Captured by Dragons
Lidiya Foxglove
Copyright © 2018 by Lidiya Foxglove
Cover by Jacqueline Sweet Design
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Teaser for Prisoner of Silk
More Romantic Fantasy from Lidiya!
About the Author
Chapter One
Dakota
Okay, so I couldn’t say I hadn’t asked for this. It was probably stupid to stick a message on the internet saying that I was curious to hook up with some demons in need of a human bride.
I mean, yes, saying it aloud…
Stupid.
But that didn’t excuse the fact that kidnapping was not okay.
I was finally doing it. I had insomnia, so I woke up early (okay, eight thirty…but I worked the late shift, so that was early for me). I got over my aversion to jogging clothes and put on the bra top, shorts, and sneakers I had bought on super clearance a few years ago the last time I thought I might exercise. (I was a “flowy fabrics” kind of girl.) My housemate Nicole was just leaving for work, and gave me a thumbs up.
“I look okay?” I fussed with the waistband of the shorts. “I was skinnier when I bought these.”
“Oh, don’t even give me that crap. You’re adorable. You might want to put your hair in a ponytail. It’s hot today. It’s gonna get all sweaty.”
“Right…”
She opened a drawer and handed me a hair tie.
“Maybe you’ll pass a cute guy on the jogging path,” she said.
“Or three,” I said, just to goad her.
“If you leave me for three magical dudes, I’ll murder you.”
I had no idea at the time that I should have given her a huge hug and thanked her for all our years of sharing a house, and ice cream and movies and tears and guy trouble and impromptu dance parties.
I was actually jogging around the park. I was Getting Serious About My Life. I could feel my energy levels building, my heart pounding, the weight I’d stress eaten in the last year melting away, my endorphins rising…
I had to stop and put my hand against a tree. My head was reeling. Why was it so hot outside? It didn’t seem this hot ten minutes ago!
You know, before I started moving.
This sucks. But Mom’s right. I need to get it together. Life is over before you know it…
In the trees, I saw something dark shift past the corner of my eye. Was someone there? I was always a little nervous when I jogged in the park.
The shape was pretty large. Man-sized. I didn’t see anything in the trees.
I started running. No need to just stand there being a target.
The shape shifted at the edge of my peripheral vision once again, and this time I swear it looked like some black, glowing-eyed creature.
But when I looked, it was gone again.
About this time, I started to get the bad feeling that I was having a brush with the paranormal world, and not in a good way. Ever since my roommate Edie hooked up with some super sexy demons on her vacation and ended up marrying all three of them (by paranormal law, not American, obviously), I’d been learning more and more about the other worlds alongside ours. Like that demons were not evil, they had just broken the laws of the supernatural world thousands of years ago and gotten a bad reputation. They were also all as sexy as sin and knew how to keep a girl happy. Sometimes when Edie called I didn’t even pick up the phone because I didn’t want to hear about how perfect her life was.
I thought maybe once I knew magic was real, my life would become magic. It absolutely didn’t. Besides Edie’s phone calls and visits, these worlds never infringed.
In fact, Edie’s husbands’ magic didn’t even work in the so-called real world.
But maybe some kinds of magic did.
Here I was, jogging, and I decided I would definitely never be jogging again.
Human Dakota… I heard a voice in the air, like the wind was speaking to me. I will make you my bride…
Something streaked across my vision, and then I felt the temperature drop around me like I was in the presence of a ghost. I screamed and started running, my lungs straining as I gasped for breath.
I felt a hand brush my shoulder and I swear it felt hairy. Or bristly—kind of coarse. I ducked out of its grasp.
Dakota, you have already made your oath…
I screamed. I had no idea what this creature was talking about with oaths.
Usually the park was pretty busy but even when I came out of the trees, I didn’t see another person anywhere. I thought if I could just get to some other people, I’d be okay. I made a little choked sound of dismay as I kept running. I still felt like there was a presence just behind me. My heart was beating so fast it was freaking me out. I didn’t want to collapse. If I stopped, however, I felt like it would be the worst decision of my life.
A hand grabbed me, claws raking my skin. I kicked at the thing, but then as I turned, there was nothing touching me, and nothing around.
There were scratches on my arm, though. I wasn’t just imagining this.
“Get back!” A man sprung out of the trees and slashed a blade through the air behind me. I saw a flash of some tall, lanky being that seemed formed from black smoke and then it broke up into thin air.
The man sheathed his blade and turned to me. He grabbed my upper arm, thumb grazing the scratches. “That was a very close call,” he said. “You’re lucky I was here. You must be the human named ‘Dakota’? You’ve been very foolish but it is certainly to my benefit. You are a fetching young miss.”
The low male voice had a sexy accent I couldn’t quite place…English? Irish? Scottish? It wasn’t quite any of those. “Yeah…um…” Well, this is more like it. I wanted to say something to him but I was too breathless to speak. “Thanks…”
I went from being assaulted by a shadow to confronted on the jogging path by a very tall, very sexy man. His arms were sculpted with lean muscle, his fiercely beautiful features were anchored by pale green eyes that fixated on me like he’d known me all my life, and his dark reddish hair brushed his shoulders while he had a short, appealingly scruffy beard. He looked like he could have been in a Lord of the Rings movie. He was wearing homespun looking clothes and leather boots that would have cost a bundle at a Medieval fair. He was either the sexy demon I’d asked for, or the most beautiful LARPer I had ever met.
“Nothing to say, eh? I daresay I saved your life. You have surely summoned every demo
n in the Sinistral realm to your side.”
“Are you…talking about…that message I wrote last night? That was just…”
“Yes, the vow you sent into the ether,” he said. “Well, you will certainly come to realize what good fortune you’ve had in meeting me. Your musk pleases me. I’m sure it will please my bond-fellows as well.” He grabbed my hands. “Keep hold of me.”
“Wait,” I said, trying to take my hands back from his iron grip. “I’m sorry. I’m just out of breath. I really am very thankful that you saved me, but…please, let go of me. I don’t know what’s going on. I think this is all a misunderstanding. I mean, I’m at this point in my life where I’m trying to figure out who I am and what I want, like I’ve always wanted kids, right? And my best friend Edie—I mean, I have two best friends, but—anyway—Edie—“
“There is no misunderstanding,” he said. “We are in desperate need of a mate and hatchlings. Your oath was the answer to all our hopes.”
“I didn’t make an oath!”
“We’ll discuss that,” he said, slightly bemused. He looked around. “We’re out of the humans’ sight. Brace yourself.”
“Wait—wait—wait—“
Suddenly the whole world rushed out of my vision. Trees, jogging path, annoyingly hot day: all were replaced with a thick wood, a moonlit sky, and a road leading up to a craggy stone castle. Or maybe it was more of a “manor”. Or a “keep”? It was three stories of a sturdy squarish building made of stone, with a drawbridge. The two towers at the front corners had pointed roofs and the main structure had a mansard roof, giving it some suggestion of a chateau, but it was very imposing. Below, I could see what looked like a village of thatched-roof cottages with exposed beams.
I screamed.
He clamped a hand over my mouth. “Shh. I can protect you if I have to, little human, but there is no need to rile up the crows.”
“Mmph!” I tried to bite his hand, but that was useless.
“Can you speak softly?”
“Mm-hmm…”
He uncovered my mouth. “You seem unhappy with this arrangement, but you said quite clearly in your call, ‘I would like to find some hot demon mates of my own.’ You clearly stated your name and invoked your intent, and so your message was a bond. You don’t find me to be hot? Is that the problem?”
“You’re totally hot. That part is fine.”
“Miss Dakota, I certainly hope this isn’t a misunderstanding.” He gripped my hand harder. “As you’ve seen, there are other demons who are desperate to claim you as well, and not all of them are kind. For a human woman to actually state her desire to take the life of a demon bride is a rare thing. Normally there has to be an extended courting process.”
I was starting to feel extremely freaked out. “Sir…”
“Hiron.”
“Okay. Mr. Hiron, I really didn’t mean to cause trouble with this. But when I said I wanted some hot demons of my own, I didn’t mean I was ready to become a demon bride right then and there. I just wanted to meet someone and see. But this…isn’t what I expected. Like, at all. I don’t even know where I am right now. My friend Edie found her demons in Maine and they can come to the mainland and get groceries and visit friends and stuff. I was curious about something like that. I didn’t want to go to another world. And I want an extended courting process.”
He looked annoyed. “You don’t realize what you’ve done at all.”
“Please, just send me home!”
“If I send you home you will only be captured again by other demons. It would be a cruel thing for me to do. Very unwise for you to toy with the Sinistral world if you weren’t prepared to play by our rules.”
“I wasn’t toying! I didn’t know the rules!” I started blubbering but that only lasted a second before I saw a dragon fly down from the ramparts of the castle. It was headed straight for us. I screamed and cowered behind Hiron.
Hiron sighed. “That’s only your second mate, Rafe.”
“He’s a dragon!”
“Yes, that’s our supreme form,” Hiron said. “We’re of the dragon clans.”
Rafe hit the rocky ground in front of us and transformed into a tall man, not as muscular as Hiron but with a very graceful and obvious strength. He was also wearing a leather jacket, a vintage Hawaiian shirt and black jeans, which was very unexpected. This was the only thing about him that seemed human; his eyes were slightly slanted, cat-like and golden, and his hair was a silvery black color that I had never seen on anyone. He wore it shorter than Hiron did, just long enough for raking his hand through, with sideburns, kind of 90s-does-50s like a young Johnny Depp or Ethan Hawke. He was cute but he didn’t match Hiron at all. Like playing Dungeons and Dragons with our one friend Clive whose main character was a surfer bard who would say “That’s what she said” in the middle of a battle.
“So this is our mate, huh?” He shrugged off the jacket and swung it around my shoulders instead, his body heat wrapping around me. I hadn’t even realized I was so cold.
“It is our mate,” Hiron said, in a tight voice. “Unfortunately, she says that she put out her call to us in error.”
“No, doll, that’s not how it works,” Rafe said. “You stated your name and your intention.”
“You guys have a totally different idea of what words mean,” I said. “I really appreciate that you took me up on it, but I wanted to experiment. I didn’t want to get married right this second.”
“Then why did you burn a candle?” he demanded.
“I like candles! I burn them all the time, especially when I’m like, praying for things. Are you seriously telling me that burning a cookie flavored candle accidentally bonded me to you?”
“So you admit you were praying for demon mates.”
“No, I was praying to meet some demons, not to be snatched off a jogging path!”
Hiron looked at Rafe. “There’s no hope for it now,” he said to me. “Whatever you thought you were doing, you opened a door last night. It’s better to protect you than not.”
“I—“ I clutched my head. “No.”
Rafe put a hand to his hip. “Hir’s right. The wedding and bonding ritual have to go on. You might not like it, but you wouldn’t want to join with the other beasts who’ll come sniffing around, that’s for sure. Come inside and warm up for now, meet your third mate, and then we’ll get down to business.”
“We will certainly do everything within our power to please you for the rest of your life,” Hiron said.
I didn’t know how to take that. On one hand, it was exactly what I wanted and a part of me was definitely interested to know what would unfold when three gorgeous guys were totally devoted to making me happy.
But. We’ll get down to business. For the rest of your life.
This was getting a little too real for me.
Hiron had released my hand while talking to Rafe. They turned toward the castle.
I bolted. Just started forcing my legs down the hill as fast as I could.
Obviously, they were going to be able to run faster than me, but maybe I could make it to screaming distance of the cottages and cry for help. On Edie’s island in Maine where she lived with her demons, magic worked on the island, but as soon as they sailed to the mainland, it stopped working. I was hopeful that maybe the village was part of the real world, and if I could just get to the barrier, I would be safe for now.
And then what? Maybe Edie’s husbands would know how to break this bond I’d accidentally gotten myself into.
I had to try. I wasn’t going to be forced into a bond with these guys without putting up some kind of fight. At the very least, even if I was interested, they had to fight for me. So I’m putting up a fight.
I saw a flock of crows swoop down from the trees, heading toward me.
Well, I thought they were crows at first. Then I realized they were the size of eagles. Four huge black birds swarmed me in a terrifying stir of wings and talons and beaks. One of them snapped at my face while the
others grabbed me with their huge bird feet.
Do you know how creepy bird feet are? I do now. I always thought birds were adorable but this was more like a dinosaur attack. They all snatched at me like I was just a huge mouse to them and they were going to fly off with me. Needless to say, I was screaming and trying to battle them off. I got one of them with a good backswing of my arm and almost managed to stomp on another one.
“Dakota!” Hiron swept into dragon form and flew over me. His scaled head swooped down toward me from a dragon’s height and I screamed at that too, but he knocked the crows aside. They flew off, cawing. He blew a flame at them, scorching their wings, but little purple sparkles came off their wings, healing the damage.
I collapsed, breathing hard. My skin was shredded and bleeding everywhere. I looked like I’d just spent a day trying to force alley cats into carriers. But I barely even registered pain yet.
Hiron turned back into a man and whirled on me. “What are you doing? Don’t you understand? This is not your world! You’re in Sinistral, human! That is not a human village. The moment you leave our protection, the beasts will get you! Those demons would take you for their own and they will not treat you gently!”
Rafe came stalking up to us, giving me a fierce glower as he gripped my arm just below the scratches again. I winced. “You see this, mate? Do you want all your skin turned to ribbons? I know American girls have a different idea of courtship, but you have no choice now. The alternatives would be much worse.”
“Be gentle with her, Rafe,” Hiron said. “She obviously doesn’t know.”
“Take me back home! You’ve got to take me back home. I didn’t mean for this to happen. There must be a way to break whatever oath I made. I, Dakota, declare my intention to not marry any demons! I need to see my mom.”
Captured by Dragons: A Reverse Harem Paranormal (Brides of the Sinistral Realms Book 2) Page 1