Breathing Fire (Drakonian Chronicles Book 1)

by B. D. Snowden

  Maybe it would be best to be locked away from the two men she had come to care a great deal about. If Fafnir didn’t know about them, they would be safe. She had built the mental wall again, but it weakened each time she fell asleep, so she would have to reconstruct it when she woke up. She never knew that a mental battle could be so physically exhausting. She wanted to close her eyes and try to get some sleep, but she forced her body to stay awake until the men deposited her wherever they were going to leave her. She didn’t even care at this point where it was as long as it was away from Ladon and Ryuu—especially Ladon.

  Alexis felt great puffs of wind long before she saw the shimmering black wings of Ryuu. Ryuu landed and changed with graceful practice. Alexis knew that she should blush at the sight of someone she considered a close friend walking her direction completely nude. Both dragons seemed very comfortable in their nudity, a byproduct of their transformation, she supposed. Alexis wasn’t sexually attracted to Ryuu, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate a fine form when she saw one.

  Alexis watched Ladon strip in preparation for his transformation. Now her reaction to his nudity was a hell of a lot more than just appreciation of form. Her body suddenly felt feverish, and she couldn’t help but remember the feel of his hands and mouth on her body.

  When Ladon turned to give her a wolfish grin with a waggle of eyebrow, she knew that she had been projecting through her nano machines. So she concentrated on sending him an image of her kicking him in the shins. The corner of her lips lifted a bit at Ladon’s bark of laughter.

  She watched as Ladon transformed. He was a magnificent dragon. His deep red scales glinted almost like facetted jewels. But despite the reptilian slit to the pupil, the eyes always remained Ladon’s, with that fiery golden color that Alexis had only ever experienced in his eyes.

  Alexis moved away from the final stack of supplies and equipment so Ryuu could quickly secure the cargo to Ladon’s massive body. Once Ladon had launched himself into the air, Ryuu walked purposefully towards Alexis.

  As he neared, he reached his arms out to grab her. Alexis held up a hand to stop him and wagged her finger between the two of them.

  “Uh no…this ain’t happening until you put on some pants.”

  Ryuu chuckled. “I’m just going to pick you up so I can carry you down in dragon form. We don’t have time, nor do you have the stamina, to climb down the mountain.”

  “I get that, Ryuu. I’m not stupid,” Alexis snapped at him. “But I don’t feel comfortable having my buddy hold me in his naked arms. Can’t you just change and I can climb on your back or something?”

  “Sure.” Ryuu’s mischievous grin made Alexis a bit wary, but Alexis felt that being in Ryuu’s naked arms would be disrespectful to Ladon. Besides, Ryuu was like a brother, and being held against his naked body just felt pervy.

  Ryuu reverted to his dragon form. It still amazed Alexis that the men, despite being big burly guys, could change into such a massive creature. She hadn’t really gotten the chance to examine them up close in dragon form. , so Alexis took a minute to look at Ryuu. His wings were covered in a thick leathery membrane. It wasn’t the translucent membrane that Hollywood portrayed. No light would pass through his midnight wing. The scales were hard plates that fit snuggly together, creating a smooth texture like a snake’s skin on a much larger scale.

  Ryuu extended his foreleg for Alexis to use to climb up. She found that it was a little more difficult than she had first thought. It was difficult to find traction on the smooth surface of his scales. Ryuu had to lift his leg to slide Alexis onto his back. Alexis straddled Ryuu at the base of his neck.

  She shimmied down until her backside was seated between his shoulders and her legs dangled in front of his wing joint. Alexis could have sworn that Ryuu shivered and purred as she moved around, trying to find a comfortable spot.

  Alexis leaned forward and held on to Ryuu’s massive neck as best she could.

  “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Ryuu took her at her word and lumbered over to the opening. Instead of the running launch that he and Ladon seemed to prefer, Ryuu simply leaned over the edge until they were falling through the air.

  Alexis squeezed her arms and legs against Ryuu to prevent herself from being unseated. Again, she swore she felt the massive beast rumble a purr deep in his chest. Just as Alexis was about to scream in terror as the ocean waves filled her vision, Ryuu spread his midnight wings and caught an updraft.

  It took a minute for Alexis’s stomach to return to her, but when it did she looked around her in awe. The library’s island looked like a hidden paradise from the air. With the exception of the original climb to get to the library, Alexis hadn’t seen any of the island outside of the library complex. The complex was hidden in the single mountain peak that dominated the island. Except for the highest peaks, a verdant forest surrounded the mountain. One side of the island was a little flatter, with meadows interspersed with the trees. It was here that the airstrip was located. The entire island was surrounded by the bluest water Alexis had ever seen. It was so clear that she could see a pod of whales clearly beneath the surface swimming by the island.

  Ryuu banked to the right, swinging them around to the other side of the island. His descent was leisurely, giving Alexis time to enjoy the natural beauty around them. She could see why Ryuu had settled in such a place. She imagined what it must have looked like with a multitude of dragons filling the sky.

  All too soon, their flight was over, as Ryuu gently landed next to the air strip. Alexis slid from Ryuu’s back with a grin.

  “That was awesome!” Alexis jumped up and down in excitement when she saw Ladon stalking towards them. “Ladon!”

  Alexis ran to him, wanting to share her excitement with him only to have him put her aside with a frown.

  Ladon stomped over to Ryuu as the dragon returned to a man. As soon as the transformation was complete, Ladon punched Ryuu in the face.

  “She is mine!” Ladon shouted at the black dragon. “What were you thinking carrying her on your back?”

  “Whoa! Wait a minute. I asked him to carry me on his back. Even if I hadn’t, you don’t own me, Ladon.” Alexis grabbed Ladon’s arm to pull him away from Ryuu. She wasn’t prepared for the stark look of hurt and betrayal in his eyes. She took a step back as if she had been hit with a physical blow.

  Ladon threw Ryuu’s clothes at him and turned and walked away. Every muscle in his body was tight with caged rage.

  Alexis started to go after him when a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

  “Let him be for a bit, Alexis. He needs to calm down.” Ryuu had put his pants and boots on and was in the process of putting his shirt on.

  “I don’t understand what just happened.”

  Ryuu sighed, “A bad joke that backfired.” Ryuu sat on the ground and patted a soft tuft of grass next to him. “I used your ignorance of Drakonian culture to try to get under Ladon’s skin a bit. I’m sorry.”

  Alexis sat down and frowned at Ryuu. “From the looks of things I would say that you definitely got under Ladon’s skin. The question is why?”

  “Well….” Ryuu scratched his chin and stalled until Alexis’s glare convinced him to continue. “When we are in dragon form normally only mates would be allowed to ride on our backs…at the very least someone we were involved with sexually.”

  “Oh my god! Does Ladon think we have had sex?”

  Ryuu shook his head with a slight grin, “Despite his temper, Ladon is actually very intelligent. He knows that you and I haven’t had sex. He was pissed at me for a different reason.”

  Alexis crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.

  Ryuu groaned and mumbled something that Alexis wasn’t sure she heard correctly.

  “What was that?” she questioned.

  “I said that a woman on a dragon’s back can be sexually arousing.”

  Alexis punched him in the arm. “So that purring I felt was you getting off?” Alexis
scrunched up her face, “I didn’t want you to carry me in your arms because you were naked and that would just be weird. And now…eww…now I feel like I have a pervy little brother.”

  Ryuu stood up and offered a hand to Alexis. “So you think of me like a brother, huh?”

  Alexis took his hand and let him pull her on to her feet. “Yeah, so?”

  Ryuu grinned, “That means you love me.” He drew out the word love like an annoying brother would do.

  “No, it means I find you annoying. All brothers are annoying; it is in the sibling handbook somewhere,” Alexis huffed. “You are the bane of my existence.”

  The pair started walking towards the piles of supplies and equipment as they teased back and forth.

  “You love me.”

  “Annoying.”

  Ryuu bumped Alexis’s shoulder, “I’m the big brother. I can’t be annoying.” His voice raised to grandiose proportions, “I shall guide and protect my little sister from the world.”

  “Annnd annoying.”

  Alexis turned and walked away from Ryuu. She needed to find Ladon and let him know that she now understood why he was upset. She needed him to know that she hadn’t meant to hurt him.

  Ryuu cheerfully called after Alexis, “You know I think I might be developing a sister complex.”

  “I think I might let Ladon eat you after all,” she smiled back.

  She left with Ryuu’s laugh echoing in her ears.

  31

  The flight off the island was a silent affair. Ladon knew that he shouldn’t be angry with Alexis. She hadn’t known Drakonian customs. Despite this mess being Ryuu’s fault, he couldn’t really work up a good mad at him either. Honestly, if the roles had been reversed Ladon had to admit that he probably would have pulled a similar stunt.

  Despite all of the logical self-discussion, Ladon was still upset. A single phrase carelessly thrown out by Alexis had knocked him completely off kilter: ‘You don’t own me.’ Didn’t she understand that she was his? Alexis may not realize it, but she already owned every part of Ladon. Now Ladon was terrified that Alexis may not reciprocate his feelings. Just because he completed the ritual and gave her body the nano machines that converted her into a true Drakonian bride, that didn’t mean that she had to love him. True she had to feel something or the nanos wouldn’t have successfully integrated, but that still didn’t guarantee that she would love him. And even if she did love him in the beginning, once the nanos were fully active she could come to hate him and it would change nothing because those machines were now hers not his.

  Ladon closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was talking himself in circles and, in the end, it didn’t matter. Alexis had apologized for the dragon ride. If he couldn’t let go of it, the wall between them would just get higher.

  He looked out the window of the private jet. The landscape had changed from blues and greens to great white expanses. They had to be careful to fly under the radar because this was not an authorized flight into a foreign country. They hadn’t had time to get through the red tape within the Russian government before heading to the tundra. Ryuu had also pointed out that if this facility was still buried within the glaciers of Siberia that it would be best if the human governments didn’t know of its existence.

  To that end, they planned on touching down in a tiny village that housed only a few dozen people. From there they would take dog sleds to get to the coordinates.

  Ladon let his eyes wander to Alexis. The circles beneath her eyes were even more bruised, her skin a sickly shade of pale. He knew that she wasn’t getting proper rest, but looking at her now Ladon knew that if something didn’t change soon her body would just collapse, even with the aid of her nanos.

  Ladon knew why they couldn’t take Alexis to a human hospital, and he hoped that Tugarin’s research facility was still intact. He wasn’t sold on the idea that Fafnir was somehow attacking her mind, but maybe they could fix the malfunctioning nanos and save Alexis’s sanity. Once she was safe and well then he could court her like she deserved.

  Alexis finally nodded off. She had asked Ladon to wake her if she fell asleep, but she was so exhausted that Ladon just couldn’t bring himself to do so. He watched her as she slept. Physically she was so delicate—tiny in stature and almost fragile looking. Her curves gave her a soft appearance. The deep contrast between her pale skin and nearly black hair made her striking. When her deep blue eyes sparkled at you, she became mesmerizing. And the beauty of it all was she had no idea of the real impact she had on the males of the species.

  Ladon reached over to brush a wild curl from her face. Just as his fingers brushed across her skin, Alexis’s eyes snapped open and she grabs his wrist in an iron grip.

  Ladon has never seen Alexis’s eyes look so malevolent. Her lips curl into a vicious parody of a smile as she twisted Ladon’s arm away from her. Ladon struggled in vain to twist his arm out of Alexis’s bruising grip, but she just squeezed harder. Ladon grimaced as he felt the bones of his wrist starting to crack.

  “Alexis, you need to let me go,” Ladon said through clenched teeth.

  Alexis gave a huffing laugh. “So you managed to survive, you impudent noble.”

  The voice that emerged from Alexis’s mouth wasn’t her own. It was deeper, more masculine, and held a note that seemed so familiar to Ladon.

  “Who are you?” Ladon’s voice rose with the demand.

  “Bow before your master.”

  Alexis squeezed his wrist harder, and Ladon had to concentrate not to cry out in pain as his bones broke. Don’t show the enemy weakness; that was a lesson he had learned early in life.

  “I have no master,” growled Ladon. The commotion had Ryuu coming out of the cockpit, where he had been talking with the pilot.

  “Such a proud fire dragon. The only one who ever truly stood against me, except for the female here.” A malevolent laugh erupted from Alexis’s delicate mouth. “She tried to elude me. Even when I finally found her, she kept her knowledge of your existence from me.” Alexis’s mouth twisted into a feral fashion. “She planned on getting locked away in a mental institution, so she would be far away from you when I came for her.”

  “Leave Alexis alone, you bastard!” Ladon’s pupils turned to slits as his dragon fought to emerge and face the threat.

  “This one will make the most interesting test subject. Already she is so strong even after being newly formed….”

  “Alexis….” Ryuu’s calm voice broke through the dialogue. “I know you are still in there somewhere. Remember what we told you of Fafnir? Ladon was strong enough to keep him out of his mind. You have already proved that you are mentally stronger than Ladon. So, by extension, you are stronger than Fafnir. Push the bastard out!”

  Alexis released her grip on Ladon and clutched her head in her hands. Her voice flipped back and forth between the feminine tones Ladon knew so well and the gravelly growl of the thing invading her mind.

  Suddenly Alexis slumped in her seat. Ladon gingerly reached for her and sat her up. Using his good hand, he lightly patted her cheek.

  “Alexis, love, are you with us?”

  Her eyes fluttered open, and though exhausted, the blue eyes that gazed back at Ladon were clear and familiar.

  “Do you believe me yet?” she asked, tears shimmering in her eyes.

  Ladon rested his head against her forehead and breathed her in.

  “Yeah, I do, love. I do.”

  32

  Ryuu had worked his magic from the plane somehow, and the villagers, on the promise of massive amounts of cash, had the sled and supplies ready to go and waiting as soon at their plane touched down. Their pilot had instructions to leave Russian air space via the north pole and wait at the company-owned airstrip in Alaska. If questioned, this stop was to simply refuel, and his employers were still on the island in the south seas.

  Alexis was checking the rigging on the sleds and familiarizing herself with the dog teams. The locals had shaken their heads when the tr
io had refused a guide for their trek. The local elder demanded the cost of replacing the dog team and equipment in addition to the monies already paid. Ryuu wanted to argue about what amounted to extortion but Ladon just threw the cash at the man.

  It would take almost seventy-two hours to reach the coordinates of the Drakonian research facility, and the stars only knew how long it would take them to figure out what needed to be done to permanently block Fafnir from Alexis’s mind. She had already been awake for almost a full day. That would mean a minimum of four days without sleep for Alexis since Fafnir seemed to be able to breach her mental defenses when she slept. Even with the aid of the nano machines a body could only take so long without rest, and Ladon was afraid they would be pushing Alexis’s limit.

  “Are you sure this is the best option, Ryuu?” Ladon asked his friend.

  “At this point I think it is our only option. Tugarin was researching the connections that the nano machines created between individual bloodlines. Hopefully we will be able to use his research to sever that connection.”

  “You know Fafnir will be coming for us, right?” Ladon turned to the black dragon. Ryuu could see the battle general staring back at him—a commander asking a soldier if he was ready for battle.

  “I don’t think Fafnir will come himself, at least not at first.” Alexis heard the tail end of their conversation.

  Ryuu tilted his head and frowned. “What makes you say that?”

  “In all my dreams and even when he took over my mind, I got the impression that he was basically tied to one place. He was forcing the people to come to him. I’m not sure he can come for us just yet. But his minions are on the way. That much I gleaned from his mind.”

  “That at least gives us time to prepare.” Ladon rubbed his hands together in glee. “Minions I can handle.”

  Alexis stared at Ladon.

  “What?” Ladon frowned at her.