Chapter 7
Gayle gave another worried glance behind her as she ran down the uneven mountainside as fast as she dared in the darkness. Because she sensed something or someone was following her. Something predatory.
Did they have wolves in Wales?
No, of course they didn’t have wolves here; they had died out long ago in the whole of Great Britain.
Besides, the only predators she knew of in the Welsh mountains were eight dragon shifter brothers.
Oh God!
Had Grigor already returned to the castle and discovered her gone?
A sob caught in her throat as she forced herself to run faster.
Grigor really could shift into a dragon.
Everything he had told her, everything written in Chloe’s books, was true.
Which begged the question, what the hell was Holly doing getting involved with one of them? Mating with one of them?
Had Gayle, because she had kissed him, now become Grigor’s mate?
Oh God…
She was so attracted to Grigor, had wanted to kiss him so badly earlier. She really hadn’t believed any of what he’d told her. Not his having lived for sixteen hundred years, being a dragon shifter, or having a mating aphrodisiac.
Until he half shifted in front of her for the second time.
Until she’d reached her bedroom and felt that mating heat moving inside her.
The moment she’d calmed down enough to be able to think clearly, Gayle had become aware of an unfamiliar heat coursing through her body. Of how her nipples were so hard, they felt painful. The burning warmth at her core caused her juices not just to dampen her panties but thoroughly soak them. Her clit was swollen and throbbing, needing to be touched and rubbed until she climaxed. Then again. And again.
Which was when the truth had finally hit her.
Her body was responding to the sexual frenzy created by having ingested a dragon shifter’s aphrodisiac. Which she had done when she initiated kissing Grigor.
It had taken Gayle two minutes to pack a few of her belongings into her backpack before she crept quietly from her room and out of the castle.
Already hyped, her heart now almost arrested in her chest as she felt the sudden rush of air before a dragon landed in front of her.
A dragon, for God’s sake.
Something, up until now, she had believed to be nothing more than myth and legend.
And not just any dragon, because Gayle knew instinctively the red dragon standing only feet away from her was Grigor, the angry glitter of his eyes appearing like twin burning flames in the moonlight.
If it wasn’t scarily real, Gayle might have been able to admire the dragon for the magnificent beast that it was. It stood almost twenty feet tall, with a long snout with flared nostrils and two lethal rows of sharp teeth in its wide mouth. Its scales were a dark and glittering red, its massive body pure muscle, its extended wings as wide as it was tall.
It looked much like the fierce red dragon on the Welsh national flag, in fact. If what Grigor had told her about himself and his brothers’ longevity was true, then he could actually be the red dragon depicted on the Welsh flag.
Perhaps she had fallen and bumped her head and was hallucinating again?
Except Gayle knew in her heart she hadn’t been hallucinating the first or second time she had seen Grigor partially shift and known him for exactly what he claimed to be: a dragon shifter.
“Go away.” She stumbled back a step. “Leave me alone.”
“Mate.”
Had the dragon really just spoken to her? No, not a dragon, but Grigor. Growly and fierce, that voice was still recognizable as belonging to Grigor Pendragon.
An undeniable fact when the air suddenly shimmered in front of her and it was Grigor standing there instead of the dragon. A Grigor who wore the same dark clothing he had earlier. “How did you do that?” she breathed incredulously.
His face was a mask of cold anger. “We always shift back to exactly how we were before becoming dragon. But,” he added sternly, “that is not the question you should be asking.”
She blinked. “It isn’t?”
He gave a slow shake of his head. “The question you should be asking yourself is, ‘What punishment is my mate going to give me for having run away from him and put myself in danger?’”
Gayle realized how dry her mouth was as she attempted to swallow and couldn’t. “Punishment?” she finally managed to repeat instead.
He gave an imperious inclination of his head. “You willingly agreed to become my mate. In fact, I believe you initiated the kiss that began our mating.”
Leaving Gayle in no doubt of just how unamused he was by her midnight flight. “I kissed you because I didn’t believe the whole dragon-shifter-and-mate thing was for real!”
“And now you know that it is,” he said mercilessly. “As your mate, I am sworn to protect you, to cherish you, but those things come at the price of your obedience.”
She gave a dismissive snort. “I’ve never really been into obeying anyone.”
“Then you will learn to become so in regard to me,” he stated coldly.
No, she really wouldn’t. Man or dragon, mate or otherwise, she was not going to become subservient to Grigor or any other man. So he could go fu— “What do you mean, put myself in danger?” she questioned sharply, her brain having just caught up with that part of the conversation.
“We discovered earlier today someone has been watching the castle.”
Her mouth fell open. “They have?”
“Yes.”
“Who?” Her run-in with the Russian bratva was still too raw for Gayle to feel comfortable with the knowledge of there being an intruder out here in the wilds of Wales. Not that she thought Gregori Markovic or his second, Nikolai Volkov, would send someone to harm her. They had parted as friends. In fact, she was still trying to decide whether or not, when she returned to London, she would take the job Gregori had offered her working with his own computer geek, Adam Bishop.
Although, after Grigor’s comments, perhaps she should now consider whether or not it was if she returned to London, not when.
Grigor scowled. “If I knew the answer to that, this person would no longer be a problem.”
Gayle eyed him nervously. “What are you going to do when you find them?”
“Whatever I deem necessary to protect my mate.”
To protect her, Gayle realized as her stomach churned. She didn’t want to be the reason Grigor might deem it necessary to kill someone.
His mouth thinned. “You made yourself vulnerable by running away from me.”
Gayle really wished he would stop saying that. “I wasn’t running away from you exactly.”
His brows rose. “Then what?”
“This whole weird situation!” She scowled her frustration. “And I wouldn’t have left at all if someone had bothered to tell me there was an intruder out here.” Gayle gave a shiver at the thought of how easily she might have walked into danger by leaving the castle without telling anyone. “I’m not a mind reader,” she added defensively.
Grigor’s mouth twisted. “But as my mate, you will learn, over time, to discern my mood.”
She gave a derisive snort. “I don’t need to be a mind reader to know that right now you’re well and truly pissed.”
“No, I don’t suppose you do,” he bit out grimly.
“Look…” Gayle tried using a reasoning tone when Grigor added nothing to that last statement, “…this is too much to take in, okay? Until a short time ago, I didn’t believe dragons even existed, let alone that your whole bloody family can change—shift,” she corrected as she remembered Chloe’s books, “into them.”
Grigor appeared unmoved by her appeal. “I told you the truth. I gave you the choice of whether or not we were mated. Voluntarily kissing me has made that mating irreversible.”
“Shit,” she gasped as more details of Chloe’s books came flooding back to her. “Does that mean I’m going to die within three weeks if we don’t—if I don’t agree to complete the mating?”
He gave an inclination of his regal head. “We will both die.”
She felt her face pale. “Well, that—that just sucks, big-time!”
Grigor was still inwardly recovering from the shock of realizing his mate had left the castle, and so putting herself in danger from whoever was watching them. For what purpose still had to be ascertained. Until they knew that purpose, any movement outside the castle, by any member of the family, would have to be monitored. Gayle having left without telling anyone was unacceptable.
Having her leave him, when their earlier kiss meant their mating had already begun, was extremely painful to him, both physically and emotionally.
As it was now going to be painful to Gayle.
“What are you doing?” she squeaked as Grigor easily picked her up in his arms.
“We’re going back to the castle,” he stated as he turned and strode in that direction, Gayle still firmly held in his arms, despite her struggles to be put down.
“I— But—”
“From now on, so that I can ensure your safety and well-being, you will be sharing my suite of rooms,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “When I am not there, you will be shackled to the bed—”
“I’m really not into that BDSM crap!”
Grigor glanced down at her. “I will never cause you a moment’s pain. Ever. Not for any reason,” he vowed. “When I am not in my bedroom with you, you will be secured to a piece of furniture so that you remain where I have instructed you to stay.”
“I’m not a fucking dog!”
Grigor’s mouth thinned. His mate’s language seemed to deteriorate whenever she felt she was losing control of a situation. “You are my mate.”
“Who you intend tying up once we reach your bedroom,” she accused.
Grigor glanced down at her. “Would you prefer I secure you in the torture chamber we keep down in the basement next to the dungeon?”
She raised her eyes heavenward. “My God, whoever would have thought the mighty Grigor Pendragon has a sense of humor!”
His brows rose. “Do I sound as if I’m joking?”
No, he didn’t. “There’s really a torture chamber down there?”
He shrugged. “It served its purpose of scaring our enemies into talking in the earlier centuries of our existence.”
Gayle couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like to be born into the fifth century, let alone live through all the turmoil and wars in the centuries that had passed since. All in all, Grigor was pretty well-balanced, considering how long he’d been alive and the shit he must have seen.
“But you’ve never actually used any of that stuff, have you?” She wished her voice hadn’t risen to a disbelieving squeak. But hey, a torture chamber!
Grigor’s eyes glittered mercilessly. “Where do you imagine I will be acquiring the shackles from?”
Gayle fell silent at the realization she had pushed Grigor too far with her attempt at running away from Pendragon Castle. Worse, running away from him, her mate, which was apparently a definite no-no.
She was vaguely aware of several silent members of the Pendragon family standing in the entrance hall as Grigor strode through with her still held securely in his strong arms before he took the stairs two at a time. Not that she would have spoken to any of them anyway. She hadn’t forgotten they had locked her in the dungeon earlier today just because she told them she was going back to London. Besides, now she could see Grigor clearly, she was too concentrated on him to concern herself with anyone else.
He really was magnificent as a man or a dragon. Tall, handsome, arrogant, and just all-round bloody powerful. Intimidating as hell.
His expression now was one of grim determination as he strode down the hallway to what she presumed was his suite of rooms. He had totally ignored the door into her guest bedroom.
Grigor’s suite showed none of the modernization of the rest of the castle. The stone walls of the sitting area were covered with brightly colored tapestries, the stone floor with scatter rugs, and huge mahogany furniture and an open fireplace completed the décor. The bedroom was the same, except it was dominated by the huge four-poster bed Grigor now placed her down upon to remove her jacket. The bed was covered in gold damask, as were the heavy curtains secured at each corner.
Gayle’s earlier lack of confidence returned with a vengeance as she stared up at him. “You can’t really want someone like me as your mate.”
“No,” he confirmed as he unhooked one of the gold braids holding back the curtains at the top of the bed, studying it for several seconds before unhooking a second one. “I do not want someone like you as my mate. I want you specifically.”
“Because fate chose me for you, not you,” she maintained stubbornly.
His expression softened slightly. “Admittedly, you are not how I imagined my mate would be—”
“Thanks,” she snapped.
“You are more,” he added huskily. “So very much more.”
“In what way?” Gayle hated that needy whine in her voice, but she really wanted to know what Grigor meant.
“In every way.” Grigor leaned forward to loop one of the gold braids about the hook in the post. “You are fiery as well as beautiful.” He lifted one of her hands and looped the other end of the braid about her wrist twice. “The way you stood up to Markovic and then to me shows you are also fearless.” He made a slip knot and looped it about the hook before tightening it so that Gayle’s wrist was secured above her head. “Strong and fiery enough to be a dragon mate and a protective mother to our offspring.” He picked up the second braid and began to repeat the intricate knots about Gayle’s other wrist.
“Um, well, that’s really nice and everything, but I’m not sure I really want to have children yet— What the hell?” his mate gasped, pulling on the ties as she realized her wrists were both secured above her head. “What are you doing?” she demanded as Grigor unfastened and unzipped her jeans before pulling them down her silky thighs.
He glanced at her. “I am preparing my mate to receive her punishment—”
“Look, when I said I’m not into that BDSM crap, it included spanking—”
“—which I intend to do by pleasuring you with my mouth and hands,” Grigor continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“What? Stop that!” Gayle kicked at him with her long and slender legs as he pulled down her pink lace panties and discarded them onto the floor with her jeans.
His mate’s mound was covered in curls the same red as her hair. Wet curls, Grigor noted with satisfaction, her nether lips slick with the juices of her arousal.
“Stop staring at me in that—that I’m-going-to-eat-you way!” Gayle pressed her thighs tightly together so that Grigor could no longer see those glistening lips between her thighs.
“But eating you is exactly what I am going to do,” he answered her distractedly, realizing he hadn’t thought this through properly when he’d secured only Gayle’s wrists. How could he when his nose and mouth, all of his senses, were awash with Gayle’s unique scent and arousal?
“But— What are you doing?” Gayle stopped thrashing about on the bed as she watched Grigor unfasten the curtain ties at the bottom of the bed before grasping hold of one of her legs. “No way,” she protested as he deftly tied that ankle with the third tie, kicking at him again as he tried to loop the fourth tie about her other ankle. “This is— You can’t—”
“I can’t not,” Grigor groaned as he lowered his head lowered and buried his face in the red curls covering her mound.
Gayle felt color heat her cheeks. No man had ever seen her down there, let alone—let alone— “What are you doing?” she demanded as she heard Grigor breathing heavily.
“I am breathing in your delicious perfume,” he admitted gruffly, moving purposefully up the bed to kneel between her parted thighs. “Your unique scent calls to me.” His eyes had darkened, and his cheeks were flushed. “Give me permission to kiss and lick you in a way that will please you.”
God, this was so…so… Erotic best described it, Gayle realized. She was literally tied to this four-poster bed, with an enrapt Grigor kneeling before her, pleading with her to let him pleasure her.
She might be inexperienced, but she wasn’t a fool. “Yes.” She relaxed her legs in invitation, the burning longing in her own body too intense to resist.
Instead of lowering his head again, Grigor leaned forward until his face was just inches above hers, his dark eyes glittering. “Now that I have your permission, I am going to tease and drink you down, until my senses are saturated with the texture and taste of you, and you plead and beg.”
Much as she wanted to tell him to go to hell, Gayle couldn’t deny the heat coursing through her body. “I’d really appreciate less talk and more action.”
Grigor ignored her impatient demand. “I will use my lips, tongue, and fingers to take you to your peak again and again, but never to completion—”
“What the hell?” Her eyes widened. “Why not?”
“It is your punishment for disobeying me.”
She glared. “That’s—that’s inhuman!”
He gave a satisfied grin. “But I am not human. And you…” He sobered, eyes narrowed, “…you will learn never to disobey me again.”