Romancing the Recluse

by Michelle M. Pillow

  “No.”

  “What?” Viktor asked, his body tensing. “You think to stop me from being with my wife? It’s already done, Laurie. You can’t stop it. She is mine.”

  “You can’t take her back. Not now. She’s seen you shift. The girl is scared of reptiles, not to mention the fact that she just discovered the supernatural kind exists. You’ve been out of the game a long time, cousin. It’s not like before. Science has explained everything to them—often times wrongly—but it’s what they believe in. The old stories of our kind are just humorous myths and legends—nothing more. They’ve romanticized the past, changed it. We have been proven beyond a shadow of their doubt to be nothing more than fiction and lore. The world does not believe in dragons.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Viktor scoffed. “Everyone can’t have possibly forgotten us to such an extent. There have always been nonbelievers, but—”

  “It is what it is, old chap,” Laurence chuckled. “They even doubt those with simple psychic powers like telepathy and foresight. You not only became something she irrationally fears, but you’ve just proven that humans aren’t the only thing in the universe.”

  “Then what do I do?”

  “Keep her here with you. It’s your only chance. Woo her. Prove to her that you’re worthy of her. Make her love you. It’s the only way I can think of. If you bring her back, she’ll run. I know Sammy. She has the money and the resources to disappear. Plus, she’s got no one anymore. She has nothing to keep her in New York.”

  “I could find her. We’re mated now. I’ll always find her no matter where she goes.”

  “And she’ll always run. Is that what you want? To fight your way past some bodyguard to try to win her back? You want to chase her all over the globe, scaring the shit out of her, like some kind of psycho who can’t take no for an answer?”

  “But I’m her husband,” Viktor protested. Had life always been so complicated? He closed his eyes, thinking back. Yes. Yes, it had. It was one of the reasons he’d gone into hiding. He wanted the simplicity of being a dragon in a cave.

  I should’ve never left. I should’ve never found her.

  Opening his eyes, he looked at Samantha. He knew that wasn’t true. She was his everything. To go on without her would be to leave a part of his soul behind.

  “Husband or not, you’ll frighten her,” Laurence said.

  “Then you think I should keep her here? Won’t that make matters worse?”

  “Perhaps, but what is done is done.” His cousin sighed and picked up a stone. Absently tossing it across the cave floor so it skipped over the rock in hard clanks, he sighed again. “Just make her love you, Viktor. Show her that there is more to us dragons than fire and smoke and a scaly visage. Just make her fall in love with you.”

  Viktor couldn’t move. That was easier said than done. He couldn’t force Samantha to love him. He couldn’t force her to do anything. “I shouldn’t have brought her here. I pushed too hard. She had every right to think I was crazy.”

  “Going for what we want is what makes us dragons, cousin. She’ll see that in time. But for now I recommend we find her better quarters. I saw you still have all your old furniture in storage.”

  “Yes,” Viktor said, nodding. “I do.”

  “Well, then, let’s go make this wife of yours a proper home.”

  Chapter 13

  Samantha didn’t move as she pretended to sleep, listening all around her. The only sound she could detect was a fire burning. Peeking through a partially opened eyelid, she barely moved as she tried to get her bearings. A giant wooden framed portrait of Viktor faced her, glowing orange in the flames. It was propped up against the smooth cave wall. His clothes were a lot older in style, but the “lord of the manor” attire suited him somehow. Wood popped, startling her into sitting up as she thought of Viktor spouting flames over her head in his dragon form.

  Her gaze fell onto flames in a rough fire pit carved from stone in the middle of the room, as if a giant fist had just slammed a hole into the cave floor, leaving it cracked and dented. Long stalactites hung from the ceiling surrounded by thin straw-like formations. The firelight sparkled off them like fiery diamonds, adding more light to the place. Old Victorian style furniture was fitted about the cavern, including the bed on which she now sat. The bed was huge, too big to have been easily brought to such a place.

  At least by a man. Samantha shivered.

  It was an odd contrast to see such elegant beauty amongst the rocks. An Oriental rug covered the stone floor and more paintings were propped up along a ridged rock formation. Though the objects were stunning, the cave was far from homey and inviting.

  A shadow in the corner formed the outline of what could only be an exit. Dare she take it? She didn’t even know where she was or what Viktor wanted with her.

  Soft linen caressed her and she discovered that she wore an old-fashioned nightdress. It was oddly conservative with its high collar and long sleeves. Had Viktor dressed her in it? Where did the antique garment come from?

  The gown gave her body no definition. Lace ruffles decorated the front, straight bodice. Even so, she was naked underneath it and the feel of the material was seductive in its enveloping softness.

  “For nearly a hundred years I have lived within these walls,” said Viktor.

  Samantha gasped, turning to see him sitting calmly in a chair. He was so quiet, she hadn’t noticed him in the darkened corner until he spoke. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Dark eyes, lit by orange flames, bored into her. She felt his look like a caress over her entire form.

  “I shouldn’t have brought you here, not like this. I wish that I could take it back.” Viktor didn’t move. His wrist rested along his knee, drawing her eyes down to where his cock was hidden by darkness. “I apologize, Samantha.”

  How can I think of sex at a time like this?

  How can I think of anything else when looking at him? He’s absolutely gorgeous.

  Ugh.

  Samantha bit her lip. She tried to be discreet as she glanced at the door. Viktor chuckled softly, proving he saw the action.

  “You’re free to leave,” he said. “I won’t force you to stay.”

  “Really?” Samantha asked in surprise. She slowly edged to the end of the bed, keeping an eye on him. He didn’t move. She felt more than saw his piercing gaze on her, begging her not to go. Her nipples tingled in instant response. Her pussy became moist and hot. Viktor let loose a low moan, as if he could detect her longing even from a distance. Her feet hit the cool floor and she instantly made a run for the exit.

  “Though I will ask you to stay with me. Please, Samantha,” he said. “Besides, you might get lost within the cave systems or the Norwegian wilderness beyond.”

  She stopped in disbelief, halfway across the cave to the entrance. “Norway? Did you just say that we’re in Norway?”

  She didn’t have a passport, didn’t speak the local language and she sure as heck didn’t have access to her bank accounts without identification of some sort. How was she supposed to get home if he didn’t help her?

  When she turned to glare at him, he shrugged and confirmed. “Yes, Norway.”

  “You kidnapped me and brought me to Norway? Are you crazy?” she yelled, charging to confront him. Viktor didn’t move, only smirked, arching a brow. Stopping short of tumbling onto his lap, she growled in frustration. “Viktor, I demand that you take me home at once. This is not acceptable. You can’t go around kidnapping people just because you lose your temper.”

  “You are home, at least for now. Can’t you think of it as our honeymoon?” His smooth accent begged her to give into him, just as the look of his body seemed to call to hers with a wanton hunger. “Besides, it’s not like you have a prior engagement.”

  “Don’t…” Samantha tried to keep her stern look, but Viktor’s expression made a small smile crack on her features. She quickly hid it. “You just said I was free to leave.”

  “You are.”


  “But then you said this was my home for now. So which is it? Am I free or am I a prisoner?”

  “You’re free.”

  “You say that, but you know very well I can’t go anywhere, don’t you? Even if I make the hike in the wilderness all I have is this nightdress. I don’t have money, I don’t have a passport and I don’t have a clue how many people in Norway speak English.” She took a deep breath.

  “Yes, there is that, isn’t there?” His look was a little too smug for her liking and he was staring at her breasts, as if he wasn’t even paying attention to her.

  “Let me make something perfectly clear. We are not married. We had sex. That’s it. There’s a long way to go between the bedroom and the altar and trust me, that’s one path we haven’t walked.”

  “According to my people, we are married. You’re my mate. Though if you wish for a church wedding, I am more than willing to seal our bond in such a way as well. I would be happy to marry you, Samantha.”

  There was no getting through to the man. The words were so possessive, so final, that she was hard-pressed to believe them, illogical as they were. She kept her resolve strong.

  “Ah, according to your people,” she said in continued disbelief.

  “Yes. The Dracodomus.”

  “Ah, the Dracodomus,” she repeated, throwing her hands up as she turned away from him. There was obviously no arguing with the man. Did he have to be so bullheaded?

  “It means dragon family in Latin. From the beginning it has been the name of my kind and eventually it was adopted by my ancestors to be my family’s surname. I was born Viktor of the Dracodomus, which eventually was shortened to Viktor Dracodomus.”

  “Your family,” she said, nodding. Sarcastically, she mumbled, “Sure, why wouldn’t there be more of you running around. It only makes sense. I mean, dragon men spouting fire and marrying women with sex. Sure. Why not? You’re probably in every town.”

  “Actually, there aren’t too many of us around these days. But in the Middle Ages, when my brother Zarek and I were a lot younger we—”

  “Ah, the Middle Ages.” Samantha was sure she was going crazy now. Some doctors probably had her locked up in a mental ward.

  Time to up my medications, doc. She glanced over her shoulder at Viktor. He was leaning forward, his elbows braced on his knees. Better make it fast. I really am losing it here.

  “Yes,” he paused, his brow furrowed in confusion. “Ah, I see. Perhaps you call it the Medieval period now?”

  “You were alive in the Medieval period.” Samantha merely nodded. Go with it, Samantha, just go with it.

  “Yes. As I was saying, in the Medieval period when my brother Zarek and I were younger, there were many of us. Laurence was with us—”

  “Fredrick?” she squeaked.

  Fredrick was a dragon too?

  “No, I mean, I kiss—” Samantha bit her lip, cut off by his possessively hard look. He clearly didn’t like her mentioning kissing Fredrick. Slowly, she rephrased, “I’ve known Fredrick for a long time. He’s not… I mean, he can’t be. Really? Fredrick?”

  “Yes, Fredrick,” he stated.

  “Huh,” Samantha mumbled, stunned by that news.

  “As I was saying, dragon slayers and knights out to earn their reputations killed most of us off. After that, we didn’t really see the reason to repopulate our species. Why have children only to see them killed? We knew if we waited long enough, times would change as they always do and there would be a better time to reproduce—a safer time.”

  Repopulate? Reproduce? As in have little dragon babies?

  Good thing I’m crazy, or I’d be freaking out about now.

  “Hu-uh,” Samantha gave a nervous laugh.

  Okay, crazy or not, I am a little freaked out right now. Doc? Um, doc? We got an ETA on those meds? I need them STAT.

  Viktor studied her for a long moment before giving her a small smile. His eyes moved over her, pausing at her flat stomach. She automatically crossed her arms in front of her, as if by doing so she could stop his train of thought. It was clear he wanted her to have his children. The idea of baby reptiles swimming around in her womb was more than a little unnerving. Samantha refused to think of the possibility that she already had Viktor’s child growing inside her. Surely the fates weren’t that mean. They’d only had sex one time without protection.

  One time is all it takes.

  Shut up, brain.

  “And why now?” she asked, glancing around the cave for an end to the nightmare. After living in New York, the silence was eerie, adding to her apprehension. “Why have reptile…er…babies now?”

  “My six-hundredth birthday is fast approaching. It was time for me to find my mate or risk becoming sterile. Only mated will I keep my, ah, masculine vigor for procreation.”

  “Uh-huh,” Samantha answered automatically. Was the fire just coming from the light? Or was there a way out she was missing? “Yep. Masculine vigor. Got it.”

  “I dreamt of you, Samantha. Well, of going to the castle in the New World.”

  “New World,” she repeated, still looking around. Anything was better than staring into his dark eyes as she listened to the hypnotic tones of his seductive voice.

  “Or, rather, the United States as you call it nowadays. It was at this castle that I knew I would meet you. So I went and I waited for you to come to me. Then, as I slept, you kissed me and I knew then that you were the woman meant to be my mate.”

  Samantha laughed, though she knew the sound was far from humored. “Okay, okay, enough. For the very last time, I was not kissing you. I was giving you CPR. C-P-R. I thought you were dying. You weren’t breathing. I touched your chest and there was barely a heartbeat. So I—”

  “I slow my heartbeat to sleep. It saves energy.”

  Pretending like he didn’t interrupt, she finished, “…was trying to save your life. I was not kissing you.”

  His smile only grew and she knew he was remembering the museum and later at her apartment. The need to go to him warred with the logic in her head. Desire rippled through her body, flooding her senses. The memory of his first kiss, the taste of it, the feel of his mouth blending with the caress of his hands along her flesh.

  She closed her eyes. “But then I was kissing you. I couldn’t stop or think. You did something to me. I-I…”

  “You were meant for me,” he finished. “You’re my mate for all eternity.”

  “No, there was something to your taste. It was,” Samantha took a deep breath, trying to concentrate past the feelings erupting beneath her flesh. “…drugging.”

  “What you tasted was my risbrosius. It’s used to enhance your pleasure, not to drug. It’s a natural secretion of my kind.”

  Viktor had drawn closer and she didn’t move as his hand ran down her arm. She shivered and for a moment, the nightmare wasn’t so bad. For a moment, she could see a future living in the cave, a future as the wife of…

  Of what? A dragon?

  Samantha jerked away from him, only to glare. “If this isn’t a delusional dream and you are what you say you are and we are,” she motioned around the cave, “where you say we are then I will only tell you this once. I am not your mate for all eternity and I will never be your mate. Take me home.”

  His expression hardened. “I told you this cannot be undone. You took my seed inside of you. You accepted what I offered.”

  “I accepted sex,” she stated flatly. “I accepted your cock in my cunt. That is all.”

  “You accepted me. There is more between us than fucking.” A low growl erupted in the back of his throat as he pulled her roughly into his embrace. His lips crushed onto her, his tongue delving deep to explore the caverns of her mouth. The taste of his euphoric risbrosius flooded her mouth, driving her instantly wild. If she’d wanted to, she could’ve found the will to pull away. But why? When being with Viktor felt so right and good?

  Samantha clawed at his dark shirt, desperate to free him from the tight material. She beca
me very aware of where his body touched hers. His hard cock pressed firmly to her stomach, rubbing up and down as he rocked his hips in a natural rhythm. After she removed his shirt, she began work on his slacks, finding it hard in her desperation to get them off.

  Low, primal noise came from the back of his throat and Samantha moaned, panting against his mouth as he pulled back to let her breathe. Very deliberately, he pulled her nightdress up but not off. Taking a step and then another, he walked her back toward the bed. The back of her legs hit the bed. His eyes stared deep into hers, piercing her with their fiery intensity. She was drawn to him.

  Running her hands over his chest, she slowly urged him to turn around. Samantha pushed him on his back. Instantly, he crawled backwards until he was lying down. She smiled, grabbing the hem of his slacks and giving them a hard pull. He transferred his weight, helping her undress him.

  With his glorious body sprawled out before her, Samantha forgot all about his tendency to shift. Now he looked like all man. Slowly, she scraped her fingernails up over his ankles and calves, watching his erection bob as his stomach tensed. His balls tightened, drawing up as he held his breath. Samantha’s mouth watered as she stared at his arousal. His kiss had been so sweet, but what would the rest of him taste like?

  The thought urged her on. Pulling at her nightgown, she tossed it aside, liking the freedom of being naked. There was no embarrassment when Viktor looked at her, just desire. She crawled up over him, gliding her hands over his legs to his waist. Straddling his legs, she teased him with her fingers, brushing back his hands when he would touch her.

  Samantha took control. She explored his tight waist and hips, touching everywhere but his glorious member. Viktor moaned and his cock only seemed to get bigger with each teasing pass of her hands.

  “Samantha, please,” he begged. “I can’t hold back. I… Ah, yes…”

  She licked the tip of his cock, swirling her tongue along the ridge before sucking it between her teeth. His breath hitched and she slowly drew her mouth forward, taking him deeper. Gently, she began to suck him, using her hands to cup his balls and stroke the extra length she couldn’t fit comfortably into her mouth. Viktor arched his hips off the bed, pushing his turgid shaft deeper into her mouth until he hit the back of her throat. Samantha gasped in surprise but didn’t stop sucking. Rolling her tongue, she bobbed her head up and down.