Chapter 8

EIGHT

Evander

I feel like someone has taken a knife and jabbed it as deep into my flesh as they possibly can. I've spent a day trying to reach Sam, pushing past broken bones, tears in my flesh, and pain unlike anything I've felt in my life, and somehow, this is worse.

This woman is going to make me lose my mind.

She stands in a thin, silky robe, her curly red hair spilling down her back. Her long legs are visible, reminding me each time I see them of them wrapped around my body as I plunge inside of her. I've wanted her. Wanted her from the moment I saw her. Wanted her from the moment I smelled her as a dragon. But for her? I don't even know what I am.

What's worse, I know she's been with him. Not just because of what he said but because of her scent. I didn't realize what it was at first, just that her scent had shifted. But after smelling him, I knew he'd been inside her. Come inside her.

"Smoke and pine," I say, gritting out the words.

She turns to me with wide green eyes that make my anger waver. "What?"

"He smells of smoke and pine. And his smell is weaved with yours, changing it."

She wraps her arms around herself, looking fragile and lost. "Evander, things are complicated."

"They don't need to be complicated."

Her gaze finds mine. "I told you from the beginning that I had someone who was important to me. I never lied to you."

"He's not a dragon!" I shout, and she flinches. "You have no future with him. He's nothing to you. But you and I? We're dragons. Together. We're pulled together by biology itself. There's no fucking reason you should smell like that asshole."

"I needed to cover my scent," she says softly.

"But that wasn't the only reason," I accuse. "You could've picked any prick to cover your scent, but you chose the one you have ‘complicated' feelings for. A man who seems to think he owns you. And I can't help but think you've given him a reason to think that."

She tilts her head, studying me. "I told him about you too, before we… before we were together. He said he understood."

I laugh, but it's a cruel sound. "You really thought a man like him wouldn't want you for his own?" I swallow around the lump in my throat. "Or that a man like me wouldn't?"

"Evander…"

"Don't," I growl, struggling to control myself. "All I can fucking smell is him!"

I rub my hand over my head, feeling like I'm on the edge of something dark and scary. My whole body hurts, but not nearly as much as my chest. I want to kill that man. I want to rip him to pieces until there's nothing left of him for her to cling onto.

"Do you want me to go?" she asks, those eyes of hers pleading.

Go? Going is the last thing I want. "No, I want you to smell like me."

She hesitates for a minute, but then moves to stand beside me on the bed. "Evander…"

I grab her arm, tugging her toward me. "Please, I just really need to feel your skin right now."

To my relief, her expression softens and she obeys, climbing on top of me. I slide the covers down, so she's resting atop my cock, and I instantly harden.

She leans in and rubs herself against me, and I rub right back, sliding my hands down her arms, gripping her hips and her ass, painting my scent all over her. With each second that passes, my dragon side calms, but it's not enough for the man within me.

"I want you to tell me everything about him."

She stiffens above me. "That's not a good idea."

"I need to know," I tell her, tightening my grip on her.

My dragon wants to fuck her. Hell, I want to fuck her, but I need answers first. I need to know how deep this connection is between her and the non-boyfriend… so I know just how to shatter it and claim her for my own.

She swallows, and I pull her closer, sucking on her neck. Marking her as my own as her pulse picks up. "His name is Aydan."

I slip one of my hands into the front of her robe and stroke her breasts. "And, how long have you known this Aydan?"

Her reluctance to talk is clear, but I don't care. I'm good at making people talk. "All my life."

All her life? "How?"

She's breathing faster. "We grew up practically next door to each other. We've been friends since we were kids."

I keep my lips against her throat as I ask, "And at some point your little friendship turned into a fuckfest, but he wasn't willing to commit?"

She laughs lightly. "No, not at all."

I wait. My patience is slipping. My cock is aching. The pain in my body is a not-so-subtle humming in the back of it all.

"Aydan and I have always been friends. I thought that was all he wanted, but I wanted more. And then, just a few days ago, at the Phoenix Institute, something happened between us that shifted things."

Happened? "What?"

She seems to pause for a really long minute. "We almost had sex, but then we didn't have time to talk about what it meant. I thought maybe he regretted it. I wasn't sure, but before we had a chance to talk, I was with you, and I didn't know where I stood with Aydan."

I pull back from her, studying this beautiful enchantress. I leave her robe open wide enough for me to view her perfect breasts, then grab her hips and shift her so that my tip is pressing at the entrance of her channel. Her eyes go wide with surprise, and her pulse continues to race.

"Evander, that's not a good idea…" But I can smell her. She's already getting turned on.

"The fuck it isn't." I slide into her just an inch, loving the way her breathing hitches, and she tries to push me in deeper. "So, do you love him?"

She tries to shift, to climb off of me, but I hold her steady where she is. She squirms, but it only manages to push my cock in further. "We shouldn't be talking about this."

I shove in deeper. "Yes, we fucking should. I need to know where we stand, baby, and you're going to tell me."

She moans and her eyes flutter closed. "I do love him."

That knife fucking twists inside me, and I'm glad she's not looking, or she'd see the hurt on my face. She loves him. She doesn't love me. She's made that damn clear.

"So, are you choosing him?"

Her eyes flash open. "No."

I shove in all the way, and she cries out, her hands leaning forward to grip my shoulders.

"But, Evander, I'm not choosing you either. I couldn't. Aydan is important to me. He's my best friend, and someone I've been in love with all my life."

"Maybe the you before all this dragon stuff wanted him, but the new you needs me," I tell her.

She shakes her head, her breasts heaving with her fast breathing. "I need him too."

The hell she does, but she's not ready to hear that now. If I push her, she'll just pull away from me, and I can't handle that. I need her.

"Alright, baby, you just be a good girl and ride my cock, and then we'll talk about it later," I say, gripping her ass.

She shakes her head, nods, then shakes her head again, but I can sense her frustration. "We shouldn't. Not with you and Aydan, but–"

And her emphasis on the word but is definitely an invitation. An almost groan, beckoning me closer.

I start to thrust inside her, drawing it out, and then back in. She whimpers, tosses her head, and then grips my shoulders harder. Within seconds, she's fucking me, and I'm lost in the feel of her tight pussy. In the way she rides me with such abandon. It's like my cock is a dildo, and she's all alone, doing whatever the hell she wants with it.

When her orgasm hits, she chants my name, which I fucking love. My balls harden, and I come, filling my woman with my seed. Some deep instinct whispers that I'm going to get her pregnant. That she'll have my baby. And then she'll be all mine. I hold her tighter, making sure that perfect pussy gets every last drop of my cum.

She collapses on top of me, breathing hard. "I should move. I'm hurting you."

My grip tightens. "You're not moving an inch until my cum coats every last inch of you."

She shivers, and I bite her shoulder lightly.

"You're mine, Sam."

"Evander–"

"You're fucking mine."

I don't know what this is between us, if it's a dragon thing or if I'd be just as obsessed with her if we were just humans, but I know one thing. Aydan has to go. The fucking prick needs to be removed from our equation, so Sam is just mine. The way she's intended to be.

The only question is, how do I get rid of him?