by Crymsyn Hart
“So what is it then?” Savanna asked. “What has happened between the three of us?” She took another sip of the cool water and it revived her. She could probably down a lake and it still wouldn’t make a difference. I don’t know how I was able to do that. I can’t produce fireballs. I can’t be his mate, and there’s no way I’m a witch.
Drake paced the room with the grace of a caged animal. As he walked, she couldn’t help but notice the way his ass looked in his pants. Savanna shook her head and snapped out of it. Wyeth kept his hand on her shoulder. Having him close satisfied a need in her she hadn’t experienced the other night. Maybe it would grow to the point that she couldn’t control herself, and she would have to jump one of them.
“The enchantment I cast upon Wyeth’s namesake was a blood spell. It mingled our blood and our souls. If there were blood relatives the bond stretched, but I always sensed a death or anything big that was going to happen or if they were planning it. Now there is only Wyeth. The thread becomes the strongest when I reveal myself to a Blackmore. At that instant, when you touched him and me, the magic also bombarded you. Magic in this realm is unpredictable and what little I have left is dwindling. There is no real magic here, and whatever I came here with is leaving me,” Drake confessed.
“So you’re to blame?” Wyeth questioned Drake.
“I don’t know. If this bond has also been transferred to Savanna, then you shouldn’t be attracted to her or lusting after her. Neither should I. The most we should both experience is a tightening sensation in your chest. Or, if she is making an important decisions or if she dies. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I do feel this magnetism as well, and she stirs my passions.” Drake ran his finger down her other shoulder.
Savanna shivered. “What do we do about it? This won’t become any easier if you leave.”
“That was another thing I was contemplating. Not with you being the conduit to my world. If they have another message for me, then I need to know what it is.”
“Right. Of course.” Savanna turned back to Wyeth. His fingers twined through her hair. He flashed her a small smile, and it seemed he was in a daze all his own.
Drake caressed her cheek and turned her face back to him. “And I don’t want to abandon you. Savanna, I can’t explain any of this. I’d love to put a big shiny label on it that clarifies it for everyone. Until it works itself out, enjoy it while it lasts. Bask in our affections. That’s all I can say to you.”
“And if I ‘enjoy it while it lasts,’ as you say, you do realize it’s going to mean that we will end up in bed, because I can’t fight the lure. There are too many factors here for me to rationalize everything. We have to come to an understanding that you two aren’t going to fight every five seconds because I pay the other attention. Can you both deal with that?” Savanna asked.
Wyeth traced the contours of her face and along her neck until he got to her shoulder. He began kneading out some of the knots there. “You’re tense.”
“I wonder why,” she murmured as he dug deeper into her shoulder blade and made it so that she could move her neck without it cramping. “You didn’t answer my question. Can you behave yourselves?”
“It all depends on if he can do the same.” Drake gestured to Wyeth.
She shook her head. “No. It depends on where this goes, because with him touching me right and you touching me, I want to melt into the both of you. Look, I’m not into threesomes or anything, but again...my gut tells me we are headed there.”
Wyeth grunted and withdrew from her. When he did she was able to think a bit clearer. “How about we eat first? This was supposed to be a dinner for me and you,” he reminded Savanna.
“I know,” she replied.
“I’m not leaving you alone with him,” Drake responded.
She sighed. “I know that too.” Savanna got up and followed Wyeth, hoping dinner would not be disastrous. All of this made her head hurt. Maybe it was best if she reached across the void and asked this strange woman who had contacted her. Then maybe she could get some straight answers.
Chapter Nine
Drake sat next to Savanna and chewed on his pork chop, mincing it between his teeth, trying to draw out any of the blood in it. If he was by himself, he would have broken the bone and sucked the marrow out. Uncomfortable silence blanketed the room. He tried to work out how Savanna had tapped into his dragon fire. The best he could come up with was that her psychic abilities had tapped into his emotions, and she had channeled the magic. Maybe his fire had reacted to it, because she was the closest thing to a spellcaster this world had. A powerful spellcaster had contacted Savanna, so it was obvious that she had some gifts. When it came to why he was attracted to her, even he couldn’t answer it, because he wasn’t lured to Wyeth. He’d had his share of sleeping with human males, but they were not what he desired most.
Although Savanna was right, the longer they were together, the likelier it was they would be together. Drake hadn’t planned on interrupting their dinner plans. When he sensed Savanna was close, then he was compelled to see her. She was his beacon, just as the ships relied on the light from the lighthouse. The last three days being away from her had given him a chance to think. And yet he obsessed on how sweet her lips had been. How wonderful her body molded to his. Drake wanted more of her, and knowing Wyeth was in the mix infuriated him. Whenever he tried to push the thought of her away, the dragon inside of him roared. It desired her. No human female had ever made his dragon claw at his insides the way she did. He had given up the idea of escaping to his mountain retreat. The dragon made him stay, no matter if he wanted to leave.
They ate in silence. Savanna picked at her meal.
“Everything okay?” Wyeth asked.
The concern in the other man’s eyes was genuine. Wyeth wanted to be sure she was taken care of. It wasn’t about upping him in front of this woman. And the question remained, could he share himself with another human?
“It’s fine. It’s been a long day. That’s all. I’m tired. The food is wonderful. Did you cook it yourself or do you have a live-in chef?”
Wyeth chuckled. “No live-in chef or butler. This is my cooking. I cooked for me and my father. I could only eat so many burned scrambled eggs before I knew I had to cook for myself. Mom was the better cook, and she loved to teach me. You would’ve liked her. Drake, did my mother know what you are?”
He set the fork down and met Wyeth’s eyes. “No. She didn’t know about me. Your father never revealed what I was. Our bond bound them not to reveal it to anyone. Now you are the only one left to inherit the fortune. And there is nothing of the stuck-up, conceited youth left within you that I had seen as you were growing up. You changed.”
Wyeth rose from the table and collected the plates. “It was true. I was an ass as a teenager. Then mother was killed, and it was just me and my father. Nothing else was left but us. I had a reality check. My father started to lose himself in his carpentry work. I joined him, and we got closer. I appreciated crafting things with my hands. I saw how my father knew all of his workers and how they respected him. Not because he had money, but because he earned it. He worked alongside of them. He was there when they had parties, weddings, or funerals. I wanted to be just like that.”
“You’ve done well for yourself,” Drake said.
“Thank you.” Wyeth took the plates into the kitchen, leaving him alone with Savanna.
Drake was overcome by a craving for raw meat that took his breath away. He hadn’t had anything really raw in a long time. Raw and bloody. Something he had just killed would work best, but he hadn’t had the opportunity in a very long time. Right now he wanted to feel the hot blood sliding down his throat to sate the need within him. A sliver of dread hit him. He understood now what had him caught up. He recalled all the things his father had told him, and it was all falling into place now.
“Shit,” he muttered.
“What?” Savanna asked.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
He threw his napkin down on the table. How could I have been so stupid?
“Try me,” she said. He hadn’t realized Savanna stood next to him now. “I believed that you’re from another world, and for some strange reason I can throw fire when I’m around you or at least when we are both pissed off.”
“Do you believe in...” he tried to think about it in human terms. “In love at first sight, or soul mates?”
“Of course. Sometimes certain people are meant to be together. And sometimes people just fall for one another. I’ve seen a few things in my line of work. I’ve sensed when others are destined for one another even if they’re complete opposites.” Savanna patted his shoulder. Her touch was so light he barely felt it, and yet she reverberated into every fiber of his being. The dragon roared within him, because it ached for her touch. Drake caught her arm and studied her.
Here was a woman who had been tossed aside by other men. She didn’t trust others much because she had been ridiculed for her weight, but she had also grown because of it. It had made her fearless and fierce, even if she hid all of that underneath a calm smile of someone who cared for others. She rarely got angry enough to explode the way she did outside. Savanna had to keep her cool so she could read the energies of the world around her. Her beauty was ethereal. Her cheeks were flushed. Wisdom drowned in her eyes and floated in her soul. Drake hadn’t noticed it before because he wasn’t looking for it.
“Why do you ask?”
“In my world, dragonkin know their mates. They have this undeniable connection. It forces them to acknowledge the other, even if they don’t think the other is their mate. It can drive people crazy if they don’t come together. It has to be that draw that we’re feeling. I didn’t think much of it until just now when I got this hankering.”
“What was this dead giveaway?”
“This will sound odd.”
“Not really. I’ve heard a lot of odd coming from you lately.”
Drake chuckled. “True. All through dinner tonight, I’ve had an intense craving for raw meat. I know it sounds strange, but I’ve wanted to tear into something and share it. And it also means that I want to fuck you at the same time. For my kind it means that we are in the vicinity of our mate. It’s part of the mating ritual of the dragon. When females are pregnant or have laid eggs, the males bring back food for them. It’s the basic instincts leftover from when we were only dragons and not dragonkin. I hope it doesn’t disgust you.” Drake stepped away from her.
The longer he was with her, the more his instincts to protect her from harm were overpowering him. He didn’t know if he could fight it. Part of him fought to deny he was experiencing this for a human, but the dragon signaled it needed her. Savanna had roused it from its long slumber under his flesh. He fought the impulses, because he hadn’t recognized it until now. Drake had thought he was incapable of ever finding a mate, because he was no longer among his own kind.
“It doesn’t disgust me. Although the notion of raw meat isn’t exactly appetizing.”
Drake saw how her dress was torn and her hair mussed from when she had fallen. Savanna seemed so delicate, and yet the inner strength that emanated from her nearly blinded him. He was noticing things as though his blindfold had been removed, and he saw the light for the first time.
“What about Wyeth? I won’t have you two throwing any more punches over me. I’m not sure I can handle it.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” Wyeth called behind her.
“How long have you been there?” Drake couldn’t fight the snarl that came out. The hair on the back of his neck bristled. He was on edge. He knew of no dragons that shared a mate, but if it was true the three of them were connected, then he couldn’t deny Savanna. She would be the most important one in the relationship. She was the one he had to think about. Although sharing their bed with another male rubbed his dragon the wrong way. They shouldn’t have to share her.
“Long enough to hear what you told her about this mate bond. Isn’t there any way for her to choose who she wants to be with?” Wyeth asked. His tone was tinged with anger.
Drake started toward him, but Savanna slipped between them. Fury bubbled inside of him. He curled his fingers into a fist, feeling his nails extend so they were sharp claws ready to render and tear flesh from Wyeth. If he struck him, Drake would shatter all oaths he had ever sworn with the Blackmores about not harming them. He was not about to renege on his word.
“Guys. Guys. You have to stop doing this.” Savanna touched him and Wyeth.
A surge of energy flashed through him that shook him to the core. Wyeth groaned something, and Savanna wilted to the floor. Drake recovered quick enough to catch her. He brought her to the nearest couch he could find. It took her a moment, but she began to come around.
“Savanna, are you okay?” Wyeth implored her.
Her eyes fluttered open, but there was no recognition in them. Wyeth wanted to say something else, but Drake shot him a look. Savanna sat up and moved away, taking in her surroundings.
“Kestrel, is that who you are?” Drake inquired.
Her lips turned up into a smile. “Meruke, yes. Don’t worry. Savanna is okay. Your mother sends her regards. Although she was skeptical when we told her you were alive and in another realm.”
“Y-you’ve seen my mother? What of my father?” Drake could hardly believe what this other presence said about his mother. Orlana would have died many centuries ago.
“I have. The queen resides in a spelled cave far from Blaze Mountain so that she remains eternal. Your father, sadly, his body lays in the crypt in the mountain along with the rest of your family.”
“Who are you then?” Wyeth probed. “Why do you take over Savanna the way that you do? If you harm her...”
Savanna turned her gaze on Wyeth and studied him. “Well... you are not something I expected. You’re connected to her the same way Meruke is. I am not harming her. She has stepped aside, given a look into my world, so that she can see I am truthful. Those in our realm are giving her information on how to open the gateway so Meruke can return home.”
“I-is that even possible?” Drake asked. He had prayed for a way for him to return, but after so many eons had given up hope. “There’s no magic here, and all mine is about used up.”
“I know. Listen. Time is short. This is taxing on both of us. In a month, there will be a full moon. With this moon will come a great storm. When the eye hits you’re going to have to...” her voice trailed off and she closed her eyes once more and passed out.
“But—wait. You can’t do this now. I need to know.” Drake shook her shoulders, but she remained limp as though she was no longer in her body. Nothing could rouse her, and he had no idea how to bring her back.
* * * *
Savanna opened her eyes. Before her was a large mirror, and she could see the reflection of a woman with long brown hair that hung in waves around her shoulders. She was dressed in blue velvet trimmed with gold, and she was pregnant. There was also a power that she felt inside of her, similar and yet unfamiliar, all in the same way. She was in a great library lit by candles, and not in Wyeth’s house. Panic took hold and she started to struggle, but strong arms held her down.
“Calm yourself. You don’t want to hurt the one you have come into. We are not going to hurt you, Savanna.”
She looked to the left and saw the one who held her down. His pale blue eyes bored into her and had a flash of a beast within him. Almost what she had sensed with Drake, but this was caged. It didn’t seem to have an outlet like Drake’s had. “Who are you?”
“My name is Ralag. You have traded places with Kestrel. If these tradeoffs were more predictable, then things would be easier.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. We haven’t much time. I need you to listen. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
He touched her arm. “Good. You have to be a powerful witch to breach the void that connects our two worlds.”
“I�
�m not a witch or a spellcaster. I’m a psychic.”
“I see Meruke has told you some about us. Whatever a psychic is, then you must be a strong one because no one has been able to reach across the abyss since the last sorceress who cast the spell and sent the king into the storm.”
“Is there a way to bring him back?” she asked, hearing the voice that was alien to her. Kestrel’s voice was deeper than hers and her body was stranger. Feeling the baby inside of her was unfamiliar. When it kicked it lit her up and made her complete in a way she had never known before.
“There is. In a month, there will be a full moon in this world, and I suspect in yours, too. On the second night of the full moon a great storm will rise. Meruke must fly into the center of the storm. When he is there, a spell must be said to open the doorways. And all those who will pass through it must shed blood. It will be the only way he come home for another ten thousand years. This is his only chance.”
“What are the words?” Savanna asked. Something tugged on her consciousness. She struggled to stay as Ralag whispered in her ear. The words echoed within her mind even as she was snapped back to her body.
She opened her eyes with Drake and Wyeth peering down at her with an intense stare. She took a quick breath and sat up. “Pen. I need a pen and paper.”
“You should rest,” Drake suggested.
“Now,” she snapped.
Wyeth scrambled as he rushed off to fulfill her request. Drake started to say something. She put her hand up and held onto the words that Ralag had told her. Wyeth returned and she scribbled the words on the paper. Then she recorded what he said about the storm. Her head throbbed when she finished. Drake ran his fingers along her temple. His small caress eased the pounding within her head so she could concentrate again. Another weight added to the sofa, and Wyeth held her hand. His lips slid along the back of her hand. Savanna lingered in the joy of their attention before reminding herself this was all too good to be true. How have two such handsome and slightly crazy men found me? Right, I fell off a boat.
