“Now what?” she asked, unsure of how to proceed. Everything about this situation was new and confusing. Not to mention, scary as hell.
Alex let out a soft laugh as he reached out and drew her in against him. “Whatever you like.” He laid a kiss on her forehead. “We can take this as fast or as slow as you want.”
Terra curled in his arms, thinking about that. Whatever she liked. She drew in a deep breath, filling her lungs with his scent. It was clean and rich, with a hint of spice and musk. Desire pooled in her core, and she knew where she wanted to start.
“Anything?” She pressed herself against him.
He laughed, and as he slid his hand down her back, he pulled her harder against him. “Anything,” he purred as he leaned in and captured her lips for a kiss.
She savored his kiss as the passion built between them.
When he pulled back, the color of his eyes had darkened, and the evidence of his arousal was pressed firmly between them. “What does my lady desire?” There was a suggestive tone to his voice.
Terra bit her lip and looked up at him hopefully. “A big, fat, juicy steak. And a baked potato,” she answered as her stomach rumbled.
Surprise flashed on his face from the unexpected answer, but he smiled. “As you wish.” He kissed her quickly and went to roll out of the bed.
Catching him by the shoulder, she stopped him from getting up. It made her happy that he would give in to her demands even though he clearly wanted something else.
Alex looked at her, confused.
She smiled at him. “That is, as soon as we finish what we started back in that hotel room.”
Letting out a growl born in desire, he pounced on her, reclaiming her lips.
Terra let out a giggle before letting herself be swept away in his passion. This whole dragon thing was going to take some getting used to, but as long as she had Alex there to help her, she could face anything.
15
Daniel sat at his desk and looked over the stack of files spread out before him. He had triple-checked each file, trying to figure out who could have leaked the information about either the solitary dragons list or Alex’s use of the rest house. Hours he had spent, checking phone records and alibis, trying to come up with some answer. Hours he had wasted. Everyone he had checked had been airtight. How had the information slipped out without anyone knowing?
Letting out a deep sigh, Daniel gathered up the files and slid them neatly into the box next to his desk. He would keep these files and watch these agents. Someone was going to slip up sooner or later, and he would be there to catch them. Now, he just had to worry about what to do until then. There were still a lot of people on the solitary dragons list that needed to be notified and relocated, just in case that was the common link. But who should he trust to do it? Only his finest agents had access to the entire list, and Alex was right. The dragons who had come up missing had been on all parts of the list.
How could any agent in Eternity give up dragons to be murdered? That thought ate at him. Their entire sworn duty was to protect dragons. These men had trained hard to achieve the status and rank they had, and for one of them to betray the very people they were sworn to protect was unthinkable. Or more. Daniel growled in anger. One of his men had already proven to be an agent for the group killing dragons, but he wasn’t being any help to them. Somehow, even under lock and key, the man had found a way to take his own life before Daniel could get the chance to beat the information out of him.
Hell, they didn’t even know who this group was. The only information they had was Alex’s sketchy memory, the medallion he had recovered, two dead men, a few burner phones, and a car. Of all of that, the car proved to be the most useful. It contained several vials of some serum—the stuff they had injected Alex’s girl with. He had every one of his scientists and mages researching the stuff to find out what it was and how it had changed the girl into a dragon. The idea that they could use a drug to change a human into a dragon was preposterous, yet it had happened.
Daniel clenched his jaw as he thought of the consequences of that. How much would people pay for the ability to become a dragon? A lot! Was that why dragons were disappearing? So that someone could use them to make this wonder drug? Holy hell! If that were the case, things were going to go to hell as soon as this group figured out how to make it work properly. If they found out it had only taken a bonding to complete the transformation, then all hell was going to break loose.
Daniel shoved the rest of the stuff off his desk and got up. He needed to get down to medical and get Alex put on the disabled list as soon as possible. With the gap in his memory, no one would question Daniel’s decision. Then, he had to get Alex and the girl out of there before word got around that she had recovered and could turn into a dragon. Kyle had brought that information back to Daniel this morning, so suppressing the fact shouldn’t be too hard. Daniel had a few old friends that he could send them to stay with until they could find the leak and stop this group. The next question was… how?
With no real leads, Daniel didn’t know where to start. There’s the medallion. He paused as the thought passed through his brain. This group had been very insistent on getting that thing back. Right now, it was locked up in the hidden safe in his office, and he was the only person who knew it was there. Maybe he should let that information slip out and see who came to collect it. No. This group was covering their tracks pretty well; they wouldn’t be foolish enough to try anything in his office.
Daniel shook the idea away. Right now, he had to get Alex and his new mate to safety before something happened to them. Then, he could think about how to catch their mole. And once he did, someone was going to pay dearly for betraying his trust.
Acknowledgements
Dragons. Be them Asian dragons with their long bodies or European dragons with their strong wings, they are beautiful. They have always been one of my favorite mythological creatures. So when Marya asked for dragon stories, I was happy to offer up my contributions with On the Accidental Wings of Dragons. But I never expected it to go any further than that. So I was surprised when Rebecca came back and asked if I could expand the single novel into a series.
I said yes, but honestly, I was at a loss as the where I could go with the story. I could have followed Michael and Carissa as they learned to live with each other, but I wasn’t sure if there was enough plot line in just that to give me a good story. I didn’t really want to write a novel based solely on their romance. Sure it would make a fun read, but I like a little more plot in my novels than the traditional guy-works-to-get-girl motif you see in most romance novels.
I had to step back and reread the story to find the loose thread, but it was there, dangling in my face the whole time. I hadn’t even considered the unaddressed mystery left hanging in the story. To me it had been a convenient reason to chain poor Michael up, not a plot device to drive a whole series. But in that one idea, I found enough fodder to drive this story on in to several books. It’s amazing what you can do with a little loose end.
And of course it takes more than a plot device to make a book. It takes people. I have plenty of those supporting me on my way. I would like to thank all those that helped me on my path: my mother for listening to me and helping to bounce ideas; my family and friends for being there for me and understanding as I pounded away at my keyboard; the ladies at Crimson Tree for believing in me; my blogger friends for supporting me (even the ones that don’t do fantasy…Ethan); and last but certainly not least, all of you readers that have made it this far with me in this journey. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!