Darkness surrounded her. Even when she opened her eyes, she could see nothing, and the air around her seemed rank and close.

Phoebe closed her eyes and wished she hadn’t. The nightmare of what had gone before flashed behind her closed lids and she relived it in vivid detail.

She’d given into temptation and had allowed Corbin Pontius to ruck up her skirt, open his fly and shove himself into her. He was handsome, successful and seductive. No one like him had ever paid that kind of attention to her. Phoebe had always felt the power of his personality when she was around him. But she remembered thinking it was far less romantic and exciting than she’d thought giving into temptation might be.

There had been no foreplay, no preparation, nothing. Just him ripping away her panties and getting inside her. It had been so long since she’d actually felt the hard length of a man stroking her pussy. He wasn’t overly endowed which was probably a good thing as she had begun to worry that her vagina had atrophied from lack of use.

He grunted and groaned as he held her down and pumped his hips back and forth. She realized the men he’d brought with him had started to gather round as he had his way with her. Corbin was fucking her, not because he had any feelings for her, but rather because he believed he could, that it was his right.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of his men open the fly to his trousers and pull out his cock as he began to stroke it. This was some kind of nightmare. Any chance that she might orgasm had passed and now she just wanted Corbin to finish. She just wanted it to be over. Phoebe wondered if she would have the courage to tell his fiancée, Eden, of what had transpired. She should know about what happened.

Corbin didn’t seem concerned about the growing sounds of his men’s breathing becoming heavier as he fucked her without thought as to whether she was getting any pleasure or the fact that one of his men was actively masturbating. What kind of sick individuals were these men? She definitely needed to tell Eden, even if it ruined her reputation as a wedding planner. Certainly, she could not allow another woman to be subjected to this.

Nothing but lust and his own pleasure urged Corbin on. He fucked her ruthlessly and with no thought as to what she might want or need or that they were now surrounded by his men. The god saving grace was that she could barely feel anything other than when he slammed into her, and his body met hers. She could feel his cock beginning to swell and twitch and knew that he was close. Good, it would soon be over.

He thrust a last time into her with a heavy groan as he spilled himself inside her. Now, all she had to do was wait for him to withdraw and she could try and exit the situation with as much dignity as she could scrape together.

Corbin leaned back and stepped from between her legs. “All right boys, I got her good and wet for you. You can each have a turn, but don’t do anything to damage her. Then prepare her for shipment.”

It was hard for Phoebe to register all of the implications of that moment. “Wait, I never agreed to this,” she sputtered trying to sit up.

Corbin slapped her—hard enough to knock her back. “You might want to pin her down,” he said to his men before turning to her. “You had best get used to the idea that your agreement about anything is no longer required. Those of my brethren who will seek to use you as a breeder won’t much care.”

He turned and walked away as the first of his men stepped between her legs, and another pinned her down. As each of them took a turn, she kept wishing that she’d just lose consciousness. She didn’t even much care if she lived or died. She just didn’t want to have to be awake and endure what was happening.

Phoebe’s wish had been granted and she’d passed out but had awakened briefly when they had finished. One of the men had slapped her face until she’d come to so that she experienced the final horror of what had happened. Now when she opened her eyes, she felt claustrophobic even though she’d never felt that way before. It was dark and dank, and she wanted out. She pushed against the crinkled blackness that seemed to surround her. There was no give. She struck it with her fist and could feel it shake.

She screamed and heard the sound ricochet around whatever it was that held her prisoner. She didn’t care. She wanted out. She beat against the blackness that was harder than plastic, but not as hard as stone. Over and over, she struck it with her fists, bruising them in the process, but at last a small crack appeared and blessed fresh air reached her.

Again and again, she struck at her prison walls and little by little she broke free. She could hear the scrambling of feet as hands from above began to rip away the barrier between her and the light.

“It’s all right Phoebe. You’re safe.”

A pleasant masculine voice, but the last thing she wanted at the moment was another man.

“No,” she cried, beating now at his hands and arms instead of whatever it was that held her prisoner. “Get away from me.”

The memory of how she had come to be in this place, wherever it was, came back to her. Searing pain as Corbin’s men had spewed something all over her body and had then ignited it. The agony from the heat had only lasted a minute before darkness had overtaken her and she thought she was going to die as she slipped beneath its comforting embrace.

“Phoebe. It will be all right. You’re safe. You’re nowhere Corbin or any of his men can hurt you ever again. Let me… let us help you.”

He continued to tear away the charred remains of the substance in which they’d encased her. She realized she was naked as cool air washed over her body.

“Get away from me. I want out of here.”

“No one wants to hurt you. You should never have been subject to what was done to you. Your skin is probably very sensitized. I have a soft robe for you. It should feel good against.”

She snatched the robe away from him before climbing and then falling out of the black mass in which she’d awakened. She managed to get to her feet, pulling on the robe and keeping the thing between her and the man who stood opposite.

“Who are you? What happened to me, aside from the rape? What do you want?”

“I am Asher. What happened should never have been allowed to happen and those responsible, including my brother Corbin, will pay for what they did. You were violated in the most heinous way possible and then sealed in a cocoon in order to transition. What everyone in this village wants is to help you.”

“Transition? Transition into what?”

“Drakaina,” he said simply.

She knew what the term meant. She loved reading fantasy and paranormal romance books. A drakaina was a female dragon.

“I’ll give you that my mental faculties aren’t working at their best capability at the moment, but there is no such thing as dragons and I’m certainly not, nor have I ever been, drakaina.”

“I know it’s a lot to take in, especially after what was done to you, but nevertheless you are now drakaina. But you are one of us and we will ensure nothing bad ever happens to you again. Unlike my brother, our alpha and this clan cherishes and protects our drakaina.”

Clarity was beginning to push the fog surrounding her brain away. “Let’s say for a moment I accept your assertion that dragons exist. I think by now I’d know if I was one.”

The man who called himself Asher nodded. “Had you been born drakaina you most assuredly would have known. But you weren’t. You were born human, and Corbin turned you, without your consent, into one who can shift between being a dragon and being a human.”

The man was gorgeous, but clearly mad. “And how would he do that?”

“I don’t wish to make you recall something that had to be terrifying and incredibly painful…”

“The goo his men covered me with?”

“Yes. When they blew fire to form and seal the cocoon, they started the transition that would allow dragon-shifter DNA to overwrite your human DNA.”

“You actually expect me to believe this bullshit?” she asked, glancing around to see if she could find a means of escape.

“Whether you choose to believe or not doesn’t change what is. You are now drakaina, and the only way out of this dwelling is through the door behind me. Unless you’re planning to blow fire at me, you’ll never make it that far.”

“I can’t blow fire at you…” even as the words left her mouth, she could feel a fiery rumbling in her belly. “… can I?”

“Yes,” he said with a gentle smile, “but I’m hoping you won’t. Even though I could shift, and your fire would most likely not penetrate my scales, it would still take me a moment and getting burned hurts.”

“Don’t make a joke out of this. Are you crazy? Please tell me you’re crazy. I think I’d much prefer it if you were crazy.”

“I’m afraid not. But search deep inside you. Can you not feel your drakaina rising and making herself known?”

Closing her eyes for a moment, she could indeed see a drakaina rising from the fringes of her mind. She opened her eyes. “What have you done to me?”

“Not me; my brother and his clan. Trust me, our alpha will make them pay for what was done to you.”

In the end, Phoebe herself had made Corbin pay the ultimate price and had learned to embrace her new life.

Asher had been polite but aloof at first. It had been confusing until she realized that their alpha, Ridley Monroe, had put the kibosh on any of the dragons trying to court her. But it was Asher who ruthlessly enforced it. When Ridley finally relented, Asher had been quick to make his feelings for her clear and had begun to court her in a way that helped to heal and revel in becoming drakaina.

In the end, Phoebe had happily taken her vows to spend the rest of her days with the handsome dragon. Finally, she would get her own happily ever after.