Free Dragon Claiming (Year of the Dragon) by Marteeka Karland, Shara Azod Page A

village full of fair-skinned people, she stood out like a rare black diamond against a smooth, white sheet. Her hair, always intricately braided, hung past her hips when loosened. Uryen longed to have all that hair loose and fanned over his skin as he taught her to ride him to bliss.
                Today, the maidens usually by his mate’s side were all surrounded by a hunting party of young males fresh from a successful hunt. Full of pride at their success, the young men courted in earnest, trying to tempt any of the maidens to go off alone. Food had become scarce in the Ury tribe, and any successful hunt was cause for celebration. Young hunter-warriors who brought back food for the tribe were to be honored and praised. These young men seemed to have far too keen an interest in Sippora. For this reason Uryen had chosen to fly far away from the temptation of ripping the human males limb from limb. 
                His plan wasn’t working. He could smell the interest of a few particularly aggressive males. Now that Fate had revealed Sippora was his, the most potent magic that had been lost eons ago stirred in the land of Ury once more, granting him powers beyond those he’d already possessed. He could sense everything about his mate and her surroundings. Especially the intent of two young men who had hatched a plan to separate Sippora from the other females and take her off to the home they had recently built...for her. As much as Uryen tried to ignore it, tried to rationalize she would be much better off with human males less aggressive than he, the urge to swoop down on the tribe and roast the young men was fast becoming overwhelming.
                No matter how far he flew, Uryen could still hear her laughter as the young men teased. He could read their thoughts as they slyly surrounded her and tried to prod her away from the group. Although there were a few elders scattered about, watching over the gathering of young adults, the possibility of the men taking what was his, touching what was his made his gaze go red. How dare they?  That it was unknown Sippora was born for him and him alone didn’t matter. She was too good for them—surely they had to know that.
                With two powerful bats of his wings, Uryen changed course despite the fact that every fiber of his cognitive self battled against it. The itch beneath the scaly skin would not go away. Even in this form the need had overcome him at last. He needed to claim her, had to claim her or he would lose what little sanity remained. Though he had no human cock in this form, lust radiated off of him in red hot waves, as searing as the fire he breathed. The lush freshness of his woman beckoned, calling to him before another was stupid enough to try to take it. Uryen flew straight for the village of the tribe he was sworn to protect, although no human had laid eyes on him in hundreds of years.
                He could no longer fight it. The time had come to claim what was his.
 
 

Dragon Claiming

Chapter Two
 
Although Sippora laughed freely at the antics of Magna and Dirk, her heart was troubled. She knew they were attempting to move her away from the safety of the large group of unmated maidens and hunter-warriors so that they may try to claim her. It wasn’t going to work. Each time they managed to nudge her away from the others, she simply side-stepped and returned to the center of the group. But it wasn’t their attempts that bothered her. She was used to them both either together or individually trying to catch her unawares.
                There was something else in the air today. Something dark but not really sinister. Something coming for her. Since reaching her maturity, Sippora had known none of the men in her tribe were the ones for her. She knew that someday something would come for her, and it seemed with each passing day that time was coming