dragons breath 02 - dancing with flames

by Illene, Susan

  “I believe one of the parents is here to pick up their kid, Hank. Time to go.” I got off the stool, not waiting for his permission to leave.

  “Thanks for your time, Bailey,” he said, hurriedly. “I should wrap this up as well…”

  I hurried away, not caring to listen any further. The car stopped in front of Trish’s house and a black man and woman got out. I estimated them to be in their early thirties. As soon as they started their way across the lawn, a little boy with dark skin and a big smile on his face went running toward his parents.

  The father scooped him up and hugged him close, before handing him to his crying mother. She kissed the little boy’s cheeks over and over, between saying how much she loved and missed him. I moved over to my truck to lean against it to watch. There was something truly amazing about seeing a family back together again, despite all that had happened recently that could have torn them apart forever. It made me miss my own parents and siblings that much more, but it also gave me hope that I would be with them again someday. Sort of like that song by Carrie Underwood “See You Again.”

  A black and tan German shepherd came running up to me. I leaned down and petted the retired police dog. “Hey, Bomber. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

  He panted and lolled his tongue at me.

  “I think he’s missed you,” Jennifer said, walking up.

  The curvy woman with short, brown hair was the current owner of the dog, though it was her husband who had worked with Bomber until dragons killed him shortly after D-day. Now she took care of the dog and used him to help keep the neighborhood safe. Jennifer lived on the next block over, so I’d missed seeing her during my last few visits.

  “How are you doing?” I asked.

  She raised her brows. “Better than you. Has Danae looked you over yet?”

  “No. I don’t have any injuries that won’t heal on their own in a day or two.” I leaned down to pet Bomber again. “I’ll be fine.”

  “You did a good thing here,” she said, nodding toward the family with the little boy.

  I straightened and looked at the smiling parents. “It’s my job.”

  “Killing dragons is your job. Saving the children was something you chose to do. I heard all about the trouble you went through just to find them.” She gave me an amused look. “Don’t sell yourself short, Bailey.”

  I was saved from the trouble of answering her when the sound of motorcycles rumbling down the street drew our attention. Turning around, I spotted Miles pointing three bikers toward Trish’s house. Since I knew about them from our previous meeting, I’d warned him and Justin they’d probably be showing up.

  The men continued down the street, pulling up behind the car of the first family to arrive. Larry quickly shut off his bike and ran up to his son, who had come out of the house as soon as he heard the engines rumbling. I watched as the man dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around his son. His shoulders were shaking as he buried his face in the boy’s neck.

  One of the other bikers turned his gaze in my direction—it was the boss who hadn’t liked me all that much the last time I saw him. He stared at me for a moment, then gave me a nod. It was as close to a thank you as I was probably going to get out of him. I nodded back.

  He and the other man waited for a couple of minutes before joining Larry with his son. They patted the boy on the shoulder and started talking to him. I’d worried the kids would be horribly traumatized after their stay with the dragons, but so far they’d handled it better than expected. Maybe it was the excitement of seeing their families again or maybe the nightmares would come later. I just hoped they would be able to move past it and be happy again—or as happy as anyone could be these days.

  One by one, more cars pulled up. Jennifer and Bomber left me to talk to the new arrivals, and kids excitedly petted the dog. As much as I enjoyed seeing the reunions, I was beginning to think I was going to choke on my emotions if I watched them for much longer. I shouted at Conrad that I was heading out. He still sat with Christine on the porch, talking to her and her daughter. When he started to get up, I waved him away and got in the truck. My job was done here.

  Chapter 37

  Bailey

  A noise awoke me—footsteps on the porch. I sat up on the couch and grabbed my pistol from the coffee table. The door opened slowly, and Aidan poked his head inside. I let out a sigh of relief, lowering the gun.

  He ran his gaze up and down me. “Did I wake you?”

  I glanced at the wall clock and saw it was almost midnight. After getting back here around ten o’clock, I’d washed up and put on a tank top and shorts. It hadn’t been my intention to fall asleep yet, but at some point while waiting to see if Aidan would stop by, I’d passed out on the couch.

  “Yeah, but it’s okay.”

  Aidan moved into the house, shutting the door behind him. “Are you well?”

  “Just a few light injuries,” I said, lifting my ankle for him to see. It was still red and swollen, but the gashes on my face were already scabbed over. “How about you?”

  The cuts I remembered seeing on his arms were already gone, but his camrium uniform—which he’d apparently changed to a cleaner one since I saw him last—covered any other wounds he might have.

  “Nothing serious.” He moved over to sit in a chair across from me.

  There was a pensive expression on Aidan’s face. He was doing his best to hide his emotions, but it was clear he wasn’t doing all that well emotionally. Tonight had been rough, but I suspected it was worse for him. He sat there not saying anything. It was all I could do to stay put and not go to him.

  “So what happened after I left?” I asked, breaking the tense silence.

  “The Shadowan agreed to the terms. They require one week to clear their dragons from the area, but after that, we should not be seeing them around anymore,” he said, his voice so matter-of-fact that it drove me nuts. When I’d first met Aidan, he was a lot livelier. As time had gone on, he’d begun to close up. It was driving me crazy that his beast was more open to me than him.

  “Does that mean I can move back to Earl’s in a week?” It was something I’d been considering. If there weren’t any green dragons in that part of town, there was no risk of drawing them to Trish and the others.

  “You could,” he paused and worked his throat. “But I would rather you stayed. It is easier for me to meet with you here where my toriq’s patrols usually do not pass. The area where your friends live will become part of their route.”

  While he made a fair point, I got the impression there was more to it. “That’s the only reason?”

  He stared at me for a moment. “I am asking you to live here, in my private lair. Would you do that for me?”

  There was a whole lot more to this than he wanted to admit—maybe even to himself. I hadn’t been all that happy to stay in his house at first. It was far out of town and away from my friends, but the longer I stayed here, the more I liked the privacy. Plus, everyone kept bringing me food, so I didn’t even have to scrounge for it anymore, and Earl hooked me up with fuel every time I stopped by from a tanker truck they’d somehow acquired. I would be fine living in Aidan’s lair for now.

  “If that’s what you want…” I finished with a shrug.

  “It is.”

  I couldn’t explain why I didn’t argue the point further. Maybe because I could see the deep emotions in Aidan’s gaze—pain, fear, and frustration. He was hurting badly inside. It didn’t make a huge difference where I lived as long as I could keep going out to fight dragons. There were still plenty of Thamarans left for me to hunt down. Once we got them cleared out, we could finally look at getting me home to my family.

  “Alright. I’ll live here for now,” I said, then I remembered the thing I’d been wanting to tell him. “By the way, I think I know why the Shadowan are so protective of Matrika, and it’s not just because she’s the pendragon’s daughter.”

  He lifted a brow. “What is it then?”


  “She’s a healer. One of the children told me she healed her wound—and apparently, Matrika’s touch didn’t burn any of the kids.”

  Aidan appeared stunned. “That would explain a lot.”

  “But how is it that she doesn’t burn them?” I asked.

  “Healers can control their temperatures better than other dragons.” He sat back in his seat, still reeling from my news. “It is the only reason our healer can tend humans.”

  “Wow. Well, that’s interesting.”

  He nodded. “Yes, and it is a very good reason for them to want to protect her. I am guessing the only reason she was living away from her jakhal was to act as the healer for the contingent down here. We are certain they would have attacked our toriq soon if we had not made the first move.”

  “I am surprised they would have let her out by herself to take those kids then,” I said, shaking my head.

  Aidan gave me an ironic smile. “Even princesses enjoy getting into a little trouble every once in a while. I got the impression that her father was not pleased with her at all, but he would never reveal the full extent of their problems in front of us.”

  “True,” I agreed.

  Aidan shifted in his chair. “There is something else I would like to discuss with you—something that I mentioned before but did not have the time to explain.”

  I frowned. “What is it?”

  “When I was helping my sister investigate the murder…” he stopped and let out a snort. I’d already heard about what really happened with their captain, so I understood the irony in his tone. “Anyway, I spoke with each of the weapons makers in the fortress. One of them mentioned being very interested in human firearms. He is hoping to acquire a gun that he can study and attempt to improve upon for fighting dragons.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  Aidan nodded. “I know I told you before that there was nothing I could do to help you with your ammunition problem, but if this weapons maker were to design a firearm for our warriors to use, that would be different. I could provide you with one of them and a supply of bullets.”

  “What about gun powder?” That was one of the other problems that held us back. It wasn’t easy to acquire more, and no one wanted to sacrifice their regular ammunition they used against human looters and street thugs.

  “He believes he might be able to find a suitable alternative through our own supplies,” Aidan said, managing a small smile. “It could take months for him to craft the first firearm and there will be testing after that before he perfects it enough to make more of them, but I believe it will be worth the wait.”

  Considering how long it took humans to make prototypes for new weaponry, I wasn’t surprised by that estimate. Better to have some hope we’d have a dragon-killing weapon in the future than none at all.

  “Whenever it’s ready, I’ll be happy to test it.” I got up and headed toward the weapons closet where I kept my spare rifle stored. Conrad and I had found a cache of them in the basement of a house that had been burned down. It was pure luck that the guns weren’t damaged and that we’d discovered them.

  “Thank you,” Aidan said when I returned and handed the rifle to him. A moment later it disappeared into shiggara.

  I stood there, shifting from foot to foot. “Aidan, who was the dragon who died?”

  He stiffened. “Many dragons died tonight.”

  It was rather crass of me that I hadn’t asked about his clan losses before. “How many?”

  “Counting my father?” He didn’t meet my gaze. “Nineteen lost their lives in the battle.”

  I fell to my knees in front of him and took hold of his hands where they rested in his lap. “I’m so sorry.”

  “It might have been more if you had not helped us,” he said, squeezing my hands in return.

  I swallowed. “But I didn’t see those green dragons attacking your father in time to save him.”

  “Neither did I.” Aidan shut his eyes.

  “Is there anything I can do?” I ached to see him this way.

  He shook his head. “We will hold his funeral tomorrow afternoon, and then his successor will become the official new pendragon.”

  “And that’s the captain who faked his death?” I asked.

  Aidan and Phoebe both told me he was a good man, but I didn’t know him. Would things become much different with a new leader? And with Aidan not being the pendragon’s son any longer, I imagined some of the freedoms he had before would be gone.

  “Yes, his name is Nanoq,” he replied.

  I leaned closer. “Whatever you need—I am here.”

  Aidan stared long and hard at me, then jerked away. Before I could say anything, he was on his feet, pacing the room. I watched helplessly as he muttered things in the dragon language that I could not understand. It was like he was fighting some inner battle.

  “Would you please stop?” I begged.

  He turned to face me. “You have no idea what is going on in my head right now.”

  “Then tell me.”

  Aidan clenched his fists and let me see his emotions, pure and unfiltered. “Are you certain you wish to know?”

  I recognized the rage, sadness, and lust all mixed together like a hurricane swirling in his yellow eyes. Aidan wasn’t really asking if I wanted to know. He was asking if I wanted to experience all there was to him.

  “Show me,” I said.

  “I can’t promise you forever.”

  “Nobody can.” I took a step forward. “But we can promise each other tonight and that is enough for me.”

  “Is it?”

  I swallowed. “If that is all we can take for ourselves, it’s still more than we’ve got now.”

  He drew in a ragged breath. “You have no idea how tempting you are.”

  And he had no idea that I was falling for him, but I didn’t dare say that. “One night, Aidan. Even with everything working against us—we can have that much.”

  “And how do I know you won’t hate me in the morning when I must leave?” he asked.

  “I could never hate you.”

  His gaze was a deep pool of emotion. “Nor could I hate you.”

  We met each other halfway, and he pulled me into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist, feeling like I couldn’t get close enough to him. Ever since the battle, I’d been feeling a kind of restless energy that had nothing to do with the need to kill more dragons. No, I craved a dragon for an entirely different reason. We kissed like two lovers who knew this night could never be anything more than a brief moment of happiness that would have to hold us over for a long time to come. He pulled and yanked at my clothes while I did the same thing to his.

  Then he laid me on the couch and stopped, hovering over me. “Are you certain about this?”

  I lay there naked and unafraid. Who cared what the future brought as long as I had him right now. This moment could last me for eternity—it would have to. “Yes.”

  He crushed his lips to mine and I sunk into the heat of his skin.

  Chapter 38

  Aidan

  It would be dawn in an hour, and though he had left Bailey fast asleep—albeit reluctantly—he did not wish to return home yet. Now he had a new kind of restless energy. It was the kind that came with the realization that he cared deeply for a woman and had consummated a relationship that could go no further.

  At least, not on a permanent basis.

  Aidan did not regret what happened between them. Those precious few hours with the slayer had felt too right for him to find fault with their union. Bailey had said the same, afterward when they lay resting in each other’s arms. They could make no promises, but neither did they wish to hide their feelings anymore. It was a useless exercise anyway that had made him miserable for the past few months. Even his beast was rumbling his happiness deep in the recesses of Aidan’s mind.

  He swooped toward the lake, knowing he must wash the scent of Bailey from him whether he liked it or not. His toriq must never know what he had done. It
was bad enough they may have seen him fighting alongside the slayer for a portion of the battle. Aidan had no idea what kind of ramifications would come of that, but he had warned Bailey that he may not be able to return for a while. If it came to it, he could send his sister or Kayla to check on her once or twice a week until he felt it safe to return.

  Aidan dipped into the deepest part of the lake, submerging himself. Dragons could swim quite well. It was only a matter of keeping one’s wings tucked closely to prevent too much drag. He worked his way to the shore and rolled in the mud, allowing it to cover as much of him as possible before moving back into deeper water again to rinse.

  Once he was certain none of Bailey’s scent remained, he left the lake. Aidan let the cool breeze whisk the water from his body as he soared through the sky. He flew in lazy circles until hints of dawn colored the sky to the east. As much as it pained him to return to the fortress, he knew he must. It was not that Aidan feared what he might face from his toriq once he arrived, but that his father would not be alive and waiting for him. Throm had been such a strong presence for his whole life that it didn’t seem comprehensible that the pendragon was gone.

  Aidan landed at the front of the fortress, shifted into his human form, and headed toward the gate. He noted that the guards were now wearing dark gray—the color of mourning for shifters. Everyone in the toriq would wear it for one moon cycle, and then they would return to their usual attire. Aidan would need to change into his after he reached his rooms. He had not worn the gray since his mother passed so he did not keep a set in shiggara.

  When he entered the great hall, Phoebe spotted him right away. She grabbed him and pulled him aside. Then she hugged him, uncaring of her open display of affection. They had lost their father and most would not judge.

  “I was worried about you,” she said, pulling away. “Where did you go?”

  After the agreement with the Shadowan had been resolved, and he’d ensured warriors would take the pendragon’s body back to the fortress, he had left without another word. Aidan should have known she would worry, but at the time he had not been thinking clearly. His only thoughts had been to fly as fast and as hard as he could. He had done that for almost two hours when he eventually found himself in the clearing next to his lair. Bailey had been inside—he knew—and he could not stop himself from seeing her.