Mated To The Alpha Dragon (A BBW Paranormal Romance) (7 page)

            I didn't wake up until very late in the morning, probably around eleven. The bedroom light was on, and Victor was rummaging around in the dresser, fully clothed, somewhat to my disappointment.

            I sat up. "Good morning. I-"

            "You need to get dressed." He turned from the dresser, leaned across the bed, and handed me a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. "I'm sending you back to Haverbrook."

C
HAPTER EIGHT

     Victor's expression was completely serious.

            "I'm sending you back to Haverbrook right now."

            I sat clutching my jeans and t-shirt, completely uncomprehending, my blood turning to ice water. "Didn't I please you? I thought I-"

            "That's absolute insanity. You pleased me on such a level that I can hardly even...." He paused, his gaze falling from my face to my bare breasts. "Comprehend." He swallowed, not moving his gaze, his breathing becoming a litter faster than it already was. But then he suddenly gave his head a quick shake and returned his gaze to my face. "So, no. That's definitely not it."

            "Then, why are you-"

            "I've just spoken to Sam. The Oppressors are coming. An army of them. Maybe all two hundred or so of them. They plan to attack us in a way they've never done before, a blitz attack with all of them dropping from the sky at once. But with this knowledge from one of my scouts, we'll be waiting for them outside the mountains, and we aim to beat them back, killing as many as we can. But there's a chance, however small, that some of them may enter Stonebrook. And I will not let you remain here if there's even a one-in-a-trillion chance one of them could come upon you and harm you. We only have an hour until they'll be here. I'm going to have Sam fly you back to Haverbrook. Tell the townsfolk whatever you like about why you're back temporarily. Just make up some story. Maybe that you've been allowed a brief visit home because you've been so terribly homesick. But don't tell them anything else. Now, the clock is ticking. So get dressed as fast as you can. I'll return for you in ten minutes."

            And with that, Victor gave me a kiss and practically flew out of our rooms.

            I jumped out of bed and dashed into the master bathroom, shaking. After quickly relieving myself, I turned on the shower and hopped in, a decided feeling of being very un-fresh after the long night of lovemaking rising above even my feeling of fear about the Oppressors. I washed with lightning fast speed and was out and toweling off within two minutes. I'd brushed my teeth and thrown on my clothes less than two minutes after that.

            I stood in the living room, hair dripping, waiting for Victor to return. My mind raced. But I didn't have much time to think. He soon flung open the front door, came in, and grabbed my hand.

            "Let's go."

            "No." I pulled my hand from his grasp. "No. Stonebrook is my home now, and I'm not leaving. I'm staying here with everyone else."

            "Kate, Sam is waiting to-"

            "No. I haven't lived a very brave life. Deciding to volunteer myself as the bride was probably the first brave thing I've ever done. I was scared, but I did it. Then I was scared about the Mingling, but I did it. I'm going to continue living my life this way, for better or worse. I'm going to continue being brave. I'm going to stay here. And I'm not changing my mind."

            Victor studied me for a long moment or two, muscles working in his strong jaw. "All right. You'll go in the great hall with the other women and the children. There will be guards outside the doors."

            A short while later, I stood with Julia in the great hall while others filed in. Some women spoke to each other in panicked voices, talking over each other, their speech sharp and fast; some women remained silent, their expressions masks of shock; and some women held crying children, their faces white as sheets. 

            I turned to Julia and spoke in a low voice. "Victor said there's a chance, although slim, that some Oppressors could get in here, under the mountains. And if there's even a chance of that happening, I think we need weapons."

            "But there will be at least a dozen guards outside the doors."

            "Guards can be injured or disabled. And there are kids in here to protect. I really think we need weapons."

            "But... what kind of weapons? And would they even do any good? Oppressors can only be temporarily stunned from any injury inflicted by a human. They can only be killed by being hit with fire from a Keeper's mouth in dragon form, and then stabbed in the eye by a dragon claw or other sharp thing."

            "I know. But it doesn't even matter if we can't directly kill an Oppressor ourselves. If we can get some sort of weapons, we can at least temporarily disable or slow them, buying us a little time until a Keeper arrives."

            Julia nodded. "Okay. Well, what kind of weapons should we try to get? Like knives, or-"

            "I just had an idea. Are there any crossbows in Stonebrook? Like, anywhere?"

            "Five in Sam's and my rooms alone. He uses them to hunt wild game in human form. I don't really know how to use them, though. And I don't think any of the other women here do, either. Do you?"

            "Well-"

            "Oh my gosh, I forgot! You won the Haverbrook crossbow competition three years in a row when we were teenagers! I just totally forgot. And with your last name …"

            I gave her a little grin. "Yep. With a name like Archer, my family always took archery pretty seriously. I know I can defend us if need be. I can stand by the doors and protect us. Just on the off-off-off-chance that something were to happen to the guards."

            "I'll go get you a crossbow and some arrows."     

            A short while later, Julia returned, just as the guards were preparing to shut the hall doors.

            One of them glanced at what she carried. "You won't need all that. More power to you, though, I guess, if it makes you ladies feel better."

             Once the doors had been shut, most everyone went to sit at the dining tables, murmuring. But Julia and I remained standing, and her gaze went to the large, high windows carved into one rock-walled side of the hall. Strips of metal had been drilled or fastened over the windows earlier so that Oppressors couldn't get in. Scaffolding still stood by one of the windows.

            Julia turned to me. "Let's climb up and watch the battle for a little bit. I want to see Sam fight in dragon form. I want to make sure he's okay."

            "How sturdy do you think that scaffolding is, though?"

            "Very. I saw five two-hundred pound men on it at once a while ago."

            "Okay. But if it starts wobbling even a little, we're coming down."

            It actually was very sturdy scaffolding. Julia and I climbed up it, and it didn't even wobble or sway at all.

            Once atop it, we peered through the metal strips covering the window in front of us. I spotted Victor in front of a massive group of Keeper men, only several hundred feet away in a clearing area at the foot of the mountains. He appeared to be giving a speech. Sam stood near him, on his right. Presently, everyone spread out and, in the blink of an eye, shifted into dragons. Victor was massive and dark, charcoal-colored, like his eyes. His wingspan was at least thirty feet. His enormous claws, probably each a foot long, glinted in the sun. He launched himself into the air, breathing fire, and all the other dragons did the same, though none of them was able to breathe flames that traveled as far as Victor's did. If I didn't know him, if he weren't my own husband, the sight of him would have been absolutely terrifying.

            Julia made a low whistle, still peering out the window. "I'm not trying to be shallow in the midst of a pretty serious situation, but my God... how they shift into dragons like that... that's so hot, isn't it?"

            I couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah. It is."

            She glanced at me, giggling herself, but then looked at me again, her expression sobering. "Not trying to be shallow again, but your cheeks are really pink today. Exactly the same way mine get the day after Sam and I have been up very, very, very late if you get me. Did you and Victor...."

            My face suddenly became hot, and I was sure my cheeks were getting even pinker.

            I fought a grin. "Yeah. Like, over, and over, and over. And it was...." I exhaled in a fluttery rush. "I don't even know if incredible is even the right word. Maybe absolutely mind-blowing beyond my wildest fantasies would be a better way to describe it."

            Julia smiled, her big brown eyes twinkling. "I'm so happy for you. And just wait until tonight. Post-fight lovemaking is just... the best. Some of the other wives and I think it makes the men just... even more primal or something. Wilder."

            The thought of Victor even more primal than he'd been the previous night made me exhale another fluttery little breath. I didn't have long to think about that scenario, though. Within moments, we heard a bizarre, screechy sort of shrieking and peered out the window again. Dark shapes that I knew must be the Oppressors were descending from puffy white clouds over Victor and the Keepers.

            Julia shuddered. "Yeah, they shriek like that. Isn't it terrible? I hate that sound. Alexander, their leader, is the loudest. If you see an Oppressor that has kind of a greenish halo sort of thing around him, that's him. He glows green when he fights."

            At that very moment, I spotted him descending from the sky. But he wasn't heading straight for Victor and the other dragons, like the other Oppressors were. He zipped past, avoiding the whole scene.

            I swallowed. "He's kind of heading in the direction of the mountain door that leads to one of the hallways that leads to this hall."

            Julia didn't answer right away. "There's guards outside that door, though. They'll shift and protect us. And guards outside the hall doors, too, of course."

            Victor and the other several hundred dragons began battling the Oppressors, breathing fire and clawing at them. They obviously had their hands full. None of them even seemed to realize that Alexander had slipped past.

            I turned my face from the window and looked at Julia. "But maybe we should get down. And maybe I should get ready with the crossbow. Just in case."

            She turned from the window, a little pale. "I think you're right."

            We got down, and I cocked the crossbow, thanking my lucky stars that it was a rope-cocking type and not a manual-cocking type, which many human men weren't even strong enough to cock. Next, I loaded in an arrow and moved to stand nearly hidden behind a tall stone column maybe thirty feet or so from the hall doors. I lifted the bow onto my shoulder. All murmuring in the hall quieted.

            I stood silently watching the door, Julia close behind me, my stance fairly relaxed. I knew my crossbow skills most likely wouldn't be needed. But just in case, I moved the safety catch on the bow forward, turning it off. Just a split second before Alexander, the Oppressor leader, kicked open one of the hall doors.

            He was a rather small man, maybe only five-and-a-half feet tall. But what he lacked in intimidating height, he made up for with his eyes. They glowed red like hot coals. He surveyed the scene in the hall, leering, revealing black, cracked teeth. His entire person, from head to toe, glowed a bright yellowish-green. He didn't seem to see Julia and me.

            "Well, well. Hello, beautiful ladies of the great Keeper hall."

            Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Even the children and babies were quiet. The only sound to be heard was the screeching of the Oppressors outside.

            "None of you look like you're having much fun. Not like I just had, and it certainly was fun indeed. I got to practice my new magic trick, which is freezing Keepers in human form with just a glance. And it worked marvelously. They're all out there, frozen like statues, and they'll remain that way for several minutes. They didn't even have a second to shift."

            I peered through the crossbow scope, having difficulty aiming. Victor talked while kind of bouncing around on his toes and looking around, his head in near-constant motion. And also, my hands were trembling more than a little bit.

            "Now, why I'm here. It's simple. We're running low on sex slaves in Cold Creek. All of us Oppressors get a little too murder-y at times, I'm afraid. So I decided on a two-part mission at the mountains, here, today. I'm going to abduct a few of you fresh, lovely things while hopefully, my men are annihilating some of your husbands outside while we speak. Now, there's one particular one of you I especially want. Word on the street is that your dear Lord Victor recently took a wife. So which one of you is it? A raised hand will be fine if you're too terrified to speak, which you should be. I plan on personally raping you until you beg for death."

             Alexander stilled briefly, looking out at the deathly pale faces of all the women seated at the tables. I decided to take my chance. It might be now or never. Silently, I stepped out from behind the stone column and aimed the crossbow at him, peering through the scope. I fired. He turned at the very last possible fraction of a second, almost as if he'd heard the arrow release.

            It hit him right between the eyes. A collective gasp came from all the women seated. Alexander fell backward, roaring, the sound tapering off to something like a moan when he hit the ground with a thud. He flailed around a little, moving his arms as if jerkily doggy-paddling through water or something. His eyes rolled back in his skull.