by Jana Leigh
*****
Drakk had gone out in search for Aislinn to explain. When he spotted her sitting in the sun, he couldn’t help but just stare. She was gorgeous. The sun shimmered off her hair in golden and rich chocolate hues that matched the golden specks in her light brown eyes. He couldn’t resist reaching down to touch it. Her eyes popped open and she let out a blood-curdling scream, making him jump backwards and teeter on the edge of the cliff. He fought to balance himself, sliding in the loose rocks. Aislinn jumped up and grabbed him just before he pummeled to his death…or so she thought. He had already readied himself to shift, but changed his mind last minute and allowed her to save him. She yanked him back against the wall, with her plastered against him.
“Oh my God, what were you thinking? You could have been killed!”
“I didn’t expect you to shove me off the cliff…” he teased. Wrong thing to say. Aislinn’s eyes narrowed and her shoulders squared.
“Why did Jex leave?” she asked quickly.
“He will be back, don’t worry,” he said slowly.
“You pissed him off, didn’t you?” she said.
“Why would you think that?” Drakk frowned.
“Maybe if you wouldn’t have opened your big fat mouth, Jex wouldn’t have flown off. Now he is facing the possibility of getting hurt, or worse, being captured! Then fate wouldn’t have stepped in and tried to off you over the cliff!” Aislinn yelled, poking one finger in the middle of his chest.
“And that bothers you?” He looked down to where she was poking him in the chest and tried to keep the smirk off his face. He didn't think it wise to comment that her small finger had no chance of even leaving a mark on his hardened chest. However, he was enjoying the fire in eyes as she scolded him. He cocked an eyebrow, fishing for her to admit she had feelings for him. He could almost see the gears in her mind turning to how she was going to word her reply. It was in that moment when he knew this small woman would be his and yes, Jex's. He could continue to fight against all he wanted, but in the end, he would lose the battle to keep his heart incased, she would chip at the casing until she herself was firmly planted there. Her voice brought him out of his musing.
“Of course I care! I care that he is out there alone, unguarded, because of you! I care that you almost did a swan dive off the mountain. I care that someone is out there trying to hunt all of my friends down and cut them up into little pieces! You need to be out there finding him instead of just sitting on your ass! He’s in danger, you big oaf!”
“So, you are saying you do care about me then…” The corner of Drakk’s mouth curved up in a cocky lopsided grin. How she had taken him from one extreme to another, he had no idea. He had been hell bent against this all, but she changed everything. He didn’t understand it, and didn’t want to as long as it included her. Just the sparkle in her eyes had him going from wanting to remain alone to wanting her more than anything. She was a witch, and whether she knew it or not, had cast a spell over his heart.
“You egotistical, self-centered, selfish sonofab—” Drakk leaned in and kissed her, muting her tirade. She could only resist him for a brief moment before relaxing under his touch, melting into him. The deeper he took her, the more she forgot any emotion besides the feelings he created. When he finally released her, she hugged him tight, resting her head against his chest. He smiled inwardly, wrapping his arms around her. That’s one way to shut her up. He couldn’t deny his feelings now. This tiny little female would be his undoing.
*****
Drakk had convinced Aislinn to stay behind while he went to search for his dipshit brother. She was dead-set on going, but when he mentioned there might be a bit of a small aerial battle, she realized that it might be good for them to work out their differences without her in the way. Men. Ignorance and egos evidently passed through all of the species and wasn’t singled to just human males.
Jex was more unpredictable than the weather, but when he needed a place to escape, there was only one place he would go. High up in the mountains, there were natural hot springs. They were said to hold some sort of magical aspects that helped rejuvenate and recharge the body. Whether all that was true or not, Jex had always been infatuated with the place and would frequently soak in the hot water when things got sticky in life. Drakk couldn’t figure out how the sulfur smell didn’t make him gag. He would return smelling like rotten eggs, but always had whatever weighed on his mind figured out.
Drakk flew overhead, searching each of the pools. Jex was nowhere in sight. Then it dawned on him—invisibility cloak. He opened up his vision, allowing magic to be seen, and spotted him immediately. In one of the larger pools sat Jex, his head between his hands. Drakk flew down and fell the last few feet into the water, creating a huge splash and tidal wave.
“What the hell!” Jex growled. Drakk just laughed, making himself visible.
“How’d you know where I was?”
“Because this is the place you go to pout.”
“I’m not pouting, dickhead.” Jex splashed water at him.
“Then what do you call it? If you are trying to get Aislinn on my ass, job done. Now, get your scaly ass up and let’s go. She’ll be out looking for you if I don’t get you back.” Drakk realized he truly didn’t want her angry. After the kiss they had just shared, he would move Heaven and Earth to taste those sweet lips.
“No.” Jex held his breath and ducked under the water.
Drakk sighed. “Spoiled brat,” he muttered and reached under the water, pulling Jex up by a horn.
“Leave me the hell alone. I came here to get away from you, not sit in a dirty puddle of your ball juice.” Jex knew he was acting like a child, but he was confused, pissed, and hurt all at once. Feelings weren’t something dragons had often, and to have such a mix of emotion was too much to bear. They were predators, not fairies for shit’s sake.
Drakk didn’t want to force him, but he left little options. He turned on the alpha, allowing his position to flow off him in waves. “Get home now!” he roared. Instead of Jex backing down and cowering like before, he bowed his shoulders and held his ground.
“That shit doesn’t work on me now. We’re mates, you asshole. The days of you pulling the alpha card are over. I do what I want, when I want.” Jex let his ego unleash.
“Do what you want. Don't you always? I have to go alpha on you to keep you under control, Jex. Now that isn't going to work and it is up to you to grow up and start acting like an adult dragon, not a fledgling just out of the egg. Look what is in front of you, a chance for a mate, a chance that some would give a wing for—and you want to act childish. You are the youngest and found your mate. Do you not think the others have ever wondered when it would be their turn or even if they would live long enough to find their mate? I have never had any problem finding women to bed and neither have you. But out of all the bed partners there has never been one I would have consider a pleasure to wake up to every morning, until maybe now. So go right ahead and act like the fledgling you are. I’d rather have Aislinn to myself anyway.” Drakk was pissed it hadn’t worked, and was done with trying to make Jex grow up. If he wanted to miss out on Aislinn, so be it. It had been hard to accept that they were meant to share her, and he damn sure wasn’t going to beg Jex to do so. He got out and shook off, spreading his wings to the sky once more. Before he reached the cover of the clouds, he heard Jex behind him and smiled inwardly. Stubborn ass.
They arrived home to find Aislinn sitting between Peyon and Brak, pouring over the journals and grimoires. Peyon had one hand behind her on the back of her chair, leaning over to read what she held. Brak had his hand across her wrist while she held the book open. Drakk flipped. They were too damn close to her. Jealousy wasn’t an emotion he had experienced often, and he damn sure didn’t like it. “What the hell is going on here?” The words slipped out before he realized how bad they sounded.
Jex had entered behind him and had the same reaction. Thankfully Drakk had said them and not him, because Aisl
inn blew up. “Excuse me? While you two were out throwing a tantrum, we have been working.”
“Is that what you call it?” Drakk’s words were followed by a puff of smoke from his nostrils as he blew out a breath then turned to his brothers. “You two better disappear before I rip them off and feed them to you,” Drakk spat.
Peyon and Brak both moved to stand, but Aislinn stopped them. “Sit!” she yelled, narrowing her eyes at them. Peyon and Brak looked at each other, freezing. They swore her eyes were glowing. She was scarier than the two dragons shooting daggers at them. Peyon and Brak looked back at Drakk and Jex, their dragon brothers might not know it yet, but they were done. This little woman was not intimated by the big bad dragons in the least. When mated, she would hold her own with them. They wonder if it was the magic to be harnessed by two mates or the temper itself because when they looked back at Aislinn, it almost looked as if she had snorted out her own smoke she was so red in the face.
"Don't you blow smoke out at me, you overgrown lizard," she spat at Drakk.
"Overgrown lizard? Really. You have no idea just how overgrown I am, sweetheart. I am the alpha and will be obeyed or I may just have to turn you over my knee and spank you with my spiked tail," Drakk knew he was goading her, but he couldn't seem to stop. Watching her skin heat up and the fire in her eyes, well, he may be over five hundred years old but that didn't necessarily mean he was smart beyond his years. From the looks on his brothers’ faces and Aislinn's, he may have went a little far in his teasing. He realized he was going to need to do some major damage control and fast. Before he thought of something to say to settle their little hot head down, Jex moved in for the kill.
“Hey, baby. Did you find anything?” He walked up to her and planted a kiss to the top of her head. She visibly relaxed, giving Drakk one last glare before she pointed to a section in the book.
“We did. This talks about how a witch’s magic will join and amplify her mates. Even in the ancient texts we have cross-referenced, it was foretold that matings of three would be the answer to unlocking the magical realm. I can’t seem to find a timetable on how long it will go on or take, but there are a lot of unknowns still for us to figure out.” She handed the book to Drakk. He read the old script, unsure what it all meant. Jex moved to sit, shoving Peyon out of the way to take his seat. Peyon growled but backed off, finding pleasure in creating discomfort with them. Aislinn was gorgeous, so harmless flirting was fun—especially if it meant pissing off Drakk and Jex. Two for the price of one. Didn’t get much better than that. Besides, someone had to knock some sense into those two and he might as well have fun doing it.
Chapter Seven
Joslin had been alone for centuries, and had finally come to admit she was the last of her kind. It was a lonely realization. For years, she had remained hidden in the high Appalachian Mountains, remaining out of the sight of humans. They had been the ones who had destroyed her family so many centuries before. She hated them, and everything they stood for. It was rare for them to make their way up to such a high elevation, but on the few times they had, she had indulged in a guilt free snack that gave her a sense of redemption for the loss of her loved ones. Humans might not be a filling meal, but their sweet flesh was a delicacy in which she indulged in as often as possible.
Her home rested deep in the core of the mountain, impossible for anyone to stumble upon. She had found it by mere accident while out teaching her younger siblings how to hunt, before the humans had killed them. Joslin had been forced to remain in her cave for decades, only hunting the animals that wandered in reach, and otherwise using her magic to provide for herself. But it was what she discovered while in her cave that was the most important. When she first found the cave, she loved how deep it went, it would take decades to find every single tunnel that it held, and she had.
The treasure that lay within had been truly a great find. A portal of some sort, believed to lead to another dimension or world where dragons ruled the land. There was a legend that some day the portal would again reopen and allow them to come and go as they pleased.
Joslin had thought it only a bedtime story her mother had told when she were nothing more than a mere hatchling, but upon finding the cave she had realized it may hold some truth, and had begun to hope. This meant there could be other descendants hiding in the shadows, out of sight of humans, just as she did.
Apparently, before the times of man, dragons wandered freely between the two dimensions. There were three dragon brothers who had been headstrong with power and wreaked havoc in the dragon world. The king had sentenced them to a life of exile, casting them and each of their mates out onto the Earth. Only when their ancestors were willing to die for something other than themselves would it be reopened and welcomed back into the kingdom. The dragons on the Earth were the ancestors of these men, and since she was the only one left, there was little hope.
For centuries, she had searched the Earth, finding only the bitter reality that she was the sole survivor of their species. There was a chance to keep the species from going extinct if she took a human lover, but even then, it wasn’t a guarantee. She just hadn’t brought herself to eat the pain that consumed her. Humans were the reasons for their species’ demise. Joslin couldn’t give them any more power than that. Half-breeds would be against everything she believed in. It was better just to let their race end with her, and keep their heritage and magic guarded from being misused.
On an ordinary summer morning, she had went out scavenging the nearby field for a hearty beef brunch when they had struck. She hadn’t seen them coming, which was next to impossible. The group of soldiers had used some sort of high tech radio frequency that had blocked her keen senses and given them a tiny window of opportunity the moment she had shifted. She screamed, but no one heard. A blaze of fire didn’t phase them. The harder she fought, the more they were able to block her magic. It hadn’t taken long for them to get close enough to inject her with something so powerful she hadn't stood a chance and darkness swallowed her.
*****
General Washburn smiled at the lifeless body before him. It had taken years to capture and sedate one of the beasts, and at last, he finally had one rendered helpless at his disposal. Thanks to the willing group of dragons who so graciously offered up their services, they had formulated a potion strong enough to override their magic and put them in a medical induced coma. Now, their plan could work. He waited for the I.V. to be inserted to insure that the beast wouldn’t escape, and handed her over to his scientists. It was only a matter of time before the world would finally be at his disposal. Then he would be sitting on a fat bank account that would be his retirement. All the government leaders were notified of the find, and preparing for the takeover. Now, he could celebrate.
The elite team of scientists went to work, cutting and prodding. The first area of interest was the large black dragon’s tail. Samples were drawn from underneath its scales, which meant them prying a few loose. If the dragon were awake, it would be in agonizing pain. Having the scales ripped up was equivalent to having the skin and tissue ripped from a human’s body. Toenails were surgically removed, as well as the dragon’s horns. A dragon’s horns were sacred. If they were removed, it was a show of weakness. They had just marked the creature for the rest of its life…however long that would be.
“Sir, I think you need to see this.” A balding man with tiny wire glasses said into the receiver. Without explaining, he hung up and hovered over her, giving her another dose that had her helplessly succumbing to the dark loneliness once more.
Chapter Eight
“Do you think we can go into town for a few hours today?” Aislinn asked Drakk and Jex.
Drakk turned and looked at her with a frown, “Why? We really can’t chance going into town, you know that.”
Aislinn smiled at him sweetly. “But I need to check on a few things, and run to the store too.”
Jex laughed at her and said, “What could you possibly need at the store, sweetheart? I
told you I would get you whatever you need.”
Aislinn bit her lips and turned around, she didn’t want to tell them why she wanted to go into town, it was little embarrassing. When she had left home, she had been wearing her grannie panties because she had needed to do laundry. Since coming here she had only been washing them out, now she needed her sexy underwear again. It was her one indulgence and she wasn’t going to give it up because she was embarrassed.
“I need to go to the shop, check on the sales, make deposits, and then I have to swing by the store to pick up some feminine things.”
Jex and Drakk looked at one another wans shrugged. “I told you it is a little dangerous for us.”
“Oh, I know, and I wasn’t really asking for you to come with me, I thought that possibly you would let me just go into town by myself, you know for a few hours, and then come back and get me,” Aislinn said.
“Yeah, that's not going to happen,” Drakk said and turned around, pinching is nose between his fingers. He definitely had to find a better approach in dealing with her. She tried to use her sweetness to get to them and though it may work on Jex, he was too old to be drawn in. One of them had to be able to keep their senses around this woman or they were both doomed to drop to their knees every time she turned on her charm.
Jex just smiled and looked and her and nodded. Aislinn felt her anger begin to grow, they were basically patting her on the head and shooing her on her way. What the hell was that about, she was not a child, and she was not going to be treated as such. It was just not going to happen.
