Chapter Three

Wesley flew back to his home, his thoughts filled with the woman that refused to look at him. The stone tower that he’d worked to rebuild over his years rose from the tree studded territory. As his form glided down toward the roof, he let magic wrap around him and shrink his form. Human feet slapped the stone roof.

The structure shuddered beneath him as if it had the full weight of a dragon dropped upon it. Wes paused and prayed that his home would hold. When nothing fell, he straightened himself. He’d found the castle in disrepair right after the Occurrence had trapped him on the territory. It had captured his attention for years as he rebuilt it stone by stone and turned it into a home for himself, but it was nearly finished and he was growing bored.

The rooms seemed empty. The halls were filled with only the sound of the wind around him. The rooms only held the crackle of fire in the hearths. His kind were solitary creatures, unable to stand one another’s presence for much longer than a night before scales started to get ruffled. Some dragons liked the peace and quiet. He knew that his grandfather had come to live with it.

Other dragons, like Elgar, started to hear things in the silence. Even that was a kind of company.

Wes shook his head. He was thinking depressing thoughts, he reminded himself. It would do no good for him to dwell on such things. He could do nothing about it besides busy himself. He could add a new tower to the castle or start to build a new bed for his master bedroom. Either one would take a sufficient amount of his time, and would keep his human hands busy.

He reached for the set of clothes that he kept on the roof, a pair of sweat pants worn thin over time and a t-shirt that stretched over his broad shoulders. Soon, he would have to ask his mother to make a trip to the city to grab him more clothing. No one knew that she was the mate of an old dragon and it helped her to still get around. It also helped Wes and his father from time to time. He could recall times that his mother had to go to the city to replace electronics that his father had destroyed by accident.

Welsh dragons were far too prone to melting things, mostly modern plastics.

Properly dressed, Wes descended the stairs while deciding what would best put his hands to use. The beast in his head had other ideas. Images of the dark-haired vixen crossed his mind once more. The way that she had glared at them made his dragon hot with anger.

Not everyone has to love you.

Wesley felt his beast narrow his eyes and blow a huff of steam. It burned him from the inside out.

We are honor bound to stay within the territory. Forget the woman. We are already pushing our limits too much as it is.

Even as Wes told his beast to forget her, he knew that he could barely push her from his own mind. The smell of her had been unusual and clung to his senses. Irises. That was what he’d smelled on her. So different from the other women that drowned themselves in vanilla or musk to attract men. She smelled of simple gardens.

No. He shook his head. Forget her. Clearly, she hadn’t been interested. She’d snubbed him and his attempt to draw even a single smile out of her.

Wes went out to the forge that he’d built for himself and started the fire in the bellows with a bellyful of fire. He would put himself to work. He would drown his mind in complicated designs so that his beast could barely find a voice. He’d been meaning to get to work on a bed for his master bedroom. He wanted something grand and beautiful that he could spread out on. In his mind, he had visions of wrought iron branches and vines that wrapped themselves into complicated knots.

It would be nothing for him to bend the heated metal beneath his hands. The effort would tire the beast inside of him and, maybe, he would sleep peacefully without the thoughts of a dark-haired woman entering his mind.

***

Dakota chewed her lip while she held onto her journal with white knuckles on the trip back to campus. The professor would turn in her seat every so often and cast curious glances in Dakota’s direction. All she wanted was for the professor to forget about her accusation, but she didn’t think she would be that lucky any time soon.

She couldn’t let anyone see what she’d drawn in the journal. She didn’t even know why she’d done it. She’d drawn the red dragon that had played like a curious cat around her.

In the seat ahead of her, Clary turned and smiled at her new friend. “Did you see anything exciting? I found a rock formation that had a vein of crystals growing through it that I want to see if I can replicate with acrylic marbling.” Clary was already digging through her phone for the photos that she’d taken.

Dakota tucked her moleskin journal beneath her thigh before her friend looked up. “I found the remains of what was probably an old cottage. There wasn’t much else to look at.”

Clary looked towards the front of the vehicle. Dakota followed her gaze and found a gray streaked head. Clary turned back and motioned for Dakota to lean closer.

“Simon’s GPS on his phone said that we were only a couple miles from the Snowdonia Territory. I can’t believe a professor, a woman at that, would take us so close to that place. I think we’re all really lucky that we didn’t run into any of the dragon men.”

Dakota nodded with too much emphasis. She had to look a little crazy, she thought. “I think she’s one of those women who wait their whole life to get abducted by a dragon. Maybe she thinks that she’ll get grabbed each time she takes a group of students out to see the castles.”

Clary clapped her hand over her mouth to suppress the laugh that bubbled up from her. “That would be the life, right? I’ve heard some crazy things about the dragons and their lovers.”

Dakota gave her a look that said she didn’t believe her. Clary lit up at the chance to talk about it, her cheeks turning pink.

“No, hear me out. I’ve heard that they can go all night long just to make sure their mate has multiple orgasms. Can’t say that about any human male, can you? I read once that they can share their long life with humans after the mating bond snaps into place. Who doesn’t want to add a few years and a handful of orgasms to their life span?”

“But they’re beasts,” Dakota said, even as her mind brought her back to the dragon she’d met earlier. That hadn’t looked like a beast, despite his size. He looked more like a playful puppy.

Clary scoffed at Dakota’s words. “A beast in the bedroom from the sounds of it.”

Dakota couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her roommate. “Is that all you think about? Your major should have been the Studies of Seduction.”

“Don’t I know it.”

The girls shared a laugh. Ahead of them, the man that Dakota had sketched during the seminar turned to look at them. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Her laugh died in her throat as an unusual feeling rolled through her stomach. She studied the feeling as she met the man’s eyes and realized that it was unease.

Eventually, he turned back in his seat, readjusting himself. Dakota turned to her roommate. She hadn’t seen Clary bring him back to their room yet. Now, she had a notion that it was probably a very bad idea. Something about the hard look in his eyes told her that he saw himself as more of an authority than a fellow student.

“I think we should go out tonight,” Clary interrupted her thoughts and brought her back to the present. “We should get to know the city a little bit. I don’t know much about the city’s nightlife, but it has to have one. Right?”

Dakota shrugged. “I didn’t pack for nights out on the town.”

Clary waved her off. “I have you covered. So, will you? Hang out with me tonight, I mean?”

“Do I have a choice?” Dakota couldn’t help the small smile that slipped across her lips. It was just what she needed to get the puppy faced dragon off her mind. No one knew that she had seen him. As long as it stayed that way then she had nothing to worry about. Her future, her dream, was safe.

“That sounds like fun, actually.”