Ladon sat across from Ryuu. He refused to look at the black dragon. The silence stretched between them as Ladon glanced up at his friend. Ryuu just sat there with his arms crossed waiting for Ladon to continue. There were times Ladon despised Ryuu’s patience.
Landon responded with a sigh of concession. “If we did it her way, we would get results too quickly.”
Ryuu chuckled. “I have never seen you this wrapped up in a woman. If you want her, take her. I know you have enough talent to get her body to respond until she says yes. Hell, I had to hide my favorite handmaidens each time you visited me in the past.”
Ladon tilted his chair back and stared at the ceiling as he balanced on two legs. “She isn’t like a handmaiden,” he mumbled. “She is so much…more.” Ladon let the chair fall back onto all four legs and looked Ryuu in the eyes. “I don’t want to seduce her…well I do, but just not only that. Her mind is brilliant. She is fiercely loyal and kind. But she has a core of strength to rival the most formidable warrior of Drakos. I want all of it. I want her to give her entire being into my keeping.” Ladon smiled. “Do you know she was able to disable my nano-machines and throw me out of her mind the very first time we met?”
Ryuu studied his friend. Ladon had always been the carefree, live-in-the-moment kind of man. He jumped from bedmate to bedmate so quickly that Ryuu doubted he could recall all their names. It was questionable that he had bothered to learn the names of all his sexual conquests. Ryuu couldn’t remember a single female that Ladon actually wanted to get to know, let alone admire.
Ryuu sent a few nanomachines questing out toward Ladon. Ryuu could feel Ladon’s confusion as well as the pull of desire that was bordering on obsession. He understood immediately the implications, but it seemed like Ladon was still in denial about his own feelings.
“It sounds like you may have stumbled upon a woman who could be your true mate,” Ryuu casually tossed out there.
Ryuu wished he had a recording device. The myriad of emotions that crossed Ladon’s face was comical. Shock…disbelief…denial…embarrassment…and lastly resignation.
Ryuu laughed, “You don’t have to look like someone kicked your puppy.” He leaned forward, suddenly serious. “View this as the gift it is, Ladon. Most Drakonians spend centuries hoping for the kind of connection you feel. The majority of them go to their graves without feeling whole because they never find their true mate. Don’t throw away something so wonderful.”
“She doesn’t even like me at the moment.” Ladon laid his head on the table.
“Of course she doesn’t, baka.” Ryuu smacked his friend on the back of the head.
Ladon’s head popped up. “Ow.”
“You have been a right beast to Alexis. You have made her feel like you don’t respect her or her professional opinion. Much of the time you have been in her presence you have just snapped at her and belittled her talents. Of course she doesn’t like you.” Ryuu shook his head. “You are too used to dealing with handmaidens that jump when you snap your fingers no matter how big an ass you make of yourself. Alexis will never be that kind of woman. But if you pull your head out of your ass long enough to win her, she will be your life partner and not just a bedmate.”
*****
Ladon wandered the deserted halls of the library, his conversation with Ryuu still echoing in his head. He hated to admit it, but the black dragon had a point. Alexis was probably his true mate. It would explain why she was in his thoughts every day and his dreams every night after only a single meeting. It would also explain his burning need to include her in this venture. He could reason that she was the best choice to help since she already knew about dragons, but that reasoning was thin at best. Ryuu could have easily found a few trustworthy scholars. No, Ladon had insisted that it had to be Alexis Carmichael.
He turned a corner where a faint light was coming from. His enhanced vision kept him from needing a lantern to navigate the warren-like paths of the library. Across the room, bathed in the golden glow of a lantern, was Alexis pouring over another manuscript.
Ladon stayed in the shadows just watching her. She really was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her dark curls went whatever direction they chose. They couldn’t be contained but were still incredibly soft—kind of like Alexis herself. She would never allow herself to be relegated to the role of simply a bedmate. She would demand that the man in her bed be as emotionally invested as she was. She would see it as her right to be their equal in all things and dismiss anyone who didn’t live up to her expectations.
The little bit of time Ladon managed to be inside her mind allowed Ladon to understand that despite the high expectations Alexis would expect of her life partner, she would expect no less from herself. If she chose to love a man, it would be with a fierce loyalty laced with passion.
He smiled as Alexis seemed to discover something that excited her. She furiously wrote several notes in her journal while going back and forth to the text in front of her. Ladon wondered if she would have the same intensity when she made love.
Alexis stopped and looked around in the surrounding darkness. She narrowed her eyes when she looked over into the shadow that concealed Ladon. Somehow she had sensed that he was there, and her eager, inquisitive face closed off and became a look of mild disapproval.
Ladon sighed. He had his work cut out for him if he was to make her his true mate. He forcibly pushed the panic down that threatened to surface at the thought that she may not want him in return. He only had the old tales to go by, but if a Drakonian male chose a true mate who then rejected him, his obsession would quickly turn into madness.
Ladon stepped into the dim circle of light. Somehow Alexis had known it was him who watched her from the shadows. For a moment, she didn’t say anything. She just studied him, starting at his boots and going up. She couldn’t deny that he was a fine figure of a man. Who was she kidding, both he and Ryuu should be illegal they were so perfectly made. The scholar in her wondered if the Drakonians were the reason for human’s societies male ideal, which surprisingly had changed little over the centuries.
Then she looked at his face. Ladon had a look there that she had never seen before. It made her feel like a lamb left to a wolf. His eyes were hungry. She couldn’t suppress the shiver that swept through her body. It took all her willpower to turn away from that look and return to the text before her.
“What do you want?” She hadn’t meant to bite at him, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with his boorish behavior, especially when her hormones were telling her to jump the man and have her way with him. She knew that Ladon wouldn’t protest if she did just that, but as much as her body might want him, she refused to be just another notch on his belt of sexual conquests.
“I’ve come to apologize,” Ladon said quietly.
Alexis’s eyes snapped back to Ladon. She hadn’t been expecting that. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. She wasn’t sure how to respond to his apology.
“It’s alright. I don’t expect you to forgive me right away.”
Ladon sighed and ran a hand through his hair, pulling at it out of frustration. The messy bedhead look it gave him did something to Alexis’s lady parts. She was suddenly picturing him in her bed the morning after a vigorous night.
“Ryuu informed me that I was being a right ass to you,” Ladon continued. “I just wanted to let you know that I am sorry about that and it wasn’t your fault…. I have just been dealing with some stuff…I…um….” Ladon was at a loss. He didn’t know what else to say to Alexis as she just sat there staring at him.
He raised his head and took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He didn’t understand why talking to Alexis made him nervous, but it did.
His head snapped back and his eyes narrowed at Alexis. He could have sworn he scented arousal from her. He had to fight the urge to inhale deeply again. If he had known that an apology would turn her on, he would have done it a long time ago. He shook his head, trying to dislodge inappropriate
thoughts of him and Alexis tangled together.
He knew he could have her tonight if he pushed just a little, but he didn’t want her for one night. He wanted her for a lifetime, and intuitively he knew that if he took her tonight, he would never have the lifetime and that was unacceptable.
“So, anyway, I’m sorry I took it out on you. Also, if I left you with the impression that I didn’t value your professional opinion, I’m sorry.” Ladon gave a boyish grin. “I can be a stubborn bastard when I set out on a path, but I should have deferred to your expertise.”
Alexis was stunned. Ladon apologized, and he seemed sincere. Most of the men she had in her life would never have admitted they were wrong, let alone apologized for it. She wasn’t sure how to react.
“Um…it’s okay,” Alexis said with a dismissive wave of her had.
“It’s not okay…but thank you for accepting my apology. I will try to be less of an ass in the future.” Ladon smiled.
Alexis chuckled. “I’m not holding my breath on that one.”
The small laugh brought the sparkle back into Alexis’s eyes. Ladon’s reaction to that small thing was visceral. He backed away, suddenly needing to get out of there before he swept in and gathered her into his arms.
He nearly knocked over the bookshelf behind him, “Um…I’ve got to go do…something.”
He retreated like a scared rabbit while Alexis’s laughter followed him. Damn this courtship thing was going to be harder than he thought.
18
Alexis stared out of the darkened window. This had somehow become a nightly habit. Her eyes searched the night sky. Finally, a shadow streaked across the moon. It was harder to keep track of the two dragons tonight, as the sky was filling with the clouds of an oncoming storm.
Ladon and Ryuu darted in and out of the clouds in a dangerous game of tag. Lightening illuminated the sky, sending the bodies of the dragons into sharp contrast, if only for a moment. The electricity in the atmosphere seemed to energize the males.
Alexis leaned against the window sill as the first drops of rain began to fall. She wondered if anyone on the distant surrounding islands could see the antics of Ladon and Ryuu. If they did, they probably reasoned the sight away as a trick of the light. A few of the older islanders might weave the tale into the myths of dragons already deeply ingrained in this region.
The scholar in Alexis wondered if the eastern cultures’ deeply engrained dragon mythology was due to the existence of this library. Ryuu had said that during its heyday this complex was always bustling with visiting dragons and human scholars. It would an interesting study to see if she could pinpoint the development of the dragon myths in Asia. She turned over the idea in her mind. She couldn’t include the Drakonians, obviously. For one, both Ladon and Ryuu had asked for their existence to remain secret. Secondly, spouting off about dragon shifters would have her laughed right out of the academic community—the truth had very nearly ruined her career once; she wouldn’t let it ruin it a second time.
She turned away from the window as the gentle rain turned into a raging storm. She hoped the men came in out of the storm, but she wasn’t overly concerned. She pulled her journal out to make notes about the possibility of a study of dragon mythology. She laughed to herself. Wouldn’t it be ironic if she became the foremost expert on the very thing that nearly ruined her career?
*****
Ladon let his mind wander as he and Ryuu flew back to the library through the typhoon that suddenly hit the island. The meteorological projections had said that the storm was supposed to go around their island, but as usual, the meteorologists were wrong.
Dragon bodies were extremely tough, but trying to fly through the hurricane-strength winds was a fool’s errand even for them. But it did mean that for the next few nights, at the very least, there would be no night flights for him and Ryuu.
The confinement wouldn’t matter much to the black dragon. He would just lose himself in the multitude of manuscripts found in the library. Ladon had been the one who needed the nightly exercise to keep his demons at bay. Without the flights to work off his frustration, Ladon worried that he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off Alexis. He growled and closed his eyes against the image of the sexy little scholar that popped into his head.
The wind chose that moment to give a huge gust as Ladon was coming in to land on the dragon platform high up on the mountain cliff. Something that hadn’t happened since he was a young dragonling, Ladon lost control of his flight.
His eyes snapped open as he tried to compensate for the rapid decent. The wind gusted again and sent Ladon rolling. The best he could do was adjust his wings so he shot through the opening of the dragon platform instead of crashing against the unforgiving stone of the mountain cliff.
He crashed into Ryuu, sending them both sprawling across the large platform. Fortunately, the space had been built to accommodate a multitude of dragons landing at the same time, so the two dragons rolled to a stop before hitting the far side of the platform.
Both dragons shifted back into men. Ladon was on top of Ryuu, Ladon’s head wedged firmly between Ryuu’s legs.
“Thank the gods that we have the Drakonian uniform packs so our nanomachines form clothing for us as we shift,” Ryuu grunted as he shoved Ladon off him.
“Considering where my face was, I couldn’t agree more.” Ladon rolled over and stared up at the ceiling.
Ryuu chuckled as he stood up. “If you want my advice, brother—”
“I don’t.”
“Well you are going to get it anyway.” Ryuu stood over Ladon and glared down at him. “Use the forced proximity that this storm will cause to your advantage. Court the bloody woman.”
“I’m not sure how.”
“Well figure it out before I decide to truss your wings and drop you off the damn cliff. The tension between you two can be cut with a knife.” Ryuu huffed away and turned to glare at Ladon one more time just before exiting the platform, “And you are a fucking accident waiting to happen. Get your head out of your ass and do something about it before I do.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Ladon growled to Ryuu’s retreating back.
Ryuu flipped him off and disappeared.
*****
Ladon lay on the dark platform lost in thought. The only light was the occasional flash of lightening. He knew that Ryuu was just trying to push his buttons, but the thought of the black dragon courting Alexis sent a chill down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold and wet stone floor he was lying on.
If Ryuu ever got serious about Alexis, Ladon was afraid that he would lose to the black dragon. Alexis already enjoyed the company of the other dragon, and they shared many of the same interests. Ladon comforted himself with the fact that he had never scented arousal from either Ryuu or Alexis, but it was a cold comfort. He knew that friendship can often turn into something more.
What did he have to offer Alexis? By human standards, he was extremely wealthy, but so was Ryuu. He could give her access to the field work that would give her back her career, but since they both owned the company, so could Ryuu. Every point in his favor the black dragon also had, as well as a few that Ladon didn’t.
Ladon rolled over with a growl and punched the stone floor. For the first time in his long life, he felt inadequate. It was not a feeling he enjoyed in the least. He pushed himself off the floor and stalked towards the rooms he had chosen as his lair while here at the library. He wouldn’t give up. He was a dragon after all; it wasn’t in their nature to give up their treasures; and Alexis was the greatest treasure of all.
19
Alexis woke the next morning to a darkened room. The sun wasn’t showing through the window like it normally did. For a moment, Alexis wondered if she woke in the middle of the night. A mighty clap of thunder startled her and a gust of wind rattled the windows.
Alexis hopped out of bed and closed the storm shudders on the inside of the window, just in case. She quickly lit a lantern in the darkness and used
the satellite radio to check the weather reports. Evidently the island was caught in the middle of a hurricane-strength storm.
The storm didn’t worry Alexis much. They were housed in the middle of a mountain after all; there wasn’t a safer place to be in the storm. The darkness was a bit oppressive though. But she had worked under worse conditions.
Alexis went through her morning routine on autopilot. She tried to clip her hair out of her face, but the humidity had the curls going wild and she finally gave up. Alexis dressed in her customary dig uniform of a snug t-shirt and jeans with hiking boots. She added a jacket to ward off the dampness of the storm.
She opened the door of her rooms and nearly tripped over a tray of food that had been placed in front of it. It wasn’t the normal protein bar and coffee that they normally had for breakfast, since none of them functioned well without at least half a pot of coffee in them.
She picked up the tray, and her stomach rumbled at the smell of warm oatmeal with maple syrup. Alexis wondered which one of the men left the bowl and just how they knew that oatmeal with maple syrup was one of her favorite morning treats.
She set the tray down, sat at the small table near the window where she left the lantern, and picked up the napkin to place it in her lap. Beneath the napkin was a beautiful necklace. It was obviously handmade, but beautiful. It had a large crystal the same shade of blue as her eyes wrapped in a silver setting. Smaller stones of various shades of blue surrounded the larger one and cascaded down the side. While abstract, it brought to mind the idea of flowing water. Alexis was drawn to it immediately. She had always been partial to handcrafted jewelry, and this piece was a work of art.
Alexis put the necklace around her neck and smiled as she ate her breakfast.
After she ate, Alexis headed out the door and ran straight into a groggy Ryuu.
“Sorry.” Alexis smiled up at the black dragon.
Breathing Fire (Drakonian Chronicles Book 1) Page 7
