Loved by a Dragon: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Exiled Dragons Book 2)

by Stone, Sarah J.

  “Donnelly, you in there? It’s Owen and Connor McCord!” one of them shouted out to him.

  Making his way quickly to the door, he opened it to find the two of them standing there with broad grins on their faces. Though he hadn’t been close to them when they all lived in the village, he did recognize them when he saw them. It was definitely the McCord brothers.

  “I wasn’t expecting you,” he replied. “Come on in.”

  “We got your message and decided to stop by,” Connor told him.

  “That was fast. I thought you were way over in Newry or Dublin. Did you fly?”

  “This time of day? Nah. We were already here, not too far away. Owen has this thing about camping out in the mountains. He fancies himself a real outdoorsman,” Connor laughed.

  “Bite me,” Owen replied playfully, clapping his brother on the back as they stepped inside the door.

  “Owen, Connor, this is my…this is Kate,” he said, suddenly uncertain of how he was to refer to her.

  “Good to meet you, Kate,” Connor replied, Owen nodding in agreement.

  “Well, have a seat. Make yourselves at home or as at home as you can get in this place. It’s a bit of a dump; hasn’t been used in quite a while,” Aaron told them, waving his hand toward the chairs on the other side of the table. A thought occurred to him as he spoke. He hadn’t told Josh where he was staying. Josh had visited him at the family place in the village. “How did you guys find me?”

  “Like I said, we’re not far away. We’ve seen you fly out a few times when we were getting ready to do the same. I’m surprised we haven’t already crossed paths.”

  “Ah, I see. Well, it’s good to see you guys. What can I do for you?”

  “It’s what we can do for you,” Connor told him.

  “I need all the help I can get. What is it you can do for me?” Aaron asked.

  “You need to know how to combat the ice,” Owen said flatly.

  “Yes,” Aaron replied, afraid to look toward Kate. He hadn’t told her about his memory of Aiden.

  “Ice?” she said suddenly, the concern obvious in her voice.

  Owen looked from Aaron to her and then back, his eyes acknowledging something unspoken between them before speaking further.

  “Yes. Aiden is an ice dragon. We learned that when we were younger. Only a few have ever seen him use it. It’s his secret weapon, so he likes to keep it under wraps.”

  “Oh, my God!” she gasped, her entire body seeming to slump in her chair for a moment as if he had already been defeated. Aaron reached for her hand and stroked the back of it softly as he held it tight.

  “It’s okay, Kate. It’ll be okay,” he told her quietly before turning back to Owen.

  “An ice dragon can quickly do you in if you aren’t aware of the power. Our father was one, too. Both Owen and I are fire breathers, but Dad made sure we knew how to combat the ice if we ever needed to. I think he somehow knew there would come a time that we might encounter Aiden as an opponent,” Owen told him.

  “Then, you’ve trained against it. Why aren’t you fighting him? Why did you run instead of facing him?” Kate said angrily.

  “Owen cannot take his place. His mate is human, and that prohibits him from challenging Aiden for his place. To attack him would only result in a death penalty for him. As for me, I’ve been training to come back and take him on, but we got word that the Council has sanctioned Aaron’s fight with him in the interim. There are those within the Council that chose Aaron for a reason – a reason we aren’t privy to – but it says something that they’ve given him their blessing to challenge Aiden.”

  Kate scowled at them and stepped away from the table without another word. Aaron started to go after her but decided that it might be best to give her a moment to herself. Besides, he needed to know whatever the McCords could tell him, and there were things he didn’t want to say in front of her. The men all remained silent as she stormed into the adjoining bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

  “I didn’t elaborate in my note, but I found out that Aiden was an ice dragon because I remembered something from my childhood,” he told them quietly.

  “What was that?” Owen asked.

  “The fire that I accidentally set when we were younger. The neighbors were all out to try and douse the flames, but it was Aiden that finally did. I saw him. He didn’t see me, but I saw him from behind a tree.”

  “He put it out with ice, I take it,” Connor replied.

  “Yes, but there is something else. Your father was there, guiding him.”

  “I’m not surprised that he would have back then. That bond is why he trusted Aiden when he told him he needed help the night that he murdered him.”

  “I don’t know how else to ask this, but ice dragons are rare, and yet there are two in this village,” Aaron began to say, but Owen cut him off.

  “No, Aiden is not our father’s son. He is, however, our cousin. Aiden’s mother had an affair with our uncle, our father’s brother while she was married. It continued for several years even after Aiden was born until her husband found out about it. No one knows exactly what happened after that, but both our uncle and her husband disappeared. Best guess is that one killed the other and then fled, or they fought and perhaps went into the water, neither making it.”

  “And your father did what he could to raise Aiden without it being noticeable?” Aaron added.

  “Exactly. Except Aiden was never like us. He always had a chip on his shoulder, and the fact that he was an ice dragon only made him more fearless as the years went by. When it became apparent that our father would be the successor for the previous dragon leader, he apparently decided it was unacceptable to him. For whatever reasons, he saw fit to kill a man that had never shown him anything but compassion. That’s why we never considered that Aiden had been the one to kill our father before yours told us,” Owen told him.

  “How do I beat him?” Aaron asked.

  “It won’t be easy, but you can. He has a weakness. All ice dragons do, and that is how he knew how to take our father down,” Owen replied.

  “I certainly hope so,” Aaron replied, listening intently to what Owen and Connor told him next.

  By the end of their visit, he wasn’t completely certain he could take Aiden down, but he felt a lot more confident he could at least even up a fight. Owen and Connor told him they would be nearby, keeping an eye out in case anyone else had discovered where he was staying and decided to interfere with his getting to the challenge in one piece.

  CHAPTER 15

  With the McCord brothers out of the way, Aaron reluctantly went to the bedroom to talk to Kate. He knew that Aiden wasn’t the only fight he had on his hands at the moment. She was upset and angry. It was going to take some work to calm her down. He found her lying across the bed, crying against the pillow beneath her head.

  “Kate, I’m sorry about all of this. I know it’s hard for you to understand what I must do,” he said.

  “What you choose to do,” she replied.

  “Perhaps, in the beginning, it was a choice. It was anger, vengeance. Now, I have to see it through. I have the Council behind me. I have the people behind me. Everyone needs to be rid of Aiden. I am doing it for everyone, not just myself. I don’t know how many more ways I can say that and make you understand it.”

  “Do you not care how it makes me feel?”

  “What? Of course I care, Kate. You mean everything to me.”

  “I don’t mean enough for you to walk away from this.”

  “Why would you want to be with a man who is willing to just tuck tail and run away instead of doing what he can to make things better for our families?”

  “I just want you to be safe. I want you to be with me, and I’m afraid that you might not be here come this time tomorrow. You have no idea how terrified I am for you, or for us,” she said, still in tears.

  “I think I have an idea, Kate. It tears me apart that I’ve caused you so much pain. It was selfish of
me to pursue a relationship with you knowing what I intended to do might tear us apart. I’m sorry for that, but a part of me is glad that I did it. If I hadn’t, I might have never known what it felt like to love someone so much,” he said, brushing a wisp of hair away from her eyes.

  “I love you, too, Aaron,” she told him, looking up into his eyes balefully.

  “Then support me in this, Kate. No matter how hard it is to accept. Just know that I have to see it through, and I need to know that you are with me.”

  “I am with you. No matter what happens, I will always be with you.”

  “Then, we will get through this together. I have every reason to win and not one to lose. I am going to make Aiden pay for his years of tyranny and cruelty. I owe that to my father, and I owe it to the people in our village, people who can’t fight for themselves.”

  “I will say no more. I am with you, always and forever,” she told him, kissing him softly on the lips.

  Aaron returned her kiss feverishly, getting lost in the way she smelled, the way she tasted, the soft moans that fluttered gently against his ear. It was so hard not to just do as she wanted and run away somewhere to spend their lives together. He wanted that, but he wanted to be free more. He didn’t want to have to hide in the shadows just to live their lives in peace. Tomorrow would bring him that peace, one way or another.

  He put it all out of his head, soon lost in Kate. All he could feel was her soft skin. All he could smell was the light scent that seemed as natural on her as if she were the flower that had produced it. Her taste was like the sweetest nectar. In this moment, there was only the two of them and nothing could ever tear them apart.

  “You have on far too many clothes,” he told her as he began to slowly peel off her top, working his way down to the buttons on her jeans.

  His mouth trailed along her exposed skin, planting tiny kisses as she cooed beneath him, giving in to his will despite her earlier anger. There was no doubt that she loved him. He knew that her fear came from thinking she might lose him. Knowing how vulnerable she was to him only made him want her more. She was such a powerful woman and yet, willing to give in to him completely. It only made him more fascinated with her every single day that they were together.

  They took their time, his hands roaming every inch of skin revealed as she peeled away her clothes and kissed his arms, hands, and face each time they drew near enough to reach. He stood and stripped off his own clothes, admiring the way she lay naked before him on the bed, waiting for him, wanting him. It only reminded him how lucky he was to have her as his mate. He felt the sadness that threatened to take over as a thought of tomorrow seeped in and reminded him this might be the last time he touched her.

  Easing across her on the bed, he kissed her again. His tongue lingered softly against hers as they quickly became entangled in one another, their passion amplifying as their slow tour of one another’s bodies dropped away, replaced by a heated exchange of fervor for one another that seemed charged as it increased exponentially.

  In a matter of moments, their bodies were in a whirlwind of activity. Hands seeking the warmth of one another’s skin, while their mouths lingered heavily in an earth-shattering kiss. Kate’s moans filled the room as his fingers found their way to her center, pressing against her clit as he began to slowly explore her hot inner folds. Her hips arched upward toward him, inviting him in as he brought her to her first orgasm, enjoying the way her body seemed to tense and then explode in release.

  Continuing his teasing with one hand, he brought his mouth down to her perfect, pink nipples, sucking first one and then the other into his mouth, pulling at them with his teeth as he suckled heavily against them while she begged him for more.

  “You’re driving me insane. Please. I want you inside of me,” she whimpered, her words populated with gasps and coos as he continued until she had exploded against his hand once again.

  “You are mine, and you are always going to be mine,” he whispered breathlessly into her ear. You’re everything, Kate. I love you. I’ve always loved you, and I always will love you.”

  “I love you, too,” she managed, tears falling down her face as he pulled away, repositioning himself to enter her. His hands cupped her waist as he pushed his heavy erection into her, feeling the way her fingernails dug into his back as he reached her depths with each thrust into her center.

  “God, yes. You feel so amazing. So perfect,” he groaned as she wrapped tightly around him, pulling him into her harder, faster, until he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back. No one had ever felt this amazing to him. It was if she were designed for him and him alone. It was if he was built to please her, and no one else mattered before her.

  “Oh, yes. I’m so close. Don’t stop,” she breathed, her nails digging further into his back, slipping upward across his skin as their lovemaking grew even more primal. It was hard not to shift in moments like these, to enjoy one another in full animal form, but it was dangerous and forbidden, and so he focused his energy on staying in his own skin.

  He could feel her body begin to quiver as she shook all over, her entire body tensing up as her need built inside of her and then quaked as she flooded him with her orgasm. It felt amazing to feel her warmth spreading down him, down across his thighs, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. Burying himself deep inside her, he let himself go, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the rush of his own explosion inside the woman he loved most in the world.

  Afterward, they curled up together, holding onto one another as if their lives depended on being in contact with the other’s skin. Perhaps it did. Perhaps she was his salvation, the one thing that would see him through this. He could only hope so.

  CHAPTER 16

  “Promise me, no matter what, that you will not turn back. You will fly straight back to your mother, and you will stay there until I come for you,” Aaron told Kate as they prepared to leave in the early morning hours the next day.

  “And if you don’t come for me?” she asked, her voice barely audible and broken.

  “Then know that I loved you with all my heart and that I will find you in the next life. I will look for you until we are together again.”

  “Please, Aaron. Let me come with you.”

  “No. You don’t need to see this, and I can’t afford for you to be there if it goes badly.”

  “I’m frightened that this will be the last time we see one another,” she replied.

  “Then kiss me and let me go. I can only promise you that I will do everything within my power to come back to you.”

  Kate threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply. They lingered there in one another’s arms, not wanting to let go. Finally, Aaron pulled away and looked down at her, wiping away the tears that had begun to form.

  “I love you, Kate,” he told her.

  “I love you, too,” she replied, turning quickly and shifting before taking flight toward the opposite direction. Aaron watched her fly away for a moment before turning to do the same. He found himself watching two dark figures hit the ground in front of him and prepared for whomever Aiden had sent to pre-empt their battle. Instead, he found himself facing the McCord brothers shifting into human form in front of him.

  “Are you ready for this?” Connor asked him.

  “I sure hope so,” he replied.

  “You can do it. You have everything you need to take him down,” Owen replied.

  “I wish I possessed your confidence in me,” he laughed nervously.

  “In your heart, you know you can do this. You have the determination, the strength, and the drive. Mostly, you have someone to get back home to safely. If you find yourself faltering, focus on her face and draw strength from her scent that still clings to your skin. Your mate is your life, and she needs you,” Owen told him.

  “No pressure,” Aaron laughed again.

  “No pressure,” Owen said with a broad grin.

  “Alright, well I guess I’ll be going,” he told them, preparing to
shift.

  “We’re coming with you. Perhaps it is your fight, but Aiden is going to know you aren’t in this alone,” Connor told him.

  “You’ll only put yourself in danger,” Aiden replied.

  “Let us worry about that,” Connor told him.

  “I will then. I’ve got something bigger to worry about at the moment,” he replied.

  Aaron shifted and took to the air, a large stygian dragon almost invisible in the darkened skies. The McCords did the same, their bright red and orange masses flying on either side of him. His heart raced wildly as they headed to their destination. This was it. It was finally here, and he was scared. Perhaps that wasn’t something a dragon was supposed to admit, but he was afraid. It wasn’t a fear of injury or even death, but a fear of never seeing Kate again, never feeling her soft hands caressing him as they lay quietly in their bed.

  The flight seemed shorter than usual as he brought his large body down in the backyard of his family home. It was still early – the light wouldn’t come for another two hours, but he needed to rest after the flight and get himself prepared for the challenge. The McCords landed with him but quickly shifted and shuffled into the clothes they had brought before heading off without him.

  “We will see you in The Circle. There are a few things we want to check on before anyone is up and about to see us,” Connor told him.

  “See you there,” he replied, relieved to be alone to collect himself for a bit.

  Aaron thought about what it would be like to be in The Circle, the simple name given to the fighting arena that had seen almost no action for over a hundred years. The only fight there in his lifetime had been the one with the McCords’ father and that had been a mystery, having taken place elsewhere rather than The Circle.