Chapter Eight
Ronan
“Quit wiggling around,” my captor snapped. “You won’t get free, but you will upset our alpha if you damage those eggs.”
“You’re out of your ever-loving mind if you think any of you have any say about anything to do with my eggs!” I snarled, lashing out with my feet when I heard him approach.
Feeling my foot connect with his body sent a surge of satisfaction through me.
“OWWW! Damn you!” my captor howled.
“You keep away from me unless you want me to aim higher next time,” I threatened.
“I am going to laugh when they take those eggs away from you,” he hissed.
“You have no idea how valuable the eggs and mate of a protector are. The eggs will be raised into the kind of warriors who will raze the world so dragons can reign supreme again. You, on the other hand, are even more valuable, because your death will mean the death of your mate, which will cripple the protectors and cut their power. They will never be able to defeat us after that.”
“Wow, and here I thought the villains only went on a long, rambling reveal of their plans in movies,” I grumbled, rotating my wrists, trying to free my hands. “That was seriously lame.”
“How dare you insult me when you are a coward who ran away from his own people!”
“Sucks that I didn’t have the chance to run you over in the process,” I snarked back.
The longer the conversation went on, the closer I could feel Odem getting, though it was impossible to tell how long it would take him to actually find me.
“I can’t wait until those eggs are out of you and I can make you bleed!”
“Stop threatening my eggs!” The words burst out of me in a voice that sounded nothing like my own.
Deep, growly, and intimidating, Oh shit, Odem was here and never had I been more grateful. Heat rolled through me, out of me, and screams filled the air.
“Yeah well I’ve got a dragon, and I know how to use him!” I shot back as my hands were suddenly freed. The ropes crumbled away in clumps of charred ash as the blindfold did too, clinging to my cheeks and nose as I blinked at the burning, melting, and writhing form in front of me.
He should have been screaming, only half his face was melted and charred. A bright, glowing chunk of molten rock was fused into his chest and neck, burning into his body, but when I turned to look for my protector, it was a shock to learn that I was still alone.
The bigger shock was that I was completely naked and covered in the ashy remains of what I’d been wearing.
Come on wardrobe gods. Two outfits in two days? I know I said I was good with the whole rotating wardrobe thing, but I’d loved the way those jeans had hugged my ass.
Above the roar of the flames and the crackling of the fire consuming my captor came the sound of bones breaking as his body collapsed and lay in a smoldering, melting heap on the cave floor.
Oh, so not a basement, but just as filthy and likely filled with equally as many spiders and other creepy crawly things I had no desire to meet down here. A puddle of lava slowly spread out around the body, flowing into the pits and cervices of the cave floor as I scrambled backward.
Thank you for silencing that annoying little twit, now get me the hell out of here! I demanded of my protector mate. I am in desperate need of a shower, clothes, and all the oysters I can eat.
Working on it! You’re closer, but the twists in this tunnel system make it difficult to locate you. I have taken two wrong turns already.
Then start taking right ones and call off the lava, please, it’s getting kind of oozy and a little too close for comfort. And did I mention that I’m naked! Next time please aim a little better! I might not be able to burn, but my poor clothes aren’t so lucky.
I do not produce lava.
Well, someone did!
“Hello?” I called out, nearly tripping over a rock as I whipped my head back and forth, expecting to see one of his brothers step out from behind a pillar of stone.
“This isn’t funny. I’m already having a shit day.
I’d like to go home now if you don’t mind.
I’m not in the mood to find out what lives in a place like this. ”
No one answered. No one revealed themselves. The only change was that the lava had slowed. Little remained of my captor or the lava rock that had been embedded in him. Like his body, it had completely melted, becoming part of the lava that slowly cooled and began to form a hard, blackened crust.
Oh, well, good, at least it wouldn’t get any closer. Getting burned wasn’t on my bingo card any more than getting kidnapped had been. Now all I had to do was lean against the stone wall, after scanning it to be certain nothing was busy crawling there, waiting for the chance to creep into my hair.
I shuddered just thinking about some multilegged thing clinging to the strands, its legs touching my neck as it explored.
Nope. No. Didn’t even want to think about that possibility. Now what the hell was taking….
“Don’t even think about going anywhere!” A female voice hissed, the cave shaking as she emerged from a side passage. Shit. There was more than one way in here.
Before I could relay that to Odem and tell him about the arrival of the next flunky from Villains r’ Us, flames shot past me out of the corridor I’d been inching toward, passing right over my shoulder to slam into her.
Dragon shaped and furious, it sent her hurtling into the cave wall, flaming tail smashing a pillar of rock that partially collapsed on her.
Trapped, she could only shove at the rocks, hollering curses and threats as Odem twisted around and headed straight for me.
Lowering his flaming head, he snorted smoke in my face as he sniffed me.
“Can we go home now?” I asked as I reached to touch his face.
His eyes darkened to crimson flames as he nuzzled my hand, then turned to look at the crusty remains of the lava on the floor, now cracked in places from the rocks he’d displaced.
You are full of surprises, mate. He replied, eyeing me up and down, as if he approved of my state of undress.
Nude I didn’t mind, but not in a place like this. I did not need rocks, grit and bugs in tender cervices more suited for his tongue. When he flicked it out, it was like he knew exactly what I was thinking about as he ran it over my body.
“Not the time or the place,” I grumbled, not that it stopped him from wrapping that flaming forked tongue around my body and nearly spinning me like a top when he turned me around.
He snorted and smoke caressed my back, silencing my protests.
The witch beneath the crumbled cave pillar continued hollering and cursing at Odem to dig her out, while he ran his tongue from my neck to my ankle, breathing warm poofs of smoke on the back of my neck.
Her pleas sent a sick sort of pleasure through me after what they were threatening to do to my eggs.
“Or, maybe we can spare a teeny bit of time,” I whined when he grazed sharp flaming teeth over my shoulder.
In a flash the flames were gone and Odem spun me into a searing kiss. My backside scraped against the wall, and I completely gave up on any thoughts of escaping this whole escapade without bruises on my backside.
“I protect what’s mine!” He snarled when he broke the kiss, flames still swirling in his eyes. “You are mine! Those eggs are mine! Do you understand me!”
Rock and dust rained down over us when his roar rattled the cave.
Blink. Blink.
My bones felt like they were liquifying, every muscle turning to honey as I tipped my head back and exposed my throat to him.
Bite! Fill!
There was that voice in my head again, the one that wasn’t his but was every bit as fierce.
The moment his teeth dug into my skin I was done for, wrapping my legs around his waist when he hoisted me up.
The roughness of the rocks against my back no longer mattered, while the hollering from the corner faded to dull static as he reinforced his claim on me in a far more primal display than the night before.
I came still wanting more and bit his earlobe. “Don’t you dare stop fucking me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he growled, lifting me a higher on the wall.
We were right there, with him about to fill me up again, when he snarled the wrong kind of profanity in my ear. “Son of a bitch.”
“No, no son of a bitch, no telling me we have to stop,” I hissed, smacking his shoulder.
“We have to stop.”
“I told you not to tell me that,” I grumbled as he set me back on my feet. “You will make this up to me!”
“With pleasure.”
There was no time to respond before Ionus and Mattias burst into the cave, no doubt drawn by the continued screeching from the woman pinned beneath the rubble.
“Please do something about that!” Odem snapped, stepping in front of me like a shield to prevent them from seeing me naked.
It didn’t stop me from peering around his side so I wouldn’t miss whatever fate Ionus had in store for her.
“I’m surprised you haven’t roasted her already, brother,” Ionus said as he headed that way.
“I had more pressing matters to attention to,” Odem admitted.
“I’ll bet.”
“Besides, you said not to kill them, yet,” Odem reminded him. “Big on the yet because she is going to die. I don’t care what information she gives, she dies and it will be painful.”
“We can discuss that back at the house,” Ionus remarked, the scrape and thud of stone being lifted and tossed aside making the whole cave shake again. “Take your mate and go home.”
“Yes, please, take me home and introduce me to the biggest tub in the house,” I said.
“Bonus points if it’s got those massage jets built in.
And if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you please make more of those oysters for me?
I know I didn’t say it the night you made them, but they were amazing and I am kind of addicted to them right now along with the idea of mussels in a creamy garlic broth.
Do you think you can find a recipe for them. ”
“I can find a recipe for whatever you want,” Odem promised me.