Double Dragon's Blood

by Kali Willows

  “It slipped out.”

  “It’s okay. You didn’t offend, or scare me. It was a sweet thing to hear in the throes of passion, but I know you didn’t mean it. It was sex…incredible, mind-blowing sex.”

  “Yes, that’s what it was,” he muttered.

  “Our heads are clear now, so back to our scheduled one-night stand. You’re safe.” She joked to soften his embarrassment.

  “I love the way you touch me.” Roark stroked her side with gentle hands.

  “I can’t help myself; I still can’t get enough of you.” She smoothed her palm over his massive pecs and up to his throat.

  Her finger grazed the bulky charm on his necklace and she stopped. Propping herself up on one elbow, she held the hollow silver trinket and examined at it. “Was this handmade? There’s rolled paper inside it.” She took closer peek at the detail.

  “I believe so.” With a grimace, he tugged it out of her fingers and let the crude metal cylinder drop back to the pillow behind his neck.

  Kaida tried to ignore his awkward response. She curved over him, curious about the tattoo she’d spotted earlier on his left shoulder. A coat of arms with intricate woven knots and encircled by long, ribbed wings.

  “What is this?” Kaida sat up on her knees and inspected the elaborate markings.

  “Nothing.”

  “It’s remarkable. Is it Celtic?”

  “Yeah.” Roark pulled away from her, flung the covers off, and got up. He grabbed a white terrycloth robe draped over the end of the bed and slipped it on as he strode toward the closet.

  “Did I say something wrong?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Roark?”

  “I caught a chill, that’s all.” He picked up his bag from the cupboard and rested it on the chair beside her.

  “That’s all?” I doubt it. Frustration clawing at her, she pulled the covers up to her chest and sat still, waiting.

  “Are you hungry?” Rummaging through the black leather bag, he pulled out a change of clothes and put on a pair of boxers. The veins in his temples and along his neck bulged.

  “No, but I am confused. Are we done here or something? Is the date over?”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m cold.” Turning away from her, he took the robe off, slipped on his jeans and picked up a sweater. “I can order room service; I’m famished after—”

  “I said I’m not hungry.” She folded her arms and shot a fierce look at the back of his head.

  “Thirsty, you must be thirsty.” He slipped the charcoal, knitted garment on.

  “No, I’m not thirsty either. I’m not cold, hot, sleepy, or anything else. Now that we have all that established, I want to know why you got so defensive with me? Is it the tattoo, the necklace, or is there something else bothering—” Then, a horrible thought struck her. “Oh my God, are you married?”

  “No.” He spun around, his eyes wide. “It’s not like that at all.”

  “Then what is it like? We’ve done the wham bam, is this the thank you ma’am part of the date?” Is this what I get for my stupidity?

  He hooked his thumbs onto his jean pockets. “It is Celtic.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “My tattoo. It is Celtic.” He rubbed his face in his palms, then sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

  “Okay.”

  “I have a lot of baggage, Kaida, I didn’t want to get into it, I wanted tonight to be—”

  “Special. I get it.” She gritted her teeth. “What’s going on here? You’ve been pampering me like you owe me something, but we’ve never met before.”

  Roark faced her, his brow furrowed.

  “Have we?” Doubt shrouded her.

  “Not exactly.”

  “You’re freaking me out; I don’t remember you from anywhere.”

  He fiddled with his necklace and grimaced. “I wanted to spend this single night with you, and help you understand you don’t have to be closed off to love.”

  “Why in hell would you feel the need to do that? You don’t know me.” She threw the sheets away from her and bolted out of bed.

  “I do know you.”

  “Please don’t tell me you’ve been stalking me, or something?”

  His frown furthered her aggravation. “I wouldn’t call it stalking—I have a lot of history I can’t explain.”

  “You’d better damn well start, mister.” She stormed naked to the closet, pulled out her street clothes, and shoved her arms into her T-shirt.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “How long have you known me? I sure as hell don’t remember you.” She yanked her panties on, and then her jeans.

  “Kaida, please, don’t be angry. Let me explain.”

  “It’s hard not to be pissed off.” She fastened her pants. “You’re talking cryptic, and not looking at me. I feel like I’m being set up. Is this some kind of game to you? You think a room full of roses and romance gives you the right to play me?” She grabbed a fistful of long stems from a vase on the night stand, and shrieked when they sizzled and smoked in her hand. “Dammit.” She dropped them.

  Breathe you idiot, calming breaths, in, out. Don’t hurt him—well, not yet anyway.

  “This is no game. Come and sit beside me—little dragon.”

  She stared at him. “Excuse me?”

  “Little dragon.”

  The molten anger that shot through her chest was quickly overtaken with heart racing panic. She cupped her hand over her mouth; her feet were frozen on the spot.

  “How do you know about…?”

  “Sit with me, and I promise I will tell you everything.”

  “Tell me now. I’m not taking orders from you.”

  Her mind raced, over all they had shared.

  “Wait a minute. Your skin is as warm as mine, and you said you were born in the year of the dragon?”

  “Yes I did.”

  “In 1976?”

  His silence deafened her.

  “When were you born, Roark?” she growled.

  “In the year of the wood dragon.”

  “The date.” Lunging closer, she glared at him.

  “1724.” His nostrils flared and his voice cracked.

  “Are you kidding me? You think I’m that stupid? This is a sick joke.”

  “It’s not, I’m afraid. I had no intention for you to find any of this out. This tattoo you asked about….” He pulled off his sweater and bared his arm. “It’s a Celtic coat of arms for the Blackwell clan, but the wings I added later, when I came to New York.”

  Shock washed over her as she gawked at the tattoo.

  “Why when you came here? What happened?”

  “I left Ireland a broken man, cursed.”

  “There you go, talking all cryptic again. Are you a dragon, or not?”

  “I used to be.”

  “Would you give me a straight answer?” She threw her hands up in the air.

  “I need to start from the beginning.”

  Reluctant at first, she soon allowed him to lead her to the armchair beside the bed and urge her down. He sat on the edge of the mattress, facing her.

  “Dragons are not immortal.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir.” She brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them against her.

  “Please, Kaida?”

  “Fine, go on.”

  “Dragons age slower than humans, but your life span won’t extend much beyond a hundred and fifty years.”

  She nodded.

  “I was born a twin, in the year of the dragon.”

  “I thought the twin thing only came from Chinese ancestry, because we are the descendants of the dragon?”

  “The lineage goes beyond the formal boundaries of a country, so I’ve learned. I am born of a long line of Blackwells that spans back to medieval times.”

  “Are you talking knights of the round table?” she asked

  “Something like that, but not quite.”

  “Go on.”

&nbs
p; “My twin brother faltered on the night of our twenty-fourth birthday.”

  “How?”

  “I had met a woman.” He closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a slow breath. “We were intimate that night. Right afterward, I felt a searing pain in my chest, but, I had nothing wrong with me. I felt the pain of my brother Liam. I ran back to our hut in the village, but…his body….” His gaze grew vacant.

  Kaida’s stomach jumped. “Turned into a dragon?”

  “Yes, and he died.”

  “So the folklore my grandfather told me about Chinese dragon twins is the same as your ancestry?”

  “It would seem so, but I never had any knowledge of it until well after he died.”

  “Grandfather told me that twins born in the year of the dragon are a single spirit, split in two, and over time, the dominant twin would absorb the life force of the other. The body of the weaker twin, would shift into a dragon and then die so their spirits would reunite.”

  “That is how it happened.”

  “I’m sorry.” Kaida let her legs down, reached over, and thumbed the wetness on his cheek away.

  “I knew nothing of dragon twins until I came to Manhattan. Before then, I had never understood what happened to Liam that night.” Roark walked to the window and clutched the frame with whitening knuckles.

  “What about the woman? Did you love her?”

  “Deirdre,” he muttered.

  “It’s okay, I’m listening.”

  “When I first met her, I felt no interest, no desire for her.”

  “How did that change?”

  “She cast a spell on me.”

  “She was a witch?”

  “Yes, a very malicious one.”

  “So, she made you love her?” Kaida sought to understand. Despite her own family lore, witches and curses were foreign to her.

  “She made me long for her. At the time, I mistook it for love. But my grief at the loss of my brother suppressed her magic, and I broke free.”

  Kaida went to his side, heart breaking at the pain in his expression.

  “Go on, please?”

  “When I found out through town gossip about her casting on me, I told her I never wanted to see her again, furious with her deceitful ways.” He clenched a fist around his amulet. “Deirdre didn’t like that. One night, she snuck into my room and put this necklace on me. She had made it herself.”

  “A good-bye to you?”

  “No, a curse. She said if she couldn’t have me, no one else ever would.”

  Examining the charm, a lightning bolt of shock shot through her chest. “I’ve seen that symbol before.”

  “Yes, you have.”

  “Where?”

  “Around my neck, where it has always been.”

  Clouds in her brain parted. “It can’t be. You can’t be?”

  “I have guarded you, every night since you moved in, thirteen years ago.”

  “But you’re a dragon.”

  “I used to be.”

  “What are you now?”

  “You know what I am, who I am.”

  “I don’t believe it. You’re not made of stone.”

  “By day, yes, by night, I can take the shape of myself, as I am now, or I can move as my other form.”

  “You’re a gargoyle?”

  Roark pushed away from the window and headed for the sitting room.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I have something for you.”

  He strode out the French doors to the rooftop terrace. Kaida followed him out, but he’d disappeared

  “Roark? Where did you go?” The distant clatter of the city streets filled the air. She walked against the chill of the brisk wind to edge of the balcony. With no stairs, where could he could have gone?

  Oh God, did he jump?

  She scrutinized the moving specks on the pavement twenty stories below. With no commotion, and no ledge for him to have climbed onto, she grew even more puzzled. She went back to the doors of the suite. Panic shot through her. I don’t know what to do? Call for help? And say what? My date went crazy and jumped off the balcony, but I can’t find him?

  She lingered in the doorway, holding back a sob of anger and fear. What the hell was going on?

  At the sudden sound behind her, she spun around to find him holding a familiar bulky black duffle bag. “I believe this belongs to you?”

  “My equipment bag. Where did you find it?” She swallowed hard.

  “I went back that night to get it for you. It’s been in my apartment ever since.”

  “Back?”

  “I didn’t plan to interfere. I never needed to before, but there were three of them, and they had a gun.”

  “You saved me?”

  Roark placed the bag down beside her.

  “I don’t remember getting home after I lost control of the dragon. Did I hurt—kill any of them?” Horror rushed through her veins.

  “No, you only protected yourself. When your heat soared, they got burned a little.”

  “That’s when they pulled the gun.” She rubbed her forehead. “I remember some, but it’s such a blur.”

  “You do?”

  “I could hear the sounds of the bullets, the screams, I remembered feeling wrapped in safety, but I can’t see it in my head.”

  Roark propped himself against the concrete railing, his hands tucked in his pockets.

  “Thank you.” She crossed her arms warding off the cold of shock.

  “For what?”

  “Saving my life.”

  He nodded.

  “Maybe I could use that drink you tried to distract me with earlier, after all.”

  Chapter Five

  “Where do we go from here, Roark?” Kaida gulped back her brandy and held out her glass for another hit.

  “There is nowhere to go from here. You continue to live your life.” He topped her up, and then his own and took a swig.

  “So, you don’t want to see me again?” Her heart sank. “I know I’ve got a bad temper, I’m working on it.”

  “Sweet little dragon, it has nothing to do with your temper. Believe me; I would spend an eternity with you, if I could.” He downed another glass and refilled it with shaky fingers.

  “Are you about to start talking in tongues again?” She tucked her legs under her, curled into the corner of the couch.

  “The details aren’t important.”

  “They are to me.” She forced a softer tone.

  “I’ve hurt you enough.…”

  “You’re scaring me again. I have felt so comfortable with you tonight—well, at least until our little spat. With you, I can be myself and I feel like I belong somewhere. I’ve never had that with anyone else.”

  “I know, you’ve told me many times.”

  Her cheeks burned. “Right, on the ledge of our building, in daylight…you could hear everything I said?” Embarrassment and sadness washed over her. I said some pretty damn personal things.

  “Yes, but I cherished every word, every beat of your heart.”

  “What is it like?”

  “During the day?”

  “Yes, being stone, still for so long.”

  “Some gargoyles can go into hibernation for decades. When we are stone, we usually don’t feel, see, or hear. It’s like being frozen in time.”

  “But with me, you did?”

  “I couldn’t describe it, such an incredible draw, I still can’t. I’ve never been captivated by anyone the way I have with you.” Sitting beside her, he caressed her bare foot.

  “My grandfather spoke about this.” Searching her memories for the details, she became mesmerized by the flickering fire.

  “About?”

  “The attraction between some dragons is magnetic. I feel it with you, like I can finally breathe, matched like yin and yang.”

  “It’s amazing, yes.” His eyes lit up. “Did he tell you more about it?”

  “He said the dragoness can only f
orm an attachment to one male. If she doesn’t feel the lure, the bond will never happen. When she finds her true mate, it’s for eternity.”

  “Sounds like heaven.”

  “My cousin Tatsu found his true mate, Gwen.”

  “Is Gwen a dragon?”

  “Yeah, and she saved his life because of their connection.”

  “How?”

  “I had told you, Tatsu and Yong, my cousins are twins, right?” She searched his face.

  “Yes.”

  “Born the same year as me, they’re also dragons.”

  “Right.” He nodded.

  “They used Madame Eve’s dating service a few years ago, to try and stop the change from happening, like it did with you and your brother.” Kaida took another sip from her glass. “Grandfather knew the transformation had begun. Tatsu had started to show the signs of the change before their date, like, scales on his arm, and when Yong would get angry about something, he would get this—wallop of power through him, while Tatsu would become more drained each time it happened. It reminded Grandfather of the death of his own twin.”

  “I remember something similar to that with me and Liam.”

  “Grandfather had done years of research in China, knowing the twins would be faced with death. Long story short, Yong couldn’t stop it, began to absorb Tatsu’s spirit, and Tatsu had started to transform into the dragon, but Gwen saved him with the dragon’s bond.”

  “What is that?”

  “It’s when the dragoness breathes fire into the mouth of her mate, and it seals the bond forever. It replenished his life force.”

  “How did she know to do that?”

  “She said, it took her over—the same way I overheated that night you saved me. They connected like magnets. It’s a dragon thing, I guess.”

  “I never experienced any of that.” His eyes narrowed. “Nothing dragon-like happened to me before....”

  “Yong says I will learn to control it. They did.”

  “They are the ones that got married?”

  “Yeah, I’ve never seen him so happy.”

  Roark turned his face toward the wall with the big clock she had fixated on at the beginning of the night.

  “Are you leaving?”

  He sighed and dropped his chin to his chest.

  “Tell me, please?”

  “It’s two o’clock.”