Royal Dragon (The Bride Hunt Book 1) (8 page)

There were crashing, banging and snarling noises coming from behind her. There were also numerous footfalls. Was there more than one of them back there? She prayed not. It wasn’t like she could take them all on, but she at least stood somewhat of a chance against one. If there were more of those goons back there, she was done for.

Someone grabbed her by her shoulders and jerked her back. She screamed and elbowed him hard. It almost felt like her elbow cracked from the sheer force of the blow. The guy behind her didn’t so much as grunt or make a sound. He secured an arm around her and pulled her up against him.

“I said to let me go.” She squirmed. “Do you want me to stab you again? Is that it?”

“I thought I smelled blood.” This guy’s voice wasn’t nearly as deep as the one that had kissed her. The huge one with the dark eyes. Those haunting eyes. The one that held her, pulled her closer. “I was too focused on your scent to take much note.” He chuckled. “So you stabbed Coal?” He chuckled even harder. He rubbed himself against her back. There was the telltale bulge poking into her. Dragon shifters wore thin cotton pants and nothing else it seemed.

“Stop that.” She was irritated to find that her voice shook ever so slightly. Julie was more afraid than she’d ever been in her whole life. “You have no right to touch me like this. Let me go.” She fought hard. Using every ounce of strength she had to try and free herself from his ironclad grip. She kicked and squirmed. Even though her heels hurt, she felt satisfaction when one of her kicks hit home.

“I am the water prince and I am claiming you.”

“Let her go.” A deep growl, and a voice she recognized. It was him. “Do it now.” He snarled, sounding like a lion with a bone to pick.

The guy holding her, secured her more tightly with his hands. “Your position and rank are null and void out here. It does not matter that you are fire and I water. You cannot tell me what to do during the hunt. This female is mine, by the time you get here my scent will be on her and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Julie squinted but all she could make out was a dark silhouette a few feet away from them. It was him. The dark eyed brute. For whatever reason she was more afraid of the guy that held her.

“I have already marked this female and she is therefore mine.”

“Bullshit.” A loud snarl against her ear.

“Scent her, you fool. You are touching what is mine and it is angering me. If it weren’t for the female between us, I would remove your heart with my hand.”

Nice guy.

It didn’t matter. She still felt like she was in more danger with the one holding her, than she would be with the dark eyed, deep voiced one. She was losing her mind. Clearly!

The guy holding her sniffed. He sniffed again, this time repositioning her so that he could sniff at her face. She was tempted to head butt him. To break his nose. Her gut told her not to do it though. The one with the deep voice sounded like he knew what he was doing. Quite frankly she didn’t want either of them to win but it didn’t look like there was much chance of that happening.

The one that was holding her sniffed her some more. “For fuck sakes.” He growled at last, depositing her on her feet. “You got to her first.”

Julie wobbled and almost fell over. The large shape moved closer and grabbed her by the elbow. It was definitely him, the guy with the eyes. The one that had kissed her. He moved surprisingly quick.

“Your female stabbed you.” The other male chuckled. “That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever—”

The guy with the dark eyes pulled her behind him. There was a sound of flesh hitting against flesh and an even more sinister cracking noise.

“Owwww!” The guy bellowed. “I didn’t realize she was yours.”

“Leave, and do it now before I lose my temper.” His deep voice was rough yet controlled.

“Fine.” The other one huffed.

Shit.

Julie could hear the other guy walking away. That meant that they were alone. Alone.

She didn’t want to be left alone with this deep voiced, dark eyed stranger. He seemed dangerous, even more so than the others. For a second she was tempted to call out. To tell the other brute to come back, but what good would that do her?

None. That’s what. No good at all.

The big savage turned his head to the sky and bellowed loudly. He did this several times. The noise shook her bones and hurt her ears.

“What the hell are you doing?” She tried to pull out of his grip.

“I’m letting the others know that you have been claimed.” His voice was rough. His hold on her was like a vice.

“Claimed?” She shook her head. “No way.”

He ignored her. “My name is Coal. You are mine now to protect and to—”

“Fuck that.” It just slipped out. If Mr. tall, dark and… she wasn’t sure he was what she would call handsome. No, he was far too bulky, far too savage to ever be termed good-looking. His hair was shaved close to his scalp. His mouth was too full, his jaw too angular and his eyes too dark. He was a barbarian. There was nothing handsome about the guy. He was an abductor and a beast and… His grip on her tightened almost to the point of pain.

After that outburst, Julie cringed, waiting for a blow. Waiting for him to throw her on the ground and have his way with her. There wasn’t much fight left in her. Her body ached and she was freezing cold. She’d never been hungrier in her life. They had been given some flatbread and cheese this morning. It was the last time she’d eaten. She pulled in a deep breath. It didn’t matter, she would fight anyway.

She was shocked when the guy laughed. It was a deep, rich sound that lasted all of five seconds. “You are… interesting,” he said. “You may not like it or want it, but I won you fair and square. It is something that you will have to come to terms with.” He released her.

Julie took a small step back. “If you try and touch me. I’ll… I’ll… hurt you.” She finally blurted without much conviction. She may have caught him unawares with her spear the first time around but she kind of got the feeling that it wouldn’t happen again. His guard was well and truly up.

The big savage huffed out a breath. “Yeah, my tongue is already healed. My back”—he groaned— “will take another few minutes. I won’t touch you, tonight.” He added, like that was some sort of a comfort. It sounded like all bets were off by tomorrow though. Asshole!

“You won’t ever touch me. Do you hear me?”

“I can hear better than any human. So yes, I heard you.” The savage paused. “You need to understand, female, I will touch you and you are going to like it.”

“No damned way. No way in hell. No! You’re not coming anywhere near me.” She swallowed hard. “And just for the record, I would fight you every second and hate every minute.”

His jaw tightened. “I’m not going to argue with you right now. It is a very long way back to my lair.”

Lair. Lair? What the hell was a lair? A hole in the ground? Julie bit down on her lip. It seemed that for right now she was safe. Well, if freezing to death was considered safe. She had until morning before he planned on forcing himself on her. She would need to try and escape before then. It was her only way out of this.

His warm hand clasped her arm and she shrieked. “I told you not to touch me!” She yelled, and tried to yank her arm free.

“What is wrong with you?” He asked. “Why are you shaking? Are you so afraid of me that why you are reduced to a quivering mess?”

“You wish, you asshole! I’m freezing cold. I’m probably going to have frostbite.” And she was a little afraid of him, okay, a lot afraid. Not that she would ever admit it.

“Cold,” he made a humming noise. “I keep forgetting that you’re human. What else is ailing you?”

“Well let’s see… I’m hungry, my feet hurt and I’m tired.” He wasn’t very bright, was he?

The big oaf let out what was probably a curse word in dragon language. It made no sense to her. “I had planned on us making the trip back right now but that’s not going to be possible is it?”

She shook her head. “I need to rest.” It was true, she really did need some R&R before she could do any heavy hiking but more than that, she needed an opportunity to escape. It might not be possible once they arrived at his lair. Oh god, was this really happening?

He cursed again. “I wish I could shift but we are not permitted. I have to bring you back on foot. It is our way. Lores are lores.” She wasn’t sure what he was going on about.

Fear coursed through her at the thought of him shifting. He really was an animal, in the literal sense of the word.

“Your shivering is becoming worse. I will carry you a little ways into the forest so that we can find shelter from the wind.”

As much as she detested the thought of him touching her, the idea of being out of the elements was just too appealing. Julie nodded. “Fine, but don’t get any ideas. I’m freezing.”

He made a growly noise, leaned over and picked her up, as if she weighed nothing. God, he was tall and built like a brick shithouse. His chest was like a hard wall of muscle. He was also really warm and she couldn’t help but to nestle in closer. “I mean it, don’t get any ideas. I’m just really cold.” She had to suppress a moan as his warmth seeped into her.

“I wouldn’t dare.” His chest vibrated as he barked out another chuckle. Then he was moving, big easy strides that ate up the ground like it was nothing. Within no time, he deposited her back on the cold ground.

Although it was much better within the shelter of the trees, it was still damn cold. Julie couldn’t help but to shiver and shake. She rubbed her hands together and blew into them to try and inject some warmth into the frozen digits. Her dress was still a bit damp. The earth beneath her ass felt like an ice block.

“Wait here,” the brute instructed. “I’ll go and fetch some firewood. We’ll have you warmed up in no time.”

As much as she loved the sound of that, Julie could not hang around and wait for him.

She made a sound of agreement and pretended to make herself comfortable on the ground.

“Please don’t try and escape. I’m stronger and faster than you. My sense of smell is excellent. Please do not attempt to throw yourself into the river again either. The rapids only become worse and there is a waterfall up ahead. Your head would be smashed on the rocks below.”

Julie couldn’t help but to gasp as she thought of Candy. “Oh no!” She covered her mouth with both her hands. Her eyes filled with tears. “Poor Candy. She also jumped into that river with me.” She spoke into her hands. She didn’t know her very well but the idea of her drowning or worse was just too much.

“The light-haired female is fine.” The shifter said, then he turned and walked away. Her heart stilled. Thank god. Although, just because she survived the rapids and the waterfall did not mean that she was fine. She couldn’t worry about it right now though.

Julie made herself count to sixty before forcing herself to stand up and to hobble in the opposite direction. Escape was probably futile but she had to try and get away. This savage thought that he owned her. Come morning he would want to… Argh!!! She couldn’t think about that. She had to get away, even if her feet hurt and her knee throbbed and her teeth chattered.

Coal deposited the squirming female on the ground next to the fire. It was the second time she had tried to run away in the last hour.

He threw a couple of logs onto the embers and set to work gutting the hare he had just captured. It was small and wiry but would be enough to quell the worst of her hunger.

“I don’t know why you insist on bringing me back every time. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want you. Don’t you get that?” Her words were sharp, her eyes refused to meet his.

With one easy move, he pulled the skin from the carcass. The female made a noise of disgust. “That’s revolting. I hope you don’t expect me to actually eat that.”

“I do.” He admired the female’s determination. At the same time, he wasn’t thrilled about her attitude. “This animal died so that you could be fed. I would ask that you respect that.” Using a carefully selected branch, he pushed it through the carcass and began to cook the meat over the fire.

“I didn’t ask you to kill the poor thing.” Her voice had lost its venom.

“You said that you were hungry.”

“If I had known you were going to kill Thumper, I would’ve kept my mouth shut.” She finally lifted her eyes. They weren’t as dark as he’d first thought. They were the color of toffee and fudge. That light buttery brown. There were a few leaves in her hair and smudges of dirt on her face. Her dress was streaked. All of the females had been covered in mud that first time they had spotted them. A clever attempt at masking their scents.

The darkest smear was on her nose. He had an overwhelming urge to rub it off. Maybe he just wanted to touch her. It had been too long since he had rutted. That was it. His male urges were getting the better of him.

“Who is Thumper?” He asked. The meat crackled as the fat melted. He saw her nose twitch.

The female licked her lips, her gaze on the meat. He had to suppress a smile. She pouted her lips. “Thumper is a cute, cartoon bunny.”

It must be a human thing. “What’s a cartoon?” He asked as he turned the meat slightly.

Her brows drew together. “You have got to be kidding me.” She sighed. “Don’t you know anything?”

Coal shook his head. “You are the first human I have ever met. I know very little about your kind. I only know what the other males have told me and that’s very little.”

“Do you know what a television is?”

He nodded. “Yes, although, I don’t understand why anyone would want to look at one for hours on end.”

The human shrugged. “It’s entertaining.”

Flying was entertaining, hunting was entertaining. Rutting, now that was entertaining. His body tightened at the thought of sex. A natural reaction. “It’s not real. This is real. Right now is real. People sit and stare at a box while their life passes them by. It’s sad.”

“When you put it that way… I suppose you have a point.”

Coal felt himself frown. “Are you going to try and run away again?”

She pulled her shoulders back and turned those toffee colored eyes on him. They narrowed, her mouth pursed. “I will never give up. I also need to warn you, that should you decide to rape me, I will kill you. I might need to wait until you are sleeping but know that I will come for you. I will end you. It might take a week or a month but it will happen.”

Coal didn’t doubt it for a second. That same determination and hatred shone in her eyes. This was the same spirit that had attracted him to her. Not that he was attracted to her, as in, attracted. He couldn’t help but to smile at her. All that spirit, all that fire inside one tiny human. Who ever would have thought? Not him.

“That’s funny to you?” She growled. The little female actually growled. She did quite a good job of it too.

He shook his head. “I like you, human. I didn’t expect to like you, but I do.”

“The feeling
isn’t
mutual.”

He chuckled some more. “Next time you decide to stab me, make sure you use a silver object. Push it in deep and twist, ideally, you should remove my head or my heart. My head would be the most final.”

She clenched her jaw and swallowed hard but not before he saw her grimace. So the thought of actually killing him did not appeal to her. Thank the gods for small favors. He wasn’t sure where this talk of rape had come from. If she was afraid of him forcing himself on her, it would account for her level of fear. Maybe throwing herself into the river was not so crazy after all. Why did she think he would rape her? It was his understanding that Scarlet and Ash had explained things. He had also been told that this female, that all of the females, needed saving.

“I was told that you were destitute. That your life was… difficult. Is this not true?”

Coal could scent her surge of adrenaline. He could smell the anger roll off of her in waves. Her head snapped up and her frame became tense. “My life has got nothing to do with you. What do you mean you were told that I was destitute? What the hell is this?”

“Were you told about our species and why you are here?”

This made her even angrier. She jumped to her feet. “You are the biggest asshole I’ve ever met in my whole entire life. Yes, I was told in minute detail why I am here. Why do you think I keep on trying to escape?”

It didn’t make sense. She shouldn’t be this angry, this afraid. They had expected a degree of weariness and uncertainty but not to this level.

“Please sit down.”

She didn’t budge. The female folded her arms across her chest. “Are you going to make me?”

Coal shook his head. “You are tired and cold. It would be better if you sat down but if you would prefer to stand, that is fine by me.” He sucked in a deep breath. “There are very few females of our kind. One day, females just stopped being born. There were one or two but for the most part, that was the end. Essentially, we are a dying breed. Something needed to be done and soon. There are only a handful of dragon shifter females within the four kingdoms.”

For scale’s sake, by the way she was looking at him, he could see that this was news to her.

“So what? You decided to abduct a few women so that you could rape and impregnate them? Well, I have it on good authority that sex between our species does not work. Look how freaking big you are. How small I am.” Her voice quivered. Although he could still scent anger, her fear was back. “You’ll hurt me. Tear me apart. I would never survive it.”

“You have my word of honor that I will not touch you without your consent.”

“Your word means nothing to me,” she spat.

When he got back to the lair he was going to have a good talk with Scarlet. The female was upset that they hadn’t ended up mating, that things hadn’t gone her way. This was obviously her way of repaying him, all of the dragon males for that matter. They had no choice. He had no choice.

“I could’ve had you a dozen times by now.” He growled, unable to keep the emotion from his voice.

The female didn’t flinch and his respect for her grew.

“I could rut you right now and there’s not a thing you could do about it.”

The female gasped and took a step back. Her eyes were wide and filled with fear. Her scent turned acrid with it.

“I told you that I’m not going to touch you and I won’t. Sit down!” He couldn’t help the commanding edge that crept into his voice.

She did as he said.

“Centuries ago, our species were hunted and persecuted by the humans. I’m told that there are stories and legends of armor wearing knights on great horses. These knights carried swords and spears. What the stories and legends do not mention is that these blades were silver. We were hunted and slaughtered until only a few of my forefathers remained. We were forced to flee, to abandon our homes. We sought refuge here in the mountains, forced to keep our existence a secret.” He decided not to tell her of the stag runs, for fear of scaring her. “With our numbers being so low to begin with when we went into seclusion, we have continued to lose numbers as the years have gone on. Therefore, when we discovered that the vampires had a program that allowed them to breed with human females we felt we had no choice but to give it a try.

Although she pretended not to be interested, he could see how she leaned forward and held her breath. “We would have preferred to have approached human females instead of just taking them. In the vampires’ breeding program, the females voluntarily sign up to meet with vampire males. It seems that all of the nonhuman species are suffering with fertility problems. This program has been a success. The first of the children are about to be born. We cannot allow for our existence to become public knowledge through the methods that they used though for fear that the persecutions would begin again. Do you understand that?”

She ignored him so Coal went on. “Although dragon shifters are much more powerful than humans, there are so few of us comparatively. We would never stand a chance.” He turned the the stick and the hare sizzled, its flesh was becoming a beautiful golden color. The meat was nearly ready.

“Cry me a freaking river,” the female mumbled. “Tell someone who actually cares.”

“We have been left with very little options. It was either take human females or die out. Since we couldn’t announce ourselves, we were forced to—”

“Just take what you wanted anyway?” Her eyes flashed to his. “That’s wrong. You can’t go around kidnapping women and you have to know that.”

“It’s not ideal.”

“Not ideal?” She huffed out a breath. “Cavemen, barbarians, that’s what you all are.”

Coal had to suppress a smile. Such a feisty female. He didn’t know much about humans but he suspected that she was rare.

“We have little choice, we proceeded by handpicking the females. It was important that we choose unmated, healthy specimens who—”

“Specimens? Really? We’re not handbags or cattle or scarves or something, we’re human beings. We have feelings and rights. What you are doing is not fair. It’s wrong, don’t you see that?” Her nostrils flared with her emotion.

Coal did see it. He understood her anger. “Maybe specimen was a bad choice of word…” He caught a certain look in her eye. “Okay, okay. Specimen was a terrible choice of word. I am well aware that you have feelings. I do not see you as a cow or any of those other things.” He was shocked to find that it was true. “Please know that we felt we had no other choice. The females that we chose,” he paused. “The reason why we chose you, is because we hoped that we could help you. That this could be a mutually beneficial relationship.”

The female stood back up. She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. “Like hell. You could help me by taking me back and right now.”

“I was told that you are destitute. That you need our help just as much as we need yours. Is this information incorrect?”

Her jaw was clenched, her hands flew to her hips. “Just because I’m homeless, jobless and my best friend hates me right now doesn’t mean you had any right to take me away from my life, my home. Not that I had a home.” Her bottom lip quivered. “It’s irrelevant,” she choked out, sounding wounded.

So she was destitute. She did need help. By all that was green and scaly, the female was going to cry. Something inside him clenched. “I’m sorry.” His voice was rough. “I’m sorry you didn’t have a home and that this happened to you.” What the hell was he saying? He’d rarely apologized, if ever. Then again, he needed to win her. For his brother and his kingdom. This was no time to take the moral high ground.

“Sorry is not going to help, is it?” A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Blast and damn
. Tears didn’t normally affect him. He was trying to picture himself in her position. He could understand her pain. “I swear to you that I will not hurt you or force you to do anything you don’t want to do.” Coal rose to his feet. “I will look after you. None of the males will harm the females they won today. Neither will they force them. It is not how dragon shifters operate.”

“That’s bullshit!” She shouted. “I saw that big guy climb on top of Pauline.”

“Flame was putting his scent on her. He wasn’t hurting her.”

“You might not consider rape as harming but us humans do. What the hell is putting his scent on her?” Although her eyes were still watery, she looked mad. “It’s so wrong and so disgusting.” She narrowed her eyes and growled the words. If she were a fire dragon, she would have flames erupting from her mouth.

“Flame might have touched her briefly, so that he could put his scent on her and he will have kissed her, but that is where it will have ended. Why do you keep speaking of rape and force? Where did you get this crazy idea?” He had a notion but he wanted to hear it from her.

She chewed on her bottom lip. “You seriously don’t plan on raping me and impregnating me? Why am I here then? You just told me a whole sob story about how you dragons don’t have any women. What is this all about?”

“Dragons are not without honor.” He felt anger rise up in him. “We would never force a female to do anything she did not want to do. I’m sorry that you were abducted. This too is not normally something that we would do. I won you which means that you are under my protection. I hope that you will get to know me and that you will agree to mate with me, in the long run. This could be mutually beneficial for both of us”