The heat of Sebastian’s lips on mine took my breath away. I leaned into the kiss, tilting my head upward to reach him. There was that low, growling sound again, and Seb brought me closer, wrapping a hand around my waist. I knew I should go. Leave.

But his scent overwhelmed me, made me forget myself. And the mistletoe hung above us, watching our every move. The connection between us heightened and this time when we kissed, sparks literally flew. Like kissing a firecracker. All smoke and wood and earthy, delicious scents I could lose myself in...

Maybe I already had.

“You okay?” Sebastian rumbled, moving his lips closer to my ear. His tenor echoed through me and I shivered, my skin popping up in gooseflesh. 

“Yeah,” I whispered. But that wasn’t even the half of it. The mistletoe had ignited my lingering desire and curiosity, turning into a full blown inferno. My skin tingled all over, impossibly sensitive. Sweat gathered on my forehead, and the room was way too hot...

“No fucking way,” Seb growled when he realized what was happening. “You’re not...” 

“Told you,” I panted, looking up into those golden eyes. 

He paused for a moment, his lips only inches away from my jawline. I could feel the heat spilling off of him and it was almost too much to bear. I needed him...all of him. Now.

“If we do this,” Sebastian whispered in my ear, “there’s no going back. You understand that, right?” 

My knees turned to jelly at his words and I sagged against him, every cell in my body crying out for his touch. “Please, alpha,” I whined. “Claim me.”

That definitely got a reaction out of him. Seb dug his nails into my back and pulled me ever closer, dragging his lips and teeth across my jawline, my neck, my shoulder. He reached the sensitive gland there and nuzzled it, drawing in my scent. 

“You smell,” he groaned, taking another sniff, “so fucking good.” He ran his tongue along the path between my neck and shoulder, then sucked the flesh into his mouth like a hungry animal. 

I moaned and arched against him, my mouth opening wide in a silent exclamation of pleasure. Endorphins and adrenaline shot through my body, lighting up every sensitive area I had, and some I didn’t even know about.

“So do you believe me now?” I breathed, a husky laugh bubbling free. I gave him a teasing glance and he claimed my lips again. He wasn’t gentle this time. Far from it. Like a starving man at a buffet, he wanted not only to taste, but to devour. 

And may I be damned, but I wanted him to. The hunger grew and coiled inside me as I ground my hips into his. I was hard already, achingly so, and every bit of friction only stoked the flames higher.

 Sebastian pulled away at last, panting. A wide, giddy smile stretched across his face. “Maybe there is something to those stories after all.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. I loved it when I was right. And I loved it even more when that meant Seb was kissing me. 

Sebastian ran his hands across my chest, down toward my waist and around to cup the curve of my ass. I gasped, desperate for more.

“Wha-what are you doing?” I breathed. I watched wide-eyed as he went to his knees in front of me.

“They never say what you have to kiss under the mistletoe.” 

And there he was, working at the buckle on my pants, unzipping them, pulling them down around my legs. I threw my head back in a sigh. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Or rather, I could...but it was happening to me. 

And the one alpha I’d had a silly crush on years ago was pulling down my pants, a feral hunger glittering through his every movement.

Gods, this was too good to be true.

I hissed and wound my hands into Seb’s hair, mewling despite myself. Everything was so hot, so needy, so...

I opened my eyes and looked down at my alpha as my cock sprung free.

So mine. 

Seb kneeled like a man praying in front of me, only this time he wasn’t worshipping any god. He was worshipping my cock. 

His warm, gentle hands trailed a path from my belly down the smattering of hair leading to my crotch. I shivered at the touch, so light and gentle, and so  not enough. I wriggled and moaned, thrusting toward him.

“What are you—“ I breathed again, my thoughts hazy.

“Patience, little one. Anticipation is half the fun.” 

At that, I growled. A sound I didn’t even know I could make. Seb’s eyes flicked to mine and went full gold. The last of my resolve shattered and I melted into him as the pieces clicked together.

Of course he was.

“You’re a dragon,” I said in wonder. “Just like your mom.”

A deep, husky rumble erupted from his chest at that. Hot breath enveloped my cock. “I am. And my dragon wants you.” 

“What about you?” I managed to get the words out. “Do you want me?” My last sliver of sense told me to be wary, to be careful. If I mated with the wrong alpha, there was, as Seb had said, “no going back.”

But the fear didn’t take long to subside. I didn’t believe it. Not really. The way my soul sung out for him, the way my body reacted to his every touch...mistletoe or no, this had to be fate.

“More than words can say,” Sebastian growled, and then he took me into his hot, waiting mouth.

The sensation nearly drove me over the edge at once, all-consuming and intense. I moaned and bucked against him, grabbing the door frame for support as my knees weakened. Seb held me steady, his hands (or were they claws?) keeping me close. Protected. Safe.

His.

“God,” I cursed with a hand in his hair. “That feels so fucking good.” 

He lapped out his tongue across my length (god, was it that long before?) and teased the sensitive head, all while suckling me down to the base of my cock. The intensity flared and continued, reducing me to nothing but a mewling, bucking mess.

Then the dragon made a sort of humming sound, deep in his chest. His mouth vibrated around my cock, delivering sensation after sensation of sweet, hot pleasure. I gasped and held on for dear life, clinging to my dragon as orgasm hit me. “Seb!” I cried, digging my nails into his shoulders and holding him against me. “Fuck!” 

Hot, messy cum spurted between us and that impossibly agile tongue took it all, every last drop.

I sagged bonelessly against him, totally spent.

“I’m not done with you yet.” 

Neither am I, sung the voice in my mind.

Sebastian kicked my discarded pants to the side and grabbed my hand. His skin was still blisteringly hot, searing into me like a brand. I didn’t care. If it was with him, I wanted to burn.

“Come on,” he muttered, pulling me away from the door. We walked hand in hand through the living room and down the hallway. I knew where we were heading immediately. 

Was sex with a dragon always like this? I wondered deliriously before Seb pushed me into a bedroom and shut the door. I landed on the bed and bounced, watching Seb with lust-crazed eyes. Even though I’d just come, it did nothing to still the fire inside me. The fire he’d placed there, like he’d reached all the way down to my soul and lit me up from the inside. I knew at this point only one thing would cure it. Only one thing could soothe this ache, and I needed it more than I needed air. 

Seb closed and locked the door, then rounded on me, his glittering eyes raking up and down my exposed body. 

“Less clothes,” he growled, pulling his own shirt over his head. I followed suit and tossed my top to the side, but not before sucking in a breath at my alpha’s exposed chest. 

For someone who seemed to resent his shifter nature, he sure was going all out on it this time. His wide chest rippled with muscles and just a smattering of hair, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. Thin, shining slashes cut across his torso and arms like fiery tattoos. 

That is, if tattoos could move.

They swirled and danced across his skin effortlessly, showing through to the fire within. I couldn’t tear my eyes away, and to my surprise, neither could Sebastian.

“What is that?” I asked, my voice low. The fire curled across his arms now, then up to his neck. They left tendrils of light in their wake. 

Sebastian shook his head, glaring at the markings on his arms. “I...I don’t know. I’ve heard things, but this...”

“Does it hurt?” I asked. Each line of fire slashed across his skin like a brand, burning him from the inside out. 

“No, actually,” Sebastian said, flexing his arms. The symbols moved and danced with him, uncannily alive. “It feels...wow, I don’t even know. It’s good. I know that much.” 

He held out his hands to me. “Don’t be afraid.”

I was...a little, but it was the good kind of fear. The kind where you know something amazing is just on the other side. The connection between us could not be denied. I placed my hands in his, and the fire crossed over between us. I nearly flinched away as I watched it come, but he was right. It didn’t burn me. Instead, it felt like it was unlocking something inside of me. Drilling down to the deepest parts of my being, where not even I had ventured before.

“I think it means we’re mates,” Sebastian breathed. 

“I think you’re right,” I replied, and buried my face in his chest.

His heartbeat thrummed there, steady and strong. It cried out to me and struck a chord. Our heartbeats were one, thudding along at the same time as the rest of the world spun around us. I’d never felt anything like it in my whole life, and knew that I never would again. This was it for me. 

This was my mate.

“Alpha,” I sighed into him. “Please.”

“Tell me what you want, Will,” Sebastian said as he stroked my hair. “What you need. I’d give you the moon if you asked me.” 

“You.” The word broke free before I could think about it. “All of you. In me. Around me. Please, I’m burning up, I’m...”

“I’m here, Will.” He punctuated the words with kisses. “I’m here, darling. I’ll take care of you.” Sebastian nuzzled the gland at my neck again, filling me up with his scent. “Relax,” he rumbled, and this time I wasn’t even sure he’d spoken aloud.

I melted around him, arching my hips forward to meet his. Our cocks met and rubbed against one another. A shower of sparks rolled down my spine and I fisted the sheets, hissing. It wasn’t enough. Could never be enough, not until—

“Lift up your legs,” Sebastian growled. “I need to see you.”

I pulled my legs toward my chest and sucked in a breath. My tight, aching ass was wet with slick and throbbing with need. Right in front of his cock. 

Seb dipped a hand below my waist and a deep, satisfied rumble echoed through my bones. “Yessss.” He drew out the word while swiping a finger against my crease. I bit my lip and twisted against him, the need nearly driving me crazy. If I didn’t have him in me soon, I’d surely lose it.

“One last chance, omega.” Sebastian watched me with golden irises. “Tell me what you want.”

“Claim me, Sebastian. I’m yours, I’m yours!” I didn’t care how ridiculous I sounded anymore. I just knew I needed to soothe that delicious ache, or I’d never be the same again.

He didn’t need any more convincing than that. I watched as his eyes flashed from golden to reptilian slits, his skin breaking out in a rough pattern of scales.

“Fuck, I’m shifting!” Seb cried in a ragged tone. 

“Now!” I screeched, and my alpha buried his cock all the way inside me.

I’d never felt so full in all my life. Sebastian’s hard length speared through me and despite the tiny prick of pain on entry, there was something much stronger in its place—a feral, all-consuming pleasure. And the feeling that this was right. So right.

I let out a shaky sigh, clawing my hands into his back. I loved the feel of his flesh under my fingertips and apparently Seb did too, because he followed suit. He not only dug into me with his cock, but with his nails as well, leaving long red stripes on my ass.

I cried out and bucked toward him, high on the sensations. It felt like flying. My alpha pounded into me, each thrust more forceful than the last. This was no tender mating, no. But I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Our most primal natures had taken over, and now they were calling the shots. Rational thought had fled out the window long ago. I mewled and moaned and scratched and bit. Seb gave as good as he took, sending me higher with each delicious thrust.

“What...what is that?” I moaned, when I felt a series of ridges pressing against my prostate. 

“Dragon dick,” Seb said with a wink. “Ribbed for his pleasure.” He rubbed against me again, as if to prove a point.

“Fuck,” I groaned. “If you don’t stop doing that I’m gonna—”

“Oh, what was that?” Seb teased, working that spot harder. He knew exactly where to touch me, exactly where to fuck me...like we weren’t two beings at all, but one and the same. “You’re gonna what?” 

I squeezed my eyes shut, sparks of light flashing before my eyes. The pressure built, and built, and built...

“I’m gonna cum!” I wailed, and the pressure sent me over the edge, tumbling and free-falling toward an earth-shaking climax. 

“Fuck, Will,” Sebastian panted, angling his hips upward now. “You came without me even touching your cock.”

“Mmhm,” I whined, grabbing the fleshy globes of his ass. I pulled him into me faster, harder. Something was growing, something out of both of our control...

“Ahh, I’m gonna knot, Will,” Seb leaned over and whispered into my ear, his stubble tickling my face. “I’m gonna fill you up with my seed, baby. Gonna knot you, gonna mate you...”

He thrust into me one last time, harder than ever before. With a final cry, he sunk his teeth into my shoulder, joining us together. Pain ripped through me but pleasure, too, mingling and merging until I couldn’t quite tell where I ended and he began. His knot swelled and locked within me, giving me burst after burst of his cum. 

The world slowed and seemed to stop around us. The cares of the outside world didn’t matter, floated away. Right here, right now, I was with my mate. And nothing could touch us.

Nothing, that is, except the still-lingering fate of the Dozing Dragon.