Dragon's Promise. Denise Lynn

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СКАЧАТЬ resistance gained her another deeper level of pain as his jaw tightened and he shook her.

       Submit.

      How? Caitlin sobbed at the futility of trying to fight this beast.

       Caitlin, for the sake of our child, submit.

      This deep voice, while still raspy and hoarse, did not contain the undertone of a beast. It was human, and its plea touched not just her mind, but something deeper, too.

      With a sob, she fell lax beneath him.

      After one final halfhearted shake, he gentled, releasing her, then soothing her injured flesh with his tongue, wiping away the blood and the pain as he tended the wound. His touch knitted muscle and flesh until it was once again whole.

      Satisfied the injury had been healed, Sean lifted his head to look down at her and warn, “Don’t ever fight me again.”

      “You have to be kidding. I’m supposed to bow to your every whim out of fear for my life?”

      He heard the angry bravado in her trembling voice. Relieved that her terror had begun to subside, he lightened his tone. “See how easily you understand?”

      “You are not some commanding deity that I need to mindlessly obey.”

      “Damn pity. However, it doesn’t change the fact that I am responsible for your well-being and safety. It’s instinctual. Things will go easier for you if you just do as you’re told.”

      When she didn’t respond to his flippancy, or statement of fact, he rose from the bed. “I need a minute alone, and I’m sure you could use some time to yourself, too. But we obviously have a plane to catch, so be quick.” He glanced around the bedroom. “You said your luggage was in your car?”

      She nodded and Sean headed toward the door. “I’ll have it sent to the plane and your car parked in the garage. Join me out front when you’re ready.”

      Caitlin waited a few minutes after he’d left the room before she rolled over and buried her face in the comforter on the bed. Why had she come here? What made her think that Sean would help her get their son back without any conditions of his own? She’d known he was a dragon changeling. She also knew what that meant—demanding, possessive and oh, so arrogant in his assumption that he alone was right. Yet she’d never had so much as a second thought about coming to him.

      Her breath hitched, and she swallowed the urge to cry. Was her son warm? Was he dry? Had he been fed? Did they hold him when he cried?

      They wouldn’t know that he didn’t like to be rocked; he’d rather be bounced. So if they rocked him, it would only make him more upset, more agitated. What if his anxiety was more than they could handle and prompted them to do something horribly reckless?

      * * *

      Dozing in the corner of the ancient puzzle box, Aelthed opened his eyes and tilted his head to one side with a frown. Something was...different. There was a certain something in the air swirling about his eternal jail.

      It felt like... He leaned forward, his arms wrapped around his bent legs, studying the chemistry in the air. It felt like animal lust.

      Need.

      Desire.

      He shook his head. From where had this emotion come? Who was the object of such primordial passion?

      Even after more than eight long centuries of captivity, he understood and recognized the intense longing that charged the air swirling about him like lightning in a thunderstorm.

      The dragon twins were already mated, so neither of them were the target. And he knew that it was not Danielle Drake. Her passion was for him, and it felt warm, comforting, enticing and nothing at all like this brewing storm.

      “No.” Aelthed rose and paced, hoping the movement would clear his mind of what was impossible. “It can’t be.”

      The newest changeling wasn’t a dragon born. It couldn’t be him. His beast and power came from a curse alone, not from family blood. So why would that dragon’s emotions flow all the way from Dragon’s Lair to Mirabilus, into his cell and mind? Unless... Aelthed frowned. Was there more to this curse than he’d first feared?

      Sending his thoughts out into the air, he whispered, “Danielle, come, talk to me.”

      Just saying her name eased the tension from his body and the frown from his face. Danielle Drake possessed far more than just guardianship of his prison—she possessed his heart. Since he’d forced himself into her hands a couple years ago, he’d come to care for her deeply and he was well aware she shared the same feelings for him.

      After Nathan the Learned had dropped the box that kept Aelthed imprisoned at the feet of the Dragon Lord’s wife, Alexia, they had put him in the basement with their weapons and forgotten about him. Which suited him fine, because it gave him the chance to listen and learn.

      When it became necessary to gain assistance, he’d sought out Danielle Drake. Aelthed laughed softly remembering the first time he’d spoken to her. At that moment he’d been grateful for two things—that Danielle was telepathic and that his nephew Nathan had kept him updated on the current languages through the decades. Otherwise he never would have been able to converse with the woman.

      He might have only been a spirit imprisoned in a puzzle box, but that didn’t stop him from noticing how beautiful she was with her womanly curves and long raven tresses. He’d been drawn to her from the first moment she’d touched his box and made him gasp at the warmth that had flooded through him.

      She was so easy to talk to, quick of wit and old enough to know her own mind. Which she had to be, considering she’d raised her three nephews alone after their parents had been killed at Nathan’s hand. It was a shame she’d never married, never had the opportunity to share a life and experiences with someone her own age. But she’d insisted more than once that her life had been full and she was content with her lot—especially now that she had Aelthed to share her joys and troubles with.

      He’d once lamented the huge difference in their ages and she’d laughed at him. While it was true that he was over nine hundred years of age and she only sixty-two, he’d only lived as a man for eighty of those years. As far as she was concerned, he wasn’t all that much older.

      He didn’t argue with her logic, because it made no difference while he was locked in a wooden cube.

      Within moments, he felt her warm touch on the box as she lifted it from her nightstand. “What is it, Aelthed? What do you need?”

      He shivered at the low, seductive timbre of her voice. Oh, to be alive again, to be a man capable of gathering her into his arms for an embrace, a kiss, a prelude to making love. A wry smile briefly crossed his lips. Dreams and wishes were all he had and of late, they weren’t nearly enough.

      Opening his mind to his surroundings, he brought her into view. He nodded with approval at the way she’d been wearing her hair down lately, instead of twisted up into a tight bun. She looked younger, more alive with the raven tresses streaming along her back. Forcing his attention back to the subject at hand, he asked, “Your nephew, the youngest one, is he still back at Dragon’s Lair?”

      He felt СКАЧАТЬ