“We hate each other, Karnal,” Konar said. “Why would you come find me?”

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Karnal rasped. Then his pink eyes flicked in Mara’s direction, and even though she was hiding, she felt the blaze of his cold stare for a moment.

  Even compared to Konar’s, this dragon’s irises were so icy and full of hatred she could barely breathe as she continued to hide behind her hedge.

  “Come out, come out wherever you are, tasty little thing,” Karnal said in a low, singsongy voice that still sounded pure evil. He looked up at Konar, who had gone rigid. “Looks like you’ve got something delicious, haven’t you?” Karnal pulled his head back and opened his mouth, and a ball of fire started burning in the back of his throat, growing bigger.

  Konar rushed in front of her, then swung his spiked tail hard, knocking Karnal back into the air and causing his wings to come out as he tried to gain balance.

  “How dare you spit fire with my mate in the area?”

  “Mate?” Karnal threw back his dragon head in a laugh, and Drokar looked interested but still said nothing.

  Apparently a very quiet dragon.

  “Dragons like us don’t have mates. We conquer. Or have you gone soft in the time since we left our planet?” Karnal asked.

  “She smells good,” Drokar finally said, his voice the lowest of all, his green-yellow eyes narrowing on her. “I sense power in her. I will fight you for her, brother.”

  “I’m not your brother, and I’m not going to fight you for what’s already mine,” Konar said harshly. “Leave this area. It is not my problem what you do.”

  Karnal grinned, a wicked grin filled with sharp, jagged teeth, as his tail whipped back and forth, so huge it could surely take out part of the castle. “I sense power as well. Rare power.” He looked at Drokar. “I challenge you for her as well.”

  “The rules of our planet don’t apply here,” Konar said. “The human has free will.”

  “Not any longer,” Karnal said. “Now, prepare your dragon fire.” He opened his mouth, and the fire started building again.

  “Whoever survives the burns longest claims her,” Drokar said, then he moved into a position where he could face both Karnal and Konar and opened his mouth to let his fire build also.

  Konar stepped forward, doing the same. “So be it. If the two of you need to be burned to death to understand what is mine can’t be taken by any force on this planet or any other, so be it.”

  Mara blinked as she realized what was about to happen. Several dragons and a lot of trees and animals could be destroyed. This was ridiculous.

  She went running into the clearing and grabbed onto Konar’s tail, causing him to whip around.

  “Get back inside!” he yelled. “Now!”

  Just then, a fireball came flying at him, and he used his tail to move her out of the way so his body took the fire and she wasn’t affected.

  His scales sizzled, but he merely glared back at Karnal. “Now you’re dead.”

  “No!” she said again, trying to run between all of them. “Stop it! You’re going to destroy all the trees! The animals in the forests here… Please, just fight with something other than fire.”

  Drokar’s green-yellow eyes narrowed. “She’s worried about trees.”

  “Stop it! Stop it!” Karnal mocked her, using a higher voice, which sounded hilarious in his dragon form. “Don’t kill the little trees and animals.” His eyes narrowed, and his smile stayed mean. “This human is interesting, asking for such things when her own life is in danger. I definitely want to take her.”

  “Like hell you will,” Konar said.

  “We must find a way to settle the challenge,” Drokar said. “Aside from the human’s request, we could be seen here.”

  “No one could do anything to us,” Konar said sullenly.

  “But if we want to conquer this place, we are best off lying low and amassing power and seeing what other predators are emerging now that the oracle is falling,” Drokar said.

  Karnal considered it, then nodded. “Fine. We compete with axes, then.”

  Konar and Drokar signaled their agreement, and then almost immediately, sparkling curtains fell in front of all three men, revealing them in their human forms as the black smoke from their dragons cleared.

  Konar was pulling off his jeans and tee shirt, apparently wanting to fight in his loincloth.

  To Mara’s dismay, he appeared to have a black burn smudge on his waist where he’d caught the fire attack to protect her.

  Still, he didn’t seem disturbed by it.

  “Stay back, much farther back,” he yelled to her. “Stay by the wall, and be ready to run, no matter what happens.” His ax was out and ready in his hands.

  Mara did as he requested, drawing back with a racing heart and studying the other men who had just been dragons.

  Like Konar, each was very tall. Around the same height. Each was covered in rippling muscle and barely clothed, scarred from battle.

  Karnal’s dark-blond hair was pulled back from his face in a leather band and then loose to his shoulders. His pink eyes glittered as he appraised her, his sharp, striking features making a face she would never forget.

  Beneath his sparkling pink eyes was a long, thin nose and a hard, wide jaw.

  He gave her a smirk that sent a shiver down to her toes, and not in the good way.

  Was Konar really a good guy compared to these two?

  All she could think about was that kiss. The way she’d pushed him away.

  And now here he was risking his life for her against two dragons as big as he was.

  Karnal reached behind his back and brought an ax out of seemingly nowhere. Unlike Konar’s, it was large and two-handed with double-ended blades. He swung it menacingly in a circle, glaring at Konar.

  Drokar was waiting with his ax as well, which was a long-handled ax with a big one-sided blade. The handle and blade were thicker and rougher than the one Konar carried.

  Konar’s looked like the type you could throw.

  Drokar had short black hair and a thick dark beard obscuring much of his face. But his green-yellow eyes were oddly placid, as if not much could phase him.

  All three of them were some of the most beautiful men she had ever seen.

  “She likes our bodies,” Drokar rumbled in a low, pleased voice. “I like this female more and more.”

  Konar shot her a dark look, and she just shrugged. She was human, after all.

  Still, she found Konar the most beautiful. And she’d be deeply upset if something happened to him, so she tried to think of a way to help.

  Konar paced, throwing his ax easily from hand to hand. Then he shot her a look. “No matter what, I won’t let anyone take you. I’m the only barbarian who can capture you.”

  “Begin,” Karnal said, walking forward.

  The three huge men circled, holding their axes defensively and looking for an opening. Drokar quickly swung at Karnal, who blocked the strike and made a strike of his own back at Drokar.

  Drokar and Karnal went back and forth for a moment, and then Konar joined the fight. For a moment, the three men were a blur of motion against each other, and all Mara could see was ax blades glinting and clanging in the sunlight as the men dodged in and out.

  A gasp of pain rent the air as Karnal looked down to see blood streaming from a wound in his side. He covered it with one hand, leaving him holding his ax one-handed. Drokar took advantage of the moment to kick Karnal’s ax out of his hands. When Karnal lunged for his ax, Drokar made as if to kick the other dragon in the face, but Konar attacked, slamming his ax down at Drokar as Drokar dodged back.

  The two men clashed, dodging and blocking ax swings as they got more sweaty and more heated.

  Karnal merely watched, holding his ax and looking as if he were already out of the competition.

  That didn’t stop him from turning to give her a wink with those oddly beautiful pink eyes.

  Konar and Drokar were going at it harder and harder, and Karnal began to move over to her.

  “This fight has one too many dragons,” he said. “I think I’ll just help myself—” But as he reached his hand out, there was a whistling noise and a thunk, followed by a spray of blood, and Mara realized in amazement that Konar’s ax was embedded in Karnal’s arm.

  Karnal glared up just in time to see Konar leaping through the air toward him, beautiful body sheened with sweat and glowing in the sun.

  Konar landed, yanked out his ax, and used one booted foot to kick Karnal to the side and send him rolling into the bushes.

  Konar then walked over and grabbed the other dragon by the neck and lifted him to punch him in the face, once then twice, and then threw him into the trees bodily.

  God, he was strong.

  “Stay there, or I’ll kill you, Karnal, and I have no desire to spill more blood in front of my tiny, delicate human mate.”

  She blinked up at him, blood from Karnal already splattered on her dress.

  Konar turned to see Drokar walking toward him, ax raised, eyes gleaming.

  Konar lifted his ax and threw it, and Drokar ducked, then came at Konar with a hard swing.

  “I want the human,” Drokar said as Konar grabbed the handle of Drokar’s ax and pulled it in before pushing Drokar off him long enough to lift his hand. To Mara’s surprise, Konar’s ax came flying back to his hand.

  “You have strong affinity with your weapon,” Drokar muttered, swinging his ax again and catching another attack from Konar. “But it won’t save your mate.”

  Konar pushed forward, ax to ax, and then let go with one hand and formed it into a hard fist, which he sent into Drokar’s face while Drokar was still focused on holding his ax against him.

  Drokar stumbled backward, and Konar swung his ax down, catching Drokar in the leg and kicking Drokar’s ax away.

  Karnal was already walking out of the woods, bleeding in two places, ax in hand. He raised his weapon, looking ready to fight again, as Konar began to punch Drokar the same way he had Karnal.

  Over and over, so hard she could hear the crack of bone against bone.

  “Stop!” she yelled as she saw Konar raise his ax. “Wait! You’ve clearly already won. Let them go! They’ve lost as much as you have. Clearly, you should all be working together!”

  “To conquer the world?” Konar asked, dropping a slightly limp Drokar and turning to look at her.

  Drokar had the audacity to try and grab and swing his ax, and Konar just kicked it out of his grip as he still faced Mara.

  “No,” she said. “Just for support.”

  All three dragons laughed at that, and Drokar pushed to his feet, bleeding and bruised but holding his ax again. “We are warriors, not mewling children.”

  “Be that as it may,” she said firmly, “I still think this is stupid.”

  Konar looked ready to kill both of them still, but she moved over to him and stood on her toes, taking all of her courage to plant a kiss on his lips, startling him enough to make him go still.

  The kiss was heated. She could still see how hard he’d fought for her, see the wounds he’d given her would-be kidnappers.

  She wanted to let him know how much she appreciated the protection and how much she didn’t see the other dragons the way she saw him.

  And to let everyone know there was a victor.

  The other dragons began making booing noises, which made her stop.

  Karnal and Drokar lowered their axes.

  “So that’s how it is?” Karnal asked.

  “That’s how it is,” Konar said, pulling away from her but keeping his arm around her waist, holding her close. She could tell the way he had fought was different and that, with time, he truly would have killed the other two dragons.

  But they all really were beautiful creatures, and after how long they had been imprisoned, it would be a shame for them to die.

  The other two moved back and then, with a shimmering wave in front of each of them, grew into huge dark creatures whose scales were catching the light wherever the swirls of smoke didn’t cover them.

  For a moment, she thought they would fight more.

  “We don’t have more time to waste with you, Konar. Or your human,” Karnal said. “You won the challenge, but you won’t win the world. Not with the two of us working against you.”

  “He always did hate cooperation,” Drokar said. “Too bad his human will die with him once we conquer this place.”

  Karnal let out a snicker at that, and then the two of them beat their wings, lifting into the sky. Then, to her shock, both of them disappeared from view completely.

  “Cloaking,” Konar said, keeping his large, warm arm around her shoulder protectively. “So that we can travel unannounced.”

  “Should we warn the dragons? Will there be trouble?” she asked.

  “Karnal and Drokar just woke up, and they are not at full strength,” Konar said gravely. “I could feel that when I fought them. Nonetheless, yes, in a few days, they could be a danger to this planet.” His lips firmed into a line. “Though, I will not do anything about it. I care only about protecting you, little one. The rest of this planet can burn.”

  She blinked. “Konar…” His words were oddly sweet, and she didn’t know what to make of them.

  At the same time, as he looked down at her with those burning sunset eyes, she knew she had to be careful to keep in mind what he’d told her.

  That his heart was stone cold.

  He turned to face her, looking her over before pulling her into him. “I’ve never been so nervous. Facing two dragons is nothing, but facing them with a tiny, fragile human in the vicinity…” His hands clasped her arms. “Never come out again when I tell you to stay in and safe.”

  “I had to see what was happening,” she said.

  “And you could have died,” he said, voice harsh. Sweat was dripping from his brow, and she watched it make a long line down his strong neck, over his collarbone, down a huge, heaving, perfectly shaped pec, and then over rippling, rock-hard abs and down to—

  He walked over to his jeans and pulled them on again, and she almost wished he hadn’t.

  “Little one, don’t intervene in a fight like that,” he said, suddenly pulling her in against him and wrapping his arms around her. “I cannot bear for something to happen.”

  She glanced up at him. “Because you need my power to conquer the world?”

  He frowned, brushing her hair back tenderly, his big fingers warm where they grazed her face.

  With his hard thighs pressed to hers, and his gentle words, she felt herself heating up, wanting… something.

  His eyes met hers. “Why didn’t you let me fight and kill them if you’re so worried for your world?”

  She swallowed. “I don’t know. It just… If the three of you were truly wrongfully imprisoned, it’s just so sad for one of you to die. Though, to be honest, I only worried for you, Konar.”

  His gorgeous, full lips spread in a grin. “So you do like me.”

  She nodded. “I find you very attractive.”

  He pushed in closer, then lowered his head, putting his lips against the shell of her ear. “I won the battle for you. On my planet, that means we should celebrate.”

  She blinked up at him, body too overwhelmed with arousal and his presence to think straight.

  She was a hard-to-reach woman. She didn’t just let any good-looking man have a chance.

  But with Konar, there was just something about his honesty that lowered all her defenses.

  With something big and hard and impossibly long pressed against her, she realized this incredibly beautiful dragon truly wanted her.

  Not just her powers.

  He wanted her body.

  And she’d never wanted to give in so much for just a moment of pleasure. To see if this barbarian dragon could conquer her body as well as he conquered cities.

  “I… want to celebrate,” she said. Before she could even finish, she was swooped up in big, strong arms and cradled against Konar’s chest like she was tiny.

  “Come, human,” he said, striding toward the castle and pressing a kiss to the top of her forehead. “Let me show you why you should choose me as mate.”

  14

  With a hearty kick, the doors to Konar’s chambers flew open, drawing a surprised gasp from Mara as he carried her inside.

  He wasn’t entirely sure what had come over him when the other dragons had arrived and immediately made their interest in her clear. He just knew that he would do anything to protect her, even go so far as to kill, just for her sake.

  His heart thudded in his chest as he strode into the wide expanse of his chambers. All around him, trophies and trappings hung on the walls and decorated the stone floor leading up to his bed.

  Normally, these things would give him joy, reminding him of battle and conquest.

  But all he could possibly focus on was the curvy woman in his arms and the way her blush seemed to be creeping lower and lower down her neck, below the pink dress she was still wearing.

  Not wearing for long, he thought to himself.

  With only a few strides, he was at the foot of his gigantic bed, large enough for a warrior king like himself.

  With plenty of space for his queen…

  Konar tossed her roughly onto the bed, making her squeak as the thick blankets cushioned her fall.

  Then he was atop her, straddling her, his legs tensing with the feel of her curves against his hard muscles.

  As he did, Mara’s gaze roved up his bare abdominals, lingering on his chest for a moment before her green irises settled on him.

  Every time she looked at him like that, he felt a surge of something new and uncomfortable.

  “I can feel how much you want me, Mara,” Konar said gruffly, leaning down to nip her earlobe. Immediately, her body responded to his touch, like a spark catching fire on kindling that would soon rage into a bonfire if she let him continue. “You say you only want us to get to know each other better, but I can feel the way you respond to my body.”