by Ines Johnson
“No.”
“As the Governor?”
“He was the Governor,” she said. “But that was many years ago.”
“Right.” Ilia rubbed at his chin. “Time moves differently here in the Veil. What year is it over there.”
“Over there?” she asked.
“In your part of the world?”
“It’s 2020.”
“2020? You all made it past 1997?”
“Yes.”
“Did you defeat Skynet?”
“Who?”
“That must be it,” Ilia said. “If the Terminator was ruling your world, you must have defeated the cyborgs. That’s really good news. Though I’ve always wanted to go up against a T-800. I’m pretty sure I could even take a T-1000; you know, the ones who can shift into liquid.”
Lily eyed him warily. She was a skittering thing. But Sarah Connor had been a damsel in the first movie. Ilia had recently watched the second Terminator movie where Sarah Connor became a warrior. He had to admit when Linda Hamilton wielded a gun with those muscular arms and set jaw, it had turned him on.
Looking down at Lily, it was clear she was merely Sarah Connor version one. Ilia worried that he wasn’t impressing this damsel even an iota. She seemed more interested in his snacks than she was in his prowess.
She had a handful of Cheeseballs in one palm and was popping one into her mouth with the other. The orange dust landed against her chin like fairy sparkles.
Ilia reached out to brush the flakes away. Before his hand reached her, she jumped back. The orange balls clattered to the floor. Lily looked down with dismay.
“Sorry,” he said, gathering the cheesy balls. “I think that’s the last batch I have of those. You can’t have more for a while because it’s gonna cost a high price.”
Lily closed her eyes. Her narrow shoulders slumped, and she let out a soul-weary sigh. She looked small and weak and lost.
Ilia didn’t want to save her. He wanted to put her to bed. To let her lay all by herself and rest. Lily had not an ounce of fight in her. She looked as though she’d given up.
It was a feeling Ilia wasn’t familiar with. Even when he was at his lowest and the odds were against him, there had always been a spark in him. A will to fight.
Lily needed protecting. Not wooing. And she needed more food. He’d have to contact Morrigan about getting in a new shipment of Cheeseballs and Lunchables. He’d likely have to spend a few days in the mine to gather up enough gems in payment. But it would be worth it to give his new family member a spark of happiness.
Hmmm? Family member. Not mate.
Yes. That felt right. Ilia realized that what he felt for Lily, the need to protect and provide was the same he felt for the other girls. His loins didn’t ache to get inside her.
Hell, his dragon had been sleeping inside his belly this whole time. The beast hadn’t stirred. Not once.
Ilia opened his mouth to suggest he take Lily to get some rest. But the words caught in his throat.
Lily’s hands went to her top. She unbuttoned the top button of her shirt. Her fingers trembled as she did so.
“What are you doing?” Ilia asked.
“Getting undressed.” Her face was a blank mask as she spoke and worked her clothing.
“Why?”
Lily looked down at his crotch as though it were answer enough. “Isn’t this what you want?”
There was no bulge in his crotch. Nothing standing at attention as she continued to undress.
“The other women didn’t say it,” Lily continued. “They didn’t have to. I get it. If I want to stay here, I have to sleep with you. Right?”
Ilia opened his mouth to deny the accusation. Though a few moments ago, she would’ve been partly right. He had intended to sleep with her and keep her. But he wouldn’t have done it against her will.
Looking at her now, he could tell she was acting against her will with no help from him. Lily was passionless about the potential of sleeping with him. Her eyes were vacant. Her movements robotic. She could’ve been a female model of a T-800.
The door to the game room burst open. A fiery angel stood on the threshold. Her body was tense. Fists clenched. Her toned arms glistened as she raised a fist at him.
Ilia’s first thought was that it was Sarah Connor. Not from the first movie. It was vengeful Sara from T2: Judgement Day. Standing before him was the woman that was a little crazed after what she’d been through in the first film.
“I’m going to kill you,” said the avenging angel in the door.
Instead of being wary, Ilia’s beast sat up and drooled at the sight of Rose. His cock strained in his pants, eager to get out and at her. Inside him, his dragon roared one single word.
Mine.
Chapter Ten
Rose took one look at her sister lying docile on the couch. Her shirt was unbuttoned. There was a vacant look in Lily’s eyes that Rose had seen before. Rose had seen that look the last time her sister had been caught in this kind of position. Only that time, Rose had been too late.
That time Lily had tugged Rose out of the room and brought them home. They had gotten their prescriptions refilled. But even with the medication in their bellies, neither of them had been able to hold down any of the food they’d purchased.
Rose’s full belly rioted at seeing Ilia over her sister. It wasn’t the same ill feeling she’d gotten after walking in on that casting couch. There wasn’t the same nausea gripping her gut. There wasn’t the taste of bile coming up her throat.
No. This felt like a burning. Hot and green like when Natasha Sotale got the cover of Candy Cane magazine over her. That cow.
But that wasn’t Natasha on the couch with Ilia. It was Rose’s baby sister. Her twin, whose thigh was within inches Ilia’s package.
Rose launched herself at him, hurling her body over the couch. The air was knocked out of her as she made impact. But there was no pain. She was caged in two bars of warm, fleshy muscle.
“Excellent tackle attempt,” Ilia said, his hold tightening around her. “Because I’m taller and heavier than you, you should’ve gone for my knees.”
He set her on her feet. Rose wobbled when he let her go. He took a step back from her, squatting into a low fighting stance.
For a moment, Rose stood stunned. Some of the adrenaline leaving her body. She stood as tiny as a David before a massive Goliath, regardless of how he was trying to make himself seem small.
“Are you toying with me?” she asked.
“I’m teaching you,” he said. “You got in a good shot earlier when you clocked my nose.”
“You mean when you had me tied up?”
“When you’re at full strength, I’ll show you how to take me down.”
“Don’t sleep in the meantime,” she said. “I don’t need my full strength to cut your throat.”
His grin was wide, sharp with gleaming teeth. There was a part of her that urged her to flee in the sight of this predator. But another part, a part from somewhere deep inside of her that she wasn’t sure she was ever aware, was awakening. That part which came from the vicinity of her long-empty belly was hungering. Something inside her twisted and turned, but not for want of food.
“Rose.”
Rose dropped her guard and turned at the sound of her sister’s voice. Lily still sat on the couch. The swell of her breast could be seen leaning outside of her blouse.
Rose’s mind flashed back to another time when her sister was arranging her clothing after rising from a couch.
“I did it for you,” her sister had said back then.
Because that was the only way they’d gotten the job. Getting the job gave them money to get their medication. Getting their medication allowed them to put food in their belly, which gave them the energy to go and get more jobs. The cycle never ended.
Except from that day on, they went into castings together.
Rose had no desire to model. She didn’t want to use her body to make money. She’d rather cover u
p with a burlap sack. But the world only cared about how she looked.
“Rose,” said Lily, “it’s fine.”
“He was about to assault you,” said Rose, holding her fists out in front of her. “That is not fine.”
“Hey, you’re the one who assaulted me,” Ilia said to Rose.
The beast of a man loomed over them both, but his attention was fixed on Rose and not Lily. That’s when Rose noticed a few things. Ilia’s too-small shirt was still on. His pants still rested on his hips and not down around his ankles. She remembered that when he was on the couch, his hands weren’t on Lily. Lily’s hands had been on him.
“We do not force women,” Ilia was saying. “Not anymore. That was the way of our father. Now, if we want a woman to mate with us, we must seduce her into saying yes.”
Why did that—the idea of Ilia’s seduction—sound like more of a threat than him grabbing her and having his way with her? Perhaps because with seduction, she would let him grab her and then let him have his way with her.
Rose backed up until her sister was within reach. Slowly, Ilia’s gaze lifted, tracking her movement. His hand raised to his head, and he scratched at his temple. As he did so, his muscles flexed.
That’s when Rose felt that hunger deep inside again. Her knees knocked together. She decided to press her thighs together and was surprised at the relief from the pressure there.
Ilia lifted his nose and inhaled. A wicked smile spread across his face and those sharp teeth made another appearance. “Trust me, I’ve never taken a female against her will. I’m usually trying to run them off.”
“He wasn’t raping me,” said Lily. “I was going to let him. It’s the only way we can stay here. Rose, I want to stay here.”
Rose took in more of the room. The empty snack containers on the floor and table. The dusting of orange flakes on Lily’s cheek. They wouldn’t just be able to survive here. They would thrive.
But this was the catch. And one of them would have to fondle the balls.
“Not you,” she said to Lily. Then she turned her gaze to Ilia. “If sleeping with you is a condition of staying here, then you can have me. Not her.”
Ilia scratched at his chin, all the while scrutinizing her face. Not her body. Still, Rose felt the same hollow pit in her stomach as when a casting director was looking her over, seeking her flaws and preparing to proposition or reject her.
“All right,” Ilia said.
“All right? You accept me as your mate, or whatever?”
“It’s not that simple.” There was that toothsome grin again. Though this time, the sharp edges of his incisors glinted in the light of the room. “The rule is, I have to seduce you first.”
Chapter Eleven
She walked with such purpose. Ilia’s eyes tracked Rose as she climbed their stairs to the second floor of the castle. Her long-legged stride ate up the distance as she made her way down the hall. The sway of her ass made his incisors sharpen. His claws poked out of his skin. His dragon was clawing at his chest to get out, to get at her.
They had deposited Lily in the kitchen with Elek. The last they’d seen of Lily, she had been looking down lovingly at a fruit pie that Elek had been pulling out of the oven. Lily had barely glanced up at Rose as she gave her assurances that she would be just fine.
Rose stopped her forward motion now. Her feet came together. Her ass cheeks made the shape of an upside-down heart as she stood there. She cleared her throat once, twice. Until finally, Ilia glanced up.
The glare in her eyes told him that he’d been caught staring. He was going to be caught doing a lot more than that.
“Where are we doing this, T-Rex?”
Ilia blinked. “T-Rex? As in Tyrannosaurus Rex?”
She quirked an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms at her chest. The move plumped up her breasts, making her forearms a shelving unit for her tits.
Rose snapped her fingers, bringing Ilia’s attention back up to those sparkling eyes of hers.
“I’m not a dinosaur,” he said. “They’re mostly extinct.”
Some of the ire went out of her at that pronouncement. “Mostly?”
“The only living specimens live deep within the core of the earth with the Goddess and her Eloheem. I believe humans call them angels.”
“Dinosaurs are real?”
“My brothers and I are the descendants of dinosaurs. Dragons were amongst Her first experiments to craft mankind.”
Rose was gaping at him now. Ilia discovered he liked having Rose’s full attention on him. It was almost as good as when she was throwing a punch at him. But not as good as when she was throwing her whole body at him.
“This is my room.” Ilia pointed to the door across the hall. He crossed the length and pushed the door open.
Rose’s formerly long strides were hesitant now. She creeped into Ilia’s private sanctuary like a mouse who knew the lion would jump out at any turn. Once inside, she turned slowly, sizing up everything. Ilia wished he had taken a moment to clean up the piles of dirty clothing and put away his action figures. He hadn't expected to be gaining a mate today.
Rose stopped at the foot of his massive bed. She took a deep breath, balling her hands into fists at her sides. She pivoted on her heel and tossed herself back onto the mattress, landing in a puff that made the blankets sigh.
"Just do it,” she said, flinging her arms out to the sides and parting her thighs.
Ilia couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He could barely see past the desire in his eyes.
Inside his chest, the dragon ripped his flesh into ribbons, trying to get out, to get at her.
Mine, it thought.
Mine, it growled.
Mine, it swore.
“What are you waiting for?” Rose huffed. “Are you going to fuck me or what?”
Ilia wanted to groan. He wanted nothing more than to part her thighs and sink himself into her. But when he scented the air, he didn't smell a hint of arousal. The air held the acrid scent of fear.
He stalked slowly toward the bed. As he did so, he pulled tight the reigns on his dragon. He had to. The beast within him was ready to pounce regardless of the sour smell his mate was giving off.
"You're afraid of me?" Ilia said. "Why?"
"Oh, I don't know?” Rose propped herself up on her elbows and glared at him. “Maybe because you kidnapped me. You're holding me against my will. You were about to force yourself on my sister. And now you're going to use me as a sex slave for room and board.”
Ilia frowned. "Absolutely none of that is true."
She lunged off the bed and was in his face in an instant. Her index finger pointing at his chest. Ilia barely stopped the instinct to nip that finger.
"Don't lie to me," she demanded.
"I never lie,” he said. “I’m not clever enough to keep all the stories straight. Much easier to stick with the truth since it’s what really happened.”
Ilia stepped toward her. Close enough that her fingertip pressed against his chest. The moment he made contact with her was a dangerous second. His dragon slipped its leash. Quick as a snake, his tongue struck out and licked at her finger.
Rose gasped. She tried to pull her hand away. But it was too late. The entire digit was inside Ilia’s mouth.
He laved at the single digit. Flicking his tongue up and over her nail. Down and around her knuckle. She tasted of salty snacks and sweet treats and something musky that was singularly her.
Ilia knew that musky taste was what waited for him between her thighs. Never again would the honey of a fairy do for him. Only Rose’s bittersweetness.
With one final lick from his dragon and suckle from Ilia as a man, the two parts of him released Rose’s finger. She wobbled as though his lips had been the only thing holding her up. Ilia wrapped a hand around her waist and brought her back against the bedpost. Now when he inhaled, he smelled the pungent aroma of arousal.
“I didn’t kidnap you,” he began in a low voice. “The Valkyrie saved you.
Neither are you being held against your will. You can tell me no and leave at any time.”
Rose swallowed but seemed to have trouble. Her throat worked as she took in short breaths. “If that’s true, then why did you tie me up?”
Ilia put his nose next to her mouth. He liked the way her hot breaths smelled. He couldn’t wait to taste her lips. The ones on her mouth as well as her sex.
“The ropes are part of the ritual,” he said, brushing his cheek against hers. “But they’re more for your safety than anything.”
“My safety?” The two words were said breathlessly.
“When a dragon mates, both man and beast have to agree. Which means the dragon has to meet his female. If she makes any sudden moves, things could get out of hand.”
“Meaning the beast in you might force himself on me?”
Ilia pulled away from her. Her lower lip trembled, but he didn’t smell that acrid fear anymore. “I would never hurt you, Rose.”
Her eyes searched his. Ilia could feel her desire to want to believe him. He knew that feeling so intimately. All the times he’d craved a soothing hand, only to have any kindness slapped away by his father.
It was Ilia’s brothers that kept him alive during the worst of it. They would offer him bread, or a bone, or a ratty blanket to keep his small body warm. Much like Rose was trying to do for her sister.
He wanted to wrap his wings around her and never let anything near her. From this day forward, he would be her protector. He would provide everything she needed.
“I’m going to take care of you,” he said, brushing a strand of hair past her temple and behind her ear.
Rose shuddered as she looked at him, her gaze hooded. “Are you going to tie me up again?”
Ilia grinned. “I get the feeling you’d like that.”
Rose blinked. The second of her lashes touching down against her cheek and fluttering back to meet her brows, her entire countenance changed. “I wouldn’t like it at all.”
Ilia wasn’t one to lie. He truly did find the matter too confusing to bother with. But he was excellent at knowing when someone else was lying. Especially when she smelled of overripe blossoms when she did so.
