Page 38 of The Dragon Warlord
“I’d like that, Warlord.”
There’s a wobble in his voice that speaks volumes on its own. He’s in need now. “If you’re in need, Riv, I’m yours to touch at leisure, okay?”
I take his hand and slide it into the open part of my shirt, over my tattoo. The increased contact relaxes him into a smile. Success! The sun has returned to Dragon Land. His smile is all I fucking care about.
“Thank you, Warlord. I won’t abuse the privilege. I know you’re married.”
I laugh. “I told you. I’m married to Elves. They can get possessive when they’re in the mood, but at their core, they are a polyamorous culture, and this would be fine with them under the circumstances. I know they wouldn’t want either of us to suffer needlessly.” It took me a bit to understand them, but I get it now. There’s a spectrum and each Elf slides along that spectrum. What was unacceptable in Markaytian culture is acceptable and sometimes even encouraged in Elven culture. Dragons are the deviant Markaytian counterparts because they’re derivative of Markaytians with relaxed ideas of sexual practices.
“Your men won’t threaten mass genocide if I touch you?” he says as his smile shifts from happy to sly.
“Are you teasing me?” My chest is so full. This is a world better than his sorrow or his tears.
“I like that you’re protective, Warlord. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever felt.”
“Then you’ll be happy to know that I suspect that even when the bond has settled, I’ll still be highly possessive of you.” He said protective, but he was being kind. That’s bullocks. I’m possessive as hell over him and we both know it. I might struggle with the morality of that, but it doesn’t change that it’s true.
We sit in our own private world as time ticks away. No one bothers us and I suspect that they’ve memorized my scent so that they can steer clear of me.
“I don’t want to move, but there’s nowhere for me to hide. Your father will find me and drag me to his fun little playroom if I don’t show.” He’s also threatened to leave me there for an undetermined amount of time, knowing full well what the idea of caging a dragon will do to my head. I’d rather do just about anything other than be locked away. “Are you coming?”
“If you’ll let me, Warlord.”
Sitting up to take a look at him, I brush the hair away from his eyes. “Always. You can always come. Especially if it soothes you, Omega.”
He sat out one night, and he was a writhing ball of anxiety. What the dragon lord does is never fun, but it’s better than River suffering.
“Then I’m coming.”
I stand and reach a hand for him in the spirit of becoming accustomed to his touch. “I’ve been well-behaved anyway—if you can believe that—so I don’t expect anything more terrible than usual. An easy night of discipline and then we can have a late dinner together.”
* * *
As soon as we enter, I know that discipline is not going to be as I expected. The dragon lord is accompanied by two of his husbands whom I haven’t become familiar with yet, Phari and Lux. He often brings Rayne and I’ve grown to like Rayne. I’d never piss him off, okay, maybe not never, but I’ll be avoiding it. Rayne has Baya energy. I’ve already decided that he’s the Baya of the dragon lord’s husbands and I know how Baya deals with things. I’d like to avoid his ire if I can.
Phari has a beard and not a proper long beard as I would have imagined a wizard to have either. It’s sexy, okay? Well-groomed, short along the sides, and a bit of a puff at the chin. His hair is dark blond, and his complexion is golden. With those suspenders over his cotton shirt, he looks more like a farmer than a wizard. He’s so damn rugged. No wonder the dragon lord fancies him.
Lux passes the dark wizard test, wearing the height of dark wizard fashion. His whole outfit is black and topped by a fabulous black cape. His hair is black too, bone-straight, and long. A sheen of gold passes over Lux’s eyes when he gazes my way. Or more like, gazes through me. I don’t think he likes me much better than Amira did earlier.
Awesome.
I might as well get this over with.
I’m here in the capacity of his omega so I head straight into the deference position he prefers, standing on my knees, as River bends to one knee. The cool stone bites into my thin trousers as I bow my head so that I’m staring at the ground. “Hello, Alpha.”
Not the most imaginative greeting, but I’m nervous, okay? Things are different. As much as I like to play at being aloof, the amount of control the dragon lord has over me with this collar around my neck is unnerving. He could leave me on the floor rolling around in nerve-shredding pain for as long as he wants. He can use it to bind me to the wall, leave me here and forget about me for a century.
On one of my first days here, River promised me that I’d learn to have a healthy amount of fear for my alpha. It hasn’t taken long for the dragon lord to pull through in that area.
The dragon lord stands before me and places a firm hand on my jaw. “I heard a rumor today, Omega, and I wonder if it’s true.”
A panicked shiver runs down my spine. “What kind of rumor did you hear, Alpha?”
“That my Warlord was throwing a childish tantrum. Did you tell the Lady Amira that you’d given up your sword because I won’t let you see your army?”
Not in so many words, but that is what I was doing. “I can’t believe she ratted me out.” Fuck this. I break protocol to meet his blue-fire gaze.
“She did no such thing. Only mentioned it in a passing conversation.” I’m sure she did. That gossipy little songbird! “Then you admit to your transgression?”
