Max_Through the Portal

by Celeste Raye

  He said, “Oh no. Keep it. Tipping’s important. It’s a…” his face clouded. Heather squirmed. Was the guy on meds? Or did he just need some? Was he nervous and confused or was he crazy? It was hard to say, but she had a sinking feeling that things were about to go running right down a very steep hill. “Important thing to do,” he finished on a rather lame note.

  The server didn’t argue. She just went. Heather shifted, uncomfortable again, and really getting weirded out by Blake now; she grabbed the coffee with a fast, “Thanks for the coffee.” She took a sip just to be polite. This date was going badly, and she was done.

  To her surprise he suddenly relaxed and then he smiled, a real-looking smile, one that lit up his entire face. “I’m sorry. I just haven’t…it’s just that I haven’t been around a woman as beautiful as you in a long time, and I haven’t done this in a very long time either. I’m sort of…I’m really messing this up. I’m sorry, really. Can we start over?”

  Oh wow. Total one-eighty! Baffled by her sudden burst of a second wave of empathy and disarmed by the sudden switch from his confused (and maybe off his meds) rambling to the bald and cute admission that was also soaked in some serious flattery, all she could do was stammer out, “Yes, of course. I haven’t been on a good date in a while, so at least nothing’s been that bad on this one.” Yet.

  He blew out a long breath. “Thanks. I think.”

  She found an unwilling smile cropping up on her lips. “Why no dates as of late?” He was good looking, and he should have had women all over him, she thought. A good-looking man who couldn’t get a date threw off some serious red flags. There had to be something wrong with him.

  He chose that very moment to burp. He turned his head, made a fist, and covered his mouth; bonus points for manners, but her nose still wrinkled up. What in God’s name had he eaten? He gave her a guilty grin. “Sorry. It’s the coffee. I shouldn’t have that I think.”

  “I guess not.” The awkwardness that was any and every date with someone you’d never met had just intensified. She found herself at a total loss.

  He sighed. “I’ve been so busy. I’m in a leadership position, and it takes all of my time. That and there’s no…” He paused and reached for the coffee again, changed his mind, and left it untouched. “Well, it’s just a lot of work. I’m the one who puts out the fires: literally. I’m always trying to keep things even and make sure we don’t get taken over. I have a lot of…there’s a lot riding on how well I do my job.”

  Oh. That she could understand. Her sympathy roared back in. It was pretty clear that there was zero chemistry between them, but the date wasn’t so terrible that she’d decided to just bolt yet either. “I get that. I’m a lawyer.”

  “Yes, which means you’re smart and pretty.”

  Wow. He was great with a compliment. She squirmed a little. Compliments always left her feeling a little awkward. “Why, thank you. So, how long have you been in that job?”

  “Most of my life.” He gave her a smile. “It seems that way, anyway. I sort of inherited it.”

  Nepotism, or he got the job when whoever had had the position before him left? She wondered what the best way to phrase that question was as he reached across the table and took her hand, the one not holding the coffee, and turned it over. She knew if this date was going to work out she should feel all sorts of little tingles and jolts. Instead, she just noticed that his fingertips were slightly rough and his nails a little long, and his hand, while very strong, was also really dry. Blake really needed some lotion!

  He stroked his fingers up her arm, and she stared down at his nails, uneasiness setting in again. He seemed a little enthralled with her veins and he kept tracing the big blue one that ran from her wrist upward. She yanked her hand back, not very subtly either. She stuttered out, “So why’d you start using the dating app?”

  “I want a woman who wants to have kids.”

  She blinked. The answer had come from so far out of left field she didn’t know how to respond. “Um…yeah. Okay. So, I have to get going.” Really, she had to go. He was handsome, sure. He apparently had a good job, or at least it sounded as if he did, but that lawyerly part of her brain was also busy pointing out that he hadn’t actually said what it was that he did either—and when people weren’t forthcoming about something like that, it was usually because they had something to hide.

  Blake grabbed her arm again. His smile went down right ingratiating. “Listen, I want you to bear my children.”

  Her face paled. The thought of killing Christy ran through her head. She stammered out, “I beg your pardon?”

  He leaned closer, over the table. Close enough that she caught a whiff of cologne, and something that smelled like burnt matches. He burped again, turning his head and curling his fist up around his lips. An eye-watering stench wafted to her face. She got out, “Have you lost your mind?”

  Was this a joke? Had Christy set this up like some sort of the most-awful-date’s-been-had-now-get-out-there-and-date thing? Or was Blake serious? What was he? Some billionaire too busy to have a baby but willing to pay some poor woman to bear his dubious seed? Gross! That might be awesome in books or something, but no way was she willing to be some guy’s paid incubator!

  She stood so fast the chair rattled and then fell. Christy, who’d been buried in her phone, looked up. Her eyes went round as Heather stuck a finger in Blake’s face and shouted, “I agreed to coffee, not to…to having your children, you pyscho!” Tears hit her eyes. What the hell was wrong with her that she attracted these kinds of men? It had to be some kind of internal, infernal flaw, one that was making her life a real hell too. Todd had been a jerk, she had always known he was a jerk, but she had loved him anyway, and all that had gotten her was single, clueless about how to date, and somehow possessed of some inner magnet that drew weirdos and the unlovable to her like flies to a pot of honey.

  Blake stood. He burped again, and that time he didn’t cover his mouth. The belch made a long ripping sound, and she felt heat, actual heat, on her face. Her temper flared even as her stomach rolled. She stepped backward, her hands going up to ward him off. Christy was already there, and she grabbed her arm, saying, “Okay, this is a total bust.” A comic look overtook her face. “What the…what’s that smell?”

  Heather, torn between hysterical laughter and real rage, gasped, “He burped!”

  Christy didn’t say another single word. They dashed toward the door. The server and barista were nowhere in sight, and since the three of them had been the only customers, Heather was really sure they were about to make a clean getaway.

  They ran out the door and onto the sidewalk. Heather gasped, “Come on, we’ll take the side street!”

  They dashed to the corner and down that street. Christy looked back and panted out, “Oh my God he’s chasing us!”

  He was chasing them? Heather’s feet, in the too-tall heels, chose that very moment to slip in a slick patch created by liquid oozing out of a pile of trash bags on the curb. She let out a short, sharp scream, and then she went flying forward, hauling Christy right along with her, and onto the pile of disgusting trash bags!

  “Dam, why me?” Her indignant scream was muffled by trash, and Christy’s hand yanked her backward off the pile, only to snap off the heel on her right boot. Tottering, enraged, and sure she would never date again as long as she lived, Heather grabbed the first thing she saw—the leg off a broken chair, and brandished it as she swiveled around.

  “Uhhhhhhhh…” She blinked. Christy let out a soft cry, and then they clutched each other as the dragon descended from the sky.

  A dragon. A jet black, fire-breathing dragon with massive wings and gleaming scales dropped right out of the sky. Its taloned feet hit the asphalt of the side street, breaking it into chunks. The last thought that went through Heather’s brain right before she fainted into Blake’s arms was that this was the worst date ever.

  Chapter Four

  “I’m going to kill him!” That was the thought
in Max’s head as he landed in the alley where Blake stood, holding an unconscious human in one arm and fending off another human woman, who was apparently attempting to brain Blake with an empty can that had once held some concoction humans thought of as food.

  The woman with the can changed her mind about beating Blake with that thing and tossed it at his head. Max groaned. Just what he needed: a human woman with a tin can and some rage issues. He transformed and shouted, “Stop!”

  The woman that had fainted opened her eyes. She clutched some wooden weapon in her fingers and as fast as her eyes opened, her hands moved. The hunk of wood she held came down, right onto his shoulder. He roared out, “Dammit! What the hell are you doing Blake?”

  Blake belched fire and slapped a fist to his chest. “Sorry; coffee.”

  Now he was really pissed. Blake could cause some real disaster here by opening the portal between their world and the world of humans, and all he had to say for himself was coffee? He batted the weapon-wielding woman to one side. She shouted something that sounded like a curse, or an opinion on his manhood. He ignored that. “We’re going. Now.”

  Blake shook his head. “Not without her.” He reached for the fainting, weapon-leveling one. Max had no idea what Blake wanted with her; she was a mess! Her hair was flying out of some weird thing she had it held up in, her shoe was broken, and she had the unmistakable stench of garbage hanging all over her. Not to mention she was clearly pissed off, entirely unwilling to go anywhere with Blake, and currently trying to brain Blake with that thing she held.

  Blake ducked to the right, shot an arm out, and curled it around her slim waist. “She’s perfect!”

  For what? Max couldn’t begin to fathom the answer to that question. He didn’t have time to ask it either because just then the other woman, the one with the tendency to throw cans, screamed, “Let her go, you filthy sonofabitch, or I’ll kill you!” and launched herself at Blake.

  Shit. Whatever this was, he would have to sort it out in Dragon World. Max looked up at the sky. The first rents in the fabric that created the portals between this world and his and Blake’s showed plainly, and there was no time left to figure this out here and now. He gathered his magic, flung it, and grabbed Blake, who was still clinging to the fainting woman. The crazy woman had latched onto Blake’s hair and was either trying to yank it all out of his head or use it to guide him away from the other woman.

  The three of them made a hard burden, and a heavy one, but he didn’t have time to worry about that either. The portals were closing, and there was no way he was going to be stuck in the humans’ world for all eternity if he could help it. He knew that there were some were-dragons who had crossed, stayed too long, and never had the ability to return, and he didn’t intend to be one of them.

  He changed, letting his wings beat upward, as his talons grabbed Blake and the women. He had to hurry, and he had to worry about those flailing thrashing banshees now trying to escape both his grip and Blake’s.

  The portal opened, and then he was through it, his wings carrying them upward and higher and right into Dragon World.

  The world he knew and loved was now in his sights: all blazing greens and soft blues, unpolluted skies, and craggy peaks of mountains. Blake shouted, “Let me change!”

  “Not on your life.” The words came from Max’s mouth even as he realized how stupid he was being. He was overburdened and in danger of dropping the three, but to let Blake go while the portal was still open was unthinkable. The only thing keeping Blake from changing right then was the pact between their clans, and Blake’s lack of magical ability while in human guise.

  Blake had caused him enough trouble for one day, and no way was he giving him the chance to get back to the human world and possibly cause the portal to shatter and remain open forever! The humans were a nuisance, and he was not about to have any of them meddling in his world.

  Shit. He’d brought two with them. He looked down, wondering if it would be easier to just drop all three of them in the vast ranges of the mountains. The woman who’d tried to hit him with the heavy stick looked up just then and he realized, painfully and sharply, that not only was she not screaming, she was beautiful—and clinging to him with real fervor.

  What the hell was I thinking? His mood soured even further. This was not the best day, or even the day he had planned to have. He had planned to try to hammer out some sort of truce between his clan and the war-hungry orcs to the west. Instead he had had to go get Blake before he really screwed things up, and now he was stuck with Blake and two human women. One of whom was trying to bite his leg!

  He growled out, “I will drop you on your head!”

  The tin-can-tossing human immediately stopped trying to gnaw his leg off. Max, angrier than ever, settled onto the earth of his world and stared upward as the portal began to close. He had pinned Blake below his claws, but the women? They ran. Or tried to. The one with the broken heel stumbled, tripped, went down, got up with some help from her friend, and tried to run again.

  Blake squirmed and wriggled. “Damn you, Max!”

  Max took his foot off Blake’s neck and changed. He said, “What were you doing, exactly? You know the time is broken in that stream. You could have been lost there forever, or worse, you could have allowed them to come through.”

  Blake stood, making a big show of dusting off his body. He said, “I was trying to get a wife, thank you very much.”

  Max choked. “I beg your pardon?”

  Blake said, “My clan has no females left. We need breed stock. Humans breed fast, and I went to get one.”

  Max observed the two human women fleeing. “Looks like they don’t want you.”

  Blake took off. Max groaned and went after Blake. This was ridiculous. The last thing he needed, in fact. He was sick and tired of dealing with Blake and would have killed him a long time before if the pact didn’t force him not to. That goddamn pact had not taken into account that Blake was an idiot, and a dangerous one at that!

  The women stopped running because there was a ledge, and then nothing but empty space. They stood there hugging each other and staring at him and Blake, and Max groaned again as one of them craned her neck to stare down at the falls below like she was really considering if they could survive the jump.

  They couldn’t. He could guarantee that for them.

  Blake said, “Well then.” Then he changed. The fainter screamed, bent over, grabbed a large rock, and threw it. She had terrible aim it seemed because that rock hit Max right in the temple, making him dizzy and pissed off at the same time.

  He glowered at her. “Stop that. If you hit me again, either of you, I will throw you off that cliff myself. I do not care for humans in the first place. I have no intention of being caught in a war with them.”

  He turned, his wings spreading from his back and then he took flight, leaving Blake to deal with his own mess. He had bigger worries than the humans and Blake!

  Chapter Five

  Christy stared at Heather. Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh my God. I am so sorry. Is it too much to hope that this is all some kind of whacked-out dream and we’re both going to wake up at any second?”

  Christy swallowed hard. “I think so.”

  Christy’s tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, girl. I am. I don’t…I mean, how was I supposed to know this would happen? I was just trying to get you laid, and instead I got us both kidnapped by…” her throat worked, and she fell silent.

  “Dragons.”

  Christy’s eyes went wide. That was the truth, as crazy as it all was and she had no idea what to do next. They were…somewhere, and the guy who had met them at the coffee shop—her supposed date—was busy stomping along the edge of the cliff and muttering to himself, while the jet-black dragon—which looked like a really hot guy when he wasn’t sprouting wings and threatening to drop them off the side of the world—was gone. Heather’s eyes went to the sky. Totally gone: he wasn’t even a speck in that blue sky anymore. Tears fill
ed her own eyes. What were they going to do?

  Blake stepped up. He coughed into his fist. He gave them both an abashed grin. “This is not how I planned this to go. I thought…”

  Christy shot out, “You thought we’d just have your dragon babies and whatever and we’d be okay with that?”

  He gave Heather a wounded look. “No, I mean I never thought of a we in there. I was just thinking of you.” He gave Christy a long look. “You were just…”

  “Kidnapped by dragons,” Christy supplied in her haughtiest tone. “I demand to be returned, and right now too! We both demand that, and if you don’t, I’ll…I’ll…I’ll…”

  “I can’t take you back. Max closed the portal. It won’t open again for at least sixty Earth calendar days. That’s ten days here, or eight, depending on how well the time stream’s working.”

  Heather gasped “What? What do you mean the portal won’t open?”

  Blake lifted an eyebrow. “I’d say that’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s closed. You can’t use it.”

  Her teeth clenched. “You’re a big jerk! You had no right to bring us here!”

  He said, “I didn’t. Max did that. I went to your world. I was hoping to get you pregnant today and come back when the child was ready to be born so I could raise it here.”

  Was he for real? How could any man, even a dragon man, be that damn clueless and…and gross?

  Christy screamed, “This is unacceptable!”

  Blake gave them both speculative looks. “I know. But since you’re here anyway…”

  Heather warned, “Don’t even think about it.” We’re here, at least until the portal opens back up. Think dammit. Now what?

  She was clueless. This wasn’t a situation she could have, ever, prepared herself for. She gave Christy a beseeching look. “What do we do now?”

  Christy asked, “Do dragons eat people?”

  Blake’s upper lip curled back off his lip. “No.”