Without looking up, Donna said, "What do you want, black dragon?"
Leather creaked as Malcolm sank to his heels in Donna's basement, watching her gaze into a bowl of still water. He could smell a demon behind them in the shadows, but the creature seemed smart enough to hide himself from Malcolm. The entire basement, indeed the house and the garden around it, reeked of demons and the basest forms of sexual magic.
"Lisa has returned." Malcolm told Donna. "I felt the surge as she returned from Dragonspace, and her power is different now. What do you intend to do with her?"
Donna lifted her head. Her eyes were light gray, almost colorless. "You've been screwing one of my witches."
"Saba is mine now," Malcolm said. "I protect her." He remembered the taste of Saba and allowed himself a fleeting thought of pleasure. He hadn't actually "screwed" her as Donna so vulgarly put it. He'd pleasured her, but not made love to her fully.
"She is foolish and so are you."
Malcolm ignored the jibe. "Is Lisa connected with the dragon orb?"
"Everything is connected to the dragon orb." Donna pushed the bowl of water to him, slowly so the water would not ripple. "Look."
Malcolm peered into the bowl. Dragons didn't usually scry, but they could when needed. Through the clear water he looked down at Caleb and Lisa, naked and pleasuring each other on a white and gold carpet.
Weeks ago Malcolm would have studied them dispassionately, two human creatures doing what human creatures did ad nauseum. But watching Caleb and Lisa touch each other put him in mind of what he wanted to do with Saba, and his body warmed.
He was about to indicate disapproval at Donna's voyeurism when the bowl filled with shimmering light. It was Lisa, her body elongating into light studded with colors, like a string of Christmas lights in mist. She swirled around Caleb, then manifested as Lisa in his arms.
Malcolm's mouth went dry. He had known, but having the knowledge confirmed was a shock. Only one creature could do what Lisa had just done, and they were so rare they'd passed even into dragon legend.
"So it's true."
"That she is a silver dragon?" Donna sounded more angry than awed. "Of course she is. Her grandmother, Li Na, was a very powerful manifestation of it. So powerful neither of us could get near her. But Lisa, she is weak and clueless about what she can do. I brought Caleb in to protect her from you, so you would not damage her before she could become the dragon and lead me to the orb."
Malcolm processed all this, his mathematical brain clicking. "You believe she is hiding the orb."
"The silver dragon is. That is why she is in this world at all, to protect the orb."
"Then why would she lead you to it? Caleb will have told Lisa you've been ingesting demon magic. She won't trust you."
"Because Lisa the woman is sentimental. Everything she does happens because she loves too much." She sneered. "What is the quote, Not wisely but too well? She will reveal the orb to me, and then I will kill her. Would you like to help me?"
Caution stirred inside him. "You cannot kill a silver dragon. They are too powerful."
"I will kill this one. She is not yet at her full strength, but I have been preparing for this for years."
"Why did you wait?" Malcolm asked. "Why not kill her before she realized she was a dragon, or when she was a child?"
Donna drew an impatient breath, nostrils flaring. "Because the magic of Li Na surrounded her and protected her, it always has. I waited until she manifested because…" She paused. "I want to kill this silver dragon, not just Lisa Singleton. She committed a heinous crime against my family, and I will make her pay."
"What crime?" Malcolm remained outwardly stoic, betraying none of his inward alarm.
"No less than murder. I cannot change events, but I can punish her for what she's done."
Malcolm raised his brows. "I've never heard that Lisa Singleton murdered anyone."
"Of course you haven't. It happened centuries ago in Dragonspace. I cannot stop it and I cannot change it, but I can have my revenge."
Malcolm fell silent. A witch out for revenge was a dangerous thing indeed. Dragons never went for vengeance—they resorted to violence only for survival. Vengeance meant violating a dragon's territory and possibly being hunted down by other dragons not wanting vengeance turned on them. Witches on the other hand were limited by human vindictiveness and an inability to get over the past.
He also recognized his danger if he refused to help Donna. She would not tolerate his interference or Saba's. Saba had power, latent and buried perhaps, but she had it, and likely Donna knew it.
Without hesitation, Malcolm lunged at Donna and grabbed her by the throat.
His fingers barely connected with her skin when a bubble of darkness shot from her and slammed Malcolm across the room. He landed on his back, spine jolting, gritting his teeth against the pain.
He scrambled to his feet, ready to fight, but he found himself in an empty basement. The black bubble receded into nothing before his eyes, and Donna and the incubus were gone. The scrying bowl lay on its side, a puddle of water widening around it.
Malcolm got himself upstairs and out of the house without seeing Donna anywhere. The witch had vanished even though the demon stink had not.
He strode down the steep alley toward the street, his heart racing, and pulled out his cell phone.
Lisa and Caleb went to bed, even though the sun was well past the noon mark. Caleb drowsed next to Lisa in the warm light, watching the sun on her skin. Strands of her red hair flowed across his shoulder, auburn on bronze. He moved lazy fingers over her bosom, and beneath his touch, she stretched a little.
"I'm hungry." She said it like the fact surprised her.
"You were mortally wounded, then became a dragon and had wild and wicked sex with me. Why should you not be hungry?"
She traced a pattern on his chest, weaving her fingers around his flat nipples. He was still connected to her by the musical threads of their thoughts, but as usual she kept some part of her away from him, even more strongly now. At the same time that he was drawing closer to her, she was pushing him away. It surprised him how much that hurt.
"If you are hungry," he ventured, "we could go back to Dragonspace, and I'll teach you to hunt."
"Actually I feel more like ice cream."
He smiled at her, hiding his uncertain feelings. "A human delicacy I have not yet tried."
"It's fabulous. Maybe that's why I wanted to come back to this world. French vanilla with chocolate sauce."
"Maybe."
She raised on her elbow, watching him, her eyes dark. "I loved Dragonspace. For the first time in my life, I felt like I'd found some place where I really belonged. All the messes I've gone through in my life didn't seem to matter. It was right to be there."
He skimmed his fingers across the side of her breast, enjoying her softness. "It is natural to feel right in Dragonspace. You are a dragon."
"But there was a pull, stronger than anything I've ever felt, a need to return to this world, this city."
"You have been happy here," he suggested.
"It's more than that. I know that I can move back and forth between here and Dragonspace to visit either place. Don't ask me how I know, I just do. But this place called me back. The silver dragon understood why, but I don't."
Caleb unfolded his body and moved to straddle her, resting on his heels, his knees on either side of her thighs. He lightly stroked the tight muscles of her abdomen and the curve of her waist. "You have such strength. I could barely keep up with you in Dragonspace. I feared I'd lose you to the stars."
"I'd never leave you behind," she said, sounding surprised. "I'll always wait for you."
Caleb skimmed his hands up her sides. "When the mating frenzy is on you, every dragon in Dragonspace will be after you. You'll have to fly fast if you don't want to be caught in a ménage-à-eight."
She grinned. "That's physically impossible, even for dragons."
"Mmm, just wait until you'r
e caught in another mating frenzy."
"I feel pretty frenzied right now," she said.
Caleb lay his fingers across her mouth. "Be careful. Once you emit a mating call, you'll have males banging down your door. Better use me to get the frenzy out of your system."
She smiled around his hand. "Of course."
"Truly, if you need to satisfy yourself with hours upon hours of lustful mating, I will be happy to service you with whatever you need. All through this day and the coming night, and the next."
"My, you're gallant."
"I know."
She looked thoughtful. "The way I feel right now, I think I'll take you up on the offer."
He touched his chest. "You honor me."
"No, I feel like—I want to devour you. Mating with you has already made feel crazy."
He ran his hands down to her hips, smoothing her hipbones with slow fingers. "Really? How crazy?"
She arched toward him. "This crazy."
He leaned down and licked her navel. "How crazy?"
"Touch me," she said. "Please, Caleb, touch me."
He continued his strokes over her hips and across her thighs, tracing circles that drew closer and closer to the moist space between her legs. "Like this?"
"Exactly like that."
"Lie back," he instructed.
Lisa lay down fiat on the bed, her chest rising and falling as she watched him. Caleb moved his hands to hers, which lay relaxed at her sides. He traced each of her fingers, taking his time, then ran his fingertips across her palms, watching her fingers curl inward. He moved his touch up the inside of her arms and then down her sides, feathering again over the mounds of her breasts.
Her skin was so incredibly soft, and at the same time, Lisa was so strong. Her arms and legs were taut with muscle, honed by walking the hills of San Francisco.
He drew his fingers together over the warm, taut peaks of her nipples. Then down her abdomen, massaging. Back to her thighs, then down her shins to her feet, rubbing his palms in little circles. He sat back on his heels and lifted her right foot, massaging the sole with his thumbs.
"Mmm," she purred.
Sexy, she'd called him. She was sexy, especially when she smiled. Seeing her smile was like plunging into a hot bath that comforted, and at the same time slid heat over places no one else was allowed to touch. She seemed not at all exhausted from their arduous flying and dragon love-making. When they'd landed in her apartment, she'd not even been sweating.
He continued the foot massage with soothing hands, then he leaned down and nibbled her toes. Lisa giggled.
"I like when I make you laugh," he said.
"You are so gentle. At the warehouse last night you were ferocious."
Caleb lowered her right foot and cradled her left one in his hands. "As a dragon, you match me in strength." He drew her toes into his mouth and licked them. "As a human, I am much stronger than you are, and I do not wish to hurt you. I will never hurt you."
"Maybe that's why I wanted to come back here," she said. "Because you would be like this."
He flicked his tongue over her toes again. "Maybe it was your grandmother's magic."
"Maybe." She laced her fingers behind her head, watching him lick and caress the top of her foot. "I wish Grandma Li Na would have told me more."
"Perhaps it is something you had to discover for yourself." He stroked his thumbs over her instep, then pressed his mouth to her arch, where his fingers had been. "Like a rite of passage."
"Maybe you are here to show me the way."
"I hope so. Turn over."
Lisa rolled facedown onto the bed, cradling her head on bent arms. Caleb pushed her warm hair aside, then she moved in satisfaction as he drew firm hands down her back, kneading and caressing. He traced her buttocks, fitting his hands into the hollows of her hips, gently parting her cheeks and massaging with his thumbs. She made a noise of pleasure as he found the moisture between her legs.
He lowered himself, sliding his erection between her buttocks. He lay there, not inside her, but nestled in the crease of her backside. He loved feeling her squeezing him, loved smelling her so close to him, loved dipping his head to taste her skin.
He moved teasing lips along her neck, followed by his tongue. She squirmed, and when he nipped her, she squealed, then laughed.
Caleb nibbled her earlobe, growling under his breath. After thoroughly wetting her ear, he lifted himself away and kissed the base of her neck, moving slowly downward, drawing his tongue along the length of her spine.
She wriggled as he kissed the hollows in the small of her back, lingering on the sensitive skin. Then he dipped between her buttocks, and she lifted her hips, shifting in eagerness.
Caleb moved his tongue to the space between her thighs where her juices flowed. He nudged her legs apart, and she let him, readily arching to him so that he could fully lick her.
"Lisa-ling you are so wet."
Her voice was muffled by the pillows. "You've made me wet."
Caleb thrust his tongue inside her, wrenching a moan from her. "You taste like nectar." He ruffled her red curls with his breath, then licked some more, fully tasting the lips of her opening.
She gasped. "Caleb, you have to stop."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to—" She broke off, writhing against the bed, driving herself farther onto Caleb's mouth. He chuckled in his throat as she moaned his name. She felt swollen and tight and tasted so good he never wanted to stop having her.
She scrambled away from him, facing him on her hands and knees, panting. Caleb knelt before her, hard and naked and smiling. "Come to me, Lisa."
He laid down on his back, his erection standing straight up, his wanting not hidden. Her eyes dark with need for him, she slid one leg over his torso and lowered herself straight onto him.
Caleb moaned at the same she time he did, feeling the incredible heat where they joined, coupled with the exquisite pressure of her along the length of him. A few golden threads of his thoughts still tangled with hers, even though much of his power over her had gone. But what remained was a sweet joining, making their mating even more intense.
She rocked her hips, and he lightly clasped her buttocks while she rode him. Lisa touched his face then leaned down and kissed his lips, her breasts brushing his chest. She tasted of spice and warmth. "You are so beautiful," he murmured.
"So are you," she said.
"Of course. I am a golden dragon."
"Smart-ass," she gasped. She twined her arms around him, still riding him, and as she did, silver lights shot through her skin, glowing between them before she solidified again.
Caleb slammed her against him and drove into her, his breathing hoarse. He kissed her hair and her face, holding Lisa hard as she shuddered with climax, another sweet, sweet release.
I love you, Lisa.
The thought stunned and jolted him, and his body reacted by coming hard and fast. She climaxed with him, their hands locked in a fierce grip.
She rode him a little longer, then gave him a languid smile as she lay down across his torso. He smoothed her red hair as he lay back to catch his breath. Lisa did not even look tired.
They lay together for a long time, listening to birdsong in the garden below, the traffic going by on California Street. "Whew," Lisa said at last. "That was fun."
She raised up on her elbow, her eyes mischievous, giving him a warm smile. "Now, how about that ice cream?"
* * *
Chapter Sixteen
Lisa pulled a cylindrical carton from the freezer, sending frigid air over Caleb's skin. He watched the loose blouse she'd pulled on over her nakedness sway enticingly as she rummaged for spoons.
I can't love her. Now that his brain had calmed somewhat from all the sex his thoughts came crystal clear. I'll have to return to Dragonspace soon and remain a dragon.
Even if she could join him there, she would be a dragon, too, and dragons didn't take life-mates. They might mate, yes, but then she'd fly awa
y, and maybe he'd want that as well once he reverted to his dragon life. And what would a magical silver dragon want with a golden anyway? Silver dragons were powerful beings, well beyond the reach of a golden who liked to eat popcorn and watch late-night talk shows.
I will lose her.
The thought brought pain to his heart and more complicated human emotions. Uncertainty, regret, longing.
The phone in the living room began a shrill peal. Lisa shoved the carton into Caleb's hands and strolled to the phone, her buttocks moving sweetly under the blouse.
"Hello?"
Caleb heard Lumi's voice all the way across the room. "Lisa? Damn it, are you all right? Grandmother wants to murder me for getting you hurt. She won't leave me alone, and she's about to pull in every favor every thug in Chinatown owes her to go kill Malcolm."
Caleb walked out of the kitchen, alarm building as he thought of the small Chinese woman waving her fist under the black dragon's nose.
"Oh, Lumi, I'm so sorry," Lisa said, sounding truly sorry. "I should have called right away, but…" She shot a guilty glance at Caleb. "Really, I'm all right. Caleb saved me in time, and a lot of things happened. I'm fine, Lumi. It's all right." Caleb sensed the magic in her voice as she tried to calm him.
Lumi's tone remained shrill. "Grandma wants to see you, like right now. You have to tell her you're okay so she'll let me live."
"I will. But tell Ming Ue to leave Malcolm alone. He's powerful, and he could hurt her. Besides, we need him." Her knuckles whitened on the receiver.
"Sure," Lumi said hesitantly.
"Actually, tell him to get Saba and meet me and Caleb at Ming Ue's restaurant tonight, about six. We have a lot to discuss."
The phone crackled. "Lisa, I don't know if he'll obey a summons, especially delivered by me. He does what he wants."
"He'll be there. You tell him that Lisa knows everything. Or at least, almost everything. Ming Ue needs to fill in the last pieces."
"I don't know if Grandmother will obey a summons, either."
"You tell them. They'll understand. And Lumi…" She softened her voice to comforting tones. "Thank you for helping Caleb save my life."
Dragon Heat Page 18