“Not so easy as that, lass,” Hiron said. “If oaths were broken like dinner plates, then they would have no power at all.”
“You can still go to visit your mother, just as your friend Edie does,” Rafe said. “But first we’ve got to claim you as our own and this will be your home now. We need you too much to toss you aside, even if you are overall…more frustrating than worthy.”
“At least she has a fine face and curves to stir a man’s loins,” Hiron said.
Another man was walking down the hill from the castle now, and he was the most imposing of all, at least six and a half feet of solid muscle, dark blonde hair stirring in the wind. He was bearded like Hiron, and…well, all my fantasy movie dreams were getting fulfilled. I wasn’t just going to get Aragorn, I was also getting Thor. (Rafe had some explaining to do.) The new guy was wearing a shirt held closed by a sash at his waist. It didn’t have buttons and fell open to show off his broad muscular chest, as if there was any doubt that this guy was built for fighting.
“What’s happening?” he said. “I refuse to stand there tending the meat any longer.”
“Our mate tried to bolt,” Rafe said.
“Ah, but it will be a pleasant thing to heal her. Come, mate.”
“Hello, Man-Who-Has-Not-Introduced-Himself,” I said. If I was going to get stuck in this situation, at the very least I needed to throw down some ground rules. “I’m a woman, not a dog.”
“Of course you are. You are our woman, and more beautiful than I could have imagined. I smell the musk of your arousal.”
“Stop saying ‘musk’. All of you. Please. It’s gross. I’m not aroused.”
“What would you say in America?” Hiron asked.
“‘You smell nice’,” Rafe said sarcastically. “And leave it there. But on Earth they usually cover their scent with various scented products. I’m surprised that she isn’t more perfumed.”
“I was jogging!” I think he meant it as a compliment, but I was quite aware that I was sweaty and gross. I had a feeling Rafe knew more about my world than the other two. If the clothes weren’t enough of a tipoff.
“I’m glad her smell tells us what her mouth doesn’t,” said the new guy, who I was just thinking of as “Ultra Thor” for now. “Of course, once her mouth is taking my cock, we’ll hear no more of it for a while.”
I screeched. This situation was not getting any better. “No. Back the fuck off!” I snapped at Hiron, who moved a hand to touch me. “Edie’s demons are like Victorian gentlemen. That’s what I wanted. Old-fashioned but nice guys who adore me. You three are fucking Medieval barbarians and so I fully expect you’re going to drag me into your castle by the hair, but I swear to god I will find ways to make your life hell. I’ll fight back. The women in my family don’t take shit.” Actually, my policy was usually to keep things from turning to shit in the first place by staying calm, but this was no time for that.
They were looking at me like they didn’t even understand English anymore.
I was breathing hard. I knew I didn’t have much to back it up; I mean, they were all huge. But my mom had taught me that a lady should never be afraid to scream expletives at a man if it was warranted. This definitely qualified.
“Xado has always been a man of blunt words,” Hiron said. “Dragon women appreciate that; he isn’t trying to offend you. We will adore you, Dakota. We would never drag you anywhere.”
Xado crossed his arms and didn’t exactly jump in to agree. Rafe chuckled and I’m not sure I trusted him either.
“You don’t know me. And you’re not even going to bother getting to know me?”
“We…don’t have much choice in taking a woman as a bride these days,” Hiron said.“The world has changed and magic no longer has the power it once did. We’re just trying to hold on. A human bride offers us greater power for generations to come, but to accept each other as bond fellows and put off our mating in the hopes of finding a human girl was a great risk.”
“Why?” I didn’t quite understand. Edie’s demons lived on an island that rested between the real world—the Fixed Plane—and the demon’s home, Sinistral. They needed her to provide an anchor to the Fixed Plane or the island would slip into the magical world. But this world seemed to fully be within Sinistral.
“Our world has always relied on yours. People used to believe in Sinistrals and Ethereals, leave them offerings or pray to them as gods, and interacted with them as part of normal life. It gave us power. If the humans ignored us entirely, I don’t even know what would happen. I suppose our world might slip away from yours and we would never be able to travel there again. We might even lose our own magic.”
“Really? I didn’t realize it was as bad as that… So you need us to believe in you?”
“We’ve had to find other ways of gaining power,” Rafe said. “One way is to go to your world and become musicians or other celebrities and soak up your power that way, but we don’t get any special advantage. Once we go to your world, our magic is gone. And we’re stupid about a lot of things as to how your world works. It’s hard going. So the best way for most of us is to find a human bride. But there are a lot of rules to follow. We have to bond with each other first, in a brotherhood of three or four, or the Symposium won’t approve it. Then we must find a mate who is willing to accept the arrangement. Usually this involves a careful process of telling her about magic and other worlds. But then you appeared. Already ready…already asking for mates.”
“So you see that you would be incredibly precious to us,” Hiron said. “We’ve already spent our whole lives learning to get along with each other, in readiness for you. We will be devoted to your pleasure and raising the children you will give us.”
“I mean, that’s nice, but…” I was starting to feel so confused. I mean, this was what I wanted, wasn’t it? I wanted a family. Kids. A wild sex life with men I could still trust to always work things out and not cheat. This was different from what Edie had, for sure. But also…similar.
“Is a law not a law anymore just because you didn’t know it existed?” Hiron pressed. “The fact is, you did state your desire to be claimed by demons and now it will happen to you whether you like it or not.”
“The meat will burn while we’re here talking.” Xado swept me into his arms like I weighed nothing. “Of course we would never harm you, mate, but we will pleasure you hard and long.”
I flushed. These guys were just so damned aggressive. And this mating was forever. I had a feeling demon marriage didn’t have a divorce option, so unlike my mom leaving my jerk dad, I’d be stuck.
Once Edie hooked up with her three husbands, her life became idyllic and simple, with a lot of beautiful days in the sunshine with her newborn, and cozy evenings around the fire. As for the nights? She barely told us a hint of what went on with three guys who all adored her, and it still made me envious. But they had also wooed her in a gentlemanly fashion, and they talked like mostly normal people and wore t-shirts and knew what a television was.
I started to struggle. “Put me down!”
Chapter Two
Dakota
Xado didn’t put me down. He carried me up the hill and the other guys followed. Hiron looked somewhat apologetic, while Rafe shrugged his shoulders at me like, nothing we can do now.
I tried to calm down. All the scratches on my body were starting to burn, and my predicament felt very serious. I definitely did need some kind of protection.
I have to think of this like time traveling. I don’t think they’re bad guys. They are clearly concerned that I might end up in the hands of actual bad guys. But they have different morals. Edie’s guys lived in a Victorian mansion and they had slightly old fashioned ideas. These guys live in a castle and they have…like, castle ideas.
Maybe they won’t be so bad if you can talk them through it. They are really hot. They said you can still go home to visit, so maybe this is what you wanted after all.
As much as I hated to admit it, I didn’t doubt t
hat my ‘musk’ was sending some mixed messages. Even the big guy, if I didn’t listen to the stuff coming out of his mouth, his arms felt really nice.
On the other hand, this just was not how life worked. I needed more time before I could commit to something this crazy. There had to be a way to get out of it. I just needed to talk to Edie and her (far more reasonable) demon husbands.
I was placed on my feet in a room inside the castle where a turkey—or something hopefully turkeyish—was roasting on a spit at a huge hearth. It smelled really good. The firelight flickered on the stone walls, which were covered in old tapestries, while the furniture was more comfortable than I’d anticipated. There was a long sofa, or maybe “bench” was the better word, but it had a cushioned seat and back with carved arms, and piles of small pillows. The bench was large enough for all of us to sit, but there were also some wooden chairs with embroidered cushions.
This was way more primitive than Edie’s house. I didn’t see any signs of electricity at all.
They regarded my ruined skin. We passed a mirror hanging on the wall and I realized that even my cheek was bleeding. I looked awful. The stupid bra top and shorts had offered zero protection. Some of them were pretty deep. My arms and legs were covered in streaks of blood, and Xado had blood all over his arms from carrying me.
“We need to heal you,” Rafe said. “And considering how feisty you’ve been, you’re probably not going to like it.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Rafe leaned in and slid his tongue along my cheek, as Hiron put his hands on my shoulders so I couldn’t shy back. His warm mouth felt unexpectedly soothing, tickling along the sensitive skin of my face. Heat burned inside me.
“Hey!” I tried to protest.
He pulled back, his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the skin left wet from his mouth, and then pointed me back at the mirror. “See?”
When he licked away the blood, the wound had sealed.
“The saliva of dragons has healing properties to humans,” Hiron said.
“And your blood tastes sweet,” Rafe said.
“Um…” I wasn’t sure what to say.
Rafe lifted one of my arms and licked the blood away, and now Hiron and Xado moved in, clearly unwilling to let Rafe have all of me. Xado kissed a spot on my shoulders before his tongue darted out, while Hiron knelt and licked a scratch right on my inner thigh almost at the hem of my short shorts.
This is a super weird way to begin a relationship, I thought. I managed another, “Um…”
But it was hard to protest too much, when my skin was healing before my eyes, and I was tingling all over from the stimulating caress of their slightly rough tongues, exploring every inch of my exposed skin. And I had to admit, they were so tender with me. Aggressive, yes, but in a way that was very adoring. I couldn’t imagine any guy I’d ever dated taking so much care with me.
I decided maybe the protests could wait until after this part was over. I was really trying not to enjoy it. But it was hard not to succumb to all the hands and mouths holding and caressing me, wiping away my pain, and even harder not to think, Maybe they could wipe away all my pain forever…
I couldn’t help it. I was starting to get really turned on, and I felt a gush of arousal bloom out of me. Then I went red, knowing they were all going to smell it.
“Mmm,” Hiron said. “Our mate enjoys this very much.” He pulled down my shorts and slipped his tongue between my legs.
Like, no preamble, just—apparently smelling me get wet was enough of an invitation in Dragon-Demon-Land.
“Hey!” I struggled a little but Xado and Rafe were holding my arms.
“Let him taste you,” Xado said. “He found you, so he gets first rights.”
“This is how we mark you as our own to keep you safe,” Rafe said.
I felt like I should protest but holy crap it felt amazing. Hiron was licking me like I was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted, thrusting his tongue deeper, and I was getting so turned on so fast. And having the other guys holding me back from fighting him and watching my face was only making me more excited. I felt dirty but I couldn’t seem to help it. When Hiron spread my legs open a little more I swallowed back a shuddering moan.
“Is it so bad to belong to us?” Hiron asked. “This is what you’re in for, every day of your life. Your pleasure feeds us and we want nothing more than to give you as much of it as possible.”
Maybe it wasn’t so bad.
Hiron started stroking his tongue hard and rhythmically against my clit now. He seemed to know exactly how to hit it every time, and he was clearly trying to get me to climax fast. And succeeding. Now I couldn’t hold back my sounds of pleasure. I sagged into Rafe and Xado’s grip.
“This was every bit worth the wait,” Xado said, kissing my hand.
“Ohh…this…” I shut my eyes as my breath came fast and I groaned as a wave of pleasure rippled through my whole body in a shattering climax that left me limp in their arms.
Hiron pulled my shorts back up.
It was over too fast. I wanted more.
“Maybe I’m glad you were rebellious, little mate,” Xado said. “Your wounds gave us an excuse to give you such pleasure right away.”
I hardly knew what to say. I was reeling from what had just happened. I really should be mad about it, but the tone of this encounter felt so different from anything I had experienced. It had been so tender and so focused on giving my body everything it had ever dreamed of, that I couldn’t really find it in myself to complain.
However, I wasn’t exactly going to compliment them on their aggressive behavior.
“Stop calling me ‘mate’. It’s weird. My name is Dakota,” I said.
“It’s a sacred word to us,” Xado said. He stood behind me. I could see us in the mirror in the dim light, how small my body looked against his huge chest. Hiron brushed hair back from my face and then took a step back, looking me over.
“We’re agitating her,” Rafe said.
“I would rather agitate her than lose her,” Hiron said firmly. He put his fingers around my chin. “Dakota, I am sorry, but you seem to have no appreciation for the darker forces that would steal you away. Have you already forgotten that you’ve been chased by other demons?”
“No…” I swallowed. “Please. I won’t run away again. I just want to go home.”
Xado let go of my arms. “What are you scared of? You’re with us now.” Before I could answer, he said, “Maybe she just needs to eat. You’ll feel better with some goose in your belly, little one.” He went and turned the meat on the spit.
Once again, I managed to calm down a little. I tried to remember what I learned in that one anthropology class I took where the professor talked about how to communicate with people who have a completely different sense of manners or morals. It was important to acknowledge their point of view but I also needed to be clear. “I’m scared because I don’t want to marry men I don’t even know. I realize we are running into some cultural differences, here. You guys are saving me from other demons. I understand and I appreciate that. It’s just that, from my perspective, I was only putting out feelers as to whether there were any other guys like Edie’s husbands who would be interested in meeting me. They would like, test out the girls before committing to them. They married Edie because they’d spent a couple weeks with her and they all really liked her. You guys are just—going straight to the finale.”
“Taste this,” Xado said, bringing me a spoon with some kind of rice dish on it.
It smelled good, so I did.
The rice was super rich and flavorful, herbaceous and meaty, with a hint of saffron, like amazing paella. “Oh…that’s really good.”
“I will always hunt and kill the best game for you and make sure you and the hatchlings will never want.”
“Hatchlings? You guys know I can’t lay eggs, right?”
“No, you’ll mate with us as humans so you won’t lay eggs,” Hiron said. “It’s just our w
ord for all children.”
I had to shake off the idea that apparently, they could mate as dragons and lay eggs or mate as humans and have, like, mammal babies. We were getting off topic already. “Did you guys listen to anything I just said a minute ago?”
“We heard you,” Rafe said. He was lounging on the bench. “You want us to test you out first. And if you don’t like us, you want to break your oath. Well, you can’t break your oath.”
I was skeptical. These guys seemed to have every reason to keep me here. Maybe if I was annoying enough, they would magically find a way to get rid of me. What was the best way to be annoying? Truly, I didn’t feel like being annoying. I was just sad.
“But I could be with other demons,” I said. “Demons more like Edie’s.”
“If you can find them, I guess,” Rafe said. “But there’s no shopping market where you can just go order up demons that are just like other demons. We’re people, not hamburgers.”
Even if the message had brought me three guys just like Edie’s, I probably would’ve made a mistake. I wasn’t looking for a partner; I was looking for someone to protect me and comfort me. To make sure I was never lonely. I wanted to replace someone irreplaceable.
I sank into one of the chairs and crossed my arms.
“Don’t look sad,” Xado said. “The food is ready.”
I growled at him.
Xado laughed. “The kitten growls at tigers.”
“You’re my least favorite already,” I retorted. “That is not a cool thing to say. Where I come from, we’re way past the idea that women are just there for sex and ‘hatchlings’.”
“Our world follows different standards of conduct,” Rafe said, inspecting his nails for dirt.
“Yeah, I see that, But it’s still not cool. How do you think I feel when you talk about me like that?”
Xado paused like he was thinking about it.
I tried shifting gears. “You seem to know something about America,” I said to Rafe. “At least, I’m guessing you didn’t get that getup in Ye Olde Village.”
Captured by Dragons: A Reverse Harem Paranormal (Brides of the Sinistral Realms Book 2) Page 2