Must Love Dragonsl (Space Dragons Seek Mates Book 1) Read online

What the hell was wrong with this guy? “No. It’s a movie. What the heck are you talking about? Never mind. God, I need a pool. Forget that, I’ll take a horse trough. Hell, I’d dunk my own head in a toilet. What is wrong with me?”

  She jolted to a stop. Kal stood in front of her.

  “Maddie. Stop. You need to let me help.”

  “Please Kal, get out of my way. I need to cool -”

  She gasped as his lips closed on hers and stole the words.

  His lips commanded her. The fire burning within her seemed to form a line from her toes to where their bodies touched, ready to take orders.

  Sweet relief.

  She opened for him as his tongue danced with hers. After a few brief seconds, the pain subsided and the relief he gave her was enough to let her submit to this man. Then, a new heat filled her, this time not painful. Need.

  She wound her hands around his neck, pulled him closer, the feel of the leather of his coat annoying to her roaming fingers. Logic burned away as she lost touch with reality and just felt him.

  She needed him. She wanted him. A desire so strong, caution blew away on the wind. Was this how it felt to go for it? Take what you wanted? Use the man just as he would use her?

  God, please use me.

  She trailed her fingers down, running over rock solid abs under a thin tight shirt, brushing over the ridge of his pants, running her index finger along the outline of a massive bulge. Alien, shifter, warlock, who the hell cared if he was a walking gnome right now. She’d let him do whatever the hell he wanted.

  His hands reached around and grabbed her ass, lifting her. She obliged and wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing her pelvis against him. Maddie wanted the pressure of him against her core. She needed to feel him.

  God, he was hot. Her hands running over the fire seeping out of his clothing, she welcomed the burn. She liked it, and the idea seemed mad.

  A groan caught in her throat, her arms encasing his neck as he pushed against her rhythm.

  “Wait,” he said, pulling away.

  She blinked. Twice.

  “What? No. You don’t say wait. That’s not how this works. I’m throwing myself at you. There is no wait.”

  His lips spread into a grin. “Calm, mate. First, how do you feel?”

  “Feel? I feel like I was about to have the best sex of my life and you just cockblocked yourself.” Maddie stopped. She was yelling for no good reason other than she was horny. Blowing out a breath, she suddenly realized that she actually did feel better.

  A few more deep breaths and Maddie started to regain her senses.

  The air around her dry and hot, but not unbearable. It was a desert, but this was the familiar heat she’d expected.

  “I’m better -” she said. “Wait, what? Mate? What the what?” Her next breath wouldn’t go down past the sandpaper in her throat. No. She heard him wrong. All she’d done is make out with the guy.

  “Calm yourself. I’m trying to understand your species.”

  Her nose crinkled and she could feel the heat rising on her face, this time from anger.

  “No. Wait. What did you say before? Go back to the mate thing. You didn’t bite me or anything, did you? Goddamn it. You hear about this stuff happening, but no one ever thinks it will be them. Oh, that’s it.” She squirmed. “Put me down.” He held tighter. “Mother? Where the hell are you?”

  She stopped as his brow furrowed.

  “What, Kal? Don’t you look at me like that. Mate. My Ass. ”

  Kal seemed to be at a loss for words. Good. Serves him right. What a prick. She hadn’t even had the opportunity to decide if the sex was good enough to just let him have her as his mate or not. Sure. Just you watch. She’d get the one shifter who sucked in bed or something.

  “You are my mate. Are you questioning this? The goddess herself had deemed it so. You see your markings. They match mine.”

  Maddie narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like the sound of this goddess. You think she’d be on the side of all women.”

  Stretching her arm, she took notice of the tattoos. There were indeed markings. Subtle designs marked her skin where there had been nothing before. Well, hell.

  Why did she get the weird stuff? She’d never done anything wrong. She’d always followed the rules, well, except for not marrying her ex. But that hadn’t been right. He deserved to be loved. She just didn’t, she couldn’t. She wouldn’t marry him just because it had been expected. She hated predictability. Then again, right now she wasn’t sure she enjoyed spontaneity that had fucking tattoos showing up.

  Right now, she wasn’t a fan. Thirty seconds ago… no. She needed to stay focused.

  “I don’t understand? Any woman chosen by the goddess is blessed. She only chooses the strongest, most deserving females to mate a warrior.”

  “Ha. A warrior? God, you shifters really need to figure out how to live in the twenty-first century. No one has warriors anymore.”

  Gripping her hands on his shoulders, she tried to release herself from his iron grip.

  Something very hard and very notable pressed against her own girly bits and she nearly swallowed her own damn tongue.

  “I’m a warrior,” his tone stern.

  His eyes burned bright, and she swore they changed into something else. A - a dragon? Maybe he wasn’t lying.

  “You’re a shifter, right? You transform into some kind of animal.”

  He nodded. “By that definition, yes. I am.”

  Maddie nervously chewed her lower lip. “Okay. We’re getting somewhere. So, all right. Honestly now, what are you? Dragon’s aren’t real.”

  Maddie swore she could see his chest puff out. Great. Macho ass.

  “Never mind. I’ll just go home now. Once you put me down.”

  God, did she really want him to put her down. Maddie shifted and nearly moaned as she rubbed up against him.

  Think.

  She needed to use her brain. Where the hell was home anyway. She’d come back to Roswell, to this desert town full of weird, strange, and magic because her mom wouldn’t stop haunting her damn dreams. She’d only come because, well, losing her show meant she didn’t have much to do elsewhere. But, coming here meant that she didn’t exactly have a home anymore either. Mom didn’t need a house now so where exactly was she going to go?

  “Well. This sucks.”

  Gently he put her down.

  As Maddie went to step around him, Kal imprisoned her on either side with his massive arms.

  “I think perhaps I have been misled or misinformed on humans. Can we start over?”

  Stomping her foot, she shook her head. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t have much else going for me right now.”

  He reached for the now wet rag dripping along the sidewalk.

  “I transform into what you would call a dragon. We do exist. We are very, very real.” Kal moved in closer. She could smell his natural musk now, something spicy, new, him.

  Would it suck to just let him do whatever he wanted? The scent of him seemed like a drug she was already addicted to.

  “Just not here on Earth,” his words a tickle on her cheek.

  Maddie gawked. “You talk as if you are from, well shit. ”

  He shrugged. “I told you. I am not from around here. I really have a ship and my species is here to find our mates.”

  He was batshit crazy. Wonderful.

  “Okay. Okay. Space. If I believe you. And I am so, not saying I do, why would someone like you have to come here? Are you considered ugly on your planet?”

  She paused. Good Lord. If he was the black sheep on his own planet, well hell. Just hell. And he wanted her?

  His eyes narrowed. “Mate, you wound me. Do you not find me -” he nuzzled the crook of her neck and the instant pool of need had her crossing her legs. Kal mumbled against her neck, “desirable?”

  Her breathing hitched. “Yes. God, yes. But, why me?”

  Raising her hands, she ran them through his hair.

  “There is no
reason. You were simply made for me and I for you. You are my destiny.”

  She swallowed. “Yes. But why not your own kind?”

  A whimpered cry followed his retreat. Why was he going? She liked whatever it was he’d been doing to her neck.

  “My kind are rare. We can’t find mates on our own planet. This,” he paused and kissed her, “is-” another kiss “the only other planet we are compatible with.”

  Wait, what? Breathing? Check. Words. What had he just said? She wanted him to keep kissing her. No. Answers.

  “Stop that.”

  Another kiss. Her lips tingled.

  “Stop what?” he asked.

  “That,” she said.

  Nodding, he started to step away.

  Hell no!

  Gripping his shirt, she pulled him back.

  “No. I mean. Just stop kissing me.”

  Kal smiled.

  “You’re telling me you're an alien. A dragon alien? And that somehow I’m it. Like, as in, the it of all its. Like fate just decided that I’m what you have to wake up with every morning for the rest of your life?” She stopped.

  “Wait. dragon. Okay - this is Roswell. Let’s say I buy the whole alien thing - WTF about the dragon thing. I mean. Seriously.”

  He held her hand, drawing little patterns against the back of her skin.

  “You’ve heard stories of dragons coming and going throughout history? Where do you think they came from?”

  She pressed her lips in a thin line. This was Roswell and apparently anything was possible, she guessed. Right? She had been chasing ghosts for a living. And her mother wasn’t exactly alive.

  Okay. She’d bite. “Fine. Prove it.”

  He reached for his chest and pulled aside the collar of his shirt.

  Her mouth went dry. Damn!

  Once she regained her senses, her eyes shifted to the tattooed skin on his well-defined pec.

  Earth just didn’t make men like this.

  “This is my dragon,” he said, pointing to the tattoo.

  “No. That’s a picture of a dragon. Okay. So. Yeah. Fine, it's yours.”

  Maddie stepped outside her anger and frustration. The animal glowed against his skin. Reaching for him, it, whatever, she paused, and then when Kal didn’t stop her she traced it with her finger. The creature rippled under her touch. Glancing up at Kal, she saw his eyes were closed.

  “Show me,” she whispered.”Show me who you are.”

  Kal looked around, and for a moment she doubted that he wasn’t crazy and lying to her.

  “Not here. Too many chances to be seen. Do you trust me?”

  Maddie’s first thought was, ‘no dumb-shit. I just met you.’ Something within her stopped though, and she couldn’t say no because, she did trust him. He stopped the burn within her, but replaced it with a new need. Him.

  “Yes.”

  He released the neckline of his shirt and smiled.

  Her eyes drifted away from his neck, over his shoulders. He wasn’t any less menacing now than he’d been when she’d first seen him, but there was something different that Maddie hadn’t noticed. A softness to the hard edges. Maybe she’d been wrong about him. Or maybe his little stint as a chicken had done wonders.

  Maddie started to reach for his arm, only to falter. His eyes met hers and she reached for him again. Her hand rested on soft leather, as she just now realized how inappropriately he was dressed for a desert.

  “Aren’t you hot?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “No. I like the heat. Where I come from the planet is much closer to our sun than yours.”

  Deep breaths.

  “Right. I forgot. You’re not from around here,” she said. “You have a ship.“ That was more an afterthought than a statement.

  Kal nodded. “Yes. I tried to show you the ship earlier.”

  Rolling her eyes, she snorted. “Right. Okay. Let’s just say I buy into this whole alien, not-from-this-planet thing. What are you? Why am I burning up and now have some random ass tattoos?”

  “Maddie?”

  She started.

  Son of a - what now?

  A swell of history surfaced at that voice, and her face heated, the voice an unwanted blast from the past.

  Slowly, she pivoted. “Hi, Donnie.”

  Don’t make eye contact. Don’t do it.

  An unwanted emotion, guilt, came right along with that voice as she took him in. He’d meant so much to her past, but he just wasn’t her future.

  “You’re back?”

  Maddie bit her lower lip. “Yup.”

  “I saw your show a while back. Sorry it got cancelled.”

  The heat of Kal sinking through her clothing reminded her he stood behind her. Like right behind. So close. He could be her future. Unless he was batshit crazy.

  Her brain seized for a second. Wait? What? Future? She’d just met him.

  But what if her past stood in front of her and her future stood behind?

  This was what being stuck in the middle felt like, or maybe a crossroad. She couldn’t go back. But what if she couldn’t go forward? The flame flickering within her burned brighter at the thoughts of what Kal’s lips could be doing right now.

  Was it bad, the idea that Kal, her maybe future, could be showing her what the impressive bulge pressing against her back right now felt like buried within her? And all she probably needed to do was say she believed him.

  “I see you're not alone,” said Donnie.

  She shook her head. “What?” Oh right, old boyfriend still talking.

  Kal’s hand rested against her shoulder.

  “No. She is not alone.” Kal’s words were clipped.

  A pain flashed across Donnie’s face, one that she swore was familiar, similar to the look when she’d given him back his ring a few years ago.

  “I see,” said Donnie.

  Maddie pushed away from Kal. “This is Kal. We just met in the bar.”

  Okay. That sounded bad.

  “I must have drank something that didn’t agree with me. He was just helping.”

  A deep crimson snaked its way past Donnie’s collar, up his neck, to his face. “You don’t have to lie to me, Maddie. I deserve better than that.”

  Her eyes widened. “I’m not lying though. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t feel right. Kal helped me.”

  A warmth spiraled over her skin as she remembered just how Kal had helped her.

  Maddie couldn’t figure out the look that passed over Donnie’s face.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He pointed to her. “What are those? Are those new tattoos? What, you dump me and find some, some moron on steroids and suddenly you're a whole new Maddie?”

  She stepped back, stopped by the Kal-wall.

  “What? No.” Looking down, she saw the tattoos again.

  “No. These. I don’t know what they are. They just appeared today, in fact.”

  Kal huffed. God, she hoped he’d just shut up.

  “She’s mine. Those marks are for me.”

  Maddie squeezed her eyes closed. So much for him just shutting up.

  “You just met him today? Really, Maddie? I thought when Ellen called and told me you were back, it was a sign. She didn’t mention that you were here with someone.”

  Deep breaths.

  “I did just meet him. I swear. Kal, tell him.”

  Kal’s grip tightened. “We just met, but her soul knows me. Time is merely a detail humans invented, a revolution around the sun. It means nothing to fate.”

  Oh, God. That wasn’t what Donnie needed to hear.

  Opening her eyes, she focused on her ex.

  A vein in his forehead was popping out. Donnie wasn’t bad looking, but really, compared to Kal he lacked something. Poor guy didn’t deserve this.

  “That sounds like a load of crap from a man who is relying on his looks to get someone like Maddie. In time, she’ll see the truth and -” he broke off.

  This time it was her turn
to look at him bug-eyed. Oh, he didn’t just go there.

  “And what, Donnie? Please, finish that statement.”

  His mouth opened and closed. “Look, Maddie.” He took a step closer and Kal’s arm found its way around her chest, hugging her close. Protective, almost.

  “Maddie. We’re meant to be. I know we are. I’ve waited this long, I can wait a little longer. You’re back here. That’s got to be a sign.”

  Tilting her head, she glared. “Please, Donnie. Stop. I never wrote you. I never called. I told you that you deserve someone better. Someone who would love you as much as you love them. Stop waiting for me. There’s no reason to. Even if this Kal thing isn’t forever -”

  She hiccuped on her last word. The heat within her burned hotter at the mention of his name.

  “It is forever, Maddie,” Kal whispered into her ear. Those words traveled down through her, straight to her core. Oh, Lord. Forever? Right now she’d settle for a quick minute. Crossing her legs, Maddie tried to control the pulsing need.

  Blowing out a breath, she focused on Donnie, the person in front of her that kept her from scratching an itch he’d never inspired.

  Nope. She didn’t love Donnie, not like a girlfriend should. She didn’t love the pain behind his eyes either. Maddie would do what she needed to look out for herself, and Donnie was a casualty. She didn’t want to be the reason anyone hurt. She didn’t want to be in charge of someone else’s well-being, or their happiness.

  No one could make you happy except yourself. Wasn’t that what she’d learned about everything in her life? Her mother? And right now her happiness could hinge on the crazy alien guy behind her. Or, at least soul-bending ache to have him sweating on top of her.

  There was the heat again.

  Breathe.

  His grip didn’t release, his arm still over her chest, holding her close.

  Running a finger over the skin on his hand, the only part of him not covered by his jacket, she sighed at the relief. Why? Maybe fate had it right. The heat seemed to jump between them.

  Kal’s next words reached through her haze.

  “Maddie is no longer available, human.”

  Kal pulled her back as he stepped around her. “You will wait an eternity for her, and even then her heart will remain mine and I will forever be hers. You can’t win this.”

  “No. No, Kal.”