“Try to stay off of it for a few days,” he said.
“I think it’s just out of place. I don’t know how to push it back in, but there are exercises you can do, I think. I’ll help you stretch them and…”
“Okay,” Maria interrupted.
“But it’s nothing serious? And my back?”
“Nothing terrible but will take a few weeks to heal. And I’m not sending you back to your uncle like that.”
Maria hopped on the bed and smiled.
“Thank you,” she said. “Did you ever want to be a doctor?”
“I did,” Will sighed. “But I also didn’t want to leave and go to school to study it while my dad and mom…”
“I know,” Maria said. “I lost my parents too.”
“How did you hear about my parents?” he asked.
“Small town.”
Will nodded.
He sat next to Maria on the bed and grabbed her hand. She felt the intense heat rise again in her belly all the way up to her face.
“It’s like nothing else to lose parents,” he said.
“But you were younger than I was.”
“It’s okay,” Maria said. “I never noticed. From five years old, all I knew was living with my uncle. He wasn’t entirely bad all the time. He didn’t use to be so…”
“Bad people aren’t always angry people,” Will said. He let go of her hand.
“And angry people aren’t always bad people.”
Will began to stand but Maria instinctively wrapped her arms around his and hugged him. His body seemed to be on fire, which warmed her more than she thought she could be in the moment.
He gently enveloped Maria and placed his hands on her back. He slipped his hands down to her waist and rested his head against hers. She rubbed his back and enjoyed the moment of holding him.
It was like she could feel his inner tortured soul. She thought she felt him sniff her hair before he let go.
“Don’t go,” Maria begged.
“I may not be able to walk on a tour of the place but I still want to know more about this beautiful place. I’ve never seen anything like it. Must be ancient!”
Will laughed out louder and happier than Maria had heard so far. It made her happy to see him let go for a minute. He told her of how his grandfather helped his father build the mansion.
They talked all day and drank scotch. Maria learned quickly to love the taste of it. She noticed that Will was a great storyteller when he spoke about his mother’s silly habits like tapping her fork against the table before eating.
Maria shared a few moments from her childhood with her best friend, Annabelle, running into the woods and pretending that monsters were after them. They shared laughs and even lay next to each other on the bed.
Maria felt closer to him. She rubbed his arm when he told her about the day he found out his parents had died in a train accident.
The intimate moment grew when Will finished his story and tilted his head, staring into Maria’s eyes. She stared back and wondered when the moment would end.
Everything she saw and felt in him was good. So good that she felt guilty for wanting him to touch her hips that she purposefully kept bumping against his.
He leaned in. Maria turned on her side and rested her head on her hand, leaning in as well.
“I can’t,” Will said. He sat up.
“You can’t what?” Maria asked, partly knowing what he meant.
“I just wanted to help you, not come onto you like must’ve happened to you all ye life,” Will explained.
“No, it’s okay, I…” But Maria couldn’t finish her sentence.
“I mean, I can’t be with any woman, Maria. I shouldn’t want to,” Will continued.
He left Maria on the bed. She stared at the ceiling and sadly accepted her eternal friendship with Will.
Chapter 8
The next few days consisted with Will’s instructions on how to stretch Maria’s leg, cleaning and bandaging wounds.
They spent a few days eating outside, having picnics on nice days in the garden. Will gave her a cane to use for the first week even though she insisted she didn’t need it.
The second week of staying in the mansion passed until Maria felt secure enough to ask Will about walking in the garden. She knew he didn’t want her to go into the woods. Maria thought she had a compelling reason for him, though.
Maria and Will broke pieces of bread and dipped it in their soup bowls outside surrounded by purple, blue, and yellow flowers. A few pink bouquets were planted closer to the pathway towards the woods.
Will crossed his legs on the stone ground after wrapping a shawl around Maria’s shoulders.
“What are those pink flowers?” Maria asked, pointing to the woods.
“Mum planted those, so I always keep them.”
Maria uncomfortably sat on her knees and leaned over her soup, putting her weight on her hands.
She slowly put her hands on Will’s chest.
“What are you doing?” Will whispered.
Maria planted a soft kiss on his lips. She paused, soaking up the feel of his full lips on hers. His mouth moved with hers. Her heart started racing because she finally felt that she knew the truth. That Will loved her too.
Maria thought that all their time spent together was only child’s play and she was developing feelings for him that weren’t real. When he leaned back in that moment and smiled, Maria knew her feelings were real. And she was convinced he felt them too.
His smile faded, though. “I told you I can’t, Maria,” he said.
Will stared at the ground.
Maria felt so upset and confused.
“Why?” she asked.
“I know the way you look at me is different than the way anyone’s looked at me before. It’s the way I look at you.”
“You love me?” Will asked.
“Yes,” Maria said, surprising herself by answering so ferociously.
“Admit you feel the same way.”
Will shook his head. “Won’t do any good if I do.”
“Fine,” Maria yelled.
“Then let me go. I’m clearly healed!” She stood up and accidentally kicked her soup over.
“I can run away if you want.”
“You can leave if you want,” Will said quietly and calmly.
Maria waited a moment for Will to make a move or say something. When he didn’t, she ran for the woods. Down the path she wasn’t allowed before.
She figured she could go through the woods, which was the fastest way back to her uncle or any little village. She looked behind her to see Will chasing her.
“Maria, don’t go in the woods!” Will called out.
She didn’t listen and tried to run faster. Tears ran down her cheeks. Will grabbed her arm before she could pass the pink flowers. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and put his hand on the back of her head.
She cried into his shoulder without struggling to leave his grasp.
“Shhh,” Will comforted. “You’re right. I do love you.”
“Then be with me,” Maria sobbed.
“I’ve waited for almost three weeks now and I don’t want to leave. And I thought I would. Because of you.”
Will hugged Maria and rocked her. He stroked her hair and stared into her eyes. Maria leaned her cheek against the palm of his hand.
It felt warm and safe as he wiped her tears away with his thumb.
“Follow me,” he said.
He grabbed her arm, his nails digging into her arm.
“You’re hurting me,” she said as she ran with him into the woods.
Will loosened his grip and stopped in front of a giant cage. No tree was inside but the path lead to the door of the cage.
“Sometimes it wants to eat me up inside,” Will said.
He let go of her and walked to the cage door. Maria admired in stunned silence at the tall contraption towering at the same level of the trees. Will locked the door behind him.
“What are you doing?” Maria nervously asked.
“You’re going to see something, and when you do, you won’t want to love me anymore,” Will said.
Maria waited patiently as Will turned his back and took off his shirt. He flexed his arms. For a moment, Maria was distracted by the oddity of Will’s behavior.
She watched his pants fill out. His thighs grew larger. He bent over and screamed like he was in pain. Maria finally felt the chill of fear trickle down her neck.
Large spikes, like that of a stegosaurus’, poked through the skin along Will’s back. His shoulders popped out of their sockets and revealed large, scaly wings growing along with the rest of his body. His neck elongated like a bird’s.
Maria couldn’t see his face transform, but the look of his distorted huge lizard-like body still stretched with human skin haunted Maria. A look she knew she could never forget.
It looked so painful, which made Maria worry about Will’s safety. It was confusing because she also worried about her own safety.
As Will grew larger and his skin changed into light green scales, Maria backed away slowly out of shock. She watched his toes turn into claws. His large tail swung the sides of the cage, which made a lot of clanging noise.
Everything about Will’s look scared Maria. She backed into a tree and then hid herself behind it. She peered over the trunk in time to see Will’s large dragon snout.
He opened his jaw and bared his sharp teeth, saliva dripping from them. Maria screamed and started to run just as the dragon in front of her flapped its wings and roared. The cage rattled when Will’s dragon arms grabbed the bars.
Chapter 9
Maria ran into the garden and looked around frantically, unaware of where to go. She could run into the woods in search for the closest village, but she figured the dragon would see her and break free from the cage to follow her.
She thought dragons were a myth and couldn’t make sense of what she saw. Maria partly believed that it was a nightmare and she was still asleep. Without much thinking, her instincts took her into the mansion.
She found a small closet down the hall from the dining room and locked herself inside. Luckily, there were piles of extra blankets inside for her to cover herself with.
Among Maria’s heavy panting, she heard the door creak open. Mrs. Gilbert stood there, staring down at her. Maria threw the blankets off and stared at the maid, waiting for her to say something.
“So you saw him, then,” Mrs. Gilbert said matter-of-factly.
Maria nodded.
“You know about him?”
“Consider yourself lucky,” Mrs. Gilbert began.
“Out of all the people he’s met, you’re the only one he’s trusted to show.”
“How is it possible?”
“Shape-shifters are real,” the maid answered. She bent down to Maria’s level and held out her hand.
“I had to clean up a lot of messes when he was younger. That’s why his parents built that cage. William can control when he becomes a monster, but he can’t control the monster when it comes out.”
“Has he ever hurt anyone?” Maria asked, taking Mrs. Gilbert’s hand and walking out of the closet.
“Never.” Mrs. Gilbert pointed upstairs.
“Go up and wait for him. He’ll calm down by tonight. If you want to leave, he deserves to know what you want to do. Don’t run off. And don’t tell anyone. Understand?”
Mrs. Gilbert stared so deeply in Maria’s eye, she felt that the maid could see through her soul. Maria nodded and headed upstairs.
Maria stared out her bedroom window after pacing the floor for hours. So many thoughts ran through her head.
It took several hours for Maria to accept that everything she believed of the world wasn’t what she thought or expected. The sun was setting when she spotted Will walking up the garden path to the mansion with just his long white button-down covering his body.
He entered Maria’s room and put both his palms up as if he was in defense. Maria sat on the bed and patted the mattress next to her.
“I want answers,” she said.
“I’ll tell you everything,” Will said.
He paced the floor as he told the story of how he first realized he could change into a dragon. He didn’t know how it was possible but believed his grandfather had the ability and passed it on to him.
Will admitted that he once went into his grandfather’s basement to find a large lizard creature. A few hours passed and Maria’s growling stomach didn’t even bother her. She was enthralled in the day.
“But you can control it?” Maria said.
“So why change into that at all?”
“If I don’t, the dragon inside will want to come out,” Will replied.
“I have to turn into him a couple of times a month or the anger in me will come out, and then… maybe I would be capable of hurting someone. As long as I’m in that cage, I’m fine.”
Maria nodded and walked to the door. She opened it and motioned for him to leave. She couldn’t take in any more information.
“If you want to leave, you can at any time,” he said.
“And I can’t promise I’ll never hurt you if you stay either.”
Maria nodded again and turned her cheek away when Will stroked it.
“But you’re the first person I’ve fallen in love with,” Will said.
It was the last thing he said before he left the room where Maria stayed awake all night in. She tossed and turned in bed.
She was scared that a dragon could breathe fire and burn down the mansion. But she also understood that Will’s large dragon self couldn’t fit into any of the rooms in the house.
Deep down, she loved him so much. He was so kind and if any man were to have anger issues, she would be lucky if her man locked himself in a cage while he got the anger out. Maria understood that the dragon represented Will’s anger and wondered what would happen if she upset him.
That morning, Maria met Will in his room. He was still in his bed but shot up when he saw her enter. She slowly made her way to his window and opened the blinds.
“Maria, I wasn’t expecting...”
Maria laughed as he pulled his sheets up to cover his bare chest.
“I couldn’t sleep and turned this over in my head a thousand times,” Maria began.
“At first I was scared but then Mrs. Gilbert talked to me. And, after hearing you both explain what you are… I love you, but…”
She stopped and looked away. Her plan was to tell him the truth.
She stared back in his eyes, which filled with one tear. He looked up to keep the water in his eyes even when he blinked.
“I know,” he said, nodding.
“If you want to leave…”
“I was scared of what you are, but I’m not afraid of it now,” Maria said.
“I’m afraid of what will happen if I stay and make you angry.”
Will let out a chuckle.
“No one makes me angry. If I was so easily provoked, I would’ve shape-shifted in the bar when you were being auctioned.”
Maria played with his fluffy hair and rested her palm along his face. She smiled and kissed him for a long time. It was passionate, as she knew it would be. He leaned his weight on her and grabbed her closer.
“I’ll stay because I’m in love with you too,” Maria whispered.
She thought she heard Will say “thank God” under his breath in between kisses.
Finally was the time she knew she had to let go of worrying. Night after night, she had dreamed about wrapping herself around Will’s body.
She pulled down his sheet and climbed on top of him. She then understood why he was so warm and chuckled to herself for being thankful for Will’s dragon side.
“I’ve waited for this for a long time,” Will said.
Maria nodded in agreement and slid her blouse off, exposing her breasts that flopped onto Will’s chest. His hands explored up her skirt until he found her underwear and
pulled it down. Maria helped pull down her skirt.
She untied Will’s pajama pants and pulled them down far enough so she could feel him against her thighs.
Romance: Sold To The Alpha Dragon: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Romance, Paranormal, BBW Shifter Romance) Page 3
