They moved on going deeper into the trees before they came to a beautiful clearing. In the center was a comfortable looking porch swing hanging from the branches of two sturdy trees.
“Have a seat.”
“Thanks.” She took a seat and waited for the other female to follow her.
“Let me start off by saying my name is Serenity.” She took a seat, and the swing started to move in a lazy back and forth motion.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise, right now you are on my plane. Your body is asleep, but your essence is here with me.”
“Because you want to tell me a story?”
“You’re catching on. Who are you looking for?”
Willow jumped and tried not to look guilty. If this plane was all essence, then she thought Javon might be here.
“No one.”
“He’s not here. I asked him to stay away.”
“Oh.” What was she going to say? It was a dream.
“You know dragons are real, you’ve seen them.”
“Or I saw a mirage because I was dehydrated and hungry.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think you believe that.”
She shrugged and stayed quiet waiting for the rest of the story.
“There was a time when the Earth was in harmony, dragons, and dinosaurs ruled side by side. Then there were all the things you learned about in the history of the Earth that killed the dinosaurs, but the dragons survived.
“Eventually dragon and man ruled the Earth, and it should be like that today, except Mutufa got in the way.”
“Are you trying to say one man ruined race relations?”
“Doesn’t it always seem to hinge on just one person. In this case, it wasn’t a man it was a demon.”
“A demon? He climbed out of hell?”
“No, he was born. There is a race of people who are demons, and he rose to become their leader. He wanted only one thing raw natural resources, also known as jewels. Where would he find those?”
The massive hoard of jewels Javon had crossed her mind. “Dragons?”
“Correct. He didn’t want to work for the jewels he wanted the dragons to turn them over to him. They of course refused. Mutufa who was humanoid but not human took the shape of a human and began poisoning them against the dragons. He accused the dragons of killing their children when in fact he was the one killing them for his rituals. The children died the humans hunted the dragons, and the souls of the children flooded my plane.
“This wasn’t for days, months or even years. It took place over several centuries until I couldn’t have one more child enter before their time. The dragons, Javon, and his three brothers gathered together and formed a plan to send Mutufa to my plane. It worked, but it left a backdoor for him to escape. Before he was captured, he worked a spell that caused every dragon to change into a human. Which is why the brothers have a human side and a dragon side. They are shifters.”
“What does Mutufa want? Why did he come after me?”
“As far as we know there are only three dragons left alive in the world and one that’s frozen. All the others are either destroyed or so well hidden that no one has found them. You’re the last dragon mate, and Javon is the strongest dragon if he were to become flesh and blood and then mate with you. Who knows what the two of you could do.”
“I don’t want to stop you, but he’s not an ice cube you can set out and wait for it to melt.”
“You’re right, but why would you assume what’s done can’t be undone?”
Damn, that was a good question. What froze him? A spell?
“Is it as easy as reversing a spell?”
“There is no spell this is part of his biology.”
“You can’t undo biology.”
“Then why do doctors and researchers work at it every day?”
This was getting too real too fast. It was no longer a fantasy. It hadn’t been for a while, but to protect herself she insisted this wasn’t reality.
“Tell me how do I do it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Really? You tell me about doctors and researchers, then you say you don’t know how to reverse the process.”
“I’m not his mate, I’m not supposed to know what has to happen. You have to figure it out. No one can help you.”
“You do realize that I’m the last one to this party? All of you have had years to work on this, and you're waiting for me to figure it out?”
The vein on the side of her neck was throbbing, and she could feel her pressure rising. The acid in her stomach was burning her, and her hands were balling up into fists.
“Go ahead, scream, holler, take a shot at me. It won’t matter because no one can do your part. You may fail, looking at you right now I think you will. You may also win by finding a way to unfreeze him, but in the end, it’s up to you. I could spend forever looking for a way to free him and never find it. You have the knowledge at your fingertips you just don’t know how to access it. Speaking of knowledge within you is a well of power. I suggest you make friends with it and learn to use it soon because you’re going to need it. Sleep well.”
Chapter Eight
She tossed and turned concerned about a war that she never thought would be hers. How was she supposed to turn a statue into a real dragon? Forget the dragon how was she supposed to turn Javon into a real male? The weight of what she was tasked to do pushed her shoulders down making her want to cry as she felt like she was slipping into the water once again.
“Hi.”
She turned around to realize she was sitting in a park with Javon.
“Where are we?”
“This is a park that I used to visit before we became shifters and were expelled from your world.”
“How did that happen?”
“Your world no longer believed in dragons, and it shunned anyone that didn’t look like them. There were lots of people who looked different but could blend in and then there were the ones on this island that wouldn’t or couldn’t blend in. Can you imagine a physic knowing someone was going to get hurt and pass by? I can’t. Then there are the ones who think it's fun to move things with their minds. They and so many others were being hunted down. When we became dragons again, we knew we had to do something. That’s how Dragon’s Cove came about.”
He was rubbing a jewel sitting on his lap.
“You kept your jewels around you when you were human?”
“No, just this one. I was wearing it when I was turned. We couldn’t reach our hoards because they were too high for man to get to.”
His hand slid across the bench, and she tangled her fingers with his.
“Let’s take a walk.” He led her through a throng of laughing children to a garden that was empty.
“I can’t imagine the things you’ve seen in your life.”
“Some of them were beautiful, and some were images of war and hatred. It seems to be man’s way, even the dragon’s way to pair beauty and pain. It’s like you can’t know one without the other.”
“The dragons fought?”
“Long ago, before we had a common enemy to bring us together. An enemy that brought us to the edge of extinction.”
“Sometimes I think that’s what we live for to fight hard enough that we live another day.”
“Somethings are inevitable, but for now we can enjoy the beauty of the world around us.”
She smiled at him and looked around the garden. It was created with different paths, she could imagine lovers strolling down them hand in hand.
“This place seems so idyllic. A place of rest in the midst of a busy world.”
“It was.” He took them off the path going through several large weeping willow trees.
The trees whispered gently as if they had a secret and if she could speak their language, she would know all.
They stopped when they got to a beautiful spot with a blanket laid out and a picnic basket.
“Were you expecting company?”
“I was hoping you would show up.”
She gave him a sultry laugh as she sat down on the blanket he had laid out. He sat next to her.
“Do you know what I like most about this dream?” She shook her head.
“I can touch you.” His fingers traveled over her cheek sending shivers down her body.
“Tell me about yourself, Willow.”
“There’s not much to tell.” She angled her face up so she wouldn’t have to look at him.
“Tell me anyway.”
“I had a normal birth. I hold onto that fact at times when my life seems to be spiraling out of control. My mom said I was 5lbs 6oz. I was a small baby. Everything was good, or so she told me until I started talking to my imaginary friend that knew things she shouldn’t have.”
“I told my mom that my dad was cheating. When she asked how I knew, I told her my friend told me.” That confession was made in the lowest of voices. If she could take that moment of open vulnerability back, she would.
“Was he cheating?”
She nodded. “My mom caught him a week later. He said it was my fault. I remember hearing the fight when they thought I was asleep. He threatened to kill me or said they had to get rid of me or he wouldn’t stay. My mom told him to leave. The next day she packed our clothes, and I never saw him again.”
Her shoulders shook while she took deep breaths and fought the familiar tears that came every time she thought about that story. How could something that happened so long ago still hurt like it happened yesterday?
“What was your life like after that?”
She looked up at him her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but the smile on her face told a different story about the rest of her life.
“It was good, more than good. My mom got remarried, and my daddy loved me. I was his little princess. I still had my friend and I still knew things I shouldn’t know. He would always tell my mom that God made me that way for a reason and I would turn out fine.”
“Where are they?”
“My mom got sick. Soon she was gone, and my dad followed her. I don’t think he wanted to live without her.”
“Your biological father?”
She shrugged and left it at that.
“What about you?”
“I was raised a dragon, a proud one. My family was big with my father and mother, three brothers and a sister. I thought life would be that way forever then Mutufa came. My dad died, and my mom flew off one day and never came back. Then there was only us, the children who mourned the loss of their parents.”
The sadness in his eyes was a reflection of the sadness in hers when thought of the early days. She moved towards him, and he opened his arms letting her in. Her hand came to rest on his shoulder while her head was on his chest feeling the strong, steady beat of his heart.
Why did the good things happen in dreams? She searched a long time when she was younger for the right man. At the time she was convinced the right man was out there and she was open to meeting people. How long did it take to give up a dream?
Her life had changed, and she was constantly moving staying one step ahead of the dread that seemed to follow her from city to city. No one wanted a girl on the run, she told herself constantly and before she knew it she was looking for Mr. Right now because Mr. Forever was a dream she couldn’t afford to hope for anymore.
He reached over and brought the picnic basket closer.
“What did you bring with you?”
He opened it up to show her. Inside was a bottle of wine along with strawberries and a heavy cream. He pulled out the strawberries and the cream. Dipping one in he brought it up for her to take a bite.
She opened up and sank her teeth deep into a fat strawberry as a moan of pleasure came from her.
She licked her lips getting all the cream off. “I know this is my imagination, but that was good. I remember once…”
She locked eyes with him. He was watching her lips as his eyes dilated. Her tongue came out licking her bottom lip as he tracked the movement. He took the rest of the strawberry and dipped it in cream before he painted her lips with it. Slowly she licked the cream off watching the expression on his face before she bit the rest of the strawberry leaving nothing but the leaves and the stem in his hand.
Slowly she chewed the berry licking her lips so the juice was staining them.
He lowered his head and licked her lips slowly driving her crazy as her nipples tightened and her sex started to weep in joy.
“Another one.” His voice was thick as he drew the next one through the cream and repainted her lips. This time he licked the cream off before holding the strawberry between his strong white teeth. She lifted her head and bit half of it off while he finished the other half.
He was going to ruin her. She would want tender moments like this forever, and he wasn’t even real.
His hands slid around her and moved her until she was lying on the ground. He laid beside her as his finger traced her lips. Her tongue came out to lick his finger as he slowly interested it into her mouth.
Damn, she was lost as she sucked on his finger. Her mind was freefalling as she devised a way to get closer to him if only in her dreams. His lips went to her neck, and she panted wanting to feel him sucking the tender skin between his lips.
“Javon.” His name was a mere whisper. As her body tried to take in every hint of pleasure moving through her.
Her mouth opened, and he replaced that finger with his tongue. He searched her mouth moving over her tongue until she wasn’t sure where either one of them ended or began. His flavor entered her making her want to taste him repeatedly.
“Willow, how can you be so real in a dream?”
She gave a small laugh as her hands clutched at his shoulders. Who was he asking? She never thought a kiss could be this good. She would have kissed him forever if a dark shadow wasn’t blocking out the sun. He pulled her up quickly moving to be in front of her.
“Javon, I didn’t know you were here.”
“You can’t come here.”
“My shadow can’t but I can.”
Mutufa wasn’t a shadow anymore he had a physical body, one that would have been attractive if she didn’t know what he was. He smiled his straight, white teeth were slightly sharp at the tips. He eyes were a dark brown, and his hair was blonde a little long in the back but cut short and neat in the front. He was dressed in jeans that had to come out of an expensive men’s magazine. He looked ready for some fun, and just the thought of his kind of fun made her stomach tighten into knots.
“Willow.” Her name oozed out his mouth, and she shuddered before she could control it.
“I came here to meet you. Our last meeting was so unpleasant. I wanted you to know I was flesh and blood, you can have me instead of meaningless dreams.” He flashed her his smile again. His eyes beckoned her to come forward.
“I bet the women of the world will be lining up to get a chance at you. In fact, I bet if you approach the makers of the Bachelor they may be interested.”
His brown eyes flashed red before claiming the color brown again.
“Willow I won’t give you another chance. Together we can change the world.”
She tilted her head. The one thing she always wanted to do was change the world.
“Will I be a queen?”
He smiled wide. “Of course, you’ll be the queen to my king.”
“What will happen to the others? What will happen to this island?”
“No one knows it’s here. Why should that have to change? As far as the humans go. A president, parliament or any other government, they don’t really care as long as someone is telling them what to do. Why shouldn’t it be me?”
“We can make the world a better place.”
“Yes, now you understand. The world will reflect me.”
“And if I decide to stay on this island?”
“You die.”
“Like the people who will resist you?”
“Come, Willow, I
don’t have all day. You will be my Queen.”
“I have problems with that. The first is you probably asked every dragon's mate to be your Queen. The second is I don’t like you, so the answer is no.”
He raised his hand and shot off a beam of light at her. She took the cream and made a wall that ate the beam of light.
He stared at her disbelievingly.
“It’s a dream. I’ve been controlling my dreams since I’ve been ten.” Her finger went out, and she swirled it in the cream wall and then licked the cream off it.
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll take this and be gone.” He reached for the jewel lying next to Javon, his fingers touched it before the blanket developed teeth and bit them.
“You’ll pay for that.” He disappeared.
Willow laughed she couldn’t help herself. Javon looked at her and blinked.
“I was frozen. There was nothing I could do to protect you.”
She threw herself into his arms and kissed him deeply.
“I might need protection, but not when I am in the dream world. I’m dreaming this wide awake so he couldn’t undermine what I know. And now that this happened I will always be able to take charge of all my dreams. I was perfectly safe, but you weren’t. What did he want?”
“He wanted you.”
“No, he didn’t.” Her hand went down to the bulge sitting between his legs. You want me, but he wanted something else.”
“Maybe, either way, it’s time to wake up.”
Chapter Nine
She blinked and wondered if the sun was up or down. There was no way to tell. A quick look around showed that nothing had changed. She was still snuggled close to her dragon. Only she could get herself into messes like this. Standing she reached up to try and place her arms around his thick neck and kissed him.
How many times would she get to kiss a dragon? That’s why she was taking advantage of the situation. She looked around for the spirit or ghost of Javon. What she called him depended on her mood, but he wasn’t around. Which meant she could use the bathroom without being scared he would pop in and find her doing something that might be embarrassing like touching herself when she thought about him.
Willow's Dragon: Dragon Mates: A BBW Paranormal Romance Page 5
