The Detective's Dragon

by Karilyn Bentley

  Definitely a sign of insanity.

  The tap water stopped running as she ran a hand down her face. Might as well get dressed and see what the men were up to. Make sure they didn’t rob her blind.

  She batted the thought away. Nah, they wouldn’t do that. Lie about who they were and where they were from and why they came here, maybe, but steal? Nope. One look in their eyes told of their honesty.

  At least when it came to home robbery.

  After a quick shower and bathroom duties, Parker pulled on a pair of jeans and T-shirt and walked into the living room.

  Both men sat on the couch, glasses of water on the coffee table, flipping through old issues of Self magazine.

  “Hey. Did you sleep well?” she asked.

  As one they gave her heart-stopping smiles, but Jamie spoke. “We did. Woke not long ago. What about you?”

  “Yep. So, would you like dinner? What do you eat?”

  “Food.” Erik said, no hint of humor on his face.

  She bit back the smartass response of duh. “What kind? Anything you don’t eat, or prefer to eat?”

  “We’re not picky,” Jamie replied. “However,” he glanced to Erik before turning his gray eyes to hers, “if you have any jaba-jaba beans we’d be ever in your debt.”

  “Jaba-jaba beans? What’s that?”

  Their faces fell like children denied a sweet. “You make it into a hot drink. Wakes you up.”

  “You mean coffee?”

  “I have not heard it called that.”

  “Huh. Well, follow me and I’ll make you a cup and you can tell me if it’s your jaba-jaba beans.”

  Jamie tagged behind her as she walked into the kitchen. She stuck a K-cup into the coffee maker, put a mug underneath and hit the brew button. A minute later she handed the dark coffee to an eyes-wide Jamie.

  “Do you drink it with milk or sugar? I don’t have cream. I like my coffee black.”

  He took a sip, a broad smile spreading across his lips. “Erik, it’s jaba-jaba.”

  Erik rose from the couch, limping into the kitchen. “Truly? This, what did you call it?”

  “Coffee.”

  “Yes, this coffee is jaba-jaba?”

  While Jamie handed his mug to Erik, she pulled another one out of the cabinet, then explained how to use the coffee maker. Something told her they’d spend the rest of the evening in front of the machine if she’d let them.

  Jamie tilted his head and stared at Erik who nodded, held his mug with both hands and limped back to the couch. Jamie’s gaze met hers, drawing her closer as if captured by invisible strings. She took a step toward him, heat blossoming in her core, spreading through her veins.

  Damn it. She wanted him. Wanted him in her bed. Wanted him in her life. But past history proved men didn’t take well to female detectives who spent long hours on the job. Last thing she needed was to experience another failed relationship.

  Geez, Parker, getting ahead of yourself?

  Maybe. But the longer she stared into his eyes, the more she saw them together. Visions bloomed in her head, mixing with the dream she had before waking. Dragons flying. Her riding on a dragon, the wind blowing in her hair, her heart soaring with love as they dipped and flew through the mist of low lying clouds.

  The familiar touch of a lover. A man she could no longer live without.

  Parker took another step forward, stopping a foot away from Jamie. Heat radiated from his coffee mug, warming a spot in the middle of her chest she never realized was cold. Want. Need. Desire.

  This man saved her. Risked his life for hers. Came to a different city, a place foreign to him, to save her. The least she could do was thank him properly. Parker stood up on her toes and pecked him on the cheek. Jamie’s eyes widened, and she started to take a step back. She should have known kissing him would be a mistake.

  Or not.

  In one fluid movement, he set his mug on the counter and wrapped both arms around her waist, pulling her close. One hand rose to her neck, his head dipping toward hers. His lips brushed against hers, once, twice. Tingles exploded from where their skin touched, ricocheting through her body like a fast moving bullet, jumpstarting her heart. Heat built inside her veins as she opened her mouth, running her tongue along the seam of his lips. He opened to her, their tongues speaking where their words failed.

  She might be insane for letting strangers into her home, but she wanted Jamie with a logic-defying passion. Parker melted into the kiss.

  ****

  Jamie’s arms tightened around Parker’s waist, his heart a pounding drum in his chest. He could stay wrapped in her arms forever.

  And then Erik turned a page, shaking the paper with more force than necessary, a gentle reminder he sat nearby.

  Jamie pulled back, ignoring the cry in his blood to continue, to finish what she started, what they both craved. Parker blinked sex-glazed eyes, her body losing its languidness as a blush stole across her cheeks.

  “I’m…” she drew in a breath, huffed it out. “Not really sorry, but we shouldn’t have done that.”

  He shrugged, hoping the motion stopped his hands from grabbing her, pulling her to him again. What could he say? While not sorry they kissed, he was sorry if it made her feel guilty, like she took advantage of his deficiency to satisfy a whim.

  But then she didn’t realize his lack of magic since she’d only seen him with abilities. Perhaps she kissed him for his magic and power, not out of pity.

  A glance at the mix of confusion and determination written on her face obliterated that idea. She did not seem like the type of female who allowed power or lack thereof to impress her choice of lover. Did it mean she kissed him for him?

  When in doubt, act like nothing happened. He picked up his cup containing the jaba-jaba, or, as Parker called it, coffee. “Your…coffee is good. How do you roast the beans?”

  “It comes that way. I have no idea. What do you guys want for dinner? I can cook up some steaks.”

  What were steaks? At Jamie’s pause, Erik spoke into his mind. I don’t care if these steaks contain more spice than your mother’s cooking. I’m hungry.

  A smile turned Jamie’s lips. “That sounds good. Do you need help?”

  “I don’t suppose you can fire up the grill?”

  Fire up the grill? “If you mean light the wood, I am capable of that chore. But I see no wood.”

  She pressed her lips together, eyes twinkling as she tried not to laugh. “Never mind. Why don’t I show you how a grill works?”

  That sounds like a proposition I’d like to see. Erik turned, waggling his brows.

  No, it doesn’t. And you weren’t invited. Jamie offered Parker a smile. “I would like to learn this grill. What does it do?”

  She opened a door in her kitchen leading outside.

  The same strange flooring material inside the warehouse and where Erik was held covered a spot right outside the door. A strange metal object sat on four legs, two of which ended in wheels. Parker grabbed the handle, lifted the lid, and exposed what looked like long metal teeth. The grill.

  The ensuing lesson on the intricacies of turning a switch and priming gas made him wonder on the magic in this place. No magical signature existed, and yet the wonders these people used. Amazing.

  Steaks turned out to be meat sliced in thick slabs. She served the meat with diced tubers—called potatoes—mixed with rosemary and pepper and baked in a metal oven. Steamed green beans rounded out the delicious meal. When they’d eaten their fill, they sat on the couch drinking ale. Or beer as Parker called it.

  “So,” Parker ran her thumb across the lip of the beer bottle, “what are you going to do now? Go home?”

  Did she want him to leave? He wanted nothing more than to stay by her side. To warm her on cold mornings. To see love sparkle in her eyes as she gazed upon him.

  To smack his head against a convenient wall. She was human. He might want her for a mate, but Draconi did not mate with humans.

  Right?


  Try telling that to his heart. His soul.

  “We need to stop my father.” Erik’s jaw tensed.

  Why hadn’t he asked questions yesterday when Erik first mentioned his father? Distraction while uncovering clues was never a good thing. Before he voiced his questions, Parker spoke.

  “You can speak English,” Parker leaned forward, gaze fixated on Erik. “You’ve said so little I didn’t think you understood.”

  “He learned it,” Jamie glared at his friend. She doesn’t know how you learned, and I’d like it to stay that way. Besides, we need to return to the problem. Your father.

  Erik grinned, one of those wolfish ones that meant he’d do what he wanted, despite Jamie’s wishes. Goddess’s toes.

  “Yes, I learned it from the hospital staff.”

  “You picked up a language from being in the ER?” Parker’s eyes flared.

  “Words, but the meanings don’t always hold true. Your patterns of speaking are odd. That’s why we don’t always understand what you say.”

  “How can you learn a language in a couple of hours?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Jamie glared at his friend. Not that it was doing any good. “How did your father get here?”

  “She wants to know, don’t you Parker?”

  Parker glanced between him and Erik. “How did you learn?”

  “I tunneled around in the healers’ minds. Grabbed the language from their heads.”

  Parker gasped, her flared eyes and open mouth the only movements in an otherwise frozen body. Then she blinked, her head tilting slightly off center as her breathing resumed. “You read minds?”

  Of course. We speak in them too.

  Parker slammed both hands against her temples, squeezing her eyes closed. Jamie slapped a hand on the low wooden table. “Enough! Stay. Out. Of. Her. Head.”

  A low growl bounced around the room as two sets of eyes snapped to his. Delicious pain licked his fingertips, claws peeking from skin. Steam circled his face, rose in his throat, pumping up his anger.

  One corner of Erik’s mouth twitched. I knew you came to her for a reason. Save her my arse. You want her for your mate.

  Air pumped in and out of Jamie’s nose as he tried to diffuse a murderous rage. As if he was a male defending his mate.

  You are a male defending his mate, scout. Wake up and believe it.

  Nonsense. He was merely siding with a defenseless human. Right?

  Adding idiocy to your list of deficiencies?

  He couldn’t have a mate. Until coming to Parker’s aide, he possessed so little magic as to barely be considered Draconi. Taking a mate had never been on the top of his to-do list. But his current impulse to attack his friend for surprising Parker made him rethink the possibility.

  Clearly he had magic even if it didn’t work in Draconia. So it stood to reason if he had magic, then a mate was a possibility. Shock evaporated the steam pouring from his ears. Claws retracted into fingers as he drew in a couple of deep breaths.

  Parker’s gaze prickled across his skin as he turned to her frozen form. Wide eyes highlighted a pale face, the rich color of her skin leached away like dye exposed too long to sunlight.

  “Don’t be frightened. I won’t hurt you.” Die to protect her, yes, harm her, never.

  She blinked. Swallowed. Two tries later and the words escaped her mouth. “Your ears steamed.”

  “They do that when a Draconi gets upset.”

  “Draconi?”

  “That is our race.” Jamie gestured between him and Erik.

  Parker leaned forward. “Draconi from Draconia. Isn’t that Latin for dragons?”

  “I do not know this Latin, but yes. Dragons.”

  She blinked a couple of times. “Dragons?”

  “Dragons,” Erik said. “Haven’t you heard of them?”

  “Yeah, but only as fables. So, like, what? You have dragon characteristics?”

  “You could say that.”

  “I guess I wasn’t imagining things when we rescued you.” She pointed at Jamie. “I thought you roared, but then figured it was just the acoustics of the hall. You roared at Grizzly, didn’t you? And it wasn’t a knife that cut his throat either, huh?”

  Jamie shook his head.

  “Seriously? Your fingers turn into claws?”

  “They can.” Surprise, surprise.

  She swallowed, some of the color returning to her face as she focused her gaze on him. “Huh. I wasn’t imagining things. So you’re like what? A werewolf?”

  “Werewolves are mythological characters. Dragons aren’t.”

  “Uh-huh. Maybe where you’re from. Here both are mythological. Or they were until you came along.” She sighed, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “I can’t believe I actually believe you. Men do not have dragon-like abilities. I must be losing my mind.”

  Jamie sucked in another breath, not sure what upset him more, her thinking she was mentally unstable or the fact that dragons did not exist here. No matter where he went on reconnaissance missions, people knew dragons existed. They might think them evil or never saw one in the scales, but they believed in dragons’ existence. Here, dragons were relegated to myths.

  Myths.

  No wonder Parker didn’t believe him. Not only had she never seen magic, she’d never seen dragons and definitely didn’t believe they existed.

  Which meant the lack of dragons bothered him more than her coming to terms with him being a Draconi. Convincing her she saw reality shouldn’t be a problem. Discovering his location in relation to his home? Problematic.

  Where in Goddess’s name was the city of Denver in the state of Colorado in the country of America?

  “You are not losing your mind.” Erik placed the flimsy book on the couch and leaned forward.

  Jamie forced the beginnings of a snarl back into hiding. No reason to snarl. Erik wasn’t hurting or trying to entice Parker. Holy altars, he had issues. Being stuck someplace unfamiliar was the least of things.

  How was he supposed to explain to Parker she belonged to him? He’d have better luck working magic in Draconia.

  “It is always hard to understand things you’ve always believed were myths.” Jamie reached a hand toward Parker, then drew it back in case she saw it as aggressive.

  “I’m a detective. I think through things logically. Logically this makes no sense, but I know what I feel and see. I can’t believe…you really had steam coming out your ears?”

  He nodded.

  “Okay.” She rubbed her forehead. “Okay. So, not only are you not from around here, make that Earth, you have dragon-like characteristics.”

  “Not dragon-like,” Erik offered, earning him a glare from Jamie.

  “Erik,” Jamie’s warning growl did nothing more than elicit a wink from his friend, who continued speaking as if filled to overflowing with words.

  “We are dragons. We change shapes.”

  Parker’s eyes flared. “No fucking way, excuse my French.”

  Was that a curse? Judging from her shaking head he knew she once again struggled with the meeting of reality and disbelief. Why did Erik feel the need to continue adding to her shock?

  “Don’t be afraid.” The last thing he wanted was her to fear him.

  “Afraid is not the word coming to mind. Freaked out, yeah. Why don’t you go outside and turn into a dragon?”

  Erik barked a laugh.

  Jamie pressed his palm against his thigh to keep his hand from doing something stupid like punching Erik. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  Another hand-scrubbing across her face. “Yeah. You’re right. Forget I asked.” Fingers pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay. So you are men who turn into dragons. And you’ve come here to rescue me, right?”

  Jamie nodded.

  “Which you’ve done. Now what?”

  “We need to stop my father from capturing more magically inclined humans.”

  Parker stopped rubbing her nose and focused her attentio
n on Erik. “Your father?”

  “You never did explain how he came here.” Jamie flexed his fingers, flattening them against his thigh as he glared at his friend.

  Red tinged Erik’s ears. “He was banished when I was young.”

  “Banished?” Parker’s brows furrowed then released as her head tilted.

  “If a male is abusive or commits a crime against another Draconi, he can be banished or executed,” Jamie said. “It’s more common to banish, but even that rarely occurs. I never heard anything about your father.”

  Erik’s fingers played with the cuffs of his shirt as he stared at his lap. “We thought it easier to say he died. But to find him here is odd. He said he fell asleep in a cave and woke up in this place.”

  “He spoke to you?”

  “Of course.” Erik stopped fiddling and shot Jamie a glare. “Once he realized who I was.”

  “And beat you?”

  “No. This,” he gestured to his face, “was due to the fight when we first found Parker. My ankle twisted when I woke and tried to fight them off. That’s when he realized I was his son.”

  “Why was he after Parker?”

  “To return to Draconia, what else?”

  Parker raised a brow. “How am I supposed to help with that? I’ve never heard of Draconia until today.”

  “He hopes by gathering humans with magical characteristics that he’ll find one who can help him return. Part of his banishment was stripping him of powers.”

  “He told you all this?” Why was he surprised? Persuasiveness was always a strong suit of Erik’s. Although it usually applied more to females and bedplay than obtaining secret motivations.

  Erik shrugged, red creeping across the tops of his ears. “He hoped I’d join him in his quest.”

  “And?” Jamie stared at the male sitting across from him, a cold foreboding creeping down his spine. Blood trumped friendship. He’d give almost anything to see his birth father again, to feel the male’s arms around his waist, to hear the tone of his voice.

  Erik’s gaze flashed to his, shock etched in the green depths of his eyes. “I am not a traitor. You know me better than that, Jamie.”

  His given name from Erik’s lips hit him like a blow. Guilt mixed with the sense of foreboding, overwhelming the tingling unease. He shouldn’t have doubted his friend. But something about this matter felt off, overlooked, a missing puzzle piece ruining the picture.