Dragons Need Love, Too (I Like Big Dragons 2)

Blythe walked with me to the kitchen, seemingly having no problem navigating the hallways like I had.

We were almost there when we heard a commotion that had us both running.

“Fuck!” came the booming bellow of Keifer.

We were in the kitchen within moments, and I froze when I saw Keifer as pale as a white sheet.

“What’s going on?” I cried, seeing Nikolai not in much better of a position.

He was leaning heavily on the counter, Keifer’s hand wrapped around his bicep.

He had his head leaning against the cool granite countertop as something was exchanged between them.

“Hurry, put your hand on him,” Blythe dragged me to Keifer.

Except my mind was all on Nikolai, as worry poured through me. Was he okay?

The moment I touched the skin of Keifer’s arm, lightning jumped from him to me.

My skin seemed to pulse as whatever power communication between the two males poured into me as well. My skin felt hot, and my eyes burned like they did at the end of a long day of working outside under the sun.

My breathing came in short, ragged gasps, and my eyes inadvertently closed as I, too, slumped onto the counter.

It was like when I was sixteen and accidentally touched an exposed wire from a box fan I had plugged into the wall. It was a distinct buzz of energy that jolted up my arm and shot straight to my heart…only multiplied times a thousand.

I could feel my residual aches and pains flowing away.

My hearing and vision became sharper as my knees grew weaker.

Pictures started to flow through my brain of a tow-headed boy running after a much larger man that was carrying a cane.

Then another where two teenagers fought, ones that looked impressively like much younger versions of Keifer and Nikolai.

Then there was the moment Nikolai first laid eyes on Perdita.

The moment he realized that he needed to change his life to be a better man.

Then more of Nikolai excelling at using his powers, fighting more with his brothers. Swinging his sister around in his arms. Cooking with his mother. Throwing the football to a bunch of smaller dragons.

And finally…the first time he saw me.

How he felt when he first laid eyes on my broken body. How tenderly he’d held me when he’d finally gotten me away from there. How he’d cared for me, day in and day out. The moment that the tattoo appeared on both of our bodies. How he’d take his shirt off after a long day of wearing it, and carried it down for me to wear.

The moment he placed the shirt next to my face, I’d calm instantly.

And I finally knew.

He was mine, and I was his.

I opened my eyes, eyes full of wonder, as I stared at the man at my side.

“What was that?” I breathed.

He grimaced.

“What was what?” he asked, standing up like an old man.

“All of that,” I said.

My brain wasn’t working right. Little zips of power went into my fingers where I still touched him, causing me to twitch every now and then.

I watched him now, not as the man I was stuck with (even though I wanted to be stuck with him), but as a different man. A man that I was in love with, and I never knew it’d happened.

Sometime in the last couple of days, he’d wormed himself into my heart, digging in deep, and making a spot for himself there. Permanently.

I studied his face. The scar that ran across the bridge of his nose, knowing exactly how he’d gotten it, even though I’d never worked up the courage to ask.

I saw the beautiful, silky brown hair. The olive green eyes that had a smidge of honey brown encircling his irises. The beautiful lips that were a stunning shade of red. The slightly pointed out ears. The beautifully defined chest.

His tattoo that matched mine.

The abs that looked like they should be illegal in forty-nine states. The way he had deep ridges that formed a V to his bottom half.

And I fell in love. I fell in love so deep and hard that I would never be able to dig my way out.

He was mine.

And I was his.

And I saw the moment he saw me realize it, because those beautiful greenish brown eyes of his flared, his pupils dilating until they took up the majority of his eyes.

His arms tensed. Abs flexed.

“That was my life,” he said quietly.

“I know,” I said back just as quietly. “What happened?”

“Someone came into power. Keifer is King of the Dragon Riders; when a dragon rider does come into their powers, he feels it. All the excess energy that’s given off the dragon rider can’t handle is shot back to him by some cosmic wave in the universe. He then distributes that power, first to himself, and each person he’s bonded to, either by blood or blood bond,” he said. “I didn’t realize, though, that I could pass it on to my mate seeing as you’re not directly bonded to him in any way. This mating business is still new to us.”