City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood

by Wilder, Adrienne

  Haley followed Bauer down the hall, angry her clothes were torn, her hair was full of coffee, and she was covered in blood. Most of it her blood, but blood was blood. It all stained.

  As she stepped into Garrett’s office he stood up. His storm-gray eyes did a quick once over, assessing the damage. Haley tried not to squirm under his glare.

  Bauer moved over to one of the office chairs and sat down. Haley gave him a quick glance to make sure his color was okay and he wasn’t breathing too hard. Satisfied, she looked back at her boss.

  “Explain.” Garret crossed his arms. The angry tick in his jaw did about

  ninety beats per second.

  Haley was about to tell Garrett, Donald started it—but it sounded childish, so she shut her mouth.

  A deeper, darker part wanted to tell him the bastard deserved to die.

  “I’m still waiting for an explanation over here, Haley. Today would be nice.”

  “Do you want the truth, or do you want me to sugar coat it?”

  Garrett’s mouth turned into a slash. “I’m not sure if sugar coating this is even possible. So I’ll just take the truth.”

  She would have preferred the sugar-coated variation.

  Pushing all her Female instincts and urges down, Haley took a breath and said, “First, I want to know if he’s going to be suspended for beating that Male to death.” ‘Cause according to what she heard, he wasn’t. She hoped it was just talk. When Garrett didn’t answer, Haley looked at Bauer. Both of them stayed silent. Anger kicked her in the ribs.

  Garrett scrubbed a hand across the back of his head and made an unhappy sound. “I’m sorry, Haley, but he was acting in self-defense.”

  She laughed. “Is that what they call it these days when you beat defenseless people to death?”

  “He was Kin.” Garrett said that like it was supposed to make it okay.

  “Yeah, well, he was Kin. It’s illegal to beat a dog to death, but it’s okay to beat a Male? Come on!”

  “He’s claiming self-defense, Haley, and there isn’t anyone that can refute it.”

  Haley let out a snort. “So that’s it? He just gets away with it?”

  “I want to know what happened in that common room.”

  “Why? So he can tell you it was self-defense? Maybe I should have just laid there and let him bash my head in too, while he was at it.”

  “Haley!” Bauer barked.

  She looked at him, feeling guilty.

  “Just tell Pip what happened.” Bauer said as he leaned back in the chair and shut his eyes.

  Haley said, “He was bragging about what he did to that Male.”

  “So you hit him?” Garrett’s steel-gray eyes went hard.

  “No. I stopped him from hitting me. After that he decided to put my face through the coffee machine and use my skull for batting practice.”

  Both men stared at each other for a moment, then Garrett asked, “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll live.” Unlike some who were unlucky enough to meet with the business end of his baton. “So since I survived, will you actually do something?”

  “He’ll be suspended for five days pending an I.N.I.” Bauer still had his eyes closed and his head back.

  Haley’s spark of satisfaction fizzled out when her gaze swung back over to Garrett. His eyes were tight and unhappy.

  He said, “You’re suspended as well. Five days until a full I.N.I is complete.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Do I sound like I’m joking? You are an Agent to this facility. You are a Female. I expect this kind of behavior from Farley, but not from you. We cannot risk it, Haley.” Garrett jabbed a finger in her direction, then at the door. “That little stunt in there has put your job in serious jeopardy, and you would do yourself a favor by walking out of this office and taking a vacation some place nice and quiet.”

  “I was defending myself.”

  “Well, unfortunately, he’s the one on the way to the hospital, and you’re the one standing in my office. And until we get statements and witness accounts, we can’t back up either claim.”

  There were a thousand things Haley wanted to say, but the seething anger was trying to come back. No, the best thing she could do now was get her things and walk out.

  Chapter 9

  Orin was at peace.

  The sheets were stained with ichor and other fluids, and he didn’t care. Everything was right with the world.

  For once.

  Mary was a line of warmth tucked against his body. He kept his breathing steady and his body still, because unlike Kin, Mary was a light sleeper.

  In the soft glow of the nightlight on the far wall Orin stared at Mary—coveted her—and realized with a kind of odd fear he wanted to keep her.

  As in Bond. Mark her. Make her his.

  It was a terrible kind of want and it stirred thoughts of those horrible black years he’d spent Belonging to the Queen of Africa. But Orin’s time with Serena wasn’t really a very fair comparison, was it? He was no Queen, and he would never be cruel to Mary.

  And she needed him. Maybe as much as he needed her.

  Orin could not deny that his attraction started the moment he first saw Mary, and the suspicion about what she would be raised its ugly head. It was her eyes. Like his own, the color was too bright, too artificial. Mary wasn’t going to be Human anymore and she was fast approaching the critical age where the biological change becomes unstable. A regular ticking time bomb.

  While most Lesser-Breds went through their change at adulthood, a few didn’t. Sometimes it took a traumatic event, illness, or even a near-death experience. Usually by their mid-twenties, the instability became a hair trigger.

  For Mary it was the deer.

  Orin would like to think she called him because he’d tried to be as open and friendly to her as professionalism would allow. Looking back, he knew she called him because he was a monster, seeing how normal women don’t crawl out of the ruins of their wrecked cars to eat out the inside of a deer they just hit.

  Mary should have been killed in the wreck or at least injured badly enough to require an extended hospital stay. The little Probe she’d been driving had crumpled and rolled. But Mary’s body could heal almost as fast as her draconian cousins.

  Lucky for both of them, it happened over spring break. After Orin called the tow truck he took Mary to a hotel, and for the next seventy-two hours he watched over her while she fevered and her Human genetics took a side trip. He kept her warm when she was cold, he cleaned her when she soiled herself from the pain, and he fed her. Her teeth didn’t change, so Orin had to strip his own flesh and give it to her from his mouth.

  It was a kind of intimacy which could only take him in one direction.

  Here and now.

  What Mary became terrified her. Not only because of the need but because it meant she no longer had her God and she was now everything her family ever despised. Orin knew she’d flirted with killing herself, but the idea of her parents finding her body apparently terrified her. Even in death she didn’t want to be disowned.

  And while Mary didn’t want them to know, Orin knew them finding out was inevitable. It might take a while, but they would grow old and she wouldn’t.

  Orin told himself the urge to keep Mary was a normal biological reaction. And for once he wasn’t lying. But Mary was Lesser-Bred, and the likelihood a bond would even be successful was slim to none. The metaphysical ties of a Human Link were completely different than those forming a bonded pair.

  It seemed only appropriate this situation should mirror the rest of his screwed up life. Centuries hadn’t changed a thing since Serena; and while Orin’s Service to Medan gave him the freedom he craved, it also created a terrible void.

  Mary stirred, her body arching and stretching next to his. The reaction to her was instant. His teeth punched down, and the heat between his legs blitzed across the rest of his body. But true to his gift of control, Orin bottled it down and willed himself to rema
in calm. He’d only allow himself release if it was what Mary wanted. Being with her was something to cherish, something beautiful. He refused to make it ugly. It was why he never fed from her. Orin did not want her to ever see him as the dragon he was.

  “What time is it?” Mary blinked.

  Honestly, he didn’t care what time it was. To hell with the world. Orin wanted to stay right here, right now. Instead, he did a quick glance at the bedside table. “It’s a little after four.”

  She made a sad sound. “I have to be at work by seven.” She didn’t make a move to get up, and Orin wasn’t about to lose the chance to stare at her a little longer.

  Mary tilted her head up at him. “What?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re looking at me funny.” She put a hand on his neck, and he felt his hearts stop and start. “What is it?”

  He wanted to ask her to stay with him, be with him, be his. But as much as he wanted it to happen, Orin already knew the answer. What humanness Mary still had she clung to like a lifeline. Maybe she hoped the God of Man would forgive her for what she had become.

  Thing was, a big part of Orin didn’t care what she hoped for.

  Beast.

  “Orin?” Mary’s beautiful eyes watched him.

  Orin smiled and pressed his lips to her brow. “Nothing. It’s nothing.” And everything in the whole damn world.

  Mary heaved a sigh and pulled herself from the covers and headed into the bathroom. Orin lay there a little while longer before getting dressed. Just like always they didn’t say good bye. He would take a cab home. Or walk. He had a class at nine, and there were always a few things he needed to do before his students arrived.

  By five he was back on his doorstep jiggling the key in the lock. Mr. Jingles yowled from the other side, having missed his midnight snack of fresh shrimp. After Orin got dressed and before he left, he called the phone number for the Stall. The same voice answered with a generic hello.

  Orin said, “I’ll need my usual tonight around eight.”

  Chapter 10

  Farley stood frozen on the staircase, and whatever Deshi was saying completely faded out. They were supposed to be headed somewhere. Lunch? Or maybe it was to buy groceries? Didn’t matter, because a storm was coming.

  And it wasn’t the kind of disturbance spawned from cold fronts or low pressure systems. There would be no rain, sand, snow, or ice riding this wind. Nope, no way.

  To top it off, this motherfucker was totally off the Fujita scale on waves of heat carried by flesh and metaphysical power.

  Farley’s head snapped to the side just as the door below flew open with a bang and To Whom He Belonged burst into the stairwell below.

  Instinct commanded Farley go down on his stomach and beg to be bled as a wave of raw Female power washed over him. Her. To Whom He Belonged.

  Haley…Her name is Haley.

  At his left Deshi trembled and backed up against the wall as Haley flew up the stairs, heat rolling off her body, rippling the air. Her eyes were unfocused, her face flushed, teeth out; and she was a complete mess with matted hair and blood stained clothes. As she blew past, Farley grabbed her arm and swung her around even though his primal brain screamed she should not be touched.

  Even if he wasn’t Food, putting hands on a Female without permission was grounds for a dirt nap.

  But this was Haley. His Haley.

  “Christ, what the hell happened to you?” Farley didn’t wait for an answer and wrapped himself around her. Haley smelled of blood, hers, Human and something else…something familiar.

  Deshi filled in the blank. “She smells like Medan.” He took a step closer. “Haley? What happened?”

  Farley pushed her matted hair out of her eyes. “Talk to us.”

  “Donald…”

  Deshi said, “Who the hell is Donald?”

  Farley rolled his eyes up. “The asshole cop who beat a Submissive to death in the Tank yesterday.”

  Deshi nodded even though it was obvious he didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. “But why does she smell like Medan?” The Prince touched Haley’s hair and picked out a sliver of wood.

  “I think…” Haley clenched her jaw and pain made her face crumple. “I think she tried to come through.”

  “Come through?” Deshi tossed a look between the two of them.

  Farley said, “Medan made Haley her Enforcer.” A bad decision if there ever was one, but then they hadn’t had much of a choice.

  “God of Man, Farley. It hurts.” Haley’s shoulders hitched.

  He petted her cheek. “What hurts? Haley, what hurts?” She shook her head and curled against him, shaking.

  “Haley, did Medan explain anything to you about becoming her Enforcer?” They both looked at Deshi.

  Farley growled. “If you’re asking if we had a corporate meeting about it first, no. There wasn’t exactly a lot of time. It was kind of spur of the moment. Life and death kind of shit.” Serious enough that Farley had let the Atlanta she-bitch gut him to collect Haley’s flesh and blood.

  Deshi said, “If you stopped her from coming through, Haley, she could have left part of her RHage behind.”

  “Christ…” If a Male’s normal loss of control—Rage—wasn’t bad enough. A Queen’s RHage was downright deadly.

  Haley shook her head. “Why would she do this to me?”

  Deshi said, “It was probably an accident.”

  Farley said, “Yeah right, accidently on purpose maybe.”

  The Prince shook his head. “Trust me when I tell you there is no way Medan would want to leave her RHage behind for Haley to deal with alone. It could make a real mess of things.”

  Farley still had his doubts, but he’d worry about it later. Right now he needed to take care of Haley. He looked at Deshi. “You know how to fix this, right?”

  He nodded. “We need to get her upstairs.” The Jersey City Prince made as though he was going to pick her up, but Farley beat him to it. Prince or not, Haley was his first.

  Farley stomped up the steps.

  When they got to the top Haley said, “What am I supposed to do?”

  Deshi said, “You need to get rid of it.”

  “How?”

  Farley answered, “You’ll just Roll me, and I’ll take it.” Which was exactly why they needed to get back upstairs, because this was seriously going to break Haley’s cardinal rule of no sex in public. Even if she could Roll Farley without sex, he sure as hell didn’t have the will power to stop himself. Farley fumbled for the door at the landing.

  Deshi reached around and opened it for him, then said, “That’s not going to work.”

  Farley looked back at the Prince. “What the hell do you mean, it won’t work? How else is she supposed to get rid of it?” After all, that’s how she controlled his Rage.

  Deshi shook his head. “No, I mean, she can’t give it to you.”

  “Wanna bet?” Farley headed down the hall, but the Jersey City Prince caught him by the arm.

  “Listen to me. This is a Queen’s RHage. That kind of metaphysical power will shred you alive.”

  “Farley…” Haley’s grip tightened.

  Farley glared at Deshi. “Then what the fuck do you suggest we do?”

  The Prince ran a hand through his blond locks and his eyes hit the floor. “She can give it to me.”

  Farley blinked. Was he serious? “And what the hell makes you think you can handle this and I can’t?”

  “Taking on a Queen’s RHage is what I was designed for. And I was designed specifically for Medan, remember? Servicing a Queen isn’t exactly a walk in the park.”

  Which is exactly why Farley had a hard time seeing Deshi in line for the job. They made lawn gnomes with more aggression.

  Deshi said, “Theoretically I’m supposed to be able to take her entire RHage, so a small

  part should be easy.”

  “Fuck theoretical, will you be able to do it or not?”

  “I didn’t exactly get to tha
t point, remember? Medan refused me. I wasn’t what she wanted.”

  “Christ on a Cross, Deshi, this is not the time to lose your cherry.” Farley couldn’t risk Haley on a theory. He pulled out of the Prince’s grip and headed for her apartment.

  “Farley, wait.” Much to his dismay, Deshi caught up to him at the door. “You won’t be able to handle this.”

  “I’ve handled a lot of ugly things.”

  “She’ll kill you.”

  “Yeah, well you’ve never done it. I know how to get Haley to Roll me. Trust me. I’m really good at it, too.” Farley tried to figure out how to get the key without putting Haley down. Deshi fished it out from under the clay flower pot sidelining as a graveyard for forgotten flowers.

  “This isn’t the same thing.” Deshi stood back up. “Please, let me help. She’d never forgive herself if she hurt you.”

  Farley pegged the Male with a glare, but he was too busy getting the door unlocked to notice. In his arms Haley struggled. Heat boiled out of her skin as if she was about to shift. The wave of preternatural power rolled over Farley again, and he crushed her against his chest even though his instincts said, “Run away.”

  “Fine.” Farley shoved his way inside and headed across the living room while Deshi closed the door. “Help me get her into the…”

  In an explosion of pain and violence, Haley lit into his shoulder, her jaws penetrating deep into the bones dangerously close to his throat. Farley spit a juicy curse and lost his legs as she rode him down and into the floor.

  “Christ!” His eyes rolled over. “Aw, shit, Haley, this was my new shirt.” A groan bubbled out of Farley’s throat, and he arched his body, responding as always to the prospect of being Food. And he couldn’t decide what hurt worse, her teeth scraping bone or the ache between his legs.

  Farley looked up at Deshi as he knelt down. The Prince pushed back Haley’s hair and tried to get her attention. When she flicked up her crimson glare, he flinched and pulled back.

  “Goddamn it, you said you wanted to help. Help! Now is not the time to be a nancy!” Farley groaned. “God, Haley…you’re taking too much…” But fuck him, it felt good. “Her back…Deshi…” He was going to die if she kept this up.