Dragon Lords Blood Contract

by Rylee Winters

  I ground my teeth together, glaring angrily at him. “What have you done to me?” I barked out.

  He chuckled sadistically. “Don’t think you can escape, my pretty.”

  His stale, balmy breath was making me want to vomit, and I arched my neck back, trying to turn away from it, but he grabbed me hard by the chin, forcibly turning my head around until I was facing him.

  “Look at me,” he sneered, narrowing his eyes at me. There was a crazed appearance to the man’s face, making him look like some sort of serial killer; the cruel black orbs of his eyes reflecting way too much delight in watching me squirm.

  Unable to budge or get away, I was getting desperate. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I needed to escape…and now, before it was too late…

  “I’m going to scream,” I threatened him, gnashing my teeth at his hand. “Let me go, you bastard.”

  It was difficult for me to reach him, but I kept going, and a few seconds later I managed to nip him in the hand and he jerked it back, letting out an angry snarl.

  Raising his palm high in the air, I could see he was about to slap me square in the face, and I cringed, bracing myself for the blow. But the hit never landed…

  Instead, a large shadow stepped up unexpectedly to loom behind him. Before I knew what was happening, the shadow let out a deep and menacing growl, and a big, rough hand snaked out and grabbed creep-o man by the wrist, stopping his hand from coming down.

  I cried out in alarm, and felt the hand around my throat loosen its grip, as creep-o man now startled, turned his full attention on the unknown assailant.

  Unfortunately for him, he barely had the time to turn around to see who was behind him, when his opponent grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and lifted his whole body up off the ground like he was a small cockroach, and tossed him easily to the side.

  Gasping, I watched with shaking eyes as creep-o man’s body flew effortlessly through the air like he was nothing more than a rag doll, before he hit the floor with a resounding crack and thud. He remained there, completely motionless.

  I heard a zing, and the strange noise stole my attention away from the lumpy body on the ground. I looked to my side to see a sharp, black talon cutting through the invisible threads holding me stuck to the wall.

  As soon as the threads came away, I immediately felt my knees give out, and I crumbled down onto the floor. Still shaking, and with my body pumped full of adrenaline, I raised my eyes to look up at the massive, hulking figure staring down at me, and I let out a small squeak of surprise.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Drake

  Drake’s mind was in uproar. He didn’t understand why, but his dragon was threatening to burst forth like a raging beast after seeing the weird pervert forcing himself on the Little Fox moments earlier.

  It’d never reacted this strongly to anyone before, and the sensation was strange and confusing to him.

  To make things worse, his dragon had already started to act up earlier, when they’d been in the auction room and he’d been sitting behind her. It had been behaving like some hormonal teenage boy, wanting to get closer to sniff her hair, to touch her, to hold her, and maybe even kiss her…?

  It was downright pissing him off.

  He stared down at the Little Fox. She was crouched down low, cowering like a scared, timid little rabbit on the ground. He pushed out a frustrated sigh, raking a hand roughly through his thick, coppery hair.

  How can she possibly be this weak and vulnerable? He thought with a tinge of annoyance.

  For the hundredth time, he found himself wondering why the hell Ethan had chosen to dump someone so hopeless on them. The girl can’t even protect herself!

  He’d been on his way back to the auction room when he’d bumped into Knox, who’d looked pretty anxious as he walked around trying to find her. His brother had told him the Little Fox had wandered off and thought maybe she’d gotten lost…but the last thing Drake was expecting was to find her being attacked by a disgusting and dirty pervert in a secluded corner of the auction house.

  The sight had caused the dragon inside him to go berserk…and it’d wanted nothing more than to rip the asshole touching her into shreds. He’d barely managed to control himself and reign his dragon in as he threw the sorry sack of shit hard, onto the ground.

  But now, looking down at the Little Fox’s huddled form, it seemed he might’ve arrived too late…it appeared as if the damage was done.

  With a grim look, Drake lowered himself so he was at eye level with Jasmine.

  “Are you okay?” he asked gruffly. Her eyes were shaking, and her hair was in a nest of disarray. He could tell she’d been crying by the wet sheen of her eye, and how they were red and puffy, along with her nose and cheeks.

  She started to nod, then seemed to abruptly change her mind and began to shake her head instead, too distraught or in too much shock to answer properly. Drake frowned watching her gulp, then heave out a shuddering breath.

  The fury inside him was starting to stoke higher again as he noticed the slight bruising along Jasmine’s jaw line. His dragon was screaming inside his mind… How dare someone hurt something that’s mine!

  It roared from the depths of his belly, and he had to clench down on it to keep his mind steady. She’s not yours… He found himself telling his dragon, but his dragon only growled back at him, refusing to accept his words.

  “Did he touch you?” Drake asked quietly, his voice low and stormy, but with a detectable edge. The sound rumbled and vibrated through his chest as he spoke.

  Jasmine wiped her sniffling nose. “No. I’m fine,” she said in a husky voice as she forced herself to get up, and Drake grabbed her arm, helping to keep her steady.

  “You need to become stronger…you’re much too weak…” Drake trailed off, speaking out loud without thinking. He’d meant it as advice, but knew it’d come out the wrong way, and regretted it as soon as he’d said it.

  The effect of his words was immediate, but it was too late to take them back. Jasmine’s face fell – or more like plummeted, and she looked at him like he’d thrown a bucket of ice cold water in her face.

  She immediately pulled back, yanking her arms away as if she’d been burned by his touch. Refusing to meet his eyes, she folded her arms protectively around herself, and shuffled back, out of his reach.

  “Thanks for your concern. You can go now,” she said, her voice hardening. “I don’t need your help.”

  Her response made Drake’s mouth turn downwards into a deep frown. “Stop being so stubborn,” he told her, pushing out a heavy sigh, and even he could hear the slight irritation in his own rough voice.

  Again, not his finest response but he was having difficulty holding back his temper. Only…if he were to dig deep enough, he knew he wasn’t angry at Jasmine – he was angry with himself…for not being able to control his emotions whenever it came to situations involving her.

  Why the fuck do I care so much about what happens to her? She’s just a foolish woman like all the others... He barely knew her and she’d had the nerve to dent his car – and by the way, I’m still waiting for that apology.

  No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t find a logical explanation...

  The Little Fox was causing strange and unfamiliar emotions to rise up inside him, and he was finding all these new feelings extremely unpleasant.

  At times, he even felt guilty for hurting her during their fight against each other – which was ludicrous! Afterall, she’d been the one to agree to it and it wasn’t his fault she’d been crazy enough to think she could win.

  In her eyes, he probably looked like some brute…and meanwhile, she probably saw herself as the victim…

  So what? Drake’s temper flared. He didn’t need to apologize. He was a fucking dragon for heaven’s sake – and a prince of the realm at that. Why the hell should he care about what she thought of him…she was nothing but trouble!

  But underneath the denial, there was an unwelcome thoug
ht that pressed against his conscience…an awareness he tried to push away. Because he knew when he’d seen Jasmine’s body lying broken on the gym mat, something inside him had snapped. And there was a feeling he’d rarely felt before…remorse.

  Drake pushed out a heavy breath, shaking his head and trying to clear his thoughts. This will not do…

  Feeling more useless than usual, he took a step forward towards Jasmine, a mixture of guilt, frustration, and anger cycling inside him. He wasn’t quite sure what he was planning to do…

  Meanwhile, his body seemed to move on its own volition. Jasmine was hugging herself tightly, huddled against the wall.

  The dragon inside him pressed him onwards...

  Feeling more than a little awkward, he grabbed a hold of her shoulders with both of his hands, and pulled her into his wide, solid chest, encasing her safely inside his arms.

  Jasmine froze…in shock at first. Drake was pretty sure the last thing she’d been expecting was for him to try and comfort her.

  She recovered a few seconds later, and her first response was to struggle against him, to push him away – fighting against the warm, solid enclosure of his arms.

  Then he remembered something…a memory of himself when he’d been in Jasmine’s shoes, long ago.

  “Shhh…shhh…it’s okay…” he murmured softly, trying to calm her with the sound of his voice. He began to gently stroke her hair, trying to soothe her like his mother used to when he was a child…particularly after he’d lost a fight to a brother or cousin of his, or one of their weasel friends.

  It seemed to be working…

  Shit… What the hell am I doing? Didn’t I just promise myself I was going to stay away from this blasted woman just a few hours ago…?

  Jasmine stilled, and then after a moment her shoulders slumped and she seemed to melt into Drake as she let out a loud, heart-wracking sob, and buried her face deep into chest. Drake continued to hold her and stroke her hair, and after a while she seemed to calm down and the sound of her crying progressively came to a stop.

  “Is he dead?” she managed to quiver, lifting her eyes ups up to look at Drake. Her voice was high-pitched, almost a squeak.

  “Most likely,” Drake answered, his eyes turning dark as he looked over at the body flopped over the floor. There was a wet pool of blood growing just underneath the head.

  Jasmine sighed with relief, and pulled away from him to compose herself.

  Drake felt his fingertips tingle as they grazed her arm, and he reluctantly let her go…his body already missing her soft, warm curves.

  Jasmine cleared her throat, looking slightly embarrassed. She looked away from Drake, putting up a tough face.

  “What was that thing?” she asked, pointing at the body slumped against the floor, her voice sounding a little hoarse. From her tone of voice, it was clear she knew it wasn’t human.

  “A troll,” Drake answered bluntly, emitting a low growl as a picture of the Little Fox being trapped by the pale, ugly bastard, entered his mind.

  “What did he want with me?”

  “Trolls like collecting pretty things…including people. And their faces.”

  At Drake’s explanation, Jasmine released a shudder, and he had to restrain himself, feeling the urgent need to pull her back towards him so he could tighten his arms around her once more, and make her feel safe again.

  “And that thing that was keeping me glued to the wall?” Her eyes looked down at the gossamer threads lying in a broken heap on the ground.

  “Spider witch threads…expensive, because their magic is hard to break.”

  “Ha…” The short laugh that Jasmine let out was breathy, and contained zero humor, only dismay. “Given the clientele here, I really shouldn’t be surprised…” she muttered to herself.

  Drake saw the dark expression on her face, and his forehead crinkled with concern.

  “You shouldn’t wander off on your own like that…it’s not safe.” He’d said it because he was worried about her safety, but instead it had come off sounding like he was scolding her, and Jasmine flinched, immediately misinterpreting Drake’s words, thinking he was implying the incident was her fault.

  Recoiling from him, she took a step back –

  But there wasn’t much space left for her to move, with the wall directly behind her blocking her way. She seemed to realize this as she looked over her shoulder, and she reacted by hissing out in agitation.

  Whipping her head around to face Drake head on, she glared at him, pointing at him with a shaky finger.

  “Don’t you dare blame me for this…don’t you dare!” her voice trembled out. “This place…why did you guys even take me here…?” she cried, sounding slightly hysterical. “It’s full of bloody creeps and weird sickos!”

  Drake felt a rush of guilt and took a step forward, reaching out for her, only to have her slap his hand away. He immediately felt the sting of her rejection and it showed clearly on his face, but Jasmine was too busy blustering away to even notice.

  “None of you thought to warn me about anything! If you’d only bothered to explain what this place was beforehand…” her voice choked off in anger.

  Drake clenched his hands and clamped down on his jaw; he stared back at her silently, too stupid to know what to say, feeling completely out of his depths.

  Jasmine stood there, waiting for him to speak…to say something – anything. When he didn’t, her face became crestfallen, like she’d never been so disappointed in her life.

  She took a step forward and made to walk around him, but he turned, trying to reach out for her. Jasmine shoved his hands away. “Don’t touch me, you…you…monster!” Her accusation seemed to come out of nowhere, as her eyes gleamed with anger, making her face hard and taut.

  Drake jerked back, wincing as if a chunk of his flesh had been carved out by a sharp, steel blade.

  Her words pierced through him like a spear. She’d called him a monster…

  It wasn’t the first time he’d heard someone calling him that. But it hurt more coming from her, and he didn’t know why.

  “There you guys are…” Knox’s voice interrupted, as he rounded the corner spotting Drake and Jasmine. He started walking towards them, then stopped noticing the tension in the air.

  His eyes widened, taking in Jasmine’s puffy appearance, before flicking over to Drake to see him standing stiffly near her side with a hard look on his face.

  He hesitated. “Is everything okay…?” he asked, his gaze flitting between the two.

  Both of them looked away, refusing to meet Knox’s eyes, and he suspected something had happened between them.

  Drake’s jaw was ticcing on one side, and his expression was dark. Jasmine was no better, with her fists clenched tight and looking like she’d just been crying.

  “Okay…” Knox said, breaking up the silence. And that’s when he noticed the body lying on the floor.

  “Who is that?” he asked abruptly, pointing at the black lump several feet from Jasmine’s right, confusion written across his face.

  “A troll,” Drake answered bluntly. His gaze flickered to Jasmine briefly with some unreadable expression, before he turned to look at Knox.

  “What happened?” Knox asked, feeling even more curious now, and Drake sighed rubbing the back of his head.

  “Long story.”

  “I’m going outside to the car,” Jasmine interjected, and quickly strode forward passing by Knox, and taking both Drake and Knox by surprise.

  Knox head spun backwards as his eyes followed after her. “Jasmine – ” He tried calling out, but she didn’t turn around.

  “Wha – ” he began to ask, as he turned back to look at Drake.

  “Go after her,” Drake cut in before Knox could finish his question.

  Knox looked over to the still body lying on the side, then raised a questioning eyebrow at Drake.

  “Just go. Before she gets herself into more trouble. I’ll clean up this mess.”

  Knox nod
ded. “I’ll see you outside then,” he said, and jogged after Jasmine.

  Soon he was out of sight. But Drake continued to stare at the empty space where his brother had been for several long moments after.

  He told himself it was better for Knox to have gone after the Little Fox instead of him. It was clear she hated his guts.

  Good. It made it easier to avoid her.

  He shouldn’t have tried to comfort her. Especially after he’d promised himself to give her a wide berth. What the fuck was he thinking? Did he really want to torture himself like this?

  Being near her was a bad idea. So, then why did he feel so desperate to be by her side? Why did he want to hold and touch her so badly?

  This shit is killing me...and that Little Fox is going to be my undoing.

  Drake pinched the bridge of his nose, then shook his head, trying to clear his mind, but just ended up wanting to growl and vent out his annoyance.

  Needing a distraction and something to do, he turned to look at the dead troll.

  He was going to make sure this fucker couldn’t be reborn or resurrected.

  For touching and hurting the Little Fox, he was going to make sure this vile creature remained permanently dead.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Jasmine

  I felt angry, I felt sad, I felt frustrated. But most of all, I felt like a bitch with a capital ‘B’.

  I’d actually called Drake a ‘monster’ of all things… But I had regretted the words as soon as they’d left my mouth. They were said in the heat of the moment, and it’d come out harsher than I’d intended. Only when he’d stood there, scolding me and acting all high and mighty, he’d made me feel so weak and pathetic, and useless… I’d hated him for it. So, losing my temper, I’d ended up snapping back at him.

  Unfortunately, the memory of him striding towards me like the god of death during our fight, had flashed before me at that very moment, and I’d blurted out the first thing that had come into my mind. So, it had really been poor timing…