Medwin hung my shirt on a hanger that he seemingly produced from thin air and then motioned for me to remove the undershirt too. I froze for a second with my heart hammering against my chest. My eyes raked up and down his body, drinking him in. The night had been such a brain fuck. The whole day really but there I stood undressing with the omega I was destined to spend the rest of my life with. The man I’d save Moonscale London with. The guy who… The guy who wasundoing my belt with an annoyed look as if he thought I’d be naked by now.
“This isn’t your first time being intimate, is it?” he asked.
“No,” I shook my head. It wasn’t. While I didn’t pillage around town I had taken up more than a couple of omegas’ offers of a night or an afternoon to remember. An alpha or two as well, but that was never as fun. It only took two to realize omegas really did it for me. Sure, there was the complication of needing to avoid them while they were in heat or when I experienced a rut to avoid pregnancy. I also had to be extra careful even when those things weren’t in play. It terrified me that I’d have children running around who I didn’t know about because someone would be too afraid to tell me.
“Are you with me?” Medwin asked, pulling me back to the present moment. “Is this too much? I know your whole world has turned upside down. That’s gotta be rough.”
“That’s one way of putting it. I was thinking about not making hatchlings,” I said, unsure of which term would’ve been the best. My loud mouth was already running off but something about Medwin made me feel as if I was dealing with a gorgeous mythological creature and if I said the wrong thing, he’d disappear.
“Condoms and I’m on birth control. Also, there are a lot of things that don’t involve cumming in my ass,” Medwin said, cutting to the chase. “Plus, we could stop. I could jack you off and---” he stopped talking because I couldn’t resist kissing him a moment longer. I slipped my tongue into his warm, welcoming mouth and let the rest of the world fade away. I had to. If I kept thinking about my parents, I’d lose myself. I’d see red and tear apart everything and everyone between here and their cozy, littlebed of blood. No one wanted to follow a dragon who ripped apart Moonscale London and committed double patricide. Kissing Medwin made the world a little more logical. Of course, we could do everything else except intercourse. Of course, we had to off my parents. An offspring’s love wasn’t enough to make up for what they had confessed to. Of course, we had to lead Moonscale London together. Who else could stand by my side through it all and still tell me to suck his dick?
Eventually throughout our kissing the rest of my clothes did fall away. Medwin didn’t take the time to hang each piece up and I was thankful. Each second that I wasn’t touching him was pure hell. As soon as his flesh broke from mine, I remembered what I was running from. What I had to go home to soon. The castle was big, but it wasn’t big enough for their crimes and my conscience.
Medwin dragged me onto the bed with him and despite our quick conversation about not going all the way because this world wasn’t safe enough for our future hatchlings, I wanted to sink into him. Every cell in my body craved the man whose tongue was dancing around my own. We were both hard and the aroma of his slick, tangy arousal filled the bedroom. Reaching between our bodies, I lined up our cocks and a murmur of pleasure dripped from Medwin’s mouth. I brushed mine over his hesitantly at first, but bloody hell, hot skin on hot skin was glorious. We lost ourselves to kissing and rubbing together until it was too much for either of us to take. I came first hard and shuddering, making a mess of us and only pausing long enough to ride out the shuddering waves of orgasm before taking my mate in my hand and stroking him hard and fast until he writhed under me and the proof of his pleasure spilled over my hand. We lay there covered in cum, panting as we tried to kiss our way through the afterglow. The magic of the true-mate responsedemanded more and more of us until I was almost ready to give in and say the hell with it. I could make love to my mate now and go home to commit a coup. It wouldn’t take that long to scrub the blood out of the castle, right? Surely, with a little help I could have it cleaned up in time to build a nest before Medwin laid our egg.
“HOME NOW!”It was Roster’s voice that permeated my thoughts.“COME HOME NOW!”He roared over the family link.“YOUR UNCLE ALRICK HAS BEEN ASSASSINATED!”
“You have to go!” Medwin leapt from the bed.
It was his panic that made my heart skip a beat. The surge faded to mere urgency, but something was going on.
“It’s obvious what’s going on! Someone is going around killing us!”My dragon huffed into my thoughts.“We can’t leave Medwin!”
I glanced around for my underwear, wondering if Roster had screwed up and yelled that over the flight link instead of the family link. He hadn’t, but Medwin knew what happened, it was in his eyes. It was seeping into the sheen of sweat on his beautiful naked skin.
“There’s no time for clothes,” he climbed off the bed, grabbing my hand and yanking me up to my feet. He kissed me hard, tongue and all. “Shift on the balcony and fly! Don’t stop for anyone or anything. Don’t stop moving until you’re inside your family’s living space. There are magical and spiritual shields there.”
“Do you know who killed Alrick?” I asked him as he shoved me toward what I assumed was a window before but was actually a sliding glass door covered by a thick blackout curtain.
“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. Don’t stop for anyone! Even if it looks like they need help! Just go!” Medwin said, sliding open the door.
“When will I see you again?” I asked, grabbing his hand.
“Soon! You know where I live! If I don’t hear from you, I’ll send a message through Pras!” he kissed me one more hard time and then shoved me onto the balcony.
My uncle was dead. My dear, sweet, dorky uncle – gone and dead. I did the only thing I could. I leapt from the balcony, shifting into my dragon form midair as I plunged toward the city street. I pulled up as soon as my wings were out and headed toward the castle. Who had killed Uncle Alrick and why did Medwin think I wouldn’t believe him? He could tell me the moon was made of sawdust and I’d have believed him.
*** Notes from Medwin: It is my sincere hope that Alrick has moved on so far from the family that his brother mated into that the name Ferrick never crosses his mind these days.
***Notes from Clarence: If our hatchlings are wondering why they didn’t grow up in a castle, there are two reasons for that. The first, in dying Ferrick made sure to take the bloody thing down with him and rebuilding a structure of that size was the last thing we were willing to put time and resources into. If you’recurious the structure once spanned more than the whole grounds of Moonscale Manor.
Chapter 4
Medwin Smokescale
Moonscale London Under the Reign of Roster and Ferrick Moonscale
I shoved all the bedding into the washing machine and jumped into the shower. My heart pounded behind my ribs and vibrated me all the way up to my eyes. Reinterring my panic was nearly impossible. I breathed deep and exhaled hard over and over, sending puffs of smoke all over the bathroom again and again. Alrick was dead. He had failed and they were covering up the real assassination attempt. Poor fucking Alrick! I wanted to roar but there wasn’t time. I had to be dressed. I had to get it together. The others would be here soon. We had to regroup and decide how Clarence Fucking Moonscale changed things. Was it all moot? Was he destined to die trying to save Moonscale London like his uncle had?
“No!”my dragon roared from inside his inner sanctum.“We can do this. We’re not letting Alrick’s death be in vain. He was a good dragon. He was a—”
He was raped by Roster and his eggs smashed by Ferrick – by his own brother. His own bloody clutchmate! My dragon reared up shooting out fire. The flame surged up my throat and into the shower. The water extinguished it but smoked up the place more than ever. I sent my mate home to those horrible people. I should’ve hit him over the head and tied him up. Icould’ve shoved him into the closet and kept him there until we figured it out.
The first one to scratch at my door was Pras.
“He’s home. Ferrick had a field day that he was out frolicking with some whore – his words not mine – while Alrick was murdered in cold blood,” Pras said
“Ferrick wouldn’t have been able to kill him so easily if Clarence had been there,” I sighed and crashed into Pras for a hug. Before he met Haen Greenscale everyone whispered that it was only a matter of time before Pras and I chose each other. Even my parents thought I should settle for him. They were right. There were way worse choices I could’ve made but Pras was like my brother. From the moment we struck up a friendship in the library both researching poisons we were brothers. Besides he and Haen were a match made in heaven. Sometimes I forgot that they were chosen mates.
