Even if Lindsey could get someone she knew to visit the island, the chances of them believing anything they saw were slim. More than likely, she knew from her psychology classes in college, they would find some logical way to justify what they were seeing.
More than likely, they would come up with a series of skeptical reasons explaining why they had seen humans turn into dragons, and those reasons would probably be drug-induced.
Lindsey didn’t have a thorough understanding of the entire island, but she knew that most of the clan lived in the north. That seemed to be the direction they were flying, though she didn’t want to work herself up and imagine they were going to visit Victoria. That would be a surprise.
They didn’t go near a village, though, at least not one Lindsey could see. Instead, the pair circled a wooded area and Melissa landed in a small clearing. Lindsey barely felt a bump when they hit the earth, and she quickly scurried off Melissa’s body so she could shift.
Lindsey didn’t look away when Melissa changed back to her human form. By now, she was quite used to the nudity that accompanied it, but even moreso, she was no longer scared of the way the dragon’s body contorted as it adjusted back to normal.
Well, what Lindsey considered “normal.”
“Where are we?” She asked. Through the dense shrubbery and trees surrounding the clearing, she knew they were in a forest, but she couldn’t tell much else.
“Castle Naga,” Melissa said. “The first castle where a dragon king and a human queen ruled over the lands.” She took Lindsey’s hand and led her through the woods. Lindsey couldn’t see much at first, which wasn’t very fun because there were lots of twigs and rocks and pokey things that stuck out from the dirt.
She was tired, suddenly, and walking wasn’t easy. What she really wanted was a pair of shoes: not to go sightseeing. But after a few moments, Lindsey stopped noticing the way the twigs were poking her. She stopped noticing everything, really. The world suddenly seemed very dark and very spinny.
Why was she so dizzy?
The trees thinned and Lindsey was able to see the castle up close, and her jaw dropped.
There it was.
The crumbling walls of what must have once been a gorgeous lair stood before her. She had never seen a castle in real life, but she imagined this was a particularly large one.
Melissa silently led Lindsey up a stone walkway to the front of the castle. She could see the remains of a moat and a broken wooden drawbridge, though at this point, the exterior wall to the courtyard had all but vanished, which meant they walked directly into the castle.
“It’s dark,” Lindsey blinked several times, wishing she had the keen eyesight of a dragon.
“Yes,” Melissa said, and moved forward.
“Wait,” Lindsey stopped her. “Why are we here? I can’t even see.” The castle smelled moldy and damp, like no one had been there for years. It was certainly not a place she would come to explore or look around. Not without preparation, at least.
And Lindsey didn’t feel well anymore. She was dizzy and nauseous. She felt like she might fall at any moment. Why was it hard to walk? Why was focusing such a struggle?
“I want to show you something,” Melissa took her hand and smiled reassuringly, but suddenly, it felt very hollow.
“Why don’t we come another time?” Lindsey said slowly, looking around. She didn’t want to point out the way Melissa was beginning to look scary or the way her eyes were glowing a bright, colorful red. “This place is sort of…creepy.”
She knew the second the word hit her lips that it was a mistake.
“Creepy?” Melissa laughed, but it wasn’t the laugh of the woman Lindsey had come to know and trust. Suddenly, she realized how very out of her element she was. Seriously, how stupid could she be? Not only did she fly away from home without so much as leaving Kade a note, but she left without even asking where they were going.
And what was in that fucking drink Melissa had given her?
Lindsey watched as Melissa squeezed her hand tighter, forcing her to stay still.
“You haven’t even begun to experience “creepy,” Melissa growled. She yanked Lindsey forward and began marching deeper into the castle. The floor was cold and sticky against Lindsey’s bare feet, but she tried not to focus on that.
Instead, she took deep breaths. They were making frequent turns, but she tried to keep track: right, left, right, right, straight for awhile, left. Or was it right?
Focusing on her own name was a struggle. Remembering directions was going to be impossible.
They finally arrived at a small room with a wooden door. Melissa pushed it open and shoved Lindsey inside. There was a very small window in the room and a few stray beams of light shone through.
“What’s going on, Melissa?” Lindsey asked. She knew something was wrong, but what? In her mind, they had been enjoying a perfectly lovely day without any cause for stress or anxiety. Why had Melissa brought her here?
“What’s going on?” Melissa growled. “What’s going on?” She towered over Lindsey, striding toward the small human. With one firm dragon hand, she pushed Lindsey down. Lindsey landed on the floor with a thud that echoed throughout the castle.
This was bad.
Very bad.
“What’s going on is that you’re the only one Kade sees. Even when his precious wife was alive, he never noticed me. Once she had her unfortunate accident,” Melissa said the words in a way that made Lindsey think it had not been an accident, “he still didn’t see me.”
Melissa scoffed.
“What do you have that I don’t? You’re stupid and tiny. You’re puny. You smell weird and you’re not very fun to be around.”
The words stung for a moment, but Lindsey realized that she was in the presence of a crazy person. Melissa’s opinion didn’t mean anything to her.
“What did you put in my drink?” Was it poison? Was she going to die? She felt like she was going to die.
“I can’t have you trying to escape just yet,” Melissa’s eyes glowed in the darkness of the room. “But don’t you worry your pretty heart about that.”
Melissa reached forward and grabbed a set of metal cuffs and put them roughly onto Lindsey’s wrists. Lindsey tried to struggle, but she was too weak.
Then Melissa traced her finger along Lindsey’s collar.
“This could be mine,” she hissed. She grabbed the collar and yanked, ripping it from Lindsey’s throat. Lindsey cried out as the beautiful collar tore in half. Melissa only laughed.
This was what she wanted.
She wanted Lindsey to hurt.
Melissa turned back toward the door and gave Lindsey one more haughty glance.
“I never liked humans much, even before you came to the island.”
Melissa slammed the door and Lindsey heard her lock it. Then Melissa’s voice carried through, shrill and clear.
“No one is ever going to find you, Lindsey. Ever.”
Then everything went black.
17
Lindsey wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she woke up, but it felt like forever. The sunlight that streamed through the window had long disappeared and the cold floor was like ice. Lindsey tried to curl up in a ball, but every part of her body ached.
Why had she even come here?
Had her life really been so bad before?
She closed her eyes and thought about Kade’s warm body and comforting smile. No, he wasn’t the happiest man she had ever known, nor was he the nicest. He wasn’t safe. He wasn’t particularly kind. He was hers, though.
She always knew where she stood with him. She always knew he would care for her. She always knew he would push her past what she thought she could handle.
Life with Kade was nothing like she expected.
It was better.
She knew he was loyal to her. She knew he would stop at nothing to find her, no matter how long it took.
Lindsey only hoped she would survive until he came. She w
anted to see him one last time, hold him in her arms, touch his face. She wanted to run her hands through his hair and whisper to him while he took her, even only once.
Most of all, she wanted the chance to tell him how sorry she was that she hadn’t listened. She never should have left the house, even with Melissa. She knew that now.
But it was too late.
It always was.
Melissa had stored Lindsey in a place even Kade might not think to look. In her time at his house, she had never heard him mention an abandoned castle.
Maybe he didn’t even know it was here.
Maybe he knew, but had long forgotten.
Lindsey yanked on her cuffs, trying to pull the chains out of the wall, but they were secure. She ran her fingers along the metal. It didn’t feel rusty or old. Had Melissa installed them here, just for Lindsey? How long had she been planning this abduction?
If Lindsey had dragon sight, she could have tried to find any weaknesses in the room. Maybe there would be a loose brick that would reveal a hidden door.
She could dream, right?
Unfortunately for Lindsey, she only had normal human eyesight and the room was too dark to see anything. She did have a small length of chain, though, so she stood up on wobbly legs and walked around, feeling her way along the stone.
She couldn’t reach the door.
Damn.
So much for kicking the wooden planks and trying to escape or scream for help. Well, she could still scream. What if Melissa was still in the castle and punished her for yelling? No, Melissa wouldn’t be around. She would have gone back to Kade. She would have tried to get him for herself.
Suddenly, Lindsey wondered what Kade was going to think. He trusted Melissa. That much was obvious. After all, he had allowed Melissa to clean his house for years. He had permitted her to watch over Lindsey and even to play with her. Kade hadn’t shared Lindsey with anyone else. Only Melissa.
Surely that meant something.
Only, Lindsey knew it didn’t. She knew Kade had a fondness for Melissa, but he didn’t like her romantically.
What would Melissa do when she realized that Kade wouldn’t – couldn’t – return her love?
Would she try to kill him, too?
Lindsey palmed the wall, trying desperately to find anything she could use as a weapon or to get the cuffs off. She knew she wouldn’t find a random sword or dagger just posted on the wall, but she had to try.
The stone wall was damp. Every once in awhile, Lindsey would touch a beetle or some sort of crawly insect. She would scream and go back to searching.
Finally, though, it all seemed pointless.
She dropped back to the floor and made sure she wasn’t touching the walls. They were gross and she hated the way they felt against her skin. What if a beetle crawled on her?
Yes, Lindsey was locked in a tower and she was worried about bugs.
Obviously, she had her priorities straight.
She pulled her knees to her chest and finally gave herself silent permission to cry.
She had gotten everything she had ever dreamed of.
And in just the blink of an eye, she had lost it all.
Pity.
18
Kade knew as soon as he arrived at the house that something was wrong. For one, Melissa was still home. She should have been gone half an hour ago. That was the arrangement. Though he couldn’t stand the woman, he allowed her to work at his home simply because he didn’t want to put her out.
He was a dragon, after all: not a monster.
Still, after their unpleasantly horrible breakup, he didn’t want to be around her anymore than he had to. Melissa had been his playmate briefly after his wife’s death, yet somehow she had latched on to him relentlessly. Kade hadn’t been ready for any type of relationship. He had just been lonely and sad.
Melissa never understood that, though.
When Kade strode inside, naked from his recent shift, he wondered if he had made a huge mistake in allowing her to stay so close to his home.
He wondered if he was about to receive the worst news of his life.
Then again, maybe he was overreacting. Dragons often did. Their huge bodies and large brains could only handle so much when they shrunk back to human size. Sometimes things felt bigger and seemed more dangerous than they should.
He felt more vulnerable as a human.
And Kade hated the cautiousness he had to exert while in his human form.
Melissa was in the kitchen, as usual, perched on the edge of a barstool. He walked in the room and stopped just inside the doorway.
“Why are you here?” He grunted.
“Not even a ‘hello’?” Melissa’s voice dripped sex as she purred her greeting. She turned to him but stayed on the barstool. Her hands dropped to her knees and she spread them wide, giving him a full view of her bare, hairless body.
“Dragon, tell me why you’re here.” His voice was a growl now. He wasn’t turned on by her obvious show. Why did some women think showing more skin automatically made them more attractive? If anything, Melissa’s behavior made him miss Lindsey even more.
Going to work had become much more of a chore than Kade would ever admit. Every moment he was gone was a moment he spent yearning for her.
He was pathetic.
He was completely awe-struck.
He was obsessed.
As he looked at Melissa, obviously coming onto him, he couldn’t help but compare the two females. Lindsey would never have been so brazen, especially not when she first arrived on Dragon Isle. If anything, Lindsey would have been timid and shy. Her legs would have stayed plastered together until Kade raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to open them. Then she would have fought an internal battle, trying to decide whether to obey or to cling to her morals.
Obedience usually won.
Even if it didn’t, he’d have fun giving her a spanking to remind her who was in charge.
“Oh Kade, do I have to have a reason to want to see you?” Melissa pouted, leaving her legs open. Her hands continued to stroke her thighs, then one moved to her breast. She maintained eye contact as she touched herself, obviously hoping to stir some sort of reaction.
When she finally realized Kade’s dick was as soft as a squished banana, her scent changed from arousal to anger.
Yet she said nothing. Interesting.
Then Kade realized he hadn’t seen Lindsey yet.
“Where’s Lindsey?” He asked Melissa. Her eyes went wide in surprise, then quickly returned to normal. Interesting.
“Kade, I-“
“Where. Is. She?!” He marched across the room and grabbed Melissa’s chin, forcing her to look up at him. Her eyes filled with tears. And was that guilt or sadness he sensed radiating from her?
Melissa quivered, then closed her eyes, then opened them again and stared into Kade’s.
“She left you,” Melissa whispered.
“Bullshit,” he countered.
“It’s true.” Melissa shrugged and held her hands up. “I tried to talk her out of it. Really, I did, but Kade, she just didn’t want to be here. She said she was going back to her ex. Said she was going to try to make things right between them. I guess the party really freaked her out.”
“Heath? She said she was going back to fucking Heath?” Kade gritted his teeth. He had hated the man from the first moment he heard Lindsey mention him. She was perfect in Kade’s eyes. Anyone who didn’t see that was either a moron or emotionally unstable. Probably both.
Melissa nodded. “I tried to stop her,” she said again.
Kade dropped his hand from her face and began pacing. His anger subsided slightly.
This didn’t make sense. Why would Lindsey have left? Things had been getting better for them, but maybe he had been wrong.
He paced the kitchen, trying not to look at the mats she had once knelt before him on. His home had been so empty, so alone before she arrived.
And then she came.
And s
he changed everything.
She didn’t just complete his need to control something – someone – but she completed him. When he left for work each day, he hated knowing he wouldn’t see her until he returned. When he had to take a conference call at home, he constantly wished he was playing with his little human. And now?
Now she was just gone.
But it didn’t make any sense.
“What did she say before she left?”
“What?”
“What. Did. She. Say?” He spat the words out. Melissa looked surprised that he even asked. What had she expected? That Kade would just nod and smile and fuck her? This was about Lindsey. This was his dear, sweet Lindsey. This was his princess. This was his human.
“She just said…” Melissa looked suddenly nervous. Why? Kade cocked his head as he looked at her, wondering if she knew she was giving off the scent of guilt. Guilt?
Then it hit him.
Kade knew exactly what had happened to Lindsey, and it didn’t involve her leaving on her own.
“What did you do, Melissa?” Kade grabbed her hair and yanked her head back so hard that Melissa screeched. Though she was tall for a human, she was still much smaller than Kade and he had no trouble dominating her, commanding control of her body.
“I-I didn’t do anything, Kade. She just said she wanted to go home. She misses it and you leave her here all alone. She’s isolated! She needs to be around her friends.”
Kade slapped her so hard that Melissa lost her breath, then started crying. His hand print was red against her face.
“Try again,” he growled. She whimpered – actually whimpered when he said that.
“I told y-“ she began, but Kade interrupted her with another slap. Melissa kept crying, louder and louder.
Dragon Isle Book Bundle 1-3: My Lord and Dragon, The Dragon Fighter, and A Dragon's Bite Page 12