chapter Seven
The pre-dawn air was cold, and my nipples puckered painfully in response. Tears streamed over my cheeks, brought on by the racing wind in my face and the near constant fear of the last five days. In fairness, I knew it wasn’t his fault, but he was the closest target for my rage. I balled up a fist and punched him in the shoulder. He didn’t flinch.
Bahlin moved through the night sky in near silence, the only sound the disturbance of his wings cutting through the air and the occasional huff of breath. I could feel his lungs expand and contract between my knees and it was oddly sexual, though I didn’t examine that feeling too closely. He raced parallel to the breaking dawn. It wasn’t long before I began shivering with true cold. I couldn’t feel my feet at all. Bahlin dipped lower over the open expanse of farmland, the ground getting closer and closer, the only break in the landscape the fencing and small herds of sheep and cows that scattered instinctively as the predator raced passed them. I realized Bahlin was beginning to breathe harder, his movements less graceful. He banked to the right and dove toward a small cottage that seemed to grow out of the hillside, setting down in the front yard. I was shaking in earnest now, my skin tinged blue from the cold, my joints frozen in macabre positions. Bahlin bellied down to the ground again, but I couldn’t move. He turned his enormous head back to look at me.
Teeth chattering so hard I worried they’d crack I stuttered, “I-I-I c-c-c-can’t-t-t-t…”
He rolled his shoulder to the ground and reached behind him, so incredibly gentle with his clawed hands, and pulled me into his arms. I tried to struggle, but I couldn’t gain any semblance of control over my traitorous muscles. He held me close to his chest and began to hum. The sound seemed to generate deep in his chest, rumbling out, sounding like a monk’s liturgy. In a moment of hysteria I laughed. Should I offer to insert a quarter or pray? When I realized he was warming physically, I knew what he was doing. He was generating body heat to warm me up. I rolled into his embrace and cuddled with him and he sighed, a content sound. I laughed out loud again, though this time the sound was less harsh. I was snuggling with a dragon. We sat that way until the sun rose over the horizon, and we were casting a soft shadow. I looked up and gasped. His scales were a matte midnight blue, nearly black. He was like the night sky incarnate, touchable and tangible. Suddenly I stiffened. What if we were seen? What if the cottage occupant caught us on the doorstep? How do you explain the unexplainable?
“Put me down,” I hissed, struggling in his arms.
Bahlin set me on the ground where I promptly collapsed. I was still cold enough that I couldn’t command my feet or legs to obey. He looked at me and then looked at the door, nosing me toward it. The only thing he accomplished was disturbing the grass and royally pissing me off.
“You are insane if you think I’m going in there,” I said in a harsh whisper. I swear he cocked an eyebrow at me. “No. No, I am not,” I said in the same low voice.
He turned and looked toward the sky, unfurled his wings and pushed off the ground, gaining height more slowly and laboriously this time. He left me sitting there in the yard, gaping at his retreating form, alone.
I lay there for a minute, flexing my muscles and trying to get them to warm up. I finally stood, albeit unsteadily, and turned back toward the cottage. I screamed, jumping back and falling on my ass yet again.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” said the woman who had been standing at my back. Without asking or straining, she bent and lifted me to my feet, setting me down gently. Then she stepped back. “I assumed if Bahlin dropped you off here, you knew of me.” Her brow furrowed, and she looked at me with some concern. She was as tall as me, and it was a novelty to look a woman eye to eye. Her hair was a deep mahogany and fell to her diminutive waist. Her eyes were a shade or two lighter than Bahlin’s intense blue, and her skin was lightly tanned but completely unlined. Her voice was like rich cream, soft and decadent, and it held the softest hint of Scotland. She was ethereal, and I think I hated her a little bit for it.
“You, uh, know about Bay, uh, Bahlin?” I stuttered, trying to reign in my galloping heart and wheezing breath.
“‘Bay’? I like that. To answer you, yes I know very well about Bahlin.”
My hackles rose, and I found myself jealous of this unknown woman. Who was she to him? And why did he leave me with her? Before my brain could stop my mouth I said, “So you know him well. How well?”
She chuckled and said, “I think you may want to come inside. He has probably gone to feed and, in that case, he’ll be gone a while. Would you like a cup of tea?” She turned and walked back into the house, all grace and perfect form, her skirt swirling about her ankles, as if dragons coming and going and depositing strangers in the yard were simple everyday things.
Unsure what to do, I followed her. I had dropped my dagger sometime during the flight, likely after the shaking had taken over. So I was unarmed and alone. I didn’t like it. But if Bahlin thought this was a safe place, I had to trust him. After all, I had no one else. He and I were definitely going to have to talk about this.
The thatch-roofed house was much larger than it appeared from the outside. The front door opened directly into a large living room with an attached, open, eat-in kitchen. The stone hearth was huge, with a baking oven built in above the firebox. I looked around, appreciating the simple decor and the hand-scraped wood floors, the plush furniture and soft-colored walls. It was all so charming with a cohesiveness I’d never be able to achieve without hiring a decorator. I think I hated the house a little at that moment too.
My hostess walked down a long hallway and returned with an enormous sweatshirt. Handing it to me, she smiled and said, “It’s Bahlin’s. I’m sure he won’t mind if you borrow it.” Her manner was proprietary, and it made me even more uncomfortable. She grinned, her eyes flashing that icy blue then back to sapphire. Had it been the light? I accepted the sweatshirt and pulled it on slowly, enjoying the smell of Bahlin so close.
Realizing I didn’t even know the woman’s name I stuck out my hand.
“I’m Maddy.”
“I know.” She looked me over very carefully, her eyes cooling as I cuddled the sweatshirt a little. “You’re the Niteclif.”
“How did you—”
“Know? I knew well before you did.” She arched a brow at me and crossed her arms over her small, I really do hate her, chest.
“I’m sorry. Have I pissed you off somehow? Because I’m pretty sure I don’t know you well enough for you to be so catty.” I stared at her hard, my own eyes growing cold, as I rolled the sleeves up on the sweatshirt just in case this conversation came to blows. With the way my last few days had been, it wouldn’t come as a surprise.
“Oh no, I’m not pissed as you Americans say. I’m fine. But I have a strongly vested interest in Bahlin’s well-being, and I won’t have you come in here and…”
“And what?” I demanded, stepping closer to her.
“If he’s not told you, I don’t believe I will.”
“But—”
“Leave it,” came a deep voice from behind me. I spun around, finding Bahlin coming through the front door wearing a pair of ratty sweats and nothing more. His torso was lean but well muscled with cobblestone abs included, the only hair a line from his belly button to his waistband.
“What the hell is it with everyone sneaking up on me around here?” I exclaimed, frustration lacing every word.
Bahlin laughed and walked to me with a hip-rolling swagger. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “I borrowed Aiden’s sweats from his gym bag, Brylanna. Tell him he needs to wash the damned things on occasion.” He looked down at me. “Has my Brylanna been kind, Maddy?”
“Define kind,” I said, standing stiff in his arms. What did he mean his Brylanna? He chuckled in my ear, his breath playing through my hair and down my neck and giving me goose bumps. I wiggled my hands up to his smooth, muscled chest and pushed back from him, needing space to think. “Why are dragons so keen on avoiding questions?”
“Ah, so she told you she’s a dragon, then?”
“Nope, you just did.”
He laughed again, but softly this time. “What gave it away?”
“The eyes flashed that weird blue color. Then she said she knew I was the Niteclif. Only the supernatural world knows about my existence, so logic says she must be one of your world. Then you came here in dragon form, without concern of being seen, so she had to know about you. Simple deduction.”
“Well done, Maddy. Ah, the eyes. She must have lost her temper then. Brylanna?”
“She provoked me,” the woman said, sounding sulky.
“And you know better than to be provoked,” Bahlin said, sounding reproving. “Maddy, Brylanna is my sister and yes, she’s a dragon, as well.”
Ah, sister. I hated that I felt relieved, so I took the offensive, though it was more curiosity than anger in my voice. “Explain the whole she-knew-before-I-knew thing.” I walked to the small dining table and sat.
“Make yourself comfortable,” Brylanna said in a sickly sweet voice.
“Brylanna. She is my guest. Respect her as such.” Bahlin’s voice brooked no room for argument.
“My apologies, Niteclif,” she said, looking honestly chagrined.
“Maddy, Brylanna. Please call me Maddy.” Deciding to be the bigger person, I stood and walked to her, sticking out my hand again. “I’d like to start over with you. It seems that we’ve somehow taken off on the wrong foot.”
She tilted her head to one side and considered, then stuck out her hand. She grasped my hand and bent her head over the joined digits, humming in a way similar to Bahlin’s heat-generating sound. I tried to take my hand back, and she tightened her grip to just this side of pain.
Beginning to feel trapped, I looked at Bahlin and realized his eyes had changed to icy blue. I tugged harder. Brylanna’s head snapped up, and her eyes matched Bahlin’s in their other-worldliness.
“Your path has changed, Maddy,” she said in a resonating voice. “You’ve lost someone from your inner circle, and it is unclear whether he will be returned to you.”
“Tarrek,” I whispered and her hand squeezed mine tighter. Panic fluttered in my chest.
“Brylanna’s a Seer,” Bahlin said softly, having come up behind me. He laid his hand on my shoulder.
“Bahlin, remove your hand. It clouds my Site,” she said in that timbered voice. She bowed her head deeper over our joined hands. Suddenly she was grinding the bones of my hand together. I grunted in pain and she fell to her knees in front of me, hissing.
“Brylanna,” Bahlin shouted.
“Oh, goddess, she’s dark, Bahlin. I cannot see beyond—”
“Leave it,” he ordered again, grasping our hands and wrenching them apart.
Her head snapped up, and she growled at him. “It’s not for you to divine now is it, brother?” she asked cryptically. He held out a hand and helped her to her feet. She accepted then flung herself free of him, turning away from us and wrapping her arms around her middle. I stood shaking, unsure what had just happened, clutching my bruised hand to my chest.
“What did you see?” I asked.
Taking a deep breath she turned back to us, her eyes no longer that icy blue. She looked first to Bahlin and then to me. “Part of it I will not tell you because he,—” she inclined her head toward her brother, “—doesn’t want you to know. But as for the other, you should be prepared. You are hunted by something dark, soulless. It comes for you in stealth, though you know who it is already. And you are ill prepared to defend yourself. Bahlin will come to your aid, but it may not be soon enough. If it is not, you will both perish. Bahlin,” her voice cracking, “the shadow—it’s after your stone.”
In a moment of hysteria, I burst into tear-inducing laughter. Both dragons turned to look at me, astonished.
“It wants his stone?” I gasped for breath and wiped my wind-chapped cheeks. “Isn’t that rather personal?”
“Oh for the love, Maddy,” Bahlin said, rolling his eyes. “Get your mind out of the gutter, chick. My stone, not my stones.” Suddenly he was chuckling and we paused, looking at each other.
“Fine. Laugh if you will, but this may be the death of you and I cannot see.” Brylanna stormed toward the front door. “Do what you know you will. I’ll be back tonight—after.” She grinned at Bahlin and left the house. Moments later I heard a car start and drive away, the sound of the engine fading until there was only silence, the sounds of our breathing and the little sounds of the house settling around us.
Hiccupping, I said, “What’s your stone?”
“Every dragon has what is uncreatively called a Dragon’s Stone. It’s located in the center of the brain and contains a wealth of information. It’s said that each infant dragon retains some of the knowledge of the parents, and it’s how dragon magic is passed from parent to child. To hold the stone is to own the knowledge and skills, or magic, that the dragon possesses.”
“Dragon magic?” I asked. I’m nothing if not skeptical, even in the face of a mythological creature. Go figure.
“Yes, magic.” He stared at me hard as if trying to decide how much to tell me. “Each dragon has a set of gifts. Brylanna’s include divination. She can see the future, though not always clearly as you’ll have noted. One of my gifts is healing, which is how I helped you at the sithen.”
“What other gifts do you guys have?”
“Ah, I think I’ll save that for later. For now, let’s get you cleaned up.”
He headed down the short hallway that Brylanna had been down earlier, and I followed him. There were two bedrooms in the house, one on either side of the hallway. He stopped at a closet and took out towels, then grabbed my hand and pulled me through the doorway on the right. The room was large, with the biggest bed I’d ever seen. I glanced at him from under my lashes, confused and embarrassed. Was this his room? The soft, earthy colors couldn’t compete with the dark blue silk sheets and comforter of the rumpled platform bed.
Easily interpreting the look on my face he said, “I know it’s a bit of a contradiction, but I’ve learned from living in London that I’m a creature who values comfort versus style in his living space. When possible I’ll elect both and stay at my hotel, but Brylanna’s more a country soul. This bed is her one concession to me and she’d be rid of it if I didn’t need a hideaway on occasion.” He walked into the bathroom and came back out.
“It’s fine,” I said, not sure if he cared for my opinion, but offering it anyway. “Uh, the bathroom?”
“Through this door. I’ll use Brylanna’s. I’ll leave some of her clothes on the bed for you to borrow. I’m sure she won’t mind.”
I looked at him.
He laughed. “Okay, she’ll mind, but she’ll get over it.” And he walked away leaving me with a view of his wonderfully taut ass.
The bathroom was sparse but fully functional. Soap, hot water and time were what I really needed, and this offered all three. I ran a bath, needing to soak my aching muscles and, likewise, warm them up. I still felt chilled. I peeled the leather pants off and swore to do my best to avoid them in the future. Remembering I didn’t have any underwear available made me curse and hope that Bahlin delivered a non-sheer shirt for me to borrow.
The water was borderline too hot as I stuck first a toe then a foot into it, slowly adjusting to the temperature. I stepped in and sank down, reminiscing about my first night in England. I’d ended it in a bathtub, too, though it felt like it was both yesterday and years ago, and I was ending this day with the sunrise. Still, I followed tradition and washed my hair, dunking it to rinse the shampoo out of it. I drained the water and refilled the tub and crawled back in to soak, drifting on the edge of sleep until a soft knock sounded at the door.
“Maddy?” Bahlin’s voice was soft but concerned. “It’s been nearly an hour. Are you okay?”
I sat up and held my hands out in front of my face. Yep, prunes. I was finished.
“I’ll be out in a minute, Bay,” I said, pushing myself up to standing and reaching for a towel. I stepped out onto the tile floor and briskly dried myself off, wrapping the towel around my torso. It was a near thing, but it went all the way around. I’d be okay if I didn’t move too much. I finger-combed my hair and went to the door, peaking out. Bahlin sat on the edge of the bed in a pair of boxer shorts. He looked up at me and smiled and it was such a winsome look that I smiled back.
“You’re beautiful when you smile like that,” he whispered, standing and moving toward me. I noticed the slight tenting of his boxers and whipped my gaze back to his eyes. Gently he said, “I believe that, to quote you, it was something like ‘sex and the whole near-death-reaffirming-life thing,’ wasn’t it?”
I continued to stare at him, unsure what to do. I had had two lovers in my lifetime, both results of relationships affectionately referred to as monogamous monotony by my girlfriends. Neither relationship had left me with a wild, passionate view of sex. One ex-boyfriend had even accused me of being an ice princess, unreachable, unpleasurable. Such stellar reviews of my past performance definitely tainted the developing fantasy I had about the man standing in front of me. So did I give in to the raging primal instinct to reaffirm life, or did I stick to my basic moral code and lock myself in the bathroom and wish him luck with himself? Of course, in all my mental ramblings I’d forgotten to take into consideration one thing: the man himself.
Bahlin approached me slowly, his boxers twitching from their internal assault. He reached me and, instead of pulling me up into a wild embrace, he ran a finger down my bare arm leaving a trail of goose flesh in its wake. I looked up into his eyes and they were the deep, dark sapphire color that had stolen my breath in my first night’s dream. He sank his head toward me and brushed his lips over mine, breathing out the words, “A stór,” as he nibbled his way to my jaw. I was barely breathing, scared to encourage him and equally scared he’d stop his exploration of my neck, then my shoulders. He began working his way back up to my ears, his breath hot.
“Ah, my love, you’re such a temptation,” he whispered.
“You don’t love me,” I whispered back.
He lifted his head, drawing his attention from my ear to my eyes. “You don’t know that,” he said in a gentle voice.
“I do,” I said. “You’ve not known me long enough for me to drive you crazy. The only people who loved me unconditionally are dead.” Tears blurred my vision and I looked down, giving them permission to slip down my cheeks.
“Ah, your parents.” He lifted his hand from my shoulder to chin and pushed up gently, forcing me to meet his gaze. “They are gone but never forgotten, mo muirnin. Never doubt that.” He stroked a finger down my neck, and I shivered. “And, with all respect due you, I don’t believe you’re qualified to tell me how I do or don’t feel.”
I nodded my head too fast, pushing yet more tears over the dam of my lower lashes. He bent his head even closer to mine and kissed the tears away.
“We are fated, you and I,” he said.
“Fated? Is that what I’m not supposed to know?”
“Ah, no.” He took a deep breath and stepped back from me. But he didn’t elaborate.
I felt adrift in the large room without him to serve as my anchor. I reached out for him, and he stepped into me with the passion I had expected with his first approach. He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to his chest so tightly I let out an oompf and he laughed, squatting down and picking me up by wrapping his arms around my upper thighs before spinning me around. I locked my hands behind his neck and bent my forehead to his.
“Do you want me as much as I want you, mo chrid?” he asked, sliding me slowly down the front of his body. His erection, trapped behind the thin cotton of his underwear, was blazing hot against my lower belly as he gripped my hips and held me close to him.
I let my head fall back and he feasted on my neck, kissing and nipping from jaw to shoulder with more intent than moments before. He quickly dipped his head and licked his way along the top of my left breast over my heart, slipping his tongue under the edge of the towel.
“Holy crap,” I gasped, as the heat of his tongue went straight to my womb. I had never been so aroused in all my life and this man had taken me there in minutes.
He pressed his lips firmly to my heart, bending low and running his hands up my outer thighs, under the towel until he could grip my ass hard.
“Maddy? Say the word and I’ll stop, but if you don’t stop me now, I’m going to throw you down on that bed and have my way with you.”
I couldn’t get his words through my head. All I wanted was the heat, the passion, not conversation, and definitely not responsibility. For once I wanted breathless recklessness.
But Bahlin wasn’t programmed for recklessness when it came to me, apparently. “Maddy? Look at me and tell me you want this.” He softened his grip on my ass, running his hands in small circles over the branded skin.
I looked at him, really looked at him. I wanted him so badly, but Tarrek was out there somewhere. I couldn’t do this, not now, not with obligation weighing down on me.
“Bay…” I didn’t know how to say this. Looking at me, he recognized the hesitation in my face and he released me, stepping back. “I’m so sorry.” Damn it.
“No apologies, Maddy. You feel as you feel. It only means I’ll have to wait you out, and I reckon I’m one of the most patient blokes in the world. I’ve waited over…let’s just say I’ve waited a very long time for you,” he said light-heartedly.
“Give me some time, Bay. It’s been too much, too fast. All of it.” I sighed heavily and stepped back, putting some distance between us. And then I smiled. “How old are you, anyway?”
Holding his finger over my lips he said, “First, no apologies. I meant that. And I’m much older than you.” He turned, walked to the bed and straightened the bedding, folding it back to some sort of order. “I’m going to suggest we sleep together—”
“We discussed that,” I said snarkily. “And how much older?”
“Ah, but we weren’t discussing sleep, my love.” He waggled his eyebrows and I laughed, the tension broken just like that. “I think it’s safer if, from this point on, we’re not separated. You’re going to be hunted by the High Council for the murder of Gretta. And apparently whoever is murdering different beings is after my stone. Do you agree that we should stick together?”
I nodded. I was reeling from his shift from sex to murder, and I felt like I had a tenuous grip on reality, at best. I was going to need him to walk me through this and, according to his sister, save my ass.
There was only one answer: “I agree.”
“Then let’s put all this aside,” he said, waving a hand between the two of us, “and focus on finding a murderer and saving our own skins.” He crawled into bed and rolled onto his side, opening his arms to me.
“And Tarrek, Bay,” I said. “We need to focus on finding Tarrek. And, uh, I still need clothes.”
He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. “Dreams never fade,” he said, reopening his eyes and looking at me very directly, “though I never imagined taking you to bed with the faerie between us, even figuratively.” He ran his hand back and forth over the silk sheets, the hiss of skin on the fabric seeming to thunder through my ears. “The clothes are sitting on the bed in the other bedroom. Hurry and change before I do my best to change your mind, Maddy.”
For the second time in less than twelve hours, I hurried.
Bahlin had set out a pair of sweats and a black V-neck T-shirt. I pulled the clothes on, grateful for the solid shirt even if I didn’t have what I now thought of as the luxury of underwear. I padded back across the hallway to his bedroom, and he opened his arms to me again.
“Just sleep, right?”
He smiled, his eyes flashing color to ice blue and back. “Of course. It’s what we negotiated.”
“Negotiated?”
“Never forget, Maddy, that I’m a dragon at heart. When you’re dealing with mythological creatures, and particularly dragons, vampires and the fae, you will need to negotiate everything. We are selfish creatures as a general rule, though we can be ruled by our hearts on rare occasions.”
I thought about that. Had he stopped his seduction because he was following his heart or because I had somehow negotiated it without meaning to? Questions for another time. I was exhausted. I walked to the bed and sat on the edge, pulling one knee up to my chin and looking over at Bahlin.
“I’m too tired to go through negotiations, especially since I didn’t know I needed to, so here are my terms: sleep. Only sleep. No nasty, not now, not ever.”
“Not acceptable.”
“Come again?” Oh shit, not what I meant. “I mean—”
Bahlin roared with laughter, rolling onto his back and tucking his hands behind his head. “No sex, not now and I’ll agree to not seduce you while you’re in this bed this time. All bets are off when you leave the bed, though.”
“No nasty, no attempt at the nasty, until we get back to London and get a bead on Tarrek.”
“Son of a bitch, Maddy. That could be weeks.” He exploded into a sitting position, throwing the covers back to reveal his still impressive erection.
“Take it or leave it, Bay,” I said softly. “Because I’m sure Tarrek would find the terms acceptable if your positions were reversed.”
“Don’t bloody bet on it, love,” he said darkly. He seemed to truly think things over before he answered. “Fine. I agree.”
I crawled into bed and lay down on my side, resting my head on the pillow closest to me. He reached out and snagged me around the waist, pulling me close as he spooned me, and nestled himself between my ass cheeks. I began to struggle, and he laughed darkly.
“You didn’t negotiate no cuddling, love. Sweet dreams.”
Damned dragons, was the last thought I had before sleep claimed me. This time I dreamed.