“We will not know until the nestling is a year old. Wyer anatomy is different from Terrans in that regard.” He returned to his favorite photo, the one of Kolle trying to swallow its own fist. “My parents have always told me that one day I would want a family, a mate and a nestling. I did not believe them until I held Kolle in my arms for the first time. The nestling was so small and fragile yet alive… I can’t describe it. But even then, holding someone I loved so desperately, I could not imagine having my own nestling. Until I met your daughter.” Ragnar held the male’s gaze, driving home his meaning. “Our courtship is fast by Terran standards but not so for my people. Priya is bold and clever and I knew instantly that she was the female for me.”
The two males held each other’s gaze. Finally, Hamish nodded. “There ain’t a force in the universe that can make my baby girl do something she’s against. She must see something in you.”
A glowing review. “I know it’s important that her family attend the wedding ceremony. She explained the Terran wedding customs. Have you considered what you will do after the wedding?”
Another scratch at his chin. “It gets a little hard thinking long term when you’re scrambling to make it day to day. We’ll land on our feet. We always do.”
“I have a property.” Ragnar pulled up an aerial view of Stoneledge House. “I will take possession once married but my work will keep me away. It will need a manager. Someone who understands how a farm operates.”
“Priya mentioned that you would try to woo me.”
“It’s scrub land. Nothing grows easily.”
“Ah, well now it’s a challenge.” Hamish took the tablet, enlarging the photos. “A grazing animal might do well. There seems to be enough pasture. We’d need to build paddocks and a barn. Sheep or goats. They thrive anywhere.”
Ragnar took notes of all the materials Hamish would need to get Stoneledge House operational, a smile on his face. The wooing was over before it began.
Priya
Priya gave the pair of fuzzy dice a thump for luck and settled into the comfortable groove in the pilot’s seat. The New Leaf’s layout was similar enough that she found all the right buttons and toggles after only a minute of studying the consol.
Ragnar and her father were huddled together. Conspiring, no doubt. Either that, or Ragnar was persuading her father to accept his offer to work for him. She didn’t want to think too hard about it. Priya imagined that she would give the ship to her father and let him run cargo. Her next two years were tied to Ragnar and wherever he took her, it probably wouldn’t be on the New Leaf.
The engines roared to life and the ship hovered off the ground, lifting easily into the sky.
Nathaniel stuck his head in the door. “I can’t believe you didn’t get an inspection. You could have killed us just now.”
“Why pay for inspection when I have you?”
The huff and eye-rolls were legendary. No one could throw attitude like a near-teenager.
“Interested in being my co-pilot?” she offered.
Nathaniel shook his head, dark hair flopping in his face. “Nisha might be interested. I’m gonna do a systems check to make sure you don’t blow us up.”
Amazingly, Priya had yet to blow herself up piloting. “Too cool to hang out with your sister. I see how it is.”
Another huff and he departed. Priya was the only Barber child who expressed any desire to pilot a spacecraft and learned from her father. Nathaniel had his machines to tinker with and Priya wasn’t sure what tickled Nisha’s fancy.
Traffic control granted the New Leaf clearance and politely directed her to a less congested bit of sky for takeoff. With a smooth acceleration, the ship left the atmosphere and was in the deep black. Priya set the course to Wye, monitored engine readings just to make sure the ship wasn’t about to explode, and engaged the autopilot. The tricky aspects about piloting were the takeoff, the landing and avoiding explosions.
A knocked sounded on the door. “Mind company?” Nora stood in the doorway, holding two ceramic mugs. Despite the month of hard labor, she had the same youthful appearance. She had more grey in her hair but her olive complex remained unlined. All Nora’s children had inherited her complexion and dark hair.
Priya waved her mother in and accepted the cup of hot coffee. The aroma was strong and sweet and the color perfectly black, just the way she liked it.
Nora eased into the empty co-pilot seat. “How long until we get to wherever you’re taking us?”
“It’ll go faster now that we don’t have to stop every three days for fuel and supplies.” Her poor little ship had been strained to the breaking point. Designed for one person, it barely had the capacity to support six. Now that her behind was in the comfortable seat of a spacious ship and she could barely hear Nathaniel and Nisha bickering, she could admit that her last few days had been arduous. She loved her family but she didn’t need to rub elbows with them all the time.
“So… a wedding,” Nora said, taking a sip from her mug.
“Something you want to say, Mom?”
“I’m just surprised is all. All this time and we had no idea that you were dating anyone. Not a hint or a mention.” Another sip.
“What do you want me to say?”
“I want to know how long you’ve been seeing this fella and if it’s serious.”
“We’re getting married. Already married by his customs. Apparently. So, yeah, I think it’s serious.”
“Huh.” Another sip.
The mom-gaze, the questions… This was torture.
“What do you want to me say, Mom? I was desperate for money so I seduced him, got him back to my ship and tried to ransom him.”
Nora snorted. “You don’t have to lie to me.”
Honestly. Priya turned her attention back to the console. The ship had managed not to explode. She sort of wanted a fluctuation, a wobble in a reading to demand her undivided attention and end this conversation.
“He’s very charming,” Nora said. “He has money and no problem splashing it around.”
Anything. A power surge. The fuel draining too fast. Something.
“I’m just concerned that you felt you had to make an agreement to raise the money.”
Priya’s head whipped around. “You think I sold myself?”
“Sunshine, what else am I supposed to think?”
“It’s not like that.” What it was like was hard to explain.
Nora drained her coffee, stretched out and propped her feet on the console.
“Watch the feet,” Priya snapped. Nora ignored her.
“Did I ever tell you about my first date with your father?”
“Dad’s mentioned it. A work friend introduced you.”
“Hmm. Yes. My roommate flew commuter shuttles. Back and forth all day. She said there was this guy I’d like. I didn’t put much stock in it because I lived with the woman and knew she had terrible taste in music and clothes. But she wore me down and set up a blind date.” Nora lifted her mug to sip and frowned at the empty bottom.
“And?”
“And she was right. It was instant attraction. Everything about Hamish was hot, down to the freckles.” A little smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Gross.” Priya could do without hearing about her father’s youthful hotness.
“Yes, yes. I find your father attractive and it’s disgusting.”
“Is there a point to this story?”
“We eloped. That night. Ran off and got married two days later.”
That was new information. “What...? Why have you never told me that part of the story?”
Nora flushed pink. “Maybe because your mother didn’t want you to think she was the kind of woman who ran off with a hot guy after knowing him for three hours? But I knew, down to my bones, I knew Hamish was the one for me. I thought you needed to know where you get this impulsive streak.”
Priya’s attention drifted back to the console. “Thanks, but—”
“So, if
you met a charming man one night in a bar and he wanted to marry you and you said yes, I’d understand. It runs in the family.”
Apparently.
“We meet at Aslan Station.” Priya skipped the part about her being there specifically to ransom Ragnar.
“Fancy.”
Priya shrugged. “He… Ragnar said he felt a change when he met me. A fever. He knew we were mates.”
“Romantic.”
“Biology. But he is charming. And sincere. As sincere as he can be. And he offered to pay off your debts. I’d be working for years to clear it out.”
“I know what Gracious offered you,” Nora said, eyes fixed to the forward screen.
“Yeah, and as much as I’d like to think I wouldn’t have sold myself, I probably would have traded myself for you. All of you.”
“Sunshine—”
“I’m serious, Mom. I was desperate and Ragnar offered to help, in exchange—”
“I knew it! I knew he was too charming, too helpful, too accommodating!” Nora jumped to her feet in triumph. “What did you have to give him? Sex?”
“Mom!” Priya added several syllables to the word out of frustration and embarrassment. “It’s not like that.”
“Then what is it like? Because I’d understand being spontaneous and little too impatient, but not much more than that.”
Priya rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Okay, first, I’ve never brought anyone home because there’s never been anyone to bring home.” She wasn’t a virgin but she’d never had a serious relationship last longer than two dates. If her companion didn’t seem like life-partner material, she had zero plans to waste time on them. “Second, I like Ragnar. I really do. When he’s…” She struggled to find the correct words. “When he smiles at something I said, it makes me feel like the most important person in the universe. And it’s him. He could be with anyone he wanted but he chose me. It makes me feel special. And then I feel like crap because while I was flirty and having fun, you guys were… you know, property. Waiting for me to rescue you.”
“Sunshine, we didn’t expect you to rescue us.”
“Well why not? How could I possibly live with myself not knowing if you were safe or together or even on the same planet? So when Ragnar said we could help each other, I jumped at the chance.”
Nora leaned back into the seat. “Marriage is serious business.”
Priya cocked an eyebrow. “Is it? No one’s ever mentioned that. Here I thought it was all giggles and rainbows.”
“So, marriage in exchange for the credit to pay off our debt.”
“And the ship and the credit to set you and Dad up anywhere you like, to start fresh. And all I have to do is pretend to be married to a male I like for two years, so he can get his inheritance.”
“That’s very generous. And is our Ragnar expecting all the benefits of married life?”
Priya nodded. Oh yes, he wanted all the benefits of being man and wife. Male and mate, whatever.
“That’s not really pretending to be married, then. What if you get pregnant?”
“My birth control implant is good for another year. I’ll get another one when it expires.”
“What if he won’t let you?”
“Let me? He’s my husband not my master. I’ll figure it out.”
Nora crossed her arm and stared forward, at the view screen. “You’re playing a dangerous game with a male’s heart. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“It’s a game to him, too.”
“Sunshine, I’ve seen the way he looks at you. It’s not a game to him. He loves you.”
Priya held her empty mug, gaze focused on the console. Ragnar was faking it. He was a good actor. After all, he pretended to be a prince for years and no one called his bluff. He acted like he loved her. It didn’t mean anything.
But he did expect to have sex. That night, even. That was the agreement. Once they retrieved her family and had privacy, it was sexy times. Her stomach curled with a mix of excitement and nerves. She couldn’t decide if it would be easier to pretend that the sex meant something, that he really care for her, or if it was better to accept that they had a smoking hot, biological attraction to each other and nothing else. Chemistry. Amazing, toe-curling, panty soaking chemistry.
Nora gathered up the mugs. “I think I’ll get the family to bed. We had a long day. You should get some sleep, too, sunshine.”
“Yeah,” Priya said absently, “I’m following you.”
Bed.
Priya squirmed in her seat, excitement and nerves battling it out.
Ragnar said he would only take her willingly. She was willing. So willing. So what if it didn’t mean anything to him? Didn’t he say something like that on day one? They were two people mutually attracted to each other, enjoying each other.
Priya ordered the computer to alert her to any fluctuations or if another vessel came onto the sensors. As she stood up, she caught her reflection in the glossy black surface of the screen, her image superimposed over a starry field.
It was just sex. Sex was normal. Healthy. Why did she need it to mean something to him?
Chapter Twelve
Ragnar
The light, floral scent of his mate filled the ship, surrounding him and following him everywhere, even into his sleep. Apple blossoms crowded his thoughts, always teasing of her presence and the musky notes of her arousal strained his control. His dragon clawed at him, demanding he take his mate now, drag her back to his nest and claim her so there would be no doubt to which male she belonged.
Soon. He would not have her unwilling but the musky notes she left in every room shouted her willingness. If she grew shy and insisted on that strange Terran custom of waiting until marriage, then he would wait. He wouldn’t like it but he would wait.
His very body felt overheated, like his blood was about to boil. His wings were sensitive to the slightest touch, to the movement of air, and the lights made his eyes ache. The Fever remained within his control but he ached, both with longing and with physical hurt. How had his cousin lived like this for months?
If Ragnar could not end his mating Fever tonight inside the hot, wet core of his mate, then he would give her intense pleasure until she passed out from exhaustion. He’d hold her in his arms and that would please his dragon for a time.
Ragnar found Priya in their cabin. She stood by the vanity, brushing her chestnut hair. She wore a tight fitting blue tank top and hip hugging panties that highlighted the perfect round swell of her ass. He growled in appreciation.
“Hi,” she said, her voice suddenly shy. Her eyes drifted to the first aid kit he carried.
“The Fever is unpredictable,” he said. “It is not unheard of for a male to lose control and claw the female. Wyers have evolved protection for this,” he motioned to the green scales covering the artery in his neck, “but Terrans are--”
“Fragile.”
“Soft. I have never hurt a female before.”
“You’ve never had the Fever before.”
Truth.
Priya stretched out her hand. “Come to bed.”
Priya
He dominated the room with his presence. She should be use to it by now but she shivered under the heat of his gaze. Then, faster than she thought possible, he had her in his arms and pressed against the bulkhead.
“I won’t be easy or gentle,” Ragnar said with a nip at her ear.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she said, frantic to touch as much of him as possible.
He let her slide down the front of his body, rubbing her softness against his hard planes. Once her feet touched the floor, he tugged at the collar of his shirt. “Slowly,” Priya said. “I want to appreciate the sight of you.”
He had his fingers deep in her, his mouth on her pussy, and he’d striped her down to her underwear, but she’d never really had a chance to admire his form. He spent the first day without his shirt, yes, but she hadn’t seen all of him.
His movement slowed bu
t remained determined. He unfastened a button at the back of his collar and the back panel of his shirt fell open. So that’s how his shirts worked with wings. Now opened at the front, his shirt fell to the floor.
Priya circled around, drinking in the sight of his sculpted pecs and abs, the broad shoulders and strong back tapering down to a trim waist. His wings sprouted at the shoulder blades and despite that she knew they were only a week old, the skin had healed fully and the wings looked as if they had always been there.
Green scales covered the vital organs and vulnerable spots on his body. Starting at his jaw, the scales grew a deeper green, spreading across his throat and down his chest. At his stomach, the color turned a golden green before disappearing under the waistband of his pants. Priya couldn’t wait to glide her fingers over his scales, mapping the color transformation and kissing every inch of him.
His trousers and underwear were pushed to the floor. He stepped out of the puddle of fabric, kicking them away.
Ragnar really did have the perfect ass, justly perfectly shaped and waiting for her to sink her teeth into the cheeks. His thighs were thick and strong with corded muscles. She always thought he looked good in his trousers but now he looked even better. She sighed with anticipation.
She circled to his front and smiled. His thick cock stood proud and hard. Golden green at the base, the head was an intriguingly deep purple. Stars, he was gorgeous.
“Is this for me?” She wrapped her hand around his cock, surprised at the heat and the velvet over steel texture.
His hips thrust forward as an answer.
With a sigh, she released him and her hands explored the contours of his stomach. Her fingers rasped over his scales, eliciting a moan. She circled to his back again, breathed deep at the sight of him and said, “I want to touch your wings.”
“You may touch any part of me you like.”
She started at the back of his neck, letting her hand drift down between the wing base where the scales were particularly heavy. Her first touch was soft, the second more forceful, a scratch. Ragnar sucked in his breath and his wings shivered. Priya smiled to herself. He liked that.
Ragnar: Dragon Lord of Wye Page 9