Captured Dragon (Water Dragons Book 2)

by Charlene Hartnady

  Paige turned the shower off and Flood listened to her dry off. She dressed quickly. “You can look,” she said.

  When he did, she was just pulling on an oversized hoodie. The garment was past her arms and she was just pulling it over her head. Her breasts thrust forward. By the tight nubs against the light blue cotton, he could see she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

  So much for losing his hard-on. Her breasts were full, her nubs tight and plump. He was no better than the humans who had lusted after her.

  “Is everything okay?” Her eyebrows drew together.

  “Fine.” His voice was deep and thick. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice how aroused he was.

  “Your turn,” she whispered.

  “You don’t have to…” he began, shaking his head.

  “It’s fine.’ She smiled. “I don’t mind.” This female was fucking clueless. There was no way he could handle her hands on him. Not a chance!

  There was no way she wouldn’t notice his throbbing cock. He’d scrunched the blanket over that part of his anatomy, trying to hide it, but there would be no hiding when she came closer. Moreover, the longer he stayed hard, the longer it would take for his dick to go down. “You can hand me the cloth and put the bucket close by and…” He tried to lift himself onto his elbows but couldn’t. “Fuck,” he cursed, as he fell back.

  It was a joke! A fucking joke. If he turned on his belly, he’d be able to do push-ups with his cock ‒ but he could barely lift his arm. He didn’t need his dick right now, dammit. The fucker wouldn’t go down though.

  Paige smiled as she brought over the steaming bucket of water. “Let me help you.” Her smile faltered as she kneeled down next to him. When she noticed his not so little problem.

  Shit!

  Bloody freaking hell! So this was why he didn’t want her anywhere near him.

  Flood squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I tried to warn you. To tell you that—”

  “It’s okay,” she blurted. Even though her cheeks felt hot. “It’s fine,” she added. “I understand. We spoke about this. It’s normal for a dragon, right? In this situation, isn’t it?”

  Flood nodded. He opened his eyes. “I can’t seem to help it right now. If I could take care of things, I would.”

  “Oh!” She felt her cheeks heat even more. Felt like a teenage girl all over again, which was stupid. She was thirty-one. She’d had her share of boyfriends and had even been engaged before. You would never say so looking at her now. “I could leave you the bucket if you need to…take care of things…if…”

  “No!” he growled. His voice a rough rasp. He cleared his throat. “I’m not whacking off.”

  “Why not?” Why was she still talking? “I could stand over there.” She gestured to the furthest part of the room. “I would keep my eyes closed.”

  Flood sort of smiled. “I appreciate the sentiment, but it wouldn’t help.”

  “Why not, I mean surely—”

  “I need to fuck.” His voice was thick and heavy. His crude words made her suck in a breath. “I don’t mean to scare you.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “It is what it is. No use in sugar-coating the fact. I will heal soon enough and then the worst of the urge will go away. Until then, this might happen often.” Then he groaned. “All this talk of sex isn’t helping the situation. You do not have to wash me. I will understand if it makes you uncomfortable, given the circumstances.”

  She smiled. “It’s fine. I’m not washing that part of your body though,” Paige joked.

  His eyes smoldered. Dark and intense. “I’m sure I can manage fine.”

  She wanted to tell him that it was a joke but decided against it. Instead, she got to work. Starting on his chest, careful around the puckered, pink scars. Then she washed those abs. She tried not to like it but how could she not? His skin was as soft as his body was hard. She’d never seen a man with a more toned, sculpted body. She washed his arms. Then refreshed the bucket and washed his legs and feet.

  “Is there any way you would be able to lie on your stomach,” Paige asked after toweling him dry.

  “I’ll try.”

  It took a couple of attempts where she pushed and he heaved before he turned over. Paige swallowed thickly. He had a broad, sculpted back and an amazing ass. Sheesh Louise, but she had to force herself to look away from those glutes.

  She washed his back down to those two dimples he had just above his ass. She tried really hard not to perve over said ass. Then she washed the backs of his legs, up his thighs, careful to avoid certain areas. His legs were squeezed tightly closed and he looked uncomfortable.

  “Let’s turn you back around,” she said, dropping the cloth into the bucket.

  “I think you might have missed a spot.” She could hear he was smiling.

  “You want me to wash your ass?”

  Flood laughed. It lasted all of three seconds. It sounded like he didn’t use those particular muscles very often. His laugh came out like a bit of a bark. “Hand me the cloth,” he said, all signs of the smile gone.

  She wrung it out and placed it in his hand. Flood grunted, making feeble attempts at cleaning himself. It was hard to believe that such a strong man was reduced to this. Then again, a couple of days ago he had been dead. So, it made sense.

  “Here.” She took the cloth, taking over. It’s just an ass. A gorgeous, perfectly sculpted ass but just an ass. As soon as she was done, she replaced the cloth near the towel and dried him off. “All done.”

  “Thank you.” He sounded exhausted. “I appreciate it.”

  It took a good minute to get him turned around. Flood cleaned the rest of himself while she turned to face the other way. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. This was such a bizarre situation.

  “Can I turn around?” she asked. “Flood?”

  She heard a soft snore and realized he was asleep. The blanket barely covered him and he still clutched the cloth in his hand.

  The other women were talking up the hallway. She couldn’t make out what they were saying. Their voices sounded animated. All of them broke into fits of laughter. They were oblivious to what was coming. To who they were dealing with. Like Paige had thought earlier, they probably thought that things were going to work out now that Alex was there. Paige hadn’t told them everything. She hadn’t wanted to worry them unnecessarily just yet. They had no clue! She and Flood had two days to come up with a plan. It wasn’t enough time. There was more laughter. Not nearly enough time.

  Chapter 13

  There it was again. Something nudged her foot. Paige opened her eyes and squinted against the bright light. It felt too early for it to be this light. Her brain felt foggy with sleep.

  “Well isn’t this cozy.”

  She sat up, eyes wide, adrenaline pumping, trying to see into the darkness behind the blinding beam of the flashlight, even though she knew exactly who was there. “Get out or I’ll scream,” she whispered.

  There was the sound of a gun cocking. It was harsh in the silence. “Go right ahead,” Tim sneered. “I don’t give a shit!” he whispered. “I’ll blow his brains out. I’ll say that the shifter came at me and I had to defend myself. I’ll bet there’s no coming back from a silver bullet to the head.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare! You’re supposed to leave us alone. Your boss needs the shifter alive. In fact, I doubt you’re allowed to be here.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you. Not tonight at any rate, so you can calm the fuck down.”

  She didn’t believe him. Not for a second. She held a hand up, trying to deflect the blinding light. Flood’s whole body had tensed up next to her. With a gun trained on them, there was nothing either of them could do. “What do you want? Why are you here then?” She didn’t bother to keep her voice down.

  “I came to let you know what I have in store for you.” She could hear that the bastard was smiling. Could picture the cruel grin that would be plastered on his face.

  “Cut th
e bull! You’re not allowed near me. Like I said before, your boss wants us alive. I met with her today.”

  “I can’t help it if that thing attacks you, can I?”

  What was Tim talking about? She didn’t like the mocking edge to his voice. “Flood would never attack me,” she shot back, feeling like an idiot for saying his name.

  “Oh Flood, is it? How sweet. You know its name.”

  “His name, you asshole!” She knew she shouldn’t taunt him but she couldn’t help herself, she’d taken enough of Tim’s bullshit.

  “I’m telling you that the shifter is going to attack you tomorrow night.” Her blood chilled in her veins as he spoke. “I will arrive to find it brutally raping you. I’ll kill it trying to save you but I’ll be too late. You’ll both be dead. Quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck about the stupid lairs and these mines. I don’t believe for a second these creatures are capable, that they have the knowledge and infrastructure to mine for gold and precious jewels.” He made a snorting noise. “It’s a bunch of bull crap.” She let Tim go off on a tangent. “I wanted you to know what’s coming, little missy. I want you to sweat over it. To know that I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to—”

  “No!” She could hear the panic in her voice. Why was he telling her all of this? Surely he must know she would tell Alex. Tell the others. They would put a stop to his evil plans. “I won’t let you do that to me…to us. I’ll tell anyone willing to listen. I’ll—”

  “That uppity bitch leaves first thing tomorrow. She’s back day after next. No-one’s going to listen to anything you have to say. No-one’s going to give a shit. The others know that once the boss gets the information she needs, we’re out of a job. The longer this search goes on, the longer we stay in work. Everyone is on board. Those cameras,” he pointed to the hallway, “are going to be switched off for an hour tomorrow night. I have forty-five to make it look like the shifter killed you. That’s forty-five whole minutes of play time with you.”

  Her heart was beating fast. This was bad! She forced the panic down. She needed to keep a cool head and deal with this rationally. “Oh, forty-five whole minutes you say?” She laughed, surprised at how real it sounded. “What on earth will you do with the other forty? Then again, I can’t see you lasting even five minutes.” She laughed some more.

  “That’s not fucking funny,” he snarled.

  “The truth hurts.”

  “Hey, Tim,” someone called from down the hall. “I can’t give you any more time. She might check the footage in the morning.” Shit! This whole thing was real. These guys were working together.

  “Nearly done,” Tim called back. “You’ll sing a whole different tune when my cock is inside you tomorrow.”

  “I might not even feel that pencil dick…and that’s if you can even get it up.”

  Tim lunged forward.

  “You need to leave now!” came the voice from down the hall.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow. He gets a bullet to the brain and then your ass is mine.” Tim didn’t wait for a response, he turned and left, slamming the cell door behind him.

  Paige could hear the women talking down the passage. “Is everything okay?” Hayley asked as soon as they were alone.

  “Everything is just fine,” she lied. “He came to check on the shifter.”

  “It sounded like you were fighting,” Sydney added.

  “He’s an asshole. I might have told him that.”

  There was the sound of laughing.

  “Get some sleep!” Paige yelled.

  “You too!” Sydney yelled back.

  Paige lay back down, looking up at the ceiling. Not that she could see much in the dark. Worry nagged at her.

  “You should not have provoked him,” Flood sounded angry.

  “I had to.”

  “You did not have to.” He ground his teeth. “He’s coming back tomorrow night. You heard him, he’ll shoot me and—”

  “I’m counting on him coming back and I’m counting on those cameras being off.”

  "Are you going to single-handedly fight that prick?" Flood was beyond pissed. His voice was a borderline snarl. "Because I'm not going to be of much use. If we're lucky I'll be walking by then, but I'll look more like a ninety-year-old human and will be just as fucking weak. I can't believe you did that. You need to get word to the slayer before she leaves tomorrow. She might be able to help you. Otherwise, we'll have to come up with some other plan. Fuck!" he growled the last, sounding frustrated.

  “You heard Tim. All of the guards are working together. They want us dead. They’ve worked out this plan. All of them. That bastard would never have had the opportunity to get to me tonight if it wasn’t true. We’re lucky he’s so sadistic. That he let us in on his sick scheme. He wanted me shaking in my boots. Shivering in the corner. Well, he can go and get stuffed. I’m not afraid, I’m angry.” She was shocked at how pissed off she felt. The emotion greatly outweighed any fear. “I’m going to use the information to our advantage. This way we can make it work for us.”

  Flood ground his teeth together. His body was like granite, he radiated frustration and tension. “How the hell can we make something like that work? I have no—”

  “We’re going to have sex.” There, she’d said it. She swallowed down the sudden lump that had formed in her throat.

  “Sex?” Pure shock dripped off the word. She was sure she heard his jaw drop after saying it.

  “Yes, sex. You said that sex will help you heal. It seems absurd, but if it will work. If we can get you healthy enough to take on Tim tomorrow night, then I’ll do it. We’ll surprise him and take him out.”

  “Twenty-four hours.” He sounded like he was thinking it through. She heard him swallow as well. “We’ll have to fuck half a dozen times. Are you up for that?” His voice was deep. She’d never heard anyone with a voice that deep. Even Vin Diesel had nothing on Flood.

  “Once…six times…what does it matter?” She couldn’t believe how calm she sounded even though her heart raced. Was she really doing this?

  “Says she who wouldn’t shower in the open cell. Someone might see us.”

  “You have supersonic hearing.”

  “Not when I’m about to come but…” He pushed out a breath. “That was crude of me. I’m sorry but I would rather be honest. My hearing might not work so well when I’m buried to the hilt.” She felt his words between her legs. Good lord! This wasn’t about pleasure. This was about achieving an outcome. That was it!

  “I’ll listen out then,” she mumbled.

  “Sure you will.” Flood was smiling. Why did he sound like he didn’t believe her? She must be reading this wrong. She couldn’t see his facial expression.

  “I will.” What was his problem?

  “Okay then. You sure about this?” he asked sounding unsure himself. “We can try to think of something else. There must be another way.”

  “Like what? You said it yourself, there’s no way I’m going to be able to overpower an armed man on my own. There’s a good chance you won’t be able to walk and even if you can, you won’t be of much use.”

  He pushed out a heavy breath. “Way to stroke a male’s ego.”

  “Sorry!”

  “No, you’re right.”

  She sighed. “Nope, there is nothing else. We have to get you strong and healthy. That means food, sleep and because you’re a dragon shifter, apparently lots of sex.” Shit! They were really doing this.

  Flood didn’t say anything for a couple of long seconds. She wondered if maybe he had changed his mind. “I can’t.”

  Oh crap! He had changed his mind. “Can’t what? Can’t have sex?” she quickly blurted, urgency evident in her voice. “Can’t or won’t? I mean, I know you can…but…”

  “Yeah, I can just fine and I think it’s a good plan, only, I can’t move. You’re going to have to do the work.” He sounded down. Like it was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

  “Oh!” She had to bite back a
nervous giggle. “Okay. I’m okay with that. Um…just to be sure, I need to check, I can’t get anything from you, can I? At least that’s what we were told. I mean, it’s not like we have condoms,” she whispered, her voice had grown softer as she spoke.

  “No. I don’t get diseases, so you’re good.”

  “Shew.” She pushed out a breath. “And I had a shot that prevents pregnancy, so we should be okay on that note.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Okay, so, this is awkward,” she babbled. “How do we do this?” She giggled. It was the nerves.

  “Um…” She could hear he was smiling. “I could give you a quick theory lesson, but—”

  She whacked him on the chest. In hindsight, that hadn’t been the best idea, considering she couldn’t see where he was, she might have hit him in the face or something.

  “Get under the blanket,” Flood said, “and get naked from the waist down…just a suggestion. Just so you know, you can change your mind at any stage. I will completely understand, and we can get to work on a plan B.” He sounded nervous, which strangely enough gave her confidence.

  She smiled. Okay fine. Get naked from the waist down. Do the deed. Once Flood was finished, she could clean up. Then they could sleep for a bit and rinse repeat. No big deal. None at all. “Okay then.” She got under the blanket and pulled down the zipper on her jeans. Undid the button and pulled them down, taking them off and folding them, leaving them next to the mattress. She wasn’t wearing panties. The pair she had been wearing were hanging on the cell bars drying, together with her bra. “Um, do you need me to…um…get you ready.” Her face felt flaming hot.

  “If by ready, I assume you mean hard?” Flood asked.

  “Yep.” She choked out the word.

  Flood swallowed. “No need. I’m ready. More than ready. What about you?”

  Paige squeezed her eyes shut, wishing the ground would open and swallow her whole. Oh god, just let this be over already.

  “You’re having second thoughts,” Flood began. “We don’t have to—”