“Convenient hand grip,” I muttered to myself.
“It’s filed down so I can ride on him without having a horn up my ass,” Keifer explained readily.
A little bit scandalized to think about the man at my back having anything up his ass, I changed the subject. “Is my hair gone?”
The man’s hands took a handful of it and wrapped it around my shoulders to show me that I did, in fact, still have hair.
“Thank God,” I breathed a sigh of relief. Then got a good look at my hair. “I need a haircut.”
He snorted.
“Yeah, ‘cause that’s definitely a priority here,” he muttered dryly. “Why aren’t you freaking out on me right now?”
I shrugged, looking down at the city below me in excitement.
My hands were absently smoothing over the snake-like feel of the dragon’s skin, back and forth, over and over again.
I had no clue why I wasn’t freaking out. I instinctively knew I should just enjoy it while I could, because there was no way that any of this could be real. Not at all.
I was Blythe Barrett. The boring, nerdy girl next door who never did anything and nothing exciting ever happened to. The introvert who’d rather read a book than go out to party with her friends.
“Some nerd,” he muttered.
I saw a hand move out of my peripheral vision, and then a large tanned hand spanned the bare skin of my thigh, bringing my attention to my lower half, and I finally realized that I was in my underwear and a t-shirt.
On a dragon. In broad daylight. With a strange, albeit very handsome, man at my back.
“Ummm,” I hesitated, looking down at my bare legs. “You could’ve at least gotten me a pair of pants.”
He snorted. “I tried. You set them on fire.”
“Hmm,” I hummed, knowing that could very well be the truth. “I seem to have a problem with that. That’s why I was only wearing panties to begin with.”
“When I first came into my powers, I couldn’t wear shirts for three weeks,” he smiled fondly at the memory.
I blinked, thinking about him shirtless wouldn’t be a bad thing at all. The no pants on me was a bad thing, though.
A very bad thing.
“Where are you taking me to?” I asked.
“Darcy Manor,” he answered instantly.
“Where’s that?” I continued.
“The outskirts of Dallas,” he expounded.
Yet again, not helpful.
He’s obtuse, the voice said dryly. Ask him for longitudinal coordinates.
“I don’t know the longitudinal coordinates, Declan. I only know what the address used to be. All I can do is show her, you big fucker,” Keifer growled in frustration.
“Ummm,” I said slowly. “Can you hear my voice?”
He looked down at me oddly. “Of course I can hear your voice.”
“Can you tell me why you can hear my voice?” I licked my lips. “Are we both crazy?”
“Why would we be crazy because I can hear your voice?” He asked curiously.
“It’s not normal to hear voices, Keifer. Maybe you should take me back,” I looked around the area for an exit. Maybe like the emergency slides on an airplane, the one that unfurled in the event of a crash.
“You hear voices in your head…Oy! Declan, are you talking to Blythe?” Keifer yelled over the roar of the wind past our ears.
It was so loud!
Why?
Yes.
I blinked.
“You’re telling me, the entire night, I’ve been talking to the dragon?” I asked cautiously.
I felt him nod at my back. “Yeah, sounds like it.”
I slumped in relief, but it was short lived seeing as we were suddenly heading straight for a section of Dallas that I just knew we shouldn’t be going to.
“No! We have to turn back!” I patted his hands frantically.
I didn’t understand the vicious reaction I was having.
There was just something about the patch of bare land that lay in front of us that set all the hairs on the back of my arm on end, and made the pit of my stomach roil in protest.
“It’ll be okay,” he soothed. “It’s the shield. It won’t harm you.”
I blinked, surprised. “How do you know it won’t harm you?”
“Because my brother’s bringing it down if he hasn’t found a way to allow you passage. Both of which mean you’ll be fine, and I swear it, no harm will come to you,” he replied easily, as if he had so much confidence in his brother’s abilities.
I, on the other hand, had no clue who his fucking brother was. And every cell inside my body was telling me to turn around and not to come back.
Closing my eyes when the feeling started to get too much, I braced myself for whatever bad was going to happen…yet, it never came.
Then, opening my eyes for just a small peek, I gasped.
There were dragons.
Everywhere.
Chapter 5
You had me at beard.
-Blythe’s secret thoughts
Keifer
I breathed my own sigh of relief when the shield held as we passed through it, and that Blythe didn’t pass out. Nor did any of the other bad things I’d been imagining happen.
I was also happy that the entire thing hadn’t had to come down.
That would’ve been unfortunate, and would’ve meant a lot more work for me later.
Declan’s mate, Story, flew up to his side, and Blythe gasped.
I looked at the two dragons, trying to see it from the perspective of a normal human being, one who only saw the dragons from afar like the rest of the world.
Both of the dragons were large and beautiful. Powerful and strong. And the love between the two was clearly evident.
They’d been mated for a really long time, much longer than I’d been alive, and I loved them both equally.
Story loved me right back, which was a miracle since she’d had to uproot her life the moment Declan felt my call.
Normally, dragon riders bond with unmated dragons since the bond was so special between rider and dragon. But Declan, Story, and I were different.
Would always be different.
It was unheard of to have a mated pair, yet I had it.
Not that I was bonded to Story like I was with Declan. But if anyone could do it, it’d be the prince of the dragon riders.
“She’s beautiful,” Blythe breathed, reaching out her hand slightly.
There was no possible way that she’d reach Story, but the dragon must’ve sensed her wanting to touch her, and turned her mouth to the side to slither her tongue out, touching Blythe’s hand.
Blythe giggled and pulled back her hand, cradling it to her side as she surveyed the land before us.
Darcy Manor was built on over nine hundred acres of prime Texas land and was the most beautiful place in the world to me.
The Meridian kept the land strong and lush, with flowers in bloom year-round and stately trees, full and green, amply shading the grounds. Grass was a luscious, vibrant green, and the water was as pure as it was thousands of years ago before humans trashed the planet.
“Oh, wow,” Blythe breathed, catching sight of one of the lakes.
Instead of the muddy greenish/brown that most North Texas lakes resembled, this one was a pure, crystalline blue. You could see all the way to the bottom, clearly making out every single thing that made the lake its home.
“Where are we?” She gasped, her eyes darting every which way to take in all that she could see.
Pride filled my chest as I said, “Our home. Darcy Manor. The dragon sanctuary.”
She froze.
“How come you’re trusting me with this place?” She asked suddenly. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll tell someone?”
No.
Before I’d read that book, I would’ve been. Yet, I knew my father wouldn’t lie about something so important
. Also, I didn’t want to tell her all what I’d just read in that book.
She was being fairly calm about everything right now, and my need was high to get her back to my place and into my safety zone. I wasn’t sure, though, how long she’d continue to be calm once she learned the things that I knew she needed to know.
Something that I wouldn’t be putting off seeing as I was more of a ‘rip the Band-Aid off’ kind of guy.
Procrastination was the bane of all evils.
I’d given her only the bare minimum in terms of information when I was talking to her about her powers and controlling them.
She didn’t know she had my powers yet. Didn’t know that we were pre-destined to be mates. Nor did she know that I was the Prince of the Dragon Riders, or that where we were currently touching down was the palace that we called home.
“Oh, holy shit!” She squealed when the three ice dragons that we were fostering scrambled up to Declan’s feet and started trying to crawl up his legs.
Declan shook them off like annoying insects and held out his tail to allow us to step down with more ease.
Dragon scales were unique, but resembled a large snake’s in some ways. They didn’t shed their skin like a snake, but the texture of it felt nearly the same.
They had huge claws and a large barb on their tails that they used for protection.
Each dragon was different in the terms of magic they possessed.
Declan was unusual, though, with his ability to communicate telepathically, which afforded me the ability as well.
A dragon rider always gained the same powers or set of skills that his dragon had and vice versa.
Since I was able to control all of the elements—earth, wind, water, and fire—that indicated to all outsiders that Declan could as well.
My brother Nikolai’s powers were nearly the same as mine, but much more muted in terms of strength. Though, he had some abilities that I didn’t due to his dragon possessing different abilities that he could manipulate with those powers.
Speaking of Nikolai, I found him and Farrow standing on the deck that overlooked our back yard, about fifty feet from where Declan touched us down.
Farrow was obviously pissed, and Nikolai didn’t look much happier.
“Who are they?” Blythe asked from her position on her knees.
I looked down at her, my eyes taking in her glossy brown hair and warm hazel eyes. “My brothers.”
Her brows rose. “They don’t look like you.”
I shrugged. “My brothers and I all have the same coloring, but that’s about it. Our sister’s blonde. She really looks nothing like us.”
She nodded. “I recognize the one on the right. He’s the one you were dragging out of the apartment yesterday. He’s also the one who makes Macy forget that she has responsibilities—like her job. Then she doesn’t come in for her shift when she’s supposed to, which means I have to work my ass off to cover both of our sections.”
“Typical,” I muttered. “Farrow doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to either. He feels entitled to live off of our family’s money rather than contributing to it by making his own way in the world.”
She raised her brows at me. “Really? And you let him get away with it?”
I sighed. “I don’t really ‘let’ him get away with it, but he’s my brother, which means I have more tolerance for his bullshit than others.”
She shrugged. “So…what now?”
I snapped my mouth shut, trying to ignore the fact that I didn’t know what was next.
Instead of letting her see my reluctance to tell her anything, I took her hands, helping her disentangle herself from the terror triplets, and walked with her hand in mine to where my brothers waited.
Her hand felt good in mine.
A warm, pulsing heat passed between us where our palms were touching. It felt almost as if we were holding a hot rock between us.
Farrow’s eyes narrowed on Blythe the moment we hit the first step, and I would’ve shut him up had I had the ability.
Nikolai, of course, didn’t have such a problem.
Before Farrow could even open his mouth and start spewing his bullshit, Nikolai put an air field around him that effectively locked in everything that he had to say.
Oh, he could still talk, but thankfully none of us could hear what he was yelling.
I smiled my thanks at Nikolai, and he gave me a halfhearted shrug. “I’ve been listening to it all afternoon.”
“You told him what was going on?” I asked, surprised.
He nodded. “He asked. I don’t lie.”
Blythe snorted but otherwise kept her mouth shut, eyes studying Nikolai.
It was a normal thing.
Something that all women did.
Of the three of us, he was the one women referred to as ‘exotic.’
Jet black hair, bright green eyes, olive skin, great build.
All of those combined to make him the epitome of tall, dark and dangerous, according to my sister.
And he did tend to draw more attention to himself than either Farrow or I did.
“Are you sure y’all are related? Y’all really do look nothing alike, now that I am studying y’all side by side.” She wondered, eyes narrowing on me.
“Don’t let our mom hear you say that. She gets kind of touchy when people ask if we’re really related,” Nikolai murmured.
Blythe nodded sagely. “Okay. But really. Even he looks different,” she nodded her head, indicating Farrow.
Farrow was the baby, and he looked it.
He didn’t have the solid muscle mass that Nikolai or I had, and his hair was long and shaggy rather than the short, cropped military cuts that we wore.
He was also dressed in ragged jeans and a threadbare t-shirt, something that seemed to be in with teens these days.
I had on a pair of dark washed blue jeans and a polo shirt, the same thing I always wore out when I might be seen in public.
I was the face of the Vassago Motors, one of the largest auto parts stores and vehicle restorations places in Texas. There was no way I’d go out in public looking less than presentable.
Farrow, though, didn’t really care what anyone thought.
Including me.
That was also why I’d yet to allow him to participate in our business meetings or any decision-making processes.
“He’s special,” Nikolai explained, throwing a grin over his shoulder as he started to head back to the house. “You’ll love him, I promise.”
Chapter 6
Men are like beer. Some go down better than others.
-T-shirt
Blythe
“Wow,” I breathed to the other brother, staring at the youngest brother in shock. “I didn’t realize he hated me so much. All I did was tell him tone it down with Macy. I mean, they’re having loud sex against my bedroom wall. What did he expect from me? I listened to it for two to three hours before I even said anything.”
Literally, he hated me.
He even said so. Repeatedly over the course of the last couple of hours.
“You’re probably the one that calls the cops on us all the time, aren’t you?” Farrow hissed.
Where had Keifer gone?
Why was I in here with this little shit instead of wherever he went?
And where the hell was I anyway?
Not that the place wasn’t nice, because it was, but because I was in some foreign house without a fucking clue what the hell I should do.
“I did no such thing,” I denied. “When I’ve had a problem with you two, I’ve told you. Something I’ve done on a few occasions. I’ve never brought a cop into it, though. I don’t need them at my front door, either.”
Nikolai snorted. “Ain’t that the truth?”
I turned to Nikolai and stared at him.
He was cute. Like, really cute.
Hot even.
He’s the type of man you
see at a club dancing with the prettiest girl in the room.
I’m the girl that stands in the corner staring at the hot guy who’s totally out of her league…drooling and wishing.
But Nikolai still had nothing on his brother.
And man was Keifer big. He had to be at least six foot five, if not taller.
Speaking of the devil, he finally rounded the corner of the living room, coming to a dead stop directly in front of Farrow, who was still ranting and raving.
“Enough already, Farrow,” Keifer growled.
“How about you make me? Oh wait, you can’t,” he sneered.
Keifer lowered his brows, and I was sure would’ve beaten the hell out of him, if the beautiful older woman hadn’t walked up to Keifer’s side and placed her hand on his shoulder.
She looked to be around sixty or so, but despite her age, she was breathtakingly beautiful.
“Who’s that?” I asked in a sideways whisper, keeping my eyes on the newcomer.
Nikolai snorted as he kicked back in his recliner, elevating his feet and even closing his eyes in relaxation.
“That’s my momma,” Nikolai sighed. “She doesn’t speak verbally, but she will sign with us.”
Noted.
That would’ve been weird, had I not known.
“Blythe, I’d like you to meet my mother,” Keifer indicated the woman to his right. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Blythe.”
Something silent passed between the two. No actual words were exchanged, yet I just knew that some sort of communication had gone on.
“Hi!” I chirped, waving like the dork I was.
She grinned at me, returning my smile with one of her own, but wider. Happier.
“Blythe, I know you are wondering what’s going on, and I thought it’d be easier for us three to talk somewhere private. If you have questions after I explain some things to you, then she can answer them,” Keifer explained slowly.
I nodded and stood, curious to see what he was going to explain.
“Well, Farrow, I can’t say that it’s been pleasant, so peace out. Nikolai you, on the other hand, it has been a pleasure meeting. I hope you have a wonderful night,” I said as I offered the man my hand.
He popped one eye open, looked at my outstretched hand, and moved his eyes to his brother before he offered me his hand.
I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie (The I Like Big Dragons Series) Page 4
