My Dragon Masters

by Krystal Shannan

“How the bloody hell are we ever going to beat this damned Lamassu?” I stood from my chair with a snarl. “This is ridiculous.”

  “The prophesy will honor our vow. We must protect the House of Lamidae from Xerxes until they find the last three Protectors. Once all eight have made their vow to the Sisters, the spell can be completed and the Sisters will no longer be in danger from Xerxes.” Eli stepped toward me and touched my shoulder.

  I curled my lip, but didn’t step away from his touch. I craved it. I’d missed them so much. The last thing I ever wanted was to be separated from them again. If that meant that I needed to honor the vow they had made to protect these women and stay with them until it was fulfilled, that is exactly what I intended to do.

  “How do we find these Protectors?”

  “You can’t,” the Oracle said. “Two of our younger girls have had visions of a possible Protectors. But it is rare for a novice to have a vision. Usually they only come to the woman appointed as Oracle.”

  “You?”

  She nodded. “We’re not sure if the vision she had is valid. It will take time. The fifth Protector was just recently found. It’s taken thousands of years to find those five.”

  “That is not encouraging,” I snapped.

  The corners of the Oracle’s mouth turned upward. “Patience, sweet lady. All will reveal itself in the appropriate time.”

  I very much doubted it, but I was done listening to their drivel either way.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  DIANA

  Miles and Eli walked on either side of me down the strange stone-like pathway that lay alongside the large roadway where the horseless vehicles drove. I noticed the large one that had carried me here hadn’t moved. We passed by several shops, unlike anything I’d ever seen. One sign read Hardware, another was a woman’s name, Calliope Hart. Another just read Market. I knew the market was definitely a place where food would be kept. Though the building across the circle called Rose’s Cafe seemed more like a place to eat.

  “I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving and terribly underdressed.” I caught the edge of the strange shoe one of the Sisters had lent me on a crack in the pathway. Miles’ hands were on either side of my ribcage before I could even squeak out my surprise.

  I brushed his hands away and smiled. “I’m fine. It’s just these strange shoes that women called flip-flops. I do not see how these are even considered shoes.”

  Both men laughed. “In Texas, they’re one of the most popular styles of shoes. But we’ll find you some cowboy boots,” Eli said.

  I glared up at him. “What in the bloody hell is a cowboy? I have no intention of chasing any cows. Though I really wouldn’t mind eating one right about now. I don’t suppose you could rustle up a butcher?”

  The two giant men I called my husbands proceeded to fall apart like a pair of cackling hens. They grabbed their stomachs as laughter shook their massive frames.

  I, however, was not amused. Just because this world didn’t make any sense did not give them the right to make fun of me.

  “Laugh at this, you over-heated, insensitive cocks!” I waved a hand and froze them in solid blocks of ice that encased them from their toes to their gorgeous necks.

  “Diana!” Eli gave me his best pout and Miles merely rolled his eyes.

  Not an apology from either of them. Fine. They could melt themselves out.

  In the meantime, I needed something besides this shift of a dress to wear and pieces of spongy material on the bottoms of my feet, held in place by a small post I was failing at holding between my toes. Flip-flops indeed. Probably because everyone who wore them either flipped over or flopped on their face.

  Delicious smells wafted from Rose’s Cafe, but the clothes hanging in Calliope Hart’s shop window pulled harder, and I carefully flip-flopped down the pathway a few more yards and knocked at her door, completely ignoring the rotation of curses and apologies now flowing from my mates’ mouths.

  A beautiful face appeared behind the glass of the door. She paused a moment before opening it. Her porcelain skin was flawless. Long, shining brown hair hung in a waterfall braid down to her waist on one side. Her eyes sparkled with amusement and I couldn’t tell if they were blue, green, brown, or possibly a mixture of all three.

  “Afternoon, honey. Did Miles and Eli get too clingy already?”

  I scrunched my forehead, not quite sure what she meant by clingy. “No, they were rude and need to be alone with their thoughts.”

  “I don’t know. Some of those things Eli is threatening to do to you sound like they might be fun. Miles, on the other hand, just looks like he wants to spank your pretty round ass.”

  Heat rushed up my neck and I took a step back from the strange woman.

  “Sorry,” she said, holding up her hands. “I forgot you don’t speak this century. Right? Women have become more liberated since last you were awake and free.”

  “I noticed the clothing.”

  “Yep,” she drawled on, throwing another glance toward my husbands. “How long will that hold them?”

  “About ten minutes,” I replied. “Would it be possible for me to find some decent clothing in this shop? I’m afraid I don’t have money, but I’m sure that—”

  “Miles and Eli have an account with me. Don’t worry about it.” She extended her hand. “Calliope Hart at your service, honey. Let’s find you some not-so-order-of-the-nymphomaniac apparel.”

  I accepted her hand and shook it. “Order of whom?”

  A soft giggle slipped from her ruby-painted lips. “It’s what I call the Sisters of Lamidae.” She pulled me up the single stair into her shop and closed the door behind her.

  My stomach growled again and I covered my stomach with my hand, hoping she hadn’t heard. My body just wasn’t cooperating with me. I refused to walk around this town any longer in this slip of a dress. It wasn’t proper.

  “Oh, honey! Are you hungry? I’ve got a box of sticky buns in my back room. Bailey brought them over this morning. That girl knows I can’t say no to a sticky bun.”

  My face heated with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I really need to find something decent to wear.”

  “Hang on.” The tall, curvy woman disappeared behind a swath of hanging fabric and returned with a bright red box. But it was the divine smell coming from within it that truly captured my attention. Sugar. Cinnamon. Nutmeg. Honey. It was like heaven when she opened the lid and I saw the golden brown buns dripping with what could only be some type of syrup.

  “Take one,” she said, lifting the box even closer to my face. “We can try on clothes as soon as you finish.”

  “I’ll make a mess all over your beautiful carpets.” I clasped my hands behind my back and took a step backward.

  “Gods, you are something.” She laughed and put the box on the counter behind her and disappeared into the back again. When she came back she had a flat white plate in her hand. “Here.” I watched in amazement as she pulled the plate apart and it magickally became two plates.

  “Are you a sorceress?”

  She cocked an eyebrow and stared at the two plates in her hand. “Nope. These are paper plates. They come in packs of about fifty.” She shoved one into my hands and I turned it over and over, examining it. It did feel like paper, but it had the consistency of something much stiffer.

  She opened the red box again and the fresh wave of honey and cinnamon made me forget about my introduction to paper tableware.

  “Now will you eat? You don’t look like you have in years. Poor thing. We’ll have you fattened back up here in no time. You’ve not had food until you’ve eaten at Rose’s Cafe. The brownies are amazing. Of course, Rose is not bad herself. These sticky buns are her specialty. Nothing like them anywhere else in the world.”

  I continued to listen to her babble on about the different foods and baked goods that were made in the cafe and that there were pixies that worked with her. But most of my focus was on the each bite of gooey heaven as I demolished two of
the sweet sticky buns. All of the food sounded good and I had to admit I looked forward to trying it, but for now I’d be quite happy to just sit and eat every crumb from the box on the counter.

  “So, you’re looking much better than when I first saw you arrive in town. The boys have been good to you, yes?”

  I smiled and put my plate on the counter next to the half-empty box. Those last few were calling to me, but I just couldn’t be that rude. I couldn’t remember ever eating anything that tasted so perfect. It looked like it would be too sweet. But then the honey balanced out the spice … and it was just perfect.

  “They are wonderful, except that they forget I do not like to be made to feel stupid. It is a problem that has plagued them for longer than I care to remember.”

  “I’d say being without you for a millennia might put them a bit out-of-practice.”

  “I agree. Which is why I only iced them up to their necks.”

  She snorted out a laugh and popped the last bite of her sticky bun into her mouth. Licking her fingers, she put her plate next to mine on the counter and waved me toward several brightly colored racks of clothing.

  “I need to wash my hands.”

  She pulled a strange looking white towel from a yellow container and tossed it my direction. I caught it and rubbed it between my fingers. Suds appeared on my skin from the damp towel.

  “Rub it over your hands,” she said, holding up her hands as she wiped them clean with the towel. “Then toss over there.” She tossed her towel into a black basket in the corner of the room and held up her perfectly clean hands.

  I followed suit, astonished by how easily the towel absorbed the traces of honey and sugar on my fingers. But when I threw the towel into the basket after hers, I was just as surprised to find my hands dry in mere seconds.

  “It’s amazing. What is it?”

  “Nothing special. Just a baby wipe.”

  “A baby wipe?”

  “Yeah, disposable cleansing towels. But most people just call them baby wipes. For changing nappies.”

  I suddenly knew what she meant by baby wipe.

  We turned back to the rack of clothing just as a heavy rap at the door rattled the glass windows.

  “I believe your boys have thawed out,” she said, grinning as she pointed over my shoulder. “Should I let them in?”

  “How could you possibly keep them out?”

  She gave me a mysterious wink. “I have my ways. That’s why they haven’t tried to open the door yet.”

  “I suppose they can come in. They will probably want to pick out the clothing themselves.”

  “Well, hell no then. A woman should get to pick her own wardrobe after being locked up for a thousand years in a prison tower.”

  I swallowed a curse. How the bloody hell did she know where I’d been?

  “Don’t look so surprised, honey. It’s a small town and you’re the newest bit we have to talk about. Give me a sec, I’ll send the boys over to the cafe to order us some food. We can all eat and chat after you pick out the clothes you want.”

  There was no way this little woman was going to be able to order my two giant mates right off her porch … was she? But she did. I watched, flabbergasted as they both flashed me apologetic looks through the windows on the door and then strolled down the sidewalk toward the cafe.

  She came back inside and closed the door. With a flick of her wrist, curtains dropped across the windows and lights brightened around the room. She could call herself whatever she wanted, but I’d never seen magick like hers before.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  ELI

  “We hurt her feelings.” I kicked a pebble with my booted toe and watched it skitter across Main Street Circle, stopping when it hit the other curb. The afternoon sun glinted off the asphalt and I squinted, not appreciating the sudden glare. “I shouldn’t have laughed, but the way she interpreted cowboy just caught me off guard.” I called up my dragon’s heat and warmed my chilled skin. The sun might be shining, but the breeze was colder than a witch’s tit and I wore only a short-sleeved shirt. A storm would hit soon. I could feel the air pressure changing.

  “Neither of us should’ve laughed. It was an idiot move and we deserved the ice block she stuck us in,” Miles said, agreeing with me wholeheartedly.

  “It was funny though.”

  Miles chuckled under his breath. “It was fucking hilarious. Hopefully, Calliope’s clothes will help. I don’t think she was very keen on those flip flops.”

  I sighed and took in a deep breath of the tantalizing scents coming from the cafe. The sweet scent of honey and BBQ rode the icy breeze. The brownies must’ve put meat in the smoker last night for it to be smelling so good now.

  We reached the door to the cafe and I pulled it open for my brother. Miles walked in ahead of me and ducked his head, narrowly missing the little brass bell hanging over the doorframe.

  Several Lycan sat at two pushed together tables to my right and I stepped toward them, recognizing Kieran. “How are the damages to the neighborhood?”

  Kieran took a sip from his pint glass and then looked up at me. “About half of the houses along the outskirts are totally demolished. Luckily everyone listened and escaped into the shelters. No one was hurt.” His Scottish accent at one time had been out of place in Sanctuary, but now we were all quite used to it. Liam and Brogan said he came over from Scotland a few years ago when meddling humans decided to go on a hunting spree and killed his family.

  “I’m glad to hear everyone is safe. Please let my brother and I know if we can help with repairs.”

  “Aye, will do.” Kieran nodded. “I believe Rose already took care of whatever expenses were incurred.”

  “Eli,” Miles bellowed from the counter across the dining room.

  I excused myself from Kieran’s table and strode across the room to stand at my brother’s side. “What is your problem?” I hissed at him under my breath.

  “You need to order so we can get back to Calliope’s.”

  “What happen to letting her have time to chill there with the siren?” I grabbed a menu and looked at it absently. I didn’t need a menu. I wanted whatever it was they were cooking out back.

  “Hey boys,” Maven popped up from behind the counter. Her long purple hair was gone, replaced by a bubblegum pink short cut. I knew it was her though and not her twin, Raven. Maven was the flirty one.

  I refused to act startled, even though the little pixie had totally thrown me when she stood up. How they snuck around like they did still amazed me.

  My brother was less tactful and gave her a half growl of exasperation.

  “What’s cooking? I could smell it all the way across the circle.”

  “Depends. We have a lot cooking,” she said, a grin spreading across her face. “But I know you guys just want the BBQ.”

  “We need to order for Diana and Calliope, too. Anything special on this week’s menu?” I asked, laying down the red piece of paper with the latest concoctions for the cafe.

  “I have just the thing for her after the BBQ. Corinne made her favorite apple pie yesterday and I’ve got one big slice of it left. I’ll be right back.” Maven squealed and disappeared through the swinging kitchen door.

  I turned around and leaned my back against the bar. The cafe was bustling for the middle of the afternoon. Rose sat against the wall with Erick and Bailey at a table, laughing about something. The Lycan’s were deep in conversation about rebuilding and what materials needed to be ordered. The door swung open, ringing the damn bell. I didn’t like bells and neither did my brother. Something about the way the sound rang out bothered our ears.

  Travis and Garrett McLennon walked in. Both nodded their heads my direction before heading over to speak with Rose. I didn’t try to listen in, I didn’t need anything else to do right now. All I wanted was to get some food, collect a happy wife from Calliope’s shoppe and figure out how to catch Diana up on a thousand years of history. I had a feeling that we weren’t going to ge
t anywhere as a family unit until she felt like she had solid ground to stand on in town.

  We just needed to be patient. We could do that. Drakonae lived for millennia. In fact, no one was quite sure how long we could live. What was a little more time?

  “Alright, boys.” Maven came barreling out the swinging door carrying a large brown paper bag filled with the most delicious smelling BBQ we’d had in Sanctuary in months. The tangy scent of the vinegar in the sauce on the meat, mixed with the sweetness of the apple pie, and the warmth of the yeast rolls. I wiped the corner of my mouth to make sure I wasn’t drooling.

  “Thank you, Maven,” Miles said, handing her about a hundred Texas Republic credits.

  Banking changed when the US came apart at the seams fifty years ago. The dollar ceased to exist and now each of the five Republics used currency called credits, named after each Republic. They were still valued about like a dollar had been. Before the collapse a dollar had barely been worth picking up off the street. Rose didn’t charge anyone for food, the money for the meals went to the waitresses like Raven and Maven and the cooks. We all paid for the food when we paid into the town hall from our businesses.

  It was an ingenious setup and worked for all of us. Most of us were as old as dirt and had made billions of dollars over the years, Rose included. The Lycan’s were really the only ones I knew of that lived closer to a human lifespan —still most would live nearly three hundred years. But they used their talents wisely and made good money, always working together for the good of the pack. They worked hard around the town and Rose paid them well for their help. She had a way of always making sure everyone felt as though they were pulling their weight and deserved the space they took in Sanctuary.

  I followed Miles out of the cafe and we trudged back over to Calliope’s shop. The wind had increased and I felt the first signs of a wintry mix falling here and there. If the weather continued this way, Sanctuary would be covered in a layer of ice by morning.