Treasure Lane Dragons: Complete Series (BBW Paranormal Dragon Shapeshifter Romance) (26 page)

“Yeah, sure,” Ruby said, quirking a brow at him.

“That’s us. My forefathers guarded the treasures of the old kings, and as kings are oft to do, they died far before the dragons did. And since our allegiances were to the king or their family, there was nothing stopping us from making off with the bounty when the king got dethroned. And we did, for countless centuries.

The problem is, there aren’t that many kings left, and there certainly aren’t any unclaimed caves filled with treasure out there to loot. So we’ve sort of been coasting, basking on top of our piles of gold and waiting for the return of the good old days. I doubt they’re going to return before we run out of fortune, though.”

Cillian smiled absently, feeling the familiar tug he got every time he thought of his family’s situation. His father had been a staunch supporter of the old ways and recklessly blind to progress – it had cost them all dearly. Cillian could only hope to be better. The first thing on the agenda was figuring out how to return the Greenmeadows to glory before history whisked them away into the annals of time, and though he had a good idea how to do it, he was yet to act on it.

“I guess I can relate. The Accardos used to be an institution in Chicago. Say the name and doors would open, or close in fear, whichever was needed. Now, not many know of us. Father still rules the city, but it’s different now than it used to be when his father ran things – all subterfuge and hidden politics. Not that I mind, though. I hear things used to be a lot bloodier than they are now.”

“And you’re okay with that? Your father and your whole family being in the mob?” Cillian asked, keeping his green eyes squarely on her.

He couldn’t stop them from wondering down those tasty curves every now and then, but he thought he was mostly doing a good job at behaving. She shrugged in response, making the dragon stone pendant bounce a little. He needed to get more gold on her. Some of
his
gold, to mark
his
bride. He’d have to go down to the vaults as soon as he could and find her something worthy of her. He’d been putting it off in the hopes that his sudden obsession would pass, but there seemed to be little hope for that now.

“It’s like someone asking you if you’re fine with being a dragon. It’s not something I can control. I’ve never been a part of it myself, and I don’t want to be.”

“Your father seemed to have a different take on things.”

“Yeah?”

“He thought you rebelled because he kept you away from the family business. That it was why you ran away.”

Ruby snorted, taking a swig of her beer. Even irritation looked hot on her. He had to wonder what she’d look like if he
really
pissed her off. How those high cheekbones would take on a red tint and how she’d maybe snarl a little when he pinned her arms above her head, right before moaning and melting into his arms when he kissed her neck and her mouth and her…

Focus.

“That’s not why. I never wanted anything to do with the family business. I wasn’t a big fan of extortion or racketeering. I just wanted to be allowed to do something that
I
wanted to do, not what was sanctioned by the family and heavily discussed over every dinner with half our extended cousins before I was given the green light. You should have seen how they picked on my junior prom date. It wasn’t about who invited me.”

Her nose crunched at the memory.

“
Oh no. It was all about what family they came from, if they had any Italian blood, if they were in the business, and so on ad nauseam.  When they finally settled on a boy they
liked, every guy along with their families had been so thoroughly scared that the boy who ended up taking me to prom was shivering the whole time, expecting to get a bullet between his eyes if he even held my hand. It wasn’t the greatest way to grow up.”

She leant back , balancing on her palms.

“I just wanted some adventure, and instead, I got wrapped in cotton and kept out of direct sunlight. I don’t want to keep running away from things, but sometimes, it feels like the only option left for me.”

The sun was close to setting, and Ruby fell quiet. It seemed that he’d trespassed onto a topic not entirely suited for an easy conversation. Cillian looked at the pink and purple sky throwing its butterfly kisses on the treetops, and a thought gripped him. He glanced at Ruby, who was swishing the last drops of beer around in her can and eyeing it with a scowl on her lovely face.

“Hey, you wanted adventure, right?”

Ruby pursed her lips a little, making them even more kissable. If she kept that up, he’d just have to turn caveman on her and drag her up to the bedrooms. His dragon was a big fan of that plan.

“I… Yes. Why?”

“Well, come on then. I’ve got one for you,” he said, hopping up and reaching a hand out to her.

To his relief, she took it, and he pulled her up, reveling in the feeling of having her so close for a moment. He smirked, seeing the way she caught her lower lip between her teeth. Oh yes, this would be fun.

CHAPTER TEN

Ruby

“Where are we going?” Ruby asked, her hand in Cillian’s.

Touching him felt so good it almost burned, his grip both hot and somehow comforting.

“You’ll see,” he said, and just as she was about to protest at the lack of information he was providing her, he stopped.

They’d walked just a little bit downhill to where the grass was shorter and the view of the forest and Emerald Court rolled out ahead of them like a scene on a postcard.

“Wait,” he said, letting go of her hand and backing away from her. Ruby frowned, tying her fingers together without noticing and letting the heat flow through her palms.

Cillian tossed her one more of his wicked grins, looking like he was about to reveal a big secret, and then Ruby gasped and stumbled backwards. He was changing, shifting before her very eyes. His tattooed, strong arms and shoulders expanded, becoming thicker and larger by the second. His skin sprouted jagged little edges all over, and then emerald green scales with yellowish-gold tips broke across him until they covered him like armor.

His regal, straight nose and stern jaw lengthened and became a fearsome maw, sharp teeth riddling his mouth like razor blades. While he was impressive as a man, it was nothing compared to his dragon. He stood taller than a house, and his wings looked so big that he could spread them over half a football field. Golden horns surrounded his head, with smaller ones decorating either cheek and growing into long, curved horns with sharp tips at the top of his head. He looked… magnificent.

Steam rose from his nostrils, and his emerald eyes had turned a solid gold with just the faintest strip of green around the irises. He flexed his wings, and the dying rays of light caught his scales, reflecting off of them in a green and yellow rainbow. His underbelly was wheaten gold, and when he took a breath, the earth rumbled a little.

“Whoa,” was all she could really say, looking at the beast before her.

She’d seen Cable shift before, sometimes with his whole pack following suit, but while the sight of a full pack of werewolves was somewhat terrifying, a full-grown shifted dragon was plain awe-inspiring. Ruby had to wonder how any shifter dared even claim the title ‘shapeshifter’ when dragons were out there to show all those tiny little creatures what it meant to truly change form.

Come on,
she heard a voice in her head, distinctly metallic in tone but very much Cillian’s.

He extended a paw towards her, the long nails thick as tree trunks digging into the earth.

Climb up.

“You’re insane,” she said, but the grin on her face spoke a different language.

Hell yes she was going to get up there. Tossing her hair back in a quick ponytail, Ruby stepped closer to him. The scales looked sharp, but only against the grain. When she slid her hand over them, they were slick and almost silken to the touch, causing the light to fracture as her hand crossed over them. She took a deep breath, and with her heart pounding in her ears, clambered up his leg all the way to his shoulders.

There, a long trail of leathery spikes ran down the length of his neck and back, and she settled between them, hooking her legs behind his scales.

Ready?

“No, but go!” she yelled, laughter in her voice. He didn’t need a second invitation.

Suddenly, the world went out from under her, and her stomach dropped.

“Holy hell,” Ruby muttered, holding on for dear life as the huge dragon took flight.

His wings kicked up and down, making his entire body undulate a little before settling into a rhythm as he tore upward, over the trees. It felt like being on the world’s most awesome rollercoaster. Ruby wasn’t even going to try to force down her excited screams. No, she was going to yell her head off. And there was no one to judge her but Cillian, and he seemed to be more than approving of her exuberance.

The wind whipped at her face and hair, and though she clung to him so hard she knew her hands were going to hurt, she had to fight the constant desire to let her hands go and feel the air brush over her skin as she stretched out her fingers. He dipped lower, going so close to the ground so fast that she thought they’d crash into some trees, but just at the last moment he pulled up again, heading straight into the clouds.

Ruby gasped, feeling his breath course through him and his long tail sway side to side as he changed course. When they broke through the low-laying clouds, it felt like they were in another world. Everything was soft and white, only the pink and purple sunlight tinting everything with a hazy glow.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, and to her surprise, he answered.

It is. Best time to fly.

“Any time is the best time to fly!” she shot back, and he dove down again.

She yelped from the feeling of freefalling, only to have him stabilize at the very last second. He certainly wasn’t going easy on her. Cillian showed her the entire expanse of Emerald Ridge, right up to the borders he shared with the Goldplains and the Bluewings, where on one side, fields stretched as far as the eye could see, and on the other, mountains rose from the earth higher and more foreboding than the ones that surrounded Emerald Ridge. Everything seemed so much more epic from high above. She didn’t think she could ever get enough of it.

The sun had almost completely set by the time he took her back to the keep. They landed on the roof landing area, which Ruby had at first mistaken for some kind of weird helicopter pad (how wrong was she!). Although Cillian dropped down gently, the whole castle still shuddered a little as he did so. Reluctantly, Ruby climbed off of him.

She was freezing from soaring through the night air at high altitudes in the not too warm clothes she was wearing, but when he’d asked her earlier if she wanted to go back, she’d told him hell no. She wasn’t missing a second of that experience just because she was a little bit cold. It would have been worth it even if she’d caught pneumonia.

Ruby stepped back as Cillian shifted, and she was even more amazed that a dragon so large and fearsome could be fitted into such a tight, painfully handsome package. His reddish-brown hair was tossed by the wind, and his emerald eyes sparkled with that devilish glint she’d learned to look for. There he stood, tall, broad-shouldered, and grinning like he’d just stumbled on the biggest pot of gold in the world. And he was devastating. Her heart was still pounding from the rush that the flight had given her, and she tingled all over.

Suddenly, she felt brave – brave and in charge.

“So how was that for an adventure, sugar?” he asked, cocking his head to the side and giving her that smirk that could make even the steeliest of women crumble at his feet.

Ruby smiled, and right then, she knew
exactly
what she wanted. She crossed over to him in the light of the moon that grew bigger and closer with each night, and before he could ask her what she was doing, her lips were on his.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ruby

Ruby’s hands coiled into his hair, and she kissed him like she’d wanted to since the first time he’d stolen that kiss from her at the bar. Her tongue assaulted his, and he responded with equal ferocity. She groaned into his mouth as his strong arms gathered her in his embrace, one hand going unabashedly down to grab her ass and the other snaking behind her neck, holding her firm. The way he tasted her was almost painful – hard and wanting, and so brash she had to bite him back. His lips were the only things that were soft about that kiss, and it was maddeningly delicious.