I've chosen my mate and so has my eagle. I can no longer fight that he's the one. Seeing Ashrac with the kids melted my heart and changed something deep inside me. Ashrac caring about the humans and trying to make their lives better blew my world apart.He's about to do it again.His body against mine is firm, powerful, and incredibly sexy. His muscles ripple beneath my touch. I'm barely able to think and what I'm thinking is that I should tell him I've never done this before. Then, he releases my mouth and his lips travel down my body, kissing every inch of flesh along the way. I stop thinking at all and just feel. His tongue circles my bellybutton before dipping inside. I actually giggle over the sensation. My fingers go to his glorious hair and I pull slightly to make him stop. His head comes up and he's grinning. There are also flames dancing in his eyes and all I can think of is sensual fire.He lowers his mouth back to my flesh and continues on his merry way. Flames lick at my
My eyes peel open to sunshine. I'm in Ashrac's room, in his bed, and he isn't. I look around and still no Ashrac. I stretch my arms and I'm about to rise from the bed when a shadow passes in front of the window from the balcony. Dragonbreath went for a flight without me. We'll be discussing this after he comes back to bed and welcomes the new day with me like he should have.The dragon's shadow shifts to a smaller human than Ashrac and before I can put together what human it is, Jewel pops her head in the window. She looks at me questioningly. I pull the cover over my bare breasts that were perky and waiting for my mate. "Come in," I say because what else can I do? The strange expression on her face isn't what I'm expecting, and for a moment I wonder if I should have read more into her friendship with Ashrac.She sits on the end of the bed and continues staring at me."Is there something you need?" I ask.She gives a small smile that in no way reaches her eyes. "Ashrac sent me to g
"I'm Acasia." She gestures behind her. "This is Bastian. We're very pleased to meet you. We just didn't expect you after what Jewel told us."I drop her hand and interlock my fingers in front of me so maybe I won't strangle her son in front of her. "I didn't expect to be here either," I reply honestly."Mother."We all turn to Ashrac."I'm in the middle of a kidnapping here and it would be better if we had this conversation another time. I haven't gotten to the having my wicked way with her part yet."My elbow slips and lands directly in his ribs. My cheeks burn. Boiling oil's too good for the ratfink.His father steps closer, his expression filled with concern and more than a touch of anger. "Flora, I will take you back to Earth if you wish to return."A loud rumbling growl leaves Ashrac's throat. "She is my mate, Father. No one will be taking her anywhere but me."Bastian's eyebrows arch. I'm guessing Ashrac doesn't usually speak to his parents this way. Decisions, decisions.
PART ONEHera's CurseOne hundred thousand years I curse your kindEach century you will findOne human woman, not your mateThis curse is now your fateI looked at Hera, my mother, goddess of marriage. She stood covered in blood, her anger burned, uncaring that she'd killed so many. "Mother, you've had your vengeance, you must not curse the ones who remain for a hundred thousand years."A crack of lightning, followed by a boom of thunder, lit up the skies. "After what Drakon did to your sister, you still have sympathy for their kind?"Her voice cut like ice and her words left me ashamed. I too could never forgive him, but for his deeds, the dragons suffered almost complete annihilation and only four males remained. "Not him, but the others, yes. I have no understanding why Eileithyia loved him, but the female dragons had nothing to do with it. They were innocent, mother.""No dragon is innocent and Drakon should have kept to his own kind. He killed my daughter and his breth
I noticed two things at once. Cold stone beneath my body that has me shivering and a loud clicking noise that irritates me to death.Click. Click. Click.My foggy brain quickly noticed something else.The smell. It's bad.Putrid, death. It was horrible and I couldn't figure out why I hadn't noticed it immediately.Click. Click. Click.There it goes again, argh. I wiped my hair from my face and nose wishing I'd left the strands to filter the odor. The smell fully entered my nostrils, almost knocking me over. Hell, I was lying down so that wasn't true. Puke. That was it, I needed to puke.Click. Click. Click.What the hell? The noise rang through my aching head. I made it to my knees and forearms. Maybe I could avoid some of my vomit. My stomach rumbled, intestines rebelling. I spewed. Oh god, the smell of putrid wine mixed with the odor of death landed between my hands, splattering my skin and the white gown that hung from my body sweeping the floor.Click. Click. Click."Oh,
I stood there for quite some time wondering what the hell just happened. It took me a while to examine my surroundings because I kept thinking he would return. Stone spiral stairs circled inside the tower walls and stopped at an arched exit I could barely see. The tower rose higher still, but to access the columns, wings were required. I walked around the carcasses. Breathing deeply made me nauseous again so I tried using shallow breaths. I took the first steps of hundreds of stairs and began climbing.Soon, my breath was coming in heavy gasps. I stopped to rest and looked over the side. The bottom of the tower was nothing but a large circle littered with bones of partially eaten animals. Nothing looked human, which I was thankful for. I may have thrown myself over the side if something other than dead animals were below. Maybe he swallowed humans whole.I began my climb again and reached the arch about twenty minutes later. A giant platform hung over the tower past the stairs. I ass
She wasn't like Bethanne. She didn't cringe from me or cry. My new bride was fearless, or maybe crazy. I'd actually laughed when she threatened to puke on me again. She didn't know it was a laugh, which I was grateful for. But nonetheless, I threw back my head, bellowing like a fool. I believe it's been hundreds of years since a bride entertained me so much on the first day I'd claimed her.This one was different, and if I didn't guard my heart, it would break again. I couldn't live through that pain. But, gods, I was lonely.Acasia. I said the name in my mind. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman. Her hair was so blonde it was almost silver. Her tiny body reminded me of a pixie. Her face, delicate with small features, made her blue eyes seem larger and almost disproportioned. But it worked, making her even more desirable. I'd felt her as I flew nearer to the claiming field. The pull toward this one human woman. My mind zeroed in on hers. It was always like that. One stood out... o
Cursed female. I paced in my chamber. She slept in the adjoining room, put asleep with magic because I needed time to think. She'd tried to kill herself. Never in all the years of claiming my brides had one tried taking her life.It shook me to my core.One hundred years before another companion and she would take herself from me.I'd waited what seemed like eternity since Bethanne's passing. This female, who I almost didn't claim, would leave me within hours of coming to my kingdom. And on top of that, she'd struck me. Damaged her hand while trying to hurt me. Death was not an option for her, not yet. She would live at least another fifty years and keep me company. Entertain me. Make me laugh.I looked around my chamber. I could chain her in these rooms with some of my treasures. But I knew in my heart the restrictions would slowly kill her. I'd learned from former brides that human females needed some freedom. After they settled into their life with me, I took them with me to oth
"I'm Acasia." She gestures behind her. "This is Bastian. We're very pleased to meet you. We just didn't expect you after what Jewel told us."I drop her hand and interlock my fingers in front of me so maybe I won't strangle her son in front of her. "I didn't expect to be here either," I reply honestly."Mother."We all turn to Ashrac."I'm in the middle of a kidnapping here and it would be better if we had this conversation another time. I haven't gotten to the having my wicked way with her part yet."My elbow slips and lands directly in his ribs. My cheeks burn. Boiling oil's too good for the ratfink.His father steps closer, his expression filled with concern and more than a touch of anger. "Flora, I will take you back to Earth if you wish to return."A loud rumbling growl leaves Ashrac's throat. "She is my mate, Father. No one will be taking her anywhere but me."Bastian's eyebrows arch. I'm guessing Ashrac doesn't usually speak to his parents this way. Decisions, decisions.
My eyes peel open to sunshine. I'm in Ashrac's room, in his bed, and he isn't. I look around and still no Ashrac. I stretch my arms and I'm about to rise from the bed when a shadow passes in front of the window from the balcony. Dragonbreath went for a flight without me. We'll be discussing this after he comes back to bed and welcomes the new day with me like he should have.The dragon's shadow shifts to a smaller human than Ashrac and before I can put together what human it is, Jewel pops her head in the window. She looks at me questioningly. I pull the cover over my bare breasts that were perky and waiting for my mate. "Come in," I say because what else can I do? The strange expression on her face isn't what I'm expecting, and for a moment I wonder if I should have read more into her friendship with Ashrac.She sits on the end of the bed and continues staring at me."Is there something you need?" I ask.She gives a small smile that in no way reaches her eyes. "Ashrac sent me to g
I've chosen my mate and so has my eagle. I can no longer fight that he's the one. Seeing Ashrac with the kids melted my heart and changed something deep inside me. Ashrac caring about the humans and trying to make their lives better blew my world apart.He's about to do it again.His body against mine is firm, powerful, and incredibly sexy. His muscles ripple beneath my touch. I'm barely able to think and what I'm thinking is that I should tell him I've never done this before. Then, he releases my mouth and his lips travel down my body, kissing every inch of flesh along the way. I stop thinking at all and just feel. His tongue circles my bellybutton before dipping inside. I actually giggle over the sensation. My fingers go to his glorious hair and I pull slightly to make him stop. His head comes up and he's grinning. There are also flames dancing in his eyes and all I can think of is sensual fire.He lowers his mouth back to my flesh and continues on his merry way. Flames lick at my
A light bulb went off in my brain at the table. It was the strangest feeling. The bulb then exploded into a million shards and sent an electrical current throughout my body. The feeling's been described to me many times, but I had no idea how instantly my world would change.Flora is my mate.My mind knows and my body knows. It no longer matters what her clothes hide. It no longer matters that she turned me green or that she hasn't told me about being an eagle shifter.She's mine.I have no idea how or why it happened, but it did and nothing will stand between me and this woman. No mountains or dragons or Goddesses.Flora follows us as we walk to the lab. The kids don't bother shifting to fly because she's here and they have no idea she has her own wings. I'm actually proud that they're considering her feelings. We enter the lab and I walk over to my latest experiment. The electrical circuit is within a plastic shield made up of melted cell phone glass. I have cell phone batteries
Botan gives me sad eyes and says, "Something smells really good and I'm a very hungry growing dragon."Cute is not a good enough word. I like this little guy."No," Ashrac says with a frustrated look. "Your mother will expect you home."Inside my head I'm calculating how much more food I need to make. "Okay," I say aloud, "I'm not cooking this alone so if you help, you can eat with us."Cheers go up at the same time Ashrac raises his hands in defeat. "It's on you," he says to me. "They'll eat me out of house and home and leave a huge mess behind."Kettle, black? "Why don't you run off to your little lab? We'll handle dinner.""Fine." He spins and marches off grumbling."Botan and Rotan, you're in charge of setting the table. Drayce, Ejder, I need you peeling potatoes. Zara and Zora you're backup and will be doing what's required to get this meal on the table. Right now I need more meat and potatoes brought up from the cellar."The kids hop to it and we have a meal for six growi
I slog into a dense part of forest and remove my sopping clothes. I tie them into a small wet package that I can carry in my beak. My shifting powers are different than conventional shifters because I need words to start the process. I whisper the sacred words in my head that my mother taught me and her mother taught her. The world goes from blurry to crystal clear. In human form, without my glasses, I can see for miles if the view is unobstructed. Close up is another matter; all eagle shifters are far sighted when in human form. Shifting to eagle brings everything into focus."Stupid dragon," I mumble in my head as I scoop up the bundle and fly out of the tree line. I can't help turning and flying over the lake. There he is deep in the water bathing, thank the goddess. At least when he flies me back to my realm he won't smell like a dirty old shoe.I don't think about what I'm doing, it just kind of happens. He plunges his soapy head into the water and I swoop back around. My gooey
She's been hiding from me. Now that I've seen her eyes I know there's more. Taking her to the lake to bathe is the only way I can think to see her naked body and decide for myself if she's worthy of mating a red dragon. I catch sight of myself in the lake as we fly over; Flora is riding in the saddle. Maybe the green will wash off.She's right about bathing, though. I do smell. I would say it's not a normal condition, but when I'm engrossed in a project, I forget about everything, including food and especially bathing. My mother still smacks me upside the head when she visits and I'm filthy. She also feeds me.Flora has no fear of being on my back. She's an eagle and I'm still flummoxed that I didn't know she was a shifter. I sensed her magic from the beginning but there are so many kinds. From precognition to witchcraft to vampires and weres it just never occurred to me that she could shift. Our children would be double shifters and could choose which form to take. Not that they wou
He's consuming me-his mouth, his touch, his very presence. The world around us stops revolving, or at least it feels that way. It's as if I've been waiting for his lips my entire life. They're firm where mine are soft. I consume right back. He plays with my mouth and I realize he understands the finer finesse of kissing. Who would have guessed that an egotistical megalomaniac would take the time to learn to kiss a woman properly? He explores my lips like they're an exotic treasure. When he bites my bottom lip, I open for him and he accepts my invitation. His tongue twirls and parries with mine. His head moves slightly and he pulls me closer to deepen the kiss. I swear my brain rolls out of my head, across the floor, and out the door.There's something else going on too. His incredible body, which is now fully pressed against mine, burns a trail of fire everywhere we touch. My hands go to his forearms and they're as big as my thighs but not soft at all. He's pure corded muscle with ama
I haven't provided any and maybe that's what this woman is upset about. Interesting. I'll have to think more on it. Without the glasses, she's passably pretty. Maybe if I could see her entire body, she would be a lot more interesting.Bowls hit the small side table off the kitchen. Eating in this room should be done by servants, which I don't have, so I guess I can lower myself to eating in the kitchen as long as the woman will be here too. Flora, that's her name. She might like it if I called her by her name."Flora," I say louder than I intended to. She jumps and turns in my direction. "Does it bother you if I eat like this?" I make a motion with my hands to show her I mean my naked body. Her eyes go straight to my big green appendage that isn't at its most attractive at the moment even with its great size. She keeps staring until I startle her again. "You like it?"Her eyes snap to mine and her face goes from yellow to red in mere seconds. "It's, um, very nice as far as green pen