“Ah. You have awakened at last. Good eve, my love. How did you rest?” he inquired.
“Great,” she replied with a big smile. She forced it for his sake and moved toward him. When she tilted her face up for a kiss, the dragon lowered his head to touch their noses. “Do you need any help?”
“Sit. Let me tend to you now.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had meat cooked like this before.”
His shift from mythical beast to man happened in a blink and like every time before it, Chloe was fascinated. Without a wince, Saul took the roasted meat in his bare hands and pulled it apart.
“Did your mother not cook for you?” He set a leg down on Chloe’s paper plate.
“My mother wasn’t much of a mother,” she confessed to him quietly. “We stopped speaking a long time ago. She was...” Chloe searched for a word. “Toxic.”
Saul raised both brows.
“My mother wasn’t a nice person. She was manipulative and self-centered to the end and not really a great person to be around. I moved out when I was old enough to get away from her and lived with my dad until it was time to go to college. She’s gone now.” Her mother had coked herself into an early death years ago.
“You deserved better,” he murmured, gaze distant. “I miss my own mother greatly, but I meant what I said. She would approve of you, Chloe. It was from her that I learned to treat humans with respect and dignity. To hold you on the same level as our own kind.”
For a while, she ate ravenously, providing little input to the conversation. Saul had clearly eaten to satiety while hunting, as he sat beside her with a smaller portion of food than usual.
“Is she very different from most other dragons?” Chloe finally asked around a mouthful of meat. Even without spices the goat tasted succulent.
“Very. In the middle ages, war between our species became quite common. My father told me stories when I was a young pup of the days when knights would challenge him from horseback. My mother is different. She counseled great men and diffused wars while my father... sated his baser appetites.”
Chloe wiped down her hands on a towel and reached for a bottle of water to wash down the meal. Practice and patience improved Saul’s fireside cooking from their first dinner together.
“Have you ever eaten a person?”
A wolfish grin spread over his handsome features, revealing every white tooth. “Occasionally, I have indulged in a particularly cruel mortal to whet my appetite.”
Chloe shivered. “I don’t know if that’s hot or terrifying.”
“Hot only if I decide to use my dragon’s breath first.”
She glowered at him. With a full belly, she eventually sprawled amidst the grass on her side. The dancing flames mesmerized her but ultimately failed to distract from the worries festering in her heart.
I have to tell him soon.
“Chloe, will you tell me what weighs on your mind? You have been off in your own thoughts these past few days.”
Leave it to a dragon to notice what most men would ignore. “Actually, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you. I’ve just been trying to decide how.”
“You may always speak with me, my love. Nothing you could say would upset me.”
God, I hope that’s true. “I’m pregnant, Saul.”
Chloe wiped her face again and struggled to control her breathing. The air tore in and out of her lungs, and fear seemed to compress her chest with every heartbeat. Her frantic pulse filled her ears with pounding bass.
“Pregnant?” he repeated. “But I... How did this happen?”
Chloe didn’t insult his intelligence by leaping into an explanation about the birds and the bees. Sniffling, and also very aware that he didn’t move closer to comfort her, she looked away toward the fire. “After we met at the mountain, I went back home and hooked up with my ex. It was stupid. We didn’t finish but—”
“It was enough,” Saul interrupted.
“Yes.” Chloe drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She hid her face against the blanket. “I’m sorry.”
“How long have you known of this and kept it from me?”
“Two weeks,” she replied without raising her head.
Saul remained still and quiet beside her, his silence as damning as the thoughts in her head.
“I’ll leave tomorrow. I just... wanted one last night with you.” The pain became an unyielding band around her ribs. Her lungs hurt again, and her throat felt too tight to comfortably swallow back the bad taste in her mouth. She couldn’t breathe.
“Do you love him?” Saul finally asked.
“No. God, no.” Freddy had become everything she hated in a man. Cocky, emotionally abusive, and arrogant. Her self-serving ex would have never set aside his own ambitions for a child. “I never want to see him again.”
“Then do not leave.”
Don’t leave? Chloe raised her head. Saul’s distorted shape shimmered in her vision. She rubbed her eyes as he moved closer and lowered one arm behind her shoulders.
“Stay with me.”
“Why? Do you mean it? Stay?”
“I will not force you to remain by my side, Chloe, if I am no longer wanted. I may not like your choice, but I will respect it.”
“The baby?”
“We will raise it together, of course.”
The weight lifted from Chloe’s chest. For the first time since her admission, she could breathe again. “You’d really do that?”
“Did you expect otherwise?” He cupped her cheek in his palm. “Could you truly expect anything else of me after I have brought you into my home and my life? You are my mate, Chloe. My treasured mate. Nothing short of my own death or your rejection will ever chase me away.”
“I thought you wouldn’t... wouldn’t want another man’s child in your home.” She gasped in another full breath once the shaking stopped. She’d had the worst thoughts about him, jumped to horrible conclusions, and she couldn’t bear to voice a single one out loud. “And... I’ve seen how men can treat children that aren’t theirs.”
“Ah... I see. I may be a dragon, but I am no beast to cause you or a little one harm, Chloe.” Males of certain species tended to kill the offspring of a chosen mate in order to place her into a heat cycle again. A morbid part of Chloe wondered if it was true of dragons, and if Saul was the exception.
“I shouldn’t have thought...”
“My only regret is that I failed to observe your troubles. I could have spared you this pain.” Saul dragged his fingers through her blonde hair. The touch brought her comfort and eased the inner turmoil bubbling in her gut.
“I love you, Saul. I was so afraid. So afraid you’d be furious with me. I love you so much and I couldn’t tell you because I thought... I thought you wouldn’t believe me if you knew.”
“I know,” Saul replied. He pulled Chloe onto his lap and kissed her brow. Within moments, her dragon’s loving embrace soothed her spirit, a balm following the two cruel weeks. “No. To be honest, I always expected we would one day adopt a human child to call our own when the natural inclination of motherhood came upon you. If it ever did. I know some women have no such aspirations.”
“You’re too good to be true. Do you mean it?”
“How could I not love a child of your blood, Chloe?”
Part of her waited to awaken from her dream. Speechless, Chloe pulled him down for a kiss. The only thing that could improve her life was the one thing she could never have.
I wish this baby was his.
Chapter 6
Chloe always screamed whenever Saul came down for a swift landing. With his majestic wings spread, an effortless glide carried them across the green pastures. The wind whipped her hair into a tangled mess but she didn’t care, not when she was filled with so much joy.
“Hahaha.”
“You did that on purpose!” she accused.
“So I did,” Saul agreed. His hearty chuckle warmed her as much as the radi
ant summer sun. That morning, they had awakened to the chirping of the birds. Saul hunted a pair of rabbits for their breakfast and they reminisced over the memory of her MREs.
The fear of being cast aside into the real world, a world without Saul, became a thing of the past. Naturally, the next big decision regarded whether or not she would share the news with Freddy, or leave him forever in the dark.
“Hey. You didn’t go and do something silly like buy me a car, did you?” Chloe perked up at the site of an ivory and gold Rolls Royce occupying the circular end of the drive.
“I most certainly did not.”
Chloe dismounted from his back and walked to the front door. Her naked mate joined her a second later in his human body. “Are you planning to greet your visitor with a salute?” She glanced down at his semi-erection.
“Anyone bold enough to visit my home without invitation has seen it before,” he replied. “And I know who has come to visit me.”
“Point.” Saul’s estate was so remote that she couldn’t imagine any normal person paying him a visit. According to Saul, only certain members of the production company knew his secret.
“You have a guest in the parlor,” Leiv informed them at the door. His disapproving grimace made Chloe shrink back a step behind Saul until she remembered Leiv was as gentle as a kitten.
“I am aware, but thank you, Leiv. I would like to take Chloe out for dinner in town tonight. You and Mahasti as well.”
The grimace was replaced with a surprised blink. “You want to take both of us to dinner with you?”
“You are beloved members of my household. Of course I would enjoy your company over dinner.”
“Thank you.” Leiv opened his mouth to speak again, but he promptly shut it and stepped away, appearing to carry something heavy on his thoughts.
Saul grinned and tugged Chloe by her hand, pulling her with him through the house.
“Dinner?”
“Yes. A night out with our companions. Is that acceptable?”
Hugging his arm, everything in her world seemed right. “I’d really like th—”
“Saul, darling, there you are.” A lyrical voice interrupted Chloe, its sensual tone as seductive as a 40s era lounge singer. Heels clicked against the floor in a staccato beat as a female stranger crossed the room. The woman greeted Saul with a kiss that belonged behind closed doors, even threading her fingers through his golden hair.
Chloe stood to the side, arms crossed and stomach twisting. Maybe kissing is normal for dragons? The French kiss cheeks, right? Except the French usually weren’t naked. Somehow, Chloe resisted the urge to draw the attention to herself by clearing her throat.
Saul broke from the embrace and stepped back, appearing genuinely shocked. It was a plus in his favor and relief to Chloe that he never returned the sensual gesture. “Chloe, this is Brigid. Another dragon.” He cleared his throat, fell back until he reached Chloe’s side, and possessively curved his arm around her shoulders. “Brigid, Chloe is my mate.”
Brigid, Chloe repeated the name to herself. In her black, overpriced heels, Brigid towered above Chloe. She wore an ebony crocodile skin purse upon her arm, a perfect match to her slim fitting pants suit.
“Do not tease me so, darling.” Brigid tossed her sleek red hair over her shoulder, looked Chloe over, and then promptly dismissed her. “Is humor your new tactic in our courtship?”
“Our courtship ended five years ago, Brigid.” Saul’s attention flicked from Brigid to Chloe, as if assessing her reaction to the events. “We will speak of this privately at another time. Perhaps for now, it is better if you return to your home.”
“Home?” Brigid’s voice raised to a sharp pitch and indignant color spread across her cheeks. “How dare you send me away like some lowly human trollop. We had an arrangement, Saul. Your father and mine promised us to one another. I waited for you.”
“Your behavior during our last meeting implied otherwise,” Saul stated evenly. His golden eyes practically flashed with anger. “I made an offer, you refused. There is nothing further between us worthy of conversation at this moment, so I must ask you to leave my home at once.”
Chloe rubbed her sweaty palms against her jeans. She felt plain in Brigid’s presence; a frumpy and pregnant mortal.
“I smell a bastard whelp inside of her. Has my absence made such a desperate dragon of you that you’ll accept a human plaything that comes to you harboring spawn? Don’t make me laugh.”
“Bastard? Fuck you,” Chloe spit back at the dragon. The words tore out of her before she could bite her tongue then Saul’s grip tightened. “Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here and insulting my baby and my mate?”
Brigid’s brown eyes flashed molten red, as vivid as fire beneath the generous sunlight spilling through the windows. In a step, she placed herself in Chloe’s face and snarled.
Saul’s reflexes nearly threw Chloe off balance as he pushed her behind him.
“You will leave. Now,” Saul growled in a low voice. The mirrored surface of a display cabinet revealed his hardened features, the warmth gone from his golden eyes and replaced with deadly intent. Saul was both glorious and terrifying, poised before her like a Roman gladiator preparing to battle a lion. Under better circumstances, Chloe would have appreciated his flexed muscles, but imminent danger promptly made her cower behind him.
The dragoness straightened and promptly composed herself. The furious color leached from her naturally ivory skin. Flawless might be an understatement, as she had the polished look of a model who spent hours before a makeup artist. “My father will be notified of your refusal.”
“Excellent. Tell Maximilian I humbly await his correspondence.” Saul angled his body to remain between Chloe and Brigid when the latter passed by on her way to the door.
“You have not heard the last of this.” Brigid seethed. “Keep an eye on your pet. It would be such a shame if anything were to happen to her.”
The woman moved fast in her heels. She strode out of the home without a backward glance or even a thankful utterance to Leiv, who held the door open for her.
Saul turned to face her immediately. “Chloe, forgive me, I was never told to expect Brigid’s arrival.”
Chloe nervously bit her lip and glanced toward the door, where Leiv stood with an apologetic expression on his handsome face. He bowed and hurried away, too eager to be away from the room. “You never told me you have a mate.”
“Promised one. Not a mate. Brigid has had a century to accept my claim to her. Over a hundred years to accept that our parents intended a mutually beneficial arrangement between our families. Even among dragons that is no small drop of time.”
“Why would she show her face now?”
Saul quieted. Time alongside her newfound mate had given her the uncanny ability to judge and read his changes in mood. Silence could only mean one thing.
“Were you looking for her when you met me?”
“I was,” he admitted.
“Oh.” He was looking for his dragon lady and stumbled across me. He settled for less than he wanted.
“Chloe, you wear your worry on your face, but most of all, I sense it here,” he told her, placing his hand directly above her heart.
“She’s just so... so...” She struggled to release her self-esteem issues.
“Beautiful and vain,” Saul finished. He closed his arms around her and kissed the top of her blonde head. “Brigid was my father’s choice. She is capricious. Selfish.”
“Sounds like a dragon,” Chloe said as she attempted to smile for his sake.
Saul chuckled. The smile upon his face seemed fragile, fatigued by the brief exchange with Brigid. “Perhaps some. When I came of age, I sought her out to fulfill my part of my family’s bargain and she rebuffed my advances. For one hundred years.”
“Do you... mean it... that you would prefer our relationship over someone of your own species? I don’t mean to...” Chloe gulped in a lungful of air. A quick wipe of her palm
dried away the fresh tears on her face. “To question you over and over about it. But she seems to want you now, and she can give you things I can’t.” A child of his own, she thought.
“Yes, I did seek her when I awakened, in hopes of discovering her feelings for me had changed. Meeting you has altered that course, Chloe. I do not want her, and I am quite satisfied with how circumstance has entwined our lives. I will change nothing about this, nor would I change it for anything.”
“You chased her for a century, Saul.”
“I did, and had I not sought her out one final time, I never would have found you, Chloe. You.”
Chloe opened her mouth to protest, but then a subtle ringing noise escaped her pocket. “It’s my dad.”
Lifting the slim cellular device to her ear, she accepted the call and forced some cheer into her voice. “Hey, Daddy.”
“Hey to you, too, sweetie. I wanted to see if you’d changed your mind about the barbeque tomorrow.”
“Actually, I’m in California visiting my boyfriend. Remember?”
“Bring him along then.”
Chloe glanced over at Saul. “Maybe next time.”
“I can fly you out if money’s the issue and it’s too far a drive,” her father offered.
“No, Dad, don’t do that.”
“Southwest has a good deal right now. A pair of tickets won’t cost much.”
“It’s not about money, Dad. I didn’t think I’d come out this ti—”
Saul plucked the phone from Chloe’s hands. “Mister Ellis, I presume?” Swinging one hand out, she tried to swipe the mobile phone back from Saul. She failed when he pivoted on a foot to avoid her, placed a hand atop her head, and held her away at arm’s length. “It is my deep and profound pleasure to at last make your acquaintance. Chloe and I shall drive to your familial reunion post haste. Expect our arrival by the morrow.”
“Saul,” she gritted out between her teeth.
“I look forward to introductions as well. Good afternoon, Mister Ellis.”
“You big jerk! Why did you do that?” Chloe demanded.
Saul dropped her phone into her open palm, apparently oblivious to her angry words. “A road trip! This is very exciting. Are you not anxious to begin our adventure? I certainly am.” Without another word or even an apology, Saul strode from the room as if they were preparing for an epic quest. She sighed and dropped her brow into one palm.
Mated by the Dragon (Loved by the Dragon, #2) Page 6
