WickedBeast

by Gail Faulkner

  “I’m sorry,” he ground out softly.

  “For kissing me?” Kelly whispered.

  “No, baby, for much more than that.” He ran a hand down his face and tried to make sense of the changes he’d just forced on both of them. The secrets kept from him within his own body.

  Marelda and her cohorts were indeed brilliant. He’d known they were masters of nuance, their end plan lush with detail. This detail changed everything and he hadn’t known about it. Ignorance was his only excuse and that was a damn useless set of words. He had to explain it to her.

  “You didn’t offend me,” she continued softly.

  Cord managed a half smile. “I will, give me a minute.”

  “What’s wrong? A kiss isn’t the end of the world. I wanted it. You couldn’t have missed that.”

  “You should have slapped my face and told me to keep my animal paws off you.”

  Her brows went up. “How could I do that? Reading you in the kitchen was informative. You think my daughter is a miracle. You would give your life to protect her. But that’s not the reason I wanted that kiss, Cord. When you think of me, you are loyalty, protection, defense and you think I’m hot. You want me and that’s a huge turn-on. You’re also sexy as hell. Knowing as much as I do about your need to protect me makes it easy to ignore common sense and enjoy what we both want a little bit.”

  Cord crossed the space between them and cupped her face with both hands. “No, baby, you don’t read me like you think. You read what you want to see. Those intentions are true, but not the only truth, Kelly girl.” His nose almost touched hers as he held her gently. “Look again. Tell me what you see.”

  Her eyes on his, her spirit spread through his consciousness. She became an inquisitive spring breeze that touched him from the inside out. His response was powerful, surging to meet her, surrounding her, blending with her. He didn’t shield its depth from the beautiful Wind Witch who stroked him with her attention.

  “Possession,” she gasped.

  “Yes,” he gritted. “Complete, irrevocable possession. I mentioned I was the product of brilliant minds. Notice I didn’t say ‘the child of’. I used the words product of. I was made by using DNA gathered from many sources. The flesh DNA mostly came from predators, some you know, some no longer exist, but the significance of those species was not just their skill as deadly aggressors. Before this morning, I never realize the importance of their mating habits. Now I can’t ignore them. Every one of the predators used in my makeup mates for life.”

  He took his hands off her, flattening them on the wall. He wasn’t harmless or gentle. He wasn’t some casual thrill because it had been so long for her. She needed to understand that he was her last thrill.

  Her brows drew together as she regarded him. “It’s not like…”

  “It’s not your fault. I’m not a man.” Even though she was the Wind Witch, she was still thinking in terms of him being something with human reactions.

  “I’m not even an animal. I’m the product of desperate times. A creature made to endure the end of the world when dragons ruled. I exist to support the fragile hope that humans could survive if they were given a second chance.” Cord stopped. This wasn’t making sense to her. He could see it on her face. Of course it wasn’t.

  “Maybe this will make more sense. When we’re animated, dragons eat and drink, but that’s not what fuels us. The brilliance of dragon design was making a perfect weapon that could not be killed by normal human methods. An endless energy source was the key. We drink human emotions. Sexual desire is delicious. It drives us to seek more. Do you know what really packs a satisfying punch? They are emotions humans have in endless supply. Adoration or terror.”

  Chapter Four

  “You were feeding? Is that what you’re telling me?” Kelly asked, offended comprehension raising her voice.

  “No,” he denied but had to amend. “Yes. I was feeding but it’s different with you.” His voice deepened as he saw the bitter disbelief on her face. He should give her some space to work through the information but he didn’t have time. Nor did he have the will to move away from her. He had to make her understand.

  “That line wasn’t believable when I was sixteen,” she stated flatly, withdrawing all emotion from her face as she now regarded him coldly.

  “It’s not a line. I was created by a Wind Witch for the next Wind Witch. You. She didn’t tell me that important fact. I didn’t know until Minuet brought me here.

  “Kelly, listen to me. Dragons are thinking, learning beasts. The originals soon did not need their weak, human creators, wizards. About the only thing they shared with the ones who designed them was greed.

  “The shortsighted, greedy wizards intentionally created dragons with a constant, limitless hunger, thinking it would be a means to control the army and a weapon when unleashed on an enemy. Very shortly the highly intelligent, impossible-to-kill and veraciously hungry beasts disposed of their masters. They have no built-in control such as a conscious, a sense of right and wrong. There is only the drive for more of what a dragon needs. The more hideous the abuse, the stronger emotions humans gave, and the dragon could become powerful beyond imagining. A well-fed dragon can continue to develop both size and strength if he wants too.

  “The three witches realized that love was the only edge humans had. That emotion can dominate all others. If a dragon’s need could be refined to only feed on human pleasure, he could become powerful without being out of control. If he found the most pure source of power was the sexual satisfaction of a woman, then giving him the genetic handicap of having a single mate would ensure he never strayed to the darker gratification of fear and abuse.”

  Cord carefully took his hands from the wall beside her head. He backed to the other side of the stairwell as he watched her work through what he’d just said. He continued softly.

  “Not telling the dragon he could be trapped by a single female ensured he didn’t know enough to resist her and stay away. The failsafe was telling him his mission was to kill the next Wind Witch who appeared on Earth. If he killed her, he’d never become powerful enough to be dangerous to humans. If he didn’t kill her, he’d still be leashed to her.”

  Cord paused as he realized the promise of a soul, redemption from a God who named the creatures he did not create abominations, had been incentive. A lie.

  The three witches’ plan had worked perfectly. He’d done exactly what they’d programmed him to do. Bile rose in his throat. Being used, forced into servitude was a long way from what he had thought he was. It had never actually been his choice to take the so-called mission, just as he never really had a choice where Kelly was concerned. However, there was something they hadn’t foreseen. Something they couldn’t control.

  “What they didn’t know was that it is possible for there to be a dragon caller. One who can reanimate them without loving or hating. One who’s power is so pure it draws dragons from the sleep of ages. Minuet.”

  Her eyes widened as fear bloomed across her face. Her glance darted down the hall and then swung back to him.

  “Call them? Which ones?” she wanted to know.

  “All of them, any of them,” he confirmed. “And they are not like me. There are only two others like me. I promised I could protect you both. I was wrong. I can’t unless we…” He paused, looking into her eyes he let the realization dawn on her without the words. Said this way, it was so damn crude. When he saw her grasp the facts, he continued. “I’ll reach full strength and you will be tied to me forever.”

  She took a few minutes but her gaze never left his as she processed their situation. Cord had to give her credit for fearlessness as she looked at the face of the stranger who’d just told her he’d be having her body if she wanted to protect her daughter.

  He knew exactly when she got over that. Her eyes narrowed as she leaned toward him from her wall. “Alone? You could protect us from some unknown number of vicious dragons by yourself?”

  “It would help i
f Legion mated Molly and we found the third witch. Then there would be three witches, a perfect circle, and three extreme dragons,” he admitted to her question, which led him directly a bitter truth. “The thing that can’t work about this is you cannot love me on command. Humans don’t work that way, especially freeborn, non-genetically engineered ones. And there is no guarantee Molly will like Legion, much less love him.”

  He had to turn away from the woman trapped with him in this nightmare. “For God’s sake, what were they thinking?” he demanded in frustration, his base instincts reacting to his anger. Betrayal by the women he had considered a mother on such a grand scale might have made him sick to begin with, now he just wanted to kill something.

  Kelly grabbed his arm. “Come downstairs if you’re going to start roaring,” she hissed.

  Her hand on his body was the shackle he’d been designed to make it. His anger didn’t dissipate, if anything it increased as they moved down the stairs. He let her think she was leading him, perhaps she was. His inability to separate from her was the bottom line.

  Kelly stopped just outside the kitchen to look up into his face. “You’re too angry,” she said softly. “I understand most of your story. You feel trapped and betrayed. Stop thinking this is all about you.”

  “What? This is all about you, Kelly. I can’t change what I am. Now you have no choices.”

  “I happen to disagree. There is always a choice and I choose my daughter, whatever it takes.” Kelly frowned up at him and poked her finger into his chest to make her point. “You had choices and you made them. You chose not to kill us. So you betrayed your witch and her plan before you learned how she’d programmed you. That tells me you’re not as programmed as you seem to think you are.”

  Cord scowled and conceded she might be right to some degree. He’d made his own choice. Who was to say if Marelda had programmed it into him or simply guessed it was the one he would make.

  He reached out, his hands spanning her waist, and drew her lower body flush against his. She grasped his forearms but didn’t protest as he surrounded her.

  “I don’t have a choice about this,” he gritted out as his cock rested hot and hard against her soft belly. Even through both sets of clothes there was no hiding his response to her. “And now you don’t either. I’m not a man. I’m more predator than anything and I am possessive.”

  Kelly’s bottom lip sucked in under her teeth as she regarded him. “Does that mean we don’t have to use condoms?”

  A smile crept through his anger and onto his face. Somehow the twinkle in her eyes as her hands glided up his arms to circle his neck had the power to displace all that indignation, righteous anger and bitter resentment. Just like that.

  “You know what one of the most powerful things in the world is?” he asked her in a low growl.

  “Tell me,” Kelly invited with her lips as the rest of her invited everything else.

  “Laughter, sweet Kelly Wind Witch,” he informed her as his mouth ate all those invitations she was making.

  “Kelly, enough crawling over the big fungus. We don’t know where it’s been,” Molly interrupted. “I was willing to pretend I couldn’t hear every word of the argument from the kitchen door, but I draw the line at copulation.”

  Kelly reluctantly turned her head to face her friend. He had one arm snaking up her back, she wasn’t pulling away. Cord didn’t feel there was any reason to stop tasting so continued down her cheek and around her ear.

  “Not to worry. Copulation will not…um, oh…” Kelly seemed to lose her train of thought as his tongue dragged slowly down the side of her neck. “Relax, Molly, you’re turn is coming,” she managed to croak.

  “Oh really?” Molly faced them from the stove, one hand on a hip the other brandishing a wooden spoon. “Fungus thinks he’s getting some witch sandwich action? Kelly, you might think he’s all portabella in garlic butter, but he just became poop-fur to me.”

  The rumble of laughter in his chest was a welcome interruption. Cord’s head lifted from Kelly’s body as he chuckled and slowly let Kelly go. “That’s a good one, Mol. Sure you don’t want to save poop-fur for Legion? It’s particularly disgusting.”

  Kelly grabbed Cord’s hand, edging him to the table. “This one is mine, Molly,” she stated firmly, but laughter laced each word. “You’ll have to settle for your own dragon. I don’t share.”

  Molly was still frowning at them. The housecoat was swallowed under a long apron that was obviously Kelly’s. Molly would be giving in to wishful thinking to call herself five foot four inches tall. Kelly was easily six foot.

  “He’s grown!” Molly exclaimed as they stepped into the kitchen. “Kelly, look at him. He’s gotten all big.” The spoon wavered at she pointed it at Cord.

  “Is something burning?” Cord asked, leaving Kelly’s side to stride toward Molly and the stove.

  “Oh my God. The biscuits. Potholders. I need potholders.” Molly’s voice betrayed her stress as she turned to pull out draws and snapped them shut in frustration.

  Cord opened the oven and pulled out a tray of golden biscuits, placing them carefully on cooling rack by the stove. Both Kelly and Molly froze.

  “Your hand?” Kelly breathed in concern.

  “Dragons have a thing about fire,” Cord commented. “It doesn’t exactly burn us.” He held up his hand so both women could see his unscathed palm.

  “Oh.” Molly gulped, and backed up a step.

  “But we don’t know shit about cooking. Should I stir this gravy while you get over it?” Cord asked Molly conversationally. “Smells too good to let it burn over a little shock.”

  Molly nodded and Cord plucked the wooden spoon out of her hand. “Thanks,” she responded automatically. “I cook when I’m nervous, or…” Her words dropped off as she stared at Cord stirring her gravy and backed closer to Kelly.

  “I think we’re in trouble,” Molly said after a brief silence.

  “Yeah,” Kelly agreed with her.

  “This is really happening,” Molly continued.

  Cord took the gravy off the stove, placing it beside the biscuits. “Mind if I eat while we discus what’s happening?” He hadn’t ingested food in quite awhile. Though he didn’t need it to live, it was a pleasure he’d not bothered with. Molly’s breakfast smelled good.

  “No, um, yes, of course,” Molly agreed. “Where are the plates? I can’t find anything in this kitchen,” she accused Kelly as if that were the root of all her problems.

  “I don’t know. We’ve been using paper plates. I don’t think I’ve unpacked the dishes yet,” Kelly stated as she glanced around her own kitchen.

  Cord opened the second cabinet from the stove and pulled out three plates. “Saw these while looking for glasses,” he explained casually.

  Kelly was quiet through the meal. Eating thoughtfully and glancing at him under lowered lashes. He was more interested in what was going on in her head than explaining the stalking skills of evil creatures.

  The plates were clean and sitting in the drain by the time Molly had mulled things over enough to ask questions. “Bottom line, will the dragons you said were designed to kill us start showing up soon? And if they do, don’t you think the government will notice and do something about it?”

  Cord raised a brow. “Would you have known I was anything but a normal guy if Kelly hadn’t needed healing? We are very good at stealth. I don’t know if any of them have animated, but I’m pretty sure the presence of natural-born white witches in the world again means there are Silver-phin Wizards as well. Those are the guys who thought it would be cool to invent creatures that feed on terror with an insatiable hunger.”

  “Well, why haven’t we noticed your wizards or dragons before? What do they want from us?” Molly wanted to know.

  “Minuet,” he stated.

  “Explain,” Molly demanded.

  Kelly looked up from under her lashes, her eyes on his face. Cord was captivated with the look. It was innocently seductive but specul
ative too.

  “She is a dragon caller. I’ve never heard of such a person before, but then, apparently there are a lot of things I was not told.” Cord glanced at Molly. “She is power, pure power. Isn’t that the root of all conflict? Doesn’t matter if they know she can call dragons. The wizards get a whiff of her and they will do anything to acquire her. If one of the original dragons realizes what she is, he’ll do anything to get her under his control.”

  Kelly’s hands were clutched together on the table. Feeling her stress, Cord reached over and covered them with one of his. “There are only supposed to be three animated dragons. We know what happened last time and we’re not giving them tips. It might be different this time. The only thing we know for sure is the white witches are women of the earth and elements. As a unit, they can work together to save the planet. Or they can destroy it and everything on it.”

  Both Kelly and Molly frowned. “Destroy it? We’d never do that.”

  “You would if there was no other choice. You’d come up with a plan if the forces working to enslave humans were so strong that they would soon destroy you, the last power fighting for freedom. You’d do it to give your people another chance at freedom.” Cord’s hand tightened on Kelly’s as she shuddered at the picture he painted.

  Molly sat back and crossed her arms. “You’re talking destruction in Biblical proportions.”

  Kelly stood up without letting go of Cord’s hand. Calmly she stepped around and backed into his lap.

  “What? What are you doing?” Molly demanded as she watched Cord open his arms and settle her.

  “We need him uber strong,” Kelly said. “Explain it to her.”

  “I’d rather the new tree in your front yard grew a pair and got his ass in here. He can explain it to her.”

  “He’s here?” Kelly asked as she leaned forward to peer out the kitchen window. “He’s been watching? Oh, that’s good, isn’t it?”