The Dragon's Arranged Mate(9)

Her eyes filled with tears of gratitude and love. "I love you, Caside," she whispered.

"And I you, my Anabelle," I replied, and our mouths met for a kiss.

It didn't take long for the kiss to deepen. I stirred below the waist, and the dragon inside me roared.         

     



 

"Caside … " Anabelle whispered as my mouth roamed her throat. Her fingers  tangled in my hair and held me close to her. "Caside, I want something … "

I smiled against her skin. "I'm going to give it to you," I murmured, and her tinkling bell laugh rang through the room.

"That's not what I mean. Please, look at me," she urged, and I pulled my  lips from her sweet skin to look her in the eye. "Caside, I would  like … to see you change. I want to see the dragon."

I was shocked; I had no idea she'd want to see me, the real me inside, so soon.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked. "It's not the sort of thing you can forget. It's very unsettling at first, I'm told."

She nodded, firmly. "I want to see all of you, in every way. I want to  be fully your wife and partner, and that means seeing you as the dragon  you really are. I have longed for you, and last night I felt only a  small part of you. I want to experience all of you. Are you ready to  show me?"

The human part of me was concerned, but the dragon's influence was  growing by the moment. Soon I'd be overcome by that side of myself, and  that side wanted very much to be released. It had been days since I'd  allowed myself to change.

"Stand back," I told her, then quickly stripped off my clothing. "I  learned a long time ago that it's much easier to get undressed first, or  else destroy every bit of clothing I have."

She giggled softly, and stood with her back to the wall. I hoped she would not regret this request.

I stood in the center of the room and allowed the other side of myself  to be unleashed. Just as always, my hands and feet began to lengthen, my  fingers and toes turning into claws. My legs thickened, and my torso  expanded. The scales began appearing in place of skin, a shiny  blue-black.

She shrank before me, not out of fear but because I grew to nearly eight  meters in size. My skull elongated, and horns took the place of my  golden hair. My nostrils flared and my eyes burned; I'd been told that  they typically glowed a deep red when I shifted. My tail swished across  the floor and massive, wide wings unfolded themselves from where my  shoulder blades once were.

I looked down at her, no longer as my beloved wife but as my possession.  She was mine. I owned her. She was like a toy that pleased me. I roared  in approval of what I saw before me, the sound making the walls shake  and knocking her to her knees against the wall.

Her breath came hard and fast, beads of sweat covering her fair skin in a  sheen of moisture. I waited to see what she would do now.

She took one tentative step toward me, then another. She reached up, and I bent slowly to bring my head closer to the floor.

I saw myself reflected in her eyes. She reached for me with a trembling  hand, then touched the scales of my face. "Caside," she murmured. "My  dragon."

I pulled my head away and stood up once again. My tail swished, and I  breathed fire into the air; harmless, since the walls were made of  stone. Still, when I looked back down at her I saw that she had taken  her place at the wall again.

I belonged to no one. I was no one's dragon. I was my own.

I felt as though she understood what I was feeling and knew that my  reaction was caused by her words. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice  shaking.

I bent down again, and extended one of my front legs to her. I uncurled  my claws, revealing the soft surface of what would normally be my palm.

She hesitated, not understanding at first. Soon, however, she realized  what I was trying to signal. Slowly she moved toward me. She held onto  one of my razor-sharp claws and said, "You want to carry me?" I nodded  my head. She looked skeptical, but trusted me enough to sit down in the  center of the soft surface of my foot. Slowly I curled up that leg  against me, and I held her to my chest.

Then, before she could speak a word of refusal or even make a noise, I  rushed out the massive, open doors that led to the balcony outside our  chambers, spread my wings and took to the sky.





CHAPTER FOUR



I heard Anabelle's hysterical cries as we took flight, but I paid no  heed to them. I was too far gone at that point to care about her fears.  Besides, she had no reason to fear. I would protect her. She was mine.

One moment there was hard stone under my claws. The next, there was  nothing but air. I flapped my wide, strong wings and we climbed higher.  Above the highest windows of the castle we climbed, then beyond the  tiles laid atop the eaves. We soared higher and higher into the  darkness, the wind rushing around us and carrying Anabelle's screams  into the night.

The small human part of me wanted to comfort her, but my dragon  self-batted that thought away like a child's toy. I needed my mate to  see that she was protected. I was showing her that she had nothing to  fear by showing her my power.         

     



 

Eventually even her screams trailed off; once the shock wore off, she  was simply amazed. We soared together through the dark night sky, lit  only by the moon. It glinted off my shiny scales. I looked down; we flew  over the shining waters of the loch, and my dark shadowy form was  reflected there, racing along the surface.

I looked down at my captive, my mate. She looked up into my eyes, her  own eyes wide. The moonlight made them sparkle like jewels.

I showed off a bit. We climbed even higher, then swooped down rapidly.  The air rushed past my ears, carrying the sound of Anabelle's alarmed  "Casiiiiiide!" as we approached the ground at a startling rate of speed.  Then, at the last moment, I pulled back and we merely swooped within  meters of the earth. I climbed back into the sky, my great wings beating  the cool air.

I swooped and circled, elated at being able to fly free after many days  of keeping myself under control. My head was clearer this way; things  were more simple. While I'd experienced momentary fear earlier in the  day at the strange happenings surrounding the coronation ceremony, I now  felt nothing but extreme power and might. As the dragon I could do  anything, conquer anyone who came my way. My ancient strength, the  strength that had been passed down to the men of my bloodline since  before time was recorded, was too much for any man or beast to face and  emerge victorious. I threw my head back and breathed a great column of  fire into the sky. No one could challenge my power.

The Celtic dragons had ruled these lands for as long as the lands had  existed. The tradition had it that the dragons themselves had created  the isles, or that the very isles themselves were the dead form of the  greatest dragon of them all. Kellen had been a great warrior, it was  said, and had vanquished foes far and wide. He was no match for an evil  dark wizard, though, and the wizard killed him in battle. His enormous  body fell, lifeless. His mate, Dubheasa, had wept so that her tears  formed the waters now surrounding the isles, and from Kellen's lifeless  form grew the grasses and trees that still grew today.

Of course this is all silly superstition, but it proved the  long-standing nature of the dragon throughout Ireland and surrounding  lands. We'd ruled the land since before the written word, and there  wasn't a power in the kingdoms that dared stand up to our fierce fire  for long.

I felt the power behind me and within me as I soared with my own mate.  She was now relaxed, awed at the sights I showed her. Villages glowed  far below us, and I know the sight of my form as we flew past the full  moon sent shivers through the hearts of more than one villager. Still,  though the deadly and destructive power of the dragon was indeed  something to be feared, most of the wise ones knew by now that the  dragons would cause them no harm. We weren't as great in number as we  once were  –  stories told of islands completely populated by dragons at  one time  –  but we were seen now more as protectors than as destroyers.  No more were the days of burning entire villages. We existed to protect  those in our care.

Of course, by nature we were still quite unpredictable. I know that in  my younger days, when I was just discovering the full depth and breadth  of my power, it was difficult for me to rein in my flares of temper. A  cross word or a wish denied and I would shift form without realizing it.  A 13-year-old boy often simply wants to be respected and heard, and  naturally the instinct is to make those who don't fall in line wish that  they had. A simple human boy can be dangerous enough; mix that with a  dragon and you have a disaster.

But this was another time during which the wisdom of both my father and  my mother came to my rescue. They taught me to temper my desires,  control my anger, save my shifting for the appropriate times. I can't  count the times my father had to take me in hand … or, rather, in claw. He  would spring into his own form in the blink of an eye; naturally his  form was much larger than my own in those days. Soon I'd be made to  remember who was truly in charge. He was the alpha dragon in the castle.  I could not forget it.