Dragon Tamer (The Academy of Amazing Beasts Book 2) Read online

  Dragon Tamer

  The Academy of Fantastic Beasts Book 2

  Melody Rose

  Contents

  1. Joan

  2. Joan

  3. Theo

  4. Joan

  5. Joan

  6. Joan

  7. Joan

  8. Theo

  9. Joan

  10. Joan

  11. Joan

  12. Nate

  13. Joan

  14. Joan

  15. Joan

  16. Joan

  17. Joan

  18. Joan

  19. Joan

  20. Joan

  21. Joan

  22. Joan

  23. Theo

  24. Joan

  25. Theo

  26. Joan

  27. Joan

  28. Joan

  29. Joan

  30. Joan

  31. The Regent

  A Note From The Author

  1

  Joan

  Barely able to fathom that I worked up the nerve to walk to the very posh suite of the Headmaster’s son, Theo, and that he deigned to let me in on top of that, I stood frozen for one achingly long moment. Finally, my nervousness thawed just enough to accept his invitation.

  I couldn’t help myself from running my mouth as I stepped into Theo’s room and struggled to hold onto the platter. I figured that if I focused too much on not spilling his food, Murphy’s Law would obviously kick in and I’d turn his fancy rugs into a toppled-over buffet. I tried to cancel out my nervous clumsiness with conversation, but I didn’t know how helpful that really was.

  When he shut the door behind him and locked his eyes on me, we both were temporarily stunned, another reason why I had to start the conversation rolling.

  “Hey, uh, so I figured that you hadn’t eaten all day since Chef Douglas wasn’t around to prepare your meals… and… by the way… what you pulled with cooping everyone up without their consent?” I winced but knew I had to speak up for what was right. “Super not cool, but I’m hoping it was just a one-time thing and that you, I don’t know, consider anger management. Having an empty stomach is no good if you’re trying to control your mood swings, and maybe this will make you feel better?”

  “Yes. About that.” Theo took slow, graceful steps toward me and placed a warm shoulder on my bare arm. He brushed his palm back and forth in a soothing motion that triggered goosebumps all over my skin. Warm currents of energy ran through my veins, and my nerves sang at his touch. I stared at him wordlessly, all my concerns and annoyances melting away as I focused on his deep, hypnotic voice.

  “Joan--”

  Before he could finish, I shoved the tray forward and looked around frantically for a surface to set the food down. He was forced to remove his hand from me due to my sudden motion. I didn’t think I had it in me to keep my balance, much less hold his meal steady if he kept speaking to me in his husky voice.

  It was all too much overstimulation, and I needed everything to just slow down. Theo being polite and gentle felt like I was in some type of alternate reality, and I didn’t know how to process it.

  “Uh! I really want to hear what you want to say, I swear I do, but this is… really heavy… and until I put it down, I’m not going to be able to focus on anything. Where should I put this?” I gestured at him with the tray.

  I scanned the room to try to figure out my options, but the largest surfaces were his writing desk and the coffee table, and none of those seemed like really comfortable options for eating in peace while holding a conversation. It really was a huge, luxurious suite, but I guessed he never thought to have a dining room when he already had his own special dining area in the cafeteria where Chef Douglas operated at his best.

  I looked up at him with confusion, and I bet I came across like a lost puppy. I hadn’t really thought out all the specifics of this. After Becks, my best friend and partner in crime, had set me up with a fashionable dress for the occasion and I whipped up the meal, I just marched up here assuming everything would fall nicely into place.

  To my surprise, instead of putting me through any further misery, Theo took the platter from my hands so I wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore. “It was very… sweet… for you to arrange all of this for me,” he remarked slowly, as though deliberating over his words. “And I know that for a human without the ability to teleport, this has demanded a great deal from you, so allow me to take this from you.”

  He then studied me sympathetically, an expression I wasn’t at all used to. “Perhaps I can return the favor and massage your muscles after all that heavy lifting.”

  I rolled my shoulders in relief, and my sore biceps were glad that they no longer had to buckle under the weight of all the dishes. Carrying the entire spread up all those flights of stairs was a real hassle, and I had to keep Aurelius, my white wolf familiar, in my room because I was too afraid I’d trip over him. Honestly, I deserved a gold medal for pulling off the whole feat without falling flat on my face.

  I raised an eyebrow and searched his finely chiseled face for any clues that this was all just one elaborate hoax, a masterful exercise in sarcasm, but he was completely serious.

  “Maybe…” I managed to squeak out, not horrified at the idea. I wanted to kick myself for sounding so immature and unsure of myself.

  He smirked at my response, probably because it left open the window of opportunity that he could get his hands on me by the end of the night. Then, Theo tilted his head in the direction of his bedroom.

  “As you may know, I don’t make a habit of taking my meals in here, so I haven’t furnished a specific area for an occasion such as this,” he began in his usual exacting manner. “However, I believe that my bed would have more than enough room to accommodate the two of us, and while I doubt that I could possibly make a mess with my table manners, I can always cast a cleaning spell should any of the food sully the sheets.”

  There was a lot for me to unpack there. I’d already seen with my own eyes that he could summon almost any item he wanted on command and that a dining room table couldn’t have been out of the question for him. Then again, he may have been woozy from hunger, and that may have factored into not having the energy to pull off what he usually could.

  Also, was he trying to seduce me and lure me onto his bed, or was this just rooted in his extreme distaste for dining on the floor? Finally, the thought of how we could “sully his sheets” fired up all my synapses as I invented multiple non-food-related scenarios about how to make that happen.

  Well, except one of them did involve whipped cream.

  I shrugged as though none of it was out of the ordinary and that I was too cool to be caught up with where we ate. “Hey, as long as you aren’t bothered by having your dinner on your bed, who am I to stop you? I made it for you, after all, and you can enjoy it as you like.”

  Frankly, I was glad that he didn’t have a conniption over the thought of getting a whole platter of food on his plush bedspread, and I was actually proud of him for widening his horizons. I had a hunch that this was a new experience for him, even though he didn’t admit that out loud.

  As he walked carefully over to his bed, I called after him, both out of nervousness and because I had put a good deal of thought into his dinner. “Just one thing! Please don’t take the lid off the silver tray until you’ve finished with everything else. It’s a surprise, and the whole point is not to ruin it!”

  “As you wish, Joan,” he obliged without a single complaint. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop because, by my estimation, he was being way calmer than he had any right to be. I’d need to stay over longer just to
test out how long he could keep up this well-mannered act.

  When he approached the bed, I thought it was only natural and polite to take the tray back so he could take a seat on the edge of the mattress without disturbing anything. After he had arranged himself by sitting upright with his legs crossed in what looked almost like a lotus position, I delicately set the tray down onto his lap. Once I was convinced that it was all perfectly balanced, I climbed up and sidled up next to him, tucking my legs underneath my bottom.

  I couldn’t lie and claim that I wasn’t eager to see how he reacted to what I’d put together for him. After compiling all the feedback I’d heard about him, I stuck to regular butter, salt, and pepper so as to not offend his basic palate. This might have been the plain meal of his dreams, but that didn’t mean it had to suck. I had painstakingly prepared the steak, after all, and that included getting the rareness just right so that the perfect amount of blood could lend some natural savory notes.

  Since I had nothing to eat myself, I distracted myself with other sensory delights in his room, such as his high-end decor, the impossibly soft comforter, the towering wooden posters of his bed, and his alluringly masculine scent. My attention kept getting snatched up by fantasies at the back of my mind instead of by how he was personally enjoying his food.

  However, each time my focus drifted back, he seemed very intent to savor every last bite. At times, he even closed his eyes as though the steak had given him divine inspiration. I knew he wasn’t putting on a performance just to flatter me, so I started to feel pretty proud of myself.

  When he finished, I took the platter from him and set it further away from us, the secretive dessert tin still hiding its surprise. With a great, big grin and a rapidly beating heart, I shifted my body sideways to fully face him and puffed my chest out in excitement. After I waited with bated breath for a moment, I leaned forward a bit and drummed my palms against his toned thighs with girlish glee.

  “And now…” I cried out like a carnival barker. “For the grand finale! Joan’s Jubilant Apple Pie, guaranteed to make fireworks go off in your mouth and get you crawling back, begging for more! You’re in for a treat!”

  He tensed up almost imperceptibly at my touch but actually seemed quite pleased until the word “pie” had slipped out from my lips. Then, Theo gaped at me like I was a madwoman and shifted as though he had uncomfortable news to break to me. I mean, I knew that he wasn’t very explorative when it came to cuisine, but I just hoped he would put that aside after such a satisfying meal. In fact, I felt certain it had exceeded his expectations.

  “Ah… Joan, I am quite sure that this… delicacy… of yours is widely celebrated in your world, but I have no need for such extravagances.”

  I’d never seen him tread so lightly before, but I was still disappointed. I only made a small sliver of pie, so it wasn’t as though I was force-feeding him. As I looked at him and tried to understand this odd repulsion to dessert, I could tell that my eyes were watering. Everything was now filtered through a wet sheen as I felt the sting of rejection.

  I swallowed so that I could regain my voice instead of sadly stuttering. “Well… I know that.” I tried to play it off cool because, of course, I still remembered that he shunned what I liked the most. “It’s just that it’s honestly the most popular pie I’ve ever made, and I figured even you would get a kick out of it. I didn’t leave you one big, hulking piece. It’s pretty small, so you really don’t have to worry about tolerating too much of it.”

  Theo sighed heavily, and I was glad that he had more energy to put up a fight about this. Even though I wished he would be more experimental, at least the rest of the meal had given him a boost. I did see his eyes flash with annoyance as he studied my face, probably wondering why I couldn’t just stick to what he liked. It was true that I was always pushing the envelope by changing up his world, but then again, so was he, seeing that he dragged me to a whole new realm.

  I figured we both had to step outside our comfort zones if we were going to learn from people.

  Theo wrinkled his forehead as though he were pained, threw a frustrated look to the ceiling, and then turned his focus back to me. “Joan, I haven’t the slightest clue why you are so persistent about this matter. It would please me if you put a stop to your continual antics to convince me to live like your kind… but in the interest of diplomacy, I will suffer through a couple of bites. Would that satisfy you?”

  I couldn’t help myself, I squeezed his thighs with pure bliss. Even though his offer was pretty modest, it was a big step for him. After I released my vice grip, I even leaned in with a hug, pressing my chest against his shoulders to prove how proud I was of him.

  “You’re not going to regret it!” I reassured him. I could sense him squirm in either discomfort or confusion, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the unexpected affection or the prospect of having to put up with pie.

  I then crawled over across the wide mattress to retrieve the dessert tin, my backside facing him momentarily. He seemed lost in a daydream when I faced him again, and I hoped it was a good one, rather than a horrific nightmare about sugar crashes. I gave him a wide smile to try to diffuse the tension, then lifted the silver topper from the small tray. After placing the lid sideways on the mattress so that any stray crumbs wouldn’t fall onto his bedding, I theatrically waved my hand all around the pie like a QVC spokeswoman.

  The piece of pie was truly glorious, and even he had to admit that it was a sensory orgasm without even tasting it yet. Its hypnotic scent wafting from its warm, butter-slathered and egg-washed crust, a bouquet of nutmeg, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. It was the lovechild of a traditional lattice apple pie and the Dutch variety in order to appease every customer possible.

  Even though I knew it would offend his sensibilities, I also needed to include a small scoop of organic vanilla ice cream to complement the savory-sweet flavor profile. I concentrated on it now because I didn’t want it to melt into the filling, and I smirked as he grumbled in response.

  “Joan, really…” he almost whined in disgust. I’d never met someone who acted as though being given a free dessert was the worst torture imaginable.

  I waved my index finger from side to side like I was quieting down a naughty child. “Tsk, tsk. Just let me work my magic, Theo. It’ll be worth it! Don’t you want us to get along? Besides, I’ll owe you one if you can just get yourself through it.”

  The idea of being able to use his traumatic pie ordeal as a bargaining chip made his eyes flash happily like Christmas lights. Theo then took the pie dish from my hands greedily, without any further arm twisting necessary.

  “Fine,” he muttered like a child from my world being asked to eat his vegetables. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  He picked up the provided fork and prodded at my pie with the same hesitation one would to a sleeping bear. Anyone looking would have thought that he believed the dessert would attack him if he so much as looked at it funny. I laughed as he gave me a scrunched-up face, suddenly regretting that he’d ever let me into his room. Then, with defeat, since he was all nobility and honor, he hung his head down to confront the pie again. He knew he couldn’t back out and break his promise to try it.

  Amazingly, once he finally drove his fork into the decadent layers of pie and braved his first bite, he didn’t even quickly swallow it so that he could overcome this challenge. Theo actually savored it slowly, and I even thought I saw him swivel his tongue around in his mouth to capture every flavor. After he had his first taste, he continued each bit in the same way, and I was glad he was enjoying the dessert like any normal person. A couple of times, he even looked out dreamily as though my pie was a revelation.

  I nibbled on my lip as he angled his wrist and tried to scrape more off the plate once he had finished. That didn’t look like the civilized Theo he always hoped to come across as, and as the sound of the gold fork against the silver tin was already hissing throughout his room, I didn’t give him any shit about it.
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  By the end of this sample, a sense of victory filled my heart. I knew that Theo would end up disappointed that he’d bad-mouthed my desserts so much because if he hadn’t, he probably would have ended up with a much larger slab of pie. Oh well, live and learn! Maybe he’d figure out how to ask nicely, and then I could set him up with more to make up for the measly amount I’d given him tonight.

  He took out his own handkerchief and dabbed his lips, a gesture that looked very gentlemanly and clashed with his previous plate scraping. Then, he cleared his throat as if he needed to buy a few seconds before he spoke. Although he looked at me intensely, he didn’t compliment me yet and instead rushed to perform an incantation.

  “Retirez ces plats et remettez-les dans l'éther,” he muttered and avoided eye contact with me, concentrating on the dinnerware I had brought with me. “Remove these plates and return them to the ether.”

  As they did just that, Theo inhaled deeply and looked back at me, again wearing an expression that told me he was about to say something very important. But then just like last time, he thought better of it and struggled to find a different way to occupy his time. I didn’t know what he was up to, but whatever he had to get off his chest seemed to be painful. I felt pretty bad that this was how the night was turning out. He had been so happy with what I brought him. I guessed enthusiasm was a short-lived emotion for Theo, and then he went straight back to his default mode of brooding.

  “Ah…” He paused to gather his thoughts, then busied himself by staring at his bedspread. “Nettoyez ce lit et éliminez le ternissement à cause de mon repas. Clean this bed and remove any tarnish from my meal.”