Claimed by the Dragons

by Cara Wylde

  Three weeks. Three weeks had passed, and Delyse had managed to stay away from Viggo. Even when all three of them had to go somewhere, she could will herself to avoid his gaze and position herself in such a way that Eric was always standing or sitting between them. At some point, her husband asked her if she and Viggo were all right. Delyse had smiled and answered: “Yes, why wouldn’t we be?” Eric had cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged. Delyse had thought it was better for Eric to believe she hated Viggo than suspect the truth. And what exactly was the truth? Well… the truth was she couldn’t get the Annarr out of her pretty little head. Moreover, she had started having dreams about him. Indecent dreams, to say the least. She wasn’t worried until she had one that involved both Viggo and Eric. What was wrong with her? She spent the next week pretending Viggo didn’t even exist. When she was with Eric, it was easy to forget the Annarr. Her husband was a passionate lover, and every time they had sex, he made sure to blow her mind and leave her breathless. There was never much cuddling afterwards, which made Delyse sad and a bit dissatisfied, and when Eric was particularly hard, fast, enthusiastic, and out of the bedroom in 30 seconds, Delyse would curl into a ball and wonder: “Would Viggo stick around to hug me?”

  She managed to be a loyal, faithful wife for one month straight before destiny decided to have its way with her and Viggo. They met in Eric’s office. She was looking for him, wanting to suggest they went out to dinner in town for a change, and he was behind his Fyrstur’s desk, studying some files and getting ready to make some phone calls. He had been so absorbed by his work that he completely missed her scent when she walked down the corridor and approached the office. By the time he snapped out of it, it was too late. She was already pushing the door open.

  “Oh!” she gasped. “I… I didn’t expect you to be here.” She stood in the doorway, unsure if she should leave or enter the office and close the door behind her. “Where’s Eric?”

  For a moment, Viggo allowed himself to be entranced by her blue eyes, soft blonde hair, and the way her perky breasts looked under the thin, flowy fabric of her dress. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

  “Went out for a walk,” he managed. “Fresh air… He’s been working too hard.”

  Delyse nodded.

  Viggo closed the file he was reading and stood up.

  “Come in. You can wait for him here while I go find him.”

  Just as she closed the door, she saw Viggo coming towards her with the intention of going past her and leaving the room. She swallowed heavily and stopped him.

  “No, it’s fine,” she said. “Since we’re here, I wanted to tell you something.”

  Viggo stopped a few steps away from her. The fresh, fruity scent of her white skin was already giving him an erection. He wanted nothing more than to spend a couple of minutes with her, in this room, but he knew it was a bad idea. A very bad idea. The relentlessness with which they had been avoiding each other had only made things more difficult, the attraction more unbearable. He wanted her. So, so badly. And she wanted him too. He could smell the wetness between her thighs as she shifted from one foot to the other.

  “Okay…”

  Delyse looked at his handsome face and crossed her arms over her chest when she realized her nipples were getting hard.

  “I wanted to tell you… that I’m sorry.”

  Confusion danced in Viggo’s golden eyes, and Delyse felt her knees go weak. “My God, he’s too hot, and sweet, and gorgeous for his own good!” she thought.

  “What for?”

  “For treating you the way I did in this past few weeks. Like you didn’t exist… I’m sorry. This is not the person I want to be. You’ve helped me so much, brought me here… If it weren’t for you, if you hadn’t started this whole thing, the Council would have never reconsidered my father’s research, and my father would have probably never had the courage to try again.”

  Viggo sighed and hung his head, incapable of looking into her eyes.

  “I want us to be friends,” she continued. “It’s hard, you know… I thought that if I avoid you, if I never talk to you, it would get easier. It would pass… It’s not working.”

  He smiled bitterly. “I know.”

  They were both silent for a long while.

  In the history of humanity, probably one of the things that hurt most was for two people to face each other and decide to be friends, just friends and nothing more, when they were both painfully aware of the love they felt. And in that moment, they wanted to believe that love didn’t last forever, anyway. That it lasted for only two-three years, and then faded and turned into something else: friendship, routine, duty. They wanted to believe that cliché, and they couldn’t. There was one truth, and one truth only: if they stayed friends, they would carry the wound, the regrets, and the “what-if”s to the end. It would never get better or easier.

  “I’m sorry…” said Viggo, even though he didn’t know why. He let the words hang in the air while he looked deep within his soul in search of an answer. What was he sorry for?

  Delyse nodded, oblivious to the fact that he was still lost in thought.

  “If my father finds the cure, then I’ll get to spend close to an eternity with Clan Drekinn. It won’t be that bad, right? I’m happy with Eric, and I’ll be even happier when you find a bride. She’ll be the best, I’m sure of it. Alma Venus has some amazing young women, all you have to do is choose… Or, maybe, you could try some of the other boarding schools… I don’t know…” She was rambling and she couldn’t stop. “It would be so wonderful to see you happy… A bride, children…”

  “I’m sorry,” Viggo said again, this time looking straight into her eyes. He had found his answer.

  “Wha… what?”

  Two wide steps and his body was pressed against hers, one arm around her waist, and one hand cradling her head while he kissed her long, hard, and deep. Taken by surprise, Delyse wanted to push him away, but her body responded differently. She sunk her fingers into his messy blond hair and pulled at the strands as her tongue twirled around his. She could feel his rock hard cock on her stomach, and all she wanted to do was reach down and trace it through his tight jeans. His taste, his manly scent, the softness of his lips, and the rough scruff on his cheeks… everything aroused her. She was wet and ready. When he grabbed the back of her knees and lifted her up, she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist. She wasn’t thinking, she couldn’t think… It was love, lust, desire… the intoxicating taste of the forbidden fruit. And she couldn’t stop. She rolled her hips against his crotch and he growled deep in his chest, the dragon inside him wanting to claim the beautiful woman clinging to him like he was the only man in her life. He wasn’t. But he didn’t care, it didn’t bother him. Right now, there was only the two of them, and that was all that mattered.

  They broke the kiss, a string of saliva still connecting their lips.

  “Viggo…”

  “I’m sorry for this.” And he kissed her again.

  Delyse moaned and ran her hands down his back, pulling at his shirt, trying to scratch and get access to his skin. Her actions made no sense, but that was the last thing on her mind. Viggo held her up with one hand while the other sneaked under her dress. His fingers found her wet panties and pulled them to one side so they could sink into her wetness. She almost screamed when he buried one finger inside her pussy. He didn’t even have to do much. She was so close to release that she was sure she would climax if he simply moved his finger two or three times. The position was odd, but she managed to push her hips down and better impale herself onto his finger.

  They didn’t hear footsteps down the corridor. Viggo didn’t hear the sound of a heartbeat picking up the pace, and didn’t smell the anxiety coming in waves off a heated body. The door was pushed open and it was too late. Viggo removed his hand from under Delyse’s dress, and Delyse slid down his body until her feet hit the floor. She turned around to see Eric standing in the doorway, arms folded over his bulky chest, a straight expression on h
is face. Unreachable. Unreadable. She gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. She could still feel Viggo’s lips on hers, his taste on her tongue. Her pussy was more soaked than ever, her walls throbbing with need. It was so hard to focus, so hard to comprehend what was happening, when all she wanted was Viggo’s cock inside her. Or Eric’s. She didn’t care. Both. She wanted both.

  Viggo looked directly into his Fyrstur’s eyes. The two men fixed each other for a long while, but neither of them knew what was going on in the other’s head. The Annarr’s fingers were sticky, and he knew the other dragon had already smelled his bride’s sweet juices on him.

  When she realized no one was paying attention to her anymore, Delyse tried to snap out of her lust induced fantasies and get a grip of the situation. She looked at Viggo, then back at Eric. They were staring each other down as if they were ready to start a duel.

  “Eric…” she took a step towards her husband, but stopped when she couldn’t find anything to say. “Sorry?” But she didn’t feel sorry. “It’s not what you think?” But it was. It was exactly what he thought. She bit the inside of her cheek and tears welled up in her eyes. This was stupid. So stupid. She had gotten herself in the worst situation possible, and she had no idea how to get out of it. Whatever was happening now wasn’t fixable. There was no clean solution to it.

  “Eric… I… I love you.” She looked at Viggo again, afraid she might have hurt him. His face was just as expressionless as Eric’s. She took a deep breath. “You have to believe me. I love you. And I love him too. Just as much. I can’t explain it. I would do nothing to hurt you, nothing to betray your trust. I just… I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I love and want both of you. So, so much…”

  Oh shit. She had said it. She had finally admitted the thing she had been denying for weeks. How could a woman love two men at the same time?

  Finally, Eric looked at her, and his eyes softened. “I know.”

  Delyse blinked in confusion.

  “I’ve known all along.”

  “I don’t… I don’t know what you mean…”

  Eric stepped inside the office and closed the door behind him. It was time to tell them the truth. He had postponed it for too long, but then again… no matter how hard he had tried to get Delyse and Viggo together, alone, in the same room, these two squareheads had fought tooth and nail.

  “Lily, I can’t be exactly the way you need me to be,” he said. “I can’t give you everything. I love you, but I don’t know how to show it. I don’t know how to hold you, how to kiss you when we’re… not having sex. I don’t know how to be gentle and caring. I tried, but it’s just not who I am. I’m the Alpha of this clan and it has made me rough, and cold, and… all those years I’ve been asleep… things have changed so much. People today express their feelings differently, they’re more open and honest, they care less about how others might perceive them. I… I can’t quite grasp how it works… I’m at a loss. I’ve been at a loss since I met you and I understood that in those three years you and Viggo have waited for me, he had come to know you and understand you better than I ever will.”

  “You’ve known since the beginning?” Delyse was in shock.

  “I had my suspicions. Then I saw you kiss him…”

  “Oh God…” Now tears were running down her face.

  Both Viggo and Eric tensed when they saw her crying. Eric didn’t know if he should try to comfort her, given that he had no idea how to comfort a woman, and Viggo wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea to get closer to her, now that Eric was there. Eventually, Eric took her face between his big hands and wiped the tears with his thumbs.

  “Don’t cry, baby… It’s okay.”

  “No! No, it’s not! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” And she started crying harder.

  “Shh…” Eric took her into his arms and held her head against his chest as he looked at Viggo over her shoulder.

  Viggo relaxed when he saw there was no threat coming from his Fyrstur. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but things had taken an unexpected turn. A good one, to his huge surprise. He knew that look in Eric’s eyes. It was… appreciation, friendship… devotion. He gave Viggo that same look when the Annarr did something better than Eric, and the Fyrstur didn’t know how to thank him. It was weird, but it was happening, and Viggo was curious to see how it ended.

  Delyse kept repeating “I’m sorry” like a mantra, until Eric leaned over her small frame and pressed his lips to her ear.

  “No, you’re not.”

  She instantly lost her voice, choking on her own words. What was that in his tone? It sounded… wicked and mischievous. Was he making fun of her? Was he getting ready to punish her?

  “You’re not sorry, because you know what you really want. And I know it. He knows it.”

  A shiver ran up Delyse’s spine, making the little hairs on her nape stand on end. When Eric ran his hands down her sides, grabbed her hips, and pressed his erection against her belly, where Viggo’s had been just minutes earlier, she almost fainted.

  “I have an idea.” He licked the shell of her ear. “Why don’t you go up to our room and wait for us there, like a good girl?”

  All right, she was dreaming. Hallucinating. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. But then, Eric grabbed her shoulders and held her at arm’s length so he could stare right into her eyes and let her know this wasn’t a joke.

  “Lily, go up now.”

  Eric released her and she hesitated before heading to the door. She turned to look at Viggo, and the small smirk she saw on his lips sent even more chills running up and down her spine. When she wrapped her fingers around the doorknob, her hand slipped because it was too clammy with sweat. She realized she was sweating like she had a fever. When she finally made it on the corridor, the chilly air hit her and she understood why she had been sweating and trembling so badly. Two horny dragons could turn a room into a furnace. She made a mental note to open the windows wide when she reached the bedroom.

  ***

  Fifteen minutes. Delyse jumped off the bed and walked to the window. It had started to get a bit chilly in the room, but she ignored the goosebumps on her bare arms. She wasn’t sure they prickled across her skin because of the cold, or because of what was about to happen. But, what was about to happen, exactly? She sighed and leaned forward, elbows on the windowsill, to look at the island and the tall glacier in the distance, and let the wind play in her hair. The fresh, sharp air helped clear her head. Maybe she had gotten it all wrong, and Eric and Viggo were having a violent argument right now. She couldn’t wait to become a hybrid so she could hear just as well as the weredragons. Then again, if she had screwed up so royally, would that even happen anymore?

  So many questions. No answers.

  Thirty minutes.

  The soft sound of the door being opened and closed sent a jolt of adrenaline through her veins. She closed her eyes and waited for her heartbeat to slow down before she turned around. When she finally gathered her courage, she found herself facing the two men who had turned her life upside down and made her doubt her own sanity. Eric was leaning with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest in his trademark position, and Viggo was standing casually, a few steps in front of his Fyrstur, hands inside the pockets of his jeans. Delyse swallowed heavily and fought to keep her back straight. In reality, she wanted to curl up in a ball, far away from them, far away from this awkward situation she didn’t even understand.

  “Viggo and I go way back,” said Eric.

  Delyse nodded but wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean.

  “We grew up together,” said Viggo, shrugging his shoulders.

  “He took care of Clan Drekinn better than anyone could have. Sometimes, better than me.”

  Delyse watched Viggo as he crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She threw Eric a confused glance. Eric smiled. It was the sweetest, most casual and easygoing smile she had ever seen on his lips.

  “I think the
point I’m trying to make is that you can have both of us, if you want. You can have anyone and anything you want, Lily. If it weren’t for you and Viggo, who found you and brought you here, Clan Drekinn would have eventually fallen. I know I’m difficult and stubborn most of the time, but I’m not incapable of admitting and accepting the truth. He deserves you, you deserve him, and I think it’s time for me to take my responsibilities seriously and prove to both of you, and the clan, that I deserve to be a leader.”

  Delyse looked from one man to the other, blinking in disbelief. She couldn’t quite grasp the idea that Eric, the proud and egotistical Eric Drekinn, had just said those things.

  “I… I don’t know…”

  Viggo smiled and patted the spot beside him. “Come here.”

  Delyse hesitated. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach at those two simple words coming from him. “Come here.” They implied so much. Still, she didn’t dare move.

  Eric cocked an eyebrow, then walked straight towards her. His shifter speed made her head spin a bit, and before she knew it, she was pressed against his wide chest, and he was kissing her passionately while his fingers were running through her hair, combing it, spreading it over her back and shoulders. She moaned and let her palms rest on his collarbone. She was aware of his erection trapped between their bodies, and her pussy throbbed in response, her panties becoming wet again. When he broke the kiss, she looked up into his eyes, and the lust she saw there made her shudder.

  “Come,” he said, and took her hand.

  He guided her to the bed, and Delyse let him. When he made her sit down beside Viggo, she thought she would faint, but Eric sat down right behind her, as if to make sure she wouldn’t run away. As if she would… She had wanted this for too long, fantasized about having them both at the same time, woken up horny and drenched in sweat.