by Ruby Ryan
Except what he said ended up being nonsense.
“This is a totem,” he said, pulling out the little gryphon figurine with the dark gem in the neck. “I found it in Belize. So did my friends. Five of us, though I guess there’s a sixth somewhere? We’re still trying to—”
“You’re rambling.”
“Sorry. So, this totem is… special. It gives us unbelievable powers. What happened last night, on the roof, was as new to me as it was to you.”
The image of him flashed into my head: standing with his legs spread and screaming in pain, body morphing into a creature that didn’t exist. Flying into the sky on dark wings.
“I hallucinated that,” I said softly.
“No, you didn’t.” Orlando’s eyes held an intense truth in them. “It was real, Cassie.”
“Don’t say my name.”
“All of it was real.”
I wanted to turn away, but I needed to keep him in my vision for safety. I held my hands at my side like stiff wooden boards.
“Next you’re going to tell me about dragons, I suspect?”
His face grew serious. “How did you know? Has he come here already?”
“No, you idiot! I read your texts last night. Your buddy mentioned a dragon.”
“Oh. Yeah, he’s one of the others I mentioned. His totem has a ruby, though.”
“Oh, okay,” I said with mockery. “His totem has a ruby. Yours has an onyx stone. I was confused before, but now it all makes perfect sense!”
“You don’t have to be a jerk about it.”
“Actually, Orlando, I do I have to be a jerk about it. Because everything you’ve done has been worthy of jerk treatment.” The fear of two years of escort service that I’d been bottling up boiled to the surface, all the risks I’d taken that Orlando was now exacerbating with his presence. “I have a career here, one I’ve poured my sweat and tears into for a decade to get where I am. To get to this office.” I gestured around me. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call my recruiter and have her send large men to beat the living shit out of you.”
Somehow, just saying the words caused me physical pain: my chest tightened, and my headache returned for a flash. But I had to get him to leave. He was going to ruin everything.
“Because,” he said, holding the totem out. “You and I have a connection, now. The totem has chosen you, the same way it chose me a week ago in that cave. We’re connected now. I know you can feel it, Cassie. I found you here because I could feel you, like a distant firefly that grew larger the closer I came. I can still feel you, right now, in this room. And I know you can feel me too.”
He closed his eyes, and then opened them again. “We belong together, Cassie. I know we just met, but I care deeply about you.”
Ohh, it felt good to hear him say the words. They rang true in my head, and I wanted to believe it so badly that for several heartbeats I did. It would be so easy to round my desk and fall into Orlando’s arms, taste his kiss and feel the warmth of his embrace, to let it envelope me like a blanket of his spicy musk. It would have been so easy to remove my blouse and pants, to demand that he take me right there on the desk, spreading my legs while he pumped into me steadily, making it last and keeping me on the edge while he ran his hands over my chest, and I could stick his finger in my mouth and suck on it, the way I’d done to his throbbing cock last night in the hotel room, pleasing him and then letting him please me…
I shivered at the thought, and then it was gone.
Orlando gave a mischievous smile like he knew what I was thinking.
I had a hundred questions for him. What cave? What connection? Why did you choose me? Do you honestly expect me to believe this bullshit?
But my chest remained tight, and I couldn’t make the words leave my lips.
“Get out,” I finally managed to say. “Or I make that phone call. And then I’ll make a call to the building manager to let him know the security guard let a stalker into the building because he went to the same salsa club. Your choice.”
Orlando nodded with resignation. “I’ll go, for now. But think about what I said. And think of me.” That same half-smile came to his lips. “Because Cassie: I know I’ll be thinking about you.”
I waited until he was gone before going to the doorway and breathing deep of the air he had occupied, savoring what scent of his remained. I couldn’t stop myself. It was intoxicating.
I stood there long after he was gone.
10
ORLANDO
I took the elevator down to the lobby in brooding silence.
I’d been worried about my situation with Cassie before. Intrusive, despairing thoughts that had plagued me all night. I berated myself for rushing into something with a stranger. I ridiculed the stupidity of sleeping with Cassie, making her my mate, before telling her everything that went along with it. I’d fretted and paced and not gotten any sleep because I wondered if I’d ruined any chance with the woman I was fated to be with.
But not anymore.
Now, having visited Cassie in her office—where she had a day job, I guess?—I knew I hadn’t ruined anything. I could feel her desire for me. It pulsed into my own heart through the totem that joined us. It wafted off of her curvy hourglass body, bolstering my confidence with each wave. And I could see it in the way she looked at me, the eager lust in her eyes while she tried to tell me to go.
I had her. I was so close.
She was my mate, even if she didn’t realize it yet. All I needed to do was give her some more time, to let her break down her own barriers before giving in to our mutual destiny.
God, I couldn’t wait. It had taken all of my willpower not to pounce on her in that office, feel her lips against mine and to run my hand through her silky hair…
I took a shuddering breath. I couldn’t wait for her to come around.
The elevator opened and I strode through the lobby. The guard brightened up when he saw me.
“She’s not convinced yet,” I said, tossing him my flowers. “Thanks for letting me try.”
“Hey, no sweat, Orlando. See you at salsa on Friday?”
“Sure, see ya then.”
But I didn’t know if I’d still be here by Friday. Hopefully Cassie would give in to her desires before then.
I exited onto the busy sidewalk and fell into the stream of people walking along. I wasn’t sure what to do next. I was confident that if I gave Cassie some space she’d stop resisting her feelings, but I wasn’t sure how much time to wait. A day or two? Should I wait for her to come to me, or should I randomly show up at her apartment again on Monday?
And there was the problem of the threats. Cassie’s pimp, or agent, or whoever managed her escort service, had left some very threatening emails if I bothered Cassie again. Even if she eventually came around, I didn’t want to trigger her pimp’s rage. Nothing killed a relationship quicker than two broken kneecaps.
In the mean time… there was the other thing.
The Onyx Dragon.
As I walked along, I couldn’t help but tilt my gaze to the sky in between buildings. He was out there, somewhere. If my friends were to be believed, shifting into my gryphon form was like shining a giant spotlight on my location, drawing them to me. Ethan’s dragon had to travel from Louisiana to Texas to find him, but Roland said his dragon was sniffing around Boston before he shifted for the first time. So they had some sort of sense.
I wondered where my dragon was. For all I knew, he could be anyone walking around on the street. He could he right in front of me.
It was tough to walk around like nothing was wrong with that thought in my head.
Rather than go back to my apartment, I made my way down to Grant Park, and then the lakefront. There were a scattering of runners along the path but fewer than usual thanks to the chilly weather. I liked that just fine. Being able to see individuals jogging in the opposite direction felt a thousand times safer than being in a crowd where anyone could be the dragon, and from here I c
ould scan more of the sky.
I’d promised to check-in with Ethan today, so I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.
“Hey pal,” he said after only one ring. “Everything going fine?”
“Well, I’m not burned to a crisp yet,” I said with a fake chuckle. “So I guess you could say so.”
“How’s your mate?”
I paused as a jogger passed by, and waited until he was out of earshot before continuing. “I just saw her. Better than she was when I talked to you last night, but still not on board.”
“Not everyone’s as easy as me!” I heard Jessica say in the background. Ethan must have had me on speaker phone.
“The Gryphon Sluts would be a sweet name for a band,” said Ezra, Sam’s mate. I heard Sam make a choking noise.
“But I’m wearing her down,” I said. “She was real close to giving in just now. She’s fighting her feelings, but they’re going to win soon. I can feel it.”
“Yeah…” Ethan said. “Here’s the thing. We’ve all been talking, and we think you should go ahead and come to Texas.”
It took a second for his meaning to sink in. “Wait, you mean without Cassie?”
“You’re in danger,” Sam said, voice getting louder and clearer as if he were moving closer to the phone. “Since you’ve shifted, the dragon is probably sniffing you out. You might not have much time.”
“I still think we should give him more time,” Jessica said. It sounded like they’d had this argument already. “Our dragon didn’t find us until the second time Ethan shifted.”
“Yeah, okay, and ours found us within a few hours,” Ezra snapped. “Swooped down on us in the fucking parking lot.”
Their voices abruptly dimmed as Ethan took me off speaker phone.
“We’ve decided,” he explained, “that it’s too risky for you to stay there. You’re a sitting duck if you remain in Chicago, close to where you shifted. The dragons are impulsive, and prone to rage. From what we can tell, us shifting drives them crazy with bloodlust. What are you going to do if he finds you before you convince Cassie? You two haven’t had sex since you shifted, right?”
“No,” I admitted. And I knew he was right: I couldn’t shift right now even if I somehow got Cassie to press the onyx gem on the totem in my pocket. I had to recharge, as stupid as that sounded.
“But I think I only need one more day,” I said. “Two max.”
“And if the dragon finds you in the mean time, you’re a dead man. Without your powers he’d finish you in a few seconds.”
I glanced up at the sky above Lake Michigan. I didn’t feel so safe out here in the open anymore.
“You’re safe down here, where we can protect you. We’re safer together.” He hesitated. “And I think the dragons are… doing something. Their power is building like a storm, just over the horizon. Sam and I can feel it. All of us need to gather together before it’s too late.”
Everything he said made sense, or at least as much sense as something so crazy could sound. I stopped and sat on a bench, leaning back against the cold metal.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll come.”
“Good. We knew you’d listen. Oh!” Ethan gave a start. “By the way. Don’t take a plane down here.”
“What?”
“I don’t know, because Roland wouldn’t give any more details.” Ethan sounded bitter at that. “But he was very insistent. Planes aren’t safe.”
“Alright, no planes. I’ll figure something out,” I said. “But what about Cassie? I’m just supposed to leave her here? Or Are you suggesting I kidnap her and throw her in my trunk?”
I said the last part as a joke, but Ethan took it at face value.
“No, we decided that’s probably not ideal. Getting arrested is probably just as bad as the dragon finding you.”
“Then what?”
There was a brushing sound as someone else took the phone. “Orlando,” Jessica said, “don’t worry about Cassie. Just get down here… and she’ll follow.”
She paused for a moment, and I could almost feel the others nodding along.
“The totem won’t let her stay,” she said. “If you leave Chicago, so will she.”
11
CASSANDRA
I was a hot mess.
Saturday ended up being a wash. I tried to get more work done after Orlando left, but it was like the vacuum from his presence created pressure in my head. My headache steadily returned with a vengeance, becoming a full-fledged migraine by noon.
By 3:00 I surrendered and left the office—making sure to glare at the security guard in the lobby. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, but the Chinese take-out I got on the way home didn’t seem appetizing, and after three small bites I knew I wasn’t hungry enough to eat any more.
Think of me. Orlando’s words replayed in my head over and over, his voice like smooth caramel.
I put on some light classical music, but that failed to sooth me too. It was like I was getting sick: my joints ached, the pressure in my head continued building, and I didn’t want to do much more than lay on the couch in a ball.
And all the while, Orlando tormented my thoughts.
I couldn’t stop thinking about him. His arms wrapping around my body. The smile that filled his entire face instead of just his mouth. Even the way he spoke, deep and confident.
Think of me.
It was like he’d stung me with lust poison.
I slept in fits, always waking to the eerie sensation that someone was in the room with me, like I could sense that Orlando was there standing over me, but when I opened my eyes and jerked up on the couch I was alone.
At one point, I got up and guzzled a bottle of old NyQuil in my medicine cabinet. That succeeded in knocking me out for a few hours, but when it wore off I felt like I hadn’t slept at all. If anything, I felt more exhausted. Not just physically fatigued, but mentally and emotionally as well. Like I’d been through a breakup and had spent all night crying.
Good Lord, Cassie. What’s up with you?
Around noon, I forced myself to rise from the couch. I stood under the scalding water of my shower, which gave me enough energy to put on some fresh clothes and get out of my apartment.
I loved going for walks. It got my juices flowing; it helped me think. And today I was hoping it would also help me relax.
It was a partly-cloudy day, but blue sky threatened to peek through the clouds in a few places. And the wind wasn’t blowing terribly strong. Altogether it was a pleasant day, relatively speaking.
I walked south toward the Sears Tower (I refused to call it the Willis Tower, ugh) because I wanted to be around crowds. Gawking tourists and other people out for a Sunday stroll, getting late brunch after a long night of drinking. The city felt different today. Like the contrast had been altered on an old TV, just barely off from the way it should look. I constantly blinked my eyes as if that could make it go away as I wound my way through the city.
Orlando remained in my head, like someone breathing on the other end of a phone.
I’d been an escort for close to two years. I’d been with every kind of man: classy and trashy, confident and shy, black and white and every shade in between. Lots of men fell in love after a weekend of my elite company. I’d had my fair share of stalkers, which my recruiter usually helped keep at bay, but occasionally some slipped through and found me, and refused to let go. Streams of flowers and chocolate and gift-wrapped lingerie they wanted me to wear. I was adept at letting them down, being blunt enough for them to finally get the hint and leave me in peace, and when that didn’t work I’d even gotten a handful of restraining orders. The point being: I was the one for whom severing a connection came easy. I never chose a client twice. The temporary nature of the arrangement was one of the things I enjoyed. I didn’t have “comfort food” restaurants that I frequented on a schedule;, no pizza every Friday night at the usual place; I liked to always try something new.
So what made Orlando different?
; It wasn’t just that our weekend had been cut off before it even began. I’d had that happen before, with similarly handsome men. No, there was something different about Orlando. I felt infatuated with him. As I stood at a crosswalk waiting for the light to change, I realized I was examining the faces of the men waiting to cross from the other direction. One man was black, and I was subconsciously comparing his face to Orlando’s. The shape of his nose was too wide, the eyes a hair too close together. And he was too tall by several inches.
God, I was infatuated with him.
Once I realized what it was, I couldn’t make myself stop. The man in a trench coat walking ahead of me was too slender. The guy coming the other way didn’t have the same almond eyes. Every single man my gaze passed over was someone to be compared to Orlando. He was suddenly the gold standard against whom everyone needed to be measured. The perfect man.
Jesus. Maybe I should go home and write his name in my diary 5,000 times.
I passed the Sears Tower and continued west over the river.
This wasn’t me. I wasn’t in the right state of mind. But how could I fix it? Would grabbing Orlando’s ass with both my hands and sticking my tongue in his mouth to taste him give me the closure I needed? Even if I wanted to do that, I didn’t know anything about him. And calling my recruiter to arrange a meeting after what had already happened would have been professionally embarrassing.
An icy fist clenched my heart at the thought of never seeing him again. I recoiled from the emotion. How could I feel this way about someone I’d met for only a few minutes?
It was like I was falling in love with him.
I shivered, and I wasn’t sure if it was with pleasure or disgust.
Union Station appeared to my left as I walked down Adams Street. Where could I go to make me feel better? The aquarium was always soothing, dim lights and giant glass tanks, the fish swimming silently through the water. Yeah, that sounded nice. I wasn’t sure if there was a direct L-Train from here to there, but someone inside would be able to tell me.
I crossed the street and passed through the massive stone columns, feeling better with every step.