A Dragon's Heart

by Jana Leigh

  “This is crazy. Jesus…secret groups…you all have lost your mind. There is no way this is possible…” Her thoughts trailed off to old stories her grandmother used to tell her as a child. Stories of ancient magic and voodoo that their ancestors supposedly held, and large creatures who soared through the air and could burn whole villages to a crisp if angered. Maybe they weren’t legends. Dragons were obviously as real as the air she breathed. So, did she have the voodoo magic? The idea of her once thought captors who she felt protective of after such a short time being hunted for personal capitalism and financial gain had her willing to do whatever it took to protect them, and the fate of the world. “I need to go back to the shop. There are old books stacked in the back that I thought were just old folklore.”

  “What kind of folklore?” Jex asked.

  “Voodoo. Witchcraft. I think there are even dragons mentioned. It has been years since I have looked through them, but if what she said was true, instead of just stories to fuel my imagination, I might be able to help.”

  Drakk glanced at the others, and nodded. He knew the witches of New Orleans back when they practiced in the open and the power they held. If Aislinn was truly a descendant of that bloodline, she would be more help than he had originally anticipated. He also needed to get away from her long enough to get his common sense back. Being in tight quarters with her had only shoved the natural mating instincts in his face despite his determination to avoid it. Once Jex claimed her, his normality could return. What better way to speed up the process than give them both ample opportunity and time together? “Jex, fly Aislinn back to gather the grimoires and whatever personal items she needs for the next few days.”

  “Wait…fly? I hate to break it to you but people might not react well to seeing a giant flying lizard in the sky,” Aislinn said sarcastically.

  “Not if they can’t see it. I told you…we have abilities. One of them happens to be invisibility,” Drakk explained.

  “Wow.” Aislinn found it hard to believe, but given she was standing amongst seven fire breathing massive dragons—anything was possible at this point.

  “If you think that’s cool you should see what other talents we have…” Jex wagged his eyebrows.

  Aislinn rolled her eyes, but her imagination took a sharp turn into the gutter. Her body heated at the thoughts that floated through her mind. Knowing she would be sleeping in a cave with three hot, drool-worthy, muscled hunks didn’t help her situation. Jex turned to her and locked eyes, a shit eating grin spread across his face. Could he read her thoughts? Her eyes went wide. The others all refused to make eye contact with her, finding interest in the files on the monitors.

  “It looks like you get to ride me, baby.” His sexual innuendo only embarrassed her more. The fact he began to strip in front of her only added to it. She needed to get away, and fast. She turned and all but ran out of the cave. She needed fresh air, and distance from them all.

  Chapter Six

  Jex smiled to himself as Aislinn shifted once again on his back. Drakk and he were going to have to talk tonight, because he could see when they left how pissed his leader was that Aislinn was on his back. This wasn’t going to work unless they were on the same page—there was no room for jealousy.

  Regardless, he had her on his back for now, and Jex was loving it. The way she laughed and enjoyed herself as they traveled through the skies was enough to make him want to fly all night long, but they couldn’t. They had a job to do, and the sooner they got what she needed from her place, the sooner they could get back into the air.

  Before they left when Aislinn had walked outside, Drakk had spoken to them all in low tones about his suspicions.

  “I think she is a latent,” he had said quietly.

  “Probably why your dreams led us here,” Gandore had agreed.

  “Does anyone remember how the witches got their full power?” Brak had asked and looked at Jex and Drakk closely. They all knew the answer, because they all knew the history, the asshole was just trying to make them say it out loud so Drakk would pull his head out of his ass soon.

  “No,” Drakk had growled.

  “It is the only way.” Xavier laughed.

  The men smiled at their leader. Of course none of them said outright that the only way for a latent witch to gain her full powers was to be fully mated with her true mate. In this case, Aislinn apparently had two, and unless she mated with them both she would never have her powers. They had seen it happen before, only once, but it had made a lasting effect.

  Most dragons were solitary creatures and way too arrogant to share. The problem was in their genes. However, there were cases where the witches were so full of power the witch would need to mate two dragons to contain it. In the one case they knew of it had not been successful. Mostly because one of the dragons refused to admit he had to share his mate. He had taken the witch away from their third and hidden her. After he had mated her, she had slowly begun to gain power, he was arrogant enough to think he could contain it. It had not taken long for the dragon to realize his mistake. By then the damage had been done. The female had gone mad from power and ended up killing both herself and the dragon before they could make it back to their other mate.

  So the elders of the Templar Guard had been notified, and if a triad was to be formed, they would automatically be made a part of the guard, since the power would help them in their protection of the balance. Each of the men belonged to the guard, and as they stared at one another, Drakk had cursed loudly.

  “The seer foretold this.” Gandore smiled.

  “What?” Jex had asked, scratching his head.

  “The seer,” Gandore said and laughed. “More than a hundred years ago, just before we allowed Langston to convince us to move, a seer came to us. She told us she had a vision of a time when the Templar Guard would be made up of only triads. They would need it to face the danger that was looming over the humans. We all just nodded because she seemed a bit crazy with the one eye that seemed to move at weird times. It was creepy, you know. Anyway, we figured it would be long after we were around, I guess we were wrong, huh.”

  “We don’t know anything yet,” Drakk growled.

  “You can feel it, I know it,” Jex had said to his friend and the man had growled at him.

  “You don’t know a damn thing,” Drakk had said.

  “You can’t run from the mating heat, and if she was meant for us, then she was meant for us,” Jex shrugged.

  “I don’t want a mate!” Drakk had yelled.

  “But you have one,” Jex had told him and watched as he struggled with this thought. Jex knew Drakk was attracted to Aislinn, hell, they all did, the tension in the air when they were together was enough to convince them.

  “Yeah, I know,” Drakk had said darkly.

  Jex had tried to talk to him them, but Drakk had stalked off once again. When they got back, they would talk. There was nothing to be done, if the seer was right.

  “Jex!” Aislinn yelled, bringing him out of his thoughts and he smiled.

  “Yeah, babe,” Jex yelled.

  “Down,” she laughed and he looked, sure enough, they were closer than he thought.

  “Sorry, was enjoying the ride,” Jex said smoothly.

  As they landed, Jex remained cloaked and it wasn’t until she stepped off his back that Aislinn was visible to anyone, if a human would have been staring it would have seemed like she appeared out of nowhere, thank goodness there was no one in the alley where he landed.

  “Hurry, babe, don’t want to spend too much time here. Don’t know who could be out there,” Jex growled and waited until she nodded. He saw her biting her lip and wondered for a brief moment if she was going to run on him. Before they left she had assured him she wouldn’t, she was too curious about what was going on.

  “Okay,” she said and nodded. “Give me a few minutes.”

  Jex nodded, he was going to stand guard while she went on the hunt for the books. He could shift back to human, but if he
did and they had to make a quick getaway, they would waste precious time.

  So while Jex waited, he planned. How were they going to know if she was their true mate? And if she was, how were they going to tell her she was their true mate? What would she think, hell, it had been so long since he had to actually woo anyone, Jex wasn’t sure if he could actually do it.

  When they were in the facility it was easy, the human females were enamored with them. Every night, one of the women would slip into their room if they wanted company. Shit, now they were going to have to work for it. What had he done before?

  Jex thought hard and then realized he never had worked for it. He had never been in a relationship before; he had never had to think about what a woman wanted. Looking inside the store, he saw Aislinn with a large bag. She was shoving books and other things into it, plus making phone calls to ensure someone took care of the business while she was gone.

  He looked to the street and then frowned. People were passing and he stepped closer to watch. A couple was stopped in front of a store across the street; the man was smiling as the woman shook her head. Closing his eyes, he focused and heard their conversation. He was buying her a scarf she wanted, and she was arguing over the cost of it. Jex listened to her tone of voice though, he could tell she really was happy when the man mentioned he had seen her looking at it for weeks, and wanted her to have it.

  Then he watched as others on the street shopped. Couples who were in love, buying things for each other, or just walking hand in hand. That is what he wanted, he thought.

  “Jex,” Aislinn whispered and he turned and saw her standing in the alley looking for him.

  In that one moment, he had a plan, and one he knew was going to work. With a grin, he lumbered back to her and whispered, “Here,” in her ear.

  She jumped and laughed when he plucked her up and put her on his back, they needed to get back to the cave, then he could talk to Drakk about how they were going to win her over.

  *****

  Aislinn frowned as she read the books in front of her. One of them her mother had given her before she died, but it didn’t make sense. It was written as if her mother believed she had magic that was untapped. She read of her great grandmother who passed down a story about their ancestors. The dragons held her other books and were looking at them as well; her mother’s journals were the only thing Aislinn refused to give them.

  “Uh,” she said quietly.

  All of their eyes snapped to her and she grimaced, well this was weird. She had never met such an intense group of men before. They were focused; since they returned, the entire conversation had surrounded the books and what the humans were planning.

  It had given her time to look at them though. They were handsome; however, the two men that kept her attention the most, where the ones she had been drawn to since she'd woken up.. She had no idea why she was so fascinated with them but she was.

  “My mother’s journal has some notes here, I can’t quite make sense of them,” she whispered to Drakk who was staring at her intently. His eyes were gorgeous, they practically shimmered in the light, she could feel her breath quicken at the sight.

  “What does it say?” Drakk asked.

  His voice made her want to shiver, he had no clue the effect he had on her, she was sure of it. “Uh, oh, yes,” she said and looked back down at the journal. “She is talking about our family, and apparently my great great great great grandmother or something apparently thought she had the sight.” She laughed.

  “What was her name?” Gandore asked quietly.

  “Agrippa,” she said with a frown.

  “The one eyed witch.” Xavier laughed and Aislinn frowned.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing, what does it say?” Drakk barked.

  “Here,” she said, thrusting the book at them. “Just read it.”

  The men passed the book around while she stood. They had been sitting in the large living area that had appeared after they left to get the books. She had been amazed at the magic the men had, anything they wanted they could make happen it seemed, well within reason apparently. She was told they couldn’t make money, or other things, because it wasn't the way their magic worked. It was based on their needs.

  “Ha, I was right.” Gandore laughed and Drakk frowned and stared at his friends who were laughing, only Jex was staring at him with a frown. He knew they were going to have to talk soon, damn it, he really thought he was going to be able to ignore the mating.

  “About?” Aislinn asked.

  Gandore and the others looked at Drakk with a grin and then stood. “We will let them explain.”

  His brothers laughed as they walked out of the room leaving Aislinn and Jex with him. He stared at the floor wondering how he was going to explain to the human exactly what her ancestor had predicted. Apparently, his idiot friend, though, didn’t have the same problem as he did, because before Drakk could actually form a clear way to tell her, Jex stood and blurted it out.

  “Babe, your ancestors predicted the Templar Guard would face a great struggle, and in order to win, they would be sent mates that would form a triad for all of the Guard, it was the only way to defeat the threat. And guess what, you are Drakk and mine’s mate! Isn’t that awesome,” Jex said and held open his arms. “I mean, think about it, two of the best looking dragons around and you are our mate.”

  Aislinn frowned and looked at the two men. “Excuse me?”

  “Mate, you know, like you are our wife.” Jex smiled and walked to her. “How cool is that, right?”

  “Oh hell to the NO!” Aislinn screeched. “I am already considering the fact this is all a weird dream still, I mean, nothing seems real: dragon, flying, caves. Now I am a mate to not one but two men? Shit, I am a crazy ass slut in my dreams and that is not okay.”

  Jex frowned and dropped his arms then turned to Drakk who was looking just as confused. “Babe, you are chosen to be mated to two of the most powerful beings in the world. Plus, we are rock star handsome, all of the women in the facility wanted us, and we are yours.”

  Aislinn narrowed her eyes. “In my crazy fucked up dream, I am pretty sure I shouldn’t be hearing this right now. Conjure me up my room, I need to go back to bed and forget all this shit.”

  Jex opened and closed his mouth and looked at Drakk who shook his head and snapped his fingers. Aislinn nodded and pointed to the door. Both men left without a saying a word because of the look on her face. The last thing she heard when she slammed the door was Jex ask Drakk what the hell had just happened.

  *****

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Drakk growled. “Even I know not to say shit like that, what the fuck?”

  “Hey, the women at the facility never even blinked when I said shit like that,” Jex argued.

  “Could be because they wanted something, dumbass,” Drakk said and raised a hand and ran it over his eyes. “Listen, I get this is really fucked up right now, and I understand that I basically told you to mate with her on your own earlier. But…”

  Jex just smiled and looked at his hardened leader. “I know.”

  Drakk narrowed his eyes at the younger dragon. He looked smugly at him and Drakk wanted to kick his ass. “We need to talk.”

  “What’s there to talk about? It’s not rocket science. We found our mate. She is a latent witch who needs us to harness her powers in the fight of the greater good.” Jex’s casual attitude about it all pissed him off.

  “That is exactly why we need to talk. You irritate me to the point I want to rip your tail off and shove it in that big fucking mouth of yours. Of all the dragons in the universe, fate put us together. Don’t get me wrong. You are my brother and I’d lay my life on the line to defend you. But you are the immature pain in my ass brother that needs the ever loving shit beat out of you more than once a day. How the hell are we supposed to spend eternity together and not rip each other’s throat out?”

  Jex’s face twisted in a pout. He knew he got on Drakk’s
nerves, but hearing his true feelings stung. “It’s not that bad…” He turned around, not wanting to show weakness in front of their fearless leader. He had hoped that the newfound mating information would bring them closer together. Obviously, it only added another thorn in Drakk’s ass.

  “Jex…”

  “Dude, don’t. If being in a triad with me is so bad, then it isn’t meant to be. Fate fucked up.” Jex turned and left, shifting the moment he got to the mouth of the cavern.

  *****

  Aislinn had gone out to get some fresh air and clear her head when she saw Jex storm off to the skies. She hadn’t meant to hurt him and felt the guilt rise in her chest. She was scared. Who wouldn’t be, it was just too crazy to think about, not that she had a choice. She didn’t. What freaked her out was not that they were dragons, but that she had feelings for two men she hardly knew and didn’t know how to handle it. She had endured relationships that didn’t work and knew that she wasn’t cut out for any kind of commitment. Things always ended badly. She had finally come to the conclusion that she was destined to be alone. Now that there was even a suggestion she was fated to be loved by not only one man but two was a lot to accept. The fact that they were dragons pushed her weirdness scale just a little too far. And yet, she stood hoping she could find Jex and make things better. She looked to the skies, watching him soar above the cloud cover and disappear. Unless she sprouted wings anytime soon, there was no way she could catch up. So she sat, her back leaned against the cool hard stone and she closed her eyes, allowing the warm sun soak in. It melted some of the stress away, giving her a clear mind to evaluate the newly found information. She was a witch. Wow. Who would have thought? She was as simple as they came. Always had been a bit eccentric, and more in tune with the Earth than her friends, but to think she might hold some sort of magic that could help was insane. Instead of scaring her, it excited her. It all did when she thought about it.

  Most people would think she needed to be committed or given some meds because she was just accepting of all this. Her childhood had not been normal, that was probably the reason she was able to accept the strange and unusual. Aislinn smiled to herself and thought back over the last few days, yeah, she needed some meds. But did she really have a choice? It didn’t seem like she did, if she thought about the way things were planned for everyone by fate, if you will, then she needed to accept this as the hand that was dealt to her. At least she would enjoy the ride, she thought and stared intently to the skies.