The Detective's Dragon

by Karilyn Bentley

  You can’t protect me from all harm, Jamie. Sometimes you have to let me find my own way.

  He blinked as her voice slipped into his mind. How was that possible?

  I don’t know, but I’ve been hearing your voice off and on for awhile now. You tell me how it’s possible. I’m new to this.

  “Jamie?” Keara tapped his shoulder. “Please remove the cloth from her wound.”

  “I don’t want her to report to the Council.”

  “Just remove the cloth. I need to see.” Keara pushed against his hand until he lifted the cloth.

  Applying pressure to a wound was a little hard to do when shock turned his limbs into loose strings.

  Parker heard his thoughts? He could mind-speak to her without directly sending her his thoughts? The only way he knew of a human being able to mind-speak was if a Draconi projected their thoughts directly into the human’s mind. No projection, no mind-speaking.

  “It’s sealed. The wound will need longer to completely heal, and her arm will be stiff for some time. But if she wants to go with you—”

  Keara’s words hung in the air, heavy with suggestion.

  Parker might want to leave him, but he still needed to protect her. Especially from the Council. What would they do if they discovered the titanium she carried?

  You cannot always protect me. If I’m to stay here…

  If? His heart thudded, an erratic beat of hope.

  If I stay here, I will need a job. I can’t stay home all day and tend house. That’s not me.

  Jamie swallowed. Of course it wasn’t, and he was a dragon’s arse to think she’d be happy doing nothing. What female was? A ripple of hope spread through his chest. Do you mean to stay?

  I—she closed her eyes, pressing her lips together.

  “Maybe I should leave you two alone.” Keara dropped the bloody cloth into a bowl. “She may attend the Council meeting, but do not move that arm.” She opened the drawer on the bedside table and pulled out a sling. “Make sure she wears this. I’ll be outside if you need me.” Giving Parker’s good arm a squeeze, Keara picked up the bowl and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

  Jamie’s heart pounded like an overtaxed dragon. Was it possible she wanted to stay with him? His breath hitched, his voice escaping on a reedy plea. “Do you? Want to stay? Here I mean. With me?” Good one, Jamie. Way to sound confident.

  Parker pushed up on her elbow, and Jamie helped her sit upright, her face inches from his, the heat of her skin brushing warmth across his flesh. She grabbed his hand. Swallowed.

  “I love you.”

  Joy burst in his heart. She loved him. His mate loved him.

  “But,” his breath stopped when she spoke, the unfurled joy shriveling as her face grew grave, “but, as I said, I cannot live where I am not respected. Where I am not allowed to leave the house. That’s not me. I need to feel useful. I need to work helping people.”

  “Females work.”

  “But they don’t leave. They don’t hunt down criminals. They don’t do what I’m trained to do. Are you willing to let me go on missions with you?”

  Interesting. One really could feel blood drain from their face. She wanted to go on more missions with him? To be exposed to danger?

  He had to admit she saved his arse on this mission. He and Erik would still be back in Hogsbreath, or dead—he shuddered—if not for Parker. She could help on missions, she proved her abilities. Even if he didn’t like the idea.

  “What if you get hurt again?”

  “I get hurt again. It’s a risk any time I go to work. It’s not something I try to do. I’m careful. But things happen. You know that.”

  “I don’t know if I can see you harmed. Males are supposed to protect females, not drag them into danger.”

  “Even if protecting me means losing me?”

  He swallowed. Females did not go on missions. Neither did mated males for that matter.

  A sword of ice stabbed into his chest at the thought of no more missions. Parker’s brows rose, a knowing look in her eye.

  Right. If he couldn’t stand the thought of giving up work he loved, how could he ask her to?

  But what would the Council say about her partnering with him on missions?

  “I don’t want to lose you. I love you, Parker.”

  A smile tinged her lips, her eyes sad. “Sometimes love isn’t enough.”

  “If you don’t think you can live here,” Jamie drew in a breath, the enormity of his offer a heavy weight on his shoulders, “I will move to your world. I’ll live there.”

  “It doesn’t solve the problem. I would still be in danger. You would still need to cope with that. And I’d feel bad for asking you to leave.”

  “You’d be giving up your life to live here too.”

  “Not in the same way. You have more connections. A family. Friends. My family is dead. My friends don’t come around anymore. It’s a little hard to be friends when you work all the time.”

  “Sounds lonely.”

  “It is what it is.”

  “I don’t want you to leave.”

  “I don’t want to leave you either.”

  “I’ll ask the Council if you can start going on missions with me.” He could ask. And maybe that thrill of fear for her safety would subside if they went on more missions.

  “We should go. They’re expecting you.”

  We. Yes. We. The knowledge no longer seemed so scary.

  Jamie grabbed the sling. “Keara will kill me if you don’t put this on.” He helped her adjust her arm in the sling.

  She grabbed his hand. “Ready?”

  “Always.”

  Giving her hand a squeeze, he transported them to outside the Council Chambers. The tall wooden doors had never looked more forbidding. He released a held breath. Would the Council listen to his request?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Parker stood in the middle of a round stone room, the high ceilings and marble floors filling the air with a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the half circle of men sitting on carved wooden chairs. Given the air of judgment hanging around she should be paying more attention to the proceedings.

  But once she gave her speech on the children’s rescue, the questions no longer pertained to her. She should be listening, gaining some understanding of the society, learning like she usually did in wrap-up meetings. Not now. Despite the gravity of thirteen male faces, despite the scary-ass power wafting around them like a foul odor, her thoughts fixated on her conversation with Jamie.

  Did she really offer to stay here? To stay in a strange place with people who would fear her because she carried a titanium screw, of all things? To live with a man she loved, a man she wanted more than she ever wanted to apprehend a perp.

  Was he worth giving up her job?

  Sounds lonely.

  He pegged that right. Her life was lonely. Until Jamie appeared, her job was her life. Picking up extra shifts, forgoing time off, if they needed her, she was there. All. The. Time.

  What would her life be like without her job?

  More time for herself. For spending time with others. For forming friendships.

  For love.

  If she stayed here, if Jamie lived up to his placating words, if she went on missions with him, maybe she could discover the ring of men who used children as slaves. And destroy that trade.

  Jamie squeezed her hand and her thoughts jumped from speculation to reality. She needed to concentrate on the proceedings. Damn it.

  “I respectfully ask that Parker be paired with me for missions.” Jamie’s words dropped like an explosion, repercussions rippling across faces, a shockwave of disbelief.

  Even Erik’s mouth popped open.

  The leader, the male sitting in the middle of the semi-circle, leaned forward. “Your magic is not strong enough to go without another Draconi. Besides, females do not leave Draconia.”

  “She’s human,” Thoren waved a hand in her dir
ection, “and she proved herself an asset. We could make an exception. Jamie’s magic has improved since he found his mate. If both of them wish to continue going on missions, we should make an exception for mated males and females.”

  “It hasn’t been done before.”

  “Many things we’ve done over the last twenty years haven’t been done before.”

  The leader cracked a smile. “True. But we don’t want to put Jamie in unnecessary danger.”

  Hot rage stabbed into her chest. They were discussing her man like he lacked abilities. Whether or not he had magic or used it was irrelevant to her. She loved him for himself. Loved being with him, loved talking to him, loved, ahem, other things. Her nails bit into her palms. “There is nothing wrong with Jamie. Stop acting like there is.”

  Thirteen sets of eyes focused on her, a gun to her target. Parker clenched her teeth. They would not intimidate her. She had faced worse. Like the hot rage of injustice when her boss took her badge and gun.

  Granted, her boss lacked that creepy magical vibe circling the Council, but still, parting with her badge and gun felt worse.

  One side of the leader’s lips twitched. “Ah, she is a good match for the lad. Don’t you think, son?”

  Thoren glanced at her then focused on his father. His father was the Council leader? Interesting. “In more ways that you know.”

  “What say the rest of you?” Jamie’s grandfather looked at the other men. “By acting on his suggestion we would be keeping two reconnaissance specialists and forming two different teams. We could pair a trainee with Erik.”

  A heated discussion followed. Parker smiled at Jamie. “Thank you. I know you don’t want to put me in danger, and I appreciate you considering my view.”

  “If they don’t agree to it, I’ll return with you.”

  Parker shook her head. “As I said before, I couldn’t take you away from your family.”

  “They aren’t as important to me as you.”

  “Maybe not, but eventually you’d regret it and resent me.”

  His mouth opened, shut, as if he decided against speaking. Emotions played across his face, too fast for her to catch. She tried linking to his mind, but he either had no thoughts or shut her out.

  Was she really going to leave Jamie if the Council forbid her from partnering with him on missions? Was she really going to leave her life and live with him if the Council allowed it? That option stopped the pounding pierce of panic shredding her heart. How strange that giving up her life, her world, her job caused less reaction than leaving Jamie. The power of love. Just like the song.

  The Council’s discussion buzzed past her ears, a rush of storm-laden air. Not that she heard their words. They might be deciding her career, but she already made the life changing decision.

  She’d never return to Denver. Jamie was more important than her job. The thought of being without her badge, her gun, no longer sent chills racing across her skin. She no longer needed to drown reality with multiple drinks.

  “Jamie and Parker, we have reached a decision.” The leader’s words caused a wave of quiet to pass through the room. A chill sank into her bones, forcing her lips together. A spell?

  Clear evidence she believed in magic if that was her first thought. In less time than it took an armed robber to fire a gun she went from not believing in magic to knowing its reality.

  “Allowing females to partner on reconnaissance missions has never been done before. However, Parker is human, not Draconi. She’s also proven herself and in her land is part of the security force. By forbidding her to perform her training, we will be causing her harm. Harming a female is forbidden. Therefore we have decided to allow Parker to partner with Jamie. A new partner will be found for Erik. Do you have any questions?”

  Jamie smiled, the expression mirrored in a glow of happiness on her face. Erik clapped Jamie on the shoulder as Thoren stood and moved toward them. And then Parker was caught in a hug, Jamie’s arms clasping her waist, lifting her, swinging her in a circle. He set her down, and his mouth melded with hers, searing her, branding her his lover, his mate. Hot fire slammed into her veins, an answering scorch of heat shooting straight to her core. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips opening to his. The room faded into background noise, taking with it the knowledge she was kissing another on display.

  Parker stiffened, and Jamie pulled away. What would they think of her public display of affection?

  Apparently nothing, judging by the grins and back slaps Jamie received, along with the handshakes for her. Their names drifted by on a haze of happiness, names she needed to remember for her new job.

  “Welcome to the family,” Thoren pulled her into a hug. “I hope you’ll forgive me for the other night.”

  What did she say to that? “I’ll work on it.”

  He nodded. “Would you come to dinner? Keara would love to have you again.”

  Jamie pulled her to his side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “We’d love to, but first, we need to discuss some things. In private. If you’ll excuse us?”

  Thoren nodded and Jamie practically dragged her out the tall wooden doors. Once they stood outside her grabbed both her hands, turning to face her.

  “Will you stay? Perform the mating ceremony with me?”

  “Is that like getting married?”

  “Most mates undergo a ceremony in the Temple with the High Priestesses officiating. We’re mates, and nothing will change that, but I want us to be official.”

  “I would be honored to be your mate. Wait a minute. What about the aging thing? If you live for centuries, what will you do when I’m gone?”

  “We can bond our life-forces to extend your life. Or so I’ve heard. I will have to ask a priestess.”

  “And that would make me live as long as you?”

  “That’s the hope.”

  “I’ll take it.” She squeezed his hand. “Now tell me about the ceremony. What do I need to know? We don’t get married in the nude, do we?”

  A grin split his lips. “I like the sound of that.”

  “I’m sure you do. Seriously though.”

  “No. You only have to be nude for what comes afterward.” He waggled his brows.

  “Now that sounds like fun.”

  “I love you. I’m glad you’re staying, but if you ever want to return…”

  “No. I don’t think I will. I love you, Jamie, and you wouldn’t be happy in my world.”

  “I want you to be happy here without resenting me for making you stay.”

  “You didn’t make me. I chose. Besides, according to the children, their capture was not an isolated event. I aim to shut down the child slave operation and you can help me.”

  “I’d like nothing better. Well, almost nothing better.” He waggled his brows again. “Want to join me in my room? It’s our room now.”

  “Would love to. I like all the rubies. It’s my namesake you know.”

  “So you said. Ruby. I like the way your name feels on my tongue. Mind if I call you Ruby?”

  “Nope. I’d like that.”

  “Ruby Parker, I love you.”

  “And I love you too, Jamie. Always.”

  He bent and kissed her, his lips a warm balm for her soul, his love entwining her in ribbons of joy. Her dragon, her love. Always and forever.

  A word about the author…

  Karilyn Bentley’s love of reading stories and preference of sitting in front of a computer at home instead of in a cube, drove her to pen her own works, blending fantasy and romance mixed with a touch of funny.

  Her paranormal romance novella, Werewolves in London, placed in the Got Wolf contest and started her writing career as an author of sexy heroes and lush fantasy worlds.

  Karilyn lives in North Texas with her own hunky hero, a psycho dog nicknamed Hell Hound, a crazy puppy, and a handful of colorful saltwater fish.

  You can learn more about Karilyn and her writing at www.karilynbentley.com

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