by Ophelia Bell
Half the tension Roka had been holding in his shoulders left him at her eager response. Camille did relish uncovering a mystery. So did Eben and the two had been too long away from an expedition like this. Perhaps that’s all they needed to sort out their issues—clearly one brief night alone together hadn’t been enough to resolve things between them.
“Rowan is a young dragon and just learned her true nature. When I was her age my parents had already released the binding on my magic so I could shift. I spent the first year after I came of age simply stretching my wings like all young dragons do. There are places we go when we do so.”
“Dragon teen hangouts?” Camille said with a smile. “Did you hook up with girl dragons and make out and stuff?”
“That wasn’t encouraged, but it did happen. Not to me. I was more focused on the challenge of flying as far and fast as I could. Learning what I could do with my new body—I was already well acquainted with my human body.”
Eben finally showed an interest in the topic. “Where are these places and how do you know where to go first?”
“They’re scattered around the globe. Remote, unpopulated areas. Mostly mountaintops that have been imbued with magic over several millennia. It’s become a custom for every new dragon to leave a bit of their magic behind, and the power has built up. Humans can’t sense it, but it acts as a beacon to young dragons. We’ll backtrack to where Rafe lost her and find the closest location from there. With luck the two of us will be fast enough to catch up with her before it’s too late.”
Camille whooped in excitement and bounced out of her chair. Her ebullient nature always amazed Roka and the enthusiasm she showed now reaffirmed that he had made the right decision. Even Eben’s mood seemed vastly improved—he smiled at Camille, watching her dance her way to the kitchen with her dishes. She danced back, hopped into Roka’s lap and kissed him soundly.
“I’m going to miss you so much,” she said, cupping his cheeks between both her hands.
Roka briefly considered urging them back down to the bedroom and spending the rest of the day making love before he and Rafe had to leave. He sensed that Eben would be happy with the idea, too, but not for the same reason Roka wanted to do it. He absently brushed his palm across her belly and she gripped it and held it over her glowing mark.
Camille leaned her head close to his and whispered in his ear. “You do what needs doing. We have all the time in the world for this.”
With that she was dancing over to Eben, singing a song about expeditions and swaying her hips to her own little beat. She straddled Eben’s lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. The kiss lingered a bit longer than the one she’d given Roka and a brief sense of triumph washed through Roka—a feeling he knew didn’t originate from inside himself.
Yes, my loves, you will have each other alone for a time, while I ensure my love-sick friend doesn’t self-destruct. Take care of each other.
Breath of Innocence: Chapter 3
The pair of dragons shifted at sunset. Their gleaming scales caught the orange glow to the west. The boat listed dangerously under their combined weight until Rafe lumbered to the opposite side of the helipad. They stretched their wings, testing the air currents, which were strong that evening.
They had already said their farewells, but Camille walked over to Roka again, struggling to hold back tears. He lowered his head and exhaled, encompassing her in a cloud of pale, calming breath. She wrapped her hands around his horns and rested her cheek against the smooth dip between his heavy ridged brows.
“You two take care of each other, all right? We’ll meet you at the Monastery in a few weeks, hopefully.”
She could feel the words rumbling forth from his chest when he spoke, the sounds resonating around her. “Take care of Eben. He needs you.”
“We both need you,” she said softly.
He let out a soft gust of breath, the warm cloud brushed up against her back. “I will be back with you soon.”
She stepped back and watched, mesmerized by his magnificence as he spread his wings. With only a couple strokes he was airborne and flying, his white scales catching the remnants of the dying sunset as he flew into it. The yacht listed once then settled as Rafe took flight. Rafe’s darker shape caught up with Roka’s pale silhouette. When the pair were abreast, they let out a roar at the descending orb of the sun. The sound resonated through Camille’s body, leaving her tingling from head to toe.
They were almost dots against the horizon when Eben wrapped his arms around her. She sank back against him, but even his warmth couldn’t ease her worry.
“They’ll be fine,” Eben said. “They’re dragon elite, pretty much, you know that, right?”
She shook her head and craned her head back to look up at him. “What do you mean?”
“He never told you?”
“Told me what?”
“C’mon, let me make you dinner while the captain gets us moving.”
Eben talked while he cooked. Camille perched on a barstool watching. She’d never been quite so spoiled as she was living with the two men. They rarely gave her a chance to cater to their needs in this way. The things she did do for them didn’t seem like they required such a reward—she felt just as spoiled in their bed as out of it. She didn’t argue, though, particularly not now because Eben actually seemed to have relaxed somewhat now that it was just the two of them.
“Shadows are like soldiers, in a way,” he was saying, and paused, thinking. “Only more like special forces commanders. There aren’t that many of them. Rafe said that Kol’s mother was the only female Shadow ever born, and there are only about a dozen all together. They’re the biggest dragons, too.”
Camille snickered. “I beg to differ.”
Eben caught her eye and smiled back. “Yeah, well, apparently male Guardians can be the exception to that rule. But when they’re young they train together—the Shadows and the Guardians. Like, hard-core, walk-through-fire type training. Literally. It makes them pretty indestructible.”
“And cocky.”
“My point is that the two of them together… there’s probably nothing they can’t do.” He paused his cooking and set a glass of wine in front of her. Leaning with his hands against the counter across from her, he looked into her eyes earnestly. “They’re going to be fine.”
“Please tell me you miss him as much as I do,” Camille said softly.
Eben pursed his lips and turned back to the pan on the stove. He shrugged. “Of course I do. What we have is pretty damn amazing.”
“If you feel that way then why have you been in such a shit mood the last couple weeks? Ever since we learned the Council approved assembly of the Verdanith. Today’s the first day I’ve seen you actually look kind of content.”
He dished out their food and carried two plates to the table. She followed him with their wine. “Last night was good, that’s all,” he said.
“This morning, you mean. And I don’t see how it was any different than other nights.” The truth was, she had a good idea why it was different, but wanted to hear him admit to it. Tell me the truth. Tell me you hate sharing me with someone else. Was it validation she was looking for? She didn’t think so. It was honesty, because even if Eben confessed he felt that way, Camille had a strong feeling that was only the tip of the iceberg with him. He’d had an open relationship with Erika before Camille had met him. He’d also been just as enthusiastic about making love with Roka as she was, a sight she enjoyed watching as much as she enjoyed being the center of their attention.
Eben didn’t answer her at first. When he finally spoke again it was to talk about their travel plans and to speculate what they would need to do to locate the missing fragment of the Verdanith. Camille was too tired to push the issue of his mood, so indulged his change of subject.
As it turned out, Erika didn’t contact them immediately. Late the next
day they made it back to their high-rise apartment in Sydney. Camille was reviewing her translations from the temple when the call finally came. They would fly to Singapore and from there, Kris and Issa would meet them and fly them to the Monastery.
“Did she say what she needed us for?” Camille asked after Eben ended the call.
“It’s mostly you she needs. There are ancient texts in the vault at the Monastery. Accounts of the lineages and bonds of the previous Court dragons who each Verdanith fragment belonged to. They actually wrote all this shit down back then. It’s in a dialect older than the Unbound that serve the Monastery, so you’re the only person who is capable of translating it in detail.”
Camille raised her eyebrows. “That’d have to be Dark Ages or older if it predates any living dragons who would be able to translate it.” She fidgeted in her seat and rubbed her palms on her khaki-clad thighs. Eben eyed her in amusement. “What? I’m just eager to get started. I’m better at translating ancient dragon dialects than your wonky moods, so let’s get going already.”
***
If it weren’t for the incessant white glow of Camille’s dragon mark, Eben could have pretended life was perfect. He didn’t begrudge her the obvious desire she had to have a baby. In fact, he believed she’d be a fantastic mother and could easily imagine her boundless curiosity and enthusiasm affecting the child in what could only be a positive way. He just didn’t see where he would fit in the whole arrangement. He could deal with three. Sharing her with Roka had never been an issue, even though now that it was just the two of them he relished having her to himself. And the truth was, he missed Roka every bit as much as Camille did. Two more giving lovers he could never imagine he would have, and the Guardian generally provided a mellow counterpoint to Camille’s vibrance, giving her something different to focus on during the rare moments when Eben wished for solitude.
But he felt like a fraud every time he saw that mark and knew his own still lay dark and unresponsive. She had to have noticed it. He knew Roka had, but the Guardian had avoided mentioning it. One advantage of the marks, however, was that with the magic infusing him he had no concerns about accidentally getting her pregnant. Even though he knew she would be over the moon if it happened, his lack of true desire for a child was the perfect form of birth control. Too bad the dragons couldn’t bottle that magic and sell it world-wide. They’d make millions.
Eben looked forward to their trip to the Monastery. Erika would understand how he felt, at least. Maybe she’d even be able to help him put the whole situation into perspective, or at least figure out how to explain himself to Camille. The leader of their little group had been his best friend and lover for years before they’d discovered their dragon mates. She probably knew him better than anyone, the same way he knew her. They’d both professed early on to not wanting kids until their careers were well established and they’d done all the living they could do. At twenty-eight, Eben felt that he had barely even scratched the surface. Now that they had centuries, he saw no point in rushing.
Camille was her effervescent self, bouncing off the walls while she packed, her chipper excitement infectious to the point that he felt just a little buzzed himself.
“I wonder if they’ve found her yet,” she said as she rolled her cotton panties into tight little bundles and stuffed them in the trekking backpack she preferred to travel with.
Eben looked up from his own more haphazard packing. “She had a few weeks’ head start on them, but Rafe said she was new to being a dragon. Hopefully if they haven’t, they will soon.”
“Just as long as that doofus of a Shadow doesn’t run himself dry again,” Camille said with a sardonic look. Her expression darkened as another thought crossed her mind. “You don’t think Roka would…you know.”
Eben blinked at the suggestion. The possibility had never occurred to him. “You know he would if he had to. You did it—and you loved it. So don’t tell me you’re jealous.”
“I loved it because you were both right there with me. The poor guy looked like he was dying, and if I could help somehow, I had to.”
“Well, let me put it this way, if it were you out there with him and he needed it, would you?”
Camille pursed her lips and cast her eyes down to the khaki shorts clutched in her hands. “Yeah. I did love it, and not just because you were both there. There was something different about Rafe that made the whole experience feel… I don’t know… more dire. We don’t make love with each other for survival. When he had his mouth on me it felt like he needed something only I could give him. Like his sole sustenance came from me alone.”
Her pretty blue eyes met his, wide and intense, and just a little bit fearful. Maybe she thought her confession would upset him.
Eben rounded the bed and cupped her face in both his hands, tilting her head to look at him. “We both need you to sustain us, Cammy. Trust me, I don’t know what I would do without you. I’d be lost, and I think Roka would, too.”
“But that’s different. It’s entirely mutual, that need. With Rafe it was like he was helpless. I didn’t need to do what I did, I only did it because he needed what I could give him. Having another person’s survival in your power like that, it made me feel like I really had a purpose, you know?”
Eben eyed her curiously, his brows drawing together. “Somehow I don’t think you’re trying to tell me you want to be with him again. So what are you saying, Cammy?”
She pulled away, the press of her lips signaling her irritation that he’d yet again misread her signals. “I know you don’t want a baby, so it doesn’t really matter, does it? You and I could start now, if you did want one. It’s the dragons who have fertility issues, not us. But you don’t want it, and Roka won’t go through with it once we can unless all three of us are all in.”
So that’s what it was about. She had most definitely noticed and it had probably been eating at her for weeks. Eben’s teeth ground together and he forced himself to relax. He shook his head slightly. “I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t force myself to want something like that. I’m sorry.”
Camille didn’t respond, but her jerkier movements as she packed indicated that he’d be better off leaving her be for now.
She barely spoke to him during their trip, instead staying hyperfocused on her translation notes that she carried with her. Her mood only improved once they reached Singapore and stood on the roof of a massive high-rise hotel waiting for their ride to the mountainous jungle island where the Monastery lay.
He barely saw them as they flew closer, their underbellies shimmering with reflective magic that rendered them nearly invisible to observers from the ground. He heard them loud and clear, however, the flap of their expansive wings as loud as a ship’s mainsail whipping in a heavy wind. He recognized the pair even before they shifted, but was confused at who had arrived to take them to the island.
“Geva. Kris,” he nodded at the gigantic pair of dragons in greeting. Camille had opted for a more affectionate greeting and was hugging them both, peppering their ridged brows with kisses and stroking their horns. Geva purred at her in response.
Kris shifted, the prismatic scales that covered his large shape fading into smooth, tattooed skin. He stepped close to Eben and pulled him into a warm embrace. “Greetings, brother. It’s been too long.”
Eben returned the hug, only slightly aware of Kris’s naked state, but more interested in having another question answered. “Where is Issa? I thought the two of you would be meeting us.” He tried to camouflage the disappointment in his tone with genuine interest, but Kris’s eyebrows raised briefly.
“She couldn’t make the trip. Other responsibilities at the moment.” Kris shifted his gaze halfway through the statement, glancing at Camille, then accepting another embrace and giving her a peck on the cheek.
“What kind of responsibilities?” Camille asked.
Kris only shrugged. “
Council stuff.”
Eben narrowed his eyes. As cagey as his friend could be about dragon politics, something in his demeanor seemed off. Issa had been Eben’s first experience with a dragon. He’d awoken her from her frozen slumber in the Temple, and that brief connection they had shared still lingered. It was in no way as intense as the connections he’d forged with Roka and Camille, but he still considered her one of his closest friends among the dragons.
In truth, they had all been more intimate with each other than Eben ever had with his human friends. Kris’s lingering touch during their hug was enough of an indication that he hadn’t forgotten and the affection hadn’t subsided. It was a comfortable mental zone for Eben, that level of friendly affection that could lead wherever they chose to take it with no worries of emotion complicating the scenario. The anticipation of their stay at the Monastery suddenly aroused him in a manner not unlike his excitement as a kid whenever he was about to leave for summer camp. Even though he and Camille had just ended a very relaxing vacation and he knew this was a working trip, he looked forward to spending time with everyone in a spot where there were no secrets and inhibitions didn’t exist. That was his hope, at least, but a glance at Camille’s closed expression made him wonder if he might be wrong entirely.
“Shall we?” Kris said, pulling Camille by the hand to Geva and giving her a leg up to climb onto Geva’s wide, ruby-scaled shoulders. Then he shifted again and bent down for Eben to climb on his back.
Erika was there to greet them when they landed, a wide, excited smile on her pretty face. Eben felt himself grinning like an idiot to see her again. The second he reached her he pulled her into a tight embrace, reveling in the familiar feel and smell of her. Her soft curves were always at odds with the dusty scent of her skin, like she’d been digging in dirt. It was a scent that was wholly Erika.