by Ann Gimpel
“Because our sea-serpent kin hate humans,” Konstantin replied. “When Y Ddraigh Goch expelled them, it was to several distant, mostly abandoned worlds where they could do no harm.”
“We are of two minds,” Katya broke in. “I believe it may be accidental some of them are here. They may have ended up on Earth for many of the same reasons we did. Their planet imploded or became uninhabitable.”
“And I don’t believe in coincidences,” Konstantin growled. “They are here for a reason that has nothing to do with losing their home and everything to do with expanding their power base.”
“I guess you can’t ask them,” I mumbled.
“Not without revealing our presence.” Konstantin shot an unreadable look my way. “Right now, the fact they don’t know we’re close is a point in our favor.” He seemed to consider his next words. “The simplest course for Katya and me would be to leave. We had decided to expedite our departure before we were drawn into your problems.”
“Leaving Earth behind is no longer viable. Not with goddess knows how many serpents infesting its waters,” Katya said. “I shouldn’t care. This hasn’t been a particularly good home for my brother and me, yet I do. It isn’t right for us to leave while the sea-serpents mow through this world and its resources.”
“Humans did a fair job stripping wealth and disturbing eco-systems before these serpents of yours showed up,” Johan said.
“We know,” Konstantin replied. “We have no control over humans, and despite being related, the intruders are not ‘our serpents.’”
“Sorry. Poor choice of words.” Johan’s nostrils flared. “If you remain, how will you fight this threat?”
“With more of us,” Konstantin said. “I was about to do what I could to put out a call to see if other magical beings are close enough to help.”
“That won’t work,” Katya spoke up. “The serpents would hear your telepathy. I did have an idea, though. And I put it into action.”
“You might have said something, Sister.” Konstantin turned his intense gaze square on Katya.
“When would I have had a chance? I sent my dragon to hunt for others who may be nearby. They know who is here and who is not.”
A smile altered the grim planes of Konstantin’s striking face. Part European royalty. Part Hollywood star. I could look at him for the rest of my life and never get tired of the view.
Christ on a crutch. Where the fuck had that come from? Besides, looks only went so far. He might be gorgeous, but he was also a righteous, self-absorbed bastard.
From what I’d seen so far.
I cleared my mind as much as I could. No way did I want either of the dragons helping themselves to my thoughts.
“Brilliant.” Konstantin clapped Katya across the back.
“Why, thank you. My dragon liked the idea too.”
“You did say the serpents can’t fly, right?” Johan asked.
“Correct. Nor do we swim particularly well anymore,” Konstantin replied.
“Do they have a human form like you?” I looked from him to his sister.
“I believe so,” Katya said.
“The particulars of their exile were never shared with dragonkind. Only that they were wingless henceforth. And gone,” Konstantin said. “But that isn’t important. The two of you must decide if you will remain with us or if you will go. You must both chose the same option. One of you remaining while the other one leaves is not possible.”
I wanted to ask why, but didn’t.
“We will leave you to discuss your fate,” Katya said. “You have a little time, but not much. My brother and I have a war to plan.”
I did a doubletake. “You sound happy about it.”
She grinned with zero warmth and a whole lot of teeth. “I am. Dragons live for battles and victory. It’s been far too long since I had a worthy goal to sink my talons into.”
With that, she and Konstantin shimmered to nothing, leaving me staring at Johan. “What do you want to do?” I clasped my hands behind me and paced to the far end of the kitchen.
“I might ask you the same question,” he countered.
I turned to him. “It’s not much of a choice. Not really. They believe we’ll die if we return to the surface.”
“We may die anyway,” he pointed out before blurting, “I want to stay. This is like all the stories I have ever read come to life. I cannot believe we are here, and this is happening, but since it is I cannot walk away. At least, I do not wish to.”
“You feel pretty strongly about it.” I kept my tone as neutral as I could.
“I do, but I would hear your desires.” He rocked from foot to foot, watching me.
“You mean besides curling up into a ball and telling one of those dragons to just kill me now?” Bitterness spilled from me. “None of this is fair. I was only going to be gone for six months, not a lifetime. If I’m away for too long, I won’t be any good in an operating room anymore. My surgical skills will fade.”
I shook my head, feeling like an idiot. Who the hell cared if I could wield a scalpel with any level of precision?
“No. None of it is fair,” he agreed, being diplomatic enough not to mention I was focused on the wrong things. “The question before us is do we die with our own kind, or do we take our chances and help the dragons in whatever way we can?” Before I could answer, he added, “We may die either way. Nothing I heard ensures our safety.”
I snatched the flask from the table and drank, welcoming the burn of the alcohol as it coated my throat and stomach. I’d always seen myself as adventurous, but for once an adventure too big to grasp had found me.
All of my control-freak genes were activated, and not in a good way.
“Talk with me, Erin,” he urged. “What bothers you most?”
“Like it’s just one thing. Let me see.” I extended a hand, counting on my fingers. “One, I have no control over my future. Two, I dropped into fairytale land. Three, I probably will never see my home again. Four, I…” My voice ran down mostly because tears were really near the surface.
“You do have control over where you end up. I want to stay here, but if you feel strongly about returning to the surface, I will acquiesce.”
“Aw shit.” Tears spilled over, running down my cheeks. “Why do you have to be so deucedly decent?”
He shrugged. “You call it, Erin. Let’s figure out which pony we will bet on.”
I scrubbed my cheeks with the backs of my hands, snuffling back my pain and indecision and confusion. “Okay,” I said when I could talk again. “We’ll stay here.”
A shocked look bloomed on his face. Clearly, it wasn’t the answer he’d expected. “Just like that? Why?”
“We know nothing of magic. Well, to put a finer point on things, I don’t. You seem to have a passing acquaintance with it. If we go to Arctowski, the Polish base, obviously no one there believes in magic, either. We’d be helpless in the face of…of the fire and other shit we’ve seen the dragon shifters produce. Or poison from the serpents. But so would every other human.”
Crap. I was rambling, but Johan was letting me roll with it, so I plowed ahead. “Judging from the brief look I got at Konstantin, dragons have scales. I’m guessing the serpents do too.”
At Johan’s nod, I went on. “So probably bullets can’t penetrate. We know their bodies don’t burn, and they’re immortal.” I turned my hands palms up. “Earth might not be their home, but it is ours. Maybe what little we can do against the sea-serpent threat would work better here where we have the dragons to guide us.”
He shut his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he said, “Thank you.”
I started out of the room, but he called, “Where are you going?” after me.
“To tell the dragons.”
“Come back, Erin.” Johan chuckled. By the time I rejoined him, he was laughing outright. I grabbed his arm and shook it. “What’s so funny?”
“I am sure they already know. With magic like theirs, they proba
bly listened to every word that passed between us.”
Heat traveled from my chest upward. My face must have turned bright red. I’d picked a path. Made my bed. Now it was up to me to pull my head out of my ass and be more than a nay-saying albatross.
But I don’t believe in magic, my inner voice lodged a protest and was shot down by a second one pointing out that from now on, I was a total convert. Time to drink the Kool Aid, suck it up, and fall headfirst into fairyland.
Chapter 9
Konstantin strode from one end of the great hall on the lowest level of their home to the other. He had no idea which outcome he hoped for. Each of them had downsides. As if she’d read his thoughts—and she probably had—Katya asked, “What do you want to do?”
He stopped pacing and turned to his sister. “Now that your dragon is back, nothing is holding us here.”
“Nothing except honor,” she agreed. “Y Ddraigh Goch would not be pleased if he knew we identified a threat—a serious one—and turned our backs on it to save ourselves trouble.”
“Mmph. There is that.” Smoke puffed from his mouth and nose. “The humans complicate things. I wouldn’t have set things up so our paths would cross if I’d known about the serpents.”
“Why not? Your reasons are still valid. We’re still alone, and—”
He sliced one hand downward. “Because you were absolutely correct when you said we didn’t understand them any better than they understand us. I haven’t spent much time at all around humans. I had no idea they’d be so…” He searched for a word and came up dry.
“Opinionated?” Katya supplied, followed by, “Strong willed? Mouthy?”
“Yes. Now that you mention them. All those things.”
She tilted her head, regarding him with an arch expression. “What were you expecting?”
Ash and smoke marked his annoyance as he stared at his twin. “Obedience? Compliance? Recognition we know more than they do?”
“Pfft. You view them as children, but they aren’t.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but shut it quickly. As usual, Katya zeroed in on the heart of the matter. He did see both Erin and Johan as moldable clay, and their resistance infuriated him.
“You could tell them you’ve changed your mind,” Katya tossed out.
“Huh? About what?”
“About them having a choice.” She moved closer to him. “You might simply say you and I discussed it, and the best place for them is with their own kind.”
“But I already told them plopping them back on the surface is a death sentence,” he sputtered.
“Remaining here doesn’t guarantee survival for them, either,” she pointed out. “Of course, we would do our best, but we cannot be here every second. We might become entangled in a battle on the surface and be unable to return for them. Then they truly would be stuck down here. Eventually, they could starve. If they ran through all the fish.” Katya turned her hands palms up.
He nodded and walked to a wall, placing a hand on a rich vein of platinum. The metal warmed beneath his touch and soothed his troubled places. The woman, Erin, was beautiful in a way that had crept up on him. She was tall and had a direct way of looking at him out of her clear, blue eyes that he respected. Her hair reminded him of grain growing beneath Mu’s twin suns: white-gold, thick, and unruly. But she still relegated magic to an illusory realm, even after all the pains he’d gone to explaining their history to her and Johan.
He’d thought her intelligent, but maybe she wasn’t as smart as all that if she could listen to him and discount his message. And then he remembered how his body had stirred to life when she and Johan were walking toward them, hair dripping from the lake and arms full of fish and discarded clothing. Her breasts had been clearly outlined beneath her top, the nipples large and round as ancient coins. Her lips were lush and full. They’d been parted over very straight, very white teeth, and he’d imagined her mouth sinking over his shaft.
Just recalling that moment sent a jolt of sensation straight to his groin. If Katya hadn’t been in the room, he’d have wrapped a hand around his jutting appendage. It wouldn’t take much to slake his lust since he couldn’t recall the last time he’d come.
Katya tilted her head. Magic flickered around her. Was she leaving to offer him privacy?
Rather than disappearing, she looked straight at him. “Too late.”
“For what?” His brain was muddled by lust. How could it ever be too late to bring himself to orgasm?
“I was listening in. Erin changed her mind. They’re staying.”
He wrenched his attention away from his swollen cock. “Why? What changed?”
“I missed some of their earlier discussion, but it appears she believes she can do more good with us to guide her than she can do back in her usual surroundings.” Katya took a breath. “She knows enough to recognize humans lack effective weapons to fight magic, and Johan wanted to stay here. Why’d you tell them it was all-or-none?”
He clasped his hands behind him to resist the temptation to fondle himself. It would be perverse in front of his sister. “Because if they both went back, I would obliterate their memories of having been here. What they do not recall cannot be revealed in case the sea-serpents smelled magic on them and dug deeper.”
“I understand that, but you could have done that to the one you sent back if the other had wished to remain. I rather like the man, and he clearly wanted to stay. Magic fascinates him.”
Konstantin nodded. Thank the goddess his cock was deflating. “I told them they had to agree because they need community in the same way we do. Had only one remained, it would have just been a matter of time before he—or she—demanded to return to the surface. And then, explanations to their companions—assuming any yet lived—would have been much harder.”
“I see what you mean,” Katya murmured. “There would be questions about why one showed up and where the other one had been in the intervening weeks or months before they popped back into plain view.”
“Exactly.” He glanced down to see if he was decent. Not quite.
“Returning to our earlier topic, now that they’ve made their choice, will we allow it or tell them we’ve rethought things?”
Konstantin considered her question. The immediate future would be far less complicated without the humans to worry about. If they were obedient, followed orders without question, he wouldn’t hesitate. He needed to consult his source materials for the spell to turn willing humans into dragon shifters, but once he had it in hand, he and Katya could proceed. If their efforts bore fruit, soon there would be two more dragon shifters, albeit green-as-grass ones. It would take time, but their dragons would teach them magic—if they listened to them any better than they listened to him.
“Well?” his sister prodded.
His groin throbbed dully, cock still at half-mast, but he was used to repressing the sexual side of his nature. “Try to impress upon them that they must follow orders—at least until they’ve become dragons.”
Katya puffed steam his way. “I’m not sure turning into dragon shifters—or mating with us somewhere down the line—is included in their plans. Only in ours. I will return to them and see what I can discover. Take your time.”
Before he could protest, tell her he should be there too, she was gone. Katya understood. The lack of sex had grated on her as much as it did him, but they’d come to terms with it long since. It didn’t make the longing for another’s body any less pressing, though. As if it understood he’d kicked the floodgates open, his cock rose in a column against his belly, hard as it ever got.
Coming would take the edge off, make it possible to be in the same room with Erin without having to first stop upstairs and find clothing to cover himself, although it wasn’t a bad idea. Clothing got in the way when he shifted forms, but the humans might be more comfortable with both him and Katya if they were covered.
Konstantin made his way to a sheltered alcove at the far end of the room and wrapped a hand ar
ound his erect phallus. It shuddered when he touched himself. His heart beat faster and breath steamed through his teeth, mixing with steam as he pumped his hand the length of his shaft.
He shut his eyes, not knowing which erotic scene would fill the dark canvas. He had a few favorites, but none of them materialized. He tightened his grip on himself. This wasn’t a time to tease his hunger. This was a time to get down to business and get things done. Dragons mated in the air, amid noisy, brawling lust. His dragon had quit nagging about its lack of mating privileges a long while back. Once the other dragons had left the sub-Antarctic lair, there hadn’t been any possibility of sex—for either himself or his bondmate.
He thrust into his hand. Steam thickened around him as his breathing came in panting gasps. The dark vista behind his closed eyes took on a wet, glistening aspect. Erin came to life, but a very different side of her. This Erin was prone with pillows beneath her head and hips. Her legs were spread, giving him a view of a mat of golden curls and swollen labia.
Like him, her eyes were shut. Golden hair cascaded around her. One hand was buried between her legs. The other pinched a nipple. She groaned, rotating her hips before settling into thrusting against the fingers sunk deep into her body. Her other nipple pebbled into a stiff peak. Color splashed across her breasts, shoulders, and face. She shrieked and moved the nipple hand to her clit, rubbing furiously. Her entire body vibrated as a climax spun her around and wrung her out.
The vision got him hotter than hot. His balls tightened, and desire roared through him as semen jetted from his cock, splashing against the wall before it dripped onto the flagstone floor.
Panting, gasping, and laughing, he sank to a crouch, fingers still curled around his hard-on. He was aroused enough to come again, but he’d indulged himself sufficiently. The imagery of Erin shattered the moment he opened his eyes. It had been so vivid. More tangible than most of his erotic fantasies. Maybe because she was real. Alive, breathing, and only one floor above him.
He shook the remaining drops of semen off the tip of himself and stood. A well-aimed shot of magic obliterated his seed. Someone like a sea-serpent could do a great deal of damage if they captured his jism.