Christmas: Dragon Style (The Sanguenna Chronicles Book 1)

by Serena Akeroyd

  “Our home,” he corrected, making her color in the face of his generosity.

  As she was wondering how on earth he managed to transport all this stuff here, to her left, they passed a desk that looked like it belonged on a pirate ship. Books were stacked on it, some up to breast-high on her. All around it, on the floor, were more tomes.

  In fact, wherever she looked, apart from the hot springs, which they were nearing, there were seating areas gathered together and all of them were loaded down with books.

  As they arrived at the water line, he bent down and helped her onto the verge.

  “Do you want my help with undressing?” he asked, his voice husky.

  After seeing two hundred years, modesty wasn’t high on her list of characteristics. “I can manage the top half, but could you help with the boots?” She grimaced at the suede which hugged her knees. “They’re a bugger to get off on a good day.”

  He smirked, but complied. He lifted one leg, propped it against his shoulder, then sought the zip. As he did, he rubbed his hand down the length of her calf, up to her thigh, and down again until he found the toggle of the zipper.

  She gulped as he pulled it down, revealing the bare skin beneath. She shuddered as, having hit the end of the zip line, he traced his fingers upward. She’d been leaning on her hands, but the tickling touch, so sensuous and innocent, had her losing control of her neck. Her head tilted back, and she moaned at the exquisitely simple sensation.

  “You like that, my dearling?”

  She groaned and kept her head flung back. “Which part of this looks like I don’t?”

  He chuckled. “A man likes his ego stroking from time to time.”

  At that, she tilted her head forward and caught him square in the eye. “I’ve always been better at stroking other things.”

  It was his turn to groan. “Witch,” he declared as he tugged off the stiletto boot and carefully placed her foot on the ground.

  They both eyed her pedicured toes, and she tried, in vain, to wiggle them. With a gruff sigh, he traced the arch of her foot. “Fear not, sweetling. Sensation will return to you soon.”

  Had her hands not been working, she’d probably have been in outright panic mode. But as they were, and as he was being such a sweetheart, she couldn’t find it in her to stress out.

  Something in itself that was a novelty.

  Brady would say she was the Queen of Stress. She just thought she liked things organized.

  He gifted her other leg with the same treatment, making her shiver with the simple trace of the rough pads of his fingers against her tender skin. By the time both boots were off, she was shaking again.

  “Can you arch your hips?” he asked, his voice hoarse from excess emotion—it was enchanting to see he was as affected as she by the barely there caress.

  She nodded and lifted her butt off the ground. He leaned forward and grabbed the skirt of her dress and tucked it higher. She sank back down the instant the fabric was free of her weight.

  “Arms up,” he told her gruffly, and she complied, letting him tug the expensive silk overhead.

  He hissed at the sight of her lingerie. Black lace, it was peekaboo and sexy, and she was so damn glad she’d worn this set today and not settled for something less glamorous as was usually her wont.

  With it being the first day of decorations in the nightclub, she’d been feeling festive.

  Thank God for Christmas, she whispered inwardly.

  “Lady Mother, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

  His handsome face was rigid as he looked her over. He seemed almost mad, but she knew his tension stemmed from arousal.

  An arousal that couldn’t be quenched with half her body still paralyzed.

  “Do we consummate the bond?” she asked huskily. “Like regular shifters?”

  He blinked at the question and, then, after toeing off his shoes, tugged her into his arms once more before wading into the shore of the hot spring. Carefully setting her down in the shallows, she shuddered as the warm effervescent liquid immediately worked its magic on her comatose legs.

  “You just ruined your suit,” she chided as he stomped back to the shoreline.

  “I can buy more,” he dismissed.

  “Still, it’s a travesty mistreating fine tailoring like that.”

  He snorted as she turned around to study him. Watching him undress was a perk she wasn’t going to miss out on. He shrugged off the sports coat then the tie. His massive but nimble fingers worked on the buttons on his cuffs. Once free, he shrugged it off and dumped it on the ground. Next came the hide belt, followed by his trousers.

  Within seconds, and without an ounce of sensuality to the act, he was naked.

  Standing before her in all his might, she was hard pressed not to gawk.

  This magnificent creature was hers.

  She felt like swallowing her tongue was an imminent possibility, but only fear of looking more like a fool in front of this God kept it in check.

  When he waded through the water to reach her side, he murmured, “Do you want to go deeper?”

  She blinked at him. “The way you look, I’d love to,” she told him true. “But I’m not entirely sure if I’m up to that yet.”

  He smiled at her, the gentleness stunning her as he murmured, “Come, we can tease and entice as we learn each other. But the water will do you good. It has healing properties.”

  He helped arrange her still lax legs and held her thighs to his hips as he stepped further into the water. The nudge of his shaft against her core was a constant reminder, and they both had clenched jaws by the time he was standing in the spring at waist height. Of course, the fact he was nearer seven feet meant that she was almost totally submerged.

  She’d never trusted anyone with herself like this. Letting him carry her over acres and acres the way he had, as they flew to his cavern and, now this, trusting him to keep her safe while she was at her most vulnerable.

  The trust was something that astonished her, and as she tested its bonds, she let herself float back. His hands tightened on her thighs as she let her head relax into the surface, splaying her hair and submerging her ears in the warm bubbles.

  She sighed, uncaring that she was giving him quite a show. At that moment, the sense of peace filling her was more priceless than even the dragon scale her Sister Sanguenna had so coveted.

  He moved her about the water, twirling her in its fizzy depths. When her ears grew tired of being waterlogged, she reared upright and set her hands on his arms. Clinging to his biceps, she murmured, “You don’t answer my questions, do you?”

  His eyelids fluttered to half-mast. “The important ones, I answer.”

  She snorted at that. “What about the one about your age?”

  “Irrelevant,” he told her, tongue definitely in cheek.

  “How are we going to learn more about each other if we don’t talk?”

  He snorted. “When you have centuries together, learning about one another isn’t a difficulty.”

  As he waded a little deeper into the water, she cut him a glance. “Remember, drowning me won’t shut me up.”

  For a second, he froze then bellowed out a laugh. As his chuckles died down, he shook his head at her. “Leman, you are certainly unusual.”

  “Damn straight,” she told him, shooting him a wink before tumbling back into the water once more and letting it cascade overhead.

  Chapter Five

  “Remy? Sire? ’Tis I.”

  The words were hollered down the tunnel, and they had Mia, who’d been tucked on a very comfortable chaise longue, bolting upright. Remy, seated on the floor, had his back to the chaise with his legs prostrate before him, but she saw the tension in his shoulders come and go.

  “Who’s that?” she asked softly, then, frowned at her hushed voice in her own home and, louder, demanded, “Aren’t you going to let them in?”

  “Enter.”

  The single word was like a foghorn. She wasn’t sure how he’d pr
ojected so damn loudly, but her ears rang with it.

  “Jesus, warn a girl,” she chided, holding her hands to her ears to stop the incessant chime, which seemed to still be reverberating around the cavernous chamber.

  And this was way more than an echo.

  He shot her a sheepish look. “Sorry. It’s an Elven spell.” He got to his feet in a sleek maneuver and walked over to a craggy outcropping that acted as a privacy screen.

  He appeared seconds later with a shirt covering his dreamy pecs and a scowl on his brow.

  Perfect timing too, as their uninvited guests’ steps sounded in the tunnel. Another piece of Elven magic she assumed, considering she was closer to the hot springs than the entrance, and she could hear the tap of the strangers’ footsteps over the faint gurgling of the pool at her back.

  A man and woman appeared in the doorway, and at the sight of her, their eyes flared wide. She felt ill at ease laying the way she was on the chaise longue. After a day and a half here, her legs still weren’t online, so she was stuck whether she liked it or not. And she didn’t. Not one bit.

  Remy didn’t step toward their guests. He went behind Mia and rested a hand on her shoulder.

  It was a statement. A declaration. One that had her flushing with pride.

  “What do you want?” he demanded as he beckoned them forward with a wave of his free hand.

  They scrambled forth, the man staying quiet as the female murmured, “Sire, it is Georgios. He is being difficult again.”

  Mia peered up at her mate and saw his lips firm in irritation. “I thought I dealt with this last time.”

  “You did,” the male replied, looking at her as he spoke. “He woke up.”

  The simple reply had Remy hissing. “I thought I told you to let him sleep until his leman stirred?”

  The female shrugged. “Perhaps that is why he is awake.”

  “Or mayhap you bargained for a dodgy potion from one of the Goblins,” Remy said disgustedly. “Need I do everything myself?”

  “That’s hardly fair,” Mia inserted, grabbing all of the room’s attention with her words. “You’ve been sleeping yourself. You can’t bitch about how your commands are undertaken if you’re not there to oversee them.”

  The woman flashed her a look of gratitude. “Your grace,” she murmured, sweeping low into a curtsey that had Mia’s eyes widening. She was used to formality, used to the ultra-courtesy required at Vampire court, but she’d never had someone curtsey in her presence.

  The male bowed low, bending at the hip and not stopping until he was at a right angle. The depth of his bow was as stunning as the woman’s curtsey.

  “This is my leman,” Remy said sourly. “Dreconis Mia.”

  She shot him a look at that, and lacing their fingers together on her shoulder, dug her nails into the back of his hand. She’d never agreed to dump her surname.

  “Larissau Alexa,” the woman said.

  “Orgullosson Eirik.”

  Mia nodded at both of them in greeting. “It’s a pleasure, Eirik, Alexa.” Wondering why they switched surname with forename, she shoved that aside and asked, “This Georgios, what kind of trouble is he making?”

  “Dearling, you’re still recuperating from the bond. I’ll deal with this.”

  She dug her nails deeper into his hand. For whatever reason, he’d failed to tell her he had power in this realm. That had to be the only explanation why these two had come to him.

  “All I can do is sit. If I can sit, I can listen. If I can listen, I can think. Talk,” she growled, aiming the words at Eirik whose cheeks flushed at her attention.

  Whether in anger or dismay, she didn’t know, but he shot her mate a look. Remy must have nodded because Eirik said, “The usual. Petty squabbles with the Goblins. He’s managed to annoy one of the Elven High Lords. Never mind the skirmishes he’s had with his neighbors over territory.” Eirik shook his head. “He seems determined to annoy as many as possible.”

  “Sounds self-destructive to me,” she remarked. “If the potion you gave him was supposed to keep him under until his leman stirred, why doesn’t he go and search for her?”

  Alexa hunched her shoulders. “We do not know.”

  “Even though he was drugged, he has to know the reason for his awakening was his leman’s onset heat, right?” she asked, confused.

  Eirik shrugged. “We would assume so.”

  “Don’t you think it’s weird that the guy hasn’t immediately gone on a hunt for his leman?” To Remy, she asked, “What was the first thing you did after you woke up?”

  He wafted a hand. “Aside from the practicalities, I immediately set out on my hunt for you.”

  “Did those practicalities involve pissing off Goblins and Elven High Lords? Enquiring minds would like to know,” she said dryly.

  He rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. “No. I hunted, ate. Made sure my House was in order then set off for the other realm.”

  Made sure his House was in order?

  Somehow, she knew he wasn’t talking about dusting and vacuuming the cave.

  She narrowed her eyes at the slip and determined to ask him about it later. “Well then. It’s weird, right?”

  “I don’t disagree,” Alexa stated. “But that doesn’t help us at the moment. Self-destructive behavior or not, it’s causing strife within the Houses. Strife we can ill afford.”

  Remy separated their fingers, moved around the chaise, and sat at the foot beside her legs. He waved a hand indicating Alexa and Eirik were to do the same, and they took seats in two armchairs, perching on the edge like they were waiting for orders and would depart immediately to obey.

  Remy set his elbows on his knees, as he pondered the problem, and Mia watched him try to come up with a solution.

  “Is anyone aware of exactly why Georgios might be acting up?”

  Alexa grimaced. “Madness runs in his family. His father murdered his leman after accusing her of adultery.”

  Mia’s eyes widened at that. “Murder? Adultery?”

  “Paranoid delusions,” Remy dismissed. “There is no cheating between a bond like ours.”

  “So, either he’s as mad as his father or...” She pursed her lips. “Maybe he’s scared if he finds his leman, the madness might run in the family, and he’ll hurt her like his father hurt his mother.”

  When silence fell, she shuffled awkwardly on the chaise. “It’s only a thought.”

  Remy stared at her a second and shot a look at Eirik. “If I requested an interview with him, do you think he’d come?”

  Eirik shrugged. “Probably. He’s always respected you.”

  “That got him far,” Mia retorted with a snort. “You drugged him! That’s hardly extending trust.”

  “Judge not, Mia. Not yet, anyway. Not until you meet the pain in the arse.” He rubbed his jaw. “Bring him to me by his acceptance or by force. I’d prefer the former but will accept the latter.”

  “If you take him by force, that’s hardly going to make him susceptible to trusting you,” Mia pointed out calmly.

  Her mate shot her a look. “What else can they do if he won’t come by his own free will?”

  She shrugged. “We could go to him.”

  “We?” There was a dangerous hiss to his tone, which had she been anyone else would have made her shudder at the threat.

  She saw Alexa and Eirik flinch and knew that he’d tried some shifter mojo shit on her.

  It hadn’t worked.

  She smirked at him; he glowered at her.

  “Yeah. We.”

  “You’re still disabled.” He cleared his throat. “And after the situation with Lara...”

  She blinked at him. Oh shit. She’d forgotten he couldn’t fly long distances because Lara had asked for one of his scales. Apparently, he didn’t want anyone else to know about the underhanded way her Sister Sanguenna had dealt with him.

  Touched that he’d trusted her with something so important to him, and so early on in their relationship, she nodded. “Y
es. My legs are still weak,” she confirmed, flashing a glance at the two other creatures, who were watching the interaction between man and mate as though it were a game of tennis at Wimbledon.

  His shoulders relaxed a little at her capitulation, and he pressed his hand to her calf in gratitude. “Nay,” he said softly. “You are right. Don’t bring him to us by force. Ask it of him. If he refuses, ask him if he remembers the time he got caught up in that fight between Jarvik, the Elven Prince, and Herraldon, the Goblin potion-maker. He’ll know what I mean. He should come then.”

  Eirik got to his feet, and Alexa, spying this, did as well. They both genuflected and headed on their way out of the cave without another word.

  Remy cocked his ear, apparently waiting for a certain sound. Only when he’d heard it, did he turn to her. “Thank you for not saying anything. It is a source of great shame to have lost a scale and to be grounded.”

  She smiled at him. Still touched at his ability to share with her.

  She wasn’t one for displaying weakness, especially not in front of those who might take advantage of it. In the Vampire court, for example. While Eirik and Alexa were evidently high-ranking officials in Remy’s House, his faith in her, and his trust, made it easy to confess to her current disability before them.

  She was, she realized, willing to save his face rather than protect her own.

  The thought shook her.

  “You should have told me before. I wouldn’t have said anything.”

  He grunted. “There is plenty such nonsense for you to learn. It will take more than a lifetime. Eirik and Alexa wouldn’t hold it against me, but I’d prefer it to go no further than this cavern.”

  “I assume Georgios is a friend?”

  “One of my eldest,” he confirmed.

  “And that situation between the Elven Prince and the Goblin...?”

  “He lost two scales. He was grounded for months.” Remy sniffed. “Needed me to bring him food for the first two weeks.”