by Crymsyn Hart
“Chastity, you and I never spend any time together. That was the kind of the thing when you moved in that you made clear. You and I were completely different and don’t expect for us to bond over ice cream, late night movies, or boyfriends that we once dated. Besides, you’re out most of the time, and I don’t plan on being here if or when the storm hits.”
“Right.” She nodded. “You’re dating someone. I forgot. That one who saved you from the boating accident you had a month ago. How come I’ve never seen him?”
Savanna checked the clock on the wall and realized she was running late. “Because he doesn’t want to come here, and that’s none of your business. My life doesn’t concern you. Do you have a problem with that?”
“Of course not. I was trying to be friendly.”
She shook her head. “Just pay your rent on time and that’s all the friends we are ever going to be.” Savanna walked toward her bedroom when someone knocked.
“I’ll get it,” Chastity rang out. “Probably for me, anyway.”
Yes, it probably is. And I hope you’ll leave me the hell alone. Why are you getting all chummy with me now? Savanna was about to go into her room to get ready for spending the night with Wyeth.
Chastity squealed in the background. “What are you doing here? I knew you’ve just been a big fooler after all this time. You saw the error of your ways and came crawling back so we could be together. I knew you’d come around.”
She rolled her eyes because it had to be one of Chastity’s conquests. She paused and listened a bit longer. “Uh... Chastity, I’m here to see Savanna. Not you. Speaking of, stop calling me and my office. I don’t want to have to call the cops on you and get a restraining order.”
Savanna stiffened when she heard her name and the familiar voice in her hallway. She walked down the hallway and saw Wyeth standing there. Blood was streaked across his cheek and stained his white shirt. His left hand was bandaged and his jeans were singed. She rushed over to him and pushed her roommate out of the way, who was lingering a bit too close for her liking. “Are you okay?”
He returned the hug and kissed her quickly, but Savanna didn’t like being observed by Chastity. It made her feel dirty in some way. “I went to check on our friend. He’s in a rare mood. You need to come back to the house.”
“Who is this other friend you’re talking about?” Chastity asked.
Wyeth glanced over at her. Savanna nodded. “Let me grab a few things. Can you wait?”
“Of course.”
Savanna rushed back to her room, and Wyeth came with her. He shut the door once he entered her bedroom. He looked around as though he had never seen it before. Then she realized that he hadn’t. “This is nice.”
“Thanks.” She glanced around and saw her bras were hanging from the laundry basket and the clothes were overflowing because she hadn’t had time to actually do laundry. The bed was a mess. “This isn’t normally how it looks. I’m neater. I swear”
“I believe you. I know you haven’t been home much between staying at the house and work. Nevertheless, I also know it’s because of crazy out there.”
Savanna heard a sneeze outside her door and realized Chastity listened outside. “Yeah, we should go. Give me a second.” She threw some things into the bag and gazed around the room, wishing she had done some laundry. Savanna dove into her closet and grabbed a few more skirts, a pair of boots she only wore when she was doing events, and the tops that went with them. Savanna threw them into the bag. She took a few of her tarot decks and a couple of her crystals. She didn’t know why she was driven to shove so much into her bag, but it was better that she was there with Wyeth and not at her home. Besides, if her roommate was going batty, she didn’t want to come home and find her things torched. On second thought, she took another bag of tools that contained a black mirror, a few more crystals, the crystal ball she cherished, and a couple more tarot decks.
“Let me get that.” Wyeth took it with his other hand. “What is in there?”
“Long story. I’m good to go.”
He nodded and followed her out of the room. Chastity sat on the couch reading a magazine, which Savanna noticed was upside down. She flashed them a smile. “See you later.”
“Bye.” When she got into Wyeth’s truck, Chastity was outside on the deck watching them. “What else has she been doing that you haven’t told me about, besides leaving you random messages on your cell?”
“Jealous?” Wyeth joked.
She glanced at him and shook her head as they made it out of the apartment complex parking lot. “Hardly. Besides, she’s the town slut. And I hate to say that about anyone, but the parade of men through my door since she’s lived with me would put a brothel to shame.”
“That is pretty bad. When I agreed go out with her, I had no idea she was like that. One of my crew thought we might be a good fit. Or that she was just easy and figured I needed a good lay. I’m not sure. She’s left me crazy texts and voicemails. Even messages at the office. I figured if I ignored her she would go away. I’ve told my secretary not to take her calls. I think she might have followed me to a couple of job sites. A few guys complained they had some of their tools go missing. Someone broke into the house the other day, or I thought it was someone, but after you’ve been showing me more about the ghosts around the house, I don’t know. Has she said anything to you about it?”
“No. Nothing. If she’s been stalking you, she’d know by now that we’re dating.”
Wyeth put a hand on her leg. “I would call this more than dating. Every day that passes I feel this thing between us getting stronger. It doesn’t seem like it’s complete yet. That was one of the things I wanted to talk to Drake about tonight. We got into an argument, and well...” he lifted up his bandaged hand.
Savanna touched it lightly and he winced. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’ll heal.”
“What happened exactly?”
“I went down to confront him about how the way he was treating you, shutting you out and all. It wasn’t good for you. He didn’t lock down the link between him and me. Maybe he can’t because it’s a different bond than the one you and he share. I can sense through him that wall he’s put up between you two, and I know you don’t talk about it, but it’s been eating you up inside. I would never give up what we have, I hope you know that, but it has to be fixed. Drake got all grumbly about it and told me not to interfere or I’d be the first Blackmore to become dragon dinner.”
“Is that when he burned your hand?” Savanna asked.
He shook his head. “No. That came after. I pressed him, telling him that whatever he was doing to you, it was hurting you. If he cared about you in any way, then he would stop being an asshole and talk to you. Maybe he was stringing you along for all of this. That the night we spent together was just a night of fucking. That got him angry. He turned his head and hit me with it at the same time. I was propelled into the large basin, and that was when I got burned. I don’t think he meant to do it.”
“He’s still being an ass.”
“He is, but what I said hit a nerve. I thought it’d be best for me to come and get you so you could go talk to him.”
She ran a hand through her hair and stared out of the window. Once more, she tried to follow the thread that bound them and was hit with a wall. “I’m not sure it’s a good thing. Everything I’ve tried to talk to him about or even get through to him... I don’t know why he shut down. When I asked him, he just slammed a block down and I don’t know...” She sniffled and looked straight at the road.
“Hey, it’s really gotten to you hasn’t it?”
She nodded as the emotions choked her up. It had been wearing on her more than she had thought that it would. “I guess so.”
“That makes it worse. And I want to beat his ass.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Wyeth pulled up outside the mansion. Savanna walked into the house and headed straight for the ballroom. When she went in
to Drake’s lair, she found it was cold and empty. In the corner was a great swathe of skin. She ran her fingers over the silky membrane. She recalled the night he had made love to her with his mind. Savanna thought she would burst from her skin, and she had yearned to be closer to him then. She had wanted to complete whatever ritual would bind them closer together, but then he shut her out of his mind. The comforting closeness was gone, and she was left nearly all alone except for Wyeth. They couldn’t communicate telepathically, but she had shared her vision with him that night and on a couple of more occasions.
Savanna sank to the ground and focused on the shared bond one last time, hoping to get through to him. “Drake, if you want this to continue, then you’re going to have to let me in. You need to talk to me or you’re going to lose me for good. If that’s what you want, then you need to let me know now. I can easily walk out of your life, because I was never expecting to meet you.” She listened and felt with all her being and sensed something slipping. Or maybe it was her imagination. “Drake, there are things that we have to talk about.”
“That is not my name,” he snarled as he stepped out of the shadows. His eyes glowed golden in the light. The man before her was the same, and yet he was different, fiercer, and colder. Something else had been shed from him that was more than his skin. “It’s the name that the humans gave me. I am no human.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “No. You’re half human, or you take the shape of a human, but whatever that is, you still have feelings.”
“Why should I feel for a mortal?”
She nodded. “Right. So that was why you put the wall up? All of a sudden you realized that you couldn’t be mated or joined to a mere human.”
“It was bad enough I had already woven my fate to one. I never should have been tricked by it.”
“He’s only trying to push you away,” her guides whispered to her.
“I know,” she answered.
“Who are you talking to?” Drake grumbled.
She turned her attention back to him, surprised that he heard she was talking to someone else who wasn’t even on this plane of reality. “None of your business. You’ve made it perfectly clear these past three weeks how you feel. You’ve pushed me away in every aspect. The things you said to me. The things you did... I did with you—”
“Are meaningless. As is this bond with you. I know now that the reason you came into my life was to be the conduit to my realm. You are my eyes and ears into the world I have left behind.”
His words stung her like arrows piercing her heart one by one, until the last one was a bull’s-eye. “Fine. If that’s what you think.” She used all of her strength and slapped him across the face so that his head turned to the left. “You should have left me on the rocks. Then I never would’ve dealt with all this bullshit.”
His eyes narrowed as he worked his jaw. “Maybe I should have. At least you didn’t come out of this empty handed. You got Wyeth. I’m sure he’s a good fuck since no one else would have you.”
Angry tears streamed down her face.
“You can’t let him get to you.”
“Then a little help would be good. Why is he shutting me out? Why is he being this way after everything?”
“We can’t get a read on him, but you can. Use the link that you two share. Just the way you do with others. He can’t shut you out if you push against him.”
Savanna clenched her fists together and closed her eyes.
“You do have quite a back hand. I wouldn’t want to get on your bad side.”
She pushed his words from her and felt the air stir as he paced around her. Savanna focused singularly on the tie he had forged with her. She thought about everything they had shared and everything she had learned from him and Kestrel. When she shoved against him, she felt the dragon stir against the block.
“What are you doing?” he snapped close to her.
The dragon roared within her mind. It wasn’t the one who didn’t want to be around her. It was the human part of him. She experienced the desire it had for her envelop her. It was difficult to read the rest of the emotions from the beast. However, she delved further when Drake cried out, “Stop it.”
“No,” she whispered because on that second she lost her sense of self. Savanna found herself standing in the same cave, but it was lit up all the way and the dragon had enough room to move around. The flames glistened off his scales, and instead of being black, they were deep cobalt blue. His eyes were golden, honey brown and had more wisdom and compassion than what she had ever seen in Drake’s.
“Hello, Savanna,” he greeted her in a rumbled voice. The sound caressed her and quivered her insides. He stretched his wings and they brushed the ceiling.
“Why are you blocking me?” she asked him.
He swung his head down so it was even with hers. “I’m not the one keeping you from us. I’d never do that to my mates, especially you.”
She heard the hurt in his voice. He brushed her cheek gently with his. His sincerity and loneliness ached in her soul. ”Mates? Me and Wyeth? Are you sure, because everything you’ve just said and these past few weeks...”
“Hasn’t been me. It’s Drake.”
“But you’re one and the same.” Savanna touched the place he had caressed her.
“We used to be. We were when we first came here to your world. The magic that bound us to the Blackmores was similar to the mating ritual. Blood was exchanged, and our lives and souls wove together. It was a serious spell that took much of the magic we possessed at the time. In our world it would’ve been nothing. Over the years the little things, like concealing the walkway to the lighthouse and the stairs on the cliffs, have drained us. The magic also keeps them from completely disintegrating after all this time. After so many years of being cooped up within his body and away from our true home, the reality of this world has worked upon us, nearly separating us into two distinct beings sharing the same body. I’ve been asleep for a long time. Drake hasn’t joined me in this form for almost sixty years. The last time we shifted to show ourselves to Wyeth’s father and it’s been even longer since we’ve flown. Soon he won’t be able to shift unless it’s into his most rudimentary form. The shape revealed at your apartment. The night that he realized something existed between you and us. But I knew before that.”
“When did you know?” Savanna couldn’t help but believe him. His demeanor was soft and gentle, even with all the sharp teeth and horns.
“The first time I held you to my chest when we pulled you off the rocks. I stirred from my slumber when I felt the power shifting in the storm. When we touched you, I knew you were my mate. A dragon knows his mate by touch and scent. Drake doesn’t want to acknowledge that. He can’t get it through his thick head that we are in love with a spellcaster. He thinks of you as only human. As we have split, he has reminded himself that he is a king. And because he is a king he thinks you must bow to him. He’s blocking you because he’s the dominant one in the body. In this form, I’d do anything to touch you. When you were here that last night, I was the one making love to you. I felt your passion. I learned your body, and I want more. Then you started asking about what happened with the storm that night. Then he shut me out. I’m sorry. It’s a constant struggle to be with you and share the body with him.”
“So whenever he’s been a dick, then Drake the human has been the one talking, and the other times it was you?” Savanna tried to understand how the dragon and Drake could have two separate personalities.
“Yes. And because of this you’re suffering. You’ve found comfort in the arms of another man who we’re also bonded to. I accept that, but it is not right.”
“You know that you have a chance to go home in a week or so, don’t you?”
“I do. I hear and see everything Drake does, even if I can’t influence him. In this last shedding, we have almost returned to what we were when the Great Spirit merged the dragon and the human together.”
“Can you tell me wh
at happened that night? I need to tell Kestrel.”
He shook his head. “Drake is trying to push you out. I can’t keep you here long enough for that.”
Savanna could feel the strain getting to her, too. Drake was wrestling her out of his mind. She touched the dragon’s face. “You are Meruke.” Savanna placed a small kiss on his snout.
“Yes. Oh, how I long to hear you say my name as it tumbles from your lips. You are the only one who can bring us together.”
“How?”
Before she could get the answer from him, Savanna was thrown backwards as though she was hit in the gut and opened her eyes. She doubled over and tried to catch her breath. Her entire body ached, and exhaustion swept over her. Drake had his face next to hers. His complexion was red, and the veins pulsated in his temples.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” he snarled. “I don’t care if you are the conduit I have to my world, you are nothing to me. A servant.”
Savanna met his seething gaze and remembered the dragon inside of him. “I am not your servant. If you can’t see that I’m your mate, then you need to do some reevaluating. I am not some wench you can bully. Whether you like it or not, you and I are bound to one another. Even if or when this storm happens and you decide to go, I suggest you treat me with some respect. Is that clear?”
He snorted. “You think you can boss me around?”
She clenched her fists and resisted the urge to slap him again. “I will not be talked down to. Part of you, somewhere, buried under the arrogant human you’ve become, is the being you used to be. What was it you called yourself, dragonkin. Right now you’re just an asshole.” Savanna walked out, swallowed her rage, and exited the cave, leaving him to his own wiles.
* * * *
Wyeth sensed Savanna’s distress as she stood outside on the balcony. She had come up from the cave and was clearly in pain. She would tell him in her own time. In the last three weeks they had spent together, he had learned a lot about her. She was such a different person than what he ever expected. And what Drake had done to her angered him. Now the woman he loved was outside, crying her eyes out.