by Lilly Wilder
© Copyright 2019 by Lilly Wilder All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
Dragon Dreams
By: Lilly Wilder
Table of Contents
Foreward
Come Stalk Me!
Click Here to check out “Claimed By The Bikers” (Click the link or enter https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/axtoTVxz into your browser.)
Carol Has Never Been Able To Keep A Single Man... But Maybe She Can Keep Two Men
Carol Burton had always been unlucky in love and she had no idea what she was doing wrong. She may not have been for everyone, but surely there was somebody out there that wanted her for who she was and not what they wanted her to be.
Carol thought that her options were limited, but her friend Tammy put her on to a speed dating night. The pickings are slim until she meets Jesse Peters and his twin brother Jacob. She thinks that it’s a joke that they are here together and the looks that they have received have not been kind. They have tattoos, long hair and beards to match their...
Foreward
I’ve always been a normal girl. The only things I’ve wanted from life are happiness and prosperity, and a little bit of love mixed in. The simple pleasures have always been enough for me.
My life changed the night I went to help my friend. Misty was always getting into trouble, and I was always the one to save her. Dependable Danni was what she called me, but she was the closest I had to a family and I had to help her.
Turns out I needed some help too, from a man who would go on to change my life. Some people won’t believe this story. Some will think it too strange. I’m not a princess, nor a knight, but I’ve seen a dragon live in the flesh. They’re beautiful, wonderful creatures, but there’s also a man behind the monster.
I’m Danni Erikson, and this is the story of how I fell in love with a dragon.
Dragon Dreams
1
There was a screech of tires in the distance and my heart jolted still. The moon hung high in the sky, offering dim silver light. Stars twinkled ahead. Usually, I found the night comforting, but on this occasion, I didn’t. I had no idea what forced me out this late, but I was already regretting it. My heels clipped against the cracked sidewalk and I jumped again as a dog threw himself against a metal fence, foaming at the mouth, jaws snapping open ready to attack me.
I’d taken a wrong turning somewhere, and I don’t mean just on the street, I meant in life.
My breath shuddered out of me. My eyes darted furtively all around the darkness. I swear I saw shadowy figures moving in the distance, but I didn’t hear the noise of anyone else around. I gulped, trying to swallow my fear. It didn’t work. I was out here, alone, and how many times had my Mom told me never to come to this part of town alone? God, what a fool I was, what an absolute fool! I could have just stayed at home in my PJs with a good movie on, but no, I had to come out here.
I pulled my cell. The bright light illuminated my face like a torch. I tried calling Misty again. Voicemail, again.
“Misty, come on, this is the fourth time I’ve called you. It’s Danni, in case you’re wondering,” I said, frustration bleeding into my voice. It was followed by a crack of emotion and trembling please. “Pick up. I’m starting to get worried. I’m coming up to where you said you were. I just want to make sure you’re alright.”
Misty was my best friend. I doubt I’d have gone to that place if anyone else had asked me. It was a stupid reason as well. Misty was on a date with someone she’d met online. He seemed nice, she said, but he wanted to meet her in the dodgy part of town. I told her not to go through with it. It wasn’t like there was a shortage of men that wanted to meet up with her, but of course this one was different. He was special. I’d rolled my eyes and eventually told her to do whatever she wanted to do because I’d learned a long time ago that you couldn’t make Misty do anything she didn’t want. But in this case, it was impacting my life.
I promised her I’d keep her safe if she needed it because she was like my sister. She was the only family I had, and you know what they say about choosing families. I was seriously starting to reconsider my casual adoption of her though. But, when you loved someone you went to the ends of the earth for them, and if she was suffering I couldn’t stand by and let it happen.
Before she left for the date, she told me that she’d text me a code word if anything was amiss. Even she wasn’t stupid enough to not think there was something that could go wrong, but she liked the risk. It made her feel alive, she said. I had been on a date myself of course, with Gary. Oh Gary, what a nice, dependable man he was. I hadn’t told him I was coming here. I didn’t want him being a knight in shining armor for me. The truth was that I just wanted to get away from him. It wasn’t going to go anywhere. I felt bad, but sometimes it was just nice to be in the company of someone who wanted to spend time with you, especially when your roommate was out on a date herself.
But then the text had come, and I had to get out of there and then I was walking through the part of town that time forgot. Where the hell was Misty?
I tried not to get worried. I tried to tell myself that Misty was just playing a game with me. She liked her games, like that time she pretended to be a secret admirer of mine and sent me letters and poems and flowers. I still don’t know why she did it to this day. It was a teenage thing to do, but we were in our twenties when this happened. I think she hadn’t been able to leave her teenage years behind.
I fumbled in my bag to make sure I had my Mace, just in case, and my rape alarm. I’d heard harrowing stories from a lot of girls about how they’d been attacked. I’m grateful to say that nothing like that had ever happened to me, but there was always a first time. Fear crawled under my skin and my breath turned to ice. If I hadn’t been such a good friend I would have turned back and left Misty to her own fate. It was her life after all. She was an adult, free to make her own decisions.
But I couldn’t do that.
I couldn’t leave Misty alone.
I continued my journey. Nothing had happened to me yet. Maybe nothing would. I’d once read that fear was all in the mind, and that if we could control our mind, we could control our fear. That was all well and good when you were reading it from a book, not quite so good when you were alone in the dark with something howling in the distance.
I rounded a corner and saw the place she was meeting the guy, a dive bar that looked more like a shack. A row of bikes stood outside and bikers in tank tops shared beer, a haze of smoke enveloping them. As the door opened, loud music burst out. Maybe she was in there dancing, having a good time, and she’d just lost track of her phone.
But she’d texted me the code word.
I kept my head low and pushed a strand of errant blonde hair behind my ear. I pulled my jacket tightly around me. I was dressed for a date of course, wearing a white top that showed my mid-riff. A necklace dangled in the valley between my breasts. My hair was tied back into a ponytail. I wore a skirt that came down to my knees and wore leather boots. My jacket hung around me like a cloak, guarding me from the night air. My eyes darted with suspicion and I wished I’d had a weapon on me other than mace. My heart thudded against my ribs and I cursed Misty. Why the hell did she think it was alright to come to this place? If any guy had
suggested we come here for a date, I would have stopped talking to him immediately, but then Misty and I had always had different standards. She was the carefree type to always say yes, always telling me that the only fun things in life happened when you took a risk. I was more cautious, and that showed in our relationship history. She’d had more lovers than me, but she’d also had her heart broken more times, and this time I was afraid that something more must have been broken.
Misty had always been the life of the party. She never let anything get her down for too long, and when she did end up suffering a broken heart, she always bounced back pretty quickly. The way she saw it, there were plenty of other men out there and there was no point getting upset over one of them. If something didn’t work out then it wasn’t meant to be, and the best thing to do was to find the next special thing. Me? I had the opposite view. When I dated, I chose my partner carefully and I wanted it to work out. I could never do what she did, treating her body like a currency and love like a cigarette to be passed around to whomever was near.
As I moved towards the bar, I can feel the eyes of the men in the bar on me. They looked rough and tough, and I instantly bristled with fear. But I told myself that it was all in my mind, that not all the stereotypes were true. I told myself that everyone was entitled to look, as long as they didn’t touch. They smelled of whiskey and smoke, their leather and denim outfits looked heavy. They had long, scruffy beards and tattoos snaked around their wrists and forearms. Some of them wore black sunglasses, even though it was late at night, and I wondered how they could see anything. These men were old and worn, had given their life to the road and flaunted convention. I wondered if the man Misty had met was part of a biker gang, I wouldn’t put it past her to want the thrill of being with someone in a gang. She always had a thing for the misfits of society. The American dream of a white picket fence, two kids, a house in the suburbs, and a stable job wasn’t for my Misty. Oh no, she never put any thought into the future. She lived in the moment and only today mattered.
Then again, that dream was farfetched for most of our generation. Maybe Misty had the right idea. Up to our eyeballs in debt, struggling to hold down a steady job that paid enough to save, and with the generation before us still holding all the cards, it seemed like we were doomed. Maybe the only sane thing to do in an insane world was to throw caution to the wind and live for the moment because the future sure wasn’t going to hold any comfort for us. It’s not like we were taught how to plan for the future anyway. When I look back at school, all I see are wasted years and wasted opportunities. Did they teach me how to succeed at job interviews, how to work out my taxes, how to know what I wanted to do with my life? No, they taught me algebra instead, preferring to focus on their own standings in the school leagues rather than preparing us for life. I guess I can understand it though, the students moved through in one conveyor belt like a herd of cattle for the slaughter. The school was the only thing that remained, so everything had to be done for the good of the institution.
I doubted anyone around here had any differing views of the education system. Part of me wanted to talk to them about just to see what they’d say, but I imagined they’d only grunt at me and look at me as though I was crazy. I pushed past the bikers standing in the doorway and entered the bar. A wave of heat and light and sound washed over me as I walked in.
The bar was packed.
There was a stage at the rear upon which a band was playing. The lead singer was screaming, and the lead guitarist was on his knees, face twisted in ecstasy as he made his instrument squeal. Before them a crowd of sweaty people danced, their hair matted to their face, their bodies grinding together. If Misty was in there I’d have a hell of a time trying to find her.
The rest of the bar was filled with a mixture of bikers and cowboys, and some honest, hard-working folks who just wanted to come to a place like this and blow off some steam. Again, I had to question Misty’s judgment for not doing her due diligence on this place. Even if the guy she met was normal, there’s no way she should have come here for a date. It’s hardly the most romantic place in the world. I was frankly disgusted that any man would think this was a suitable place for a date. Sometimes I wondered how anyone got together in the first place, then I looked at the copious amounts of alcohol behind the bar and I remembered.
I walked up to the bar, casting my gaze around the entire time. Often I wondered how other people made romance seem so easy. It was like they could just walk up to other people and suddenly they were in love. For me it was different, and I had never quite been able to work out why. I knew I wasn’t special. Maybe I just had higher standards than most people, but I hated to think that because it made me sound like a bitch.
I ordered a whiskey and coke, figuring that would help me blend in. I didn’t see any bottles of wine, and I couldn’t imagine this place served the cocktails I liked. The barmaid wore a loose top and was covered in spider-web tattoos. Her nose was pierced, and the jewel sparkled. As she poured the drink and handed it over to me, I put a couple of crumpled notes on the bar and pushed them towards her.
“Can you help me? I’m looking for someone,” I said. She took the notes, putting her hand on mine. For a moment her flesh brushed mine and an electric tingle flashed through me. She smirked, and rolled her bottom lip under her teeth, biting it sensually.
“Sure thing honey, although if you’re looking for your man I’d suggest you forget about him. He ain’t worth it,” she drawled.
“I’m actually looking for a friend. She’s about the same height as me, flaming red hair, very loud and the life of the party. She usually gets a lot of attention wherever she goes. She was with a guy, a Tinder date you know, and I’m worried about her. She hasn’t been replying to her texts.”
“So you came all this way to look after her? You’re a good friend,” she said, softening, and I could see the wheels turning in her mind. “I do remember her. You’ll want to talk to that guy.”
I turned around, following her gaze, and saw a man brooding against a pillar, sipping a bottle of beer as he watched the band. He was cast in shadow and wore a plaid shirt and jeans.
“Why him?” I asked.
“That’s who she came in with,” the barmaid said. I furrowed my brow, for all this time I’d assumed that Misty had been harmed by the man she had come to meet. I turned away, but as I did the barmaid grabbed my arm and quickly wrote down her number on the inside of my wrist. I was too shocked to say that I wasn’t interested. Misty would have told me to stop being a killjoy. She liked men and women, and had always told me that being with a woman was something more spiritual than being with a man, but I never believed her. Maybe for her it was, but I could only ever love a man, and I doubted I could ever be tempted into anything like that. Misty always teased me for being traditional, but I wanted one man and one man alone. It seems like we’ve reached a point in the world where that is a viewpoint minority.
Maybe I should have been more liberated with myself and my body. Maybe then I’d understand myself more and be able to be more successful in the world of romance. Currently, my most successful relationship had been with Bobby Brown in high school. He’d been my first boyfriend and was a sweetheart, but we’d broken up after we’d gone our separate ways. I’d even tried to track him down when I realized that there were far fewer good men in the world than I’d believed, but he’d already gotten married and had a kid. Sometimes when I compared myself to my peers, I felt as though I was falling behind. Most of them already had successful careers and long term relationships, while I had nothing but a pocket full of dreams. I guess that’s one reason why I loved having Misty around. She never made me feel bad about where I was in life, she just appreciated me for being me, and that was rare. She was the only person in the world who ever asked me how I felt and truly wanted to know the answer. That’s why I was here, and that’s why I wasn’t going to stop until I found her.
I took a deep breath to compose myself and the
n walked over to the man who had been her date, and I only had one question for him.
“Where’s Misty?”
2
He took a long sip of his beer and looked at me blankly, his eyes bleary and his brow furrowed. He was a tall man, broad-shouldered, and even in the dim light, I could see that he was handsome, and why Misty had agreed to meet him. There was something about him that made me catch my breath in my throat. I’m sure everyone’s had that feeling at some point in their lives; when you meet someone and time seems to stand still. It’s like they’ve fallen from Heaven and their divine blood sparks something inside you, and there’s nothing you can do to resist. As I stared at him long, I almost forgot what I was doing there. Just being in his presence was intoxicating. He had a brooding look about him. Stubble lined his jaw and his thick dark hair was tousled. His lips were full and his body was broad. His plaid shirt was open at the collar, revealing a tuft of dark hair. He smelled masculine and earthy, and the hand that gripped the bottle was strong with long, thick fingers. It was his eyes that really got me though. They were green, like the richest, most sparkling emeralds I had ever seen.
The power of his stare made me wilt, but when he turned his gaze away from me I was filled with anger. How dare he just ignore me when I was looking for my friend!
“Where’s Misty?” I demanded, taking one more step closer, invading his personal space. I wore the most intimidating look I could muster and tilted my head back to look up at him directly. He was a good half a foot taller than me, but I wasn’t about to let that dissuade me. His eyes twitched and I wondered what was going through his mind.
“Who wants to know?” he asked.