60%.
It was more likely than not that they were real and she was hangin’ with dragons.
Holy Mary, Joseph, and Peter.
She was in trouble. Big trouble.
She was having a fling with a dragon, and until the mauling, totally enjoying it. And, by taking Alec’s keycard and thumbprint, she had helped her brother and Gino steal from him. Which was worse, stealing from a dragon or being the mate of a dragon? The throbbing in her shoulder spread until her throat seemed constricted in a vise.
Pulling in deep breaths, she held them, and then exhaled them slowly. Alec’s bedroom was done in elegant blue and gray colors—no doubt, intended to provide a peaceful respite for the casino owner, who also happened to be a beast.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
The panic rose like bile in her throat. She went for the soothing “P” words: pallbearer, palpitate, panic, paradox, perverse, psychotic, piranha, pummel, pyrrhic…
When she was calmer, she slipped out of the bed. Nudging the curtains apart, she focused on the twenty or so “people” setting up for an outdoor party. Arena-like seating surrounded a microphone and stage, several bars clustered between palm trees, and couches nestled off to the side around fire pits.
All the better to eat you with, my dear.
She considered waving for help, but the people up here wouldn’t help her. They would be like the doctor. They would be Alec’s dragon minions. The irony of being held in the tine of a golden crown—a literal gilded cage—made her crush the soft curtain in her hand.
Lucy tiptoed to a corner of the bedroom and angled her body where she could see the bedroom door. She dialed Joey’s cell number from the doctor’s phone. “Joey,” she whispered when he answered.
“Who is this?” Joey’s voice was surly.
“It’s Lucy.”
“Lucy, where the hell are you? Have you seen Gino?” Joey didn’t pause to give her a chance to answer. “The gem exhibit burned, and the fire department and police have been all over it. They’ve moved the gems somewhere—you have to find out where.”
“Joey, stop talking.” Lucy took a breath, but he didn’t interrupt her again. “I’m being held prisoner by Alec Gerald. You have to get me out of here.”
“Does he know about the gem heist?”
“No. I’m in a tower on top of the casino, in Alec’s suite. I need some clothes and shoes.”
Silence.
“Joey?” Her voice trembled.
“Let me get this straight,” Joey said after a short pause. “You’re in Gerald’s suite, without clothes, and you want me to come get you?” He exhaled loudly. “Are you kidding me? I still can’t close my hand from that knife Gino put in it. These guys are going to kill us if we don’t deliver on the exhibit.”
“Joey, Gino is dead, you don’t have to worry about him anymore. This is way bigger than the exhibit. Alec is a dragon. They’re all dragons…” Lucy couldn’t keep the near hysteria from her voice.
She heard Joey’s sharp, incredulous laugh. “You’ve got to be shittin’ me.” Joey laughed again and Lucy realized he thought she was looped. “Luce, look, find out where the jewels are. We have a suite, 504. We’re all ready to go. We just need to know where the jewels are. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Joey, I need your help.” Her voice broke.
“Look, sis, I’m glad you’re getting your rocks off while my ass is on the line, but these guys are after a different kind of rocks, if you know what I mean.”
Lucy slid down the wall until she sat on the carpet, holding her bent legs to her chest. A fine trembling started at her shoulders and spread to her tailbone, so that her knees knocked and her whole body shuddered. Joey didn’t believe her. All he cared about was the robbery. Nothing else mattered to him.
Not even her…
Her heart hurt like an anvil crushed it, and her back teeth banged against each other. Determinedly, she clenched her jaw, but the air around her was too thin and too cold. She could have been stranded at the top of Mount Everest—without oxygen and freezing—abandoned by the one person she thought she could always count on.
Tears she had been holding in check flooded Lucy’s eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Angrily, she wiped them away with the back of her hand. If she could just get Joey away from Vegas, clear his head, start over.
Start fresh.
But she didn’t know where Alec’s exhibit gems were. All she knew about was his private vault. Her heart stilled. The Padma sapphire would convince Joey to leave with her. She could pretend to go along with the whole dragon thing and get the sapphire.
Then Joey would leave with her.
“I know where a huge uncut sapphire is.” Her words were high and tight. The survivor part of her mind screamed that this wasn’t a well-thought-out plan. The recently seduced woman screamed that Alec would never forgive her and would likely hunt her to the ends of the earth. The abandoned sister ignored the warnings and went with the only available solution to save Joey. “It’s worth millions. I can get it. If you’ll leave Vegas with me. But it has to be today.”
“How many millions?” Joey’s voice was suspicious.
“Four to five if it’s cut right.” Lucy’s heart squeezed with a painful burst of conscience, which she plowed through. “No more gambling and illegal scores. You have to promise me for real this time.”
“Sis, these guys don’t negotiate—”
“It’s not for them! It’s for us. We walk out of here together and get on a plane to Brazil.”
“Brazil?” He was thinking about it, and Lucy’s heart skipped a hopeful beat. “What’s in Brazil?”
“Beautiful ladies and beaches.” Lucy painted the picture with the-easy-life brush strokes. “I’ve contacts there. We can start over.”
“You’re trying to bribe me, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely.” Lucy had no qualms about being transparent. “I’ll get you the stone and find a buyer, but you have to leave with me today. Those are my terms.”
Joey was silent. He’d want it all, the sapphire and the exhibit jewels. He was always all-in from the first card.
That was why he always lost.
“Joey, you’ll never be able to get the jewels from the exhibit. They’ll be cleaned and checked for damage for the next several months.” It seemed a good enough excuse. “This plan is simple, no risk, and I do all the work.”
“But Gino offered me a buy in. It could pan out better than a single jewel—”
“Gino’s dead!” she interrupted him. “There is no buy in. Do this. It’s your last chance with me. I won’t help you anymore. I mean it.” Lucy put force behind the words.
“I’ll talk to Gino, see what he says,” Joey said. “He won’t want to lose me. He says I remind him of his brother Vito.”
Gino probably didn’t even have a brother. His talk was all suffocating, clingy, lung-clogging smoke, just like his bingo parlor.
“I’ll bring the stone to your suite. You can let me know your answer then.” The door to the suite opened. Lucy disconnected, jumped up, and slid back under the sheets. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she forced her breathing to be gentle, as if she were sleeping.
The doctor entered the bedroom carrying his black medical bag. “How’re you feeling?” he asked politely.
Lucy rubbed her eyes as if she had just woken. Her heart hammered so loudly she wondered if he heard it. Did dragons have supernatural hearing? What exactly were their powers, anyway? The doctor didn’t seem aware of her thoughts or her plans with Joey.
“Okay,” she said pitifully.
“You’ve had quite an ordeal, but I’ve brought some medicine that will fix you right up.” The phone vibrated at Lucy’s hip and sang, “Aaaare you gonna take me home tonight…”
Lucy forced a bland look as the doctor patted his pockets.
“My phone? That’s my ringtone.” The doctor stepped to the bed and flipped back the covers. “Fat bottomed girls you make the rockin
’ world go ‘round.” The doctor picked up the phone with a puzzled frown. “I must have dropped it before.”
He flipped open the phone. “Hello?” His gaze flew to her face. “Lucy? There’s no Lucy here, you must have the wrong number.” He closed the phone and put it in his pocket.
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Don’t tell him. He’ll kill me.” She didn’t have to act to put panic in her voice.
The doctor shook his head. “The Jer’ol would never hurt you. He would give his life for you. You’re his mate.” He put on latex gloves and spread a medical drape on the bed before lining up supplies like it was a sterile operating table. He went back to his bag and returned with two pills and a glass of water. “Take these.”
Lucy cheeked the medicine but drank the entire glass of water.
The doctor shook his head. “Lucy, I’ve seen patients hold their medicine in their mouths before.”
Lucy tried to look confused.
“Do what you want, but your wound needs to be cleaned and it is going to hurt, a lot, and then I’ve got to put in stitches.”
Lucy moved the bitter pills to the top of her tongue and swallowed them.
“Good girl.” He got more supplies out of his bag. “The medicine will take a minute to work.”
His fatherly tone pissed her off, and she glared at him. “Don’t pretend to care about me.”
“But I do.” He thumped a fist to his heart. “Caring for the mate of the Jer’ol is a great honor, even if you are human.”
“Dragons don’t mate with humans?”
“In ancient times, sometimes we found our mates with the magicians. But never with other humans, especially not in these days.”
Alec hadn’t really told her what the whole mate thing meant. “Do dragons eat their mates when they’re done, like spiders?”
“No.” The doctor gave a professorial chuckle and sat beside her. He draped more white sheeting around her. “Finding one’s mate is complicated.” He cleared his throat like the statement evoked emotion.
Obviously, he was not so lucky in love. Changing his ringtone might help.
“There aren’t many dragons left in the world. When we find our mate, there is a connection, a spark…or, at least, that’s what they say.” The doctor picked up a bottle and rubbed disinfectant around her shoulder.
Lucy winced as the solution bubbled deep in her tissue. “What happens after you find your mate?”
“Dragons are sterile except during the mating ceremony. So finding your destined mate and enjoying the bonding ceremony is critical to our survival.” He set aside the bottle. “Male dragons who don’t find their mates begin to lose their dragon blood. Eventually, we become wholly human and lose our dragon forms.”
“I take it no one wants to be wholly human.”
“It’s worse than death.” The doctor raised solemn eyes to her.
Oh, please. Lucy understood that the doctor was being sincere, but why was being all-the-way human all that bad?
“If you don’t like being human, why do you spend so much time in human form?”
“We have to.” The doctor picked up tweezers and scissors and eyed her shoulder. “We are too aggressive in our dragon forms to live together. And the world is too crowded now for a dragon to have its own lair. So, we live together as humans. But we take to the sky daily to stretch our wings.” He gave her a broad smile.
“How do you manage not to be seen?”
“It is the brilliance of the Jer’ol, placing the sanctuary in the middle of Vegas.” At Lucy’s raised eyebrows, the doctor continued. “The lights conceal the sky, and the tourists don’t think twice about seeing a dragon around the Crown Jewel. Absolutely brilliant. The Jer’ol is a worthy king.”
“Is Alec close to losing his dragon form?”
Someone cleared his voice from the doorway, and Lucy looked up to see Alec.
“We do not discuss such things, ever.” Alec walked to the bed and sat opposite from the doctor.
The doctor got busy sorting his supplies and kept his head down.
Lucy replayed the information the doctor had shared. “You can’t have baby dragons except with your destined mate, and even then you have to have a group bonding ceremony?” Talk about birth control even the Pope could get behind.
Alec nodded.
“Are you people cursed?” Lucy closed her eyes against the whisk of scissors on her shoulder.
“Cursed?” The doctor paused and glanced at Alec. “No, that’s just the way it is.”
“Look. You two. Trust me. I am a Ph.D. I’ve studied ancient cultures all over the world. I know my mythology, and this has ‘curse’ written all over it.” Lucy didn’t, in fact, know anything about dragons, but she was suddenly enjoying herself. Her brain was light and airy, the throbbing in her shoulder was distant and oh, so much better. “It could be the witches casting an anti-love spell on you.”
“An anti-love spell?” The doctor cleared his throat. “I think you’re ready for me to close your wound now.”
…
Alec held Lucy still while the doctor cleaned out her shoulder. It wasn’t really necessary—judging by her continuous chatter, she was feeling no pain.
“Trust me, Alec.” She gave him a sincere nod. “There has to be a witch somewhere that wants to kill off your dragons. You just need to find her. Maybe she is working with the vampires…” This last bit she whispered and seemed to nod off.
Abruptly, she opened her eyes. “I’ve decided I believe you about being a dragon.”
Alec brushed her snarled hair back from her face. “That’s good.”
“You’re so amazing.” She grabbed his fingers with her free hand. “Why, why, why did you have to be a dragon cult leader?”
Aggravation filled Alec, but he kept his voice steady. “We’re not a cult. Every dragon is here by his or her own choice. It’s your choice to stay or go.” It hurt his heart to say the words, but if she really wanted to leave, deny their bond, he would let her.
She was his mate. He loved her that much.
“I can’t, I have my brother…” Lucy sighed. “He’s always in trouble. We stick together. We only have each other.” A single tear spilled on the blue pillowcase.
“Lucy, nothing has to change in your life if you stay with me. I’ll see to your brother.”
“Good luck.” She snorted and then gave him a suspicious look. “You would still let me fly around the world and consult on gems?”
“I would fly you myself.”
Lucy smiled a dreamy smile. “What’s it like to fly?”
The doctor smiled and picked up a needle to start the stitches. “It’s magical. You’ll love it.”
Lucy glanced back and forth between the two men. “The doctor has not found his mate,” she whispered to Alec, as if the doctor couldn’t hear her.
Alec frowned. “Lucy, among dragons, saying such a thing is like saying someone is so bad that the Fates don’t favor him. It’s very rude.”
“Oh.” She turned her head to the doctor. “You need to change your ringtone.”
“What?” The doctor pulled through his stitch. “On my phone?”
“Yes. It’s too outdated.” Lucy shrugged her good shoulder. “And it’s just…” She searched for the word. “Offensive.”
“Offensive?”
“I know you’re probably trying to send the message that you love all women, even the fat-bottomed ones, but it just makes you seem like a horndog, like you’d have sex with anyone. That you wouldn’t be faithful.”
The doctor frowned. “I’m a very loyal person.”
Lucy patted his sewing hand. “I’m sure you are, but your ringtone says you are not. These days, ringtones are a person’s mantra, his personal credo. Women pay attention to them.”
“So, I need a song that says what, exactly?” The doctor pulled through another stitch.
“Well, something old-fashioned is fine. But you need to say you’re passionate and loyal. A bring-home-the-baco
n, fry-it-up-in-the-pan, kind of guy.”
The doctor cleared his throat and tied off his last stitch. “I’ll see what I can find.” He gathered up his supplies. “She needs to take these every four hours.” He handed Alec a prescription bottle. “I’ll check on her tomorrow after the ceremony.” He gave a short bow to both of them and left the room.
“I didn’t mean to be rude,” Lucy said.
“He’ll survive.” Alec surveyed the doctor’s work. The gash was sewn shut with ten tiny black stitches. “You’ll probably have a scar.”
Lucy glanced at her shoulder. “It looks like I was bitten by a dragon.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t think. My brain is fluffy. Could I have some new clothes? I’d like to get up and walk around a bit. Maybe look at the jewels in your vault again.”
Alex raised his brows. “You sure you are up to it?”
When Lucy nodded, he picked up the house phone and asked Jane to bring up some comfortable clothing.
“I really want to see the Padma sapphire again.” Lucy seemed to be focusing on her speech, making it sound clipped and precise.
“The sapphire?” Alec returned to sit by her, picked up her hand, and kissed the knuckles.
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Maybe later when you’re feeling better.”
“Why not now?”
“Well, for one, I don’t think you can walk. For two, I believe you have a small bit of magic that surfaces around gems. It is best to explore something like that when you’re completely well.” At Lucy’s disappointed look, he added, “If you want, we can go together tomorrow, after the ceremony.”
“You think the sapphire might hurt me? More than your dragons?”
Alec fought down his aggravation at her continued refusal to accept the dragons. “Not hurt, exactly. It’s just unpredictable how you might react to it now that you’re coming into your magic.” Alec kissed her slowly, trying to convey to her that she was cherished and safe. He rested his forehead on hers. “If you give us a chance, we can be very happy together.”
Lucy wiggled out from under him. “What will happen to you if I leave?”
Luck of the Dragon Page 14
