Touching Fire: Sacrificed to the Dragon (Dragon/Monster Erotic Romance)

by Vanessa Cox

  He didn’t look up and began lighting the tinder. She exhaled deep in frustration. She was hoping to get at least a few answers. Not that it mattered since she full intended on being as far away from him as possible by morning.

  Without taking his eyes from the budding fire that he was working, he replied, “Well, Celia, there are a few things that could happen. You could become a servant or an attendant of some kind. Or you could possibly be a house pet.” Not noticing the utterly shocked look on her face from the prospect of being a ‘house pet’, he continued, “Or you might become a slave to someone…”

  Tharos chose to look up at that point. Celia’s breath caught in her throat as his eyes locked onto hers. His eyes danced against the flames. It looked like they grew darker and brighter against the light. She couldn’t tell if it was the fire’s reflection in his eyes or if something odd was happening.

  “Slave…?” she whispered, still unable to break her gaze from him. A strange warmth started to spread across of her body. For some reason, she couldn’t look away from him. She didn’t want to. He was beautiful and looking at him made her feel so good.

  He nodded his head slowly, but continued to stare at her heatedly. “Yes, a slave. There are many dragons who have a taste for beautiful women from your land. They often procure human slaves to indulge in their more…primal needs.”

  Celia couldn’t look away, she couldn’t say anything. Without even realizing it, she moved closer to the fire, trying to get closer to him.

  “Primal needs?” she muttered, not wanting him to stop talking. She moved a little closer until she started to feel an uncomfortable heat.

  “Celia! Don’t get too close, get back!”

  Celia flinched back and fell backwards. She blinked several times and shook her head, trying to clear her head of its sudden fogginess.

  What was that about? It didn’t feel like she had control of herself at all. Just like in the cavern.

  She shot an accusing look at the big man stoking the fire. “What was that? What was that about!” she yelled.

  He glanced up at her with a friendly smile and an innocent look on his face. “What was what? What do you mean?”

  “You know what I’m talking about!” She moved both her hands frantically, motioning in his direction. “You know...that thing that happens when I look at you! What is it? It’s weird and I feel like I don’t have control over myself!” she accused.

  Tharos’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he smiled. “Well, if you can’t control yourself around me, I’d be happy to oblige you in any way possible?” he replied with a wink.

  “No! That’s not what I mean! I just meant that, I felt odd. As if I…wasn’t under my own…” Unable to even articulate what happened, she growled in frustration. She glanced down on the ground and found a medium sized stick and proceeded to throw it at him.

  He dodged it easily and chuckled.

  “Never mind,” she barked and then proceeded to sit quietly next to the fire.

  Once the fire was fully built, Tharos took out provisions that he brought with him and gave her food to eat. They ate silently while Celia was busy deep in thought, trying to devise a plan to get away.

  The only way she would be able to escape is at night. It was risky and there was a big chance of getting caught, but it was the only way. She could only hope that he didn’t tie her up or make things too difficult for her.

  She glanced at her captor and found herself instantly mesmerized by what she saw, but not in the same way as before. She was taken aback by how beautiful he was.

  Through the snapping flames, she watched him stare intensely into the fire. The fire light shined against his skin like paint on a canvas. His jaw clenched hard and the muscles moved and twitched, as if he was deep in thought. Celia swallowed deeply.

  She looked away abruptly, not thrilled with the idea of getting caught staring at him again. Instead, she grabbed a neighboring stick and began to nervously play with the flames on her side of the fire. Now that there was a quiet time to think, her nerves for her upcoming escape attempt were beginning to surface.

  “You’re beautiful.”

  Celia’s head snapped up and she saw Tharos studying her. She shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry?”

  “You’re beautiful,” he repeated. He blinked and then added, “When you’re not arguing or kicking me or generally making things difficult, you’re very…beautiful.”

  Celia’s cheeks burned, but she hoped that it wasn’t noticeable and was shielded by the flame. She wanted to be upset and respond with a snappy comment, but she found herself speechless.

  He took advantage of her silence and continued. “Actually, you’re beautiful even when you’re doing all that other stuff too, but I like the way the fire light dances in your hair, ” he said observantly. “It’s nice.”

  Still completely speechless, Celia tore her gaze away from him and began to awkwardly push around the dirt and sticks next to her feet. She always grew up hearing comments about her looks, mostly from drunken men who were stumbling home to their wives, and she always rolled her eyes at them and thought nothing of it. For some reason his words affected her a little differently.

  “Well, we probably should get to sleep. We’re going to have an early start in the morning!”

  He stood up and pulled out some rope from his bag and walked towards Celia. She quickly glanced at him and then the rope.

  “What’s that for?” she asked defensively and pulled back from him.

  He shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly. “For you, while you sleep.”

  She snorted in the most unladylike way possible. “I don’t think so. I’m not going to be tied up uncomfortably while we sleep!” she replied.

  A smile crept onto his face. “Well, we could just do the alternative? We could just lay closely together with our bodies pressed together and my arms wrapped around you? Naturally, I would be able to feel you move if you tried to get away.”

  Celia stood up quickly and turned her back towards him dramatically. “I don’t think so, no thank you!” she replied haughtily as she secretly adjusted the dagger in her robe so that it was more accessible.

  She turned back to face him and found him only a foot away from her. She jumped ever so slightly.

  He shrugged. “Well, I guess we’re going to have to do it this way then.”

  He proceeded to wrap her wrists and ankles together with rope while Celia burned holes into his face with her eyes. The situation wasn’t ideal, but she should be able to cut through the rope with the dagger. She hoped.

  Once he was finished with her bindings he looked up and smiled. “We wouldn’t want you to run away and escape, now would we? Rhygthar would kill me,” he said with a wink and walked back to his bedroll.

  “Better you than me,” she mumbled.

  Whether he heard her and just chose to ignore her comment wasn’t clear, but he unceremoniously lowered himself onto his roll and said casually, “You sure you don’t want to come join me over here? I’m sure you’ll be much more comfortable?”

  The idea of laying that close to him and sharing a bedroll with him made her stomach tighten, but instead she forced a very sarcastic smile. “Thank so much, but no.”

  Tharos shrugged and leaned his head back and proceeded to close his eyes.

  Needing him to think she was doing the same, she lowered herself onto her roll and quickly closed her eyes. She would have to fake being asleep, but that shouldn’t be too hard.

  After a few minutes, she began to breathe more evenly and make her breaths shallow. She prided herself in her fake sleeping skills, she fooled her mother countless times and knew a big, burly man who spent most of his days in a cave wouldn’t be able to know the difference.

  Several more minutes passed when she suddenly heard a rustling in his direction. She didn’t dare open her eyes just in case he was looking at her, so she remained calm and listened towards his direction.

  She heard his footsteps comin
g towards her and her heart began to beat a little faster. What was he doing? She fought the urge to open her eyes, instead she kept them shut and kept her breathing steady.

  She felt him right next her, hovering over her body. She was just about to open her eyes and jump out at him and demand to know what he was doing when she suddenly felt something covering her body. He then turned around and walked back to his roll.

  He had put a blanket on her. Celia didn’t know what to make of his actions. But she wasn’t going to allow herself to be touched by it.

  Forcing those thoughts deep down, she focused on the task at hand and continued to fake being asleep. She realized that she was going to have to wait a while until she was sure he was asleep, but she could be patient.

  ***

  Celia couldn’t be sure how much time had passed, but she was certain it was at least an hour. Tharos’s breathing had gone steady shortly after he gave her the blanket so she was confident that it was safe to begin her getaway.

  Slowly squinting her eyes open, she glanced over at her captor and saw that his back was towards her. She celebrated quietly at her good fortune.

  While keeping her eyes on Tharos’s back, she very carefully and quietly reached for her knife under her robe and began cutting through the rope on her wrists. The angle was tricky, but it wasn’t impossible.

  Several minutes had passed and her hands were finally free. She excitedly sat up and cut the rope on her ankles in a matter of seconds. Once totally free, she slowly lifted herself from the ground and crept quietly away from the campsite while still keeping her eyes on Tharos.

  Once she could no longer see his sleeping form, she broke into an all out run and didn’t look back. She ran blindly into bushes and branches as they slapped her in the face and arms. She didn’t feel them though. All that mattered was that she had to run as far and as fast as possible.

  She ran wildly in the foreign forest, unsure of where to go. Her heart began to burn in her chest, but she ignored the pain. Just like she ignored the sound of her hammering heart. It beat so hard and so loudly, it actually sounded like a loud drum. It was so loud, that she didn’t even hear the footsteps only a few feet behind her. Powerful arms were suddenly around her and she was taken off balance and pushed onto the ground.

  Celia yelled out in surprise and fear.

  “No!!” she panted in desperation while she tried catching her breath.

  She laid face down on the ground while Tharos lay on top of her. She could feel his hot breath on her neck and cheek while he calmed his breathing as well. She also smelled an odd but distinct smell of earthy smoke around him.

  In a low, oddly rumbling whisper, he said, “I told you it wouldn’t be a good idea if you tried to escape.”

  She couldn’t respond. Her heart was still burning in her chest.

  With his body firmly pressed against her, he traced his hand along her arm until he touched the blade she held tightly in her hand. “Did you really think that I didn’t know about this little treasure you were hiding,” he growled lowly into her ear.

  An uncontrollable shiver danced down her back.

  He grabbed the dagger and threw it into the trees. Celia cried out, in part from sadness that her escape failed, but mostly out of fear.

  Her captor abruptly lifted himself off of her and quickly flipped her over onto her back. That’s when she realized that he was completely naked.

  His muscular bare chest glistened in the light of the moon, wet from sweat. It was dark so she couldn’t see his entire body but she could see the silhouette of his hard, contoured form. Her heart jumped into her throat.

  Panicking and confused, Celia asked, “What…where are your clothes!?”

  She heard him laugh in an almost menacing way. “I needed my clothes off, Celia, to catch you.” He slowly lowered his body back on top of hers. She could feel every hard bump and dip of his torso covering her soft stomach and chest.

  “You’re very bad for running away. You made me run after you. That’s not good. That’s not safe for you. ” He pressed the entire length of his body against hers. Celia gasped for breath, but it wasn’t because his heavy body was too much for her. It was because his sudden closeness was wreaking havoc on her and her heart was about to pound out of her chest. Seeing her try to push away from him, he quickly grabbed her arms and locked them above her head.

  “Having to chase after things makes me act wild and then I can’t control myself,” he growled.

  Celia froze. She was suddenly struck by how different he sounded. His voice was deeper and raspier and there was an edge to him that was never there before. There was no sign of the infuriatingly charming man who held her captive. The growling, menacingly strong man lying on top of her took his place. That scared her. She didn’t know what he was going to do next, so she remained completely still, afraid that moving would only anger him more.

  She became painfully aware of his naked body as he pressed into her. She could feel his hardness resting against her leg. Celia swallowed as she realized that she was probably the cause of that. She held back a whimper that was threatening to surface.

  He lowered his head into the nape of her neck and breathed her in deeply. He allowed his nose to travel all along her neck and hair, breathing in all that he could of her. He inhaled as if she was some sort of savory food.

  “P-please...don’t…?” Celia whispered.

  An inhuman growl sounded from his throat, vibrating into her chest. A pathetic squeak escaped her lips.

  “I didn’t want to do it this way, but you’ve left me with no choice. I can’t control it now!” he growled.

  He lifted his head from her neck and she saw his eyes glowing golden red. It looked like his eyes were on fire, intense, harsh and raw with hunger. Celia gasped in shock.

  “Wh-what…are you!”

  A slow smile crept onto his lips and eerily touched his glowing eyes. “You know what I am,” he whispered.

  She violently shook her head no. “No! No, this isn’t possible! Please…let me go,” she begged.

  He didn’t reply to her plea. He let it to go unanswered while his glowing eyes raked down her exposed neck and chest. His eyes grew brighter when they fell onto her heaving breasts. Her robe was in total disarray and the clefts of her breasts were partly exposed.

  Celia moved her body underneath his in attempt to cover her exposed skin, but it appeared to only fuel him. He locked both her wrists with just one of his large hands, giving him one free hand to do with it what he will. His hand traveled down her arm until he found the flesh of her round, plump breast.

  Celia wanted to cry out and tell him to not touch her, but she found that she couldn’t. She knew there was another part of her, a louder part that hoped he wouldn’t stop. She didn’t understand that part of her and was scared of it, so instead, she closed her eyes and waited for what was to come.

  When his hand grasped onto her chest, Celia’s whole body tensed. His hand felt enormous and it easily gripped onto the swell of her tit without allowing anything spill over. He began to squeeze and massage it appreciatively, satisfied with the firm fullness in his hand.

  His fingers quickly found her nipple, pointed and fully erect through the thin silk that separated his hand from her bare skin. He began to squeeze and pull at her nipple lightly, exploring it as if it was a new toy. A jolt of tingling electricity shot thought her all the way down to the bottom of her belly.

  Celia’s cheeks flushed. She had never been touched by a man before and she felt painfully ashamed of the stirrings in her body, but she couldn’t ignore the excitement and almost painful pleasure. She didn’t realize she was responding to his touch so obviously until his golden red eyes glanced up at her flushed face and a wolfish smile crept onto his lips.

  “You don’t want to like this, but you do. I can smell it,” he rumbled lowly. He lowered his head to her bare cleavage and breathed her in. “I’m going to have to get you naked now. I’m sorry if I scare you, Celia,
” he growled with an almost strained voice.

  Celia’s widened and she glanced down. “What…?” she whispered.

  But before she could ask her question, he pulled her robe from her chest, exposing her breasts completely.

  “No!” she yelled while struggling under his ironclad grip. This only made him hold onto her arms tighter.

  With his free hand, he pushed the torn robe from her chest and took a moment to look upon her full breasts and her erect, traitorous nipples. Her heart was beating so fast she was certain that he would feel her heart hammering into his. Instead, all he saw was her heaving tits rising and falling rapidly.

  As if he was mesmerized by her smooth, naked skin and her perfectly round orbs, he slowly lowered his head and placed his hot tongue onto her taut nipple. At first, he only licked it, trying to savor the taste. Celia moaned and wiggled futilely underneath him while his wet tongue played with her sensitive bud, but seconds later, he finally gave in to his need and placed his warm mouth over her nipple and latched on completely.

  Liquid heat poured out of Celia’s center. His mouth was hotter than she expected it to be and his tongue was long and roughly-textured. He lashed out at her nipple with his raspy tongue and pleasure shot from her nipple straight to her belly, causing her to shudder uncontrollably. She clenched her thighs tightly together, trying to fight the pleasure he was giving her.

  He growled and sucked harder, pulling and tugging on her sensitive bud with his tongue and teeth, sending jolts of electricity down her body. Celia should have been afraid. A man…no, a beast like him could harm her or kill her easily in a matter of seconds, but she wasn’t afraid. He was rough, but she could feel that he was keeping his power at bay.

  Unable to suppress it any longer, Celia bit down on her lower lip and a soft moan escaped passed her lips.

  Refusing to release her nipple from his mouth, the dragon raised his glowing eyes at her and continued to suck. She glanced down at him and watched as he pulled back, causing her nipple to be drawn taut in his mouth until it popped out of his mouth with a smack.