Chromium Dragon Read online

  “I… I’m not sure how to start,” he said.

  “I can guess if you want.” She eyed the TV as she muted the volume so it wasn’t distracting. “Alien?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Sort of.”

  “How are you sort of an alien? I mean, you’re either from this planet or you’re not.”

  He cocked his head, looking at the TV. “I mean, I’ve seen what humans consider alien, and I’m not that. Yes, I’m from another planet. Drakkaris, to be exact. But my ancestors came from Earth, and there are beings like me on your planet. You would call us shifters.”

  Her jaw dropped. She probably had a shifter romance upstairs under her bed right now. She felt like she was going to faint as she stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

  “I… am a dragon.”

  She slowly recovered, pulling her jaw up so it wasn’t just hanging open awkwardly. “A what?” She was used to wolves or bears, but a dragon?

  “On my planet, dragons run things. Here, they are still the most powerful of shifters on the whole, though a little different.” He rubbed the back of his neck, and she felt the urge to soothe him.

  She needed to let him finish first, though.

  “I’m not sure how much to tell you. There’s so much, and I don’t want to overwhelm you. Me and my friends came here to Earth to find the mates who are fated for us. The rest of my group has succeeded in doing that. When I found you, I knew I had, too.”

  “How?”

  He put a hand to his chest, over his heart. “I just knew.”

  “So that’s why you were coming to my restaurant?”

  “At first, I just knew I was drawn to you. Then that night I stopped the robbers, when I felt so angry at anyone who would threaten you, I knew.”

  She put her head in her hands for a long moment, trying to process all of this. “I mean, this kind of thing doesn’t happen. Not to me. Not to anyone. I would think it was crazy if I hadn’t seen what you did.”

  “Do you want me to show you my powers?”

  She whipped her head up. “What?”

  “My powers. My name is my element, and I can manipulate metal. It’s one of my powers, anyway. We all have multiple in the Drakkaris Dragon Guard.”

  “The what?”

  “The Drakkaris Dragon Guard. We’re the elite guard of the royal court. Our leader is the king.”

  “So you weren’t lying about the bodyguard thing?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t really lied, except by omission.”

  “Really big omission.”

  He nodded. “I understand why you’re angry. I can give you the time you need as long as you let me protect you.”

  “You keep saying that. From what?”

  “From whatever is threatening you,” he said. “You’re my mate. Now that I’ve found you, I can’t let anything happen to you. I can wait as long as you need, but I can’t let you be in danger.”

  She sighed deeply. “There’s that word you used before. Mate.”

  “It is a very deep concept to my people.”

  “I understand,” she said. “Like husband or wife?”

  He cocked his head, thinking about it. “More than that, I think. Our lifespans will be linked. We would be able to have young. If that’s possible anyway. No one is sure with our race and Earth’s humans.”

  She bit her lip. “Wow. This is a lot. But sure. Show me your power.”

  He lifted his hand in the air, blue-green eyes gently focused, and she felt her heart nearly stop as she saw a swirl of bright metal liquid dance and jump in his hand. It lifted and curled and formed itself into a perfect metal rose, and he handed it over to her.

  She took it, surprised by its heaviness. Then she looked at him, realizing he had just materialized it out of thin air.

  He was an alien from another planet. With magical powers. A…

  “Dragon,” he said. “We don’t usually read minds, but we can, and I’m allowing myself to now so I can help you understand better.”

  “Get out of my head.” She laughed. “I’ll ask what I need to know. Damn, that’s creepy.”

  He scowled at that and realized he was being really open right now, too. She got up and went to sit next to him on the couch, and that seemed to placate him.

  “I’ve been happier in the past few days with you than I ever have been in my life. I wasn’t even willing to date again after my divorce. I wasn’t thinking of a future with anyone until I met you, and then I did after only a few days.” She leaned in against him, put her hand in his, and squeezed. “So I do know there’s something between us. I’m glad I didn’t turn out to be crazy about that.”

  “You aren’t crazy. You’re the sanest person I know, except when it comes to seeing yourself and how beautiful you are.”

  She intertwined her fingers with his. “I’m getting better at that. How can I not be awesome if this huge space dragon has fallen for me?”

  He smiled. “Right?”

  She rested her head against him to think for a moment. “So when you say dragon, do you mean just internally?”

  “No, I can shift into one.”

  “Right now?”

  “If you don’t want to have a house anymore,” he said. “But I would never risk hurting you or anything you cared about.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “So it’s a big dragon.”

  He smirked, finally looking like himself again and much less nervous. “Nothing about me is small, sweetheart.”

  She laughed and shoved at him with her free hand. “Look at you, sounding just like a human douchebag.”

  “Hey, I’m not a douchebag.” He rested his head on top of hers. “But I’ll be human if it means I can stay with you.”

  She let out a sigh, releasing the rest of her tension with it. If she thought too hard about it, her brain could explode. But that’s how it was with a lot of things, and she did a good job about not overthinking those since she couldn’t control them.

  Chromium was Chromium, and since he’d always been good to her and had come clean to her and given her more than anyone ever had, she would take him as he was.

  And try to give him a fraction as good of a love as he was giving her.

  “So you’re not mad at me?” He looked down at her tentatively, and she couldn’t resist the urge to run her finger over his plump lower lip. She’d always loved that lip.

  “No.”

  “So can I stay here tonight?”

  She thought about it for a second. “Sure. But no shenanigans. It’s going to take me a while to get used to things.”

  “Shenanigans?”

  “You know what I mean. We’ll just have a nice, calm night. Watch TV. Give me some time to adjust.”

  “Okay,” he said, and he didn’t even seem disappointed. Just relieved that she was trying to understand him.

  If anything, she was the disappointed one because she’d been pretty horny after watching the movie together. Even if the stuff that happened after had pushed that arousal to the background.

  “I just want what you want, Helen. If you want me to wait even longer, I will. I know it’s a lot, and I want you to be comfortable.”

  She sighed, snuggling in against him. “Kind. Accepting of me just how I am. A good cook. Thoughtful. Great in bed. I should have known you were an alien.”

  He threw his head back and laughed at that, and that was the moment she knew they were going to be okay.

  Now she just had to hope she could watch TV with him without getting so aroused she broke her own rules about shenanigans.

  Still, if she did, she didn’t think he’d mind.

  Chapter 16

  Chromium breathed an internal sigh of relief as he relaxed next to Helen.

  She’d taken the news surprisingly well. Maybe things were going to work out after all.

  “So what are we watching?” he asked, pointing to the TV as something played.

  “Just a rerun of some show. Nothing big.”

&nbs
p; “Ah.” He tried to focus on the people talking to each other on the screen in front of him, but his senses were all too aware of his mate’s nearness. And even though he wanted to take things slow with Helen, give her space to process everything that just came to light, the dragon inside just wanted to claim its mate.

  It didn’t help that he could feel Helen’s eyes dart toward him, furtively at first, then openly gazing as he tried to act relaxed.

  He felt the couch cushions shift, and when he looked over, Helen was a few inches closer, though she was trying to play it off by pretending to be very interested in whatever was happening between the characters on the TV for the moment.

  As if he wouldn’t notice.

  He sat back even farther into the couch, spreading his arms to the side as he did his best to play cool. But when he heard another creak, he looked over at Helen, caught whilst in the middle of traversing the small distance between them. At first, she seemed shocked. Then she smiled in amusement, sitting right next to him.

  “What? Maybe I just wanted to sit next to you so we could watch this together?” Her blush said otherwise…

  And Chromium couldn’t hide his own body’s response to her at this point, her soft thighs and arms brushing his side as she cuddled in closer. For a moment, he tried to resist, then gave in completely, pulling her in so her upper body was resting diagonally across his chest.

  All the while, he attempted to will away the ever-increasing tightness in his jeans, but it was impossible to not be turned on by his mate when she was so near. His brain swirled with wonderful things he wanted to do to her right now, but he kept it together.

  If everything went right, they’d have eternity together. They should take it easy for now.

  “Hmm, this is nice,” Helen exclaimed to herself as her hand rubbed over his pecs and down over his abs. Not knowing how to respond, Chromium said nothing for a moment, trying to find some topic of conversation that had something to do with anything other than ravishing her this very instant.

  After all, she’d said no “shenanigans” tonight, right?

  Helen practically purred as she pressed herself more into the crook of his body, tugging his shirt up a bit so she could explore beneath it. Chromium tried to stare directly ahead because just the sight of her was too much for him right now.

  It was a bit of a shock when Chromium felt Helen’s hand pulling down his zipper. But he didn’t have time to move or say something when her fingers caressed over the length of his shaft, making a zing of electricity go down his spine.

  He was doing his best to be a gentleman, too.

  “What about no getting up to… things tonight?” Chromium’s throat tightened as he spoke, his mouth getting dry.

  “What if I changed my mind?” She looked up at him, pretty blue eyes sparkling with want. “I mean, how am I supposed to resist you when you make it so hard?”

  “That’s my line. You’re the irresistible one.”

  “Not from where I’m sitting,” she said, letting her hand slowly go up and down him, the other continuing to palpate his muscles.

  “Should we take this to the bedroom, then?”

  “No.” She was insistent, and he watched with amusement as she licked her lips, continuing to feel along the ridge of his head, then stroking the tip with her finger. “I’m enjoying myself.”

  For a minute, he tried to just hold back. His fingers were buzzing with the primal urge to touch Helen, to take her with his own hands, to be the one in control.

  Both her hands closed over him, squeezing a bit, and his entire body jolted a little from the sensation. Granted, the fact that he was trying to sit still and not do anything to his mate meant he couldn’t ignore what she was doing to him.

  He tried to sit up, but Helen put a hand to his chest, stopping him.

  “Hey, why do you get to be the only one doing stuff?” Chromium scowled at her playfully.

  There was a mischievous grin on her lips and in her eyes. “I’m the one adjusting to all this news. I just need to know what I’m getting myself into.”

  “But you’ve already seen me—”

  “Yes, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t more… research to be done,” Helen said. And even though Chromium knew that the whole “research” thing was a farce, he wasn’t going to call her out on it.

  Just the fact that she’d heard he was a dragon from space and hadn’t yet thrown him out was a win in his book.

  So he sat back into the couch, not resisting as she undid the buckle to his jeans and then the button, allowing her better access. His cock, now very hard and very alerted to the proximity of his mate, acted of its own free will.

  Traitor.

  Helen sighed a little as one hand lowered to cup his balls, then back up to stroke over his shaft. But when she started to stroke rhythmically up and down in long, smooth motions, he couldn’t hold back any longer.

  Chromium’s arm, which had been resting along the top of the couch, came down between them both, finding the button and zipper of her own jeans and undoing them swiftly before finding her center. To his delight, she was already wet, the heat between her legs spurring Chromium’s desire to make her come.

  “Hey, I’m busy,” Helen said, distracted for a second as she looked down at his hand.

  It was kind of hot, both of them just cuddling together on the couch, pants both open as they each tried to pleasure the other.

  “Did you really think I’d let you do that much to me without me needing to have you for myself?”

  “I… I guess not. I was just caught up in something else.”

  “The only thing I want you caught up in is this—” Just then, Chromium’s finger stroked firmly over her clit, and Helen’s entire body tensed as she arched back against him and the couch.

  “Stop trying to distract me,” she said, her face so beautiful when she tensed from arousal. To his surprise, she went back to stroking his length again, even faster this time, her smooth hands over his hardness so erotic it was hard to focus on anything else.

  And even when he pressed his finger against her center, she didn’t stop, continuing her motions despite the harsh gasp pulled from her lips from the stimulation.

  If she wasn’t going to be stopped, then he just had to make sure he got Helen to the finish line before she could get him.

  Chromium didn’t hold back now, pulling aside the soft hair falling over the side of her face so he could lightly bite down on the shell of her ear while he continued to stroke and rub over the small nub at the apex of her legs. But despite tense moans and twitches in her body, Helen didn’t let up, persevering in getting him off as fast as she could.

  She was the most beautiful, most arousing woman in the entire universe, and Chromium bit the inside of his cheek, hoping to distract himself with the slight pain as he pressed a little harder, a little faster with each stroke.

  They struggled, both fighting through their own arousal as the TV continued to play aimlessly in the background, its contents long ago ignored by the two viewers on the couch. For a second, Chromium came close to the edge, Helen’s early start almost too much to beat. But then, as he kissed her neck while flicking once more at her clit, he felt her body tighten, signaling her imminent release.

  “Chromium,” Helen cried out, burying her face into his chest as her body curled into his, hands tightening just enough and just in the right place to kick him over the edge, too.

  “Helen—” His voice was raspy as his cock jerked in her hands. Millions of little shocks flew through his body all at once, culminating in a blinding, overwhelming sensation of pleasure and release.

  He pulled Helen into him even closer, holding her as they came together, reveling in the feel of her curves and the sounds of her orgasm as his own release coursed through him like a tidal wave.

  The feel of the heady rush of release slowly trailed down into warm contentedness, and Helen relaxed into his lap, though she didn’t let go.

  “Huh, that’s i
nteresting. Nothing came out,” Helen remarked, her fingers on his still-hard dick, extra sensitive, extra tingly.

  “Dragons can’t have kids unless the timing is just right.” Chromium let his hand just stay where it was, buried in Helen’s pants, just in case she got any ideas about more “shenanigans.”

  “Wow. A dragon. It has a nice ring to it. I still don’t understand how you’re so amazing in the sack.”

  “Sack?” That was a new one.

  “In bed. With sex. That stuff.” Helen’s light laughter filled the room as she looked up at him, amused with his consternation.

  “I suppose it’s just my eagerness to please you. Dragons in general are obsessed with their mates. Hence, the reason I thought you might need a break. When we start, we don’t finish until our mate is thoroughly pleasured.”

  She curled into him more, smiling, and the sight of her was like a sunrise over the mountains of his homeland, warming him from the inside out.

  Chromium stood up, picking Helen up with him, and moved toward her bedroom, turning off the lights and TV as he went.

  “I guess you have a point. You are very overwhelming.”

  “I know.” He closed the door behind them and set her down, pulling off his clothes and then pulling the sheets up for her as she swapped her pants and blouse for a long sleep shirt.

  “Hey, don’t get cocky on me,” she exclaimed, feigning offense. Chromium couldn’t help devouring the sight of her curves as she changed.

  “I know what I bring to the table. But that doesn’t change how perfect you are, how lucky I am to be with you, Helen,” he said, coming onto the bed from behind her and pulling her close. And since I’ve made my intentions clear, I’m staying the night exactly where I want to be. With you.”

  “I think I can work with that, dragon.”

  She scooted close to him, their bodies sharing warmth, a perfect fit together. And as Helen drifted off to sleep, Chromium stayed awake for a few minutes longer, taking in every scent, every feel of her he could.

  With everything out in the open, it was only a matter of time before he’d convince her to be his mate. And then they could finally have the rest of their lives together to look forward to.