To Have & to Hold

by Mackenzie Lucas

  “I understand. I’m on my own.” And he did. David wouldn’t be officially associated with Grayson or his actions. That was okay with him. He’d gone the fight alone for the past year. What the hell was another stint? The role of lone dragon suited him just fine. Yet, if Cate returned soon, he wouldn’t be forced to face this fight alone.

  “Be careful, Grayson. The threat is real. Two more hoards were pillaged last night. One in Kent. One in Bruges. The dragon mages were powerful.”

  “Past tense?”

  “Yes, they’re both dead. They fought to the death to protect their hoards, as we all must.”

  Chapter Nine

  Two days later, Grayson sat in a local Realtor’s office signing papers to purchase the property adjoining Cate’s--a sprawling Victorian farmhouse, two barns, and twenty acres of combined patchwork meadowland and woodlands to the east of Chatelaine’s Rest bordering Linn Run State Park. He’d just picked up a pen to sign his name when he felt the distinct caress of Cate’s fingers on his body. She’d touched the tattoo on her neck. Cate was awake. He scrawled his name, dated the document, and threw the pen down. “I need to run. My wife needs me. Call me with the closing date.”

  “I’ll call you this evening. Should move fast since it’s a cash transaction. Good doing business with you, Mr. Cooper. Hope your wife is feeling better real soon. April Easton, my niece, has nothing but praise for your lovely wife.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Tilghman.” Grayson shook the man’s hand, pushed through the office door and jogged to his car. Every cell in his body felt alive. Cate had come back to him.

  “I’m on my way, babe.” He clutched the black fire opal ring in his pocket--the hoard stone passed down through generations of his own ancestral dragon mages, and what he hoped would be a re-commitment token he bestowed upon Cate.

  If she’d have him.

  #

  I’m on my way, babe. The sexy echo of Grayson’s voice warmed Cate and had her tingling from her head to her toes. She closed her eyes and brushed her fingertips across the dragon image on her neck. One more time for good luck. She smiled. He’d be primed when he got home. Home. Yes, this felt like home. But, really, home was anywhere Grayson lived with her. Hattie had told her he’d gone to meet the local Realtor. He planned to set up a residence adjoining her property, to meet the Consortium requirements for her confinement. That worried her a little. She didn’t want distance between them. She didn’t want to live apart from him. Not now. Not ever again. They could figure this out. Figure out how to help him battle the urges that would endanger her or the baby. Couldn’t they?

  Cate undressed. She needed a shower before Grayson arrived. Four days asleep with no bathing had her wrinkling her own nose. She wouldn’t subject anyone else to it. She peeled the dressing and white adhesive tape from her shoulder. The dragon teardrop and kiss, coupled with her own healing gifts, had mended her shoulder in three days. Of course she’d been asleep for the whole time, but that’s what her body needed to produce a speedy recovery.

  Still, strong magick was at work to get her back on her feet so quickly.

  She’d give four days of her life any time for a healing miracle. It was a small price to pay. She rubbed her thumb across the marbled scar tissue. Too bad Michael James had left behind more damage than this puckered skin. But he hadn’t won. She and Grayson had also begun to heal their relationship in those few actions before Michael had opened fire and immediately after she’d been hit. Time would accomplish the rest. Cate stepped into the shower and let the warm water course over her skin. She moaned. The water felt so good. She lathered her hair and used her favorite lemongrass soap to clean her skin.

  A knock sounded on the bathroom door. She watched Grayson enter the bathroom. The fogged glass didn’t hide his hurry to shuck his own clothes. He shrugged out of his shirt. Stepped out of his jeans. Then faced the thick glass doors. He placed his right hand flat against the glass next to the door. He watched her, his hungry eyes devouring her.

  She placed her hand over his, a mirror image on her side of the barrier. Heat permeated the cool surface. Magick zipped through the inch-thick glass from her to him and back. She didn’t know where she began and he stopped. Love bloomed warm in her chest and tingled through her entire body, then it grew so large she couldn’t contain it. A super nova, it consumed them both, wrapped around them and held them tight in its embrace.

  They were one--in body, in spirit, in mind.

  Desire and raw lust flowed through Cate’s limbs next. This man, this monster was hers. And she loved him and trusted him as she’d never trust another creature in her life.

  He bowed his head, the shadow of his shoulder-length hair hiding his face from her, as if the emotions of the moment were all too much for him to take in.

  Was he waging a battle she couldn’t see with the beast within? Did he fight against an urge to harm her or the baby?

  David and Hattie’s warning came back to her. A male dragon mage cannot be in the presence of his mate or child without feeling the urge to dominate. He will kill his young, even if it means destroying his one and only mate for life.

  Is this why Grayson had waited? Did he fight the urge to kill her and the baby? No, she didn’t believe it. Not after the dragon’s tenderness toward her and the baby when they’d faced down Michael. Grayson would not hurt her--he’d mastered his darker alter ego.

  She believed in him. She trusted him with her life.

  Come, she whispered in her mind. Trust had forged a link she’d never imagined possible and allowed her to go where she’d never thought she’d be able to tread. A future stretched before her she could willingly embrace, even welcome.

  Grayson looked into her eyes, amazement and wonder etched on his face. He didn’t waste a moment longer. He yanked the shower door open and stepped inside. He stood before her a beautiful man. Her husband. Adonis. Perfection. Steam billowed around them, moisture beaded on his skin and water trickled down his chest, forging a path straight to the dark hair surrounding his thick erection.

  “Cate.” He eased her against his chest and nuzzled her neck, his large hands spanned her waist, then dropped lower to grip her ass and settle her firmly against him. They fit together perfectly. Two pieces to a whole puzzle. He growled in her ear.”I love you. I’m so glad you’re all right.”

  He held her in his arms, not moving, just holding. Pressed tight. Her body quivered in response. Alive, aroused. Desperate for his touch everywhere, desperate for him inside her moving. Pleasuring. Hard and fast or slow and hot, hell, she didn’t care. Anything but this waiting, hovering between Heaven and Hell. Yearning for something that just shimmered out of reach.

  “And I love the baby growing in your womb. I would never do anything to put either of you in jeopardy again.” Worry etched his brow and pain made his eyes luminescent.

  She read the fear on his face. The regret. He thought he was to blame for her injury. Heat fused their bodies where they touched. Her breasts tingled hot and needy against the hard muscle of his chest and she ached in places she’d forgotten still wept for this man’s skilled attention.

  “Shhhshhh. There’s time enough later for that talk.” She placed her index finger over his lips. The contrast between his full, sensual bottom lip and the scratchy bristle of the soul patch just below sent a bolt of sexual awareness straight to her core. She remembered the skill of those lips. How they knew their way around her body.

  She stared into his vibrant green eyes and ran her hands up his strong forearms, his biceps, and over his shoulders to loop around his neck and bury her fingers in his thick hair. Then, she massaged the knotted muscles at the base of his skull.

  Grayson studied her face. He was waiting for some signal, some sign from her. Hope. Acceptance. Or maybe he waged a war against demons she couldn’t see. She no longer cared. All that mattered was keeping this man, this beast--who’d turned her life upside down and rocked her world--close by her side.

  Together they could co
nquer anything. Apart they were weak, mere shadows straining, but never able to reach their full potential. How to convince him to stay? To love her? To keep her?

  “I need you. Just love me. Now.” Cate raised onto her toes and kissed him. A slow brush of her lips against his lush bottom lip. A silent benediction. I love you. All of you. She sucked his bottom lip gently into her mouth and bit down.

  In an instant, the quiet, sacred moment evaporated in a flash of heat and lust and need. Passion exploded in the small space.

  Then she drew his mouth to hers, kissing him, hungry and desperate, like she’d never tasted the sensual feast he could provide with his body, his hands, his lips. The warm water slicked their bodies. Slippery wet pleasure rolled over her. He cupped her face and kissed her deep, his tongue warm, slow, and sexy. He touched her everywhere. His hands caressing, stroking, coaxing. Grayson licked and nipped and kissed her with a ferocity that took her breath away.

  He lifted her, his hands kneading her ass, and pressed her shoulders against the wall. He slipped his hand to her thigh, crooking her knee behind his lower back and opening her wide. She wound both her legs around his waist a moment before he thrust into her, hot, violent, and, oh, so good. She squeezed her eyes shut against the pleasure that vibrated through her at the rightness of Grayson inside her. Thick. Strong. And stoking a fire in her so hot it threatened to consume her from the inside out.

  The tattoo on her neck prickled. Itchy, achy, needy, too. The beast stirred. She lifted her fingers and caressed the inked dragon. The cool pads of her fingers felt good against the heat of her skin. The rumble of a purr deep inside Grayson’s chest vibrated against her own.

  She watched his face. His eyes bored into hers. Fierce. The heat intense. One eye flashed amber. She stroked the beast again. Grayson’s face muscles tightened. A growl ripped from his throat. “Cate!” He thrust deeper, the tip of his penis nudged her womb. God, so good. Then again. More. He roared as he gave in to the primal orgasm that gripped him first then her, sucking her into a whirling vortex of love and need and compassion.

  She went up in flames.

  And she didn’t care what dragons she’d have to slay. She wanted this forever. With this man, this divine creature who called her to stretch her mind and face her own fears and biases. Because the fire made her stronger, better. Refined her. She hadn’t lost herself in the wreckage of the flames, but she’d emerged, a phoenix rising from the ashes.

  Hours later, in her bed, sheets wound around their entwined bodies and finally sated, they lay quiet, exhausted, and drifting on that post-coital haze right before sleep tugged them under. She lay with her back pressed to his chest, nestled against him. He caressed her baby bump in lazy, slow circles.

  “Cate?”

  “Mmmm.” It’s all she could manage.

  “We need to talk.”

  “Not now.” She closed her eyes. “No energy to fight.”

  “I don’t think I should live here. If what David says is true-- Maybe I need to stay away from you and the baby.”

  She turned in his arms. The fear was back, haunting his eyes, shadowing his sensual mouth. Her strong, rugged warrior, her rough dragon mage trembled at the possible cost of the war. Her and the baby. She cupped his stubble-darkened jaw, her thumbs soothing the tightness around his mouth. Cate kissed him.

  “No,” she said. “I need you. Here with me. You can’t go back to England.”

  “No. I didn’t mean that. Never without you, babe. Not that far. I bought the property next door. There’s still a threat. Someone within the Dignity targeting hoards. I need to stay nearby to protect you both.”

  “That’s even too far for me. Besides, the baby and I are already part of your hoard and you ours. So if someone plans to steal your hoard, they’ll steal ours, too. I can’t allow it.”

  “Cate, you mean too much to me. I can’t-- What if I--?” His voice broke with the pain that she read in the tightness of his jaw and in the brightness of his eyes. The dragon stirred, ready to protect and yet afraid he’d destroy them.

  Cate caressed the dragon tattoo with one hand, still holding Grayson’s face with the other. He closed his eyes and nuzzled into the comfort of her touch. He pressed his lips to her palm, stealing her breath. “Have no fear, I can handle one big bad dragon. I think I’ve proved that time and again,” she assured him. “And only together can we fight against some elusive hoard thief. Grayson, can’t you see it? Together we are invincible.”

  His eyes snapped open, hope kindled in their green-colored depths. She could see he so badly wanted to believe her, but he still fought the silent war inside--did he stay to protect them from the outside force wrecking hoards only to jeopardize them with his own dragon?

  “Grayson, come on. I trapped you in the attic for a year and I faced you, to your nose, when you confronted Michael--sharp teeth, rapier claws and all. You didn’t eat me. And I can’t count how many times I soothed the beast in the past few hours during our love-making. So, believe me when I say I can handle you and your dragon. No matter what you bring to the fight.”

  He kissed her. A soft press of his lips to hers. Gentle. Careful. Poignant and yet sad. When he pulled back, the stubborn set to his jaw and his narrowed eyes told her he planned to reject her offer. He thought he was protecting her, saving her and the baby from himself.

  Not in a million years. Before he could utter the words, she stopped him with a finger to his lips. “However, it’s the unseen threat I struggle with--I never saw Michael’s capacity for evil. I need you. We make a great team. Together, we will find this thief. The bigger question is, can you handle a pregnant wife? That’s really the problem isn’t it?” She chuckled. “You don’t want to deal with a bitchy, moody, fat pregnant woman.”

  He laughed in response. The sound rich and deep, wormed into her soul and wound around it, comforting her own fears that he would walk away.

  “I can handle you. And when--” He paused and started over. “And if I can’t deal with your harpy ways, I will work on the property next door to get it ready for the school. Consider it a safety valve for both of us.”

  Cate stilled. “You’ve agreed to build and run the academy. Here? In Mystic Springs?”

  “Yes, but only if you’ll help me. It’s one of the ways I hope to discover who is stealing hoards. An academy is the perfect front. Plus, I have you. You’re a great teacher.” He traced a finger down her bare shoulder.

  “You’re a better one. Experience has honed you. You understand what’s at stake for new dragon mages.”

  She considered him long and hard. Starting a school wasn’t a venture anyone entered lightly. There’d be tough days, maybe even tough weeks and semesters, depending on the students enrolled. But she believed in him. Believed he, better than anyone, knew the importance of instructing dragon mages, of informing the Dignity, and raising responsible citizens and dragons who could live and thrive alongside humans. She could totally envision a dragon academy here in these mountains, along the river, near the lake, across the meadows. Young dragons training, growing, blossoming into the creatures God had created them to be.

  “I’d be honored to help you run Derkesthai. And hunt the hoard thief.”

  “Derkesthai?”

  “Yes, the name for the academy. It means to see or the one with the deadly glance, the word dragon is derived from the same word. What do you think?”

  “Derkesthai is perfect. Just like you.”

  She leaned in to kiss him. He ended the kiss before she was ready.

  “Then there’s only one more thing I need to ask you,” he said.

  “What’s that?”

  Grayson reached over his head to retrieve something from the shelf in the headboard. He opened his palm and there, winking up at her like the perfect flaming dragon’s eye was a fire opal ring. “Will you marry me again? This time, knowing that I am a dragon mage and a fully turned dragon.”

  Cate laid her palm over his, the ring trapped between them. Heat a
nd magic flared against both their palms, gloriously painful. “I thought you’d never ask. Yes, Grayson Cooper, I do take you to have and to hold from this moment forward as fully turned dragon mage and as my husband. I love you.”

  Grayson slipped the ring on her finger. And she immediately felt the power of the magick surround her. He kissed her again, deep and thorough, pouring all his love into that one action. He grew hard against her thigh. Then, he showed her in every way possible how much he cherished and adored her, body and soul.

  Life with a dragon would never be boring. She’d be challenged and tried. But she had no doubt she’d also never feel more alive or fulfilled. A dragon’s life was the only life for her. And she kind of liked the idea of becoming a dragon whisperer, because it would take her the rest of her life to explore the intricacies of being married to a dragon mage. A thrill of anticipation pulsed through her.

  She couldn’t wait for the adventure ahead.

  Beware, there be dragons here never sounded more like a promise.

  ***

  COMING SOON by Mackenzie Lucas Page

  January 2013 – The Megiddo Mark: A Serialized Novel in Four Parts

  February 2013 – Pompeii Reawakened

  March 2013 – From This Day Forward: A Derkesthai Mage Novella

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  It takes a village to write a novel or a novella. So I raise my glass to my community and support network in a heartfelt salute to all you’ve done for me. Thank you to my critique partners at the R8, present and past, who read this manuscript—Yvonne, Keely, Lisa, Shellie, Christa, Marjanna, Michelle, and Mary. You are the best readers a writer could ever want. Keep writing, reading, and laughing! To my SHU WPF grad school critique partners, Diane and Nik, thanks for your diligence and commitment to me over the years. Your talent and dedication never cease to inspire me. A special thanks to Timons Esaias, mentor and editor extraordinaire. I could never have gotten this far without your encouragment and attention to detail. To my husband who has always been the champion of my dreams, thank you, honey. And, finally, to my boys, who goodnaturedly eat way too much frozen food for my liking because Mom is working in her office—you’ll never know what a support you’ve been. Thank you all. I couldn’t have done it without you.