by Sariah Skye
I stared at him as if he just told me to drink more water when I was drowning. "Milk? If that’s the case, then why does anyone ever have bad dreams? Pretty sure most people drink milk pretty often."
He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Leo, what have I told you? Magic mostly is about intent. It’s my intent that you have a peaceful rest so not only am I using these herbs which are supposed to have purifying properties but I’m infusing it with my energy. Since I only want the best for you…"
I waved him off. "Whatever it takes, I guess." He handed me the glass and I chugged it down, tasting the hint of Earth as I swallowed but of course, not noticing anything different then a normal glass of milk.
"Did you hear from your brother?" I asked.
"Yeah. He isn’t sure about the dream demons or whatever but, he said he’ll try to find something out," he said.
"How?"
"He has his ways, I guess," he said. He stood in the chair and stretched out, reaching a hand for my wet hair hanging down my shoulders.
He smirked playfully, brushing it over my shoulder and down my back. "You know, the wet hair is pretty hot too."
I grinned as he allowed his hand to linger on the bare skin on my collarbone. He trailed his fingers down slowly to the top of my cleavage, leaving a sensation of electrical shivers behind with each touch. "You know," he began, with a lilt in his tone, "I know we got a little carried away, but I really enjoyed…earlier."
My cheeks pricked with heat at the thought. "I’d be lying if I said I didn’t either." I wound my arms around his waist and stood up on my tiptoes, but in my human form I still wasn’t tall enough to kiss him without him leaning over. He took the hint, and our lips met in the middle. I allowed one solitary kiss before I felt the fire burning in my center again, and pulled away, leaning my cheek on his chest. "I’m tired." It was a convenient excuse, but I really was tired.
He chuckled. "I know. I’ll just do some…things beforehand. Do you want me to…umm…" he motioned for the bed, stammering. "I’ll be a perfect gentleman, I promise. Or I can sleep on the floor, it’s up to you."
I shook my head. "No, you can sleep here," I said, climbing into my bed myself and pulling the sheet over me. "I’d feel better if you did."
"Okay," he said. He turned away, for his arsenal of crap on the desk and started placing things in random spots that made no sense to me, and chanting every now and then, occasionally sprinkling a splash of water here or there.
I shook my head, bewildered. I unzipped the hoodie, figuring it was safe with the blanket over me. I couldn’t sleep with sleeves on, they bothered me. I tossed the hoodie on the floor and rested against my pillow.
I was about half asleep, after watching his serious face purifying or cleansing the room of nightmares and I grinned to myself at his furrowed brow or his hushed muttering. Finally, he seemed satisfied and sat down on the bed. My eyes flew open for a minute as his weight shifted my position. He pulled his black t-shirt over his head and tossed it on the ground. I knew he had several more tattoos on his back and shoulders, lots of Celtic and tribal designs, surrounding a sequence of four circles entwined in the middle, forming one simple yet intricate design. Curious, I reached out and gingerly traced each circle with a fingertip, "What does this mean?"
He peered over his shoulder at me. "Oh, that’s called the Celtic Wheel of Balance," he said. "Each circle represents one of the four elements all coming together in the middle, with the strongest element of all."
"Spirit?"
"That’s right," he said.
"How come it’s not colored in like the rest of them?" I asked, noticing one green circle assumedly for Earth, a red one for fire, so on. "And, what about arcane?"
"Lots of magic users don't believe arcane is an actual element; it exists between elements...sort of. Even so, the black outline can represent that. As for spirit, until recently, I had no idea spirit had a color," he said, throwing me a warm smile over his shoulder. "But I’ll have to change that, because now I see that it does."
"And what color would that be?" I asked.
"Pink, of course," he replied, with a tender smile.
With that declaration, my insides melted. "Be careful, or I might start liking pink, finally."
He grinned widely. "Well, you should like yourself," he said.
I laid my head back down and patted the pillow next to me. "Sleepy time," I said, dreamily.
He chuckled. "Sec. I need different pants." He briefly left the bedroom and came back in moments later wearing a pair of black pajama pants, and he crawled into bed with me, pulling a spare blanket from the foot of the bed over him.
"You really don’t have to do that," I insisted.
"No, actually, I do. Being that close to you in a bed…I am not sure if I can control myself," he said.
I shot him a playful half smile. "Who said you had to?" I asked, reaching out and running my fingers down the length of his bare arm.
Gabriel swallowed, and coughed. "Come on, Leo. Don’t you want it to be more…special?"
I shrugged, continuing to brush my fingers over the lines of one of his tribal tattoos. "It would be."
Gabriel smiled wryly, and exhaled a large breath. "Seriously, you’re killing me here."
I pulled myself to my elbows and crawled the short distance to him on the bed and leaned over him, my hair cascading over my face and onto his chest. I could hear his heart beat more rapidly, as I leaned in and lightly grazed the side of his neck with my lips, working my way up gently to the soft spot under his ear. I heard him audibly simper. I could tell he was fighting to restrain himself as he slowly wrapped his arms around my middle.
"I don’t understand, you were so nervous about this before," he said, somewhat breathless.
I tossed my hair back over my shoulder with a hand, and let it linger as my fingers trailed slowly down my chest and rested in the crook of my ample cleavage (for the first time, I felt quite thankful that I had been blessed with larger boobs in my dragon form, and curves even though most dragons were built rather slim in their human forms). Gabriel swallowed again, grabbing my hand in both of his and bringing it to his face, placing a very passionate and yet very pointedly controlled kiss on it, his brown eyes staring at me with an eager sparkle.
"Well, see I was…but I think I’m over it now" I said , pushing aside the blanket and climbing on top of him as he lay there, straddling his waist with my own center, feeling the raging fire stoke itself as I did. "I’ve never had the opportunity to experience it, but dragons are quite carnal which is half the reason why they get married in the first place. Hell, even then it doesn’t stop them from sleeping around because once that fire gets lit, it doesn’t go out until someone puts it out," I said suggestively, getting a certain satisfaction out of seeing Gabriel fight his wanton desires so desperately.
He let my hand drop and bit his lip, hard. I could tell it was painful from the wince in his eyes. His hands wandered to my waist, his fingers carefully meandering under the cotton of my tank top. I grinned playfully and took the hint, and wrapped my arms around myself to grasp the top and start pulling it over my head. I got about halfway up my stomach when two strong hands stopped me, and pushed them down.
"Stop. Seriously." He said, giving me a warning tone. "I took it too far earlier, and I don’t want you doing something you’re really not ready for…as much as I want to…" His hands were back at my waist again, carefully lifting me up and urging me to climb off of him.
"But— "I blinked, the hot fire that was raging now suddenly turning to nausea and pin pricks of tears welling in my eyes, feeling my pride severely injured. Didn’t this always work in the movies, seduction? Suddenly, I felt offended and…disgusting. I glanced down at myself, my tank top hiked up and the neckline yanked down, showing a bit more flesh then I was suddenly aware of that I was showing. I grabbed for my covers and yanked them over me.
"Leo… I’m sorry." Gabriel let out a frustrated groan, slapping his face with h
is palms and grumbling to himself. He tried reaching out to me but I slapped his hand away and quickly turned away from him on the bed and pulled the blanket all the way up to my neck and using the edge of it, trying to wipe away the tears that were furiously falling down my face.
He sighed. "I’m really sorry, I’m just trying to do the right thing." I felt the bed shift as he leaned over me and kissed the back of my head softly before rolling back over and laying back down on his side of the bed.
I blinked a few more tears out of my eyes before I felt the urge of drowsiness take over and I willingly gave into it.
Chapter 14
I was awakened abruptly that next morning by the sound of a loud rapping on my door. I quickly sat upright, glancing over at the alarm clock on my broken nightstand: 4:35 AM. I looked around, the sun just beginning its ascent—just a twinge of morning light in the sky.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and shoved Gabriel, who had inched ever so closer to me over the night. He still looked adorable asleep and I felt a sudden pang of guilt over the night’s activities—or lack thereof. He was just trying to be a gentleman, and I got angry over it.
Gabriel snorted himself awake, confused. "What? Are you okay?" he asked, but was answered by the sound of the heavy knocking on the door again. "—the hell?" He tossed the covers off of him and tiptoed stealthily to the door. I saw no need, as the knocking was so loud they were likely to not hear the footsteps inside anyways, human or dragon.
"Leorah?" A voice—slightly familiar—sounded from the other side of the door, but decidedly feminine.
"Kit?" I asked. I dashed towards the door, wishing I had a peephole. I was about to open it, when Gabriel pulled me away.
"What if it’s someone coming to take you back?" he asked in a hushed panic, and I paused.
"But it sounds familiar, what if it’s Kit?" I asked back, trying to keep my voice in a whisper.
He shook his head. "It’s not, I don’t recognize the voice at all."
Perhaps he was right. Another rap at the door. "Leorah? Open up, it’s Kiarra. I need to talk to you, it’s important."
"Kiarra?" I mouthed in surprise and slight disgust. Gabriel grimaced.
"What if it’s something about your brother?" he offered.
I considered this. "Uggh, I guess we’ll find out." I stepped back and motioned Gabriel towards the door. "You do it. If she’s got some evil weird juju about her— "
"—I’ll fireball her, don’t worry." Gabriel twisted the doorknob and peeked his head out the door.
"Kiarra? Everything okay?" he asked.
"Where’s Leo?" she asked. I could see the top of her head as she tried to peek through the crack in the open door.
"Sleeping. It is kind of the asscrack of dawn, you know," Gabriel replied dryly. "Is everything okay?"
"No, it’s really not but…look I can explain just let me come in. Please," Kiarra pleaded from the other side of the door, trying to push it open but Gabriel was fighting it.
"Look, I’m really not sure if I should, with everything going on—" he began.
"Someone from the Court has located where you live, Leorah, and they’re coming after you. Today. I came here to warn you, and help you escape," Kiarra said.
I winced, taken by surprise. Gabriel looked back at me and exchanged an appalled look. I nodded and he slowly opened the door.
"How do you know that?" I asked, the second she stepped in. Gabriel shut and locked the door after her.
Kiarra stood there for a moment, looking quite bedraggled from her generally super-model looks in a pair of faded blue jeans and a black boyfriend style sweater that hung well past her waist. Her black hair was in a messy knot on top of her head, her chocolate skin was dull with fatigue and she carried a large blue backpack that she hoisted off her shoulder and heaved to the floor. "Ugh, that portal travel always makes me feel so groggy," she said, brushing herself off.
"How did you know?" Gabriel prompted again, much more sternly this time, brown eyes narrow, stepping into her personal space and making her look very uncomfortable. His hands were dangling at his sides, in balled fists, but I could see the smoke coming from them as he involuntarily (or maybe voluntarily) created sorcerer’s fire in his palms.
Kiarra looked at him with alarm, and held up her hands in surrender. "Seriously, I’m a friend. I know you’re suspicious of me, but, it’s not for the reasons you think."
"Spill," I said, motioning towards the recliner chair for her to sit in. Gabriel relented and stepped back. I grabbed his forearm and urged him to sit with me on the sofa. He sat first and I draped my legs over his lap (both for comfort and to weigh him down; preventing him from standing up and shooting plasma balls at Kiarra’s pretty face) and he hugged my knees to his chest, and we both stared at her with anticipation. I didn’t have any real reason to not let him blast her good, but I didn’t want any more scorch marks in my apartment; the damage deposit was expensive.
"Okay, let me start from the beginning."
"That’d be helpful," I retorted dryly.
"Okay well…as you know, The Court hasn’t always been exactly honest with you—or any of us. I’m guessing by now, you’ve figured out how to do magic, yes?" she began, and I nodded reluctantly.
"A little."
"More will come," she said assuredly. "Well, long story short an underground organization was formed underground to help maintain the integrity of dragon society against those who sought to do harm and unravel our way of life— "
"Sounds kind of like the FBI, or some spy thing," Gabriel said, with a chortle.
Kiarra smiled. "Yeah, that’s kind of what we are. Anyways, we’re called the Loremasters. No one knows about us but other Loremasters and now, you.
"Part of my mission was to infiltrate the Court, and make sure everything stayed on the up and up because we all had suspicions there were corrupted members out for their own personal agenda—but we knew that long before I was even born. So, when I was of age, I became somewhat of a double-agent and infiltrated the Court, as an entry level member. I didn’t have much to report, until I met your brother."
My mouth fell open, my eyes narrowed, feeling a sudden surge of anger. "I knew it! I knew there was something up with you, you’re just using my brother!" I tried to stand up and confront her, maybe with fists but Gabriel hugged my legs closer to him and refused to let me stand.
"I know how it looks," she said. "But I swear, my feelings for him are real. It started off as a job, but I genuinely fell in love with him and we do intend on getting married, for real."
"Does he know about all this?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No, not yet. I felt that it was more important that you know what was going on first, because my real job is to first and foremost make sure you are protected."
I exchanged glances with Gabriel. We said nothing, but he wrapped his arms a little tighter around my legs. The air in the room was palatable with tension. Kiarra—if telling the truth—was revealing something huge, and she wasn’t done yet.
Kiarra ahemed pointedly. "Anyway, my point is that, I know that Court issued a warrant for your return to Anarach and since I knew your brother, they assumed you’d come more willingly with me."
"But, why do they want me?" I asked. "I’ve been here for two years now. It’s never been an issue before."
"The official edict states you’re here illegally," Kiarra said, with a wry face.
"Illegally? Hell, they were only too eager to push me through the portal!" I protested. "The Queen especially! I remember pleading with her to leave and I barely had to speak and she granted it. ‘Be gone, granddaughter of Aleron.’" I scoffed.
"It wasn’t the King or the Queen that issued the warrant, I hear," she replied.
I cocked a brow. "Oh? Who did?"
She shrugged. "Not sure. Someone in the House obviously. Also the fact that you and Gabriel have connected is sending off warning flares at the Court. It’s a threat."
Gabriel and
I both began to speak at the same time. I said, "A threat? Why?"
"Well, there are members of Court that are old enough to remember the Order and their mission to help dragons...word has it that they've reunited again and, essentially, shit is hitting the fan," Kiarra explained.
"But—how would they know? The only ones that know are, you, my grandfather and Braeden. Surely none of you would betray me?" I mused out loud.
"Of course not, but...I'm not sure you haven't been watched—either over there, or here," Kiarra said.
I raised my brow. "How would they do that?"
She shrugged, with a sigh. "I'm not sure. No one is. But the fear is since you're reunited, you are planning something against the Court."
I laughed out loud. "What?? What the Hell do I want with the Court?"
"I’m guessing since you and Gabriel have finally met, and you’ve probably practiced magic. No one is more of a threat to a corrupted government then a powerful pink dragon and his—or her—Knight of the Order," Kiarra mused. "One of them must have sighted something pretty big in order to summon you home. And I don’t know what they intend in doing with you, all I know is I was instructed not to harm you, so they need you unharmed…so far. But don’t think they’re not below severely harming you, because they will," Kiarra said, stone faced.
I nodded slowly. "So…. now what?"
"Well, we need to get you some place safe," she said.
I snorted. "Where, though? I have some evil entity following me around in my dreams, trying to kill me and now I have members of my own Court trying to capture me. There really is no place safe!"
Kiarra smiled smugly. "That’s…not exactly true."
Gabriel considered this. "I could take her back to Canada with me, I suppose. It should be safe there."
She shook her head. "I have a better place: Castle Danger."
I gave her an odd look, as if she just told me to spread butter on my toes. "What now? And where?"
Gabriel spoke first. "I’ve heard of that. Actually I think I saw signs for it on the drive down here. But…as far as I know it’s all camping and there’s really not much there. Just some cabins and that’s pretty much it."