Page 9 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
“Deny me whatever you wish. But you can’t deny it to yourself. You know something more happened that day. It’s up to you to see it through.”
Then she was gone, heading down the stairs. I watched her leave, glaring daggers into her back the entire way.
How dare she order me to betray Noa like that! Not only did she want me to take another mate, as if I even could, butahuman? It would be the ultimate dishonor to a wonderful woman.
I rubbed my sternum, feeling the dragon scale adhered to my flesh beneath my shirt as I asked wordlessly for guidance. For a sign of what I should do. Anything.
In the back of my mind, my dragon stirred. I looked at the sky, assuming it wished to fly, and started to call it forth. We could fly up into the upper reaches of the mountain and spend the day in solitude. I waited for it to come charging forth.
But the beast’s attention wasn’t on the sky. It was down below.
Where the human woman waited for us.
Chapter Six
Madison
The man who had seconds before been a gold-scaled dragon pointed casually at the woman beside me. I watched her shuffle forward nervously while I idly wondered if it was a coincidence that her hair matched the dragon’s scales.
Probably. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for what was happening. The eight of us had been shoved into the giant underground chamber under the watchful gaze of numerous dragons high above us. Then, one by one, we’d been selected by a dragon and taken off who knew where.
Most of the women had freaked out, understandably so. They had no experience with dragons. I, on the other hand, had far too much. Watching them, I could see they were not perched, ready to swoop down. Instead, they were lying spread out, casually witnessing the proceedings below.
We were not in danger of attack.
The giant doors opened again. Despite knowing we wouldn’t be attacked, my heart rate jacked up again. After all, there wereonly two of us left. The rest had been taken away. I had no idea about whether I would ever see them again.
Deep in the darkness, a dragon with red scales came forward, but the lowlight made it impossible to see anything in the way of detail. The crimson-colored dragons were the most numerous, we’d learned, followed closely by the blues. Greens, golds, silvers, and metallic bronze/brass were far lesser but still around. The rarest of all were the black and orange, and I saw several of those looking down upon us from above.
Golden yellow eyes were once more visible before they disappeared into the shape of a man. As part of my briefing for the mission, I’d been made aware of their shape-changing nature and had seen them shift at the dropoff, so I was no longer caught flat-footed by it.
The man came forward, glancing between me and the only other woman.
“I guess we’re the least desirable,” I muttered.
“You.”
I stiffened as the man-dragon pointed at me.
“Me?” I hiked a thumb at my chest.
He nodded, beckoning.
“Aw, shit,” I said, stepping forward as I was told.
There seemed little point in resisting. It wasn’t like I could overpower or outrun him. I was trapped in the land of the dragons.
Walking forward, I gave the dragon-man a once-over.
He was tall, towering over me by the better part of a foot if I had to guess. At somewhere near six and a half feet tall, he had the shoulders to match. Broad and well-muscled, he was not a man to mess with.
The fit, toned stature had a hard-looking core and two treetrunk-like legs. Even with his pants on, it was quite obvious this man did anythingbutskip leg day.
“About done?” he asked as I approached.
“Done what?” I asked. As I looked up at him, I was overcome with a major sense of déjà vu.
He glanced away, refusing to look at me. I did, however, get an eyeful of strong, wide jaw and cheeks that were so tight they screamed for a smile to loosen things up. Blue-green eyes the color of sparkling tropical seas were set against the mild tan of his skin. Thick, arched eyebrows were drawn somewhat together, wrinkling the lines between them ever so slightly.
