Bound in Darkness

Lexi Eden’s life has always revolved around helping others in need. So when all her romantic relationships end in disaster, she blames it on trying to fix men who don’t want to be fixed. Enter Clacher. He’s big, bad and tattooed all over. And he’s got a tongue piercing that’s making her biggest wet dreams come true.

Clacher Drachen has hope he will find love one day, even though the last time he loved a woman she disappeared. Or maybe she left him on purpose. Lexi’s sexy, funny and a genuinely kind soul. In his heart, she’s the one for him. Just one taste of her and he’s addicted. He knows exactly what he wants: a family and a lifetime of dirty loving with the curvy empath.

News that Lexi is a Drachen mate comes as a surprise to all, but Clacher is sure she’s still his. Keeping her might not be so difficult if he could just find a way to protect her from the never-ending evil determined to destroy her.

Note to readers: This is a hot, action-packed, fun adventure of dragon love, babies, sassy women, dirty-talking alpha males and enough heat it will make you take a couple of cold showers. Don't say I didn't warn you.

ONE

Lexi Eden held baby Noah and swore her ovaries were going to grab the next man to show up and demand she have his baby. Her best friend and former roommate, Morgan, had married a sexy dragon shifter and baby Noah was the product of their union. The little boy was so damn cute, she wanted to keep him even though she knew Morgan would have a lot to say about that. Not to mention Noah’s dad, Tor, would probably burn her to a crisp if she ran off with his baby. 

“I’m in love. Just in love.” She sighed. 

“So get married or have a baby or something.” Morgan giggled. She held out her hands for Lexi to give little Noah back and Lexi did so with a pout. “Oh, come on. You’re just like my mother. Whenever she visits, she won’t let me hold him. I do need to feed him.”

Lexi grinned. “I know, but that won’t stop me from complaining because I want to hold him longer.”

Lexi sat back and watched Morgan feed Noah. She’d never seen her friend so happy. She was literally glowing from joy. There was also the fact Morgan was now going to live a super long life courtesy of her new dragon mate status. 

Like Morgan, Lexi was an empath, but her powers were different than her friend’s. Lexi was a physically receptive and medium empath. It was what allowed her to be so good at her work at a shelter for abused women. 

Her ability pulled out physical pains obtained from an abusive parent or spouse to help start internal healing. 

“When do I get to meet the rest of Tor’s brothers?”

Morgan raised her gaze from staring at her adoring baby breastfeeding to glance at Lexi. “They lead pretty busy lives. Besides, Jae is on the other side of the world, scouring countries, trying to find his own mate while Clacher is always at the tattoo shop. He just opened a new one and it’s sucking up all his time.”

She’d been dying to get new ink. The last time she got her shoulder done, she’d thought of a new one she wanted to get but hadn’t had the time to find a new tattoo artist. Her last guy, the only one she’d allowed to work on her body, had moved to a bigger city to open his own shop. Now she was stuck wanting a new tattoo and trying to figure out where to go. “Is his shop any good?”

Morgan’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right? Clacher owns Drachen’s Ink. The chain of tattoo shops.”

Holy fuck! Drachen’s Ink had the best tattoo artists in the state. Not only that, their work had been featured in Hot Ink, one of Lexi’s favorite tattoo art magazines. They had freaking commercials on TV and their ads were all over social media. People made appointments months in advance to get work done by one of their artists. 

They were the best of the best and had even had a producer interested in making a show about their shops. Last she’d heard, the owner was still in negotiations but Lexi hadn’t thought at any point Clacher owned Drachen’s Ink. 

“I should have known. The last name. Duh!” She felt like a moron. 

“Don’t worry. You’ve had a lot on your mind. How’s things at the shelter? And with Mr. Cop?”

She groaned. “He’s just a friend. And I think the shelter is doing pretty good. Jessica’s divorce should be coming through soon. Her case worker is getting her training for jobs and her own place to live with the children.”

“Has her ex tried to contact her again?” Morgan asked, picking Noah up and patting his little back.

“Sort of.” She rubbed the knees of her stretchy jeans. She wasn’t a jeans kind of person, opting for a more relaxed material, but these were eighty percent Spandex so they felt more like leggings than jeans. “He came to the shelter and tried to force his way in. He cursed at me and offered to pound my face in. If Blake hadn’t shown up to bring me some coffee, I would’ve gone bat-shit crazy on the man.”

“Blake brought you coffee?” Morgan blinked. “But you’re not dating.”

“I told you, he’s my friend. He’s a really great guy but there’s no chemistry there.”

Morgan snorted and Noah started cooing. “Does he know that?”

“Yes. He’s asked me out and I told him I just wanted to be friends.” He’d taken it well. Said they could do things as friends. 

“So what did he think of the new hair color?” Morgan giggled. 

Lexi slid her fingers into her curls self-consciously. “He stared at it for a while but then said since I’m walking around with a rainbow on my head, that meant there had to be a pot of gold nearby.” She sighed. “So I said the pot of gold was the rest of me under the rainbow.” 

Morgan laughed and put a yawning Noah in his crib. “You know, that’s really true. You’re a treasure.”

Lexi grinned. “You say the nicest things. Besides, I didn’t think of Blake at all when I colored my hair.”

“I think it’s beautiful. All those bright colors blending to create a rainbow of curls. I might do that one of these days,” Morgan said as she turned back to her. “Hopefully, it’ll look half as good on me as it does on you. You rock it and the tattoos and your clothes just give you that whole sexy badass look.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “I sleep in Pokémon underwear and a Dragon Ball Z tank top.”

“I said you rocked the look, not that you were an actual badass. You’re nicer than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“I love you, Morgan. You’re my sister and I’m so happy you found Tor.”

Morgan’s eyes took on a soft glow. “Thanks. I have a feeling one of these days you’ll find the man meant for you, too!”

She wasn’t too worried. Though her urge to have a family had grown since watching Morgan with Noah, she’d always known she wanted what her parents had, a solid relationship and then all the babies in the world. In her parents’ case, they’d only been able to have Lexi, but they’d given her so much love. And the charities they volunteered for all over the world put them around children who needed someone to love them. They gave their love freely to all little ones. Lexi would love to give her parents grandchildren so they could share more of their unending love. 

“It’s time to head back to the shelter. Taking the morning off to hang out here and see my baby Noah was awesome, but now I have to check on Jennifer and see about a new lady they are bringing me.”

Something told her today was going to be one of those unforgettable days and she couldn’t figure out why.