Free Crouching Tigress Horny Dragon (Fire Mates #3) by Lexxie Couper Page A

do that. What would they talk about? Was she a Game of Thrones fan? Did she prefer Marvel to DC? Did she like country and western music? Hard rock? He wanted to know. It was like an itch inside his head.
    And he wanted to slide into her tight heat more than he wanted breath.
    He wanted to feel her body sliding over his. Beneath his.
    Fuck.
    As he crossed his hotel room, his body consumed by a bonfire he had no hope of extinguishing alone, the distant eastern horizon began to grow purple with the rising sun.
    He hurried to the bathroom, stripped himself of what clothing he had and plunged himself into a cold shower.
    His hands worked his body. Every part of his body. It was a futile exercise, of course. Even when he ejaculated with the thought of Deanne filling his head, the hunger of the mating fire intensified, as if mocking his attempt to purge it from his system.
    He stood under the icy cold water, head down, eyes closed.
    If he didn’t find her again soon, he didn’t know what would happen.
    Help. He needed help to understand this.
    Killing the water, he stepped from the shower, snagged the towel from the rack and rubbed himself dry. His skin prickled and burned at the contact. The fire-mate delirium threatening to overwhelm him made the simple task a form of sensory torture.
    Christ. What would he do if he couldn’t find Deanne again? What would he become?
    “Fuck,” he groaned, throwing the towel aside.
    What would Deanne think of him not hanging up the towel? Would it be one of those things that drove her mental? A pet peeve? Or would she just roll her eyes at him when he did it at home?
    A dry snort tore at the back of his throat. Home. He was already thinking of their home together. Shit, he needed to get this sorted out now.
    Before he went insane. An insane dragon shifter was not a good thing for the world. Not at all.
    Not bothering to dress, he snatched up his mobile phone (thankfully it had still been in his jeans pocket, along with his wallet and hotel room keycard) and rang his brother back in Australia. He had no idea what time it was in Sydney, but screw it; he needed to talk to Tyson.
    He needed answers on what was going on, if it was normal, and how he controlled it.
    The call connected three rings in.
    “Tyson Conley’s phone,” a male voice said, the Australian accent strangely wonderful to Ryan’s ears, even as it dawned on him it wasn’t his brother talking.
    “Kellan?” he asked, surprised.
    Kellan Donovan was a dragon shifter from Newcastle, a city two hours north of Sydney. He had a bitingly dry sense of humor and a reputation for being very laid-back. Ryan had met him only twice, but knew he and Tyson had an easy alliance. They were both alpha males and more than capable, from what Ryan understood, of taking the other out if any territorial dispute arose.
    It never had.
    Ryan’s heart thumped faster.
    With Ryan out of the country, and Tyson’s human Fire Mate heavily pregnant, it would be the perfect time for a dragon with a desire to expand his territory to make a move.
    Shit.
    “What the hell are you doing in Sydney answering Tyson’s mobile phone?” he asked.
    Kellan laughed. “Steady on down, Conley, and pull back on the reins of that protective anger you’ve got going there. I’m here because your sister-in-law has gone into labor.”
    Ryan blinked. “She’s what?”
    Kellan laughed again, the sound low and good-natured. “Labor. That thing females do when they’re about to give birth.”
    “Egg or baby?” Ryan blurted out.
    Kellan snorted. “That’s the sixty-million-dollar question. My sister is in the bedroom with them.”
    Ryan let out a ragged sigh of relief. Kellan’s sister was a nurse. And a dragon. No matter what Sera gave birth to, Kayla wouldn’t be freaked out in any way.
    Ryan pictured the twin brother and sister shifters in Tyson’s home, helping Tyson and Sera with the biggest moment of their lives. A finger of guilt stabbed at him.
    He should have