He’s naked. And massive. His hair is the golden-red color of flames, and his eyes are pure molten lava.
Dragon!
My pulse speeds up, and I back further and further from him.
His intense gaze watches my every move. He takes a step toward me, and the animalistic grace of his movements are mesmerizing. His large arms, corded with muscles, seem to swell with strength. His chest and stomach, covered in hard muscles, tenses as I gaze upon him. And when my gaze dips lower, it’s hard to swallow. I’ve only been with a handful of men in my twenty-five years, but even I know that he’s packing something extraordinarily large.
If he were a man, I’d say he was turned on by something. Erect to the point of looking in desperate need of release, but he’s not a man. He’s a dragon. And for all I know he’s hard all the time.
I hope.
When I’ve nearly backed myself up toward another window, I catch a movement behind me.
Turning, my heart freezes.
Another dragon-man is now crouched on the window ledge. His hair is the light blue of ice, and his eyes are the white-silvery color of newly fallen snow. He’s not nearly as broad as the other dragon, but he’s taller, and just as muscular.
They’re trying to surround me!
I switch directions again, my gaze moving to another window. I don’t know why these dragons haven’t just rushed me and killed me, but I have to take advantage of it. Failure is not an option.
But before I’ve even taken more than a few steps toward it, a man appears on the ledge. I freeze, my heartbeat filling my ears. This dragon has deep blue hair so dark it’s almost black, like the deepest depths of the ocean. And his eyes are the dark greenish-blue of waves.
I shake myself, pulling my gaze from him. The dragon with white eyes has leapt down from the window ledge and is slowly moving toward me.
My frightened gaze slides all around the room. They’re closing in, and I can’t see a way I’ll escape.
I have one choice.
Sliding my backpack from my shoulder, I open the top of it, carefully shifting away from them. “This is what I took,” I whisper, afraid of what will happen if I startle them.
Then, taking a deep breath, I throw my bag up. The gems go flying out of the top, raining down around me. I race for another window, hoping the distraction will give me time to escape.
My feet ache with each step as I pound against the stone floor, but my freedom is close, so close I can taste it.
Reaching the window, I grab the sides and move to leap out, but strong arms encircle my waist, and I’m pulled right back.
“No!” I shout, not thinking.
Panic has taken over. I kick against the dragon that holds me, and when the dragon with white eyes moves to stand in front of me, I react without thinking. The second his body presses against mine, I let my claws grow and attack.
He stumbles back and grabs his cheek. Streaks of blood appear on his cheek, and he tentatively touches his wound. I use my claws again, stabbing into the hands that hold me. The dragon behind me gives a shocked gasp and releases me, and then I head for the window again.
The third dragon tackles me to the floor. We roll together in a pile of limbs.
I don’t have enough time to think before he pins my hands above my head and lies on top of me. Suddenly, I’m staring into the fiery eyes of one of the dragons. Fury colors his face.
I’ve never been this terrified in my life. When he leans down and inhales deeply of the flesh at my neck, I wait for him to tear my throat out. But he doesn’t, instead, he licks my skin.
Burying his face deeper into my neck, he sucks and licks at my sensitive skin. Panic and shock war within me. I’d thought these dragons were going to kill me, but what if they wanted something else?
“Get off of me!”
He stiffens above me, then nibbles gently down my neck.
“Did you hear me?” I pant. “Get off.”
At last, he lifts his head. “You are demanding, for a thief.”
I shudder beneath him, lost in his gaze. The sound of his voice is unlike anything I’ve heard before. It’s deep, but laced with a heat that makes me feel... aroused.
Which I hate. “I might be a thief, but I won’t be mounted and touched without my permission!”
My voice shakes so badly I’m afraid he won’t understand what I’m saying.
But his molten gaze darkens. “You steal that which doesn’t belong to you, then say we must ask you for permission? You are an arrogant human.”
I try to bump him off of me, then start to struggle in earnest again.
He groans above me. “Be still female, my cock cannot handle your body thrusting against mine.”
I stop, feeling sweat tickle down my back. What now? Lying still encourages him. Moving encourages him.
How do I discourage him?
In the back of my mind a tiny voice whispers, and do you want to?
“Phoenix, she needs to understand the significance of your mating before we touch her.”
The dragon with ice-blue eyes steps into my vision. His cheek looks painful where I attacked him. Blood still runs down his pale flesh, but he doesn’t seem to notice.
And then, his words hit me. “What do you mean mating? I’m not mating anyone.”
The dragon above me growls low in his throat and nips my bottom lips in a gesture that’s possessive, animalistic, and... strangely, hot. “Your clumsy thievery has taken that choice from us.”
Behind us, the dragon-man runs a hand through his ice-blue hair. “This is not how this is supposed to go. Human, if Phoenix allows you to rise, will you promise not to run again?”
Another growl slips past Phoenix’s throat. “She will remain beneath me.”
He shifts, and suddenly all I can feel is his massive erection pressing between my legs. Oh, shit. My body is heating up, which is the last thing I expected.
“I won’t run,” I promise, the words coming out desperate and frightened.
“Release her.”
Phoenix’s gaze narrows. “Silence, Frost! I will do as I wish!”
“Do not let your fire burn too brightly brother, or all will be lost.”
The dragon above me stiffens, and I see his expression change. Slowly, he climbs off of me.
When I rise to my feet, I wince as my feet touch the ground. I’d forgotten I had walked on glass in my need to escape. Now, however, the pain was stomach-turning.
Suddenly, I’m swept into the arms of the dragon with hair that’s such a dark blue it’s almost black. A squeak of surprise escapes my lips, and I look up at him in shock.
His expression is... angry. “You are hurt.”
I move my feet and wince. “Not too badly.”
“How did this happen?” His grip around me tightens, and his greenish-blue eyes move strangely within his irises, like the waves of the ocean.
For a minute, I can’t speak. All I can do is stare.
His entire body stiffens. He lowers his mouth and captures mine.
Fire moves through me, and I ground my lips against his, desperate to feel more of this ecstasy. Because that’s exactly what it is. Pure pleasure. Mind-numbing and extraordinary.
Digging my hands into the back of his neck, I pull him closer. His tongue touches my lips, and I open them, eager to feel more. Only, I had no idea what his unexpectedly rough tongue would do to me.
I gasp, running my tongue against his. Needing more of this. Of him.
He jerks his lips from mine, and reluctantly, I drop my hands, shocked by my reaction.
“Goddesses help us,” he murmurs, looking down at me.
My cheeks heat. “What the hell dragon magic is that?”
He raises a brow. “Dragon magic?”
“Yes!” I cross my arms over my chest, hating how hard my nipples feel. “You made me kiss you!”
He laughs, a sound that rumbles through his bare chest. “I do not make human women kiss me. And I would not make you ki
ss me. We must tend to your injury first, then I can kiss any part of you that you wish.”
“Azure...” It’s the dragon with ice-blue eyes. Frost, they called him. And he sounds frustrated. “We cannot simply mount this female. This must be discussed first.”
The dragon that holds me exchanges a look with the one named Phoenix. “We will tend to her wounds for now.”
He clutches me more tightly in his arms and walks to nearly the center of the room. Then, he crouches. I feel every muscle in his body tense. And then, he leaps into the air.
A scream tears from my lips. We’re going to hit the damn roof! But then, he hits the surface of a landing I never even saw. Up so close to the ceiling of the temple, that it’s tucked out-of-sight from anyone below.
Casually, as if he hadn’t just leapt several stories, he rises fully and starts walking forward into the hidden alcove. I hear the other dragons land behind him, and I get that feeling I hate. The feeling of being trapped.
“My feet are fine.” I tell him. “If you just put me in the woods, I’ll manage on my own.”
He scowls down at me. “That is not going to happen.”
We continue forward through the narrow hall, when suddenly, it opens into a massive room. The entire ceiling is glass, staring out at a sky speckled with clouds. I stare and stare. It’s like being in the sky. Like flying. I can even feel the sun’s warm rays kissing my flesh.
I close my eyes. Amazed by this feeling. It’s surreal. Beautiful. Perfect.
“You like it here.”
My eyes snap open. Azure is holding me, watching me, and his expression is curious.
I speak softly, the words slipping past my lips before I can stop them. “It’s like being in the sky.”
One side of his full, stunning lips curls up. “It is not. But one day, I will take you into the sky. Would you like that?”
My heart races. “Does that mean after you bandage up my feet you don’t plan to kill me?”
He raises a brow.
But it’s Phoenix who answers. “It depends on how reasonable you are.”
“About being mated?” I challenge.
He glares at me, but says nothing.
Azure sighs above me and carries me to the center of the room. He sets me down on the edge of what I can only describe as a massive tub set low into the ground with slopping sides. The entire bottom of it sparkles with gems of every color. I try not to stare, but I do. The wealth these dragons have is like nothing I’ve seen before. They use gems that could be used to feed whole villages to line their tubs. It’s absolutely unbelievable.
“I will tend to your feet,” Azure says, then sits down and pulls my feet into his lap.
His expression darkens.
“How bad is it?” Frost says, turning the water on in the tub and sitting down beside his brother.
Phoenix stands over them. He looks down at my feet, then back at my face. “You cannot be this reckless. Do you understand me?”
My temper flares. “I wouldn’t have stepped on glass if you hadn’t scared me!”
His hands curl into fists, and suddenly I wish I’d kept my big mouth shut. “And we would never have come here if you hadn’t triggered The Egg!”
Instead of cowering, I shout back. “Maybe you shouldn’t leave some stupid trap egg in the middle of a temple!”
He roars. “A temple no human has entered before! Until you!”
I hate that he has a point. They didn’t exactly make it easy to get into this place. “Maybe next time hide your magical trap better then! I didn’t want it! I just needed...” I freeze.
He gives me a pointed look. “You just intended to rob us of our jewels. Not our last hope.”
I frown. “What— ouch!”
Azure gives me an apologetic look as he shows me the bloody piece of glass he pulled out of the bottom of my foot. “Sorry, I forgot how fragile humans are. Frost, will you?”
The other Shifter nods and leans close to my feet. Suddenly, a puff of white leaves his lips. I try to jerk my feet away from the cloud, but Azure holds my feet relentlessly.
“Damn it! That hurts!” And then, the pain fades.
“Better?” Frost asks, cocking a brow.
I nod. “Thanks.”
The next few minutes are spent with Azure picking glass out of my feet, Frost freezing them every so often, and Phoenix glaring down at me. When Azure at last pushes the little bowl of bloodied glass away, Frost takes it to a table in one corner near a massive bed piled high with pillows and blankets.
Azure holds my feet and slowly sinks them into the water near me. I gasp as the feeling returns to them. They hurt more than I want to admit, even while Azure gently cleans them of blood.
“Thank you.” I tell him again.
He nods, but says nothing.
“Do you have something to wrap them with?” I ask, wincing as I imagine walking through the woods without something to protect them.
“I believe we do.” Frost leaves back down the hallways and returns a moment later. “I am glad we have something. It isn’t often dragons need tending to in this way.”
I’m beyond grateful. Azure dries my feet, wraps them, then sets them gently in his lap. Where, for the first time I’m aware that his large, hard cock is resting between my feet. I instantly want to draw my legs back, but I don’t know what the dragons will do if I react poorly. So, I try not to move, but my gaze is locked on the evidence of his arousal.
But again, maybe he isn’t aroused, maybe this is just how dragon Shifters always are. Hopefully...
Everything grows awkwardly quiet.
“Well,” I clear my throat. “If one of you would be kind enough to return me to the woods, I should be fine from here. Thanks again.”
Phoenix crosses his broad arms over his bare chest, and again, against my will, my gaze goes to him. Broad, muscular arms. A hard, begging me to touch him chest, and that erection. Damn it. If I lived in a fantasy world without consequences, I’d be doing things to these dragons that would blow their minds.
And their cocks... quite literally.
“You are not going anywhere.” Phoenix says, his voice deepened by arousal.
I look up and hate that he’s caught me staring at his dick. He seemed arrogant enough before that.
“I’m not staying here.” I tell him.
“And how exactly do you plan on escaping? You cannot climb down from here. You are wounded. And you would have to fight the three of us.”
I raise my chin. “I’ve had more impossible odds and been just fine.”
Azure laughs. “I seriously doubt that, but you are certainly a confident female.”
Frost’s voice comes, cool and serious. “She also appears to be brave, strong, and capable.”
Phoenix scowls. “She is not. She is cocky, head-strong, and foolish.”
“And yet the decision is taken from us,” Frost says, studying the other dragon.
Phoenix’s scowl deepens.
“Uh, I hate to break up this assessment of my attributes, but I gave back your jewels. I’m sorry I triggered your alarm system, or whatever that egg is, but no real harm seems to have been done... except to me. So, how about if you let me go, I’ll promise not to come back.”
None of them speak.
I turn to Azure, feeling my pulse pick up. “Azure?”
He avoids my gaze.
“Enough wasting time.” Phoenix crosses the room, throws me over his shoulder, and I’m suddenly being carried across the room. I don’t even have a chance to protest when he throws me onto the bed. “Remove your pants female, we intend to mount you.”
It takes me a second to close my mouth. “Like hell! You are not mounting me!”
He points to my stomach. “Within your belly is the fate of the entire dragon race. You will mate with us until you become pregnant with our young.”
“WHAT?”
He glares. “You made this choice. Now live with it.”
I scramble to t
he other edge of the bed. “You’re insane! I do not have the ‘fate of the entire dragon race in my belly,’” I tell him mocking his serious voice. “I’m just a thief. Now, let me leave!”
Frost stands and moves closer to the bed, his ice-white eyes lock with mine. “The dragon egg you touched was not meant for a thief. It was one-of-a-kind. A fertility egg we spent many years searching for. And within it, we have placed our essences. We have spent the last year searching for a worthy female. One who could handle the power of such an ancient relic. A woman who could allow her body to be changed by our essences, something that is done to prepare the female to carry a dragon young. A woman who could handle the magic of the fertility egg—it will grow in strength each moment until she becomes pregnant. But, it seems, our searching was moot. You now carry our essences and the power of the fertility egg within you.”
My pulse races. “Well, can you take it out?”
Frost shakes his head. “Impossible.”
“There’s got to be a—“
“There isn’t!” Phoenix barks. “The mother to our young will be a head-strong thief and no one else.”
“No.” My voice sounds small and weak, even to my own ears.
Frost sits on the edge of the bed, his massive frame even more intimidating now that I know without a doubt what they plan for me. “What is your name?”
“Tori,” I say, after a long moment.
“Tori,” he repeats my name, a slight smile teasing his lips. “What do you desire most in this world?”
I speak without thinking. “To be safe. To know where my next meal will come from. To... to not be scared all the time.”
The air in the room changes, and I don’t know why.
Azure turns his back to me and moves to one of the windows. “What are you afraid of?”
I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to us,” he says, and there’s steel in his voice.
But I won’t tell them. Not about my life in the village. Not about how hard I’ve worked to avoid becoming a prostitute. How, after my mother died, everything fell on my shoulders. And how every time I get ahead, my brother makes a poor choice that destroys everything I’ve worked so hard for.
Wings Horns and Shifters Page 10