by Rinelle Grey
She could even imagine that she’d fallen in love with him, even though she didn’t want to. He was so gorgeous and perfect, of all the men she’d ever met, he was the only one who she could even imagine giving her heart to. Since no one would ever live up to him, both in and out of bed, it was easy to imagine she could give up exploring at this point.
But that he’d fallen in love with her too? At the same time?
What were the chances of that?
So slim, it was almost inconceivable. Lisa wasn’t going to pin her hopes on that sort of coincidence.
But Verrian still wasn’t moving.
What if this was something more? What if this feeling indicated that they were meant to be together? What if it meant they could be happy together? To have a real connection?
No one had ever made her feel the way Verrian did. Like she was someone special. Like being with her was exciting and wonderful.
A lump rose up in her throat, making it ache.
Was there really any chance she could have that fairytale love that they talked about in the movies?
Did it even really exist?
Of course not. Lisa berated herself for even thinking of it. Everyone knew that only happened in the movies. In real life, these feelings of lust and desire were dampened by the everyday slog. If she stayed with Verrian, she’d lose this. Even the memory of it would fade under the realities of life.
Better to keep it as a magical memory.
“I need to have a shower,” she said abruptly.
Verrian didn’t say anything, even though she gave him a moment to, so she got up and headed into the ensuite, not looking back.
Trying to pretend she wasn’t disappointed.
The whole time she was showering though, she couldn’t help remembering their lovemaking in vivid detail.
Not helping.
She tried to focus on something else.
But she couldn’t come up with anything.
Everything in her life right now just brought her thoughts right back to Verrian. If she tried to think about work, she worried that he’d be bored while she wasn’t home. If she thought about Olivia and what she and Kevin might be up to, it just reminded her that it couldn’t have been anywhere near as good as her and Verrian’s evening.
Eventually, she gave up and turned the shower off.
Her heart was thumping as she stepped out of the bathroom and took her first glance at the bed.
It was empty.
Disappointment swamped her. She’d almost psyched herself up to the inevitable if he was still lying naked in her bed.
Now she had no excuses.
Lisa glanced to the door into the main room. It was slightly ajar, but not far enough for her to see anything. She strained her ears, but could hear no sounds.
Perhaps Verrian was already asleep?
Somehow, she doubted it.
She lay down in her bed, trying to convince herself that she could sleep.
But it was a long time coming, and when it did, it came with dreams where every desire was thwarted by the fear of being bonded for life.
Chapter 36
Verrian bit back a sign of frustration and turned off the song. Even the human’s music wasn’t holding his attention today.
Not surprising really. Yesterday had been an… interesting day. Mating with Lisa had been an experience that wasn’t going to fade in a hurry. Made all the worse by the fact that he couldn’t repeat it. A low growl emanated from his throat at the thought.
Why did he feel this way about her? Was it simply because he couldn’t have her? Or was she right, and there was something special about dragon and human matings? He hadn’t had a chance to talk to Taurian and find out if this was the way he’d felt about his human mate, Karla.
Then again, Taurian had chosen to mate with Karla, so he must have felt something out of the ordinary. Maybe he wasn’t the best person to ask.
He probably needed to talk to Lisa. He hadn’t wanted to, last night, but now that it was done, maybe they needed to.
They’d barely said two words to each other all morning. Verrian had been afraid that if he talked to her or spent too long looking into her eyes, he’d take her back to bed, bond or no bond.
Lisa seemed to be suffering from the same concerns.
Now she was gone, he’d thought of so many things he wished he’d said to her.
Maybe if they talked this over…
Probably a good thing she wasn’t here.
Trouble was, even though she was absent, she was all he could think about.
He needed a distraction. A big one.
He stared at the desk, and suddenly the card that Raven had given him last night jumped out at him.
He’d almost forgotten it in his preoccupation.
His experience singing to a group of humans didn’t outshine making love to Lisa last night, but it did distract him a little.
Trouble was, it was as unreachable as Lisa was.
He wasn’t a human. He didn’t live here. This wasn’t his world.
He should be keeping his distance.
Should, should, should.
He was so sick of what he should be doing. When did he get to do what he wanted to?
He understood why he couldn’t mate with Lisa again, but what was the harm in going and singing with the humans for a few hours? It wasn’t like singing with them would mean he was stuck singing with only them for the rest of his life.
And really, there was no safety risk. It wasn’t like he was going to sing in public with them again. Not that anyone would pay any real attention to him if he did.
No one even suspected he wasn’t a normal human, like they were. The reality didn’t even occur to them.
It was perfectly safe.
And it would certainly suffice to take his mind off Lisa.
His mind made up, he reached for the phone before he could regret the choice.
Lisa had shown him how to use it when he’d first arrived, and made him memorise her mobile phone number, just in case he needed her. She’d even made him ring her to prove that he could. He could do this.
Dialling Raven’s number, he held it up to his ear, listening to it ring.
“Raven Heathridge, here. Can I help you?”
He recognised the singer’s voice, even though it sounded different, changed slightly by its transmission through the human’s technology.
Verrian ignored the flutter of discomfort at the strangeness. “Hi, Raven,” he said. “It’s me, Verrian.”
“Hi, Verrian,” Raven said immediately. “What’s up?”
“I was just wondering if the offer to come and…” What was the word the human had used last night? “and jam with you, was still open?”
“Sure.” Raven’s voice was enthusiastic. “How about now?”
Butterflies suddenly decided to swarm in Verrian’s stomach. “Now?”
He had this phone call thing figured out, but the cab may be slightly more difficult.
“Sure, if you’re not busy.”
“No… Not busy.” He wanted to go. It would take his mind off Lisa for sure. That was the plan. He just needed to figure out how. “Where should I meet you?”
Raven rattled off a string of words and numbers that were meaningless to Verrian. He wrote them down anyway. “See you in about half an hour,” Raven said.
Verrian nodded, then realised Raven couldn’t see him. “Sure, half an hour,” he repeated.
After he hung up the phone, he stared at the piece of paper in his hand. It was an address, the key to where Raven was, he knew that much. Pity it was meaningless to him.
When dragons wanted to visit each other, they used landmarks and cardinal directions. Human directions were far more complicated.
Luckily, he didn’t need to know what the directions meant, he just needed to give it to the cab driver. That had worked just fine last night.
The number for the cab had been printed on the side of the vehicle. The pattern o
f numbers was simple enough Verrian could remember it.
He was feeling quite confident about being able to use the telephone and call someone. Until the woman on the other end of the phone asked for his address.
Perhaps he’d been a little overconfident?
He had no idea what Lisa’s address was.
Now that he was on the phone, he remembered that Lisa had given it to them, but he hadn’t been paying that much attention. It had never occurred to him that he would need to remember it. All he knew was the number, since it was on Lisa’s door.
He stared around the room, as though the address would be written there somewhere.
On the bench, right near the phone, was a stack of little rectangular paper bundles. On the front of them was Lisa’s name, and the apartment number, followed by other words.
Was that the address?
What did he have to lose? Worst that happened was the cab didn’t show up.
“What’s your address?” the lady on the other end of the phone prompted again.
Verrian read out the numbers and words on the front of the paper bundle.
It must have at least sounded right, because the lady said, “The taxi will be there in five to ten minutes.” Her voice sounded bored.
Verrian was far from bored. His heart hammered, and he felt almost as exhilarated as he had when he’d mated with Lisa last night.
Almost.
He hung up the phone, then headed for the door. He was about to close it behind him when he remembered.
He had no keys.
Why did human’s make everything so complicated? He was good at navigating unknown situations and dealing with people, but this was beyond a joke.
He stared at the door. Lisa had shown him how to lock and unlock it, but that was from the inside. He needed a key to unlock it from the outside.
But… maybe he didn’t have to unlock it again. Lisa would be home in a few hours. He could just wait until she arrived home. That would mean she’d know he’d been out, but he had no intention of hiding that from her.
He had no need.
Once she saw that no harm came from his visit, she’d understand.
Plus, it would give them something to talk about. Something other than sleeping together.
All he had to do was lock the door.
He opened it, and flicked the switch Lisa had shown him, then closed it again. As he had expected, the door stayed locked.
Simple.
Catching a cab turned out to be simple too. It arrived on time, and the driver didn’t blink when Verrian gave him the address. He just drove off.
And drove. And drove.
Verrian began to feel a little uneasy. How far were they going? It hadn’t occurred to him that Raven might live this far away. As they drove further and further, the buildings grew smaller, and further apart.
When some of the houses were far enough back from the street they were almost hidden by the trees, and Verrian was about to ask the driver to take him home, the man pulled over. “That’ll be thirty-seven dollars fifty,” the man said.
Verrian stared at him, his heart constricting.
Money.
He’d thought he was so clever, that he’d thought of everything.
Why hadn’t it occurred to him that the trip would cost? He’d already noticed that everything the humans did involved a transaction of money, usually done with the little plastic cards. He’d even seen Olivia hand hers to the cab driver.
In his excitement over managing to make the call, he’d completely forgotten.
“Um, I don’t have any money,” he blurted out.
The driver frowned. “You have to pay, mate. I can drive you to the nearest ATM, but you’ll have to pay the extra fare.”
Verrian didn’t know what an ATM was, but it didn’t matter. “I don’t have any money there either.”
The driver’s frown deepened. “It’s a crime to call a taxi if you can’t pay you know.”
A crime? Verrian’s heart thumped in his chest. What if the driver called the police? And they asked for the dreaded ID? He didn’t have that either.
This had been a stupid idea. How had he ever convinced himself he could do this?
There was a knock on the window of the cab. The driver rolled it down with a frown.
“Is something wrong?” Raven asked. He gave Verrian a strange look. Probably because he was wondering how he’d managed to be stupid enough to have a problem catching a cab.
The driver poked his finger towards Verrian. “He says he can’t pay. Is he your visitor?”
Raven looked over at Verrian, a frown on his face. “Yes, he’s visiting me. How much is his fare?”
The driver repeated the cost, and Raven pulled out his wallet and handed the man some money. “Keep the change,” he said. Then he beckoned to Verrian. “Come on in.”
Verrian climbed stiffly out of the car. Any joy he’d had in visiting Raven and learning more about human music had been spoiled by the trip over here.
He might not know much about the human’s money, but even dragons knew about being beholden to someone. “I’ll pay you back as soon as…” he trailed off.
What? As soon as Lisa came home? Then he’d be as beholden to her as he was to Raven.
Lisa though, he could pay back once he caught up with Taurian. Even a small gem from the dragon’s hoard would be more than enough to cover the cab fare.
Raven shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
If Verrian had a way of getting home now that didn’t rely on the cab driver he couldn’t pay, he wouldn’t still be here. Since he didn’t, he followed Raven up a long driveway lined with trees, staring around.
It was deserted out here. He could always fly home.
Then again, landing anywhere near Lisa’s apartment, with people everywhere, would be an issue.
Verrian shook his head. Why was he thinking of Lisa’s home as his home? If he flew out of here, it would make far more sense to head back to his real home. His clan’s lair.
The thought of being back amongst his own kind, with none of this turmoil or feeling of being constantly out of place, was tempting.
But Lisa would wonder where he was. She’d worry.
And he’d miss her. His heart constricted a little.
Raven opened the front door and ushered him inside, shutting it behind him. “Come on through, the guys are in the living room. We were just practicing for a gig on the weekend, but…” he broke off.
The look he threw Verrian, curious, with a touch of excitement, suddenly made Verrian wary.
“Look, this might not have been the best idea…” Verrian started.
“I’m not your enemy,” Raven said quickly. “I’d actually like to be your friend.”
Verrian stared at him, suspicious. His question implied he knew something. If so, how?
Yet, despite the strangeness of Raven’s words, Verrian couldn’t help feeling they were genuine. He believed Raven really did want to be his friend. That thought allayed his fears enough that he followed the man into the living room.
When the other two band members stared at him strangely though, his heart picked up a beat. Something was definitely going on.
“Have you seen this?”
Raven bent down and turned around a laptop.
Pictures of him and the Trima dragon, fighting on the front of Rita’s car stared back at Verrian. His heart dropped like a stone.
Where had those pictures come from? Lisa had taken Rita’s memory card and all the photos with it.
These pictures though, weren’t from the outside of the car, they were from the inside.
Paul.
Verrian bit back a growl.
He needed to act cool, and calm. Surely these men had no reason to suspect he was the dragon in the photos. Even if they believed them.
“Surely you don’t believe in fairy tales like dragons,” he said, trying to inject some scorn into his voice. “These were photoshopped.”
Raven put his finger on the touch pad, and scrolled down a little.
There was that same picture of Lisa and Verrian in the middle of nowhere.
How was he ever going to explain this?
Chapter 37
“Lisa?”
“Huh? Oh.”
Lisa swung her chair around to stare at Olivia. She’d been so lost in thought, she hadn’t even noticed the woman approaching.
She probably wanted to fill Lisa in on how her night with Kevin had gone.
Lisa wasn’t in the mood for it. She hoped things had worked out for Olivia, but she had her own hassles to deal with.
How had her one day of passion with a dragon prince, who she was supposed to never see again, turned into this?
How had it turned into this all-consuming passion that distracted her from everything around her?
“You need to see this, Lisa.” Olivia held out her phone.
Oh great. Pictures of Olivia and Kevin, just what Lisa needed.
But Olivia wasn’t smiling. In fact, she looked worried. And around the office, Lisa was getting more than a few strange stares.
Her stomach churned. What now?
She stared at the phone in Olivia’s hand, and her heart skipped a beat.
The headline, ‘Mungaloo’s Own Loch Ness Monster’ greeted her.
That said it all. Trust Rita to use Lisa’s own joke against her. Lisa felt sick to her stomach.
Underneath the damning headline, pictures of two dragons fighting on the front of a little yellow car stared back at her in full colour, all perfectly in focus.
Damn Rita.
Lisa should never have trusted her. Of course she’d gone straight for Paul’s photos and written the article anyway.
Lucky Lisa hadn’t given her any real information.
“Here, let me see that.” She snatched the phone from Olivia’s hand, not even caring that she was being rude.
Olivia didn’t seem to notice. She just stood there, wringing her hands, while Lisa skimmed through the article, noting that the pictures of her and Verrian were included again as well.
Lisa paused, then read it again, this time more carefully.