Dragon Lords Blood Contract

by Rylee Winters

  “Careful,” Ethan warned as he slipped my arm over his shoulder and gently helped me to sit up.

  My body felt like it had been hit by a truck.

  “You’re going to be sore for a while…” Ethan started to explain, propping me up with some pillows.

  No shit, Sherlock.

  Taking deep, steadying breaths, I eased my back onto the pillows, and let my body sink into the soft stuffing, to find the bed was actually quite comfortable.

  Ethan’s voice continued, “…but your bones are all mended, so you should be able to move around normally now.”

  I raised my hands in front of my face and experimentally wriggled my fingers and toes, and was relieved to find I could feel the sensation.

  I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

  Good news.

  It seemed my limbs were working, and I wasn’t crippled afterall. I’d been dreading the possibility given how badly I’d gotten injured, but it seemed like I’d been lucky this time.

  Admittedly, my bones did feel creaky, but at least I wasn’t dead.

  With that thought, my lips cracked open into an inexplicable smile, and an abrupt laugh escaped my mouth.

  I looked up to find Knox giving me a weird look. He bent his head closer to me. “Are you sure you’re okay…” he asked, his eyes screwed up in a sceptical look.

  I nodded my head, grinning, as I wiped my hands across my eyes, trying to get rid of the last remaining bits of sleep. “What happened?” I asked, unsure what events had transpired after the moment I’d blacked out.

  “You fainted,” Drake snorted from where he was leaning against the wall at the back. From his tone of voice, it was obvious he thought I only had myself to blame.

  “I gathered that,” I said sarcastically, appreciating his attitude even less in my current ill state.

  Knox coughed loudly, pretending to clear his throat, and threw Drake a sharp, warning look. “What Drake means is – you were severely injured after the fight. So, we brought you into the infirmary so we could heal you, since we were worried your injuries were too extensive for your shifter powers to repair your body completely.”

  I looked around me. By the ‘infirmary’, he meant a windowless white room with three adjustable beds, a large sink, and a cupboard bench on one side with bandages, tape, and other first aid paraphernalia. The room sort of reminded me of a nurse’s office.

  Except there were also shiny new heart rate monitors, IV drips, and other expensive medical equipment here you’d only find in a first rate hospital room. And like a hospital room, the air smelt strongly of disinfectant and antiseptic.

  “How did you heal me?” I asked, wondering what kind of voodoo magic they could’ve pulled to mend my injuries. Knox looked away uncomfortably, his eyes darting towards Ethan’s face as he shuffled his feet, avoiding my gaze. When I turned to look at Ethan next, even he evaded meeting my gaze.

  “Errr, well – Ethan used some of his powers…and we also gave you a special, healing serum – the one you just drank,” Knox explained, and just the way he said it…it gave me a small, niggling doubt he wasn’t telling me the whole entire truth. But before I could probe any further into it, Liam interrupted our conversation.

  “Yeah, we had to use a shitload of our healing serum. We’re almost out of stock now.” He sounded unhappy and rather put out.

  “Can’t you just buy more?” I asked slowly, my expression confused and mouth pursed tight, feeling rather annoyed Liam was talking about this serum like it was more important than me.

  “Are you an idiot? No, we can’t just buy more. To make it, we – mmmph…mmmph…mmmph… ” Liam was stopped abruptly, his words becoming muffled as Knox rushed over and clamped a hand over his mouth. He squirmed, trying to break free, but Knox had an arm wrapped securely around his shoulders, and clutched him tightly to his body.

  “Of course we can buy more,” Knox said smoothly, giving Liam a silent, pointed look, and Liam glared back at him. He brought his leg up to stomp on Knox’s foot, but catching on to the movement before he could do anything, Knox let go of Liam rapidly, and stepped to the side – just far enough so he was out of Liam’s reach.

  Bam.

  A sudden and unexpected loud thump reverberated in the air, startling everyone, and we all whirled around to look at the source of the noise.

  My eyes widened in surprise as I saw Damien standing against the cupboards on my far right, the knuckles on his tightly clenched fist sitting on top of the cupboard bench, showing white. I hadn’t noticed him there as he’d been silent all this time.

  “Are you all done?” he asked with a black expression. “If you are, we have work to do.” He pushed himself off the cupboards, and walked over to me.

  “Can you stand?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest. His face was as hard as cold steel, and I noticed there was not a hint of concern over my health in his expression.

  “I’m not sure…but let me try,” I said, gingerly pushing myself up to sit. Upright, I swiveled on my bum to swing my legs over the edge of the bed. Pausing for a second, I glanced up quickly to see Damien watching me intently. His cold gaze was clinical and intense.

  Dropping my view to the ground, I cautiously planted my bare feet down. The tiles were cool to the touch.

  At my side, Ethan held on to my arm to keep me steady, as I slowly, and carefully began to rise on my wobbly legs.

  My muscles ached and my joints felt stiff, but the feelings of discomfort were eclipsed by the joy at finding I was able to stand. A triumphant smile graced my lips.

  “This is good…this is good…” Ethan mumbled from beside me.

  “Seems she’s more than fine,” Drake said disdainfully. “Don’t know what all the fuss was about.”

  The corner of my left eye twitched, as I clenched my jaw tight. Does this asshole ever know to be nice?

  “Just ignore the idiot,” Ethan told me, sensing my growing anger. “Can you try to walk?”

  “Yeah, let’s do this,” I mumbled, also feeling an urgent need to find out.

  Inhaling a deep breath, I took a step forward. My knees wobbled slightly, but held.

  That wasn’t too bad... Then I put my other foot forward, out in front, taking another wobbly step again. Still standing. I took another step. Then another, and…relief washed over me as I discovered everything was fine.

  I cracked a smile, and snuck out a small laugh. My joints felt rusty, but it seemed I was still able to walk. Overjoyed, I threw my arms around Ethan’s wide chest and wrapped him in a big, tight hug.

  Bouncing a little on the balls of my feet while ignoring the creaking feeling in my knees, I squealed out in delight. “I can walk, I can walk, I can still walk!”

  “Steady! Steady!” Ethan cautioned, but returned my smile.

  “Okay – seeing as you can walk perfectly fine, maybe you can make yourself useful then,” Damien said with emotionless eyes. “We’ll see how talented that magical nose of yours is at the auction house.”

  Then, without waiting for my response, he abruptly turned around and left the room, leaving me standing there, still hanging on to Ethan’s arms.

  My chest seemed to squeeze a little. For some reason, seeing him turn his back on me like that hurt. It reminded me of being abandoned…that time, long ago.

  No, I told myself, and shook the unpleasant memory out of my thoughts.

  Damien was a dragon afterall. And given how cold he was, it was clear to me, he definitely did not possess a sympathetic, human heart.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Drake

  There was an additional passenger in the car, who Drake had not been expecting to have to drive.

  While they cruised down the highway, he glanced in the rearview mirror to look at the girl seated at the back.

  Squished up in the middle seat between Damien and Liam, the Little Fox shifter who’d suffered severe injuries from their fight together, was looking around her, seemingly all hale and healt
hy as she studied the interior of the car.

  It irritated him how clueless she looked.

  Drake still had no idea what she was doing here. Ethan and Damien had forced him to take her in his car with them, to the auction house. He didn’t even get to have a say.

  The worst part was, the dragon inside him was acting all shitty and weird with him since he’d hurt her during the fight. On top of that, Knox and Ethan had also given him a hard time.

  “Did you have to go all bat-shit crazy Rambo on her?” Knox had asked him in an exasperated voice, after they’d rushed her to the recovery room.

  Drake, unable to defend himself, did not reply.

  Straight after that, Ethan had told him off, and warned him not to pull that kind of shit ever again. He wasn’t pleased at all with Drake using his magic and injuring Jasmine in the process.

  In his defense, he hadn’t been in complete control of his magic – so the Little Fox getting seriously hurt was partially accidental. But he wasn’t going to try explaining that to Ethan or any of his brothers. None of them would’ve believed him anyway…

  Drake grunted, recalling the memory of Ethan’s furious face. It wasn’t his fault Ethan had let her fight. Also, she could’ve backed out or surrendered at any time. It seemed to him, she was also at least partly to blame for the whole incident.

  After all, she was the crazy idiot who’d kicked his car first.

  Drake was still observing Jasmine through the rearview mirror when Liam stare snagged his eye. His brother was looking questioningly at him, but Drake pretended like he hadn’t noticed.

  Next moment, Liam seemed to light up with understanding. Slanting his gaze at Jasmine, he looked knowingly back at Drake through the mirror, smirking. Drake almost cracked the shits.

  He had no idea what Liam was thinking, or what conclusions he was drawing. Obviously, he’d noticed Drake looking at Jasmine, but he was sure Liam didn’t have a clue as to the why.

  Regardless of this, Drake knew his brother would be more than happy to use this against him in any way possible. Any sort of weakness was for fair game to Liam. He’d use anything he could to make Drake feel uncomfortable. And right now, it was working.

  Drake pressed his foot down on the gas pedal and the torque of the engine revved into life. The car accelerated, speeding faster down the highway, as he clenched his jaw tight. Forcing himself to focus on the familiar, soothing sound of the engine, he tried to ignore the deep stare he could feel Liam was giving him from the backseat of the car.

  “How much further is the place we’re heading to?” Jasmine suddenly piped up, oblivious to Drake and Liam’s exchange.

  The inside of the car continued to stay silent and no one responded. There was only the rhythmic purr of the engine, and the soft sound of the radio playing some sappy love song currently popular in the charts. It wasn’t the sort of music Drake cared for, but Knox had chosen the station, and he’d compromised by allowing his younger brother to keep it on with the volume turned down low.

  This in itself, was an unusual gesture for him.

  Drake swore underneath his breath.

  Ever since he’d met that annoying Little Fox, it was like his world was tipping over. He didn’t know what was going on. How could one tiny, little, shifter girl cause him so much grief?

  After a long moment of silence, Knox spoke up and replied, “About twenty more minutes away,” realizing no one else was going to bother answering Jasmine.

  “Fifteen,” Drake grunted, correcting his brother. At the speed he was going now, it might not even take as long as that.

  Tense silence fell inside the cabin of the car again. Behind him, Drake heard Jasmine twisting and turning in her seat. Probably feeling uncomfortable from being cramped up between two big lugs.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Drake saw Damien glancing sideways at Jasmine through the rearview mirror. She was oblivious since she was looking straight through the windshield at the road ahead.

  It rankled Drake to see Damien paying any interest to the Little Fox shifter. He was already deeply regretting the fact he’d allowed Damien to heal her in his stead.

  Jasmine’s body had been burning up after the fight, and her injuries were serious, needing special healing magic. But as the hard-arse he was, Drake had not wanted anything to do with someone he’d so easily defeated. He could’ve healed her himself, but he didn’t want to. Well, at least that’s what he’d thought.

  Part of him justified it as fair punishment for wrecking his car. At the same time another part of him was scolding himself for being so juvenile. Deep down, he knew he wasn’t angry because she’d scratched and dented his vehicle – he was pissed at her because she didn’t seem to care – about him or his damn car.

  That she’d made clear from the outset.

  When he’d first seen her turning around to look in his direction at the screeching halt of his car, he’d been shaken, almost petrified.

  His mind flashed back.

  She’d come out of no where, walking out of a row of parked cars. He knew he’d almost run her over, and the thought of that delicate body smacking with deadly force against the hood of his car, made him feel sick.

  Feeling slightly unwell, he leaned forward against the steering wheel, needing some extra support, and didn’t even realize when he accidentally pressed on the horn of the car. It honked unexpectedly, jolting him upright.

  He swore, and was about to climb out of the car to see if she was alright and apologize, but then he saw her face and stopped.

  It was beautiful – her face. Even mesmerizing, and for a long second he stared at her as the dragon inside him purred. But he soon snapped out of his trance, and saw that her face was livid – the color of bright red.

  Sucking in a big breath, he held it in as she seemed to go on a tirade, thumping at his car.

  This was not good… he thought.

  He was inexperienced dealing with the female species at best, but when they were emotionally worked up like this and upset…

  A situation like this was way past his novice capabilities.

  The more she went on, the angrier she seemed to get. And her attitude was starting to get to him.

  He vaguely remembered partially winding down his window at one point, and shouting at her to move out of the way through the small gap, but his words didn’t end up having any impact.

  He beeped his horn at her again – this time on purpose, but this only seemed to infuriate her even more. By this time, the dragon inside him was beginning to stir. Honestly, he didn’t want to fight with her, but he was beginning to feel pissed off.

  Hardly anyone dared to oppose him, let alone tell him off. And here was this small, strange girl, with the balls to growl and cuss at him, and get all up in his face as she jumped onto the bonnet of his car and glare at him through his tinted windshield.

  When she kicked the bumper of his car, he lost it. His dragon seemed to roar to life as his temper flared. He got out of the car then. But before he could tell her off, she was already walking away to the footpath up ahead.

  He shouted at her to get her ass back here, so he could – what…? Tell her off? Get her to pay him for damaging his car? He didn’t really know. All he knew was he wanted her to turn back. Wanted to see her, to know her name. But most of all, he wanted her to acknowledge his presence.

  He scowled, frustrated. What were these strange, annoying feelings? He felt confusion, desire and irritation at the same time.

  Running a hand in a rough gesture through his hair, he watched with the narrow slits of his eyes at her fast disappearing back. A few seconds later, he saw her flip her middle finger at him, and that really riled him up!

  He was half-tempted to run after her so he could confront her, then drag her sorry ass back to the car. But he was already late getting home.

  Swearing underneath his breath, he turned around and bent down to take a look at his bumper. Lo and behold, there was a big ass dent there that seemed impossib
le to have been made by someone of her size, and an ugly black scratch on the pristine white paint to accompany it. He swore again.

  At that moment, he promised himself if he ever saw this little chit of a girl again, he was going to get even with her. Make her pay.

  Now, that same girl was sitting in the backseat of his car, without a hint of guilt, as she sat relaxing in the cool air-conditioned interior of the car she’d not long ago kicked and dented.

  The irony.

  He tightened his grip on the steering, his lips pressing into a thin, hard line.

  The fight had made things worse.

  When he’d first seen her in the study, he’d reacted without thinking. Her very presence seemed to provoke him to the point of losing his self-control. And her snarky remarks and denial of any blame for the damage to his car were like oil to his fiery temper.

  So admittedly, when he’d fought her, he wasn’t completely in control of his temper. Yes, he’d wanted to punish her – but no, he hadn’t wanted to seriously injure her.

  Part of him was impressed she’d fought back despite it being futile. Her powers were without question, no match for his. The other part – the one that viewed her vain attempt with scorn, wondered if she was borderline crazed idiot.

  In the end she’d lost, but even so, when he’d defeated her, he’d still held back. Though he doubted that was what it looked like from the Little Fox’s and everyone else’s perspective. They all probably thought he’d been going in for the kill when he’d crouched down beside her.

  With her jaw locked in his grasp, he could’ve easily incinerated her with the magic in his hand, but something seemed to war with the emotions inside him. He’d felt a tug from her, an invisible pulse of magic shooting from deep within her, drawing him in. Drake wasn’t even sure the Little Fox had realized it herself. She was only half-conscious by then.

  The feeling had made him hesitate – just for a split second. But it was enough for him to regain some measure of reason and control.