A Royal Continuum Read online

  The Dracon king, Ferin, had recently taken a mate, a human whom he'd converted into Dracon. The queen was due in a few more months to birth triplets, a fact that had caused much joy throughout the Dracon across the nation. The royal line had been extended, the queen would bear young, and now other females had begun to enter fertile cycles.

  Unlike humans, the Dracon had peculiar mating habits that remained in secret, for a very important reason. The royal family had to be intact, or all the Dracon would perish. That the king had finally taken a mate meant the Dracon, as a whole, would survive at least until the next generation. No one knew exactly why or how the process worked, but if no queen existed, female Dracon remained barren. A pregnant queen brought even greater joy. Because now other females could conceive, and from what he'd heard, several in his new clan in Asheville already had.

  Because the royal line was so incredibly important, their identity was kept secret. No one openly referred to the royals as prince or king. And the measure brought the monarchy closer to its people. From Ferin on down, none of the royal line were bowed to or treated as superior in any way. But the Dracon clan naturally treasured the means to ensuring their future.

  The king had done his duty and found a mate, and the Dracon couldn't be happier. Hell, even Tanner felt a stirring of pride in his shapeshifting heritage. The Dracon would continue and prosper, at least until the next generation of royals needed to mate.

  Matthias, now that his brother had found his queen, could take a mate or not. But the pressure was no longer on him or his brother Adrian to produce young. Of course, everyone wanted to ensure the continuity of the species. So the more young in the royal family, the better.

  The Dekkers were afforded respect and deference, both of which they'd earned as true leaders of Dracon Mount and over the country as a whole. Though Dracon the world over no doubt wanted to marry one of the sought-after princes, Matthias and his brother remained unmated. Rumor had it that Prince Adrian and Lucas shared a special relationship. The Dracon valued love and sex, gender mattered not. But still, the populace would love for Adrian to have young.

  Tanner swallowed hard as he realized he'd been stroking Matthias's chest with tender, almost lover-like motions. Immediately he stopped, and Matthias moaned, growing restless. Tanner moved the cloth again and the prince stilled, quiet and calm once more.

  Taking a deep breath, Tanner continued to minister to his charge. My responsibility, he reminded himself. Running the cloth over Matthias's firm jaw, full lips and strong, stubborn nose, he grudgingly admitted Matthias's attraction... to the opposite sex. Though all three Dekkers looked alike, with dark hair, dark eyes and strong, warrior builds, Matthias was considered by most to be the best-looking. Ferin had an imposing manner and sexual grace. Adrian held an energetic, animalistic energy. And Matthias was quiet, a still, thinking predator with speed and agility. And a poet's full, carnal mouth.

  Swiftly taking his eyes from said mouth and the uncomfortable thoughts it stirred, Tanner ran the cloth carefully over Matthias's temple, his high cheekbones and square jaw and then dried the prince with the towel before fixing a small bandage over the gouge on his forehead.

  Matthias seemed to turn into the soft touches, and Tanner felt a measure of peace that at least Matthias had escaped the brawl intact and mostly unhurt. The scare of that loud boom and the sight of Matthias falling refused to leave him, however, and he paid special attention to each mark the prince now carried.

  Several moments later, having cleaned and tended to almost every area on the prince's body, Tanner took a deep breath and moved to Matthias's groin, where a large gash sat on his inner thigh--a place Tanner had deliberately avoided.

  Matthias had much the same build as Tanner, and his cock was no exception, long and thick, and dusted with a dark thatch of hair at its root. Flushed for noticing at all, Tanner reminded himself he did this service for the prince and the royal family. Nothing sexual about it. Nothing improper about cleaning and tending to an unconscious man.

  Gritting his teeth, he moved Matthias's shaft so that he could better tend the deep gouge on his thigh. Tanner spread the prince's legs wide and couldn't help noticing the plump, ruddy sack resting between Matthias's thighs. The sudden image of Tanner suckling that flesh, of engulfing that cock with his wet, hot mouth took him by surprise.

  He stared hard at Matthias's face, wondering whose thoughts he'd been sensing, wanting desperately to place to blame on another. Matthias, however, continued to breath easily, unconscious. Staring at the wound, and only the wound, and praying to get this over with, Tanner leaned closer to the injury. He ignored his own throbbing erection--as if disregarding it would will it away--and applied antiseptic and a butterfly bandage. Hopefully, Matthias's strength would heal the wound without the need for stitches. A day in this cabin, provided the owner didn't soon return, and they could resume the search for the person Matthias hunted.

  Except Tanner couldn't stop his gaze from lingering over Matthias's cock. Images again flooded his mind, thoughts so carnal and so hot he couldn't stop himself from reaching out.

  Chapter 2

  * * *

  Tanner felt a sweat break out over him as he took that golden rod in his hand. Without thinking, he ran his fingers down the skin, amazed at the similarities and differences between it and his own. Matthias's cock was more tanned, and growing flushed as it hardened. Fascinated despite his astonishment at his actions, Tanner watched as the organ deepened in color, growing thicker and fatter as Tanner began stroking in an all too familiar manner.

  He stopped immediately, disgusted at himself, then froze when Matthias groaned and trapped Tanner's hand beneath his own.

  "Don't stop."

  Stunned, Tanner stupidly nodded, though Matthias had yet to open his eyes. Sexual need, affection and trust came to him in images, and Tanner didn't understand how he could know Matthias's feelings. He'd never received emotions through mindspeak before. But he felt compelled to offer the comfort and release that he himself longed to receive. Sitting up, he splayed his legs wide, his hand still gripping Matthias while he tried to ignore and relieve the pressure on his own arousal pushing up through his jeans.

  His gaze glued to Matthias, he fisted a hand around the man's erection. Slowly, up and down, softer, then harder, he pulled. Matthias's chest rose and fell faster, and his breathing sounded raspier as he shifted his pelvis closer to Tanner. In his mind's eye, Tanner saw himself taking that cock in his mouth, sucking on the crown and lapping up the small drops of fluid leaking from the tip.

  Then he blinked at visions of himself plunging into Matthias. The prince on his hands and knees, his face in sensual agony as Tanner fucked his ass. Another image, this one of Tanner sitting on a large, black, velvet-covered, king-sized bed, his thighs wide, as he watched Matthias's dark head bobbing over his cock. Grunts and groans, straining, and then the prince swallowing his cum...

  Pushed beyond endurance, Tanner groaned and let go of Matthias. Quickly unsnapping his jeans and pushing his pants and underwear to his knees, he sat again on the bed. Taking Matthias in hand, he gripped the prince's fat cock dripping with cream. And with his other hand, he began masturbating, bringing himself pleasure as well.

  Matthias moaned and thrust his hips toward Tanner's hand. "Harder," he rasped, his eyes still closed as Tanner held him tighter.

  Tanner panted, his movements jerky as the unreality, the sheer fantasy of the moment took him over. He smoothed Matthias's fluid over his cock, using the pre-cum as a lubricant to increase the frenzy of his hand. His own hand did the same, mirrored actions between two states of arousal, two warriors in their prime straining to achieve bliss.

  Matthias's breath came faster, and Tanner joined him, a symphony of need washing over the two of them. Tanner could feel the prince's desire as his own, could see visions of the two of them together, in positions Tanner had never even imagined. Suddenly the picture of a woman entered, sandwiched between them. More of them all fucking and
then Matthias cried out and came, his cum jetting over Tanner's hand, creamy and thick, like royal honey.

  Smelling and feeling Matthias's warm cum on his skin, Tanner fell over the edge, his orgasm explosive as he grunted and shot. He continued to milk Matthias even as he strung out his own climax. And unable to explain his next actions, he leaned down and took Matthias in his mouth.

  The taste of the salty rapture had Tanner shuddering as sensation overwhelmed him. He sucked and licked his prince's cock clean, until nothing remained but a bead of fluid on a slowly flagging erection. Matthias groaned his thanks, then sighed and slid further into sleep.

  Tanner stared in shock at the naked prince, his bruised belly spattered with the semen Tanner hadn't caught in his fist. And then Tanner gazed at his own hand still wrapped around his sticky cock and watched as his seed was slowly absorbed by his skin.

  What the fuck am I doing? Amazed, disgusted and scared at his out of control lust, Tanner left for the bathroom to fix himself. He returned with another towel and cleaned up the mess still on the bed sheets and wherever the hell else it had landed. Once he finished and assured himself Matthias rested, tucked beneath the thick quilt, he left the bedroom and sat at the lone table near the small kitchenette.

  His head in his hands, Tanner shook, frighteningly bewildered about what had just occurred. One minute he'd been washing and caring for Matthias, and the next he'd been masturbating as he pleasured the prince. As if that weren't bad enough, he'd had an orgasm so hard and powerful that he'd sucked the cum off a man's dick. And he'd liked it. Christ, what the hell was happening to him?

  Not a homophobe, by any means, Tanner had never been sexually attracted to men. He loved women, and still did. Hell, he'd even fucked two women at once, and in one harrowing evening of maddening lust, hit his peak with three. But a man?

  He wasn't sure how to feel. Many of his kind liked sex with both genders, and even the human populace had its share of homosexual and bisexual men. But Tanner didn't understand this sudden craving for Matthias. Even now he wanted to taste the prince again, to feel Matthias squeeze around his cock as Tanner sank deeper into Matthias's virgin hole... Tanner froze. Where had that thought come from?

  Matthias, maybe? Tanner returned to the bedroom only to see the prince still out like a light. Tanner hurriedly shut the door, as much to ensure he didn't wake the prince as to hide that sensual body from his sight.

  He sat at the table and pondered his future, the minutes ticking into hours.

  A mate and children, the chance for a better life than Tanner had been given might well float away as if it had never been. If Tanner suddenly had a thing for men, he'd never find himself the family he craved, would he? And if Lucas found out what he'd done, hell, if Matthias knew he'd been handled and masturbated while asleep and vulnerable, the royals would cut off Tanner's balls and feed them to the hounds for breakfast.

  Shit. What a fucking, confusing mess. Tanner stood to pace the room, wanting nothing more than to rewind his acceptance of this assignment. Hell, he'd even undo his decision to join the Dracon clan in Asheville. He'd lived most of his life unloved and alone. Why had he thought joining the clan in Dracon Mount would be any different? His mother was right. He was a royal fuck-up. A half-breed son of a whore and a dickless wonder of a Dracon who shouldn't even exist. How many half-breeds Dracon were there in the world anyway? Two dozen, if that?

  Scenes from Tanner's past resurfaced, ugly insecurities that he'd done his best to bury throughout the years. Clutching his head, he didn't hear the noise until it bumped on the porch steps. Whirling behind the front door so fast it made his head spin, Tanner watched as the doorknob slowly turned. All thoughts save protecting Matthias disappeared, and he waited in anticipation as purpose cut like a sharp knife through his mind.

  * * * *

  Ava Tailstack grumbled under her breath as she fiddled with the doorknob. Where the hell had she put that list? She'd spent an hour poring over the debate on the sorry life she now led. Love totally sucked.

  Still at odds with her family over her decision to leave Dracon Mount, she'd come to the conclusion that the Tailstacks of the world had no place among the Dracon. Several months ago her cousin Emmaline had tried to poison the new Draka, the Dracon queen. If Emmaline's story was to be believed, she'd been aided in her quest to become the new queen by her own father, Ava's beloved uncle. The honorable and venerated Shino Tailstack, protector of the royal family, a traitor? If that weren't bad enough, Ava was still helplessly in love with Matthias Dekker, as she had been from the first moment she'd laid eyes on him.

  For seven long years she'd loved him from afar, thinking that maybe, some day, he'd notice her as more than Shino's visiting niece. Time went on, and still Matthias ignored her. She'd finally decided to take matters into her own hands, to see how he felt, as audacious as she knew her course to be. And then her cousin had betrayed the royal family. Her uncle had taken part in the ruse, though no one seemed to hold him accountable for it. And Matthias, damn his sorry Dracon hide, had fallen for the Draka's human sister.

  Bad enough Ava had been linked with the Tailstack's lack of honor, but to lose out to a woman Matthias had only just met? The damned sister of the Draka, a kind, pleasant woman totally beyond reproach. Ava's eyes burned as she fiddled with the stuck doorknob of the small cabin she now considered her home. She'd done her best to steer clear of her uncle for the past few months. Apparently, he felt the need for family now that his daughter was long gone, and since Ava's father, his brother, had passed as well.

  Anger made her vision brighten. For all that she'd already suffered, she wanted no more to do with royals and intrigue and...Dracon. She planned to live out the rest of her life on this isolated mountain, no matter how lonely she might feel. She could hunt for food as Dracon easily enough, and the stipend her father had left her upon his death would make sure she never wanted for anything else.

  Finally opening the door, she stomped into the house and slammed the door behind her. She wasn't aware of the presence behind her until it was too late. Ava screamed as a battering ram knocked her to the floor, smothering her as a heavy weight settled over her chest and legs, effectively pinning her beneath him.

  She struggled but couldn't break free, and a large palm over her mouth stopped short her screams.

  "A female?" The man leaned close and sniffed, and her eyes widened as she sensed another Dracon this far from any clan holding. "Easy now. I'm going to let you up. One wrong move and you'll find yourself flat on your back beneath me." And loving it, the growing humor in his eyes seemed to add.

  When she looked up and saw his face, she had to agree with her internal assessment. The man sitting up over her was huge, a giant with pale hair and dark black eyes shimmering with Dracon. The hard planes of his face hinted at a ruthless bearing, yet the gentleness in his grip as he helped her to her feet showed compassion.

  She couldn't speak as she stared. For the first time since seeing Matthias, she felt a spark of attraction for a member of the opposite sex. And the spark was slowly fanning to flame as the stranger stared back at her, his attention keen.

  "Sorry, but I have need of your home for a while."

  She nodded, too fascinated with the odd feelings he stirred to protest his breaking and entering. She stared at his hard mouth, at the broad expanse of his chest and the size of his hands. Good lord, they were huge. Licking her lips, she sat with him when he gestured her to the kitchen table. "Who are you?"

  He sighed and sat, his large frame making her chairs look small. Most Dracon were big, but she'd been born on the small side at just five foot five. This male, however, also struck her as dangerous. Though most of her kind were, of course, this one's bearing spoke of structured discipline. Military, law enforcement, maybe? The last time she'd even spoken to a Dracon had been months ago in Chicago. She hadn't thought there were any other of her kind so far north. Apparently, she'd been wrong.

  "My name is Tanner Flay. And you are?"


  "Ava Tailstack." She had no reason to lie. If her uncle had sent him, he had no doubt given the man a picture or description to go by. And if not, well, the intruder was Dracon. If he'd wanted to hurt her, he would have done it by now. So she let her last name dangle, waiting for his response. For as much as she hated to admit it, she missed her people something fierce, and at this point, any conversation with Tanner was welcome.

  His gaze intensified as he studied her, but he made no overt moves as he sat there. "You're much prettier than your cousin."

  Ava flushed. She'd always been told that. Another reason why Emmaline hated her. Then again, Emmaline hated everyone. Thoughts of her cousin ruined her pleasure at his compliment. She waited for the familiar look of sympathy, or worse, disgust, to cross his face.

  When neither did, she gave him a tentative smile. He returned it wholeheartedly and ran a finger over her cheek.

  "Your skin is the smoothest cream, your hair so gold it makes the sun pale by comparison." He stared at the rest of her, his eyes lingering over her breasts that peaked under his regard. But instead of continuing with flattery, he sighed again and dropped his gaze. "Where's your mate?"

  She snorted. "What mate? I'm Ava Tailstack."

  He frowned. "So?"

  "So I'm 'soiled goods.' My cousin is a witch and would-be murderess, my uncle a traitor." She sighed. "You're much better off not knowing me."

  His frown grew darker and she hated what was to come.

  "Shino Tailstack is no traitor." She wanted to groan. "Why should I not want to know you? Did you have something to do with the assassination attempt on Lea Dekker?"

  "Hell no." She blinked in stunned surprise, not anticipating that he would actually ask before condemning her. "I would never harm the royals. Lea Dekker made possible our ability to have young. And she's so beautiful, so clever. The first human to turn Dracon in centuries, and she's already carrying firebreathers in her belly. The king's true mate. And she--" Ava stopped as she realized she sounded like a blathering idiot.