Destined Dragons: BBW Paranormal Romance (Dragons of New York Book 3)

by Terry Bolryder

  Even when she’d been kidnapped, she kept her emotions suppressed and hadn’t allowed herself to cry. Perhaps it was all just coming to a head now.

  She couldn’t believe what Sterling had done to her. She didn’t know how to forgive him.

  A gentle knock on the door preceded its slow opening. She jerked her tear-stained face up to see Gentry, fully clothed and in a robe now, looking down at her in concern.

  “What do you want?” she asked. “You got what you want. You got a partner.”

  Gentry sat on the edge of the bed, gazing down at her sadly. Then he put a hand in her curls. “I wouldn’t have wanted it like that. I wouldn’t have taken the choice from you.”

  “But Sterling would. Sterling just wants your visions to stop, just wants more power. The worst thing is I had started to think he cared. But every time I do, he goes and does something like that—”

  “He does care,” Gentry interjected. “It’s just that—”

  Gentry’s words were cut off by a booming sound, like a cannon going off, and the entire room shaking as the wall beside them exploded. Gentry covered Roxy with his body as cold air burst into the room. It was night now, and Roxy looked through the darkness to see shapes flying in.

  Gentry curled around her, protecting her, but the shapes were pulling at him. She heard him take a huge breath and then saw purple fire light up the night. But then she heard him shout as something sank its teeth into his arm, and she felt his whole body tense up against her. She tried to pull him away from the now open wall, but before she could cover him with her body, she felt something wrap around her waist, jerking her from the room.

  “Gentry!” she screamed as she was pulled into the night. But then shadows surrounded him too, and the next thing she knew, they were both being carried through the darkness in the claws of things that made sounds like bat wings as they moved. And there were tons of them.

  She tried to look up and see what had her, but she couldn’t. “Gentry!” she shouted, worried for him. What had bitten him? Something that dragons couldn’t deal with? Sterling had said they were immortal but could be killed. What did that mean exactly?

  Sterling. That was it. Sterling hadn’t been taken. He could find them. She could use her dragon powers to call to him. She listened in her mind but didn’t hear him. Where was he?

  Sterling, she called out, hoping he could hear. We need you. We need you now. Come find us, and we can work out the rest later. Gentry’s… Gentry’s hurt.

  She heard the screech of a dragon from the direction of the mansion. Heard things breaking. Whatever had taken them, there were more in the castle, and they were fighting Sterling.

  She could see Gentry hanging unconscious in the claws of something to her side. There were other dragons out there, weren’t there? There had to be. What had Gentry said, that Sterling could call out to other dragon minds?

  Maybe she could too.

  As she flew through the air, she used her mind to broadcast a call for help as far as she could, until she was completely exhausted.

  Then she screamed for Gentry again. This got her a dart in her arm, and then everything went black.

  8

  Roxy heard Gentry calling her name just hours later.

  “Roxy. Roxy, can you hear me?” his voice sounded weak, pained, and when she blinked and opened her eyes, she was shocked by how pale he was.

  She looked to his arm, where his robe was torn, and saw a nasty bite with green and purple around it, like toxic veins. “Oh no,” she said.

  He pulled her against his chest. “I’m just glad you’re okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d try to breach the castle. Didn’t know they knew where it was.”

  “What did they use?” she asked. “I heard this boom.”

  “I don’t even know,” Gentry said. “Dragons don’t use weaponry like that. We are weapons.”

  “Gentry, what dragon powers do you have? I mean, I know what Sterling has, but what do you have? Aren’t you the leader?”

  Gentry gave her a wry grin, but she recognized guilt in his eyes. “I… I’m afraid I’m pretty useless, aside from my visions and my understanding of other dragons. That’s why it’s been good to have a partner like Sterling.” He sighed. “Now that we’re in this situation, I’m kind of glad he mated you like that. At least you’ll have some protection.” He looked around the dank dungeon walls surrounding them. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’ll fight to the death for you. But…” He looked down at his arm. “I don’t know how much longer that will be.”

  “No,” she said. “Don’t say that.” She pulled up his sleeve to get a better look. “Can we suck the poison out? Or what do we do?”

  He jerked his arm away. “It’s wyvern poison. There’s nothing you can do.”

  “Then what’s going to happen?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I’m going to fight to stay conscious so I can fight them if they come for you.”

  “Why would they come for me?”

  He raised an eyebrow at her, and she understood immediately. “The vision. The one you’ve been having that made Sterling do… what he did. Why didn’t you just tell me what it was?”

  “I didn’t want to frighten you. I didn’t want you to feel you made a decision to be with us only because of that. I guess it’s silly, but I wanted you to want us.”

  “I do,” she said.

  “Even though Sterling betrayed you?” Gentry asked.

  She let out a sigh. “I know he had his reasons. It still hurts, but I’ll try to understand. But don’t worry about that right now. Just try to hang in there.”

  Gentry nodded. “I’ll do my best. I’m just glad you have powers now. You can use them to fight until Sterling arrives. He’ll be here in time for you. He’s never let me down before.” His head sagged slightly, but he brought it back up through force of will. His purple eyes were dull and glazed. “But don’t let them see. Don’t let them know until the last minute, okay? Wait for the right moment.”

  She nodded. Then, because she heard no one around them, she crawled closer and snuggled against his side. “He’ll be here in time for you too,” she said. “I know it.”

  Gentry shook his head weakly. “I don’t know. I’ll be happy if just the two of you can get out of here.

  She bit her lip in frustration. She felt so helpless. But she had to keep Gentry talking. “Tell me about what happened earlier, in the tub. You and Gentry were talking about picking him…”

  Gentry nodded wearily. “Dragons pick partners just out of adolescence. And as purple, my visions make me the most valuable to dragon society. Thus, tradition says I get first pick of dragon cohort.”

  She nodded.

  “Normally, the pick always goes the same. The purple picks the gold for protection. The black dragon, the most dangerous, picks next. The black dragon contains a poison that slowly poisons itself if not continuously healed, so the black dragon always picks the blue dragon, which is the healer dragon. And then the red dragon, the most physically strong and durable, always picks the silver dragon, the one with the sharpest intelligence.”

  “I see,” she said, intrigued.

  “But of course, I had to go and screw everything up. You see, Sterling wasn’t born a regular silver dragon. He was stronger, had more powers, and some thought him dangerous. Some wanted to take him. Dragons work in regions, but there are others above us who watch things. They intended to take Sterling and do who knows what to him and give our region another silver dragon.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I heard them talking about it and told my father, the head of another region, that I would refuse my duties if they broke the tradition of giving me full pick from the dragons in my region.”

  “Ah,” she said. “So then you picked Sterling.”

  Gentry nodded. His dark hair was damp with sweat and his expression was drawn in pain. But telling the story did seem to help by distracting him. “No one thought I would pick him. The p
urple picks the gold. That’s how it is.”

  She nodded. “So why did you pick him?”

  Gentry sighed. “You know, I told him I didn’t do it out of pity, but that was a bit of a lie, at least at first. He was so bright, so strong, and I didn’t want to see something happen to him. You see, I’d seen him around when his dad brought him to the palace where I was raised. I knew we’d be in the same region. When I heard what they were planning… well, I couldn’t pick anyone else.”

  She nodded. “It was a noble thing to do.”

  “Was it?” he asked. “I did it all to save Sterling, but in the end, Sterling has always been the one saving me.”

  “You understand him like no one else does,” she says. “You save him too, every day.”

  Gentry’s eyes widened slightly. “I want to continue to save him. I want to keep being his partner. I don’t want to leave him or you.”

  “Help will be here soon,” she said, holding him close.

  “You know, every partnership in my region has been different because of my pick. No one was paired with who they expected, and it’s been wonderful seeing the amazing things that can work out when people learn to value each other’s strengths.”

  She nodded.

  “I think I’ve done a good job with my region. I haven’t been perfect, and I’ve made them angry at times, but it’s good to know they’ll be happy, that they have mates.”

  “Stop talking like that,” she said.

  “It comforts me,” he said. “And knowing that you have Sterling and he has you. It’s been an honor to get to know you.”

  “You’re going to keep knowing me,” she insisted, feeling his forehead and hating the clamminess there.

  “I think I’m passing out now, from the poison. Remember what I said, Roxy. Fight. Wait until the right moment, and then fight.”

  She nodded. “I will.”

  Gentry went limp in her arms. She gasped and felt for a pulse. It was still there, still strong. She just had to hope someone would come to rescue them.

  She heard voices at the door and looked up as it creaked open. A man with long, dark hair looked down at her, and from the cruel spark in his eyes, she knew this wasn’t a rescuer.

  He reached down and jerked her to her feet, and she fought to stay with Gentry, but they pulled her away anyway.

  “Stop it,” she yelled. “He needs medical help. He’s going to die.”

  The guard threw him a glance. “Suits me. One less dragon will never be something I cry about.”

  Roxy tried to slap his face, but he caught her hand and tossed it aside before jerking her in front of him and marching her down the dirty hall.

  Don’t worry, Gentry, she said in her mind. I’ll finish this and be right back. In the meantime, she’d pray Sterling found them soon.

  * * *

  Sterling had indeed been sitting in the attic when he heard the boom of the wall breach. By the time he reacted, he’d seen wyverns flooding through the building, and he’d been determined to stay out of sight until he could figure out a better plan.

  Then he heard Roxy call out for him, and he’d had no choice but to spring into action.

  He looked around him at the wyvern bodies strewn throughout the room. He’d never been so vicious, but his mate had been calling for him. And Gentry was hurt and needed him. If he was poisoned by wyverns…

  But Sterling couldn’t think like that. As much as he regretted hurting Roxy’s feelings, he was at least reassured she had some ability to take on the men who had kidnapped her. He’d have to hope Gentry could take care of himself as well.

  He stepped over the bodies of wyverns he’d thrown into walls and those whose skulls he’d crushed in his dragon form. He hadn’t cared about destroying the structure as he’d transformed. They’d have to move after this anyway. All that mattered was getting to his family and getting them back safely.

  He picked up a phone and dialed Quill as he stumbled out of the house in his human form, trying to catch his breath. Not that he couldn’t call out mentally, but there was a distance limit on that, and he was tired and needed to save his strength for rescuing his mates.

  “Sterling?” Quill asked, sounding concerned. “What’s going on?”

  “I need your help,” Sterling rasped into the phone.

  “I know,” Quill said. “We were already headed out. We just didn’t know where.”

  “What do you mean?” Sterling asked.

  “Someone called out to us, using telepathy. We thought it was you, but now that I think about it, it sounded a little too high pitched.”

  Roxy. She must have mustered all her strength to put out that kind of a call. Either that or…

  “She must be close to you,” Sterling said.

  “She?” Quill asked, sounding confused. “Wait, did you find a mate?” His voice was teasing.

  “Shut it,” Sterling said. “She’s in trouble. Wyverns broke in and took her and Gentry a few moments ago. I’ve been fighting wyverns until just now.”

  “Damn, I thought we took care of them before.”

  “We will now,” Sterling said. “For good. Anyway, if they’re out in your direction, I think I know where they would have gone.”

  “But how did they know where you lived? No one is supposed to know. I mean, we know where your apartment is where you meet with other dragons, but none of us know—”

  “I know,” Sterling said. “We’ll have to figure that out later. For now, shut up and let me give you the coordinates.”

  A short pause on the other end and then Quill responded, “All right. Go ahead.”

  When he was assured Quill and his healing ability would be on the way in case Gentry had been bitten, Sterling summoned his strength to become a dragon and took off into the air in the direction of his mates.

  He’d take them back, and then he’d make everyone pay.

  9

  The man who’d taken Roxy led her down the hall and up a set of stairs and into a huge, empty great room where there were many men gathered. Well, men or something else, since in this world, nothing was as it seemed.

  The men standing around the room were mangy, wearing clothes that hung on their tall, thin bodies, and they had heated looks in their eyes as she walked past. The feeling in the air made her skin crawl. She purposely closed her mind to their thoughts, not wanting to hear them. She’d realized she could do that too if she concentrated hard enough.

  The man tossed her into a chair in the middle of the room, and two other men stepped forward with rope, ignoring her struggles as they wrapped it around her, forcing her back against the huge, wooden chair and then tying her hands behind her.

  She remembered Gentry’s advice about not telling them she had powers, so she knew to bide her time. She was fairly confident she could work on the rope without them noticing.

  The man in front of her studied her closely. He turned when someone called his name, and she looked behind him to see another man approaching. One who didn’t look like any of the others.

  He was tall, with long, stringy white hair and a face that seemed aged beyond his years. Maybe only middle-aged, but scored by deep lines in his pale skin. His eyes were cruel and an icy gray. There was something about him that set him apart from the other men. And she could see he saw himself as above them as well.

  The rest of the men looked feral, like they hadn’t bathed in a while. They were all muscular and frightening in their own way, but none of them gave her chills the way this one did.

  “Hm,” was all he said when he got to her. He folded his arms and continued to study her, and she could feel her heart beating hard in her chest.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  “What I wanted when we first captured you,” he said. He had a faint accent, something European and old-fashioned. “To experiment.”

  She blinked as her heart began to pound harder. In her mind, she began to study the ropes binding her wrists.

  “What do you mea
n, experiment?” she spat.

  He sighed. “Well, first I’m going to let the wolves have you. I want to see if sexually bonding with a wolf shifter, or multiple wolf shifters, has any effect with a dragon-heart. Then I want to use your blood with the wyverns, see what happens if you share with them. I have so many things I want to do to you,” he said icily, leaning over her, placing his hands on the arms of her chair.

  She tried to pull back, but she couldn’t.

  The man turned and addressed the room. “She’s so beautiful, no?” he asked. “It won’t be any trouble getting them to take you. And at the end, I’ll have such data.”

  She blinked. It all came together in an instant, what or who he was. She could sense it.

  “You’re a dragon,” she said. She remembered Sterling telling her wyverns were made from giving other shifters dragon blood, but they didn’t know where they were getting the blood because no one hadn’t been kidnapped in a while. This man was how.

  “Yes, I am,” he said. “Silver, as you probably guessed. Not as talented as Sterling. No, I have telekinesis, but not his ability with minds.”

  That was good. It meant that now she was part dragon, he hopefully couldn’t read her mind. She studied him for any reaction to that thought, and was reassured when she saw none.

  “You’re evil,” she said. “And you won’t get away with this.”

  He leaned down and hissed into her ear. “I already have. Just look around you.” He grinned. “Just look in my mind, since I know you can. I know you have Sterling’s power.”

  She winced at his acrid breath and did as he said. Images filled her mind, clear as day, and she felt all her courage shatter at what was really intended to happen.

  This was what Gentry had been seeing in his dreams. This was what made Sterling bond them without her permission.

  And right now, she was only glad that he had.

  So much pain, so much suffering. So much helplessness and torture. She closed her eyes against the images as she felt the ropes on her wrists loosen.