Breathing Fire (Heretic Daughters)

by Rebecca K. Lilley

  He made short work of the heavy buttons. I’d been so wrapped up with the sight of him, so lost in his enchanting eyes, that I hadn’t even noticed what he was wearing. It was some sort of druid ritual robe. They had been either coming or going from something very important. Druids wearing anything other than three piece suits meant serious business.

  I bit my lip apologetically as I asked, “I came at a bad time, didn’t I?”

  He laughed, and it was the most carefree sound I’d heard come out of that beautiful mouth in years. My moody Dom.

  I released my right breast and raised a trembling finger to his lips, tracing his soft lower lip in wonder. “Oh, Dom, how I’ve missed your smile.” I was horrified when a tear slipped down my cheek.

  He nipped my finger playfully, smiling into my eyes as he wiped my tear away. “Perhaps you shouldn’t work quite so hard at running away from it, then.”

  The hand on my face traced down my body swiftly. He parted my thighs wide apart with sure hands. “Don’t move,” he ordered, as he parted his robe. He was gloriously naked underneath, and I drank in the sight of the body I had missed so desperately. He didn’t bother removing it completely, just opened it enough to bare his tanned, muscular torso, and his heavy arousal. Just the sight of it made my insides clench.

  “Please, Dom, I want you naked. I want to see you.”

  He just grinned at me. His wicked grin. “Maybe next time.” He thrust to the hilt in one perfect motion of his hips, his masterful hands holding my legs wide apart. “Keep your hands on your breasts,” he ordered, and started up a hard rhythm. He had my legs pinned so that I couldn’t even wiggle against him, holding me in perfect stillness for his penetration. The sensations were nearly too intense, and I screamed again as I came. “Don’t look away,” he told me roughly. “Maybe I should fuck you ’til you can’t walk away tonight.”

  He finally leaned his chest against mine as he grew closer to his own release, and I plunged my fingers into his hair with relish, pulling his face to mine in a fierce kiss.

  I lay with my ear over his pounding heart when we finished, stroking his hair. I knew this was far from a reconciliation, but I still felt a raw part of my heart heal. “I haven’t been with another man since long before I met you.” I felt him freeze at my confession, his heartbeat jackhammering. “I know you think that doesn’t matter now, since we’re over,” I continued hurriedly, not letting him speak. “But it’s significant because it pertains to what I have to show you. You see, the thing I need you to guard belongs to us both.”

  He sat up, dragging me upright by my arms to look him in the eye. “Tell me what it is,” he demanded, his voice hoarse.

  I brought the satchel to him, unwrapping it carefully. I cradled the large bronze egg to my chest as he stared at me in shock and confusion. “He says he’s not ready to be born for a while yet,” I whispered as I stroked the egg of our unborn baby. “He told me there are some things I need to do in the time before he’s born. He’s our son, Dom.”

  “He?” His voice broke on the word. His eyes were softer than I’d ever seen them as he stared at the egg. His hand was trembling as he touched it ever so softly, with just the tips of his fingers, tracing the intricate patterns etched along it’s surface.

  “Yes, he speaks to me already. He’s an incredible telepath. I’ve never known one who could communicate so clearly. And he’s very strong, even for a dragon. He told me he can speak to you, too. So….be prepared for that. We conceived him about twelve years ago…i think. I had no idea what was happening. I’d been told draak could only conceive with draak. And, of course, the gestation period was a bit of a shock to me. I was the youngest of my kind when we left our village, so I was never made familiar with the breeding process.”

  I handed him the heavy egg, helping him settle it into his arms. He cradled it like the precious burden that it was, wonder in his eyes. He sank to the ground, folding his body gracefully and effortlessly. I couldn’t help myself, I joined him.

  He shifted the bronze egg and made room for me in his arms. I didn’t hesitate, curling against him and around our son. I was loathe to waste a moment of the bliss of having the two of them surrounding me, but exhaustion from long days of flying with no sleep, and the toll of shifting were a heavy weight on my body, and I quickly drifted off.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Reflections

  I awoke to an intense feeling of safety and warmth that was both familiar and foreign. But I knew whose arms held my naked body cradled. Who else?

  I opened my eyes and was surprised to be looking at..myself? It took me a few confused moments to make sense of it. I was looking at a mirror that lined the entire wall in front of us. Tall, lit sconces lined the large room around us. The candlelight played across my skin teasingly. Dom was wearing a black robe with such a high neck that it almost looked like a soft, floor-length coat. He cradled me naked against his chest. The contrast of his darkness with my golden, glowing body was startling.

  My hair had grown much longer than I had realized while I was away, falling against our bodies in soft, golden waves. His own blue-black hair fell against his face as he looked down at me, his eyes glowing intensely at me from our joined reflection. His expression was closing off quickly, but I thought I’d seen something there for just an instant, something that made my chest hurt with a yearning I hadn’t allowed myself to feel since I’d ended it between us in such a destructive manner.

  “How long have I been asleep?” I finally asked. My voice was whisper soft. I hadn’t wanted to break the spell we seemed to be under. We had both been staring at our melded figures in the mirror, as though entranced. I loved the sight of us. I loved the thought of him watching me like this, with a tender look on his face, while I slept naked in his arms, loathe to even set me down.

  “A few hours. Not nearly long enough for you to already have that look back on your face.”

  I saw my face set into familiar neutral lines as I schooled my expression. “What look?”

  His face was sad but rueful. “Your running look. As though you’ve rested too long and you’re about to get up and start running again. That look makes me want to tie you to my bed. I would, if I thought it would keep you there. For someone who can fly, you sure love to run. Do you suppose you’ll ever stop?

  I smiled at him sadly. “I hope so. But it’s all I know. We’ve always been running. And hiding. And scheming. And lying. But I’m sick to death of it all. It’s no life we’ve lived, for all of these centuries. Leaving behind or destroying the things we love.” I swallowed hard past the lump in my throat, trying not to let my feelings show in my eyes. His contrasting eyes were so intense, cutting into my soul.

  “Not today, though. I need to find Lynn. And get her back. I have my work cut out for me. I’ll be running, as usual, but this time I’m running into the fight, and not away from it.”

  His mouth hardened. “Yes, I know. The druids can help you. You have but to ask. And no more lies, Jillian. I’m sick unto death of your lies.”

  He was silent for a long time after that, and I lay unmoving against him.

  Finally, he spoke again. “I’ve lost count of how many women I’ve been with since you left seven years ago.” Ouch. “And it wasn’t even for comfort that I turned to them. Not even for lust. It was all to punish you. To remind myself that we were done for good. And that you were dead to me.”

  Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. He didn’t let me lick my wounds before he continued. “And, sometimes, when I was really having a bad time of it, it was even a misguided attempt to find you. Some part of me just couldn’t believe that you would let me get away with defiling our love like that. I had some dysfunctional fantasy in my head that you might come back to me, like some avenging angel, to punish me for what I was doing. But it didn’t matter how many times I did it, or with who, every single time it felt like I was breaking faith with you.”

  “That may have been what enraged me the most. That it still felt like break
ing vows for me, even though you were the one that betrayed us. I felt like a bastard, when you were the one who had moved on, long before I.”

  “And even hating you so much, all the while, I was still sick with worry, because I knew that, even with your betrayal, fear is what had made you run. It was my last thought before I slept, for every single night of your absence. There was something that you feared, and I had no way to know if it had caught up to you, or even if you were alive. It killed me, every single day, that instead of staying where I could protect you, you had left me in purgatory, and made yourself more vulnerable. And made me think that you had fucked my nemesis on your way out the door…”

  “And now I find out that it was all an elaborate lie.” His mis-matched eyes had turned positively malevolent in the mirror by the end of his confession. The golden one was glowing like a torch. “Sloan told me, when she finally regained consciousness, about your little scheme with Caleb.”

  Tears had started running down my cheeks at the beginning of his speech, tears of pain. But they turned to tears of relief at news of Sloan. “Sloan is okay?” My voice was raw, holding back sobs. How I’d hated myself for dragging her into my mess, and thinking it had gotten her killed.

  He stroked my wet cheek, his expression softening at my tears. “She was in real rough shape when we found her, but she’s fully recovered now. It will take Cam far longer to get over it.” He smiled slightly. “You might want to avoid him for awhile.”

  “I usually do. Those two are something, huh? They almost make us look stable.”

  A corner of his mouth kicked up. “I wouldn’t say that. But their story goes back just as far. The same year, in fact. 1947 was the year for tempestuous lovers to meet, perhaps.”

  This was news to me. My brows shot up. “I didn’t know that. I would pay good money for that story.”

  His gaze turned speculative. “I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement. Some other time. I had something else in mind for the moment.”

  He lowered my legs, one at a time, very slowly, to the floor. They felt like jelly. I leaned back heavily against him. He watched me, his lids heavy, while he arranged my uncharacteristically wavy golden locks around my torso, curling them around my breasts just so. “Put your hands on the mirror,” he ordered hoarsely. I did. “Spread your legs further apart.” Another order. I complied.

  He stepped away from me, moving to my left and closer to the mirror. I could see him more clearly now in the reflection, but he was out of arm’s reach. His exquisite eyes never left me, his hair falling against his face as he bent forward slightly to unbutton his long, dark robe. I noticed for the first time all of the intricate patterns embroidered into it, in a deep purple thread. It was covered in runes. Powerful ones. Whatever the druids had been up to tonight, it was strong magic. Something that required the most powerful druid I had ever seen to also have to dress himself in power. “That is an intimidating piece of clothing. Am I allowed to ask what it was for?”

  He smiled enigmatically. “It’s best if you don’t. Druid business. Some things gain power when you speak of them.”

  I thought immediately of that terrifying grove I had witnessed. “The grove,” I guessed.

  He gave me a level stare. “There is a binding ritual that the guardian must perform in order for us to maintain…peace. I am the guardian. That is all I can say about it. Please, speak no more of this. As I said, words give it power.”

  I nodded slightly. Giving that thing more power was the last thing I wanted. It had been added to the very small list of creatures in the world that scared me shitless. And I had only had one run-in with the thing…

  I gasped, my mind going suddenly, perfectly, blank. Dom had finished unbuttoning the robe and let it drop to the floor. He stood gloriously naked now, and I was transfixed. My eyes soaked in the sight of him. He was massive, of course, towering over my own six foot height. And his muscles bulged in a most distracting fashion. But for all that, he was lean and sinewy. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his entire, perfect frame. He was almost..elegant, for all of his monumental size. That perfect body combined with his aristocratically beautiful face. He was an exquisite work of art. How many hearts had he broken since I’d left? At least one, I knew firsthand.

  I bit my lip as I openly ogled him. He was tan from head to toe, and I wanted to lick every tan inch of him. My eyes ran down his chest, past his sculpted abs, to his glorious, jutting erection, and all the way down his long, muscular legs.

  “You said you wanted me naked. Well, here I am.” His voice held a playful taunt. I practically panted.

  “Don’t move an inch,” he told me, sensing I was about to jump him. Dammit.

  Without warning, he started to stroke himself. I gasped. I was in for a doozy, if he was in this kind of a mood. He knew just what would drive me mad. I licked my lips. “I want to do that,” I told him. I didn’t even recognize my own voice.

  His eyes were heavy-lidded, his lips sensually amused. “Do you? Is that really what you want?”

  I nodded, then thought about it, and shook my head. He laughed, stroking faster and harder. “Tell me what you do want. Or I may just make you watch me finish myself.”

  “I want you to take me against this mirror. I want to watch your eyes while you do it. I want it to be so hard, and so deep, that you wonder if you’re hurting me. But I want you to be so far gone that you don’t stop, even if you are.”

  That did the trick. He was behind me, bending over me in a dizzying move. He pulled my head back by the hair, so I was looking up at him.

  He didn’t hold back, ramming into me in that oh so smooth way he had. He thrust, again and again, and I could see my hair shifting through colors out of the corner of my eye. His eyes turned from playful to ardently serious, and he started speaking in a language that sounded like Gaelic. His voice was a deep lilt when he did this, and it drove me mad. How had I never learned to speak that language?

  Tears pricked my eyes, then ran down my cheeks freely. What I wouldn’t give to have him love me again, the way he used to. That kind of love was addictive. I had simply known that, for him, the sun rose and set with my presence, and I had felt the same for him, though I had never been as good at showing it to him. Not like he had for me. Was that love he’d once felt still salvageable? Were we? I was terrified to ask. So scared that I knew I would run from the answer until it chased me down. And so the tears flowed freely down my cheeks, tears of hope and despair.

  He moaned loudly. It was rare for him to get loud. It simply wasn’t his way. But he loved my tears. Some memory from long ago, he’d once told me, when my tears had moved him deeply. He said I’d been crying the first time he’d realized that he would love me forever.

  He moved a hand to my face, the other still gripping my hip like a vise. He traced my tears with an unbelievably soft touch, never stopping his hard thrusts. He licked his finger, then bent forward and started kissing the sides of my face from behind, licking and sucking at my tears. That did it, and I came. He followed me, like he’d been waiting for my cue, which I knew he had.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Epilogue

  When I came to again I was laying on a warm, hard chest. I could feel Dom stroking my hair. What had woken me? I couldn’t put my finger on it. A feeling, maybe. An instinct. A sound? I looked up at Dom’s face. His head was tilted back, his eyes open wide and staring at the ceiling, lost in some faraway thoughts.

  A cel phone started ringing on the beside table. I lifted my head, glancing around the room, vaguely recognizing it as the room Dom had been using the last time I had been at the druid casino. The bed was different. “Did you get a new bed?” I asked him. He seemed to be getting more distant by the second, his face closing off completely as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

  His mouth twisted. “I did. I tore the last one to pieces after I found out you’d been captured by the dragons.”

  Oh. The phone stopped ringing for a few seconds then st
arted up again. “Aren’t you going to answer your phone?” I asked him.

  “It’s for you,” he said, his voice hollow.

  I blinked at him. “I don’t have a phone. I don’t have anything, for that matter. This is the first place I’ve been since I came back from the dragon-trance.”

  “It’s my phone. But it’s for you.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do. Are you going to answer it?” His eyes stayed glued to the ceiling.

  It stopped and started again. I picked it up. “Hello?”

  “Jillian, we’re in Summerlin. You need to get here, fast. We have a lead.” It was Caleb’s voice, sounding a little animated, for him. He was acting as though I’d been gone for a day, instead of seven months.

  “How did you know I was back?” I asked carefully, glancing at Dom. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

  “I have the casino under 24/7 surveillance. The pale dragon landing on the roof was a dead giveaway.”

  I shot Dom a worried glance. “Do you think that’s a wise move? You do not want to fuck with the druids.”

  I heard a snort through the phone, then Christian’s voice in the background. “Look who’s talking!”

  I pushed up on my arms, becoming momentarily distracted by the sight of my gold hair trailing across Dom’s naked torso. I might have drooled a little. I’ll never tell. I shook myself out of my distraction.

  “While you’ve been playing dragon, to fly around the world, we’ve been trying to find Lynn. We finally have a lead, so get your ass over here,” Caleb was saying impatiently. “We’ve got Luke spying for us, and he’s actually damn good at it. But he wants to talk to you before he goes back undercover. He’s insisting. Your sub is becoming a little too assertive here. It’s too bad we need him…” Caleb’s voice trailed off in a threat that I knew was directed at Luke, who I assumed was in the room.