How was that possible? Dragons didn’t talk. They ate, they
killed, they attacked. No one had ever reported—outside the crazy guide who had
some kind of treaty with the creatures—having a conversation with a dragon.
No one who has ever come back to
you
could speak
to
us.
But you, surprisingly, can
.
He couldn’t move—every limb in his body had gone stiff. His
mind couldn’t process the events taking place around him. Maybe he’d gone
completely nuts. The last-ditch resort of his subconscious to handle the fact
that he’d been caught by the dragons and would sooner or later become food for
the fuckers.
Such disgusting language
. The dragon harrumphed.
I’m
going to leave your head for a while.
Dean shuddered with relief as a pressure left his head.
Damn
it
. The dragon had really been in there. He hadn’t hallucinated the whole
thing.
They jerked left and Dean’s legs swung wildly in flight. “Is
it necessary for you to be so rough about this?”
He didn’t get an answer. Cold air whipped him in the face. Below,
on the ground, he’d practically been sweating to death. How high up were they? He
looked down and wished he hadn’t. They were really high up. He couldn’t see the
jungle anymore, just the approaching mountain peak where the dragons resided. The
trip that would have taken days by foot, the dragon had accomplished in mere
minutes.
Dean gulped. His people would never have made it inside such
an imposing structure. It looked like a castle. Why the hell did those beasts
need such a place? They should be perching in trees or living in barns. Something
fit for an animal, not a person. New Strauss wasn’t as nice as this. Or as
impenetrable. Marble stone lined the outside of the building, making tall walls
that looked unscalable.
He would have hated to have climbed all the way up there
only to have to turn around. Hopefully his people wouldn’t be making the trip
now that he’d been taken. They needed to turn around and go back home. Maybe it
would be possible to get some sort of message to them.
They dropped to the ground fast and he had to close his eyes
as moisture hit him so hard that it threatened to blind him. Each droplet hit
with enough force that it felt as if daggers assaulted his face. Fury pounded
through his veins.
How dare this creature take him against his will and bring
him to this place? He wouldn’t go easily. Before he met death, he would make
every dragon he encountered pay for the pain they caused his people. Dean
wrenched his lids apart. He would meet his death with both eyes open.
The dragon swished down through an opening at the top of the
castle. A person would have to be above the structure to see the small hole. God
knew, humans couldn’t fly—that feat belonged solely to the dragons—and he
wouldn’t have known it even existed if he hadn’t entered the way he had.
His captor rushed to a stop, skidding to a sudden halt on
the ground. Dean fell forward, hitting the dirt with a thud.
The world spun and although he had never fainted in his
life, he thought for a moment that he might black out.
“Come on.” He spoke aloud to himself, hoping that the sound
of his own voice would make his head clear. Seconds felt like minutes until
finally the world righted itself again.
The dragon that had brought him to this new stage of hell in
his life leaped upward, perching upside down like a bat on a tree branch. His
captor’s support, however, appeared to be the same marble that lined the
outside of the building.
“What the hell?” He stood up, feeling as if his legs weighed
a thousand pounds. The asshole had brought him here and simply dumped him on
the ground? Didn’t seem like a great way to contain food. All he needed now was
to find a weapon and fight his way out…or up, as the case happened to be.
“Relax, the dizziness will pass.”
A woman’s voice, low, sultry and strangely familiar, caught
his attention. A dark-haired beauty kneeled next to him, grabbing his shoulder.
His heart rate kicked up as he recognized the person
speaking to him. Like a vision from his past, Amanda Sugar was back from the
dead, staring at him not as a pretty teenager but as the very grown-up stuff of
fantasies.
He swallowed. “Amanda?”
“I was once called Amanda. Now I am referred to quite
differently.” She extended her hand to help the human male to get off the
ground. “But you may call me Amanda if that is what suits you. Everyone else
will refer to me as Princess. It is my name and my title. You see, you are not
really speaking to Amanda. You are speaking to a dragon. I share her body now.”
Dean, as her memories told her he’d been named, took her
hand. His blue eyes were huge and his mouth hung open as he regarded her.
He can speak to us
, Blue said to her, yawning widely
before settling down to sleep for the rest of the day.
And we lost Dore
.
That is too bad. He will be missed. Sleep well and thank
you for your service
.
This male could communicate telepathically? She never would
have guessed that to be the case, but then again, her own vessel had been
horribly limited when she had arrived.
“What do you mean, you were once called Amanda? And that I’m
speaking to a dragon?”
“I am not Amanda any longer.” Well. That didn’t happen to be
entirely true, only Dean didn’t have to know that. “I once was but now I am the
princess of dragons.”
The human male smelled good, even though his body was
covered in dirt, sweat and all manner of disgusting crud. He required a bath.
“You did something to Amanda?” He kicked the water barrel
beneath the sleeping hold. “So not only did I let her father and mother down,
but I didn’t just kill Amanda Sugar, I left her to be somehow violated by the dragons.”
“Dean Andrews, you take a lot of responsibility on yourself.
Amanda Sugar is not harmed and even had she been, it would not be your fault. This
is the side of human beings I do not grasp. Even living with Amanda I cannot
make sense of it.”
“Dragons. It’s not bad enough that you fly around destroying
everything in your path, you now invade bodies too.” He looked up at the sky. “Why
would you take our bodies? You have your own. Something wrong with them?”
Princess smiled at the small-brained human. She had to be
calm and patient with them, as they were so limited in so many ways.
“We take your bodies for many reasons. The first is the ease
with which we can communicate with you through them. How else should we speak
with our servants if we are not able to form your words?”
Dean shook his head. “Try not having human slaves. How about
that?”
She ignored him. His railing about things he could not
change would not be noted. “The other reasons that we take your bodies are
complicated. But the top two are thus. First, only some of us can do it. The
topmost of our kind can human join. It’s a show of rank.”
“You can’t know how ridiculous you sound to me.”
“The feeling is mutual, small thinker.” She continued. He
had asked a question—he would get the full answer whether he liked it or not. “The
second reason is that we like how your bodies feel.”
She ran her hand up her human arm. Goose bumps appeared and
she shivered. So much pleasure could be found in the body she possessed.
“My own nerve endings are not as sensitive as yours. You
could cut off my wing and I would not feel it as intensely as the cutting off of
a human arm. The feelings are…enticing.”
“Of course you do this—of course you do.”
The human made no sense. “I’m not following this
conversation.”
Human beings were such complicated, emotional creatures. They
did not take proper care of themselves. For instance, as Princess she would
never have brought her dragons here. Why would she waste the resources? It
would have made better sense for them to have stayed at home. Statistically,
they were likely to lose more people this way than the numbers they would lose
from one of their raids.
A pang in her heart made her rub her chest. Amanda did like
to communicate. Any way she could. Right now, she wanted Princess to focus on
something other than numbers.
Relationships. Right
.
She had other things on her mind, which included getting
this human male settled so he could relax and accept the dragon that would fill
his mind. True connections with humans were rare and, as much as Dean Andrews
had a nasty temper and a difficult way about him, he would eventually take his
place and form a relationship. Ultimately he’d love it, as all their hosts did.
After all, those who had hosts held leadership positions.
What more could anyone want?
“Come with me, Dean Andrews.”
“No.” He wrenched her forward, slamming her body against the
marble wall. “I’m not going anywhere with you.” His hands went around her neck,
positioned to squeeze should he decide to do so. “You’re going to let me out of
here or I’m going to take the life from your body. Do you understand, dragon?”
She couldn’t swallow and speech would hurt. Yet he needed to
hear what she said so she could be sure he understood his decision correctly. “You
may kill this body. That will only…” She gasped. “Eliminate Amanda. She lives
with me. Or not at all. I have two bodies. You will never take out my dragon.”
Dean snarled. She recognized that look from the feral beasts
they occasionally brought home to store during food shortages. Despite the
humans’ beliefs, they only ate human flesh on rare occasions. Mostly, wild game
sufficed. The question remained, would he get hold of his temper or should she
leave Amanda to die?
She watched his indecision for one second before he dropped
his hands from her throat. Princess rubbed the tender skin there. Her own
scales, safely hidden away in her private sleeping area, would have handled the
assault better.
“If I look in a reflective pool, shall I see your
fingerprints on Amanda’s skin?” The man had some feelings left for a girl he’d
known only briefly. Perhaps he’d treat her more kindly if she reminded him of
that fact.
“You will.” He grabbed her arm to stop her from moving
forward. “I want to be clear. You’re a dragon. I’m going to find a way to free
Amanda from you. She’s going to leave here. You aren’t.”
“There is no Amanda without me. I am the stronger creature.
When I joined my mind with hers, I took her as my own. She lives, sort of,
within my soul. My relationship with her is much like that of a parent to a child.
She softens me and I make sure all is well in her world.” Princess stared up at
Dean. “I want you to understand that. If she dies, I return to my body and at
some point I will find another host. It matters not. If you kill her, she’s
dead. Because that’s all you humans do, when it comes down to it. You die.”
The human male had the audacity to smile at her. A big,
toothy grin that showed his gums. In dragon-speak it would be considered
threatening, and she held no doubt that Dean intended it that way as well.
“Why, dragon, I think I’ve rattled you. How lovely.”
There seemed no point giving this man any more thought than
she already had. He would fall into line. Amanda had been resistant, which
might be remembering it mildly. Yet she’d gone along because she had no choice.
Force the human consciousness down and the dragon could control it. Dean
Andrews would live by the consent of one of her comrades. End of story.
“Come with me. You require food and, before that, a shower.”
“Oh really? Does my human dirt bother you?” He laughed but
followed her forward. “Here are a couple of things you should know before we
continue.”
Princess sighed. Whichever dragon took him would have its
work cut out for it. He liked to chatter on. “What’s that?”
“I know I’ve failed you many times, Amanda, and I’m so sorry
for that. Your mom and dad. What happened to you.”
“The day I took Amanda saved her. Before my intervention,
she could neither read nor take care of herself properly. As you can see,”
Princess stepped back so he might examine her, “she aged much better than she
would have. Filled out.”
He shook his head. “I’m not talking to you. I’m speaking to
her.”
“She hears only through me.”
“Shut up.” He pulled her close up against him. “I don’t want
to hear your voice. I just want you—both of you—to listen to this. Am I clear?”
“Fine.”
He rolled his eyes and she stared at them. Human eyes were
considered windows to their so-called souls. What did his tell her? She
couldn’t read him. He guarded himself from exposure. That much she could
understand.
“You really can’t stop talking. Here’s the deal. I failed
Amanda in all but one way. I saved her brother and sister. I want you to know
that, Amanda. They live with me. In my home, like my own. They’re thriving
except that neither one of them has stopped missing you. When they came in,
some of the elders told me they were so small they’d forget you. They were
wrong.”
A jolt slammed through Princess’ stomach. She ignored it. Amanda
had loved those children. She’d seen it in her memories. This momentary emotional
distress would pass.
Maybe she shouldn’t have let the human male speak so much. She’d
always been too soft for her own good.
“I’m going to take you home to them. I promise. I know you
have no reason to believe me, because I keep screwing up with your family.
Believe this if nothing else—you will be going back to your brother and
sister.” He bent over to whisper in her ear. “And this dragon bitch will rue
the day she took you from me.”
Princess grabbed Dean by the arm and hauled him with her. If
he gave her much more of a problem, she’d call for help. Her dragons would make
him do what she said. In all her hundreds of years, she’d never had an
introduction go this badly. Hysteria she knew how to handle. Denial could be
managed. Dean’s unbelievable arrogance made the hair on the back of Amanda’s
head itch. What did that even mean?
She bit down on her lip. The human would be made to comply.
They arrived at the barracks that housed the human
counterparts when they were not needed.
She marched in and everyone stood up. Being Princess had
some perks. Respect and obedience from her dragons happened to be one of them.
The eating room consisted of three long tables where the
humans could eat if they so chose. The whole area always smelled of cooking
food. One of the rules required there always to be food preparation going on.
No matter what time of the night a human got hungry, they were able to feed.
“All of you sit. He’s a difficult one. But he’ll be made to
be manageable, or we can chuck him out of the building.”
Koda sucked in her breath. As a human, she appeared to be
about forty with graying hair and broad shoulders, good for carrying large
loads. In her dragon form, she appeared almost white, an excellent camouflage
in battle with other dragons. “Throw out a compatible human? Really?”
“Yes, really. Believe me, if I decide to chuck him out,
you’ll be glad for the interference.”
Dean laughed. “I think your leader here is having a bad day.
It’s hard when new members don’t toe the line. Believe me, I know your pain.
Maybe you’ll have to punish me.”
“Maybe I will.” She kept yanking and finally he went along.
The bathing room had to be kept clean at all times. Four
times a day, one of the humans, on a rotating schedule, went in and cleansed
the space. Princess stepped around one of the cleaners as she went in.
“Doon, is all well with you?”
Her dragon brethren bowed his head. “Princess, all is well.”
“Good. Give us the room.”
“Yes ma’am.” Doon scuttled out.
Dean crossed his arms over his chest. “You want to get me
alone?”
“You’re not yet joined. My understanding is that humans like
their privacy when they bathe. We don’t care about such things. I am trying to
be considerate of your feelings.”
“If you’re in here with me, Princess, then I’m not alone.” She
hated how he made her name a sneer.
“You obviously cannot be unguarded at this point. That would
be ridiculous. If you prefer, I’ll get one of the men to watch over you.”
Dean shook his head, yanking his shirt off his body. “No I
would not
prefer
that. I’d prefer you vacated Amanda’s body right this
second, then flew into a volcano.”
Princess gripped the wall behind her and hoped it looked as
if she was only lounging. She had seen many naked human males. Dean had only
partially undressed, yet heat traveled through her body at the sight of him.
He appeared so muscular as almost to have been made out of
stone. Years of battle would have done that to him. How did she know that he’d
been in so many wars? Amanda’s memory. Her human part knew quite a lot about this
difficult man.
Aha
. It suddenly made sense. Amanda’s teenage self
had desired him. Not in the way a grown woman lusted for a mate but in the
quiet, removed way a young human female liked a much older man who would be
completely forbidden to her. Princess scanned her human’s memories. In their
brief encounter, Dean had only acted like a leader trying to help a young
member of his society. He’d shown no preference for her sexually.
But when he’d looked up and noticed her today, his eyes had
taken in her body very differently. Thanks to being fed regularly, Amanda had
the curves of a woman now.
And her memories of desiring Dean were making things
uncomfortable for Princess.
Dean unzipped his pants and pulled them off, shoving them into
the corner of the room. Someone had shaved his blondish-brown hair so that it grew
barely an inch long.
Military style
. The humans thought the length of
their hair would make a difference in their battles? It made so little sense. Yet
the length complemented his face, showing off high cheekbones and thick
eyebrows. His strong, straight-edged nose had a scar across the top of it.
War
wounds
.
His whole body seemed to be covered in scars. All the way
from his neck down his back, even marring his tight ass and the backs of his
calves.