Margie’s eyes widened in alarm as Bodark stepped around me and used his chest and body to back her into the wall. Ah… that wasn’t what I expected and I glanced in horror at Alan, who was looking nearly as surprised as me.
Bodark’s hands hit the wall on either side of Margie, effectively trapping her there while he leaned down and buried his face in her neck. I could see Margie’s eyes go large as saucers just before they closed and she seemed to sigh. “Oh well, okay then. I’m just going to… ah.” I glanced at Alan, who quickly offered his non injured arm and jerked his head toward the dance floor.
“Wow! What was that?” I asked once we were in the midst of the rest of the dancers.
“I’m not sure, but if your intent was to steer him toward a potential mate, I think you just did a very good job of it. You didn’t breathe on them did you?” he asked, his voice sounding curious.
“No, did you?”
“No, maybe it was just lust at first sight,” he chuckled and held me gently. His sling made it awkward and I sighed and bit my lip.
“Is there some reason you didn’t shift to heal yourself?”
“Yes, I wanted to make sure you saw your familiar’s handiwork,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. “And I admit I was hoping you’d feel sorry for me and want to fix the damage yourself.”
“If I do heal you, will you behave yourself and not steal my Dragon again?” I demanded.
He lifted an eyebrow at me and shook his head. “I can’t make any promises,” he replied. “You are just too tempting by half. By the way, I have the contract,” he told me, wincing as he reached for it.
“Oh for Goddess sake!” I hissed and placed my hand on his chest, closed my eyes and thought heal at him. He smiled and pulled his arm from the sling, forgetting the contract for a moment, as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him. “Were you looking for a second beating?” I demanded in a huff.
He pursed his lips and shook his head but refused to give us some room. “Your person, whatever he is, caught me off guard. Had I been expecting him he wouldn’t have gotten away so easily.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Men were such pains in the bottom sometimes.
“Speaking of men…” he remarked and I sighed realizing he was picking my thoughts. He flashed me a grin and continued. “Who were all those men in the picture in your bedroom? I recognize some of them, and I suspect the dark haired man you told us not to bother is one of them. But who are the rest of them?”
“I don’t know them,” I told him truthfully.
“Yet?”
“Yet.”
“I see. Well actually I don’t. And what happened earlier on the dance floor with your dark Elf?” he asked.
“He pledged his fealty to me.”
“Really?” he replied, his eyebrow lifting in question. “And that God awful shriek afterwards… was that supposed to happen?”
“No. I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I think he’s in trouble with his Uncle.”
“His Uncle is a banshee?” he asked in surprise.
“So it wasn’t just me that thought it sounded like a banshee?”
“No, though I’m not sure they actually exist. It was just the first thing that popped into my mind.”
“No, his Uncle is not a banshee and it probably wasn’t a banshee, what it was I have no idea. Whatever it was wasn’t happy, or maybe it was, since it had really juicy news to tell.”
“I think we should change the subject. This one is much too confusing.”
“Fine.”
“Soooo, your Dad’s a Dragon, eh? I didn’t see that one coming,” he told me softly, then held me tighter when I jerked. “Now calm down. I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” he replied, his soft voice thrumming against my inner ear. “You’re so feisty. I like that in my women.”
“Ugh,” I told him and stepped on his foot.
“Ouch, you did that on purpose.”
“Yes I did,” I told him sweetly. “You deserved it.”
“Perhaps, but don’t do it again or people will think you are clumsy! Or worse, that I am.”
“Is the Mayor a letch or what?” I asked abruptly, and smiled when Alan nearly missed a step.
“What?”
“Is the Mayor always so… you know, does he always put his hands all over women?”
Alan leaned back and stared down at me in shock. “Are you saying the good Mayor placed his hands upon you inappropriately?” he asked while his own did some roaming around my back and waist.
“I’m saying, is he a playboy normally, or am I just the lucky girl he seems to be interested in?”
“Wow…” Alan breathed softly. “I think it’s safe to say, it’s just you. The man hasn’t been laid in centuries.”
“Oh great!” I sighed. “Laid? Gee that’s a romantic term.”
“Sorry, you just surprised me. Are you sure he was interested?”
“Well let me think. He hasn’t had time to send me flowers yet or ah… visit me in my bathtub, but I’m fairly certain he’d like to.”
“Well, he could visit you in my bathroom,” Alan offered with a twinkle in his eye. “Of course I’d then be forced to kill him.”
“Really, all that for a free peep show? Imagine how my men felt,” I remarked tongue in cheek. “You’re lucky Kit went alone.”
“Well it’s not like you leave their den. Damn difficult to get you alone in public and I needed to talk to you. Besides… it was very… educational,” he breathed against my ear, his words causing me to flashback on my love making with Cursed and Kit. “Mmmm, yes that was… I don’t usually go in for voyeurism but the force of your passion was intoxicating and very inventive. It brought even me to my knees.”
“I’m so happy I could entertain you,” I told him stiffly. “If you don’t stop poking around in my head, I’ll raise my upper shield and my men will be over here in half a second. They don’t like it when I do that,” I warned him.
“And here I thought I was behaving admirably. I haven’t even put my hands anywhere they don’t belong,” he teased. “Though I’d like to… very much. Shall I tell you what I’d like to do with you?” he asked. My hair stood up on my neck and waved in the breeze.
“No, unless you’d like to cause a riot? I don’t think the Mayor would appreciate being fined for conducting an orgy in City Hall.”
“Let me guess. You were responsible for what happened at the Salty Dog last week?” and he chuckled when I nodded. “You are so very fascinating.”
“Hey, Alan. Give me the contract,” I told him, glancing over his shoulder at Gareth who was looking this way and frowning. Another few minutes and he’d be headed our direction. “Unless of course you want to become Dragon meat.”
He reached into his pocked and withdrew a slim envelope. He passed it to me and I turned us so my back was to Gareth and Jace as I slipped it down my bodice, where it crackled and poked me for the first minute or so. “Hmmm,” he muttered watching me closely. “That’s the second time you’ve slipped something I’ve given you into your top.”
“I don’t exactly have pockets in this dress,” I told him bluntly.
“Your dress is divine. And I’d enjoy removing it from you,” he told me, and this time he leaned into me and breathed it against my skin. I felt the force of his passion sink into me and my own breathing increased.
I made a low sound in my throat and licked my lips while my fingers curled into his coat. “That was not wise,” I told him softly as I watched Kit’s eyes flash from the edge of the floor. He’d come around to the side closest to us and his red eyes were watching me intensely. “Look behind you,” I told him and slipped from his arms and into the crowd. He turned to look at Kit, who was standing with his hands on his hips, his legs spread shoulder distance apart. I made it nearly back to Jace and Gareth when Courday appeared out of nowhere, his body blocking my escape while his arms turned me back onto the dance floor.
“Ah… here you are,” he
told me happily. “I was beginning to think you had forgotten your promise.” I sighed and glanced at Gareth over his shoulder. Courday must have sensed my look because he turned me, effectively cutting off my view.
Chapter 19
Courday’s hand slid over my waist and around my back while he cupped my hand with his other one. “Are you having a good time?” he asked while moving us farther away from Jace and Gareth.
“Yes,” I told him, still struggling to get my heart beat back under control from Alan’s little shenanigans. The last thing I needed was for Courday to think my heart was racing because of him. “This was very kind of you.”
“Well my dear, it isn’t every day a Princess turns up in my town, especially one as exquisite as you. I hope you won’t think me forward if I tell you that I am fascinated by you?”
“No, but I would ask why?”
His hazel eyes stared down into mine and his lips turned up in a small smile. “For one thing you meet my eyes without fear. That pleases me. For another you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen… and I have lived a very long time. The color of your hair is like spun golden flames. And your eyes excite me. I have known many Dragons in my time, but never one as perfect as you. I was not aware there was such a thing as a Gold Dragon.”
“What did you mean by your comment earlier about being carried on your shield?” I asked, while my fingers played with the collar of his tuxedo. Unlike Valentine, he was dressed in a perfectly tailored black tux with a gold and cream paisley vest and tie. The color looked very good on him not cliché at all.
He smiled and replied, “It is what Spartan mothers told their sons when they went off to war. Either come back with your shield or carried upon it. It means to be brave and die well. It is what my mother told me.” My eyes widened in surprise at his answer. He said he had lived a very long time. If that was true, it meant he might have been alive centuries before Christ was born. And that made him… very old indeed.
“Yes, very old indeed,” he replied and settled me more firmly against him while we danced for several minutes in silence. His cheek brushed my temple and he inhaled deeply. “Your skin is intoxicating… a mixture of Elf and Dragon and perhaps cinnamon with just a hint of cloves. It is quite heady.”
To me Courday had no smell at all, only the faint scent of his soap and perhaps a touch of cologne to let me know he was there, but his skin was odorless.
“One of the hazards of being a child of the night,” he murmured against my skin. I tensed slightly while he made soothing noises and brushed his hand across my back. “I do not care for Valentine’s side burns either,” he told me softly. “And there have been many times I would have loved to strangle him and watch his eyes pop out of his head. Children can be so trying,” he breathed. “Shall I kill him for you?” he asked. “Would that please you?”
I swallowed and my fingers stilled on his collar. “He has something of mine. I want it back. He has my Red and has set his sights on all of us. He attacked me here tonight. He will try to take my Green and Blue and will go after my father. I cannot allow him to harm what is mine. If he dies, then so be it. He is not well… you must see that?”
“Hmmm,” he replied and I felt his lips brush my hairline. “Dragons are immune to my virus. Did you know that? Just as Elves are immune. My ichor only affects humans. Do you think that is because you are already non-human… immortal?” he asked.
“I do not know, perhaps.” It was true that Vampirism did not affect either race in terms of becoming undead. But we still bleed and can become connected to the Master psychically, though the link was nothing like it was between human and Master, or between Master and their children. For us it was less a controlling and more of a sharing.
“Sharing… yes I like that,” he replied.
“And have you shared before?” I asked, curious to know.
Courday didn’t respond at first and I wondered if he’d heard me. “Yes,” he finally replied. “But I was not strong enough to save her. The changes… she could not handle the Everlasting. It tore her apart. She was beautiful, like you. Strong and fierce, but oh so fragile, and I could not save her.”
My heart actually ached for him and in that moment I felt a deep sorrow, to have loved someone you could not save. How terrible would that be?
“It was a very long time ago,” he replied softly, and I felt his lips press against my temple.
“I am sorry,” I told him. “Do you think… do you think that Valentine’s connection to Belinda was an attempt to share?”
Courday took a deep breath and leaned back so that he might look at me. I stared up into his hazel eyes and realized there was a pale green ring around his pupil and tiny green lines throughout the pale brown, almost like miniature lightening bolts. Very unique, beautiful really.
“Thank you,” he told me, his voice sounding surprised. “I can’t remember anyone ever thinking that before.”
I blushed and glanced down, feeling odd. He rumbled in his chest and I glanced back up at him, surprised to find his face had taken on a more intense quality. “You are quite tempting,” he told me softly. “All the more so because you do not even realize…” His breathing became deep as he worked to calm himself. “To answer your question, no I do not believe that was ever Valentine’s intent. Sharing is beyond him at this point.”
“Courday, what do you want from me?”
“Please call me Claudius. It is disconcerting to hear you call me by my surname.”
“Claudius, what do you want from me?”
“Hmmm,” he replied as we moved to the music. “An easy question for such a complex answer.”
I let him think about it for a few moments, keeping my thoughts open, just enjoying the music and the way we danced together. He was very light on his feet which I suppose was not surprising.
“I like that you do not rush,” he replied candidly. “I imagine you would make a superb negotiator.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. Patience had only been a problem for me in the past six or seven months. Only since I reached sexual maturity, and even now as long as I remained satisfied it wasn’t an issue for me.
“That is quite amazing,” he remarked softly, his voice sounding not quite shocked but very close to it. “I did not realize…”
“What?” I teased, surprised to find I felt comfortable in doing so and wondering at the oddness of that. Either I was beginning to enjoy danger or my sensors were off.
He cocked his head to the side at that. “Do you think? Perhaps it is that we will become great friends.”
“Is that what you want? To be my friend?”
“It is a place to start.”
“And what would it mean for us to be friends, Claudius? What is it you believe I can offer you?”
He smiled and twirled me out and then back into the shelter of his body. “Much,” he replied. “I think you could offer me much.”
“And what will it cost you to be my friend?” I wanted to know.
“What an odd question,” he replied and looked into my face, his eyes searching. “You do not ask what the cost will be to you… only to me. And you do not run screaming from me, as many would. It is quite refreshing really. You do not fear me at all.”
I gave him a lopsided smile and shrugged slightly. “I’m just funny that way.”
“I think if you were not so charming, I might be offended.”
“I don’t know you but I sense your ego can handle it.”
Claudius actually scoffed at that. “What is ego but the grand delusions of a mad man? Were I to base my existence upon ego I would have lost my sanity centuries ago,” he told me rather abruptly, and I wondered at the emotion behind his statement. “Excuse me, it is a sore subject,” he replied more calmly and I couldn’t help but think of Valentine, which caused him to shake his head. “To start, perhaps the answer to the question posed by that slip of paper pressing against your skin beneath the satin of your bodice,” he remarked casual
ly and I raised my eyes to his again.
“How could you know…?” His smile reached his eyes and I caught the flash of incisor.
“This is my city. Not much occurs here that I am not aware of,” he replied. Except I’d lived here for a year and no one seemed to have noticed that, I couldn’t help thinking. At that, he tilted his head to the side. “I overlooked the poaching because your motives were pure, and I admired your skill,” he whispered against my ear and I nearly went numb from shock. I couldn’t help wondering if everyone knew. “No, your secret is quite safe,” he assured me and I breathed again. “Needless to say, I am most pleased you have dropped your disguise.”
“Plain Jane,” I told him with a grimace.
“Ummm, yes how appropriate. Can I tell you something?” he asked and I nodded. “When I first discovered you slinking about my city, I was curious. I thought here is a huntress with skill and precision. Something I admired very much. I watched you for months, following you home at night because you enchanted me… excited me. I used to sit on your windowsill and watch you sleep. Can you imagine?” he asked softly. “A man of my age and experience pining over someone that didn’t even know I existed.” And he shook his head. “And then one night, you dreamt of flying and Dragons, and you shifted into the most beautiful creature, and your hair….” he breathed, his voice sounding awed. “I’ve missed you this past week,” he told me softly. “Missed our nights together. And I am definitely not a letch,” he added as the song ended. He slipped away from me and into the crowd, leaving me standing there dazed.
I blinked several times and discovered I was facing a very large chest. Inside me Goldy sat up abruptly and looked very interested. I think she might have rubbed her hands together if she had any. Where it had come from I wasn’t certain. I sighed and lifted my eyes to Dane’s face, wondering what other truths I might discover this evening.
“Tis an open book, I am,” he replied. “Ask me anything.”
His arms came round me and I realized I’d been pressed to one body after another tonight. I didn’t think there had been more than five minutes when I wasn’t plastered to someone. Taking a deep breath, “I was warned that you will harm me,” I told him bluntly, and felt his body tense under the hand I had on his shoulder.
Dragon Rage Page 25
