She threaded her fingers through his hair. “And I’ve lost my heart to you, Magnus Dumas.”
“I will always hold it safe,” he promised, and she believed him.
Chapter Eighteen – Magnus
“Is this your idea of an early start?” Ruby asked as he kissed his way down her spine.
“It is. Do you like it?” His hand caressed her breasts and she wriggled back against him.
“I could get used to it, sure beats an alarm.” She turned around and cupped his face in her hand, stroking his cheek. “I love you, Magnus Dumas.”
“Will you still love me when I get my memories back?” he asked, kissing her lips.
“I will. Because you’re mine. Fate brought us together, and if that’s so I can turn a bad man into a good man, I’m up for the challenge.” Their eyes met, and she held his gaze. “But I don’t think you are bad. I think you are the best of men. I believe you are the best of men.”
“And that is why I love you, Ruby red dragon.” He inhaled her scent, his pupils dilated with desire. “Because you believe in me. An old man out of time.”
“You fit in here.” Ruby traced her fingers along his chest, circling his nipple. “You, Tiberius and Helena like the quiet life the mountain offers.”
He brushed the hair back from her face and kissed her lips lightly. “But this isn’t your world, Ruby, and your world is the one I want to live in.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “I’d live with you wherever made you happy.”
“And I know you would not be happy here hidden away from the world. You belong out there, vibrant and beautiful.” He kissed her neck, nipping the sensitive skin. “Beauty should never be hidden away.”
“You are biased,” Ruby replied.
“No, I am the only man alive with great taste.” He lifted her and laid her on her back, covering her body with his, wanting to protect her from the world but knowing he could not. In the same way he feared he could not protect his sister from the world. But Ruby was strong, confident and smart, she could look after herself.
“Are you going to make love to me, or just flatter me?” Ruby asked, wrapping her legs around him.
“I thought a lady liked to be sweet-talked.” He stroked her skin, enjoying her reactions as heat filled her body. Ruby brought a whole new meaning to hot. Pressing his lips to her skin, he covered her neck with soft butterfly kisses, while she ran her fingers through his hair, cradling his head in her arms.
Angling his body, he nestled between her thighs. He wanted her. Before the day began and he was thrust into the unknown, he wanted to make love to his mate. When they returned after visiting the temple, they might both be changed. Him by his memories and Ruby by her reaction to the man he really was.
Ruby stroked his thighs, raking her fingers lightly over his back. He shivered with desire, she excited him. In response, his cock hardened, and he rocked his hips back and forth stimulating them both. Tugging his hair, she lifted his head and stared into his eyes, before a secret smile spread across her face and she kissed him.
Their tongues entwined as their lips moved, sensuous and sweet. She tasted faintly metallic, and a unique creature, born of myth and legend, shimmered beneath the surface. With a groan, he guided himself into her, sliding along her inner walls, the friction of flesh against flesh incredibly satisfying.
Who was he kidding? He would never be satisfied until he made her come around him. He wanted her to cry out his name, and let the world know she was his. Here, high in the mountains, he felt closer to the other side of himself, the side that was hidden from him by a veil. Had he visited here before? Was this where the whole thing started?
He lunged forward, filling her completely, his blood hot as it pumped through his veins. If he closed his eyes and concentrated, would he see his dragon? But when he closed his eyes all he saw was the image of Ruby, his mate. The one being in this world he could not live without.
He pulled back and then thrust forward, leaving her gasping for air as their kiss deepened. In and out, he plundered her mouth with his tongue, while he impaled her on his hard length. She consumed him, he wanted to be everything for her and more.
His fingers curled around the pillow, and he grasped it as he fought for control. He needed to come, but he wanted to satisfy his mate first. Sliding his hand under her bottom, he held her in place, while he thrust hard into her. Ruby tightened her grip on him, pressing her fingernails into his flesh and whispering in his ear, urging him on.
When he could hold out no longer, he cried out her name, jerking hard into her as he filled her with his essence. For a moment, his skin tingled, and the air filled with static electricity. Had he imagined it?
Real or not, it set off a chain reaction in Ruby’s body and she came. Her inner walls pulsed around him, and she bit down on his neck, muffling her cries. They hung together outside of time and space, their bodies joined as they climaxed together. Magnus wanted this moment to last forever.
When it passed, leaving them completely spent, he searched for the creature he’d sensed inside him. But he was gone.
“I wish every morning could start that way,” Ruby told him as they lay together, watching the sun grow brighter in the small window which was the only natural light source in the room. However, the room was constructed in such a way that the light streamed in through the window and reflected onto a smooth rock wall, with threads of some kind of crystal running through it. The crystal glowed, as if absorbing the light and multiplying it.
“So do I.” He kissed her lips. “But we have to go.”
“I know.” She got up out of bed and walked naked to the adjoining bathroom. “This is the day we get some answers. I can feel it,” she said as she entered the bathroom, leaving him lying on the bed, acutely aware she was gone.
With a sigh, he got up and dressed, pulling on his combat pants and hiking boots. He would be riding on Ruby’s back, but once inside the temple, he wanted to be ready for anything. There was a very strong protective streak running through him and if he could not shift into a dragon to protect Ruby, his fists would have to do the job.
Ten minutes later, Ruby and Magnus were sitting outside on the cliff which acted like a balcony. The sun was rising higher in the sky, taking the chill out of the mountain air, but Magnus was grateful for the warm clothes he’d brought with him.
“We’ll leave soon,” Tiberius said as he poured more coffee into their cups.
“How far is the temple?” Ruby asked.
Tiberius pointed into the distance. “A couple of miles due north.”
“Is it inhabited?” Magnus asked as he bit into the fresh mango, that was sweet and juicy but no match for Fara’s bacon and eggs.
“There are a couple of monks who live there. They rarely talk and are happy for me to visit.” Tiberius sat back and drank his coffee, staring in the direction of the temple.
“And they are fans of dragon shifters?” Ruby asked. “What I mean is, are they the kind of monks who like to cast Ancient Slumber?”
Magnus liked her blunt attitude. “We should know if we’re likely to run into trouble.”
“They have met Helena and treated her with respect,” Tiberius informed them. “I have no reason to doubt they won’t be the same toward you, too.”
Ruby nodded. “We’ve come all this way, so I don’t intend to go home without at least trying to find an answer.”
“Tell me, Tiberius. Do you have any idea what might have caused my memory loss?” Magnus asked.
“I can only presume.” Tiberius looked at Ruby and then his gaze shifted to focus on Magnus. “Perhaps someone blended two spells. They could have added something to the Ancient Slumber spell to make you forget. But why? The chances of a dragon being awoken from Ancient Slumber on purpose are slim. It would take a spell to reverse the curse. But I have never found the spell. Or, it would mean a dragon’s mate passing by. How many years did it take for that to happen?”
Ruby sighed. “D
amn it. I hate not knowing.”
“I’m ready to go,” Helena said as she joined them.
“Good.” Tiberius kissed her cheek and then took the cups back to the kitchen. Magnus jumped up and helped clear their breakfast dishes. “It’s the least I can do since you two ladies are our rides.”
“I like you, Magnus,” Helena said, grinning at Ruby. “He reminds me of Tiberius.” She dropped her voice, but Magnus still heard her. “Willing and easy to mold.”
Ruby watched Magnus as he left the room. “I like him just the way he is.”
“So you think now,” Helena informed her. “But wait until you’ve been around him for a few months.”
“We are ready.” Tiberius was dressed in a thick fur coat, and Magnus dragged on the jacket Fara had loaned him.
“Okay. Let’s go.” Helena walked to the edge of the balcony and shifted. Tiberius strode up to her and climbed onto her back as if he had done so a million times. Which he probably had. Tiberius and Helena were so in tune with each other. Living together probably did that to a couple.
“Our turn.” Magnus arched an eyebrow.
Ruby closed the space between them, kissed his cheek and then walked to the edge of the ledge and shifted. Magnus didn’t attempt to emulate Tiberius, instead, he climbed on the dragon’s back, smoothing his hand across her scales before grabbing hold of her spine and sitting astride her.
She turned her head to look at him, and he was certain she winked before she dropped off the edge of the ledge in a free fall that sent them plummeting toward the valley below. For a moment his head swam and he had visions of them both dying a horrible death, but then she pulled out of the dive, beating her wings strong and fast to rise high above the mountains.
His heart raced, and his stomach lurched, but he had never felt so alive. He had stared death in the face and lived. Laughing, he patted her shoulder and scanned the sky for Helena. The larger dragon was a couple of hundred feet in front and Ruby flew faster to catch up with them.
The two dragons flew side by side. Up here, there seemed to be no need for them to hide despite the ease of which they could be seen by anyone in the mountains.
“I’ve been working on a cloaking spell,” Tiberius called. “From below we look like clouds moving across the sky.”
Ruby lifted her head and glanced at Tiberius with a look of approval. Then her head snaked back around to look ahead, where the temple appeared. Small at first then growing bigger with each beat of her wings, they closed in on the squat stone building that clung to the mountainside.
Helena moved ahead and angled her body toward a wide ledge that stuck out like a lip. It could almost have been made for dragons to land. She lowered herself down and made a perfect landing. Tiberius slid down off her back and landed nimbly on his feet, before moving back out of Helena’s way. The large dragon shimmered out of this world, and then the human form of Helena appeared.
Ruby landed and soon the four people were entering the belly of the building. “Where do we look first?” Ruby asked.
Tiberius led them to a large room filled with scrolls and books. “In here, although it’s not in any order. We just have to wade through.”
“Great. More books,” Magnus said as they all started leafing through the old manuscripts.
As he picked up and then discarded a book on dragon harnesses, a movement caught his eye. Instinctively, he moved toward Ruby. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“We’re being watched.” He kept his voice low as he scanned the room. Helena and Tiberius were nowhere to be seen.
However, they were not alone. Four shadowy figures appeared in the room, then the air shimmered and two wolves stood on one side of them, and two bears stood on the opposite side.
It was an ambush, they were under attack.
Chapter Nineteen – Ruby
Ruby stood back to back with Magnus in a defensive position. “What’s happening?”
“I have no idea,” Magnus replied. “I cannot see Tiberius and Helena, can you?”
She swung her head around, searching the room for them. “Maybe they’re hiding behind the bookcases.”
“Helena doesn’t strike me as the hiding type.” Magnus half turned to look at Ruby, taking his eyes off the shifters, who were circling them, waiting to strike.
“Perhaps they just want to talk.” Ruby figured it was worth a try. She lowered her hands and approached the nearest wolf hoping he spoke English. “We came to look at the books. If we’re trespassing, we’re sorry, we’ll just find our friends and leave.”
The wolf stared her straight in the eyes, and then peeled back his lips and snarled. Magnus moved fast, positioning himself between the wolf and his mate. “I do not think they want to talk.”
“So we fight.” Ruby looked inward for her dragon, who could tear all four shifters to pieces if they didn’t surrender. She didn’t want to, but she could.
Her dragon wasn’t there.
Ruby staggered backward, tripping over her own feet as the gravity of their situation and the loss of her dragon hit her. This is how Magnus felt. Alone inside. A piece of him torn away. The ground rushed toward her as her head swam, but Magnus reached out and grabbed hold of her arm. He would not let her fall.
“Ruby.” His voice filled with pain as he pulled her close.
“I can’t shift.” Her throat constricted as panic gripped her. “Why can’t I shift?” Her dragon was gone.
“I do not know. Maybe there is a curse on this temple that prevents your dragon emerging. That’s why Helena has not shifted.” Magnus put himself between Ruby and the approaching shifters, who were closing in.
“What do we do?” Ruby gathered her wits and stood on her own two feet. She wasn’t the damsel in distress type and never would be. She was a dragon. Just because she couldn’t shift that didn’t make her weak, her dragon was always with her in spirit if not in body.
Rolling her shoulders she cast off the tension in her muscles and raised her fists, ready to fight. Alex had taught her a few self-defense moves, which she’d practiced until she perfected them. But she never expected to use them on shifters with teeth and claws.
“You could shift when we were outside on the ledge. We have to get you back out there.” Magnus lunged at the nearest wolf. With a snarl and a snap of his teeth, the wolf fended him off, but Magnus was fast and smashed his fist into the side of the wolf’s jaw, sending him flying across the hard stone floor. “Go, Ruby. Go!”
Ruby stood her ground. “Not without you. And not without Tiberius and Helena.” She scanned the room for any sign of them. “Where are they?” Sapphi would kill her if they got hurt.
“Agreed, they came here to help me. I’m not leaving without them.” Magnus’s eyes glowed green, and he shimmered as rage took hold of him. Ruby stayed alert to their attackers, but she was mesmerized by him. His dragon was close, she could feel it and longed to reach beneath his skin and drag him out to battle their enemies.
“Watch out.” The other wolf ran at them, and behind him, a bear approached, head down snarling with rage. “Ready?” he asked Ruby.
“Always.” They moved as one, punching and kicking at the creatures, while the fallen wolf got up and whined pitifully. The creatures kept their distance, staying out of reach of Magnus and Ruby. “Let’s circle around and look for the others.”
Magnus moved with her, they were stronger together. As mates, they would always succeed if they were true to themselves and each other. Yet the loss of her dragon hit her hard, threatening to take the strength from her and leave her weak.
The bear rushed them, butting into Ruby and knocking her into the air before she had time to react. He was fast, but Magnus grabbed hold of the creature’s thick brawny neck and wrestled with him, protecting Ruby with his body.
With the wind taken out of her, Ruby took a moment to force the breath into her lungs. Dragging herself to her feet, she saw the other bear shifter, who had not attacked them. He watched as the fight unf
olded as if he were assessing them. All was not as it seemed. Were Tiberius and Helena in on this? Was it a test?
Rage filled her, and she called forth her dragon. No one had the right tear them apart. Her dragon was there, under her skin, rushing to meet the other half of herself. But they could not swap places, they could not pierce the veil between human and beast.
Lifting her head, she locked eyes with the bear shifter who had not joined the fight. This was a test, he was responsible for robbing her of her dragon.
What did this mean, what were they trying to prove? If they got it right, was this the key to unlocking Magnus’s dragon?
She joined Magnus, pushing the bear off him with all her strength. But the wolf leaped at them, a snarling ball of gray fur, as he lunged forward, Magnus knocked Ruby out of the way. She fell backward and sprawled to the ground. Magnus would take the full force of the attack in order to save her.
The bear and wolf moved in for the kill.
“Magnus!” Scrambling her to feet, Ruby attempted to drag the wolf off him, but she wasn’t strong enough. Cursing the shifters who were attacking her mate, she pivoted and ran for the bear shifter who was watching the fight. “Stop this!” she yelled at him.
He turned his impassive gaze on her, his bear’s head huge as he studied her dispassionately. Behind her, snarls and growls filled the air. It was probably too late, they would kill Magnus and she would live her life brokenhearted and alone. “Please, he’s done nothing to you.”
Was that true? Were the men from this temple those responsible for casting the Ancient Slumber spell on Magnus? If so, what crime had he committed to warrant such a fate? Why had they locked him away for centuries?
With one last surge of strength, Ruby turned her back on the bear shifter and launched herself at the shifters pinning Magnus down. She could see his fists as they rained down blows on the wolf and the bear. He was fighting for his life and she would live or die by his side. “Run, Ruby!” he yelled at her.
“I can't leave you,” she replied. The wolf was lighter in stature, if she stood any chance of subduing one of their adversaries, it was him. Ruby leaped at the wolf and dug her fingers into his fur. Planting her feet on the floor, she levered herself backward and yanked with all her strength.
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