Dragon Lords Blood Contract

by Rylee Winters

  Late morning light streamed through from the windows on the wall directly facing me, giving the large bedroom a bright and airy feeling.

  I nodded in satisfaction as my eyes roamed across the room.

  The large king sized bed took up most of the space, with its dark gray headboard and matching rectangular ottoman at the foot of the bed.

  There was a study nook in one corner with two large bookcases packed with books, and a small sitting area with two highbacked armchairs and a coffee table in front of it, making it an ideal area to cosy in and engross oneself in reading a book.

  A smile crept up my lips. Begrudgingly, I admitted the room was rather nice… Okay, so something finally seems to be going right today.

  I took off my black boots, picking them up at the top to carry in my hands, wanting to feel the lush carpet underneath my toes, and padded barefoot across the soft white carpet towards the bed, and dumped my duffel bag down onto it.

  The silvery sateen sheen of the quilt stared at me invitingly, and I flopped myself onto my back to test it out.

  Boy, did this bed feel luxurious. Spreading out my arms on either side of me, I made snow angels on the covers, basking in the silky feeling. It was even nicer than my own bed at home.

  Allowing myself to close my eyes momentarily, I sighed…and I felt my body slowly relaxing and sinking into the soft bed. Thank heavens I’d escaped from the boys and exited the lounge room when I did.

  I stiffened, cringing as an image of my red lacy panties dangling off Liam’s finger flashed across my eyes again.

  “Forget about it…forget about it…” I muttered to myself, squeezing my eyes tight shut, as I pushed the memory to the back recesses of my mind.

  I forced myself to blank my mind, lulling myself into a meditative state. At some point I must have dozed off, since I didn’t hear when the door to the ensuite bathroom clicked open…

  “What are you doing here?” Came a deep, masculine voice, jolting me awake with a start.

  I bolted upright, head turning wildly around as I tried to get my bearings and locate the sound that had woken me.

  My head froze as I turned to the left to see a tall, muscular, half-naked figure standing at the foot of the bed.

  I gasped. Fuck. I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again, hoping the scene would change, but to my horror, I realized it was not my imagination.

  Damien stood there, still as a statue, looking like the devil himself had emerged, wrapped in nothing more than a white towel, with his icy-blue penetrating eyes trained directly on me, while behind him, hot steam escaped out in puffs of misty clouds from the open bathroom door.

  “Well?” he asked impatiently when I didn’t answer.

  My eyes darted back to see a haughty look on his face, but before long I felt the strong temptation to lower my gaze down…

  Don’t do it…don’t do it, Jasmine. Don’t you dare do it…! I tried to order myself, fighting against the desire.

  I lost the battle against myself as my traitorous eyes roamed downwards, gluing themselves onto Damien’s bare chest, and dripping wet figure.

  Stop staring, you idiot! The voice inside yelled, berating me, as I felt myself beginning to panic. How the hell was I going to extricate myself from this totally awkward situation?

  At the same time, I was also cursing the gods… Why the blazes does he have to be so damn fine…?

  “Tell me what you’re doing here…in my bed,” came the deep steely voice, and my eyes snapped back up to Damien’s face, cheeks flushing bright red.

  I inhaled sharply as I took in his hard expression, while another part of me was admiring his dark, wet locks of midnight black, that were falling softly and tantalizingly over his rugged, handsome face, making him look good enough to eat.

  To my further embarrassment, I licked my lips without thinking, and I swear I saw the corner of his eye twitch as he caught the movement.

  But damn did he smell freaking good. It was nothing more than the simple scent of fresh soap and shampoo, but I couldn’t help but drink it in as the scent drifted over to me through the air.

  Damien let out a huff of exasperation, crossing his arms over his chest, looking anything but impressed as I tried to answer, but only managed to open and close my mouth without a single sound coming out.

  Digging my nails into my palms, I forced myself to concentrate on feeling the pain it produced until I was finally able to get a grip on myself.

  I forced out a stiff smile and kept my gaze locked on Damien’s face.

  “Uhhh, sorry. I thought this was my room…” I said, my excuse sounding lame even to my own ears. Allowing my voice to trail off, I tried without much success to ignore his delicious scent, eyes itching to roam down once again.

  Behave! I ordered myself, but my eyes seemed to have grown a mind of their own as they trailed downwards again, below Damien’s neck.

  Water glistened off his smooth skin, condensing in small droplets that blazed a seductive path along the contours of his chest, down his torso, and to tight, muscular abs.

  With my gaze dipping further down, my heart began to hammer harder – drumming, leaping, summersaulting – as it settled on the enticing V of his hips.

  I sucked in a sharp breath as I began to trace my eyes along the top edge of the towel hanging suggestively off his narrow waist. The mere thought of that towel accidentally falling off, made my throat constrict…

  “Ahem…!” Damien cleared his throat to get my attention, probably disturbed by the intensity I was eye-fucking him. I knew I would be.

  “Enjoying the view?” he asked. His face was unreadable but there was no mistaking the tone of mockery contained in his voice.

  Yes! My treacherous heart wanted to cry out, as I clamped down my mouth. Barely managing to control my raging hormones, I violently stuffed those words back down – deep inside my throat, and tried to act normal.

  “I-I must’ve misheard Drake’s directions,” I stammered, trying to explain myself, brushing off his earlier question, and pretending he hadn’t caught me being a massive perv. Following on, I thoughtlessly blurted, “I’m such an idiot…,” feeling the need to keep my mouth talking, to distract my imagination from running wild.

  I scrambled off the bed, preparing to grab my things and run out of the room, and as far away as possible from this embarrassing situation.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to join me?” Damien asked me as he watched my movements, his voice dripping in sarcasm, which only made me blush deeper.

  “No, I’m good,” I replied, quickly turning away to grab my bag. Since I was too ashamed to look at him, I avoided eye contact as I crossed the room, making for the door, scooping up my pair of boots along the way.

  “I won’t disturb you any longer,” I replied over my shoulder, and without waiting for a response, I pulled open the door and exited, quickly closing it behind me.

  I immediately fell back against the wood panel, resting my back against it for a fraction of a second so I could gulp a mouthful of air in, and steady my racing nerves. The thought that Damien might have followed behind me and the chance he might open the door in any given moment, popped inside my mind, and I swiftly leapt away from the door as if it I was about to get burnt.

  I have to hide from him…but where?

  Thoughts whirred inside my head and before I could overthink, I bounded forwards to the closed door on the opposite side of the hallway. This should be my bedroom then…

  I twisted the door open and slipped inside, slamming the weight of my back against it as soon as I was inside, shutting it firmly closed. I dropped my bag and my shoes onto the floor, not caring where they landed, and slid down onto the carpet.

  Rubbing my face vigorously with the palms of my hands, I tried to scrub the image of Damien’s sexy, half-naked body from my mind, only to end up groaning out loud from the failed effort.

  I allowed myself a minute or so to wallow in self-loathing over my inability to control my t
raitorous hormones, before clambering up to stand on my feet and lock the door. I wasn’t taking any chances that one of the guys would unexpectedly barge inside my room...despite how unlikely that possibility was.

  I needed to take a cold shower. Yes, that would fix things, I assured myself.

  But before I could do that, I had to check carefully this time to make sure I wasn’t in anyone else’s damn room.

  Like Damien’s room, this one also had high, lofty ceilings and a large interior. The layout was similar aswell, a mirror image of the room I’d just fled. Walking around to the bed, I pulled out the drawers of the side-table to make sure they were empty, and peered down.

  Good. There’s nothing in them. This was a positive indication this room didn’t belong to anyone else.

  I walked towards what I suspected was the bathroom, and noticed just before it was an open doorway to the left. I peeked my head through the entrance to check inside and found a walk-in wardrobe. Empty aswell.

  Seems like this was the correct bedroom this time…

  I sighed with relief.

  Feeling assured I was in the right place this time, I began undressing while heading towards the open door of the bathroom, pulling my top off and tugging away my pants, scattering articles of clothing all over the floor and leaving a fallen trail behind me from the carpet of the bedroom, leading into the bathroom and across the tiled floor, finally ending at the shower, as I hopped inside behind the glass pane.

  Turning the tap handle, I moved it all the way to the end, on the coldest setting possible.

  Water blasted down from the shower head in fine droplets, and I shivered even as I basked in the icy coolness that started spreading across my skin. Already, the heat was dissipating from my cheeks.

  That was twice now I’d embarrassed myself completely, and thoroughly today.

  I groaned out loud.

  That was two epic fails in the one day. It was a brand new record for me.

  Things just seem to be getting better and better, I thought sarcastically.

  I was stuck in a job I couldn’t get out of, with a boss who didn’t think twice about putting my life in danger, and living with five strange men, three of whom mostly either detested me or barely tolerated my presence, and to top it all off, there was the threat of a magical curse on the line!

  Did I miss anything? I wondered, groaning out loud again and shaking my head.

  Honestly, sometimes life could be pretty shit.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Jasmine

  Liam was still in a foul mood when I entered the dining room the next morning at breakfast.

  He was sitting in one of the chairs, slumped back, with his arms crossed over his chest, and a cranky expression on his face. Knox was seated on the opposite side of him, busy munching on his cereal, and pretty much ignoring his scowling brother as he occupied himself with practicing some card tricks.

  I was still feeling a little embarrassed about the incident with the panties yesterday, but a good night’s sleep had helped to remedy that a bit, and wash away some of the shame.

  It also helped that I’d avoided everyone for the entire day yesterday by locking myself in my room, only coming out to sneak into the kitchen and grab some snacks when my stomach growled, demanding I feed it.

  On the downside, I didn’t get the opportunity to explore the house yet, so I still felt rather unfamiliar with my surroundings.

  It was to my utter relief when everyone had left me to my own devices, and no one had come to disturb me or request my presence. After a good hour of tossing in bed this morning after I’d woken up, ruminating over and cursing at Liam for yesterday’s events, I was able to calm down enough to push past my injured pride, and leave my room to grab some breakfast.

  Neither Knox nor Liam noticed my entrance as I walked into the downstairs living and dining area, and I watched Knox in awe as a card suddenly appeared in his hand with the flick of his wrist.

  “Where did you learn that?” I asked in amazement, interrupting their silent companionship, as I walked over to the sit next to him.

  I noticed there were already clean plates, cutlery and food trays set up on the table.

  Knox started, looking up. “Oh – goodmorning Jasmine! Didn’t realize you were there,” he beamed a smile at me, placing his spoon down in his bowl with a clink.

  “Morning…” I murmured back, taking a seat.

  “You like card tricks?” he asked cheerfully, noticing I kept my eyes trained on his hand, watching the card lightly clasped in it. He flicked his wrist, and in a flash, the card in his hand disappeared without a trace.

  “Unreal…” I breathed, clearly impressed by the swiftness of his hands.

  Knox smiled. “One of my Uncle’s is really into magic tricks,” he explained, making the queen of hearts reappear again, and placing it down on top of the deck in front of him. Neatening the pile, he continued talking. “He used to teach me as a kid. It was one of our favorite pastimes, and something I always looked forward to when I visited him.”

  “That’s pretty cool,” I complimented, admiring his skills, as I leant over to the middle of the table to grab an empty plate and two pieces of toast from one of the trays.

  Knox shrugged humbly, as if to say it was no big deal, and in the grand scheme of things, since he was a magic touting, dragon shifting supernatural being, he was probably right.

  Nevertheless, I was still impressed and I made a mental note never to gamble with him in a game of cards given his lightning fast hands.

  I poured myself a glass of water, and settled back down to enjoy my breakfast.

  There was the sound of a scoff, and I turned to see Liam rolling his eyes, and sulking like a petulant child as he scowled at me. I’d almost forgotten he was sitting there…he hadn’t made a peep since I’d sat down.

  “Is there a problem?” I asked, feeling my irritation rising as I remembered he was the sole reason for my embarrassment yesterday, while I ripped off a corner of toast with my teeth, imagining it was his perfectly oval head. Being largely nocturnal, my patience was generally thin in the mornings even at the best of times. And today is definitely not one of those ‘best’…

  “Why are you really here?” Liam sneered, and for a brief moment I was confused by his question given Ethan had explained the situation to everyone the day earlier...but then he continued to talk, spouting words even more absurd than I expected. “Have you got a thing for Ethan, or maybe one of my other brothers?” he mocked.

  “W-wha – ” I spluttered unexpectedly, almost choking on my food. Coughing while I beat my chest with my fist, trying to dislodge the particles of food stuck in my throat, I looked at him incredulously, checking to see whether he was joking.

  He was not.

  He arched an eyebrow at me, his lips set in a stubborn line, waiting for my answer.

  Unable to respond, I continued to thump the top of my chest, taking a big gulp of cold water from my glass to help me wash down the pieces of toast still stuck in my throat, and waited for my coughing to subside.

  Coughing fit over, I turned to look at Knox, to find his eyes sparkling back at me in avid interest, also wanting to hear my response. My eyebrows shot to my hairline in surprise.

  “No. I do not have a thing for any of your brothers,” I replied, turning back to face Liam. Picking up my glass of water, I drank another generous mouthful of the cold, refreshing liquid. “I’m here because Ethan hired me to help you guys. That’s it.”

  Glancing to my left, I got the impression Knox looked disappointed, but told myself I was probably overthinking things. Maybe he was just after some juicy goss to entertain himself with for a while.

  Liam didn’t look convinced as he stared at me through slitted eyes. “You’re telling me you’re not attracted to any of us?” he said in disbelief.

  Frowning, I replied, “why do you sound so surprised?”

  Liam answered my question by putting to me another question of his own. “A
re you telling me you’ve seen a bunch of more attractive guys than us five?” Liam exclaimed, his voice rising, and although it seemed illogical, I could swear he sounded offended.

  “Errr…maybe?” I answered, shrugging. “Why does it matter?” This time it was my turn to arch an eyebrow at him.

  Liam threw his hands up looking apalled, and let out a loud huff. He shot Knox a look. “Can you believe what she’s saying, Knox?”

  Meanwhile, I was getting more and more confused by Liam’s reaction. First, he seemed to be accusing me of having ulterior motives for being here. Now, he seemed to be offended and annoyed that I didn’t. Seriously, I could not win with this guy.

  “We’re the most eligible bachelors in this whole goddamn world…a-and she…she doesn’t even recognize how lucky she is to be living with us!” He blew up, unable to accept he and his brothers weren’t god’s gift to women on earth.

  “Well, with that attitude, I’m not surprised you’re still single,” I muttered, rolling my eyes while watching him get more and more worked up.

  Liam took immediate offence to my jab, and slammed his hands onto the table. Jumping up to his feet, he almost knocked over his chair in his haste.

  “You – ” he pointed at me with an angry finger, his whole body shaking in fury as he glared down at me.

  How rude. I frowned, not liking that finger being pointed at me one, tiny bit.

  Knox stood up and leaned across to bat Liam’s hand away. “Calm down, Liam,” he said, giving him a weary look. “So, she doesn’t think you’re the best thing since sliced bread. Get over it. It’s not the end of the world.”

  Liam’s jaw went slack, and he looked like a goldfish out of water, as his mouth silently bobbed open and closed without a single word coming out, completely unable to form a coherent sentence in his rage. Pushing out a long, loud and exaggerated breath, he straightened up and tilted his head back, looking down his nose at me. “Of all the disrespectful wenches…,” he spluttered, “ we are royal – ”