Dragon’s Inn: Restaurant and Tavern was in the center of town. Skye recognized it as soon as they neared the restaurant. She shot Alan a questioning look, but he ignored her. When they reached the restaurant, she turned.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she said. Her voice quivered and she hated how embarrassed she felt, but she knew exactly what Alan had planned. He meant for her to apologize to Victoria for her lies. This was the restaurant where Skye’s favorite paranormal romance worked and she just couldn’t bring herself to face her.
“You can and you will,” he responded, ignoring her protests. He reached for the door, but Skye turned. She couldn’t. She couldn’t tell Victoria to her face that she was sorry, even though she was. She couldn’t admit that she was such a failure as a person that she had tried to sneak onto the island, only to be captured by a broody dragonman who had been out on a morning run.
The whole thing was just humiliating when she thought about it. Skye had been in a sort of lovesick haze the past few days, but when faced with the prospect of talking to Victoria face-to-face, she felt physically ill.
She could not do this.
She couldn’t be another wannabe writer.
She couldn’t be a fangirl.
She couldn’t be the stupid girl who had lied her way onto an island full of mythical creatures.
She couldn’t be the idiot who fell in love with her captor.
Skye didn’t know her way around town, but she would escape. She had to. She had failed once, but she could do this now. She would run away and hide somewhere and Alan would forget all about this little confrontation. She knew even as she thought about escaping that it was stupid.
He was a dragon.
She was a tiny little human with nowhere to go.
She took a deep breath. She started to run, but as soon as she put her foot down, remembered the high heels. Her ankle twisted beneath her and she fell flat on her face on the dirt road.
She cried out as she hit the ground and rolled over onto her back. She knew immediately that trying to escape hadn’t been worth it when the angry, leering dragonman peeked over at her.
Alan’s eyes held a hint of concern, but that look disappeared quickly and was replaced with frustration. Alan picked her up and carried her inside without another word. The restaurant was mostly empty, but he walked past the surprised hostess without a word and carried Skye to the back of the room where a woman was tending bar.
He placed Skye on top of the bar and sat down on a barstool. She was silent as he held her legs in his lap and examined her ankles, pushing gently on them.
“Does anything hurt?” He asked gruffly.
“No, Sir,” she whispered, ignoring the bartender and the patrons who were looking at her. She was so embarrassed. Not only had she made a huge scene, but she would still have to make a semi-public apology to Victoria in front of Alan and the whole restaurant.
Skye wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. She hadn’t wished that since about the fifth grade. Dammit.
“Can I get you anything?” The bartender’s voice was sweet, almost hesitant as she looked at the couple.
“Ice for my sub’s ankle, please,” Alan said without looking at Skye. He smiled at the bartender and a pang of jealousy shot through Skye. She didn’t have any reason or right to be jealous, yet she felt upset that another woman had gotten a smile from Alan when she was in the doghouse.
It was her own fault. What had she expected? He asked one little thing of her and she messed it up.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have run. I’ll apologize.”
“You will apologize,” he repeated, but his voice was low and filled with disappointment. She had let him down. Her heart sank. How would she make it up to him? She couldn’t. Not really. After everything he had done for her, after everything he had shown her that week, she had disappointed him.
“Are you going to spank me?” She whispered, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she knew it was a mistake. He glowered. Alan clenched and unclenched his fists.
Oh, she so had not seen his wrath yet. She could tell he was barely hanging onto control and she hated the idea that it was her fault.
“No,” he hissed. “You twisted your ankle, Skye.” He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes. “Fuck, do you not know anything about me? I’m not going to play with you while you’re injured. No, I am not going to spank you.” He opened his eyes again and Skye saw a world of hurt.
She realized suddenly that he wasn’t annoyed she had tried to run.
He was hurt because she hadn’t trusted him enough to stay.
The entire time they’d been together, he had harped on and on about trust and relationships and Domination and submission. He had asked her to submit and he had promised to keep her safe. Then, at the first chance she’d had to trust him, she had given up.
What did that say about her?
She really was a horrible person.
Without another word, Alan turned and left the restaurant, slamming the door as he did. Every eye in the restaurant turned to stare at Skye. She closed her eyes and looked down at her feet. They were still dangling off the bar. While she had, for a moment, felt a bit like a princess, now she felt only silly and frivolous.
“That’s enough folks, nothing to see here,” the bartender was back and she motioned the leering eyes away. That was all it took. Everyone turned back to their food and soon the restaurant was filled with laughter, murmuring, and the sounds of eating.
“Thanks,” Skye said as the woman handed her a makeshift ice pack.
“No problem,” the woman said. “Scare him off, did ya?”
“Yeah,” Skye nodded. “I kinda pissed him off with my bad attitude and poor decision-making skills.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about him,” the woman said. She turned and poured Skye a drink, then returned and pushed it into her hands before Skye could protest. “Alan is touchy. He hasn’t had an easy time at Dragon Isle. He got off to a rough start, but he’s proved himself time and time again. We all like him, but we worry about him. He hasn’t taken a sub before. This is new to him.”
“He hasn’t?” She squeaked out, hoping she didn’t sound too surprised.
The woman just shook her head.
“Nothing long-term, darling. Alan came to Dragon Isle and his reputation was quickly tarnished by an evil dragonwoman who somehow vanished.” The woman raised her eyebrows. “She kidnapped Kade’s mate and that disappeared. No one has seen her since. Heard she went to live with a friend on the mainland.” The woman revealed nothing, but she didn’t have to say anything else.
Everyone knew you didn’t mess with dragons or their mates. It was just asking for trouble.
“And then what happened?”
“Then I took the idea and wrote a book,” the woman winked at her.
“You’re Victoria Thompson,” Skye said suddenly. She had never seen a picture of the woman, though she knew Victoria sometimes attended conferences where readers and writers could connect. This woman was so different than Skye had imagined.
She knew Victoria was young, maybe in her late 20s, but this woman looked positively hot. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and her bright eyes twinkled mischievously. Her black tank top was tightly, perfectly showing off her perky breasts. Her jeans were slimming and they fit like a second skin. This was so not what Skye had pictured.
“Not what you expected?” Victoria grinned. “I get that a lot. Whatever. You can’t please everyone.” She winked and motioned to the drink that was sitting next to Skye. “Please, try it.”
Skye picked up the drink and sipped it. She immediately regretted her choice.
“Holy dragons,” she gasped, fanning her mouth. “That’s Dragon’s Breath.”
“Ha!” Victoria laughed. She handed over a soda and Skye eagerly downed the drink. “It’s a favorite around here. I’m impressed you knew what it was, though.”
/> “I’m a fan,” Skye admitted. “I’ve read all your books and tried all the recipes. That one was my favorite. When Tate and Rachel finally get together and celebrate by doing shots, well, I may have had a little one-woman party at my apartment.”
Victoria grinned. “That’s what I like to hear. Now tell me,” she leaned forward over the bar. “What’s the old man all upset about?”
Skye flushed and looked around. No one was paying her any mind. Not anymore. She turned so she was sitting completely on the bar. She crossed her legs so she was sitting criss-cross applesauce, the way she had in school as a little girl. Hopefully, no one had seen her privates when she moved around. Alan didn’t allow her to wear panties and she didn’t really mind, but she also didn’t want to flash the entire restaurant.
“I made a bad choice,” she cringed. She hoped Victoria would let her off the hook, but the woman just smiled.
“I’m waiting. You know you have to dish, right? ‘Cause I haven’t seen Alan this worked up over anything in a long, long time.”
Just then, a pretty blonde waitress came by with a drink order for Victoria. She waited patiently as Victoria mixed the drinks. Skye and the girl admired the way Victoria moved. She made mixing look easy, like there was nothing to it.
“Have you worked here long?” Skye asked the girl.
“Nah, I’m new,” she admitted. “I’m just trying to save up money so I can explore the world. You know, spread my wings a bit.” The girl winked as Victoria returned with the drinks, then she disappeared. Skye realized the girl was a shifter, though she was smaller than most of the other dragons. It was usually easy to tell who was dragon and who was human simply because of their physical height.
“Okay, spill.” Victoria said.
“I was supposed to come here and apologize to you,” Skye sighed. She stared at her hands. Her ankle didn’t hurt anymore and she placed the ice pack on the bar. She felt completely humiliated. Was that the purpose of making her apologize?
“Why?” Victoria asked. She gave nothing away. If she had known Skye was coming, she didn’t reveal anything.
“I want to be a writer,” Skye shrugged. “I know it’s dumb, but I thought if I could get here, I could find inspiration. Kinda like you did, you know?” She realized it was ridiculous and juvenile. Dragon Isle was Victoria’s place. It was safe for her. The people knew her, trusted her. They knew that even if Victoria based a character on one of them, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Victoria was their friend. She was part of the world.
She wouldn’t let them down.
Who was going to open up to Skye? She was just a girl who had sneaked onto the island and pushed away the one dragonman who had showed the slightest interest in her. She knew it was more than that, though. Alan and her connected. Yes, he said she “had” to stay, but they both knew it was a bullshit way for him to get her to stay close. It was the only way he could admit he wanted to get to know her better, and she was fine with that because she was just as scared.
Skye had never been in love before. She’d never even had a serious relationship. Oh, there had been boys before, but nothing like this. Nothing like what she felt with Alan.
“It’s not dumb,” Victoria said. She placed her hand on Skye’s. “Everyone has to start somewhere. When I moved here, I didn’t know a thing about writing. Now I have a bestselling series and word on the street is there might be a made-for-TV movie.” Skye’s mouth dropped open and Victoria shrugged. “That’s between us, though. Nothing’s set in stone for that one.”
She nodded. Victoria had come so far. Would Skye ever get there?
“So, you wanted to come to Dragon Isle,” Victoria gently urged. “What does that have to do with me?”
“I told Liam I was friends with you so he’d take me,” Skye squeaked the words out and Victoria let out a low whistle.
“Amber, right?”
Skye nodded.
“You should have known Liam would see right through that one, honey. He’s not exactly slow.” Victoria obviously remembered Liam’s random phone call to her, though it didn’t seem like she was going to hold that against Skye.
A huge weight lifted as Skye realized that Victoria hadn’t gotten angry at her confession. She had simply listened.
“Look,” Victoria said. Her voice was gentle. She was so nice. Way too nice for someone who lived with dragons. How did she stay so sweet? And how could she deal with the fact that Skye had lied about her? Why wasn’t she mad? “We all have to make choices. What will we do to get the things we want? You made a bad choice, but you don’t have to let it define you.”
“I should never have lied to Liam,” Skye said. “When he saw through my story, I stole his boat.”
Victoria burst out laughing. “You didn’t!” She said. “Tell me you didn’t. What?”
“And I crashed it,” she cringed.
Victoria just laughed harder.
“Girl, you have no idea how much I needed that laugh,” Victoria admitted when she finally calmed down. “I would love to have seen the look on Liam’s face when that happened. Wait,” she looked like she’d just made a connection. “You’re the little stowaway! You know, Liam issued a statement last weekend that someone was trying to sneak onto the island. I didn’t know it was a young human! I thought it was an enemy dragon or something.”
“Does your clan have a lot of enemies?” Skye asked. She didn’t know a lot about dragon politics, but it seemed safe enough to her.
“Clan Lostfallen has few enemies, but poaching is always a concern.”
“Lostfallen? That’s a terrible clan name!” Skye said before she could help herself.
“Tell that to the clan leader, love, and see what he thinks about it.” Skye whirled around at the sound of the male voice. A large dragonman stood next to the barstool. He was tall and harsh looking. His dark hair looked a bit shaggy and he wore a pair of tight jeans with a button-down. Despite his casual appearance, he looked deadly.
“Skye,” said Victoria. “Meet Emerson. He’s the clan leader.”
13
Skye looked up at the clan leader and gulped. So this was the man who had been trying to meet with her all week. Alan had pushed him off and pushed him off, saying Skye wasn’t ready yet, saying he would handle everything.
Now the time for reckoning had come.
Emerson wasn’t bigger than Alan, but in that moment, she felt the dragon inside him silently growling at her. It was as if the whole world around her went silent and the only thing that existed was Emerson’s disappointment.
Oh, that was a heavy weight to bear.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Emerson,” she said quietly, and to her surprise, he chuckled. He actually chuckled. Then he slid onto a barstool next to Skye and nodded to Victoria.
“I’ll have what the little human is having,” he said.
“Very good, Boss,” Victoria murmured, and got to work making the drink.
With Victoria busy focused on the drink, Emerson turned back to Skye. Without a word, he held out his hand and helped her down from the bar. She appreciated it because with him there, she suddenly felt quite silly sitting on top of the bar in the middle of a restaurant.
“I hear you’ve had quite a few adventures since your arrival on Dragon Isle,” Emerson said, beginning their conversation.
Skye nodded with a blush. How much did Emerson know about what she’d been up to? He really was the big bad. Skye didn’t know anything about him except that he was mysterious and that Liam had definitely told him about her theft.
“You stole a boat, little human.”
“Yes. I’m sorry for that.” She bit her lip, embarrassed. She really was a huge idiot. What had she thought? That she would get on the island and suddenly become some famed writer like Victoria? She was silly for even thinking she could.
“Do you regret it?”
“What?” Stealing the boat? Sneaking onto the island? Falling for Alan?
Because there was no doubt in Sk
ye’s mind that she really was falling for Alan. It wasn’t good or acceptable, but it was the way she felt. She never felt quite as alive as when she was with him. No one else understood her or cared for her the way he did. No one lit her up the way he did.
Emerson chuckled.
“You’ve got it bad, sweetie.”
“What? No. No, I don’t. I haven’t got anything.”
She sighed. She really had messed everything up, as per usual.
“Relax,” Emerson patted her hand. “I think you made a poor decision in stealing from Liam, but I would guess that’s the first time you’ve been crazy in your entire life. Am I right?”
She nodded.
“You know,” Emerson took a sip of the drink that had appeared in front of him. Victoria had vanished. “I haven’t seen Alan quite so content since his arrival. He had a rough time when he first came here.”
“I know. Some bitch told everyone a bunch of lies about him and it tarnished his reputation before he’d even had a chance to introduce himself.” She balled her hands into tiny fists. It wasn’t fair. Alan was a good dragon. No one should have been able to impact him that way. He was a fair leader and a reasonable doctor. He had an excellent bedside manner.
Though Skye had only been with him for a week, she already knew that Alan was the best doctor in the world. He was smart and educated and he always listened to everything his patients had to say. When a mother brought her baby dragon in and had questions about routine procedures or medications, he always took the time to explain everything and he even called his patients to check in on them at home.
He was amazing.
“You’ve fallen for the old grump,” Emerson observed.
Skye just shook her head. She wouldn’t pretend to play dumb, but Emerson didn’t know what he was talking about.
“He’s not in love with me,” she said. “We had a fight and he walked out. That should be enough ‘evidence’ to show you how he really feels.”
“From where I’m sitting, I’d say he felt disappointed and he handled it poorly. Everyone makes mistakes. Would you really give up on your dragonman so quickly?”
Dragon Isle Boxed Set, Books 4-6: Lost to the Dragon, Beware of Dragons, and Catching the Dragon Page 8