by Romi Hart
Shaking his head, Tieris sighed deeply. “They are looking at you because you have a true beauty that is without equal. So, they like to look at that beauty.”
“No.” He had to be wrong. “I’m nothing special. I don’t really understand why you think I am. But I’m not. I know that I am plain in the face. I do have a mirror that I look into many times each day. And I am fat. No matter how you want to sugar coat that. I. Am. Fat.”
“Ah, but to me, you are nothing of the sort.” Dipping his head to the right once more, gesturing to the men who still glanced me way now and then, he went on, “And those men agree with me.”
I had medical proof that I was considered overweight. “One year ago, I went to the doctor and he told me that my height is one hundred, sixty-five centimeters. And for a female with that height, I should weigh around fifty-seven kilograms. Which I do not. I weigh more than that. I weigh around eighty-one kilograms. So, do you still want to tell me that I am not fat? Because a doctor has told me that I need to lose weight as I am unhealthy at this point.”
Getting up, he came around behind me, pulling my chair back smoothly and easily. “Do you feel unhealthy?”
“Not really.”
He pulled me to stand up, then ran his arms around my waist as we faced each other. “Did you have trouble moving around last night while we were having fun?”
“Not in the least.” I liked the way it felt as he held me that way, leaning down only a bit to look into my eyes.
“So you feel healthy and you have no trouble getting around and nothing is getting in your way of having a good time. I don’t see a problem. Do you?” His lips met mine for only a moment. But in that moment, with that tiny kiss, my knees went weak and my heart sped up.
How does he make me feel so wonderful?
15
Tieris
When we got back to Linda’s apartment, I found it was time to face her roommate, Flora. I hadn’t used any of my mind tricks on Linda, as there was no need to. But Flora and I had no connection, no reason for her to want to believe me. So, I had to stoop to a lower level to throw her off my trail.
Standing there in the middle of the living with her hands on her hips, Flora glared at me. “I know you aren’t human. I don’t care what you look like. I know what I saw. You can’t convince me otherwise the way you’ve done to Linda.”
Looking into her brown eyes, I looked past them, right into her brain – so to speak. I didn’t have x-ray vision, so actually looking into her brain wasn’t a thing I could do. But I could visualize doing that and that was all I had to do. “Flora, we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.” I’d used the word, foot, on purpose. It was all to make her visualize what she’d seen in a different way. “As a human, you should know that we humans don’t always see things correctly.” I pointed at the curtain over the set of two windows near the front door. “That curtain is pink.”
“Yes, pink,” she agreed. “Not red. Your feet were red and there were shiny large scales on them.” With a huff, the threw her hands in the air as she looked at Linda. “You aren’t falling for his crap, are you? We both saw his freaked-out feet.”
“Just listen to him, Flora. The curtains are pink, and pink is a shade of red.” Linda stood at my side and when she placed her hand on my back, it made me feel wonderful inside.
She believes in me!
Even though I wasn’t telling the truth, it felt awesome that the woman I’d scented, mated, and most likely impregnated with an impressive brood of offspring did believe in me. “Thank you, my sweet.” I kissed the top of her head as I ran my arm around her waist, holding her close to my side. It already felt as if we were one in the same. “So, the curtain is pink, like I said.”
One eyebrow raised in vagrant disbelief as Flora insisted on making things hard. “That doesn’t explain the shiny scales.”
“Well, something that you don’t know about me is that I do have dry skin.” I brought out only a tiny portion of my dragon as I pulled off my shoe and sock to reveal scaly skin. Although not red in color, it was the same color as my tanned flesh. “See. I suppose the early morning light came through the curtain and made it look as if my skin was red.”
Shaking her head, Flora was still not convinced. “But it went away.”
“Either I moved, or the sun did and that took the red spotlight off my feet, making it appear that the scales had gone away when they actually hadn’t.” I had made my case and from the smile on Linda’s face, I knew I had her confidence now – even if I didn’t have Flora’s.
Placing her hand on my chest, she leaned in, hugging me. “Now I understand. I’m so happy that you were able to explain that to us. And I happen to have some lotion that should work for your feet. I’ve got ashy elbows and it does wonders for them. I’ll get it for you.”
Linda hurried off to find me her lotion as her roommate continued to eye me, untrustingly. “Where did you say you came from?”
“It’s a tiny village that few have heard of. I’m trying to get Linda to allow me to take her there for a visit.” A visit that will last forever.
Flora wasn’t going to allow me to be so vague. “And this village is called?”
“Prague.” I thought the name sounded cool and sort of foreign.
Shaking her head, she took a seat on the sofa. “A small village with the same name as the capital of the Czech Republic – the fourteenth largest city in the entire European Union? Odd, don’t you think? Well, anyway, never mind that. What country is this little village in?”
“You are rather scholarly, aren’t you?” I had no idea Linda’s roommate would be smart. She didn’t look like a smart female. She didn’t wear horn-rimmed glasses or have greasy unkempt hair as most smarty-pants girls did. Flora was a little taller than Linda and a little thinner and a little more into dressing sexy and wearing lots of makeup. Nothing like any smart female I had ever seen.
Twirling her long, silky, blonde hair around her middle finger, I got the idea she didn’t like me much and trusted me none at all. “I am a Geography teacher. So, what country was that again?”
“Well, I haven’t told you that yet.” I didn’t know what to say at all. She had me and I knew that. When Linda came back into the living room with a tube of lotion, I turned my attention to her. “Is that the lotion? I can’t wait to try it. You will rub it on my feet for me, won’t you? I have a feeling your hands and that lotion will work magic on my poor scaly feet.”
As Linda pulled me to take a seat on the chair nearby, she sat me down then pulled off my other shoe and sock, then began to rub the lotion all over my feet. “Wow, it’s working already. See? I told you it was amazing.”
I’d already forgotten about my feet and had put that part of my dragon away. Flora made me nervous and that wasn’t like me at all. The way she kept her eyes on me, told me that she wasn’t going to make things easy on me.
So, I had to do what any self-respecting dragon-shifter would do. “Are you free for dinner this evening, Flora?”
“Why?” Her eyes narrowed as if I had asked her something sinister.
“Because my brother might like to join us for dinner this evening and I thought it might be nice if you and he met. He’s my best friend and you are Linda’s best friend.” I suddenly realized that Linda had never told me if her roommate was her best friend.
A thing which Flora jumped on. “She told you that?”
Linda looked up at me with wide eyes. “Tieris, I never said that.”
“I assumed.” This Flora is a real pain in the butt.
“You assumed wrong. We didn’t even know each other until six months ago when she began seeking a new roommate.” Flora smiled widely as she thought she’d found a new thing to harass me about. “How much do you know about each other? And why would you seek to take Linda to some make-believe village in a country with no name, Tieris? And what sort of name is Tieris anyway? And what is your last name?”
As if dragon-shifters need last names.
When one is as old as time, one does not go by some human-like last name. One goes by the name of his father. But telling the speculative Flora that I went by Tieris – son of Gandore - wasn’t going to fly. So, I came up with something suitable, instead. “My last name is Smith. And my first name is that of my maternal grandfather’s.”
Quirking her lips up to one side, it was obvious that she hadn’t bought my lines. “Sure it is. There’re are tons of old men named Tieris. Linda, I’m not telling you what to do, but you should really do a background check on Mr. Too Hot. Me thinks I smell a rat.”
“Me thinks, you is crazy.” I had to laugh at my little joke.
“Tieris, please don’t,” Linda said as she stood up, putting the tube of lotion into the pocket of her dress. “And she’s right. I need to at least do a Google search of your name.”
With that, I knew I was getting too close to getting found out and that would mean Linda would run away from me, screaming for help. “Sure. Of course, you should do that, Linda. Let’s go down to that coffee shop that has those computers. You know the one we saw on our walk back here from the café we had breakfast at. And I’ll help you find out everything you can about me and my family.”
With bright eyes, Linda looked a bit relieved. “That would be amazing. If I can tell my family all about you, then I can take you to meet them. Right now, taking to you meet them would be problematic.”
“I bet it would,” Flora hissed. “Good luck with the internet search, you two.”
Linda wasn’t paying any attention to her roommate now as she took my hand, leading me to her bedroom. “Come on, Tieris. I’ve got to grab a couple of things before we go out again. I want to get my key to the bookstore so I can go by and check to be sure no one has messed with anything. I’m going to have to get back to work there soon too. I’ve only got one more week to get the place back in working order.”
I had to make sure she got her work done before that. “We could go there now, and I could help you get it done so your time would be freed up.”
“You would do that for me?” She opened a small jewelry box, retrieving a key. “I might take you up on that offer. I’m tired of doing that job already. I wish I hadn’t ever taken it.”
“If you would come with me to my home, then you could relax all the time and do whatever you wanted to. Maybe even write a book about our life together.” I thought that might make a wonderful series of sexual adventures. I knew all the shifters would love to read about things like that. “You should really think about doing that, my sweet.”
“Sure, I should.” She laughed as she took my hand, leading me out of her room, back through the living room with Flora staring at me as we went by. “See you later, Flora. And when I come back, I will have all there is to know about this man. You will see. He’s just from a place that is so small that no one around here knows about it.”
She wasn’t wrong. “It was something to meet you, Flora. See you around.”
Sitting up, she once again narrowed her eyes at me. “What do you mean by that? Aren’t you coming back with Linda?”
I had no intention of doing that. “I’m pretty sure that you don’t feel comfortable with me being under the same roof as you, Flora. It’s not in my nature to be somewhere that I’m not wanted.”
Linda paused, looked at me then at her roommate. “Now look what you’ve done. He doesn’t feel welcomed here. He has explained everything and still, you doubt him.”
“When you come back with real answers, then I will give him my apologies. Until then, I will remain skeptical.” Flora waved her hand at me as if shooing away a pesky fly. “Tata, lover boy. If she finds you to be truthful, then I will do as I have said, and I will apologize and welcome you into this apartment. If she cannot find any evidence of you, then you can stay away from this abode. I am not Linda and I do not fall for pretty faces and nice physiques.”
I could see that very clearly. And I knew that we could not return to the apartment. But I also knew that I had to come up with a reason why we might not return so Flora didn’t feel it necessary to alert Linda’s family nor the authorities when she didn’t come back home. “I think I shall stay away from this abode for a while anyway. It’s not like me to push myself on others, Flora.”
Opening the door, Linda snapped at Flora, “Don’t wait up. If he’s not coming back here, then neither am I!”
And there it is, just what I needed to get Flora off my back.
“If that’s how you want it,” Flora called out after Linda as we left the apartment now with great haste. “Don’t come crying to me when you find out that you’re dancing with the devil!”
I am sick to death of them thinking that I am the devil!
“I think we should get the bookstore cleaned up before we get to the coffee shop to do the internet search.” I didn’t want her to be worried about the work she would leave behind. And I already knew her well enough to know that she would be worried about it. “Is there a place to leave the key once we get the work done? I might want to whisk you away to a romantic vacation if you have nothing else to do.”
Stopping, she looked at me with wonder in her face. “Why would you want to do that?”
There was only one reason for that. “I adore you and I want to show you a life that you couldn’t have even dreamt of before. There is so much that I want to show you. I know you don’t want me to take what you said last night as the truth. But I do want you to take what I said as the truth. I want you to be my mate. I want you to have my offspring. And I want you to come to live me with me in my little piece of paradise.”
“You make it sound so easy.” She began walking again.
Grabbing her by the hand, I pulled her back to me, draping my arms around her shoulders as I kissed her cheek. “It is so easy, my sweet. The life I want to give you is only moments away. All you have to do is say the word and we will be off to live a life of love, happiness, and things beyond your imagination.”
“That does seem enticing.” She laughed as we walked down the street toward the bookstore.
Only a few minutes later, we stood in front of the place we’d first met, and I knew I would be taking her home soon. When she got the door open, and we walked inside, I was happy to see that she’d nearly gotten the job finished. “We can get this done within the hour.”
“You think so?” She let my hand go to get to work.
I began placing books on the shelves they lay in stacks in front of. “I know so.”
Not even an hour later, she placed the last book on the shelf then placed the key to the bookstore into the letterbox outside the backdoor in the dark alley. “So, now we can go to the coffee shop to find out all about you, Tieris.”
Taking both of her hands, I let her know that she was about to find that out without the help of a computer. “The first thing you must know is that you are my mate, Linda. You gave yourself to me last night and that’s not a thing that you can take back. Not until you deliver my offspring anyway. Until that time, you will remain with me as long as I want you to – and I want you to stay with me for all times. And only after you have our babies will you be able to leave me if you so desire – which I hope you never desire to leave me. For I have never loved a woman the way I love you, my sweet.”
I heard her heart stop, her eyes closed, and her body slumped as she fainted. Scooping her up into my arms, I thought it best that she be asleep as we made our way to my realm anyway.
And now to our life together – an eternal one – I do hope!
16
Linda
The softest words echoed around me, “Mate, offspring, eternity, love.” As my eyes fluttered open, I found stone walls on all sides of me. Lying on an enormous bed, with red satin sheets and a fire raging in a fireplace that took up one entire wall, I wondered if I had actually died and been taken to hell by Tieris.
“You’re awake,” I heard a man say.
But the man was nowhere to be seen, hidden in the
shadows. The fire’s light licking at dark corners finally found the man who’d spoken. As my eyes caught him, he stepped out of the shadows. Soft features reminded me of someone else’s. “I’m Linda.” I looked around and sat up, testing my arms and legs to make sure they weren’t tied down. “Where am I and who are you?”
“You’re in the realm of the sons of Gandor.” He bowed low and reverently. “I am Mako – the youngest son of Gandor.” When he pulled his torso back up, he took a few steps closer. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Linda of Rome.”
“Um – thanks?” I had no idea where I really was. “So, am I close to Rome?”
“You are as close to anywhere you might wish to be. All places are but a wish away from our realm.” Sitting at the end of the bed, he ran his hand over the silky sheet. “It has been a very long time since I have been in my brother’s bedchamber. He likes his privacy very much.”
“Tieris is your brother?” Cocking my head, I now saw that the softer features of Mako’s handsome face matched the chiseled ones of Tieris’ equally as handsome face. “You don’t have to answer that. I can see it. So, where is he? And why did he bring me here? And when will he be back? And when can I go home?” I had even more questions to ask, but Mako’s lower lip began to quiver. “I don’t mean to upset you. It’s just that I don’t know exactly what’s going on.”
“My brother told me that you and he are now mates.” Worry furrowed his dark brow. “You agreed to that, didn’t you?”
I had agreed. “Well, technically, yes. But I was kind of out of it. I’d been dreaming about your brother all night when he showed up and the dream-like state I’d been in, sort of continued.”
Mako smiled, shyly. “Sort of tricky of him, wasn’t it?”
