Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT
BOOKS BY ISADORA MONTROSE
SNEAK PEEK
NOTE TO THE READER
DRAGON ENSNARED
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
DRAGON'S CONFESSION PREVIEW
DRAGON BEWITCHED PREVIEW
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY ISADORA MONTROSE
Dragon Ensnared ©Copyright Isadora Montrose 2018
Cover Art by Resplendent Media ©Copyright 2018
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the author, Isadora Montrose.
Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers.
Books by Isadora Montrose
Bear Necessities
Bear Possibilities
Bear Affinities
Bear Infinities
Bear Fursuits Books 1-4 Bundle
Bear Cubs for Christmas (available only in Bear Fursuits Books 1-4 Bundle)
Bearly Begun
Bearly Enough
Bearly Ever
Bearly Forever
Bearly Beloved
Dragon’s Treasure
Bear Skin: A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance
Dragon’s Successor
Brides for the Bachelor Bears Books 0-4 Bundle
Bearly a Bride (available only in Brides for the Bachelor Bears)
Dragon’s Pleasure
Bear Pause: A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance
Dragon’s Christmas Captive
Dragon’s Possession
Phoenix Aglow
Phoenix Ablaze
Phoenix Aflame
Billionaire Dragon Lords Books 1-3 Bundle
Dragon’s Confession
Bear Sin: A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance
Phoenix Alight
Bear Fate: A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance
Christmas Flame
Desired by the Dragon: A Shifters in Love Fun & Flirty Romance
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SNEAK PEEK
Jareth pulled her hard against his body and his mouth descended again. This time he slipped the tip of his tongue inside her mouth and sent it up in front of her teeth. She tingled from head to toe. His eyes were closed and he looked happy. She liked what he was doing, but what was she supposed to do?
She opened her mouth wider, hoping to please him. He pulled away and looked puzzled. He stroked her hair. “Iliana, have you ever been kissed before?”
“Of course not.” Fish didn’t kiss. Even otters didn’t kiss.
“Ah.” He tugged at her curls. “Are you a virgin in other ways too?”
“Certainly. I know that is important to you dragons.” She peered anxiously up at him. Was he in love with her yet?
* * *
“That was your ring I found in the stream?” Jareth checked.
“Yes.”
“And was it enchanted as Lexi feared?”
Iliana nodded. “Just a little love spell.” She held her fingers apart the thickness of a hair.
“You wished me to fall in love with you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I want what the princess has. A warm house, a husband, and a baby.”
A harmless enough ambition. “And will you love me in return?”
She went back to wringing her hands. “I don’t know. Perhaps when I open Hel’s gift and my soul is restored,” she said hopefully. “But the goddess said I was not to open the box until I was assured of your love. And I do not believe you love me yet.”
She was beautiful, desirable, and he was sincerely grateful to her. Was that love? He thought not. But he certainly owed her big time. “Are you indeed a virgin?” he asked her again.
“I am.”
“Then Iliana, I claim you as my fated mate.” He had expected that momentous vow to cause the northern lights to dance, but nothing changed. Perhaps the elders were mistaken. More likely he had put his faith in fairy tales.
“What does that mean?” she asked wide-eyed.
He grasped her elbows and looked down into fathomless black eyes. The eyes of the soulless. “It means that I will lie with you and transform you into a dragoness. That I will marry you and give you a home and a child. Is that not what you want of me?”
She nodded. Swallowed hard. Hope illuminated her beautiful face, animating it for once. “Except for the part about becoming a dragon. I don’t think I want to become a dragon, Jareth. I just want to be human all the time,” she explained earnestly.
“It’s not within my power to take your virginity and not transform you, Iliana. No transformation means no children.”
Her face fell. “Not even one?”
“Not even one,” he assured her.
He almost wanted to smile at her distress. She was such a strange mixture of ignorance and wisdom. Tenderness warred with gratitude in his heart. Tenderness won. Perhaps uttering his vow had been as lifechanging as he had always been warned. Or perhaps he wished to believe so.
“And will you love me, Jareth Lindorm, when I am a dragoness?”
“So I have always been told. It is said that once a dragon transforms a maiden, he loves her forever. And she him.” He simply wasn’t sure that he believed the legends. And he wasn’t about to begin his marriage with lies, however comforting she might find them.
“Do you think that dragon magic works on nixies?”
“I don’t have the faintest idea, my dear.” He pulled her into his arms. They had time for a kiss to seal their betrothal.
She was rigid in his arms, but suddenly she softened and returned his kisses with enthusiasm. In fact, if she became any more enthusiastic, they were going to do the deed here on the open tundra with the wind whipping across the snowy plain. He lifted his head.
He was looking down into the soft and pretty hazel eyes of a stranger. Long brown hair – straight brown hair – blew in the wind. The freezing
wind. He was embracing a nude woman, and he was as naked as she.
Note to the Reader
Welcome to the exotic, international world of my romantic, billionaire Lords of the Dragon Islands. No matter where in the series you start, I promise you a smoking hot read with a complete adventure and a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhangers.
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Isadora
DRAGON ENSNARED
A VIKING DRAGON FAIRY TALE
BOOK 7
LORDS OF THE DRAGON ISLANDS
by
Isadora Montrose
CHAPTER ONE
Severn Island
The Gulf of Bothnia, Sweden
Iliana~
The youth was delicious. Utterly delectable. Even more beautiful than the boy that Princess Alexandra had forbidden her to woo. As tall as the princess’ man, but not as broad, nor as hairy. Which was a good thing. Iliana didn’t need a great barbarian like Princess Lexi’s Theo. Someone her own size would be best.
This lad was lovely. A sleeker, less rough version of Viking dragon lord Theodor Lindorm. As golden-haired and beardless as a boy. But not a boy. A man. He moved easily and well, and he had a good pair of legs. He made Iliana’s heart beat like a drum and her stomach fill with fireflies. He dazzled her eyes. And moved her strangely. He was perfect.
Lexi had said she must not ensnare the one they called Gunner. That he was too young. He was Theo’s beloved baby brother. An innocent. Bah. To an ageless water nymph, weren’t all mortals merely children? She wanted what Lexi had. And she meant to have it. Come Hel or high water.
Lexi had a warm house with a bright fire. Delicious meals. A soft bed. A hard man. And the sweetest, loveliest, most darling baby cooing in a cradle. This beautiful dragon lord was going to give those things to Iliana. She was tired of living in the water. Of always being cold and damp.
She examined her fingertips. Wrinkled. They were always wrinkled. And her toes as well. Unless she took the form of a fish. And she did not enjoy being a fish. It was not noble like being a dragon. Or powerful like being a lynx. It was tedious and hazardous without being in the least exciting.
But nixies were restricted to taking the form of animals who could swim. It was true that sometimes she turned herself into an otter. Otters were lithe and furry. Beautiful. Hot blooded. Curious and playful. But otters had to hunt other animals for their food. And she did not relish killing.
She should have been living with Lexi in her beautiful warm house. But the moment Iliana had made herself comfortable and become used to the lovely glow having a home gave her, Princess Lexi had grown fierce and protective of her new family.
And all because Iliana had cast a single yearning glance on Theo’s brother, the tall, slender, comely Gunner. The unmarried and unmated Gunner. Iliana was sworn to obey the Princess Alexandra, as she had obeyed the goddess Rán. And now that Lexi was a dragoness, it behooved Iliana to be particularly careful around her.
Crossing Lexi was how she found herself once again living in this half-frozen stream, in these frigid woods that still harbored patches of snow although the spring equinox had passed. Sleeping with the fishes and water weeds. Eating leaves and drinking ice water.
But Lexi had said nothing whatsoever about this charming youth. Nothing at all. He was whistling merrily as he wandered beside the stream. Red lips pursed as if he wanted to be kissed. Hands in pockets, golden head in the clouds. He did not know it yet, but he was about to be claimed by a water sprite.
And then she remembered the one characteristic above all others that despite his shagginess and bulk, made Lexi’s mate the perfect husband. Something that far outshone his vast wealth and fine house. Something better than his handsome face and magnificent body. Theodor Lindorm was kind. And gentle. To see him rock his infant daughter in his brawny arms was to understand love. Iliana wanted a husband like that. She wouldn’t settle for less.
This dragon lord she was setting a snare for was as beautiful and flaxen-haired as any elf warrior, but she knew nothing of his character. Any evil might lurk beneath that outward beauty. She must test him before she bound herself to him. Forever was a long time to live with a mistake.
CHAPTER TWO
Jareth~
He was at a crossroads. He knew it. This was the year he was to declare his mate hunt and seek a bride. Establish a family. Create a home for himself and his family. It was his dearest wish. And yet he also feared it. Feared passing his genes onto his children. And damned if Uncle Thorvald hadn’t guessed his darkest secret.
Not that his cowardice could be any great secret within his family. He had failed as no Lindorm was supposed to. After that last trial, the Swedish Royal Navy had struck him from their list of candidates for Special Ops. Unceremoniously returned him to regular service.
Uncle Thorvald wasn’t cruel. When the Eldest had decreed that Jareth join the Swedish Royal Navy, he had merely been trying to mold Jareth into a proper dragon. Lord Lindorm had said nothing when his nephew and sword bearer had utterly failed to distinguish himself. He had said nothing when Jareth failed to earn a position in Special Ops. And this year he had granted permission for Jareth to seek a wife, as was customary for Lindorms when they turned twenty-five.
To know true happiness, it was essential for dragon shifters to find their fated mates. There was extra urgency to do it young, because for hundreds of years female children had not been born to dragons. Moreover only dragonesses were fertile. If he wanted children, and he certainly did, Jareth had to find himself a virgin to transform into a dragoness.
Even though the curse had been lifted* and female children were being born throughout all Dragonry, that did not help Jareth or other dragon bachelors. They would have decades to wait before those baby girls were old enough to marry. And even then they would not choose some old fart over a young dragon. He hoped to marry long before he turned into one.
Jareth had grown up in Uncle Thor’s castle. Almost, but not quite, a son. The orphaned child of the Eldest’s first cousin. Like all Lord Lindorm’s vast extended family, Jareth hero-worshiped the Eldest. He desperately wanted to make him proud. To have Lord Lindorm’s voice ring with pride when he spoke of ‘my cousin Johann’s boy’. As it always rang with pride when he mentioned Jareth’s cousin Theo.
Of course Cousin Theo was a special case. A heroic role model in a family of heroes. Every Lindorm looked up to him. When Theo had been Jareth’s age, he had already been the most decorated Lindorm in an illustrious lineage of naval officers. Among his honors was a medal usually reserved for Swedish royalty. Despite their being official secrets, his exploits were whispered about whenever Lindorms gathered.
Jareth knew the Eldest had dispatched him to Severn Island in the hope that some of Theo’s valor would rub off on him. The Thane of Lindorm was too kind to say so directly, but his intention was plain to the least of his sword bearers. He wanted Jareth to shake off his fearfulness.
Like Lord Lindorm’s island home, Severn Island was another rough stretch of rock in the Gulf of Bothnia. Theo had built a house here, near to his father and mother’s home. Severn Island was remote. Far from prying human eyes. A suitable place to try to train a laggard dragon and instill some pluck in his gutless heart.
Theo had taken him skin diving, hang gliding, and flown with him in the dead of night. Jareth had enjoyed those activities in his burly cousin’s company. No one could be afraid when intrepid Theo was nearby. And Theo was as large-minded as he was large. Likable. Encouraging. Inspiring. Being around him was a great way to spend his leave.
But flying hour after hour beside his magnificent cousin only emphasized that Jareth was neither large nor intrepid. He was sti
ll the same size he had been at fourteen. A dragonling when measured against Theo’s long and muscular dragon. Jareth was simply not hero material. Not much of a Lindorm at all. A failure as a dragon and an officer.
He was certain that when Theo had been doing his night swim in the North Atlantic, he had not panicked just because tiger sharks were circling. He had probably smacked them in the snout and driven them off to seek easier prey. Unlike Jareth. Of course, if Jareth had been in dragon, the sharks would have bothered him less. As in not at all. But the object of the exercise was to test your mettle. Apparently Löjtnant Jareth Lindorm lacked any.
As long as he could remember he had feared the sea. Feared drowning. An inappropriate fear for any Swede. A source of shame to a dragon. And one that made sailing or swimming an exercise in courage. It never got any easier. He had of course learned to swim and sail. How not in a family where athleticism and the ocean were everyday matters?
When you grew up in a castle where every window faced the sea, when you learned to sail when you learned to walk, you were supposed to regard both as familiar comforts. Yet every storm made something inside Jareth quail. When the seas grew rough and waves mounted higher than houses, that was when the voices spoke loudest to him.
Having visions wasn’t completely unknown among dragons. All his cousins firmly believed that the head of the family could see into their hearts because Thorvald Lindorm was clairvoyant. But when Jareth heard voices and saw visions, dread filled his soul. If they had advice to give he could not hear it over his fear. In a family of heroes, he was the sole coward.
He had never told anyone about the apparitions that tormented his days and made his bed an instrument of torture. What was the use of visions that foretold nothing? They were just hallucinations that bathed him in sweat and oppressed his mind. Proof positive, if he had needed any, that he was a lily-livered disgrace to a noble name, if not actually insane.
All that staying with Theo had accomplished was to add covetousness to his sins. Jareth envied his more accomplished cousin, not just his battle honors, but his wife. Not that he wanted to sleep with Lexi. She was lovely, and he liked her. She was just the sort of plump and cheerful woman dragons were primed to adore. What he craved was a wife and baby like Theo’s.
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