by A. K. Koonce
She is an interesting soul, I’ll give her that.
“She visits from time to time. But we women of the Goddess stick together.” Her head tilts to me. “Isn’t that right, Low?”
My brows arch at her accusing tone. Excuse me? I think you’ve mistaken me for another traitorous mage, Aggie.
“From what little I know of you women, yes. That does seem to be a correct statement, Agatha.”
Her gaze narrows on me with the look of a disappointed mother staring down at her ridiculously compulsive liar of a daughter.
She’s going to hex me right to hell.
“We should go. I’ll come back tomorrow and check on you when your poor, dwindling mind is in a better state.”
Her lips part with outrage.
“When do you think she’ll come again?” Chaos asks when my back skims just slightly against his chest as I try to step away from this tense conversation. I wouldn’t say I’m fleeing from this situation, but yeah, I need to get out before Agatha uses her craft to turn me into the sniveling rat that I am.
“Well, if I had to guess, I’d say she might be by tomorrow. Perhaps when my dwindling mind is in a more stable state.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake, Aggie.
Her unseeing gaze bores into mine, testing, taunting, all but laughing at the hole I’ve dug myself into.
I take another step back, my arm skimming against Chaos’ smooth shoulder. His palm settles against my hip, his touch tingling all through me before he pulls slightly away. The next words out of Kain’s mouth stop me in my cowardly tracks.
“Perfect. We’ll wait.” His chin tips up to the mage but she strikes him right back down.
“You’ll wait outside. Unlike some mages, I do not allow strange men into my house.” She pauses with a dramatic flair that makes me want to roll my eyes. “Or bed.”
Now it’s my turn to gape at her.
“So, you’re saying if a handsome man like Chaos here asked to slip into your sheets you’d shrug your shoulder at his sexy face?” I blink at her, waiting for her response.
“My sexy face?” His warm words whisper across my skin and I realize I’m still too close to him.
“It’s hard for me to say. I can’t see his sexy face.”
In a flash of twirling papers and rising dust, Agatha is right in front of the shifter. Chaos tilts back from her sudden magical appearance, but he only smirks at the small blind woman. The thin white shawl on her shoulders shifts as she lifts a hand to him.
She looks old enough to be his grandmother.
But when she settles her curious hands on him, she doesn’t touch him like a sweet, elderly woman would. No, she doesn’t pinch his cheeks even once.
Her palms start at a platonic place on his pecs. Exploring fingers drift down his body, and I can’t help but shift, letting my thighs rub together as she touches him the way I’ve thought about touching him.
His head tilts and he gives me the cockiest smirk I’ve ever seen. Until her hands drop dramatically lower and she grips his dick in one firm swoop.
The tension in his body jolts from her touch, making her hand slip away.
Kain’s lips part and he almost—almost—smiles at his friend. Rime, however, only passes his cruel eyes over the scene as if it is another typical day for him.
“Hmm, well.” Her hands pat sweetly against his shoulders. His eyes close tightly as if he’s trying hard not to say anything as a smile starts to spread across his lips. I can’t really tell if he’s trying not to laugh or growl. “Yes, I guess I couldn’t really say no. Perhaps I misjudged my weaker friend. I will have to give her my apologies when I see her tomorrow.”
“Aggie, you didn’t even touch his face.” A smirk kisses my lips. Goddess, I want to be her when I grow up.
“I didn’t?” Her brows lower over her pale gaze. “Huh, please forgive my dwindling mind.”
Her hand pulls away and I can’t help but let my gaze flicker to Chaos’ hips. Unfortunately, I can’t make out the impressiveness that gave Agatha a change of heart.
I guess I should have gotten him tighter jeans.
His turns, big palm pushing across my abdomen, and my body reacts to his touch, leaning into his strong chest as his lips skim against my ear. His coarse beard against my skin sends a hard shiver all through me. “If you’re curious, all you have to do is say so, Low.”
And just like that, my curiosity is doused with cold water from his ridiculous cockiness.
“Not curious at all. If you’ll remember, you’re the one without horns.” I slip out of his hands and open the door. “Everyone knows dragons are praised for their horns. The bigger horns signal an alpha, a protector, a truly prized beast. You’re… hornless. What does that signal?”
His brows lower over his pretty eyes. Just as I’m about to walk out, Rime finally speaks.
“Did she just call you a dickless fuck?”
Chapter Seven
The Sweet One
The men didn’t pry when I stayed a little longer and helped Aggie with her dishes while she napped. Maybe I’m just a good person, maybe the guilt of my lies is eating me alive. We may never know. I waste the day away dwelling on my mistakes and my thoughts as I wash the towering pile of plates. The house is empty and she’s still asleep. Or she’s ignoring me.
I sigh and carefully make my way around a stack of books that are so tall they’re acting as a support beam in the middle of the kitchen. When I close her door behind me, the warm sunlight is gone, replaced with a pale skyline of dusk.
The cool wind catches my dress as I look up at the three of them. Yards into the distance a thick line of tree’s attempts to hide the dirt road. There they stand, staring hard at the mage’s little cottage. The cool dirt comforts my steps as I walk over to them.
“Rime and I are going to camp out here in case our mage shows up early,” Kain tells me.
Well that’s pretty unlikely. I’m not much of a morning person. But whatever.
When I don’t speak, he continues.
“Take Arlow home. The more we search for the mage, the more danger we’re putting her in just by association with us. Women are crazy. She could lash out just to send a message.”
Guys, I’ll admit I’m a little unstable sometimes, but I’m not crazy …
Chaos nods, his inky hair shifting into his eyes just slightly. His dark hair and two-toned eyes have this jarring appearance of danger and cruelty, but his personality seems to be a stark contrast.
And before I even get a say in the matter, Kain shifts. One minute he’s a brooding and demanding man, the next he’s a beautiful, glistening dragon. The smell of smoke tinges the air; it actually crackles with the sound of hot embers. His clothes lay in tattered pieces in the dirt, and I shake my head at his carelessness.
“You guys just think I’m made of money.” I stalk forward, picking up a little piece of cloth and raising it to his nose as if to shame the creature.
Kain’s snout skims my wrist and he pushes the white remains of the shirt out of his face.
“I’m not buying you new clothes every day.” My hands settle on my hips and his emerald eyes gleam as he follows the gesture, studying the curve of my hip a bit too long.
He’s so much larger than he was just two days ago. He meets me at eye level now, but I don’t let his size intimidate me. Even if his fiery wingspan is larger than life.
“Are you asking us to strip for you every time we shift?” Rime’s question draws my attention to his rumbling tone, and, when my attention lands on him, all my snarky retorts drift away.
His fingers grip the hem of his shirt and he holds my gaze as he pulls it off. Etching lines carve his body in solid muscle that makes me swallow hard just from the sight of his perfection. The sharp angle of his jaw tips up in an arrogant way and he wastes no time unbuttoning his jeans.
If I were a classier woman, a woman of virtue and innocence, maybe—just maybe—I’d have the pure heart to look away.
But I’m
not.
My heart pounds louder and louder with every small move he makes. He pushes his jeans down so slowly, I’m sure that I’m salivating with anticipation. My attention shifts to Chaos to find him watching his friend with curious attention as well. When the cut, veering lines of Rime’s hips are revealed, and then the thin line of hair trails down, so does my gaze. The base of his cock strains against his jeans, and my lips part just as his length and thickness is finally revealed. His erection gives away his emotions despite the always serious look in his eyes. I have to swallow hard and it takes me several seconds to finally tear my gaze away from him.
He seems to always be this quiet man filled with too much pent-up anger. Silence tries to cover his aggression, but it still lingers in the pull of his brow, the turn of his lips, the tension of his pale shoulders. But I don’t know why.
He stands before me fully naked and neatly folds his shirt and jeans. It’s a casual sort of thing. He isn’t trying to be sexy. He just is.
“I’ll just give my clothes to Dickless here.” He hands his friend his clothes and Chaos’ eyes narrow on him.
“Are we sure I don’t have horns?” Chaos looks to me for confirmation and a smile pulls at Rime’s lips. He looks … manic when he smiles. It’s an odd look, like he’s not used to happiness at all and he wears it in a cryptic sort of way. An oddly sexy sort of way.
The easy way he smiles makes me realize how close the two men are. Chaos makes him smile without even trying. It’s as if he takes away every ounce of anger within Rime and neither of them even notice it.
“You don’t have horns, my friend,” Rime tells him, clinging to that beautiful but slightly frightening smile. Their fingers brush as he gives him the clothes.
“Maybe they’ll show up later when my dragon’s at full size. Or maybe I’m a grower not a shower.” Chaos has a matching manic smile now and the two of them are just smirking at each other like a bunch of idiots.
“I doubt it.” Rime bumps his bare shoulder into Chaos’ and it’s the last thing he says before his image swirls in colors of white and gray and blue.
Frost stings the night air, burning my lungs with each inhale I take.
Scales crawl up his arms, taking over his body at a rapid pace. In an instant, a beautiful and pure dragon stands before me.
I might never tell the others, but Rime is breathtaking in his dragon form. In his human form as well, I suppose. The coarse scales catch the light of the sliver of moon and the stars, and they almost shine with their own cosmic beauty. My palm rises to him, and those calculating eyes watch the movement. When I reach up to him, his head lowers just a fraction, as if he didn’t want to, but he can’t help but bow to me. My fingers trace across the hard edge of his jaw and that delicious purring sound emits from him. It sinks right into me.
There’s this tension between him and me when he’s human.
That pressured feeling doesn’t exist when he’s in his beast form. His dragon seems to want me to want him.
To care for him.
To love him.
“Be careful.” It’s whispered words that make his features soften, and I suddenly realize I’m becoming too attached to these creatures. I push the sweetness from my tone. “Be careful because I still owe you to the Prince, and I can’t really afford to lose that investment, you know.” I pull my hand away, keeping my features smooth as he shakes his dragon head at me.
I can’t show all my emotions to these assholes.
Goddess knows what they’d do with my little fragile heart if I ever showed it.
Warm fingers slip through mine, toying with my palm before tugging me back.
“Come on. It’s getting late.” Chaos keeps his hand in mine for a short amount of time as we walk a few feet before pulling away from me.
We trail through the night in silence. The glinting stars through the tangle of tree limbs hold my attention, catching all my hopes and dreams and random thoughts. While Chaos’ attention shifts hard over the shadows.
“How long have you lived here?”
His question almost makes me stagger. He’s … making small talk. As if we’re friends.
It feels uncomfortable.
“Just a year. I moved around a lot before that.” I don’t add my sob story about the bad break up and the best friend I lost because of it, or the years I spent trying to adjust. Because we’re not friends. Not at all.
He nods, his attention still sifting through the shadows of the thick trees.
“Where were you guys before this?” It can only benefit me to know more about the men I’m sharing my quiet days with now.
“Uh, it’s hard to tell you really. We got into some trouble a few months back. We traveled a lot before that, packing up before life gets too mundane.” He tilts his head to me for only a moment, but during that moment his gaze travels the length of my body, making me warm from the small amount of attention.
“That sounds really nice actually. I always wanted to see more of the world.” That’s what got me in my shitty relationship to begin with. Kreedence offered me a chance to see so much more. Sometimes, more isn’t always what you need.
His gaze slowly wanders to the dirt between us.
“You should. Don’t settle for what you have. Never settle for less than everything. Life’s too short to think you deserve less than all of your dreams and desires.”
I cock a brow at his romantic words.
This is the guy they were calling Dickless less than an hour ago …
Silence settles back in, but his words replay on repeat in my mind. I wish it were that easy. To just accept the things I want and not overthink all the things I need.
Like survival.
Sometimes, the past is too present to really think about the future.
Finally, my home sweet home comes into view. Another board has fallen off the broken window that adorns the front, and it looks like Grim has trampled over the wild flowers that were just starting to grow again.
Speaking of Grim.
Crimson eyes blink into the night. They roam over every inch of the darkness before settling on me like a compass seeking true north. My favorite little demon spawn emits a growl into the night, making hot embers glow as his teeth bare to us.
“It’s okay, baby,” I whisper as we make our way closer.
His gaze holds firmly on Chaos. A warm hand settles low on my back, my skin tingling beneath the small touch.
“So, this thing’s yours?” Chaos’ quiet whisper goes very much noticed by Grim. The men haven’t officially met my sweet pet. As dragons they’ve been around one another, but now it feels different.
“He’s mine.” I try to keep my tone upbeat to tell the little monster that there is nothing wrong.
He was a gift from my ex. The only good thing about that man was this beautiful beast.
“Grim, come here, boy.” I lower myself as Grim rises to his full and frightening height. He shadows over me with every slow step he takes.
My hand extends to him, and his head is held very low as his eyes bore into the man at my side. There’s a snapping sort of tension in the air. It’s accompanied by the low and menacing growl that’s shaking through the hellhound.
I start to wonder what he’s plotting as he grows nearer, that glinting evil shining in his eyes.
Lucky me, I get to find out.
He leaps, jumping over me and hitting Chaos head on. Enormous paws claw down Chaos’ white shirt, tearing right through the cloth.
Another shirt ruined. Just great.
I let out a long sigh, and, before I can even complain, Chaos shifts. An acidic taste meets my tongue as I take a deep breath through the smoky fog of his transformation. Black scales glint against the darkness, his mysterious eyes shine in the night. His roar rips through the shadows, sending Grim flying with one strong push of his talons. And there, lying in a tattered heap on the ground, are his clothes.
“Oh, come on.” My whine goes unheard.
The two
of them are a lashing blur of sharp nails and fiery growls.
Chaos snaps his sharp teeth at the hellhound. Grim lurches forward and his jaw is clamped down on the dragon’s slender neck in an instant. The moment he pulls back, prepared to take another slashing bite, I raise my arm between the two childish creatures.
“That is enough.” My words are bit out, my jaw clenched hard as I push my way between the two of them.
Grim sulks back with his narrowed gaze still held on the dark dragon behind me.
“Go lie down.” I point to the trampled pink flowers that lay in a demolished mess near my door.
His pointed ears lower just slightly, the only sign that he feels any guilt whatsoever.
When I turn back, Chaos is lying in the dirt. Blood streams down his neck and bare chest. He grimaces, his palm pushing against the slick blood.
I lower myself, trying my best to help him stand as I lead him inside.
“I’m okay.” He tells me as I search for a clean towel and dig bandages from my bag. This would be simple to heal if I could just use my powers. I’m actually a pretty decent healer. But I can’t.
I can’t expose my magic to him.
So, he’ll just have to suffer.
When I turn back to him, damp towel in hand, he’s right behind me. A rush of air meets my lungs as I try to repress a gasp.
His gaze, one blue eye and one amber, studies me intently as I try to focus on the task of cleaning his wound. Alcohol would really help him, but it’s not a resource I have at the moment. I lean into him, very aware of his nakedness. His beard is rough against my fingertips. One palm holds his neck, tilting him just how I need him as I push the cool cloth across his flesh. Gashes cut deep into his skin, barely missing the vein I’m sure the little demon dog was aiming for.
The smooth panes of his chest slide against my arm, his heat flooding me as I try to focus.
The blood coats the cloth too quickly, it’s seeping out in gushing waves, but Chaos seems unfazed by the wound. With his attention held intently on my features, I quietly brush a small dose of magic across his skin. It trickles out of my palm in light and unseen waves. I know what it feels like, and I try my best not to use it at full force.
