Claimed By the Dragon (Stonefire British Dragons #17)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Grace Butler resisted looking at the door. Again.

The words from a few days ago echoed through her head: Stonefire will protect you. If you’re my mate, they can’t take you away.

Dr. Trahern Lewis might’ve offered to mate her to keep her and the twins safe, but she didn’t think he really meant it. Emotions had been high after her difficult birth, she’d been worried about her babies, and he’d probably just felt sorry for her.

And right now, waiting for a man who’ll never show is a cold reminder about why you can never, ever trust anyone. It’s just you and the boys now.

Maybe there would be another way for her to stay with Clan Stonefire. Since her children had a dragon-shifter father, they also carried the gene to shift into a dragon, meaning she either had to give them up or live with a dragon clan permanently.

And she refused to give up her twins. They were hers to love and protect. And if she had to do it alone and be a stranger among the dragon-shifters, she would.

The Scottish accent of Dr. Gregor Innes—he was one of the dragon doctors on Stonefire—garnered her attention. “Maybe I should go check on Trahern. He often loses track of time, aye?”

In other words, Dr. Innes was trying to say this was normal. She shouldn’t worry.

And yet, Grace hadn’t survived on her own since she was sixteen years old by letting her guard down and relying on wishes and hope.

After all, the one time she’d done that, about ten months ago, had ended up putting her in a fucked-up prison where they’d wanted to happily experiment on her sons as if they were lab rats.

Gripping the bedsheet with her fingers, she replied, “Don’t try to placate me, Dr. Innes. He obviously doesn’t want this, and I’d rather not force someone into it. I don’t want my life to become any more hellish than it has been for the last six months.”

“Lass…”

The door opened, preventing Dr. Innes from replying. Grace spotted Dr. Innes’ mate and fellow doctor, Dr. Cassidy “Sid” Jackson, who everyone called Dr. Sid.

Dr. Sid met her mate’s eyes and shook her head.

Just as she’d thought—Trahern had run.

Grace cleared her throat. “Let’s forget this ever happened. I need to talk to the Department of Dragon Affairs. If Stonefire doesn’t want me, then maybe one of the other UK clans will. It doesn’t matter, as long as they keep my sons safe.”

Dr. Sid moved to stand next to her bed inside the surgery. “You’re welcome to stay on Stonefire, Grace. There are a lot of human females here to help you adjust. Lochguard has some too, but not as many.”

Lochguard was the Scottish dragon clan, up in the Highlands. She’d learned about all the UK dragon clans during her recovery, after the birth of her sons a few days ago.

Dr. Innes spoke up. “You don’t have to decide now, lass.

You haven’t even been discharged yet. And most of the human females on Stonefire are determined to visit you, now that you’ve mostly recovered.

You should ask them your questions, aye?

I know you have no reason to trust us yet, but I hope with time, you’ll give us a chance. ”

Her first reaction was to say she didn’t want any visitors. She just needed somewhere to take her babies and do her best to love and protect them.

Friends had never been easy for her, at least not after her mother had married that arsehole who’d ended up killing her and then himself.

No. Don’t think about him. Instead, she focused on the only two people she loved in the world, her boys—Eli and Eddie. From the moment she’d held them in her arms, she’d snapped out of her bleak, soul-crushing depression and found her purpose.

And for their sakes, she would have to learn a lot, and quickly.

Just thinking about them sent a rush of longing through her. “When can I see my babies again?”

Dr. Sid answered, “Soon. We’re just running a few last-minute tests.”

Since Grace had been drugged and half-starved while pregnant during her imprisonment, the Stonefire doctors had been overly thorough with both her and the boys. Especially since they didn’t know if her twins would suffer any aftereffects.

Not for the first time, she wished she could kill the bastard who’d set her on this path. Not that she knew where he was.

Which was part of the problem—he could show up at any time. After all, she knew he’d get a second payment as soon as the dragon hunters had her babies in their hands.

At least they weren’t born inside that hellhole. Focus on the good for now. Pushing her anger aside, she replied, “You’d tell me if something was wrong with them, wouldn’t you?”

Dr. Sid nodded. “I don’t believe in hiding the truth with something so important. But for now, they seem healthy. The extra tests are just a precaution. They should be back in the next hour or so. Did you want us to leave you until then?”

The dragonwoman’s to-the-point attitude settled her a bit. “Yes. I’m not as tired as I was, but I could do with a quick nap.”

“Then we’ll leave you to it.”

Just as Dr. Sid and Dr. Innes turned toward the door, it banged open.

And in the doorway stood the dark-haired, brown-eyed dragonman with pale skin who’d offered to mate her.

He was out of breath and ran a hand through his hair and adjusted his glasses before entering the room. His Welsh accent filled the space. “I lost track of the time. But I’m here, so let’s get on with it.”

At the lack of inflection, not to mention his word choices, a thread of irritation shot through her.

Before the other doctors could say a word, Grace bit out, “No.”

He frowned. “No?”

“You clearly don’t want this, so leave.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and stared at the wall to her right, avoiding her gaze.

She was about to tell him to leave again when he finally said, “Let me help you, Grace. Once you find someone more suited, you can break the mating and mate someone else. But for now, you need Stonefire’s protection.”

“Did you just casually ask me to marry you and then divorce you when I feel like it?”

“Mate, to be precise. But yes, that’s correct.”

She blinked, trying to figure out how the bloody hell to reply to that.

Dr. Trahern Lewis was often consumed and borderline obsessed with a lot of things, but timekeeping wasn’t one of them.

And when his stomach had rumbled enough to make his fairly quiet inner dragon grumble too, he’d checked the time.

Only to find he was late. And while he didn’t believe in love, let alone that anyone would actually want to put up with him for life, he’d offered to help Grace Butler.

And one thing Trahern took seriously was honoring his word.

So he’d raced down the hall, to Grace’s room. Without stopping, he’d barged in and explained his reason for being tardy.

Judging by Grace’s furrowed brows and narrowed eyes, she was probably angry at him. Maybe.

And yet, he’d offered her a logical solution, stating how their mating would only be temporary, on her terms. Instead of being glad or enthusiastic, she’d just blinked at him a few times.

His inner dragon stirred and spoke up. Don’t let her go.

It wasn’t the first time his beast had said that to him over the last few days.

However, since his dragon promptly curled into a ball and went to sleep, Trahern didn’t even try to get more information. Instead, he walked toward the bed and finally met Grace’s eyes.

They were a deep, dark brown, and they searched his own brown eyes. Trahern had never been very good at reading people’s emotions—well, unless they were shouting at him—but he sensed she was confused. And while harder to see, she looked a little lost.

He probably only recognized the latter because he often felt that way himself. Few had patience for his obsessions or the need to finish a task before he could move on. His only real friend in the world, Dr. Emily Davies, even struggled sometimes.

However, seeing someone else who felt out of place only made him want to convince her to say yes all the more. Not that he understood why.

So he walked to the edge of her bed, cleared his throat, and stared down at where her dark-skinned fingers played with the sheets. Her hand was so much smaller than his, and he itched to stroke her skin.

Resisting a frown—he’d never wanted to touch someone that way before—he said, “I can help you with more than a place to stay. I know where everything is in the archives, every section of books, and can help you find whatever you need to better understand your children.”

Silence.

Maybe she was worried about him trying to assault her or coerce her. So he blurted, “You also don’t have to worry about me wanting sexual intercourse. I’m a virgin and have no need of it.”

He ignored Sid and Gregor’s gasps—dragon-shifters were usually virile creatures—and dared a glance at Grace’s face.

She frowned at him. “Why are you telling me this?”

“To prove I’m the best solution to your problem. I can help you, your children will be safe, and if they ever need medical attention, I will be right there. We’re still trying to determine if your captors gave you anything to harm you or them.”

Gregor muttered, “Trahern,” but he ignored the Scottish doctor. “Will you mate me now?”

After a few beats, Grace replied, “All right. I’ll need a lot of help learning about dragon-shifters to help my boys.

Plus, having a doctor always there for my babies is what tips me into mating you.

So: no feelings, no sex, and no expectations beyond not hurting each other. ” She put out a hand. “Deal?”

He stared at her outstretched arm. Touching others was not exactly pleasant, and yet he wondered what her skin felt like. As soon as he took her hand to shake, a jolt shot up his arm and ended at his cock.

Her eyes met his and widened again, but this time in surprise. She quickly dropped his hand, and he resisted rubbing his palm against his trousers. He’d learned a long time ago to wash his hands after leaving. Otherwise, people seemed to get upset.

“Then let’s do the mating vows. I’ll start.”

Grace tilted her head. “Now?”

“We only need witnesses and a declaration. Well, and to sign the paperwork. As soon as we do this, I’ll ensure the paperwork is completed.”

“Okay,” Grace replied. “What do we do?”

“Well, I, Trahern Lewis, claim you as my mate. Do you accept the claim?”

“Er, yes.”

“Now you say the same, but change the names.”

Grace’s brows drew together, but she said clearly, “I, Grace Butler, claim you as my mate. Do you accept the claim?”

“Yes, that’s it. I’ll talk to Bram now.”

He nodded at Grace, avoided looking at Sid and Gregor, and walked out of the room, ignoring a flicker of need to stay near her.

But Grace was his mate in name only. Whatever this feeling was, it’d fade soon enough. It was probably just the newness of some female talking to him about something other than science, or not trying to run away from him at the earliest opportunity.

Yes, that was it.

And as he walked toward Bram’s cottage, he went through his list of tasks to complete for the day, penciling in a few more to help prepare Grace and her children for their new lives on Stonefire.