I shifted uncomfortably, part of me wanting to tell her that I had the ring she was looking for but feeling too over my head to make that call on my own. I needed to talk with Kostya first.
“So where is this Asmodeus person?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject from that of the ring’s location.
“Abaddon, so far as we know. Oh, I should probably give you a super-quick history lesson.” She pursed her lips a moment while watching Drake block a sudden attack by Kostya. “The premiere prince is the demon lord who rules the other seven princes. Asmodeus is the current premiere prince. He took over from a truly evil man named Bael, and we thought that we were going to be fine with Asmodeus in place, but then two years ago he killed off most of the red dragon sept and kept a few to perform horrible experiments on, with the end result that now he has an army of red dragons who are partly demons.”
“So those red dragons that attacked us are part demon? Ugh.”
Aisling nodded. “As if a dragon isn’t hard enough to kill, now they’ve got demonic strength added into the mix.”
“Hmm.” I thought about the red dragons left dead outside my home. Their corpses had disappeared into black curls of smoke before I had gotten Kostya to the doctor, which confirmed their demonic aspect. “Why?”
She gave me a curious look. “Why are we trying to kill them?”
“No, why would this head demon prince guy want you guys fighting with each other? I don’t understand why he put a curse on you if he was just going to send his super-dragons to wipe you out.”
“That is a very good question, and we don’t know for certain what his motivation is in destroying all the dragons.” She gave a little head shake, sliding a look back toward her husband. “We assume it’s to destroy the dragons, but as to why… we just don’t know. It kind of came out of the blue, to be honest. And worse, we worry that Asmodeus might be looking beyond the dragonkin to the rest of the Otherworld… and then to the mortal world.”
“Eek!”
“Indeed.” She glanced again behind her. “All we really know is that Asmodeus has declared war on the dragons by slapping us with the curse and turning the red dragons against us. I could speculate for hours as to the whys and wherefores, but I don’t know how long Drake is going to be able to stand having Kostya so close, so we’d better deal with the important things right now. You said the red dragons burned down your house?”
“Yes. They attacked us when we escaped, which is where Kostya was injured the second time, but he appears to be back to normal now. Assuming beating up every dragon he comes into contact with is normal for him.”
She gave a little laugh. “It’s not far off.” She gave me a long look before adding, “You know, most of the wyverns are really happy to find their mates. But Kostya… well, let’s just say there’s a good reason for him to be a little gun-shy. That doesn’t mean that you have to put up with it, though. I’m a big believer in taking charge of situations, and clearly you’re not the sort of person who lets people walk all over her.”
I thought of how I’d spent the last two years and kept my mouth shut.
“So the next time Kostya’s kissing you and telling you that you’re not his mate, you might just turn his fire back on himself. That might show him a thing or two.” At that moment, Drake smacked Kostya upside the head, which sent him flying.
Drake stood over him, his hands on his hips, and said loudly, “Are you done with your talk?”
“Just about,” Aisling said, frowning. “That wasn’t very nice, Drake. You might have given him a concuss—Oh, dear.”
Kostya, who had been sitting up and shaking his head, suddenly lunged at his brother’s legs, and nailed him on the chin in a way that left Drake limp on the ground, clearly knocked out.
“Very brotherly,” I told Kostya when he staggered to his feet. Now his nose was bleeding, too.
“He started it,” Kostya said, and lurched toward us. “What has Aisling told you?”
“Many things.” I tsked at the sight of the way his shoulder was carried. “You’ve gone and broken your collarbone again, haven’t you?”
“No,” he said, touching it and wincing. “Possibly. But it will heal. What plans have Aisling and Drake made?”
“Er…” I looked at Aisling. “Kostya wants to know about any plans.”
“We haven’t really made any other than finding the ring, and we’ve had no luck there for the longest time.” Aisling squatted next to Drake, dabbing at his head with her sleeve. “Drake’s going to be furious when he wakes up. He hates it when Kostya bests him.”
“What is she saying?” Kostya asked.
“Nothing your ego needs to hear. Kostya thinks we need to go to Paris, Aisling. I’m not quite sure why, but he seems to feel that’s a safe place.”
“Nowhere is safe from the red dragons,” she said slowly, rising when Drake, who had just come to, leaped to his feet with a snarl. He wobbled quite a bit, which is why Aisling was able to hold him back with just one arm. With her other, she handed me a card. “Here’s my number. Call me in a bit and give me your number. Go to Paris with Kostya. Drake has a house there, and I’ll arrange for us to head to France as well. Kostya must think the ring is there, else he wouldn’t leave Sweden. Above all else, it’s important that we find it, or the weyr is forever doomed. Jim, don’t give Aoife any grief or be obnoxious, and do whatever she tells you to do.”
I bit my lip, glancing at Kostya. Once again, I wanted to tell Aisling that I had the ring, but if Kostya hadn’t instructed me to tell her I had it, then he most likely didn’t want her to know. Although why escaped me. Perhaps he felt they would take it from us? It would be nice to hand off the responsibility of it to someone else, but on the other hand, it seemed like the ring had chosen me, and for some strange reason, I was loathe to give it up so easily.
While I was waffling over what to do, Jim tipped his head and looked at Aisling. “Can she tell me what to do, Eefster?”
“Hmm? Yes, she can.”
“Oh, Jim, if only I had time… but I don’t.” Aisling leaned forward and gave the dog a hug, and kissed him on his head. “Just remember that you’re a good demon, not a bad one. And for heaven’s sake, stop standing around in the middle of roads!”
She and Drake began walking toward their plane, but Aisling paused to toss over her shoulder, “Remember what I said about Kostya’s fire, Aoife. It’s time he move past Cyrene and realize just how blessed he is to have you in his life! It wouldn’t hurt to make him grovel just a little, but keep in mind that he’s had a hard time lately. I’m sure you won’t be cruel.”
I looked at Kostya, wondering if my life would ever be the same again.
Nine
I watched Aisling and Drake’s plane taxi away, then slowly turned back to Kostya, who instantly demanded to know what was said. “Did Aisling say what the green dragons were doing? Did you tell her about the ring? Is there news of the other septs?”
His eyes were as shiny as ever, the little silver flecks glinting dangerously in the surrounding onyx. I took a mental step back and looked at him, really looked at him. Aisling clearly thought that I was the person meant to be with Kostya, his life mate, or whatever dragons had, and that thought was both frightening and enticing.
I’d never had a serious relationship with a man but had long wanted one. I’d never felt like I was truly part of someone’s life. There were my parents, and later my siblings, but they were family—stuck with me whether they liked it or not.
And when they don’t like it, they stick you in an insane asylum, the small voice in my head said. I shook that thought away, eyeing Kostya even as he impatiently waited for me to answer his questions.
What was it about him that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside? Certainly not his gruff manner. Or his way of telling me that he didn’t want me as a girlfriend, even while he risked life and limb to keep me safe.
I’d have to be dead not to feel the pull of his masculinity, but it wasn’t j
ust the cute cleft in his chin, or the six-pack, or even his fabulous butt that kept him uppermost in my thoughts; no, it was the sense of need surrounding him that struck such a chord within me, a sense of pain deep within him that I wanted desperately to lessen. He had scars that ran so deep, I wasn’t sure anything I could do could ever heal them, but I knew that I very much wanted to try.
“Aoife?” Kostya almost tapped his foot with impatience.
I giggled to myself. What a man I’d picked to become obsessed with. “No, I didn’t tell Aisling about the ring. I didn’t know you wanted me to. Should I have? I can call her super quick if you think it’s important they know this second.”
Kostya shook his head before I even finished speaking. “No, we must go to Paris. We can’t use the ring here.”
“I thought you said we couldn’t use the ring at all?”
“Dragons cannot.” His gaze flittered away. “We are affected by the curse.”
That sense of being an outsider, of not belonging, hit me again with his words. The meaning was quite clear—I was only a means to an end, a way to bring the ring to whoever or whatever would use it to break the curse.
Dammit, I was not going to fall in love with Kostya. Not when he kept pushing me away. To continue would leave me tragically heartsore.
“And then where would we be?” I asked aloud.
“We are in Sweden. You should know that. Are you having an episode of derangement?” He frowned, his two straight ebony brows pulling downward until I couldn’t stand it any longer and reached up to smooth out the wrinkles between them. “You said that you were not deranged, but there is something wrong if you don’t know where you are.”
“I know exactly where I am.” He caught my hand, his thumb rubbing across my pulse point in a way that had various parts of me tingling in pleasure despite my better intentions to not give in to his sexy, sexy ways. “What I don’t know is what I am. I thought I was just me, a normal person who saw some pretty extraordinary things and was tossed in the nuthouse as a result. But now I don’t know for sure. Why are you rubbing my hand?”
His expression was unreadable. “You were touching my face. I was simply stopping you.”
“You are so messed up, Slick. Must have been that smack on the head that did it, because you’re supposed to be encouraging hot babes like Aoife to touch you, not stop them. Although it was better earlier today when she had her hands on your ass, and you were grabbing booby—Hey! Ow! Make it stop, make it stop!”
Kostya set fire to Jim’s tail with just a flicker of his eyes. Jim ran around in a circle for a few seconds before plopping down on his butt, extinguishing the fire. He glared at Kostya, who had turned back to me. “Man! Some people are just so sensitive.”
“Do you not like to be touched?” I asked Kostya, wondering if he had a personal space issue that I hadn’t picked up on before.
“What did Aisling say to you?”
“Ah, we’re back to that game, are we? Let’s see… I think I counter with why did someone hold you prisoner for seven years?”
“Did she say what the green dragons were doing? Why did you not show her the ring?”
“Why don’t you ever answer a question?”
“I’m a dragon,” he said with a little shrug. “We dislike answering questions, although I would point out I have just done so. Thus it is your turn. Why will you not answer my questions?”
“Kiss me,” I demanded, deciding that I would start resisting him later, when I wasn’t so confused about everything.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Jim said, tipping his head to the side. “Don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here. Boy, I wish I had a camera.”
I didn’t have a chance to tell Jim to stop watching us before Kostya, evidently deciding the questioning game wasn’t going to go anywhere, obliged me by kissing all thoughts right out of my brain.
Instantly, my body was full of demands. My breasts wanted Kostya’s hands and mouth on them, my fingers wanted to skim every reachable part of him, my hips wanted to rock against his, and that whole area in my body devoted to reproductive activities was evidently having a block party and insisted that Kostya join the fun.
I tried to quell my libido, but it was having none of it. Not while my body was all but mugging his, my hands entangled in his hair, his hands on my butt pulling me even closer, and between us, an inferno that grew hotter and hotter with each stroke of his tongue. Heat swamped me, his dragon fire, setting every atom inside me alight with need and desire and a wanting so great, it scared me. How could I have this sort of a reaction to a man I’d known for a day?
“You taste so good,” he groaned into my mouth, moving me backward until I was pressed against the side of the hangar before he pulled me upward in order to delve deeper into my mouth. “You are spicy, like mulled wine, and just as heady.”
“Too much talking, not enough kissing,” I murmured before wrapping my legs around his hips, wanting to press him against all the needy parts of me—which was basically my entire body. Flames licked along my flesh, the heat inside building to the point where I was sure I couldn’t stand it anymore, my body forced to cope with Kostya’s fire or combust into an inferno.
Panic hit me hard for a moment, swamping me with a sudden desire to flee. But that would mean leaving Kostya, never seeing him again, never laughing at his scowls or soothing his hurts, never holding him tight, trying to ease the darkness inside him.
I couldn’t do it. I knew I was making a choice in my life that I could never undo, but I just couldn’t walk away from Kostya and everything he represented. He needed me, and I gloried in that, basked in the knowledge that I could help him, ease his pain, and along the way, perhaps find just what it was I was supposed to do with my life.
And at that moment, just when I was sure I was going to burn away to nothing, I accepted everything that had happened to me since that fateful day two years ago.
It was as if someone had flipped a switch, because suddenly the fire that threatened to consume me became part of me. I let it whip around me for a few seconds, enjoying the power and heat and thrilling in the fact that I could control it. I tugged on Kostya’s hair, wordlessly asking for more, promising to give him everything I could.
Just what I expected him to do while we were standing outside, in clear view of anyone who happened to pass, I didn’t know. I just wanted… more. I wanted Kostya and his fire and everything those two things comprised. I didn’t care about convention or that it wasn’t wise to leap into any relationship, let alone one with a man who was so obviously emotionally scarred. At that moment, I didn’t even care that red dragons had destroyed my home and tried to kill us all.
I accepted that the world was a place where dragons were people, and Kostya was one of them.
I accepted the idea that there were demon lords and demons, and one of the latter was now bound to me.
I accepted that I was put on the earth to be paired up with Kostya and that I had suffered through two years of hell so I could help him overcome the pain he had lived through. More importantly, I understood that I was meant to bring his life back on track and surround us with the happiness that we both deserved, and with those epiphanies, my mind was free.
He jerked backward when I spun his fire around us both, then directed it back to him, pouring it into him with a joy that I hadn’t felt since I was a child.
“What did you just do?” he asked, his eyes wonderfully misty with passion.
“That pole dance move? Looked to me like a cross between trying to dry hump you and climbing a rope, but I can’t see much from this angle,” came an answer from Jim’s direction.
“Jim, hush,” I said, wanting to laugh with the sheer pleasure of my sudden insight. I was a dragon’s mate! Me, boring old Aoife, who thought the most exciting thing in her life would be the time she went to a circus and became deranged. “You mean the fire thing? Aisling told me to give you your fire back, so I did just that. Still want to deny t
hat I’m your mate? Because I’ve just realized that what she said was absolutely true, and it explains a whole lot about why I’m so attracted to you.”
“You’re attracted to me because all women are,” he said in an offhand, dismissive manner that made me want to smack him.
So I did. Right on the chest. “Look, Buster Brown—”
“My name is Kostya.”
“—you may think that you’re the only one who’s gone through hell in your life, but you’re dead wrong, so you can take that God’s-gift-to-women attitude and stuff it where the sun don’t shine!”
“Oooh,” Jim said, his eyes wide. “Hey, Slick, in case you don’t know, she’s talking about your—”
“And furthermore,” I interrupted loudly, slapping my hand on his chest again, clutching his shirt to shake him a little. “I’d like a little acknowledgment of just how nice it is that I’m not fighting the whole idea that I’m a dragon’s mate, especially given that twenty-four hours ago, I hadn’t a clue that there even were dragons, let alone mates. And while we’re on the subject, why is it that I have to get all the information about being your mate from Aisling? You should be the one telling me this stuff!”
He opened his mouth to protest, stopped, and then considered me for a moment. Slowly, gently, he disentangled my fingers from his shirt. “Aisling should know better than to interfere,” was all he said before turning and striding off toward the main office.
“Oh, man, he did not just do that,” Jim said, whistling softly. “Eefs, you are in for it now.”
I patted the dog on his head and smiled. Jim was absolutely right; I was in for a hell of a ride, but at least I knew an important life-changing fact: I was a dragon’s mate. “And if Kostya thinks he is going to get out of cherishing me the way Aisling says he should, then he can just bloody well think again.”