To Love A Dragon

Prologue

Cherum POV

“Princess!” I yelled, chasing her down the sandy beach. “Princess Niomi! Your mother is calling for you!”

“No!” I could see the lass puffing out her rosy cheeks as her curls swung in the air. “No-me want Ben-nus! I go swim wiff Ben-nus!”

“Niomi, lass, your brother is away in your grandfather’s kingdom. He will be back tomorrow.” Both Brennus and Alpha went to the Siren Kingdom to check on the state of things, since Ela just had her third child. A baby boy they named Riker.

“I. Want. BEN-NUS!” She screamed, taking a sharp turn right as we cleared the rocks. She was about to dive into the sea.

“s**t,” I muttered. I dove for her, and she squealed. She fell into the water and wiggled free from my fingers, barely grasping her skirt.

I’m spitting out a mouth full of sand, trying to see through the grit and the glare of the setting sun to find another way to stop the little tyke.

“Having some trouble?” A deep voice full of amusement said from above me. I looked up to see my Alpha smirking down at my attempt to keep his daughter on land.

“Daddy!” Niomi gleefully squealed, splashing water about her as she leaped into Lachlan’s arms.

“Hi, my baby girl,” he nuzzled his face into her curls. “Did you miss daddy?”

“Ben-nus,” she tapped his face with her hand. “No-me want Ben-nus.”

Lachlan sighed in defeat. Usually Niomi loves her daddy more than anyone, but she gets jealous when her brother goes to sea without her. “Your brother will be back with Cedric tomorrow. Why don’t you come spend some time with your daddy? I missed you so much.”

“NO-ME WANT BEN-NUS!” Niomi screamed.

My goodness, the lass has a set of lungs on her. I’m wincing from a headache coming on already.

“Okay, okay,” Alpha Lachlan patted Niomi’s back, soothing his daughter. “Let’s go see mama first, and then we can talk about Brennus.”

“What are you doing back without the young prince, Alpha?” I asked, standing at my feet and brushing the sand off my wet pants.

“I knew my little girl would miss me,” he said, right before Niomi flailed her head about in a silent fit and hit him in the jaw.

“Yeah. That’s not it,” I chuckled, “You missed the lass’s mama, didn’t you?”

“NO MAMA! NO-ME WANT BEN-NUS!”

“I know, baby. I know,” Lachlan sighed. “I’m going to get her back up to the packhouse. We’ll talk later,” Lachlan said, marching around me with a strong hold on his daughter.

Niomi cried for another minute, and then buried her face in her daddy’s chest. He held her tight, whispering loving words to calm her in her ear.

“That’s a nice sight,” Leon murmured with amusement. My beast liked our Alpha after kids. He was more tamed, and a lot more amusing. He wasn’t a fan of the monstrous anger our Alpha possessed before. As Delta, we were made to calm and offer security to our Luna and her people. I love my Alpha, but that was a hard task when he was so angry all the time.

“Having a family suits him,” I answered.

“Do you think we might have one of those some day?” Leon asked. I could feel him growing a bit restless lately, and the question has come up plenty of times.

“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly.

We lost so many in the wars. Our mate could have been one of the many in the outlining villages that was killed by the Northern Clans before we ever got a chance to meet. I’m hopeful that wasn’t the case, but it’s a strong possibility. I’m getting older. Thirty-six isn’t a desirable age for most girls to be mated to. Plus, I’m the Delta to the Siren Luna and Queen of the Siren Kingdom. My life revolves around my Luna and her family, which is continuing to grow.

I’d like to have a family of my own one day, but I don’t know what woman would want a mate that isn’t putting her as the first priority. Ela will forever be my first. It’s ingrained in me. My bond to her is strong, like a collar she can forever tug on to keep me by her side. Maybe a collar isn’t the right way to describe it. She doesn’t bind me, but her needs do. She doesn’t even realize how tightly bound I am to her will.

I continued walking up the shore past the cliffs, not in a hurry to get back. With Alpha Lachlan back, Ela will be in good hands. Gemma will take over the keeping of the tykes as night comes, and then Lachlan and Ela will be consumed with one another until morning. My assistance is not needed.

The further we go, the warmer the air becomes. The air cools at night time, and the sun is quickly setting. There is no rational reason for this heat I'm feeling.

“Do you smell that?” Leon asked. I sniffed the air a few times at his urging. “It smells sweet.”

“Smells like sulfur,” I grimaced.

“No, take a deep whiff. Under the scent of sulfur is the smell of….of….”

“Amber,” I whispered, taking another deep breath. “It smells like amber and something sweet, like vanilla beans dried in the warm sun.”

“Says the cream chugger. Go find the scent.”

I followed the smell up the stream, through the rocky ground to a thick cropping of trees. The smell of sulfur was choking me, and the air around me was blistering hot, but that underlying smell of amber and vanilla was pushing me to continue on.

“There,” Leon catches a movement in the shadow of a bush.

I crouched down, sheltering my face from the blistering heat with one of my arms. Under the bush, where the scent was the strongest, I found a crumpled body on a burned patch of land. The long, dark hair and sweet scent tell me she’s a woman. She had a smaller frame. Delicate and dainty. I could tell she would be pretty just by her hair. It was thick and full of waves. There were still singes in the branches around her, but the girl was untouched by the dying flames, not even her hair.

“Lass,” I turned her body over, and was struck with the most gorgeous of faces. My breath caught in my throat. The heat in the air around me is all but forgotten as the flames of something inside of me start to bloom.

Smoothing the dark hair out of her gorgeous face, I felt sparks dancing on my fingers. They're traveling up my arms, fanning the flames inside of me. Her lips, full and parted, were as rosy as my hair, but when she opened her eyes, it was the red in them that consumed me. “Mate,” I whispered.

Her eyes went wide, just long enough to startle me in place, holding her tiny body in my arms. “N-no,” she rasped before falling back to unconsciousness.

No?

Leon was frantic, pacing inside of me, but I was frozen sitting on the ground, gripping her body tighter.

“Where....Where did you come from?” I asked softly, removing my shirt and wrapping it around her frail body. “You couldn’t have fallen from the sky.” She had a strange looking necklace, like a choker, tightly wrapped around her neck. It was made of a black glassy stone, but it was cracked in several places. I felt a sudden need to get it off. I didn't know why, but I just knew it was hurting her in some way.

Leon used all his strength and was able to break the choker where it was already shattered. The woman choked and gasped, her body bucking in my lap before going limp again. The bond I felt before intensified, overtaking every part of me. My hands were buzzing with the effects of having my mate, my hurt and mysterious mate, in my arms.

"Bring mate home. She needs help," Leon pushed forward, urging me to get her help.

"Who hurt you, little one," I whispered, pressing my lips to her head. "My mate," I purred, inhaling her scent. "No one will hurt you again."