by Celeste Raye
He said, “Listen. I know you are not…I’m going to carry you and fly. I think we have to. I can hold you in my arms, but I need you not to fight me. Can you do that?”
The look she gave him was blank. Okay, not good at all. He had to risk it. he took her in his arms and changed. As soon as his body gained its size and weight and his wings sprouted from his back, he started to run. He got a good lift off and took to the skies. Gina did not make a sound and did not move. This had totally screwed her up. That he did not blame her for. This world always screwed with him, and for so many reasons.
It was home, but a world he had never really felt like he was supposed to be a part of.
The sky was clear and blue, but soon several large shapes appeared. Fellow dragons. He let them get closer. One of them, a jet-black creature, spoke. “Craig.”
“Max.”
Gina moaned and wriggled. He gripped her closer to his breast. “I need help.”
Blake said, “Who is she?”
“My partner. My partner in…” What crime? He said, lamely, “In the police department. This was an accident. We got sucked through a portal. She is a little freaked out. I need to get a bullet taken out of my hide too. Can I go to Ragnal or have you disowned me?”
Max let his powerful wings stir the air. “Come on. But you should know we are at war.”
War?
Shit.
Things had just gotten so much worse.
Chapter Five
“You’re Christy!”
The woman standing near the bed she had woken up in gave Gina a warm smile. “Yeah, how did you know?”
“I was looking for you. I’m a cop.” Her head spun as she sat up. Her eyes were gritty, and there was some weird taste in her mouth. “I had this crazy…where am I?”
“Right where you think you are.” Christy gave her a large smile. “I know, it is totally nuts. But yeah, there are dragons here.”
Gina said, “You were kidnapped!”
“No, not at all.”
“Oh.” Gina blinked. “Um…Heather…”
“She is here too. We are with the dragons we fell in love with. I guess that…you got sucked in through the portal I used, at least that is what Craig said.”
“I guess. I do not really know. The whole thing is a blur.” It was. She forced her brain to think and clear. “So, so how…is Craig a dragon?”
“A weredragon, yes.” Christy handed over a steaming cup. The scent of coffee hit Gina’s nose, and she took a grateful sip. “Thanks.”
“Welcome. I have a few dragons smuggle it to me.”
“Coffee?”
“Yeah, dragons do not drink it. You do not even want to know how awful it is to be without coffee.”
“No, I do not.” Gina took another sip. She asked, “What were those things that came after us?”
“Orcs. We are at war with them right now. We have been at war with them for a while, actually. They get killed and then slink off and then come back, apparently. This time they have been less than happy to go away. Also, you shot Craig, right in the booty. He was down there howling for about an hour after we dug it out of there.”
They had seen Craig’s naked ass? Jealousy hit, but she squashed it. The bullet would have had to be removed, after all. She muttered, “I did not mean to. I was shooting the Orc things.”
“So I hear.”
Gina managed to swing her legs off the bed. “So, what happens now? I mean, I need to get home.”
Christy grimaced. “Yeah, about that. The portal closes behind anyone who enters. It is like a self-defense thing for it. It is to keep anyone from going back, like too fast, because if they could move in and out like that, we would be susceptible to invasion by other species, including humans.”
Gina’s jaw dropped open. “What does that mean?”
“It means that you are stuck here for a little while.”
Worry washed over her. “How long is a little while?”
“It varies. Sorry.” Christy twisted her hands together. “I should warn you, time is different here than it is in our world. You can be here two days and gone from there for a week, or a month. Time flow is weird here. You can never tell how much has passed, in relation to our world I mean. I could go back tomorrow and find out I have been gone twenty years. The plus is that I won’t have aged.”
“Oh shit!” Gina’s shriek was heartfelt. She could not believe what she had just heard. “No. Nope. This is unacceptable. I need to get back. I am a cop, and we have a serial killer to catch, and we have…I mean wow. No way. That is just not possible. I can’t stay here. There is no way I can. There has to be a way to open that portal thingy up and get it running. What is it, like some computer program or something? I do not know shit about computers, really, but I will learn and fast if I have to. Just show me to the control room.”
“Unless you have magic, and I mean magic, the portal is not something you can open. It is tuned to the dragon magic so unless you are a dragon with magic, you really can’t do anything with it.”
Gina staggered under the weight of those words. “What? No, really, what did you just say to me?”
“Dragon. Magic. Portal. That about sums it up. Also, not even dragon magic can open it again once it closes itself after sucking someone through it. So, you hungry?”
“Oh my God. Oh, my sweet heavenly Jesus. No. Yes. Ugh. I have to get back.” She was up and moving, her body jerking and trembling. “This is…uh…uh. Please tell me someone is playing the worst practical joke in history on me. I am going to kill Craig!”
“I think he is pretty mad at being here, if that makes you feel any better. He is an Exile, you know; he never intended to come back, and he was stricken from the rolls for that.”
Gina blinked. It was like Christy was talking in a whole different language. “I do not understand.”
“He did not want to be here, so he left. He did not want to be a dragon, so he embraced his human side and renounced his inner dragon. That means he is an Exile, that he was written off. Now he is here, and he does not want to be. And again, are you hungry?”
Gina nodded. As incredible as it was, she was hungry. She was also really confused and scared, and she had no idea what to do about any of that. “I guess. Um, so is he in trouble for coming back?”
Christy shook her dark head. “No, really they need him, and so they are happy to see him.”
“They need him?” Why was she just echoing things Christy said? “Why?”
“Because we are at war and every dragon here is one more against the Orcs, who are getting pretty rowdy again.”
“I saw that.” Gina dragged a deep breath into her lungs. “I did this. I was looking for you, and I made him go after me, and into that house. I made him come back here. He is probably not very happy with me right now, all things considered.”
Christy said, “I do not know about that. If he is, he did not say so.”
Yeah, he would never have said so. Gina knew Craig, and better than she would have liked. Christy said, “You want something to wear?
Gina looked down at her dark shirt and jeans. “No but thank you. I may take you up on that later though.”
Or not. She eyed the flowing and pretty dress that Christy wore. Gina hated dresses, preferring jeans and tees and tanks. However, if she was not going to be able to get out of there any time soon, she just might need to borrow one. So, she forced up a smile and added, “But probably tomorrow I will.”
Christy nodded. “Come on.”
She followed Christy out of the room. The shocks just kept coming. She had known that they had gone to a castle, but it had not occurred to her until just that moment that they were in a castle.
But the steep staircases and stone walls left little doubt that that was exactly where they were, and the place was huge!
They went into a vast room that had a long table set in the middle of it. People were already there, gathered at the table and seated in chairs pulled up to it. Sh
e took the chair next to Craig just because it was the only one available.
The table was mostly silent, and she stared around trying to figure out who was human and who was a dragon. It was hard to tell. Food came, and she took some off the platter she was offered, and then something else from another. She stared down at the steaming piles of food, wondering what it was and if she dared to find out.
She took a tentative bite to find out that whatever it was, it was very good. Craig spoke softly, “It’s not takeout Chinese or a hot slice, but it is pretty good anyway.”
She managed a smile. Her heart was heavy, and she was nervous as hell too. They were dragons! Not only that, she was more than just a little bit embarrassed about her going catatonic when she had realized that Craig was a dragon.
She said, “Yeah.”
He leaned in, and she felt the heat of his body against hers. Her finger curled tightly around the fork she held, and she could not look at him. Her face heated with shame and she stuttered, “I am so sorry about earlier.”
“I am okay.”
“No, I meant, well that too. I meant, you know, freaking out like that. It was pretty dumb. I do not usually freak out like that.”
“I know, but dragons, well, that is a thing most people do not see every day of their lives.”
She found she could laugh. “Yeah. You can say that again.” She eyed the others and whispered, “So who all is a dragon? Is everyone a dragon?”
He shook his head. He licked a smidge of gravy off the corner of his lip, and her heart beat a little faster. Desire, unwanted and disturbing to both her body and her peace of mind, came back up, making her have to look away again. He said, “Some are changelings. We were born after the curse that made the elders.”
Everyone around them seemed intent on their own conversations. Gina, feeling so much like an outsider and like a fish out of water, grabbed at that. “Curse?”
“Yeah. Blake and Max’s dads pissed off a powerful mage, and he turned them and the rest of the elders into dragons and formed this world to imprison them. Only they got themselves a good dose of magic along with being turned into dragons, and they also found a way to forge portal keys."
“Portals being how we got here.”
“Yeah.” He toyed with his food for a moment. “And how we get back.”
She took a deep and shaky breath. “We can go back, right? Wait. Why are you not living here if this is your world?”
His jaw went taut. A muscle jumped in it. “Because I actually believe humans are worth saving, and not just the ones that are here.”
She blinked. “Oh.” She had no idea what he meant by that, but she sensed that it meant something and that whatever it was, it was a large bone of contention between him and the rest of the dragons gathered there. “So, you are in exile?”
“Yes, but it seems I have been welcomed home with open arms, all things considered.”
She shuddered, “You mean those creatures that attacked us? The Orcs?”
“Yes, those things.” His lips turned downward, and he grabbed his cup and drank from it deeply. He settled it back onto the table and added, “They keep growing, and there seems to be no way to stop them this time. Though they have tried everything possible.”
She stared at his face. He looked so human. She could see no hint of the dark brown beast that had sprung up from seemingly nowhere, and she could not fathom how any of this was even possible.
She wanted to ask more questions about the curse because she did not want to talk about any of the things that were heaviest on her mind. Like how long it would be before they got back. What they would get back to. If she was going to get roasted and eaten by a horde of hungry dragons.
Craig said, “We do need to get back, and soon. I know you are pretty mad about having been sucked through the portal with me.”
“It was my fault. I should never have gone into that house.”
“In your defense, you had no idea what it was.”
“True.” She surveyed the table.
The meal finally ended. Craig asked, “You want to take a walk?”
“Only if I am not going to get attacked by a band of crazy Orcs.”
He said, “I think we can arrange that.”
He led her out of a door and into a walled courtyard. The scent of flowers and herbs came to her nose and she took a deep breath. “It’s so…I mean you can smell everything here.”
“There are no cars or planes or things that would pollute the air.”
“Oh. No noise either.” She stood still, just listening to the silence. “How do people keep from going crazy?”
“To be fair, they are born and raised here for the most part. Those who come willingly adjust. Those who move between the worlds just…adjust too I guess.”
“Do you like it here?” The question came before she could stop it. He set off walking, and she caught up and walked beside him through an alleyway made by the tall arches of tree limbs. He said, “I do. I mean, I know it isn’t the world I want to live in, but I do not hate it. I hate that it is so...so unprepared to be anything but what it is.”
“Maybe that is all it should be.” His hip touched hers, and a slow shiver crawled over her skin. Someone had given him a pair of tight pants and a loose shirt. It was a heady combination. It made him look a little like a pirate, in fact.
They were moving under the trees now, and the moon, so large in this sky, shone down on them, but its silvery light did not pierce through the heavy leaves and limbs. The dimness made her slightly nervous, and her step quickened, but so did his.
He said, “Gina, I am going to have to ask if you are all right. I mean I do not want to embarrass you or anything but…”
“But I did freak out. I am. It was just a shock.” She eyed him. “Now that I know you can turn into a dragon, I guess I can stay out of a coma if you do. If that is what you mean.”
His laughter was warm and rich. “It is. Glad to hear it because you are going to see a lot of dragons, and some other stuff here.”
“Like what?”
He lifted a hand. The small fruit hanging from one branch suddenly swelled and grew. The scent was purely delicious. He plucked the fruit and made quick work of the peel then handed it to her. She stared at it and then at him. “How did you do that?”
He did the trick again and then peeled his own piece of fruit. “Magic. It exists here. It actually can exist in the other world, but not to such a large degree.”
“I see.” She took a small bite. It tasted like a combination of apple and grape. “This is good.”
He snacked on his as they set off walking again. The tree limbs rubbed together, sending out a low and mournful sound. Birds sang over that sound. She asked, “So this world was made by a pissed-off magician?”
“It was made by him, in part. The magic of the others, the elders, gave it real life. Before they created the rest, it was basically just a bunch of rocks.”
“Wow.” She meant it. They came to a low bench in a clearing, and they took a seat. She asked, “Craig, what did they mean when they said that they are at war?”
“Just that. War. The Orcs want the keys to the portal. If we all die out, if we let them have those keys, we can just about say goodbye to this world, and the world you and I live in, and the one in between.”
“There are more worlds?”
“Well, the Fae hate both humans and dragons so they separated themselves and there you go.”
“Fae.”
“Fae.”
“Did somebody shoot me? Am I in a coma or something?”
His head turned. His eyes bored into hers. “No, sorry.”
“Ugh. I almost wish you had said yes.”
His body met hers, just little points of contact near her shoulders and hip, but even that took her breath away. She stood, anxious to get away from the attraction that had dogged her since the night that they had slept together, and before that. That attraction had been hard to fight, which was h
ow she had wound up in bed with him, that and the alcohol that they had drunk to celebrate a very good ending to a really bad case.
Great. She was in a place where nobody she knew could see them and where magic and that attraction between them were very real things.
He stood too. When he did, his body bumped hers again. Her breath stalled out, and she swallowed hard. “Maybe we should go back in.”
“Probably. I have to go to a meeting with the dragons.”
“That sounds fun.”
“I am sure it doesn’t.”
“Okay, it doesn’t.” The urge to run her fingers through his hair, to touch him, was so strong she stared at the crisp little curl of hair hanging over his forehead with her heartbeat sounding out loudly in her ears.
She did not mean to get close to him. In fact, she meant to run like hell. She did not mean to lean into him, to let her body rest against his for a moment. What she meant to do was back away, and none too slowly. But that attraction had her in a tight fist and she could not resist it, could not back away from it or him.
Their bodies collided. She could hear a nearly audible click somewhere in the world. His hands came up and met her upper arms. Her heart gave off a ferocious pound that made her knees go weak. His lips came down on hers. She tasted that fruit and the meal that they had eaten earlier, and the wine, all mingled together on his lips and then on his tongue.
Her breasts smashed flat against his broad chest. The lust that was always at a low simmer when she was around him exploded into life, a flaming life that took her breath away and made her entire body go heated and flushed.
Their clothes fell away as if by the same magic he had used to grow the fruit to ripeness. Her breath caught as his mouth found her breasts and they lowered themselves onto the ground. There was no time for foreplay; this had been too long in the making for that. He entered her roughly, not bothering to go for anything more than deep and immediate penetration while his mouth captured hers to keep her from crying out.