Abandon

by Viola Grace

  For magical creatures it either kept their magic from working, or allowed them to pass over it unharmed. Space folded as their magic kept them from having their flight interrupted. Dragons had more than enough magic to transport them past the zone.

  It was part of their charm.

  Chapter 5

  Running naked through the woods would normally have been enjoyable, but today was not the day for fun.

  She didn’t know how much time she had before he caught up with her, but in the meantime she was going to put on some clothes and drive like hell.

  Oh, and grab some dinner, she was starving.

  Her home loomed through the trees. A nicely appointed two-storey house, with a three car garage and a small pond for fish. Gardening was not her favourite thing, so lush grass was the extent of her yard décor.

  She had a service come and mow if she was leaving town, but as she only travelled for spell sales, it didn’t happen often.

  She palmed the lock of her lovely security system and the door swung wide. It was a handy feature when she was flying naked.

  There were no messages on her machine when she checked it, enough food in the fridge to make a killer sandwich, and as soon as she slithered into some clothes, she was getting herself some coffee.

  The next hour was spent fortifying herself and looking out the window to see if he had found her. It was not the most restful dinner she had ever had.

  When the sun began its descent, George skulked into her garage and selected her favourite. Her black convertible. It came to life with a purring roar. The comforting rumble made her smile.

  She backed out of her garage, and with a deft twist of the steering wheel she headed through the woods down the sloping trail to the main highway. It took long minutes while she looked over her shoulder every few seconds and thought about her next move.

  It was a bold move. One that she hoped he wouldn’t think of. And she could only pray that the council would not question her mother further about her whereabouts.

  The wind in her hair swirled it into a wild tangle in a matter of minutes, but still she kept her foot on the gas and the top down. It was another type of flying and she loved it just as much.

  The highway stretched in front of her, an endless black river to travel. As she exited the dead zone she carefully extended her senses to search for Rikard. He was nowhere to be found.

  A sigh of relief escaped her and at the next truck stop she gassed up her car, loaded up on groceries and beverages and picked up a road map. She carefully plotted her route and waved off the help offered by a few of the clients of the stop. They meant well, but their eyes trying to stare down her shirt made her shake her head in frustration. With a few exceptions, men were all the same. Visual cues were ninety percent of their attention attractors.

  She ran across the road to the department store, picked up camping equipment and then stomped back to her vehicle with calm deliberation. George had butterflies in her stomach as she cruised through the countryside with no sleep and only minimal bathroom breaks.

  Two days later, with no sign of her draconic stalker she was at her destination. Rikard’s mountains.

  Like most dragons, when it came to buy his house, he purchased as much land as he could, including the local foothills into the mountain. She had sensed a tunnel nearby the first time she had been there selling spells, also the time she had first begun to check him out.

  The tunnel was aimed at the foothills and she surmised that his horde was somewhere nearby.

  The next time she saw Jinx, she asked for a treasure detection spell. It was now working in full swing and had led her through the hills--after she hid her car--and into the caves that housed his accumulation of wealth. His horde.

  The enchantment that guarded the opening was nothing for her, she brushed passed it with hardly any effort at all. She slid through a crevice in the stone that was barely large enough for her and stumbled through the tiny passage to the main chamber. The walls of the cavern were polished and smooth; he had expended effort to make his hidden showpiece a masterpiece.

  “Holy gods.” She breathed out and had to gasp air back in. His horde was incredible.

  Gold, silver, gems, some neatly stacked, some heaped in a pile were every where. Paintings, tapestries, statues and armour made up the other half of his collection. There were weapons of every era mounted on the wall, centuries of history laid out in front of her and all she could do was giggle.

  She dropped her back pack and equipment, squealed and rolled on the pile of coins and jewellery. With the icy loot at her back, she scooped up handfuls of the gold coins and trickled them over her body, laughing the whole time.

  This was the perfect place to hide. With him looking for her out near her home and her mother’s home, he would not think to check his own.

  It was three days later when she found the scrolls.

  Hidden behind a statue of a dragon that she was guessing was a bust of either himself or a close relative, was a leather sack full of scrolls. Under the sack was a pile of books, but she took to the scrolls first thinking that they might be unknown spells. Instead, it was his genealogy and his biography.

  It made for interesting reading, he could trace his lineage back to Sirius and Ki. His line descended from their son Devon and his mate Vinya. It was from Vinya that he got his water-borne talent, as she was a Northern dragon. She had also bequeathed her golden good looks to her son, Viktor who was Rikard’s father. The portrait and description of her was simply beautiful. Vinya had been a sight to behold.

  That ancestry would make him close to a thousand years old. He would have seen the exodus of the werewolves and vampires, the endless series of warders coming in for assessment and matchmaking, and a thousand other moments in the history of Realm. It made for absorbing reading and she only stopped poring over the histories to eat and when she nodded off.

  Day after day she filled her mind with the tales and exploits of his ancestors. It was only when she stopped to have a break and rub her eyes that she wondered how much time had passed. Her cell battery was on half charge, and she got no signal, but over a week had passed since she had taken refuge here.

  She needed to take a shower, badly. She was amazed that she hadn’t passed out from her own stench, come to think of it.

  George was just lucky that he wasn’t tracking her by scent, or he would have been in here days ago. Scrub brush in hand.

  She knew that there was a pool of water off the main cavern. She had found it on her first tour of the place. It was now time to grab her soap and a towel and to do what needed to be done.

  Chapter 6

  “Ah, that’s better.” Her voice echoed in the cavern, and she smiled at the only noise she had heard all week. At first she had been straining to hear from Rikard, but after three days, she relaxed her guard.

  She had taken off her clothing, only wincing a little at the stiffness of the fabric. It was bizarre. She had never neglected personal hygiene for intellectual pursuits before, and she hoped it never happened again.

  The pool was wide and still on the surface, but there was a current underneath that swept away the handful of dirt that she dropped in to test the water’s ability to clear itself. As soon as the dirt cleared the surface it was swirled away by the movement of the water. It was a relief as she planned on soaping her skin until it was raw.

  Her clothes were first. The jeans and t-shirt fought the soap for a few washings and then gave in. The cloud in the water quickly dissipating and the residue of the suds swept away by the light undertow.

  She was next. Her hair was a rat’s nest of tangles and greasy locks. It really didn’t like the washing, but she forced it clean.

  The lather that she built on her arms and legs relaxed her, her body beginning to feel clean at last. She shook her head as she soaped and rinsed the rest of her. Wow. She was able to relax as the water pulsed gently around her.

  George leaned her head back against the stone lip of th
e pool and let her body go limp. It was a rare moment when she could just relax outside of her home with no worries. She found it strange that while she was hiding in a predator’s lair she could be so comfortable.

  Ah well, it must be a nesting instinct. Her body had acknowledged his as mate from the first moment he touched her, she just wanted to make sure that he worked for it.

  She was almost asleep when she heard the slow and rhythmic applause coming from the entrance to the pool’s cavern. With an extreme effort of will she kept her eyes closed. “About time you got here. With your affinity for water, I suspected that you would show up soon.”

  “Well, watching you bathe was very entertaining. Have you been here all week?” His voice was coming closer, his clothing rustled as he removed it to join her in the pool.

  A slight splash and she was no longer alone.

  Rikard displaced the water only slightly, but his control over it was confirmed as it began to tease her from neck to toes. “Why did you run, Graylin? That is your name isn’t it? Graylin.”

  She sighed and settled more deeply into the water enjoying the caresses. “Yes. But you know that. You had my mother Questioned.”

  “I would say it was necessary, but I wanted to know who you were.” Based on his tone, he was next to her, leaning in the same manner she was.

  “Well, my mom is pissed. The next time you meet her, you should really apologize.”

  “I will. Your father was surprised to learn of your existence.”

  “Matthias, right? Mom has mentioned him on occasion.”

  “You mean to say that you didn’t know who your father was?”

  She slitted one eye open at him. “I didn’t really care. I have done enough research to know how the majority of dragons treat their women. My mom didn’t care to be one of them, and that was fine with me.”

  His blue eyes were intent on her. “So, why did you come to me? You had to know what would happen. I have been attracted to you since the first day that I met you.”

  “And I knew I wanted you before I met you. Since the day I first started researching dragons and found your picture.” Both her eyes were open now. She watched to see how he handled the news that he had been stalked.

  “You came after me?” He looked both bemused and flattered.

  “I did. You were a good match for me, both physically and mentally.”

  He seemed to be at a loss. “That seems a little…cold.”

  “Oh, I thought we managed to heat things up.” Her smug smile recalled their hours of enjoyment.

  Lust flared in his eyes for a moment, then was pushed to the background. “So, you deliberately chose me.”

  “Yup.”

  “Then why did you run?”

  She waited for a long moment. “Because I didn’t know what happened next. I have control over every part of my life. Handing it over isn’t going to be easy.”

  He accepted that and absorbed it. She could see it running through his mind and saw the moment that he came to grips with being the object of her hunt. A brilliant grin broke over his features. “Trust me; I will take good care of you.”

  Trust him? She barely knew the real him. “I need to know more about you than just your sexual habits.”

  His smile reached into her soul. “Was that the extent of your research?”

  “Well, it was my main concern.” She felt her face heating in the onslaught of his amusement. “That and your bloodlines. I needed someone who would be able to stake a claim on me and get the council to enforce it.”

  He pondered her declaration. “And from what you have learned while going through my documents?”

  “You are old. You are one of the Sleepers, those who came to earth and slept centuries away in the mountains.”

  “I am indeed. I could not find a mate amongst my own generation. No one felt right. So I went to sleep.” He moved to face her, bracketing her with his hands beside her head on the lip of the pool. “And I only woke up fifty years ago. When my mate entered the world as an egg.”

  That shocked her cold. But the kiss that he delivered did a wonderful job of heating her up. His lips were magic against hers, his body not touching her anywhere but her lips.

  She felt her blood pounding in her veins as she tried to raise her hands to grip his hair. He stopped her as he simply moved away.

  “Come with me.” With a surge of water sheeting from him he left the pool and held his hand out for her to take. It was now or never. She had to choose.

  Her trembling, pruney hand slipped into his and he drew her from the water with a whoosh. Naked and wet, she padded after him as he led the way through the tunnels, back to his house.

  A fire was in his study, warming the smaller room. A cushioned bench sat in front of the fireplace and she was escorted to the seat. He disappeared from her view for a few moments until he came back with his hands full of hair brushes and combs.

  “Your hair needs some serious untangling, I brought all the tools that I thought necessary for the job.”

  “And you are just going to do it? Brush my hair for me.”

  “If you will sit still.” He took a stance behind her and started to gently untangle her long black locks.

  She was completely at a loss. No one had combed her hair for her since she was a child. It made her feel warm and safe, and protected.

  He began his work at the base of her hair and slowly worked his way up using spray-on conditioners, combs and brushes as the tangles called for it. Each lock of strands was carefully braided to keep them neat and he moved on to the next.

  It took him the better part of two hours to tidy her hair. Some of the tangles were so ingrained as to require teasing of individual hairs out of the mess.

  “There. All done.” He set aside his implements of torture. “You really should brush it a few times a day, or keep it in a braid.”

  “I haven’t washed it since last week, until today. And I drove here with the wind in my hair. I must have been a sight.” A blush would have formed, but it was too little too late. She was naked in front of the fire with a dragon as her hairdresser. It was far too late to blush.

  “You need some rest, Graylin. Let me take you to bed.” He held out his hand once again. She took it again, and quietly followed him to his bedroom. Repairs had been made to the linens and furnishings, but the rest was just as she had last seen it. With one exception.

  A large wardrobe was occupying a space previously occupied by an empty wall. She opened it and looked astonished at all the women’s clothing there. All in her size.

  “You went shopping for me?”

  “I knew that you would probably be naked when I found you, so I shopped around and made a few selections.”

  “That was very thoughtful. And kind of creepy.” She yawned in exhaustion. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until this moment.

  He drew back the covers for her and, once she had climbed in, he tucked her in and got into the bed on the other side. “Goodnight, Graylin. We will talk more in the morning.”

  He leaned back and closed his eyes. She looked over and felt a twinge of disappointment. Fatigue quickly washed over her and she was out like a light, all her lust banked for the next day.

  Chapter 7

  The smells of breakfast woke her. A tray being lowered into place over her got her to open her eyes more than anything else would have. She sat up as he held the bed-tray in place and surveyed his offering. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, fruit, juice and coffee. Everything a growing carnivore needed.

  “Thank you, Rikard. This is very thoughtful.” She tucked in to the meal and groaned in delight at the flavours bursting on her tongue. She had been eating dry food for only a week, but it seemed like forever.

  “I found your camping gear and figured that a change might be welcome from the dry rations and peanut butter sandwiches.” He grinned at her, and in is white starched shirt, open at the collar, and blue jeans, he looked a lot more casual than she had ever imagined
him.

  “So, what do you have planned for today?” She tried to be coy, but while munching on a strip of bacon, it was tough to pull off.

  He snatched a sausage from her tray. “Well, you are going to get dressed and we are going to Realm to register you with the council. As you are an adult, you have to appear in person.”

  “I thought that it was handled by you when we first…you know.” She waved her hand to indicate the bed.

  “If you had been pregnant, then yes. But as you are not, it means that you need to register your pedigree with the council.” He gave her neck and shoulders a look, “Why aren’t you pregnant by the way? You were in heat when we mated.”

  “Uh, anti-pregnancy spell? It has been most useful over the years.”

  “Again you have told me of a spell that I have never seen or heard of before. Tell me, is the tale they are telling of a living Archive true?”

  “What are they saying?”

  “That there is a female Archive, unaffiliated with any council, and she was a member of your little group of friends.”

  “Do they know where she is?”

  “No, not yet. But they are looking, with every means they have.”

  George closed her eyes and thanked the powers for small favours. The more time Jinx had, the better her chance of escaping a fate of incarceration.

  She methodically made her way through the food, her previous enjoyment squelched by the news about Jinx.

  “Are my clothes dry yet?” She changed the topic with her usual subtlety.

  “I am afraid not. You will have to wear something from your new wardrobe.”

  “You picked out clothing for me?”

  “Well, your mother did help.” He opened the wardrobe and gestured to the collection of clothing within. “She gave me your sizes. I made the selections.”

  “So, we are really going to Realm?” She stood and made her way to the dozen dresses, selection of jeans and pile of t-shirts. The underwear was in a drawer, as were socks and stockings. “Um, I don’t wear stockings. I just wear dresses with bare legs.”