Chapter 3 - Hiding

MIKEL:

I scented the beautiful human and knew she had run into my bedroom, but how had she escaped Abigail and Nana's clutches?

I closed the door first, knowing she would not be able to escape or fly out the window—I doubted she could fly—and I dismissed them to avoid raising panic around the whole palace.

I was the dragon king, but my mother the queen, Ana, and sister, Lucy, were around, and they had not seen her except for my chosen mate, Zuri, who was with me when Aaron arrived with her.

Zuri's eyes had burned with disgust, as the human was pretty—and worse, Aaron had brought her bare, without clothes. How?

I had felt aroused upon seeing how sèxy and curvy her waist was. I was a 540-year-old dragon king, but since I was conceived and birthed, I had not seen a pretty woman like her.

We dragons did not grow older in our Dragunite kingdom, but we abducted human women to use them for crossbreeding to maintain balance in our system, as female dragons rarely birthed many baby dragons.

They were jealous and possessive of us and hated the idea of us taking human females from their parents homes to use them for breeding purposes, but we had no other option.

Since I had accepted Zuri as my mate 300 years ago—when I came of age, before I lost my father—Zuri had not conceived for me, and I did not know why.

Zuri refused to leave the palace, and worse, she did not support the idea of me taking a second mate.

I knew Zuri was seething with rage upon seeing me stare at the pretty woman with lust, as Aaron had clearly triggered me on purpose, knowing she was cute and bringing her without clothes.

She possessed a strong personality, and I had many questions to ask Aaron. He needed to explain where and how he had chosen to bring her náked, with a multitude of people gathering in front of our open, magnificent palace and staring at her.

I was sure many of those men would soon come to purchase her, as we sold any new captured humans to become mates for dragon families that wanted them.

"King Mikel, we need to talk!" Zuri's loud voice echoed in the passage after I had dismissed Abigail and Nana, and I walked up to meet her to avoid her stepping into my room.

"Talk about what, Zuri? I will see Aaron later and find out why he chose to bring the human without clothes. I'm sure it was not intentional," I told Zuri calmly, but she was raging like she wanted to breathe fire and burn the human female to death.

Some human females had been killed by jealous female dragons, and I hoped I could protect this pretty, stubborn human from my mother, sister, and more likely Zuri—Aaron was not a problem.

Aaron had his own mate, Aspen, and she had given birth to two daughters for him: twins Lily and Lola. Aspen was pregnant again, and we hoped it would be a male dragon so I could rest assured that Aaron's male child would be my successor to the throne and continue ruling our kingdom.

"King Mikel, I do not want that human kept in this castle with us. Send her away to wherever she came from. I do not need her around here," Zuri complained bitterly, and I continued walking through the passage so Zuri would not scent the delicious human scent. We met Aaron along the way.

Aaron knew how to show up when I was in distress, and he asked, "What is going on here? Zuri, you know our tradition, or do you want to wipe out our entire clan? You are unable to birth a son or daughter for my brother, and you are sending away all the pretty women we have brought. Are you a witch, Zuri?"

"Enough, Aaron! Let her be," Mother interrupted as she walked up with Lucy to meet us.

"Mikel, Aaron, where is the new woman that was brought? I heard she was brought into this palace without clothes on," Mother asked, peering at me.

"Mom, I need to be left alone. Abigail and Nana are dressing her up and preparing her to be sold tonight." I lied, as the pretty woman was not going anywhere.

I was the king, and whatever decision I made was final. I was softhearted, but that did not mean I would sit back and watch this pretty human sold to a male dragon in my clan when I was still unable to have a child of my own.

It seemed the gods of our lands had chosen to bless me not just with any human, but with a pretty one at that, and I smiled.

"Hmm, all right. Come, Zuri, let's go. Besides, you do not need to worry about the lady. She will be sold tonight," Mother told Zuri as she walked up, pulled Zuri by the arm to follow her, and left. Lucy only stared at Aaron and me in silence, her red eyes on me.

Lucy had stubbornly refused to leave the palace, as she did not want to lose her princess title. Luckily for her, we did not grow old and still maintained our youthful skin even as our age increased; we remained the same year after year—except for the humans. I had heard some dragon men had lost their human mates, but this pretty one was not going anywhere.

I made up my mind to turn her into a dragon, as only I, Aaron, and my sister had the power to do that, being born of ancestral royal dragon blood.

Although we did not tell the other dragons about it—so they might not be aware of turning humans into dragons—I was ready to try it on her. I wanted to dismiss them all, shut the passage door, and be left alone with the woman in my room, while waiting for night to fall, so she could be sold.

Although it was not auction season, but as Aaron had brought her without clothes, many dragon men had seen how endowed she was, so I was sure they would be ready to drop millions of gold to have her even for a night. But I would not let that happen.

"Brother, how do you like her?" Aaron turned to face me, and I breathed out in relief.

"She is beautiful. Where did you bring her from? She looks like the other princesses that have been sold," I said.

"Yes, brother. I think so, but she is strong and ruthless. She was the one who killed those two guards we sent to abduct the human women and bring them to the palace," Aaron said.

"How interesting. But I like her, and that could be a problem, as she escaped from Abigail and Nana's clutches and is in my chamber now," I told Aaron, and his jaw dropped.

"What? That is even the best idea. I purposely brought her for you. I could have killed her, as she was disguised as a man, but when I felt her burning yellow eyes—eyes only the royal family of Sunfield had—I perceived her scent and immediately knew she was of royal blood. But I was confused, seeing her dressed as a man. She is tough, brother. Though she looks small, you have to be careful with her, as she would not hesitate to cut off your rod."

Aaron smirked and showed me his arm, which was still healing, and I asked, "She did this?"

"Yes. She is a perfect sword mistress, and I am sure she wants revenge for her late family and abducted sisters."

"Hmm," I hummed.