I'm Not A Dragon's Mate!

by Sandra R Neeley

  He grinned at her, a sickening, condescending grin. “You are not very bright, are you female? But you do have such a pretty package.” He reached out to stroke the outline of her breast. “Why must I explain everything? Is nothing apparent to you? The tea, the tea you drink is made from my blood. It ensures that you are safe from my security measures, my Dragon’s Fire will not hurt you, the blood identifies you as mine.” His grin became a sneer, “It ensures that you will survive my touch, it ensures that you are bound to me, whether or not you mark me. It ensures that you will never be out of my reach. As long as you have my blood inside you, I can track you. Anywhere, any time. You cannot hide from me, ever.” He returned the platter of food to her bedside table. As he stalked away, he mumbled to himself about preferring treasures that didn't speak. Shocked at the information she’d just been given, she just lay there numbly and watched him go.

  Avaleigh lay on her lounge chair near the pond trying to make sense of what she had learned from the Dragon. There was no way to escape him. This was her life. The fact that his blood was now a part of her meant that he could find her no matter where she ran. That also meant that whoever she took shelter with would be in danger. She was screwed, well and truly screwed. She felt like Bear looked, despondent. Lurin had been strutting around like the pompous ass that he was since his announcement that she was bound to him even if she’d never marked him. He believed that he had broken her, and that idea apparently gave him immense pleasure. He was so secure in what he believed to be his ultimate control and possession of her, that he felt comfortable enough to plan to go away for a few days on business. She let him believe that she was beaten, that she had accepted her situation, his domination. But she hadn’t, never would. He may have limited her actions, but he would never control her heart. She couldn’t leave here, couldn’t be free again, but Bear could leave. It would be a mini victory, but a victory nonetheless. Lurin had said that the Dragon’s Fire bars wouldn’t hurt her because of his blood in her system. So she was going to drink a shit load of that damn blood tea, then go stand between the beams and use herself to break the connection. Hopefully, Bear would bolt through the bars and run his way to freedom. A lot could go wrong here. He could eat her, the bars could fry her. But, then again, it could be successful, annnd then Lurin would kill her in rage, and you know what? That would be okay, too. Any of it would be okay. At least another innocent soul would have his chance at life, rather than slowly being tortured or starved to death. She was screwed, but the Bear would see another day.

  Chapter 3

  Avaleigh waited until the night after Lurin left to try to free the Bear. She got up in the middle of the night and slipped into her jeans and tshirt. She grabbed her shoes and carried them out with her since she didn’t want her footsteps to wake Slatterly. She opened the door and slipped outside, moving in what she hoped was a quiet sneak toward the pond. When she got to the pond, she took the long way around, slipping between the huge boulders and the water’s edge to get to the enclosure. Her jeans were wet to her knees now, and she was sloshing with each step she took. As she approached the enclosure, Bear sat up and watched her intently. She walked right up to the beams and stood there for a second. She reached between them and handed him the roasted chicken she had snatched on the way through the kitchen. He gently took the chicken from her hand and devoured it. She smiled that at least she had been able to offer him a little bit of food before he started his journey. A journey he really needed to get started on before the vermin figured out she wasn’t in her bed.

  “I’m gonna get you out of there, okay?” Bear looked at her, and she’d have sworn he raised his eyebrows at her. “I’m gonna break these beams and you are going to run away, got it? Run away, DO NOT EAT ME,” she said slowly as she would to someone who spoke a different language. She looked to her right where the bars were sitting in supports that connected to the electrical box that the beams were being emitted from, and Bear realized what she meant to do. He snarled at her to get her attention and threw his big blocky head left and right in an imitation of a human shaking their head, No. She smiled at him sadly and said, “It’ll be okay, it’s not supposed to hurt me, and if it does, anything is better than this.” She looked over her shoulder toward the house to indicate the way she was currently living. “Just run and be safe.” She reached out and pressed the black button that made the bars retract into the opposite end of the cage, which left only the electrical field of beams in place. She took a couple of deep breaths, stepped toward the beams themselves, closed her eyes and lodged herself in the middle of them. She heard Bear roar, she felt a mild tingle, then, nothing. Bear’s roar had stopped short, and there was no sound. She opened one eye and peeked at the scene around her. The electric beams were no longer engaged on the other side. Bear was lying to her left on the freedom side of where the beams would have been, looking at her dumbfounded, and her back started tingling like a motherfucker. She took that as her sign to step out of the line of the beams, and when she did her movement took her closer to Bear. He immediately began to waiver, she heard pops and snaps and… What the fuck?! He was changing shapes. Holy Shit Balls!! He’s a man, no wait, he’s a Bear, he’s a Man Bear. And he’s a hot Man Bear, too! A big ass Man Bear! Her eyes looked up and down his at least 6’5” frame. He had more than a few muscles carved into his chest and stomach. His arms and legs were massive, not to mention his… yeah, she wasn’t going there. She heard him clear his throat and aw, shit, she went there. Dear God, did that thing require a leash? Huge! Yes, that thing was impressive, too. Any other time and she might have been giving him the old come hither lines. She shook her head at her thoughts and decided that it must be the damned overdose of tea that had her thinking that way. At another clearing of his throat, her eyes rose to his. His chestnut brown coat was now a chestnut brown head of gorgeous unruly hair. His beautiful golden brown eyes were now in a face that should be illegal it was so beautiful. She dragged her gaze down his sculpted body in obvious appreciation and suddenly felt her knees give. His quick reflexes had her before she hit the ground. His voice was gruff and growly from lack of use, as he said, “You okay? I got cha.”

  She looked up at him in a bit of a daze and managed to squeak out, “You’re a Bear.”

  He nodded and watched her closely for any negative reaction.

  “Glad you didn’t eat me.”

  He smirked at her as he helped her sit on the ground.

  “How are you a Bear?”

  “I’m just like you, only I have a Bear inside. We are called shifters, but we are people, just like you. I won’t hurt you.”

  Avaleigh just looked at him, trying to figure out what the hell alternate universe she had landed in that had Dragon changers and Bear shifters. “Are you like Lurin?” she asked, realizing suddenly that she may have traded one evil for another equally as bad.

  He squatted down next to her, “No, I am not like Lurin, I’m nothing like him. He’s evil because he is psychotic, not because he is a shifter. We have good and bad just like humans. He’s the worst.”

  She just barely nodded to indicate she understood, and realizing that she still sat on the ground with a very naked man Bear leaning over her, she said, “I’m sorry, my legs aren't so good right now. The tingly feeling is keeping me from standing.”

  “What tingly feeling, is it from the drugs?”

  She looked up at him, wondering how he knew they drugged her, “I think it’s from the beams. I could feel it when I first stepped into the beams, but it wasn’t bad at first. I think I stayed in them too long. Which reminds me, why are you standing here? Run, go, you need to get away while you can.”

  He looked off into the distance and then back to her, “I’m not leaving you here.”

  “Yes, you are. I can’t go, but you can. I can’t watch them torture you any more. It breaks my heart, and since I can’t go, you will.”

  He glanced back at the house. Avaleigh had obviously decided that she wasn't going with h
im, and he’d be damned if he was going to leave her here. He tried to nudge her gently to go with him “Come on, honey, let’s get you up and moving, we need to get out of here.”

  She looked at him sadly, shaking her head,“I already told you, I can’t go, but you can. It’s why I freed you, so you at least would have a chance.”

  “I’m not leaving you here, hon. You need to get up and come with me,” this said as he put his hands under her arms trying to get her up.

  She just kept shaking her head, pushing his hands away, and looking at the ground she was still sitting on.

  He breathed a deep sigh, tilted his head back to look at the stars, hands braced on his hips, then said, “Fine, have it your way.” In one movement that screamed of his strength, he scooped her up off the ground and tossed her up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and headed off toward the trees. She started panicking and whisper-screaming at him, “Noooo, you can’t do this, he can track me wherever I am, he’ll find me, I’ll lead him right to you, and he’ll kill us both. Just go without me.”

  Kincaid stopped in his tracks, stunned by what Avaleigh just told him.

  “What are you talking about, Avaleigh? Unless you’ve mated him, he cannot track you.”

  “He can track me, and how the hell do you know my name?”

  “I’ve watched you, I heard him call your name,” he told her. “You're not mated to him — you haven't claimed him so the bond isn't final. He can’t find you if we hide well enough,” he started walking again. Then, still hanging over his shoulder, she starting telling him what Lurin had told her as quickly as she could so that he would leave her behind. She explained that as long as his blood was in her body, he could find her, even if she hadn’t marked him, and that Lurin’s blood in her body was how she had freed him from the enclosure, because he had bragged about it being able to keep her safe from the Dragon’s Fire. But she didn't tell him the worst part, that she was carrying his spawn, she was so ashamed of it that she couldn't bring herself to admit it to him. He stopped walking and stood there for a minute, mind racing, trying to find a way to take her with him, because she had freed him, risked herself, and he damn sure wasn’t leaving her behind. He thought about going in the house and killing everything he found inside, but he was weak from lack of food, and besides her next words nixed that idea. “Lurin is away on business. It’s why I chose now to free you, so you could have a few days head start before he comes back, so you need to go now, please”! she begged. She pushed against his back, trying to lift herself up, “Please put me down. I hate being carried like this, it hurts.” He leaned forward and gently placed her back on her feet. Kincaid looked at her as Bear began to whisper in his mind, “Mate her, make her ours, our bite will purge all others from her body.” “She is not ours, Bear,” Kaid thought at him. Bear didn’t miss a beat, “She will be if we bite her, we work out details later.” Kaid shrugged his shoulder, smiled at her, a gorgeous, make-your-panties-wet, stunningly sexy, mischievous kind of smile — then, he lunged for her, wrapped her in his arms and bit her just where her shoulder met her neck.

  She tried to rear back out of his reach, slapping at him as she screeched, “Are you nuts? What the hell is wrong with you? I freed you and you decide to eat me after you’re a man again? What the hell, Bear???!!!” She jerked herself out of his arms and shuffled several steps away from him, one hand held out as though to warn him off. He’d just bitten her, just like Lurin had and she had had enough. “What the hell?!” she said to him again as she pulled her shirt aside to try to see the bite.

  Kincaid, who was slowly advancing on her, calmly said, “Kaid.”

  She wasn’t looking at him, she was busy trying see the damage his bite had inflicted on her trapezoid muscle. She glanced up at him from where her body was twisted trying to see the bite, “What?”

  “Kaid, my name is Kincaid. Kaid for short.”

  Her anger had kicked in full force, and her sarcasm with it. “Great, Kaid, thanks for that, Kaid. I was wondering what it was gonna take to get the shit bitten out of me, again, Kaid.” She noticed him slowly moving toward her and backed up more, hand still out toward him. “Stop where you are. I mean it, stay away, leave me alone.”

  “You know, I could do without your damn sarcasm, woman. I just made it so he couldn’t track you. I’m not gonna eat you. The only way to hide from him was to bite you. It’s just a little bite, anyway. Can we go now?” He looked off toward the trees as his words started to sink in to her mind.

  She dropped her hand, stopped backing up and stared at him with huge eyes, still pissed, but now with a little hope mixed in. “What do you mean, he can’t track me now?”

  “I claimed you, I marked you, my bite will purge any other male’s DNA from your body. All of his DNA, including his blood, I think. The purging won’t be pleasant for you, but I think it will work, and Bear’s doing a combination of a happy dance and a can-we-get-the-fuck-out-of-here dance in my head, so can we go now, or do I need to knock you out and just take you with me? ‘Cause I ain’t leaving you here. I saw what they do to you, and I saw the light go out in your eyes. No woman deserves that. I’m not leaving you here.”

  “I saw the light go out in yours, too. It’s why I freed you,” she said softly.

  That just confirmed his decision. She had a soft heart, and she had hurt for him when he was locked up. “If I go, you go, too. And now that I think I’ve broken the bond he made, there is no reason for you to fight me.”

  Avaleigh hesitated for just a moment longer, thinking over the DNA thing that Kaid had explained to her. She was wondering if that purge, whatever it was, was strong enough to terminate her breeding. That was Lurin’s DNA right? If if worked the way Kaid said it did, it might truly give her a chance, it might clean her entire system of the pollution it now carried. She met Kaid's eyes, “Is one bite enough? Shouldn't you bite me again? I mean just to be sure?”

  He sighed and looked up at the sky again. This was one strange female, one minute she was pissed because he marked her, now she wanted him to do it again. Fine, if it got them the hell away from here, he’d do just about anything. He looked back at her, “If I mark you again, will you come with me?”

  She only gave a second’s hesitation. “On one condition, if he finds us, you have to save yourself. Get away while I distract him. Okay, wait, one other condition, once we are safe, you have to leave me behind even if he hasn't found us and go as far as you can. That way you’ll be safe no matter what.”

  He agreed with her just to make her shut up and go with him, “Okay, fine, but just so you know, this is going to make your purge even harsher. Just remember that you asked for this when it starts.” He reached for her and gently pushed her hair behind her shoulder, he lowered his mouth to the opposite side of her neck from where he’d bitten her the first time, he kissed her just where her neck met her shoulder, licked her, tightened his grip and sunk his teeth into her. She gasped and clung to him, but she didn't pull away. If he didn't have his incisors sunk into her flesh, he would have shook his head in disbelief when she whispered, “Make sure you get a good dose of your DNA in there. Hold on for a bit if that’s what it takes.” He did, he kept his teeth in her flesh for a few seconds longer. Then he pulled out and used his tongue to soothe the wound. It would be sore, but it wouldn't hurt too much, Bear’s teeth were extremely sharp. “Can we go now?” he asked her.

  “Yep, but remember your promise if he finds us. You go, I’ll distract him. It’s me he wants, anyway.”

  He nodded to show his agreement, but he knew that he’d lied to her. He would never leave her. He’d bitten her even if she wasn’t truly his Mate. She was claimed by him, his responsibility, part of his clan, and he wasn’t giving her up or letting her go. He ran his thumb across her cheekbone and smiled softly at her. Fuck that, he wasn’t leaving her anywhere. When she figured it out, she’d just have to deal.

  Chapter 4

  The darkness was almost oppressive, weighing them d
own as they made their way down the mountainside. She could feel it, heavy and suffocating, and it made her want to hunch her shoulders and hide. Kaid led the way since he was able to see well in the night. Avaleigh followed, but he could tell she was tiring quickly. He was in his human form so that he could help her when she needed, but stubborn female that she was, she refused him each time he reached out to try to steady her or to help her over a fallen tree or through a deep stream bed. He could have made better time as Bear, but the change took precious energy that he needed to conserve if at all possible. He’d grown weak from lack of food while he was caged, and he needed to conserve all the energy he could to be sure that he could get them down the mountain and to safety. He had felt the minds of his brothers, his clan, brush his shortly after Avaleigh had freed him, and he knew that they were now moving toward them as quickly as they could. He could feel the elation at the revelation that he was alive through their bond. They must have thought him dead when they couldn’t feel him at all. The enclosure the Dragon had kept him in had blocked his bond with his clan. He had wondered about that, wondered if that was why they hadn’t come for him. But knew it for sure as soon as the link had been reestablished after he was freed. He had felt their shock, then elation followed by strong determination — he knew they were coming, prepared for battle if need be.

  They weren't all like him. He was a Bear, a strong, dominant, brawling, fucking Alpha Grizzly Bear. He was their Alpha, and each and everyone respected him as such. He had another couple of Bears in his clan. Bane and Bam were actual brothers, Bears like him. But they were half Black Bear and half Grizzly. They were steady and could be counted on to remain the voice of reason, well, at least more reasonable than the rest of them were. They had had shit for parents. Both their parents were druggies and only kept the kids they happened to get pregnant with when they realized how much they could get in welfare payments and food stamps. Not that the kids ever saw a penny of it. They traded most of the food stamps for whatever their drug of choice was at the time, and most of the money went the same way. Bam’s real name was Bramley, and he was actually the older brother. He was 6’7” tall, with thick wavy black hair that he haphazardly wore at about shoulder length. Hazel eyes that were brown with what at times looked like both gold and green swirling in them. Shoulders wide as a door and a muscular frame that even dwarfed him. Of all his clan, Bam was the biggest. Bane couldn't say Bram when he was little, and it came out Bam. It stuck and it kind of fit his personality. Bam was a good male, simple in the way he approached things, but smart, never forgot a Goddamned thing. And he asked for nothing at all, ever. He had a hard time thinking he was worth even the food he ate, which was ridiculous because he was one of the best males that ever drew breath, unshakable character, limitless integrity, honest as the day is long, selfless. Just saw things differently, a true innocent. Bam was a gentle soul, and in spite of his size and strength he would never have survived without Bane. He had grown large very young and was clumsy for a long time, spilled things, broke things. That coupled with his unique outlook on the world and the way he was always wanting to know how things worked, why things worked and taking them apart to find out, always made him a target for the fuckheads that brought him into this world. He tended to take everything apart - air conditioners, radios, televisions, whatever attracted his attention, and he asked a million freaking questions of why and how, still did. Bane was another story. Bane had intentionally been named Bane by their mother because she said he was the Bane of her existence. She said he was destined to be stupid just like Bramley and named him Bane in preparation for his fuck ups, the cunt. He was just shy of 6 and a half feet tall. He had dark hair and chocolate brown eyes that swirled with gold. He had inherently tanned skin like Bam did. Both males attracted women like flies, but Bane was the only one that would occasionally allow them to relieve his stress. He wasn't interested in a relationship, but he always tried to treat the ones he spent a little time with respectfully. He was good like Bam was, and somewhere deep inside he had integrity, but he had developed a quality over time that Bam hadn’t. He was jaded, suspicious of everyone. He’d lost any innocence he’d ever had, if he’d ever had it at all. He was sharp, observant, could manipulate any individual he came across and would do so whenever he felt it was needed. He had grown up defending Bam from their own parents. Intentionally drawing their ire to take the blows meant for Bam instead. Yeah, Bane had the same inherent goodness, but it had become tempered with a suspicion of everyone and everything. He assumed if someone was nice to him, they had an end game in mind. He came across as aloof — if he’d been a woman, he’d have been called a bitch. He was cynical, very much so. But he didn’t like seeing anyone abused or beaten down, at least not without having provoked it. He would jump in and defend the underdog, always. And Lord help the fool that decided to bully another, especially someone who was weaker, if Bane was around to see it. He was a complicated son of a bitch, but he still watched over his brother — he was always bringing home something for Bam to take apart. He loved his brother. He loved his clan. We were his family now, their family, of this I had no doubt.