by Denise Lynn
“You are not some commanding deity that I need to mindlessly obey.”
“Damn pity. However, it doesn’t change the fact that I am responsible for your well-being and safety. It’s instinctual. Things will go easier for you if you just do as you’re told.”
When she didn’t respond to his flippancy, or statement of fact, he rose from the bed. “I need a minute alone, and I’m sure you could use some time to yourself, too. But we obviously have a plane to catch, so be quick.” He glanced around the bedroom. “You said your luggage was in your car?”
She nodded and Sean headed toward the door. “I’ll have it sent to the plane and your car parked in the garage. Join me out front when you’re ready.”
Caitlin waited a few minutes after he’d left the room before she rolled over and buried her face in the comforter on the bed. Why had she come here? What made her think that Sean would help her get their son back without any conditions of his own? She’d known he was a dragon changeling. She also knew what that meant—demanding, possessive and oh, so arrogant in his assumption that he alone was right. Yet she’d never had so much as a second thought about coming to him.
Her breath hitched, and she swallowed the urge to cry. Was her son warm? Was he dry? Had he been fed? Did they hold him when he cried?
They wouldn’t know that he didn’t like to be rocked; he’d rather be bounced. So if they rocked him, it would only make him more upset, more agitated. What if his anxiety was more than they could handle and prompted them to do something horribly reckless?
* * *
Dozing in the corner of the ancient puzzle box, Aelthed opened his eyes and tilted his head to one side with a frown. Something was...different. There was a certain something in the air swirling about his eternal jail.
It felt like... He leaned forward, his arms wrapped around his bent legs, studying the chemistry in the air. It felt like animal lust.
Need.
Desire.
He shook his head. From where had this emotion come? Who was the object of such primordial passion?
Even after more than eight long centuries of captivity, he understood and recognized the intense longing that charged the air swirling about him like lightning in a thunderstorm.
The dragon twins were already mated, so neither of them were the target. And he knew that it was not Danielle Drake. Her passion was for him, and it felt warm, comforting, enticing and nothing at all like this brewing storm.
“No.” Aelthed rose and paced, hoping the movement would clear his mind of what was impossible. “It can’t be.”
The newest changeling wasn’t a dragon born. It couldn’t be him. His beast and power came from a curse alone, not from family blood. So why would that dragon’s emotions flow all the way from Dragon’s Lair to Mirabilus, into his cell and mind? Unless... Aelthed frowned. Was there more to this curse than he’d first feared?
Sending his thoughts out into the air, he whispered, “Danielle, come, talk to me.”
Just saying her name eased the tension from his body and the frown from his face. Danielle Drake possessed far more than just guardianship of his prison—she possessed his heart. Since he’d forced himself into her hands a couple years ago, he’d come to care for her deeply and he was well aware she shared the same feelings for him.
After Nathan the Learned had dropped the box that kept Aelthed imprisoned at the feet of the Dragon Lord’s wife, Alexia, they had put him in the basement with their weapons and forgotten about him. Which suited him fine, because it gave him the chance to listen and learn.
When it became necessary to gain assistance, he’d sought out Danielle Drake. Aelthed laughed softly remembering the first time he’d spoken to her. At that moment he’d been grateful for two things—that Danielle was telepathic and that his nephew Nathan had kept him updated on the current languages through the decades. Otherwise he never would have been able to converse with the woman.
He might have only been a spirit imprisoned in a puzzle box, but that didn’t stop him from noticing how beautiful she was with her womanly curves and long raven tresses. He’d been drawn to her from the first moment she’d touched his box and made him gasp at the warmth that had flooded through him.
She was so easy to talk to, quick of wit and old enough to know her own mind. Which she had to be, considering she’d raised her three nephews alone after their parents had been killed at Nathan’s hand. It was a shame she’d never married, never had the opportunity to share a life and experiences with someone her own age. But she’d insisted more than once that her life had been full and she was content with her lot—especially now that she had Aelthed to share her joys and troubles with.
He’d once lamented the huge difference in their ages and she’d laughed at him. While it was true that he was over nine hundred years of age and she only sixty-two, he’d only lived as a man for eighty of those years. As far as she was concerned, he wasn’t all that much older.
He didn’t argue with her logic, because it made no difference while he was locked in a wooden cube.
Within moments, he felt her warm touch on the box as she lifted it from her nightstand. “What is it, Aelthed? What do you need?”
He shivered at the low, seductive timbre of her voice. Oh, to be alive again, to be a man capable of gathering her into his arms for an embrace, a kiss, a prelude to making love. A wry smile briefly crossed his lips. Dreams and wishes were all he had and of late, they weren’t nearly enough.
Opening his mind to his surroundings, he brought her into view. He nodded with approval at the way she’d been wearing her hair down lately, instead of twisted up into a tight bun. She looked younger, more alive with the raven tresses streaming along her back. Forcing his attention back to the subject at hand, he asked, “Your nephew, the youngest one, is he still back at Dragon’s Lair?”
He felt the woman’s hesitation before she answered, “Yes, he is.”
“And tell me, Danielle, what troubles him?”
She sat on the edge of her bed and sighed. “I’m not sure of all the facts since Braeden just returned from the Lair. But it seems Sean got a vampire’s daughter pregnant. She had a son, and he’s been kidnapped.”
A vampire? The changeling lusted after a vampire? “Good heavens, not St. George?”
“Of course. Would one of the Drake boys choose anyone...normal?”
Aelthed chuckled at her long-suffering tone. Even though she’d done a fine job, she never should have had to raise three Drake males on her own. “No. It would make your life all too boring if they did.”
Danielle nodded in agreement. “I suppose so.” She placed the puzzle cube on a pillow and stretched out on the bed. “So, what can you tell me about St. George?”
“Well, it’s your great-great-great-grandsire’s fault that he’s a vampire. If I recall the rumors correctly, the two of them got into a fight—the dragon and the dragon slayer—and when the dragon managed to knock the slayer out, he left the man tied to a tree in the forest assuming someone would come along and free him.”
“I can guess the rest.” Danielle snorted. “He was found by a vampire, not another human.”
“Yes. Which explains the deep-seated hatred between the two families.”
“Not that they ever would have been the best of friends in the first place.”
“Perhaps not, but we can do nothing about the past. Only the future. How did the cursed changeling get a vampire pregnant?”
“She’s not exactly a vampire. Braeden says she’s a succubus.”
Aelthed considered that possibility then shook his head. “Doubtful. I think the Dragon Lord may be mistaken on this one. Although I am willing to guess that if she’s not a full blood-sucking vampire, that she may be a psychic soul-sucking one. Does she have fangs?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t met her.”
“This babe she bore, is it human—or otherworldly?”
“I’m not sure.” Danielle shook her head and sighed. “But since i
ts mother isn’t human, doesn’t it stand to reason that the babe might not be, either?”
More to himself than anyone else, Aelthed mused, “I wasn’t thinking of the mother.”
Danielle’s frown deepened. “Surely you don’t think this curse on my nephew carried over to his child?”
“Considering the oddities of late, it’s something we need to consider.” Even though Aelthed could already guess her answer, he had to ask, “I don’t suppose you know if the babe has shown any habits that might be considered...purely Drake?”
“I can’t answer that, either. I know nothing more than you.” Danielle picked up the cube and held it out before her. “Right now all I know for certain—” she drew the cube closer and then dropped her voice to little more than a whisper “—is that your nephew, Nathan the Learned, has the child and is using him as leverage to get his hands on the grimoire...and you.”
Chapter 4
Caitlin awoke with a start, uncertain where she was at first until a warm hand brushed down her arm. Then it all came rushing back—her arrival at Dragon’s Lair, her mother’s intrusion and boarding the plane.
When they’d boarded, she hadn’t paid much attention. It’d been easy enough to fall asleep when they’d left Tennessee, but not so much now. Even though she was still exhausted, she looked around the dimly lit cabin. The only description she could think of off the top of her head was air yacht. The Drakes’ private jet wasn’t a short-hop plane. From the size of it, the baby could easily do transcontinental flights with ease.
The interior looked nothing like any plane she’d ever flown on before. She stretched her legs out before her, pressing her back into the baby-soft leather of the seat. No wonder she’d fallen asleep so quickly; this was easily the most comfortable recliner she’d ever sat in before.
From behind black-padded doors toward the rear of the plane, Sean’s voice drifted across her ears. Apparently, he was on the phone again, meaning she was free to go snooping.
Caitlin felt the side of the chair for a button to lower the leg rest. Instead, the one she pressed extended the chair out into a bed. Comfortable? Yes, but not what she wanted. She pressed another button and this time righted the piece of furniture to a chair and then swiveled away from the window. She rose and stepped around the chair next to hers—there were four of them, one on each side of the aisle and the chairs could swivel to face each other if the people seated wanted to hold a conversation.
Behind this setup was another, but while still recliners, the chairs were more like airplane seats in that they didn’t swivel around. Between the two sets of chairs was a table that folded down against the wall.
She turned around and walked past the swivel recliners into a small kitchen—or galley, she supposed—and pulled open the fridge to take a bottle of water. The closed doors beyond the galley probably led into the cockpit. She had no desire to see what was there, so turned around and walked into Sean’s chest.
“Looking for something?”
“No. Just being nosy.”
He laughed. “It’s a winged travel home. Braeden does nothing in half measures.” Pointing down the aisle, he added, “On the other side of the first set of doors is the head...bathroom. Double sink, shower, toilet. Beyond that is another set of doors that leads to another cabin with more private seating for four. Beyond that a soundproof door concealing the bedroom, where there’s two sofas that fold out to beds.”
Then he slid open a small panel on the wall next to the galley door and pressed a button. A huge screen slid down in the center of the cabin. “And if you want to watch a movie, you can do that in any of the cabins. Including the head, except that screen’s a little smaller.”
Caitlin widened her eyes. “Impressive.”
“No half measures whatsoever.”
“I can’t imagine his travel trailer.”
Sean laughed. “Where did you get the idea that Braeden goes camping?”
“No?”
He escorted her to the double chairs. “Hardly.”
They no sooner sat down than his phone rang again. “Excuse me.” He rose and walked down the aisle.
She turned her attention out the window to see only the blackness of the night. They were headed to the Drake family’s medieval stronghold on Mirabilus—an island somewhere in the Irish Sea.
It was said that the glamour spell cast over the isle, more than a thousand years ago, still held, and that any mortal who looked upon it saw nothing but mist and fog obscuring their vision.
She couldn’t begin to imagine a magic that strong. What sort of power did it take to cast such a permanent spell? This island had been in his family’s possession since the beginning of time. What sort of powers did he and his brothers hold?
Caitlin glanced toward Sean before looking back out at the expanse of darkness. He was still on the phone. Had one of his brothers discovered something about her son? She folded and unfolded her hands, fighting the impatience gnawing at her. It had only been a few hours, but her worry for her son made her anxious and left her wondering why this seemingly top-of-the-line plane was taking so long to get to Mirabilus.
“Soon.” Sean sat back down and covered her fidgeting hands with one of his own. Obviously, his call had ended. “We’ll be there soon.”
When she only yawned then nodded in response, he slipped his arm across her shoulders and pulled her against him, asking, “Tired?”
“Very.” But the knowledge that they were getting closer to her son now had her nerves on edge. Besides, his fingers circling her shoulder, and the warmth of his side against hers, had her wishing for something more than sleep.
Even though she didn’t feel his presence in her mind, his deep chuckle let her know that he was tuned in to her thoughts and she tried to pull away, but he simply swept her into his arms and across his lap as if she were nothing more than a rag doll.
“Where were we before your mother appeared?”
The warmth of his breath whispering against her ear sent shivers down her spine. Caitlin sighed and pushed against his shoulder. “Not in public.” She had no intention of joining any mile-high club.
“There’s no one here.” He made a show of looking around the empty cabin. “It’s not as if we’re aboard a commercial airliner.”
“Was that your brother on the phone?” She tried to change the direction of their conversation before it got out of control.
“Of course.” While he followed her lead with the conversation, he didn’t stop caressing her shoulder. In fact, the free hand he’d placed on her stomach was now inching higher.
“Anything I should know? Did he discover something about little Sean?”
“No. We were discussing our living arrangements at Mirabilus.”
“What do you mean by our living arrangements?” She sucked back a soft gasp as he brushed his hand along the underside of her breast.
“As in where we’ll be sleeping.”
He’d easily, and all too conveniently, ignored the intended emphasis she’d placed on the word our. Caitlin wished she could just as easily ignore the warmth of his hand that had trailed away from her shoulder to steadily stroke the sensitive spot beneath her ear. With all of the calmness she could muster, she asked, “Any reason we can’t have separate rooms?”
“A few.” He leaned his head down to rest his lips behind her ear. “For one thing, while it may be a castle, it doesn’t have near unlimited supply of empty rooms.”
“Uh-huh.” She closed her eyes, savoring the rush of sexually charged pleasure rippling to life. She really should stop him.
And she would...soon.
“For another thing—” he paused to graze her earlobe with his teeth then continued “—why wouldn’t we share a room?”
His lips joined in the play along with his teeth. She wasn’t certain which would make her lose focus first—the light nips from his teeth or the gentle suckling of his lips. She’d had no idea earlobes could be that sensitive. Caitlin leaned away,
but he just followed along.
“We aren’t a couple.” For some reason her tone didn’t sound too sure of that fact even to her own ears.
“No?”
He brushed his thumb across her breast. Her nipples strained through the layers of clothing to get closer to his touch. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying out with longing, swallowed hard and finally said, “No. We aren’t.”
He caressed her thigh, making her jump in surprise. When had he moved his hand from her breast? While she was still sorting through that quandary, he asked, “So, we don’t have a child together?”
“Yes, we do.” She grabbed his hand, stopping him from sliding it between her thighs.
“So at some point in time we were most definitely a couple.”
She couldn’t argue that point. However, she responded, “We were only together a few nights.”
“And days.”
He relaxed the hand on her leg. Caitlin followed suit, easing up on the confining grip she had on his hand. Sean entwined his fingers through hers and lifted their joined hands to his lips.
Wondering what he was up to now, she looked at him. The shimmer of his eyes warned her that she wasn’t going to agree with whatever plot he was devising.
He kissed the back of her hand before moving his lips to hers.
She closed her eyes, not fighting the kiss or the empowering breath flowing into her, feeding her sorely depleted stores. Her mind seemed to spin in a whirlwind of colors that beckoned her to lose herself in the brilliant maelstrom.
Then a touch, the stroke of palm against flesh, unfettered by clothing, brushed slowly down the length of her body.
Caitlin froze. He’d slipped into her mind with his kiss and she’d been too weak, too tired to sense his presence until he was inside. But that didn’t mean she had to quietly accept his intrusion.
She pulled away from his kiss, but he held her close and whispered, “Accept my offer, Caitlin. I have enough energy for both of us, and I freely give you whatever you need.”