Mated To The Alpha Dragon (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (18 page)

I sniffled into his strong shoulder with my arms around his neck. "I know. I did."

We both fell silent for a little bit while my sniffles subsided. Victor planted a few slow, tender kisses on the side of my forehead, continuing to hold me to his chest, aloft, my still-stinging bottom not touching his lap. I knew this was probably not because he was necessarily intending the air to cool off my hot skin, although I did appreciate that; I knew it was more likely that he was beyond rock-hard, as he always became when he spanked me, and he probably wasn't sure if I'd appreciate feeling that hardness against me at that particular moment, right after a spanking definitely less playful than the kind we usually engaged in.

He needn't have been uncertain. Though the next words out of my mouth still shocked me. Particularly because I'd reached climax twice during our lovemaking activities earlier that evening.

"Set me down on your lap. Set me down with your...." I swallowed, heat rising to my face. "Your hardness inside me."

With a low growl, he immediately obliged and began lowering me onto his thick shaft, which was, as I'd suspected, beyond rock-hard. He was so hard, in fact, his manhood pointing straight as an arrow, and I was so ready for him, that he didn't even need to use his hands to introduce himself into my entrance.

With his breathing fast and ragged, he continued lowering me onto his shaft, and with my arms still around his neck, I arched my back, moaning, helping with the penetration. When I was once again fully sitting on his lap, every inch of him inside of me, he leaned back against the stone wall of the cavern. Then, one arm still holding my back and the other behind my knees, he lifted me up several inches, lifting his own rear up off the bench. Slowly, grunting, his shoulders braced against the wall, he began thrusting, working his shaft in and out of my slickness while holding me aloft. The resulting sensation was one of such instant and intense pleasure that I cried out, the sound echoing off the cavern walls. And just several moments later, when I moved an arm from around his neck, reached down between my legs, and began stroking my throbbing feminine bud, I cried out again, even louder this time.

I had no clue how long Victor could continue on with such a mind-boggling display of shifter strength and coordination. I soon found out at least a minute or two. That was how long we both lasted before his powerful upward thrusting culminated in a simultaneous climax, our already-plenty-loud cries of passion amplified in the misty cavern.

Not long after, we dressed quietly, pausing several times to embrace, our mouths meeting in brief-but-tender kisses. Victor carried me back to our rooms.

I fell asleep almost instantly that night, wrapped in his strong arms, my face on his chest.

When I awoke late the next morning, feeling incredibly well-rested, he was already up and gone, as was usual. But he'd left a little love note for me near my pillow, also as was usual. I read it, smiling, still in somewhat of a love daze from the previous night.

After showering and dressing, I made breakfast and ate it, humming. Right before heading down to the great hall, hoping to meet up with my friends, and before stepping into one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

When I walked into the great hall, where maybe a hundred or so women sat in groups at the various long wooden tables, conversation seemed to hush. Though I couldn't be certain about that, but it did
seem
like that to me. While while I walked to the table where Julia, Elizabeth, and Rose sat, I became certain about something else. Many people were staring at me, and a few others were giving me funny little glances. When I sat down next to Rose, across from Julia and Elizabeth, while all conversation in the hall seemed to return to a normal volume, I even felt like
they
were giving me weird little looks.

I scanned each of their faces. "Um...why do I feel like everyone's staring at me?"

Elizabeth looked up from a book and gave me the tiniest of sly little smiles. She she went back to her book without saying anything.

Julia took a sip of lemonade and then looked at me with a hint of color rising in her cheeks. "Oh, everyone's just...well, I don't know. I guess everyone's just a little...abuzz, I guess, because, well...."

Her face became pinker.

"I guess a few women happened to overhear some interesting things at the hot springs last night...."

Her face became a definite red.

"Just a lot of like...moaning and groaning type stuff, I guess, and...everyone's saying it was 'Lord Victor' and 'Lady Kate' and...I guess a bunch of people are saying it was pretty, like...hot or something. A bunch of the women are just a little...oh, I don't even know what the right word is."

Elizabeth glanced up from her book. "Titillated."

Julia nodded. "Yup. That word."

My face, which had been becoming a little warm the entire time she'd been talking, now felt as if it were bursting into flames. I had no clue how to respond or what to say.

Rose, who'd become a good friend since her arrival in Stonebrook, and who'd gained somewhat of a reputation for plain speaking and honesty, though not in any way unkind plain speaking and honesty, looked at me. "A lot of the women here seem to be really attracted to your husband, even a lot of the happily married ones. And now those women are getting a little thrill imagining what a talented lover he must be to make you moan like the women who heard you last night said you did."

My face became hotter than I ever imagined was possible. Perspiration actually broke out on my forehead. I fought an urge to bury my face in my hands. I fought an urge to run right out of the hall. I fought an urge to sprint to Victor's and my rooms and never emerge again. But I didn't want to draw attention to myself. I didn't want all the women in the hall to know that I knew what they knew. My voice came out in a near-whisper.

"I am so...mortified right now. We knew there was a chance somebody might hear something, but I didn't think...." I swallowed and then gave my head a little shake. "I mean, I didn't actually, seriously want anyone to...."

Swallowing again, I didn't finish the thought, fully aware of many gazes of women in the hall still on me.

Rose glanced around before turning her focus back to me. "Do you want to hear something that will take your mind off of all this? Can we go somewhere that I can tell you something without so many people around?"

I nodded, more than relieved at her offer, and we got up and begin walking out of the great hall. I struggled to keep my walk to a walk and not a dash.

She and I went to Victor’s and my rooms, and I poured us both some iced tea, my face slowly beginning to cool. I set our glasses on the kitchen table, where she sat, and then I took a seat myself, complimenting her on a new light pink top she was wearing and asking her who'd made it, pretty desperate to talk about something not related to my romantic activities with Victor.

She glanced down at her pretty top, beaming. "Thank you. The head seamstress made this just for me. She's so nice, isn't she? Just like everyone else here in Stonebrook."

Since being rescued from slavery under the Oppressors, Rose had seemed to adjust to her new life very well. She sometimes suffered from nightmares, which was, of course, more than understandable and expected, and sometimes she got in quiet moods and liked to spend most of the day in her and Brook's shared rooms, alone. But the majority of the time, she seemed happy. Right away, she'd expressed a desire to learn how to read and write, which none of the women in Cold Creek were ever taught how to do. She quickly learned how to do both those things, and practiced her new skills for hours daily, faithfully. She loved to socialize with other women, and had started hosting afternoon teas maybe once a week in her rooms. She'd even became very good friends with a Keeper named Andrew, who'd ripped a strip of cloth from his shirt and bandaged a cut on her arm with it immediately after she'd been rescued. Her eyes lit up every single time he entered a room, and they both clearly enjoyed spending time with each other. It was equally clear how Andrew doted on her. He brought her bright bouquets of wildflowers regularly and wore a near-continuous grin while in her presence. I suspected that Rose might become a Keeper wife very soon. Brook also seemed to be adjusting to her new life in Stonebrook remarkably well.

After taking a drink of her iced tea, Rose set the glass back down and looked at me from across the table. "So, can I tell you something kind of personal that no one else here in Stonebrook knows? Well, at least no one other than Brook. Can I tell you something I'm really worried and...and scared about?"

I nodded, wondering if she was going to ask me about the Keeper marriage rite called The Mingling of the Blood.
I'd
sure had a few fears about it before I married Victor.

"Of course."

"Okay, then, so...you and Victor at the springs wasn't the only thing everyone was talking about this morning. Everyone's heard that he plans to attack Cold Creek and free the slaves. Which, I'm so, so happy about. I want all the women I lived with when I used to be a slave to be free, too. I want that more than anything. I'm scared about something. I'm scared that some of the women and children are going to be hurt, and maybe even killed, during the attack. I know this is a very real possibility. And I'm worried about the safety of every single person, but...." Rose paused, her gaze going down to her glass of tea. "Especially one."

"Who is it?"

She continued staring down at her tea for a long moment before returning her gaze to my face. "Nobody here at Stonebrook knows this except Brook. And I'm planning on telling Andrew later today." She took a deep breath. "I have a child at Cold Creek. A daughter. I became pregnant with her after one of the many times I was attacked sexually. I had her when I was maybe sixteen, I think. So she would be around seven now. I don't really know her anymore, but I'm sure I'd recognize her on sight. They only let me nurse her and keep her with me for six months or so before they took her from me and put her with three women they never found attractive and never had any use for physically. The women take care of maybe a dozen babies and children in a cinder block building not far from the buildings where the Oppressors stay. The children aren't allowed outside very much. Which, by the way, they're all girls, of course. Baby boys are killed by the Oppressors at birth. The girls stay with the caretaker women until they're the age when the Oppressors begin to enjoy getting use out of them physically. At maybe twelve or thirteen or so. Then, they're moved to the big dormitory-type building where I used to live. The Oppressors call it the 'whores' quarters.' It's where a lot of the women have either been killed or have killed themselves in the past couple of years. There's maybe fifty women left now. Or, there was, as of two months ago, when I was last there."

Rose took a deep breath and blew her pale blonde bangs out of her tiny, delicate face. "Anyway. Like I said, the building where the children are kept is very near the building where the Oppressors live in different apartments, where I imagine your husband and the other shifter dragons will focus their attack. I know how big and destructive they are in dragon form, and I know how far they can breathe their magical fire, and how hot and dangerous it is. And I also know that once attacked, the Oppressors are going to defend themselves with their strongest and most powerful magic." Rose paused, and then suddenly, very suddenly, her shoulders shook with a sob and she buried her face in her hands. "I'm scared that my daughter isn't going to be freed; I'm scared that she's going to be accidentally killed during the battle instead."

With an ache in my chest, I got up, went around the table to her, and put an arm around her narrow shoulders, kind of crouching. "It's going to be okay, Rose. That won't happen to your little girl.

I hoped with every fiber of my being that it wouldn't.

Rose sobbed, her hands still over her face. "Last night after I heard that there's going to be an attack, I dreamed about her, how she must look now. I dreamed about her somehow being hit with a blast of dragon fire. I dreamed about her burning and screaming."

With my own eyes more than a bit misty, I rubbed Rose's back, silently. She continued crying, the sound of it intensifying the ache in my chest.

But after a short while, she abruptly stopped and took her hands from her face. "I'm so sorry. I'm normally a very strong person. I've always had to be."

I squeezed her shoulder. "I know, and that helped you survive. But now you're someplace safe, and you don't have to be strong all the time anymore. Sometimes it's okay not to be. And in fact, sometimes it's probably even good not to be."

She nodded, taking a shaky deep breath. "That's what Andrew says."

"Here. Let me get you a tissue."

I went over to a box on a nearby counter, grabbed a few tissues out, and gave them to her before taking my seat again.

After thanking me, she dabbed her eyes and blew her nose. "I called her Daisy while she was with me. I named her that because I wanted her to have a flower name like my mother gave me. I don't know if she's still called that, though. The three women who take care of the girls aren't supposed to call them by proper names, because the Oppressors think that would make the girls feel too individual and special. The girls are supposed to be called 'future whore one hundred and twenty-six' and like that. So maybe the women just call them by their numbers like they did when I was a young girl there. So I don't even know if my daughter would even recognize her real name." Rose blew her nose again. "Brook keeps telling me that Daisy will be okay. And at times this morning, I've let myself believe that, and I've felt okay myself. But then I start thinking about it again, and then I get scared again. Then Brook starts trying to convince me again that she'll be okay. I hope with all my heart she's right, but we can't be certain that Daisy will be. We just have to hope. Because I know there's no way for your husband and his men to get all the women and out of Cold Creek before they attack; I know the walls around the town are too heavily guarded. I just wish there was another way. Any other way to do things."

"So do I. I even asked Victor last night if I could go to the battle myself so that I could levitate all the women and children out of Cold Creek at the very beginning of the fight, before anyone gets hurt."

Rose gasped, leaning forward in her chair, her eyes wide. "I completely forgot about your levitation powers! So, did he say yes? Did he say at least maybe?"

I sighed. "No. He said I could go to Cold Creek only over his dead, rotting corpse, actually. He said he won't allow me to be put in harm's way."

Rose appeared to actually deflate, sinking back in her chair, her shoulders slumping. "Oh. I guess I understand his thinking, though. He's your husband; his job is to protect you."

"Yeah. That's exactly what he said. I guess I understand, too, and I'm glad he protects me. I'm glad to have a strong, loving husband like him. But...." I sighed again. "It does bug me sometimes to be told I can't do something when I think something's a good idea and when I know I can probably take care of myself. It actually bugs me a lot. And it did last night, to the point that I super mad and...flipped out a little and got a little sassy."

Thinking back to the previous night, I shifted in my seat a tiny bit, my rear still slightly sore.

"But Victor still said no. He didn't even say he'd think about it. He just said flat-out no. And he said that's final."

Rose nodded, though her expression was one of sadness. "I understand. In in fact, he'd probably even be remiss as a husband if he just went ahead and let you go. If he just let you go into a situation where you could be hurt, or worse."

"Yeah. That's exactly what he said. Both of us fell silent and sipped our iced tea.

Within a few moments, I set my glass back down. "It still just seems...dumb to me, though. That I can't do this thing that I want to do, and that I know I could do, and that I know could save lives. And I know it sounds immature to say it's 'dumb', but...I guess I'm still just kind of riled about all this, and I can't even think of any better word right now. See, Victor's always saying that one of the reasons he loves me is because I'm brave, and courageous, and have compassion for people. So if he really feels that why, why won't he just let me display those qualities that I'm supposedly so good at? I know, I know. It's because he doesn't want me to get hurt. But I wish he could just trust me."

"I'm sure it's the Oppressors he doesn't trust, though."