Dragon Joined by Rebecca Royce Page A

that I have decided what to do with Dean. I thought you might be
interested, since you had sex with him yesterday.”
    She listened to Princess. Somehow she had to keep her
anxiety under control, otherwise Princess might read her thoughts and discover
her late-night antics. To say that would be bad would be an understatement.
    “Oh yes?” She wanted Princess to tell her details. Then she
could, maybe, find a way to relay that information to Dean.
    “I’ve decided to make an alliance. One of the less-worthy dragon
clans has requested to our join ranks. I’d like to do it but the question
always comes as to how to make the rest of the clan kowtow to me without having
to resort to blood. You know how I feel about that.” Princess preferred to
leave her slaughtering for humans and enemy dragons. Nothing pissed the dragon
off more than having to kill when it hadn’t been her idea. “This will solve
that.”
    “I’m afraid I’m not following you.” Worse, she actually
feared she had.
    Princess was a monster but her taking over of Amanda’s mind
had been virtually painless. All the joinings went well among her dragons. If
the human could connect, they connected. Bad for the victim on one hand, but it
could be so much worse.
    Amanda shuddered. She’d heard the dragons speak of other
clans. The destruction of human minds just for fun. The person left a mindless
shell. Dead except for the use of his or her body.
    Princess didn’t like mess. That constituted mess .
    “The king of their clan is going to take over Dean. He has a
human now whom he’s going to discard. Then he’ll join with one of our humans,
which will bring the clans together, under my rule. He and I will mate. That
way we can continue to have sex using Dean’s body if that’s what we wish. I’m
interested in seeing if he can bring me that level of feeling again. Yesterday,
I went somewhere else during sex. Tell me, are all men from New Strauss able to
do that?”
    “I was a child when I left New Strauss. A teenager when I
last saw it. Other than Dean, I’ve never had sex with anyone before.”
    Dean burst through the door. Princess looked up from her
work. He looked at them for a second before scratching his head. He swallowed,
his neck muscles clenched.
    Either he was acting or he didn’t look like a man who had
expected to find them in there. What on earth did he want in the food storage
room?
    She shook her head. Having asked him the night before not to
tell her, she had to live with questions for a while. Just until tonight .
That was what he’d told her. Unless the Dean she knew had disappeared by then, brutally
taken over by some dragon clan leader.
    No . She wouldn’t let that happen.
    “What are you doing in here, Dean?” Princess sauntered
forward. Amanda hated how it made her hips feel to move like that. The movement
didn’t come naturally. Seduction didn’t seem to be built into her body’s
natural rhythms. “Not that I’m not glad to see you. I have to give you good
news.”
    “I’m helping the servants.” He nodded. “I wanted to see
where everything was.”
    What? Amanda couldn’t see the servants sending Dean
to inspect the vegetables. Doing so constituted a cushy job. Why would they
give it up? Something else had to be going on.
    “Well, feel free.” She pointed downward. “You can start with
the corn. We’re short .2 pounds. Because of idiocy.”
    “Mind if I take a look?” Dean walked over, sticking his head
down into the corn before she gave him permission.
    “Are all human men this dedicated to produce?” She rubbed
his back.
    Amanda wanted to throw something. How dare Princess touch
her man? She had to get her breathing under control. Since opening her eyes,
all Amanda had wanted to do was touch Dean, kiss him, make sure he still felt
the same way about her that he had the night before—even if thinking like that
made her seem insecure. Whatever. She wanted him.
    And only Princess got to touch him and