by Leela Ash
“Klyana can hear his thoughts,” Kathy reminded them, feeling a ridiculous spurt of hope inside of her. Drake was going to live, after all.
Her words seemed to cut the silence like a knife and jerk them all out of their individual musings.
Drake’s family exchanged glances among themselves. Then Derek ventured, “Fine, we would like you to ask him how we can contact them.”
Klyana held up a hand, halting his speech as she listened again. “Olivia and Desiree are your best bet among the dragons, he says. Look up their numbers in his phone. Password is Tom’s birthday.”
Fresh tears sprang to Kelly’s eyes and she turned her face into the curve of Derek’s shoulder.
Marissa stared at her thermometer with worried eyes, “We need that cure fast. His temp is going through the roof. Look, the heat of his body is starting to scorch the table,” she adding pointing to the scorch marks.
“Use water,” Joshua ordered.
Marissa grabbed a pitcher of water and upended it over Drake’s body. The water sizzled like water in a hot skillet and smoke drifted upwards.
“He’s burning up,” Megan drawled, speaking for the first time.
Kathy looked at Klyana, tears swimming in her eyes. “What if we cannot get any of the other dragons to come help him in time?”
“Then I’m afraid we’re all doomed. He will die and the world of the living will be consumed by the darkness of the Underworld,” Joshua answered. He looked over at his eldest son, “Derek?”
“On it,” Derek muttered, striding off to make some phone calls with Drake’s phone.
Marissa reached out with a towel again to wipe Drake’s forehead and she yelped, dropping the towel as his heat zinged her hand.
“What’s happening?” Luke shouted dashing forward to snatch her into his arms. “Be careful. Are you alright?”
Everyone stared at the couple in tense silence until Marissa gave a jerky nod.
Then she said in a small voice, “There’s nothing I can do for him. He’s too hot to touch. And if he overheats before the other dragons get here, he could combust. I mean I have no experience with dragons but…” her voice trailed off ominously. The fact that she was a medical doctor only made it worse and Joshua seemed to age a hundred years right before Kathy’s eyes.
“I did this to him,” Joshua moaned, hugging himself. “I insisted on this assignment for him and he never wanted to go… If I hadn’t…”
Klyana looked over at Kathy with an imperceptible nod and Kathy walked forward picking up the towel Marissa had flung aside when she’d been hurt by Drake’s heat. “Maybe I can help.”
“No, you can’t. He’s too hot,” someone protested.
She looked at them with a sad smile, “Fire doesn’t hurt me.”
Calmly, she started to sponge him down, taking her time to pat from his head to toe without so much as flinching at his heat. As she used the towel on his abdomen, she couldn’t help remembering how she had threatened to blast off his nether regions with her fire. She felt like a fool now. She hadn’t realized then that he was a dragon and her fire wouldn’t have left so much as a scratch.
Seeing him lying so helpless and still made her realize how much she had enjoyed sparring with him in just two days of knowing him. Something in her had accepted him just as though she had known him all her life.
The rest of the room fell away and soon it seemed as though it was just her and Drake. She didn’t realize how tender her expression was as she sponged him down; she didn’t notice when Derek finished his call to the other dragons and went to the door to await their guests; she didn’t notice when Klyana pulled up a chair beside Joshua and sat and she didn’t even notice when the family exchanged glances as she caressed Drake’s heated brow and started to sing a calming lullaby to him.
But Klyana noticed everything and tears filled her eyes as she watched the girl she had come to love as her daughter. Kathy had spent the last seven years hiding from the world and herself; bottling her emotions and treating herself like a monster. Now for the first time in years, she was letting loose and lost in the moment. She was caressing his brow and body and singing to him just as though he was her baby.
Could this be? Klyana wondered. Could Kathy have finally found a man who could withstand her fire and her magic? Could she have finally found love? Klyana had lived close to two hundred years and she had no more use for human emotions like love, she thought with a scoff, conveniently forgetting how much she had grown to love Kathy. But she did wish Kathy, a mere 22 years old, practically a babe in arms, would learn to trust love again. She’d lost that ability when her parents had died but maybe Drake could set her right again?
The witch tucked her chin into her chest as she listened silently to Drake’s conversations in his head; secret conversations he meant for Kathy alone but which the girl could not hear.
“Silly minx. Why are you pretending to cry over my body?”
And with mock horror, “Won’t a witch’s tears turn me to an icicle?”
And, “Kathyyyyy.” A moan, like a prayer.
And more urgently, “Listen Kitten, my legs are burning up now.”
“Kathy do his legs,” Klyana ordered.
The girl obeyed immediately and Klyana listened again.
“Ahhh. That’s better. Thanks, Kitten,” Klyana heard him purr in his mind.
And more tenderly, “You should never cry Kathy. Your beauty is meant to be showcased in laughter and joy and beautiful fields full of flowers. What are your favorite flowers?”
Klyana laughed unbidden and murmured the answer, “Orchids. She loves white orchids.”
Everyone in the room paused and looked up at her, even Kathy and that was when she realized she’d spoken aloud.
She sighed and indicated him with a wave of her hand, “He’s keeping up a veritable conversation all by his lonesome in there. He wanted to know your favorite flowers, Kathy?”
The girl frowned, though a flash of hope rekindled in her eyes when she heard that he was still speaking in his mind. “Whatever does he want my favorite flowers for?”
Klyana shrugged, “How should I know?”
Kathy peered down at him suspiciously, “He’s not asking just so he can hunt them all down and burn them, is he?”
It was so unexpectedly endearing that everyone in the room chuckled. Klyana heard even Drake laugh and she grinned.
“Maybe he plans to pick them when he’s better to say thanks for caring for him now that he’s so sick,” Joshua supplied, clinging to the words with almost painful hope like a desperate man. “He means well, my dear,” he added reassuringly.
Kathy fought down a blush and started to work on Drake’s hands. The very idea! No one had ever picked flowers for her before; why would he? Besides he was just an annoying man with that smell of dragon fire clinging to him and that annoying way of staring at her with twinkling eyes as though he were holding out on her, as though he knew something she didn’t.
And what about the raw heat that surges through you every time he’s near? Her subconscious wanted to know.
Kathy ruthlessly ignored it.
“Why can’t Bo hear him?” Jeanine demanded, still eyeing Klyana with some mistrust. “Bo hears thoughts.”
Her husband shook his head, “These aren’t just thoughts per se. He’s unconscious so she’s basically burrowing through realms to get his essence and hear him. My abilities only work with someone who’s conscious.”
Kathy absorbed that bit of information. She had forgotten that shifters all had abilities. She’d never been in a roomful of shifters before. Perhaps once Drake got better, it would be exciting discovering what abilities they all had. She was soon lost in stroking and cleaning and singing to him again which was why she was the only person taken by surprise when three dragons walked into the room bringing the smell of sunshine and fire with them.
Even though they had known to expect the dragons, everyone was still shocked to see them. Two women with
long, streaming hair and one man with equally long hair, all dressed in black spandex leather stood shoulder to shoulder just inside the front door of Joshua’s home.
“You came,” Derek said, striding forward to greet them, his hand extended for a handshake.
The man among them had a supercilious curl to his upper lip and it was emphasized when he eyed Derek’s hand for an insulting minute before extending his hand for a limp handshake.
“Of course we came. The Prince needed us,” one of the women, a redhead, purred in a sultry voice that was so sinfully erotic even Kathy was enthralled by it.
She looked around, pleased to see that she wasn’t the only woman who had been discomfited by that sultry voice with its undertones of pulsating passion and raw desire. Whoever the woman was, her voice made one think of naked bodies, satin sheets, sparkling wine, and romantic music all rolled in one.
Derek recovered first, “The Prince?”
The other woman with them, a blonde-haired beauty, smiled as she offered a response, “Indeed. The Dragon Prince.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” Jack began, striding forward to join Derek. “Drake is—”
“The second most powerful dragon alive, and heir to the Dragon Throne. He is next in line when our current monarch dies,” the man explained with long-suffering patience, as though he were talking to imbeciles.
“My brother,” Derek began testily in a voice that brooked no argument, “Isn’t heir to any throne. I would know if he were and I would thank you to not make such upsetting statements er,…” he trailed off, apparently searching for the name of the man before realizing no introductions had been made.
The male dragon smiled, without humor as he easily guessed Derek’s thoughts, “We haven’t been introduced, have we? How remiss of me. You may call me Baxter. And that’s Olivia and Desiree,” he said, indicating first the blonde on his right and then the redhead on his left. “Now from what I’ve heard, your brother let you believe he was the last dragon alive for years even though he’s been meeting with us in secret for eight years. So why are you so hesitant to believe he’s also heir to the Dragon Throne?”
Silence fell.
Kathy rose to her feet, “Look, we can argue about who he is or isn’t later. Right now, Drake just needs to be healed. Please hurry, he’s turning a nasty shade of grey,” she finished, indicating his pale complexion worriedly.
All three dragons snapped their gaze towards her and they stiffened in outrage.
“A fucking witch,” Olivia growled. “That explains the foul smell in here.”
“If Alcorn is consorting with witches, I really wonder if he deserves our help,” Baxter drawled.
Kathy gasped.
“Get away from him!” Desiree ordered, her voice hardening. “Do it now!”
Kathy stared in surprise as Baxter lifted his hand and aimed at her as though ready to blast fire at her, “You heard Desiree, move away from Drake now!”
Kathy stared at them as though they had grown two heads, “What’s wrong with you? Can you heal him or not?”
Klyana looked from all three dragons to her charge and amusement lit her face as she sank onto her seat to watch the drama.
“I said move,” Baxter barked.
“Go to hell,” Kathy tossed out.
He blasted dragon fire straight at Kathy, startling a scream out of Megan and Kelly.
8.
As the dragon fire roared towards her face, Kathy merely lifted her left hand, using the back of her palm to deflect the fire as effortlessly as though she were showing off an engagement ring. The blast of dragon fire glanced harmlessly off the back of her hand and her skin seemed to just absorb it. Then just as casually, she turned her left hand to face him, palm out. A blast of electricity shot from her hand, hit Baxter smack dab in the middle of his chest and cannoned him right out the front door. The force tossed him out in the yard on his backside.
He screamed in pain, clutching his chest in pain as a huge gaping hole appeared in his chest.
Desiree and Olivia stared at her in fear before racing back out to kneel before Baxter. Olivia began to weep, cupping his head in her hands.
“What are you doing? We’re here to help. Please don’t kill him,” Olivia wept.
Kathy recognized the tears of a woman in love and her heart melted immediately within her. She managed to look stern as she growled, “If you’re here to help, then do it. Heal Drake and I promise I’ll save your…mate.”
Olivia looked up at her with tear-streaked eyes then she looked over at Desiree and said, “Help me, please.”
The other woman nodded, shooting Kathy looks to kill.
The entire shifter family was shell-shocked into silence, watching the entire scene like a thrillingmovie. Only Klyana remained unperturbed. She was gleeful as she remained seated in her seat.
Kathy followed the women, leaving Baxter still writhing in the dust.
Desiree placed her two hands over Drake’s chest and shut her eyes as she began to draw out the poison from Drake. Foaming green liquid began to pour from his cuts and his mouth and ears. The stench of the liquid made everyone begin to cough. Olivia motioned to them to open up windows and doors and they did.
Kathy stood over them still watching their every move carefully. When the last of the liquid had seeped out of him, Desiree collapsed in a heap on the floor.
Kathy flicked a glance at Olivia, “Now what’s wrong with her?”
Olivia glared mutinously at Kathy, “She drew out Dragon Poison at great risk to herself. Some of it seeped into her blood which means she has to rest or she could die. Baxter is the only one of us able to draw out such harmful substances and still block it from his body but you…killed him.”
Kathy growled, “I didn’t kill your Prince Charming. Now finish up the rest of Drake’s cure and I’ll heal Baxter.”
Derek and Bo exited the house and picked Baxter up, trying to soothe him as he groaned and moaned. They laid him carefully on the floor just inside the house and Kathy looked at the wound on his chest.
“He’ll live,” she pronounced.
“What sort of spell did you use to do that to him? Witches spells cannot harm him,” Desiree gasped from the floor, her voice not so sultry this time.
Kathy bared her teeth, “I didn’t use a spell.”
Olivia laid one hand on Drake’s brow and threw back her head as she began to absorb the last of the poison in his blood. His wounds began to seal themselves up and his family encircled her immediately, hope dawning.
He started to cough at a point and a small cheer went up. He was awake.
“Olivia, your hand is soggy. Get it off my forehead,” he groaned batting blindly at her hand.
Kathy smiled, tears forming in her eyes as she heard his beloved voice again.
Beloved? Her subconscious demanded.
She stifled a sigh as she stood over Baxter and waved a hand at his chest. The entire bloody mess and the gaping hole vanished in an instant and he gasped, recovering immediately.
“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Jack murmured, close to her ear, admiration in his eyes.
Kathy offered him a small distracted smile, her eyes fixed on Drake. He was sitting up in slow motion, helped along by Bo’s large hand at his back.
He looked around, his gaze falling on the dragon on the floor, “Desiree.”
She smiled, reaching out a hand weakly to take his. Their hands connected, held and Kathy suddenly knew with a flash of clarity that there was something between them. No wonder Desiree had seemed so… possessive.
As though the other woman had heard Kathy’s thoughts, she flicked her a smug, amused glance, daring her with her eyes.
Kathy’s hands balled into fists at her sides as something remarkably like jealousy spread through her. A pair of thin hands grabbed her shoulder before she could move and she looked. Klyana had appeared beside her and she shook her head slightly, warning her without words to keep quiet.
> Kathy obligingly subsided into silence.
“We have had a very exciting journey. And now your young dragon is out of the woods, so please show us to our rooms,” Klyana said directing her statement at Joshua. She threw Drake a discerning look, “He may be awake but I doubt he is strong enough to help us heal the rift just yet.”
Baxter, who was struggling to his feet, froze, his lip curling in its familiar supercilious expression as he growled at Klyana, “What do you mean witch? What rift?”
Derek answered, “The veil between our world and that of the dead was torn when a shape-shifter wielded an old and dangerous ornament which had been used by the very first shifter to create other shifters.”
Baxter didn’t bat an eye, “So? We know about it. Why do you want to heal it though?”
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
Drake managed a weak smile, “Baxter, maybe no one has told you the dead should stay dead. This rift’s changed everything.”
Olivia shot her mate a look and responded, “What Baxter means is that not all of it is bad. Some…good could still come from it, so why the rush to heal the rift?”
Kelly frowned as she walked forward, “I’m curious. What good could possibly come from a situation that allows dead witches, banshees and other supernatural beings to walk on earth? Among our children?”
Olivia sighed, “Well, when you put it that way, I understand your concerns, what with you being a mother to a little boy.”
Surprise flashed in Kelly’s eyes.
“Drake speaks highly of you,” Desiree purred, answering the unspoken question.
“How come he never speaks of you?” Joshua demanded. “Up until a few minutes ago we didn’t know he had found other dragons on earth.”
Desiree shrugged. “He had his reasons.”
“Be that as it may,” Baxter interjected, “That rift has to stay open. It’s the only way we’ll be able to get Alfonsus out of Orzok.”
Kathy glared, “Who the hell is Alfonsus? And what’s Orzok?”
Drake was breathing heavily, clutching at his ribs, his gaze locked on Baxter as he replied, “Alfonsus is the very first dragon and Orzok is the final resting place for our kind.”