“So what was your plan, Diesel?” Arthur says.
“Doesn’t matter,” Diesel says after clearing his throat. “All that matters is that it worked, right?”
“Right,” says Addie, glaring at Arthur and then beaming at me. “Listen, why don’t we sit down and eat something. We don’t need to talk about stressful stuff right now. I’m sure Dorrie’s got a lot to process. Probably some questions about the dragon-life, having dragonlings, all of that stuff.”
But Arthur shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest, his gaze fixed on Diesel. “This is my castle, and so my questions gets answered first. How’d you do it, Diesel? How did you find a loophole in the Moon Dragon Myth? How did a greasy mechanic of a Dragon figure out what none of us could figure out even from the scrolls?”
Diesel slides his arm around my waist and sighs. “Actually you guys did figure it out. You reminded me that the Myth of Fated Mates was in play too, that I should trust in my fate. So I thought about how fate works, how it works with coincidences and events that don’t necessarily happen in the correct sequence.” He looks at me and winks. “For example, I shoulda claimed you on the hood of your car that day, instead of being a fucking gentleman about it.”
I turn red but snuggle my hips closer to my mate. I’m so his it’s not even funny.
“Anyway,” Diesel says, rubbing the back of his neck and shrugging. “So I thought about all the coincidences that led me to Dorrie. But I also thought about the other weird coincidences.” He looks at Arthur and narrows his eyes. “The coincidences involving you. Winning the lottery and showing up on the news, which brought your ancient ass back into my life. And that made me think about why you’ve been hunting me for two hundred years.”
“The Red Diamond?” Arthur says with a frown. “What does that have to do with this?”
I blink and shrug. “Actually, I don’t really know! All I know is that when you guys told me about the Blood Moon, I thought of the blood-red glow of the Red Diamond. That glow had drawn me to that diamond two hundred years ago, and I felt like it belonged with me, was a part of my future, was a key to my forever.” He shrugs again. “And it was the key. Somehow when I shined the Red Diamond to light my way through the moon’s orbit, I was led to where Dorrie was trapped. And somehow it freed her Dragon from the two-thousand year curse. Or something like that. Who the fuck knows how this shit really works.”
“Well, someone must know,” says Arthur, frowning and rubbing his stubble. He takes a breath and looks up at the ceiling. “And I guess we can ask him, though I doubt he’ll be thrilled to see me.”
All of us stare at Arthur. “Um, ask who, exactly?” says Addie finally.
Arthur shrugs and sighs. “The half-breed asshole Dragon I stole it from.” He grins devilishly, his green eyes flashing at Diesel. “What, you think you’re the only Dragon that likes shiny things?”
17
ONE YEAR LATER
DIESEL
“So smooth and shiny,” I whisper, glancing at my curvy wife’s butt sticking up as she buckles our three-month old triplets into the back seat of her BMW. Then I reach out and caress the gold paint even though I want to touch her ass. “It’ll fit nicely in my South American vault, along with the Inca gold.”
“Um, excuse me?” says Dorrie. “This is my car. You see the license plate?”
I look down, and then I roar with laughter. “DOCTOR-DD,” I read. “No fucking way. Doctor Double-D? Hell yeah! Lemme get a taste of that, babe. C’mon. There’s no one around for miles.”
She closes the door and turns around, her face red, her mouth open wide. At first I figure she’s shocked by my crudeness, but that shouldn’t be shocking after a year with my mechanic ass. So what’s she all red-faced about!
“Ohmygod,” she gasps, pointing at her license plate. “I totally didn’t see how that reads Doctor Double-D! Those are just my initials! Ohmygod, I’m so embarrassed! Everyone must be laughing at me—or judging me—behind my back!”
“Ain’t nothing funny about your backside,” I say through a chuckle. “And the only judgment that matters is mine.”
She finally gets over herself and lets me kiss her. “I can live with that,” she says softly as I kiss her again, my heat rising as I gently push her against the hood.
“Um, our kids are in the backseat,” she says, trying to wiggle out from under me. “Also, we’re in a mall parking lot.”
“Just go invisible again,” I whisper as my cock presses against my jeans and I move closer to my wife, my she-dragon of a mate. “Just like the first time.”
She sighs and burrows her face into my big chest. “You know I haven’t figured out how to do that since that one time.”
I sigh too. “Maybe you got the power temporarily after being in my Dragon’s belly,” I say. Then I cock my head and think for a moment. Finally I draw back and take a breath, slowly spreading my arms out wide.
It takes her a moment to guess what I’m thinking, but before she can yell stop I go invisible, Change to my Dragon, and gulp her down smooth as silk.
A moment later I pop her back out, and sure enough, the moment I kiss her trembling lips she bends light like the best of them.
And so as people load their cars and minivans with groceries and goodies, I pop my curvy mate up on the hood of her golden car, and I make her mine again.
Just like the first time.
Just like every time.
From now until the end of time.
EPILOGUE 1
DORRIE
I shake my head and watch as Diesel pushes my gold BMW into his South American vault nestled high in the Andes Mountains. Then he carefully places that precious Red Diamond on the car’s roof, giving it pride of place.
“I thought that was my wedding ring,” I say.
“It still is, babe,” says Diesel. “We’ll come and visit it on every anniversary.”
“They aren’t kidding about that hoarding instinct,” I mutter, my own Dragon’s thirst for gold rising at the sight of what was in that vault. “How are we gonna get the car out of there, by the way?”
“We’re not,” says Diesel, closing the vault door and spinning the dial. He turns to me and grins. “We’ll just pick up a new one!”
“You mean steal a new one?” I tease.
“Dragons don’t steal. We just take what we want,” Diesel grumbles.
He walks over to me and takes all three dragonlings from my arms, and I follow him to the edge of the cliff. The kids always fly with Mommy Dragon, and I’ll take them back the moment I Change.
I take a deep breath of the cool air. Seeing the Red Diamond again had gotten me thinking about what secrets it held, what magic was behind that blood-red glow that saved our forever.
“Any word from Arthur?” I say over my shoulder. “Did he ever track down the Dragon he stole the Red Diamond from?”
Diesel grunts and shakes his head. “Dunno. Haven’t heard from him.”
“Do you know who this other Dragon is?” I ask cautiously.
Diesel frowns. “No, and this isn’t the time to be seeking out random half-breed Dragons. We have dragonlings to protect, and we don’t stick our necks into anyone else’s business until they’re grown. Of course, by the time these critters are grown, there’ll be a hundred more in line.”
“Great,” I say, rolling my eyes but blushing as my thighs tighten. Then I exhale and nod. My Dragon agrees with Diesel. This is a time for my family, my life, my story. And in the end the Red Diamond was only a small part of my story.
But who knows . . .
Maybe it’s a bigger part of someone else’s story.
EPILOGUE 2
EASTON THE HALF-BREED DRAGON
“Dead Dragons tell no stories, and they certainly don’t tell you where they stashed their plunder,” I growl to the skeleton-like figure skulking along the shadowy walls of my castle—the last castle I have left to my name. “And since all the Dragons are dead, there
’s no chance of finding the Red Diamond again. Whichever Dragon stole it is long gone from the Earth.”
“As I will be soon,” whispers my brother Fikus.
“Stop being so dramatic. There’s still a chance that we can become Dragons, regain our power, perhaps even be more powerful than ever,” I say, forcing a smile even though the scar across my face makes it hard to smile. If I were a pureblood Dragon I’d have healed years ago. Instead I’m a twisted half-breed monster who talks to shadows that talk back.
“And how will be awaken the Dragonblood in our veins? By finding our mates? Hah! We have lived like rats for centuries without hearing even the whisper of a woman, let alone our mates,” snaps Fikus.
I swallow hard and walk to the window. I can barely look at Fikus now. Years ago he was as tall as I, broad and muscular enough to hold his own when us three brothers played rough like the rowdy animals we were. Those were happy days.
Then came the attack on the family, and our happy world was drowned in blood.
Before they died our parents told us we were half Dragons, that fiery blood flowed in our veins. But we never saw that power come to the forefront, and my faith has waned over the years. Still, in recent days I have felt a spark of hope, a desire to believe in the promise that runs in our veins, a desire to believe that even half-breeds like us have a chance.
A chance to heal.
A chance to regain what was lost.
A chance at forever.
I look out over the barren landscape of our run-down estate in the Scottish Highlands, and my heart sinks when I look at the ramshackle drawbridge that’s the only way across the moat that is just a trickle but still infested with water-snakes that can kill a horse with one bite. I don’t get out much, and I don’t take kindly to visitors. But a castle needs a working drawbridge. Besides, it’ll give me something to do.
So I walk to the old telephone and dial the one number I know. My one connection to the outside world. The third of us three half-breed brothers. He answers after three rings, and I clear my throat and speak.
“It’s your brother Easton. Listen, can you send me someone who can fix a drawbridge? A drawbridge craftsman, best you can find. But also inexpensive. What’s that? Oh, right. Yes, I suppose they are called engineers nowadays. Great. But listen, don’t tell them about the water-snakes in the moat. Yes, there are still water-snakes in the moat! Hell, you get them out if you’re so fucking picky about how I protect my castle! Now, are you sending me a craftsman or not? Oh, right. An engineer. And please hurry. I can’t wait forever.”
“No, I can’t wait forever,” I whisper as I hang up and stare out into the future like I can see it. Then I look down at my powerful arms, the thick veins popping like the snakes in my moat. I can almost smell the Dragonblood in those veins, almost feel the fire in that blood, almost taste the potential in the air.
Almost taste forever in the air.
FROM THE AUTHOR
DRAGON’S CURVY ENGINEER is next!
Enjoy!
Love,
Anna.
Dragon's Curvy Doctor (Dragon's Curvy Mate Series Book 4) Page 6
