Tiger and soccer moms had nothing on dragon ones.

"We had some unexpected guests show up at the hotel, from that religion you were telling me about. The ones who believe in a gold savior. They are after Brand."

"How did they know about him?" Immediately followed by a terse, "We have a leak." Aimi could practically see the cold steam rising from her mother even through the phone.

"Or a hacker." Adi was always going on about how nothing was safe anymore. Encryption was just a fancy word for a difficult puzzle. But all puzzles had a solution; some just took longer to crack.

"I will deal with whoever is leaking our secrets. Given the breach, you are to stay in that hotel room with the possible gold until your sister and cousins arrive."

"Which is when?"

"Tomorrow."

"Too late. The party is tonight."

"Then you'll have to postpone."

"And miss a chance to get into Parker's place? Not likely."

"Are you disobeying me, child?" Spoken in a tone meant to put Aimi in her place.

"Every chance I get, Mother."

Laughter met her reply. "So headstrong. Reminds me of someone I know, and exactly what I'd expect of my daughter. Very well, if you insist on doing this, then be smart. I will do what I can from my end to ensure you have support, but you might not necessarily recognize it. Suspect everyone, and only start a war if you have to."

"Who, me?" Said with just the right hint of innocence.

"I'm serious, Aimi." Her mother's voice became completely resolute. "We are at a dangerous threshold in our existence. There have been too many reports lately of big birds in the sky. Speculation is one thing, but should the humans realize we are among them, we stand to lose much."

"So you keep saying, but at some point, we won't be able to hide. The world has changed too much for that."

"Then maybe we'll just have to change it back."

Short of a massive electromagnetic pulse and a destruction of the world's factories, technology was here to stay. "Good luck shoving that cat back in the bag."

"It's easier than you'd think once you wring its neck. Be careful."

Probably the closest thing Aimi would get to an "I love you," and she didn't like it because it revealed just how worried her mother was. She might act cold and blase about the situation. However, the rashness of the Crimson Sept, the fact that some fanatics were after Brand, and they didn't know what to expect from this party tonight meant that Aimi needed a killer dress-and even sweeter heels.

She spent the next few minutes arranging them while Brand took a long shower-a dirty one that he couldn't quite hide from her through their link. She almost stalked in after him when she realized what he did in there-naughty boy-but she didn't for two reasons. One, he thought of her to pleasure himself, and two, by relieving some pressure, he'd have more stamina for the real thing. A thing that she needed more than ever.

Before, she'd wanted to claim him to escape her plight with her Sept when she turned twenty-eight-artificial insemination chosen at random from the donated sperm of an adult male dragon wasn't something she aspired to.

Then she wanted to claim him because of who he was, and before anyone else could. A gold treasure for my hoard.

Now, she just wanted to claim him because she liked him. He's mine. All mine, and I'm tired of waiting.

When he'd exited the shower, he found her splayed on the bed.

"Hello," she said in her most husky tone.

"Did the food arrive yet?"

"It's on its way, along with our clothes for the evening, but it will be about an hour. Plenty of time to indulge in other things." Her fingers dragged down the seam of her robe, tugging it apart. Screw subtlety.

He averted his gaze, for a second, but his eyes returned to stare at the revealed cleavage. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Why not? I told you the hotel has us secured, and unless you're really bad at it, we won't need that full hour. At least, I won't." She licked her lips.

And still, he rejected her. "I'm not a boy-toy that you can order around. I've told you once, and I'm telling you again, we don't belong together."

She pushed herself to a seated position and fixed him with a hard stare. "We do belong together. So accept it."

"Or what? You'll claim me by force. You know that won't go well if you do."

"Why must you make this so difficult?"

"Why can't you listen? I'm not fit to be your mate. Not you, not anyone. Only a few days ago, I was a hunted monster, a freak of science. Now, I might look like a man, but inside, I'm a fucking mess. My gator has mutated into someone I don't recognize. I don't recognize myself half the time. My thoughts, my perspective, everything about me has changed. And is still changing."

"Because you keep refusing to accept what you are. Once you ascend-"

"Don't you fucking get it? Listen to me, for fuck's sake. I am not a goddamned dragon. I am never going to fucking ascend, so this stubborn insistence that I am some long-lost gold dragon and that I am your perfect mate isn't going to wash. I am a swamp gator. A nothing who doesn't deserve to be in the same room as you, let alone touching you."

The saddest thing about his speech? Through their bond, she could tell he truly believed that. He truly thought himself unworthy of her. That very nobility only served to make her desire for him grow.

She came off the bed and dropped her robe as she did, revealing herself to him in the only way she could.

"I am not unattainable. I am flesh and blood just like you." She grabbed his hand and placed it above her heart. "I won't lie and say I understand exactly what you are, but I can state with certainty that I do want you. Now. I don't care if you're a dragon. Or a pauper. Or even a criminal. It is the man I'm falling for. The man I desire." She slid his hand down her body, pressing it against her mound and noting the slight tic on his face as he felt the heat of her pulsing. "We don't know what will happen tonight." Victory if she had a say. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow." A victory celebration, hello. "But we do have now. This moment. Which is now less than an hour because you keep talking about your feelings when you should know by now-"

"The world revolves around you." Laughter barked out of him, but he didn't pull his hand away. "You are unlike any woman I've known. More stubborn, too."

"I don't know about that. Seems to me I am looking at someone even more thick-headed than me, given I'm still standing here unmolested."

"You want me to fuck you?" He said the crude words as he grabbed her and pulled her tight against him.

"I want to feel you inside me." The truth, and he heard it. She made sure he did through their bond.

"God help me, I want to sink into you. But I can't. I can't have you claim me or make any promises until the situation with my sister and uncle is resolved."

"So we'll just have sex."

"Just?"

"Have incredibly awesome sex." She twined her arms around his neck and drew him down for a kiss. "Don't make me beg."

"Or what?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you." She dropped to her knees and tugged the towel around his hips loose.

There was no hiding his hard shaft. It immediately jutted forth, proud and long and thick. So very thick.

She wrapped a hand around the base of him as he uttered a strangled, "What are you doing?"

"Making you beg." She took the mushroom tip of him into her mouth and sucked.

His answer was a groan and a tremble. She leaned back and conducted a frank appraisal of his body, the lean muscles that started broad in his shoulder, thick in his arms, tapered at his waist. The washboard abs flowed into a vee that led to the prize. He had very little hair around his cock, but that wasn't why he appeared so large. He was just plain big.

"Why are you staring?" he asked in a soft whisper.

"Because I like looking at you." She did. He fascinated her more than all the fine art she'd accumulated thus far in her life.

Her words made his cock grow, and a vein in it pulsed. She adjusted her grip and stroked him up and down.

The engorged tip blushed a deep rose color. Yummy. Aimi dipped forward and flicked her tongue against the swollen head, swirled it around and tasted a drop of his essence.

He let out a loud groan. A good start; however, the ultimate plan involved his complete surrender.

The tip of her tongue bathed his cock, licking all over, making it wet before she took him into her mouth. Open wide, really wide because his girth required room, and it proved a tight fit. He gasped as the edges of her teeth grazed his skin.

Through their link, she could feel his pleasure. It excited her. She could understand now how he'd lost control earlier. By touching him, by pleasing him, she, in turn, got some of it back through their bond. It aroused her.

No wonder he enjoyed it so much. Would she come as well if he did? Only one way to find out. With her hand gripping the base of his cock, she worked him, up and down, her lips and teeth sliding, her cheeks hollowed as she suctioned.

Her free hand cupped his heavy sac, fondling and kneading, causing a burst of extra-sensory delight.

"Aimi." He whispered her name, aloud or in her head, it didn't matter. Only pleasing him mattered. She squeezed his balls and sucked hard, causing his hips to thrust.

Faster, and faster, Aimi worked his shaft.

"Stop." He said it, and yet he didn't push her away. She knew what he wanted, to sink his cock into her. She wanted it, too.

Through their link, she showed him what she wanted. As she continued to suck, she sent him an image of her positioned over his shaft, rubbing the swollen head against her flesh.

"Aimi." The word was a plea, and she ate him even more hungrily as she imagined herself impaling herself hard on his length, taking him deep into her. He would fill her so tightly. So perfectly. So...

He turned the tables on her and began projecting thoughts of his own. He built upon her fantasy by showing her his hands on her hips, moving her atop him. Pushing her down so he could fill her even more deeply.

In his fantasy, his thumb found her button and rubbed, even as he pulled her forward that his mouth might latch onto the tip of a breast.

She was on the brink of coming. But she held on. Held on because, dammit, she wanted what he offered.

He dragged her to her feet, her lips swollen, all of her throbbing.

"Take me," she begged. Funny how she'd set out to teach him a lesson but now needed him to teach her one instead.

"Bend over for me."

He growled the words, and she didn't argue. Simply whirled and bent at the waist, presenting herself to him. He roughly curled an arm around her, drawing her back against him, trapping his cock against the crack of her ass. She wiggled against him and made a mewling sound that turned into a sharp cry as he found her clitoris and rubbed it.

"Brand." She sobbed his name as he stroked her.

Then screamed, "Go away!" as someone dared to knock.

She was so close to coming. So close to the treasured climax. How dare someone interrupt.

I shall eat them for their temerity. Stomp them until they are but dust.

She stalked to the hotel door in a high dudgeon, only to have Brand loop his arms around her waist and lift her off the floor. "You can't answer the door naked."

"Yes, I can."

"No, you can't, because then I'd have to murder someone. Put your robe on and behave," he growled before setting her down behind him and giving her a swat on the ass.

He spanked me!

As she gaped at him, he shouted, "Who is it?"

"Room service," was the faint reply.

"Food?" He turned and tossed her a devastating grin. "Excellent, because I'm hungry."

Chapter Fifteen.

Yes, it was incredibly naughty of him to leave her hanging and to actually dine on the real food instead of what he wanted: her.

However, moonbeam would have to understand he wouldn't be forced, or seduced, into doing what she wanted, even if he wanted it, too.

He'd almost forgotten all his promises and vows when she blew him-Am I insane to say no to the woman who drops to her knees and gives me such pleasure? In that moment, the world, hell, the entire universe, revolved around Aimi. If she'd asked him right then and there, he might have caved to her demands.

Even now with her glowering across from him, a part of him still wanted to give her what she wanted. She is my everything. However, making her the center of his universe meant protecting her, sometimes from herself.

Until the situation with his family was resolved, he couldn't let her do something irrevocable, such as permanently claim him. Just like he couldn't let her come with him to this party tonight.

I've already put her in enough danger already. He wouldn't drag her into any more. When she went to the bathroom to douse her girl bits with cold water-Because someone is a cruel bastard who is asking for me to rip off his balls--he mixed some of the supposedly drugged food from earlier with the current offering.

Since he couldn't be sure what was drugged and what wasn't, he swapped the iced tea that came in the first cart and switched the fruit plates.

When Aimi exited the bedroom, he was already eating the untainted version.

He ignored her glare. Harder to ignore was her sitting across from him wearing only a robe. It didn't help that he could now picture what hid underneath. Her body was a hell of a lot more appetizing than the filet mignon drizzled with butter he currently savored.