DragonGames

by Jory Strong

  Tielo joined them and her heart welcomed his presence with quickened beats. “I’ll be number nine.”

  “Excellent,” Pierce said, laughter in his voice, and Tielo only barely kept from blasting his partner with dragon fire.

  By the Great Shared Ancestor! What was Pierce thinking?

  Hakon was bad enough. He was a playboy prince, a male who came not only with a dragon of a mother, but was considered a prize to be captured and hoarded by the females of their kind.

  But Odion! He was surprised Odion could still remember how to take a human form, he spent so little time in it! Any mate he claimed would never be allowed out of his lair. He was not good enough for Lyra, not worthy of her.

  “This is Tielo,” Pierce said, “my—”

  “Friend.” There was no point in her knowing it was his grand scheme that had brought her here, or that he would add to his hoard of treasure because of it. He took her hand in his, smothering all scent on her skin but his own and only barely preventing himself from carrying her hand to his chest and, from there, sliding it downward to free his raging cock.

  “Shall we start the game?” Pierce asked.

  Tielo shot a fiery glance at the place where Pierce’s body contacted hers. Pierce ignored the hint.

  “I’m ready,” Lyra said, panic threatening to take her. How was she going to calculate odds or concentrate with Tielo at the table? And then true panic gripped her at entering the gaming area and seeing that the men were using gold coins instead of chips, augmenting their bets with loose gems and jewelry and antiquities.

  She stopped, reality stripping away the fantasy. This was so illegal, and though she had less, she had far more to lose. “If there’s a raid tonight…”

  “Should there be one, you’ll be whisked to safety,” Pierce said. “I guarantee it.”

  Every table was packed, but the sound of gaming had gone silent except for the spin of a roulette wheel and a ball, rolling, rolling, then finally dropping into a numbered slot like fate.

  Chance, she mentally corrected herself. Luck. Nothing more. And certainly not fate.

  If felt as if a hundred eyes were on her.

  Make that two hundred.

  She was glad to be firmly attached to Pierce and Tielo.

  The sea of masculine bodies parted to reveal a roped-off table in the center of the room. Her nerves eased with a laugh as she considered all the hours spent watching the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour on television. This was probably as close to a final table as she’d ever get.

  When they reached the rope, Tielo freed her arm and she felt the loss of his touch. Pierce opened the velvet gate, guiding her to a seat directly across from the dealer’s chair.

  Immediately Jubal sat to her left, with Hakon taking the other side an instant before Roque, with his pirate looks, reached the chair. Once again she caught a flash at the corner of her eye. This time when she looked, she saw a small haze of smoke, as though it’d accompanied Roque’s fiery protest.

  Amusement crowded out more of her trepidation. She was tempted to say nice trick, but knew it would ruin the moment and draw them out of their role-playing.

  Tielo sat to Pierce’s left. Too visible. Too distracting. The only way she stood a chance of staying in the game, much less winning, would be to ignore him.

  When the others had taken their seats, Pierce said, “Gentlemen, are we in agreement, each coin represents one thousand dollars?”

  Around the table came murmured acceptance as racks containing gold were presented by men who were either playing the role of dragon servants or were trusted club employees. Lyra wasn’t sure which, only that she thought her heart might just stop when the maître d’ bent down, casually asking her, “Do you have a preference?”

  He held a tray in front of her containing sample coins. Canadian Maple Leaf, South African Kruggerrand, United States Buffalo and Eagle. China Panda, Australian Kangaroo and Lunar, as well as a couple she didn’t recognize.

  Her hand trembled as she picked up the Maple Leaf. These weren’t the small-issue versions, but the coins containing a troy ounce. Their real worth would fluctuate based on market factors, but there was a modern-day gold rush taking place, and right now, the coin she held was worth upwards of sixteen or seventeen hundred dollars.

  “The American coins,” she said in little more than a soft croak. Then, because she’d always loved the black-and-white bears, she added, “And the Pandas.”

  The maître d’ straightened after she’d placed the Maple Leaf back on the tray. He motioned to someone and a moment later, several glittering towers of gold coins stood on green felt in front of her.

  The sight of them made her lightheaded. The thought of using them, gambling them away, twisted her stomach in a knot. What was she doing here?

  Pierce caught her eye and winked. “It’s all pretend money as far as you’re concerned. Enjoy this chance to bring a bunch of dragons to their knees.”

  Chapter Four

  If only it were all pretend, Lyra thought. Her stake alone would help the Ochoa family get back into a home rather than having eight people living in a motel room. It would help keep their restaurant going.

  But to win everything at the table… That could mean reclaiming their house and covering all the medical bills. It might even mean setting up a fund to help the families of other students.

  She wiped damp palms against her dress and tried to assume a poker face. It’d been a lot easier sitting in front of the computer screen. There she could be coolly rational and completely logical. There she could tell herself it was all about the intersection of mathematics and human behavior with a little luck and psychology thrown in.

  Her dreams of doing something big, something really good for a family she’d come to care deeply about, seemed like high aspirations. Alone in her apartment, she might have feared she’d catch gambling fever because of her genetics, but here, she felt creeping terror that the stacks and stacks of gold coins might fill her with a raw, covetous desire that would push into her everyday life and leave her discontent.

  “A reminder, gentleman,” Pierce said, picking up the cards after having shuffled them. “In the event you crash and burn, either at the hands of your competition or those belonging to Lyra, you must leave the game, unless our beautiful guest finds the thought of your absence too distressing. In that case, you may buy in for a second time with another one-hundred-coin stake. Blinds are five and ten.”

  Lyra looked down then, forcing herself to count the Eagles, Pandas and Buffalo in front of her. One hundred coins, not worth the one hundred thousand dollars stated in the invitation, but more like one hundred and sixty or seventy thousand. What kind of men rounded downward so easily?

  Pierce dealt the first two cards, called “hole cards” in Texas Hold’em. With barely a glance, she folded when play reached her rather than place the minimum bet. She couldn’t concentrate. She couldn’t bring herself to pick up the required ante, ten gold coins, worth roughly sixteen thousand dollars, and casually put that much money into play.

  It didn’t deter the men. They bet big, aggressively, as if the competition wasn’t for the gold, but to knock their opponents out and force them to leave the table.

  Tielo folded when the betting reached him. His expression was carefully blank, a true poker face. Still, insidious heat crept into her, building with the looks sent her way by the other men, including the one Roque gave her as he pulled the great pile of chips toward him after revealing he had a straight.

  “You inspire me to win, beautiful Lyra,” he told her, gaining baleful glances from several men and another flash of supposed fire with accompanying smoke from Jubal at her left.

  Their acting relaxed her, but not enough to enter the next hand. She folded, offering Jubal a smile when it was his turn to bet. He doubled the number of coins he’d picked up.

  The play moved to Odion, then Cael, then Takeo. She considered their names, as well as those of the other dragons at the t
able. Zephyr, Soren and Jubal. Roque, Hakon, and Tielo. Surely they weren’t real?

  “So you’re all dragons,” she said, deciding that getting to know them better, talking, might make it easier for her to pretend the Pandas and Eagles and Buffalo stacked in front of her were just chips. “Is your color significant?”

  “Only in that the combination of silver-and-gold denotes superiority when it comes to males,” the dark-skinned Takeo said, causing Pierce to snort.

  She shook her head, amused. “Let me guess, under occupation, you all list treasure hunting.”

  They smiled and laughed. “Too true,” Zephyr said. “And nothing is more treasured than a mate.”

  The play reached Soren after Tielo folded for a second time and Zephyr increased the size of the bet.

  “My mate will lack for nothing,” Soren said, staying in the game with a slide of coins.

  Cael, who sat directly across from him, nodded in agreement. “And mine won’t work outside of the house.”

  Soren’s smile held a sharp edge. “I can see how keeping you happy would be work enough. Though my mate, my wife, won’t need to busy herself away from home either.”

  It was said with such seriousness that Lyra didn’t think either man was simply role-playing. In fact, she got the distinct impression they might actually consider this courtship conversation, and believe staying at home to tend to their needs would appeal to her.

  “That attitude is a bit archaic in this day and age,” she said, directing the comment with a glance to Soren at her right and then Cael to her left.

  The latter shrugged. “I can afford to keep a female in luxury.”

  “And all her attention on you,” Soren said. “Where it belongs.”

  It was Odion who claimed the pot after flop, turn card and river were on the table, forming the communal pool the players used in place of, or in concert with, their two hole cards in order to create the best five-card hand.

  The dealer button moved to the spot in front of Soren, though it was Pierce who shuffled and dealt, sending her a smile of encouragement when she looked at her hole cards and saw the ace of hearts.

  Pretend they’re just gold-colored chips, she told herself, using the admonishment to draw enough strength to separate ten Eagles from her stack and remain in the game.

  “Tell us about yourself,” Jubal said, leaning toward her after also putting chips in. He was close enough that his rich auburn hair brushed across her arm like fine silk. “What do you do for a living?”

  “I teach.”

  “Children?” Roque asked, interest gleaming in pirate-dark eyes. It was hard not to think about what Aislinn had said, to believe these men, who could have their pick of women, were looking for that special one.

  She fought the urge to check for Tielo’s reaction. She couldn’t risk the distraction when she’d finally found the courage to part with what amounted to a quarter of her yearly salary.

  “I teach third grade.”

  Jubal moved closer, the feel his body heat causing her stomach to do a little flip. There was no denying she felt attracted to him, but it was Tielo’s touch she craved.

  “So you love children,” Jubal said.

  She laughed at that. “Most days. It’s also very nice to be in the company of adults.”

  The round of betting ended. Pierce dealt the three-card flop—two of diamonds, king of clubs, nine of clubs. Combining the five, she had a pair of twos with an ace high. She matched the bet to stay in the game when her turn came.

  “Have you given any thought to how many children you’d like to have?” Roque asked, and all the men except Pierce and Hakon went completely still, as if her answer was of the utmost importance.

  Fools! Tielo thought. So ready to give up their freedom and take on the ball and chain of mate and offspring.

  Not him. And yet he caught himself leaning forward, as if he might miss her reply.

  “Two is a good number.” The softness of her smile led him to believe she thought of specific children.

  “It’s a start,” Jubal said, an irritating purr of approval in his voice, as though he already imagined her swelling with his children.

  Tielo swallowed flame rather than exhale it, though two small tendrils of smoke escaped. Not that she noticed. She’d made a point of looking everywhere but at him.

  “A start?” she asked.

  He gritted his teeth, hating the smile in her voice and the teasing humor directed at Jubal. Couldn’t she tell the male wasn’t right for her?

  “How many children do you see yourself fathering?”

  Tielo’s cock throbbed like some unruly student with hand raised, shouting, pick me, pick me.

  “Ten.”

  Her laugh had the others leaning farther forward, as though she were inviting them to her lips. Didn’t she understand she was feeding their fantasies and encouraging them to claim her by fair or foul?

  Tielo tamped his aggravation. So be it. She created her own fate.

  “Ten?” she said, not allowing the subject to drop as she should. “I take it you haven’t considered how that could put a serious dampener on your sex life?”

  Despite himself, Tielo’s growl of protest at the prospect of any hindrance to pleasure joined those of the others. Around him the betting became fast, furious, the conversation spurring dragon competitiveness.

  Jubal won the hand, claiming all of Soren’s coins as well as Cael’s. He leaned close to Lyra and it was nearly impossible for Tielo not to react with extreme prejudice to the sight of Jubal’s hair stroking her skin as he put his arm along the back of her chair. Violation!

  Tielo was of accord with Odion, whose furious eyes bored into Jubal, not that Jubal noticed. Nostrils flaring and lips tightening, Tielo sent a blistering glance in Pierce’s direction but his partner had apparently developed table blindness.

  Jubal murmured in her ear, “Deny them. They are not right for you.”

  She appeared momentarily confused, until Cael sent a charming smile her way, saying, “Talk of children momentarily separated me from my wits. I would very much like to rejoin the game.”

  Lyra glanced at all the coins in front of the others, then at her own barely dented stack before saying no to Cael. She gave Soren the same answer when he too asked to be allowed back into the game.

  Good riddance, Tielo thought. They weren’t right for her with their primitive, unenlightened views about what it meant to have a mate.

  The dealer button moved to Roque, forcing Lyra to put coins at risk in what was called the big blind. Something changed because of it, her play became more confident and her scent mirrored it. She grew bolder round by round, hand by hand, and especially when she started winning.

  Her beauty was breathtaking when she finally sent her first player from the table, Zephyr, who was more interested in acquiring and cultivating exotic orchids than mastering poker. Orchids! What kind of a dragon preferred to spend all his time with his snout buried in a flower?

  Tielo’s gaze snapped back to Lyra, caught and held there by the fantasy of being between her thighs, face inches away from the slick, soft petals of her woman’s flesh. Thoughts interrupted by Jubal’s leaning in to murmur, “Soon it will be just the two of us.”

  Roque laughed. “I beg to differ. And Tielo might have something to say as well. Am I the only one to wonder at his shockingly conservative play so far? The only conclusion I can draw is that he does in fact want a mate.”

  “Think what you will,” Tielo said, aggravated. He sent a second blistering look at Pierce, who should have put a stop to Jubal’s behavior well before now.

  Didn’t the fey see that even now a strand of auburn hair clung to her dress, curling against her breast like a dragon’s tongue? If not for the covenants, and the fact she was human, one of the males at the table would have already sent a blast of fire to eradicate it and reduce the dress to smoldering ash in the process.

  The image of her sitting naked among the glitter of gold had him s
wallowing his own fiery breath. Enough! He’d learned what he needed to in order to further refine his scheme and the rules when it came to potential mates.

  When the betting reached him, he pushed one of his towers in, refusing to react to Hakon’s show of mirth or respond to the knowing glance directed at him by Roque. Let them think what they would.

  Play resumed. Faster, more furious, as if by his actions he’d unleashed a maelstrom. Or perhaps the others had also noticed the strand of Jubal’s hair left on Lyra’s clothing like a preliminary to marking her with teeth and scent.

  “What do you enjoy in your spare time, Lyra?” Takeo asked several hands later in a bid to draw her attention, a mistake, given his very short stack of chips.

  “I love going to the beach.”

  “As does Tielo,” Pierce said. “He plays volleyball.”

  She sent a glance his way. “Is he any good?”

  Tielo allowed himself the barest imagining of her watching him play, clapping and shouting encouragement, or better yet, joining him in the sand for the first of any number of different dragon games.

  “Better to be on his team than playing against him. He’d tell you that himself. What he wouldn’t so readily reveal is that he has quite a collection of kites, all designed with ocean breezes in mind.”

  That brought snorts and chuckles at his expense. It was only Lyra’s smile that turned the look he sent Pierce into a promise of payback instead of future incineration.

  “Let me guess, they’re all dragons?” she asked.

  “Mostly dragons,” Tielo growled, unable to stop himself from sounding very much like one who had been poked and agitated.

  Hakon picked up a coin, lazily walking it through his fingers, his attention on Pierce as he said, “Next you’ll be regaling us with the tale of how Tielo once left a fortune in pearls and gold bars behind, and because of it, a poor village was able to pay for a visiting doctor to treat their ills, and a herd of livestock so hunger would be a thing of distant memory for their children.”