Dragon Released (Reclaimed Dragons Book 1)
Page 11
Because of all the things he could be doing, all the places he could be…
There was only one thing that could ever make him happy.
Being right here with Jo.
14
Dear Dragon Diary,
Almost died yesterday. Well, not really. But your stupid suppressor made me pass out when my healing tried to work. Faulty.
I’m not sure who is going to read this.
Things are going well with Johanna. I never knew humans lived such interesting lives in spite of how pathetically short-lived they are. I almost feel bad for them, if not for the fact they are too petty to be worried about most of the time. But I can see now why I was assigned to protect her.
She’s… different somehow. Brave in the face of everyday adversity. Hopeful in spite of the futility of her existence in ways. I can’t help but admire her.
And maybe something else.
I’m writing nonsense here.
Ian, if you’re reading this (and if you are, I am going to punch you next time we meet), then tell me why I can’t stop thinking about her. It isn’t normal.
Nobody was worth my time before her.
Now I can’t stop wanting to spend every minute with her.
It feels dangerous.
Dallin
Dallin sat out on the small porch of Jo’s backyard, scenting the early morning dew on the grass while the sun took its time rising. Near his feet, Puggles lazily chewed on a bone, somewhere between awake and dozing off, clearly not a morning creature like Dallin was.
Inside, Jo was probably still asleep, hopefully dreaming sweet dreams with cupcakes and mind-blowing sex (with him, of course) and all good things.
Sometimes the nightmares wouldn’t stay away for him, though. So either by habit or necessity, he’d learned to run on very little sleep most days.
It was at least better than the alternative, the things, the images that waited for him when he closed his eyes.
He set aside his dragon journal, and it disappeared with a little puff of smoke, waiting for whenever he called for it again.
At least he didn’t have to lug the damn thing around in his pocket at all hours. That would just add insult to injury.
It was a blue sky day, so clear not a single white streak of cloud marred the expanse overhead. Days like this had always felt a little odd and magical because the sky in the world of fae was never blue like this. Like clear water stretching from one end to the other for a limitless distance.
Days like this made him wish he could take his suppressor off and fly in full dragon form, though Dallin had spent so much time in his life in human form that shifting all the way was still unfamiliar.
Dallin patted the spot next to him, and Puggles happily bounded up the stairs, then, upon realizing he’d forgotten his bone, ran down, grabbed it, and came back up again. And when Dallin scratched behind his ears, he made happy snorts while he panted from the exertion of taking the stairs twice.
Yesterday had been every kind of shocking. Seeing the light fae, realizing they were after him. Then making love to Jo, exploring the burning, pulling feeling he experienced every time he even looked at her.
From his experience, fae described soul bonds as a connection, almost like an invisible thread entwining two people’s lives. And also something that took effort, something built between people as friends or lovers.
He wasn’t sure how much different having a soul bond was from having a mate.
But was either of those things what Dallin felt?
It was like falling upward. Like an obsession he couldn’t shake. A hunger with only one way to satiate it.
Whatever it was, he didn’t think it could possibly be something so noble as a mate bond.
Monsters like him didn’t have those.
Dallin was pulled from his absentminded petting of Puggles when he heard a too-familiar hum in the air, like the sound of distant rushing water. He sat up instantly, body alert even though he knew he wasn’t in danger.
Probably…
He expected to be surrounded in purple at any moment, when instead a figure materialized next to him, perched lazily on the wooden handrail that surrounded the edge of Jo’s deck.
It was Vexxus, or Ultraviolet to any who didn’t know her personally.
“Long time no see,” she said, cocking her head to one side, purple-gray eyes narrowed, appraising him.
It was honestly surprising to see her in her this form, out in the open like this. Normally, Vexxus assumed the appearance of a tall, muscular man with long, purple-gray hair. She felt it gave her power, and most people she met never saw through the illusion.
Apparently today, she hadn’t thought a disguise was needed.
She was wearing black distressed jeans and heavy work boots with a T-shirt that looked like it represented some heavy metal band, worn over a long black undershirt that came past her wrists. She wore several leather bracelets, and her hair, which was purple-gray like her eyes and had been nearly shorn at one point, was starting to grow, though it still only barely brushed her forehead and ears.
Dallin stood, folding his arms and facing her directly, not feeling any danger from her but still aware of the incredible power she wielded as one of the only known glamour fae.
“Vex,” he said carefully.
After all, their parting had been anything but amicable.
Perhaps because she’d threatened to kill him and everyone else present at the fateful event.
Not that he blamed her, given what she had been through.
Vexxus looked him up and down, the way one might appraise a used car or a poster for a movie. “You seem well, though you still have that hilarious chain on your wrist.” She shook her head. “Ridiculous, you leaving me to go with those who would treat you like a dog. I thought you left the fae world to escape that.”
“I’m glad to see you’re doing good too,” he replied, lowering his voice to not wake Jo.
“Oh, don’t bother with the whispering, dragon,” Vex said. “If your beacon comes out, I’ll just disappear so you can look like a crazy person talking to yourself.”
Dallin had no doubt she would too.
He cocked his head. “I’m still not used to you… like this.” It felt odd to fall into the easy way of conversing they’d always had.
As two fugitives who’d worked together to plot revenge on their masters, they’d spent a lot of time together.
Only a fatal disagreement of viewpoints had smashed their partnership to pieces not too long ago.
Vex raised an eyebrow, looking herself over, then shrugging. “Why bother since you know what I look like anyway? Saves me the trouble of creating an alternate dimension and teleporting us there and back and everything.”
“Still recuperating from…?” Dallin trailed off, not sure how to broach the subject of their last and final mission together.
She frowned, brows lowering for a moment before relaxing into ambivalence again. “Perhaps. I’d like to see you assume a glamoured form for as long as I did. Besides…” She motioned to her oddly normal-looking getup. “Human fashion seems to… agree with me. Much easier to move in than fae robes.”
She stood up, balancing easily on the wooden rail like a bird on a branch, hands clasped in front of her while she looked down on him.
Typical Vexxus.
“Well, the offer’s always open,” he said. “You could just settle down here in this world. Find a new destiny to chase,” he offered, not forgetting the promise he’d made to never give up on the misguided fairy.
If anyone understood how rough things had been for her, it was Dallin.
And even though Dallin had a new mission, a new purpose right now, he’d never be able to repay what she’d done for him.
Vexxus waved dismissively with a scoff, taking slow, perfectly balanced steps along the railing, watching him with a scowl.
“Don’t make me laugh, dragon. As if an existence this mundane could possibly satisfy me.” He
r eyes were a darker purple than he remembered, though certainly not black like they’d been the day they’d almost destroyed the light kingdom together.
She was perhaps tainted by chaos, but not taken over by it just yet.
“There’s more to existence than just revenge or anguish or running from the past. All it leads to is more pain,” Dallin said.
“Existence is pain,” Vex spat. “Or have you forgotten what it was like in the dungeons hidden beneath the opal and ivory towers of the light kingdom?”
Dallin grimaced, even the mention of those places, those times, enough to remind him why he’d almost done the unthinkable to so many innocents in his lust for vengeance. “Of course I haven’t forgotten. If I could, I would have done so long ago. But all of us have to carry what we suffered. We don’t get to change it.”
Vexxus glanced at her arms, and even though she was clothed from head to toe, Dallin knew the scars—both physical and mental—she carried with her every day.
“Since when did the dragon who’d do anything for his brethren—even kill—turn into such a pathetic, weak, creampuff of a man?” she asked disdainfully.
Since Johanna, was what his heart said out loud. But Vex didn’t need to know that. Even though she was an old friend, Dallin didn’t know which side she was fighting for, which made her incredibly dangerous until he knew for sure.
“Since I realized we were going about it the wrong way all along. And do I hate this collar?” He shook his fist. “Of course I do. But it’s a small price to pay for my penance if it means justice and reason can prevail in a world we would have reduced to rubble of our own volition.”
To his surprise, Vexxus just listened while he spoke, producing a small red package from her pocket and pouring several little candies into her hand before tossing them into her mouth all at once and chewing slowly.
“Those fae princes. The oracle. They clearly got to you with their ideas of ‘peace’ and ‘love’ prevailing. Utter nonsense.” She motioned animatedly with her hands while she spoke, taking several more candies before putting them away in her back pocket. “They can’t see the writing on the wall. What’s coming for them.” Her expression pinched, mouth turning downward. “What’s coming for you.”
“You mean those light fae that were after me?” Dallin asked.
She grinned meanly before hopping off the railing and onto the grassy ground easily, like a cat. Puggles, seeing the person who’d been out of reach suddenly within reach, raced down the steps to say hi, snorting and ruffing for attention.
Vexxus, interrupted before she could say more, raised her arms and glanced annoyedly from the tiny dog to Dallin. “What the hell is this… thing?”
Dallin came down the steps, picking up Puggles before Vexxus could do something like turn him into a frog or banish him into another dimension. “He’s Puggles, a dog.”
“I know it’s a dog. But why is it so unfortunate-looking?” she exclaimed, both annoyed and amused.
Dallin, oddly protective of Puggles, just gave him scratches, though the insults definitely had no effect on the happy-go-lucky creature.
“As I was saying…” She continued, brushing her arms off. “Just because our world presumes to want unity doesn’t mean there aren’t many powerful fae that had a lot to lose when the old ways fell.”
Dallin just listened. He needed info.
“Many fae from every kingdom are leaving, going into hiding and seeking asylum amongst the forces of chaos and in the Blur.”
“Why would they do that rather than just continue to live their lives?”
Vexxus laughed derisively. “You of all people should know why. Because their power was derived from the oppression of others. Now that laws and rules are being put in place to prevent that oppression, they’d rather do it elsewhere than change their ways. Thanks to that, chaos is stronger than ever.”
He wanted to ask if she was aligned with these people, working with the very evil elements they’d tried to destroy, but he knew he wouldn’t get a straight answer.
“So why are you telling me this?” Dallin asked seriously.
For the first time since she’d appeared, Vexxus turned to the side, looking at nothing in particular, her profile stoic and unreadable. “Maybe because I’m an idiot who doesn’t know what’s good for me. Maybe it’s the least I can do for the partner who ruined all my plans, my plotting, but who still remained my only friend for so many years.”
“Vexxus…” He wished he could reach her somehow.
Her face turned sharply to stare up at him, defiant and cold. “Or maybe I’m just manipulating you into a trap. After all, it’s what a traitor like you deserves.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this. Join us. Help us fight the bad people we swore to destroy. The dragons are freed. You can make a new life,” he entreated.
“You’re no revolutionary, Dallin. You’re just a dog on a chain. And the sooner you see that, the sooner you’ll wish you’d never crossed me to join a band of idiots on a fool’s errand.”
“I didn’t think there was a point to it all, but there is. There’s more. There’s…” He trailed off, at odds with the truth of his situation and the feelings he felt for Jo.
“There’s what? Love?” Vexxus said angrily before laughing to the sky, a harsh, bitter sound. “Don’t make me laugh. As if people like us are even capable of such a thing.”
Dallin just frowned at her in response, unsure what to say.
“You really have forgotten what you are, haven’t you?” She waved a hand dismissively. “Never mind. Something’s coming,” she said, jabbing a finger in his direction, eyes going darker by the second. “So if you come to your senses and want to join my side again, let me know.”
Vexxus stepped to the edge of the small yard imperiously. “We both know there was never any hope for me in the first place.” With that, she snapped her fingers and immediately dissipated into nothingness, millions of tiny particles that carried away on the light breeze through Jo’s backyard.
Dallin just stood there noting the sun was starting to rise overhead, peeking over the fence as the day began to rapidly warm.
He took a long breath and let it out slowly.
Right now, he still had his mission to protect Jo. She was his first priority. His only priority.
And if something was coming for her, he needed to have his wits about him.
If Vexxus was ever going to come around, she’d have to do it in her own time.
And it wouldn’t be for him.
He set Puggles down and headed inside, considering taking a stab at making breakfast for the cute beacon still sleeping inside. The woman that was at the center of his life and thoughts right now.
Maybe there wasn’t hope for him either.
But in the meantime, he’d at least try cooking some eggs for Jo.
He could really use seeing her smile right now.
15
Jo woke that morning to the sound of something crashing in the kitchen and a burning smell tickling the back of her nose.
Images moved through her mind, of Dallin above her, hot and possessive and dominant yet oddly thoughtful, sweet, careful…
It wasn’t a dream. They’d made love.
The smoky smell reminded her that something wasn’t quite right, so she hurried to get up and change into a long T-shirt to go out and check.
Jo stepped into the kitchen, shocked to see Dallin waving his big hands wildly, attempting to disperse smoke rising from a pan he had on the stove.
Watching the huge male, with his ridiculous muscles and stoic demeanor, wearing an apron that barely fit him while he swatted at the air made her instantly smile.
She came up alongside him and hit the button for the range hood, and the suction immediately started to clear the air a little bit.
“Ah, you’re awake,” Dallin said, surprised, looking a bit panicked. In the pan, she could see several charred eggs and, nearby on the counter, two plates with toast (one pa
ir blackened, another normal) with two cups of juice.
“Were you making us breakfast?” she asked, one hand on his back already as if touching him would confirm everything was still all real.
The slight soreness in her body certainly affirmed it.
As well as the heat that began to rise when they were close.
“Of course I was. I was up early anyway, and you’re always cooking for us, so I figured it couldn’t be too hard to make something simple.” He frowned. “I think I was wrong.”
Jo giggled, and Dallin looked down at her with surprise, a little frustration creasing the corners of his eyes.
“It’s not funny. After all, I said I was a dragon protector, not a dragon chef.” His frown deepened before he folded his arms and turned away with a huff.
But dang, did he look cute in an apron.
“Here, want me to show you a few tips and tricks?” She pulled the blackened mess off the heat and got another pan from the drawer. Dallin glanced over his shoulder, watching curiously as she poured a little oil in and got a few extra ingredients from the kitchen.
“It’s hopeless,” he muttered. “I’d reduce whatever heaven you’re concocting into a burning wreck.” But still, he seemed to be watching, taking notes mentally if nothing else.
“Come on. Let’s cook together. I could definitely use the help of a dragon protector, and I know you wanted to make breakfast, so win-win, right?” She set more eggs, along with cheese and butter, on the counter, watching his eyebrow rise.
A smile quirked his lips, and he nodded. “All right, then. Show me your secrets, culinary wizard.”
“Not a wizard,” she said, grinning. “Just a baker.”
“Well, magical nonetheless.” To her surprise, he came up behind her, gently leaning down to kiss her neck softly. “How are you feeling?”
If you’d told her that the guy who had shown up on her porch that first day would turn out to be so caring, she would have said you were crazy.
But it was true.
“Good,” she said. “It was amazing.” She met his eyes. “Absolutely no regrets.”