Fire in Her Eyes
Page 4
They like force.
They want to be challenged by a male and when he conquers her, he’s proving that he’s fierce enough to be her mate.
Clearly that won’t work with Teva. I’m a human man, and she’s a big-ass dragon. Even so, I’m not keen on raping her just to try and shove her back into her mind. I’m not that kind of person.
But Amy says they like aggression. So is it rape if she wants it rough?
I rub a hand over my face and groan. So how do I be aggressive with a female and not traumatize her? How do I “conquer” a dragon so I can mate with her? How the hell am I going to be okay with fucking a stranger? How am I supposed to dick a woman until her brain falls in line?
This is so fucked up.
But…that brings me back to square one. How does a man conquer a dragon that can’t be injured by bullets or fire?
And if I get that far…what next? Do I force myself onto Teva hoping that I’m helping her? She has to transform if we’re to “mate.” Even if I were able to “conquer” her, she’ll have to change to a human form and it’ll be easier to tell if she’s reluctant.
If there’s even a whiff of apprehension, my dick’s gonna shrivel, along with my soul.
The alternative is walking away. Forgetting that the dragon follows me. Disguising my smell constantly.
Pretending I don’t remember that she has a name…and that she remembers it despite everything. That there isn’t a woman trapped in there.
Fuck, this is complicated. I stare up at the ceiling of the parking garage, wishing that answers were easier….and that I were a different person. If I were, then maybe I could walk away from all of this. That it wouldn’t matter to me that Teva’s just as real as anyone back at Fort Shreveport and that she needs help, even if it could cost me my life.
But since I am who I am, I try to think of a way to trap a dragon.
* * *
When I was a kid, I had a board game called Mouse Trap. It had a ton of fiddly plastic pieces that you had to set up on the board and they were all part of constructing this impossibly complicated system to capture a mouse. There were nets, and pulleys, and…that’s kind of my inspiration for my Teva trap.
I call it the Lady Killer.
Except I hope it doesn’t kill her. Maybe just makes her reasonable. And Lady Reasoner doesn’t have the same ring to it.
It’s taken me two days to get the idea sketched out in my mind, and two more days of going through old supplies and raiding nearby locations for what I need to make this work. Teva’s been lurking nearby, her thoughts scattered and wild, but she hasn’t tried approaching me again, and I haven’t tried using her name again. It’s like we’ve agreed to a wary truce of some kind…though it doesn’t hurt that I also don’t go out unless I know she’s hunting and distracted.
It takes a full day to set up the Lady Killer and it’s a lot of goddamn steps. There’s a blind alley near the parking garage that was the perfect inspiration for the trap. It’s big enough that she’d be able to wedge her dragon body in there, but too narrow for her to extend her wings. I’ve got nets set up to fall on her the moment she gets into the right spot, and a loose noose trap to go around her neck provided she gets in the perfect position. I have a bungee cord to go around my waist and a pulley system set up that will launch me into the air once I cut the weight on the other end, and that way I’ll be able to get out of what I’m calling “biting range.” Once she’s wedged in and covered in nets, I’m hoping that talking to her will help her transform. I’ll yell her name a thousand times if I have to.
And then…fuck, I don’t know. I figure I’ll play it by ear.
I crate up all three cats before I decide to go ahead with the plan. The last thing I want is Professor Plum streaking across the blind alley and then becoming a dragon snack. They howl miserably at being in the cages, but I ignore it. “You’ll thank me later,” I tell them, and hope I’m right.
If this goes badly and Teva eats me, those cats are toast. If I die, there’s no one here to free them from the cages. Even so, I can’t take the risk. Now that I’ve returned, the three friendly ones are always underfoot. It’s for their safety as well as mine. I strap on my bungee harness, check the rigging on my nets one more time, and then wait.
I wait for Teva’s mind to touch mine. For that wave of crazy to wash over me and remind me that she’s always nearby. I move to different spots, always near the blind alley, trying to get my scent caught in the wind.
I can tell the moment she picks it up, too.
Her senses perk, and I get that wash of pleasure and memory that’s quickly smothered by the angry part of her. It’s like she wants to be sane but something’s fighting her? It’s strange…and it doesn’t matter. “If this works,” I mutter aloud to fight my growing apprehension, “You and I both are going to be dealing with a hell of a lot more emotion than just anger. Best prepare yourself, baby girl, because you and I are about to become best friends.”
The dragon doesn’t approach, though. She wheels about in the skies, her curiosity about my presence swamped by other thoughts. I feel her start to grow distant, and realize she’s not coming after me. She knows I’m here but she’s still leaving.
Fuck, that’s not part of the plan.
“TEVA,” I bellow into the late afternoon skies. “I know you’re out there!”
That gets her attention. Her mind flicks toward me again, and I can see the dragon veer mid-flight, turning back toward me.
“That’s right,” I mutter, then call her name again. “TEVA. I’m here!”
The roar that pierces the sky is ear-shattering.
No turning back now. I fight back the searing panic that threatens to overwhelm me. My brain knows that I should run from a dragon. They’re predators. This makes me prey. But I can’t run—not only am I strapped to my pulley system, but I can’t run if this is going to work. I stand in place, knife at the ready, the rope close by. I’m at the end of the alley, and once she squeezes in here to try and grab me, I’ll cut the rope.
That’ll send my nets flying down to tangle in her wings and without the counter-weight, I’ll go flying into the air and hopefully out of the bite zone.
She flies overhead again and I fill my thoughts with the alley and where I stand in it. I push the thoughts toward her as if it’s a cart, and I’m straining so hard that my temples throb. I have no idea if it works or if she can even hear me, but I’m trying to do everything I can to encourage her in this direction.
Her thoughts get stronger as she flies overhead. The chaotic storm of her emotions fills my mind, distracting me, but I can also sense flashes of curiosity back and forth. She wants to know what I’m doing. Good. I keep “calling” her and sending mental images of the alley, hoping she’ll pick up the message.
She circles overhead twice more and then slows, extending her wings as she comes in for a landing at the far end of the alley, opposite of where I am.
Perfect, I think. Now come toward me. I clench the knife in my hand, ready.
The dragon tucks her wings close to her body and lifts her head into the air, nostrils delicately flaring. She’s terrifyingly close, and utterly enormous. I thought I was used to seeing dragons after being around Rast and Liam, but I’m not prepared for the sheer impact that an enormous, enraged red dragon has on me. She’s huge, and the lizard part of my brain is screaming for me to run, that I’m in danger.
Even so…she’s beautiful. Deadly, yes, but I can appreciate the delicate arch of her long neck, the elegance of her form. As dragons go, she’s the loveliest specimen I’ve ever seen.
Teva looks right at me, her eyes whirling a mixture of gold and black. For a moment, they flare pure gold and her thoughts clear. She wants to know who I am.
It’s gone an instant later, though, the black bleeding back into her gaze, and then she lowers her head and creeps forward. She’s stalking me. My heart hammers in my chest and as she slinks toward me, I see smoke curling from her nostrils. Fuck. I forgot all abo
But I think she wants me alive. I hope.
I consider cutting the rope right now, flinging myself out of harm’s way, but she’s not close enough. If I do it now, the nets will fall on nothing. She has to be closer. Close enough to touch, almost.
So I stand my ground and try to keep my thoughts calm. Ordered.
There’s a chalk-marked X on the ground where Teva needs to stand in order for me to cut the rope. I try not to stare at it as she creeps forward. I can see the gleam of her fangs, can smell the hot char of her breath. Even so, she’s still not quite at the right spot. Part of me wants to back away, but instinctively, I know that’ll be the wrong thing to do. She wants to be challenged. I can’t challenge her if I’m retreating.
I point at the ground in front of me and act like I’m the one in charge. “Come forward, Teva. Come stand right here.”
The dragon hisses as she moves forward, the sound so loud that it seems to echo off of the alley walls. Everything in me says I need to run. To scramble for safety. She’s thirty feet away, then twenty, then ten.
I’m sweating. Hard.
The moment one of the big clawed feet lands atop the X, I can’t wait any longer. With a shout, I slash at the rope.
It snaps.
The dragon recoils, her eyes completely black, and the world seems to move in slow motion as more smoke boils out of her nostrils. She opens her mouth, revealing rows of sharp white teeth—
And the recoil from the weights finally catches up. With a shout, I go flying into the air even as the weighted nets land atop the dragon’s wings. The noose-trap tightens, and I notice as I go flying that the dragon’s head jerks, caught.
It’s fucking working! My mousetrap worked—
I slam into the wall, my shoulder colliding with hard concrete. I grunt through the searing pain as the bungee cord continues to fling me upward, and then I bounce in midair.
And bounce again.
So much for reaching the roof. I dangle halfway between my actual destination and the ground, bobbing slowly as the dragon thrashes below.
She twists furiously, her wings fluttering against the nets as her neck whips back and forth and flame spits from her mouth. She’s trying desperately to get free, and I can sense her panic. Her terror.
Fuck. This isn’t what I wanted. I don’t want to scare her so badly that she snaps her own neck. I just want to fucking help her. “I’m here, Teva,” I call out. “Just…give me a moment.”
I consider the walls I swing helplessly between, then twist my legs in motion until it moves me close enough to one of the buildings. I push off of it, launching myself into the air and then bouncing to the other side as I watch the dragon struggle furiously below.
Only one way to do this.
“Fuck,” I say aloud, even as I bounce off the next wall and fling myself toward the dragon.
6
GABE
I land on Teva’s neck.
The dragon’s thrashing immediately stops, though she continues to let out massive amounts of flame that could roast me in a heartbeat. She’s trying to figure me out, and even though I can feel the panic in her head, it’s almost like she’s reassured that I’m here with her.
I snag one of the horns atop her head and use it to brace myself. She can’t flame me this way at least. “Teva,” I growl. “Let’s end this nonsense, okay?”
Those long teeth snap again, and she bucks her body, trying to throw me off. I can sense her anger and frustration, and the fear is creeping back in. Her mind is a seesaw of emotions, moving back and forth so quickly that it’s hard for me to keep up.
“Change forms,” I demand, but no matter how many times I shout it as I hang on to her thrashing head, she doesn’t. It’s like I’m asking the wrong thing. I try to think about what Amy said. That Teva has to be defeated in order for her to submit to a mating challenge, and that’s the only way for her to change back.
Maybe she doesn’t realize I’m here for a mating challenge, then.
Fuck. It’s hard to think about sex when I’m straddling the neck of an angry, fire-breathing dragon. I don’t know what Teva looks like or if I’ll even be attracted to her. My dick’s not hard at all. How am I supposed to make this sexy? To let her know that she needs to change?
I try to draw upon my mental spank bank, but it feels fucking weird and wrong to do that atop another female—even if she’s a dragon. So I steer my mind in another direction—jacking off. Living in the fort means there’s not a lot of privacy to take care of my own needs, and it’s been days since I’ve jerked it. I’m feeling it, too. I need release like I need air, and so it’s not hard to think about pulling my cock out and stroking it. I fill my thoughts with as much heat as I can, imagining my hand lubed up with soap as I stroke it up and down my length.
The dragon stops struggling and goes quiet.
I continue to think about sex, imagining the filthiest things I can. That she’ll turn and be some dragon version of Jessica Rabbit with enormous tits and dick-sucking lips. She’ll look up at me as if she needs my cock and purr with satisfaction when I give it to her. Even as I think these things, my cock stirs in my jeans, and I adjust my grip on the dragon’s horns, hooking my elbow around one and freeing my other hand to tug on the loop of rope around her neck. I tighten it as much as I can—it won’t hurt her because her scales are impenetrable, but I can feel her stiffen when I wrap my hand in the rope to tighten it further. I lean in close to her neck and make my voice as sultry as I can, even as I press my cock against her neck. “Come on, Teva. It takes two to tango. Admit that you’re beat. I won this challenge.”
The dragon’s thoughts immediately flush with heat and need. Yearning.
“That’s right,” I tell her firmly. “I won you.”
That’s the only warning I get before she shifts forms, and I tumble to the ground. I land atop a soft female form and then I’m staring face to face with a woman.
It’s Teva.
Holy shit. She’s utterly beautiful.
I wasn’t sure what I expected her to look like. I’ve seen Rast and Liam so I know that the drakoni are mostly human, but Liam’s skin is pale gold enough that he can almost pass for human. Rast is a deeper gold and his scale pattern is more pronounced. Liam hides his horns in his short, spiky hair, and Rast has a thick, tangled mane that cascades down his back. Both have spikes on the backs of their lower arms and legs, but Liam hides his with clothing. Even so, both Rast and Liam look like guys so it was hard to transpose those images onto a woman, to imagine what Teva would look like.
I don’t think I could have ever imagined Teva in all of my wildest dreams.
The woman that stares back at me has gorgeous red skin. Not a shiny ruby red, but a reddish gold that somehow seems warm and inviting. Her hair is the same shade, thick and rich and a magnificent, tangled cascade down her shoulders. Her features are delicate, almost elfin in nature. Her eyes are tilted slightly, her brows arching, and she has sharp cheekbones and the most gorgeously lush, full mouth. She stares at me, lips parted, and then her eyes flare deep, deep gold.
Hot, hungry need sears through my mind.
Was I worried I wouldn’t be into this? I’m a fucking moron, because she’s flawless. I’d have to be insane not to be attracted to her. I gaze down at her body, sprawled under mine. The slight scale pattern zigzags along her lovely skin, and her breasts are small and tight, her body lean and athletic and almost dainty.
She lifts a hand, and I see long, dark claws on the end of each fingertip. Dangerous claws.
That reminds me that she’s not human.
That I’m the one that’s supposed to be in charge. I’m supposed to be dominating her.
Or else I could lose her all over again.
I stare down at the beauty beneath me. Her thoughts are calm, her breathing a light, rapid panting. The thought of her shifting back to dragon because she can’t help herself guts me. I have to claim her. I can’t let her be lost.
I won’t fucking allow it to happen to her. Teva’s mine. The vicious possessiveness I feel is startling, but it also feels right.
The rope that was loose around her neck in dragon-form has fallen to the ground, so I grab a fistful of her hair and force her head back. Her panting increases, her eyes watching me intensely. There’s no fear in her, only excitement, and as I lean closer, she snaps her teeth at me.
It’s both sexy and terrifying. Guess I won’t be kissing that pretty mouth anytime soon.
But if I can’t kiss her, I don’t know how to ease her into this. I can’t just push her thighs apart and thrust into her like some schoolboy. That’s too close to rape. I need her to be into this, too.
She’s watching me closely, and her thoughts are still whirling and chaotic, but her eyes are a much calmer gold. That’s a good sign. I tighten my hand on her hair even as I shift my weight onto my elbows so I’m not crushing her. “Teva,” I murmur. “You in there?”
Her panting stops.
Her pretty, deep red lips part and she licks them. “T-Teva,” she murmurs, and her voice is husky and sweet. Goddamn, the sight of her is making me impossibly hard.
I lean in close, pleased at the fact that she’s speaking to me. “Teva,” I agree, and lightly brush my nose against hers, leaning in in an almost-kiss. “Hello, Teva.”
She gasps when I rub my nose along her cheek and then lightly kiss her ear. When I nip at her earlobe, she lets out this sexy little whimper that makes me crazy, and my dick’s hard as a rock. I don’t know what that says about me, but I try not to think too much about it. All that matters right now is fixing Teva’s broken mind. So I nip her ear one more time and when she shivers against me, I carefully lift my hand and place it on her shoulder, caressing her skin with my thumb. Even though she looks scaly, her skin is soft and scorchingly hot to the touch.
Teva arches against me, as if asking for more.
She wants more, then? All right, I’ll give her more. I palm her breast, remembering that I need to be firm with her. In charge. Dominant. I can’t wait for her okay. I just need to watch her signals to make sure she’s still with me. Her nipple is hard when I caress it, and she lets out this fierce little purr when I skate my thumb over it.
-->