A Dragon's Heart: (Dragons of Paragon - Book 1)

by Jan Dockter

  Still, he would not abuse the thin thread that tied them together and would not take advantage of it. He wasn’t sure what that thread was, but he wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t snap. In less than a day this woman became very important to him which seemed incredible. But then again it was entirely true.

  He opened the door and picked her up again and walked through the halls to a guest bedroom. Ryan lay her down gently on the bed which smelled of clean bed linen. His father kept a caretaker here who was supposed to have the cabin ready at a moment’s notice so he wasn’t surprised. But that was another consideration. He didn’t want the caretaker to reveal their presence.

  “Get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll be back in a little while.”

  “No,” she said. “Stay.”

  Ryan swallowed hard. How could he refuse he

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Steph

  This man took her on a hell ride through the country, crashed into a deer, snatched her from the hospital, changed into a dragon and took her on a heart stopping flight through nowhere. And yet, though every sensible part of her protested, when she gazed into his blue eyes she wanted nothing more than for him to hold her. She didn’t mind that he was naked. She enjoyed gazing at his unclothed form. And she wanted to hold that body against her.

  “Please stay.”

  Ryan swallowed hard and seemed to be struggling with something. Then he sank to his knees on the edge of the bed.

  “This has been a difficult day.”

  She reached up and swept his bangs from his forehead.

  “I’ve never felt this way,” she said. “I’ve never wanted to hold someone as much as I want to hold you.”

  “Do you think it is because I’m a dragon?”

  “Don’t you know?”

  “No. I just found out what I was today. My parents hid it from me all these years.”

  “That’s awful. But why would they do that? Aren’t they dragons too?”

  Ryan shook his head. “No. I was adopted as a baby.”

  “That’s a terrible thing to keep from you.”

  “I don’t know what to think. I mean, dragons aren’t well liked in society, are they? Here in the states they are tolerated much like any other minority, but in certain places, like England, they jail someone for being a dragon.”

  “I know. In the Marines we had a corporal who was a dragon. We didn’t know until he got startled one day by mortar fire and transformed. He was transferred out the next day. I never heard what happened to him.”

  “I can understand why people are afraid of dragons. We’re scary as fuck.”

  Steph studied his face and saw concern line his handsome face. For the first time in his life he didn’t have everything figured out. Overconfident, brash Ryan Kaur didn’t know what to make of himself. Why was he talking to her like this? On the other hand, who did he have to talk to?

  “Yeah, you made my heart race there when you changed.”

  “Steph, you absolutely must keep this a secret.”

  “Ryan, of course I will. I’m your lawyer.”

  “I’m not so sure of that. My father was pissed when I stomped out after our little talk.”

  “You mean when we first met?”

  “No. After the crash. I flew back and confronted him. Heard the whole sad story. Couldn’t have children but wanted them. Looked all over the world until they found your law firm that handled my adoption. Raised me as their own, etc. They saw me do some freaky things as a child, but instead of coming clean with me, had a hypnotist suppress my natural abilities. I don’t know what I’m pissed at the most, that they did that, or that they pretended I was the perfect son for so long.”

  Probably the last thought Steph. That would explain so much.

  “Hey, I hate to ask, but do you have any sort of pain reliever around here? My ribs are killing me.”

  “I’ll go look.”

  Steph couldn’t help but watch him walk away. His glutes were just as she liked them, round and firm. Damn, she must have been hit hard on the head because she was thinking some very horny thoughts about a dragon.

  Ryan returned, but disappointingly he was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt. He handed her pills and a glass of water. “All we have is acetaminophen.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. Steph took the pills and lay back on the bed.

  “You rest, and I’ll be back. There are some things I have to take care of.”

  “Okay.” She did feel drowsy. Steph snuggled into the pillow.

  Before she knew it, she was flying. She didn’t know where or how, but she had the sensation of movement, and then she stopped in what looked like the courtyard of a ruin. Another woman stood there at what looked like a stone altar. She turned and Steph was struck at how beautiful she was. Long blonde hair streamed down her shoulders, and she wore a white gown that covered her body cinched at the waist with a belt of woven knots.

  The woman turned and looked her up and down.

  “Are you a dragon?” she said.

  “No. I’m a lawyer,” said Steph as incongruous as that sounded.

  “Then how- Ah, then you serve a dragon,” she said more confidently.

  “I guess you can say that.”

  “Who is this dragon?”

  “I can’t reveal that. It is a secret.”

  “I stand here at watch at the home of all dragons, where the queen of the dragons lives. I hear the cries of distressed dragons and give them directions for their flight home. Do you understand?”

  “No.”

  “Then know this. Tell your dragon to think on the queen of the dragons and his heart will bring him home.”

  Steph gasped and sat up. A light switched on and she saw Ryan sitting in a chair by the bed.

  “Hey, sleepyhead,” he said.

  “How long have I’ve been sleeping?”

  “Just a couple hours. Are you feeling okay? You look as white as a sheet.”

  “Had a disturbing dream is all.”

  “I can imagine. Here, I made us some food.”

  “What? The famous Ryan Kaur can cook?”

  “I don’t call making hamburgers from frozen patties cooking.”

  “I’ll reserve judgment on your cooking skills.”

  He handed her a plate with a hamburger on a roll.

  “All we had was ketchup.”

  “I don’t mind. I like my burgers naked, anyway. Aren’t you eating?”

  “Ate already. Actually, I chomped on some of that deer while I was in dragon form. I’m still digesting it.”

  “Raw deer? You ate raw deer?”

  “As a dragon. Apparently, it is a thing we do. I tell you what though. It was delicious.”

  “Ugh,” said Steph.

  “Do you feel any better?”

  “Some. I’m not as sore.”

  “Good.”

  Steph took a couple thoughtful nibbles on her burger. “So what are we going to do, Ryan? Are you going to keep me as your prisoner?”

  “Prisoner? That’s not my intention.”

  “Then what are they?”

  “Everything is so new. I don’t know.”

  He didn’t know. Well, that was just great. Her entire life was disrupted and here he was playing things by ear. This did not set well with Stephanie who lived her entire life by the motto “plan your work and work your plan.”

  “Then why did you take me from the hospital?” she said sharply. “It wasn’t for my stunning legal counsel.”

  Ryan’s brows drew together as the muscles in his jaw pulled tight. Confusion and concern etched lines around his eyes.

  “I had to protect you. Once my father told me what he knew, I realized that you were in the center of the storm. I couldn’t stay away.”

  “Couldn’t,” she said. “You mean you didn’t want to.”

  “No, Steph, it was like a compulsion. I had to be with you.” He stood from the chair walking back and forth thoroughly agitated. “I used to have everythi
ng figured out. Now I do and feel things I never have before. I mean there were things I was always good at, reading the micro expressions on peoples faces, hearing things extra well, but once I shifted into dragon, instincts I never had, desires entirely foreign to me have kicked into overdrive. I’m totally in the dark and I don’t know what is going to happen next.”

  Steph got up from the bed and took Ryan’s arm.

  “Hey,” she said. “I understand. This is a lot to take in. But dragons have been around for thousands of years. Someone must have figured it out.”

  “But I haven’t.”

  “You’ve only known about being a dragon for less than a day. I think you are allowed.”

  “You know what the craziest thing is? Sometimes I think I can hear your thoughts.”

  “My thoughts?”

  “Yeah. It’s freaky. Like you say something to me, but your lips aren’t moving.”

  “Maybe you can,” she said. “I mean, we don’t know a lot about dragons, though we do know dragons do have magical abilities. Maybe that’s one of them.”

  “I hate not knowing.”

  He began to pace again in agitation and she moved close to him and ran her hand up and down his arm to soothe him. He stopped and looked into her eyes.

  “When you are next to me like this, I feel better.”

  This admission surprised and touched Steph. She reached up to brush the hair out of his eyes for the second time. He was a different man than the one she first met. The first Ryan was impatient and angry and ready to strike out at the world. This Ryan was introspective and considerate. Maybe it was from the shock of learning that everything he knew about himself was a lie. That his parents lied to him when he was growing up. That had to suck in a major way. Steph couldn’t imagine such a thing. Raised with Marine ideals from childhood, the idea of acting dishonestly made her queasy.

  His brilliant blue eyes gazed at her filled with longing.

  Ryan lowered his head and kissed her. The contact of his lips against her produced a pleasant buzz of electricity that shot through her entire body. Her nipples and her lower hips did too. She pressed her body against him and found his shaft hard and straining against his jeans. Steph’s breath hitched as she stroked his swollen member through the cloth. His eyelids fluttered half-lidded over his eyes and moaned.

  “Woman. What you do to me,” he said.

  “I want to do more,” she said. She sat on the bed tugging him to her from his waistband. Quickly she undid the button and zipper of his jeans and slid them off his hips. His cock stood hard and proud and it gave her a thrill to touch the steel and silk in her hand.

  “What are you going to do?” he said.

  She licked the length of it, from the base to the tip and he shuddered.

  “That,” she said. “And more.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Ryan

  Looking down on Steph’s cooper hair and seeing her pink tongue slid up his cock drove him crazy. She sucked the head into her mouth and he felt like he was going to explode. Her tongue swirled around the head and when it hit the sensitive “v” he groaned. His balls tightened, and he felt the rush that signaled his completion.

  But he wanted to make this last, wanted more of her. He pulled away.

  Disappointment brimmed in her green eyes. “What? You don’t like it?”

  “No. I like it too much. He put his knee between her legs and put his hands on her shoulders and guided her to lay flat on the bed. He pushed her skirt around her hips and found to his delight lacy and skimpy black underwear. That Miss Prim and Proper wore something that drove him to dive between her legs, so he did. He buried his face in that skimpy lace where her musk hit him full force. He pushed aside the thin strip that covered her intimate treasures and brushed his tongue against her pink flesh.

  She was divine, utterly delicious, and he had to have more. His tongue explored every nook and crevice of her petals that were soaked with her cream. She moaned when he put his mouth over her mound and sucked at her clit through the lace. Steph bucked into his mouth and moaned and Ryan wanted nothing more than to sink inside her heat. He put his hand on the undergarment and tore it off her. He didn’t care. He’d buy her a dozen more panties. Ryan wanted her flesh in his mouth. He licked and suckled her sweetness until she was grinding against his mouth calling his name and begging him.

  “Please, Ryan,” she whimpered pleading for her release. But it wasn’t going to be that quick or that easy. There was more that he wanted of her. His hands ripped open the flimsy clasp of her bra Her gorgeous breasts spilled out, and he rose up and sucked a rosy nipple into his mouth.

  “Oh!” she cried sharply. He laved her nipple with the tip of his tongue and then did the same thing to the other nipple. She pushed her hips into his rubbing against his cock that was still in his boxers. He pulled those down and lowered himself against her mound. The cream from her, the wet from his mouth created a wonderful place to slide against, teasing her, teasing himself. A fire burned inside him, the heat rose through his spine and if he didn’t stop what he was doing, he would shoot his load right now.

  He slid back down between her thighs, lapping her sweet cream by spearing his tongue inside her. She gasped and grabbed his hair, holding him in place. He could barely breathe, but he felt the electricity rushing through her body, building in a tidal wave, ready to break.

  “Ryan,” she screamed. Heat sizzled the length of his spine swirling around his balls, his cock swelling so that it felt like steel. He wanted this woman, more than he ever wanted one in his life. She lay gasping and trying to catch her breath.

  “Are you okay?”

  She smiled dreamily.

  More than. That was fucking incredible.

  There. Right there. He did hear her thoughts.

  His cock pulsed demanding that he return to the matter at hand. She was so beautiful laying beneath him and all he could think was how much he needed to be inside her. He searched her face and reached for her thoughts.

  I want you.

  Take me.

  She trembled under him with unexpressed desire and that stoked his need for her higher. He fumbled in the nightstand looking for a condom but found none.

  Damn, he thought.

  Don’t worry. Birth control.

  In his mind, he got an image of the implant in her arm. And then he got another image of him inside her. She was thinking this. Steph wanted him.

  Wickedly he slid his cock against her sensitive mound once again but that made her only wetter. And drove him insane.

  He guided his cock to her entrance, but the wet and heat at the tip overloaded his senses. Ryan thrust and sunk deep into her.

  She was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Steph was tight, but not so much that he winced with discomfort. Seated inside her he held himself above her on his arms and leaned down and kissed her.

  Their thoughts tangled as their tongues did. He felt all her emotions, her joy at their joining, the heat in her body. He moved. Their thoughts intertwined, and he did not know where he began and she ended. As her desire rose once more it was as if it curled around his spine. He gripped her hips as she pulsed around him. Her sheath was wet and wrapped him like silk. He lost sense of who he was and was lost in the sense of the two of them entwined body, mind and soul. He moved within her and spiraled toward their release, rising high, pleasure pulsing through every nerve, building to a white explosion that stretched into infinity that stole his breath.

  “Mine, mine,” thrummed in his head to the beating of his heart.

  What he did next was pure instinct. He rose up on his arms found her neck and sunk his teeth in the meat of her shoulder just above the clavicle. Steph cried out but not in pain. He rode the wave of her third orgasm with her, the one brought on by the mark he made on her neck.

  Ryan shuddered at the end of his orgasm barely able to breathe. He clasped his hands behind her neck and kissed her once more, but this time soft and sweet. His heart swelled for the
delicious woman he held.

  “That was amazing,” he said.

  “Yes,” she agreed. Steph touched the bite on her shoulder.

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Seemed like the right thing to do. I marked you and now you’re mine.”

  She sat up alarm written on her face.

  “What? You did what?”

  “Relax. The spirit moved me and it was good for both of us, wasn’t it?”

  “Well, take it back. Now.”

  “Take it back? Steph, we were just having fun.”

  “Just fun? Ryan, a claiming bite is a serious thing for dragons.”

  He laughed sure she was getting upset over nothing. “How would you know?”

  “I’ve had an interest in dragons since I was a little girl.”

  “Oh, so you are a dragon expert.”

  “No. I just know a few pieces of information about them. And what I learned was a claiming bite is more serious than marriage.”

  Now a cold chill ran down Ryan’s spine.

  “Marriage?”

  “More serious than.”

  “Oh, fuck.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Steph

  “So now you don’t like the idea of claiming me?” Stephanie had to breathe to calm down. Ryan’s immediate reaction confused and disappointed her. When he clamped down on her shoulder what she had felt was not pain, but the most intense orgasm she had in her life. At that moment she and Ryan were one, intertwined, and it seemed he had reached to her very soul and took a piece of it. That now he regretted the act tore a hole in her heart.

  She had never let a man use her, and she’d be damned if that man was going to be Ryan Kaur.

  Ryan stood quickly and paced the floor in a parody of earlier in the evening. His face was twisted in concern.

  “Every minute there is some new piece of madness in being a dragon,” he sputtered. “Why can’t I be regular old Ryan Kaur again, without the dragon part?”

  Ryan’s self-anger matched the intensity of her indignation. He whipped around and stared her in the eye.

  “Look,” growled Ryan. “Obviously, I’m out of my mind.”