Chapter 3: Chapter Three

Poppy.

I woke up for a few brief seconds at a time. Regretting it the moment I pried my eyes open. A hammering noise drowned my eardrums, deafening me as I clung to this man-bird and prayed I made it through our trip to wherever he was taking me.

We sliced through my scream as he plunged downward. The darkened sky was no help, but by the echoing, and the shape of his wings, I felt he was taking me into Bridget’s Canyon.

This is where I die.

I pressed my face into his bare chest, not caring that his body felt like warmth and sunshine. Only caring that he didn’t drop me, and plunge me to my death. 30 is too young to die.

Light began to trickle into the darkness, but when I tried to look around the wind whipped at my face, and blinded me.

Seconds later, my eyes fluttered closed from what I assumed was the lack of oxygen making it to my brain.

The darkness felt like it lasted a short time, but when I finally opened my eyes again, there was light streaming into the room.

A room I’d never been in before. The silk sheets beneath me felt like the softest fabric I’d ever touched and attempted to lure me back to sleep.

I would have gladly gone because my head was still dizzy from my trip over if I hadn’t woken up in a strange room.

Pulling my feet out of the sheets, I stepped onto a fluffy soft rug and looked at the room. I’d been asleep on a four-post bed made for royalty.

The high-vaulted ceilings rivaled what I assumed a real-life castle looked like, and the crown molding looked handcrafted by an angle.

But I knew this wasn’t Heaven.

Heaven didn’t have dragon men, and I was pretty sure they didn’t kidnap you. The stained glass windows sat over a reading nook built into the walls and cast a rainbow over my bare feet.

I was still in my silk pajamas, which I prayed meant the dragon man didn’t molest me during my sleep. Running over to the reading nook, I stood up and opened the windows.

“Help!” I screamed, my fingers curling over the edge of the windowsill, I glanced down at the courtyard. It was a long way down, and not something I felt comfortable enough trying to escape.

“Oh my God,” I mumbled.

Amongst a lavish garden, and fountains made of marble were other dragon people, and they all stared up at me. Every set of eyes that glared made me want to crawl further into my imaginary hole.

Getting off the reading nook, I ran toward the giant double doors and tugged on them. Trapped. My worst nightmare. I’d had reoccurring dreams of being buried alive growing up, and this was a close second.

Fear began to strangle my throat.

The closet was giant and full of men’s clothing. It ranged from business suits to blue jeans.

I twirled a circle on the floor, tugging at my hair and trying to make rational decisions. I needed out but was locked in. Someone would come to check on me sooner or later, wouldn’t they?

Yeah, when the dragon man was ready for his nightly feast of human flesh.

“Do you always spin circles like a dog when you stress?”

I yelped and jumped back against one of the posts on his bed. I hadn’t even heard the door open, which proved why I was there in the first place.

I hadn’t heard him enter my apartment either.

“Stay back!” I shouted, my arm outstretched in a useless threat.

Dragon Man tilted his head and smiled. He stepped toward me with his hands behind his back. He looked more refined in the daylight. He wore jeans, some combat boots, and a t-shirt, but his wings were retracted, and frankly, he seemed less scary.

He chuckled. “You scared the village down there.”

I mocked his laugh. “I scared them? They scared me. I’m trapped in some castle with a man I don’t know. Why am I here? What do you want? I have no money ...”

He stopped inches in front of me, examining my face, his mossy gaze lowered to my mouth. “Does it look like I need your money, Ember?”

“Poppy. My name is Poppy, and if you don’t let me out, I promise I will make your life a living Hell.”

The corner of his plush mouth curled into a smile. “It’s cute that you think so.” He reached forward and rubbed my hair between his meaty fingers. “I call you Ember because of your hair. I like it.”

I glanced over his shoulder at the open door. “You’ll never make it, Poppy,” he said with a smile. “Last night proved that. You move very slow, even for a human.”

Kick a girl while she’s down.

“I want to know why I’m here.”

He took a deep breath and offered me his hand. I stared at it as if he may bite me, and folded my arms over my chest.

“Fine then,” he said with a wink. “Come with me. I know you’re hungry. I’m sorry to have interrupted your pizza last night, but we were interrupted last time.”

“Saved was more like it,” I mumbled.

Slowly, he reached out and plucked my hand from my side, and brought it to his mouth. “I’m Daegal, but you may call me Dae. Come.”

He tugged me roughly from my spot by the bed and ushered me out of his room. The castle was more beautiful than his room. The grand staircase curved and led us toward a giant open space. I wouldn’t pretend I knew the names of all the rooms, but I knew the kitchen because my stomach threatened to give out if I didn’t feed it.

What surprised me the most was the modern appliances that lined the house. A tall woman stood in the kitchen, her graying hair braided on top of her head. Though her hair screamed age, you wouldn’t have known it by her face.

Her skin was smooth and dark like coco and her purple eyes were like nothing I’d ever seen. “Melinda,” Dae said. “This is ... Poppy,” he chuckled.

I glanced over at him. “That was my grandmother’s name, you ass.”

Melinda dropped the pan in her hand and gasped.

Dae’s stormy gaze shifted over toward mine. “It’s okay, Melinda. Poppy doesn’t know the rules just yet. Can we take these two plates?”

She glanced down and nodded. Why was she treating him with so much ... respect?

“Follow me, Ember. We’ll eat our breakfast outside on the terrace.”

Slowly, I followed him out of the kitchen, making note of the doors and trying to memorize any EXIT routes.

Dae opened the glass doors off to the side of the kitchen with his shoulder, and we stepped out onto a covered terrace. It was beautiful with a trellis of flowers hovering around the ceiling and an outdoor dining set.

He sat down our plates and offered me a seat.

I sank into my seat and glanced around the table. Juice and coffee were sitting out for me, and I grabbed the coffee first, sniffing it.

“Did you poison this?”

He sat back in his chair, one palm resting on his upper thigh in that sexy man way that I secretly loved. “Do I look like a man who enjoys poisoning his prisoners?”

“Hmm,” I said taking a sip of the goodness. “No, you look like a potential serial killer who enjoys the chase to me.”

“Exactly,” he winked. “Now, eat up. We have a long day ahead of us.”

I stared at the average breakfast, and then up at him taking a mouthful of food. “Are you embarrassed to eat in front of me?” he asked. “I’m not like those human men. I like my women with child-baring hips—,”

I gasped. “Are you saying I have child-baring hips, you egotistical jackass!”

Dae leaped up from his chair and barricaded me with his body. With one palm on each arm of my chair, he leaned close to me. “Listen to me, Poppy. I’ve been kind to you because you’re new. You don’t understand our world, but you won’t insult me anymore. I’m the Dragon King, and I do not accept disrespect kindly.”

The Dragon King? Seriously?

I couldn’t stop my smile, and he didn’t seem to like it. It was uncontrollable. It had been since I was a child. I laughed in certain situations that didn’t call for it. “You think this is a joke, do you?”

He snaked his hand around the back of my neck, and rendered my mouth helpless, as he angled my mouth toward his. “There is nothing funny about my place in the kingdom. You’re lucky I’ve taken to your customs and respected your space.”

“Oh,” I teased. “You don’t respect women in your kingdom?”

A dark twinkle clouded his irises. “Oh, love. I don’t have to ask for respect here. Everyone—men and women—knows their place. And women here know that being mated with a Dragon King is a privilege.”

I opened my mouth to reply with something smart-alecky because it was built inside of me, but then I stopped.

“Mated to a Dragon King? Who is mated to a Dragon King?”

Dae smiled. “You, Ember. You’re mated to this Dragon King."