Claws and Kisses

The tanned, shirtless pirate caressed her face, looking deep into Clarissa’s eyes. “Clarissa,” he whispered against her skin, pulling her closer to his broad, bare chest. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on.”

Clarissa gasped, laying her hand on his sea-drenched abs. “Oh, Jackson. Do not say such things!” She pressed closer, her wide skirt sweeping across the deck of the ship to puddle at his booted feet. She looked up at him with love in her eyes. “I am a lady. My father would never let me marry a rogue like you.”

Captain Jackson grasped the sides of her corset and ripped the buckles apart, causing Clarissa to swoon and wrap her arms around his neck. Jackson said, “Our love cannot wait. Your father will not keep me from you any longer!”

“Oh, Captain!” Clarissa watched as the pirate hoisted her onto his waist and placed his lips on her—

“Wendy?”

“Ah!” Slamming the book closed and stuffing it between the cushions, I whipped my head up to look at Avel in the doorway of the carriage, his head slightly tilted as he watched me on the bench. Cheeks burning hot, I nervously ran my hand through my hair and looked anywhere but at the Dragon Lord. “Yes, what?”

A sliver of a grin began to curve his lips, growing with every word out of his mouth. “What are you reading there, tiger?”

My whole body must have been flushing at that moment. There was no way in hell I was ever going to tell Avel of all people that I had been reading smut. “N-Nothing. Um, what are you doing here?”

He cocked his head further. “Technically, I own this carriage.”

My blush worsened. Shaking my head in a frazzled manner, I said, “I didn’t mean—I thought you said you were out scouting or something?”

Avel leaned his his forearms on the roof of the fortress-carriage, leaning so that I could make out the slope of his wide shoulders better. His eyes never left mine. “That was four hours ago, Wendy. The horde is stopping for the night.”

I nodded slowly. “Right.”

He ducked inside the carriage, his presence seeming to fill the entire space with his powerful aura. A lopsided smile now adorned his features. “Wendy,” he drawled. “You wouldn’t happen to be reading Kidnapped by the Pirate King, would you?”

Some sick god out there must have been laughing their ass off at my predicament. Resisting the urge to stab myself in the eye, I stared directly at his shoulder and gritted out, “No, of course not. I was reading . . .”

For the life of me, I could not come up with a single title for a book. It did not matter however, as Avel was already kneeling by my cushioned bench and leaning his head on his elbow as he stared up at me with a small smile. “You know, little tiger,” he said suggestively, a twinkle in his purple gaze. “If you are craving pleasure, you certainly do not have to read some silly book to find it—”

“Avel!” I screeched, standing up in such a rush that I hit my head on the ceiling while at the same time almost kneeing Avel in the face. He leaned back as I tumbled past him and bolted out of the carriage, landing in the moist grass of the countryside.

He laughed loudly as he followed me out. “What?”

“You—” I pivoted on my heel with my fists clenched at my sides, caught between feeling humiliation and irritation. I glared at his stupid, dumb grin. “Shut up. I wasn’t reading shit, alright?”

His gaze darkened as his stupid rules came to mind. Darting to me, he captured my waist and tugged me close enough so that our bodies were near touching. My breath caught as he leaned down and whispered, “If you wanted someone to rip apart your corset and hoist you on to their waist—”

My whole body had reddened to a violent shade of pink as I struggled to not sink into the ground at the prospect of Avel having known exactly what I was reading and exactly what I had been thinking about before he so kindly intruded. I almost passed out from relief as someone called to us, cutting the dragon off.

“Hey, big shot!” A familiar woman appeared from behind a row of trees and bit into an apple. “Why don’t you leave the pretty lady alone and hand her over to me, eh?” Bear grinned wildly as she took another bite. “Bet she’d enjoy me more than you.”

Avel let me go as I quickly took my chance to escape and strided toward Bear. However, he followed close behind and I swore I could feel the heat radiating off him as we walked. As we went, I realized that we were still in a forest, but the trees were thinner here and the leaves were a different shape. The entire entourage was scattered along the road. The trees provided good coverage, and several slaves were already running around trying to set up tents. Dragon nobles were outside, stretching and talking to each other. The sight was a curious one.

Bear took my elbow in hers once I reached her, and we strode towards the rest of the encampment with Avel keeping watch from behind. I noticed several other armored dragons were watching from the trees, their eyes switching between watching us and checking the sky above. Avel nodded at them as we passed.

“How are you doing, baby?” Bear patted the back of my hand affectionately as we spotted the rest of the Inner Circle, gathering around a makeshift fire pit. Bear glanced at me warmly. “The first leg of our trip is done. We have about three more days on the road before we make it to the funeral. How bout that?”

I nodded, my eyes on the sprawling scene before us. “I’m doing alright. Avel was kind enough to make the trip more comfortable by dolling up the coach.”

Bear nodded with a wink to Avel behind us. “I noticed.”

From a few dozen feet away, a familiar mop of light brown hair popped up behind some bushes. My heart swelled as I saw my twin, alive and healthy. Even from a distance, I could tell that he looked a hell of a lot healthier than he had a few days ago. Maybe a tiny bit happier, as well.

“ . . . steal his underwear,” Bear finished saying, ending her sentence with a cackle. When I did not respond, she turned to me, her eyebrows raised. “Sweetheart?”

“I’ll—” Not taking my eyes off Rhett, I broke away from Bear and started to briskly walk towards my brother. “I’ll be right back.”

She frowned. “Where are you . . . ?”

I was already half walking, half jogging towards Rhett. Distantly, I heard Avel shout a warning from behind me to stop, but I didn’t really listen. I didn’t stop until I was across the clearing and at his side. I almost didn’t recognize the man who now stood before me.

Rhett had transformed in the last couple of days. His eyes were no longer sunken into his face and his cheeks were not hollow, but full of color. His skin was a warm bronze, an attractive contrast to his bright green eyes and chestnut hair. When he saw me, he actually smiled and rushed to greet me. “Wendy!”

He jumped over a couple of logs and bulldozed past a few dragons. Before I knew it, I was being swept into his arms and crushed in a bear-hug to his chest. I hugged him back, just a little confused as he released me and watched as I stumbled back.

“Rhett,” I breathed, scrutinizing his figure from head to toe. He looked healthier and stronger than even before he had been kidnapped by Valentina. How does someone change so much in less than a week? “You look . . . good.”

Laughing, he ran a hand through his curly hair as he glanced over his shoulder. “You don’t look too bad yourself, Dee.” He focused back on me and smiled again. “What’s up?”

Gods, it was like I was talking to a different person. He was still the same Rhett. He walked and talked like my brother, yet . . . there was something that had been altered. My twin was no longer the boy I had spent the last eight years of my life travelling the world with. This was someone new. Someone I did not think I entirely knew.

Footsteps sounded from behind and I turned just in time to see Jericho swing around me to stand by Rhett. He was wearing golden armor, same as Avel. His silver hair was slicked back and neat, and there was a charming half-smile gracing his features.

“Wendy,” he said in greeting. “Pleasant to see you after so many days.”

Without missing a beat, he reached out and wrapped his hand around Rhett’s so that they were connected. Like an idiot, I waited for Rhett to snarl or bite out a harsh insult. Instead, he remained standing and smiling next to the Dragon Lord, acting like it was normal for him and Jericho to be holding hands.

“Um . . .” Shaking my head a little, I couldn’t help staring at the ground as I carefully asked, “Lord Jericho, would you be so kind as to give me a moment to talk with my brother? I have urgent business to discuss with him.”

Jericho did not immediately reply, but looked at Rhett as if for . . . confirmation? The moment was gone as soon as it began, but I still caught Rhett’s little nod and the way Jericho squeezed his hand once more before he nodded in farewell to me as he walked away. Once he was gone, I turned to Rhett with an openly shocked face.

“What the actual fuck, Rhett?” I grabbed his arm, shaking him slightly. His lips curled into a frown as I glowered at him. “The last time I saw you, I thought you were getting your ass handed to you by that dickhead. Now you’re holding hands with him and smiling like you weren’t bloody angry with him a few days ago?”

Rhett sighed, gently pushing away my hands before shoving his own in his pockets. “Look, Dee. I know this may sound . . .” His green eyes crinkled as he thought of the right word. “Confusing, but a lot has changed in the past few days. I don’t really know how to explain some of it, but Jericho isn’t the man I initially thought he was. He’s . . .”

My twin abruptly cut himself off, laughing awkwardly as he ducked his head and stared at the ground. The dying light of the sun cast shadows across his face, stealing away his golden features. In that moment, I felt as if I recognized the sparkle in his eyes. The glow in his cheeks. The tilt of his smile.

“You’re in love,” I said in disbelief, stepping away from him and backing into a tree instead. An odd sort of turmoil arose in my chest, and I suddenly straightened to glance sharply at him. “What changed, Rhett? What could have happened between the two of you for you to suddenly act like . . . like this?”

His cheeks had colored crimson at the word love but he merely swallowed and said, “I don’t know, Dee. At first, I was so angry at him and the horde and the world in general. I was upset and I was scared and I didn’t know how to cope. I know in the beginning, we didn’t seem like we got along too well, but after doing the mating ritual and learning more about him, I . . .” He paused, and that love-sick smile returned to his face. “I don’t know, Dee. One day I woke up and I kind of liked the face I woke up next to.”

For some unknown, unwanted reason, my heart cracked in two upon hearing these words. As if clinging to a thread-bare rope, I asked, “What does this mean, Rhett? You’re not thinking about—” I had to take a moment to breathe before whispering, “You’re not thinking about staying, right? We’re still going as soon as the Blood Moon gets here?”

Rhett hesitated a moment before nodding. “Of course.”

Before I could ask more, a hand was snaking around my torso and yanking me back against a hard chest. I looked up to see Avel holding me to him, with the Inner Circle standing a few feet back, casually chatting with each other. Avel was not looking at me but at Rhett. Assessing.

“My brother has grown fond of you, Mister Rhett,” Avel said after a moment in a steely voice. “I would advise you not to take his generosity lightly.” Then, glancing down at me, he said, “Say your goodbyes, little tiger. We’re leaving.”

Before I could so much as utter a word of goodbye, we were gone.

I don't know what I just wrote, but it felt fantastic.

Hello, loves. I know, I know -- a whole week with no update! How unfortunate. I promise you guys that after this next week, I am going to be able to return to my Saturday/Tuesayish schedule and things will be back to normal. Until then, we will have to simply stick it out.

In other news, what did you guys think of this chapter? I had a particular fun time writing the beginning portion. The image of Avel walking in on Wendy as she read some ~steamy~ novels of her own was one that I could not get out of my head. So voila.

And apparently Rhett is in love with Jericho now?? I do not know where that one came from. This whole week, I was trying to figure out how I wanted to approach the Rhett/Jericho situation and it ended with me deciding that they are mates FOR A REASON. This book is not some crappy fanfiction where polar opposites are smashed together for nothing other than sexual tension and useless plot development. And don't start freaking out yet -- we will get to the bottom of why Rhett/Jericho took a full spin. Just be patient.

(P.S. Rhett and Jericho's relationship is based off the cliche love that goes on in other, usually heterosexual dragon relationships that I have read in other stories. I kind of find it funny that when bad shit happens to girls, people write it off as being okay because the guy is hot and 'dominant'. Yet, when its my manz going through the ringer, people are more disturbed. Just something to think about. *shrugs*)

Anyways, that is all for today folks. Hope you enjoyed!

~Elaine