EnforcersCraving (6 page)

The thick forest stopped all of a sudden, as if a giant had
sliced it with a knife and scraped away the excess. Between one step and the
next Chelsea was out of the greenery and standing on fine white sand with the
sun glaring down on her head and shoulders. The beach stretched as far as she
could see in either direction, and it was a good fifty meters from where she
stood down to the dark-blue lake. But the beautiful scenery was a mere backdrop
for what really caught her attention. Dragons. What seemed like hundreds of
them. Huge, dark, mean-looking dragons with snapping teeth and whiplash tales. Every
one of them was the size of a small plane and they came in monochrome shades
ranging from pale gray to blue-black.

She followed Skalah, hugging the tree line and not for one
moment taking her eyes off the action at the shallows of the lake. There were
half-naked men in the water with the dragons, scrubbing them down and washing
their wings but it didn’t seem to stop the dragons snapping and snarling at
each other at random intervals. The men didn’t seem at all perturbed, so
Chelsea had to assume the aggression was commonplace.

Eventually Skalah led her toward the beach but when they got
halfway down he halted, hovering in mid-air and trilling in the direction of
the shoreline. A man separated himself from the group, wading out of the water
and jogging in her direction. The moment she realized it was Tarkan, she was so
grateful to see a familiar face she didn’t quite register the fact that he was
almost naked. But as he got closer the sun glistened off his wet,
copper-colored skin and she realized his tiny black shorts did nothing to hide
the glory of his body.

My god, he’s perfect.
Broad shoulders, deep chest,
ten-pack abs and huge arms and legs. He had no hair on his body and every
muscle was so clearly delineated he could have posed for an anatomy poster. His
blue hair was slicked close to his head and threw his extraordinary facial
features into sharp relief.

He drew to a halt a mere half step from her, his
cognac-brown eyes sparkling as he addressed Chelsea’s guide. “Thank you,
Skalah.”

The dragonet trilled and swooped around Chelsea once before
heading down to the lakeshore.

Tarkan took a deep breath and his voice rumbled out, low and
sexy. “You came. I wondered if you would.”

She tried to keep her eyes on his face, truly she did but
she was a chest and shoulder girl from way back. His naked torso was making it
hard to concentrate. “I would have come sooner,” she said. “But they kept a
really close eye on us. I had to sneak out of the dormitory.”

“No matter. You’re here now.” He closed the distance between
them, near enough that her breasts almost brushed his damp body. Leaning down
he whispered in her ear. “Have you come to ask for my help?”

Her whole body jerked and for a moment she thought she was
having a seizure, then her nipples hardened and her pussy throbbed and she
realized what the sensation was. Lust. Pure and not simple, and certainly not
welcome. She kept her gaze fixed on the drool-worthy expanse of his pecs and
fisted her hands in her skirts, gripping on for dear life. “Yes, I’ve come to
you for help.”

He lifted a large, warm hand to rest on the side of her
waist, not gripping her, just resting it there. It felt like a brand, searing
her skin through three layers of cloth and all her sensible intentions. Then
his hand slid a little lower, his thumb lightly pressing against her hipbone. “Are
you willing to pay the price, Chelsea?”

She swallowed hard and tried to cling to her commitment to
Tansy. Chelsea had a pretty good idea what the price was going to be and she’d
convinced herself she could pay it for the sake of her best friend. But at the
last minute her courage got trumped by her self-preservation. “I can’t give you
any assurances. Not until I know what the price is.”

Dropping his hand he stepped back and the separation shot a
hard spike of anxiety through her.

Tarkan met her gaze. “It doesn’t work like that. You agree
to give me what I want and I’ll make sure you get what you want.”

She chewed her lip. As desperate as she was to find Tansy,
she just couldn’t bring herself to make a blind promise and she wasn’t sure
that Tansy would approve if she did. “No. I’ll listen to you and we can
negotiate terms but I’m not going to make an uninformed decision. You can see
how stupid that would be for me.” This time it was Chelsea who closed the
distance, laying her hand on his forearm in some hopeful attempt at making a
connection. “Please Tarkan. I obviously have something you need, you have
something I want, let’s just talk to each other and find the best way to
achieve both goals.”

He was quiet for a while but she did her best to hold his
gaze, silently urging him to trust her, to let her in. Finally he nodded,
moving his arm and capturing her hand in his. “We can’t talk here. Will you come
to the den with me?”

“Um, yeah, I suppose so.”

She wasn’t sure what or where the den was or how they were
going to get there, but if it got her closer to Tansy she was willing to take
the calculated risk.

Chelsea followed him meekly to the shoreline, her hand held
fast and firm in his. As they approached two evil-looking dragons, Ari stepped
out between the monsters, his tall frame barely reaching the dragons shoulder.
“Chelsea? Is everything all right?”

He waded toward her, no better dressed than Tarkan and the
water sheeting off his body had the same effect on her. They were both
gorgeous. Tall, strong, heavily muscled—exactly how she loved a man’s body to
look. She squeezed her eyes shut before the sight of him totally did her head
in. “Chelsea?”

Damn, she had to open her eyes or he’d know for sure she was
losing it. “I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong.”

One of the dragons surged forward and swung his head toward
them. Chelsea screamed, jumped in between the two half-naked men and pulled
them close to her, not giving a second thought to the fact that she was using
the Enforcers as her human shields.

Ari wrapped his arms around her waist and Tarkan pressed
tight against her back and in a split second she went from scared to safe. Then
her physical position registered as the meat in an almost-naked man sandwich
and she had another one of those weird, mini-seizures. Every muscle she
possessed flexed and held. Her nerve endings sizzled, she could feel her
nipples pushing into Ari’s chest and she didn’t even want to think about the
burning ache in her pussy. It was as if she were drowning in pheromones. Or
perhaps she was just drowning in her own stupidity.

Entirely disconcerted by her out-of-character reaction, she
pushed herself away from the Enforcers stepping aside to give herself some
room. Only to come face-to-face with the dragon that had caused the problem in
the first place.

It was close enough to touch and its head from forehead to
chin was longer than Chelsea’s entire body. She wasn’t sure if she was going to
faint, scream, throw up—or all three—when she felt a strong, hard body at her
back.

“Easy.” Tarkan’s arms wrapped around her, trapping her arms
close to her body. “That’s Benmonth. He’s my partner and I’ve told him all
about you. He won’t hurt you, he’s just curious. He’s never met an Earth woman
before.”

Chelsea’s knees were still shaking, so she leaned back
against Tarkan, letting him take her weight as she eyeballed the big, scary,
toothy dragon. “So, are we talking curious as in ‘gosh she’s interesting let’s
get to know her’ or are we talking ‘gosh she smells good, I wonder what she
tastes like and does she come with a dipping sauce?’”

She felt Tarkan chuckle against her back and Ari moved to
stand next to Benmonth, looping his arm under the enormous jaw and leaning all
his weight against the dragon. “They don’t eat people,” Ari said. “The blacks
take their nutrients directly from the ionosphere. However they are born to
fight and you need to be wary. You’ll be fine with Benmonth and Annlyss, because
they’re partnered with Tarkan and me, but you must never approach a black you
don’t know without their rider being present.”

“Black?”

Ari rubbed his free hand absently on Benmonth’s cheek. “What
have they been teaching you all week? Have they told you nothing of dragon
society?”

Society? Really? Chelsea took a long, hard look at Benmonth.
Intelligence lurked in his yellow eyes but so did something else and it looked
sinister to her. “You’re telling me dragons are social?”

“Yes. They live in large groups, they mate and care for
their young. Each dragon type has a role and position in their society.”

Chelsea thought about Skalah and his ability to understand
the spoken word. “Are all dragons sentient?”

“Yes.”

Tarkan, who hadn’t released her through the exchange, kept
her held tight to his chest as he spoke. “The dragons are color-coded. The
greens are large and mostly landbound, they understand simple instructions and
are happy to be used domestically by us, as long as they are kept warm and well
fed. The reds and blues are smarter and like to stay in the air. They
voluntarily take turns supplying our transport needs, ferrying both people and
goods from settlement to settlement.” He took a deep breath and the warmth of
his exhale ghosted over her cheek. “And then there are the blacks. The smartest,
fastest, most hostile creatures in dragon society. They are fierce, territorial
and they live for battle. Every black who comes to a settlement willingly
aligns him or herself with an Enforcer and that pairing is exclusive and
permanent. They live in the dens as mated pairs and their Enforcers live with
them, sharing every aspect of their daily lives.”

She looked at the savage, belligerent head not two meters
from her. “And Benmonth is your dragon?”

“Yes. As I am his Enforcer.” Tarkan turned her a little to
face another dragon, storm-gray instead of the midnight black of Benmonth. “That’s
Annlyss, she and Ari are paired.”

Chelsea thought for a moment, trying to make the right
connections. “So Benmonth and Annlyss are mated, you and Ari belong to them and
the four of you live together in a den?”

“More or less.” Tarkan released her and placed his hand on
her lower back, urging her closer. “Benmonth wants to meet you. He promises he’ll
be on his best behavior.”

Uh huh.
Was that before or after he swallowed her
whole spat out her bones? Tarkan’s pressure on her back didn’t ease, even when
she started digging her feet into the sand. As soon as she got close enough Ari
grabbed her wrist and placed her hand palm down, right in the middle of
Benmonth’s forehead. Now this was more like the dry and scaly she’d been
expecting, but his skin was warm and there was a resilience to it that reminded
her of rubberized neoprene.

Ari guided her hand up and down, allowing her to relax just
a bit.

Tarkan stepped beside her and rested his hand on her
shoulder. “Benmonth wants to scent you. It’s the dragon equivalent of a
handshake and it’s nothing to be frightened about.”

She licked her lips. “What does it involve exactly?”

“All you have to do is stand there. Benmonth will sniff you,
maybe nuzzle a bit and then you’re done.”

Good god, nothing to it. She took a breath, locked her knees
and clamped her mouth shut on the scream she knew was coming. Giving one short
nod to let them know she was ready, she braced herself.

Benmonth scooted back a bit and laid his neck and head on
the ground, then he shuffled closer until his nostrils were resting almost on
her toes. He sniffed a couple of times, wriggled a bit more and sniffed again—this
time in a steady rhythm. Using the skin between his nostrils the way a person
would use their hands, he began making his way up her body. He was thorough,
slow and very, very careful.

She got brave enough to take a full breath and as her lungs
expanded her nose filled with a divine smell. She’d only ever encountered it
once before—on the rescue shuttle. The pure sent of dragon was soft, illusive
and not as sexy as it was when combined with aroused Enforcer. Nevertheless,
the scents were similar enough that she found herself taking another deep
breath. Then her pulse rate started to ease.

Once Chelsea got over her initial fear and she accepted the
fact that she wasn’t going to be dragon food, she actually relaxed into the
experience. Benmonth’s touch was soft and his rhythmic snuffles were kind of
soothing and—there was no getting around it—the nuzzling was adorable. It
shouldn’t have been, it should have been really scary but there was so much
puppy in it Chelsea couldn’t resist softening toward the dragon. And even as
she made the admission she knew she was certifiable.

As soon as Benmonth moved away, Tarkan threw his arm around
her shoulders and pulled her close. He was dressed now, he must have donned his
clothes while she was dragon-bonding and sadly for her, being clothed didn’t
make him any less distracting. The gray, long-sleeved leather tunic and
trousers were sexy-hot, as were the black knee-high boots. His shoulder-length
mane had dried enough to fluff around his head and he had a belt with two
knives attached buckled low on his waist. When she cast a glance at Ari she saw
he was similarly dressed.

Tarkan grinned down at her. “Benmonth likes you. He says
your scent is good.”

Chelsea frowned up at him. “He talks to you?”

“Yes. A black can speak mind-to-mind with any Enforcer, and
we can speak to any battle-dragon should the need arise. But for the most part
we stick to our dragon and his or her mate.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond to bit of information. “Okay,
good to know.”

“Now it’s Annlyss’ turn to meet you.”

Oh god, surely once was enough. But no, Tarkan hauled her a
couple of meters to the side and the entire process was conducted again, this
time with the dark-gray dragon. On the second go-round, Chelsea relaxed quickly
and the experience was almost enjoyable. Annlyss’ curiosity seemed softer, more
personal somehow, as if she were interested in Chelsea for herself, not just as
an intellectual curiosity. It made it easier to warm to the enormous gray, who
was apparently referred to as a black.