“When?” I asked as calmly as I could. It didn’t escape my thoughts that a trip to the Sidhe would also mean a possible loss of Amras. Something I just couldn’t allow to happen.
“My Lady?” Cursed responded distractedly.
“When will we go? Amras’ risks the Queen’s wrath by extending his stay, yet I have not yet been summoned. When will we go?”
Cursed glanced turned to Amras who advised, “Soon, before the King learns of our plans. Cursed is right, we need to get you in and out quickly.”
“All of us!” I replied stubbornly. “All of us out quickly.” And he pursed his lips and refused to meet my eyes. I sighed but turned and headed for the bathroom. “I’m going to shower and we can go to the training room. Afterwards we will discuss this with Jace and Gareth and I will call for Mi. Perhaps she will have an idea as to what would be best.”
Chapter 2
Dane was in the living room when we three wandered down the hall. “Have a nice nap?” I asked sweetly and he cocked an eyebrow at me in response. Owen was seated across from him and rose from his chair. He moved to join us as we crossed to the hall leading to the elevator on our way to the huge workout room in the upper cavern.
“May I join ye?” Dane asked politely, his look hopeful. I glanced first at Cursed and then at Amras, but it was Kit that made the response.
“Oh please do. We’d love to see what you’re made of.” He snapped his fingers and Dane was dressed in tight leather pants and a lace up vest, similar to those being worn by Cursed and Amras. I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing at the sour look of disgust on Dane’s face. Judging by the amount of hair on his chest, those pants weren’t going to be anywhere near comfortable. Leather, hair and sweat are not good partners, something has always got to give, and mostly it’s the hair. I had to give him credit though; he simply sighed and rose gingerly from the couch while Kit eyed him closely, as did we all.
“Don’t even think it,” Owen growled when Kit turned his red gaze on him, eyeing him up and down. Owen snapped his own fingers and changed to his normal short shorts and no shirt. I smiled and dipped my head to hide my grin when Dane glanced at Owen then sighed again. Kit simply shrugged and led us down the hall, his own shorts showing off his long muscular legs and cute bottom.
“And does this mean you are no longer angry at me?” Kit asked over his shoulder.
“I am still thinking about it. In the meantime it means I think you have nice legs and a cute butt,” I told him dryly while the others chuckled.
I spent the ride to the second floor thinking about Valentine and wondering what he might do to us now that we’d taken Marcus from him, then fretting about the White, Copper, and Bronze from my picture. Life used to be so boring before I came here. No running or screaming or….
“Sex,” Kit finished for me. “No sex. No earth shattering pleasure, no mind altering can’t get enough of it right this second sex!”
“Only because you made it absolutely impossible for me to have had any before now!” I muttered, pushing my way out of the elevator as I led us all down the hall toward the training area.
“Yes, thanks to me! You might notice that there wasn’t any convulsing on the floor either. Of course you probably just think that’s a coincidence,” he grumbled while I turned and stuck my tongue out at him. “And by the way, I have the contract. You left it in the meadow!” he raised his voice and called after me. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to look at him. “Ha!... thought that might get your attention.” He finished smugly.
“You better not have opened it,” I warned him while the others glanced between the two of us with confused unhappy looks. All except Dane, who was just looking confused but was managing to hold both his thoughts and any questions he had, to himself for the moment.
“What’s that saying… loser weeper, finder keeper?” Kit told me in a sing song voice that caused my eyes to narrow slightly.
I took a deep breath and just managed to not reach for him as I replied. “I prefer the one that goes, what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine too. You belong to me,” I told him, shaking my wrist sharply and setting my tiny Dragons to jingling. “Therefore anything you have is mine. I’ll expect it back when we’re done here,” I told him crisply, then turned and trotted down the steps toward the track. Behind me I heard both Amras and Cursed ask something of Kit, but their voices were low and my need to lose myself in exercise too great to slow down so I could hear what they were saying. Besides, short of killing Alan, which was not going to happen because it would start a war that Gareth and Jace could ill afford, Kit having my contract was a minor problem I could deal with later. Yes later was definitely better. Like when I didn’t have so many other things on my mind.
I moved out onto the running track, prepared to put in a few miles before moving over to the mats. When I glanced back I found that Amras and Cursed had joined me, as had Dane. Kit was over watching the wrestling and Owen was chatting with one of the other guards. I slowed down and brought myself even with Amras, who was glancing around and looking like he was out for a Sunday stroll. I enjoyed watching him and Cursed run, they were both so light on their feet. My eyes slid to Dane and I realized he wasn’t doing so badly himself for such a big guy. He flashed me a grin and spread his hands so I picked up the pace. On the sixth lap Kit loped up from behind us in wolf form, which caused Dane to make a strangled noise and veer sharply off the track. I suppose if you didn’t know it was him, the sight of a four foot tall wolf with big red eyes might be somewhat alarming.
“Hoping his heart might burst?” Kit asked as he lopped along beside me. I gave him a dirty look and glanced at Dane, who was in fact breathing harder than any of the rest of us. But then he had a good forty pounds on Cursed and was about two and half times bigger than me. It wasn’t like I was lolly-gagging us around the cavern either.
“No, just seeing what he’s made of,” I replied with a grin and broke into a sprint. Cursed let out a yip behind me, and he and Amras soon flashed past in a blur that made me smile. My braid swung wildly behind me in the breeze and I felt something tug on it, then Dane pulled up next to me, his long legs having eaten up the distance in just a few strides. Up ahead the others had come to a stop and were watching us. I glanced at Dane and kicked in my after burners, which got me to Amras and Cursed about half a step behind Dane.
I stood on the track with my hands on my thighs, bent over sucking air into my lungs while Dane did the same. Owen wandered over and eyed me thoughtfully. “Had the finish line been three feet closer you might have won,” he teased me. Catching my breath, I nodded and pulled myself upright.
“Next … the floor,” I muttered and dragged myself off toward the mats. Dean and Nate were there and both took their places in the front row.
“Loved your exit last night,” Dean told me when class was finished. “Have you seen the papers today?” He smiled when I shook my head. “You do photograph very well.” He informed me, then. “Who’s the new guy?” He asked his eyes flicking to Dane, who was now standing at the edge of the mats eyeing me… not unlike Gareth and Jace did sometimes. Nate joined us and he too glanced in Dane’s direction.
I sighed and shrugged. “Just a stray we dragged in from the party last night. He’ll be staying with us.”
“Hunter?” Nate asked, while his dark brown eyes continued to access him.
Dane stood just a bit straighter and narrowed his black eyes, a clear sign he wasn’t all that happy with us looking him over like a piece of fresh meat. I wasn’t certain he understood the question but the meaning behind it seemed quite clear to him.
“I doubt it,” I replied, “but I haven’t asked.”
“He smells… odd,” Nate remarked.
“Hmmm,” I replied noncommittally. I wasn’t sure how Dane felt about me discussing his parentage and thought it best to keep that to myself. After all the whole bio engineering was still a concern. The Humans still wanted immortality. I didn’t need my Dra
kes disappearing into some mysterious bio-lab now that I’d just started gathering them up. It probably wouldn’t be a good thing to lose my very first Drake…but then again… I thought and couldn’t help the evil grin that overtook me. “Are you two up for a little hand to hand?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Swords, or were you thinking something along the lines of yesterday’s practice session? Because I have to tell you if that’s the case, I was hoping you might ask,” Dean replied with a grin, while Nate nodded enthusiastically next to him.
“Both, but not with me… with him,” I told them and turned to point at Dane, who was very busy giving me a dirty look. Both men turned to glance at Dane with almost gleeful expressions. “Come here, Dane,” I urged and crooked my finger while he continued to frown. He thought it over a moment then dropped his arms and moved in our direction. “I tell you what,” I offered when he reached us. “How about you three against me with swords?”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer practicing your projections instead?” Nate asked with a grimace, while Dane looked at me oddly, it was clear he was confused but his body language indicated he was willing to try anything if it meant being allowed to be close to me. I reached out mentally and patted Nate on his butt so that he jumped and chuckled.
“How about we do both?” I told them before looking around for Owen. “One thing, since there are three of you and just one of me, you get to fight fair while I get to play.”
“Like you just did to my behind?” Nate asked and licked his lips.
“Yep.”
Dean suddenly looked very interested and glanced around for Owen, who was already heading in our direction. Perhaps he felt my sending and was coming to make sure I didn’t get myself into trouble again.
“I dinna agree just yet, Lassie. I’ll be knowing first what sort of play is this, and why would it be getting ye into trouble.” Dane advised, as he shifted and crossed his arms over his chest and gave me an ‘I’m waiting, and the explanation better be a good one,’ look.
Owen reached us, wrapped his hand around my arm and gingerly pulled me to the side, though he would have needed to move me much farther away for any of the folks we’d just left to not hear us. “I don’t think this is a very good idea,” he warned me.
“They all have excellent hearing, you know,” I replied in a normal voice and gave him a lopsided smile. “Look, I need to practice my skills to improve. And if Dane’s going to stay he needs to fit in. Besides, what is the worst that can happen? I break a bone and heal them… they break a bone and I heal me? I’m an excellent sparring partner. And like Kit said last week, not everyone that comes against me is going to fight fair.” Then I smiled and shifted to Elvish. “And just look at them… they are all huge… which means they can’t come at me all at once. Three is better that way than two.”
Owen appeared to think it over for a moment then grumbled while behind him Cursed and Amras who’d come up to referee if necessary nodded in agreement. “She’s right you know,” Amras told him.
“Fine,” Owen said and snapped his fingers, holding out my sword to me. It was light and slightly curved and blunted along the edges, a perfect fit for my hand and balance.
I reached up and kissed his cheek, giving his arm a squeeze. “You might want to keep everyone back. Some of my sendings might go astray and I’d hate to pull someone’s chest hair out by mistake,” I finished loudly, while Dean and Nate laughed and Dane looked confused. “I suppose I should give him a taste of what he might expect so he won’t have a heart attack in the middle of our session,” I told Owen and he tipped his head to the side and lifted one eyebrow.
“Let me get him armed first,” Owen advised me, and went to chat with Dane. Part of me was curious about how much he was going to “arm” Dane with, but I left him to it trusting Owen to ensure Dane wouldn’t keel over from heart failure once we started. Meanwhile Dean and Nate were warming up by practicing with each other, using their blunted swords to hack and parry while they waited.
When Owen came back, Dane was leaning on a long broadsword with a black and gold handle. The sword was about two and a half feet long and if it weighed less than twenty-five pounds I would have been surprised. Note to self, slip the blade. I was not going to want to take the force of that monster.
“Okay then, Dane are you ready?” I asked, stepping out to the middle of the mats and holding up a palm toward Dean and Nate asking them to hold up a moment. “In all fairness, you should know what you might expect during our little game... ready? Here goes.” So saying, I leaned on my sword and sent him the feel of my hands sliding down into the front of his pants while my fingers teased into the curls at the juncture of his thighs. Behind me I heard Kit snicker but kept my eyes focused on Dane, who’s eyes widened in shock while his face looked like he wasn’t sure what to think. His cheeks flushed and his eyes narrowed, he dragged air into his lungs and gripped his sword tighter. “Did you get that?” I asked with a smile. “Would you like me to demonstrate some more?” and this time I sent him the feel of my teeth at the soft flesh on his neck just behind his ear. He growled and blinked slowly. “Or how about this?” and I rocked onto the balls of my feet while I sent him the feel of my fingers sinking into the curls of his chest and pulling sharply. He yelled and lunged for me. I turned and parried his heavy blade. His eyes were very angry as I smiled up at him right before sending him a full caress across his bottom.
“Pull my hair will ye?” he breathed, as his blade slammed down against mine.
I slipped it along the edge of my sword, sweeping his feet out from under him as I passed, then turning in time to catch Nate’s blade with a force that vibrated up my arm. I danced out of Dane’s grabbing range as he climbed back to his feet, and found myself facing both Nate and Dean. “Now boys…” I teased, then sent Dean the feel of my fingers burrowing under the bottom of his tight shorts; he made a strangled sound and lunged for me. When one of them would get too close, I’d send them the feel of my fingers tugging leg or a chest hair. At one point I had Nate on the ground yelling from the feel of my fingers pinching his nipple. I would have been gentler but I knew he was enjoying it too much.
Dane became more wary of me and my antics when he next lunged for me. I sent him the feel of me yanking his pants down over his hips. He actually reached for them, thinking they were leaving his body. I swatted him on the bottom with the flat of my sword as I swept by, which made him growl at me from the indignity of it all.
Nate pulled himself up off the floor, and together with Dean the two of them attacked me, forcing me backwards as I struggled to keep their blades from my person. Dean over extended himself and I grabbed his forearm and slid behind him, tripping him as I went. He teetered off balance while I blocked Nate and shoved the same sense of ecstasy into him that I had given him at the end of our session yesterday. As he did then, he flopped onto the floor with a happy sigh. Nate glanced at Dean and leapt at me, his eyes sparkling as he hammered away at my sword. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to claim his prize from beating me or expected me to disarm him as I’d just done with Dean.
We swept past Dane, who was standing there watching the two of us. I mentally reached out and yanked his hair, letting him know I wasn’t going to stand for him slacking. It got him moving again. Apparently he had an issue with ganging up on me. He’d refrained from doing so since we’d started. It appeared though, that my hair pulling seemed to do the trick as he circled behind me, while Nate hammered away on my sword. I figured if I didn’t put one or both of them down soon I was going to be in trouble. Nate made and ‘ah ha’ noise as he backed me over Dean, still sprawled on the floor. I tripped and nearly went down myself. Dane reached for me and quickly got the feel of my fingers gripping his unmentionables, which caused him to choke and drop his hand immediately.
“Yaiiiieee… Lassie that’s nae fair!” he yelped at me. I would have smiled but I was a little busy keeping Nate from knocking me senseless.
“No grabbing a
nd I get to play, that was the deal,” I told him breathlessly. Nate was really pressing me. I took a blow to the shin that made me yelp myself and I struggled to keep my concentration while I hopped backwards.
“Had enough yet?” Nate gasped, his own breath sounding quite ragged. I guess if you were going to wave a six pound sword around for any length of time it might wear you out, even someone in as good a shape as Nate.
“Have you?” I taunted him back just before sending him the feel of teeth at the back of his knee. He shuddered and went down to one knee nearly dropping his sword. I reached for him, flooding his senses with fulfillment and he slumped sideways onto the floor.
“What have ye done to them?” Dane demanded, his eyes wide as he glanced between the two prone bodies on the floor, concern clearly showing on his face.
“She gave them what they wanted,” Kit told him, then laughed as concern slid into confusion on Dane’s face.
I put the tip of my sword on the floor and leaned on it, dragging air into my lungs and wiping the sweat off my brow with the back of my left arm. “They are fine Dane. A bit bruised is all.” When he continued to look at me skeptically, I wandered over to Dean and knelt beside him, my fingers brushing at his hair. He opened his slightly glazed eyes and smiled up at me. “Hi there,” I said to him and he made ‘mmm mmm’ noises in his throat and brushed his cheek against my hand. “How are you feeling, big guy?”
“Perfect,” Dean replied and closed his eyes again.
“See?” I told Dane. “He’s just suffering from a really good afterglow. Kind of like you earlier today when you were snoring on your back in the middle of the field.” I told him.
Kit laughed when Dane’s cheeks turned dusky and he grumbled something I couldn’t quite catch.
“Aren’t they cute?” I asked. “They’ve been assisting me with practice.”
“Tis this how ye reward them then?” Dane demanded, his voice beginning to sound annoyed.
Dragon Envy Page 3
