Dragon Lust

by Kelly Armenta

  “Don’t panic again,” Jace scolded, and took my hand, giving me a warm smile, which lit his eyes. Gareth had wandered into the other room and came back carrying both of their coats. He took one look at me and stopped dead in his tracks.

  “You look…”

  “Like a Princess,” Areth responded with a giggle. And then she held out her hands to me and I bit my lower lip. Draped across both palms were a set of clip on dangling earrings made from gold and… Dragon’s tears, our Dragon’s tears… Jace’s, Gareth’s and mine. They were stunning and I reached for them reverently.

  “Thank you,” I told her in a voice gone husky with emotion.

  She smiled and tilted her head. “Do not thank me.”

  Where had they come from? I glanced at Jace and Gareth. Apparently neither of them knew as they both shrugged and went back to pulling on their coats. I clipped them on and leaned in to the mirror, taking a second to admire the way they captured the light. They hung half way to my shoulders and moved with me, like something alive. With my hair pulled back they were absolutely perfect! I was so busy admiring them that I missed seeing the men finish pulling on their coats and when I glanced up and into the mirror I caught my breath again at how handsome they both appeared.

  Chapter 20

  “Shall we go?” Jace asked, offering his arm. I screwed up my courage and placed my hand on him. Gareth got the door for us and we stepped into the hall. I had a bad moment when I glanced up and directly into the dark brown eyes of Owen, who looked at me like I’d grown a second head. Cursed was standing down the hall in front of the Dragon painting and he bowed low to us, his eyes hooded as he watched me walk toward him, making me wonder what he was thinking.

  “That he liked your other outfit better,” Jace muttered under his breath.

  “And who could blame him?” Gareth replied.

  A smile slipped over Cursed’s features and he bowed again. “Actually gentlemen, you are both mistaken,” and he turned and led us down the hall. At the doorway he paused until we were standing just behind him and then he announced in his deep lilting voice. “May I present My Lady the Princess Lexi and her consorts Gareth and Jace.” He bowed and stepped to the right and I was looking directly into the palest blue eyes I’d ever seen anywhere.

  “Hello Mother,” I said and Jace swept me across the room and into my Mother’s arms as she stood from the couch.

  “Lexi, you look wonderful,” she whispered in my ear and I couldn’t help blushing. She pushed me back so she could get a look at my face. “I’m so proud of you,” she told me with a warm smile.

  “Nice earrings,” Mi muttered from where she lay with her feet curled under her on the couch. She glanced at me and then sniffed delicately.

  I continued to hold my Mother’s hand as I sat on the edge of the couch and waited until she turned her beautiful amber eyes to me. “Thank you,” I told her and leaned forward to kiss her on the top of her head. She blinked and purred for a couple of seconds and then caught herself as if what’d she had done was unseemly. My Mother smiled down at me and I rose and turned her toward my Dragons. Mother, may I present Jace Green and Gareth Blue. Gentlemen may I present my Mother, Princess Shaylee Helyanwe. They both bowed low over her hand.

  Gareth spoke first saying, “It is an honor to meet you Princess.”

  “Welcome to our home,” Jace added.

  My Mother had never been an overly emotional person but she surprised me when she stepped forward and held out a hand to each of them. Neither hesitated as they took a hand in theirs. “The honor is mine,” she told them softly. “Thank you,” and all three of them looked at me. I think I was actually saved from saying something lame by someone clearing their throat across the room. My Mother immediately tensed and her fingers tightened slightly in Jace and Gareth’s. She stepped back and seated herself on the couch, taking a moment to straighten the lovely dove grey fitted dress over her knees before she turned to the man who was standing by the entertainment center. I think we all knew he was there; we were just doing our best to ignore him.

  Mi rose and stretched her back then sat back down again and wrapped her tail around her feet. “May I present Lord Amras Lissesul?”

  Gareth, Jace and I turned to the Elf standing across the room with his feet spread apart and a condescending look on his face.

  “Must you?” I replied and raised one eyebrow when he narrowed his eyes at me.

  My Mother choked. I think it was supposed to have been a laugh that went horribly wrong and ended with me patting her on the back. She glanced up at me, at one point her eyes wide and mischievous, and I smiled down at her and squeezed her hand.

  “Yes, because today I was elected to be in charge of all the fun jobs,” Mi replied sarcastically and then rolled her eyes when I bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh. Beside me Jace and Gareth shifted but remained silent. This was their home but obviously neither of them wanted to offend my Mother. Fortunately as the youngest person in the room, I was guessing by at least several hundred years, I wasn’t burdened by the same overly developed sense of etiquette.

  I glanced toward Cursed, the only other person there I felt might give me a sense of what this was about since the two of them probably knew each other. But Cursed was staring up at the ceiling completely ignoring me as if he knew what I wanted but was purposefully pretending otherwise. I continued to stare at him but he refused to glance my way.

  “I wouldn’t look to him for assistance,” Amras informed me. “He knows his place.”

  “I’m sorry, exactly who are you?” I demanded, turning furious eyes on the newest pain in my ass. Coughing erupted around the room and I pointedly ignored the rest of my men. If they weren’t going to assist me, then I’d apparently have to deal with this one myself.

  “I believe we’ve already been introduced,” he replied in a haughty tone, as if the mere mention of his name should have sent me into a rapturous feint.

  I gritted my teeth and took several steps in his direction. Apparently that was enough to get Cursed to look at me because he stopped staring at the ceiling and lowered his eyes. I sent a don’t bother thought in his direction, which he obviously received because he lifted one shoulder as if to say. We’ll see.

  “Look Amras who-ever-you-are I don’t believe you were invited into our home so you could insult my people,” I told him from the middle of the floor where I’d stopped so I could place my hands on my hips. I’d had just about enough frustration for the day and this jerk, apparently my third, wasn’t making anyone’s life easier.

  He tilted his head to the side and lifted one eyebrow. “Didn’t you?” he queried. And he looked at me and I realized his eyes were nearly the color of violets after a storm. His hair was long and pale and very fine. He was wearing a black turtle neck under a black fitted jacket and tailored black pants. His hands were long and fine and his body tall and muscularly slender. He had the classical Elf beauty, not exactly feminine, but a far cry from Gareth’s ruggedly handsome good looks.

  I shook my head and frowned, looking back at Mi who was watching me intently. “Played the flute lately?” she asked. “We ah… got your call,” and she lifted her nose in Amras’s direction indicating the ‘we’ was the ‘him’ across the room.

  I heaved a sigh and dropped as gracefully as I could into the nearest chair. My legs just wouldn’t support me anymore. I clasped my hands in my lap and glanced over at Amras, who was watching me intently. I sighed, what else could I do? “Please don’t tell me we were betrothed at birth or some such nonsense. Because I’ve had a really, really long day and I don’t think I could handle it.”

  He actually bowed and I closed my eyes and pressed my fist against my forehead. When next I looked, Mi was staring back at me from the table in front of me. “Now Lexi, don’t look so surprised; it wasn’t actually you he was betrothed to, just some potentially future someone that no one ever actually thought would occur. It’s just a technicality really. Not set in stone or anything. And of cour
se when you called, he just showed up. You left us little option but to bring him along you know... Elves with the whole formal introduction and all.”

  Amras coughed again but I pulled a Cursed and refused to look at him, choosing instead to glare at Mi who I somehow sensed was the cause of this latest mishap. “This is not my surprised look,” I told her curtly as I slumped back against the cushion. “This is my…how could you have done this to me and why couldn’t I have been a normal child and had a puppy look.” Yeah that would have been great…a nice big dog to romp around with in a yard. I knew other people with dogs who were loyal and brave and loved you no matter what, only asking to be scratched and petted and allowed to fall asleep in your lap, not hissed at and manipulated. Dammit I wish I had a dog!

  Mi stood up on the table and her tail went strait up, along with every hair on her thirty five pound body. I thought this is it, I’m dead for sure, but she wasn’t looking at me and I turned my head to the left to follow her gaze and was nose to nose with the largest blackest wolf I’d ever seen. Pandemonium broke out around the room as four bodies hit my chair simultaneously and I was flipped over backwards and vaulted onto my hands and knees on the carpet. My breasts nearly slipped from my dress and I struggled to not move as I stared into large red eyes from between Gareth’s legs. To his right was Amras balanced on his toes, a long wicked looking knife in his hand, his face a scary mixture of anticipation and ah… determination. Nope, nothing feminine about him. To the left was Jace and then Cursed. Behind our newest addition was Owen, who was also holding a knife as well as a gun.

  “Don’t move,” Jace hissed at me, and I glanced up at him and nearly stuck my tongue out.

  “Owen,” I called. “Could you please put the gun away; I would really be upset if you happened to shoot my Mother. And maybe while you’re doing that our newest arrival can shift and introduce himself? In fact, all of you put your weapons away and would it be too much to ask for one of you to help me up?”

  “Lexi!” Gareth growled as I turned over and tried to untangle myself from the train of my dress, nearly exposing myself in the process. My heel caught in the bottom and I struggled and finally yanked the entire mess up and over my knees. The wolf was sitting calmly on his haunches; the tip of his tongue caught in his teeth with his head tilted to the side, watching me intently, his eyes gleaming. I was sitting there in the middle of the living room, my beautiful dress bunched up around my thighs. It just struck me as funny and I couldn’t help myself. I started to giggle and I couldn’t seem to stop, and I finally collapsed back onto the floor and threw my arm over my face as gales of laughter burst from me.

  “Is she, always this… exuberant?” Amras asked, his voice sound slightly shocked and dismayed. It just made me laugh all the harder.

  “She wished for a dog,” Jace grumbled.

  “Yeah, I know,” Gareth muttered back.

  “That is no dog,” Cursed declared.

  “The last time she wished for something she got Areth.”

  “What’s an Areth?” Cursed inquired, his eyes busy watching the wolf who was just sitting there and not doing anything remotely scary, except watching me.

  “An Elemental.”

  “Her own personal Gnome.”

  “But she’s only two feet tall.”

  Gareth nodded and finally replied, “She’s been having sex.”

  “And that is a bad thing?” Cursed asked tentatively.

  Jace cursed and turned his back on the wolf, who suddenly shifted to black and flowed between Gareth’s legs like smoke in a strong breeze. I felt heat everywhere and I was lifted off the ground and carried to the nearest chair. I hiccupped and felt the smoke solidify beneath me and found myself looking up into one of the most beautiful faces I’d ever seen. Inky black hair, fine as silk and tipped in silver, covered my shoulders and pooled in my lap. I reached for a handful and the silver shimmered briefly becoming golden strands. His breath smelled of cloves as it brushed my cheek and I raised my head and studied his face. He had high cheekbones and wide set eyes the color of a fine merlot under dark expressive brows. His lips were finely shaped and currently smiling down at me. “Hello,” I told him calmly. “You must be my fourth.”

  “I believe you asked for loyal and brave, and please feel free to scratch and pet anywhere you’d like,” he murmured. His voice was husky and made me shiver.

  “Her fourth what?” Amras demanded. I would have thought of all of them he’d be the most offended but he just looked… determined, yes that is the word I would use to describe him. It actually surprised me and I pulled myself up straight my eyes searching out Jace and Gareth.

  For once Gareth looked more ill than pissed, but Jace was nearly beside himself, he seemed so angry.

  I watched Gareth and muttered quietly, “I’d like to get up now,” and was released immediately and assisted to my feet. “Thank you…?”

  “You may call me Kit,” he replied smoothly, as he stood, then bowed to everyone in the room. His eyes met and held Mi’s then moved on to my Mother and he dipped just a fraction lower as he informed us, “The pleasure is entirely mine.”

  I walked to Gareth and held out my hand. He gently folded me against him and sighed into my hair. Jace went over and flopped down in a chair and stared at me in moody silence. I looked at him from where my cheek rested against Gareth and replied in a small voice, “I think I’m done now.” He held his breath and closed his eyes and I could tell he was thinking about those faceless forms in the background. “Well except for them,” I corrected. He let out the breath and let his head drop back against the couch. I didn’t think he was taking this very well and who could blame him. “Areth?” I whispered. “I think we’re going to need a few more bedrooms.” Gareth gave me a possessive squeeze and kissed my brow. Apparently our little family had grown.

  My Mother caught my eye and I gave her a sickly smile, to which she pursed her lips and nodded her head. She rose from the couch and called Mi. “I think Lexi has enough to deal with tonight, but I can see that she is in capable hands so perhaps we can come back to visit soon?”

  Gareth released me and I crossed to my Mom and we embraced. “I love you,” she whispered in my ear.

  “I love you too, Mom,” I told her.

  “You will be fine now. I feel so much better knowing you’re safe.” She squeezed my hand and I had a sudden insight of how difficult it must have been for her to have raised me away from her family and friends. The constant worry and secrecy. I had been such a burden. “No never,” she whispered, clasping my fingers tightly. “But I do miss your Father.”

  I had a thought and glanced around the room. “Come with me,” I begged her and gave her hand a gentle tug. “I want you to see something,” and I turned, pleading eyes to Gareth.

  “Take her,” he replied with a lopsided smile. “I’ll ah… entertain.”

  Thank you, I thought at him and gently tugged my Mother across the living room toward the hall. Mi trailed along behind us, her little black tail flicking back and forth as she strolled along. We all hesitated for a moment at the picture in the hall and then Mi turned slowly and looked up at Owen, who was trying to watch both the room and me at the same time.

  “Pick me up,” she demanded. When he just stared at her, she repeated her request, this time making it sound more imperial than polite and he immediately reached down and lifted her into his massive arms. No easy feat, but then Owen was six and a half feet tall and could easily tote me around under his arm so I wasn’t too concerned about his ability to lift Mi. “I like you,” she told him bluntly. “But you’ve been unmade, and someone has done something very bad to you.” And so saying she lifted a paw and placed it gently in the middle of his forehead. “Heal and remember,” she breathed softly and Owen jerked back and swayed slightly, looking around in confusion, his eyes widening as he glanced from face to face.

  I reached out to steady him, my mind concerned with his well being. “What have you done to him?” I asked M
i crossly.

  “I’ve unblocked him. And now he’s no longer at a disadvantage. You’ll thank me later,” she told me in her typically cryptic way.

  I looked at Owen and smiled at him. He smiled back at me and lifted a hand to brush back a stray curl. Across the room Jace hissed and Gareth rumbled deep in his chest. Obviously the image of me pressed under Owen’s body on the mats upstairs was still fresh enough in their minds that neither of them trusted him within arms distance of me.

  Owen’s eyes widened and then narrowed slightly as a look of desire crept into them, almost as if he’d followed my thoughts and was having some new ones of his own. He leaned down and placed Mi on the floor like he was responding to an unspoken command. With his hands suddenly free he reached for me and I found myself pressed up against his broad chest. I had just enough time to voice a muffled protest before his mouth crashed down on mine and he was kissing me as if he wanted to devour me whole.

  Elves and Demons were one thing, Were beasts are apparently a completely different matter and my Dragons had simply had enough. Hands yanked me out of Owen’s arms and sent me whirling across the landing, my arms pin wheeling to keep me upright on my high heels. I surely would have landed back on the carpet but three sets of hands righted me and I found myself being held in the most indiscreet of places. I don’t suppose it was any surprise that the three of them seemed to be very amused by the situation. I sighed and then winced, as bodies hit the wall behind me and I glanced over to where I’d left my Mother to find that she had moved farther down the hall in the direction of my bedroom. At the moment she and Mi were watching the three of them go at it like I imagined she might watch a culture grow in one of her labs.