Table of Contents
Copyright
Books by Isadora Montrose
DRAGON’S SUCCESSOR
SEXY SNEAK PEAK
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
About the Author
Also by Isadora Montrose
Coming Soon from Isadora Montrose
Dragon’s Successor
©Copyright Isadora Montrose 2016
Cover Art by Resplendent Media ©Copyright 2016
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 1-5
Bear Cubs for Christmas (available only in Bear Fursuits Books 1-5 Bundle)
Brides for the Bachelor Bears Bundle
Bearly A Bride (available only in Brides for the Bachelor Bears)
Bearly Begun
Bearly Enough
Bearly Ever
Bearly Forever
Bearly Beloved
Bear Skin: A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance
Dragon’s Treasure
Dragon’s Successor
DRAGON’S SUCCESSOR
BOOK 2
LORD OF THE DRAGON ISLANDS
by
Isadora Montrose
SEXY SNEAK PEAK
“You’re not listening to me,” Kayla stamped her foot again. “Will you pay attention?”
Roland approached his little mate more cautiously this time. Her scent alone drew him into her orbit and he had no intention of ever letting her go. Since her transformation, she was even more ravishing than she had been before. Besides, she had no choice. She was a dragoness made. And she was his prize. He would relinquish his mate to no one — for no reason whatsoever.
Never in the history of dragons had there ever been a virgin as stubborn as his delicious, curvy little bride. She stood toe to toe with him scolding and refusing to listen to his proposal of marriage. Did she not realize her immense good fortune? How many thousands of women had laid traps for him since he was a stripling barely needing his own razor? Kayla had caught the gold ring. Why was she so foolishly rejecting it? Him!
“Oh, go and put some clothes on,” she snapped. Her scornful hazel eyes raked his nakedness and her lips curled. “This is no time to be thinking about sex.”
Now there she was entirely wrong. Thinking about sex was all he could do in her presence. His craving had been bad enough before, but now he had had her, his lusts were a thousand times stronger. He ignored her order and glided across the bedroom to where she was huddled against the glass slider. He pressed both hands into the window above her head and leaned over so she was caged by his bare chest, muscular biceps and deep armpits.
“You are my mate,” he rasped. “Mine.” His mouth claimed hers. If she did not know she was his property yet, he would establish his right in the time-hallowed manner.
Of course, Kayla went up in flames the moment he placed his lips over hers. He would teach her that all that mattered was the scorching passion that erupted between them at the slightest touch. He growled assertions of ownership as she fought him for mastery of that deep soul kiss. She was his and she would learn soon enough to please him.
Because by all the ancient laws of dragons, she was his. His woman. His dragoness. He owed her the pleasures of his eager body. He existed to delight her. And delight her he would. The soft mounds of her breasts flattened slightly as he pulled her hard into his chest. The heat from his tattoo burned deep into his heart as her puckered nipple pressed into it.
He hoisted her so he could find her breasts. The distended aureoles were crimson with excitement, and he dragged them each in turn into the hot, wet cavity of his ravenous mouth and swirled his tongue around them until she writhed damply against him. He moved her mound against his dripping sword and had some small relief from his agony. But she was not yet won.
CHAPTER ONE
University of Auckland, New Zealand. Four years ago...
Kayla Cooper raised her startled hazel eyes from her notes as the door to Room 414 opened and her academic adviser Dr. Whitcomb peered in. His mouth rounded into an O when he saw her sitting at the head of the table. Thirty-two undergraduates turned around to discover what had made their substitute Teaching Assistant suddenly stand up.
Kayla was imposingly tall, but today she had merely buttoned her old, stained lab coat over her shorts and tee-shirt and she felt far from imposing. Her flushed face was bare of makeup and her black curls were a tousled mess after dealing with her fingers all day. Just her bad luck.
She straightened her wire framed glasses with trembling fingers. “Good afternoon, Professor,” she said as calmly as she was able. She was already flustered at having to deal with a seminar room full of unknown students. Having Professor Whitcomb show up made her pulse race and her palms grow damp with anxiety.
Whitcomb frowned in puzzlement, but he stepped into the crowded tutorial room anyway. Behind him, a tall, elegant, blond man in a dark gray business suit stared disdainfully over his head at the table full of undergraduates.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Ms. Cooper.” Whitcomb announced apologetically. “I’m looking for Dave Foster.”
Kayla swallowed hard and hoped her face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Dave is out at the reef this afternoon, Dr. Whitcomb. I’m filling in for him.”
Whitcomb’s bushy gray brows wriggled like caterpillars. He turned to the broad shouldered man standing behind him. “We’ll catch up with Foster in the lab another time,” he said regretfully.
His guest ignored his words. “But I’d like to stay. I would be interested in seeing how a tutorial runs.” His authoritarian voice was so deep and resonant that Kayla felt it like a punch to her belly.
She gawked at the blond giant. His piercing green eyes were examining her face avidly. She felt another tide of red wash over her features. She recovered enough to show her dimples in her widest smile. Obviously Whitcomb had a donor in tow, and it was clearly her duty to make him welcome. It was just too bad she hadn’t taken the time
to go home to change. It was her own fault that she looked like just another disheveled undergrad instead of a mature professional. This was so not the image Whitcomb expected his research assistants to project to the money people.
A lab coat was absolutely not the right outfit for conducting a seminar. But returning home to her flat to change clothes for the unexpected teaching assignment would have bitten a huge chunk out of her day. She had made the decision to cover her tee shirt and shorts with the lab coat, and had done her best to improve her appearance by buttoning it up. But a grubby lab coat was never going to be professional attire.
Her attempt in the washroom to smooth some of the creases out of the white coat with her dampened hands had made bad worse. She had achieved crumpled and wet as well as soiled. Her froth of black curls had had not responded well to the comb she had yanked through them. So although she had tried to tame her mop, and had smoothed her eyebrows with a wet fingertip, she was conscious that she looked even younger and messier than usual.
Displeasure flashed across Dr. Whitcomb’s flushed face at his guest’s suggestion. Nevertheless, he looked around obediently for a seat. Okay, the big guy was in charge. Time to step it up, Kayla.
Kayla readjusted her glasses. “We’re just at the taking attendance stage,” she continued, as if being evaluated by her adviser and his guest was her heart’s dearest wish, instead of a nightmare. “Won’t you sit down,” she looked pointedly at the two students closest to the door. “I’m sure we can find a couple more chairs in the hallway.”
“We can find our own,” the giant said firmly in his deep voice. No one moved or spoke until he came back with two stacked chairs. Then the undergraduates shuffled around as he and Dr. Whitcomb crammed their chairs in around the long table and sat down.
“This is Kayla Cooper,” Dr. Whitcomb said gravely to his guest. “She is another of my grad students. Kayla also works in my lab. Class, this is Mr. Roland Voros the President and CEO of Transkona Inc. He is interested in the research being done on marine ecosystems here at the University of Auckland.” There was a warning in Whitcomb’s faded blue eyes as they fell on each face in turn.
So she had been right. Mr. Voros was a big donor and Whitcomb needed to impress him. Kayla groaned inwardly and hoped her ten minutes of prep for Marine Biology 232 had been adequate. She had read Dave’s lecture notes, and she had skimmed the day’s reading, but she was still going to have to rely mainly on her unaided memory. She could only hope her knowledge of New Zealand’s reef systems held up to this impromptu test.
She sat down again and made eye contact with each person in the group. She ignored her wet armpits to ask, “Who answered the first question?” Hands went up. Kayla nodded at the woman closest to her and asked, “Would you share your conclusions, please?”
To her relief the student she had selected had done her homework, and her paper provided an excellent basis for discussion. The hour flew past, but at the end, for the life of her, Kayla could not have remembered what anyone had said. She was too distracted by their handsome, blond auditor. It was as if his green eyes were shooting electric currents directly at her. Which was flat out impossible and probably crazy. But her hormones were in overdrive for the first time in her life.
When the hour was up, the undergrads collected their laptops and papers and shuffled out of the seminar room. Dr. Whitcomb stood up and so did Roland Voros. The broad shouldered visitor towered over the dumpy balding biology professor, his elegant suit a sharp contrast to the professor’s creased pants and saggy tweed jacket. Whitcomb seemed to want to take Voros elsewhere, but his guest seemed equally determined to stay put. He walked around the table to where Kayla was collecting her notes and the attendance forms and held out a large, well-groomed hand.
“Thank you, Ms. Cooper. That was well done. I feel as though I learned a great deal about the interaction of tides and reef life.” Voros displayed a set of perfect, white teeth in a smile that raised gooseflesh on her arms. Kayla felt another tingle shoot down her arm to her belly as his hand engulfed hers.
She blushed again. “Thank you, Mr. Voros.” She dragged her hazel eyes away from his perfect features and prompted Dr. Whitcomb. “I’m sure you have a lot left to see.”
“We were going to take a look at the lab,” Voros said briskly, before Whitcomb could speak. “Why don’t you come and show me what you’re working on.”
Whitcomb nodded meaningfully at her. “I would be happy to,” Kayla replied automatically, even though she was already running late. It looked like she would be showing up at work in her shorts. Well, she would just have to change in the washroom.
The three of them headed to the elevator. Never had an elevator seemed so tiny. Voros didn’t seem to know that etiquette forbade making eye contact. He spent the short ride to the basement eating Kayla with his green eyes. She tried to meet his avid gaze but found it impossible. She lowered hers to the floor and tried to suppress her flush.
Whitcomb seemed oblivious to Voros’ distraction. He went into his spiel about the vital work being done under his direction. Kayla had heard it all before but she paid attention anyway. If Voros was a potential donor, she had to do her bit to keep the lab funded and Whitcomb sweet. She racked her brain for information about Transkona — it sounded familiar — as the name Voros did not.
It came to her. Transkona had a fishing fleet in addition to all its other industrial activities. Their trawlers were contributing to the overfishing of the oceans! In effect, they were the enemy. Kayla bit her tongue, unwilling to interrupt whatever careful plan Dr. Whitcomb had. Finally, her thesis adviser ground to a halt.
Voros smiled affably down at his host. “You seem to be doing essential work here,” he said graciously. He turned to Kayla. “What is your area of research, Ms. Cooper?”
“I am investigating the effect of the parasite Heterosaccus on the breeding cycle of the giant spider crab,” Kayla said, giving him her highest wattage smile and both dimples.
“Not a commercial species,” Voros noted patronizingly. His intense gaze seemed to be trying to strip off her buttoned lab coat.
Nothing to see here, sir, she thought. Just a plus sized female in a boxy overall. Let’s keep moving, shall we?
“No, sir, but Heterosaccus also targets the paddle crab, which is a harvested species,” Kayla returned pleasantly. Here on home ground, her confidence returned. “We hope our findings will also assist in sustaining the paddle crab fishery.” She launched into the details of the study she was conducting. She must have done all right, for Dr. Whitcomb’s tense shoulders relaxed.
The tour continued until Kayla ran out of time. If she didn’t get on the bus stat she would be late for her job at the Black Swan Lounge. She was already going to have to go without supper. “You’ll have to excuse me, gentlemen,” she said as courteously as she could. “But I have to get to my job.”
“Run along, my dear,” said Whitcomb genially.
“I thought this was your job.” Voros spoke over the professor’s dismissal. His autocratic tone dared her to leave.
Caught by Voros’s green eyes and raised eyebrows, Kayla froze. Her pulse raced. Her stomach clenched. But she kept her smile pinned to her face. Complaining in front of your thesis adviser that you couldn’t live on the unpaid labor entailed in being his research assistant seemed impolitic. “It’s been good meeting you, sir,” she replied as calmly as she could. She held out her hand to Voros again, and once more felt a zing run down her arm to her heart.
* * *
Roland Voros looked through the wide plate glass window of his penthouse suite. Below him the city of Auckland spread out right down to the sea. The green Tasman Sea was frilled with whitecaps today. A wild and beautiful sight. The ocean spoke to him as it always did. His own home of Dreki Island in the Gulf of Bothnia could not have been more different, but its song was identical. The narrow bay of the Baltic Sea that ran between Sweden and Finland was covered with sea ice at this time of the year. But it to
o was beautiful in every season. And he reminded himself New Zealand was now also his home.
His father’s death had left him seventeenth Lord of both Dreki and Tarakona. The House of Voros had been lords of Tarakona Island only a century and a half, but lordship was lordship. But unlike Dreki Island, which was home to many Finns, not all of them dragons, Tarakona was uninhabited by mortals or dragons. Although that was supposed to change. He had promised to honor his father’s pledge to the Maori Dragon Chieftain to build a residence on the island. He had also agreed to provide a home and purpose for the fifty dragons allotted to him as sword bearers by Watatoni Te Kanewa, Dragon Lord of the Tasman Islands.
This was Roland’s first trip to New Zealand since his boyhood. He had come as part of the tour of his holdings that he had embarked on following the death the previous year of his father, the sixteenth Lord Dreki of Finland. The global industrial and financial empire his family controlled was competently managed by a network of executives, but his personal touch was still necessary. Here in New Zealand, Transkona Inc. had a finger in a great many pies. Everything from banking to shipping. The fishing fleet was just one division of many. And more of a concern than most.
The good name of the House of Voros did not need to be associated with an active environmental disaster like the Transkona fishing fleet. Selling the trawlers was no solution. That would still leave the enormous vessels dragging the bottom of the ocean and destroying everything as they passed. The only change would be those who profited by the destruction. He had to change the entire operation of the Transkona fleet, and make sure the world’s fisheries remained sustainable. Fortunately, he had a plan for that.
And it was just his good fortune that the University of Auckland, which was going to help him implement his plan, had the most delicious female he had met in a long while on staff. Kayla Cooper was smart and utterly adorable from her blushing face to her ill-shod feet. Even wearing a disreputable lab coat he could tell that her waist nipped in and her hips and bottom were round with muscle. Her rack was pretty good too.
Dragon's Successor (BBW/Dragon Shifter Romance) (Lords of the Dragon Islands Book 2) Page 1
