Dragon Heat

by Allyson James

  Her lips quirked. "Of course."

  Malcolm leaned over her. "I truly wish to pleasure you." He liked touching her body, watching her rise to his hand, feeling her skin warm with his touch. He skimmed a kiss to her cheek.

  Saba put her hand on his chest, pushing slightly. "Why don't I pleasure you for a change?"

  His heartbeat quickened as he imagined her slim hand on his staff, moving in long, slow strokes while he held her and kissed her. Or better still, he could sit here on the sofa with his thighs spread while she knelt before him and ran her tongue up and down his full arousal. It was a heady and tempting vision.

  "No," he answered.

  "Why not?"

  She sounded hurt. She thought he controlled himself because he was not attracted to her, as though he did not find her pixy face and lovely body beautiful. He tried to explain. "When I leave here, I want no ties to anything. If I take pleasure from you, it might be more difficult for me to go, and I do not want a reason to stay."

  He thought it a logical solution. If he fell in love with her, he'd always be torn. If he made love to her and gave her a child, he would be further torn. Best to make it a clean break. Surely she would understand this.

  Anger and pain flickered in her eyes, and she pushed him away in earnest. She grabbed the edge of the blanket and rolled away from him, covering herself completely and pressing her nose to the back of the couch. "Go to bed. I don't want you touching me."

  Malcolm stared at her in surprise, expecting her at any moment roll over and reach for him, unable to resist. She did no such thing. As she remained a lump of blanket and rumpled black hair, anger bubbled inside him. Hot words formed in his mouth, words of annoyance that a human male might say to his mate, and for one insane moment, he nearly started to argue with her.

  He stopped, surprised at the feeling which was not the least bit logical. He was not human, he was dragon, and she had no business refusing anything he asked of her or any gift he wished to give her.

  He shifted in irritation. The sooner he finished and went back to Dragonspace the better. He'd release Saba before he left, and then she'd forget all about him, and he'd forget her. It would be better that way.

  That did not explain why he sat on the sofa in the dark for another thirty minutes, waiting for Saba to roll over, smile her shy smile, and say she wanted to enjoy the time she had left with him.

  Saba remained motionless. The clock was striking midnight when Malcolm at last rose, picked up the half-empty bottle of water, and drifted back to the spare room to sleep. At least the two in Lisa's bedroom had finally shut up.

  Lisa made breakfast. No one else had the inclination to cook, and Lisa wasn't about to let Caleb lose with her pots and pans and the open flame on her stove. She put the shrimp she'd brought home from the show to good use, making seafood omelets with a butter and lemon sauce.

  Saba drifted to the kitchen to help, but mostly she leaned on the counter and watched Lisa chop herbs and saute the shrimp. "Do you do everything perfectly?" she asked, a grumpy note in her voice.

  Lisa looked at her in surprise. "No. What are you talking about?"

  "You're a silver dragon, you have powerful magic, you can cook…"

  "I'm a silver dragon because of my hundred-times great-grandmother, I didn't choose it. The cooking came from a grueling year in culinary school and more grueling years in kitchens with terrorizing chefs, not to mention Hazeltine Conant. My life was never quite right until I moved back here and started working at Ming Ue's and meeting my grandmother for tea. When I finally gave up trying to have the perfect career and the perfect marriage and the perfect life, everything fell together."

  Saba picked up a spoon and absently tasted the sauce, her lips curling at the heat. "Do you have any advice for a freelance programmer who's currently available?"

  Lisa thought a moment. "I guess, don't fight what feels right. Don't let anyone try to make you be other than who you are." She grimaced. "I sound like a fortune cookie."

  Saba laughed lightly. "Your people are good to you. Did you have trouble when you were a kid? Being part Asian?"

  "I have red hair," Lisa said, stirring the shrimp. "Most people don't know I'm part-Asian. Li Na married an American, so my mother was half-Chinese, and my father is as far from Chinese as anyone can get." She thought of her tall, red-haired, big-boned father trying to eat tiny Chinese delicacies with chopsticks. "I never knew Li Na's husband—he died before I was born. My parents live in Hawaii now so we're not as close as we were."

  Saba looked wistful. "My grandmother was the perfect woman, trained in the art of pleasing everyone around her and keeping things running like an oiled machine. My own father rebelled at having to be traditional, but suddenly he thinks his heritage is being lost, and I'm the one to revive it." She wrinkled her small nose. "It's not working."

  Lisa spooned a pile of sautéed shrimp onto a puddle of cooking egg. "Like I said, you have to be true to who you are."

  Saba sighed. "I suppose I have bigger things to worry about right now." She glanced past Lisa to the living room, where things were quiet. Too quiet. "You don't think Caleb and Malcolm have killed each other out there, do you?"

  "They better not have," Lisa said darkly. She flipped the finished omelet onto a big plate and carried it out to the table, which she and Saba had pulled in front of the open French doors to catch the warm June breeze.

  Caleb and Malcolm were watching television. Caleb held the remote, and both man-dragons stared with looks of rapt concentration at a basketball game being rerun on a sports channel.

  "Ah," Lisa said. "Male bonding."

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty

  The two looked up at her, both shifting as though embarrassed to be found actually doing something together.

  "We are trying to decipher the rules," Caleb said.

  "There seems to be little order to it," Malcolm added, glancing back at the screen.

  "You've never watched basketball before?" Saba asked him.

  Malcolm rose effortlessly to his feet. "On the contrary, I have been observing human sports for eight hundred years in many different countries—Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Mexico, America. I still don't understand any of them."

  "Come and have omelets instead," Lisa said. "Eggs and shrimp. Nothing dragons wouldn't eat."

  Caleb clicked off the television and he and Malcolm approached the table, splitting off to the opposite ends, eyeing each other warily. Lisa ducked back into the kitchen for another omelet, and soon she had four plates sitting on bright red placemats.

  Malcolm held a chair out for Saba to slide into. She did so with a quick look at him but no smile. Lisa sensed the tension between them as she started the sauce around but decided to say nothing about it.

  "We need a plan of action," she announced as they began to eat. "Donna wants to get her hands on me, and I'd rather find her instead of waiting around for her to jump at me from the shadows. Caleb and I talked about this last night and decided that the best way to circumvent the problem is to offer Donna the orb."

  Saba started. "How will that circumvent the problem?"

  Caleb scooped up a large bite of eggs. "We offer her the orb, she rushes out of hiding to get it, Lisa kills her, end of dilemma."

  "That's your plan?" Malcolm asked, fork halting halfway to his mouth. "Lisa meets her on the street and says, 'Here's the orb?'" His voice dripped sarcasm. "Donna will be suspicious, don't you think?"

  "If any of us offer her the orb, she'll suspect a trap," Saba pointed out.

  "Not if I do it," Caleb broke in. Into the silence that fell, he said, "If she uses my true name I have to obey her, and she knows it. So if she finds out I know where the dragon orb is, she can order me to either steal it or tell her where it is."

  Lisa looked at her plate. Caleb had come up with the idea while she'd lain against his body in the dark. She'd argued for a long time before deciding he was right. Donna would compel Caleb to come to her hiding place o
r meet her somewhere and Lisa could follow.

  "It's a bad idea," Saba said in a hard voice.

  "No, it isn't," Malcolm said. "I imagine Lisa could track Caleb to Donna and I can follow her."

  "But Caleb would have to put himself in her power," Saba said. "Then Donna would have not only the orb but a warrior dragon on her side."

  "Not for long," Caleb put in. "It is the best way to finish this quickly. I'd rather force her hand than wait until she's ready to strike. She's building her strength, and we should stop her before she becomes more powerful than she already is."

  "I know," Saba said glumly. "But I worked with her. I know how strong she is and how cunning. I thought at first she was a wonderful, wise woman who would help me when no one else would. I realize now she wanted me to think that. She had me completely fooled."

  "Her perfidy isn't your fault," Malcolm said. He gave Saba a steady look, which she returned as though they'd discussed this before. "Caleb's idea is good, but it leaves the small problem of planting the idea that Caleb knows where the orb is in Donna's head."

  "Which is where Saba comes in," Lisa said.

  "Me?" Saba pressed her hands to her chest. "I'm not strong enough to coerce demon-magic-infested Donna."

  Malcolm's face went hard. "I don't want Saba in this. Me, Lisa, and Caleb, fine. Saba stays out of it."

  Saba ruffled the her short, black hair. "I'd be offended at your lack of confidence if I didn't agree. I really can't go up against Donna."

  Lisa swirled the tines of her fork through her thin sauce, making patterns on the plate. "I only need you to do a locating spell. That's all. And we can do it right here."

  "She'll have shielded against a locator spell," Saba argued. "If she doesn't want to be found, she'll have put plenty of wards in place."

  "I know. But when I feel the backlash of her shield, I can send suggestions to her using the thread of her magic. If I do it subtly enough, she'll think she's being very clever."

  Lisa took a calm bite of eggs and shrimp, then noticed Saba staring at her in an odd way. "What?"

  "You can do that? Infiltrate a counter-spell?"

  "Yes." Lisa stopped, thinking about it. "Don't ask me how I know how to do it, but the silver dragon does."

  Malcolm scraped more eggs into his mouth and swallowed. "In that case, why can't you follow her counter-spell back to its source? Find her that way?"

  "Because the locator shield will be very strong, with all kinds of blankets to confuse direction, and I might reveal myself if I try to follow it. She won't be looking for suggestion spells, which is tiny magic compared to the power of a shield."

  "You hope," Malcolm said.

  Lisa nodded. "I hope."

  "I'll do it," Saba said in a quiet voice. "Don't look at me like that, Malcolm. I want to help, and I can't fight, but I can do a locator spell."

  He continued to stare at her, silver eyes cold. Saba returned the look defiantly, her brows lowered under her wispy bangs. They were mismatched: Malcolm large and powerful, Saba young, slender, and inexperienced. It was like watching a mouse face down a tiger. But Saba held to it, and Malcolm was the one who looked away first.

  Lisa broke in. "We'll do it after we finish breakfast. I slaved over a hot stove for this, so enjoy it."

  She went back to eating, but Malcolm glared sullenly, Saba looked troubled but determined, and Caleb reached over and squeezed her hand. It didn't make her feel any better.

  For the spell, Saba asked for a map of San Francisco, salt, thread, and a needle. Lisa cleared the plates, and Saba scrubbed off the table while Lisa found the accoutrements for her. She tried to work calmly, but she worried. Despite Caleb's reassurances, she knew that Donna could hurt him and the thought of him dying made her physically sick.

  Saba spread out the map, which detailed streets from the Golden Gate Bridge in the north to Daly City in the south. She instructed the other three to sit around the table in approximate locations of the main compass points, while she took the north side.

  Lisa sat on the east side, watching Saba encircle the table with salt, murmuring rhymed lines that called for the presence of the Goddess. Saba then spread salt in a fine film across the map and used the tip of a quartz crystal, which she'd taken from her pocket, to sketch runes around the perimeter. Last, she drew a length of thread through her thumb and forefingers, chanting more rhymes, and threaded it through the needle.

  She lifted the thread and let the needle dangle over the map. She drew a breath and looked at each of the other three, a shaky smile on her face. "Wish me luck."

  "You can do this," Lisa said softly. She sensed Malcolm sending a tendril of black dragon magic to her, the thought encompassing Saba like smoke.

  Saba's shoulders straightened the slightest bit. She closed her eyes, holding the dangling needle over the map, the point hovering just above the salt. Drawing a breath, she began to speak.

  Lady of light, mistress of the moon

  I pray you to grant my boon

  That I might find the hidden one

  And so charge her to harm none.

  I ask this freely, Goddess of Earth.

  So mote it be.

  A faint blue nimbus surrounded Saba and glowed from her fingers down the thread to sparkle on the sharp needle. Malcolm watched her intently, hands gripping the edge of the table as though ready to spring and knock the thread out of her hands if anything went wrong.

  Lisa glanced at Caleb, who returned her look with a smile that she assumed was supposed to be encouraging. She touched his hand and he closed his fingers on hers.

  Saba remained still, her energy pouring into the needle, thread, salt, map, and the circle around them. She was strong, Lisa felt, a power contained behind a facade of uncertainty. Saba needed training, but when she had it, she'd be powerful indeed.

  The blue light sparkled suddenly, and the needle moved. Lisa released Caleb's hand and leaned over the map, holding her breath, waiting for the feel of Donna's magic. The needle traced a slow line through the salt, the string bending as the gleaming needle glided slowly east, toward the bay.

  When the backlash came, it came with a vengeance. A wicked red light arced from the map to the needle, skimmed up the thread faster than thought, and exploded. It engulfed Saba in a brilliant red glare, twisting itself around her body and snuffing out the blue nimbus. Saba screamed. The map burst into flames that burned high and blue, like those of an alcohol burner. Salt scattered as the paper crumpled to ash, scorching the table beneath it.

  Malcolm leapt from his chair and caught Saba's body as she sagged from her chair. He cradled her against him and used his dark dragon magic to dampen the red flares that flashed around her body like bolts of electricity. She moaned in pain, and he held her close, his eyes blazing fury.

  Lisa studied the burn mark on her grandmother's table, her breathing hard, her fingers tingling. As soon as the first red spark had appeared, she'd sent the tiny magic suggestion back through to wherever the spell-caster lay. She'd done it in the blink of an eye, before the red light had even reached its way up the thread to touch Saba. It was done.

  She stood up to find her knees weak. Caleb caught her with strong hands, helping her to stand.

  "Is Saba all right?" she asked.

  "I don't know," Malcolm growled. He lifted Saba in his arms. Her eyes were closed, her face drawn, though the red snakes of electricity had disappeared.

  "I think it worked," Lisa said. "I sent the suggestion. Donna should move soon."

  Malcolm shot her a look a pure fury. "I don't give a damn." Holding Saba close, he strode into the spare bedroom, slamming the door so hard it shook the apartment.

  Caleb's blue eyes were flecked with dark specks, golden lashes lowering as he looked down at her. "Well," he said. "Now we wait."

  Hours passed. Lisa and Caleb sat side by side on the balcony, the wooden slats of the railing warmed by the fading sunshine, Lisa's pots of geraniums bright smudges of red against the white-painted post
s. Saba and Malcolm hadn't come out of the bedroom since Malcolm had carried Saba in after the spell. Lisa had wandered the apartment, restless, eating only when Caleb convinced her to make herself a sandwich. She hadn't realized Donna's counter-spell would be so strong, but of course Donna would not only shield herself but set up the spell to attack the magician who tried to find her.

  "Lisa," Caleb said now. "I want to tell you about Severin, my son."

  Lisa looked up at him. The afternoon sunlight cast shadows on his square, tanned face and skimmed highlights along his golden hair. His eyes were sad.

  "You don't have to," she said quickly.

  He took her small hand in his larger one, stroking her fingers with his blunt thumb. "I want to. In case anything goes wrong."

  "I won't let anything go wrong."

  He gave her a dragon look from under his long lashes. "She is powerful. I know you can defeat her, but who knows what she'll get up to before you can?"

  "I won't let her."

  He didn't answer, looking away across the gardens and rooftops to the trees of the Presidio, the historic army post that was now a preserved recreation area. "Witches have known my true name for a long time," he said slowly. "But about five hundred years ago, I went through a stretch of time when none called me. I was naive enough to believe that they'd forgotten about me, that all the witches who had known my name had died off. During this stretch of years, I mated with a female golden and was lucky enough to get away before she disemboweled me. I patted myself on the back for mating and living for the second time in my life and thought no more about it."

  "And then you found out you had a son?" Lisa asked, curious.

  "I found an egg." Caleb leaned back on the patio chair, stretching out his muscular, blue-jeaned legs. "The female laid a clutch, which she guarded well, but she'd pushed this particular egg away. They do that if they think there's something wrong with it. I happened to observe her, and for some reason I decided to save the egg. I thought maybe the hatchling inside was dead, but I stole it anyway and took it to my lair. I kept it in my hoard and set up magic protection around it, and it sat there for about a year. I almost forgot about it, but one day, when I returned from hunting, the thing was hatching."