For the Memory of Dragons (10 page)

He chuckled again. “I’m sure.” He slid his
hand to her lower back and pressed on it, steering her towards the
exit. “It wouldn’t be right to let my lady carry everything.” An
ironic smirk slipped across his face. “You haven’t turned me down
yet, so now I’m going to try to convince you that I would be a good
mate.”

The note of sarcasm in his voice made Terra
look up at him, concerned. “But, I thought you said you couldn’t do
that until you regained your memories?”

Alex chuckled wryly. “Yes. I did.” A forlorn
sigh slipped out of him as they walked. “But that doesn’t mean that
my instincts are going to back off and just let things be. My
dragon sees you as a potential mate; therefore, it demands that you
be treated as such. But don’t worry. It isn’t as bad as you
think.”

“Really?” Terra asked as Alex skirted around
her and opened the door before she could put her hand on it.

Alex smiled at her as she paused before
heading through the door. “Yes,” he said, trying to reassure her.
He paused to choose his words carefully, not wanting to come
straight out and explain all the little things his dragon was
pushing him to do. As it was, he was having a hell of a time trying
to resist most of his urges. A quick glance at her face told him
she had some doubts.

“Let me see if I can explain.” He moved back
to her side. Placing his hand on her back again, he guided her out
into the parking lot. “Male dragons treat their mates with
reverence.”

Terra shot him another doubtful look.
“Reverence? As in worshipped?”

Definitely not the right word to use.
It didn’t look like Terra liked the idea of being worshipped.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Alex tried to think
of better way to explain it to her. “Females are treated with
respect. They’re cared for and protected. Newly bonded and courting
males tend to pamper their chosen female.”

“Pamper?”

The note of intrigue in Terra’s voice curled
the corner of Alex’s mouth. “Yes,” he answered, stroking his hand
down the small of her back. The feel of her under his hand made him
want to draw her closer, but he resisted the urge. This
conversation would go a lot smoother if he gave her space to think.
He glanced down to watch her worrying her bottom lip with her
teeth. Obviously, she was considering his words hard.

“And how long does this usually last—” She
glanced up at him as she spoke. “—the pampering?”

Alex smiled again. “For some, their
instincts settle down shortly after the mating bonds are made, but
I know old dragons that still spoil their mates. I guess it just
depends on the dragon.”

They walked the rest of the way to the car
in silence as Terra thought, and he prayed he hadn’t just scared
her off.

Once settled into the car, Terra looked over
at him, another question floating in her eyes. “Do female dragons
go through this?”

Alex cocked his head as he considered his
answer. “Female dragons don’t go through the same urges that the
males do. They don’t brood, but they do have moments when their
fertility peaks. Thankfully, that only happens a few times in their
life. They tend to get a little crazy. Plus, the overproduction of
pheromones can send the males around them into a brooding. It’s not
fun to see.”

“Oh.”

Alex watched as Terra turned her attention
back to the car. The look on her face was thoughtful. Alex relaxed
back into the seat to let her think. Hopefully, the truth hadn’t
scared her off the idea of being his mate. But only time would
tell.

The Dragon’s Wing was like no other place
Terra had ever been. It was easy to find if you were looking for
it, but it was also far enough out of town that people wouldn’t
just stumble across it while out looking for a good time. A
hand-carved sign held a green dragon curled around the name of the
pub. If they hadn’t been watching for it, they could have easily
mistaken the old building for the barn it had once been.

“Do you know this place?” Terra asked as she
pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine. The look on her
dragon man’s face told her he was working through his scrambled
memories, but things most definitely clicked into place as he
studied the tall building.

He leaned forwards and placed his hand on
the dash as he stared out the windshield. “Yes.”

He breathed the word so softly Terra almost
missed it.
Well, that answer was promising.

“Then let’s go see if they can tell us who
you are.”

Pulling her keys out of the ignition, Terra
got out of the car. She pulled the dragon man’s leather bag out and
slung it over her shoulder. With the awed look on his face, there
was no way her mystery man would remember the thing on his own.
Since there was plenty of room in the bag, she dropped her purse
back in so she would only have to keep up with one bag.

Climbing from the car, her dragon man met
her at the front of the car. His eyes ran over every inch of the
rustic building. “I know this place.” His words held a note of
wonder to them.

Terra looked up at the pub. The foundation
and ground floor of the old barn were done up in river rocks. Long,
wooden planks ran vertically up the sides, holding up a high,
A-frame roof.

“Come on.” Reaching out, Terra grabbed the
man’s hand and pulled him towards the door set in the center of the
building.

A soft laugh crept out of him, and he
hurried to catch up to her. He slipped his arm around her shoulder,
tucking her to his side.

Terra enjoyed the feel of him around her,
but the conversation they’d had over breakfast played in the back
of her mind.
Males pamper their mates.
Was this a part of
that? Should she stop him until they found out who he was? Did she
want to? She shook her head and squished that line of thought.
There would be time enough to deal with that once they had answers
to the mystery of who he was.

Stopping at the heavy wooden door, he pulled
it open and let Terra lead the way in.

The door opened into a very small foyer.
Three or four people might have been able to fit in the area, but
only if they were close friends. Terra looked around at the walls.
They were covered in old tin advertisement signs nailed into the
wooden walls.
Very rustic.
The dragon man stepped into the
area behind her, and a bell chimed as the door clicked closed.

Terra moved forwards to see into the main
room. It was cozy. Small oil lamps sat at the center of each table,
adding to the natural light that flowed in through the windows.
There were a few people scattered around, but overall, it was
fairly quiet for a bar.

“Hello,” a cheerful voice called from the
right.

Terra turned towards the sound.

A young woman with a high ponytail bounced
towards them. “Just one?” she asked.

The dragon man stepped up behind Terra so
the waitress could see him. “Two,” he answered.

“
Lex!
” The young woman bounced
harder. “God, we were so worried with the way you took off out of
here yesterday. Was everything okay with Melanie?”

The name struck a chord with Terra. It took
her a moment to drag up where she had heard that name before.
Melanie. That was the name of the last dragon in the file.
Terra glanced up at her mystery man and watched as confusion and
concern raced across his face.

“I don’t remember,” he said softly and
raised his hand up to touch his head as if it hurt. Closing his
eyes, he rubbed his temple.

The young woman stopped her excited bounce
and cocked her head in concern. “Alex, are you all right?” She
reached her hand out towards him. Just before she touched him, she
stopped and curled her fingers up.

“Yes,” the man said as he shook his head
no.

The waitress pulled her hand back and stared
at him in confusion.

“He’s had a long day,” Terra said, breaking
into the building tension.

She looked up at her mystery man.
Alex.
That name fit him well. At the moment, he looked
rather pale. Terra turned her attention back to the waitress.

“Could we possibly have someplace to sit
down and get some water?”

The question startled the woman back into
her job. “Yes. Of course. This way.” She turned and led them deeper
into the pub.

Reaching out, Terra laid her hand on Alex’s
arm. “Come on.” She drew him into the main room and pushed him
after the waitress with a hand on his back.

Alex nodded and went where she directed
him.

There weren’t very many people in the pub,
but every eye was on them as Terra pushed Alex through the tables.
She glanced around at the faces. Hadn’t they ever seen someone in
pain before? Or maybe he wasn’t one to accept help. Terra thought
back to the way the waitress had stopped before she touched him.
Terra rubbed her fingers in the soft material at the small of his
back. Could it be the fact that she was touching him? Maybe her
dragon man wasn’t the touchy-feely type. Terra looked up at him.
That couldn’t be.
Her dragon man had never had any qualms
about touching her. He seemed to like it. She definitely did.

Seeing where her thoughts were leading,
Terra shook her head slightly. There were more important things to
think about right now. Like figuring out who her dragon man was.
Terra gave her head another soft shake. She had to stop thinking of
him as ‘her dragon man’. Now that she knew it, she really needed to
think of him using his name.
Yes. He’s Alex now.

***

Closing his eyes, Alex trusted Terra’s soft
touch to guide him through the pub. He needed a moment to collect
himself after the young woman had stirred his memories. A rush of
images had overwhelmed him as a mess of things came back to him at
once. They jumbled over one another, all demanding to be seen. A
hushed conversation in a secluded corner table. The rush of air
over wings. The breaking of glass. A sense of dread. The tingle of
electricity over scales. Each more important than the last, and
each just a ghost of what the full memory should have been.

“Hey.”

Terra’s soft voice and the feel of her hand
on his back pulled Alex out of his thoughts. He opened his eyes to
look at the booth where the waitress had led them. It was familiar.
He had been here. Many times. A flash of memory hit, and he reached
out and grabbed onto the tabletop. Terra’s hand gripped him as he
swayed on his feet.

“Let me go get you that water.” The young
woman leading them turned to hurry off but stopped and looked back.
“Or would you rather have the usual?”

The usual?
With random memories
churning through his brain, Alex couldn’t recall what his usual
was. “Please,” he answered. Just trying to think of what he usually
got made him want the unknown substance.

“Make it two,” Terra called to the
waitress.

The young woman nodded and left.

“Come on.” Terra tried to pull Alex over and
put him into one of the bench seats, but he shook his head.

Wrapping his arm around the woman helping
him, Alex ushered her into the bench seat ahead of him. “Please
sit.”

Terra paused for a moment before sliding
into the seat. She scooted over against the wall as he slid into
the seat next to her.

Dropping his head to the table, Alex
cushioned it on his hands to sort through the images flashing
through his head. They raced around so fast that he couldn’t make
heads or tails of them. The only thing he could understand was a
sense of loss and urgency, but there was no context as to what he
had lost or what was so urgent. Alex opened his eyes for a moment
as he felt Terra’s fingers start to rub the tension from the back
of his neck and shoulders. Closing them again, he relaxed as she
worked.

“Are you all right?” she asked softly.

Alex drew in a long breath. The feel of her
fingers working into his tight muscles calmed the swirling
memories, but not enough for him to recognize any of them. He let
the air out slowly before opening his eyes and sitting up. “Not
really,” he answered honesty. “But it’s getting better.”

Terra slid her arm over and around his back.
She leaned into his side, holding him to her. “We’ll figure it
out.”

A soft chuckle slipped out of Alex. Yes,
they would figure it out. He finally knew who he was again.
Alex.
That name fit him much better than the ‘Lex’ the
waitress had called him. But even Lex fit him better than Cookie.
And if he were lucky, the young woman bringing the drinks would be
able to fill in some other missing information.

“Alex!” a deep, male voice called to
him.

Alex turned to look at the stout man
carrying two mugs in one hand and a leather jacket in the
other.

“Michele said you were here.” The man set
the two mugs on the table and hooked a chair from another table
nearby. He swung it around and plopped down into it backwards. The
chair creaked under the man’s weight.

The smell of dragon musk hit Alex, driving a
rumble from his chest. Something about the man was very familiar,
but the instinct to protect his mate from the new suitor drove him
to lean forwards, blocking the man’s view of Terra.

Alex’s protective move raised the man’s
eyebrows in surprise.

Pulling back her arm, Terra smacked Alex in
the shoulder, grabbing his attention. “Stop being rude,” she
scolded him.

Alex twisted to stare at Terra, surprised by
her actions. Didn’t she know that he was protecting her? He studied
the cross look on her face before closing his eyes to concentrate.
No, she didn’t realize he was protecting her. All she saw was him
hiding her away from someone new. He had to get himself under
control. Struggling with his instincts, Alex leaned back in the
booth so the new man could see Terra.