Escaping The Beast: A Darkhills Romance (The Darkhills Series Book 2) by Elizabeth Greene (young adult books to read TXT) 📕

is under my protection. Katherine this is Etienne. He resides in the mountains that you see yonder.”

“Erm, hello.” Katherine spoke with shaking uncertainty.

Etienne looked between the two of them and let out a huffing breath. Smoke curling out from his nostrils.

She appears to still be fearful. He gruffed.

She is standing in front of a mythical fire-breathing creature, one that just tried to take her back to his lair, is it any wonder that she’s afraid? Lucian countered, cocking a brow at the dragon.

Etienne huffed again.

My lair is perfectly safe, she would not have come to any harm.

“Am I missing something here?” Katherine asked, stepping closer to Lucian and taking his arm. The very evidence that she trusted him to provide her with reassurance and safety, made his chest swell with pride.

“My apologies, Miss. Daxton. Dragons communicate telepathically while in this form. We were just discussing whether you would like to join him in his lair.” Lucian explained.

“Oh erm, thank you, Etienne but I’m going to stick with Lord Nightingale if that’s OK?” She visibly paled as she awkwardly addressed the dragon.

I can shift and be in my human form if it would put her more at ease. Etienne offered.

I’m not sure being naked would do much to persuade her to return with you, old sport. She’s had enough of a shock for one evening don’t you think. Lucian smirked back and enjoyed the indignant huff he received in reply.

Very well, I will take my leave, but if I find her running from you again, I will take her to safety. Etienne warned.

“Quite, I’m sure that won’t be necessary, but your consideration is appreciated.” Lucian bowed his head slightly in a farewell gesture.

The dragon eyed him warily, but stepped back and bent his head low towards Katherine, his vast iridescent wings splayed outward for her to admire no doubt. He puffed out a small stream of smoke that encircled her, she touched the hazy ring with curiosity, a small frown marring her brow. Etienne stood back and couched upon his hind legs, then without any more preamble, he pushed himself off from the ground. With great, heaving beats of his wings, he was off through the foggy night sky.

Lucian turned to face Katherine, cupping her pale face in his hands. Her skin was perfectly smooth against his and he couldn’t resist the urge to gently run his thumb across her cheeks, letting his fingers slide into her golden hair. She reached out and placed her shaking hands upon his forearms, bracing herself against his strength.

“Are you alright, Miss. Daxton?”

“That was a...” She swallowed hard and looked up towards the sky, then back to Lucian, her eyes wide and dark. “That was a dragon.”

“Yes, it was.”

“He was going to take me?”

“Yes, but only because he believed you were in trouble, he’s quite honourable really.”

“You fought a dragon,” she stuttered, “you fought a dragon for me.”

“Yes, Katherine, I did.”

“Huh.”

It was the last thing she said before her eyes rolled back and she fainted into his arms.

Chapter Six

Katherine

Katherine awoke to strange surroundings. She wasn’t in her apartment, that much she could get her head around. She had agreed to stay at Tumbricane in her father’s stead, but the black silken bedsheets were not what had been on her designated bed earlier that day. She flexed her fingers and admired the smooth softness that glided beneath her touch. She had always thought silk sheets would feel cold against her skin, but much to her delight she was wrong. The sheets were just the right temperature, warm enough to be cosy but still cool like the fresh side of the pillow if she were to reach out further from her cocoon.

She kept her eyes shuttered, only peering out between a small crack. The room wasn’t dark, a gentle light filled the room with warmth. The sound of the occasional pop and crack from beyond the bed let her know a fire had been lit to keep the room nice and toasty. She couldn’t see or hear Lord Nightingale, but she could sense he was there in the room with her. A feeling of being watched made her try to keep her breathing slow and steady. She wasn’t ready to talk with him yet. She wasn’t ready to face the fact that they had encountered a mythical being and what’s more, Lord Nightingale had held his own against it, fighting the monstrous thing while urging her to run. He had saved her. Considering she had run from him, she would’ve thought that after she had fainted she would’ve woken up in a dungeon of some kind. Not nestled snuggly in his bed.

Oh, and she knew it was his bed. How could she not? The intoxicating warm and seductive scent of whatever cologne he wore, clung to the silk, making it impossible for her not to breathe it in. She had a few sporadic memories of their journey back to Tumbricane, each was just a glimmer of consciousness:  a gentle bounce as soft footfalls pressed into the fallen leaves on the forest floor. A firm chest against her cheek. The delicious scent of the man in whose arms she was being carried.  A soothing voice assuring her she was safe and to rest some more.

If Lord Lucian Nightingale was angry with her for having broken the terms of their contract, he had a strange way of showing it. Then again, Katherine was beginning to suspect that he was a strange sort of man. If he even were a man. She’d seen a dragon that evening. An actual real-life dragon. As far as she was concerned the door was now wide open for a whole swathe of make-believe creatures to come prancing through, ready to blow her preconceived idea of the world around her, to smithereens.

“Miss. Daxton, I know you are awake, your breathing has accelerated significantly.” His voice called to her from somewhere across the room.

Katherine squeezed her eyes shut at the