Tamed and Mated (complete)

By Josephine Sparks

Selem, a young dragon shifter, always knew that he was going to be mated to someone stronger some day. When he meets Jace, he can't help but start liking him. The problem? Jace is not a dragon. He's a wolf. And Selem is already promised to someone else.

Can a dragon and a wolf beat the odds in a dark fantasy world?

This story is approximately 50.000 words long. It contains graphic descriptions of sex and is not meant to be read by minors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Josephine Sparks
• Release date: Oct 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781498928748

Book preview

Tamed and Mated

By Josephine Sparks

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the author. You must not circulate this book in any format.

Cover Photos from Bigstock.com

PART 1

Our cave was still dark when I opened my eyes. The sun hadn't risen yet. I blinked, trying to figure out what had woken me up. Something moved. I thought it might be my parents, but I could make out only one silhouette, and it didn't look like either of them.

Who's there? I called out, sitting up. My wings twitched behind me in nervous anticipation. We didn't get a lot of intruders this high up in the mountains, but it unnerved me that my family wasn’t around. The people of my clan were not known for their good manners. Dragons hardly were.

Shhh, it's just me.

Castor? I asked, squinting my eyes. I would have known the sound of that voice anywhere. After all, Castor was the son of the clan's head. And I was to be his mate. Lucky me.

To be honest, the thought didn’t excite me much. Castor had announced that he was going to pick me a couple weeks ago, and while my father cheered, I'd done my best to avoid him ever since.

What are you doing here? I hissed. Mating season isn't until next month.

Castor chuckled. He thought he was above everyone. I know he had good reason to, but his attitude still pissed me off. Almost as much as the thought of spending my life by his side.

I'm not going to wait that long, Castor said.

Great, he'd come and disturbed me in my sleep because he was horny. I wondered how many other dragons he simply slept with like this on a regular basis. The thought made me edge towards the cave wall.

Where's my parents?

I sent them outside.

I can't sleep with you as long as I'm not mated, you know the rules.

He took a step toward me, making my skin crawl. Even in the dark I could see the cocky grin on his face. Who's to tell? he said. What difference does it make whether I take your virginity now or in a few weeks. You'll always be mine. Something clunked to the ground as Castor moved. He'd taken his belt off.

This was exactly what pissed me off about Castor. He never cared what other people, what I, thought.

I'll always be yours, I said. And you'll keep breaking the rules and fuck everything you like. I pressed my lips together, knowing that I was going too far. I wasn't supposed to talk back. We called it mating, but really, it wasn't the best choice of words. 'Mates' made it sound like we were equal when we weren't.

You're lucky you're so pretty, Selem. That's all you've got going for you. His hand reached out to me and fingered the necklace he’d given to me. I had to stop myself from backing away even farther. You won't talk so highly when I'm through with you.

No, probably not. I glared at his silhouette. He grabbed for something, and in another moment, he'd lit a torch. Standing before me he looked exactly as I'd pictured him — with a big sneer on his face.

Castor could have been beautiful, all well toned muscles and patches of dark scales that shimmered in the fire light. My scales were as red as the fire he breathed. His were as black as his soul. His tail, a symbol of his status as warrior, seemed even larger than the last time I’d seen him.

It could have been alluring. If he hadn't been such an asshole.

If you wanted someone quiet and obedient by your side you should have known better than to pick me.

Maybe I'm looking forward to breaking you in.

I narrowed my eyes and opened my mouth to retort something, I wasn't even sure what — how did you respond to something like that? I never got the words out. Castor was faster than me. He was on me before I could react. The weight of his body pressed me back against the wall, my wings squished painfully behind me as my mate to be attacked me. He sat down on top of my legs, and I couldn't push him off fast enough. His smell, like burned grass, attacked my nose as he clashed our lips together and his hands dug into my shoulders, keeping me in place.

Now, even in our human forms, our hands weren't quite like that of any normal human. Our fingers were claw-like, with long, sharp nails that would have bored right into my skin if Castor hadn't grabbed me where I was covered in scales.

Probably an accident on his part. He wanted to hurt me, I felt that. But he'd had to discard the torch when he jumped me, and the moonlight wasn’t helping him. His lips were rough on mine. He was waiting for me to open up, but I didn't. I wasn't going to. If he wanted so badly to show me my place, he had to put in some effort.

He grabbed my chin, as if reading my thoughts. His fingers dug into my cheeks. This time, it hurt. There were no scales on my face. I yelped without thinking, and it was all the invitation Castor needed to shove his tongue into my mouth. He had dropped his pants earlier and I felt him grow hard against my leg through the thin fabric of his underpants.

I congratulated myself for not sleeping in the nude; it must have disappointed Castor.

He tasted like ash. I tried to draw back, but he was still holding on to my face, and if I moved too much, he would leave long bloody gashes on my skin.

I’d known for years that I was going to be taken for someone’s mate someday, had known for a while that it was going to be Castor. I knew that was supposed to be a good thing. All that didn’t stop me from jerking my knee up and ramming it into that asshole’s groin. He howled and let go off me. A small flame shot out of his mouth and lit up the cave in a flash. Show-off. Very few of us could breath fire without shape-shifting first.

How dare you, you little fucker—

How dare I what, not let myself be torn into pieces by you?

You’re mine to do with as I please by the laws of our clan.

Not until the mating. I jumped to my feet. I had a week left of my life as a free dragon, and I wasn’t going to let him take that from me.

Fine, whatever! Castor threw his hands up. But if I let you have your precious few days of virginity, you will be a good little servant for me at the mating. You will not embarrass me in front of the tribe with your disobedience.

I exhaled. I was off the hook for that night at least. Don’t worry, I said, rubbing my cheeks where he had hurt me. I can live by the rules if you can.

By the rules of our clan, males were designated as warrior or servant at birth. Strong boys kept their tales, weak ones lost it. A rule invented to keep the balance, to circumvent the rarity of females in our species, and to limit violence within the clan. Surely whoever came up with this didn’t foresee the advent of Castor.

Enjoy your freedom while you can, Castor said, picking up the torch from the ground. The next time I see you, your ass is mine.

I didn’t doubt that, but for now, I was free, and I watched him every step of the way out, wishing he’d leave faster. Sure, I couldn’t evade him forever, he was my duty, but I exhaled when he was gone. How I would handle waking up next to him for the rest of my life, I didn’t know. The thought alone was nauseating.

I broke into a run, out of the cave and past Castor. I spread my wings as soon as I could breathe in the fresh night air. I had to. I had to fly.

Castor cursed as I took off. What, did he think I was going to run? I didn’t intend to. All I wanted was to feel the wind under my wings. There was no better feeling in the world than that of freedom.

Of course Castor wouldn’t understand that. I heard him cut through the air as he came after me. Saying nothing, I went faster. Maybe only to piss him off. I was smaller than him, but no one had more speed than I did. No one loved flying quite as much.

The air heated up around me as I zoomed over the mountain range that was our home.

That bastard was actually attacking me. I swerved to avoid the flames as the night sky lit up around us. If I had been any less agile, I would have been in trouble.

Castor roared and shot another blast. I dodged. If it were up to me, we could do this all night. It was actually kind of fun to hear his growls of frustration as he kept missing his target. I was small. And I was evasive.

The attacks ended as abruptly as they had begun. I kept my speed, wanting to put a safe distance between him and myself, even if he was falling back. I wasn't going to risk anything. Castor was someone I was never going to trust farther than the length of his tail.

When I looked behind myself, he’d vanished into the darkness. We'd crossed a good distance. A vast forest stretched out into the night beneath me. Humans lived in these woods, and some elves maybe, but I wasn't too sure about that. I'd never strayed far from home. These days, everyone was out for dragon blood. It was common sense not to venture too far into human territory.

Something hit me. Not physically; there was no one there. A shock pulsed through my insides like lightning. I stopped still, and plummeted into the canopy of trees I'd flown over. I hardly felt the collision, or the impact, until the pain slammed into me all at once, attacking from all sides. My whole body tingled with aftershocks of whatever had gone through me. My leg felt like someone had ripped it off and stuck it back in, and my head bled from a bad run in with a branch on my way down.

Tentatively I reached for the necklace on my neck, convinced that Castor must have put some magic on it. I should have expected that, but it wasn't like I could have refused wearing it either way.

Now I did. I ripped the stupid piece of jewelry off my neck and threw it into the woods. You fucking asshole! I shouted into the trees, although I knew no one would hear me. Or rather, I hoped that no one would. Mine was a bad state to be in for an encounter with members of other species.

Still cursing softly, I tried to stand up. Putting pressure on my leg felt like sawing into it with a knife. I fell back onto my ass. Grumbling, I tried again. Once, twice, then I gave up.

An owl hooted in the distance as if mocking my failure. I had to get going. I had no desire to have Castor come and rescue me now. Not after he'd shot me out of the sky. Bastard probably didn't even care that he could have killed me.

Something moved in the woods to my right.

I wasn't sure what the better choice was, stay quiet and hope they wouldn't notice me, or growl and try to be intimidating when I really was anything but.

More steps, coming closer. Whoever was coming had already noticed me. Sounded like something human, or at least humanoid. It wasn't Castor, though. Didn't smell like Castor, and that alone let me breath easier.

I squinted my eyes in the darkness. Whoever was coming was carrying a torch, I felt the source of fire coming closer.

Ancient members of my tribe believed there were spirits in the flames, calling out to us. I don't know whether I believed that, but it was true that I could always tell when something was burning somewhere nearby.

The light of the approaching torch shone through the thick trees as a man approached me.

I put on my best sneer and hissed. I was a wild dragon! I was dangerous! He couldn't know that I had most likely broken my leg and that I couldn't shift. I'm a dragon, hear me roar!

For some unimaginable reason, the stranger didn't seem scared of me. He drew another step closer, and in the flickering light, I could make out his features. Dark eyes reflected the fire from underneath a mob of brown hair. His build told me that I wouldn’t win a fight if both my legs were intact. He looked human, but I wasn't convinced that he didn't harbor something else in him. Something dangerous. The way he carried himself said that he could turn into a beast at any time.

I was fine with that. I liked beasts. You always knew where you were at when dealing with a beast. The laws of the strongest applied.

Of course, that wasn't helping my situation.

Leave, I hissed, trying to sound more confident than I was.

You were fighting with that other dragon.

I blinked. Fighting was wording it nicely. I'd been running away. You want to be next? I asked, trying to keep up appearances.

I don't fight injured people.

Shit, so he had noticed. I can still take you on.

I doubt it.

I glared. I didn't have a better response. He was right, anyway. I could just as well give up. I wasn’t scaring anyone. If you don't want to fight then get lost.

The stranger looked at me, just looked at