by Skye Jones
Wow. Not what she expected to hear. Still, it sounded good on paper, but the strictly prescribed roles bugged her. She’d hate a life where options became so narrowed. And what of the poor males who were without mates and without the chance to do anything other than serve higher ranking males. She’d been uncomfortable with the whole man-servant thing since her arrival. Not because of their gender but because she didn’t like being served on twenty-four-seven.
“Most females though, choose to mate.” Teresa continued her explanation interrupting her thoughts. We have a good life. Two strong males to provide for us, and take care of us. Our only role in the home is to take care of any young, natural or more likely adopted. Dragons do not have many young, but when they do…give birth…multiple little ones are common.”
“Why so few kids?” Ice found herself interested, despite her best intentions to not get drawn into their world.
“We rarely have young. Latents can’t procreate at all. So only full shifters can hope to have young. Even then, many cannot. However, when a mating is successful then a lot of eggs can be hatched, and so other families take in some of the young and raise them.”
“Eggs!” Ice squeaked. Jesus! She took a big gulp of her champagne.
“We are dragons, dearest.” Teresa smiled, before her face grew more serious. “I should have let your males talk to you about this. Still, I’ve started the conversation now. You are a latent—we think. You won’t shift into your dragon.”
Ice opened then shut her mouth. So the dragon talk wasn’t a metaphor. These guys actually believed they could change form. Maybe they took mind altering drugs during their ceremonies or something.
“Does the idea of not having biological young upset you?” Teresa interrupted her thoughts. “Even if you stay in the human world, you probably won’t conceive.”
“I’ve honestly never given much consideration to having kids.” She gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “Scared I’d accidentally hurt them. I have this burning thing I do.”
“Of course you do, dear,” Teresa said, totally unperturbed. “You are dragon.”
They sipped their drinks and sat in silence for a while.
“I’m kind of confused, Teresa.” She put her concerns out there. “I feel a strong pull toward both Nathan and Dom. But I’m also more than a little freaked out, as you can imagine. I’ve said I’ll stay long enough to learn to control the burny thing, but will they expect…” she trailed off.
Teresa smiled and simply said, “They will not expect anything you don’t wish to give. Your body wants this. They can scent it. I can scent it. If you let your head get in the way of what may be a breathtaking experience…they won’t force you or push you.”
Oh, she’d be letting her head get in the way. She was a rational person, not some animal led by her basest desires.
“You ought to understand; Nathan shows great patience with you.”
“Oh, really?” If his attitude so far showed great patience, she’d hate to see him in a rush to get what he wanted!
“Indeed. He’s a great warrior. Some say the greatest our people have seen. He’s won many battles during the centuries. Do not let the fact we live a peaceful life now fool you as to the true nature of our males. Now, drink some more.” Teresa refilled her glass of champagne.
The only thing she could focus on was the word centuries. He’d lived for centuries?
Chapter Seven
Slightly drunk, and weirdly emotional, Ice retired to her room, where she curled up on the marvelous bed for another nap. When she woke, the sun sat low on the horizon, and she wondered what the evening held.
A soft knock at her door startled her. She hopped from the bed and went to answer it.
Teresa stood there, smiling. “Hello, Ice. Nathan asked me to escort you to the gathering point. You’re going to meet your men in dragon form tonight.”
Holy shit! Seriously? Her head swam. “You mean the whole dragon thing, it’s not a story? Or a form of magical trick? It’s real!”
“Of course it’s real. Come along, they’re already gathering. You won’t want to miss any of this. It’s a stunning sight. And tonight they’ll light extra fires for you.”
“Do I need to change?” Ice wore the jogging bottoms and strappy top she’d put on before her nap.
“No. You’re good as you are. Although, you may want a cardigan or something. It can get cold up there.”
Up where? About to ask, Ice snapped her mouth shut as Teresa walked to her bag, and without any preamble started flinging clothes out. She picked out a hooded top with a zip-up front. “This ought to do. You don’t have many feminine clothes.” She gave Ice a narrowed look before grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the door.
They walked along a lane and came to an area full of people. Ice’s breath froze in her lungs for the second time that day. The expanse of grass stopped before a vista so verdant and ravishing, it brought tears to her eyes. A long and deep valley lay spread below them. Steep, mountainous walls ran the length of it, and the setting sun sharpened all the contours. A few homes clung to the sides of the lower slopes. All along the valley floor lay a string of pyres. A few smaller ones blazed, merrily. The largest ones sat unlit. The view was reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy novel. Yeah, real King Arthur shit. Thinking of her conversation with Nathan, she smiled and looked for him but couldn’t see either of her men.
Whoa! Her men? She needed to stop those kinds of thoughts immediately. An image of Nathan stepping out of the bathroom sans clothing flashed into her mind. Jesus! His body. So utterly masculine. And Dominic? Handsome didn’t begin to cut it when describing his face. The idea of the two of them with her, well it would make any red blooded woman more than a little turned on. Add the weird way their scent affected her, and she found it pretty hard to stop herself wanting all kinds of crazy things.
A sound startled her. The noise reminded her of an elephant blowing through its trunk, not a trumpet, but a loud rush of air. She turned, and her heart stopped. A massive, red dragon stood not four feet from her, its red eyes glowing.
She backpedaled and screamed. “Oh, my God.”
A calming hand touched her shoulder, and Teresa made soft hushing noises. “It’s okay. It’s only Derek.”
Derek? She didn’t know a Derek.
“The young man who served us the feast,” Teresa clarified.
So…dragons were real. These people actually shifted form. She blinked twice and furtively pinched the soft under part of her arm, hard. Nope, not dreaming either. Shit!
More dragons walked into the clearing. They were all different sizes and colors. Some not much bigger than a cow, others as large as dinosaurs.
The ground shook as they gathered on the expanse of grass atop the clearing. Then they parted and a large blue and green dragon walked through them, its golden eyes fixed on her. Behind it came a terrifying sight. A dragon, bigger than the others, stalked through the parted bodies. It possessed no exotic colors whatsoever. Instead, the scales all over its massive body were a dark grey-silver. Only its eyes held any color, and they were the most astonishing green she’d ever seen. As if God had plucked emeralds from the earth and set them for its eyes. It was so damned big the thing’s tail still hadn’t fully entered the clearing. When it did, she gave a small gasp. Instead of tapering to a point like all the others, the giant dragon’s tail ended in a spiked club, which swung back and forth. The beast also had horns protruding from its heavy brow.
“The blue and green one is Dom, the silver is Nathan.” Teresa held her, as if she sensed how badly she wanted to run…or faint clean away.
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” Her voice shook, and no matter how much she tried to tell herself they meant her no harm, her fear kept building. “I feel a bit faint.” She hated appearing so weak.
“Not surprising. It’s surely a shock. Take some deep breaths.” Teresa turned to a man next to her. “My Drago-mun, can you fetch us some strong wine please?
I think our guest needs a sip of something to fortify her spirits.”
“Of course, my love.”
At the utterance of affection, Ice turned her head to get a good look at the man who’d spoken. With sandy brown hair, blue eyes, and a pleasant face, he was handsome. He must be one of Teresa’s mates. “Where is your other mate?” Ice asked.
Teresa pointed at a striking dragon, which whilst not as large as many, possessed stunning coloring. Bronze and gold swirled all over its scales and gave it the appearance of being made of precious metals.
“Wow, he is beautiful.”
“Yes, he is.” Teresa smiled at her, and took a glass of something dark and rich from her man and passed it to Ice. “Drink, honey. Just a little. The boys will never forgive me if I let you ride drunk, but you need to take the edge off, I think.”
Ride? Once more people parted, as did the dragons, tails whipping back and forth as they thundered about. A coterie of women came forward, carrying a fancy saddle with a chair attached.
“They chose the full-on ceremonial saddle?” Teresa’s man said, surprise in his voice.
“Nathan wants to make this night special.” Teresa smiled.
The women fixed the chair-saddle hybrid, draped in ribbons of silk, to the imposing silver dragon. Another group came with a second contraption and stopped by the blue and green dragon.
One of the men she’d seen working around the house approached them and spoke to Teresa. “The Laird asked if you will ride with Ice. So she has a friend with her up there.”
Up there? Ice turned to Teresa. “Surely to God, they don’t expect me to ride them, as in when they fly? You mean while they walk around?”
“And where’s the fun in that?” Teresa frowned, brows drawn together.
“Erm, no danger of falling off and dying?” Ice shot back.
“You won’t fall. And if you did, you’d be caught way before you hit the ground.”
Why worry then? She nearly blurted her sarcastic response but stopped when a horn blew. One of the dragons, a large silvery one, but smaller than Nathan, lumbered to the edge of the clearing and took off into the sky.
The flap of its great wings blew air over them, and she became awestruck by the sight. The creature soared higher and higher, its scales glinting gold and red in the final rays of the setting sun. Then it stopped, and hovered midair, those great jagged wings flapping lazily before it swooped to the valley floor.
Ice clapped her hand to her mouth. The creature hurtled down, down, ever farther down, until it leveled out over the first massive pyre. It opened its mouth and blew out a stream of burning bright fire and the mound lit, flames leaping into the air.
“Wow!” Tears stung her eyes. Who could say they’d seen real, live dragons fly with such grace and agility?
“Morag. Our most powerful protector. She always lights the first fire,” Teresa informed her.
“Time for us to put our drinks away, they’ll want us to mount soon.” Teresa waggled her eyebrows at her. “You’re going to love this.”
“I don’t know if I can. I’m not great with heights.”
“Trust me on this. It will be the experience of your life. And you won’t fall. If you are scared, I will ask them to bind you to Nathan with the ribbons. We normally leave them loose to trail behind you as you fly, but we can use them to fasten you into the chair and tie some around his neck for you to hold onto.”
Okay. She still shook where she stood, but the idea of being tied to Nathan and having something to grab made it slightly less scary. And she wanted to do this. Not to please Nathan, Dom, and Teresa, but for herself. Once she’d returned to the real world, she’d never forgive herself if she missed the chance to fly with a dragon. She imagined reaching eighty and looking back on her life knowing woulda, coulda, shoulda. What did they say? Your biggest regrets were always the things you didn’t do.
“Come on.” Teresa took her arm and walked her through the crowd of people toward where the dragons gathered.
The nearer they got to the creatures, the more she shook. She’d seen fire come from the female’s mouth after all. If they wanted to, these beasts could incinerate her where she stood.
“Don’t be afraid. You’re one of us, they’d never, ever hurt one of their own.” Teresa handed her a small wireless earbud and mic.
Ice paused as the words sank in. People hurt their own regularly. She turned to Teresa. “Are you telling me dragons…I mean the dragon people, they never hurt one another?”
“Of course not. Only…” she amended. “Once. During the war with the Havsa Clan there was dragon blood spilled, a great deal of it. But the Havsa took some females from the Welsh clan and killed them, after defiling them. It is the greatest crime our people have ever witnessed. War got declared and the Havsa were wiped out. We don’t dwell on it as it happened ages ago. Nathan put our clan on full guard until hostilities between the Welsh and Havsa were over.” Teresa fixed her with a serious look. “Nathan is very old, and extremely powerful.”
Ice nodded. “Yeah. I’m kind of getting as much.”
When they reached the dragons, the magnificent animals parted for them. Ice walked between rows of the impressive beasts and marveled at doing so. Every now and again one of them breathed out and warm air rushed over her, heating her skin, but sending a shiver along her spine at the power these creatures held. Finally, they reached their destination.
The two dragons stood and watched her with their odd, reptilian eyes. She reminded herself these creatures—no, these dragons—were Nathan and Dominic. Nathan bowed his great head and touched her arm, oh so gently. She started, but didn’t move.
“He wants you to ride with him. I’ll be with you all the way, on Dom.”
Ice swallowed and nodded. The silvery beast sank to the ground and lowered his head and neck. Four men assisted her into the saddle-chair contraption on his back. Up close it looked much safer. The saddle was a bucket shape, Western style, but much deeper. It consisted of a large, leather grip at the front, and a smaller one at the back. The small chair, built into the saddle but made of wood, sat in the deepest part of the dip.
It reminded her of the chairs tourists rode elephants on. Once she settled in, the men wound deeply colored silk ribbons around her, in astonishing shades of cerise and sky blue, shot through with gold. They strapped her to the chair, but left her arms and legs free. Then they ran strands of the ribbons around the dragon’s neck, creating beautifully colored reigns for her to hold onto. Not wanting to take any risks, Ice wrapped the thick, strong ribbons around each wrist before gripping tightly with her hands.
“You look pretty secure.” Teresa smiled across at her, sitting in the chair on Dom’s back, casually holding two of the ribbons. “Seriously darling, get ready, because this is going to be the ride of your life.”
Nathan snorted and lifted his neck, turning to look at her and slowly closed one eye. Holy fuck! Did a dragon wink at her? How the hell did her life take such a surreal turn? The next moment all thought fled, and with a flap of his wings, Nathan stood.
Ice squealed, they weren’t airborne and the ground already seemed much too far away. Nathan walked towards the edge of the clearing. He flapped his tremendous wings. Then the beating grew faster, and suddenly they were airborne. Ice gripped the ribbons for all she was worth as Nathan swooped up and over the valley. One moment there was grass below them, the next a drop of hundreds of feet.
“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.” She chanted her mantra and held on, not daring to look to the ground, but her peripheral vision told her how damn high they were.
“Whooooo-hooooooo!” Teresa’s voice crackled in her ear as Dom came alongside them.
Ice couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t catch her breath.
Teresa shot her a concerned glance. “Honey, breathe for me. Don’t faint now.”
Nathan gave a loud grunt from his great dragon body and headed toward the valley floor. He did so slowly and carefully, and as they neared terra
firma, she finally managed a deep breath in. They flew near the ground, Nathan swooping left and right in big, elegant arcs to avoid the fires. After five minutes of this, she relaxed and actually enjoyed herself. The view astounded her, and the sensation was so freeing it made her want to whoop out as Teresa had.
Nathan bellowed and followed it with some odd clacks and grunts. Teresa looked at her and smiled. “He’s asking if you want to go up again for a while. He can land anytime. Give him a couple of tugs on the reins if you want to come back down.”
The knowledge they’d land anytime she wanted gave her the freedom to enjoy the ride, and she shouted, “Yes, Nathan, let’s go higher!”
Nathan bellowed again, joined by Dom, and the two ascended gradually. Once they reached the top of the mountains, they set off in a straight line over the valley, and this time she looked. Dragons were all around them. One by one they swooped to the ground, breathing their fiery breath onto the pyres and lighting them, or making the flames of those already lit dance higher in the now dark sky.
A horn sounded and the dragons all climbed higher in the sky.
“Get ready for this,” Teresa warned. Her mischievous grin was barely visible in the dark.
From below, something shot into the air with a scream and exploded below them. Sparks of blue, green, and red lit up the dark. To the other side of her a champagne colored rocket exploded.
