Dragon Fire (The Forbidden Love Series) Read online

  He brought her hand to his face, his eyes still protected by the hood, and inhaled her scent. She smelled feminine and sweet, with just a hint of something smoldering under the surface. It wasn’t something he could put his finger on, but it was entrancing to his brain.

  He skimmed his lips over her knuckles again, but this time he stopped to take the tiniest taste. She tasted like heaven to him. A tiny gasp escaped her lips and Dylan knew he was never going to get this woman out of his head if he didn’t act.

  “You wanna dance?” he asked her, nodding toward the dance floor.

  Toni looked at her family and friends who were all either dancing or talking. They were all having a great time. It did seem like a waste to not at least go out on the dance floor just once. “Yeah,” she admitted. She did want to dance. She loved to dance.

  As if the universe was completely in line with their thoughts, a slow song came on and the lights dimmed just a bit. Dylan held out his hand and Toni took it. She followed him out to the corner of the floor, where there weren’t many people dancing. Everyone had paired up quickly and were doing the exact same thing. She watched as her Uncle Angel pulled his wife into his embrace. It was almost comical, the difference in their heights, but even through her smile, Toni could see how very much they loved each other. Her other aunts and uncles had taken to the floor as well, and so had Jade and her mate, Michael.

  Michael was a different sort of creature. He was half vampire and half Phoenix. Those enormous orange and red wings always got people’s attention. He was the only one not in costume, actually. What could compete with those wings?

  Toni felt a pang of jealousy. She wanted that. She always told people that she didn’t do relationships. The men in her life tended to go as quickly as they came, and she preferred it that way. She was no stranger to how dangerous claiming a mate could be, but still a part of her yearned to find the one man that was perfect for her in every way. The one man who would stay by her side for an eternity. She wasn’t naive, she knew her man would not be a dragon. Toni and her mother were the last two living dragons in existence. But he was out there, somewhere. Toni wondered if she would meet him one day. If she did, would she recognize him as her mate? Or would she push him away like everyone else? And most importantly, Jade said tonight was going to mean something. Was this man her mate?

  Dylan pulled her body close to his and Toni was forced out of her own head as his magical scent enveloped her. It smoothed over her body like a warm bath, relaxing her and intoxicating her at the same time. “Where were you?” he asked her.

  Toni shook her head. “I was wondering why I didn’t see my dad anywhere,” she half lied. She had briefly wondered that, but it was secondary to her self-induced, lonely festival.

  “He’s probably checking the guest list to find out any and everything he can about me,” Dylan told her on a chuckle.

  Toni sighed. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “He can be a little over the top. So can Mom, come to think of it.”

  “I’m not afraid,” Dylan joked with her.

  “You should be,” Toni replied. “Mom would just assume eat you than deal with you.”

  Dylan started to laugh and then realized she was serious. “Eat me?” he asked as he turned their bodies to the slow music.

  Toni raised a challenging brow, but didn’t answer him.

  “No worries, they won’t find any information about me on that list,” he continued. “I’m not on it.”

  Toni stopped moving. Yep. Just as she had suspected. Trouble. “How did you get in then?”

  Dylan shrugged. “I snuck in.”

  “Why?” Toni demanded, feeling the sudden urge to put some distance between them.

  Dylan chuckled. “Don’t worry. I did it to piss my father off, not to cause anyone harm.”

  Toni rolled those pretty eyes. “I can’t decide if you have a death wish, if you were born without fear, or if you’re just plain stupid. If they figure out that you weren’t checked out, if they find out you snuck in, you are as good as dead. The King of freaking Vampires is here tonight! Do you have any idea how much shit you just got yourself into?”

  Dylan shrugged and pulled Toni back up against him. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her chest to his. “Then let’s hope I don’t get caught,” he rumbled in her ear. That small action had shivers running down her spine. Every inch of her skin lit up and begged for his attention. Her nipples beaded and her thighs grew restless, itching to have him closer to her.

  Toni allowed her head to fall against his chest. The cloak he wore was surprisingly soft, and Toni could hear the beating of his heart, even over the music. He held her tight against the strong wall of his chest, gently stroking the hair that had escaped her bun.

  Dylan could feel the heat radiating off the woman. The way she melted into him was a sign that she trusted him, even if she didn’t know it. He wanted to stay like that forever, but he knew that wasn’t going to be the case. Her hair was just as silky as he had imagined it would be, and it took all of his self-control not to pull it free of the confines of the bun. As he moved them over the floor, he realized that he wanted her to trust him. He wanted her to want him. “You wanna go somewhere else?” he finally asked her. He had to have her and he knew if he didn’t act now, he was going to lose the opportunity.

  “I can’t leave,” she said, a little breathlessly. “My family expects me to be here.”

  “Somewhere else in the hotel then?” he asked.

  Toni closed those beautiful eyes and debated with herself. She knew what he was asking of her and Dylan prepared himself for her rejection. Then her eyes snapped open and she looked at him with determination. “Yeah, let’s go,” she said. She pulled out of his embrace and took his hand. She led him from the dance floor and into the main hall.

  3

  Toni led Dylan down the hall without a word. Every step she took was full of confidence. She knew exactly what she was getting herself into, and she knew that she would probably never get this man out of her mind after this, but she didn’t care. She had to have him. Now.

  There was just something so intriguing about him. Everything from the way he smelled to the way he had carefully kept his face hidden captivated her. He had secrets, of that she had no doubt, and Toni was determined to unravel them. At least some of them.

  Toni had to have his hands on her skin. She had to have his lips on her body. She wanted to touch him, to taste him, to know if he tasted as good as he smelled. He was a mystery. He was the personification of everything she knew she shouldn’t want. Mysterious. Secretive. Sexy. He was a bad boy and damn if she didn’t have a spot for bad boys.

  She pulled him into an empty conference room and closed the door behind them. Darkness enveloped them, but she could still see a little bit. The next thing she knew, Dylan had gotten up close and personal.

  He crowded her personal space, forcing her to step backward until her back hit the wall. “Don’t fight it,” he growled softly next to her head. His breath washed over her ear, sending shivers down her spine. She raised her hand and placed it on his chest. Good Lord, the man was like a brick wall. Toni was surrounded by him. He was taller than she was and twice as wide, dwarfing her with his size alone.

  He kept his head bowed, preventing her from seeing his face. A part of Toni wanted to see his face, but another part of her liked the excitement of not knowing who he was. She could hear the party carrying on without them on the floor below, and that made the whole situation even more exciting. Her family was right there. Anyone could come looking for her at any time. She knew Jade would play interference, though. She was banking on it.

  His nose skimmed the side of her neck and Toni was yanked back into the current situation. There was a man with her who smelled like heaven and he had her pinned against the wall. When his tongue snaked out of his mouth to taste her skin, Toni groaned. She allowed her head to fall back against the wall, exposing her neck further to him. He kissed the side of her neck, tas
ting and nibbling every inch before moving his mouth to the front of her throat.

  He kissed along her collarbone and then down the front of her chest, taking advantage of the expanse of skin her dress left exposed. Toni held the back of his head wishing she could feel his hair under her hands instead of the cloak he wore.

  “Beautiful,” he breathed against the skin of her breasts. He reached around her to the knot where her costume was tied. He pulled the sash free of her middle and stood tall. With a wicked grin, he placed the sash over her eyes and tied it securely behind her head. “No peeking,” he teased.

  And then, his mouth was on her again. Toni didn’t care that he had blindfolded her. All she cared about was that he didn’t stop the delicious torture he was doling out on her. He nipped at her skin and pulled the bodice of her dress down, exposing her breasts to him fully, then he moved away from her. Toni nearly cried out from the loss of contact, her body instantly cold where he was only a second before. But then he came back to her.

  Toni felt her body go into a flash burn when she realized she was no longer touching the fabric of his cloak, but his skin. Her hands explored him greedily. She had to touch him. All of him. Her fingertips drifted over his broad shoulders and then down the firm muscles of his chest. She could feel the crisp, curling hairs that covered his chest and she loved it. She found his nipple and gave it a gentle pinch, eliciting a gasp of pleasure from him.

  “Does someone have sensitive nipples?” she teased him.

  “Mmm,” he answered her before dipping his head to take one of her nipples into his mouth.

  Toni dropped her head back and it thumped against the wall just as her fingernails sank into the flesh of his shoulders. Electricity zinged throughout her body, pulsing in rhythm with the pulls of his mouth. He flicked his tongue across the sensitive bud, and Toni thought she might come right there. He pressed his body against hers, every part of him touching her. He rolled his hips and Toni moaned.

  “Oh, yes,” she breathed as his cock strained against his pants. He was pushing the hard ridge against her clit.

  In all his years living in the palace he called home, with all the women who were available to him with only a word, he never touched anyone who could burn like Toni. Her skin was slightly warmer than the average human to begin with…but when she was turned on, she burned like fire on his skin. He loved it.

  “I want you,” he growled.

  “Yes,” she moaned.

  Dylan pushed her dress up and found the soft skin of her thigh. He massaged it momentarily, then hooked his hand under her leg and pulled it up. Toni knew where he was going, so she lifted and hooked her leg around his hip. Dylan’s hands were everywhere. He slipped one hand up the side of her thigh, then up to massage her rear. Then he pushed her panties aside and cupped her sex in his hand.

  “So ready for me,” he muttered.

  Toni whimpered. It was all she could manage. She needed him to touch her. Now. She pushed her pelvis forward, hoping he would get the hint.

  He did.

  Dylan parted her folds and slipped a single digit inside her. “Fuck,” he groaned as her wetness covered his hand. He wiggled his finger inside her and Toni was lost. Dylan sucked again at her nipples, first one then the other while torturing her with his hand.

  Toni wanted to touch him as well, so she maneuvered her hand between their bodies. She found the button of his pants easily and popped it open. His erection did the rest of the work for her, springing free of his pants and into her hand.

  She gripped him tight and he moaned out loud. “Fuck, baby, that feels good.”

  His reaction to her touch was all it took to send Toni over the edge. Her body started to shake as the orgasm took control of her. “That’s it,” Dylan whispered to her. “Come for me.”

  He kept his fingers inside her as she rode out the waves of pleasure. When she was trying to catch her breath, he lowered her leg. Toni felt her panties leaving her body. Dylan had unceremoniously pulled them off and stood back up. “I need to be inside you,” he told her. Toni nodded in agreement too spent to talk, but needing the exact same thing.

  Dylan bent down and scooped Toni up, wrapping her legs around his waist. She could feel the head of his cock brushing her entrance, but she was trapped in the position he held her in. He was so strong, she noticed. He moved his hips and angled himself just right before pushing inside her.

  “Oh, fuck,” Toni growled as he entered her. She could feel the walls inside her stretching to accommodate his size. He was filling her to the limit, and she wanted it. All of it.

  “Oh my God,” he moaned as he worked himself inside her. He moved back and forth a few times before he had his cock all the way in. Seated to the hilt, he paused to enjoy the sensation.

  Toni couldn’t believe how incredible this man felt inside her. Her body was tightening around him, clenching and releasing, as if it were telling her what she needed. She needed him to move.

  “Move,” she demanded.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he chuckled, then pulled himself nearly all the way out before slamming back into her.

  “Fucking right,” she praised him. Dylan started a rhythm that had them both sweating and wanting more.

  “Faster,” Toni told him, and Dylan complied. He moved his body against hers, keeping her pinned to the wall. He moved faster and faster, filling her again and again. Toni sought his mouth and he gave it to her, kissing her like he owned her.

  Toni sucked and nipped at his mouth then down his neck. She loved that he appreciated it too. She got to his shoulder and held on. Dylan was slamming into her so fast that she could only take it. Her body coiled tight and then shattered.

  “Oh, fuck me, yes,” Dylan growled in her ear as she came apart for him. He held her tighter and kept up his pace. Her orgasm turned into two and then three, and just rolled from one into another. He could feel the tingling in his lower spine and he knew he couldn’t hold out much longer.

  Toni set her teeth on his shoulder and that was what set him over the edge. He shouted as his body erupted inside her.

  As the quaking in their bodies slowed, Dylan set Toni gently on her feet. “Wow,” she breathed.

  “My sentiments exactly,” he agreed.

  4

  Rebel stalked up to his brothers who were all gathered around the altar with their families. He stopped next to Gage Rachnoir, King of Vampires, and his brother by love. “We got a problem,” he rumbled.

  Rebel and Gage continued to stare forward as Frankie, the witch in their family, prepared her annual Halloween summoning spell.

  Are you sure this can’t wait, Gage thought directly into Rebel’s mind.

  Positive, Rebel answered silently. There is a man who isn’t on the guest list. He’s here and he is with Toni. I can’t find them right now.

  Maybe she just snuck off with him for a little fun, Gage answered.

  Rebel audibly growled at him earning a glance from Angel. Or, he could be here to kill you and using my daughter as leverage. We gotta act. Now.

  Gage nodded and sent the mental command to his brothers to move. They left Frankie and the others at the altar, but not without an explanation.

  “OK,” Jacque said. “Frankie’s pissed. We never miss the summoning. What’s the fucking problem?”

  “There’s a man here,” Rebel informed them all. “I don’t know him and he is not on the list. I don’t know how he got in here, but he’s got Toni.”

  “What?” Angel snarled. “What does he want with Toni?”

  Rebel shook his head. “I don’t know. I talked to him briefly, but he wasn’t very forthcoming with information. So I checked the list. No Dylan on it. I had the guards check every guest’s dossier, complete with picture. Of course, he has kept his face hidden, so I don’t have much to go on.”

  “How the hell are we supposed to find him?” Gage asked.

  “I know what the fucker smells like,” Rebel answered. “He smells like the goddamn ocean.”
r />   Angel nodded and sent the mental command to his security team, the vampires who had been with him through thick and thin throughout the years. He knew they would execute his orders exactly and without question. “Let’s get started,” he told his family.

  5

  Toni did as Dylan instructed and left the blindfold on until he was back under his cloak. Then, she pulled it off and let it drop to the floor. “I want to see your face,” she said. At first, seeing his face hadn’t mattered to her, but after that incredible escapade, she felt differently. She had nearly marked him. Marked him! She had never had the urge to mark a man in her life.

  Dylan shook his head. “I want you to as well, but it is safer if you don’t. If you don’t know what I look like, then you can’t describe me.”

  “That’s stupid.”

  “I know.”

  “Take it off,” she demanded.

  “No,” he replied.

  Then, something happened. Toni’s eyes widened and it was as if Toni had tuned out, forgotten the conversation they were just having, and tuned into another one. “Oh shit,” she breathed. “You gotta go. Now.”

  “What’s going on?” Dylan asked her. He didn’t want to go. Not now. Not ever.

  “Dad figured it out. They’re coming,” she said.

  “How do you know?” he asked her.

  “Because Jade is a powerful psychic and she just told me,” Toni snapped, tapping her temple. “Dad’s called up the security vamps and they are searching for you as we speak. They won’t ask questions. Hell, they broke Michael’s neck the first time they met him.”

  “Who?” Dylan asked. “I’m lost.”

  “No time,” Toni barked at him. “Move your ass. We gotta go.” She grabbed his hand and yanked him along behind her. She ran down a long hall, passing room doors as they went. No, there would be no hiding in a room. She had to get Dylan out of the hotel. Completely out. Out of the hotel and far away from the deadly security team that was searching for them as they ran. She had never felt the need to protect anyone outside of her family before, but she didn’t have time to examine the strange feeling. All she knew was that Dylan couldn’t meet up with the security vamps. He had to get away and she was the only one who could help him.