Dragon's Treasure (BBW/Dragon Shifter Romance) (Lords of the Dragon Islands Book 1)

by Isadora Montrose

  She was so not going to marry a guy who thought no more of her than he did of all his other bimbos. She was no gold digger. She didn't want jewelry or money. She just wanted a guy who loved her dearly and wanted to be with her. She didn't want a husband who had picked her because she could have his babies. She had nothing against babies, but she had never had any girlish dreams of giving birth to lizards.

  Oh, mother of god. Eggs. Dragons probably laid eggs. No. No way. She was so not incubating eggs. He was so wrong for her—he wasn't even the same fricking species. She had to get the hell out of Dodge. Steve. He had vowed he could get her away. She would find him and ask him to help her escape.

  More tears rolled down her cheeks and plinked as they landed on the floor. Crap. She couldn't even cry without being a freak. She was so done with this whole thing. She tugged at the ruby ring, but it would not come off, even though it wasn't the least bit tight.

  What the hell had Sarkany said when he put it on her hand? “No hand but mine shall remove my token.” She had thought it was just some archaic expression of intent. Just words. But he had meant it. This ring was no token of love. It was a fricking brand. The bastard had marked her.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “I have been challenged to a duel,” Hugo told his bodyguard.

  Holden was standing before him, his broad face impassive. But Hugo could sense his deep amusement. “A duel?” he asked his boss.

  Hugo inclined his head. “I have been challenged and I may have to fight. Our Council has authorized the duel and unless my appeal is successful, I will have to defend my right in combat.”

  “Jesus. You dragons are crazy. Dueling is no way to settle things. Haven't you heard of fistfights or lawsuits?”

  Hugo sighed. “It is archaic even for dragons,” he admitted. “But the Council is the ultimate authority. If my enemy has used it to inveigle me into single combat, he has also revealed his hand. I know his name.”

  “Huh.”

  “My Bride is in danger too.”

  Holden amusement died. He didn't move a muscle. His face didn't stir, but he looked deadly and dangerous. “Dragons go after females?” he asked.

  “Rogues like Maximilian of Landor do,” Hugo said. “He has attacked my business interests. He has tried to sabotage my factories and kill my people. He has invoked the power of the Council to put me at his mercy. Would he hesitate to plot my mate's capture or death?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. What's in it for him?”

  “Revenge. And a dragoness to bear him firelings.”

  “You're worried about abduction and rape?” Holden asked.

  “I am. Leah is the Treasure of my House. Worth more than all,” Hugo said simply. “I want you to make sure nothing happens to her. No matter what happens to me, she must be safe.”

  “You got it. But I am going to need to know more about this Max. I want a full briefing.” Holden wasn't even trying for deferential any more.

  “Of course. I have a complete dossier on Landor and his swarm.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Leah woke suddenly. At least she thought she had been asleep. Hugo was lying facing her. His golden eyes were open and staring at her unblinkingly. She could see him clearly even though only moonlight lit her room. Her night vision had greatly improved since she had become a dragon. That was pretty cool. Although she had no intention of telling her egotistic lover so.

  He smiled at her. He was trying to charm her. Yet again. He stroked her cheek tenderly. “Would you like to learn how to fly?” he asked as if he were giving her yet another set of jewels.

  “Fly? You mean a plane?”

  He chuckled. “I mean in dragon form.” He sat up and the sheet fell away from his gleaming torso. Why did he always seem to shine?

  He swung his long legs out of bed and stood up. Naked he strode to her French doors and opened them. The softly scented night air rushed in. It smelled of jasmine and almonds and something spicy she didn't quite recognize.

  “Come,” he commanded.

  And just as if he wasn't ordering her around. Just as if asking her to willingly become a dragon wasn't cruel and insensitive, she got up and trotted over to him. His eyes heated as they roved over her nude body as if he could never get enough of her curves. Instantly she felt like a goddess.

  “Almost I think it would be better to go back to bed,” he said huskily.

  “Only almost?” she said and pouted flirtatiously.

  Hugo chuckled and kissed her hard. A kiss of blatant masculine possession. “We cannot fly by day. We must have discipline. Come, Beloved and learn to beat the wind on wings of gold.”

  Why did his most grandiloquent pronouncements make her heart beat faster. Why wasn't she laughing at his pretentiousness? Why did her heart lift and her blood heat even when he was being pompous?

  “We should bring towels,” he told her. She raised her brows and just stared at him. His slave she was not.

  Hugo sighed. His mate still had not learned her place. He went to the bathroom for the towels himself and slung them across one broad shoulder. Leah still had some rough edges, but she would learn.

  He led her outside into the moonlight. Her naked and pearly skin was shadowed and mysterious. Her body and his smelled of their bed play and he longed to take her again. Perhaps when they had disported themselves aloft.

  He led her down the alley of trees in her bare feet. The pale sand glimmered in the moonlight. The crystal water was dark and the waves foamed gently on the sand. Small creatures scuttled amongst the strands of seaweed. The seashore was mysterious and different when night held sway.

  The moon was only half full. He still had time until it swelled to roundness. Time to enjoy his mate. Time to live. Time to love. For the first time he acknowledged that his duel might end in his death. He felt fear for the first time.

  He did not fear his own death. But he feared to leave his mate. Pregnant or not, she would be vulnerable if he was killed. He had to find the means to protect her. An impregnable defense against the stratagems of Maximilian of Landor. But this peaceful interlude should not be spoiled by dwelling on what could not be altered. And surely Roland Voros would prevail before the Grand Council of the Guild of Dragons?

  “We will change in the water,” he told Leah. “That way we will not leave spoor to frighten any mortals.”

  “Oh. But how do I change?” Leah objected. “It just happened before.”

  “Yes,” his voice was reassuring. “At first no one has full control. But if you practice your shift you will eventually be able to do it at will. And never when you do not mean to.”

  “Okay. So how do I start?” Leah felt the warm waves break gently on her ankles. She waded out a bit deeper so the water curled around her knees.

  “Think about becoming a dragon. Imagine your tail growing. Hugo's voice was hypnotic. “Crouch down, it may make it easier.”

  Leah crouched on hands and knees as Hugo was doing. The water lapped at her arms and thighs and belly. Beside her, Hugo's forelimbs began to grow heavier and change from golden human skin to glistening green scales. She glanced down at her own body which was tingling. Her forearms were a deep gold and just as scaly as Hugo's.

  Her whole body ached as if she was dough being stretched and then slapped by some fierce pummeling hand. She bellowed and flames flashed across the water. Horrified she plunged her head into the sea. There was a sizzling noise and her snout scraped the sandy bottom.

  Hugo stood beside her a huge and muscular animal pulsing with primitive beauty. He looked too heavy to fly but he danced away into the waves and spread enormous pale wings. Moonlight shone through his wings and tinted the water green.

  Leah attempted to imitate Hugo. Her flesh morphed. Muscles she had never felt before protested as two huge sails grew on her back. They struck the waves and beat futilely before dumping her onto her back.

  She let herself be picked up by the water and folded her new wings tight to her body. After a few tries
she was able to roll herself onto her stomach and position herself for flight as Hugo had done. He was watching her sympathetically and he made a whistling noise of encouragement when she was standing on all four limbs again.

  Hugo pushed hard with his colossal hindquarters, thrusting against the sea floor. He shot straight up into the air, twenty feet or more. His translucent wings began to flap with deep slow strokes and he gradually gained altitude. He circled through the air and glided back down to the water where he landed feet first with a gigantic, graceless splash.

  His clumsiness reassured Leah. Obviously flying was hard. She too pushed off with her back legs. Her rump contracted and her tail smacked the water hard. She had forgotten she had a tail. A very long tail. She glanced at Hugo. He held his tail proud of the sea.

  She hopped rather than leapt and once again was dumped onto her back. Determination filled her. She could do this. She was an athlete. Beside her Hugo once again demonstrated how a dragon launches itself. Powerful limbs thrust him into the air, his tail was obviously a rudder!

  This time Leah raised her tail before she pushed off. Her own strong haunches propelled her up. She spread her wings and beat the air frantically. She began to fall and she flapped harder. A big body flew beside her. As clearly as if he spoke, she heard Hugo's voice tell her how to adjust her wings to stay aloft.

  In this new position the breeze lifted her pale golden wings. She forgot to think and just let her metamorphosed body decide how best to cant and tilt. Soon she was soaring with Hugo in a dizzying spiral over the sea. Wingtip to wingtip they flew together in formation. Leah effortlessly adjusted her body to his as if they were guided by one thought.

  There was delight in being up so high looking down at the island in the glittering sea. Wonder in the bowl of stars above her. There was pleasure in the soft air rushing across her back. The bewitchment of being so attuned to her dark lover filled her. It all seemed so natural and inevitable as she turned and spun as one with the dragon lord, lost to everything but the wonder of flight.

  The reef that encircled Isle Balaur was a broad ring in the night dark sea. Hugo took his glittering golden mate far out over the water, knowing that if she stalled she would need deep water if she was to be spared a broken limb.

  But his Leah was as strong a dragon as she was a woman. She took to flight as if born to it, he thought proudly. Together they wheeled and soared until he thought she was tiring. He showed her how to descend in stages so she lost altitude without losing lift. When they were in front of her strip of beach, he landed in the water and turned to look anxiously at his mate's maiden landing.

  She was coming in too fast. She would surely hurt herself. His belly cramped and he screamed at her a dragon's shriek of terror and alarm. The night fell silent after this piercing cry split the air. Leah made a belly flop that must have hurt, and paddled to shore.

  She was bouncing with enthusiasm. He could tell that she had enjoyed her first flight. Even her hard landing hadn't daunted her spirits. He felt incredibly proud of her. She would be a worthy mother for his firelings. He took human to tell her so.

  Leah became a woman again. It hurt less this time. She came up out of the sea like Venus rising from the waves. Her hair lay in golden ringlets on her beautiful wet shoulders. Her abundant charms were gilded by the moonlight. What a beauty his Beloved was. His mate was a Treasure the like his House had never known.

  “What do you think you were doing, landing on your belly?” he yelled. “You could have killed yourself.”

  She smirked at him and patted his shoulder. “Was it good for you too?”

  Hugo seized her and held her by her upper arms. “You could have died,” he growled as he plundered her mouth. She softened instantly and her mouth clung greedily to his. Her heart sped up and she clutched his hips with desperate hands. Hugo lifted her triumphantly, prepared to take her right on the beach.

  A scurrying crab, avoiding the edge of the waves, and hiding amongst the seaweed, made him rethink that plan. His hands were already grinding grains of sand into Leah's skin. If he took her on the seashore, she would be raw in minutes, and sore for a week. He put her down again and tugged her towards the path.

  “Here,” he said grabbing the towels.

  She pulled her towel around herself laughing merrily. “Race you to the house.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “I need to leave Isle Balaur,” Leah said urgently. “Did you mean it when you said you could get me off this place?”

  Steve Holden nodded glumly. “I meant it, but things have changed. He looked meaningfully at the rock on Leah's left hand. “You weren't wearing his ring before.”

  Leah tugged futilely at the ruby ring. It didn't budge. “I can't get it off,” she said. “But I can't marry Mr. Sarkany. We're too different.”

  Holden looked at Leah pityingly. She looked a little other worldly herself this morning. She had an inner glow that she had lacked before. Was that how turning dragon took a person? He didn't know. But he had pledged to keep her safe and letting her leave Isle Balaur was out of the question.

  He sighed. Leah St. George was going to think he was either a braggart or a jerk.

  “I'm sorry, but I can't,” he said again. “I’m your bodyguard, and my orders are you stay here.”

  * * *

  “I want to go home,” Leah said to Hugo.

  “You cannot.” His lips compressed against furious words. “I will give you all your heart desires, Beloved. But your place is at my side.”

  “What my heart desires is to leave, not some pirate trying to buy me with his ill-gotten gains.” Leah said bitterly.

  “I am not a pirate,” Hugo replied angrily. Why was she still fighting him?

  “Yeah? So tell me where this ring came from?” Leah waved her ruby at him. The hazelnut sized stone now had a fire glowing at its heart.

  “I told you, it was the ring of my grandmother, and before her my great-great grandmother.”

  “And where did great-great-granddaddy get it from?” Leah demanded.

  Hugo looked nonplussed. “He acquired it, as dragons do.” His tone was flat—he didn't expect to be challenged.

  “He stole it,” Leah replied. “Didn't he? I'm wearing stolen goods. Charming.”

  “A Dragon Lord's Hoard is not stolen goods,” Hugo objected haughtily. “It is paid for in blood.”

  Leah rolled her eyes at him.

  Why was she defying him? He was her husband in all but name. He was her lord.

  “And why doesn't it come off? I had to shower in it. Which can't have been any good for the ruby.”

  Hugo was happy to grasp her hand and bring it to his lips. Angry or congenial, his bride delighted him. He kissed her knuckles and whispered to the ring. “It should be fine now. Give it a try.”

  Leah tugged at the ring and it slipped off into her hand. “How did you do that?” she demanded suspiciously.

  “Magic,” he said. What else would it be?

  “Oh, don't tell if you don't want to.”

  Hugo tried again. “Beloved,” he said earnestly, “Dragon shifters can bespell objects and people. It is part of our gift. No doubt you will be able to work spells too, given time.”

  She smirked at him. “You're saying in time I'll be as charming as you?”

  He pulled her into his embrace. When she was flirting she was so delicious. “You have already charmed me, dear heart.” Did she know how true that was?

  “But now we must make ready, Dear Heart. We have visitors arriving.”

  “What sort of visitors?” Leah asked suspiciously.

  “My brother and my friend.”

  “Why are they coming?”

  “Why would I not want my only living relative and my oldest friend to meet my fiancée?”

  Why wouldn't he? Except that she knew he was lying as surely as she knew her name.

  * * *

  Hugo dragged an unwilling Leah out to his helipad to wait in the blazing noonday sun. It
was true that they got to stand under the deep shady overhang of the covered walkway that led from the helipad to the complex, but Leah was perspiring in the heat. Besides she was still angry at Hugo and he was acting as if her fate was sealed.

  Oh, he was being accommodating—for him. He was trying to turn her up sweet. But he wasn't really giving an inch. He had decided they were mates and would be married and live happily ever after. Ever after was going to be a really long time if she married him.

  Happy? She didn't think so. Hugo was a rich guy who thought the world revolved around him. She had been co-opted to act as a sort of lesser satellite orbiting his glorious sun. And he couldn't see why playing the moon to his sun didn't fill her with utter delight. Ever since they had gone flying he had been behaving as if her every objection had been vanquished.

  He was alert and erect now, waiting for the helicopter to land. He had changed out of the low slung shorts and casual polo shirt he had been wearing all morning and had dressed in dragon designer casual.

  He had put on a short sleeved shirt of some fabric that caught the light and refracted it in a rainbow prism. It lovingly followed the inverted triangle of his torso. The shirt wasn't tight, it just fit as if it had been made for him. Oh, right, it had. That was what being really rich meant—nothing off the rack, ever.

  His dark slacks had looked black in the house, but out here with the dazzling sunlight reflecting off the pale concrete helipad, she could see they were actually a very dark green. He had a big chain around his neck. The pendant on the end was as big as the palm of her hand and encrusted with jewels. It lay over his shirt, flashing in the sun.

  He should have looked like some low life pimp, but he looked magnificent. Barbaric, but magnificent. As if he had swapped the lavish robes of his medieval ancestors for the modern version of their velvets and silks. He was standing at his ease gazing into the sky, his golden eyes bare to the sun's rays.