Her Dragon Captor (Her Dragon King Duet 1)

Only then does the dragon let me go.

He treads past me to put out those sizzling embers with a few clomps of its huge webbed foot. Now that I can see him up close under the moonlight, I realize he’s actually blue.

I stare at the midnight blue dragon as it stomps out what’s left of the human hunters.

Then I shiver when it turns back to look down at me, its golden eyes glowing bright with anger.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I don’t realize I’m holding my breath until it all expels from my body in one terrified gust. The dragon continues to stare down at me for several long moments. So obviously Damianos I don’t even need an introduction.

Then he lowers his head, displacing so much air, the leaves on the surrounding tree rustle as he drops his chin to the ground with his neck extended.

Okay, well, I don’t know anything about dragon body language, but I think he wants me to get on.

I hesitate. Then hesitate some more. Then remember his dark promise the last time I tried to escape.

Cease this immediately. Or I will have to punish you for your defiance on top of the punishment of this latest attempt at escape.

More defiance will only get me into more trouble. And even if I dared to try to run again, I think Damianos has more than proven tonight that there’s no getting away when it comes to him.

I climb on, then hold on tight as he launches us into the air.

So the good news is your girl got to ride a dragon. And the flight was beautiful. You know, wind rushing through my cornrows, them 360-degree overhead Imax views—that’s what’s up!

I would have clocked it as one of the best experiences of my life if I wasn’t returning to my prison.

And punishment unknown.

The bad news is that the ride ends all too soon with a coasting descent down to the gatehouse. He lowers his neck again. And I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but I have a perfect view of the mound of dirt where the former gatekeeper was buried as I climb off his back.

I swallow hard. He almost killed my uncle the last time I tried to run.

What would he do after I stabbed him and left him to die?

That’s all I’m thinking about as I watch Damianos shift bit by bit. First the body trunk, then the face, then last, but not least, he retracts his huge blue-black wings.

He’s completely naked in that Ken Doll way of his. And that mortal wound I thought I served his neck? Nowhere to be found.

What the Fenrir Wolf? How bionic is this dude?

He takes a step toward me.

And I raise my chin defiantly, like, “Bring it on!”

But if we’re spitting truth right now, that’s just Ola the Bad Bitch on automatic.

“Never let a n-word see you sweat, baby girl.” That’s what great granddad used to tell me after Mom made him switch to a somewhat more sanitized version of his longtime personal motto.

I’d been born to the first female alpha of a state pack. She’d had people gunning for her and her throne from the start. And the last thing Great Granddad had done before he joined that motorcycle gang in the sky was instill in me the value of a chin all the way up with a zero fucks look, even when I was scared as hell.

I’d been pretending to be the toughest she-wolf in the land since I was a kid.

But it’s harder than usual with this unearthly shifter staring down at me.

He’s not even breathing hard. I guess giving me a dragon taxi ride home after firebombing a bunch of racist rapists wasn’t even much of a workout.

But he looks mad. So mad. It’s hard to stand there with my chin up and not give in to the urge to run again or quiver and beg him not to murder anyone else over this.

“Ola…” He steps to me, his voice a menacing presence inside my head, his eyes glowing so intense.

I ball my fists because if he wants to break me, he is going to have to fight me—

All those thoughts cut off when he suddenly leans down and enfolds me in his huge arms.

“Ola,” he says again inside my head. “Please tell me they didn’t hurt you. If they hurt you, killing them with my fire wasn’t enough. I will find the parents who raised them and burn them alive too as punishment for what these men have done.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa slow down there, supervillain,” I say, my voice muffled in his chest because he’s got me wrapped up so tight in his arms. “They scared me, but I’m okay. No need to go hunting down anybody’s parents.”

He grabs me by my shoulders and holds me away from him, his gaze scanning me like he’s running some kind of internal lie detector test behind that glowing gaze of his.