Guardian Dragons of Prospect Falls: (A Paranormal Shifter Romance)

by Serena Meadows

  He pulled his shirt over his head. “There are enough blankets on that bed to keep ten people warm. If I’m going to make love to you, we have to get rid of some of them.”

  “Michael,” Amy said, giggling. “Adam and Molly are right down the hall.”

  “Then,” he said, stripping the bed down to the sheets, “we’d better be quiet.”

  She giggled again, a sound he was coming to love. “We can’t, Michael; it’s the middle of the day,” she whispered.

  “You mean you can’t be quiet,” he said, stripping off his pants and crawling across the bed toward her.

  When he got to her, he grabbed her by the hips and flopped her down on the bed on her back, making her squeal. “See, I told you,” he said, grinning down at her.

  “That wasn’t fair,” she whispered, her eyes locked on his as the passion flared back to life.

  “Hmm,” he said, sliding her panties down, then stripping off the huge tee-shirt she’d been wearing. “Whoever said that I was fair?”

  Amy sighed when his hand found her breast. Her nipples hardened under his fingertips and his body began to throb with need. Covering her mouth with his, he kissed her, tasting and teasing, his teeth gently biting her lips as his hand slipped down her stomach between her legs. She opened them to him willingly, gasping when he slid one finger between her folds, her heat and moisture tempting him to bury himself inside her right then.

  She reached up and grabbed his shoulders and arched her back, spreading her legs wider as he took her higher and higher with gentle strokes of his finger. When she came tumbling over the edge, trembling and crying out his name, he slipped between her legs, grabbed her by the hips, and buried himself deep inside her. The moment they were joined, her eyes opened and locked on his, a look of pure ecstasy on her face.

  Dangerously close to losing what little control he had now that he was deep inside her, he waited, clenching his teeth, determined to make their joining last as long as possible. Underneath him, Amy began to move her hips, little movements that drove him just a little deeper inside her and made his body erupt with pleasure so intense, it was almost painful.

  With a deep groan of pleasure, he rolled over onto his back, taking Amy with him. She let out a little cry of surprise but straddled him, his pulsing member still buried deep inside her, then, eyes wide with the shock of fresh pleasure, she lifted herself off him, then sank slowly back down. He grabbed her hips and lifted her off again, then drove himself into her as she sank back down, her mews of pleasure reaching a place deep inside him.

  As she rode him, the rest of the world faded away, the spiraling pleasure consuming him, the feel of her welcoming body taking him higher than he’d ever been before. When she opened her eyes and looked down at him, her mouth slightly open, little cries of pleasure escaping her lips, his head swam with the love he felt for her.

  Desperate to feel her tumbling over the edge, he reached between them and found her pleasure button, and with his thumb, began to caress her. Her body stiffened immediately, her eyes widened with surprise, but in the next breath, his name came out of her mouth in a shuddering sigh.

  ***Amy***

  The hard knot of pleasure that formed deep inside Amy was like nothing she’d ever felt before, and looking down into Michael’s eyes, she understood that it was the love between them that fueled the passion they shared. But as it spread through her body, each pulse sharper than the previous, she felt something else too, a filling of a place deep inside her that wasn’t physical.

  Her body in control as Michael drove her closer to the edge, the thought left her mind, but not the feeling, as he held her balanced on the brink of release. Sucking in gasping breaths, whispering his name again and again, she finally tumbled over the edge, knowing that she’d taken more than just Michael’s body into her own.

  A part of him, a part that couldn’t be touched, had become a part of her, and it filled her with a warmth that radiated out of her with the pleasure he gave her. The force of his release was powerful when it came, taking her over the edge once again, and together, their bodies trembled and shook with pleasure. When she collapsed on top of him, a warmth in her belly she’d never felt before, her breath was coming in short gasps.

  Michael’s chest was heaving, his body covered in a fine sheen of sweat, but he managed to bring his arms up around her. They lay that way for a long time, the warmth in her belly fading until there was only a single nugget of heat vibrating deep within her. When he finally shifted her off him and onto her back, he leaned over and kissed her, then pulled her into his arms, her head on his chest.

  Amy had never felt as content as she did at that moment. Bathed in the warmth of the love they shared, she wished the moment could never end, but one look out the window reminded her that the world was waiting for them. It was still hard to believe that the man who held her in his arms, the man who made love to her so tenderly, was also the fearsome creature of her grandmother’s fairytales.

  She shifted in Michael’s arms so she could look up at him, and for a second, all she could do was stare at him as a wave of dizziness washed over her. But it passed almost as quickly as it had come on, so she ignored it. “Michael, were those demons out there?”

  He nodded, then asked, “Did you have time to read the entire story when you were at the bookstore the other day?”

  “No, I’m afraid I’m a bit out of practice,” she said. “I’d only gotten as far as the witch showing up in the village.”

  “Well, according to the story, after being rejected by the village, the witch cursed it with the demons. The only problem was that the demons got away from her,” Michael said.

  “That’s where King Arthur and Merlin come in,” she said, knowing the pattern of Arthur’s stories all too well.

  “Exactly, and when they discovered that only a dragon could kill the demons, Merlin created us,” he said, letting that sink in for a second.

  “Magic,” she said, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and making him want to kiss her. “What kind of magic? I mean I guess all that stuff is as real as you are.”

  “It gets a little tricky here; there are differing opinions about what the text says,” Michael said. “Some people believe that he turned a female dragon into a human and impregnated her; others think that he used his blood and a dragon egg. It’s not completely clear in the text.”

  Amy sat up and stared at him. “That would mean you have Merlin’s blood either way, right?” she asked. “This is all a bit confusing.”

  “Yes, I suppose that’s where some of our power comes from, but remember: over time, we’ve bonded with humans too, so some of it has been diluted,” he said.

  “Is that a bad thing?” she asked.

  “We’re just as strong as we’ve ever been,” he said, then a strange look appeared on his face. “Which reminds me; there is one other important thing I should tell you.”

  Amy didn’t like the tone of his voice. “You promised me there wouldn’t be any more surprises,” she said, glaring at him.

  He grinned at her. “Was the last one so bad?” he asked, then laughed when her face turned pink. “The thing is, when a human and shifter mate, the offspring are always shifters.”

  Amy took a second to digest that. “You mean we’ll have baby shifters?” she asked, wondering how that would work. “Little dragons flying around?”

  He laughed. “No, we don’t shift until we’re older,” he said.

  Amy let out a sigh of relief. “I was imagining...well...I just thought...” she trailed off, embarrassed. “I guess that’s rushing things a little.”

  “You never know,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “Would that be such a bad thing?”

  She looked up at him. “No, I think that would be wonderful,” she said, her entire body filling with happiness. “I’ve always wanted a family.”

  “Well, you might just get what you want sooner than later,” he said, kissing her on the forehead, a knowing tone in his v
oice.

  The warm spot deep inside her began to pulse gently as if it were responding to his voice, and she put her hand over her stomach. Her grandmother popped into her mind, a voice from the past that brought with it a memory and another flush of warmth. She knew that Michael was waiting for her to say something, but for a moment, she was speechless as the feeling of her grandmother’s presence washed over her.

  Chapter Twenty

  ***Michael***

  Michael felt Amy shiver and pulled her closer. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

  “I know this is going to sound strange, creepy I guess, but I feel like my grandmother is here,” she explained, looking up at him. “I have the same feeling I used to get when I’d climb into her arms and she’d tell me her stories.”

  “She approves,” he said, grinning down at her.

  “I guess she must,” Amy said. “Of course, she would; she loved stories about dragons and heroes, especially if there was a happily ever after involved.”

  “Well, I don’t know about the hero part, but we’ve got a dragon, and a happily ever after,” Michael said, kissing Amy on the forehead.

  “She had so many stories, of course, I think she made them up. I’ve never found any of them in my research,” Amy went on as if she was reaching for something. “The year before she died, she told me one I’d never heard before, about one of our ancestors falling under Merlin’s spell and giving him a son.”

  “There are lots of those stories out there,” he said.

  “But this was different,” Amy said. “She seemed to believe it. She said that our family had been trusted with one of Merlin’s treasures, that he’d seen far into the future and knew that the day would come when the world would need it.”

  “What was it?” Michael asked, his heart pounding in his chest.

  She shrugged her shoulders. “After she died and her house became mine, I searched everywhere, but couldn’t find anything except an old piece of paper with a strange poem on it. By the time I gave up, I think everyone thought I’d lost my mind with grief, and that might have been a little bit true, so I made myself forget about it.”

  He sat up and looked at her. “Amy, where did your grandmother live?”

  “England, why?” she asked.

  “Amy, at the end of the book, there’s a prophecy from Merlin. I’ve never met anyone from outside the valley that’s heard it,” he said.

  When the dragons can no longer fight the battle alone,

  I shall return, to give strength where strength is needed.

  I’ve laid the foundation, now you must build the house, for,

  I shall come not as myself, but as the source from which all life flows.

  Amy looked up at him, her eyes wide. “That’s it,” she said. “I’ll never forget the words. I thought about it for days, but it never made any sense to me.”

  “Sweetheart, you have no idea what this means,” Michael said, kissing her hard on the lips. “I never thought I would be part of the prophecy.”

  “Michael,” she said, her voice scolding. “You’d better explain to me what’s going on right now.”

  ***Amy***

  Amy was sure that she was scowling at Michael, but he didn’t seem to notice, making the big grin on his face all that more infuriating. But before she could scold him, a wave of dizziness hit her, and the warm spot in her middle felt like it was moving around. It wasn’t painful, just very odd, and she put her hand over it again, the scowl disappearing from her face.

  “I feel a little funny,” she said. “Like there’s something swimming around inside me.”

  Michael climbed out of bed and held his hand out to her. “Don’t worry, it will calm down in a little while.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked, letting him pull her into his arms.

  “Ask Molly,” he said, grinning at her.

  She looked down at her stomach, then back up at him. “But I can’t...we only...” her words trailed off as the truth sank in. “It’s too soon for that.”

  Michael grinned at her. “It only takes once,” he said. “I think we’d better go tell Adam and Molly what’s happened.”

  “What?” she cried. “We don’t even know if it’s true.”

  “It is,” he said, putting his hand over her belly. “Trust me, I know.”

  “Fine,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air. “Let’s go tell Adam and Molly.”

  Amy’s cheeks were flaming when they walked into the living room, and it didn’t help when Adam said, “Well, that took long enough.”

  “Amy’s related to Merlin,” Michael said. “She knows about the prophecy.”

  Adam and Molly both jumped to their feet. “What?” they asked in unison.

  She looked around the room, not sure exactly what she was missing. “My grandmother told me that Merlin fathered a child with one of my ancestors and that it was the child’s duty to protect a gift for the future. I looked for it after she died, but all I found was a poem written on a piece of paper.”

  “It was the prophecy,” Michael said, grinning down at her.

  Molly got to her feet and pulled Amy toward the kitchen. “We’ll just go check on dinner,” she said.

  As soon as they got to the kitchen, Molly asked, “Did it happen already?”

  “Michael says it did,” she answered, a bit stunned.

  “How do you feel?” Molly asked, studying her intently.

  “A little dizzy, and bubbly inside,” she said. “Like there’s something warm and fizzy inside me.”

  Molly clapped her hands together, then hugged her. “Adam says it usually doesn’t happen that fast, most couples have to wait years, but when the bond is strong, it always happens right away.”

  Amy backed into a chair. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this,” she said.

  “Ready or not, I think you're going to have a baby,” Molly finally said the words out loud.

  Amy started to panic, but then the sound of Michael’s voice drifted in from the living room, and then it faded. “Our baby,” she said, her voice full of awe.

  “A baby that will bring new strength to the guardians, and fulfill the first part of the prophecy,” Michael said, coming into the room.

  His eyes found hers, and the tenderness and love she saw there erased all the fear and confusion. She got to her feet and crossed over to him, wrapped her arms around his middle, looked up at him, and said, “I guess this means your mother is going to like me after all.”

  Michael laughed. “How about that? I picked a woman who’s not only beautiful but smart,” he said.

  “I hate to break up this happy moment, but maybe we should start thinking about getting out of here,” Adam said, walking over behind Molly and putting his hands on her shoulders. “I dug the car out and got it turned around, but I saw at least three demons when I was out there.”

  “So, we’re going to have to fight our way out,” Michael said, his body tensing.

  “I don’t see any other way. With all that snow, we can’t outrun them in the car,” Adam said. “And I don’t know if we’re dealing with the ramped-up demons or not. It’s hard to tell right now.”

  Amy was losing track of the conversation, something she was going to have to remedy soon, but she knew enough to know that Michael was going to fight those things again. “Isn’t there another way?” she asked, her voice shaking at the memory of that morning.

  He reached down and stroked her cheek. “I wish there were, but remember what I told you: this is what I was born to do. I’m a guardian, Amy,” he said. Then he leaned down and whispered in her ear. “But I’ll tell you a secret, one that I wish everyone knew: loving you has made me stronger, smarter. Those demons won’t know what hit them. You’ll see; it will all be over before you can blink.”

  “I love you, Michael,” she said, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I’m ready, just tell me what to do.”

  ***Michael***

 
; Michael opened the front door and looked out into the yard, trying to look more confident than he felt. He’d meant what he’d said to Amy: he felt stronger, smarter, as if she’d given a part of herself to him, but the crushing weight of the possibility of losing her was holding him down. He looked over at Adam, who was scanning the woods around them, the air around him crackling with power, and he braced himself for his shift.

  But he looked over at Michael instead. “Just do what you were trained to do; kill the demons and the rest will sort itself out. You’ve haven’t been given such a precious gift to have it taken away so soon. Have faith in your love and you’ll see that amazing things will happen,” he said, then with a crack, he shifted and took to the air.

  Michael wondered when Adam had gotten so smart, but when he looked behind him and saw Molly, he understood. He took one last look at Amy, blew her a kiss, then stepped outside, shifting at the same time, and joined Adam in the air. He watched the snow below him for the shimmer of the demons, his heart sinking when he counted six, and several more still in the trees.

  They’d waited too long to make their escape, and without Gabriel and Vincent’s help, it might be better just to try to wait the demons out. They’d be trapped in the cabin, but they’d be safe, and eventually, help would come, but as he turned for the cabin, he saw Molly and Amy come running out. Almost instantly, the demons caught their scent, and the air filled with the stench of rotten eggs.

  Amy got Molly into the car, but when she turned to run to the other side, a demon blocked her path, the slimy creature becoming visible only a few feet from her. He screamed a warning to Adam, then flew at the demon, knocking it off its feet and delivering a death blow. When he turned around, he saw Amy backed onto the porch, three demons surrounding her, and knew that he couldn’t save her alone.

  Screaming for Adam, he flew at the closest demon, but before he could get there, Amy put her hands out in front of her and screamed, “Go back where you came from and leave me alone.”