Lovestruck, a Dragon Story

Lovestruck

A Werewolves of Montana short story

Bonnie Vanak

Fiery red dragon Anna Dixon knows what she wants—the sexy, handsome Michael Vincent as her mate. Once childhood friends, an undying passion now claims them both. But Michael is a black dragon belonging to a rival clan, and her father will never allow the match. Heartbroken, Anna is resigned that the hatred between their families will never cease and she must deny Michael for the sake of peace.

Michael has tried to put away memories of Anna, but can never forget the red dragon who aroused his passion and claimed his heart. When Xavier, the Crystal Wizard, sends Michael to gather rare Lumen seeds from land belonging to Anna’s clan, the two dragons consummate the desire burning between them. But after Michael is caught and his presence stirs old animosities, they are threatened with a dragon war in the skies that can claim everything Anna holds dear, including her beloved Michael…

Prologue

Tonight she planned to lose her virginity to a handsome, powerful dragon.

If her father discovered Michael was here, there would be hell to pay. Dragonfire hell. And Barlow Dixon knew how to spit fire strong enough to maul even a strong dragon like Michael.

Anna Dixon hugged her knees as she sat on a deserted section of beach in Florida by a sheltering clump of sea grape trees on the tawny sands, staring into the Gulf of Mexico as she waited for Michael to arrive. Her father had taken his immediate family on a small vacation break, away from their territory in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Soon as she found out their destination, Anna had sent word to Michael via email, planning to meet him on the beach at sunset. Her father might forbid her from seeing her childhood friend, but she refused to listen.

Michael Vincent, a dragon from Clan Fury. Clan Fury were the guardians of the night sky, and the enemies of her clan, Clan Tyrith, guardians of the mountains, streams and forests.

Their clans had feuded for so long, no one remembered why, only that each detested the other. However, she was eighteen now, and even if she had not yet shifted into her dragon like Michael, she was considered an adult by humans, or Skins, as OtherWorlders called them.

While Anna was walking here, the sun had started to lower toward the flat line of the Gulf of Mexico. Couples gathered on the sands to watch. Arms around each other, they whispered and kissed. Anna felt a wistful tug. Why could she not do the same? She and Michael belonged together.

Michael spent part of his time in Tir Na-nog, the afterworld, as an apprentice to Xavier, the Crystal Wizard. But the afterworld was a small obstacle compared to her obstinate father, who thought she should mate only with another red dragon like herself.

Her father hated black dragons like Michael. Black dragons, he declared, are inferior. Michael was not as narrow minded. Although dragons from her clan had killed his parents in battle when Michael was only sixteen, he’d never held a personal grudge against her or her family.

A familiar tingle rushed down her spine. Anna turned her head as Michael approached.

Her heart skipped a beat. With his shock of dark hair, gaze black as pitch and high aristocratic cheekbones, Michael was lean and handsome. She wanted no other as a mate, and felt an odd tugging in her belly when he was near.

Dressed in black jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt that contrasted with his tanned skin, he looked sexy as hell. The tattoo snaking down his neck was pale, indicating his service to the Crystal Wizard. In his left ear was a small crystal hoop earring, another indication he served Xavier. Michael’s mouth curled into a satisfied smile as he saw her.

The tingle in her lower belly intensified.

Could he be her true mate? Perhaps.

But…he was different now. Power pulsed from him, seductive and teasing. It was a low hum, but powerful magick all the same, not mere dragon magick.

She found herself pulling away when he sat beside her.

“You’ve changed,” she said, her voice shaky.

“Anna.” His voice was deep and velvety, a caress against the bare skin of her arms. “Don’t look so scared. It’s me. I have new powers, but it’s still the same me.”

Michael turned his hand over, showing her the mark where she’d bitten him when she was only five years old. “See? You have more power than I have.”

Her heart melted at his sexy grin. “It’s been years since I last saw you, Michael. I missed you.”

“And I missed you.” He reached for her hand and the touch of his calloused palm sent a thrill racing down her spine. What would his hands feel like all over her naked skin?

Maybe after mating in Skin for a few years, they could mate as dragons after she experienced her first shift. Her cousin Marcia told her mating in dragonskin held the most incredible sensations.

With a worried eye, she studied him. He looked hale and hearty, and not as skinny as when she’d last seen him, before becoming Xavier’s apprentice. Michael was twenty-three now, and a man.

A very fine-looking man.

“You look more…muscular and healthy. Has the Crystal Wizard treated you well?” she asked, covering his other hand with hers.

He looked down at their joined hands. “Very well. Xavier has taught me much about botany and magick plants. He works me hard, but gives me enough vacation time as well. I’ve grown in power.”

Michael’s gaze hardened. “Power enough to fight even your father.”

Anna’s delight turned to worry again. Barlow had gone with her mother and two younger siblings to find char-grilled barbecue. She glanced at the darkening skies. They had perhaps two hours at most.

“Forget my father. This time is about us.”

His long, leanly muscled body was tall, filled with enormous strength, and his face had a hard edge about it, contrasting with a mouth almost too sensual for a man. His sunny smile and boyish charm masked his quiet strength and fierce loyalty to Xavier, his master.

“Why did you apprentice yourself to Xavier? Tristan is our guardian and our judge.”

“He requested me.” Michael looked thoughtful. “Xavier he had need of a dragon to work in his lab and said he would teach me all I needed to learn in my chosen field of study. And I have.”

She shivered with awareness of him as he leaned closer. “Anna, I have a gift for you.”

Michael opened his palm. A magick wand appeared in his hand. “It belongs to Xavier. I borrowed it from him especially for you, Anna.”

Perhaps not so loyal after all.
Delighted, she took the wand. “Won’t you get into trouble?”

“He has several. He won’t miss one. Test it out. Wave it and see how much magick it holds.”

“How does it work?”

“Think of something you’d like to see. Hold that image in your mind and wave the wand.”

Mischief filled her.

She waved the wand and suddenly Michael was clad in khaki shorts and a white T-shirt. He grinned as she stared at the sleek muscles of his calves, the light dusting of dark hair upon his athletic legs.

“You’re very tan,” she said, her desire rising in a volcanic rush.

“Xavier has me working in the gardens of Tir Na-nog. He’s searching for a special ingredient to experiment with.”

“Remember when we played dress-up as kids? And you borrowed my father’s hat and then threw up in it after we had too many sweets?” She giggled.

A hank of dark hair fell into his face. Michael pushed it back with an impatient hand. “I believe that is why your father hates me.”

They both fell silent. When he was ten, Michael had lived with her clan for three years as part of an exchange program set up by Tristan, the Silver Wizard. The program was an attempt to get the children of the rival clans to become friends in order to stop the constant feuding by the clans. It worked for a while. But when the children all returned to their individual clans, the bickering started all over again.

When his magick manifested upon his first shift at age twenty-one, the wizards of the Brehon were impressed with Michael’s potential and called him to serve, while she had remained a young fledging dragon, still without power. Michael might even be strong enough to defeat an older dragon like her father.

But her father had plenty of power, for the old man knew how to throw dragonfire while in Skin, a talent only a few dragons possessed.

She stopped smiling, her father’s intense dislike of Michael was no joke. Anna looked at the magick wand, wishing she could wave it and dispose of the hatred between their rival clans.

“He hates you because he’s afraid. For too long, our clan has feared losing their treasure, their territory, to your clan. It’s why the battles keep flaring up and the violence will not end. Your clan has no territory,” she said, her voice growing small.

Craning his neck, Michael stared upward at the stars twinkling in the darkness. “Our territory is the night sky. We make our homes wherever we please, and that is what truly upsets your father, and your king, Anna. They fear us taking over your compound and stealing your treasure.”

“There is treasure enough for all. I don’t know why dragons hoard. I would gladly share my clan’s gold with you and your clan.”

“You are a rare treasure, Anna,” he said quietly, his hand skimming over her bare arm, coaxing a shiver from her. “If you were my daughter, I would fear losing you as well. But he can’t keep us apart.”

His voice deepened. “Anna. You’re so damn lovely.”

The moon hung like a lemon wedge in the increasingly dark sky. There was no one around but them, no one to see.

“Stand up,” she ordered.

When he did, she rose as well. Filled with daring, Anna waved the wand again and suddenly he was naked. Breath fled her as the moonlight gleamed on his tanned skin, the hardened planes of muscle and sinew. Her gaze flicked down to the nest of dark hair at his groin and his thick erection.

Michael’s gaze was steady as he regarded her. “So this is it, Anna? This is what you truly desire?”

“Yes.”

The promise of sensual pleasure shone in his eyes. Reading his expression, Anna moistened her lips. Instinct told her Michael wanted her as badly as she wanted him. She wanted to be more than friends. Though she would not experience her first shift into dragon until age twenty-one, Anna knew what she wanted, what he wanted. Anna kicked off her white sandals and leaned closer.

When he bent his head toward her mouth, she leaned close. Warmth poured through her. Every cell tingled with awareness and anticipation. He was going to kiss her, finally. She closed her eyes, waiting with breathless eagerness.

The first touch of his mouth upon hers was a whisper of a kiss, a brush of his lips against hers. Soft as a butterfly’s wing. Anna leaned closer and then wrapped her arms around him, pulling him up against her. His hard, naked body flush against hers.

The magick wand in her hand tumbled to the sands.

With a low groan, he kissed her harder and she opened beneath him like a flower as his tongue sought and probed. Not a mere kiss, this, but a maddened coupling of two desperate souls seeking something deeper outside themselves. A clashing of kindred spirits, a stripping of all they both carefully concealed to bare their equal needs before each other. It was the hottest dragonfire and longing, two molten liquid rivers melding together in forged passion.

She strained against him, rubbing seductively. He gently slipped his hands around her and cupped her buttocks to cradle her against his hard arousal. She felt an aching demand to mate, their bodies tangling in passion as fierce as those of dragons in the heat of mating. Anna moaned, her hands caressing the hard muscles of his back. Fire raged in her loins. She imagined being splayed beneath him, her body trembling with need as he slowly joined them together.

And then Michael stopped kissing her. In the gathering dark, she saw his erection straining eagerly toward her, though physically the rest of him had pulled away. She saw the shock in his dark gaze.

Her heart raced as the truth dawned upon her, and judging from the look on his face, he knew it as well.

“I knew it,” she breathed.

Stunned, he stared. “It’s you. You’re my true mate.”

Michael had never dreamed he’d find his true mate, especially a dragon from Clan Tyrith.