DragonGames (3 page)

Lyra didn’t even glance at the screen and
the pointer poised to join a poker game. “I’m on my way.”

Aislinn’s laugh had one bubbling out of
Lyra, making her wish she had more time to hang out with the shop owner. She
loved visiting Inner Magick, loved interacting with the customers it drew.
Before Sebastian then Nicolas had become so deathly ill, she’d frequented it
more often. But lately she was like a student cramming for final exams. All she
did was study books about poker and play, play, play, because ultimately,
experiencing the odds was the way to understand what to do in a given situation
once human behavior was brought into the mix.

She practically skipped down the stairs to
her car and only barely managed to stay within the speed limit. Inner Magick
was close to the beach, in a quaint area that drew tourists for shopping as
well as locals who came to eat at any number of the restaurants within walking
distance.

Most were mom and pop places. She’d thought
more than once that if the Ochoas’ restaurant were here, it’d be packed every
night. There was just something magical about the area. Even in a bad economy
people came and spent money.

Of course, the rents were probably
exorbitant. There’d been more than one rumor about uber-millionaire and total
recluse Severn Damek owning most of the real estate along this section of
beach.

Lyra stepped into the shop and was
immediately drawn to a mirror on the wall above a display case. The delicate,
complex engraving on the frame and the stones caught the light, creating
flashes of silver and gold.

She touched her fingertips to the gems,
moving from one to the next. They warmed up, intensifying in color and making
her think of the mood rings so popular in the mid-’70s.

Movement in the center of the mirror made
her look away from the frame. She startled at seeing the swirling there, like
summer storm clouds that thinned for an instant to reveal a silver-and-gold
dragon. She jerked in reaction to it, just enough so her fingertips lost
contact with the frame.

It was like pulling the plug on the magic.
Everyday reality returned.

The mirror appeared delicate and antique,
but also ordinary. Except…

This
was
Inner Magick, and though
she didn’t personally have an interest in runes or crystals or some of the
other things sold in the shop, she didn’t discount them either. Doing so would
make her a total hypocrite, considering how many tarot decks she owned.

“This is new,” she said as Aislinn joined
her.

Lyra touched the frame again, though
nothing happened. She laughed a little self-consciously but joked anyway. “What
does it do, catch a glimpse of what people were thinking about right before
they came in?”

“You saw something?”

“A dragon, of all things.”

“Really? And you were thinking about
dragons?”

“Indirectly. I was thinking about the
rumors that Severn Damek owns a lot of the real estate around here. I drove
past his estate once and saw the dragons on either side of the gates. I guess
my subconscious must have projected them?” Call her crazy for implying she
might actually believe in magical mirrors, but…

“Was the dragon in the mirror blue with
some red?”

“No. It was silver and gold.”

Aislinn smiled. “The tarot decks aren’t the
only new cards I’ve recently acquired. Are you game for playing with a
matchmaking deck?”

Lyra laughed. “Have you had contact with my
mother?”

Aislinn snickered. “No. Come into the back
room.”

Lyra followed her through strung beads that
formed a curtain separating the showroom from Aislinn’s work and storage area.

The tarot decks were laid out on a table,
spread to reveal some of the cards. Choosing would be torture, given how
exquisite they were. Lyra itched to hold them, at the same time admitting to
herself she was more than just a little curious about the matchmaking cards.

Aislinn reached for a beautiful wooden box.
It was decorated with a mural of mystical creatures that made Lyra think
immediately of the silver-and-gold dragon in the mirror.

Funny she’d given it those colors. Even
before Aislinn had asked, she’d remembered the ones at Severn Damek’s estate
were blue with hints of red.

The hair rose on Lyra’s arms and along the
back of her neck as Aislinn opened the box and lifted out a deck of cards with
an androgynous couple walking through a forest. Her heart raced for no reason
at all that she could think of—even hope. She had too much going on right now
to start a relationship.

Aislinn passed her the deck. “This isn’t
much different from a tarot reading, except you don’t have to concentrate on a
question, just stop when it feels right and turn your card choice over.”

“You’re limiting me to only one card?” Lyra
joked.

Aislinn snickered. “Take more than one if
you feel the heat.”

Lyra thought about it—for less than a
second—then shook her head ruefully. She could definitely see the appeal of a
ménage, and would say,
you go, girl
, to anyone who wanted to try it, but
it wasn’t her fantasy. No, her fantasy was pretty tame, more along the lines of
what her mother had.

Lie
. Well,
part lie.

Her stepfather was totally devoted, totally
committed, but he wasn’t totally alpha.
As far as I know
. And she
did
not
want to know what went on behind her parents’ closed bedroom door.
Ick
.

A card seemed to stick to her fingers.
Doubt assailed her. Was she really feeling it? Was this the right card? A hint
of trepidation followed, arriving with a phantom, tingling stroke along her
spine.

Chill
, she
told herself, half expecting to start hearing the theme song from
The
Twilight Zone
.

She kept cutting the deck. A second later a
card squirted out.

Okay. Hard to argue with that result. She
couldn’t prove it was the same card. But she’d bet money it was.

She handed the deck to Aislinn. “Turn it
over?”

Why was her mouth suddenly dry?

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Aislinn placed the other cards in the box
and closed it, as if the one now facedown on the table was out of play.
Permanently.

Lyra reached out. She flipped the card over
and was instantly flooded by heat. It rolled into her, settling in her breasts
and cunt with the same scorching intensity contained in the man’s eyes.

Damn he was hot, and she only had his face
to go by. Brown-haired. Dark-eyed. Golden-skinned. Alpha, pure and simple. He
was a man who’d possess his woman and make sure she knew who she belonged to.

Lyra licked her lips, because turnabout was
fair play. He was a man a woman would make sure she’d pleasured so well he’d
come back for more, ignoring all the other offers.

It took her several seconds to notice the
card’s border. The sight of the silver-and-gold dragon sent a jolt through her,
the déjà vu pricking of premonition combined with the thrill of anticipation.

“Do you know who he is?”

“Tielo.” Aislinn stood. “Be right back.”

“Take your time.” There was no resisting
the urge to pick the card up and get a better look.

Tielo
. It
was an erotic whisper through her mind.

Her nipples hardened and her slit wept
arousal as the heat in her belly coiled and tightened. If she had this reaction
just looking at a picture of him, what would it be like to encounter the real
thing?

They’d probably disappear into a bedroom
and not emerge for days.

The thought brought her up short.
I
don’t have time for this right now, not until I do what I can to help the
Ochoas.

Lyra shook her head as if she could clear
it of the tendency to believe in such a thing as matchmaking cards. She
probably wouldn’t if she was somewhere other than Inner Magick, but there was
something about this shop, something about Aislinn herself that seemed
otherworldly.

Aislinn returned. Lyra set the card with
Tielo’s image on the table though she couldn’t quite bring herself to put it
facedown. “I should take a look at the tarot decks and get back home.”

She’d practice poker online until bedtime.
Maybe tomorrow would be the day she made the couple-hour drive to the closest
casino.

“Before you do,” Aislinn said, offering her
an envelope. “This is for you.”

Lyra took it, the texture and gold
embossing on the flap practically screaming money. “What’s this?”

Aislinn’s eyes held warmth that reached out
and enfolded Lyra, making her feel a closeness resembling what she felt when
she was with her family. “Open it and see for yourself.”

She did, pulling out an invitation and
again experiencing a jolt.

Join privileged members for a game of
cards.

$100,000 in chips provided by Drake’s
Lair.

Guest keeps all winnings above the
staked amount.

She’d been looking for a sign…

Did it get any clearer than this?

She’d heard of Drake’s Lair. It was a
private, exclusive club, one that seemed to get raided with some frequency.

A nervous laugh escaped as she imagined a
headline.
Elementary School Teacher Caught Wagering in Notorious Gaming Den.

Hah, next to the politicians and rich
businessmen who were often seen entering the club, they could haul her out
naked and it probably wouldn’t make the news.

Her eyes were drawn to the dragons painted
along the border of the invitation. Drake’s Lair. Come to think of it, wasn’t
drake another name for a male dragon? Hadn’t she seen that in one of the
fairytales she’d read to her class?

Of course, it was also the word for a male
duck. She glanced at Tielo’s face. Nope, not a duck.

“Why are they doing this?”

“They want to meet women.” There was the
slightest hesitation before Aislinn added, “
Marriageable
women.”

Lyra’s jaw dropped. Literally. “No way.
Based on what little I know about the men allowed into Drake’s Lair, they’re
loaded, as in, they could have their pick of women.”

“True, and not true.”

Aislinn nibbled on her bottom lip. Now they
were getting into the tricky part. Somehow she had to impart enough information
so Lyra’s shock at learning dragons existed would be manageable, while at the
same time, not revealing too much, though so far it had gone much, much better
than expected.

She hadn’t anticipated Lyra would readily
admit to having seen a dragon in the mirror. Finding out just
which
dragon…

Aislinn managed to suppress a smile. She’d
pay money to be at Drake’s Lair when Lyra arrived and first encountered Tielo.
Luckily she could count on Pierce to give her a replay afterward.

“What most people don’t know is that the
majority of the rich and famous men photographed coming and going from the club
aren’t actual members.” In fact, almost none of them were, since membership was
limited to dragons, with few exceptions, and those were all supernaturals too.

“Reclusive,” Lyra guessed, “like Severn
Damek. Why am I sensing a theme here?”

“They call themselves dragons.” Aislinn
touched the edge of Tielo’s card. “He’ll have one on his skin that’s silver and
gold.”

A little erotic shiver went through Lyra at
imagining looking for the tattoo on Tielo’s body and pressing her lips to it.
“Do you know him?”

“By sight only.”

“I’m still not getting why these men can’t
find women on their own.”

“It’s not that they couldn’t, it’s just
that they’ve asked me to introduce them to the type of women who come to the
shop.”

“Why?”

“Because most of the women are like you,
interesting to talk to, open, honest and also curious about things beyond the
everyday normal.”

“Like the tarot cards?”

“Yes.”

“Meaning the,” she gestured quote marks to
denote, “
dragons
are interested in things supernatural.”

“Definitely.”

She grinned. “Okay. I can go with that.”

“So you’ll go to Drake’s Lair?”

She glanced down at the invitation. Even if
she weren’t curious, there was no way she could say
no
, not when there
was a chance, probably slim, that she could parlay the hundred thousand in
chips into enough money to do some serious good.

“Sure, there’s no risk, right?”

Aislinn reached out, her hand covering
Lyra’s. “There’s definitely risk. To your heart. To your freedom. The dragons
play for keeps.”

“Like their namesakes,” Lyra murmured.

“Just like. They’re competitive, possessive
and very often uber-dominant.”

The heat in Lyra’s belly slid downward,
making her clit throb and her pussy burn. Her attention shifted to Tielo’s
image. “So what’s the deal with the cards?” And remembering the dragon she’d
seen when she entered Inner Magick, she added, “And the mirror?”

Aislinn wished she could provide
heartstones for every woman she sent into a lair full of dragons, but she
couldn’t. The mirror wasn’t Elven, though she’d added the stones to it. It was
still part mystery to her, made more so by doing as Tristan suggested and
laying the fey cards on its surface.

Maybe if Lyra had actually seen Tielo’s face
in the mirror, then Aislinn would be positive in saying he was absolutely her
perfect mate. But there were other dragons in the deck with scales of gold and
silver. No two of them looked alike yet Lyra’s mind had been set on drawing
only one card.

“Tielo is the match the cards favor,”
Aislinn hedged, knowing other males would be drawn to Lyra at Drake’s Lair.
Given their competitive natures, they’d battle for her, though hopefully Tielo
would win, and ultimately, the choice would be hers.

Pierce had promised to keep the women safe.
She’d insisted on it before agreeing to be a part of this. “Will you go
tonight?”