STORY EXCERPT

Keagan pressed a hard kiss to Arty’s mouth, and even though they’d started to get along, Arty didn’t think he’d ever been kissed like this by the other man before.

But no one had ever tried to kill him before, either.

“I have to go. I’ll come right back. I won’t leave you for long, I promise.”

Arty didn’t want him to go, though he had a pretty good idea of where the dragon warrior would be heading off to. Arty could hear Renford, the older dragon, screaming something just outside Keagan’s house. He was probably yelling at some of the other dragons, trying to stir them up and convince them that killing the warlock inside their leader’s house was the best course of action.

He’d almost succeeded, and he would have, if Arty hadn’t managed to cast a proper spell. One of the first spells he’d ever been able to cast that had worked to the fullest of its ability. He’d called out to his mate through a mirror. Keagan had seen him, and he’d come to Arty’s rescue.

Just in the nick of time, too.

Arty nodded. Much as he wanted the other man to stay here with him, to keep kissing him and telling him that everything was going to be all right, Arty couldn’t do it.

Keagan was a leader. One of his men had betrayed him. Arty didn’t know the exact details of their relationship, but he knew that Keagan had a special respect for Renford.

This would destroy that respect.

“Just don’t kill him.”

Keagan looked like he wanted to start laughing.

Or strangle Arty. It was hard to tell considering the situation.

“The man tried to kill you, and you want me to show him mercy? You really are the worst warlock.”

Arty smiled, though he didn’t want to say much because of his injured throat, he couldn’t help but laugh a little. Even if it was painful. “Magick doesn’t have anything to do with that, you know.”

Keagan looked as though he wanted to argue that point, but he must have realized he didn’t have a leg to stand on, so he stayed quiet. “Come here.”

Keagan didn’t give Arty much room to argue. The man scooped Arty into his arms like he weighed nothing at all. Keagan walked them into the bedroom, though he stopped and looked around, as though thinking better of it.

Arty was a little too comfortable against his chest. “This is fine. I’ll be fine.”

Though, again, Keagan hesitated—maybe he didn’t want to leave Arty alone in the room where he’d nearly been strangled to death.

“I promise I’m fine. Go and do what you need to do.”

Truthfully, Arty was still lightheaded after being choked out. Renny wasn’t here anymore, and he wanted to lie down.

Keagan finally seemed to give in with a low growl. He put Arty in bed, kissed him sweetly on the mouth one more time, and then quickly left. Arty’s mouth tingled. He brought his hand up to touch his lips, wondering if the sensation was real or not, or just a byproduct of his spinning head.

It wasn’t the first time Arty had feared for his life, but this was different. This happened in Keagan’s home. This happened in a place when Arty had started to believe he’d been safe.

And then there was the confession that came immediately after.

Keagan told Arty he loved him.

Keagan returned a lot faster than Arty thought he would. Arty sat up a little straighter, but Keagan stopped him.

“No, don’t move.”

Arty settled back against the pillows, relaxing as he realized what was in Keagan’s hand. Another Coke can. Arty smiled as the dragon warrior handed it to him, though he seemed to suddenly have trouble looking Arty in the eyes.

“For your throat,” he said, then turned and quickly exited the room.

Arty sighed, and though he would have liked to get another kiss from the man, Keagan had work to do. Despite knowing Renny was a stupid prick who deserved none of Arty’s sympathy, he couldn’t help but wince a little sympathetically for the man when he heard Keagan make it outside, and the roar that sounded before flesh hit flesh, and the fight was on.

Arty tried to stay awake, but even with the potential threat of someone wanting to kill him, it wasn’t enough to stop him from drifting off. The enormous high of trying to stay alive was met with the hard crash after his adrenaline finally dwindled.

He dozed, but it was easy for Arty to feel safe when he did because the whole time he could hear Keagan’s enraged voice screaming outside, demanding to know who else had been involved, and for them to step forward and face their punishments like real dragons.

Arty would never step forward if he’d been involved in any way. He would have been too chicken shit to go up against Keagan.

He wondered, even as he dozed, how bloody Renford looked right about now. And whenever he imagined Renford standing above him, glaring hatefully down at him before reaching for his throat, Arty forced his eyes back open.

The Coke can in his hand and against his throat eventually warmed up, and Arty forgot about it as the sounds of fighting picked up again, and then there was the shriek of a dragon before Arty heard the whoosh of wings. He thought he was flying until he felt something standing over him, a shadow.

Thinking he might be dreaming about Renny again, Arty snapped his eyes back open in a mild panic, but immediately relaxed again when he saw it was Keagan. He looked a little sweaty, and his bottom lip was bloody, which was enough to make Arty come a little more awake.

“Don’t get up,” Keagan said, coming to sit next to him on the bed. He took Arty by the hand, managing to smile even through the clear misery on his face.

“After nearly being killed you manage to fall asleep?”

Arty couldn’t help but smile at him. “Yeah, couldn’t help it.”

Arty thought Keagan would reach out and take his hand, but he didn’t. He just sat there, looking a little too ashamed of himself for Arty’s liking.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

Keagan snorted. “I am the last person on earth you should be asking that to.”

“Did you fight?”

Keagan nodded. “We did.”

Arty was afraid to ask what happened next. “Did you kill him?”

Keagan ducked his head a little. That look of shame seemed to increase around him, as though he were being surrounded with a thick, grey soupy cloud. “No.”

Arty reached for his hand, but he pulled back at the last moment.

Keagan had kissed him so passionately when he made it back to Arty and managed to save him. He’d looked at Arty with such worry and said he loved him, begged him to stay, to not go back to his coven.

But if all that was just in the spur of the moment, then maybe it wasn’t the best idea in the world for him to assume anything.

ADULT EXCERPT

That heavy, pounding feeling in Arty’s heart returned with a vengeance. He pushed himself to sit up a little higher in the bed, watching as Keagan approached.

The man looked very much like an animal stalking prey, and in this, Arty didn’t think he minded being the prey.

But what if this wasn’t what he thought it was, either?

“Are you all right? Keagan?”

“Shhh.” Keagan leaned in, the bed dipping under his hands on the mattress before he pressed his mouth to Arty’s.

After days of being denied, of trying to ignore the building heat in his groin and belly, that one kiss was enough to make Arty really and truly come alive. Shocks of pleasure sizzled down his arms and spine. The hairs on the backs of his arms and neck stood up straight, and his dick swelled and tightened with the rush of lust.

He could not be denied now. God, he needed this. He’d waited days for it and now it felt as though his entire body was getting ready to burst into flames

Arty moaned, tilting his head to the side just enough to make it easy for Keagan to deepen the kiss, to slide his tongue into Arty’s mouth with gentle thrusts. And when the man did, when Arty tasted him and felt Keagan’s hands on his waist, sliding back to his ass, he moaned, pushing his body against Keagan’s, desperate even for the heat of his body.

Keagan moved quickly. The sound of his growling and his heavy breath as he yanked the sheets off Arty’s body and quickly pushed himself out of his pants made Arty need him that much more. Everything was a stimulant, and he quickly shucked his own borrowed sleeping shorts and welcomed the other man to him when Keagan took his shoulders and kissed him again.

Arty wrapped his arms around the back of Keagan’s neck and shoulders, pulling the other man on top of him and he laid back, spreading his legs, feeling the heat of Keagan’s hard cock against his own.

He felt the throb of it, and Arty’s toes curled.

God, this was the first time Keagan had touched him like this since the run-in with Renny. Arty had started to worry it would never happen, that Keagan would want to keep his distance from him permanently now that he knew how fragile Arty really was.

He hoped this meant something different.

“Lift your hips.”

Arty did, gladly, sighing as he felt those searching fingers pressing against his hole. It had been enough days since they’d done this that Keagan seemed to want to take a little more care with him.

It was sweet and annoying at the same time.

Arty’s body would need to adjust to the time spent apart, but at the same time, he was so eager for it that he wouldn’t mind it all that much if the other man decided to flip him over and have his way right now.

Either way, he didn’t even breach Arty with those fingers and Arty was already thrusting against them, moaning over the feel of having that beautiful touch again.

He’d missed this more than he knew.

Keagan, however, didn’t say much else. His mouth was hot as he put it to another use, kissing and licking at Arty’s nipples, playing with the hard buds, using his tongue and sending shockwaves of pleasure down to his cock. Too much. It was getting to be too much, and he didn’t know how he was supposed to handle it.

Arty didn’t want to come right away. He wanted to come when Keagan was inside him and not one minute sooner than that.

Keagan did finally seem to lose his patience with touching and kissing as he finally reached to his nightstand. The man yanked it open and pulled out the little bottle of oil still sitting there. He looked at the glass, and heat rushed into Arty’s cheeks as he avoided eye contact with the man.

Hoping against hope Keagan wouldn’t bring up the fact that there was less oil in there compared to the last time they’d fucked.

Keagan clearly noticed.

But he seemed to have mercy on Arty and decided against humiliating him. He opened the vial, pulling the cork out with his teeth before he slicked his hand and fingers.

Then he brought those fingers back down to where Arty really needed them.

That heat in his neck, face, and ears only increased when Arty was breached. The pressure, the sweet burn of it…God, he’d almost forgotten how perfect this felt, and Arty thrust his ass against those fingers while stroking the length of his cock with his free hand.

He wanted to come with Keagan inside him, but at this rate, he didn’t think he could make it unless Keagan worked with him here.

“Oh God…K-Keagan, slow…slow down.”

Keagan ignored him and pushed his fingers deeper inside, stretching Arty nearly to his limit, wiggling those perfect fingers around, stroking everywhere they could reach with the one exception of the place Arty wanted it the most. Maybe that was his way of slowing down. Ignoring Arty’s prostate so he wouldn’t come so fast was probably the best strategy.

So, Arty threw himself into the man’s mercy and his expertise. He would let Keagan do whatever the hell he wanted with him so long as it got him to that sweet, sweet end goal.