Kelly Lucille (2 page)
After an
uncomfortable night, Morgan was hustled out of bed at dawn with a swat to her
posterior. She sat up as if loaded on a spring and looked around clearly
befuddled until his obnoxious laugh brought her back.
How dare he?
“Come little
falcon, we fly.”
“Listen dragon I reali...”
“Ladon.”
“What?”
“I am known by
Ladon, not dragon.”
She gritted her
teeth. “Fine. Ladon. I realize you can't help being...”
“Your name?” He
interrupted again. She narrowed her bleary eyes at him as she tried
unsuccessfully to pull on her abused dress without untwisting it first.
“Morgan.” She
stood, snapping the dress off with a huff and re-arranged it while she spoke
through gritted teeth. “I realize you can't help being arrogant and
self-centered, but us lowly humans need a few minutes in the morning to feel up
to facing the day.” She finally got her dress on, her voice muffled through
the fabric until it slipped with a final yank into place. Then she looked up
into the gold eyes of a fully transformed dragon and stumbled back on her bruised
posterior.
He had grown to
five times his normal size taking up most of the available space. His colors,
even in the dim cave, were jewel bright in iridescent rainbow hews that
shimmered with heat. His snout was long and full of sharp teeth, his ears
pointed. He was a beautiful dragon, there was no denying that, and Morgan was amazed,
even awed, at the splendor before her.
We fly.
A
long tail whipped out and wrapped twice around her waist. She screamed when
she went airborne, but it was abruptly cut off against his massive scaled
chest. He held her against his heart with tail and talon as he leaped from the
cave into the open sky. Morgan buried her face in his surprisingly soft hide,
and felt more than saw his wings expand to catch the thermals. He flapped,
once, twice, and they were gliding. When they didn’t crash to the ground, she
loosened up enough to crack open her eyes.
Morgan had to
catch her breath at the grandeur of dragon flight. The world was a patchwork
of green and brown, the wind a crisp power against her face. It was the most
exhilarated thing she had ever experienced. She laughed at the pure joy of
flight. Ladon hearing her took her through some dizzying acrobatics that had
her clinging to his chest while she screamed and laughed at the same time.
When Ladon finally landed it was at the mouth of another high cave, this one
had the overpowering odor of sulfur.
“Is this what I
think it is?”
“Hot springs. We
are close to my home now. We passed the Northern Gate today.” His voice was a
surprise, and she turned to see him changed into a man once again. He still
wore the trousers, but they were so mangled that he was the next thing to naked,
and she blushed to see him in the full light of day. Even dirty and scraggly
he was a remarkable sight. It reminded her forcibly of the night before. “If
you follow the cave back you will find the hot springs and everything you need
for a bath and rest. I will return.”
“What? You can’t
be serious.” She knew her voice was panicked, but she did not want to be
trapped here. “I’ll go with you.”
“And find myself
facing mage trickery? No better that you stay here. When I return we will
eat. We will be mated before you leave this cave.”
Then he was gone
before Morgan could sputter out a denial.
“Arrogant Dragon!”
She yelled after him. “Unbelievable gall. Who does he think he’s playing
with?” She muttered to herself even as she headed into the steam-filled cave.
She opened her hand, and flame shot forth, perhaps a little more than was
strictly necessary for what she needed. She tamped it down and concentrated
until she had a ball of light and she sent that floating before her into the
cave.
“If he thinks I’m
going to be laying around waiting naked for him like some virgin sacrifice for
the big bad dragon he can think again. I’m going to get the lay of the land
and then figure some way out of here, before his mightiness returns.” Morgan
realized she was talking to herself and shut up just about the time she found
the entrance.
The cave opened up
to a grotto, and she saw the hot springs. An immense natural geyser threw off
steam. There was ferns and night blooming flowers. Star blooms in their white
splendor twinkled and released sweet scents and relaxing vapors into the heavy
air. It was like being in the middle of a primitive jungle. The magic in the
air was incredible, and Morgan felt it working along her skin like a hot caress
from a lover’s hand. In the midst of all that was a giant bed, a real bed,
with a thick mattress and clean sheets
.
Dragon magic.
She was
impressed.
How Melly, Clare,
and Rhune would love this place. That brought her up short. She found she
could ignore the soft bed and the hot springs with the herbal soaps and towels
stacked nearby. The lovely soft towels that like the bed kept their
cleanliness by magic. It was magic she envied. She could make things grow,
change the weather, call on the elements, but this was making something out of
nothing. There was no way these plants were native to this cave, and to keep
everything clean? Did all dragons have that ability? Then why was Ladon still
dirty? He probably didn’t do this himself, but then who did and why did Ladon
assume an extremely powerful dragon would not show up and take exception to a
trespassing mage?
She began to
search the cave in earnest, using her sight and earth magic. There were no
hidden corridors or blank spaces behind walls that she could detect. It was
strange. She felt the rock as never before as if she could pull it and bend
it. She could make her own door, she knew it.
But all the way down the
mountain through solid rock? Ridiculous.
She headed back
towards the only entrance to the cave and looked down. Once again, they were
in the side of a cliff with no way to walk down.
Wings would be good here,
or the
ability to make a ladder out of thin air.
She leaned over
until she could see the small dirty shoots of scrub.
An exceedingly long
ladder.
What if he could
mate her? Dragons mated for life, she knew that, but to mages? She'd never
heard of it, but did that mean it was impossible? She was already feeling a
connection to Ladon after that little episode last night that she refused to
think about. Whatever he did when he bit her, she would not be able to say
“No” when she wanted to that much was obvious. She had to get out now.
Anything else would be unacceptable. She was not going to tie herself to an
adolescent self-absorbed dragon with control issues. She had to find her
family.
She sent her
senses out into the mountain once again, looking for those protruding roots and
scrubs thinking maybe if she could make them grow, she could use them to climb
down, it would take forever, but it was better than nothing. A strange thing
happened when she opened her power up to the mountain; Morgan felt as if she
could move the Earth itself, then she felt the wind on her face and with her
powers open she felt the eddies and thermals clearly for the first time. She
pulled in more air and laughed as she felt her feet leave the ground, she
landed back down with a thump.
Stupid mage, you can control the wind
.
All
you need is something to hold it.
She headed inside for the sheets off the
bed.
Ladon was not
happy to be leaving his mage behind. From the first time he opened his eyes
with the taste of her blood on his lips he had known she was his. Everything
inside him roared that she was the one. It had been explained once what a mate
would feel like when he found one, but he had not expected to feel such for a
human, and before his adult molt at that.
It was beyond
frustrating to feel the passion in his head and heart, his blood literally
burning for her, but his body unable to react. She had writhed for him, and he
could do nothing but cuddle her. Though that had been sweet and he could still
feel the slight connection he started when he injected her with the mating
drug. That was another sign he had found his mate. His body would only
produce the enzyme when his mate was near. Now he could feel his body warming
from the inside out, and his head was screaming for him to go back. Soon it
would be unstoppable. His second molt was upon him, and he would need to breed
her. He would be mindless with it. She was mage not dragon and fragile, so
little and soft.
He needed answers
and someone to help keep her safe when he went through his molt. He would be
helpless, and his mage would be alone. Then, even when he was finished with
the molt, he would be a danger to her. He needed help and answers, but without
knowing who had betrayed him, he would have to move with caution. He could not
go home. He could not go to his family or the few dragons he called friend.
There was only one he could think of that would be able to keep his small
falcon safe and had no reason to want him dead. It was ironic. The only
person he could trust was a dragon he had never met, and the one all other
dragons feared.
Ladon knew the way
up the Forsaken Mountain, on a clear day you could see it anywhere in the
kingdom of Dracon. It was the highest peak and some said it housed the oldest,
meanest, unmated dragon alive. He could believe it. With the shortage of females,
it was no surprise that there were dragons who never found their chosen mate.
Most of them died of loneliness and sorrow before they reached their third
molt.
Eben Kinkaid was
so old even the oldest of them did not know his true age. But while his name
meant literally “river of stone” in the old language, no one would dare offer
pity. If a dragon broke sacred law, he would see Eben Kinkaid with his last
breath because it was the black dragon that was the high council’s assassin.
In a race of fierce, nearly immortal fighters, Eben Kinkaid was the nightmare
they were all taught to fear from hatchlings. He was also the only one Ladon
would trust with the precious life of his mate.
Ladon reached the
high peak of Forsaken and landed on the closest turret. Forsaken Mountain was
actually a castle carved out of a mountain. Few had ever entered it uninvited
and returned to talk about it, but rumors said it was built by dragon dreams,
just as many of their grottos and hot springs. The imposing gates were open,
so he changed to his man shape to show he came in peace. He had not expected
the gates to be open. Dragons were notorious for guarding their treasures
behind locked doors and powerful spells. On the other hand, the open doors
must mean that Eben Kinkaid was in residence and who would be suicidal enough
to try to take anything of his?
“I could smell you
coming a hundred leagues out.” The dark voice was rough and dry, like
sandpaper rubbed directly across the scales. Ladon turned to face the shadows
of the great hall spread out before him. “You could not have taken the time to
bathe as a simple courtesy? You smell as if you have been rolling in null
swill.”
His first sight of
the powerful dragon astounded him. All dragons were beautiful whatever form
they wore. But this one, he was spectacular. He was a good foot taller than Ladon.
A bit over seven feet and built for strength. He lacked the beefed look the
humans could sometimes employ and instead sported ripcord muscles that allowed
for both speed and strength.
He wore a loose
tunic and trousers tucked into black boots. It was the customary garb of their
people when in man form. A medallion hung from his neck with the crest of his
house engraved in the ancient gold. The dragon swimming under a sea of stars
twinkled despite the patina of age. It was his house amulet and Ladon reached
for the one around his own neck before he remembered it was gone. His had
shown the river of fire under the dragon star. He was fire, Eben Kinkaid was
water. Ladon could see that in the fluid way he moved. His hair was black but
with the iridescent sheen, his scales would carry in his other form. His eyes
were a permanent dragon gold.
Big, dark, and
deadly he would never look any different than he did right now. The only thing
that showed his true age was the power that surrounded him and shot forth from
his eyes. The heavy weight of it circled Ladon like a living thing.
Ladon had gotten
used to being around his tiny mage. Her delicate form and small stature had
given him an all-powerful feeling. Now he was getting a dose of the opposite.
He did not care for the feeling of vulnerability just looking at the dark
dragon produced. He firmed his chin and looked straight into hard dragon
gold. Then the insult hit, and he could feel his neck redden showing his first
molt age as clearly as if he wore a sign.
“I meant no
insult. I could not take the time to bathe. Time is a luxury right now.”
“There is always
time for courtesy hatchling.” The dark dragon came closer, waving a hand, and
every light in the house blazed on. “And you will find when you have passed a
few more cycles that time is rarely a true consideration.”
“When I explain
perhaps you will...”
“No, it will not
stand.” The bigger dragon waved his hand, and Ladon felt the magic pulse
around him. Within seconds, he was clean and his hair fell in a straight
curtain to his waist, once more its natural brown with just a beginning of the
iridescent sparkle he would have with the next transition. He was also naked.
If that was not distressing enough, his body took that moment to remind him he
was entering his molt. He could literally feel the fire burning in his veins
when the black dragon walked closer for what could only be called an
inspection.
Never mind being
cleaned like a hatchling with his mother, never mind that he was naked.
Now
his body decides to enter the first phase of second molt. A hot wave of desire
nearly took him to his knees. The blood rushed to his cock and filled it with
heat until his erection was nearly purple with bulging veins. He was quite
suddenly hard as a rock and standing at attention. Here, a good hour from his
little mage and before the narrowed eyes of Eben Kinkaid himself. If he had,
any blood left north of his cock he’d be blushing.
The scourge of
Dragon kind looked him over like a dealer at the bazaar. “Not bad,
hatchling.” He circled again, this time his fingers trailing over Ladon in
small brushes that had his nerves jumping. His shoulder, his hip, the swell of
his ass. Ladon gasped as the fire speared him at each casual touch.
Eben narrowed his
eyes and sniffed. “You are entering your first adult molt.”
“Yes!” Ladon
said, pushing the unsettling dragon back. “And my mate is alone even as you
waste time.”
There was a dark
silence, and Ladon felt the magic build around them. “You have found a mate?”
“That’s why I’m
here.” But before he could continue, the magic became so heavy he fell to his
knees under the pressure.
“You have a mate,
and you left her alone? Unguarded?”
Ladon had to brace
himself against the fury pelting him. It was the most power he had felt in one
place, and he was floored by the weight behind it. He had no doubt that this
dragon was powerful enough to kill him without ever raising a claw.
“She’s mage!” He
had to scream it to be heard above the magic funneling around him. Then as if
a switch had been thrown, it was gone. Ladon pulled himself shakily to his
feet. Did he seriously want this dragon anywhere near his mate? Did he have a
choice?
“That’s
impossible.”
“Why? Because the
famed Eben Kinkaid has never seen it?” He knew his voice was an open challenge,
but he was past the point of caring. His body was on fire and all he wanted to
do was fuck. He had to get back to his mage. “Look, this is pointless. I
have to get back before I change. I came here in hopes you would protect my
mate while I'm in transition.” He was proud that his voice sounded so normal,
considering his belly was on fire, and his dick was an iron spike.
“Why come here?
You must have your own house to call upon.”
“Because someone
wants me dead and my mate...” His voice fell away, and he was suddenly on the
floor writhing against the pain trying to change his body on the molecular
level. He could hear roaring in his head and was too out of it to realize it
was him. When the pain eased, he felt a tail and claws wrap him up, and he was
pressed to Eben Kinkaids dragon form, apparently he had finally gotten the
message.
Where?
The mind speak was powerful even in his
beleaguered mind.