Magnus rose from the table, nodded at Fara and Nadine, and followed the feisty Ruby outside. She stirred his blood and other parts of his anatomy. Was she the reason he’d been on the mountain?
“Are you going to tell me what this mate is?” he asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the others.
“It’s difficult to explain.”
“Try.”
“Well, I’m a shifter.” She placed her hand on her breast. “And shifters know who the person they are supposed to spend the rest of their lives with is as soon as they meet them.”
“I understand.” He nodded. “And this is me?”
Ruby blushed again, and he reached out and touched her cheek, his fingertips buzzing as they made contact with her skin. “Yes. I think so.”
“And you woke me?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I mean I certainly didn’t wake you with true love’s kiss.” She inclined her head, and he stroked her cheek.
“What is this true love’s kiss?” His eyes flicked down to her lips. “I would surely like to try it.”
Ruby’s head snapped back. “I don’t think there should be any kissing until you have your memories back.”
“Why not? If we are mates like you say, then we should kiss.”
“We should?” she asked, confused, or was she worried he was taking advantage of her?
“Yes. If true love’s kiss might have woken me but did not, then maybe our kiss will awaken my memories.” His brow creased as he went over his words. “Is it possible?”
“That kind of thing only happens in fairy tales,” she told him firmly.
“You do not want to kiss me?” The thought of tasting her lips, of feeling her body in his arms, was almost too much. The urge to throw her over his shoulder and carry her off... To where? His thoughts were side-tracked, and he looked away as he tried to grasp hold of an elusive memory.
“Are you all right?” Ruby touched his arm and he flinched as the shock of recognition hit him square in the chest. “I’m sorry.” She pulled away from him.
Magnus turned and grabbed hold of her hand. “I know you.”
“You don’t,” she squeaked as she looked at her hand, which he held firmly in his.
“Such a small hand.” He opened her palm and trailed his finger across her skin. She shivered, and he lowered his head and kissed her palm.
“Magnus.”
“Hmm.” He slowly raised his eyes to meet hers. “Mates.” He lifted her hand and placed it over his heart. “I think I understand now.”
“Great.” She forced a smile on her face. “That’s. Great.”
“Are you afraid of me?” he asked, letting her go.
She took a faltering step backward. “Nope. Just...”
“Just what?” Magnus asked, the intensity of his gaze zoned in on her breasts, which heaved as if she were fighting for breath. He left her breathless. “Surprised?”
“That would be one word for it.” Ruby ran a hand through her hair and then fanned herself. “We have to slow down and take it back a step.”
“Do we? I would like to take a step forward.” He leaned toward her, and she put her hand out to stop him.
“Listen. We need to know who you are and why you woke up.” She breathed deeply, taking back control.
“Why? Why does it matter?” he asked.
“It matters because it might give us a clue as to why you were asleep.”
“Why I was asleep? You mean why I was put under this spell… Ancient Slumber you called it.”
“Yes, it could be just because you were a dragon. You know, someone wanted to stop you from burning people alive. Or it could be because you were…” Ruby shrugged.
“Bad.” He turned away from her. If only he could remember who he was.
Chapter Five – Ruby
Great. She’d found her mate, but she had no idea if he was a good guy. Or a bad dragon.
Only one way to find out, her dragon told her.
And she was right, of course, but not everything had to be shared with the beast inside of her.
“Let’s get back in there. I’ll take you to where Fara found you.” She walked past him, heading inside. “As long as you wrap up warm. I don’t want to have to breathe fire on you to warm you up.”
“Deal.” He looked happier. “I have been longing to go back there.”
Ruby swung around to face him. “You have? Why?”
“I cannot describe it.” He frowned and placed his hand on his solar plexus. “Something calls me back there.”
“Your treasure.” Ruby shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. I heard that Ancient Slumber works best if the dragon sleeps on his pile of treasure. If you’ve slept for centuries, you must have known it was close or you’d have woken up to search for it.”
“Treasure. Real treasure. Like gold?” Magnus joined her in the doorway, his closeness almost too much. Her dragon wanted to explode out of her and pick Magnus up and carry him away, so they could keep him all to themselves.
“Gold. Gems.” Ruby opened the back door and went inside.
“Okay?” Nadine asked as they entered the kitchen.
“Yes, I think so.” Ruby regarded Fara. “We’re going into the mountains. Magnus needs some warmer clothes. And so do you.”
“You’re taking me, too? Without an argument?” Fara eyed Ruby suspiciously. “You think I’m going to change my mind and not go with you.”
“No, that’s not it at all.” Ruby glanced at Magnus, wishing she knew more about him. When she got home, she would do her own research on Magnus Dumas. If he were a famous artist, maybe there was some of his artwork still hanging on display somewhere. That gave her an idea. But first, she was taking him into the mountains.
“Why change your mind?” Fara asked. This woman had to be the most suspicious person Ruby had ever met.
“We don’t know what we’ll find there.” Ruby locked eyes with Fara, hoping she would understand the underlying meaning of her words.
Fara gave a curt nod. “When are we leaving?”
“As soon as possible,” Magnus replied. “If there is a chance of me finding out who I am, then the sooner the better.”
Ruby glanced out of the window. “We have maybe eight hours of daylight left. Let’s get organized. We should take food and water. And warm clothes. It might be summer, but the mountain is still bitterly cold.”
“We know,” Fara said, getting out of her seat and picking up a box from the chair next to her. “Nadine loaned you some paints and stuff.”
“If you painted once, there’s a chance that part of your brain will work like a reflex. In the same way you can walk and talk.” Nadine got up and waddled around the table, her hand resting on her swollen belly. “Don’t push it. Just find somewhere quiet, pick up the brush and let your body do its thing. If you overthink it, you might freeze up.” She placed her hands on Magnus’s upper arms. “Come back to me if none of these things help.”
“I will. Thank you, Nadine. This is very generous of you.” He inclined his head. “Blessings on you and your baby.”
Nadine smiled at him. “Good luck.” She turned to Ruby. “It’s good to meet you, Ruby. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again.”
“Good to meet you, Nadine. And thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Nadine smiled coyly. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Secret?” Ruby blushed, thinking Nadine was talking about her and Magnus being mates.
“Dragons.” Nadine leaned forward and whispered the word.
“Oh. Thanks. It is kind of a secret. Since there aren’t many of us left.”
“Well, there will be the pitter-patter of dragon feet one day soon.” Nadine giggled as Ruby looked wide-eyed at Magnus. “See you all later.”
“I’ll be in touch,” Fara said, her forehead creasing as she mulled over Nadine’s words. “You really are a dragon?”
“I really am.” Ruby opened her arms. “Shall I carry that?”
“No, I will,” Magnus offered. He’d been watching the exchange between the three women with interest but made no comment.
“Here.” Fara handed the box to Magnus. “Not that I couldn’t manage.”
“It is the male who should do the lifting and carrying, and the female should stay home and tend the house and children.” Magnus kept his expression deadly serious as he turned to walk out of the kitchen.
“You say what?” Fara asked sharply.
“The male is the breadwinner. He goes out to work so the woman can cook and clean.” He kept walking, with Ruby and Fara following behind, side by side as they both glared at his back.
“Is that what you think?” Ruby asked.
“No, it is what I expect.” He turned, walking backward as he headed for Ruby’s car. “From my mate.”
“Oh, I’m glad he’s your mate and not mine,” Fara said, her dry laugh filling the quiet of the early afternoon.
“Listen, Magnus. You really are from another century. Here, men and women are equal.” Ruby strode to the car and yanked open the trunk. “Put the box in here.”
“Do not worry. I am a patient man.” He placed the box in the trunk and lifted his hand, covering hers. The world went a little hazy and the oxygen was sucked from the air as he stroked her fingers with his. “Very patient. I know it will take time for you to adjust to my expectations.”
Fara laughed as she got in her truck. “See you back at my place. If you can keep up.”
“Listen, Magnus. You are going to have to learn to give and take. I’ll accommodate you and your expectations, and you’ll accommodate mine.”
“That is not how relationships work,” he spoke to her as if she were a child.
“Wait, how do you know that?” Ruby asked. “With your no memories.” She made a circular action next to her temples.
“I do not need memories to do what needs to be done,” Magnus said sagely as he shut the trunk and walked around to the passenger side of the car.
“What needs to be done? Like a lesson.” Ruby mused over his words as she started the engine and drove off after Fara. “Wait a minute.”
“I have nowhere else to go.” Magnus held his hands out. “I am strapped into your mechanical beast.”
“You played us.” Ruby narrowed her eyes as she looked at Magnus accusingly. “You did the opposite of divide and conquer.”
“A good move if you have enemies. But if you want two sides to come together, you give them a common foe. A male chauvinist who is out of step with modern women.” Magnus stared out of the window, his eyes fixed on Fara’s car. “She drives like the devil himself is chasing her.”
“I expect she does have some devils chasing her,” Ruby muttered. “But that is not the point.”
“And what is the point?” Magnus asked, his eyes filled with amusement as he turned to face her.
“You gave us a common enemy. You. Just so we would stop bickering like children.” Ruby chuckled, partly because she found it funny and partly with relief. There was no way she would have introduced a man with those chauvinistic views to Fiona. “My mom would have bitten your head off and spat it out in disgust if she heard you.”
“She sounds like a formidable woman,” Magnus said in appreciation. “Have you inherited her characteristics?”
“No.” Ruby shook her head sadly. “She’s not my real mom. My parents are dead, and Fiona and Harlan took me and my sister in. They adopted us.”
“Ah. I’m sorry.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “If I am a dragon shifter and I have been asleep for a long time, there is a chance my family, if I had a family, is gone.”
Ruby’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m sorry, if that’s true. But there is a chance they may have been put to sleep, too.”
“Yes. I suppose so.” He contemplated her words.
Ruby shrugged and accelerated to keep up with Fara, who was taking the turns in the road a little too fast since her truck was so old. Luckily Ruby’s modern car handled the terrain perfectly. “Someone may have been rounding all the dragons up and casting Ancient Slumber. If so, they may be asleep, too.”
“Or it could be because I was a bad man. And I am alone.” Magnus rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t feel like a bad man. In my heart, I feel…” He turned to look at Ruby. “I feel love. For you.”
Ruby’s car wobbled from side to side. “Love is a big word.”
“It is four letters. I can count,” Magnus told her seriously.
“I think you know exactly what I mean. Telling someone you love them is a big step. One that’s usually taken after people have known each other for more than two hours.”
“You do not feel the same. I’m sorry, I’ve embarrassed you.” Magnus sounded genuinely apologetic.
“I feel something. Don’t get me wrong,” Ruby told him, choosing her words carefully. “But love? I need to know you a little more first.”
“You need to know that I am not an axe murderer who was put to sleep to stop him from killing more people. Or maybe I was a tyrannical dragon,” he suggested.
“Magnus, we don’t know. And it’s not about knowing who you were. It’s about knowing who you are. What you like. What you enjoy. For me, it’s about finding someone I’m compatible with.” She tried to reassure him but couldn’t tell if she was succeeding. “I can’t just accept this, no matter how much I want to.”
“And you do want to?” Magnus asked hopefully.
“I do. But neither of us needs more pressure right now. We need to focus on going up the mountain and seeing what we can find. If the trip yields us no clues, then we hit the archives at the museum or the library. Someone, somewhere, may have made an entry into town records that gives us a clue.”
“And if we never find out who I am?” Magnus asked as they turned onto the dirt road leading to Fara’s farm.
“Then you get to start again with a clean slate.” She slowed to a stop next to Fara’s truck. “And even if we do find out who you are, you still get to start with a clean slate. We can’t judge you for who you were.”
“Can’t you?” Magnus asked. “If you found out I was a very bad man or a very bad dragon, that would surely sway your thoughts toward me.”
Ruby opened the car door and got out. “I’m going to try my hardest to make up my own mind based on you and what I learn about you for myself.” She stood up and looked around at the farm that was well-maintained, with healthy livestock grazing in the fields. “Come on.”
She tried to keep her tone upbeat, but their conversation couldn’t be ignored. Magnus was right, there was a chance he was put to sleep to save the world from a marauding dragon. Although it hardly seemed possible. Magnus was polite and courteous, the kind of man she would happily take home to visit Fiona.
But was his true self hidden beneath the layers of amnesia surrounding his memories? Once they were peeled back, would he change, become the man he once was?
Would they be forced to put him back to sleep? If so, how would she cope knowing she would never have a mate?
Drop the drama, her dragon told her bluntly. Fate could not be so cruel.
But fate had been cruel before. Fate had ripped Ruby’s mom away and then her father.
How could they be sure it wouldn’t happen again? How could she be sure that she wasn’t destined to be alone in this world?
Then she thought of Sapphi, Fiona and Harlan, and their son. No matter how this turned out, she would never be truly alone, she could count on them for the strength she needed.
But she would much rather count on Magnus, the hunk of man flesh, who might just have a hunk of dragon flesh lurking inside him.
“Are you two coming? Or are you going to stand there gawping all day?” Fara asked as she mounted the porch steps and opened the farmhouse door.
“Coming,” Ruby called and walked toward the house, side by side with her mate.
When she woke this morning, she never expected that to happen.
Chapter Six – Magnus
“Do you need to wrap up warm, too?” Magnus asked Ruby, concerned with her lack of clothing. She wore a thick coat borrowed from Fara, but only because the old woman had insisted. He was certain Ruby only accepted it to keep the fragile peace struck between the two women.
“My dragon blood will keep me warm,” Ruby assured him.
This troubled Magnus. “If your dragon blood keeps you warm, why did my dragon blood allow me to freeze?”
“I don’t know.” Ruby averted her gaze.
Before he met Ruby, if someone told him he was a dragon he would have laughed in their face. Dragons did not exist. And if they did, who would want to be one? But now he did. He wanted to be everything to Ruby, to soar high in the sky with her, their bodies entwined.
“You are not certain I am a dragon, are you?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Ruby answered honestly. “If you aren’t, why were you in the mountains, in old clothes, with an old gold coin in your pocket? I don’t think Ancient Slumber works on ordinary men.”
“And you are not an ordinary man. You have to be from another century,” Fara told him. “Why else do you talk like that?”
“Like what?” Magnus frowned as he assessed his speech.
“You talk different than the rest of us,” Fara said. “And then there’s all this mechanical beast business. You’ve skipped a couple of centuries of knowledge.”
“Ruby?” Magnus asked the woman who he wanted very much to kiss. Who cared about going into the mountain when he could pick her up in his arms and take her to bed?
“You do talk funny. But that could be due to your memory loss. I’ve heard that some people can wake up one morning and speak with a foreign accent.” She placed her hand on his arm. “Let’s do this. Then we look for alternative explanations, including taking you to the hospital for a thorough examination.”
“They said I had not hit my head,” Magnus reminded her.
“There could be other reasons, and an MRI scan might show what those reasons are.” She smiled reassuringly.
“What is an MRI scan?” he asked.
“It takes a picture of your brain,” Ruby answered.
Awakened Dragon Page 4
