Danburn: The English Dragon ― Erotic Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance (14 page)

“I’m not afraid of you either. And I swear to you, if she’s hurt, you’re going to pay.” The line went dead and he looked at Collier. The man was pale, and he wondered about that until Louisa started laughing.

“I told you. I told you that she was going to hurt you for this. Didn’t I tell you? Now, what about that chair? Where is my chair?” Bernie wasn’t sure he could take too much more, and before he could think he should walk away, he pulled his gun out and shot her in the head. He looked at Collier when he spoke.

“That’s not going to be helpful. Christ, what the fuck have you done now? I know, I think you just fucked us all over. And I for one am not going to be the fall guy in this shit.”

Bernie shot him too. When he realized what he’d done, killed two people that he needed more than he could think right now, Bernie sat down on the floor and contemplated putting a bullet in his own head. He had no idea what he had to do now, but went to his office to gather up more ammo and guns. Time to clean house.

Chapter
12

Danburn was going to go out there, kill the man, then move on. He was sick to death of this monster ruining his life…had been since he’d moved in next door. It was only recently that the earth had told him what all was going on, and that she was upset by the death and destruction of her body the earth. She’d said that men were making something that clogged up not just her earth, but the air that they needed as well. Meth, he’d told her. They were making drugs to sell.

You will do well to be careful
. The dragon, his dragon, was speaking to him more and more. As he made his way to the lake, he continued with his warnings.
I cannot safely say that I will not help you should he—

He felt it, the movement in the earth. As Danburn stood there, his body swaying slightly, he felt the earth screaming in pain. He started to ask what had happened when his dragon spoke to him again.

I’m so sorry, Danburn. She is no more. Her body has been tossed with the others that have died senselessly.
Danburn held onto the tree next to him. He could feel its pain too. The death of anyone hurt them some, but when it was his family, it hurt them more. When his father had died, the earth mourned as they did, for months without stop.

How? How did she die?
Dragon told him, telling him that with her death there was another. A man that was also with her in death.
In the pit? The one you were telling me about? She’s been put there?

Yes. There are nine bodies there. The earth feels them like they are beneath her soil, but they are only atop it. Their blood stains her badly.

Danburn reached down, digging his fingers into the soil and telling her how profoundly sorry he was
. I will rid the world of him today. He will no longer be able to take and take without consequences.

Thank you, my lord dragon. The death of my lady’s sister, it will be hard for her to accept.
Danburn thought perhaps that Kendrick had already figured that Louisa would never survive this. Not that she would want her dead, but Louisa wasn’t going to cooperate if the first phone call was any indication.
We will take her within us. Give life to the earth around her so that our lady will be able to know that we are sorrowful for her loss.

Danburn thanked her and stood up. His dragon, the beast within him, stretched and seemed to curl around him. Good. If the shit hit the fan, as he knew it was going to, he wanted to know that he was there for him. Turning when he heard his name, he was both happy and upset that Kendrick had joined him.

“She’s gone. I just heard from...well, the earth told me.” He nodded. “That horrible man killed her for no reason other than she was my sister and he wanted something from us. I want him to suffer. I want him to know that to fuck with my family is to fuck with the wrong person.”

“I’m going to take care of him.” She shook her head and moved ahead of him. He might have told her to turn back, that he would make sure that Bullock and Collier paid, but he paused. Whatever happened, she needed to be as much a part of it as he was. As she said, family was being messed with, and he was going to make sure that Bullock knew it.

The lake was peaceful, the time that they’d spent there yesterday now forgotten with the violence of the day. He wanted to go there as his dragon, burn all of Bullock’s existence from this earth, but he was working with some people who might not understand if he were to suddenly become a dragon and burn the man to the ground.

Before he could clear the line of trees, he saw Kendrick talking to Bullock, his gun pointed right at her. Danburn started to shout for her to run, but his dragon told him to let him go. Before he could try and figure out his intentions, Danburn felt his body being consumed and he stood there not as a man, but as his large beast.

He will not see us until it is too late. The others, they will not know any different than we let them see.
He asked him what he meant, what kind of trickery that the dragon was going to pull.
Our body is one with that which is around us. The earth, she holds us firmly, and we will not falter in this fight.

The police are nearby. They’re not going to believe that Bullock just died, no matter how you think we can kill him.
His beast asked him to trust him.
I do. With all that I am. But our mate is there, alone, with a gun on her.

They moved forward. Danburn liked to think he had some part in their movement, but he knew as well as the dragon did that the only reason he was there was that there had been no choice in the matter. As soon as they were within touching distance of Kendrick, the dragon lay down. Even when Bullock looked in their direction, Danburn knew that he couldn’t see him.

You cannot move fast enough if he tries to hurt her.
His beast told him to listen to them.
I need her safe.

As do I, but you must listen to them.
He looked at the couple in front of him.
Kendrick, she is most brave.

She was yelling at him. Not really yelling, he supposed, but more that she was scolding him. Her voice was calm, but her demeanor was that of one who was sorely disappointed in whomever they were speaking to. He watched her carefully and felt the dragon move again. His hand was snaking across the grass toward her. He knew then that she’d be safe should Bullock try to shoot at her.

“You don’t know shit. Where is that boyfriend of yours? English? I want to talk to him about what is going on. And if you want to see that sister of yours again, you’ll keep your mouth shut. Unless, of course, you want to put it around my cock.” Danburn felt the low growl rumble from the dragon’s belly. He told him to be steady, that she was fine. Both Kendrick and Bullock looked in their direction. “What the fuck was that?”

“Dogs. You don’t have Louisa. Not anymore anyway, do you? You killed her and threw her in a pit behind the manufacturing building that you put up.” Bullock raised his gun up and Kendrick slapped it away. “You’re not going to shoot me, you fucking idiot. I’m going to find out why you did what you did to Louisa.”

“Sure she’s dead. A lot of people are. But Christ almighty, have you ever talked to her?” Danburn had to smile. Yes, he had, and he could understand the frustration, but not to the point of killing her. “She was a fucking idiot. A parrot that kept saying the same thing over. Where is my chair? Where are the silk ropes? My sister does this. My sister will do that. I just couldn’t take it anymore.”

As he bent to pick up the gun, Kendrick turned and winked at Danburn. She could see him. He had no idea how she could. His camouflage was nearly perfect, but she had looked right at him. Danburn started to ask Dragon when Bullock pointed the gun at her again.

“You killed her because she annoyed you. You killed my sister because she annoyed you, and then you threw her in that hole that you’ve put others in like she was nothing more than the trash.” Bullock said that he’d done her a favor, and she should be grateful to him. “Grateful? You fucking prick. I hate you.”

The slap, Danburn knew from experience, was painful. But on a human, it would be more so. When Bullock landed on the ground, Dragon made his move. Kendrick didn’t so much as scream when Bullock was suddenly crushed to death when Dragon’s head smashed him into the lawn.

~~~

Kendrick didn’t look in the direction of the house. She knew that Danburn was coming for her, but she was a little nervous as to how he would arrive. The big dragon didn’t scare her, not at all, but she’d seen what he’d done to Mr. Bullock and it made her a little nauseous to think about it. Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, and Kendrick felt the tears fall that she’d been barely holding onto. When Officer Ludlow cleared his throat, she looked at him.

“I don’t know what happened to him. We were talking and all of the sudden he was...that rock just smashed on top of him. I only slapped him, but I didn’t have anything to do with that rock falling.” She turned her head toward where a blanket lay over the body. It was concave now and covered in a deep rust color, the large stone laying nearby, blood covering one side where they had moved it off the body. “Do you think we can talk over there? Near the trees?”

“Yes. I’m so sorry.” Jake moved to stand behind her so that when she turned to look at him, her back was to the bloodied body of the monster who had murdered so many. “When he admitted to killing your sister, we made moves to come and take him into our custody. There was...we’re still thinking it was a small earth tremor, but there was movement under our feet and for several seconds, we weren’t looking at you. I’m not saying you did this. I’m not sure what did it, but you couldn’t have.... What I mean is, you weren’t strong enough to have caused.... We know that you are innocent of his death.”

There was a boulder or stone, whatever they were calling it, there now. It hadn’t been there when Bernie had been crushed, but added afterwards. Kendrick was glad that he was dead, more than she was letting the police know. But to see him die, that wasn’t anything she wanted to see with anyone ever again.

“They’re looking for your sister and another man by the name of David Collier. We’ve had a tip of a burial site just behind a building, but so far we’re dealing with the labs that we found there too. As soon as we find her, Miss Barrera, we’ll let you know.” She nodded, knowing these men and women had more important things to consider than a woman who may or may not be dead.

When Jake walked away, she turned in Danburn’s arms and let him hold her. “He spoke to me, your dragon.” Danburn lifted her chin up, and she looked into his eyes when he asked her what he’d said. “He told me to close my eyes and not to open them until he told me. But I was too afraid. Tell him that I’m sorry.”

“He said to tell you that he loves you.” She laid her head back on his chest and was soothed by the beating of his heart. “Are you all right, love? Do you want to go home now?”

“Yes. Home. I want to go home.” He pulled her into his arms again, this time with him beside her. “I love you, Danburn. Very much, but I don’t think I’m up for that thing tonight. What if we just skipped it? I’m sure that they’ll understand. Won’t they?”

She nearly fell over when he suddenly stopped. “Say it again. I want to see your face when you tell me again.”

“I love you. And the beast inside of you. I love you both with all of my heart.” He picked her up this time and swung her around in a circle. Laughing when he sat her down, she held him to her as he kissed her. She could feel his love as if he were soaking her in it.

“I love you as well. With all that we are, both he and I will cherish you for the rest of our days together.” Danburn went down on one knee and kissed the ring on her finger the earth had given her so short a time ago. “Will you marry me? Will you...? I have to tell you something. The kiss you bestowed on my scale. You made it so that when we have a child, it will be dragon. As pure as if he were born to you as a dragon.”

“Dragon told me.” She put her hand over her belly and looked at Danburn as he stayed bent on his knee. “I want a child with you. Lots of children. I want them soon.”

“We can do that.” She grinned at him. “I was closing up the castle when I met you. Would you…would you live here with me and my mom? Raise our children here instead of in town?”

“I would like nothing better.” When he stood up, she went to his open arms without hesitation. “Soon, Danburn. I really do want to have children soon.”

When he started to the woods, she kissed his neck. As she got closer to the darkness of the trees, Kendrick had his shirt undone, his buttons scattering as he walked. By the time they were ten yards into the woods where no one could see them, he had her pressed against a tree and was pulling off her blouse.

“You wear entirely too many clothes when we’re together.” She wanted to answer him, to tell him that society demanded that she was at least partly clothed, when he dropped to his knees in front of her. “I’m going to feast on you. Drink every drop of your cream before I take you here, right here in our forest.”

“Yes. Please hurry.” Her pants were ripped from her. She might have mourned their quick death, but Danburn had his mouth on her pussy and was sliding his finger deep inside of her as he lapped at her clit. Her first climax nearly took her breath away, but he didn’t stop when she came three more times.

His free hand was moving over her, pinching at her nipple, tugging at her breast. Even when she thought him finished with her, her releases nearly crippling her, he touched her, suckled at her everywhere he could reach.

“Please. I need you.” He only sucked harder on her clit, bringing her again and again as she held onto him and the branches above her. “Danburn, I can’t stand up any more. I need to— Oh, yes.”

He stood, turned her around, and was deep inside of her before she could finish her begging. He fucked her hard as she bent almost double. His fingers never slowed as they tormented her pussy. Even as she screamed out she was coming, he lifted her up, his cock still deep in her, and squeezed her breast hard, bringing her once again.

“Come again.” He nuzzled her neck as he commanded her. “Come for us. We’ll fill you with our child.”

Reaching blindly for something to hold on to, her fingers brushed over the tree in front of her. Holding on to it, she felt his teeth graze over her flesh. And when he sank them into her, tearing into her flesh, Kendrick screamed around the pain and the pleasure as the darkness swallowed her up.