STORY EXCERPT

"What the hell are you doing with a guy like that?"

Nick nearly spat out the milk he'd been drinking straight from the carton. He choked it down instead, groaning as it painfully went down. He coughed a little then turned to look behind him.

Glowing red eyes in the dark. Once upon a time that might have scared the piss out of him. Now…

Now it made him want to react in other ways he couldn't.

"What? Jesus, Markus, what the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that?"

Markus stepped into the kitchen. They were in the common area kitchen in the mountain. Though Nick was still staying with his brother's family, he didn't feel right about raiding their fridge in the middle of the night.

"I asked what you were doing messing around with that sack of shit. You know he's faking all that nice bullshit to get close to you, right, Nicky?"

Nick put away the carton, no longer concerned about getting caught drinking straight from it. He glared up at the dragon in front of him, crossing his arms. "Yeah, because I'm a complete idiot. Being nice is usually what guys do to get into each other's pants."

He didn't bother with reminding Markus that he didn't want to be called Nicky anymore. He wasn't that seventeen-year-old kid with a crush.

But Markus refused to call him Nick. He always stuck with Nicky, which was as annoying as all hell, but it wasn't as if he, a human, could tell a dragon warrior how to behave himself.

"You know he's using you? And you don't care?" Markus sounded shocked and a little put off.

Nick shrugged, turning his back on the man and reaching back into the fridge. There was a bowl of chicken salad in there, and he was dying for a sandwich.

"It's just sex. Not like it'll be something new."

The growl behind him stunned him. Nick found himself freezing up. He slowly stood up straight and turned back around to see that Markus had gotten closer.

Real close. Like close enough that Nick was reminded of their height distance.

Nick had a late growth spurt when he was getting ready to get into the police academy, which worked out to his favor because, as a human, his height and shape would not have seen him through school.

His teachers had no issue with telling him that.

Still, at six feet tall, with more muscle mass on him than he'd ever had, he was still smaller than Markus. Both in height and the width of his shoulders.

He always felt small next to Markus, always felt as though he wanted to catch up to the other man, but this was a little on the ridiculous side. He was never going to catch up to him, and Markus was never going to want him.

So why was he suddenly toe to toe with Nick? Why stare down at him as though he was jealous?

Nick's eyes popped wide. "Holy shit, are you jealous?"

"No!" Markus snapped, though the curl in his lip and scrunch of his nose told Nick otherwise.

And he found himself incredibly annoyed by that.

And liking it. A lot.

He decided to only show his annoyance.

"Are you fucking kidding me? All this time and you only decide you want me when I've got something else going on?"

"Don't give me that shit. You both sleep in separate bedrooms. You can hardly stand the guy, and it shows."

"I like Darien. He's nice. He believes in human rights."

"No, he doesn't," Markus said, snorting as though it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard in his entire life. "He wants you to believe he does because it gets him close to you. That guy's a straight-up predator. I've seen that type before. He'll wait until your guard is down and then he can drop the nice guy horseshit."

"He's not faking anything. There's literally three billion humans on the planet he can choose from. I'm nothing special, and there's nothing for him to pretend for."

"Uh-huh. Have you slept with him yet?"

Nick glared at the man. "That's not your business."

Markus sighed, as though relieved. "So you haven't."

"What? Jesus, fuck, are you serious right now?"

"The second he puts his dick inside you he will think he owns you. I'm telling you I've seen his type."

"How do you know he'll be the one to do it?"

"Because I know, all right?"

Nick was angry, and now he wasn't so hungry anymore. "If he's such an asshole, why is Adon letting him stay?"

"To keep an eye on you. Tell me you haven't noticed the way Rhoam and Adon have been watching him? You're a cop now. That should be on your radar."

Nick clenched his teeth. "He just rubs them the wrong way."

"Uh-huh, and you're being stubborn because you're trying to stay away from me."

"And why the hell shouldn't I be doing that?" Nick had to calm himself before he woke up the people in the mountain. Sometimes he forgot there were rules to being a human and dealing with dragons. One of them being that Nick wasn't as high on the totem pole as Markus, and even as an actual officer of the law now, he had to answer to Markus. He couldn't go around yelling at members of the dragon public.

Markus folded his arms across his massive chest. Just doing that was enough to make him look bigger than he actually was.

"Right, that reaction right there. You think Darien will let you get away with yelling at him if you ever get into a fight?"

"It doesn't matter what I think about him. If he becomes too much of a pain in the ass, then I'll leave him. I'm not even with him right now anyway! Why the hell are you asking me this? I thought you took a mate."

Markus lifted a brow at him, the gold ring glinting in the moonlight from the windows. "No. Why would you think that?"

Nick's gut clenched. "You didn't? But I thought…"

He didn't say anything else. He couldn't. He'd thought for sure that Markus had taken a mate.

"I saw you with a woman. Often. Who the hell was she?"

"I had lovers. You did, too." Markus was looking a little too pleased with himself. "Are you jealous?"

"No!"

"Uh-huh, you're such a liar." Markus reached out for him, grabbed Nick by the back of the neck, and yanked him closer, their mouths coming together hard and fast.

Nick inhaled a sharp breath when their mouths connected, breathing Markus into himself.

And then…oh God, he felt it. The heat, the rush of pleasure. His body tingled from that one kiss alone, and he couldn't control his legs.

Nick had to hold on to Markus' shoulders just to keep from sinking to his knees. Markus backed him up against the kitchen counter, and he really seemed to know what he was doing. Markus forcefully stuck Nick onto the counter to sit, spread his knees, and then came to stand between them.

And it was so good that Nick couldn't resist him.

ADULT EXCERPT

Nick was quick to do as he was told. His hands fumbled with his belt, button, and fly. He shoved his pants down, kicking out of his shoes, his dick already hard and throbbing. His body hummed as Markus undressed in front of him.

They weren't in the dark this time. Nicky could better see Markus' body as it was revealed to him. Not that they'd been naked last night, but still, having some real light made this so much better.

And really showed off the scarring on his body. Back when he'd been attacked by Raulf and his men.

Nick could still remember that, and he still hated that it had happened to him. He could remember the day Markus came back, bloody and unconscious.

Nick had been so scared he was going to die. He'd tried taking care of Markus. He'd wanted to show the dragon that Nick would be there for him and that he wouldn't run away from him just because of an injury.

Markus seemed to notice what Nick was staring at, and he sighed. "Doesn't look so good, does it?"

Nick looked up at the man, and he shook his head. "They're your battle scars. You had to survive to get those."

Nick pushed himself forward. He let his hands rest on Markus' hips, leaned in, and pressed his mouth to one of the deeper scars that ran down his abdomen.

He felt the light shiver that came with the simple touch, and he looked up again, noting the way Markus stared at him. His eyes were glowing again.

As though this were something he wasn't entirely used to.

Nick didn’t like that. He didn’t like the idea that Markus thought his scars made him ugly. He was a warrior. His scars were beautiful.

Or did he worry that Nick thought they were ugly? Those were two separate things to worry about.

"You're not ugly."

Markus didn't say anything to that, but the way he clenched his jaw and neck spoke volumes.

Nick kissed another one of his scars on his abdomen then moved to a long, diagonal claw mark down his pectoral.

Nick wanted to kiss every inch of him. Last night hadn't been remotely enough. Nick needed more. He needed to shower himself in Markus' scent, his taste, and his body.

Nick had been going on with his life fairly well up until now, but now that he had a taste for what Markus was, now that he'd been able to experience kissing him, he knew nothing was ever going to be the same.

Nick needed more of this. He no longer could go on with his life without having it. It had been one thing to live without Markus having never tasted him, but now, now Nick was well and truly fucked.

If Markus decided he wanted nothing to do with Nick again, there would be no recovering from it.

Nick moaned as Markus took him by the back of his head again, cradling him, bringing their mouths together.

Markus swallowed that sound up, just as he did the night before, and Nick loved it. He loved the way Markus took command of his body. Nick never would have thought he was such a sub before, but the way Markus handled him, just a little on the rough side, was a massive turn-on.

And while Nick was confidant Markus wouldn't force him to do anything he didn't want him to do, there was something about his aggressive nature, about the way Markus kissed and took what he wanted from Nick without asking, that he was definitely finding attractive.

Markus picked Nick up right off his feet then fell down with him onto the bed.

Nick laughed as he went down, Markus' body heavy on top of his, and then he was kissing the other man again as Markus stripped him of his clothes.

That was what he wanted. Nick had been fantasizing about this ever since he'd first laid eyes on the other man, and now he was going to get it.

"You want my dick inside you?"

Nick nodded. "Since yesterday."

Markus' green eyes flashed at him, and the way they melted into red made Nick feel like prey.

The good kind of prey.

Markus slid down Nick's body, his mouth moving in much the same way Nick's had been moving, pressing loving kisses to Nick's chest and stomach.

"You filled out."

Nick cleared his throat." Yeah, well, training will do that to you."

Markus looked up at him, grinning. "Do I have to get worried you'll get addicted to coffee and donuts and I'll be kissing a softer you down the road?"

"Ha ha ha," Nick said dryly. "Cop joke, funny. No, you won't. If I'm going to keep my career, then I want to make sure no one has a reason to look at me as a reason for why humans shouldn't be working in law."

Which meant he went to the gym regularly enough to keep in decent shape. He had no illusions about ever being able to overpower a dragon, but at least he would be ready if he was ever called to a domestic abuse scene with Jackson. He would be able to help out physically in some ways, and with the shape he was in now, he would be better suited to handle calls from humans when it came to violence or complaints from other humans.

Markus smiled at him, briefly pressing his cheek to Nick's stomach. "You know I'm messing with you, right?"

Nick was taken off guard by such an open gesture. The way Markus touched him and held him right now was unlike anything anyone had ever done for him before in his entire life.

He cleared his throat. "I know."

"You don't sound like you know."

That was because Markus hadn't wanted Nick back when he'd been shorter and more scrawny. He still was nothing in comparison to him right now, but he didn't want to ruin the mood. Nick wanted to fuck. He didn't want to have a heart-to-heart.

"Just trust me on this one. I'm pretty sure you were going to do something."

Markus snorted a laugh, and Nick was positive he'd never heard a noise like that coming from the other man in his entire life.

Then he didn't put too much thought into anything else as Markus pressed his lips to the head of Nick's cock.

Nick's spine arched. His toes curled, and everything suddenly felt way too tight.

"Fuck. Holy God."

Glancing down, Nick noted the way Markus smiled back up at him. As though he were the one getting pleasure out of this.

"You look way too damned proud of yourself—Ah God!"

Nick's body shuddered as Markus took his cock all the way into his mouth, the slow, downward slide making Nick come undone.