Dragonlord: A Dark Shifter Romance

by Delta James

  “Gideon.” She’d wanted his name to come out as a curse, but instead it was a sigh.

  “There now, beloved, isn’t that better?” he said in a melodic voice that most closely resembled a hum.

  He continued to stroke her outer folds, each time coming a bit closer to the entrance to her core. Bridget could feel herself becoming undone and completely entangled in the sensual web he seemed to be weaving. Her last grasp on her own will was remembering he had turned her without her consent, something that flew in the face of wolfen society. In a final desperate attempt to free herself from his spell, Bridget drew on all of her reserves and sank her teeth into the only portion of his anatomy that was vulnerable... his flank.

  She caught him completely off guard and he winced as his hold loosened and she was able to roll down his thigh onto the ground, regaining her feet as she hauled her breeches back into place. She snatched the knife from where it had fallen. Bridget had to fight being mesmerized by the sight of him. She longed to throw away all she had held dear and all of her plans and fling herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, impaling her pussy on his cock and feeling the hard, pulsing ridge unfurl and enter her bottom hole again.

  Bridget glanced at the spot where she had inflicted the bite, expecting to see it pouring blood. Instead, what she saw was what appeared to be small lightning charges snapping and crackling around the wound as it closed before her eyes.

  “It is foolish, my love, to fight a dragon until your transformation is complete. Before then you, as a wolf-shifter, have no hope of winning.”

  “Really?” she taunted. “Ever hear of a human named Saint George?”

  “The one who chose to murder a young hatchling before his wings had even had a chance to dry? A braggart and coward... not someone you should aspire to be,” he snarled.

  Bridget tried to reach inside herself to find her wolf but found nothing. She cried out in frustration and agony. The wail had barely left her lips before Gideon had her in his grasp. Fisting her hair, he marched her to an overturned dead tree, propping her up between the roots. He ripped her breeches from her body, leaving her in her boots, chemise, corset, and leather jerkin. The harsh strike he landed on her exposed rump made her cry out and then moan as his hand delved between her legs and probed her opening to ensure her readiness for his possession.

  Chapter Seven

  Gideon felt her response, not only in the pool of desire lying at the entrance to her sheath but in the way her pussy fluttered and spasmed in need of his staff.

  “There will come a day, meurgerys, when I will breach your bottom hole both for pleasure and to breed you, but today is not that day.”

  Grasping her hips in his strong hands to steady her and hold her in place, he mounted her, thrusting his cock as deeply as it would go. Her resulting cry of ecstasy was music to his ears. He would teach her to sing their song as they soared among the clouds. Gideon wrapped one hand more firmly around her hip as he reached up with the other to hold her in place by the top of her shoulder, midway down. He had her trapped in a way that kept her from moving, regardless of how hard he pummeled her pussy. Gideon meant to ensure that when he was finished, she would think twice before threatening him again.

  As he thrust into her, her inner walls shook and quivered as she made him welcome in her most sacred space. Her breath sped up, and the moans and growls became whimpers and purrs as he felt her orgasm fast approaching. Her body stiffened and her breathing became more labored as he rode her hard. As much as he longed to give in to his need to rut, he wanted her at home and in their bed. He pumped harder and faster reveling in the feel of her sheath quivering and pulsing all along his solid length. Bridget cried out as she climaxed again. He filled her to capacity and the ridge scored her furrow, preparing it for the time it would plant his seed.

  Gideon looked forward with great anticipation when his mate had turned from wolf to dragon and he would plant the first of his sons in her belly. Theirs would be a dynasty to rival all those that had come before and would come after them. And he would experience the most exquisite and intense pleasure of his long life as he worshiped his beautiful mate in the most profound way possible. He grunted and groaned as he thrust in and out of her. She moaned and growled in response. As his semen rushed up from his balls to shoot down his cock and empty himself into her, he gave a last brutal thrust as she screamed, falling into the abyss of ecstasy, going limp under him as her pussy greedily milked him and he savored every bit of pleasure he could from her.

  By the gods, she felt good! He knew it wasn’t just that before last night it had been millennia since he’d made use of a woman. It was that she was his mate, his true heart. She had been made for him. She was the perfect vessel both for his lust and for his seed. He smiled; his mate was going to make an incredible drakaina and lady of Tintagel. Their sons would claim and turn other females until once more dragons ruled the skies and then the world.

  * * *

  Bridget lay still, barely conscious after the onslaught of his passion.

  “The next time you think to raise a blade to me, think back on this and what it would have felt like to have me use you thus with a freshly welted backside. I ought to see you welted this day, but we are at least two days’ journey from home, and I would see you greet your people as my cherished mate and not a captured and claimed one.”

  “Worried they’ll see you for the bastard you truly are?” she hissed. “Can I get up?”

  “I see you’ve at least been taught well enough to stay where you’ve been put after you’ve been punished, if not before or during. I will see that you learn the latter two as well. You may get up from the log but are to stay right here until I find you something to wear. Do you have anything suitable in your belongings?”

  “I have one pair of breeches left. I had thought when I left Dundalk that three pair would be all I would need. I hadn’t anticipated having a dragon rip them from my body.”

  Gideon chuckled; Bridget thought it was one of the most smug and self-satisfied sounds she’d ever heard. Why was it, she mused, that the harder they used you, the more pleased with themselves they seemed to be regardless of whether they were dragon or wolf. He fisted her hair again and tilted her head back, bringing his lips down on hers in a searing kiss that left her breathless. She couldn’t resist the urge to bite his lower lip. She let go abruptly as his hand delivered a stinging blow to her already bruised backside.

  “Careful, mate, lest I decide to bite you back. You are not yet dragon and cannot heal yourself as quickly or efficiently,” he said in a somewhat teasing manner.

  He cupped her bottom as if weighing it and then caressing the whole. He reached for his clothing and dressed.

  “There’s no way to stop what you did to me?” she asked quietly, afraid she knew the answer.

  Her wolf was gone. For the first time in her life she felt truly alone. Gideon gathered her close, gently embracing her even though she struggled.

  “One day soon, you will thank me for my gift.”

  “Your gift?” she snarled. “Without so much as a by your leave, you hoisted me over your shoulder and tore my world apart. You have left me with nothing and expect that I will thank you for it.”

  Gideon led her back to the smaller end of the fallen tree. She feared he meant to put her over his knee when he sat down upon it.

  “Nay, beloved, you have done nothing wrong since last I had to discipline you and have no need to fear me. Come and sit with me,” he said as he lifted her onto his lap. “I am dragon-born so I forget that you do not yet comprehend the destiny that awaits you. I can understand what it must feel like to have lost a presence that has been with you all your life. But your wolf is not truly gone. She has just receded to allow your dragon to take hold and come to the forefront. Someday, you will be able to feel them both and be able to shift between either and your human form.”

  “Truly?” she asked, surprised both at the information and at the kind tone
he used. “I thought the dragon that I’ve heard inside my head had destroyed my wolf.”

  Gideon shook his head. “Nay, your drakaina is merely making herself known to you as she comes to claim her place.”

  “Is that why I have this bloody awful headache?”

  “I fear I must plead guilty to that.”

  “What else is going to happen to me during the transition? How dangerous is it? How long will it take?”

  “The headache is generally the worst of it. Many do not feel anything at all, except more powerful as the essence of the dragon overwrites all others. But then many spend their transition in the thrall of the rut, so pain is not anything they remember. As for dangerous, it isn’t unless the one being transitioned is completely incompatible. If that were the case, you would never be called to mate. As for how long? All it takes is to mate with a male dragon one time when his ridge snakes its way into your back portal and uses the delicate, porous tissue there to deposit what is necessary to start the transformation. If it is done more than once, as it will be in your case,” he said with a smile, “the transformation is accomplished more quickly. But make no mistake, your transition has begun.”

  “You think I’m going to allow you to do that to me again or whenever you like?”

  “I think I will mate with you whenever, however, wherever, and as often as I choose. Given the level of your response, I think that I will find little resistance to my need to feel you writhe upon my cock. While the mighty alpha wolves may knot and tie their mates, dragons rut in a somewhat similar way with our ridge, which is sometimes called the dragon’s tongue, lodged in your dark passage increasing your pleasure and securing your lower body to mine.”

  “What makes you think I won’t take my dragon form, kill you, and go back to living the destiny I choose for myself?”

  “Because much like your fated mates, true hearts can never be parted without feeling the pain of the separation.” He took a deep breath. “We have talked about your refusal to give up trying to cause me harm. I will caution you that naughty drakainas most often find themselves at their lord and master’s mercy as to the level of punishment she is given. Spankings and groundings are most common.”

  “Groundings? Like being made to stay in my room?”

  Gideon laughed. “No, as in not being allowed to fly.”

  “I’ll be able to fly?” she asked incredulously. “Will I be able to breathe fire?”

  “Yes, meurgerys, you will be a true dragon, able to breathe fire and fly. You will always be able to heal yourself unless your heart is pierced and removed from your body. You will be immortal until you become pregnant.”

  “Oh, that’s nice, you knock me up and I grow old and die, while you stay strong and vital and live to find another,” she said with more venom than she thought she should have.

  He shook his head. “No. When a male dragon chooses to sire offspring, he too gives up his immortality. We will grow old together... a gift I thought the gods would never grant to me.”

  “You... you want to die?”

  “No. I want my true heart. I want to sire children and watch them mature into strong and proud members of our kind. I want to grow old with their mother and when our time has come, fly into the great abyss together to sleep for all time.”

  Bridget wasn’t sure how, but suddenly she understood his great loneliness and desire for a mate. Not only could she understand, but she could feel it. That didn’t negate what he’d done to her without her consent or that she had other plans. Gideon would need to find another, but upon a little reflection, becoming a dragon might not be the worst thing that could happen if she were to establish a sanctuary for she-wolves and possibly drakaina.

  “Now, Bridget, let’s get you some breeches and ride for home. Our people eagerly await you and I long to rut with you, to teach you to soar among the clouds and more important, to land without hurting yourself.” He said the last with a self-deprecating laugh.

  “Isn’t it more difficult to learn to fly?”

  “On the contrary, flying is instinctual and seems to come easily. Landing, on the other hand, is a skill one has to learn unless you want to make a complete fool of yourself.”

  Bridget thought about the way he moved. She found it odd to think of him as ever being anything but a combination of grace and strength.

  “When I first woke and returned home, I’m afraid my initial landing was a bit of a farce. I tripped over my feet and tumbled ass over teakettle. Although in some ways it made my first meeting with Cadan—he is our second in command or beta—far less intimidating for him. It isn’t the worst thing for your right-hand man to know you are not infallible.”

  “If you’ve been asleep for so long, how did you have a beta in place?”

  “The position was passed down ceremoniously from father to son. I have the right to name another, but Cadan is more than capable, settled with a family of his own, and I enjoy his company.”

  “You mean you just showed up and they bowed down to you?”

  “Our people have been waiting for my return. They have kept faith with me, and I will do the same. Should the southern wolves covet our lands, they will find themselves up against an army commanded by a dragon-shifter.”

  “Do you truly believe you can hold your territory against an army of wolves?”

  “If necessary, yes. Three of my brothers still sleep. I’m not sure why I was awakened first, but I have to believe if I need them, they will awaken and join me.”

  Fascinated, Bridget asked, “What did happen? The stories we heard were that dragons were hunted to extinction and had disappeared long before the plague that decimated the world and allowed wolves to rise to prominence.”

  He nodded. “The last clutch of eggs, which had been secreted away in the Cave of Tears, was destroyed and the drakaina that had been left to protect them was killed. We had hoped to be able to carve out a stronghold for our kind in order to recover from the devastation. Her mate was so heartbroken that he tried to destroy himself and follow her into the abyss. With no vision for a viable future, we enlisted the help of a powerful sorceress who was tasked with sending us into an endless sleep. When I closed my eyes, I thought it was to rest for eternity... and then I woke up.”

  “To do what? Will the others wake? How many are there?”

  “There are three others: Kellan, Lord of the Seas; Duncan, Lord of the Skies; and Seth, Lord of Fire.”

  “And you are merely Gideon of Tintagel. No fancy title for you?”

  He smiled. “I am Gideon, Lord of the Earth.”

  “The four elements? You’re an arrogant lot. That’s a bit lofty even for dragons.”

  “I would remind you that you are now one of us. And we are not arrogant, we have always been the most capable and powerful.”

  “Not to put too fine a point on it, but you obviously weren’t, as you were the ones who opted out after being defeated. I’m not saying who was right or wrong and the loss of the eggs must have been horrific, but you can’t stand there and claim to have been all powerful when you didn’t prevail.”

  “You weren’t there,” Gideon said in a haunted tone.

  Bridget wasn’t sure why she wanted to comfort him, only that she wanted to. She laid her hand on his arm.

  “No, I wasn’t. It’s been a very long time. Perhaps dragons and wolves can learn to coexist?”

  “Perhaps,” he said. “I would not be the one to start a confrontation, but I won’t back down from one and I will protect what is ours... land and people. Do not fear; I will never ask you to betray those you once called pack.”

  “Are you so certain that there can’t be peace? Maybe I could provide a bridge between the two species. I know three of the most powerful wolves and unlike some, each values his mate’s intellect and opinion. If I rode to them...”

  “You will not,” he growled. “You will never be put in danger. I will ensure you are kept safe.”

  “How will you stop me once I can fly?”<
br />
  “There are various means by which I can ground you, some of them not at all pleasant and that I would only resort to if all else fails.”

  Gideon grabbed her by the arm, pulling her to him; his mouth slanted down across hers. Bridget could feel all of his strength and passion and his powerful call resonated through her being. She melted against him, placing her hands on his muscled chest as a token sign of refusal.

  “I have waited for you far too long to risk you or the children you will bear.” He dug into her saddlebags and pulled out her remaining breeches, tossing them to her. “Put these on.”

  He gathered up the horses as she dressed and brought them back to her. Gideon’s hands circled her waist and he lifted her into the saddle with what seemed to be very little trouble.

  “I could mount him by myself but thank you.”

  “I will be the one that does the mounting,” he teased.

  Bridget snorted and turned her horse toward the beach. She heard Gideon swing up onto his own horse. He was by her side and grabbed the rein.

  “This way,” he said, inclining his head toward the southeast.

  Bridget turned to follow him, and they rode in silence for some time.

  “Gideon? How far are we from Tintagel?”

  “That would depend on how you want to proceed.”

  “I would like to part company as friends and procced to follow my own plans.”

  “An honest response, but I cannot allow you to leave. You are my mate and your fate now lies intertwined with mine. I have heard that when the mates of wolves are separated, there is some pain and nausea. When a dragon is separated from his or her true heart, the pain is untenable. It is said that it feels as though your heart has been ripped from your chest. The dizziness is overwhelming and only the strongest can fight their way through it.”

  “Then if you are bound and determined to kidnap me and hold me against my will...” She stopped when Gideon began to laugh at her. “It’s not funny, Gideon. I never asked to be your mate. In fact, you never asked me and apparently have turned me without my consent. That may be fine in your culture, but it is unthinkable in mine.”