Page 76 of Claimed by the Savage Dragons
I get out of bed and look for the tan dress I’ve been wearing for days. It’s not anywhere I can see. Instead, there’s a small pile of clothes on the end of the bed. Some soft black pants and a sage green flowing top. There’s even a bra and some underwear. I put everything on. It all fits. I purse my lips, wondering who got my measurements as I go to the bathroom.
My stomach has settled for now, which is a nice change from the past few days of throwing up and not being able to eat even when I’ve been given food. I put my hands over my lower abdomen. It’s protruding slightly now.
Pregnant.
Even thinking it makes my heart start to thud in my chest and the visions of my mom in the bed in our house, blood soaking the sheets and the town medic telling me to say my goodbyes to both my mom and the baby who would have been my sister.
I cover my mouth with my hand to stifle my sob. What am I going to do? How could Tor and Brax have lied to me like this?
I already know the answer. Because I’m naïve and stupid and because I’d never have gone for their dumb plan otherwise.
‘Mari?’
I turn at Drey’s voice, trying to dry my eyes before he sees me. I’ve noticed that he gets very agitated when I’m upset. Over the past few hours, he’s asked me three times who knocked me up.
How can I tell him it was his two oldest friends? Would he even believe me, or would he think I was lying? He seems to believe that I’m already almost three months along, which is impossible. I only slept with Tor and Brax, at most, six and a half weeks ago. It doesn’t make any sense.
What is happening?
‘Are you okay?’
I nod. He asks me that a lot, his eyes boring into me like he can see into my very soul. Or maybe he just wishes he could read my mind to find out who got me pregnant.
I’ve said nothing when he asks me, or I’ve blatantly changed the subject, and I think he’s finally getting the message that I’m not telling him, at least not until the others return so they can corroborate my story.
I mean, if he doesn’t like my answers, what’s to stop him giving me back to Dominick, returning me to the kitchen, maybe sending me out at mealtimes to put a foot wrong and get punished with some dragon man’s stinking cock, or tied to the post in the corner of the hall to be whipped?
He frowns at me as if hecanhear my thoughts and I plaster a small smile on my face that I’m sure he knows is false.
‘I need to get back to my duties,’ he says. ‘The mornings I’m usually in the Great Hallholding court.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘But afternoons are always in my office, so I was thinking. You have a leisurely breakfast, maybe watch some movies, read, do whatever in my rooms. No one can get in here except me and Del. You’re safe.’
Del?
At my questioning look his lips turn upwards a little.
‘The doctor,’ he elaborates. ‘And she won’t just turn up without me here. And I’ll come back, make you some lunch, and then you can spend the afternoon in my office. With me.’
He doesn’t command me like the other dragons here have, I notice. He asks me.
‘What if I say no?’ I ask.
For a millisecond, he’s crestfallen. I see it in his eyes, but he covers it quickly. ‘You can say no, Mari. Of course you can. You can stay in my rooms, and no one will bother you. I promise. Whatever you want.’
‘Your plan sounds okay,’ I say.
‘Okay.’ He smiles a real smile, and I find myself returning it, which makes his wider.
‘Can I ask you a question?’
‘Anything,’ he answers.
‘Why are you being so nice to me?’
He winces. ‘Because I promised Tor and Brax.’
I stare at him. He’s lying. I don’t know how I know that, but he is, or at least he’s not telling the whole truth.
‘And?’ I say.
