She disappeared around the corner and although his c**k was so hard it hurt, he couldn’t help but smile. Because she didn’t even realize . . . she still never said the word, “No.”

* * *

Once a good distance away from him, Rhiannon stopped and slid down the wall. She glanced at her hand. For several seconds it had returned to claw. Promising. She may be able to reverse this spell yet. But she couldn’t worry about it at the moment. Not when thoughts of a black-eyed dragon kept playing through her head. Just with his fingers he’d managed to make her feel . . . full. For those few seconds she was his.

Gods, could she be any weaker? What kind of queen would she be if she couldn’t keep the local riffraff from her pu**y?

But was it really that simple? She’d let Bercelak get away with more in the few hours she’d been with him than with any other dragon she’d ever met. And, she had to admit, it wasn’t merely because her mother had trapped her in this weak, human body. No, it was worse than that. She liked Bercelak’s touch. She liked having his hands on her. She was, in fact, beginning to like him.

And she absolutely hated him for it.

Chapter 4

Rhiannon spent the hour before dawn trying to undo whatever her mother had done to her so she could shift back to dragon. But to no avail.

She missed her dragon self. She missed her wings and her talons. She missed being able to take a horse for a quick meal.

But most importantly, she felt unsafe in this human body. She poked at her skin and it hurt. She dug her nail into her forearm and it bled. By the gods! How do these humans live like this?

And then there was Bercelak. She thought for sure he’d come to her last night. He’d come to Claim her. And she’d been prepared, too. Ready to challenge him as human. Ready to die if he’d come as dragon. But he didn’t come at all. And, in the end, neither did she.

Damn him! She’d never had a male, any male, make her feel so . . . so . . . needy. And not for food or safety or any of those important things. But for sex. She wanted a lusty ride from that bastard and she hated him for making her feel this way. Especially when she’d been so comfortable with not feeling anything at all.

“Are you ready?”

She looked away from the early-morning two suns to the dragon standing beside her. They stood at the mouth of his den, leagues above the earth. If she fell from here now, she’d die. Perhaps that was what her mother had hoped for. That her human form would crumple and Bercelak would be forced to deal with the remains.

“I’m still waiting for you to explain to me why we are going to Kerezik.”

She pulled at the collar of the dress she wore. It wasn’t in any way high. In fact, it scooped dangerously low across her br**sts. Much more and her ni**les would show. She hated wearing clothes, but she felt terribly bare without them, and felt suffocated when she had them on.

“We are, in fact, going to the valley between the grand mountains of Kerezik.”

“Fascinating. Still waiting on why.”

He looked at her and his scales barely hid where she’d ripped into his flesh. She didn’t bother to hide her smirk at that.

“And you’ll continue to wait,” he growled. “Now get on, dragoness. Or I’ll bring you there in my claw.”

Without another word, she hoisted herself onto his back. “I haven’t ridden on the back of another dragon since I was no more than a hatchling. This might prove to be fun.”

To emphasize that point, she dragged her hands through his hair before taking a firm hold. She heard his stifled moan and bit her lip to keep from laughing. There was only so much mocking any dragon could take.

Without another word, Bercelak hit the skies and headed toward Kerezik . . . and whatever was in Kerezik.

“And you remember my mother.”

Rhiannon barely held her growl in as Bercelak introduced her to all his kin. An extremely large, handsome brood who all felt the need to be human on this day. Even Bercelak brought a change of clothes with him. Chainmail leggings and shirt and a dark blue surcoat with the crest of humans destroyed by the queen’s army long ago.

He introduced her to all his kin as the female he intended to Claim.

Bastard!

His mother briefly bowed her head, but she saw the hate in the woman’s eyes. “Princess.”

“Mistress.”

Gold eyes turned to Bercelak. “May I speak with you a moment, my son?”

“Of course.” He nodded at her. “I’ll be right back.”

“As you like,” Rhiannon muttered, wishing she’d ripped his throat out the night before.

Someone, she had no idea who, placed a goblet of wine into her hand while she leaned against a large dining table already laid out in preparation of a feast.

“I’m Maelona.”

“I remember,” Rhiannon sighed, unable to hide her annoyance at her current situation.

“Bercelak’s youngest sister.”

Rhiannon fought her urge to say, “So?”

“I’m a witch, too.”

Now Rhiannon looked at the female in surprise. A petite green dragon with Bercelak’s black eyes, she was extremely pretty as human with her dark green hair. And she probably glittered like emeralds when dragon. She leaned against the table beside Rhiannon.

“Witch? Me? My skills are . . .” Rhiannon shrugged. “Weak.” Embarrassingly so.

“Really?” Another sister, Ghleanna or something, leaned against the table on the other side of Rhiannon. “That’s surprising. A white dragon with no Magick at all? Doesn’t sound right.”