SHARED BY THE DRAGON CLAN
The Complete Set
Rosette Bolter
THE SPIN-OFF SERIES TO SHARED BY THE DRAGON CLAN IS NOW AVAILABLE
WORSHIPED BY THE BEAR KINGS
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RWDP18O
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE
Tired and afraid, Stacey Caversham was strapped to her seat at the back of the chopper. She was wearing a state issued orange jump suit; her ankles and wrists were handcuffed; her hair was a total disaster and she hadn’t eaten properly in weeks. From the cockpit she could hear the pilot indicating to the head of security that they were approaching the island, and soon they’d be landing. The dark skinned security guard next to her sat back in his seat and fastened his straps accordingly. From a pair of sunglasses he glanced over at Stacey, almost menacingly, and she tried to look away.
If only he knew, she thought. If only he knew I’m innocent…
Stacey was innocent.
In spite of that, this morning she had stood up in front of an entire court room full of people, and had been found guilty of the murder of her roommate, Teresa. The prosecution didn’t have more than circumstantial evidence – the neighbors had overheard the pair of them arguing, video footage confirmed she was the only one in the apartment at the time, and the most damning of all – Teresa had posted on Facebook she was afraid Stacey would kill her.
The truth seemed obvious to Stacey – Teresa had thrown herself over the balcony and made that post about Stacey just to get back at her. What they were arguing about, didn’t seem important now … But in any case the judge had sentenced Stacey to twenty years in prison.
Or…
“Or you may try your luck on Firebound Island,” the judge had said.
What had momentarily seemed to be a wash of devastation, now offered a faint glimmer of hope.
“Firebound Island…?” Stacey repeated.
“You’ll be placed in the hands of the dragon clan residing there, for a period of one year. However I should warn you, if you decide on this option, it is very unlikely you will survive that long…”
Of course, The Firebound Dragons. They were reasonably new to the area, having migrated to the island only a few years back. Part of their peace treaty with the human state was that females sentenced to prison terms of one year or more would have the option of being enslaved to the dragons for a significantly reduced amount of time. Stacey knew little of what happened to women who found themselves in such a position – but a sentence in jail for twenty years seemed far too horrific that no matter how afraid she was of the dragons, it seemed like the better choice.
“So be it,” the judge decreed. “You’ll fly out after lunch.”
And now, after only an hour on the chopper, they were getting ready to land on the island below.
“How should I be with them?” Stacey murmured to the man in sunglasses next to her. “How can I make them treat me well?”
“I wouldn’t have the faintest idea,” the guard replied. “I’ve never met with them before. No one on this aircraft has.”
“But how is that –?”
“You’ll see.”
CHAPTER TWO
The chopper landed on the roof of a building surrounded by forest. The security team departed the plane with Stacey. Beforehand the guard with glasses unlocked the handcuffs around her ankles, and switched the handcuffs on her wrists so her hands were cuffed from behind. Two men in front of her, and two men behind. The afternoon sun was roaring with heat as their shadows moved underneath it. There was little cover to be had until they made it inside.
Once there, the journey did not stop. It was a warehouse type building, with dim artificial lighting. They moved through a metallic railing until reaching a spiraling set of stairs, which took them to the concrete floor. Surrounding Stacey here, she saw tables with computers, and work benches with tools. A cloud of dust permanently hung in the air.
The head of security singled out the guy with sunglasses. “Stay back with the prisoner. We’ll make sure the path is secure first.”
The guard nodded.
The remaining two men followed their leader out towards a shed like door which had been fastened shut with a crowbar. They removed it and stepped outside, leaving Stacey alone with the guard.
“So have you taken other girls up here before?” she asked, breaking the silence.
“Many times.”
“Do you ever … bring anyone back?”
“That’s not my detail.”
“But some girls do come back, don’t they?” Stacey mumbled. “I mean, you are aware of that actually happening.”
“In some cases.”
Stacey breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew. I was really worried there.”
She tried to smile at him, but still he showed no emotion. He’d given her the answer she wanted, but all the same she wanted to be completely certain.
“In what cases?” she finally asked.
The guard’s head tilted. “I once heard about a woman making out of here alive after three days.”
“What?”
“She’d been given a year for tax fraud. She decided to come here instead.”
“Who else has made it out of here?”
“The longest … time a woman has been known to survive here … was a week…”
“A week? Only a week?”
“The thing is,” the guard explained, “we don’t know if the dragons really killed the girls who didn’t make it out. Or…”
“Or?”
“Or they just decided to keep them forever.”
The door then opened and the head of security stuck his head in. “We’re good to go.”
The guard nodded to Stacey and she started walking towards the door. Soon she was outside.
The clearing around where the building was situated was very small. There was barely any grass between the walls of the compound, and the trees themselves. There was a pathway around the right side of the building which would stretch of for a while. This is where Stacey was led.
She turned to the guard behind her. “Where are we going now?”
“To the fence?”
“What fence?”
“That’s where you’ll be taken. You’ll have to wait there.”
“Will you be there with me?”
“Keep your eyes in front,” the guard said, refusing to answer her.
The fence was only a few minutes away. Soon on the horizon Stacey would see its great mass stretching out. It was tall – twenty, thirty feet off the ground perhaps. When they reached front of it, she saw that there were two iron doors blocking the continuation of the pathway beyond the fence. She noticed a sign hanging nearby.
HUMANS NOT ALLOWED
“Okay,” the head of security said once there. “You can undo her handcuffs now.”
The guard in sunglasses, stepped forward to release them. They hit the ground with a clunk and he stooped over to pick them up. Stacey stepped away, shaking warmth back into her hands.
“You’ll have to wait here now,” the head of security said. “Eventually they’ll come for you.”
“What do I do until then?” Stacey asked.
The guards were stepping away.
“Just stay put,” the head of security said. “It’s the safest option for you.”
They then turned, and began to backtrack.
“Wait,” Stacey called to them. “Guy with sunglasses.”
The guard turned.
“Come here for a second, would you?”
The guard looked to his commander, and the head of security nodded.
The guard t
hen moved forward a few meters back so she could speak to him.
“We don’t know each other, but I want you to look me in the eyes when I say this,” she said.
“Okay,” the guard said. He took off his sunglasses to show that he was genuine.
“I’m innocent of my crime,” she said.
The guard attempted to smile, and touched her shoulder lightly. “I’m afraid, that doesn’t matter now.”
“No,” Stacey insisted. “It really does.”
The guard put his sunglasses back on, and turned away from her. “You belong to them now.”
Stacey watched him and the others disappear in the brightness of the sun’s rays, and it was only after they were gone, that she realized she could have made a very big mistake.
CHAPTER THREE
Unbeknownst to the girl, she was already being watched by the dragons – and she had caught the eye of one in particular. He was the Head of the Dragon Knights, an elite unit whom worked directly for the Lord of Firebound Island. Upon the highest branches of a tree some many yards away, Zane Hunter sat perched, holding a telescope to his eye. He first started at the ground below her feet, as she stood motionless. Slowly he moved his way up. In spite of the hideousness of her outfit, he could tell he liked the body she had underneath her clothes. She wasn’t petite. She was young – but her figure was more of a woman’s than of a girl’s. Zane was satisfied by that. Judging by the color of her neck, she would have very pale skin underneath her clothes. Something about this suggested to him, she was not the typical, sexually prepared seekers who often wound up here. No … For her sex was a sacred ritual. Something secretive. Private.
Zane watched her eyes. The gentle wind moving through the edges of her hair. She was just standing there. But she was out of breath. Anxiety. Fear. She had not even met him yet, but the very thought of him inside her head, was terrifying enough.
“Well then, my little blossom,” Zane murmured under his breath. “What is to become of thee here? Hast thou the desire to learn? Hast thou the desire to please?”
Zane jumped from the tree willfully, and landed on the ground below a moment later, sending shockwaves through it. He raised his head, smiling … a predator’s smile. He was still consumed by the thought of her fear – so much so he could see it running all over body, through her bloodstream. And now he wanted it, out there, live and wild in front of him.
And … If she was not afraid…
If she could look him in the eyes and be something more than a quivering fairy…
Well. Perhaps he would like that even more.
CHAPTER FOUR
Stacey didn’t have to wait for long before she saw the tall dark shadow moving across the ground. She watched it merge with her own shadow, and for a moment she might have guessed she was still alone there, for there was no sound in the air other than her own deep breaths. But then the shadow spread out to reveal it’s true shape. She twirled around to face him, almost in time with something. A distant song. An echoed dance beat. The dragon shifter’s head was large enough to block the sun.
And close enough to her.
“Hello,” she began. “I’m Stacey Caversham.”
He was smiling at her. Just staring. Just smiling.
For a moment she was confused by his silence, and then at once she understood it. He was watching her for a reaction to his own appearance – He wanted to see what she made of him –
And well. He was dressed in black and silver armor with the emblem of a red dragon on his chest… He had the physique of a warrior, but his face had softer features. As if he had never been in battle. Or at least never been wounded.
His eyes were gentle, yet piercing.
Impassioned, yet disturbed.
No matter how he looked before her now – no matter how he spoke to her or behaved – Stacey had the feeling that whatever judgment she would make of him would be incorrect.
Because it wasn’t the full story.
“I’m going to call you Blossom,” he said abruptly.
“Pardon me?” Stacey returned.
“Blossom. That’s what I’m going to call you.” He took a step towards the gate. “My name, is Zane Hunter. I’m Head of the Dragon Knights.”
“Pleased to meet you, Zane,” Stacey murmured.
Zane blinked coldly. “You are going to call me, Master. You’re Blossom. I’m Master. Understand?”
“Oh,” Stacey replied. “Do I have to?”
“Why does it make you uncomfortable?”
“I don’t really know,” Stacey mumbled. “I’m just not sure where it’s going.”
“Right now,” Zane said, “you are outside of this. I don’t have to let you in. I can just walk away. Leave you to find your own path on our island here. I wonder, what would become of you? Any thoughts?”
Stacey shook her head.
“Who you were before this moment – forget it. We’re not interested in who you were, and what you’re used to being called. We have certain … roles that need to be filled. One such that is for me to entertain a little Blossom. You see, I want to like you. Because I’m a really nice person. Do you follow me?”
Stacey nodded her head slowly.
“It’s really, in a way, no worse than how you’d have been treated if you had elected to complete your sentence in your homeland. There, you’d just be a number to them. And you’d have to fit in, and follow the rules, and address people as you’re expected to. Make sense?”
“Okay,” Stacey said. “I guess.”
“So who are you?”
She hesitated. “I’m Blossom.”
“And who am I?”
“Master.”
“Excellent,” Zane said. “Wasn’t that hard was it? Now take off your clothes and give them to me.”
Stacey’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“I need your clothes, before you can come in. Please don’t tell me you’re attached to them.”
“But I’m not going to…” Stacey trailed off.
“Speak up, I can’t hear you.”
“I … I don’t have any other clothes.”
“I don’t have any other clothes, Master,” Zane corrected.
Stacey winced.
“Say it.”
“But I don’t have any other clothes, Master.”
“I will provide you with clothes. But first I need the ones on your back. Do you understand?”
Stacey nodded. Her lips were twisting inward.
She put her hands down to unbutton the jumpsuit. First button. Second.
Then Zane’s expression changed. “Stop.”
She stopped. Her hands were trembling.
“My delicate little, Blossom. Where are my manners?”
He then turned so his back was facing her.
She recommenced the removing of her clothes.
“I can tell,” Zane said in a quiet voice, “I’m going to have to be really, really nice to you.”
Soon, Stacey’s jumpsuit was at her feet, and she was down to no more than her underwear. Zane put his hand through the gate and opened his palm, back still turned.
“Give it to me.”
She handed it over.
Immediately, Zane flung the garment up into the air high above him. He opened his mouth and out shot a ball of fire, which ripped through its target, sending little more than shreds floating back to the ground. Zane walked a couple of paces to retrieve the remains.
He then walked backwards to the gate and pushed them back into Stacey’s arms.
“Put it on,” he said.
Before her the jumpsuit had transformed into a sparkling green gown, that both fit and felt perfect for Stacey to wear.
Zane turned back to face her.
“Now, there’s a woman,” he whispered.
Stacey blushed.
Zane opened the gate.
CHAPTER FIVE
The path beyond the fence grew wider as they moved through the bend. The trees were cut back a bit to either side
of them, revealing lime green patches of grass. The air Stacey breathed in was warm and enticing, and whether it was real or not, she felt her surroundings were blessed with enchantment. Her fears, while still at the forefront of her mind, and slowly began to submit whatever fate awaited her. Her companion, Zane, or Master as he preferred, seemed to be posturing his devilish charm – but the answer as to what truth he was hiding, Stacey did not know.
“So, my Blossom,” he said as they walked, “what talents do you possess?”
“Talents?”
“Yes, talents. It’s not an obscure word is it? You understand what it means?”
“Yes, Master.”
“So, what are yours then?”
“Well …” Stacey murmured. “I was studying to become a veterinarian before all this happened.”
“Your powers of healing would be of little use to us, I can assure you.”
“Oh.”
“I was more interested in your artistic gifts.”
“Um… I never really…”
“But you shall now,” Zane interrupted. “Because as you take your husband here, you will be expected to entertain him.”
“Husband?” Stacey swallowed. “I’m only supposed to be here a year.”
Zane smiled. “I see what you’re wondering. I see you’ve heard the stories. I see the fear in you.”
“So…”
“So?”
“So will you let me go, when it is my time?”
“Give me your hand.”
Stacey stopped walking a moment and then presented it to him. Zane removed his right gauntlet and placed it underneath his left underarm. She looked at the hand he was offering. It was white, like his face. But green veins ran through it.
Their fingers interlocked.
“Do you feel that?” Zane asked.
Of course she felt him. Stacey nodded.
“Describe what you’re feeling.”
“Your hand is warm,” Stacey answered him. “It’s strong.”
Shared By The Dragon Clan: The Complete Set Page 1
