The Dragon’s Perfect Mate – A Paranormal BBW Dragon Romance

Queen Mary sighed deeply as she stared out the window of her tower. She heard a knock on the door and answered, not surprised to see her High Protector standing in the doorway. With a nod she stepped aside to allow him to enter.

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“You wanted to see me, Your Majesty?” he said as he shut the door behind him.

As soon as the door was closed the queen found herself in the dragon’s embrace, but as she usually had done over the last twenty years, she resolutely set him away from her and stepped over to the window yet again.

“Melkadra, I fear I have led you a merry chase all this time, but I feel it is time to tell you why it has never led to something more,” she said softly.

“I know you have your reasons, Majesty,” he said stoically.

“It has never been my intention that I should be your mate,” she explained. “I have always had someone else in mind. My daughter, Elizabeth, has been raised away from polite society and has no idea of how the world really works. I once said that I would have her crowned when she was grown, but until now I have been hesitant to do so. Mostly because there was no certainty among the people exactly who she ought to wed. Of course, I have always known it would be you—“

“You want me to mate with your daughter, my queen?” asked Mel with a little frown. “You would have me do that, knowing all that we have shared?”

“This is a delicate matter, Mel,” she said, blushing slightly. “With us, there has always been attraction, but there is something not quite right. Something I cannot seem to pinpoint that makes me realize you are not meant for me. Do you understand that?”

“It’s part of the dragons’ memories,” he said. “Of course I understand.”

“I’ve had an offer from the old general of the derelicts,” she said then. “He wishes for me to go to Carpathia and become his queen. With my daughter now old enough to rule, I could easily take him up on such a request.”

“And you would rather mate him than I?”

“Mel, you and I have been friends for a very long time,” she said. “Don’t you think if we were meant to be more that it would have happened well before now? I have always suspected I know the reason why. However, you must leave the decision up to her.”

“And if she does not choose me, and you have already gone to your general, where does that leave me?” Mel pointed out.

“Whether you mate her or not, I expect you to protect Elizabeth just as you have protected me,” she answered. “There is no one I trust more than you to keep her safe. Now, tell no one of this conversation. I am sending you to Hastings to collect the girl and bring her here. I will announce the impending coronation now, and hopefully it can happen next week. You know, Mel, with so many of our women now mated to dragons, it will only be right for a pair of dragons to rule here as well.”

“Would you had decided to keep this throne, that still could have been accomplished,” he pointed out as he paced over to the window and back again, trying not to sound petty.

“If I believed in my innermost heart that you were truly mine, nothing would have stopped me from taking that course of action,” she said as she gave his hand a squeeze. “However, I have always felt that was not the case. Long have I awaited the arrival of my daughter so this request could at last be made. I will send you by coach to collect her. The driver knows the way.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” he agreed with a bow.

“And Mel, if she seems reluctant, you have my permission to do whatever is necessary to win her heart,” said Mary with a smirk. “I know how good you are at making the effort.”

“If I was so good at it, then why does the lady I desired still spurn my suit?” he pointed out.

“My heart was not in it,” she said. “I did not wish to give you a heart that has been broken for so long, when it cannot be mended. But Liz’s heart has yet to love. It should be a small matter for you to awaken it into full-blown desire. Now go. Leave me and do as I say.”

“I will do my best, as always,” he said with a slight bow. He lifted her hand and placed a kiss on the back before he strode out of the room and down the stairs with a heavy heart.

*****

Melkadra looked up to the window of the queen’s bedroom, as he always did, before he stepped inside the coach. He was as uncomfortable inside its confining walls as he ever was in such conveyances. He would far rather transform to his full dragon form, and stretch his wings as he soared across the sky. If he had known the exact destination himself, he would have easily foregone the coach, but as he did not, it could not be helped.

He was more than a little dejected by Queen Mary’s decision. But that was nothing new. Dealing with Queen Mary had somehow always left him a bit dejected. Always so close, and yet so far away from that which he desired. He hoped her prediction concerning the woman he was about to meet would prove true, for he was tired of endlessly wanting what he could not have. It was high time he got the reward he deserved.

As the carriage trudged along he thought about his life and what it had become. Galagus and Elise had remained for five years before they’d returned to Oakenstaff, and since that time Melkadra had been known as High Protector of the Queen. Most people suspected the two were lovers, but that had never come to be.

He knew her reasoning in the matter was sound, of course, but because in his youth he had briefly mated to a human female who was killed the following day, the trouble was that he knew what he was missing. Achingly so. And to date, only the queen herself seemed to cause that reaction. But perhaps that was because he’d only allowed himself to feel it around her.

He knew very little about Princess Elizabeth other than the fact that she lived out in the country among a group of old human women who kept a farm there. It had been suggested more than once that she would likely be backward or naïve thanks to her upbringing, and so about five years ago a tutor had been sent to teach her history and protocol. A female human teacher.

Mel remembered at the time, he’d suggested perhaps the young lady should be introduced to dragons so she would know what to expect once she came to court, but so far this had never been done. Everyone feared any dragon they sent might wish to mate with her, and Elizabeth’s future could not possibly be left to mere chance.

Or so the old human biddies had said at the time. All of them would probably love to see every dragon in the country cast out, since England was among the original group of countries who had eradicated all paranormals in the past. But that had been a swift, decisive blow against lesser paranormals. Had the dragons been there at the time, the humans never would have been able to eradicate them.

“You’re just being petty,” he muttered aloud, causing the driver to look in the little door curiously.

“What was that, my lord?” he inquired.

“It was nothing,” he said with a little frown. “I think I’m getting bored.”

“Perhaps a break in the tedium might help?” the driver asked. “We are very near the castle now, and I happen to know there is a small lake nearby. A nice, refreshing swim on a day such as this might be just the thing.”

“Are you telling me that for me, or because you want a swim as well, old man?” Mel smirked.

“I’m far too old to swim, sir,” he chuckled.

“How old are you, anyway?” asked Mel curiously. “You can’t be younger than sixty, but I suspect you’ve more years than that under your belt.”

Laughing, he said, “Oh, I’m getting close to seventy-two, sir. And I am probably not much longer for this world. Even the best medicine around isn’t going to make me young again.”

“Pity,” Mel said. “Maybe if you were younger they could try to jumpstart your chromosomes and repopulate the world with some human males.”

“Don’t be silly,” he scoffed. “There’s no possibility of that, as well you know. It’s more likely that an alien spacecraft will suddenly appear above Stonehenge next Thursday than it is that humanity will live on much longer than this. No human female has been born anywhere in seven years, and even then there were only three that year. No, my boy, your race has begun to outstrip our own in England, and no doubt within another generation or two the whole of the country will belong to dragons alone. And I, for one, see no problem with it. Every dragon I’ve ever met has been much more honorable than the men I knew in my youth. I say the world will fare much better with you in charge.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Mel grinned. He couldn’t help thinking the old guy might be growing a bit senile, but his words were a boon to his ruffled feathers just then. Salve for his wounded pride at Mary’s utter rejection of his suit at last.

Not that he hadn’t known for many years now that he would not prevail. She had the right of it, of course. If they were meant for more it surely would have come to pass. And so now he did his level best to turn his thoughts to her request. Mate with the daughter instead? See if Mary’s prediction proved correct? He was willing to give it a try.

But still, he wondered if she’d be half as pretty as her mother. If she’d be nearly as smart, or if she’d be too simple and plain to be endured. Could she be nearly as witty or charming or smart? Would her eyes glow as they gazed upon him with nearly the amount of desire as her mother’s held? Would her lips be nearly as sweetly kissable, as enticingly delectable as the ones he’d never managed to taste?

Making a decision, he said, “Yes, I think you are right. A nice swim could do me some good. Or perhaps even a bit of a fly over the area.”

“I wouldn’t do that around here, my lord,” the old man warned. “Some of the ladies around these parts are still very firmly against the presence of the dragons. I even heard tell that a group of them brought one down a few months ago.”

“Brought down a dragon?” Mel scoffed. “That rumor has reached my ears, too, but I’m sure that’s simply a wives’ tale. There’s not much a bunch of women could do to bring down a dragon, to be sure.”

“Don’t be too sure of that,” he said. “These women are scholars. Perhaps they have managed to locate the archives in which the secrets of our forebears are located. You know that in antiquity the knights of old knew how to bring down a dragon single-handedly. Surely if one man could do it, a group of women could figure it out as well.”

“Yes, I do have memories concerning that,” said Mel speculatively. “What the knights did, I mean. Triple-forged the lances were, and nearly unbreakable. But the craft of making them was lost. It was more than metals that went into their weapons, but magic as well.”

“You believe in magic, sir?” he laughed.

“I do,” said Mel. “In fact, I’ve been studying up on it in my spare time. It may not be the kind they show in the movies, with the fancy light show and the immediate results, but magic does exist even today. And dragons have the means to tap into it much more than a human ever could.”

“Truly?” he asked curiously. “Ah, my lord, we have come to the lake at last. Perhaps you could use some magic to make it warmer than it already is.”

Mel chuckled. “As to that,” he said, then transformed halfway and hurled a bit of fire from his mouth.

“The fish won’t take too kindly to more of that,” the man said with a frown.

“Oh yes, I hadn’t thought of that,” said Mel as he turned back. Some of the fish bubbled up to the surface as the lake began to boil, and Mel hunched his shoulders as he hung his head. “Sorry. Guess I should eat them at least, huh?”

“Well, I should think so!” said a decidedly feminine voice from somewhere behind him. He turned to catch sight of a smallish young woman with long, red hair that fell down in one long, thick braid at her back. Bright blue eyes flared at him, somewhat familiar to him in a way that made his body stir to life. She continued, “It’s bloody well lucky I wasn’t already in that lake as well. If I wanted to get into a hot tub I could have done so at home.”

“Um, home?” Mel repeated as he stared at her. His heart began to pound, and he had to suppress a shiver of desire. Her eyes—so much like Mary’s, and yet not. Her body, somehow even more appealing. Her face—even more lovely than her mother’s, for this most definitely had to be the princess.

“The castle, of course,” she said with a long-suffering sigh. “You’re not from around here, obviously. You know, if I were you, I would not advertise the fact that I was a dragon by boldly tramping around making lakes boil or—well for that matter you look much too young to be anything but a dragon, so I don’t even think it would have mattered, come to think of it. I’ve never gotten up close to an actual dragon before.”

“Yes, so I’ve heard,” he smirked.

“Have you, then?” she asked, one brow going up in surprise. “How could you have done, when I have yet to tell you who I am? Do dragons possess mind reading skills as well?”

“We do,” he chuckled. “Not that it would take much mind reading to deduce that you are the princess. You look very much like your mother.”

“Well yes, that is true, which means you must know her at the very least,” she conceded. “So then, as I am at the disadvantage here, how about if you tell me who you are?”

“I am Melkadra, High Protector of the Queen,” he said, bowing before her. “I will soon be your protector instead. Your mother has sent me to bring you to London at long last. You, my dear princess, are about to become the queen in her stead.”

The princess smirked. “Well, well, Kitty isn’t going to like this.”

“Who is Kitty?”

“My tutor,” she explained. “She’s been saying for years that I’m absolutely hopeless. She will, of course, need to come along and continue to help. I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to step out of the coach with my left foot or my right half the time.”

“Should it not always be the one closest to the door?” asked Mel uncertainly.

“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” she said as if making her point. “Well, come on, then, there’s no point hanging about here since the water’s too hot for swimming now. Why don’t you grab up a bunch of those fish and the four of us will eat our fill while I pack up all my things? No point in leaving them to go to waste.”

“Yes, of course,” Mel agreed, still feeling rather addled. “Whatever you wish, Your Highness.”

“I was never told High Protectors were so accommodating,” she teased him. “And you might want to pick up your jaw before we get into the coach or it’s likely to hit the floor on the way in.”

That cheek was something Mary never would have given, Mel realized as he felt his face flush. He had to hand it to her though, she had definitely read the signs correctly. If this girl was to be his bond-mate, as apparently she must be based on the physical and emotional reactions he was currently experiencing, no one would get any complaints from him.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just that your arrival was so unexpected. I had thought to find you under lock and key the way your mother speaks of keeping you safe. I believe she thinks you’ve been spending all day every day studying and learning proper protocols.”

“She may believe it all she likes,” she answered dryly. “That is what Princess Elizabeth would do, of course. But it isn’t what Lady Liz really does.”

“Lady Liz?” he inquired dryly.

“It’s how I’m known about town,” she said. “Though I’m fairly certain most of them know who I really am. There are only five men in the whole place, and none of them under seventy. The women are all thirty and above as well, so you see, there’s no possible way anybody could mistake my identity. Though of course they are willing to try.”

Mel laughed at this. “Then you and I make quite a pair standing here, don’t we? The obviously truant princess and her would-be dragon protector. Good thing nobody is taking pot-shots at me even as we speak.”

“Yes, there is that,” she agreed. “It may be best if we hurriedly get you inside and out of sight. Otherwise, I’ll have to be the one protecting you in the end.”

*****

Kitty cast a glare in Mel’s general direction as he took as seat beside the princess at the small table where she’d asked him to set the fish they had brought inside. The girl had yet to explain what she was doing in the company of the queen’s dragon, but she recognized him well enough. However, she could not like the degree of interest the beast was showing to her charge.

“So, I take it the queen has sent for her daughter at last?” she asked with a sniff of disdain. “Far be it for me to tell her it was wrong to keep the girl out here all this time and let her run wild. Now perhaps she’ll learn to behave like a proper lady at last.”

“My goodness, had you not noticed that it’s practically the twenty-second century?” Liz scoffed. “Being a proper lady when there are rarely any men to impress to begin with seems like a total waste of time, don’t you think? I mean, clearly if I hope to have any heirs at all to this throne I’m being thrust onto, do you really think I’ll remain human when I do? It’s only obvious that trying to behave as a proper human lady isn’t going to take me far. You should rather be teaching me how to become a proper dragoness.”

“Actually, you’d learn that as soon as the deed was done anyway,” Mel pointed out with a slight smirk. He was clearly visualizing just how that deed might be accomplished.

“Pervert!” Kitty admonished him. “Having the mother wasn’t enough for you, now you think to have the daughter in her stead?”

“Don’t be crass, old woman,” Mel told her sternly. “First of all, Mary and I were never lovers and second, I do not believe it is any concern of yours which dragon the princess chooses for her mate. The choice is her own.”

“And you think the people will have no say in it?” she scoffed. “Perhaps you need a few lessons in etiquette as well. Whether or not you and the queen shared a bed, the people believe you did. They are not going to like it if you go anywhere near Elizabeth. Besides which, she is by no means in need of a mate as yet either way. She can just as easily run the kingdom all on her own.”

“Is that what you’ve been telling her?” Mel scoffed. “Listen to me, Liz, nothing is ever as easily done on your own as it is with a friend. No matter what you are talking about.”

“What did you just call her?” Kitty gasped, her eyes bugging out of her head like a bull frog’s.

“I believe he called me Liz, Kitty,” she smirked. “Get used to it, because I don’t intend to make him stop.”

“The queen shall hear of this outrage,” she snapped.

“The queen already has,” said Mel, indicating the young woman at his side. “Setting the crown on top of her pretty head is a mere formality at this point. Perhaps that’s something you should bear in mind.”

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