"They are weak." He looked as arrogant as he had the night in the alley when he'd first found her. "But I must obey you, because you hold my name."
Carol eased back, letting the notes slide from her mind. "I'm sorry."
"You can't help your instincts," he said, bitterness in his dark eyes. "And I can't help mine."
He opened her car door and held it for her, not budging an inch until she got in and closed it. She held her breath until he folded himself into the passenger seat beside her, half expecting him to turn to flame and fly off into the night.
When he didn't, she let out her breath and pulled out into the street.
The last thing she saw as she drove away was Zhen and Malcolm standing together, the tall dragon-man and the small mystic bathed in red from her taillights.
Inside the spelled column, Sying despaired. The dragon fire had almost reached him�he'd been so close to touching it.
Then he felt the presence of the other Dragon Master, the girl Carol, his descendent and heir.
She'd called the fire dragon away. She'd taken him away before, and she took him now. She didn't want the Dragon Master free, didn't want to free the evil that resided there with him.
He couldn't blame her.
But Sying had wanted to feel air on his cheeks once more, to see the sky and the stars, to smell the wind. Even if the evil with him crushed him and everything the next instant, he wanted it with all his strength.
The fire dragon's magic vanished. He, Carol, and the black dragon had left him alone again.
They didn't note what he did: that the extreme flame of the fire dragon had left, in the bottom of the column, one tiny crack.
Seth sat quietly in the living room while Carol moved restlessly around her apartment. She pretended to do things like sort papers on her desk or arrange food in her cupboards, but she was avoiding Seth.
He'd told her she should hole up here until they talked to Axel and decided what to do, and she hadn't taken the suggestion well. She was confused and frightened, both of herself and him, he could see that in the way she moved.
On her next rush past, he caught her arm and pulled her down to him.
Carol resisted, but Seth's physical strength far outmatched hers. She glared at him as she sank to his lap.
"Why is your tattoo larger?" she asked abruptly. "It's gotten bigger again. I saw that in the warehouse."
"The dragon fire," he said, unconcerned. "In Dragon-space my flame can be vast. Maybe I'm able to use more and more of my fire here so the mark of my dragon essence has to grow."
Her eyes narrowed. "Do you know that for certain?"
"No, but I know you like neat explanations."
"I wish�" She broke off and shook her head. "No, it wouldn't have worked."
"You wish what?"
"I was going to say that I wished you were a normal man. But none of this would have happened if you were a real human man. I'd probably have never noticed you, or you, me."
Seth let the music of his dragon thoughts touch her in a light caress. "I'm glad I'm not a normal man, then."
"I'd be too busy running my business and seeing you as competition." Her eyes softened, despite the roiling emotions he felt inside her. "I'd have missed so much."
Seth caressed her abdomen, feeling his hunger for her. He wanted to follow his desires to their conclusion, but there was too much crackling between them.
"Tomorrow I will fetch Zhen here, and he will give you more lessons."
Carol hesitated, a flicker of anger in her gaze. "You told me Zhen betrayed me, and he did."
His anger rose again at the old man for endangering her, but Zhen was a weak mage, easily coerced by the stronger mages in the Order.
"I know, but he can also teach you."
"Can we trust him not to turn around and tell the Order everything I do? My grandmother might help, but I can't trust that she won't simply relate everything to Zhen." She deflated. "Besides, if I see Zhen again, I might do something terrible to him. He caused so much tragedy."
"The Order did, and the Dragon Master, and their evil god." He went silent, putting his words in order. "They will continue to come for you, Carol. And I think the only way I will be free of this bond and able to return to Dragon-space is if we release the god and kill him. I think that's what I was brought here to do."
"How can you kill a god?"
"Disable him, then, or push him back into whatever hell he came from. You wanted to ask Axel�he'd likely know." He exhaled. "I have been thinking of this much, which is why I went to release the Dragon Master. I thought I had to kill him to free myself, but now the task has become harder."
"Zhen was right, though. If you'd let him out tonight, you'd have died. You're a dragon, but that thing in there is a demon-god." She shuddered. "I'm glad we got there in time."
Carol's distress came to him through her thought threads, and Seth slid his arm around her waist. "I am pleased as well."
"You didn't look pleased at the time." She frowned, and he didn't tell her that she looked beautiful when she frowned.
"I've had time to think since then," he said.
"So what do we do? Malcolm learned the Dragon Master's history from his Archive, you said. Maybe there's a book in there called Defeating an Evil God and Living Happily Ever After."
"He didn't mention it."
"I was joking. I do that when I'm scared."
Seth wrapped both arms around her. "We don't need Malcolm and his Dragon Archive. I think I know what we must do."
He looked at her, her face so close to his, her scent filling him. her warmth the finest thing in his world. "I will fill you with my dragon fire, and we'll defeat the demon."
* * *
Chapter Sixteen
"Your dragon fire," Carol repeated, her eyes widening. "The same dragon fire you told me can burn me to a crisp?"
"The same." He said the words unhappily. He knew in his heart that it was the solution to their dilemma, but he still knew there was a danger that Carol could die. "I'm right that you're not ready to take it now. We must make you ready."
"Without Zhen and his mahjong games."
Seth didn't know what she meant about games, but he understood her gist. "We'll have to try. If you won't let me send you somewhere safe, we'll have to face the enemy and defeat it."
"We can't just bury the column and hope the Order forgets about it?"
"Do you really think that would work?" He knew she didn't�she was grasping at straws. "The Order will tend it as they have all these centuries. And they'll continue to try to trap you. Even if you escape them, they'd come after your descendents and will do so as long as they can."
"I know." Carol sighed. "I told you before I was willing to master this. So what do I have to do to suck down your fire without dying?"
"You have to learn to not take it."
She looked surprised. "To keep it out, you mean?"
"To learn to take it a small bit at a time, to learn to prevent yourself from absorbing it all at once."
"Like I tried to do in the shower."
"Exactly. Your power wanted it too much. You must learn to control it."
She looked worried but determined. "How do we start?"
For answer, he slid his hands under the warm fleece of her sweatshirt and dragged it off over her head. He smiled as he caught the globes of her breasts in his hands�she'd stopped wearing the lacy thing that bound them.
"Oh, of course." she said, her eyes half-closing. "I should have known we'd have to be naked."
"It's easier that way."
It truly was easier for him to handle his dragon fire without hampering clothes, though he admitted any chance to see Carol's body was a welcome one.
"Take off your pants and sit on the floor," he said.
Her brows quirked. "Oh, yes?"
He started to rise, which made her scramble off his lap. Seth peeled off his own clothes and sat cross-legged on the carpet.
Carol s
tared down at him for a few moments, a delectable sight with her small breasts bare and her jeans dipping to reveal her navel. Humans liked to capture images and display them in their homes, and Seth thought the image of Carol standing half-bare above him would be perfect.
Carol snapped her gaze away from him and skimmed off her jeans, underwear, and stockings. Even better.
She tucked her hair behind her ears and lowered herself to the carpet, crossing her legs under her. "Now what?" she said. "I already feel what's in me craving the fire."
"Take my hands."
Carol tentatively laced her fingers through his, and he raised their hands between them. She bit her lip, nervous, but he saw the twist of hair tucked enticingly between her legs glitter with moisture.
"Close your eyes," Seth said. "Imagine a sphere in your mind�focus on it, what color it is, how big it is. Keep watching it."
Carol closed her eyes, her face at first taking on a look of interest, then it relaxed as she began to meditate. Seth held his breath and eased a very tiny spark of his fire into her hands.
She jumped, but didn't open her eyes.
"Keep looking at the sphere," he said softly. "Only look."
Carol's chest rose with a deep breath. Seth glided another spark into her. She made a soft noise, the same kind she made when he caressed her, and her skin began to shine with sweat.
Sying had been strong, Seth remembered. Carol was stronger, but Sying's experience had already been great when he'd trapped Seth the first time, and he'd easily controlled Seth's fire.
Carol's strength was raw and new, the power in her hungry for his.
Seth let another tiny spark in. Carol made a noise of pleasure, her face softening. "I like that."
With Sying it hadn't been sexual. Sying had been cold in his power, keeping everyone at a distance and wielding the dragons like a puppet master. Seth had hated him.
With Carol the connection was already so much deeper."More," she whispered. She rocked back and forth a little. "Give me more."
"No."
Her slick hands tightened on his. "I need it."
He shook with the need to obey her, but he forced himself to still.
"Remember what happened in the shower," he said. "Savor this much, then let it go."
He felt her tense, the notes of his name tightening, then she slowly and deliberately eased back.
Seth let out his breath. Carol's fingers continued to bite into his, but she held herself still.
His own fire wanted to slide into her, filling every space it could, but he restricted it. One taste, that was all.
Carol opened her eyes and smiled at him. Their fire twined together, and the bond between them sang notes through his head.
"I want her."
The longing had nothing to do with his fire. Carol was a brave, beautiful woman, and he didn't care that she held his name or that they had to prepare against danger.
Keeping hold of her hands, he pushed her down to the carpet and lay on top of her, liking how she smiled in response. He held her hands above her head and nuzzled her cheek.
Her smile deepened. "I should also have known the process would involve lovemaking."
"It doesn't," Seth murmured. "I just want to."
She turned her head to catch his lips. "So I don't need to have sex with you to take your fire? That's handy to know."
"In battle, it would be inconvenient."
She laughed softly, jiggling in the finest way. "True."
"Spread for me." Seth worked his hand between her legs, rubbing her already moist opening.
Carol moved her legs apart, and Seth slid his needy cock between them.
"You're beautiful," he said. I love you, he wanted to say.
He still wasn't sure whether the intense feeling winding around him was real or the result of his enslavement. He couldn't be certain of anything until the bond went away, and then who knew what he might feel? Fire dragons didn't feel. They lived, hunted, survived.
Intense emotions washed over him now, but he had no way of knowing if they'd last. He closed his eyes, savoring them as long as he could.
Days passed. Carol didn't leave her apartment, and she didn't want to. She found that being holed up here with Seth was the closest thing to bliss she'd ever found.
She knew that outside, the world was moving on. San Francisco cleaned up from the earthquake and the smaller aftershocks and went on as it always did. She phoned Francesca at her sister's, assured her everything was all right, and told her to extend her vacation. Francesca seemed relieved that Carol was staying put and safe.
Lumi reported that Danny Lok's properties were quietly being taken over by people in the Order of the Black Lotus. Any outside crime lords who tried to muscle into his territory were turning up dead.
The small warehouse in SoMa, on the other hand, was untouched. Malcolm was watching it, and though the Order kept it under observation, they never went on the property. The dragon magic and Axel's marks kept them far away.
Carol did feel safe inside the walls of her apartment, the symbols Axel and Seth had left comforting rather than confining. She ordered food to be delivered from her local grocery store and the small Asian food store attached to one of her restaurants, though she was never really hungry after her sessions with Seth.
Every day she took a tiny bit more fire from him, and every day she held it, looked at it, played with it, and let the fire return. She felt stronger, more energetic, but also more content.
Seth, on the other hand, consumed the meals she brought in with increasing gusto. Using his dragon fire made him hungry, more restless, more volatile, and their lovemaking turned from sessions of pleasure to wild rides.
They lay in bed at the end of the fifth day, Carol drowsing in the sunshine that peeked through clouds above the city. Seth slept hard next to her, his naked body shining with sweat. He breathed heavily, having collapsed after his last, loud climax.
She lifted her hand, studying the sparkle of fire on her skin. She knew that in the last few days, she'd kept some of Seth's fire instead of releasing it, and that was why she felt energized while he ate ravenously and slept deeply.
I'm stealing part of him, she thought. This isn't right.
It's yours for the taking, the Dragon Master in her whispered. He belongs to you.
She shut out the voice. Since his arrival Seth had shown her a world she'd never known. She'd lived in San Francisco all her life, and knew its streets and neighborhoods like she knew her own face in the mirror.
But she'd never known what a magical place it was. Now she saw dragon marks shimmering on Ming Ue's walls and Lumi's store, and evil lurking beneath the surface. She found it terrifying and astonishing at the same time.
The veil lifting from her eyes wasn't the only astonishing thing. Seth was. He'd kissed her and touched her and made her understand what passion was for the first time.
Carol knew now that the men she'd dated in the past hadn't been able reach her because she hadn't let them. No wonder her life had been cold and lonely�she'd shut everyone out. If any man had made signs he wanted to get close, she'd pushed him aside all the harder, pretending to herself that she had too much work to do to keep up a relationship. She hadn't done this consciously, but she'd done it.
She looked at Seth again, his hard, naked body glistening in the sun, a beautiful man who touched her as though he'd never before felt anything so fascinating. He focused on her, not meetings or the people he had to call or the annoying incidents in the office today.
When Carol was with Seth, she knew no one existed for him but her.
The phone beside the bed rang, and Carol reached for it. Seth didn't even stir.
"Carol, I'm worried." Ming Ue's voice came over the phone loud and clear.
"About me? I'm fine."
"About Zhen."
Carol stilled. She didn't want to talk about Zhen.
"Why are you worried, Grandmother?"
"Because no one has see
n him for days. His shop is shut, and he doesn't answer his phone or the door."
Carol felt a prickle of unease. "Malcolm drove him home on Saturday night, didn't he?"
"I saw him on Sunday. We had dinner and played mahjong, and he seemed very worried and upset. I haven't seen him since. Shaiming used his key to go check on him, but Zhen wasn't there."
The prickle of unease grew to full-blown worry. Had Zhen run off to the Order, or had they done something to him?
"Grandmother, there's something I need to tell you about Zhen. You're not going to like it."
"Tell me later. Can you ask Seth to go look for him? He can fly around as that flame like he does. I'm going to ask Lisa, too."
"What about the police?"
Ming Ue scoffed. "The police are useless. Dragons, now, they do a thorough job and understand how to hurry."
"We're coming over there, Grandmother."
"Don't be silly, just send Seth. No need for you to leave where you're safe."
"There's as much dragon magic in Ming Ue's as there is here, and I need to talk to you."
Ming Ue sighed. "Suit yourself. But tell Seth, and tell him now."
Ming Ue slammed down the phone with her usual vigor leaving Carol holding a silent instrument. She replaced it on the cradle and turned to shake Seth awake.
Later as she parked in the alley, and she and Seth ducked into Ming Ue's restaurant, Carol felt the weight of interwoven dragon magic over the place as she never had before. Golden and black dragon magic leapt at her senses, and the Dragon Master in her wanted to lap it up.
Ming Ue didn't even greet them. "Why is he here?" she asked, glaring at Seth. She made shooing motions. "Go out there and find Zhen. What are you waiting for?"
"Grandmother."
Seth regarded Ming Ue mildly, his arrogant dragon ire dampened for the small woman. "She is right, Carol. We must find him."
"I don't want you going alone."
Seth brushed his hand along her arm, sending a tingle of his fire through her. "I will search and come back."
"At least take Caleb or something." Carol thought she'd feel better if the bulky, snarky man were with Seth.
The Dragon Master Page 17