by Dena Christy
"I want to make love with you, here in the sunshine. I want to give you something to remember and think about when you come here tomorrow morning." She grasped the hem of the sweater she was wearing and pulled it off over head, throwing it aside.
Although the sun was warm, there was a breeze that had a small bite of fall, and a shiver skated across her skin. He put his hands on her belly and the warmth of his palms spread heat inside her, chasing the chill away. More than anything she wanted to feel his bare flesh against her, and she tugged his shirt out of his pants and started on the buttons.
She spread the fabric as soon as the last button was released, and smoothed her hands over the hard muscles of his abdomen and chest. He came down upon her, and kissed her with a mounting desire that she answered with a longing of her own. Her eyes closed at the pleasure of his hard body against her, and she speared her fingers through the silk of his hair. How could she have allowed the doubts inside her to forget this? How could she have thought that he had anything other than the best of intentions for her? She pulled back and framed his face with her hands.
"I need you so much." Perhaps that was what frightened her the most. This need for him, this longing that nearly overwhelmed her when she was with him. Some instinctive part of herself knew that if something happened to take him from her, she wasn't sure she would recover. If it turned out that this was just an illusion, that this feeling between them wasn't real somehow, it would devastate her more than anything she'd gone through before.
"Make love to me."
He stripped the clothes from their bodies, and as he stroked and caressed her in the autumn sunshine, she vowed that she would no longer allow her doubts to creep in. And as he entered her body and made it sing with pleasure she could no longer think at all.
The red date circled on the calendar on his desk was ever present in Andor's mind. As the chill of autumn chased away the heat of summer, the night of the Hunter's Moon loomed on the horizon. The time with Lyssa passed much quicker than he had anticipated, in a haze of companionship and lovemaking. They'd grown even closer since he had taken her to the clearing and admitted that it was where he went every morning. He could no longer see the doubts that had clouded her eyes on that day. How long would this closeness last once he told her the truth?
This damn curse made it impossible to hide his true nature from her. The whole point of it was to make sure that the woman he chose for his mate knew full well what she was getting into. Was Lyssa ready to hear the truth about what he really was?
It was encouraging that she loved dragons, and when they'd first met he'd take it as a sign that she was meant for him. Her loving dragons was one thing when they were the mythical creature she assumed them to be. Could she love a living, breathing dragon who wanted to make her his forever?
With a sigh he shoved away from his desk. With the deadline looming he could no longer allow himself the luxury of doubt. A few months ago, if asked, he would have been assured that the woman he chose as his mate would embrace a life with him. How could she not want him when in his mind he had so much to offer her. How arrogant he'd been, to think that all that was important to a woman was the riches he had. Not everyone loved treasure the way he did. Lyssa certainly did not seem to be overawed by his financial worth. The way he treated her was more important to her. Had he proven to her that he could be trusted with her heart?
He would not know the answer until he revealed the truth about himself to her, and once he did, there would be no going back. He needed to do it soon. Before the Hunter's Moon rose and the wildness of his nature took over.
With a sound of disgust he left his office and made his way toward the door to the basement. He had no idea where this insecurity was coming from, but it needed to end. Lyssa was his mate, she was made for him, and she would accept him for who he was. He could not let himself think anything else.
He stood outside the door leading to the basement where his brothers slept. Lyssa was continually drawn to this room, and he found her on several occasions admiring what she thought were stone dragons. Little did she know that beasts lay dormant under their stone facades. Would she caress him with the same awe and admiration that she had shown when she touched his brothers if he was before her in his true form? Or would she recoil from him, unable to accept him for what he really was?
He clattered down to the basement, his booted feet stomping on the steps. So much for his resolve to stop being so insecure. There was so much riding on how she reacted to the truth that the significance of it almost overwhelmed him. It was not the prospect of his going feral that worried him. If it came down to it, he would make arrangements for Rickman to make certain that he did not live long enough to be a danger to anyone. While he hoped it would not come to that, it was not what worried him the most.
What if she rejected him, and he lost her? He knew now that he was deeply in love with her, and if she could not accept the truth of what he was, then he did not want to go on without her.
He shoved those thoughts aside as he turned on the light at the bottom of the stairs. Worrying would do nothing but disturb his peace of mind. He needed to tell Lyssa the truth about himself, and he needed to do it soon. Fretting about it would do nothing to change that.
The light came on, flooding the basement and chasing away the shadows that clung to his brothers. Gedeon remained the same as he had when Andor had woken. There was no change in him, and Andor wondered if and when his older brother would wake.
What state would he be in when he was reborn in this modern world? Gedeon had been the fiercest of them all, and it was his mindless pursuit of what he wanted, without regard for the consequences that had doomed all of dragon kind. Perhaps it was for the best that he slept now.
He turned his attention to Iszak and he could see that the blue color that had started at the tip of his tail had spread. His brother would be waking very soon, which was all the more reason to tell Lyssa the truth. It would be better if it came from him, rather than a strange man emerging confused from the basement.
He turned away from his brothers and went back to the stairs. With a flick of his hand he shut off the light and left his brothers to what remained of their slumber. As long as Lyssa was ignorant of the truth, he needed to minimize the risk of her seeing Iszak when he woke. He was certain he had a little more time to tell her the truth before his brother stirred in the bowels of the house, but he was unsure how much. Telling her should happen sooner rather than later.
He left the basement and went in search of Rickman. His minion was in the kitchen in the midst of eating a sandwich. He jumped for a second when Andor loomed up beside him.
"Can I help you?" Rickman spoke around a mouthful of food, and for a second there was a softening inside Andor. Rickman would never be a forelock tugging minion, and Andor realized that he liked that about him. Rickman may have irritated him with his irreverence when he had first woken, but now he realized that he would not have it any other way.
Where was this sentiment coming from? Andor cleared his throat and made sure any softness that might be lingering inside him was not in display.
"I need you to lock the basement door."
"Why? Lyssa knows the dragons are down there, and I hid the book away. Why do you want to lock it now?"
Did he say that he liked Rickman the way he was? How foolish he was to think that he enjoyed having his every command questioned.
"It is because of Lyssa's fondness for looking at my brothers that we must now lock the door. Iszak will be waking soon and I don't want her to see him before I have had a chance to tell her the truth."
"You going to do that soon?" Rickman took another bite of his sandwich, as if they weren't discussing what caused a deep anxiety inside Andor.
"It appears I will have to. The Hunter's Moon is looming on the horizon." There must have been a note of something other than confidence in his voice, because Rickman put his sandwich down and looked at him.
"You have to
tell her, and things will turn out how they are meant to. There is no point worrying about since it won't change anything."
"Indeed." Andor turned on his heel and left his minion to his sandwich. Rickman was correct. Worrying would change nothing, and the sooner he faced that, the sooner the feeling of dread would leave the pit of his stomach. Lyssa would accept him for who and what he was. She was his mate and anything other than spending the rest of his life with her was unthinkable.
15
Lyssa pulled in to Andor's driveway after work and the sight of his house still had the power to take her breath away. There was some differences from that time many weeks ago whens he first came here. A chill had taken the air, signaling that October and autumn had fully arrived. The days blurred together and it felt like she'd alway lived here, with Andor.
She got out of the car and walked up the front steps. Something troubled Andor, and she wished he would tell her what it was. She couldn't pinpoint exactly when it started, but he'd grown quiet and more restless than usual. He watched her now with an odd intensity in his eyes, and his lovemaking had taken on a desperate quality. It was as if he was trying to store up as many memories with her as he could.
She walked in the front door and hung her jacket on the hook. The spot where Andor’s leather jacked usually hung was empty.
“Andor?"
There was no response to her call. She walked through the lower floor of the house and there was no sign of him. Perhaps he'd gone to the clearing he had shown her. She suspected that he was spending more time there when she was away from the house. What did she need to say to him to ease the worry lurking in his eyes? Did he think she was going to leave now that it was abundantly clear that Kevin would no longer be troubling her?
She sighed as she walked into the kitchen, put her purse down on the table in the breakfast nook and went to the sink for a glass of water. As she drank she looked out the window, but only the breeze stirred outside. The problem was that they had yet to talk about the future and if they wanted a future together. At first, before Kevin had been taken into custody, it hadn't seemed necessary since Andor was simply offering her a safe place to stay. Now Kevin was no longer a concern, and there was nothing stopping her from returning to her home.
Nothing except her feelings for Andor, which had grown from attraction and gratitude into affection and love. Maybe she would have to open herself up to him, show some vulnerability and assure him that she wanted to have a future with him.
She tipped out the remaining water from her glass and set it in the sink. She wouldn't be able to tell him anything until he came home. She left the kitchen and went down the long corridor to the door leading to the basement, to what she affectionately called the dragon's lair. She found the stone dragons down there to be oddly soothing. Most people would find such giant stone creatures interesting at first, but nothing that needed to be visited day after day. She was fascinated by them, and would never tire of looking at them. She’d wait for Andor to return down there.
She reached out to turn the knob and pulled. The door didn't budge and she tugged harder. It was locked.
She let go of the handle and her brows knit together as she took a step back. This was the first time she'd encountered a locked door in this house. What had changed that had made it necessary for Andor to lock a door that had never been locked before?
An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, and she pressed her hand against it. What was going on? First Andor had started acting unlike his usual self, and now the door to the basement was locked. She didn't know what to make of it, but knew that she needed to talk to Andor. Something was wrong, and it needed to be out in the open.
She turned away from the door and went back down the hall. The house was eerily silent, and a shiver skated across her skin.
She went across the foyer and up the stairs. Her shoes were silent on the lush carpet of the landing, and when she got to the bedroom door she hesitated. She hugged her arms to herself as she stared at the door for a moment. Why did she have a feeling that something was about to happen, something that was going to change her life forever? And not for the better.
"Stop being so stupid."
Her voice echoed against the walls of the hall, and she started for a second. She gave a little laugh, and put her hand on the knob of the bedroom door.
When had she gotten to be so melodramatic? There had to be a reasonable explanation for all that was going on. It was Andor’s house, and he had every right to lock any door he wanted. Perhaps Andor had a reason for acting different, maybe he had something on his mind that had nothing to do with her. Why did she think she was at the center of it all. She was still looking for problems with this relationship. She'd thought she was over her doubts, but perhaps not.
She walked into the bedroom and a box sat on the dresser, catching her eye. It hadn't been there when she left for work that morning.
She walked over to it and there was a small envelope resting on the top, with her name written on it in Andor's bold handwriting. She picked it up, slid the card out of it and set the envelope aside.
Lyssa,
Please accept this gift, and wear it for me when you meet me in the dining room at 7.
Andor
She set the card aside and lifted the lid off the box. A gasp escaped her lips when she parted the tissue paper and picked up a small jewelry box. There was also a dress made of green satin nestled inside. She knew without pulling it out that it would fit her full figure perfectly and would be more flattering than anything she owned, with perhaps the exception of the last dress that Andor had bought for her.
She walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. She snapped open the jewelry box and looked inside. A pair of jade earrings, fashioned in the shape of dragons, rested inside as if sleeping. She stroked her index finger over them. Their beauty and elegance was match only by the ruby dragon Andor had given to her on the night of the gala.
Was it possible the reason that Andor was acting so strange lately was because he was preparing to ask her a significant questions tonight, and he was unsure of her answer?
Was he going to ask her to marry him? She wasn't sure if that was what he wanted to talk to her about, because although it felt like they'd been together for much longer than they had, in reality she'd only been in his house for almost two months. Was that really enough time to have such a momentous discussion?
She gave a small laugh. God, she was all over the place today. First she was freaking out because he locked the basement door, and now she was thinking he was going to propose.
She got up off the bed, and went back to the box that held the dress. She set the earrings aside and pulled the dress from the box. Maybe he didn't have something as big as a marriage proposal in mind for tonight. Perhaps it was a romantic evening he wanted to give her. None of her other boyfriends had been as thoughtful, but she was coming to realize that Andor was not like the other men she'd know. He thought of things that didn't occur to her and it was like he went out of his way to make even the most mundane event special for her.
Perhaps tonight Andor wanted to discuss the future, a future they hadn't taken the opportunity to discuss. It didn't mean a proposal of marriage. She loved him, and wanted a future with him. Marriage wasn't a requirement for her, but she had to admit that she would love being able to call a man like Andor her husband.
A glance at the clock told her that she didn't have a lot of time to get ready. She set the dress aside and went into the adjoining bathroom to get ready for her evening. Whatever it was he was planning, she had a feeling that it was going to change the nature of their relationship. Seven o'clock couldn't get here fast enough.
Andor paced the confines of the clearing as he tried to focus his mind on the task that loomed before him this night. He would tell Lyssa the truth. He wanted to ask her to be his mate, to spend the rest of her life with him, but he couldn't do that until she was aware of what she was getting herself into
.
He shrugged his shoulders back and blew out his breath. He could do this. She would understand and accept him for what he was. She loved dragons, and she would not fear him as another woman would. He just needed to tell her.
She had been looking at him with concern for the past few days, and he knew that he was not handling his decision to tell her the truth with his normal unflappable calm. Acting anxious over it would only foster anxiety in her, so he needed to relax and find his center. This was a discussion that could no longer be avoided, and if he wanted Lyssa to be his mate, he needed to tell her. He could not put it off any longer.
With his determination fixed firmly in place he made his way back to the house. The chilly autumn air skating across his face, and the trees shedding their colored leaves told him that he no longer had the luxury of time. He was telling Lyssa the truth tonight, and that was the end of it. Fretting like an anxious child was not helping and he needed to be strong and confident.
He could not think about how much was riding on Lyssa's reaction to the truth. Going feral was not the root of his worry, since he knew that Rickman would do everything in his power to ensure that Andor hurt no one if it happened.
The true cause of the worry and anxiety churning inside him was the prospect of Lyssa rejecting him. He may have started out looking for a mate to keep his curse at bay, but his reasons for wanting her had changed. He loved her and he wanted to spend his life with her. It had nothing to do with curses, and everything to do with her. He could not imagine a life where he did not spend his days being with her, and his nights holding her naked flesh close to him.
He came out of the woods surrounding the house and walked across the lawn. Lyssa's car sat in the driveway, and he paused for a second to look up at the house. The late afternoon sun painted the stone of the house a warm orange. Had she found the gift he had left for her? He wanted to make the night he revealed the truth to her special, and he also wanted to show her what she could expect from a life lived as his mate. He knew that she was not interested in him for what he could give her, but it did not hurt to gift her with nice things to show her how much she meant to him.