The Dragon's Captive (Dragon Brides Book 2)
Page 10
“Well, I guess I’ll just explain to them,” Kate said simply. “That’s all anyone can do.”
“The elders will not be interested in your explanations. They will want to know how a human stole an ancient dragon.”
“I didn’t steal anything!”
“Well, we had a world eater here, and now we don’t,” Vilka said. “And the difference between those two things is you. Believe me, I know how they think. They will be furious at the waking of the beast, and even more furious at its loss.”
“Then we get it back,” she said simply. “Before they arrive.”
“This is not like baking another cake because you ate half the first one, Kate,” he growled. “We cannot simply put part of the world eater back in the cake tin and hope for the best.”
“No, but if we get it back, that will make things better. And maybe… what if you got your dragons to reconstruct the mountain where it escaped? I mean, can they really tell that it’s gone? If we close the portal, it will be like nothing ever happened.”
“Aside from the nightmare of a species wreaking havoc on the human plane,” Vilka said, his tone thick with sarcasm. “Yes, precisely as if nothing ever happened.”
“I’m just trying to help,” Kate said. “I don’t know what to tell you. It’s not as if you had a sign saying ‘huge dragon, do not wake’ on the mountain! I didn’t intend for this to happen, I was just trying to get back home. If anything, this is your fault.”
“How is this my fault, precisely, human?”
“You should have let me go when I told you to.”
“I should have clapped you in chains and kept you in the deepest, darkest dungeon I have, you mean,” he said, his eyes narrowed to two angry slits. “Have you no remorse, girl? Do you not understand your role in all these things? How much destruction will be done before you see that you have some hand here?”
“I don’t think you see your role in this,” she countered. “You kept me here against my will. You expected me to roll over and obey you, why? Because I am a woman? You think just because you have sex with me I’m going to stay here forever?”
“I think because I have claimed you as mine, that I will keep you here,” he growled. “I think you have no choice in it, and I think that is a good thing because you take no responsibility for what you break. You think you are entitled to do anything you please. Even now, as the world eater could be visiting any kind of horror on your people, and you would rather argue with me than admit the error of your ways.”
“I have confidence in our military to handle a dragon, even one as big as that one.”
“You don’t understand, do you.” He shook his head and drew a deep breath. “Kate, Avastias is not a dragon. He is terror incarnate, he is fear and predation made flesh. Your militaries have weapons of great power, but he will not be defeated by their physical means. It will not be as it was at the end of the last war, when cowards trained their weapons on a gracious retreating force.”
“So this is about me being human. You hate me because I’m human.”
He let out a short laugh. “You can’t begin to know how wrong you are.”
“What does that mean?”
“You will find out soon enough,” he declared, taking her in hand. Kate tried to squirm out of his grasp, but it was a token struggle and she knew it. Vilka was determined to make sure she did not escape again and he showed it by wrapping his hands around her and holding her fast as he attached new chains pulled from a nearby chest. They were made of the same material from which the fortress itself was forged. The links were obsidian black, gleaming with a dark light. He clapped two irons around her wrists and a new collar replaced the pretty one she had worn before. That fell to the floor, shattered by the dragon’s grip and was replaced with a thicker, much less comfortable collar that was heavy around her neck, and to which the wrist irons were attached with more chains, smaller links that did not strain her overly, but that absolutely made her feel the intellectual weight of the shackles.
“The elders will be here soon,” Vilka said. “I will present them to you and your fate will be decided.”
“My fate was decided a long time ago,” Kate said defiantly, her shackles clinking as she stood defiantly before her irate lover and so-called master. “I decided it, and these chains and your elders don’t make any difference. You can slow me down, but you can’t stop me. I will get back home.”
“Defying me will not undo your destruction,” Vilka said. “I know you prefer fighting me to looking at yourself, but I will not allow you that luxury. You will await your true fate—the fate arising from the consequences of your actions, not the fate you imagine you deserve based on your fantasies.”
Not content with the chains and shackles, Vilka produced the last implement of his displeasure… a length of velvet fabric that he wrapped three times about her head, making the world go dark.
She felt another length of chain fastened about her waist, and then her wrist shackles clipped to it. She could no longer reach her face, not even to scratch her nose—and definitely not to remove the blindfold.
“Where are you taking me? What are you doing?”
“To your destiny.”
She could hear the dark smirk in his voice and let out a little growl as he tugged her forward. Wherever she was going, she doubted she was going to like it.
Chapter Nine
“Vilka!? Are you there? I need to pee!”
Vilka stood at the end of the grand hall, within earshot of his fragile human mate’s whimpering. She did not like being blind, shackled, and alone, which was understandable. Her current circumstances were not comfortable, but she had not earned comfort. She was naked, naturally, her beautiful curves displayed to full advantage as she squirmed back and forth.
“Seriously! I’m going to make a puddle!”
He smirked to himself. He knew for a fact that she had relieved herself shortly before being taken to the hall. This was about the tenth strategy she had used to try to get herself out of her predicament. None of them had worked, and none of them would work.
“Hush,” he said. “Our guests are about to arrive. If you wish to urinate before them, that is your choice.”
He had already greeted the elders by himself as they arrived at the fortress as a single contingent, heavily attended by royal guardsmen who even now were populating his fortress and irritating his own legion who were still recovering from their hours flying with Avastias. A visit from the elders was deeply unpleasant for all concerned, but under the circumstances, could not be avoided.
Vilka had certainly not greeted them with any eagerness. They looked upon him as a mere pup, he knew that, and they made no attempt to hide it. He had much to prove, and he had proved nothing at all thus far, besides a talent for chaos. Kate’s actions were judged as if they were his own, and for good reason. He was lord of the fortress. Anything that went wrong on his watch was his fault. Vilka knew this and understood it.
“Here they come,” he said, moving closer to his chained mate as the elders began to file into the hall. They wore their ceremonial robes, blue and gold. Like Kate, Vilka wore nothing at all. Unlike her, he was not ashamed.
“Welcome, elders,” he said, addressing the small gathering. “You are here because an event in a hundred generations has occurred. Avastias has awakened. We thought it was impossible to wake a world eater before its time, but we now know otherwise, thanks to this woman.”
He gestured toward Kate and unwound the blindfold from around her head, allowing the elders to look upon Kate and her to look upon them.
“This is Kate,” Vilka said. “She is a young human female who decided to take it upon herself to generate a portal capable not only of allowing her passage to our world, but of waking Avastias in the process.”
* * *
Light poured in as the blindfold slid away, the slitted eyes of a dozen dragon men fell on her, and all Kate could manage was a cringing embarrassed smile of sorts.
Playing dumb was probably her best defense, she figured. Dragons seemed to think humans were stupid and simple anyway. And these ones looking at her now seemed particularly inclined to believe that she was a feeble-minded lump of female flesh.
“Do not let her demeanor fool you,” Vilka said, blowing her cover immediately. “She is very intelligent, dangerously so, but I have ascertained she did not intend direct harm. She is not malicious. Avastias’ waking was simply a byproduct of her reckless actions.”
“Sounds human,” one of the dragons snorted. “Why did you not send her back immediately?”
“I closed the portal, but elected to keep her…”
“Like father, like son,” someone guffawed.
“…because she has developed technology which would allow any number of humans to live in our world without becoming pregnant to a dragon,” Vilka finished his sentence with a glower. “She is a liability, but one I prefer in my control than loose in another world.”
There was a rumble of what might have been agreement or disagreement, Kate couldn’t tell.
“And Avastias?”
“That is the greater problem,” Vilka admitted. “After we closed the first portal, Kate decided to try to open a second one. She did so on the mountain. As a result, Avastias awoke and the portal was burned into the sky. Unfortunately, the world eater has flown through that portal and is now somewhere in the Earth realm.”
A rumble went through the dragon elders, men who showed signs of age about their faces and frames, but who were obviously still quite vital. They were an intimidating, handsome crowd and Kate wished she could cover herself up. Many of them seemed intrigued by her form and she could feel their gazes running over every inch of her naked body.
The lead elder, a man Kate took an immediate dislike to, spoke for the group. “This human has entered our realm unbidden and caused a great calamity to unfold. For this, she must be punished. She must do her penance thoroughly before our eyes. If you are to keep custody of her, Vilka, we must be satisfied that you are in some way capable of controlling her. When that matter is settled, the matter of Avastias will be attended to.”
“Naturally,” Vilka said, as if what the elder had just asked for was reasonable. “I intend to prove that this young woman is not only capable of contrition, she is capable of submission. You will see that in spite of the mistakes she has made, she is trainable. In due course, she will not only make an excellent mate, but her skills may very well be put to use in the service of our realm. She is capable of great things…”
“We are only interested as to whether she is capable of taking discipline,” the elder interrupted bluntly.
Kate looked up at Vilka with wide eyes. “You can’t do this,” she whimpered. “Not in front of them.”
“Not only front of them,” Vilka said. “Before the eyes of the fortress, the men who were trapped in their dragon forms, flying until exhaustion nearly took them. There are many you must atone to, Kate.” He lifted his voice. “Summon the legion!”
As he spoke, a hundred dragon men filed in behind the elders, filling the hall row after row. She recognized many of them as men she had seen around the fortress before. There was an air of anticipation in the room, as well over a hundred souls waited for her to receive her due at Vilka’s hands.
Kate let out a little whimpering moan, shaking her head as she whispered desperately to him, “I’ve never begged you for anything but my freedom, but seriously, Vilka, please don’t do this.”
“You are beautiful, and you will show that beauty in all its glory,” he said gently as his hands went to the fastenings that attached the chains of her wrists to the chain at her waist. He freed her hands from by her sides, but she knew that was not a good sign. He was merely preparing her for what was to come next, his hands guiding her around on the dais.
“This is not merely about punishing you, Kate,” he murmured so that only she could hear him. “It is about showing that I have command of you. If I cannot do that, then they will attempt to take you from me, and I promise you, lives will be lost if that comes to pass. I will not allow them to imprison you. They will not be as kind as I am… and I have been kind, Kate, whether you realize it or not. Do you know how these men think of you? As a pet. You are little more than a canary in a cage to them, and they will have you treated as such. I want more for you than that, but I have to prove my ability to handle you first, and let’s face it, Kate, I haven’t precisely done that so far, have I?”
She let out a little whimper as he turned her so her back was to the audience. It was a small mercy to not have to look at them, though she could still feel their eyes upon her.
“Kneel,” he said, pointing to a place at the middle of the dais.
She did so, sinking gracefully to the dais, her knees pressing against the pillow he had put there for the purpose. It was made of a green silk, which showed her coloring to full advantage, the pale creamy curves of her body, and the copper waves of hair that fell over her shoulders and hid her breasts. This did not come naturally to her. She was flushed with embarrassment at having her body exposed, and at making a display of submission.
But there was more than embarrassment. There was a welling between her thighs, a wetness that was already slicking her inner lips. She couldn’t help her hips, which squirmed slowly back and forth as she looked up at Vilka. He had always been strong and masterful, but in that moment all the qualities that made her melt were amplified. The hard lines of his jaw, the sharp angle of his brow, the regal set of his head, and the broadness of his shoulders tapering to a muscular midsection and a powerful waist. The elders whose older frames were cloaked in robes looked on with what Kate thought might have been some sparks of jealousy.
Vilka was a man in his prime, and there could have been no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was in control of not just her, but the room. They seemed to breathe as one when he moved.
“You have called on me to prove my mastery of this woman,” he announced. “And I tell you now, defeating Avastias himself is not as great a task as mastering such a creature. She is willful and she is tempestuous and she will not submit easily—but that does not mean it is impossible to take her in hand and turn her energies to positive ends.”
His speech ended with him taking her wrists and pulling them in front of her so that her hands moved toward an iron ring in the floor. He fastened her shackles there, leaving her kneeling facing away from the audience. She felt him step around her, lean down and tap her bottom.
“Lift,” he ordered. “And spread your thighs.”
Burning with embarrassment, Kate lifted her hips a little, but it was not enough to satisfy Vilka. He pushed her legs apart with his foot and lifted her hips higher so that she was left in a position that put her bottom and sex on display for all to see.
“Human flesh is tender,” he announced to the elders and the audience beyond. “And it will not surprise you that a woman as reckless as this one has not received much discipline.”
She felt the leather tongue of a lash draping lightly across her bottom, then felt it draw away and return with a sharp swat that made her hiss with pain. Vilka repeated the treatment several more times, heating her rear with a slow process of strokes, the leather kissing her butt over and over again until she began to squeak and complain.
“She responds instantly to any disciplinary action,” he said, lifting his voice. “Look how her sex is flowing with need. She is physically entirely submissive, and her body craves to be mastered. Though she is shy and reluctant, she is keeping herself in position in order to please her master, and she is willing to take her punishment too.”
Kate’s instinct for contradiction was lost entirely as Vilka suddenly unleashed a flurry of harder cuts of the leather lash against her bottom, the tongues hissing through the air and snapping hard against her round buttocks. It was without a doubt the most humiliating thing she had ever
endured, and yet she did not feel outraged as she had expected. Her body was humming with sensation, her clit felt tight and hot. Everyone was looking at her bottom, at the tight little hole between her cheeks, and at her pussy, which she could feel was already swelling in response to the treatment.
Vilka walked around the dais and took up a position on a level that was not as raised as she was. The result was his rampant cock being at the level of her mouth. “Take me in your mouth,” he ordered. “Suck me while you take your punishment.”
Kate did as she was told, receiving the thick head of his hot cock between her lips. Her sex was dripping with need and yet he still did not touch her pussy. He left it there displayed in all its wet desire as he traced the leather lashes over her rear.
“A woman may be chaos,” he said as she lapped and suckled at his hard rod. “But it is the place and duty of her mate to tame that chaos. Her arrival has unleashed the world eater, but she was an innocent in that matter. It was the human world that failed her. She will do better here in the realm of dragons, where proper punishment can be given and where she can be guided by the lash and the palm.”
He snapped the leather over and over, making the very tip of the lash kiss her bottom and leave hot pools of stinging sensation growing one after the other over her bottom. The dragons watched silently as she took every stroke, her mouth occupied with Vilka’s hard rod so her cries and moans were stifled.
With one last hard crack of the lash, Vilka pulled his cock from her mouth, his shaft glistening with her wetness.
“Beg for your punishment,” he ordered. “Plead with me to fuck you.”
Words that would have once outraged her had they been spoken on Earth were transformed into the hottest thing she had ever heard. Her body reacted viscerally and erotically, her natural lubrication slicking her tight channel evermore as she ground her hips and whimpered.