Embrace the Romance

by S. E. Smith

  “Stay here,” he repeated in a firm voice.

  He was rewarded with a snort and a light shock to his wrists. Cursing under his breath, Asim glared at his symbiot. Between it and his dragon, he was ready for a drink – or a hundred.

  No time to get drunk, we have mate to court, his dragon gleefully retorted.

  Court? Asim asked, distracted.

  Remember what Ariel say? Mandra court her if he make her mad, his dragon reminded him. I court my mate. She like me then.

  “We don’t have a ma….”

  The words died on Asim’s lips when he stepped around the bushes and onto the path. He jerked to a stop, his gaze immediately locked on the slender figure of a woman standing near a table laden with food. She was turned slightly away from him so all he could see was her profile.

  I told you. I find us mate! His dragon gloated.

  Asim swallowed, blinked, and nodded without realizing he was silently agreeing with his dragon. From her profile, he could tell that she was older than the other princesses – a fact that sent a wave of relief through him. She was like finely aged wine that a man could appreciate.

  His gaze ran over her short hair that was as white as freshly fallen snow. Her hair was spiked on the top but cut close on the sides. The style showcased her delicate features and made him think of what it would look like after he ran his hands through it.

  She was wearing a dark blue, silk blouse tucked into the waist of her black leather trousers and a pair of low cut black boots. His fingers itched to pull the silky fabric free so he could run his hands up under it to caress her skin.

  A low curse escaped him when his dragon struggled to get out. Asim acknowledged his dragon was right – they found their mate. Of course, to be absolutely sure, he would need to see if his symbiot agreed. Hope was one thing – all three of them actually agreeing tended to be another. He had met women in the past who he’d thought had the potential to be his mate only to be disappointed when his dragon, his symbiot, or both didn’t agree with him.

  Where in the vast universe had she come from? He couldn’t help but wonder in shock.

  He ran a damp palm along his pant leg. He was afraid to test if the Goddess had finally gifted them with a woman who could complete them and fill the empty void gnawing away at them. If the woman wasn’t their mate, the disappointment could likely drive all three of them to lose control. But… if she was, he would need to handle this delicately. He would introduce himself, strike up a conversation, and put her at ease so that his dragon, his symbiot and he didn’t scare her.

  Asim remembered all too well the struggles Mandra and the other Dragon Lords had faced. He decided he would be more controlled, more refined – that should help him in his courting of her. Clearing his throat, Asim took several steps closer to the woman.

  “Excuse me,” he said in a thick, rasping tone that demonstrated his dragon was close to the surface and he wasn’t as in control as he’d hoped.

  Four

  Pearl released a sigh of irritation at being pulled back to reality. She swallowed the sarcastic comment on her lips and turned toward the voice. She needed to watch what she said. After all, she wasn’t on Earth anymore.

  She had always tended to speak before she thought at times, especially after working at the bar for so many years. That bad habit had gotten her into trouble more than once. Thank goodness for Tiny, her six-foot-five, three-hundred-five-pound bouncer, and her rock salt loaded shotgun. Between the two, she’d seldom been in a situation she couldn’t handle. But, that was back on Earth and she needed to remember that she wasn’t on her planet any longer.

  Still, whenever she heard ‘excuse me’, a hundred different retorts popped into her mind. Since she was on an alien planet, she decided it was probably best that she didn’t say ‘Why? Are you about to have a baby explode out of your chest and need someone to catch it?’ After all, who knew if it might be true?

  Turning to face the man, Pearl couldn’t help but suck in a deep, calming breath when her gaze locked on a pair of black booted feet spread apart in a stance that spoke of power. She clenched her fingers into a fist to keep from fanning herself as she ran an appreciative gaze up the man’s legs. He was wearing black leather trousers that did nothing to hide his long legs, thick thighs, narrow hips, and….

  “Someone crank down the air conditioning, I think I’m having a hot flash. Lordy, but I love a man who can make leather look that good,” she said under her breath.

  Pearl’s gaze paused at the opening of the man’s vest. She couldn’t stop from licking her bottom lip at the tantalizing view of his rock hard abs. She swallowed and breathed deeply, afraid she might have forgotten how to for a second. Her gaze continued up his muscular frame. She hadn’t seen muscles like that in… ever.

  Fear of disappointment struck her hard – what if she got to the top and it turned out to be a pimply-faced boy and not a hunk like Sean, Sam, Kurt, Liam, or Denzel? Nothing killed a good fantasy like hearing a rough, sexy voice and finding out it is the kid from down at the Dairy Queen going through puberty and taking steroids.

  Her eyes followed the path of exposed tanned skin until she stopped at a set of blazing golden eyes and a face weathered by time and life. The instant attraction hit her hard.

  How do you say yummy? Over fifty and single, she thought.

  Her delight changed to a scowl of shock at her reaction to him. Hell, she had only made a half-hearted wish, not a full-fledged, certifiable one! It wasn’t like she was really in the market for a man in her life! She had been on her own for so long, she wasn’t sure she would know what to do with one who had actual working parts. She wouldn’t call any of the few serious relationships she ever had in her life earth-shattering. They had all been more like shaking the Jell-O bowl – lots of wobble before they melted into goo. Something told her this guy could make the bed shake like an earthquake!

  Asim held his breath when the woman turned to face him. The moment their eyes connected, his dark golden with her vivid blue ones, he knew he was lost. Her expression quickly turned from surprised interest to a dark scowl. Dread swelled inside Asim and a sense of panic began to rise up, threatening to choke him.

  “Who the hell are you?” the woman demanded, gazing back at him with an intense look.

  “Asim,” he automatically replied.

  She doesn’t like what she sees, he thought in dismay.

  You think too much. She like us. She say she love man who make leather look good. You a man and you wearing leather, his dragon sighed in exasperation.

  That doesn’t mean she likes the rest of me! Asim snapped in irritation.

  Pearl was flustered by the way the man was returning her gaze, as if she was part of the brunch buffet. True, she might have been doing a bit of eye-candy sampling, but since she had found herself on an alien world in her sixties, she figured, she deserved to sample all the candy she wanted. Hell, at her age, she would throw in the whole damn cake with it – in every flavor, along with the ice cream and whipped topping.

  The man said something that Pearl wasn’t sure she heard correctly. It sounded like a guttural ‘Mine!’ The translator thing they had given her must not be working correctly; because there was no way that this man could mean what she thought he said.

  “I beg your pardon? What did you say?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “You are mine!” the man repeated.

  Pearl blinked and took a startled step back when a golden creature suddenly surged from her right to stand between her and the man. The creature was like the other ones she had seen wandering around the gardens – only this one was focused on her like a starving dog eyeing a T-bone steak.

  Panic hit her and her hand automatically reached behind her for a weapon to fend off the large, golden cat-shaped creature. Her fingers curled around the handle sticking out of a bowl and she whipped it around, slinging a creamy pudding mixture through the air. Dismay washed through Pearl. The gooey, cream-colored dessert and spo
on were no defense against her attacker. In fact, the damn thing opened its mouth and swallowed the flying mixture. Unfortunately, the man standing behind it wasn’t quite as agile. Specks of custard dotted his face. The intense expression on his face darkened into one Pearl wasn’t sure she could define. The only thing she could think about when the man said ‘Mine!’ was he was a dragon and dragons were meat eaters.

  “Oh, shit! My old hide is too tough to eat. You’d be better off chewing on your pants,” Pearl snapped in exasperation, waving the spoon in front of her.

  The symbiot paused for a brief moment, opened its enormous mouth filled with large, impressive razor-sharp teeth, unfolded its tongue, and promptly licked the spoon clean. If that wasn’t bad enough, it sat down in front of her, tilted its head sideways, and gave her a silly-ass grin when it was finished.

  “Really? You know, that isn’t a very intimidating look,” Pearl stated dryly, raising an eyebrow.

  A reluctant, but amused smile curved her lips. The thing looked so damn proud of itself that it was hard not to be amused by its pleased expression. She was about to drop her arm when the man standing behind the golden creature transformed. One second there was a gorgeous hunk of masculinity in front of her and the next there was a massive, fire-breathing dragon with long claws and sharp teeth. Pearl had to check herself when she started to release a wolf whistle. Even as a dragon, the guy was impressive in a turn-you-on, heat-me-up kind of way.

  At least, that was her first thought. Her second one was that she was in deep shit when said gorgeous dragon reached out with his tail and wrapped it around her waist. Pearl released a strangled cry when she felt her feet suddenly leave the ground.

  A second later, the golden goofball that had been in front of her transformed. Pearl watched in horrified fascination as long tentacles of gold rose up and reached outward from the creature to form an ornate, adult-size bird cage. If watching the creature transform wasn’t disconcerting enough, the thin threads of gold that reached out and wrapped around her wrist was enough send her into panic mode. Pearl released a startled curse and raised her other hand to try to pull away. Before she could break free, new threads wrapped around her right wrist, creating a matching bracelet on each arm.

  She had been so focused on the delicate golden bracelets forming around her wrists that she didn’t noticed the other change occurring right in front of her until it was too late. Confused by what was happening, she glanced around to see if anyone else was noticing that things were quickly going to hell faster than Satan on a Sunday drive. Her mouth fell open and she stared at the man in front of her in surprise.

  Correction – the dragon in front of her was close enough now that she could see every tiny detail of his face. Dark, gun-metal-gray scales lined his face. He had a high brow, long black lashes, and small, white spikes along his cheeks. His eyes had turned to a darker golden color and she swore she could see a bonfire burning in them.

  “Oh shit,” Pearl whispered in a strangled tone. “To hell with a spoon, I need my fucking gun!”

  Lost in his dismal thoughts, it had taken a moment for Asim to realize that his dragon and his symbiot were not suffering from the same self-doubts as he was. If he hadn’t been so preoccupied, he would have been aware that the two were silently conspiring against him. He smothered a groan when he saw that his symbiot had ignored his orders to stay and was circling around him from behind. It landed on silent feet a short distance from the woman.

  Asim uttered a choked snarl of warning. His symbiot did more than land near the woman; it was now scaring the hell out of her! Asim winced when white globs of creamy dessert flew through the air, splattering tiny dots across his face. He raised a hand to wipe at the food particles while he watched with exasperation as his symbiot licked clean the spoon in the woman’s hand. This was not the first impression he wanted to make.

  He opened his mouth to protest, but quickly realized something else – his dragon had taken advantage of his distraction to seize control of his body – and this time the damn thing was determined to retain it. Asim understood that none of them wanted to lose the woman now that they discovered her, but there were better ways to do that than by kidnapping her – in front of the entire royal family. He opened his mouth to warn the woman, but promptly made the situation worse, if that was even possible.

  “You are mine!” slipped from his lips in a barely recognizable voice.

  Oh, Pactor’s dung, this is not going to end well, he thought as his body shifted to that of a powerful, gray dragon on a mission.

  “What the…? Who the hell are you talking about? What the hell is going on? Riley!” the woman demanded in a loud voice that held a clear message – she was not happy with her first impression of him.

  Five

  Asim’s dragon and symbiot were totally out of control. Since he couldn’t fight them both, Asim decided that he might as well focus on damage control. He would concentrate on planning how he would fix this mess once he regained control.

  The woman was staring at him with a look of dismay, and with his dragon in control, all he could do was grunt out like some primitive idiot that the woman belonged to him – not that she could understand what he was actually saying since it was his dragon speaking! He could picture Lady Ariel rolling her eyes at him the way she did at Mandra when he tried talking to her in his dragon form. For now, Asim was consigned to watching in despair as his dragon wrapped his tail around the woman and gently lifted her.

  The woman’s curse echoed through the air, drawing the attention of the others. His dragon carefully deposited the woman in the golden cage his symbiot had become and waited for the bars to seal around her. It was obvious his dragon and symbiot were going to completely ignore everything and everyone around them except the woman.

  You know there is going to be hell to pay for this, as Lady Ariel would say, don’t you? Asim informed his dragon in a stern voice.

  Yes, I know. All be good. We get our mate. You fix trouble, his dragon chuckled.

  Asim released a long stream of mental curses, wishing he could say them out loud as his dragon pushed up off the ground. Correction, he thought with a grimace. …His dragon’s large battle-scarred body lifting off the ground gripping the cage with a very enraged woman inside. Asim winced when the woman released a long series of threats.

  Yes, they were going to be in big trouble – and most of that trouble looked like it was going to come from the delicate beauty who they just kidnapped. The only saving grace was that none of the royal family appeared to be too concerned about his unusual behavior – especially Lord Vox if the Sarafin king’s grinning face was anything to go by.

  Correction number two – none of the royal family with perhaps the exception of Lady Riley. She doesn’t sound as pleased as her mate, Asim thought with a wince when he heard Riley’s frantic yell. I can just see another Great War about to begin.

  I tell you – you think too much, his dragon replied, releasing a triumphant roar as the small group turned in the air and retraced their flight from a few short minutes before.

  “I’m going to cut your wings off and feed them to the buzzards,” the woman growled.

  Asim snorted in response. She had already threatened that. His least favorite was when she threatened to cut his balls off and use them as a door knocker. Even his dragon grimaced at that promise.

  “Where in the hell are you taking me?” the woman demanded.

  Asim glanced down. Far below them were the thick forests of Valdier. They would be crossing the North River soon. He turned his gaze to the woman when she muttered under her breath. Concern swept through him when she rubbed her arms. With a swift thought, a section of his symbiot dissolved and formed a thin blanket.

  “What…? Oh, thank you,” she said with a sigh when the golden blanket wrapped around her. “So, your name is Asim?”

  Asim bowed his head and grunted. He mentally ran a hand over his face when his dragon continued to grunt, snort, and speak in dragon
speak. The damn thing was rambling on about how long they’d been looking for their true mate, how happy they were to find her, how he couldn’t wait to share the Dragon’s fire with her…

  Enough! She can’t understand a thing you are saying, Asim said in exasperation.

  “What the hell is dragon’s fire?” the woman asked before she released a long hiss. “Never mind, I think I get the picture.”

  Yes, she can. Symbiot showing her, his dragon replied with satisfaction.

  You are going to doom us. She will run as far and as fast as she can the moment we release her, Asim groaned.

  “My name’s Pearl St. Claire, by the way. Not ‘woman’, ‘female’, or ‘she’ if you think anything like Vox and Viper,” Pearl dryly replied.

  Asim closed his eyes when his dragon continued to talk to the woman – Pearl. Damage control – he kept repeating to himself – just focus on damage control. He didn’t even bother to listen to what his dragon was telling Pearl anymore. He had a feeling he was going to be answering a lot of questions anyway, if Pearl was anything like Lady Ariel.

  An hour later, they swept through the last mountain pass and into the valley where his home was located. Pearl had grown quieter the closer they got. Normally that would have been a good sign, but the way she was drumming the fingers of her right hand on her knee told him that he needed to be wary.

  Take us to the edge of the lake and give me back control, Asim ordered.

  Why? What you do if I give control? His dragon asked.

  I am going to try to smooth things over. She is sure to be upset about our kidnapping her, Asim replied.

  Maybe she not upset. Maybe she like we take her, his dragon suggested in a hopeful tone.

  We are about to find out, my friend, Asim dryly retorted.

  He wasn’t feeling as optimistic. If he wasn’t mistaken, her fingers were moving a little faster and the tension in her body was radiating outward. Asim connected with the part of his symbiot wrapped around her wrist and winced.