Lovestruck, a Dragon Story

by Bonnie Vanak

  Lovestruck

  A Werewolves of Montana short story

  Bonnie Vanak

  Fiery red dragon Anna Dixon knows what she wants—the sexy, handsome Michael Vincent as her mate. Once childhood friends, an undying passion now claims them both. But Michael is a black dragon belonging to a rival clan, and her father will never allow the match. Heartbroken, Anna is resigned that the hatred between their families will never cease and she must deny Michael for the sake of peace.

  Michael has tried to put away memories of Anna, but can never forget the red dragon who aroused his passion and claimed his heart. When Xavier, the Crystal Wizard, sends Michael to gather rare Lumen seeds from land belonging to Anna’s clan, the two dragons consummate the desire burning between them. But after Michael is caught and his presence stirs old animosities, they are threatened with a dragon war in the skies that can claim everything Anna holds dear, including her beloved Michael…

  Prologue

  Tonight she planned to lose her virginity to a handsome, powerful dragon.

  If her father discovered Michael was here, there would be hell to pay. Dragonfire hell. And Barlow Dixon knew how to spit fire strong enough to maul even a strong dragon like Michael.

  Anna Dixon hugged her knees as she sat on a deserted section of beach in Florida by a sheltering clump of sea grape trees on the tawny sands, staring into the Gulf of Mexico as she waited for Michael to arrive. Her father had taken his immediate family on a small vacation break, away from their territory in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

  Soon as she found out their destination, Anna had sent word to Michael via email, planning to meet him on the beach at sunset. Her father might forbid her from seeing her childhood friend, but she refused to listen.

  Michael Vincent, a dragon from Clan Fury. Clan Fury were the guardians of the night sky, and the enemies of her clan, Clan Tyrith, guardians of the mountains, streams and forests.

  Their clans had feuded for so long, no one remembered why, only that each detested the other. However, she was eighteen now, and even if she had not yet shifted into her dragon like Michael, she was considered an adult by humans, or Skins, as OtherWorlders called them.

  While Anna was walking here, the sun had started to lower toward the flat line of the Gulf of Mexico. Couples gathered on the sands to watch. Arms around each other, they whispered and kissed. Anna felt a wistful tug. Why could she not do the same? She and Michael belonged together.

  Michael spent part of his time in Tir Na-nog, the afterworld, as an apprentice to Xavier, the Crystal Wizard. But the afterworld was a small obstacle compared to her obstinate father, who thought she should mate only with another red dragon like herself.

  Her father hated black dragons like Michael. Black dragons, he declared, are inferior. Michael was not as narrow minded. Although dragons from her clan had killed his parents in battle when Michael was only sixteen, he’d never held a personal grudge against her or her family.

  A familiar tingle rushed down her spine. Anna turned her head as Michael approached.

  Her heart skipped a beat. With his shock of dark hair, gaze black as pitch and high aristocratic cheekbones, Michael was lean and handsome. She wanted no other as a mate, and felt an odd tugging in her belly when he was near.

  Dressed in black jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt that contrasted with his tanned skin, he looked sexy as hell. The tattoo snaking down his neck was pale, indicating his service to the Crystal Wizard. In his left ear was a small crystal hoop earring, another indication he served Xavier. Michael’s mouth curled into a satisfied smile as he saw her.

  The tingle in her lower belly intensified.

  Could he be her true mate? Perhaps.

  But…he was different now. Power pulsed from him, seductive and teasing. It was a low hum, but powerful magick all the same, not mere dragon magick.

  She found herself pulling away when he sat beside her.

  “You’ve changed,” she said, her voice shaky.

  “Anna.” His voice was deep and velvety, a caress against the bare skin of her arms. “Don’t look so scared. It’s me. I have new powers, but it’s still the same me.”

  Michael turned his hand over, showing her the mark where she’d bitten him when she was only five years old. “See? You have more power than I have.”

  Her heart melted at his sexy grin. “It’s been years since I last saw you, Michael. I missed you.”

  “And I missed you.” He reached for her hand and the touch of his calloused palm sent a thrill racing down her spine. What would his hands feel like all over her naked skin?

  Maybe after mating in Skin for a few years, they could mate as dragons after she experienced her first shift. Her cousin Marcia told her mating in dragonskin held the most incredible sensations.

  With a worried eye, she studied him. He looked hale and hearty, and not as skinny as when she’d last seen him, before becoming Xavier’s apprentice. Michael was twenty-three now, and a man.

  A very fine-looking man.

  “You look more…muscular and healthy. Has the Crystal Wizard treated you well?” she asked, covering his other hand with hers.

  He looked down at their joined hands. “Very well. Xavier has taught me much about botany and magick plants. He works me hard, but gives me enough vacation time as well. I’ve grown in power.”

  Michael’s gaze hardened. “Power enough to fight even your father.”

  Anna’s delight turned to worry again. Barlow had gone with her mother and two younger siblings to find char-grilled barbecue. She glanced at the darkening skies. They had perhaps two hours at most.

  “Forget my father. This time is about us.”

  His long, leanly muscled body was tall, filled with enormous strength, and his face had a hard edge about it, contrasting with a mouth almost too sensual for a man. His sunny smile and boyish charm masked his quiet strength and fierce loyalty to Xavier, his master.

  “Why did you apprentice yourself to Xavier? Tristan is our guardian and our judge.”

  “He requested me.” Michael looked thoughtful. “Xavier he had need of a dragon to work in his lab and said he would teach me all I needed to learn in my chosen field of study. And I have.”

  She shivered with awareness of him as he leaned closer. “Anna, I have a gift for you.”

  Michael opened his palm. A magick wand appeared in his hand. “It belongs to Xavier. I borrowed it from him especially for you, Anna.”

  Perhaps not so loyal after all. Delighted, she took the wand. “Won’t you get into trouble?”

  “He has several. He won’t miss one. Test it out. Wave it and see how much magick it holds.”

  “How does it work?”

  “Think of something you’d like to see. Hold that image in your mind and wave the wand.”

  Mischief filled her.

  She waved the wand and suddenly Michael was clad in khaki shorts and a white T-shirt. He grinned as she stared at the sleek muscles of his calves, the light dusting of dark hair upon his athletic legs.

  “You’re very tan,” she said, her desire rising in a volcanic rush.

  “Xavier has me working in the gardens of Tir Na-nog. He’s searching for a special ingredient to experiment with.”

  “Remember when we played dress-up as kids? And you borrowed my father’s hat and then threw up in it after we had too many sweets?” She giggled.

  A hank of dark hair fell into his face. Michael pushed it back with an impatient hand. “I believe that is why your father hates me.”

  They both fell silent. When he was ten, Michael had lived with her clan for three years as part of an exchange program set up by Tristan, the Silver Wizard. The program was an attempt to get the child
ren of the rival clans to become friends in order to stop the constant feuding by the clans. It worked for a while. But when the children all returned to their individual clans, the bickering started all over again.

  When his magick manifested upon his first shift at age twenty-one, the wizards of the Brehon were impressed with Michael’s potential and called him to serve, while she had remained a young fledging dragon, still without power. Michael might even be strong enough to defeat an older dragon like her father.

  But her father had plenty of power, for the old man knew how to throw dragonfire while in Skin, a talent only a few dragons possessed.

  She stopped smiling, her father’s intense dislike of Michael was no joke. Anna looked at the magick wand, wishing she could wave it and dispose of the hatred between their rival clans.

  “He hates you because he’s afraid. For too long, our clan has feared losing their treasure, their territory, to your clan. It’s why the battles keep flaring up and the violence will not end. Your clan has no territory,” she said, her voice growing small.

  Craning his neck, Michael stared upward at the stars twinkling in the darkness. “Our territory is the night sky. We make our homes wherever we please, and that is what truly upsets your father, and your king, Anna. They fear us taking over your compound and stealing your treasure.”

  “There is treasure enough for all. I don’t know why dragons hoard. I would gladly share my clan’s gold with you and your clan.”

  “You are a rare treasure, Anna,” he said quietly, his hand skimming over her bare arm, coaxing a shiver from her. “If you were my daughter, I would fear losing you as well. But he can’t keep us apart.”

  His voice deepened. “Anna. You’re so damn lovely.”

  The moon hung like a lemon wedge in the increasingly dark sky. There was no one around but them, no one to see.

  “Stand up,” she ordered.

  When he did, she rose as well. Filled with daring, Anna waved the wand again and suddenly he was naked. Breath fled her as the moonlight gleamed on his tanned skin, the hardened planes of muscle and sinew. Her gaze flicked down to the nest of dark hair at his groin and his thick erection.

  Michael’s gaze was steady as he regarded her. “So this is it, Anna? This is what you truly desire?”

  “Yes.”

  The promise of sensual pleasure shone in his eyes. Reading his expression, Anna moistened her lips. Instinct told her Michael wanted her as badly as she wanted him. She wanted to be more than friends. Though she would not experience her first shift into dragon until age twenty-one, Anna knew what she wanted, what he wanted. Anna kicked off her white sandals and leaned closer.

  When he bent his head toward her mouth, she leaned close. Warmth poured through her. Every cell tingled with awareness and anticipation. He was going to kiss her, finally. She closed her eyes, waiting with breathless eagerness.

  The first touch of his mouth upon hers was a whisper of a kiss, a brush of his lips against hers. Soft as a butterfly’s wing. Anna leaned closer and then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him up against her. His hard, naked body flush against hers.

  The magick wand in her hand tumbled to the sands.

  With a low groan, he kissed her harder and she opened beneath him like a flower as his tongue sought and probed. Not a mere kiss, this, but a maddened coupling of two desperate souls seeking something deeper outside themselves. A clashing of kindred spirits, a stripping of all they both carefully concealed to bare their equal needs before each other. It was the hottest dragonfire and longing, two molten liquid rivers melding together in forged passion.

  She strained against him, rubbing seductively. He gently slipped his hands around her and cupped her buttocks to cradle her against his hard arousal. She felt an aching demand to mate, their bodies tangling in passion as fierce as those of dragons in the heat of mating. Anna moaned, her hands caressing the hard muscles of his back. Fire raged in her loins. She imagined being splayed beneath him, her body trembling with need as he slowly joined them together.

  And then Michael stopped kissing her. In the gathering dark, she saw his erection straining eagerly toward her, though physically the rest of him had pulled away. She saw the shock in his dark gaze.

  Her heart raced as the truth dawned upon her, and judging from the look on his face, he knew it as well.

  “I knew it,” she breathed.

  Stunned, he stared. “It’s you. You’re my true mate.”

  Michael had never dreamed he’d find his true mate, especially a dragon from Clan Tyrith.

  After his parents had died beneath the claws of dragons from that clan during a flare-up of violence, he’d forced himself to remember that not all dragons from Clan Tyrith were bad.

  There was Anna. Anna was different. And though he could never forgive those from her clan who killed his beloved parents, he would never forsake their deep friendship. As he grew older, friendship turned into something deeper, a hot desire that ignited his veins each time she drew near.

  Anna was different. A fierce red dragon, she had not yet shifted, but even when she did, he sensed she would not fall prey to the same vile anger that had seized her family and clan.

  Anna had a gentle heart, and adored singing. She loved the mountains she called home and cradled the wild creatures of the forest in her hands, instead of roasting them as others did. And yet she was fierce, with a devout loyalty that caused her to sink her teeth into his skin when he’d called her clan “farmers and gardeners” and not “real dragons”.

  At age five, she had bewitched him with her frankness, her daring to play with him when no one else in her clan had, and later, her refusal to break off their friendship despite her family’s pressure.

  And now, after their heated kiss, he knew they were destined mates.

  Shit.

  Hellfire.

  He had promised a hundred years of service to Xavier, the Crystal Wizard. But his apprenticeship to the powerful member of the Brehon was less of an impediment to this mating than one other factor.

  Anna’s father, Barlow.

  He’ll flay the scales off my dragonskin before he lets me mate with his daughter.

  Michael breathed in her scent of juniper trees, clean, fresh water and tangy air. Anna smelled like the mountains and streams her clan guarded. Her nose was small and pert, her mouth wide and lush. Large sea-green eyes shone with intelligence.

  Dressed in a pink scooped-neck shirt and a floral skirt that accentuated her lush curves, she looked appetizing and tempting. Anna nixed the notion that redheads could not wear pink. Defiant as always, he thought with a grin.

  Her long auburn curls spilled down her backside. He thought about fisting a hand in her hair as he took her, and his erection strained.

  Ribbons of violet and rose laced the skies over the tranquil Gulf of Mexico. Palm branches fluttered in the cooling breeze. Desire rushed through him, fierce as dragonfire. His blood surged hot and thick as she leaned closer.

  He would become her first lover, here and now.

  Then he could not help himself any more than he could stop the tide from lapping at their feet. He kissed her as if his last breath depended upon it, as if they would soon part. He rolled her backwards, onto the hard sand.

  Tonight, she would become his. He would make her his mate.

  Everything felt surreal, from the pleasure shooting through her veins as Michael kissed her, to the knowledge that she was finally going to lose her innocence to the dragon she’d wanted.

  As she felt his erection rub enticingly between her legs, touching nerve endings enriched by blood, Anna’s tiny fears vanished, replaced with an urgent need to mate. Her body sang with arousal, and she rubbed against Michael.

  And then she felt a tickling down her spine that warned danger approached. Anna pushed at his chest and tore her mouth away from his.

  Michael instantly became alert. “Your father approaches.”

  Barely had the words fled his mouth when the breeze ove
rhead shifted. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her father winging through the sky, invisible to Skins, but very much visible to her. Barlow appeared at the edge of the clearing of sea grape trees and shifted back to skin and conjured clothing.

  Anna’s heart fell to her stomach. He could see…everything.

  “You bastard! Get off her!” her father roared.

  Michael slid off her body and stood.

  “This is war. Prepare to fight,” her father snarled.

  Michael shifted into dragon, his enormous body now half in the Gulf of Mexico. Anna trembled, thankful once again that dragons were invisible to Skins.

  With a wingspan the size of a Boeing 747, Michael was impressive even by dragon standards. Though her father was smaller, Barlow held more power, and he knew how to wield it. Barlow shifted into dragonskin and grinned, showing rows of pointed teeth.

  Her father was older, and wise to the ways of battle. Michael had purpose and drive, but lacked the battle strategy Barlow had honed over the years. Anna cried out for them to stop, wishing she could shift as well.

  Then she raised her hands to the sky and called upon Xavier for help. Surely Michael’s master could intervene.

  The Crystal Wizard instantly appeared, saw what was happening as Barlow opened his mouth to breathe fire upon Michael.

  “Michael, shift back now,” Xavier roared.

  Michael snarled, but suddenly he stood on the wet sand as Skin, clad in shorts and a T-shirt. He fisted his hands as he glared at Barlow.

  Barlow immediately shifted back. Fighting as dragon against a dragon who chose Skin was strictly forbidden, and those who violated the rule had the scales flayed from their body.

  Xavier put a steady hand on Michael’s shoulder. “He is my apprentice. You have no jurisdiction over him and no right to harm him.”

  “The hell I don’t. He tried to compromise my daughter and steal her innocence. I’ll fry his ass.” Her father’s gaze softened as he looked at her. “Anna, you’re my eldest. You come from a long line of notable red dragons, and your mate will be one who will make our line even more powerful. I have great plans for your future. You deserve more than a lowlife land-sucking black dragon like Michael Vincent.”