by Jory Strong
“I’m with you, bro,” Jesus said. “Bates?”
“Jury is out. Stranger and stranger things have been happening in this world. Saffron?”
“Embracing open-mindedness.”
“Big surprise,” Jesus said. “You really heading to the All Things Supernatural Fair as soon as we’re off shift?”
“I’m meeting Analia there.”
“Oh man, almost worth going to the fair to have a chance at spending some time with her.”
“You’re not Lia’s type.”
Jesus slapped a hand over his chest. “Just because I don’t believe in the woo woo shit?”
“That’d be a yes.”
Chapter 2
Crew turned the dark silver Lamborghini Veneno onto the curving driveway that led to IRE headquarters. He hit the gas, accelerating rather than decelerating on the approach to the white adobe house with red tile roof.
When Taine had first partnered with Crew, shortly after arriving in this realm, sitting in a car with the other dragon behind the wheel had been a sphincter-tightening experience. Now he sat with equanimity, admiring the smooth way the car handled the curves, exhaust jetting through four big tailpipes.
Closer to the house, they passed a variety of expensive sports cars lining the driveway. A steel blue Hummer was among the sleek vehicles designed for speed and not survival, though not their boss’s Hummer. Maksim’s black beast of a vehicle would be in the garage, along with the van used to transport collected evidence and confiscated magical items.
Around them, the landscaping was left natural. Native plants. Native soil. Native rocks. All of it encircled by heavy duty wards that could deflect a nuclear blast delivered by humans on the outside or contain a magical detonation caused by mishandling something inside IRE headquarters.
Crew geared down, slid into an open space right on the tail of a red Ferrari vacating the parking spot closest to the front door.
“And I’ve survived another ride in the bat mobile,” Taine said as Crew cut the engine.
“Take more than a car crash to kill us in this realm.”
True. This world was a portal world that touched all the other realms and served as both a destination and jump-off point, but it was relatively magic poor, meaning supernatural beings were nearly indestructible—as long as they didn’t take a human mate.
They got out of the car. The house door opened and Gaige, accompanied by Kellen in his reddish brown, fey hound form, stepped outside.
The blond Sidhe prince, who Taine also frequently partnered with, frowned. “Where’s the Maserati?”
“You want to tell him?” Crew asked. “Or you want me to do it?”
Gaige headed toward them. His long, ground-eating strides created a breeze that would have sent lesser fey scurrying and flying in a hurried escape. “Where’s the Maserati?”
“Faulty wiring,” Taine answered, suppressing a smile and a purr at remembering Saffron’s expression when he’d given her that same answer. She’d been curious, interested in finding out what he meant, especially if those explorations became heated.
Crew laughed. “More like faulty belief. Taine has encountered his mate and thinks he can control the situation.”
Gaige stopped in front of them. “Tell me you didn’t torch my car.”
“My car,” Taine reminded him. “Thanks to a hand full of hearts.”
Crew slapped him on the back. “There’s your omen. When you made that poker hand, you should have gone straight to your mate and introduced yourself.”
“You torched the Maserati?” Gaige asked, apparently unable to get past thoughts of the car.
Taine almost felt regret. Maybe Crew had been right in saying Gaige had an emotional attachment to the Maserati.
Crew answered, “It’s a blackened pathetic shell of itself.”
“Dragons,“ Gaige said, sounding pained.
Crew’s eyebrows lifted. “And the fey are better at controlling themselves when they stumble upon a lover they want to make permanent?”
“You make a good point. At least when it comes to other of the fey, not me.”
Kellen growled low and deep, his lips pulling back to show white, menacing teeth as he included himself among the fey who wouldn’t lose control because he’d met an interesting female.
Gaige directed a look at Taine. “Walk away, my friend. Don’t surrender your freedom this time around. Give it another couple hundred years. I myself intend to make it a full thousand years before succumbing to the lure of a mate.”
Kellen seconded the thought with two short barks.
The garage door rolled upward, revealing a black van with Anders in the driver’s seat. He revved the engine, shot a venomous look at Gaige.
Gaige sighed. “No doubt he’s fantasizing about lifting his foot off the brake and flattening me.”
“How’d gnomes get to be so popular with humans anyway?” Crew asked. “Snow White?”
Taine snorted. “That was dwarves.”
It had been a disappointment to discover that while they might all be IRE, it didn’t mean grudges and hatred between races disappeared. He’d joined for the comradery, the chance to explore other realms along with this one, to get to know members of different races. All of that had been far more exciting than dedicating himself to accumulating treasure.
The van shot out of the garage, passing them with inches to spare. “Too bad he’s so good at what he does,” Taine said, wishing Maksim was motivated to transfer Anders to a different location.
Crew glanced at Gaige. “Definitely a real hard-on for you, and not in an I lust for you way.”
Gaige shrugged. “Gnomes are total prudes. If they had their way, sex would happen only when a woman was ovulating and only as long as it took to get her pregnant. Where’s the fun in that?”
Taine’s blood rushed downward, the same way it did each time he saw Saffron, or imagined himself ridding her of clothing with bare hands or dragon flame.
Not that he was in any hurry to get her pregnant. But any children conceived in this realm would be guaranteed to possess the magic that would allow them to return to it after entering the dragon realm.
It was one of the reasons so many myths abounded in the human world about dragons and virgins, though at the moment, it was the mating act itself that he was anxious to get to. Saffron beneath him… Saffron above him… Saffron on her hands and knees in front of him…
Smoke drifted from his nostrils.
He inhaled, reclaiming it and trying to tamp down his fire.
“You’ve got it bad, my friend,” Gaige said. “You need distance, plenty of distance between you and her.”
They entered the house. Maksim popped out of his office, a frown on his face. “What are you four doing here? You should already be at the supernatural fair.”
Crew rolled his shoulders. “Don’t you think twenty agents patrolling there is plenty?”
“If I thought that, I wouldn’t be looking at you four and asking why the hell you aren’t there. An event like that is going to draw supernaturals after a little magical boost. And sorcerers… Don’t get me started. Those guys can’t help themselves. They’re always looking for ways to become more powerful. Now turn your asses around and head back out the door—unless you have something to report.”
Maksim’s hard stare landed on Taine.
Taine’s clanging heartbeat might as well have been an old-fashioned fire alarm. “I’m gone.”
He wheeled around to make his escape.
“You?” Maksim asked.
“Nothing to report,” Gaige answered.
“Same here,” Crew said and Kellen barked agreement, all of them following Taine outside.
Taine said, “Thanks for the cover.”
Crew tugged the Lamborghini’s key from a front pocket. “No problem.”
Gaige said, “You’re on borrowed time, my friend. Word is going to get to him that you’re not completely in control of your fire. One or two cars, he mi
ght boot you to China. But three cars? That’s three strikes. He’ll either send you back to the dragon realm for a half-century time-out or he’ll have you locked in a room with the source of your problem until you’re mated.
Taine’s cock made its vote known with a hard throb of want.
Later, he promised it, shoving his hand into his pocket to adjust the fit of his jeans and to fist the velvet box containing the diamond and sapphire ring.
* * * *
The supernatural fair was packed, some of the aisles take a deep breath and try to squeeze through the crowd packed, making Saffron think, not a chance. She didn’t care what was on display or who was giving a lecture, she wasn’t wading into that mess. Give her the beach after most of the tourists and visitors had gone home, and she was in heaven.
She wished she could head there now. But she’d promised to do this and she’d enjoy it, damn it. “Next aisle,” she told Lia.
“Definitely.”
Thankfully they were in accord when it came to elbowing their way through crowds.
“I can’t believe how packed this is,” Lia said. “Remember when we were kids and these things were called psychic fairs?”
Saffron nodded. “Some years there’d be more protesters outside than people inside. Now everyone’s interested in magic and the supernatural.”
So much so that Homeland had created a Supernatural Operations department. So much so that it seemed like every other new TV series and over half of the new movies involved psychics, ghost hunters, witches, vampires or shapeshifters.
She and Lia stopped at a table selling charms. The vendor, a dark-skinned woman with a bayou accent said, “It’s okay to handle them. They require blood to be activated.”
Oh boy, Saffron thought, picking up a silver charm with a clear crystal center and etched lines that created the impression of an eye. A tag on a thin string where a chain could be attached claimed that the charm would allow its wearer to become aware of their personal magic so it could be channeled.
Saffron set the eye on the table and turned toward Lia who was fixated on a charm with a thousand dollar price tag. “What’s it for?”
“It attracts a supernatural mate.” And damned if Lia wasn’t fiddling with her purse clasp like she was getting ready to open it and shell out the cash.
Oh hell no, not on my watch.
Saffron pointed to a table toward the end of the row. “Give it some thought while we check out the tarot cards.”
Lia turned away from the charm though her hand didn’t drop away from the purse clasp. “Okay.”
Out of hearing range from the charm seller, Saffron said, “Tell me you are not considering spending a thousand bucks on a charm.”
She didn’t say wasting a thousand bucks, but only because the jury was out on how much of the supernatural stuff was real. And considering she always wore the charm her twin, Sabra, had given her, that’d be a little hypocritical.
Lia glanced over her shoulder. “If the charm worked, it’d be worth the money.”
“No way. No how. Human men are problematical. A supernatural male—if such a man exists at all—has got to be a thousand times more trouble.”
“Says the woman who ends things the instant she gets the feeling a guy is close to thinking the L word, let alone saying it out loud.”
“Guilty.” And fearing the conversation was going to lead to Lia psycho-analyzing her as she’d done in the years since Dashon’s death, Saffron said, “You’re smart, gorgeous and fun to be with. You don’t need to lay down that kind of cash to meet someone special. It’ll happen.”
“Maybe.”
Saffron put her arm around Lia and pulled her into a shoulder-to-shoulder hug. “It. Will. Happen. Believe it.”
Lia was beautiful with her long brown hair and blue eyes, but more than that, she was compassionate and generous—not that she couldn’t also be tough in a tough-love kind of way.
They reached the vendor selling tarot cards, everything from fantastical to downright creepy. She and Lia both zoomed in on a deck with art that was predominantly black and white, though each card had one bright splash of color on it somewhere. Red eyes on a bat. Yellow eyes on a wolf. Bright orange on a Monarch butterfly hanging upside down on a branch in a very dark forest.
Saffron was already pulling out her wallet when Lia said, “Sabra would love this deck.”
“Sabra probably wouldn’t leave the fair with fewer than five decks.”
“Too true.”
Saffron paid and took possession of the deck. They moved on, turned the corner and started down the next row of stalls.
Lia stopped in front of a table crammed with fetishes. Most were of animals or reptiles. They were in various sizes, carved from wood or stone. Crude figures stood mingled with elaborately detailed miniatures.
Saffron’s phone rang. She checked the number, saw it was Animal Control and knew it was Tanya. “What’s up?”
“The iguana needs a place to go. Like today.”
“What about the Herpetological Society?”
“Foster homes close to being maxed out. Even if they weren’t, iguanas are a challenge for them. They’re willing to help if I can get him-her-it out of here and into a safe place.”
“And that would be me?”
“Please. Pretty please. I’ll owe you, big time. Besides, you liked the little guy-girl-whatever. Don’t tell me you didn’t. You’ve status-checked more than once. And the iguana liked you, at least, that’s what the AC officer said.”
“I don’t know—”
“Please, pretty please. It doesn’t have to be a for-life commitment.”
Good. She wasn’t a for-life-commitment kind of woman.
“Please, Saffron.”
How could she say no when the seven-inch green iguana in question had been living in an old Honda with an Army veteran? The guy had served, then come home and failed to make the transition from war in the Middle East to civilian life.
A collision with an F-150 had left the vet trapped in his home on wheels. Her engine had taken the call and pried him from the car, discovering the iguana in the process.
The vet left in an ambulance, in bad shape. She’d found out later that he didn’t make it.
The iguana left in an Animal Control truck. And she’d felt sickened at being the one to slide the vet’s companion into the small vented compartment.
“I’ll take her,” Saffron said, assigning a sex since she wouldn’t know for sure what the iguana was until it got larger.
It almost felt as if it was fated. She’d been curious enough to read up on iguanas, had thought about the one that’d survived the wreck more than once, maybe because her brother had been Army before he’d become a cop.
“You’ll come by today?” Tanya asked.
“I’ll swing by the pet supply store after I leave the supernatural fair, then come get her.”
Tanya laughed. “Now you’ve surprised me. I wouldn’t have thought you were into that kind of stuff.”
“I’m not. Not really. See you later.”
Saffron pocketed the phone. Lia exaggerated a surprised expression. “You’re getting a pet?”
“This is temporary.”
“Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better. What kind of pet?”
“An iguana.”
“The one from that callout?”
“Yes.”
“Your soft side is showing.”
“I don’t have a soft side. What you see is what you get.”
“Yeah, right.” Lia picked up a dragon fetish carved out of black onyx. “My opinion? You want something scaly in your life, hook up with a dragon shapeshifter.”
Saffron shook her head. “Not prepared to believe they exist.”
“Yet. Truth in myth, sister. Truth in myth.”
“So you’ve said before.”
Lia set the fetish on the table and they resumed walking, passing tables offering charms and crystals.
At the end
of the row, Lia grabbed Saffron’s arm. “Hottie alert at ten o’clock.”
Saffron looked and heat immediately flared between her legs. Sensuous need pooled in her belly.
Taine. Of course IRE agents would be here.
Her heart sped and her nipples puckered, and this time, in a tank top instead of the turnout gear, there was no hiding his effect.
Standing next to Taine was more eye candy, a blond discharging plenty of sex pheromones. Every woman around the two of them seemed to be in a trance but she couldn’t give blondie more than a flicked glance.
Taine was wearing what he’d had on earlier, the dragon tee that asked, Got fire?
Their eyes met and she felt engulfed by fire. She licked her lips and his gaze zeroed in on them, turning the heat up.
Another man stopped next to him, this one dark-haired and equally potent.
“Now there’s a glorious trifecta,” Lia said. “If a charm would pull one of those bad boys into my life, I’d hand over my credit card in a heartbeat.”
“They’re IRE agents.”
“Better and better. And how do you know that?”
“Car fire. The one in the Got Fire tee—”
“The one who looks like he can hardly wait to get you naked and beneath him?”
Saffron shivered, ignored the comment. “His Maserati went up in flames. It was our last callout before shift change.”
“If he touched me, I’d go up in flames too. But no such luck. He’s fixed on you. Which isn’t to say I wouldn’t be happy with one of his friends as a consolation prize.” Lia squeezed Saffron’s arm. “Intro time.”
Before they could take a step, the blond drew Taine and the other dark-haired agent away.
Taine glanced back at her before he disappeared and there was a whole lot of promise in that look.
“You’re going to be breaking your sex-fast,” Lia murmured.
“Maybe.”
Probably.
He was obviously on duty now, but he wouldn’t be later. She’d see him again, at the beach, if he’d also recognized her earlier and realized he’d seen her there.
Or he’d call. Admit to using agency resources to get her phone number.
Her pulse sped and there was no denying that she hoped Lia was right, and she was about to break her sex-fast.
