STORY EXCERPT

Thankfully, they were all flesh wounds. The nastiest bit was one spot where one of Kraigan’s scales had been broken and now punctured his flesh. When he’d shifted, the ruined scale had not returned to its flesh form, and it remained under the wounded flesh.

Jason had to peel the skin back and pull those bits of dragon scale out one at a time, not stopping until he was convinced that he’d gotten everything. Then he’d made Kraigan hiss and clench his fists and teeth some more when he poured more alcohol onto the wounds.

All the while, he pretended as though he was not purposely hurting his mate, getting back at him. Jason made soothing noises and planted gentle kisses over Kraigan’s uninjured flesh, complimenting the man’s skill and bravery on the battlefield, all the while keeping his voice just as soft but with enough of a warning hint so that Kraigan would know why he was angry.

“Jason?”

“Yes?” Jason asked, pressing one more gentle kiss to Kraigan’s shoulder. There was nothing more to bandage, no more places to disinfect, but Jason did not take the predatory tone from his voice. Even he could be dangerous from time to time, and now was the perfect chance for him to let Kraigan know about it.

Kraigan chuckled, as if this entire thing had been a game. “Something tells me, my dear mate, that you are upset about something. Perhaps you should tell me what it is.”

Kraigan never spoke to him like this unless he was about to go along with the game that Jason was playing and that was all Jason cared about in that moment.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Jason said, a mock politeness to his tone. “I would never presume to ask the mighty warrior Kraigan Snow to do something as demeaning as speak about his feelings.”

Jason couldn’t help himself, even as those last words left his mouth. His fingertips tightened on Kraigan’s shoulders. If he was paining the man, Kraigan didn’t let him know. He turned his head just enough so that Jason could see the smile on his face.

Now he was the one who was looking more like the predator.

So quickly that Jason didn’t have the chance to block off the attack, Kraigan spun around, grabbing Jason’s wrists and yanking him back onto their bed, pinning him.

Jason’s eyes widened. He knew that as a dragon, Kraigan was much stronger than him, and even though his wounds were not all that terrible, he’d still expected to not have been caught as easily as this.

Kraigan’s grip was strong as he clutched Jason’s wrists, holding them down above his head.

“I insist, my beloved mate. Tell me what is troubling you.”

“Remember that you called me beloved,” Jason said, pouting only a little.

Kraigan’s voice turned serious. “Will you just explain to me why you feel the need to abuse me after I returned from a battle? As much as I don’t say so, that does hurt when you soak my ruined back with alcohol.”

Jason winced, regret and shame filling him up like water in a cup, only the person pouring forgot to stop, so the cup overflowed. “I’m sorry, I just...I promised myself that I was going to kill you when you got back, all right? I had to do something.”

Kraigan lifted a brow at him. “Kill me? Are you serious?”

“What? No! I wasn’t actually going to kill you!”

“I know that, idiot,” Kraigan said, and he pushed himself off of Jason’s body, sitting up on their shared bed now.

Jason could barely put himself into a sitting position, but he did. He absolutely could not look Kraigan in the eyes, however. Even that was too much for him. Too damned much.

“Jason, tell me what you are thinking,” Kraigan said, and this time there was no sarcastic politeness to his voice.

There had been a time when Jason hated this man, when Kraigan had teased and threatened him to the point that Jason didn’t know how much of his hate actually was hate and how much of it was fear.

Now...Now he had grown to love this man so damned much that the thought of being without him terrified him. Jason couldn’t stomach the thought of Kraigan pushing Jason to safety and then rushing off into danger to die. No goodbye, no last lingering touch, just gone.

Jason leaned forward until his forehead rested against Kraigan’s shoulder. He thought he was going to cry. That was almost as bad.

Kraigan stiffened. In their short amount of time together, Jason had learned that his mate was not very good with emotions. Hell, for the first little while they’d been together, Kraigan had managed to convince himself that he didn’t have any emotions or feelings, and when he’d first started to suspect that he might have loved Jason as much as Jason had loved him, the man had panicked. The strong dragon warrior had been so afraid of an emotion he couldn’t name that he’d pushed Jason away. They had nearly not become a couple because of it.

Now they were, and all Jason could see were his own faults, the things that made him weak, the people who would love Kraigan better, protect him in battle, and give him children.

Jason could never do any of those things. “Just don’t scare me like that again, please.”

Kraigan remained silent, and then the shoulder that Jason rested against was suddenly not so tense. Kraigan’s large, thick arm came around Jason’s shoulders. It was like a hug. Kraigan had hugged Jason before, but the man was still getting used to giving such things as signs of affection, so Jason treasured them as much as he would any kiss.

Kraigan also kissed the top of Jason’s hair, and that was nice as well. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Sexual favors always help.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“Love it when you manhandle me,” Jason said, and then he opened his mouth and sighed as Kraigan leaned in and pressed his tongue to the very tip of his cock.

Human dicks were different from dragon cocks. For one thing, they were smaller. Kraigan had been told again and again from Jason that his prick was not a tiny thing. He was well off for a human. Kraigan was just an asshole, and he didn’t know any better, and so on, and so forth.

Kraigan knew it, and he believed it. In truth, aside from the fact that there was no swollen bulb sitting at the head, Jason’s cock was something to be enjoyed and adored. Kraigan made a show of enjoying and adoring it when he wet his lips and sank them down around the shaft.

He wasn’t used to this, so his mouth could only go so far, barely down around the head before he had to pull back.

Jason did not seem to mind. His hands moved to Kraigan’s short hair, fingertips lightly scratching his scalp, a sensation that Kraigan very much enjoyed. Jason moaned and sighed as Kraigan did it again and again. He pushed himself as far as he could go without gagging himself, but all the while, his hands massaged Jason’s thighs and he would look up to make certain that the pleasure on Jason’s face was real.

Dragons did not normally do this to one another. The swollen bulb at the head of their cocks made it difficult to put another dragon shifter’s dick in one’s mouth without teeth becoming heavily involved. Teeth were never a fun experience when dealing with one’s cock.

Kraigan knew from personal experience. He’d been young and curious at one time.

Because of this, many dragons, Kraigan included for a time, felt putting their mouths on another man’s cock to be something disgusting, improper, and even wrong.

Then Kraigan began having sex with Jason, and though the human could not get his lips around Kraigan’s cock, the man sure as hell knew how to pleasure Kraigan with his mouth on Kraigan’s dick anyway.

Kraigan had naturally wanted to return the favor, and Jason had described him as a quick study with a smirk on his face.

The little shit.

“Oh fuck. That’s really nice. Yeah, put your hand right there.”

Kraigan had almost forgotten to use his hand on the spot where his mouth could not reach, and Jason fell backward on the bed, his hands flying to his hair and gripping tight. That was what Kraigan wanted. He chuckled, and Jason moaned harder as the vibrations of that chuckle seemed to have an even better reaction than Kraigan could have foreseen.

He hummed because of that. Nothing in particular, no tune, just a hum. Mostly he wanted his mouth to vibrate around Jason’s cock again. He wanted Jason to come inside of his mouth. Kraigan had allowed that to happen before, had swallowed a time or two, but he still wasn’t certain how much he enjoyed that part.

 He wanted to do it now. He would prove to Jason that he loved him.

Jason attempted to warn him, to let him know that he was about to come and that Kraigan needed to pull away. The man had a great amount of self-control to be able to do even that much while Kraigan pleasured him like this, but Kraigan didn’t stop.

He didn’t even stop when he heard the long, languid sound of Jason’s satisfied moan or the feeling of warmth inside of his mouth.

He swallowed all of it down, still keeping the pressure of his mouth and tongue on Jason’s cock, not stopping until the man’s cock began to soften between his lips.

Kraigan smiled, and he climbed back up onto the bed, leaning over his lover while Jason lay there, panting as though his bones were made of liquid, his arm flung over his face, though Kraigan could still see the flushed cheeks. He also noted the man’s lips, dark from where he’d bitten them. Jason was a mess now, and Kraigan liked it like that.

He pushed Jason’s arm out of the way, and he leaned down and pressed his mouth to those swollen lips to let Jason taste himself in Kraigan’s mouth, let him taste what Kraigan tasted. It was wonderful.

Jason moaned, though his hands were still weak as he brought them up to hold on to Kraigan’s shoulders.

Then they pulled back from each other, and the smile on Jason’s face was a lazy one. His eyes were bright, however. “Man, I wish I’d known you were willing to do that.”

“I’m always willing to do that,” Kraigan said, even though he was certain that he wasn’t. Not really. This had just been something that happened because he wanted to please his lover.

Jason saw right through him, and he smiled that sweet, irritating smile he got whenever he was about to be a pest about something. “Sure, but anyway, if you’re willing to always do it, then I guess I don’t have to warn you anymore when I’m about to come.”

Kraigan swatted Jason’s shoulder, taking care to note his own strength so that he wouldn’t hurt the bratty human beneath him. “Little shit,” he said. “Turn over.”

“Love it when you’re pushy,” Jason replied, and he did as he was told with an eager smile on his mouth.

That smile melted away, soft moans escaping his lips, his eyes squeezing shut again and again as Kraigan worked lubricated fingers into his pucker, hooking them, finding Jason’s prostate, and coaxing the man’s cock back to hardness.

Jason pushed his ass back against the thrusting motion. Had he been born a woman, he would certainly have been a nymph. His fingers gripped the thin sheets left on the bed, scrunching them even more.

“Fuck, are you teasing me on purpose?” Jason asked, panting as he tried to glare at Kraigan over his shoulder.