“Is that how Micah made it seem? This is not how things will be at all. Just think of this as you moving in with your fiancé and marrying him. You can still work and visit your family if you wish. Only you’ll be married in a few short days and then we will soon have children to secure my line is furthered.” Tristan explained all of this in earnest and I took a deep breath. The whole idea of marrying a stranger wasn’t so scary anymore.
“So I can still… work and visit my family?” I asked hopefully. Tristan nodded and he smiled softly.
“Of course, what sort of monster would I be if I had you kidnapped and ruined your life as you knew it?”
I laughed, surprised that he was making fun of himself and a joke out of the still pretty bad situation. “I breathe fire, I don’t tear apart families,” Tristan added and I giggled. It felt good to laugh a little with the heavy heart I’d had since I met Micah the night before.
“I’m relieved you said that, really. It makes this a lot more…palatable.” I said and it was Tristan’s turn to chuckle.
“Now as far as your marrying a stranger…yes that is true, but you can think of it as an arranged marriage. Plus, since we already get along well now, our bond will only grow in the days to come,” Tristan said optimistically. I smiled, he was almost like the polar opposite of Micah who was so intense and maddening. Tristan was light and carefree and I honestly felt a little better from our short conversation.
“I must lecture Micah on his manner, I’m sure he terrified you,” I nodded, if only Tristan had any idea.
“He said he’s your second in command? That you’re a prince?” I asked.
“Yes, here in Minturn with a population of just over a thousand, we are all dragon shifters. Largely, the shifter trait is dominant and we breed mostly male children so we mate with human females more often than not. We are the only dragon shifter community in the country and my great grandfather united us all in this small town. He was seen as a great leader and fair Lord of the Lands. The title was carried on to my grandfather, and then my father who oversees us as leader of our community. With our mating the title will be passed on to me,” said Tristan.
“Are there other dragon shifters in the world?” I asked, and Tristan nodded.
“Yes, not all are as close knit as ours and we are threatened by nomadic clans all the time. There is so much land on this planet it is always a wonder why other dragons wish to usurp us from these mountains.”
I was finding it refreshing on how easy it was to talk to Tristan. He made his background sound so interesting, apart from the fact that he was a dragon.
“So did I help in soothing some of your fears?” Tristan asked me and I nodded with a small smile.
“Yes and you should talk to Micah about his way of talking to people,” I said, a slight stern touch to my voice. Tristan smirked at me and humor sparkled in his eyes.
“I apologize, I can only imagine how traumatic his kidnapping you must have been,” Tristan got serious for a moment, his eyes grew somber. I took a deep breath and then winced as scenes from that dark night flipped through my mind’s eye.
“It’s odd that he acted so violently against me and now…I mean you seem normal,” I said and the corner of Tristan’s lips quirked upwards.
“I am for the most part, normal. I was raised here in the US; I went to school. I just have a slightly different culture than the rest of the world might know as normal.” I nodded, it made sense I supposed.
We turned around and started heading back towards the house. Tristan was still holding my hand and I found it kind of cute.
“Have you taken a tour of the house?” Tristan asked me as we reached the glass panel that led back inside.
“I gave myself a tour yeah, it’s a really beautiful house,” I said truthfully. Tristan gave me an odd frown and he glanced at Micah, who was lounging in the family room and talking with a couple of guys I recognized from before.
“I think I should have that word with Micah now. Excuse me for a moment.”
Tristan let go of my hand and left me just inside the family room. I watched as he strode over to Micah and bent down to whisper in his ear. Micah glanced over at me. He stood and then followed Tristan deeper into the house, I was then left alone with two dragon shifters who were sending me furtive glances.
*****
“Lady Stephanie, I am Safir, and this is my brother Declan. We are cousins of Prince Tristan.” Safir had friendly brown eyes and sandy blonde hair with the good looks I was already becoming accustomed to of the dragon shifter men. Declan had a mop of curly brown hair and bright blue eyes that were just as friendly. Really they weren’t so scary once they started talking.
Both Safir and Declan stood up from the couch as I walked over to shake their hands. “It’s good to meet you Safir, Declan.” I returned their smiles and then added, “Oh and please, call me Stephanie, no need to be so formal…I mean after all we’re going to be family soon,” I said with a small nervous laugh.
“This all must be disconcerting for you. It was for my wife, who we also picked up outside of the town.” Declan said, his tone was reassuring. I lifted my eyebrows in surprise.
“So you guys do this sort of thing often?” I asked and both Declan and Safir nodded.
“Yes, we do. We had tried simply going out and seducing women the natural way, but we found this to be quicker and more effective,” Safir said. I went to sit on the sectional with them and they both sat back down.
“How so?” I asked, perplexed.
“When you meet a woman the natural way, seduce her, fall in love with her even. When you show her what you really are and what your culture is like there is always the possibility she might run. It has happened before and put our entire way of life in danger. We can’t leave room for that possibility any longer so we decided to simply take the woman we like and give her no choice in the matter. It’s surprising, but the women we pick up tend to come around to the idea quickly.” Safir explained, I sat back against the plush light grey leather. They had an entire philosophy behind kidnapping women and forcing them to marry.
“So you’re saying the women basically get…Stockholm syndrome?” Declan shook his head no.
“Not at all, just like Prince Tristan has told you, our wives are allowed to live their lives as they’ve done before, it is as simple as them moving to another house and acquiring a husband in a matter of days. Our wives accept this and want to be with us,” Declan explained earnestly.
“So…what if a woman doesn’t want to be with you?” I asked curiously, I wasn’t trying to challenge them. I simply wanted to know their reasoning.
“Then we let her go. There are measures we take to ensure she doesn’t out us to the general public or to the authorities,” Declan answered. Safir nodded his head in agreement and I pursed my lips. I didn’t really want to know what those ‘measures’ were.
“Okay then, that’s…not so terrible I suppose,” I said slowly and both Declan and Safir chuckled at me.
“No it is not so terrible. Plus, we dragon shifters are great lovers and quite romantic, that’s why we usually keep our women.” Declan flashed me a charming smile and I giggled.
“That is a beautiful sound, I am jealous that it wasn’t me causing it,” said Tristan, walking back into the room followed shortly after by Micah. Micah had his hands in his pockets and looked almost as if he had just been scolded. Well I guessed Tristan really did give Micah a talking to on my behalf. Tristan grinned at me and he came to sit close to me on the right. Micah sat a bit farther from me on the left, and he wouldn’t even look in my direction.
“Don’t worry about him. He is just pouting,” Tristan whispered in my ear. His breath tickled my neck. It sent a thrill that ran down my spine. Tristan smiled at me with a bit of heat in his eyes and I wondered if he sensed my reaction to him.
“I hope my cousins have been keeping pleasant company?” Tristan said, his entire demeanor shifting and he sat back against the cushions.
Both Safir and Declan grinned at me and I smiled genuinely.
“Yeah we had quite the interesting conversation. Apparently all dragon shifters are great lovers and quite romantic as well,” I teased. Safir laughed and Declan actually blushed. Micah reluctantly smirked and Tristan rolled his eyes with a smile.
“Well at least it is truth and not a lie,” Tristan said with a wink. It was my turn to blush.
“How would you know if you are a good lover Tristan? You are more virgin than Mary,” Micah poked fun at Tristan, and both Safir and Declan held their breath. They looked like they were unsure if they should laugh or not. Tristan grew warm, I could feel the heat radiating out from him and he launched himself at Micah and the two wrestled down to the floor. Safir and Declan started laughing then as Tristan pinned Micah down to the floor.
“So who do you think will win this one Declan?” Safir asked and Declan pursed his lips while the two grown men wrestled like little kids. I simply watched with a small smirk on my lips.
“I think Tristan will come out the victor in this one. He had the element of surprise,” Safir said, he sounded like a boxing announcer. I laughed then, which distracted both Tristan and Micah from their squabble on the floor. Though Tristan didn’t recover as quickly as Micah did. He grinned at me like a little kid and Micah quickly took the upper hand and pinned Tristan down.
“Well good thing we didn’t put a wager down or I would have lost,” Safir commented.
“What’s this? The future Lord of the Lands and his second in command wrestling like a couple of children?” The deep voice rumbled across the room and everyone turned their attention to the kitchen.
*****
“And in front of our future Lady as well. You boys should be embarrassed.” The speaker was a tall, muscular man. He had a shock of white hair that was medium length and wavy. He looked a lot like Tristan, but I could see the age around his eyes and mouth. He had almost yellow-colored eyes as well and that was the biggest difference between the two. I knew that the man was Tristan’s father. He approached me and I stood to shake his hand, but like Tristan, he pressed his lips to my knuckles and then let my hand go.
“I am Markus, Tristan’s father. You must be Stephanie, my soon to be daughter-in-law.” Markus smiled at me warmly and I liked him almost instantly, I got the same warmth from him that I got from Tristan.
“It’s wonderful to meet you Markus,” I said, smiling, and Markus seemed pleased.
“I hope my son’s barbaric actions haven’t been too off-putting?”
I gave a small chuckle and shook my head. “No he’s been nothing but kind, I think Micah deserved it anyway,” I smirked at Micah who gave me a rueful smile. He and Tristan were standing then, as were Safir and Declan.
“Well I am glad you are coming to like my son, I have hopes that you two will have a long and fortuitous marriage,” said Markus. He smiled at me warmly and then he gave a stern fatherly look to Tristan and Micah before he left the room and went outside. He morphed into a huge dark brown dragon and then took off into the sky.
“My father likes you. That is good,” Tristan said, smiling. I actually felt a little nervous after having met Markus. I wanted to leave a good impression on him. Was I really already coming around to the idea that they might all be my family soon?
“Really?” I asked and Tristan’s smile grew wider. He was pleased that I seem to care about his father’s opinion.
“Yes really, I could tell in his eyes. If my father approves that is a good omen for us in our marriage,” Tristan said happily. I felt briefly, as though I was watching the events unfold in front of me, rather than being a part of them. Did they have some sort of magic that made everything about this weird arrangement seem normal?
Tristan’s hand traveled down my arm until he grabbed hold of my hand. He told the guys that we’d return later, and then he pulled me towards the hallway that would lead us to the center wing. We sat in the living room where it was very quiet and very much just the two of us. I grew a bit nervous as I wondered why he wanted to be alone with me.
“I want to know more about you, and I wanted to be somewhere quiet, away from everyone else if you don’t mind,” said Tristan. He sat me down on the couch and he took a seat next to me. We faced each other and I bit my lip a bit nervously.
“What do you want to know?” I asked and Tristan shrugged. He told me he’d love to know anything I was comfortable telling him. “Well I’m a veterinary technician. I work in an emergency pet hospital in the city. Uh…I have an older brother and my dad pretty much raised us, because my mom died from cancer when I was just three years old and my brother was six…” I trailed off, because there wasn’t much else to know about me.
“My mother died when I was young also. I was supposed to have a younger sister, but the childbirth was difficult for my mother and my sister didn’t survive it. The grief is what ultimately took her life though,” Tristan said, his voice was melancholy and his eyes looked far away. I put my hand on his and he seemed to come back to the present moment. He smiled at me and I couldn’t help but smile back, he was just so gorgeous.
“Would you like to have dinner with me later tonight?” Tristan asked and I nodded. I honestly really liked being with him.
Tristan and I talked for a couple of hours more and then we went back to the kitchen to make sandwiches for lunch. Safir and Declan had left and Micah was nowhere to be found. More alone time with Tristan wasn’t all that bad, but I hadn’t fully gotten over the awkwardness of this whole situation. Lunch was quiet, but it wasn’t too bad. There was a comfortable silence between us. We ate our sandwiches while watching a marathon of Friends. While I was in the kitchen cleaning up, Micah walked in and gestured towards me.
“You don’t have to clean up you know,” he reminded me and I glanced around. It was only he and I in the kitchen and Tristan was laughing at Friends on the TV.
“Where is this mysterious ‘staff’? I haven’t seen them around,” I said skeptically. Micah chuckled and he walked over to shut off the faucet at the sink. I had finished washing our plates and cups anyway.
“They are here. It’s a big house and it’s only a few people who clean up and such, so you wouldn’t see them often.” Micah leaned against the counter and then touched my shoulder to get my attention. I was looking out at the darkening sky outside.
“I’m sorry for being so hard before. I know this can’t be easy for you,” Micah said and I nodded.
“It’s not as bad as you made it seem like it would be…” I looked at him pointedly and he held his hands up in surrender.
“I admitted it, I spoke poorly. I’m sorry I won’t scare you like that anymore,” Micah promised.
“Good, and apology accepted,” I said and Micah smiled almost shyly. My heart skipped a beat and I wondered how he could be so cute and intense rolled into one sexy mysterious package. I was intrigued by him and wanted to know more about him.
“Stephanie, would you like to eat in tonight? I wouldn’t mind eating out either,” Tristan called from the family room and Micah’s demeanor changed. He was less intimate than he had been and he walked around me to the fridge.
“Uh, eating in is fine,” I said, and Tristan smiled. I could feel the heat radiating off of Micah behind me and I knew this entire ‘arrangement’ might not turn out as perfectly as everyone had planned.
*****
I had changed and gotten ready for dinner with Tristan, and we ate outside on the deck. There was an outdoor fireplace that kept the space warm. That and Tristan seemed a bit excited and was radiating warmth also. We had a steak dinner and talked almost everything it seemed; likes, dislikes, wishes, opinions. Surprisingly we had a lot in common. By the time dessert came around, a homemade giant chocolate chip cookie and hot chocolate, my favorite, I could honestly say I liked Tristan a lot.
“So would you like to take a walk with me? To try and break up this fullness?” he said.
I smiled and then stood with Tristan. H
e took my arm, and we started down the steps of the balcony, towards the path that would lead us into the woods. I was surprised; the path was actually lit by intermittently placed poles on either side of it.
“Where does this lead?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” he said and we continued in comfortable silence down the path, I think Tristan was feeling more anticipation than I was and it was cute to see him get all excited to show me something. The path curved and then we came across a pretty large spring. Two people could definitely fit inside.
“The pool is man-made, but it’s supplied by a natural spring. We dug until the spring bubbled up. It heats pretty quickly, granted a dragon shifter gets in to heat the water,” Tristan said. He slid his arm from underneath mine and stepped towards the semi natural soon-to-be hot tub. “Would you like to get in with me?” Tristan asked with a mischievous glint to his eye. We both knew that neither of us brought any bathing suits.
I gave him a small smile and then nodded my head. “Sure, I’d love to get in.” Tristan stripped down to his boxers and revealed his deliciously defined body. His chest and stomach were like carved from stone. I had to focus a considerable amount of brain capacity on not letting my jaw hit the floor. Butterflies took off in my stomach as he slowly got into the water.
“It will only take a moment for the water to heat,” Tristan assured me. I had a coat on and I was already starting to shiver from the absence of his warmth. Being married to a dragon shifter did come in handy in the winter months. I walked over to the edge of the small pool and crouched to dip my hand in. The water was heating up. It was already a bit past warm. I felt shy all of a sudden and decided to just hurry and get it over with. I stripped down to my bra and panties, glad that I had chosen to wear a matching lacy set that night. I lowered into the water and Tristan snaked his arm around my waist to pull me up against his side.
“You’re so warm, you’re hot actually,” I said and he grinned.
“Why thank you, you’re quite beautiful as well,” he said. I giggled and Tristan bit his lip; it was the sexiest thing he could have done in that moment. My eyes became riveted onto his mouth. “Is it alright if I kiss you Stephanie?” I nodded slowly and before I knew it Tristan’s lips were on mine. They felt hot. Heat ran freely through my veins almost instantly upon contact and before my mind could catch up to what my body wanted, I found myself straddling Tristan on the little hewn stone bench in the pool.
Suburban Cyborg Page 86
