by Honor James
“Uh, right.” Quincy felt his face heating up at her words. He’d have to let Talon know about his woman and her serious case of passing along too much damned information. Typing, he focused on the search. “I have two in your general area. Depending on how far T-Rex plans on driving before you get there, you have one about two hours from you, and the second is four hours away. I’m sending the information and GPS data to T’s phone so you and he can take a look at both and see which you prefer.”
“Oh definitely the closer one. I want to get my dragon nice and naked again as soon as possible. He has the most beautiful body that I’ve ever seen, and I haven’t yet seen enough of it,” Cinnamon told him, blissfully unaware. “Oh and then he is going to take me to the beach. I look forward to that part as well. The oceans have always intrigued me, and I look forward to seeing one up close and in person.”
“Right,” Quincy squeaked before clearing his throat. Holy mother of the Gods, that was way too much information! “Well then you can discuss that with T-Rex and let him know just why you want the closer of the two,” he told her, trying to figure how to get her off the phone without getting himself killed.
Walking back to the table, Talon picked up his leather jacket and shrugged into it as he waited for Cinnamon to finish her talk with Quincy. Hopefully the young Mage was behaving himself.
Cinnamon looked up at Talon and grinned. “Here he is now.” She spoke to Talon and said, “There is one only a couple of hours from here, and I told Quincy that one would be the best one because I can’t wait to be naked with you again. I told him that you have the best body ever created.”
Staring at her for a long moment, Talon held out a hand. “Let me talk to him for a moment, love,” he said gently. Taking the phone from her fingers, he pressed it to his ear. “Forget everything she just said, Quincy. We’re working on her filters for that gorgeous and talented mouth of hers, but we obviously haven’t gotten nearly as far as I thought.”
“There isn’t enough mind bleach on the planet for some of the things she’s told me, Bulldog,” Quincy muttered.
“Well, do your best,” Talon ordered and hung up, sliding the phone into his pocket. “Come on, darling, let’s go and find this hotel you want me naked in.”
“Oh yes, please. Quincy said that he put it on your phone, but I don’t know how since he’s there and we are here.” She shrugged. “But if he said that he did then I trust him completely and know that he did,” she said happily. “I really rather like Quincy. He’s such a sweetie, and Maya is perfect for him.”
“He is a good guy,” Talon agreed, pulling the phone back out of his pocket to check it. Reading the message with the hotel info, he pulled up the second message and groaned. Quincy had basically sent him, verbatim, what Cinnamon had told the other man. “Babe, remember how I mentioned that you need to guard what you say so you don’t embarrass yourself or others?”
Looking up at Talon with near fear in her eyes, she nodded. “Yes. I remember. Did I do something wrong?” she asked and bit her lower lip. She tried to think about everything that she had done and hadn’t thought she had done anything wrong at all. Quincy was a friend, and friends talked about everything, right?
“No, love,” he whispered, drawing her up off her seat and into his arms. “Just remember that not everyone needs to know how much you love my naked body and all your plans for it.” Pressing a kiss to her lips, Talon rubbed his nose to hers lightly. “I love you, Cinnamon, and want you happy in our mating, but try to recall that some people are incredibly embarrassed to know just how much fun we have in the hot tubs we’ve managed to have of late.”
“Oh. You don’t think that Quincy and Maya have found fun in hot tubs yet?” Cin asked with a worried frown on her face. “I think that’s rather sad. They are so very much fun.” She grinned up at Talon and added, “I will try to remember that not everyone needs to know about our hot tub fun. What else should I not tell others?” Obviously there was a list she would need to learn of topics she could and couldn’t discuss with friends.
“Anything to do with us being naked and what we do while naked,” he told her, collecting her jacket to help her into it. “That is for us and us alone. It’s private and our little secret. Unless it’s something you don’t like, that scares you or makes you fear me, you shouldn’t ever say anything about it to another person.”
“Oh, okay. I can do that,” she said with a smile. Turning her head, she looked up at him. “How could I ever be afraid of you, Talon? You love me and would never hurt me, honey. Besides”—she shrugged—“I’m actually a lot older and a lot harder to kill than even you in your Dragon form are.”
“And now that we’ve dented my sizeable ego, we should go.” He snorted out a laugh and shook his head. Tucking her jacket closed around her, he smiled. “You can tell me just how much older you are later when we are alone while we play together.”
“I love playing with you,” Cinnamon admitted to him with a grin. “I really enjoy being able to play with you, and as for me”—she shrugged—“Well it’s one of those things that I will have to tell you later, darling mine.” She was older than the Council, older than any being on Earth.
Eyeing her up carefully, he nodded. “I think it will be, darling mine,” he rumbled softly. Taking her hand in his, Talon led her out of the restaurant to the Hummer. Boosting her up, he went around and climbed behind the wheel.
Doing up the seatbelt, Cinnamon turned sideways so that she could watch him and found herself reaching out to touch him. Taking his hand in hers, she gave him a smile and squeeze. “I love touching you, Talon. I really very much love touching you, and you need to know that I will do it often. It doesn’t matter where we are, I will touch you.”
Lacing his fingers with hers, he smiled. “Fine by me, love,” he said honestly as he backed out of the space. Spinning them around, Talon looked her way briefly. “So, my sweet little angel, why don’t you start divulging a few secrets to the man who loves and adores you while we’re moving and no one else is around.”
“My father is the one who created Gaia, created the Earth, gave her the power to create the races.” First bomb. “After he created Gaia and Chaos, he fell in love with my mother. While she created the children that would protect the Earth, that would be a part of nature, Chaos began to hate.” Cinnamon’s voice dropped into a near whisper. “He began to hate my mother because of how much Father loved her. That hatred festered, and he began to plan. Father created Angels to walk among the humans, among Gaia’s children and assist them. Angels to help the world continue to turn, and for a time there was no hatred, no fear, no war on Earth,” she whispered. “One of the first Dragon Kings was sadly, however, the first casualty of Chaos’s hatred. Chaos took physical form and walked the Earth just as Gaia could. He approached the Angels and swayed far more of them than I care to admit to. When he swayed them to their first evil deed, they fell.” She frowned and scrunched up her face as she tried to think of how to explain it. “When they fell, they lost their wings. They lost the ability to return home. But it was more than that. It was as if they assigned their souls to Chaos.”
Shifting in the seat slightly, Cinnamon continued. “That is how the Wraith were born,” she told him. “Even though the Angels were lost, lost to be Wraith that lived only for death, there was hope. Children born to the Wraith were not cursed to their fathers’ deeds. Yes, they still hold the Wraith inside of them, but they hold humanity as well. The strength of the man determines their fate. One of your team is a Wraith, and he’s always walked the straight and narrow. He was abandoned by his mother when she learned she was pregnant. She carried him to term, however, and abandoned him to a family that raised him as their own. Sadly, however, they were killed, and even though his inner beast, the Wraith could have protected them, it didn’t because they weren’t truly ‘his,’ if that makes sense. The Wraith children that walk the straight and narrow, their inner Wraith will kill anyone in its path to protect those that h
e, the beast, loves and considers his.” She took a sad breath. “Sadly, however, the Wraith children are very, very few and far between because of the intricacies that Father set in place to combat against Chaos’s dominion.” Her father hadn’t wanted Chaos’s Minions, vile beings under his full control he specifically created, to procreate, ever, and had made sure that only through pain and suffering could they. “Your team member, however, will find love. He will learn that he is so much more than the Wraith that he carries inside of him. He’s an amazing man, and the woman that will be his is just as amazing. The man and the Wraith will both protect her fiercely.”
Looking to Talon, she asked, “Would you like for me to continue, or have I already said too much?”
“No, no, please keep going,” he said softly with a smile to her. “I’m just digesting, darling,” he muttered as he thought everything through. “You keep on telling me everything, and I’ll sit here absorbing it all. If I have a question, I promise I will interrupt,” Talon assured her, brushing a kiss to her fingers lightly.
“Gaia wasn’t on Earth when Chaos created the Wraith. She was in Father’s home because I had been born,” she told him softly. “While Mother and Father spent time together ensuring that I would be raised well and in a loving environment, Chaos did something even worse,” she whispered. “The first Vampire was created when he drained the blood from a human and fed him his. He created several of them and ensured that they could procreate. He, however, held back the ability for a Vampire to change another human into what they were because he wanted to rule all those he created with an iron will. Again Father had to step in and gave all the Vampire children free will and the ability to choose between right or wrong. The Vampire you have working on your Teams has chosen good. He’s worried that he’s a monster when in reality he truly isn’t. He’s a good man, and his mate will need him to be who and what he is in order for her to survive,” she murmured. Taking a breath, she closed her eyes and leaned back.
“Chaos tried to turn Gaia’s children into Vampires but was unable to, and once Father realized that Chaos was creating Vampires he tried to ensure that they were protected. Sadly, however, evil will always find a way,” she said on a sigh. “After the Wraith and Vampires, Chaos then created the ones you saw me fighting. The Minions. They are soulless husks of Gaia’s children and Father’s children and humans. I don’t know if the proper term is zombie or what, but they are dead, yet still walking. They have only one mission, and that is doing whatever their Master, Chaos, demands they do. To the death.”
Leaning back, Cin thought for a moment. “I watched as your lineage made their way through the world. I watched as the Council was formed,” she whispered. “Their prime directive was simply combating Chaos and his Minions. Somewhere along the way things shifted so that you could begin to protect the humans and hide the existence of Gaia’s children and sadly Chaos’s Minions,” she continued. “As humanity grew, the Council began to become even more secretive. I watched for so long. Frustration took root inside of me, and I finally could take no more. I went to Father and asked to be allowed to come to Earth to warn you of the danger that is coming. I didn’t think that it was fair that none of the current Council knew of the true danger that was stalking you all,” she admitted. “Plus I was fascinated by you. You were hidden from me for so very long, and when Father told me that you were the one I should look for, I was fascinated. And now I understand it.”
Talon had stayed silent while she’d told him more of how everything had come to be. He had questions, plenty of them, but he wouldn’t ask until they were organized properly. He was nothing if not tidy in his approach to everything in life. “Well, I’m glad you were fascinated by me, love,” he said softly with a grin. Chewing his lip slightly, he shot her a look. “There’s a book I want to show you,” he told her slowly, his mind still processing. “It’s written in the old language, one that is practically dead now. Only a few of us can still speak it, and even fewer can read it. The book was passed to me when I took the Throne of the Dragons, both for my people and within the Council. I was told that a day would come when I would need to open it, but until then it would remain sealed. It is said that only the pure touch of the faithful could open it. None of us ever knew what that was. Now I think that it’s you,” he told her softly.
“I would be more than willing to open the book, Talon.” She had to think. She couldn’t recall a book, but that was nothing unusual. Father and Gaia actually did hide things from her from time to time. “But not right now. Right now I really just want to enjoy this time with you and see if we can find more of the bond-mates so that we can get them to safety and out of Chaos’s reach.”
“No, not now.” Not anytime soon actually. “It’s sat there for the last several centuries. It can wait a few more days.” Or weeks or months. “Do you have any idea of where other bond-mates might be for some of the men?” Talon asked curiously.
“Honestly no idea. I just know them when I see them. Sometimes I see glimpses of what is to be when I meet the men, but for the most part it’s just a knowledge when I meet them.” It wasn’t exact. She knew that, but it was all that they had.
Nodding, he grunted as he took that little tidbit in. “All right, so we will hopefully get some more information off the men. And if that fails, we hit things like markets, the malls, coffee shops, diners, restaurants, and the like to see if you pick up on anyone there.” It wasn’t like they could drive around aimlessly in the hopes she’d spot one. The odds were too high against such a possibility.
“Sounds good to me. Most people are beings that crave being around others, so it would make sense that we would have a better chance to meet them in a place that has a number of people in it.” She stated, “And I look forward to every single second that we get to spend together.”
“Any time I get to spend with you, love, is all good, even in a throng of crazed humans hunting for every bargain there is,” Talon said, shaking his head. “I do much prefer the times where we can be alone, private, and naked. I do so love having my bond-mate naked and at my very tender mercy.”
“Oh I much prefer those times to any other time in the world. I happen to very, very much love our alone times and naked times,” she told him with a grin. “And hopefully very soon we will be able to get nice and naked, because I love those times. Quincy promised that there was a hot tub in the room that he is sending us to.”
“From what he sent me, there is a hot tub as well as a very large shower with multiple heads and a massive bed,” he told her with a smile. “They have full room service until three in the morning, so we can get anything and everything we could possibly want.”
“Oh I love that man even more now,” she teased. “I think that Quincy is my new best friend,” she added with a grin. “I think that this is going to be very, very good, darling mine. How long until we are there? I’m ready to get naked with you, Talon.”
“We are about an hour and a half out, darling, so you need to resist the urge to strip for a little longer,” he said with a smile to her. “But once we are there you can strip out of everything you have on and do whatever you’d like.”
“Are you going to make me wait until we are in our room, or can I strip before we leave the truck?” She knew the answer. She just loved that growl that he gave when he thought of anyone seeing her naked. It made her grin.
Growling deeply at her, Talon shot her a look that held the Dragon firmly in his gaze. “You ever strip in front of another living being and their life is forfeit,” he muttered with more than a little fire behind the words. Breathing deeply, he exhaled slowly, a curl of smoke exiting his nostrils as he forced himself to calm. He knew she was teasing him, but his primal instincts tended to kick in at the absolute worst times, one of the major issues with being a Dragon—he wasn’t that far out of the swamp.
Reaching out, Cinnamon laid her hand on Talon’s cheek and smiled. “I love you, too, Dragon mine. You are mine, and I feel the same way. I
don’t want another being to see you naked either, darling. You are mine. For now. For always. You are mine. Never again do I want anyone to see you naked. From here out only I get to see you naked, just as only you will see me naked.”
Leaning into her touch slightly, he let her calm the beast and nodded. “As long as we understand one another,” he murmured with a slight smile. Turning his head as he carefully kept his eyes on the road, he nipped her palm before flicking his tongue out to stroke her soft flesh.
“We do.” Pulling back, she squeezed his hand again and turned to look out the front window. Laying her head back, she closed her eyes and yawned. “I hate this feeling of sleepiness. I feel so strange being so tired all the time.”
“It’s just part of moving through our mortal coil, sweetheart. It’s exhausting here on Earth, so many factors battering at your body. Close your eyes and sleep for a time,” Talon advised. “I’ll wake you when we get to the hotel, promise.”
“That sounds good to me, honey,” Cinnamon said with a smile. “I love you, Talon Silverwing. I’m very happy that you are mine,” she whispered, and turning in the seat, she closed her eyes and was soon snoring lightly.
Shooting her a look, he brushed through her mind lightly and was glad she was asleep, truly asleep. It would allow him time to think. Closing off all but the most bare of awareness to her, Talon thought over everything she’d told him. He was a little concerned about some of it, mainly Chaos’s Minions, not exactly what he wanted or needed to hear.
Chapter Twelve
Sighing, Talon checked his watch again. Freaking woman was going to make him wait. He knew it. Never failed. She’d spot something she just had to investigate that very moment and leave him hanging for hours on end. He’d go look for her and she’d smile that gorgeous smile of hers and he’d be freakin’ melted butter right there. He was so damned whipped it was actually a little scary. “Cinnamon!” he bellowed. If he didn’t go looking he couldn’t be all melted, seemed simple to him.
