Mating the Dragon (Dragon Ruins Book 6)

© 2016 by Rinelle Grey

www.rinellegrey.com

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Taurian's clan believes his union with Wayrian can save them. But can he go through with the mating, knowing that he loves Karla. With his arch enemy Ultrima breathing down his back, he doesn’t dare risk breaking his commitment. Not with his clan in immediate danger. 

Karla has accepted that he can never be hers. As a prince, he must put the needs of his clan first. As painful as watching the new couple beginning their life together is for Karla, it's better than risking leaving while Ultrima’s dragons wait outside. Ultrima offers her a way out, but she can’t possibly leave Taurian and his clan to be wiped out by him. She has to do something to help them. If only she could figure out what. 

But how can a human defeat a dragon even the other dragons fear?

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Her heart thumping in time with the rhythm of her feet, Karla raced down the corridor into Taurian’s clan’s lair as though Ultrima himself was hot on her tail.

Because he was. 

He wasn’t chasing her exactly, but that didn’t make it any less hair-raising. Memories of the last time she’d seen him, right before his terrifying fight with Taurian outside his lair, and the wounds he had given to Taurian, flashed before her mind. The fact that this time, she could hear Taurian exchanging pleasantries with him, even though his voice sounded strained and forced, just made it worse. How could he pretend so well, given all that had gone before? Didn’t he know Ultrima could change in an instant?

Of course he did. He knew only too well. But he had no choice.

The polite pretence could change in an instant once Ultrima walked down into the lair and found out Wayrian wasn’t preparing for their mating as Taurian had claimed. She couldn’t let Ultrima discover the truth. She had to do something.

If Ultrima realised Taurian had lied to him, then there was nothing to stop the Trima clan leader from attacking everyone then and there. Taurian inviting him to his mating ceremony had bought them all some time. But only if there was a mating ceremony for him to attend.

Right now, she had bigger concerns than who was mating who, no matter how bitter it tasted. Even though every bit of her heart protested, there was only one thing she could do.  

All dragon eyes focused on her as she ran into the room. Couples clutched at each other, their faces white. 

“Taurian has invited Ultrima to his mating,” she announced.

Everyone stared at her, their eyes wide, even the elders. 

She ground her teeth. Did she really need to spell it out for them? “So we need to give him a mating. Quickly!” 

“A mating?” Kyrian asked, as though he was still confused.

Karla glanced behind her, but there was still no sign of Ultrima or Taurian. She took a deep breath, trying to force her words to come out slowly so they could follow them. “Ultrima decided he would rather feast at his enemy’s mating than kill him right now. That’s a good thing. But he’s expecting to see a mating, and if he finds out Taurian is lying, he could destroy the whole clan. You need to move. Now.”

Finally, they seemed to grasp the situation and were spurred into action. “Get some food out here,” Mesrian demanded. “Everything we’ve got. At once. And hide all these belongings. We can’t let him know we were planning to run.”

Someone else was taking over. Karla wanted to sag in a corner and get her breath back. Her legs were still shaking, and she wasn’t sure they’d stop any time soon. She wanted to let someone else sort out this mess. It wasn’t her problem, especially not now Taurian was mating another woman. 

Except she was stuck here. If she tried to run, she risked Ultrima coming after her. That thought sent a cold shiver, hell, a freezing ice storm, up her spine.

They weren’t in the clear yet. They wouldn’t be until Ultrima was gone.

Until then, the best thing any of them could do was to help put on a convincing mating. And to do that, they were going to need more than a feast. 

Taurian was going to need a mate. 

When Karla looked around for Wayrian, she wasn’t surprised to see her standing near the back of the cavern, her hand to her throat and her eyes wide. Even as other dragons began to rush around her, she didn’t move.

Was she stupid? Did she not get what was happening? Did she not realise she was integral to this ruse? Karla waited for one of the other dragons to notice her, preferably to take her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her.

But they all kept rushing past as though they didn’t see her.

Heavy footsteps sounded in the passageway leading down into the lair. “I hope the food is to your liking.” Taurian’s voice was loud, as though letting everyone in the room know he was coming.

Ultrima’s reply was quieter, and his words obscured.

There was no time to hesitate. She had to do something, or they were all in trouble. Karla raced across the room, grabbed Wayrian’s arm and pulled her back into the corridor on the opposite side of the room just before Taurian and Ultrima entered the chamber. 

“Where is your room?” she hissed.

Wayrian was shaking like a leaf, and looked up at her blankly.

The young woman wouldn’t last half a day in Taurian’s world. Karla was surprised she’d made it to adulthood when the dragon’s lives seemed so full of danger. 

If she didn’t need her right now, she’d walk away and leave her to her fate.

Unfortunately, she did. “Your room,” she repeated.

Wayrian stared at her for a moment, then pointed down the passageway. 

She could have been pointing to any of the rooms. Karla gave up on getting anything of any use out of her. “Lead the way.”

Wayrian could walk, at least. She headed down the corridor, her gait slightly unsteady. About half way down, she stopped walking to turn and ask, “Is Ultrima going to kill us?”

“He probably wants to try, but I don’t intend to let him kill me, or anyone else here, if I can help it. What about you?”

Wayrian paled. “I can’t do anything to stop him. How can you?”

How could she be so cowardly? How could any of them think she would make a suitable mate for Taurian? Karla wanted to scream at her, but there wasn’t time for jealously right now. She swallowed her own feelings and tried to make her words gentle.

“By not giving up. You’re supposed to be preparing to mate with the prince. The prince who’s just bought everyone here some time by inviting the enemy to his mating ceremony. Even if you don’t know what to do personally, you can help him do what he’s chosen by preparing for the ceremony.” 

Wayrian’s face slowly changed from scared and uncertain, to determined. Once Karla stopped talking, she nodded decisively, and half walked, half ran down the corridor. 

Karla followed. They were getting somewhere at last.

But when Wayrian entered a doorway on the left, the young dragon woman stopped just inside the doorway and stared around the room. “I don’t have a mating outfit.”

Karla ground her teeth. Could no one do anything around here without having it spelled out for them? She wanted to shake the girl and tell her it didn’t matter what she wore. More than that, she wanted to push her aside and take her place. She would do it so much better than this scared young girl. 

Instead, she forced herself to take a deep breath. That would achieve nothing. Besides, a wedding dress was half the point of a wedding. Though dragons seemed to wear a lot less than humans in general, given the way Taurian had reacted to clothes, and his comments about their importance, dragons weren’t too different to humans in that respect. 

Meaning to fool Ultrima, they would need a mating outfit. 

Why Karla was the one trying to figure this out, she didn’t know. She didn’t even know what dragons even wore to a mating. Or, more importantly, how they were going to get it.

“Does someone have one you can borrow? Has anyone else been mated recently?” she asked.

To her surprise, Wayrian blushed. She looked at the ground and said, in such a quiet voice that Karla could barely hear her, “A mating outfit is not fit to wear a second time.”

Not fit to wear a second time? Whatever did she… Oh. The reason an outfit might not be wearable after the mating ceremony hit Karla like a sledgehammer. And given how glibly Taurian had torn the buttons on her shirt in their last Mesmer mating, she was pretty sure her guess was accurate.

Sure enough not to ask for clarification anyway.

Why was she the one doing this? She should be off in a bar somewhere, preferably on a sunny tropical beach, trying to pretend she wasn’t grieving the loss of the man she loved. Not helping his mate prepare for their mating ceremony. 

There wasn’t anyone else though. Right now, she needed to focus on saving her life, and that of her family and friends, stuck outside in the dragon’s lair with the dragons. This was no time for regrets or jealousy, much as they burned. There was a dragon outside who wanted to kill them all.

Who would kill them if they didn’t have a mating costume. 

“Is there anyone who’s going to be mated soon?” she asked desperately. “Who might have an outfit that is suitable to wear?”

Wayrian’s eyes widened. “Vesrian might. If it’s finished. She’s due to be mated at the end of the moon cycle.”

“Right. You wait here. We can’t risk Ultrima seeing you until you’re dressed. I’ll go find Vesrian.”

Wayrian nodded obediently, and Karla tried not to think too harshly of the look of relief in her eyes at being told what to do. It wasn’t the girl’s fault she was in this position. She hadn’t asked for it. Her grandfather had insisted on it.