A Tale Of Two Dragons (13 page)

“I’ve made up my mind,” he insisted.

That’s when all four females moved toward him until they surrounded him. Owena pointed at the bed.

“Get over there.”

“No. You can’t make me.”

“Oh, dear boy,” Crystin told him sadly. “Yes. We can.”

 

 

Devouring several pieces of bacon she’d snatched from a plate on the table, Braith walked toward the chamber where Addolgar was resting. As she walked, she passed all her aunts and cousins heading in the opposite direction.

“Where are you all off to?” she asked.

“Going into town for a bit. Get a few supplies. Need anything?”

Braith shook her head. “I’m fine. Thanks. Did you check with Addolgar, though?”

Her Aunt Crystin stopped, blinked at her. “Uh-huh. He’s fine.”

“All right,” Braith said around the delicious, chewy bacon in her mouth. She continued on. She wasn’t in the mood for another fight with Addolgar, so she only planned to pass the chamber and glance in to make sure he was sleeping or, at the very least, hadn’t rolled off the bed in a fit of Cadwaladr rage.

And, as planned, she glanced in and kept walking....

Then Braith stopped, blinked, looked around, and, finally, took several steps back until she arrived at the chamber opening.

“Not a word,” he growled. “Not a bloody word.”

Taking another bite of bacon, Braith sauntered into the chamber until she reached the bed. She gazed down at Addolgar.

“Comfortable?” she asked.

“Leave off.”

“Just want to make sure you’re comfortable, Sergeant.” She leaned over and carefully studied the chains that had his arms secured to the bed. “Oh, poor lad.” She leaned back, shook her head sadly. “These aren’t dwarven steel, I’m afraid. You could probably break through dwarven steel like
I
did.” She bit the inside of her mouth to keep from laughing when Addolgar rolled his eyes. “This is Volcano dragon steel. Even a Penarddun can’t break Volcano steel.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he demanded.

“Of course not. I’m sure this was done in your best interest.” She smirked. “Did you try to leave? Did you find out they sent my cousins into Northland territory?”

“Even you have to know that was foolish.”

“They didn’t ask me. But at least my cousins are not wounded. Can’t fight anyone with that leg of yours.”

“It’s healing.”

“I’m sure it is. But it’ll be even better tomorrow.”

Addolgar snarled, looking off.

“Don’t be mad at me,” Braith told him. “I didn’t chain you up.”

“But you would have.”

“If it would allow you to heal properly so you can adequately back me up in a fight—damn right I would.”

He glowered at her. “Did you know?”

She took another bite of bacon before asking, “Know what?”

“That your kin has started calling me The Mountain?”

The snort and the bacon she’d been chewing were out of her mouth before she could even think to stop them, so when both hit Addolgar full in the face, she could tell he was not happy about it.

“Get out,” he ordered.

“Addolgar—”

“Just go.”

“You’re being unreasonable.” She dropped the rest of the bacon on the plate of untouched meat Owena had placed on the side table earlier and wiped her hands off on her trousers.

“I know you’re in pain,” she said.

“I’m fine.”

“And that you’re anxious and miserable. I understand all that.”

“You understand nothing, heartless female.”

“But we’re all just trying to take care of you.”

“By tying me to the bed? Is that what Daughters of the House of Penarddun call taking care of the wounded?”

“They only did that to protect you.”

“And you’re full of massive shi—”

“Addolgar the Cheerful!” she barked, mostly so she wouldn’t laugh. “Watch how you speak to me, Low Born!”

“Finally,” he grumbled. “Signs that you
are
, actually, a bloody royal.”

“I am a royal. Royal blood runs through my veins, and my aunts say that my mother left me a vast fortune that my father didn’t know about. Now it’s all mine. They’ve been saving it for me. A dragon’s hoard of jewels and gold, just for me.”

“What is your point in telling me this?”

“So you’ll know that I’m a powerful royal now with all my gold.”

“And?”

“You better be nice to me.”

“Or what?” he challenged, his dark silver brows pulled low, his brown eyes annoyed. Addolgar the Cheerful was definitely a healer’s nightmare. He was always in such good spirits that when he was truly wounded or ill, he just became an incorrigible baby.

A handsome, adorable, incorrigible baby.

Braith moved to the foot of the bed and using one finger, stroked it down the arch of Addolgar’s foot, then using three fingers, she slipped her hand under the cover and stroked carefully across Addolgar’s bandaged ankle and up his calf.

“What are you doing?” he asked as she, and her hand, moved forward.

“Amusing myself as powerful royals are allowed to do.” She dragged her fingers up his inside thigh. “Are you, Low Born, saying I’m not allowed to amuse myself with you?”

Still frowning, Addolgar stared at her, clearly confused. Until the back of her hand brushed against his cock, and his entire body jerked in surprise. His frown slowly faded and he gazed at her with wide eyes.

“Well,” she pushed, “am I not allowed to amuse myself with you?”

Addolgar cleared his throat, shook his head. “Of course you are . . . powerful royal. Amuse yourself all you’d like.”

 

 

When had Braith become this brazen little wench who couldn’t seem to stop smiling and touching his cock? Not that he minded her being a brazen little wench. He liked her a lot. Perhaps more than he should. But now he knew he’d been right all along. Braith
had been
missing something. But now, back with her kin, a part of them, she was whole once more. And being whole would make anyone happy.

And a happy Braith was a Braith who brazenly put her hand under his fur covering and stroked his cock.

Her fingers strong and firm, she smiled as she watched him.

“Unchain me, Braith,” he ordered, desperate to get his hands on her. To drag her to the bed and take her, hard and fast.

But Braith’s reply was a simple, “No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“No,” she said again, her hand still stroking him.

“Dammit, Braith, get these chains off me!”

“No.”

“I’ll tear this bed apart,” he threatened.

“And then you’ll have to answer to my aunts. They’re very proud of this bed. Ripped some poor bloke’s castle apart, stone by stone, to get it, too. Do
you
want to tell them what happened to their bed when they get back?”

Growling and seriously annoyed, Addolgar still had to admit, “No. I do not.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Who knew Braith could be so bloody smug? So damn haughty? And gods in heaven, a hand had never felt so good before.

“Braith,” he groaned out, unable to stay mad at her for long when she was doing such wonderful things to—

“Oy!” he snapped when she pulled her hand away. “Put your hand back there, female!”

“Calm yourself, Sergeant.”

She grabbed the bottom of her green cotton shirt, a loan from one of her cousins. Clothes from a fellow female that actually fit Braith’s shoulders, neck, and arms. She pulled the material over her head and tossed it aside.

“I’ll be right back,” she said before burrowing under the fur covering.

Addolgar leaned up to see what she was doing. “You’ll be right back? Braith of the Darkness, what exactly are you up—
gods!
”

Her hot mouth pressed against the side of his cock, her tongue teasing as it followed the veins to the tip.

Addolgar got even harder. As he was unable to see anything but her head moving under that fur covering, all he could do was feel and it felt bloody amazing.

He gripped the chains with his fingers, cursing the fact that Braith seemed to be right. Volcano dragon steel was impossible to break.

Braith now had the head of his cock in her mouth, and Addolgar was trying to focus on the crystals hanging from the cave ceiling. They sparkled, reflecting the light from the nearby pit fire.

No. That wasn’t working. He didn’t give a centaur’s shit about crystals hanging from the ceiling. He didn’t give a centaur’s shit about anything at the moment except Braith, her mouth, and what they were both doing to his cock.

Addolgar really didn’t think he could take much more, but then Braith did something no other female had ever done to him before—she released her flame.

Not a giant ball of it, meant to destroy or batter everything in her way. Just a bit of flame. Just enough, in fact, to almost have him coming right there.

“
Braith
,” he snarled out between gritted teeth. “Braith, get up here now.
Now!
”

She crawled up his chest until her head came out from under the fur covering. “Too much?” she asked. Although the grin on her face told him she didn’t care if it was.

“Get naked, Braith,” he ordered. “And ride me. Now.”

“But—”

“No more joking, Braith. Either you ride me now, hard, or I tear this bed apart and
you
will have to deal with your aunts. You.”

She sat up, the fur covering falling away as she did. Her nipples were hard, and she was breathing deep, her green eyes dark as she watched him.

“Fuck me, Braith of the Darkness,” Addolgar told her. “Fuck me before I destroy everything just to get to you.”

 

 

Braith couldn’t get out of her boots and trousers fast enough. In fact, she still had her trousers hanging from one leg when she straddled his hips. She couldn’t be bothered to take them off completely. Not when his cock was pointing right to the ceiling, hard and true, his face begging her to take what was hers.

Holding his cock between her fingers, she maneuvered over it, and then slowly lowered herself down. It filled her, so thick and long that Braith had to stretch her thighs farther apart. She took her hand away and let her weight do the rest.

When she finally rested against Addolgar’s body, they were both panting. She’d never felt like this before. It was as if her entire body was alive, feeling everything,
wanting
to feel everything. She no longer missed her safe haven in the cave where she spent all her hours alone. Not when she could have this. And for the first time in her life, she felt she
could
have this. She could have it if she wanted it.

She began rocking her hips against Addolgar, using her muscles to squeeze his cock. His back arched, pushing himself deeper inside her, and Braith leaned forward, pressing one hand against his chest to hold her body up.

She gazed deep into his eyes and Addolgar stared right back.

“You are so beautiful,” he said—and she believed him. She believed that
he
believed she was beautiful.

The hand braced against him slid up until she tightly gripped his shoulder. Her other hand, with her gaze still locked with his, slid down her stomach and between her thighs. With the tip of her middle finger, she circled her clit. She wanted them to come together, and Addolgar’s hands were currently . . . occupied.

Their groans filled the chamber, their bodies writhing on the bed as Braith did what Addolgar had ordered her to do and rode him harder and harder, until he came inside her, his body nearly lifting off the bed. Braith’s own orgasm followed close behind, her thighs gripping him so tight she feared she’d broken his hips.

When her body had stopped shaking, Braith dropped down on Addolgar’s chest, his still-hard cock buried inside her.

It took them long minutes to get their breath back. And when they finally did, Addolgar stated, “I am
so
hungry now. And I blame
you
for that, Braith of the Darkness.”

And, yes, Braith did consider that a compliment.

Chapter 16

At some point, Braith had removed Addolgar’s chains, but by then he’d had no desire to go anywhere. He was much too comfortable, too bloody happy, to even consider leaving this bed. Not when he had her asleep in his arms, one impossibly long leg wrapped around his waist, her silky hair sweeping across his chest.

He stroked her back and let her sleep until he heard the happy scream of returning hatchlings.

“Braith,” he murmured softly. “Wake up, luv. Your kin are home.”

She lifted her head, pushing her hair off her face. “Huh?”

“Your kin have returned.”

Braith rested her arms on his chest and frowned into his face. “So? Oh. Did they call for me?”

“No, but—”

Owena walked in. “When you’re up,” she said to Braith, “come into the hall. We have something for you.”

“Ooooh!” Braith cheered. “Gifts!”

Owena laughed and walked out. That’s when Addolgar realized something. “They don’t care, do they?”

“Don’t care about what?”

“You, the long lost daughter of their sister, being with someone like me.”

“Someone like you?”

“A Cadwaladr. A low born.”

“Considering they sigh every time your father’s name is mentioned, I’d have to say no, they don’t care.”

“For good or bad, there were few who escaped my father’s attention before he mated with me mum. But it was never far from anyone’s mind that he was and always would be a Cadwaladr. A battle dog that the royals use for protection.”

“I like dogs,” she softly mused. “Especially when they have a little extra fat and are well seasoned.”

“Don’t”—Addolgar closed his eyes and worked hard to not laugh—“ever say that to my mother. She has a fondness for dogs. Live, happy ones.”

“Is that why there were all those dogs running around your—”

“Gods,” he cut in, “you didn’t eat one, did you?”

“No, no.” Braith sat up. “I was too annoyed at you to eat much of anything while at your parents’ home.”

He chuckled. “Aye. You were.”

“I’m going to go see what they got me,” Braith told him, tossing off the fur covering. “I’ll bring you some supper.”

Addolgar sat up, stretching and yawning.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m getting up.” He shook his head before she could argue that. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I just can’t lie here anymore. Besides”—he smiled—“I want to see what they got you too.”

 

 

“What is he doing up and about?” Owena demanded.

Braith, with Addolgar’s arm over her shoulder so he could hop on his good leg, led the dragon to the big table in the middle of the hall chamber.

“Chair or table?” she asked him.

“Table.”

She got him on the table and waited until he was comfortably situated before facing her aunt.

“What did you ask?”

“I asked what he was doing up?”

“Don’t worry. He’s not planning to make a run for it.”

“He better not,” Owena warned.

“So what did you get me from town?” Braith asked.

“Go on, Delyth. Show your cousin what you picked out for her.”

Delyth, with her hands behind her back, walked up to Braith and, after a lengthy pause, brought both her arms around. She held out something cloth-covered and long. Braith pulled back the cloth and blinked.

“Oh,” she said, staring at the steel and leather-covered hilt. “A sword. How nice.”

“It’s a good weight,” Delyth replied. “A short sword to start you out.”

“Right.” Braith took the weapon from her cousin’s outstretched hands. She hefted it a bit, held it up. “Lovely. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Braith turned and showed Addolgar the weapon.

He stared at it for a long moment before he asked, “
That’s
what you got her?”

“What does that mean?” Delyth snapped.

“That’s a bloody toothpick.”

Delyth marched around Braith until she faced Addolgar. “It’s not for when she’s dragon. It’s for when she’s human.”

“As human she can break dwarven steel into pieces.” He reached over and took the sword from Braith’s hands. “It’s a beautiful weapon. One my sister Ghleanna would adore. But this isn’t for Braith.”

“Then what
is
the right weapon for Braith, Lord Smarty Claws?”

Addolgar, his brow going up at the challenge from Delyth, slipped off the table Braith had just put him on and hopped back to their chamber.

“Addolgar!”

“I’m fine!”

Owena shook her head. “That leg will never heal if he keeps running around on it.”

“I know.”

A few seconds later, Addolgar returned with his oversized carrying bag. He hopped over to the table, tossed the bag on it, then sat down again. Once comfortable, he reached into his bag and pulled out a large-headed hammer.

“A hammer?” Delyth asked, hands on hips. “A sword, Cadwaladr, is elegant. A beautiful extension of a warrior’s arm. But you want to give my
royal-
born cousin a thick, heavy, clumsy weapon like a hammer?”

Addolgar studied the weapon in his big hand, looked over at Braith, and threw it at her.

She caught it, easily. Swung it once, twice, then lifted it with both hands. It felt right in her hands. Comfortable. The way, she assumed, a weapon was supposed to feel.

Braith grinned at Addolgar. A grin he returned.

Owena nodded. “He’s right. She’s a hammer dragon.”

Disgusted, Delyth glowered at both Braith and Addolgar. “You know,” she finally said, “you two certainly are perfect together. You’re both bloody know-it-alls.”

 

 

Addolgar sat on the table between Owena, Aledwen, and Crystin. Together, they watched and gave pointers to Braith while she became acquainted with his hammer.

Crystin poked Addolgar in the ribs and he had to grit his teeth from crying out. It seemed the Penarddun “poke” was equivalent to the Cadwaladr head-butt after a night of heavy drinking.

“Yes?” he asked Crystin, once he could do it without crying.

“That niece of ours,” she said low, so only he and the other aunts could hear her, “she’s a nice lass, isn’t she?”

Addolgar thought on that for a moment. He didn’t know if he’d call Braith “nice.” Bunnies were nice. Braith was more . . . lusty! Yes. She was lusty. And beautiful. And adorable. And—

“You don’t think she’s nice?” Crystin demanded and that’s when he realized Braith’s aunts had been waiting for a response. When one hadn’t come, they’d taken that as a bad thing.

“No,” he replied honestly. “I don’t think she’s nice. She’s anything but nice. And when you get to know her again, you’ll also realize she’s not nice.” He looked over the three She-dragons in human form glowering at him. That’s when he added, “Because nice is boring. And that’s the last thing your niece is. So, no, my ladies, I don’t think she’s nice at all.”

“You know,” Braith said, unaware of the other conversations going on around her, “I think with some training, I could wield two of these at the same time. Oh!” She looked at Addolgar, her eyes wide with excitement. “Or an ax.”

With a shrug, he reached into his bag and pulled out his ax. He tossed it at her, but Braith wasn’t ready for it and she instinctively ducked. The weapon collided with her cousin Ffraid, who’d been standing behind her. Thankfully, the She-dragon was hit with the flat of the blade so it just knocked her on her pretty little ass.

Everyone stopped and stared at poor Ffraid stretched out on the ground, the ax resting on her chest.

Owena leaned over so she could look around Braith. She gazed down at her inert daughter. “You all right, Ffraid?” she called out.

Ffraid raised a hand but her only answer was a groan.

Owena leaned back, nodded. “She’ll be fine.”

Before Addolgar could dispute that—he had thrown that ax rather hard, knowing quite well that
Braith
could handle the power of it—Aledwen suddenly jumped off the table, her hand to her forehead.

“Sister?” Crystin asked. “What is it?”

“It’s Heledd. She comes this way.” She suddenly tore off her fur cloak. “She is not alone,” she announced to the room.

Addolgar didn’t really know what that meant, but based on the way everyone suddenly moved with purpose, he knew it couldn’t be good.

It seemed to be a practiced thing. Several of the older offspring hustled the hatchlings, who were still too young to shift to human, to some other place inside the vast cave while the aunts and older cousins and sisters, retrieved weapons and shields.

Braith still held his hammer. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Aledwen, now shifted to her dragon form, faced her niece. “Your father sent Lightnings after Heledd and her cousins.”

“How many?” Addolgar demanded, horrified any Southland male would set Lightnings upon the females of their kind.

Aledwen blinked, then answered, “She thinks . . . nearly a horde’s worth.”

Braith let out a breath and, in that instant, Addolgar saw her resolve. He knew what she would do.

“Braith, no.”

“You stay here,” she told him. “You’re not fit enough to fight.”

“Please,” he said, grabbing Braith’s arm. “Let me call to my kin.”

“We don’t have time, Addolgar,” Crystin said. She looked at her niece. “But you should wait here, Braith.”

“I won’t.”

“Braith . . . this isn’t your fault.”

“Perhaps. But you’re my kin. I’m coming with you.”

Crystin looked at her sisters and they all nodded. Not the reaction Addolgar had been hoping for.

While the aunts and cousins began to head out of the chamber, Addolgar shifted to his dragon form, as did Braith.

“This is reckless, Braith,” he warned her. “You’re not a warrior. Not yet.”

“I know that.”

“The Lightnings, as much as I hate them, are fierce warriors. I trained for decades with me uncles before I was
ever
allowed to face them in battle. You’ve only been actively kicking ass for the last few
days.
”

“I don’t plan to be foolish, Addolgar. But I can’t just let them go out there and face this alone.”

“They’re not alone. They’re a crowd.”

“Addolgar—”

“Your aunt is right. This isn’t your fault.”

“I never said it was. But I didn’t have to bring you here. I did, and my father knew I would. He sent Lightnings
knowing
there would be mostly females here. Just what a Lightning Horde would want to hear.” She stepped closer, placed her claw on his forearm. “But I need you to stay here. You’re still healing and, to be honest, Addolgar, I can’t afford to lose you.” She shrugged. “I’ve been swinging your hammer around and it hasn’t bothered you once that I haven’t grown tired. Most males I’ve known . . . that just makes them nervous.”

He took his hammer from her, rammed the base on the rocky floor. It extended into a weapon that could only be held by a dragon in its natural form.

“That’s remarkable,” she said, smiling as he handed the weapon back to her.

“My sister and I got tired of needing two sets of weapons, one for when we were dragons and one for when we shifted to our human forms. So a Volcano blacksmith made this for us.” He wrapped his claw over hers, looked deep into her eyes. “Use it well.”

“I will.”

She stepped back from him, and that’s when Addolgar added, “Their natural weapon is lightning. When they open their maws, be prepared. That shit goes everywhere. Just like in a storm.”

“Okay.”

“And if they’re in armor, well, their armor doesn’t cover all their important bits. Feel free to attack the groin if necessary. Use your tail.”

“It’ll be fine,” she tried to assure him. “Just please . . . stay here. Keep safe.” She leaned into him, nuzzled her head against his. Then she was gone.

As Addolgar sat there, already missing her, Caron walked by, heading toward the exit. She smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, Mountain, we’ll take good care of our cousin.”

Addolgar growled. “
Stop
calling me that.”