by Ines Johnson
While the dragon-filled its snout with desire, Kimber took the opportunity to grab hold of the reins of his being. As Cardi laughed with glee and his dragon reveled in her happiness, Kimber wound the strap of his shared soul around his palms and held tight.
He navigated them lower on the horizon beginning his decent as the castle came into view. The ancient castle’s spires rose up like peaks of the mountain it was built into. The place was a fortress, impenetrable from any outside foe. He planned to put Cardi back in the tallest tower, which also happened to be her bedroom, and lock the door.
Cardi clutched her knees into his sides of him. Though his scales were thick, he felt the center of her, where her maidenhead would rest, warm right through his hide. She rested her torso against his back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Kimber felt her twin peaks poking into his long neck. She sighed, long and weary. But with a note of contentment.
He glided along the current of the wind, slowing his descent. It was for her safety. He didn’t want a bumpy landing.
As he flexed his back muscles, her knees had to dig deeper into his sides. Her chest pressed more firmly into his back. Her forehead rested at the slope of his neck, right where his shoulder blades would meet.
It was a rare moment of his favorite Cardi. Still Cardi. Quiet Cardi. Docile Cardi.
He flapped his wings a few more times. But the wind had already left his wings. The ground was right under his feet. But instead of landing on the ground, he flapped his wings a few more times and flew up to her balcony.
Inside the balcony window, Kimber saw the state of Cardi’s room. It looked as though the tornado from the film in The Wizard of Oz had touched down. Clothes were in a heap in front of the closet. Half-eaten food was left out on the dresser. The television was left on, the black and white specks of static blared from the boxed screen. He’d have to send in a fairy to clean up after her as usual.
Cardi took her time sliding off his back. When she got to the ground, she turned and glared at him. Kimber couldn’t glare back. He was still in dragon form.
The beast would let him have his body back. All he needed to do was shift. But he couldn’t. Not while Cardi’s gaze was trained on him. Her stance -hip cocked, head tilted, brow raised- told him she knew exactly what she was doing. She knew he wouldn’t shift and stand naked before her.
"Don't tell me,” she said with a false tone of remorse. “I’m grounded."
Kimber waggled his head, which he was sure looked comical in dragon form. Had his ears deceived him? Did Cardi see the wrong of her actions? Was she finally maturing and willing to take her punishment like a young lady?
“Oh? What was that?” She cupped her ear towards him and leaned in as if to hear him better. Yet she knew that he couldn’t speak to her in dragon form. “Did you say I’m not grounded? I deserve a shopping spree for coming to the aid of a family member?”
Kimber shook his head slowly. He should’ve known better. Cardi would never learn.
When she had shown up, she hadn't been a fearful thing. She had been as loud and bossy as she was now. The only person she'd ever cowed before was his father.
“You say I can go down to the mines and take the biggest diamond I can find to pay for it? Oh, Kimmy, you're the best."
She threw her arms around him. Kimber took the opportunity to shift back to human form. He felt the sun on his ass and the wind on his balls. When Cardi went to pull away, he held her to him, less she take in all the family jewels.
“You are grounded,” he said. “You will keep to your room until I give you my leave.”
Her gaze narrowed at him. Her own nostrils flared. If she had been a dragon, he would’ve been scorched by now. The dragon still had its claws in him, because Kimber’s prized jewel hardened like a fine diamond between them.
Cardi’s lips parted. She lifted her chin, exposing her neck. Her blouse slipped off her shoulder revealing the bite mark he’d put on her all those years ago when he’d won the right to claim her against his father.
Kimber’s incisors lengthened. He felt the hair rising on the nape of his neck. His fingers twitched and tingled, needing to brush the wisps of her hair away from his mark. His brain focused on only one thing; how light the mark was and that he needed to bite her again to reinforce his ownership. He needed to throw her down on her messy bed and finish what he started all those years ago and claim her.
Mine, his dragon roared in his ears.
Instead of biting her, instead of bedding her, Kimber shoved Cardi away. She stumbled but caught herself against the glass of the balcony doors.
Kimber cursed under his breath. And cursed again as Cardi’s gaze slipped down his body. With one hand he cupped his manhood. When that wasn’t enough to cover himself, he added his second hand.
"Turn around, Cardinal.”
"Why?” She lifted that defiant chin but kept her eyes glued to his hands. “It's nothing I haven't seen before. I wonder how you’ll compare to Izem? I'm sure he won't hesitate in showing me on our date.”
"That's it."
Kimber no longer cared if she saw him naked. Because as of this moment, she wouldn’t be seeing anything else other than the four corners of her room. He marched towards her. When he reached her, he lifted her off the ground and stormed through her balcony doors.
Once inside, he tossed her on the bed. She landed with a bounce and then sprawled back. Her shirt slipped completely down the right side of her body, exposing the top of her breast. Kimber got an eyeful of creamy flesh.
He wanted to rip the scrap of fabric off and find out the color of her nipples. He wanted to turn her over his knee and pull down her jeans. Spank her pale bottom until it turned as red as her hair.
He clenched his fists until those errant thoughts cooled in his mind. He had to take a deep breath and swallow a few times before he could speak. All the while Cardi looked at him without an ounce of fear in her intelligent gaze. She looked entirely wanton.
"Not only are you grounded,” he said. “I’m also taking away your stereo."
The sweltering look melted from her face. Her eyes blazed with indignation. "You can't take Madonna from me."
"Your behavior today warrants it." He gathered the rectangular box in his arms and placed it in front of his rock hard erection.
"You're not my parent, Kimber. You're supposed to be my boyfriend. Though I'm not sure I even want that from you anymore."
“I am not your boyfriend, Cardinal. I am responsible for you."
“Wrong,” she singsonged, rising up onto her knees on her frilly, pink bedsheets. ”I’m grown.”
"You can't even keep your room clean, let alone take care of yourself."
"Well, maybe not. But I bet Izem would like to take care of me. In more ways than cleaning up after me."
Kimber’s incisors were no longer watering. His muscles were quivering, but for an entirely different reason. Heat flushed through his body needing an exit. Fumes escaped as he spoke. "Do not leave this room until I give you my leave."
"That's exactly what I want.” She threw a My Little Pony plush toy at his head and missed. “For you to leave."
Before she could grab for the Care Bear stuffed animals at the foot of her bed, Kimber did as she demanded. He turned on his heel and left the room. Before he stormed off down the hall, he turned the key in the door and locked her inside, and his dragon away, from her. It was for the good of all concerned.
Chapter Five
Cardi slipped out of the window not five minutes after Kimber had walked out of her door and locked it. It was child’s play. She'd been sneaking out since she was eight back in the human world. Back then she'd lived high up as well. Her father had a mansion, but there were plenty of trees on the grounds.
She'd grown tired of being sequestered in her bedroom every day of her life. She'd been sick since she was born. She'd been diagnosed with everything from cancer to sickle cell anemia to cystic fibrosis.
She'd never been deathly ill, ju
st unwell and restless. Like there was a fire inside of her that needed to break free of her skin. Once she came to this world beyond the Veil, it all made sense. She’d felt like she'd been set free.
Except when it came to Kimber.
The man wanted to keep her caged. There were times she preferred the oppression of her father to this life. But her father was dead, or not quite alive in Valhalla where the Valkyrie were endlessly torturing him and other bad guys for their crimes.
There was no mourning there. Cardi had known he was a bad man by the time she could read. And his name was always splashed over the morning papers.
Cardi stole around the back of the castle and into the mines. She didn't pick the biggest diamond there, but she did grab a large one. She paused a moment to admire the sparkle. Living above a mine never got old. She heard bakers at some point acclimated to the dollar bills they had to count day in and day out. No woman would ever not have her heart skip a beat when she peered at the inside of a diamond mine.
Once outside, Cardi took her time walking the well-kept path to her destination. Few walked this way. It was at a point in the land where two of its most fearsome predators crossed paths; the dragon and the Valkyrie. The Veil.
The first time she’d ventured this close to it, Cardi had expected to see a shimmering piece of fabric. That’s not what she came upon. The Veil between the worlds was invisible. No line in the dirt. No outline in the air.
The only way she knew it was there was a feeling. The air changed, became dense. It felt like catching a chill. A numbness went through her fingers and toes. A tickle started at her throat. A throb started just behind her right ear.
She knew she could pass back through the Veil. With the diamond in her hand, she would be set for life. Unfortunately, her life wouldn't last that long.
That same fire in her blood made her thrive here inside the Veil. It would spell her doom if she went beyond it. If she crossed over the Veil back into the human world, all of her old ailments would melt her newfound strength and vitality like the Wicked Witch. And so she took a few steps back from the Veil’s boundary and waited.
Besides, she didn't want to go back. She loved her life here. She had a castle. She hd dragons at her beck and call. She could have anything she wanted because Kimber's dragon would deny her nothing. Too bad the only thing she wanted the dragon couldn't give her.
Cardi wanted Kimber. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to hold her. She wanted him to make love to her.
Hell, she just wanted him to pay attention to her. Maybe even do it with a smile. An 'atta girl' wouldn't hurt.
But no. Since she got here he only ever scowled at her. And told her to sit down, be still, lower her voice.
She wondered why he'd bothered to rescue her from his father if he didn't want her. That was the worst kind of living. Being unwanted. She'd known. She'd lived that way back on the other side with her father.
"If it isn't Cardinal Sin."
"Hey, Morri.”
Morrigan hopped down from the back of her dragon. Her blue braids whipped around her head, showing off her pointed ears. Her almond-shaped eyes needed no liner with her long, dark lashes. The Valkyrie’s lips were naturally red. But Morrigan reached up with a claw-like finger and whipped a drop of blood-red liquid from her mouth.
Cardi didn’t dare ask if it had been blood. Because she knew the answer already. The muffled groans in the body bag on the dragon’s back was answer enough.
“Who you got there?" Cardi asked.
"Oh, just the president of a small country."
Morrigan’s gaze went to the diamond Cardi palmed in her hand. “Trouble with a cold-hearted dragon again?”
“Kimber’s not cold-hearted.” He wasn’t. There were times when he could be downright sweet. Sure, it was mostly the times he was in dragon form.
“I don’t know, girlfriend.” Morrigan plopped down next to Cardi. “That lizard has had years to make the beasts with two backs with you and he hasn’t. I read one of those Cosmo magazines, and it said if a man can’t commit in three months then he never will.”
Morri pulled a glossy magazine from her bag.
“Can I see that Cosmo?”
“You’ve been on Seventeen Magazine since you came here,” said Morri. “You sure you’re ready for Cosmo?”
Cardi held out her hand. Morri pulled the magazine away at the last minute. But finally slapped the tome into Cardi’s outstretched hand.
Cardi flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. An article entitled Should You Dump Him? The very first question set Cardi back on her hackles.
How often do you guys fight with each other?
The quiz got worse from there.
Do you feel like you’re on totally different pages?
Do you rarely have sex?
Do you keep hoping your partner will change?
“Well, you can answer this one positively, at least.” Morrigan took the magazine from her. “Do you ever think about dating other people?”
Cardi bit her lip.
“Wait, you have? Oh, babe. That puts all of our answers in the left column.”
The left column’s verdict was to dump his ass. It was Cosmo. It was the girl Bible. It spoke only the truth.
“You think I should dump him?” Cardi asked.
“Do you want to dump him?” Morrigan dodged the question.
“Izem asked me out. Like on a real date.”
“From scaly to hairy, interesting.”
“Do you think I should go?”
“Do you want to go?”
“Are you gonna answer any of my questions with a statement instead of another question?”
“No.”
“Wait? No, you’re not going to answer my questions? Or no I should dump him?”
“Exactly,” said Morrigan. “I’ve gotta get back to Valhalla. Last week your dad and grandpa were trying to start a new pyramid scheme.”
That was the Ponzi way. A tingle went up Cardi’s spine at the mention of her family’s latest shenanigans. Maybe that was the answer.
Her family had made their money on fraudulent items that didn’t exist. Maybe she just needed to up the ante with Kimber. Maybe she needed to give him an ultimatum; a false choice so that he’d make the right one.
Chapter Six
"Leona called on the crystals," said Corun.
The male entered the room looking down, not up. And he didn’t entirely enter the room. His gaze was on a glossy printed paper of black and white specks. It was a print out of the babies in his mate’s belly from something called a sonogram. Corun was taking daily pictures to monitor the whelps’ growth and Chryssie’s health. So his attention span wasn’t what it used to be.
“Is Leona still on the crystals?” Kimber asked.
“No, she disconnected. She left a message.”
Kimber waited a full minute before he asked, “Which was?”
“Hmm?” Corun finally looked up. “Oh. She said the wolves and bears are on board."
“Leona woke the bears?" said Ilia.
Corun nearly bumped into their younger brother as he backed out of Kimber’s office.
Dragons were usually born in pairs as what humans called fraternal twins. Ilia was a rare third, making him the runt of his weyr. He arrived last and unexpected. He also arrived smaller than the other fledglings.
“We all agree I was next in line to get a sacrifice,” Ilia said. “Now, I’ll have to fight lions, wolves, and bears for the right to claim a woman.”
“There will be no more fighting,” Kimber proclaimed.
“How will it be decided then? Who has the biggest bounty? If so, surely I’ll win that.”
Over the millennia, dragons had gotten the lion's share of the sacrifices for that reason. The bears share and the wolves, too, came to the dragons with the gems they were able to mine. In the past, humans wanted payment to hand over their daughters. Bears, lions, and wolves didn't have the same acc
ess to gems.
“It’s going to be fair and free of violence from here on out,” said Kimber.
“Fair is not changing the rules before I’ve had my turn,” Ilia puffed his chest. Steam came from his nostrils. His eyes glowed brightly.
“Ilia, contain your beast.”
“What do you care what I think anyway. I don’t ever count, right.”
Kimber closed his eyes as Ilia went off on one of his benders; John Bender from The Breakfast Club film that is.
“‘I could disappear forever and it wouldn’t make any difference. I might as well not even exist at this school, remember.’”
“Ilia-”
But he was already storming out of the office. Great, another grown child in Kimber’s care throwing a tantrum. Just what he needed.
"The meeting will take place after the next full moon,” Corun said, still looking down at his image as if he had not heard Ilia’s tantrum. He likely hadn’t been paying the younger dragon any attention.
That was just a few nights away. It didn't give Kimber much time to prepare a platform. Diplomacy wasn't natural for shifters. That was likely the main reason that there was only one clan of bears, one pack of wolves, one den of lions, and one weyr of dragons left. They were all the last of their kind.
But this new generation of shifters, having gone without all their lives, had a different outlook. Or at least he hoped so. Kimber was sure he could get them all to come to an accord. If he could do that then they could present a united front to the Valkyrie and get the travel ban lifted from the Veil.
There was much to be done. He didn’t need any more distractions. So of course when he looked up he saw a curvy redheaded tornado land in his doorway.
Her hair looked windswept. Her cheeks pink and flushed. Her rosy lips parted as she licked her bottom lip.
The dragon caused his loins to tighten. Kimber shut his eyes to clear the wayward thought. He was always too frightened that the dragon would lunge from his skin and pin her down. So far that had never once happened. But it could...
