“I do have some extra copies, so I guess that would be okay.”
This meant he would have a reason to go back to see her. He felt cheered by that thought.
“So why do dragons choose to live in crystalline caves? Is nowhere else suitable for them?”
“They create the crystal lair with their breath. It’s amazing to watch. I’ve seen Narrak do it.”
“I thought they breathed fire. You’re saying they can make crystals appear just by breathing out?”
“It has everything to do with their origin. Narrak told me how dragons were created. Do you know what archangels are?”
“Yes, but like angels and demons I never believed in them. What do they have to do with dragons?”
“Archangels were the first creation. Some of them fought against each other with crystal light wands. The first two dragons came into existence when two archangels were injured by those wands. A dragon sprang from the spilled blood of each archangel. One was male and the other was female. Then those two dragons came to Kurbridor and that is why there are dragons here. Due to the crystalline power of the wands that created them they have the ability to create crystals.”
“And that’s why their eggs look like geodes. I keep learning new things while I’m here.”
“I am happy to explain anything that interests you.”
“Maybe I can tell you something. Do you know that amethyst absorbs negativity?”
“No. I like to look at crystals, but I know nothing about them.”
“Can’t you feel yourself becoming more positive about everything the longer you stay in here?”
Dreydon wasn’t sure he believed what she was saying, but he knew he wanted to tell her something about himself that no one else knew. “I come here when I’m feeling less than happy. At times, I’m satisfied with my life. Then there are other times when I am lonely and know something is missing from it. Sometimes I’ve stayed here overnight or for hours in the day. What you’ve said about amethyst could be true because I always feel more cheerful by the time I leave.”
“Yes, the amethyst has taken away your negative emotions.” Esther sat silent and looked thoughtful. Then she added, “Loneliness is a terrible feeling. I suffer from it at times. We share something in common, Dreydon. Maybe that makes us friends?”
His inner demon yelled, “Tell her that’s not what we want!”
“I don’t want to be your friend.”
“Oh … uh … sorry I said that. Of course, we can’t be friends. We don’t know each other.” Esther looked embarrassed.
“I want much more than friendship between us, I want to be your mate.” Dreydon took hold of Esther and eased her into a reclining position on the blanket. She attempted to sit up, but he grasped her hands and held them against her chest. He knew she couldn’t push against his applied strength. With his other hand, he lifted up her thick shirt and top. Esther brought up her knees in defense; he quickly straddled her, and kept her legs immobile with his lower legs. He bent close and gently bit her stomach. She squealed and tried to wriggle free.
“You bit me again. What is wrong with you?”
Dreydon held her still and brought his mouth back to her body. Now he licked and bit her, over and over. This move always made female demgels want more intimacy with him. For some reason, it didn’t affect Esther in the same way. She struggled with surprising vigor and tried to free herself.
He leaned close to her face and said, “As I told you before, don’t fight with me. You cannot win.”
“Stop biting me, and then I won’t fight with you.”
“Perhaps you would prefer me to do this?” His mouth came down on hers with force. He knew humans kissed, but for him it was an unfamiliar action. Her lips felt so soft and to his surprise they parted. Dreydon moved his tongue inside her mouth. He wanted to explore it. Esther’s teeth felt odd, but not unpleasant. They didn’t have sharp points like demgel fangs. Her tongue was a delight. It moved against his in a manner that pleased his demon and made his cock grow hard. Dreydon definitely liked kissing. He looked at the face so close to his and saw that her eyes were closed.
After several minutes of this new found pleasure, Esther opened her eyes and moved her mouth back from his. She stated, “Please get off me. You’re heavy and are hurting my chest and legs.”
He sat back on the blanket, kept hold of her hands and pulled her into a sitting position. Dreydon didn’t want to stop the kissing or biting, yet he sensed not stopping would upset her. He’d forced some female demgels into having sex with him because he knew they liked to be taken in that way. Esther was different. He’d have to find some tactic that would make her willing to be intimate with him. Dreydon also realized he wanted her to be willing. It mattered to him in a way that wasn’t just about appeasing his demon.
“I think you like my kissing better than my biting. I must remember that.”
“What I would like is you doing neither of them. Kissing is for those who care about each other and biting is what animals do.”
“Perhaps humans think it is so, but biting is important to demgels. We bite in anger and in affection. Biting someone in the manner I just bit you is what you would call foreplay.”
“Well, go do your foreplay with Perali, not me.” Esther got up and walked toward the entrance.
He jumped up, made the blanket and ball of golden light vanish, and strode after her. He didn’t want her going outside alone and peering over the edge. Dreydon reached Esther as she stepped beyond the entrance. He clasped her to his chest, put the invisible shield in place and told her, “It’s time to go.” He hugged the one who was fast becoming a precious individual to him, and then lifted off.
Chapter Fourteen
Esther was feeling very disgruntled as they flew away from the amethyst cave. Dreydon was making passes at her and she was beginning to want him to do more. This was totally against her better sense of how she should react. He wasn’t human and was like a fantasy character from someone’s books about mythical heroes. Yet his forceful kiss was better than any she’d ever had before, even Richard’s. And what about that wicked biting? For Esther, it was a real turn-on. As she lay on the blanket, she had to force herself not to show him she liked the sensation of his fangs digging ever so gently into her flesh. She also thought the licking wasn’t exactly ho-hum.
Esther tried dismissing these crazy thoughts. She needed to get back home where life was predictable and normal. If she could ever bring herself to tell her friends about her stay on Kurbridor, they’d say she was becoming kinky and had allowed her writer’s imagination to work overtime.
Dreydon’s hold on her tightened and she suddenly remembered his ability to mind snoop. Is he listening right now? She must stop thinking about him and bring her attention to what she could see below her. Esther did this and realized they weren’t flying back around to the other side of the mountain. They had journeyed away from it. So where are we going? She hadn’t responded to him making a pass at her, so he might be going to dump her somewhere.
“Where are we going? This isn’t the way to your home.”
“It’s a surprise.”
Esther hoped his surprise wouldn’t leave her somewhere on her own because his demon side was pissed at her for not letting him do more than just biting and kissing. She’d have to keep her wits about her if she was no longer under his protection. At least she knew more about Kurbridor today than yesterday. There was danger here and she must make sure another demgel didn’t capture her. She had no intention of being taken to a mejin, and then becoming a sex slave.
Esther watched the scenery pass below. There were fields, woods, and sometimes what looked like small communities of creatures that had to be centaurs. They appeared to live in large, wooden huts and were busy doing various tasks close by. After a while, the ground looked rocky and Dreydon’s flight path moved higher. In the distance, a vast sea was becoming visible. He started circling down to a huge cliff that was honeycombed with caves
. There were several human-looking individuals moving on an expanse of smooth rock in front of them.
“You write about lycans so I thought you might like to meet some.”
She would like to do that as long as he wasn’t going to give her to the werewolves for being uncooperative. Is his inner demon now in charge and making demands?
“I would never give you to the lycans and my demon will only be in charge when I make love to you.”
Oh, crap, he’s been snooping again, and for how long? Did he now know his biting and kissing was a turn-on? Esther feared she wouldn’t be able to look at him, when they landed, without turning scarlet. She wished she really could die of embarrassment.
Dreydon glided down and they came to rest on the smooth rock. Several half-dressed young children ran up to them and shouted at him in another unknown language. He smiled and answered them. Then they looked at Esther and several of the boys suddenly changed into what looked like small, but savagely fierce wolves. Their fangs were evident and they glared at her with blood-red eyes. Some started snarling and she leaned close to Dreydon.
“Don’t be afraid. They like to test their wolf side on strangers. They do it in order to make their shifting become second nature. Smile at them and they will change back.”
Esther gritted her teeth and forced a smile to move her lips. She tried to ignore the fact that some of these little creatures were actually salivating. One-by-one they became partly-dressed boys once more. More words were spoken by the children and Dreydon continued talking to them. Finally, they ran away.
“The children wanted to know your name and who you are. I told them you are someone who is very important to me. One of the girls said you are beautiful and she suggested I make you my mate.” He gave Esther a questioning look.
She wasn’t about to respond to that remark. Fortunately, two men approached and appeared to be greeting Dreydon. He engaged in conversation with them. At one point, he must have introduced her because both men looked at her, smiled, and said something.
“Just smile and look as though you are accepting their compliments.”
Esther did as Dreydon directed and the men’s attention went back to him. While they were busy talking, she looked closely at the men. They were not as tall as the demgel, but their bodies looked strong and muscular. Both had brown hair that was short and curly, dark eyes, and faces that were quite handsome. They were dressed in jeans and boots, but their upper bodies were bare. They were obviously happy to see Dreydon. There were plenty of smiles and even some laughter from them. It was difficult to imagine them being able to change into ferocious wolves.
Eventually, Dreydon said, “I need to help them with something. If you go over to those female lycans standing outside that cave, they will keep you company while I’m gone. Stay with them and don’t go near the edge.” He walked with the two men to the end of the flat area and flew down out of sight. The men began climbing down rope ladders that were anchored in some way to the rock surface immediately adjacent to the edge.
Esther looked at the five females who were staring at her with obvious interest. She walked over to them and smiled at each one individually. Like the males, it was difficult to imagine how they could change from pleasant looking people to fierce creatures. All were taller than Esther. They were wearing plain dresses and sandals; their hair was long and tied back. Each one also had several bead bracelets on her wrists. The beads were semi-precious stones and this jewelry looked similar to the power bracelets that were a popular item in Anna’s store.
One of the women spoke to her and she hoped, by shaking her head, they would know she didn’t understand their language. They seemed to understand, and began chatting back and forth, obviously about her. They touched her jeans, her hair, and stared at her sneakers. Several times she heard Dreydon’s name mentioned and wondered what they were saying. Whenever she heard his name, there were smiles and knowing nods sent in her direction. She was glad she didn’t know what they were saying.
One of them took a bracelet off her wrist and pressed it into Esther’s hand. It was constructed of amethyst, rose quartz, and aventurine beads. She tried giving it back to her, but the woman shook her head. She placed the bracelet over Esther’s left hand and onto her wrist. It was obviously a gift. Esther gave her what she hoped was a ‘thank-you’ smile. She wished she had something to give in exchange, but there was nothing. The woman certainly didn’t act as though she was expecting anything from Esther.
Just then Dreydon flew back and landed beside her. She showed him the bracelet and indicated to the one who’d gifted it.
“Can you give her my thanks and tell her I love these crystals?”
He spoke to the woman and she smiled at Esther. Then she said several words to the demgel and he replied. The group began moving toward one of the caves and one word was called out by each of them as they disappeared from view. Esther figured they were saying “Goodbye.”
“She invited us to stay for supper, but I didn’t accept. As this will be our last night together, I wanted to be alone with you.”
“That’s okay. Although they were very friendly, I’d be thinking they might suddenly shape-shift and that would scare me.”
“Would you like to go down to the beach?”
“Yes, I haven’t been near the sea since I was a child.”
Dreydon clasped her close and lifted up. He flew over the edge of the flat rock and down to the beach below. As he released her, she stared at the long and wide expanse of sand that wasn’t the usual color. It was ivory and looked more like talcum powder than sand. In contrast, the sea was a deep aquamarine. The two men who had spoken to Dreydon were loading a large net into a boat. It was sitting on the sand and wasn’t a yacht. It looked more like a long, deep rowboat, but had a sail.
She asked, “Do they fish?”
“Yes, that’s what a number of the lycans who live here do. Those two had a problem with the mast for their sail. They asked me to help them with it, so I used a little magic and fixed the problem.”
“Will they give you something in exchange for helping them?”
“They can’t do that today because they couldn’t go out to sea. When the other boats come in they will give us some fish.”
“You eat fish? That’s what I eat. I don’t eat meat.”
“Ah, we are alike. I don’t eat meat.”
“That’s surprising. The way Zortek devoured his steak made me think all demgels must be big meat eaters.”
“Not all demgels are the same. Don’t humans differ from one another? Shall we sit down and take off our shoes? We can walk along the beach while we wait for the boats to come in.”
Esther nodded and they sat on the warm sand. She took off her sneakers and socks, Dreydon slipped out of his sandals. He manifested a drawstring bag; put their footwear and her socks into it. Then he slung the bag across his shoulder.
Dreydon stood up, pulled Esther up beside him, and asked, “Do you like to walk in the water?”
“Yes, at least I did when I was little.”
“I could say you remain little, but that might make you angry.”
He strode away from Esther and went down to the water’s edge. Dreydon stamped his feet in the sea and laughed. “Let us see if you can catch me.” He started taking huge strides along the water’s edge, splashing himself as he moved forward.
Esther charged after him. The water felt less cold than she expected. She would need to run in order to catch him. As she began running, the bottoms of her jeans were getting soaked so she paused and rolled them up to her knees. Dreydon continued striding along, glancing back now and then to see if she was getting close. When she’d almost reached him, he looked back, grinned and began running. There was no way she could catch him because he could easily outrun her. She decided they would now play the game on her terms.
Esther stood still and unbuttoned her thick shirt. Running had made her feel warm. Then, she turned around and started taking very small st
eps back toward the point where she’d entered the sea. She knew he would see what she was doing the next time he glanced back. Almost immediately she could hear him splashing his way toward her.
When he reached Esther, he used one hand on her waist and swung her around to face him. His face was solemn as he asked, “You don’t like this game?”
“No, you have the advantage of very long legs. I couldn’t possibly catch you.” Esther tried to look annoyed but was on the brink of laughing. She suddenly grabbed his arms and declared, “See, I did catch you and not by strength, but by cunning. I knew you’d come back if I started going in the other direction.”
“You outwitted me. When I saw you walking away, I thought you were upset because I was running. I guess a certain fae-human can outsmart this demgel.”
“Of course I can and don’t forget it.”
Dreydon looked out to sea and said, “I can see the boats on the horizon. They will be here in a while. Let’s walk further along the beach.”
They resumed their journey, this time walking side-by-side along the edge of the sea. Dreydon was moving through the slightly deeper water, which was helpful because, if Esther had been in his position, her jeans would be soaked. His steps were not strides, so she didn’t have to hurry to keep up with him. She appreciated how he, unlike Zortek, recognized the limitations of her size. They were walking in silence and Esther enjoyed the sound of the waves rolling and breaking in frothy splendor, the air so fresh it was almost tingling, and the bright sunlight that enhanced her surroundings. It was years since she’d taken in the bracing ambience of being by the sea.
Eventually Dreydon stopped walking, looked back and said, “The boats are being pulled onto the beach. If you go and sit on the sand, I’ll come back to you.” He waited until she’d moved out of the water and was settled. After placing the drawstring bag beside her, he took flight in the direction from which they had come. She watched him flying swiftly toward what must be the boats on the shore. From this distance, Esther could just see their long hulls and folded sails.
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