“Different strokes, for different folks,” The woman gritted out between clenched teeth as she continued to attempt to choke him.
“Etienne, she is my world, I would never hurt her, this was consensual,” Lucian wheezed out once again.
“Who would consent to such treatment?” Etienne frowned, genuinely confused.
The vampire took his moment of distraction to buck his hips upward, sending them all tumbling over, Etienne rolled and swung the female round so that he didn’t crush her with his weight. He lay over her on the ground and was about to ask if she were alright when Lucian’s sharp claws dug into his neck in a punishing grip.
“Get off her now, dragon.”
“Dragon?” Katherine questioned her eyes quickly scanning over his body, her brows shot up in alarm, “naked man-dragon?”
Etienne stood carefully keeping his movements slow.
“Very naked man-dragon…” Katherine stated as she got more of an eyeful and blushed furiously.
“You have one chance to explain yourself, Etienne, before I tear into you, and for the love of God, stop looking at her,” Lucian’s voice was a low and deadly threat and Etienne dutifully turned his eyes away from the half-naked woman who was still sprawled on the floor.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her immediately close her legs and try to straighten the shirt that she had on.
“Twice now I have found women running in the forest, away from your home, and this one wasn’t fortunate to escape you. I will not stand by and let you continue to torture and abuse humans-”
“He’s not torturing or abusing anyone,” Katherine cut in, “I was more than happy just a moment ago until my orgasm was rudely interrupted by a naked hulk who attacked my man.”
“Your orgasm? You were…?” Etienne frowned and swallowed awkwardly, now that he stopped to notice, the smell of sex hung thick in the air.
“So, tell me again, old sport, why is it I shouldn’t kill you where you stand for setting eyes on my beloved, during such an intimate moment?” Lucian growled.
The vampire couldn’t kill him, Etienne knew that, but he could cause some substantial damage and it would be his right to do so. Etienne had dishonoured another’s mate and so he was morally bound to submit to his punishment.
“Please, accept my apologies, my lady,” Etienne spoke sincerely his eyes lowered in respect, “I had reason to believe you were in danger and so I acted to ensure your safety. I realise now that I was mistaken, I will accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate.”
“Punishment?” Katherine shook her head and ran her hands through her hair, “Look, let's just take a breather here, OK? Lucian, can you let him go, please? It was a misunderstanding. And Etienne, where are your clothes?”
The vampire immediately released him and walked to stand in front of his female.
“Indeed, I don’t particularly appreciate you parading yourself around my home, old sport,” Lucian folded his arms over his chest while Katherine wrapped her arms around him and tiptoed up to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Why are you here?”
“Apologies once again, my lady, I did not intend to offend your eyes,” Etienne apologised sincerely.
“Well, it’s not like they’re offended…” Katherine replied slyly, earning herself a look of displeasure from her mate.
“Out with it, Etienne, I’m losing my patience,” Lucian said curtly.
“I found another female in the forest, she had come from this direction and she reeked of fear,” Etienne began, “Can you tell me why it is that in the space of just two weeks there have been two beautiful women running from your home?”
“We have already discussed Katherine’s misadventure, I’m afraid I don’t know this other woman you speak of,” Lucian replied, as though bored.
“Beautiful, soft body, rich smooth skin and dark hair like a wild storm-”
“Sounds like you’re quite taken with her, old sport, but I’m afraid I don’t know who she is,” Lucian rolled his eyes.
“Yes, you do,” Katherine corrected, “the woman who was here with my father, you sent her away, but my dad would’ve taken the car and left without a backwards look,” she held her hand up to her mouth in shock, the scent of her worry rolled off her body in a lingering wave.
“Fuck,” Lucian cursed, and Etienne inwardly winced.
He couldn’t understand the modern acceptance of crude language in front of females.
“Where is she now?” Lucian continued, “Did she see you in your dragon form?”
“She’s in my lair and yes she saw my dragon. She was being hunted by a mountain lion, I had to intervene and get her somewhere safe and warm. She passed out during the flight, however so I left her sleeping in my furs.”
“Your furs?” Katherine raised a confused brow.
“How did she react to your dragon? Did she realise what was going on?” Lucian pressed.
“Well, she screamed,” Etienne admitted reluctantly, “she tried to run, even when I told her not to be afraid, so I did what I had to: I swept her up and took her to my lair.”
“Of course, she screamed; I did,” Katherine said, “seeing a dragon in real life when they’re supposed to be just a myth, will screw with your head a bit.”
“Especially if you spoke telepathically straight into her mind,” Lucian added, “So it’s fair to say she was sentient when she saw you. You’ll need to bring her to me straight away, I will have to work on her mind again, remove more of her memories.”
“Won’t that mess her up if you keep meddling in there?” Katherine asked.
Etienne held up a hand to halt the two-way conversation that was going on without him.
“Why does her mind need to be altered? Why did you take her memories from her, to begin with?”
“She’s a journalist, old sport, she came to my home to write an exposé on the paranormal world, namely, proving vampires are real, but that would likely extend to the existence of dragons now that she’s seen you.”
“She didn’t really understand what she was getting herself into, Lucian,” Katherine argued, “my father orchestrated the whole thing, he would’ve manipulated her into going along with it.”
“Regardless, darling, she agreed to it and we must take action to ensure that she doesn’t-”
“At the cost of her sanity?” Katherine interrupted, planting her hands on her hips, “You’ve already messed about with her mind twice, if you do it again who knows what damage you could cause?”
“She did not seem particularly threatening to me, all I felt from her was fear and confusion,” Etienne added.
He did not like the way that vampires played with the minds of others as if it were an easy solution to their problems. Truth be told, Etienne could perform the same parlour trick, with greater effect. Being what he was, magic flowed in his veins, but he also held greater respect for nature and all the realm’s living creatures. To play puppeteer with people’s lives was a deep disrespect to the balance of life.
“Perhaps, she won’t remember,” Lucian mused, “if you say she seemed confused and she passed out, she may write the whole thing off as a strange dream.”
“Maybe see if you could drop her off in Darkhills, without her waking up and seeing you as a dragon? Or bring her here and we can make sure she gets back to the city safely,” Katherine ventured.
Etienne zoned out of their conversation as the couple continued to discuss the matter, his senses had flared with a powerful feeling of fear, laced heavily with desperation and despair.
He closed his eyes and focused on the sharp and intense dread that poured through his dragon, making it pace uneasily within him. He threw out his telepathic net and searched the surrounding area for the source. His dragon began to claw at his insides, demanding he be allowed to take flight, smoke billowing from him as his agitation grew.
Something was wrong, terribly so and Etienne needed to leave. He wasn’t certain how much longer he could prevent his dragon from
taking form. Doing so would cause even more damage to Lucian’s home than he already had, not to mention he would risk harming the vampire and Katherine with their proximity.
His eyes suddenly shot open as he found what had caused his dragon’s panic. The female. She was hanging onto the edge of the mountain, just a few moments from death.
Without another word he sprinted from the hall and out into the night, ignoring the confused shouts behind him. His dragon took form the moment he leapt off the ground and he beat his wings furiously to pick up speed. He would make it in time, no matter what. He had to. The little female’s life depended on it.
Chapter Six
Brianna
This was not how she thought she would die. Not that she had ever really given it much thought, but now she was facing certain death, Brianna would’ve liked for it to happen when she was old and grey, tucked up in some cosy old folks’ home somewhere.
Instead, she was clinging onto a cliff while her muscles ached with the effort to hold on and her fingers became increasingly numb due to the cold. The wind howled around her, throwing her hair around in wild abandon and making her eyes water as its icy blast battered her face. It was cool: she didn’t particularly want to see anything anyway. Brianna knew she was fucked and when she fell, which she was absolutely certain that she would, she didn’t exactly want to watch as the hard ground rushed up to meet her.
Hopefully, it would be instant, and it wouldn’t hurt. Brianna wasn’t good with pain. She didn’t think it made her a wimp though. Some people just had higher pain thresholds than she did and that was just a fact of life. In fact, the more she thought about it, the less of a wimp she considered herself to be.
She had survived something that she couldn’t remember, she had kept running through a dark and scary forest, she’d avoided being eaten by a mountain lion and had managed to figure a way out of a dragon’s cave without becoming its next meal. She might now plummet to her death but at least she wouldn’t be eaten alive.
Despite her bravado and internal pep talks, Brianna felt wetness tickle at her chin. Tears were flowing down her face and she couldn't do anything about it.
Dear God, please, she pleaded, I don’t want to die here.
She would miss her mom and dad; she’d miss her sister. She’d miss travelling and exploring new cities and countries- there was so much more for her to see. She’d miss dancing and getting tipsy with her friends, going on dates, even though thus far in her life that had proved fruitless. But that had been OK because she was only thirty-one, she had time to find the right guy.
Only she didn’t have that time anymore. She’d never get to be in love and have the big wedding she and her sister used to dream about as kids. She’d never get to have any children; no-one would ever call her ‘Mommy.’
Brianna had always thought she’d have a family someday, but she hadn’t realised until that moment just how badly she wanted it. A sob broke from her and more tears flowed, only to chill on her skin as the wind continued to hammer her.
She might regret not having told her family that she loved them one last time, but they knew. And perhaps when they found her body, somehow the mystery of what had happened to her would be solved and her family could find peace and closure, even if she would never know what had led to her demise.
Her fingers were numb now, she couldn’t feel them at all, it was only some weird rigour mortis type thing that was keeping her there.
Brianna drew in a shuddering breath and tried to make peace with her fate. There was just her, the wind and the mountain.
A furious roar tore through the air and Brianna’s eyes sprang open in fear.
No, no, no!
She was going to die at peace, she wasn’t going to be eaten, she didn’t want to be eaten.
Panic flooded her as she watched the dragon come barrelling towards her through the sky. Desperation took over and she knew it was now or never. With as much strength as she could muster, Brianna pushed herself away from the mountain. The scream that came instinctively as she fell shocked even her and despite telling herself she would keep her eyes shut, they were wide open as she plummeted through the clouds.
That was how she saw the shadow looming above her before she felt the talons close around her body.
“No!” She cried out as she was suddenly lifted upwards by the power of the creature’s formidable wings.
Within a few seconds, she found herself deposited with a thud back up on the rocky ledge. She scrambled to her feet and ran back into the cave as she felt the hard ground shake beneath her as the dragon touched down. Brianna ran over to the bloodied butcher's block she had found earlier and hurried to hide behind it just as she saw the dragon come stalking into the cave, its horned head bent low to avoid the stalactites hanging way up high.
It was huge. She hadn’t remembered it being that huge. Brianna cursed inwardly and tried as best she could to make her breaths shallow and silent, keeping as still as she possibly could. She prayed to God that this thing worked like T-Rex and if she just stayed still, it wouldn’t see her, then she could make another break for freedom after it had gone.
“Female, you need not hide.”
A deep and rumbling voice spoke in her head, it sounded like, no it felt like brimstone and lava pouring over her. Hot and demanding.
She wanted to scream at the dragon to leave her alone, but she merely bit down on her lip and willed herself not to make a sound.
“I will not leave you alone, so you might as well come out from your hiding place,” the dragon rumbled low in her mind, softer this time, but still just as hot and gravelly.
Her body broke out into goosebumps and a shiver ran down her spine. So, the dragon could read her mind as well as speak into her mind. Damn, that was creepy, what chance did she stand? Brianna willed herself to think about mundane, ridiculous things. Dancing cats came to mind.
“If you would prefer to converse differently, I’d recommend you come out from behind the rock,” the dragon spoke again.
Shit! He knew where she was. Of course, he knew where she was, he could read her damn mind.
A huff of warm air blew over the top of her hair and Brianna slowly tilted her head up to find the scaled snout of the dragon hanging above her. Fight or flight took over and she scrambled to her feet, grabbing a handful of loose stones as she moved. She didn’t waste another moment and began pelting the giant beast with the rocks with as much force as she could manage.
“Leave me alone!” She screamed, “I. Am. Not. Your. Dinner!” She punctuated each word with another stone thrown at the dragon.
Each tiny pebble merely bounced off his armoured body, having no effect whatsoever. Brianna crouched down and scooped up more stones and threw a couple more before she broke into a sob at how pathetic and futile her attempt to fight the creature was. There was no way she could win in a fight against a dragon.
“Please,” she wept, “please, just leave me alone. I don’t want to die.”
The dragon cocked its head at her and took a few steps back.
Was it letting her go? Confusion and desperate hope sparked into life within her. Perhaps she would survive this after all.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a blinding flash of violet light. She turned her face away and blinked at the cave wall, trying to regain her sight. When the spots of light had cleared from her vision, she looked back around to see a giant hulk of a man standing where the dragon had once been. An extremely attractive, very naked, hulk of a man.
He was tall and toned, with broad shoulders, ripped abs and muscles that went on for days. It was difficult to tell in the low light, but his eyes looked almost as if they were glowing a soft purplish-blue, and his hair was an unruly, dirty sort of blonde. Brianna didn’t think she’d ever seen a more perfect looking man in her entire life.
“Bigfoot?” She spluttered in utter astonishment.
“Excuse me?” The man replied as he stepped steadily towards her.
Her
body went back into fight or flight mode and she once again starting pelting stones at him, missing on occasion as her aim wasn't good and he was now a much smaller target. Still huge, but not as big as a dragon.
The man stopped in his tracks and looked down at his body where the last rock had hit his chest. When he looked back up at her, frustration and annoyance showed in his glowing violet eyes.
“I said, leave me alone. You can’t just kidnap women and eat them!” She shouted at him, ducking behind the rock once more to gather more missiles.
“I’m not going to eat you,” the man said, his deep, rumbling voice laced with obvious aggravation.
“Then why am-” Brianna yelped as she found herself gathered up and thrown over the man’s shoulder. “Put me down!” She screamed and began kicking her legs as much as she could while his firm arm wrapped around her thighs and he strode purposefully across the cave.
Oh, Hell no!
Chapter Seven
Brianna
Brianna continued to kick and flail her legs as best she could while being held against the giant hulk with an arm that was more like a band of iron.
“I said, put me down!” She screamed, the noise echoing off the walls of the cave.
“I will release you when you have calmed down.”
“You will release me now,” she demanded as she began hitting and scratching at his back, trying to ignore the way his very firm and bare behind flexed as he strode through the cave to where the thick animal hide hid the entrance to the tunnel.
“Why do you think I would eat you, little one?” The man asked as he pulled the fur to one side and continued along the dark path.
“Why else does a dragon take someone back to its cave? Please, please don’t eat me. I wouldn't taste good- I’m all flabby and there is hardly any good meat on me-”
The man snorted out a laugh.
“I brought you back to my lair because you were in danger from the mountain lion and from becoming ill with pneumonia.”
“A likely story. Look, I know how this scene ends. Damsel gets taken by the dragon, dragon locks damsel away, eventually, dragon gets hungry and eats damsel!” Brianna argued with the man’s back, the blood rushing to her head.
Broken Slumber: A Darkhills Romance Page 4
