A Dragon Speaks Her Name: A Nocturne Falls Universe story

by Kira Nyte

  Kaylae kept quiet. There were no voices in her head, but her anxiety threatened to take hold, and she didn’t understand why. If Willa had put everything together, if she knew what Zareh was and what Kaylae was, wouldn’t Cade do some dragon magic to keep the truth from completely spilling?

  Zareh said he trusted Willa.

  “Cade, the danger is already here. We know how destructive the Baroqueth can be. We understand the threat more than anyone. After the interrogation, I realized the only people we’re keeping secrets from are our friends,” Zareh said, breaking the haunting silence. “The Baroqueth know where we are and they were the ones we were hiding from. At this point, keeping secrets can potentially place our friends in danger.”

  “Oh, smoke and bones,” Alazar moaned. “I liked being incognito.”

  “My friend, you’re far from incognito.”

  “Zareh, you have a point.”

  “Thanks, Cade,” Alazar grunted.

  Cade brought the chair down to all four legs with a thump and leaned his elbows on the table. “Not you, Al. What he said. And if you two”—he cast Kaylae a side-glance—“three decide this is where you want to stay, then maybe it’s not best to keep secrets.”

  “So, it’s true,” Willa concluded. “You’re Firestorm? And Kaylae? You’re a female Keeper?” Excitement began to bubble up in Willa’s expression. Nick’s brows furrowed deeper, his gaze bouncing from one dragon to the other, brushing over Kaylae in between. “The stone is yours, isn’t it Zareh?”

  “Nick, don’t you dare let her get away. She’s as smart as she is beautiful. She’ll give you genius children,” Zareh said. Kaylae tried to ignore the sickening churn of her belly brought on by Zareh’s blatant appreciation of Willa, through no fault of the fae’s. She was beautiful. “Yes. It’s my jewel, but it belongs to my Keeper.”

  Zareh scooted his chair closer to Kaylae and slipped his arm around her shoulders.

  “No one will ever hold a light to your beauty in my eyes, sweetheart. Ever.”

  He spoke directly to her mind, the deep, sensual tone of his voice soothing her belly. She wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t lowered the magic that suppressed the voices so she could pick up on his thought until she realized his was the only thought she heard.

  He could speak through telepathy?

  Amazing.

  “Okay, folks.” Alazar came to the table, plates stacked up his arms like a professional food runner. Zareh removed two and placed them in front of Willa and Nick. Alazar served the remaining dishes before plopping in the last seat and rubbing his hands together. “Time to break bread, reveal secrets, and eat amazing grub.”

  * * *

  The remainder of the day revolved around visits. Willa and Nick left with Willa’s promise to speak with a witch friend about a protection amulet. Nick offered his time and muscle should the need arise, as well as extra eyes at night on his fountain shift. Zareh was relieved by their promises of support. He’d made the right choice to divulge their secrets.

  Sheriff Merrow came by shortly before sunset. With him, Hugh. Julian was apparently on vampire duty in town. The sheriff had some belongings Kaylae had left at the room. Hugh shared the brief discussion he had with a powerful witch named Alice. Apparently, she had cast the spell over the waters leading into Nocturne Falls that aided in keeping the humans from realizing the vampires and gargoyles and wolves spotted around town weren’t actors, but the real deal.

  “She will be calling a meeting with the local coven,” Hugh explained. “The witches who reside in our town will be made aware of the danger. When the time arises, she intends to use a confinement spell to render the Baroqueth harmless.”

  “You do realize we’re up against ancient sorcerers with ancient magic?” Zareh said. “A confinement spell may be nothing more than child’s play.”

  “Do not doubt her powers. You may be surprised. And we will be happy not to have a death on Nocturne Falls’ doorstep. That is the last thing we want here.”

  Okay, so cooking the Baroqueth extra crispy was out of the question—a slight disappointment to Zareh—unless they expedited their captives to The Hollow and handed out justice the Old World way.

  In between visits, Zareh began to work with Kaylae on controlling the invasion of outside thoughts while guiding her to connect with him on a telepathic link. Her natural instinct made it easy for her to latch onto the link and, before he knew it, they were bantering back and forth without speaking a single word aloud. Unfortunately, as proud as he was of her achievements, the mere intimacy of their mind-speak taunted him. He caught himself eyeing the hallway to his room more times than appropriate in the company of Cade and Alazar.

  “I need to get out of the house. How about we go to Howler’s for a few drinks and then walk Main Street and costume-watch?” Alazar asked.

  Zareh withdrew his powers from Kaylae’s mind and shrugged. “Want to go out for a drink? Maybe some pool?”

  “I don’t know how to play.”

  “I’ll teach you.”

  Alazar nodded vigorously. “The guy has yet to lose a game in, what? Sixty years?”

  “Eighty-three.”

  “Like I said. All right. Let’s get ready and get out of here.”

  Cade stroked his beard. “I’d like to know how they tracked you so fast, dear. Talius cut all ties with you. Unless they placed a tracker on your car or bugged your phone, there’s no way they should have reached you that quickly. The timeline doesn’t make sense.”

  “Nothing makes sense with the Baroqueth, except that they want us dead.” Zareh pulled Kaylae to her feet, kissed her forehead, and watched her disappear down the hall. “Thirty years of hiding from them is long enough. Let them come. Maybe we won’t have to hide anymore.”

  “No, no.” Cade sighed, which ended up sounding more like a hiss. “Zar, if they tracked Kaylae and knew where she was at all times with a device of sorts, they would have snatched her before she hit town. If they followed her without a device, running on leads and scents, then it should have taken them longer to find her. I’m unsettled by this. The dragon senses something is amiss, but I can’t figure it out.”

  “They tracked her somehow. They’re here. Now we have to keep her safe. Keep ourselves safe. It doesn’t matter how they found her. The truth is we’ll be facing them in the near future.”

  Zareh didn’t like the prospect of an impending confrontation. He didn’t want to cause trouble in Nocturne Falls. He liked it here, wanted to stay here. He respected authority, appreciated the Ellinghams for who they were and what they represented.

  “Were you successful in locating any other females?” Zareh asked.

  The furrow in Cade’s brow deepened. “I’m still following some leads. I have a feeling more will pop up. Adds urgency to locating them.”

  Kaylae returned to the living room, rosy cheeked, eyes bright, and looking good enough to eat. It was difficult not to look at her and think about how he’d watched her for hours before dawn. Entirely shameless and comfortable with him.

  He wanted that again. And again.

  “You two look like your hoards were taken away.” Kaylae linked her arm through Zareh’s and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Are we bringing this attitude with us? Or leaving it here?”

  Cade stood, rolled his shoulders, and plastered a smile on his mouth. The corners of his eyes crinkled and Zareh could have sworn he saw sparks within the flames of his eyes. “As the lady wishes. No attitude. Only fun. And sunglasses.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Are you sure, maybe, they didn’t leave? It’s been over a week since they ransacked my room and we haven’t heard or seen a thing.”

  The little seed of hope demanded to be voiced. Kaylae snuggled down beside Zareh, enjoying the natural heat that pulsed off his skin. Despite the annoying aspects of this waiting game with the Baroqueth, she was thankful for the uneventful stretch of time. Her mind needed the break, and, well, her body thoroughly enjoyed the pleasures
of her lifemate. Every and all pleasures.

  Zareh nipped that delightful spot below her ear, the place that sent a shiver down to her toes.

  “It would be foolish to discount their lack of presence. They’re pretty good strategists. My thoughts? They’re lying in wait, surveying what we know, who we’ve involved, and hoping we finally drop our guards.” His arm tightened around her waist and he growled against her throat. Kaylae smiled at the sound, loving how sexy it was, and that it was because of her. “Trust me, little Doe. They wouldn’t discount us for lack of strategy. This is an old war brought about by an ancient rivalry. A fight between a dragon and a Keeper.”

  “What? One refused to raise a tank of ale to the other?”

  “Not quite. The sorcerer was a Keeper to the dragon leader before Cade. He believed it was his right to possess his dragon’s full power, but the dragon did not dare share it. There were two ways for the sorcerer-slash-Keeper to obtain the full potency of dragon power. One was the dragon’s willingness to share it. The second was the death of the dragon and stealing the power from his heart.”

  Kaylae hadn’t realized she tensed until Zareh relinquished his hold on her waist and rubbed his hand up and down her arm. His touch instantly relaxed her.

  “Don’t tell me the Keeper killed his dragon.”

  Zareh sighed, his hot breath ruffling her hair. “Once he was successful in syphoning the power, the sorcerer Keeper and his family came together and decided it would be beneficial to kill all the dragons to obtain as much power as possible. The first war struck the Firestorm breed, nearly wiping us out.”

  “But you’ve flourished since then.”

  “Not quite flourished. We never grew to the size we were before that first war.”

  Kaylae twisted around to face her dragon. Her heart did its usual double thump anytime she looked at him. Part of her still lived in a surreal world, disbelieving she actually landed a man as dark, broody, and handsome as Zareh. Having a dragon was a perk, too. Being part of this incredible, yet dangerous world was exhilarating and terrifying.

  Right now, she was happy. After always struggling to fit in, struggling with what she thought was a mental condition, struggling to make sense of her life when her father had kept her shrouded in secrets, being herself and understanding her place in life was a breath of fresh air.

  Zareh brushed her hair away from her eyes, tucking the thick waves behind her ear. “It seems that whenever our clan is on the verge of extinction, there’s an increase in female Keepers. That doesn’t mean every dragon will have a female, but it allows us a chance to produce heirs and increase our numbers again. Evolution at its finest. You were born within two years of our last war.”

  “You think there are more female Keepers?”

  “Cade’s been looking. He hasn’t located any others, but he doesn’t doubt they are out there. It’s a matter of peeling back the layers of lies behind false documents.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Just like you. He located your original birth records. Absolutely no mention of the father, but a separate legal document linked Talius to you as a legal guardian, and that was how he gained full custody of you. That, and your mother gave up her parental rights.”

  “Do you think she knew who and what my father was?”

  Zareh shook his head. “No. Talius wouldn’t have disclosed that information to someone who had no connection to the Firestorm clan.”

  So many questions had come up over the last week, but Zareh answered each and every one in stride. She finally confided in him her apocalyptic nightmares and the vision she’d had at Howler’s, and he gave her a frighteningly familiar recount of the fiery war thirty years ago. Her nightmares weren’t nightmares. They were flash visions, most likely from Zareh’s memory. He seemed pleased to fill her in on a life she had been protected from. Pleased and proud. Every now and again, his chest would puff out and Kaylae was often helpless to touch that really nice chest…if they were alone.

  “And my lineage remains pure? How is that when my mother was an average woman? I would think these powers would have diluted.”

  “No. The Keeper DNA is dominant. Another very basic evolutionary miracle. The Keeper gene is the foundation of your makeup. Your mother may have contributed some of your physical characteristics, but Talius’s genes created you for who you are.”

  “No doctor visits and blood tests ever showed anomalies.” She pondered that for a moment while Zareh watched her, his strong fingers playing with her hair. “My DNA isn’t completely normal, but it would never show otherwise. Seems that the construction of my genetic makeup is hidden behind a façade.”

  “It is. Another contribution from your mother. There’s a reason we’ve survived this long without being detected.”

  “And a reason the Firestorm clan is considered the Atlantis of dragon clans.”

  The corner of his mouth curled in a devilish grin. “Exactly.”

  Kaylae tapped his lips. “Darn you. Bad dragon. That grin melts me.”

  “I have other means of melting you.” Zareh rolled her onto her back, dipping his mouth to her neck for a kiss. “Want me to refresh your memory?”

  “Mmm, you can refresh my memory anytime.”

  * * *

  Kaylae just finished tying up her hair in a ponytail and changing into a fresh set of clothes when Alazar knocked on the door. Zareh was still in the shower, steam filtering out through the cracked-open door.

  “You’ve been in this room all morning. Please tell me I’m not going to be spending another day picturing all the dirty that’s going on in there. My poor virgin head can’t handle the images.” He knocked again. “Hey, Kay. I brought home some of those Vampire Bite donuts you like so much from Hallowed Bean, but you better come out before I eat them all.”

  “That’s not nice.” She slipped the last button through the slit in her shirt and pulled open the door. Alazar popped his head into the room, glanced toward the bathroom door and rolled his eyes. Kaylae gave him a friendly shove back into the hallway and closed the door behind her. “Where are those donuts, you tease?”

  “Locked up for ransom.”

  “I don’t have gold, and if I did I wouldn’t barter it for a donut.”

  Alazar smiled. He pinched her chin. “Zar’s teaching you well.” He dropped his arm around her shoulders and led her toward the kitchen. “He’d bite my wings if I took anything from you, so no. No gold.”

  “What then?”

  “Tell him to get a new bed. That squeaking is driving me crazy.”

  Heat flushed over Kaylae’s face.

  Alazar’s smile grew. He released her shoulders and pulled a bag with the Hallowed Bean’s label on the front from one of the cabinets. He dangled it in front of her face. She tried to snatch it, but he held it over his head, way out of reach.

  “Brat,” she muttered, placing balled fists on her hips. She arched her brow. “See if I share any more of my fudge with you.”

  “Convince him to buy a new bed.”

  “I will, believe me. Now hand over the donuts.”

  Alazar regarded her for a long moment, then gave her the bag. She pulled out one vanilla glazed chocolate donut round and took a bite. The raspberry jam oozed over her tongue and she moaned aloud.

  “I love these things.”

  “Yeah, I can tell. I was waiting for you to throw punches.”

  She smiled a donut tooth-covered smile and popped the rest of the round in her mouth. She clapped his broad shoulder. “I’d never punch you.”

  “Glad to hear it. At least I’m safe from someone.” Alazar slipped his hands into his jeans pockets. His good-natured mood dimmed a little. “Cade won’t be back until late tonight. What are your plans with Zareh?”

  Kaylae held out the bag for him, but he shook his head. “I have to go down to the credit union. Willa asked that we stop by in about an hour or so. She said Pandora had a protection something or other for me.”

  “I think I heard that she and Willa brains
tormed. You’ll have to show me the finished product when you get back. I’m interested in seeing what those two devised.” Alazar’s eyes dimmed more and he nodded toward his bedroom. “I think I’m going to freshen up and head down to Howler’s to shoot up the pool tables. Why don’t you guys meet me there when you’re done? We can grab some grub.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I like that place.”

  Alazar laughed. “It’s pretty cool, huh?”

  Kaylae took a seat at one of the counter stools and demolished half the bag of rounds before Zareh found her and saved her hips from glorious donut overload. He peeked inside the bag before casting her a raised brow and a smirky look.

  “Do not tell me these are better than sex.”

  Kaylae shook her head. “A close second.” She stuck a finger in her mouth and sucked the glaze off. “Mmm.”

  “Bad Keeper.” He relieved her of the effort of cleaning off another finger when he licked the glaze from her pad. “That tastes much better coming off you. I’ll remember that for later.”

  His soft-spoken promise made her look at those Vampire Bites in a whole new way. She liked them even more.

  “So, you need to go to the credit union?”

  “Yeah. I’m happy I had the foresight to keep the Janet Dane license in my wallet instead of that envelope.” She edged around Zareh and slung her purse over her shoulder. “Not sure how I would get access to the safety deposit boxes otherwise.”

  “Oh, sweetness.” Zareh placed a hand on her lower back and guided her to the front door. “There are many ways to get what you want.”

  Alazar joined them in the foyer and tsked. “Don’t be warping unsuspecting minds, now. That’s not very chivalrous of you.”