Free bedeviled & beyond 04 - bedeviled & belittled by sam cheever Page A

smell of reptile and death.
    We soared away from the caverns, heading quickly to an unknown destination. Amazingly, none of the reds tried to follow us. I found that very strange but, at the moment, couldn’t help being grateful.
    I turned to the Slayer. “What was that all about?”
    He shrugged. “There have always been hard feelings between the two dragon races, maybe somebody just decided to take advantage of the moment to score some points.”
    My gaze sharpened on him. “You think the queen was behind that?”
    His lips pursed thoughtfully but he didn’t respond. Glynus hit a pocket of air and dropped unexpectedly. His muscular thighs kept him in place and his arm tightened around my waist when I tilted.
    I turned my head to look at him.
    Licking my lips, I couldn’t help wondering what he would taste like. Just like that my Settling flared and his scent infused me, the heat of his body tugged at me, and my sensual core clenched in awareness.
    He must have seen the change in my eyes, or smelled it in the air, because his dark gaze sharpened and the corners of his mouth tipped up.
    I felt color flooding my face and turned away, determined to ignore him.
    “You know you’re really pretty when you’re not covered in dragon spit and gore.”
    I snorted. “Gee thanks.”
    His hands were suddenly resting against my hips, sliding down my thighs. “I know a place where you can scour all that away.” His voice was a deep throb on the air beside my ear.
    I gasped as he skimmed a hand upward, narrowly missing the vee of my thighs, and flattened it against my belly, pulling me against the hard ridge of his shaft at my back. “I’d love to share trade secrets with you.”
    I tried to laugh but the sound came out as a moan. The hand on my belly was skimming toward my breasts, as the other hand slid into the crease where my leg met my body.
    Hooboy! I grabbed both hands and stilled them. “Tell Glynus where to go.”
    ~SC~
    A few moments later we dropped from the sky onto a wide ledge on the face of the mountain. Glynus skipped to a stop and hopped toward a nearby cave. Just inside the cave’s entrance, she bowed low to allow the Slayer and me to slide off.
    The Slayer indicated a wide nest within the cave, away from the entrance where it would be protected from the elements. “You can rest there, Glynus.”
    My dragon, a very smart creature, narrowed her large, beautiful eyes on the Slayer. I don’t trust him, mother halfling.
    The Slayer looked at me and I couldn’t help thinking his gaze was a bit predatory. He seemed to understand Glynus’ concern. “Don’t worry, Princess. She’ll be fine. I’ll get her cleaned up and fed. Then we’ll decide where to go from here.”
    Glynus looked skeptical. I had indeed taught her well.
    Arching an eyebrow at his phrasing, I suddenly realized we hadn’t told Glynus about her “problem” yet. I decided it could wait until I scraped dragon spew from my body. The Slayer was right. I needed to regroup before I made any important decisions about the future. I reached out and placed a hand on Glynus’ thick forearm. “I’ll be fine, Tadpole. Get some rest and we’ll talk later.”
    Glynus nodded and turned toward the nest, casting Slayer a warning look. If you need me I can be there in two beats of your heart, mother halfling.
    Thanks, Tadpole. I can handle this one.
    She chuckled in my mind. In your current state, I’m not so sure.
    It was the first time she’d made any reference to my Settling. I wondered if I was sending out some kind of invisible signals that the dragon was picking up. My cheeks heated with embarrassment.
    “Shall we?”
    I fell into step behind the Slayer, my traitorous gaze sliding to fixate on the perfect, muscular roundness of his buttocks. He led me through a small opening that Glynus would never be able to navigate.
    So much for her being there if I needed her.
    “Anti-dragon access points?”
    He laughed. “You got it. Of course they