Caught By the Dragon: Maiden to the Dragon, Book 1, - [ebook reader with internet browser txt] 📗

“Come out where you are hiding beneath the bed,” the lord ordered me. I cringed, but remained where I lay. “I know where you are. The mark on your shoulder is more than a sign of your being my possession. It is also an enchantment that allows me to know your location. Also, you are in need of a bath after your hike last night.”

At the mention of being a possession I scowled and crawled to the foot of the bed. I stuck my head out to give him the full benefit of my glare. “I am not, nor will I ever be, your-” My breath caught in my throat.

The lord stood naked before me. His body was ripped with pliable muscle, not too hard and not too soft. Just right for a soft porridge of sex. There was also the matter of his member which dangled down, but I guessed would be of some length and thickness when aroused. Somehow the wings were missing.

I let out an ‘eep’ and slipped back beneath the bed. “P-put some clothes on!” I demanded.

“I do not answer to the whims of my Maiden, now come out from there or I will drag you out myself,” he ordered me.

“If you’re not getting dressed then I’m not coming out!” I insisted.

“Very well.” His shadow slid to the ground and he peeked his head beneath the sheets.

I batted at him with my hands, but he grabbed one of my wrists and pulled me from my hiding place. He pressed my body against his, but I turned my head away from his nakedness. “Let go! Let me go!”

“I will not let you go until you understand your situation,” he insisted.

I snorted and whipped my head around to glare into his handsome, albeit evil, face. “You ordered a bunch of thugs to kidnap me from my apartment and bring me to this fantastical world where I would serve you until the end of my days. What exactly am I missing?”

“That you are now a part of this world, and nothing you wish can change that,” he told me.

“Wanna try me?” I snapped back.

He pursed his lips and those red eyes of his felt as though they looked into my soul. “You don’t understand. The Lady of the Pond granted you a gift, and to leave with the gift would be to put your life in danger.”

I froze and felt the color drain from my face. “She did what to me?”

“The Lady has granted you a unique connection to me, and if my enemies were to find out our secret you would be used against me,” he rephrased.

My eyebrows crashed down and I tried to wrench myself from his grip, but he was too strong. “What kind of a ‘favor’ is that? I die if I go home, and staying here means I’m somebody’s pawn? Yeah, great favor there.”

He pursed his lips. “The Lady’s favor is a great blessing, and is rarely given.”

I snorted. That was getting to be a habit. “What would be a great blessing is to wake up from this horrible nightmare. Even knowing I had to go back to work would be better than this junk about lords and ladies, and curses and blessings with no benefit and plenty of punishment.”

His face softened as he studied mine. “I do not know the precise benefit, but I know I do not wish for you to die.”

I paused in my tirade and raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

His manner was quiet and calm, as though he spoke to a wild creature. I must admit I was ready to bolt out the window, even if the drop was a good sixty feet. “While you are my servant, you are also my responsibility and, if fate ordains it, my bride. I would never wish harm to come to you.”

I pulled as far away from him as he would allow and scrutinized his handsome features. “I don’t believe you.”

He raised an eyebrow, and I was surprised when the corners of his lips twitched upward. “Why not? Do you believe me to be some sort of a monster?”

I nodded. “Uh, yeah. You had those wing thingies at that special pond place.” I glanced around him, but the wings were still missing. “I don’t know where you hid them, but I know they were there.” He chuckled and released me from his grasp so he could step back. My eyes inadvertently wandered downward to his member. A blush warmed my cheeks. I spun around and stared at the bed. “Get some clothes on!”

“I would rather you see this without clothes.”

My curiosity overcame my shyness, and I peeked over my shoulder at him. He stood with his back toward me and his arms spread apart. My eyes widened as I beheld the pair of leathery wings erupt from his back just below the shoulder blades. The muscles and bones seemed to stretch and pulled themselves from his very skin and form into the dragon-like appendages. The whole process took only a few seconds, and he unfurled his wings to their maximum length. His wing tips touched from one end of the long room to the other. He didn’t hold the position for long, and retracted his wings so they folded against his back.

It was beautiful, insane, and mind-blowing, all at the same time.