Dragon Void (Immortal Dragons Book 2)

by Ophelia Bell

  I’m probably nuts, but I’m doing this.

  She paused for breath in between songs. The crowd applauded and tossed more coins and crumpled bills into the guitar case. Her brothers continued to play random tunes but would easily pick up whatever song she started in with next. It came to her the second she set eyes on the perfect target. She broke into her favorite Beatles song when a tall, striking man shifted to the front of the crowd and stood, tapping his boot-clad foot in time with the music. Except she switched the lyrics the way she always did, swapping “her” with “him,” when she saw him “standing there.”

  If she had to conjure her own ideal mate, at least in appearance, there he was. A little bit bohemian in dress, with a mop of ruddy waves atop his head that was trimmed more neatly from his ears down. He was unique enough that her Nanyo might believe she’d found her One—but not so much as to raise suspicion. He had a wicked twinkle in his eyes when he looked at her, and Evie stared right back, letting her voice and the power of the Wind do all the work of letting him know she noticed him watching her.

  She wished she felt something deeper now. The mated turul she knew all claimed that the second they set eyes on their One, they knew instantly. She wasn’t sure she believed it, because it still hadn’t happened to her. Maybe with this guy, she could take matters into her own hands.

  I’m going to fall in love with you, she thought, just as she sang, “And before too long, I fell in love with him.”

  He bobbed his head and clapped after the finale, beautiful white smile beaming at her. She and her brothers took a bow, and while she did, she tried to formulate an excuse to go talk to him. But when she stood up, he was nowhere to be found.

  “Dammit!” Evie scanned the dispersing crowd. He’d been a good head taller than most of the other patrons in the park, and his gorgeous, russet hair had caught the rays of the setting sun making him look aflame. And those shoulders—wow, not even her brothers were quite as built as that, though they were sturdy men. He could’ve been a dragon, as striking as he’d been, but she hadn’t sensed a hint of anything magical about him. No, the man had been pure, perfect, human male, through and through. He shouldn’t have been very hard to miss, even among the other humans in the park, yet she didn’t see him.

  “Evie,” Lukas called, forcing her to turn her attention back to them. He was squatting beside his guitar case, sorting through their take, and held up a creased piece of paper. “You’ve got an admirer.” He grinned at her.

  Evie’s stomach fluttered. She took another cursory glance at the surrounding area, then reached for the piece of paper her brother held out to her.

  The messy scrawl was almost illegible, but the note was simple enough. “Angel Mine, Meet me by your sister’s fountain.—Marcus C.”

  “Angel Mine, huh? Do you know this guy?” Iszak looked over her shoulder. His tone was unmistakably suspicious and more than a little bit protective. Evie elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Just met—sort of. But I’m going to fall in love with him.”

  “You didn’t just find your One, did you?” Lukas said, standing up and dropping the handful of coins he held back into the case at his feet. “Holy shit, Nanyo’s going to be impossible to deal with if you did.”

  Evie rolled her eyes. “I’m going to prove to you guys that we don’t need to wait for some perfect mate to magically appear. I’m going after this guy because I want to. Screw tradition, screw…”

  She almost said “the North Wind,” but knew better than to test their protector, their creator, the Goddess who had blessed their parents with three perfect children, then graced those children with the honor of Her name.

  She shrugged. “Guys, a hundred and fifty fucking years. With my luck, he’s a dragon and I’ll be damned if I’m going to wait for the next brood to wake up before I find the One.” She made air quotes and rolled her eyes. “I might die of horniness by then.”

  Lukas laughed and shook his head. “Sister, have you ever been with a dragon? They like it if you wait for them. The hornier you are, the better. I guess you have to make up for not having actual horns.”

  She knelt down beside her brother and made quick work of sorting the coins and bills he’d missed. The money would go to a local homeless shelter—it wasn’t like they needed it. The enclaves were wealthy in spite of their preference for simple living. They always tended to send their excess to the other wanderers of the world.

  She wondered if he—Marcus—would enjoy the simple life. He’d been dressed simply enough, in a pair of dark brown khakis and a loose white shirt—nothing like the mod crowd or the hippies. She suddenly felt a little self-conscious of her own attire. She’d emulated Cher at first, because she had long, straight, dark hair, though she was more pixyish in stature. Her own outfit was racier than Cher’s, though. Her brothers had objected, but held their tongues after her first day singing, when they saw the response from the men in the audience.

  She couldn’t complain, either. It was comfortable, if a little chilly, to wear in early spring. She smiled at the thought of Marcus seeing her nipples pressed against the sheer fabric of her peasant top.

  Even if she didn’t fall in love with him, she needed a day of fun. No matter how distasteful it was for her to stray from the enclave for release, she really, really wanted something different for a change.

  “You want us to stay close?” Iszak asked, drawing her up from the closed guitar case and gazing into her eyes.

  His intensity always threw her when it came out. “Iszak, fuck. I can take care of myself.” She brushed his hand away from her shoulder where it gripped her tight.

  Iszak grumbled. “I don’t know this guy.”

  “He’s just a guy. A human. I know that much. Don’t you want to know if it can happen? If we can choose who we love? Never have to wait until they find us?”

  Iszak grunted and shook his head. “Fine. Just be careful.”

  “I’m always careful. It’s my nature as the eldest.” She grinned at him over her shoulder as she ran off down the path. Iszak grimaced, but didn’t follow.

  Evie giggled at her joke. Both her brothers were protective in the extreme, even though she was technically the eldest of the three. Not that the timing mattered much; they were all conceived and birthed within seconds of each other, though her brothers liked to consider their hatching the moment when they were truly born. If they went by that, she came third, but she was first out of their mother’s womb. She wondered if that should make her more cautious or more reckless. At the very least it did mean she was slightly more attuned to the messages carried on the Wind.

  Or maybe she was just trying to make up for lost time.

  She felt a little silly, running as she was, but the rush of a new experience excited her. She had a good feeling, especially when she slowed to a walk on the path as the fountain with the angel came into view.

  Marcus lounged at the edge, relaxed and handsome. When she drew closer, he turned his head and saw her, his face splitting into a wide grin that made pleasant tingles erupt all over her. It was an entirely superficial feeling, though—she felt this way every time she met a potential lover among her own race, but it never lasted.

  His gaze roamed over her in an overly familiar way that made her pulse pound. By the time she reached him, she was more breathless from the arousal that simple look inspired than from her jog to get here.

  Marcus gazed up at her when she paused in front of him.

  “You came,” he said.

  “You must’ve really wanted to see me alone, if you couldn’t come say hi while my brothers were there. The cloak and dagger was a nice touch.” She waved his cryptic note in the air. Instead of sitting beside him, she stepped between his spread knees. He widened his legs to accommodate her and she moved in until they were nearly touching. She knew exactly what she wanted, so there was no sense skirting around it. She had a pre
tty good idea he wanted it, too.

  Yet he didn’t touch her.

  “True, I wanted to see you alone. Mostly I wanted to see if you really were more beautiful than the angel behind me. I usually just come here and enjoy her presence, then go home. But today another angel was singing, and I couldn’t help but follow the sound.”

  “And you found me.”

  “I found you.”

  “So, what’s the verdict?” Evie asked, glancing behind him to the winged figure in the center of the pool, then back to him.

  “I’m a little too dazzled to look at anything else right now,” he said, his pale green eyes locked on hers.

  Now that made her heart do a somersault. Nobody she’d ever met had been quite so fixated on her. It took her breath away.

  “I’m so going to fall in love with you,” she whispered, more sure now than ever. Even though there was none of that tugging feeling her mother described as the moment when she knew Evie’s father was the one, Marcus had succeeded in capturing her attention enough that she really wanted to know more about him. And she really wanted to know if it were at all possible to cultivate love with someone she wasn’t fated to be with.

  Marcus laughed nervously. “Oh? That’s a little quick, isn’t it? Or are you some kind of psychic who can see the future?” He slid his hands down his thighs until they were aligned with her legs, yet he still refrained from touching her.

  “Marcus, you are a mystery. I like mysteries.” She brazenly threaded her fingers through his hair, breaking the invisible barrier between them for the first time. She’d been itching to touch those russet locks since she’d first laid eyes on him.

  Marcus shivered and closed his eyes. Evie tangled her fingers in his hair, enjoying the smooth, silky feel of it sliding through. He sighed.

  “You’re the real mystery. I don’t even know your name.” He opened his eyes to look at her, his gaze growing darker as she let her fingers stray down and scraped her fingernails through the shorter hair at the nape of his neck.

  “Evie North. What does the ‘C’ stand for?”

  “Calais,” he replied, sighing and tilting his head down, eyes closed as though her touch were the best feeling in the world. “You must be an angel to make me feel so blessed. I bet you’d look good in wings.”

  Evie paused, surprised by his comment. It sounded sincere, but hit so close to home that it made her wonder if he really was as human as she’d first thought.

  “Worship me enough, I might grow a pair. Of wings, I mean.” She grinned down at him.

  “Oh, that won’t be a problem,” he said, his words trailing off into a rough laugh. “But I’m a bit of a bad boy. I’m worried that if I touch you, my hands might burn with holy fire.”

  “Marcus, even if I do grow wings, I promise I’m no angel.” She let her fingernails dig into the back of his neck just enough to reinforce her statement.

  His eyelashes fluttered and his gaze slid down her body again. Finally, he ventured a hesitant touch, raising his hands to her hips and resting them there.

  Her skin tingled under the warmth of his palms, and holy shit if she didn’t dampen her panties a bit. The man had some alluring quality that drew her to him, even if it wasn’t the one thing that signaled they were meant for one another. The idea suddenly frustrated her. How in all the winds could he not be the one for her? He pushed all her buttons. She wanted him. And she’d have him. But there was still that glimmer of truth that never left her. The piece that always knew the right path. The piece she was about to ruthlessly rebel against right now.

  “Can I take you home with me?” he asked.

  “You’d better. Otherwise, I might just have my way with you right here.”

  An almost primal sound rumbled up from deep in his chest and his hands ventured higher. They were so large, he could have wrapped both of them entirely around her waist and crushed her, yet he didn’t. He was so gentle she almost wanted him to squeeze harder just to be sure he was real. Evie’s breath caught when he brushed his thumbs along the sides of her breasts. His lust-filled gaze remained locked on hers, his mouth a mischievous curl. Then her mind short-circuited as he boldly stroked both thumbs over her nipples right through her thin blouse. A sharp jolt of pleasure shot through her, and it was all she could do not to wrap herself around him right there.

  “I dare you,” he said, and swiped across again, causing another flood of tingling warmth to surge between her legs.

  “Ohh-kayy,” she breathed, gripping his hands and reluctantly peeling them away from her sides. “I think we have someplace to be right now.” She turned and pulled him behind her, trying her best to ignore the confusion of sensations clamoring through her body. Her face burned, her heart raced, and a knot of molten heat had taken up residence between her thighs. It was tricky to even take a breath, but somehow she managed to pull sufficient air into her lungs to clear her head and see straight.

  Marcus didn’t balk at her urgency. He stood and followed, laughing all the way to the subway until they were seated. He asked, “Where are we going?”

  “To your place,” she said.

  “Good thing you put us on the right train.”

  Evie hadn’t even realized how many of his secrets the wind had told her in those few moments when he’d first touched her. They’d sunk in and become part of her. And in the moment she hadn’t thought, just instinctively headed in the direction the breeze blew.

  “I… thought we might ride a bit until I caught my breath, is all. You live in Brooklyn?” She looked innocently up at him.

  “I do.”

  The train lurched into motion and he caught her against him. He didn’t let go.

  His warm, solid body felt good against her, his embrace protective and comfortable. Better than the last fifty years of being thrown in front of so many men, dressed up like the daughter of a wealthy merchant sometimes, or dressed down like a Gypsy whore other times. Her people exhausted every avenue, and had more avenues to exhaust. This was the first time she’d given herself to the possibility willingly.

  His hand fell to her thigh and she sighed.

  “You like that?” he asked.

  She gave him a quizzical look. “You’re a cocky bastard. That’s what I like. And yeah, I like your hand right where it is. For now.”

  Marcus grinned again, and she barely resisted the urge to push his hand higher, but relaxed and leaned against him for the rest of the trip. After a while, his fingers began tracing little patterns through the fabric of her skirt, making her wish he was in contact with her skin. She was still contemplating a change of plan when the loudspeaker announced their destination and Marcus stood. She had a brief view of a tightly muscled stomach under his shirt when he bent over to sling a satchel over one arm, and then he unceremoniously grabbed her hand and tugged her along.

  Okay, I guess I’m along for the ride, whatever that means.

  “Where are we going?”

  “My place. It’s clean, don’t worry.”

  She nearly tripped over an uneven slab in the sidewalk. When she regained her bearings, she increased her pace. “I wasn’t worried about your place. Is there anything else I should worry about?”

  Her tone must have alarmed him, because he slowed down to a walk. He squeezed her hand and looked down at her, brow furrowed. “We don’t have to do this… whatever this is. I just didn’t want to lose the thrill, you know? But if you’ve changed your mind…”

  Evie’s heart raced. Maybe she wasn’t as fearless as she thought. Maybe she was being supremely dumb. He wasn’t the One, and she didn’t even know him. Sure, she had decades more experience than he did, but not with love, not with her own heart, and there were other things to worry about. Fuck, how could she be so reckless?

  “What scares you, Evie?” he asked softly, reaching up to caress her face, stroking his thumb over her cheek a
s though trying to soothe a scared kitten.

  The truth would betray her nature. What scared her was them. The Ultiori hunters. He might be one and working his seduction on her now. She didn’t think he was one, at least. The Wind was good at sending peoples’ secrets to her ears without them knowing, but the Wind wasn’t perfect. The Ultiori had their own tricks of deception—how they did it, she didn’t know. She’d only heard stories. Suddenly she grew uncertain about this crazy idea of hers.

  She had to give him an answer. “You scare me,” she whispered, eyes wide. “I’m afraid… I’m afraid we can’t go back after this. That if I do it, our choices will be taken from us. We were strangers until a little while ago, but now we’re headed down a path that might never let us turn around again.”

  He raked his fingers through his thick hair. His shoulders hunched awkwardly, almost like he was trying to shrink, like he was self-conscious of his size on the sidewalk beside her. Finally, he simply squatted down and looked up at her. She had the sense that he might be about to beg, but he only rested his hands on her hips and squeezed gently.

  “You terrify me,” he said softly, and she knew what he said was true. Even if the Wind hadn’t been there to verify his honesty, she’d have known it by the wetness in his eyes. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and the first one I’ve ever wanted so much I’d behave like a rutting stag the first time we meet. I don’t do this, Evie. What I want to do with you is entirely out of character for me. I know you have no reason to believe that because we just met, but it’s the truth.”

  She laughed, taken aback by his bare honesty. “Surely, there have been others… Look at you.” She waved her hand down his sturdy frame, still crouched before her.

  He shook his head. “I’ve tried off and on, but somehow the women I’m most drawn to are wildly inaccessible. You’re the first who’s given me the time of day. That in itself makes you infinitely more amazing to me. But there’s something deeper.”