by Tia Didmon
His smile faltered. She sensed his irritation, but could see no signs of it on his face. “I have several agents I work with for the artists we house. Here is the card for the one I recommend for you. She is good and doesn’t take on too many clients. I think you will find her quite amendable.”
Mara took the card, slipping a thumb over the embossed black lettering. “I had someone in mind, but I will call her.” She slipped the card into her suit jacket. Her stomach churned, threatening to evict the contents of her breakfast. “I wish I could stay and chat with your further Mr. Night, but I have a prior engagement.”
Devlin’s lip twitched. His clenched teeth flashed behind his gums before he recovered his composure. “I apologize for my tardiness. I was dealing with a matter of importance. Can we reschedule our meeting for another time? It will give you a chance to arrange your agent.”
Mara glanced at the double doors. “That would be great.”
Devlin waved his hand as Ross emerged from the office. His disheveled hair and sunglasses failed to hide the red splotches that marred his cheek. “Ross, schedule an appointment for Miss Krane in two days.”
Ross nodded, but his rigid jaw and stiff posture were impossible to ignore.
She left the gallery, struggling to breathe. Devlin appeared nice, refined and attractive, but he made her uneasy in a way she couldn’t describe. Her heart felt heavy. Sluggish. She rubbed her chest, trying to ease the unusual feeling. She was so distracted by her body’s reaction to the suave gallery owner, that she didn’t notice Legion approach.
His hand gripped her arm. The laden feeling in her chest evaporated, replaced with energy and light. Warmth ran over her skin like a tropical sun, bathing her in heat and fire. She sucked in a breath as her body soaked up the aura of the man holding her.
Legion was sexy and angry. “What are you doing?” he growled.
Mara surveyed the street, trying to figure out what had his ears steaming. Pedestrians moved out of their way, avoiding the couple without looking at them. “I’m not sure what you mean, I told you I had a meeting with the gallery curator.”
Legion’s eyes blazed. The surrounding air heated. “You failed to mention he was a dark dragon.”
Mara blinked. Her mind denying what her heart already knew. “What?”
Legion leaned close to her. While she couldn’t see the bubble of magic around them. She could feel it gaining in strength. People continued to walk by and glance their way, but they didn’t hear a word spoken between them. “You reek of a dark dragon.”
She pulled away from him, straightening her jacket. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I met Devlin Night and Ross Emerson from the Dark Art Gallery. No one else.”
The muscles in Legion’s chest rippled when he inhaled. “I can’t say which Dark you were in contact with, but you smell of corruption and greed.”
Mara’s eyes narrowed. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. The dream of her childhood. Her anger swirled as it mixed with the power inside her. “I didn’t meet any dragons, Legion. I know you don’t want to hear...” Her eyes turned white before the magical world eviscerated her childhood dreams.
Chapter 8
Legion beheld the white eyes that had eluded him for centuries. Hope, anguish and betrayal mixed into a wicked cocktail of power as his magic reared up to meet that of the seer.
He held her against his body, shielding her from the world around them as her breaths came in short, uneven gasps. It was only a few seconds before her deep emerald eyes resurfaced. “Mara, are you alright?”
She trembled in his arms. “No.”
“What did you see?”
She took a stuttered breath. “This can’t be happening,” she whispered.
Her power swirled around them, pulsing like an antique light with faulty wiring. While it lacked the intensity it once had, her magic was awakening with the onset of her birthday. “It’s okay, Mara. I will be here to guide you.”
She clutched his arms; her fingernails scraped his skin. “You can’t enter the temple.”
He stiffened. Lightning whipped through his body, electrifying his blood. “You saw the temple?”
She licked her lips. The tiny action drew attention to the perfect pink hue. “Her bones. I have to find Adara’s bones. They are in the temple.”
Legion’s body hardened as hers quivered against him. The soft curves that fit against his thick frame were perfection. The faint odor of strawberry and vanilla in her hair. Even the tiny white teeth that nibbled her lip were a turn on. “Why?”
“He is after them.” Mara whispered.
“Who?”
Mara pursed her lips. “Her dark passenger. We need to break the connection.”
Legion held back the talons that threatened to pierce his fingertips. “Who is he?”
Mara swallowed hard. “She didn’t know. I don’t know.”
Legion gazed at the perfection in his arms. He was never attracted to Adara. Could a spell break a mate bond? Was Mara always meant to be his destiny? Adara the stepping stone to start him on his journey. “You see, Adara as another person, yet you recognize her soul.”
Mara rubbed her forehead. “She feels like me, but it’s different. I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe the same person who has two different lives. A series of events that changes their destiny despite starting off in a different era. We have the same purpose only...”
“Only what?”
“She failed, and it resulted in her death.”
Legion’s heart fell like a stone to his stomach. Had he made a mistake? There was another player in the game that he had missed. He failed Adara. He touched Mara’s cheek. “Where is the temple?’
She lay her hand over his. “I don’t know. I don’t recognize the surroundings, but I don’t think that matters.”
“You could see outside?”
Mara gazed toward the sky. “Yes. I saw rolling hills, but there was a blue mist in the distance.”
Legion glanced at the pedestrians walking past them. “We need to find it.”
Mara touched his arm. The slight pressure as she squeezed his bicep caused a jolt deep in his soul. “That’s the thing. It isn’t located anywhere. We need the key.”
Legion’s body stiffened. “What key?”
“I don’t know how it works, only that it brings the temple to the seer.”
“You are the seer.”
Her eyes dulled to match her sullen tone. “Yeah.”
He held back his dragon’s fire. The beast was like a young gelding attempting to break free of its corral. “You can bring the temple here?”
She nodded. “It can be anywhere I am, if I have the key. It no longer exists in the human plane.”
Legion’s eyes went wide as the realization hit him. “Adara made another world. Another dimension, for the temple to exist?”
Mara nibbled her lip. “It’s like another layer on this world.”
“How do you restore the temple to our... layer? This plane?”
Mara glanced down the street. “I don’t know. I need the key to figure it out.”
Legion ran his hand through his hair. “What does the key look like?”
“She is...”
“She? The key is a person?” His voice grumbled with the undertone of his beast.
Mara shivered. “Yes. The key. The gatekeeper is a druid. One that sees magic and alternate dimensions, but she is blind in this one.”
“Blind? A druid could heal such an injury,” he said.
Mara motioned toward three girls in their late teens. They were laughing and whispering beside the street sign. “She is young, maybe nineteen.”
“Can you see where she is?”
“No. Her world is dark. I will feel her when I am close to her, but I can’t tell you what she looks like. I can tell you she is happy and not in any danger.”
Legion looked up to the heavens. The weight of leadership, a stone upon his chest. “She will be, if we don’t fi
nd her.”
Mara blinked, clutching his shirt. “Legion, I don’t feel so...”
He caught her as she fell into his arms.
Mara’s eyes fluttered as she inhaled the smell of cedar and wildflowers. It took a moment to focus on the log cabin walls, adorned with old tapestries and tartan decor. The picturesque mountains gleamed in the sun, outside the arched bay window. She pulled the soft blanket around her, trying to remember how she had gotten into the large cozy bed.
The vision came back to her in a rush, as did her falling into Legion’s arms before the darkness enveloped her. She had the sense of flying, the world rushing beneath her, but her eyes wouldn’t open. Had Legion flown her here?
Her phone beeped, causing her to glance at the message. “Shit! I was scheduled to relieve Natalie an hour ago.” She scrambled out of bed, grabbing the side table when the room spun.
Legion strode into the bedroom as if the world belonged to him. The bare skin on his chest mottled gold before returning to the tanned dark hue of his human form. His jeans were unbuttoned as if he’d thrown them on in haste. Still, he looked like a golden Greek god. “You shouldn’t be up yet.”
Mara pointed to his chest. “What was that gold shimmer on your skin?”
Legion sighed. “My dragon was showing off. I had forgotten how vain the big bastard can be. It has been centuries since I have had to deal with his... antics.”
Mara glanced between her watch and the Adonis in front of her. How could she pass up learning about dragons, specifically the sexy one standing before her? “What’s it like, being a dragon?”
Legion knelt down in front of her, alleviating the kink that was forming in her neck. “We are two beings and one soul. Both see to the needs of the other. It was difficult while he was dormant.”
She fought the instinct to run her hands over the tanned skin. To trace the defined muscles in his shoulder. To run her hand through the silky locks of his hair. “Why was he dormant?”
Legion rolled his shoulders. “Our species is long-lived. We don’t age, but another creature that possesses magic can kill us. We also lose the drive to live, if we do not find our mate. The one woman in the world to bind our magic with.”
“Why do you need to bind your magic?”
The fire in his eyes dimmed. “It is the only way to stop from going numb to the world.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand. If magic is powerful and wonderful, how could you go numb to it?”
Legion glanced down. “Have you been to the beach? Lay upon the warm sand, basking in the sun?”
Memories of the lake property filtered through her mind. Running in the water. Laying on a towel to dry under the blanket of the afternoon sun. “I love the beach. My family spent most summers at a lake house.”
“Excellent. You are lying on the wharf. The water is all around you. When you get too hot you jump in, and the cool water feels amazing. You swim for a while, enjoying that feeling, but do you stay in the water forever?”
Mara shook her head. “No, the refreshing feeling wears off. I would go back on the wharf and warm up again.”
Legion’s eyes flickered. “What if you can’t get out of the water?”
Mara picked at the tartan blanket on the bed. “Are you saying that magic is the water?”
“Yes, after a time you become numb to the surrounding magic. You seek the one person to bring balance to your world.”
She winked. “You go looking for a wharf?”
The fire behind his eyes flared as his lips arched. “That was not the best analogy. A partner creates a gap in our power. A single oasis within our world where even magic cannot penetrate.”
She thought about her parents. Them sipping tea as they laughed over breakfast. “Is it the same for druids?”
“Yes, but druids are human, they have the luxury of choosing a human male as a partner. That male can be an anchor, that oasis for a female druid. A dragon must have a creature of magic in order to bond. To mate.”
“Why?”
Legion took her hand. “Our magic is too powerful. We need that oasis, that eye within the storm of magic to keep us grounded. To keep the human part of us alive.”
Mara’s eyes widened. “So, you are part human?”
“Yes, my mother was druid. My father was a green dragon with the ability to alter his colors to blend with any forest. I can’t tell you how many times he scared me out of my scales.”
Mara squeezed his hand. The musical sound of her laughter chimed in the air, as invisible tentacles caressed the flimsy barrier Legion had erected between them. Her magic reached for his, licking at one another like electrified whips. Her face paled as she glanced around the room.
Legion stood, backing away from her. His muscles pulled taut as a dragon scale formed on his shoulder, before receding.
Mara nibbled her lip. “Did I do something wrong?”
His teeth snapped together, like he was fighting an internal battle. He took an exaggerated breath. “The pull between our magic is strong. More powerful than I expected. You are getting stronger by the minute, but we cannot unite them until your twenty-third birthday.”
Mara frowned. “My birthday is the day after tomorrow, but what is the significance?”
“Your magic must be fully formed when we bond. The druids made the dragons promise to wait till a druid’s twenty-third birthday, so that her magic has reached maturity. We never break that promise.”
Mara’s eyes roamed over his taut body. His full erection pressed against his jeans, straining the thick material. Her tongue swept over her lips before she cleared her throat. “It’s a good thing we aren’t having sex.”
Legion’s lips arched. The air in the room heated. “While there is more to the bonding process than love making, intercourse will start the merge of our magic. There are however, many pleasurable things I can teach you in the meantime.”
Mara’s cheeks dusted with red. “What if I told you I’ve had a dozen lovers?”
Legion laughed. “Then I would call you a liar. Though if it were true, I would benefit from your experience. A druid isn’t required to be a virgin to bond with a dragon. She must be magically... mature.”
Mara considered his pleasure parade. Her body tingled from the touch of his magic, but her curiosity was too much. He held the ability to grant a childhood wish, to see, feel and marvel at the wonder of a real dragon. A wish she had harbored since she was old enough to hold the figurine in the shop. “Can I see him?”
Legion’s eyes narrowed. His dragon surged beneath his skin, acting like a puppy with its first bone. “My dragon?”
Fear and excitement created a rush that manifested like energy in the air, crackling with electrostatic charm. “Yes.”
Legion’s eyes flared as he held out his hand. “He has waited a long time for this.”
Mara walked with him to a clearing outside the cabin. The mountain air, while cool, couldn’t dampen the heated excitement that coursed through her. Legion stopped her, then walked on alone.
Mara put her fingers on either side of her lips before shouting. “Can I touch him?”
Legion turned to face her. Even in the distance, his eyes blazed like fire inside the black pupils. Eyes that could steal your soul. Maybe they had. “You can touch me whenever you like. In any form.”
She swallowed as the surrounding air shimmered. His skin turned gold, the slide of scales over the smooth surface made her gasp, before he erupted into a ball of light. Golden flecks broke apart, sparkling in the air, before the largest dragon she could imagine, stretched out his wings.
The smooth leathery texture was at odds with the steel look of his scales. Small hollow spikes adorned the tips of his wings. She had no desire to find out what protruded from the vicious looking spikes. The dragon sculpture in her shop emoted magic and mystery. The reality in front of her was a powerful barbarian, encased in golden titanium scales. He had seemed big in her dream. Now he stood immobile as a mountainside. S
team drifted from his nostrils as he advanced on her.
Mara swallowed the lump in her throat. While snippy comments had always been her first line of defense. The possibility of becoming a dragon appetizer had her rethinking her strategy.
Legion shimmered in her mind. I will not eat you, Mara... at least not in this form.
Her mouth dropped open. “Did you seriously just sex talk me, while you’re the size of a shopping center?”
You are overly concerned about my size. I am incapable of hurting you.
She honestly tried not to think about the moment his jeans fell away, and he shifted into a dragon. She hadn’t meant to look at his semi-erect cock. Unfortunately, her brain wasn’t listening to her, or her magic had a mind of its own. It was more than curious about Legion’s body and the things it could do to her.
Legion rolled his shoulders, as if he were uncomfortable in his own skin. You plan to make the coming hours as difficult as possible, don’t you?
Mara looked up at the dragon. “What do you mean?”
I cannot do the things you are showing me in your head until your twenty-third birthday. It would be easier if you stopped thinking about my...
Mara held up her hand as her face heated. “Do not finish that sentence. If you didn’t parade around naked all the time, I wouldn’t be thinking about your... manhood.”
My manhood is looking forward to those things as much as I am.
Mara crossed her arms. “Are all dragons as perverted as you?”
The gold scales around Legion’s serrated teeth pulled back into a devilish grin. I don’t know. Perhaps you got lucky.
Mara’s eyes squinted. The big bastard was teasing her. She should be scared, annoyed, anything but exhilarated by the enormous creature looking down at her. “Luck isn’t the first word that comes to mind.”
His eyes widened, accenting black pupils the size of dinner plates. Does it rhyme with luck?
She tried not to laugh at his audacity. She failed. Her hand slapped onto her mouth, halting the sound from coming out, but there was no stopping her eyes from connecting with his. The distortion warped the air, causing her stomach to roll. She sucked in a breath as pain squeezed her stomach.
