Us. Again.

by LM Spangler

  “I’m sorry, child. I’ve made you sad. I meant no harm. You look so nice with those womanly curves. You don’t look like you starve yourself.”

  “No. It’s okay.” She stabbed a defenseless piece of pancake.

  “Recently divorced. Me, too,” Amy said, pointing to her chest with her fork leaving a trail of syrup in its wake.

  Talia’s brow rose. “Really?”

  Amy grinned broadly. “Yes, child. Caught him taking Viagra when he kept telling me he couldn’t get an erection. He was getting one for Charlotte the harlot. Kicked him out of my life and my house. Came here to relax, read, and do absolutely nothing if I care to.”

  “Good for you,” Callie said as she wiped up the syrup trail Amy had left.

  “Same reason I came here. I hadn’t wanted to come here, but the travel agent had suggested it. Figured she’d know. Said her co-worker had vacationed here.” Talia laid her silverware gently on her plate. Callie scooped it up immediately.

  “Care to spend the day shopping and doing whatever the hell we want?” Amy asked.

  What did she have to lose by spending the day with the woman? She finally had her life back. She could do whatever she wanted with whomever she wanted. "What the heck?" She rose. "I have some things I need to attend to this morning, but I should be done around lunchtime. We can grab lunch here and then go out and about for the day."

  “Sounds like a plan, child,” Amy said.

  “See you then, Amy. Thank you for the breakfast, Callie.” Talia returned to her room on the second floor and sat on the edge of the bed. She traced the beautiful patterns in the mixed squares of a patchwork quilt with her fingertip.

  Emotions that she’d held in check since she’d left Illinois and Gannon hit her like a tsunami, hard and without warning. She slid off the bed onto the floor, leaned against the mattress, buried her face in the crook of her elbow, and unleashed a torrent of tears.

  Dragons weren’t known for being emotional creatures. Hell, in dragon form they were twice as large as elephants, both weight and height wise, with wingspans that rivaled passenger jets. They were big, badass sons of bitches.

  And Talia was far from that. Sure, in human form she was tall for a woman standing at six-feet even and she did carry extra weight without looking obese. But in her current state, she didn’t come close to badass.

  Most dragons were satisfied with the matings their parents had secured for them. Gannon was a great male and he was definitely great looking, but he wasn’t Niko. He didn’t walk or talk like Niko. Or kiss like Niko. She’d never had sex with Gannon, so she had no idea about that aspect.

  That was the plain and simple truth. Gannon could never be Niko.

  Gannon had released Talia from their mating. She was free, as was he. He wouldn’t have any issues finding another female to mate with.

  Talia’s parents, Andreas and Chara, tried everything in their guilt trip repertoire of words when Gannon had announced that he rescinded the mating. Of course, it was Talia’s fault. Golden boy Gannon was perfect and would never do such a thing to his elders. Talia held nothing against him, but in her parents’ eyes he couldn’t do wrong and she only could.

  As if on cue, her cellphone rang. She reached into her jeans pocket, fished out the phone, and glanced at the caller ID. Exhaling a deep breath, she answered, “Hello, Mother.”

  “You’ve been crying. You regret leaving Gannon, don’t you?” Chara asked.

  “I’m fine, Mother, how are you?” Talia allowed the sarcasm to leach into her voice.

  “You’re not three-years-old. Stop acting like it and come home.”

  “And back to Gannon. No, Mother. Not going to happen.”

  “Where are you?”

  Talia’s temples began to throb, matching the beat of her heart. “I’m in a little town called Cicada Lake in Pennsylvania. I’m not sure if I’m staying or going.” She hit a button and put the phone in her lap. “You gave me a headache so I put you on speaker so I could rub my temples.”

  “Talia, how dare you talk to me like at that. Have you no respect?”

  “Like you respect me, Mother?”

  “You’ve disrespected your parents, Gannon, and Dragon Law.”

  “No. I only disrespected you. Gannon released me as per Dragon Law required so I didn’t disrespect either.” Talia now wished she hadn’t answered the call. An argument with her mother was the last thing she wanted. She rose and paced the confines of the cozy room she had rented for three evenings.

  The McDermotts had chosen soft neutral browns for the room with pops of multiple shades of blues. The furniture was simple in styling with straight lines with no frills. The bedding was bright white except for the quilt with its bright colors, primarily blue.

  “Are you doing this because of that … that … human male?” Chara choked out.

  “You mean Niko Bradley?” Talia hissed. Anger had begun to simmer just under the surface, getting warmer, threating to erupt. For now, she held it in check.

  “Yes. Him. How could you fall in love and then into bed with a human?

  The anger rumbled up the throat of the volcano, to the vent, and erupted. “I did nothing wrong, Mother,” Talia shouted and then immediately lowered her voice. Her dragon claws broke through the surface of her human flesh and she clenched her fists, allowing the razor-like tips to dig into her palm, crushing her cellphone like it was made of plastic. Unfortunately, they dug into the flesh of her other hand so she raced for the bathroom sink as she retracted her claws and started the healing process.

  A smart dragon would’ve had her scales erupt at the same time her claws did, but thanks to her mother, Talia was so pissed, she wasn’t thinking straight.

  And now she needed a new cellphone to boot.

  She stared down at her hand as she reached inside herself for calm as she called her inner dragon outward, focusing on her hand. Her human flesh tingled as scales pushed through her skin. Once her skin was replaced, the claw marks slowly knitted themselves back together until there were no remnants of the wounds.

  Talia placed her hands on the sink and leaned her weight onto it. She strummed the fingers of one hand and the claws of the other on the porcelain, making tinking sounds when the curved nails struck.

  When she lifted her head, a pale-faced woman with a mass of light brown hair secured behind her head with a hair tie whose silver eyes were puffy and red underneath from a crying jag stared back at her. She twisted the cold water handle and noticed she’d done it with her dragon hand. “That won’t work,” she mumbled to herself. She reached inside herself again and reversed the process, calling her human skin to the surface.

  By the time she placed her hands under the faucet, they both belonged to her current form. The cold water shocked her system and a shiver raced up her spine, but brought much-needed color back to her face. She might actually pass as human. The thought brought out a snort, which in turn alleviated some of the stress from her mother’s call. She spent the next fifteen minutes cleaning up any traces of her dragon blood. Though it was red in color that was where any similarities ended.

  Deciding a shower was in order, she stripped where she stood, started the water, and waited for it to come to temperature. She glanced around the bathroom that wasn’t overly large, but what it lacked in size, it made up for in charm. The color scheme matched the rest of the suite except reversing the colors. Blues were dominant and browns were accents.

  Steam had begun to bellow from behind the shower curtain. Talia stepped into the claw foot tub and adjusted the showerhead to accommodate her height. Hot water rained over her, erasing the last dregs of the crying jag and fight with her mother. She decided then and there to put both her mother and Niko to the back of her mind. There wasn’t anything she could do about either one of them.

  After showering and stepping out of the tub, she cleared the cool surface of the mirror from the water that had condensed there. Thankfully, she looked like herself again.

  In no
hurry, she ambled out of the bathroom and went to the closet where she'd hung her garment travel bag. She removed a coral pink sundress she'd picked up at O'Hare Airport while she waited for the flight that would take her away from her old life, thanks to the advice of the lovely redheaded travel agent who'd honeymooned in Cicada Lake.

  She slid the dress over her head and shimmied the garment down her body. The cotton hugged her figure without looking like she was wearing a sausage casing. Gold hoop earrings complimented the simplicity of the garment. Mascara, blush, and a glossy coral lipstick was the only makeup she wore.

  After turning this way and that in front of the full-length mirror, she retrieved the SIM card from her crushed cellphone and slipped it into the inside pocket of her purse. Instead of calling and canceling some of Gannon's and her joint credit cards, etcetera, she had to see if she could pick up a new phone in town or if she had to run to a bigger city.

  She told herself the rest of the day would be golden. She’d replace her phone and then have a lovely day with Amy.

  What could possibly be better than that?

  Chapter Three

  The day had been rather busy for a Monday at the end of May. Niko knew the kids had a half-day of school as there was only one week left. And all those kids must’ve had a hankering for ice cream. Niko was thankful that Jake had jumped behind the counter and helped his uncle with the orders.

  It was days like these that Niko realized that his brother had done an exceptional job raising his son. The boy was intelligent, responsible, and compassionate, but still had the Bradley wild streak in him. A perfect balance of yin and yang.

  Some of the schoolgirls had already broke out the bikini tops and lounged in the trucked in beach sand working on their tans. The shrieks and giggles mixed with the variety of birdcalls in the area.

  Niko knew any wild animals like dear or foxes were hiding in the thick brush that surrounded the lake. Noise was not their thing.

  The rest of the day had its busy times. Niko had decided to stay open until eight that evening and figured it was time to switch to summer hours. A lot of his customers came after dinner for an ice cream dessert. And he had to admit nothing made him happier than seeing a young child with frozen treat dripping down their chins. Their parents weren’t usually as happy as he was.

  As the sun was starting to lower on the horizon, an elderly woman and a tall, brown-haired woman were walking down the path toward the shop. The younger woman's head was lowered so Niko couldn't get a good look at her. He grabbed a dishrag and leaned into the frozen case and wiped down the metal grid where the ice cream pans fit. The bell of the door rang and he glanced out of the glass front of the case. Both women had chosen bright colored clothing. One in a pinkish orange and the other in neon green.

  From inside the case, he called out, “What can I get for you?”

  “What the hell?” came the response.

  That voice. He knew that voice. He took a step back and straightened up … only to smack his head on the ice cream case. Sharp pain radiated from the crown of his noggin. “Shit. Fuck. Damn. Son of a bitch that hurt!” When he finally did stand up, he realized he unleashed the tirade of swear words in front of two women.

  “I think you got all the good cuss words in three sentences. Not bad, child.”

  The older woman crossed her arms over her chest, but had a bemused smile on her face. He spared her a quick glance. “Sorry, ma’am.” His gaze went to her companion. “Talia?”

  Her eyes were wide and her mouth had fallen open before she snapped it shut. “Niko?”

  Niko threw the dishrag on the counter and rounded it, moving until he stood in front of her. His heart lurched in his chest and then raced to the point it whooshed in his ears. Love, lust, surprise, regret, etcetera became a tornadic tangle of emotions twisting through him. “By the gods, it is you.” He reached out and hesitated a moment, looking past her. “Where’s Gannon?”

  She shook her head. Her eyes searched his, the color shining like molten silver.

  He wasn’t sure what she was searching for, but he brushed the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, which was smooth like silk. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice a whisper.

  “Uncle…” Jake began as he ducked his head into the store.

  “Come on, child. Let’s give these two some room.” The elderly woman told Jake as she walked out of the store and flipped the Open sign to Closed.

  “Thank you,” Niko murmured, returning his gaze to Talia. “What was the probability of you coming to Cicada Lake?”

  She leaned into his hand and he cupped her cheek. She feathered soft kisses against his skin. “A bazillion to one.”

  A lightning bolt of lust ignited six months’ worth of pent-up sexual tension that settled in his groin—but this wasn't just about the sex. “We should probably talk. Care to join me on the beach?” He offered his arm and turned away just far enough to adjust himself in his shorts.

  “I’d love to,” she said as she linked her arm with his.

  When they stepped outside Niko motioned to Jake. “I’m going to talk with Talia for a while. Are you good?”

  “Uncle Niko, I’m twelve, not two.”

  Talia snickered. “Guess he told you.”

  Jake’s gaze swept up and down Talia’s body. “Is this the hot chick my dad told me about?”

  Heat crept up Niko’s neck. “Jacob!”

  “Tell you what, child, I need an escort back to the bed and breakfast. Care to walk me?” the elderly woman asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He faced Niko. “I’ll see you at home, Uncle Niko.”

  “Sure thing, kiddo.”

  Niko watched as Jake offered his arm to the older woman and walked slowly with her, not rushing, just talking and moseying along.

  “Your brother did well with him.” Talia faced Niko. “Why are you here?”

  “Let’s go sit on the beach.” When they made it to the beach, they sat at the edge of the water. The sky above was nature’s work of art, with swipes of purples, pinks, blues, and oranges. The colors reflected on the surface of the lake, radiating beauty all around them.

  The water lapped the shore, adding a delicate rhythm to the scene the setting sun had created. Niko took a deep breath and told her how Marcus had passed away and how he had given Niko full custody of Jake and ownership of the store.

  “My life has been all about the boy. He is my purpose. It used to be building houses. I have a bigger, more important role to play now.” He looked at Talia. Even the woman’s profile took his breath away. Strands of hair danced around her face as the breeze tousled them about. “I missed you. What happened with you and Gannon?”

  “Simply put, he released me from our mating as per Dragon Law. We are no longer mated.”

  “Really?” Niko asked, unable to keep the enthusiasm from his voice.

  "Yes," she said as she tucked the errant strands of hair behind her ears. For a moment, she flashed back to three days ago.

  “I think you and I need to talk,” Gannon said.

  “About what?” Talia asked, having no idea what he could be getting at. She stood from the couch and approached him. They both stared out the French doors leading to their garden.

  “You’ve done nothing wrong, but I do want the truth.”

  A brow rose. “Okay.”

  They stood shoulder to shoulder.

  “You’ve been with me for six months and we’ve never been intimate. There hasn’t been any fire from either one of us. I think my heart knew yours belonged to somebody else.” He faced her and took some strands of her hair between his fingers. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

  She turned toward him. “Yes. You are right.”

  “It’s the human, isn’t it?”

  No sense in lying now. “Yes.”

  Gannon inhaled and exhaled deeply before reaching into an ornate box on the table next to them. He removed a rolled scroll, unfurled it, and held it open with paperweights. “By the po
wers granted to me by Dragon Law, I release you from our mating. You are free from me in all aspects of the mating.” He outstretched his index finger and a claw erupted through his human flesh. He used it to cut a small slit in his opposite hand and allowed four separate drops of his blood to fall onto the Mating Certificate, rendering it null and void.

  “Thank you, Gannon.” She kissed his cheek.

  “For what it’s worth, I hope you find him.”

  “I can only hope for that miracle.”

  “I tried calling you, but the phone number was no longer yours. I thought my chance had come and gone. But here I am sitting next to you, my miracle.” She laced her fingers through his.

  “So you’re completely free and clear of him? You can actually do what you want?”

  She grinned broadly. “Yes, I’m free.”

  Niko’s eyes narrowed. “What about your parents?”

  The grin turned upside down and she faced the water. “They are unhappy, to say the least. It’s my fault. How could I do this to them? There have only been two other mating reversals. Yada, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah.” She rolled her eyes and turned toward him. “I’m just glad it’s over. I never loved him. Not like I loved…” Her eyes met and held his. “Love you.”

  “So, you are telling me,” he began, rising and pulling her to her feet, “that you and I are free to be us again?”

  She nodded, licking her lips.

  Niko watched the simple action, probably unconsciously done on her part, but she might as well have licked his cock. Want tangled with need, creating a fireball in him, so hot and virile he thought he’d burn alive.

  Niko ran his hands through her hair, grasped the strands, and pulled her head to him, swooping down and capturing her lips with his. There was no gentleness. No finesse. He claimed. He branded.

  Her arms wound around his neck and her body slanted against his, fitting perfectly. He untangled his hands, slid them down her back, and grasped her butt, pulling her core against his raging erection.