Romance: Bought by the Dragon: BBW Dragon Shifter Romance Standalone (Paranormal Romance) (Studly Shifters Book 2) Read Free Page B

closely, and his strange, saurian eyes looked as troubled as Grimald’s. Finally, she came to what seemed to be the right door: an immense carved-wood affair, fancier and larger than those around it. The dragon laid his paw against the door and held it open for her. “You shall await him here,” he said, and she heard a sort of sad resignation in his voice.
    She walked through, into a bedchamber out of a Medieval legend. A suit of scale-armor hung on a rack beside one of the multi-paned, ceiling-height windows; tall bookshelves full of every description of book lined the stone walls between hanging tapestries; a wardrobe that could have held a car crouched beside a dressing screen.
    Beyond it lay the bed: massive, built with whole logs, wide and low, its canopy stretching up to dominate a quarter of the room. It was piled with furs and velvet blankets, and she tried to imagine the creature who might sleep their nights.
    If he was anything like his father...no, no, she couldn’t think about that. She was already terrified, already fighting surges of grief and rage. She had to hide her loathing of the whole affair from this prince, or she would end up living in a bricked-up tomb.
    She heard voices outside and froze, listening hard. One was the voice of the beast that had stood guard over her. The other sounded more human: deep, authoritative and a little cold.
    “The girl is here, then?”
    “Yes, Highness. She is...quite extraordinary. It is the King’s hope that you will like her.”
    A derisive snort. “This has nothing to do with what I like or do not like, Ranald my friend. I’m to get a child on this human, and I have no say in the matter. I expect not to see her again once the deed is done.” He sounded so disgusted with the whole affair that Jenna felt an unexpected rush of shame.
    Ranald left out a soft sigh.
    The other paused. “Hmm? What is this, Ranald? Do you like her? Would you like to take my place in this bedchamber? It matters not to me. My father won’t even notice as long as someone fills up her belly with an egg.”
    An egg? Oh Hell no. What was she, a duck? Fucking some strange human against her will and having their kid was one thing, but ending up laying an egg? What kind of insane crap was this?
    Another sigh. Ranald rumbled softly, a note of sadness in his voice. “You will see, Highness. She is...memorable. If I dared, I would….”
    “You would, wouldn’t you?” The voice chuckled in a derisive tone that reminded her of the King. “I’d offer you seconds, but once the Mark is set, she cannot have another or we both die.”
    Jenna froze. What?
     
    “Yes, Highness, I know.” Ranald hesitated. “Then you will take her and then keep celibate for the rest of your life? It does not sound like a happy circumstance for any man, especially one of our nature.”
    “It does not matter.” Bitterness overflowed the man’s voice. “After Andrea’s betrayal, I want nothing to do with women. I’d rather live with the frustration than return to the bed of a woman I wouldn’t touch were it not for my father’s requirements.”
    “It is the kingdom’s requirement, Highness.”
    “Bah. That old sadist is the one who makes the rules. Ever since the Plague took most of our females and left the rest sterile, we have had to breed with mortals. Other men among us, yourself included, can afford to love them, if you can find one worth loving.” His bitter tone indicated that he found that doubtful. “But for me, there is no love. There is only duty.”
    Jenna’s heart sank, and she felt a trickle of sympathy for the owner of that voice. In his own way he was just as trapped as she. The difference, of course, that his duties ended with an orgasm or two. Hers…
    An egg. I am to carry and birth an egg for them. And what comes out of that egg won’t be mine. Not a baby for me to love, but an heir to secure a dynasty. I probably won’t even get to hold him.
    If she started crying again, she