STORY EXCERPT

Taking on a dragon shifter in his monstrous form would guarantee a quick death, or a slow painful one if the shifter was spiteful. Simon had one shot, and it would be when Viktor would be most vulnerable, in between shifts. It felt like hours passed, but in reality, only minutes ticked down. 

Scales receded. Viktor shrank in size but continued to make that awful sound of torment. The red dragon turned into a man, falling to his knees on the ground. Streaks of dirt covered Viktor’s body, but it only somehow made Viktor appear wild. Untamed. Savage. A broken god of the woods. Something about the sight felt wrong. A powerful and majestic dragon shouldn’t be on his knees, in a position of weakness or surrender. 

Where did that line of thought come from?

Old rake marks covered the hard length of Viktor Savage’s body. Simon’s mouth went dry, watching Viktor’s chest heave, Viktor’s entire body bowling over. Simon could imagine running his fingers through that tempting expense of golden skin. Viktor straddling him, needing only one hand to restrain his arms above his head. Simon would struggle, curse, beg despite knowing deep down that a man, a monster like Viktor would never show mercy to his enemies. His combat pants felt uncomfortably tight. Precum left a stain on the front. Jesus.

Something was definitely wrong with him today. A hunter didn’t screw monsters. If he did that, Simon would be just like his traitor father. Simon put all those taboo thoughts aside. He needed to focus and pull this mission off. If he did, then he and Seth no longer needed to live with shame for the rest of their lives. He thought of their poor mother, the empty grave lying next to her where their father should be buried. Too bad traitors who fucked shifters didn’t deserve a place in the Devereux final resting grounds. 

Now, a new voice inside him whispered. Kill him now. Simon took out his favorite high-powered rifle from its case. He’d taken plenty of lives with this baby. He hadn’t killed a dragon shifter before. Few did, but he’d loaded the gun with the newly developed silver bullets the Devereux family’s R&D department had spent years perfecting. If he emptied out his entire clip, even a dragon shifter in human form could die.

Unlike most of his kin, killing didn’t give him pleasure, but it had to be done. The world needed to be rid of monsters, and only the Devereux family had the means, the training, and the weapons to achieve that noble goal. He was one of the finest snipers in the Devereux family, he reminded himself. Simon never missed. Not once.

If Simon was a true hunter, a killer of monsters, then why did his fingers continue to shake? He looked through the scope of his gun. Simon was nervous. That was all. He took deep breaths. Placed his finger on the trigger and looked at his target again. Though a mess of tangled, dirty red hair, slitted eyes shot with gold met his. Every muscle in his body locked into place. One second passed. Then another. 

Viktor Savage hadn’t moved from his spot although Simon knew it wasn’t a trick of the light. The One-Winged Dragon had seen him. 

“He wants me to kill him. Why?” he whispered. 

Simon couldn’t stop looking at Viktor’s stump. The dragon shifter’s left arm ended at the elbow. Seemed terrible to kill a man who only had one arm. 

Sweat dribbled down his brow, his back. He hastily swiped the sweat from his eyes. Simon knew time was running out. When he looked through the scope again, Viktor was gone. Someone growled, the sound startlingly close. Time slowed as Simon dared to look up, only to see Viktor staring down at him. 

Simon couldn’t form any words. The heavy rifle would prove useless, so Simon reached for the hunting knife inside his jacket. As soon as he grabbed the handle, Viktor easily kicked the blade away. Simon could only watch in horror as his secondary weapon tumbled down the cliff. 

It would be easy for the dragon shifter to do the same to him. One swift kick or push, and he’d go rolling down. His family would write him off as dead on duty. What would happen to Seth then? His younger brother would need to carry the stigma of being a traitor’s son on his own. 

“Stand up, hunter.” Viktor’s voice was firm, harsh, as if he hadn’t spoken to another living soul in a very long time. Simon heard the disgust there as well.

Simon rose slowly to his feet, wary of the powerful monster who could easily rip him in half if Viktor wished. Viktor might no longer be able to fly, but he still had claws and could breathe flames to burn him into a crisp. It hurt his neck a little, looking up. Looking at Viktor from a distance, he didn’t think Viktor was this gigantic up close. The dragon shifter made him feel terribly small. Vulnerable. Easy prey. 

Nothing about Viktor Savage was soft. Viktor was made of harsh and hard angles, face and body included. 

“I’ve given you plenty of chances to end me.”

It took him a few seconds to process those words. Viktor knew he was here? Simon took another step back, his foot catching on the rifle. He cried out, falling backward, but Viktor closed his big and callused hand over his wrist and jerk him forward. Simon ended up bumping into Viktor’s massive chest. 

Simon couldn’t think or form a witty remark, not with Viktor’s warm skin touching him. Shifters burned hot, he remembered. Then Viktor curved his lips to a smile. Even that sat wrong on the dragon shifter’s face. He let out a whimper when Viktor gripped his chin with his fingers and forced him to look into his eyes. Those inhuman eyes, more similar to a snake or cat, held nothing but contempt for him, but also darker emotions he couldn’t quite identify lurked there as well. Simon’s heart nearly stopped. 

“Tell me, human,” Viktor said. “Are you scared of me?”

ADULT EXCERPT

Viktor scoffed. “Of course. You hunters will only believe in your twisted version of the truth.”

He dunked his head in the water to clear his mind. “I don’t want to talk about hunters. Right now, I’m just Simon. My last name doesn’t matter.”

“Very good,” Viktor said, like he was some kind of puppy who performed a complicated trick.

Simon scowled, but deep down, he liked the compliment. Growing up in a family that did not encourage any affection between parents and children, praises were hard to come by. Respect had to be earned. A hunter always had to prove himself by growing his kill list. In some ways, Simon had gotten tired of that life. 

“Thinking much?”

Simon jerked. Viktor’s shoulders brushed with his. Just a moment ago, Viktor lounged at the opposite end of the massive pool.

“Help me forget.” Simon uttered those words before he could stop himself. 

Viktor faced him, tipped his chin with his fingers, and took his mouth again. Flesh kissed flesh. Viktor’s muscled body against his lean one felt amazing. So did their dicks, which they rubbed against each other. Viktor curved one stone-hard arm around his body, leaving no chance of escape. Not that Simon struggled or resisted one bit. He drowned in that kiss, let it take him under. Simon kissed and bit back, even drew blood, but that only made the dragon shifter chuckle. 

Viktor closed one hand over his prick and began to stroke him. Losing every ounce of shame left in his body, Simon thrust his hips toward Viktor’s waiting hand.

The dragon shifter pulled his mouth away to whisper in his ear. “Don’t come yet. If you do, I’ll need to punish you.”

“How?”

“I’ll put a cock ring on you.”

He swallowed, turned on by the erotic image of Viktor sliding a ring through his prick. 

“You like toys, don’t you?” Viktor asked.

He shook his head. “Never used them, even when I masturbated.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“That’s true.”

They climbed out of the bath, only for Viktor to lay him on the cool black marble. The dragon shifter straddled him and left more kisses, more bites down the line of his body. He squirmed, painfully aware of his dick, so near bursting, and every tensed-up muscle in his body.

“Take me already,” he blurted, groaned when Viktor put his mouth near the crown of his leaking tip and blew at it.

Simon nearly came then but held himself at the last minute. He’d take the punishment another day like a good boy. For now, he wanted to feel Viktor sliding that meaty cock inside his ass. 

“This your first time with a man?” Viktor asked, getting off him. “Hands and knees.”

Simon got into position. A thrill ran down his spine. It felt like his entire body was wired with electricity. 

“Yes. I’m a virgin.”

“After this, not anymore.” 

Was it his imagination or did Viktor sound smug? Viktor ran his hand down the nape of his neck, the line of his back. When Viktor reached the curve of his ass, he shuddered, parting his legs voluntarily as Viktor touched him there. At his taboo place. His ass. 

“So ripe for the taking,” Viktor murmured. “All mine.”

The sheer audacity, the possessiveness in those words, rendered him completely mute.

Viktor stepped away from him, only to return with what looked like a bottle of lotion. 

“No protection?” he asked.

The slap Viktor delivered to his ass cheek made him jump. More precum dribbled down his tormented cock. “You are a poor student, hunter. Don’t you know? Shifters can’t catch anything.”

“I—I didn’t know that. Not in our books or notes.”

“Then I’ll give you another lesson.” 

Viktor slathered lotion inside his hole, pushed one finger in, and added a second, third. Simon moaned. The mere feel of Viktor’s digits felt so good. Simon bet his cock would be phenomenal. Game-changing. 

“What lesson?” he managed to utter.

“We shifters aren’t like human men. I can rut you for hours, and my cock won’t be close to calming down.”

Simon’s mind nearly blanked at those words. “Are you joking with me?”

“No.”

Of course. Viktor wouldn’t be the kind of man who’d jerk his chain for kicks. 

“You’ll fuck me until I’m sore?” he whispered, terrified of how eager he sounded. How easily he’d give Viktor anything. Surrender. It was the exact opposite of what he’d been taught to do his entire life. Simon didn’t want to fight this. He wanted to cave. To see where Viktor, his red dragon, would take him.

His red dragon?

“We’ll see.” Viktor pulled his hand away and placed the lotion aside. 

This was really happening, Simon realized. Viktor’s legs brushed against the back of his body. He’d never be the same after this. Would Simon still have the guts to put a knife to Viktor’s throat after sharing such an incredibly intimate and profound moment?