by Rinelle Grey
Lisa could guess exactly what she meant.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t experienced that feeling herself. She had plenty of those sorts of thoughts on her mind whenever Verrian was around, but she’d known him the same amount of time and she certainly hadn’t convinced herself to mate with him. Not permanently anyway.
“I’ll talk to her,” she heard Chase say in the background.
A few minutes later, his familiar voice came over the phone. “Hey, Lisa.”
For some reason, Lisa felt tears well up in the back of her eyes. “What’s this I hear about my favourite cowboy getting mated?” she said gruffly. It was hard to talk around the lump in her throat. She was happy for Chase, really, she was, but…
“I know, a bit of a surprise, isn’t it?” Chase said ruefully. “I didn’t even see it coming. But… I love her, Lisa.”
His voice softened as he said the words. She could hear the change in him.
Something inside her shrivelled up a little. It wasn’t that she was jealous. Not of Wayrian.
This was something different. Something she couldn’t even put into words.
She and Chase had shared something, a kind of rebellion against the world that insisted you needed a relationship to be fulfilled. They’d shared an understanding that letting yourself care for someone was more likely to get you hurt than fulfilled.
Sure, Lisa had rebelled by having a string of one night stands, and Chase had refused to date anyone, but the underlying theme had been the same. They didn’t need anyone else to make them happy.
Now Chase had converted.
She was in this rebellion alone.
Or maybe not. She glanced over at Verrian, who was regarding her with concern in his eyes. He didn’t seem any more interested in a permanent relationship than she did. He was actively avoiding it by not sleeping with her, even to help heal.
He was far more committed to staying single than Chase was. Obviously.
“You’ve only known her for two days, Chase. How can you possibly be in love?”
She could almost hear Chase shuffling his feet. “I know, it sounds crazy. But all I know is that I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
It seemed impossible, but it seemed he meant it.
Lisa drew in a deep breath, sniffling a little. “Then I’m happy for you,” she managed to get out.
She wasn’t going to cry. Chase deserved better than that. He deserved for her to really, honestly be happy for him.
And she was.
She just couldn’t help feeling like she might be missing out on something.
And it wasn’t Chase.
Chapter 26
Verrian bit back a sigh. The apartment was very empty without Lisa in it, and it seemed much smaller. Verrian stared around the room, wondering what he was going to do all day while Lisa was at work.
She’d shown him how to use the big box that played moving stories, and the computer that accessed all the information in the world, but though he could follow Lisa’s instructions and turn them on, he wasn’t even sure what he might want to look at.
In reality, all he could think about was that he missed Lisa.
She’d said she would be gone until about five thirty. She’d explained what that meant on the clock. Verrian stared at it again, but the hand had barely moved.
It was a long time.
Verrian gave himself a shake. He needed to stop moping around. He wasn’t reliant on Lisa to pass the time. He’d managed perfectly well without her before he’d met her, and he would now.
He just needed something to do.
For a lack of anything better, he switched on the computer. Information could never be a bad thing. He’d decided to get to know more about the humans’ world, and this was his chance. But he’d thought he’d do it by mingling with people and immersing himself in their culture. Not by reading words on a page.
Still, it was all he had. Now the only problem was, where did he start? Verrian picked a topic after his own heart, and typed in dragons.
He was met with a surprising array of data, everything from stories and songs, to what appeared to be factual articles. For a while, Verrian trawled through the sites at random, reading a bit here, and a bit there, but he soon concluded that for every fact about dragons, there were mountains of disinformation. He was reasonably sure that no one actually knew about the true existence of dragons.
However, the vast wealth of information on a subject that the humans didn’t even really believe proved one thing.
It was clear that the human’s penchant for information would be the biggest threat. Verrian followed up his search with a few spot searches of random topics, not even bothering to follow links to articles.
He quickly concluded that humans wanted to know everything about everything, studying animals big and small, and places far and near. Even other planets. Lisa was right, if they ever actually found out about dragons, they would want to know everything they could about them.
So how would he and his family remain hidden?
Was there any chance they could slide in among the humans and live alongside them, unnoticed?
They looked the same. No one could tell that he was a dragon if he didn’t transform.
But the human’s need for ID would be a problem.
He wasn’t sure how to get around that.
He spent a little while researching identification, but that just added to his frustration. Again, the human’s need for information about everyone, got in his way.
He needed to look at something else for a while, something not stressful.
On a whim, he typed in ‘music’, and was rewarded with a link to a video site with pages full of videos. The immense amount of music the humans had on offer quickly overwhelmed him. He clicked on the first video under one that said ‘local music’.
The title at the top of the page said something about ‘Wings of Ebony’. The name appealed to Verrian.
A group of three men appeared on his screen, two playing various instruments, and one singing.
The sounds soothed Verrian’s musical soul.
He lost track of time as he followed video after video. The array of different music that the humans played was as extensive as their information. It ranged from soft and gentle to loud and thundering, and everything in between. Verrian could have spent all day watching.
No matter how handy it was to have such a selection of music available in once place, he couldn’t help being frustrated that all of it was recorded. It just didn’t feel real. He was sure he could learn so much more if only he could actually hear and see these humans singing and playing.
He returned to the first video he’d watched, the one that said it was local, and in one corner of the page he found a link. There was a whole page of information about Wings of Ebony, including details about what they were doing.
At the top of the page was a section of text, claiming to have been posted two hours ago, saying that tonight they doing something called ‘live band karaoke’ in a nearby club. Whatever that meant. Maybe karaoke was the name of the kind of music they were playing.
When Lisa returned, he would suggest they go. She’d be interested in that, surely? There was no risk, so long as he didn’t transform.
Excitement filled Verrian. Maybe he could do this. Maybe he could find a way to fit into the human’s world.
He glanced up at the clock again, but though the hands had moved through several hours, there were still many more to go before Lisa would be home.
He heaved a sigh. How was he going to fill in those hours? The thought of watching more recorded music didn’t appeal now that he had hopes of seeing a real live performance.
He gave another shiver of excitement.
It was crazy that he was this excited about going to see a human music performance. He’d seen plenty of music performances before, he’d been in lots of them. But somehow, this felt different.
Was it that it was a little forbidden? His clan had alway
s avoided getting involved with humans. Since they’d had so many problems with knights wanting to slay them back in England, they’d decided humans were just too risky. The rule had always been to stay away. They hadn’t had any contact with humans since long before Verrian’s time, but no dragon had ever seen reason to change the rule since.
Maybe that was part of the attraction for him.
Part of it was also just the need to get out and do something.
If he’d woken up back with his clan, there would have been music and feasting. Even if they had been preparing for another war, there was always time to celebrate still being alive.
But he wasn’t with his clan.
That was part of the problem.
A twinge of guilt hit Verrian. He shouldn’t be here enjoying himself, like there were no problems. His clan was at war. The celebrating at the lair would have been paired with planning.
Verrian was just partying. He wasn’t doing anything to prepare to help his clan.
And he should be.
He needed to be planning to defeat Ultrima. That was his purpose. To help Taurian wake the rest of his brothers and sisters. That was what he needed to focus on.
Not to sit here and count the hours until Lisa arrived home so they could party.
Verrian forced his mind to focus.
He stared at the computer screen. He had access to all the humans very considerable knowledge. They’d already proved themselves experts in war and destruction. There had to be something here to help him, didn’t there?
He just needed to find it.
What on earth was he going to type to find the information he needed?
What he wanted to know was how to defeat an enemy dragon. Preferably using sound magic.
However, he’d already discovered that this computer didn’t know any real information about dragons or magic, so searching for that wasn’t going to help him.
Sound though, the humans had to know something about that. Lisa had as good as said they did, just that she couldn’t remember it. And given how well they manipulated it, recording things and playing them back, there had to be more they could do. There had to be something he could use.
After a few moments thought, he typed ‘using sound as a weapon’ into the computer.
He held his breath while he waited for the response, which took only seconds. A list of links, scrolled up on his screen.
He scanned the entries, getting quite excited for a while. The humans appeared to have created something called a sound cannon. That sounded like quite a powerful weapon.
But reading just a few articles showed that it had the same problems he did. While sound could be very powerful, it affected everyone in the area, not just the person you wanted to attack. That had always been his problem. He could easily create a loud enough noise to deafen all the enemy dragons, but it would do the same to everyone in his clan, and himself.
And deafening his enemies wouldn’t be enough. It would disorient them, sure, and maybe it would give his brothers and sisters a chance to attack, but while that was useful, it wasn’t what he was after.
He wanted to be able to defend himself, even if no one else was around.
He wanted to be able to defend Lisa if Ultrima showed up.
To do that, he needed to be able to do more than deafen someone.
He kept looking.
A quick read of several articles showed that the humans had certainly examined this idea thoroughly. They’d discovered that sound waves could do more than just deafen. If they were loud enough, they could do physical damage, even kill.
That was more like it. That was a real weapon, something he could use.
Except he didn’t want to risk hurting his family or friends.
What he needed was something directional.
Typing that into the search finally yielded some information. Apparently ultrasound, unheard by humans, could be directed more easily due to its shorter waves. And it could still do damage.
Verrian began to get excited.
If he could actually use his magical ability in a real fight, then everything would change.
The trouble was, how was he going to test any of it? It was never a good idea to try something new and untested on the battlefield. Especially not something this tenuous. He needed to practice first.
Verrian stared around Lisa’s house, wondering if there was anything he could use to test. If these ultrasound waves were as directional as the computer said, then he wouldn’t need anything too big…
His eyes fell on a glass. Perfect. He knew that he could make the glass shatter if he had the right frequency, he’d watched several videos on the computer about it. It should be simple enough. But how to tell if he’d made the sound suitably directional…
Verrian jumped up and scooped up three glasses and lined them up on the kitchen bench. He thought for a moment, then moved them to a different bench, away from the window.
He concentrated for a few moments. The small waves of the ultrasound required more finesse than his usual sound waves.
As he watched, two of the three glasses began to vibrate.
Verrian stopped before they broke, frowning. It was a partial success, but not good enough. He wanted to perfect this enough to vibrate only one glass. Only then could he feel he had enough control to use this in battle.
He tried again, to similar effect.
Verrian wasn’t easily deterred. He lost several hours practicing. Once or twice he was able to confine the vibrations to only one glass, but every time he tried to repeat his success, he failed.
Verrian tried again and again, getting more and more frustrated.
If he could figure out how to make this work, then his sound magic could potentially be stronger than Taurian’s flame. Sound would be almost impossible to dodge since you couldn’t see it coming.
But for that very reason, he couldn’t use it if it wasn’t focused enough.
Chapter 27
Lisa stared at the court documents she was supposed to be filing, but she wasn’t really seeing them.
What was Verrian up to back at her apartment? Was he staying inside like she’d told him to? Was he safe?
Had she been crazy to bring him to the city? It was hard for her to keep an eye on him while she was at work. What if Ultrima showed up while he was alone?
Lisa made herself take a deep breath before she started panicking. It was unlikely Ultrima was going to show up. That was the whole point of coming to the crowded city. Here, the biggest risk was that Verrian might do something to expose himself as a dragon. They certainly didn’t need that.
They’d already had enough of those dramas.
She was tempted to ring him and check up on him, except she’d warned him not to answer the phone.
Heaving a sigh, she turned back to her work.
She’d almost caught up on the routine jobs that had piled up while she was away, despite her distraction.
Lisa usually found her job as a legal secretary rewarding, and not just because of the paycheck. It was challenging enough to keep her interested, and it usually made people look at her twice when she told them. For some reason, no one seemed to expect her to have a real job.
But today, she just wished she was home.
“Hey, Lisa. Where have you been the last couple of weeks? I expected you back ages ago.”
Lisa hid a groan. She forced herself to look up and smile at Olivia. She shouldn’t be annoyed. The younger woman had been doing her work while she was away, and without the slightest complaint. If it weren’t for her, Lisa would have had a far larger pile of work on her desk right now.
“Hi, Olivia. Nothing major, just some family hassles I had to sort out. Thanks for keeping things running here while I was away.”
Olivia waved a hand. “Oh, it was no trouble.” She paused, then sat herself down on the edge of Lisa’s desk. “Lisa?”
She wanted something, Lisa could tell. And Lisa owed her. She bit back a sigh. “Yes?�
�
“Can I ask you for some advice?”
What could Oliva possibly want Lisa’s advice about? Maybe she wanted some job advice. Yes, that had to be it. Unlike Lisa, Olivia wanted to be a lawyer one day. Her job here was a stepping stone, some practical experience while she finished her degree. But she hadn’t been here as long as Lisa yet.
“Sure. Fire away.”
Olivia, who was normally more than ready to speak up, twiddled her fingers. What was going on?
Lisa was just about to prompt her to speak up, when she blurted out, “I asked Kevin in IT out to dinner tonight. But now I don’t know what to do. Where do we go? Do I pay, or does he? And what on earth are we going to talk about?”
Lisa stared at Olivia.
Dating advice. Olivia was asking her for dating advice.
At any other time, she might have felt more than qualified to give out advice. After all, she’d probably gone on more dates than anyone else in the office. But right now, her view was slightly skewed by the hot dragon shifter that tied all her feelings up in knots, waiting back in her apartment.
She might be okay at dates, or one night stands, but anything beyond that…
What was Olivia after?
“Do you like…” she cast her memory back, trying to remember who Kevin was, and finally her mind alighted on a skinny man with glasses, who seemed so nerdy, she was surprised he didn’t wear a pocket protector. “Do you like Kevin? I mean, do you just want to sleep with him, or do you really like him?”
Olivia’s eyes widened. She stared at Lisa in shock for a moment. “Just want to… Uh.” She looked around the room, but no one was anywhere near close enough to hear them. Even so, she leaned in a little closer. “I really like him.” Her cheeks were pink at the admission.
Given her confession, Lisa wasn’t quite sure why Olivia was so nervous. Normally, the neat and tidy secretary was cool and confident. She never seemed uncertain when talking to the senior lawyers, and was more than ready to assert herself.
So why was she so nervous about asking a guy on a date? And not even a particularly hot guy.
Lisa looked her up and down.
Olivia’s severe black suit and pinstriped blouse were perfect for the office, but they did nothing to accentuate her curves or hide the little extra weight she was carrying.
