of Josh’s blood, which was shockingly sweet.

An ache filled him, a longing Trevor had never felt before, and it wasn’t just the bite, how he’d connected them.

It was something else. A proper mating.

Survive. Survive and I’ll make it up to you later.

A hard wail sounded from up above. Even in their little prison, Trevor could make out Ian’s enraged scream.

ADULT EXCERPT

Josh thought he would be more scared. He wasn’t. He was excited. The more Trevor touched him, the more he kissed him, the more Josh wanted, and the more his lingering fears were chased away.

Trevor’s hands were so damn big.

They were all over him, too, stroking across his hips and chest, and the man actually looked at Josh before he pulled down his sleeping pants, as though asking for permission.

He, a dragon, asking for permission to do anything. That was new.

Josh swallowed hard and nodded, relieved when he was finally out of his pants and relieved with the darkness.

He knew he wasn’t much to look at. Humans were ugly, and even for a dragon, Trevor was exceptionally handsome. His body had its share of scars. Josh explored them with his hands, shivering at the thought that he might one day suffer the pain of more of them if Trevor could not learn to hold it back, but for now, he touched and kissed and enjoyed the moment along with Trevor.

He was amazing. He wasn’t just taking what he wanted, even though Josh was practically throwing himself at the man, even though he said it was all right.

And it would have been, but this…

Trevor kissed his way down Josh’s chest and stomach. Josh thought he would come back up again at some point, but when his large hand stroked Josh’s cock, and when his mouth…oh God, his mouth!

Josh moaned, his fingers gripping tightly into Trevor’s hair as his dick was swallowed down by his talented mouth, a mouth Josh had just been kissing.

No one had ever… He never knew…oh God, it was too good. He couldn’t stop himself, and Josh burst.

He moaned low in his throat, spasming as his as balls tightened and his cock jerked.

Trevor didn’t pull back and yell at him for ruining the moment. He kept going. His tongue slid around the shaft of Josh’s twitching prick, his shaft somehow managing to stay hard.

Josh collapsed onto the bed. He’d barely realized that he’d arched so hard until he fell back down with a gasp.

Only then did Trevor pull back, Josh’s dick shining with his saliva, and when Josh glanced down at them, he left that pleasant, happy haze he’d found himself in, and he panicked.

“I’m sorry!” He wanted to make it up to him, he needed to make it up. “I can…you can still…I mean, of course you can. I wouldn’t stop you, but—”

“Relax.” Trevor took his hand and gripped it tightly, and it was just as wonderful as the blowjob had been. “I liked that.” His dark eye and even the scarred, milky one, glinted in the dark. “I love the way you taste.”

“I didn’t mean to come. I didn’t ruin it, did I?”

“Not at all.”

“You can still take me. I still want that. I still want you to fuck me.”

He wanted to be filled. He wanted Trevor’s cock inside him because, even if he couldn’t get off again, he knew it would feel good. It would feel good to be one with his mate. Even if he only got to do it with him once. He needed it.

“It’s all right, honey,” Trevor said. “You didn’t ruin anything. I can still make you feel good.”

“I want you to feel good, too. I wouldn’t be selfish about it.”

“I worry that you might not be selfish enough,” Trevor grumbled.

Josh didn’t understand, but as Trevor kissed his way back up Josh’s belly, he couldn’t help but feel a heavy sense of relief.

His worries chased away. Trevor still wanted to be with him. His hands were still gentle as he touched him, and each kiss over his skin was so loving and warm that it made Josh’s throat ache.

Ian had never kissed him like that before. His kisses had always been forceful and kind of gross.

The man had been a terrible kisser.

Trevor’s kisses left Josh wanting more. The more he gave, the starker the differences between the two men were.

Ian had been taller than Josh but short for a dragon shifter. Trevor was definitely the right height.

Ian had been cruel. He could speak pretty words that no one ever fell for, but his eyes had been cold and horrible.

Trevor’s eyes, even though one was badly scarred, were warm and comforting. Everything about them was different, and every touch was a comforting reminder that Josh wasn’t dreaming this, that he wasn’t going to wake up in the basement and find Ian standing above him, ready to drag him upstairs by his hair.

All these things came together to make Josh come alive. His body began to heat up all over again, and his still-hard dick throbbed as though he hadn’t just had two orgasms in less than twenty minutes of each other.

“H-Holy sh—Holy God,” Josh gasped, catching himself before he could curse, but then he almost couldn’t help it when Trevor’s lips sucked on the side of his throat.

“M-more,” he begged. He was never allowed to beg for more. He never wanted to, anyway.

Now, he very much did.

“P-please, give me…please give me more.”

“I will.”