“I—”
“I promise I won’t Claim you until you want me to.”
She snorted. “So sure I’ll want you to?”
“Not sure. Hopeful.”
He kissed a trail down her neck to her shoulder, tugging the dress down a bit so he could toy with the flesh beneath.
“If I let you stay,” she whispered, already losing the battle, “you know it won’t mean anything.”
Ailean reached around, sliding his hand into her hair and gripping the back of her head. He forced her to look at him. “We both know that’s a lie. But if it makes you feel better this night, I won’t argue.” His gaze traveled to her mouth. “Gods,” he moaned, “I’ve missed you, Shalin.”
Shalin opened her mouth to speak, to tell him to go before she lost any more of her heart to him, but before she could get the words out, he kissed her. And, as always, her human body nearly burst into flames from the passion of it.
She couldn’t fight him. Not when she’d missed him so much. So she released herself into that kiss. At least for the moment, she let go the anger and stubbornness and simply unleashed the desire she’d been bottling up for days.
Gods, he truly had missed her. Just the feel of her mouth on his or the way she pressed her body into his. Whether human or dragon, she always fit him perfectly. For days he’d been longing for her, following his kin’s dictate that the time wasn’t right. His aunts were insistent. “When a dragon pushes a dragoness, he ends up very lonely…and very bloody.”
Without prompting, Shalin straddled his waist, her knees on either side of him. She dug her hands into his hair and kissed him with as much need as his own.
Desperate and unable to wait, Ailean pulled the skirt of her simple peasant dress out of his way and entered her in one powerful thrust. He found her wet and hot, more than ready for him.
Shalin wrapped her arms around his shoulders, buried her nose in his neck, and it all felt so perfect. Ailean didn’t move. They simply held still like that.
When Shalin began to shyly kiss his neck and jaw, Ailean pulled back a bit to look at her. “Tell me what I did wrong.” When she only stared at him, he said again, “Tell me what I did wrong and I’ll do whatever necessary to make it right.”
Her gaze lowered until she seemed firmly focused on his neck and she admitted, “You didn’t listen to me. I’m ignored by everyone. I never thought I’d be ignored by you as well.”
“I didn’t ignore you.”
She gave an adorable little snort and looked away from him completely.
“I didn’t ignore you,” he said again. “But I was fighting for my life. For our future. I knew if I’d let you go, you wouldn’t come back.”
Those bright golden eyes suddenly locked on him and he could see the bitter anger in them. “Isn’t that my right? To choose my own lovers, my own mate? Or do you wish to control that, as Adienna does?”
“Don’t throw her at me, Shalin. That’s not fair and you know it. Don’t you see or are you so blind? I would have broken any law, destroyed any army, done anything to keep you as my own.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you so determined to ‘keep me’? Is it because I’m sweet and innocent like the puppy? Or solid and reliable like Dragon’s Gold? A good work horse to breed you sons?”
And it was at that very moment, before he could stop himself, that he laughed at her.
Snarling in outrage, Shalin tried to scramble out of his arms, but he grabbed her around the waist and kept her right on his lap and his cock.
“Oh, no, you don’t. You’ll not run away from me again until we’re done here. Until you hear everything I have to say.”
“Then say it and let me go.”
“Fine, then. You’re not sweet, Shalin. Oh, I know you fool everyone else into thinking you are, but I know better. And you? Like Dragon’s Gold? More like that beast you love sitting in his chamber plotting his next attack.”
She gasped in anger, but his grip merely tightened on her waist, holding her still.
“You’re just like him, you know. Just like Nightmare. Exactly. He, too, stands by appearing placid and mild. Then, when you get close enough to touch him, he proves how dangerous he truly is. Just like you. Nor can I call you a reliable work horse since I never see you actually working, lazy sow.”
“Ailean!”
“Anytime I look for you, I always find you in the library reading. I’m relatively certain three hundred years from now that’s exactly where I’ll find you still.” He chuckled again. “You’re the most dangerous kind of dragon, Shalin. Like the sand dragons, you blend into your environment and you wait. You wait until the very last second, until there’s no hope for escape or mercy, and then you strike.”
Shalin shook her head, confused. “If I’m so horrible—”
“I never said you were horrible. I said you were dangerous.”
“And a lazy sow!”
“You are a lazy sow,” he taunted back. “A spoiled royal, expecting everyone to serve you.” And he punctuated that “you” by slapping her ass…rather hard.
Startled into action, she reached for his face with fingers bent into human claws but Ailean easily caught her hands and forced them behind her back, laughing the entire time.
“You’re a bastard!” she hissed.
“A mad bastard, according to my kin.” He blinked and with false shock said, “Why, Shalin? You’re getting even wetter! Enjoy that slap, did you?”
She screamed and fought to pull her arms away.
“Gods,” he gasped. “Like a vice. You like a bit of a struggle too, I see. And,” he added before kissing her throat, “you like when I won’t let you go.”
“Lies,” she moaned, melting against him. “These are all lies.”
He moved up her throat, across her chin and cheek. He held her arms crossed behind her back but his fingers continued to stroke her skin, teasing her.
Ailean rocked up into her while he pulled her body down. Shalin threw her head back, the feel of him inside her nearly more than she could bear.
“Kiss me, Shalin,” Ailean panted. “Kiss me now.”
She looked at him then, but didn’t understand what she saw. What she knew he was trying to tell her with his expression alone. Yet even though she didn’t understand, she was still drawn to him as she’d never been drawn to another. And, she feared, as she never would be again.
Shalin kissed him and the power of it tore through them both. Holding her arms tighter, Ailean slammed her down as he pushed up, the rhythm of it bringing her to climax within seconds, her surprised screams disappearing into Ailean’s mouth. He groaned in absolute pleasure and kept going, kept taking her. She exploded a second time, reduced to nothing more than whimpers and soft mewling.
Finally, when she didn’t think she could take much more from him, he brought her down hard and held her in place as he climaxed inside her. His face buried against her neck, he groaned and gasped as his pleasure seemed to roll on and on, yanking her over the edge a final time. She nearly passed out from the intensity of it and could do nothing more than let her body go limp against his.
Ailean released his grip on her arms and Shalin brought them forward, too weak to do much of anything but drop them around his shoulders.
“Oiy,” he said softly. “Lazy sow.”
She knew she should be insulted but she was simply too tired to argue with him at the moment. “What?”
“There’s another reason I like to keep you around.”
“And that is?”
“I love you.”
Shalin tensed at the words, but Ailean’s hands rubbed her back, soothing her. “Sssh. No need to panic. I just wanted you to know everything for when you make your decision.
“I’ll stay the night,” he added.
Arms around him, Shalin laid her head against his shoulder and nodded.
14
Shalin awoke early to the puppy scratching at her head. She dragged herself
up and gave him water and food. She checked on Nightmare, who seemed to be enjoying his solitary life quite well. She gave him some fresh water and hay before pulling on another little frock left by Ailean’s kin. Once dressed, she set off to find Ailean.
It had been a long and delightful night with the dragon. He hadn’t let her get much sleep but she didn’t really feel the need to complain about it. Besides, after their night, she’d come to a decision. But there was one thing she had to do first, and she wanted to let Ailean know.
Eventually she tracked him down by the cave entrance. Still human as well, he stood naked at the very edge, staring out over the land. She walked up to him and immediately knew something was wrong.
“What is it?”
Ailean nodded toward the east.
She looked and immediately her heart fell. “I see lightning.”
“And not a cloud in the sky.”
Shalin let out a little sigh. “I guess Theodoric’s kin didn’t abide by his decision.”
“I had a feeling they wouldn’t.”
She nodded. “As did I.” Shalin began to pull off the dress, preparing to change and not wanting to ruin it, but Ailean stopped her.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“If you shift, and they catch up to you, they’ll take at least one of your wings. Stay human as long as you can.” He took her hand and dragged her back inside. “Take Nightmare back to the castle.”
“No.” She stopped, and he turned to face her. “If I go there, they’ll only follow.”
“They’ll go there anyway. I need you to protect the castle and my people.”
“Me? How can I protect them?”
“Think of something,” he said plainly, again dragging her toward where they’d bedded for the night and where Nightmare was standing. “You’ve read enough books. You must have some ideas.”
He stopped long enough to open the gate built into the cavern walls and let Nightmare out. Shalin quickly grabbed the puppy, but Ailean shook his head.
“He’ll be safer here.”
She nodded and placed him back on the ground. Ailean again grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the chamber and down deep into the catacombs, Nightmare right behind them. It took some time, but eventually she saw a shaft of light and she finally knew how he and his kin had been getting in and out of this cave. Which quickly brought her to another realization.
“This was your mother’s cave, wasn’t it?”
“Aye. I was born here.” And close to where his mother had died.
Once outside, he released her hand and she mounted Nightmare’s back and took firm hold of his mane.
“You know your way back?”
“Aye.”
“Then go. Protect our people, Shalin.”
Ailean slapped Nightmare’s rump, forcing her horse to sprint off into the forest.
Ailean waited until they were far enough away, then he shifted and grabbed hold of the outside cave wall. He easily climbed it until he reached the top. Then he lay flat against it, using his gods-given skill to change his coloring to blend into the rock face.
He waited, and it wasn’t long before four of them came into sight. Ailean closed his eyes, his other senses taking over. Their scent moved closer, but Ailean waited until he heard their wings and felt the air around him move. When he knew they’d passed him, Ailean rose up into the air and grabbed one, his arm wrapping around the Lightning’s throat. The outsider roared and his comrades turned to face them. That’s when Ailean unleashed a ball of flame that forced them back. While he had the moment, Ailean flipped the smaller dragon in his arms upside down and used his talons to rip apart his soft underbelly.
Ailean had only just reached inside the screaming dragon and yanked out his intestines when a harsh bolt of lightning hit him in the shoulder. He dropped his prey and slammed into a tree, the leaves surrounding him, momentarily confusing him. Once he’d pulled himself out, another Lightning waited for him.
Before Ailean could react, the bastard unleashed a bolt of lightning aimed right at his head. Ailean began to move out of its way when a glint of metal momentarily blinded him. He jerked to the side and his vision cleared. One of his aunts hovered in front of him, her large shield up. The lightning hit it and bounced off, slamming back into the sender.
“Go!” his aunt yelled. “I’ve got them. Go!”
Nightmare tore through the forest while Shalin held on to his mane and kept low. She did know the way back, but she didn’t need to.
The horse kept close to the trees, using them as cover, and kept away from the clearings. But no matter what they did, unless they wanted to go days out of their way, they’d have to cross the clearing near the lake.
And, as Shalin had predicted, as soon as Nightmare made it out of the forest, he had to scramble to an abrupt halt. They dropped from the sky, stretching out in a line from the lake, and across a good portion of the clearing. They didn’t attack. They didn’t want her hurt.
They wanted her to shift, hoping she’d panic and try to go over them. The glint of their sharpened weapons told her exactly what they’d do. With one wing, she wouldn’t be going anywhere and then they could carry her wherever they’d like. She’d read that’s how they kept dragonesses they stole, but Shalin had always hoped those were merely lies told by their enemies. Now she saw there was truth to it. And although Theodoric obviously had hoped for more from his kin, some of the old ways were simply too hard to give up when desperate. For although they could sate their lust with a human, they could never breed with one.
“Dragoness,” one said, and the voice sounded familiar. She remembered him.
“You’re Theodoric’s brother.”
“Aye. Erdmann. Twelfth oldest.”
Shalin didn’t even want to know how many they had in total to warrant that answer.
“Theodoric won’t be happy with what you’ve done here today,” she told him.
“Not at first. But once we battle for the right to be your mate, he’ll understand.”
“Ailean will come for me.” And she knew it to be true. She knew it with all her heart. “He’ll destroy all of you to get me back.”
“We smell him on you,” one of the others remarked. “But I’d bet gold he hasn’t marked you. So how attached could he be?”
A few of them moved in a bit closer, slowly trying to surround her. Nightmare stood perfectly still but Shalin could tell by his tense muscles he knew what was happening; he was just waiting for the right moment.
“It doesn’t matter, Shalin the Innocent, if he comes for you,” Erdmann told her softly. “The queen of this land will never send an army out to bring back one dragoness. And if he comes alone, he’ll die alone.”
Slowly, Shalin smiled. She’d heard nothing, she’d always remember that, but still somehow she knew. “Ailean the Wicked needs no army to bring me back—and he never fights alone.” Her smile grew wide. “He has his kin.”
Moving as silently as the smallest mouse, Kyna landed on Erdmann’s back, bringing her tall steel shield down with her. She slammed it into his neck, slamming him to the ground. The sharp end of her shield rammed into the purple scales with such force it ripped through them and into the flesh until it was buried in the dirt and Erdmann’s head thudded to the ground.
Kennis landed on the back of another dragon and buried her lance in his spine.
Kyna looked over at Shalin and Shalin no longer saw anger. At least, not toward her. “Go!” Kyna ordered, jumping off Erdmann’s still flailing body as the blood from his neck continued to spay across the clearing.
Nightmare must have understood Kyna because he took off with no prompting, running under and around the battling dragons as more of Ailean’s kin dropped from the skies, weapons in hand, and ready to kill.
They tore back to the castle and burst through the courtyard gates as bells rang in warning, and Ailean’s human soldiers prepared for battle, the servants scrambling for someplace safe to hide.
She let out a breath when she saw Shalin on the horse’s back. “I feared—”
“I know.” Shalin reached down and grabbed a soldier trying to dart by. “Get the gates closed—now.”
With a nod, he took off running as Shalin slid off Nightmare’s back.
“What good will that do?” Madenn demanded. “They’ll simply fly over it.”
“Leave that to me. Get everyone—” Shalin cut herself off as she grabbed Madenn around the waist and yanked her out of the way, the bolt of lightning hitting where the woman had been standing.
Shalin pushed her away, staring up at the sky. “Go. Now.”
Moving quickly to the center of the courtyard, Shalin finally shifted. Going on memory alone, she drew a circle of ancient symbols in the dirt. Once done, she looked around desperately until she spotted another soldier.
“Your shield,” she shouted at him. “Give it to me.” He tossed the metal shield at her, and Shalin caught it easily, placing it carefully on the ground inside the circle.
Lightning danced around her, but she knew none would hit her directly since they couldn’t afford for her to be hurt. She kept her wings tucked in close to her body and focused all her energy into the shield. As it pulsed to life, she slammed her claw down on it and the metal flattened, turning to liquid. She chanted a recently learned spell and the liquid disappeared inside her hand. It tore through her. Through her organs and veins, tearing up through her lungs.
Shalin raised her other claw, palm up, and liquid burst out and up, heading toward the sky. It exploded over the castle and the courtyard, creating a solid metal bubble over all she visualized. A shield now for the entire structure.
She heard roars of anger, then screams as unleashed lightning bolts slammed back into those who sent them.
“By the gods,” she heard Madenn whisper.
For some reason that made Shalin chuckle—just before everything went black and her head took out the front of the castle where she landed.
Ailean held the head while Arranz held the back claws and Kennis happily chopped away at the neck. Once they separated head from body, they let it drop.
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