Imagine Dragon

by Julia Mills

  “Dude, you sure wrapped Big Poppa around your little finger.”

  “Are you speaking to me?” Pearl slowly turned her head towards Kayne, a look of pure defiance on her lovely face. “I’m a grown ass woman, do not call me Dude. I prefer Goddess, Queen, or…” He could see the gleam of mischief in her eyes. “Mistress, if you please.”

  Moving as fast as he could, Kayne wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her body tight to his and slammed his lips to hers. Kissing her with all the fire and passion she stirred within him, he whispered in her mind, “I’ll call you anything you want, mo ghrá.”

  And it was the Heavens’ honest truth. The confirmed bachelor, the Dragon who said he would never be tamed, was whooped, branded, and linked to the most amazing creature the Universe had ever created, and was happier than a Drake in a pile of gold. Pearl was everything he’d ever dreamt of in a mate and so much more. So, if his brethren wanted to tease him, then they could…”

  “Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” a familiar gravelly chuckle interrupted Kayne’s kiss with his Strix. “What was that shit he was shovelin’, Max?”

  “If I’m not mistaken,” the all too suave Latin accent of the King of the Big Cats carried just the right hint of amusement. “It was something like, ‘How the mighty have fallen’.”

  “You know, Max, I believe you’re right.” Maddox laughed so loud it was more like great roaring barks as tears ran down his face and he slapped his thigh. “Paybacks are a bitch, my friend, and you have more than a boatload coming your way.”

  Finally pulling back from Pearl and trying not to smile as hers spread across her face with complete perfection, Kayne let one hand slide down her arm and his fingers tangle with hers as he turned stepping back to stand beside his mate before making a production out of rolling his eyes and scoffing, “Pfft! Whatever. I have no recollection of ever saying anything of the sort.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth when from absolutely nowhere a barely visible bolt of lightning snapped through the air and zapped him right in the behind. A low booming laugh proceeded, “I’m sure I taught you better than that,” a split second before his father appeared from out of thin air.

  Shaking his head as he chuckled, “How in the hell do you travel through those frikkin’ bolt holes without losing your mind. The two-second trip from the mountain damn near scrambled my brain,” Kayne pulled Pearl tight to his side. “Of course, my gir…I mean, my Goddess here popped out looking fresh as a daisy. Oomph!” He cried out, pulling away from Pearl and rubbing his ribs. “What was that for?”

  “Don’t talk like that in front of your father,” Pearl ground out through gritted teeth. “You’re embarrassing meeeeeeee…” Her words turned into a squeal as she jumped forward, rubbing her behind. Trying not to laugh as his mate hopped yet again before spinning around, frowning so deeply that the corners of her mouth were turned down and her brows nearly touched, Kayne bit the inside of his cheeks as Pearl shook her fist and yelled, “Mother, I know that’s you. Show yourself.”

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Kayne playfully reprimanded. “You mustn’t be rude to your momma.”

  Dropping from the sky, changing from a huge crow into the beautiful Great Goddess, Morrigan walked straight over to Kayne, ran the tip of the nail of her index finger down his cheek and winked. “You are exactly what my Pearl needs.”

  “Mother…” Pearl growled.

  Grabbing his mate’s hand and pulling her to him, Kayne whispered into her mind, “Play nice. Smile pretty. For some reason, our parents are playing nice. I smell an accord that just might make the next millennium of Christmases a helluva lot easier.”

  Sensing Pearl’s displeasure but happy to see her work at smiling and quickly apologize to her mother, the Demi-God held out his hand, waited for Morrigan to reciprocate then kissed the back of her hand as was proper and quite expected when meeting a Goddess, especially the Great Goddess. He could see the family resemblance immediately, not in the physical sense but in the way their minds worked and the tremendous strength they both possessed.

  Standing up, he took in Morrigan’s long, blood-red hair flowing down her back, and her clear, haunting eyes that delved right into the depths of his soul. Taking a step back to stand next to his mate, he was sure to keep his eye on the staff and shield tattooed on her forearm, not unlike the representation of Ailill that rode upon his back, with one very important difference, with merely a thought, the weapons could and would become real and deadly in Morrigan’s hands.

  Opening his mouth to ask the Deities before him what their next move was, Kayne stopped short as Tristan and his mate, Felicity walked into the gathering. Letting go of Pearl’s hand as he held out his other to the Bronze Dragon, Kayne enveloped Tristan in a manly hug complete with a clap on the back.

  Moving apart, the Demi-God smiled with delight as he exclaimed, “Damn, Brother. Long time, no see. Where have you been hiding?”

  Looking ashamed but still holding his head high and looking Kayne in the eye, Tristan explained, “In plain sight, as luck would have it.” Smiling down at his glowing mate, he went on, “Or else I wouldn’t have found my Felicity.” Pulling her closer, he pointed at Kayne as he added, “This is Kayne. The one I was telling you about. The one who has brought Arie back to us.”

  Suddenly feeling like an asshole for not remembering the terrible circumstances surrounding Tristan’s sister’s disappearance on the very day she was to be mated to Arie, a Dragon Guard Berserker from the Sapphire Dragon Clan, Kayne blew out a long-suffering breath. “Damn it, Man, I’m sorry.” Then remembering what Pearl had told him, he quickly added, “You ready for some payback.”

  “You know it,” Tristan readily agreed, the sadness of his past written all over his face. “Felicity and I…”

  Cut off by the not-so-patient Morrigan and the not-to-be-upstaged Lugh, Kayne stood by ready to jump into action as Tristan held tight to his mate when the Great Goddess stepped in the middle of the two Guardsmen and stared at Felicity. The tall, dark-haired, lavender-eyed Fairy held her head high and met Morrigan’s stare with one of her own.

  “What is she doing?” Pearl yelped through their mating bond. “Has she lost her freakin’ mind? My mother does not suffer fools gladly, Kayne. You need to shut this down.”

  “Nope, just watch,” Kayne replied, instantly picking up the connection between the Great Goddess and Felicity as he held tight to his mate’s hand.

  Long, tense seconds ticked by. Kayne, Lugh, Morrigan, Felicity, and Tristan were the only people not sweating the silence while the others stood stock still, hardly breathing, with their eyes opened so wide they looked like the plastic kewpie dolls the little vibrias used to play with.

  Finally, the Great Goddess spoke, “I have seen you before, many, many years ago. You are one of the Ceithre born to King Owain of the Seelie Fairy Court and Queen Cecily, the great-grand-daughter of Morgan le Fey, are you not?”

  “Yes ma’am, I am,” Felicity answered, her voice clear and her stance relaxed. There was no doubting her royal lineage or her confidence.

  Opening her arms wide, Morrigan ordered, but in a much softer tone than was her usual, “Come here, dear child. It is I who gave the Blessing of the Celtic Pantheon at your christening. You and yours are so very dear to me.”

  Pleasantly surprised by the turn of events, Kayne nearly burst out laughing as Pearl’s comment floated through his mind. “We better get this show on the road. Hell is in for a frost, my mother was just nice to someone.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Two hours of listening to people talk and talk and talk was driving Pearl crazy. She’d had enough. It was time to shit or get off the pot and she was about to light a fire under some Dragon ass.

  Slamming her palms on the ginormous antique table in the center of the gargantuan room the Dragons called their War Room inside a seriously massive building known as the Grand Hall, Pearl made a show of pushing up to her full height and looked into the face of every single p
erson looking at her. Stopping for an extra second on Max, the Black Panther who was ruler over all the feline shifters and a double beat on Sadie, her friend and the Leader of the Ladies of the Sky, she moved on to Drago, the Dragon who led the Enforcers – an Elite Force of Guardsmen.

  Moving on until she came to Maddox, one of the oldest, orneriest Dragons ever born and his mate, Calysta, Grand Priestess, she then skipped her mate and looked at Lugh, who took the seat at the head of the table. After counting very slowly to five, she then slid her eyes to the complete opposite end of the table where her mother sat and as she was looking into her eyes, telepathically asked, “I know you already know, just as you are aware that I can’t see the outcome of this battle because I’m involved, so, I’m going to ask – Will any of these people seated here die?”

  Completely out of character, the Great Goddess’ expression softened and her voice almost sounded motherly when she answered with, “You know I cannot tell you anything that I see pertaining to your future. The consequences are too great, not to me but to you.”

  For the first time that she could ever remember, Pearl actually felt love coming through the connection she felt with her mother. What was usually a barren, cold wasteland of bullshit and broken promises was transformed with warmth, light, and what she could only imagine most children of the world associated with their parents.

  Knowing that her mother wanted to tell her but simply could not and was not playing games was almost enough for Pearl, but she still had to ask, “So, I get that you can’t tell me the future of this messed up crap we’re about to walk into, but that doesn’t mean you can’t tell me what’s up with you and Lugh, right?”

  “That is a story for another day. Now, you must get on with whatever grand gesture you are about to give because as Flidais, Goddess of Hunting and Wild Animals would say, ‘The natives are getting restless.’.”

  Not sure whether she was more shocked by the emotions or the joke, Pearl looked to Kayne, gave a single nod, and addressing the entire group asserted, “You, me, we need to crack on with whatever we’re doin’. The time for sittin’ ‘round and dreamin’ up ways to defeat some fuckin’ freak of nature is over.” She pushed back her chair, walked around the table and began pacing the length of the huge room as she continued, “You know what needs to be done. We have to hit this filthy bastard from the sky, the ground and the water. One concentrated strike after another.” Stopping and spinning back towards the table, she speared Lugh and then Morrigan with a direct and pointed stare then with her voice more Strix than woman, she growled the single sentiment she knew would kick the God and Goddess in the ass, “Unless you all think the Obscured is stronger than the God of the Sun, the Great Goddess, and a whole shitload of powerful Shifters.”

  As if they’d rehearsed it, every single chair in the place scooted back and as one spectacular group, everyone got to their feet, glaring at her with the same challenge she’d just issued.

  Well, everyone except Lugh and Morrigan. They, of course, remained seated, nodding at her, their expressions saying she’d done exactly what they wanted.

  Nearly jumping out of her feathers when Kayne’s hand grabbed hers, Pearl instinctually pushed the flat of her free hand against his chest and snarled, “Step the fuck…” Quickly recovering at first glance of her mate’s cocky smile, she playfully deadpanned, “Oh, it’s you.”

  Pulling her body tight to his, her oh so handsome Dragon purred, “Damn it all if I don’t love a bossy woman.”

  Laying his lips to hers, setting her body on fire with a single touch, Pearl gave into her arousal whispering in return, “And that you’ve got in spades.”

  Forgetting where she was, what they were facing, and damn near her own name, Pearl groaned into Kayne’s amazing embrace when Lugh’s voice floated through their minds, “Ahem, I do hate to intrude, but your armada awaits.”

  Regrettably leaving the haven of her mate, Pearl stepped back, cleared her throat, and refused to be embarrassed as she addressed everyone in attendance. “We have two hours until daybreak. The Obscured will be its weakest during the height of the day. Do what you need to do and meet back here right before the sun rises.”

  Walking past where she and Kayne stood, every single person gave her a nod accompanied with a look of sheer determination that bolstered her confidence and that of her Dragon. Watching the last of the Dragons walk out of the Grand Hall, she turned to Kayne and grinned. “Sorry to steal your thunder, Big Guy, but I just couldn’t sit still. You and yours talk too damn much.”

  Scooping her up off the ground and throwing her over his shoulder with a flat-handed slap to her well-rounded ass, her always surprising Dragon took off at high speed. Dashing past gorgeous gardens, beautiful homes, and people she’d yet to meet, Kayne finally stopped and set her down when they reached a small secluded meadow.

  Getting up on her toes, she fisted his soft blue T-shirt and pushed her face into his. “If you ever do that to me again, I will turn you into a gecko and feed you to Gwennie’s Thunderbird. Ya’ get me?”

  Watching her Dragon work hard not to laugh washed away any frustration she felt, making it extremely hard for her to stay mad. Taking a page from his playbook, she slammed her lips to his, demanded entrance into not only his lips, but his heart and soul.

  Kissing the One the Universe made for her with every emotion and feeling, every single fiber of her being, for the first time in her very long-life Pearl had found home. Grabbing his shoulders, climbing his body, and wrapping her legs around his waist, she moaned into their embrace when his fingers dug into the globes of her ass and the proof of his arousal thrust against her already throbbing center.

  Needing more, her desire grew with every passing breath. She wanted, needed Kayne, had to feel him moving inside her, had to know they were one in all things. Tearing her lips from his, she ripped his shirt over his head as he dropped to his knees and set her feet on the ground.

  No words were needed. They both felt the pull of the Mating Call, the power of what they were together, the need that would always burn like a wildfire between them.

  Her fingers tangled with Kayne’s as they both fought to remove her belt and unbutton her jeans. The sound of the brass zipper finally sliding down its bumpy track was only the prelude as her magnificently demanding mate kissed and nipped at the tiny swell of her stomach as his fingers slipped past the lacy waistband of her panties.

  Spreading her legs as wide as she could and still remain standing, she threw back her head, gasping for air as his brilliantly talented fingers tickled and teased their way through her curls, finding her pulsing clit in record time. Hardly able to breathe, clutching his shoulders to stay standing, Pearl could no longer hold back her mewls and moans as the pad of his thumb stroked her nub and two middle fingers slid inside her slick, grasping pussy.

  Shoving her fingers into his hair, fisting the silky, golden locks, she rode his digits as he coaxed and thrust, over and over, faster and faster, driving her to an inevitably explosive orgasm in record time. Unable to hold back, to make the ecstasy last any longer, Pearl was hurdled headlong into a resoundingly blissful release, the feel of his fingers sliding from her body setting off a whole other set of aftershocks.

  Shaking, shivering, no longer able to hold herself up, she fell into Kayne’s waiting arms, reveled in the delicate butterfly kisses he paced on her eyelids, cheeks and the tip of her nose. Cuddled in his lap, she breathed her first full breath, struggling to open her eyes, but rewarded with her mate’s brilliantly cocky smile when she did.

  “Pretty proud of yourself, eh Bub?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I am,” Kayne chuckled, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. Lifting up, his expression turned from arrogant to sentimental in the blink of an eye. “I’ve dreamt of moments just like this since the day my father told me about you.”

  Reaching up, she cupped his cheek, gazed into his beautiful blue eyes and sighed, “Right there with ya, Big…”

  “Yo, Loverbo
y, stop distracting the General. We’ve got a fuckin’ blob to dismantle.” The couple groaned in unison as Maddox’s gruff chuckle burst through their minds.

  Holding back her chuckle as Kayne spat back, “Shut the hell up, Doxie. And do not call my mate ‘the General’,” Pearl could no longer contain her laughter when the Mad Dragon replied, “Paybacks are a bitch, Golden Boy, and I’m only getting’ started.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Another trip through one of his father’s bolt holes and Kayne stood hand-in-hand with Pearl at the foot of the present-day Black Cuillins beside the first waterfall at the beginning of what people for centuries had been calling the Fairy Pools. The beautiful crystal clear blue pools on the River Brittle were breathtaking to be sure, but merely a magnificent farce on the part of the Fairy Courts.

  Knowing that staying hidden, letting their existence be nothing but speculation to humans, the Fairies had always been good at subterfuge. No matter where they had settled over the centuries, there had always been many false leads and more than a fair bit of misdirection – and the Isle of Skye was no different.

  Turning to face the sea, Kayne chuckled as he and Pearl pointed at the small island floating off the south coast in the Cuillin Sound. Just under the abandoned key, visible to his preternatural sight, as magnanimous in its complexity as it was huge, stood the Fairy Mound.

  “It’s right where it’s always been,” he called over his shoulder. “Looks bigger than I remember and from the waves of enchantment filling the water, I would venture to guess it’s doubled in power.”

  Glancing to the side as Tristan stepped up beside him, it was the Bronze Dragon’s mate, Felicity, who Kayne asked, “Do you want to warn your parents?”

  Not taking her eyes off her homeland, the Fairy quietly answered, “My parents haven’t lived in the Mound for centuries. From what I’ve been told, they left not long after they sent my Sisters and I to live in the human world.” Turning her head, she straightened her spine and looked up at Kayne. “Only the Unseelie Court and a few of their Guards are there. I would…”