by Sophie Stern
She would be able to go back to work, back to her normal life, back to her ordinary world.
But was that really what she wanted anymore?
Somehow, it all seemed so boring.
As the dragonmen began to wake up, they started talking incoherently.
“There, there,” the doctor said. “Just don’t move. Shut your big mouths, all right? Just lay there and rest for a damn minute.”
“Alan,” the woman with brown hair said. “What happened to them?”
“They were drugged, Janae. They’ll be fine.”
“But, what if they aren’t? Will they have long-term memory loss or brain damage or anything like that?”
“They’ll be fine, little human.” The doctor’s voice was gentle as he spoke. Even though he was talking to Janae and not Holly, he calmed her. Knowing he was so certain the men were going to make a full recovery made her feel relaxed.
“Why didn’t they just shoot them?” Janae asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong: I’m glad they didn’t. Wouldn’t it make more sense, though? Wouldn’t it be easier for them to just shoot everyone?”
“I don’t think the goal was to kill people,” Alan said grimly. He exchanged glances with Colton, who nodded curtly.
“I agree,” Colton said. “Whether they planned to come back for more dragons in the future or they just wanted to avoid making a huge mess, I’m not sure. A single dart knocked these guys out pretty quickly. Shooting someone could take multiple shots and if they missed a vital organ, we dragons aren’t going to die quietly.”
“They didn’t want them to shift,” Janae said. She was beginning to understand. “They didn’t want to give them a chance to fight back.”
“Exactly.”
“Fuckers,” she muttered, and reached for Emerson’s hair. She pet him softly, tenderly. She touched him like he was the only person in the world, like she couldn’t stand the thought of not being close to him.
Emerson’s eyes were open, but he wasn’t talking or moving yet. He was just lying there looking at her. He watched his mate with intensity, with peace. He looked like he was going to be okay now that she was with him. He looked like he was going to be okay because she was close. Holly didn’t have to be a shifter to tell what was happening right now. She didn’t have to be a shifter to know they were both calming down, that their scents probably held relief and hope.
“Daddy,” the little boy said, also reaching for his father. The dragonling touched his dad’s face, showing a surprising amount of gentleness as he touched him.
“I’m okay, buddy,” Emerson finally spoke up. “I’m okay.”
“You’re talking,” Janae said. She set the toddler down and leaned to kiss her husband. Despite his weakened state, Holly saw how he gripped his wife’s hair, not at all worried he was destroying the curls and ringlets she’d obviously worked so hard on. She didn’t seem to notice or care, and Holly thought that was incredible.
Their love for each other was obviously all that mattered.
Before their kiss ended, there was noise on the stairs, then three more people rushed in: two women and a man. One of the women knelt beside Kade and began kissing him, too.
“Master,” she murmured. “You scared me. I thought…oh, Master.”
“I’m okay, pet,” Kade whispered, and Holly suddenly felt awkward, like they were intruding on some private moment between everyone here.
The other woman and the man knelt beside Anthony.
“What the hell?” The woman said, shaking her head at him. “What did you go get yourself into? I thought you were picking up your friend from the docks, but you never came back, baby. You didn’t come back.”
“I had to…”
“Oh, I know exactly what you had to do,” the woman said. “And don’t think my ass is the one getting spanked tonight.”
Holly’s eyes went wide. Were all dragons so sexually open? She sneaked a sideways glance at Colton, who was still nude, and she tried not to stare at his dick. It was big and thick and she thought about how it would feel to wrap her hand around it.
She blushed.
She shouldn’t be thinking about something so naughty or inappropriate. Not at a time like this. There was a kid around, for fuck’s sake. Still, the fighting, the stress, the drama, the rush: it had all made her exhausted and excited and overwhelmed.
She was over-stimulated.
She was tired.
“Seems you aren’t the only one thinking about spankings, Audrey,” the man by Anthony said with a chuckle. He looked at Holly, and she blushed when she realized he was talking about her. He could smell her arousal.
Shit.
That meant Colton could definitely…
But Colton was getting dressed. Someone had brought him some clothes and he was sliding into them.
“Leave her alone, buddy. She’s with me.”
“You must be Colton.”
“And you must be?”
“Gabriel,” the man held out his hand.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure,” he said. “You’re going to be staying with us, I hear.”
“That’s the plan,” Colton said. “And this is?” He motioned to Audrey.
“Our wife.”
“Whose wife?”
Gabriel chuckled. His loud laugh filled the room. Suddenly, all eyes were on him, Audrey, and Anthony. Anthony was grinning and Audrey was blushing. The other women who were standing around in their fancy dresses also began to giggle. Apparently, there was a secret everyone was in on but Colton and Holly.
“You didn’t tell him, mate?” Gabriel said. He laughed once more, then looked back at Colton and Holly. “Anthony and I are mated to Audrey. She’s our wife.”
11
It was over.
The fight was over; the battle had been won. Janae went home with the baby and the women who had rushed upstairs with her made sure the rest of the gala attendees quickly got the message that the night was ending early. Colton helped with the clean-up of the playroom and when he finally made his way downstairs, he discovered Holly in the kitchen with Lindsey, Kade’s wife.
“You’re looking a bit better,” Colton said. She looked like she’d had a shower and a change. The black dress she was wearing was cut low in front and was short. Her creamy pale thighs were all his to look at. Her whole body was hers to look at.
“Yeah, Lindsey gave me something dry to wear,” she said, blushing a little. “Thanks, by the way. I appreciate it.”
“Anything for you,” Lindsey said with a grin. She looked at Colton and nodded. “Thanks, buddy. You two really saved the day, didn’t you?”
“All in a day’s work. Besides, it was Holly here. She’s the one who warned us.”
“But you’re the one who killed the bastard,” Lindsey pointed out.
“Yeah.”
Lindsey grabbed a bottle of rum and opened the top. She handed the bottle to Colton.
“Have some. You deserve it.”
He was glad, relieved. He chugged faster than he should have, but he was tired. He was worn out. He was exhausted. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders and somehow, Colton thought that if he could just have a little bit more alcohol, everything would begin to feel all right.
“Slow down there, dragonman,” Holly said gently. She placed her hand on his shoulder and he sighed with contentment. He really liked this girl. He liked her more than he should. He’d only just met Holly, but already he thought she was incredible.
She was brave and fierce and sassy.
She was sweet and kind.
She was gentle.
When it was just them, she seemed demure and a little bit shy, but when it was important, when it mattered, she had a beast in her she wasn’t afraid to let loose. She’d left her home and come all the way to Dragon Isle to save the world.
And she’d done it.
She’d saved them.
He set the bottle down on the counter and turned to Holly.
“Look at you,” he murmured. “All dolled up.”
“You like what you see, dragon?” She pressed her hands to his chest, and it sent a jolt of electricity through his body.
“I do,” he murmured.
“I like what I see, too,” she whispered.
He placed his hands on her shoulders, then ran them up and down. Her skin was soft. Despite the rain, despite traveling in the storm, despite the chaos of the day, she felt soft and tender.
“You kissed me,” Holly whispered.
“You liked it.”
“I did.”
“I want to kiss you again.”
“I’d like that, too.”
Her lips moved softly as she spoke. Colton’s gaze was drawn to them. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. She wasn’t wearing lip gloss or makeup. She wasn’t wearing anything but the little black dress and that did something for him.
Colton grabbed the sides of her face and pulled her mouth to his. He kissed her hard and fast and deeply. He kissed her like he meant it because he really, really meant it. He kissed her like it was the first time. He kissed her like it was the last time.
He kissed her until the room began to spin and he felt dizzy, but then he kissed her a little bit more.
He kissed her a little bit longer.
For Colton, the world had never been a simple place. It had never been a good place, a safe place. He had struggled for so long to find a place where he could fit in. He had struggled to find a community where he could be himself. Dragon Isle had never been that place, but Honeypot hadn’t really, either. Now, Colton realized what the problem had been.
It wasn’t that Dragon Isle was bad or that Honeypot was cliquish.
No, the problem was that he didn’t have someone to love him or hold him or promise him everything would be okay.
The problem was that until this moment, he didn’t have Holly. He didn’t have his sweet girl to take care of him, to stand by his side, to make the world seem a little brighter.
Holly was a flame and he was a moth. He was drawn to her and he couldn’t quite say why except that she was the most extraordinary woman he’d ever met. Her kiss was soft and sweet, but her tongue matched each stroke of his.
His dick was hard. He knew she could feel it pressing against her belly, but she didn’t panic or run. She didn’t do anything but keep kissing him and Colton found himself hoping that she would never stop.
He had not felt this way in a very long time. He had not felt so at ease with a woman, so comfortable, so satisfied in her arms. He had not felt like the whole world could crash and burn around him and he just wouldn’t care because he had her and she was all that mattered.
She was the only thing that mattered.
“Don’t you dare stop,” she whispered, surprising him. “Don’t you stop kissing me now, dragonman.”
He hadn’t realized he had stopped. He hadn’t realized he had stopped licking her lips and was just standing there, staring at her in all of her glory, in all of her beauty.
“I don’t want to ever stop kissing you, princess,” he said.
Colton heard and noise and realized Lindsey was sneaking quietly out of the room, giving Colton and Holly some much needed privacy.
He was thankful for her thoughtfulness and took the opportunity to lift Holly to the counter and step between her legs. She wrapped them around his body and pulled him close to her.
“Show me how you feel, cowboy,” she whispered.
He pushed his hips forward, rubbing his cock against her core. Only their thin clothing separated them now and that wasn’t very much at all.
Only a little bit of fabric, and beneath that, it was all them: just skin and bones and passion.
Beneath that it was just two people who were broken and lonely and hurting, but who had somehow found each other.
Despite the clusterfuck that was their day, Holly and Colton had found each other.
Something told him their story was only just beginning.
12
Anthony, Gabriel, and Audrey appeared in the kitchen, interrupting Colton and Holly.
“Sorry to intrude,” Gabriel said politely.
Anthony just growled.
“What do you say we get you all home?” Audrey said with a smile. “It’s late. I’m sure you’re both tired.”
“Are there any more men?” Colton said, his eyes narrowing. “Any other Deragon men lurking around?”
“Negative,” Gabriel shook his head.
“The flash drive said there would be no more than five,” Holly said. “I think we got them all.”
“We went through the secret tunnels they built,” Gabriel said. “Kade got some of his guys out here and we did a run-through. Looks like there were five of them who came with the construction crew, like Holly said.” He nodded at her in a quick sign of appreciation and recognition. She appreciated it.
Holly didn’t feel like anyone owed her anything.
They didn’t.
Even if coming to Dragon Isle meant she would die during the journey, she wanted to be a part of it. She wanted to be a part of saving the shifters. She wanted to be a part of rescuing them from something horrible, something evil, something they didn’t deserve.
She wanted to know that her life meant something.
For a long time, Holly had been afraid. She had been scared. She had been nervous. She thought she had gotten better about being brave, but she hadn’t until now. Standing up to people at work wasn’t the same thing as standing up for things that were important, for things that mattered.
It wasn’t the same as standing up for something like this.
“They camped in the woods, as suspected,” Gabriel said. “We should have canvassed the forest once we thought the crews left, but Theodore had run background checks on everyone and to be honest, they all came back clean.”
“Deragon is good at covering their tracks,” Colton said with a snarl, and something in the way he said it made Holly think this hadn’t been his first encounter with the group of poachers.
“Kade’s first wife was killed by poachers,” Audrey said to Holly. “He’s pretty shaken up by this whole thing, you know.”
“I didn’t know,” Holly said.
“We were all worried there were more of them lying in wait, to be honest,” Gabriel continued. “But it looks like they’re dead and gone. Deragon still has offices throughout the world, of course, so this isn’t really going to solve any problems except the immediate one.”
“The babies are safe,” Holly said.
“Yeah. The babies are safe. That’s all thanks to you. We would never have known if it wasn’t for you. We wouldn’t have known until it was too late.”
“Colton is the one you should thank,” Holly said. “He’s the one who got me here.”
Gabriel nodded, then pulled his best friend and his wife close to himself.
“If you both are ready,” he said. “I think it’s time to head home.”
“I’m ready as I’ll ever be,” Holly said, and she followed them outside.
The night air was cool when she stepped down off the porch and into the grass. She didn’t have to strip down the way the shifters did before they changed forms, so she watched with Audrey as the men changed. Their bodies glistened in the starlight, twinkling, shining.
For a brief second, Holly felt jealous she would never know the joy of shifting. She would never know what it felt like to have your body change. She would never know what it felt like to shift from being someone normal, something completely ordinary to a huge, monstrous creature.
She would never know what it felt like to be big and powerful and strong.
She would never know what it felt like to fly.
Only she realized, as her dragonman nudged her gently with his dragon head, that she would be able to know what it felt like to fly. He would show her. He would show her the stars and he would show her the skies and he would show her what it felt like t
o soar.
So she might not be able to fly herself, but Colton would show her.
He would help her understand what it meant to be a dragon.
He would help her understand what it meant to be free.
He knelt down and she climbed up on his back. For the second time that day, she wrapped her arms around his long neck and leaned against his scales. He made a sound, then jumped into the air.
He soared.
She snuggled against him, but the rain had stopped, and this time, Holly could really enjoy the view. She could enjoy the flight. She could enjoy everything about what was happening and she could enjoy Colton.
She gazed over the trees, over the hills, over the mountains of Dragon Isle. It was dark out, but the moon was bright and she had an incredible view of everything they passed. Every so often, she’d see the lights on in a hidden-away mansion. She remembered one of her shifter friends telling her that dragons liked isolation. Many of them managed to deal with their need for solitude by building homes in the wilderness of the island.
Dragons might not live in caves, but they managed to live in the next best thing: giant houses.
Holly had never known wealth. She’d never known freedom. She’d never known living in a place where you could just be yourself, be on your own, go where you wanted. She’d never known living in a luxurious forest where everything was beautiful. She’d never known any of that.
Here she was, though. Here she was, riding on the back of a dragon.
How amazing was that?
In all of her wildest dreams, in all of her fantasies about saving the day, she’d never imagined she would be doing this. She never thought of this part. She never thought of flying with Colton.
When they landed, she thought the ride was over too soon. The dragons shifted back while the girls watched. Audrey was still wearing her ball gown and somehow, her hair still looked nice. She turned to Holly and smiled, extending her hand.
“Let’s get you inside,” she said. “You must be exhausted.” Holly came close and was surprised when Audrey stopped to touch her face. She ran her fingers down Holly’s chin and stroked her cheek, then looked into her eyes.
