Now they are both marked. Too bad there is still another arena to find...
If I had known that being claimed would feel this good, I would have done it the moment I realized that Merethyl was my mate. Or maybe it’s this good because we waited. Either way, it’s fucking incredible. Sex with Merethyl was the best of my life before she claimed me. But now that we’ve marked each other, it’s more than that. I can feel her emotions. They are stronger than I expected and mixed with mine, it's damn near exquisite. After she claims me, she takes me to her room and we curl up to sleep. I’m exhausted, having been in a fight with hunters, then flying while injured, then having to give Merethyl my strength while she battled Naremyn and finally, submitting to her and being marked by her. When I finally wake, I’m alone. I sit up, disoriented for a moment, but then, I hear her in my head. I could get used to that. Feeling things as deeply as dragons do, more deeply than any other supernatural and more deeply than any human could imagine, the thought of always having Mereth
Avani is gone for three days. This time, he made sure he had a number for me, so I knew that he had found Yhendorn. Or at least, he thinks it’s Yhendorn. I met with Ivasaar. He was a friend of my brother’s and he has supported me since my return. He is a good elf and will be a good leader if Yhendorn and I don’t return. I let him know that we think we’ve found Yhendorn and that he is in an arena. “Ivasaar, if Yhendorn and I don’t return, I want you to lead our people. You have a good heart and a strong mind. Those are good qualities for a leader.” “My Queen, let me go. You stay here and lead our people. You shouldn’t risk yourself.” He says to me. “What kind of Queen would I be if I sent you and stayed here, safe and sound.” I ask him. He smiles. “A typical royal, which is not you Merethyl and not a dragonrider.” “Avani will be here tomorrow, and then we’ll be going to get Yhendorn. I hope to have him back here in the couple of days, but if the worst happens…” “I will take care
After dropping Merethyl off, I race to the arena. Cedric has already dropped some bombs on this side. I roar as I reach down, grabbing the walls with my talons, ripping them apart. I see Kaylani on the other side of the arena using her water to wash the walls away. I roar again, dodging a harpoon then swinging back as a second harpoon whizzes past my other side. I’m trying to open the area beneath the arena where they have the shifters and other supernaturals caged so that I know that Merethyl won’t get buried alive. I haven’t found the right spot but I see the wolves racing out from the underground, pups in hand, so I know I'm close. Immediately Tana roars for Kenna to protect the pups as she heads toward a group of hunters. I check on Kaylani who is dodging her own harpoons and now some of the paralytic darts are being shot at her as well. Tana comes back without Cedric. He must be helping to fight the hunters so I leap into the center of the arena, roaring my anger, causing the w
The entire time we’ve been talking, Yhendorn hasn’t taken his eyes off Kenna. At first, I thought he was in awe of so many dragons, but then I realized, he’s only focusing on her. As we get ready to leave, he starts walking toward her. “Yhendorn?” I ask. “Be right back, Mere.” He says, walking up to Kenna. Avani comes up, nuzzling against my ear. “Looks like you’re not the only dragon rider in your family.” He says quietly, watching as Kenna growls, fire flickering from her mouth as Yhendorn just smiles at her. “Hey, Kenna.” She looks up at Avani. “You’re the one who told me how great it is to be claimed by your mate.” She roars her defiance as she leaps into the air, shifting and flying off. Yhendorn’s smile only gets wider as he watches her fly away from him. Cedric walks over to us as Yhendorn turns. “I understand that my daughter is a fully grown dragon, but in her human form, she’s still a child. As her father, I’ll kill anyone that tries to claim her this young. I don’t c
Over the next week, Merethyl makes sure to take care of me and Yhendorn. I swear in the first few days, every time she touches me she's pumping her healing power into me. I know it scared her to see me paralyzed and trapped. I wasn’t exactly a fan of it myself, but I’m not weak and I don’t like my mate feeling like she has to constantly push her power and strength into me. So, I finally did what any good, strong, powerful dragon would do. I reminded her of what it means to be claimed by a dragon, over and over until she got the hint that I’m completely healed. “Avani, I can’t take anymore.” She says. I nuzzle my nose against her ear. My body is still hovering over hers, my dick still deep inside her. I still have her head pinned to the ground, her ass still up in the air, but it’s my arm under her hips that is keeping it up. “You should have thought of that before you kept pushing your healing into me when you thought I wouldn’t notice.” I purr into her ear. I watch as her eyes go
I wake in a bed, naked and alone. My body is still tingling from the ridiculously intense orgasm Avani gave me. I look out the window and see that the sun is shining brightly. It was evening when we went into the forest to “talk”. That son of a bitch! I quickly get dressed, knowing he will have felt my anger through our bond, but he’s not getting away from me. I know he did this on purpose. I storm out of our room, stomping down the hall. Everyone who sees me moves out of my way. “Where is he? Where is he?” I shout to anyone listening. “I’m down here, my love.” He says in a sing-song voice that only adds to my anger. I stomp down the stairs and into the main area of the castle. I lock eyes on his smug face and I notice that everyone else in the room steps back and out of my way. But not him, oh no, not my dragon. “You! You arrogant, asshole of a dragon! You did that on purpose!” I say stomping up to him, curling my hands into fists, ready to beat on him, not that it will hurt hi
A week later, we’re outside discussing the need to guard the borders from hunters when I see a flash of red in the sky. I stop, looking up and a smile spreads across my face. Yhendorn was right. “What is it, Avani?” Merethyl asks me. I look at Yhendorn before looking at Mere, pulling her to me and putting her back against my chest. I wrap my arms around her stomach and lean down to her ear. “You’re my rider, so you should be able to see it. Your brother was right. Kenna is here.” I say, looking over at Yhendorn, whose eyes go wide. He immediately looks up, trying to spot his mate, but even with his elf vision, I doubt he’ll spot her. She’s made sure she’s high enough to be out of sight. I point to where I saw her scales glinting a moment ago. She might have moved, but I doubt it. She’ll be floating up there, watching Yhendorn and most likely me, showing Merethyl where she is. It takes a moment and then Merethyl sucks in a breath. “I see her.” “Where? Where is she?” Yhendorn asks
I was surprised when Avani said ‘we’ would find the Chief and kill him. I thought he was going to try and stash me away for the next six to seven months. Not that I would have allowed it, but he’s an arrogant, stubborn dragon, so I thought he would try. ‘I’m an arrogant, stubborn dragon who is mated to an intelligent, stubborn elf who wields her element in ways I don’t even know how to. Why would I ever consider trying to hide you away. I just don’t want anyone touching you. And, when you get closer to your due date, I will be stashing you away, you can bet on that.’ The arrogant dragon says in my head as we fly to wherever he’s taking me. I lay on his back, enjoying the fresh air and late afternoon sun as he flies. ‘Can I ask you something?” I say through our mind link. ‘You can ask me anything, always. But since I’m always in your head, listening to every thought you have, I already know what you want to ask me. The answer is, I haven’t contacted Zephyr because I didn’t want to u
After Enki was born, Merethyl and I spent one more week together, letting Merethyl readjust to the loss of dragon DNA in her system. I had noticed it after Gaia’s birth, but I’m noticing it even more now, her body is absorbing dragon DNA every time she gets pregnant. She still had some dragon tendencies after Gaia, and now, after delivering Enki, she has even more. Her ability to cdonnect to me mentally, sift through my memories and thoughts, is nearly as strong as mine. It doesn’t bother me that she has the abilities that she has, it’s more that I’m worried about the long term effect of her body taking on the dragon DNA. Once things are settled with this assassin, I'll be taking her to visit the doctor. When we get back to the elf lands, I know I can’t stay long. I’ve been out of the hunt for two months and Ancalagon is still missing. But, when we arrive and my little girl, now nearly 8 months old, comes toddling out of the castle, her arms raised to me, I refuse to leave without sp
Four months later We still haven’t found Ancalagon. I’ve searched with Avani periodically, but between our daughter needing her mother and my belly starting to grow with our son, I’ve stayed home more than I’ve gone out with him. A few months ago, Ishir started finding shifters that had been murdered. At first, it was a rare occurrence, one in the first month. We assumed that it was some sort of lucky hunter kill. Then there were three more in the month after that, then more. Lately, it feels like Avani and Ishir are finding a dead shifter or supernatural every few days. Not only that, but the ones they are finding now are apex predators or leaders of their supernatural groups. Avani had told me that they had found a high priestess of a coven along with a very powerful warlock. Avani has refused to allow me to leave the pack lands in the last month and has asked Kenna and Bajaro to guard us. Kenna is happy to stay here. She wants to protect her mate, even though Yhendorn doesn’t lik
Being loved and cared for by my mate goes a long way to making me feel better. I’m still distraught, still angry that I can’t find my son, but at least now I feel like I have the strength to start again. I fly Merethyl to Cedric’s pack lands. I already knew that Zephyr wouldn’t be here. She hasn’t stopped and unlike me, she doesn’t have a rider to care for her. I know Mere thinks that Ishir is her mate, but without being claimed, the draw to her son, the need to protect him, will be stronger than the draw to her mate. When we arrive, I pull Mere into my lap. She is all that is keeping me sane, having to be here, listening to this when I should be out searching for my son. I know this meeting is important, but I’m struggling with this feeling of helplessness and weakness. ‘You’re not weak,’ Mere says in my mind. ‘Or helpless, and they may be able to help us. It’s good that we’re here.’ Kaylani begins telling us that the most recent dragons that they have found are hybrids, all of th
Zephyr told us that she had left Ancalagon with the mountain goat shifters, while she went into town. She was oddly vague about where she was or why she was gone, but it doesn’t matter. Ancalagon should have been safe. He’s nearly a year old now. When she had returned, Zephyr said she could smell death and the paralytic. The hunters had killed all the goats and paralyzed Ancalagon so they could take him. Zephyr had been frantically searching for a day, when she finally gave her dragon’s call, knowing she needed help. We began searching immediately, Avani tearing apart every hunter’s lair and laboratory that we could find. He had contacted Ishir to get more intel, but he wasn’t able to tell us much. He gave us a few more laboratories, but most of them had been destroyed when Kaylani, Cedric and Ishir had hunted them down, rescuing the dragons. I had to split my time, hunting for Ancalagon and taking care of my newborn. I love my time with Gaia, but I worry about my mate every moment
I walk Merethyl to the stage that is set up for the event. As his only living relative, she will be leading the coronation ceremony for Yhendorn. She looks gorgeous as always, but dressed as she is right now, the royal blood in her is much more obvious. She was meant to be a queen. I’m just the lucky dragon that gets to claim her as MY queen. She stands beside Yhendorn, who also looks regal in his dress robes. Merethyl begins speaking in elvish. I don’t understand the words, but I understand the intent as I sift through her mind and feel the words she’s speaking. A peace settles over the people, an acceptance of their new King. I look out over the elves, watching as they begin to sing and chant in Elvish. I look behind us at where Kenna is laying, being here for her mate in her dragon form. The air around us begins to feel magical and I look over at Bajaro. She’s holding Gaia and I swear, my daughter looks like she’s paying attention. Maybe she is, both Mere and I have the earth as
After Avani dropped me and Gaia off on the mountain and went to get me some clothes, it wasn’t long before I hear an eagle’s call. I look up to see Shiv and it’s only a moment later when I hear Bajaro in her hyena form and Kayid in his fox form yipping as they run up the side of the mountain. As soon as she gets to the top, Bajaro shifts and walks toward me. “Please tell me you’re going to let me hold that little one.” I walk to her, putting Gaia into her arms. She immediately starts to purr, gently rubbing her face over Gaia’s. “Bajaro, meet Gaia,” I say, stroking my daughter’s hair. “She’s beautiful. She smells like you and the earth dragon,” Bajaro says quietly. I can tell that Avani was right. She will want to be a surrogate mother to Gaia and will protect our daughter with her life. “Speaking of the earth dragon, where is he?” Kayid asks. “He went to get me some clothes.” I say, watching as Bajaro begins humming a strange tune that I’ve never heard. It’s a gentle but hauntin
We stay in our cave for another week after Gaia is born. We carefully take her out every day, making sure she has fresh air. Merethyl lays her in the grass and then will use her element to grow flowers around her. My mate is back to normal now. As much as I loved having her desire for me run as deeply as mine does for her, there’s a reason she’s my mate. I need the balance that she gives me. So, I'm glad she's back to normal again. “We need to head back to the elf lands, love,” I tell her. “I know. I’m just enjoying this time, with only the three of us. But Yhendorn has waited long enough to take over as king and it’s time to introduce our daughter to my family and to your son.” “I wanted to discuss something with you before we return,” I tell her. “What’s that?” “You know that the Chief’s son is still out there. I need to help hunt him now that you’re back to your normal self. I don’t know how you feel about me leaving…” “No! I won’t let you go alone. What if something happened
I love being in our cave of treasures. I can feel the metals singing to me, calling to me. I feel their differences, their density and weight making their song different. The gemstones also have their own feel to them. I’ve found a couple that I like, that seem to speak to me louder than the others. But mostly, I love having my mate here with me. I can’t get enough of him. There will never be enough of him. He is everything, the world is nothing without him, my mind, my body, my soul are incomplete, empty without his touch, his caress, his presence in my mind. I’m just starting to wake when I feel the first pain. I look down, my stomach large and swollen. As I watch, I see the muscles in my stomach contract, sending another shooting pain up my side. I look around. Avani isn’t here. Our child, I need to protect our child. I rub my stomach, cooing at our daughter. I can feel her mental presence in my body. She is agitated and irritable. She wants out. “Not yet, baby girl,” I coo at h
The scent of evergreen and cinnamon fills my nose. I’m so drawn to the scent that I try to burrow myself deeper into the warmth where the scent is emanating. I hear voices, men’s voices, speaking around me. There’s a deep rumbling sound and it reverberates in my body, making me hum. Then I hear a female voice. My eyes flash open and I snarl. “MINE!” I snap at the beautiful woman that is standing too close to my mate. That’s who I smell, who I feel inside me, in my mind, in my soul. My mate. I feel him begin to purr behind me and my body calms, relaxing back against him. His hand touches my face, moving the hair away from me. I lean back against him, rubbing myself against him. “Merethyl, do you know where you are?” “With you, my mate, my love, my life.” “Yes, you are with me. Do you know where WE are?” I open my eyes again and the beautiful woman is still here. I growl at her. “I don’t want your mate, Merethyl. I’m here to help you. Do you know who I am?” “The water dragon.”