Saved By Dragons: (A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance)

by Starr, Maia

  By then, it was too late; she had seen two dragons standing in fighting stance on the lawn, and me shifting before her eyes.

  Upon figuring out what had happened, we felt it only right to tell her the truth about what we were. The whole thing took two days because of all the questions she had for us. She didn’t seem to be freaked out after her initial moment of fainting, but all in all, she was a normal human girl that had just seen the beast within me.

  Chapter Five

  Hailey

  I wasn’t for sure how I felt about the whole dragon thing. I didn’t know if I should have been afraid or think that with a world full of wolf shifters, why couldn’t there have been dragon ones as well? I couldn’t say who I trusted; pretty much all trust from that moment on no longer existed. I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t have just told me in the first place. Or had been more careful about how they showed me they could turn into a fire-breathing beast. I knew the guys had saved me from the wolves, but perhaps only took me from the monsters and dropped me on an island of beasts.

  In a nutshell, I thought that James was nice, a bit strange, but nice. I thought out of all of them that he would have been honest with me. Weston, on the other hand, was kind and sensitive, yet overly protective, I should have known that something was off at how angry he got when the wolves were after me. They told me that he was the first one on the scene and had been the one to fight and even kill some of the wolves, but I didn’t know if what they were telling me was true or not.

  I began to keep to myself as much as I could. I didn’t much feel like I had the choice to go anywhere and was even beginning to miss my job at the bar. Even the men that I served there were strange, but never once did I think that one of them could have been a dragon.

  I had no idea to what degree I should have felt anything for Malick because he had originally seemed like a pompous ass to me. Now though, it occurred to me that he was willing to fight for me as well, just in a more destructive way. Cree, on the other hand, while pretensions, was the most gentle of the group; he even made me laugh. He would find ways to touch me or cater to me that none of the others would.

  I think the thing that threw me off the most was that when they told me about shifting and their people, they also mentioned the tidbit about needing a woman to remain sane and composed. They would otherwise go mad and become beasts forever if they didn’t find a woman to love and love them.

  At that point, I didn’t know if I could stand any of them enough to be with like that; I wasn’t ready for a mate. That realization also scared the shit out of me, because with that thought came the idea that even though trust was an issue, a kind of love for each of them was there.

  Although the thought had crossed my mind that the dragons could have been just as bad as the wolves who had taken me that night, I wouldn’t allow myself to feed on that thought. I needed to learn how to trust these men that rescued me and took me in.

  “Fellas, can I ask you some questions?” I asked.

  “Sure,” Cree beamed as I knew he would.

  “Why do you hide?”

  “We aren’t accepted,” James said. “Our kind are a mix of bad and good, therefore, it would be hard for the humans to make a good judgment call based on if we are a good creature or a bad one. If that makes sense.”

  “It doesn’t,” I laughed. “But I feel that after I learn more about each of you, it might make more sense in time.”

  Choosing to ignore my thoughts of isolating myself and making it a point to spend time alone with each of the guys to get to know them for who they were individually sounded like a good idea. Especially since they all insisted on being with me.

  When I was with James, all he would talk about was being a healer; although he was a bit more on the shy side, I felt like he was more the hero type. I could see myself in deep conversation with him. He would take me on walks and treat me like a goddess.

  Weston, on the other hand, seemed more like the real hero. He was always ready for a fight, especially when it came to protecting me, but I began to like that about him.

  Malick was the dark and mysterious type. It took him a bit of time to agree to spend time with me alone, although I could feel that he wanted to. He was more guarded during the time that we spent together, but he said it was because of the clan that he was raised in.

  Cree, on the other hand? He and I were like water, our conversation flowed, he was protective, and even kind. My trust for him grew so much faster, and I would have to say that I was already feeling a connection with him.

  James and I spent a lot of time together because he was my healer. I still had a long way to go before the damage the wolves had done was better. He never balked at the chance to help me, and I cared for him for that. He had even told me that his dragon color was yellow. He was the only one of the men I had not seen shift yet, and I can’t say I didn’t have a dream about it that night.

  As I sat on the couch watching the men clamor around the house doing various things, I couldn’t help but notice some of the feelings that I was having. Several days had gone by, and we were all getting much closer.

  “Guys,” I woke up from a nap on the couch yelling. “Guys, I need you!”

  All of them came running from different parts of the house. Cree and Malick both had their shirts off, and they glistened with sweat. James came running out of the kitchen, dishtowel over his shoulder. Weston was the last to walk in from outside. He must have heard me all the way out there.

  “What’s going on?” he asked with a sense of panic in his voice.

  “Sit down, guys,” I was shaking.

  James ran off back towards the kitchen, as the other three sat all around me. It didn’t take James long to return with a mug of something hot. He handed the mug to me as I took in a deep breath, smelling the sweet and sour waft of lavender and lemongrass.

  “Drink up, Hailey,” James smiled. “It will calm your nerves.”

  “There you go again with the healer garbage,” Malick growled.

  “Stop,” I said. “This is important, and I need all four of you to listen.”

  “What’s up?” Cree rubbed my back gently as Malick sulked.

  “I remember what happened to me while I was with the wolves,” I started to cry.

  “Oh, babe,” Weston scooted closer to me. “Are you alright?”

  “I will be okay; you guys saved me…but who is going to save them?” I sobbed even more.

  “What are you talking about?” James asked me.

  “The wolves,” I sighed, “they have hundreds of women held in cells in a huge building. I was in one of them with a woman named Kate.”

  “How did you get taken?” Cree asked me.

  “I was set up on a blind date by one of the patrons at the bar I work…well worked at.”

  “You were set up by a scout,” Malick said, matter of fact like, with anger building behind his eyes.

  “What’s a scout?” I asked.

  “It’s most often another woman that backs the wolves that goes out and finds beautiful woman to be set up on dates with their shifters who often drugs them and then takes them back to a den,” Weston told me somberly.

  “Yeah,” Cree began, “and when the women get put in a den, it is said they don’t come back out unless they are sold to a pack. If they don’t get sold, then they are used by one of their leaders and then disposed of.”

  “You had most likely been sold to a pack,” Malick noted, “and they were having their way with you. Pisses me off that those bastards would have left you for dead or would have killed you themselves had we not stopped them.”

  “Happens all the time,” James said sadly. “Unfortunately.”

  Flashbacks of what had happened to me flooded through my mind. All those women were going to go through the same thing that I did. I couldn’t stand to think, for even a second, that I was going to let any of them continue to be hurt and killed, but how was I going to stop it? I didn’t even know how to find th
eir den. I was lucky the dragons came along and saved me.

  Chapter Six

  Cree

  After Hailey had told us about what had happened to her in the wolves’ den, it was all I could do to hold my dragon back. I think all of us thought the same thing; any one of us would have gone to hell and back for Hailey, and we were damn well ready to support her.

  James, of course, became the touchy-feely dragon he was and waited on her hand and foot. Weston, smug as always, was ready to fight every wolf to their death until he could appease Hailey and find where the women were being kept. Malick walked out of the house that day without saying a word to her. We all watched as we saw him walk onto the law and shift into a massive purple dragon. My guess is he couldn’t hold in his a second longer.

  He claimed to be a badass, but something told me that there was a soft spot in there somewhere.

  It took him three days to return to human form. James and Weston went immediately to work researching landmarks that Hailey could remember to begin the search to avenge our lady.

  I, however, decided that it might be a good idea to get Hailey away for a while for a change of scenery. Being made to stay in the same house and sleep on the same couch for weeks on end didn’t seem to be a healthy way to do things. I had discussed my idea with the others, and while they were against it at first, they all agreed that she needed to get out in the end.

  We packed our things, what little we both had, and walked towards the shores of the island, leaving Malick to guard the house and the others to study the wolves to find a way to avenge Hailey.

  “Where are we going?” Hailey giggled as she inhaled the air around the island.

  “Home,” I said with a smile. She looked at me puzzled at first. “My home,” I smiled again.

  “How are we going to get to your home?” she quizzed.

  I put the luggage down and shifted into my dragon form. She jumped back at first, but after realizing that I would not hurt her, she stepped forward and ran her hands across the scales just below my neck.

  She held her breath the entire time, but eventually, I could see all the fear and doubt slip away.

  “Oh no!” she said when realizing I had planned on flying to my homeland with her in tow.

  I shook my head up and down, giving her a smile as she winced with something between fear and excitement. She didn’t need any help at all as she climbed up between my wings. Hailey looked like a warrior on top of a beast, and my heart swelled at the sight.

  I grabbed our bags in my claws and took off towards my homeland, excited beyond anything that I was going to get to see my family and friends for the first time in forever.

  “Cree,” Hailey smiled as I looked at her mid-flight. “Thank you,” she hugged tight to me, wind flowing through her beautiful hair.

  My village was a little spot on the earth when Hailey noticed the other dragons flying on and off the ground down below. Her face beamed, perhaps in the excitement that not that long ago, she had no idea that dragon shifters existed, and now she is seeing hundreds of them.

  I landed with a small thud outside of my village. An enormous brick wall lined one side of it. Other dragons, with other women, flew, most of them likely mated. I couldn’t shake the hope that one day that would be Hailey and me.

  Hailey slid down my back as I wrapped my tail around her, helping her to the ground. I don’t know that she needed help as she was so strong, but I helped nonetheless. Hailey turned around facing me with the biggest smile on her face.

  “What is the brick wall for?” she asked.

  I took my luggage in my claws as I sat hers down beside her. With my bag, I walked around the brick wall, still in dragon form. Once behind the wall, I shifted back to my human self, opened my case, pulled out some clothes, and threw them on. I smiled as I walked back around and saw Hailey’s face.

  “That’s what the wall is for.” I smiled.

  “You were naked, weren’t you?” Hailey blushed.

  “Well…yes,” I answered her.

  “Awwww,” she teased, “why didn’t I get to watch?”

  “Someday, Miss Valdez, someday!”

  We walked hand in hand towards the gates of my family’s village. I knew they would accept her and her story. My fellow dragons felt the same way I did about the wolves. They had been a hated species since they started showing up. They were all bad, that’s all there was to it. They would rape and kill women left and right, and they never really thought twice about killing any human man that stood in their way.

  “Who lives here that you love?” Hailey asked.

  “My Nonna Breah, a mortal, and Pops Elron, a dragon, settled in this village nearly sixty years ago. They had seven children, including my dad, Monocree Savon. Monocree died during a wolf clan attack on the mainland years ago when my mother, Natali, also mortal, was pregnant with me.” I paused.

  “I’m so sorry,” Hailey said while nestling up against me as we walked through my village.

  “It’s okay. I didn’t know him, so I don’t miss him.”

  “Still, you must be sad you grew up without a father?” she asked in sorrow.

  “I was named after him; my mother named me Duocree, which simply means the second. I just go by Cree now.”

  “That’s nice, I guess,” Hailey shrugged.

  “Enough about the sad,” I said. “Just fair warning: these people are going to think we are mated. You can either set them straight or play along.” I smiled.

  “I would much rather play along,” Hailey smiled as well.

  We finished walking the distance between the inner parts of my village towards what was our family home. I knew once I walked inside, all of its occupants would stop and greet us. I tried to release Hailey’s hand, but she wouldn’t let me.

  I grabbed hold of the doorknob and twisted it. Hailey and I walked into the home that had always been mine.

  “Mamma, Nonna, I’m home,” I called from the front door.

  Instantly, my Mamma ran and jumped at me as we collided. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her, and it about killed me not to have seen her in forever. My Nonna was not that far behind her. Old, but never feeble she was.

  “Nonna, I love you,” I said as I hugged her neck.

  It didn’t take any time before the women had turned their attention to Hailey. They knew that I had left for the mainland on the search for a partner, a mate, a wife, but little would they ever know that Hailey was not mine…not yet anyway.

  “Who’s this?” My mamma smiled at Hailey.

  “This is Hailey,” I smiled. “She is a human woman from Florida.”

  They both rejoiced at the sight of Hailey. Sure, they knew I wouldn’t be staying there, but while we had the chance to be there, I would do anything for my family to be happy, including letting them think Hailey was my intended. They jumped at her and hugged her tight, which Hailey excepted and had even seemed to enjoy a bit.

  “How did you both meet?” My Nonna’s nosiness poured out.

  I look at Hailey; it hadn’t been discussed as to what I would tell my family about her and my meeting.

  “We meet on the beach; some wolves were trying to attack, and he saved the day,” Hailey affectionately smiled at me. “Saved my life, actually.”

  Nonna and Mamma planned a trip through the village. Hailey met so many of my friends and family; some of them were dragons, others human. She was pleased to realize that the majority of my people had nothing but hatred towards the wolves. They were bad even in those parts; they could only speculate how bad they were in more civilized areas.

  A party was planned for Hailey and me to be a welcome home and a celebration that I had finally found someone. Even though I had told them that Hailey and I would not be staying, they planned the party nonetheless. Hundreds of people from my village showed up, some of them as dragons, others in human form, but not a wolf in sight.

  “Thank you for bringing me here,” Hailey whispered in my ear as we danced on the
dancefloor. “I have had the most fun I think I have ever had in my whole life.”

  She nestled against my chest as a slow song played on the loudspeaker. I could tell she was starting to feel more comfortable around me.

  Malick, James, and Weston frequently called to check in and made sure that Hailey was doing well. They all three took times talking with her and deep down, I don’t think I minded all that much. We were a family in a strange kind of way.

  She came alive as she learned more about our people and what dragons were. She knew that the four of us were harmless, well, minus us fighting from time to time, but it was important that she knew that most dragons meant humans no harm.

  My village had its fair share of humans, but most of them were mated to a dragon willingly. Hailey took to a couple human women named Tilah and Zoey that also experienced situations like hers.

  Tilah had been on death’s doorstep from abuse she experienced over weeks from the same group of wolves. Then Kyas, a dragon from my village, found her. When she was rescued, the wolves were killed, but they were in the middle of nowhere, no den or pack in sight. Kyas took Tilah in, and they eventually fell in love. Zoey had just been bought from a den when the first wolf slit her wrist with his claw and abused her as her blood poured. Novak, my best friend from training school, found her mid-abuse. Novak wiped out the entire pack, but in neither situation was a den ever found.

  The girls were inseparable for hours before we even talked about our plans to return to James’ place. We were having too much fun together, and Zoey and Tilah grounded Hailey. They even sealed the deal to the fact that us dragons were a good species to make a family with. I think Hailey was beginning to discover that on her own, but even more, she was realizing that we were never going to be like the wolves.