The DRAGON Gene: A Sensational Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (WereGenes Book 1) Read online

Now greatly relieved that Matt didn’t think I was creepy, I allowed myself to crack a small smile. “Well, thank you. And thank you for your earlier compliments, too. Although I think calling me ‘utterly gorgeous’ when I’m asleep and awake is a bit hyperbolic.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  Matt’s expression of amusement had changed into one more serious.

  “It’s not at all. You do look utterly gorgeous when you’re awake and asleep. When I first came in here and saw you, you nearly took my breath away, and I hoped that you’d stay sleeping just a little while longer just so that I could look at you for a bit. Now, how’s that for creepy?”

  Again, I cracked a little smile. “I guess I wouldn’t have minded if you’d watched me for a bit. After all, I was the one who was trespassing in your bed in the first place, so I suppose I really wouldn’t have been able to have an expectation of complete privacy. I suppose you could have watched me with binoculars, and there wouldn’t have been much I could say about it.”

  Matt smiled, but almost immediately, his smile faded, and he spoke in a low voice.

  “I really wish they’d sent me someone unattractive…someone that I don’t find gorgeous, and charming, and funny. Someone not so kind to my dogs. Basically, someone not you.”

  Looking into his eyes with my heart melting, I spoke my next words on pure, sudden impulse. “Just kiss me, Matt. Just, please, kiss me.”

  With his beautiful, dark-lashed eyes radiating conflict, Matt lifted a hand to the side of my face and just looked at me for a long moment before bringing his mouth to mine. And soon, we were kissing passionately, hands freely roaming.

  CHAPTER 13

  It wasn’t long before every stitch of our clothing was on the floor, tossed aside with Matt’s boots, which he’d kicked off so quickly and with such force that one had hit the door, closing it. I didn’t think he’d meant to do this, but I was glad anyway. The last thing I needed was Charlie strolling in, looking to see what was taking me so long with the laundry, and becoming traumatized by seeing me pawing all over Matt, naked. Not that Charlie had been in any way traumatized by seeing me actually punching Matt, but still.

  Gripping my now-naked rear, Matt resumed kissing me hungrily, although he soon broke our kiss to survey my naked body for the second time, raking his gaze up every inch of my skin, from my toes to my face. “You’re so, so beautiful, Kylie. You’re simply gorgeous.”

  Despite the fact that the room was warm, a slight shiver rippled through me, just as a result of his huskily-spoken words and the intensity of his gaze.

  I was doing a bit of gazing myself, taking in Matt’s chiseled pecs and six-pack abs before letting my gaze travel a little lower to his manhood, which was as sizable as I’d thought it would be. Thick and long, it was already rock-hard, and had been even when we’d first undressed.

  I’d touched it briefly, wrapping my hand around it, or trying to anyway, even though it was so thick that my short-ish fingers hadn’t come close to connecting with my thumb. This action had made Matt draw in his breath with a hiss, clearly enjoying my touch. I’d only released his thick shaft so that he could further undress me and peel my shirt off over my head.

  Once again, I took his manhood in my hand, again making him suck in his breath. Very slowly, I began circling the head of his shaft with my thumb, using pressure somewhere between light and firm. This action made Matt groan, and he pulled me into his arms and began kissing me hungrily. I kissed him back hungrily, finally pulling the heavenly scent of his bare skin through my nostrils like I’d been fantasizing about.

  Soon, we tumbled into his bed, and with his glassy gray eyes glinting in the pale, late-afternoon sunlight, he just caressed my cheek for a few moments, facing me on his side, before bringing his mouth to mine. Before long, he was exploring my mouth with his tongue, making me moan a bit into his own.

  With an arm around his shoulders, feeling the muscular ridges of his back, I hiked a leg up on his hips, whimpering with desire when I felt his rock-hard erection against the little tingling bud between my feminine lips. It had been tingling for quite a while now, honestly since I’d awoken from my erotic dream about Matt. I’d also awoken with my intimate lips drenched in slickness, which by now had even increased.

  Presently, Matt broke our kiss and slowly began moving his hips with a growl rumbling deep in his chiseled chest, and I whimpered again at the feel of his thick pole bumping and sliding along my most sensitive spot, which wasn't so much tingling now as it was outright throbbing.

  Lightly digging my nails into his back, I spoke in a voice so husky that I hardly recognized it as my own. “Make love to me, Matt. Please. I want to feel every inch of you inside of me.”

  I didn’t have to make my request twice. Before I knew it, the head of his shaft was inside of me, and then, still facing me on his side, he plunged into my slick depths with one slow, powerful thrust that felt so incredible I could barely maintain coherent thought. Completely filled by the largest, hardest male member I’d ever experienced in my life, I managed to moan “yes,” gripping Matt's shoulder just about hard enough to break it.

  With his breathing fast and ragged, he took a few moments to let me get used to his larger-than-average size and hardness before rolling me from my side to my back while keeping himself inside of me. Then, with a low growl, he hiked my legs up on his muscular shoulders and began thrusting in and out of my slickness with exquisite slowness that made me curl my toes, panting.

  The sensation was of such mind-blowing pleasure that I knew I wasn't going to last long before reaching a climax, which I already knew was going to be a powerful one. I didn’t think I could avoid reaching a rapid peak even if I'd bent my whole will toward it. Matt’s slow-motion thrusting just felt far too good.

  Not to mention that Matt looked too good as well, which was also greatly adding to my enjoyment. The quickly-fading pale sunlight coming in through the windows yielded just enough illumination for me to see the outline of his strong shoulders and impossibly handsome, strong-jawed face. The dim light also made his eyes appear a very dark shade of coal gray, which was a darker shade than his eyes normally were, and this made me think of his coal-gray hide while in dragon form.

  This thought further increased my passion for some reason—just to fully realize that a powerful dragon shifter capable of flying and breathing fire was currently making love to me.

  Lifting my hips to meet Matt's every slow thrust, I proved my suspicions about reaching a quick peak were correct when I tumbled into rapture within just a couple of minutes, panting and crying out while every muscle in my body tensed and relaxed repeatedly.

  Seeming aware that I was experiencing climax, and like he wanted to heighten my pleasure, Matt drove his thick pole deeper and deeper inside of me, grunting. This noise, primal and guttural, rose above my panting and moans of ecstasy just loud enough for me to hear it.

  I couldn’t have even guessed how long my climax lasted because time as I knew it had somehow ceased to exist. I knew one thing with certainty, though. The climax I was experiencing was already the longest, most powerful orgasm I'd ever experienced in my life. And it was still going on. This included even orgasms I’d given myself, with the use of toys. This all shouldn’t have surprised me, not that it really did. This was because Matt’s rock-hard shaft felt infinitely better than any bedroom toy I’d ever used.

  Near the end of my powerful peak, I noticed that the muscles in my legs weren’t just clenching and relaxing how they often did when I was experiencing orgasm. My legs were actually shaking, wrapped tightly around Matt's slim hips.

  Grinding my head back into the pillow, I cried out his name, followed by a few gasping words. “Please…don’t stop.”

  He didn’t, continuing to thrust rapidly and plunging into my slickness deeply.

  It was only when the last wave of my rapture had passed that I became aware of something. I'd wound my fingers in Matt's thick, dark hair, kind of pulling it, to the point that it
might have borderline even hurt. If my hair-pulling had hurt him, though, he showed no indication at all.

  In fact, he seemed to be quickly approaching his own powerful climax, his breathing coming as a series of grunts and groans. He was even issuing the occasional growl, with the sound rumbling deep within his chest. I found these sounds so unexpectedly erotic that I realized that I wanted to experience ecstasy once again, although this time with him.

  Hoping that he wasn’t “past the point of no return,” I spoke to him in a breathless, rapid whisper. "Please turn me over…onto my hands and knees. I want to feel your hardness filling me from behind."

  The truth was that I’d always had a “thing” for this position, to the point that fantasizing about being made love to in this position could usually make me slick within a minute. So now, I was suddenly desperately hoping that Matt would be game, because I just had a hunch that this very primal, animalistic lovemaking position was certain to bring me to another strong climax.

  I also just had a hunch that if Matt’s hard shaft felt just as good sliding into my depths from behind as it had felt the whole time he’d been on top of me, I’d probably be reaching my second climax just as quickly as the first.

  To my relief, Matt was too glad to comply with my request for a change in position. He immediately pulled his pole out of me and turned me onto my stomach before pulling me up on my hands and knees, facing the headboard. He then straddled my hips from behind, draped his body over my own, and spoke near my ear in an incredibly low, husky voice. “Is this how you like it, Kylie?”

  With his words and his use of my name already revving me up again, I responded with a single word that was more of an extended moan than a normal spoken word. “Yes.”

  The single syllable hadn’t even died on my lips when Matt entered me with a prolonged, low groan. After filling me with every millimeter of his length, he began thrusting again, and the sensation of him moving deeply inside of me from behind was one I couldn't even begin to describe.

  All ability to form coherent thought had suddenly left me. I could only moan, gripping handfuls of tangled bedsheet while Matt soon brought me to another mind-blowing climax with his strong hands gripping my hips so hard they almost hurt, but in the most pleasurable sort of way.

  Simultaneously, he growled out with his own powerful release, heightening mine even further by filling me with the intimate warmth of his masculine essence.

  A short while later, we rested in an embrace with our slightly-sweaty limbs entwined. At first, neither of us spoke. But just as the fading light beyond the windows plunged the room into near-darkness, Matt broke the silence.

  “I want to try, Kylie. Us. But I’ve already started to feel very strongly about you, and I just don’t want to lose you. I like to think I’m a strong man, but I just don’t think I could handle one more loss.”

  Facing him, I just looked into his eyes for a long moment before responding. “I don’t want you to have to experience one more loss…but if things work out between us, I don’t plan on going anywhere. I’m young, I’m healthy, and I’m not going to die. Statistically, I’m not, anyway. Not anytime soon.”

  Like I had, Matt looked into my eyes briefly before issuing his response. “It doesn’t even necessarily have to be death. I just feel like some way, somehow, you’ll be taken from me if we become even closer. Something will happen to part us.”

  “That’s in no way certain. I think all this negative thinking and expecting the worst is probably just your very normal psychological defense mechanisms kicking in. That’s just you trying to protect yourself. I’d probably do the same thing if I’d experienced loss on the level that you have. You can’t give into it, though. You have to tell yourself that, yes, there’s a small chance that you might experience another very painful loss down the road. It is possible. But ask yourself this. What will your life be like for the next several decades if you continue to live with your heart closed off just because you don’t want to hurt again? Will it be worth it?”

  Matt was quiet for several moments before taking one of my hands. “Okay. I’ll commit to giving love another try. I want to marry you and see if we can create a life together. Please, be patient with me, though. I’m probably always going to be hyper-protective of you, especially at first. At least until I can shake the feeling that something is going to drive us apart or take you away from me.”

  With my heart light as air, I gave his hand a squeeze. “You can be as hyper-protective of me as you want. I understand…and I’ll be very patient with you. And maybe, in time, you’ll grow to feel more comfortable, and you’ll start to believe that nothing unforeseen is going to happen to tear us apart. You’ll start to have faith. We’re going to make a nice life together…a family together. You’ll see.”

  Matt didn’t respond verbally, but he picked up my hand and pressed a tender kiss to the back of it, making me think that he was starting to have a little faith already.

  CHAPTER 14

  Matt and I dozed for a while, then took a long, warm shower together before getting dressed and fixing dinner, While I made a salad with the ingredients I’d bought at the store that day, Matt cooked the main course, impressing me by whipping up a chicken, vegetable, and noodle stir fry with a from-scratch teriyaki sauce that was better than any I’d ever tasted in a restaurant before. Considering how bare I’d found his fridge the night before, not containing many other things besides the leftover pizza and wings, I’d honestly kind of assumed that he wasn’t much of a cook, so now, I was very pleasantly surprised.

  While we ate, I told him about Amy and I starting a new gym and renting the building, and we talked about that for a little while. Then, I changed the subject and asked Matt how his trip to the Upper Peninsula had gone.

  He replied by saying that it had gone well, yet not well at the same time. “It went well in the sense that I got the information I needed, but it went not well because the information I received wasn’t good.”

  I asked him what he meant, and he said that he’d learned that the Bloodborn dragons of the Bloodborn Federated States were planning an attack on Greenwood and that he’d even witnessed part of this planning with his own eyes.

  “From a distance, I was able to see the Bloodborns running different battle formations over Lake Superior, and I recognized these formations from the war.”

  “Well, how can you be so sure that they’re not just trying to stay in practice in case anyone ever attacks them or something? How are you so sure that they’re intending to attack Greenwood?”

  With his expression grim, Matt took a sip of the whiskey he was having with dinner before responding. “I had a meeting with Brent Mason, the leader of the USSA bears in the U.P., and he told me that a spy we sent to infiltrate the Bloodborns a few months ago returned home this past week, telling everything she saw and heard while in BFS territory…which included their plans to attack Greenwood. The leader of the Bloodborn dragons, Adam Archer, isn’t satisfied with having claimed the whole of Canada for his people. He still wants more, and now, he feels that they’re in prime position to add the entire state of Michigan to their territory. He knows this will never be possible as long as our defense post here in Greenwood still stands, though, so he intends to wipe us all out first, then see if he can take the rest of the state unchecked before the American government can round up more dragons from different parts of the country and send them here.”

  I suddenly wondered if losing me in a Bloodborn attack was one of Matt’s fears, and I couldn’t really blame him. As it was, talk of an attack was making me feel more than a bit edgy, even though I’d already survived numerous dragon attacks and felt like I could survive another.

  Wondering if the information that the leader of the USSA bears in the U.P. had gotten was completely reliable, I asked Matt if the spy that had obtained the information was a very reliable one and could be trusted completely.

  Matt said yes. “This woman, whose name is Ronnie, is actually Bren
t Mason’s sister, so we know we can trust her, and we know where her loyalties lie. She’s also a former high-ranking member of the navy, with tactical skills similar to those of a SEAL’s.”

  “Well, even with those tactical skills, how was she able to get into BFS territory anyway?”

  Matt said it hadn’t been hard at all. “In fact, it was so easy that it almost made Brent and me uneasy. It was like taking candy from a baby.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, all it involved was making up a new identity and getting a fake passport and other fake documents for Ronnie. See, post-war, the Bloodborns have had the same problem in their new territory that we’ve had here in Greenwood and in other places in the nation, that problem being a shortage of shifter gene-positive women to repopulate our ranks with. The Bloodborns’ near-comical solution to this has been to set up a website, advertising a life of luxury and immeasurable wealth for any gene-positive woman who agrees to be paired with a Bloodborn dragon instead of one of us here in the States. Our government has been trying to shut this website down, and has succeeded a few times, but it keeps popping back up again and again. Currently, the Bloodborns have it poorly disguised as some sort of BFS territory tourism website, as if anyone would want to take a vacation there, although a little digging on the website reveals the real purpose of it, which is to entice gene-positive women here in the States to make contact with them. The Bloodborns have even been going proactive, contacting women via social media, basically using keywords to find all women posting about having been found gene-positive. The Bloodborns then direct them to the website, promising a ‘better deal’ than the one the American government is offering to gene-positive women, which is saying a lot. They know they probably can’t deliver on that ‘better deal,’ but they don’t care. They just want to get women into their territory and think they’ll just figure out the rest later, when any women who actually go there expect their large annual payment after a year.”