Firefighter Dragon's Demi-God Daughter Page 11

  He blinked at her and stood, pulling her with him. His strong arms wrapped around her. “Then it’s an even better gift.” He kissed her, pushing his tongue into her mouth. “Now. I need to see you touching yourself.” His hand pressed over her mound. “Will you let me?”

  “I’ve never done that before either…” she trailed off. “Not with someone watching.”

  “You don’t have to, obviously,” he said. He shut off the shower water and grabbed a towel, wrapping her up in it. He dried her hair off first, wringing it out and then toweling it off. Next, he dried each part of her body.

  The same warm feeling she’d felt before spread through her chest. She loved it when he took care of her. As awkward as it felt, she would let him watch her touch her pussy. He would never push her, so she wanted to give it to him. Out in the real world, he could be demanding and forceful, but here in the bedroom, he was kind and loving.

  She leaned in close to his ear. “I can do it,” she said. “I can touch myself while you watch.”

  “Fuck,” he said. He had wrapped a towel around his own waist, and he grabbed it and roughly dried his own hair. He flung all of their towels to the floor. Then he scooped her up and carried her to the bed.

  Lying on her back on the bed, she let her legs fall open. He stared at her pussy with rapt attention, and she took a deep breath.

  You can do this. He loves you. He is your mate.

  19

  Jackson

  He couldn’t believe the sight before him. Helena, his classy, graceful mate, who was reserved and aloof at times, was going to touch herself for him. It might not seem like a big deal for two adults their age, but she was clearly hesitant, and she’d never done it before.

  He crawled up to kiss her cheek. “I love you,” he said.

  As he moved to sit at her feet, he stared at her, from her slender neck to her perfect round breasts and her toned thighs, finally letting his eyes rest on her bare pussy.

  She pushed her arm slowly down and laid her hand over her entrance. Her folds were already slick. He wanted to touch. He wanted to put his mouth on her, but he wasn’t going to interrupt her.

  Inch by inch, she began to push one finger into her pussy. He watched her walls grip her finger, and his cock filled again, rock hard in an instant.

  He put his hands on her knees, and pushed them farther apart, opening her more to his gaze. “Beautiful,” he said.

  She added a second finger and began to thrust them in and out of her slick pussy. Jackson’s breathing picked up. If she kept this going, his cock would explode untouched. “How does it feel?” he asked her.

  She swallowed hard. “Good. Not as good as you, but good.”

  With her free hand, she began to touch her breast, and then her nipple, squeezing and pinching the tight bud.

  She moaned, and he nearly flew apart. It took every ounce of strength he had not to shove his cock right into her pussy.

  Her entrance glistened, beckoning him. He put his hand on his cock and gave it a long stroke.

  She withdrew her fingers and put them on her clit, rubbing slick all over her swollen flesh.

  “Oh,” she said. Her lips lifted as she writhed.

  “Helena, God, I need you.” His hand sped up on his cock.

  “Please,” she cried out. “Please fuck me.”

  He didn’t waste a second. He grabbed a condom from his nightstand and rolled it on in seconds. He lay on top of her, spearing her with his rigid cock. He filled her up, fucking her. His hips thrust in and out as they became one.

  He kissed all over her face. Her cheekbones, her eyelids, her chin. “I love you.”

  His dragon roared in contentment. Mine. Mine. Mine.

  Finally, he could agree with his dragon. Yes. She is ours.

  “Keep touching yourself,” he said. “It’s so goddamn hot.”

  She put her hand back on her clit, rubbing as he pierced her sweet pussy, over and over.

  They lay in bed for hours, just holding each other. Jackson knew then that he was going to propose. They were already bound together permanently. But he was not going to let another week go by where they weren’t tied together legally as well if she would have him.

  He would need to speak to her grandfather, which was probably going to be an uncomfortable task. But he wanted to know about any traditions they might have in her world. Dragon shifters had plenty of ceremonial things they did for weddings, and he wasn’t willing to screw this up.

  From just the little bit of time he’d spent in Olympus, her family had seemed like they spent a lot of time and energy on tradition and ceremony. He was not willing to commit a faux pas this early on. It was obvious some of them were uncertain about her having a relationship with a dragon shifter, although Ares and his niece had come through for them at the last minute and saved all of them from certain death.

  That had to count for something, right? Jackson had to take a minute to think about the fact that if he got his way, his grandfather-in-law would be Ares, the God of War. It was almost too crazy to believe.

  He was glad—for Helena—that Ares had shown up to save his clan. It had proved to Helena that her family truly did love her.

  They’d needed his help for sure, and it was clear that her relationship with her family was fraught with tension. Maybe something good would come out of the battle with the demons, and her stuffy relatives would finally relax and just accept Helena for who she was.

  He had considered the logistics of their marriage already. He’d already screwed up once, by insisting that she not fight that demon in the community hospital. He assumed she would want to continue working as an agent in the FBI, and he wasn’t going to try and coerce her to do anything else. He was going to pull his head out of his ass, and act like a partner, and not just an overbearing mate.

  He would still hate it each time she encountered something that could hurt her, but he was going to try and hide that part of himself until he learned to deal with it. And luckily for him, there wasn’t much that could hurt her. He hoped she’d be working with humans the majority of the time. But even if she wasn't, even if Ares or Zeus or whoever in her crazy family tree asked her to handle another mission, he was going to keep his mouth shut and deal with it. He would most definitely be offering to help though on any task that involved the supernatural.

  Ares had a phone number. That was pretty wild, right? The God of War had a cell phone. And he texted. Jackson would have preferred to ask him about marrying Helena in person, but he didn’t have two days to spare flying to Greece and back. So when Helena was in the shower, he nabbed her phone and found Ares' number.

  Ares answered on the first ring. He did not make small talk.

  “This is Jackson Hudson.”

  “I know who it is. I also know why you're calling.”

  Right. Of course he did. It probably wasn't hard to guess. Or maybe he could read minds. Jackson did not want to know. “In that case, I'll get right to it. I plan to ask your granddaughter to marry me. I wanted you to know first, and I wanted to ask if there are any traditions I should observe to honor her culture.”

  “Yes. Hephaestus should make her ring.”

  Okay. Hephaestus was Ares’ brother and the god of fire and metalworking. Jackson had met him briefly while he was on Mount Olympus. His encounter with Hephaestus was one of the more pleasant ones. They had chatted about fire, and Jackson had shifted and shown him how his fire-breathing worked. Hephaestus had joked that Jackson could learn to forge his own daggers.

  Was he going to have to fly back to Greece or did Hephaestus have a cell phone too? And how would he react to Jackson's request? “That sounds great. What's the best way for me to ask him? Will he be willing?”

  “Of course he's willing. He makes the rings for all of us. I'll take him my phone right now.”

  “Um.” That was far more than Jackson had expected. Jackson heard some scuffling noises and Ares muttering comments about how his granddaughter would not be left ou
t of the family tradition just because she was marrying a reptile.

  He had to stifle a smile. Ares had called him any number of names over the last few weeks. Reptile was the least offensive. And it was kind of true. He did turn into an actual dragon. “I have another question.”

  “I'm sure you do.”

  “If Helena agrees to marry me and we one day have children, do you know if the child will be a shifter? I know shifters who’ve mated with humans, Fae, and witches. All of them have had hatchlings that carry the trait of a dragon shifter. But none of us have ever mated with the child of a demi-God.”

  “I do not know the answer to that. I don't even know if Zeus knows. Surely in the history of this world, there has been a mating between a shifter and one of us.” Ares made a huffing sound. “I will be forced to ask Apollo when he comes back from his vacation in Iceland, the insufferable fool.”

  Shit. The last thing Jackson wanted was to get in between two of the Gods. He hadn’t met Apollo, but everyone had spoken fondly of him. Ares must be jealous.

  That made Jackson wonder what would happen between a wolf shifter and a dragon shifter if they had a child. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask Ares. That was a problem for someone else.

  It didn’t matter to him if his child would be a shifter or not. As long as the baby had the same protections that Helena had, he or she would be just fine growing up in the clan. And if he or she had none of them, Jackson would still adore that child. He’d just be a whole lot more worried all the time. Like his cousin Garrett, who was married to a human woman. He didn’t know how he could stand it.

  “That’s okay. We can just be surprised,” Jackson said.

  “Assuming she says yes to you. You’re getting ahead of yourself.” Then there was some shouting, and a lot of loud banging, and Ares spoke again. “He said yes. He’ll make the ring. I’ll bring it over in two days.”

  Jackson, despite his superior balance, nearly fell over. “Wow. Thank you.”

  “Just don’t be an ass to her. That’s all I ask.”

  “I’ll do my best,” he promised.

  Ares hung up without saying goodbye, which was fine. Jackson had a proposal to plan.

  Helena had confessed to him that she enjoyed being a part of his large clan. She liked the boisterous dinners and the impromptu cookouts and the clan members that dropped by all day, every day.

  He wanted their proposal to be private, but he wanted a large celebration afterward. So he started talking to the clan. As he expected, they were ecstatic. They had never welcomed an outsider into the clan before, but they adored Helena. And Jackson’s parents were over the moon that their long-time bachelor son was finally ready to pop the question and settle down.

  Jackson planned to propose on a Saturday. He took the day off, and Helena was off as well. He decided on a picnic. He was going to propose in the yard behind his house, and then walk into the house where everyone would be waiting.

  His mother was more than happy to take over the party portion. She organized their entire street and they all began to cook. Thankfully Helena was busy at work and didn't seem to notice the way everyone kept asking her if she liked being around shifters.

  By Friday evening, Jackson was ready to run away. If the wedding was anything like the engagement preparation, and he understood why people eloped. And Ares still hadn’t shown up. If he didn’t make it in time, then Jackson would go into Portland and buy a ring. He wasn’t postponing the rest of his life for Helena’s kooky grandfather.

  Just before midnight, his phone lit up with a text. It was Ares.

  I’m downstairs. I have the ring.

  Holy hell. Helena was sleeping next to him. He crept out of bed and tiptoed downstairs.

  Sure enough, Ares was standing in his living room. Jackson opened the front door and urged him out. Once they were on the front porch, Ares opened his hand, revealing a gold band.

  “It is very similar to the one my brother made for Helena’s mother. Hephaestus had to go back and look at his designs again. He keeps them all.” He stared off into the distance for a moment. “Her mother was buried in her ring. So was my son.” He cleared his throat. “This one was forged just for Helena.”

  Jackson took the ring into his own hand. The ring was a smooth gold, and in the middle were two daggers with the blades crossed.

  “Those represent her heritage.”

  Jackson flipped the ring over. on the other side of the ring, there was a tiny inscription of a dragon.

  “And those represent her future.”

  Ares put his hand on Jackson’s head, with a little more force than was necessary. “As I said before, do not screw this up. Good luck.” And then he was gone.

  “Wait!” Jackson yelled. “Don't you want to come to the party tomorrow?”

  His phone lit up again. Another text from Ares.

  If she says yes, I’ll be there.

  Christ, was he ever going to get used to this?

  He folded his hand over the ring. There was no box, and no bag, and no pretty ribbon. But this would mean more to his future bride than any fancy trimmings.

  Speaking of his future bride, she was coming down the stairs just as he walked back into the house.

  “What's wrong? Is something going on?” she asked.

  “No. It was just Eli.”

  “What's wrong with Eli?”

  She had grown quite fond of Eli in the days that Jackson was unconscious. He had thanked his friend over and over for supporting Helena in the midst of all the chaos.

  “Nothing's wrong.” He should have come up with a better lie.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Does he frequently come over at midnight when nothing's wrong?”

  “Yes, he does. He gets caught up in an experiment and loses track of time. And he wants to tell somebody about it even though I don't understand a word of what he says.”

  She pulled her robe tighter around her body and stared at him, but she didn't question him any further. “I'm going back to bed,” she said. “Are you joining me?”

  He would never get tired of hearing those words. He looked forward to a long lifetime of hearing them every night. “I absolutely am joining you.”

  Once they were back in bed he pulled her into his arms.

  “Jackson?”

  “Yes?”

  “I have to go back to work on Monday. I'll have to be in Portland most of the time.”

  “I know.” He had his answer ready. And he was glad she brought this up before the proposal. Maybe she would feel more confident about saying yes. “I've made a decision,” he said. “I want to move to Portland with you, so we can be together all the time.”

  He heard her take a quick intake of breath. “Jackson! That would be amazing. But what about your job? What about your clan?”

  “I can take the weekend shift. All the dragons with kids try to avoid working daytime Saturday and Sunday. I can work those two days and still be a part of the crew. I'll get to see you at night, every night.”

  She sniffed and wiped away a tear. “You would do that for me? You love your job.”

  “I do love my job, but I've had it for a long time, and it's not going anywhere. Two days will be enough for now. And besides, you just started your career. You need to get a chance to do it.”

  She let out a sob and he wondered if he'd said the wrong thing. “What's wrong?”

  “You're making a big sacrifice, And I'm not making any.”

  “I'll let you take the next one,” he said, but he wouldn't hold her to that. He just wanted to make her feel better.

  She swiped at her eyes again. “I promise I will take the next one. But Jackson, you love your clan, I don't want to take you away from them.”

  “Like I said, we'll be with them on the weekend and it's only an hour and a half away. I can visit anytime.”

  “What would you do during the weekdays?” she asked.

  “If you need help, I intend to be there to help you.” He held up
both hands. “I learned my lesson. As much as I'd like to, I'm not going to interfere with your career. But if there's something supernatural I can help with, then I would like to do that. And I can get a job at any of the fire stations in Portland, and I’m qualified as an EMT too.”

  She found herself on top of him, hugging him tightly.

  He sent up a silent prayer to whoever was listening. Please let her say yes tomorrow.

  She did say yes.

  Jackson could have passed out with relief. Down on one knee, he asked the question.

  “Helena, you are the first female I have ever loved, you will be the last. You are my mate and my partner in all things. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”

  Helena joined him on the ground kneeling beside him. “Jackson, my love. I would like nothing more.”

  He kissed her first before he showed her the ring. “My fiance,” he whispered. “Let me put the ring on your finger.”

  She held out her left hand and he slid the ring onto her delicate finger. It fit perfectly.

  He’d have to thank Ares later.

  Fucking hell. The God of War was now his relative.

  She held up her finger, studying the ring. “Is this…” She pulled it off, holding it out. “Did my great-uncle make this? Hephaestus?”

  “Yes. Of course.”

  “How did you…” She put her hand over her mouth for a moment and then regained her composure. “How did you know?”

  “I’d like to say that I went straight to Hephaestus and asked him because I knew that he made all the rings in your family, but that would be a lie. I called Ares and asked him.”

  She put her hand on my face. “Thank you. You’ll never know how much it means to me that you went to the trouble of speaking to him.”

  “It’s true that it would have been easier to stop by a jewelry store on the way to work.” He shook his head. “Your grandfather is always an interesting person.”

  “I know. And I would have loved and cherished a ring that you got a Dollar Store. Or no ring at all.”