by Juniper Hart
Now she was zipping through darkened streets in a car more expensive than most houses. A dragon was sitting next to her that said he knew her from a past life. The craziest thing was that she was starting to wonder if he was telling the truth.
“I think there’s been a mistake,” she finally said as street lights whizzed by her window. “I’m not the woman everyone thinks I am. I’m just a normal girl. I’m totally human. I’m not an orc and I’m sure not whatever you are.”
“You’re not a normal girl,” he insisted. “You just don’t remember. I’ve looked for you for one-thousand years. I knew I would find you one day.”
She glanced in the mirror at the traffic behind them. Nothing. Just a line of cars. “How old are you? Thirty at the most? You haven’t been looking for me for one-thousand years.”
“I’m immortal.”
“Ah. Of course.”
“I’m telling the truth,” he said sternly.
“So you’ve said,” said Sarah with a shrug.
He made a noise. At first, she thought he was sighing, but when she looked over he was grinning.
“You’re still stubborn. Open your mind, Sarah. I’ll prove it. You have a birthmark on your ankle.”
She slid her hand down to her ankle. “So? Anyone could know that.”
“You don’t like the color pink.”
“Lots of girls don’t.”
He had a mischievous look. He had her, and he knew it.
“You were afraid you didn’t have an imagination as a child, so you practiced trying to imagine stuff for hours by yourself.”
She felt a shiver go through her body. “I’ve never told anyone that in my life. How did you know that?”
“You might not have told anyone in this life,” he said. “But you told me in one of your last ones.”
She covered her face. “I’m crazy. That’s the only explanation. I’m crazy.”
“True, but this is also happening.” There was just the slightest hint of amusement to his voice. “It’s okay. You’ll start to remember.”
“I’m starting to question my sanity,” she replied, still with her hands over her face. “Not anything else.” She peeked through her fingers. “Seriously, I never told anyone that. There’s no way you could have known.”
She watched Ember, trying to quell the fear deep inside. She knew him. She’d watched him in the stage of sleep for the past twenty-four years. He was the creature from her nightmare. He was the beast. She’d see a flash of red scales and then she screamed, night after night, week after week, year after year. When she’d first seen him in the apartment, she’d been stunned. He was her nightmare. But, she felt safe. Did dragons have a power to use glamour on people, forcing them to do and believe things?
What had he done? Why did she scream when saw him? He looked nice and she had to admit she was attracted to him physically. But then again, there was something tickling her subconscious, that child’s fear. She’d always assumed it was just a stupid dream. She’d had another one with guerilla fighters. She’d mixed up gorillas with guerillas in her mind as an eight-year-old when her parents had taken her to see Planet of the Apes. Every time the newspaper said something about guerilla warfare, she was convinced the apes were taking over.
But the dragon dream wasn’t like that because the person she dreamed about was sitting in the car next to her. She wanted to find out more, but she didn’t want to outright ask, ‘Why do I have nightmares about you?’ She had to be stealthy.
She asked, “Why now? Why did you all come today?”
“I finally tracked you down,” he told her. “I’ve been following you from lifetime to lifetime, but each time, Roland beats me to you.”
She grimaced. “You mean Roland kills me each time you find me?”
Ember looked out the window, away from her. His youthful, handsome face suddenly looked terribly old and pained. “Every time. And every time, I try to find you in your new life. This is the first time I’ve beaten him to you.”
“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
“I saved your life.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but realized she didn’t have a good response.
“Huh,” she said awkwardly, hating that she’d said it, and then wondering why she cared. “If I’m not a dragon, and I have no powers, why are you, and this Roland guy, so interested in me? Why aren’t you more interested in an immortal?” she asked.
“Well, once upon a time, you loved me. And, I still love you.”
“Love me? You don’t even know me!”
“I’ve known you for a millennium.”
“Why not give up? Obviously, I keep dying. It’s never going to last.” The thought gave Sarah shivers.
“You can be immortal.”
“What, you’d put a spell on me or something?”
He cleared his throat. “No. Nothing like that. You’re my mate. We were married.”
“Wait, what? First, you tell me I’ve been reincarnated and now I am your reincarnated dead wife? How exactly will that make me immortal, because, obviously, it hasn’t worked so far.”
“When you become pregnant by my seed, you will become immortal.”
There was a pause. “No. Just no. I think I might have misheard you.”
“I think you probably heard me right. To make you immortal, I’d have to choose you as my mate, which I’ve already done. I can only have one mate in my lifetime. Then, the next step to immortality is pregnancy.”
“That’s convenient,” she said bluntly.
He laughed.
“What?” she asked, a little self-conscious.
He kept laughing before placing a hand on her thigh. “I’m just so glad to hear your voice again.” Was his voice cracking? “I’ve spent so many years trying to find you…and now you’re here!”
She almost pushed his hand away, but didn’t. He moved it before she could do anything anyway.
“Who’s this Roland guy?” she asked. If she was going to be scared of him, she was going to figure out if there was a good reason for it. Sure, Ember was a dragon and he showed up in nightmares regularly, but maybe there was just a misunderstanding, right? Maybe she was screaming at something else in the dream. It wasn’t probable, but what he said was true—he had saved her life. She wasn’t sure about anything else, but she knew without a doubt that he wanted her alive.
“He’s my cousin,” Ember admitted. “He was always jealous of me and my brothers. My father is the Dragon King, and he always wanted the powers bestowed upon me and my siblings.”
“Really? Tell me more, because this just keeps getting better!” Sarah said, sarcastically.
Ember scowled, and continued, “Well, this might sound strange.”
“Right, because everything you’ve said up to this point is completely rational.”
Ember laughed. “My father was once mortal, but he fell in love with Gaia, also known as Mother Earth. The world was happy and they were truly perfect together. But then my dad started to age. He wasn’t immortal like her. So, she had a spell cast on him by a powerful sorcerer to make him immortal and give him the power to transform into a dragon. He was the first dragon, and she was our mother.”
“Pretty sweet deal,” Sarah said.
She hadn’t quite made up her mind on Ember. Good or bad? Only time could tell. Until then, she would act like he was an ally. If he was a villain, it wasn’t like she could do much against him. He was a dragon. A big accomplishment for Sarah was successfully shooting a wadded-up ball of paper into the trashcan from across the room. She wasn’t prepared to go up against him.
“Well, it was a sweet deal except for Roland. He is my mother’s nephew. His mother is a goddess. Some refer to her as Selene or Luna. But, she is not as powerful as my mother. Roland is immortal, but he doesn’t have the power that we have. He shifts into wolf form, and he was the first of his kind—a human-wolf hybrid. Although werewolves are powerful, they’re not as powerful as dragons.”
“He wants to kill you because he’s jealous?”
“Not quite. Roland fought us all the time. Not physically, but he tried to sabotage us. Then, one day, he changed. He said he wanted to make amends. Then, we figured out why. He’d met a woman named, Marilla. He was head-over-heels for her.” He paused for a second, his eyes were looking at the past. “He met Marilla after I met you. On the night of our wedding, Marilla came to kill me, but you blocked her to save me, and instead, she killed you.” He paused again, tears reaching the brims of his eyes, but they didn’t spill over. “You sacrificed yourself. I killed Marilla out of rage. Roland never forgave me. He thinks that if he can’t find love, I shouldn’t be able to have you in my life.”
She stared at the radio. His story felt right. The dream. It seemed to fit—the scream and the flash of fiery, red scales. But why?
“Why did Marilla try to kill you? Wait, hold on. How could she kill you? Aren’t you immortal?”
“Dragons are immortal. That means we have no natural life span. You can kill us though. Back in that day, you had to get sterling silver mixed with bronze and bathe it in the sap of a Eucalyptus tree. Don’t ask me how dragon hunters figured that out! Nowadays, there are all kinds of ways to do it, from powerfully charmed steel to special poisons.”
“Why doesn’t this Ronald guy just find Marilla in the modern day?”
“Well, Marilla was just using him to get close to my brothers and me. She was a Slayer. He might have looked her up in the past. I don’t know. I heard Roland found her in the next life, but she wasn’t a Slayer and she had no interest in him. It broke Roland.”
“Why doesn’t your aunt keep him under control?”
“She can’t control him. Roland’s hasn’t talked to the family ever since you died.”
“One-thousand years?” she clarified.
“Yup.”
He started to get off the road towards a hotel. “We’re going to stop for the night. We’ll be back at the palace by tomorrow.”
“Palace?”
“Oh, just wait. You’re going to love it.”
“Why don’t we just keep driving? Are you tired?”
She couldn’t imagine being tired. She’d just been attacked by some sort of brutish creatures called orcs, whatever that meant. Her brain was running in overdrive. She felt like she had just chugged twelve cups of coffee. Speaking of that, what would happen to her shop? She shrugged. Her life was more important than the coffee shop, so it would have to wait.
If what he was saying was true, she had been someone else in a different time. Ember had pined for her for so long. He wouldn’t give up now, and she was starting to like that. There was a part of him that still scared her and kept her on her heels, but there was another part that she wanted to get to know much better.
So, she just sat back as they drove up to the hotel. The beautiful hotel looked more like a castle, with towering columns out front. Ember drove up to the valet and gave him the keys.
They entered the hotel together.
5
The inside of the hotel was about as swanky as Sarah had expected. It was pristine and well-kept with attention paid to every fine detail, such as the intricately decorated fireplace to the plush blue and gold couches in the lobby. A beautiful glass chandelier hung in the foyer.
Sarah let out a little gasp when she stepped inside. “Wow…”
“Glad you like it,” Ember said.
“I feel so out of place.”
He brought her in close to his muscular body. “Don’t. You stand out everywhere you go.” He frowned. “In my head, that was a compliment. I meant to say, you’re beautiful, and you stand out in a good way. You fit in perfectly.”
He gave her a mischievous grin. It was enchanting. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable, like she should look away or something from his dominating, loving gaze. But she couldn’t. She just stared back into his warm eyes as he stroked her jawline.
“It’s good to have you back with me,” he said gently. “I’ve missed you. I think about you every single day. Hardly a minute passes that I don’t wish you were by my side again. Every horrible moment without you only made you more and more beautiful. You are a goddess among other women.”
She melted.
She wanted to like, or even love, this dashing stranger. He was tall, handsome, powerful, and obviously rich. But then again, all her senses warned her against jumping in too quickly. She still was not sure about his role in her reoccurring nightmare. He’d told her about this Marilla character, sure, but could she just take his word for it?
She kept flipping back and forth. Trust him. Be wary. Trust him. Be wary. She simply couldn’t make up her mind, which was rare for her.
Normally, she made a split-second decision about something or someone. Sometimes she was right and sometimes she was totally wrong, but she never had been half-and-half on anything before. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She couldn’t decide if she liked sweet and sour sauce. Pick a damn flavor and stick with it!
He gave her a warm smile and pulled away to get the key from the front desk. She stayed back, watching him. It was crazy to think that under his perfect body was a dragon. She had seen him transform in front of her own eyes. She wasn’t done entertaining the possibility that she had endured a mental breakdown and that she was in a hospital somewhere. Ember didn’t exist. Orcs didn’t. Roland didn’t. She was just in a bed with an IV sticking into her arm. If it was all fake, she had one heck of an imagination. All that practicing as a child had paid off.
As he walked towards her with the room keys in hand, she took the opportunity to really look at him. Sarah wanted to see if anything about him was familiar, since he claimed to know her so well. Also, he was really hot, and if she were being honest with herself, she just liked looking at him.
He was taller than her, which wasn’t terribly impressive. Everyone was taller than her. The most interesting part of him was that he was built like a diver—lean, strong, and obviously defined. She’d never really liked gym rats. They were usually just meatheads and their bulging muscles somewhat bothered her. The only reason they had them was because they wanted to impress women or they were trying to compensate for something they were lacking, such as brains.
But Ember was somehow different. He wasn’t as big as the gym guys, but he looked strong and sophisticated. Other women of the lobby followed his movement with their eyes. For reasons she couldn’t explain, that made Sarah oddly defensive.
“Got the key,” he said. “I’d like to change and shower. You?”
“You have no idea,” she replied.
Did he only get one room? She wasn’t sure if she liked that or not. She wasn’t going to argue, but she was going to keep that gun close. Ah, but, it was still empty. It wouldn’t do a thing against him.
She glanced at the clock. Almost midnight. It had already been dark when her bike broke down. The rain was still coming down outside with a gentle pitter-patter against the large glass windows in the lobby.
They went into the elevator. The elevator, like everything else, screamed affluence. It climbed up, giving the people inside a full view of the expansive lobby through a glass wall of the elevator.
“This place is beautiful,” Sarah murmured. “How rich are you?”
She meant it as a joke, but he didn’t take it that way.
“Oh, enough.”
“I’ve had nightmares about you.” She heard herself speaking and tried to get herself to shut up to no avail. She tended to say whatever was on her mind, which was a boon in some occasions and a great flaw in others.
He hesitated. “About me?”
She groaned internally. She’d already said it. She might as well get it off her chest. “Yup. I’ve had them my entire life.”
She watched him carefully. He seemed initially very confused, but after a second of consideration, he nodded. “That happens sometimes.”
She raised up an eyebrow. “People have nightmares abou
t you often?”
He shook his head. “People sometimes have dreams about their past deaths. I’m sorry you have to deal with that. I’m guessing you see little things? Maybe some shapes? But you never see the ending?”
She nodded slowly. “Something like that.”
“Who knows? Maybe my arrival will spark your brain to remember everything.”
“Maybe so.”
There was a pause.
“I didn’t kill you,” Ember assured her. “I know those dreams can sometimes be confusing, but it wasn’t me.”
“Okay.”
“You have nothing to fear from me,” he said with strong conviction.
“You’re a dragon. I have a lot to fear from you.”
“I would rather die than harm you,” Ember responded while staring at her earnestly. “Having a mate in my world isn’t something casual. When we pick a woman, we stay with her for life. That’s why it’s so special.”
“What if the woman doesn’t want it?”
There was just a smallest tinge of pain in his eyes. “Well, it’s very rare. Our physiology draws us to our soulmates. We don’t just find a random woman and spend eternity with her. She must be a special person; someone that we could envision cherishing for all time. I wouldn’t envision that with someone that doesn’t feel the same way about me.”
“So I used to feel this way?”
“Very much so. We were quite passionate lovers.”
The elevator door opened and they started towards the room. Suddenly, Ember turned to face her. She jumped in surprise. He took her shoulders in his powerful hands, looking at her with those enchanting eyes.
“I will win you back,” he said urgently. “I have looked for you for lifetimes. If it takes me the rest of eternity, I will win you back. I will remind you of what we used to have.”
Before she could react, he pulled her close and planted his lips on hers. Each pair of lips gave way to the other ever so slightly. Her eyes flashed open wide in shock. He pulled away.
“I didn’t say you could do that.” Her heart pounded. He excited her and made every one of her senses come alive.