With every step, Ladon left his old life behind. The dragons didn’t seem to be a part of this new Earth. Ladon had to discover if he could find a way to call his home world. He also wondered if his own planet had changed as much as this one. If he could not contact his home, could he forge a place for himself in this new reality? He had much to learn; many things had changed in the centuries he had slumbered in this chamber. But more than anything, he had to find out if any others of his kind had survived on this planet.
Ladon blinked at the brightness of the sun as he stepped out of the tunnel. He could hear frantic voices on the far side of the cairn. Knowing that Alexis would soon be discovered, he laid her gently on the ground just outside of the tunnel. He leaned towards her and kissed her forehead. Then Ladon turned and walked away, disappearing from her life.
6
A knock sounded on Dr. Carmichael’s office door.
“Hey, that golden Welsh horde is being displayed at the Kimbell Museum of Art. Want to go with me?” Marcy, Alexis’s teaching assistant, popped her head in the door.
“No, thank you. I have too much work to get caught up on. I have to finish writing up the final exams.” Marcy waved goodbye and left.
Alexis wasn’t about to tell Marcy that she had been there when the horde was discovered. Once again Dr. Monroe had swooped in and taken credit for her hard work. Of course, it hadn’t helped that when they found her she was babbling about dragons and aliens. The university, worried about traumatic brain injury from the cave in, had felt that it would be best to list Monroe as the primary university representative on the dig. Of course, since Alexis refused to sleep with him again, he had made sure that her name was left out of all the major papers.
Between Monroe cutting her out of any recognition on the find and reporting back to the university about her dragon ‘hallucination,’ Alexis’s professional reputation had been in ruins. This was how she found herself teaching history at a little college in Ft. Worth, Texas. She didn’t mind the work, but she despaired of ever getting a place on another respectable dig. Field work had been where Alexis Carmichael’s heart really was. But recently, she had resigned herself to being only a simple history professor.
It did irk her that Dr. Monroe had somehow figured out a way to stretch his fifteen minutes of fame into five years of glory. The Welsh horde was giving King Tut a run for its money as far as drawing crowds to museums, which is why it had been on tour pretty much nonstop the last few years.
Alexis often wondered if she actually did have some sort of traumatic experience, since she woke outside the chamber and Ladon had disappeared. She made a mistake when she had tried to explain to Charlie what had happened to her; she had been honest. That honesty had cost her everything.
Sighing, Alexis switched off her laptop and shoved it into her bag. She was too keyed up to concentrate on her work, so she would have to take it home with her and hopefully get it done there.
She was walking out the door when her office phone rang. She debated letting it just go to voicemail, but the only people who called her on that line were her department heads and students needing to make an appointment to see her. She set her bag on the chair and picked up the phone.
“Hello, Dr. Carmichael speaking.”
“Hello, Alexis.”
Alexis Carmichael sank to the floor. She would know that deep rumbling voice anywhere. She had almost convinced herself that he didn’t actually exist. But here he was, reappearing in her life five years later.
“Ladon.” She breathed his name in a whisper. This man who had haunted her dreams even after ruining her life—she had never been able to forget him.
*****
Ladon had spent the last five years making a place for himself in this new era. He quickly rose in station as he increased his wealth. It wasn’t difficult. As a dragon, he had the ability to use his nano machines to harmonize with the world around him. He was especially tuned to the earth and fire. This allowed him to find resources that many others wouldn’t be able to find. Using his vast stores of strength, he had been able self-replicate numerous machines in his body even without having access to a Drako ship. He used these machines to pull precious metals and gems to the surface, giving him the stake he needed to create his identity.
His first order of business had been to find someone with the ability to forge a new identity for him, because he had quickly discovered that in this day and age a person was not identified by the stories of their glory sung around the bonfire, but by massive amounts of bureaucratic paperwork. Some things didn’t change as civilizations advanced; bureaucracy was one of them. He also found that little had changed about humanity. Everyone seemed to have a price.
He became Ladon Drake, heir to a mining fortune, businessman, playboy. It was a good image. It allowed him into the highest circles of society and gave him the backing to have most anyone jumping at his beck and call.
Once his companies had grown from small mining operations to boardroom meetings and multiple companies, Ladon had been able to use his mental abilities to stay one step ahead of his competition. The battle arena may have changed throughout the centuries, but there were always enemies that needed to be outmaneuvered, and he was still the best when it came to winning.
He used his new-found wealth and status in society to search for any other remaining dragons. So far he had only awakened one other dragon that had guarded a vast library of information in the East. It was this library that he hoped might lead them to more of their brethren.
Unfortunately, research and sifting through historical clues was not his forte; which is why he was on the phone with Alexis Carmichael. She had the knowledge he needed and already knew about the Drako. She was the logical choice for this job. At least that is what he kept telling himself.
Truth is, he had never been able to banish her from his thoughts. He followed her life from afar. He knew about her troubles and many times wanted to swoop in and save her. But he never did.
“I need your help, Alexis.”
“Five years, Ladon…. You disappear the day I met you and decide to call me up out of the blue to ask for help?” Alexis’s voice was almost a growl at this point. “Give me one good reason why I should help you?”
“Because you are the only one who can….”
“Damn it, Ladon. My life fell apart after meeting you. I have a feeling it would be even worse this time.”
“I need an archeologist, Alexis…. I need you.”
“There are hundreds of archeologists you could employ. Why me?”
“You know why.”
Alexis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “I don’t want to get involved with that again.”
“Alexis…have lunch with me. Hear me out. If you decide to walk away after that I will let you go and you will never see me again.”
Alexis knew that she would live to regret this, but ever since meeting Ladon she had felt like she was missing something vital. Perhaps if she confronted him she would find that missing piece again.
“Fine…when?”
Ladon let out a relieved breath, “I’ll be in Ft. Worth in two days. I’ll pick you up at the college around noon.”
“You had better make it one. I have a class that isn’t finished until 12:30.”
“Deal…. I’ll see you soon.”
Ladon hung up the phone feeling both relieved and nervous.
7
“You’ve got that look on your face again.” Ladon looked over to Ryuu. He was the dragon that Ladon had discovered in the ancient library. Compared to Ladon, he was the scholarly sort and rarely spoke unless he had something to say, though he didn’t look like a scholar. Like most dragons, he looked like an ancient warrior. Ryuu was at least six and a half feet tall. Where Ladon’s coloring was in shades of red, Ryuu was all black: black hair with eyes so dark they appeared black. His dragon state was a great obsidian beast.
“I told you I can do the research myself.” Ryuu c
rossed his arms over his chest and glared at Ladon. “It is my library after all.”
“I know you are more than capable of finding the information. But I have a feeling our time is short and an extra set of eyes would make the work go by that much faster. We need to discover why we slept, if there are any others of our kind left, and, most importantly, why we can’t communicate with our home world.” Ladon turned his desk chair to face Ryuu. They were in the offices of Draco International, the company Ladon had formed. He had started out as a small mining operation, but in short order had diversified the company to be a power player in many international markets. The office had been decorated in a Zen-like design. Ladon still preferred natural materials to the synthetic ones popular in today’s society, so natural wood and stone were everywhere.
“Why this woman?” Ryuu was like a dog with a bone. Since Ladon had suggested contacting Alexis for help Ryuu had been asking the same questions.
“We’ve been over this…she knows about us. So she is the logical choice.” Ladon stood up from his chair and paced in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up one wall of his office. He didn’t even notice the view of the Rocky Mountains. When Ladon had left Wales, he traveled to what is now known as the United States. In earlier times, this land had been the refuge of many dragons. The native populations were sparse, with vast tracks of land that no man traversed. It was a place of solitude and meditation. Ladon watched the people scurry between the numerous buildings that had taken over the peaceful landscape. He couldn’t help but muse how things had changed.
Ryuu laid a hand on Ladon’s shoulder, “It isn’t just her qualifications…your voice changes when you speak about her and you get a look in your eyes like you are no longer really here. You can lie to me if you want about this woman, but do not lie to yourself.”
Ladon laid his head against the cool glass; snow would be falling soon in the Rockies. “If I knew what she was to me I would tell you. I knew her for one day, but somehow she is never far from my thoughts.”
“Could she be your true mate?”
Ladon snorted. “Do you still believe in that fairy tale? Never once have I encountered a true mate pair. Females were so rare on our home world that many Drako males attached themselves to anyone that would have them. Every dragon warrior stationed here had numerous handmaidens to see to their needs, and never did they feel the need to cleave themselves to just one of them, even when such couplings produced offspring.”
“That is not entirely true. What about Hathor?”
“That was obsession.”
“Zoya? She was human and she was a true mate.”
Ladon shook his head. “Her mate loved her, this is true, but I doubt they were really true mates. Tugarin never displayed any mystical powers.”
Ryuu went over to the wet bar on the other side of the office. He pulled out a tumbler and poured himself some bourbon. “The sagas are filled with stories of bonded pairs and the power that comes with such a connection.”
“And modern Hollywood is filled with Cinderella stories, but how often does the poor girl snag the rich man and live happily ever after?”
“Point taken…but you still have some sort of connection; otherwise you wouldn’t be mooning over her five years after a single meeting. Maybe you just need sex.” Ryuu threw back the bourbon and downed it in one gulp.
“I haven’t exactly been a saint these last five years you know.” Ladon turned to face Ryuu, leaning his back against the chilled planes of glass. “It just feels empty. There is no joy in it.”
Ryuu whistled low. “No joy in sex…are you sure you are feeling okay, man?”
Ladon shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t know. Everything has changed since I woke up. I don’t like not knowing my place in the world.”
“We will create a new place for ourselves if that is necessary.” Ryuu placed the empty glass in the small sink of the wet bar. The cleaning service would get it later. “You are understandably restless after hibernating for centuries. You spent more time amongst the nano machines as pure thought than you did in this mortal realm. That experience changed us. But I think you need to figure out what it is about this woman that has you obsessing.”
“It may not matter if I can’t convince her to help us.” Ladon sighed as he walked over to his desk chair and slumped into it.
Ryuu shrugged, slipping into one of the chairs across from Ladon’s desk. “I think that is going to be the easy part. I’ve read the reports on her. She was a driven researcher until she discovered you. With the digging I have done, her being pushed out of field work wasn’t her choice. A passion like that doesn’t die. You know our library is a unique find. Even if she isn’t allowed to publish any of its history, the scholar in her would want to see it.
The question is, what will you do once you have her here?”
“Seduce her with knowledge.” Ladon quirked a brow up and gave Ryuu a mischievous grin. He already had a plan forming. Perhaps the reason he couldn’t get her out of his mind was because there was a sexual attraction between them. Ladon figured once the mystery of how well they went together in the bedroom was solved that Alexis would lose some of her allure. After all, men always want what they can’t have. Dragons aren’t much different.
8
It was now half past one o’clock. Alexis didn’t understand why she was so nervous to see Ladon again. After all, his stupid ass was the reason she lost her creditability in her field. She should be out working on some major dig, not grading papers at some dinky little college. Of course, it was the papers she was blaming for her tardiness, but the truth was she wasn’t sure she could face the man…dragon…whatever…that ruined her life.
Alexis couldn’t deny the shiver of awareness that went through her body. Without even looking up, she knew he was standing in the doorway of her office.
“You’re late.”
“I’m working. Perhaps it would be better if we rescheduled.” Alexis gestured to the piles of papers on her desk. “As you can see I am kind of swamped.”
Ladon leaned over, placing both hands on her desk. He was so close she could feel his heat. He smelled of cinnamon and man. He had cut his hair. She liked it shorter; there was this curl that draped over his forehead that her hands were just itching to touch. Damn! She didn’t want to be attracted to him. She had hoped that the dreams and fantasies that had plagued her these last few years were fabrications of her mind blown out of proportion. But now she was faced with the hard reality that, if anything, her dreams fell far short of the actual man standing in front of her.
“One hour, Alexis. That’s all I’m asking. Give me one hour to explain why I am here. If at the end of that hour you want me out of your life, I will go. No questions asked. Can you do that for me?”
“One hour and you will leave me alone?” Alexis chewed on her lip as she thought. She could make it through one hour, right? “Fine. Start talking, bub. The clock is ticking down.”
Ladon was about to launch into his rehearsed pitch about the dragon library when a student burst into the office.
“Oh, sorry Dr. Carmichael. I didn’t know you were in a meeting.” The young man plopped a paper on Alexis’s desk. “Here’s my thesis.” He turned and scurried out the door.
No sooner had the door closed, and Ladon was about to commence, then it opened yet again; this time a young woman was asking for help locating sources about a particular archeological study. After a third and fourth student interrupted them, Ladon realized that there was no way he would be able to talk to Alexis if they remained here.
“Have you had lunch?”
“What?”
“Lunch…you know food, midday meal.”
“I know what lunch is. Why do you ask?”
“Because I can’t bloody talk to you here with all of these interruptions.” Ladon scowled at the door, and Alexis had to suppress a giggle at his disgruntled face.
“Well some of us have to work for a living, Mr. Moneybags”
Ladon’s eyes snapped to Alexis’s face.
“No, I haven’t been stalking you. But I have had to schmooze enough with big money at university functions to know that your shoes alone probably cost more than I make in a month. So I would say you have done well for yourself.”
Ladon coughed. “I had a few tricks I could pull to get me started.”
“I have no doubt.” Alexis turned off her computer and stood up, throwing her purse over one shoulder. “I believe you said something about food. Just so you know, you are buying.” She skirted her desk and practically gave Ladon a heart attack when he saw that she wore a form-fitting grey wool pencil skirt.
“Yes, ma’am.” Ladon followed Alexis out the door, keeping his eyes on the delicious view of her swaying backside. He began humming the eighties tune ‘Hot for Teacher’ as they exited the building.
*****
Alexis had directed Ladon to a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in one of the more rundown neighborhoods in Ft. Worth. As Ladon stepped out of the little Audi he had rented for this trip, he wondered if it would still have tires and a stereo by the time their lunch was over. Ladon had spent as little time as possible in the poor and working-class levels as he could. He demanded certain luxuries in life. Alexis, however, seemed quite comfortable here, calling out greetings in Spanish to the old man sitting on the stoop of a house across the street from the restaurant.
“Are you sure it is safe to eat here?” Ladon eyed the peeling paint and cracked stucco of the building in front of them. Stray cats scurried around the dumpster at the back of the parking lot. Hopefully they didn’t end up on the menu as well.
“This place has the best chile rellenos this side of the Rio Grande.” Alexis looked over the building, seeing it through a stranger’s eyes. “Manuel’s parents run this place. It may not look like much, but his mother is one of the best cooks you will ever meet.”
Breathing Fire (Drakonian Chronicles Book 1) Page 3
