To Tame a Dragon - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,8

head from side to side as tiny flames spouted through his teeth—and his scales. The air heated rapidly, creating fresh beads of sweat on Elliya’s skin.

Heart racing, Elliya dropped the sleeper dust husks and scrambled backward on hands and feet.

The dragon burst into flames with a roar, bathing the canyon in frantic, dancing orange light. Tails, wings, and talons swung and thrashed, fighting the flames, fighting for purchase, but the fire only intensified, shifting from orange to white. Elliya’s eyes stung from the brightness and heat, but she couldn’t look away. Horror kept her gaze fixed on the dragon.

Blackened ash flaked off his body and caught on the wind, scattering across the riverbank, and the air was soon thick with smoke.

The mighty beast fell backwards, plunging into the river with an immense splash that was silenced by the hiss of water instantly boiling. A huge cloud of steam spewed from the water, further obscuring her view but for the intense light within it. All that hissing, growling, and splashing continued.

Scalding droplets landed on Elliya’s foot, driving her farther back from the water. Her heart was racing, her breath ragged, her throat constricted.

What was happening? What had she done?

The smoke and steam enveloped her. Eyes watering, she turned her face away and coughed, throat and lungs burning. For a few alarming moments, it felt as though she’d hack up her internal organs, as though she’d die just as she’d accomplished what so few humans had before her. But the smoke soon thinned, and her coughing eased.

All those terrifying sounds had ceased, leaving only the jarring gentleness of flowing water and wind.

She crawled forward until she found her discarded waterskin. Uncorking it, she used the water inside to rinse her eyes, face, and mouth. Blinking away the moisture from her lashes, she turned her attention to the river, which was close enough now for her to reach out and touch.

A haze of steam lingered over the water, which was now undisturbed but for a faint orange glow within its relative darkness. She inched closer to the water’s edge, leaning forward to peer at that ember-like light. Her eyes rounded when she realized it was moving toward her.

As it neared, Elliya could see a dark shape surrounding the glow.

A hand emerged from the water, its clawed fingers slamming down on the bank and sinking into the mud. Big as it was, that hand was much too small to belong to a dragon. The arm that surfaced after it was large, muscular, and scaley, but it too did not belong to a dragon.

The figure hauled itself up out of the river, first onto its knees and then its feet, water pouring from its powerful, broad-shouldered body. Elliya tilted her head back to look up at the figure—tall and imposing, and in the shape of a man.

A long, thick tail slashed across the surface behind the male as he stalked forward, driving Elliya back farther onto her backside. His whole body was powerfully built and covered in golden scales of varying size. His chest was illuminated from within, as though it held a blazing fire rather than a heart and lungs. Two wings stretched outward from the man’s back, shedding excess water, and he shook his head, making his long hair—silver in the moonlight—whip around his head. That only drew attention to the long horns atop his skull.

His eyes met Elliya’s; they were glowing blue, their slitted pupils expanding as he stared at her.

Not a man at all. This was the dragon.

This was her dragon.

His nostrils flared, and his tongue flicked out from between his lips to taste the air. His eyes dipped down her body to fixate upon her sex. His jaw—lined with two small bone spikes on each side—clenched, and his lips peeled back to reveal sharp teeth.

Elliya’s gaze moved down his wide chest, his muscular abdomen, and narrow hips to settle on his cock. It extruded from his slit, long, thick, and pulsing, as golden as the rest of him with fine scales and pronounced ridges. Pale seed oozed from its tip.

Desire flared within her, and her sex ached with want of the male before her. Not wholly man or beast, but virile and strong, magnificent and menacingly beautiful.

He growled and took a step toward her, wrapping his hand around his cock and squeezing hard. More seed seeped from its tip to drip into the grass, wasted.

“Female,” he said in a deep, accented, gravelly voice.

Elliya tore her eyes away from his cock