Dragon's Desire (5 page)

Dread roiled in her stomach. “Can I
un
decide? Leave now?”

“If we allow it, the demon inside him will wreak vengeance until the next full moon.”

Looking at the dragon that appeared menacing even as he held still as a carved statue, she guessed his vengeance would be truly horrifying. “You’ve seen this happen before?”

“We resisted the curse, tested it, to our dismay. Now we do what we must.”

“Can’t you simply kill it?” she asked, then blanched because she realized a man lived inside the huge beast.

“At his request, I’ve tried, but his wounds heal. Drago’s tried suicide, numerous times and ways. Only one escape from the curse exists.”

She dragged her gaze from the dragon, glancing over her shoulder at Guy. “These girls were never harmed?”

“After they surrender their maidenhead, they were coddled, pampered, treated like queens for the rest of their natural lives.”

Suspicion tightened her stance. “But sequestered.”

“We can’t have anyone leaking the truth to friends and families. We won’t live at the center of a circus.”

“I have no friends. No family. No one I would want to tell.”

His head canted. “Are you negotiating?”

Angela straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I won’t be imprisoned. Your promise.”

“You are still willing?”

“Only if you keep your
first
promise.”

His lips curved slowly. “That we escort you to a dungeon?”

Had he forgotten?
She shook her head. “That you compensate me with pleasure. More than I can bear.”

The corners of his mouth twitched, then he gave a solemn nod and swung toward the dragon blocking the bridge at the other end. “We’re coming.”

The dragon bent his head and backed away, his wings extending as though in a bow.

“How will he do it?” she whispered as they strode toward the towering dragon.

“You’ve already felt his tongue inside you.”

When heat bloomed in her cheeks, she was grateful for the darkness. “Good lord! I thought he was blessed, like Gene Simmons or something.”

Guy chuckled. “If you felt pleasure, then he is blessed. I’ll envy him now.”

They passed the dragon, whose head angled to watch them as they strode toward a cleared area at the center of the atoll where a tall stone pillar stood. “If this curse ends? What then. Will you two still be immortal?”

“As human as you, my dear—at least, that is our hope.”

“And you want that?” Her eyes widened. “You’ll both be giving up eternity.”

Again, his gaze locked on hers. “We want to grow old with the woman we will love.”

Something in his expression confirmed his yearning. Her breaths deepened. “Will that be me?” she asked in a small voice, hope tugging at her heart and making it thud against her chest.

“If you wish that. We will make it so.”

“To be loved by two men...” She blew out a deep breath and gave a nervous laugh. “I’m a greedy woman, Guy. I need love every bit as much as you need someone to end this curse.”

“Will you be the one to end it, little one?”

“I will try.”

“I don’t remember seeing that bridge before,” she chattered nervously. “I don’t know how I missed it. I walked all around the outside of the keep at the Renn Faire.”

“We moved the castle, stone by stone, in hopes the atoll would be lost. That the bridge would no longer connect us with our past. We built it long ago. Each time the anniversary struck, we had three-day windows. We wanted the virgin’s journey to be a safe one. Before this, we had to climb rocks and a narrow ledge to get here.”

“Where is here, Guy?”

“In the past. Drago’s past.”

“The curse again? This is magical then, this place?”

“Don’t you feel it?”

She glanced back, as did he, but already the castle’s battlement was obscured by mist. A shiver ran through her body..

“It’s colder here,” Guy said, “He’ll warm the stone if you wish.”

Her eyes glinted with curiosity. “Show me.”

Guy let go of her hand and strode toward the dragon. In his animal form, Drago’s intellect was diminished, but the beast could understand simple phrases.

The dragon stretched out its neck and peered down at Guy, snuffling its snout against his chest, reacquainting itself with its vassal. Guy held out his palm, much like he would to a dog, and waited until the dragon nuzzled into it.

“We are here again, old foe. Your virgin awaits, but she is cold. Would you warm the stone for her?”

The dragon’s neck arched. Then the creature ducked its head around Guy’s side to peer at the girl. Guy glanced back as well. She stood still, her eyes wide.

“Not too warm because you don’t want her flesh burned. Have a care...”

The dragon nodded, and Guy stood to the side as the creature bent, dropping to all fours to amble toward the pillar.

Guy returned to Angela and slid an arm around her shoulder. “The creature is frightful,” he ventured, more to get her reaction to what she was seeing so he’d know whether she would need the blindfold or for Drago to use his magical persuasion to seduce her.

“It’s a dream, really,” Angela said, sinking into his side. “None of this feels real.”

“If it helps, pretend it’s not.”

Standing in front of the pillar, the dragon halted, jerked back its head twice then thrust it toward the stone, opening its jaws. Red-orange flame burst in a hot cloud against the gray stone. The dragon drew back its head twice more to fill its throat with fire, which it used to bake the stone.

“Enough, Drago.”

The dragon’s head swiveled back, and he retreated several steps, resting on his haunches again, which rendered his appearance only slightly less daunting.

Guy turned his head and kissed Angela’s hair. “It’s time, my dear. Would you like to meet him first?”

Angela took a deep breath and nodded. He held her hand as they approached the dragon. The creature, for its part, remained still except for the blinking of golden eyes. It was curious, as was Guy, whether Angela had the courage to greet the beast.

She was lovely in her loose blouse and short skirt. Ethereal. Moonlight silvered her hair and illuminated her pale skin. When she stood directly in front of Drago, she reached out a hand, palm up, just as Guy had done.

Guy smiled as the dragon slowly bent to push its snout against her opened hand.

Angela gasped, but her expression was one of delight rather than fear. “May I touch him?”

“No quick moves, but yes, pet it like you would a skittish horse.”

Her hand slid up the long snout, then over the top of the bridge. The dragon bent down further to invite her hand to rub the top of its head where the fringe of spikes that ran down the center of its neck and back began.

Extending a finger, she gingerly touched the tip of one spike. “It’s not as sharp as it looks. And it feels smooth, like oiled leather.” She smoothed her palm downward, across its chest to the arms draped at either side. Her hands banded an upper arm, but only covered a small portion of its girth. She let out a deep breath and stepped away, raising her head to meet the dragon’s wary gaze. “Has he ever forgotten himself with a woman?”

“There are restraints attached to the pillar.”

“For him?”

“For you. So that you cannot flee. It’s for your safety.”

She snorted softly. “Are you telling me that if I try to run, he might see me as prey?”

Guy was surprised she understood that Drago’s mind was more animal than human. “Precisely.”

She glanced to the side, meeting his gaze. “I never imagined my first time would be like this. I dreamed a hundred scenarios, but... this...” She waved her hand toward the dragon. “I don’t want to disappoint you. You both have this one chance to make this right.”

“Don’t think about us. I know it’s hard to do, but know that whatever happens, you will be safe.” He infused his words with confidence. “I will see to it.”

She blew out a long breath and straightened her shoulders. “I don’t want to run, but I’m beginning to shake.”

Guy held out a hand. “I’ll bind you. The stone is warm. Close your eyes and imagine another
scenario
.”

“Do you have that blindfold?” she asked, her voice small.

Guy’s stomach dropped. She was afraid after all. His gaze swung to the dragon, whose chest deflated, its head lowering as though defeated.

“Come,” Guy said. “I’ll prepare you, darling.”

And who said they hadn’t been right? Was she too eager to accept Guy’s word? Why was that? Was her attraction to him and to the romantic notion of a handsome noble cursed by a witch claiming her common sense?

And yet, she’d met the dragon, felt the smoothness of his brownish hide, stood close enough to see the jagged rows of teeth, the spiked strip that ran down the center of its back. She’d touched him and he’d done her no harm. However, she wasn’t fooled that his true, wild nature couldn’t easily be aroused.

Guy had called the bands around her wrists and ankles “safeguards”. The truth was, she didn’t know what would happen next, and part of her was terrified, but the other part was intrigued. Her life would change...or end...in the next few moments.

Her heartbeats pounded loudly inside her chest. The sound intensified it seemed, because she was again blindfolded, and every sensation was exaggerated. Every wisp of wind felt as though it was directed to tease her breasts, to tickle her belly and soothe between her open thighs.

Warmth radiated from the stone behind her, and she embraced it. Imagining her back blanketed by a man, and then she felt fingertips trailing down her cheek.

Guy.
His touch thrilled, tracing the delicate line of her collarbone, then slipping down to curve around her breasts. When fingers plucked her nipples, she let her head fall back to rest against the stone, to let the heat seep into her blood. “I wish...” she began, but wondered if finishing the thought would somehow affect the outcome.

“Don’t speak,” he whispered, so close his breath fanned her cheek. A kiss landed on her mouth, and she opened to it, allowing him to slide his tongue inside to mate with hers. His mouth lifted, and she tried to follow.

“I promise you pleasure,” he said in a low tone. “Accept him, accept us. We will love you, Angel. I already do.”

Her heart leapt, and she whimpered.

Then she felt it, the dull thud against the ground. The dragon was moving, nearing.

Her body stiffened and she pressed her back against the stone to escape; her breaths grew jagged again.

“Feel, sweetheart. Just feel. You will come to no harm. I swear it.”

She heard the slide of metal, and remembered another of the stories she’d read. Of a knight who’d faced the dragon with a sword, never to be seen again.

Guy was that knight, and he’d survived. He waited beside her, sword drawn to protect her. She felt pleasure in that knowledge, and her heart slowed a bit.

Then something wet slithered over her knee cap. Wet, warm, thick.

She remembered Drago’s not-quite-human tongue. How he’d pleasured her with it, pushing it inside to see whether she was pure, and perhaps prepare her for this moment when his thicker, longer tongue would take her.

All of a sudden, the image of the dragon bent before her, its long head poised between her thighs, wasn’t completely terrifying. She imagined the handsome lord, frightened the first time he’d transformed, realizing the curse wasn’t an old woman’s crazy rantings.

Drago was inside this beast, reliving a horror he’d reenacted hundreds of times. This was an ancient rite, and now she was a part of it. Perhaps his savior. She wanted this to work, to be the reason he found peace. She wanted to know him, to fall in love with him, and to share her destiny as part of this strange, magical triumvirate.

As his tongue licked upward touching her inner thighs, crowding against her folds, she drew calm around her like a cloak, and eased apart her thighs, giving him permission.

A rumble sounded from the beast in front of her, but she wasn’t frightened.

Warm lips pressed against her cheek. A hand cupped her breast and squeezed. The flickering point of the lush, wet tongue pushed between her folds and entered her.

She stiffened momentarily, but laughed nervously. “I’m not afraid. It’s still so new,” she whispered.

“You’re doing well. So lovely. Have I told you how beautiful you are? A moon goddess.”

Because she felt beautiful and powerful, she didn’t scoff. The tongue inside her vibrated, then pushed upward, and she knew Drago, the beast and the man, was overcome with the moment too.

The thickness driving upward stretched her tight walls, but she shook her hair, fisted her hands, and began to rock her hips, forward and back, following instinct to ease the dragon’s passage inside her, to seek the pleasure Guy had promised.

Was this how a cock would feel, burning her inside and out, causing gooseflesh to prickle her skin, her belly to cramp with the tension building deep inside her womb?

The tongue withdrew partway, and she moaned, disappointed at the loss, only to groan more loudly when it thrust deeper, and deeper still.

Her entire body vibrated with longing, until a sharp sting, interrupted her pleasure. Drago held still inside her. Angela dangled in the chains, afraid she’d somehow failed, but the faint flickering of the end of his tongue, deep inside her, reignited the pleasure. She arched her back and screamed as joy overcame her, exploding outward from her womb to tremble down her legs and cinch the entrance of her sex around the wondrous thickness filling her.

Around them, she grew aware of the wind whipping at her hair, a furious chilling burst that rocked her in her chains.

Drago withdrew.

Guy’s arms surrounded her, and he stepped in front of her to press her body to the pillar, protecting her from the wind howling all around them. He pulled away the blindfold.

“What’s wrong?” she shouted.

“I don’t know.”

“This hasn’t happened before?”

He shook his head and held her close. Not that she minded the sudden storm. Something elemental, something primal moved in the swell and howl, and then rain began to fall, lashing at first, then quieting as the wind died away.

Her manacles opened one by one, not by Guy’s hands, which were still stroking her back. Arms falling to her sides, she glanced shyly over Guy’s shoulder to find another man standing there. One with golden, slitted eyes.

His gaze locked with hers, and he bowed slightly at the waist.

“Drago?” she breathed. He was as tall as Guy. In the bright moonlight, she could see his hair was the color of midnight, his skin olive. Each of his features was beautiful—large eyes, heavy winged brows, a chiseled jaw and straight nose.

Guy slowly pulled away his arms and stepped to the side while Drago and Angela eyed each others’ nude bodies. “Something’s different,” Guy said, his voice tense as though he was afraid to hope.

“Something is different,” Drago said, as he flexed his arms. “I can feel it. I am no longer slave to the beast.”

She shivered at that deep, warm timbre she remembered.

“And yet your eyes, Drago,” Guy said, reaching for Drago’s jaw to turn his face. “They are the beast’s.”

Drago frowned, but then the atoll began to shake. “We have to leave!”

Guy grabbed her hand and followed Drago as he ran toward to the bridge.

The ground shook so hard, they stumbled. She fell to her knees, cutting them on the sharp shale, but Guy pulled her up behind him, and dragged her toward the bridge. “We have to get to the keep. Quickly.”

All around them, the brittle shale shook and splintered, snapping. The ground shivered, sifting the rock slates they balanced on as they leapt for firmer footing on the bridge.

They were midway across when the bridge started swaying side to side. She glanced back. The ground had fallen away from the end of the bridge, and the walkway began to tilt toward the ground. She grabbed desperately for a handhold, scratching her fingers. “Guy, we aren’t going to make it!”

A roar thundered, louder than crashing rock, and she glanced back to see Drago, arms outstretched, his face etched with anger. “Why now, you bitch?” he roared. But his form shimmered in the moonlight then expanded in a quiet explosion. Again, the dragon blocked the end bridge that fell away into the deep abyss.

Guy shoved her to the ground. She fell hard, scraping her knees. Then Guy gripped the stone rail at one side. The entire bridge shook violently, slamming Guy against one side then the other and into her. A loud wrenching shudder moved the bridge.

Angela lifted from the ground, and screamed because she realized they were falling...down...down.

Another roar rent the air. She glanced up, to find the dragon falling with them, head pointed downward, its wings folded close to its body. When the animal was so near she feared it would slam into her and Guy, it reached out its taloned paws, gripped each side of the bridge, then expanded its wings. They caught air—so quickly that again Guy and Angela slammed together, but then they lifted and fell in gentle swells as the beast rose up from the bottomless depths, scaling the crumbling atoll until the castle walls appeared on the other side.

She got to her knees to peer over the section of bridge they stood on and watched in wonder as the dragon set them down on the grounds before the keep then leapt to the side.

Guy and Angela scrambled from the bridge to stand before Drago whose great body shivered then melted away to again reveal the man.

His face was chalky, and he fell to his knees.

Angela rushed toward him and knelt. Her hands cupped his cheeks. “Are you all right? You’re clammy.”

“This wasn’t exactly what I expected,” he said, leaning his cheek against her palm as he dragged in deep breaths. “I’ve never changed by my own will.”

“Does this mean the curse is ended?”

Bewilderment shone in his gleaming eyes. “I’m still part dragon.”

“But you controlled it. I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.”

“No?”

For the first time, their gazes met and locked. She found she liked the strange vertical slits, the glittering gold of his irises.

Drago’s mouth curved into a slow smile. “I owe you a debt of thanks.”

Uncomfortable now, and all too aware they were both completely naked, she frowned. “I don’t want thanks. It’s not why I allowed you to...” Her words sputtered to a stop.

“Drink the blood of your innocence?” he murmured, beginning to smile.

Angela wrinkled her nose. “That just sounds gross.

“The act was...lovely. Your pleasure freed me.”

They shared slow, intimate smiles, and Angela tried her best not to ogle the hard planes and swells of his rugged body, but failed.

Behind her, Guy cleared his throat. “We’ve promises to keep, Drago.”

Angela shook her head. Drago was coated in cooling sweat. Her own body shivered in the aftermath of everything that had happened. “I don’t expect anything. You don’t owe me.”

Drago pushed off the ground and reached down to offer her a hand, which she took. When he pulled her up, he held her inside the circle of his arms. Bared skin warmed. “Guy, here,” Drago said, “would take exception to your phrasing. He’s already in love with you, and there’s part of me, the beast, I think, that’s still eager to play.”

Hearing his sexy, rumbling voice, Angela felt heat wash over her body. Her nipples tingled. Drago’s cock stirred and pulsed against her belly. “Guy loves me? That was real?”

Guy grunted from behind her, and Drago’s grin stretched across his wickedly handsome face. “We are bound, little one. We three. There’s no escape.”

Since she was already more than a little in love with the idea of this strange triumvirate, Angela prayed to God that vow was true.