Tammy relaxed just a little despite his whole ‘you are my mate’ attitude. She didn’t trust this guy but she felt safe, at least, for the moment. That crazy look in his eyes had eased up. Maybe she could rationalize with him. “Let me get this straight, you took me because you think I belong to Thunder?”
He nodded. “You do belong to him.”
“I don’t though. Just because he claimed me does not mean I am his or that I agreed to mating him. The original agreement was two weeks, not a lifetime.” Maybe she needed to talk to him in a way that he understood.
Cloud made a growling noise. “I heard him promise to win your heart before he claimed you.” He pulled a face. “You would’ve ended up mating him so therefore—”
“Bullshit!” Tammy said. “That’s ridiculous. I hadn’t agreed to anything. In fact, if you’d listened to what I had to say you’d—”
“You were as good as mated to the male. The rest would’ve simply been a formality, going through the motions as they say. No!” He shook his head. “This is not up for discussion.”
Tammy made a noise that showed her frustration. “Why won’t you listen? You don’t even know me. How do you know you and I are well suited? You might end up finding me the most irritating person on earth. You might struggle to live with me. You might even hate me. What then?”
He shrugged. “Mates should be accepting and forgiving of each other.” He looked like he meant it. “I could never hate you. I will cherish you. What is your name, mate?”
Tammy shook her head. “You sound like a crazy person. Do you know that?”
“I’m not crazy!” he yelled, looking every bit the looney tune. “Why does everyone keep questioning my mental capacity?”
Maybe because you’re nuts! Tammy bit down on her lower lip to keep herself from saying it. She held up her hands. “Take it easy. My name is Tamara.”
Cloud smiled. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Tammy didn’t answer him.
“We don’t have much time. It won’t take Thunder more than a couple of hours to make it back to the lair and to send a search party. They will have a good idea of where to search since there aren’t many places in Air territory that are suitable for a human.”
Thank god! That meant that Thunder had seen them. It sounded like the Air king would have a good idea who had taken her and where they were. Something about what he had said nagged at her. “Time for what?” As soon as the words left her mouth, Tammy wished she’d never asked.
“For us to get to know one another.”
She held back a sigh, too afraid to let her guard down. Even more afraid to hope he would see the logic in this.
“And time for us to consummate the mating.”
“That’s not going to happen, so you can forget it.” She grabbed the comforter from the bed and wrapped it around herself. Not because she was cold, but because she felt that the more layers she had between them the better.
“It is going to happen, so best you make peace with it.” He sighed, his chin dropping to his chest. After a couple of seconds, he looked back up and locked eyes with her. “I’m not a bad male.”
“You could’ve fooled me.” It slipped out.
“I’m not!” he growled.
“Actions speak louder than words.”
Cloud sucked in a deep breath. “You are right. I need to prove myself to you. I will feed you and you can take off your shoes because I’m going to give you a foot massage. I will look after you and we will get to know each other and then we will consummate this union. I said take off your shoes,” his voice turned gruff.
“No.” She could feel herself frown.
“I thought that human females liked foot massages. Dragon shifter females do, very much so.” His eyes clouded in what looked like pain. She couldn’t figure him out. His emotions were all over the place. Angry and sad in equal measure. Haunted. He had such a sad, haunted look. That was it, the look in his eyes. Despite everything, Tammy felt sorry for him. Maybe she was a bit crazy as well.
“I’ll take the food, please,” she quickly added, not wanting to anger him. “Don’t worry about the massage. I’m good.”
“You need to grow used to my touch, Tamara. You need to know that enjoyment can be found in my arms.”
She shook her head. “Just the food.”
His jaw tensed. “Food now, touching later.”
She ground her teeth. Forget it! She didn’t respond though. It wouldn’t do any good.
Cloud hadn’t left in search of food like she’d hoped. She knew she wouldn’t get very far if she tried to escape, but she had to try. He had to have supplies towards the rear of the cave because he emerged shortly with bread, ham, olives and a tossed salad. Despite her frayed nerves, Tammy found that she was starving and wolfed down a whole plate.
Then she proceeded to fall asleep. Like she didn’t have a care in the world. Like everything was okay. As if! It was the sheer exhaustion of the whole thing. Firstly, waking up to find out she was deep in the mountains and that the shifters were dragons and not wolves like they had all thought. Heck, up until then she’d thought the guys would be vampires. It was all too much.
She’d battled to sleep last night. Who could blame her? Then the hunt itself. A grueling five and a half hours of hiking through rough terrain. Then this, abducted by a crazy guy.
A really sad, really lonely and all at the same time really angry person.
“Are you sure you don’t want a foot rub?” Cloud sat at the edge of the bed.
“No, thank you,” she quickly answered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“A backrub?”
She shook her head, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.
“Something to drink? Something more to eat?”
“No. Why not take me back to your—”
“Not going to happen,” Cloud frowned.
“Why not? You seem like a really nice guy.” Nuts but nice. Maybe. She hoped he was nice. Try not to think about it. She sucked in a deep breath and willed her heart to slow back down. “We could date the normal way …” Shit! She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. He wasn’t a bad looking guy but he wasn’t her type. Kidnappers turned her off. “We could be friends and then maybe …” she shrugged. She hated lying to the guy. There would never be a future for them but she needed to get out of this situation.
He looked at her like she was the crazy one. Go figure! Then he shook his head. “Dragons do not date. I would not be permitted to spend time with you. Thunder and the others wouldn’t understand,” he snorted. “They couldn’t possibly understand. No! How can I convince you that I am the male for you? I am one of best warriors in my kingdom. I am strong.” He flexed his biceps, which were tree trunk-like. Then he bounced his pecs. “I’m a good listener and an even better lover. Please give me a chance.”
What the hell did she say to that? She had a feeling that ‘No, you idiot!’ would not go down well.
When she didn’t answer he moved closer to her. Tammy flinched back. Please be a nice guy. An off the rails yet nice person. Please!
“I’m not going to hurt you. Tell me something about yourself.”
“It’s not going to make any difference.”
“Humor me,” Cloud said.
Tammy had to fight not to roll her eyes. “Fine,” she huffed. “I’m a server in a diner.”
Cloud nodded. “You take people their food and drinks.”
She nodded.
“That is a very busy job, running up and down with people’s food. You’re on your feet for hours on end. I have often felt sorry for the females at the Rusty Shack.”
She frowned. “Oh yeah! Roxy mentioned that you guys go into town every couple of months, only, the Rusty Shack has been closed for a couple of years.”
“Oh really? I wasn’t aware.”
“Don’t you go on those … sex runs?”
Cloud sort of smiled. “Stag runs, not sex runs.”
; “Same thing, you head out there for sex, don’t you?”
Cloud nodded, his whole expression became pinched, his eyes clouded in thought. “I haven’t been on a Stag Run in a while.”
“Why not?”
He clenched his jaw and his eyes seemed to glint. He looked upset, about to cry. Then he gave a shake of the head and cleared his throat. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, his voice gruff. “I just haven’t. It’s been six years since I last went on one of those things.”
Tammy got the distinct impression that something had happened in that time. Something bad. She needed to know what it was if she was going to get out of this situation. “We’re sharing here, aren’t we? You can tell me.”
Cloud held out a hand to indicate that he didn’t want to speak about it. “Take off your shoes and socks.” He rubbed his hands together.
“I said I’m good. We were talking.”
Cloud narrowed his eyes, icy blue bore into her. “We can talk and I can massage you. I’m a good multitasker. Take them off, I insist,” his voice deepened.
“No, thanks.” She stood her ground.
“Do it,” a vicious snarl. It reminded her that she wasn’t safe. Not one little bit. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “Please, just do it.” His voice was even and calm but he looked like he was barely keeping it together.
Shit! What choice did she have?
Her hands shook as she undid a shoelace. “I’ll do as you say, just take it easy.” Her voice shook a little as well.
Chapter 5
Thunder forced himself to fly faster. He’d checked six of the eleven caves in his territory. What if the male had gone to a cave in one of the other three territories? He knew the location of one or two. Maybe Cloud did too. It was forbidden but Cloud didn’t seem to have any regard for the rules at the moment. He prayed that wasn’t the case.
The male was one of his best warriors. He knew that Cloud was struggling to come to terms with things but this was ridiculous. Never in a million years had he expected this. Not from a male like Cloud. Upstanding, kind, brave, gracious … he could go on. Grief did strange things to people though.
Did the male take the female in order to send a message? Was there more to it? Thunder tried hard to figure out what was going on in his mind but all the answers he came up with were not to his liking. Hopefully Cloud could be reasoned with. Thunder bristled at the thought of anything happening to the female. He had better not have harmed her in any way.
As he got closer to the next cave, Thunder had to slow down to keep the noise levels to a minimum. It would be best if he surprised Cloud. The last thing he wanted was to kill him, unless of course he had harmed the human, then all bets were off. If he could help it though, he would move in, incapacitate Cloud and take the human back to his lair. She was his top priority.
It used up more energy to flap slowly. His dragon form was strong, yet cumbersome. His beast was enormous, his wing span a good eighteen feet. He could hear voices coming from inside the cave. His heart leapt in his chest. She was here and she was still alive.
“We’re sharing here, aren’t we? You can tell me,” the female said.
“Take off your shoes and socks,” Cloud responded, he could hear that the male was rubbing his hands together.
They sounded calm. Two heartbeats, one slightly elevated. Had Cloud heard him approach? It was possible.
Despite his bulk, he landed without making a sound, his years of practice kicking in. He took a step towards the cave opening, careful not to allow his shadow to fall across the space.
“I said I’m good.” The female’s voice held a hint of panic, her heart-rate picked up a bit more.
“Take them off, I insist.” Cloud sounded irritated. Thunder was sure that the male had no idea he was there.
“No, thanks.” The female sounded more confident this time.
“Do it,” a snarl. Thunder had to work to keep from rushing in. “Please, just do it.” Softer this time, sounding more like the Cloud he knew.
He could hear the female moving, obviously complying. “I’ll do as you say, just take it easy,” her voice shook. Her heart-rate was all over the place. The female was scared.
Thunder forced himself to stand down even though everything in him told him to rush in and rescue her.
Once Cloud’s attention was on the female and the task at hand, he would enter and stop this madness. He really didn’t want to harm the male. Cloud had been through enough.
“How is that?” the male asked.
The human didn’t respond.
“Don’t be angry. Please lie back and try and enjoy it.”
“I don’t know you,” the human sighed. “You abduct me and then expect me to enjoy a foot massage.” She muttered something under her breath that Thunder didn’t catch.
“I’m not crazy,” Cloud growled. “Stop saying that.”
The female whimpered. “You’re hurting me.”
“Say it,” Cloud ground out. “Tell me I’m not crazy.”
The human moaned, the sound laced with pain. “Please …”
Enough.
Thunder crashed into the cave. Thankfully Cloud sprang backwards and onto his feet, moving away from the human. It was something that Thunder had banked on. All of the participating males within the four kingdoms had received intensive training running up to the human hunts. One of the things they practiced tirelessly was moving away from females prior to battle.
Even when instincts, adrenaline and emotions ran high, they moved away before commencing with any combat activities. They had used dragon shifter females during training.
Cloud reacted exactly as Thunder had hoped. The human shrieked and moved away from the both of them, sensing that her life was in danger. Her eyes were wide and the scent of her fear permeated the space.
Thunder snarled a warning at Cloud. He needed the male to stay the fuck away from her.
Cloud looked at the human, his whole demeanor changed. Now that he was thinking things over again, now that the element of surprise was over, the idiot planned on going after her. Thunder could see it. He growled low, another warning and the last one that Cloud would get.
Cloud’s whole stance tensed. Fuck. The male wasn’t listening to him.
It worried Thunder that the male showed no sign of fear. He also didn’t show any sign of changing into his dragon form. Why not? The male would be on the back foot unless he changed. It would be impossible for Cloud to win in his human form. It made no sense. What was going on?
Chapter 6
The dragon was huge. Bigger than the others she had seen. His chest glinted bright gold, almost too bright to look at.
His deep growl filled the cave, his lip pulled away revealing a row of sharp, glistening teeth. Tammy had to squeeze her legs together to keep from peeing herself. She’d never been more afraid in her life.
Cloud kept his eyes on her. It was like he didn’t care about the dragon. She moved backwards, one step at a time until she finally hit the cave wall. Shards of rock bit into her back but she didn’t care. She was surrounded by dark shadows and even though she knew her vision was impaired, she knew that the shifters could see her perfectly. The beast had narrowed eyes, its tail swished from side to side in agitation. It looked beyond pissed. It looked like it wanted a piece of Cloud. One positive in all of this, at least.
Although the guy was clearly deranged, she found herself hoping he didn’t get hurt, or worse, killed. For whatever reason, she didn’t think he was a bad guy. Not really. Having said that, she wanted out of here and nothing to do with him ever again.
It all happened so quickly. One second, they all stood still, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of her rasping breathing, overly loud in the small space, and the next moment, all hell broke loose.
Cloud came at her, moving quicker than she thought possible and then in the blink of an eye, he was hurtling backwards into the dark recesses of the cave. She heard a loud, sickening thud.<
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The beast turned to her, its purple gaze bore into hers. She recognized his eyes, which softened as they landed on her.
“It’s you,” she whispered.
The dragon seemed to melt before her eyes, there were loud cracking noises. Within seconds a man stood before her. Not a man, a shifter. Him. Thunder.
He reached out and cupped her chin. His hand was warm and calloused. “Are you okay?” His eyes were filled with tenderness.
Tammy swallowed hard, she nodded.
“You are safe. I’m going to take you back to my lair.” He took another step towards her and she couldn’t help but feel relieved. More than just relieved, she felt completely safe.
She nodded again. “What about …” she tried to peer over his shoulder but he was too big, “him … Cloud?”
Thunder pulled his hand away. “We need to go now. I’m going to change back into my dragon form.” He frowned deeply. “Cloud will be fine. I will send a team after him. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
Tammy nodded. The guy had abducted her and could’ve really hurt her. She shivered at the thought. “Are they going to harm him?” She didn’t like the thought.
“Cloud needs to be apprehended. He is a threat to you, to the other humans as well. That cannot be tolerated.” There was an edge to his voice.
“Please don’t kill him. I don’t think he’s really bad. Off his rocker, yes but bad … I don’t think so.” From what she had seen of these shifters, they operated on instinct. They got into bloody fights so she wouldn’t put it past them to kill one another as well.
The frown deepened even further and his purple eyes turned dark and turbulent. “Why do you …?” His whole body jerked and his eyes widened, then he jerked a second time.
Thunder spun around, he gave her a light shove, pushing her back against the wall of the cave and away from him. Lightning cracked across the roof of the cave. It was beautiful, curving along the roof. For a second she was mesmerized by its sheer beauty. There was a crackling sound and all the hairs on her body felt like they were standing on end. It felt like raw energy rushed through her. The sensation wasn’t entirely bad. In fact, it felt good. Raw energy rushed through her, around her. Yet, instinctively, she knew that there was danger in those streaks of lightning. One of the bright curves lanced out in a direct line across the cave.
Lightning Dragon (The Bride Hunt Book 4) Page 4
