by Ashlyn Chase
Bliss rested a hand on her hip. “Is this the ‘stuff’ you had to do?”
Angie startled, then swiveled so she could look at her roommate. “Oh, I didn’t see you there. I was engrossed in this book.”
Bliss noted Angie’s dry hair and coat. “Have you been there the whole time?”
Angie gave her a sheepish grin. “Kind of.”
“What do you mean, ‘kind of’?”
“Well, I was gonna go out and do some errands, but I decided to wait and see if the rain let up.”
“Then you must have seen Drake leave. Did he say where he was going?”
“Drake? I thought he was upstairs with you.”
“No. The kid who lives upstairs asked to see him privately, and I thought he just stepped into the hall. He said he’d be right back, but it’s been about an hour.”
“Adolf? Maybe they went upstairs to the Balogs’ apartment. I can get engrossed in a book, but I’d have noticed if a couple of guys stepped over me to go outside.”
“Yeah, that must be it.”
Angie had been giving them their privacy, and Bliss just fell in love with her roommate a little bit.
Hmmm… to intrude or not to intrude? “So, do you know the people upstairs?”
“Not very well. They keep to themselves, and that’s fine by me. They’re kind of creepy.”
“Creepy, huh? Now my curiosity is piqued. Want to go upstairs with me?”
Angie’s jaw dropped. “You’re going up to the Balogs’ apartment?”
“Why not? I haven’t met the creep I can’t outrun.”
Angie giggled. It may have been a nervous giggle, but a moment later she jumped up. “I’m in.”
The girls tromped upstairs. Bliss heard music on the other side of the door. It sounded like an acoustic guitar and a violin harmonizing, and the melody had a Gipsy Kings quality.
When Bliss knocked, the music stopped. She and Angie waited for quite a while before she knocked again. Even after the second knock, no one came to the door.
That’s weird. She frowned and knocked a third time. “Hellooo,” she called out. “It’s Bliss Russo, from downstairs.” They waited. Still nothing.
She and Angie stared at each other. At last, Angie shrugged. “I guess no one’s going to answer the door.” She headed back down the stairs.
“That’s kind of rude, isn’t it?” Bliss whispered.
“I guess so, but it doesn’t surprise me. They’ve always kept to themselves.”
“Isn’t that what the neighbors of serial killers always say?” Bliss felt a shiver pass through her.
***
Drake and Vulcan shared one of the small tables in the bar. Robin dropped off their beers and, without a word, proceeded on to Sadie, who had one finger raised. Even Drake knew what she wanted. Another White Russian, please.
He tried to focus his attention on Vulcan, even though getting back to Bliss occupied the back of his mind like a constant itch.
“Why Boston?” Drake asked.
Vulcan cocked his head. “What do you mean?”
“Why is the Supernatural Council located in Boston? I thought you guys hung out on Mount Olympus.”
“Oh, we do… sometimes. But Mother Nature likes it here.”
“Why? We have hot, humid summers and cold, snowy winters, rainy springs and well, I guess there’s nothing wrong with fall.”
Vulcan smiled. “Ah, yes. Autumn in New England is perfection, but remember who you’re talking about. Mother Nature likes to view her handiwork and the seasons are all here.”
“But why Boston? Why not some mountaintop?”
“Boston is a modern city with an old soul. That’s what attracts paranormals to it, and wherever they are, we need to be.”
“I see. I moved here hoping to find others like myself. I had heard the city was highly populated with paranormal beings. Although I never found another dragon until Zina, and she came a long way, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yes. How did she find you, anyway?”
“The Internet. I posted a personals ad on a dating website. I worded it so no one but a dragon would answer.”
“Really? What did it say?”
“I said I wanted a woman so hot she could breathe fire. Most women have such low self-esteem that a guy with high expectations like that would scare them off. Oh, and I said I was a fireproof five, so anyone on the fence wouldn’t want to bother.”
Vulcan laughed but sobered quickly. “Obviously Zina doesn’t have a self-esteem problem. She was treated like a princess all of her life—because she is a princess. We need a plan. Obviously this dragon won’t come willingly.”
Drake scratched his head. “Assuming I’m able to trick Zina into going to the Council, how will I know where to take her? I still don’t know where the Council is.”
“That’s where I come in. I’m afraid you can’t get there without a member of GAIA.”
“GAIA?”
“Yes, that’s what Mother Nature named the Council. Gods and Immortals Association. She said she liked the ‘ring’ of it. We all know she just wanted to name it after herself.” He rolled his eyes.
Drake suppressed a smile. “Okay. So, where will I find you when I need you?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll find you.”
Drake still didn’t see how this could possibly work. “How will you know when I’m ready?”
“Hmmm… good question. I don’t think you’d appreciate my spying on you constantly.”
“You got that right.”
“Let’s come up with a code word or phrase. Something you could yell, and when I hear that above the constant drone of earthbound creatures, I’ll come right away.”
“You can do that?”
Vulcan smirked. “I’m not a god for nuthin’.”
“Okay. Let me think of a code. How about, ‘Ow, ow, she’s killing me’?”
Vulcan raised his eyebrows. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I was thinking more along the lines of, ‘What a beautiful day!’ Something like that.”
A couple at the next table, still soaked from the rain, shot twin glares in their direction.
Drake lowered his voice. “Yeah, right. And what if Mother Nature makes it rain or snow that day?”
“Fine. Think about it while I finish these fine hops.”
“I’ve got it. I’ll yell, ‘Taxi!’ She’ll think I’m calling a cab to take us wherever the hell I told her I’d take her.”
Vulcan smiled. “I’ll recognize your voice and I will be your taxi. You’re quite clever, Drake Cameron.”
“Gee, thanks. Now can I get back to my girlfriend?”
“Aren’t you going to finish your drink?”
“No, getting back to Bliss is more important to me right now. She’s not the most patient woman who ever lived.”
“As you wish. I know something about impatient women.”
“I’ll bet you do.” Drake rose and pulled out his wallet. As he left the money to cover the tab and tip, he thought again about how Bliss and Mother Nature seemed to share certain personality traits. Maybe all women did. Maybe Gaia liked creating more than names in her honor.
***
The intercom buzzed and Bliss, now in sweatpants and her comfy oversized T-shirt, padded over to it. She pressed the “talk” button and asked, “Who the hell is it, and what do you want in the middle of the friggin’ night?”
When she pressed the “listen” button, Drake’s voice answered.
“Bliss, honey, I—”
“Save it.” She pushed the button to unlock the outside door and waited to hear his footfalls on the stairs.
Before he knocked, she threw open the door and crossed her arms. Trying to look frowny, she wasn’t quite ready to welcome him back. She knew she would eventually,
but for now she wanted to pout.
“Where were you? Angie said you never passed her on the stairs, and she was sitting there the whole time. After about an hour, we went up to the Balogs’ apartment because we thought you might have been abducted by the creepy neighbors.”
“Uh—what did they say?”
“Nothing. They didn’t answer the door.” She thought she noticed a flash of relief before his expression returned to one of concern.
“May I come in? I promise I’ll make it up to you?”
Damn it. He probably means with sex, and I’ve been horny all night. She decided it was time to forgive him and probably jump his bones.
She stepped away from the door, allowing him entrance. As soon as he’d crossed the threshold, she locked the door behind him and launched herself into his arms for a desperate hug.
“You had me worried sick.”
He caressed her back and murmured more apologies. Eventually she leaned away to look at his face, and he ran the backs of his fingers over her cheek.
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you what was happening… not right now, anyway. I will when I can.” He gently held her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Soon.”
Bliss narrowed her eyes. Maybe if she squinted he wouldn’t look so mouthwateringly gorgeous. No such luck.
He leaned in for a tender kiss. She met his lips, tentatively, but the inevitable magnetic pull demanded that she open to him and caress his tongue with hers. She was heating up fast. Damn, he gets me hotter than any guy I’ve ever known.
The next thing she knew, he had scooped her up and was carrying her to the bedroom. They fell onto the bed together. He whispered the sweetest words in her ear as he pushed up her T-shirt and found her bare breasts.
Bliss arched into his hand and moaned with the gratifying sensations his touch provided. “This is what I’ve wanted since the first time I kissed you outside my burning building,” she murmured. She pulled his shirt up, freeing the hem from his belted waist.
He paused just long enough to pull his shirt over his head and toss it on the floor. Bliss followed suit, losing her T-shirt. He bent down to suckle her breasts while, at the same time, pulling the drawstring on her sweatpants. She raised her bottom, allowing him to work her pants down her legs until they were bunched at her ankles.
Her free hand moved up his side over his bare, heated skin. He shivered as she trailed her fingers down his ribs, continuing toward her goal—the large bulge he was thrusting against her thigh. When she gripped what she could through his pants, he lifted his head and groaned.
As he unbuckled his belt, he said, “Finally, after all the daydreaming, you’re right here in my arms.”
She sighed. “You daydreamed about me, too?”
“Every waking hour. The real woman is so much better. Hot, wicked, and sexy.”
Say something not stupid, Bliss. But she couldn’t think of a thing. Her mind was turning to mush and all she could do was feel. Ah, hell… thinking is overrated.
She grasped his zipper and heard the quick rasp as she yanked it down. She plunged her hand under the waistband of his underwear and tried to envelop his girth. He was too thick for her to close her fingers.
When he opened his eyes, they held a golden glow. She had seen that before, but was now the time to mention it? Hey, when had she ever held anything back? “Your eyes—”
Suddenly he flipped her onto her stomach. Then next thing she knew, her sweatpants were torn off and his pants soon followed them onto the floor. He lay on top of her and whispered, “Do you mind doing it this way again?”
She almost laughed. “Mind? Please do. Or should I say, ‘Do me, please’?”
“Relax,” he whispered in her ear. “Let me give you a massage first.”
“A massage? You mean, on my back?”
“I said I’d make it up to you.”
“Wow.” How many horny guys stop to give a girl a massage? “And after that?”
He chuckled. “Then I’ll lift you up and massage your front.”
“In that case… yes, please.”
Drake applied just the right pressure as he massaged her tense muscles all the way down her back on either side of her spine. Bliss turned her head to the side and relaxed in the warmth of his take-charge hands and fingers. When he reached the bottom of her spine, he kept going.
“Ah… that feels fantastic, even if you’re using it as an excuse to manhandle my butt.”
“It’s a big muscle. The gluteus maximus.”
“Hey, it’s not that big.”
He bent over and whispered in her ear. “Relax. It’s perfect.” Then he gave her right butt cheek a little smack and returned to working his way up from base to shoulders.
Despite the tiny sting, Bliss could have melted into the mattress.
After the thorough massage, good to his word, he lifted her onto her hands and knees and positioned himself behind her. He dipped his fingers into her core to test her wetness, but she could have told him she was plenty ready.
Without a word, he thrust into her and she welcomed him by pushing back and meeting him halfway. Being filled with him felt so good. So right.
He began his rhythm and added the promised massage to her clit. Pleasure spiked through her like an electric current.
“Ohhh.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say, but talking didn’t seem necessary at this point anyway. Instead, she rocked a little harder against him.
He leaned down and placed little kisses all over her shoulder. “You have the right name. You’re absolute Bliss.”
It seemed as if all she could do was drown in the sensations and moan her appreciation. A spiral of delicious pleasure was building within her. “I’m close.”
“So am I.”
They tumbled over the edge together. She screamed as she climaxed, and the orgasm lasted longer than usual.
“Oh, God,” she said when they collapsed. “Oh, God; oh God; oh God.”
“Yeah,” he agreed breathlessly.
Drake withdrew and turned her over. He gathered her into his arms and held her close while their panting breaths returned to normal.
She couldn’t have been more relaxed if she’d had a Valium. As Bliss was about to drop off to sleep, Drake said, “Bliss, honey. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Now?”
“Yes. Before I lose my nerve.”
Chapter 11
Bliss rolled up onto her elbow and rested her cheek in her palm. “You have to go back to work tonight, don’t you?”
“No. I’ve worked all the overtime I’m allowed to for a while.”
Facing him and frowning as if waiting for a firing squad to be called in, she said, “Okay. Tell me.”
Drake propped himself up against the pillow so their eyes were even. “Actually, there’s quite a lot I have to confess to you, but if at any point it becomes too much, tell me to stop.”
“Confessions?” She flopped back onto her pillow. “Uh-oh. This doesn’t sound good at all.”
“There’s both good and bad.”
“Give me the good stuff first.”
He sighed. There wasn’t really anything good that didn’t start with something bad… oh, except possibly one thing.
He stroked her cheek. “I love you.”
The wrinkle in her forehead disappeared and her lips twitched into a smile. “I think I love you too—but I reserve the right to take it back, depending on what else you have to say.”
Oh, great. Someone who admits to conditional love.
He inhaled a deep breath. “Okay. Here it is… I told you before that I was a dragon. You laughed it off because, as far as you know, nothing like that exists, right?”
She smirked. “Well, of course dragons don’t exist. Oh, wait. Maybe they do. Let me go ask my unicorn.
”
Drake rolled his eyes. “Okay, not unicorns. We know they died out when Noah couldn’t get them to come onto the ark, but why not dragons? Don’t you think they could exist?”
She stared at him for a few moments. “Are you saying you believe they do?” She reached out and felt his forehead. “You don’t seem to have a fever.”
He smiled. “I’m fine, honey. There are all manner of beings that have been talked about in legends, but how do you think those legends got started?”
“Um… in the old days people had big imaginations to answer their questions, instead of science.”
“Believe me, people back then were no more imaginative than they are now. And as for science, a lot of folks think that if they haven’t seen something with their own eyes, it doesn’t exist, but science has proven the existence of all kinds of things you can’t see. Tiny molecules, germs, plus planets so far away you’d never be able to see them with the naked eye.”
“Yeah, but… dragons? They’d be kind of hard to miss.”
“Not if they don’t want to be seen. And after all the talk of St. George destroying the last dragon, why would any unknown survivors come forward? Are they going to say, ‘Oh, hey, Georgie… Look, you missed one!’”
Drake thought about how his mother had kept him hidden for years, because they were safer with humans believing the extinction rumor. His great-grandfather had been that “last” dragon—or so the humans of the time thought. Most of his other relatives had been slaughtered long before that. Knights just loved to sneak up on and kill dragons. Then they’d brag about it upon their return to their respective castles.
Bliss faced away from him, as if talking to her furniture. “Damn. And he seemed so normal… even smart.”
He laid his hand over hers. “I can prove it.”
“You can prove dragons exist?” She chuckled. “How?”
“I can show you my alternate form.”
She began to pull her hand away, but he grasped it tighter. “Do you remember seeing my eyes shimmer?”