Fire Breathing Cezar (Dragons of the Bayou Book 2)

by Candace Ayers

  Armand landed and shifted. “He’s not wrong. You look seconds from bursting into tears like a whiny youngling.”

  “I don’t cry.” I did feel like I could set the whole town down aflame, though, and without much further provocation.

  “What is the problem?” Beast leaned against the edge of the barge and crossed his arms over his chest. “I hope it is of significance. I had to leave my female for this.”

  “I found my mate.” I pushed out the rest of the words before they could start congratulating me. “She rejects me.”

  Beast groaned. “Not this again.”

  Ovide landed. “What again?”

  “These human women should beg us to mate them.” Armand shook his head. “Don’t they know we are the most superior creature that exists on this frail planet?” He crossed his arms over his wide chest. “In the old world, a female mate would be on her knees begging for a mating.”

  “That attitude might explain why you haven’t found your mate yet, Ovide.” Beast looked at me sympathetically. “What is the deal?”

  As Remy and Blaise landed, they playfully shoved one another. Remy hissed fire at his twin and then leapt out of the way as Blaise returned flames.

  I ignored them and spoke on. “I do not know. She forced me to return her to her dwelling and she refused to allow me to remain with her. She then told me that she needed space.”

  “Did you claim her? Mark her as yours?”

  “No. I did show her my dragon, though. I rode her on my back today…”

  “Did you make her wear your harness?” Armand asked with a smirk.

  “No, bareback.” I grinned as I said it, but then my thoughts turned serious again. “I have made considerable efforts to behave for her in ways that are comfortable to a human, but I may not be doing it right.”

  Beast frowned. “Sky said I came on too strong and too demanding in the beginning.”

  “Yes, we all remember how miserable you were. That was what I was trying to avoid. Maybe I must continue to lie low for a few days and give her more of this space that she talks about.”

  Remy growled. “Is that what we must do for mates? Lower ourselves, crawl on our bellies like cowards?”

  I threw my hands up. “I do not know. I do not want to.”

  “I won’t do that with my mate. She will have to deal with me as a dragon. Things are the way they are.”

  “Spoken like a dragon with no mate and no prospects.” Beast shrugged and patted me on the shoulder. “It will work out. Fate has destined this pairing.”

  I wanted to believe that, but I felt like Cherry was the type of woman who would fight fate. Nevertheless, I nodded and forced a smile. “I am at a low point, my friends. However, it can only go up from here.”

  “Speaking of up…if this is the only thing we needed to talk about, I have a date.” Armand chuckled when we all swung our heads in his direction so fast a couple of us barely avoided whiplash. “With a new brew recipe! It will have the flavor of the pear.” That brought us all too much joy. We all agreed that the fruit called pear was the most delicious fruit of this world.

  Slowly, one by one, everyone left, until only Beast and I remained. I looked over at him and sighed. “I am worried. I am afraid that despite giving this my best effort, I am going to fail.”

  “My friend you are trying to behave so much like you believe a modern human male acts for a human female. Perhaps you should try being yourself.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, myself is a fire breathing brute with an overwhelming impulse to seize and conquer, to take what he desires, and I want nothing more than to toss her over my shoulder and carry her off to my castle where I will claim her as mine—mount her over and over until she is covered in my scent and fully inseminated with my seed. Not to run around like a firemouthed coward giving space and standing feebly as she flirts with others.”

  “There is a medium ground, surely. Look at me and Sky.”

  I nodded. “Perhaps.”

  “It is worth figuring out. Once you do, you shall be the happiest dragon in all the land and all that squishy mushy stuff.” He made a face like he was grossed out, but I knew he was serious. Even we fire breathing beasts could be romantics.

  “Are things still good with you and Sky?”

  Beast’s grin spread across his face so wide I thought it would crack his jaw. “She is teaching me to cook.”

  I nodded. “How many stoves have you gone through?”

  “Five. I had to find an appliance store in the neighboring parish. Sky was getting embarrassed we had purchased so many.”

  “Only in this weird new world would people embarrass you about purchasing something. In the old world, we minded our business.”

  “Watch it, brother. You almost sound wistful about the old world. You, a modern man of this new world.”

  I huffed a puff of fire at him and shifted before taking off. I didn’t miss the old world, not really. The times we lived in had been brutal and intense, even for kings like us. The hunters had killed so many of us before we’d left. I liked being in the new world, living without fear of a slayer’s sword.

  Perhaps Beast’s advice was correct. Perhaps it was time to show my mate who Cezar truly was.

  20

  Cherry

  I hurried home to get changed into something nice for a dinner and ended up in a pair of my best dress jeans with ankle boots and a sweater. I figured it was suitable attire to be travelling through the swamp in a boat. I added a cute, trendy jacket. I told myself I wasn’t dressing up on the off chance I’d run into Cezar. I just wanted to look presentable for a get together with a new friend. Right.

  I drove myself to the designated pick-up spot, a secluded bayou peninsula a few miles south, and was just stepping out of my seven year old Honda Accord when I saw a mud boat pull up to the rickety, old wooden dock. Sky was waving me over like a mad woman.

  By the look on her face, I had a sneaking suspicion she had something on her mind. Once I stepped in and got myself situated in the boat, I found out my hunch was correct.

  “I have good news or I have bad news.” Sky spoke without meeting my eyes, instead pretending to busy herself with the rudder and getting us on our way.

  I groaned in response, but didn’t say anything so she continued.

  “Cezar may show up for dinner.”

  My heart started to flutter with a mix of fear and excitement. “Is that the good news or the bad news?”

  “Both. Or either. Depending on how you take it.” She held up her hands in front of her. “But I want you to know, I’m not the one who invited him, and I had nothing to do with him finding out you were coming.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “How else would he know?”

  “It seems he’s been keeping tabs on you and he knows that right now you’re not at the library or at your house, so he was kinda freaking out, and, well, I told Beast that we were having a girls’ get together…and Beast felt he had to tell Cezar. For the safety of the town.”

  “The safety of the town?”

  She nodded her head emphatically as she maneuvered us around fallen logs and through dense vegetation. “When a dragon freaks out, whole cities can be reduced to rubble.”

  “What do you mean he’s been keeping tabs on me? Keeping tabs how?”

  “From what I understand, you told him you needed space?” She raised her brows questioningly. When I nodded, she continued. “Well, chère, dragons don’t do space, especially a dragon whose mate is still unclaimed. Seems he’s remained near you the whole time, hanging out on the library roof, the roof of your house, secretly following you wherever you went. He only left for the dragon meeting, when he returned and found you were gone…”

  My jaw dropped in shock. Here, I’d been accusing him of not wanting to be around me and he’d been nearby the entire time—watching me. In the battle I’d been hosting between pain and shame, shame had suddenly emerged the clear victor. I’d been horrible to man. I told him t
o leave me alone, then berated him for wanting to leave me alone. Yet, he hadn’t wanted to at all. I palmed my forehead. Could I be any more of a bitch?

  To Sky’s credit, she was quiet the rest of the trip, allowing me to absorb the impact of that particular piece of information.

  We travelled quietly through murky waters while I stared up at the moss hanging in ropes from the thick canopy of Cypress branches above until eventually the narrower waterway opened up to a lake. Ahead I could see a dock out in front of a huge mansion. Castle, Sky had called it. Sheesh, dragons.

  Just as we pulled up to the dock, A huge, green dragon came swooping in. Sky and I climbed out of the boat and onto the dock and as I stood stunned, unsure how to act or what to say, Sky hurried off toward the castle mumbling something about needing to check on dinner.

  When Cezar transformed from amazing dragon to gorgeous naked man, I tried my best to keep from looking at his man parts. He strolled up to me like a predator stalking its prey and stopped only when he was standing toe to toe with me. My heart beat a feverish rhythm behind my ribcage and the warm, spicy, male scent of him made my thoughts fuzzy, but I held my head up and met his gaze.

  I waited for him to say something, and when I couldn’t wait any longer, I blurted out, “I made a mistake.” And, while I still had the courage to say my piece, I figured I might as well say it all. “I shouldn’t have told you I needed space. And, I shouldn’t have pretended to flirt with Gary.”

  When I said Gary, Cezar’s eyes started to glow, gold veins appeared beneath his skin and he released a low, menacing growl.

  “Okay, okay! We won’t mention that name. Anyway, I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you for staying away when I was the one who told you to go. I just…I guess I thought that by listening to me and not staying and fighting, you didn’t care. I thought you just walked away without looking back.”

  His hands found my waist and he pulled me even closer, letting me feel his hard length against my stomach. “I will never walk away. I will never not care. You asked me to give you space. I studied human behavior. I read that human females just want males to listen to them. I listened. I was trying to behave as a human male would—for you. I was hoping that being absent would turn your heart to fodder, or however that human saying goes.”

  I fought a smile. “Fonder. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

  “And did it, Cherry?” He stroked my cheek. “Did it make your heart grow fonder of me?”

  The thing about sudden bursts of strength is that they aren’t promised to last. After boldly speaking from my heart, honestly and openly, I wilted back to who I really was, a basket case of issues and insecurities with a bone deep acceptance of what I’d always been told about myself—that I wasn’t good enough to deserve love. So, while my heart had warm fuzzies about Cezar, the rest of me was ice cold with fear and self-doubt. If thinking he’d walked away without looking back had hurt as much as it had, what would it feel like after I’d allowed myself to keep falling for him? Because with Cezar, if I didn’t pull the brakes right then, I was really and truly headed for a freefall.

  “Nope.” I shamefully reverted to my cowardice. But, as I turned to walk away, Cezar caught my arm and swung me back into his chest. I gasped when I saw the ferocious look in his eyes. I remembered that Nick had said something about fierce, battle-hardened warriors. That was certainly the vibe I was getting at that moment.

  Suddenly, his mouth descended on mine and he kissed me hard, bruising my lips with the intensity and drawing it out until I panted against his chest when he finally let me go. “Then, I am done with your human way. I am not human. I am a dragon and you are my female. Mine. There will be no more running from me. I will not allow it. You are my mate. You will accept this or see first-hand that dragons are much better at plundering than tiptoeing. There will be no more space.”

  And there it was. The defining moment of my life. The moment when everything turned on a dime. I had pushed him away, I had asked him to go, I had treated him worse than I’d probably ever treated anyone, yet he wanted—no, he was demanding—to keep me.

  And, I burst into tears.

  A life-time of pent-up emotion flowed down my cheeks and dripped off in little salty droplets that plopped onto the dock.

  There went a tear of fear—buh-bye.

  A tear of self-doubt—buh-bye.

  A tear of unworthiness—buh-bye.

  Twenty-nine years of insecurities washing away in the arms of the man who refused to let me go. I realized that it wasn’t even about being good enough or not being good enough. It was about finding my person. My dragon. And, it wasn’t only words with him. His actions backed up every sweet thing he said to me.

  “My Cherry I do not mean to hurt you. You are my everything.” He spoke gently as he pulled me tighter against his still naked body.

  I sniffled. “You didn’t hurt me. You gave me what I always wanted.” I laughed as I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “And, I didn’t even know I wanted it.”

  He held my head between his warm hands and planted kissed on my forehead, along my temples, cheeks, down to my neck.

  “We could skip dinner. I prefer to be alone with you, Cherry.”

  I swayed. I was on the verge of saying yes and running off with him—or flying off—when Sky’s voice called down from the house.

  “Come on, you two! Dinner is ready!”

  Cezar ran kisses down my neck. “We could pretend we didn’t hear her.”

  I shuddered at the sensation when his lips brushed base of my throat. That was sooo tempting. “She was really nice to invite me. Besides, I suppose I need to make some friends who I can discuss this whole dragon mating thing with.”

  He flashed a handsome grin. Then, he looked down at his body. “You go. I must wait for Beast to bring me some clothes.”

  I looked, too, and licked my lips.

  “C’mon” Sky called again. With one last look at his naked body, I turned and hurried up the dock towards the doorway where Sky stood. I was a new woman on a new page—one with adventure, and romance galore and I was anxious to discover what the rest of the book held for me.

  I couldn’t help but glance back over my shoulder with a couple parting thoughts.

  21

  Cezar

  Your cock looks beautiful, dripping wet like that.

  I jumped in surprise, hearing Cherry’s voice in my head as clear as day. We should not have been able to communicate like that, not yet. I had not even claimed her properly. It did not make sense. Yet, there her sweet voice was again.

  I want to kneel on that dock and take you into my mouth.

  I turned my back to the house, not wanting to flash anyone the massive hardon that had just sprung back up. I closed my eyes and envisioned her. I’m still standing here. Want to come back?

  You heard me?

  I heard you.

  Beast’s footfalls echoed down the dock and I took a few deep breaths willing myself to calm down. When I inhaled deeply, I scented Cherry’s arousal. Fuck. I jumped into the cold lake and hoped it would help cool me down.

  Just so you know, Cezar, your little mate isn’t just projecting into your head. It was Beast this time.

  I froze. What?

  She’s projecting into every dragon’s head. It was Armand this time.

  Then, Remy. That’s right. All of us.

  I was out of the lake and charging up to the house as fast as my legs could carry me. Beast threw pants at me as I passed and I almost stumbled and fell on my face trying to step into them and continue running at the same time.

  I found Cherry in the kitchen with Sky, and came up behind her wrapping my arms around her waist. “So, little mate, we’re going to have to work on where you’re projecting all those sexy thoughts of yours.”

  She whipped around and stared up at me wide-eyed. “What do you mean?”

  “You didn’t just send that to me, apparently.”

  “What?!”

  I held
her tighter. “Just the other dragons. It’s okay.”

  “How many other dragons?!” Her question was more of a shriek than a sentence. “Oh, hell, what does that even matter? One more than you is one too many!”

  I agreed. “We shall work on it. Your mind is very strong. I did not even know a human could do that.”

  Her face was bright red. I gave her a kiss meant to comfort and calm her, but the kiss turned into more as we explored and tasted one another. Our tongues danced together and I squeezed her closer. Both of us forgot where we were until we heard a throat being cleared. Sky stood with her arms across her chest grinning.

  “Go on, you two. Dinner is postponed until further notice. Get out of here and enjoy some time alone.”

  Cherry looked apologetic. “You sure? I mean I hate to just—“

  “Oh, believe me. I’m sure. We totally get it.” The heated look she and Beast exchanged confirmed it. They probably wanted to be alone, too.

  I wasted no more time. All I wanted to do was get Cherry home so I could show her that I meant every word when I spoke of plundering and taking what’s mine.

  It was dark by the time we arrived at my castle. As soon as I changed back from my dragon form, I insisted on carrying Cherry over the threshold. I had read it was a human custom, and although I was finished behaving as a human, I wanted to assure her that I still honored her.

  She enjoyed it and laughed as I continued to carry her up the spiral staircase to my bedchamber. Cherry’s eyes went wide as she scanned the room and I hoped she liked it. I wanted her to come and live with me in my castle, but if it was not to her satisfaction, I would tear it down and build another for her.

  I sat her down on the edge of the bed and stood between her thighs. I flipped the button on her jeans and as she lifted up, and slid them slowly down her smooth thighs. I knelt in front of her and stared at the contrast of her white panties against her silky brown skin as my fingers tightened on her hips. I fought to control my dragon.