A Dragon's Dream of Love (Song of the Sídhí Series #2) (2 page)

She understood the reasoning: money and
power. If one characteristic of the dragons stayed tried and true over the
years, it remained a dragon’s lust for the largest hoard of jewels, precious
metals, and works of art.

One of the Ancient Laws, enacted eons
ago in a last ditch effort for the old world’s survival amid high tech wars,
forced the blockade of all gateways within a territory during wartime. No
supplies or troop movement would be allowed through the gateways, not even
refugees received exit.

So, every time war broke-out, the
Dragon's lost money by the freighter load. War, any war, made the unpredictable
dragons extremely irritable, not a good idea under any circumstance.

The dragon’s solution was what Leah
didn’t understand. Granted, she didn’t know much about the Sídhí Alliance.
Children may or may not be precious commodities to the other races, but the
Dhark Empire considered any person, whether child or adult, a tool, – a very
expendable tool – nothing more.

What good would a summer 'peace' camp
do? Sure, some of the attendees might make friends, but who really cared? Get
real! The political atmosphere in Dhark Empire did not allow for weak
alliances.

The Empire firmly believed in the law
of the wild: the strong survived and becoming the strongest meant manipulating
or killing the weak without remorse. To the Empire, any friendship or non-dhark
valley alliance equaled a weakness.

The entire peace camp was a total waste
of time. The races within the Sídhí Alliance refused to associate with people
from the Dhark Empire. They refused to even call the empire by its proper name,
instead shortening it to the Dhark Valley. It didn't matter that there were
dozens of valleys under Empirical control.

“I’m starved,” complained the sleek
blonde in front of Leah.

Trying not to be too obvious, Leah
shifted to the right and sniffed the breeze flowing past her. Both girls
smelled like mundane humans; only shapeshifters smelled like a mundane after
puberty. It meant they had to be dragon, but why were adolescent dragons in the
check-in line? She didn't think the Dragon Council would allow any of their own
children to attend camp, not a camp that might have a few fatal accidents. From
the rumors circulating around camp, one girl had already died.

“Me too,” the shorter of the two
agreed. “The smell of pizza is about to kill me.”

“Where’s Derek?” the first one asked
then immediately shook her head and snorted. “Never mind. Let me guess, he’s
flirting with every available girl and making notes on which cabins the
prettiest are in, true?”

The petite girl shrugged; her long
sun-touched brown hair swished against her hips with the movement. “More likely
they’re falling all over him and begging him to remember their name and cabin
number.”

Leah huffed to herself. Ugh, she
despised the Casanovas of the world. They always expected a girl to drop
everything and jump to do their every command. And the truly sad part was how
many girls jumped to do whatever Mr. Perfect Casanova wanted, some even asked
how high.

Sighing, she caught a whiff of a
delicious sent. Deeply inhaling the various new smells of the mountain
campground, she searched for another trace of it, filling her lungs with an
aroma that made her heart race in anticipation.

She glanced around. The hunky guy she
noticed earlier walked toward the two girls in front of her.

He smelled as human as the girls did,
but she’d never encountered anyone with such an incredibly attractive scent.
She couldn’t even pin down what she liked about it. His scent was like a heady
blending of warm wild musk wrapped in a fresh mountain breeze with hints of
smoky hickory and dark cinnamon. She almost growled in frustration. Attempting
to describe something so stimulating proved impossible.

She leaned forward, ready to sniff his
bare arm as he walked past when she abruptly jerked back and quickly glanced
around making sure no one was watching her. What in the world was wrong with
her? If he caught her sniffing him, he would assume she wanted to bite him…
quite literally.

Well, she did want to bite him, but
that was beside the point.

She wasn’t a pure blood, but she
smelled like a vampire and with her lily-white skin and dark sunshades covering
solid red eyes, she appeared to be an Exile, a human blood-drinking vampire.

She sighed in disgust, because that’s
exactly what she was, or as the other valleys called her kind, a filthy exile;
a blood-sucking vampire from the Dhark Valley. Some vampires, namely Clan
vampires, didn't drink blood. Instead, they ate real human food. But every
vampire living in the Dhark Valley drank strictly blood. Eating solid food was
considered a weakness.

As a baby, her nanny bottle-fed her
human blood and as she grew older she drank her meals from a glass. Her father
would have beaten her to death if human food touched her lips and killed
whoever gave it to her.

Leah’s diet wasn’t by choice. She
didn’t like being a leech, but it was a necessary part of life. It was her
fervent hope she wouldn’t have to drink another drop of blood for the rest of
her life. Her mom had secretly taught her the way of the DeLeigh Dragons; they
were her mom’s people, honorable people from the way her mom described them.

Everything the Dhark Valley stood for
and did was thoroughly soaked in evil and malevolence; including drinking human
blood. If it hadn’t been for her mom, Leah wouldn’t have known how wrong it was
to drink another person’s blood. It was how her father’s staff raised her.

Leah focused on her aura sight and
blinked; the DeLeigh dragon ability to see auras immediately slid across her
vision. The rich smelling guy had a beautiful pulsing aura. Auras were normally
blurry almost fuzzy, and in that respect, his was no different.

The halo of colors surrounding him
throbbed with intensely vibrant emotions. A pure white ribbon swirled between
massive swaths of bluish-purple-green and the brownish-orange band of color was
dotted with glowing red highlights. It had other bits of color, but those
stood-out from the rest.

The tickling pressure in her mind –
almost a taste in the back of her throat – helped interpret what each color
meant. She didn't have enough experience to interpret everything, but she
guessed the white and bluish-purple reflected honesty, integrity, and honor.
The mint green was a huge chunk of arrogance and overconfidence. The red
glowing dots filled her mouth with the literal tang of being hot-tempered to
the point of ‘fight then think.' Without more training, it was about as close
as she could get. Well, except for the brownish-orange and it all but screamed
a protective and stubborn attitude, a true bull-headed approach toward life.

The line of teenagers moved forward.

She watched him lift three large duffel
bags; thick muscles rippled under his skin-tight t-shirt. She had a near
uncontrollable urge to run her hand across the stretchy blue cotton, just to
see if he felt real.

~ ~ ~

Derek strolled past the check-in
tables, looking for Beth and Brianna when he noticed the dark haired beauty
standing immediately behind his little sister. He’d met a dozen new girls. Of
course, they had given him their cabin number. A couple even invited him for a
midnight swim in the lake. Yeah, like he'd pass that up. Nighttime couldn't
arrive quickly enough.

But this dark-haired girl was above
average, he’d put her in the beautiful category, but he wanted to see her eyes
first. He had a real thing about eye color and stylish clothes. So far, so
good, because he loved her cute short set with its unique black vest. Most of
the girls in camp had on the same boring outfit: shorts and spaghetti t-shirt.

The dark chocolate brown of her hair
seemed to drink in the sun. Twisted into an intricate braid, it dropped past
her shoulders, teasing his imagination. His hands twitched with the desire to
unwind it and run his fingers through it.

He grinned; he’d have her eating out of
his hand in no time flat. No doubt, if he gave her a small smile, it would
prompt her to introduce herself before he had time to say hello. It amused him,
to no end, how girls (and women) threw themselves at him.

With an entirely new hunting ground to
choose his next play toy from he couldn’t wait to check into his cabin. He had
a great new selection of bubbly redheads, laughing blondes, raven-haired
sirens, and sultry brunettes. And sultry definitely described the delicious
beauty standing behind his sister.

He chuckled, anticipating his summer.
He planned to have a new girl each week of camp. A new girl each week made the
whole pain-in-the-butt Peace Camp well worth his time.

He walked up to his sister just as the
line moved forward. Perfect timing as usual; they were the next group in line.

“Derek, I’m not helpless you know,”
Beth said in exasperation as he picked-up all three bags, silently moving them.
His sister stood just to the right of him with her hands on her lush hips.

“Yeah, Sis, I know. But your bag is
nearly bigger than you are. It’s twice as heavy as Brianna’s and my bag put
together.” He chuckled, unable to resist teasing her. “You didn’t slip your
computer in that thing, did you?”

Derek was still teasing his sister when
the breeze shifted directions. He inhaled the brunette's scent. Suddenly, he
burned with the need to taste the exotic mixture. Turning, he found himself
looking down into dark sunshades. Not believing his first reaction to her scent,
he inhaled and the sweetest smell he’d ever encountered filled his lungs. Her
scent literally overwhelmed him, smelling of fresh spun cotton candy and
strawberries on a warm summer eve, and of vampire. His insides curled with
heated anticipation, knowing his newest conquest was a vampire. He'd heard
amazing things about having sex with a vampire.

Derek smiled at her, turning on his
well-known charm with a flick of a switch. “Hello, beautiful. I’m Derek.”

His smile grew as she gave him the once
over.

“Hello Derek,” she said her voice husky
and soft. She smiled a sweet welcoming smile.

His response to her voice was instant.
He ached for her; he could almost taste her rosy lips as her slender tongue
flicked-out wetting plump lips.

“My name’s Leah and I’m one hundred
percent – not – interested.”

~ ~ ~

Leah smirked when Derek’s perfectly
arrogant mouth dropped open in shocked disbelief. He really was gorgeous; at
least a foot taller than her own five and a half feet, with brown hair streaked
from dark chocolate brown to honey blonde, and his eyes. She could sink into
his eyes. They were an incredible shade of light brown mixed with yellow and
red, a beautiful amber color she’d never seen before today.

“Line’s moving, you’re up next,” Leah
said in a dry, humorless voice.

One of the girls in front of her, the
tall golden blonde laughed at his shocked expression and said, “I’m Brianna. I
think we’ll be great friends.”

Brianna held out a friendly hand and
Leah smiled as she shook it. “Is he always this arrogant?”

“Yes,” both girls said in unison. Wide
grins expressed more than their one-word answer.

No doubt tired of being ignored by the
group of rude teenagers, Mr. Crabby Pants snorted and disgustedly said, “You
two female shifters will be in cabin twenty-five, male shifter in twenty-four,
and the female vampire will also be in twenty-four.”

“No,” Derek said, turning from the
girl’s laughter. He faced the distorted snout of the green dragon and
arrogantly tilted his head. “Put me in the same cabin as my sister.”

 “Impossible,” Mr. Crabby snapped the
single word, expelling a belch of smoke and disdain. “All of you take a
bracelet, slip it on, and show me your wrist then sign the check-in book.”

“You don’t understand,” Derek said. A
soft snarling growl came from his chest, emphasizing his words. “We will be
placed in the same cabin.”

“No, young man, you don’t understand,”
Mr. Crabby said, growling a hair-raising sound. His sharp, long teeth glinted
in the sun as he snapped his jaws shut. “I don’t care who you are in your home
valley. In Dragon Valley, you’re just another brat the Council says we must
tolerate for the next four months. I'm being forced into helping with the
Council’s desire to bring peace and harmony,” sarcasm dripped from his voice,
“but I don’t have to put up with your attitude.” He snapped his snout shut, and
with a razor sharp talon he imperiously pointed to the dull gray bracelets.

Leah stepped forward, stopping in front
of the wide table. “I’m also checking in for my half-brother and his friends: Mortimer
PhñDick, Bart PuckinKnück, and Burt PuckinKnück.”

“Fine. Find Mortimer, Bart, and Burt
and send them to see me,” the dragon said. Obviously still irritated, he
claw-tapped the table next to the four bracelets. The gray circlets bounced in
response.

“Being in the second wave of arrivals,
you kids missed all the fun last week. The vampires insisted on porting into
restricted areas. So, from now on, everyone must wear a silver bracelet.” He
paused, giving them a wide toothy smile, he continued as each of them slipped a
bracelet on. The cool metal automatically shrank, fitting firmly against the
skin of Leah's wrist, impossible to remove without chopping her hand off. “The
silver will stop a vampire’s ability to teleport, but shifters can still change
shape. It also restricts various other immortal attributes, including a
vampire’s claws.”

Leah repeated the dragon’s instructions
to Mort and his cohorts. Before he had time to issue another order, she strode
toward the large covered deck. The sun wasn’t scorching hot, but she wanted out
of it. Finding sunscreen was her first order of business, feeding was her next.

She watched the three shifters gather
around a small table near the edge of the large covered area. She considered
approaching them, wanting to make new friends, but depending on what type of
valley they lived in they might not want her around. From their auras, they
were not supporters of the Dhark Valley. At least these three weren’t, she
didn’t know about their kin.

She'd been floored when she heard the
dragon call them shifters. Dragons didn't consider themselves shifters, they
were dragons. Dragon logic did not make much sense. Anyway, everyone believed
shifters – other than dragons – had been either killed off or left behind on
the old world of Sídhí. No one really knew what happened to the vast majority
of shifters. Well, no one knew what happened until today.

In the far distant past, before the
gateways between Sídhí and Earth imploded and created the numerous second
dimensional valleys on Earth, shapeshifters fought for the sadistically cruel
dhark overlords. Even though that was thousands of years ago, most immortals
would still connect shapeshifters with the Dhark Valley.

Leah knew, from firsthand knowledge,
there were no shifters living inside the Dhark Valley.

In the end, Leah sighed and turned away
from them. They’d never want an exile as a friend. Bloodsuckers were not
exactly popular.

“Leah?” Bethany called a friendly
greeting.

Leah hesitated then turned around with
a sigh. She couldn’t be rude to the girls. She gave them the benefit of doubt
and joined them.

“You look like you’re going to a
funeral,” Derek snapped, his irritation with her rebuff glaringly apparent.

“It must be my anticipation of being in
your wondrous presence, Derek,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Most of the
kids are sticking close to their own kind.”

“And shifters are just filthy creatures
to be avoided?” Derek snarled his eyes glowed slightly as he glanced toward his
sister. “I told you she wouldn’t be any different.”

“I never said that!” Leah snapped,
shaking her head in denial.

“No you didn’t,” Bethany said, with a
small, gentle smile, “but I’m sure you wondered.”

 “I wondered about your valley, but not
about you three.” Leah sighed, bothered, – for the first time, – about having
to conceal her dragon sight. “You don’t feel evil, if that makes any sense.”

“Actually it does, since I’m a shifter
the hair on the back of my neck stiffens anytime someone… um, ‘bad’
approaches,” Beth said. “As far as our valley goes, well, shifters have stayed
secluded in Haven Valley since arriving on Earth from Sídhí thousands of years
ago. Other immortals need to learn, we will never again ally ourselves on the
side of darkness.”

Derek looked fierce as he agreed with
Beth. “I’d rather be dead and buried six feet under than be linked to the Dhark
Valley or one of its residents in any way, shape or form.”

“So, if one person is evil, they’re all
evil?” Leah asked, unexpectedly hurt at his inflexible attitude. “That’s
reassuring, coming from you. At least, I won’t have to worry about your
unwanted attention.”

She stepped backward, off the deck and
into the bright sunshine. Jerking off her dark sunshades, she grimaced as pain
shot through her head. She glared at Derek through blood colored eyes, silently
daring him to turn his back on her.

He bared his teeth, which appeared
almost human, except for the canines, which were slightly longer and sharper.
No doubt, if he transformed they’d be much longer, deadlier.

“Grrr!” His violent growl shouldn’t
have taken her by surprise, but it did. Actually, it scared her silly, bad
enough that she would've wet her pants if she had needed the bathroom.

She hastily stumbled backward, dropping
her sunshades in her hurry to put extra space between them. She quickly
regained her footing and put half a dozen feet between them. She didn’t want to
find herself face-to-face with a Sídhí wolf or khatt. It could be either one,
since she didn’t have a clue what kind of creature he turned into.

“Derek,” Beth warned with a light hand
on his arm.

“I’m not going to attack her,” Derek
said, a snarl rumbled under his words. He shook his sister’s restraining hand
off his arm and stepped toward Leah, scooping up her fallen sunshades as he
walked toward her.

“Yeah, right,” Leah said sarcastically,
shading her eyes from the painful brightness.

Derek’s eyes narrowed and he said, “If
the sun hurts so bad, then get out of it.”

“I would, but a big, dumb jock – that
just happens to turn into a snarling beast – is in my way,” Leah said, her eyes
nearly closed as she warily watched him through thin slits.

~ ~ ~

Derek growled and his stomach clenched
with unaccustomed worry for a stranger. The girl was in pain, but she seemed
more interested in insulting him than seeking shelter. Before she could jump
back, he grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her onto the shaded deck. She
needed a caretaker.

“Ow!” Leah's face twisted in a grimace.
“Let go, you big ape. That hurts!”

Derek snorted his disbelief; he didn’t
have a strong hold on her arm, but glaring down at her, he noticed her flushed
face reflected genuine pain. He growled under his breath as he realized her
face wasn’t flushed, it sported a sunburn, as did every inch of her uncovered
flesh.

Hissing, he jerked his hand away as if
she had burned him. Ticked off at unintentionally hurting the young woman, her
words fueled his anger.

“If the sun burns you that bad, why
parade around in it?” he harshly demanded.

Glaring up at him, with human-like eyes
that turned – out of the direct sunshine – a stormy gray-violet, she muttered,
“I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. The dragons insisted we leave
Dhark Valley around four this morning. I had no idea they would keep us
standing around all morning in the wretched sun.”

“They should’ve warned you or kept you
out of it,” he said in a grumble, rubbing the back of his neck, feeling –
unexpectedly – like a wretched jackass for shouting at her.

“Yeah,” she said, blinking with
surprise as he agreed with her. Looking toward the sprawling complex of
buildings, she nodded to all three of them. “I’ve got to find some sunscreen.
See you guys later.”

“Hey, hold on, you want to join us for
pizza?” Derek asked gruffly.

Beth and Brianna looked shocked by his
offer.

Derek grumbled to himself, forcing a
smile to curl his stiff lips. No doubt, when Leah didn’t immediately fall at
his feet, his sister and her sidekick probably thought it was hilarious. He was
a bit irked about it himself. He had never chased girls; he didn't need to,
they chased him. And exile or not, she was gorgeous with those mile-long legs
and delicious curves.

His smile grew as she walked back to
him, but his pleasure quickly vanished when she poked him in the chest. “Just
what part of ‘I’m an exile’ do you not understand? I feed on blood, nothing
else. Period.”

“All vampires are required to eat human
food,” he said. “The dragons said no blood feeding – human or animal – for the
duration of camp.”

Her reaction to his words hit him like
a sledgehammer hitting a glass wall. He clenched his teeth and struggled to
suck air in his deflated lungs.

She beamed at him. Literally, she
shivered with excitement. She gave him a wide smile, making her face glow with
ill-contained joy. Her eyes sparkled with intensity.

Hell fire! He silently cursed. She was
a danger to males everywhere. She needed a blasted blinking sign hung around
her neck, warning the unwary. He tried swallowing, but his heart was stuck in
his throat.

Leah gleefully asked, “Really?” Her
wide eyes, now brilliant blue-violet, quickly scanned the surrounding area.
Leaning forward she whispered, “Are you sure?”

“Um, yeah,” he said, blinking, trying
to focus his muddled brain. “Uh, you seem awful excited about being forced to
eat normal food.”

“Humph!” She harrumphed, and continued
whispering to the three of them, “I don’t like feeding off people. Do you know
how nasty blood tastes?”

“Then why do you?” Derek asked in
annoyance, his forehead wrinkled, not understanding her at all.

Sighing, she slightly shook her head.
“My father would, quite literally, throw me into the dungeon if I consumed
anything other than blood or water.”

“Sounds like a really nice guy,” Beth
said, disbelief warred with revulsion as it spread across her face.

“He isn’t what anyone would consider a
caring parent,” Leah said.

“I can’t believe your mom doesn’t leave
him.” Derek paused, frowning he backtracked, not wanted to argue with her
anymore. “Never mind, I didn’t think about them being lifeMates.”

The lifeMate bond was unique among
Sídhí. At some point, in an immortal’s life, they met a perfect mate; each
immortal only had a single chance for a lifeMate. They didn’t have a choice in
the matter. Their blood picked their lifeMate for them. The synth crystal in a
person's blood ‘sang’ when two perfect immortals came into contact with each
other.

Well, not always the moment they met
each other. Occasionally, they knew each other for years. At other times, only
one of the pair would hear the synth's odd singing, while the other mate
remained oblivious for days or weeks.

Once a couple completed the lifeBond
with each other, it was forever. It was a permanent mental bond that linked
their emotions to each other.

“My parents are NOT lifeMates,” Leah
said, raising her voice in vehement denial.

Crude laughter erupted from a dozen
feet away. A weasel eyed, scrawny pre-pub and two blond thugs strutted under
the archway that led from the commissary, cafeteria, and other camp buildings.

As they approached, Derek felt the hair
on the back of his neck stiffen in reaction. He had a sick feeling these three
were the ones Leah had tried checking in for. Before the three came any closer
to the girls, he boldly stepped forward, moving to meet them.

“Her mother is some kind of mutant
freak. Father chained her in the dungeon years ago,” the scrawny one said in a
sneer. In the shade, his muddy brown eyes darted between Leah, Derek, Beth, and
Brianna. They finally settled on Derek.

“Mom would rather be dead than bonded
to that skri…” Leah snapped her teeth shut, snarling at her grinning half-brother.

“That what? You weren’t about to call
father a skrivett, were you? I thought you learned your mistake the last time
when you called him a demon spawn from hell. Ha! He’ll love to hear what you
have to say about him,” the scrawny pre-pub said, apparently delighted in her
angry retort against their shared parent. “I'll look forward to more screaming.
Last time you even scared away the bats from the upper rafters.”

Calling anyone a skrivett was highly
offensive, as a skrivett was a nasty slug-like rodent about the size and shape
of a youth baseball glove with slimy, pus-infected skin that smelled like
overflowing sewer.

Derek growled at the laughing boy. He
couldn't protect Leah once she returned home, but camp was another matter
entirely.

The scrawny pre-pub gave Derek a
measured look. He nodded a silent order to the thug on his right then turned
toward Derek with an air of triumph; he completely turned his back on his
half-sister, stupidly ignoring the fuming young woman who was hissing between
clenched teeth.

The tips of her small fangs, though not
extended, were dangerous. Turning his back on her really was a stupid move;
anyone who turned his back on a hissing vampire was asking for trouble. Mort
must have felt secure with the twin elves at either elbow, but other than
glaring holes through Leah the identical twins acted like mindless blow-up
dolls.

“You’re shapeshifters?” The rat-faced
pre-pub didn’t wait for Derek’s answer. A huge smile revealed yellowing teeth
with no fangs in sight. He puffed his bony chest out and rubbed his hands
together, eagerly plowing forward with an obnoxious air. “I am Lord Mort PhñDick.
My father, High Lord Duke PhñDick, has graciously offered to accept your
renewed vows of service. And if you’re the eldest of your family – and the
appointed heir – as Lord PhñDick’s eldest son, I will accept your blood oath as
given for your entire family.”

Derek raised his eyebrows at the
pompous little prick. Grinning, he turned to his annoyed younger sister – and
supreme ruler – of their home valley. “Well, Sis, I’m soooo confused. Whatever
should we do?”

As if they practiced it, all three
girls snorted simultaneously and clamped hands over their mouths trying to
muffle their escaping laughter.

“What’s so funny?” one of the PuckinKnück
twins demanded, his face twisted into a black scowl that promised violence.

“Nothing,” Mort said flatly, his mouth
puckering in distaste. “She’s as insane as her mother. This isn’t a laughing
matter.” He glared up at Derek who was also chortling with laughter. “The
shifters screwed up by not approaching Dhark Valley before now. This is your
first, and only, chance to appease my father’s anger.”

Mort straightened his stick-thin
shoulders and demanded, “You will go to your knees and give your blood oath
now.”

“Not even in my worst, bloody
nightmare,” Derek said. He bared his teeth in a snarl, trying to decide if he
could smash the little turd without killing him.

“If that wasn’t blunt enough,” Beth
said, her petite frame seemed to grow taller in anger, “the answer is no.
Never. Absolutely not in a million years. It is an unequivocal rejection from
our entire valley, declaring shifters will never align with the dhark
overlords.”