The Golden Dragon

by Tianna Xander

  them was nothing less than a violation and he would treat it as such.

  His dragon wanted to scent the photos she handed him and find the person responsible for making his mate feel unsafe in her own home. However, his human side knew that he would scent nothing more than his mate and her sister’s scents. Had they brought the photos to him immediately, he would have had a chance. Now, there was nothing left but the scent of the women and the permanent marker they used to protect their privacy the best way they knew how.

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  Chapter Five

  April looked up at Drake through her tears. “Will you help us?”

  “Of course I will help you. It is my duty as well as my honor.”

  “Why?” She didn’t understand why he would want to help them when all her life she’d been taught that to meet a dragon meant her death. “Why did you say dragons and witches belong together?” She pulled from his embrace and he let her go with a sigh. She wanted to believe him. Her heart ached because she wanted so badly to have faith in him.

  “I wish I knew who started that damned rumor about the dragons wanting witches dead.” He shook his head.

  “Believe me, love, nothing could be farther from the truth.” Reaching behind him, Drake grabbed a few tissues from the box on the end table next to the sofa.

  “Here, take these, sweetling, and I will tell you why.”

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  She took the tissues and, after wiping her face and blowing her nose, she stuffed the soiled tissues in her pocket. “Tell me.” April looked up into his eyes and wondered if he would tell her the truth.

  “You don’t have to wonder, love,” he said as he cupped her cheek. “You merely have to kiss me again.

  Open yourself to me and you will know the truth. Then you can tell your sisters of it. If you like, you can all stay with me. I will keep you safe until your sisters find their own mates.”

  “Mates?”

  “Kiss me, April. Kiss me and discover the truth.” He shook his head. “I will tell you no more until you do.”

  What was it with him and kissing? When she kissed him the night before, he managed to burrow deeper and deeper into her mind, perhaps even her heart. She never would have sought him out had it been up to her. This whole kissing-a-dragon business scared the crap out of her.

  Nervously, April licked her lips and sighed. “One more kiss. I am not selling myself to you for your help.”

  “I’m not asking you to do that.”

  “That’s the way it looks from where I’m sitting.” She scowled at him. “You won’t tell me anymore until I kiss 63

  you. What in the heck is up with that if you’re not planning to try something with me?”

  He did nothing more than give her a devastating smile. “Kiss me and find out.” He tapped her on the chin. “Only this time, open your mouth.”

  Goodness! The man didn’t want to leave her anything, did he? “Okay,” she whispered the words, afraid if she heard herself say them aloud, she would change her mind. April closed her eyes when he cupped her cheeks. She jumped when his lips touched hers.

  Open your mouth, April, and find out what you’ve all been missing.

  She did as he asked. The moment his tongue touched hers, white hot heat burned her throat. With the heat came knowledge. Like a universal consciousness, she felt the souls of other witches and dragons. Thousands of them. They completed each other—made each other happy. None of them could reach their full potential without the other. Two halves of the same whole, their souls bound together as one. Together they were strong.

  Together they could live…forever. April felt bereft when Drake pulled away, his chest heaving.

  “I must stop, love, or we will consummate our relationship here. We do not want that.”

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  She touched the tip of her tongue to her upper lip and shook her head. “No. I don’t think we do either.” April was never one to give herself freely. She had more respect for herself than that and, though he was hot with a capital H, she hardly knew this man. “Besides, I have to get back to my sisters. I have to tell them about you,”

  she paused, heat filling her cheeks at the thought of what lay in store for them if what she just discovered was true. “I need to tell them about all of this.” She glanced up at him. “Did you mean what you said about all of us coming to stay with you?”

  “Of course. You all need protection. I can safeguard all of you better in my home.”

  “I’m not sure all of us would want to move in with you.” She wasn’t either. After that incredible kiss, she felt she knew him, but was he just letting her read what he wanted her to or did she see everything? He was an ancient powerful dragon—one whom her people had thought capable of genocide. It was difficult to know just what he was capable of doing. She couldn’t bring herself to trust him just because he knew how to kiss like no one’s business.

  She fought the urge to touch her fingers to her lips.

  They still tingled from their kiss and the thought of 65

  holding that feeling to her was almost overwhelming.

  Still, she didn’t want him to know what he did to her with that kiss. One more like that may find her in his bed and she wasn’t ready for that. She didn’t know if she would ever be ready for that.

  April put it from her mind, hoping that reading her was the farthest thing from his thoughts as he stared down at her with those beautiful green eyes. His ebony lashes were so thick she almost scowled. It should be illegal for men to have longer, thicker lashes than women. She closed her eyes, berating herself for her errant inner ramblings. How could she think about the length of his eyelashes when someone stalked her sisters?

  She pulled away from him, strode to the window behind his desk and looked out. “I can’t think of myself now. I have to think of my sisters.” He moved up behind her, his reflection showing in the tinted glass. April glanced back at him. “We have to figure out a way to keep them safe.”

  “We have. You will all come stay with me.”

  “I meant that we need to keep them safe permanently.” She turned to him, hands on hips. “You can’t keep us all in your home indefinitely.” She 66

  grinned. “Sooner or later we would drive you nuts.”

  Drake shrugged. “I have a big house. I’ll hardly even realize that you’re there.”

  Something told her he was lying, or at least not telling her the whole truth. “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Believe what you will.” He moved to lean against the edge of his desk. “I do have a big house.” April just bet he did. He was a dragon. They were always rich considering their fixation on treasure and all. And Drake Delfavaro wasn’t just any dragon either. He was a gold dragon. The gold dragon if what she’d seen in his memories was true. It wasn’t his father that had seen the inquisition. It had been him.

  Drake had memories that were thousands of years old. How could someone live so long watching those around them die year after year and remain sane? She didn’t know how he did it, but he had.

  “Okay. I’ll talk to them and see what they think.”

  “We will talk to them. I’m not letting you go back there unprotected.” He pointed toward his desk. “Those photos were a warning—a statement. Whoever took them can get to you or any one of your sisters anytime they want. That was their message.”

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  * * * *

  Drake watched the color drain from April’s face. He didn’t want that. He never wanted to scare her, but better a frightened mate than a dead one. It was obvious, at least to him, that someone took great pains to kill witches in the past and managed to keep them fearing dragon kind for hundreds of years. There was nothing to stop them from doing the same now.

  The only thing he could do was find the other women their own mates as fast as he could. Maybe then they could rebuild their species. When a dragon mated a witch, their offspring were dragons. It was the only way t
o breed more of his kind. With thirteen new witches, they could very well be on their way to rebuilding their species if he could find mates for them all. That was the question, wasn’t it? Could he find partners for them all and what of the brothers he’d seen in April’s mind?

  Their brothers, when finally paired off, could produce even more mates for his kind. They must find them and warn them before it was too late.

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  Epilogue

  “Can’t you do something about this?” Martin stomped into the room. He decided to keep the other man on once he started dating a little blonde in the personnel office. It was a good thing too. He was certain the man had found at least one of April’s brothers. He’d already sent a few agents out to bring him in—with or without the man’s consent.

  Drake looked at the head of his new research department dedicated to finding all magical beings, starting with April’s missing brothers first. The other man’s hair was a deep shade of magenta. He stifled a laugh, covering it with a cough before taking a sip of the glass of water on his desk. “I’ve tried. They can’t help it.

  Until they find their mates, none of them will reach their full potential and all of them will make mistakes. The only advice I have is to stay out of their way.” He waved his arm. “And things like this are bound to happen from 69

  time to time.”

  “I’d think you would have a better understanding about how frustrating this is than most, considering they live in your house. Carrie thinks I had my hair dyed on purpose! She’s pissed. We were supposed to go out to dinner tonight and she cancelled until I change it back.”

  Martin groaned when another fire burst to life in front of him. “This is the third time this month. It’s getting expensive and my barber thinks I’m losing my mind. At least let me work at the office or somewhere else where I won’t have to put up with the harridan gang out there.”

  “Hey! My sisters are not harridans.” April walked into the room behind him, rounded the end of the desk and plopped down on Drake’s lap, missing his groan as she ground his more sensitive parts into the seat of his chair. She waved her wand and a perfect cup of tea appeared next to his coffee. She clapped her hands. “I love that I can do that now.” She turned her attention back to Martin and lifted her chin. “My sisters are neither old, nor hard to get along with, so take your insults and go pack sand.”

  “Now, now, love. Martin is just letting off steam.

  Look at what Tansy did to his hair.”

  “He’s lucky she didn’t set it on fire,” April said 70

  before slapping a hand over her mouth. A small flame burst to life at their feet. It was most likely Tansy again.

  She was just in the next room watching TV with her sisters. “It’s a good thing you have stone floors.”

  Yes, love. It is, isn’t it?” Drake grinned and hugged her to him. He wouldn’t care if the house was made of straw and he had to rebuild it every day. He had his mate, his love and she was bound to him as surely as his heart was bound to hers.”

  “Things have gotten rather lively since the wedding, haven’t they?” April framed his face with her hands before she pressed her lips to his. He couldn’t think for a moment as he enjoyed the sensation of his mate’s body plastered to his. “Tell me the truth. Is it too much?”

  “Yes, your sisters have livened things up.” He could do nothing but agree. After all, he had never been more on his toes, or happier. If it weren’t for the fact that the photos that brought them into his house were meant to terrorize his mate and her sisters, he may have thanked the person responsible. Without them, April may not have agreed to live here, her trust may not have come as swiftly and he may still be trying to woo her. But they had been a threat of the most vile kind and Drake was honor bound to hunt down the culprit and end his 71

  existence.

  Martin spearheaded the team to find all magical creatures to reunite them as they had been before—to build an army of sorts. He may need one before this was all over. First though, he was spending a weekend alone with his mate. He had the room reserved and the room service ordered. They merely needed to get away. This weekend was the only honeymoon he and April would have until her sisters found their partners. He could barely wait to spirit his mate away.

  “Sir,” his houseman, Edgar entered the room, his collar smoking lightly.

  Drake would have worried if Edgar hadn’t been with him for the last thirty-two years. The other man looked a bit worse for wear, but he also looked younger than he had in ages. “I think the excitement is good for you, Edgar.”

  The houseman’s mouth twitched a bit at the corners.

  “As you say, sir.” He bowed. “If you please, there is a contingent of male dragons in the foyer. Shall I send them away?”

  As if he could, Drake thought with a grin. “No, Edgar. Send them in. I will hear their petitions.” April elbowed him in the side. “Correction, Edgar. Tell them 72

  we shall hear them.”

  Edgar thrust a finger beneath his smoking collar and straightened it. “As you wish, sir.” He sighed before opening the door. “May I pray, sir?”

  “Pray?” In all the years he’d worked for him, not once had Edgar ever mentioned anything of a religious nature.

  “Yes, sir. I would like your permission to pray that the…young ladies find their mates…soon.”

  Drake laughed aloud, he couldn’t help himself. “Yes, Edgar. You may pray. It is what we all wish.”

  “Are you sure you don’t mind us all staying here with you?” April’s concerned frown quickly wiped the smile from his face. He met her gaze for a few silent moments, took her hands in his and kissed each one slowly, so she could be certain he meant what he said.

  “Darlin’, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  A loud screech came from the next room and Rose ran through the opened door. She pointed to the hall behind her. “There’s a man out there who won’t keep his hands to himself. I won’t be responsible for what happens if he touches me again.”

  Drake stood, setting April on her feet. “Do you have a death wish, Viktor?” He looked at his friend who 73

  looked like he’d just been hit by a truck.

  Viktor Wolonczech followed Rose into the room. He glanced at April’s sister, his hand out. “Come on, sweetling, just one kiss and it will all be clear.”

  Drake laughed and sat down. “And so it begins.”

  To see what happens next on their weekend honeymoon, go to www.trapezium.com to read the exclusive extra scene available on May 1, 2011 titled Seduction of the Golden Dragon.

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  Other books by Tianna at Devine Destinies: Prophecy

  Other series by Tianna at eXtasy Books: The Endowed Series

  The Chosen Series

  The Paradise Series

  About the Author

  is an eclectic author of numerous paranormal, sci-fi, time travel romance erotica books. Gaining inspiration for her characters and dialogue through her family and her addiction to the internet, she never fails to amaze readers with each new book she creates. As a reading junkie herself, Tianna has no problem reading whatever is available at the moment from romance novels, murder mysteries and encyclopedias to books on solar energy.

  Tianna’s life wouldn’t be complete without a happily ever after of her very own. She resides in Michigan with her husband, two children, three cats, two dogs and an intimidating bunny. Never one to fail to give credit where it’s due, she commends her family for their constant support. After writing many books and receiving rave reviews, her family is just as proud of her. Always full of ideas, Tianna rarely puts the pen down, so readers can look forward to many more exciting stories in the future.

  Where to find Tianna:

  www.tiannaxander.com

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TiannaXander/

  http://twitter.com/#!/TiannaXander

  http://www.myspace.com/tianna_xander


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