Driven by Dragonblood, page 3
part #3 of Blood Born Series
I hadn’t informed my parents of my release, nor did I have any intention of speaking to either of them ever again.
For fifteen minutes, I stood outside Lockwood’s entrance gate, scanning the road, sidewalk, and the buildings in close proximity, my grin slowly fading. No one seemed to take note of me, no one seemed to care I was a man newly freed to live his own life. No one approached, no one caught and held my gaze.
No ripple of energy from the previous two nights from her licked at my skin, although Doctor Macaire’s stood my neck hairs on end.
Disappointment lay like a rock in my gut, and I pursed my lips, and headed right toward a small diner that flipped their sign to “open”. Chocolate ice cream smothered in caramel sauce—both my favorite from childhood—did little to ease the slouching of my shoulders.
I told myself I would return after dark to see if she did as well. I told myself she would be there, that I had nothing to fear. Returning for a chance at feeling the energy I did from Doctor Macaire only added to my determination. Every step away from Lockwood took me farther from the connection I felt to him, and before I’d gone two blocks toward the bus station, it shimmered away, like a springtime breeze, forever breathing life into my soul—and yet tearing apart the beast inside me.
I wanted to return, beg him to take me, claim me as my inner voice prodded me to do. Self-preservation kept me plodding onward. Becoming involved with a shrink, however hot, couldn’t be good for my newfound freedom. Closeness would bring a desire for truth if the beast’s whispered words of claiming and submission were true.
A twenty-minute ride to the larger town in the south, and no flicker of energy furrowed my brow as the assurance I left behind something extremely important once more twisted my stomach.
I walked the few blocks to my apartment, my mind focused on hope of finding her, my feet dragged with despair like a sulking child over the loss of him.
The lease had already been signed, the deposit and first month’s rent paid through Doc Holliday. New keys in hand, I climbed the exterior stairs to the studio apartment above my landlord’s garage. A small deck offered me a place to relax while watching future sunsets, something I’d often enjoyed when not locked away in a sterile room like a lunatic.
While the studio was small, it offered me more than my parents’ large home ever had—freedom of choice to be me, but I told the voice no jumping off the deck or I’d end up back at Lockwood.
The memory of Patrick stiffened my cock, and I groaned while dropping my bag to the floor and taking a look around. A queen-sized bed, a small, round kitchen table, fridge, stove, loveseat, and old TV… Not much, but more than enough.
Rent included all utilities, cable, too, and I sprawled on the too-small couch, clicked on the TV, and watched a half-hour of ESPN because I could.
I wanted a warm, willing woman, but not just any leggy blonde with big tits I could suck on, an ass I could pound into. I wanted my golden goddess—and Patrick.
Yes.
To be between them, him fucking me while I fucked her, our bodies in synchronized motion. Of one mind, of one soul, our hearts beating in time, our climaxes rippling through the energy connecting us, soaring us to the stars.
I’d never known such longing, such thought-consuming need.
Fly. Go find her.
Teeth clenched against the itch in my feet, I chose instead, to take a hot shower and jerk off with a fierceness I didn’t understand. My balls refused to erupt until I squeezed them to the point of pain, the memory of Patrick’s face, his dark blue eyes pushing me over the edge.
The quiet of the apartment ate at me, and even though I didn’t miss the hospital, I missed the mingling people, even the orderlies asking me how I was doing. The problem with freedom, I found within a couple hours after leaving Lockwood, was loneliness. I considered getting in touch with the two friends I always ended up getting into trouble with, but the two haunting my thoughts kept me from it.
Depression settled over my shoulders, and I sat back down on the couch, brow furrowed, and stomach a rock. The voice inside me lay quiet, but I could feel the inner thing’s emotions reflecting my own.
Chapter Six
Primrose
The exhaustion of staying out until the middle of the previous two nights kept me abed until close to ten the next morning. Heart racing and a small smile on my lips, I readied for the day, readied to meet my mate. Freshly showered, shaved, and hair gleaming, I made my way on foot to the hospital a few minutes before noon.
For the first time in my life, my knees weakened from the shots of adrenaline my human body insisted on releasing every time I thought of my beta. We would soon be together, never again to be separated. Together, we would find our alpha.
But in the meantime, I would finally find out what kissing felt like, what a man’s physical touch did to a woman’s body, and he would teach me all of the sexual positions I had read about.
Warmth sprang to life between my thighs again, and I wondered again over the power of my first orgasm. How much better would it be with him rutting between my legs? While I’d read enough to expect some pain, I looked forward to losing my virginity with the fierceness of a dragon.
Snorting on laughter, I hid behind a tree and cloaked myself. One deep inhale, and I made my way down the sidewalk, invisible to and ignored by the humans I passed. My smile faded as I neared the hospital without the tether of energy radiating from the eastern wing.
Chewing on the inside of my lip and invisible to the human eye, I waltzed through the opened gates leading to Lockwood, the two guards not even blinking an eye. The only plan I had been able to come up with was sneaking in cloaked form into my beta’s wing, slipping past the first doctor to enter his room, and wait until they left before announcing myself.
I expected he would need a lot of explanation for the sudden appearance of a woman he would doubtless feel a connection to, and I planned on honesty, hiding nothing, hoping he would be able to read the truth within my eyes of who and what we were to one another.
While I’d never had to cloak anything bigger than a duffle bag clasped to me, I hoped to adjust to rippling my cloaking capabilities through our clasped hands so we could walk out as easily as I would walk in.
I bounded up the front stairs, skirting two people leaving, and still no hint of my beta’s energy reached toward me. I ended up having to wait by the front door for someone else to enter since I couldn’t very well open the door as though a rush of wind from within pushed it outward—and a receptionist at her desk a few yards away from the entrance. With every passing minute, my anxiety heightened, clenching my stomach to the point I wondered if I would become sick for the first time in my life.
Finally, someone approached the stairs, and I slipped silently through the door behind them before it could shut.
The air hinted at bleach and a sickening scent that reminded me of food but didn’t tempt my mouth to drool. Nose wrinkled, I scanned the reception area, hoping for a sniff of my mate.
Nothing.
My dragon whimpered, and I turned toward the eastern wing, hoping to find out what had happened to him. The third door from the end of the hallway stood open, a cart with cleaning supplies parked beyond. I pulled up on the threshold to find a lady in white humming beneath her breath and balling up sheets she’d pulled from the closest bed.
A few personal belongings sat on the bed stand beside the far bed, one pristinely made with tucked edges and taut blankets.
The bed closer to the door sat bare, as did its stand.
I stepped back as the woman drew near, but lifted my nose to breathe in the scent of the sheets she carried past me and tossed into the hamper on her cart.
Drool filled my nose as traces of my mate’s cum wafted past me. Musk and sweet—instantly arousing, his scent weakened my knees once more.
Still humming, the woman walked off, pushing her squeaky cart, and I slipped into the room. Hardly any trace of my beta remained, but I felt certain the stripped bed had belonged to him. No physical trace of his presence remained, and I wondered if he’d been freed without my help.
Hurrying back into the hallway, my mind raced and heartbeat thrummed as panic sent another shot of adrenaline through my body.
I’d only just found my beta—I couldn’t lose him so quickly. Driven by need, I rushed back to the reception area, desperate to find him once more. Tension sprang me tight, hands fisted at my sides and tears stinging my eyes as I stood before the receptionist’s desk. Stairs led down and up in the back wing, and a set lay on my left into the western wing.
From my outside strolls, I knew another building connected to the western wing. Inhaling until it hurt didn’t reveal a damn thing other than the sickening smells I’d made note of the first time I stood in that spot.
My mind set, I made my way through the back wing, first, and second floors, then the basement area, my hope slowly sliding toward despair with every passing second.
Back to the reception area and into the western wing, I performed the same type of sweep, often having to wait what seemed an eternity to enter the doors leading to various public rooms. TVs, game tables, couches, and dozens of people, two males with inner dragons whispering to me as they stared out windows, blank eyes revealing empty souls. A dark-eyed female jerked her head toward the door when I slipped inside, but not feeling my beta’s presence, I fled before two seconds passed and our dragons could communicate with one another.
My shoulders sagged and feet dragged, but I wouldn’t leave without searching out every last room. While quite a few had been locked—bedrooms included—I didn’t need to more than sniff at the metal locks to know if my beta lay within.
An archway led into the second building, one with carpet and a hushed atmosphere as though more peaceful than the other areas.
A scent that reminded me of home, of brimstone deep within the heart of the mountain, teased my nose, tilting my head back for a better whiff. Shivers skittered over me, pebbling my skin.
Alpha.
My body thrummed to life, my pulse tripling in time. Alpha and beta in the same building? Had they already met? Were they together as a couple? A pang of something twitched in my stomach, and I wondered at the word jealousy, something I had never experienced.
While I would be happy knowing they had each other while fate waited for them to find their missing link, I regretted the time I might have missed out on.
My feet took me up a set of stairs, and unable to help myself, I pushed in the door at the top. Another carpeted hallway led to my left. A dark-haired man disappeared into another doorway at the far end.
Heartbeat pounding in my chest, I rushed to where he had disappeared.
“Doctor Patrick Macaire” was etched in a bronze sign on the door at eye level. A doctor—my alpha. Smiling so wide it hurt, I leaned near the door’s jamb and breathed him into my lungs, into my memory.
Musky like my beta with that sharp scent of charred brimstone my dragon craved … and a touch of sweetness that made my mouth water.
I had found him. My alpha.
I placed my palms on the door, resting my forehead between, eyes closed to gather my thoughts that swirled with an unrelenting desire to throw myself in his arms.
Chapter Seven
Patrick
I stayed up all night packing Jessie’s shit, and by morning, all her belongings sat on the porch. I shot off a last text to her sister telling her to have them gone by the time I got home, or they were getting put out with the trash the next morning. Upon completing the task of ridding my life of Jessie, I focused on my future.
Jaxon sat in the forefront of my mind since meeting him, and no matter how many times I jerked off, my dick stiffened with the need to fuck the boy.
Man, I told myself, teeth gritted as I walked into Lockwood, a travel mug of coffee in one hand, briefcase in the other. I’d gone over his file countless time, and noticed similar notes in a few other patients’ files as well.
Doctor Holliday had hinted at the voices being something other than mere voices, more along the lines of second personalities. From the office décor his family had yet to retrieve, I knew he loved science fiction, the thoughts of creatures on earth we humans knew nothing about in real life.
He’d even had two crystal-cut dragons as bookends, and the sight of them stirred the darkness inside of me every time I glanced their way.
Jaxon’s release kept me locked up in my office all morning where I wouldn’t run the chance of bumping into him. I wanted to do so much more than bump.
Teeth once more clenching to the point of aching my jaw, I flipped open his file yet again. Only child to rich parents who, according to Jaxon, never had time for him. His grandmother had similar issues to ones he experienced, her suicide without doubt being what had prompted Jaxon to wish for the same—to fly to freedom.
When I’d been young, my back often tickled, and I’d fantasized about sprouting wings and shooting across the sky toward a red sunset. The longing for such things, however, never tiptoed me to the edge of a cliff or roof like it had Jaxon.
Doctor Holliday had seemed to think the boy—man—could exercise self-control after his latest stint in the hospital. I wasn’t so sure, but his case had gone through the court, and Jaxon was free to leave.
The grin, the wildness of his youthful eyes spoke of a mischievous soul, one who pushed limits, dared to explore beyond where he ought to—and also suggested a sexual being, one who would fuck whatever willing soul wanted a piece of him.
My dick swelled, and I tipped my head back against my office chair.
If he entered the office and offered himself, would I be able to deny him? Would I be able to send him away without one taste of what seemed like a crack addiction even though I’d never done more than brush my fingers across his?
“Fuck.” I huffed a breath, my brow furrowed with disappointment in myself, my self-control.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose, awareness of … something … nearing prickling my skin and hardening my dick to the point of instant pain. A rush of sweetness coated the air, and my mouth watered as I drew the scent deep into my lungs. Cloying and arousing—I gripped my head in my hands, wondering what the fuck was wrong with me.
It wasn’t Jaxon’s musky maleness tightening my balls, but something so much softer.
Female.
The whisper jerked my eyes wide, and I stared at my closed office door, recognizing the voice in my goddamn head. “Go away,” I growled—at the presence beyond or the voice, I wasn’t sure. Energy rippled over me, and as though a leash attached me to the being on the other side of the door, it drew me out of my chair and across the office before my conscious caught up with my brain’s orders.
My hand closed on the knob—my life would be forever changed, I knew.
I pulled the door inward, my breath leaving in a rush as though someone had punched me in the gut.
Golden hair spilling around the curves of a goddess body her frumpy clothing couldn’t hide, plump, parted lips, high cheekbones tinged the most delicious shade of pink, and light brown eyes widened as our gazes locked.
“Alpha.” She breathed the word, and darkness swirled through the walls I had erected, cackling glee sweeping through my brain like a gale of wind.
Female. Ours.
A sudden, dazzling smile lit her face with twice the rays of a morning’s sunrise a mere heartbeat before she threw herself into my arms.
Soft. Generous curves.
I stumbled back as her lips landed against mine, and all sense of self, everything but the darkness took over, consuming my need to claim. One hand grasping her lush ass, the other tangling in her hair, I kicked the office door shut and slammed her against it, licking across her lips in demand she open to me.
A whimper passed between our mashed mouths, oozing pre-cum from my straining dick as I ground against her core. The heat of her, the scent of her sweet pussy aching to be claimed roared through me, ringing my ears and tensing every muscle in my body.
I wrapped my arm beneath her leg, lifting it higher, opening her thighs for my thrusts, and we both groaned into the other’s mouth, her hands grasping at my hair, my shoulders. She shuddered as I tore my lips off hers to taste the skin of her neck, down her collarbone … lifting her higher against the door to bite her straining nipples beneath her shirt.
“Oh!” She jerked in my hold, and I bit again, wanting in the worst way to mark her for life.
Yes, take her. Take our female—claim her.
The words in my head caught my attention—and I froze, breath caught, as realization over the situation I found myself in settled through my conscious.
A doctor in his office, ready to fuck a patient without even knowing her goddamn name. Complete lack of control. Completely unacceptable behavior for a professional. The fucking voice in my head I had hoped silenced to keep me from insanity taking over my body.
I slammed the walls back into place in my head, tore my hold from the young woman, putting her back on her feet, and forced myself to step back, my hands aching to grab hold of her once more. Slam her back against the door, rip through her leggings and fill her with one goddamn thrust.
Tall for a woman, she didn’t have to crane her neck to peer up at me. She blinked, her swollen lips twitching my dick in my pre-cum smeared slacks. I clenched my hands harder, my pounding heart matching the pulse thrumming in her neck, our heaving breaths mixing in the distance between us.
“Why did you stop?” she asked, searching my eyes, her gaze hopping from one of my eyes to the other as though she could read my mind.
“Who are you? What are you?” The words tore from my mouth with a raggedness I didn’t recognize, the second question tumbling out without thought. Beyond beautiful, beyond alluring, a sure siren to destroy my mind—my heart.
“I’m yours.” Tears filled her eyes. “And you’re mine.” Her voice caught on a sob. “My alpha … dragonblood.”
