“Nothing more than an old tale, but to a child a good bed time story. There have been songs written. We dragons came here as a gift from the gods to mankind. A gift so sought out, we became hunted. No more than a prize to human kind we had to blend in and become as they. So, you see, each side has its theories.”
“And your theory?” She tilted her head, allowing him to brush his knuckles down the side of her neck. Beyond them, the sun darkened and dipped low.
“I believe there is a bit in truth in both. Why else would our kind still be hunted and our fui a well sought prize? Some humans have dedicated their lives to protecting us, while others….” His hand paused at her shoulder. “They hunt for greed and take what does not belong to them. Even if it means taking innocent lives to achieve what they desire.”
She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Like your wife. Melsunia.”
“She was one of a kind.” He had loved her, though she showed so little love for him. He long forgave her for refusing to bring the child into this world as the humans did. Her greatest treasure had been their fui, and to see it, feel it attached to Emily, formed a knot in his throat.
“You never mentioned ever having a wife.” She glanced away, not before he saw the pain flicker in her eyes.
“Once the dead are gone, we don’t speak of them again.” He read the confusion in her eyes. “Finding a dragoness of the same breed to mate with is a rare gift, as is to hold one’s fiu.”
Emily rubbed the egg through her dress. She stared at the tapestry hanging on the wall near opposite the window. “You understand then why I took it?”
“And what would you have done with it if I’d let you get away?”
“Taken it to my father. He’s an oologist. The eggs are hatched and the young ones placed within the families of the keepers. Aunt Margaret raised Jacques as my parents raised my foster sister Ash. It’s our duty to keep the dragon race alive.”
“You never told me you had a dragon in the family.”
“What difference does it make?”
He cupped her chin, angling her face towards him. “Isn’t that why you left me? Because of who I am?”
Her lips twitched with indecision. “I don’t want to talk about us.”
He got the impression it pained her, but he needed to know. “I showed you my dragon.”
“I gave you my—” she stepped away from him, closer to the window in direct line with the disappearing sun, and he felt her about to confess her heart belonged to him.
He moved in front of her, leaned in, and touched her forehead to his. She sighed. “My mother died.”
He placed his hands on her hips, forcing himself to find contentment in her closeness. This close and all his mind could focus on was her lips. “You should have told me. I searched for you.”
“I couldn’t take that chance.” She tilted her face up, bumping their noses. “Do you have any idea what it is like to be stuck between two worlds?”
“I’m a dragon living in a human world.”
“And I am a descendant of a long line of dragon riders who have been called into debt for the price the dragons had to pay on our behalf. We could never be together. It’s was forbidden long ago. It’s still forbidden. This union of ours, it won’t ever become accepted with our families.”
Not in his mind. Nor in his heart. “Father Armand has recorded our marriage as has been done for centuries by the human world. You allowed me to claim you years ago. You are mine. I won’t let you go.”
“This is beyond you and me. I had no choice. I have been trained all my life to take my place amongst the Dragon Keepers. When my sister Ash was brought to us, I didn’t want to be bond to the debt. It’s why I left to have a life of my own, but then look where it got me.”
“The old ways will soon fade. There are not many left, like Olaus, who are strong enough or wish to enforce the ancient laws. You and I have been bond together since the night in my tour bus when you gave yourself to me.”
“But if the old ways no longer are enforced…” Her words drifted south, along with all the blood in his body.
“You’re still mine,” he finished, his lips brushing against the curve of her neck where he’d given her his love bite years ago.
“There is still the matter of the fiu between us.”
“It’ll hatch soon. Naomi tells me a few weeks at most.” He led her over to the wall seat. Slipping his hands under her skirt, she placed her knees on the velvet cushion to straddle him. As his tongue swept across her bottom lip, a needy whimper came from the back of her throat.
Gripping her hips, he pushed up, fitting himself against her sex. He rocked her forward and they moaned in unison. She pulled at his t-shirt, rolling it up to expose his hard-muscled chest. She splayed her hands under the fabric, gripping his shoulders. “I can’t go back.”
He pushed back the wave of hair falling across her cheek. “Your place is here now.”
“You don’t understand. The egg.”
“Is mine. You’re mine.” He growled with frustration. Heat flushed his veins as his dragon awakened. He tugged her hair bringing her mouth back to his when a movement caught his eye.
A few feet away, Sigurd rocked back and forth on his heels. His hand shielding his eyes, he said, “Umm… Just wondering if we should grab supper down in the village tonight. You know, since Naomi isn’t here.”
Emily rested her forehead against his shoulder. He eased his hand out from under her skirt. Her ragged breathing matched the tempo of his strumming heart.
“It’s alright Sigurd. You can look now.” Emily let her hands drop away from him and he pulled down his shirt.
“Yes. Well…,” Sigurd looked as scarlet as Emily’s cheek felt against his neck. “What shall we do for supper?”
Carefully, Blake helped Emily stand. She turned and crossed her arms, standing in front of him. Out of Sigurd’s view, he adjusted himself. “Where’s Naomi?”
“Don’t know.” Sigurd shrugged. “Thought you would know.”
“Isn’t she with Garth?” Emily asked.
“She returned with Bogdan after they got Garth settled up in the mountains. Poor guy took a beating from old snout, didn’t know the old wheeze had it in him.” Sigurd kept his gaze shielded.
“He’ll be out of hibernation soon enough. It won’t take long for him to heal. If Naomi isn’t with him, then she must have gone to the market down in the village,” Blake said.
Emily walked up to Sigurd and pulled his hand down. “Fear not, there is at least one other person in this manor who knows her way around a kitchen.”
“And who’s that?”
Emily punched Sigurd playfully in the arm. “Talk to me like that and you might have to starve.”
The sooner they got Sigurd and the others fed and accounted for, the sooner he could satisfy a hunger of his own.
Chapter Twelve
Emily hummed while she cooked in the kitchen. Naomi still hadn’t returned the next morning. Having developed an aversion to eggs, she used a store-bought box of pancake mix. Gently, she rocked back and forth to keep the baby against her belly content.
“Never thought I’d see you bare foot and pregnant in the kitchen.”
Emily dropped her spatula and squealed. “Jacques!”
Quickly he moved around the kitchen island for the impact of her hug. She wrapped her arms around him, and then shoved back. “You picked me up and dropped me back here!” She reached back and clocked his jaw with her fist. Jacques stumbled back as Sigurd came into the kitchen.
Emily shook her hand. That hurt!
“Now that’s a way to start off the morning.” Sigurd sauntered up to Emily, took her smarting hand, and blew his frigid breath across her knuckles. She glared over at Jacques, rubbing his jaw. His eyes flashed and dilated revealing his dragon nature.
“And this is what I get for coming back. I should have stayed in America with Margaret.”
Emily put on a smile for Sigurd. “Thank you. Pancakes are almost
ready.” She went back to flipping pancakes. “I figured you went back.” She eyed Sigurd reaching for a cup near the coffee maker. “You know, home.”
“No need for code words here. Jacques, old buddy, old pal, told us everything. It’s Harghita, right? Home?” Sigurd pulled out the coffee pot and frowned. He showed her the empty glass decanter. “You don’t drink coffee?”
“Sorry Sig, I’ve always been a tea drinker.” Emily placed three pancakes on a plate and poured three more on the hot plate. It felt natural standing in the kitchen, talking with Sigurd as they did back in day when she’d ran away on tour with their band, Lure.
She glanced over at Jacques, spotting the green tint of his skin and purple bruise along his cheek bone and dark shadows under his eyes. She glanced at her knuckles on her hand, numb thanks to Sigurd then back at Jacques. She walked over to him, took his face in her hands inspecting his bruises. “Did I do that?”
Sigurd snorted, “Got himself beat up by a female.”
He opened a canister of coffee, filling the kitchen with wafting smells of grilling pancakes, fresh sliced oranges, and the horrible dark brewed beans. Emily scrunched her nose. Her sense of smell had heightened in the past few days. She could even smell Blake coming in the back door. She recognized his cedar citrus fragrance and as the door opened the raw scent of the ocean salted over the smells of Sigurd’s percolating coffee.
Jacques crossed his arms and looked down his nose at her. “Don’t get yourself all worked up about it.”
“Who did this?” She reached up, pulling his face down closer to hers.
“Margaret didn’t appreciate having to tell her buyer we flubbed the deal. She told Drake and Alin I needed a lesson to ensure it didn’t happen again.”
“Buyer?”
“You didn’t actually think Mommy dearest was going to leave the egg at the hatchery, did you? Not one like that.” He pointed to her rounded mid-section.
“We protect the eggs, not…” Margaret? Aunt Margaret?
“That’s what she wants you to think.” Emily saw in his eyes, and knew from their bond at childhood, he wouldn’t lie.
“There has to be a reason.”
“It’s called money, power, and good ole greed,” Sigurd said.
“It’s why your mum left you run away and your father never went after you. They didn’t want to see you involved in any of this,” Jacques said.
“They knew? You knew?” She clenched her fist from socking him again.
“Your mum tried to stop it.”
She would. Her mother cared too much about keeping the dragons’ secrets safe and paying back their family debt. A debt, Emily now saw they would never become released from.
“And you tried to shield me from it.” Out of habit, she kissed the bruise on Jacques cheek.
A possessive arm came around her, pulling her back against Blake as a low growl vibrated from his throat.
Rather than be annoyed, she felt touched by his protective hold on her.
Jacques stepped away from her.
Sigurd bent, watching the dark liquid drip, by drip into the decanter. “The coffee’s got a real punch this morning.”
“Might help wash down the burnt pancakes.” Bogdan flipped back his long blond hair and tied it with piece of leather. They both looked like they’d come from a jog along the coastline, rather than taking an early morning flight to meet the sun.
“Oh, no!” Emily tried to twist in Blake’s embrace but he didn’t let go. His eyes bored into Jacques.
“I got it.” Bogdan tossed up the spatula and caught it.
They stood around the kitchen island, with Bogdan flipping pancakes onto their plates and Sigurd pouring all of them coffee, except for Emily. She sucked on an orange wedge; her appetite like everything else had increased in the last few days. If she didn’t know better, her body thought it was really pregnant. This would also confirm why her breast had gone from tender to swollen.
Blake helped her sit on a stool near Jacques. “You have to finish telling me what happened. Does my father know?”
“He suspects. Got rather upset when Margaret told him you fell madly in love with the lord of the manor and eloped. It’s why I’m here. Your father sent me. Not that I wasn’t coming back for you.” He added, “You knew I would.”
“Saved his sorry ass, Edmund did. Found him all buggered up.” Sigurd took a giant gulp of his coffee like it was soda.
Bogdan shook his head. “Garth picked him up so Edmund could stay on the hunt.”
Emily shoved down onto her feet. She stabbed her finger in Blake’s direction. “You knew he came for me.”
Jacques put his hand on her shoulder. “They could have killed me.”
The same feeling she’d been trying to ignore since Blake discovered her in his bed chamber, resurfaced. If she had any doubt before she loved him, it vanished by having Jacques standing there as testimony to her dragon husband’s mercy. She sniffled, tears prickling the back of her eyes. She never felt this emotion, like she could cry at the drop of a hat. “Thank you.”
“There’s more you need to know.” Blake took her hand, entwining it with his.
“Where is my father?” It was the first thing on her mind.
“He’s where he always is. It isn’t safe for him to go anywhere else.” Jacques rocked back on his heels. “Margaret threatened him.”
“Looks like Olaus isn’t the only threat around here,” Bogdan muttered.
Sigurd turned away, clearing their empty dishes.
“Threatened?” Dear Lord, she had really messed things up for all of them. “Why in the world would Aunt Margaret threaten Father?”
Jacques put his elbows on the counter and leaned forward. “Someone else had it arranged for us to come here. You know… to take the egg. They offered Margaret a dragon’s treasure for us to deliver it.”
“Aunt Margaret intended all along for us to steal it.”
Jacques shrugged, “A dragon’s treasure is a dragon’s treasure.”
Blake’s blood boiled, Emily pulled away from him, the heat radiating from his skin causing her to flush. He clenched his fist. She reached for him, afraid to touch him with the fire burning through his veins. His eyes had turned golden. “Olaus.”
“And now he’s headed to the isles of the dragon counsel.” Bogdan pounded his fist on the island top. “And I let him go.”
Their biggest problem had just gotten bigger. The only thing going for her right now was the fact she still had the egg and it hadn’t hatched. Yet.
And then there was her father—who she’d gotten caught in this mess.
Aunt Margaret. Of all people!
She couldn’t imagine Aunt Margaret harming her father, but neither could she imagine having two of her wards beat her son. She owed the debt as did all the keepers and their families. Surely, Aunt Margaret had a good explanation for what seemed like her turning her back on their duty.
Jacques recognized the concern on Emily’s face, she never hid her feelings from him. Raised together, he took an invisible role of the brother her parents never had. “Let him. I’d rather face a few seventh century wing beaters in your situation than good old, dearest, Margaret.”
Chapter Thirteen
It had taken over a week for the dragon counsel to send their summons. As the Giresun pendragon, last of the sun dragon’s, Blake held an advantage against the elders. He would not defend his actions to a bunch of ancient snoots. Keeper or no, human or no, Emily was his mate.
Blake found Emily on the beach, lying on a blanket with a pair of sunglasses on and her arms over her head basking his egg in the sun. Around him the ocean shushed with its ever-rolling waves. Crystal blue against the pale sands, he stripped off his shoes and tossed his shirt over his head. Warmth radiated up from the sun baked sand, nothing compared to the heat building inside him.
His little thief.
She’d caught him, encircling him with trust and affection stronger than his first wife had ever be
stowed him. His heart filled with joy, full of wonder and pride.
For the past several days, they’d prepared the nursery. With Jacques needing to stay hidden away from any more encounters with his foster mother’s tribe of goons, he’d sent Sigurd to the main land to fetch a crib, diapers, clothes. Everything Emily insisted their fiu would need.
Their fiu… Melsunia never wanted to experience labor as the humans did. She prolonged the birth of their fiu by laying an egg in dragon form, and making him wait a hundred years for it to hatch, rather than nine months as a human. Her aversion to having her human body altered by the babe had cost them both. Her egg had become more of a treasure to her, like a piece of her favorite jewelry, rather than valued for the life inside. In the end, she’d died protecting it from the hunters.
He thanked Freya for his fiu and for bringing him Emily.
She shifted her hips, lifting her long slender leg and bending it to more comfortable position. Did she have any idea how beautiful she was?
He unsnapped his pants, leaving them in the sand.
He tilted his head. Standing above her, the small triangles of her bikini top left much of her flesh exposed to his eye.
She turned her head, sliding down her sunglasses.
His manhood jumped to attention.
Her smile reached her eyes. She placed a hand over the egg caressing the egg as it were part of her. It glinted in the sunlight, oiled with coconut scented sun lotion. His throat thickened. Drenched in the sun’s rays her skin glistened, tanned from afternoons of laying here on their private beach.
Though he was certain she pulled him into a situation forcing him to stand against Olaus and the other pendragons, he had put it off for far too long.
The world evolved, adapted to survive, and so would they. But for today, he would enjoy this time with his mate.
He sank to his knees beside her. “You’ll scorch your skin lying out here like this.”
“Tell that to your fiu.” She reached up brushing her fingers across his hip. A rumble released from his chest. His hips thrust forward for her touch.
“He likes the heat, as do I.” Blake brought her hand to his erection.
Her Dragon's Keeper Page 5
