Embraced by Fire (36 page)

Her head came up and she stared at him. Her tongue darted out, wetting her lips. “It’s true.” The words were little more than a whisper.

“Yes, it’s true. I’m a dragon.”

“But how?” He could see her mind reeling under the surge of new information.

He led her over to the bed, sitting down beside her as he let his hand
shift
back to human. “Parallel evolutionary paths, your species and mine travelling next to each other for centuries. There have always been stories about us, sightings even, but with no evidence dragons were filed under M for myth.

“Of course, the reason there is no evidence is because we are very careful, even more so now than we were in the past. The evidentiary clincher is that when we die we are always in human form, reverting at the last moment if necessary, so there is no skeletal trace.”

“This is crazy. I’m crazy.” He hated the catch in her voice.

He stroked a loose strand of hair off her face. “You’re not crazy. Give it time, your world has been rattled, you need to let it settle.”

“Dragon…” she trailed off, staring at him. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed and her forehead squished. “Why are you telling me this? You could have walked out of here and I would have been none the wiser.”

“Maybe I don’t want to walk away from you.”

A slight blush finally brought a little colour into her face. “Even so, we could have been together and you needn’t have told me. I wouldn’t have guessed, not in a million years. Heck, we’ve been as intimate as two people can and I had no clue.”

He rubbed his hand over his mouth. “We made love.”

“You tell all the girls you have sex with.” She sounded incredulous.

“No, all the virgins I sleep with—”

“Virgins?”

“Which so far numbers one—you.”
You, my precious bond-mate
.

“What has my being a virgin got to do with anything? I don’t expect special treatment just because you’re the first man I’ve slept with.”

“Dragons and virgins, those two things should only be mixed with great care. More care than I took the other night when I didn’t ask you if you were experienced. The first time in my life I failed to ask a woman.”

“Is…is that why you were angry?”

“Yes.”

She waited a moment for him to say more, but there were so many words trapped in his throat he couldn’t get anything out.

“Why?” She stroked her hand down his arm, letting her hand latch onto his. He recognised her instinctive urge to comfort him, even though she must be struggling to keep her metaphorical feet right now.

“My father told me growing up that dragons have one overriding weakness. I don’t understand why so I can’t explain it to you, but when a dragon has sex with a virgin a bond is formed.”

“What kind of bond?”

“A lifelong bond. When we made love that first time, I tied myself to you for life. You are, if you will excuse the term, my mate.”

“M-mate?”

“Yes. My heart and life are forever yours.” The words came from deep in his soul before he could stop them. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, when he opened them, he said, “I debated dating you for a while then telling you, but this way seemed more honest. I think you need to know going in.”

He took a deep breath. Damn, this was difficult. “You also need to know I understand if what happened wasn’t serious on your part. Just because I’m tied to you, doesn’t mean you’re tied to me.”

“I’m not?”

“No.” He fought the bond as he opened his mouth to say what he knew had to be said, to say it now before he changed his mind. “I know this is a lot to absorb. You need time. If you want to get hold of me once you’ve had a chance to think, I can be reached on this number.”

He stood up and pulled a card out of his back pocket, handing it to her. “I hope you’ll decide you want to give us a chance, but I’ll understand if you never want to speak to me again.”

He took two steps backwards. He needed to put some space between them but he couldn’t stop looking at her. This might be his last chance and he wanted to burn her image into this mind.

His throat felt thick, and he cleared it roughly. “I need to leave now before I change my mind and start acting like an ancient Dragon Lord and keep you forever.” The dragon screamed at him to do exactly that but he forced himself to step back again.

She stood up as he moved away. “Ryu?”

“I want you to want me. I don’t want to leave. But it’s not fair of me to ask you to stay with me, I’m not even human.” He spun and walked to the door.

At the last moment, his hand already on the handle, he turned to look at her. “Since I’ve come into your life it’s turned upside down. You can chalk this up as another part of what must be a crazy adventure.”

The door closed, the lock snicking into place with disturbing finality.

Chapter 36

He was gone.

If she’d just survived an earthquake, Kait couldn’t have been more shattered, her insides felt blown apart. Her whole world trembled on its foundations.

Air left her body in a rush and she staggered, sitting down on the bed with a thump. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling cold and faint.

The things he was asking her to believe…

She shook her head, despite what he had shown her it just wasn’t possible. He was a dragon—total madness. She never liked reading fantasy or paranormal novels because they struck her as far too unrealistic. Yet, somehow, she was now in a world where the man she had been infatuated with as a child, the first man she slept with, the man she was falling in love with, was telling her he was a dragon.

Images flashed before her eyes… His hand a moment ago. Her mind playing tricks on her while he fought. Her vision during the fire of a dragon in a smoky doorway, and a sound that might have been the fire or it might have been a roar. His fire-eating tricks that seemed impossible. Smoking without lighting his cigarette.

Had there been clues all along, but she hadn’t known what they meant? She dropped her head into her hands, pressing her fingers hard into her scalp as if she could hold her whirling thoughts together. It didn’t work.

Lifting her head, she stared at the closed door. How dare he leave her alone to deal with this!

She took a deep breath, she needed to think this through. Either he was lying, or crazy, or he was telling the truth. She’d known him for years, albeit with a huge gap, and he’d never struck her as either crazy or a liar. In addition, she’d seen what she’d seen.
Sweet Lord, his hand!

Sweat burst across her face, and she wiped her forehead with her arm. His hand hadn’t been human.

That left the truth.

She’d gifted him with her virginity and her heart. If he was worth either of those things then she needed to give his truth a chance. So…

Ryu was a dragon.

He was a dragon who had slept with a virgin, linking his life to hers.

He was also a dragon who wasn’t here to answer her questions.

She remembered Derek mentioning a bond, and wondered if this was what he meant. But he said he could smell it… She let out a frustrated sigh as more questions thrummed into existence.

What was she going to do? She’d been ready for him to leave. She never expected more from him, however much she hoped he’d stay. But she thought he’d want to go. To find out he didn’t want to go, he wanted to stay—forever. It was almost too much.

Except…he didn’t have any choice. If he was telling the truth, then they were tied together and he had no choice but to want her. That thought hurt.

How could she know how he really felt? If she hadn’t been a virgin would he still want to stay? Would he even have told her what he was? She pressed a hand to her stomach as it rolled unpleasantly.

This was ridiculous.

She pushed herself to her feet and ran for the door, swinging it open. Her eyes scanned rapidly over the parking lot—empty. Yet somehow she was aware he wasn’t gone.

Spock, he might know. Without knocking, she barged through the door where she had last seen Spock. Adrian was standing shirtless near the desk. He spun when she entered, then relaxed when he saw who it was. She almost didn’t notice the broad expanse of muscle on display, almost.

“Ryu?” she gasped.

Adrian pointed. “His car is in the back parking lot. If he’s not there, he’ll have gone to the hospital to wait for Derek to come out of surgery. I’ll join everyone once I’m finished here.”

“Thanks.” Her last thought before she left was that Adrian wasn’t the sort of man she expected to have a tattoo, but the panther on his upper arm suited him.

She ran for the back lot. Her feet pounding the ground, her breath coming in fast gasps. She dashed around the corner, and stumbled to a stop. Catching her breath, she searched the parking lot for his familiar dark head.

There. He was leaning against his car, both hands braced on the roof, head down.

“Ryu!” she shouted, running over to where he was standing.

Ryu jerked as if he’d touched an electric fence, then turned slowly to face her. She could feel his eyes heavy on her as she hurried across the car park. Stopping in front of him, she tried to think of what she needed to say—needed to ask.

His hand came up and brushed across her cheek, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Kait?”

“Why did you go?” She hated that she sounded like a child but the words simply burst out before she could stop them.

“I wanted to give you time, that was a lot to lay on you at once.”

“Are you really a dragon?”

“Yes.” His voice was calm despite the fact she was making him repeat himself.

Okay, she took a deep restorative breath. Dragons existed, Ryu was one, that was the truth.

Something seemed to settle inside her as she let herself accept it. Truth, strange truth, but truth nonetheless. So, next question:

“Are you truly tied to me forever, whether you want to be or not?” Her muscles tensed as she waited for his answer.

“Yes, but I can’t think of anyone I would rather be tied to.” He gave a soft, half-smile.

“I don’t know how to feel about this.” And she didn’t, she could feel the bewilderment still bubbling inside her.

“I’ll give you all the time you need to think it through. I don’t want you to feel under pressure or trapped.

“I don’t want you to feel trapped either.” Desperation tinged her tone.

I want you to want me
, she thought, by
choice.

“I don’t feel trapped.” He smiled reassuringly at her.

Please let that be true
, her heart whispered.

She cleared her throat, trying to sound grownup and matter of fact as she said, “You were pretty angry when you found out I was a virgin. I doubt you were thinking of taking things further than one night until you found out I tricked you.”

“You’re wrong. I mean, yes, I was angry at the time, but I don’t feel trapped. I meant it when I said there was no one I would rather be mated to.” He stroked his hand down her arm, his fingers lingering in the palm of her hand before falling away.

“What if you fall in love with someone, what then? I hate feeling like this is against your will.” She locked her jaw, wanting to cry at the mere thought of Ryu loving someone else but knowing she couldn’t let the tears fall.

“I have fallen in love with someone.”

She sucked in a breath, feeling as if he’d slapped her.

“I’ve fallen in love with you,” he finished.

“What?” Her mouth fell open as she struggled to work out if she’d actually heard that, or if her hopes were making her hallucinate.

He lifted his hand, running his fingers along her jaw, closing her mouth. “I was going to tell you when we were first in bed together, but I thought it was too soon. I didn’t think you would believe me.” His hand cupped her face gently as he looked into her eyes.

“You love me?”

He brushed his lips across hers. “Yes, I love you.”

“I…I love you too.” She could feel her heart beating unsteadily.

“I know we haven’t been together long but if you’re willing to build on what we have, give this a chance…” His voice faded away and she was stunned to see he looked unsure of himself.

At the sight of vulnerability in this usually strong man, her heart melted.

“My heart and life are forever yours.” She echoed his earlier words as she slid her arms around his neck.

His smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “My heart and my life are forever yours.”

She stared into his glowing, copper eyes. She was linked to a dragon.

A dragon. She frowned. How did that work exactly? Ryu was a normal sized man but according to myths dragons were huge beasts.

“What?” He must have caught her expression because he looked at her in concern, his beautiful smile dissolving.

“How big are you?” She ran her eyes over his body.

“I think you already know the answer to that, Kait.” His eyes lost their concerned expression and laughed, although his lips didn’t even twitch.

“That’s not what I meant.” She blushed, remembering the feel of his body moving within hers. “As a dragon, are you big, or are you the equivalent of your human size?”

“I’m huge.” The amusement didn’t leave his eyes, she ignored it.

“Big enough to ride?” Her curiosity burned.

“Darling, you can ride me any time.” His amusement shifted to outright laughter.

“Ryu!” She slapped his arm in mock frustration.

He kissed her. “Truly, one day I’ll take you for the ride of your life.”

“You’d better.” And this time she was the one laughing.

“Don’t doubt it.” He pulled her close.

“Does this mean I get to keep you?” she whispered.

“Since I don’t intend letting you go, I suppose it does.” Dipping his head, he caught her lips in a kiss filled with dragon’s fire.

A word from the author...

I have held a number of jobs, working in a coffee shop, a men's clothing store, and an air-conditioner manufacturing plant. I have been a librarian, an editor, and a business analyst.