I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie (The I Like Big Dragons Series) (6 page)

I’m the girl that stands in the corner staring at the hot guy who’s totally out of her league…drooling and wishing.

But Nikolai still had nothing on his brother.

And man was Keifer big. He had to be at least six foot five, if not taller.

Speaking of the devil, he finally rounded the corner of the living room, coming to a dead stop directly in front of Farrow, who was still ranting and raving.

“Enough already, Farrow,” Keifer growled.

“How about you make me? Oh wait, you can’t,” he sneered.

Keifer lowered his brows, and I was sure would’ve beaten the hell out of him, if the beautiful older woman hadn’t walked up to Keifer’s side and placed her hand on his shoulder.

She looked to be around sixty or so, but despite her age, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

“Who’s that?” I asked in a sideways whisper, keeping my eyes on the newcomer.

Nikolai snorted as he kicked back in his recliner, elevating his feet and even closing his eyes in relaxation.

“That’s my momma,” Nikolai sighed. “She doesn’t speak verbally, but she will sign with us.”

Noted.

That would’ve been weird, had I not known.

“Blythe, I’d like you to meet my mother,” Keifer indicated the woman to his right. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Blythe.”

Something silent passed between the two. No actual words were exchanged, yet I just knew that some sort of communication had gone on.

“Hi!” I chirped, waving like the dork I was.

She grinned at me, returning my smile with one of her own, but wider. Happier.

“Blythe, I know you are wondering what’s going on, and I thought it’d be easier for us three to talk somewhere private. If you have questions after I explain some things to you, then she can answer them,” Keifer explained slowly.

I nodded and stood, curious to see what he was going to explain.

“Well, Farrow, I can’t say that it’s been pleasant, so peace out. Nikolai you, on the other hand, it has been a pleasure meeting. I hope you have a wonderful night,” I said as I offered the man my hand.

He popped one eye open, looked at my outstretched hand, and moved his eyes to his brother before he offered me his hand.

The whole time he kept his eyes on his brother, gauging his reaction.

I moved my own eyes to Keifer, surprised when I saw his back to us. His fists were clenched into hard balls at his sides, and his shoulders looked bunched and knotted underneath his polo shirt.

I yanked my hand away from Nikolai, barely restraining the urge to knock him upside the head for taunting his brother.

His mother, however, did not.

She walked right up to Nikolai, and smacked him on top of the head with some rolled up papers I hadn’t even noticed that she was holding.

“Owww!” Nikolai whined. “You’re giving me paper cuts.”

I highly doubted she injured him at all, which was why I started laughing softly underneath my breath at the two’s interaction.

She frowned at her son, waggled her papers once again, and then backed away, gesturing at me to follow.

I did, looking over my shoulder at Keifer as we passed, but just as quickly looking away.

His eyes were closed, but I could tell the second he realized that I was looking at him.

I heard large, heavy boots step into place at my back and wasn’t surprised when I looked over my shoulder again to find Keifer there, stalking me as I walked.

“This place is gorgeous,” I breathed as we passed what looked to be a formal dining room.

Where I grew up, the dining room table wasn’t used for dining. Everything took place at our dining room table
but
meals. It was used for laundry, games or, sometimes, both. In fact, my parents, to this day, still refused to eat at a dining room table, even during the holidays.

But this dining room was something else altogether. I highly doubted that laundry was folded in this room. In the center of the room, beneath a large, round, sparkling crystal chandelier, sat the largest table I’d ever seen. Made of a dark stained wood, possibly mahogany, it easily sat twenty-two people. The surface positively shone, reflecting the image of the candles in the center of the table.

But what made this room special was the intricate trim. In matching dark mahogany, the obviously hand-carved crown molding wrapped the room where the ceilings and walls met. Long stretches of gorgeous woodworking, carved to look like dragon skin, rounded out from each wall leading to every corner of the room where a cornice, carved in the likeness of a dragon’s head, sat. The chair rail and base molding also matched the dragon skin crown molding. It was incredible, and I’d never seen anything like it.

“It was built in 1850. The entire place is still original, drafts and all,” he chuckled, the sound slithering down my spine at the erotic smokiness.

“You’d never be able to tell,” I murmured, trailing my fingers along a stone wall that we passed.

“It’s been remodeled recently. Every twenty years or so, to preserve the integrity of the building and its structure,” Keifer explained as he led us into a bright room overlooking the backyard. “This is the sun room. It’s the perfect vantage point to observe the goings on outside while being protected from the elements.”

“Mmm,” I hummed, as I approached the windows to look out.

There were a lot of dragons outside, definitely more than there were when we arrived.

Keifer came up beside me and looked out right along with me; the more we stood there, the more nervous I got.

Which, in turn, triggered my newly acquired, yet still uncontrolled, powers to burst forth from me.

The windows, which had been clear and open, started to haze over as frost started to nip at the edges.

It almost reminded me of the fake snow that people used to decorate with over the holidays, except this ‘snow’ was most definitely real.

It started with the windows, but slowly began to fill the room around us and then beyond to the outside.

The fountain that was right outside the door slowly froze, becoming a beautiful work of ice and concrete before my eyes.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

The three blue dragons I had met earlier, screeched in excitement and barreled straight towards the window.

I stepped back reflexively, but Keifer’s hand at my back had me stilling as we watched the three small dragons barrel into the ice, biting into the icicles.

“Wow,” I said in awe. “They’re eating the ice.”

Keifer laughed.

“They’re ice dragons. They’re from Alaska originally, but their home was destroyed by a horde of Purists who happened to stumble upon them. Those three were the only ones to survive the attack out of the entire pack of dragons that lived there. Their parents were among the first to go, but they managed to hide those three in a hidden cave on the property,” Keifer explained softly.

My heart broke.

Literally broke for them.

“That’s awful,” I swallowed. “Why would someone do that? From what I’ve been able to gather over my lifetime, dragons are harmless.”

Keifer moved to my back, warming me. “Think about something warm. Think about taking a hot shower. It’ll stop.”

I nodded, and thought about the way I was feeling right now with Keifer’s big, muscular body at my back, warming me in a way I’d never been warmed before.

It worked, allowing the ice to melt just as suddenly as it came over me.

Then it started to get really warm.

I’m talking seriously hot.

My mind was in hyper drive as I thought about what Keifer’s body was doing to my own.

In fact, I was so entranced by thoughts of what Keifer could do to my body that I didn’t realize that I was putting off so much heat.

“What are you thinking about, little Blythe? Surely a shower wouldn’t get you this hot,” he whispered seductively.

My face flushed, and I pulled away from him abruptly, turning to find us alone in the room, and his mother nowhere in sight.

“Your mom. I thought she was going to talk to me,” I asked in confusion. The room was returning to a normal temperature but I was still at a loss as to what was going on with me.

He looked at me with those beautiful golden brown eyes and smiled.

“She went to get the book,” he answered.

“What book?
Why would I read any book right now when what I really want is answers as to why I’m here and what the hell is going on with me?” I asked, taking a step back when he moved to come toward me.

He grinned at the movement, but wisely chose to stay where he was.

“The answers you want are in the book…it’s going to change your life. It changed mine, and well…you need to read it first, and then I’ll do my best to get answers from my mother,” he answered.

I raised a brow at him. “Well then, where is this mysterious book?”

His mother entered the sun room at that moment, bringing with her a leather bound book that looked like one of those huge old dictionaries that you’d see in a library.

She held it out to Keifer, smiled at him, and walked outside, leaving us alone once again.

“Now,” Keifer handed me the book. “Sit down and read.”

Taking the book cautiously, I did just that.

My vision had blurred by the time I finished reading.

I’d been so riveted by what I was reading that I hadn’t moved a single muscle except for the ones in my hand that were needed to turn the page.

Keifer, as promised, was still directly in front of me, staring at me.

He watched as I flipped the last page, and closed the book, silently.

I cleared my throat and gathered the courage to look up at him.

“You’re…you’re my mate?
Is that what you’re trying to get me to understand?” I asked, voice cracking with astonishment.

He shrugged. “I don’t really know. I’m assuming so. The violent reaction I had to you yesterday, as I touched you in the hallway when I was dragging my brother out, would suggest so. And it all makes sense,” he cleared his throat. “I went to bed last night with my full powers, and I woke up to them gone. My bonded dragon, Declan, the one we rode here on, told me to talk to my mother, and the moment I explained what had happened, she handed me the book.”

I blinked. “So you’re not sure if it’s true?”

He shook his head. “I…don’t know.”

“And how are we supposed to test this theory?” I asked in confusion.

“The book says that if we’re truly mated, then my powers will return in three days. The powers that you now have, you will keep and gain control over, and, we’ll both share the powers I’ve obtained from Declan,” he sighed. “You’ll be able to communicate telepathically with me, as well as Declan. And when we first,” he licked those full lips, “
mate
, then our life forces will become one and a matching tattoo will appear somewhere on both of our bodies.”

I’d read that.

I knew that.

But I still didn’t see how this was going to work.

“So,
say I can hear the dragon…and that I have your ‘powers.’ Now
, all we have to do is um…have sex and we’ll be mated,” I reiterated. “What happens if I don’t want to be mated to you?”

He grimaced. “I don’t think that we’ll have a choice, or at least that’s what I gathered from the book.”

“What
do you mean?” I leaned
forward slightly.

He took the book from me, and flipped to the halfway point, before handing it back over. “Second passage, page 81.”

I took the book from him and started to read once again.

The mated pair shall not be able to resist. This is the way of the dragon riders. A way to forward a thriving bloodline for the royal family. A way to ensure that dragonkind can have someone strong enough to fight if ever there shall be a need. The pull will start out small, but eventually, the pair will not be able to fight it any longer. The longer you wait, the stronger the mating will be.

I blinked.

“So we don’t have a choice,” I whispered.

He shook his head. “No. And it doesn’t say how long, either. Then again, this could all be just ramblings. This could be just one man’s experience. It may not happen to us.”

I could tell he didn’t believe the words he spoke.

Hell,
I
didn’t believe it.

I’d read the book.

And too many things had been spot-on to
not
be true.

“What now?” I asked quietly.

“Now, we get our answers,” he stood up and gestured to someone in the yard.

I looked over to see his mother drop one of the smaller dragons to the ground carefully before starting inside.

And I wasn’t sure that I wanted her answers.

I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

Some people will only like you if you fit in their box. Don’t be afraid to shove that box up their ass.

-T-shirt

Blythe

Later that night, as I got into the bed I’d been given, I realized I was in deep shit.

Last night, in my own apartment, I’d gotten into bed thinking about the hot man that had touched me in the hall, and tonight, in this—his—castle, I was getting into bed on the verge of being mated to him.

He’d walked me to my door a little over a half hour ago, kissed me softly on the forehead, and walked a door down to his own room before disappearing inside.

I’d closed the door only after I’d heard his close and then walked stiffly into the room.

A room that was magnificent. The bed was massive, with huge sage green pillows, crisp white sheets, and about a hundred and fifty decorative pillows.

The walls were a rich shade of brown, making the room feel homey and soothing.

There was a huge wall of windows that overlooked the back yard, and I knew that as long as I lived, nothing would ever compare to the view of the dragons flying over the rolling hills of the estate.

Then there was the bathroom.

I’d never seen a bathroom so big—the large claw foot tub dominating the majority of the room.

After taking a quick shower, I dressed in a t-shirt that’d magically appeared on my bed after I’d gotten out, and climbed between the most decadent sheets I’d ever felt before in my life.