He shook his head, watching her brow furrow. “No.” His voice was still a thick rasp. It came out sounding angry. Which was fitting since there was some anger inside him because of this whole situation. “I will take you home.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “No, that’s fine, you—”
“I insist.” Obsidian kept his eyes on her. “It is late. It’s…”
“Not you too. You do realize that I’m a grown female? I am so sick of being treated like an idiot because of it.”
“I had noticed that you were a female.” Obsidian allowed his eyes to drift down to her plump breasts before returning back to her eyes. “I definitely do not see you as an idiot.”
“You know what I mean,” she snorted.
“I know you are capable of looking after yourself. I had several wounds to prove it.” He touched his chest and his side…both areas had long-since healed.
Her cheeks turned a little pink and her mouth turned up at the edges. “Sorry about that.”
He shrugged. “I deserved it.”
“Don’t sneak up on me looking all angry again.” She smiled.
“I wasn’t angry.” He smiled back at her. It felt weird, he couldn’t remember the last time he had smiled so much. Obsidian liked talking to this female. He liked the feeling of happiness he felt with her.
“I know that now. Listen,” she touched the side of his arm, “you really don’t have to take me all the way to my house. Someone might be waiting there for me. In fact, there is a good chance that will be the case.”
He took her hand in his and shrugged. “I’m not leaving you out in the forest. You said yourself that you don’t stay out at night. I will drop you off and then leave. Not because I don’t think you can take care of yourself but because it would be the right thing to do.” Obsidian wasn’t afraid of a wolf or two. Hell, he’d deal with the entire pack if need be.
“I don’t want for there to be trouble. You can drop me somewhere close to home and I’ll—”
“I am a big male. I can deal with whatever comes my way.” He squeezed her hand. “Your safety is what’s most important to me. Your people already know you were with a dragon shifter. They will have been able to scent it.”
“Knowing something and seeing it are two different things, but if you’re sure…”
“I am. It wouldn’t be right otherwise.”
“You’re a big softy, you know that, right?” she chuckled, putting her arms around his middle.
Anyone who knew him would refute that flat out. Obsidian put his arms around her and tasted her lips. A few minutes later, she groaned and pulled away. “Any more of that and I’ll never get home.”
“That’s the idea.” Why didn’t she just stay? He was sure they could be happy together.
She widened her eyes. “You know I can’t. We’d better get going.”
He nodded, stepping back so that he could shift. “I know where your village is.”
She looked shocked. “There are several shifter villages, do you—”
“I’ve seen you before.”
“Oh really? So you were stalking me?” She raised her brows, folding her arms. He could see she was toying with him but still felt appalled at the idea that she would think that of him.
“Not at all! I have seen you, that’s all. A couple of times. The first time I saw you leaving your village a couple of weeks ago. Since then I’ve come by, kind of hoping to catch a sighting of you. It wasn’t in a weird way, though. I guess I like watching you run in your wolf form.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks turned rosy. “Okay. You knew I was a shifter though.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I could tell. You run really fast and,” he shrugged, “I could see how much you enjoyed being in your wolf form. How in touch you are with your beast. It reminded me of me.” He hoped he wasn’t sounding like an idiot or a weirdo or something.
She smiled. “You have never seen me in my human form? Not before today at any rate?”
He shook his head.
That seemed to appease her, for whatever reason.
He took one more step back, feeling his dragon break free. Scales sprouted up on his body. His wings lengthened until they were at capacity. He flapped them once, twice, loving the feeling.
Then he took to the sky, reaching down to clasp her around the waist. It didn’t take them long to reach her village. Obsidian was sure to stay high until they were right over it. He didn’t want to alert her pack to their presence if he could help it. He knew the side of her village that she had exited from and headed for that section, careful to stay silent. “That’s my house there.” She pointed. “The one with the lights on.”
There were very few dwellings with lights on at this late hour. He suspected she was right. Someone was indeed waiting for her.
“We’ll need to make our goodbye quick,” she whispered as they descended. “I really don’t want trouble.”
He made a rumbling noise he hoped would soothe her fears. Obsidian landed carefully and shifted back as quickly as he could. He hadn’t shifted this often or spent this much time in his human skin in a long time. He found the change easier than he had in a long while.
The female widened her eyes and put a finger over her mouth to hush him. She gestured towards the house. Obsidian had heard someone moving around inside, even as they descended. He nodded once, taking her hand.
This was it.
The end.
It felt like he had known Demi so much longer. The dragon females had only ever used him for sex on occasion. As he spent more and more time in his scales, they’d visited him less and less. It had been…a long time since he’d rutted one. They never spent any time with him. Never talked to him or cared at all. Not like Demi. She treated him like he was normal.
He’d been on one or two Stag Runs a few years ago, but humans were terrified of him, so that hadn’t worked out. This felt…it felt right, and yet everything was against the two of them.
Demi was looking up at him like maybe she was going to miss him as well. Like maybe she had hoped this would go somewhere too. That meant something to him.
“Go,” she mouthed, her eyes moving to the sky.
He could still hear whomever it was, moving about in Demi’s house. A drawer opened and then closed. Then another was opened.
He gave a quick shake of his head and cupped her jaw in his hand, leaning in to kiss her one last time. She gripped his biceps. His eyes were focused on her mouth. Succulent and sweet tasting. Her eyes were on his mouth as well, they—
“What the fuck is this?” a male snarled from the doorway to her house.
Demi got a frightened look that pissed him the hell off. “It’s not what you think,” she stammered. Her eyes darted to where the male was standing. She let Obsidian go, acting like her hands were burning and he was the source of the flame.
“You’re right it’s not what I think,” the male said, exiting the house. He had a different scent to Demi. “We thought you had been raped and abducted. What the fuck is going on here? I can’t believe this. You actually let this,” he sniffed the air, “this beast—”
“Stop!” Obsidian held up a hand. Not liking how this male was talking to Demi. She had said she didn’t want trouble. Punching this loser in the face would be just that. Trouble.
“You can fuck right off.” The male pointed at Obsidian. “While you still have a chance that is.”
“You should go,” Demi said, sounding panicked.
“Are you going to be okay?” He felt his whole demeanor soften as he looked back down at her.
“Of course she will be okay, you dragon asshole!” the male snarled. “Demi is back where she belongs, with her own kind.”
“Stop it, Cody!” she interrupted, sounding angry.
Oh, fucking great! This was that Cody male. Obsidian turned back to him, looking at him with new eyes. The male was big for a shifter, maybe because he was a bear rather than a wolf. His shoulders were wide, his arms thick. He w
ore a pair of jeans and nothing else. His hair was a light color. His eyes as well. The dragon females would find him very attractive. He had the sort of looks females of all species enjoyed. Pity he was such a prick.
“You should really go now,” Demi urged.
“Yes, listen to the female…my female,” Cody pointed at his chest, “my fucking female and you can fuck off.” That finger pointed back at Obsidian, who wanted to break it. This male was aggravating him in a big way. All he had wanted was to see Demi home safely and to say goodbye to her.
“I’m not yours, Cody, I haven’t agreed to anything,” Demi threw back. “Stop saying that I’m your female.”
Obsidian couldn’t help the grin that took up residence on his face.
“I’m not yours either,” she said, looking back at him.
He forced the smile off his face. Again, not wanting to cause trouble.
“You are mine!” the prick yelled, that finger pointing back at Demi. He wanted to break it so badly.
She shook her head. “Not even close. It’s ultimately my decision and I haven’t made one either way. In fact, you know my feelings on this. They do not align with yours.”
“How can you say that? The lives of our—”
Demi put up a hand. “I know, okay? I know. I don’t need to keep hearing the same thing over and over. ‘The lives of our people are at stake. Keeping the peace is important. What about tradition?’ I’ve heard it all before.”
“You obviously do need to hear it again, Demi, because it’s not sinking in. I can’t believe this.” The male ran a hand through his hair. His eyes blazed. “I can’t believe I ever said that you reminded me of her. That I ever thought it.” He widened his eyes, his nostrils flaring with obvious anger.
Obsidian hoped that this conversation wasn’t going in the direction that he thought it was. Because all bets were off then. Trouble would be out in full fucking force.
Demi must have seen him bristle. He’d definitely clenched his jaw and closed his fists. He’d taken a step towards the male and might even have growled.
“Go, Obsidian!” Demi pleaded but he was obviously a sick fuck because he needed to hear the rest of what this asshole had to say.
“You are nothing like my precious Brie.” Maybe if the male had looked upset, Obsidian could have forgiven the outburst. Instead, his eyes narrowed in hate. “My Brie would never have fucked around with a filthy dragon.”
“Don’t say any more, Cody. Don’t!” Demi warned.
“We’re about to be mated. How could you? Do you expect me to take you to my bed now? After this?”
Obsidian’s chest heaved. He heard his molars crack he ground them so hard, but he kept himself in check. “You don’t want to stay with this prick,” he finally managed to say to her, his voice thick and corded. “You need to stop disrespecting Demi,” he directed at the bear shifter There was a rough edge to his voice. This bear had better take the warning and stop.
“What did you call me?” Cody took two strides towards him. That finger pointing.
“Don’t!” Demi spoke to the other male but put a hand on Obsidian’s chest as she said it.
The prick exhaled, his shoulders relaxing. “Why am I even bothering? You will mate me,” he said to Demi before turning back to Obsidian. “I’m the one who will get to fuck her every night. Me, dragon! Not you!” His eyes gleamed with malice. He turned to Demi, that fucking finger still pointing. At her now though. “It’s a bunch of bullshit about you having a say in the matter, Demi. You don’t! It’s happening…tomorrow. Whether you like it or not. The sooner I get this fucker’s scent off you and your belly full of my cubs the better.”
There was only so much a male could take. Obsidian saw red.
Chapter 7
Obsidian snarled. The sound terrifying. Even Cody ‒ Alpha of the Vale Creek packs ‒ paled. His mouth opened like a fish out of water as Obsidian charged at him. Demi didn’t have time to try to stop him. To say or to do anything. Neither did Cody, who was about to take the brunt of all that anger. He tried to sidestep the huge dragon male but was far too slow. Obsidian shoulder-tackled him. There was a loud thudding noise as one hard body hit another. Obsidian must be the harder of the two, because Cody went flying. Literally. His body came off the ground as he flew back for a few feet before crashing down hard. All the air left him, as he made a humph sound.
Then he just lay there for a few long seconds. His eyes were wide. His mouth open. Cody rolled to the left and then back to the right.
“He’s winded,” Obsidian said. “I also might have cracked a rib…or two. The dickhead deserved it.”
His head cocked to the side and he glanced to the right of her. “There are more males approaching.” Obsidian looked back at her. His eyes holding hers for a second. “You should think very carefully before mating a male like that. I know I have no say in the matter, but you will never be happy.”
She shook her head. “Don’t judge him. I know it looks bad. He’s just angry and not thinking straight. He’s still cut up over Brie.”
Obsidian frowned, wanting to say something, but Cody sucked in a deep, gasping breath.
Now she could hear the footfalls as well. They didn’t have more than a couple of seconds. “He isn’t a bad male, he’s just…sad.” She shrugged. “He’s ultimately right though, about everything.”
“Right, my ass!” he all but snarled. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“Not about that,” she spoke quickly. Time was running out. “About my fate being sealed. Despite what he said, he won’t harm me or force me. I promise.” She pushed at his chest. “Go now. If they catch you…” She shook her head. “Please, I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“They couldn’t hurt me,” he snorted.
“They can. A whole pack of them would kill you. Go! Please.” She reached up and kissed him, softly. Ever so softly.
Obsidian nodded, he swallowed thickly. “I will miss you, Demi. Have a good life.”
She nodded back, wanting to tell him the same, but he shifted in a second flat and vanished into the sky with just a few hard flaps of his great wings.
Cody staggered to his feet. He was clutching at his chest, which had a purple stain across several ribs. His face was sweaty and contorted with pain.
Several Betas rounded the corner. “What happened? We heard yelling and snarling,” the closest of them said, his eyes narrowed, and he sniffed the air. “Are you hurt?” he directed the question at her, eyes on hers. “Do I need to get a healer?”
“I’m fine.” She folded her arms across her chest, feeling vulnerable in her skin. Nudity was normal amongst her kind. The Betas were naked as well, but right then, she just wanted to get inside and away from everything and everyone.
“Leave!” Cody spat.
A second Beta frowned, sniffing the air.
This agitated Cody even more. “Go now. Send word to Demi’s father that she is safe. He is with the tracking party to the north of our village,” Cody instructed.
“There is more than one tracking party?” She knew they would be worried but to have several tracking parties out there looking for her seemed extreme.
The Beta nodded. “Are you sure you are alright?” he asked her again, looking like he didn’t believe her.
“You heard our Alpha,” the bear shifter snarled.
“Butt out,” the wolf Beta snarled back. “I’m checking in on the female.”
“She’s fine!” Cody snapped.
The wolf Beta’s frown deepened, and his nostrils flared. “Why does she...?”
“Go now! My father is out there as well. Demi is perfectly fine, despite our initial deduction.”
“Oh,” the wolf male said. “Ohhhh!” he drew out the word, his eyes widening.
“Oh shit!” the bear Beta snickered, realizing what she’d been up to. Demi felt her cheeks heat but kept her shoulders back and her chin tilted up. She had done nothing wrong.
“Fuck off before I…�
�� Cody drew himself to his full height. His cracked ribs forgotten.
The male who had laughed looked down at his feet. All of them left hurriedly. If they could have had their tails between their legs, they would have. Demi could hear them bickering amongst themselves as they ran off.
“Let’s go inside.” Cody was frowning.
She nodded.
As soon as they were inside, she turned to face him. “What’s going on?” Demi frowned. Not sure she wanted to know the answer to her own question. “Why are there several search parties out looking for me?”
“We scented blood and rutting, what do you think we imagined had happened in that clearing.”
Shit! His earlier words came back to her. Demi hadn’t thought they would assume the worst. “Why did you even come after me in the first place? Wait a minute, why are you here?”
“I was with the original search party. There when we walked in on the clearing. We heard him run off with you. We heard you scream. You said ‘No’! We all heard you, Demi. We’ve been out of our minds with worry, and all this time you were…” He ground his teeth.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I—”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it. Your father is out there now. Your mother is crying and inconsolable. She thinks he raped you.”
“Okay. Shit! Okay.” She shook her head. “I said I was sorry. I’m a mature female, way past the age of mating. I’m a wolf shifter, more than capable of taking care of myself.”
“Not against that.” Cody pointed straight up into the sky.
“I guess…” She sighed. “I guess I didn’t think it through.” She was a terrible person to have put them through this. “It had all become too much for me. The pressure was—”
“Am I so bad?” Cody got this look, like a lost little boy.
“No! That’s not it.”
“You wouldn’t say so by the way you act. I could have my pick of females. They run after me, waving their asses in the air on a daily basis. I haven’t so much as laid a paw on any of them. Not one. Not in all this time.”
“I haven’t let anyone touch me either,” she countered.
Savage Dragon: Earth Dragons Series: Book 2 Page 6
