Loved by the Dragon Collection Page 9

  “Yes. We are very close, she and I. The loss of her mate, my father, saddened her deeply.” Saul stepped in close behind her, hands at her waist.

  “I’m sorry,” Chloe murmured. She closed her eyes and leaned back against him to soak in his warmth. “Were you close to him?”

  “As close as a son may be to the one he aspires to follow. What of you?”

  “My dad and I are very close but I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like.”

  “Why?” Saul turned her to face him. His warm fingers stroked down her cheek to her chin, tipping her face upwards.

  “He lives in a small town. Job opportunities there were, well, scarce. So I moved to the city for school and took a job a few states away. I visit him as often as I can, but I think… he’d really approve of you.” Chloe blinked back a few tears and hastily raised her hand to sweep away the clear droplets that escaped. “Tell me about this place.”

  “My father carved this den long before the City of Angels claimed her place by the sea. A refuge for him and my mother.” He turned his bright golden eyes back to his new mate. “I hope to make it a home for you as well.”

  “It already feels like home.”

  She crossed the rocky chamber and raised her arms to curve around his neck. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, and his warm skin heated through the fine cotton layer of her tee.

  “I may go home in a few days…” Or a week, or a month, Chloe thought ruefully. “But I promise that I’ll return to you, Saul. I can’t make a commitment to move my entire life overnight. Do you understand?”

  But she could never walk away from him completely. She’d never forgive herself if she didn’t follow the possibility to its very end.

  “Your reluctance to remain disappoints me, but I understand and support your choice, my Chloe… If you will not stay, will you allow me to return with you?”

  Her throat tightened. “You’d come back home with me?”

  “Chloe.” He took her face between his hands, golden eyes bright. “Home is where you are.”

  As far as Chloe was concerned, no other option existed. Home and her dragon would become one and the same.

  Saved by the Dragon Bonus Chapter: Saul

  Chloe. My Chloe, the dragon thought as he gazed upon her perfect, sleeping face.

  She’d shivered more than once while lying beside him in his human guise, so the natural solution had been to provide her the heat and comfort she deserved.

  Saul had taken his natural shape and curled on the rough cave floor like a massive, fire-breathing feline, Chloe plucked from the blankets and settled in the dip of his immense body.

  He liked watching her. The peaceful breaths, the content expression. The joy thrumming from deep within her heart even as she slept.

  I have bonded with a mortal. My soul mate. My fated mate is human, he marveled. It had come so quickly that it was difficult to believe, but no less fulfilling.

  Destiny had brought them together after Brigid stood him up. The spoiled dragoness had unknowingly united him with the woman who made his draconian heart sing.

  Gently, Saul dipped his nose down to touch her cheek, still unable to believe she was real. There. His.

  Would Mahasti and Leiv, his dear friends and trusted servants, like having her for a mistress? Would she like them?

  He hoped so.

  She is truly beautiful inside and out, a jewel among mortals.

  As a nocturnal creature, Saul rarely slept at night. With nothing else to do but serve as her living mattress, he watched, he dreamed, and he hoped she would accept him.

  Hours later as the night approached dawn, she stirred and yawned into his tough skin. “Mm… Saul?”

  At last! She awakens. Excitement flooded his heart, the dragon eager to reveal his true form to her. He’d practically wanted to scream to her before their lovemaking that he would gladly be hers, and in the end, he hadn’t needed to. His dragon had acted for him and claimed her, impulsive and without warning. If Chloe felt even a fraction of the bliss he received from their union, all would be well.

  Saul had searched for centuries to find his other half, only to discover her in a dark little cave. He sighed, watched her, and waited as she aroused from sleep.

  “Saul?” she whispered again, blinking her eyes open.

  The moonlight left her nude body awash in pale light, turning her blonde hair to silver beneath the midnight sky. Hey blue eyes focused on his face and slowly widened. Where he expected and hoped to see adoration, he saw terror overtaking the initial disbelief. She screamed, darting off of his body, falling heavily onto one knee.

  “Saul?” Chloe called out. She froze, still as a statue. When he lowered his head to comfort her, she screamed again, nearly tumbling into their campfire remains… not that Saul would have let her come to any harm.

  He watched her slap one of her own cheeks. Startled, Saul took his human form and stepped toward her. “Chloe, be at ease.”

  “Stay the hell away from me!”

  “Chloe, wait—” Could it be a nightmare? Has she awakened from a terrible dream? He paused as she rushed from him and held his ground, preferring not to pursue a terrified woman. “What have I done to upset you?”

  “You stay back! I mean it!”

  “I… do not understand. You pledged yourself to me,” he said, maintaining an even tone. His topaz eyes held steady on her face. “You said you were mine.”

  “That’s crazy. That was talk in the moment. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  Crazy talk? The elation drained from Saul like a popped balloon. “I see.” He stepped away to offer the trembling woman more space, afraid she’d have a panic attack. Those were not unknown to him, having seen more than one human succumb to one — usually when seated in his office at Drakenstone Studios. “Have I done something to offend or harm you? Have I not treated you kindly?” he asked gently.

  “You’re not…” Breath shuddered from her lungs in uneven gasps. “You’re not human. You shouldn’t even exist.”

  “I see,” Saul repeated without hope, without truly seeing. Without looking at Chloe again, he climbed from the depths of the mountain and onto the cliff’s edge.

  I am unwanted. No woman, dragon or mortal, will ever want me.

  Saul didn’t think, he shifted and flew. Flew until the wind cut through his glorious golden mane and its whipping force distracted him from the heartache.

  What have I done to deserve such trials?

  Hours later, he touched down in the pasture outside his mountainside home, not a moment too soon, as the rising sun had transformed the predawn sky to glorious pink, orange, and aquamarine shades.

  A dragon would have stood out like a sore thumb gliding above California. Like most of his kin, he preferred to fly under the cover of darkness without the risk of being sighted by humans with good eyes.

  Saul made the shift to two legs before he reached the stoop of the exquisite, mountainside estate. Home. A home too large for a dragon and his two loyal servants. It was a home deserving of a family. He’d built it above his father’s old horde, younger and filled with idealistic beliefs about female dragons. One day, Brigid would accept his tributes and take him as her mate.

  “Welcome home.” Mahasti greeted Saul at the front door. As always, she remained oblivious to his lack of clothing, accustomed to Saul’s transformation between forms.

  Saul grunted in reply and moved past her into the house. The djinn followed, concern creasing her brow.

  “Your time did not go well? Did Brigid rebuff your offer yet again?”

  “Brigid once again deceived me and failed to appear,” he replied in a clipped tone.

 
Mahasti scoffed and swept her dark hair from her exotic features.

  “Do not say you told me so,” Saul groused.

  “I’d never dream it,” Mahasti said. Concerned blue topaz eyes gazed up at him. His immortal servant knew him well, able to read his moods whether they changed with the wind or became as stalwart as steel. “Brigid’s past transgressions have never affected you this deeply.”

  “I met a woman,” he admitted. Hiding secrets from a djinn rarely worked. “She tumbled, literally, into my path.”

  “Oh?”

  “I have no desire to speak on the matter with you.”

  “I see,” she murmured, hiding her hurt. Mahasti removed her hand from his shoulder and stepped away. “If you should you change your mind, you know how to find me.”

  He knew how to find his predictable genie. The mere thought of her name and a desire for her presence would summon her in an instant.

  For the first time in their many years of friendship, Saul was without the inclination to share his thoughts with her. Instead, he retreated to the comfort of his hoard. The transformation took him mid-stride, replacing his human physique with the impressive frame of a dragon. With his wings pressed against his body, Saul wriggled through the narrow channel and into the sweet spot at the rear of the enormous underground cavern.

  The horde was his shelter, a safe place filled with mementos from childhood, gifts from his mother and father, and jewels he’d acquired over his own long life. He half burrowed into the pile of gold coins and drowned his sorrows in the music emanating from each uncut gem.

  Jewels sang to dragons. Each stone had its own melody, its own unique tones, but nothing chimed more sweetly than the blissful harmonies of jade.

  Such irony that in his heartbreak, the symbol of his pain was the thing to bring him comfort. His pushed his snout free of the pile and opened his eyes, gazing across the room to the source.

  A wasted trade. It will never see use. Saul sighed and turned away from the ornately carved jade bed. He had negotiated for years to attain it, hoping to present it to his dragon mate.

  “Saul?” Leiv’s voice echoed through the cavern.

  Leiv was the only one who could possibly understand. For years, Saul had watched the werebear pine after Mahasti, a victim of unrequited love. Ever the good friend, Saul had attempted to encourage their relationship, but every nudge toward Leiv made her retreat further away.

  “May we talk?” the Russian werebear asked.

  “If you must.” Saul delved into his coin pile again, submerged to his nostrils. Inhaling the scent of precious metal soothed him.

  Leiv cleared a spot on the floor with his foot, moving the golden coins before he sat. “Mahasti worries for you, friend.”

  “I did not mean to hurt her feelings.”

  “She knows. Now tell me of what troubles you. Tell me what you could not speak to her.”

  Saul’s sides heaved as he huffed out a long sigh, twin tufts of smoke spiraling up from his nostrils. “I found my mate.”

  The news stunned his longtime friend, who was left speechless for several moments. Unrushed, Leiv gave the matter thorough consideration. It was one of the many traits Saul admired in the bear.

  “The discovery should bring joy. Why then does your heart weigh heavy with sorrow?”

  “She spurned me, Leiv. I claimed her as my own, laid my mark upon her, and she called me hers. Then she denied me.”

  Leiv didn’t offer pity or empty consolations. “Should I fetch the vodka?”

  Saul huffed, a small chuckle that was sorely needed. If only a strong drink could fill this hollow in my heart.

  ***

  Why am I here? Why maintain this charade, this lie, as if I could ever be accepted among them for who I am? Saul wondered. With a dour expression on his face, he watched the busy Los Angeles streets in the midst of lunch time traffic. He reclined in an overpriced executive chair, new leather cradling his body in ergonomic alignment.

  He hated it.

  Even the pile of manuscripts on his desk offered none of their usual amusement and distraction. He looked down at the one in his hands and resisted the urge to throw it in the face of the man seated across from him.

  Ove Ball wrote the most atrocious scripts in Hollywood, but Saul had discovered most to be jewels in the rough. Whenever the dragon chose to produce and film one of Ove’s movies, the contract always stipulated Drakenstone Studios held absolute authority to institute creative changes as needed.

  They were always needed.

  Saul tossed the script onto the desk and snorted. “Your script is shit,” he said bluntly.

  Ove’s smile faded gradually, wavering on the indecisive divide between disappearing or waiting for the punchline. “Shit? Saul, you have always liked my scripts.”

  “I would tell my assistant to use it as toilet paper, but no one’s ass deserves such drivel. Where is the second act?” Saul demanded.

  “What do you mean? It’s there, where the demon hunter frees the sacrificial maidens.”

  Even an idiot could guess the corny scene had been thrown in for the sole purpose of adding practically naked women.

  “That is not a second act. It’s gratuitous nudity for the sake of stripping our female lead. It’s trash, ” he growled. “Get this shit out of my office before I place it and you into the shredder.”

  “Mr. Drakenstone?”

  Saul snapped his attention to Harris, his personal assistant. The young man must have a drawer of prescription glasses each with a different frame to color coordinate with his outfits. The man had an impeccable style of dress, which he’d put to use many times by dressing Saul for last minute engagements.

  His red-trimmed eyeglasses matched the silk tie around his neck. “May we speak for a moment Mr. Drakenstone? Urgent business matters.”

  “What business?” Saul asked.

  “The kind we shouldn’t discuss in front of a visitor,” Harris said, gesturing to Ove.

  “He was leaving.” Saul paid Ove no further attention. The man spluttered in protest, but gathered up his papers and made a hasty exit.

  Harris shut the door behind the fleeing screenwriter then turned to face Saul. “The Saul Drakenstone I’ve always worked for is a hard-ass, not an asshole,” he said gently. “It’s obvious you returned from your vacation last week in a foul mood, sir. We’ve weathered the storm before, and we’ll do it again for you because your moments of temper are fleeting, but…” Harris paused. “This feels different. And I think you should take a hiatus until you recover from it.”

  “You are kicking me out of my own studio?”

  “Your privileges are revoked,” Harris confirmed with a mellow smile. “Go fly off to a beach somewhere and relax.”

  Harris was among a small handful of staff who knew Saul’s true identity. He’d come with high recommendations from a friend in Texas, already acquainted with working for shapeshifters due to the werewolf pack there.

  “This is what I do to relax. I read scripts. I make movies.” Saul gestured to the posters on the wall, most featuring scenes of epic sword and sorcery.

  “No. Currently, this is where you come to be a jerk because you’re not used to showing emotion,” Harris replied. “And this is where you terrify your staff because none of them are used to seeing this side of you.”

  “This side of me?”

  Harris chuckled. “The dragon side you always restrain to be polite. You’ve lost your filter.”

  Saul sighed. After he slumped in his seat with one hand against his brow, Harris brought a snifter of brandy to him and set it on the desk. “Draft an apology to Ove and tell him I will personally rewrite his script. I exaggerated.”
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  “There’s a good plot in there, buried under the crap,” Harris agreed.

  He saved Leiv the three hour drive to Los Angeles and called Mahasti instead. The djinn whisked him home in a puff of jasmine-scented smoke and deposited him in the estate’s lower level without a word.

  “Mahasti,” he spoke out loud to the still, too silent hoard.

  She materialized again but kept her distance, clearly miffed.

  “Forgive me for my abruptness with you, Mahasti. I was unkind.”

  Her features softened. “I am always here for you. Don’t forget that.”

  “You know my wishes,” Saul said in a quiet voice. “You know what my heart yearns for.”

  “I do, but I had hoped you would speak of it to me openly once you were ready.”

  Saul shrugged and glanced away. Neither his father or mother had raised a quitter, but the wound inflicted by Chloe’s refusal had marked him soul deep. He sighed. “What is there to be said? She denied me, and I have learned a valuable lesson about women.”

  “Why don’t you seek her out?” Mahasti asked. “Go to her and reaffirm your love. Show her she is yours and belongs to you.” A faint smile curved the capricious genie’s lips. “Or better yet, show your mate you belong to her .”

  “Her thoughts were very clear. I terrified her. I will not force my attentions upon an unwilling woman, nor will I traumatize her further.” The idea of hunting Chloe down by her name had tempted him, but ultimately he’d decided appearing uninvited on her doorstep was the fast track to potentially losing her forever.

  If he already hadn’t.

  “Then rest, my friend. Think on it for a time. Harris informed me your recent show of poor temper has earned you the nickname ‘Snapdragon’ from the senior staff.”

  Saul ducked his head, looking as contrite as a schoolboy. “You’re right.” He bit his lower lip. “A month or so, Mahasti.”

  “A month,” she promised. “I will not allow you to sleep into the next century. Too many of us would mourn your prolonged absence.” The woman smiled, bowed her head then vanished as silently as she had appeared.