Dragons Don't Love (3 page)

“
You are testing my patience
with your stupidity. You think to hide from me? You are exactly
where I want you.” He sniffs loudly along the door. “You will find
what you need and I expect you dressed and ready to attend me in an
hour. Bathe and use the perfumes. I fear you stink and I prefer my
human sacrifice to smell palatable.”

A heavy thud sounds against the door.
Before I even try to open it, I know I’m caught. I push against the
wood with no luck. He’s blocked the door, so I’m trapped inside. I
pound my fists against the wood in consternation. Something pokes
against one of my feet and I glance down. The diabolical dragon is
sliding my blade beneath the door. I grab it quickly and back up
while my heart pounds in bewilderment.

The dragon returned my
weapon.

Chapter Six

Laryn

“
Foolish woman,” I mutter as
I fly up to the perch that overlooks the inside of my tower. New
brides always make things difficult. This one believes she is some
type of warrior woman with her acrobatic moves. My inner eyelid
barely closed before her foot connected. Not that her puny blow
would cause harm.

Hmm. At least she’s entertaining and
not wailing at the top of her lungs like most brides.

She doesn’t actually stink. I said
that so maybe she’ll relax in a bath and accept her fate. I know
the first mating for a bride is difficult. I shake my great head in
annoyance as I remember Maleah’s gentle reprimand. Maleah, my last
bride, hated me for years for what I did to her on the day of her
claiming. She made me promise I would woo my future bride first.
Just the thought of Maleah made my heart ache. I suddenly closed
down the part of me that remembered her. Wooing is not something a
magnificent creature like me will ever do. It’s best to get the
deed over with and get on with the years of fear and crying before
a bride finally settles into her life.

“
Uncle Laryn, Uncle Laryn is
she here?”

Oh hell.

A pint-sized red dragon swoops into my
tower.

“
Ashrac, you aren’t allowed
here and you know it. I’m sick of threats from your parents because
you refuse to obey them.”

He doesn’t even look ashamed and my
demand affects him not at all. “Oh, Uncle Laryn, you know I could
not stay away today. So did you claim her and bring her back to
your castle?” He makes me dizzy as he buzzes around my
head.

I puff out my chest and cock my head.
“She’s in her room preparing herself,” I say with great pride as
his wings flutter against my scales and soften my heart. He does
this to me all the time. I call him an irritant, but really he’s
kept me sane during the long years of waiting for a bride. His
parents haven’t changed, though. Him refusing to follow their
orders doesn’t help. I think his visits would end if I ever showed
true ire. I can’t. I need him, or at least I did before claiming my
new bride.

I was able to visit once a month
during his incubation year. Before that, he spent a year within
Acasia’s belly. That was truly a lonely time because Bastian hated
me… still hates me. Acasia is little better with all her rules and
pompous ways that drive me crazy. To think I wanted her as my own
is truly repellent now.

And then there’s Ashrac. He’s
twenty-five in human years but only about eight in a dragon’s
childhood cycle. He won’t mature fully until he reaches his
one-hundredth dragon year. I sigh internally. Ninety-two more years
of sneaking behind his parents’ backs so he can visit me is
ridiculous. I’ve gotten over my need to steal him. It would cause
too much harm and he would hate me too. Maybe my bride can help
find a solution during the years to come.

Ashrac’s sweet voice brings me from my
thoughts. “Uncle Laryn, what is she preparing herself
for?”

“
Well…” What the hell do I
say now? He’s far too young to understand the ways of mating with
your bride. “I know you must be hungry. Let’s head to the kitchen.
I’ll feed you and then you must return to your parents.”

He lands beside me and drops his head.
“They’re doing that googly-eyed thing again. Mother puts me down
for a nap and they disappear.” He looks back up at me with shining,
red, pleading eyes. “Please, Uncle Laryn, I wish to see your
bride.”

He twists my heart. It’s impossible
for him to meet her today, but his disappointment will tear me
apart. “You can’t. Not this time. But what if we practice breathing
fire after eating? I promise when my bride has settled I will
introduce you.”

He drops his head again and scuffs the
floor with the talons from one paw. “Okay, Uncle Laryn.”

I can’t stand to watch him this upset,
so I unfurl my wings and lift up from the floor. “Follow me. I know
cook has your favorite cookies waiting.” He better have them or
we’ll need a new cook.

I cast a final glance at the door that
holds my bride behind it. She is safe and if she is smart, she will
do my bidding and prepare herself. I’m not sure why I returned her
sword. Truly it’s only a nuisance. Though my scales can’t protect
me in human form, I am deadlier than any mere human
female.

Chapter Seven

Roxanne

It’s the appointed time he said he
will return. I hold the blade ready to strike when he opens the
door. And I fume. He returned the sword, which means he doesn’t
consider me a threat. I’ve practiced in secrecy my entire life to
do one job—kill a dragon. And he doesn’t take me
seriously.

An hour later, my arm is too tired to
hold the blade up. I walk around the small chamber and swing my arm
to loosen my sore muscles. There is a single bed with a door beside
it that opens to a large indoor bathing chamber. The only clothes I
find are lying next to the tub. It’s two pieces of blue, sheer,
barely there cloth. My face heats with the thought of wearing such
scandalous items. I look down at my shredded white gown. I only
wore it in case a villager saw me before the claiming ceremony. I
didn’t want someone telling my parents I wasn’t prepared for my
fate. It takes little to figure out that it isn’t my sisters in
white who will be the dragon’s dinner this night. It’s
me.

And he wants me to prepare myself by
removing body odor for added flavor!

I hear a sound at the door and run
over with my sword raised, the ache in my arm instantly forgotten
with my quest for dragon blood. The door is thrown open and I bring
the sword up over my head and downward.

A human child screeches and ducks,
which enables me to halt the death blow mere inches from his head.
Large black eyes with the oddest streaks of red stare up at me.
Even though he almost had his head cleaved in two, I see no
fear.

“
You are very beautiful.
Uncle Laryn wouldn’t tell me what you look like, so I had to come
see for myself.”

With trembling hands, I jerk the sword
behind me. “Who are you?” I ask breathlessly.

His small chest barrels outward. He’s
completely naked with no shame whatsoever. “I am Ashrac, son of
Bastian and Acasia, the mightiest dragons in the land.”

I hide my grin. If this child wishes
to pretend his parents are dragons, I won’t ruin his fantasy.
Acasia… she’s the last claimed bride. “Your mother is
Acasia?”

“
Yes, and she is more
beautiful even than you.” His eyes skim up and down. “I don’t mean
to hurt your feelings, but it’s true.”

He’s absolutely adorable, though I
don’t have time to converse with him. “You must take me to your
mother so she will protect me.”

“
Ashrac,” a feminine voice
calls out.

Ashrac’s mouth forms a grimace before
he looks down. “She’s found me and now I will face the consequences
of my actions.” He scuffs the floor with his foot.

I heard no anger in the woman’s tone,
only frustration. I take his hand and walk him from the room. I
look around and see nothing. Then, when a soft clicking noise comes
from above, I gaze up until I’m looking at the highest ledge of the
tower. A large, red dragon sits upon a perch peering down. I bring
my sword up and pull the child behind me.

“
If you harm my son, I will
kill you slowly and feed your remains to scavengers,” the dragon
speaks into my mind in the scariest tone I’ve ever
heard.

Her son. “Acasia?” I ask in
bewilderment.

“
Release my son,” she
thunders.

Ashrac drops my hand and steps
forward. “She won’t hurt me, Mother, for we are friends. I fear my
uncle has frightened her and she wants you to protect
her.”

The dragon clears the ledge and flies
down until she lands. Ashrac runs forward before I can stop him and
launches himself onto his mother’s nose much as I did to the dragon
who stole me. She flips him up and he curls his body tight and
summersaults twice in the air. It’s a practiced move that they’ve
obviously done many times. He lands back on her nose and leaps to
the ground. “May we keep her, Mother? May we please? She is the
finest treasure.”

The dragon looks at me with stormy red
eyes. I see the love she holds for her son and I see… pity. It
hurts internally when I realize it’s for me. I had no idea female
dragons exist. If she loves her son, she can’t be all bad. In the
most scared voice I can muster, I beg, “Please, my lady dragon,
rescue me from my captor. I beg mercy.”

She holds my gaze for the longest time
before speaking. “There will be hell to pay.”

I look down at the child and my heart
flip flops. I don’t want him to suffer because I’m gone. Slowly, I
back into the room. “Please, Ashrac, bolt the door so you opening
it is not discovered. I will await my fate inside.”

“
Come out,” says the dragon
in a voice filled with resignation. “I owe Laryn a stolen bride. If
this works out, we shall be even and just maybe my husband will
forgive him.”

I have no idea what she speaks of, but
I step back out into the tower. I’m afraid to feel hope. This has
been an exasperating day that turns more surreal with every passing
moment.

The dragon speaks into my mind again.
“I have no saddle, so I will need to carry you with my teeth. What
say you?”

If this is really happening, I must
take a chance. “I rode my dragon captor without a saddle until he
flipped upside down and dislodged me. I can hold your son…” How can
a dragon have a human son? This is the one concept I’m having
trouble with, but I will work it out in my mind later. She curls
her tail around and forward. I stow my sword in its sheath and run
up until I’m high enough to leap on her back.

“
You’re surprisingly good at
that,” she says.

“
Come up, Ashrac, and I
shall hold you in front of me.”

“
No way. I want to
fly.”

I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see
it. He runs three steps and launches himself up. Wings appear and
the next thing I see is a small dragon flying up to the top of the
tower. I almost lose my seat.

“
Fly swiftly, Ashrac. Your
uncle will not be happy. Hold on, Bride of Laryn, and I will get
you to my castle safely.”

I adjust myself and tighten my legs.
This is Acasia, I now have no doubt. She’s rescuing me from the
blue dragon. I feel I can trust her even though she is no longer
human. She has been in my shoes and somehow survived. I hold on
tight with quivering muscles as we fly from the tower.

Chapter Eight

Laryn

Ashrac almost changes my
mind. And, “
Give her
time
,” are the nearly forgotten whispered
words from my last bride. “
She will love
you sooner and you will have more years to enjoy one
another.
”

I shake my head, which sends water
flying from my freshly washed hair. The dragon who held and loved
sweet and innocent Maleah no longer exists. Twenty-five years of
loneliness have hardened all feelings of love. If I don’t love my
new bride, it will hurt less when she dies. I have a plan to keep
love from happening. Sarn is a fool and his grief for his deceased
bride, Calista, a waste of his time. I vow to hold my emotions back
and take from my bride only what I need to stay sexually satisfied.
Nothing more. She will learn quickly and bow to my iron will before
the sun goes down this day.

I’ve set up the tower room to hold
her. It will keep her away from the inner castle and from my sight
as much as possible. I will take her out into the sunlight
occasionally for her health. That is all. My manservant can feed
her and bring her the items she requires. I can’t help that she
will love me. Staring in the mirror, I know it to be
inevitable.

I pull on a pair of
comfortable jeans that I stole from the Earth realm. I’ve had these
for years and haven’t been to that realm in a long time. I have
little need for additional servants, so it’s of no consequence. The
ladies there are delightfully wicked, though. My cock stiffens at
the thought and I head to my tower and my waiting bride with a
hard-on that will not be denied. Maybe, just maybe, this one will
not cry when I take her maidenhead. If so, I will reward her with
the bauble of her choice. From one of my lesser collections of
jewels, of course. She will not know the difference and she will be
happy. Humans are easy to please if you give them enough shiny
objects. It only satisfies a dragon if we steal our treasure. I
won’t tell her that. Maybe she will make me slippers as Maleah did.
Each year a new blue pair. I have the last set she knitted. I will
not think on them. As a matter of fact, I will dispose of them and
never think of Maleah again.