by Lynn, Denise
Why it had to be this man, one who was not quite human and more foe than friend, didn’t matter. She didn’t know how, or why, but some primal part of him spoke to the wildness in her. It whispered to her soul, seducing her with a promise of safety and completion.
At this moment, with his arms holding her, his lips warm and demanding on hers, she felt no fear, no trepidation, only want and need.
“Ariel.” Her name was a heated whisper against her cheek. “Send me away, now.”
“No.” She slipped her hands beneath his shirt, marveling at the warmth of his flesh, and wanting to feel the heat of his skin against hers. “Stay.”
Either he read her thoughts, or had the same desire, because before she could draw another breath they were on the bed—naked. Only partially surprised, she stared up at him. “Isn’t that cheating?”
“Yes.” Cam’s husky answer and shimmering gaze sent a rush down her spine. He looked at her as if she was the only thing in his world.
His gentle, seeking caress as it trailed along her side conveyed the same message—no one else existed except the two of them.
Wizardry and cheating fell to the wayside. She ran a hand through his hair, tugging him closer, drawing his mouth back to hers. He gave in to her silent demand, kissing her until she moaned with need for more than just the feel of his lips.
Moments ago his caress had been gentle and seeking, but now his thoroughness left her gasping at the icy fire skittering along every nerve ending.
Every caress, each erotic kiss against her skin made her feel alive, nearly frantic with longing.
Other than in her dreams, she’d not realized it could be this—intoxicating. Her heart pounded, her body throbbed beneath his insistent onslaught.
The heat of his hands on her legs, stroking, teasing his way over her knee, up her thigh, made the muscles low in her belly clench.
Even though she knew it wasn’t possible, Ariel’s body responded as if his touch was familiar. She moved instinctively beneath him, anticipating his next caress, knowing what he wanted her to do.
She frowned. Her dreams had been vivid, but how had they been so realistic?
His lips following the path his hands had just taken chased her wonderings aside. When the bed seemed to spin beneath them it no longer mattered if this was their first time together or hundredth.
She wanted more than just the caress of his hands on her flesh, or the exquisite kiss at her core. She tugged on his hair, wanting him over her, filling her.
“Cam.” Ariel’s breath caught in her throat as the already intense throbbing quickened. She moaned, calling out his name again, “Cam, please.”
Thankfully he didn’t have to leave to get condoms, they were at hand. The mark on his shoulder blade throbbed. His beast roared, demanding to claim this woman as his own.
Again, he felt an inviting warmth steal over him, rushing through his limbs to settle around his heart. His beast crooned, rumbling with anticipation.
Shocked, Cam cursed silently. Why now? Why this woman and not Carol? This possession, this all-encompassing completion should have been shared with his wife, not with his enemy.
His beast roared, demanding he forget his hurt and accept what this woman offered.
No. He had to remain in control. The wild desires within couldn’t be unleashed. It would be disastrous in ways he could barely imagine at the moment. But the beast beckoned him forward relentlessly.
Ariel moved beneath him. Before he could stop her, she drew her hands up his back, grazing his skin with the tips of her fingernails. Her touch once more across his birthmark sent shivers down his spine.
He couldn’t hold back any longer and Cameron gave in with a strangled groan.
His control slipped, but to his relief, his dragon didn’t ravage the woman as he’d feared. For the first time since he’d recognized the creature inside, they acted as one. Instead of being at odds with him, the beast let him remain in human form as they sought release.
He and Ariel moved together, their rhythms in tune as though this wasn’t their first time together. The sound of his name on her lips was an aphrodisiac that nearly sent him over the edge.
Ariel’s fingers grazed the mark on his shoulder blade, curling, pressing her nails into his flesh as she found her release.
Now the beast growled, pushed over the edge at the contact with the oversensitive birthmark. Cam gasped, his muscles straining against the urge to forget his human nature.
Before he fully realized what was happening, reality fell away in a dizzying rush. There was no bed beneath them, no confining walls surrounding them. Nothing but air and the wide-open sky served as a backdrop for two mating dragons.
No matter how hard he tried, Cam was unable to pull away from the near-brutal savagery of their dance. He closed his eyes, but in his mind saw his beast shake the smaller female into submission before folding his wings around her, holding her close.
Fingernails pressing into his shoulders and his name whispered as a breathless sigh shook him free. Spent, he dropped beside Ariel, pulling her roughly into his embrace, thankful that what he’d seen had not crossed the border between dream and reality.
Ariel’s heart beat hard against his chest, nearly as hard and erratic as his own.
She trailed her fingertips up his spine and across his shoulder blades, breathlessly asking, “Was that man or wizard?”
He closed his eyes as she lightly brushed over the still-pulsing mark. “Neither. It was magic.”
She sighed against his chest. “I’ll agree with that.”
He chuckled, leaning closer to kiss her. A shimmer of light cut through the darkness behind his closed eyelids. Reluctantly breaking their kiss, he glanced toward the light.
What the hell was going on here?
Speechless, he jerked free of Ariel’s embrace and stared from her to the grimoire on her dresser.
The music came to an instant stop. A glaring overhead light replaced the soft flicker of the candles. Ariel shook off her daze and followed the direction of Cam’s stare.
A glowing light shimmered around the book on her dresser. From the rigidity of his muscles and the even more rigid expression, she knew that he could see the grimoire.
She gasped, hoping he’d believe her feigned surprise. “Where did that come from?”
His brittle, humorless laugh evaporated her hope. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“There isn’t anything I can tell you.” Just as there’d been a time for lying, perhaps this was a time for the truth—especially now when it was more believable to her than any fabrication she could concoct.
When he glared down at her, she rushed into her explanation. “It just appeared when you forced me to move in here.”
He turned away, sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his temples. She could completely understand if his head was pounding—so was hers.
She touched his arm, trying to get him to turn around and look at her. “What do you want me to say? It was just here.”
Cam jerked away from her touch. “And how long has it been—just here?”
“It’s been here as long as I have.” When he did turn to look at her, Ariel scooted away from the anger that seemed to glow from his eyes.
“Who helped you?”
“What?”
Cameron rose, grasped her arms to drag her from the bed, then tugged her toward the dresser. “This didn’t get here on its own. The Learneds ca
n’t gain entrance into the Lair. So, who is helping you?”
He ran his gaze down her naked body. Before she could decipher his look, he waved their clothes back on and continued, “Even if you have any abilities, they can’t possibly be strong enough to have broken the spell encasing this book.”
Ariel frowned. “So, even if I was a—” she choked on the insanity of even saying the word “—wizard, I couldn’t possibly be as strong, or magical, as you?”
“Since your powers of comprehension are still intact, tell me who’s helping you.”
She gritted her teeth. They’d just made love, but that obviously meant little. How dare he use that overly caustic tone of voice with her? She jerked free of his hold. “Who do you think you are?”
“Your boss.”
Her boss? Even though his response stung, she dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “We both know how much truth there is in that. You act like you’re the king of the wizards or something.” She shook her head. “And I sound like an imbecile. Wizards. Kings.”
“Close.”
“To an imbecile?”
“King.” He shrugged, before turning back toward the grimoire, saying, “More like the Dragon Lord spare.”
Ariel didn’t know who, or what, to stare at first—the man who just declared he was some sort of lord, or the book that was now glowing with a shocking red light.
She finally settled on Cam. “What are you—”
He raised a hand, cutting off her question. “Come here.”
“No.” Ariel backed out of his reach. She wasn’t getting any closer to that book than she had to. In fact, she edged toward the door, intent on making her escape.
Cam looked over his shoulder and crooked a finger in her direction. She dug in her heels and grabbed for the bedpost, knowing it would do little good.
She closed her eyes as once again she levitated a fraction of an inch above the floor and floated to his side. The instant her feet hit the floor she opened her eyes, demanding, “Stop doing that.”
“Listen to yourself.”
“Listen to myself? Why? Are my words coming out funny?”
“Funny? No. Angry? Yes. Sarcastic? Most definitely.”
“You should talk.”
He draped an arm over her shoulder. “Shut up a minute, then listen.”
Ariel swallowed, but clamped her lips together to keep from shouting. A warmth stole over her. It slowly flowed from his arm into her, relaxing her, chasing away her anger. She glanced up at him. “What is going on?”
Surprised at her calmer tone of voice, she shook her head. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He nodded toward the book. “But look.”
The grimoire now glowed with a soft pink light. “How did you do that?”
“I didn’t.”
“Neither did I. I didn’t sneak Renalde into the Lair, if that’s what you think.”
“You couldn’t have. I would have known the instant he stepped on our property.”
“So, what’s making the book do that?”
“I think it’s us.”
Ariel leaned as far away from him as his hold would permit. “What do you mean ‘us’? There is no ‘us.’”
Cameron looked down at her. He cocked one eyebrow and shot her a half smile that made her stomach flip. “Oh, really?”
She swallowed and worked to unglue her tongue from the roof of her suddenly dry mouth. Finally composing herself enough to speak, she answered, “Really.”
His soft chuckle set her heart skipping.
“Watch and see if this works like I think it will.” Cam lowered his arm and gently pushed her away from the dresser. He crossed to the other side of the room.
Within a moment, his smile faded and her renewed anger grew. Ariel’s spine stiffened, her stomach tightened. The throbbing in her temples returned as she clenched her jaw.
“When did you say the grimoire first appeared?”
She closed her eyes against the harshness of his voice. “The same day you made me move in here.”
“Right.”
“Are you calling me a liar?”
“It is something you seem to excel at. Where have you been hiding it?”
Ariel flinched at his accusation. “Nowhere. It’s been right there this whole time. That’s what I was trying to hide that first day.”
“Is this what the Learneds sent you here to find? How much have you told them about the grimoire?”
“No.” To her horror, her bottom lip started to tremble. She was tired of arguing with him, especially now. It took too much energy, leaving her drained. “I haven’t…told them…” Ariel paused, determined to keep her voice from breaking. “I haven’t told them anything.”
Cam fought the urge to groan. Even though he’d rather be wrong in this, his guess was that she hadn’t broken through his spell. Somehow, the grimoire had done it without help.
And for whatever reason, it was causing this false, overblown feeling of anger. His rage had been inexplicable, especially since the beast had remained calm and unconcerned, still soaking up the afterglow of sex.
If the shimmer of tears in Ariel’s eyes and her trembling lip were any indication, her overwhelming emotions were being forced on her, too. He went toward her. “Come here.”
“Just leave me alone.” She backed away. “And don’t even think about floating me over there.”
“Fine, we’ll do it the old-fashioned way.” He cleared the distance between them in three long strides and pulled her into his arms.
Nearly dragging her along, Cam stopped in front of the dresser, whispering, “Now watch.”
When he covered her lips briefly with his, Ariel relaxed and rested her cheek against his shoulder. “Now what?”
As much as he hated to admit it, he explained, “It’s only a guess, but I think it’s our turn.”
“That makes about as much sense as anything else.” She sighed, then asked, “Our turn for what?”
“The grimoire has a spell on it.”
“I’m shocked.”
He tightened his embrace in response to her sarcasm. “Braeden and Alexia had to work together to decipher the first part of the book.”
“And?”
“As much as I hate to admit this, it seems it’s our turn to translate more of it.”
“Wasn’t your sister-in-law given powers in the process?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“No?” Cam leaned back to look down at her. “No, what?”
“No,” she repeated, shaking her head. Ariel pulled out of his embrace. “I’m not game for this.”
He should have known she’d be less than thrilled with that idea. From what he’d seen, humans fell into two categories—those who jumped at the chance to gain extraordinary powers and those who would rather swallow hot coals than change. Unfortunately, Ariel fell into the latter group.
“What makes you think you have a choice?”
She flashed him a wary gaze before turning to walk away. Cam grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving the area around the grimoire. “Don’t.”
Ariel’s shoulders slumped, but she turned back to face him. “I don’t want to be like you.”
“You won’t be.” Nobody could be like him.
She glanced toward the dresser. “I never should have touched it.”
“Too late, the process has already started.” He stood before the grimoire
and ran a fingertip down a page half filled with images. A spark of interest shot into his beast. Cam felt it shake off the afterglow to shoot a curious stare at the book.
“What does it say?” Ariel joined him.
“It looks like a story of some sort.” He tried unsuccessfully to turn back a page to see what came before.
Ariel sighed. “Let me.” She gingerly reached out and to Cam’s surprise, the pages easily turned beneath her touch.
“It likes you.”
She spun around. “More than happy to leave.”
He snatched her hand, drawing her back to his side. “Tell me what you know about the book.”
“Not much. In the morning the page is blank, it fills in slowly all day long. No matter where I hide it, the damn thing ends up on the dresser or the desk by the time night falls.”
It was all he could do not to laugh at the exasperation in her tone. “Does it just fill in one page a day?”
“So far, yes.”
“Move it over to the desk.”
“I don’t want to do this.”
Cam sat down at the small writing desk and nodded from the book to the desk. Her personal feelings about the grimoire, or the risks surrounding it, mattered little. Since the book had chosen her, she was going to help. It was just that simple.
He wasn’t about to miss out on the chance to discover what the grimoire contained. He had to know if there was anything in there that could help him defeat the Learneds. This ancient clannish war had gone on too long; he wanted it to end.
When Ariel folded her arms in front of her and shook her head, he warned, “You can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but you are going to help.”
“You can’t force me.”
“Don’t tempt me, Ariel.” He might not be able to control her mind and actions with his thoughts, but there were other ways.
When she remained immobile, he shrugged. “Okay.” With a crook of his finger, she was at his side. Cam pulled her down across his lap. “You want to play?”
“No.” She turned her face away from his. “I should be angry.”
