Water Dragon (The Bride Hunt Book 2) (2 page)

T
he next day
…

Water filled her throat and nostrils. She was going to drown. If she wasn’t so busy fighting for her next breath, she would have laughed at the irony. Less than twenty-four hours ago she didn’t think that things could get worse. Yesterday she had two choices, agree to a third escort—a prominent senator who wanted to screw her brains out—or become a crack whore. Neither decision had seemed appealing at the time. Go figure!

At least she’ d had a choice in the matter though. Right now her only option was to run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Make that… drown. Her only consolation was that she was moving fast down stream. The current that threatened to take her life, was also saving it. Another hilarious irony. The relentless current was taking her farther and farther away from the dragon shifters. Those huge SOB’s that were intent on raping her.

Candy managed to break to the surface, she gulped in air. She had given up trying to swim to the edge. It was no use, the current was just too strong. She felt like a leaf in a shit-storm.

Her dress was thin, it didn’t weigh her down, but it was up around her arms and her hair was in her face. She was too busy trying to gulp down her next breath to care.

Those monsters that were after them had to have been almost seven feet tall. Their chests were bare and roped with layer upon layer of muscles. She prayed that the other four women were okay. All of them had been abducted by dragons for a barbaric pastime. Fun for the dragon men. Terrifying for them.

The hunt.

Panic welled up in her and she kicked harder even though there was a small part of her that told her it might be better to give up. To stop trying to survive. To let the river take her. It would be better than what those assholes would do if they got their hands on her.

“No.” She sobbed as she broke to the surface, quickly sucking in a ragged breath. Water churned around her. Candy was so cold she could barely feel her limbs. She was a fighter, a survivor. There was no way she was giving up now.

No way in hell.

Despite the freezing cold and her quivering muscles, she continued to kick. Continued to fight for that next breath and then the next. Whether she had been in the water for minutes, for an hour, or more, was hard to tell.

Candy slammed into something with her shoulder. Pain blossomed, shooting down her arm. The current pulled at her legs, pulling her under even though the solid object was in front of her.

It must have been on instinct that her arms wrapped around whatever the big solid thing was. By some miracle she managed to pull herself up so that her head came out of the water. Candy filled her lungs, she coughed and spluttered for about a half a minute before she was able to get enough oxygen into her air starved body that she could think clearly.

Had to get out.

Had. To.

She was going to die otherwise.

It was a massive tree that must have fallen into the water. Half of it’s bulk lay in the water and the other other half straddled the shore. Candy had her arms wrapped around the trunk. There was no way she could pull herself out like this. She was afraid to let go with the bottom hand because the river might pull her under if she did. She couldn’t stay in the water like this indefinitely though. The warmth inside her was slowly being sapped from her body. Her teeth were clattering so hard that she thought they might crack at any moment. She was panting hard.

Gripping as tightly as she could with the hand on the top of the trunk, she released the hand on the bottom. For a second she thought she was a goner. The currents were terrifyingly powerful. The river was strong and deep. If it took her again she probably wouldn’t survive. If she didn’t get out soon though… Candy slapped her other hand on top of the trunk. Using all of her waning strength, she pulled with all her might. It felt like she weighed a freaking ton. Like her legs had been carved from lead.

She somehow managed to get a knee onto the trunk. For a moment it felt like she was going to be sucked back. Her arms shook. Her whole damned body shook. With a mighty pull, she got her belly onto the rough tree trunk. Candy cried out as she pulled herself further out of the water. Unfortunately, that’s where her energy reserves dried up. Then again, she could count herself lucky. She was out of the water. Mostly out of the water. Her feet still dangled in the cold on either side.

Then she blacked out.

The sound of her own moaning brought her back to her senses. Her legs hurt. Everything hurt. She needed to get out of the water and needed to get dry. If only she could get her body to work.

She moaned again, this time in frustration.
Shit!
Hands closed on her waist and pulled her up. It was one of them. She tried to scream but a whimper escaped. She was in worse shape than she had thought. Her legs felt like useless pieces of dangling meat. How long had she been in that water?

The huge shifter pulled her against his body.

You’ll be torn to pieces.
The words of the woman dragon shifter returned to her. These guys planned on using them in the worst of ways. She might have been a high-priced call girl. One with a list of terms as long as one arm, but she wasn’t ever going to allow herself to be degraded in that way. Candy began to squirm, she tried to get away from the big son of a bitch even though she knew that it would probably mean falling back into the river and to certain death.

Such small frail beings. Our males will hunt you and fight for you. The successors will get to keep you. To rut with you.
The tall, dragon shifter woman with the red hair had been clear about what their fates would be. She seemed to enjoy telling them in detail what was waiting for them if they were captured by the much stronger shifters.
You are to be mated and impregnated. I doubt you will survive the mating let alone the pregnancy.

Her lip quivered, this time more from fear than cold. Candy struggled harder. Her legs prickled with pins and needles as the blood flow returned to her limbs. Had to escape. She had to get away.

Run.

Run.

Run.

“Stay still,” the monster growled, he tightened his grip on her.

His voice was rough and commanding. He said it with such an air of authority. Like he expected her to just give up.
Bastard!
Candy squirmed harder.

“Stop that or I will throw you back.” There was something in his tone that told her that he meant it.

Yes! No!
She would die if he threw her back in and she didn’t want to die. She was too young. Candy sighed. All of the tension left her battered, exhausted body and she slumped against him. “Don’t hurt me,” a mere whisper. She hated begging but what choice did she have?

A soft gasp of shock escaped as he deposited her on the bank. For a moment it looked like he was going to leave her there. Candy couldn’t believe her luck. Maybe she was going to survive this after all.

The dark eyed monster with the gruff voice leaned in next to her and swept the hair from her face. Shit! He wasn’t leaving. She moaned, terrified and sickened just thinking about what was going to happen to her next.

His eyes moved to hers as the ground vibrated with heavy footfalls. They weren’t alone. Oh god! There were more of them. Maybe she would get lucky and they would kill each other. She forced her gaze away from the terrifying man at her side and her heart stuttered in her chest.

The beast that approached was bigger than the dark one. Way meaner looking. He moved quicker than she thought possible. His eyes were a pale blue, the color of a glacier on a winter’s day and just as hard and cold. His features were set in a hard grimace. A shiver ran up her spine.

He didn’t even glance in their direction. Those hard orbs were fixed on the path ahead. He frowned, there was a look of determination edged onto his features. His ridiculously large hands were fisted at his sides. His arms were like massive tree trunks. They were corded and knotted with muscle. Her mouth fell open with the sheer shock of seeing a specimen like him. Thank god he didn’t seem interested.

Wait a minute!

That didn’t bode well for her. She needed them to hurt each other. To focus on one another and forget about her. Feeling was slowly coming back to her limbs. If given a few precious minutes, she might be able to crawl out of harms way. Her energy reserves were almost on empty, but she needed to try.

Another soft roar sounded from somewhere behind the pale eyed monster. Oh hell! There were more of them coming. Though the sound was coming from a distance, it was still unmistakable. There were a lot more of them out there. Her body shook with fatigue. Her teeth clattered. She ached all over. Candy was foolish to think that she could escape. She was fucked. Well and truly fucked.

* * *

T
orrent wanted
the dark haired beauty. It had nothing to do with her coloring. Such things were of little importance to him. He wanted a strong female. One capable of carrying his heir. He was the water king after all. A royal. The strongest of his kind. Nothing less than the best would do.

It needed to be that one. The dark haired one. A voluptuous female with a bit of meat on her bones. She was one such female. Even though they wore shapeless dresses, as was customary during the hunt, he could tell that she was the strongest of the humans.

Not that humans could be termed strong. They were small and fragile. He knew that this would change once they were mated. They would draw strength from their much stronger mate. They would grow even stronger as their bellies swelled with child.

An heir.

Adrenaline rushed through him and he had to suppress a growl. He could not wait to fully claim his future mate. The dark-haired one. The sturdy one. It was important to have a good foundation. The other two remaining humans were scrawny, little things. Especially the one with hair like the sun. Her arms were mere sticks. She lay sprawled on the ground like a drowned rat. He was shocked to see the fire prince tend to her. Torrent was convinced that they had been after the same female. He had seen how the male’s eyes had locked with the dark-haired one. He hadn’t looked in the least bit interested in this one until now.

Maybe the male had changed his mind. The sun-haired one did have an enticing scent. Maybe that was what had drawn Coal to her. It was fruity and exotic. She moaned, reminding him of her weakness. Coal pushed hair from her face. The male was going to claim her now if he hadn’t done so already.

Torrent suppressed a smile. He chose to focus on his prize instead. One second, he was on his way to claim the female and the next, he was biting the dirt… hard. It was an error in judgement that could end up costing him dearly. A lesser warrior roared in the distance. The female moaned again.

Torrent shook his head to try and clear it. His ears were ringing. His prize… he had to stay focused on his prize.

“The dark-haired one is mine,” Coal barked as Torrent leapt to his feet.

Like hell
. “I want her,” he growled. His ears still rang from the fall. His shoulder felt stiff and his jaw ached. Torrent was so irritated and frustrated with himself that he could roar. Anger coursed through him. Who did this little prick think he was? Unfortunately, they were evenly matched. The male was a fire dragon. That gave him the advantage. More heat energy coursed through a fire dragon’s veins, making it a simple fact. Fire versus water.

Torrent’s mind was reeling. He felt dizzy. The fall had been hard, as he was moving quickly. Coal had used his momentum against him. Fuck! Coal’s closed fist came at him from out of nowhere. There was nothing Torrent could do to avoid the blow completely. He took a step back to circumvent the worst of the force.

Torrent could hear footfalls behind them. It was of no concern to him. The approaching male would take the sun-haired female. It would buy him time to defeat the fire prince.

Perfect.

Torrent decided to give Coal one chance at surrender. “That female is mine,” he snarled, his eyes locked with the prince’s. “You may as well give up now. Take this one.” He said in the most commanding tone he could muster, his eyes stayed on Coal’s. A non royal would cower and drop to their knees. Coal flinched.

Good!

The little prick huffed out a breath. His shoulders slumped and any sign of fight fled from him. “Fine.” His gaze dropped to the downed female.

Good. At least he knew his place. Insolent little fucker. Torrent began to move towards his human. He had to stop himself from shaking his head. Coal might be fire but he was merely a prince and Torrent—a king. How easy the prick had allowed himself to…?

Torrent heard his trachea crunch beneath the male’s fist in a move he didn’t even see coming. Next, the male gripped his neck in what felt like a vice. There was only one prick in this situation. Torrent himself! What the fuck had he been thinking? He hadn’t. Not one bit. He had been too damned eager to win a human. Suddenly all those weeks he had abstained from sex seemed stupid. He’d convinced himself that it was in preparation for the hunt. His thinking had been that it would make him hone his skills and make him hungrier for a female, a mate. In the end, it had made him think with his little head instead of his big one. Make that, he hadn’t been thinking at all.