Sleeping Dragon (Dragon Echoes Book 1) Read online

  Verrian took a moment to do the same. The curves of her body were full and luscious, speaking of a people who didn’t lack for anything. The red curls bobbed around her head, making him want to touch them, to pull them lightly and see if they sprang back.

  But it was her eyes that captivated him. They said so much without her even opening her mouth. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her.

  He ached to reach out and pull her towards him, but something held him back. A feeling so tenuous, he wasn’t really sure what had caused it.

  Then it hit him.

  Something was wrong.

  Very wrong.

  Her looks were too foreign. Her clothes were strange and unfamiliar. Her scent, now that he paid attention, didn’t say dragon.

  It said human.

  That didn’t dampen his attraction. If anything, it increased it. She was different. New. Exciting.

  Under normal circumstances, he would have made sure to live this experience to the full. Trouble was, right now, it indicated that something wasn’t right.

  Sounds of battle echoed outside his chamber. Lightning zapped and dragons roared.

  Another sound, a loud, hollow boom, worried him more. The sound was unfamiliar.

  Threatening.

  Dangerous.

  It sent his heart racing, the uncomfortable thump hurting his chest.

  He didn’t just hear it, he could feel it, squeezing his heart.

  “ðe cypren êower?” he asked sharply.

  She blinked.

  “Huh?”

  The noise was more of a snort than a word. Verrian could guess it indicated a lack of understanding, despite the language barrier.

  This was not a good sign. Why would his family have sent him a woman who couldn’t understand him?

  Had she been sent by his family at all?

  He flushed cold at the possibilities. What if she had been sent by Ultrima?

  Her blue eyes were more reminiscent of the lightning dragon than any other dragon he had known.

  But she wasn’t a dragon.

  And if she had been sent by his enemy, he suspected she would have killed him rather than kissing him.

  She said something in reply, her words almost unrecognisable. But something about them teased him, as though he could understand them if only he concentrated.

  However, concentrating was impossible when the sounds of the battle outside competed for attention with desire singing through his veins. The Mesmer bond’s demand for completion was loud, loud enough to drown out the battle outside if he let it. But he couldn’t afford to. Not until he knew what was going on.

  Luckily, there was an easy way for him to find out.

  He held his hand out to her, almost holding his breath.

  Would she take the offered connection?

  He let the pull he could feel through the Mesmer bond fill him up until it was all he was aware of. His eyes bored into hers, and hers widened, her long eyelashes seeming to flutter in slow motion.

  She took a step towards him, then another.

  Verrian held his hand still, holding his breath, and she slipped her hand into it.

  He could feel the pulse beating rapidly in her wrist, hear her sharp, shallow breaths.

  The connection went deeper than that though. This time, when she spoke, it was almost as if she spoke into his mind, bypassing the language barrier.

  “What did you say?” she asked.

  Verrian twisted his mouth, trying to form the words that his mind told him she would understand. “I asked who you are.”

  She smiled at that. “I’m Lisa.”

  As though that explained it.

  Verrian bit back a growl of frustration at her brief answer, half afraid of frightening her. He’d never met a human before, not this close anyway, and he wasn’t sure how easily they spooked. He couldn’t risk losing her. He needed her too much.

  If she left right now he’d barely have the strength to walk to the door and open it, much less help his clan in the fight that raged outside. Only by mating with her, and completing the Mesmer ritual, would he regain his full strength. The strength he was going to need.

  “Why are you here? Why not a dragon?” He couldn’t keep the urgency from his voice, not completely.

  Another boom shook the walls of the Mesmer chamber, sending his heart racing.

  The human didn’t pull back, but her hesitation, and the look on her face, just made him more nervous.

  “Taurian sent me,” she said finally. “I’m here to wake you.”

  Her words should have been comforting. Should have confirmed that she had come from his family, even if he didn’t recognise her. But the connection he had with her, letting him understand almost her meaning rather than her strange words, indicated she wasn’t telling him everything. But he also sensed she omitted information out of concern, not malice. She thought he shouldn’t know.

  Maybe Taurian thought he shouldn’t know.

  That possibility was more worrying than all the other indicators that something was wrong. It made him more determined to get out of here and find out. He just needed to ignore all this for long enough to complete the ritual first.

  And right now, with the Mesmer bond singing through his veins, it was easy to let himself be distracted.

  He looked at her, soaking in the waves of excitement emanating from her. She was almost radiating energy.

  She would be willing, eager even. That was all he needed.

  He tugged gently on her hand and she stepped closer. Her dark and luminous eyes didn’t leave his, and her lips parted as he pulled her into the space between his thighs. He slipped his arms around her, pulling her closer, her chest pressing up against his.

  She shook her hair back from her face and stared up at him.

  Something about her was captivating. Verrian paused for a moment to try to figure out what it was. Was it just the fact that her looks were so foreign?

  It wasn’t just her looks though. Her attitude was subtly different as well. Her eyes danced and teased as her hips ground against his. Dragons were passionate, but matter of fact about sex, never teasing.

  Was the difference because she was human, or was it uniquely her?

  The difference was something he would have stopped longer to investigate if the situation weren’t urgent.

  His eyes slipped closed as he lowered his head towards her lips.

  They were warm and soft, and they parted invitingly as he kissed her. He was just wondering whether to taste her more thoroughly, or whether it was too soon, when her tongue slipped between his lips.

  The unexpected teasing sent his temperature soaring and his energy spiking. He groaned and pulled her closer.

  Chapter 3

  Lisa pressed her hand against Verrian’s chest, feeling his heart beating strongly. Her own heart beat in time with his. Things were moving quickly, and yet it somehow felt right. A shiver of excitement ran through her.

  This was it. Her dragon prince.

  She was pretty sure it was going to be everything she’d hoped it would be. He’d already exceeded all her hopes and dreams for how he looked and how it felt when he touched her. And she’d never even imagined how the way he stared at her so intensely could set her pulse racing.

  Verrian jumped at the sharp crack of guns, even though their sound was dulled by the thick stone. The sound dulled a little of her excitement too. While they might be safe in here, there was a battle raging outside. They couldn’t stay in here forever.

  They needed to get a move on.

  Luckily, Verrian wasn’t wearing much. Just a pair of leather shorts that resembled those Taurian had worn the first time she met him.

  Lisa stepped back and Verrian groaned when she broke contact. His hand reached for her, but then dropped as she reached for the hem of her shirt and began to pull it over her head. Even though the sound of another round of gunfire outside reminded her again of the urgency, the look in Verrian’s eyes was enough to mak
e her pull the shirt up slowly, inch by inch.

  She kept her eyes on his face until the last minute, when the shirt went over her head.

  Verrian’s eyes didn’t leave her body, and his gaze was certainly appreciative.

  “Come closer,” he growled low in his throat, reaching forwards to slip his fingers under the lace of her bra.

  Apparently he’d figured out her language quickly.

  The touch sent heat flaring through her body. The intensity of the need she felt, far more primal and deeper than anything she’d ever felt before, scared her a little. This was supposed to be quick and hot, not intense. Just because Karla had mated with her prince forever didn’t mean Lisa was going to. That wasn’t how this worked.

  Was it?

  It couldn’t be. Taurian would have warned her if that was the case.

  She brushed of her fears by being deliberately light. “We don’t need that off to have sex,” she teased, dancing just out of reach.

  This time, he just growled low in his throat, the insistent demand sending rumbles of desire flooding through her and pushing any lingering concerns out of her mind. He reached lower, sliding his fingers into her belt and pulling her closer.

  Oh, they definitely needed to get rid of that. And quickly too.

  Lisa didn’t even bother teasing as she undid her belt and jeans, and slid them down, leaving only her panties.

  Somehow, she didn’t feel quite ready to lose them yet.

  “Your turn,” she insisted, reaching for the leather tie that held up his shorts.

  Verrian watched as she undid the knot, his breathing deepening and his hands clenching the side of the dais where he still sat.

  Unlike her, he wasn’t wearing anything at all under his shorts. As she slid the waistband down, she could see evidence that he wasn’t going to have any trouble fulfilling this ritual either.

  Seeing him completely naked pushed her over the edge. Any modesty she might have felt faded away as surely as the sounds outside. Without a word, Lisa reached up and undid her bra, dropping it onto the edge of the platform, then wriggled out of her underpants.

  Verrian smiled slowly, motioning her closer with a crook of his finger.

  Lisa stepped forwards, needing to be close to him as much as he wanted her to be.

  She’d picked up enough guys at nightclubs to know that the sexual excitement was magnified by them being a virtual stranger. She thrived on that feeling. Craved it even.

  This was different.

  She didn’t just want Verrian. She needed him. Every part of her ached with a demand that only one thing would fulfil.

  Karla had warned her about the Mesmer bond, that it would make her feel attracted to Verrian beyond all reason.

  Her descriptions had only made Lisa more excited about this experience.

  She’d heeded all Karla’s warnings not to mistake it for a real feeling. That it would fade once they had done the deed.

  But no amount of warning could possibly prepare her for the intensity of this.

  Right now, Lisa didn’t care that none of this was real. That none of it would last once this coupling was complete. She couldn’t even think past this moment.

  She slid her arms around Verrian, pressing her body up against him, lifting her chin to kiss his lips, his breath hot on her face.

  Verrian groaned, and twisted his legs around hers, trapping her in an embrace from which she had no wish to escape. His hardness pressed up against her stomach, the heat pulsating through her.

  But no matter how tightly she held him, or how much she sunk her fingernails into his buttocks, it still wasn’t enough.

  She wanted more. So much more.

  And it wasn’t going to happen in this position.

  Neither did she want to lie down on the sand. She’d done that once before, and it just ended up painful, with sand in all sorts of unmentionable places.

  She disengaged her lips from his to ask how they were going to do this, and in that moment, he slid off the dais where he had been sitting, and moved closer.

  Their heights were closer now with his hardness brushing up against her mound.

  Better, but still awkward.

  Verrian reached under her bottom and lifted her bodily against him.

  Lisa gave a gasp of surprising, her arms going around his neck to hang on, her body pulsating with need as his hardness rubbed against her folds. He turned, and set her on the edge of the dais, which happened to be the perfect height.

  Luck, or deliberate design?

  Then she lost all ability to think as Verrian buried his length inside her.

  Throwing back her head, Lisa let out a groan of pure pleasure.

  Verrian grinned and thrust into her again, his grin disappearing under his own groan of pleasure.

  Waves of heat washed through her, building up and up into a giant crescendo. Lisa couldn’t believe how intense the need was. Even if the fighting outside burst through the door, she wasn’t sure she could stop this.

  She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  Karla’s descriptions hadn’t done this justice at all.

  Verrian built up a rhythm, each thrust just a little faster and harder than the last, each one adding to the building intensity.

  Lisa held onto his shoulders, only barely aware that her fingernails were digging into his skin. Every part of her was clenched in anticipation. When this blew, it was going to be amazing.

  And it was.

  Heat spilled over her, sending warmth and tingles to every single part of her body. She’d never felt so alive.

  The groan on Verrian’s lips as he buried himself in her, pulling her close against him, told her he felt the same.

  For a moment, Lisa felt an incredible connection to him. A connection stronger than she’d ever felt to anyone before. This was something more than just the physical pleasure they’d shared, it was deeper than anything she’d ever experienced before.

  How could she not feel a connection when they had just shared something so magical?

  His lovemaking had been perfect. If she could do it over again, she wouldn’t change a thing.

  Then disappointment swamped her.

  She wasn’t going to get to do it again. Ever.

  It was over. The wonderful, magical experience was done—and she’d never experience it again.

  Every single man she ever slept with after this would be a disappointment.

  Somehow, she couldn’t help wondering if she’d just made the worst mistake of her life.

  Chapter 4

  Verrian took a moment to stare down at the human woman while her eyes were still closed in rapture. He’d completed the Mesmer ritual like this with other dragons several times, but this time had been something spectacular. Something out of the ordinary.

  Was it because she was a human?

  Maybe the dragons had been missing out on something all this time.

  A frown crossed her face, then her eyes flicked open and she glared at him.

  Verrian’s stomach dropped. Had he misread her? Had she not wanted this as much as he had?

  No, he was certain she had. The enthusiastic way she’d responded couldn’t be a lie.

  So what was wrong?

  Before he could even begin to figure it out, she pushed him away, jumped down from the dais, and began to pull on her clothes.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked, still bewildered.

  “No.” Her voice was short and terse. Then she took a deep breath. “Sorry, that was just, intense…”

  Of course. It had been overwhelming enough for him, and he’d experienced the Mesmer bond before. For a human, it would be doubly so. No wonder she was a little off balance. It had all happened so quickly, there hadn’t even been time for him to prepare her.

  It was then that he realised that he hadn’t even introduced himself. She had offered her name, and he’d been so infatuated he hadn’t thought to reciprocate. It was only fair he offer her his own name now, before the
y parted ways.

  He leaned against the dais, not even bothering to search for his own clothes yet, and said, “I’m Verrian.”

  “I know.” Dressed now, she turned back to him. Her expression was business-like, and she carefully avoided looking anywhere despite his face.

  Verrian almost laughed.

  A fascinating woman.

  But then, if she had been chosen to wake him, she must be an extraordinary human. And a generous one, to offer to give herself to him in his time of need. “If you know my name, I take it you knew why you were here?”

  Her strange language flowed easily off his tongue now. The more he spoke it, the more he realised it wasn’t as different from his own as he had first suspected.

  She jerked her head in a nod.

  “I thank you then, for agreeing to fulfil my need at this time.”

  The formal words, ones he’d used before in this situation, somehow seemed stilted and inadequate.

  But she just inclined her head regally.

  Then her face paled, and she put her hand up to her cheek. “We have to get out there. They’re fighting Ultrima now, and they need our help.”

  Her urgency communicated itself to him in a very physical way. Adrenaline flooded his body. How could he have forgotten? Had the coupling distracted him so much?

  He reached for his clothes now, and began pulling them on, then it hit him.

  It hadn’t just been the distraction. As soon as he listened, the almost complete silence hit him. All sounds of fighting outside had ceased. He’d been so preoccupied with the woman in front of him, he hadn’t noticed.

  Lisa paused, turning towards the door, obviously realising the same thing he did.

  “The fight is over,” he said, not sure if he felt relief, or fear.

  Lisa asked the question that he couldn’t bring himself to. The question neither of them knew the answer to.

  “But who won?”

  Chapter 5

  For a moment, Lisa froze with fear at the possibility that Ultrima had defeated Karla and Taurian, and now waited outside for Verrian to emerge. There was only one way out of the Mesmer chamber, and Ultrima surely knew exactly where it was