Page 36 of The Ruby Dragon Prince
Lord Groswick chuckled as he moved in and grasped my arm, pushing the guard to let go of me. “I told you that you would be mine,” he said to me, gloating.
“No!” I tried to pull away, but Lord Groswick’s grip was surprisingly strong. “I will not. I want nothing to do with you.”
Lord Groswick ignored me. “Have my carriage brought around to the back of this house. I see no reason to stay for the rest of the festival. My manor house is only a few hours’ drive from here. I’ll have this one tonight, and with any luck, his heat will come on and he’ll be round with my child in a few months.”
“I will not!” I shouted, still trying to struggle.
It was no use. Father didn’t care when Lord Groswick tugged me violently out of the room and around to the back of the house. He was the one who had sealed my fate.
“I will never submit to you,” I told Lord Goswick, continuing to struggle and attempt to break free. Inwardly, I called for Rufus with everything I had. Why wasn’t he there? Where was he? Could he hear me at all? Perhaps he’d been captured as well.
That thought caused me to lose my strength for a moment, which allowed Lord Groswick to yank me through the house’s kitchen and out into the courtyard behind the house.
“Rufus!” I called up at the sky, hoping and praying that he could hear me.
“Who are you calling for?” Lord Groswick asked with a peevish look. “Do you have some secret, low-born lover who you think might rescue you?”
I gasped as an idea occurred to me. “Yes, yes, I do,” I said, hoping that Lord Groswick wouldn’t want me if he thought I was used goods.
Instead, he just sniffed. “I’ll find this Rufus and have him hung, drawn, and quartered in front of you,” he said. The idea made him smile. “Do you still want to call out for your lover now?”
I made a sound of frustration. Lord Groswick was no match at all for Rufus, but his violent promise made me think twice about calling for him out loud.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t scream for him along our bond. It worried me that I wasn’t feeling much in return, only the usual strength and confidence that thoughts of Rufus gave me, which seemed completely at odds with the moment I found myself in. Rufus must not have known my fate, because the response I felt to my cries for help was soothing and determination.
Lord Groswick’s carriage arrived, and I did everything I could to struggle against getting into it. I fought, kicked, and even tried to bite him at one point. Lord Groswick had to get his groom to come down from the seat to help manhandle me into the carriage.
Even then, I struggled and tried to get out the other side. The two stronger men were able to keep me there, holding me down as the driver turned the carriage around and started out into the town. I tried to call for help from whoever might be near enough to save me, even calling out for my brothers in case they were near, but all for naught. Lord Groswick clapped a hand over my face and held me fast until we were well beyond the boundaries of the town.
Seeing the last building marking the edge of the town fall away behind us filled me with despair. The fewer witnesses there were to my abduction the less likely I was to be saved.
“Do you see how pointless it is to resist me now?” Lord Groswick said, finally removing his hand from my mouth and loosening his hold on me.
“Help me! Save me!” I appealed to the groom in the other seat.
The man looked terrified, and he turned away as if I wasn’t even there.
“You’ll regret this,” I told Lord Groswick, trying another tack. “I do have a lover, a fated mate. He won’t rest until he’s rescued me and punished you.”
Lord Groswick tipped his head back and laughed. “Now I know you’re making things up,” he said. He snorted, then said, “Silly omegas and your ridiculous fairy tales. There are no such things as fated mates, and hapless little omega whores like you are never rescued at the last moment by?—”
Before he could finish his speech the carriage lurched to a sudden stop. The driver cried out in fear, and even the horses whinnied loudly.
“What the devil?” Lord Groswick hissed. “Get out and see what’s going on,” he ordered the groom.
The groom was only too happy to leap out of the carriage as fast as he could. As soon as he did, he looked up and let out a loud shout of fear. “Dragon!”
“Idiot,” Lord Groswick grumbled, shifting to the carriage door himself.
I scrambled out after him, my heart soaring for the same reason that the groom had shouted in fear. As soon as I was out in the open, I glanced up to see the form of a great, glittering ruby dragon in the sky, speeding toward us with vengeance in his eyes.
Chapter
Eleven
Rufus
Nobody took my omega and got away with it.
