by Meg Ripley
“You keep doing that and I’ll need you to do this all over again,” she warned, feeling that now-familiar escalation between her legs. “You’re going to make me want to come again.”
Without a word, Holden slid his hand down her abdomen, across her hips, and to the folds between her legs. She was still slick and hot from their pairing, and it only took his touch to make the pulses start up again. Leah brought her hand up to cradle the back of his head, pressing him to her breast as she clutched his hair between her fingers, her hips bucking as his fingers moved to please her. She cried out again at his generosity.
But Holden wasn’t done yet. He moved on top of her, his hands holding him above her. With her knees bent and her feet flat against the sheets, Holden settled himself in the grip of her thighs and pushed inside, his member as hard as ever.
She widened her eyes, shocked that he was ready to go again, but not willing to argue with it. There was something about having this broad, sexy man on top of her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He plunged her depths, sliding ever deeper, and he threw his head back as he came once again. Leah welcomed him, her body tempestuous with everything he had given her. Finally done, he settled in next to her and kissed the hollow of her neck.
Leah couldn’t stop the smile that took over her face. She had completely lost track of how many orgasms she’d had, and she didn’t even bother trying to count them. Nothing mattered except the heat of Holden’s body behind her.
8
Holden stretched and grinned without opening his eyes. That had by far been the most incredible thing he’d experienced since they’d come to Earth, other than being Finn’s father. Never had he imagined he would be able to find so much pleasure in a human woman. Her soft skin, the texture of her hair, the brilliance in her eyes. She was just amazing. And that thing she had done while on her knees…Well, Xander hadn’t told him about that during all his lectures about human behavior.
Everything about the way the night had gone had shown him that his instincts about Leah were on target. He had tried to deny it, feeling uncertain about taking on a human mate, but he couldn’t possibly deny it now. It started with the fact that she was the psychic he had contacted, and that had certainly made him wonder why the two of them were being pushed together so much.
Then she’d given him that reading. Poor Leah thought she’d done something wrong and seen something that made no sense, but it had made all the sense in the world to him. The scene she had laid out before his was a familiar one, with his own dragon brothers and sisters dying all around him. That was the way he remembered Charok, and it wasn’t pleasant, but it had shown him that Leah knew his truth. She didn’t understand it, but she had still seen it.
After that, he’d had no choice but to invite her to stay for dinner. He wanted to dine with her, to talk with her, to have a chance to accidentally touch her hand. It was such an odd sensation, because no other women had that effect on him. Holden understood what the typical standards of beauty were, but a woman simply having large breasts or a nice smile hadn’t been enough for him. Leah had both of those qualities, as well as several others, that drove him wild.
Once he had her in his home, he found that the wild, raging instincts that tried to take over him at the bar and the grocery store were eased. It was as though he had brought her home, and he no longer felt the unstoppable urge to protect her. He was eager for her, but calm. There was no need to shift form just to let out his energy.
Holden stretched, expanding his entire body and relishing the effect that deep sleep had on him. He was sure he’d always been sleeping with one eye open up until that point. Rolling over, he found that the sheets next to him were empty. Cold. Leah had been gone for quite some time.
That sense of panic set in instantly. If Leah was out there in the world, then he needed to go find her and bring her back to safety. He felt a shooting pain in his leg as his muscles fought with him, demanding that he change to his reptilian self in order to do a better job of guarding his woman.
But after a moment, he realized that she was still in the house. He couldn’t hear her, but he swore he could still smell her perfume. His mind seemed to have a built-in radar for her, and she hadn’t gone far. Sliding out of bed and dressing quickly in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, he headed down the stairs.
Leah was sitting at the dining table. She’d thrown her dress back on, but her hair laid in a tousled dark cloud around her head. Cards had been spread out on the wooden surface before her, and she snapped up her head as soon as he walked in the room.
“You ready for breakfast?” Holden asked. He’d already gotten her to stay for twelve hours, and he was determined to make it even longer than that.
But her eyes were on fire. “Do you have something you need to tell me?”
He had been about to cross the room and lay his hand on her shoulder, but he checked himself. “What do you mean?”
Leah took a deep breath and sat back. “I woke up early this morning, way earlier than I normally do. I couldn’t get back to sleep, and it wasn’t long before I realized why. The fog that had come down over my abilities and left me so closed off had finally lifted. Every door was open, and I could see everything.” She looked down at her hands. “I was really excited at first, but then I realized there was something going on that I needed to know about.”
Holden took a tentative step forward. “Just tell me.”
She gestured at the cards. “Every reading I do—every single one—tells me the same thing: that you aren’t who you say you are. I didn’t want to believe it. It was easier to think that I was still blocked and that my emotions were clouding my readings. But there’s a big difference in the way things feel when I’m closed off and when I’m completely on it.” Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked up at him, her fingertips shaking where they were poised over the cards on the table. “Please, Holden. Just tell me the truth right now and get it over with.”
He pressed his lips together. “I haven’t lied to you.” He might not have come right out and explained that he was a dragon from another world who had been transported here with the help of a magical spell in order to help raise the last of his kind, but he hadn’t denied it, either. He couldn’t explain to her what he really was, not yet. She wouldn’t believe him, and then he would lose his chance at ever being with her.
Leah picked up one of the cards and slammed it back down onto the table. “Then why do the cards tell me otherwise? And it’s not just the cards; it’s this thick feeling in the back of my skull that there’s far more going on than I understand. I don’t like that feeling, Holden. I can’t handle it, and as a psychic, I can’t just pretend everything is fine and move on.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Holden floundered for the right words. He nearly asked her if her powers truly had come back or if she was just hoping they would, but he bit down on them before he let them out. Insulting her wasn’t a good tactic.
“Then at least tell me what my vision about the dragons meant to you.” She scooped up the cards into a rough stack, tapping them sharply on the table to straighten them. “I know it has something to do with that. It’s the strangest symbolism I’ve ever seen, and probably the most real, and that just makes it even more disturbing.”
“It’s…private.” What more could he say? It was true that the vision had meant something to him, but he couldn’t possibly explain it. Being with a human was easy when he knew what he wanted, but it was much harder when she wanted something he couldn’t give.
“Fine.” Leah shoved the deck of cards into their box and chucked it into her bag. “I see how it is. You invite me to stay for dinner, get your tumble between the sheets, and then you’re done with me. Maybe that’s how you do things, Holden Reid, but I’m not interested in some shallow relationship where no one talks to each other.” The tears she had been holding back now streamed down her cheeks, and she swiped at them angrily. With her bag in hand, she turned toward the front of
the house.
“Now, wait a minute,” he growled, moving ahead of her so that he was in the doorway of the dining room. He couldn’t let her leave. He just couldn’t. She was where she belonged. “That’s not how this is. That wasn’t just a tumble between the sheets.”
“But you won’t tell me what’s going on,” she challenged. “I know we haven’t shared a whole lot. I don’t know how long you’ve lived here, what you do for a living, or even what happened to Finn’s mother, but I was willing to let all the heavy stuff wait. I can’t now, not that I’ve seen what I’ve seen.” She glared up at him, her eyes flashing both with tears and anger.
“You have no reason not to trust me, Leah. I haven’t lied to you, and I would never hurt you. If you feel like I’m not who I say I am, then maybe it’s just because we don’t know each other very well yet. That makes perfect sense to me. And it doesn’t mean we can’t get to know each other. We have all the time in the world.” Just looking at her in this state and knowing he had put her there was unsettling his dragon tendencies once again. He reached out a finger to run it down her cheek, expecting it to become a claw at any moment.
But Leah batted his hand away. “Don’t touch me. I’ve seen it, and I know it.” She shoved her way past him.
“And what, exactly, did you see?” he called after her.
She turned, her face full of hurt. “It doesn’t matter, because I’m done. If you need a psychic, call someone else.” Leah was out the door and running to her car.
Holden knew he could catch her. He might be in human form, but he was still a dragon. He was stronger and faster than most humans, and his senses were far more finely tuned. It would be an easy thing to snatch her up and drag her back into the house. But then she would be his prisoner, and that wasn’t how this was supposed to be. He let her go.
Turning away from the window so he couldn’t see her car as it headed down the driveway, he sank his fist into the wall.
9
The cup of steaming tea in front of her should have instantly made Leah feel better. After all, there was nothing better than a cup of tea with a good friend after having man trouble, and that was why Leah had run straight to The Enchanted Elm. Autumn was away picking up supplies for the store, but Summer was more than happy to listen.
“You know, you would think I’d be better at putting my psychic experiences into words if I’m supposed to be some sort of author, but I just can’t.” She concentrated on the heat of her cup, trying to slow her racing mind. “I just woke up with this awful feeling that Holden was lying to me. I reached out and touched his wrist, and I saw those dragons all over again. Except this time, Holden was one of them. He was this massive red dragon, but then he was stepping out of its skin and becoming the man I slept with last night. I have to believe that means he’s living two different lives.”
Summer pushed out her lips and twisted a length of pale hair between her fingers. “You know, a lot of people live dual lives, in a sense. They’re usually not the same person at work that they are at home, and then they’re different again when they’re out with their friends.”
“But this is different,” Leah insisted. “I felt it. And I know from my experience with Victor that I needed to have more than just a feeling and more than just a vision. That’s why I went downstairs and got the cards, but they just confirmed it, over and over. Whoever Holden really is, he doesn’t want me to know about it. He’s deceiving me in some way.” It made her feel sick that she had shared such a passionate night with a man like that. “I think I could just puke.”
“Then you’re probably right. It’s important to follow your instincts, even if you don’t completely understand them.” She stood up and went to a shelf. They were sitting in the stock room of The Enchanted Elm, and the shelves around them were stacked with boxes and bags. It looked like the inventory of any other store while it was still in its packaging, but Leah knew better. Summer plucked a small stone from a nearby box and handed it over. “Take this.”
Leah studied the smooth chunk of rock, the gentle striations of blue and white almost mesmerizing as they shimmered. “What is it?”
“It’s blue lace agate, and it helps discover the truth. That might be the truth about you or about Holden, but either way, I think it will help.” She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “It’s also good for bone strength, so that can’t hurt, either.”
Later that night, the three women gathered at Autumn’s house. It was a big place with an expansive back yard full of numerous plants. The craftsman-style home had exposed timbers on the ceiling, old wooden floors that had darkened with age, and built-in bookshelves that Leah was always jealous of.
“It’s been a while since we’ve talked to Naomi,” Summer commented as she set up a circle of candles and stones on the floor. “I hope she has more to say than last time.”
“She was always a bit cryptic, even when she was alive,” Leah pointed out. “It wasn’t until she realized who we were and what powers we had that she finally opened up. Oddly enough, it seemed even more strange that she could shift than that I could read minds or that you two could perform powerful spells.” Leah clearly remembered the day Naomi had discovered the other women’s abilities. They had expected her to scream or be angry—a common reaction when people didn’t understand—but she had simply laughed and hugged them.
“It takes a lot more power to control the body like that. Not to negate anything we do, but we’re pretty common, if you think about it.” Autumn had changed her usual professional attire out for a simple cotton dress in black. She took her place on the floor, folding her long legs underneath her and letting her hair down. “God, I wish we hadn’t lost her.”
“We really haven’t lost her,” Summer asserted. “We’re still able to talk to her this way, which is more than most people can say when a loved one passes away.”
In a circle on the floor, with the candles and stones at the center, the three women held hands and chanted their opening incantation. Leah hadn’t known much about Wicca before she’d met the sisters, but they had taught her a lot. At first, she had stumbled over the numerous spells and enchantments required to talk to someone from the spirit world, but now she found that they flowed easily from her tongue. She relaxed her mind, trying to add as much of her own psychic energy as possible to the recipe.
The candle flame stopped flickering, burning as a steady light that slowly grew brighter. It turned a pale shade of blue, and then snaked up through the air. The thin column of fire squirmed as it took shape until a long, thin face stared back at them. The scales that covered the cheeks and the rows of sharp teeth didn’t belong to the human form of Naomi that they usually knew, but they could still see her in the dragon’s eyes.
“Naomi, we really miss you,” Autumn said softly. “We’ve tried not to bother you too much because we know it must be difficult for you to reach out to us. But we can’t help but at least check in with you every now and then. How are you doing?”
The swirling blue flames flickered for a moment and then steadied once again. Naomi nodded. “As well as I can.”
“It’s good to see you,” Summer whispered, tears in her eyes. “We wish there was a way to bring you back. You belong here with us.”
“No.” The spirit’s voice was soft, but it echoed oddly in the open room. “Not really. I don’t belong anywhere; not anymore.”
“Don’t say that.” Summer’s emerald eyes were bright with tears seeing their old friend again.
“But it’s true,” Naomi’s ethereal form insisted. “The place where my people came from is gone. But you need to know that some of them are close; very close.” Those blue eyes stared pointedly at Leah, burrowing into her soul. “They’re trying to make a new home for themselves, just as I had tried.”
“I don’t understand.” Leah felt pain in her skull, a familiar sensation when new pathways were being forged in her mind. It was often painful, but it was a feeling that she was used to and that she welcomed.
“We’ve never met anyone else like you.”
Naomi smiled and slowly blinked. “They’re dragons; shifters, actually. And they’re here to find refuge after the destruction of so many of our people. Right now, it’s much safer here on Earth for them.”
Autumn turned to Summer and raised her brow at that.
“Do you think we’d be able to recognize them at all as we go about our day to day business? How much of our lives can you see, anyway? I mean, when we aren’t in direct contact with you?”
Naomi’s thin form began to flicker. “No, they’re blending in with humans fairly well. And don’t worry, I can only see bits and pieces, Leah.” The dragon smiled, a stretch of her full, scaly lips. “I haven’t noticed you playing with your pocket rocket in the bedroom, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
The women all threw their heads back, sharing a much-needed belly laugh. But moments later, looking down at her lap, Leah admitted, “Victor and I are finally legally divorced. I know I should be happy, but my powers seem to be completely out of whack. I don’t get it; I don’t know what to do.”
“Nothing is simple, hun; you know that.”
The blue figure in the air slowly began to fade, and Leah furrowed her brow at the sight. “Naomi, wait! There’s more we’d like to say.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s time for me to go. Next time, love. Miss you, guys…” Naomi turned to Leah once again and gave her a wink, and then she was gone.
10
Holden paused, a soapy plate in his hand. He couldn’t quite hear anything, at least not anything unusual. Finn and the other children were playing in the living room with the other men. Though the shifters each had their separate homes, they often spent their free time together. The company of humans had never proven to be enough for them, and they had found it was easier to parent when all the children were together. On this particular evening, Holden had taken advantage of the situation to catch up on cleaning. He hadn’t ever kept a messy den back on Charok, and he wasn’t going to do it here.
