Are you okay?
Cassandra shook her head, pain shot down her shoulders.
Drake roared, bursting up through the piece of wall, half-shifted man-dragon. Edmund swung his head, tossing a crate at Drake who batted it out of his way. Edmund rammed him in the corner of the room. Pinned between his horns, Edmund snorted fire up from his nostrils.
Drake growled, attempting to shift. Spitting ice at the bronze dragon.
Edmund winced then rammed him harder in the corner.
Cassandra’s heart raced. She scrambled to her feet. She spotted the marble sculpture dumped from its crate. She grabbed the largest piece of the castle tower sculpture. Heavy, like a cement block, she lugged it in her arms, clambering up Edmund’s side.
Cassandra?
Help me.
He lifted his hind leg, boosting her atop him. She scooted across his back. He moved forward, fighting to hold Drake back from shifting and shoving against him. Reaching his horn, Cassandra clung to him. She almost dropped the marble on Edmund’s head at the sight of Drake’s body shifting, pushing him back. Off balance she fell forward tossing the marble piece with all her might, it landed on Drake’s head before Drake could complete his shift.
She slid off Edmund’s face and landed on Drake’s blue dragon body. With little room to spare inside the storage area, Edmund climbed over Drake, holding him down.
Luv?
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
She pulled up on her hands and knees, dazed. Using Edmund’s shoulder, she steadied herself to her feet. Her body trembling, she scrambled over his shoulder. “Oh, God. I think I killed him.”
Ice dragons are too hard headed. A bronzed dragon head lowered, she leaned against his muzzle, relieved not to have murder amongst her recent list of misdeeds.
Drake’s body twisted, shrunk, and shifted back into a naked man.
You did knock him out cold.
She stroked his bronze skin, like stiff rippled leather, her heart unable to stop its fast beating pace. “I was so scared. I love you too much to lose you.”
Edmund jerked back from her. Startled, she looked up, watched him shift back to a man, and sighed when he yanked her into his arms. He kissed the top of her hair. “And I you, luv.”
Cassandra pulled him down to her, kissing him.
When his hands touched her neck, she winced. Seeing the blood smeared, he said, “Let’s get you some medical attention.”
“What about him?” Cassandra glanced over at Drake.
Edmund frowned. “I don’t suppose getting the authorities involved in this is a good idea.”
“Margaret will just pay off the police chief like she always does.” Cassandra stepped over the rubble. “I’ve got a first aid kit under the counter, or what is left of the counter.”
Edmund swept her up in his hold. He carried her past the fallen wall.
“You know, Drake is really Margaret’s problem. We should just let her take care of this.”
“You really think that is a good idea? There’s always the draconian counsel.” Edmund sat her up on the counter and rummaged under it until he found the first aid kit.
“You know what Margaret had him do to Jacques. Imagine what she does to those who try to steal from her.”
“You are a shrewd woman, mate.” Edmund poured antiseptic on a pad and patted it to her neck.
She hissed, and he blew on the cuts. Placing bandages where Drake’s claws had pierced her flesh, he kissed each spot. “Only when it comes to protecting what I love.”
Chapter Twelve
A few hours later, Edmund stood back watching as two other water dragons retrieved Drake from the rubble inside the gallery.
Cassandra spoke softly to the one. She patted him on the cheek and smiled. He looked at Edmund, nodded, and made his exit. “That was Alin.”
“I assumed as much.”
“When did you say the others from your herd would arrive?” She pushed her hair back from her face. Slowly, the color had returned to her cheeks.
“Bogdan and Sigurd will arrive shortly. It would not be wise for Blake to leave his fiú and mate at this time.”
“I called to check on my mother. Mary says a man came to visit her today and brought her some yarn. She’s making arrangements for the move.”
“Bogdan. Says she reminds him of his own mum, with her knitting.”
“Thank you for bringing Mary along with Mum to the island.” Cassandra hugged him. He felt that little tremble in her heart flutter in his own.
“She’s my family, too, now luv.”
Cassandra smiled and nodded.
“Now what is it we came here for in the first place?”
Cassandra bumped the wall with her foot. Then she kicked it harder. “It’s supposed to move. There’s a vault on the other side.”
“Let me try.” Edmund felt around the wall, found the invisible crease and saw where the claws had dug inside it. “Would Margaret have known it was here?”
“No, but she may have suspected. She told me where to store them, but never nor asked what I did with them.”
Edmund ran his hands down the claw marks, praying at the largest gash in the wall until he found a hole. He yanked, and the section of wall popped out.
Cassandra tried to slide the piece of wall, but it wouldn’t budge. Edmund gave it a hard nudge to make it move out of the way.
She punched in a code of numbers on the digital keypad and pressed her hand to the palm reader of a steel door hidden behind the wall. The keypad beeped at her.
“I’m glad you didn’t let him shift. If he’d have breathed his cold ice in here, it would have frozen the eggs.” She smacked the door, yelped and shook her hand. Edmund took her hand in his, rubbing where it smarted. “I couldn’t let Drake get a hold of these eggs.” She looked up at him, her eyes filled with agony. “They’re alive, Edmund. They are the last of their bloodline.”
“Which is why Margaret is collecting them.”
Cassandra shook her head. “We’re supposed to protect them, she told me to keep them hidden. These ones are not for sale.”
“They’re priceless,” Edmund said.
“It took me a while after my father died to understand why the eggs never got sent to the hatchery with Uncle Istvan. It’s a game to her. They’re just pawns like in a chess game.” Cassandra pressed her hand to the palm reader.
“Which explains why she tried to take the fiú from the island.” Edmund cursed then slammed his fist against the metal door. One by one the locks released. “Melsunia and Blake were the last two sun dragons. With Melsunia gone, the egg is the last pure blood besides Blake.”
“Sun dragon eggs are the most sought after of your kind. No wonder she got angry and sent Drake and Alin after Jacques. But she didn’t do anything to Emily.”
“Emily’s safe on the island.”
“Or is she? You said yourself she and her mate have been summoned to the draconian counsel.” Cassandra walked past him, pushing the door open into the temperature-controlled room.
“But even as the leader of your Keeper society, Margaret holds no weight with the draconian counsel.”
She closed the door enough to leave a crack for them to escape. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. How would Margaret have known about your pendragon, Blake’s, fiú?”
“Olaus,” Edmund growled. His dragon raging inside him. “When Blake hears of this…”
“Margaret has too many powerful connections for us to stop her alone.” Cassandra went from one glass incubator to the next. “First Emily, and now me? She won’t take us turning on her lightly. She so much as said so when I called. I didn’t tell her about us.”
“Better for us,” he said. “Margaret’s scent isn’t as strong as the others, but I have no doubt she was here tonight.”
Cassandra glanced at him, hovering over one of the incubators. “You’re sure?”
Edmund glanced around the temperature-controlled room. “As sure as I’m a dragon.�
�
“Then it’s good for us Drake didn’t get what he was looking for.” Cassandra stepped away and showed him the eggs nestled in the incubator. “Meet Peter, Bob, Joe, John, and the newest one. I think I’ll call him Ike. He’s from Iceland.”
Edmund’s brow rose. “You named them?”
Cassandra swept her hand over them. “Of course. All babies need a name.”
He could see now her personal attachment to them. The way she’d hidden them so that not even Margaret could find them. He grinned.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he chuckled.
“What?”
He snickered. “I was just thinking of what names you’d choose for our future fiú?”
Her jaw dropped, he grabbed her hand before she could punch him. Kissed her knuckles and asked, “Now luv, what shall we do with all these little ones?”
“What we Keepers were meant to do all along. Protect them. Make sure no one, especially Margaret Moldvan, can use them for their own gain again.”
“I think I know how we can arrange that.”
Epilogue
Cassandra twisted the bronze ring around on her finger. Her brand on her wrist, like a gold ink tattoo seemed pale compared to her tanned skin. She walked around the garden, with the sea whispering and the scents of orchids and heliconia swept around her.
At the far end of the garden, her mother sat with an auburn-haired man teaching him how to knit. Her mother’s eyes had taken a new shine to Bogdan, her husband’s friend and band buddy. Last eve, with the setting of the sun, they’d exchanged vows. Her mother had been lucid, welcomed Edmund as part of their family. It broke her heart; her father hadn’t been here to witness their union.
She spotted Edmund walking towards her. His dark hair and bronzed skin a dark contrast against the paper flowers and emperor’s candlesticks.
They were truly one now, mated by the dragon’s code and united in all ways by the humans’ standards.
He flashed her a white-tooth grin, holding his arms out for her. “There you are.”
“I thought you would still be practicing. Don’t you have a concert soon?”
Edmund enclosed her in his embrace. “We’ve been playing together for almost two centuries. It’s formality really. No new songs until next go of it.”
She allowed him to pull her back against him. “Then what will you do once the band goes on ‘break’ for so many years?” She didn’t dare ask, her heart content no matter what he did, just as long as she didn’t ever lose him. Cassandra’s heart couldn’t withstand the break, like her mother when her father died, of losing him.
“I thought I’d settle down a bit. Blake has granted us a bit of land here on the island so I can build a bigger house. Hopefully we’ll have time before all those little ones of yours begin to hatch to make room for all of them.” He kissed the top of her head, “And of course a few of our own.”
“I’m surprised you’d want them.” She glanced over at her mother.
Edmund cupped her chin and tilted her face for her to look at him. “I was an only dragon, luv. I know what it feels like to be lonely. Sigurd has assured me the eggs are safe at the hatchery. I will take you there anytime you wish to check on them while we await their hatching.”
“But what of Margaret?” She wouldn’t let them go so easily. She had too much invested in procuring them. It was only a matter of time before Margaret tried to contact her. And then what? Here at Giresun Manor, there was no cell service or other technology. It kept them protected from the outside world, and the outside world from discovering them.
Like all of them, Cassandra’s cell phone lay in a drawer, turned off, until she and Edmund left for their next adventure. London then Paris, he promised. Right after their last concert this century at Stonehenge.
“Let someone else keep an eye on her a bit.” Edmund kissed her, a quick peck of the lips.
“She’ll come for the eggs.”
“Counting on it, luv, which is why Bogdan will be watching over your place if she returns.”
Cassandra shivered. “I cannot help but wonder what will become of the girls in Drake’s horde. I hope Bogdan does not ever have to encounter any of Drake’s spawn.”
Edmund chuckled. “We have not gone on tour throughout the centuries without making friends along the way. Bogdan has many talents beside learning to knit.”
Cassandra glanced over at her mother and Bogdan. Edmund followed her gaze. “It would appear your mother’s got Bogdan in knots. I’d say it is a perfect time for us to practice a few knots of our own.” He winked.
“And what kind of knots would you suggest?” Her brow arched.
“The kind that continue to bind us together.” He tugged her toward the large manor house. “You do like it when we become entangled, don’t you? There won’t be many more times as these once our fiú arrive.”
Cassandra flushed, warmth tingling all over her body. That look, those dark sultry eyes, never ceased to draw her to him. And when he kissed her, there was no denying they shared a bond greater than love, a link joining their souls.
THE END
Keep reading for a sneak peek at the next book in my Dragons of Giresun series, Her Hidden Dragon.
About Suzanne Roslyn
Suzanne is the author of hot paranormal shifter romance, a tamer of dragons, and collector of unicorns.
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Her Hidden Dragon
Sigurd Eltvik had never seen anything so beautiful as the woman hunched near the bayberry tree. She tried to coax the shaft-tail finches to land on her outstretched hand.
Holding as still as a statue, the auburn-haired lass couldn’t convince even a golden sparrow to take perch on her. With those long wavy ripples of fire going down her back, hovering above her lovely derriere, she reminded him of a fiery wood nymph from legends.
Although tempted, he leaned against a roped pole there in the grassland exhibit of the Harghita Hatchery and Aviary. He’d promised his pendragon, Blake, and his bud, Edmund, he would deliver four dragon eggs to the hatchery and stay to watch over them. Edmund and his new mate, Cassandra, had rescued them from the hands of that dirty dealing Margaret Moldvan and they all knew it was a matter of time until Margaret came to collect them back.
If this was to be his assignment until the heavy metal band, Lure, got together in a few weeks to play their final gig for the century, then he couldn’t complain. Not with a view as breathtaking as this.
His dragon senses went haywire with her wildflower and moss scent.
She leaned a bit. A golden finch hopped a little on the branch in her direction. Her sweet voice pleaded, “Just a little now. I won’t hurt you.”
Sigurd snorted. Amused, he couldn’t help himself. “Says the predator to the prey.”
Startled, the bird fluttered away in the enclosure.
Two emerald eyes turned on him. Wide with surprise, then sparked as she spoke, “Predator? Me? I’m not the one sneaking up on others and scaring them.”
“I didn’t mean to scare you, but in defense you were trying to lure those poor birds into your clutches.”
“I was not!”
“Really? Next, you’re going to claim you’re one of those dragonesses? You know…” He flipped his hand and jutted out his hip. “I’m a vegetarian.” Then he quirked his brow.
“A what?”
She made a face trying not to laugh at him then sobered when he said, “Vegetarian.
“You k
now. Don’t eat meat.”
“I know what a vegetarian is. I meant the other.”
“Dragoness? A female dragon.”
“Listen I don’t know what drugs you’re on buddy, but this is an aviary. You won’t find any dragons here. You need to leave. Now.” She marched towards him, the V-neck in her shirt providing a good view of her plump breasts, ripe for the picking. He straightened, waiting for her to recognize him any moment and press those alluring curves of hers against him.
But this dragoness didn’t tame so easily. She stood, nose to nose with him, unblinking. “Out or I’ll call security.”
He crossed his arms. “You don’t know who I am do you?”
Her eyes swept down over him. He tilted his chin up. “You’re either some stupid jack who’s high on who-knows-what or I’d say you are one of the new security guards. Either way, you have no business in this exhibit.”
A huge shaft of disappointment poked him in the gut. “I don’t even look faintly familiar to you?”
“Nope.” She shook her head. “Should you?”
Her bewildered expression wounded him. He was Sigurd Eltvik! The best rock’n guitar player known to man-kind. Okay, he reasoned with himself, second best. He’d give Blake the role of best. He was their leader, after all. But sweet Mary, how could she have no clue who he was?
Then he grinned. “Sure, baby. I’m the new security. Why don’t you give me a tour of the facilities?”
“I’m Ashlynn Sullivan, Dr. Kovak’s assistant. If you’re looking for a tour, come back on Saturday. We are open to the public on Saturday afternoons.”
“Sigurd Eltvik.” Sigurd held out his hand. By the blank expression of her face, she still didn’t know who he was. When she didn’t take his hand, he ran his fingers through his hair. “Fine then,” he muttered. “At least direct me back to the hatchery so I can check in with Dr. Kovak.”
“I gather you expect me to take you.” Her thin brow arched, and he sensed the ire spark in her.
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