Dragon Isle Book Bundle 1-3: My Lord and Dragon, The Dragon Fighter, and A Dragon's Bite

by Stern, Sophie

  She grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around herself, though if she was honest, she knew his dragon eyes could see in the dark and he had already oogled her goodies, so to speak.

  As her eyes adjusted to the now-bright room, she was drawn to all of the beautiful artwork on the walls. Did all dragons have mansions filled with incredible paintings? She peered at one that featured a woman holding a small bundle. A baby?

  Interesting.

  “I brought you some clothes,” a voice sounded from the doorway, and Ashley turned around. She gasped as she saw the man for the first time.

  He was still nude, of course. Dragons didn’t care about nudity. At all. Her gaze traveled from his short brown hair to his broad shoulders to his…then her eyes came back up.

  “Thank you,” she reached for the clothes with one hand. She tried to avoid his gaze, didn’t want to see the amusement sparkling in his dazzling eyes.

  “You are welcome,” he pronounced each word with an exaggerated punch, obviously trying to hold back laughter.

  Ashley waited for him to leave so she could get dressed, but he didn’t move.

  “Aren’t you going to give me some privacy?” She asked quietly, not looking up.

  “You broke into my house without so much as knocking,” he said in response. “I think you gave up your shot at privacy with your rudeness.”

  “Fair enough.” She dropped the blanket and, still avoiding his eyes, slid the dry tank top and matching pajama pants on. The clothes felt warm and soft against her skin.

  How he managed to have clothes her size just sitting around, she didn’t know. Then again, dragons weren’t exactly known for their ability to control their shifts. Not when they were first learning. Most of the dragonfolk around Dragon Isle kept spare clothes on hand, just in case.

  “Thank you again,” she turned back to the dragon, finally meeting his level gaze.

  “As I said before,” he took a step forward, obviously not caring that he was invading her space. “You are welcome.”

  For a moment, Ashley thought he was going to touch her. For a moment, she thought about what it would feel like to have him throw her onto the bed and have his wicked way with her. She bit her lip, trying to get her thoughts under control. Dragons could smell arousal. She’d been around them long enough to know she needed to keep herself under control as much as possible.

  It was too late, though. The dragon smirked and she knew he’d sensed her desires.

  “Um,” she tried to change the subject, looking around the room. “Should I sleep there?” She pointed to the bed, feeling like an idiot.

  “If you like beds,” he answered.

  “And where will you sleep?”

  “I also like beds,” he told her. Then the dragon walked to one size of the overly large bed, slid beneath the blankets, and turned on his side.

  “Turn off the light before you come to sleep,” the dragonman said, as if this was the most ordinary situation in the world.

  As if there was absolutely nothing weird or strange about Ashley showing up uninvited, naked, and dripping wet in his bedroom.

  As if there was nothing weird or strange about the way she was starting to feel.

  She flipped off the light and, trying to convince herself she was doing the right thing, that she didn’t really have any other choice, she quietly walked over to the bed. She gingerly slid onto “her” side of the bed and got beneath the covers. She stayed as close to the edge as she possibly could, then relaxed her body.

  Suddenly, to her surprise, she felt the dragon wrap his arm around her and yank her to the middle of the bed.

  “You’re going to fall off, darling,” he said. Then he went to sleep, his arm still firmly around her, as if he had never felt quite as home as he did right then.

  Peculiar.

  2

  Ashley woke up in the middle of the night and had to pee.

  Badly.

  She rolled out of bed and planted her feet firmly on the cold wooden floor. She shivered in the darkness, wondering why her room felt so uncharacteristically chilly.

  Then she remembered.

  She was in the dragon’s lair.

  Her head whirled around and looked back to the bed. It was dark, so she couldn’t see anything but shadows. She could hear him, though: the dragon. He was breathing heavily, still asleep.

  Fuck.

  The rain was still falling, if the noise outside was any indicator, so Ashley couldn’t even think about trying to run away in the middle of the night. She could, however, pee herself if she didn’t find a bathroom, and fast.

  She tried to remember the set-up of the room from when the lights were on the night before, but she didn’t remember seeing an en suite. She went for the door and opened it, stepping into the hallway. She felt her way along the wall until she came to the next door.

  Wishing she had brought her flashlight, she opened the door and reached inside. She felt for a light switch and after a bit of fumbling, managed to find one.

  She switched it on.

  Success! And on her first try. Ashley stepped into the modest bathroom and shut the door behind her. She took care of business, then stared at herself in the mirror. Fuck. Is that really what she looked like?

  She hadn’t worn makeup when she left to go hiking, so she didn’t have to worry about smeared mascara or eye shadow. Her eyes were puffy and swollen, though, and her brown hair was stringy and messy. She should have chopped it short before she decided to go out. She should have dyed it blue or purple or something fun, instead of going for boring, mousy brown. Now she looked like a not-so-hot mess.

  What she wouldn’t give for a hairbrush. Ashley didn’t want to be nosey, but she looked through the drawers in the bathroom, anyway. She found a comb and managed to make her hair look somewhat presentable, though she still looked like she hadn’t bathed in a week. It would have to do. Hopefully the dragonman wouldn’t be too picky about the way his home invaders looked.

  Ashley turned and walked back into the hall, but left the bathroom light on and the door open, so she could see. She started to turn back to the bedroom, but then she heard something. Ashley paused and tried to figure out what the sound was.

  Was it crying?

  Or sniffling?

  She wasn’t sure.

  Maybe a puppy?

  A dragon with a puppy. Wouldn’t that be something?

  She hesitated, but decided that if the dragon did have a little pet in his house, maybe it was scared because of the storm. She should check on it, she decided. Ashley turned toward the sound, which was coming from a room directly across from the bathroom. She walked over and pushed the door open.

  The crying stopped, but was followed by a squeak of surprise.

  “You’re not my daddy!” A little voice said. The light from the bathroom shone across the hall and into the bedroom, where a tiny boy sat perched on top of a bed. He couldn’t have been older than four or five years old.

  “No,” Ashley said, shocked at what she saw. “I’m definitely not.”

  The boy looked at her warily. His mop of brown hair was tousled and unkempt, much like Ashley’s hair. He was sitting on a little bed, but his arm had a little bracelet on it that was attached to a chain. She noticed suddenly that the chain extended to the edge of the bed.

  What the fuck?

  The little boy seemed to notice her surprise, and he shook his head vehemently.

  “I’m okay,” he said to Ashley. “I’m safe.” He seemed quite used to the situation. How long had this been going on for? And why was he so adamant about reassuring her?

  “Why are you chained up?” She managed to get out. Suddenly, she felt very nervous that she had taken refuge in a house of freaks. What was up with dragonman? Why had he chained up his kid? Who did that? Was he a murderer? Ashley fought the urge to run back out of the house and into the woods. Storm or no storm, she wasn’t so sure staying here was a good idea.

  The little boy shrugged
.

  “Sometimes I shift,” he said quietly. “And I have a hard time shifting back. Dad’s worried I’ll shift when he’s sleeping and get out of the house and get lost.” He said these things with a deep sadness, as if they weighed heavily on his little heart.

  “Wait,” Ashley said, slowly making her way into the room. She came a little closer, then sat down on the edge of the bed with the little boy. She picked up his hand and held it gently. “I thought dragons couldn’t shift until they were teenagers.” She had never heard of anyone being able to shift before puberty kicked in. Then it was a dragon-freak-show-free-for-all. There was a reason the parents of teenagers all had grey hair.

  “Most dragons don’t shift until they’re bigger,” the child said with a shrug. “Most think little kids can’t shift at all, but I can. Dad says I’m special.” Of course he was special. The little boy was adorable and obviously sweet. He seemed to be well-mannered and he was so tiny that Ashley could just pick him up and keep him.

  Ashley tried to resist, but she couldn’t. She reached up and pet the little boy’s hair. It was soft and sweet and he smelled just the way a little kid should. She felt a yearning for a child of her own, but tried to push those thoughts away.

  Nothing good ever came from thinking of such things.

  Ashley had used up her chance to have a baby. There would be no second chances.

  “What’s your name?” The little boy asked her. For being awake in the wee hours of the morning, his eyes sure were bright and wide. Maybe he was just curious.

  “Ashley. What’s yours?”

  “Stuart.”

  “That’s a very fancy name for such a small boy.”

  “I won’t be small forever,” Stuart shrugged.

  Smart kid. Ashley began rubbing his back and he yawned, then leaned against her.

  “I’m glad you came, Ashley,” Stuart said. “I was scared of the storm.”

  “Oh, you don’t need to be afraid,” Ashley said. “The storm can’t hurt you. Besides, I’m here now.”

  “Will you stay with me?” Stuart asked.

  Ashley nodded. She climbed the rest of the way into bed with Stuart and he rested against her. She rubbed his back and hair until his breathing slowed and deepened, and she could tell the little boy had fallen asleep.

  She wondered what had happened that the dragon thought it was okay to lock up his little kid. She wondered if the child had gotten lost before. Was that why there had been claw marks all over the house? Were those remnants from uncontrolled shifts by the little boy?

  Ashley realized suddenly that she had lived with the dragons for so long, but she hadn’t gotten to know many of the children. She didn’t really know what it was like for them.

  When she had first come to the island, she had been so focused on her graduate studies, so focused on getting her mind off of her life, off of them, that she hadn’t wanted to be around children.

  Now, though, Ashley thought of the life that was almost hers, thought of all the things she had missed out on when Faye and Darin died. It didn’t seem fair that she had experienced so much death at her age. She was too young to have lost everything dear to her, yet she had.

  Now she was in the dragon’s mansion in the middle of the island, holding the sweetest little boy she’d ever met. He barely knew her, yet he trusted Ashley to keep him safe in the storm. He asked for her comfort and protection, and she gave it to him freely. That’s the way the world should be.

  Ashley wondered if she would ever feel whole again, if she would ever find someone who made her feel the way she had felt long ago.

  Then, in the darkness of the dragon’s house, Ashley held little Stuart and cried.

  **

  Theodore woke. The rain had stopped and the sun was up. His curtains were drawn, so the sun streamed right into the bedroom. He stretched and rolled around for a moment, then he smelled something.

  Her.

  The little female who had been in his bed last night.

  Only now, she was gone.

  He leapt out of bed and looked hastily around the room. No sign of her, though her wet clothes from the night before were still in the middle of his bedroom floor. Fuck. He should have done something with them last night, but he was so caught off guard and excited as all hell to have a female – any female – in his house.

  In his bed.

  It had been far too long since he’d been around a woman. He’d forgotten how wonderful it was just to be close to one.

  Where had she run off to? Had she left? Though he hated to admit it, Theodore knew that would probably have been for the best. Maybe he should have just kicked her out last night, though even as he thought it, he knew he could never do that. Not to a female. Not to a human.

  Theodore strode into the hallway and looked around. The door to the bathroom was open, he noticed. Ashley must have used it. Theodore was always careful to keep all of the doors closed.

  Then he noticed Stuart’s door.

  It was open, too.

  Fuck.

  His heart beat so loudly he thought it would pound out of his chest. Theodore hurried across the hall to his son’s room. The tiny bed that usually held his most precious treasure was empty. The chain he attached to his son’s wrist each night hung loosely off the bed.

  She had taken him.

  She had him.

  He didn’t know who “Ashley” was or where she was from, where she had gone, or where she would go.

  But he would get her.

  He would find her and he would fucking kill her.

  No one messed with Stuart.

  Theodore released a growl so loud it shook the house. It took every ounce of control to prevent him from shifting right then and there, but he knew it would completely destroy the house he had grown to love so dearly.

  Instead, he stormed down the stairs two at a time and headed for the front door. He would find her. He had to. He didn’t want to even think about what she had done to his son. He should have tied her up before falling asleep or, better yet, proven he was actually the badass dragon he wanted to be and killed her ass for trespassing.

  He marched to the front door, but then he saw it.

  Her backpack.

  It was still in the middle of the floor.

  That didn’t make any sense. If she was going to go through the trouble of kidnapping his son, why would she leave her bag? Wouldn’t she need it for supplies? Wouldn’t she want to bring her things with her? Had she left in such a hurry that she had simply forgotten it?

  Theodore stood for a second, just breathing, just staring at it. He couldn’t have lost Stuart. He couldn’t. The little boy was all he had left in the world and he couldn’t let anything happen to him. He just couldn’t.

  Theodore felt his chest begin to restrict and suddenly, the whole house felt smaller. The walls seemed to start closing in on him. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t-

  Then he heard Stuart’s laugh coming from the kitchen.

  Stuart.

  Theodore raced to the first floor kitchen and barged in. Stuart was sitting on top of the counter, laughing hysterically at something. Ashley was standing at the stove making pancakes. She had a white apron on and her hair was pulled up in a sloppy ponytail.

  “Good morning,” she said, turning to Theodore. “What was the growling all about?” She seemed a little confused, but not bothered. “Bad dream?”

  “I thought you’d kidnapped my son,” he hissed out. He was still seething. He really thought he’d lost him. He thought she had taken her son. He thought he had lost the one dragon who actually meant something to him. He thought Ashley had broken into his home only to steal from him.

  “Holy dragons,” Ashley said, setting the spatula down. She placed her hands on her hips and frowned at Theodore. “Are you serious?” She reached for Stuart’s ears and covered them, then added, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “He’s a dragon,” Theodore said. “Covering his ears isn’t goin
g to matter. His hearing is so good he can still hear what you’re saying.”

  “Oh,” Ashley dropped her hands and Stuart laughed even harder. He gripped his stomach as he doubled over in a huge giggle fit.

  “You said a bad word!”

  Ashley picked him up and placed him on the floor.

  “Oh, go sit at the table before you fall down,” she said, but she smiled as she did. To Theodore’s surprise, the little boy obeyed immediately. Interesting.

  “How did you uncuff him?” Theodore asked. He was still trying to calm down, still reeling from his almost-loss. Something about Ashley put him at ease, though. Something about her calm demeanor made him start to feel calm, too.

  “He told me where the key was. I don’t know why you keep him chained up like that,” Ashley said. She didn’t sound like she was judging him: just making an observation.

  “That’s none of your concern.”

  “You’re right. Pancakes?” She held out a plate of food and before Theodore could answer, she pushed it into his hands and nodded for the kitchen table. “Feed your son, please. Everything you need is on the counter.”

  Theodore stood there staring at her, but Ashley turned back to the stove, where she had a few more pancakes she was frying. She was obviously waiting for him to listen to her, and he didn’t want to argue in front of his little boy.

  He took the pancakes to Stuart, who was giggling and laughing at the table.

  “So yummy!” He said, and grabbed one off the plate before Theodore had even sat down. Though he was hesitant to try anything this stranger cooked, Theodore doused one of the pancakes in butter and honey. Then he bit into it.

  “Oh my dragons,” he murmured, closing his eyes.

  “Good, right?” She said with a smile. “Elma Franklin taught me her secret recipe. Said the way to any little dragon’s heart is with these.” Ashley winked at Stuart, who just laughed again.

  “Elma Franklin?” Theodore asked. “The trinket store owner?”