Alexa made preparations to go back to St. Paul. Amazingly, no one, including Aunt Ethel, protested.
“I know you have a life, dear.” Ethel patted Alexa’s hand and shifted to a more comfortable position in the recliner. “We’ll be fine.”
“Don’t worry,” her father said, hugging her tightly. “We’re fine. We’re not a bunch of old fuddy duddies.”
“I know.” Alexa inhaled his familiar scent of old wool and faded aftershave, squeezed him tighter, and let go. “Just please, lay off Peter, okay? You know the harder you oppose this marriage, the more he’ll dig in, and even if it’s not the right thing for him, he’ll go ahead and do it. You have to start letting him make his own mistakes, and not berate him when he does.”
Paul looked at her and shook his head. “Gosh, sometimes you sound just like your mother.”
Another pang of loss left her momentarily weak, and tears pricked behind her eyes. “You never tell me that.”
“It’s true. Maybe I’ve been hard on your brother because I’m subconsciously expecting her to balance me. I’ll work on it.” He frowned and looked more like his old self. “I still don’t trust that woman completely, and I want him to sign that pre-nup. But if he won’t, and she runs off with all his money, I won’t say I told him so.”
“Okay, Dad. That’s fair.” She started to move away, but he tightened his grip on her right shoulder and pointed at her with his other hand.
“Don’t think you’re out of the woods yourself, missy. You’re not exactly living the good life. I want you to be happy.”
Alexa smiled sadly. “I’m working on it, Dad. It doesn’t look good, but I’m working on it.” She left him before he could ask what she meant, and motioned for Peter to walk her out.
Her brother scanned the parking lot once they were outside. “How are you getting to the airport?”
“A friend is picking me up at the corner.”
“A friend?” He narrowed his eyes at her, looking more like an older brother than a younger one. “What friends do you have around here who wouldn’t come inside?”
“He’s not from around here. Listen.” She tugged on the placket of the button-down shirt he wore loose over a t-shirt. “I think you should sign the pre-nup.”
His face hardened. “I told you, Alexa…”
“No, really, Peter. I like Victoria, I always have. She’s probably not after your money. But if you sign the pre-nup, which she said she’s willing to do, you ease Dad’s mind, avoid any subconscious doubts you may have—”
“I have no doubts.” He still looked sullen.
“Okay, but even if she’s not after your money, things change. If for some reason your marriage fails, you don’t want her to take anything she’s not entitled to.”
He made a sound of disgust and started to turn away. “I should just dump the money. I don’t need it.”
Alexa grabbed his shirt in both hands and held him there. “Peter, listen. I put almost half that money there. I did it because I want you to have the ability to realize your dreams. I don’t want you to lose it, in any manner. And I especially don’t want it to cause problems in any of your relationships.”
“Mom gave half the money to you for the same reason. You gave most of yours away. Why can’t I give mine away?”
“Peter, what is your dream? For yourself alone. What do you want to accomplish?”
He stared down the street for a long time. Finally, he refocused on her. “You want to know my secret dream? The one I’ve never told a single living soul?”
“Yes. Please.”
“I want to build fantasies. Tree houses, forts, school playgrounds and town parks.”
“Wow,” Alexa said. She dropped her hands. “That’s something I can see you doing.”
“I have experience. I worked construction the last four summers, and I’ve been taking classes at the home superstores. I have almost three file drawers of information.”
“So why haven’t you mentioned it to anyone?”
He shrugged. “It’s not that big a deal. Not like saving the world. I mean, I’d like to do some of it for charity and stuff, but I want to make a living at it so the trust can pay for the special ones and not my rent.”
“Why haven’t you told Victoria?”
“I’m afraid she won’t be impressed.” He swallowed. “I mean, she wants to be a veterinarian and specialize in trauma. Saving lives and stuff. Swingsets and wooden lighthouses are petty compared to that.”
“No, they’re not.” Alexa rubbed his arm. “They’re just as important. Talk to her. And I support you one hundred percent.”
He looked more relaxed, as if her opinion was important to him and she’d said the right thing. She hadn’t realized before how much stock he put in her advice.
“Now, what about you? Why isn’t your dream as important as mine?”
Alexa looked at the ground. “My dream is important, but money can’t achieve it.”
His fingers cupped her chin and lifted it. “Why not?”
“I can’t…” She swallowed against the lump in her throat. “I can’t tell you. You wouldn’t believe me, anyway. But it’s important.”
Peter took a deep breath. The motion lifted his chest, pulled his shoulders back, and he was taller, stronger than Alexa ever thought him to be. “It’s the dragon, isn’t it?”
She froze and stared at him, tears forgotten, fear now the basis of her tight throat. How could he know about Cyrgyn? “What are you talking about?”
“The dragon. I used to see him, at night, before Mom died. I wondered why he didn’t come to see me. The last time I saw him was the day she died.”
Alexa gasped. Cyrgyn had been there the day she died? He’d said he hadn’t been! She almost didn’t hear what Peter said next.
“After she died, I didn’t see him anymore, but last night…”
He trailed off and Alexa wanted to shake him. She’d thought Cyrgyn had only communicated with her in dreams, but maybe he hadn’t, at least not at first. “What about last night?”
“On my way home, I saw him. Flying over the woods. I’m sure it was the same dragon. He’s unique.” Peter snorted at himself. “Like any other dragon could exist.”
Alexa didn’t know what to say. He shouldn’t have been able to see Cyrgyn ever, but especially not at night. And, she realized, snapping off her incredulousness, anything she said to Peter could get to Tars through his sister. Better to keep her mouth shut.
“Pete, honey.” She blinked and stepped back. “Better lay off those wine coolers when you’re driving.”
His brows dipped. “I wasn’t drinking. I went to the store to get some soda because we were out. Victoria was doing a last search of the apartment to see if Dad had left anything else we’d missed. The dragon was circling the woods where we used to play. He disappeared almost as soon as I spotted him, but he was definitely there.”
Alexa shrugged. “Whatever. In any case, my dream does not involve a dragon.” She almost choked on the lie. “I have a plane to catch.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Take care.”
She headed across the parking lot to the street, but still heard his parting words.
“I hope you save him, Alexa. You deserve what you’ve been waiting for.”
* * *
Alexa settled into her seat and watched, amused, as Ryc double-checked his seatbelt and glanced out the tiny oval window again. His left hand tapped the armrest between them, and he shifted his legs for the tenth time since they sat down three minutes ago.
Alexa placed her hand over his on the armrest. It stilled, and he turned to look at her.
“Relax,” she told him, trying to ignore the zings of electricity pricking her palm and fingers. “It’s safe.”
“I know that.” He looked out the window again. “I’m just not used to flying this way. I feel claustrophobic.”
Alexa couldn’t believe this nervous man was the ultra-confident protector who’d been following her around for the
past few weeks. She’d been around people who were afraid to fly, of course. Even some operatives had to conquer it before taking on a far-off mission. But somehow…
“Wait a minute. If you haven’t flown ‘this way,’ how have you flown?” He gave her a significant look. “Oh.” He must have ridden Cyrgyn. Jealous because he’d been there before her, she pointed to the window. “Look. We’re moving.”
His hand grabbed the armrest and he whipped his head around to watch the land speed by. He didn’t move until they were in the air, and even then he didn’t lose his tension.
“Are you okay?” Alexa asked. Most people adjusted after they were airborne. Ryc’s muscles were still locked, his entire body stiff.
He nodded tightly. “It’s different, racing along the ground like that.”
“Yeah.” She lowered her voice to a murmur and leaned toward him. “My first flight on him was yesterday. Totally surreal, climbing up onto his gleaming back, feeling the backwash from his wings. When we got above the clouds…” She continued describing the experience. After a minute he closed his eyes and slowly, one by one, his muscles loosened. His ebony eyelashes rested against razor-sharp cheekbones on either side of a long, straight nose. Above the strong jaw was a wide, firm mouth she could almost taste.
His hand was the last to relax and he twisted it to capture hers when she finished. “Thank you,” he murmured, his head turned toward her on his headrest but his eyes still closed. “That was beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful,” she whispered back without thinking. She didn’t even realize what she’d said until Ryc’s eyes popped open.
The gold irises glowed with an internal heat. She felt scorched, but this time it wasn’t her brain that burned.
“Ryc,” she couldn’t help whispering, and didn’t know if she was pleading or warning.
“This is wrong,” he rumbled, and she felt the words in her chest more than she heard them in her ears.
“Completely,” she agreed. “Do you care?”
“Of course I care. Cyrgyn…”
“Isn’t here.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that. Couldn’t believe she was contemplating kissing the one man her friend trusted.
His eyes fell to her mouth and she licked her lips, not seductively but instinctively. He groaned and lowered his head the last inch.
An explosion ripped through Alexa’s brain, thundered through her chest, blasted her abdomen, and petered out in her fingers and toes. Stunned was too mild a word to describe her reaction—when Ryc pulled back, she half expected the plane to be falling from the sky.
As kisses went, it wasn’t much. He’d only pressed his mouth to hers. No movement, no tongue, no technique.
No contest.
Alexa pulled the airline magazine from the pocket in front of her and flipped it open. She didn’t dare look at Ryc, never mind comment on her reaction to the kiss. Under normal circumstances she would consider it a sign, since she’d never felt anything remotely like it.
But it couldn’t be a sign. She belonged with Cyrgyn.
Didn’t she?
Anyway, Ryc might not have felt anything like she had. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was staring straight ahead, a dazed look on his face. Okay, maybe he had. A little bubble of glee swelled inside her.
Focus. You need a plan against Tars. She tried, but her mind kept drifting. Maybe it needed a break. She squinted at the magazine she held, and couldn’t even figure out what kind it was. Her eyes kept straying to Ryc’s legs, with his scuffed cowboy boots and worn jeans. Plain apparel, but they fit him so well that if she saw them off him, she’d still know they were his.
She let her gaze wander up his legs, past solid thighs, hopping over the part she really wanted to look at, but was hidden by the armrest and his leather jacket. She lingered at his abdomen, the flattest she’d ever seen. Was it soft, or rippled? His black t-shirt—did he ever wear anything else?—stretched across his chest. Again, she lingered, trying to decide if it was hairy or not.
His neck was as strong as the rest of his body, and she wondered if he’d like being kissed there. His jaw looked like it would take a punch. His lips—finally she knew what they tasted like. His eyes, burning even hotter than before.
Oops.
“Alexa, you’re courting trouble.” His voice was low and husky and vibrated her bones.
She faced forward again. “I didn’t do anything.”
His sigh moved her hair.
The plane couldn’t land too soon. She thanked the stars they had a non-stop flight and when the fasten seatbelts sign went off, Alexa was the first one down the jetway.
Outside the terminal she turned to him but avoided his gaze. “Okay, then, I’ll head back to the hangar. See you around.”
“Alexa.”
She turned back and her heart flipped when she saw him standing there, so tall and solid and sexy. “What?”
He just looked at her a minute, and she had the feeling he wanted to say something vitally important. What he finally did say, though, was below mundane. “Say hello to Cyrgyn.”
“Sure.”
Alexa set off again, hoping against hope Cyrgyn wasn’t in the hangar.
* * *
Cyrgyn paced in the rear expanse of the hangar. He knew Alexa would be home soon, and he craved her presence. The past few days without her had been hell. The problem with letting Ryc be her protector was that Cyrgyn had no idea what was going on.
The small door in the front of the hangar opened, and his heart lightened. He couldn’t believe how good it felt just to have her in the room. It was almost like when he’d first fallen in love with her.
“Alexa.”
She looked up, her weariness clear on her face and in her manner. “Hi, Cyrgyn.”
“You are exhausted.”
“Very perceptive of you.” She dropped her duffel and sank into a chair. “Long flight, long couple of days.”
“What has happened? Your family? Are they well?”
“No report from Ryc?”
“I have not spoken with him.”
Alexa gave him a rundown of her trip to Seattle. When he learned of Tars’ connection to Peter’s fiancée, he sighed.
“I knew he had ties to that region. I did not recall his stepsister’s name.”
She shrugged. “I may not have ever said Victoria’s name in front of you. You wouldn’t have guessed. But that’s not the biggest news.” She told him of her mini-attack with water energy and Tars’ revealing reaction.
“Yes, that is important. We must consider how best to use it to our advantage.”
Alexa nodded, but drooped forward in her chair. “Another day. I’m wiped. I need some sleep.”
“Of course.” He waited, but she didn’t come near him, only pulled her bag from the floor and trudged up the stairs. He’d expected an embrace. At least a pat. But she had barely looked at him.
He lifted his head to keep her in view as she reached the loft. She paused when she got to her bedroom doorway. She looked over her shoulder. He’d never seen such torment in her eyes. Fear swept over him.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, and went into the room and shut the door.
Cyrgyn sank to his pallet. He, too, was exhausted. The activities he’d undertaken on the trip to Seattle had drained his energy, both magical and physical. But he found it impossible to sleep.
Something was very wrong.
Chapter Fourteen
Alexa slept twelve straight hours. The phone didn’t ring, her alarm clock didn’t go off, and she didn’t dream.
She awoke late, famished and eager to see Cyrgyn. In her fatigue last night, things had seemed darker than they were. Her attraction to Ryc was a passing thing. She was lonely, she craved companionship—and, yes, sex—and her lover was so near but so unattainable. It made sense that she’d project her needs to the nearest male able to fulfill them. A little voice kept asking what ifs—like, what if she didn’t feel the same attraction
for Cyrgyn when he was a man again?—but she managed to stifle it and regain at least a little optimism by the time she left her room.
She expected Cyrgyn to be in the hangar, asleep. He’d spent yesterday flying halfway across the country after spending two nights in the damp woods. But his bed was empty. He hadn’t returned from roaming yet.
Disappointed, Alexa fixed herself some breakfast and sat at the little kitchen table, eating and reading the paper. She’d just snapped off a bite of bacon when she heard a squeak and click downstairs.
She froze. The hinges on the human-sized door squealed, unoiled for precisely this reason—to give her an early warning if her alarms were tampered with. She set down the other half of her bacon and slowly rotated in her seat. Tucked the uneaten portion into her cheek—chewing it would be too loud and she wouldn’t be able to hear the intruder.
Without making a sound, she rose to her feet, then reached under the table and detached a gun she’d taped there. Some of her colleagues preferred Velcro, claiming it held better and allowed for quicker release. Alexa didn’t like the announcement it made when it pulled apart, so she used duct tape across the barrel and grip of the gun.
Holding the weapon pointing upward, ready, she stepped barefoot across the loft to the wall next to the stairs. The curve of the stairs meant she couldn’t see down them until she reached the top, where she’d be vulnerable. She eased up against the wall, then spun around the corner.
Before she brought her weapon all the way down, though, she was swept up in powerful arms and wrapped tightly against a wide chest. Ryc’s mouth slammed down onto hers. Her normal fighting reaction didn’t even fire because her body recognized him. His shape, his scent. His taste. This kiss had everything the first didn’t. Movement, tongue, and oh, wow, technique. His tongue swept her mouth, hungry, as his hands burned on her back.
Alexa struggled to pull her index finger off the trigger of the weapon without discharging it into Ryc’s butt. The rest of her body got busy wrapping itself around him. He was so tall, so hard, so friggin’ hot. The heat penetrated her core, flooded her, swelled. She ached and burned under the flash fire.
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