A brief thought flashes through my mind that maybe Cassandra’s behind this. Does she secretly know I’m a dragon?
Now I’m getting into conspiracy theory territory. I don’t have time for it today.
After I told Cassandra what happened, her behavior shifted from slightly annoyed to weirdly protective. She handled the gallery foot traffic so I could get all my other personal business done.
Although she keeps me off guard with her sometimes severe attitude, it’s clear when I look at her that she does care. And more than just the ‘she wouldn’t have a job if I got killed’ kind of way.
Maybe one day I’ll figure her out.
Until that time, I take advantage of the quiet to cancel my cards and order new ones.
Not long after, the police call and say they recovered my wallet.
Everything was intact, including what little cash was in it.
Of course it was. I couldn’t find this out before I canceled everything?
I’ll be short for a few days until my cards come in.
I suppose worse things could have happened.
I don’t see Taran until closing. Cassandra lets him in and locks the door on her way out.
“Missed you last night,” he says as he leans in my office doorway.
I’m always awed at how he manages to fill the space he inhabits. I’ve seen Nyve standing next to Taran and he’s the only person I’ve seen that is actually larger than Taran. I don’t know if he’s really a big guy or if his attitude and demeanor make it appear that way.
The effect is the same. A tickle deep in my heart that proudly proclaims that I’m his and he’s mine.
“I missed you, too.” I motion for him to come in and sit while I wrap up my business. “Is this your dinner break? Up for dinner in tonight? I think I have something I can throw together.”
“I took the rest of the night off. The shop was slow and I didn’t have anyone on the books. Dinner at your place sounds good.” His hand hooks around the back of my neck and he pulls me in for a slow, possessive kiss.
The moment he touches me, the tension of my day melts away.
“I have to run by the police station, then we can go, if you want to call a car.”
Taran pauses, his brows knitting together in a frown. “Why the police station?”
Oops. I hadn’t wanted to tell Taran about what happened. Maybe it’s best I do.
“I didn’t want to worry you—”
“A conversation starting like that can’t end well.”
“It’s nothing bad—” I pause, choosing my words with care. “Nothing too bad.”
Taran sits patiently as I explain to him what happened the night before. I don’t leave anything out, including the lizard reference.
If he’s upset, it’s not showing. I don’t know if that’s good or not. Is he not worried? Is he worried and his anger manifests as deadly calm? I realize there is so much I still don’t know about Taran.
“And you didn’t recognize him? His voice, his clothing, anything?”
“No,” I say with a soft sigh.
Maybe Taran read my body language, or maybe he really is that in tune with me, but he pulls on my wrist to get me to sit in his lap so he can wrap his arms around me. Instantly, I’m at ease in his embrace.
I lean into him and wrap my arms around his shoulders. “I feel stupid now.”
“Stupid? For a mugger threatening you and being all cryptic? It doesn’t matter if you’re a badass or not, Nosko. There’s no reason to risk your health for your wallet.”
“I know. But, last night as I was sitting at the table thinking it, I had the stupid thought that Annika is involved in some way.”
Taran turns my face to look at him. “How?”
“Just… her jab at secrets and how we all have them. What if this is her way of trying to gain intel against you and the shop to take business away?”
Taran purses his lips in thought. “Maybe. Hard to say if she’s that cunning to try.”
“It’s stupid. I’m probably just being paranoid.” I feel paranoid. Now that Taran’s here, I feel like my worry is all a bit silly.
“I’m not so willing to dismiss this, yet, Nosko.” He bear hugs me to press our chests together. I can feel his heart beating. “I think caution is in order. We can try to talk to her, see if she comes up off anything that might tip her hand.”
“If she’s dangerous, we may not want to poke that bear.”
Taran bares his teeth and snaps. “She’s not near as dangerous as her neighbors. No one threatens me and mine.”
I can’t help it, but I laugh. He’s so cute when he gets like that, even though I know he could back that up. “Well she’s been nice enough, I think. Hasn’t she?”
“Yeah,” Taran says after a pause. “She hasn’t called the cops on us or anything.”
“So maybe we should sleep on it.” The more we talk about it, the less convinced I am that Annika is involved in any way. “Right now, I just want to go home.”
“Then get off my lap so I can get to my phone.”
“You were the one who pulled me here.”
“Don’t use logic on me. It doesn’t work.”
12
Taran
Things were going pretty good with me and Nosko until the car dropped us off in front of his apartment building. Nosko froze to the spot, his gaze fixed on what I think was the alley the mugger dragged him into.
The driver swipes my card and pulls away from the curb. It doesn’t seem to faze Nosko at all.
“Hey.” He’s shivering when I put my hands on his shoulders. “Let’s go in.”
I circle around to place myself between Nosko and the alley. The tension in his hand gripping mine as we walk relaxes only when we get into the building itself. “You okay?”
Nosko lets out this shuddered breath that lets me know he was more affected by it than he was letting on. My brave little omega.
“You thought you were okay until you got out of the car.”
We hustle up the stairs and only when the door is shut solidly and locked does he relax. “Yeah. Wow. Sorry about that.”
“What has you upset? That he’ll be back?” Nosko is flitting about his apartment like he has a case of nerves. On his third pass, I manage to get my hands on him and drag him to the couch. “Nosko, talk to me.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Taran. I don’t want to think about it. Except it keeps circling around in my head. The police were no help when I picked up my wallet—”
“I know. I was there when you did. They don’t have anything to go on, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have leads. Let them do their job.”
It’s a fight to keep Nosko sitting down so I drape one of my legs over his thighs.
Good luck moving that, little dragon.
He finally sags and tips over to lean against me. I get my arm around him and he snuggles up tight against me. “I feel calm when you’re here. But after seeing the alley again, it’s so real to me, like it just happened.”
“It did just happen. Last night.”
“No, I mean happened right now.”
I twist on the couch and lean against the arm. Once Nosko is re-situated, I can wrap my arms around him. “Can I do something for you?”
“Beat up the jerk that makes me feel so weird about it?”
“As soon as we find him, I will. But that’s not what I mean.”
Nosko scrubs his face against my shirt. “Sing to me? When my grandmother used to sing, it always helped me relax.”
I have another idea. “Can I do one better?”
“Not sure how you can top that, but sure.”
“It’s a trick I’ve been able to do since I was a kid. It’s how many clients end up falling asleep in my chair, even though the work we’re doing can be pretty intense pain-wise.”
Nosko’s head comes up and he side-eyes me. “Is this going to get kinky?”
“Maybe. It can be.” I urge him to turn ar
ound so he can recline against me, back to my chest. “Now close your eyes.”
Once I see Nosko do as he’s told, I relax as well, letting my eyes flutter closed.
It’s a technique I developed over the years. I don’t know what it’s called, if it even has a name. I don’t talk about it much because at a very low level, I can do it without thinking. With Nosko this keyed up, it’s going to take a concerted effort.
I fold his hands with mine and place them over his heart. “Breathe deeply and imagine in your head that you’re opening a door.”
“What’s on the other side?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does. I’m not opening any door that I don’t know who or what’s on the other side.”
“Fine, Mr. Pedant, imagine it’s me.”
Nosko settles down again. “Thank you.”
His breath deepens and I match mine with his so that we’re in sync.
Reaching into the deep recesses of my mind, I imagine a thread. It shines perfectly silver, like Nosko’s hair. I pick it up between my finger and thumb and give it a gentle tug.
Nosko gasps. “What—”
“Keep breathing and keep the door open,” I whisper in his ear.
He calms again and gives a gentle tug back on the thread.
I smile at the connection we have. I build it up in my head until it’s no longer a thread but a string. Then a rope. Then unbreakable chains.
Every increase in the size of the connection between us draws me closer to him.
I’ve never done this with a lover. Not to this degree of connection. It can be dangerous to let someone that close, which is why I only do it to a limited degree when I’m working with a client who gets wound up for some reason. They instantly calm.
Nosko is completely compliant in my arms.
“That’s you.” He breathes out slowly. Turning his head, he blinks his eyes open at me. “That’s you I feel?”
“That’s me.”
“How do you—”
I claim his mouth, a kiss to deepen our connection, to draw the questions from him. No more questions, little dragon. Just come with me deeper into our connection.
Nosko turns without releasing our kiss, his knees sliding on either side of my hips. His erection presses against my stomach. It’s not an uncommon reaction. It verifies that we really are connected on so many unconscious and subconscious levels.
Everything he is opens to me. I can’t put them to words but his fears, thoughts, worries, joys, happy times, grief… It’s all there, like his gallery pictures. I can feel them, sense them.
I don’t want him to be alone with that, so I open to him as well. The hard life I’ve had, the times of sorrow, of fear, of being in love and being betrayed. I want him to see all of me.
He jerks his head up, staring down at me with his wide, passion-dark eyes. “I don’t understand—”
“Then stop trying. Just feel it.”
Somewhere along the line, we have to move from the sofa to stretch out next to each other in his bed.
All the physical sensations are heightened. The soft slide of his sheets drifts across my skin like feathers. His every exhale is a gentle breeze against my cheek. He shivers against me when I roll to press him against the bed. I kiss him until we’re both dizzy.
Instinct moves ahead with us trailing behind to catch up. Nosko’s body is ready for me, his arousal a thick, heavy scent that fills my head until I’m drunk from it. My fingers probe him, his slick allowing me to plunder him until he is shaking.
I feel his need intensely, like a deep well in my soul.
“So wet for me. Is this how badly you want my cock in you?”
“No,” Nosko pants out. “I want all of you in me. And I’ll scream if you don’t do something.”
Using his slick, my fist slides over his cock, a smooth motion over the thick shaft until his hips rock beneath me. “Taran!” His voice is strangled and desperate and it leaves me just as desperate as he is.
I flip him onto his stomach and pull at his hips so I can plunge into his body with one smooth stroke. He shouts and the sound echoes through my physical being. It’s a primal sound of desire and lust and such a deep longing for connection to someone else.
That someone is me. That someone will always be me.
I lose myself in motion as I plunge into his body, my hand on his cock matching my pace. My own desires and lust and deep longing for him drive me forward until it’s instinct that buoys us up.
We don’t leave our physical bodies but spiritually, we’ve lifted into the air to float among the clouds, twirling and twining and coming together in a flash of scales and fire, claws and teeth, and the threads that braid us together forever as fated mates.
Soul mates.
Mine forever.
My orgasm rushes out of me and I choke on his name as it blindsides me with the subtlety of a freight train. I empty in him, throbbing and thrusting on instinct as the knot at the base of my cock slips in with a pop to lock us in place.
Beneath me, Nosko sobs quietly, his cock jumping in my hand as he finds his own release. Gulping breaths keep him steady before his arms give way, and he plants face first into a pillow.
I take him down with me to our sides and to avoid the wet spot from where he splashed his sheets. With my knot buried deep in him, I wrap around him, arms holding him tight. “I’ll never let any harm come to you, Nosko. On my life I swear it. With me at your side, you will be safe. Always.”
Nosko places a clumsy kiss on my chin before flopping back on the bed. “I know. I felt it. That was… I never felt that before. How did you do that?”
My heartbeat slowly returns to normal. I tuck a few pillows under our heads while we stay locked together. “I don’t know, really. It’s more instinct. I don’t think about it most times but I figure it’s why people stay calm around me when I should be pissing them off or something. Or why they stay in their chairs even though the pain of the needles has them wanting to jump up and call off the tattoo. Sometimes, they even fall asleep. But I just… have this instinct, I guess, the ability to feel other people and how to answer those feelings.”
“That’s cool,” Nosko says after a yawn. “You can use it on the baby when he can’t sleep at night.”
The baby. My baby. Mine and Nosko’s baby. “If I plan on getting any sleep, you can count on it.”
“That’s not a misuse of a gift at all.”
Even tired and afraid, Nosko still has his humor. “Why not use it if I have it.”
Nosko is quiet for a long time, to the point I think he’s fallen asleep. My knot is starting to go down but I’m not going to pull out until the last minute. I’m tired enough that I may just fall asleep like this while still in him.
“Do you use it to get your way?” The question jerks me awake.
“Like, to manipulate people?”
“Yeah. Like that.”
I consider lying. That’s not cool, especially after we’ve just shared everything about ourselves. I won’t betray that trust. “When I was younger and found that I could do it? I thought about it. Decided against it. Too much bad karma.”
“Now you just used it on me.”
“I won’t do it again if you don’t want.”
Nosko rocks back and twists to look up at me. “Not on your life. That was probably one of the most intense orgasms I’ve experienced. You’re going to start doing that all the time.”
I bark out a laugh. “Yes, sir.”
“And using it on the baby when he’s fussy.”
“Yes, sir.”
13
Nosko
It takes a few days to shake off what happened in the alley. I feel like I’m being a big weenie about it, but Taran soothes my worries away with just a touch and a kiss. Cassandra hovers over me, which is worrisome on its own. It’s nice, actually. I think the woman is finally warming up to me.
She even brings me coffee. Sometimes.
Well,
one time.
That’s a huge step for us.
I wrap up a phone call with our accountant, not feeling really good about our prospects to meet bills. Something Cassandra said only a few weeks ago. We have to figure out something to bring in fresh art to sell to keep our doors open or the gallery will be in trouble.
So, I’ll just go about this the old-fashioned way.
Brainstorm.
With a clean sheet of paper, I set aside my concerns and start listing all the things we can do to attract new talent to showcase.
A tap on the door interrupts me. I look up to see Cassandra. “Someone’s here to talk to you. She said you emailed her last week?”
“Did she give a name?”
“No but she… well, just come talk to her.”
Cassandra code for I don’t want to deal with this one.
Fair enough. We each have clients we’d prefer not to deal with.
I walk out into the gallery proper to see a familiar head of burgundy hair with gold and purple streaks. She’s dressed in a black silk shirt and black jeans and boots, standing in front of one of our premier artists that we feature regularly.
“Annika!” I really am glad to see her. “I didn’t think you ever got out of your shop.”
She turns to her name and gives me a quiet, but genuine smile. She drops her crossed arms and meets me in the middle of the gallery. “Ugh,” she says with a tilt of her head. “Errands. More specifically, bills.”
“I know the feeling. I just got off the phone with my accountant. Just once I’d like her to call me with good news.” I motion for her to sit on one of the leather covered benches.
Annika joins me on the bench, her attention back on the large piece of art hanging on the wall. “Felix is still around, I see.”
“I think Felix will keep painting until he’s dead.”
“People love him. You can’t go wrong featuring his work on your show floor.”
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