Tangled: A Curvy Girl and Dragon Shifter Romance (Black Dragon Brotherhood Book 2)

by Aidy Award

  “Sweet hearted flame, your Organization is creating more shadow demons from their own ranks. You’ve been working for the bad guys,” Sparkly McSparkle-eyes said.

  No. Nope. Nuh-uh.

  That wasn’t right.

  Ash had to grab on to the wall behind her to keep her legs under her. She was helping to stop the bad guys. The Organization was the Avengers, SHIELD, the Justice League but in real life. Weren't they?

  She swallowed back the foul taste of bile in the back of her throat. Her body rebelled against what this man-dragon and her mind were presenting her. What if she'd been working for the real-world HYDRA? “I…I don’t believe you. I can’t. They wouldn’t do that. Let those monsters out on our own people.”

  “They can, and they have.” Kisser's voice was gentle for delivering an atomic bomb.

  She dropped Flerkie’s bag and sat down hard on the metal floor, putting her head between her legs. Her cozy little world was crashing down around her, and she didn't have a parachute.

  He knelt beside her. “I understand this is a shock. But I promise the Brotherhood will help you through this. I am here for you, always.”

  “What? Why? What?” She frowned up at him.

  “There’s a lot more to explain, but it is my duty to keep you safe. Now, I need you to come with me. There is a lot of work to be done.” One hard hand slid over hers, soft and warm.

  “She doesn’t need to work right now.” Grumpybutt grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him away from Ash. “It’s been a fucking rough ride. Apollo and Ella can wait until she’s had a chance to adjust.”

  While the two men argued over what was best for her, like they knew, she got up, grabbed Flerken and walked away from them and the tiny house. They were on the edge of a small-ish town and it looked like any other on the East Coast. They couldn’t be more than a hundred miles from the Organization's compound.

  Welcome to Rogue

  Ash

  There was something else in the air here. Some sixth sense prickled across her skin. She had that same feeling as when her magic manifested, but it was all around her not just inside. Before she could walk another foot, the men were on either side of her, staring down as if she was some sort of scared wild animal who was either going to lash out or bolt.

  She’d like to do both. It wouldn’t do to lose her head again.

  “Where are we?”

  “Meow.” Flerkie wriggled and scratched at the bag, trying her best to get out.

  “Rogue,” they said in unison.

  “Welcome to our little town, Ashmiza. I wondered when these boys would find you.” A woman with blue hair who was somewhere in between being a millennial and a grandmother, sat cross-legged on a rock a couple of yards away looking like she was doing some yoga pose.

  “Umm, hello. It’s just Ash, thanks.” Wait, this woman acted like she knew her.

  The purple-topped woman stood and stretched. “I have a nickname too. Names have power you know.”

  No, she didn’t know. “Okay, but that’s not my name.”

  “Sure it is, honey child. You’re Ashmiza Ejderhaninkalbi. Second daughter of the Ejderha clan. We’ve been waiting for you. Have you met your sister yet?” Blue covered her mouth and winked. “Oops, I might have spoiled that surprise.”

  This woman was crazy and talking crazy pants. Ash did not have a sister. She didn’t have any family and she definitely wasn’t part of some clan.

  “Ninsy, you can’t spring stuff like that on people.” Another woman stuck her head out of the tiny house and shook a finger at the bomb-dropper.

  “Sure, I can. Didn’t you just see me do it?”

  Ash got a look at a woman with the same build as hers, who also wore glasses, and gah, the only difference between them was their eye color. This woman's glowed ruby red, but in a beautiful way as if she was full of jewels on the inside, compared to Ash’s own plain brown.

  A shiver, like the kind she got when she’d bought her first ever comic book, the first time she went to Comicon, the first time she’d encountered the Friedmann equations, overtook her entire body. Then and now she had this deep-seated sense she had found something special, somewhere she belonged.

  “Hi.” The woman outstretched her hand and Ash stared at it and her like a complete imbecile. The woman smiled and took her hand anyway. They didn’t shake, it was more like hand hugging.

  A soft red glow shimmered up from their skin and swirled gently around and around where they touched. Was Ash doing that or was this woman a witch of some kind?

  “I’m Kady.”

  She swallowed trying to remember her own name. “Ash. I’m Ash Ejderhaninkalbi.”

  “That’s crazy, our last names are so similar, mine is Ejderhanınkizi.”

  The warmth of the magic grew out from their hands, bubbling around them. It wasn’t only coming from Kady, Ash felt the tingle of her own magic rising up and joining. She almost let it crash back inside of her, wanting to pull away, not wanting to admit she didn’t have any family.

  Because then they might see all the flaws and faults everyone else did. The bits of her that obviously made her unwanted, uninvited, unworthy.

  Ash shook her head and tried to jerk her hand away. No, she didn't have a family, not even of her own making.

  Kady spoke again, saving Ash from her own social bumbling. Her voice was quiet, low enough that only the two of the would hear. “I get it. I’m an orphan too.”

  The glow around them intensified, growing until it almost completely surrounded them. They were so connected in this warm bubble they’d created.

  “I never knew my parents. I was in foster care for as long as I can remember. I don’t have a family.” That hadn’t been as hard to admit as she’d thought it would be.

  “Me too. But do you get the feeling, that maybe… I know this is going to sound crazy, but… do you think maybe our birth mothers were from the same part of the world. Or,” Kady bit her lip. “Is it possible, we’re—”

  “Sisters.”

  They said the word at the same time. The swirls of magical energy around them burst into a million sparkles that floated in the air and slowly drifted down covering both of them in a fine shimmer of golden light.

  “Told ya so,” a voice shouted with glee.

  A sister.

  Dragons.

  A town of magical people.

  Ash threw up a wall of protection around her mind and heart she didn’t even know she had access too. None of this made sense. It didn’t fit into the regulated boxes of logic and science. Everything that had happened to her so far today was so far outside her comfort zone that she might explode, exactly like the magic had.

  At the same time, it all felt so right, and her walls were the only thing that was wrong.

  She wasn’t one to go on feelings. They were hard to weight and measure. Don’t trust your gut, her head said. Tell your head to mind its own business, her gut said.

  “Mate? Is everything okay?” Sparkleface asked.

  She avoided answering by asking Kady a question. “Why do they keep calling me that? Did they learn their English in Australia?”

  Kady giggled. “Think mate in the biological, scientific way.”

  Ash’s eyebrows must have gone halfway up her forehead.

  Nodding and smiling, Kady said, “Yeah, that way. I resisted the whole idea at first too, when I first met Neo and he wanted to get all kissy face with me.”

  “Ahem, you were the one who took me to your bath house and got naked, sweet fires.”

  “Yeah, to save your scaley butt from the owl dudes,” she called over her shoulder. She turned her focus back on Ash. “But there was no denying it, once I admitted to myself how damn attracted to him, I was. We are soul mates.”

  Soul mates? Nope. Does not compute. “That term refers to a made-up concept. The greeting card companies probably coined the phrase.”

  Ash glanced around at the other people standing near them. The garden gnome who’d been jo
ined by a female counterpart, her two dragon kidnappers, and another big behemoth of a man who had the same fierce warrior look about him.

  His gaze was focused entirely on Kady. The love and downright lust in his eyes gave Ash a pang of jealousy. Kady was loved. Deeply, by a man who must be the brother of her dragon.

  She didn’t know until this moment, hadn’t even really thought it existed. Love like that, worn out in the open for everyone to see, didn’t exist out in the real world.

  “That’s enough of the introductions. I will take care of my mate now, thank you.” Sparkle-eyes picked Ash up, arms under her knees and behind her back and walked away from the small group. That same shockwave pulsed through her body and settled low in her belly. Swirls of red sparks and black light that matched the talisman he wore around his neck lifted off her skin and sizzled through the air.

  She could already see herself conducting late night experiments to see if the phenomenon could be replicated by touching him in other places. Ack. Her libido was running away with her braincells. That was not going to happen.

  She was on information overload and really just wanted to curl up with her cat and a graphic novel or a superhero movie and forget this day had ever happened. Enough was enough. “Put me down you scaly-assed dragon, man, shifter, sexy guy.”

  He did not set her down, but he did grin. “I am sexy, aren’t I?”

  Holy hell, Batman. Had she said that? “That’s not the important part of that sentence. Put me down.”

  “I will, as soon as I find a bed.” His tone was low, husky, sex on a stick.

  She looked around for help, but the other two women were grinning like loons and Mr. Grumpybutt was talking to… a garden gnome?

  Ash kicked her feet, trying to get away. “You are not taking me anywhere. Stop treating me like a baby. I’m not tired, I can take care of myself.” It was strange how she wasn’t scared of the big galoot hulking her around.

  “I’d love to watch you take care of yourself, mate.”

  Was that an innuendo? She didn’t have a lot of experience with flirting. But she was pretty sure this caveman act was not turning her on in the least. Like, not at all, not even a little.

  Liar.

  She was not lithe and light. No man had ever even attempted to pick her up, carry her off to bed. The way he walked around with her like she was some sort of princess made her all swoony on the inside. Everyone wanted to be swept off their feet. However, she wanted to be wooed by someone who wanted her for her, not some Neanderthal who decided to pee a circle around her. She might indulge in the fantasy of an alpha male wanting her for a minute, but she was a strong, independent, smart woman. She didn’t need a man…supermodel…dragon.

  She poked him in the chest. “Put me down. I am not having sex with you.”

  That stopped him short and he did indeed set her back on her feet. “Why not? Would you to have the mating ritual first? Although, I think I'm supposed to claim you so that asshat of a brother will keep his lips to himself.”

  Oh. My. Holy. Alfred Kinsey.

  “Because I don’t know you. I don’t have sex with strangers. Or dragons for that matter. We don’t even know if our species are biologically compatible.” Good excuse.

  “We will get to know each other, little flame.” He reached out and touched a strand of her hair and she slapped his hand away.

  “That’s another thing. Why do you keep calling me mate and little flame? I am neither your friend nor on fire.” Well, maybe her panties were a little bit singed and smoking.

  “Uh-oh.” The friendly woman chastised. “Neo, you need to talk to your brothers about wooing women.”

  Ash was glad to have another female around who sounded like she had some sense of what was going on between her and her dragon dude. Her dragon…wait, uh when did she start thinking of him as hers? Ash mentally frowned at herself and tucked that away to analyze later.

  Sparkles turned her and planted a searing kiss on her lips. His heat soaked into her like the sun had gone supernova. A feeling similar to the magic that had swirled around her and Kady floated up from Ash’s body, adding its own layer to the arousal his touch flared up in her.

  When he broke Ash heard a dark growl coming from the other dragon guy she'd kind of kissed. A second distinct flicker of magic and pleasure came from him too. She wanted the man whose arms she was in, but she felt a strange attraction to the other guy too. What was wrong with her?

  “Tell me that’s not proof you are our soul mate, little flame. If wooing and courting is what you want, I will do everything to win your affection.”

  Grumpybutt stepped up. “You can't deny there is a connection between you and I as well. I haven't felt as much life in my soul as when I first touched you. I don't know much about romance, but I will protect you and keep you safe.”

  The two men glared at each other, but neither moved, clearly waiting for her to choose. Ash couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t believe that two men were prepared to fight over her. There was no way she was meant for true love.

  She knew better.

  Ash pulled away, the magical glow that had surrounded her and the two men snapped and dissipated into nothingness.

  She floundered for words and in the end opted to say nothing, because nothing would be good enough.

  Instead, she found that thing inside of her that she buried and denied on a good day and hated on a bad one. Her magic.

  Ash stopped time, froze the world around her, and walked away.

  Love Triangles are the Worst

  Ace

  Ace was the right man for his mate. She needed to be wooed, romanced. She needed someone who could sweep her off her feet. If he could get her into bed, he knew how to pleasure a woman. He could make her come, over and over.

  Kurjerkwad didn't know how to make her feel wanted, needed, loved. When he kissed Ash, she disappeared. Literally.

  Ace was the one who knew how to get a woman to fall in love. He could meet her on that emotional level.

  What he wasn't sure how to do was reach her on an intellectual level. She was a scientist. That meant logic, theory and testing. Proof. If she needed all of that to understand she was his mate, he would have to find a way to learn what she needed and show it to her.

  “Hey, you two douchepotatoes get over here.” Neo pulled them aside and first smacked them upside the head, then laid his Second Wyvern law on them. “Look, I don't know why both your shards have lit up for this girl. Maybe you're like the Gold twins with their succubus, but somehow I doubt it. You need to figure it out, because Apollo says we're in for a retaliation attack and someone needs to protect her.”

  Kurjerkwad scowled. “I will keep her safe. She's relit the fire in my soul, I could never let anything happen to her.”

  The black demon part of Ace that he made sure to keep tucked away reared its ugly head at Jerkwad's claims. How could the dragon warrior whose soul had rotted under Ereshkigal's cruel thumb for so long ever have any claim on a mate? Especially not before Ace's own soul had been redeemed by the love a mate could bring to alight the darkest places of his own soul.

  That ugly piece of him borne of hellfire was both jealous and taunted Ace's own fears, bubbling them up from the locked box he kept around them. Ace didn't deserve a mate. He'd killed innocents, he'd spread plague, he'd hidden in despair while Jett had pushed his way out of hell to save them all.

  His soul couldn't be saved. Everyone knew the warrior formerly known as Kur-Jara's soul was destined to be redeemed. Ace not only knew it, he'd vowed to help the asshole find a mate and save himself.

  What if by claiming Ash, he was destroying his brother's one chance?

  Mine.

  Mark.

  Claim.

  Mate.

  Mine, mine, mine.

  Ace's dragon used the power of the demon to push its way to the surface and Ace had to take long deep breaths and clench his fists not to shift, take to the sky's and hunt Ash down. It took every inch of will p
ower he had to pay attention to what Neo was saying.

  “Kady didn't understand the demand out souls put on her to be my mate. In fact, she refused several times to even acknowledge that she even had the hots for me. Our gentle, sweet, badass women don't have the beast inside pushing those instincts to the surface. But they still can't deny the connection. Ash knows who her mate is. You have to let her figure it out.”

  Ash hadn’t wanted to have sex with Ace. More proof he wasn't her true mate. Neo and Kady were almost pornographic in their public displays of affection for each other. Kady quite literally glowed every morning.

  That had sent Ace’s brain spinning. He hadn’t met Kady until after she and Neo had mated. Which had been maybe two days after they’d met. Those two were so obviously fated for each other it had made his own soul sit up and take notice. He might have to admit to himself that he wanted a mate so much that his own desires were interfering with the natural process.

  Ace pushed back against his instincts. He'd made a vow and if he couldn't uphold that, he didn't deserve a mate. He couldn't let Ash go, but he couldn't deny either her or his brother what the fates wanted for them. He would die first.

  What he was about to do might kill him.

  “Jerkwad. You really gotta pick a name already.” Ash wiped his hand down his face. He didn't want to do this. His dragon was wreaking havoc inside of him to make him stop.

  “I believe to my core that I'm Ash's mate, but I've seen your shard light up for her as well. We all here both in spite of and because of you. If your soul can be redeemed because of her beauty and light, you have to--”

  “Stop.” Smoke flared up from Kurjerkwad’s mouth. “I will not allow you to sacrifice anything for me. Ever. If she is yours, she is. I've long suspected there will be no fated mate for me.”

  Neo rolled his eyes. “You two are the sorry sad sacks I've ever known. We all have a fated mate. No, don't argue with me. We do. I know it.”