His long, muscular arms cross in front of his chest and his legs brace about a foot apart. He cocks an eyebrow in question. “Are you ready?” he asks in a powerful voice that sends shivers across my skin.
“Ready?” I’m disappointed it comes out with a touch of breathlessness after admiring his physique. From the look in his eyes, he isn’t giving me the same consideration. He hasn’t looked me up and down at all. For a split second, I wish I was wearing my sexy black dress and I could put a spark of desire in his baby blues.
What the bird feathers am I thinking?
He grabs my hand, and, with a sudden jerk, pulls me against his body. His head moves low and his warm breath slides over my neck. Rockets go off in my belly. “You smell ready,” he says in my ear. His warm breath travels across my neck and cheek, causing shivers.
This man has no idea how ready I am. I attempt to pull back, but his paws, aka hands, stop me. “Let me go,” I say between my teeth.
“Did that woman call and explain what I want?”
My mind whirs. “Gerri?” He gives the slightest nod. “She did.”
“Good. Then you know why I’m here and we need to go.”
My stunned expression changes to anger. “This is not how you pick up a date. I was meeting you at the restaurant.”
The fingers of his right hand loosen and the pads of each rough digit glide across my upper arm, making it hard to think clearly. He pulls me closer and his nose goes into my hair. His indrawn breath is slow and long while he breathes in my scent. I understand it’s a shifter thing, but it’s not my shifter thing, and I try again to step away.
“You’re ready,” he says with finality.
I shake my head without understanding what he means. “Release me this second.” His arms give a bit and I’m able to lean away and look straight into his eyes. Now they’re blue crystals that catch the bedroom light and sparkle with shimmering colors inside the blue. This man is a danger to every red blooded woman on the planet.
He lifts his hands and runs the backs of his fingers over my cheek. “Sleep,” he says, and just like that, the world goes dark.
Chapter Three
Ashrac
SHE REMINDS ME of one of my college professors whose nickname was Battleax. Flora is younger than my professor was, but she has the same look and demeanor. When I say “Sleep,” she falls unconscious and slips into my embrace. I rarely use my ability to make someone sleep and often forget I have it. Thankfully it came in handy. I really didn’t want to waste time listening to her whine. I’m on a schedule.
I lift her higher in my arms. Her stocky body is actually as light as a feather, which makes me think she may be inadequate to carry my child. I rest her on the bed, ignore her ugly socks and footwear that flash when her skirt rides high, and quickly pack her a bag using a small tote from her closet. I barely look at anything while grabbing jeans and shirts that look comfortable. I finally locate her undergarments in the top drawer of her dresser. I hold up one of her bras—a black lacy thing.
The woman on the bed draws my attention. She doesn’t fit the image the bra invokes, but I toss the scrap of material into the tote along with matching panties anyway. I want my mate comfortable, and having her own clothing should help. I won’t have time once we’re back in the realm so I look around for anything more she could possibly complain about.
I accomplish my task in less than ten minutes. I remove my clothes and place them in my saddlebag. I lift Flora over my shoulder to make the leap from the bedroom window. We don’t hit the ground because I toss her high into the air and shift mid-jump with plenty of time to catch her in my talons and fly to the closest vortex that will take us to my realm.
My dragon is almost identical to my father’s. We are the Red Clan and the mightiest of warriors. My uncles Laryn, Sarn, and Tahr are blue, purple, and silver respectively. It’s not that red dragons are better than the other breeds but we are smarter, or at least my father and I think so. My uncles are not really my uncles by blood but after what they and my parents went through with the dragon curse that’s now lifted, we’re as close as any blood family. They’ll be happy to see me settled with my own mate, and I can’t wait for them to meet her. That will happen after she’s settled to the idea of being my mate and I decide to keep her.
I’m unsure why the need to mate became so strong. We’re unsure of the new rules post curse and this seems to be something new for the dragons in our realms. It began as a small twitch in my eyes and moved downward until just the scent of a woman made me hard. A seventy-year-old woman from the human village in Laryn’s realm left me in pain and a great deal of embarrassment. She had no teeth and gnarly hands that created a rotting ache in my stomach when I thought of her touching me. The problem was that I thought of her at all in that way. I went to speak with Uncle Laryn to confide my embarrassment and get some possible answers. My mother and father are currently taking a vacation in another realm, so the option to talk to them is closed to me at the moment.
Point of fact… I have little time for the complexities of a female. My Uncle Laryn suggested the dating agency when I told him about the need heating within my body. “The curse is lifted,” he said, “but we don’t know what exactly that means for our future. You will be the dragon who discovers our new destiny.”
I knew someday I’d need a mate I just didn’t expect it to happen now when I’m too busy to put time into one. For thousands of years dragons kidnapped their mates. It’s one of the things that got us into trouble with the goddess so she cursed us. My problem is I like the sound of kidnapping a mate I just don’t want the heartache that goes along with it. Listening to my mother and aunts talk about their terror left me with a sour stomach. I really think having everything spelled out up front is the way to go. This dating agency thing was Laryn’s best idea yet.
I took his prophetic words about what was wrong with me and added “finding a mate” to the list of things I need accomplished in my busy schedule. Laryn provided a small business card, which I used to call and set up an appointment with the dating agency after I flew into the earth realm. The first call left me feeling like an idiot, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it for too long. I’m in the middle of an experiment that could change the lives of the humans in our villages. Complex machines don’t work in our realm, but I may have discovered a workaround. I don’t have time for women in general much less a mate. I need a woman who will stay out of my way and satisfy herself with woman things like housework while I’m working in my laboratory.
Traveling to the vortex with the woman takes an hour. After I cross into the red realm, I head straight for my castle. It’s new and still a disheveled mess. I just don’t have time to keep up with the day-to-day running of a castle. I admire the tall stone walls as I approach. My father helped me build it. The castle sits nestled within mountain peaks. It’s a monstrosity of a thing with four towers and plenty of room for a dragon to move around. I’ll give the woman one tower, and I’ll sleep in mine for now. My lab is in the third tower and the fourth will make a good place to raise my young. Even without a lot of time to plan this whole mate business, I have it figured out.
I fly high up to the highest turret of her tower and deposit the female on the bed I prepared for her. Servants would be nice, and now that I have Flora she can see to hiring them or doing the work herself. I sneeze when I place her on the smelly bedding. If she doesn’t like her accommodations, she can clean them. I straighten her skirt so she’s covered appropriately, which seems to be important to her in regard to her ugly clothes. I fly to my lab in the opposite turret. I resisted the urge to check her body for deformities. That would be ungentlemanly while she sleeps.
I run my hands together at the thought of getting back to work. Thankfully, finding a potential mate was painless and fairly quick. It would have been nice if she was comely. I might need to try again with another woman but I’ll worry about that later. I can always place her on her stomach when I bed her so I don�
��t need to look into her tightly pinched face. I land on the outer balcony and shift. I stride into my lab, grab a pair of jeans from the saddle bag I’m carrying, and a lab coat from a hook on the wall. At least I remembered my pants this time.
I open the saddle bag again and pull out Earth electronics that I stole while in their realm. There are cell phones and laptops in the bag, and I dump them on the table. Dragons love shiny objects. I kind of let fellow dragons down by staying away from gold and silver but these Earth machines are my gold. I pick one up along with the tools I need. Excitement rolls through me as I begin tearing apart the first phone.
It’s time to save the world.
Chapter Four
Flora
IT TAKES ME a few minutes to understand what’s happened. Plain, stone, white walls surround me in a round room with one large floor-to-ceiling open doorway that leads to a balcony, which I can see because there’s no covering to keep the light out. The bed I’m on is a canopy with gauzy pink material over the top. It flows gently with the breeze coming through the window. When I move, dust rises from the white comforter and I sneeze. It may be pretty but it isn’t clean. I’m in a tower and the damn dragon kidnapped me.
I leap from the bed and rush to the door. It’s locked. I head out the door aka window and stop on the balcony, which appears to be a landing perch for a very large dragon. Rolling mountains eat up the landscape for as far as I can see. I remove my glasses, which thankfully made it through the kidnapping. There’s a touch of blue to the east, or at least I think it’s east, and I see what must be a large pool of water about a mile away. Nothing in the distance looks like home.
Someone needs to teach this dragon manners and that person might as well be me.
My stomach growls and I rub my palm over it. I’m hungry. Whatever the dragon did to me so I slept has left me with an empty belly. It only takes a moment to remove my clothes, toss them aside, and dive from the tower window. The wind hits my face and I smile before saying my power words and shifting. I pull my golden-brown wings in close to my body as I make a sharp downward swoop before heading upward to look at the castle from high above. With my sharp eyesight, I spot a rabbit hiding in scrub grass, and I silently plunge down, grabbing it in my talons.
I rest on the ground and tear into the meal. After I’ve eaten and primped my feathers a bit, I fly back toward the tower I came from. Movement on the balcony opposite of the tower I’m heading to draws my attention. I glide upward so I can peer down at the no-good, rotten dragon who brought me here. He’s standing at the edge of the balcony looking out over his kingdom. He looks to the tower where he placed me and shakes his head slightly.
I truly can’t help myself and do what any red-blooded eagle shifter would do. I lift my tail feathers slightly and drop a large smelly message. The white and black glob lands on the shoulder of the dragon’s stupid white coat. He turns his head, glances at his shoulder, and then up to where I’m flying. I watch as he scratches his head and then walks back inside. Too bad my body waste isn’t toxic. Wouldn’t that be a great superpower? I bypass the original tower I flew out of and head in through a lower window. I need a weapon and must shift in order to look.
The large room I land in has one piece of furniture with four bare walls. I hit gold when I discover the only cabinet holds weapons. I choose a well-balanced long sword with a jeweled handle. Getting it up to the tower room takes a bit of diligence, but I manage by holding it tight in my talons. As an eagle shifter, I have certain abilities greater than an ordinary eagle but not grossly so, and the sword pushes the limits of what I can carry. Once I’ve lugged it inside, I rest it on the bed and shift.
Lifting the sword in my hands, I lunge and parry to get the proper feel. It’s not a fencing sword and is much heavier than I’m accustomed to, but it serves the purpose. My arms are strong enough to wield it thanks to hours of daily practice.
With my sensitive ears, I pick up movement outside the door. Someone is coming up the tower steps and it doesn’t take much of an imagination to know who it is. I grab my clothes and hurriedly put them on. I barely have time to slide the sword under the bed, shove it as far back as I can before jumping in the bed and fluttering my eyes just as the door opens.
The dragon enters and rests a small bowl on the side table next to the bed along with a cup. He’s wearing his soiled lab coat over jeans and a T-shirt. He pays no attention to me and now I wish I’d placed the sword under this side of the bed instead of pushing it back. I could separate his head from his body with one solid stroke of the blade. That thought makes me fight a smile. I don’t think Gerri would appreciate me killing the stupid dragon shifter. The large stain, curtesy of me, on his silly white coat makes me fight another grin.
“Do you expect me to eat that slop?” I ask as a way to break the ice. Whatever’s in the bowl smells horrid. I also need to rein in my libido and keep my eyes off his… well everything. This dragon is seriously gorgeous.
He appears startled that I spoke and his eyes snap to mine. “If you don’t like it, you can cook tomorrow. I have little time for domestic chores.”
I sit up suddenly and he takes a step back. “You think I’ll cook for you after you kidnapped me?”
He places his fists on his hips in a cocky manner. I would give anything to use my sword to cut him down a foot or two. “You can eat slop or cook, it’s up to you.” He talks to me like I’m a lesser human being.
“Insufferable,” I mumble under my breath.
He continues without acknowledging my complaint. “I have work to do and the last thing I have time for is a female. Make yourself at home, put food on the table, and wash my dirty clothes. That should keep you busy while I work.”
I stare.
He stares.
I can’t help, even as angry as I am, running my eyes over his body again. He’s given me a real lady boner and he shouldn’t be able to do that. While I’m staring, he huffs a giant breath from his throat, turns around, and marches out of the room. Yeah his ass is nice to look at too.
“Wait,” I yell. “That’s it?”
He looks over his shoulder while walking. “I don’t have time for a female right now. Stay out of my hair.”
He disappears but leaves the door open and unlocked this time.
Like an idiot, I lay there glaring at nothing in absolute frustration. He cannot be serious. You don’t kidnap a woman and then leave her to her own devices. Hell no. I deserve better than this. What about sex and all the things I was thinking he would expect? Not that I will have sex with him but doesn’t that go hand in hand with kidnapping an unwilling female to be your mate?
What’s wrong with me? I’m not staying even to make his life miserable though it’s quite tempting. I look down at the unappetizing gruel he left behind and I’m glad I had the rabbit earlier. I carry the slop to the window and then out to the ledge. The slop travels past the castle walls and splats on the ground eighty yards below. It does nothing to alleviate my fury.
Just how angry will Gerri be if I kill him?
Chapter Five
Ashrac
THE EXPERIMENT WORKS on paper, but in reality I have squat. It’s back to the drawing board and I’m not happy about it. At least I have a new supply of cell phones and laptops for parts. The last thing I have time to do right now is go pillaging for more. Sad but true.
I look over the plans and make a few corrections before tearing the page off the table, ripping it up, and grabbing a new sheet. When I’m in my lab with a problem like this, the rest of the world falls away and time stands still. My back and neck hurt, and I check the time again. It’s after midnight, and I realize I should head to bed. Just a few more mathematical changes and I should have this.
It’s after three when I finally make it to my room. I fly past her tower and it’s quiet. I can’t help wondering if she’s settled in. This mating stuff is a lot of work and I guess I should have held off. Maybe I’ll return her tomorrow… today. I shed my clothes, cli
mb into bed, and gray mist washes over me as I enter oblivion.
§ § § §
I POP MY eyes open when I hear a small noise. Sunlight pours into my bedroom and there’s a golden eagle on the ledge looking into my room. I rub my eyes and it’s still there. I saw the damn thing yesterday and I still have no idea how it entered this realm. We have no eagles here. Or I guess we do. One. A loud, head splitting shriek comes from its jaws. It rattles my sleepy brain before flying away.
Damn bird. It’s probably a joke courtesy of one of my cousins.
My stomach twitches and I ignore it. No time to eat. I’m naked, so leaping off the ledge and flying to my lab takes all of thirty seconds. I shift and pull on a pair of loose, black cotton pants and shrug into my white—or at least it started white—lab coat. The lab is as I left it—disarray that I have no trouble keeping track of. I get straight to work putting together the new plans I came up with.
“Uh hum.”
My head snaps up. “What are you doing in here?” I challenge in an unfriendly growl. The last thing I need is a woman in my lab. Especially this particular woman. She ignored the clothes I brought for her and is wearing some of mine, which don’t fit and are as far from flattering as they can be. It looks like she has my best tie holding up the waist of the pants. It’s not that I wear ties often but sometimes in Earth’s realm I’ve needed one. My mother gifted me the one this female currently has scrunched around her waist. The entire package is just plain ugly. Not that her clothes would make this woman more comely. That would take a legion of plastic surgeons. Unkind but true and I just don’t care. My genes are strong enough to give our children my good looks.
Paranormal Dating Agency: Dragons Don't Lie (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Fire Chronicles Book 5) Page 2