Dating A Dragon (The Mating Game Book 2) (4 page)

“Nope, that’s it,” Cadence said, putting her hands on her hips. “I refuse to stay here at this hovel. You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Hah, hah.” Orion snorted. “I didn’t realize you were such a princess.”

The night before, she’d slept in a hotel room adjoining Orion’s. His servants had gone to her house in the morning and packed up all her belongings. Then they had all flown to Nevada on a private jet owned by Garrison Industries. First time she’d ever peed in a gold-plated toilet. She was hoping it was the last; there was something disconcerting about resting her butt cheeks on material that was worth more than her yearly salary.

They had just climbed out of Orion’s limousine and she was staring up at the enormous stony castle of Garrison Keep, his clan’s ancestral home. Dragon dwellings, and towns, were built with a lot of brick and mortar and stone and not very much wood.

The castle was dominated by square towers and huge arched windows, and was so massive that the building itself took up at least several acres. It was ringed by traditional English gardens with hedges clipped into fantastic shapes, and rose gardens with trellises, and enormous stone fountains. Beyond the hedges and gardens, meadows dotted with grazing sheep and cattle rolled out like a green carpet that stretched to the horizon.

They’d driven through decorative iron gates that were shaped like an enormous dragon. A long, wide cobblestone road led up to the castle’s main building. The entryway was an arched door with twenty-foot-high dragon statues on either side, with stone flame flowing from their mouths. Flanking the front face of the castle were four enormous square towers with turrets.

She tipped her head back to stare at the towers. “So do you have a lot of sieges here?” Cadence asked. “I keep looking for the actors from Monty Python to come skipping out pretending to ride horses.”

He gave her a scornful look. “Dragon racist. Do you want to sleep in the dungeon?”

“Hah. You don’t have a dungeon.” She looked at him narrowly. “Do you?”

He bared white teeth in a fierce grin. “I guess you’ll find out when you have the grand tour.”

“How long does that take?”

“About a week if you want to see everything.”

“How many people live here?” Cadence marveled as his servants walked behind them, carrying her luggage. “If you say it’s just you and your family, I’m going to be really freaked out.”

He shook his head. “Oh no, there’s dozens of families that live here. My family, our cousins and nieces and nephews, our servants, their families. Human, dragon, shifter – we’ve got it all.”

“Except ice dragons.”

“Hey, gotta draw the line somewhere,” he said with mock horror, which earned him a punch in the arm.

A group of people were standing on the steps waiting for them, with expressions that ranged from disgusted to fascinated.

“This is my brother Nikolai, who is also the clan’s Centurion.” he said. “His wife, Phaedra. My uncle, Alcott, and my mother, Cynthia. My house steward, Aloysius, and my butler, Edgar.” He introduced more people. Their titles were a fascinating mix of nineteenth-century manor house and Ancient Roman legion. Dragons held on to traditional roles and dragged them forward through the centuries.

Alcott, who looked like an older version of his nephew, walked forward with a pronounced limp and extended a hand in a stiff, unwelcoming handshake. His expression was frosty and disapproving. As far as Cadence recalled, he’d been permanently injured by her father during the battle for the silver mine a hundred years ago.

Cynthia, who wore a red silk maxi skirt and dripped with chunky gold jewelry set with opals, stared at her stone-faced and gave only the slightest nod of acknowledgement. She was an elegant woman who appeared to be in her fifties but was hundreds of years old; her blonde hair, shot through with gray, was piled up in a sixties-style beehive wrapped with blonde braids. A gold tiara set firmly in her hair spoke of her status. Only dragon royalty were permitted to wear such adornments.

“Welcome!” Nikolai said warmly, pumping her hand with enthusiasm. “Great to have you here.”

“Yes, we’re delighted!” Phaedra said. “I’m the groundskeeper – I’d love to give you a tour of the gardens.”

Alcott made a scoffing noise and scowled at Phaedra. “Why don’t you draw her a map of all our weapons caches while you’re at it? Maybe hand her the deed to our opal mines.”

Nikolai quickly stepped up to his wife’s side and let out twin streams of flame from his nostrils. Orion’s face went scaly and his eyes glowed with anger as he breathed out a cloud of smoke. “What did you just say?”

Alcott met his gaze. “I believe I spoke clearly. Her father is responsible for this.” He gestured at his leg. “And for the death of my brother.”

“Her father is responsible – she is not. She’s never even met her father, and they are and always have been estranged. More importantly, do you question my reign?”

Alcott just glared at him without answering.

“Do you want to meet me in the sky? Or find a new clan?”

“No, Dominus,” Alcott muttered, glaring at the ground.

Orion’s mother strode forward to stand by her brother-in-law’s side. “Son,” she said coldly. “With all due respect. You are bringing the family of our greatest enemy into our home.”

“Yes, and it’s really going to piss them off,” Orion said with a fierce grin. “Likely to cost them a gold or silver mine.”

“Well, I can certainly get behind that.” However, his mother still regarded Cadence with the expression she might have used on smelling a spilled chamber pot.

“If I hear of anyone, and I mean anyone, being less than civil to her, then they answer to me. And I don’t need to tell you what an asshole I can be. Do I?” Orion ground out.

“No, Dominus,” everyone chorused.

He continued with the introductions. One of the women he introduced her to, a beautiful woman with thick black hair done in an elaborate braided bun, looked at her with particular hatred, and her eyes went briefly red when she shook Cadence’s hand. Her nails curved into claws, jabbing painfully into Cadence’s flesh before she jerked her hand away. Her name was Viola.

After she shook Cadence’s hand, she glanced at Orion with a simpering smile and arched her back so that her breasts pressed against the tight satin of her red shirt.

“Dominus.” She smiled sweetly, blinking her big brown eyes. “Sooo good to have you back. I’ll show the guest to her room now. I believe there’s a nice suite in the western tower.” She reached out to snare Cadence’s wrist, and Cadence quickly stepped back.

“We are in the beginning of courtship. She will be staying in my bedchamber,” he said coolly, and Viola’s eyes went red and stayed that way, her pupils like angry black slashes.

“Shall we?” he said to Cadence, leading the way through the enormous vestibule and towards a double circular staircase.

“She was an ex,” she observed as they trudged up the stairs and headed to the right.

“So to speak.”

“And you didn’t end up with her because she couldn’t have children?”

“No, that wasn’t the reason. She’s somewhat fertile, and she said she’d be willing to risk it. I just didn’t return her feelings.” He sighed. “Over the years, I’ve actually passed up on the opportunity to claim several women who were fertile. I was holding out for love. Until I gave up.”

She followed him down carpeted halls, past oil paintings of him and his family, and flickering torches set into the stonework, until they reached his room. It was so vast she could imagine getting lost in it.

She was staying in a
bedchamber
.

He had a four-poster bed with a velvet bedcovering, red with black dragons stamped into it. The sheets were black silk. The bed could have slept twenty. The floors were broad oak planks with thick Oriental rugs scattered across them.

“This is our room?” she asked, looking up at the vaulted ceiling.

“Yes, I want you here. That way I can be sure you’re safe,” he said. “I’m going to go make some calls to the Dragon Elders so I can find out exactly how angry they are about the Cedar Park incident.” The council of Dragon Elders was made up of half fire and half ice dragons, she knew, to ensure fair treatment of both sects.

The servants brought in her suitcases, which she insisted on unpacking herself, hanging her clothing in Orion’s closet, which was the size of a small apartment and which had racks and racks of hand-tailored suits.

Orion had floor-to-ceiling bookcases stocked with everything from classics to modern bestsellers. She grabbed an Agatha Christie mystery and settled down into a massive overstuffed chair. A few minutes later, she heard a rustling sound and the squeaking of floorboards.

“I can hear you, you know,” she said without looking up.

A young girl, maybe ten or eleven, came out from behind the tapestry where she’d been hiding. She was skinny and had light brown hair plaited in two French braids, and wore jeans with frilly fringes on the hems.

She put her hands on her skinny hips and scowled at Cadence. “Your dad killed my uncle and stole our silver mine. You’re our enemy,” the girl informed her.

“True,” Cadence said with a nod, still reading. “You should probably run along before I freeze you into a dragon pop.”

The girl’s eyes widened with alarm. “You can do that?”

Cadence channeled her inner dragon and looked up with a fierce glower. “Do you want to find out the hard way?”

The girl stood there and considered for a while. “Okay,” she said finally. “Show me. What flavor will I be?”

Okay, so apparently Cadence’s inner dragon was not very scary.

Cadence let out an exasperated breath. She turned and glanced at a flickering candle on a small table next to her chair. She took a deep breath and blew at it. The candle froze, coated with ice crystals.

“Oh, can you make me a snowball?” the girl said eagerly.

“Probably not,” Cadence admitted.

“Are you sure? I bet you can!”

The girl looked so hopeful that she closed her eyes, concentrated hard, visualized a snowball and blew into her cupped hands.

She looked down. There was a tiny little snowball the size of a marble there.

The girl peered into her hands.

“That’s not too bad,” she said politely. “It’s not the worst snowball I’ve ever seen. I think.” She considered for a moment. “It’s probably a hailstone. It looks hard; I could throw it at my brother’s head.”

“Why?”

“He burned his homework this morning and then blamed it on me. And he says he can fly higher than me and he’s a liar.”

“I’m starting to like you,” Cadence admitted.

“Phoebe!” Orion’s voice boomed and made her jump. He stalked into the room and stood there scowling at the little girl.

“It’s fine,” Cadence assured him. “I’m not busy. She’s keeping me entertained.”

“Yes, I’m keeping her entertained,” Phoebe echoed anxiously.

“Are you supposed to be here, or are you supposed to be in class?” He arched one perfect eyebrow and fixed her with a red-eyed glare.

“But she needs me to keep her entertained… Yes, Dominus.” She pouted and slunk out of the room with a woebegone look.

“Don’t fall for it,” Orion said.

“She’s very good. If I saw her alone on a street corner, I’d adopt her and give her cookies,” Cadence said. Then she tossed the snow marble into the trash. “In case you’re ever hoping that I could blizzard on command…not gonna happen.”

“You could probably make a mean frozen margarita, though.” He settled into a chair next to her.

“Hmmm. Using my powers for good. That’s not a bad idea, you know,” she mused.

“I’m more than just a pretty face,” he said. “So, I’ve found out who sent the kidnappers. Gorman Filmar, from the Filmar Clan. Working with your father’s clan – he has promised them your delightful scaly hand in marriage.”

Her eyes widened in alarm.

“Fortunately, they went too far in their attempts to grab you. When they started a sky battle right over human occupied territory, it ended up biting them in the butt. The Dragon Elders received a formal complaint from the governor of North Carolina, and they had to punish someone, so they banned the Filmar clan from pursuing their claim on you.”

“Well, that’s good news, right?” She brightened.

“Yes, but that’s just one clan. There are several ice dragon clans who are clamoring for you to be handed over to them, and the Elders are debating what to do next. I told them that you and I are in the courting stage, and that should buy us some time.”

“Oh,” she murmured. How much time, exactly? How long would Orion get a kick out of angering her father’s clan? How long until he decided she was more trouble than she was worth?

He met her gaze. “They won’t take you,” he said.

She bit her lip and nodded.

“In the meantime, would you like to go on a flying tour of our property?”

They walked out into the meadow behind the house, and stopped by a clearing with a gazebo and stone tables and chairs. Orion stripped out of his clothes, and Cadence concentrated very hard on looking anywhere but at his muscular naked body, which resembled a Greek statue come to life. Chiseled abs, flat stomach, a dusting of dark hair on his chest, a treasure trail leading down…

Ahem.
She needed to think of something else. Anything else.

She tipped her head back and looked up at the sky. A perfect day for flying.

“I wish I could shift. I wish I could fly,” she sighed.

“You may be able to yet.” He shrugged. “From what you’ve told me, your dragon genes only recently became dominant, so they should become stronger over time. There are things that could help. Meditation, visualization exercises, that kind of thing.”

“I never needed that for my wolf,” she said. “I just closed my eyes and let her flow through me. I miss having an animal side.”

“I’d like to see this animal side,” he said, with a gleam in his eyes and a curl to his lip.

She felt her cheeks heat up in a blush. She thought of Viola, consumed with rage and disappointment. Had he flirted with Viola the same way?

He was a pretty playboy who drew women to him like flies to honey – and he’d told her quite specifically that he’d brought her here to get back at her family. Nothing more.

“Ahem. You promised me a flying tour?”

Instead of answering, he let his eyes go red, and scales flowed over his body. She watched his form melt and shimmer, and enormous wings sprang from his back, and then she was standing next to a twenty-foot-long beast of legend. He stretched out his serpentine neck flat on the ground so she could climb on.

She scrambled on and hugged him, snuggling into his warmth.

With a mighty flap of his wings, he rose from the ground. His muscles bunched and released, bunched and released, as his wings beat the air and the ground dropped away. His scales were as smooth as liquid silk.

They drifted through the sky, and she leaned her head over the side of his neck and looked at the valley below. Oh, to fly like this, by his side.

Not by his side. That will never happen. He wants a fire dragon for a mate.

Beneath them, the green fields flowed like an ocean, bunching up into hills, dipping into valleys. They flew towards a steep mountain, drifting through the cool wisps of cloud that ringed them, and then Orion landed gently on the mountaintop.

She slid off his neck onto the ground, and looked around. There was a cobblestone cabin, with a stone table and benches next to it. The vegetation was sparse up here, but there were tall spindly pines and the groundcover was dotted with purple flowers.

She felt the air ripple, and turned to look.

Orion stood there, stark naked. She accidentally let herself look down. Mistake. He was rock hard, his thick cock pointing at the sky, jutting straight up from a thatch of black curls.

“Oh,” she breathed.

“Oh?” he echoed. “Oh, what?”

She glanced away, and a cool breeze ruffled her hair. “Oh, I forgot we’d be up here together and you’d be naked.”

“Having a hard time controlling yourself?” He grinned wickedly.

“Please. I am the queen of self-control. I am completely controlled. I could not be more under control.” She was babbling. “I’ll shut up now.”

He strolled up next to her and stood there. She’d been around shifters all her life. She’d never found it disconcerting to be near naked men. Until now.

“Well?” he said with a trace of impatience. “Show me what you can do.”

“What the— How dare you!” she squawked indignantly. “What kind of girl do you think I am?”

“I mean with your dragon,” he scoffed. “I am not trying to seduce you.”

“Oh, right. My bad,” she said, trying to sound mollified but sounding mostly disappointed.

He leaned in closer to her. “When I am seducing you, you will know it.”

The mountaintop was suddenly very, very warm, and her panties were very damp. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she felt her nipples grow hard. She quickly crossed her arms to hide them.

“You…you plan on seducing me?” Her voice came out in a squeak.

“Dragon. Let’s see it.” His voice had gone low and sexy and growly. And he hadn’t answered her very, very important question.

“Right. Of course.” She closed her eyes and imagined an ice dragon, with its shades of white and blue. Her skin tingled, and she opened her eyes and looked down and saw that her arms were covered with scales and blue claws were curving from her fingertips. She took a deep breath and blew out a tiny white cloud of cool, frosty air.

Then the scales melted away and the claws retracted.

Her shoulders slumped in disappointment.

“That wasn’t too bad,” Orion said, trying to sound encouraging.

“But I’ve been trying for months now. That’s as good as it gets.”

“You are good enough exactly as you are,” he said, gazing at her with a burning intensity. “And you’ve got some sexy-ass dragon eyes, by the way.”

She felt her dark mood lift, and stifled a giggle. “My eyes have a sexy ass?”

He grinned at her and flicked her nose with his finger. “Don’t mock me, woman – it’s a long climb down the mountainside.”

Then his stomach rumbled. “Sorry,” he said. “Flying really works up my appetite. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” she said.

He glanced down at the sheep grazing the valley below.

“I’ll go get you some mutton. Don’t go anywhere.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you need to worry about that.” She walked away to give him room to shift, and watched in admiration as he flowed back into his dragon form. He crouched low with his wings folded against his back, then turned to look at her. And winked.

She had never seen anything more sexy and adorable at the same time. An enormous, terrifying dragon had just lowered its scaly lid in a wink. At her.

He unfurled his wings and flapped, and the breeze lifted her hair and rustled the leaves of the trees as he lifted off and shot into the deep blue sky.

She sat down on the stone bench, enjoying the sunshine and waiting for his return.

A few minutes later, a different dragon flew up, red and black, smaller than Orion. She felt an odd twist of uneasiness. What was she worried about? It was a fire dragon. Not an ice dragon. Not someone come to kidnap her.

The dragon shook itself and the air went ripply as it melted into human form. It was Viola – the woman who hated her. She stood there, stark naked, and her eyes were blood-red.

Viola’s lips curled in an ugly smile.

“Look at you, all alone up here,” she said. “I hear you can’t fly.” She glanced at the cliff edge. “Shall we find out?”

Cadence felt a sharp stab of anger.

“Let’s be clear,” she said coolly. “Are you threatening to throw me off the cliff?”

“What if I was?” A cruel smirk curved Viola’s lips. Smoke streamed from her nostrils, and a wave of red and black scales rippled over her skin.

“I mean, what good are you, anyway? You’re not human, you’re not a dragon. You claim you’re fertile, but you certainly haven’t proved it yet. That would be a great way to get your claws into our Dominus. Trick him into a sterile mating.”

Cadence clenched her fists and yearned for her wolf. “There’s so much stupid in what you just said, I don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t bother. Get the fuck out of here.”

“Or what? You’ll go running to Orion and tell, like a crybaby?” Viola stalked closer to Cadence, until Cadence was forced to take a step back.

Then Cadence stood stock still. Viola walked right into her, ramming her hard, and pushed her, forcing her to take two more steps back. Now she was getting alarmingly close to the mountain’s edge.

“Scared, aren’t you?” Viola said eagerly.

Cadence felt fury boiling deep inside her, and before she knew it, it came whirling out of her in a blast like nothing she’d ever experienced. She felt a delicious chill sweep through her body, and a surge of power that thrilled her all the way down to her toes.

Viola was instantly covered with frost from head to toe. Icicles dripped from her hair. Her eyes were frozen open, her mouth in an O of shock and horror.

Stiff as a statue, she fell flat on her back. Several icicles snapped off her hair and fell onto the stony ground.

Cadence stared at her in alarm. Had Viola just…cracked? She hadn’t meant to actually kill her – just warn her off.

Then the ice on Viola began melting, and she made spasmodic twitching movements. Soon she was lying in a puddle of water with steam rising from her body, and frantically blowing out puffs of smoke from her mouth and nose. She was warming herself from the inside out.

She climbed to her feet and staggered back a few steps. Her eyes were wild. Her face and hands were blackened and blistered. Half her hair had broken off.

Cadence heard the giant whoosh of wings, and a gale of air whipped her hair into snarls as Orion landed with a roast sheep clenched in his jaws. He dropped it on the ground with a thud.

She was suddenly starving. Must be an effect of using her dragon powers.

Cadence ran over, grabbed a piece of mutton with her hand, tore it off, and began shoving chunks of meat into her mouth. Screw table manners. She felt like if she didn’t get some food in her, she’d faint.

“What the hell happened?” Orion demanded, looking at the two women. “What did you do to her?”

“Oh, Orion! I’m so glad you’re here! You saved my life,” Viola whined. “You must hand her over to the ice dragons! I flew up here to make peace with her, and she was so jealous that she just—”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Orion snapped. “It’s obvious you threatened her.”

“What do you mean?” Viola let out a low wail of dismay, gesturing at herself. “You’ve known me and my family your entire life! You just met her! You’re going to take her side over mine?”

Orion’s gaze was hot with anger.

“She has just started to develop her powers. She can barely make an ice cube under normal circumstances. The only way she would be able to blast you like that is if you attacked her or made her fear for her life.”

Viola sniffled. She reached up and gingerly patted her head. A big chunk of hair came off in her hand. She touched her cheeks, feeling the blisters that bubbled there, and groaned in fury.

“Look at me! She’s scarred me for life! Nobody will have me.” Her desperate gaze focused on Orion. “Your guest did this, and by law, you are responsible for the damage. It’s the law, Orion – it’s in the scrolls! You have to take me as your mate now. And I can give you dragonlings! You know I can!”

“You’re quoting the law at me?” Orion scoffed. “I majored in dragon law at Harvard. Since you attacked her without provocation, the law says that you are responsible for any damage that she inflicted on you. Now get off this cliff. I’ve got some more courting to do.”

“I won’t.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “You cannot give me an unlawful order. I will report you to the Dragon Elders. I will— Aieeeee!”

Orion had picked her up, lifted her high over his head, and hurled her off the cliff.

Cadence let out a startled shriek, and her heart leapt to her throat. She looked down and saw Viola in dragon form, flapping her blackened wings, awkwardly flailing at the air. Viola descended rapidly and finally landed on the ground with a graceless splat. Then she turned human again and began running naked through the fields towards the castle.

“How were you so sure that she would still be able to fly?” Cadence asked.

“I wasn’t.” Orion grinned fiercely.

He was kidding, of course.

Wasn’t he?

She turned her attention back to the mutton, diving into it, pulling at it with her fingers and stuffing it into her mouth. Gradually her hunger abated.

When she was done, she looked up at him, embarrassed.

“Sorry, that was not at all ladylike,” she murmured.

“I like seeing a woman with a healthy appetite,” he said. “I think it’s sexy.” He grabbed her hand and licked the juices off, and at the feeling of his tongue lapping at her, she stifled a small moan.

“Is…is that you seducing me?” She swallowed hard.

“Perhaps. Is it working?”

He took her fingers in his mouth and sucked on them, and this time she moaned out loud.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Stuck up,” she murmured.

“Extremely self-confident.” He kissed her palm, and she bit her lip in frustration and then reluctantly pulled her hand away.

“We…we should finish up the mutton and go back now,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Fire and ice, remember?”

He quirked one eyebrow at her.

“What?”

“Fire can melt ice,” he said with a smile. “It can melt it into a nice, wet puddle.” And then he knelt down by the mutton and began tearing into it with gusto.