by Marcy Jacks
“That was Tatsu,” Kraigan said, his shoulders bunching as he felt an immediate need to defend himself against such an accusation.
“I know, I know,” Adam said quickly, turning away. “I should apologize. When I thought it was you, I, um, wasn’t thinking very nice thoughts about you.”
That was hardly anything to apologize for. Kraigan thought unpleasant things about many people. “I’m not offended,” Kraigan said. “I’ve wished bloody deaths on many in my time.”
Adam’s eyes flew wide, and his mouth dropped. He shook his head. “I wasn’t wishing you would die,” he said, stunned.
“Oh,” Kraigan replied and then did not know what to say.
Novik appeared from the water room, holding a steaming kettle. “Adam has since learned that you even spoke on Jason’s behalf. Do not worry yourself about it,” he said, replacing an older kettle with the newer one. There were glasses and rags on the nightstand beside the bed. It seemed that Adam was drinking a lot of tea lately and that the steam from the kettles were being used to aid him with his nausea.
Novik took the old kettle, brought it back into the water room— presumably to fill it for when hot water would be needed again—and he was back within another minute.
“Anyway,” Adam said. “I don’t know. You and Jason always seemed to irritate each other. When Novik told me that he thought you liked him, I didn’t believe him.”
“Novik told you?” Kraigan asked, and he glared accusingly at his commander.
Novik heroically ignored him. The unimaginable cock.
“Yeah, he told me, and then I found out that you were the one to save Jason from Kevan. He didn’t tell me about that right away, but there was that, then how you both looked out for each other when he was taken from the nest...” Adam trailed off, thinking. “I don’t know. It’s hard to describe. I mean, on the surface, you both like to get under each other’s skin, but maybe Jason’s just...well, there is no maybe. He is immature. He might not realize that you like him at all, but I think he might like you and just doesn’t know how to deal with that.”
Novik had told Kraigan something similar to that about himself. He’d said that Kraigan was like a child who was dealing with love emotions for the first time and, not knowing what they were, took to teasing and abusing the person he had feelings for.
Kraigan did not have feelings, so it was impossible for him to have feelings for someone. Well, he did have feelings, he supposed. He had feelings of anger whenever someone enraged him, and pride and gloating whenever he won in a battle or in an argument, but that was it. That was all he’d ever known. He had nothing else inside of him, and yet something happened whenever he thought of Jason.
He warmed up. He was drawn to the man, wanting to be close, if only to make certain that Jason was not making a pest of himself and causing trouble.
He was protective of Jason. There. That was a good way of putting it.
But Jason did seem like the sort of man who did have feelings. Kraigan had watched him smile and laugh many times. Whenever he heard the sound of Jason’s laugh, he had to turn and look, wondering what had made the man so damned happy.
All of this was made even more confusing by the fact that Jason was human. Kraigan hated humans with every drop of blood inside of him, with every scale on his dragon body, He hated them.
Jason was...tolerable.
“If Jason does have these feelings for me,” Kraigan said, breaking the silence, “how should I go about wooing him? How many kisses and gifts do I need to give to him before he will be content to be with me?”
Adam’s face twisted even more, that confusion multiplying, letting Kraigan know that he’d asked the wrong thing again.
Adam shook his head, just as Novik returned to the room. “It’s not about how much you can give to him, but the kissing does help, I suppose.”
Kraigan filed that away for later. Kissing was definitely something he could provide a lot of.
Novik sighed. “You are going to make a mess of things,” he said.
“He’s doing, uh, fine. He just needs some guidance,” Adam said, smiling softly at Kraigan, as though Kraigan really were a small child that did not understand the intricacies of what he was handling.
He hated this so much.
“It’s not about presents, but it is about knowing his likes and dislikes,” Adam said.
Sounded simple enough. “Then what does he like?”
“Aside from teasing you?” Adam asked, smiling.
Kraigan did not think it was remotely funny. Adam stopped laughing. “Okay, uh, well, I know he likes a good story. If they’re funny, then he definitely likes those.”
“I don’t know any funny stories,” Kraigan said, irritated, not with Adam but because the first thing out the man’s mouth was something that Kraigan could not use to convince Jason that they should be having sex a lot more than just the one time.
“Maybe you should come back later,” Novik said, and it did not sound like a request. “Adam is still trying to rest.”
“The man is pregnant, Novik, not dying,” Kraigan said, barely sparing his leader a glance but able to tell that he was being scowled at.
“He’s right, Novik. I’m fine,” Adam said. “Okay, he also likes his sister and would do anything for her.”
“I heard about the way you both attacked a rich nobleman for her,” Kraigan said. Apparently, it had been the true reason why they had been sacrificed to the dragons. Kraigan should thank her for that, but there was a small problem with the suggestion. “I’m trying to seduce Jason, and even I know that inviting his sister into that process will not work.”
“It might,” Adam said.
“What am I supposed to do with Athy? Invite her along whenever I want to take Jason to the bazaar?”
“Sure, that might help,” Adam said, his eyes gleaming as though it really were a good idea. “You could actually ask her for some advice, too. I mean, don’t make it obvious that you invited her. Take Jason, ask Athy to meet you, and you can both pretend that you were only just running into each other. If Jason sees you treating his sister well, buying her a new ribbon or something, then he’ll really like that.”
“Sounds like a lot of work for a lie. If I invited her, then why should I not tell Jason?” He didn’t understand any of this. Did Adam and Novik deceive each other in these small ways just to be able to play games like this all the time? What was the point to that? He didn’t understand it, and nothing made sense.
Adam looked to Novik for some help, but the man just shrugged. “Kraigan isn’t like other men or most other warriors. He’s very…literal.”
Kraigan tensed. “I am not!”
“At the very least, you’re the most serious dragon I’ve ever met, and you don’t seem to understand most of the jokes that you hear.”
“Just because I don’t laugh at them doesn’t mean I don’t understand them.” Kraigan growled.
This was a mistake. Both of these men clearly thought he was inept, and he didn’t want to be around either of them anymore. He turned to Adam. “I’m sorry for disturbing you. I’ll take your advice and speak to Athy.”
Adam didn’t seem to notice any frost in Kraigan’s voice. He snapped his fingers as another thought came to him. “Oh! He’s also learning how to read and write. If you want to gift him with anything, get him some paper, ink bottles, and quills. Maybe even a book if you can find or commission one. He’ll love that.”
Finally, something Kraigan could do. “Thank you,” he said to Adam, scowled at Novik one last time because the man was still glaring at him for interrupting his time alone with Adam, and then turned to leave.
When outside of Novik’s room and back into his own, he paced just in front of his bed, thinking about his predicament. This couldn’t be as difficult as he thought it was. Adam certainly seemed to think this would be simple enough, and why shouldn’t it? Kraigan was a highly sought after dragon warrior. He didn’t exactly have males and females
throwing themselves at him, but there were times when it seemed that way.
Until Kraigan growled low enough to send them scurrying on their way. A few times Kraigan would welcome the advances, if only for the sake of a warm and eager body in his bed for the night. The longest anything like that had ever lasted was for a month or so. Right about when they started wanting to spend more time with him. Time that Kraigan did not have and wasn’t about to make available for them.
The ones who wanted only the sex were the best, his favorites, and it seemed as though that was what Jason was searching for, just sex. A casual encounter that would last a couple of times at best before he moved on to bigger and better things.
That irritated the hell out of Kraigan. He wasn’t even particularly sure which part of it irked him. That Jason did not want anything more with Kraigan or that he thought Kraigan was going to be done with him after just one bout of sex.
The fact that his cock was hard at that very moment was a good indication that Kraigan was nowhere near being done with him. He needed more, and for the first time in Kraigan’s life, he found that he was going to have to be the pursuer in the relationship. Worse still, he would be pursuing a human.
His dead family would be turning over in their graves if they could see this.
Chapter Five
Dravick read carefully over the papers that had been delivered by his porters. Handwritten notes taken immediately after a flight over certain villages, specifically the one closest to his nest, and then the notes written from other, younger dragons who’d made certain that there were no riots being started in his nest.
The humans were going stir crazy. It seemed their anger was quieting down, though they scurried like mice from house to house if the description Dravick was reading was to be believed. The porter couldn’t seem to figure that out, but Dravick already knew. The humans were now terrified that anyone could be taken from their villages, regardless of whether or not they had received the death sentence of being put on the stakes and fed to the dragons.
Also, even though Dravick hired only porters with excellent eyesight, the ones who could see each individual human on their roads even while hidden in the clouds, there was still the chance that the humans had spotted him in the air and simply thought they would be carried away if they did not enter the safety of their homes.
Idiots.
The younger porters reported rumors spreading, of grumbling and complaining among his people, specifically those who were related to the three men whose right hands Dravick had cut off with his sword and sent to the pits.
Dravick hadn’t even killed them, and their sentence was only for a year. Yet those morons had the nerves to start rumors, to be spreading lies and discontent throughout his people because of this? They were the ones to start the entire mess to begin with when they attacked Aaron!
“What are you looking at?” Aaron asked, his voice soft as he snuggled closer to Dravick.
They had been enjoying their evening nap, a new ritual Dravick enjoyed ever since he and Aaron had started sharing a bed and something they only allowed themselves the luxury of after enjoying a good romp.
Aaron always seemed to get sleepy, and Dravick could not deny his mate anything. Usually it meant he also fell asleep next to him, but years of sleeping very little, of getting by on fifteen-minute naps before continuing on with his duties, meant that he never slept much. He always woke shortly after and, enjoying the feel of Aaron’s lithe body against his, would stay right where he was before reaching for his papers to read.
Dravick ran his fingers through Aaron’s soft, blond hair and then kissed his temple. He could tell his mate was still tired. They’d had a long night last night as well, after all.
“The humans in the villages below are becoming paranoid. That’s something I should keep an eye on,” Dravick said. “Other nests are still angry with me for breaking the taboo and taking that human female without her being tied to a stake, but that’s settling down.”
He did not want to tell Aaron yet of how there was still discontent inside of his own nest, of how there were some dragons who still hated the fact that their king was sharing space with a human. Not just any human either but a former servant.
Though Dravick loved Aaron and respected him and was willing to share his work with him, Aaron was still too new to being the mate of the king for Dravick to want to trouble him with the details of how irritated a certain percentage of the dragon population was becoming.
Aaron already knew about it. He didn’t need any reminders.
Aaron let out a soft sigh, as if Dravick actually had told him about what some of his people were doing. What they were saying about him.
Dravick should just throw the lot of them into the pits, make an example of them. Aaron’s good nature was the only reason why he did not. Aaron had specifically requested that Dravick spare the lives of the men who had attacked him, brutally beaten him, and threatened him with all sorts of nasty things that still made Dravick’s fists clench, his blood heat up, and his body itch for a battle.
Aaron had requested he not kill them, and Aaron was also requesting that Dravick not punish those who spoke openly and plainly of their dislike for the king’s new mate.
Aaron’s belief was that no man, be they dragon or human, should be imprisoned for speaking. Dravick could not make him understand that some words were harmful, especially if they provoked violence.
There had to be a calm middle ground they could both agree with. All Dravick wanted was Aaron’s safety. The man’s scars were prominent on his back, and he never wanted that to happen again.
God save the next human that a dragon in his nest fell for.
* * * *
Jason was seriously starting to not feel all that safe doing his job.
Jobs were sometimes just not safe. When he’d worked as a woodcutter, he and Adam had known a couple of guys who’d been killed or maimed because they walked up to a guy swinging an ax and then got themselves stuck with it. Then there were the few others who’d been injured because they were also standing in the wrong spot when a tree was getting knocked over.
The stonecutters didn’t have it much better. One guy had lost his eye because a sharp chip had gotten stuck in it and infected the hell out of it. A few others lost fingers or had their feet crushed when a particularly large stone fell on them.
So Jason knew all about the dangers of having any job, but this was different. Those other situations had all been accidents. Things that could have been prevented with a little more care and concern from everyone involved. Really, Jason’s job right now was to sweep and mop the hallways he’d been assigned as part of his shifts, something that should not have given him any cause for concern at all, apart from maybe slipping on some soapy water.
Yet he’d never felt more like an injury, or even death, was closing in on him.
Dragons, mostly males, and big ones, continually walked down his hallways, even though he’d put up the signs warning people away, that there was a cleaning going on and that the floors would be slippery and wet.
It wasn’t entirely unusual, especially if someone happened to live in the hallway where he was working. Sometimes that happened, but this was happening so much now that it was beyond all reason that it could all just be one innocent coincidence.
No. Definitely not. These people all came and went in droves, groups of three or five, all of whom had gotten muddy boots from he didn’t even know what. Some brushed their shoulders against his, a classic sign of, “Get out of my space. I’m walking here.”
Jason had known many men who thought themselves important enough to be able to do such things. These dragons clearly thought the same as they dirtied up his hallways, forcing him to do the work three or four times over before he finished.
A time or two he’d even been knocked down, laughter trailing behind as the dragons went on their way, no one offering him a hand up.
He got sick of it the third time it happened. He c
ouldn’t even make a joke about it or shrug it off.
“Why don’t you fucking people watch where you’re going?” he snapped, getting to his feet, his leggings and tunic soaked now because his bucket had also been knocked over.
Probably the reason why he’d lost his temper.
Two men, in this particular group of four, immediately turned around, faces tense and irritated as they stormed back over to him.
“You want to repeat that to us, human?” asked the one on the left.
They looked almost identical. If they were not twins, then, at the very least, they were brothers.
The female dragons behind them, ladies who might have been pretty had they not been socializing with these two, tittered.
Jason straightened his back. He wasn’t that much shorter than these two, and even knowing that left him with a false sense of security, he snapped at them. “I said, why don’t you fucking people watch where you’re going?”
Jason wasn’t even thinking about how either of these men could kick his ass even if they weren’t dragons. A team-up was almost always the winner against just one guy, but he was pissed off.
“These halls aren’t exactly small, I’m sure with enough intelligence and effort, you two dipshits and your twatty girlfriends could get by without knocking over my water like a bunch of giggling morons.”
Yeah, he was pretty pissed.
The women gasped when he called them out, too. He didn’t care. He stared right at the two men, whose eyes were wide as Jason unleashed a tirade of foul language at them.
It seemed as though they didn’t get spoken to like this very often, but their shock soon evaporated, and their expressions turned ugly really fast.
Jason didn’t even realize he’d been punched in the face until he landed on the hard, wet floor. He slid back a little, his face throbbing now as the two men got down on his level, grabbed him by the neck of his tunic, and yanked him up for more.