The Detective's Dragon

by Karilyn Bentley

  “Praise the Goddess,” Erik muttered. “My magic works.”

  Ignoring a streak of jealousy, Jamie focused on Parker, his touch gentle as he grasped her arm.

  “Parker?”

  He shook her arm, and her eyes rolled open.

  “Jamie?” her voice squeaked and she cleared her throat.

  At the sound of her voice, the ache in his chest flowed away, and he slumped forward. “Hey.” He offered her a slow smile. “Glad to see you awake.”

  “What the hell was that light ball?”

  “An energy ball set to render us unconscious.” Good thing it hadn’t been set for kill.

  “Like a stun gun?”

  Stun gun? Jamie made a non-committal noise and held out his hand.

  “Thank you.”

  Parker grasped his palm, allowing him to pull her to a sit.

  Jamie placed a hand behind her back. Heat from her skin flowed through her shirt into his palm, and he stroked his fingers against the thin material. Touching her felt right, as if her skin was made for him and him alone. He should stop, drop his hand, offer to help her rise. But he left his palm where it rested. As Keara always said, just because you can doesn’t always mean you should.

  Of course she wasn’t referring to the present circumstances, but advice was meant to be used, right?

  Erik cleared his throat. “Are you going to lounge around all day, scout, or are we going to inform the Council of Father’s return?”

  Parker’s brow wrinkled as Erik spoke in Draconi.

  Use her language.

  Teach her ours.

  “Parker,” Jamie ran his fingers along the ridges of her spine as he spoke in her language. “We need to inform the Council of Kol’s return. And your arrival.”

  “I’d think twice about that, scout,” Erik said. In Draconi.

  Jamie snarled. Use. Her. Language.

  Erik chuckled. Think. Do you really want the Council to know we returned with a human?

  I’m half human, dumbarse. What difference does it make? Alviss no longer sits on the Council.

  Have it your way. But you might want to explain things to her.

  Jamie opened his mouth. Closed it. Goddess’s toes. Would Parker’s arrival bother the Council? What about his parents? She belonged to him. And if they rejected her, then they rejected him. He swallowed. Could he leave Draconia, his family, his people? Throw it away like an unused gift? Return to Parker’s world and experience using magic at will instead of struggling to cast a small spell?

  Was magic worth abandoning his home, his family? He’d already lost his birth parents. Could he bear to lose his adoptive parents too?

  He wanted Parker, yes, but to leave all he knew behind and live in her world?

  Assuming she wanted him to live in her world.

  Did she feel the same about him? How did a male convince a female she was his mate?

  Scout?

  Erik’s voice slammed into his mind, jolting him back to the present.

  Right. Cave. Kol escaped. Parker’s presence needed to be explained to the Council. No time for musing.

  “You’re talking to each other again in your mind.” Parker clicked her tongue several times in rapid succession. “Which I would say is rude, but, wow. I’m no longer in Kansas, Toto.”

  Kansas? Toto? “My apologies. But I thought you said you lived in Denver? What is Kansas?”

  “Oh, sorry. It’s from a movie.”

  “Movie?”

  “A motion picture?”

  Jamie cut his gaze to Erik, who shrugged, his face mirroring Jamie’s confusion. So much for understanding her speech. When in doubt, ignore and redirect.

  “Erik thinks the Council will not react well to your presence.”

  Parker’s eyes narrowed. “What? Humans aren’t welcome?”

  “Something like that,” Erik said.

  Parker stiffened.

  A growl gurgled in the back of Jamie’s throat, his lip curled into a snarl as he fought not to attack Erik. Stop scaring her.

  Erik held his hands palms out, his eyes popped wide. Whoa, scout. She needs to know what to expect.

  Jamie sucked down a breath and hoped the extra air doused the urge to attack simmering beneath his skin. Maybe he should get busy growling at himself. Instead of saving Parker, did he bring her into danger? Were things really as bad as Erik claimed?

  “If I’m not wanted here, why didn’t you leave me behind?”

  “I couldn’t leave you behind.” You belong to me. You’re my mate. As if she wanted to hear fate decreed her mate was a magically deficient Draconi. “Things aren’t as bad as Erik says.”

  “Trust me,” Erik huffed. “You refuse to see the bad.”

  “Alviss is dead. Halflings comprise a good deal of the population. Goddess’s toes, Erik, I’m a Halfling. That’s half human. In case you forgot.”

  “Yes, but it’s also half Draconi. That’s the important half.”

  “Thanks a lot.” Parker glared at Erik, who had the decency to look remorseful.

  “No offense.”

  “It will be all right, Parker.” Jamie stroked her back. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

  Her eyes narrowed as her gaze raked over his face, sharpened claws of insight. She drew in a deep breath and nodded once. “You do realize Kol escaped, right? Instead of discussing the welcoming committee or lack thereof, shouldn’t we be trying to catch him?”

  Probably. But concern over Parker outweighed capturing Kol. He owned that excuse, but why did Erik not chase after his father?

  As if he mind-spoke the thought, Erik’s eyes narrowed, white lines forming around his lips. So much for hearing an answer to that question any time soon. His friend’s face turned into a shuttered mask, a smooth avoidance of truth.

  Jamie shrugged and focused on Parker. “I can find him again.” He hoped. “That’s what I do, you know. Find people.”

  “You mentioned that before.” One side of her lips twitched into a grin.

  “Do you feel like traveling?”

  “Yep. Where are we going? To this Council you keep mentioning?”

  Jamie stood and helped her to her feet, the touch of her palm a lightning strike through his blood. Her gaze met his as if she felt the same. Maybe convincing her she belonged to him would be easy, simple, like most Draconi weaved magic.

  He was not most Draconi.

  Either way, the end result was Parker as his mate. He hoped.

  Blue light faded, blurring her expression yet highlighting her lips. Soft lips. Plump lips. Lips he wanted to kiss. Again.

  Her gaze drew him closer, wrapped him in a heated embrace, tempting him with things to come, pleasures to experience. Moist breath brushed against his lips, heat from her skin slid against his, sending a jolt of awareness straight to his shaft.

  “Stop staring and start moving.”

  Erik’s voice snapped shut the budding sexual heat. How close he came to kissing her. Inches. Maybe he should have charcoaled his friend earlier. Would have saved him from his current aching shaft condition.

  Parker’s eyes flared. Despite the dim light, Jamie swore red tinged her cheekbones. Her gaze darted to Erik and back. “He’s right.” She sidestepped him, following a retreating Erik.

  Jamie gripped her hand, as if his grasp held the fragile ties weaving between their souls. She laced her fingers through his and squeezed, which elicited a corresponding pressure in his chest. Or maybe that was his heart pounding a hello-beautiful rhythm.

  “You’ll be summoned with us once we cross the ward lines.” Erik spoke her language over his shoulder, as he limped toward the cave entrance, his voice echoing against the stone walls.

  Parker stiffened, and Jamie squeezed her hand. Why did Erik insist on speaking words he knew would upset her? As a test of her strength? To prove a point?

  “Do you get off on trying to scare me?”

  Erik stopped and turned, his brows furrowed. “Do you imply I derive pleasure from yo
ur fear?”

  “Exactly.”

  “No, I do not.” He turned and started walking.

  Then what are you trying prove?

  For a Draconi who crossed worlds to find a female, you can be dense.

  Dense? You scare my female on purpose and then accuse me of being dense?

  Exactly.

  And that’s supposed to mean what?

  Erik’s sigh drifted through his mind. Goddess, you are dense.

  Good thing he didn’t need his mouth to talk. He doubted words could escape a jaw locked as tight as a dragon’s treasure chest. What demon possessed his friend? Giving Erik a tongue-lashing might ease his ire, but he refused for Parker to see him lose his temper.

  Which began to leak out his ears as steam.

  Jamie sucked in a breath. If he breathed in then the steam couldn’t come out. In theory.

  Parker made a non-committal noise and glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes widened. So much for breathing in dissipating steam.

  “And here I thought steaming ears was an expression of speech.”

  “Sorry.”

  She held a hand out by his ear. “Nothing to be sorry for. Draconi ears steam often?”

  “Only when we become mad.”

  “Interesting. And he,” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder in Erik’s direction, “upsets you when he needles me, eh?”

  “Something like that.”

  She smiled. “That’s sweet. You’re…protecting me.”

  Busted. Did she realize his protective nature meant he’d recognized her as his mate? That the longer he stayed around her, the less likely he could leave her?

  “Hurry up. We don’t have all day.”

  Yes. He really should have charcoaled his friend while he had the chance.

  “You’re starting to sound like a broken record, Erik.” Parker tugged Jamie’s hand as she walked into the main room of the cave. Erik stood at the cave’s entrance, hands on his waist, the light behind him casting his face into shadows.

  “A broken record? How do you break what you record?”

  Jamie wondered the same thing, but refused to let Erik know he was equally clueless. No more fodder for those dense comments.

  “Never mind.” Parker shook her head. “Where are we going?”

  “Back to Draconia.” Jamie stepped beside Erik, water from the fall wetting his back. “We’re right outside the border.”

  “It might hurt when we cross the ward line.”

  “Why? What kind of hurt?”

  “The wards are designed to keep out humans,” Jamie explained. “They’ll pull on you a bit, but you are with us so it should be all right.”

  “Should be?”

  “As long as you’re with us, you’ll be fine.”

  Erik held out a hand to Parker. “Don’t let go of me.”

  “I didn’t think your magic worked.”

  “It doesn’t work well in your world. Here, it’s normal. His,” Erik tilted his head toward Jamie, “doesn’t work. Now take my hand.”

  Parker placed her palm in Erik’s outstretched one, and Jamie swallowed a ball of steam threatening an appearance. Erik was not making a move on Parker, he needed to touch her to transport. The same as putting his hand on Jamie’s forearm, forming a circle. No need to attack.

  Goddess, how did male Draconi live with all these crazy attack-what-hurts-my-mate emotions pinging through their system?

  And then all thoughts hummed to background noise as Erik threw them into a transport. A transport almost as slow as his. The wards tugged at his particles, holding on as long as possible before throwing him to land in a heap of limbs. At least he landed in Draconia.

  What in the name of the Goddess happened?

  His eyes shot open as he scrambled to all fours. Where was Parker?

  Right next to him. Thank the Goddess.

  Her eyes opened, saw him and narrowed. “You guys need to work on your landing.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No. But I’m sick and tired of falling out of the sky to land on hard ground.”

  “Me too. I’m not sure what happened.” Had traveling through the cave injured Erik’s magic?

  Erik sat upright, several feet away from them. “I’ve never had that happen before. What went wrong?”

  “You’re the one powering the transport.” Jamie glared at his friend. “You tell me.”

  “Must be remnants of that energy ball Father threw.” His eyes flared. “You realize we returned to Draconia without the Halfling.”

  “Isn’t it more important that we inform the Council of Kol’s return? We can always complete the mission later.”

  “Do you want to explain to them why they shouldn’t fry our arses for failing a mission?”

  What was wrong with his friend? Why didn’t he understand Kol’s return posed a security threat?

  Blood means more than societal rules.

  Was Erik trying to hide Kol?

  Jamie dismissed the idea as soon as it appeared. Erik would never betray Draconia. Right?

  “What are you two talking about now?” Parker crossed her arms.

  Jamie gave himself a mental smack. Hypocrite. Being angry at Erik for speaking Draconi in front of Parker when he did the same. “Sorry. Erik says we need to complete our mission before returning to the Council. I say we need to report Kol.”

  “I agree.” Parker nodded.

  “I don’t.” Erik shook his head. “I for one do not relish the thought of having my arse fried.”

  “Your father is a security threat. He was banished for a reason.”

  “What if that reason was wrong? What if he made a mistake?”

  “Are you taking his side?” Jamie’s eyes widened.

  “Of course not.” Erik swallowed, ran a hand down his face. Drew in a breath. A strange expression crossed his face, leaving Jamie unsettled. Then he spoke, and the moment vanished. “I’ll inform the Council about Father, and you two can find the Halfling.”

  “Are you jesting?” Did Erik’s common sense disappear with the hard landing? “Informing them about Kol is more important. We can find the Halfling later.”

  “I’ll handle it. Don’t worry. I’ll transport you to the south border and return.”

  Parker shook her head. “A possible security threat trumps completing a mission any day.”

  “You don’t understand,” Erik’s words ran together as if he couldn’t wait to set them free. “I will tell the Council about Father after taking you to the border. You two can find the Halfling, and I will inform the Council we let Father escape.”

  “They’ll char you. We’ll stay.”

  “They’ll char us all then. No, I’ll take you to the border.”

  Jamie opened his mouth to protest, but Erik grasped his shoulder, grabbed Parker’s arm and threw them into a transport. If only he possessed full powers, Erik would never be able to transport him against his will.

  Anger burst through his veins. Anger at his measly powers. Anger over Erik’s stupidity. Anger, fueled by shame, coalesced into a ball of energy, releasing as a flash of light.

  Pop! Pop! Pop!

  Jamie hit the ground hard, knees collapsing under his weight, body rolling several feet before stopping face down. Not again. What was Erik’s problem?

  A moan sounded, and he lifted his head. Parker laid a stone’s throw from him, moaning. Erik sat legs crossed, his head in his hands. Jamie scrambled toward Parker, muscles aching each time a hand or foot struck the ground. Ignoring the pain, he forced limbs to move, to stretch, until he reached where Parker lay curled on her side.

  Goddess, how badly was she hurt?

  “Parker? Can you hear me? Are you all right?”

  “I’ve…been…worse.” Her voice rasped an ache inside his chest.

  “Did you break a bone?” Jamie ran his hands over her arms, her legs. Thank Goddess. Nothing was broken.

  “She all right?” Erik spoke in his ear, and Jamie started. “Sorry. I d
on’t understand what went wrong. Again.”

  “You have problems.” He’d never heard of anyone dropping out of a transport. Except for his earliest attempts at transporting. Even then he never landed like this, rolled on the ground like a sausage. Last he remembered, anger seized his scattered particles into a vise, a potent mix of ire and power.

  Plenty of Draconi transported angry. None of them dropped from the air like a hailstone. Which meant it wasn’t his anger issues. Something was wrong with Erik’s magic.

  Parker rolled to her back, wiggling her arms, legs and fingers, testing for breaks and bruises. No breaks, thank the Goddess.

  “What’s wrong with my magic?” Erik formed a flame in his palm. “It seems to work fine. Feels normal, not like in her city. Maybe it’s you.”

  “Maybe you need to stop dragging us around Draconia and report to the Council on your father’s return.”

  Erik shook his head, his eyes sad. “Sorry, scout. No can do. You find that Halfling, and we’ll meet up at the Council later.”

  Between one blink and the next, he disappeared. Jamie punched the ground. Why did Erik insist upon leaving them to find a Halfling they could find later? He couldn’t stay here, nor could he leave Parker behind while he tried to chase Erik.

  Holy altars.

  “Can’t you go after him?”

  “Not with you. I can’t leave you here either.”

  “That sucks.”

  Sucks? The expression didn’t match the definition, but he understood it all the same. Sucks. Yes, that summed things up well.

  Parker cleared her throat. “I think it’s my fault we fell out of that transport. I felt this surge of anger and got scared.”

  “What do you mean you got scared?” Jamie felt his brow rise.

  “When I get scared, I produce a burst of energy. Like when they drugged me and I couldn’t move and was lying on the sidewalk, all the streetlamps exploded. Right before you showed up. That’s not the only instance.” Her gaze clouded as if lost in memories. “It’s a horrible ability. It’s why Kol targeted me.”

  Jamie touched her arm, running his fingers up and down her tanned flesh, trying to ease the fear shivering through her limbs. Why would she hate her power? “You transformed my anger into a burst of energy?” Amazing.

  “I think.” Her gaze fell to her hands. “Maybe. Yes.” Her lids raised, dove gray eyes shining. “Sorry.”