A Bride for the Mountain God (Divine Dragons 2)

A wood and stone structure of rustic opulence cascaded in countless tiers over the side of the mountain. The palace jutted out in layers, balconies, and tall glass windows, bracketed by towering trees. Warm glowing lights accentuated endless walls of wood and thick stone columns. The gleaming windows reflected the light back into the forbidden forest, casting away the blanket of fog and darkness that came with cool nights.

The Mountain Palace gave the impression that it had risen directly out of the rocky range, weaving through the ancient boughs and climbing from the summit as if forming a bridge between the forest and the sky. Every façade was grand, wild, and elegant in a woodsy way. It left me unmoored and out of my element to see a structure so natural yet luxurious, and five times larger than the castle I’d grown up in. The God’s palace was beyond human construction; it was utterly primordial and enchanting in a manner that called to me—comforted me.

“Take a breath, princess.” A finger tapped the bottom of my chin, and I closed my gaping mouth. “Can’t have you gawping like that all night. You’ll catch a fly. Come inside and get warm.”

I followed the Mountain God without looking at him. My gaze remained on the palace looming above us. From somewhere in the distance, I thought I heard the violent hum of cascading, crashing water. Likely a waterfall, and that only intrigued me more.

The interior resembled the exterior. Wooden and stone walls artfully made up halls and rooms that verged on being positively cavernous. Massive walls of windows looked out over the forbidden forest from the top of the mountain, providing an astounding, unreal sight to behold. From my vantage point at the first window wall, I saw the moon, appearing larger and shining brighter than I’d ever seen it. Then I glanced out over the treetops rustling in the night breeze and reaching for the twinkling stars in the inky canvas.

Aside from gently crackling fires in enormous stone hearths, the palace maintained a comfortable silence. There were no servants bustling through the halls, soldiers barking orders at one another, consorts bickering over who would spend the night with the king, or princes and princesses arguing over some fancy dagger or useless pair of earrings. Instead of hustling bodies, constant noise, gaudy gold décor, and false smiles, his home on the mountain was warm and inviting.

It felt like home.

That unsettled me more than it reassured me. It shouldn’t feel safe and heartening to walk in the home of a dangerous dragon god. I shouldn’t feel protected from the outside world just because his presence remained at my side through the endless tour through his maze of a home. I hardly heard his explanations of rooms and various magical items as I lost myself in the views and my egregious thoughts.

“—and this is the main suite of the palace.” A set of double doors opened, bringing me back into the moment. The Mountain God stepped aside, holding the door and gesturing for me to enter.

I tentatively stepped into a large room set with warm, buttery lights flowing from enchanted sconces. The wood and stone walls, the carved wooden furniture, animal hide textures, and leather gave the suite an almost cabin-like feel. A luxurious and elegant one, at that.

The first room was a welcoming sitting room. Wood and animal hide couches around a merrily crackling hearth larger than my bed back home. Books scattered on every table or sideboard briefly caught my attention. A wall of windows contained a set of glass doors that led to a balcony that wrapped around out of view.

Another set of double doors near the fireplace led to a massive bedroom with the largest four poster bed I’d ever seen in my life. I knew the dragon god was impressively huge, but that bed was utterly ridiculous in size. Still, that didn’t stop me from imagining rolling around in the green blankets and sinking into the mattress. My aching muscles almost cried for it.

As if catching my tired, dreamy stare at the bed, the god cleared his throat and waved at another, narrower set of doors. “There’s a washroom through there. I imagine you’ll want to freshen up.”

“Freshen up?” I repeated, too tired to think of anything but collapsing onto the bed.

“You’ve had quite the experience. I imagine you’ll need something to eat to maintain your energy.”

“Eat? In the middle of the night?” My brows furrowed and my lips thinned into a grimace. “That’s improper.”

He scoffed, and the sound caught me off guard. “I can say with certainty that it doesn’t matter. I’ve been alive since the first green thing sprouted in the world and I didn’t stop to think about what time of day I ate, drank, or fucked.”

The crass word made my skin prickle and heat swoop in my belly. It didn’t matter that I’d shouted that very word as a curse several times in the past few hours. It was different, given the current setting. A charged band of tension wrapped around me, tugging me toward the god, and I firmly ignored it.

“I suppose you have a point. Time means little when you’re immortal, I suppose.”

“You’ll learn soon enough,” he added.

Lips twitching, skin prickling with nerves, I entered the adjoined washroom, finding amenities finer than what I’d had at the castle. My jaw dropped, and again, the dragon god popped it closed with one firm finger to my chin.

“Wash up. I’ll have new clothes left on the bed. Then you’ll join me for dinner.” A command bolstered the statement, giving me no room to argue. He was so sure that I’d comply with his wishes. It didn’t dawn on him I might disagree.

“I will not.” I crossed my arms, seconds away from stomping my torn-up shoe on the floor.

A sudden heat flared in his eyes. His dark brows snapped together, and his lips curled into something like a sneer. His confident, elegant movement became assertive and domineering as he stepped closer. In the blink of an eye, he towered over me, imposing his latent power over me.

Hm. The dragon didn’t get told no often, if at all.

“You will take off your dress, get in the bath, and wash up,” he gritted through his teeth. The tension between us went taut as he closed the gap until I felt his body heat radiating into my skin.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” I bit back. Though we both knew he very well could as an impressively sized dragon, and a god at that.

“If you don’t behave like the good girl I believe you’re capable of being, there will be consequences.” His threat had a strange effect on me. An odd twirling sensation commandeered the heat in my belly. It dripped lower with each word from his wicked mouth.

I lifted my nose in the air, jutting my chin out. My eyes narrowed up into his dazzling, darkened gaze, calculating how far I could push him. Aside from my initial fear during the harrowing chase through the forbidden forest, he hadn’t hurt me. In fact, he seemed rather gentle with me as far as dragons go. Being his mate—or whatever—gave me protection, and that bolstered my confidence.

When I’d argued with him in the woods, he’d manhandled me a bit, but I didn’t entirely hate that. Something wanton within me almost purred at the thought of him grabbing me with those massive, clawed hands again and tossing me around as he saw fit.

“What if I’m not a good girl?” I didn’t recognize that husky tone of my voice. My lashes fluttered, and I nearly swayed, as if drunk on the addictive energy twirling between us.

His nostrils flared, a grunt punched from his lips, and his pupils widened. Another step and a fire burned in the inch separating our chests. He must have heard my heart trying to escape my ribcage.

A rough hand with green scale-skin caught my chin. He urged my head back until my breath hitched, and I rose onto the tips of my toes. A growled breath escaped him as he raked his eyes over my face.

“Naughty little princesses get punished, Nia.” His calloused thumb rubbed over my bottom lip until my mouth parted. A whimper flitted out, almost begging for him to push the digit in and let me taste him. “Good girls get rewards.”

It was probably a bad thing, certainly deranged, that I longed to find out what a punishment looked like in his eyes. Almost more than what a reward might entail. Something about his primal, godly energy tugged at a string in my chest that whispered he would give me everything I ever wanted if I just tipped over the line we balanced on.

“Maybe I like being bad.”

The pink tip of my tongue darted out and swiped over the pad of his thumb. He sucked in a hissed breath, pupils flaring as a shudder rolled through him. I sucked his thick digit into my mouth, careful of his claw as I swirled around my tongue around his knuckle. Then all his muscles visibly flexed, tensing as if holding himself back from an untold frenzy, prowling under the surface.

Something dangerous flared in his eyes, serving as the only warning I’d made a mistake.

He yanked his thumb from my mouth. I yelped when his fist tangled in the back of my hair, snatching my head back until my neck strained. His other fist twisted in the already tattered, flayed layers of my golden dress. A vicious snarl breached him, and it provoked a lewd shiver of want through my core.

“If you’re going to insist on being a naughty, disobedient little whore, then I’m going to treat you like one, wife.” In one motion, he ripped what remained of my dress off my body. His glowing green eyes greedily raked over my naked form, lingering on my generous breasts and the flare of my hips. He licked his lips at the short, trimmed hairs between my thighs. Before I could catch my breath, he’d walked us to a vanity stool in the corner of the room and tossed me over his thighs, ass up.