Her eyes immediately turned away from the fire and the building below. The others, she thought. Had they made it to the exit? Were they safe? Her beast growled with anxiety. It hadn’t been able to protect their mate, their sister. Where were they?
Noelle didn’t have much time to look because the blue-green dragon beside her roared and clutched at his head. Noelle twisted in the air only to find Oliver’s claws pull away from his face. The gaze he speared her with was not the dragon man she’d escaped with. The dragon glaring at her bared his teeth.
Noelle would have cursed had her dragon lips been able to form the long string of words she had prepared as she darted higher into the sky. Her form was larger, but it made her a bigger target for the smaller, sharp clawed beast on her tail. The scientists must have recognized Oliver. They must have reached the chip in his arm and reset his mind.
Talk about bad timing, she thought as she twisted in the air.
Noelle turned back toward the dragon surging toward her. She dared a glance, surveying the ground for her mate and the others. Lucia was unconscious in her claws, rending her hands useless and giving Oliver yet another target. The quick look didn’t offer her any answers. She had to turn back to the threat flying toward her.
She didn’t pull on the fire now burning bright inside of her. It was too much, she realized. There was one other option, but she couldn’t do it all day. Her tail whipped around. Oliver’s small form dodged it. She growled. The differences in sizes between human and dragon form for her were infuriating. What she could do with one body was not quite applicable with another.
Her bigger form was slower. She had to remember that. Noelle couldn’t try to outpace him, try to hit fast and hard. She had to lure him in for this to work. She cradled her mate’s mother in her hands and prepared herself.
She relaxed her body, wings beating the air, and brought her head up. The look she gave the other dragon said she was better than him. It was one Noelle was good at, even if she didn’t truly believe she was better than anyone. It did the trick, she could tell. Oliver’s brow lowered and his lips pulled back in a slight sneer. He was angry.
That was good. It would make him foolish, reckless. That was what Noelle needed as she pulled her serpentine body into a U shape. Oliver lunged for her, his small body slicing through the air. She knew this was going to hurt. He was going to hit her, no matter what she did. Just as she wanted, his body slammed into her thicker body. His claws sunk past her thick scales and she cringed, but not before she curled in on herself. Her long body wrapped around the smaller dragon like a python with prey.
She squeezed him, both of them sinking toward the ground. Oliver’s claws cut into her body and her eyes watered, but she held on. Somewhere inside the dragon was the man who’d helped them to escape. He’d bore her and Lucia thought the incinerator to freedom. Oliver was a good man. She would not kill him.
Noelle only wished the dragon would pass out already.
The ground was approaching, a parking lot appearing beneath her. She used her wings to slow their descent like a parachute. Soon, the lot would be filled with GOE agents wielding stun guns and silver bullets. There wasn’t much time.
Before her form hit the ground, a body broke free from the nearby trees. A long, rainbow colored dragon entered the sky and Noelle felt her heart surge until she realized it was not her mate. No, the Quetzalcoatl slithering toward her was not her Marc. She eyed the newcomer warily until she realized just who it was.
Marc’s father.
The man had been waiting outside the facility for them. The dragon form slithered forward. Noelle raised her clawed hands, presenting the body inside them for him. He took her, gingerly and with sadness in his eyes. Noelle didn’t think too hard about what that might mean. She only turned toward the dragon sagging as she squeezed him.
Shouts broke the air. Agents were coming. Noelle turned toward the trees around her, panic in her eyes. Marc’s father touched her with the end of his tail and dipped his head, assurance that everything was okay. He nodded once more before his feathered wings slapped the air and he soared into the sky.
Noelle wasted no time in grabbing Oliver by his legs and following Marc’s father. There was still no sight of the others below, but she had to trust Marc’s father.
Chapter Sixteen
Marc travelled on foot most of the way. Many of the dragons they’d helped escape couldn’t find the beast inside of them to change forms. It meant they were stuck on foot and he didn’t want to leave them on the ground alone.
He remembered bursting into the open air, surprised Oliver’s words had been true. He felt a small amount of guilt pang inside his chest having not fully believed the other dragon to be true. The thought was quickly shoved aside when a familiar face appeared.
“Dad?” Marc’s voice cracked.
Hector Avila took in the number of dragons following his son and pride flashed across his face until he realized Lucia wasn’t there.
“Noelle went to find her,” Marc breathed.
As if signaled by his words, a boom shuddered through the air. He’d looked up into the sky and saw his mate’s dragon appear in the air above the facility. A small, ball of fire followed her and another dragon, but it did nothing to his fire-bound mate. He felt relief wash over him until he saw the darker scaled dragon clutch at his head and roar.
“Lucia!” Hector screamed.
Indeed, there was a small form cradled in Noelle’s hands. Marc looked back at the crowd of dragons following him, trusting him. He couldn’t ask them to trust another stranger. He looked at Mary in his hands, watching the gold dragon in the sky with wonder and awe.
“I’ll help,” his father told him. “You get them to safety.”
That’d been over an hour ago. The dragons behind him had lost enthusiasm, their bodies sagging from exhaustion. He’d been wary when a van pulled up onto the side of the road ahead of them, remembering hearing of the van that took dragons from the nomadic family’s settlement. Then, the door slid open and a familiar shape flowed into the open air.
“What is on your face, brother?” Luc had laughed at the sight of Marc’s beard and moustache, the humor appealing to the tired dragons behind him.
Liana rolled down the window and Anya’s face appeared beside her, the smiling faces of family helping to ease the knot in his chest. Still, he’d looked to the sky and wondered where his mate and father had gone while the two women told him of how the facility they’d left behind was in an uproar.
They’d crammed as many of the tired dragons into the van as they could, Marc and Luc taking to the air above them. Marc’s eyes scanned the horizon, but there was no sign of his mate.
***
Noelle flew back to the Territory with the dragon hanging limp from her claws. She hoped she hadn’t killed him, but there were other concerns on her mind. She glanced toward Marc’s father and how he cradled the woman in his claws.
Lucia had literally been on her death bed when they found her. Oliver helped, she reminded herself to worry about the dragon in her hands, too.
This was a fine mess, she thought. She’d managed to get herself fired, half-assed their mission, and ruined it all. Maybe it had been for the best, she realized. If she hadn’t been fired in that moment, if she hadn’t grabbed Marc and pulled him into the lower levels....
She shuddered to think what might have happened. They certainly would have been too late. Lucia’s expiration date had come for GOE and they set about making it true, Noelle only finding the dragon woman because of the series of events that occurred that day.
Finally, the fields gave way to trees and the trees below broke open to reveal the center of the Territory she called home. Marc, she wondered, where had he gone? Noelle surged toward the ground, landing hard enough to kick up the dust of the paths in the center of town. People all around them whined and groaned in the cloud of dust, but Noelle let her dragon form recede, not caring for their anger.
“Is that
how you make an entrance?”
It wasn’t the voice she’d hoped for. Noelle turned, seeing a tall form approaching through the dust she’d kicked up. Beside her, Hector touched ground and laid his wife, gently and gingerly as he could, on the ground. Noelle frowned, her stomach turning sour at the sight of Lucia. Her skin was even more blue than she’d thought. Had that happened while they’d flown? Has the silver inside of her progressed?
Dane stopped his approach and turned toward Hector and his wife. His face was grim as he nodded. “I have a healer I can call.”
No one said what they were all thinking. Would the healer arrive in time?
Dane held his phone up to his ear just as the sound of an engine roared into the center of their town. A van skidded to a halt, kicking up even more dust than Noelle had. Liana and Anya poured out of the sides of the van, the back door opening to reveal the dragons they’d helped to rescue. Dane’s eyes met Noelle’s and his brow rose in a silent question.
Noelle didn’t pay him any mind. She was caught between to needs. Her eyes surveyed the people pouring out of the van like it was a clown car. The two people she cared for the most… where had they gone?
Finally, a shaky form hopped down from the van and brought clear eyes up to meet Noelle’s. She rushed forward, enveloping her sister in her arms. Around them, Noelle could hear the whispers of the people around them. Who was this dragon, the asked one another.
“I like your mate,” Mary said into Noelle’s hair. Her sister turned her gaze into the sky just as a pair of rainbow Quetzalcoatl dragons appeared.
Noelle felt her heart lift in joy. Marc’s beast dropped toward her. They’d accomplished their mission and so much more, she thought. His form peeled back and a dark-skinned man crashed into her, wrapping his arms around the two women and clutching them tight.
Mate, Noelle thought. She was happy with this arrangement. She could live with what the world had given her, happily.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning him toward his parents. They could speak later, they could touch one another later. In that moment, he had to go to his parents and beg his mother’s spirit to stay with them long enough for the healer to arrive. Noelle hoped the woman would hold on. She was strong, she’d known her son was there to save her. Noelle hoped that was enough to make the woman cling to this world.
A groan had Noelle turning toward the dragon form on the ground. She’d forgotten about Oliver. He started to pick himself up, a growl vibrating his ribcage. His eyes scanned his new surroundings. He still was not back to himself.
“Where is Isaac? Don’t tell me he’s still in Indianapolis with Quinn.” Noelle groaned, turning toward the dragon she’d brought.
“What about me?” a quiet voice asked.
“Oh, thank the heavens. Get over here and help me.”
Oliver, the dragon she’d met, was gone. They were going to have to fry the chip GOE planted in his and no one knew what that would do. Most likely, it would wipe any memories the dragon man had, would wipe away the man he’d been. Noelle hated it, but she couldn’t leave the hostile dragon the way he was. He’d asked for freedom before they hurt him again.
This was the best she could offer him.
Chapter Seventeen
The healer had arrived in record time. The plump woman with wild, red hair spilled out of her car and practically ran toward Dane’s front door. Noelle didn’t know if the woman had been on time, though.
While the healer did her thing, Isaac had been working with Oliver. Noelle hadn’t been able to watch while Isaac grimaced and held Oliver’s hand. Isaac clearly didn’t like what he was doing, but he did it at her request, tried at the very least.
Eventually, the hostile dragon man slumped and drew in a haggard breath. He’d turned his eyes up to them and Noelle had been filled with hope for a moment before Oliver asked where they were.
It’d broken her heart. She wished she could do something to help him, but maybe it’d been for the best. He knew nothing of what he’d seen, of what they’d done to him. Oliver had a blank slate to work with now. In the end, she’d turned away from him and went to spend time with her sister.
She sat in her tiny home with her Mary, staring out the window toward Dane’s cabin when she should have been listening to Mary. To her credit, her sister didn’t call her out on it. The woman only went on about the Territory and her new home while Noelle chewed her nails. Marc was inside with his parents, sitting by his mother’s bedside. He hadn’t come out since the healer arrived, but when Noelle saw the door swing open, she fumbled out of her own seat and out the door.
Marc staggered and Noelle feared the worst. His skin was pale, his gaze heavy, but as she drew closer he offered her a weak smile. It was real, she realized.
“The healer helped,” he said, relief making his voice airy. “Mom…she’s going to make it. We don’t’ know what the silver did to her, but she’s going to live.”
Noelle threw her arms around her mate’s neck. Joy filled her, made her feel like her feet might leave the earth. Marc’s hands, in turn, reached to hold her, wrapping around her lower back. His head lowered, his forehead touching her own.
“I’d like to stay here a few nights,” he whispered to her. “Just to make sure Mom is okay, but when it’s all over I want to go back to the apartment.”
Noelle pulled back. “But, it’s outside the Territory.”
Marc shrugged. “We can’t hide in here forever. It’s time we enter the world like we should be able to.”
Noelle nodded, smiling as she thought of that giant space belonging to just them. It was one thing to live across from one another, but she hadn’t been too keen on sharing the monstrosity of a home with his brothers. Since Isaac had returned, his mate in tow, they’d taken up residence in the monstrosity. Quinn seemed to like it, but Noelle was more than ready to give it up.
“I like this idea,” Noelle said into his lips.
Marc kissed her, his fingers digging into her lower back. She returned the favor, biting his lips like she might devour him. Her hand gravitated toward his face.
“I didn’t mind the beard, but I’m glad I’m not eating it when I kiss you anymore.”
Marc’s brows shot skyward, laughter and surprise filling his eyes. “You never complained about it before!”
Noelle laughed, savoring the feeling of being held in his arms. “I couldn’t tell you I was getting beard hairs stuck in my teeth without hurting your feelings.”
He laughed, low enough to vibrate through her chest. It made her groan and pull him down for another kiss.
Thank you!
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Mated to the Dragon
Emilia Hartley
Chapter One
Dakota flipped through the school’s flyer more times than she could count on the ten hour flight. There were only so many clouds she could bear to look at beyond the window. After browsing the highlights of the Art History program of Bangor’s University for the millionth time, she sighed and tossed it to the empty seat beside her. At least she’d gotten lucky in that regard.
&
nbsp; The person beside her had gotten a free upgrade to first class. She didn’t complain. As a college student, just having the extra bit of space to spread out felt luxurious. She hadn’t been raised with much. Both of her parents worked overtime through her childhood to put clothes on her back and food on the table. College had been a distant dream for her as a child, a thing that even in youth she knew that her family could not afford.
Then, in high school, she got her very first job. Every penny she earned while serving pizza to the kids in her class went into savings. She was determined to reach her dream, to go to school, and escape the grind that her parents seemed doomed to endure. She began with community college. Then, with scholarships and loans that made her cringe when she signed, Dakota took the plunge and applied to universities.
When the grant to study Welsh art and architecture abroad nearly fell into her lap, she took it without a second thought. She’d worked so hard through her childhood and teen years that she wanted to do something that she desperately loved for the rest of her life and during a school field trip, Dakota realized that meant curating art for museums. She loved the almost religious air that filled museums, the wonder and awe as she moved from collection to collection. The study abroad program was a huge step in that direction for her, a new adventure that would look beautiful on her resume. She hadn’t been thinking about what else the world had to offer, what she should have been afraid of.
Her eyes fell on the book thrown atop her backpack. She frowned. Her mother bought it for her when Dakota announced that she’d been accepted for the study program in Wales. She knew what lived in the Snowdonia territories, as did the rest of the world after the Occurrence.
The Dragon's Woman Page 14
