Page 24 of Driven By Dragonblood
An archway led into the second building, one with carpet and a hushed atmosphere as though more peaceful than the other areas.
A sudden rush of a scent that reminded me of home, ofbrimstone deep within the heart of the mountain, caused me to stumble. I tilted my head back in attempts to fill my lungs better—but the deliciousness in my nose abruptly vanished from the air. Shivers skittered over me, pebbling my skin even though I swore I’d imagined what I had smelled.
Alpha.
My core thrummed to life, my pulse tripling in time even though I questioned my senses.
Alpha.
Inner dragon’s insistence flooding my heart with hope, I strode forward in search of another whiff of brimstone.
Both of my mates were in the same building? Had they already met? Were they together as a couple? A pang twitched my stomach, and I wondered at the word jealousy, something I had never experienced before.
While I would be happy knowing they had each other while fate waited for them to find their female, I regretted the time I might have missed out on.
My instincts took me up a set of stairs. Another carpeted hallway led to my left. A dark-haired man disappeared into another doorway at the far end.
Heart pounding, I rushed to where he had disappeared.
“Doctor Patrick Macaire” was etched in a bronze sign on the door at eye level.
I leaned toward the door and inhaled deeply, desperate?—
Without my dragon’s heightened senses, I never would have caught the slightest hint of dragonblood beyond the wooden barrier between us. The musk was similar to my beta’s, but with the sharp scent of charred brimstone my dragon craved…and with a touch of sweetness that made my mouth water.
Alpha.
Her assured words flooded gratefulness through myentire being, causing my eyes to well with tears and my throat to tighten.
I placed my palms on the office door, resting my forehead in between, attempting to calm my heart rate.
Unrelenting desire to rip open his door and throw myself at his feet coursed through me, and I bit my tongue to keep from crying out in my need.
Chapter 10
Patrick
Istayed up all night packing Jessie’s shit, and by morning, her belongings sat on my front porch. I shot off a last text to her sister telling her to have them gone by the time I got home from work, or they were getting put out with the trash next pickup day. Upon completing the task of ridding my life of Jessie, I focused on my future.
Jaxon sat in the forefront of my mind since meeting him the day before, and no matter how many cold showers I’d taken, my dick stiffened every other hour with the need to fuck the boy and threatened everything I’d accomplished in life.
I walked into Lockwood a few hours late by choice, as I had no wish to run into him and temptation before his release.
Doctor Holliday’s notes suggested Jaxon suffered from dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder, but in his months of therapy with the young man, he hadn’t come to the point where he felt confident in diagnosing him as such. Doctor Holliday’s musingson various pieces of lined paper and sticky notes suggested something…more.
Perhaps supernatural.
My existence centered around science. I had dismissed his thoughts, focused more on Jaxon’s family history. According to his parents, his paternal grandmother had heard voices others couldn’t and often hallucinated, believing an inner being would allow her to fly. She’d thrown herself off a cliff on the canyon’s southern rim and plummeted to her death before Jaxon had been born. They believed her to have been schizophrenic. That particular psychotic disorder was hereditary, which swayed me toward thinking Jaxon very well could be as well, regardless of my predecessor’s musings.
My footfalls landed near-silently on the hallway carpet, and I filled my lungs deeply, ready to focus on moving forward in my temporary job, the new beginning I had with Jessie gone and now Jaxon having been discharged.
No more disturbances to my life, thank fuck?—
The sweetest scent teased briefly at my nose, causing a rush of heat to flare in my chest.
Whispers attempted to escape.
Teeth gritted, I pushed against the darkness, denying it a voice. My body vibrated, causing my knees to weaken, but I strode forward, shutting myself into my office and leaving my past in the hallway.
