by Honor James
“We could tell them that I’m a Magic User and I’m able to see parts of the past, present, and future.” She paused. “Do you think that your tech, Quincy, would claim me as one of his and not dig for what I am?” The man had an insatiable curiosity, and that worried her, a lot.
“I will ask him,” Talon said, watching her closely. “Are you going to be all right telling the fib? I know that lying outright is abhorrent to all Changers and Magic Users. Will you be okay telling this revised version of the truth?”
“The alternative is allowing them to know something that could get them killed.” No, she wasn’t all right with it. It would take a bit of her soul at a time to tell the lie, but it would save their lives, and that was all that mattered.
Hearing her thoughts, Talon shook his head slightly. Shifting them to their sides, he drew her in closer and tangled his legs with hers. “I am not going to risk you either, love,” he said softly. “Not even a little of you. We will ask Quincy to adopt you. I will tell him a reason that will fly with him and keep him from looking into your life, at least for now.” What he’d say, Talon didn’t know, but he would come up with something later he was sure. “As to telling everyone what you are…” He paused for a moment. “You are a messenger from Gaia, sent to help us with our newest problem. Both the absolute truth and provides them with some information without telling them a damned thing.”
“Oh, that’s brilliant.” It wasn’t a lie because she truly could be a messenger from Gaia since her mother could speak through her quite well. Hugging Talon tightly again, she grinned. “I love it. Thank you, Talon, for coming up with something so perfect.” She pulled back and smiled happily up at him. “Now, I think that you should kiss me and then we should snuggle for a couple of minutes.”
“And it’s not a lie, so it won’t hurt you,” he pointed out, kissing her with a smile. Cupping her face, he stroked his thumbs over her skin lightly. “If they question anything, we can mention, reluctantly of course, that you get flashes of the future thanks to Gaia and you need to be careful what you share so as not to tarnish or possibly alter a future that should be.” Hopefully that, too, would be close enough to the truth that it wouldn’t harm her in any way.
She nodded. “They don’t have to know that I see every possible future that they could have.” She chewed her lower lip and frowned. “We might not want to mention that either. I think they wouldn’t like that too well,” she commented. “Hopefully though they will just accept your word for it and not try to investigate me or separate us.” She wouldn’t be held accountable for what she did if someone tried to separate her from her bond-mate.
“All right, we will leave it with you being a messenger,” he said softly, kissing her again. “If something comes up, then we will worry about giving them more.” Sliding his arms around her, Talon held her tight. “No one is going to separate us, my little angel, not if they want to keep on living.”
That had her grinning. “I can’t believe that I’m your bond-mate.” She felt it though. She felt the silky strands that tied their souls together, felt a part of him inside of her, and she liked it. A lot. “I like it. I love how it feels to be tied to you,” she admitted and rubbed her cheek against his chest like a kitten needing to be pet.
Smiling at her actions, Talon stroked her back gently. “I like the feeling of being tied to you as well,” he said softly. “It feels so pure, warm, and absolutely perfect, like you, my little bond-mate,” he declared, pressing a kiss to her hair. It was more though, so much more. He could actually sense a part of her inside. The Dragon was the calmest it had ever been in his entire life. It was…amazing.
“I think, my darling Dragon King, that I need a nap for a bit. I’m exhausted after that amazing lovemaking and bonding that we shared. Are we safe enough to let our guard down and actually sleep here?” She was worried now, very much so. When she and Talon bonded, it sent a wave of pure Angel energy over the Earth, and she was sure that Chaos had felt it. It terrified her.
“We are safe, love,” he said, softly pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Sleep for now. We will head out in a few hours and continue our journey. After I feed you. Yes, I know, must keep your strength up after all,” Talon teased with a grin when he caught the faint flickering thought in her head.
“Thank you.” She grinned then, mostly because she couldn’t help herself. “Goodness I’m happy,” she admitted and yawned again. “Have a good rest, Talon. If I get too uncomfortable for you to sleep with, just let me know.”
“Never going to happen, Cinnamon angel.” He smiled, tucking her closer to him. Burying his nose in her hair, he closed his eyes and relaxed. “You are mine, you are perfect, and you are not going anywhere,” he commented before yawning and curling into her more. “Sweet dreams, angel mine,” Talon whispered before dropping off to sleep.
Chapter Eleven
Chin propped in a hand, elbow on the table, Talon watched her as she devoured the meal he’d ordered for her. He’d finished his already and now had the pleasure of watching her discover the mixed platter he’d gotten.
They were three days into their trip. So far it had been amazing, spectacular, and fun. She was learning and enjoying, and Talon was just plain enjoying. He liked being out with her, taking in the sights and learning how to live again. She had brought laughter and pleasure back into his life. It was everything he’d been missing and didn’t realize until she was there.
Cinnamon looked at him and grinned. “What did I do this time?” she asked with a frown. “Did I get something on my face?” she asked and touched her fingers to her face as she spoke. “You promised you would tell me if I dribbled again.” She had dripped strawberry jelly on one of her white shirts and didn’t even know it until someone offered her a napkin.
“You are perfect, love,” he said, reaching over to stop her from wiping at her face. “I just like looking at you. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious, little one,” he murmured gently with a smile.
“Well you know me, honey. I worry about everything because I don’t pay a great deal of attention to too many things except you.” Perfect honesty. “So you can look at me all you want to.” She grinned and winked. “Especially if you lean over here and kiss me.”
“I can do that,” he said, shifting forward and leaning over the table to kiss her gently. He knew they made an odd couple, his Cinnamon so light, delicate, and chipper, and then there was him. Talon was darker, much, had more secrets and more things haunting him than most humans could even process. He was built like a tank, his Dragon giving him the bulk to take a beating and keep on killing people, and he was definitely not chipper. Happier now that he had her, but never, ever chipper. Sitting back, he smiled. “Eat your food, angel mine,” he told her as he put his chin back in his hand and settled in to just watch.
“I think that we are perfect together.” Yep, she had been intruding on his thoughts, but she did it because she loved him and loved being a shadow in his mind. Taking another bite of her food, she sighed happily. “This is so very good.” Food, she loved food. There was so much diversity in it. It was like people. No two dishes were exactly the same.
“Of course we are perfect together, darling. You fit me, and I absolutely fit you.” Talon flashed her a wicked grin and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively in her direction. Gods, he wanted her again. Not a bad thing in the least, but he really and seriously needed to consider a large size for his jeans. Having his cock constantly rubbing up on the zipper couldn’t be good for it, not in the least.
That had her laughing. The pure sounds tinkled over the diner, and she winked at him. “I love you, darling. I also can’t wait to go and try you on again,” she said happily before she pulled back. “So how much longer until we make it to the next hotel?” She found she really liked the hotels. The ones with four and five stars were amazing. She loved them, a great deal.
Grinning at her excitement, he shrugged. “We should keep moving for a little lon
ger before we stop for the night. But if you’d like we could call it a little early, stop in maybe three hours. If we do we could call for a pizza”—something she’d yet to try—“and watch a couple of movies on the TV.”
“What is pizza?” she asked with a happy grin. “I like this plan, especially since it’s got new food included. Will it be a four- or a five-star place that we are stopping at?” She ran on with the questions anytime she got excited.
“It will be at least a three. I can’t promise a four or five with the direction we are headed, but I shall try my best for you, sweetheart. As for the pizza…” Talon tried to think of how to describe it. “Pizza is a lot like foreplay for your mouth, flavors bursting and exciting your taste buds into a wild frenzy before you swallow and begin again.”
“Oh I very much love foreplay,” she admitted a little too loudly, causing heads to turn their way. “Especially when you give me foreplay and let me give back to you. That’s truly the most amazing feeling ever.”
Chuckling softly, Talon lifted a brow. “Remember to use your inside voice, love. No need to let everyone in the restaurant including the impressionable young children know of your delight in foreplay. They do not need to know about our sex life, my love. That is for us alone to know all about and others to only wish they had it so good.”
“Oh.” She felt her cheeks getting red again and frowned. “What’s this?” She touched her cheeks. “Why are they hot?” Had the temperature been turned up? That had to be it. No, the rest of her body was the same temperature but her face and neck were so very hot. Weird.
“Embarrassment causes blushing, love. The blush is a rush of blood to your face. In particular the cheeks, which, because of how warm your blood is, warms the flesh,” he reminded her. They’d discussed it before, but she didn’t always listen, especially when there was food around. Not that he blamed her. He got distracted by food as well.
“Oh yes, I recall that now.” She felt her face getting hotter. “How do I turn it off?” she asked softly. “You know, make it stop? How do I do that, honey?” Reaching out, she placed her hand on his. “Help me make it go away?”
“Slow breath, relax, and do not panic,” he said, quietly turning her hand over to rub his thumb against her palm. “It will fade in its own time, but the more laid-back and easygoing you are, the faster it will go away.”
She followed his instructions, slowing her breathing until she felt herself calming. Finally she smiled at him. “Thank you, Talon. You always know what I need and when I need it, don’t you?” It was one of the hundreds of billions of things she loved so very much about him.
“It’s only because I love you, love watching you, and am bonded to you, darling. It gives me an inside track to what you want and need.” That and he was relatively observant as well, which likely was a good thing given how long he’d lived. After all, no one lived as long as he did on pure luck alone. It was impossible or, at the very least, improbable.
“Well I’m glad,” Cinnamon retorted. “I’m glad that it’s only you that can read me so well.” She was expressive, to say the least. Finally, when she felt her cheeks turning from red to her normal pale color, she looked to him. “All right. So we should finish our meal, right?” Instead of running. She wouldn’t run from Demons, Vampires, or Minions, and she sure as shooting wouldn’t run because she was embarrassed.
Nodding, he smiled at her. “Absolutely, love. Finish up and we can get on the road again for a while before we stop for the night. We’ll order in your pizza and then we can spend a nice lazy night in bed today.”
“I think that sounds wonderful. Oh, can it be another one of those hotels that has a hot tub in the bedroom? I really rather liked that a great deal.” She found there was so very much on Earth that she loved. Most of it revolved around Talon, but there were other things she liked as well.
Smiling, he nodded. “I will see what I can manage, darling,” he promised softly. He didn’t know if he could find one around there that night. “I can’t promise, love, but I will definitely try just for you, sweetness.”
“Thank you for that, Talon.” Reaching out, she squeezed his hand with hers and smiled up at him. “Have I mentioned to you just how much I love you? How happy I am that you are mine, sweetheart?”
Shaking his head slightly, Talon grinned at her. “You know, darling, I’m not sure you have mentioned it of late.” He lifted her hand slightly to play with her fingers. “I think you should really remedy this slight, my love.” Talon shot her a sly look.
Leaning over, Cin brushed her lips to Talon’s cheek, and in his ear whispered, “I love you, Talon. I’m so very happy that you are mine. No matter what pain comes next in our lives, it’s worth it because I have you.”
Frowning at her words, Talon eyed her suspiciously. “That sounded mildly prophetic, love, and not in the least comforting or reassuring.” The fact she’d specifically said “pain” was what truly made him nervous. “Why would you say something like that, angel?”
Cinnamon frowned and shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. I truly didn’t think anything of it when I said it,” she admitted to him. “It just bubbled up and out of me before I was able to stop it.” She didn’t like that either.
Squeezing her fingers, he smiled. “Let it go, love,” he advised softly. “What is to be shall be. We can only be aware and prepare for whatever it might be. We are as much at the whim of the Gods as any other soul on Earth. Mere cogs in the great wheel of the grand scheme of whatever life is meant to be.”
Cinnamon nodded. “I know, honey. Believe me. I know that more than anyone else does.” She had watched it far too often. She had watched everything happening on the Earth since man climbed from the pond of life. “Whatever happens in life we will figure it out, darling.”
“Finish eating, darling, and let’s go and find ourselves a place to sleep tonight.” He smiled at her. “I have a few questions for you that hopefully you can answer.” If she even would, that was. Talon knew that there was likely a bunch of stuff she wouldn’t be permitted to speak of. He could respect that, but he also had to try and gain more knowledge about her. She was his other half, after all, and, while he loved and adored her, he didn’t know her very well…yet.
“I will answer anything that I can.” Cinnamon watched him and then softly in his mind finished with, If I can answer them aloud I will, and if I can’t I will speak in your mind. It’s time that you learn all that there is to learn about me, Talon. Time that I opened my heart and soul and let you in fully and completely.
Smiling at her words Talon leaned in to kiss her quickly. “Finish eating, love. We have a bed to find for the night. Preferably one that is large, soft, and is solidly built.” He had plans that went beyond just talking with her. Nefarious plans, one might even be so bold and brash as to say.
“I like that idea a lot. Especially the unspoken one.” Her eyes heated with intense need, desire making her panties wet. “I think maybe we should get our leftovers to go so that we will have something to eat after we come up for air.”
“Darling, that is what room service is for,” he whispered, letting the Dragon flash in his eyes for just a second. Holding up his hand, he asked for the check and grinned at her. “They come when needed and will just keep bringing us sustenance throughout the night.” Especially if he could find a high-end hotel.
“Oh I love how that sounds, a great deal. Yes, I think we should try to find a place like that. Do you think Quincy would mind doing a search for us to find us a hotel that has all that we want and need in it, honey? I think he would be able to find it far faster and easier than we could.”
Smiling at that, Talon dug out his phone and pulled up Skittles’s number. “Give him a call, love, and ask while I pay the check, all right?” Quincy would likely do anything Cinnamon asked. She’d gotten the little fiend wrapped around her finger rather well of late.
Cinnamon looked at the phone and frowned. “How do I make it call him?” she asked with
another rush of red to her face. “Remember you haven’t shown me how to use this yet.” She was ancient, older than Talon in reality, but she was much like a babe with how things on Earth actually worked.
“I remember everything about you, love,” he said with a smile. Tipping the phone, he pointed to the button. “Hit that and then press this”—he pointed to the speaker at the top—“to your ear and speak nice and normal. Don’t yell. While he’s not like me, he still has slightly more sensitive hearing than the average male.” Turning, he took the check from the waitress and winked at his Cinnamon. “Be right back, darling,” Talon promised, sliding from the booth to head to the till to pay.
Doing as Talon instructed, she laughed gleefully when Quincy picked up. “Quincy!” She thought to lower her voice, thankfully. “You are my very first phone call. Isn’t this exciting? I’m so very proud of myself. I did it mostly on my own.” Sure, Talon had pulled up the number and all, but she had pressed the button to make it connect. “Would you please, please do me a favor?” she asked the Mage with a grin.
Shaking his head, Quincy spun around in his chair. “Very impressive, Cin,” he said, knowing that if he didn’t praise her his life was forfeit. Talon was forgiving of many things except when it apparently came to this woman. “What do you need, darling?” he asked, shutting a few windows on his screen and pulling up another to work on whatever she required.
“I have no idea where we are, but I really would like another four- or five-star hotel. I love those the best. Do you know that all of the bedding that they have on their beds is hand stitched and it’s so smooth and soft it’s like silk? Oh and a hot tub in the room, too. Talon gets so hot in a hot tub, and not because of the water either. He really loves to make love with me in one, and I love it, too. Have you and Maya done that yet? If not you really should,” Cin rattled off happily.