by Amelia Jade
“Everything okay?” Blaine asked, turning to look at her. He must have felt the slight tremble.
“Yes,” she replied a little more huskily than intended. “Just a chill from the copious amounts of ice cream you’ve forced me to inhale today.”
He grinned. “I don’t recall many protests from you.”
Cassi chuckled and bowed her head in acknowledgment. “No, not at the time. Now though, oh my goodness.” She patted her stomach gently.
“I agree. Want to find somewhere to sit?”
“No,” she said quickly. “Let’s walk this off, if that’s okay with you?”
“It’s a date,” he said with a wink, prompting another laugh from her.
He did that fairly often, making her laugh. It was quite nice.
“So you’re getting a first and second date in the same day now?” she asked. “Getting a little greedy, don’t you think?”
Blaine eyed her. “With you, I don’t think I could ever get enough.”
Cassi’s stomach did a little flip even as it tied itself into a million knots.
Shit was getting serious. Swallowing her sudden onset of extreme nervousness, she forced out a reply. “Smooth line.”
“Did it work?” he asked, fighting to keep a smile from his face.
“A lady never reveals her secrets,” she said with an aristocratic-like sniff of her nose.
Blaine nodded slowly. “Maybe. But I’m asking you.”
Her jaw dropped at the insinuation that she wasn’t a lady.
“Now you’re definitely not kissable!” she exclaimed, whacking him on the arm even as she laughed.
“Hey, I saw the way you ate that ice cream,” he told her with a devious grin, clearly referring to her first initial lick.
Cassi knew her face had to be bright red if the burning sensation in her cheeks was anything to go by. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, simply trying to distract him, but now it was coming back to haunt her.
“Indeed. And ice cream is the only thing I eat like that,” she told him, pointedly not looking into his eyes just then.
Otherwise he would have seen that she was lying. Cassi knew she wasn’t opposed to the idea of…further relations with Blaine. But she didn’t want him knowing that. Not yet.
“Whatever you say,” he replied, tugging her off the cobblestone street and onto a gravel path through one of the many parks that dotted the city.
“That’s better. As it should be.”
“Pardon?” he asked, not catching on.
“That’s the way it should be,” she told him. “Whatever I say goes. The sooner you learn that, the better.”
“Of course, m’lady,” he told her with a tip of his nonexistent hat.
Cassi giggle. “Okay, mister. What’s your plan for this second date?”
“Waddle around aimlessly while we burn off the ice cream?”
She snorted, unable to contain herself. “So basically stall for more time while you come up with something?”
“Exactly!” he exclaimed. “I’m so glad you get it.”
“All right, well why don’t you tell me about yourself then, Mr. Blaine Wingstar. That’s my deal. I’ll let you stall for time, but you have to talk.”
“How’s my mind supposed to come up with something while I have to use it to talk?” he complained with a smile.
Cassi smiled, but her eyes stayed focused on his, letting him know she was serious.
“Very well,” he relented as they walked under a massive tree which momentarily blotted out the sun. “What do you wish to know?”
She thought it over for a second. “I think I’m most curious over the fact that you’re what, in your fourth century?”
“Yes. I’ll be three hundred and fifty in two years,” he admitted.
“So, by your age, most dragons have found their mate. And yet, here you are. Handsome, skilled, powerful. You aren’t lacking in any facet. There should be plenty of people that have come your way. But you’re still single.” She paused. “You are single, right?”
He laughed once at the question. “Yes, I am. And while I generally try to be humble, I suppose you are correct on most counts. I have been extremely lucky in life to achieve what I have. I won’t lie: there have been women.”
Cassi snorted. “I sure hope so. I don’t need details obviously, but I think I’d be more worried if there hadn’t been. We’re both adults here.”
Blaine nodded, appreciative of her openness. “But that’s all it’s been. I’ve always been a little shy around women too.”
She found that hard to believe, what with the way he was able to talk to her easily. Shy was not a word she would have used to describe him around her.
“But,” he continued. “no one has ever caught my eye before. Never had that extra something. Nothing that made me want to get to know them more than for the evening. To want to take them on dates, get to know them as a person. I’ve never experienced that before.”
He hesitated rather obviously at the end, and they both heard the unspoken until now.
Or at least, that was what Cassi thought it was. What she wanted it to be.
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” she said.
Then kicked herself. Unfortunate? Really? What the hell kind of thing to say was that!
“Maybe not,” he murmured, and she thought she felt a minute tightening of his arm around hers, as if to say “because it gave me a chance to find you.”
Okay girl, don’t get too into this. You might just be reading things that aren’t there. And don’t forget, he’s from Cadia! He could just be using you, trying to get you to open up to him so that you let something slip.
Defenses that she hadn’t realized she’d let fall away sprang back into place, her mind instantly aware of where she was and who she was with once again.
Blaine Wingstar. Senior Guardian. Lead instructor at the famous Top Scale Academy, and rumored next in line for position of Wing Commander of the entire Academy, if Daxxton Ryker ever stepped down.
The man was dangerous, and she needed to be extra sure about herself around him, lest she possibly get sucked into revealing information about Fenris that she shouldn’t. This was enemy territory, and she needed to start acting like it again! Getting Blaine to open up to her was good, but she needed to be careful about daydreaming about things like being with him. It was unlikely that something like that could ever come to fruition.
Not with things being the way they were between Fenris and Cadia at the moment.
It’s not like she would be welcomed with open arms to stay in Cadia if she decided to do something crazy and defect. She’d be under constant watch to ensure she wasn’t actually a spy.
Her mood soured at the thoughts that were now crossing through her mind. She didn’t want to have to be thinking that way. No, Cassi wanted to be able to just fling her responsibilities aside and see where things with Blaine led. That was what she wanted.
And it was what she couldn’t have.
Not at the moment at least.
The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. They talked, and laughed, and she had to admit she had a great time. Her dragon never once spoke up about any bad vibes from Blaine. He seemed to be honest and forthcoming with her, rarely holding back, and then only about minor things that he didn’t feel like sharing. He’d avoided mentioning his parents at all, and she wondered if they were still around, but she didn’t press him on it.
Despite the vast age differences between dragons and their offspring, the familial bond between parent and child was often just as strong, if not stronger than that felt by humans. Even though their lifespan was measured in centuries, with it being feasible to conceive for the vast majority of it, most dragon mates had very few offspring. It wasn’t uncommon for them to only have one or two children.
So families were often very tight-knit things. Cassi couldn’t imagine life without her parents around as advice-givers, support system, and just general people to have in her life that
she cherished. But Blaine had never mentioned his, and so she began to wonder about them.
But before she could summon the courage, their meandering brought them to the back gate of the Fenris Consulate. As much as Cassi wanted to spend more time with Blaine, they both had plenty of work ahead of them to be ready for Monday.
Monday. When they would no longer be friends, but instead on opposite sides.
When he would find out what she hadn’t told him.
Cassi wasn’t looking forward to that, not at all.
“I suppose this is where I have to let you go,” he said, not looking overly enthused about the idea.
“Yeah,” she agreed. They were standing in the shadow of the stone wall, out of view of the gate itself, so that no one inside might see them.
“I had a lot of fun today,” he said, pulling her into a tight embrace.
“Me too,” she replied, the firmness of his muscles pressing against her. The temperature of her blood began to rise, and she thought about pulling back.
Blaine’s hand slid up slightly, running across her neck. A tingle flew down her spine before bouncing around between her legs at the thrill of his hands on her bare skin. Without thinking, her head tilted slightly to the side, exposing her neck to his fingers, so that he could gently touch her.
He ran one finger along the thick vein in her neck, the tender caress causing her lips to part slightly.
Kiss me.
She wanted it. Ached for it. To feel his lips, to taste their warmth and lose herself in them.
His strong fingers cupped her jaw, pulling her back from him slightly so that he could dip his head to hers.
Yesss.
Her mouth exploded with heat as Blaine kissed her full on the mouth, slowly but firmly at the same time. Her fingers curled up, digging into the thick bunches of muscles in his back, hauling him in as close to her as he could get. Her nipples hardened as they pressed into his chest, and she didn’t even want to acknowledge what was going on lower in her body, lest she lose complete control.
It almost happened anyway when his fingers pushed their way through her hair, gently scraping along her scalp in the most spine-tingling way possible. Her knees wobbled, but he removed his hand from her face and slid it around her back, holding her tight to him, even lifting her slightly from the ground as they continued to kiss, lips parting while they explored each other hungrily.
The day wasn’t an overly warm one, but just then Cassi felt herself burning up as heat exploded from his chest and washed over her. It was just as intense, fiery, and passionate as she’d imagined. More, even, with the way he was touching her.
At last they parted for air, and she opened her eyes, seeing the flare within his own, the desire that she felt reflected right back at her.
“Wow,” he breathed.
Cassi nodded. “Want to do it again?”
He grinned and leaned in to her. Her eyes closed automatically as she inhaled the crisp woodsy scent of his skin, losing herself in its delectability. Her hands grabbed his cheeks and pulled him in hard as he moved back slightly. She wasn’t ready to be done kissing him just yet.
Goosebumps ran along her extremities as Blaine ran his hands up her sides with an excruciating slowness to it that made her nip at him, her teeth grazing his lower lip. He responded in kind, managing to snag her own bottom one and give it a bit of a tug. Not enough to hurt, but enough to send fire burning through her system.
She wanted him.
Now.
But she couldn’t. They couldn’t. Not now, at least.
“Blaine,” she whispered painfully, pulling back a fraction of an inch, just enough to move her lips to speak.
“I know,” he said, frustration filling his voice.
He wanted her too. She could feel it in the way his fingers tightened ever so slightly around her ribcage. The way his lips pursed and seemed to sway a little closer to her, before moving back again. So slight she was almost imagining it, but at the same time so obvious she couldn’t ignore it.
Oh hell.
She kissed him again. Hard. But quick.
“I should go,” she said, her voice sounding uncharacteristically thick.
“I know. I hate it, but I know.”
Her back was to the stone wall, and she felt more than heard his fist hit it. He leaned in over her to press his forehead to hers, maintaining contact with her, but without the intimacy of a kiss.
“Maybe after, we can—”
“Yeah. That would be nice,” he said anyway, even after she stopped speaking, not sure what else to say.
“I’ll see you Monday,” she said lamely, pressing her lips to his cheek, and then slipping out from under his arm and through the gate.
She hated it. Hated herself. And the situation.
Damn everyone. She just wanted to lose herself in him. The pull was magnetic, intoxicating, and every other word she could think of that meant strong.
But their situation just meant it couldn’t be allowed to bloom just then.
She would have to content herself with “maybe sometime in the future.”
Cassi snarled as Taurin approached her the moment she walked inside the Consulate. Now was not the time. If he persisted, she would do something foolish, so she simply walked right by him.
She had work to do.
Chapter Six
Blaine
He tugged at his collar, trying to loosen it a bit.
Formal attire was the worst. Although he often wore dress shirts and more semi-formal attire in general, they were of a style designed to be comfortable.
A full-on courtroom-appropriate business suit was most definitely not.
“I feel like a costumed puppet,” he raged impotently to the others in the waiting room with him.
It was Monday morning and the Cadian legal team was currently waiting in an antechamber for the proceedings to get underway.
“Oh give it a rest,” Tobias said.
Blaine considered him for a moment. Tobias Ecklestrom was one of the best bear shifter Guardians that he’d ever met. Because of this, and in an effort to choose a shifter that wasn’t a dragon, he’d been tapped to become the head of the team prosecuting Garviel. He looked just as uncomfortable as Blaine felt in his black suit with white striped shirt underneath. The dark purple tie added a splash of color, and was about as risqué as any of them were likely to get in such a setting.
Trials were actually a relatively uncommon thing in Cadia. More often than not, disputes were resolved with blood before it ever got to that point. Even now, all they were doing was providing evidence to the jury, a panel made up of two Cadians and two Fenrisians. Then the jury would decide if the evidence and witness accounts were enough to prove the accused had actually done what they’d said they had.
Considering the circumstances around everything, Blaine expected it to be a very, very short trial. Garviel had been caught red-handed trying to burn Top Scale to the ground by almost half a dozen dragons. But he knew that sometimes things had to happen just so people could say it had been done fairly.
Turning his gaze from Tobias, he regarded the rest of the party. Asher Owens had come a long way in the past year or so, he decided. From a relative unknown to becoming one of the best graduates of Top Scale Academy since possibly a young Fume Dragon by the name of Blaine had attended, his rise had been nothing short of meteoric in Cadian society. Now here he was, part of the team alongside himself.
The final member of their little cast was a relative unknown to him, a gryphon shifter by the name of Relott Morgane. Her appointment to the team had been a concession to the gryphons, as one of the next largest power bases in Cadia. She hadn’t done much to ingratiate herself with the other three either, preferring to remain aloof, except to insist that they should do things her way.
“I told you we should have just worn semi-casual clothing,” she said now, tugging at her gray skirt, trying to pull it down some more, even as it already draped around her knees as
she sat.
Tobias didn’t even respond. “This shouldn’t take too long,” he said instead to the others. “I can’t see this taking more than two days, tops.”
“Still two days too long,” Asher said, irritated.
Not that Blaine could fault him. It was his good friend Dominick Carunno who had gone head-to-head with Garviel and almost not made it out alive. Asher had wanted to simply kill Garviel, but that wasn’t the way things had played out.
“How are they even going to try and argue against this?” Blaine wondered aloud, something the entire team had been wondering ever since the trial was announced.
“Not only can we prove that he tried to burn down Top Scale, but we have the actual victim of his unsuccessful kidnapping attempt. How much more incriminating can it get?” Asher replied.
“Any insight to add to this?” Relott asked, her eyes pointedly on Blaine.
“Excuse me?” he asked dangerously, feeling his dragon rise up within him.
“You spent a lot of time with that Fenris dragon at the reception the other night. Surely you must have been able to get something out of her.”
Blaine knew that he should be cautious here. If he showed too much of a reaction to her comments he risked revealing how he felt about Cassi. On the other hand, he didn’t want to let this little shit-disturber of a gryphon talk shit about him or Cassi.
“You should watch your tone,” he said calmly. “Believe it or not, not everyone from Fenris is a maniacal jerk like Garviel. Just like they have their bad apples, and how Cadia manages to have our own ignorant assholes,” he responded, his jade eyes hard as they glared at her.
The tension in the room notched up a level at his comments, which made it very clear whom he considered to be the ignorant asshole in question.
Relott met his eyes for several seconds, but then she glanced away, her brown eyes admitting defeat. She knew better than to challenge him. Although he didn’t pride himself on it, she would not have been the first gryphon he’d taken down. The entire group of them in Cadia were generally more trouble than they were worth, in his opinion. Always jealous of the dragons’ natural superiority. Instead of focusing on what they did better, they just railed against the dragons.
