Accidental Mates: Draco
By Brenda Steele

Published by Amira Press at Smashwords
www.amirapress.com

Copyright © May 2008, Brenda Steele
Cover art by Brenda Steele © May 2008

ISBN: 978-1-934475-76-8

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Prologue

They herded us into the room like cattle—pretty cattle, all of us decked in our complimentary dresses paired with the spikiest of heels. Whatever shoe accented long, shapely legs to the highest degree. Our hair and makeup had been handled by the finest of stylists, all so that we could be put on display for an arrogant group of dragon shape-shifters. Well, the other women were. As I teetered along, twisting my ankle with every other step, I have to admit I gaped at the men just like every other single woman did. They were all well above six feet, with bodies cut to such perfection that the human men who had been stopped at the door would have thrown temper tantrums and cried like little girls had they laid eyes on the Drelconians.
My eyes feasted on the six lords, called true bloods—bringing the thought of dogs to my mind—who sat on thronelike chairs before us. While I gawked to my fill, I wondered where they had even gotten the ornate furniture. In the months since the aliens had been on Earth, my precious government officials had agreed unanimously to trade the Drelconians our women to be their baby breeders in exchange for desperately needed fuel. How considerate of them.
Yet, as I glanced around, the eager faces of the young women didn’t surprise me. Any normal woman would jump at the chance to get horizontal with these men. No man on Earth could possibly measure up.
“I didn’t volunteer for this, Harmony,” Arnetta, my sister, whispered in my ear. Her fingernails were digging into my hand because she held on so tightly. Even being inches from her, I could feel her trembling.
Arnetta was a sweet, lighthearted girl. Unfortunately, she was also extremely beautiful. The agents who were selecting potential brides for the lords were adamant that she come when they came to our house. I had been just as insistent that she wasn’t going anywhere without me. After all, I had been her guardian for all of her twenty-three years, and that wasn’t changing because some beasts had landed on Earth with a need to mate.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ll take care of it. You won’t get chosen.” I may have sounded confident, but I was far from feeling it, even with thirteen hundred girls spanned out over the rooms of this mansion that some thoughtful jerk had offered for the occasion.
We were arranged in rows, shoulder to shoulder. The lords didn’t leave their seats. Men who stood at their elbows stepped down from the platform to march along the rows of women. At a woman here, a girl there, the lord would nod and the guard encouraged the girl to step forward. Still, the high-and-mighty retained their positions.
I sneered. “Too good to step down here and meet us face to face? Why the hell are our bodies good enough?”
A guard paused at my words, which, in my agitation, I’d spoken a little too loudly. I swallowed but didn’t meet his gaze, which was far above my head. Even at five-feet-ten-and-a-half, he dwarfed me. “You?”
I knew what he was thinking. Staring straight ahead at the silver buttons lining his uniform, I fell silent and did not budge. He shrugged and moved on to Arnetta. In a rare show of boldness, she spoke up to the man in front of her. “Why don’t they come down here?”
In the instant that she spoke, he seemed mesmerized by her. I groaned. Don’t draw attention to yourself!
The guard smiled, and when he spoke, he was gentler toward Arnetta. That was always how it was with men around her. I disappeared; she glowed. “The lords can see you as clearly as if you were inches from them.” His chest, already as broad as a barrel, swelled. “Drelconians have excellent eyesight.”
“Oh.” Arnetta’s tiny response could not have been cuter. I sighed.
The guard reached up to touch her cheek. In that instant, my knife tip was pointed at his navel. “Unless you want to die right here . . .”
From the corner of my eye, I saw that one of the lords stood, and a hush fell over the crowd. Damn!
The guard’s hand fell to his side. He bowed his head in acknowledgement of the man drawing up to his side. “My lord.”
I thought I would be reprimanded for daring to threaten one of his people, but he passed slowly by me. For a second, his muscled body blocked me from the rest of his people, giving me time to secure my weapon in the hidden holster at my side.
From the moment I set eyes on him, I couldn’t tear my gaze away, but he didn’t know I existed. Tanned skin, ripped muscles, he wore two strips of royal blue material over his shoulders, leaving his delicious chest bare. Genie-type pants graced his hips and black boots covered his feet. He gave my fantasies substance in all the right ways, but here he was speaking with my sister. Her beauty had once again made me pale into invisibility.
“Ladon,” the Drelconian lord called to his guard, “I have selected my bride.”
“No!” I knew my cry was not just in protection of my sister from something she didn’t want, but a protest for the jealousy that burned in my heart.


Chapter One

Clamping my knife between my teeth while scrubbing my hands along my pants legs, I was mesmerized by the rivulets of water rolling down his back. His skin was taut, body carved with a master’s hand with no outward signs indicated that he was a dragon. Or rather a dragon-shifter. For the moment, my mission was forgotten, caught up as I was in the rippling muscles, the tapered waist, those firm buttocks. Turn! Let me see the most interesting part.
He soaped his back, whipping the single ebony braid over a shoulder in the process. Visions of kneading the shoulder blades, licking the beads of moisture found there ran through my mind. Wetness pooled in my panties, and the temporary genetic enhancements were a distraction when my nipples tightened in response to this alien.
Somehow, I tore my gaze from his naked form to check my watch. Six hours until the physical changes I’d undergone would wear off and I’d be back to my plain old self. If I was going to kill this man, I needed to do it now so I would still have time to make a quick escape from the alien settlement.
From the moment I set eyes on him, I knew my plan of seduction was a lost cause. I mean, who was I kidding? Looking as good as technology could make me didn’t change who I was inside. One hundred percent, kick a guy’s ass in a heartbeat rather than charm what I wanted from him. That had been my M.O. for thirty-three years, and it wasn’t changing now.
Shifting my knife to my left hand, I tiptoed nearer to my target. From a distance of several feet, his male aroma had my senses reeling. I paused only long enough to stiffen my resolve before continuing toward him. The frieze carpet muffled my steps enough for me to make it to the bathroom door, which stood open.
I was still longing for him to turn around so I could eyeball the goods, but his back was more to my purpose. This man would not be allowed to touch my sister, not now, not ever. 
As I readied for a swift strike, he stilled, sniffing the air. The once-rich tan shimmered with gold, altering from a human’s skin tone to that of the shutters or the tiles. At the same moment I realized I was in trouble, he was on me, lifting me in the air by my neck and pressing me against the wall.
His teeth, all long and jagged, snapped together like a steel trap, while yellow and black eyes set my heart to hammering in my chest. Slowly, he lowered me back down to the floor, and moved so close the hardness of his erection teased my belly. “What are you doing here?”
“I . . .” Come on, Harmony, don’t let this reptile scare you . . . Or make you come! “I’m here to kill you,” I stated as firmly as my quaking body would allow.
“Is that so?” He adjusted his position, so that his cock was now between my legs. His teeth reformed to that of a human’s, even and sparkling white. The predatory look in his eyes receded. I had to apply all of my will not to wrap my legs around his waist and beg him to plunge his long, thick tool inside me.
I cleared my throat a few times, but words failed to form on my lips. The beast’s gaze descended down and up over my body coming to a stop at my full breasts. Only now was I regretting the decision to use his people’s genetic altering abilities to make my breasts bigger. Slipping into the low-cut blouse had seemed like a good idea at the time, but I was more used to trashy jeans and an oversized tee. A flat chest, a flatter rear, and no hips to speak of were my norm. As I’d seen it at the time, I had no choice. The Drelconian lord would rue the day he bartered for my sister, and after I finished with him, so would our faithless government who thought it was okay to trade her for fuel.
Having found my backbone again, I straightened, only slightly trembling at the unyielding pole between my legs. “Yes, that’s so!”
Without a second thought, I plunged my knife into his gut, drove it deep, and twisted. I gaped when he didn’t so much as wince. He unhooked my fingers from my trusted weapon and placed my hands above my head. Fascinated, I watched his body pushed the knife out and the open wound closed with only a small spot of blood to show for my pains.
The Drelconian shifted his hips forward and back. His cock slid firm against my pussy, making me long for my slacks to dissolve to give him better access. I moaned with pleasure through gritted teeth.
He leaned in to nibble at my earlobe, then trailed the tip of his tongue along the raging pulse at my throat. After a brief kiss there, he whispered, “Now that your plan has failed, what else did you have in mind?”
Fire raced over me, and I was teetering on an orgasm just that quick. Rumor had it that the Drelconians were excellent lovers. Obviously, judging from the naked man in front of me, they were well-endowed. Yet, how could I dare entertain the thought of hopping into bed with one upon sight?
I had six hours until my carriage became a pumpkin. Arnetta, naturally beautiful, was at home waiting to know if I had been successful, and I was still undecided about my boyfriend, with whom I’d just broken it off with for the millionth time that morning.
To be sure we were on the same page, I said, “You’re offering me meaningless sex.”
He grinned. “Never meaningless.” 
To demonstrate, he covered my mouth with his, sticking his tongue inside. My mind told me not to moan and suck, eagerly tasting the warm goodness he offered, but I didn’t listen. I arched my back so that my tight nipples brushed his chest. His hold on my wrists loosened, and I broke free, grabbed his head, and pulled him closer. Too soon, he drew back. “Well?”
I shook my head. “You’re engaged to my si . . . I mean you’re engaged to a human. Your laws don’t allow for dallying around at this time, especially with the risk of wasting your precious seed.”
“You are correct. If we are caught, you will be put to death while I will marry the human woman to save my race from extinction.”


Chapter Two

As if his cryptic remark was nothing more than a comment on the weather, the man gave me another of his knee-weakening smiles. “My name is Draco, and yours?”
I inched out from between him and the wall and shuffled toward the window I’d entered through earlier. If I couldn’t stab him, I’d need to return home and rethink my plans. Perhaps hiding my sister would work. The dragon-shifter who had a thing for her might be willing to help. Every day we had to put up with this alien race made me wonder how the humans came to the point of needing to give up women for the leaders of these people in exchange for something we should not have consumed in the first place. The whole situation burned me up.
Out on the balcony, with the evening air stirring my hair, I prepared to climb to the roof to scale the wall surrounding the settlement. Four years of gymnastics had served me well, and I had never let the skill slip.
Draco followed at a leisurely pace. I frowned seeing him. The man was too damn comfortable in the nude. Of course, if I were honest with myself, I would admit that I wanted him bad.
“Probably not the best choice to go up there at the moment.” 
“Why’s that?”
He indicated with a lift of his chin for me to look over my shoulder. Thirty or so feet in the air were two dragons circling. The pain in my chest at the sight had me clenching the railing. 
“Oh no.”
Draco unhooked my fingers to place himself between me and the dragons in the sky. Broad, craggy wings crackled from his back and spread, effectively cutting off their vision of the balcony. “Get inside,” he barked. 
I considered ignoring the command, but another peek into the darkness above, and I remembered their ways. The Drelconians normally were not a tolerant people when it came to their laws. They were, first, ancient dragons, some well over four hundred years in age. When a plague hit their people, wiping out most of them and leaving the females few and barren, the pure bloods set out to find mates. Imagine their excitement at stumbling upon Earth dying in its own way from a lack of fuel. When a girl can’t power her cell phone or check her e-mail without fuel credits, she has a real problem.
I spun away from him and hurried inside. Pacing back and forth, I bit my thumbnail. “What are they doing out there? I didn’t see them earlier. Only five and a half hours to go.” When Draco entered the room, having tucked away his wings, I rounded on him. “Put some clothes on, damn it!”
He chuckled. “You don’t like what you see?”
Against my better judgment, I swept a glance over him. The man was perfection, pale blue eyes; full lips, a strong jawline; long, black hair; and a body made for me. Harmony, get control of yourself. No, he was made for anyone other than my sister . . . or me, for that matter. I shrugged. “I think we both know how much I like what I see, but that doesn’t change the fact that I must get out of here now.”
Draco seemed untroubled by my predicament, or maybe he was diverted by it. He strolled across to a small table at the side of his bed, poured two tumblers of blue-green liquid, and offered one to me. “So, you are Arnetta’s sister.”
Having tossed back the entire contents of the glass, I choked at his words. “Wha—How did you know?”
He swallowed before answering. “Two and two. Besides, I am one of six lords contracted to marry a human woman. I’ve not seen my bride-to-be more than an instant, but I do remember her name.” He crossed the space between us in two strides and took my chin in his hand. I poked out my rear to keep from being impaled. The amusement in his eyes was plain. “You look nothing like her.”
I yanked free and turned away. “I’m plainer. She got all the looks.” I shrugged.
“You’re kidding. Luscious hair, luscious figure . . . Wait, tell me you didn’t have alterations done. That’s what you meant about having five hours left. The genetic changes are temporary. Who helped you?”
I heard the warning in his tone. “So you can kill him?”
“So he can be reprimanded. We do not kill our own.”
“No, but you are willing to kill humans!” I rounded on him and planted my fists on my hips. “Forcing my little sister to marry you will kill her. Choose someone else.”
“Why should I? As I said, she’s quite beautiful.”
“Bastard! There’s a planet full of women eager to mate with you animals,” I screamed.
His eyes narrowed. “Be careful of what you say, Harmony.”
“You already know my name.” Fear rose again in me. I couldn’t stab him, so what was there left? The dragons wouldn’t share how to kill one of their own. That would be foolish, giving my people an advantage. Right now, they held all the cards.
“I made it my business to know everything about my bride and her family.”
I chewed the inside of my bottom lip, scouring my mind for anything to use as a bargaining chip. Nothing presented itself. “Choose another woman,” I pleaded.
He reached out, grasped my hips, and pulled me close. The man was still as hard as a rock. With steel resolve, I resisted climbing on for a ride. Draco kissed my forehead. “New deal. Within my rights, I can release my bride-to-be and choose another.”
Hope sprang up within me.
“I give you my word that I will choose another and release Arnetta if you will spend the next five hours in my bed.”


Chapter Three

I gave him a look fierce enough to burn the lust right out of his mind, and hopefully consume mine with it. “Sleep with a Drelconian? You must be joking.” I moved to the sliding glass doors and peeked out the curtains Draco had drawn. The enemy was still flying. As I watched, they seemed to keep dipping toward my location, scaring the crap out me. Something someone said reminded me that the dragons could pick up scents for more than thirty miles away.
Draco’s warm breath tickled my neck. He slid his hands from my hips to my waist, then glided his fingertips along my stomach to my breasts. Before I knew what I had planned, I leaned back into him. His hands glided around to stroke my aching buds. When I glanced up from his shoulder, he covered my mouth in a searing kiss.
Button after button came undone on my blouse as I held his head in place, twirling my tongue deeper into his warmth. My mind told me stop now before it was too late, but my body was egging on his probing fingers. Finally, I broke the connection and pressed against the cool glass in front of me. “I have to go.”
“Stay.”
“I’m not selling my body to free my sister,” I snapped. “There are other ways.”
He turned me to face him and flipped open the two sides of my blouse, apparently enjoying the pink pushup bra I had borrowed from Arnetta at the last second. My new D cups looked ready to spill over the top to his delight. “Yum.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t get excited. They’re fake.”
The tender look in his eyes had me almost collapsing to the floor. We were virtual strangers, so that had to be an illusion. When I caught my balance—and my breath since he wrapped an arm about my waist to hold me up—I glanced again into his eyes to find only naked lust.
“The creamy smoothness of your skin is real, and I’m willing to bet it tastes sweet.” Draco reached for the clasp on my bra, but I brushed his hand away. “Come on, sweetheart. You want this as much as I do.”
“I have a boyfriend,” I blurted out.
“You broke it off.”
I scowled at him. Nosy jerk. Does he have someone spying on us?
He shrugged and turned to walk over toward the bed. I watched his firm rear. A man shouldn’t look that good. It wasn’t natural. Then again, he was half dragon. “What do your women think of you going off to find baby makers?”
Flopping on the bed and leaning back on his elbows, he chuckled. I was mesmerized by the pole tempting me. Who was I kidding, I could lick this man like a lollipop, and having sex with him couldn’t hurt anything. I mean they had all been tested and found to be non-threatening health wise. Surely a few hours in the sack couldn’t hurt. Harmony James had never shrank from adventure, nor had she let fear hold her back.
I marched over and took hold of his cock. An immediate moan escaped his lips. Boldly staring into his eyes, I stroked him up and down. He was so long, my mouth was watering. I dropped to my knees to give him a swipe of my tongue. “Keep your promise.”
When I would have swallowed as many inches of his cock as I could, he eased me back and lifted my chin. “I certainly will, and for your information, Drelconian women understand their place. The men make the decisions. The women follow without argument.”
I burst out laughing. “Good luck with your human woman.”
His eyes narrowed. He hoisted me up onto the bed and settled over me so that I couldn’t move. The yellow and black resurfaced in his eyes. “Do not mock what you don’t understand.” A low hum vibrated in his throat. His teeth sharpened enough to bite clean through my bra clasp.
My breasts bare before him and heaving in my nervousness, I turned away. “Stop. Change back, change back!”
The tone stopped. He kissed my neck. “Harmony, I would never hurt you.”
When I opened my eyes, he was back to normal, the tender look present in his gaze again.
“Come, I will please your body like it’s never been before. Then afterward, we can talk about the Drelconians.”
Draco didn’t give me the chance to answer. He stripped off the rest of my clothing. Just watching him study my naked body catapulted me into the next galaxy. With the tip of his tongue, he tasted every curve as if to prove his theory of my flavor. He trailed kisses down my neck to the soft swell of one breast. With obvious expertise, he sucked my nipple deep into his mouth, and shocks of intense delight shot down to between my legs. One moment, he flicked his tongue over my tips, and the next, he blew on them until I fluttered on the brim of an orgasm.
He immersed his fingers into my dewy wetness. I seized his wrist while hooking one of my legs over his and rotated my hips upward toward his slow stroke. “Draco,” I puffed. “I shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“Are you crazy?” I gripped his hand tighter. Our rhythm was in perfect accord as I gyrated harder. My climax was building. To turn back now was impossible. “Oh yes, make me come now!”
Draco stroked harder and faster. His thumb worked my clit in unison with his thrusts. I screamed. My lover bit my nipple just at the moment my channel flooded with my juices, a bliss that begged for tears.
He grinned. “More?”
“Hell yes!”
I shoved him until he was on his back and I was straddling him. While I yearned for him to be as rooted in my pussy as I could get him, I was determined to do to him what he’d just done to me.


Chapter Four

If a man’s body could be a meal, Draco was all a starving woman needed. I traced the contours of his sculpted chest with the tip of my tongue. Sucking at the rigid flat peaks of his nipples made him growl in that strange way he’d done earlier, this time more sensual. I craved to stroke his shaft, but held back, wanting to drive him to the edge first.
“Lower,” he commanded when I delayed.
I paused long enough to grin up at him. “Human, remember?”
“Come, Harmony, you want to taste my flow as much as I want you to,” he coaxed. He wasn’t lying. Just the words had me panting. Still I resisted. Something told me his kind loved dominating their women, but I was just as strong minded as he, and knowing I was in charge was an extra turn-on. For now.
Following the narrow path of short black hair, I kissed along his defined abs and delighted in the salty flavor of his skin. When my cheek brushed against his arousal, neither I nor he could hold out any longer. Inch by thick tight inch, I slid him deep into my throat, sucking hard before pulling back to tease his bulbous tip with my tongue. My eyelids drifted closed as I savored his shaft while stroking his balls.
“You’ll make me come quickly doing that.”
His voice was ragged, and he sounded desperate. I planted a kiss and then drew back. “That’s the idea.”
“Maybe I should bury myself inside you now, before I explode.” His eyes flashed dangerously dark and then back to normal.
“Rob me of my meal? Never!” Bold, I switched my position to crouching between his thighs. Cruelly, I raked my nails down the taut flesh of his legs and then leaned down and nipped his thigh. Draco gasped, lifting his hips toward my mouth.
“I am not used to this,” he muttered.
I laughed. “Are you a virgin then? Maybe I should go slower. I don’t want to frighten you.”
Again the flashing in the eyes. His mouth compressed in a straight line. I flicked up an eyebrow, waiting for my answer. Finally, he spoke, his voice tight with annoyance. “I assure you, I am not a virgin. Were you a Drelconian, I would show you just how rough, yet pleasurable lovemaking can be.”
“Don’t hold back on my account.”
Rather than being atingle at my touch, he seemed angry. My experience with his kind may have been limited, but a man was a man no matter what part of the universe he was from. He didn’t appreciate me being in control. My thoughts were confirmed when he dislodged himself from my mouth and yanked me up and over him until I was flat on my back, with him wedged between my legs.
“Wait,” I grumbled. “I wasn’t done.”
“You are now.” 
Before I could protest anymore, he hooked one of my legs over his arm, slid down my body, and delved his tongue into my pussy. Griping further was pointless because my body had taken over, my hips coming up off the mattress when his tongue pierced my folds to lave my aching clit. His lips closed over the little nub, sucking and flicking until my climax built like a frenzied bonfire. I hooked onto Draco’s ears and pinned him in place until the sensations raged through my channel and my cream thoroughly soaked his chin.
He raised his head to level a triumphant look at me, then climbed higher. With his face above mine, his shaft ticking my belly, my insatiable body ignited once again, ready for the next stage. My lover still hadn’t come, and it seemed only fair that I indulge his need as he had me twice.
“Let me taste you, Draco,” I begged.
He hesitated, although he seemed pleased at me saying his name. “Later, possibly in the shower. I have visions of interesting positions for you there.”
My eyes widened. “Oh.”
Draco traced a hand down over my belly, teased the dark curls at my apex until a tremor rippled over my thighs. When he entered my moist cavern, I screamed. Draco clapped a hand across my mouth, and I grabbed hold of his arm while I drove up to meet his glorious thrusts.
I wanted to roll him over to ride to my heart’s content, but he pinned my hands at my sides. My moment of control was over. Draco, the ultimate leader, had seized the reins and was grinding himself as far as possible into my pussy. The man hadn’t been lying when he claimed a Drelconian’s lovemaking was rough, but even through the ache, I never wanted it to end.
He released my wrists and reached down to cushion my rear as he gyrated deeper. The slow stroke in and out had me panting one minute and crying out his name the next. Draco pulled back, using the tip of his cock to toy with my clit, spreading my cream, tantalizing me until I lost all sense of time and space. My orgasm came to a head, causing me to plunge my hand between us, grab hold of him and bury him inside me. I arched my hips higher just when my climax exploded. Draco covered my lips to mute my scream, but his own cry soon followed when his warm flow filled me. We shuddered together, clinging in a tense embrace until the sensations eased.


Chapter Five

Draco slid off me and rested his hand across my belly. The fire in his eyes told me he was all ready for round two. I opened my mouth to beg for a few more minutes when a hammering started at the door. We froze, staring into each other’s eyes. My heart seemed to instantly match the cadence of the knocker’s rap. I could not be found there in Draco’s room.
At the call, “My lord!” we sprung apart, and I landed on the floor on my hands and knees, then gathered my discarded clothing. Draco rolled to the table beside his bed, at the same time affecting a groggy voice. “The hell? It’s late and I was sleeping!”
While slipping into my slacks, I peeked over my shoulder to see Draco rattle the blue-green bottle. He continued to mumble and then purposely smashed the bottle then spewed curses. I watched mystified as he tossed the Drelconian alcohol over his body. A flame ignited in his mouth. I nearly cried out thinking he’d kill himself.
He mouthed, “Dragon.”
Finally, it hit me. Drelconians were after all dragons. He was fireproof. They were also gifted with a keen sense of smell. With Draco feasting in my hot box and us sweating all over each other, my scent must permeate every pore of his body. What better way to disguise it than to burn it away and to cover it with alcohol? Clever.
Dressed, I stuffed my feet into my shoes and made for the balcony door. Draco delayed long enough for me to inch open the sliding glass and squeeze through to the outside. In seconds, I had hoisted myself onto the rail and then leaped to grab hold of the roof’s edge.
Had I looked before I leaped, I would have spotted the two dragons from earlier still circling in the air. A roar followed by the unmistakable reverberation of wings beating the air prompted me to race across the rooftop, springing from one to another. Only six lords, but building after building filled with support staff stood between me and the safety of the road outside the settlement.
The high wall came into sight, an eyesore if ever I’d seen one. We had all been assured the Drelconians had insisted the barrier be erected to clearly define the land they had been allotted, not that they weren’t happy to entertain humans or to keep secrets. Never mind that if I was caught, I’d be put to death. I was in affect outside the United States, although I was smack dab in the middle of the High Desert.
At the edge of the last building, my breath coming in short spurts, I sprinted and jumped at the edge of the building out over the wall. Just before the crossover, claws hooked under my arms and dragged me back. My heart seemed to skid to a halt in my chest when I realized one of the dragons was flying me back the way I’d come, to the open area amid the buildings. Twisting and beating at the creature’s hold did no good. He held on, hurtling me toward my fate.

* * * *

“Attempted murder! That’s absurd,” I screamed at the official bringing accusations against me without a trial. “I’m an American citizen, and I demand to have a lawyer. For that matter, I demand to be taken outside to my own country’s territory. You cannot hold me here.”
A rumble began in the man’s throat. He was as tall and well-developed in body as Draco and the rest of the dragon lords. His eyes flashed yellow with black slits similar to Draco’s when he was angry. The grey hair on his head shimmered like someone had aimed a flashlight across it for an instant. I backed away from him, although I couldn’t move far as I was chained around my ankles and wrists. Just what did they think I could do to them?
“You forget that times have changed suddenly with the desperation of our two peoples, Ms. James. Your people’s need and ours have necessitated that conversion. What you do not comprehend is that my people will not tolerate a threat to our purebloods. The weapon found on you is evidence enough of your intentions.”
I could pretend that I was not ready to hyperventilate, but in truth, I was terrified. My time with Draco had been incredible, and something in me longed for him to come and rescue me, but the bastard remained curiously absent from the room full of accusing men. Worse, although they hadn’t said so yet, I knew the fact that my temporary enhancements having worn off made me look even guiltier. Why else would I get the improvements except to lure a lord to his death?
“To show that we are a fair people, the evidence will be presented to your leaders, but I’m confident this situation will be handled to the satisfaction of Drelconian law.” The man turned away and marched from the room, followed by all the others. I was left alone to wallow in self-pity over my predicament.
My wallowing didn’t last long. The guard who had a thing for Arnetta, the same man who had instigated my enhancements, entered the room. I tugged at my loose-fitting blouse, remembering how he had had to handle me. I could imagine my cheeks were red.
“I’ll just bet they’re not going to do anything to you for your help in all this!” I railed.
He put a finger to his lips. “Shh, I am sorry, Harmony, but don’t worry. I will get you out of this.” He hesitated, looking back over his shoulder as if he heard something. Not hearing a sound, I glanced over my shoulder too, but no sound reached my ears. He continued. “You . . . and Arnetta will go away. I’d rather not see her again than to have her end up as my lord’s wife. To look at her every day, knowing that every night—”
“Okay, okay. I get it.” My irritation at the mental picture he drew was more for my not wanting to picture Draco with any other woman than for Arnetta’s happiness. The knowledge after so short an association pissed me off. “Well, get me out of these chains. Hurry!”


Chapter Six

Arnetta and I were on our own, hidden in a city of millions. Neither of us had ever visited New York, but the bustling metropolis was something to behold even if we didn’t have a decent roof over our heads and dragons on our trail.
I stumbled off a smelly, old subway car, hefted my backpack into a more comfortable position, and looked around to be sure Arnetta followed. “Come on, Netta, it’s getting late and we’ve got to find some place to sleep before it gets dark. We need as much time as possible to shop around. Our money won’t last forever.”
My sister fell from the car as if someone had shoved her. When she glanced back, I almost laughed. Had our situation not been so dire, I would have. As it was, the cross-country trip had been grueling. My stomach had been upset the entire time, and while Arnetta had stared out the train window enjoying the view of our great land, I had spent my time curled over a toilet bowl.
We marched up from the depths of the Earth to the street and, in an instant, were sucked in among the throng of people rushing to their destinations. The scents of food cooking coupled with the overpowering odor of an unwashed body somewhere nearby had me doubling over and leaning against a wall for support.
Arnetta patted my back. “I’m not sure we can do this, Harmony. You’ve been sick the entire trip, and how will we stay ahead of the Drelconians? They can hunt us like bloodhounds.”
“Keep your voice down,” I snapped. When my spinning head settled somewhat, I scanned the crowd. Some cast curious looks our way, but no one seemed to pay us too much attention. The dragons would be looking, and since they could hide among the humans, we had to be extra careful. “That amulet you’re toying with,” I nodded toward the emeraldlike jewel hanging from Arnetta’s neck. “It disrupts their sense of smell. They’ll have a more difficult time tracking us.”
Arnetta frowned. “That’s ridiculous. An amulet disrupting a dragon’s sense of smell? What are you going to tell me next, that it was dug up from some ancient burial site on the Drelconian’s home planet?”
I stood there staring at her, too stunned to tell her to stop drawing attention to us.
“Oh yes, and just to make it really interesting for them, the Drelconian’s brought such a stone with them to Earth knowing it adversely affects them, right? Just for our use when we need to get away?” She laughed at her own sarcasm.
When a young couple stopped to listen to Arnetta’s theorizing, I straightened, hooked my arm in hers and dragged her across the street to the park. We didn’t stop walking until the trees seemed to close around us and I spotted a bench to rest on. I dropped onto the bench and slipped my pack around to my lap. As I counted and recounted our limited funds, I explained our situation. “The jewel is not some chip of kryptonite, Netta. Your guard explained to me while you were taking our precious time gathering clothes, that they mine the gem to use for fuel. Unfortunately, the side effect bugs the hell out of their noses. Bad for them, good for us.”
I would have continued if my stomach hadn’t chosen that moment to go psycho. Again! The pain was so intense, I burst out crying and collapsed to the ground. My vision blurred, and the world dipped and spun around me until I had to squeeze my eyes closed. “Netta, something’s wrong with me.”

* * * *

When I came to, I was bundled under thin blankets inside a miniscule room that probably took too much of the last of Arnetta’s and my money. I tried sitting up, but someone pushed me back again.
“Lie still, Harmony.”
I gasped. “Ladon, what are you doing here?”
“Arnetta called me. Don’t be angry with her. She had no choice.” Concern etched his handsome face, and he swept his gaze over me, although I was hidden beneath the covers. I had the feeling he was avoiding telling me something.
“Am I dying?” The pain in my stomach had lessened, but still I felt like I could hurl at any moment. “What’s going on? Just spit it out.”
He strolled away from me with his hands clasped behind his back. Like Draco—whom I missed, although I shouldn’t, considering our intimacy had been brief—Ladon’s hair hung long, reaching to his rear in a thick braid. While he paced back and forth across the limited space, I was distracted by the soft shush of his colorful robes.
“Harmony, you remember how I said the stone you wear around your neck is one we harvest for fuel, and that it affects our sense of smell?”
“Yes, it was only a few days ago. We’ve hardly been gone a minute.” I felt for my pendant and found it gone from my neck. Looking around, I didn’t spot it anywhere and figured Ladon had taken it back. “Go on.”
Resolved to sharing whatever was bothering him, he came back to the bed and sat down. He gave my hand an awkward pat, then continued. “Drelconians, as I said, are what you would call severely allergic to the stone I set in the necklace for you. When we have built an immunity of sorts to its raw form, only our sense of smell is affected. However, if a Drelconian is first introduced to it, having never adapted, he becomes violently ill. Do you understand?”
He looked at me as if I was supposed to get what he was saying, but how could I? I wasn’t an alien. My parents, Jared and Candace James, were ordinary, poor-as-dirt humans who had lived in Arizona all their lives before dying in a plane crash on their first trip away from home. Arnetta and I had not set foot farther than New Mexico, and before the Drelconians came down with fire and smoke bursting from the rear end of a ship straight from a sci-fi film, we didn’t believe in aliens. I didn’t get what Ladon was telling me.
“Are you saying that I’m a Drelconian?” I whispered, terrified.
Ladon chuckled. “No, of course not. What I’m saying is . . .”
“Yes?”
“I think perhaps you are carrying a Drelconian inside you.”


Chapter Seven

Pregnant? I could not stop laughing. “First of all, it doesn’t work that fast. I would not get any morning sickness within days of being intimate with a guy, if I did get pregnant. I’ve never had kids, but I’m pretty sure I learned all the essentials in health class. Second—”
“Second, the child is half dragon. Half Drelconian. Our gestation is much more rapid.” Ladon stood. “I will have to contact my lord now for him to come. I’m sure that when I tell him the circumstances, he will have no problem convincing the elders to waive your charges. We are trying to multiply our race, and it is directly against our laws to kill a dragon, even if it is half human. Either way, I am happy. My lord will not be able to marry Arnetta.”
Visions of sharp teeth and claws ripping through my abdomen made my head spin until I focused on his words. “What do you mean? He will not be able to marry Arnetta?”
He looked at me as if I’d lost my senses. “You will be his bride of course. Drelconians do not have babies out of wedlock.”
I flung back the covers and slid my bare feet to the floor. “Well, I don’t marry men I don’t love. In fact, I’m not marrying anybody, so get that thought out of your head.”
“Harmony.”
“Save it!” I snapped. “Where’s my sister? We’re going.”
At my question, the door sprung open, and Arnetta stood there, her elbow held in the firm grip of the man at her side. I took my time and let my gaze move up over his form-fitting jeans and T-shirt stretched across his chest. My mouth watered. Where did he find that outfit?
Ladon bowed his head. “My lord.”
“Everybody out, except Harmony.” Draco’s stare never left my face. “Ladon, I trust you will not assist Arnetta to run away again?”
“N-No, my lord.”
When the others had stepped out and closed the door behind them, I stood. I was fully dressed, but a quick feel at my hip revealed my knife holster empty. My backpack was on a chair near me. Draco must have known what I intended, for he moved to stand between me and the chair and crossed his arms in front of him.
“Did you really think you could get away? Why didn’t you wait? I would have arranged for your release.”
I grunted. “I’m used to taking care of myself and my sister. It’s been that way since she was a child. That hasn’t changed just because I jumped into bed with a dragon, something I now regret.”
He stepped closer, trailing a finger down my forehead, over my nose to caress my lips. “Why would you regret it? We enjoyed each other. I’m not adverse to a reenactment right here.”
“Maybe you haven’t noticed.” I held out my arms to the sides. “See? It’s me. Good old Harmony, thin as a rail, no breasts or behind to speak of, nothing that would get a man excited.”
“And yet, I feel a certain something right here.” He took my hand to press it against his pants front. 
Despite myself, a shock of desire sped through my system at the hardness beneath my fingertips. I wanted nothing better than to rip open his pants and climb on for the ride of my life. I swallowed and tried backing away, but the bed held me in place. “You don’t understand, Draco. We weren’t careful. There was an accident.” Silly way to put it.
“Accident?” 
I couldn’t blame him for being puzzled.  “I think I might be pregnant. At least that’s what Ladon says.”
His eyes darkened, then turned. I trembled at the look, not sure if it was anger or excitement. Or maybe something else. He nodded. “I trust Ladon is correct. He is gifted in medical arts. You will be my wife.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
He frowned. “You have no choice. Our laws say—”
“Screw your laws. I’m not going to be forced to marry you when just a few days ago your people were about to kill me. We have our ways, you have yours. I’m human, and I’ll handle this situation the way I see fit.”
“We will see about that.”
“I guess we will.” With my hands on my hips, staring him down and refusing to blink or look away first, I had a sneaking suspicion. Drelconians wanted to multiply, but true blood lords were under strict edicts once they chose their bride. So why did Draco insist on sleeping with me as the means to changing his mind? Ladon had mentioned before we left Arizona that the lords were the most fertile, hands down, of their race, so why would Draco risk getting me pregnant? Somehow, I didn’t believe he was lost in the passion of the moment as I was.
“This wasn’t an accident.”
He seemed startled. “Pardon?”
“You heard me.” I got right up in his face, a mistake since his lips looked so much tastier up close. “You wanted to seduce me. You knew what you were doing.”
“Nonsense. I didn’t make you invade my room.”
I refused to believe him. The more Draco denied what I was saying, the more I was convinced. I wasn’t familiar with all there was to know about his people. I had had limited interaction with them, but I felt I could read his motives. “Yes, you did, or you may as well have. The high-and-mighty lords don’t step down into the crowds of women. You have your guard bring her closer to you, if you want that. Although it’s unnecessary since you can see so clearly. But you wanted me to have no doubts that you had chosen my sister. You issued me a challenge.”
“Did I?”
I let out a little scream. “Stop it! Don’t play dumb.”
He grinned and pulled me against his length. While holding me in place, he moved his hips so that I could feel his erection sliding against me. With all my will, I held down my legs to keep from wrapping them around him.
“Okay, I admit it,” he whispered into my ear, “when I first saw you, I knew you were the one I wanted. Sexy and fiery with that knife of yours pressed against my guard’s stomach. The best way to have a woman like you is to take her, and afterward to tame her.”
“Dragon, you’ve got the wrong girl!”


Chapter Eight

Draco’s eyes flashed at me, and I was beginning to like it. My dragon lover could fire up my desires with one touch, one look. I wanted to jump his bones right there, despite how angry I was with him. While he was confident he would win me, I knew better. Draco didn’t know Harmony James takes crap from no man. Hell, my boyfriend had made the mistake of thinking he owned me, and I had dumped him for his mistake. This lord would soon follow.
Having made my decision, I pulled back from his hold and ran a hand down over his chest to stop at the silver button on the waistband of his jeans. Tingles of need arrowed to my pussy as I sought out my prize. “Do you really think you can tame me?”
Draco chuckled. “I have no doubt. You’re not the first woman I—”
“If you don’t mind, I don’t want to hear how you seduced other women.” I yanked him over to the bed and pushed him on his back. For the moment, he let me take control. Straddling his tapered hips had me wet so I stood up in the bed to allow him to feast his eyes on my tunnel when I peeled off my panties. Imagine my astonishment when upon dropping my pants, which had gotten a little tight, I found my belly all ready curving with the growth of the child in me.
My heart seemed to twist in my chest and my legs gave out. I curled my hands over my stomach, yanking my blouse down in shame. Tremors rocked me while tears balled at the corners of my eyes.
Draco drew me onto his lap, folding his arms around my waist and resting on my belly. “Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not,” I puffed. “H-How long is gestation?”
He hesitated.
“Tell me!”
“One month.”
I screamed. “I’m going to be a mother in less than a month? This is unreal. You tricked me!” Shooting off the bed, I stomped around the room ranting for a good five minutes before I realized that beneath my blouse, half my belly, my rear, and my still-moist center were bared.
Slapping my hands over my nakedness, I spun around to find my clothes only to see that Draco held them in one hand while lying prostrate, stripped from head to toe. “Come, my love, I’ll make you feel better.”
“Is that all you think about?” In truth, even in anger, my desires hadn’t cooled. Hormones? “I’m not having sex with you again!”
“Are you sure?” 
He stroked his cock. The rigid member might as well have been made of steel, it rose so straight. I had been about to satisfy both our lusts before I ran again, but seeing my stomach grow unnerved me. These aliens were not to be toyed with and tossed aside. Draco was earnest. He fully intended to make me obedient. Even to enjoy his impressive body, I did not intend to stick around.
With a stiffened back, I said, “I’m sure.”
He launched himself to his feet and then sauntered over to me. I thought he would work to seduce me. Instead, he pulled me close and kissed me. His shaft tapped my stomach before he moved away. “Get dressed. I will consult with Ladon to see if you are well enough for me to fly you home.”
“Fly me . . .”
Draco slipped from the room before my befuddled mind could put together what he meant by that. Fly me home. I needed to escape right now.
I threw on my clothes, then waited a few minutes before tiptoeing to the door and listening. I could hear no voices in the hallway, so I ventured taking a peek outside. The hotel was shabby, peeling wallpaper, a faded runner carpet down the center of the hallway with woodwork on the edges in dire need of shellacking.
Voices two doors down caught my attention. I inched along, my back flattened against the wall until I could make them out clearly.
“Well, this will be the first half-human, half-Drelconian child. We need to take extra precautions,” Ladon said. “My lord, you must be aware that the elders will insist that she be under constant observation the moment we get to the settlement, and something tells me that Harmony will not tolerate that.”
Draco’s voice was gruff. “What Harmony will not tolerate is of no interest to me. She must learn her place sooner rather than later.”
“My lord, she is human.”
“Don’t I know that!” he grumbled. “I was not careful, I admit. Contrary to what it looks like, I did not intend to get her pregnant. I wanted to woo her first. I foolishly thought she was tougher like one of our females. Inside she’s still soft like a human.”
His words cut. Draco had said he was drawn to me in the first place because I seemed tough, and I was. At least I had always thought so. What strong-minded woman faced with finding herself pregnant with a dragon wouldn’t be off at first? Well, he would find out soon enough, his lordly word was not law to me.
“What are we doing?” Arnetta whispered behind me.
I jumped and almost cried out. “You scared me.” I frowned at her. “Where’s your room?” She pointed, and I quickly dragged her back into it where she’d come out. I supposed Ladon trusted her not to run away without me. “We’ve got to get out of here, Netta.”
My stomach turned. The sickness was coming back with a vengeance. Arnetta, seeing me sway helped me to a chair. I tried bending forward a little so she wouldn’t spot my protruding belly. Before I could cast up the lining of my stomach, I blindly reached out to my sister with my eyes closed. When my fingers closed around the amulet, I snatched it off and threw it across the room.
“Hey! Ladon, gave me that!”
The sickness eased. “I can’t explain why I can’t be near that awful thing, sweetie, but I just can’t take another round of sickness. Netta, we’ve got to go. I just don’t know how we’ll stay ahead of Draco if he can sniff us out.”
Arnetta dropped to her knees and took my hands in hers. “Why would you want to? Ladon told me how he changed his mind and wants to make you his wife. I think you would make a great couple.”
“Have you lost your mind? He’s an alien, and I don’t want a husband. Certainly not one I’m forced to be with because I’m . . . uh . . .never mind. I want to remain single. Sweetie, you have to understand that.”
I looked into her innocent eyes as I pleaded for my freedom, which was absurd since all our lives, Arnetta had looked to me for guidance. Now, here I was hoping she had some solution, that Ladon had let slip another weakness or loophole that would let me run with success this time.
Arnetta tapped a finger against her lips while I sat running scenarios through my mind. Had I been in the physical condition—I was starting to feel run-down—I might consider trapping the men and leaving them in the hotel until someone stumbled upon them. I laughed at that thought.
My sister seemed to read my mind. “You are not thinking of tying them up and leaving them here, like you did with my first boyfriend, are you?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle again. “He got my message, didn’t he? No dating until you were sixteen. Period.”
Arnetta grinned. “Yes, he got the message. Nobody messes with my big sister. But I’m all grown up now, Harmony, and you have to let me go.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dread filled me. I knew her next words were not going to come as a surprise.
“I love Ladon. Really from the moment I first saw him.” Her whole countenance transformed. “You yourself have been putting me through nursing school. Ladon has medical training. We have so much in common. I don’t want to leave him again. We were talking about marrying. Well, after Draco is settled. Ladon has to serve him first before he can have his own family, but if you married him . . .”
I surged to my feet. “No! I will not.”
“Not even for me?” Arnetta pleaded.
“You are kidding me!”
“Yes . . . No. I don’t know.” She stared down at the floor. “I’m so sorry. You’ve given up so much in your life for me. You shouldn’t have to give more. Like I said I’m all grown up now. I can get a job working at the clinic in the settlement. Not that there is much to do there beyond research and helping with births. They heal you know. Even if Ladon and I can’t get married for a while, at least we can see each other every day.”
“Oh, Netta.” I slumped down into my chair feeling defeated. Why couldn’t my life be this simple? Inside, I craved Draco. Even now I wanted his arms around me, to feel his lips covering mine, but I would not be owned. I would not be manipulated just because I happened to be carrying his baby. Besides, the thought of that still made me want to weep like a little girl.
“Well, Harmony? What are you going to do? You’ve always been a take-charge kind of woman. You face challenges head on, and never turn away from a fight.”
I have the scars to show for it too. “Well,” I sighed. “I guess I will have to teach my dragon just who’s boss.”


Chapter Nine

“Ladon, I need your help.” My appeal was flat, indictating my objective without beating around the bush. “I want to drug Draco.”
My sister’s admirer looked horrified. “What? No, absolutely not. Harmony, I have gotten into too much trouble as it is assisting the two of you. Do you not think that there are consequences to defying the dragon lords?”
I smirked. “Well, nothing as serious as being put to death, or being forced to take a husband one doesn’t want.”
“Let’s be honest.” He bent to pack tools inside a leather pouch with an extra long strap. I thought it was overkill until I realized the length would accommodate a dragon’s neck comfortably. “You want him. There’s no doubt about that.”
“Whatever.” I wasn’t willing to quibble. “The truth of the matter is that I cannot stand the thought of him ruling over me in his high-handed way. However, I’m willing to admit I’m at fault too with getting pregnant. This baby is growing like a weed, and I won’t know what to do with it if I just run off and it happens to take after your people. Ladon, you owe me.”
He flicked an eyebrow toward the ceiling. “How do you figure?”
I tapped his chest with a finger tip. “Because I removed the competition for Arnetta.”
“Yet, if I help you, my punishment could be that I’m banned from ever marrying.”
“If you don’t, I will do something drastic anyway and say you helped me if I get caught.”
He grumbled and a burst of fire shot out of his mouth nearly singeing my eyebrows. I gave him a dirty look which he ignored. “Who are you?” he snapped. “You are nothing like Arnetta. She’s sweet and gentle.”
“Yes, and I’m manipulative and cunning.” I laughed. “But don’t fool yourself. My baby sister can be a hand full when she’s fighting to get what she wants. She just happens to want you at the moment.”
A worried look came into his expression. He took a step toward me. “What does that mean, ‘at the moment’?”
I waved a hand and turned away. 
As expected, Ladon fell in with my plans. What choice did he have? I convinced him to give me access to something to put my ardent beast to sleep long enough to have him transported to an area Arnetta and I had discovered a few years ago up near the Rio Pecos area. We had gone back every year to get away from it all and to commune with nature. I had the sneaking suspicion that the lofty true blood would not like roughing it on the land, but I planned to make it clear to him that he was in for a hard life if he didn’t understand the kind of woman he desired to marry and to make some concessions.
“So you’ll give me the meds?” I asked Ladon after I’d made my convincing—at least to me—speech.
He shook his head. “No.”
My hopes took a dive.
“I will administer the medicine to help him rest, and I will go with you to this place you mentioned. You will need my care during your pregnancy. This is our first half-breed and I do not want anything to go wrong.”
“Do not call my baby a half-breed!”
He gave a slight bow of his head. “I meant no disrespect. I apologize. If we are to do this, we must move quickly. I will send word to the elders that it is taking longer to find you than we thought, that somehow you have thrown us off your scent. They will trust that I am protecting my lord.” The guilt in his expression was plain.
I laid a hand on his arm. “Trust me, Ladon. I am not trying to kill him, contrary to what the elders thought when they found my knife.”
Ladon nodded, but said nothing in reply.

* * * *

I stroked my belly while staring unabashedly at Draco’s muscular legs. He flaunted a natural tan, while my scrawny legs were as pale as they’d been the moment I slipped into a pair of shorts. At least the last few days had been sunny and clear, with a sweet breeze off the water. While the weather participated, as well as, the environment, all my plans of one upping the man had gone astray. With my hormones running amuck, and Draco sexy as hell, I was in big trouble.
“So you’re saying you’re not mad at me kidnapping you?” I asked for the fortieth time, still eying him.
He stood a few feet away from me, and hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his shorts. “No, not at all.”
I squinted, wondering what he was about to do, and then squawked like a chicken when he dropped his clothing on the ground. The deliciously close to a foot long erection he sported, which I found that I had missed too damn much, waved in the air before him. My gape remained glued to him while a hum began somewhere deep inside. The man was a pro at sexual teasing I had not begun to fathom. I searched around us for Ladon and Arnetta, not wanting my sister to get a peek at the perfection that was my baby’s daddy, but they were nowhere in sight.
“Are you frightened, Harmony?” he asked with a chuckle.
I sucked my teeth. “Why should I be?”
He strolled over to drop down at my side. Finally, I was able to avert my gaze, pretending his state of dress didn’t make me even hornier than I had become. Draco caressed my face as he had done before, trailing the tip of his finger from my forehead to my nose and then paused on my lips. “Possibly,” he breathed, “you are afraid I will extract my revenge for you influencing my guard to disobey me and for delaying our wedding.”
I wriggled around on my blanket with my fluttery hands agitating my clothing. When Draco pushed his finger between my lips, I was done for. I sucked lightly as he eased his finger in and out in a slow imitation of our coupling. A wetness materialized between my legs.
“We have a limited amount of time, Harmony. You must stop resisting me.”
He ignited my anger, and I smacked his hand away. “And you must stop trying to rule me. Draco, this is a two-way street. I am human. You can’t expect me to just bow to your will and to give my life up to whatever you say.”
“You don’t have much choice. You will soon have a Drelconian child.”
“Damn it!” I screamed. “Why can’t you give just a little?” To my utter horror, tears fell from my eyes. I snatched up one of the towels we had brought to the water’s edge and scrubbed my face. Getting to my feet was a challenge, but I managed to roll to stand on thicker ankles and feet.
I threw down the towel and slid out of my shorts, but kept my big T-shirt on to hide my widening waistline. Not looking back at him, I marched down to the water and waded in. I was standing chest deep and sniffling when his hands dropped onto my shoulders. He pressed against me, ran his hands down my arms and then snaked them beneath the water them to rest on my belly. That’s all he cares about, the baby.
“I give,” he whispered in my ear.
“What do you mean?”
He drew back then turned me around to face him. I looked up to his face, hoping there were no further traces that I’d been crying. Not that he couldn’t have noticed when had been right beside him.
“You will teach me what it means to respect my human wife.”
I would have interrupted, but he placed fingers over my mouth to keep me silent.
“And I will teach you what it means to have a dragon lover.” His eyes twinkled with amusement and a promise. My heart pounded.
“Is sex always on your mind or what?”
He pulled me toward shore. “Come and see.”


Chapter Ten

Draco lifted my damp T-shirt over my head, snagging the pins I’d placed in my hair to hold it up. Wet locks fell down around my face. I could imagine I looked like a freak, and didn’t know if I should try hiding my body or yanking my hair into some semblance of order. He drew my arms down to my sides.
“Stop trying to hide yourself from me.”
“You haven’t noticed how hideous I’ve become. Not that I was a catch before.”
“For a woman who acts like she can take on the entire world single-handedly, you have a low opinion of yourself.”
He didn’t wait for the scathing comment I had ready on the tip of my tongue. His persistence soon had my bathing suit following the shirt on the ground. I tried covering up, but he stopped me.
“You are as beautiful now as you were days ago.” To emphasize his words, he raked an appreciative glance over me. When he paused at my breasts, which no longer needed any enhancements, I thought flames had engulfed me. “Would you dare tell me that I cannot enjoy these with those nipples so ripe I can feast on them like a sweet fruit?”
I swayed. “Feast already.”
He chuckled and I gasped when his tongue swiped my erect nipple and then sucked it into his mouth gently. Oh! Don’t let the others come back.
As Draco nibbled, darts of bliss zipped through my body. No aches or soreness interfered with his pleasuring me, which I found to be odd as earlier my breasts had weighed so heavily with milk that they ached and my nipples had been sore. I checked the one he wasn’t teasing to find it still hurt. I pushed him back breaking the mood. “Draco, how can it not hurt when you suck it?”
He groaned. “This really isn’t the time, honey. I’m trying to bring you to orgasm.”
I grinned. “Sorry.”
He whipped me into his arms without warning and then settled me down to the ground. “Now, I will explain quickly, and then you, my soon-to-be wife, will obey me without argument and keep quiet except to moan if you feel the need.”
Deciding not to deign that edict with a response, I compressed my lips.
He opened his mouth and leaned close as if I was supposed to see something inside. His teeth grew longer and sharper. Butterflies vied with my baby for space in my stomach. I think my dragon just wanted to scare me.
With a snap, he closed his mouth and then spoke. “Enzymes in my mouth have healing ability. Not just in my mouth, as you witnessed when you stabbed me.”
I didn’t have the grace to look guilty over that.
“They soothe you as I suck your nipples. That of course doesn’t matter so long as you”—he pulled my legs apart, revealing just how wet he’d made me—“enjoy my every touch.”
I settled comfortably on the blanket. “Even in sex, you command control.”
No more words passed between us as Draco began a slow descent with feathery kisses to my protruding stomach, down through my curls and hovered above my pulsating clit. His tongue plucked at it, and then he blew a warm breath until I was bunching the covers in my fists and lifting my hips toward his mouth. He held me down and latched onto my clit, sucking and nuzzling his chin into my stream.
My breaths came in shortened bursts. I let go of the blanket and buried my fingers in his hair, grinding him tighter. Draco drew my swollen bud farther into his mouth. An orgasm stronger than any I’d every felt came on me without warning. I bucked and screamed, nearly kicking my lover off me. He caught hold of my ankles and pressed my feet to the ground as he lapped at my juices.
Draco dug his tongue so deep into my tunnel that it shocked me and sent chills up my spine at the same time. The man enjoyed my flavor and savored it, leaning back periodically so I could see the pleasure in his eyes. No man had taken that level of enjoyment from eating me. The mere thought had me on the road to another trembling explosion.
When I had come at least half a dozen times, Draco reared back on his heels. Thinking he could have stayed down there for hours, I guessed was his dick was feeling sorely neglected. I pushed myself to a sitting position, licking my lips in anticipation.
He shook his head. “Not with my baby inside you. Lie down. I’m not finished.”
I ignored his command and hoisted myself to my knees, placing a hand on his chest. “When do I get to taste you? Your body makes me want to run my tongue from the bottom to the top.” I teased the silky curls on his chest and pinched at his nipples before following the caress with my tongue. My lover jumped and gasped. He gripped my arms, I assumed to push me back, but the strength seemed to leave his body.
“Let me explore you, Draco.” My voice was husky. I rained tiny kisses along the passage south where my need—and his—bobbed for my attention. One hand lingered on the bunched muscles of his abdomen, the other stole about his thick shaft, and I lowered my mouth to his engorged head. A lone sampling of his cock had me shivering and Draco growling in his throat.
“Harmony . . . stop. You cannot drink from me,” he gasped.
Boy, did I want to, but I agreed with him. I drew back. “A little lick never hurt anything.” I demonstrated by a swipe across his tool. He growled again, caught me under my arms and laid me on the ground. Threading his fingers between mine, he seemed to capture and hold me in place with his stare alone. My lips parted in a gasp. Draco was so beautiful—thick, dark lashes; enigmatic blue eyes. They flashed one color and then another. Even seeing his ponytail hang over a shoulder did things to my body and got me so hot I wanted to beg.
However, begging wasn’t my style. Just like my lover, I like having my own way, and if what I wanted belonged to another, well, I could be quite persuasive.
“I see the wheels spinning in your mind,” he told me with amusement.
“What?”
“You’re turning over ways to convince me to let you swallow my cock down your warm, wet throat.” He shivered at his own words. “But it won’t work.”
I grinned. “Thirty days isn’t so long, and we’re a week in.”
His eyes flickered. “Indeed.”
“So you’ll make it up to me?” My question was as casual as I could compose it.
“Definitely.”


Chapter Eleven

The first time a woman sleeps with a skilled lover, the experience is all it should be. Each occurrence after that can be pleasant if she knows what she’s doing, but nothing touching on the level of intensity of the first. This was Draco’s and my second session. Yet, as soon as he parted my folds and slide two fingers inside, wetting them and then lubricating his head, I was already trembling. When he tunneled his way inside my pussy, still an extremely tight squeeze, I cried out for sheer joy.
He lifted one of my legs in the air and proceeded to nip and kiss the skin at the side of my knee. When had that area become an erogenous zone? While he teased me with those pecks and bites, Draco drove slowly into my slick cavern, then retracted. Drove in again and out. My muscles clenched around him, and I screamed his name.
“Come for me, Harmony.”
“Draco, please.” I bit down on my lip. No begging . . . but it was so good I couldn’t help myself. I needed him.
A shudder rocked my body, and Draco took it as a signal to increase his pace. He drove deeper and furiously, reaching between us to take hold of my clit and give it a light pinch. My orgasm slammed down on me making my back curl and my thighs quiver. I fought for my next breath as my lover drove me so high I wanted to get lost in him and never be found.
Before my pleasure eased, Draco’s rhythm stuttered then quickened again, and he shot his hot load inside me until we gyrated together with multiple explosions. After some time, I began to relax. Draco eased out, gently flipped me to my side and settled behind me.
“Was that good?” he whispered in my ear.
“You know it was.” I slapped his hand, irritated with him for no reason. “You know how good you are.”
“Yes.” He chuckled.
“Jerk.”
He laughed again and began stroking my belly. I covered his hand. For a second, I felt like we were a family, although I barely knew the man. Nice thought after I had slept with him twice. “Draco, tell me about yourself. What makes you what your people call a true blood?”
Before he could answer, we heard voices coming from nearby. Draco sat up and gathered my clothing to cover me. His concern about my nakedness, rather than his own, warmed me. 
“It is against our customs for another man to see my betrothed in undress.”
I huffed. “Your customs!” Not that you give a flying leap about me.
He gave me a confused glance but said nothing. We were dressed before Ladon and Arnetta crested the hill and strolled over to where we sat.
Ladon offered a slight bow to Draco. “My lord, I need to examine Harmony to be sure she and the baby are doing fine.”
Draco dismissed his guard. “Later. Right now we are going for a ride. I’m sure Arnetta can keep you busy while we’re gone.” He pulled me to my feet. 
I wondered what ride we were going on. The rental we had used had been returned to the agency as the dragons were not used to needing any. With that thought, I guessed what Draco intended. “Hey, no way, Draco. I’m not flying.”
“You are.” He didn’t release my hand, but guided me along the trail the others had taken. The Drelconians were stationed on Earth long enough so that no one should be shocked to see one flying along in the air. Well, not completely shocked. Their population was still severely limited compared to ours and their settlement being in the Arizona desert cut them off from most of the country, if not the world.
“The baby . . .” I offer feebly.
“Will be fine.” He cupped my face and planted a light kiss on my nose. “And so will you.”
While I watched, he dropped the bag I hadn’t noticed him grab from the campsite and stooped to rifle through it. Soon he drew a brown leather harness from the depths and began untangling it.
I squawked. “Oh no! You can’t be serious, Draco. I’m not riding you like a common horse or pack mule or something.”
He laughed, and the constant arrogant glint in his eyes was absent in that moment. I couldn’t even fathom how a lord of his people would allow another person to ride him. Yet, he was serious. The straps fit over his shoulders and around his torso. “Don’t worry, there’s no piece like what you have here. What is it? A bit. There’s no bit to go in my mouth.”
“Still . . .”
“You want to learn more about my people, don’t you?”
I nodded.
“I will tell you in the air.” 
Before I could process my next objection to this foolish idea, right before my eyes, my lover transformed into a glorious dragon with yellow and black eyes and a snout filled with teeth sharper than any knife I’d ever encountered. From a long way up—so far I felt dizzy watching—he lowered his head toward me. “Besides, you will need to become comfortable with flying as our wedding must take place in an altitude where vehicles cannot go. The only access will be by the flight of a dragon.”
I gulped. My legs nearly gave out, but I didn’t want him to see that I was afraid. “Fine! Tell me how to climb up because your back is way out of reach.”
“I could toss you up.” 
“And you could get a knife between your scales.”
“Yes!” he boomed with a raspy voice. “There is my spitfire.”


Chapter Twelve

The wind whipped through my hair. Problems fell away, including my worry over Arnetta’s future. I thought at first that soaring in the sky would cut my breath off, but there was a crown of bone or blended horns growing out from Draco’s head. Tucked behind that barrier, I rested against his neck. The resonance of his voice when he spoke tickled my ear.
“I’m surprised you let me ride,” I called to him. “I would have never guessed a high-and-mighty Drelconian lord would allow a human to ride his back.”
“There is no law that prohibits it, but then we are from a planet of our kind. No humans existed there, just regular animals as you have here. Well, not the same, but similar.”
“Sounds interesting. Can we go there some time?”
“No!”
He spoke so abruptly, I jumped, nearly unseating myself. With my heart pounding, I gripped the handles of the harness tighter. “There’s no need to get snappy about it.”
“I’m sorry.” He sighed. “It’s just that we still do not know what caused the plague that killed most of our people and sterilized our women. While myself, the other lords, the guards, and the elders have all been deemed uninfected, we cannot risk going back to our home world.”
What must that be like? To be told Earth would be uninhabitable from now on and that I had to leave and not come back. I didn’t think I could stand it. “I’m sorry.”
He didn’t answer for a while, and I let him be, knowing he was probably missing home. I did wonder how he knew that the infection came from his own world. The Drelconians made a practice of mining the blue gem on another planet, and then used it to produce fuel for our world. His next words answered my question.
“Ladon and others in his field, medical and science experts, found no trace of the plague on Crendon, the planet where we mine the blue gem. However, there were heavy concentrations on Drelcon. One moment, it didn’t exist, and the next we were wiped out.” He grunted. “Enough dark talk. Hold on.”
I barely had adequate time to firm my grip before the jerk tumbled over in the air. I thought I might vomit, but the feeling was gone in an instant. Draco laughed, bursts of fire coming from his black lips as he did.
“Ass! Don’t do that again!”
“Don’t worry. Our son will care for you.”
I rolled my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“At your last examination, Ladon told me that the baby is using his natural healing on you.”
“Meaning?”
“You had what you humans call a bug in your body. The baby’s defense system effectively killed it.”
That didn’t give me much confidence. What if the beast inside me decided something vital was an enemy? I felt horrible for calling my child a beast and pictured myself cradling him. Him?
“What makes you think the baby’s a boy?”
He chuckled but didn’t answer my question. “You wanted to know what makes me a true blood?”
The man thrived on controlling everything, including the conversation. “Yes, do tell.”
“The lords are all my brothers. What makes us true bloods is just that. We’re all from the same royal family.”
That surprised me. I hadn’t thought that they would be siblings. I searched my mind to try remembering what the others looked like. The only thing I remembered was that all the lords were hot, sexy men. The Earth women who mated with them were lucky, and if Draco’s enticing body was any indicator, they were really in for a treat.
“Any sisters?”
“No. From the beginning, there were two families of dragons. One was the stronger, the more dominant. My family. Males are also more often produced than not.”
The second time he dipped and spun in the air, I thrilled in it, despite myself. My head didn’t spin. I let go of the handles, threw my arms in the air, and shouted.
Draco chuckled. “Spitfire.”
Wanting to know more of what and who he was, I said, “I don’t get it. If there are two families, or were, then wouldn’t you just have to mate together anyway until the population grew to be more varied?”
“Yes, at first. Yet, always the dominant gene surfaced. Over many thousands of years, the ruling family emerged. And now, anyone born into my family is a true blood.”
“That’s so unfair.”
“It is life for the Drelconians.”
“Are everyone else then your servants? If you’re not a true blood, then are you a guard? And the elders who make the rules, are they true bloods too?” I was spewing questions a mile a minute. I didn’t try to hide my irritation at a dominant family, as if they were better than everyone else. As an American, I couldn’t truly grasp the concept. The knowledge just pissed me off.
“You are angry with me?” 
Draco swooped down toward a break in the trees beneath us. I unhooked myself and jumped with almost perfect grace to the ground before he turned back to a man. He was naked. I licked my lips in appreciation. 
“Yes, who are you or anyone else to say they are better than the next person because of some dominant gene? And who is to say what gene is more special?” I tried hard to hang onto my anger, but I wanted to sink to my knees and lick to my heart’s content.
His eyes narrowed on me. “Are you angry or lusting over me?”
“Both, but I’m so mad I’m not giving you anything.”
“As if you have a choice.” He advanced and I took a step backward. Draco wouldn’t be denied, probably a side effect to his big head, even if he wasn’t in dragon form. “You will need to learn what being my wife means. You will become almost like my equal, a lady, and will be deferred to just as I am. You will be assigned your own guard and—”
“Become your equal!” I screamed. “You arrogant son of a bitch! You can go to hell if you think I’ll ever marry you. This was a mistake. I won’t run away so Ladon can take care of my baby, but you can find your wife elsewhere.”
With that declaration, I spun on my heel prepared to walk back to camp, wherever that might be.


Chapter Thirteen

“You’ve been talking about him all night, Harmony,” Arnetta complained. “I think you love him.”
“Don’t be stupid,” I grumbled, thrashing about in the bed I couldn’t get comfortable in. “At first I thought I could make it work, but I can’t. He actually thinks he’s better than I am and anybody else, except his brothers. Can you believe that?”
My sister laughed. “Well he is like a prince, isn’t he? If it’s any consolation, while Ladon is the sweetest man in the world, he’s kind of arrogant too.”
I grunted. “Comes with the Drelconian territory, I bet.”
“Well, I don’t mind. I love him.”
“Netta!”
She grinned. The exfoliating cream all over her face coupled with the gold silk rollers in her hair made her look like a doll. “What? I’m just being honest.”
My heart sank knowing she was apparently thinking of marrying Ladon. If I knew nothing else, I knew the dragons weren’t casual daters. Besides, Ladon had it bad for my sister, ever since he’d first set eyes on her. I admit I was feeling somewhat jealous.
“We said we would stick together forever,” I mumbled like a wimp.
Arnetta slid off her bed and came across to climb on mine. She pulled me into a tight hug, tucking my head against her shoulder. “We’ve always had each other, haven’t we? Even before Mom and Dad were killed. They were lost in each other, hardly aware they had two daughters.” She kissed my cheek. “And here you were stuck with a wannabe-princess sister.”
I laughed. “Don’t say that, Netta. I love you, and if I had to do it again, I’d take care of you.”
“You had to give up gymnastics to take on a job to help pay the bills.”
“Yeah, well, that I wouldn’t give up again. I’d send you to an orphanage,” I declared.
She gave me a playful punch. “Sweetie, I’m all grown up now. I can take care of myself. And even if I couldn’t, I have Ladon. We won’t get married right away, of course. Something about”—she made quotes in the air and rolled her eyes—“‘his lord’ needing to be married first.”
I laughed. “I had heard that. Surely, you don’t want me to marry Draco just so you can get married?”
Arnetta appeared to consider it. “Maybe. Okay, no. Just give him a chance. You’re a strong woman. I bet you can drop-kick him off that high horse he’s on in no time.”
“There is that,” I mused.

* * * *

I stepped out into the night air, dragging in a refreshing breath. Okay, who was I kidding. I was sorely missing my dragon lover and hoped he was still awake. Arnetta had long since dropped into a fitful slumber, with her hands tucked beneath her chin. Watching her had brought out my maternal instincts, and while I had determined Ladon was a good match for her, a man who would take care of my baby sister, I needed to drill him again—especially since Arnetta had admitted he could be as pig-headed and egotistical as Draco.
Still, the moment I set foot outside, I glanced up at the night sky with its twinkling stars seeming to blink off and on like glowing eyes far in the distance. As I offered my wistful stare, two in particular seemed off, slightly less white. More like yellow. The stars became eyes, the eyes of the man I ached to see although I was still ticked at him.
Draco swooped down gracefully as if he weren’t a—two-ton?—dragon. He landed before me and morphed to his human form. I pretended not to give him the time of day, although my gaze had caught and held on his cock bobbing in the night breeze.
“Want to go for a ride?”
I sighed. “I guess.”
We were sky borne in seconds. I squawked in terror, not the harness to hold myself in place. “Draco, I can’t hold on.”
“I will never let you fall.”
He flew slower than he had earlier and closer to the ground. Soon, I relaxed and let the air blow my hair back. In the short time I had been pregnant, my hair and nails had grown. My hair was at least five inches longer. The sight of it, while thicker and richer auburn than it had ever been, freaked me out.
A chill raised goosebumps on my arms and legs. I called to Draco, “I’m cold.”
I didn’t need to repeat myself. He landed immediately, just south of a copse of trees. Visions of us disappearing in there for a little tryst flowed through my thoughts. Does the lust ever lessen?
Transformed and naked, Draco took hold of my hand as we walked along. His eyes glowed in the darkness, probably because the moon had slipped behind some clouds. I couldn’t see a thing further then him, but at that moment, he was the most important person in my life.
“It’s your turn,” he told me.
“What do you mean?”
“To tell me about yourself.” He acted like we hadn’t argued earlier and I hadn’t told him where he could stuff his intentions of making me his wife. At least he seemed ready to honor my wish for us to get to know each other better. “I noticed before when you climbed on the roof of my home that you were very agile. You showed no fear of the height.” I heard pride in his voice.
I nodded. “Flexible I guess you would call it. For years, I took gymnastics. I loved it, was good at it. When my parents showed no interest in raising Arnetta, I had to quit, get a job, and make sure she was taken care of. Later, I joined a small group of rebels who opposed the government.” I laughed nervously. I didn’t normally admit to that part of my life. “They taught me how to wield a knife, how to use my training for self-defense rather than for winning medals that wouldn’t get me anywhere in these turbulent times.”
The moon slipped free of the clouds so that I saw his face clearly again. His eyebrows shot up at my admission. “Rebels?”
“Yes, well, they turned out to be kooks, so I quit.” I shrugged. “Does that make me unfit to be your wife?”
“Yes.” The man didn’t mince words. “However, I have no intention of giving you up. Remember too our baby.”
“You want me only for the baby.” Why did that make my heart sink? He was nothing to me. We had great sex, but that was all. Arnetta didn’t know what she was talking about telling me I loved him. Besides, why should I give my heart to a man who had no use for it? He only needed my eggs.
He stopped walking and turned to face me. “I want you for more than that. Take off your clothes.”
“What?”
He grinned, his eyes flashing so bright he lit the area around us. “That nightie is enticing, but I want you naked. Come and walk with me in the darkness, bare and natural.”


Chapter Fourteen

I stood naked as he requested, the two of us staring down at my curving belly. He stroked across the taut skin, his fingers teasing my apex. Moisture pooled down there while the head of his cock bumped my navel. I had the overwhelming urge to drop to my knees and take him in my mouth, but he would never allow it. The craving, so strong, made me weak.
“Draco.”
“Hmm?” He seemed to be in no hurry to take me. Maybe it was enough for him to stroke between my legs, allowing my juices to coat his fingers. Meanwhile, I was teetering on an explosion. Damn the man for having such control!
“I’ve said I’m not going to marry you.” The words burst from my lips in unattractive noisy puffs, embarrassing me. “You—we aren’t compatible.”
“No?”
I gritted my teeth in irritation at his monotone. “No, we aren’t.”
“Your body disagrees.”
He plunged three fingers in me and pressed his palm hard against my clit. I fell against his chest, groping for his shoulders to hold on. I came with tears and screams of delight. He didn’t give me the chance to come down from my high, but flipped me around so that my back was to him. Wrapping an arm around my torso just beneath my breasts, he lifted me off my feet and then tucked his hard-on between my legs.
I bent my knees, resting my heels against his knees, and he rocked us together, his hard shaft gliding in and out of me. For long minutes, the only sounds in the night were the call of an owl, our wild pants and the slap of Draco’s pelvis against my ass.
He nuzzled my neck with gentle nips and kisses until I twisted my head, wanting his mouth on mine. Not waiting for an invitation, I stuck my tongue into his mouth, licking the underside of his tongue, then capturing it to suck. He moaned deep in his throat, encouraging me. I drew back only far enough to take hold of his lip to tug it between mine. Lightning pleasure raced through my body to amp up my coming orgasm. I drew back again.
“Slow down, Draco. I don’t want to come yet. I need it to last,” I begged.
He dipped his head, chasing after my lips. “Come here and kiss me. I’ll make it all night long. Trust me.”
Trust him? I didn’t know if I did trust him, but I lusted after my dragon. My desire didn’t seem to have an end or a level of complete satisfaction. Each time he entered me, I craved more, longer sessions. If my body could only last, I would not close my legs to him. Of course, I would never admit that, because it would reinforce his control, make his already big head even bigger.
Draco seemed to sense my mind wandering. He would be my entire focus. Reaching down across my belly, he rubbed my clit while he continued to drive deep between my folds. I broke our kiss to squirm and cry out at his teasing and pinching my aching button. “Draco!”
“You want me to stop?”
“No!”
He pulled out his cock and rubbed the head against my clit. His warm seed shot over my pussy while he squeezed and stroked himself. I screamed and reached down to coat my fingers before shoving him inside my tunnel. As soon as I was full, I came hard and fast, gyrating on his tool until I thought I would collapse.
I tasted salt on my lips as he kissed me again and thought he was crying, but realized it was me. “I love you,” I blurted and then grew angry at myself for admitting it.
He whispered, “I know,” and broke my heart.

* * * *

We sat huddled in the darkness on the grass. I was pressed back against his chest, while Draco rested on a fallen tree. I wondered about his bare skin, but when I examined the area, I felt the scales, rigid and tough. He could change parts of his body at will.
I sat there cradled in his arms, still naked, and hurting that he hadn’t told me he loved me in return. Maybe it was too soon. I felt like it was too soon for me, but that didn’t stop my heart from beating for him. I should be ticked, but there I was, folded in his arms, hoping he would keep holding me and never let go. Stupid of me.
Thinking over my life, there wasn’t a time when I allowed myself to fall too deeply for a man. Being consumed like my parents had been was not to be my personal destiny, I vowed time and again.
I yawned and wondered what time it was. The moon was still high in the night sky. “Draco, if I wasn’t pregnant, would you let me suck your dick?” I was in love, and love didn’t transform me into a lady.
His chest rumbled beneath my head, and I imagined he was holding in a laugh. “Yes. What man does not enjoy that?”
“Okay, just checking.”
I began to drift off to sleep with Draco massaging my stomach, when the sound of flapping came to my ears. Draco moved so fast, I didn’t have a chance to register what the sound could be. He tossed my nightie over me, then strolled stiff and serious out of the alcove we occupied. I scrambled to get dressed to see what the matter was. Angry voices reached me from some feet away, but I couldn’t see anyone.
Finally getting the ties at my chest to cooperate, I tiptoed on bare feet out toward the direction Draco had taken. As I drew closer, none of the voices were familiar, but there were at least three other men with my lover. To make things interesting, the moon had taken a short leave, plunging the open area into pitch black. When I snapped a twig beneath my feet, drawing blood I was sure, several pairs of glowing eyes focused on me.
I gulped. “Draco?”
“Here.” His voice had become deeper, more authoritative. I wouldn’t have said the man completely forgot himself out there while we made love, but he was definitely back. Royalty speaking to a lesser mortal in front of what I assumed were either guards or elders from his race.
I hobbled along toward his voice and felt him pull me against his side. “What’s going on?”
Draco didn’t answer. While I listened, I felt along my foot. Sure enough, there was blood and something sticking out of my foot. Bracing myself, I yanked the sharp object out and bit down on a cry of pain. Too bad I had no ability to produce impenetrable scales on my foot like Draco. With my thumb, I placed pressure on the wound to stop the blood flow, but the pain had already eased. I pulled back and ran my finger lightly over the area. The gash was closing even as I brushed along it. Cool! My baby was healing me. Thanks, sweetie.
A word or an inflection in one of the dragons’ voices around me caught my attention. I looked up, still amazed at the healing powers my baby used on my body, and tuned in to the conversation in time to hear Draco’s cryptic words.
“Whether you feel she is right to be my wife or not, the fact remains that she is having the first human-Drelconian child—my child. And no matter what threat you’ve received against it, the baby will be born even if I have to lock Harmony away until then.”


Chapter Fifteen

The moon made its appearance in time for me to see that the other dragons present in our love nest were indeed elders. Their guards had stood some ways off but in view of our group. One or two circled in the air, keeping a lookout. Something was up, and as the elders took to the air, I waited with impatience to slam Draco for talking about me as if I were nothing more than a carrier and for assuming I would go along with whatever harebrained scheme he was cooking up.
I folded my arms across my chest and pursed my lips as the last dragon disappeared over the horizon. “Just what the hell was that all about, Draco? And what makes you think you can ‘lock me’ away? This is still America. We have laws that you dragons need to abide by.”
He didn’t speak but altered to his dragon form and crouched for me to climb on his back. I considered ignoring him, but I was worn out, and the night had turned chilly, seemingly as portend to doom. Or I could just be feeling dramatic.
I gave in and climbed aboard. As we zoomed toward the cabins, I glanced back over my shoulder to find two dragons following us. My heart pounded in my chest. “We’re being followed. What’s going on, Draco?”
“They’re guards. Don’t worry about it.”
“I am worried, damn it,” I snapped. “I heard how you talked about me, like I don’t matter much at all except to give you your baby. I . . .” Swallowing the lump in my throat and willing the tears away, I waited until I could speak without feminine emotions running away with me. “I have a right to know what’s going on, especially if it involves me. I can run away just as I did before. Now that I know about the blue gem, I don’t care if I upchuck a lung if it means keeping you off my trail. You had better start explaining.”
My words were a ruse. I did care about my baby. I would not deliberately harm him, but Draco didn’t need to know that.
Draco growled. “There is . . . someone who does not follow our ways. He is what you call an outlaw. He resents the natural order of our people, the true bloods being the dominant family and those chosen to repopulate the Drelconian race. The elders have received news that he is here, on Earth, and plans to abduct you and our child once he is born so that he can kill him. My son, being the youngest of the Drelconians, is a symbol of our rebirth. He will give our people hope that we will grow again. He cannot be allowed to come to harm. I will not let that happen.”
As the group of cabins hove into view beyond the trees, I sat there shocked. Who was the dragon that opposed the true bloods? Not that I could blame him. I too would hate to be told I was not worthy to repopulate the race. Who were Draco and his brothers to say who could procreate? Of course, that part about killing our baby had to be misinformation. I hoped.
“Well, I can’t say I blame him. You are all a bunch of arrogant asses.”
Draco snarled and dipped low almost unseating me. “You will not jeopardize my child.”
I wanted to tell him to go to hell but was a little scared to. I knew he would not drop me because that would injure the baby, but still. I didn’t want to push him too far. At this point, keeping my head low was important to knowing what Draco planned, and what the elders intended. The two may be against this other dragon, but that didn’t mean the elders wouldn’t toss me to their enemy to get rid of a person they considered unworthy to mate with their royal family.
We soon landed to find Ladon and Arnetta up waiting. As soon as I slid from Draco’s back, my sister took me in her arms. “Oh, Harmony, I was worried. The elders were here looking for you and Draco. I heard them say something about someone trying to kill you.”
I squeezed her and then pulled away. “Well, they weren’t worried about me. They were worried about their royal family, Draco to be exact.”
She nodded while pulling me along to our cabin. “Ladon came banging on my door to see if you knew where Draco had gone. The elders weren’t happy to find you missing too. And they read him the riot act for not being at his side.”
Weariness stealing over me, I shuffled toward the dresser where I had unpacked my l clothing not long ago. In a few minutes, I was repacked. “Did Ladon tell you who this person was who’s after me?”
“No, just that they’ve been enemies a long time. I got the feeling that some law or rule or something keeps them from talking about it.”
“What a surprise, the Drelconians directed at all times by their laws. I’m betting it’s a huge deal for Draco to have slept with me in the first place. I think”—my voice broke—“the elders want to have the baby killed because I’m not worthy of Draco.”
I sunk down on my bed and tried shoving both my fists in my mouth to quiet my sobs. Arnetta pulled me close to stroke my hair. “Oh, sweetie. You love him so much. I could kick him for hurting you. This was uncalled for.”
Despite myself, I chuckled. “Kick him?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Netta, I told him I love him.” 
She gasped. “What did he say?”
Despair weighted on my heart even more than my increasing body. “He said he knows. Can you believe that? He knows? Not, ‘I love you too’ or ‘You’ve become my life in the short time we’ve known each other.’ Or ‘I knew the moment I saw you’ . . .”
My sister grinned. “This is so odd. I’ve always been the romantic one. Not you. All of that stuff sounds like something I would have said, and probably did mumble it when Ladon and I were alone together.”
I glanced up at her glowing face and tried not to despise her for having someone who cared so deeply. This kind of thing had never mattered to me. Maybe that’s why I fell so hard. I resented the emotions. “You two exchanged ‘I love yous’?”
She nodded. “Yes, more than once.”
“Ladon said it back?”
“Yes.” 
She looked guilty for the admission so I tried appearing to be happy for her. Somewhere beneath the selfishness and pain, I was.
“I’m glad for you, baby. You deserve it. You’re the sweetest person I know.” As tears resurfaced in my eyes, I swiped them away and swallowed a few times. “I’m not sure what I should do at this point, Netta. I love my baby, and I don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his health. The elders don’t want their firstborn of the new generation to be from a woman they didn’t approve.”
Arnetta frowned. “What makes you so ineligible and not me? I was chosen as a potential bride. You saw the papers on it, and we’re sisters for goodness sake! I think the elders have a loose screw somewhere.”
Of all the times I had considered to be the right moment to discuss our pasts with my sister, this was furthest from it. My own problems pushed to the back of my mind, I took Arnetta’s hand in mine and swallowed the lump in my throat before blurting the truth. “Sweetie, we don’t exactly have the same parents.”


Chapter Sixteen

I was kept a virtual prisoner in the dragon settlement for the duration of my pregnancy. Small favors included less than thirty days to wait, and that Draco faithfully visited my bed. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the elders convinced him not to marry me, as they had uncovered more of my unsavory family background.
The only people allowed to see me were Draco and Arnetta, since she was my only family. I was restricted to common areas of the settlement where my two, not one like everyone else, but two guards tracked my every movement. Boredom had set in so deep I was beginning to wish for something to happen. Anything.
One particular day, I had flopped across my bed like the whale I was now that I was in the last stages of pregnancy and was lying there when a knock sounded at the door. I yelled, “Come in if you must.”
Arnetta bounded in too chipper for a dull day with the sun hiding out behind storm clouds. “Morning, Harmony. What are you up to today?”
I growled. “I’m going to be touring the pyramids of Egypt, and then I think I might zip over to the Eiffel tower for brunch.”
“Aw, somebody’s grumpy.”
“That’s not even the word for it.” I rolled sideways onto my elbow and hoisted myself to a sitting position. Reaching out for the knife I’d used earlier to cut my chicken fried steak, I cast Arnetta a secretive grin. “Hey, want to see something?”
She moved to sit beside me. “Sure, what is it?”
Without giving the poor girl warning, I slid the knife across my forearm. Arnetta screeched and reached for me, but I jerked away to allow the blood to bubble in the cut.
“Why would you do that, Harmony? Oh goodness, your mental state is worse than Ladon feared. I’m going to go get him and make him do something.” 
Arnetta would have stood, but I pulled her back. “Hold on. I’m not crazy yet. Check this out.” I dipped a napkin in my water glass and patted away the blood on my arm. While we watched, the sides of the wound drew together as if magnetic and before long there was nothing to see. No scar at all. “Isn’t that interesting? I’m like the Drelconians. They heal of any wound. It’s nearly impossible to kill them.”
Arnetta’s eyes widened. “Oh my. Have you become one of them?”
I shook my laughing. “No. I don’t relish changing into a scaly lizard, and as far as I know, I still don’t have that particular curse. Ladon says it’s just the baby, and when I give birth, there may be some residual effects, but I should go back to normal.”
“Will the baby be like the Drelconians?”
I considered it. “I suppose he’ll have some of their abilities, but you know genetics. It’s a toss-up. He may be like them only in healing. Maybe he’ll never fly. Which would be a shame.”
Arnetta grinned and grasped both my hands. I noticed she extricated the knife from my fingers first to set it well out of my reach. “Isn’t this exciting? The baby, I mean? He’s almost due.”
“Truthfully, I don’t know, sweetie.” Sadness choked me. “Netta, he’s going to be a bastard. Not that that’s really a big thing anymore in our world, but in the Drelconian society, it is. And right now none of the other lords’ wives are pregnant. Every one of them has gotten married in the last three weeks and is trying to have children, in an attempt at damage control.”
“What does Draco say?”
“Does it matter?” I tried to hide my still sore heart from my sister. For the last three weeks, I had hidden my feelings, but being pregnant had put every sad emotion on steroids. I felt like I was coming apart. “He’s pretty much in the doghouse. And now he’s more or less keeping me like a mistress. I feel worthless, except for the baby.”
Arnetta drew me into a hug and then stared into my eyes when she drew back. “You say that, but I still see fire in your soul.”
I hesitated to tell her anything since she and Ladon were joined at the hip and he was obligated to tell his lord everything. “Well, as soon as I am given a clean bill of health and the baby is safely born and healthy himself, I’m out of here. I figure Draco will just go on and find a good wife to have a baby, while I raise our son. Our baby’s not really considered a true blood so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Harmony, I don’t want you to go,” Arnetta pleaded.
“Don’t worry. Ladon will be here. I’ve talked to him enough to believe he will be good for you. The elders don’t object, and they wouldn’t since he isn’t really a true blood. As soon as I’m out of the picture, Draco will no doubt find another wife and then you’ll be clear to marry.” I grasped both sides of her face, to force her to look at me. “Netta, promise you won’t tell Ladon. Promise!”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I promise. Harmony . . .”
“I love you, sweetie. And as soon as the heat dies down and Draco is safely married, maybe with more kids, then I will contact you. We’ll see each other again. Don’t worry.”
She cried in earnest, holding me close as if she would never let go. “You have been everything to me. I will miss you, and I love you with all my heart. If you ever need my help, please, Harmony, just call. I will harass Ladon until he helps no matter what his laws say.”
I believed she would.


Chapter Seventeen

Still not sure of my direction or how I would escape, I was biding my time. As soon as the baby was born, I was gone. I just needed a foolproof plan. To save his pride, I wouldn’t be surprised if Draco came after me. Disappearing from his radar completely was what the situation warranted.
I thought my fortunes were changing the night there was a disturbance in the settlement. I was lying across my bed, going over in my mind various scenarios for escape when a siren went off. I glanced at the clock. Ten-thirty. Rolling to my side, I hoisted to my elbow and then stood to wobble over to the window.
Dragons circled in the sky. Short bursts of fire exploded from their mouths, directed at each other. As I watched in horror, I realized it was a battle of two against one. The shimmering golden-scaled dragons I recognized as being the royal family’s guards. The beast they attacked had scales of silver. They reflected the moonlight in an array of white light that illuminated the darkness.
Transfixed by the fight, I didn’t notice the scratching at my door for a while. I spun around in time to see a note pushed beneath door, the thick carpet partially blocking it. I waddled over and flung open the door. No one was there. I walked down the hall to the stairs leading to the parking lot, but the area was empty. Across the way, in the opposite building where Draco lived, lights shown in his window.
Lately, I had noticed a female dragon sniffing around him, and my lover didn’t look like he was against it. She couldn’t become his wife, being barren, but from what I heard, if Draco didn’t declare a betrothed, he could have as many mistresses as he chose. Some convenient laws they had.
As I stared at his window, I wondered if he planned to visit my bed. He did several nights a week. Sometimes he came just to rub my bare belly, which tended to piss me off, but I never fought him on it. If he was near, that was enough for the time being. Soon I would be gone, and then the real ache would set in. I couldn’t make the man love me. Better to accept things as they were with Draco and choose my own path for my life.
Back at my room, standing in the doorway, I glance down at the note. Getting down to it would be a challenge. Rising even greater. Who could have written it? Not Draco. He wasn’t the note-writing type. The man said what he thought face-to-face from my experience. He minced no words to save one’s feelings.
The flap of wings sounded nearby and I knew my guards were returning. I bent with a grunt, scooped up the missive from the side, and sank forward to land heavily on my knees. I crawled farther into the room and kicked the door closed.
Steps sounded in the hall. I had just enough time to dump the letter in my nightstand before my door opened. “Ms. Harmony, are you okay? We heard your door shut and were concerned.”
The man standing at my door was stark naked and barefoot. A deep gash on his shoulder was healing fast, but my gaze didn’t remain on the dragon’s injury. The man was pretty-boy hot. I couldn’t help but look from his blue eyes down to the thick and seriously long equipment he had on display, not for my pleasure, but still pleasurable.
He reddened and apologized. Me being merely human, I should not be expected to put up with a naked Drelconian male. His lower half grew the same golden scales I’d seen on the dragons in the sky earlier, effectively covering his privates. I sighed.
“I’m fine. I just . . . bent down to pick up my pencil and got stuck.” I gave a weak smile, pretty certain he wasn’t buying it. “A little help would be appreciated.”
The guard hurried across the space separating us and hooked an arm beneath mine. He hefted my cumbersome body so quickly, I nearly left my feet. The move caused me to stumble and fall against his body. He was hard as a rock—all over, not his cock. I couldn’t distinguish his tool with all the scales. Of course, Draco chose that moment to pop into my room.
His expression darkened seeing me pressed against the naked chest of my guard. “You have two seconds to tell me why you have your hands on her.” His voice was cast low and intertwined with an animal growl that sent fear rippling over my body. This time the guard let me go so quickly I nearly fell. As he had done that night I first snuck into his room, Draco was across the room and holding me in his arms before I had time to blink.
The guard stuttered with explanations. Draco lost patience with him. “Get back to your station where you should have been in the first place!”
“Yes, my lord.” He bowed and ran for the door, closing it behind him.
I was thinking I didn’t want to draw any more of Draco’s wrath or his attention, so I wiggled as unobtrusively as possible to get free. An impossibility. He turned his head to look down at me, his eyes flashing. I gulped and then pretended his anger didn’t make me jumpy.
“What I do in my own room is my own business.” Had I been of more importance, I would have had more than a room, but a beautiful suite like Draco. His personal space took up most of the building he inhabited. He enjoyed servant quarters, guard quarters, a kitchen, dining room, living room and more. I had a decent sized bedroom like I was staying in a hotel. My trek for meals was across the way to a common area to my disgust. “If you’ll excuse me, I was just going to bed.”
Draco didn’t deign to address my statement. He slid one arm around my waist and turned me so that my belly faced out and my hip rested on his thigh. Slow and deliberate, he unbuttoned my dress, pushing the two sides apart to reveal my tight skin with the dark line curving over my stomach. Damn, dragon babies are huge. My lover bent to kiss the swell of first one breast and then the other. He ascended to my lips, sliding his tongue into my mouth. Pleasure suffused me causing me to suck gently at his offering.
Before I could get my fill, he pulled back to stare in my eyes. “You belong to me. If you ever let another man touch you again, he will lose his life, and you will be sorry.”
Had I imagined that I knew all there was to know about this lord, I would have been proved sorely mistaken. Draco revealed himself to be uppity when prodded, but I had no idea how far his anger would take him . . . or his jealousy. Yet, looking into his eyes, I didn’t doubt he would kill the guard if he ever touched me again. His warning was deathly serious.


Chapter Eighteen

“I don’t appreciate being treated like your personal property,” I snapped. “Do I get the same privileges? I saw that female sniffing around you? On the nights you don’t come to me, is she my replacement? Is that why we aren’t married already?”
He ignored the reference to the female dragon. “We are not married because I was willing to look past your brief involvement with that rebel group you mentioned. The elders dug deeper. I was not willing to ignore your family history.”
I wanted to scratch his eyes out. I dug my nails into my palms instead. “So what my real father is in a hospital for the criminally insane. That doesn’t make me crazy.”
“No, but it is an undesirable genetic defect. We have to think of our people first.” His logic was not flawed but unfeeling.
“Then what are you doing here, Draco? Get the hell out of my room. Just leave me alone.” To my shame, I cried. I could not wait to have the baby, so I could go back to my hard-ass ways when tears were for children and wimps. I didn’t even have a clue as to where my knife was.
Draco laid us both on the bed. He reached inside my bra and stroked my nipple, wetting the tip of his finger with milk. “Don’t cry, honey.”
I trembled, hating him.
“I want you. I can’t get enough of your sweetness.” He demonstrated by removing my panties and spreading my legs. First, he teased my nub with the tip of his finger and then his flicked it with his tongue until I bumped my pussy up to his greedy mouth. He closed his lips over my button and sucked. Come coursed down my tunnel while I cradled his head against me. My orgasm was close. I shifted my hips toward him, bracing myself on a fist. Draco lifted me higher and lapped at my honey as I came whimpering.
Finally, he leaned back to look down at me. “Is there any doubt?”
“Why can’t you love me?”
“Who says I don’t care for you, Harmony? You have to understand—”
Love, damn it! I didn’t say it out loud. Already, I felt like I was close to begging for him to think of me as more than a sex bunny and baby mama. I turned away from him, but he took it to mean I wanted him to enter me from behind. He snuggled our bodies together, lifted one of my legs and entered my slick passage. I don’t even know when he removed his clothing. I didn’t care. Just let him stay.
“After the baby is born,” he whispered in my ear, “I’m going to put it in your ass.” His dirty words sent me over the top, and I was coming again. How could he know I craved his giant dick in my back door? I knew it would hurt, and Draco was probably worried about the trauma and the effect it would have on the baby. But boy did I want it bad. None of my previous lovers had tried it with me.
After I moaned my way through recurring ripples of bliss, I chuckled. “I didn’t know you knew the word ass.”
Draco reached down in front of me, tugged out his cock from my opening, and coated his finger with my come. When he used that wetness to lubricate my anus, I nearly screamed. 
“Put it in, put it in.”
“Not this time. Soon.”
I reached down and shoved his hand. His finger rammed into my tight hole. The pleasure-pain was so good. I gyrated on that finger and shoved my ass back for more. Draco made to draw back, but I held him in place. My antics must have turned him on, for there was no way I could hold him. I’d seen his strength more than once.
He worked my snug hole, his finger gliding in and out. His pace increased. “Rub your clit for me,” he demanded. I obeyed, reaching around my belly and pinching that nub until I couldn’t hold still.
I cried out Draco’s name. Fire lit my body, and my juices were fairly spurting from me. Draco pulled his finger from my ass, rolled me over roughly, and plunged inside me. He drove deep and fast. Soon the hot flow rushed over my insides, and we rocked together until the intensity gentled.
When my heart stopped racing from our activities, I remembered the note. Draco lay dozing beside me. Maybe in an hour, he would wake and want more, but for now, I had time to see who was writing me. After checking him again, I eased to the side of the bed and retrieved the note from my nightstand. In the bathroom with the door locked, I tore open the envelope a smidgen at a time to keep the noise down.
The slip of paper inside was so small, it barely warranted an full envelope. The slanted writing was almost indecipherable, as if it had been clawed on the page instead of written. That thought made me shiver remembering the silver dragon, but then he couldn’t be slipping this note under my bed at the same time he was fighting the guards. He had an accomplice.
The message was simple:
If you want to know the real extent of the Drelconian lords’ cruelty, slip away from your guards and meet me in the Pontawny graveyard.
Like that’s going to happen.
No time or date had been given. While I wanted to get away, and this person might have information I could use, I was not crazy enough to risk my little one’s health to go haring off to a graveyard. The messenger could wait. For now. When it was just me I was risking, then I might go. Draco had made it clear that while he worried about my passing on undesirable genes to his child, he would care for and protect the baby. Our son just could not be acceptable to their society. I wasn’t sticking around waiting for him to resolve his prejudices. The time to act was coming, and I was going to take it. Whether Draco liked it or not, my son was going with me.


Chapter Nineteen

With nothing to do, nowhere to go beyond the settlement, and uncomfortable, I was flirting with the edge of insanity when—in the middle of the day—Draco strolled up to the bench I occupied outside my building. Most of the time I caught glimpses of him when he was handling business with the elders or seen him when he spent the night with me late.
“Hello, beautiful. What are you up to?” 
His mood seemed light, which was also a change with the silver dragons attacking periodically. Security had been tightened, although limited since the dragon numbers were down. I often wondered how one could truly injure them. All of it seemed to be an exercise in futility.
“Nothing,” I whined. “Just waiting for Junior to drop.”
That made him grin. “Junior, huh?” He stroked my belly, that look of affection stealing over his features, one I envied my son for. “What if I told you that I’m taking you into town to buy a new dress for a formal dinner today?”
“Is the dinner today or am I shopping today?”
“Both.”
For a moment, I was excited but then my joy deflated. I remembered I’m not the dress type, and what was the point? “I’m going to lose this extra weight the moment the baby comes. Spending your money on a new dress is a waste.”
He laughed, tugged me to my feet and kissed me. A thrill rippled over my body. I wanted to lose myself in his arms. You don’t deserve me!
“Why are you frowning?” he asked. “I believe you. You’ll lose the weight, but I have money just laying around and there is the formal dinner I mentioned.
I wiped the frown off my face and turned away. “Hey, it’s your money. I’m happy to help you spend it.”
Had I known a trip into town would be such a fanfare, I would have put up more of a fuss. At first, I thought of inviting Arnetta to go, but from all appearances, it looked like only Draco and six guards were coming along. If we couldn’t be completely alone, at least there would be no one to distract us from each other. I had been wanting to spend more time with him outside the bedroom, and another camping trip was out of the question.
Soon, we were tooling around Macy’s, and I was gawking at the prices. Arnetta and I had never made enough money in our lives to even breathe the air in a place like this. The department store might have been reasonable to many women but not us. I shopped at Wal-Mart or at most J. C. Penny, but that was only on special occasions. When I stumbled across a three hundred dollar price tag, I gulped.
“Draco, you do have human . . . I mean, American money? You understand how much all of this is?”
He had been strolling slightly ahead of me, with the guards in strategic points all around us. Their hands were behind their backs, and their were eyes alert. At my words, Draco stopped and spun to face me with a grin on his face. The guards halted in unison.
Draco took my face in his hands, and a tender look came into his eyes. I melted. “Don’t worry. I will take care of you. I have the means. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
I bucked. “I’m not afraid. I’ll have you know, I’ve been taking care of myself and—”
“And your little sister all her life. Yes, I’ve heard.” He went from tender to impatient. “Harmony, you are mine. You are now my responsibility. I take that seriously.”
I screeched, not giving a fuck who heard me. “You don’t own me. Why can’t we be normal? What happens when you get married? You think I don’t know that’s a possibility? You have your part to do, and truly I get it. You have a whole people to consider, not just me.”
“Harmony . . .”
“Never mind.” I faced the nearest clothing wrack and shuffled through the offerings. “I know black is slimming, but nothing’s camouflaging this belly.”
A salesperson had come up, blocked by the guards. Draco nodded to let her through. I suspected they wanted to search her, but resisted. The woman, all of five feet tall, trembled staring up at the giant dragon men, although I couldn’t be sure she recognized them as Drelconians. They looked like any other humans, except ten times more dreamy.
“M-May I help you, ma’am?”
I continued as if she’d been there all the time. “I don’t want anything sleeveless because my arms have gotten thick. Nothing too short for the same reason—my calves and ankles.” My eyes grew moist. “Maybe I should just forget it. Draco, you can just go without me to this dinner.”
He took my hand, pulling me along. “No, you’re going. And you will be my sexy baby mama.”
I had to laugh, but I followed him. Sometimes, he spoke so properly and seemed out of touch with human’s vernacular. Then, at times like this, I wondered where he heard anyone say baby’s mama.
We trudged all over the store, beating the racks for anything that wouldn’t make me look like a ball with legs. I drooled over satin and lace, a Sean John off-the-shoulder confection, and the traditional black slinky dress. Most I could only stroke and sigh over. Some eased over the belly and hips but looked ridiculous.
When I could take no more, Draco discovered a London silk shift dress that appeared to be a perfect fit. “This is it, honey. Try it on.”
I sighed, probably looking as worn to the bone as the guards. The steely alertness had definitely dulled after hours in the store and only I had been brought a chair on wheels from the back to be pushed like a princess around the store. I could get used to it.
“No, that will never fit, Draco. And I said I don’t want it too short. My legs are ugly.”
He flipped my chair around toward the dressing room while holding the dress stretched out before him. “If I say your legs are sexy, they are. Now get in there and try it on.”
“Bossy!” I scooted from the chair, grabbed the dress and grumbled all the way into the dressing room. When the thing didn’t fit and I looked like a freak, he would have to admit he was wrong.
I stood in the dressing room stall inching into the dress, all the time expecting it to snag at my belly or even pull too much across my shoulders. The soft material glided over my form and fell gracefully against my thighs. While I hadn’t been much in the sun so that my legs weren’t as tanned as I would have liked, the dress still highlighted their natural tone. Despite the bump, I looked almost sexy, just as Draco said.
I twirled happily back and forth, admiring myself, gesturing as if I was talking to someone while holding a wine glass, then waving to a phantom acquaintance across the room. A sound toward the floor on the left caught my attention. I looked down to find a grate on the wall, with fingers poking through.


Chapter Twenty

Seeing the fingers in the grate, my hand went automatically to my hip, seeking out my knife. Of course, it wasn’t there. Mentally, I searched my purse trying to remember if I had any defensive weapon in there. Not even a can of pepper stray. I backed up toward the opposite wall with one hand over my belly. Common sense should have told me to run out or call for a guard, but I was curious. What bold idiot risked having his head toasted sticking it in my dressing room? Draco would have it barbecued and on a platter within a few seconds. I needed to ask my controlling lover just where the hell my knife was.
Smoke rose from the screws on the side of the grate, and then it was like someone had sucked it in so it wouldn’t rise any higher and set off the store’s sprinklers. Liquid metal dripped down to the carpet in four places. I’ve got to see this guy.
With the grate moved to the wall, a head popped out of the gaping hole. Hair as white and silky as . . .well, whatever was as impressive as it was, graced his head. When he rose up and up, as tall and well-built as any of the other dragons, I let my gaze take in his form from his neat bare toes to his hairy muscular legs to his. Damn! Yes! His cock. The man could almost give Draco a run for his money. My mind wouldn’t let me admit that any could stand up to Draco’s beauty.
He struck a pose, crossing his arms across a chest so wide, it sucked all the extra space out of the room and had me panting. “Enjoying the view?”
Reddening, I cast a sheepish look up at his face, and then let out a small squeak. The man who had boldly invaded my changing room looked exactly like Draco.
“Y-You look like . . .” I couldn’t force out the words.
He shrugged. “Comes of being his identical twin.” The mystery man fingered his hair. “Except for the hair, mind you. So, you are his little love. Harmony, right?”
“I’m not his love.”
The man sucked his teeth. “Low self-esteem is not sexy.”
“I haven’t been sexy for a while anyway.” I stroked my belly. “Draco never mentioned you, and shouldn’t you get out of here? I suspect he would freak if he knew you were here.”
He grinned, a smile that made me quiver for its amazing match to his brother’s. “What gave me away?”
“So you’re the sarcastic one? Is that it?”
“Hmm, I see why my brother is obsessed with you. You’re all fire.” He reached a hand out to stroke my cheek, but I ducked it.
“Not all fire.” I moved toward the door. Remembering Draco’s anger made me hesitate to get him riled again. And it would be a real shame to kill his twin if the stupid man was tempted to touch me. “You should leave now whatever your name is.”
“My name is Ryuu, and I had to come here to see you because you wouldn’t come to me. You got my note?”
My eyes widened. “That was from you? But you said . . .”
“Yes, I do not agree with my brother and the elders about how they rule our people. There are others on a planet not far from here. If you come with me, I can show you what Draco will never admit.”
I grew angry. “And what? What exactly do you expect me to do about it, Ryuu? I think your brother and the elders are too restrictive, but then that’s my problem. You can’t convince me he is doing something to hurt the Drelconians. He wants to rebuild your people, make them stronger. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
He grumbled. “I cannot stay long. He’ll be wondering where you are. You have to trust me, Harmony. Please.”
“No. Get out of here. I know about the threat to kill my baby. Well, you can forget it. He won’t be anything but a bastard, so you don’t have to worry about a superior race being bred starting through him!”
I started to cry. He moved close, and when I would have pulled away, he kept me from it, encircling my waist and holding me still. Embarrassment and I’m ashamed to say, excitement lit me when his cock bumped my stomach. Ryuu thumbed up my chin and kissed me tenderly. “I would never hurt my nephew.”
His tongue teased my lips until I shivered. I shouldn’t like Draco’s brother’s kiss, but I did. I let him part my lips, and he would have delved deeper except my baby took that moment to kick me so hard, I cried out.
Draco heard it. The outer door to the dressing room crashed open and before I could get my bearings, the lock on my room was dangling from one screw. Upon seeing the grate open and a foot disappearing into it, Draco roared a command while lifting me and rushing me out of the room.
Over his shoulder, I was stunned to see one of the guards transform to a snakelike creature. The thing slithered into the hole so fast, I wondered if my eyes had been playing tricks on me. No one had told me the dragons could turn into snakes. That was just creepy.
Draco stood over me like a sentinel while I changed my clothes. He paid for my dress silently and then shuffled me into the car. Although he said nothing, the pinched, white-knuckled grip he had on the steering wheel was a clear indication that he was holding his explosion off until we got home. That and the fact that he refused the guard, who had driven us, access to the wheel.
I dropped my shopping bags and purse on the bed and jumped when Draco slammed the door. He marched across the room and whirled me around to face him, holding my arms in such a punishing grip that I winced.
“Start explaining what the . . . what you were doing in that changing room with that man?” he demanded. “And don’t lie to me because I’m not in the mood, Harmony!”
“Get your hands off me.” I fought to free myself to no avail. “Draco, you’re cutting off my circulation.”
His scowl deepened, but he did not lessen his hold. “Tell me what was said between you. I suspect you didn’t cry out too soon. Did he touch you?”
“Touch me?” I snapped. “You mean like you’re hurting me now?”
At the word hurt, he eased his grip and absently stroked my arms, but the frown never left his face. He waited for my answers.
“You never told me you have an identical twin. His hair is long and white. Of course, you knew that. I don’t know anything about you. Your parents, whether they are alive. Or if you have any other family. I’ve never even carried on a conversation with your brothers I know about.” I sighed. “But you expect me to spread my legs at the snap of your fingers. You were driven to marry me against my will. When I wasn’t found to be good enough, you became—or continued to be—driven to fuck me whenever you want. And I’m supposed to lie on my back and take it like a good little slave.”
I waited for him to say something, but he stood there mute. My anger flared.
“I kissed him!” I blurted out.
The blood drained from his face. His hands dropped to his sides. His face became a mask of frigidity, and I thought I might vomit it sickened me so much.
“Congratulations, Harmony. You have just signed my brother’s death warrant.”


Chapter Twenty-One

“I-I thought it was against Drelconian law to kill any dragon.” My words tumbled from my lips. I stared down at my plate, but I expected that Ladon was listening since Arnetta had moved away to speak with other attendees to the dinner. My misery, I was certain, was plain for all to see. Draco and I had not worked anything out. He had bullied me until I told him the whole conversation, and the bastard hadn’t offered any explanations whatsoever. Probably thinks he doesn’t owe me any. The knowledge stung although I should be used to it now.
“Under ordinary circumstances, they’re not,” Ladon explained. “Ryuu is a whole other set of rules. His crime against Drelconian law is legendary.”
I gasped. “Just what is his crime?”
Ladon smiled, waving a finger back and forth at me. “I’m sorry, Harmony. I can’t tell you that if Draco has chosen not to tell you the details. Besides, I think your unhappiness right now stems more from your relationship with my lord than from anything Ryuu has done.”
A desire to throttle him passed through me. “What relationship?” When several people turned in our direction, I lowered my voice. “We don’t have a relationship. It’s sex, pure and simple sex.”
I was satisfied to see Ladon redden. He deserved to be embarrassed for helping to keep me in the dark. Here I was living among his people, for all intents and purposes, a member of the family—practically. Yet, I was still being treated as an outsider. Never mind the fact that I was not allowed outside the settlement. My lord had better be glad I didn’t have any family to get back to. I would have fought with everything in me to get free. As it was, I had nothing to leave for. Arnetta was here. For that matter, so was he.
“Ladon, you have to understand my frustration. Draco expects me to be his mistress, to have his son, and to just accept that I’ll never be more.”
“And you expect him to bend to what you want, be the person you would have him be,” he reminded me. “I understand. You want what you want because you love him, but feeling as you do doesn’t instantly change him from being a Drelconian lord. He is two hundred and seventy-eight years old. I’d call that set in his ways, wouldn’t you?”
I choked on the cider I had just sipped and pounded my chest trying to catch my breath. Through watery eyes, I glimpsed a look of concern on Draco’s face from across the room. Since he escorted me to this penguin function, he had left me to my own devices but had always kept me in sight. I had caught him staring more than once and put it down to his insatiable lust.
With my windpipes finally clear, I gave him a brief nod, and his gaze drifted down over my body to pause at my stomach. I gritted my teeth and turned back to Ladon.
“Are you exaggerating about his age?” I asked.
He grinned. “No, we live long. Not a big deal. Do you understand the point I’m making? Harmony, you can’t expect that Draco will become this gentle man who treats you like gold overnight. He has been reared to believe he is superior to all others, no matter the race. While he is a fair and just leader, he also has a lot of pressure on him. He is the eldest of the true bloods. For most of his life—no, all—he has been given just what he wants. Suddenly, he wants you, and he can’t have you.”
“What you’re saying is a spoiled prince can’t have his toy so he throws temper tantrums.”
“I’m thinking he’s not the only one.”
I narrowed my eyes. “For a bit of that arrogance right now, I’d put you in your place!”
Ladon chuckled. The man was indomitable.
“Okay, let’s say I hear where you’re coming from, Ladon. That doesn’t change the fact that I am stuck here against my will, and despite this room being filled with my government officials, not one of those kiss-ups would dare stand against the Drelconians to rescue me. And you know why?”
“Why?”
“Because your people have them in the palm of your hand. You can keep the blue gem for yourselves. Only you have access to your technology that powers your ships to take you to where you harvest it. If you were to change your minds, we would be lost.”
“You forget, my lords needed the brides.”
“Have you seen your men? They are hot as anything. A woman would stow away on your ships on the off chance she could wrap her legs around a Drelconian, even the lowliest servant.”
Ladon gave a slight bow. “Thank you for the compliment.”
I sighed, searching the room for Draco. I found him speaking with the same Drelconian female who had been pursuing him of late. My heart felt like it stopped. Draco was watching me. I turned away and hoped he didn’t know I had been looking for him.
“Seriously, I have taken care of myself for a long time. Not two centuries, but still. I don’t expect to be rescued. I’ll make my own opportunities.” I saw the man at my side stiffen. I had said too much. Damn! “I mean—”
“Is it too much to try to find a middle ground with the man you love?” I heard the warning in his tone. He was letting me know that my escape attempt hadn’t worked before, and much more was at stake now that I was pregnant.
I glanced again at Draco. Laughing at something he said, the female pressed a slender hand to his chest. “Middle ground? Where is it? I can come to the place where I accept I will never be his wife, that we can be a dysfunctional little family. However, you and I know that the elders will soon have their way. Draco will be compelled to marry. The problem with that is that I don’t think I could bear it.”


Chapter Twenty-Two

Unable to watch another second while that female dragon came on to Draco, I excused myself and headed for the courtyard. The fire breathers were rough and tumble, but they apparently loved beauty. The enclosed space was filled with fragrant flowers, even ivy crawling up the brick walls. Those barriers were new, I observed. The only enclosures to their space had been the outer walls. I suppose I didn’t mind. The construction kept the outside world just that—outside.
I strolled along the quiet center walkway to a bench and sat down. Footfalls to my right told me my guards had followed, and when I glanced up, I saw sentinels in the air. I sighed. Would the threat ever end?
At the thought of the threat, I remembered Ryuu. Whatever possessed me to return the man’s kiss was beyond me, and then telling Draco was the worst move. The grapevine had it that he had dispatched guards to search for his twin, but to bring him back alive when they found him. I could only imagine that Draco wanted to exact his revenge himself.
“Maybe it was because I wanted him to feel what I feel,” I muttered.
“Insecure?”
I jumped at the sudden voice. The guards normally kept their distance. When I looked up, I had to suppress a shudder. The female dragon towered over me. She was just short of Draco’s height by about two inches and just as impossibly beautiful. Her hair hung down her back in a silken blonde sheet and her eyes were sky blue. I wondered if they like the males switched to yellow and black when she shape-shifted.
“What do you want?” I asked rudely. “Here to gloat that you’ve just been named as Draco’s betrothed?”
She sank to the space beside me, staring straight ahead. Something told me she was not admiring the roses. “Don’t be stupid. You’ve been here long enough to know all the females are barren. I am no more worthy to be my lord’s wife than you are.”
“Let me give you something to kiss, sweetheart,” I snapped.
She pretended not to know what I meant. Her eyebrows rose, a questioning look coming into her eyes. The redness of her cheeks said otherwise. “I’m only here for Draco’s sake.”
“He’s a grown man. He can handle his own issues. Then again, maybe not.”
The dragon jumped to her feet. She shot a ball of fire from her mouth, making the guards go on the alert. One moved at lightning speed to step between her and me. Facing her, he said,. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to refrain from hostile displays like that or you’ll be escorted back inside.” 
His emphasis on escort was not missed by myself or the woman. I was surprised at the quick move to protect me. A sense of being cherished came over me.
“Fine, I will behave myself!” she growled. The guard didn’t move until the woman calmed down more. When she did, he took up his post again, a space that seemed much closer than before.
Settling on the bench once more, we sat in silence before she attempted to explain why she had sought me out. I kept silent to allow her to say what she needed to. I might learn something of where my lover’s mind was.
“The plague took so many lives. Many of the older dragons, including the lords’ parents, Draco’s parents. Not one person left could not look around himself or herself and find hundreds of friends, family, neighbors who were gone. The loss hit Draco the hardest. He was so full of pain, and because I loved him, I was there to help him pick up the pieces.”
I cringed at her words. Another woman destined to ache for him, but never fully have him. I wondered if they were already lovers, or ever stopped being lovers. I prayed she would not confirm what my imagination was already supplying, her naked in his arms, lovely, not an ounce of fat to disgust him. Not that he had ever seemed turned off by my swollen figure. Over the last few weeks, his desires had increased.
“I offered myself, body and soul to him, but Draco would take neither. Oh, we grew very close, speaking about everything from what direction the dragons needed to go in to rebuild to the more mundane topics of every day. I even showed up one day in his room, naked. He hugged me and explained that there could never be anything more than friendship between us.” She flushed, as if she realized admitting that particular incident was unnecessary to relate in making her point. “Draco will never let himself truly love again. I see that he has some affection for you, and of course the baby, but that is all it will ever be.”
Affection. That is all. So what did she think she was accomplishing out here, other than helping me to realize just how much devastation Draco must have faced losing so many. The fact that none of his brothers were lost was a miracle, but to lose one’s parents’. I knew that pain well.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because if the man I love can’t have true love, the least he can have is contentment, and with you fighting against your lot, you just keep him unsettled and stressed. Just . . . enjoy what you have. You get to curl up in his arms every night and . . .” Tears ran down her face, steam rising from them. I stared in amazement. “You get to have his child, the first one no matter what anyone says. I would kill to have that. Appreciate it!”
Unable to say anything, I nodded. She stood and turned to walk away.
“Wait, what’s your name?”
“Does it matter? I’m not important. Please take care of him, Harmony. If you let him, he will come to you, when he knows you won’t judge him or our people’s ways. You will be even more appealing to him, the woman he can share his thoughts with and his bed.”
And she was gone.


Chapter Twenty-Three

Dinner was over. The servants had made a wide space in the middle of the floor for dancing. I stood on the sidelines, still turning over the words Draco’s friend had spoken to me in the courtyard. Could I really just support him? Not judge him? Something inside me wanted to continue, to let it be known far and wide that I wasn’t the kind of woman who would allow herself to be used to placate a prince.
On the other hand, I considered all he had been through. Maybe in some way, he needed me. That was easy to believe as I stood there, seeing him watch me. All night, he had barely taken his eyes off me.
Still undecided, but wanting to be nearer, I started across the floor. The couples whirling about disappeared as they did in the romantic movies. Well, not completely. I was not so lost in my lover’s eyes that I didn’t hear someone remark on the expanse of my belly and a question as to whether I could in fact dilate enough to accommodate a half-Drelconian baby. If I wasn’t freaked enough about the soon-to-come big day, that did it.
I arrived in front of Draco and stopped just two feet away. Neither of us said a word. He looked so amazing in his dark suit. The jacket must be tailor made to hang right across his broad shoulders. As admiring as I was for his state of dress, I wanted him naked. I wanted to watch his cock grow thick for me. I wanted to stroke it, to lick it, and to hear his moans.
Draco must have known my thoughts. His eyebrows went up. The frown that had come over his face when I first approached cleared from his brow. “Dance with me first,” he said.
Dance? I hesitated. My Alfani slide-ons were low-heeled, and I had not worn any pantyhose. However, I had never learned to dance, aside from a few hip wiggles and flipping of the ponytail as required by my routines so long ago. What had been the point of anything more?
Taking me into his arms and holding me as close as possible, Draco guided me into the dance. “Don’t be afraid, Harmony.”
That was the second time he had said such a thing to me, and I wasn’t sure what he referred to. The thought of stumbling over his feet didn’t bother enough to be afraid. With his one hand at my waist and the other holding my hand, I felt confident to follow his lead, if slowly.
Soon, my lofty lord was whispering dirty suggestions in my ears, and I was enjoying every minute of it. After a while, he grew quiet and then said, “I’ve missed you.”
I gasped. “What do you mean? We were together this afternoon. Even while you were mad at me, you made me strip down so you could plow me.”
His eyes narrowed at my words. “I recall you coming a few times.”
“Yeah, well. Whatever.” I chuckled, and he joined in.
Soon he grew serious again. “Harmony, I don’t want . . .”
“What?” I was almost too scared to ask. We weren’t fighting anymore. If he brought up the incident in the dressing room and he commanded me again, would I comply or tell him like I told his friend, exactly what he could kiss?
He drew in a deep breath then blew it out. Heat hit me, and he rushed to apologize. Thank God it wasn’t fire.
“Harmony, after the baby is born, I want us to continue as lovers, but . . .” He paused for so long, I thought he didn’t intend to continue. He gripped my hand until I winced and then he apologized again before easing his grip. A few more painful squeezes and then we were settled. His next words came out in a rush. “I’ve decided if you want another lover in addition to me, you can have him, but not Ryuu.”
I can have him. He was giving me permission? I could not be more pissed off. Who did this man think he was? I could do what I pleased, whether he liked it or not, and what if I could not stand the thought of another man touching me? What then? So why the change of heart? Maybe he was thinking of taking on a second lover. That must be it!
Standing there seething, I didn’t speak a word. With all my willpower, I kept my face impassive. Draco could not know how much he hurt me. Maybe that was how it would always be between us. Him insensitive and brutish, me hurt and angry. Our future seemed bleak.
His friend’s words came back to me. I had decided on a new path. “Thank you, Draco. I appreciate you giving me the option of having another lover.” There! Not mean or judgmental, but not admitting that his was the only rod that would bring me to climax.
“I . . . but you . . .” he began. “You don’t have anyone else in mind, do you?”
I clucked my tongue. “Oh, baby, I don’t want to talk about another man tonight. Let’s go do it in the courtyard.” Of course my voice was too loud and several people nearby gave me a reproving look. I grinned at every one of them and dragged my godlike lover behind me out into the evening air.

* * * *

Side by side, we strolled along the moonlit paths with our fingers intertwined. When we came to a bench, Draco sat down and pulled me onto his lap. I leaned back against him while he stroked the outsides of my thighs.
“Mmm,” I purred. “That’s turning me on.”
He chuckled. “This dress looks amazing on you. Did I tell you that? I particularly like the shortness of it. Gives me faster access to your treasure. Or should I say, my treasure?”
Draco slid my dress higher then rested his hand over my pussy, but he didn’t stroke me nor attempt to push aside my panties. All the same just his touch set me on fire. I squirmed trying not to arch my hips up toward his hold.
“Before I pleasure you, honey, I want you to talk to me.”
“What are you talking about? I am talking to you.” I sat forward, but he pulled me back to settle my head against his shoulder. “Besides, I thought you wanted to make love.”
One of his arms encircled my belly. The other gave one swift stroke to my dampened center. Still, he made no effort to get me worked up. “That’s not what I mean, and believe me, I will make love to you soon. What I mean is you never talk much about your parents and your experiences growing up.”
I stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Draco nipped at my ear. He blew warm air against the side of my face. The heat was so soothing, I found myself relaxing and curling closer to him.
“Shall I be more blunt, Harmony?”
“Maybe you should.” I yawned. “Because you’re making me sleepy now. The horniness is wearing off.”
“Don’t change the subject, woman.” He turned my head to kiss me. “Honey, I know what it’s like be hurt so badly you think you won’t recover. It affects every experience following, for the rest of your life if you don’t overcome it.”
I grew angry. “In other words, you’re saying I haven’t overcome past hurts. Is that it? What about me is unsatisfactory so that you want to fix me?”
“Hmm, let’s see. The anger? The sarcasm?” He grinned at my scowl, and pushed at the corner of my mouth to lift it. I couldn’t help but laugh. “See? You can just be happy.”
“You don’t understand, Draco.”
“Explain it to me?”
The man was not going to give up if I didn’t comply. Knowing he was trying to psychoanalyze me so I would be his perfect little mistress was galling, but then I did see his point.
With no preamble, I blurted, “Sometimes there wasn’t enough to eat, or enough money to pay the electric bill, so we sat in the dark hungry.”
“Honey.” The pain in Draco’s voice brought a lump to my throat.
“My father made good money, but he certainly wasn’t bringing it home. There were countless times I sat crying because we had to stay with my great aunt in the winter. Our electricity was off, meaning no heat. And I sat in Aunt Nan’s house wondering if I would get Christmas presents that year.
“I thought everything would get better when my father was sent away for murder, and my mother found Arnetta’s dad. I was wrong. He was a great person and all, but his head was firmly in the clouds. And my mother, finally having a man that cherished her, joined him up there.” I started to sob. Draco stroked my back, and let me get it all out. “I lied about my age to get my first job. I was the one who convinced a neighbor to watch my four-year-old sister while I worked. For a while, everything got better, until they decided to go on that trip. Both were killed, and now I really did have full responsibility for my sister.
“We ran, left everything behind because I wasn’t yet eighteen. The state would never let me keep her. That made everything worse, no money, barely food to eat, and a place to stay questionable from one day to the next.”
Draco kissed my nose, my eyes, and my lips. I clung to him like a lifeline, wanting only the extra warmth that radiated off the dragons. He licked my salty tears from my cheeks, sending waves of desire coursing over my body.
“That’s why you run,” he told me. “Why you’re always afraid. The people that should have cared for you, didn’t.”
“I’m strong enough to take care of myself.”
“I know, but I’d like to help.” He paused and then spoke in a rush. “Harmony, move in with me.”
My eyes widened. “What? Are you sure? What about—”
“Don’t worry about anything. I just want you with me every single day, and if we cannot be married by my laws, then so be it. We will live as husband and wife anyway. Will you?”
“Yes!”


Chapter Twenty-Four

I couldn’t believe it. I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Beside me, my lover was breathing rhythmically in sleep, and my heart pounded with joy I felt just knowing we were together. Draco hadn’t admitted he loved me, but I was pretty sure he did. I saw it in his eyes now. More than just lust or obsession, he cared.
The only blight on our contented existence was that my little one was defying Drelconian physiology and taking longer than thirty days to be born. From what Ladon had said the last time he examined me, the baby was fully developed and should have arrived before now. Yet, he assured me Junior was healthy. Junior. Draco’s people observed no such customs of naming the first born son after the father, but I still enjoyed teasing him calling our boy Junior.
Rubbing my belly, I realized that my son must still be sleeping. He had been kicking me almost constantly for days, interrupting my intimacy with Draco. I decided now was a great time to get my nub tended to!
I reached out to shake Draco. “Hey, sleepyhead, wake up. I’m seriously horny.”
He grunted but didn’t move.
“Are you kidding me?” When I still didn’t get a stir, beginning to think he was playing with me, I slid my hand from his shoulder to his tight abs. Tickling the hair I found there, I got a niggle of movement. Draco was a light sleeper. He was most certainly awake. “Okay, then. We’ll see how you like this.”
I continued my exploration until I reached his dick, already rock hard. But instead of just stroking as was my habit, I enclosed his hot shaft in my mouth. I twirled my tongue around the head, savoring its erotic shape. I loved every vein, every crease of his long erection. Turning my head to see if I got a reaction, I slid closer and tucked him between my breasts. Draco shot up growling.
“Harmony!”
I laughed. “You’ll give me what I want or else.”
“Pushy.” Draco’s eyes flashed black and yellow. He lifted me from between his legs and deposited my body on the bed as if I weighed no more than five pounds. Even his strength was a turn-on.
When he kneed apart my legs, I squirmed with excitement. He took hold of my ass cheeks in his hands, lifted my hips, and began feasting at my dewy entrance. His tongue was so long and solid, it felt like a mini-dick as it glided up and down my passage. I screamed and cried, demanding more.
Draco drew back. “Why should I give you more? You’re a very naughty girl.”
“That’s why.” I gasped. “I must be punished. Do that thing you did before, Draco. Please.”
His expression told me he knew what I meant, but he asked anyway. “What thing?”
I stretched my hand out to force his head down, but he ducked. A growl rumbled in my throat. “You know. Make your mouth hotter. Heat my pussy.”
“Well . . .” He rotated his chin in slow circles over my clit. “You do shoot out like a fountain when I do that.” My nub swelled. I reached down around my stomach to push back my folds to give Draco better access. “Like I said, pushy.”
His mouth closed over my nubbin with a heat just short of pain. For a moment, I thought I would faint for sheer delight, but then my climax shattered all control. Draco braced an arm across my thighs to keep me from bucking off the bed. He sucked harder. I cried, and my come ran in a thick rivulet down to my ass.
My lover noticed the cream he loved escaping and followed it. He shoved one of my thighs higher and wider, running his tongue down over the tight hole between my ass cheeks. I cried out all over again. Having an orgasm while a man simply lapped at my rear had never seemed possible until Draco. He had proved my theory wrong too many times.
I played with my clit while he licked me, but he pushed my hand away. “No cheating.”
He squeezed my thighs, nipped at the tender skin on my ass with sharpened teeth. I gasped at the sting, but he was already moving on. He scooped more of my come to lather my ass before he prodded my hole. I came in an instant.
When the heaving in my chest had eased, Draco handed me a glass of water he had poured from the pitcher on the nightstand. After I had downed the half glass, he took it from me. “Now tell me, Harmony, who is the master of your body?”
I gasped at the harsh tone to his voice and the danger in his eyes, but I could not deny what we both knew to be the truth. “You are.”
“Good.” He reared back on his knees, took hold of my hips, and dragged me forward. My widened hips still fit perfectly against him. He entered me at a rush, pounding and grinding as if he really was trying to punish me. Although he was rough, his surging didn’t hurt. In fact, I was near another orgasm within moments. His eyes closed, and his head went back. He was nearing a release. “Come with me, Harmony.”
His hot seed jettisoned up my tunnel, and I milked him with clenched muscles for all he was worth. He reached between us to pinch my nub. I cried out and gyrated against his duel assaults until the sensations roving over my body eased enough for me to relax.
Draco leaned back and flipped one of my legs over his head so that he could be positioned behind me without losing out intimate connection. He braced my hips against him while he lay down and nuzzled my neck.
“Harmony,” he groaned.
I heard the longing and the sadness, but also the love.


Chapter Twenty-Five

My life went from heaven to hell in a matter of three days. Junior still had not arrived, and I was now officially one and a half weeks late—well, Drelconian weeks late. In all, I had still only been pregnant almost a month and a half. Any other human mother-to-be would probably kill to be in my shoes at about five months out.
Yet, the baby being late was not what put me in abject misery. The elders, unknown to me, had been putting constant pressure on Draco to take a wife. None of his brothers had seemed to bond well with their wives. Not one of the lords’ spouses was pregnant. I did wonder if they had an ability to control when and if they impregnated their mate, but neither Draco nor Ladon had indicated such a gift.
Now, there were rumblings that Draco had already crumbled under the weight of his responsibilities. I waddled out of our private suite to see what the real deal was since he had not been forthcoming as yet.
Occasionally, Draco held a meeting with the elders in our home. He didn’t like being far from me in case my time came. I didn’t prefer to go far either. My belly had me laid up much of the time.
Meetings were held in a conference room off the main hall on the first floor. When I peeked out my door, my two guards stood alert. I chose the one on the left. “Um, do you mind getting someone to bring me a glass of milk? The bit I had in my mini-fridge has gone bad.” This wasn’t true of course. My personal servant, one that Draco had hand-picked, never failed to supply me with all I needed. Had my lover even suspected she wasn’t doing her job properly, she would be out. I hoped my ruse would not get her into trouble.
The guard hesitated, exchanged a glance with his counterpart, and then turned back to me. “Yes, miss, I’ll see to it.” He disappeared down the stairs.
Grabbing the other guard by the hand, I pulled him into my room. When I turned back to face him, his face was flaming red. “Miss Harmony, my lord would kill me.”
I laughed. “You goof, I am not about to jump you. Believe me, Draco satisfies and then some. I just need you to hand me that book there on the top shelf.” He stupidly obliged, and I poked him in the ass with a needle filled with the same substance Ladon had used to knock out Draco when I kidnapped him. Before I could get the needle out good, he hit the floor snoring.
“Thank you, Arnetta! Worked like a charm.”
I figured my other guard would not be too long in locating someone to get me milk, who would then tell him that there was none in the house since I had had the forethought to dump it all earlier. Still he might return too quickly to let me know, so I waddled as quickly as my thick ankles could carry me down the hall in the opposite direction that he had taken.
Before long, I arrived in the main hall without being seen. With the comical stealth that only a knocked-up woman could produce, I crept to the double doors leading into the conference room. To my relief, voices were raised. I didn’t have to strain too hard to catch every condemning word.
One of the elders was speaking. “My lord, there is absolutely no time to waste. Move your mistress to another building, or preferably out of the settlement, and then announce your betrothal. Your wife-to-be will arrive tomorrow.”
Tears filled my eyes, and a sharp pain hit me so hard, I doubled over. In great raspy gulps, I struggled to control my breathing. A buzzing started in my ears as I dipped and swayed on drunken legs. I must have cried out, although I couldn’t remembering doing it or hearing. Someone wrenched open the door, and I found myself being swept up in Draco’s arms.

* * * *

“I couldn’t bring myself to tell you,” he said. I heard all the sorrow in his voice, and saw it in his expressive eyes. “We were happy.”
How can you do this to me? I thought you loved me, but then you never admitted that did you? Stupid me for believing it. I should have known I couldn’t depend on you. “You have no choice.”
“Don’t!” He pulled me close, kissed my forehead and bent to kiss my belly. “Harmony, don’t be understanding, honey. I have been cruel to you, holding on when I knew it could never be. We were never meant to be together.”
I sobbed.
Draco lifted me and carried me to the bed. The pain had been from the shock. The baby still hadn’t come. After an examination, Ladon had put me on bed rest, but my agitation drove me from the bed. Draco had forced me down more than once.
“I am the oldest, Harmony. When the plague came, my brothers were all young, like early to late teens in human years. We watched my parents die a slow and tormenting death.” 
He sunk down on the side of the bed. I marveled that my strong lover had tears streaming down his face. I pushed back the covers and crawled over to him. He pulled me in his arms and settled me in place before speaking again. 
“The plague picked and chose who it would destroy and who it would just leave barren. Why? Why couldn’t it have left my parents and all the others that I loved so dearly?”
“I’m so sorry, Draco,” I whispered, caressing away the tears.
“And Ryuu . . .”
My stomach knotted thinking about what he was going to say.
“He is my identical twin, only two minutes younger.” He looked forlorn. “I don’t know how his hair has turned white, but the last time I saw him—many years ago—he was murdering one of the elders.”
I gasped. “No.” Surely what Draco was saying was impossible. The man I met didn’t seem like the type, and I did know the deep seated hate and anger that lurked in a man’s eyes, the kind of thing that marked him as a destroyer of life. “How can that be?”
His shoulders slumped. Draco tugged me tighter to his chest and buried his face against my neck. His words were muffled. “I would never believe anyone who told me such a thing, but I saw him myself. And before anyone could apprehend him, he fled the planet. As I said, he had not been seen since. Later, we came to suspect he led a band of silver dragons. They have our traits, but we have no record of any like them.”
“And it never occurred to you to investigate?” I snapped. This wasn’t the time to antagonize him, but I couldn’t resist. “Draco, he said there was something on another planet I needed to see. He said it was ‘the truth’ you refused. If I can somehow contact him and agree to go, then maybe—”
“No!”
I jumped.
Draco sighed. “Ryuu is a murderer. He has threatened our son. He has failed to put his people before himself. My other brothers have not produced. I feel like I want to die all over again as I did when I lost my parents, my grandparents, and many others. I cannot turn my back on the rest.” He kissed me. “My heart. I’m so sorry. I will not move you out of the settlement, but she does arrive tomorrow as you heard. And by the end of the week, I will be married.”


Chapter Twenty-Six

I sat at the very back. Just as unbelievable as I felt it was to be lying next to Draco when I lived with him, so was it strange to have been transported on the back of a dragon up to a mountain peak unreachable by any means other than by wings.
Draco had nearly had a meltdown at the thought of me riding on another man’s back, but what could he do? He was forbidden to have contact with another woman before his wedding. Yet, he was okay to have me as his mistress after she had conceived. In the end, I had ridden with his friend, the female dragon. I had learned her name was Tiam. We commiserated together at the rear of the assembly, in a large alcove cut in the mountain.
Someone had set sconces in the walls burning with fire. I imagined they had blown their fiery breath to light them. Rows of chairs had been placed facing a red lattice archway, with flowers decorating it from top to bottom. According to Tiam, after the dragons said their vows, together they turned and set fire to the archway.
The reasoning behind this had escaped my attention when Draco had come into the room, flanked on both sides by two of his brothers. Each man was naked, but golden scales shimmered over their bodies, covering any embarrassing parts. I saw the misery I felt in my soul mirrored in Draco’s eyes.
I love you.
His bride strode in looking shaken, probably from the ride here. She was human with pink cheeks, flawless skin, and perfect form. My vision blurred. I had told myself I wouldn’t cry, but I sat there and did it anyway. My hands fought each other in my lap, my shoulders shook, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
The presiding elder said something I couldn’t hear, and the little bride put her hand on top of Draco’s. My head began to spin. I closed my eyes just a moment, and then Draco was standing in front of me, tears on his face. I was still half out of it. “Oh no, it’s okay, Draco. The baby is fine.” I was thinking that he was concerned I was going into labor.
He shook his head. “I’m not. Harmony, I can’t do it. I need you. Being with another woman? Raising children with her? No!”
My heart soared. Maybe we would be banished or Draco would lose his lordship or something. Would the elders—
An explosion went off outside. The effects were so great the mountain seemed to shake. Fire and smoke rolled in through the opening of the cave. Draco transformed instantly to a dragon and dragged me beneath his great scaly body.
“Protect the human!” he snapped to the guards. “We’re under attack.”
Growls rent the air. Dragons filled up the space as they shape-shifted. Somehow it never occurred to them that their flesh would not burn from the fire, and that the least they could have done was go outside before changing.
Chaos reigned. The little bride screamed until a guard whisked her out a close exit to escape. Other guards had no time to react before they were engaged in battle with two or three of the silver dragons. Peeking out to see them all leap off the side of the cliff, I jumped in shock. Even though I knew they would just spread their wings and duke it out in the sky, the sight was still disconcerting.
Draco switched back and picked me up in his arms. “Come on, honey. I’m getting you to safety.”
I nodded. The pains shooting through my stomach were unbearable at the moment. My son seemed to want to join in the fray. As soon as Draco and I stepped out into the sunlight, something hit his shoulder and he winced. His hold on me loosened. He staggered to the cliff’s edge. I screamed.
A silver dragon with eyes that seemed familiar swooped down to us. He stood on hind legs, which I had no idea they could do, and he stooped Draco up in one claw and me in the other. The sight of my lover now unconscious and me dangling from claws that looked thicker than my head, brought back my lightheadedness. Soon, I followed Draco to the darkness.

* * * *

Arguing woke me. I was lying in a bed, but I didn’t open my eyes right away. Draco was nearby cursing at someone.
“If she’s hurt, if my son . . . I will kill you with my own hands, Ryuu,” he thundered.
Those were the eyes I saw. Ryuu had captured Draco and I and brought us, where? I opened my eyes and must have moaned because Draco was over me in a flash. He caressed my cheek with one hand and stroked my belly with the other. “Honey, are you okay?”
“Yes. I think so.” I tried sitting up, but he pressed me down.
“No, you need to rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
“I’m fine. Brushing his hand away, I sat up and swung my feet to the floor. Dizziness hit, but I tried not to show it. All through the pregnancy, the baby had kept me well, but now at the end, everything seemed to be out of whack. “Where are we?”
Ryuu strolled forward looking as hot as he had been that first day we met. This time, I felt no compunction to kiss him or stare at his dick. The thing was covered in scales anyway. I guessed that Draco had insisted, but something told me Ryuu was wild enough to walk around naked most of the time without embarrassment.
“Hello, beautiful. Are you feeling okay?” he asked.
Draco growled. “Stay away from her.”
Ryuu smirked. “Touchy. I wasn’t going to hurt her.” He turned to me. “Harmony, I apologize for my abrupt behavior, but I needed to force my brother to face the truth.”
“What truth?” I watched his face, so like my lover’s. “You alluded to that before. Why do you keep saying it so cryptically?”
Ryuu turned his silver-eyed gaze from me to his brother, seeming to be watching for his twin’s reaction to his next words. “Because it was his precious elders who manufactured that plague that killed off so many of our people.”


Chapter Twenty-Seven

“That’s a lie!” Draco flew across the room and drove his brother back until the two of them smashed into a table and flattened it on the floor. Ryuu’s scales shimmered. His eyes flicked, and he lifted Draco off the floor to toss him against the wall like a bag of laundry. I screamed. Struggling to my feet, I stumbled toward them with an unsteady gait as my balance was still doing a dance.
“Stop, please stop fighting.” I reached out to try and take hold of Draco’s arm at the same time he drove it forward to punch his brother. I toppled after him almost landing on the floor. When I cried out, he turned with lightning reflexes to catch me. That quick the fight was over. 
Draco hefted me up into his arms, and buried his face in my neck. “Oh no, Harmony. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, honey.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t fall.”
“But you could have, and it would have been my fault.”
“And mine.” Ryuu walked beside us, ignoring his brother’s dark look. His scales had calmed and remained a steady silver. “Draco, you can kill me later. Just come and see what I have to show you, in the village.”
“What village?” He tightened his hold on me, although I was struggling to get down. “Harmony, stay still.”
Ryuu grinned. The secretive look was back in his eyes. I thought he kind of enjoyed the intrigue. The man might be a born spy, and he was interesting. I hoped Draco didn’t kill him, and that he had had sufficient reason for what he did, so that I could spend time getting to know him better.
“Come and see,” Ryuu called over his shoulder as he headed out of the door.
Seemingly against his better judgment, Draco followed, still holding me in his arms.
“Draco, put me down,” I grumbled. “I’m not an invalid.”
He grinned before planting a light kiss on the top of my head. “If you can get yourself out of my hold, I will let you go. Otherwise, I’m your flesh-and-blood taxi.”
I didn’t bother attempting to get free. The man’s muscles were made of reinforced steel. To get free of his hold wasn’t in my strength in this condition. “If I only had my knife,” I grumbled.
“What? You’d stab me? You forget you tried that, and it didn’t work.” Despite his anger at his brother, Draco looked so happy. As hard as it must have been to walk away from his responsibility, I think he knew it was right for us. He winked and kissed me again as if he knew what I was thinking.
With that look, my anger dissipated. I teased him just for the fun of it. “Well, I might try something different this time. I can sever your head maybe or in the heart before your scales come up.”
“Hmm, you’re very morbid,” he frowned. “But you could never stand the blood.”
“I’m stronger than I appear.”
“You grew queasy at the pudding we had a few days ago.”
“It was runny.”
“If you two are through nauseating me with your love banter, you might want to take a look at this,” Ryuu called out.
Draco and I stopped grinning stupidly at each other and looked up. We each drew in sharp breaths at the sight before our eyes. A small community of silver dragons flew to and fro in the air around the village. The citizens on the ground, in human form, all looked like they were related to Ryuu. Each had stark white hair and from what I could see in the closest to us, silver eyes.
This amazing sight was not, however, what shocked Draco and I most. What did was that among those flying were tiny dragons, medium-sized and those who must be teenaged, not fully grown.
“Children!” I blurted. I wiggled in Draco’s arms. “Put me down. I’m not dizzy anymore.” He complied and I hurried over to the nearest child dragon just landing. I reached to touch him, but Draco was behind me and jerked me out of reach.
“Ryuu, why do they all have silver scales and white hair? What’s going on here?” I heard the suspicion in his voice, but wondered what he was suspicious of. “Do not tell me . . .”
For the first time since we arrived, the smirk left his twin’s face. The pain and sadness in Ryuu’s eyes cut to my heart. “Tell you what, brother? That the plague did indeed infect me, unlike our other brothers? That I am no longer a true blood? It did, and I am not.” He gestured with his hand, encompassing the entire village. “You do remember my insatiable curiosity? Always meddling in things I have no business in.
“We were young dragons, you and I. We had the world at our feet, our choice of females to pleasure us. One in particular caught my eye, and I had to impress her. I foolishly told her I could fly up to Mount Kyray without losing my breath to bring her the most perfect flower.”
Draco gasped. I wondered what was so special about this mountain. The Drelconians loved high altitudes. I looked to Draco to explain, but he never took his eyes from his twin. I was surprised to see a longing there, like he was praying Ryuu was telling him the truth, which would make him innocent. Tears filled my eyes. I slipped my hand into his and squeezed.
Ryuu decided to explain the implications of going to that particular mountain. “The elders forbid us to go there, said they had found toxins that would paralyze a dragon. He would plunge to his death. Funny how they could know that when we had no reports of dragons dying other than of natural causes.”
“Tell me what you found there,” Draco demanded.
The smirk returned. “I found a lab. Odd, huh? Hidden behind a heavy purple vapor. You know me, I slipped inside and took a look around. I found elders there and lab technicians. One of the elders was discussing with another that—”
“That what!” I couldn’t take it. He was dragging it out too much. I needed to know. Draco shushed me.
“In essence, they had stumbled on a technique that would target undesirable traits in the dragons, especially at birth, but possibly over time with a shot to the older dragons. The formula would destroy genetic defects, that which caused some dragons to be weaker than others. Than the true bloods. Fools!”
The full import of what Ryuu was saying seemed to hit Draco. He sank down to the ground, and I knelt beside him. In his half daze, he saw my knees in the dirt and pulled me on his lap. Crushing him in a bear hug, I shed tears with him for a while.
When he could speak, Draco whispered, “Let me guess, their plan went wrong. Instead of doing extensive tests, they went ahead and killed so many of our people, sterilizing others!”
Ryuu nodded. “I confronted them when I suspected where that plague came from. The elder I called out on his activity had a strong love of his own life. When I told him he and the others would be put to death for their crimes, he attacked me. You came along just when I defended myself and killed him.”
“But why didn’t you tell me? Back then, Ryuu, we were close.” Draco struggled to his feet pulling me with him. He strolled toward the settlement, stopped and turned back to us. “I would have helped you.”
Ryuu shrugged. “I couldn’t get a word out at the time. The others converged, remember? When my friends came to rescue me, my sentence had been handed down. Death. I panicked and fled. I didn’t think you could have any real power over the elders. Our parents were dead, and we were just figureheads.” Ryuu lifted his hands in the air. “Something in this atmosphere healed us. Somewhat. We changed over the years, white hair, silver scales and eyes. What’s most amazing is our women can reproduce again.”
I gasped. “A reversal?”
He nodded. “Yes. So you see, my dear brother, you don’t have to marry some washed-out human you don’t love. You can marry this fiery vixen right here and make this baby the first of the next generation of golden dragons.”
“You seem to have more information on us than we have on you.”
Again the smirk dropped from his well-formed lips. He crossed the space to pull Draco in a hug and then released him in embarrassment. “I have watched and waited for my chance to get close enough to you. At first I was too weak. The plague took many years to leave my system. When I was strong, my men and I began our campaign.”
“By threatening my child?” Draco demanded.
Ryuu grinned. “A ploy. Now we are together again. Come into the village and meet one of my women. She’ll cook for you. You don’t have to worry. The plague is gone and has been for a long time. We simply consider ourselves a new race.” He winked at me. “Perhaps I should call us Ryuuans.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Lead me to nourishment though. I’m hungry.”


Chapter Twenty-Eight

Had Draco and I thought that we would travel back to Earth and arrest the elders with no problem, we were mistaken. As far as the Drelconians settled on Earth were concerned, we were now the enemy. Draco had publicly walked away from his people, and none of the “Ryuuans” had any proof of what truly happened.
I was separated from my dear sister, and it pained me to know that because of our actions, she would not be able to marry Ladon. Apparently, even Draco’s defection didn’t allow the poor guard to marry. The Drelconians or rather their narrow-minded elders were truly stiff-necked bigots.
“Don’t cry, Harmony,” Draco told me for the millionth time, although it cheered me only temporarily. “My brother and I will go back for Arnetta and Ladon after you and I are married. Everything is going to be fine.”
I sniffed. “Well, I’m going with you. When I have the baby and my hormones are not out of whack.”
“You mean when you’re not a crybaby any longer?” He thought he was being funny. “Okay, I see you’re about to attack. I have a surprise for you.”
“What?”
He offered me something wrapped in tissue paper. I reached out to snatch it excitedly, but he pulled back. “Careful.”
I got the sneaking suspicion it was something I had been searching for, for a while. I took it more gently and pulled back the paper. Inside was my knife. Carved in the handle were mine and Draco’s initials in a heart as if we were teenagers. I looked at him curiously.
He shrugged. “I saw it in a movie.”
I laughed. “You are odd, but I want you as my husband as soon as possible. When will that be?” I demanded.
He drew me in his arms and kissed my lips. “As quickly as I can get you a mountaintop. I cannot wait to make you fully mine.”
I rubbed my belly as my little one kicked, and I nuzzled tight against Draco’s chest. “I’m fully yours now.”

* * * *

We married on the highest mountain with all the silver dragons as witnesses. Afterward, Draco burned the archway while I offered the blaze a torch he had handed me earlier. 
Draco turned to me to whisper in my ear, “Now your people’s tradition. The honeymoon.”
Hoping no one noticed, I slipped a hand down to his cock, finding it quite hard. I gave his amazing tool a squeeze. “I’m so ready.”
And then my water broke.


The End


About the Author

Brenda Steele loves all things out of the ordinary. She writes to gratify the cravings of her own sexual drive, and then for her dear readers. Hopefully, the two won’t be far apart and all who read her work will come away satisfied. Look for her hot "My Lover" series.