Dragon Actually (Dragon Kin #1)(10)

Some thought L’Udair handsome. But she only saw the ugly side of him. Like now, when his lips twisted into an angry snarl. He seized her by the hair and snatched her to him so her back and sword slammed against his chest.

“The question, as always, my sweet, is whether I return you to your brother with or without your head?” He held the blade of his weapon against her neck. “Or perhaps we should spend a little time together before I return you at all. I still owe you for the loss of my finger.”

“Lay with me, L’Udair, and you risk the rest of your... parts.” She smiled at him and saw his leer fade.

“What amazes me,” said a low voice in front of her, “is that you haven’t killed him yet.”

Annwyl focused on the mysterious man who had, while L’Udair made his threats, eliminated the rest of the small scouting party.

“Do you really have time for this?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re right, of course.” Annwyl unsheathed the dagger at her side and in one fluid move brought it back over her shoulder, not stopping until it tore through L’Udair’s eye. As soon as he began screaming she pulled away from him before he could finish her off with his own sword. She would have taken his head, but he died quickly and she rarely removed the heads of the dead.

Annwyl heard her dream lover move. She drew the blade strapped to her back, touching the tip against his throat as he got within arm’s reach of her. “Hold, knight.” She stared at him, taking a deep breath to still her rapidly beating heart. By the gods, he’s beautiful. And Annwyl didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. Which wasn’t far. He had to be the biggest man she’d ever seen. All of it hard-packed muscle that radiated power and strength.

She tightened her grip on her sword. “I know you.”

“And I know you.”

Annwyl frowned. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You kissed me.”

“And I believe you kissed me.”

Annwyl’s rage grew, her patience for games waning greatly. “Perhaps you failed to realize that I have a blade to your throat, knight.”

“And perhaps you failed to realize”—he knocked her blade away, placing the tip of his own against her throat— “that I’m not some weak-willed toady who slaves for your brother, Annwyl the Bloody of the Dark Plains.”

Annwyl glanced down at the sword and back at the man holding it. “Who the hell are you?”

“The dragon sent me.” He lowered his blade. “And he was right. You are too slow. You’ll never defeat Lorcan.”

Her rage welled up and she slashed at him with her blade. But it wasn’t one of her well-trained maneuvers. It felt awkward and messy. He blocked her easily, slamming her to the ground.

Her teeth rattled in her head. Good thing her wound had already healed, otherwise Morfyd would be sewing it up once again.

The knight stood over her. “You can do better than that, can’t you?” She stared up at him and he smiled. “Or maybe not. Guess we’ll just have to see.”

He wandered off. Annwyl knew he expected her to follow. And, for some unknown reason, she did.

She found him by the stream that ran through the glen. It took all her strength to walk up to him. She really wanted to run back into the dragon’s lair and hide under his massive wings. She wasn’t afraid of this man. It was something else. Something far more dangerous.

As she approached, he turned and smiled. And Annwyl felt her stomach clench. Actually, the clenching might have been a bit lower.

She’d never known a man who made her so... well… nervous. And she’d lived on Garbhán Isle since the age of ten; all she’d ever known were men who made it their business to make women nervous, if not downright terrified.

“Well,” she demanded coldly.

He moved to stand in front of her, his gorgeous smile teasing her. “Desperate are we?”

Annwyl shook her head and stepped away from him. “I thought you said something about training me for battle, knight.” For the dragon. She would only do this because the dragon asked her to. And she would damn well make sure he knew it, too.

“Aye, I did, Annwyl the Bloody.”

“Do stop calling me that.”

“You should be proud of that name. From what I understand, you earned it.”

“My brother also called me dung heap. I’m sure he thought I earned that too, but I’d rather no one call me that.”

“Fair enough.”

“And do you have a name?” He opened his mouth to say something but she stopped him. “You know what? I don’t want to know.”

“Really?”

“It will make beating the hell out of you so much easier.”

She wanted to throw him off. Make him uneasy. But his smile beamed like a bright ray of sunlight in the darkened glen. “A challenge. I like that.” He growled the last sentence, and it slithered all the way down to her toes. Part of her wanted to panic over that statement, since it frightened her more than the dragon himself. But she didn’t have time. Not with the blade flashing past her head, forcing her to duck and unsheathe her own sword.

He watched her move. Drank her in. And when she took off her shirt and continued to fight in just leather leggings, boots, and the cloth that bound her br**sts down, he had to constantly remind himself of why he now helped her. To train her to be a better fighter. Nothing more or less. It was not so he could lick the tender spot between her shoulder and throat.