Dragon Around (2 page)

He snorted when he saw the horseshoe mark on the brass plate next to the door. “Very nice. I won’t forget where I am supposed to be.”

She handed him his key. “Would you like me to unpack for you?”

“No, thank you. But, will you be available for me to ask questions?” He was tentative when he asked. He wasn’t used to women declaring him off limits the moment they saw him, but she had more than enough drawing power of her own to deter his charm.

It was strange, and he felt unsettled at her lack of interest. Sure, she was lovely and spoke to him politely, but if he knew what she was, he could tailor a seduction to draw her in.

He paused as he walked into the room and looked around to cover his shock. He wanted to seduce his hostess. His erection was pressing on the inside of his jeans, and his heartbeat was fast when he thought of her. Those two things combined astonished him.

Imagine what he would be like if she actually turned him down cold.

The door shut behind her and left him alone with his thoughts.

Every single thought in his head revolved around Dira and that was going to be a problem.

He changed clothing and got dressed for a far more casual environment. His snowy white shirt was elegant, his jeans were fitted and the running shoes he wore were a gift from an ex-lover.

With his appearance casual yet approachable, he left his room and headed downstairs to see if he could interest Dira in a drink.

* * * *

Dira finished her requisition for new sheets and looked up as someone stood in front of her desk. She could feel Mak’s impatience but calmly set her requisition in a folder and put it aside.

“Yes?”

“I was wondering if you would do the honour of accompanying me to the Star Crossed bar?”

Dira sighed and folded her hands on her paperwork. “It is the Crossed Star, not the Star Crossed. No, I respectfully decline your invitation. Aside from the occasional glass of wine, I don’t enjoy alcohol.” She evaporated it as soon as she drank it, so she couldn’t get drunk, though it did make her fire a little hotter. Dira sighed.

Mak grinned. “Perhaps later we can share a bottle of wine.”

Dira stifled her mental wince at how tempting that thought was. “I am sure you will find someone to spend your evening with. May you find what you seek.”

It was a dismissal, and Mak picked up on that. He inclined his head, and he sauntered out with an absent call. “Enjoy your paperwork.”

Her unfortunate reflex was to watch him walk away, and his human form was truly a thing of beauty. Her inner dragon thought him to be a very tasty morsel, and it was begging for just one lick.

She shook her head and returned to her work but instead of requisitions for replacement towels, all she saw was Mak’s dark gaze and winning smile. She exhaled heavily and rubbed at her neck. “I guess it is time to go shopping.”

All of her guests were out for the night, so she grabbed a lovely wicker shopping basket that one of her previous guests had given to her, and she headed out to the General Store.

Retail therapy was something that her guests often spoke about, but Dira rarely needed to make the effort to calm her nerves. She was almost fifteen hundred, her nerves were as calm as they were going to get.

She walked into the General Store, holding the door open for a vixen with an armload of purchases. “Good evening.”

The young woman blushed and nodded. “Good evening.”

Entering the store, Dira scented the air. “Andy, it seems that high-percentage chocolate has come in.”

Andy looked up from making notations on the counter. “You are good. Now, do you know where I have hidden them?”

Dira sighed. “Here is my basket. Fill it with the usual while I go on the hunt.”

She looked around to make sure that they were alone before she flicked out her dragon’s tongue and tasted the air. With direct strides, she found the first of the bars hidden under a stack of women’s magazines. The next was inside the men’s underwear mannequin and the last was right behind Andy.

Her imported chocolate was her one true vice, and the two-pound bars were the basis for most of the cookies and muffins that she baked for guests.

“That is still freaky. We have managed to subdue most senses in the store. Yours are always so sharp. How do you do it?”

Dira smiled at the young beaver. “Years of practice hunting out chocolate. I used to get it right from the cocoa trees. Even roasted the beans myself.”

“How do you do that?”

She winked, swiped her tag over the payment mark and hefted the basket. It weighed over sixty pounds, but with a slight channelling of her other form, she could lift it easily.

“Thanks, Andy. See you in a few days when the dairy shipment arrives.”

Andy nodded. “I will let you know if I get any extras, Dira. See you on Friday.”

Dira smiled and waved farewell. She checked her basket, and when it was all dry goods, she detoured to the Meditation Centre. She had questions to ask, and Teal was a likely source for the answers.

Chapter Three

Teal poured a cup of tea for Dira and smiled. “You look like you are having difficulty making a decision.”

Dira lifted the cup of tea and sipped before she made a face. “You could say that. I am being flirted with, and he is most determined.”

Her friend snickered. “So? Flirt back.”

Dira snorted, a small flame shot out of her nose. It was only when she was with Teal that she let her more dragon-like behaviours out. “Flirt? I am here to run the Open Heart, nothing more.”

Teal gave her a serious look. “You are far more than that. You are the main cohesive source for this dimensional bubble. Without the power you put into it initially, we wouldn’t have the Crossroads.”

“That was a long time ago, Teal. I am used to my role as a host. I like making muffins, cookies and keeping the beds in good condition.” She sipped her tea. “Those things take a pounding.”

Teal had been sipping, and she spluttered as Dira’s last comment penetrated her mind.

The dragon laughed. It was fun to banter with Teal. Even though she was mated to Tony and had been for many years, there was a prudish streak when it came to the animal attraction that many of the races at the Crossroads shared. Bedding was shredded, mattresses were gouged and collapsed under the weight of enthusiastic matings. It was part of the burden of a proprietor of a bed and breakfast. Both were used frequently and savagely.

The amount of bacon that Dira went through was mind boggling, and the eggs that were constantly being brought in were excessively annoying. Years earlier, she had tried to keep chickens, but the temptation was too much for many of the city-bound shifters who hadn’t seen a prey species before. Her little feathered darlings had disappeared one at a time.

“Aside from your beds, you have led a solitary life. You need a companion, and if I am reading you right, the man who is making eyes at you is the very handsome unicorn that came in this afternoon.”

Dira sat back on the cushions in the low seating area of Teal’s sanctuary. “They are always handsome. It goes with the breed. Unicorns are big-hearted, attractive, elegant, and draw members of both sexes with ease. The myth about them being attracted to virgins was written backward. They are the draw and the virgins came running, so did married women and butlers.”

She paused and then sighed. “He is prettier than I am.”

Teal chuckled. “He is.”

“Dragons can’t stand to have a mate prettier than they are. It offends our sense of self.” She sniffed.

“Tough. Embrace it and enjoy his attentions. What would the worst thing be, that he would fall for you and you for him?”

Dira faced her fear. “What if he wouldn’t want to stay at the Crossroads? I don’t know if I can return to the modern world. It has been a while.”

Teal sobered. “Would it be so horrible?”

“The last time I was walking the world, I was wearing a bustle and a corset under thirty pounds of fabric. I have adapted my clothing choices to match those magazines you keep bringing me, but I am never sure that what I am choosing is the right thing.”

“You look spectacular in whatever you wear.”

“As do you, but there comes a time when a woman wants to fit in.” Dira smoothed a hand down the long, gauzy skirt that she wore. Her wrap top was made of the same silky chiffon, and while the emerald fabric did wonders for her eyes, she wasn’t sure of its appropriateness to the world outside. In the Crossroads, everything was fine, but outside, she wasn’t sure what she would be walking into and dragons were not known for their ease at dealing with uncomfortable situations. Prod her temper enough and she would be newsworthy.

Dira closed her eyes and groaned. “Why is this so hard? I used to just grab a knight and leave him with a smile on his face. Getting the head of a dragon had a whole different meaning back then.”

Teal winced at the pun. “So, you had a fulfilling sex life when you wanted it. Why is this different?”

Dira looked at her in surprise. “You haven’t seen any of the ancient creatures here before, have you?”

Teal shook her head. “Not since Tony and I have been on duty. The last thirty years have been weird but no magical beasts that weren’t your regular shifters. What is different about the mythic shifters?”

“Our lives stretch beyond centuries. To mate with another magical creature is to bind yourselves far beyond what most will expect, and it will most likely not involve children. Dragons and unicorns don’t usually cross breed.”

“Then, where do you come from?”

Dira blinked in shock. “We occur randomly in the population. There is always the same number of dragons in the world and unicorns and griffins. Just to name a few. Sometimes they meet, mate and breed more of their kind, but the number in the world always remains the same.”

“You are kidding. They occur randomly?” Teal nibbled at a cookie.

“Of course. The phoenix, for example, is always the only one of her kind. She lives, mates, dies and never has a child of her own that is a phoenix. If she is alive, there is no other.” Dira propped her elbow on the back of the couch and leaned her head against it.

“This is not stuff they covered in the briefing before we took this post.”

Dira blinked. “I haven’t mentioned it before?”

Teal chuckled. “I haven’t seen you this agitated before. Why does Mak get to you where dozens of other men leering down your blouse haven’t?”

Dira buried her face in her hands. “I don’t know! He pushes and I just want to push back until we are plastered together against the wall.”

“Why don’t you?” The deep voice from the doorway brought both ladies to attention.

“Tony, go somewhere else.” Teal’s voice was amused but firm.

“No, I believe that I have a vested interest in this conversation. Dira, why don’t you accept what Mak is offering?”

Dira jumped to her feet and shouted, “Because I have no idea what that is!” Her chest was heaving, smoke was curling off her skin and she could feel her body scaling over.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “Give him the chance to tell you then. When I first tried to court Teal, she made a run for it. If she had just stayed in one place, we would have settled in the human world and lived our lives there. She ran, we came to the attention of the Crossroads coalition and then, we transferred here as a mated pair of guardians. Run all you want, but if you want him, let him catch you.”

Dira leaned down and pressed her hand on Teal’s. She picked up her basket and walked past Tony. “Dragons don’t run, but if he is very lucky, he will get close enough to feel the fire.”

She heard her friends laughing as she left the Meditation Centre and walked back toward her home. She felt better than she thought she would, and now that she had exposed some mythic secrets to Teal, she hoped that a few more of her rare kind would find their way to the Crossroads to find the mate of their dreams. It hadn’t worked for her so far, but then, she had long since given up dreaming.

Chapter Four

Mak walked into the Crossed Star and took a seat at the bar. The tattooed man behind the bar smiled at him and asked, “I’m Chuck, what can I get you?”

“One shot of everything you can think of. I plan on getting drunk tonight.” Mak smiled brightly.

“Ouch. Rough day with the ladies?”

The women in the area were showing interest in Mak, but there was a reason he had sidled up to sit at the actual bar. If he kept them from getting a good look at him, they wouldn’t pursue him. The alcohol would do two things, it would drive off women who didn’t want to attract a drunk, and it would neutralize most of his active pheromones. Being a unicorn, it wouldn’t make him intoxicated but he was the only one in the bar that knew that.

“Rough day with the owner of the Crossed Heart. Doesn’t she ever date?” Mak started to snap the shots back one after another. The women who had started to approach him went on to find more likely candidates. He smiled grimly.

“Not that I have seen in the years that I have been here. She enjoys her life here, being part of this weird community, so I think she considers a mate as a route out of her life and into the great unknown.”

The frankness of his tone surprised Mak. “What is she?”

Chuck laughed. “She hasn’t told you?”

“Obviously not.” Mak was irritated that this male knew something about Dira that he didn’t.

“She will have to tell you. You know we don’t tell other shifter’s identities. If she wants you to know, you will know.” Chuck grinned at him.

Mak was filled with hostility at this other male who was familiar with Dira. He didn’t seem to have an attachment to Mak’s female, but Mak still wanted to take him outside and beat him into the ground.

Instead of acting on his impulse, he took another drink to camouflage the fists that were involuntarily making themselves known.

“So, what brings a man like you to a place like this?” Chuck was organizing the bottles near Mak.

“Same as every other male here, a compatible mate.” Mak slammed a few more drinks back and watched couples on the dance floor.