She stiffened, but his arms were loose. His attention seemed to be on a specific black dragon flying overhead. She relaxed and soaked up his warmth. She needed to remember and ask him about the heat. When he turned scaly, his temperature shot up a good ten degrees.
The black dragon dropped out of the sky, slowly diving toward the meadow. Still twenty feet above the ground, the dragon changed into a slender young woman who gracefully landed amid the knee-high grass.
“I’ll be right back.” Tyler’s body shrank as he changed to human. Jogging to the middle of the meadow, he greeted the blonde beauty with a hug that swallowed her lush figure.
A shaft of jealousy shot through Emma.
Her stupid reaction shouldn’t have surprised her. She needed to pull herself together. Tyler had been nice to her. Period. He had never hinted that he was attracted to her. Yet, every time he so much as smiled, her stomach did a flip-flop. How could she have fallen head-over-heels for a complete stranger? Honestly, she didn’t know. Maybe she needed her head examined. He wasn’t even a normal human. For all she knew, she looked like a tasty snack to him.
He laughed at something the woman said. The sound sent a surge of yearning through her. Deep and intense, she could nearly taste how much she wanted him.
Ugh, she had it so bad. No person in her right mind fell for a complete stranger. Did she?
Emma couldn’t hear his words, but he certainly seemed excited. She couldn’t even blame him. What teenage boy wouldn’t fall for an older, beautiful woman?
Nuts, crap, and cuss words! She knew better than to fall for one of the world’s beautiful people.
She couldn’t even get a normal boy to go out with her. Why did she think a dragon would like her any more than a normal person?
She knew some people of Earth would never accept Tyler and his people, but others would go crazy over the dragons. They’d fall at their feet in literal droves.
Dragons would be more popular than any Hollywood movie star ever dreamed. Well, they would as soon as the uproar died down. Next month, Tyler wouldn’t even remember her name, much less what she looked like.
Realizing she couldn’t continue hiding in the trees, she grumbled in frustration.
Meeting Tyler’s girlfriend was not how she wanted to end her time with him. Then again, it might be better that way. She wouldn’t have the option of making a fool of herself. Nothing caused an embarrassing moment like the little brown mouse asking the gorgeous boy out for a date.
Fervently hoping she could conceal her attraction to him, and hide her jealousy, she slapped a smile on her face and stepped into the meadow. Glancing around, she rubbed the back of her itchy neck. The tingle grew worse. She knew that prickly feeling, someone was watching her or at least it felt like it. She sounded as paranoid as Uncle Keith’s ex-wife did. With everything else going on, paranoia shouldn’t surprise her.
A rough hand clamped over her mouth.
Oh, crap! Vampire!
She struggled against the inevitable and tried to scream, but the vampire’s hold was too firm. He easily silenced her. He jerked her backward, dragging her toward the forest.
She slammed her heel into her attacker’s shin. When that didn’t slow him down, she rammed her elbow into his gut.
Ouch! Crap and cuss words, it felt like hitting a cement wall.
Seeing no other option, she chomped down on his hand and tasted blood.
“Emma,” he grunted, trying to pull her into forest. “Stop fighting me.”
Emma froze, realizing several things at once. First, the man dragging her was her uncle. Two, he was trying to rescue her. Three, Tyler was going to kill him long before she could stop the dragon’s furious attack.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Tyler’s head snap around, hunting for her. He changed to wér and roared, charging straight toward them at a blinding speed.
She found herself shoved behind her uncle’s back. “Run!” he yelled.
She stumbled backward.
Uncle Keith spun toward Tyler, yanking his gun out.
“No! Uncle Keith, stop!” She threw herself against him, jerking on his immovable arm.
Tyler was almost there, covering the distance two or three times faster than a sprinting human could.
Keith pulled the trigger.
“No!” she screamed. Anguish ripping through her very soul at the thought of Tyler’s death.
The racket of fire covered her scream of denial. Her mind exploded with fear as she distantly heard the thump of bullets, sounding as if they hit a thick wall of wood.
The furious wér-dragon reached them and ripped the gun out of her uncle’s hand. Grabbing her uncle by the neck, he lifted him off the ground.
His furious growl grew harsher; the deep, rolling sound vibrated with fury. He bared his teeth inches from her uncle’s face.
With his free hand, the black-scaled wér curled an arm around Emma, pulling her to his side. His actions were clear. He was trying to protect her.
Too bad, she didn’t need protecting.
“Don’t hurt him!” Emma screamed, tugging on his arm. When he didn’t budge, desperation filled her voice. “Tyler, please, he’s my uncle!”
Her uncle, a twenty-year, ex-special forces veteran struggled.
Tyler’s growl deepened even further. The guttural sound, emerging from deep in his chest, vibrated with fury, its animalistic warning blatantly clear.
She screamed at him, but her words dropped on deaf ears.
The arm he had wrapped around her was gentle, but strong as steel as it kept her firmly at his side. She looked up at him and realized his eyes were solid white.
Keith continued struggling, but it made little difference.
Tyler snapped his head to the right. Opening his mouth, he snarled at the approaching woman.
Seeing his face, the blonde dragon slid to a sudden stop.
Emma jerked her eyes to the young woman. “Please, make him stop.”
“He’ll never let me come that close, not without a major fight. Talk to him in a gentle tone. Tyler is young. When he saw you were in danger, his dragon instinct demanded he protect you. He didn’t hold anything of himself back when he fully changed into wér.”
Just talk to him, Emma silently muttered as she watched Keith, a man who rarely lost a fight, struggle to free himself. His face was slowly turning colors from lack of oxygen.
“Tyler, please let my uncle go. He can’t breathe,” Emma said softly, tightening her hold on his arm. “You’ve got to let him go.” She tilted her head, listening to him. His growl seemed to lessen in volume.
“Keep going,” the woman urged in a soft murmur.
Wrapping both hands around his arm, she gently tugged. “Come on, let go,” she insisted in a pleading voice, trying really hard not to scream at him. “Please, you can’t kill my Uncle Keith, you just can’t.”
The growling lowered in volume, faltering to a stop. Looking down at her, he blinked. With a hiss, he jerked his hand away from her uncle’s throat as if the touch burned him.
Keith dropped to the ground, gasping for air.
Emma moved to help him, but Tyler had her in an unrelenting cage of gentle arms.
The female dragon went to her knees to help Keith. The moment she touched him, she froze.
Tyler shifted Emma in his arms.
The female dragon jerked her head around and hissed at Tyler. When he didn’t respond, she bared her teeth and growled at him.
Emma was beginning to worry the woman might attack them, but Tyler wasn’t paying the other shape shifter the least bit of attention. As if waking up from sleepwalking, he shuddered. His eyes focused on Emma, slowly changing from white to his normal blue.
He changed shape, shifting into his human body. Wrapping both arms around Emma, he pulled her into a tight embrace. “Sorry, so sorry,” he said gruffly, rubbing his cheek against her hair.
For her part, Emma was stunned, stunned totally speechless. Tyler acted as if
she was important to him, like she was his girlfriend or something. Maybe they did things differently on Tuatha. A massive culture gap was the only thing that made any sense.
“You were trying to protect me,” she said softly, leaning into his embrace, greedily enjoying it while she had the chance. “Thanks.”
“When you spoke to him, I should have realized you knew him, but I didn’t think. I saw you struggling and everything went red.” He sighed and a gust of summer-laced spice surrounded her. “I was terrified he was going to hurt you.”
“Oh!” Jerking back, she ran her hands over his chest in a quick move. “He shot at you!”
“I’m fine. Hush,” he leaned down – shocking the living daylights out of her – and gently kissed her forehead, “not much can hurt me when I’m in wér or dragon form.”
Emma gazed into his serious blue eyes, too floored to say anything. She was still trying to pull her scattered thoughts together when the female dragon started issuing orders.
“There are shroum trees all over the place. You two go find a pixie that’s willing to bite us,” the woman said, never taking her eyes off Emma’s uncle. “While you are there, make sure the colony understands they are welcome to take sanctuary in the city.”
Uncle Keith, speaking in English, said, “Emma, I don’t know whether to shake you for scaring the crap out of me or ask how you’re talking to these two. And exactly why are you in his arms, young lady?”
Emma grinned. Pulling away from Tyler’s embrace, she dropped to the ground in front of her uncle.
He immediately wrapped her in an engulfing hug.
“They’re dragons,” she said with an impish smirk on her lips, “and I’m going to find a pixie that will bite you. Then you can understand them as well.”
He glared at her, putting his hand on her forehead, she watched him fight a smile. “Emma,” he warned with a stern look, “now is not the time for jokes. It’s pretty obvious he isn’t human, but pixies?”
“Who’s joking?” she chuckled and jumped to her feet.
Tyler reached for her hand, entwining his fingers with hers.
She blinked in surprise, flushing as excitement bloomed through her stomach.
He tugged her toward the giant mushrooms and she knew he restrained his strength. “Come on. Once shroum heads mature, they turn tough as old leather, and pixies carve their homes out of the larger heads or sometimes the trunk.”
“Shroums?”
“Those,” he pointed to a mushroom tree, “are shroums. The thorns running up the stem protect pixies from bask lizards.”
“We don’t have bask lizards either. Are they dangerous to everyone or just pixies?” she asked, glancing around the ground with a cautious look.
“Everyone,” Tyler said, frowning down at her.
The same pixie that bit her met them halfway across the field. For a price, two cups of sugar and a bar of chocolate, Mari agreed to bite her uncle and the woman.
After the woman and her uncle received the pixie bite, Emma quickly made introductions. “Tyler, meet Keith Baker, my uncle. Uncle Keith, this is Tyler, and his, um...”
“My Aunt Lydia,” Tyler said. His lips curved in a knowing grin.
Keith didn’t seem to notice the byplay between her and Tyler. He stood with his arms crossed, keeping his back ramrod straight. He nodded, looking the older shape shifter directly in the eye. “Is this some kind of invasion?” he asked harshly, all humor gone; a look of dread covered his face.
“No, we aren’t sure what’s going on.” Lydia grimaced, but the smile in her eyes never dimmed, focused entirely on Keith. “Though, I ran into a druid and she said she sensed a tremendous surge of energy an instant before the sky turned from pale purple to black with storm clouds laced with faerie dust.”
“A druid?” Keith muttered in disbelief. “Faerie dust? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“It sounds weird, but if undiluted faerie dust was involved it would explain a lot,” Tyler said, glancing up at the sky.
“A lot, but not enough,” Lydia agreed.
“Well, whatever happened, I’m glad you’re here. I thought you were still at Middleton Outpost,” Tyler said, motioning to the south.
“I was until a few weeks ago. When several of the border villages were attacked I followed the scum north,” Lydia said as a snarl curled her lip in anger. “We’ve been tracking the vermin, but can’t catch them. They’re using wizards to hide their movements.”
“Yeah, I killed a zombie not far from here, and Emma ran into Lester. Bernie attacked me and I gave him a good swipe in his mid-section. I also saw a girl, but she was too far away to tell if she was vampire or witch.”
“That doesn’t sound good, especially if Lester’s father, Lord Quarklin, is involved. As soon as I reach the fortress, I’ll tell General Maxwell. With everything else going on, having bloodsuckers so near the capital during school break will cause a complete uproar among the court peacocks.” She grimaced. “I guess it’s just as well I stopped at Minnie’s house for lunch.”
Tyler seemed to remember Emma and glanced down. “Minnie’s a distant cousin. We have the same great, great grandfather.” He frowned as another batch of dragons flew overhead. “I guess people must’ve panicked.”
Lydia snorted, propping a slender hand on her hip, she glanced between Emma and Keith. “That’s putting it mildly. Springville appeared in the middle of one of Earth’s villages. People started running and screaming. Martin Gulpenny was in dragon form when a horseless wagon smacked into him. I heard the metal wagon screech from two blocks away. People were shifting to dragon and gryphon, grabbing whatever child was nearest and taking to the air trying to escape. Parents were screaming for their kids. Then a group of teen gryphon showed up and started attacking the metal carriages. It was pure chaos.”
Tyler grimaced at her words then suddenly grinned. “Was Andrew home?”
“Your,” Lydia pointed at him, emphasizing the single word with a short growl, “miserable cousin was streaking through the air roaring as loud as he could and belching short bursts of fire. Shifting from dragon to wér, he’d drop onto roofs, and scream, ‘run for your lives! It’s the end of the world!’ When I get my hands on that heathen, I’m going to wring his neck. People automatically trust black dragons and he’s nothing but a menace.”
“It’s not entirely his fault. You know how much Minnie coddles him. He’s just young.”
“Young!” Lydia huffed in exasperation, throwing up her hands. “He’s half a year older than you. You weren’t that young five years ago.”
“Aw, come on Aunt Lydia, he never means any harm. You just don’t remember.” His mouth twitched, trying not to smile. “I’ve heard some of the pranks you pulled at our age. You had granddad pulling his hair out. As I heard, you filled the primary dark fountain with rose scented bubble bath and…”
Lydia’s growl cut him off. She glared at him. “I might be over four hundred, but I remember none of my pranks caused an entire village to evacuate in hysterics.”
“Whoa!” Keith interrupted with a stunned expression. “Did you say you’re four hundred years old?”
“Yes, why?” Lydia asked, shifting a bit closer to him.
“Four hundred years and you ask why?” Emma squeaked, mouth gaping in shock. “You look like you’re in your twenties! Does that mean you people are immortal?”
“Of course not, everyone eventually dies. Like all humans we live until we have a fatal accident or our mate dies,” Tyler said, a dark frown settled over his face. “Why would you even ask?”
“Humph!” Emma harrumphed. Clasping her arms across her stomach, she frowned at him. “This is Earth. We’re normal humans. You know mortals. I’ll live another sixty or seventy years max, before I grow old and die.”
Her words stumbled to a halt. Gasping, she clenched her hands tightly together as an ice-cold fire sweep through her, burning her and freezing her at the same time. Whimpering, she pressed a hand to the are
a above her heart as a feeling of desolation, of eternal emptiness, encased her chest.
No one paid her the least bit of attention.
The moment Emma said she would die, Tyler bent over double, cursing. An instant later, he threw back his head and roared. Despair filled the horrifying sound. He stumbled away, rushing toward the meadow. He shifted into dragon and flew away without a backward glance.
She whimpered softly. The icy feeling wasn’t the same as the vampire attack. The vampire’s glamour hadn’t made her feel lost, totally lost without hope and hollow inside. Yeah, hollow was a good description. She felt as if a big, chunky hole had suddenly appeared in her chest, a blank spot that hadn’t been there five minutes ago.
What the crap had Tyler done to her?
She didn’t doubt it was his fault. She’d been fine until he blew a gasket. His freaked-out reaction was too much of a coincidence.
“Okay,” she said in a long drawn-out voice, trying to make sense of Tyler’s actions. “What was that all about?” asking the obvious, anything to take her mind off her own aching body.
She glanced at her uncle, but refused to say anything about the frigid place growing inside her. If he realized she felt weird, he’d have her at the hospital so fast her head would spin.
Her earliest memory was of curling up on a chair in the emergency room, and knowing her daddy wasn’t coming home. Nope, no way, no how was she going to the hospital. She hated them.
“That boy is mentally unstable,” her uncle said firmly. “Emma, I don’t want you anywhere near him.”
“It’s not his fault.” Lydia’s face blanched of all color, looking sick. Her voice filled with anxiety. “Oh God, Keith, how old are you?”
His eyes narrowed as he answered her. “I’m forty-seven. Why?”
Lydia’s lip trembled. Turning her head away, her voice sounded strangled as she admitted. “Tyler thought Emma might be his mate.”
“Mate?” he asked, giving a fair imitation of Tyler’s growl. “She’s seventeen. Mate sounds a bit too permanent. We, the people of Earth, don’t have mates. We date and sometimes we marry, most of the time the marriage ends in divorce.”
Emma (Dark Fire) Page 5
