The Dragon of New Orleans

by Genevieve Jack

  “What would you call it?”

  “A mating trill,” he said after some thought.

  “Purr is easier to say.”

  He turned her in his soapy arms and washed her back, circling lower, over the mound of her hip, between her legs. She inhaled sharply, and the sound in his chest grew louder.

  “Purr it is then.” Pressing against her from behind, his lips brushed her ear, his tongue licking the sensitive area behind it before nibbling gently on the flesh. His hands circled her waist, one slipping around to her belly and up to knead her breasts while the other journeyed lower, massaging her sex from behind. He rubbed and circled until her hips bucked urgently against him.

  “Please,” she said over her shoulder. “I need you.”

  He had to lift her to get under her, supporting her with his forearms behind the knees. He turned her so she could grip the top of the shower door for support. In one slick thrust, he was inside her, forcing a moan from her. Her breasts were pressed into the glass, and Gabriel enjoyed a lovely view of her open and panting in the bathroom mirror. He growled and worked her harder, his wings spreading to help him with balance.

  “Open your eyes,” he said, his voice thick and low.

  She did as he commanded, meeting his gaze in the mirror. While she was balanced in his grip, she skimmed a hand down her chest and pinched her nipple. He loved it when she touched herself. He kissed her over her shoulder, watching as she moved her hand lower to settle between her legs.

  Tight and slick, he felt her come apart like a shower of stars, and he followed her over the edge. Her body tensed and twitched in his arms. His knees bobbed with the draw of energy that followed, a buzz and pulse that had him shifting to hold her around the waist and ease her onto her feet. He found her sex and drew out her orgasm with his fingers, holding her against him while the aftershocks sent tremors through her flesh.

  “Oh God, Gabriel,” she panted. She steadied his hand, breathing deeply against the shower glass. After a moment, she turned around, her cheeks flushed, her lips full, her eyes no longer hungry but bright.

  “I love you, Raven,” he said. “You are mine.”

  She smiled and reached up to circle his neck. “You are mine, Gabriel, and I love you too.”

  He slipped his hand down to hers, where the emerald he’d given her hugged her finger. He held the gem between them. “Marry me.”

  She gave a breathy laugh. “Yes. A million times yes.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Raven removed a stack of jeans from her drawer and placed them into the moving box beside her dresser. Although she’d discussed her move and impending nuptials with her sister and mother, her mother had taken the news far better than her sister, who was in full adult-tantrum mode. Avery sat on the bed pouting and sighing heavily every time Raven packed another item.

  “You’re being overly dramatic,” Raven said when her addition of a stack of sweaters to the box caused Avery to violently flop to her back on the mattress.

  “Ugh!” Avery lifted a pillow and pressed it over her face.

  “Please don’t smother yourself on my account.” Raven rolled her eyes.

  Avery removed the pillow and slammed it down on the other side of the bed. “Why do you have to move in with him now? Why can’t you wait until after you’re married?”

  Raven shook her head. “I just can’t. I can’t be away from him.” She turned toward her sister, leaning her backside against the dresser. “It’s like he gave me life after cancer drained it all out of me. He breathed air into my lungs. He brings me joy. Life is short. It’s too short to wait when you know for sure. I will never take another day of my life for granted, Avery. Right now that means living with Gabriel.”

  “Fine.” She still sounded pissed.

  “Well, I hope you’ll get more enthused about this soon. It would be depressing to have a maid of honor who wasn’t excited about the wedding.”

  It took a moment for Avery to process what Raven had said.

  “Will you be my maid of honor, Avery?”

  Avery sat up and released a high-pitched squeal. “Yes! Oh, Raven it will be gorgeous. Navy-blue bridesmaid’s dresses, pastel roses, white satin ribbon.”

  “Um, who’s getting married here?”

  “Sorry,” she said, touching her lips. “It’s just, I can see it. Almost like I’m standing there.” Her eyes drifted toward the wall.

  Raven giggled. “It does sound beautiful. I’m not ruling it out.”

  Avery clapped her hands and smiled like she was high. “So when can we start shopping?”

  Raven resumed packing. “In a few weeks. I’m going to Chicago with Gabriel for a little while. He has a brother there named Tobias whom he’d like to tell about our engagement in person. We can start planning as soon as I get back.”

  Avery went completely silent.

  “What’s wrong?” Raven asked. Her sister looked like she might cry.

  “You’re finally going to get to fly in an airplane,” Avery said. “You always said you wanted to.”

  Raven grinned, remembering what it was like to fly wrapped in Gabriel’s arms. She supposed nothing would ever top that experience. Still, she was looking forward to the airplane and to all the other first-time experiences she’d missed when she was sick.

  “You know, I can honestly say every day with Gabriel is a new adventure.”

  “Speaking of new adventures, have you told Dad?”

  Raven paused, the pile of clothes in her hands suddenly feeling heavier. “Not yet. But I will, after I get back from Chicago.”

  She could see the disapproval in her sister’s expression, but to Avery’s credit, she didn’t say a word.

  “Don’t wait too long. You know I can’t keep a secret.”

  Raven raised her eyebrows. “Okay, as soon as I get back.”

  “Good. Now that that’s settled. Let’s talk about our, I mean your, wedding.”

  Raven rolled her eyes but indulged her sister. She didn’t get another word in for the rest of the evening.

  Gabriel handed his keys over to Richard with a firm handshake. “I trust that while I am gone, you will run this business the same as if I were here.”

  “Considering what you’re paying me, I’ll run it however you want me to run it.” Richard scrubbed his woolly hair with his hand and gave him an open smile.

  “You still have to answer to Agnes. I’ve given her control over the books and all the financial accounts. Treat her well. She now writes your paycheck.”

  “It’s all right. My girl Agnes and I will handle everything, Gabriel. Don’t worry about a thing.” He tossed the keys up, caught them again, and then slid them into the pocket of his perfectly tailored trousers. “After what the old broad has been through, I plan to be on my best behavior for a while.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Agnes said from the door. “I expect you to be as ornery as ever! I can take it. I survived a direct attack from the former voodoo queen of New Orleans.” She flexed a muscle.

  Richard glanced in her direction. “As I was saying, me and mama Agnes, the slayer of all things evil, will take care of everything.

  “Thank you, both of you.” Gabriel fished a few documents from his desk drawer and slid them into his carry-on.

  “How long do you expect to be gone?” Richard asked, eyeing his suitcase seriously for the first time.

  “I’m not entirely sure.”

  “I thought you said you and Raven were engaged? I can’t say I know much about women, but I thought they liked to plan these types of things. When’s she gonna do that with you traveling for… you’re not entirely sure how long?” His brown eyes twinkled under his arched brows.

  “I agree,” Agnes said. “Girls Raven’s age want to plan big, elaborate weddings with their families. You can’t be jet-setting all over kingdom come when you have a wedding to plan.” She waved her hand dismissively.

  Gabriel assessed his longtime employees and friends and decided it wasn’t f
air to keep them in the dark. He lowered himself into the chair behind his desk. “I have family all over the world. Seven brothers and a sister.”

  “No shit? You’ve never mentioned them before. Don’t your kind like to get together?” Richard asked.

  “We were misinformed about the hazards of our coexistence. I’d like to rectify that, but this is something that must be done in person. The circumstances are, shall we say, delicate.”

  “Does Raven know what she’s getting into?” Agnes asked.

  Thumbing the corner of his mouth, Gabriel thought about that. “As much as she can understand now. The rest will have to come. Some things a person can’t understand until they live them.”

  Richard nodded slowly. “Okay. I gotcha. Good luck with that.”

  Gabriel scowled at the man’s tone. “You don’t approve?”

  “In my household, things tend to go better for me with my husband when everything is out on the table.”

  Agnes nodded. “Take it from me. A relationship, especially a new one, requires honesty.”

  “Everything is on the table,” Gabriel said seriously. “It’s simply a matter of fact that Raven currently does not have the context to understand our reality.”

  Agnes nodded. “Try your best to explain it to her.”

  Gabriel lifted his bag onto his shoulder. “I will take it under consideration.”

  “Before you go—” Richard spread his arms wide.

  Gabriel embraced the man, thumping him on the back, and then Agnes, who waited patiently with her arms open.

  “Thank you, Richard, Agnes, for everything.”

  “Anytime, dragon,” Richard said.

  Agnes kissed him on the cheek.

  Gabriel headed for the street where Duncan was waiting.

  Raven gripped the armrests on her seat with an intensity that left her knuckles white and the muscles in her forearms sore. An alarm chimed overhead as the plane pitched left and then right, tossing her against her seat belt. She chewed the gum Gabriel had given her and pressed the back of her head into the seat. There was an oxygen mask in the ceiling. Why would she need an oxygen mask?

  “Try to relax, Raven. It’s just a little turbulence. Everything is fine. Look out the window. You’re missing the clouds.” Gabriel placed a gentle hand on hers.

  “I think I’m fine staring at the ceiling, thank you.”

  “I thought you said you’d always wanted to fly?” Gabriel said.

  “I’m beginning to think what I really wanted was to have flown, like in the past. I’ll be fine after we’re safely on the ground.”

  “Can I remind you that I can fly without the plane? If we go down, I will break through the wall and carry you to safety.”

  She scoffed. “And what about the rest of the people on this flight?”

  He ran a knuckle across her cheek. “You are an encyclopedia of magical talent. You must have a levitation spell in there.”

  Closing her eyes, she sifted through her brain. Her fingers relaxed. “Yeah, I do.”

  “Good. Now look at the clouds. We have first-class seats. You might as well enjoy them.”

  She opened her eyes and took a long look out the window. “It’s like a bed of cotton candy.”

  Gabriel’s grin reflected back at her in the window. He took her hand and began massaging life back into it. He paused to play with her engagement ring.

  “Now that you’re no longer catatonic with terror, I was hoping we could talk,” he said.

  “About what?”

  “Tobias. I’m not sure how he’ll react when we show up on his doorstep. He left abruptly and not on the most pleasant of terms.”

  Raven shrugged. “All you can do is try. If he doesn’t want to hear about our engagement, we simply won’t invite him to the wedding.”

  Gabriel stared at his fingers intertwined with hers.

  “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

  “We need to convince Tobias that what we saw in Paragon is real. All my siblings need to know what our mother did to us. They need to understand the peril our home is in.”

  Raven balked. “What? I thought this was about getting Tobias to come to our wedding?”

  “It is. But it’s also about having a witness. I have an obligation to tell the others about Eleanor. They need to be prepared in case she retaliates.”

  “Do you think that’s likely?”

  “No. She doesn’t know who you are or where you came from. Still, I would want to know if one of the others was in my place.”

  “This isn’t something for a quick text or phone call, huh?”

  “No.” He glanced down at his feet. “Most of us haven’t spoken in hundreds of years, Raven. I was only able to contact Tobias by phone because we bumped into each other not so long ago. The rest of us went our separate ways long before cell phones or surnames. Tobias knows where Rowan is. Beyond that, I know the regions each of them agreed to settle in. That is all.”

  “So… this trip is about persuading Tobias to get involved and to help us track down your other siblings so that we can tell them your mother betrayed them?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you want me to help you.” Raven crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Yes.”

  “Gabriel, why didn’t you tell me this before? Why make me believe this was all engagement related?”

  “Honestly?”

  “Honestly.”

  “I was afraid I would frighten you. After your experience in Paragon and then with Crimson, I wanted to give you a few days freedom without another thing to worry about.”

  “And you are telling me now because…”

  “Richard told me to. He said human partners do not like having information withheld for their safety and comfort.”

  Raven pursed her lips. “For a gay man, Richard knows a lot about women.”

  “Are you angry with me?”

  She gave an exaggerated sigh and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “No, although Richard is right. You should tell me these things. As your soon-to-be wife, I should be the first to know your innermost thoughts. You don’t have to be afraid to share with me. I know what I’ve signed up for. I’m all in, baby.”

  He threaded his fingers with hers and leaned back in his seat. “Good. Because you’ve never known turbulence until you’ve seen my family together.”

  Thank you for reading THE DRAGON OF NEW ORLEANS. I hope you enjoyed Gabriel and Raven’s story. The second book in the Treasure of Paragon series, WINDY CITY DRAGON, takes place in Chicago and features Tobias.

  Order WINDY CITY DRAGON now so you don’t miss it!

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  Turn the page to read an excerpt of WINDY CITY DRAGON.

  Windy City Dragon

  The Treasure of Paragon Book 2

  Please enjoy this excerpt of WINDY CITY DRAGON, book 2 in the Treasure of Paragon series.

  Windy City Dragon

  Chapter 1

  Winter in Chicago cut deep. It raged with wind that snapped and cold that gnawed, a four-month attack by Mother Nature that ravaged the city like a relentless, icy beast. For Dr. Tobias Winthrop, whose core temperature was normally a blistering 113 degrees, the cold was both shocking and harmless to his constitution. Dragons couldn’t freeze to death or catch human illness. He hadn’t had so much as a cough in over three hundred years.

  But then, Tobias hadn’t pondered his dragon nature in decades.

  All that had changed when his brother had phoned him out of the blue weeks ago. Gabriel had needed his help with a voodoo curse that threatened his life. Although Tobias had done all he could for his brother and his mate, Raven—a charming woman he’d learned was a witch—he hadn’t heard from the pair since.

  He was afraid to look too closely into his brother’s fate. If his queen mother’s warning to stay apart from his siblings wasn’t enough to keep him away, Gabriel’s for
bidden relationship with Raven was. He’d sacrificed his principles to save his brother’s life. Now, returning to his day-to-day life felt foreign. For centuries he’d worked tirelessly to put his dragon past behind him and become the human healer he was meant to be. Helping Gabriel had ripped off a scab he’d thought had healed.

  Tonight Tobias toyed with the amulet in his pocket as he made his evening hospital rounds. Helping his brother hadn’t entirely been a selfless act. He’d asked for one thing in return, a healing amulet that once belonged to the indigenous guide who had led him and his siblings through the wilds of early America. For once, his dragon roots served a purpose; the amulet in his pocket would save a child’s life.

  Despite decades practicing medicine with superhuman precision, one case had been his nemesis. He hesitated outside room 5830, kneeling to retie his shoe rather than going right in. Katelyn suffered from a complicated condition. She was ten with the face of an angel, the type of kid who could easily model for a theme park ad or star in a commercial for sugary cereal. Everything about the child drew you in—her sweet smile and blond curls, the small stature that came from a failing heart. Everything about her made you want to care for her. Some diabolical trick of nature forced any adult within a fifteen-yard radius of the girl to bond with the blue-eyed waif.

  On the outside, her power to draw adults to her side and her aid seemed harmless enough. What could be wrong with wanting to help a little girl who roughly resembled a Precious Moments figurine? But Tobias understood the truth. Katelyn was running out of time. A nasty, yet-unidentified virus had infected her heart and was slowly, torturously bleeding her life away. A heart transplant was her best chance of survival, but it was risky. No one understood this virus; therefore no one could say if it would attack the new heart as well. Active systemic infection was a contraindication of a heart transplant. As long as the virus was in her blood, she would not get the heart she needed.