by Kendal Davis
“I’m glad, too. I still can’t believe that you were able to make that much money appear, practically out of thin air.” She tried to smile through the tears that were welling in her eyes. “That’s been amazing for me. Just think what it means to me to be able to live in a place like this, and to have every comfort. Getting to send Andres to college at last! That has been life-changing for us both. Thanks to you.”
“But…” I let her know that I was aware that she had more to say. We both understood what it was.
“But I know I didn’t fulfill the terms of the contract. Even though they were crazy. That’s just insane, the idea that I would ever marry somebody I didn’t want to be with.”
“It is, yes.” As I spoke, I wondered if she realized how much I wished she would want me. Choose me, I silently implored her, but I did not send the thought to her mind with my dragon senses.
“It can’t be legal, can it? What century does that guy think this is?” Kat was pacing now, finally expressing all the frustration that had been pent up inside her since we had left the island. We had fled in the night, on dragon wings, to assuage my concern that her creditor would follow her.
“I’m not sure about the legalities, but the problem, as you know, is that the sort of person we’re dealing with isn’t necessarily bound by the law.” The more we talked about it, the more my body filled with energy as I sought a solution to this mess. Once I knew who we were dealing with, I would not hesitate to attack them with the force of a dragon, in retaliation for the worry they had given my fated mate.
“Who is it, though?” Kat was growing peevish again. “How is it possible that the little man who showed up to deliver the papers is totally untraceable? The attorney’s office was a dead end, too, when it came to the actual identity of the creep who dreamed up that contract. What kind of a crazy plan could somebody have had to set this all in motion so long ago? I never knew anything about it for all those years I made the payments!”
I shrugged off my earlier impulse to take it slowly with Kat. No longer able to keep from touching her, I moved slowly to intercept her in her program of pacing. When she reached me, I opened my arms and gathered her to my chest.
She allowed me to catch her within the circle of my arms, but she remained stiff for a moment, holding herself aloof from me. What would it take to teach her to trust me? I kept still, keeping myself relaxed and loose. My lips rested on the top of her head. She was a tall woman, but we fit together perfectly.
Ah, her hair smelled like heaven. It was soft and warm and it had the scent of the fresh air atop the highest mountains of my world, when one went out at dawn to see the sun. Being so close to her made my heart leap with the hope that we still might build a life together. She was scared, yes. But what if we were able to find our way through this?
I will wait for you.
Kat heard my dragon voice that time. She jumped a little at the sound of my words in her mind. I had not spoken to her in that way since we left her island home. She had been through enough. I had resolved to be patient and let her heal from the feelings of violation that her debt had given her.
Now, she relaxed into me. Finally, for just a moment, she laid her head fully down onto my shoulder. She was like a bird caught in a trap. After all her fluttering and worry, she was tired. If only she would rest in my arms, I could help her. I would ease her heart, no matter what she needed.
At first, I had thought that the solution to her problems was to provide money. She owed a debt of human money, so I got her what she needed. Then we learned what she was really up against. If money was not enough to fix things, then I would find the creditor that had preyed upon her and I would bring him down.
With the strength of a dragon, anything was possible. I would fight him in fiery combat, if I needed to. A human stood no chance against the flames of an angry blue dragon. I was the Captain of the Guard. Sworn to uphold my honor, my duty, and to protect what I loved.
And I knew without reservation that it was Kat whom I loved.
She was meant to be my eternal mate.
She might think that I was here merely to keep my promise to serve as her bodyguard, but the truth was more enduring than that. I had promised myself that I would bring her peace.
Then I would bring her happiness, in her mind and her body, for the rest of time.
The difficulty that stood between us was the identity of her evil creditor. She was right; a contract forcing an unwilling marriage was not something that the laws of her world would uphold. She had paid the amount of money she owed for the lost boat, and I thought that a court of law would uphold her right to call it quits.
However, there was a certain uneasiness that had been gnawing at the back of my mind. Something about the way the contract was written. Something about the terms, and the doorstep delivery of the ultimatum.
I could fight this claim, in my dragon form, once we found the man.
I could bring down any human who dared to try to claim Kat if she was not willing.
But I was becoming increasingly suspicious that the mysterious creditor, from whom we had fled to another country, was not human. The narrative of the beautiful young woman in dire financial straits, who signed a contract for a large loan without reading it, only to miss one payment years later, was stirring a particular wariness in me.
I was beginning to think that the man who had trapped Kat’s honor was not human.
Worry prickled in me, even as I held her in my arms.
I was almost certain of it now.
He was another dragon.
Chapter 7: Kat
My new life was beyond amazing. We had moved back to the city of my childhood, uncovering for me a sense of nostalgia that I hadn’t even been aware I had. I had loved it when we lived here. Back when I was a kid, Andres and I used to ride our bikes on our little side street in Coral Gables, while our parents watched from the porch. It had been idyllic.
As an adult, I understood why our parents had wanted to move to Roatán . They had dreamed of starting their own business, taking tourists out onto the water. They had thought that Andres and I would grow up outdoors, happy and carefree in the island air. That had all been true, until their fatal car crash right before I was due to start college.
I had cancelled all those plans, staying at home with my little brother. I was so focused on raising him that I would have done anything. I guess I would have signed anything.
Well, those days were in the past. Thanks to the miracle that a diving dragon had wrought in my financial landscape, I had paid the lien on the boat, as well as a hefty surcharge to try to smooth things over. We’d made sure that the money was left in escrow with the attorney before we fled the island. That had to be good enough.
I kept telling myself that.
Here, in the penthouse condo that I’d paid for without even batting an eyelash, I had a new life. I was able to give my brother the education that I’d missed at his age. I was able to buy anything I needed. There was nothing, in fact, that I needed to do about anything.
Maybe that was why I felt so uneasy.
Within the circle of Cobalt’s arms, I felt that everything would be all right. I luxuriated in the sense of peace that washed over me when he held me tight. Was that how relationships were supposed to be? It was tempting, so very tempting to think that I could finally relax in my life and enjoy myself.
I wriggled out of our embrace and looked up into Cobalt’s blue eyes. He did not try to hold me to him, nor did he push me away. He was, as always, a rock of reliability. He was so solid, so stable. Maybe that was my problem. What if I needed a little more passion?
“I just don’t know what to do with myself now.” I took another step back so that we were no longer touching. It was hard to admit that I felt lost. If I tried to find these words while still in his arms, I would break down in tears. “I worked so hard for so many years, and now I feel useless. Who am I now, if I’m not trying to provide for us?” I gulped, trying t
o turn a sob into a chuckle. He was surely not fooled.
“I understand,” he said with a distracted air. Something about the way he was veiling his expression from me made me think he had other things on his mind than what I was saying.
“Are you even listening to me?” I complained. “Just a minute ago, you said you’d wait for me. Now, all of a sudden, you look like you need to be somewhere else.”
Cobalt smiled sadly at me. “It is not that. You are always so quick to take offense, little one. It is just that I have certain...worries. There are things I need to figure out. Problems involving other dragons.”
“Oh.” The miserable thought came to me that he might be missing somebody back in his home world. What if it was another woman? That ought to be fine with me. Why did the idea generate a tingle of hurt in the pit of my stomach? “Are you worried about somebody in particular?”
Cobalt now focused on me, no longer lost in his thoughts. He grinned. “Yes, I am. You, of course. Do not concern yourself with jealousy, Kat. There is no other woman that fills my thoughts. Only you. My awareness of you gives me great pleasure, from all my senses, at all times.”
It was hard to know how to respond to that. “Um...does that mean you are not going anywhere today?”
“There is nowhere I need to be, except at your side.”
I shook my head in exasperation. “I just don’t know how to answer you, half the time. I can’t tell if you are being honest with me. There is clearly something on your mind, but if you don’t want to tell me what it is, and you don’t have anything else you need to do, then I’m going out.”
Cobalt shrugged. “That sounds fine. Just let me change my shirt, and I’ll go with you.” Without waiting for a response, he pulled his blue t-shirt over his head, leaning forward as he did so. When he straightened up, his hair was tousled, giving him a vulnerable look. I watched him, not knowing what to say.
I’d seen the man without a stitch of clothing, of course, on more than one occasion. Every time he shifted back into his human form from being a dragon, he was fully naked. On his home world, they wore cloaks to cover their bodies, but they used them in such a casual way that I knew he was never embarrassed to be nude. I’d watched the male dragon shifters strut around without clothes, right down the streets of their town.
Here and now, though, it felt different. He was in my living room and he was taking off his clothes. True, he lived here as well, but that was only temporary. And this was not a bedroom.
So why did I suddenly feel like it was? I couldn’t stop looking at his broad shoulders and the tanned muscles of his chest. My eyes moved downward to the finely cut shape of his lower torso. Then lower.
He winked at me in amusement. “Easy there. I just wanted to put on a fresh shirt before we go out. I’ll get one from my room.” Still holding the discarded blue t-shirt, he strode easily toward the hallway where his bedroom was situated. He called over his shoulder, “Don’t go out without me, though. I still need to keep you safe.”
The injunction made me twitchy. “No you don’t,” I murmured under my breath. Before he could return, I slipped quietly to the door. I picked up my beach bag and keys, and left. I was a grown woman. Maybe I was going through a little bit of a life crisis, but I didn’t need a bodyguard. Not here, anyway.
We had left the danger behind us on the island. Now that we were in another country, with enough money to work out any problem, I had no need of a dragon’s protection. Certainly not now, in the middle of the day.
As I stepped from our building, I held my face up to the sun, relishing the feeling of the breeze on my skin. This was what I had needed. I had always been a daughter of the ocean. I needed to be out here, near the water, smelling the salt air that wafted toward me.
The beach was right in front of our doorstep. Only the best would do. I had laughingly said those words to Cobalt when we made the arrangements to live here. It was the sort of place that very few visitors to Miami could afford to consider. I couldn’t help it; I enjoyed the feeling of swankiness it gave me to saunter past the doorman and stroll over to the beach. I had never been so fancy, and it was a bit of a thrill.
Oh, who was I kidding? I wasn’t interested in being part of the high fashion crowd that swarmed this street. I just needed to be near the water, so I could take a dip whenever I wanted. That was what my fortune in gold from the bottom of the sea was paying for.
Before Cobalt and I had begun sparring with each other upstairs, I had put on my swimming suit, then topped it with crisp white shorts and a gauzy, easy top. Now it was a simple matter to step out of the clothes and stuff them into my brightly-flowered beach bag. I left my things on the sand and waded into the water.
Most of my clothes were new, but my blue one-piece suit was left over from the old days when I’d been the busy Captain of my own boat. I loved the suit. It was one of the few, special pieces of clothing that always made me feel comfortable and pretty at the same time. It wasn’t easy to find the perfect maillot, even with a lot of money. Now it made me smile to think that I was rich, but the happiest point of my day so far was wading into the saltwater wearing the oldest thing in my closet.
I splashed happily, watching the people around me, but deliberately avoiding eye contact with anybody. The families were my favorites, when it came to people watching. The small children that ran up and down the sand, from one parent to another, were so full of energy and freshness. They laughed and tossed balls to each other, always seeming to know where their other family members were.
Long ago, when my own parents were alive, I had thought my life would go so differently.
I had been headed to college, sure that I would be a successful business owner one day, then find time to settle down with children of my own. Instead, I’d taken on the responsibility of raising my brother and all the financial problems our parents had left behind. They hadn’t meant to leave us in the lurch. I knew that. They had done their best, and they had taught me to do the same.
The warm water just off the beach was lulling me into a deeper state of relaxation than I’d been in since I’d moved to Miami. I could feel something dancing around the edges of my mind, almost as if Cobalt was trying to speak to me in his dragon voice.
That didn’t make any sense. He never had to try, he just did it. I had been too shy to ask him more about the bond that he thought we had, but he seemed to think we were destined to be together. I didn’t mind that, if I was being honest with myself.
But this was more like I was the one talking to myself. I just sounded a little like a dragon. Maybe I’d been spending too much time with Cobalt, and now even my own intrusive thoughts sounded a bit like him.
I closed my eyes, letting the peace of the ocean wash over me.
He is not to be trusted.
The water tugged at my long hair, tickling me along my back and arms. Maybe this wasn’t such a relaxing place to be, after all. The noise was a little bothersome. All those kids just kept running around. Why couldn’t they be still?
He will stay only as long as he wants to. Then he will leave.
I shook my head, thinking I might have water in my ears. Ok. This was getting to be stressful. I’d come out here to relax, and now I was such a bundle of nerves that I couldn’t seem to get my head straight. All my senses were jangling. Suddenly, the sun seemed too bright overhead. The noise of the other swimmers was repulsing me, making me want to drift farther out to find solitude.
Cobalt is a dragon. He would not want to stay with a human woman. You are merely deluding yourself to think so.
Without meaning to, I was swimming farther out than I’d ever been before. Of course, I was a superb swimmer. This would be no problem for me. I almost thought I heard shouts from the beach, calling me in, but then I doubted that it was really me they were after. Who would be concerned about me? I was just a visitor here. This wasn’t my true home, it wasn’t my island. And I didn’t belong here, with no boat, no job, nothing to keep me busy.
The currents washing around my legs were stronger now. I began to wonder if I should be concerned about sharks. There were tiger sharks out here, I knew it. The idea had never bothered me before, but right now, I felt like my panic would attract a swarm of them.
As the water closed over my head, I gasped. I was no longer in control of where I was going. The little spit of beach that stuck out into the water was moving farther away from me, and I was powerless to get back.
He won’t even miss you.
Damn it, why did I keep having these thoughts?
It wasn’t like me to be so hard on myself.
Nothing I had done recently was like me. Perhaps I didn’t even know who I was anymore. And now it looked like I wasn’t going to have any more time to figure it out.
With one last gasp of air, I went under.
Chapter 8: Cobalt
My awareness of Kat was as tightly focused as a laser beam. I knew where she was at all times, even while I was sleeping. It was impossible for me to tell her that, because I knew it sounded inappropriate. I didn’t want to stalk her or invade her privacy.
It was just that the bond between us was stronger than she knew. She was worried that I would go back to my own world without her. How could I explain to her the importance of our connection? She was destined to be my mate. Soon, she would feel it as I did.
When she was ready, and she agreed to it, I would give her the bite that would transform her. I would share my dragon venom with her while we joined our lives and our flesh together in every way. The mere thought of what lay ahead for us made my body harden in anticipation.
It was going to happen.
But I knew that humans often chafed against the idea of destiny. The last thing I wanted was for her to come to me from a sense of duty or, worse, resignation. That would be unlike her anyway. What I needed to do was to step carefully and woo her until she fell in love with me.
Then she would understand that the bond between us was for eternity.