To Kemir’s people, my music would be new. Fresh and exciting.
I liked that.
“Would it be easier if I shifted?” he asked. “You seem hesitant about going through the city. We could fly to my home immediately. You could settle in, and I could notify my brother that you’re here. He could bring Jenny to you. Seeing your friend might help you feel more comfortable.”
The alternative was striding through town. Was I ready to meet so many people all at once? Bad enough I was about to be presented to a king.
“Is that okay, do you think?” I asked. “Will anyone be offended?”
“It’s not a problem,” Kemir said, unbuttoning his shirt, revealing his gorgeous abs, his broad chest. His scales. “I’m sure we’ll host a ball to introduce you to my people.”
I gulped. A ball?
Chapter Twelve
Kemir
Before I could strip and shift, someone shouted, “Kemir!”
My brother approached from the outskirts of the city, his long legs striding through the deep grass, eating up the distance between us.
“Jarik.” I reached out to clasp his forearms when he stopped in front of me. “Great to see you.” While I’d only left here six days ago, it felt like a lifetime.
Jarik’s gray-blue eyes barely skimmed over me, before landing solidly on Tanya. As if he needed to impress a potential mate, he smoothed his rich, chestnut hair and straightened his black tunic.
“And who might you be?” he asked in a deep, rumbly voice.
“Mine,” I said with a snarl, wrapping my arm around Tanya’s waist.
After elbowing me in the side, making me woof, she stepped forward, holding out her hand to my brother. “I’m Tanya.” Her sparking gaze flicked between us.
The humor blazing on her face made me want to squirm, but I held it inside. Yes, irritation with my brother was buzzing through my veins, but could she blame me? She was gorgeous. And available women were rarer in our kingdom than gypsar heart stone. Which was basically nonexistent. The only piece my people had ever seen had been held in the dragonstone crypt. But someone stole it, long ago.
“I see a resemblance between you two,” she said to me. “Brother?”’
“Jarik is my much younger brother. He’s basically a fledgling,” I said, unsure why I was feeling so possessive. She’d told me she loved me. She’d accepted me into her life. I’d breathed dragon fire on her. And she’d agreed to stay here with me, to wed me.
“Only a year younger than you, bro,” Jarik said with a laugh, smacking my shoulder. “Hardly a fledgling.” He took Tanya’s hand and bent over to kiss her fingers.
He kissed them too long.
I growled.
Releasing her hand, he stepped back, but his appreciative gaze remained on my mate. “You’ve marked her already, I see. Not that I blame you. If I’d found one as lovely as this one, I’d be marking her fast, too. Where did you find her?”
“Excuse me,” Tanya said, tapping her foot on the ground. One eyebrow lifted. “Standing right here.” She huffed out a breath. “He found me way up there.” Her hand flicked toward the entrance to the long series of tunnels we’d traveled through to reach the valley. “Rescued me, actually.” Grinning, she put her arm around my waist and rested her head on my arm, showing she forgave me my burst of jealousy. “From these horrible bugs. They’d grabbed me, tied me up, and were getting ready to roast me alive.”
“Sarlons,” I explained, feeling better now that her warmth was pressed against my side. It wasn’t just my heart generating a need to keep Tanya close. The mating lust was rising within me again. I needed to carry her off to my bed and love her for hours.
“Got it bad, don’t you?” Jarik said cheerfully. He glanced over his shoulder, as if he had a need to shout out my mating lust to the world.
Yes, it surged within me in furious waves, but I would not admit that fact to my brother.
“Got what?” Tanya asked.
“Nothing,” I said shortly.
“I imagine you haven’t seen Drek yet since you got here,” Jarik said, thankfully letting it go. I had no problem admitting my need to Tanya, but I didn’t like the idea of blasting it through the city for everyone to hear. “Or Jenny, for that matter.”
“Jenny’s here? Like, here, here?” Tanya essentially shouted, looking around, as if her friend would suddenly rush toward her. “Where is she?”
“At Drek’s palace,” Jarik said.
She squinted in that direction. “Is PJ with her?”
“PJ is your—”
“My other friend, Pamela Jean. Jenny and I call her PJ. Is she here somewhere, too?”
“No.” Hunger roughened Jarik’s voice. “She’s…unmated as well, isn’t she? I planned to ask Jenny earlier, but…”
What were the chances that three friends had been brought here by the Lifegiver, only to be claimed as mates by three brothers?
Next to nil. Yet, here I was, mated with Tanya, while Drek had mated with Jenny.
“Not that it matters, because I’ll find her regardless,” Jarik added.
Tanya frowned. “Well, PJ’s not married or anything, if that’s what you mean. She and her ex broke up six months ago.”
“So, she is unmated,” Jarik said, looking primed to leap into the air and track PJ down this instant. But his eyes grew solemn and cut to mine. “You might want to find Drek sooner, rather than later. You and Tanya may have issues.”
“What kind of issues?” I barked out.
“It’s complicated, so I’ll let Drek explain.” Jarek lifted his tunic over his head and tossed it into a nearby bin much like many others placed throughout the city. Since we traveled as dragons most of the time, clothing was strictly optional. But some felt better walking around the city in at least a tunic and pants, so we’d had generic clothing commissioned, to be left in the bins for whoever had need.
Jarik kicked off his boots.
Tanya’s wide-eyed gaze took in my brother’s chest, making my mating lust flare. Flames licked through my veins, centering in my cock. I wanted to shove my brother up into the air. Make him leave so I could be alone with Tanya.
“I’ve been out searching for Jenny’s friends since you notified us they were lost somewhere in the caverns. Just came back briefly for provisions.”
Easier to replenish your food supply here than stop and forage along the way.
“I’ve been to the Lifegiver pool, however. Was near there during my search.”
Looking for a mate blessing, then. In his position, I’d do the same thing. Seeing Drek mated with Jenny had set off a raging need inside me. While dragon bonds were rare, my brother would be itching to see if the Lifegiver’s generosity extended to him, as well.
“I’ll find her before anyone else does.” He shot a glance over his shoulder, as if he worried about competition for the only friend left to be found.
Actually, he had good reason for concern. Others must be aware an unmated woman could be in the vicinity.
“I’ve been scared she was hurt somewhere,” Tanya said. “But knowing everyone’s looking for her makes me feel a tiny bit better. Find her fast, please?”
“I’ll do my best.” His hands went to the button on his pants. “Do me a favor, though?”
She blinked. “What?”
“Turn around?” Jarik said with a chuckle. “I think Kemir would appreciate you not seeing me strip.” His eyes twinkled. “You’re welcome to check out my ass, though, if you wish.”
“She does not wish,” I growled.
“Well…” she said, grinning my way.
Gently turning her to face me fully, I tried to smooth my irritation off my face. My side did not need another elbow gouge.
From the way her grin widened, let alone the fact that she poked my chest with her index finger, I knew I’d been unsuccessful.
In moments, Jarik was gone, winging his way toward the tunnels, his red and sapphire scales winking in the lunarlight.
I also stripped and tossed my clothing into the bin. An urgency was filling me. Not just my mating lust, but to find out what the issues might be with my mate. I needed to track down Drek and make love to Tanya, not in that order.
“Ready to ride to my palace?” I asked.
She nodded and chewed on her lower lip as she stared after Jarik. “PJ’s okay, isn’t she?”
Pulling her close, I kissed her forehead. “I believe so.” I hoped so.
Fate would not be so cruel as to bring two friends together, only to harm the third.
Her breath shuddered, and she swiped at her eyes. “Let’s go, then. I’m ready to see your palace.”
Capturing her lips, I gave her a kiss filled with promise and need. After we pulled apart, I stroked her flushed cheeks, then stepped back and shifted into my dragon.
#
It didn’t take long to fly to my palace. I landed on the large, fieldstone patio out front and shifted fast. Pulling pants from the box nearby, I yanked them on, while Tanya smoothed her tunic and stared in awe at the building looming beside us.
“Come,” I said with a grin, waving for her to go ahead of me. “I want to show you our home.”
“Our home.” She gulped and stopped on the path. Fingering the leaves of a small tree she stood next to, she said, “My home’s a tiny studio with a sofa that converts into a bed. One room total, plus a bathroom where you bump both your elbows just squeezing in to go pee.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, wishing I could make her see she was welcome. My life was hers, now, and I’d share everything with her. “No longer. Now, your home has seventeen bedrooms, twenty-ish bathrooms—none in which will give you a chance to bump your elbows, a kitchen large enough to house five shifted dragons, multiple drawing rooms, dining areas, living areas, a library—”
“Books?” she shouted. Funny how she’d picked ‘library’ from my list to get excited about.
Fortunately, we dragons had been able to make short raids to the surface. Not for princesses or sheep, but for reading material.
“I think you’ll be pleased.”
Leaning into my side, she sighed. “I’m well on my way to being pleased already.”
“Then let me take you inside where we can look into pleasing you fully.”
Her hand in mine, we walked up the broad stone steps—thirty-four, to be exact—and strolled across the large deck that stretched around three quarters of the building. The surface was peppered with loungers and tables and potted plants, as well as various outdoor game stations and a few bars. I loved to entertain business clients and friends here in the evening, and now, I would share these times with Tanya.
The two-story entrance doors swung open before I could touch them, and Octavium, my butler bowed from just inside. “Sir.”
“You know I’ve asked you to call me Kemir,” I said with a groan as I entered with Tanya by my side. Not that Octavium would pay attention to my request this time, considering he’d ignored my request for the past two-hundred years already. His family had worked for mine for over a thousand years, and he saw opening the door and bowing as his solemn duty.
He bowed again. “As you say, Sir.”
Tanya snickered, but her laughter died abruptly when she saw Jenny standing across the large, open foyer. “Oh, my God!”
Leaving me, she rushed toward her friend.
The two women hugged and wept, while Drek and I stood staring with equal bemusement, praying we could comfort our mates, yet knowing they needed this moment with each other.
Drek came over to stand beside me.
“Ran into Jarik on my way here,” I said.
My brother nodded, though his eyes never left Jenny.
“He said there were issues.”
A growl rumbled in Drek’s chest. “The holy ones are concerned, because I’ve brought a surface dweller here, let alone as my mate. They said that her being able to reach our valley shows we have a big problem, despite the Lifegiver’s likely intervention on Jenny’s behalf. They think it’s due to the loss of the dragonstone heart.”
Which had been stolen, to the horror of our people. “It was the source of our magical protection.” Or so the legends claimed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever believed in the magic, though.
“The stone fed spells into the barriers erected by our ancestors, after they found this valley and settled.”
“I thought it was just a myth. No surface dweller could ever find their way through the vast network of passages. It’s too far a distance and too complex.”
“Yet here are Jenny and Tanya.” Drek’s glance my way shot concern through me like viper fire. One exhale of the creature’s acid could kill a man. “Ludar…”
The head holy man. “What did he say?”
The stark anguish in my brother’s eyes ground my breathing to a halt. “Ludar believes Jenny—and now, Tanya I’m sure—must be returned to the surface.”
“I’m not giving up my mate.” Hell, I’d just found her. Bonded with her. She was everything to me.
“I’m not losing Jenny, either. But we may have no choice. With the barriers down, Ludar believes more surface dwellers will come to Muraque.”
They’d never dare enter our city.
“They’ll hunt us, kill us,” Drek said. “Just as they did when we lived on the surface.”
“Impossible.” But was it? If Jenny and Tanya were able to come here, would others? These people would not respect our dragon way of life. They’d see us as prey. While we could well defend ourselves, we wouldn’t want to hurt others, let alone be hurt ourselves.
“I said the same thing to the holy ones.” Drek grimaced. “Shouted it at Ludar, actually, while a few guards held me back from wringing his neck.”
Due to an attempted coup two-hundred years ago, there was no affection between my brother and our head holy man. When Drek and I were fledglings, Ludar’s father had covertly tried to seize the throne. While our father had beheaded Ludar’s father, because of his betrayal, Drek and I had felt anger emanating from Ludar ever since. He’d risen up through the holy one’s hierarchy and seized religious power, rather than civil. The big question was: what would he do with this power?
Nothing good, for sure.
“It’s not happening.” I crossed my arms on my chest. Rage reverberated through my chest, and smoke must be curling from my nostrils. While I could rarely use my full dragon fire outside my beast’s form, anger had a way of loosening the barrier. “I will never give up Tanya.”
“We may have no choice. If Ludar convinces the other holy ones, they’ll incite the people, who will back them.”
I growled, and Tanya glanced my way, wiping tears from her face.
Drek continued in a lower tone. “They’ll take our mates from us, wipe their minds so they don’t remember our existence, and return them to the surface.”
“But our bonds.” We’d die if we were separated from our mates.
“Neither of us are married yet, so the bonds have not fully solidified.” Drek’s expression reflected the dark feeling taking over my soul. “If I know Ludar, he’ll send them away, and our bonds will be broken.”
Chapter Thirteen
Tanya
While I was excited to finally be back together with my best friend, Jenny, I couldn’t help noticing the heated conversation going on between Kemir and Drek.
Unease trickled down my spine. What was going on?
“I’m so excited Kemir found you,” Jenny said, clinging to my arm, pulling my attention back to her. She grinned Drek’s way. “Who would’ve thought something like this would happen to us when we fell into that hole in the back of the cave? We’ve fallen in love with dragons!”
“Not quite the bar hopping scene we expected after our day of caving.”
“Much better than that.” Giggling, she pumped her hips.
I laughed with her. Obviously, we were both getting a solid taste of dragon hoo-ha.
Her face
fell quickly, however. “I hope they find PJ soon, and that she’s okay.”
My heart ached for her, taking away a large chunk of the happiness about my bond with Kemir. How could I start a new life with someone I loved by my side, when I was uncertain about my friend? “Do you think they’ll bring her here when they find her?” I had to hold onto my certainty that they would find her. I couldn’t bear to think of anything else. “Kemir implied humans have never come to the city. I know us being mates makes a difference, though.”
“Drek promised he’d bring you both here before returning you to the surface. I…I’ll be honest.” She gulped. “I was not looking forward to saying goodbye.”
“Neither was I. I was thrilled when Kemir told me you were bonded to his brother.” If I’d had to choose between returning with my friends and staying here, I’d pick Kemir. Thankfully, I wasn’t in that position.
Smiling, Jenny laid her head on my shoulder. “Now that you and Kemir are together, you’ll stay here with him, and I won’t be the only human living in Muraque.”
“It’s wonderful.”
“Maybe PJ…” Jenny frowned and chewed on her fingernail.
“Will end up mated to a dragon, too,” I finished for her.
It was too early to think such a thing, especially when we didn’t know if our friend still lived, but who knew how this would turn out?
Kemir had mentioned that a spirit, the Lifegiver, had brought me to him, and who was I to think anything else? Maybe the Lifegiver was watching out for PJ, too.
“You and Drek live next door,” I said, nudging my head in that general direction.
“We’re neighbors! Wait until Kemir shows you around. This place is completely amazing. I’ve only been here a few days, but it feels like home already.”
I’d never thought I’d have a home outside one with my friends, but maybe…My attention drifted to Kemir, and I could see his love for me blazing in his eyes.
Yes, my home was here, with him.
HUNTED BY A DRAGON: Fated Dragon Series (Book 2 of 3) (DRAGON MATED) Page 8