Dragons Don't Love (17 page)

I know this is where she
battled Sarn and that is fitting also. My bride. The warrior. I lay
her gently on the ground. I shift and gather her one last time into
my arms. I cannot allow her to suffer any longer.

“I love you, Roxanne. I
will always love you.” My tears fall on her scorched flesh. “I will
never forget you, but I promise you this,” I take a ragged breath
so I can get the words out. “I will love each bride from the day I
choose them. I will cherish every moment we have together and they
will always know I love them. That’s how much I love you. Thank
you.”

The muscles of my arms
bunch as I lift her higher. Her death will be instant when she
lands against the jagged rocks. I’m completely unprepared when her
eyes flutter open. I almost drop her. I blink once, then twice.
What I’m seeing does not disappear.

Roxanne stares back at me
with eyes of the purest blue I’ve ever seen. “Laryn, I
hurt.”

I can’t speak or
breathe.

She screams. I back away
from the cliff as her body goes so hot it burns me. She writhes in
my arms and I have no idea what to do. I run to a patch of grass
about twenty feet away and set her down.

“Make it stop, Laryn,
please.”

She’s still burned so
badly I’m afraid to touch her. A blue light shines from inside her
body. The heat actually makes me step away. Her eyes close and I
think she’s passed out. A scream unlike anything I’ve ever heard
bursts from her throat. I cover my ears at the horrible pain she
bears. She continues writhing and I can’t stand it.

The blue light explodes.
It spikes into the clouds and covers me, blending with my dragon’s
inner blue light. The pulsing waves continue until a blue dragon
lies in my bride’s place.

I fall to my knees. My
heart has stopped and started again. I’m looking at the most
glorious sight in the universe. It can’t be.

An eerie female voice
comes with the wind. “You have proven your worth as a
dragon.”

I look around and see no
one.

Roxanne opens her large,
luminescent blue eyes.

My bride is
dragon.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Roxanne

I am sitting on Laryn’s
knee wearing an indecently tight gown with practically nothing
holding my breasts in. My dragon lifts my hand and brings me to my
feet. “Roxy, baby, go and find another lovely to share our bed
tonight.” He slaps my ass and I jump away from the gaming table
with a very feminine squeal. Laryn said he would give me an excuse
to leave the room and steal my treasure. Two women, though. He
knows I’d cleave his cock right off. I giggle and the men give me
wicked leers as I leave the room.

Dancing and revelry fill
the entire downstairs of the huge mansion. Laryn has taught me well
and I start my search in the owner’s bedroom. When I don’t find
what I need, I search for the office. A massive safe takes up one
entire corner. “Gotcha,” I whisper with glee.

My hearing is such that I
have the old safe open in less than three minutes. There are trays
of jewels, stacked gold bars, and even some jewelry. I scan the
items until my eyes fall on a large blue amethyst that matches
Laryn’s eyes. It’s exactly what I want. I grab a few other baubles
to wager against Ashrac so he doesn’t win my finest
pieces.

I need to hurry back to
the gaming room so Laryn can finish taking money from these fools
and we can leave without anyone the wiser. When I turn the corner
into the ballroom, a servant is in front of me. She’s old with gray
hair tied back in a severe knot. She smiles politely and I know
she’s perfect because she’s missing several teeth and she doesn’t
smell so great.

“Put the tray down and come
with me.” I take her hand as soon as she rests the tray on a nearby
table.

“My lady…
please.”

“Hush. I just need you to
make googly eyes at my mate. He won’t harm you, but he’s really
into older chicks.”

She tries digging in her
heels, but I won’t release her. Right before we enter the room, I
place a gold coin in her hand. “Sit on his knee and touch his shirt
collar. A few kisses on his cheek will earn you another one of
these.” I show her my other coin and watch her eyes light up. “What
is your name?” I ask.

We enter the room and all
conversation stops. I lead her to Laryn and nod toward his lap. His
eyes are practically glowing and he bites his lip to keep from
laughing aloud. I ruffle his hair and take my voice to a husky
level. “Sweetness, this is Mildred. She’s perfect for tonight and I
know how much you enjoy a woman without teeth sucking you
off.”

Several men cough as
Mildred gives Laryn her biggest smile and proceeds to do exactly
what I paid her for. The men feel so sorry for Laryn that they
don’t seem to mind that he wins all their money. I have the best
time and Laryn throws me covert death glares when Mildred drinks a
little wine and becomes bolder in her pursuit.

I can’t stop laughing as
we cross our second realm heading back to our own.

“You will pay for that,
bride,” he murmurs into my mind. It’s all he’s said since we left.
Another round of laughter rumbles from my chest and fire shoots
from my mouth.

I’m still unused to the
ability to make fire and actually have a little trouble controlling
it. This wouldn’t be so bad if I could forget the agony to my flesh
caused by fire. My transcendence to dragon magically repaired the
damage caused by the flame. It did not remove the memory. I’m still
furious at Sarn. Not because of what he did to me, I know it was an
accident, but because of his rough handling of Ashrac. We haven’t
seen Sarn in six months. He’s not at his lair and I’m not sure if
he will return until it’s time to choose a bride.

Like Acasia and Bastian,
we are now unable to cross to the bride village’s realm. I don’t
think I would wish to see my parents age and die while I remain the
same. This is easier. I also realize each dragon must break the
curse in their own way. I heard each word of Laryn’s promise at the
top of our cliff. He was doing the right thing by ending my life.
The bravest thing. And by promising to love his brides every day
for as long as they live, he broke his curse.

We enter our realm and
Laryn puts on a burst of speed. I’m just about to follow when he
suddenly curves his neck up and flies over me upside down until
he’s behind me. I know what his plan is and it involves his large
blue cock. Dragon form is the only way to mate and produce a child.
We’ve worked diligently at it. Our time will come. I’m not looking
forward to the two years of nesting. I enjoy our forays into other
realms and the treasure we bring back. I have my own treasure room
now and I’m slowly filling it.

Bastian recovered the
chalice and the painting that Laryn swears he will steal away
someday. I want no reminders of the day I burned. Though being
dragon is the best possible outcome, the memory of the pain is too
great.

Laryn comes down low and
covers me. Ecstasy floods my senses. When the blue light of our
release explodes, the entire sky fills with different shades of
blue flame. This time the light is slightly different, but I just
can’t place my finger on it. One thing I absolutely know is that
Laryn will need to begin constructing our nest.

“I love you, Roxy my
fearless warrior,” he whispers into my mind.

“I know, Laryn, and I love
you,” I whisper back.

Chapter
Thirty

Sarn

The bottle tips over and
the whisky spills to the floor. No worries, I have another within
reach of the bed. One of the two women lying naked beside me
mumbles in her sleep. I pick up a lock of her hair and let it fall
back to cover most of her face. The women are faceless anyway. If I
drink enough, their memory is fleeting too.

Bastian came a few weeks
ago and tried to talk me into returning home. It did no good. I
could see his anger at what I had done even when he explained that
Laryn’s bride is now dragon. Lucky Laryn. After my behavior with
Ashrac and almost killing Laryn’s bride, I will never break the
curse. I don’t deserve to.

As I lie in my drunken
haze, the image of a wolf shifter enters my mind. I try not to
think about her. She avoids me, but I catch her watching me at odd
moments. In this strange realm of wolf, bear, and cat shifters, not
to mention vampires, I’ve made a semi-home below Dmitri’s club. The
wolf I’m thinking of works the bar with her twin brother. The only
person she seems shy with is me. I’ve heard her take on a group of
drunken men with calm authority and a few curse words thrown in. I
want her. I look at the women in bed with me. The wolf could do
much better than me fumbling at her body. I’m no longer even good
at sex. Drunk is better.

I open a full bottle of
whisky and drink a fourth of it down in one swallow. The burn is
exactly what I need in order to forget. I fear the smell of Laryn’s
bride’s scorched flesh will haunt me forever. I take another drink
and sink back against the pillow*s.

Through my bleary eyes, I
gaze at the door when I hear it open. She’s lovely. She also
appears angry when she looks from me to the two women. I think her
name is
Sierra.

Sarn’s story continues in
Dragons Don’t Forgive… coming soon.

D’Elen Gets Real,

Kim Benser won the baby
dragon naming contest in the
Fang Chronicles Reader Group
.
Thank you Kim, I love the name Ashrac!

It’s funny how a book develops in my
mind. In this one, the cover was vital. I always order the cover as
soon as the story begins forming deep inside my brain. I have no
idea how Fantasia Frog Designs does the perfect graphic artwork
based on the half-sentence I send. In this case, “Blue dragon,
warrior woman.” That was it. Roxanne was born and I wrote her
physical characteristics to match the cover. I truly love what the
cover inspired in my writing! I wrote Laryn to match a gorgeous
muscle-bound, blond, demi-god I have a picture of. The man in the
photo is arrogance personified and matched Laryn’s SOB attitude
perfectly. I’m a very visual gal and youza.

Poppy Flowers
by Van Gogh, worth $50 million, was actually
stolen from the Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Palace in Egypt about five
years ago. Of course it will never be seen again because it now
resides in the dragon realm. And all my dragon believers know this
as truth. There is a $175,000 reward that will go unclaimed because
I trust my readers implicitly.

“Oh Tiger, Oh Tiger,” is
also truth and that’s all I will say.

Now I need to speak
quickly about Sarn—my poor devastated dragon. Even my editors are
asking questions. Can a dragon mate with an earth shifter? Umm,
like I’m really going to answer that! You need to read the next
book to find out. I’m just cruel that way. I do promise Sarn will
find his happy ending, though it may not be what everyone expects.
Right now the story is working itself out perfectly in that deep
dark cavern called my mind.

Now, let’s talk money…
Indie authors are a phenomenon that’s here to stay. Mostly because
our readers are incredibly faithful fanatics. I love you from the
bottom of my heart. We’ve broken down doors together and changed
the publishing world. Amazon, and no I don’t speak of them with
devil’s horns because I would be nowhere without them, but there is
a problem called Kindle Unlimited. I could handle the 40% loss of
revenue per book download if Amazon didn’t require me to be
exclusive to Amazon which makes that 40% more than 50% or even more
on a new release. This means my Nook, and other non-kindle readers
would not be able to read my work. I will be moving some books into
the KU program, on a revolving three-month basis which is the
minimum time Amazon requires. I won’t have more than one series in
at time (I write six series) and I won’t place any series in until
the most recent book has been out for several months so all my
readers can purchase. If you have bought into the KU program there
is something you can do. Read the first 10% of all books you
download so the authors get paid. It’s vital and we thank you. The
number one thing everyone can do for me is leave an honest review
where you purchased my book. I thank you with a huge hug and sloppy
kisses.

I write a newsletter as
often as I write a book which is about six times a year. I share
things, such as personal pictures of my writing cave, etc.
exclusively in the newsletter. You can sign up
here
if you want an
insider’s view and to know what I’m currently working
on.

You can also find me on
social media:

Blog –
www.wickedstorytelling.com

Twitter –
http://twitter.com/mywickedstories

Facebook –
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Or email me at
[email protected]
I
love to hear from readers. Honestly that’s why Dragons Don’t Love
moved up in the writing rotation. The dragon puppet, and dragon
bracelet helped too and I will cherish them forever. Thank you
diligent readers for your impatience.