Loved by the Dragon Collection Page 26

  Saul’s uncle clapped Vasuki on the shoulder. “Sitting in mountain temples may be fun for you, my friend, but not for all of us.”

  “Go with her, Saul. We are not children to be entertained,” Nefertiti encouraged. “You have fulfilled your duty as host for the evening.”

  “It was nice meeting you all. Thank you for coming out in support.” Maybe this will all go well after all…

  They bid their guests goodnight and left them to the comforts of the library. As diverse as dragons were, they all appeared to share a common love for books and learning. Saul’s vast collection would keep them entertained.

  Chloe laced their fingers together as they descended the wide stairway into the lower level. Felix didn’t follow, too intrigued by his new friend to follow Mommy to bed.

  “Are they what you expected?” Saul lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

  “No. Yes. I dunno.” Chloe blew out a breath and laughed at herself. “They seem so nice for dragons. After listening to you and Teo, I thought all female dragons were bitches like Brigid.”

  “Most are quite cruel,” he agreed, confirming her original thoughts. “Nefertiti and my mother are special exceptions to what is typical of dragons. Females among the earth and storm dragons are a rarity, but they are known for their compassion toward humankind. Teo has pursued Nefertiti for quite some time, but…”

  “She won’t have him?” Chloe snorted. “Can’t blame her with that attitude of his.” Subservient woman my ass.

  “He is many centuries her junior and a cub by comparison.”

  “And also a pig,” Chloe pointed out.

  “That as well.”

  Once they reached the lair, Saul shut the doors behind them and led Chloe to the rumpled bed. He straightened up the sheets from her tossing and turning, then turned to face her with a smile.

  “My apologies, Chloe. I did not realize the hour or that you would remain awake for me.”

  “It’s fine. I’m glad I came to find you, or I wouldn’t have met those three.”

  Chloe unbuttoned Saul’s shirt and smoothed it back from his shoulders. Whether it was the influence of his friend Teo, or the arrival of so many other dragons, he had dressed business casual and foregone the usual laidback ‘jeans and nothing else’ look. She unfastened his slacks and pushed them below his hips, delighted to find he wore nothing beneath them.

  “Now it is your turn,” Saul announced. He took joy in tugging her robe sash until the multilayered silk garment fell open.

  “I traded Watatsumi the sword for this bed,” Saul confessed as he stroked his fingers through her hair. “Jade has the sweetest notes and is prized among my kind as being the finest stone for breeding females. I thought it would encourage Brigid to accept me. To move into my home and begin our life together.”

  From another man, in another relationship, Chloe would have taken offense at receiving a gift intended for another woman but she had claimed it without asking his permission and made it hers. “Do you regret doing it? You know… for her?”

  “I’m glad you are the one using it, Chloe. I never offered the bed to Brigid. It had been my intention to do so, but she flaunted her dalliance in my face and I shut myself away.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “No, I do not. How can I when the jade’s song is what led us to the truth? Seeing you here, I feel as if this bed was always meant for you. For us.”

  Saul guided Chloe to the bed to lay her amidst the soft cushions, and with only tender kisses and his fingertips, he traced over every inch of her body.

  “Saul?” she whispered up to him. His mouth closed around her tightly budded nipple.

  “Shh… I wish to make love to you.”

  Gone was the dragon who took her with one powerful stroke after the next, mounting her in a dark cave on the night of their first meeting. Saul revealed a new side to himself that she never experienced. A gentle side of a sweet man who took his time, unrushed and unhurried through their lovemaking.

  “No matter what happens tomorrow, you will always be my Chloe.”

  “And you will always be my dragon. My Saul.”

  With the jade’s song gently whispering in her ears, Chloe later drifted to sleep with her head against Saul’s chest, pale blonde hair fanned over his chiseled muscles. It was the perfect end to what may be their final night together.

  Chapter 14

  “They’re all dragons?” Marcy stared out from the balcony, standing with her arms wrapped around her middle. “Wow.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Chloe gazed down at the assembled guests, over a dozen dragons and their retainers waiting for the main event. They came from all over the world and represented only a fraction of the dragon population. “At least they’re all in human form.”

  “For now. Pretty soon you’re going to have a pasture full of fire-breathing dragons.”

  “Nah, some of them blow acid or ice and stuff.”

  Marcy gaped. “How are you so calm about this?”

  “Because if I think about how scared I am, I’m afraid I’ll run away pissing my pants.”

  “Oh, Chloe…” Marcy pulled her in close and hugged her tight. “I’m here with you, no matter what.”

  “Stay with Mahasti, all right? If anything happens…” Chloe swallowed back a sob. “She’ll make sure you get home safe, okay? Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  “Your friend will not come to harm.” Watatsumi and Teo entered the room behind the girls. “As Saul’s supporters, she will have our protection as well,” the tidal dragon assured her.

  Teo didn’t add a verbal agreement, allowing his presence to speak for him. At least, Chloe hoped he remained supportive and wouldn’t let her friend suffer a squishy fate under an angry dragon.

  “Go ahead,” Marcy said. She put on her brave face and smiled for Chloe’s benefit. “I’ll be fine with my own personal bodyguards. You go and kick that bitch’s ass.”

  “You bet.”

  I’m going to see her again. We’re going to share virgin daiquiris at the pool tomorrow and laugh about this.

  Chloe dried her tear-streaked face as she left Marcy behind on the balcony in safety. Saul escorted her the rest of the way with their hands clasped and fingers entwined.

  “It is not too late to back out,” he whispered to her.

  “And let her claim the victory? No way. We’re ending this now.”

  Saul and Nefertiti helped her dress for the face-off. She clutched Ascalon in her hands while she focused on every tiny bit of knowledge the two dragons imparted to her about fighting their kind.

  “Do you remember when I fought Brigid on the lawn? Her stance lowers whenever she plans to exhale her fire. Remember that, Chloe.”

  “Lowers her stance before breathing fire. Got it.” Chloe nodded. “So, how do I look?”

  “You wear the armor well,” Nefertiti complimented, pleased with the finished result.

  “I feel like Xena… or a sexy cosplayer,” Chloe muttered. She twisted to have a better look in the mirror. Light chainmail seemed inadequate against dragon claws, but the leather molded against her curves and clung in all the right places. She bent her arms and knees to test the resistance against her joints, only to discover the pliable material didn’t restrict her movement. “What is this?”

  “Scalewing skin. Thor brought this for you as a gift,” Saul replied.

  According to the history lesson she received from Saul once, scalewings were also known as wyverns, and were mutually hated by all dragonkind. Chloe shuddered. It didn’t surprise her that she would be sent into battle wearing the flesh of their enemies.

  Mahasti appea
red in a hazy mist to interrupt her worried ruminations. “Brigid awaits you,” she reported. “Saul, I’m sorry, but I am to bring you immediately to the elders in the circle.”

  “I will… we will see one another again soon, Chloe.”

  “I know.”

  Before he left, Chloe yielded to impulse and tangled her fingers in his golden hair. She kissed him hard with all of the passion she had in her soul, and when he walked away, she forced back the stinging tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

  She had to be strong.

  The rest of the preparation passed like a dream. She was led from the house to the rear pastures where Leiv had cleared the livestock to another field. Their battleground, as large as a football field, had a line of spectators on each side. Ancient wyrms, alive at the start of the millennia, glowered from where they waited to watch Chloe become a charcoal briquette.

  “Breathe, Chloe,” Mahasti told her.

  “I am breathing,” she whispered. “Don’t forget your promise.”

  Mahasti’s serene smile reassured Chloe. They hugged, then the djinn moved off the battlefield to stand between Saul and Leiv.

  A dragon in ornate white robes strode onto the field with Brigid not far behind. The dragoness moved to the opposing side of their designated battleground to stare her enemy down. Chloe shivered, chilled by the hateful vehemence in Brigid’s stare.

  “In accordance with tradition, Brigid of Éire has issued challenge to the human Chloe Ellis. The fight shall commence and continue until one female lies dead. The victor shall be afforded all mating privileges as dictated by law without reprisal. All here will bear witness.”

  Frowning faces glowered from the edge of the field, but one stood out among the others. The stark resemblance between Brigid and her father was undeniable. Her masculine, red-haired duplicate watched from the sidelines as a dispassionate, silent observer to the event.

  If Saul was anything, he was predictable. Without warning, he lurched forward, elongating and expanding exponentially with each second. Ripping cloth revealed his muscular upper back as bronze dragon skin spread where human flesh belonged. His teeth gleamed beneath the sun and opened to release a ferocious snarl.

  “Now, Mahasti!” Chloe screamed.

  The genie and bronze dragon vanished before the change completed, effectively ruining his plan of self-sacrifice. In the end, Saul’s honor wouldn’t allow his wife to face Brigid, although the consequences of his gallant act would have forfeited his life. He would have slain Brigid and accepted his execution from the elders.

  A low murmur of discontent traveled down both sides of the field from supportive acquaintances of either lady. Saul’s uncle smirked.

  “Well then. As there are no further interruptions…” The official seemed to glide from the field.

  Prior to the preparations, Thor and Nefertiti gave Chloe a crash course in draconic manners and law. Honor was everything to them, at least when there were witnesses to their actions.

  She turned her back to Brigid, despite her senses screaming for her to keep the predator in her field of vision, and strode ten useless paces away from her opponent. It did little good. While the monstrous dragon had taken ten steps of her own, not even a vast ocean would have provided the safety Chloe needed.

  A thunderbolt split the sky to signal the start of the fight. Chloe whirled on her heels in the nick of time as Brigid bounded toward her with jaws open wide. Screaming wasn’t an option. It was too late to cry and plead, and she couldn’t depend on Saul to be her savior this time. Instead, Chloe had to rescue both of them.

  The sword whistled through the air and proved Watatsumi right. It became an extension of her arm, exhibiting prowess Chloe didn’t possess prior to taking it in hand. With its guidance, courage flooded through her, creating an unnatural sense of confidence.

  She didn’t need muscle to block Brigid’s attacks. The sword did all of the work for her with a blade fine as a scalpel’s edge, too sharp for Brigid to tolerate its touch. The edge parted her durable dragon hide and flayed open her snout. The backstroke cleaved across Brigid’s descending claw. It laid open the skin to the bone.

  Brigid screamed, and it became apparent she’d underestimated her opponent. Within seconds, the blood glistening over the silver blade evaporated, the metal too thirsty for dragon’s blood to tolerate the presence. Chloe had no time to admire or marvel over the magical act — it prompted her to jab forward, but it missed the mark when Brigid scurried away at a limp. It wouldn’t be so easy to strike her again now that she’d felt Ascalon’s bite.

  Left, right, forward and back — Chloe’s rising sword clanged against Brigid’s claw. Pieces of talon flew like wood chips in a mulcher, shattered by the enchanted weapon that had become Chloe’s defender. The dragoness snarled and lunged forward for a bite, and had Chloe not jabbed out with the sword and pierced the beast’s nose again, Brigid would have made quick work of her.

  No time to think. Just move. Just move. Chloe spun and evaded every strike Brigid threw her way, using battle reflexes she’d never realized she possessed. The dragon hissed her frustration and snaked around her human prey for a rear assault. According to the rules set by the elders, flight was the one advantage Brigid had been denied. That small favor was the only reason Chloe wasn’t already a smear on the ground.

  Tired of playing cat and mouse keep-away, Brigid swapped her tactics. She kept back out of the sword’s range, braced her legs, and lowered her body.

  Shit, shit, shit!

  A blazing inferno rushed at Chloe, faster than she expected. There was no time to dodge. No time to duck and roll. She trusted instead in instinct and raised Ascalon before her like a shield. It sliced through the fire and parted it to either side of her body, creating two blazing jets that scorched the earth around her. Her skin tightened within seconds. Ascalon may have protected her from the fire, but it couldn’t save her indefinitely from the heat.

  I need to do something. I can’t just stand here until she’s out of juice. What do I do!? she panicked.

  Someone sane of mind would have fled from the fire, but Chloe did the opposite. She charged into its source.

  Flames hurdled past her in an unrelenting stream but Chloe pressed onward. She broke through the wall of oppressive heat and came up beneath Brigid’s chin. The dragon’s ruby eyes widened.

  “No!” Brigid screamed as she scrambled back.

  Chloe lacked any desire to show mercy to her opponent. She swung upward with all of her strength, and when she connected, the miraculous blow slid neatly through Brigid’s throat. A hot knife through butter wouldn’t have been as efficient as Ascalon. At the completion of her stroke, Brigid’s head tumbled through the air and struck the ground, creating a fountain arc of blood.

  Absolute silence reigned over the pasture. Stunned faces, human and draconic, stared out at the limp corpse.

  “Fuck yeah!”

  Marcy’s outburst broke the oppressive lull. Thor joined her cheers next, followed by the rest of the ancient beings in her spectating section. Solemn faces in varying stages of grief and disbelief watched from the other side.

  I can’t believe it. I did it. I did it. She repeated the victorious mantra in her head a dozen times over, unable to move and unable to accept that it was safe to sheathe the bloodstained weapon in her hand.

  Mahasti and Saul appeared again. Chloe’s struggling husband broke free from his genie friend’s embrace to tear down the field.

  “Chloe!”

  Ascalon dropped to the blackened earth as Chloe stumbled into his arms and sobbed tears of happiness, overcome with immense relief that their ordeal had ended. The nightmare was over.

  I killed a dragon.

  She wept into Saul’s throat and
hugged him tight. “We did it!”

  “No, Chloe. No. You did it. I should have never doubted you. Not once.” As she raised her palm to his damp cheek, Saul gazed down at her and smiled. “Now you are truly Chloe Drakenstone.” And in the eyes of his prestigious Conclave, no one could ever threaten to take that away from her again.

  Once, many months ago, Chloe Drakenstone was saved by a dragon. Their story ended with her rescuing him.

  The End

  Mated by the Dragon Bonus Chapter: Saul

  “Take me back now,” Saul demanded in a growl.

  He and the djinn stood atop a mountain peak in his father’s native Iceland. Waves from a cool waterfall crashed to the world below them, sending a refreshing mist drifting heavenward.

  Saul had never liked Iceland. He hated it more when his presence on the island placed over 4,000 miles between him and his family. It would take him days to fly it, and his Chloe had only minutes. Seconds.

  “No,” Mahasti said quietly.

  “Return me at once!” Saul’s baritone boomed across the wide open space.

  Raising her chin in defiance, Mahasti stood her ground as Saul threw the draconian variant of a child’s tantrum. He screamed, raged, thrashed his tail and roared fire, but she waited until at last, he collapsed to the smoldering ground.

  “Why… why would you do this to me?” Not his Chloe. Not his child.

  “Chloe would not want this. Do you not understand her love for you is equal? Do you believe for a moment she has any desire to see you torn apart by the Conclave for your insolence?”

  “I—”

  “Do you?” Mahasti pressed without sympathy.

  “I don’t care,” Saul said hotly.

  “You should. It would kill her to have you ripped away. You men are always willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, but unable to see it done for you in return.” Mahasti’s features softened, then one small hand came to touch his snout. “I promised her, Saul. Here is where we will wait.”