Isaak
A dragon.
That was what the man – Bain – had said.
The second the word was out of his mouth the monster within Isaak’s chest had reared up, green eyes flashing, smoke pouring from its mouth.
Yes – yes – that’s what we are – a dragon! And he will fear us for threatening our mate!
Isaak had merely stood there, stunned by the vehemence in the creature’s voice. Never before had anything resonated with it like this, unless it was the first time he had seen Josie. But Bain’s words had been almost like a bell being struck within his chest – and the bell had rung true.
A dragon. Yes. That’s what we are. That’s what we’ve always been.
Isaak had spent the next half-hour in a state of bewilderment. If he hadn’t needed to make sure that Josie was away from Bain and Magnus, he wasn’t sure what he would have done. Would he have begged Bain to tell him more – to explain exactly what he meant? Would he have allowed him to take him prisoner, in the hope that he might reveal more?
Isaak honestly couldn’t say.
He only knew that, as crazy as everything sounded, he might finally have an answer to the riddle of his life.
Why he had always felt different from everyone else.
Why he had always been stronger, more resilient than any normal human should be.
Why it was that his bones healed within days; why he could touch burning hot objects without so much as a mark to show for it.
And why he had a green-eyed, fire-breathing monster living inside his chest.
And why, he thought, swallowing and turning to where Josie sat on the sofa, I have never felt anything like this before in my life.
As he looked at her, Bain’s words came back to him once again. A human who is mates with a dragon.
At the sound of the word mates, the creature inside Isaak’s chest had risen up within him, eyes blazing, claws raised.
Yes – she is our mate! And we will protect her to our last breath!
And in that moment, he had known it was true.
He would do anything for Josie. He would fight and even die to keep her safe.
Because she is my mate.
“Josie,” he said, his voice feeling rough in his throat. “Josie, I don’t know how to explain this.”
Josie looked up at him, her dark eyes wide. She bit her full lower lip, and seemed to turn a little pale. “Well,” she said, after a long moment of silence. “I’d say I don’t want to rush you, but... I would like an explanation for all of this.”
Isaak shook his head. How to explain without sounding just as mad as Bain had?
“Do you remember... when I said I had... a beast inside me?”
Josie nodded, frowning a little. “Yes – but I thought that was just a metaphor. I don’t know, for loneliness or something.”
“So did I, I suppose,” Isaak said, going to stand in front of the glass doors. He looked out at the pale moonlight glistening on the surface of the ocean. “Or I used to, at any rate. It was only in the last few years that I realized the beast within me wasn’t just my sadness, or feeling like I was apart from other people. It was real – a real thing that lived inside me. That was why I came here. I didn’t want... I didn’t want this beast to hurt anyone else.”
He turned back toward where she was sitting, to find her looking at him steadily, unafraid.
“I don’t think you’d hurt anyone,” she said.
Isaak frowned. For the first time, he was beginning to realize that perhaps she was right. That perhaps the beast within him wasn’t something to be feared, or to be overcome or exorcized.
Maybe it was a part of him.
But before he could think about that, he had to make sure of a few things.
“Josie, I’m going to do something now. And I need you to trust me.”
Josie opened her mouth as if to object or ask another question, but then she closed it again without speaking. She nodded.
Going to his fireplace, Isaak quickly filled it with paper and kindling before striking a match and placing it inside. The paper caught quickly, the flames flaring up, and soon the fire was burning brightly.
Taking a deep breath, Isaak began rolling up the sleeve of his light summer shirt.
“Isaak, what are you –” Josie began to say, in the moment before Isaak thrust his hand forward into the flames.
“Isaak!”
Isaak gritted his teeth as Josie leapt up from the couch and dashed across the room to him, hoping he hadn’t just made a huge mistake. He waited for the pain of his flesh burning, waited for the fire to lick over his skin and char it to a crisp...
But instead, he felt nothing.
Or rather, he could feel that the fire was hot... but it definitely was not burning him.
He could feel Josie’s shocked presence by his side, staring at his hand in the flames. She had begun to reach out her hand to yank his arm back – but apparently on seeing his total lack of reaction to the heat, had simply frozen.
After no less than thirty seconds, Isaak pulled his hand back from the flames.
He looked down, still not quite able to believe what was happening...
... And saw nothing.
His hand looked exactly the same as it had only moments earlier.
There was not even a slight tinge of red to show that he had just been holding it in an open fire.
Beside him, Josie let out a shocked gasp. “Oh – !”
A moment later, her soft fingers were on his hand, turning it over and over in her grip, as if inspecting him for damage.
“But... but how...”
Isaak clenched his fist, as if to make sure that the hand was really his.
“I don’t know,” he murmured. “But it seems that... somehow...”
“Fire doesn’t burn you,” Josie finished for him, with wonder in her voice. She looked up at him. “Do you think this has to do with your bones healing quickly as well?”
“Perhaps,” Isaak said. He swallowed, gripping Josie’s hand with his. “Josie, did you hear what Bain called me back there? What he said I was?”
Josie blinked. “Of course – he said... well, he said you were a dragon,” she said, frowning a little.
Isaak took a deep breath. Josie looked a little skeptical, but honestly, he wasn’t sure he could blame her.
“I think he might have been right.”
Josie looked up at him, her mouth popping open in surprise. “That you’re... you’re a dragon?”
Isaak nodded. “Yes. I know it sounds bizarre, and I wouldn’t blame you at all if you thought I was crazy. But... Josie, I wish I could tell you how much sense all this makes. Everything in my life... when he said that, it was as if everything had fallen into place. It was like I only needed someone to say it, and then I knew it was true.”
Josie was looking down at his hand, chewing pensively at her lower lip. Isaak held his breath, almost anticipating her looking up and saying he was crazy.
But no matter what, she was at least thinking about what he was saying. He clenched his jaw, almost daring to hope that she might believe him...
“I... I don’t know what to say,” she said, her voice quiet. “I have... I have so many questions...”
Isaak allowed hope to surge in his heart. Perhaps... perhaps she might see the truth...
“I’ve never felt the way you make me feel before,” Josie continued after a moment. “When you touch me, it’s like... like magic is flowing through my veins. And sometimes... well, it’s almost like you’re talking to me, without you having to say a word. Like back there – I could hear you telling me you were going to protect me, even though I know you didn’t say it out loud.”
“That was how I felt,” Isaak said. “But I didn’t realize that you’d be able to hear it. When Bain made that man –”
“Magnus,” Josie said.
“When he made him approach as if he was going to attack, I only knew I had to defend you, no matter what. That was the only thing I could think of.”
“I know,” said Josie softly. “It was like I could feel it too.” She paused, licking her lips. “Do you think that has anything to do with the other thing he said?”
Isaak pulled in a deep breath. “Do you mean about...”
“About me. Being your mate.”
Nodding, Isaak looked at the side of her face, framed by the thick, dark red curls of her hair. She was beyond beautiful. She was an incomparable jewel, worth more even than the huge sapphire that sat on her finger.
“Yes,” he said at last.
Josie was silent for a time. “If that’s true, then it would definitely make sense,” she said. “I can hear your thoughts, I can almost feel what you feel. And when you touch me...”
She didn’t have to continue. Isaak knew exactly what she was talking about. Touching her, taking her that first day...
It had been like nothing he had ever experienced before. Never before had he known such bliss, such ecstasy.
Touching her was like touching heaven.
“And... that first day,” Josie said, looking up at him, her eyes piercing. “How did you find me? The island’s small, but it’s not that small. Was it really just a coincidence, and you happened to be walking by at that moment?”
“No.” Isaak shook his head. “It wasn’t like that at all. In fact, I was here – I wasn’t anywhere near the ravine. I had just taken a shower after swimming, when I suddenly... I felt I had to run. That there was something wrong, and you needed my help.”
“And you found your way straight to me.” Josie wasn’t asking a question. She was making a statement. “Even though I could have been anywhere. Even though I was in one of the thickest parts of the forest.”
“That’s right. I don’t know how or why, but somehow, I knew exactly where you were, and that you were in danger.”
They were silent a long moment. Josie stroked his unmarked hand with her fingers. The fire, dying on the hearth, made the sapphire in her ring sparkle brightly.
“Well,” she said finally. “The evidence certainly does seem to be stacking up in Bain’s favor.”
“The evidence?” Isaak asked, and Josie laughed lightly, though Isaak thought he could detect the slight tremble in her voice.
“I’m a scientist, remember – I look at the evidence, and I draw a conclusion. Even if it seems unlikely – or, in this case, impossible – if that’s what the evidence says, then I at least have to consider the possibility that it’s the truth.”
Isaak couldn’t hold back his laughter. At first, Josie looked up at him, a slightly surprised expression on her face, but then she too began to laugh.
“This is so weird,” she said, a little breathlessly. “I mean... can it be real? Does that mean unicorns exist too? How about basilisks? Centaurs?”
“I have no idea,” Isaak said, shaking his head. “To be honest, I’m still having a hard time believing this is real.”
“Yeah,” Josie said. “I know what you mean. But... whatever the truth is, I know my feelings for you are real.”
Isaak swallowed heavily. “Even if I am a dragon?”
“That’s yet to be proved,” Josie said, smiling softly. “And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t insanely curious to find out.”
Unable to resist, Isaak lifted a hand to brush her hair back behind her ear. “And what if Bain comes back? He did say he was a dragon hunter, after all.”
Josie’s expression grew a little more serious. “Do you think he will?”
“He seemed very... determined,” Isaak said, frowning as he thought back to the fervor in Bain’s voice. It wasn’t only that, however – it was also the way he’d clicked his fingers and made the other man – this Magnus person – seem to jump on his command.
There had definitely been something strange about that.
“If he comes back, I know you can beat him,” Josie said suddenly, her voice reflecting a confidence that Isaak wished he could feel himself. “You can beat both of them. I know you can.”
In the next moment, her lips were on his, warm and soft, the swell of her breasts pressing against him.
Isaak groaned as his body responded immediately to her touch. She was unlike anything he had ever known before, like a wildfire that ran through his veins, like a melody that made his soul want to sing.
He pulled back, gasping, as her arms came up around him, and he stroked her face, looking down into her deep black eyes.
“Are you... are you sure you want to do this?”
Josie didn’t hesitate. “Of course I do,” she said breathlessly, shifting slightly so the curve of her thigh pressed against him – against the hardening evidence of just how much he wanted this too. “I’ve wanted this so badly since... well, since this morning, to be honest. If we hadn’t had all those dramatics at the restaurant and then run into Bain, I can’t say I wouldn’t have pulled you into a hotel room hours ago.”
Isaak laughed a little at the blush that spread across her cheeks as she spoke, almost as if she couldn’t quite believe her own daring in admitting it.
That was Josie through and through, he thought, as he leaned forward to kiss her again, capturing her lips with his. She was wild one moment, and cautious the next. He enthusiasm always bubbled up to the surface again in the end, however, unable to stay suppressed for long, her delight in everything around her totally infectious. She could be impatient, and Isaak certainly imagined she didn’t suffer fools gladly – but to him, she was nothing but utterly enchanting. She was as alluring as a siren and as curvy as a goddess.
And she was his.
Unable to hold himself back even a moment longer, Isaak scooped her up in his arms, bridal-style.
Josie laughed as he began to carry her across the room, her arms clinging to his neck.
“Oh my goodness,” she laughed as he carried her down the corridor to his bedroom, placing her down on the bed before him. “I don’t think anyone’s ever done that before.”
Isaak leaned back, his eyes greedily drinking in the sight of her laid out before him. He couldn’t stop himself as his gaze roamed over her breasts, rising and falling with her heavy breath, the lush curve of her hips and thighs, the soft roundness of her belly. The hem of her dress was rucked up to mid-thigh, affording him only the most tantalizing glimpse of her golden skin, and her hair was spread out beneath her in dark red waves.
My queen.
The thought rose in his mind unbidden, but he immediately knew it was true.
She is not only my mate, she is my queen...
Somewhere in the back of his mind, the beast – the dragon – insisted that queens needed to be crowned, to be worshipped.
We must crown our queen, it said, as Isaak lowered himself to the bed, his right hand sliding up Josie’s thigh and making her gasp.
I will, Isaak promised it, though he wasn’t sure exactly what it was asking him to do. For now, it would just have to be satisfied with this.
“Oh God, Isaak...” Josie groaned as his fingers reached her hip, and then slowly began sliding over her belly to the apex of her thighs. She was warm and trembling in his arms, her lips parted, and her beautiful eyes half-lidded with desire.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured as he kissed his way down her throat, tasting the saltiness of her sweat, mixed with the remnants of the ocean spray from their boat rides.
Together, the taste was irresistible, and he licked her neck, making her gasp and squirm beneath him.
She was already desperately wet when his fingers at last found her, her panties soaked through. He stroked her gently through the material, marveling at the way she arched up off the bed, her arms curling around his shoulders.
“Y-you’re teasing me!” she gasped when she could finally get a word out between her small moans and pants, and Isaak couldn’t stop himself from grinning.
“Maybe,” he said, and then continued to do so as the fingers on his other hand went to the buttons on the front of her dress.
He groaned as her breasts spilled out of the dress’s bodice, her skin soft, her nipples dark and hard. She was more beautiful than he knew how to describe, and he wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything before in his life.
“Isaak... please, Isaak...!” Josie’s plea ended in a squeal as his lips closed around her nipple, and his fingers finally pushed aside the barrier of her panties, slipping inside her.
He felt almost as if he was being consumed by a fever as he stroked her, feeling her clench around him. The thrill of touching her ran through his body, desperate and relentless, and he knew that he could not go on teasing her for long.
He was painfully hard inside his jeans when he drew back, his fingers fumbling in his haste to get rid of them. Josie’s fingers joined his, and he gasped as she drew his length out of his pants, her fingers gently teasing over his skin.
“You drive me crazy,” he gritted out as she stroked him, a smile playing across her lips.
“Fair’s fair,” she said, as her fingertips skimmed over his hardness. “You get to tease me, I get to tease you.”
Isaak laughed, but even he could hear the strain in his voice. He couldn’t resist her any longer.
He spread himself down over her, kissing her, his erection settling between her thighs. He could feel her heart racing as she wrapped her legs around his hips, urging him inside her.
Together, they gasped as he slid into her wet, waiting core.
Claim her. Claim her. She is ours, and we are hers.
Isaak could hear the dragon in the back of his mind even as he moved within her, kissing her fiercely, and he could only agree.
She was his. And he was hers. And nothing could ever separate them again.
He felt dazed with desire when he was finally all the way inside her, as deep as he could go. Josie’s hands clenched on his shoulders, her heavy-lidded eyes gazing up into his.
“Please,” she whispered. “Please, Isaak, please...”
His first thrust made them both cry out in sheer bliss. Her body around his was heavenly, drawing pleasure from him like nothing he had ever known before.
“Josie,” he groaned, repeating her name over and over again as if it was a mantra, as he drove into her again and again and again.
Her lips found his, kissing him, her tongue sweeping hotly into his mouth. The desire within her was unquenchable, and he met it with a passion that equaled her own.
His movements grew hard and fast as together they surged toward their peak.
“Mine,” he said through gritted teeth, as he raised one hand to stroke her flushed, sweaty cheek. “Mine. My mate.”
The word was enough to send them both spiraling over the edge of their bliss, coming together with a desperate cry of ecstasy. Their voices mingled as they rode out their climaxes together, moving as one.
Stars spun before Isaak’s eyes as he moved within her one final time, his heartbeat loud in his ears, Josie’s fingers still clutching tightly at his shoulders.
“Oh. Oh my God.” Josie’s voice was little more than a breathless gasp when she finally did speak again. “Isaak, that was... okay, I don’t even have words to describe how that was.”
Together, they lay there in a sweaty tangle of limbs, trying to catch their breath. Finally, Josie shifted a little beneath him, her lips resting against his cheek.
“Okay, as much as I never want to move again, you’re getting heavy,” she said, still sounding a little out of breath.
With a reluctant groan, Isaak moved away from her, slipping from her body as he did so. He settled himself immediately by her side, gathering her up into his arms.
“Josie, you are... that was...”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Josie laughed, her breath hot against his chest. “Believe me.”
They lay there together in silence a while, the sound of the ocean drifting to them faintly through the open window of his bedroom.
“Josie,” he finally said, just as he felt himself beginning to drift off to sleep. “I don’t know what any of the things we’ve learned today mean, but I want you to know I intend to find out.” He licked his lips. “And... I understand that this is all very strange. I wouldn’t blame you if –”
“Shh. Stop talking. Now.” Josie’s voice was firm, despite her obvious sleepiness. “You think I’d leave you now? Do you think I could?” Her hand stroked over his chest, playing in the sparse, dark hair that covered his pectoral muscles. “No way, Isaak Vallas. You’re stuck with me now. And we’re going to get to the bottom of this. Together.”
Gratitude and relief flooded through him as he turned his head to kiss her temple.
She was beautiful, she was brave, and she was strong.
And she was his.
My mate.
It was the last thought in his head, before he drifted off to sleep.