by Tami Lund
“Excellent idea,” the spokeswoman of the Elders said. “We nominate you.”
“Who?” Antoinette said, staring at her.
She nodded once, firmly. “You.”
Chapter 15
“No stupid dragon bitch is taking over my position,” Darius raged, but instead of charging Antoinette like he had Maria, he turned toward the window and hurtled his body at the glass. It shattered as he dove through, shifting into dragon form as he did so.
“Seems like the door would’ve been easier,” Rahu remarked.
Ketu gave him a shove. “Go after him,” he commanded, even though it wasn’t his place to do so. Apparently, that was supposed to be Antoinette’s call.
“Oh,” Rahu said, glancing at Gabe. “Right.”
“We’re coming too,” Gabe said, striding toward the broken window, Talia hot on his heel. He paused as he passed Antoinette. “We’ll bring him back so you can properly punish him.” And then he followed Rahu, who had already jumped through the window and flown off after Darius.
Ketu stayed where he was. What was he supposed to do? Follow his reeve? Wait for Antoinette’s command?
Did she plan to accept the honor? Had this been her intention all along?
“No,” she said, looking at him and apparently reading his mind. “I didn’t plan for this. I was lying to Delilah; I never intended for them to choose her as reeve, but this—I had no idea. And I’m not sure I want it.”
“Why not?” Ketu asked.
She glanced over her shoulder at their audience, the group of blue hairs who were all blatantly and avidly watching their interaction as if Antoinette and Ketu were on stage, performing for their entertainment.
“Um, well, for one thing, we still have to, you know…”
“Mate?” the female Elder suggested.
Antoinette shook her head. “No, we already did that.”
“Oh good,” the lady said. “I’m glad. I always thought you two would make a charming couple.”
“So what do you have to do?” one of the other Elders asked.
“We need to…” Antoinette caught Ketu’s eye, held it. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do. Ketu lives up north now. I’m not sure…I might move. I don’t know.”
He took a step toward her. “You really do want to be mates?”
She shrugged, dropped her gaze to the carpet as her cheeks darkened. “I mean, we already are, right?”
“Yeah, but we didn’t exactly start out under the best of circumstances. And we still have a lot to work out. If you want to go our separate ways, I’ll understand. I don’t want that, but I won’t blame you.”
“I couldn’t do that to Henri. He already adores you.”
“What about you?”
She stared at an apparently fascinating bit of lint on her pants. “I guess I adore you too.”
“Enough to move all the way to Detroit? Give up being reeve?”
She blew out a breath. “I guess so.”
He was pretty sure his smile was damn near splitting his face in two. He moved closer and swept her into his arms, lifting her off her feet and planting a kiss on her lips. She clasped her hands behind his neck and laughed.
“This is crazy,” she said, clinging to him.
“Which part?”
“Well, all of it, but specifically the fact that you and I are mates.”
He shook his head. “Not really all that crazy. I’ve loved you for most of my life. I just didn’t realize how much until now.”
“Oh, Ketu.” She blinked rapidly, but the tears welled in her eyes anyway. He swiped them away with his thumbs. “I love you,” she whispered. “So much so that I’ll walk away from my life, my colony, to be with you.”
“I don’t want you to.”
She furrowed her brow. “You don’t want me to what?”
“Leave your life, your colony. Your new position as reeve.”
“Temporary reeve, but anyway, it doesn’t matter. Long-distance affairs aren’t my thing. Now that I know what it’s like to share a bed with you, I want to do it every night, not just once in a while.”
One of the Elders coughed while another snickered.
Ketu chuckled. “That’s good, because I feel the same way.”
“Yeah, but…”
“I’m moving here, Antoinette. Not the other way around. I’m coming home. To be with you. And Henri. And hopefully a couple more dragon babies, at some point in the future.”
Her eyes widened. “You…”
“Love you. Yes.”
“But you…”
“Can’t live without you. Yes.”
She sniffled and rolled her eyes. “What about your life up north? Your colony? They really seem like great people. I hate that you’re walking away from all that.”
He shrugged. “They’re just a flight or a plane ride away. Hell, Rahu will probably visit so often we’ll have to set up a guestroom just for him. Plus, we need to take Henri up there when there’s snow on the ground.
“I’m not walking away from anything. I’m starting my future. With you.”
Epilogue
Ketu shifted closer and slipped his arm around Antoinette’s shoulders. The gigantic bed in the room of the reeve’s mansion they’d claimed as their own was, in his opinion, too large. Sometimes he’d wake up in the middle of the night and Antoinette would be sprawled out on her stomach, not even touching him at all. When that happened, he’d inch closer, wrap an arm around her waist, and rest his head on the pillow next to hers.
He liked touching her. He preferred to do it at every available opportunity but especially when they were alone like this.
“I think we should get a smaller bed.”
She stopped typing away at the laptop resting on her thighs—looked like she was reworking yet another one of the colony policies Darius had created while he’d kept his father incapacitated for all those years—and arched her brows. “Why in the world do you want to do that?”
He snagged the laptop and, despite her mild protest, placed it on the bedside table. And then he wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her onto his lap. She rested her knees on either side of his hips and draped her arms around his neck.
“Because I like cuddling with you. And there’s too much room on this bed. If we were in a smaller one, we’d be forced to cuddle all night long.”
She pressed her lips to his and then smiled. “I think we manage just fine. Whenever I wake up in the morning, you’re always wrapped around me like a burrito.”
He smoothed his hands up her back and then around to cup her breasts. “Like I said, I like touching you.”
She moaned. “I like it when you touch me.”
He kissed the top swell of one breast and then the other. “So, congratulations.”
“On?” She wiggled, rubbing against his erection.
“Mrs. Voltaire told me the Elders voted to remove ‘temporary’ from your title.”
Antoinette rolled her eyes. “I think old Mrs. Voltaire has a crush on you. She’s forever telling you things she isn’t supposed to.”
“What about you? How come you haven’t told me yet?”
She lifted one shoulder. “Still trying to process, I guess.”
“Why don’t you let me help you process?”
“Mmmm,” was her reply as she closed her eyes and let her head loll on her shoulders while he massaged her breasts through her thin sleep shirt. After a few moments, she whispered, “Do you think I should accept it?”
“Me, touching you like this? Yes, I do.”
She snorted and covered his hands with her own, holding them in place. “Seriously. Do you think I can handle being reeve?”
He tugged his hands free and cupped her face, staring into her eyes. “Antoinette, you are the strongest, bravest, most amazing dragon I have ever met. I think you can do anything you set your mind to, and, yes, I think you have already been and will continue to be an excellent reeve.”
&nbs
p; She swiped at the dampness under her eyes. “Stop making my cry.”
He chuckled and kissed her. “I’m not trying to. I’m trying to tell you that yes, I think you can handle it.”
“Okay, I’ll let them know I accept.”
“Tomorrow.” He flipped her onto her back and then stretched out above her, holding himself up with his hands pressed to the comforter on either side of her torso. “Tonight, it’s just us. Let’s have a pre-celebration.”
She reached up and pulled him closer. “Perfect.”
***
The next morning, Antoinette and Ketu stood side by side in front of the eloquently carved tomb, their fingers entwined. He was probably crushing her hand with how hard he was squeezing, but she didn’t complain, didn’t pull away.
Henri stood in front of Ketu, leaning against his legs, fidgeting but staying quiet, clearly understanding this was a somber moment. Ketu’s parents were next to them, arms wrapped around each other. Someone sniffled. Hell, it could have been any one of them. This wasn’t exactly a cheerful experience.
But it was necessary.
“It’s beautiful,” Mamá whispered, wiping her face with a crushed tissue. “So perfect.”
The front of the tomb had been etched with the shape of a dragon, and the inscription read:
Eulalie Ormarr
Daughter, Sister, Friend, Aunt
Gone too soon, remembered forever
Ketu felt the familiar shimmer of magic, and then Argyle stepped out of the shadows and moved forward to stand next to him. His friend nodded once. “She is at peace now.”
“Yes,” Antoinette whispered. “I believe she is.”
“After interviewing those of Darius’s inner circle who didn’t take off after he disappeared, we’ve concluded that Eulalie didn’t become an addict of her own accord,” Ketu said.
Argyle nodded.
“Just like Antoinette guessed, Darius used her, forced the drug on her, so he could observe how she reacted to it. And then he kept feeding it to her to determine how quickly a dragon could get addicted,” Ketu added.
His father clenched his fist. “That bastard. If I ever get ahold of him…”
“I will handle it. As your reeve.” Antoinette threw him a stern look.
“It doesn’t bring her back,” Mamá said, “but there is some peace, knowing our daughter did not do it to herself.”
Argyle waved at a stone gargoyle perched nearby. “She will be watched over from this day forward, her spirit protected.”
“Thank you, my friend,” Ketu said.
“Come have lunch with us,” Mamá said, speaking to Argyle, but Antoinette frowned and glanced at her phone.
“I have to prepare for a meeting with the Elders. And the I need to check on the designs for the community center we’re planning to build where Darius’s drug manufacturing facility was. I want to make sure the architect did what I asked her to. And Delilah and Trennon are undoubtedly getting into trouble again.”
Ketu shook his head as they all turned away from Eulalie’s new resting place and made their way toward the street. “I still can’t get over the fact that they’re fated mates.”
“Life sure is strange, isn’t it?” Antoinette commented.
“You being reeve isn’t strange, though,” Ketu said. “Did she tell y’all the Elders unanimously decided to take the ‘temporary’ out of her title?”
She lightly smacked his chest with the back of her hand. “You aren’t supposed to tell anyone. Not until they announce it at the next colony meeting.”
“They’re our parents,” Ketu pointed out.
“And we’re exceptionally proud of you. Both of you,” Mamá said.
“What about Darius?” his father asked. “Any word on his whereabouts?”
Antoinette shook her head. “Nothing yet. But we aren’t going to give up until we track him down. Our colony has finally found peace, but I’m not kidding myself. We’ll remain vigilant until he’s been captured because I know damn well what he’s capable of.”
Ketu wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek. “Have I told you that I’m proud of you too?”
She chuckled. “Yes. This is the second time today, and it isn’t even noon.”
“Speaking of noon,” Mamá said, “Your duties can wait. We’re all going to have lunch together, then you can go off to rule over our colony. Is that clear?”
Ketu caught Antoinette’s eye and grinned. Some things never changed.
And that was just fine with him.
The End
If you enjoyed Tami Lund’s dragons, give her vampires a try…
RESIST
A Blood Courtesans Vampire Romance
My sister has disappeared into the shadowy vampire world of Blood Courtesans, where blood and sex are money, and humans are sold to the highest bidder.
I’m Anya, and I hate vampires. They killed my aunt. And now they’ve stolen my sister. I can’t let her die, so I head to Chicago to track her down.
Before I can find her, I’m assaulted by two human thugs, and of all the luck, a vampire comes to my rescue. Cam is sexy as sin with an accent that melts panties, and he hasn’t eaten in far too long. And now he's offering to help track down my sister… no strings attached.
Yeah, right.
Welcome to the Blood Courtesans Series, where vampires are real, rich, powerful—and hungry. Blood is bought and sold like fine wine, and the best blood goes to the highest bidder.
It's not supposed to be about love ... until it is.
Chapter 1
“I don’t want to go with you!”
I kicked out with one booted foot while the other slipped on a pile of slush coating the sidewalk, but the grunt of pain told me I’d made contact despite my precarious stance.
“Doesn’t matter to us what you want. It’s about what we want.”
I backed up until I was pressed against the cool brick wall, facing my adversaries. Two of them. Significantly bigger than me. I had no idea if they were vampires or human, but that hardly mattered. Three weeks’ worth of kickboxing lessons were not going to save me, given the odds.
I should’ve started earlier.
But I’d lived in denial these past few months, convinced my sister would return on her own, without my having to rescue her.
“I’m not a blood courtesan,” I told them, in case they were vampires under the delusion I might be interested in their version of fun and games. Apparently fucking young human women while drinking their blood—and sipping a glass of wine—was what it took to get a vamp’s rocks off.
Not exactly my thing.
“Not yet,” the uglier of the two said.
“I’m not up on the latest and greatest in vampire culture, but I could’ve sworn blood courtesans had to do it of their own free will.”
“You’re right,” the one with a pockmarked face said with a sardonic chuckle. “You aren’t up on vampire culture. They don’t give a shit whether you’re willing or not. Only that you put out. Both blood and pussy.”
This was what put a sparkle of excitement and anticipation in my sister’s eyes the day she’d packed a bunch of silk and lace undies I’d never known she owned?
“It’s a whole new world,” she’d told me. “A gorgeous, glamorous one. I can’t get tied down to some country bumpkin farmer who will want me to raise a bunch of kids—both the two-legged kind and goats. I’d be miserable. This is the easiest, fastest way out of this life. And if I hate it, I’ll come back. My understanding is the contracts are only binding until one or both parties decides to end the relationship. In the meantime, I’ll call, text, check in with you through Facebook. Don’t worry, Anya. Everything will be great, you’ll see.”
Eight months and almost no contact later, I was convinced my sister was stuck in a life she hadn’t bargained for … or worse.
My assailants moved forward, crowding me. I darted a glance from side to side, trying to judge the best means of escape: the eve
n darker dead end of the alley in which we all stood or the crowded street that seemed a million miles away. And to get to the busy intersection, I’d have to go through my two would-be attackers. Actually, given how busy the street was—it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend, after all—it shocked the hell out of me that no one had wandered down this alley to interrupt us yet.
I considered screaming for help just as my gaze fell onto a door almost directly across from me, carved into the brick wall of the building making up the north side of this narrow passageway. If memory served from my earlier walk through the area, it was a bar, an Irish pub. Which meant it would be crammed with people drinking green beer and eating corned beef and cabbage.
Perfect. All I had to do was get there.
Taking a deep breath, I launched myself right, as if I meant to run toward the end of the alley, and as my unwanted guests instinctively mimicked my action, I shunted left, bolting around them and rushing toward the door.
Which was locked.
“No, no, no,” I shouted as I beat on the unyielding steel. “This is so not fair!”
Pockmarked Guy and his ugly friend both stopped in their tracks and turned toward me, triumphant looks crawling across their faces.
“Shit. Come on, somebody hear me! I deserve a break already!” I kept beating on the door, despite my hand going numb and the very real likelihood that no one inside that undoubtedly loud bar could hear the sound.
The door flew open just as my two non-friends pounced. I leaped out of the way and basically fell into their clutches, although I had enough sense about me to notice the man standing in the doorway, watching us with a far more bored expression than I would expect from someone who had stumbled upon a scene where it was pretty damn obvious the girl was in distress.
“Mind your own business,” Ugly Guy said. “This doesn’t concern you.”