Cole's Dragon [A Dragon's Growl 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Read online

  The way Miles said it made that out to be a good thing. Cole looked away from him. He knew how the vampires treated him whenever they thought he happened to look a little cute, and he didn’t always like it. He didn’t want anyone to look at him and think he was being cute. He didn’t want anyone to have sex with him.

  And at the same time…

  He swallowed hard, nodding. “I think so. My hand…it tingled when he touched me.”

  “That’s good.”

  “It doesn’t feel good.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  Cole realized what he’d said and then figured he owed a bit more of an explanation. “I mean, it does feel good, but it’s just…strange. I don’t know what to do with it.”

  He looked at Miles, just as Miles wet his lips. “I think you want to be mated with him.”

  Cole looked away sharply. He rubbed his hands together, trying to get rid of the building anxiety.

  Miles touched his shoulder again. “I promise it’s not all bad. It’s not even bad at all. You’ll get nervous, but that will be the worst of it. It’s not the same as it was with the vampires.”

  “Tell me how it is, then,” Cole said miserably, looking at the other omega. “I need to know. What’s so great about having someone do that to you? I don’t get it.”

  “Well,” Miles said, pulling his hand away and leaning back on his hands, “the mating heat sort of makes you forget about how nervous you are. You’re not nervous at all when it’s happening. You just want more of it.”

  Cole rubbed his arms, shaking his head.

  “No, for real, hear me out,” Miles said, sitting up again and leaning closer.

  “I know it’s weird, but the mating heat makes you want it more than you ever thought you would want it, and it makes it feel good, too. Sex feels good even when you bottom.”

  “I know that,” Cole said. He wasn’t stupid. He knew how it was supposed to work, and he also knew why he’d never been able to have an orgasm whenever any of the vampires took him.

  They were too rough, only caring about their own pleasure, never his.

  Hell, sometimes it was only pleasing for them when he was in pain.

  “What if Evzen is the sort of male who likes it…rough?”

  Miles blinked widely at him, as though the idea had honestly never crossed his mind.

  “Oh,” he said softly, pulling back. “I guess that would be something to worry about.”

  “Is Seth ever rough with you?”

  Miles scratched the back of his head and his fox ears. “Only whenever I’ve asked him to be.”

  A light blush dusted his cheeks, and he smiled shyly at Cole. “Don’t tell him I shared that with you, though.”

  Cole shook his head. “I won’t.”

  So even rough pleasure could still be pleasure for the one lying there and taking it. Strange.

  Maybe letting himself get caught up in a mating heat would be a good thing. He might even be able to force himself to calm down. He could possibly enjoy it and lose his fear of being touched by anyone other than an omega. If he lost his fear of being taken, of having someone inside him, then that would be even better, especially if this was a mate this was happening with.

  Mates were supposed to be kind, after all.

  Supposed to be.

  “Can I get your word on something?” Cole asked, his heart slamming, hardly able to believe he was considering this.

  “Uh, sure, maybe,” Miles said. “I’m pretty sure Seth wouldn’t mind helping me give you whatever you need.”

  Cole nodded, knowing there was a chance he very well wouldn’t be getting what he wanted out of this, but he still needed to ask anyway.

  “All right. I want…I want you to go to Seth, and I want him to…if Evzen is cruel…do you promise that you won’t let him take me out of the house? Mating or not. I don’t want to go with him if he is…bad.”

  He couldn’t seem to get his words out in a proper order. He didn’t know what to say about anything, and it was such a strange sensation to struggle like this when it was Miles he was sitting next to.

  Miles was someone Cole was supposed to be able to speak to, and yet he could hardly get the words out.

  Cole looked at his friend, terrified of what he would see on Miles’s face.

  But the fox shifter had a pleasant smile on his face. He looked at Cole and took his hand, lacing their fingers together and squeezing.

  They hadn’t held hands in months. Not since Seth had come into the house.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll bet Seth would offer you that in a heartbeat.”

  Cole sighed. “Thank you, but I think it would be better if you were the one to ask him. I want you to be the one who lets him know about this because you’re his mate. He might be more willing to give you what you want.”

  “He’ll give this whether you or I ask. He’s good like that. Don’t worry.”

  Cole nodded, still struggling to breathe, but the relief was wonderful. He could hardly believe he could feel this good when he was having a discussion like this.

  “Do you want to go downstairs?” Miles asked. “We’re getting some food ready, and if Evzen and the rest of his men see you, it might be better.”

  It was on the tip of Cole’s tongue to say no, that he still had chores to do, but he got the impression that the chores could wait.

  “I have other bathrooms to get to,” he said, just in case it happened to be an issue.

  “They can wait until tomorrow.” Miles stood up, still holding Cole’s hand, and pulled him to his feet. “You literally don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. This is all you, and if you don’t want to be alone with Evzen tonight, then you can just eat supper at the same table, get to know him, and try something tomorrow, or even the day after.”

  All those things sounded good, too good. And scary. The thought that he could decide how fast or slow this moved was a new sensation. He could hardly believe this was something he was going to have any amount of control over.

  But that he was taking these steps forward to begin with was also a shock. It was new to him as well, and he couldn’t believe he was about to get this ball rolling.

  “Okay,” he said. It was all he said because if he opened his mouth to get another word out he might actually throw up.

  He was going to be a tense mess when he went downstairs. He barely ate at the table with the new dragon masters as it was, and now he was going to be expected to make an appearance because the alpha of the new dragon clan in the house wanted to mate with him.

  He was going to explode. Cole’s head was actually going to burst.

  He followed Miles like a robot out of his bedroom. Miles took him to get rid of his apron and bucket, cleaned his hands, and then it was time to head to the dinner table.

  * * * *

  Evzen stayed with Seth, talking over the new things that had been installed around the house to watch out for the coming vampires, and how Zane and Josh, two humans who actually used to willingly work for the vampire enemy, were trying to help him search out all the secret passageways within the house itself.

  “There are secret passageways?” Evzen asked.

  Seth growled. “Apparently a lot of them. I only ever found one on my own, and that one was in the room I took from Varrick and share with my mate. It leads an entire mile off the property. I had it filled with cement.”

  “Why?” Evzen couldn’t understand such a thing. “It sounds like it would have been an excellent escape if you or your mate needed it.”

  “I know, and if Varrick and all of his men hadn’t known it was there, it would have been.” Seth looked at him. “But they did know.”

  “Ah, of course.” Evzen felt foolish for not immediately picking up on that.

  An escape tunnel such as that would have been an excellent resource, but Seth was right. If the enemy knew where all entrances and exits were, then they were somewhat worthless.

  It was just a reminder as to how
he couldn’t lead. He couldn’t trust himself to notice these fine details, even outside of the rush of battle.

  It was his lack of proper judgment that had gotten Theon killed, his lack of proper judgment that had scared off Cole, and now he was here.

  He needed to hand over the care of his clan to an older alpha.

  Seth wasn’t young. He was well over two hundred, and he had more than enough experience handling these sorts of situations.

  Evzen needed that.

  He found his men sitting around in the lounge, overlooking the vast back lawn and the pool room.

  They looked bored and miserable in their wicker chairs, but all quickly stood when Seth and Evzen walked into the room.

  Seth smiled at them all. “All right, so I’ve been speaking with your alpha here, and it’s been a few days, so I think you all deserve to know where I’m at.”

  A dozen or so dragons shivered, most lower-ranking dragons and a few alphas, and tensed, leaning forward to look at Seth.

  Evzen thought he knew what the other man would say, until he said it.

  “I’m willing to let you all stay a few more days until I can figure out a little more from you all. Which one of you is Theron?”

  “I am.” Theron raised his hand.

  Theron looked so much like Theon, though his hair was much longer than Theon’s had been. Theon had kept his chestnut hair cut short, but just long enough that Evzen could grab a fistful of it and yank it just the way Theon liked when they’d fucked.

  Theron liked his hair long. Said it felt good when he was flying.

  Evzen was glad the man kept his hair long. It made it hurt less to look at him when he didn’t have to see his mate in the man every single time.

  “Okay, you and I need to talk privately in a little while, but for the rest of you, we’ll give it a few more days. If it turns out that I can trust you and would want you all to stay, then I’ve got a suggestion for most of you.”

  Evzen frowned, not understanding but keeping quiet while the other alpha spoke.

  “A little while ago I came up with the idea to have some of my men mate with the omegas in the house. We thought it would be a good way to glue us all together, and since most of the omegas here are having trouble learning how to read, if they had a mate who could take care of them permanently, that would also be a good thing.

  “This won’t be something any of you have to do, but it’s a suggestion. If you’re going to be part of this pack, consider taking an omega for a mate. I know some of them are interested in a few of you already, however”—Seth raised his finger, his red claw coming out and hooked in a mean, twisted shape—“if I find out any of you are banging the omegas, using them and leaving them high and dry, I will make heads roll, understand? The omegas aren’t to be used like that, and if you pursue anyone, make sure it’s with the best intentions. I won’t hesitate to throw anyone out of this house who might just want to use an omega for sex.”

  Seth didn’t so much as glance at him in that moment, but Evzen got the impression he was talking mostly about him.

  Still, mating the two groups together was clearly a strategic move and would ensure the omegas remained loyal.

  Evzen looked amongst his clan. None looked pleased with the suggestion.

  He knew why. Their clan had trouble with wolves, and it seemed the vast majority of omegas in this house were wolf shifters.

  Evzen was still torn over wanting Cole.

  “What if we don’t want to consider any of them for mates?” Theron asked, a low growl in his voice.

  “I’m not up for this either,” Ares said. He’d been growling at the omegas ever since he got here. He didn’t like wolf shifters much either.

  Seth shrugged. “Then don’t consider them. It’s no scales off my back, but the option is open to you. I just want the omegas taken care of. Not all of them will be able to go off into the real world after how they’d been treated.”

  “They can’t go out into the real world until they cut their tails and ears off anyway,” Lasius said, cocking his head to the side.

  Seth shook his head. “I don’t know what packs you’ve been running into, but it seems that’s not something that was done around here, not unless it was a punishment.”

  “They want to keep their ears and tails?” That shocked even Evzen.

  “Yes, they do,” Seth said. “They’re adults, and they can do whatever they want. I’ve even had this discussion with my mate and a few other omegas. Even though it would make it easier to go out amongst the humans, no one here wants their ears or tails removed. We’ve never brought it up since.”

  “I saw one omega with his ears removed.”

  Seth shook his head. “He came from one of Varrick’s other houses, and it was done as a punishment when he was an adult.”

  A punishment. Strange to think of such a thing. As far as Evzen knew, wolf packs, most of them, removed the ears and tails of their omega babies when they were still babies. It was like getting a circumcision for many. Done at a young age then left to heal as the omegas grew up.

  With the ears and tails, omegas tended to stick out. Normal omegas, ones who hadn’t been forced into lives of servitude like the ones here, tended to not have their ears and tails at all. They were cut off at a young age so the omegas could blend in.

  The ears and tails were really just for show anyway. Omegas still had a set of human ears, and the holes left behind from the wolf ears on their heads were known to close up after several years and multiple shifts.

  Maybe for adults who hadn’t had the procedure, perhaps the ear holes didn’t close. Maybe that was why the vampires wanted their little slaves to keep their ears and tails, knowing it hindered them from escaping into the real world and blending in amongst a crowd if they couldn’t cut off their ears or tails.

  Evzen really needed to stop thinking about this. His soon-to-be mate was apparently going to keep his ears and tail, so he might as well get used to the idea of seeing them on him.

  He supposed Cole did look a little adorable with his wolf ears anyway. Almost like an anime character come to real life.

  “Anyway, you’re all coming to dinner. I don’t want too many of you wandering around alone. Stefan and the others will keep monitoring you, though you’ve all been pretty well behaved.”

  Evzen smiled at that. His men were anything but well behaved, but they’d all come to an agreement before showing up here.

  They were guests in this house. They knew better than to try anything in this home that did not belong to them when the alpha in charge, and his men, could kick them out.

  They were here under Sethraghck’s good graces.

  “Thank you for the offer,” Evzen said. “Is there anything we should do to help with the cooking?”

  He wanted his men to make a good impression, even though no one here liked cooking.

  He could see his men grumbling from the corner of his eye already.

  Seth waved his hand. “Don’t worry about it. There’s too many people for the omegas, or even my own men, to keep up with. We’re getting a salad ready, and I think the omegas are making us iced teas or something. They couldn’t stand the idea of not doing anything for us for dinner, so that’s what they’re providing.”

  Evzen had to admit salad and ice tea was not what he would have thought a man such as Sethraghck would be feasting on for his nightly meal.

  Theron looked the most disappointed. “Salad?”

  Evzen would have hit him if he could, but from where he was standing, that was impossible.

  Seth threw his head back and laughed, shaking his head. “No, no, not just that. That is part of what we’re getting, but I sent Marxus and Zane out to pick up some Italian. There’s a great place about forty minutes from here. Won’t be all that hot when we get it, but they should be back any minute now with lasagnas, pastas, even pizzas and steaks. The whole nine yards. I know how to feed a group of dragons.”

  Evzen breathed a heavy sigh.
/>
  Though his brother-in-law was standing right there, he still felt the need to look at Seth and ask him. “What of the omega?”

  Seth looked at him. “I don’t know yet.”

  A soft knock sounded behind them. They both turned.

  Evzen recognized Seth’s mate from his fox ears. The man smiled.

  “Um, sorry to bother you, but the food’s here.”

  Seth went to his mate, pulling the man forward and kissing him briefly on the mouth before looking down at the smaller man as though he was the sun and moon brought to life within the perfect embodiment of a person.

  Evzen had to look away from that.

  It was too…painful to see. The reminder that he once had that same thing with Theon, and then lost it, and that he might now have something similar again with a wolf omega.

  A wolf omega that he hadn’t stopped wanting since coming to this house, one that he thought about kissing right now as Seth kissed his mate.

  It felt like a betrayal to Theon, and God help him but Evzen was starting to accept it. Starting to want the touch of the wolf omega more than he missed his mate.

  Theron gave him a strange look, catching the reaction Evzen had.

  Evzen shook his head. He didn’t want to explain now, but he would later. After dinner.

  “That’s great to hear, and you’re not interrupting anything,” Seth promised. “What about our friend? Were you able to convince him to come?”

  Miles nodded, briefly looking at Evzen, his smile widening. “Uh, yeah. Cole is going to come and sit next to me at supper.”

  Seth did look at Evzen this time, and as though he could sense the way Evzen’s heartbeat picked up, he grinned a stupid grin.

  “Good to know.”

  Chapter Four

  Cole hated this. There were way too many people around him, and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do or say.

  People talked over him as they passed around the Styrofoam containers and filled their plastic plates, multiple conversations happening at the same time, but there was one person who did very little talking at all, and he seemed to be putting most of his focus onto Cole.