Ten minutes later, I had found a towel, and he was wrapped in it. He sat on my couch looking around and then stood up and started perusing my pictures. Picking one up at a time, he studied pictures of my parents and my friends. I had the mantle covered with pictures of my travels and excursions. I had been quite the adventurer in my early twenties, and into a few extreme sports before I started working full-time from home as a travel writer. I wondered what he thought of all my photos and I watched with interest as his towel rode dangerously low on his hips. I couldn’t see how he was keeping it up. Actually, I knew exactly how, and as a result I was even more determined to keep my eyes above his waist.
“You’ve traveled many places.” He commented, turning around just to glance at me, before turning back and studying the pictures closely. I realized then that his eyes weren’t actually only gray. When they weren’t the eerie green color, they were almost a bluish gray, the color of a clear, cloudless summer day, and I found myself drawn into his gaze.
He took his time to address me again, “You have a very nice home. I’ve never seen one like it, but then again, I’m not from these parts.”
I raised my brows and sat down on my couch. It was clear now that he wasn’t making any plans to leave. In fact, he seemed right at home. And frankly, as long as he didn’t plan to turn me into a mouse or something equally humiliating like a snail, I wasn’t in a rush for him to leave. Something about his presence made me curious. I just hoped Rachel would be fine, given the spell he used on her.
“Don’t worry, I have no interest in harming you. And the spell I placed on your friend will wear off in a matter of minutes, although, she’ll have no memory of me.” He said reading my mind.
It was disconcerting. “If you’re going to insist on touching my things and violating my space, the least you can do is stay out of my head.”
He looked at me with amusement again and smiled. I liked his smile. “My apologies.”
I nodded in acknowledgement, not wanting to think about what his smile combined with him walking around my home in a towel was doing to me, “So what happened to you? Why don’t you want anyone to know you’re here? We’re not like other towns. We’re used to your kind.”
“My kind?” He said, gazing at me again, his eyes were almost hypnotic.
“Yes. There are a lot of paranormal beings who live here with the rest of us in harmony. We don’t have issues with each other. I assure you; we’re not the fire and pitchforks kind of town. You could go flying away on a broomstick and we wouldn’t even notice. Not that you would ride on a broomstick... ” My voice trailed off and I was aware that I was speaking gibberish.
“Someone in your town knew that I was arriving and is trying to kill me. I don’t want him or her to know that I survived.”
I shook my head, so that explained the wound. “It can’t be someone here,” I said defensively. “That’s just not like us. I mean come on, we let vampires teach school children; why would one of us hurt a warlock?”
He shrugged, “I’m not sure, but I intend to find out.”
“Ok then,” I said feeling annoyed that he thought one of my fellow townies was capable of harming him, “Well, you’re a warlock, so I’m sure you have all this handled. Can you leave now?”
“I’m staying here.” He said it matter-of-factly as if it were the most obvious choice.
My eyes grew wide. “Excuse me?”
“I’m staying here. It’s the easiest way to stay hidden.”
“No!” I said, sputtering, “This is my home. And you are not welcomed here. Someone’s trying to kill you for God’s sake! They might kill me!”
“I’ll keep you protected.”
“You couldn’t even keep yourself protected.” I retorted hotly.
“You have a point, but I need a place to hide. I don’t really have anyone else to turn to. Will you help me, Cameron? I am desperate, and my powers are limited until I am completely healed.” He moved slowly toward me and I retreated further into the cushions of the couch. He sat down next to me and his towel did nothing to conceal the way his thigh muscles flexed when he sat. He then placed his forearms on his legs and folded his hands together. His hands were large, manly and calloused. I wondered how they would feel on my body.
I pulled my thoughts away from that train of thought and sat up straight, hoping to move away from him. He caught my hand and said, “No, please stay. Please.”
It was the second please that made me reconsider, and I sat back down on the opposite end of the couch, needing room. I couldn’t stand being so close to him. There was something about him besides his looks that excited me too much.
“That bullet that I pulled out of my flesh is made from a particular precious metal.” He said, suddenly turning over his palm and showing me something that looked like a red stone. I studied it and looked up at him, giving him permission with my eyes for him to continue, “It will only harm my kind, but do nothing to humans. That’s how I know it was personal, the bullet was meant for me. Made for me, even.”
My eyes trained on the area where his wound had been only minutes ago. It had healed over leaving a scar on his otherwise perfect skin.
“So what do you suggest I do until then? Until you find this would-be assassin?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We can play house. I’ll be your doting husband, and you’ll be my wife.”
Chapter Three
“What? No way.” I jumped up from the couch, furious.
I shook my finger at him, “You might be some sort of magical being, but I have rights!” I shouted.
He looked at me impassively and then gave me a small smile.
“Trust me, I’m not thrilled either. Sequestering myself isn’t something I do well.”
My eyes grew wide, “You’re serious aren't you?”
“Of course, definitely.”
“I don’t even know your name and you plan on living with me.”
“It’s Osmar.”
“Sounds like a villain’s name.” I said shortly, crossing my arms over my chest.
He laughed then, “No. Trust me. I’m the good guy. You don’t want to meet the bad guys. Well at least not the bad guys I’ve run into.”
I shook my head. “This isn’t going to work.”
“I think it will.”
“Why should I help you?”
“Umm... I can grant you wishes,” he said, clearly reaching.
“That’s a genie.” I rolled my eyes.
“You know your mythical creatures.”
“That’s common knowledge. Try again. Tell me why I should help you.”
“Because I need your help and without you, I don’t know how I’ll find the person who’s trying to kill me.”
He sounded so sincere and given my inability not to help when someone asked me to, I felt myself giving in. And finally after a few minutes standing there in silence trying to think of what to do, I said, “Alright, you can stay here. In the guest room,” I qualified when he looked too pleased with himself upon hearing my response.
He nodded. “Of course.”
“So it’s settled. We’re not playing house. You’ll find out who’s trying to kill you and I’ll... ” I hesitated, not knowing how to continue, “I’ll just stick to business as usual.”
He nodded, “Thank you, Cameron.”
I was about to respond with, “You’re welcome,” when I realized that I hadn’t at any point told him my name, but yet he knew it.
“How do you know my name?”
He shrugged, “I just do.”
I didn’t want to get into any additional details regarding what else he knew about me, so I changed the subject, “So how do you intend to find the person who attempted to kill you?”
He shook his head, “I don’t know. I was hoping you would have a few ideas.”
“I have no idea. Like none at all.”
He sighed, resigned, “Until we come up with a way to flush out the man or being that is trying to kil
l me, I think I should offer my services. Whatever you need, I will do.” I instantly was suspicious. His words sounded sincere but slightly sensual, as if they had a double meaning that wasn’t quite so innocent. And I blushed as I thought of that meaning. I’m pretty sure from the way Osmar looked at me that he would gladly fulfill all my needs, especially in the bedroom.
At that thought, I felt a shiver go down my spine and I hoped he hadn’t noticed. I left the room without another word. It was settled; I was now stuck with an attractive, alluring man of the paranormal variety as a roommate. It could be worse; I thought to myself, but I wasn’t sure how.
I had a deadline to meet so I spent most of the week in my office, avoiding Osmar even when I wasn’t working. He was busy anyway, looking through spell books that seemed to materialize from nowhere, combing through archives at the library in the middle of the night when no one was there, looking for any clues to the identity of the person who might be interested in harming him. He kept to himself for the most part. Sometimes when I knew he wasn’t looking I would sneak furtive glances at him and our eyes would meet. Unnerved, I was always the one who would break eye contact and disappear into another room. I honestly didn’t know how to interact with him. I spent most of my nights tossing and turning, not used to having someone in my house. I didn’t see him much unless he was actually looking for me which didn’t happen often. Hence, I was surprised when he knocked on my office door one morning.
I reluctantly stopped working and stuck my head out. I could smell them before he even had a chance to offer me some, and I hungrily reached for the blueberry muffins that he had in his hand. I bit down into one and moaned.
“These are delicious. Did you spike them with witch’s brew or something?” I joked.
He looked at me with a serious expression, “How did you know?”
I immediately began to choke and dropped the muffin, while he thumped me on the back.
“I was joking. That was a joke. Unfortunately, I have a sweet tooth so I drove into town to get something sweet, yet breakfast-like to eat.”
I coughed a little, still trying to dislodge a little of the muffin from my throat and said, “Drove? Aren’t you supposed to be staying under the radar? And what did you just say about driving? You don’t have a car.” I narrowed my eyes at him as I realized what must have happened, “You took my car!”
He nodded. “Yeah, is that a problem?”
“Of course that’s a problem. You’re not covered under my insurance or anything!” I knew I was being silly, but I felt our whole situation was ridiculous.
“I know this situation is causing you undue stress---”
“No kidding,” I said moodily.
He studied me, “So how about I help you relax?”
I eyed him suspiciously, “No, thank you.”
“Seriously, give me a chance. I promise you. You’ll have a great time.”
I looked at him and then back at my laptop. It wouldn’t hurt to take a short break, I thought to myself. “What did you have in mind?”
He said to me, “There’s a canyon not too far from here. Do you want to see something cool?”
Given that he was a warlock, his version of cool would probably be something CNN worthy so I was curious. I had a friend once who was some sort of shape-shifter, and she also happened to be a nerd as well so when I would rather go outside and play, she would shapeshift into me and do my homework for me. It worked out really well until my mom busted us and then grounded me. I asked my friend if she were willing to be grounded as me, but apparently that wasn’t her idea of a good time. Hence, I was really curious as to what Osmar could do.
During the drive, I struggled not to doze off given how tired I was, but since I insisted on driving, dozing off wasn’t an option. Osmar talked to me about my life the whole way there. I’m not sure if it was an attempt to help me stay awake, or if he had genuinely been interested in what I had to say; either way, it had been a telling conversation.
“So you grew up an only child?” He asked.
I nodded and yawned, pushing my hair back and away from my face.
“What about you?” I figured I might as well be friendly.
“I’m not too sure. I didn’t know my parents.”
I felt bad instantly and said, “Have you tried searching for them? There are so many sites now online that you can use to track down your ancestry. As long as you have some basic information, I heard it’s pretty easy.”
He laughed, “I don’t think websites search that far back.”
I then looked at him from the side of my eye, “How old are you exactly?”
He hesitated before answering, “Why does it matter?”
I took my eyes away from the road for a second, admiring his silhouette as the sun’s rays beamed down on him and Osmar’s whole face was cast in this warm orange glow. I would have stared longer if it weren’t for the horn that blared, bringing my focus back on the road as I swerved to get back into my own lane.
“Sorry about that,” I mumbled. He merely shrugged. “We’re still alive. That’s all that matters.”
I didn’t know if he was being funny or serious, but then I saw the look in his eye and knew it was the former.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said to him when the silence stretched between us.
“I lost count of the years. I would guess around three hundred, four. After the first century, they all seem to roll together.”
I shook my head. “You don’t look a day over thirty-five,” I said meaning it. Besides the salt and pepper beard, his jet-black hair showed no signs of changing. And his face was still perfect, as if carved from stone. He didn’t have a wrinkle in sight. I couldn’t say the same about myself. I swore that I could see wrinkles forming at the edge of my eyes.
“So you don’t know your parents? Do you even have any idea where you’re from?”
He shrugged, “I honestly don’t know anything about my past.”
“But there’s no way you could have just appeared. There’s no such thing as spontaneous generation,” I said thinking about high school biology.
“What’s your earliest memory?” He asked me.
“My mother taking me to the grocery store with her and me falling out of the cart.”
“What happened? Did you get hurt?”
I shook my head, “One of your kind caught me, a telekinetic, and lowered me to the ground gently. My turn; did you just wake up one day a wizard?”
“Warlock. Not wizard.” He laughed, genuinely amused. “I remember only a little from my childhood and those memories entailed me trying to do magic in the fields when I should have been attending to the animals. That’s all I remember. Those are my first memories.”
“And how old were you?”
“Twelve. I think.”
“And from then on you what? Raised yourself?”
“From what I do remember, yes.”
“Sounds lonely.”
“You’re right. It was.”
I found myself feeling sad for the little boy he had been who didn’t know his parents or even where he was from. And that conversation made him seem more human to me.
We rode in my car as far as it could go into the hills, and then we climbed down a few boulders to where a meteor had landed at one point and left what was now a huge canyon, at least twenty miles wide, just outside of town.
“Alright, Mr. Warlock. Let’s see your skills,” I teased feeling more at ease with him.
He walked into the center of the deep valley and said, “You might want to stand back.”
I raised a brow at him and said, “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
And he held out his arms, winked at me and in a flash of light; Osmar was gone and in his place was a creature that I had only seen in storybooks, a creature that never once visited my town, at least as far back as I could remember.
It stood at least ten feet high and it was reptilian in nature. It had wing
s and a tail that stretched at least another ten feet behind it and seemed like a cross between a pterodactyl and a komodo dragon. And then I realized that’s exactly what it was, a dragon. Not much surprised me being from Graunville, but seeing him shift into a dragon; now that was shocking.
I stumbled back, instantly afraid.
“Osmar?” I whispered and the creature looked down at me and its eyes were familiar. They were the same eerie green that I remembered from when I initially found Osmar on the porch in front of my house. Osmar and the creature in front of me were apparently one.
And as I reached out to touch the creature, a flash of light blinded me for a second and Osmar appeared, catching my hand in his.
“Did I scare you?” He asked, holding on to my hand.
I shook my head and then shrugged, “At first, yes, but then I noticed your eyes. I knew it was you. That’s amazing what you can do.”
He looked at me thoughtfully and then began to lightly stroke the back of my hand, never taking his eyes away from mine. Gently he pulled me closer and I let him, not resisting as I felt hypnotically drawn to him. He brought the palm of my hand to his lips and kissed it. It was romantic and sensual, and I felt myself stepping even closer, so that our bodies were finally touching.
I thought now was the time where we would act on the sexual tension that seemed to sizzle between us and grow stronger as the days passed. I opened my mouth, ready to extend an indecent proposal Osmar’s way, when he cut me off saying, “Would you like to fly with me?”
I frowned, “How?” I was taken aback. Here I was thinking about what we could be doing together on the ground, right now, and instead he was talking about flying?
Maybe I was wrong; maybe the sexual tension I had been avoiding all along was in my own head. And then I looked down at the evidence of his desire, pressing against my thigh and realized that no, I wasn’t wrong, Osmar just had other plans.
“I don’t know. I figured I could take you for a ride. It could be a first for us. A first date. Your first time riding a dragon. My first time allowing a human to straddle me. Well, let me take that back; it’ll be the first time as a dragon that a human has straddled me. I’ve had my share of adventurous sex partners,” he quipped, and I rolled my eyes.
ROMANCE: SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE: Dragon Baller's Bride (Dragon Shifter Alpha Male Romance) (Paranormal Romantic Suspense) Page 95
