Page 8 of Brutal Dragon King (Nayara Dragon Kings #1)

The human—Althea—is playing with fire. Literal fire, that burns in my chest and rises through my lungs, escaping my nostrils in the hottest breath I’ve ever exhaled in human form.

I’ve been angry before, many times in my three hundred years alive as an immortal dragon shifter, but I’ve never been this angry. Or frustrated. Or completely vexed that I have no idea what to do with this human girl.

I could quickly put an end to her life and be rid of the troubles she brings me every time she chooses to defy me and refuses to bow. No matter how many times I remind her that I am her king, she doesn’t seem to care.

She’s the only human who dares to challenge me, who dares to stand up against me and push buttons that no one has ever come close to.

Why can’t I just snap her head off her neck? Or throw her from the highest point in the sky and watch as her mortal body splatters on the ground? That way, she’ll never disobey again…

But somehow, I can’t imagine life without her worthless existence. If I’m being completely honest, there’s a certain thrill to her defiance every time she opens her mouth.

Or every time she glares at me.

Or every time she simply breathes in my presence.

I cannot seem to get the picture of her in the palace gardens out of my head. Apart from her ethereal beauty, there was an innocence about her that soothed my being, even when I wouldn’t allow it.

Then, I saw her watching me play air hockey through my dragon eyes and witnessed her awe as she marveled at the sport.

Or, perhaps, she marveled at me.

It’s not like I was playing for her sake. Neither am I gripping her wrist so tightly for her sake.

I’m a greedy bastard, and it’s something I can admit. Everything I’ve done for this kingdom, every decision I’ve made, has been solely for my benefit, and everyone around me naturally benefits from my contentment.

This here—this close proximity and clutching her wrist in a vice-grip against my chest—this is purely for my pleasure. The pleasure of watching her squirm, and seeing that full, plump bottom lip tremble with fear, knowing that I can do anything I want with her, and she can’t do a damned thing about it, that’s what breathes new life into me.

It’s greed that has me closing the little distance between us by taking a firm, deliberate step forward. Denying myself of my own cravings has only been detrimental to my mental health, and I’ve never been one to deny myself the fulfillment that keeps me thriving.

On the other hand, Althea Waters is a craving that should be considered illegal in my books. But to hell with the books now! This nonsense needs to end, and there’s only one way to make that happen.

The verbal spat between us will lead to no good; I can see that. Without giving it a second thought, I release her wrist, and she thinks she’s in the clear, a relieved sigh escaping her lips and inadvertently doing what I needed her to do when her lips parted involuntarily.

The faint breath that leaves her parted lips is the essential scent that beckons my senses like a mating cry as I grab the back of her neck and harshly pull her closer to me, crushing my lips to hers. Once her lips are mine, I fervently devour the essence of her sweet, human taste.

I growl on her lips, feeling her surrender as she opens her mouth even further to allow me access into the cavity of her mouth. I would have taken those liberties whether she gave it or not, but her surrender only entices my actions when I push her shoulders and send her against the locker. It clatters with metal clicks, her body softening to mold against mine as she moans on the kiss, and I prod my tongue between her lips.

Ravenously kissing her and devouring her mouth, her hot breath licks temptation at my tongue while I lap at her pallet, and swirl my tongue’s dominance around hers. Almost as if I’m threading weaves of imaginary chains around her tongue to bind her to me, I grab fistfuls of her rear and press her against the raging erection behind the towel.

All I’d have to do is let the towel slip off from my waist, then rip her clothes off and bury my cock deep between her rebellious walls. Deepening the kiss, I groan as my erection throbs from the need to be free, and grabbing the backs of Althea’s thighs, I let her straddle my waist as I push her into the wall and continue the ravenous pursuit of her mouth.

I drink in each one of her breaths as if they’re my sustenance, keeping me alive and wrapped in the whirlwind of this kiss to satisfy my intense craving for a human.

A human…

The realization dawns on me with ringing in my eardrums that sets me off and stops me in my devouring pursuit.

What am I doing?

As that question enters my mind, I quickly pull back from her lips with a lewd “pop,” staring at her, horrified with myself. I drop her legs from my hands abruptly, not bothering to take the time to check if she’s steadily on her feet. Gulping repulsively as if her sweet, intoxicating taste is bitter on my tongue, I rip my gaze from her face.

“Go…” I grind through gritted teeth, unable to bring myself to look at her face because I know it will only make the reality that much tougher to swallow.

What just happened should never have happened. At least, that kiss shouldn’t have been as exciting and thrilling as it was.

The kiss did nothing to prove my power to her. It had an adverse effect, actually, when it proved to me that the human is a weakness I cannot afford to have as the King of The Spine of Nayara.

I can’t have weaknesses.

“Go!” I bellow this time, the command falling from my lips like a growl when Althea doesn’t move the first time around. “Get out, you insolent human!” I roar with a fist, thundering into the metal locker door beside her face. “Go back to your room, and don’t come out!”

She flinches for the first time since meeting her, a frightened gasp escaping her lips before she quickly scurries off. A part of me wants to call her back, but I fight those urges as I recognize my inner dragon’s thirst that was just quenched with that kiss.

When the changing room door bangs shut with a loud, vibrating thud, my sense of judgment returns, and I stare at the indent I left with my fist in the locker door.

How is it possible that the human not only frustrates me but thrills me just the same? That kiss should never have affected me the way it did, and as I palm my erection with enough force to push it back and away from my mind, I decide that I will use anything I can to distract myself from the human.

No human should have this kind of power over me.

***

“What is the purpose of this?” I ask, crossing my arms as I stare through the window in Kaid?n’s office, overlooking The Shadowlands—my youngest brother’s kingdom. The dark fog that covers the land for miles seems to grow thicker, shrouding the trees and bogs until there’s only darkness settled on his kingdom.

Unlike my kingdom, which is abundant and rich in mountains and greenery, and the Aether Steppes, where Jaid?n rules over vast forests, The Shadowlands are as sinister as our youngest brother.

That's why he'd been able to call both mine and Jaid?n's attendance to The Shadowlands, citing that he had important business to take care of that needed the Nayara brothers in his meeting room.

“Have you found a way to track Hestios's location outside of Khyronia?” Jaid?n asks him, and Kaid?n lifts his eyes from where he's seated behind his desk, an exasperated sigh leaving his puckered lips.

He glances at me as if he needs me to back him up, though I'm not sure what he needs from me since I'm as clueless as Jaid?n. When the youngest seemingly realizes this fact, he sighs and kicks his legs off his desk, then rounds it and slinks his arms around each of our shoulders.

“For one night, let us not think about Hestios and conquering Khyronia,” Kaid?n suggests.

Jaid?n throws him a quizzical look, one brow lifted skeptically. “If you did not call us to The Shadowlands for official business, what are we here for, Kai?”

Kaid?n clicks his tongue, again turning to me as his lips curl into a smirk. I have no idea why he's behaving strangely, but it's not out of character for our little brother to have tricks up his sleeve.

I'm just not sure what the trick is this time, and impatience has my mind reeling back to thoughts I've been trying to ignore ever since yesterday's events in my private changing room.

Gulping to douse the flames of that recollection, I narrow my eyes at Kaid?n, who proceeds to lead us to the door, his arms still wound around our shoulders.

“I have a little surprise for you, Hai,” Kaid?n smooths before hitting the button on the door that will call for the elevator. “It's something to take the edge off…”

“Take the edge off of what?” I ask with a raised brow. Despite my brother's persistent behavior, I'm curious to see what the surprise is, only because right now, I'm grappling at straws, trying to get my mind off the human and that kiss.

I'd spent the better part of last night writhing in restlessness, unable to see anything except Althea's face etched into my mind, and the taste of her lips lingering on my tongue.

The distraction of Kaid?n’s surprise might be just what I need so that I don't dwell on the fact that in just less than twenty-four hours, I will have to mate with the human in a ritual to secure an heir for the Kingdom of The Spine.

How will I survive a mating ritual when I've barely survived a kiss?

Perhaps Kaid?n's distraction is exactly what I need, and I go through the motions of following the youngest king in the Nayara Dynasty as he leads us to an underground level below his palace in The Shadowlands.

A hum of activity filters through the crack of the elevator doors, and a strange, ruby mist seeps through. The smell of tobacco is ripe in the air when the elevator cube comes to a stop, along with the prominent smell of booze.

“What is this?” I ask annoyedly, nose scrunching when I already suspect what lies behind those doors long before they open up.

“Not another party, Kai…” Jaid?n complains with a groan.

“It's not just any party,” Kaid?n protests with a grin. He points out one hand as the doors slide apart to reveal a room of low, red light, leather couches, and tables where strippers dance against poles.

“... It's a bachelor party for King Haid?n,” Kaid?n beams proudly, knocking his shoulder into mine.

Turning appalled, horrified eyes on him, I groan and shake my head threateningly slowly.

“You're not serious, Kai…”

“Of course, I am!” Kaid?n replies to me with a proud smirk, forcing us out of the lift with encouragement patted on our backs. “You have a big night tomorrow.”

“You make it seem as if Haid?n is marrying the human,” Jaid?n grouches irritably.

While the smell of vampires parading the poles as strippers in Kaid?n’s dungeon fills my lungs, my dragon grows angry. As do I, glaring at my youngest brother as he urges me to go ahead with a tap on my arm.

“This is very unnecessary, Kaid?n,” I scold sternly, but he clicks his tongue and remains persistent as he urges us toward the bar.

“Loosen up, big bro,” he contends with a casual chuckle before entering the bar and pulling out a bottle of his finest bourbon. He brings three glasses and sets them on the counter, then proceeds to pour out drinks for each of us.

I glance at Jaid?n, but I find no support when all he offers is a shrug. Fuming internally, I only grab the drink and chug it down in an attempt to remain calm.

I can't believe I've been dragged into this. While Kaid?n's eyes sparkle with wonder and delight as he looks around at the strippers working the poles, my irritation escalates.

“Don't be so grumpy, Haid?n,” Kaid?n offers when he's done downing his drink. “We all deserve a night to live a little,” he grins.

“This is not what we should be doing in a time like this,” Jaid?n protests.

“I think it's exactly what we needed,” Kaid?n winks. “A night of debauchery, which my vamp girls won't mind at all. See that one over there?” he asks as he points toward a table behind us.

Grouching, I glare disbelieving at Kaid?n, plotting his murder mentally while knowing I can't make a single move on my brother, the king. At least, not while we're on his territory in The Shadowlands.

“Come on, Haid?n…” he insists, and I only give in to keep him from making a scene in front of the strippers.

Following his pointed finger, I see the stripper he's referring to—a redheaded vampire who flashes a set of sharp, gnarly fangs as her upper lip curls seductively when she notices me.

She slides up the pole, putting on a deliberate show as she twirls and wiggles her fit body in the skimpy black lace set. Looking like a sexual vixen, she licks her lips and proceeds to step off the table with graceful mannerisms.

Truthfully, the stripper is the type of girl I would have quenched my baser desires with if I wasn't set to mate with the human child-bearer.

Actually, if I hadn't met Althea at all…

“Fine…” I relented with a huff, deciding that the only way I could distract myself from my thoughts was by burying my face in the voluptuous bust of a seductive vampire who wouldn't dare to defy me.

Kaid?n smirks proudly, twirling his fingers in the air as he calls the stripper over.

“Have fun, Haid?n,” he winks at me, nodding at Jaid?n as if to prompt him to leave the bar with him just in time for the stripper's arrival.

Groaning as I lose the last bit of my better judgment, I take a seat on a bar stool and reach for the liquor bottle.

“Your Majesty…” The stripper addresses me with a curt bow.

“Take a seat,” I instructed her, thankful for the lack of resistance I've become oddly accustomed to with the human.

It's not that it's acceptable, but every time I see the human, I know what to expect.

“Yes, Your Majesty…” the vampire agrees willingly as she takes a seat. I pass her a drink, and she takes it with one hand, while the other reaches for my face. Long, manicured fingertips attempt to stroke my jaw, but as soon as she makes contact, I hastily draw back.

Something is unsettling about the stripper's touch. Even with the ambiance of the red light and soft jazz filtering from the speakers, her presence is unnerving, and it doesn’t feel as welcoming as it usually is to feel a female’s touch.

I’m not opposed to the female touch,

“What’s your name?” I ask the stripper, trying to engage in a conversation to lighten the mood.

It’s only my mood that seems to be grim, while the stripper hums seductively as she sips on her drink.

“The name’s Valerie, Your Majesty,” she replies smoothly, attempting to touch me again.

When I recoil with a gloomy grunt, she retracts her hand, finally getting the message that I don’t wish to be touched. Her touch isn’t wanted. It’s not the touch I crave, not those warm, delicate, human fingers that I felt on me when I kissed Althea.

“Fuck…” I grunt under my breath, feeling the need for more alcohol if I’m going to go through with this charade with my brother’s stripper. It’s not like I care about her name, and asking her feels unlawful of me when I neglected to ask the human her name myself.

It’s not as if she allowed me to get that far. Before, I wouldn’t have cared what her name was, using her only as a breeding vessel for my heir. That was before I tasted her lips.

I wish I didn’t go that far. I wish that my mother didn’t trust her oracle, which spoke of her sons bearing heirs to strengthen their kingdoms, forcing us to partake in the reapings for human child-bearers.

I wish I hadn’t met Althea at all. I wish I didn’t kiss her.

Grabbing the bottle by the neck, I chug down its contents without bothering to pour out a glass. But no matter how much alcohol I consume, I cannot get that kiss out of my head, or get the taste of Althea’s sweet essence off my tongue. The kiss is what consumes my being, consumes me whole, and leaves no space for anything else in my life.

While the stripper—Valencia, or whatever her name is—oozes seduction in her voice as she speaks of the many erotic things she plans on doing to fulfill my carnal desires, all I can think about is that kiss I shared with Althea. The hot, passionate kiss in which I devoured her lips leaves no space for anything else in my life, and it frightens me.

I will be a lunatic until I have her, until I’ve buried my cock deep within her walls and owned her as mine. My slave. My human.

Mine.

“Get me another bottle,” I order the stripper, cutting into her jabbering. She readily complies with my order as she saunters off behind the counter to bring me another drink.

I don’t even wait for her to set the bottle down before snatching it from her hand and popping the lid off. Gulping down the contents and feeling the satisfaction burn down my throat, I know it won’t be long before the effects of the alcohol die, and I’m left feeling sober again.

It comes with the territory of being a dragon. My naturally hot blood won’t allow for something as weak as alcohol to keep me inebriated for too long. Soon, my quick metabolism will burn the liquor out, and the swirls in my vision will clear up, leaving me to face the truth that I cannot get the human child-bearer out of my mind.

It’s not my fault that her beauty is out of this world, unlike anything I’ve seen before. I know beauty when I see it, just like the stripper who leans over the bar counter, flashing the mounds of her breasts in my face.

All it would take is one word to have the stripper kneel in front of me, doing anything I ask her to do.

But I don’t want that.

She’s not the female I want, not the female my dragon craves, as if that kiss proved to be my greatest source of sustenance.

I need to get to my study at the palace back in The Spine. I have a stash of dragonclaw—a rare herb that Mother grows in The Astral Platuea that has lethal effects in the right doses, and intoxicating, psychedelic effects with just the correct amount. It’s the only way my inner dragon will be soothed, so it won’t turn insane before tomorrow’s ritual ceremony.

I lift my head to the stripper, my vision hazy with the effects of the liquor. She appears as a blotch of red hair and teeth, and my gut churns with the sight of her. I decide to get rid of her while my speech hasn’t been slurred yet, and that way I can make a quiet exit.

“Go tell your king that I had to leave,” I order her. “Tell him there was an emergency in The Spine.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she bows, disappointment flickering in her green eyes that appear like the eyes of a snake. I turn my face away, unable to stand the sight of her when her eyes aren’t the warm depths of gold I long to lose myself in.

As soon as she’s gone from behind the bar, I rise to my feet, slightly tipsy from the amount of alcohol I’ve consumed. I don’t wish to wait it out and become sober lest I decide to stick around and taste another’s lips that won’t be my human’s. What’s the point of trying to confirm what I already know?

I’ll only end up chastising myself.

Without waiting for my brothers—especially Kaid?n—to try and convince me to stay for the party, I notice them occupied with a group of strippers as the redhead goes over to whisper in Kaid?n’s ear, and I bolt for the elevator door. Once inside, I tap my foot impatiently, wanting to use this intoxicated state to shift into dragon form and see what the creature has to say about these feelings.

When I’m outside King Kaid?n’s castle, I waste no time invoking my dragon, who’s less intoxicated than my human. I flap my wings with a thunderous clap that takes me above the clouds and soar forward toward the mountainous region of The Spine.

The tall, sky-searching mountain peaks welcome me into my kingdom, the palace grounds beckoning me forward while my dragon remains tight-lipped and unwilling to reveal its deepest, darkest fantasies. I already know what it craves the most—and she’s there, in the palace, most probably hiding out in the bedroom I ordered her to stay in after our kiss yesterday.

When I shift back to human form just in front of the palace entrance, my feet wobble slightly, still dazed from all the liquor I've consumed. I brace myself on a pillar, taking a few deep breaths to steady myself.

It doesn't help.

Braving the lingering effects of the booze, I enter the palace, the sound of the doors squeaking on their hinges, calling the attention of the nearby servants.

“Your Majesty…” The two who'd appeared from the hallway came rushing forward, bowing their heads.

I dismiss them with a wave. “Leave me.”

They make no sound as they hurry away, disappearing behind me to tend to the door. When it shuts, the gentle thud spurs my steps as I proceed down the hall toward the right wing of the butterfly staircase.

I could use the elevator, but I'm hoping that I'll be less drunk by the time I reach my bed chambers on foot.

Maybe then my mind will be clear enough to decide that the human isn't worth my endless thoughts, or counting the steps that take me toward my quarters, where she's separated from my bedroom by a single door.

What is going on with me? Why am I turning crazed, palms tingling with the need to feel her in my grasp? My lips tremble as the memory of that kiss comes rolling back in waves of desperate carnal desire.

This is insanity! This is completely absurd!

When I reach the landing on my private floor, palms sweaty as I grip the balustrade, I point my sharp vision at the door that leads to the guest bedroom.

Althea’s room, and despite my tipsy situation, my heightened senses can pick up the sound of her breathing behind that door. It’s almost as if I can hear the thud of her heartbeat like a predator anticipating its prey.

What I fail to anticipate is the opening of that door, and seeing her face emerge from behind it.

Her startled gasp is what should alert me as a hunter, but instead, it keeps me frozen on the spot, meeting widening hazel eyes that are as round as large as a deer caught in the headlights.

“ Althea…” my inner dragon whispers, my human heart involuntarily skipping a beat when I hear its voice while staring at her face.

I feel the effects of the liquor subsiding quickly, but I'm drunk on Althea's presence right now. Stepping forward on feet that hardly feel like my own, I approach the human who doesn’t make a single move.

Not even to bow for her king when he stands before her, towering over her stout figure as she holds my gaze. An accusatory glint flashes through her eyes, but it’s not defiance I see igniting the tiny green specks littered in the hazel depths.

Marvelous… Is my first instinctual thought, marveling at the human whose full lips part ever-so-slightly.

“You did not bow…” I remark, voice lower than usual.

She must have noticed because a frown flits passed her face quickly before she returns to a neutral expression, this time her lips pressed into a firm line.

“I did not,” she says flatly.

I take a step forward, hoping that the closer proximity will remind her of what happened yesterday when she defied my order. Even if I didn’t verbally order her to bow this time, surely she remembered that I could have my way with her if I wanted to. All she had to do was try me.

Noticing the way her chest rises and falls unsteadily, a cocksure smirk grows on my lips.

She remembers.

She will bow this time.

But the smirk is wiped off my face when she folds her arms across her chest instead of dropping her head in submission. The movement seems to shield her chest so that I can no longer hear her heartbeat or sense its vibration.

Or, perhaps I’ve become sober now, my senses no longer amplified by the effects of the liquor.

My hands curl into fists at my sides as I growl down at Althea.

“Bow, Althea…” I order with a grim expression, eyes now glowering at her.

“Why should I?” she scoffs. “I’m not afraid of you, Haid?n.”

“ King Haid?n,” I correct her, taking another threatening step forward.

“Yeah, yeah… I know…” she sneers uninterestedly. “You’re the king, and you want validation from me.”

Angered when she rolls her eyes at me, I take one final step forward, entering the vortex of her radiating aura and noticing the shift I feel within myself. A stir in my core wakes my carnal desire for the human, even despite her insolence once again.

No matter how much she defies me and disrespects me when I am her king, I can’t see beyond the intense sexual magnetization I feel for her. Her very being is my undoing, and I have to consciously hang onto my anger so I don’t forget who I am, or become distracted by her.

There’s no denying it—Althea Waters is my weakness. And no distinguished, revered king should have a weakness lest he wishes to lose his kingdom.

Tomorrow evening cannot come fast enough. Perhaps I’ll quell this desire and put it to rest when I discover that the human is a measly human. Maybe then I won't be so consumed with the fantasy of ripping off her clothes right here, right now, and taking her body against the wall.

“You still choose to speak to me disrespectfully?” I ask, raising a brow.

Althea shrugs nonchalantly. “I told you already, I'm not afraid of you. There's nothing you can possibly do to scare me, King Haid?n, ” she says my name with deliberate smoothness, probably to point out that she does, in fact, recognize that I am her king.

The only trouble is that she doesn't seem to care, her expression blank when she suddenly spins on her heel, her voluptuously wavy hair flicking over her shoulder. The gust of air carries with it the floral fragrance of the shampoo she used, and my eyes close involuntarily as I drink in the scent, a bout of fervent hunger gripping my being as it seeps to my core and makes me ragingly hard.

The wave of crazed arousal turns my inner dragon rabid, bringing with it the impulse to grab her by the neck and crush my lips to hers. But my eyes are snapped open when a loud bang erupts and echoes through the corridor.

Althea Waters, my human child-bearer, just slammed the guest room door in my face.

How dare she?!

Huffing through fiery nostrils, I'm ready to unleash my wrath on her for disrespecting me again.

But it's so much more than that. Her ever-consuming presence has left me with a raging hard-on, and I can't stand that I want the human so badly that it pains my being.

Curling my hands into fists, I grunt as I'm left glaring at the door, at war with myself for finding the human beautiful.

No amount of beauty should warrant this kind of frenzy I'm in. Narrowing my eyes at the door, I decide on the spot that I will not be considered a weak king, or a weak dragon who cannot control himself.

Tomorrow, I will simply use the human as a means to an end, and discard her. That's how things are meant to be in The Spine.

What was thinking, placing her in the palace, right beside my own bedroom?

No human is deserving of this.

Least of all, Althea Waters, the only human who dares to defy me.