Page 5 of My Dragon Lovers

He put everything into the next punch. His entire body twisted around and he roared with fury. I swerved, veering to the side and his hand slammed into the pillar behind me. There was a hard crack and he roared with pain. His eyes went wide and he was transformed as he recoiled back, cradling his fist. I thought that would be it. I thought it would be over, but no. It only served to enrage him even more. He gritted his teeth and his eyes dripped with venom. He lunged forward, leaping onto me and clawing at me with one good hand and one broken one. He was cursing at me with his vile words and I had not been prepared for such an onslaught. He wrapped his thick legs around me and I found myself bearing the heavy weight of him. I tried to shrug him off, but he was relentless, like a swarm of hornets. I paced this way and that, grunting as I tried to get purchase. I slammed into tables, sending them and chairs sliding across the floor. Pitchers of beer splashed and sloshed around my feet, while the glasses smashed. The shattered pieces crunched like ice under the weight of my feet. People screamed and moved out of theway as we swayed around. Eventually I managed to jam my elbow into his gut once, twice, and on the third time I managed to free myself of his grip. The heat had almost suffocated me. I groaned and glared at him, but he still wasn’t done.

He rushed towards me again, trying to leap on me once more, but this time I was prepared. I put all the weight into my blow and then slammed my fist into his chest. He coughed and staggered back, his momentum halted immediately. I bore down on him, wanting to end this now and teach this stupid man a lesson. I clenched my fists and swung, but he wasn’t as doltish as he seemed. He collapsed to his knees, now mired in the spilled beer and broken glass, and he tried to tackle me. I felt the ground shifting under my feet as I almost lost my balance, but I just managed to steady myself. My fists crashed down on his back and he slumped to the ground. I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and brought him to his feet. He looked groggy. His bad hand hung limply by his side. The other one flailed helplessly as he tried to strike me, but I batted it away and punched him again, this time in the face. He cried out in pain as a sharp crack sounded in the air. Blood began to trickle from his nose, a crimson river that spilled over his lips and chin, staining his mustache.

I punched him again, this time in the gut. He started to beg me for mercy, so I gave it to him. We were near a pool table. I picked him up, straining to lift his bulk, and then slammed him onto the felt. His body twitched and the balls spilled away, some of them sinking into the deep pockets. He lay sprawled across the table, and he didn’t look to be in any condition to get up and fight again.

There was stunned silence all around me. I breathed deeply, feeling the heat of anger rising within me. My blood was aflame and I was ready for another challenge. If any of them dared to fight me then I would be ready. I looked at each of themin turn, but none of them seemed inclined. The guys with pool cues in their hands looked annoyed that I had interrupted their game, but they did not make any verbal objections. They stood there, mute, waiting to see what I would do next. It was a sign of our majesty, a sign that us dragons could have taken this world in our clawed hands and squeezed it into whatever shape we saw fit, if we had been so inclined.

But that was not our way, even though it felt natural to me.

I collected myself as best I could, ignoring this pulsing temptation that echoed around my skull. I turned and walked outside, the cool air brushing against my hot skin. As the door swung shut I noticed how the tension was released in the bar at my absence. They rushed to the pool table, eager to roll the broken man away, and no doubt they would wonder what kind of man I was to come here and wreck their peaceful idyll.

Now, where was Aidan?

I sniffed the air, ignoring the scent of acrid smoke nearby, as well as the oil from the vehicles they used to get around. I scoffed inwardly. They would never know the joy of being able to soar with wings. I walked through the parking lot. The dwindling lights of the bar faded behind me as I followed Aidan into the darkness, following him on this quest, which I had felt was misguided until I saw Kyra for myself. No wonder he had kept her away from me all these years. She was certainly a jewel.

It wasn’t long before I found them. I smirked to myself as I saw them locked in a heated embrace. They had their hands wrapped around each other, their fingers running through each other’s hair. Their lips were locked together, their bodies pressed so closely that they might as well have melted into each other. They were in a kind of fight themselves, but this was a different type of violence. I wondered whether I should say anything, or if I should be a silent observer. It didn’t even cross my mind to leave them alone.

Chapter Four

Kyra

Damn him. Damn him to all the hells of the world and the fires of Drakon. Damn him and his charming smile, his strong body, his soulful eyes that seemed to peel away all the layers of my soul with ease. I don’t know how he did it. I put up so many walls, and yet he just waltzed through my defenses as though they weren’t there at all. All it took was a kiss, one kiss to plunge me into those dark depths of desire again, the ones I had been fighting against remembering all these years. The sweetness and the lust were alluring, and as soon as he took me in his arms and our lips pressed against each other once again my mind swirled with a passionate haze, and I was gone.

I knew I should fight. I knew I should try and pull away, not reward him for this daring move. I wasn’t his to kiss anymore… or maybe I would always be his. After all, I was his first. He had laid claim to me a long time before this, so perhaps this was inevitable. Perhaps I was always destined to succumb to his bewitching spell again. But I hated myself. I hated myself, but I loved the sensations. For a long time I had felt numb, drifting through the world without purpose, without impulse, but with him here I was suddenly alive again, like an ember brought back to life and was now ablaze with the raging fury of a star. My entire body tingled as our tongues danced together. I suddenly remembered the taste of him, how sweet it was to my young lips. Suffocated moans burst out of our mouths as our hands roamed around each other’s bodies, through our hair, making it feel as though I was being ripped apart. My clothes suddenly felt constricting. There was a wild, twisting desire within me that slithered like a serpent and ached to beunleashed, and it was almost as though I could do nothing about it.

Everything I said to him I believed and felt truly, but it all seemed meaningless now. He was back here in front of me, and all the time we had spent apart did not matter at all. He was mine again, and I was his. I had no idea what was going to follow on from this, but I wasn’t thinking about the future. I was just thinking about the present moment, drowning in the prickling heat and the rushing emotions that made it hard to breathe, that caused my heart to hammer rapidly in my chest, and made my knees tremble.

There was a moment where we leaned back, gazing into each other’s eyes, a moment where we both needed to catch our breath. I remember thinking how beautiful he was. I had thought the same thing the first time I had ever seen him, when he had appeared from nowhere and smiled at me. It had been such a small moment in my life, and yet it had led to such lasting consequences.

In a way, it had ruined me.

And then I saw something flickering behind him, some movement. It took me a moment to dispel the veil from my eyes to realize it was Brock. I frowned and reared back.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled, breaking the silent magic.

“Enjoying the show,” he replied with a smirk and an arched eyebrow. I was shocked by his confident manner and the way he seemed unashamed to express his desires, but perhaps I also felt impressed as well, and maybe my heart did skip a beat. Maybe a part of me liked the idea of putting on a show, of someone enjoying what I had to offer. Aidan didn’t seem perturbed by being interrupted. He angled his head towards Brock, although he didn’t take his hands off me.

“Everything alright at the bar?” Aidan asked.

Brock rolled his shoulders. “Had to clean up a bit of a mess, but I don’t think it was much trouble. Might have to clean my hands a bit,” he said, holding up a fist. I saw that blood stained some of the knuckles.

“I didn’t think you came here to start a fight,” I said.

“I didn’t,” Aidan said, turning towards me.

“So what are you guys doing now?” Brock asked.

The kiss had been intoxicating, but now I had a chance to breathe, to think, to reconsider. “I should be getting home,” I blurted out, thinking that it was the right thing to do. My feet were still planted on the ground though. My body was still nestled in Aidan’s hands. He looked at me in this strange way, as if he knew that I didn’t really want to leave. He had always had this particular talent of being able to know my true desires, peering through the tangled lies of my words and behavior to see the truth.

“Or we could go to the cabin,” he said, and my heart wilted. The cabin. Breath caught in my throat.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Brock said.

“You’re going to join us?” I asked, my gaze shifting between him and Aidan.

“Well, I’d like to get to know you better. Aidan has been talking about you for quite some time. You have a reputation to live up to,” he said.

“It’s okay Kyra, you can trust him. He’s my best friend. He’s like a brother,” Aidan said. And yet Aidan had never mentioned him before. Perhaps that was understandable though, it wasn’t as if we had done much talking when we had been together before. It was our bodies that had done most of the communication. My heart caught in my throat. Part of me was afraid and unsure, worried that I shouldn’t go off with these two men, and yet I felt compelled. I already had ties with Aidan, and Brock was certainly handsome as well. He looked atme with naked desire. My mind was awhirl at this impossible scenario, but I didn’t dare dream of tearing myself away. It was too tempting, and for once in my confusing mess of a life things were beginning to make sense.

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