Loved by the Dragon Collection Read online

  “He doesn’t like humans much. I think he’s only tolerating me because I’m the magical baby oven.”

  “Hopes dashed.” Marcy snapped her fingers and swore, “Damn.”

  “Sorry to bust your bubble.”

  “So where are they?”

  “You can look outside and watch them recreate a scene from The Lost World if you want—” As Chloe spoke, Marcy’s face nearly turned green. “Or stay here and drink coffee with me.”

  Marcy joined her at the table and poured black coffee into a mug. “I don’t know if you’re any better after what I just saw you eat. Raw meat, Chloe? Ugh. What is this child doing to you?”

  “Ha ha,” Chloe said dryly. “Anyway, all kinds of dragons are supposed to begin flying in soon. Saul’s inviting the ones he trusts. Brigid may be able to force her way into the house, but she can’t stop him from having guests.”

  “And if she tries to harm you beyond the rules of the duel—”

  “It’s an insult to their laws, and they get to kill her.”

  “Almost makes me wish she would try something,” Marcy muttered.

  Chloe snorted. “Yeah, well, if everything goes to plan she won’t get the chance.”

  Marcy pushed back from the table and crossed to the window where she dared a brief peek outside while she sipped her brew. “Looks like they’re done rounding up breakfast. I see them chatting in the driveway and… holy crap! Saul’s buddy looks like those hot Colombian drug lords in the movies. How the hell does he keep a white suit so clean when he was just snacking on goats in a field?”

  Balancing her cup of herbal tea, Chloe left the table and joined her. “I know. It’s totally unfair, right? Saul says most dragons are power players in business and politics. I guess Teo owns a resort somewhere on some island in the south.”

  Marcy whistled. “Do you think he’ll at least f—”

  “Marcy. No. What happened with Antonio anyway?”

  “That movie date I cancelled—”

  “You mean the one I stole you from?”

  Marcy grinned. “Yeah, that one. I was going to end things anyway. This just sped things up a little… he didn’t like it when I canceled.”

  “How come?”

  “Eh.” Marcy shrugged. “Turns out he’s a real mama’s boy and that woman, I met her when we were in Galveston, remember? Well, she is very opinionated and he always goes with what she says. It’s frustrating as hell when your boyfriend blows off what he promised you because his mommy says otherwise.”

  “Oh no. Yeah, fuck that. I guess I won’t have that…” I can’t say that’s not a problem anymore, Chloe realized. If I was going to live a normal mortal life, I’d never have the chance of meeting Saul’s mom. But if I win this duel with Brigid, I’ll meet her one day… While Marce grows old. Fuck. The stark reality of her new situation took the wind from Chloe’s sails and cast a dismal cloud over her mood.

  Unless, maybe …

  A fleeting, improbable thought slithered through Chloe’s mind. Another glance at Teo dashed her hopes. He made his thoughts about humans and half-breeds clear. There wouldn’t be a magical matchmaking session in Marcy’s future.

  “Let’s go greet them. A couple more dragons should fly in this evening. I guess they do most of their big moving at night. Some of them have to board planes to make it to the States, though.”

  “Wait, what? Dragons are coming from other countries too?”

  “Oh yeah. I guess news about the baby has brought them all out of the woodwork. The oldest ones haven’t seen anything like this in centuries, and the young ones like Saul didn’t know it was possible.” Chloe wiped her clammy palms against her pants. Saul didn’t know about her deal with Watatsumi yet, and she dreaded telling him that the timetable had been moved.

  Please let everything go okay.

  In hopes of softening her mood with some light conversation, Chloe changed the subject and led the way to the stairs. “How do you like that dress Mahasti picked out for you?”

  Marcy scoffed. “It fits like I wished for it.” Marcy’s vintage-style cream sundress fit snugly at the torso, sporting a built-in corset that enhanced her already fantastic breasts.

  “It looks great on you.”

  As predicted, Teo barely acknowledged Marcy’s presence beyond a cordial greeting. Chloe frowned and allowed it to slide.

  “I need to speak to Saul for a moment, Teo. Alone. Think you can handle this, Marcy?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Marcy’s frown deepened. Chloe reassured her with a smile before moving off a ways with her husband and leading him to the kitchen.

  “Good hunt?” she asked, while guiding him to a seat at the cozy dinette table. She poured a glass of lemon water and pressed it into his hand. The pitcher and four glasses weren’t there a minute ago.

  “I’d forgotten how much I enjoy sporting with Teo,” Saul admitted. “He is an expert hunter.”

  A hilarious image surfaced in her thoughts. She pictured Saul and Teo, two enormous dragons, crouched down outside of the cow pasture and whispering in cartoon fashion. Two draconic Elmer Fudds. “It can’t be that hard to track your own livestock.”

  “We ventured off for wild game. Now, what did you wish to discuss away from our friends?”

  “It’s about my talk with Watatsumi…”

  “He said nothing of what you discussed beyond accepting my bid for the sword.”

  “Yeah. I asked him to let me give you the details.” Chloe sucked in a deep breath. “I asked him to use his clout with the Conclave to set up the fight. For tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? Chloe, have you lost all of your senses?” Saul shoved both hands through his tawny hair. “You are not prepared. You know nothing of wielding a sword.”

  “We spoke about it and according to your laws, I’m the one challenged so I get to set the date. Brigid knows that and I’ll just bet you she expects me to wait until the baby is born. And in the meantime, she’ll be here, living in our home, trying to make us miserable. Trying to…” She swallowed and forced herself to say the words despite the pressure it exerted on her heart. “Mate with you. I’m not going to let her spend even one day here.”

  “Chloe, no. I cannot be swayed and you have nothing to fear of me mating with Brigid,” Saul said.

  “I don’t have a choice, Saul! If I don’t fight, I’ll lose you to her.”

  “I’d rather die,” he hissed.

  “And I won’t let that happen. I won’t let my child grow up without knowing you, and I won’t let a flock of dragons dictate my life. I won’t! ” Chloe screamed. She swept the glasses from the table and rose from her seat as fragments scattered across the floor. “I won’t… I won’t let it end this way. As long as I succeed, we can stay together.”

  Saul left his chair to place his hands on her shoulders. “I cannot watch you die, Chloe. Please… don’t do this to me. Brigid is brutal, and I do not trust in the power of this sword. I would rather lose you and know you are well than watch you d-die.” A choked sound, suspiciously close to a sob came from Saul, shaking his muscular shoulders.

  Not once in all of their weeks together had Saul ever revealed so much emotion. Not when she rejected him in the cave, and certainly not when she returned. A surge of protective instinct prompted Chloe to hug her dragon tight. She kissed his cheek and smoothed her fingers through his golden strands. “I love you, and I’m not going to let anyone ruin our happiness. I’ll gut her before I let her take you away.”

  “Now you are sounding like a female dragon.”

  “I feel like one.”

  Saul slid his hand down her side to rest his palm over her stomach. “He gives you strength.”<
br />
  “What makes you think it’s a boy?”

  “Or she,” Saul amended.

  “Watatsumi says to trust in the sword and it will protect me. I have to place my faith in it, Saul. I have to. It’s the only way to keep you and our baby safe.”

  A flurry of angry Spanish echoed down the hall, interrupting whatever else Chloe had to say. She and Saul exchanged looks then hurried out the door.

  “You’re a pretentious asshole,” Marcy seethed from the main room. Her voice traveled despite the vast and open space between the entrance parlor and kitchen.

  Chloe sped up to a jog and hurried into the foyer where she found Marcy stalking to the door. “Wait, what? What happened?”

  “I’m going… fuck I don’t know, for a walk. To get away from your husband’s jerk friend.” Marcy stormed outside without another word.

  Chloe and Saul both whipped around to stare at Teo. Nothing about his behavior seemed to imply anything occurred in their absence. In fact, he had withdrawn a tablet-sized phone and appeared occupied with swiping across the screen. “Teo?” Chloe asked.

  “What?” he asked, looking up from the device.

  “What happened?”

  “I will go to soothe Marceline,” Saul volunteered.

  Teo’s green eyes flicked to Saul’s retreating shape, clear disbelief apparent on his chiseled, handsome features. “He goes to comfort a human?”

  Without hesitation, Chloe stalked up to him and put herself in Teo’s face. “What did you say to my best friend?”

  “I said very little.”

  A niggling feeling in Chloe’s belly told her that was the precise problem. However, Marcy wouldn’t have lost her cool so easily over a handsome man ignoring her.

  “What. Did. You. Say?”

  “I gave her honesty.”

  “Seriously? You couldn’t even be civil with her?”

  “Do you suggest that I acknowledge the ants on the pavement as well?” Teo asked.

  Chloe slapped him. “Marcy was wrong. You’re worse than a pretentious ass. You’re an insufferable, egotistical brute.”

  The red imprint of her hand glowed upon Teo’s cheek like a beacon.

  “I—”

  She cut him off before his defense began. “You are nothing like Saul. You’re not a quarter of the man or dragon that he is, and you should feel ashamed to bring your foul opinions to his home. To our home,” she corrected herself. “On your island, you may be the boss who makes all the rules, but you’re a guest in our house right now. That is my friend you chased off with your rude bullshit, and you will respect her while she’s here.”

  “Understood,” Teo gritted out. He strode the other direction, a man-child in a fantastic ivory suit, too spoiled to take responsibility for his abysmal manners and issue an apology.

  Without donning her shoes, Chloe stepped barefoot onto the porch to find Saul with his hand on Marcy’s shoulder. He offered her a handkerchief with the other. Their whispers didn’t extend to Chloe’s ears, despite her strained attempt to pick up more than a word resembling her name.

  “Is everything okay out here?”

  Marcy nodded wordlessly. Saul lowered his hand and exhaled a deep, rumbling sound, the noise more inhuman growl than anything.

  “I will have a talk with Teo,” Saul began.

  “I already did. It’s taken care of,” Chloe assured him.

  “I’m sorry for making a scene.”

  “Marcy. You didn’t make a scene. We’re not out in public and this is our house. Nothing harmed.”

  “It’s just… when he said I had no right to be here, I lost my shit. I was so awed that he was a dragon…”

  “You have every right to be here. Teo was beginning to grow on me, but he’s shown his true colors again.”

  Her proud friend sniffed and dabbed her eyes with Saul’s handkerchief. “Now I feel like a fool. Crying over a verbal altercation like I’m in high school again.”

  “What’d he get all high and mighty over?”

  “The silence felt awkward, so I tried to ask about his resort. I just thought… after this was all said and done maybe all of us could go away for a weekend. I wanted to surprise you. A honeymoon.”

  “Oh sweetie,” Chloe sighed. She threw her arms around Marcy and hugged her.

  “I asked how I could go about setting up a weekend getaway, and the jackass told me I could never afford it. I j-just wanted to surprise you.”

  Chloe squeezed her even more tightly. “Don’t listen to that jerk.”

  “I guess he just hit a raw nerve. Your stupid duel is tomorrow and I’m terrified it’s the last time I’ll ever…” Another ragged sob shook Marcy’s body. “When he told me I was useless, I was already feeling it. Then he demanded to know my purpose for being here, Chloe.”

  “You’re my best friend in the entire world, and I love you. That’s your purpose for being here.”

  The embrace ended after Marcy got ahold of her emotions and dried her face.

  “Come on. Leiv made a strawberry honey cheesecake just for us, and food makes everything better. Let’s demolish it together.”

  ***

  With each passing day, the supernatural melody had become more distinct to Chloe’s ears. The draconic obsession with gems and treasure never made sense until she spent a night sprawled atop her new bed, allowing it to lull her into peaceful dreams. For the first time since her pregnancy began, she began to sleep without fitful tossing and turning.

  But Saul wasn’t beside her and she longed to feel his arms around her. He had a house full of dragons, with one more to arrive during the long night. Mahasti and Leiv had agreed to greet each one personally, but her dragon remained on the main level to welcome his guests. Meanwhile, Chloe lay alone while Marcy snored in a guest room with the help of sleeping aids and Felix’s rumbling purr.

  Chloe pulled on her clothes and journeyed upstairs to find him. When she had retired for bed, Watatsumi, Teo, and Saul were alone. She now found the den occupied by three more unfamiliar faces: a fair blond man with a golden-red beard, a woman with skin the color of obsidian, and a wizened old man with a bald head who reminded Chloe of a Buddhist monk.

  “Hello… Am I interrupting?” She hesitated in the doorway, aware of their inquisitive expressions. The woman appraised Chloe from afar with coal-colored eyes. She wore a revealing, wrap-style dress with one bared shoulder, its caramel hue attractive against skin as dark as night. The close crop of her black hair suited her angular facial structure.

  “You have interrupted nothing, friend. Have we kept your mate from you for too long?” the unfamiliar woman said.

  “He’s taken so long to come down,” she admitted from the doorway, reluctant to enter and disrupt their pow wow.

  “I will be down shortly, my love.”

  “Will you not introduce us to your mate? After all, it is for her that we come to show our support,” the bald man rumbled.

  “Ah… so this is the young woman? I concur with Vasuki. Introduce us,” the blond man said as he rose from his seat. Of the three dragons, he was the only one to resemble Saul. They both had the same muscled frame, golden eyes, and proud stature.

  “As you wish.” Saul sighed. “Chloe, please enter. No one here will cause you any harm.”

  While she couldn’t process why, a strange sense of animal instinct had allowed Chloe to come to that conclusion on her own. When she moved to Saul’s side, he placed one arm around her shoulders and kissed her brow. His tender display brought an approving smile to the black woman’s face.

  “Friends of my mother and father have come to bear witness to tomorrow’s duel.”

  “More than me
re friends,” the blond grunted.

  Saul rolled his eyes. “You would call this one my uncle. Thor, allow me to introduce you to my mate, Chloe.”

  Fucking Thor? “Really?” Chloe blurted, staring after her inelegant query. “ Really? ”

  The two dragons exchanged a glance. No doubt Thor thought his nephew had mated to a dimwitted human. “I do not own a hammer, contrary to the myths and legends. I used my tail to bring the thunder.”

  Holy shit, it’s Thor. Chloe wanted to laugh hysterically in a corner, but instead, she stared at him until the next realization struck her. He was laughing, too.

  “Your feline has formed an attachment to me,” Thor said, with a nod of his head to Felix.

  “Felix, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with Marcy.”

  Felix arched his back and purred, rubbing his face against Thor’s jean-clad leg the whole while.

  “If you’re Thor, do I even want to know who the others are? Are there anymore dragon gods in the room right now?”

  “Chloe, meet Vasuki and Nefertiti. They are members of the Conclave who voted in our favor.”

  Chloe’s eyes widened. Teotihuacan and Watatsumi were prime examples of dragons inspiring certain myths and legend, but she never expected to meet Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile.

  “I am the only female dragon to oppose Brigid’s claim.” Nefertiti made a disgusted sound, its noise reminiscent of a hissing cat. “I see it for what it is — an inhumane act of greed. She has had many decades to accept Saul’s offer and I, for one, am pleased he has found you.”

  “I… thank you,” Chloe murmured in appreciation, awe and gratitude bringing heat to her cheeks.

  “May you fight with a true warrior’s spirit, Chloe,” Thor said.

  “Excuse me, maybe I’m being silly but… I thought… I expected everyone to be upset. You’re not upset about our child?” Saul’s worries had led her to believe she would be ostracized and loathed for carrying a half-breed.

  “No one can halt the winds of change indefinitely, young one. It was bound to happen eventually,” Vasuki said. “Many of us intermingle in human society, some more than others.” He shot Saul and Thor pointed glances.