After a moment of hesitation where she studied his face for the truth, Dakota took the chance he offered. She turned and sprinted. He tried to hide his beast’s growl of disapproval as his limbs shook. Inside of him, his beast thrashed like it never had before. It made his head ache. It grew into a skull splitting pressure behind his eyes.
But, he would never do anything that Dakota did not want. She didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. Especially not from him.
Distantly, he heard the patter of footfalls running away and the roar of his truck coming to life. He didn’t know where she would go, only that he would not hurt her. The Guardians that hurt her were being dealt with.
She is safe, he reminded his beast. There is time yet to win her love the right way.
Love? The beast’s confusion rang through his growing migraine.
Wesley sighed and let himself fall to the ground, his limbs tired from fighting. His body ached from his fight with the white dragon. He expected GOE and their weapons, but he had not expected another dragon to be fighting on their side. The Guardians had made their existence off slaying dragons. It made no sense that one of them would be fighting on the enemy’s side.
Now that Dakota was safe elsewhere, his thoughts could wrap around the events of the day a bit easier. GOE was trying to start a war with the Welsh clan, but what was the white dragon’s role in that war? Wesley pushed himself up from the ground and set off to find his phone. He had to tell someone. It helped that it took his mind off his mate that had just run away from him.
Chapter Seventeen
Dakota hadn’t called Wesley since she’d left. He knew, through his mother, that his mate had decided to stay and work as her assistant until she could re-enroll in her classes. He also knew that his mate had been thoroughly questioned by the Guardians and he had been unable to be with her when they did. He’d been so angry that he went out and nearly blew his small forge to smithereens with his breath. His mate had been with the guardians, the people that tried to kill her, and no one told him.
He was still fuming as he pulled the pieces of iron he’d been working on a week ago from the back of his workshop. He hadn’t known why he felt the need to start making a bed the day he met Dakota, but it seemed that deep down he’d known that the woman in the field was his mate. The beast wanted a proper bed to take his mate, whispering to him that she would return and guiding his hands to finish the project.
Wesley knew better. He knew that Dakota would not return to them. She’d been kidnapped and shot, even if it was not a real bullet it was a device meant to stun his kind. It was no surprise that she’d chosen a normal, human life. He just had to come to terms with it.
The metal in his hands groaned. He looked down to find that his knuckles were white around the metal. Could he come to terms with her decision? Or, would he hunt down every little piece of art she might want to lure her back to him?
He shook his head. It was a mess of worry and blame. Instead of dwelling on it, he let his beast push forward. Not enough to alter his shape, but enough to quiet the human thoughts in his mind. His beast knew that she’d return. In time. All she needed was time. Which was surprisingly patient of his impulsive beast. It was satisfied with the act of finishing the bedframe.
The sun was dipping toward the horizon when Wesley regained full control. He stepped back to admire the work that he and his dragon had completed. The mattress that only faintly smelled of his mate was nestled in its new frame, bare only because the beast had no patience for things like pillowcases and fitted sheets.
He was ready to fall upon it and breathe in the last of her scent before falling asleep when he heard a car door shut outside. A glance out the high window told him that it was only his mother’s car. He was half tempted to ignore her presence and get some sleep, but honor bound him to go down and see what the meddling Halfling wanted of him.
On the first floor of his tower, a scent caught his nose. He told himself that he was wrong. He must have carried Dakota’s scent with him from handling the mattress upstairs. He was looking for something that clearly wasn’t there. Hopeful wasn’t the right word.
With a heavy sigh, he opened the door, ready to ask his mother as politely as he could manage to come back tomorrow. Only, it wasn’t his mother on the other side of the door.
“Hey there, Dragon Man.” Dakota stood on his doorstep, long hair free around her shoulders and hands nervously toying with each other. “I’m back.”
It took Wesley a very long moment to find words, any words at all. Instead of fighting to speak, he swept her up into his arms and spun her around the living area. Burying his face in the crook of her neck, he breathed her scent in deep. She laughed, a sound that lifted weight from his soul.
“You’re going to have to put me down,” Dakota advised him. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he did as she asked, afraid to lose her again. It still blew his mind that she was here. She was back home.
***
Dakota had been nervous driving back to the tower. Professor Taniff let Dakota borrow her car, claiming that she wasn’t going anywhere in the morning and that the GPS knew exactly where Wesley’s tower was in the thick wilderness of Snowdonia.
She made the decision only that morning. When she woke, and rolled over to reach for a body that wasn’t there for the third time that week, she realized that she was running away from something that could be really good for her. It wasn’t the Guardians that made her want to turn tail and run. That was a frightening experience, but she had lived through it.
What really scared her was the idea of being trapped on Snowdonia, unable to live her own life while she served as a dragon mate. She spent too many years carefully curating her life toward a future that she saw very clearly. Finding out that she was Wesley’s mate seemed to throw a wrench in everything she knew, ripping away all the work she’d done if she followed through with it.
Working with Professor Taniff, Maggie as she insisted being called, was an eye opener. The woman not only was the head of the history department and a very active representative in Dragon Human Relations, but the small woman had stood her ground between Dakota and the Guardians that had come to question her. They wanted to pin the trouble on Dakota and her mate until Dakota showed them the gunshot wound in her shoulder, which had healed miraculously fast.
Maggie Taniff was a force to be reckoned with, uncontrollable really. And, as Dakota understood, she was the mate of the head of the Welsh dragons. It put a lot of things into perspective for Dakota. First of which was that she could at least give Wesley a chance.
It brought her to where she was, standing awkwardly on the dragon shifter’s doorstep. All awkwardness aside, he’d swept her into his arms and danced around the living room with her. She felt laughter bubble up through her.
He set her down as she asked and pulled back, waiting for something to happen. From the look in his eyes, he was terrified she would leave again.
“I’m not here to stay,” she confessed. His shoulders fell and he struggled to keep his face under control. She didn’t bother fighting the urge to step closer to him. Her hand was pulled like a magnet to his skin. She rubbed the stubble that grew over his chin. He stilled beneath her touch, like a man afraid to scare a rabbit. Her thumb ran over his lower lip. “I’m here to give this… us a chance. I want to get to know you while I finish my semester here. Given that I have to wait to re-enroll, we have even more time.”
His hand rose to cover hers. “I would very much like that.”
She gave in and leaned forward. Her lips pressed against his. He groaned into her mouth as she pulled his lip between her teeth. This was something that she could get used to.
After a long moment, Wesley pulled away from their kiss. She watched him struggle for control, the gold swirling through his eyes. He gave her a weak smile. “As much as I’d love to take you right here and now, there’s something I want to show you.”
He took her by the hand and led her up the wi
nding stairs to the topmost room. It was the same room that they’d made love in the first time a week ago. Yet, it had changed. She stopped at the top of the stairs, staring at the bed that took up most of the room.
Thin, black trees reached toward the high ceiling at each corner of the bed. Limbs reached out, holding twisting vines, tiny leaves, or little iron birds. It was a piece of art all on its own. Dakota looked to the man standing beside her, noting how he looked between her and the bed with worry. He wanted her to like it. He’d crafted the bed for her, she realized.
“I think it needs sheets.” She smiled wryly.
“Let me tell you, lass. I don’t think the beast has any patience for things like fitted sheets or duvet covers. That is your problem.”
She laughed. Tonight, she would sleep in that bed, sheets or not. It might not become a permanent thing, her staying in the tower, at least not yet. She could see herself waking here each morning. But, she had dreams to attend to, as well.
That could be figured out, she reminded herself as she stepped forward and grabbed the front of Wesley’s shirt. In the meantime, she wanted to see this man smile. She wanted to feel his hands on her skin. She hadn’t realized just how much she missed his touch until his skin was against hers once more. It set her at ease and lifted the heavy weight of her determined lifestyle. With Wesley, the future was wide open and she was, for the first time, unafraid of what that meant.
Bea Brennan was surely going to flip her lid when she figured out that her daughter was the mate of a Welsh dragon shifter. That was one conversation with her mother that she was willing to put off for a while.
They toppled into the new bed together, a mess of limbs and happy laughter mixed with short kisses. She gripped the sides of his head, raising his gaze to her own so that she could search his face. Her neck was bare beneath his gaze, open to his meandering lips and teeth.
His hand moved beneath her shirt to cup her breast. Warm lips touched the cool skin of her neck and sent small jolts of pleasure to her core. She cried out when his teeth sank into her skin, just hard enough to mix pain with pleasure.
Dakota moved her hands through his hair, tugging hard, and she could feel him losing all control. His pants became a stubborn nuisance that she didn’t hesitate to tear away. His hands travelled down her bare legs and with each touch her arousal grew more. He pushed her legs apart, and directed his cock to her warm opening. She was hot and wet already. He thrusted forward in one smooth motion. Wes hit home and felt a shudder ripple through his mate.
Dakota cried out beneath him, but it wasn’t a sound of pain. It turned into a moan and she arched beneath him. He growled, smothering the sound against her neck as his hips slammed home again and again.
She rocked her hips, elongating his strokes until he threw his head back. Her own pleasure washed over her in waves each time he slammed inside of her. She rode the border between pleasure and pain, an experience she’d never shared before. Dakota found that she liked it more than she ever would have thought.
Pleasure exploded through her, drowning her in the rush of it when Wesley slammed home for the final time. He arched over her, roaring his pleasure to all of Snowdonia. The sound filled her, touching places inside of her so that another series of waves of pleasure rocketed through her.
Wesley collapsed on top of her, careful not to crush her small body beneath his. He rested his head on her shoulder. When he spoke, his voice was strained.
“I knew that you were my mate before our very first kiss,” he said into her skin. “I knew that I could love you as we drove to lunch. Now, I know that to ask you to stay here with me would hurt you. You are your own woman. I cannot hold you like a prisoner no matter how much my beast wants to lock you in our bedroom.”
“I came back because I wanted to, Wesley,” She turned his face in her hands to look him in the eye. “I came back because you deserve a chance at happiness and I think that you could make me very happy, too.”
She watched the corner of his lips curl into a smile, as his grip around her tightened. She stroked his auburn hair and he hid his face between her breasts. Above them, the black branches of the bed seemed to protect them from the outside world.
She knew better. She knew that Raph was still out there and that he wanted Snowdonia for himself. The threat loomed over them all. No one knew how many other white dragons were left. They didn’t know if they vied for the territory the way that Raph did. She wanted to speak with Wesley’s father, tell him about her experience with GOE and warn him about what was coming. This was her home, too, now. If she wanted.
But, there was time to think about everything later. For now, Dakota could close her eyes and know that in that moment she was safe and sound.
Freed by the Dragon
Emilia Hartley
Chapter One
Rhiannon sucked in a haggard breath and tried to let it out through her nose. It was going to be a long day. She signed on for field work for a reason. These bureaucratic crowds made her anxious with the hefty judgement they placed on all others around them.
She hung back in the crowd, anxiously eyeing the spectacle that she had helped to create. Her former boss, Gregor Wilson was being walked through the Guardians of Existence Judiciary building like a cow on display. His hands were casually stuffed in his pockets and he looked up with a straight spine despite the uniformed Guardians that gripped his arms on either side. The crowd around her, politicians, GOE officers, and protesters, whispered about Wilson. It set her teeth on edge. Her former boss’s dark eyes met Rhiannon’s and she saw the nearly imperceptible nod he gave her.
She pulled in another breath, the air hissing through her teeth. This was the man that had taken her in and raised her after her own parents were killed by a pair of dragon shifters. Now, he was being tried for attempted murder because of a pair of stupid dragon shifters and a human girl. Her eyes scanned the crowd and she felt heat boil through her when she caught sight of Raphael in the crowd. The smug smile on his face made her want to march through the sea of onlookers and punch him in the face.
That would give away everything they fought to keep under wraps, though. Because the secret she held like a slimy lump in her throat was that Gregor Wilson really did try to kill the human girl in order to start a war that would wipe out the red dragons on the Snowdonia Territory. All because another dragon told them to. The worst part was Rhiannon had helped him. She was the one who had pulled her weapon and shot the girl when she ran for her life. GOE brushed off her participation due to her outstanding record, claiming that she was only following the orders of her senior officer.
She hated herself for blindly following. She hated herself for letting Wilson, a loving man and an upstanding commander, trust the white dragon menace that slipped into their branch. None of this would have happened had Raphael not whispered in Wilson’s ear.
Turning toward the hearing, her body froze. Behind Wilson came a procession of the red dragon shifters. Their muscle-bound bodies and heads topped with various shades of red hair gave them away. At least, for Rhiannon they did. The girl that Wilson had kidnapped walked with her head high, despite the tremble in her limbs. The dragon closest to her glowered at anyone that dare glance in her direction.
That must be her mate, Rhiannon decided. Her eyes moved on until she came across a familiar face. She felt her lips form a scowl against her better judgement. A haze of red and gold stubble graced his jaw and a lock of reddish gold hair fell over his eyes until he reached up and pushed it back with thick fingers. He had been the one to disarm her the day everything went to shit.
Rhiannon was one of their best agents when it came to hand to hand with the dragon species. She was quick and, more often than not, she was stronger than some of her male counterparts. How the copper haired dragon had swept in and so easily rendered her useless was beyond her. In fact, it made her angry. It burned inside of her like a palpable heat.
She wanted to move, to put one foot in front of the other
and go where she was supposed to go. The hearing was waiting on her. Instead, Rhiannon found herself glued to the spot. She watched the dragon man make a bee line toward her.
***
Gareth hadn’t expected to ever see the woman again. Maybe, he should have known better when Drystan asked him to act as security for his cousin, Wesley, and Wes’s new human mate as they answered GOE’s questions about the incident. This woman had been part of the team that kidnapped Dakota. It should have been obvious that she would be here.
Gareth liked to think himself a lady’s man. There was not a rutting night that he had ended empty handed. Most mornings after began with a sated and smiling woman. Yet, this woman glowered at him like he was the scum of the earth. Even worse, she confused him and his beast. Her smell drove him wild in a way that he’d never felt before. She smelled like open air and smoldering fire ashes.
It screamed dragon.
Yet, she was the enemy. She was an operative of the Guardians of Existence, an elite task force that had once been an order of knights that thought to wipe the earth of dragons for humanity’s so called protection. The Occurrence that happened almost a hundred years ago brought GOE forward and gave them government badges instead of coats of arms and high tech weapons instead of swords. Humans often did a better job of killing themselves than dragons ever had.
Gareth found himself walking directly toward the woman with dark red hair. It was so dark that it could have been called mahogany brown if he hadn’t seen the sunlight release the crimson in it. She wore it pinned into a bun at the back of her head, as tightly wrapped up as the rest of her from the way she stood. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her feet were spread apart like she might launch into a fight at any moment.
He was nearly to her when he realized his mistake. What was he doing? Her hot glare of hatred seared across his skin as he came closer. There was no going back. He closed the distance between them. His huge frame had made lesser men cower. This red-haired woman simply tilted her head back to look up at him with her hot glare, unaffected by his size.
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