Dragon Royale

I backed away as Loch and Hael moved closer, clearly enjoying this cat and mouse dance.

Deep down, part of me liked it too. I both wanted to run from them and run toward them.

“I thought you’d changed,” I said, trying to buy some time. “I thought I’d be your equal from now on. I’m your mate.”

“Sorry, mouse.” Loch smirked. “We’re Twin Leading Breeds. You’re human. Regardless of how well you pleasure us, you’ll never be our equal.”

“Idiot mouse,” Hael added. “You came here to taunt us while we were under your spell, and now the tides are turned.”

“I came willingly to make sure you didn’t die!” I shouted. Not to mention I’d practically fucked the scales off their ungrateful dragon asses.

“You’re going to learn a lesson you won’t soon forget, mouse,” Loch taunted.

“No, not just a simple lesson,” Hael responded. “She deserves something special for this betrayal. Let’s play with this little morsel before we eat her alive.”

The brothers laughed, though I wasn’t sure if it was evil or arousing.

My brand was a flaming inferno on my shoulder, and my core was slick with desire. I couldn’t tell if they truly wanted to eat me or just wanted to eat me out—and that must have been the point.

“You better run, mouse,” Hael warned.

“That’s right,” Loch added. “You have three seconds to find your feet, and another three to get your ass in gear.”

My feet were frozen to the floor. If I ran from them, it would delay our pleasure, but if I let them capture me too early, I’d never gain the upper hand with them.

I didn’t like this game.

“One…two…,” Hael counted.

I didn’t wait for three. I bolted around them and ran toward the front door. Black mist flew past me and magically locked the door. Shit! I made a U-turn and headed in the opposite direction, for…for…for…

The roof!

I didn’t know where else to go.

I rushed up the stairs and past the door to the treasure room, locating the spiral staircase to the helipad. I was operating completely on adrenaline and instinct.

Mist swirled around me, like smoke dancing across my skin. I shivered at the touch, eager once again to ride them to completion.

And yet…I’d been a fool to stay here this long. To risk having sex with them again. I couldn’t blame the brand. It was me. I wanted to turn the tables on them. I had to experience what it was like being in control of my dominating mates.

~Be careful what you wish for, Maddie.~

I hurried up the stairs, running out of options.

I wondered if I had time to sing my way out of this, but all the running was leaving me breathless. I doubted I could squeak out a note before Loch and Hael snatched me up.

I reached the top of the stairs and climbed through the hatch. Wind whipped through my flimsy clothes and chilled my skin.

A monstrous shadow darkened the sky.

~Was that my mates? Did they beat me out here?~

“~You wasted your head start, mouse~,” Loch said. “~Typical.~”

Hael flapped into sight behind his brother. As they landed, the roof shook beneath my feet. I turned back to the hatch—but the door was shut. I tried the handle, but it was locked.

Hael snickered in my head as they transformed to their human bodies and made their way toward me.

“Your running ends here, mouse. From now on, you’ll do as we say.”

I stared at my mates, lumbering ever closer.

Their smooth skin glistened in the moonlight, and I fought the urge to run to them, to let them capture me. Hold me. ~Ravish me~.

I’d played with fire, and I’d gotten burned.

“What about Darren?” I shouted, trying to change their focus to give me time to think.

“What about him? Adara’s pet has no place in our bed, mouse,” Loch replied.

“He’s the one who reached out to the dragon slayers. Don’t you think we should be looking for him?”

Hael laughed, loud and booming. “We knew what he was up to, mouse. He’s no longer a threat.”

Loch took a step closer, and I took a step back, getting ever closer to the edge of the roof.

“He’s Adara’s problem to deal with. And she has.”

Hael smirked. “Right now, he’s locked in his cage, his cock red and leaking, begging for release. And he’s enjoying every minute of it.”

“He won’t be bothering us again anytime soon.”

I took another step back. And another.

The brothers were too close. I need to find something else to distract them. To distract me.

“What about the prophecy? Am I the siren?”

“Enough with the questions, mouse,” Loch said with a sneer. “I think it’s time we return to bed, don’t you?”

I lifted my foot, but hesitated. Which direction did I want to go? Toward the brothers? Or away from them?

My clit throbbed in time with my brand, an ache that wanted me to step toward them.

But my mind, my heart… I still wasn’t sure.

I’d waited too long. The Dobrzyckas lunged. There was nothing to do but scream—

“~Stop!~” a booming voice shouted.

I opened my eyes. The Dobrzyckas had stopped in their tracks mere feet from me, staring up at the sky as another dragon soared above, its silver scales gleaming in the building’s neon lights.

“~Get out of here!~” Loch snarled. “~You have no right interfering with our mate.~”

Loch suddenly transformed into his dragon form and launched into the sky, breathing green flames at the other dragon. The smaller dragon dodged him easily. Loch gave chase, flames pouring from his mouth, but the interloper’s sleeker body outpaced him at every turn. It flapped in circles, becoming a blur in the night sky.

“~Bitch!~” Loch shouted, losing steam as he tailed around the building behind her. “~How can you call yourself a dragon? Stop and face me!~”

“~You idiot~,” Hael growled. “~She’s trying to distract you, tire you out. You’re playing right into her hands.~”

Without me realizing it, Hael had also transformed. His tail snaked out behind him and constricted my middle. I struggled to breathe.

“~She’s after our mate~,” Hael said to Loch. “~See her, bitch?~” he called out to the silver dragon. “~We’ll never let you take her~.”

A jet of blue flame blasted Hael. He narrowly ducked as a blue dragon swooped overhead, landing on the helipad, shaking the roof yet again.

“~Sorry I’m late.~” Xythor’s voice called out in an extra polite voice.

Seeing Xythor’s dragon in the flesh—or ~scales~—filled my mind with questions. None of which I had time to think about as Hael suddenly galloped toward him. He released me, but there was nowhere for me to hide.

Hael breathed green flames, but Xythor flapped away, replying with another volley of blue flame that singed Hael’s bull-like horns.

“~Bastard!~” Hael shouted. His tail lashed out and struck Xythor’s front legs like a whip.

The blue dragon stumbled in pain. Loch suddenly flapped up behind him, rearing back his head to fire—

But Xythor sharply turned and noticed Loch just in time. He ducked and rolled across the roof, missing the green blast by inches.

I tore myself away from the battle, edging closer to the hatch.

The building rocked and trembled from Xythor’s fight with Loch and Hael. It was hard to tell who was winning or losing.

I took a step, but another clash of dragons caused me to stumble to the very edge of the roof.

I looked down. One hundred stories down. The lights of Requiem City blinked in the distance.

I scrambled to stand up, to move away from the edge. But just as I lifted my foot, the ground shook so hard I lost my balance and tumbled off the edge. I plummeted parallel to the building. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

My life flashed before my eyes. My fucked-up childhood. My friends at the orphanage. Boarding school. The day I’d met the Dobrzyckas…

~No.~ I forced them from my mind. If I ended up roadkill, I didn’t want those sons of bitches to be the last thing I’d thought about…

The ground moved closer…closer…

Then suddenly…

I stopped.

The tail of the silver-scaled dragon wrapped around me like a tentacle and deposited me on her scaly back. She glanced back as we rose into the air.

“~I’m Silver~,” she said.

I chuckled as I tried to catch my breath. “~Good catch, Silver.~”

I looked back at Req Enterprise. Blue and green flames exploded above the roof like a fireworks show. Was this the last I’d see of my mates?

The thought filled me with dread. They were snarky, rude bastards, but they were my mates.

Though without them and their one-track minds, maybe I’d finally be able to figure out my true purpose and how it fit into the prophecy.

I made out the battling silhouettes of Loch, Hael, and Xythor in the firelight, but I couldn’t tell who was winning.

“~They’ll be fine~,” Silver said, reading my thoughts. “~But you definitely owe him one.~”

“~Who? And owe him what?~” I asked.

“~Xythor. A debt, obviously~,” Silver said. “~And you might pay it back sooner than you think.~”

What was that supposed to mean? Xythor seemed like a nice guy. What could he need from me? I didn’t have to be ~his~ sex slave, did I?

Then I put the pieces together. Maybe this was all a setup. Maybe Xythor had known all along that the potion would wear off and had sent me back to watch over the Dragon Lords just so he could swoop in to save me.

Xythor wasn’t capable of that sort of cunning…was he?

He ~was~ a dragon…

What the hell could he want? And from me?

I started to ask Silver, but I got distracted as everything around us faded to black and white. It was like I was color-blind. The dragon flames behind us were no longer their brilliant blue and green, just shades of gray.

I gripped Silver’s back tighter.

“~Silver, what’s happening?~”

“~Mouse~,” Silver said cryptically, “~welcome to the Shadow Realm.~”

“~Why are we here?~” I asked fearfully, taking in this dark mirror image of Requiem City.

“~My mate, Storm, is dying to meet you~,” Silver told me.

Storm? Now where did I know that name from?

Hadn’t Mason mentioned him back at school? It started coming back to me…

~“Twin Leading Breeds, the favorite children of the Sky Gods and the strongest of all dragons…except ~Storm,~ that is…”~

Silver’s mate was the strongest of all the dragons?

I felt her descend into the topsy-turvy version of the city I’d grown up in. The streets and buildings I knew like the back of my hand suddenly looked so foreign.

~“My mate is dying to meet you,”~ Silver had said.

I felt a chill run up my spine.

What could the strongest dragon in the world want with ~me~?

End of Book 1