THE BLACK DRAGON: Werewolves of Montana Mating Mini #7

by Bonnie Vanak

  The delicious torment continued as he stroked deep inside her. Justin kissed her, his tongue swirling in her mouth as his hard cock pumped into her body. She caressed the hard muscles of his back, toyed with the damp strands of his hair.

  The sweet pressure built higher and higher. Justin ceased kissing her, angled his thrusts. Ariel threw her head back, her mouth gasping. Almost there. Almost.

  Justin fisted his hand in her hair, forcing her to look at him. “My name on your lips, Ariel. Say my name when you come. Let go and open yourself to me.”

  She shook her head wildly back and forth, nearly sobbing with the need. Her body was no longer hers, it sang and hummed. Her back taut as a bowstring, she dug her heels into the grass.

  Shimmering on the edge of a climax, she opened all her senses. The darkness hummed, rising up to push through with each shudder of pleasure.

  She opened herself, and the tension blasted out of her core, shattering her into a million pieces, something dark and delicious bursting from her. Justin threw his head back, shouted her name as he bucked against her. Warm seed jettisoned into her. He kept pumping inside her until his muscles quivered and he collapsed atop her trembling body.

  Boneless with pleasure, Ariel fell back, gulping down several deep breaths.

  Once she’d wondered how she could have ever made a deal with such a devil of a dragon, and counted the days until he set her free.

  Now time slipped away too fast, and she didn’t want him to free her, only stay in his embrace, imprisoned by passion.

  A passion that would end all too soon when he spread his dragon wings and flew away, leaving her behind.

  15

  Three nights with Justin as her lover. Ariel never imagined making love could be so passionate and glorious.

  Or so heartbreaking, for she knew their contract had ended. Three days after it began, she was free to leave. So was he.

  She didn’t want lose him. The black dragon had instilled in her a sense of adventure and confidence she’d longed for all her life.

  Maybe they could find a new life together some place. Maybe if she showed him the Mage community where she and Leo once frequented before her mother died, he’d grow to like it.

  Ariel knew she could never fit into the world of dragons. They could never accept her, not after Leo’s cruelties. Dragons had long memories. They did not forgive easily, from what she’d read of them.

  Neither did Justin.

  The morning after their third night together, Justin made her breakfast of oatmeal with the fresh strawberries she loved. They ate on the terrace, saying little.

  Finally Ariel pushed away her half-eaten oatmeal. “I don’t want you to leave.”

  Surprise flared in his dark gaze. He sipped his coffee. “I can’t stay here.”

  The sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach surely wasn’t caused by oatmeal. She toyed with her spoon. “I suppose we should have this conversation about what you plan.”

  Up until now, her vacation from reality had been pure bliss, the nights spent tangling in passion with Justin, dreaming of a future with him. Why did the sun have to rise?

  “Everything we spelled out in the contract, Ariel.”

  Ariel. Not the endearments he’d been using. She sensed him distancing himself, which hurt. Last night she felt they’d grown so close to each other. Had it only been the passion, and now, in the light of day, he’d grown pragmatic?

  “I read it. You’ll allow me to live here, rent-free. But it’s your home.”

  Justin turned to stare at the distant red cliffs. “I don’t have a home. Except for the open sky. I’m a tumbleweed, little bird. I go where the wind blows me.”

  The quiet tone in his voice gave her pause. The fact that he was allowing her to stay, rent-free, was no shock. The fact he didn’t feel at home anywhere was a huge one.

  “I don’t know if I can stay here any longer.” She looked straight at him. “Not if it means going back to my old life without you.”

  For a minute she saw interest flicker in his dark eyes. Then his expression turned remote and distant once more.

  “We both have decisions to make. I have to get into that cave of dragons before I go. As for you, I know you can make it on your own, Ariel. You don’t need your father or anyone else.”

  If this was a pep talk, it failed, because she sensed the veiled intent behind it. He wasn’t exactly inviting her to join him.

  “Where will you go?” She felt proud of the steadiness in her voice, though her insides felt shaky.

  “I don’t know yet. Haven’t decided where.”

  She had to keep him here. Because as soon as Justin left, he’d take the light with him. She’d be plunged into the darkness of safe and comfortable once more.

  Having experienced love, and life, Ariel had no wish to let it slip through her fingers. Once Dell, her father’s assistant, called dragons beasts.

  He’s my beast.

  Ariel decided to take a leap of faith. “Why don’t you come with me on a road trip before you make up your mind?”

  At the Mage community, Justin could share the story of the dragon cave. The older Mages, like Vern, might have a clue on how to deal with the creature guarding the cave entrance.

  She had to tread cautiously first, and introduce Justin to the community. Let them get to know him, and what a good man he was. Not the dangerous dragon her father had warned them about.

  He set down the cup. “Road trip? You don’t want to fly with me, sweetheart?”

  The endearment and twinkle in his eye filled her with slight hope. But for this trip, a flying dragon wouldn’t suffice. She shot off a quick text to Vern, letting him know about Justin and the dragon cave. Vern could keep quiet about it. “We’ll take my car.”

  The adobe sign at the neighborhood’s entrance read Mystic Shores. Justin watched as Ariel inserted a plastic card into the keypad and punched a number. The iron gates swung open, and she drove through.

  “I have admittance here now.” She set the keycard down on her car’s console. “And soon I’ll have a job as well. One of the artists is hiring me to do online marketing for him. Social media and all that.”

  Cacti and sagebrush decorated the juniper-lined drive as they headed for the heart of the community. Justin whistled as elegant two-story houses came into view, each with plenty of space separating its neighbor.

  “Nice digs. Guess art pays well these days. Or do they make a nice side income from growing substances that Skins like to smoke?” He turned. “Is that why they’re so creative?”

  Ariel laughed. “Justin, behave. They’re actually quite nice and they practice powerful magick. Free-spirited, though they are fussy and controlled about whom they admit into their community. They aren’t crazy about outsiders, but they do welcome Others, even shifters.”

  “Ah yes, the lowly shifters. We can have table manners if we work at it. Not devour our prey whole. I know how to use a napkin.”

  “And you make a great lighter for a bonfire,” she teased back.

  He’d see what this place had to offer, what kind of Mages lived here, but most Others feared him too much to be truly friendly. Over breakfast, he hadn’t wanted to express interest in Ariel living with him. He couldn’t offer her a future, a comfortable lifestyle she wanted.

  His life was filled with too much uncertainty. What if he did something to hurt her, the way he’d killed his parents?

  But damn that tiny flickering candle of hope that promised maybe they could stay together. Hope was great when you had nothing else to cling to.

  Hope sucked when someone crushed it like a bug.

  “This place, it’s safe for you?” He didn’t want her venturing into a community where she wasn’t welcomed.

  “Safe? I suppose. Magick doesn’t protect you from all the bad things that happen in the world.”

  “Like car accidents.” How well he knew that.

  “When my mom died, it was a long time before I could let go.
My father said I didn’t talk for months afterward. I don’t think it was only the car accident. It was something else. Something to do with dragons.”

  Dragons. His chest felt tight. “A dragon caused the accident? Did Leo ever elaborate?”

  “No. A few years later, when I was adult enough to research it, I tried to find any witnesses. The official police report said the car ran into a tree. No reason why.”

  “What do you remember?”

  Ariel’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel as she made a right turn. “All my memories of the accident are gone. I guess it was the shock and trauma of it. I looked through my mother’s papers to see if there was a reason why she would drive into a tree. I found nothing.”

  Ariel pulled into a long, curved driveway before an elegant two-story house with sparkling windows, a rock garden with succulents peppering the beds, and double glass doors. One wall was a mural featuring birds in flight. As she parked the truck, a thin, elderly man with iron gray hair down to his shoulders came outside. He had rheumy blue eyes. Kindness shone in them. The man wiped his paint-stained hands on a cloth. Ariel smiled at the man.

  “Justin, this is Vern, the artist I told you about. Vern, meet Justin. He’s a dragon.”

  Justin shook hands with the Mage. Vern gave him a long, thoughtful look. “Please come inside.”

  After a tour of Vern’s impressive studio, they sat in the living room with tall glasses of iced tea. Vern entertained them with stories of his days when he was an artist in California.

  “Moved here three decades ago when the community changed. All thanks to the black dragon.” Vern sighed. “No one wanted to live here before that. Place was dying off, but the dragon changed everything. Made it magick.”

  Dragons were appreciated here. Justin downed his tea. “Which black dragon was this?”

  Vern avoided his gaze. “Oh, I don’t remember rightly. A powerful one with a good heart.”

  He gave an appreciative glance around Vern’s living room and the oil paintings of children playing, and fairies flying through woods. Hanging over the fireplace hearth was a painting of a dragon in flight. Justin immediately recognized it.

  “Nice dragon,” he told the artist.

  “I painted a duplicate for a dragon named Alexander,” Vern explained. “It was his ancestor, Drust. He was supposed to be a powerful one.”

  Amusement filled Justin. “You have no idea.”

  The elderly Mage swirled the tea in his glass. “I’m glad you came back, Ariel. You’re always welcome here. Even if your pa avoids us.”

  Her brows knit together. “My father always told me your community banished him.”

  Vern sighed. “Not exactly true. He banished himself, and you with him.”

  But when Ariel pressed for answers, Vern changed the subject.

  “Nice to see a dragon again in these parts,” Vern said, glancing at Justin. “Dragons and Mages have always had good relationships. We need each other.”

  More confused looks from Ariel. “My father told me dragons and Mages are enemies.”

  “Some believe that. Some that had bad experiences in the past.”

  Then the old man shut up and wouldn’t talk about it anymore, saying he needed to return to his latest work in progress.

  They left Vern to return to the studio and went outside to walk around the neighborhood. Children played hopscotch on the street. A car approached, and instead of beeping at the children to move, it lifted into the air and went above them.

  Incredulous, he stared. Ariel laughed. “Now you know why I like this place. They’ve harnessed the magick of flight. They can make objects fly for a short time, only in this neighborhood, though. They did it to protect the children.”

  “How?”

  Ariel frowned. “That black dragon Vern mentioned.”

  “Does anyone know who it was?”

  “No. They’re all mysterious about the dragon. All anyone will tell me is that years ago a black dragon endowed the community with magick. She was friendly with the Mages and it made her sad to see the neighborhood was dying off. No one wanted to live here anymore because there were no jobs, no sources of income and the artistic spirit had withered.”

  Some dragons weren’t generous with their magick, preferring to hoard power much as they hoarded gold. “How exactly did she give her magick to the community? Did anyone elaborate?”

  Ariel reached for his hand. Her palm felt warm and soft, and he recalled her hands skimming his scarred back last night as they’d made love.

  “I think it had to do with transference of crystals. Crystals were placed in areas around the community that became like power substations.”

  If this was a Mage community that welcomed dragons, maybe he could stay. Justin felt torn between wanting to head back to his Harley and ride off into the sunset, dragon on the run, and staying with Ariel. Beautiful, whimsical Ariel who adored flying and laughed when she climaxed in his arms.

  Making a home, a real home, for both of them.

  They came to a house where a father stood outside on the lawn, watering it, as children frolicked in the spray. Glitter shot from the hose. Fascinated, Justin watched the blades of grass turn rainbow colors.

  Ariel laughed with delight as she ran her hand beneath the colorful spray.

  “I saw them do that last week. I loved watching the kids trying to catch the colors.”

  Justin grinned. He could understand her longing to be part of this community. Peace and harmony radiated from these homes, a sense of real serenity he envied. No complications of dragon politics or dragons with twisted senses of revenge.

  Or Mages with warped minds like her father. Perhaps that was why Leo had been banned from this community. He doubted they would tolerate her father’s methods of extracting magick.

  After walking down the sidewalk a while, they came to a neighborhood park. Justin sat on the bench, watching the children play on the swing sets and the slide. An older man held a baby in a pink dress at the top of the slide. The air shimmered with magick, then the baby floated down the slide, gurgling with delight and clapping her hands. The father beamed at her as if she’d accomplished an amazing feat.

  “Ariel, you’re here. I stopped by to visit and you were gone. You should have told me you were coming here.”

  Justin turned and saw a tall, thin young man wearing glasses and an earnest expression. His good mood vanished as if someone poured ice water on him. He disliked that proprietary tone of voice, as if Ariel belonged to this man.

  “Parker?” Ariel paled. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in Seattle with my father.”

  “I arrived yesterday.” He peered at Justin. “Who’s this?”

  “Parker, this is my friend Justin. Justin, this is… Parker. A family friend.”

  Justin forced himself to be polite and shake the man’s hand. It was wet and limp, like pale dough.

  “Are you a Mage?” Parker peered at him as if studying a new species of insect.

  “Dragon shifter.”

  At those words, the other man turned away, ignoring him. “Ariel, what are you doing with him? I thought you’d accepted my proposal of marriage.”

  Someone must have slammed a fist into his stomach. Surely that was the reason he felt suddenly ill. Justin stared at Ariel. Explanations would be good.

  She turned away. “Parker, I told you, I’d give you my answer by next week.”

  “I’m the impatient sort, my dear. I can’t wait. I’m buying a home so we can set up housekeeping, Ariel.” Parker pushed his glasses up his nose. “For when we marry. As long as you’re here, let’s go see what I bought for us.”

  Justin shouldered up to the Mage. “The lady said next week. You’re assuming a lot.”

  All his instincts went on full alert. Even if Parker wasn’t competition, the Mage smelled off, like chicken going bad. He wasn’t here for the sense of community, but the magick and the power. No matter how much money Parker Covington had, it couldn
’t buy him magick.

  “I don’t know if I want to marry you,” Ariel muttered.

  Parker continued to ignore him. “Ariel, my dear, be sensible. Marriage to me is your only option. Who else would want you?”

  Her lower lip wobbled. Justin wanted to punch Parker in the jaw. I would.

  “Marry me, Ariel, and you’ll have everything you wanted. Safety, security.” Parker puffed out his chest. “Babies, lots of them. We’ll have a family.”

  He winked. “You’ll enjoy making babies with me, my dear.”

  The thought of Ariel having sex with this despicable snob enraged Justin. He struggled to leash his rising temper.

  “Why would she marry an arrogant snob like you? She’d be better off living on the streets,” Justin snapped.

  Parker’s gaze turned sly, his lips curled upward. “What right do you have to offer your opinion, lizard?”

  Others stopped playing with their children and started to gather around, watching with uneasy expressions. Justin didn’t care. Lizard? The insult stung.

  He narrowed his gaze. “What did you call me?”

  “Justin,” Ariel started.

  “This is a community of artists and writers and Mages who create. You’re a dragon. All you know is how to kill.”

  That did it. Justin went to hit him, and Parker ducked. Pure rage engulfed him. Justin blew out a breath and orange flames leapt onto the grass, burning it to smoldering ashes. Just as quickly he realized his mistake and waved a hand to extinguish the flames.

  Too late. They saw what he’d done.

  Justin offered a weak smile. “Forgot to gargle this morning with mouthwash.”

  No one laughed. Only Parker had a satisfied smirk on his thin face.

  Ariel’s gaze widened. “I…I didn’t know you could do that in Skin.”

  He turned away. “Most dragons can’t.”

  But he wasn’t like most dragons and they both knew it. Her father had altered his chemistry and his powers. He knew how to destroy, not create art and beauty. Even amongst those who posed no threat, and invited creativity, he could only tear down instead of build.