Jaguin's Love: Dragon Lords of Valdier Book 8 (16 page)

Jaguin held her for several long seconds, uncaring that his father and mother were arguing which vidcom went first. He held Sara close to his heart. For a brief second, he wished that he could return to Earth and show Sara’s mother and aunt what they were missing out on – for a brief second. Then, he let it go. Even if he could, he seriously doubted that they could comprehend the amazing woman that Sara had become.

“One day, we will have a family of our own,” Jaguin murmured in her ear.

“We already do,” Sara replied, thinking of his mother, father, and brother. “We have each other.”

“Do I have to claim Jaire?” Jaguin asked playfully.

Sara laughed when a younger version of Jaguin suddenly appeared on the screen. She had to look twice to make sure it wasn’t Jaire. Jaguin grimaced when she raised her eyebrow at him.

“All the girls loved the dragon races,” Jaguin muttered, wincing when he saw the way he was strutting around.

“You look like a rooster, strutting his stuff,” Sara commented, sliding down onto the long couch to watch the vidcom.

Jaguin started to ask what a rooster was when Honey sent him an image from Sara. He muttered a soft curse and sank down next to her. Leaning over, he couldn’t resist whispering in her ear.

“Oh, really?” Sara muttered, raising her eyebrow at him. “I’d like to see your tail do that.”

Several days later, Jaguin froze, his gaze locked on his prey. He hadn’t planned on hunting this particular delicacy, but the tantalizing scent was too much for his dragon. Jaguin realized that now he had let his dragon out, there was no way he was going to be able to harness him again. All he could do was hope that his dragon would stay calm and rational.

That hope went out the window when he felt his body slowly stretch out and balance on the thick branch of the tree. If the damn thing hadn’t been driving him nuts to get out, he would have never been in this predicament.

Careful, my friend, the branches are damp from the dew,
Jaguin cautioned, hoping his dragon would want to shift to prevent the possibility of falling.

He smothered the grin that threatened to escape when his dragon released a puff of hot air at the insult. Jaguin quickly squelched the hope of tricking his dragon back into compliance. No, his dragon was focused on one thing and one thing only – the prey he was determined to catch this morning.

We need to find the right time to call forth her dragon,
Jaguin insisted.
We agreed earlier that if I let you out, that you would tire yourself out today so that when we call her dragon, you won’t just jump her.

She not mind me jump her. She like me better. She no get mad if I jump her,
his dragon snorted.

But what if you hurt her?
Jaguin asked quietly.

You no hurt her, I no hurt her,
his dragon insisted.

Jaguin would have argued that fact if it hadn’t been the truth. His gaze softened on the slender figure stepping carefully through the tall ferns. He had followed her everywhere over the last few days and somehow, she always seemed to know it, no matter how careful he was.

This time, though, he was in his dragon form. It was the first time he had shifted away from everyone. Before, he had stayed close to his father, knowing that the older dragon would help calm his own.

He refocused as he felt the muscles of his dragon stiffen when Sara stopped and looked around with a puzzled frown. There was no way she could know he was here. Absolutely, positively no way… until his front foot slipped on the slippery moss and he found himself hanging upside down from the tree branch by his tail.

“I knew you were here,” Sara whispered with an exasperated sigh. “I’ve missed you. You know, Jaguin really needs to let you out more often,” she said, scratching him behind his ear.

Jaguin’s dragon gave Sara a sharp-tooth grin and licked her cheek. Her soft chuckle washed through him and he could have been fine except she hit that magic spot he liked and his left paw leg started thumping. The moment it did, he lost his hold on the branch and crashed to the soft ground with a thud. Sitting up, Jaguin shook his head and snorted.

“Are you okay?” Sara murmured, reaching out to rub his head before giving him a quick kiss on the top of it. “I bet I know what will make that all better.”

Jaguin’s dragon purred and rubbed his head against her hand. Sara chuckled and stepped back to give him a coy look before she turned and walked back to where she had dropped the basket she was carrying. He really hoped it was some of the fresh wild berries that grew in the forest. He loved those. While she was checking on her basket, Jaguin turned his attention to his dragon.

You dropped me from that branch on purpose,
he growled to his dragon.

She kiss head. I tell you I be good,
his dragon responded.

Just behave yourself!
Jaguin retorted.

You jealous,
his dragon snorted
. Our mate like me. You no want to share.

I do want to… Oh, Goddess give us strength,
Jaguin muttered, staring back at where Sara had been checking on her basket.

In her place stood a petite dragon, holding a basket full of berries by her tail. Jaguin could feel his dragon’s mouth water. He highly suspected it wasn’t for the berries. That assessment came true when Sara used her tail to place the basket on a nearby stump. He might have had a chance of controlling his dragon – a very, very small, impossibly minuscule chance – if she had not turned around and bent over.

With her tail in the air,
Jaguin murmured mesmerized.

Her tail in the air!
His dragon roared.

Dragon’s balls,
Jaguin groaned.

Yes, all the way to my balls,
his dragon announced, nodding his head up and down fervently before he leaped over the tall ferns and landed behind Sara.

Jaguin was mortified when his dragon leaned forward and drew in a deep breath. The rich aroma of the female dragon’s arousal slapped him in the face about the same time as her tail did. The male dragon sat down in stunned disbelief. Shaking his head, he released a soft snarl.

Mine!
He growled.

The female dragon snorted and ran the tip of her tail up along his jaw before tapping his chin. The male, unsure of what she was doing, felt his jaw drop when her tail weaved back and forth down his chest to his…

Did she just? I… Hot Mother of Lava,
Jaguin choked out when he felt the tip of Sara’s tail wrap around his dragon’s cock.
You’d better hope she doesn’t decide to slap that, my friend, or neither one of us is going to be doing anything but eating mud.

She… no… she… no,
his dragon kept repeating as Sara’s tail moved up and down the growing length of him.

Sara, be careful,
Jaguin warned.
A male dragon is built different from our two-legged form.

I’m not doing this,
Sara hissed back.
This hussy has her own agenda. She is NOT listening to me.

Jaguin’s chuckle echoed through both of them.
I think she wants him as much as he wants her. I guess I shouldn’t have worried about whether she could handle it or not.

She handle it? Do you have any idea how strange this feels?
Sara demanded, hissing when she felt her dragon snap at the male’s neck.
She’s… Oh, my, goodness… I didn’t know dragons had such long….

Well, yes, they need them that long,
Jaguin interrupted.
I think it is time to let them be together.

Oh my,
Sara whispered, fading into the background with a shudder.

Oh my, is right,
Jaguin muttered when he felt the muscles in his dragon tense.
This is about to get hot.

Mine,
the male dragon growled when he felt the tip of the female’s tail running up the length of his engorged cock. Unable to completely pull it back into the protective slit, he knew he would need to mount the female before she got too far away. He reached out to sink his teeth into her hind quarter, but she turned and snapped at him, forcing him to jerk back.

This time, his roar shook the trees. The female, unconcerned by his show of strength and his demand for obedience, turned and lifted off the ground. The male rose up on his hindquarters and stretched his neck. His teeth sank into her tail, catching her in mid-flight. The female fought, struggling to free her tail by whipping it back and forth. Afraid he might hurt her, the male released her.

With a loud grunt, he forced his throbbing cock back into the slit. Surging upward, the male took to the sky after the female. He turned, slicing through a thin spot in the canopy. He paused for a moment, searching the sky for the female. A movement just above the treetops caught his attention. Twisting, he folded his wings and plunged downward.

The female, inexperienced in the art of battle, didn’t see the male until it was too late. Startled, she let out a cry and tried to twist to the left to avoid being caught. The move left her underbelly vulnerable. She tried to correct her mistake, but lost her momentum and began to tumble back to the ground in an uncontrollable spiraling decent.

Sara’s heart pounded and she urged her dragon to not panic. Deep inside, she braced for impact with the hard ground below. Twenty feet from the rocky riverbed, she suddenly felt her body gripped from above. Hope surged through her when the male wrapped his front and back legs around her and began pumping his wings frantically.

Sara could feel the water from the river slide along her back as she slid across the surface before her body began to rise again. A short distance from the river was a grassy bed, soft from years of runoff and build up from the silt. It offered an island among the rocks.

The female dragon’s heart still raced with fear. She had come close to serious injury or even possible death in her desire to lead the male on a chase guaranteed to excite him. What she had not expected was the explosion of adrenaline that would rush through him, or the release of the adrenaline through a need to claim and protect the female he had wanted for centuries.

Her head fell back against the soft grass as her body was released. He still held her firmly by her front and back legs. Her long, slender neck was exposed by her relief of her near-death experience.

The male struck hard and fierce, his fear turned to need, his anger to desire. His sharp teeth sank into the tender flesh of her neck. Breathing the Dragon’s Fire, he could smell the faint burning scent as it mixed with his mark. His cock, heavy and ready from before, was even fuller with the adrenaline still pulsing through his body.

He used his tail and wrapped it around hers, pulling her up slightly and opening her for him. He continued to breathe his fire into her as he pulled back and then thrust forward in a primitive claiming of the male dragon to the female. Her soft, hoarse cry filled the air as the combination of the male and his fire branded her as his true mate.

A shudder ran through the male when he felt the tip of his cock catch and hold onto the female. Once he knew there was no escape for her, he lowered his wings, using the wing claws to lock with hers and released her back legs so he could dig his into the soil. He did the same with his front claws, but kept his hold on her neck.

Locked together, he began moving, rocking back and forth in strong, powerful strokes, each on – feeding on the Dragon’s Fire burning through them. The hotter it burned the faster he pumped until one orgasm faded into another in a primitive, ancient dance of joining. No longer were they two distinct entities, they were one; one heartbeat, one soul brought together by love.

It is not just the love between us,
Sara whispered, feeling the connection of her dragon to the male.

No, a dragon’s love is for eternity. There is only one true mate for them, born in the fire of the stars. Without it, they are lost,
Jaguin replied as the male collapsed over the female, his wings wrapped tightly around her.

It is so beautiful, Jaguin,
Sara murmured, loving the deep glow that ignited inside her dragon.

I’m glad you think so, Sara, because I think my dragon just gave you our first child,
he said dryly.

What! How? Oh,
she choked out, staring at the spark of light.

Well, first two dragons have to…,
Jaguin teased.

It’s so beautiful,
Sara whispered, ignoring Jaguin as she caressed the tiny light.

Sara carefully packed the last of the things they planned to take to the home that Jaguin was working on. They spent the last month with his parents and brother. Shaking her head, it was hard to believe that time had flown by so quickly.

She and Jaguin still weren’t real sure what happened almost a week ago when their dragons came together. She blushed when she thought about it. Hell, between them and their dragons, it was amazing they got anything completed at all. Their daily trips to their new home turned into a catch me if you can orgasm bonanza. She swore she was going to have to put her dragon on something if she didn’t stop twitching her tail every time she let her out. It was like waving a red flag to the male.

“What happened?”

Sara turned when she heard Cheri’s anxious voice. She stepped out of her and Jaguin’s room in time to see Jaguin carrying Jaire’s limp body into the room down the hall. Hurrying forward, she stepped inside.

Dried blood ran from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Cheri frantically stripped his clothing off while his symbiot jumped up on the bed to lie over him. The moment the symbiot touched him, Jaire jerked and screamed in pain.

“What is it?” Rolf demanded, hurrying into the room. “Four other boys from the village have the same thing. Every time their symbiot tries to help them, they scream in pain and their symbiot retreats as if it is in pain as well.”

Sara lifted her fist to her mouth to keep from crying out when Jaire’s body began to jerk uncontrollably. Jaguin and Rolf hurried to each side to hold him down while Cheri cleared his airway.

“What are we going to do?” Cheri asked tearfully. “If his symbiot cannot heal him, there must be nothing that can.”

“The village council has sent an urgent message to the palace asking them to send a healer,” Rolf said in a grim voice.

“He won’t make it,” Cheri said, seeing the faint tint of blue beginning to form around Jaire’s mouth and the fresh blood dripping from his nose. “He is dying.”

Sara’s eyes burned. She bowed her head and remembered her aunt saying the same thing years ago to the doctor. Vivid memories of Delilah resurfaced. She was so young, just like Jaire, when she was lying still against the white sheets of her bed. Sara frowned when she saw something spilling out from under the shirt that Cheri had removed.

Stepping forward, she carefully picked up the shirt. A delicate yellow flower lay wilted on the floor. Sara stared at it with a frown. Something bothered her about the flower. She saw or read something about it somewhere, but where?

Reaching up, she pulled one of the long hair pins out of her hair. She used the tip to turn the flower. As it turned, she saw the stem and the filaments. It was red, yellow and black.

“Just like the snake,” Sara murmured as her memories came back. “Morian said to never touch this flower, that it contained a poison that was deadly to not only the person who touched it, but to the symbiot.”

“What?” Jaguin said, turning toward her.

Sara looked up, her face growing tight with concern. “The flower, it’s poisonous. Morian Reykill, she had some in a special case in her atrium. She said the blossoms were so beautiful it was hard to resist, but that was one of the draws. When anything touched it, it would inject poison into its victims. The poison was slow moving, but so toxic that it could even kill a symbiot if it received enough of it. I remember it because it reminded me of the Coral Snakes back home. There was a saying ‘Red on yellow, kill a fellow’. This has the red stem with the yellow petals. The filaments are black and don’t touch the petal,” she explained in a fast, desperate tone.

“Is there an antidote?” Cheri asked in a pleading voice.

“Morian said she didn’t know of any,” Sara whispered, staring down at the flower.

“No!” Cheri’s tortured cry filled the room.

“There has to be one,” Jaguin growled, bending to pick up the flower.

“Don’t,” Sara warned, grabbing his wrist before he could. She looked at him, then at Rolf. “You have to warn the others in the village and ask if any of the other boys had a flower with them. Don’t touch it. Use something to pick it up with, but keep it away from your skin.”

“Surely there is some way to save our son,” Rolf asked.

Sara bit her lip and looked back at Jaguin when he pulled his arm free. “Back home,” she began, rising to her feet. “Back home, almost always where one poisonous plant lived, another plant that carried a cure for it grew nearby. It was always true in the woods where I lived and I found it to be true in my other studies.”

“Do you know where Jaire was today?” Jaguin demanded.

His father nodded. “One of the boys was able to tell us before he collapsed. They were in the hidden falls cavern,” Rolf responded.

“That would be about right. Morian had to keep these in a special box that remained dark except for a blue and red light,” Sara said with a nod.

“Sara, do you think… Do you think that there might be a cure there?” Cheri asked in a husky voice.

Sara looked grimly back at Jaguin who nodded. “There’s only one way to find out,” she said, turning on her heel. “Jaguin, you know where the cave is, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he answered. “It will take us about twenty minutes by air to get there if we hurry.”

“Let’s go,” Sara whispered, turning once more to look at Jaire. “I hope we can find it in time.”

*.*.*

Sara had once asked Jaguin how fast Honey could go. She decided that she was glad that there was no speedometer attached to the symbiot by the time they landed ten minutes later. They had to have covered over two hundred miles.

“This way,” Jaguin said, leading her up a steep trail. “There is the entrance.”

Sara nodded and hurried forward. She paused at the entrance when Jaguin put his hand out and knelt. She waited as he searched the ground.

“Five prints, this one is Jaire’s boot,” he said.

“How do you know?” Sara asked, leaning down to look at the faint mark.

Jaguin stood up and gave her a grim smile. “Father cut a mark out of each of the left boots that Jaire owns. It makes it easier to track him,” he told her.

“Smart man,” Sara whispered.

Jaguin flashed her a smile. “ Yes, he did the same with me when I was younger,” he agreed, stepping into the cave.

Sara silently followed him. Her eyes scanned the dark interior. Light from the ceiling illuminated the interior of the cave. High overhead, Sara could see the glowing crystals that cast the eerie glow. Turning to look at Jaguin, she nodded toward the water.

“It is designed to collect water,” she whispered. “Look near the water or any place that looks like water may drip down.”

“I’ll take the left side,” Jaguin said.

It took them almost fifteen minutes to find the plants. They were hidden under a slight overhang that normally wouldn’t be visible. Once they located them, Sara searched the area near the outcrop. She cried out when she found what she hoped they were looking for.

“Look at the colors,” Sara said, pointing to the blossom.

“It is the same one,” Jaguin stated with a frown.

“No, look. The blossom is red with a black stem. ‘Red on black is a friend of Jack’,” Sara murmured.

“Who is Jack?” Jaguin asked in frustration.

Sara shook her head. “Never mind, I know this is it,” she said. “It has to be.”

“How can we know for sure?” Jaguin asked.

Sara studied the flower for several long seconds. What if she was wrong? What if there was another plant that they had missed? Worse, what if the rule of nature back home didn’t apply here? Once again, images of Delilah rose up in her mind and the doctor’s insistence not to listen to her aunt.

“We need to test it,” Sara said, turning toward where the flowers the boys had picked rested.

Sara stopped when Jaguin’s hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist. She stared up at him in surprise, then resignation. It was the only way to know.

“What do you think you are doing?” He asked in a deadly tone.

“I’m going to test it,” Sara said, tugging on her wrist to free it. “It’s the only way, Jaguin. You know that as well as I do.”

Jaguin’s head turned toward the overhang. “You can’t,” he said, turning away and walking over to the ledge.

“What are you doing?” Sara demanded, her heart racing. “Jaguin, don’t!”

“What about our child, Sara? The poison would kill it, if not you,” Jaguin said, staring back at her.

“If you die, I’m lost anyway,” Sara whispered.

Jaguin bowed his head and was silent before he shook his head. “It is possible you could survive. You have a strong will to live. If you have our child, I know you will fight to survive for it,” he said, turning back again.

“Jaguin, no!” Sara cried out, but it was too late.

As if in slow motion, she watched him reach over and pick one of the few remaining blooms. His fingers caressed the bloom, before he turned. There was a puzzled expression on his face.

“I feel fine,” he said, staring back at her in confusion.

“Maybe it takes a little while,” Sara said, taking a step forward. “You are older and bigger than the boys. That might be it.”

They both looked down at the brilliant yellow flower with the red stem. Jaguin was about to touch it again when a drop of liquid fell onto the petal and slid down. Jaguin looked at Sara in confusion when he saw the look of horror on her face. He reached up and touched the skin just under his nose. Pulling his fingers back, he noticed they were red with his blood.

“Sara,” Jaguin started to say before the blossom fell from his fingers.

“Jaguin!” Sara cried out, reaching for him. She helped lower him to the floor of the cave.

“I guess it doesn’t matter how big or old I am,” Jaguin muttered, wincing as pain began to slice through him.

“This had better work,” Sara said, carefully laying his head down on the smooth rock and scrambled to her feet.

She hurried over to where the other blooms were. Twisting one, she snapped and turned to run back to where Jaguin lay moaning. She wasn’t sure how to use the flower. Did it need to be processed to work?

“I don’t know,” she whispered in frustration. “I don’t know how to make the antidote work.”

Sara tried rubbing Jaguin’s fingers in the center of the flower, but nothing happened. She sat down on the smooth rock and gently placed Jaguin’s head onto her lap. She tenderly brushed his hair back from his face. She turned to study the bloom she was holding. How could it work? If just touching the other was enough to inject the poison, then surely…

“Drinking it,” she murmured, noticing the red liquid in the bottom.

Sara didn’t know what else to do. It was obvious that Jaguin was deteriorating. Sara tilted the petal until the liquid dropped into Jaguin’s parted lips. She kept his head angled just far enough that he could swallow without choking. She waited and then poured a little more into his throat until she saw him swallowing, watching as he swallowed the precious liquid.

It seemed like eternity before his eyelashes finally opened and he looked at her. A slow smile curved his lips. A trembling one curved Sara’s in response.

“It worked,” he said.

“You better be glad it did,” Sara whispered before she burst into tears. “I am so going to beat you up for this when we get back.”

“As long as it involves a little tail, I just might let you,” Jaguin groaned as he sat up. “We need to get the antidote back to the village.”

Sara nodded. She didn’t want to destroy the plants, fearful if she did, that they may never find them again. Instead, she had Honey form a small container and poured the liquid from each plant into it. Once they had almost a full one, they had Honey seal it.

“Let’s go,” Sara whispered, hurrying over the uneven ground back outside.