The Dragons of Paragon

by Genevieve Jack

  “I never knew children here did that.”

  “That’s not surprising. Elves are protective of their children. As far as I know, outsiders aren’t invited to the Games.”

  “Did you participate?” he asked, brows raised in surprise.

  “Once.” She thought back to the time she was nine. “My creation’s name was Monstrata, a two-legged beast with slashing blades for arms and a head with a snout of sharp, snapping teeth. My father helped me with the design.” She fought back a wave of bitter nostalgia. “It was the first construction I’d ever animated. Anyway, my creature faced off against one built by an older boy named Newton who’d constructed his with a shelled back like a turtle. Mine was stronger and faster, but no matter how I tromped on his or sawed at the shell, it would not break. His was slower and less deadly, but his turtle chipped away at Monstrata until she was no longer functional.” She sighed.

  “Where is this Newton now? Do you want me to rough him up?” Colin winked.

  She laughed lightly. “I have no idea, and thankfully I took the lesson he taught me in resilience and put it to good use. I didn’t win that competition, but my creation was in the top ten for my age group, and that was enough for me.”

  He grinned at her. “Leena, the monster maker.” He turned on his side and propped himself up on one elbow. “What other secret talents do you possess?”

  She popped the last of the cheese into her mouth. “Nothing too exciting. But back to you. Do you think your military training is why you’re so good at leading the Defenders of the Goddess?”

  He shrugged. “Good is open to interpretation.”

  She carefully folded the now-empty cloth wrapper in her hands and placed it back in the pack. “You know you’re good at this. If we succeed against Eleanor, it will be because of you. With your background, you’ll know exactly where and how to strike.”

  His eyes darted to hers, his face growing somber. “It saddens me sometimes. I’ll have to face the army I was born to help lead. Those soldiers in the Obsidian Guard… they’re just kids. It’s why I’m praying the three sisters find this tanglewood tree and then get their hands on that grimoire. It’s our only hope of taking Eleanor out with the least number of casualties.”

  Taking one last sip from her canteen, she stretched out beside him. “Maybe, when we get back to the temple, we can help things along.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We know approximately when the scroll was written. We might be able to cross-reference the date against the graves registered that year.”

  “Clever.” Colin looked at her with something close to awe in his eyes. “Maybe there is hope of finding the grimoire even without the help of the tanglewood artifact.”

  Leena yawned and curled on her side. “Don’t get too excited. Without translating the scroll, even if we can find the grave, we still won’t have the code necessary to line up the cogs properly so that the key will work.”

  Eyelids heavy, she was relieved when Colin extinguished the lamp. “Hmm. This is one problem we’re not going to solve tonight. Sleep well, Leena. There’ll be time for us to figure it all out tomorrow.”

  To her surprise, she did.

  Chapter Nine

  As a dragon, Colin didn’t need as much sleep as other species. Dragons were known to go days without a full night’s rest with no ill effects. Perhaps that was why he woke first to dim light sifting through the canvas walls of the tent. With his first breath, Leena’s sweet, wild scent filled his lungs. His inner dragon stretched and sniffed toward the bundle beside him.

  She’d grown cold in her sleep and edged into the curve of his body, her head tucked under his chin and her back skimming down his front. His heart quickened at the exquisite torture. He longed to kiss her temple, glide his hand over the length of her spine, press the rock-hard erection that had formed the moment he smelled her into her backside.

  He closed his eyes. No. He wouldn’t give in to the temptation. It already ached to be taking her back to the temple, to know he’d likely never see her again afterward. Every kiss, every touch, would make it harder for him to part with her. His dragon already pined for her. Why make things harder than they needed to be?

  She sighed in her sleep and rolled over, her hand and cheek replacing her back against his chest. She nestled in.

  “Leena,” he whispered. Maybe he should push her away. She’d made it clear to him what she wanted and didn’t want. Maybe he should just get up and leave the tent, take care of his need for her outside, with his own hand.

  He started to move, and her lids fluttered open. That purple gaze locked on to him, the color seizing him violently, freezing him into place. Her fingers traced an arc above his left nipple, and he clenched his fists to keep from touching her.

  “Leena,” he said again.

  She swallowed, lifting her cheek off his chest. “I can hear your heart.”

  “You’re making it pound.”

  Her hand hovered over his skin.

  Colin’s dragon coiled tighter inside him, and at that moment, the crafty beast came up with a truly diabolical plan, and Colin’s lips began to move before he could censor himself.

  “Would you like to experiment more, with my permission?” His voice sounded throaty and rough, as raw as he felt. “A kiss alone is hardly an education. If your goal was to sample the delights of the flesh before returning to the temple, you should expand your course of study.”

  Her long, tapered fingers traced the edge of his scar where it ended along the base of his neck, her lips parting on a shaky breath. “You’re sure it wouldn’t make things difficult for you? I thought you said before—”

  “That was before.” He forced his expression into something casual, almost impassive. “Before I understood what you wanted.”

  Her tongue stroked along her bottom lip. “Then may I… touch you?”

  His lids heavy, the corner of his mouth twitched as he gave her a slow and certain yes. Her fingers traced light and soft across his collarbone, over the scarred mound of his shoulder, and down to his nipple. She pinched and rolled it between her fingers.

  “Would you like to know what that feels like?”

  A spark flared in her purple eyes.

  He reached up to her neck, into her robes. Her lips parted as he traced her collarbone, then cupped her breast, rolling the nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

  “Mmmm,” she moaned, arching into his hand.

  He caressed her breast again before pulling his hand away.

  “Would you like me to show you something else?” he whispered.

  He almost cheered when she met his gaze with wide eyes and nodded. Slowly, tentatively, he rolled her onto her back and stroked a hand down her front, not stopping until he reached the slit in her robes at her knee. He worked his hand under the material until his fingers met warm flesh. His erection twitched with need. Slowly, he swept his hand up her inner thigh, watching her gasp at his touch, arching, head back. He stroked again until the very tips of his fingers met the warm crease at the apex of her thighs. A growl rumbled in his chest at the wet heat he found there.

  “Scribes don’t wear anything under their robes?”

  Pink tinged her cheeks. “Why would we?”

  He licked his lips and traced the tips of his fingers back to her inner knee, then began the slow climb again, loving the way her body reacted to his touch.

  “Colin, I feel…” She pressed a hand to her lower belly. “I need… more.”

  Leena thought she might explode from the pressure building inside her. Colin’s fingers were teasing her in a way that sent sparks shooting through her like velvet lightning. A feeling was building low within her core. Exquisite pressure. If he’d just touch her in that spot again, where her nerves seemed to ache for him…

  “You want more?” he asked her, his eyes dark as a thunderstorm.

  She writhed beside him, too distracted by pure sensation to speak.

  His fingers crept
up again, and this time, they lingered, pressing and circling right where she needed it. A rush of heat traveled from his touch, through her torso, puckering her nipples and making her breasts feel fuller, heavier.

  “Colin…” Everything on her had grown hypersensitive at his touch. She desperately wanted to strip out of her robes, to free her breasts from the constricting fabric. She wanted more from his fingers, and she worked her hips to increase the pressure.

  “Oh, Leena, you’re so damn wet,” he whispered, and the sound of his voice was like velvet over her skin.

  Two fingers dipped into her, spreading her. She parted her knees, pulling her robe up to give him access. The growl that rumbled through the tent sent another storm of lightning through her, to the tips of her fingers, her breasts, her lips. Every inch of her skin seemed to wake up.

  His fingers moved faster, dove deeper, spread her wider. Her breath caught. She was so close, achingly close, to something—she didn’t know what, but it was something she needed… Something…

  With a gasp, she arched off the floor of the tent, pleasure ringing through her body like a bell and radiating out, out past the stars, into the beyond. Magic, enchantment, pure light! Slowly she came back together, back into herself.

  She gazed up at him, panting. “That was…”

  He smiled wickedly. “Better than a kiss?”

  Yes, it was much better than a kiss, but she couldn’t speak. Just nodded dumbly, shaken by the power of what he’d just done to her. He adjusted her robes around her. “Come on. We should get moving if we want to get you to the temple before nightfall.”

  Colin took apart the tent in record time, anything to distract him from Leena and the absolute frenzy his dragon was in to mate with her. He’d made certain she experienced her release, but he hadn’t taken his own. If that wasn’t painful enough, he’d done it all while forcing back his mating trill. It took supernatural restraint not to come when he saw her arch off the floor, but he knew if he let himself go there, his dragon would bond with her and there’d be no going back. Now his inner beast was making his skin feel tight and his head throb.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked him as he swept the pack onto his back, trying his best not to make eye contact.

  “Perfect,” he said. “I’m just anxious to get going. We’ve got a long trek ahead of us.”

  She nodded, but a look he couldn’t quite read passed behind her eyes. Thankfully, whatever it was didn’t linger. They fell into step, making their way at a quick pace toward the main road to Asfolk. At this rate, they’d make it to the city by late afternoon and from there could catch a carriage to Niven.

  “Oh!” Leena hopped beside him. “Ow, ow, ow, ow!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  She reached down and plucked something from the bottom of her leather slipper. She scowled at the two-inch-long creature with the barbed shell. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  “What is that thing?”

  She flung it into the woods as far as she could throw it, then wobbled on her feet. “Mystic snail. They’re not usually at this elevation. They like the swamps better. Fucker’s shell broke my skin.”

  He cleared his throat, not used to hearing Leena swear. “Is that something to worry about?”

  She looked at him and started giggling. “Perfectly harmless. Just makes you a little…” She waved one hand and staggered forward, a smile spreading across her face. As she came closer, he noticed her pupils were dilated.

  “Are… are you high?” He laughed. “Are snails intoxicating?”

  “That’s the word!” She held up a finger between them, then pressed the side of it to her widening smile. “Shhh. I am intoxicating… intoxicated by snail venom.”

  She attempted to whirl around and continue down the path but tripped over her own feet. He lunged forward and caught her by the waist. Something crunched under his foot. Steadying her in one arm, he turned his boot to see another snail’s remains smeared across the bottom. He could feel it now. The shell had poked through his boot but couldn’t pierce his dragon skin. Still, now that he knew what the little bastards looked like, he saw them everywhere.

  “Leena, the path is covered with mystic snails. You can’t walk here. Let me carry you. They can’t hurt me.”

  Before he could lift her into his arms, her chest slapped his as she leaped into him, standing on the tops of his feet, arms circling his waist. He let out an oof at the impact.

  “They aren’t ssssupposed to be here,” she slurred. “They belong in the valley.”

  “Someone forgot to tell the snails that. I’m going to lift you into my arms and carry you until it’s safe.” He tried to do just that, but she grabbed his hands, wriggling against him. If his inner dragon had wanted her before, any effort at cooling his libido was undone by her exuberant closeness.

  “Dance with me, Colin,” she said, wrapping one arm around his neck. “I’ve never danced with anyone.”

  “Mountain help me.” He tried to hold her so there was a bit of distance between their bodies without setting her feet on the snail-infested trail. “Just… just hold still, and I’ll pick you up.”

  “No! I want to dance.” She giggled like a child and squeezed his neck harder.

  He cursed again and rolled his eyes heavenward. “Fine, but I swear you’re going to regret this later.” He positioned one hand at the small of her back and gripped her right hand in his left. “Hang on, darling, I’m taking you for a spin.” He moved up the hill, snails crunching under his feet, in a way that couldn’t be mistaken for dancing.

  In his arms, Leena glowed. She tipped her head back and laughed, the sound ringing through the woods like silver bells. Damn it, but he loved that sound. Soon, despite himself, he broke into an actual dance, spinning and swaying to a song he remembered from Paragon. He hummed it to her as he picked up the pace.

  “Oh goddess, it feels like flying.” She arched her back in his arms. “Not as wonderful as before in the tent, but so freeing.”

  He slowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “So, you liked what happened before in the tent…?”

  “Goddess, yes. It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before, like unraveling and then being knitted back together.” She smiled up at him, and his chest swelled with satisfaction. But then her brow puckered with worry. “Only I don’t think you liked it as much.”

  “I liked it very much,” he admitted, searching her wild violet eyes and wondering how much of this she’d remember later. “Too much. I had to stop, or I wouldn’t have been able to stop. Do you understand?”

  A laugh bubbled out of her throat and between them. “No.”

  He found the genuine honesty in that answer endearing. She was completely innocent. And didn’t that make him a lecherous asshole for putting his hands on her?

  They’d covered a considerable distance, and he didn’t feel the crunch under his boots as before. Once he confirmed the trail was safe, he stopped. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips full and velvety pink.

  “Why are you stopping?”

  “It’s safe now,” he said. “You can continue on your own.”

  Her eyes met his, their electric intensity driving straight through to his inner dragon. “But what if I’m not ready to be on my own? What if I want to hold on to you while I can?” Her lips parted, her head tilting to the side. She leaned closer.

  Don’t kiss her, you fool! But who was he kidding? Her hands were in his hair, and his inner dragon had already rolled over and was begging for a belly rub. Her lips met his, and this time, his trill filled the space around them. The kiss went deeper, and he showed her with his tongue exactly what he wanted to do to her.

  “I’m going to need you to come with us,” a male voice said.

  Colin stopped kissing Leena, turning his head toward the voice… and got a close-up view of the sharp end of an elven arrow.

  Chapter Ten

  Leena spun off Colin’s feet, drew one hand back, and released her invisible arro
w into the nearest male. The curse landed in his gut. He staggered back, black veins spreading out through his arms and climbing his cheeks. He swore before toppling over.

  “Was scribe magic necessary?” one of the other two elves said to her, his arrow still drawn. “We’re just doing our job.”

  Leena turned toward him, arm cocked back, hand raised. “Lower your weapons, and I won’t do it again.”

  The two uninjured male elves stood down, while the one on the ground groaned and writhed. Her poison would wear off in a moment—it wasn’t designed to kill other elves.

  “What was that?” Colin whispered, but she silenced him with a raised hand.

  “What do you want with us?” she asked, and even she could hear how she slurred the end of that sentence. The world tilted and she steadied herself.

  “We’ve been ordered to escort you to the palace,” one said. “We thought he was… bothering you.” The guard gestured toward Colin.

  “Not bothering me,” she mumbled to them. “It was the shhhnails!” She pointed a finger at the trail behind them. Shhhnails? Was her tongue swelling? “But… why did you say you are here?”

  The blond elf nearest her relaxed a bit. “We’ve come to collect you. Lord Niall requests an audience with you and the dragon immediately.”

  “What’s this about?” Colin kept nudging one of her shoulders. Now that she thought about it, the world was tipping unevenly to her left, and each of those nudges seemed to right it temporarily. Damn it all, he was keeping her from falling over.

  “What is wrong with her?” the first elf asked, climbing to his feet and shaking off the remainder of her magic.

  Leena opened her mouth to try to explain again, but Colin did it for her. “She stepped on a mystic snail back there.” He pointed toward the trail with his thumb. “I was trying to carry her.”