by Ann Gimpel
“I’m out,” reached him.
“Stay there.” He snapped off the words, sounding far more pissed off than he actually was, but she’d have no way of knowing that. He quit digging his way upward, trading manual labor for magic as he teleported to the ledge system a few meters from the head of the shaft.
Erin stood, hands on her hips. “Look,” she sputtered. “I told you I was sorry. I am. I was curious about this Earth person, or spirit, or whatever the land is. I didn’t think it would hurt anything if I followed you.” She flapped her hands his way. “Go on. I can find my own way back.”
“This isn’t about you finding your way back to the surface,” he said, not wanting her to leave. “I didn’t mean to sound so abrupt, but when you screamed—”
“I was surprised.” She spoke over him. “I’ve climbed. A lot. I tested the shaft. Last thing I expected was for the fucking thing to collapse around my head. At first, I couldn’t breathe, but that was only because I forgot I have magic these days.”
She turned her back on him and began walking away.
“Erin. Stop. You’re touchy as an unseasonable winter.”
She stopped but didn’t turn around. “Maybe it’s because I feel like an idiot.” She did turn then. “I do best when I believe I’m contributing something of value. I, um, thought that maybe if I could hear whatever the land had to say to you, I might pick up something beneath her words. Then this would be a project we could work on together. You and I. Not always me tagging along like a puppy who knows nothing.”
“What aren’t you saying?”
She closed her teeth over her lower lip. “How did you know I’d left something out?”
He walked to her until they were nearly touching. “I love you, Erin. I want you for my mate. Because I care, because you’re important to me, I pay attention to…everything. You haven’t complained before about feeling useless, so something moved you in that direction. What was it?”
She shook her head and looked away.
“You can tell me anything. I won’t judge you.”
Her blue eyes with their thick golden rims did meet his gaze then. “You’ll think I have no faith in you, and that’s not it at all. But I’m worried. Without the Sidhe…”
He nodded solemnly. “I wish they would have remained as well. And they may yet return. I have no idea what counsel their gods will offer. It is never just one thing that wins a war, though, but a coordinated approach. The serpents have at least one fatal flaw, which is their loss of immortality in their human form. It’s almost as if someone punished them, and they can’t find a fix for it.”
“So if we find out more about their recent history?”
He nodded. “I was hoping the land would ally with us, but she created that mini cave-in on purpose. I thought she was doing it to annoy me, but now I believe she targeted you. Not so much to aggravate me as to warn me off.”
He dropped his hands on her shoulders and lifted his head. “Hear me plainly. This is my woman. Mine. If harm befalls her at your hands, I and my dragons and all the other shifters will leave you to your fate. I understand you don’t care anymore, but that is because you haven’t had to suffer pure evil raping you at every turn.
“Men are a bunch of rowdy, unprincipled jerks, but most carry at least a flicker of decency. Once they’re all dead—and they will be—the only thing left will be serpents. And dragons who’ve joined the dark side. You think your existence is difficult now. Let me tell you, you have no fucking idea how bad things can get.”
He blew out an exasperated breath. “You think about that. If you change your mind, or have an epiphany about who your allies really are, you know where to find me. But do not tarry. I’m not overly fond of waging wars that benefit the ungrateful.”
“That was harsh,” Erin muttered.
“Yeah, well, kindness didn’t get through. Or compassion.” He shook his head. “I feel sorry for Oberon. I hope the Celts can free him from the magic shackling him to this world.”
“That could possibly help us. If the faeries aren’t constantly having to run back to the Dreaming to replenish their magic, we might be able to kill off all the serpents and be done with it.”
He tipped her chin up with his index finger. “You’re beautiful when you’re in a bloodthirsty mood, my dear.”
Erin snorted and tossed her head. “I’m beautiful all the time. I’m also not ready to walk away from Earth. This has been my home. Granted I had no idea about all the shit playing out behind the scenes, but it’s the only place I know.”
“I will try my hardest to preserve it for you.” He moved his hands back to her shoulders. “Will you accept my troth?” Steam puffed from his mouth as his dragon added a plea of its own. His bondmate had been incredibly patient, but Konstantin understood he’d long since given up ever having a dragon to fly and mate with.
“Yes. I will be your wife. Or your mate.” Erin tilted her chin at a defiant angle. “On one condition.”
He would have whooped, except it wasn’t dignified. “Anything, darling.”
“You might wait to hear what it is.”
He nodded, the totality of his attention focused on her.
“We will be equals in all things. When you allowed me to accompany Katya and Johan to Arctowski, I knew it was a concession. You were doing your level best not to make me feel like you had a leash around my neck.”
He winced. She’d nailed precisely how he’d felt, and his bondmate had been livid because he hadn’t insisted she remain by his side. Telling her she didn’t understand dragons wouldn’t endear him to her.
She was one.
Nor would he blurt a bunch of excuses to make himself look better.
“I can’t promise I will never do anything to anger you,” he said, “but I will treat you with the respect you deserve. You haven’t been a dragon shifter long, but surely you’ve come up against your beast’s possessive streak. It is very close to the foundation of what it means to be a dragon. We love fiercely, and when we stake a claim to something, it is ours.”
Before Erin could say anything, he hurried on. “But that cuts both ways. You will want me with the same singlemindedness I long for you.”
Her expression softened. “I already do. Resisting your mating bid has cost me, and not just because my dragon labeled me a coward.”
He moved to her side and tucked a hand beneath her elbow. “We must return to the others, but the gods won’t fault us if we stop at my hoard. I would have you pick something special. A symbol of our troth.”
Steam billowed from her. Erin’s dragon clearly loved the idea. It was rare for dragons to bring anyone—even mates-to-be—to their hoards.
A soft smile curved her lips. “My beast is all over that one.”
“And you?”
“I’d love you just as much if you weren’t offering gold or gems.”
Something deep within him cracked wide open. She’d just said she loved him, and it fed his dragon’s soul. “Say it again.”
She quirked a blonde brow. “Which part?”
“You know.”
“I do. I love you. Not quite sure when it crept up on me, but I’m not going to fight it anymore.”
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her once. Quick. Hot. Hard. If he did much more, they’d never get out of the passageway. Or at least not for a while. The honey-sweet taste of her remained on his lips, and the softness of her body where she’d molded to him lingered as well.
He started up the ledge system but then changed his mind and summoned a teleport spell. When the air cleared, they stood in a small cave. He kindled a mage light. Gold coins, many old and valuable, were piled about. Jewelry sparkled with gems, and loose gems had been sorted according to color.
“Oh my.” Breath whistled from Erin. “Wherever did all this come from?”
“Mostly shipwrecks. There have been a lot of them in this part of the world.”
“I thought dragons didn’t care for water.�
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“We don’t. I gathered almost all of this from casks that washed up on shore. We’ve been here for a long time. Since the days of the old wooden sailing vessels. Why do you suppose we selected this particular headland? It was particularly deadly for ships. Their remains have long since rotted, but dozens sailed their last voyage and wrecked on these shoals.”
“The men?”
“We helped those we could. Most died. It is not a commodious climate for humans.”
Erin left his side and wandered through his treasure trove. Streamers of steam followed her, and his beast puffed steam with the enthusiasm of a runaway locomotive. From time to time, she bent and picked up a coin or a piece of jewelry. He remained quiet. She’d know when just the right item was in her hand.
It would match her energy.
“My beast wants me to drop everything and create a hoard of our own,” she murmured. “Right after we roll around in all this gold.”
“You will,” he assured her. “It’s only a matter of time. All dragons are natural-born collectors.”
She’d been crouched over a pile of brooches and bracelets. If he remembered right, they’d been tucked within a cracked oaken cask toward the tail end of the 1700s. None of the men from that ship had survived. They’d looked as if they’d been half dead from malnutrition and exposure long before their ratty old tub foundered off the headland.
Erin straightened and walked toward him with a pendant dangling from one hand. The necklace was an intricate gold weave, and the ornament consisted of strands of gold and silver shaped into the body of a woman. She held a lantern suspended in one hand, and a deer stood next to her. Moonstones and smoky quartz adorned the piece.
She held it out to him. “May I have this one?” Before he could say of course, she went on. “It’s a likeness of Arianrhod. I’ve always had an affinity for that particular goddess.”
“Certainly. She’s yours.” He took the necklace and settled it over her head. “Why an attraction for Arianrhod?” Konstantin didn’t tell Erin he’d met the goddess a time or two and found her haughty and unapproachable. But then, he’d also heard rumors her virgin status was so much tripe.
If those rumors had been true, the goddess loved dragons. The bigger and more fire-breathing, the better.
Erin’s eyes glowed, reflected by his mage light. “She’s a lot like me. Alone. A virgin huntress…” Erin’s cheeks flushed. “Not that I’m a virgin, but Arianrhod, she ruled the moon and the tides from a special land all her own named Caer Sidi. This will sound foolish, but surgery is sometimes like that. Particularly for the long, delicate, difficult operations, I felt as if I was alone in my own little place. Just me and my instruments and the living flesh beneath them. There’s a numinous aspect to life, and it’s never so near as when death hovers. Watchful. Waiting. Hoping for an opportunity to swoop in and snag another victim.”
She shut her eyes for a moment, long lashes brushing her cheekbones. “I don’t know what got into me. That’s as romanticized a version of an OR as I’ve ever heard, plus all the nursing staff and the other docs, like the anesthesiologists, would feel terribly slighted.”
“I’ll make certain they never know.”
“Not much of a concern. I’ll never see that life again.” She fingered the pendant. “Are you certain? It’s lovely, and it sang to me.”
He bent and kissed her forehead. “Of course, I’m certain. You will soon be my mate. Everything that is mine is also yours.”
The steam that had slowed picked up again. The cave where he kept his hoard was thick with it. He wrapped his arms around Erin, breathing her in. She hugged him back, and he settled his mouth over hers. This kiss was different. Before, he’d never been certain of her desires. He’d recognized she lusted after him, but he hadn’t known if she would ever accept all of him.
She melted into his arms and teased him with her lips, teeth, and tongue. Perhaps because he was no longer frantic about the prospect of losing her, they could relax and enjoy each other. Take all the time in the world to explore every bit of one another.
His dragon pushed for the mating flight, but not too hard. His beast recognized how dangerous it would be for them to spend time alone outside the protection of this underground grotto. No point in starting the mating flight if they ended up aborting it when dragon traitors attacked.
Erin broke their kiss. She cradled his face between her hands and smoothed her thumbs over his jawline. “You’re amazing. I still can’t quite believe I said yes.”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “Why did you?”
“Because you and I, we feel right together. I was worried when I returned from Arctowski and you weren’t here. What if something had gone wrong, and I wasn’t there to save you?” A sheepish smile tugged at her lips. “I know it doesn’t make sense. You’re immortal, and what could I do with my set of Western medical skills, anyway, in the face of magical wounding?”
“Ssht. I love it that you want to take care of me.”
“That’s part of Arianrhod, too. In some myths, she was the goddess protector of the forest animals.”
“Have you always been drawn to mythology?”
She nodded. “I needed a place to drown my difficult childhood.”
Protectiveness ran through him like quicksilver, and he gathered her closer. “Are those who hurt you still alive?”
“No. It was a long time ago, and—”
“If they were alive, I would make them hurt the same way they hurt you. And I would ensure they understood that no one—”
She waved him to silence. “My father died in prison. I’m certain his last years were horrible. Can we talk about the future, not the past? I spent a long time putting it behind me.”
Konstantin stroked her hair. It flowed, soft and silky, beneath his fingertips. “We can talk about whatever you desire, my love. Or nothing at all.”
He didn’t understand why he wasn’t in more of a hurry to bed her. Before, it had been all he could think about. He desired her, ached for her, but their bodies would come together soon enough.
“We should join the others,” she said, “but I don’t want to leave your cavern. My beast is still urging me to roll around in the piles of gold.”
“I don’t want to leave, either, but I brought a hundred shifters here. It isn’t right to steal time for myself—no matter how much I want to. You’ve made me a very happy man.”
“I hope you’re still singing that song a year from now. I’m not the easiest person to get along with. When I was a surgeon, people expected me to be a bitch. It gave me an excuse. Vindicated my short temper.”
“No more excuses, eh?”
“Guess not.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m still a surgeon, but no one gives a shit. Johan’s the only one who has a glimmer of a clue what our life used to look like. I’m thinking it’s a good thing. A chance to start over and figure out who I want to be.”
“So long as the starting over includes me, we’re golden. And dragons can be plenty bitchy.”
Erin laughed; the silvery peals warmed him. “We are, indeed, dragons. Aren’t all of us golden? Even the ones who are black and red?”
He laughed along with her, and together they ducked under the low lintel of his cave. He sealed its location with obfuscation from long habit, and they walked down a tunnel and out along a path next to the second lake down from his home.
Dinosaurs grazed, but a male wolf shifter ran to them. Red hair streamed down his back, and his leathers smelled faintly of sea serpent. “Glad I found you, Kon. We’re hungry. Those of us who can’t eat grass. We were thinking about leaving long enough to hunt down food elsewhere on this world.”
“You don’t need my permission,” he replied, “but I appreciate you letting me know.”
“We’ll return as soon as we’ve fed,” the wolf said.
“Who all is going?” Erin asked.
“Everyone but the herbivores. So some of the dinosaurs, all the wolves, and all th
e birds. Which reminds me, Gustaf said to tell you they rescued the missing raven.” He stopped and looked at Konstantin as if something had just occurred to him. “What are you eating?”
“Not much,” Kon said. “Katya and I had some very limited food stocks in our home, but they’re mostly depleted. Soon, we shall face the same problem.”
“Do you think the Daoine Sidhe will return? We’ve been kicking that one around, and I said I’d ask. Assuming I located you.”
Konstantin shrugged. “I wish I knew. Depends what the Celtic gods have to offer for advice.”
“Speaking of gods,” the wolf went on, “did the land say anything further?”
“Not this time. She didn’t talk with me at all.”
“Damn it.” The wolf thinned his mouth into a tense line. “I’ll be sure to let the others know. We’ll be back quite soon. Perhaps we’ll teleport back here with whatever we find to eat.”
“Herds of antelope are plentiful in Argentina.” At the wolf’s confused expression, Konstantin went on. “Nearest landmass to the north of us.”
“Everything is north,” the wolf mumbled and took off at a lope.
Kon tucked Erin’s hand into his and started walking up the valley toward his lair. He hoped to find Johan and Katya. Magic flashed behind him. When he twisted his neck in that direction, he saw Ylon trotting toward him. The dinosaur had switched to his human form, probably so he could converse without resorting to magic.
“My guess is they will not return,” Ylon rumbled when he caught up. “The dinosaurs will, but not the others.”
“I’d considered the same.” Konstantin nodded. “You and your warriors are free to leave as well,” he went on. “This never was your fight.”
“We choose to remain, and I disagree. It’s everyone’s fight.” Ylon’s rugged face split into a smile. “Besides, I haven’t had this much fun in years.”
Konstantin did a quick mental tally. Thirty dinosaurs. Roughly half that number of dragons. If they were wily, cunning, struck fast and hard and withdrew before striking again, it might be enough.