by Eden Glenn
The sun was setting, casting the private garden in a soft dusky glow. The guys had healed from their injuries amazingly fast. Ethan kept saying it was only a scratch. But Wren was not too sure. They’d found a leather scabbard for her blade.
A delivery van pulled up to the back gate. Ethan started lighting the lanterns hanging around the intimate space.
Caleb handed her a towel to dry her hands anticipating her question. “My brother ordered food. He refused to feed you more cold pizza for dinner.” She lived on left over pizza while they were gone and not much else.
Ethan had finished and stood holding a chair to seat Wren at the table. “We wanted to take you on a proper ‘date’ as is customary in your human culture.” He had just enough of the bad boy vibe, standing there in those tight leather pants, almost made her unrepentant about destroying his denims.
She watched as a stylish Asian woman, dressed in a red silk brocade dress made her way from the delivery van. She greeted them. “Venerable ones, you bring good fortune and honor to my humble business.”
She clasped her hands together with her fingers pointing upward, bowed low at the waist and hovering there. Ethan and Caleb returned the sign of respect bowing lower than their hostess. Wren didn’t know the correct etiquette so she bowed while sitting in the chair, feeling clumsy.
She became self-conscious of her casual appearance. “I should have dressed nicer for such a fancy dinner.”
Caleb stroked a finger down her arm leaving a heated trail under his touch. “You’re being here makes the dinner special, it doesn’t matter what you wear.”
“Well, yes it does. She scooted back from the table. I’m going to go put on a dress. I’m not going to remember our first date, with me dressed in grunge.” She rushed off up the stairs, hoping she could find that little black dress she used to have in her closet and hope against hope it still fit.
So, it took her fifteen minutes to clean up, dress and dab on some makeup. She was wielding the mascara wand when she heard Caleb at the door calling her. She brushed her eyeball instead of her lashes. “Oh Fuck.”
“Wren?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine, go on back down, I’ll be there in just a second.” She hopped into her shoes while her eye stung and watered. She cleaned away the worst of the damage with a tissue.
She let herself strut down the stairs just a little, for effect toward the small group of people waiting at the open gate of the garden. Life only gave you so many moments like this. Good, the guys ogled her in clear appreciation.
Ever since the Goddess had given her the sword she’d been able to tune in on Ethan and Caleb better. What had been an intuition or guess was now clearer understanding of what they were saying in their thoughts. She wished she had the skill they guys did. It seemed so easy to them.
At least she could hear what they described as public thoughts. Sometimes they heard her but it was unpredictable and often inconvenient as they listened in on what she least wanted them to hear. She appreciated their patience and the easy way they worked at teaching her.
Can you guys hear me, testing one, two, three?
Just think the words for now, concentrating on me and I will hear you. It is a bond which strengthens.
Ethan introduced her. “Mai Song. We present our Jaita’me, Cathwren.”
Wren didn’t know what the word he’d called her meant. She remembered hearing it from Caleb earlier, used like an endearment yet now they pronounced it like a title.
She concentrated hard on Caleb thinking her words slow and careful. You’ve called me that before. What does that word, Jait whatever, mean?
Caleb thoughts touched her mind with sensual whispers of feeling communicating their pride and pleasure in finding her. The word is difficult to translate.
“Does it mean we’re dating or something?”
“Or something.” Came his cryptic reply.
The older woman smiled at their pronouncement, clapping her palms together. “I give thanks to the sacred ancestors for allowing me to live and be witness of this day. Here sit, sit. I am honored to serve the Mane’tung and their chosen Jaita’me a feast.”
Ah ha, yes, definitely more than dating.
An elegant gentleman exited the truck with a large white box. He set it on the table by them opening it to reveal a beautiful green silk robe embroidered with threads of gold, black, and red. He held it for her. She stood and slid her arms into the sheer soft fabric.
He picked up the box and disappeared back to the truck. Wren slid the garment around her shoulders like a wrap for the sexy black number. She smoothed her fingers along the lapel, touching the intricate threads feeling the opulence engulf her.
Caleb held the chair for her to be seated again.
Fine porcelain china dishes sat in front of them on bamboo woven placemats. A thin rim of gold circled the plate bordering a trim of jewel toned oriental dragons entwined with each other forming an interlocking pattern like an M.C. Escher drawing brought to life.
China, linens, silver and crystal set a luxurious table. The young man lit a collection of eight candles as the centerpiece. He and the other server stood back behind the woman in red who had also retreated several steps. Ethan and Caleb didn’t move. Wren wasn’t sure what to do.
“This is a wonderful surprise. I’m delighted.” Her words set everyone into motion again. Caleb sat on her right and Ethan to her left. Caleb caressed her arm making heat spark deep inside her. At a nod from Ethan, the older woman clapped her hands. The two male servers presented the meal bringing exotic smelling dishes to the table.
“We wanted you to have a taste of some of the delicacies of our home world.” Caleb explained.
The twins described each dish for her from five spice scrimple puffs as appetizer to Cantonese Roast Calbot with rice. Each course tasted succulent and was served with impeccable flair. She gave up on using the chop sticks as useless. The brothers gave her the choicest bites from their servings.
Caleb and Ethan took turns making conversation adding to what they’d already told her during the day, explaining recessives and dominant dragon shifters. It had a complicated somewhat feudal system of politics. Wren wasn’t sure she really grasped all that they’d tried to explain. Sometimes you just had to be there.
“In our world there are ethnic factions just as there are here in your dimension. Mai Song and her family are of the more Asian influenced dragon clan, others more Norse and so on as across your world.” Caleb elaborated.
“What kind of dragon are your family?”
“Ours migrated out to establish Celtic colonies Earthside.” Ethan spoke low keeping his voice private from their servers.
“So tell me more about this Jaita’me. It sounds like love words but I’m catching on that it’s a title.” She lifted another bite of the wonderful Calbot, whatever that was.
Caleb looked slightly embarrassed. “Okay, the title proclaims you our beloved, indicates that you are participating in bonding with us. Verucca said it applied in spite of things.”
Who’s Verucca?
Ethan nudged him as if to shut him up and quickly interjected, glossing over her question. We kinda avoided clarifying that the process isn’t quite as on track as might be expected. These people needed the boost the announcement brings. They still have family back in Wyrmarach they hope to see again.
Wren wasn’t understanding all of what they were telling her through the mental link. She’d missed words here and there when she lost focus. She thought she’d heard him say something about toadstollers and an old woman giving birth, but that couldn’t be right. But she grasped enough to know that they couldn’t talk about all of it openly with Mai Song’s people around.
“Who are these people that they would cater this kind of meal in my back yard? I’ve gone to their restaurant in town before and the food was good, but nothing like this.”
Ethan looked to the elder matron, “You wish to speak to our Jaita’me to answer her question.”
>
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The stately lady bowed slightly to Wren before she moved forward beside the table. “I would be honored to address the Jaita’me of Wyrmarach. The events of the Mane’tung, and their benevolence to our humble family is one that I shall tell the story of, again and again to my children and their children for generations to come. And now I have the pleasure of telling the tale to our noble lady.”
She turned more toward Wren. “Myself and my spouse were not blessed with the ability of shifting. I serviced a Drakin Lord when I fell in love with my husband. It was not permitted as we were both recessive slaves. Still our love was true and we found a way to secretly be together. We enjoyed happiness as much we could under our humble circumstances.”
“We pledged our vows under the canopy of the mother tree by the light of the Goddess moon. My husband and I stole moments together whenever we could. It was a burden to his heart that he could not protect me from my master’s coarse use of my body.
All was well, until the day came that I discovered I was pregnant. My master and his guests had been very careful and the baby inside me would reveal to him my indiscretion. My life would be forfeit.
My husband believed me, that the child really was his, and not the masters or one of his associates to which I’d been loaned. I loved my husband even more for trusting me. Yet, I did not know what to do.”
Wren was taken aback by the manner in which the woman told her story. What kind of life must she have led as a slave?
The older woman continued her story. “These noble ones found me crying behind a seller stall at the market. They were in Wyrmarach on command of the Queen.”
Caleb joked. “Yes, each time we are called home we find a way to instigate some element of civil disobedience.”
She smiled “They arranged to purchase me and my husband from our owners, brought us Earthside, against the laws of our world and helped us establish a business and a home. They have held the life of my family in their regard, safely all these many years. All I have and all I am is because of the compassion of the Mane’tung.” She knelt placing her forehead on Ethan’s knuckles. “There is nothing they could ask of me or my clan that I and my descendants would not do without question.”
Two things became clear to Wren in that moment from what they’d been telling her for the past twenty-four hours. First, the world of Wyrmarach that she was preparing to enter was a barbaric primitive one and second, Ethan and Caleb must be much older than their appearance indicated.
Mai Song smiled broadly and with a bow stepped back to join the servers standing in an attentive line, waiting their next course.
“So just how old are you two?”
Ethan answered, “Old enough to know better.”
Caleb, the flirt, added, “Young enough to enjoy it.”
Wren miffed. “That’s not an answer.”
“One hundred and twelve this year.”
One hundred and freaking twelve, her hand shook as she reached for a glass of water.
Dragons age slowly. That converts to about twenty-eight in human years.
I’ll focus on twenty-eight, thank you very much. When do I get to meet your dragon? You’ve been pretty cagy about sharing.
We possess… a uniqueness in our shifting, you might not be ready for.
Caleb’s contact felt tentative, it was a testing kind of statement. Her reply was automatic. I’m ready for anything if you two are there. Yet, after seeing Izzy, she wasn’t totally confident that was true. Lalala-- think of other things, besides Izzy. It wouldn’t do for them to pick up on that shhhh.
The candles were burning low when a soup looking dish was placed before her.
Caleb leaned over. “Snow fungi soup. It is a light, sweet dessert.” He placed a cherry from his dish in the center of her tongue. The flavor burst in her mouth. The meal was an experience-- an event steeped in tradition.
“The fungi grow only on the lee side of snow-capped mountains of our world.” Ethan raised her hand to his lips, kissing her palm before wrapping her hand in his. “You are pleased?”
Pleased couldn’t begin to describe how she felt. More like regal, cherished, a princess in blue jeans and silk. “Magnificent.”
His eyes glowed in the evening light. “Yes, you are.” He stroked her arm with the pad of his fingers.
She’d never had a man speak to her this way before. She’d loved every moment of their teasing and flirting all evening. Closeness had grown between them that extended beyond their intense physical connection.
Night had fallen coaxing a gentle breeze laced with aromas of the herbs from around her. Wren had never encountered a meal anything like this before. Food elevated to sensuous art in the privacy of her special garden.
She felt more relaxed and soothed than she had in days excepting the moments after mind blowing orgasms. Their touch stroked the sizzling feelings of desire that she’d fought to keep at bay during the meal. Their romance throughout the event was a sensual experience, a prelude to foreplay. They knew how to wine and dine a girl. The heat in her began to simmer toward a slow boil of need again.
Then, she realized that Ethan and Caleb were both watching her intently. How much of her day dreaming about sex had they been privileged to share?
Ethan looked at her with a wolfish grin. Caleb moistened his full bottom lip with his tongue. Yes, damn them, they had heard every thought and knew how badly she wanted to . . . damn, this mental bonding thing blew her privacy all to hell. Her need bloomed over her. Their servers waited invisibly in the shadows to clear away the remnants of the meal.
She didn’t care if they picked up on her questioning thoughts. Did they think she wasn’t ready for complete sex with both of them together? Cause she had news for them. She was revving ready. Her libido was stuck in over drive. Every movement made her feel something sexual. She wanted sex and sex now.
They’d cautioned her, she would feel this way after getting their blood on her. If this is what they were going through after she’d bled on them last week she wasn’t quite sure how they’d controlled themselves waiting on her consent. She wanted to ravage. This kind of lustful emotion might have been what motivated the Vikings.
Yes a few of the Vikings might have been Drakins on holiday.
Caleb coughed behind his hand, smiling. Ethan stretched up taller in his chair with a heavy exhale.
Yes I know you both heard me. I want to be thrown down, fucked and fucked hard. I can’t understand what we’re waiting for.
Patience. We’re healing fast but not quite fully repaired. Whispered back at her, even their mental communications were erotic.
Well sure, I understand, if I’m too much for you to handle. She teased.
A predatory gleam lit Caleb’s eye “Upstairs, now.” Ethan laughed. She ran knowing they wanted to chase her. They caught her at the back door before she could open the lock. The three of them spilled though the opening together, laughing. Caleb pinned her between he and Ethan at the kitchen sink.
Ethan slid his hands around her waist reaching under her shirt to cup her breast teasing her nipples while he kissed his way down her neck. Caleb reached behind her easing the zipper down. Her elbow bumped the drain board causing a rattling sound.
The small broken dragon lay in on the plastic liner.
“Hey, what’s with this, I fixed you?”
Caleb mumbled between kisses on her shoulder. “What’s with who?”
“I found him broken last week, the day when I fell. I glued him and now he’s back in the exact same place broken again.” A week seemed so long ago. “He must have fallen out of the window sill somehow.” She brushed her finger along the wooden frame of the window. Caleb stood to study the figure on the counter. Ethan looked over her shoulder around the room. His grim expression made her stop thinking about sex interuptus and the small ceramic.
“Caleb, have you swept the apartment?”
“No, I didn’t think about it.” Caleb was already pro
wling through the kitchen.
“Why are you talking about housekeeping? I have an electric broom that will vacuum up any sand. You don’t have to sweep. I catch it every few days. It helps if you take your shoes off at the door. Besides in case you didn’t notice I took some time while Izzy was watching the shop and cleaned.”
Her comment was lost on them as the two men rushed around the apartment. She followed Ethan following Caleb from room to room finally stopping beside her bed. He picked up a pair of black panties from the floor beneath the corner of the bed.
“Okay well, maybe I missed a few things here and there.”
He had a distracted look on his face as his eyes scanned back and forth examining the empty air in front of him. She then realized their idea of sweep and hers were vastly different.
“Yes, the energy signature is here, malice, evil intent. It feels like the pattern we ran into the other day, it’s pretty old residue. But definitely someone was in the apartment. Caleb took the pair of her black panties from Ethan. “He stood here watching her with these.”
“You mean someone stood by my bed while I was sleeping and handled my panties?”
Ethan tried to calm her. “We’ll keep you safe. We’ll find out who it is.”
Caleb spoke with clinical detachment so absorbed in reading the psychic sign. “I can find sexual energy woven all around in the threads, I don’t sense any trace evidence. He must have used a condom and taken it with him to avoid leaving any DNA for us to discover.
“Condom?” Wren then realized what the intruder had done with her panties. “Ewww, God, throw them away. He stood here watching me and did the nasty with my underwear! Ugh gross.” She started shaking uncontrollably.
“I’ve been having bad dreams lately, I’ve woke up before dawn several times. That was why I overslept the morning I fell through the stairs. He was here, wasn’t he? He must have made some noise that woke me.” Shudders rippled through her exposing her vulnerability.
Ethan picked up her partially empty glass of water forgotten from the bedside table.
