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  “I loved her like I had loved no other. My entire life to that point had been spent avoiding contact with humans and honing my power. But I found her on the road, alone and scared. Her family had been killed by goblins and she was alone. I approached her in human form and offered my assistance. She readily accepted it and I brought her back to my lair at the time. She wanted to know what kind of man lived in a cave and I immediately revealed myself to her. She was not scared; no, she was intrigued. It was the first time I had ever lain with a human and I enjoyed it. I kept her around and eventually I began to call her my wife. We never had a formal ceremony, but she knew it as well as I did. Over time she began to grow old while I retained the look I have now. Her skin grew paper thin, her veins protruded from it and her eyesight began to leave her. Her once beautiful, creamy skin was now wrinkled and her once flowing blonde hair, much like yours, was now gray and thin.”

  Mara couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she still waited for him. She reminded herself to breathe and exhaled deeply. He turned back to her, his eyes red and stung with tears. Mara could feel her own tears welling up as she looked at the great and powerful dragon now looking so vulnerable. He was baring it all to Mara and all she could do was sit there and watch.

  “Eventually her mind started to slip. She started to forget who I was. She thought she was in a cave she used to play in as a child. Then one day her life force slipped out as she looked at me and asked, ‘What is your name again, dear?’” Alek was now visibly shaking as he walked back to the table where she sat. He balled his fists up and covered his eyes as his body began to shake. Mara finally couldn’t hold back anymore and she rushed to his side, wrapping her arms around his lean waist and holding him tight.

  “It’s okay, Alek,” she whispered. “I’m here.”

  “But for how long?” he said. “Do you know what it’s like to have someone you’ve given your heart to forget you? Do you? It’s the one thing in my life I’m sure I’ll never forget. When I found you and rescued you from your husband, I had similar feelings that reminded me of that day seven hundred years ago. I knew I had to keep you at an arm’s distance. Besides, it had been so long since I had treated a human as anything more than a servant and I knew that you would not take to my personality anyway. It all combined for me to keep you away, but then I started noticing you. Your beautiful eyes, your luscious curves, your wonderful breasts and the way you stood up to me. I knew I had to get away from you when the winter ended, but here I am with you not wanting to leave ever again.”

  “I don’t want you to leave, Alek,” she whispered, kissing him on the arm. It was the only part of his body she could reach from where she stood. He was just so tall and so statuesque. She was blown away that he would have feelings for a girl like her.

  “But you have a husband,” he protested. “I know humans take their marital vows seriously.”

  “Some do and some don’t,” Mara said.

  “Do you?”

  “I have to be honest with you now,” Mara said, stepping away from him.

  Alek wiped his eyes clean and then plopped down into his chair before grabbing Mara’s arm and pulling her down into his lap. He put one large hand on the small of her back while resting the other on her leg. For the first time in her life Mara felt small as the giant man held her.

  “Tell me,” he said. “I have told you my story.”

  “I’m not married to Val,” she admitted. She closed her eyes and expected a string of curse words and anger to explode out of Alek’s mouth. Instead, he sat there expectantly, waiting for her to finish the story.

  “Go on,” he said softly.

  “I was promised to him by my father,” she said. “I didn’t have any problem with it, though. He came to my village for the express purpose of slaying you. He asked my father for a guide to take him through the mountains. My father offered him many of the men in town but he demanded me. I was so blown away by the fact that a handsome knight from Atherny would want me to be his bride that I didn’t see the absurdity in the fact that he had turned down some of our best hunters and trackers. They know the land like they know their own bodies. Still, I went with him.”

  Alek was sitting back now, nodding along with her story as if he had anticipated every word she said to him.

  “It became pretty apparent that he didn’t need me when we started going through the forest. Instead, he used me like a pack mule and forced me to carry sticks for him. He wasn’t nice to me, not by a long shot. He spent most of the time putting me down and calling me stupid.”

  When she said that Alek shifted in his seat and let out a long, deep sigh of disapproval. His sad eyes were now replaced by ones of fire and war.

  “After that he came after me,” she said.

  “Came after you?”

  “Yes,” she said, remembering the horror she had felt as Val spread her legs. “He tried to force himself on me, Alek. He tried to rape me.”

  Alek’s sigh of disapproval now had more venom and rage behind it. He was even beginning to shake as she spoke. “Did he succeed?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head quickly. “We were stopped by a goblin attack. It was terrible, Alek. He destroyed them so easily, like they were children challenging a giant. A goblin got close to me and injured me with his dagger. That’s how I got the wound you had to save me from. Val didn’t care. He didn’t do anything to stop the bleeding or mend the wound. Instead, he marched me right up the mountain and told me he was going to use me as bait to lure you out so he could kill you. God knows what he would have done if he had been successful in ending your life.”

  Alek slid Mara off his lap and stood, putting one hand on her shoulder as he looked down at her. She could see how much he cared for her by the way he looked at her, but at the same time she could see the anger and hatred in his eyes.

  “I will not leave this lair to kill any humans in the spring except for one,” he declared. “Val Woodshadow will die by my hand for ever daring to harm my wife. He has started a fight he cannot finish and as a result his life is forfeit. From now on you will join me in my bed chamber. I will see you there. I must do some reading now.”

  Mara stood, completely stunned as he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead before turning to exit the room. Val was finally going to get what was coming to him, something he had deserved for a long time.

  “Wait a minute,” she said to the empty room. “Did he say wife?”

  Was that how Alek viewed her? She had ascended to a position in life she had never thought she would ever find herself in: wife to a great and powerful ancient dragon.

  Her father was either going to be proud or mortified.

  TAMING THE DRAGON PART 3

  Chapter 16

  It had been a whirlwind week for Mara. Her relationship with her great dragon captor, Alek, had grown to something beyond companionship. First it had grown sexual and now it had grown to something that Mara could have never dreamed. Alek had called her his wife and declared she would move to his bed chamber and no longer perform the duties of a maid. She was relieved not to have to clean anymore, but still wasn’t sure what being a dragon’s wife entailed. There certainly wasn’t a manual in Alek’s library on this.

  The night she gathered her few paltry personal belongings from the maids’ chamber was awkward. She was afraid the other maids would be jealous and look at her with spite and hatred. As she bent beside the bed she tried not to look at them even though she felt their eyes burning a hole through the back of her head.

  It’s not my fault, she thought. I didn’t seduce Alek. He liked me from the moment he saw me. He bared his soul to me. That means something, right? It’s not all about sex.

  She looked down at what she held: a brown dress, a pair of brown slippers and a small book of parchment she wrote notes in. It was the easiest move she’d ever made. Certainly easier than the time her father had switched the upstairs bedroom for the downstairs bedroom with her because of the leg injury
he’d sustained while he was hunting. That had been a nightmare move.

  As she stood up she sighed, realizing she had to turn and face the other maids to leave the room. Spinning slowly, she gave each a weak smile as she headed for the door.

  “Do you need any help, mistress?” Raylene asked, rushing forward to try to take the things out of her hands.

  “I’m okay, Raylene,” she said, feeling embarrassed.

  “Well, if you need anything, mistress, just ask,” Raylene said, giving her the widest, warmest smile she’d ever seen the old battle-axe produce.

  “We’re always here to help, mistress,” petite and dark Priya said, stepping up beside Raylene. “Just make sure to pile your clothes by the door and we’ll wash them for you.”

  “I think I can manage,” Mara said, still unable to meet their eyes.

  “Nonsense,” Abigail said, chiming in. “You don’t have to do any of that. That’s what we’re here for, mistress.”

  “Why do you keep calling me ‘mistress’?” Mara said, finally looking up at each of their eyes. She was afraid they were mocking her, but now looking into their eyes she saw nothing but sincerity.

  “Because you’re with the master now,” Raylene said. “That makes you our mistress.”

  “But I’m one of you.”

  “Not anymore,” Raylene said. The other two nodded furiously in agreement. “You’ve ascended to a spot we can only dream of. You’re married to the master. That’s nothing to sneeze at.”

  “You mean you’re not mad at me?” Mara asked.

  “Of course not!” Raylene said. When she shook her head the fat on her face and what neck she had jiggled. Mara made a mental note to never let herself go that badly. “We’re happy for you. And we’re happy to serve the master and his needs as always!”

  “The master loves you,” Priya said. “We love the master. So anyone he loves we love!”

  “I see,” Mara said. “I will see you ladies later. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”

  “We’re not worried at all dear, I mean mistress,” Raylene said, reaching over to pat her on the back with one large hand.

  Mara turned to walk out, still feeling uneasy about her relationship with the maids. It was human nature to be jealous of those above you. Mara didn’t feel above anyone, but it was obvious the maids viewed her that way. Surely they had to be thinking, “Why not me?”

  Alek must have gone straight to them after he left the dinner chamber, she thought. It was the only way they would have already been informed about the way he felt about her. Did he say he loves me? Do dragons feel love or just fierce protectiveness?

  Mara spent the next week fearing the maids would turn on her at any moment, but they were as nice and sweet as anyone could be. Her days were spent conversing with Alek in his chamber, reading books in his library, writing on her parchment and walking around the chambers offering to help the maids and being turned down.

  Her nights were spent sexually pleasing Alek and allowing him to please her. The first night they spent in their chamber together he had told her he wanted to use his powerful tongue on her to bring her to orgasm. She had denied him, telling him she was embarrassed to have her sex in his face like that, but he had insisted. What followed was the most glorious orgasm she had ever felt. His tongue moved as if it was independent of the rest of him. The twists and turns it took over her clit while his fingers hammered into her brought her to the edge in no time and then sent her completely over when he pulled her wet bulb into his mouth and began to suck furiously while his tongue still swirled just inside his mouth.

  He’d seemed pleased with himself, but she had to roll over in embarrassment when he took the fingers that had been inside of her and stuck them completely into his mouth, slowly sucking her juices off of them as he removed them from his mouth.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Did you not enjoy my mouth?”

  “No,” she said, still rolled over and looking at the wall. “It was amazing. Believe me.”

  “Then why do you look away from me?”

  “Because of what you just did.”

  “What did I just do?”

  “You… This is embarrassing to say, Alek.”

  “You can say whatever you want to me, Mara. Please, tell me.”

  She rolled back over and looked him squarely in the eyes. “You just sucked my orgasm off your fingers.”

  “You were putting those juices onto my fingers the minute you became aroused,” he said matter-of-factly. No topic of conversation seemed to embarrass him. He could just as easily talk about sex or killing someone brutally as he could about the weather. Even though she had spent over a month serving him, at this point, she still wasn’t used to his blunt nature. Apparently, dragons didn’t feel embarrassment and they didn’t have any tact. Usually whatever came to their minds came out.

  “I suppose that’s true,” Mara said, understanding how moist she had become the moment he started touching her. “But did you have to lick it off your fingers?”

  “Why does this embarrass you?”

  “It just seems so naughty,” she said. “So gross.”

  “It’s not gross at all. As a matter of fact, you taste wonderful. I was just pleasing you with my tongue, so I tasted all of your juices then. I was merely getting the last taste from my fingers.”

  His candor made Mara blush as she looked away from him again. He was right, she couldn’t argue with his logic, but it was still the first time a man had ever done something like that to her.

  Everything you do with him is the first time a man has done anything like that to you, she thought.

  “Would you like to join me in my treasure hoard tomorrow?” Alek asked.

  “To do what?”

  “To count my treasure, of course,” he answered. He loved to throw “of course” onto the ends of his sentences when he felt she shouldn’t question him. It was a small verbal cue that she was beginning to pick up on, but she was getting better at it. From talking with other women in the village she had known that this was part of the dance that was marriage. It was shocking that Alek was already so good at the dance when he hadn’t been around a woman romantically in seven hundred years.

  “I’d like that,” she answered. In all truthfulness counting coins sounded dull as hell, but she wanted to please Alek.

  “Then let’s get some sleep so we can do it bright and early.”

  Before Mara could respond, Alek blew out the bedside candle and passed clean out. Luckily her own dreams didn’t take long to follow.

  The next morning she woke up to find Alek standing beside the bed, completely nude and stretching. As he stretched, she noticed the skin on his back ripple as it shifted slightly to white scales before going back to human skin.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked, about to jump out of bed.

  “What was what?” he asked, turning to cock an eyebrow at her.

  “The skin on your back! It changed to scales before turning back to skin! Is that normal?”

  “I am a dragon,” Alek said. “This is merely a form I take.”

  Mara looked away, feeling a little queasy. It was easy to forget that Alek wasn’t human when they were alone together. He certainly looked human and for the most part he acted like it, although his personality was one of a man who had accomplished everything and anything he wanted and knew it. Still, she hadn’t expected to see his dragon rippling through his body like that. It was another thing she would have to get used to if she were to stay with him.

  If, she thought. Like I have a choice.

  Strangely, as the thought ran through her head she realized she didn’t care if she had a choice. The only place she wanted to be was with Alek. He seemed to care for her, he’d always protect her, he had all the riches in the world, the sex was amazing and Val would never be able to harm her again. If only she could see her father, though.

  “I will meet you outside the chambers,” Alek said, heading for the door as
his skin shimmered and then shifted into the robe he always wore.

  In a few short minutes Mara was out the door and standing beside Alek, wearing her plain brown dress.

  “What is that?” he asked.

  “My dress.”

  “That’s a maid’s dress.”

  “It’s the only dress I have besides the one you gave me for dinner.”

  “I will have Raylene sew you a new one.”

  “I can sew my own,” Mara protested. “Of course, I have a bunch of dresses at home too.”

  Alek didn’t even acknowledge the last few words that came from her mouth; instead, he turned and began to head down the hallway towards his treasure chamber. She sighed and followed, realizing she wasn’t going to make any headway on the home front anytime soon, but she wouldn’t give up on it.

  Chapter 17

  Alek reminded her of a child showing a friend his favorite toy for the first time. As she walked between mountains of gold and gems he darted quickly between each pile, pointing out various trinkets and treasures that caught his eye.

  She laughed and smiled as he went back and forth, realizing that this was something he was truly proud of. She’d always heard legends about dragons and their massive treasure reserves, but she had never known it was something they loved so much. She just figured it was some innate desire inside a dragon to gather a treasure hoard, but Alek was truly happy as he moved amongst the piles of treasure.

  “You have so much,” she said, picking up a handful of coins and letting them slide through her fingers. They made a satisfying metallic sound as they bounced off one another upon impact with the ground. “You must have more treasure than the entire kingdom of Atherny.”

  “Of course I do,” Alek said, putting one foot up on a chest of silver. “I have more than any mortal man. I have been collecting treasure for centuries.”

  “Your books speak of specific artifacts,” Mara said. “You seem to go on your spring adventures to find these artifacts. Where are they?”