Blake turned to walk away and the woman grasped his arm, pulling him to a stop. She wasn’t overwhelmingly strong physically, but in that moment, he knew he had to stop regardless of what his intention to leave was. “Where you going?” She asked with a tilt of her head, “You don’t want to dance?” She seemed confused by his leaving, genuinely confused.
He shook his head no slowly as his thoughts remained clouded somewhere between rational and instinctual. Blake was sure it was just that the chaos in the room was getting to him. Somewhere deep in his mind, the dragon in him was still screaming that he needed to be out of that room, but, for some reason, he hesitated at her question.
Blake narrowed his eyes examining the woman more closely. She had the brightest amber-colored eyes that looked too large for her face, and dark brown hair pulled back in a neat braid. Her body was nearly skeletal, she was so thin. She had small hips, and barely any curves to speak of. Blake was sure even in his human form he could snap her bones she was so thin, though he wasn’t sure how well he’d fare as waves of power rippled off her.
The music seemed to amplify, driving the level of energy in the room up even further. The level of angst and lust in the room seemed to be increasing exponentially. Humans were grasping at each other hungrily on the dancefloor. He wasn’t sure if it was just their normal state in this setting, or if they were somehow sensing her power and feeding off it. It made the atmosphere of the room hang heavy and seductive around Blake.
He met the woman’s eyes skeptically. “I’m not much for dancing,” he stated, unsure what exactly to say to her. It sounded vaguely combative, as most things did coming out of his mouth. Blake was taken aback when she smiled warmly, which made her face look gaunter. She was young and beautiful, despite the frailness of her body. Blake frowned at the thought that she was beautiful. He didn’t do compliments. He wasn’t the type to notice one way or another if someone was attractive or not.
“You seem so out of place here,” she commented in a sing-song voice, “How in the world did they convince something as magnificent as you to coop yourself up here with all these humans?”
The flattery went to his head a bit. He was sure it wasn’t what she had meant, no one ever recognized him for what he was. Dragon-shifter yes, most other magical creatures could figure that much out, but it was rare that anyone beyond other dragons appreciated what he truly was. Even among the other dragons he felt discounted and underappreciated. No one thought there was much use for fire dragons any more. There were so few of his family left in the world, that the dragons had seemingly forgot what fire dragons were truly capable of.
“Business,” he answered slowly, not really sure how much he should be sharing with her or not, “You never answered my question though. What are you?” His voice was transactional at best, clipping his words short with his sheer annoyance at the entire situation unwrapping before him. Blake was not accustomed to anyone getting him to feel flattered in the slightest, let alone getting him to carry on a conversation when he was so decidedly uncomfortable.
She leaned closer to him, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck to draw him down to her level with the pretense of talking in his ear. “Go ahead and take a closer look,” the woman said, leaning her head to the side below his.
Rigid at the contact, Blake was unsure of exactly how to behave in that instant. He wanted to throw her hands off him and run, but was also beyond intrigued to know what kind of Fae this woman might be. Blake inhaled deeply and found himself overwhelmed with the smell of nature and what he could only explain as pure power. He had no idea what she was. Fae in some fashion, but something altogether more than Fae at the same time.
Blake had the oddest sensation as he felt his body responding to the closeness of her form. A tightening of his muscles, the feeling of blood coursing and rushing through his body. Blake had not often felt himself truly aroused by a female, the experience was almost as uncomfortable for him as the idea of having a conversation with someone, but somehow this thin wisp of a woman was drawing him in. Blake could feel the pull she seemed to have.
He hadn’t even thought to check on Riley and the girls, his focus was solely trained on the amber eyes of the woman before him. He stepped back from her arms, reaching up and pulling her arms away from him. Blake turned to walk away again, the need to get away from her and the crowded place welling up in him.
“Well,” she sighed, “You certainly are a surprise. Here I thought fire dragons were supposed to be full of passion. You are positively frigid!” She laughed, slapping him lightly on the butt as she fell into step with him.
He frowned at the contact. What was it with personal boundaries? Did no one keep their hands to themselves? Despite his anger, she was pulling his attention back in again. Blake felt the sway she held on his attention, it was as if as much as he tried to fight, the stronger the appeal was. She seemed to understand Blake, or at least that was the impression that was flooding over him.
The woman swayed lithely back and forth to the music as she walked, her hips keeping time with the driving bass that was still pumping through the room. The crowd seemed to press closer and closer around them, until she was dancing up against him.
Blake was consumed with the urge to place his hands on her and pull her closer against him, but realizing just how bizarre a reaction that would be he fought it again. He side-stepped away from the woman, forcing his way through the crowd without much care for if people would move out of his way or if he needed to move them. Whatever the woman was or wasn’t, he didn’t like the confined space and humans crowding all around him.
Blake could still feel her influence pulling at him as he was walking away. He reached the edge of the crowded room and turned, looking for Riley and the girls. They were lost in the crowd. Riley should have been visible slightly taller than others in the crowd, but Blake didn’t see him anywhere. A frown drew on his face, and his eyes searched the room again trying to figure out where they had disappeared to.
The strange Fae woman approached and stood casually at his side. “Your friends left already,” she offered in a helpful tone, “He seemed smitten with his wolves, and they all seemed to be having quite a bit of fun. I doubt you’ll hear from him for a while.”
Blake fumed at his impulsive friend, smoke seeping through his nostrils despite his effort to control it. Leave it to Riley, he never could turn down women. In his frustration at Riley’s recklessness, Blake didn’t think to ask how the woman had known that they were his friends, or even that they had been who he was looking for.
Blake reached in his deep pocket, fishing out his cell phone. Cell phones were one thing that he had to admit humans had right. They at least had some amazing technology, though he wished they didn’t make them so fragile. Blake went through phones on a regular basis, either crushing them by accident, or forgetting they were on him when he shifted. Apparently, smart phones aren’t meant to be dropped from the sky. He sent a message to Riley’s phone, irritated with his friend. You’re going to end up with fleas…I’m going home.
Blake shook his head as he glanced at the woman again. She was studying him with a look of fascination, devoid of attraction, just pure fascination. “What?” He snapped as he slid the phone in his back pocket and turned to head out the door. Blake wasn’t sure what she was, or what her deal was, but he was, frankly, beyond done with the human nightclub, and if Riley had taken the girls off to have some weird interspecies threesome, he was not needed anymore for the night. He scowled as the woman followed him out the door.
“Want to go get some coffee?” She asked with a sly grin, “Or are you too good for coffee?”
The way she spoke was like being challenged and flattered at the same time. Every time she spoke to him, he could feel her power pulling at the edges of his mind. He was conflicted. His dragon was telling him to go, as far and fast as he could from the place, but some secret place inside his mind was intrigued by the woman who seemed to be so unimpressed by
him yet could flatter him at the same time. It was strange, and he couldn’t deny wanting to figure out just what her angle was.
Chapter 3
Blake had begrudgingly agreed to coffee with the odd female, though he wasn’t sure why he would willingly subject himself to yet more humans. He still couldn’t quite put his finger on why the woman made him so uneasy, but the longer he was with her the less he could think about it. He told himself it must have just been too much chaos around him with all the humans, and the music, trying to quiet the part of himself that was still so on edge.
She led him down the sidewalk to a small diner that was open all the time. Out of the stifling atmosphere of the nightclub he felt less overwhelmed, and was feeling better and better the longer he was away from the place.
She sat across from him at the diner, her legs crossed neatly under the table. Her thin fingers wrapped around a cup of coffee, amber eyes dancing over the top of the cup as she inspected him. “So, you really were out babysitting wolves for the night?” She asked quietly with a laugh, “They have you so wasted here! Mmm, I bet you’re magnificent.”
He could feel the flattery working on his ego, and felt himself warming to the attention slightly.
“Hardly,” Blake replied after taking a sip of coffee, “I just follow orders. No one cares much for what we can and can’t do any more. They just try to keep us manageable and in our place, no rocking the boat. I don’t make waves, I’m just happy they leave me alone most of the time.” It felt odd to him to be speaking so freely with the woman. Her influence on him was still palpable, making him feel more and more at ease as they sat there having what amounted to a friendly conversation for him.
Blake was taken aback when the woman leaned forward and placed a hand on his arm, intense warmth beneath her touch. His eyes flashing with the simultaneous urge to pull away but also yearning for the contact. His usual reaction when people he didn’t know touched him was to recoil, but he could feel the soft pulsing of her power beneath her touch. Blake’s eyes met hers as she smiled up at him. “What are you?” He asked again, sincerely wondering just what kind of Fae he had stumbled across.
She laughed, dismissing his question with a wave of her hand.
“Oh, you know close enough what I am,” she explained with a smile, “I’ve just got a little extra. A small bonus…je ne sais quois.” The French phrase rolled off her tongue effortlessly, betraying a definite familiarity with the language.
For the first time in his life, Blake found himself genuinely interested in learning more about someone. The longer they spoke, the more fascinating he found her. He had lived an extremely solitary life even with his adoptive family, and his dislike and distrust of other species made it rare that he encountered anyone, who he found interesting enough to talk to like that. She somehow put him at ease, melting his generally frigid exterior, and he found himself relaxing more and more into the conversation. His mind clouded in a comfortable warmth he was unaccustomed to, and unable to explain.
“So, what am I to call you then, my fiery new friend?” She asked with a wink before sipping her coffee.
Blake shifted uncomfortably, his long legs brushing hers under the table as he did so. The small amount of contact broke his attention for a moment. His mind flashed with the urge to touch her again, in every place he could imagine. It spoke to all the darkest corners of his mind, and he liked it. It struck him just how odd this whole night had ended up. Blake considered that maybe Riley wasn’t so crazy after all, if this is what it was like to meet a female he desired.
“Blake,” he said deliberately avoiding his last name as it was a source of deep shame for him. He frowned when she continued looking at him expectantly.
She raised one thin eyebrow, gesturing with her hand for him to continue. “Blake. Just ‘Blake’. No last name? You go by one name, like Cher, or Prince?” She asked, clearly teasing with the sarcastic expression on her face.
His face fell in annoyance back into a scowl, irritated that she seemed to be demanding him give his full name. People in the shifter world generally knew his family name, and associated it with what happened to the rest of his family. Not many species were in the dark, when it came to a dragon losing control and killing himself, his wife, and several humans. Blake had grown wary of the look in peoples’ eyes when they made the connection that he was one of “those” Kerrigan dragons.
“I have no idea who that is,” Blake admitted, trying to reason out who the people were she mentioned, “But no, I don’t have just one name. That would be ridiculous, really. My full name is Blakemore Kerrigan, if you must know.” He muttered the words reluctantly as he met her eyes in a challenging glare. He watched her carefully, expecting to see the realization cross her face as it did with most in the shifter community. He was confused when instead she broke out in a sly grin.
“Hmm, makes you sound like a pompous asshole,” she laughed as he squirmed uncomfortably, “Or some sort of soap opera character.” She was pulling crumpled dollar bills from her pocket and tossing them down on the table.
She rose from the table before he could process her reaction. She made such odd references to him all the time. Blake felt like she was half speaking in French again.
The small Fae woman was by far the strangest creature he had ever encountered. A small part of his mind was amused that even standing she was nearly the same height as him when he was seated at the table, she came up just a few inches taller than him.
“Soap opera character?” He asked, frowning at her statement. He had never been told that his name made him sound pompous. Blake had heard of opera before, but he had no idea what a soap opera was. He wasn’t sure what influence washing could possibly have on an opera, and he certainly had no idea what that would have to do with his name. “What is a soap opera?”
A smooth, quiet laugh escaped her as she leaned on the table bringing her face closer to his. “Melodramatic human television shows that lonely human housewives watch. Just think of me as your very own Ms. Carter,” she whispered while holding his eyes with her own. She reached down, pulling his wrist up to examine his watch, her face still a hair’s breadth from his own but her eyes turned down to the watch.
Her face was so close he could feel her breath on his lips, and his body was screaming for her touch. The feeling of her hand on his skin was electric. Blake inhaled a slow, ragged breath. He was unsure what was happening, but was painfully aware he didn’t want her to stop touching him.
“Look at the time,” she sighed before straightening up, “See you around, Blakemore.” His named seemed to linger in her mouth, rolling off her tongue as if it were something secret. The woman turned and walked away from the table, making for the door of the diner quickly, without passing him another glance.
He had no idea who she was talking about with Ms. Carter, having never heard of a soap opera, much less watched one. Before Blake could untangle himself from the low table they had sat at, she was out the door. He felt strangely empty, intrigued, and vastly confused by the whole encounter.
Blake frowned. He had no way to contact her, no way of seeing her again, and didn’t even know her name. He simply could not let that stand. Before he had even made up his mind, he was rising from the table and was walking after her. She was far too interesting to just let her disappear off into the night without even knowing her actual name. For the first time, Blake found himself actively wanting to talk to someone. He made his way for the exit with a feeling of intense need surging through him to find her.
His blood was rushing with an intensity he was used to only when actively hunting, his vision blurring slightly, and the urge to shift was pulling at the edges of his consciousness. Blake suppressed the urge as he was in the middle of a very busy human street, but with a great deal of effort.
His eyes swept up and down the street as he inhaled deeply attempting to catch her scent. It was distinct and didn’t take him long at all to pick up. He pivoted and headed down the street, his
arm warm where she had touched him previously. The direction she had gone was in the opposite direction from the night club. Blake was torn. One part of him desperately wanted to find the woman, the other urgently wanted to go the opposite direction.
A faint vibration from the pocket of his jeans broke his concentration as he made up his mind to go after her. He frowned, pulling the device from his pocket and flicked irately at the screen to unlock it. He had three missed calls from Riley. He hadn’t even felt the phone going off.
A frustrated sigh escaped Blake as he dialed his friend. “Where are you?” Blake snapped at his friend as soon as the he picked up the phone, “What do you mean they’re gone?” If the girl’s father didn’t beat his friend into a pulp, Blake was sorely considering it himself. He reluctantly pivoted and headed off in the direction his friend was, though he could feel the pull from the woman urging him to continue his search for her.
***END OF PREVIEW***
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The Coven Series: Books 1-5 Page 50