Part 3 (1/2)

”And time for us to consummate the mating.”

”That's not going to happen, so you can forget it.” She grabbed the comforter from the bed and wrapped it around herself. Not because she was cold, but because she felt that the more layers she had between them the better.

”It is going to happen, so best you make peace with it.” He sighed, his chin dropping to his chest. After a couple of seconds, he looked back up and locked eyes with her. ”I'm not a bad male.”

”You could've fooled me.” It slipped out.

”I'm not!” he growled.

”Actions speak louder than words.”

Cloud sucked in a deep breath. ”You are right. I need to prove myself to you. I will feed you and you can take off your shoes because I'm going to give you a foot ma.s.sage. I will look after you and we will get to know each other and then we will consummate this union. I said take off your shoes,” his voice turned gruff.

”No.” She could feel herself frown.

”I thought that human females liked foot ma.s.sages. Dragon s.h.i.+fter females do, very much so.” His eyes clouded in what looked like pain. She couldn't figure him out. His emotions were all over the place. Angry and sad in equal measure. Haunted. He had such a sad, haunted look. That was it, the look in his eyes. Despite everything, Tammy felt sorry for him. Maybe she was a bit crazy as well.

”I'll take the food, please,” she quickly added, not wanting to anger him. ”Don't worry about the ma.s.sage. I'm good.”

”You need to grow used to my touch, Tamara. You need to know that enjoyment can be found in my arms.”

She shook her head. ”Just the food.”

His jaw tensed. ”Food now, touching later.”

She ground her teeth. Forget it! She didn't respond though. It wouldn't do any good.

Cloud hadn't left in search of food like she'd hoped. She knew she wouldn't get very far if she tried to escape, but she had to try. He had to have supplies towards the rear of the cave because he emerged shortly with bread, ham, olives and a tossed salad. Despite her frayed nerves, Tammy found that she was starving and wolfed down a whole plate.

Then she proceeded to fall asleep. Like she didn't have a care in the world. Like everything was okay. As if! It was the sheer exhaustion of the whole thing. Firstly, waking up to find out she was deep in the mountains and that the s.h.i.+fters were dragons and not wolves like they had all thought. Heck, up until then she'd thought the guys would be vampires. It was all too much.

She'd battled to sleep last night. Who could blame her? Then the hunt itself. A grueling five and a half hours of hiking through rough terrain. Then this, abducted by a crazy guy.

A really sad, really lonely and all at the same time really angry person.

”Are you sure you don't want a foot rub?” Cloud sat at the edge of the bed.

”No, thank you,” she quickly answered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

”A backrub?”

She shook her head, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.

”Something to drink? Something more to eat?”

”No. Why not take me back to your-”

”Not going to happen,” Cloud frowned.

”Why not? You seem like a really nice guy.” Nuts but nice. Maybe. She hoped he was nice. Try not to think about it. She sucked in a deep breath and willed her heart to slow back down. ”We could date the normal way ...” s.h.i.+t! She didn't want him to get the wrong idea. He wasn't a bad looking guy but he wasn't her type. Kidnappers turned her off. ”We could be friends and then maybe ...” she shrugged. She hated lying to the guy. There would never be a future for them but she needed to get out of this situation.

He looked at her like she was the crazy one. Go figure! Then he shook his head. ”Dragons do not date. I would not be permitted to spend time with you. Thunder and the others wouldn't understand,” he snorted. ”They couldn't possibly understand. No! How can I convince you that I am the male for you? I am one of best warriors in my kingdom. I am strong.” He flexed his biceps, which were tree trunk-like. Then he bounced his pecs. ”I'm a good listener and an even better lover. Please give me a chance.”

What the h.e.l.l did she say to that? She had a feeling that 'No, you idiot!' would not go down well.

When she didn't answer he moved closer to her. Tammy flinched back. Please be a nice guy. An off the rails yet nice person. Please!

”I'm not going to hurt you. Tell me something about yourself.”

”It's not going to make any difference.”

”Humor me,” Cloud said.

Tammy had to fight not to roll her eyes. ”Fine,” she huffed. ”I'm a server in a diner.”

Cloud nodded. ”You take people their food and drinks.”

She nodded.

”That is a very busy job, running up and down with people's food. You're on your feet for hours on end. I have often felt sorry for the females at the Rusty Shack.”

She frowned. ”Oh yeah! Roxy mentioned that you guys go into town every couple of months, only, the Rusty Shack has been closed for a couple of years.”

”Oh really? I wasn't aware.”

”Don't you go on those ... s.e.x runs?”

Cloud sort of smiled. ”Stag runs, not s.e.x runs.”

”Same thing, you head out there for s.e.x, don't you?”

Cloud nodded, his whole expression became pinched, his eyes clouded in thought. ”I haven't been on a Stag Run in a while.”

”Why not?”

He clenched his jaw and his eyes seemed to glint. He looked upset, about to cry. Then he gave a shake of the head and cleared his throat. ”It doesn't matter,” he said, his voice gruff. ”I just haven't. It's been six years since I last went on one of those things.”

Tammy got the distinct impression that something had happened in that time. Something bad. She needed to know what it was if she was going to get out of this situation. ”We're sharing here, aren't we? You can tell me.”

Cloud held out a hand to indicate that he didn't want to speak about it. ”Take off your shoes and socks.” He rubbed his hands together.

”I said I'm good. We were talking.”