Bride Of The Dragon

Bride of the Dragon

Copyright 2016 by Georgette St. Clair

This book is intended for readers 18 and older only, due to adult content. It is a work of fiction. All characters and locations in this book are products of the imagination of the author. No shifters were harmed during the creation of this book.

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“Am I going to go to hell for this?” Kelly Henderson wondered, staring down at the two half naked, slumped bodies sprawled out on the floor of the Fair Maiden’s trailer.

“For this? Doubtful.” Her younger sister Teresa was standing watch by the door as Kelly hastily pulled on the Fair Maiden’s outfit. “For various other things that you’ve done, probably. But this is just a misdemeanor compared with some of your other capers.”

Pandora Maplethorpe, who had been selected as this year’s Fair Maiden, let out a gentle snore. Her arms were flung out over her head, and she wore only her bra and underwear. The man she’d been making out with a few minutes earlier, a burly crew-cut fellow who apparently favored banana hammock underwear and embarrassing cartoony tattoos, let out a much louder snore in response.

It was Kelly’s fault that Pandora was asleep on the job. Kelly had dressed up as a serving wench, since the theme of the fair was medieval, and slipped a sleeping powder into the pitcher of beer she’d delivered to them half an hour earlier.

Now Pandora and her beau were out cold for a good four hours – more than enough time for Kelly to do what she needed to.

“You are not helping,” Kelly said indignantly.

“Oh, am I supposed to be helping?” Teresa said, her tone annoyed. “Technically, I believe it’s called aiding and abetting. And if Chad ever finds out about this, I’ll kill you in your sleep.” Chad was Teresa’s prudish fiancé, who’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a stick up his butt.

Kelly shook her head in dismay as Teresa helped her lace up her bodice. Why had the agency insisted that she bring her sister? Probably to ensure that Kelly didn’t get
too
crazy with her schemes; she had developed a certain reputation over time.

Ugh – what a horrible assignment. Deep in dragon shifter territory and forced to let the world’s most annoying grown-up Girl Scout help her commit multiple felonies. It was all Gabriel Kingsley’s fault, that charming bastard.

Well, they’d see how charming he was once she slapped the truthstone on his wrist and found out where he’d hidden the Dragonsblood Ruby. Then the Dragon Elders could take care of him and she could go back to living her life. One hundred percent solve rate, that was Kelly’s record…up until a year ago, when the Dragonsblood Ruby had disappeared from the Rossi family’s castle just outside Naples.

And wouldn’t you know it, dragon shifter and notorious jewel thief Gabriel Kingsley of South Lyndvale, Nevada, just happened to be in Naples when the jewel vanished. Nobody could prove it was him, of course – the Kingsleys were very good at what they did.

She finished adjusting her wig and looked at herself in the full-length mirror. Her straight, shiny brown hair was tucked away under a wig cap, and she wore a wig of cascading blonde ringlets that reached halfway down her back. Blue contact lenses in place, disguising her eye color… She’d slathered on the makeup and used tons of contouring… She was wearing the Fair Maiden’s crimson medieval-style gown…

“I do kind of look like her, don’t I?” Kelly scrutinized her reflection, worried. She and Pandora had the same skinny build, sort of, although she’d had to pad the boob area of the costume considerably.

Teresa shook her head. “Not in the slightest. I told you so.”

Kelly glared at her sister. “You do not get to say I told you so unless I fail.”

“You mean
until
you fail.” At Kelly’s furious look, she snapped, “What? It’s offensive that you’re a full-fledged investigator and I’m still an intern. I’m every bit as qualified as you, and I do things properly and by the book. I don’t come up with these ridiculous schemes.”

“They’re not ridiculous,” Kelly said with wounded dignity. “They have worked every time.” Disguising herself as a maid, a secretary from a temp agency, a computer repair tech, a janitor…whatever worked to get her foot in the door.

This was really pushing it, though. Here she was, deep in the heart of dragon shifter territory, about to confront a very big, very scary international jewel thief.

Still, she reminded herself, the truthstone always worked. What could possibly go wrong? She stroked the velvet drawstring purse where she’d concealed the gem, and felt its vibrations humming reassuringly through the cloth.

Then she rearranged the wig so that some of the flowing fake tendrils obscured her face.

“That’s somewhat less awful,” Teresa said grudgingly. Kelly knew that Teresa was torn between wanting Kelly to fail and wanting the agency to succeed.

Ultimately, her intense desire to score a win for their employers would win out, of course. Even if it meant helping Kelly.

“All right, it’s almost time,” Teresa said with an impatient scowl pinching her narrow, pretty face. “Let’s get this over with. Just move fast and don’t make eye contact. Do you have your script memorized?”

Kelly scoffed. “Memorized. Ha. All I have to do is lie there and act like a damsel in distress and shriek, ‘Save me from this fearsome knight, oh brave and handsome dragon’!” Since they were in Nevada, where most of the dragon shifter population resided, the traditional St. George and the Dragon story had been reworked a little. As in, completely rewritten – to the point where it was called “The Dragon and St. George”.

Every July, at the Tri-Valley Dragon Festival, one of the high points was a fake battle between a dragon and the loathsome “human” St. George. They had to have a dragon shifter playing the part of the human, because at the end of the battle, the dragon roasted “George” in a stream of fire, and no actual human could withstand that.

A local human woman and a local male dragon were selected at random by the Tri-Valley Festival Committee; they pulled the names out of a hat. The lucky lady would play the part of the damsel in distress, who was supposed to marry her true love, a dragon shifter, but was kidnapped by a disgusting and evil human knight.

The knight carried the princess away to the middle of a grassy field. There, he threatened to kill her unless she agreed to marry him.

Kelly had glanced at the script that lay on the table in the Fair Maiden’s trailer, just in case she actually had to participate in the stupid skit, but she was sure things wouldn’t get that far. She would find Gabriel right before he shifted, slap the truthstone onto his arm, and ask him two questions – did you steal the Dragonsblood Ruby? And where is it now?

Sure, fair security guards would probably drag her off, and she might be stuck in the local pokey for a few hours, but no big deal. It would hardly be the first time for her. Her firm would bail her out, and Gabriel would be forced to return the ruby and probably do some serious jail time.

That last bit made her feel a teeny bit of a twinge, even though she knew it was foolish wasting her sympathy on Gabriel. He’d stolen a priceless family heirloom, for profit. He was the last person she should be feeling badly for.

Teresa opened the door, looked around, then walked down the metal folding steps. Kelly grabbed her drawstring pouch and followed her. The glowing yellow-white orb of the sun floated in a cloudless sky the color of faded denim, and the din of the fair attendees ebbed and flowed like a tidal wave of sound.

As they started to make their way towards the staging area, Kelly glanced around quickly to make sure that nobody was watching them. A few people waved, and she waved back, hiding behind Teresa as much as she could without being too obvious. The fairground scents of cotton candy and popcorn and roasting meat wafted through the air.

“So literally all the Fair Maiden does is lie around and scream for help?” Teresa spoke in a low voice, lip curled in disgust as they weaved their way through the crowd.

Kelly nodded. “Exactly. When the knight threatens me, I scream, ‘I would rather die than marry you! The dragon is my only true love!’ And then the dragon flies in, lands, and St. George and the dragon fight, and the dragon grabs me and flies off, and that’s the end of the skit. Except of course it won’t get that far.”

Now they were walking behind food vendors’ booths, and the smell of frying funnel cake and corn dogs made Kelly’s stomach rumble. She’d been too nervous to eat that morning.

“How did the dragon get that close without the knight noticing?” Teresa wondered. “You’d think that a twenty-foot beast with a fifty-foot wingspan would be pretty hard to miss. You’d hear the wings flapping and see the shadow.”

“Don’t ask me, I didn’t write the play.”

“And your only role is to be rescued? How positively medieval.”

“Yes, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?” Kelly looked at the stage up ahead.

“I need to get home to plan my wedding. Don’t screw this up,” Teresa warned her.

“Do I ever?”

“There’s always a first time,” Teresa said. Kelly thought she sounded a little too hopeful.

They were getting closer to the stage, and the crowd was thicker now. People recognized the Fair Maiden costume, and they whooped and hollered as Kelly walked by.

A couple of women in medieval garb, with big yellow “Tri-Valley Fair” badges hanging around their necks, spotted her. They waved at her impatiently, urging her towards the stage.

“I don’t see Gabriel Kingsley,” Teresa said nervously.

Suddenly, someone bumped into Kelly hard, and sent her staggering. She struggled to catch her balance and bit back an unprincess-like response…and then she felt a sudden emptiness. The truthstone was gone; she sensed its absence. She looked down at her now empty hand and let out a gasp of dismay.

She could just see the man who’d bumped into her, racing away through the crowd, elbowing and punching people. “My purse!” she cried out. “He took my purse!”

Chapter Two

Kelly stood frozen in shock. She wanted to chase the mugger, but the two women in fair badges were waving at her frantically now, and making their way towards her.

“Go get him!” Teresa hissed at Kelly.

Kelly’s gaze swiveled between the mugger and the women heading towards her. “I can’t…I have to go on stage,” she groaned.

“Damn you!” Teresa cursed at Kelly as if it were her fault, and took off after the mugger. At the same time, the mugger ran into a wall of people and started frantically trying to push his way through them. When Teresa caught up with him and tried to grab the purse, he turned around and took a swing at her, and she ducked and then punched him square in the face.

Uh-oh.

A horde of dragon shifter police, known as centurions, descended on Teresa and the mugger and grabbed both of them.

“Hey!” Kelly screamed. “Hey! You can’t arrest her! She didn’t do anything. He’s a thief; she was just chasing him! Let her go!”

The guards ignored her and began frog-marching the two of them away, and Kelly started pushing her way through the crowd after them. She couldn’t let Teresa get arrested – even though she’d enjoy the peace and quiet, she also knew she’d never hear the end of it once Teresa got bailed out.

The two women with the fair badges appeared on either side of Kelly and grabbed her by the arms. They spun her around and began marching her away as she craned her head, trying to spot Teresa.

“You’re running late,” one of them said severely. “We need to get to the stage
now
.”

“I have to get my purse!” she cried out. “The police have it!”

“You can’t have a purse on stage – it’s not part of the costume,” the woman chided her. “Why would a Fair Maiden need a purse?” Their grips were like iron manacles on her upper arms as they hurried her along.

“I need it! It’s…it’s got my medication in it!” she protested.

One of the women shook her head. “The skit won’t last that long. I’ll have security get it back to you right afterwards.”

Kelly’s heart sank. It would be too late by then; Gabriel would see through her disguise and she’d never get close to him again. The only good news was that neither of these women had recognized her as an imposter; they must not know Pandora personally.

Still, she’d ruined everything.

She’d never get the ruby back now. And Allied Jewel Insurance was on the hook for the massive payout for the ruby, and might go out of business because of Kelly’s failure.

Kelly was rushed over to the fireproof stage. Fuming, she climbed up the steps and let one of the attendants clip a mini microphone to her dress’s neckline. There were bleachers set in a semi-circle at a safe distance. Apparently they didn’t want a repeat of last year. Something about the front row getting their hair fried off.

The “knight” was standing backstage, and an assistant was helping him put on his gauntlets and helmet. Where was Gabriel, though? She looked around and finally spotted him, a few hundred feet away from the stage.

She could not believe this was happening. She’d been chasing Gabriel for the past year, and yet again, he was going to slip through her grasp. This had been her best shot at getting close to him, and she’d blown it.

The blare of trumpets jerked her back to reality; the play was about to begin. Half the crowd was waving flags with a dragon on them, and half the crowd was waving flags with a knight on them. They were screaming “Team Dragon!” or “Team St. George!” depending on where their sympathies lay.

Gamely, she went through with her part. The knight stormed over and shouted his lines at her. She yelled her lines back, and they boomed out from the speakers set all around the bleachers.

Then the crowd oohed and aahed, and she looked up. Gabriel had shifted, and now he was a gorgeous red dragon with a long snaky neck and a giant diamond-shaped head. His scales glittered like carved rubies, and as he circled overhead his great leathery wings stretched out so wide they blocked out the sun. His flapping wings created a cool breeze that caressed her face and fanned the air.

Gabriel did some fancy flying, circling and looping. Then he busted out the pyrotechnics, sending blasts of fire a hundred feet away, and the crowd shrieked with delight.

Kelly lay there, waiting to be saved and watching Gabriel show off
. Seriously?
she thought sourly.
This is the least realistic skit ever! The knight would have impaled me with his stupid wooden sword like twenty minutes ago!

Finally Gabriel landed with a thud that made the ground shudder.

She’d never actually seen him in dragon form. She’d seen him in human form several times, though, and he was breathtaking. High cheekbones, eyes that glittered with sensual promise, a perpetually amused curl to his lips, and hair as black as coal.

She’d actually danced with him twice – once at a nightclub in London, and once at a ball in Vienna. He’d smelled divine. Both times he’d been utterly charming, flirted with her outrageously, and ignored her questions about the ruby. The second time she’d danced with him had been shortly after she’d acquired the truthstone. She’d tried to maneuver to press it against his flesh, but as if he knew what was coming, he’d abruptly withdrawn. She still remembered the feeling of warmth and safety she’d experienced with his arms circling hers, and the aching emptiness she’d felt when he’d whirled away and vanished.

This time, she’d thought she’d have the element of surprise. But no. Apparently the Fates were conspiring against her when it came to Gabriel.

She lay there in a semi-reclining pose and sulked, and watched as he did battle with the “knight”. The knight jabbed at him with his lance. Gabriel let out a few tiny fireballs as the crowd urged him on.

Finally Gabriel reared his head back and let out a stream of fire, and the knight’s carefully designed fake armor melted off, and then he fell over and pretended to be dead. In truth, Gabriel had aimed his flame carefully to the side of the “knight”, and it had been supplemented by fire piped up from under the stage. Dragon shifters were immune to regular flame, but dragon flame could burn them, especially when they were in human form.

And now, with the crowd watching expectantly, Kelly had no choice but to finish this whole farce.

Cursing under her breath, she leapt to her feet and shouted, “Oh, my hero! My darling! I knew you’d save me!” Then she ripped the tiny microphone off her costume and tossed it onto the stage, and threw her arms around his big scaly neck. “Asshole,” she muttered just loudly enough for him to hear, and climbed up onto his back.

He flapped his wings, and she clung tightly as the Earth fell away. She felt the muscles in his back bunch and relax as his wings beat the air. The crowd of people beneath them shrank to tiny dots of color. As they rose higher and higher, the air cooled, but he felt warm underneath her.

His family’s castle, like that of most wealthy dragons, was on top of a mountain. Dragons had a thing for heights. And castles.

There was also a long, winding road that led up to his residence, but she suspected that the dragons usually got there by flying. The castle overlooked North Lyndvale, where the ice dragons lived, and South Lyndvale, where the fire dragons lived.

Gabriel circled lazily over his family home, taking his time.

The castle was big enough to house a small village. There were square towers with stone crenellations, and a courtyard in the middle. Surrounding the castle were flower gardens and a hedge maze and apple orchards. It was achingly beautiful seen from above, and she suspected it would be even more gorgeous when they landed.

There was some kind of celebration going on there, she saw. A crowd had gathered in the field behind the castle.

Dragons were flying in and landing, and shifting into human form. It looked as if about a hundred people were assembled there. There were dozens of banquet tables stretched out across the field, and a big banner with lettering on it strung up between two poles.

They landed with a thud in the field, a few hundred feet from the crowd, and she slid off Gabriel’s back. Then she ripped off her wig and threw it down on the grass. There was no point in pretending anymore.

“Damn this day. Stupid day. Stupid dragons. Stupid me.” She stomped on the wig. “Stupid everything!”

She needed a ride back down to the valley, she needed to bail out her sister, and then she needed to slink home in shame and probably update her resume.

She pulled off the wig cap and shook her head, running her fingers through her sweat-dampened hair.

She watched the air around Gabriel ripple and shimmer as he flowed back into human form, wings shrinking and vanishing, scales melting into smooth human skin. He strode over to her – stark naked, since he’d just shifted. A sheen of sweat coated his magnificent body.

Oddly, he didn’t look surprised to see that it was her instead of Pandora. He looked amused.

“Why, Kelly, I had no idea you felt this way about me.” He grinned. “Actually, that’s not true. I always suspected, what with the way you chased me around the world, but I didn’t know you’d go to these lengths.”

Holy hell, he was hot. So, so very hot.

Focus. You hate him. He’s going to bankrupt your firm and bankrupt your family.

“You arrogant bastard. I was chasing you because you’re a thief!” she snapped. “Where is that ruby?”

He snorted. “That again? I think you’ve got other things you might want to worry about right now. Time to meet the family.”

He glanced up at the banner that was strung between the two poles, and she saw the script. “Congratulations, Pandora and Gabriel!”

“What the hell?” she said, suddenly feeling faint.

His eyes gleamed with wicked amusement. His sensual lips curved into a smile as he stalked over to her and stared down into her eyes. She took a sharp breath, drawing in the scent of his musky aroma. “You do know that tradition says the Fair Queen and the Dragon marry, right?”