by Cara Wylde
“Right,” she said out loud while slapping her rosy cheeks lightly. “I have to get out before I fall asleep.”
With great effort, she stood up and let the water run down her body before she stepped out of the tub and reached for the fluffy towel. She looked at herself in the mirror and took her time to study her body like she had never done it before. Small, perky breasts, rather narrow hips, delicate waist, and long legs. She hoped Eric would like what she had to offer, then wondered briefly what Viggo’s type was. She bit down on her lower lip, nearly drawing blood.
“Bad thoughts, Lily,” she whispered to herself. “These are very bad thoughts.”
Still, she couldn’t help but run a hand from her swan neck, down to the roundness of her breasts, brushing over a hard nipple, then lower, down her tout abdomen and smooth, creamy mound. She closed her eyes and imagined it was Viggo’s hand. She felt a bit guilty for thinking about him instead of her future husband, but the truth was it was impossible to fantasize about a man she had never met. She didn’t even know what Eric Drekinn looked like. She slipped a finger between her folds and teased her clit. Tomorrow, if Eric liked her enough to decide to stay awake and claim her as his bride, she would finally become a woman. A shiver ran up her spine and she snapped her eyes open. In the mirror, she could see there was more fear in them than excitement.
Delyse dried herself as best as she could, brushed her hair, and slipped in a white, satin nightgown. She went back to her bedroom, intent on trying to read for another hour or so until she fell asleep. She didn’t particularly feel like reading, but it was better than simply lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and letting her young, horny mind wander. She didn’t want to think about the next day, either. The total solar eclipse would start at noon, and she would have exactly 11 minutes to convince him not to fall into hibernation again. Somewhere, deep down, she wanted to fail, but most of the time, she didn’t allow herself to think about it. If she did, there was the serious danger of convincing herself it was better to fail, and that would’ve been selfish and wrong. She had to think about Clan Drekinn, about her father and the peace treaty. And she had to think about her future. If she failed, then Astrid, Finn, and Viggo would probably return her to Alma Venus. Why not? They wouldn’t need her anymore. They would probably try to buy another bride for Eric, and hope she would have more luck on the next total solar eclipse.
Delyse shook her head, trying to chase away some of the thoughts. Whether she thought about Eric, Viggo, her father, or her future, the only thing she managed to do was to increase her levels of stress. She had even lost a few pounds in the last months due to the constant stress and worries. It had to end. One way or another, it had to end tomorrow, and she would do everything in her power to make it end well for everyone. Delyse wasn’t Avelyn. She knew how important it was to keep her cool and do exactly what she had been prepared to do. She had accepted her fate a long time ago. She had always known she wouldn’t be allowed to love whomever she wanted, that she’d have to make the best of her destiny and try to love the Alpha who would buy her.
She slipped under the thick duvet and grabbed the book she had placed on the nightstand. While she had been having dinner with the others, a maid had unpacked her things and arranged them neatly where she thought they belonged. The girl had stacked the few books Delyse had brought with her on the desk, next to her laptop, so all Delyse had had to do was choose the one she wanted to read first. As she leaned against the pillows and opened the book, a soft knock made her sigh and close it back again. She was so comfortable that she really didn’t feel like getting out of bed to answer the door. Another soft knock.
“Just a minute!”
Barefoot, she padded across the wide floor covered in a thick, fluffy carpet, and made sure her nightgown didn’t reveal anything. It was probably Astrid, anyway, wanting to make sure she had everything she needed. It couldn’t have been the maid, since the servants only came when someone rung the bell. She opened the door widely, and her heart jumped when she saw Viggo standing in front of her.
“Oh! It’s you… I… I’m sorry.” She stepped aside to let him enter the room if he so wanted, then wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she had had the inspiration of throwing the bathrobe over her bare shoulders.
“No, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have turned up unannounced.” He wanted to enter the room, he really did, but he hesitated. She was so beautiful. He couldn’t take his eyes off her creamy skin and soft, freshly washed hair. She smelled like pure spring. “I didn’t mean to bother you.” Now that he was here, in front of her open door, he had no idea why he had come in the first place. He was pretty sure he had gone over what he wanted to say to her some minutes ago, but his mind was embarrassingly blank.
“Not at all.” Delyse managed a smile. She took another step back, hoping Viggo would eventually decide to come inside. “I was reading, getting ready for bed.” Why was he looking at her like that? Maybe it was rude of the Fyrstur’s future bride to chat with the Annarr over the threshold of her bedroom door while wearing only a satin nightgown? Then, why had he come? “Oh! I love the bathtub! I just had to tell you. I’m more of a bath person than a shower person…” Now she was babbling.
Viggo smiled and finally decided it wouldn’t hurt to go inside just for a minute. No one would know, and even if they did, they would never think badly of him or Delyse. He closed the door behind him.
“I’m glad you like it.” He looked around the room. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach when he saw some of her things lying around, showing the place belonged to her now. Then, the pleasant feeling turned to pain when he remembered that Eric would be the one who would enjoy her presence, who would get to taste her skin and run his fingers through her long hair. Eric would be the one to take her innocence in the four-poster bed in the middle of the bedroom.
“Oh, I love it! Really! Not only this room, but this whole place is amazing.”
They were silent for a while.
“Err… was there something you wanted to tell me?” she eventually asked.
Viggo struggled to snap out of his reverie. His feelings were so erratic that they almost made him ill.
“Yes… I mean, no.” He rubbed his right temple, then smiled and looked her in the eyes. “I just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable and have everything you need. You probably figured out that if you need anything, you just have to ring the bell and a maid will be here in no time, but I wanted to… you know, make sure.”
“Oh. Yes, I’m more than comfortable. Thank you.”
Viggo nodded. “Good. Good.”
Delyse bit the inside of her cheek. Even though he had gotten what he had come for, he was still standing awkwardly in front of her, giving no clue that he was ready to turn around and leave.
“So… tomorrow at noon,” he said.
“Yes. Exciting, isn’t it?” She forced another smile, but she was painfully aware that it didn’t look genuine.
“Yes. It’s going to change everything,” he agreed.
“Change. Change is good.”
“Mhm…”
Another minute passed, and the tension had grown so thick between them that they could probably cut it with a knife. She tried not to stare at his strong chest and muscled arms, but it was almost impossible. The black T-shirt he had on hugged his body in all the right places. It was so tight on his abs, that Delyse could see the perfect, tout squares. Oh, and his black jeans! So deliciously tight on his round, inviting ass. Black went so well with his dark blond hair, trademark dragon golden eyes, and fair skin. How could she possibly look away?
Viggo exhaled slowly. Delyse still had her arms wrapped around herself, and now he was pretty sure she was trying to cover her breasts. After all, it was never a good idea to go bra-less in the presence of a horny dragon-shifter. Of course, she couldn’t tell he was horny. She didn’t have the sharp senses he had. But he had smelled her arousal the moment she had opened the door. He wondered if she was wearin
g anything else underneath that white nightgown. Panties or no panties, he could tell her pussy was soaked, and there was nothing he wanted more than to taste her. “Crap,” he thought. “Being a shape-shifter sucks so much sometimes.” What did it mean, though? That her body gave off so many pheromones…? Was she attracted to him?
“So… good night, I guess?” She dared break the silence. If he didn’t go soon, she would surely do something stupid. And irreversible.
“Yes. You’re tired, of course.” He wanted to turn around, hesitated, clenched and unclenched his fists, then stepped closer to her, slipped a hand behind her neck, and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
Delyse didn’t know how to react. What was happening? What was he doing? This was insane! His lips touched her skin ever so slightly, and her whole body tingled with desire. Her eyes grew as big as saucers, and her fingers ached to rest against his bulky chest, but she managed to control herself. It didn’t last long. Less than a second, and Viggo was by the door. He had used his shifter speed to put much needed distance between them.
“Good night, Delyse. Sleep well,” he said. “Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”
“Good night,” she whispered.
And he was out. Closing the door behind him, he cursed under his breath: “Damn it! What was I thinking?” But he knew what he had been thinking. He knew why he had come to her room this late. It was the last time he would see her like this: free, innocent, untouched. Tomorrow, she would belong to Eric. Tomorrow, Delyse would be another woman, a woman he would have to force himself to forget one way or another.
CHAPTER THREE
Marked by the Dragon
Delyse had barely been able to sleep that night. She had tossed and turned, woken up to drink water and pace the room, then tried to read until sleep finally took her around 5 in the morning. Her mind had been the battlefield of a thousand thoughts and questions. What did Viggo’s gesture mean? Did he feel the same? Maybe he was just treating her like a little sister… Then Eric. What would happen the next day? What if she failed? Did she want to fail? No, no way. She liked it here. She didn’t want to go back to Alma Venus. She wanted to build a life here, be friends with Astrid and Finn. There was nothing waiting for her at the boarding school, except for Claudia. But Claudia would soon be bought too, and she’d have no more friends there. Everything had worked so well in the end for Avelyn and Amelia, so why wouldn’t it be the same in her case? Avelyn had hated her husband, Max Blackmane, at first. Now, they were the perfect couple, and they had three wolf pups. Amelia had fallen in love with the Beta and discovered the Alpha who had bought her was actually a woman. In the end, Amelia had become the Alpha of her clan, married the Beta, and stayed best friends with her fake husband, who was now the first woman councilor. Every time Delyse thought about her friends, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing. It was all too surreal. What were the odds? But if they had managed to deal with the strange situations they had been faced with and make them work for them, then surely Delyse could do the same.
“Why can’t things ever be simple?” she asked herself as she was adding extra layers of clothes over the long, cute dress she had chosen for Eric.
Oh, and she had also worried about the journey to the glacier. When her mind had gotten tired of thinking about Viggo and her friends, it had wandered to the most insignificant details of her meeting with her future husband. It would be really cold outside, and even colder inside the glacier. With so many layers of clothes on her, Eric would be lucky if he could see her face. Maybe she would freeze to death before she and Viggo reached their destination, and then this whole mess would be over and she wouldn’t have to worry about a thing ever again, because she would be oh-so-conveniently dead.
She huffed and started looking for something to cover her head with. Someone knocked on the door and she told them to come in without even bothering to ask who it was. Astrid closed the door behind her and immediately burst out in laughter.
“What in heaven’s name are you wearing?! Oh my God, you look… you look like a big, fat, overstuffed turkey!”
Delyse turned around in anger, ready to give the blonde dragon girl a piece of her mind, but when she saw Astrid laughing so hard that she had to hold her tummy, she couldn’t help but be amused at the situation.
“Well, thanks! Best compliment I ever got. So charming you are…”
“I just…” Astrid coughed when she lost her breath for a second. “I’m sorry, but this is too good. I have to take a picture before you change.”
She took out her smartphone and snapped three photos before Delyse even had time to blink, much less catch up with what was happening. Dragon-shifters and their supernatural speed…
“What are you talking about? No way am I going to change. In three hours, I’ll be inside a friggin’ glacier!”
“Yeah! Just in time to scare Eric back into hibernation. He might like stuffed turkey, my dear, but on his plate, not in his bed.”
Delyse folded her arms over her chest in defiance.
“And what do you suggest? If I wear anything else, I’m gonna freeze to death the second I step out of the palace.”
Astrid chuckled. “No, you won’t. What? Did you think Viggo was going to make you walk all the way to Eric’s lair?”
Confusion flickered in Delyse’s blue eyes.
“Oh, you poor, adorable soul,” Astrid cooed. “You did, didn’t you? My stupid brother didn’t tell you he’s going to take you there on his back…”
Delyse’s eyes grew wide. “On his back? Like, he’s going to…”
“Turn into his dragon form, yeah. Lucky girl you are!” Astrid closed the distance between them and started helping Delyse out of her heavy clothes. “It’s not often he agrees to let someone ride him. And a dragon’s skin and scales are so hot that you’d better wear the lightest summer dress you have. Oh! This works!” She had gotten to the last layer, which was a long, white dress. The chest was covered in lace, and the long, bell sleeves were also made of lace. “Great choice! Eric will love it!”
Delyse blushed a little. It was silly, but it felt good to get compliments from a beautiful woman like Astrid. Viggo’s sister fiddled a bit with her hair, arranging it so it would cover her shoulders and breasts, then took a step back to admire her work.
“Perfect. Now, all you need is a big scarf to protect you from the wind, although I talked to Viggo and made him promise he wouldn’t fly too fast. When you get there, just make sure you wrap the scarf loosely around your shoulders and rearrange your hair just like it is now. The wind will ruffle it a bit, but hopefully it won’t be such a big deal.”
“Wow,” muttered Delyse. “You really pay attention to details.”
Astrid looked her straight in the eyes, her demeanor changing from light and playful to dead serious.
“It’s very important that he likes you, Delyse. Details make all the difference.”
Delyse didn’t say anything and let Astrid make the finishing touches by applying a bit of cherry lipstick on her plump lips and just a speck of blush on her cheeks. Apparently, Eric liked natural beauty, and Delyse was fine with that. She had never been a fan of heavy make-up, like Avelyn and Amelia.
She then followed Astrid downstairs and into the courtyard. It seemed like all the servants were there, curious to see the future Alpha bride of Clan Drekinn as she was preparing to bring their Fyrstur back to them. Finn wished her luck and Delyse offered him a smile, but that smile faltered when she saw what was waiting for her in the middle of the courtyard. Actually, who was waiting for her, not what. She knew the silver-scaled dragon from Alma Venus. She had seen Viggo in his dragon form two times during the battle with the rogue wolves and foxes, but now that she saw him up close and knew she was expected to climb up on his back, it was all too overwhelming. Astrid took her hand and dragged her to the dragon’s side.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be careful,” she encouraged her. “Just hold on tight and shield your face from the wind, oka
y? Use the scarf.”
Delyse wrapped the scarf tighter around her. It was really cold outside.
Astrid smiled. “You won’t be cold, I promise. Come on, touch him and see for yourself.”
Delyse’s heart jumped. Touch him? Touch the dragon? Touch Viggo? There was nothing erotic about it, and Astrid had meant it in the most innocent way, but Delyse couldn’t help but feel slightly aroused at the thought. It just felt so intimate… Viggo’s huge head turned to her, and Delyse stared in his big, golden eyes for a moment. God, was he scary! She knew he would never hurt her, and that he would handle her with care once she was on his back, but the sheer size of the noble reptile was incredibly intimidating. She couldn’t believe she was about to ride a dragon. Her hand reached out, and she pressed her palm to the dragon’s ribs. The silver scales were burning hot.
“Okay, up you go!” said Astrid.
“How?”
The beast was so tall that Delyse couldn’t see how she was supposed to get on his back. Then, Viggo extended his right claw towards her, and Delyse understood she was supposed to climb between his talons and he would place her on his back. It wasn’t an easy task, and Astrid had to help her.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she whispered. The dragon-shifters probably heard her, but no one said anything. She just hoped she didn’t look like a fool. She hoped they couldn’t tell how frightened she was. Because of the ride ahead too, but mostly because of what was waiting for her inside that glacier.
Viggo propelled himself into the air, and Delyse had to hold on tight. The wide, leathery wings flapped with amazing strength until they were high up in the sky, then the dragon let his immense body float for a while before flapping his wings again. Delyse had thought it would be great to see the island from up there, but she soon realized it was kind of impossible. She was too busy holding onto Viggo for dear life and holding the scarf around her shoulders and head. From the palace, the glacier had seemed to be so far, but they didn’t fly for more than fifteen minutes. It was enough, though. Delyse couldn’t have been more grateful when Viggo landed and helped her down. She appreciated the feel of solid ground under her feet.