Everlasting Bad Boys (11 page)

Without another word, the princess left, and the queen let out a disgusted sigh and shook her head. “Honestly. These hatchlings today.”

She turned back to face Ailean and Shalin. “And as for you two—”

“My queen,” one of the Elders gestured to her and she went to him. The queen and the council whispered amongst themselves while Shalin snatched her arm out of Ailean’s grip and stepped away. She glared at him and didn’t seem to appreciate when he blew her a kiss and winked at her.

“I agree,” the queen finally said and turned to face them all. “I have one question for you, Shalin the Gold. Did you give yourself willingly to Ailean or did he have to seduce you into his bed?”

“What does that have to—”

“Answer me, dragoness.” Shalin gritted her teeth and the queen smiled, showing many rows of bright, white fangs. “You’ve already seen how I handle my daughter’s impudence. Do you really want to test me as well?”

Shalin glanced once at her father before looking away and answering, “Willingly.”

“I see. Then yes, we have no choice but to follow the law regarding this. Ailean the Blue has until the next full moon to mark you as his own. Shalin the Gold will stay on his territory until that time. If she is not marked by the full moon, Ailean, you must leave her be. Is that understood?”

Ailean nodded and he could see it in Shalin’s eyes. She had no intention of letting him mark her…ever.

“That being said, Shalin the Gold, Ailean can use anything in his, shall we say,
arsenal
to convince you to remain with him forever. Except, of course, violence or the threat of violence against you or your kin.” Suddenly Shalin’s father moved up behind the queen and whispered to her. She frowned in confusion and added, “Or against your…dog?” Shalin’s father whispered something else, “Or against your…horse?” The queen blinked and shook her head. “You have a dog and horse?”

Shalin nodded, her head down to hide the rage Ailean could feel like he could feel the cold wind whipping through a hole in the cave wall.

“As pets?” Shalin nodded again. “How…fascinating.” Although the queen sounded more disturbed by it than fascinated. “That is the decision of this council,” she walked back to her dais. “We wish you both good luck.” She smiled again, her rows of fangs twinkling from the light of the pitfire nearby. “I sense you’ll both need it.”

Livid beyond all reason, Shalin stormed to an exit that would take her from Devenallt Mountain. That’s where Ailean caught up with her, grabbing her arm and pulling her around.

She slammed her two front claws against his chest and pushed. Of course, she might as well have pushed the mountain instead, for all the good it did.

“I hate you, Ailean the Slag. I’ll always hate you and I’ll never be your mate!”

She tried to pull away, but he held fast. He swallowed and she saw him wince from the pain. She ignored the pang in her heart that ordered her to soothe him. To take him to a healer and help control the pain. She ruthlessly tamped that desire down as ruthlessly as she’d cut his throat in the first place.

“Shalin, wait.” His voice, always low, sounded like the hardest gravel and she knew each word caused him immeasurable pain. “Please.”

“No. I’ll come back to Kerezik as I’ve been ordered, but I’ll not stay in your bed or even in that blasted castle. But I’ll be on your territory until the full moon. Then I’ll be heading back to school, and I never want to see you again.”

She yanked her arm away and walked to the edge of the exit, ready to take flight.

“I’ll come for you, Shalin. I don’t care if you’re on my property or living in a desert cave in Alsandair. I’ll not give you up. You’re mine. I am yours. Face it.”

Shalin didn’t even turn around. “The only thing I have to face is that I’ll be paying for the foolishness of leaping into your well-used bed for decades to come.” With a sigh, she glanced at him over her shoulder and the look in his eyes nearly tore her heart from her chest. She ignored it. “Leave me be, Ailean,” she forced herself to say. “I’m sure there are thousands of females who’ll happily warm your bed. Someone more suited to you and your life—for it is not me.”

Shalin let her wings stretch out, but before she took off, she felt compelled to add, “And I wouldn’t shift to human anytime soon. You’ll only bleed to death if you do.”

Without another word or another glance back, she pushed off from the edge and headed back to Kerezik.

Ailean stood at the edge until his brothers arrived. Without bothering to look at them, he managed to ground out, “We need to find a healer.”

“I know,” Bideven answered. “My snout is still bleeding.”

Rolling his eyes, Ailean snapped, “Not for you, you big baby.”

“You really do love her, don’t you, brother?” Arranz asked, awe in his voice.

Ailean nodded rather than answering. With every spoken word, pain ripped through him.

Arranz grinned. “Then we’ll help you, Ailean. We’ll get you your dragoness.” Abruptly looking off, Arranz stroked his chin. “In fact…I think we should round up the entire clan.” When his brothers only stared at him, he shrugged. “Trust me, Ailean. We may be low-born Battle Dragons, but we’ll do whatever necessary to help one of our own. If you want that royal…you’ll get her.”

Ailean smiled, loving his brother more than he ever thought possible. He placed his hand on Arranz’s shoulder and Arranz did the same to him.

“If you two are done having this moment of brotherly bonding, I am possibly bleeding to death here.”

Ailean gave a small shrug at Arranz before using his tail to ram Bideven in the back, shoving the poor bleeding—and now screaming—bastard out of the cave.

He hit the side of Devenallt Mountain three times before he could catch flight.

“He’s going to get you for that,” Arranz warned.

“Perhaps,” Ailean said, ignoring the pain so he could get this out. “But it was so worth it.”

I
t started the first morning she woke up in that cave she found on Ailean’s territory. Big and roomy, she’d nearly crashed into it, immediately falling asleep in the first chamber she found. She’d been more exhausted than she realized and slept a good twenty hours. She awoke when something indescribably small and adorable nipped at her snout and climbed up onto her head.

He’d brought her the puppy.

A few hours later she found Nightmare in one of the caverns with lots of hay and water.

The next day books began to appear. All sorts of books. Many she’d read. Quite a few she hadn’t. She’d find piles of them in chambers, lined up against walls. Everywhere.

Then his kin came to visit. His aunts first, in teams of two or three.

“Just talk to him,” they’d say.

“You know you love him,” they’d accuse. “Why are you fighting this?”

Her favorite comment of the day? “I heard you were smart. You couldn’t be that smart.”

After the aunts, the uncles and male cousins arrived the following day. But they said very little and mostly brought flowers or cows before hastily leaving.

If only the same could be said of the female cousins. They came back and stayed for hours. They talked. They cajoled. They outright threatened. Except the twins. They never spoke to her and instead sat on the edge of the cave entrance sharpening their weapons. Every once in a while, they glared out over the land. Their silence hurt the most because Shalin had grown so fond of them. But unlike the rest of Ailean’s kin, they clearly had “not forgiven you for the whole slashing throat incident,” as Ailean’s Aunt Briaga put it.

By the fourth day, and as the full moon neared, they all stopped coming. Leaving her alone to fully realize exactly how much she missed Ailean. Gods, and she did miss him. With her very soul she missed him.

Determined not to focus on the acute ache in her heart, Shalin shifted to human later in the day and put on one of the dresses the aunts had left for her, since the cave could get quite chilly for human flesh. She groomed and fed Nightmare, appreciating the way he kept nuzzling her, trying to cheer her up.

Once done, she didn’t bother to shift back and instead walked to the cave entrance and sat down, her legs hanging over the edge. She stared out over the land. It was quiet. Not like the busy streets of Kyffin, where it was never quiet unless it was a religious holiday or a public execution was taking place.

Shalin didn’t know exactly when Ailean sat down beside her but she wasn’t really shocked.

“I’m surprised to find you as human, Shalin.”

She gave a little shrug. “It’s easier to tend Nightmare.”

Glancing at him, she saw that his wound had healed but it had left a nasty scar behind. Would take a decade or two for that one to fade.

“Are you all right out here? Need anything?”

Shalin couldn’t help but smile. “Hardly. I’ve had quite the influx of your kin stopping by with gifts.”

“Good. Madenn sent up some food for you as well. It’s cooked, though.”

“That’s fine,” she said casually, although she’d already scented the food and her mouth had begun to water. Nothing like fresh meat she’d torn open herself, but she’d learned to enjoy the herbs and seasonings the humans used to enhance their cooked meats and fish. She’d definitely begun to miss it.

Not that she’d ever admit that out loud.

“Thank you for bringing my puppy and Nightmare.”

“I had to.” He chuckled. “Big bastard wouldn’t eat and nearly stomped one of the stableboys when he tried to groom him. And the puppy whined incessantly when he couldn’t find you at evening meal.”

As if sensing they spoke of him, the puppy yipped and charged forward, but Ailean easily caught him before he slid right out of the cave. “You ever going to name this little one?” he asked as he placed him back on the floor and patted him back inside.

“Name him?”

“You have to name him, Shalin. We can’t keep calling him ‘puppy.’ Especially once he gets to be about two or three hundred pounds.”

Ailean slid his hand under hers, big fingers intertwining with her smaller ones.

“I’ve missed you, Shalin. I’ve missed you so very much.”

She closed her eyes, trying to block out the sound of his voice and the words. But she didn’t have the heart to shake his hand off. She liked how it felt against hers.

Ailean leaned in close and nuzzled her neck. “Let me stay the night, Shalin.”

“I—”

“I promise I won’t Claim you until you want me to.”

She snorted. “So sure I’ll want you to?”

“Not sure. Hopeful.”

He kissed a trail down her neck to her shoulder, tugging the dress down a bit so he could toy with the flesh beneath.

“If I let you stay,” she whispered, already losing the battle, “you know it won’t mean anything.”

Ailean reached around, sliding his hand into her hair and gripping the back of her head. He forced her to look at him. “We both know that’s a lie. But if it makes you feel better this night, I won’t argue.” His gaze traveled to her mouth. “Gods,” he moaned, “I’ve missed you, Shalin.”

Shalin opened her mouth to speak, to tell him to go before she lost any more of her heart to him, but before she could get the words out, he kissed her. And, as always, her human body nearly burst into flames from the passion of it.

She couldn’t fight him. Not when she’d missed him so much. So she released herself into that kiss. At least for the moment, she let go the anger and stubbornness and simply unleashed the desire she’d been bottling up for days.

Gods, he truly had missed her. Just the feel of her mouth on his or the way she pressed her body into his. Whether human or dragon, she always fit him perfectly. For days he’d been longing for her, following his kin’s dictate that the time wasn’t right. His aunts were insistent. “When a dragon pushes a dragoness, he ends up very lonely…and very bloody.”

Without prompting, Shalin straddled his waist, her knees on either side of him. She dug her hands into his hair and kissed him with as much need as his own.

Desperate and unable to wait, Ailean pulled the skirt of her simple peasant dress out of his way and entered her in one powerful thrust. He found her wet and hot, more than ready for him.

Shalin wrapped her arms around his shoulders, buried her nose in his neck, and it all felt so perfect. Ailean didn’t move. They simply held still like that.

When Shalin began to shyly kiss his neck and jaw, Ailean pulled back a bit to look at her. “Tell me what I did wrong.” When she only stared at him, he said again, “Tell me what I did wrong and I’ll do whatever necessary to make it right.”

Her gaze lowered until she seemed firmly focused on his neck and she admitted, “You didn’t listen to me. I’m ignored by everyone. I never thought I’d be ignored by you as well.”

“I didn’t ignore you.”

She gave an adorable little snort and looked away from him completely.

“I didn’t ignore you,” he said again. “But I was fighting for my life. For our future. I knew if I’d let you go, you wouldn’t come back.”

Those bright golden eyes suddenly locked on him and he could see the bitter anger in them. “Isn’t that my right? To choose my own lovers, my own mate? Or do you wish to control that, as Adienna does?”

“Don’t throw her at me, Shalin. That’s not fair and you know it. Don’t you see or are you so blind? I would have broken any law, destroyed any army, done
anything
to keep you as my own.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you so determined to ‘keep me’? Is it because I’m sweet and innocent like the puppy? Or solid and reliable like Dragon’s Gold? A good work horse to breed you sons?”

And it was at that very moment, before he could stop himself, that he laughed at her.

Snarling in outrage, Shalin tried to scramble out of his arms, but he grabbed her around the waist and kept her right on his lap and his cock.

“Oh, no, you don’t. You’ll not run away from me again until we’re done here. Until you hear everything I have to say.”

“Then say it and let me go.”

“Fine, then. You’re not sweet, Shalin. Oh, I know you fool everyone else into thinking you are, but I know better. And you? Like Dragon’s Gold? More like that beast you love sitting in his chamber plotting his next attack.”

She gasped in anger, but his grip merely tightened on her waist, holding her still.

“You’re just like him, you know. Just like Nightmare. Exactly. He, too, stands by appearing placid and mild. Then, when you get close enough to touch him, he proves how dangerous he truly is. Just like you. Nor can I call you a reliable work horse since I never see you actually working, lazy sow.”

“Ailean!”

“Anytime I look for you, I always find you in the library reading. I’m relatively certain three hundred years from now that’s exactly where I’ll find you still.” He chuckled again. “You’re the most dangerous kind of dragon, Shalin. Like the sand dragons, you blend into your environment and you wait. You wait until the very last second, until there’s no hope for escape or mercy, and then you strike.”

Shalin shook her head, confused. “If I’m so horrible—”

“I never said you were horrible. I said you were dangerous.”

“And a lazy sow!”

“You are a lazy sow,” he taunted back. “A spoiled royal, expecting everyone to serve
you
.” And he punctuated that “you” by slapping her ass…rather hard.

Startled into action, she reached for his face with fingers bent into human claws but Ailean easily caught her hands and forced them behind her back, laughing the entire time.

“You’re a bastard!” she hissed.

“A mad bastard, according to my kin.” He blinked and with false shock said, “Why, Shalin? You’re getting even wetter! Enjoy that slap, did you?”

She screamed and fought to pull her arms away.

“Gods,” he gasped. “Like a vice. You like a bit of a struggle too, I see. And,” he added before kissing her throat, “you like when I won’t let you go.”

“Lies,” she moaned, melting against him. “These are all lies.”

He moved up her throat, across her chin and cheek. He held her arms crossed behind her back but his fingers continued to stroke her skin, teasing her.

Ailean rocked up into her while he pulled her body down. Shalin threw her head back, the feel of him inside her nearly more than she could bear.

“Kiss me, Shalin,” Ailean panted. “Kiss me now.”

She looked at him then, but didn’t understand what she saw. What she knew he was trying to tell her with his expression alone. Yet even though she didn’t understand, she was still drawn to him as she’d never been drawn to another. And, she feared, as she never would be again.

Shalin kissed him and the power of it tore through them both. Holding her arms tighter, Ailean slammed her down as he pushed up, the rhythm of it bringing her to climax within seconds, her surprised screams disappearing into Ailean’s mouth. He groaned in absolute pleasure and kept going, kept taking her. She exploded a second time, reduced to nothing more than whimpers and soft mewling.

Finally, when she didn’t think she could take much more from him, he brought her down hard and held her in place as he climaxed inside her. His face buried against her neck, he groaned and gasped as his pleasure seemed to roll on and on, yanking her over the edge a final time. She nearly passed out from the intensity of it and could do nothing more than let her body go limp against his.

Ailean released his grip on her arms and Shalin brought them forward, too weak to do much of anything but drop them around his shoulders.

“Oiy,” he said softly. “Lazy sow.”

She knew she should be insulted but she was simply too tired to argue with him at the moment. “What?”

“There’s another reason I like to keep you around.”

“And that is?”

“I love you.”

Shalin tensed at the words, but Ailean’s hands rubbed her back, soothing her. “Sssh. No need to panic. I just wanted you to know everything for when you make your decision.

“I’ll stay the night,” he added.

Arms around him, Shalin laid her head against his shoulder and nodded.