Big City Uptown Dragon (4 page)

“No. I believe I will continue to glower.” Russ grinned, his good humor irritatingly not at all daunted by Oro’s bad mood. “I’m told that’s what vampires do.” Redheaded and freckled, his friend didn’t meet any of Vanna’s undead expectations. “Shouldn’t you be cuddling with other males’ mates? I believe that wolf bitch over there is unavailable.”

“You
said
you were okay with it.” Oro gritted his teeth. He’d deprived himself of Hailey’s hot body for four long days, and suffered through Vanna’s cool human touch, and it had been for nothing. He’d had to beg Hailey to continue working as his assistant, tripling her and her friend’s already outrageous salaries, and she still hadn’t allowed him to fuck her in dragon form.

“Oh, I’m more than okay with it.” Russ laughed. “I only wish I’d been there to see your girl’s reaction. I bet she brought you to your knees.”

She had brought him to his knees. Oro’s lips twitched, his bad mood lessening.
Fuck
. Hailey tasted like heaven. “Glowering requires being silent,” he reminded Russ. His friend was the chattiest vampire he’d met. Oro suspected Russ’s victims asked to be bitten to keep him from talking.

“You’re right.” Russ nodded at Vanna. “She tells me that too.” Oro counted to five. “Not that I don’t like your cheerful company, but shouldn’t you be mixing with your customers?” his friend asked, breaking the fragile quiet.

“I should.” But he wouldn’t. Oro returned an approaching pint-sized fairy’s smile with a frown, and she hurried in the other direction. He was in no mood to be social, his mate spending the evening with some mysterious friends.

When he had asked who those friends were, Hailey had told him it was none of his damn business. Oro growled, curling his hands into fists. It
was
his damn business. If one of those friends were male…

“Careful, friend.” Russ bumped his shoulder. “You’re smoking.”

Hell
. So he was. Smoke swirled around his head. He needed to mate with her in dragon form, permanently bonding with her, before he went insane.

Because he
would
go insane if he lost her. There might be other female dragons, Oro having heard last night of a female landing on Staten Island, but there wasn’t another Hailey.

“Mr. Oro.” Vanna laid down the phone and hurried to his side, pointedly ignoring the smiling Russ. “Croix asks that we remain open for an additional hour tonight.” A tremor of excitement ran through her normally flat voice, and her flat chest heaved. “He wishes to shop in privacy.”

If he spent an additional hour at the store, Hailey would want to spend an additional hour with her so-called friends. “No.”

“But… but… but…”

Oro narrowed his eyes at the woman’s spluttering. Vanna knew better than to question him. Only Hailey had that right.
Damn it
.

“He’s Croix, the rock star.” Her voice lowered. “And he’s a vampire.” Russ snorted, and she glared at him, her dark eyes flashing. “Remember our deal, Mr. Oro.”

Their damn deal. Vanna helped him make Hailey jealous, and he’d introduce her to a real vampire. Oro glanced at Russ. His besotted friend’s mouth hung open, revealing his fangs, his lips still for once in his long life. “I’ll settle our deal right --”

Oro’s temperature dropped, and he swayed, his legs threatening to buckle from under him. “She’s left Manhattan.” A rage tempered with terror flowed through him. His unmated female had left his territory. He strode to the back of the store, fighting the shift. She was in danger.

“But Croix!” Vanna followed him, her pale hands twisting.

Oro didn’t care about Croix or the store or anything other than Hailey. She was his future, his reason for living. “Russ, you’re in charge.” The burly redhead grinned, and Vanna’s mouth rounded into a circle, her expression horrified.

Oro would deal with the aftermath of his never-serious friend being in charge later. Right now, he had to retrieve his female.

His talons ripped through his dress shoes and fire licked around his lips as he blasted through the backrooms and into the freight elevator. He punched the button for the penthouse floor, the number cracking in two under the force.

Too slow. Oro stared at the big red numbers, tapping his talons, struggling to hold onto his thundering inner beast. The elevator moved too slow.

Can’t wait. Must shift
.

Oro pummeled the doors with his scaled fists, driving a hole through the metal. Freed from the small confining space, he shifted as he ran, his body mass increasing, wings sprouting from his back, his neck extending.

He flung his dragon body at the window, shattering the glass, and he fell, barreling toward the pavement, before catching an updraft with his spread wings.
Hailey
! he roared, spewing glamour-producing fire from his mouth, the flames concealing his large form from the humans below.

Oro beat his wings furiously, flying faster than he’d ever flown, weaving around buildings and ducking below power lines, following the scent of his female. He bellowed a threat as he left his territory, crossing into the Bronx. His rival had his mate, an unbearable situation. He roared with rage. If Frey touched Hailey, he would die.

Oro spotted their small human forms on the rooftop of The Lair, Frey’s sex club. Hailey and Perla sat close together, giggling and smiling as though dragons socializing outside of their home territories was normal, was right. Frey stood to the side, his feet braced apart, his arms crossed. His scarred face turned toward Oro as he neared.

“Fight me!” Oro roared his challenge. He would win this battle. He’d win Hailey.

“She is yours, fool!” Frey leaped off the rooftop, into the air, shifting as he fell. His clothing shredded, black scales covering his skin, wings protruding from his back.

Oro didn’t believe him. How could he? Frey had seen Hailey. No dragon would let such a beautiful female go.

He hovered, waiting for his rival to approach him, unwilling to put Hailey in harm’s way by attacking too close to the rooftop. The other dragon moved quickly, climbing into the sky, his wingspan greater than Oro’s, his scales crisscrossed with scars from past battles. Frey was bigger and older, more experienced at fighting.

Oro roared, his scales rattling with impatience. He was younger and faster, and he would defeat his rival. He had to. He couldn’t lose Hailey.

They circled, looking for weakness, shrieking threats and breathing fire. Oro’s heart beat quickly, his body tensing with anticipation. Remembering his previous mistakes, he controlled his urge to rush forward and rip at the black dragon with his teeth and talons.

Frey swooped in, and Oro turned, twisting his exposed neck out of reach. Talons clicked against talons. Frey’s heavy tail smacked against Oro’s chest, flinging him backward and knocking the wind from his lungs.

Breathing heavily and with his ribs aching, Oro spun and counterattacked, shooting past Frey in a blaze of speed and heat, dragging his talons along the black dragon’s soft underbelly. He grinned with grim satisfaction as Frey shrieked with pain, the scent of his blood floating on the night breeze.

Frey barreled toward him, breathing flames and heavy smoke, the plumes hampering Oro’s visibility. Black talons reached for him. He tumbled, rolling, missing Frey’s big tail by mere inches.

Fuck
. He couldn’t see. Oro backed away, but the cloud spread. Somewhere within that smoke was Frey, armed with deadly teeth and sharp talons, waiting for his attack.

Oro climbed higher into the night sky until he looked down upon the cloud. Frey’s huge wings beat the smoke-filled air around him, exposing his location.
She is my female
! Oro dove, stretching his deadly talons toward his rival’s big body, the wind whistling around him.

Frey rolled.
Shit
. Oro couldn’t stop his descent. Their bodies locked as they smacked against each other, and they fell, plummeting toward the rooftop.

The females screeched their distress.
Hailey
. Oro frantically tried to disengage, but they were falling too quickly. He hadn’t time to maneuver. The roof shuddered and cracked as they landed, Oro smashing against Frey, Frey flattening on the hard surface, legs and tails sprawling over the edge.

“Hailey!” Oro glanced around him, seeing no trace of the woman he loved. Oh, God, had they killed her? The excitement of battle turned to horror, fear twisting his stomach painfully. “Hailey!” He roared her name over and over. She had to be alive. She had to be.

“Perla!” Frey sounded as panicked. He pushed Oro off him and struggled to his feet.

They’d been such fools, endangering the females they fought for. Oro lumbered to the edge of the rooftop, dreading what he might find, envisioning Hailey’s beautiful form battered and broken on the pavement.

What had they done? He peered over.

A high-pitched shriek pierced the air. Oro looked upward, his heart beating in double time. A small green dragon flapped her wings quickly, her flight hesitant and unsure. She was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

“Hailey!” he roared, tears stinging the backs of his big dragon eyes.

“Oro!” she shrieked back, her silhouette highlighted by the moon.

Another shriek echoed from behind him but Oro ignored it, his gaze fixed on his mate. He launched his aching body into the air and reached her with five beats of his wings.

“Mate!” He clasped her struggling form, wrapping his talons tightly around her. She was warm and welcoming, returning his hold. “Hailey.” She was alive. He rubbed his head against hers, breathing in the scent of smoke and fire and dragon, as he flew into the night sky, carrying her close to him.

She folded her wings against her body, submitting to him completely, trusting her body to his care. The starlight reflected off her green scales, and the scent of her arousal flowed over him. He wouldn’t chance losing her again. He nuzzled her neck. Tonight, he made Hailey his.

He moved his hips, brushing his massive dragon cock against her wet entrance, up and down, round and round, teasing her with his tip, drawing more moisture from her already primed body, until Hailey shrieked and bit him on the shoulder, the sharp pain communicating her impatience.

His mate was fierce. Oro roared with elation. She was alive, and she wanted him to claim her.

“You are mine!” he bellowed as he rammed his cock into her heat. She screeched, nipping at his scales, clenching her inner walls around his shaft.

She was his, and buried within her, Oro felt a satisfaction he had never before known. He rocked into his little dragon, reveling in the slide of scales against scales, celebrating the joy of their joining.

Hailey met each stroke, her movements wild and primitive, feeding his savagery, and Oro beat his wings faster and faster, climbing higher and higher, as they smacked their bodies together, entwining their tails and necks, the light of their fire dancing upon their scales.

The air thinned and cooled. His wings wearied and his lungs burned, but all he knew was Hailey.

Mine. Mine. Mine
. He pumped into her tightening body, driven mad by her scent, her heat, and the deep rumbles coming from her throat.
Mine. Mine
.

She shrieked her release, digging her talons into his scales and clenching her pussy around his cock. Oro roared his reply, spurting long, hard jets of cum into her body, his satisfaction as animalistic as his form.

He gave her all of him, his heart, his soul, and his strength. As his wings stilled and folded, zapped by the intensity of their joining, they fell out of the sky, two massive creatures linked by passion.

The rush of cool air over his heated scales revived him, and he spread his wings once more, gliding toward Manhattan, toward home. Oro looked down. Hailey laid her cheek upon his neck, her emerald eyes closed. “Mine!” he declared proudly. He had won his female. She was his.

Chapter Five

“You didn’t have to fight Frey.” That night, Hailey wiggled on their king-sized bed, her body humming with excitement.

He had fought for her today. Oro, in his glorious dragon form, had bellowed his claim into the night air and then fearlessly attacked the larger dragon, fiercely defending his right to be her mate.
God
. That had been so hot. Her pussy moistened, the scent of her arousal hanging heavy in the room.

“He’s not interested in me,” she reassured him, wishing to make peace between the two male dragons. “Frey loves Perla.” Madly, desperately, the way she hoped Oro would someday love her.

“Frey
thinks
he loves Perla.” Oro knelt beside Hailey, holding a thin, gold chain above her naked body. Specks of light reflected off the tiny metallic surfaces onto their bedroom’s dark walls. “If he had spent more time with you, he would have fallen in love with you.” Oro said that with certainty, as though no other outcome was possible.

“Because that’s what happened to you?” she asked, hope lighting a flame inside of her.

Was he in love with her? He wanted her. She knew that. Even now, his cock was hard, ready for their upcoming gold-gilded sexathon. Did he love her also?

Oro didn’t answer, softly blowing flames over the spinning chain, heating the metal until it glowed, his expression frustratingly unreadable.

Hailey pursed her lips, her pride not allowing her to repeat her question. “We’ll test your theory at their party next month.”

“Whose party? Not Frey and Perla’s. We’re certainly not attending any party they’re hosting.” Oro frowned as a perfect pearl drop of gold dangled on the links. “They’re dragons.”

“They’re dragons, we’re dragons and, oh, yes, we are attending.” She liked Perla and Frey, and she wasn’t letting any old-fashioned rules about dragons and territories stop them from being friends. “There will be cute little sandwiches and pretty desserts.” Hailey grinned as she pictured her fierce dragon mate eating cucumber sandwiches. “And tea.”

“Tea?” Oro’s hand jerked, and gold streaked across her bare stomach.

“Ohhh…” She moaned, writhing on the silk sheets, the heat blazing straight to her pussy. Her nipples tightened, and her body covered with scales. “Yes.” Only Oro could give her this sweet pain.