As Cold As Ice (24 page)

“
That should be fine to
talk about,” Soren said. “They asked me every question they could
think of. I told them as much as I thought they needed to know. To
be honest, they seemed more interested in asking if I could fly, or
breathe fire.”

Jessica had never thought to ask those
questions. “Can you?”

She’d for sure seen wings on him at one
point.

Soren’s lips pulled up in one of his
trademark soft, sad smiles. “No. I could never breathe fire. That’s
rarer than just being a dragon. And my wings were clipped a long
time ago. I might be able to glide, assuming I was ever up high
enough and felt like jumping off a building or a cliff.”

“
Well, please don’t ever do
something like that,” Jessica said.

Things were almost starting to feel normal
between them, like they could be talking about anything in the
world other than what they were. Jessica could be sitting with a
boyfriend, the both of them back at her apartment, not in this tiny
room that looked like a redone storage closet.

But Soren was looking at her with an
expression Jessica was starting to know well. It was the one he got
on his face whenever she worried him.

“
Don’t ever scare me like
that again,” he countered with a shake of his head.

Jessica bit down on her lower lip. She
wanted to give him what he wanted, but they both knew that wasn’t
going to happen. “You know I can’t promise you that.”

Soren nodded. “I know. Figured I would try
anyway.”

Sailing off into the sunset wasn’t going to
happen for them. Jessica was going to stay with her brother, and if
there was something wrong with this place, she needed to find out
what it was. Any resistance could start off with the best of
intentions then turn into the thing they’d been fighting
against.

Her brother and best friend had become
involved with these people in order to save her. She couldn’t just
walk away.

Jessica reached out, found Soren’s hand, and
laced their fingers together. She was reminded of the first time
she’d tried holding his hand, how he’d pulled away. He didn’t pull
away anymore; instead, he gripped her tight.

“
What will you do, now that
you’re out of there?”

Soren frowned. “I’m staying here.”

“
Here?” Jessica cocked her
head to the side a little. “I thought this place was
trouble.”

Soren shrugged. “Still trying to figure out
how much trouble, but yeah, I’m staying here.”

Jessica didn’t get it. “Why? You’re out. You
can go wherever you want.”

He could flee to Canada and have more
privileges there. He’d at least still be protected by their code of
human rights.

“
Isn’t it obvious?” He
looked at their joined hands.

Jessica should have pulled back, but she
couldn’t. “You could be making the biggest mistake of your life
because of this. You barely know me. We’ve fucked a couple of
times, but that was it.”

“
I never
fucked
you,” Soren said,
leaning so close Jessica could feel the warmth of his body. “It
wasn’t just sex for me, either.”

Jessica allowed that to sink in when his
mouth touched hers.

He was in need of a shave. She could feel
the coarse prickle of the whiskers that grew in. She loved the feel
of the scratch when his mouth moved, loved the warmth that settled
in her belly, the desire that came rushing right behind it.

When it felt like Soren was about to pull
back, a little too soon for her liking, Jessica reached out and
curled her arms around the back of his neck, holding him in place.
She felt that moment of surprise from him just as she pushed her
tongue into his mouth, and then he seemed to settle, to accept, and
it was wonderful.

When they moved away from each other, Soren
had a dazed smile on his face. He blew out a satisfied exhale,
grinning from ear to ear. “Wow. I’m kind of shocked my breath isn’t
steaming up.”

“
That would only happen if
warm breath touched cold air. Not the same as in the
movies.”

Soren touched his mouth. “No, but I like
that tingling, cold feeling I get when you put a lot of effort into
it.”

Jessica laughed. So did Soren. They kissed
some more, until Jessica’s mouth started to tingle, as well. She
felt good. Better than she’d ever felt in a long time, and she
wanted to keep Soren with her, in this room.

“
Did they give you a room
of your own?” she asked, pulling Soren on top of her.

She didn’t have to pull hard; he came
easily. “Yeah, but I’ve been spending most of my time in here.”

Jessica nodded. “Okay, good. Will you stay
in here with me?”

He brushed strands of her hair away from her
cheek. “For as long as you want me to.”

Her heart swelled and ached in her chest.
“Would it destroy the mood if I told you I loved you? For
absolutely everything?”

Soren’s eyes widened a fraction, but any
shock he felt must have left quickly if the happy expression on his
face was anything to go by.

He shook his head. “That doesn’t destroy a
damned thing. That…” He laughed a little. “That’s the best thing
you could’ve ever told me. Would it be too creepy if I said I loved
you, too? For a long time now.”

Jessica shook her head frantically, and that
sweet aching and swelling feeling inside her burst wide open in the
best possible way. “No! Not at all!”

She pulled him down for another cool,
tingling kiss, both of them smiling through it, trying not to
laugh.

If there was something off with this place,
Jessica would worry about it later. For the time being, she wanted
to bask in the fact that she was free and in love. She could
finally admit it to herself when she couldn’t before. She was in
love, and she was going to savor that for as long as possible.

Chapter Twenty-Six

There was a healer in the building. Not a
skilled one, but any paranormal who could heal even the tiniest of
scratches was beyond rare. Jessica thought it had to be even rarer
to have one living and working in an underground resistance.
Healers were one of the few paranormal types who were considered an
asset to society, rather than a danger.

Either way the woman worked to speed up
Ethan’s recovery inch by inch; Jessica wasn’t about to question her
about that.

There were children in the building, quite a
few of them, ranging from small enough to be toddlers through
nearly adult-sized.

There had to be at least a hundred people
living in this place, and all those mouths to feed required some of
the adults to go out into the world, to risk themselves by posing
as normal citizens, bringing back food, finding work, that sort of
thing.

At first, Jessica couldn’t see anything
amiss with anyone. Leo had returned, bringing a young blond-haired
man with him. They seemed intent on serving Jessica everything she
needed to speed up her recovery. A hit on the head wasn’t important
enough for the only healer in the building to waste precious energy
on her, and Jessica wanted that woman’s attention on her brother
anyway.

Jack and Cindy came for a visit. Cindy
seemed somewhat embarrassed to shake Jessica’s hand. Then again,
considering Jessica used to be with Cindy’s lover, their meeting
had probably gone a thousand times better than average.

Did Soren know about that yet? Jessica
watched the two men as they also shook hands, but she couldn’t
tell. Soren’s eyes had glowed a little when they’d let go of each
other’s hands, but that could have been her imagination, wanting to
see a little dominant possessiveness from her new boyfriend.

She liked it when the dragon came out and
didn't want Soren to suppress it.

Jessica wasn’t put in front of the people in
charge; it was Leo and his friend Dylan who came to ask her
everything she knew about what had been going on inside that
building. Jessica didn’t know what they were looking for, or what
they wanted to do with the information, but she didn’t see a
problem with telling them about the paranormals being trained to
hide in plain sight, to bring in other paranormals. That seemed
safe enough.

Soren was always with her, and he tended to
squeeze her hand comfortingly from time to time as Jessica
spoke.

She appreciated that.

After several days and a dozen hours, Leo
seemed to have all he needed, and he didn’t ask for any more
information. Finding five or ten different ways of asking the same
question had probably grown as old for him as it had been for
Jessica.

All the while, she had to wonder what it was
Ethan and Jack knew about that made them suspicious of these
people. Jessica had her own theories.

Until she got some solid evidence, however,
there wasn’t much she could do but stick around and see how things
played out.

Already, she’d been asked if she wanted to
go out in the field, to help bring in any other paranormals who
could be of use.

That was her first clue. This place didn’t
rescue just anyone, only those who could be of use to them. It
figured.

Thankfully, Soren bought her a few days. He
diagnosed her with exhaustion, so she had some time to lie around,
to be useless and not contribute while she stayed in bed.

Soren always found his way under the sheets
with her, and of course, it wouldn’t be proper if their clothes
stayed on.

Jessica loved having Soren’s bare skin on
hers. She loved it when he spooned behind her, slid inside her,
made love to her slow in the beginning, the back-and-forth motion
of his hips turning hard and fast before he came. She loved the way
he held her after it was over, how they could sit silently and not
talk and things weren’t weird. She loved how certain she was that
Soren cared for her, wanted to take care of her, even if she could
take care of herself just fine.

For the most part.

That was part of what also had her so damned
scared. No one had ever cared about her like that. No one had ever
loved her, except for Ethan, but that didn’t count; they were
siblings. This was entirely different.

“
What will we do if these
people turn out to be crazy?” Jessica asked.

Soren just squeezed her in that way she
liked, which made her warm despite her inner cold.

“
I don’t think everyone
here is crazy,” Soren said softly, his warm breath tickling the
back of her neck. “There are people here who are serious about
helping paranormals get away. They are still doing something good.
They saved you and your brother.”

Which was what made these conversations so
awkward. Jessica didn’t want to accuse the people who had helped
her so much of any wrongdoing, but after only a few days, there was
already too much secrecy. She had yet to meet the person in charge
of this whole thing, and the hours and hours of questions…it was as
though the people in charge wanted something other than information
on how to help the people left behind.

But that was little more than a feeling. Not
enough, and yet Ethan, Jack, and their lovers suspected something.
That was enough for her.

“
If there
is
something wrong,”
Soren continued, “we’ll deal with it. If the people in charge have
some nefarious purpose other than helping paranormals in trouble,
we’ll do something.”

Jessica snorted.
“
Nefarious
. God,
you talk funny sometimes.”

She’d be lying if she said she didn’t like
it. It was part of the Soren charm.

He squeezed her, and she could hear the
smile in his voice. “You know what I mean.”

Jessica turned her head and smiled at him.
“Yeah, I think I do.”

He’d said the word
‘
we’
, after all.
He’d been saying ‘
we’
an awful lot lately. That was something she loved about him,
too; he didn’t make it a secret they were a pair.

Soren leaned in to kiss her and Jessica
moved into it, parting her mouth when the tip of his tongue slid
forward. That sense of safety and security returned as she felt his
cock stirring behind her. Jessica turned to face him, pushed him
onto his back then straddled Soren’s waist, ready for another round
with her dragon, shivering in delight when his eyes changed as she
did so.

If there really was something wrong with the
people in charge, they would have a lot of trouble messing with
her. Who would want to pick a fight with the woman who had ice
powers and a dragon for a lover?

The End

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Author’s Note:
Thank you for reading As Cold As Ice. And for
your patience waiting for it to come out. Lol. This was the book
that didn’t want to be finished, but thankfully it happened. If you
enjoyed this book, please leave a review at the retailer where you
purchased it, as they feed my evil soul.

About Mandy Rosko

USA Today Bestselling and Award Winning
Author Mandy Rosko lives as a hermit with her scared of everything
dog, and she works in Ottawa, Ontario. Every once in a while she
peels herself away from writing and Internet surfing to socialize
with real people. She loves videogames, Sailor Moon, Hatsune Miku,
and her dog.