LLLDragonWings Kindle (11 page)

Rovik mauled Dwayne one more time and completely eviscerated him. He tore a big chunk of the flesh and devoured it.

Kill.

Feed the beast.

Rovik let out a triumphant roar.

He ate more than hunted the remaining Blutrot clan. With Walsingham defending his home base, Rovik pursued the rest. He skillfully gutted and killed two dragons. After the third, he didn’t bother to eat anymore, just kill. He was in the middle of chasing his fifth when Norman came out of nowhere to finish the business between them.

Rovik led him in a merry chase before facing him. Norman must have smelled Dwayne’s blood on him which sent him berserk. Rovik took his time, goading the sheriff into making a mistake. The moment Rovik saw an opening, he seized the chance and ripped Norman’s hind leg. Norman attacked but Rovik fiercely drove him into submission. He didn’t want to kill the sheriff just yet. He wanted Norman’s confession. Dragons only conveyed basic emotion through simple body language. Their body’s structure didn’t afford them the luxury of human speech. Therefore, Rovik forced Norman to shift into his human form.

Norman didn’t seem inclined to shift. He kept fighting knowing he was losing…fast. Each time Norman tried to stand, Rovik beat him to the ground.

Rovik was frustrated. Norman seemed to want to take his secrets to his grave. Rovik roared again. If dragons were capable of spewing fire like in the human’s myth, he would’ve already roasted Norman, limb by limb. He curled his tail around Norman’s body and slammed him against another chicken barn.

Shift, damn it!

Norman shakily moved. His draconian body shrank, shifting into his human form.

Finally.

Rovik shifted too and marched toward him. “Who are Emily’s parents, McGuire?” Rovik shouted.

Norman opened one good eye. There was contempt in it.

“Who are they?” Rovik was impatient.

Just as he was about ten feet from the sheriff, Norman shifted into his dragon form, planning to use his tail to slash Rovik.

A flash. A fraction of a second.

An SUV came out of nowhere and plowed Norman’s head in its path. Rovik jumped out of the way. The vehicle bulldozed Norman toward an electric pole and didn’t stop until a sickening crunch screamed between the tires.

Rovik was shocked to see the one behind the wheel.

It was Emily.

That stubborn woman!
He’d told her to stay put.

The SUV stopped and the door flew open. Emily ran toward him.

“Rovik!”

She cried tearfully. “There’s so much blood!”

“I’m fine.” Rovik cut his gaze toward Norman. He didn’t move. Didn’t shift.

Norman was dead.

Emily looked at her surroundings and covered her mouth with her hands. By that time, the fighting was already over, but the destruction was immense. The farm appeared to be a disaster area. Bodies were sprawled everywhere.

Rovik saw Walsingham return to his human form. Like him, the old dragon was covered in blood. His father was still busy eating. Rovik thought Senior was still riding the thrill. Once a Schwarzen reached a state of berserk, it would take a while to get back to normal. Rovik wouldn’t worry about him.

A motorcycle entered the aftermath of the battlefield. Rovik watched the rider cautiously. He shoved Emily behind him.

The rider took off his helmet. He was a young man, barely out of his teenage years. He risked a moment to look at his surroundings, taking everything in.

“Kenny?” said Emily.

“You know him?” asked Rovik.

“He’s Dwayne’s younger brother.”

Rovik prepared to shift again to finish the job, but the young man lifted both hands in surrender.

“I mean you no harm!” he shouted.

Rovik paused.

Kenneth dismounted his bike and trudged toward Norman’s body. Anguish painted on his face. “I’m sorry, Emily. I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t. I’ll tell you everything if you allow me to bury my father. And Dwayne. And the rest of them.”

Emily and Rovik looked at each other.

Rovik nodded at Kenneth. “Start talking, kid.”

Epilogue

Seven Months Later

Emily sat gingerly on an uncomfortable chair in the crowded hospital waiting room. She had her first ultrasound appointment for her pregnancy and she was anxious. Knowing who she really was and Rovik as her husband, she worried that she might carry a giant egg instead of a baby. Rovik and his parents assured her she would have a normal, human pregnancy, given that Emily was wingless, thoroughly domesticated.

Still, she couldn’t brush away her nervousness. Five months after she and Rovik got hitched in Vegas, she missed her period. After a trip to a gynecologist, the doctor confirmed her pregnancy. Rovik was elated. His parents were ecstatic, especially his mom.

Her new husband noticed her discomfort and stroked her hand. His lush brows arched. “You okay?” he asked. He had been very attentive since she found herself with his child.

“I have to pee,” Emily grumbled. “I swear if the nurse doesn’t call me within the next five minutes, I’ll—“

“Emily Stromheim?” called a woman dressed in scrubs. She poked her head around the door, scanning the motley patients in the room. She carried a hard pad and furiously scribbled on it. The nurse broke into a smile when she caught Emily getting up from her chair. “Oh, there you are, sweetheart. You did drink the liquid and haven’t gone to the bathroom, right?”

Emily tottered to her with a pained step. “Yes.”

“Good. We need you to have a full bladder so we can have a nice reading.”

Emily grimaced.

“I know, I know, it’s uncomfortable. But it won’t take long.” The nurse cringed with sympathy.

“I hope so,” Emily muttered. “I almost wet my pants.”

The nurse looked at the towering Rovik appreciatively. “And this gentleman with you is?”

“He’s my husband.”

“Awesome. Please follow me, then.” The nurse bounced happily into the narrow hallway and showed them to an exam room at the end. She knocked on the half-ajar door quietly. “Marcia, I have Emily Stromheim. Do you need a minute or are you ready?” The nurse then nodded to Emily. “She’s ready for you guys.”

Emily and Rovik pushed in. The nurse closed the door behind them.

The ultrasound technician was a pleasant-looking middle-aged woman but she dressed as if she were a twenty-year old. Beneath her white lab coat, she was swathed in a red sequined top that guaranteed to make a disco ball jealous. She lifted her gaze from the monitor and beamed.

“Emily Stromheim? And you’re Mr. Stromheim? Good. I will need you to bare your midsection before we start.”

“Do I need to take my clothes off?” Emily hoisted herself on the examination table.

“No, you don’t have to. Just push your pants to your hips.”

Emily lay on her back and did as asked. The tech covered her lower part with a blanket. She proceeded by lathering gel on Emily’s stomach and pressed the hand-held scanning device under her belly button.

The screen came alive. “This is your bladder,” said the technician, she moved the wand around, “And here’s your little baby.” She triangulated the picture and zoomed on it. “If you look at here, that’s the heartbeat.” She fiddled with the keyboard and seconds later, the sound of a heartbeat filled the exam room.

An immense relief flooded her. She caught Rovik’s eyes. He smiled. He knew just how worried she was with this pregnancy. Rovik was a hatchling. She couldn’t imagine how his mom managed to squeeze him out. It must’ve been such an ordeal. She was getting used to who she was; she was more human and it took time to adjust to being a shiftless dragon. For now, a little normalcy was what she needed. Regular pregnancy. She could handle that.

On that fateful night after the battle, Emily learned the truth about her parentage. Kenneth had spilled everything. His father was indeed intending to spill her blood as a virgin sacrifice to lift the family curse. Sir Walsingham’s theory was proven right. Had Rovik not swept her off on her wedding day, she would have been dead by now.

And what made it scarier was there was no guarantee the Tiamat ritual would work. In the past decades, Norman McGuire had become obsessed with black arts in order to annul the curse. He had tried everything and nothing worked. Sacrificing her was Norman’s last resort to save his family.

Norman wasn’t the only one afflicted with the curse. His cousins and nephews were also plagued with the geist. Ultimately, no female dragons would want to become their wives and their lines would be impure. Norman’s descendants could only produce half-blood if they mated with female humans.

As for Norman’s connection with her mother, it turned out Clarissa was one of the ancient dragons. Norman and her mother went back several hundred years. When Norman was young, they were lovers. Rather uncanny pair since dragons usually attracted to the same breed. Clarissa had taken a mate long before she met Norman who was named Samhrain at that time. But being together for almost millennia brought tension to Clarissa with her mate, Andras, who later on, sired Emily. They had drifted apart for years when Clarissa met Norman. Clarissa promised to divorce Andras and marry Norman.

However, somewhere along the way, Clarissa reconciled with her husband and left Norman heartbroken. Clarissa promised Norman he could have her daughter since she could no longer give her heart to Norman.

Norman became bitter and started hating women. He maltreated them until that accident that forced him to reevaluate his past. A century had passed when Norman met his mate and married, but he couldn’t escape the curse. Then, one day he heard that Clarissa had a child and she was alone. Her mate Andras had passed away in a fight. Norman wasted no time tracking Clarissa to collect her promise. And Clarissa did her best to stay below the radar.

Emily remembered that she and her mom always moved from place to place. She hadn’t known that her mother tried to avoid Norman. It was ironic that she couldn’t escape her destiny and ended up in Norman’s hands anyway. Her mother became sick, then died. She didn’t have family because her mother and father were ancient dragons.

Norman collected her and brought her into his house. By that time, Norman had remarried. His second wife died shortly after she gave birth to Kenneth. Norman became obsessed with breaking the curse and suddenly had a way out. He decided that he would sacrifice Emily to end the vicious cycle. To save not only himself, but also his relatives.

Looking back, Emily couldn’t put blame solely on Norman. Her mother had carried the same burden. Living for a very long time, immortal almost, had taken a toll on her parents. Hearts could change over time, even when the pairs were supposed to be mates, bonded for life.

Senior had told her to let go of the past. She and Rovik were both young and their future was ahead of them.

Her train of thought interrupted when Rovik asked the ultrasound technician if she knew the sex of the baby.

“Oh no, it’s far too early for that,” she said. “We can find that out on your second ultrasound, around eighteen to twenty weeks.” The tech slid the wand around again and captured several pictures on the screen. “Okay, if you slide back up, I will print you a copy of the ultrasound.” She wiped the gel from Emily’s belly.

Rovik helped Emily with her clothes. The man was practically grinning like a loon. They received paperwork and the printout. She made a quick detour to a restroom before left. Emily couldn’t help smiling with him as they exited the building.

“Think your mom would like a copy of that?”

Her husband lifted a brow. “You kidding? She knew about your appointment today. I bet she’ll bug you as soon as we get home.”

His cell rang. Rovik checked the screen. “Spoke too soon. It’s Mom.”

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“She’s too nosy. I’ll deal with her later.”

“Rovik, she’s your mom.”

“So?”

Emily rolled her eyes.
Doesn’t he know how lucky he is to have a mother like her?

When the call went unanswered, Rovik received a text. He read it and groaned aloud. “Mom and Dad are gonna come up this weekend. To visit us.”

“That’s good news.”

“I hope you’re joking.”

“Rovik, they are your parents.”

“Many times I regret that fact.”

“That’s horrible.” Emily smacked him on the shoulder.  “This should be a good thing. We’ll have a great family time together.”

“This is important to you, isn’t it?”

“Yes. What can I say? I didn’t have a memorable childhood time. No dad, just my mom.”

“If it’s that important to you, I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“You’d better.”

“Don’t let my mom do the cooking. If she whips out something citrusy, I swear I’m going to cry.”

Emily laughed. “I’d like to see that.”

The End

Dear Reader,

If you enjoyed this book, I’d be humbly ever so grateful if you would spare a little time to leave a review even if it’s only a line or two. And if you like to be notified for upcoming books, please consider joining my new release notification list. Please visit my website: http://ilizzie.com to sign up.

I only send maximum two emails every month to announce my new books. (If I happen to publish multiple books in a month.) No spam, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Thank you!

Smuttily Yours,

Lizzie

Craving for More Hot Dragon Tales? Check These Titles Out:

SCORCHED

A BBW Paranormal Erotic Romance Novelette

To escape from her controlling ex-boyfriend, Margaret “Molly” Foreman returns to Oak Hollow, only to be reunited with her childhood bully. Tristan Cadreinth is the son of a prominent dragon shifter family in town, and he used to love picking on her. When Molly has a problem, she hesitates to ask the police for help, because Tristan has become a detective in Oak Hollow. It doesn’t matter that Tristan has grown into Mr. Tall, Dark and Delicious with a sexy body and a killer smile. The day she asks for Tristan’s help will be the day pigs fly. Like never!