Malcolm watched her clothes come off, Saba stripping for his delight. She stood up, her young body honed by the exercises she did at her gym as well as her natural slight build. He knew she worried about her height, but to Malcolm, she was just right.
Her breasts were round and plump, not too small, not too large, and the quim that showed between her slim legs sweet and tight. Even her knees were sexy.
She spread her arms, looking shy. Sunlight dappled her body and burnished highlights in her hair. "Well?"
He went to her. As he brushed his hand through her hair, she lost her smile and whatever quip she meant to make died on her lips.
"Join with me," he whispered.
Her eyes held puzzlement and wonder. Before she could answer, he kissed her.
He loved kissing her. He loved how her eyes drifted closed, not before he saw the glimmer of desire in them.
He loved how her arms stole around his neck, how her fingers twined in his long hair.
He loved the taste of her, the scent of her, a mixture of salt and magic from her spell-casting and female musk. He especially liked her scent just after they made love.
The silver dragon had shot him through with magic, which he felt tingling in his blood. A generous thing for the silver dragon to do, considering the trouble Malcolm had caused her in the past. But Lisa cared about Saba, her friend, which was the reason for her outpouring.
Malcolm closed his eyes. Saba's bare body was warm against his, his arousal rising in anticipation. He slid his hands down her shoulders, fingers picking out her collarbone, her breasts, the tight pucker of her nipples. He cupped her buttocks in his hands and let the kiss deepen as he started to infuse her with the magic.
Saba gasped when she felt the first bite of it, but Malcolm held her still and deepened the kiss. Silver magic trickled through his body like scalding water, then entered Saba, drawing her into its net.
He was painfully erect and wanted nothing more than to enter her hard and fast. He held himself back, needing to give the magic time to heal her. He could feel the tiredness of her muscles, the buzzing weakness in her mind, the exhaustion from expending magic on top of little sleep. The silver magic coupled with his own healed that. Muscles knitted, synapses relaxed, and she started to smile.
"Mmm, this feels good."
He rested his forehead against hers. "It makes me want you."
"I'm pretty randy myself."
Without realizing he did it, Malcolm lowered her gently to the grass. The magic whirled and burned inside him and flowed into her. It made him want her now, not that he wasn't crazy with need already.
She scrabbled at him with anxious hands. "Come on, Malcolm, don't hold back."
The look he gave her was raw. He briefly glimpsed himself from inside her—the magic again—and saw a grim face and feral eyes. He was man-shaped but still a beast.
He pressed her into the grass, one hand parting her legs, the other lifting her buttocks to raise her hips. She let out a long moan as he entered her. Saba already moved feverishly, this was more than pleasure, it was brutal, hard need.
As Malcolm drove into her the magic flowed thick and hot between them. Bright silver flashed, and they were one. Then it flashed again to make them Saba and Malcolm, man and woman.
He wasn't getting enough of her. He rode until she screamed, feeling her closing around him. He climaxed swiftly, his seed flowing deep inside her, but still it wasn't enough.
She didn't think so either. When he pulled out, she clutched at him. "Not yet."
Malcolm was already hard again, not close to being sated. "Get on your hands and knees," he said.
Saba beamed a smile at him and turned over, raising her beautiful hips so he could catch them in his hands. Then he was driving inside her from behind, hips thrusting swift and hard, fingers pressed into her flesh.
He'd never felt sex like this. It wiped everything from his brain but the mindless need to rut her. It had everything to do with nature and seeding her and nothing to do with seduction.
"Goddess, Malcolm," Saba moaned under him, driving her hips back into his.
He came soon, but the magic wouldn't let them stop. They took each other in frenzy again and again in that meadow, she riding him, he taking her from behind, he on top of her.
They made love until, with a sound like wind chimes and laughter, the silver magic left them.
Malcolm dropped to the ground beside Saba, panting. She fell limply next to him, and he felt a pang of worry.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked.
To his surprise, she laughed. True, mirthful laughter, no hysteria. "No, that was… Goddess, I don't know what that was. Amazing."
"It was the magic."
She rolled onto her side and snuggled her head into the curve of his neck. "I don't care what you call it. Is this what we have to do every time we want children?"
"I have no idea." He truly didn't know; the magic of the silver dragon was inexplicable.
"Or maybe Lisa spiked it, so we could have a little fun."
"Spiked?"
"You know, gave it a little extra edge. You don't have to enjoy making babies, it's just better when you do."
"I see."
She laughed again. "No, you don't, but it's all right." She paused, "I'm damn hungry. Starving, in fact."
Malcolm sat up. "We should be getting back." But he couldn't do anything but sit there and look down at her, enjoying the beautiful picture she made stretched out on the grass.
"Maybe we should wait until we can walk first," she suggested.
He let his gaze drift over her body, from her mussed black hair stuck over with bits of green grass, the Celtic tattoo that skimmed around her upper arm, her curved body, the relaxed way she bent her knee, her hand cradling her head, her warm eyes.
"I want to make love to you again," he said.
Her eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Not because of the magic, or for healing." He touched her hair. "Me, making love to you."
"Why?" she asked. Her voice held a hint of challenge. She wanted him to say something, and he wasn't sure what it was.
He told the truth. "Because I want to."
Saba studied his eyes. What she saw there must have satisfied her, because her smile widened. "All right," she said, and held out her arms for him.
* * *
Chapter 23
By the time Saba and Malcolm returned to the archive, Lisa and Metz had nearly finished patching up the database. Axel lounged nearby, "Supervising," he said, though he made it clear he didn't know the inside of a computer from its outside.
Saba parked herself on a flat crystal slab to check what they'd done. Metz knew how to program, she saw that. Lisa's contribution had been magical; she'd slid her silver dragon form inside the database, as she had when she'd started it up again, and given it enough energy to almost rebuild itself. The only thing missing was the data, which did not make Metz happy.
"Erased," he fretted. "That damned virus erased every record that ever existed. Humans."
He spat the last word, and Saba felt her brows climbing. "Malcolm claims to have a backup, not that I've seen it yet."
Lisa gave her a shrewd look, knowing exactly why Malcolm had dragged Saba off to his cave. Her wink told her she'd say nothing, but Saba blushed.
"I do have one," Malcolm said. "It is safe enough for now. Is the archive repaired?"
"Repaired," Lisa said. "And warded, even stronger than before."
"I still don't understand what the darkness was," Saba said. "Negative magic, you said? Like what I try to keep out of my circles when I cast them? But then, it seemed to like the energy of my circle."
"It is what lies between good and evil," Lisa said. "When there is an excess of evil, it leaks out. Normally it's very small, and you, Saba, easily banish it with a chant or a black candle. The atmosphere of this place is so magical that the negative magic collects. What followed you in your dream when you were a child was
only a tiny fraction of it. But when The Book of All Dragons was stolen, the balance tipped badly, and the darkness grew and spread."
"It followed the white dragon because he had the book?" Saba asked.
Lisa sobered. "It followed the white dragon because he did evil deeds. The white dragon killed, out of malice and for his own gain, and he used people and cast them aside. He murdered for no other reason than others were weaker than he, and the darkness liked that."
"It fed on the imbalance he caused," Saba said, understanding. "Until at last it fed on him."
"Very smart of you to shut down the database so that it would go after the font of negativity, as it were," Lisa said approvingly. "And then call on me to restart it."
Metz buzzed in front of them. "Aye, it were smart," he said, flicking a grudging glance at Saba. "But the database is empty."
"Better that than completely dead." Lisa stood up and brushed black gravel off her skirt. "I must go back now. The twins need me."
"Good," Metz muttered. "A bit of peace, a bit of quiet. I could do with it."
Saba looked at. him. "Don't you get lonely here with nothing but the books?"
"Not a bit of it. I'm busy, busy, busy, and books know how to keep a body company. Besides," he added as he buzzed back to the tunnel on his way to the cavern, "the books don't talk too much."
Saba, Malcolm, and Axel followed Lisa through the door she opened to the motel room in California where Caleb waited. They arrived to see Caleb sprawled in an armchair, a baby cradled on each arm. Caleb's head was thrown back on the chair and a long, hard snore issued from his mouth. Severin and Li Na stared at them with the mild interest of newborns, but Caleb didn't wake.
Malcolm quietly gathered the clothes he'd left there and dressed, then opened the door to lead Saba out. Caleb still didn't move until Lisa leaned over him and kissed his forehead.
Blue eyes fluttered open, and a warm smile spread across Caleb's face. "Hello, love."
Very soon, Lisa was in his lap, holding little Severin, and Axel closed the door on them, following Malcolm and Saba out.
"Best leave them to it," he grinned. "We can take my car back to San Francisco." He darted a glance from Saba to Malcolm. "Or should I leave you to it?"
Malcolm did not bother to smile. "It is time for us to return to the city. We will take up the offer of your car."
Good thing, Saba thought silently. She wasn't sure she could take any more sex today, not without a long rest first.
Axel drove. Malcolm sat in the back seat with Saba, his strong arms cradling her. They rode out of town to a main highway and then to the interstate. Woods gave way to vineyards and then suburbia, the sun shining hard and warm.
Malcolm's black leather jacket creaked as he leaned across Saba in the back seat. He began kissing her, the slow, warm kisses of a man happy he'd made love to a woman and wanting to do it again. Saba relaxed into the cracked vinyl seat while his tongue swirled and dipped inside her mouth. She held onto the lapels of his leather coat and enjoyed every second of it.
He raised his head. "I can't get enough of you."
Axel was changing the radio stations in the front seat, humming and singing along with whatever he came across, seemingly oblivious to what was going on in the back.
"I love you," Saba whispered.
Malcolm watched her a long moment, his intense eyes framed by black lashes. She thought for a moment he'd respond, but he kissed her again instead.
Saba swallowed her disappointment. Malcolm was a black dragon after all, a being of cold, calculating mind. She couldn't expect him to experience the same human emotions she did, as nice as that would be.
When Malcolm sat up again, leather creaking once more, she caught Axel watching her in the rear-view mirror. He gave her a knowing look and a smile, as though he knew everything would work out all right. I'm a god, his look seemed to say. I understand these things. Trust me.
Chinese New Year in Chinatown was an event not to be missed. Saba joined Ming Ue and family on Kearny Street to watch the parade, one of the largest Chinese New Year parades in the world, out under the stars. The February weather behaved, and the night was almost warm. Saba needed only a windbreaker against what little chill came in off the bay.
Lumi arrived with Grizelda, the red-haired witch he'd met during their adventures last year. Both Saba's age, the two threw poppers to hear them bang with as much enthusiasm as Lumi's four-year-old cousins.
Carol Juan, part owner and technically CEO of Ming Ue's restaurant, came in her sleek blue business suit, her hair and makeup perfectly in place. She frowned hard at Lumi as he dashed a popper under her feet.
"It drives evil spirits away." Lumi said, grinning.
Saba threw one under Lumi's feet to prove his point, and he shouted as he jumped in surprise. Ming Ue leaned on her cane next to her quietly smiling nephew, Shaiming, and laughed at them all.
Caleb and Lisa had debated coming because the twins were so young. Saba craned to look for them in the crowd, but the press of people had grown dense. Ming Ue, an important businesswoman in the Chinese community, had a little area corded off for herself and her family, but beyond that was a mass of people who'd journeyed from all over the country to watch the parade.
Axel had arrived, dressed in a festive red Chinese jacket, arms full of souvenirs, including dragon flags and a hat with dragon wings. He had a handful of poppers which he tossed around as enthusiastically as Lumi. "Gung hei fat choi," he greeted others in the crowd.
"You're not Chinese," Saba said to him.
Axel shrugged. "I embrace all cultures. You should see me in a serape."
Saba's friend Mamie arrived to hear his last remark. "I'd like to see him in nothing but a serape," she murmured to Saba.
Saba introduced the two, looking for a flicker of interest from Axel, but she detected none. Ah, well. Mamie gave him sideways looks, but Axel had his eyes on the parade. Maybe one day the flicker of interest for Mamie would manifest, either that or for… Saba stole a look behind her to the neat-as-a-pin Carol Juan, who was thirty and took life much too seriously. Could work, she thought.
Saba wondered why she'd become a matchmaker all of a sudden. Her erstwhile boyfriend—Clover, whatever he wanted to call it—had become enigmatic of late. Two weeks ago, when Axel had dropped them off at the apartment on Octavia Street Malcolm had rummaged in a drawer in the study and pulled out a cubical crystal about one inch each side.
"What is that?" Saba had asked.
Malcolm held it up between his thumb and forefinger.
"The database backup. This cube contains every record of every item entered in the archive. Diamond crystals have an amazing matrix."
"It's a diamond! And you just threw it into a drawer?" Saba felt faint. "I could have lost it any time or thrown it away not knowing what it was, or used it in my magical ceremonies."
Malcolm walked to her and placed the crystal on her palm. "Try to throw it away."
Saba stared at the square for a moment, then she found herself walking straight to the desk and replacing it in its little niche in the drawer. She closed the drawer and looked at him.
"Why did I just do that?"
"You were compelled to," he answered. "If you had tried to throw it away, your hand would have stopped. If you had tried to use it in a ceremony, you would have decided not to and put it back where you found it."
Saba shook her hand as though it tingled. "Nice spell."
"A simple one."
"So you left the backup of the archive lying in a drawer. This is your off-site storage?"
"Yes." The word was maddeningly calm.
"But what if I moved? Sold the apartment, went back to live in Berkeley with my parents?"
Malcolm regarded her with quiet eyes. "You would not have."
She lost her temper. "I see, this was off-site storage for me, too."
"If you like."
"You know, Malcolm, sometimes I'm not sure whether I'm in love with you or want
to bounce you down the stairs."
He looked puzzled. "I am far too large…"
"Oh, stop being so literal-minded. You know what I mean." She raged a few more minutes then a thought struck her. "You always meant to come back."
"Yes."
"Why?"
His voice went quiet, even somber. "How could I help it? In my head, I made no such plan. I thought I should never return to the place of my bitter exile. But my deeper self, my subconscious—my heart, as you like to say—told me differently. I needed to come back."
"Can I fish and ask, because of me?"
Malcolm actually smiled. He opened the drawer and extracted the diamond cube again and tossed it in his palm. "Of course, because of you. That is why I gave you the dragon's tears, I wanted you to call me back."
Saba could only stand on her side of the room and stare at him. Now was when he should rush to her, take her in his arms, and carry her off the bedroom. But no, that was Gone with the Wind, and this was Malcolm. He slid the cube into his pocket. ,
"I must ask Lisa to send me back to the archive so I can give this to Metz." He came to her and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. "Then I must go to Ming Ue. I promised I would help with the dragon she is sponsoring for the Chinese New Year's parade, and she will want me to practice."
Saba caught his arm as he turned away, giving him a suggestive look.
He shook his head. "If I do not go now, I will not go," he said, his voice low. He smoothed a lock of hair on her forehead. "Au revoir, my witch."
He turned away, snatched up his jacket, and let himself out. That left Saba alone and frustrated for the rest of the afternoon.
She hadn't seen him much since then, because he always had something to do either with Ming Ue, back in Dragonspace helping Metz, or reuniting with the elusive contacts he'd made back when he'd been in exile. He spent nights away, and Saba spent all her days at work, and was never certain when she'd see him.
Now she waited in the February night with her friends as the parade flowed past, groups of brightly-clothed children dancing in formations and waving silk streamers, lion dancers in glowing yellow satin-silk, tumbling acrobats, this year's Miss Chinatown USA waving regally to the crowd, and of course, dragons.
The Black Dragon Page 27
