DragonsHeart.wps (3 page)

“Hasty? You shouldn’t have stirred the pot. As you said earlier, my passions are up. You should not have riled them. Keep in mind, I haven’t had them stirred in many years.” Her eyes flashed again. He swallowed, trying to force down the thick lump erupting in his throat. He was getting hot. He pulled at his collar.

“Yeah … but I have a distinct feeling that I didn’t do that. I’m an asshole, yeah

… but I’m not normally this effective. I usually really repel women by now. This is the time where you slap me, and leave in a huff.”

“Show me how effective you can be. You know we shifter females don’t believe

that wizard males have what it takes to satisfy females.”

“You want satisfaction? I can give you satisfaction.”

She took another step toward him—he didn’t realize she’d been backing him into the corner until he slammed up against the wall.

“You look good enough to eat. You underestimate your sexual appeal to the other sex, Dylan.”

He swallowed again. He felt like fanning himself.

“Your face is quite red, Dylan. Maybe I should help you out of your clothing—

you look as if you’re overheating.”

She put her hands on his chest. A jolt ran through his body. She must have felt the force their physical connection caused because she jumped back, almost as if she’d been electrocuted.

“This can’t be ....” Her voice grew faint. She seemed stunned. Her eyes went wild—and he could pretty well guess they were not wild with passion.

She shook her head. As if she needed to prove to herself that it wasn’t true—she DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

touched his chest again. Again, the jolt ran through his body and back into hers. He noticed that her right hand rested right over his heart. Her eyes contained a soulfully mournful look to them. She seemed as vulnerable as he could ever imagine. Her ferocity and her tenacity melted away. He didn’t know what made him do it. He just couldn’t seem to hold back. He rested his hands over hers. The touch of her skin felt like silk against his somewhat calloused ones.

She drew in a shaky breath, and then slowly exhaled it.

“This is not to be. I can’t—no, this can’t be right. It must be a mistake!” She pulled her hands out from under his, and staggered backward. Were those tears pooling in her brightly lit eyes? Suddenly, he felt like a really big asshole.

“I never meant to have it get carried away this far—I just wanted to push your buttons a bit. I guess old habits die hard.”

She licked her lips at the word hard, and continued to back away from him.

“I—we—you simply don’t understand what this means, do you?”

“I have no idea what you’re going on about. All I know is that I’m intensely

attracted to you. It goes against all of my values and beliefs, let me tell you.”

“Sex on the night of our first meeting isn’t what I ever thought would happen

either. I’m not that sort of woman. In fact, I’ve never truly joined with anyone before

....”

“Hey—it’s okay, you don’t need to continue elaborating. You don’t owe me an

explanation. Your life is your life—there is no reason for our lives to intersect. You’re my bodyguard, nothing more, nothing less.” Now, he was rambling.

“You need to listen to me.”

“I don’t see where I wasn’t listening to you.”

She put as much distance between him and her as he possibly could. She still

looked inclined to either run from him, or give him a kiss of fire.

“We can’t touch ever again. Or at least I can’t touch your heart, and you can’t touch mine. If we do it at the same time—we will both be lost. You won’t be able to resist me and I won’t be able to resist you.” She took another shaky breath.

“I don’t understand. Sure, I’m highly attracted to you, and I admit the thought of kissing you appeals to me and .…”

She put her hand up. “I know. I know. I feel the same way. But as you said you don’t understand. A dragon shifter's heart is one that will call and find it’s true mate.”

“You mean like a soul mate?”

“Aye. A soul mate like no other .…” She lost her color. She seemed

overwhelmed by whatever had occurred between them.

“You mean when you touched my heart .…”

“The jolt it gave me wasn’t a normal experience for me. I’ve never felt it with any other man—not even the man I thought I once loved.”

“Look, if it were up to me—I’d be off somewhere on my own, working on my

spell. I prefer living the life of a hermit. Sure, it doesn’t have many perks—but it keeps me out of trouble. I definitely don’t need you distracting me—even if you are supposed to be my protector.”

Something changed in her eyes. Something, that looked like anger.

“Well, get off that bloody high horse of yours, Dylan. You are stuck with me for the foreseeable future, and if we aren’t careful we will be stuck together forever.”

DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

“I still don’t understand .…”

“Let me put this into words you just might understand! The feeling that passed between us when I touched your heart is the most soul shattering feeling for our kind.

Even now, I can feel your essence seeping into my heart and my blood. If we ever, ever happen to connect again, I won’t be able to stop it.”

“Stop it?”

“I won’t be able to control the mating fire.”

DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

“The Mating Fire?” She watched as the blood gradually drained from his face.

The pompous smugness he’d worn with such pride no longer gave him an air of

invulnerability. His barriers were down, and the flustered way he looked made her heart lighten. At least she wasn’t the only one deeply disturbed by the revelation.

Her palms tingled from the force of their connection. She flexed her fingers, trying to still the odd sensations the echo of his touch left on her skin. Already, she could feel the edge of his mind lightly pressing against hers. Already, she could hear the beating of his heart. She dragged in a heavy breath, slowly putting herself into a state where she could drown out and protect herself from the building blocks of the bonding.

Soon, within a few days, they would both be drowning in the effects—they would not be able to avoid the call to mate no matter how hard they tried.

“This Mating Fire ….” His voice halted on each word. “It won’t happen when

you are in your dragon form will it?”

Her patience finally snapped. “No.” She turned away from him. “We do not

make love in our dragon skins. As dragon shifters we hold keenly to our humanity.”

“And yet, you live part of your life as a dragon.”

“You know not of what you speak.” She gazed down at the floor—suddenly,

staring right into his eyes made her feel vulnerable. She had never felt so close and yet so estranged from a person. Mustering her courage, she looked up briefly at him.

“I know enough. You’ve given me a sickness. Thanks for that. You were

supposed to protect me. Fat lot of good, that was. Instead of protecting me from the fire—you’ve thrown me into the bloody pot!”

She whirled back on him. “You just don’t get it, do you?” Looking to the ceiling she gave a frustrated sigh. “The Fates mock me! They have given me a man like you to spend the rest of eternity with! If we aren’t cautious, we will end up destroying each other!”

“Eternity? Now don’t go jumping to any conclusions. Steady on, there.”

“You are an immortal wizard, are you not?”

“The last time I checked—yeah.”

“Then, when we finally give in to the Mating Fire you will be mine forever.”

“I don’t like the way you word that—you’ve put it like I’m going to be your first course.”

She laughed. “Well, I tell you, you’ll enjoy the afters. You are the most

irritating, most obnoxious man I’ve ever met. You put some of my friends from back home to shame.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“Good.” She closed her eyes, trying to curtail the rioting emotions battling inside of her. She had to breathe before she set something afire.

“Those candles over there just lit on their own. I swear I didn’t do it.” He raised his hands up in a gesture of submission.

DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

“That’s me. I’m overheating.”

“Oh, okay. Well, maybe you should make a fast getaway out the back door …

there isn’t room for you to transform in here … I’ll be squished.”

She resisted the temptation to smile. Sweat beaded on her forehead. “Aren’t you feeling it?”

“I’m randy most of the time—so don’t worry, I can deal with it. A good cold

shower should just do the trick for both of us.”

“As our bond forges more and intensifies, I guarantee you won’t be able to deal with it. You’ll be trying to rip my clothes off just as much as I’ll be wanting to tear your clothes off.”

“And on that note … where are your brown beans? I’m starving—I need to eat

something soon, unless you’d like me to conjure some food up.”

“No. You don’t need to use magic. My world doesn’t revolve around calling

upon dragon magic—I know how to live like a human—it would seem far better than you do.”

“Hey, don’t go pissing on my living like a mortal skills. We wizards and witches are given strict schooling in the ways of the humans. In order for us to blend in—we have to fit in. I love rugby, football, and crisps. I hang out in the pub and have a pint now and then, and I go to the cinema fortnightly.”

“Well, I stand corrected. Come with me, I have everything you need in the

kitchen.” She stared at him. He hadn’t budged an inch. “I promise, I will not bite you.

Follow me.”

“I have no problems with that, this way I can admire the view being behind you affords me.”

“I know you don’t like me—could we just call a truce and try to get through the next few months?”

“Months?” He stopped in his tracks. “I’ll be able to finish the spell in a fortnight at the most.”

Her heart fell. “Only a fortnight? You are a fast worker.” Her voice dropped to the merest of whispers.

“Only when the fate of the world hangs in the balance, of course I do—I’ve lost countless nights of sleep trying to perfect the incantation—I’m not going to drag it out if I can help it. I can say, though, that in bed, I like to make the most of it.”

“Your kind must view you as their savior.”

“Half of your kind views me as their savior—so I’m just a hero on all fronts. The only ones that are living in blissful ignorance are the humans we’re both fighting so damn hard to save.”

“Oh, please. I’m sure the wizards and witches are only supporting you because they want to save their own skins. They know that if we fall—if my father—if Lord Draco wins, he’ll finish off the mortals of this realm and then, then, he’ll go for the blood of the magic kind. He still holds a grudge against your people.”

“Well, he shouldn’t. He was on the winning side. We lost many good witches

and wizards during that particular conflict—making many of us dragon shifter shy.

Besides, you dragon shifters wield a kind of magic, as well—I don’t know why you always classify us as the lowly magic folk.”

“I try not to—I’ll be especially vigilant in my prejudice from now on—I’m going DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

to be mating with a magic kind soon.”

“I don’t think so. It would kill my mother if I brought you home. She’d keel over from the pure shock of it!”

“Nonetheless, you can’t fight the call. You
will
be mine.”

“We’ve known each other for what—two hours, and already you’re talking about

until death do us part. It’s kind of creepy, you know. You are going to get a stalker complex.”

She rummaged in the cupboards looking for a saucepan. Slamming it onto the

stove, she reached for a can of brown beans.

He turned his attention to the window leading out onto her lands. “Is all of that land yours?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. And I thought we had an estate. Yours is probably a little bit smaller than ours, though. However, I think your views are far superior.”

“The manor house up on the hill belongs to me, as well. I have it rigged up for tours now, but there was a time when my family lived there part of the year. My mother liked having her feet in the Earthly realm, from time to time.”

“And, yet your father wants to destroy it.”

“He doesn’t want to destroy Earth, he wishes to kill off the mortals that won’t bow to him, and then, he wants to take it back from our human oppressors. For many years, when the dragon slayers were slowly killing us off, we struggled with our dragon natures. We knew to fight back would go against all of our ideals, but in not retaliating we almost lost everything. We were almost driven to extinction, and then when we retreated instead of standing our ground, many lost a little of themselves. Dragonia is a beautiful world—but there are still some that long for Earth. We were created here on Earth … and our blood longs to roam the land and make it ours again.”

“So, your father thinks the only way of righting the wrongs of the past—a past that I must say is one thousand years old, is to stoop as low as the humans were when they hunted you. Didn’t anyone point out the fact that humans were less developed as a culture than both of our kinds?”

“We are superior, this is true—but that makes no difference to Draco.”

“Well, all I can say is that I’m quite happy I have a way of stopping it. My uncle was the first one that started working on this spell—he hasn’t been the same man since he had it wrenched from him and destroyed by dragon fire.”

“Great. Your family really has it out for my kind. Nice to know. I guess when we have children ....”