To Enchant a Dragon: (THE MERMAID AND THE DRAGON) (Venys Needs Men)

by Amanda Milo

  “I did pull him out of a swamp,” Kalos explains, frowning at her, “because that’s where you find ogres. Deep in the forest bogs at the foot of the mountains.” His look at Patrice clearly says his abundant patience is getting tested. “But you are familiar with the cleansing properties of saltwater, yes? Wash him. Or perhaps, given the opportunity to have clean water for once, you’ll find this male will bathe himself.”

  As Kalos sets him on the beach, keeping his front talons firmly sunk into the ogre’s thick green-skinned shoulder, the ogre stares at the beautiful and comely collection of mermaids before him, and the thick thatch of gnarled hair between his legs isn’t nearly enough to hide what comes jutting out of it.

  “HE’S MINE!” Nerissa screeches, dragging herself out of the water and flapping her hands over her fins like the airflow will make her scales transform into human feet—and split human legs—faster. She’s followed by furious screams from our other sisters as they begin to fight to beach themselves and argue over who gets to keep him.

  “Do you want to share him,” Kalos asks hesitantly, letting the ogre go and watching him to make sure the male doesn’t escape—as if he would. The ogre looks stunned, like he’s sure he’s dreaming or died and gone to heaven. “Or should I bring you the next male I find?”

  “Bring us more!” Ianthe orders, pointing her finger at him. “You owe us for our sea cow!”

  “And the dolphins,” Pearl adds.

  “And my pet seagull,” Nerissa growls.

  (She was really upset when her bird disappeared, but I still maintain that Scuttle could have flown to nesting grounds on another beach somewhere. We don’t know that Kalos ate him specifically—gulls all look alike!)

  Kalos inclines his head at them, and just before he spreads his wings, he sends me a rueful look.

  I blow him a kiss.

  ***

  Two towering trolls, one thrilled satyr, a dark elf, a dwarf, and… a furry little animal.

  “What the hells is that?” Sirena asks. “Is it… dead?”

  Kalos nudges it with his tail. “Change, idiot.” To Sirena, he answers, “He’s not dead. He’s a wereopossum.”

  Sirena frowns and glances at the furry grey and white and brown carcass. She’s been sitting with her new knees to her chest, but she drops them to the side and leans forward to better see the animal, her breasts almost spilling out of her seashells. “Poor little fellow. Look at all those teeth! It looks like he’s grimacing, like he might be in pain, or scared. Kalos, you’re a dragon and you swooped him into the sky. How terrified he must be. Are you certain it’s not just a regular opossum—”

  The animal’s eyes crack open and he takes one look at my sister’s abundant tits and he shapeshifts into a man.

  Kalos nods. “There you go.”

  Sirena smiles as she gets a look at what the naked shapeshifter is packing. She tosses a grin at my mate. “THANK YOU! You are the best dragon-in-law EVER!”

  EPILOGUE

  Speaking of dragons-in-law, today is the day I finally got to meet mine. Kalos and I arrived early in the day, and were his parents ever surprised to see us.

  His drakaina (his dam)—a dull-scaled purple-blue mottled Crested Merlin—had gaped. “You let a human touch you?”

  Kalos had kept his tail wrapped around my shoulders as he leaned forward and butted his head against his drakaina’s. “I would never touch a human,” he promises. Then his smile turns sheepish. “I wanted to taste a mermaid,” he admits.

  His drakaina’s wide eyes shutter and she deadpans, “You forgot to crisp her first.”

  “I got excited and didn’t crisp her first,” he agrees. “And we both gained humanlike forms just before the blood moon.”

  “Good thing you timed this visit well after the blood moon,” a loud voice booms, and a dragon bigger and shinier than Kalos enters the cavern through an antechamber. “Your drakaina and I would have scarred you for life while we enjoyed our own blood moon celebrations.”

  “Each and every night,” his drakaina agrees. “And day. After day, after day...” Her smile is a touch evil.

  Kalos is grimacing, his neck scrunched in a tight ‘S.’ “No more information, please.”

  I pat his side, sympathetic.

  His tail winds around me tighter.

  “Mykonos,” says Kalos’s Drakaina, “come meet Kalos’s mate. He says she’s a mermaid.” Her voice goes reedy when she tells him what I am. But when she looks down at me, her face isn’t unkind. “I’m Corfu.”

  “I’m Adella,” I tell them, and I bow a little to be polite.

  “I could have guessed she was a sea maiden,” Mykonos announces.

  “Really? How?” his wife asks, twisting her neck to see him past her wing.

  He gestures at me with his tail. “The seashells strapped to her, ah—her chest. They sort of give her away.”

  Corfu cocks her head. “Really? I thought the grass skirt makes her look like one of those girls who dance at the bottom of the volcano. You know the ones I mean? The ones you like to watch?”

  Mykonos’ eyes change from light yellow to an abashed orange. “I recall seeing some humans dance there once or twice.”

  Corfu snorts, little peaks of fire popping up under the smoke and she shakes her head. “He never bites me harder than after he’s watched them dance.”

  Kalos gags, and for the first time, it has nothing to do with his biological need to expel select sections of stomach contents. In fact, he looks so green at the idea of his sire breeding-biting his mother, he may not ever eat again.

  Corfu is grinning like she knows exactly what she’s done to her offspring. “Nice to meet you, Adella. Welcome to our cave. Normally we’d show guests our castings collection, but since you’re not dragon, I’m not sure you’d have much interest…?”

  I shake my head. “Thank you, but his castings collection isn’t my favorite treasure of your son’s.”

  “Judging by the way his tail keeps feeling up your behind, I’m guessing you two are more interested in his jewels,” another voice pipes up, a new dragon this time. He’s shiny black, and unlike Kalos but just like Kalos’ mom, this dragon has an ornate grouping of horns coming off its skull like a headdress. “Mmm-mm!—damn, Kalos, I bet mermaid tastes good,” he says, looking me up and down.

  Kalos growls.

  Corfu’s tail comes up just as Mykonos’ tail does the same, and the new dragon gets whacked twice for his smart mouth.

  “Adella,” Kalos murmurs, “this is one of my brothers. He lives in the caves just down the cliffside.”

  “Nice to meet you,” I tell the new dragon. “You must be Sifnos.”

  The dragon looks me up and down with some surprise that has nothing to do with my species. “I am.” He glances at Kalos then back to me. “Have you by chance come upon any of our other siblings?”

  Kalos shakes his head. “No.” He glances at his drakon and his drakaina. “Where is everybody?”

  Mykonos doesn’t seem to notice. He’s shaking his head. “No one has seen them. They all disappeared around the time of the Blood Moon.”

  Corfu’s lip scales pull down in a frown, and I get the sense that the pair misses their children. “We hope they’re all so happily settled they just haven’t been able to visit.”

  “Probably for the best you’ve not crossed any. Damndest thing, I could have sworn I saw Halki a few lunations back, and he was trying to hunt me,” Sifnos informs everyone.

  “Why would he do that?” his dam sputters, shaking her head, clearly not putting weight to the possibility.

  Sifnos and Kalos give each other meaningful looks. Obviously both of them believe this brother of theirs is capable of stalking his own sibling for some reason.

  It makes me feel sorry for Kalos, that he doesn’t enjoy the relationship with his brothers that I do with my sisters.

  “What’s wrong?” Kalos whispers in my ear before he drags his face across the top of my head, rubbing my scent all over his
scales.

  That’s what he admitted to me one day, when I commented that he must love the feel of my hair. And he does, he confirmed—but it’s really my scent that he’s after.

  When I swooned a little at the thought, I knew I was a goner for this dragon.

  “Nothing,” I tell him. “I’m just… I feel a little bad for you that you haven’t experienced the sort of sibling relationship that I’m so glad I have. I’d want that for you, if I could make it happen,” I tell him.

  Kalos, who had been leading me deeper into his parents’ den, stops walking, and his parents and his curious brother glance at us but they keep moving further into the cave, allowing us a moment of privacy. Kalos’s tail curls around my legs. “Adella, you have made it happen. You’ve given me seven crazy sisters.”

  “Crazy!” I start to gasp—but at his don’t unicorn-shit me look, I give him a conciliatory nod. “All right, they are all a bit mental. I’m the normal one.”

  “You are the exception,” Kalos agrees dutifully and loyally, warming my forehead with his hot breath and rough tongue—a dragon’s kiss. He draws my hairs out of his mouth and ties the loose strand around his claw for safekeeping. It’s sure to be added to his ball of hairs later. “Ready to get to know my lunatic family?”

  “We can hear you,” Corfu calls.

  “Ready to get to know my lunatic brother and drakon and my wonderful drakaina?” Kalos asks, louder.

  “Better,” his drakaina calls back.

  “Smooth,” his brother calls too.

  “I’m moving out,” his sire announces tiredly. “Or I’m taking up drinking honey mead.”

  “And how will you get that?” Corfu asks. “You’d have to sell a body’s worth of dragon blood to get ahold of any of that drink.”

  “Surely we can sacrifice one of the children. Only one of them’s turned up mated. We have a whole clutch of spares, for Wyvern’s sake.”

  “Oh all right,” Corfu agrees. “Bring me back some mead too, dear.”

  Their playfully dysfunctional banter reminds me so much of my beloved sisters that I grin and grip Kalos’s face in my hands. “I can’t wait to get to know your family, my love.”

  Kalos’s eyes are the deepest meadow-green. “Good.” He bites his lip, looking sweetly hesitant, his sharp teeth pillowed to perfection on his sexy lower lip. “And... if my family asks me what raw mermen taste like, could you grant me a favor and cover your ears?”

  I groan into my hands, horrified to have every suspicion confirmed.

  “Shh, shhhh,” Kalos soothes, nuzzling me a little frantically. “I made up for eating those males by gifting the cove with wereopossum and trolls! Everyone’s happy!” He winces a little and his big eyes blink at me imploringly. “Except for a couple mermen.”

  I sigh and throw my arms around his snout. “You’re lucky that my sisters accepted your man-gifts.”

  He sighs a huge puff of smoke and starts to snuggle deeper into my arms’ embrace. But then his whole body goes rigid.

  And with dread, I can sense someone—no, something is behind me. Something huge.

  “Kalos,” I whisper. “Is one of your nicer brothers behind me?”

  “I don’t have any nice brothers,” Kalos warns, his voice dangerously low before he snatches me in his claws and drags me against his chest.

  I glance over my shoulder to see another Crested Merlin, one even more frightening-looking than Kalos in his dragon form, if possible.

  He fills up the whole opening to the cave, blocking our exit. Kalos’s frill starts to rattle along the edges, although it doesn’t extend in threat… Yet.

  “Hi,” the dragon says. And then he smiles at us both and opens his hands to reveal a human woman dressed in animal skins and bone beads.

  “You mated a human?” Kalos says in wonder.

  “Don’t sound so shocked,” the other dragon huffs, fire streaking out from under his lips. He plants a hand protectively between his woman and us like he’s blocking Kalos’s disbelief from offending her. “Clearly, I’m not the only one who was touching people.” To me he says, “This is my beloved drhema, Nalle. I’m Halki.” He smirks down at her fondly. “Aren’t you lucky? You have yet another sister you can claim.”

  Sister. It makes my heart jump to think that I suddenly have a brand new sister by marriage. And she looks nice enough. That, and she’s never stolen my combs or hogged my sunning rock. I like her best already.

  I peel myself out of Kalos’s clutching grasp enough to wave to Nalle. “I’m Adella. And I’m actually a mermaid.”

  “Really?” Nalle cries, looking amazed, shocked.

  And wow, it’s nice to have someone react with something other than horror. I really like my new sister-in-law already.

  But then her eyes widen and she whirls around, her hand flying to her dragon’s mouth, trying to cover it.

  Halki easily speaks around her attempt though. He exclaims in wonder, “We just ate a merman!”

  My mate’s tail claps against the cave floor and curls around me.

  Nalle sucks in her lips, her gaze flying to mine. “We are so sorry, Adella. If we’d known, we never would have—”

  “Don’t speak for me, woman,” Halki protests, eyeing me in a new way. “I regret nothing. That fish-man was delicious!”

  I stare at him in stony silence.

  Kalos nudges me with his nose and loudly whispers, “See?”

  THE END ♥

  NOTE FROM AMANDA

  I’m so happy you read Kalos and Adella’s story! =D Did you like it? I really hope you had fun! <3 (I sure snickered while writing it. Especially when Kalos toes (tails?) the wereopossum. I don’t know why…) If you get a chance to share a review to let others know if it’s worth their reading time or not, I dearly appreciate you going above and beyond! You’ve already spent time with me reading my words: thank you so much! <3 <3

  This book essentially happened by accident. I knew I wanted Dragon Hooker, that one was set in stone the moment I thought of a woman trying to capture a dragon to save her tribe. But then Naomi Lucas drew a map of our fictional world of Venys, and she wrote Gulf of Mermaids as a location on one of the seaside inlets.

  I told her “I'm absolutely entranced... I think my dragon eats mermaids.”

  ;D My mermaids are parked near the volcano because that was my section of the map, and my little family of Crested Merlin dragons live in that mountain range for a tidy meet-up between womanfish and frilled flying lizard. And so The Mermaid and the Dragon was born. <3 Thanks Naomi Lucas!!! =D

  (If you’re thinking “What the heck is Dragon Hooker?”--it’s Halki & Nalle’s book: https://amzn.to/2MKtmS1 )

  If you’ve read both stories and you’re scratching your head wondering “What is Amanda’s fascination with dragon vomit?”--that’s a fair question, and I blame falconry. I Love falconry.

  DO YOU WANT SOME bird-vomit trivia? =D???

  (What you mean ‘no?’)

  Casting not only refers to the regurgitated pellet that falcons cough up after eating, casting is a term applied to the act of feeding falcons and hawks roughage in the form of cotton or plumage. These inedibles travel to the bird’s crop where bones and fur would normally be moved. It does the job of the more natural forms of roughage, cleaning out the animal’s gorge during the storage process. When the hawk casts them out, they should be clean. If they aren’t, or worse, if they’re stained or coated in mucus, the keeper knows their bird is sick.

  Kinda nifty! Aren’t you glad you read this far to walk away with that? ME TOO, thanks for hanging with me! =D (Those minutes of your life… you’ll never get them back. But the image of a Red Tail vomiting up cotton could stick with you for life. You’re welcome. <3)

  Name trivia!

  Adella’s sisters were originally given placeholders à la Ariel’s sisters in the Disney movie Ariel, but for legal & creative reasons, I gave them proper names with some meaning behind them.

  Nerissa means Water

&n
bsp; Pearl means Ocean jewel

  Sirena is the Spanish word for Mermaid

  Ianthe means Ocean nymph

  Nixie is Water dwelling spirit

  Ava was almost used. It means River goddess.

  Location, Location, Location.

  Adella’s cove was inspired by Portimão, Portugal’s coastline. Gorgeous!!

  How do you call a Sea Cow?

  ‘Cu Bossie’ is farmer slang for “Come in, Cows.” When we lived in Wisconsin, we heard this called all the time, a multi-generational dinner bell for bovines through the ages. Now? We haven’t heard it in years. It’s sad to think this dairy-farmer standard might be disappearing.

  That’s a wrap!

  Thank you again for reading The Mermaid and the Dragon. SO MANY HUGS for joining me on this adventure!

  Love,

  Amanda ♥

  Books & Audiobooks by Amanda…

  Are you wondering what else I’ve written? BLESS YOU! I hope whatever you grab, that you have FUN ♥ *GIANT HUG*

  Stolen by an Alien—Arokh and Angie’s story ebook: https://amzn.to/2A6sH9T

  This book is also available in Audio, narrated by the talented Nick Cracknell: https://adbl.co/2N7WXHF

  Rescued by an Alien—Zadeon and Callie’s story ebook: http://amzn.to/2EZEitg

  Audiobook voiced by Nick Cracknell: https://adbl.co/2Nx8WxR

  (WARNING: This one has some Dark times. This couple’s love is beautiful though, and they get their Happily Ever After.)

  Won by an Alien—Brax, Tara, and Tac’Mot’s story is here: http://amzn.to/2FeuFGl

  Audiobook narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Callie Dalton: https://amzn.to/2zUkHWu

  (If you had to classify this one, it’s almost Reverse Harem. This is an MFM book, which means there are two (alien) guys and one woman but it’s not *quite* menage, because Brax is a Rakhii, and you know this means he doesn’t share his female. Slight problem: his female is bonded to Tac’Mot.)