Lust (21 page)

more sex, Owen.”

“Then what was it a cue for?”

He kissed my neck. He was acting

so different. So relaxed. Maybe sex

had an effect on him too.

“Unfortunately, it was a cue to

get dressed.”

“Very unfortunate.” His lips

moved further down my neck, and I

knew I had to put on the breaks.

I rolled off of him. “It’s time to

get dressed.”

“I suppose it’s the responsible

thing to do.” He pulled me to his

side.

“It’s the only thing.” I reluctantly

detangled myself from his arms.

“After we stop the change, we’re

spending an entire day in bed.”

“What about food?”

“You’ve never cooked naked?”

He handed me my clothes from the

floor.

“No.” I stepped into my

underwear and clasped my bra.

“Can’t say I have.”

He sighed. “And I lose my

favorite view.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Your

favorite view?”

“Yes. Is there a problem with

that?”

“There are plenty of other better

views out there.”

He shook his head as he

buttoned his jeans. “Nope. None. ”

“Not even from the sky?”

“No.” His eyes bore into mine.

“Nothing beats the view of you.”

“Now I don’t believe you.” I

slipped back into my shoes.

“Why not?” He looked adorable

standing there half dressed with his

hair disheveled. It was messy

because of me, which made it so

much better.

“Because for you nothing will

ever be better than flying.”

“That’s not true. That,” he

gestured to the bed, “that beat

flying.”

I smiled. “So it wasn’t just

amazing on my side?”

“You knew it was amazing on

my side too.” He put on his shoes.

“Ok, I did.” I grinned. “You

made your enjoyment known.”

He ran a hand down my back.

“Exactly.”

“All right, let’s do this.” I

unlocked and pushed open the

door.

He wordlessly took my hand as

we headed up the steep stairs to

the deck. I wasn’t looking forward

to seeing the Allures again, but we

didn’t have a choice. We had to

face reality before we spent any

more fun time together.

“Get some sleep?” Violet

grinned.

“No.” Owen entwined his hand

with mine.

“Not even going to pretend?”

she asked.

“There’s no point.” I wasn’t

embarrassed about what Owen and

I did. I was done taking life for

granted, and if that meant having

mind blowing sex with Owen while

others knew it, that was fine by me.

“Put this on.” Hugh tossed a

shirt at him.

“Thanks.” Owen pulled on the t-

shirt.

I leaned in. “Now you ruined my

view.”

Hugh smirked. “You’re

ridiculous.”

I shrugged and looked out at the

seemingly endless water. We were

surrounded by the calm blue water

all around us, with no land in sight.

“It’s peaceful out here.”

“I’m surprised you noticed.”

Violet nudged me. “Ready to focus

now that you slept?”

“It wasn’t sleep I needed.” It felt

freeing to stop caring about what

others thought. Fear of disapproval

was one feeling I didn’t need.

“Where are we?” Owen walked

over to the railing.

“On a boat.”

“Let me rephrase that. How

much farther do we have to go?”

Owen rested an elbow on the

railing.

“Not much farther. We’ll be

there soon.”

“We timed that well.” Owen

winked at me.

I laughed. “So what now? Want

us to take over?”

Hugh shook his head without

stepping away from the wheel. “No

thanks.”

“Don’t you want rest?”

“No, we don’t rest together

often.” Violet’s eyes twinkled with

amusement. Clearly she was talking

about sex.

“Often?” I was also done feeling

embarrassed by my questions. I

wasn’t getting answers any other

way.

“It’s not all that important.”

“Sure it is. Do makers usually

sleep with the Allures they create?”

I couldn’t imagine Violet and Hugh

sleeping together. I had so many

questions about Allures, but I hoped

I’d never need answers to them.

“Not always, but often.” Hugh

remained at the wheel. I couldn’t

imagine him sleeping with his

maker, Violet.

“Did you sleep with your maker,

Violet?” I decided to ask. She still

hadn’t told me much about him.

A surprised expression crossed

her face. “What do you think?”

“Why would you throw a

question back at me?” I wasn’t

letting her off the hook that easily. I

was asking her an easier question

than many of the others I could ask.

“Because I can.”

I leaned back against the railing.

“Yes. I think you were.”

“I’m curious what you’ll think of

him.”

“Of who?” Had I missed

something?

“My maker.”

“Will I meet him?” I knew

nothing about him.

“Yes.” She smiled lightly.

“Oh. When?”

“Later on. You’ll meet some of

our other friends first though.”

“Other friends?” Owen asked

suspiciously. “I think we’ve met

plenty of your friends already.”

“These aren’t Allures. I’m

curious what you’ll think of them.”

“What are they?” Owen shifted

his weight.

“Dragos.” Violet studied her

nails. “Ever hear of them?”

“Dragos?” Owen’s eyes bugged

out. “I guess I should have known

they were still around too.”

Violet grinned and dropped her

hand to her side. “Of course.”

“Uh, what?” Not for the first time

I was lost. I knew so little about the

supernatural world.

“I’ll explain later,” Owen assured

me before turning back to Violet.

“Are they as bad as I’ve read?”

“I’m not sure bad is the right

word.” Violet turned to look out at

the water.

“Ok, I’m done waiting.” I put a

hand on my hip. “What are

Dragos?”

Violet smiled. “It’s going to be

easier to show you.”

I looked at Owen. “Spill.”

Owen nodded. “They’re a shifter

of sorts.”

“Of sorts?”

“They are supposedly more like

Pterons. Their shifted form is still

humanoid.”

“What animal are they tied to?”

“Ok, not really animal as much

as a creature.” He talked with his

hands, something Owen never did.

“Come on. Spit it out.”

“Dragons.” Hugh shook his

head. “I don’t know why your lover

boy won’t just say it.”

“Uh, what? Dragons?” Were

there unicorns too?

Hugh laughed. “And they are

just as much fun as they sound.”

“Why do we need to see these

friends of yours?” I still couldn’t

imagine a dragon version of a

Pteron or whatever they were.

“They can help us get in a back

way to Energo.”

“Are they dangerous?”

Violet nodded without turning

around. “Very.”

I shivered.

“They won’t hurt you. Dragos

like Allures.” Was my fear that

obvious?

“But I’m not a full Allure yet.”

She finally turned back. “You’re

close enough.”

“And Pterons?” I asked.

“What, you don’t think your

Pteron can defend himself?” She

smiled.

“Of course he can, but I wanted

to know if they’ll be friendly.” I

watched Owen out of the corner of

my eye to make sure I hadn’t

unintentionally offended him. He

didn’t seem bothered.

“The Dragos are never friendly.”

Hugh opened a bottle of water and

took a sip. “It’s not in their nature.”

“Never?”

He set down the water beside

him by the wheel. “Well, except to

certain Allures and a few others on

rare occasions.”

“Do certain Allures include

Violet?” Everyone seemed to like

Violet. I guess her cheerful

personality got her a lot of fans.

“Yes, how’d you know?” She

pulled out several bottles of water

from a cooler and handed them out.

“Just a guess.”

“They are only male, so they

tend to be friendly to females of

other creature types.”

“How are they only male?” I

knew enough about biology to

understand how rare asexual

animals were.

“They procreate with other

species of females. It’s simple

really.”

“What happens to the uh,

women they procreate with?” From

the way everyone was describing

the Dragos I was a little nervous to

hear the answer.

“They settle down with their

mate for life.”

“Oh…” Settling down with a

dragon shifter? Hopefully their

mates weren’t human. I didn’t know

too many girls who would sign up

for that life. But maybe they were

like me and didn’t have a choice in

what happened to them.

“But it usually takes a Drago

years to find a mate. Decades or

centuries even. The Dragos we’re

seeing are all single. Once they

mate they aren’t around much.”

“Oh…”

“And no they aren’t having sex

all the time.” Hugh laughed.

“That’s not what I was thinking.”

I adamantly denied it.

“Then what were you thinking?”

“Just. Ok, fine. It’s what I was

thinking.” I felt blood rush to my

face.

“And I wonder why sex is on

your mind?” Violet nudged me

again.

“Yeah, Daisy. I wonder?” Owen

grinned.

“Changing subjects…” I wrapped

my arms over my chest. So much

for not caring. I guess my bravado

had worn off with the post-sex

euphoria.

“Do you two want to be

prepared?” Violet touched my

shoulder.

“Of course we do.” I dropped my

hands to my sides and snapped out

of my embarrassment.

“Do you want all the details

even if they’ll scare you?”

“It’s always better to be

prepared.” I’d been left in the dark

enough over the past few years.

“Not always.” She hopped up

onto the railing. My stomach did

flips watching her, but she was

calm. I guess taking risks weren’t as

scary when you were immortal. But

did it really mean immortal? What

happened to Taylor then? No one

had actually said she was dead, but

she had to be. I had her essence

inside of me.

“Are you okay?” Violet looked

over at me worriedly. “It looks like

you just saw a ghost.”

“No… nothing like that.”

Hugh turned from the wheel.

“She didn’t mean that literally.”

“I know. It’s nothing.”

“You sure?” Owen asked

carefully.

Why did these thoughts and

questions have to come to me at

the worst times? We were close to

reaching Energo, we were getting

ready to meet some sort of half-

dragon guys, and here I was ready

to open up another can of worms.

“Just say it, Daisy. We know

there’s something major you want

to say.” Violet hopped down from

the railing and stood in front of me.

“Allures are immortal.” I made it

a statement.

“In theory yes, but of course no

creature is truly immortal.” Hugh

looked at Owen. “Do you know how

to drive this?”

“Yes.” Owen took the wheel. I

was surprised that he agreed so

easily, but maybe he wanted Hugh

to keep talking.

Hugh strolled over to me. “We

are called immortal because our life

spans last indefinitely, and we are

immune to most means of death,

but that doesn’t mean that we can’t

be killed.”

“Taylor.” I let her name slip

from my lips.

“And now we get to the real

reason you asked.” Hugh started to

pace.

“Yes.” I fought to keep my

composure. I didn’t want to appear

more interested than necessary.

“We don’t know how that

happened.”

“But it did. I mean I have her

essence.”

“You do… and so we know she

may be dead, but we have no

proof.”

“Can an Allure live without her

essence?”

“She wouldn’t be an Allure

then.”

“Would she be human again?”

Did that mean I’d still have a

chance to remove the essence even

if we were too late to stop the

change?

“We don’t know. It isn’t

something we’ve seen before.”

“Ok… got it.” I had so many

more questions, but hopefully I

wouldn’t need answers. If things

went my way I’d be walking away

from the Allures and never looking

back.

“Have we answered enough

questions that you’re ready for me

to continue?” Violet tapped her foot

impatiently.

“Yes. Go on. We were talking

about being prepared.”

“Yes. I was explaining that