HUNTING HIS FATED MATE. The Dark Dragon Doesn't Know How to Love

Chapter 4. Taming a Dragon

I crunched loudly on the fruit and grew angrier by the second. What made that smug dragon decide I'd carry out his will and wait for a man to come back from a hunt like some sheep? He'd be bringing a new woman into the house, a helper, so to speak. What more could I want? There, Goldy, and you were crying that a man dumped you. Look, God sent you an option even better than the last one.

I managed to work myself up to God knows what. So I wasn't even surprised when I climbed into the slow-burning black fire on my own. I'd thought it was an optical trick, and I didn't feel the slightest warmth stepping over it.

I had firmly decided to run from here, as far as possible from that self-assured brute. I'd met plenty of his type in ordinary life.

My bare feet sank into soft, lush grass, and I exhaled with relief. I could run.

I took a full breath. The air was so fresh and clean that after the choking city smog it felt almost divine.

I headed in the direction I thought they'd dragged me from. Maybe there was something like a portal there (I know it's nonsense, but what else could it be, since I hadn't lost my mind?). At first I walked quietly, to keep the noise down. Then the darkness stopped seeming so terrible, and I began making out the silhouettes of trees easily, so soon I was running. All I could hear was my own breathing and the rustle of grass.

Then everything changed. Winged shadows flickered across the sky, and I got so frightened I sped up. Like a spry doe I started covering two or three meters at a bound.

The wild fear wrapped around me and gave me strength. Or maybe all of this was just my mirage? I was more frightened of the flying lizards in the sky than of possibly going insane. The airplanes next to them were children's toys.

Without slowing, I tipped my head back to look at the monsters and counted more than a dozen. They blotted out the moon, and one of them lifted its head and belched black flame. So all of this was happening for real. At the sight of a dragon spitting fire, my blood came to a boil and tore through my veins. It was so strange. My body was reacting to a dragon in a way it shouldn't (it still wouldn't fit in my head that such a thing could be true).

While I studied the exotic beasts, my hearing caught a rustling, and then a flock of those same girls raced past me. Gray-skinned Idris ran last, and she was the one who spotted me.

"What are you standing there for, you poor wretch? Run and hide, unless you want the dragon to take you! Though there's no running from a fated bond…" the know-it-all shouted, and hurried after her comrades.

It looked to me like they were caught up in the thrill too, without a shadow of fear in them. Not far off, I heard a woman's shriek mixed with delight, and an inexplicable curiosity pushed me to go that way.

The deeper I went into the dense forest, the more remarkable the light became. Tiny glowing wings of beetles very like our fireflies spread across the tree bark. Everything around us felt cozy and safe.

I reached the second group of women quickly and confirmed that these girls came from a different social class. I recognized the dragon's bride at once. She was dressed, or rather "undressed," in an eighteenth-century gown with bare shoulders and an ample bust on display. She must have wanted to be sure the dragon would spot her from the sky.

The girls weren't afraid of anything. They shifted in place impatiently, glancing around. I hid behind a thick tree and pricked up my ears, listening to their conversation. No information would be wasted on me right now.

"Marie, can you definitely see my blush in this darkness?" the bride asked in a trembling, slightly squeaky voice. You could see how nervous she was, worrying at a small silk pouch in her hands.

"Yes, Your Grace," her companion confirmed.

"Where in the harpies are they?" another pretty girl pronounced petulantly.

"Sylvia, calm down! They'll catch our scent soon…"

"Right, unless the steppe toadstools smell better than we do! Then we'd be left with nothing but the personal guard, or if we're lucky, His Lordship Sargar Darkflame's minor clerks!" Sylvia was starting to panic.

"You needn't worry about that…" one of them smirked slyly.

From what I understood of the conversation, the local girls genuinely dreamed of ending up in the dark dragon's arms. And all this moaning had started before the powerful creatures ever rose into the sky.

I'm starting to grasp why the chief of these barbarians got so angry when I said I wouldn't obey a dragon and certainly didn't want to belong to him. Look at the beautiful bride circling that tree, waiting for her dark prince. What does he need me for?

Having heard everything I needed, I hurried to get away from the epicenter of the hunt.

A roar of dragons went up in the sky. The loud sounds rolled across the treetops, and the winged figures began descending like loose arrows. Oh, what started then. The beating of wings, playful girlish shrieks, and then male laughter. It probably came after a dragon caught his prey.

I decided it was time to make myself scarce. Before I knew it, I'd be a witness to adult scenes. I walked through the forest unhurried, thinking about what world I'd landed in and what had brought it about. I hope I didn't die in my apartment.

Judging by the recent events in my family, they'd find me when nothing was left of me but sun-bleached bones.

And if I didn't die, how do I get back? I chewed my lips and watched only my own feet, so as not to collect any more splinters.

Which is why I didn't see the swaying trees. Only when an enormous scaled body landed in the clearing did I lift my head and freeze in holy terror, taking in the exotic monster.

Several meters separated us, and even from that distance I saw my own reflection in his elongated pupil. For the first time in my life I didn't know what was better: to run or play dead.

There was no question of other means of salvation. The dragon's head was level with the tallest trees, which meant climbing the branches like a monkey made no sense either.

The shock finished off my poor nerves. I hiccupped and dropped onto my backside.

Every occasion from my now-former life when I'd stood up to a man flashed before my eyes. Now I was asking myself: why were they such weaklings? Because no verbal sparring was going to save me from this.

I didn't blink, so as not to miss a single fleeting movement. And the monster, meanwhile, trampled the grass with its four paws and also sat down on its backside, casually spreading those strong leathery wings with its bony spurs to the sides, closing off every route of retreat for good.

Well now. It looked like the scaled one was copying my movements and was in a playful mood generally. To test my theory, I carefully stretched out my stomach. Nothing happened for a few seconds, and I'd already managed one more mental breakdown, when the dragon stretched out his front paws and, lifting his rear off the ground, lay down on his belly.