Buying a Mate (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Quick & Furry Book 8) (5 page)

“You like that, huh?” he growled, stroking her clit again. “How about this?”

He slid a finger deeply into the welcoming grip of her body. She moaned, dropping her head back as he finger-fucked her in long strokes… he added a second finger.

“Yeah…” he smiled as she rode his hand. “You like that. Let me help you, baby girl.”

Reaching up, he manifested a claw long enough to slice the stubborn bra strap. The underwear fell away, releasing her breasts to his view and hand. He cupped one, thumbing the nipple until it beaded tightly. Her appreciative moan rolled into the next groan as he teased her, alternating stroking over her G-spot with tweaking her nipple gently.

“That’s it, baby girl, come for me.” He added his thumb over her clit, pressing and releasing in time with his strokes. Her pussy clenched, rippling around his fingers. “Come all over my hand and I’ll fuck you like you’ve never been fucked before. Then I’ll fuck you again and again all night. I’ll fuck you until you can’t walk straight...but you gotta come for me first.”

She gasped, and did, bathing his hand in liquid heat.

Oh.

Dear.

God.

What the hell was all
that
. One second she was angry and hurt by two words…
true mate
… and the next she straddled Taron and rode his hand like a pony.

Shudders racked her frame, trembles rolling through her with every breath. Her pussy clenched around Taron’s fingers, milking him the way she’d love to milk his cock.

Mmm… his cock. He was hard beneath her, that part of him hidden by fabric but she knew he wanted her.

Taron slid his fingers out and then in again in a slow, casual fuck. His fingertips played over her G-spot, stoking her need for him and keeping her on the razor’s edge of release once more.

River leaned forward, palms tingling with the need to touch him, stroke him. His dragon’s scales were soft to the touch, smooth and warm beneath her hands. Her pale skin contrasted against the near black blue of his dragon. And the longer she stroked him, the hotter he became, the heat traveling along her arms until it consumed her bones. The fire connected them, tying them together in a way she’d never imagined.

“Taron,” she breathed his name. “Please.”

Please more.

Please less.

Just
please
.

“Baby girl,” he whispered in return, a cocky grin on his lips.

She tightened her hold on his chest, digging her fingers into his scales as she rolled her hips. “
Taron.
”

“What do you want?” he practically purred.

What did she want? She had only one answer to that question.

“Everything.” It was stupid. Dumb. Every other idiotic word she could use for a person who’d gone crazy and pondered tying herself to a shifter, but… she didn’t hesitate.

Much.

A sliver of unease slithered into her blood, but she pushed it back. There was no missing the conviction in his tone and the seriousness in his gaze when he’d called her his true mate.

That smug grin slipped from his lips, slowly lessening until his expression turned serious and almost grim. River froze in place, her arousal diminishing by the heartbeat and it vanished when he slipped his fingers from her sheath. He levered himself upright, grabbing her hips when she would have scrambled from his lap.

Their shared passion was doused in his contemplative emotions and she suddenly wished she hadn’t shed her clothing. She needed her power suit and heels to act like a shield against heartache.

She managed to get the halves of her bra tugged across her breasts and wiggled her panties back into place. It was as clothed and covered as she could get at the moment. When he didn’t release her immediately, she twitched against his grip, encouraging him to release her.

“No, you’re not going anywhere,” he murmured.

“Taron,” her whisper was harsh and she hated that her crumbling hope was easily heard in her tone. She closed her eyes, unwilling to watch him tell her no; watch him tell her the whole true mate thing was a joke. Just something to say to her half-sister. She remembered shifters were highly sexual. Strong emotions made them hot and he’d been literally smoking when he came into the room. Her half-sister had him on edge and he’d needed an outlet.

Right.

“River.” Two hands cupped her cheeks, the scent of her own arousal filling her nose. Further proof she’d been ready to throw her life away on him when he’d… he’d simply been dragged along by his beast’s emotions. “Look at me.”

She kept her eyes closed. “I’m good.”

“No, you’re not. You need to see me, to listen to me. Then we can talk about other things.” He traced her lower lip. “So open those pretty blues and let me see those eyes.”

“Taron.” She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t say much more than his name.

“Now, baby girl.” His whisper was rough and rumbled with his dragon’s tone.

River forced her eyelids to part and fluttered her eyelashes until her vision cleared. The eyes she met were so dark they neared black, but she caught sight of a hint of blue lurking in their depths.

“Before I… Before we… You need to listen and you need to understand exactly who you’ll be mating, River.”

“Are you saying I’m not your true mate?” That was the only thing that could have her backpedaling at the moment.

His gaze softened, almost becoming sweet. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. You’re mine. My human heart knows it and my dragon is proud to shout it to the skies. I just can’t do this without you knowing… everything.”

He sighed, the sound heavy with heartache and pain. River stroked his chest, not to arouse and tease, but in comfort. “I’ll listen.”

Taron grimaced and nodded, changing their position and moving them around until he leaned against the headboard with River resting her head on his chest. The pulse of his heartbeat filled her ear and she sighed as she relaxed into his embrace.

River rested her hand over his heart, reveling in his heat and the feel of his scales. “Tell me.”

Taron breathed deeply and let it out slowly, repeating the movement once, then twice, and finally…

“Dragons are ageless, did you know that?” She shook her head. No, it wasn’t something they spread around. “We are and that makes us dangerous. It gives us a lot of time to get into a lot of trouble.”

He rested his hand atop hers, rubbing small circles on the back with his thumb. “No, I’m not starting in the right spot. We have to start in the present and then we can go backward.” He huffed when he removed his touch. She tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “You see this? This white hair?”

River nodded. She’d noticed it, of course. The pale strands contrasted against the near midnight color of his hair.

“Some call it Queen Touched. Queen’s Curse. They shorten it to simply Touched or Cursed. It’s a sign I’ve done something so horrible that it’s by the queen’s grace alone I still live. I live, but barely. I’m an outcast. I have nothing. No family. No friends.”

“You have Mari and Maddox.” They’d put her in touch with him.

“No dragon friends, then.” He corrected himself. “I lost any association and support from dragons long ago.”

The truth struck her. He had no family. No friends. No dragons. And when someone had nothing, they were willing to do anything. “That’s why you’re willing to be bought.”

The word was sour on her tongue even if it was the truth.

“It was only going to be a job until I met you, baby girl. You have to know that,” he murmured.

“Do I?”

“I’m telling the truth about my past now, aren’t I? If I wanted you for the money, I could keep my mouth shut, fuck you, and earn the money on my back.”

The words sounded harsh but his tone was matter-of-fact.

“Instead, I want you to know the kind of man I am before you take my bite and become mine for eternity.”

River swallowed hard and nodded in encouragement.

Taron ran his fingers through the white hairs once more and closed his eyes before he spoke again. “I was born a twin. Elian.” He chuckled, body shaking with the laugh. “We were a pair. Inseparable. Drove our parents nuts with us running all over the place,” he chuckled softly. “Climbing into the hills and shifting at night.

“We had a little cottage, just us four. It was enough for us. This was back during the Middle Ages. Lots of superstition. Lots of humans who were always looking for something supernatural and were quick to accuse.” He ran a hand over his face, rubbing some of the tension away.

River remained silent, unwilling to break the soft spell he’d woven around them.

“We were happy for a while. Our little family in the hills. We kept to ourselves. But over the years the humans gathered. They sought out those they thought were magical.” He pressed his lips together until they formed a white slash across his lips. “They called themselves the Hunters and they killed.” He shook his head. “They killed so many. Shifters and not. Witches and not. One accusation and the target was gone. Brother against brother. Friends against friends. Neighbors...” His voice was hollow with the last word.

River couldn’t even imagine such a time. “What happened?”

Taron huffed. “Right.” He shook his head and then lifted his hand. He formed a tight fist and as he released the tension, his skin was replaced by scales. “What color do you see?” He showed her both sides of his hand, wiggling his fingers so she could get a good look.

“Bla…” she started to say black, but paused and frowned as the bedside lamp sparkled off the scales. “Blue.”

“Dark blue,” he agreed. “Close to black but not quite. The black was my brother, Elian.”

“And that matters?”

Taron snorted. “It mattered to the Queen of Dragons and the twelve blacks.” He turned his head, their stares colliding. “There was a war, and the queen and our race are protected by the blacks. They are the fiercest fighters and most skilled warriors. The hunters threatened and the blacks destroyed every hint of those threats. It was their job. But they were failing.”

The last few words were so soft she doubted she’d even heard them. “And they needed to freshen the ranks so they heard about Elian and came to our cottage.” His eyes were clouded by moisture. “We were no more than twelve. Our dragons were fully grown even if we were uncoordinated. The queen herself came knocking. Playing the gracious monarch and begging my parents for Elian.”

“Not you?”

He shook his head. “Wasn’t a black, you see. It didn’t matter that Elian and I could practically read each other’s minds. That training us both would give her better soldiers to hunt and destroy the Hunters.”

A single tear spilled over the edge of his lashes and River wrapped her arm across his waist.

“My mother cried, my father was proud, and I was gutted when they pulled him away. He said it was going to be an adventure and he’d return. We’d protect our little piece of the world. Hunters would never dare to come to our cottage because he was going to be one of the blacks.” Taron’s chuckle was harsh and rueful. “Well, the blacks got Elian killed and then they came.”

He fell silent, so quiet she wondered if he even intended to finish.

“Tell me,” she whispered.

“That day we’d gotten word about Elian. He… Joseph tried to explain, but my father could hardly listen. My mother was shattered, and I did my best to pay attention. It was just too much. The blacks hadn’t had Elian in their care for long and then he was just… gone. And then later that night… I don’t know if they saw Joseph fly in or if it was just coincidence, but they came for us.”

“The Hunters.” She put voice to the truth when he couldn’t.

He shuddered and she gripped him tighter. “I tried to fight them off. My father shifted and attacked, turned half of them to ash, but they killed Mom first.” He shook his head. “A dragon can’t live without his mate.”

He sobbed and tried to cover it with a cough. She loved him all the more.

Loved?

If not love, she was two breaths away from it.

“What happened next?”

An evil grin tipped his lips. “I finished the job my father started.”

She couldn’t be upset with him for his vengeance. Not after witnessing the deaths of his parents at their hands.

Then regret overtook him. “But I didn’t stop there. I didn’t stop until…” he sighed. “I left one alive and tortured him, River. I’m not proud of it, but I had to know. I needed to know what they did.” His eyes bore into hers, darkening further. “And then I took that knowledge and used it. I used it to hunt them. To destroy them. I didn’t stop until…” His eyes closed once more. “Until the queen made me. Until an errant flame licked an innocent and finally reports reached her ears.”

He shook his head. “She didn’t kill me, but she might as well have. In one night I lost my family and in one spell, I lost my kind. I lost everything.”

“Taron?” she whispered, unwilling to break the uneasy quiet. “You may have lost everything, but you’re getting part of it back. We can be our own family. Our children?”

“Dragonlets.”

“Our dragonlets will be your kind. We were both alone, but now we have each other.”

“Do I, River?” His palm was warm as he slid it along her arm. “Do I have you?”

He held his breath as if the world balanced on her answer.

“Yes.”

Like someone had flipped a switch, his gaze turned predatory. A hint of the cocky grin returned to his lips and in the next heartbeat, River found herself flipped and spun. She squeaked as hard fingers hooked around her hips, lifting her ass in the air as he bent over her.

“Taron! What are you doing?” she managed, distracted by the thick bar of his cock fit in the groove of her ass.

“What do you think?” His chuckle was full of his dragon. A brief flare of heat licked her skin and his hair-roughened thighs pressed into the back of hers, knee urging hers farther apart.

Oh. God. He wasn’t…

He was. Large hands smoothed over the curves of her ass and she didn’t need to be looking at him to know his eyes gleamed with triumph and possessiveness as he looked at her ass. It was all there in his touch.