“It won’t hurt me,” she replied, not sure why she was so sure of that statement.
“A warrior who has lost control of his dragon and his symbiot is a very dangerous creature, Sandy. We are just as much our primitive self as we are the thinking, rational one,” Creon warned.
Sandy swallowed, forcing her voice to not tremble with fear. “Were you ever like this?” she asked.
There was a brief silence, and Sandy imagined that the man standing next to her must be staring at the dragon and the symbiot before answering her question. When he spoke, she heard a hesitation and resignation in his voice.
“Yes.”
“Which of the children belong to you?” Sandy asked.
“Spring and Phoenix,” Creon replied.
A small smile teased Sandy’s lips. She remembered seeing the powerful alien male in the vision Phoenix had gifted her with, her impression of him terrifying at first, then sweet as she watched him play with the two precious little dragon shifters, and kiss their mother with adoration and love. Her fingers moved against the heart in her left hand. The children had come to her out of thin air to tell her not to be afraid of the ‘dragon warrior’, a warrior who hadn’t yet appeared, but who she sensed was now watching her with a hunger and longing that took her breath away. They had said he needed help, needed love.
“Something tells me that I will be alright, Mr. Reykill,” Sandy murmured, relaxing her grip on the cane.
There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. “I believe you may be right, Sandy,” Creon replied, eyeing the dark brown dragon, and remembering the healing power of a true mate’s love.
Chapter Nineteen
Sandy waited until she heard the sound of the screen door closing behind Creon before she moved. Drawing in a deep breath, she knelt down on the grass. She laid the paper heart on the ground, and placed her cane on the heart to keep it from blowing away in the light breeze.
Ignoring the huffing dragon for the moment, she tilted her head, and reached out her hand to the less imposing of the two creatures, the small one keening like its heart was breaking. “Let it come to me,” she ordered in a quiet, firm tone.
While she couldn’t see the expressions, if they had them, on the other two creatures’ faces, she sensed their sudden stillness. Thrusting her chin forward, she snapped her fingers and pointed. She hoped the move worked better with them than it did with Coco.
A shiver ran through her when she felt the tentative touch of warmth against her fingers before it withdrew. A magnitude of different feelings swept through her at the brief contact. She could feel the suffocating void of loneliness and the deep fear of rejection.
“It’s alright, sweetheart, I won’t hurt you,” Sandy murmured, stretching until she could run her hand along the silky head. “I can’t see you with my eyes, I’m afraid. I’ll have to do it with my fingers. How about you come a little closer? I really don’t want to do a faceplant into the grass… It totally kills the dignity,” she added in a humorous whispered.
She smothered a laugh when the creature unexpectedly ran a long tongue up her cheek. It wasn’t wet like a dog’s or scratchy like a cat’s. It was like the softest silk she had ever felt running along her skin.
“So, let me get a good impression of you,” Sandy chuckled, trying to keep her mouth free of the wild tongue.
The creature – symbiot, she reminded herself – sensed what she wanted to do and became still so she could run her hands over its head. Sandy glided her fingers along the surface, trying to map out in her mind the shape of it. She envisioned a nose and a long snout with a series of ridges. Her fingers slid upward, lightly framing a set of eyes before skimming back down along the jaw.
‘Huge’ was the overall impression she got. This creature was larger than any dog she had ever seen. If she compared it to something, it would probably be to a baby elephant, not that she had petted any of those in her life either.
“Okay, you are big, silky, have a long tongue, two eyes, a bumpy nose, floppy ears, and… oh, my…. sharp teeth,” she finished, running her fingers along teeth the size of a carving knife.
Her breath hissed when the face she had just memorized changed under her hands. The teeth, while still sharp at the tips and intimidating, were much smaller than before. A brief brush over the nose told her the symbiot’s face was completely different from the one she had just explored as well.
She blinked and shook her head. She would have to start all over again.
“And you can change shapes, too. I was just getting a picture of you. Something tells me this could be a never ending task,” she groaned.
She started to mentally map the new features when her hands sank into the soft body of the creature. Her breath hiccupped in surprise and her body instinctively stiffened as a wave of fear rushed through her. Her lips parted as a scream built, but it faded when a flood of images poured into her mind.
As the images flashed, she realized this was the symbiot’s way of communicating with her. Her eyelids fluttered closed and she opened herself to the kaleidoscope of vivid moving pictures. A man – or an alien in this case – fought his way down a long corridor, running through the maze of debris that littered the aisle. His name drifted into her mind: Jarak. Smoke and flashing lights threatened to disorient him, but he didn’t slow down. All around him, men worked to put out the fires that flared up.
Her head turned, gazing down the corridor as if she were beside him. Behind a set of doors, she could see three men through a clear panel. They were struggling to carry another man. One of them fell, and then another until they were all lying unconscious on the floor.
Jarak rushed through the wide doorway and slammed his fists against the clear glass in the door. He yelled out a command to the men, but she knew there was no possible way they would be able to hear him through the thick door. Jarak reached into a smoking panel next to the door, uncaring that it burned the flesh of his hands. Turning, she saw the flash of gold – this was the creature she was touching. It shifted, waiting for his command. The moment the doors were open, long ropes of gold shot out and wrapped around the men.
Her lips parted in wonder before a horrified gasp escaped her. A loud explosion rocked the ship and it tilted. When it did, she caught a glimpse of a hand behind a console. Jarak must have seen it at the same time. He sprinted forward, sliding when the ship rocked again. The flames grew larger behind the glass panels. Fine lines began to appear from the super-heated interior. The doors that Jarak had been manually holding open began to close again.
Sandy turned, trying to see which wires he had pressed together in the melted panel. Her hands fumbled, sliding through the panel like an apparition.
“No, you have to help him,” she cried out.
She watched in helpless horror as Jarak fought to grab the last man in the room. The moment Jarak was able to get a good footing, he slung the unconscious man over his shoulder fireman style and twisted. Sandy’s gaze flashed back to the splintering glass. They weren’t going to make it.
Her silent cry ripped through her when Jarak dove forward just before the doors closed. A huge ball of fire reached greedily for him only to be cut off by the doors. Both men fell forward, rolling up against the wall.
She watched in silence as Jarak pushed up into a sitting position. He rolled the other man over. It wasn’t until she saw Jarak’s shoulders shake that she realized the man he had risked his life for had already been dead. Jarak tilted his head back and roared in pain.
“Who was he?” she whispered, tears seeping through her lashes to roll down her cheeks.
Another image, this one of two boys running through a meadow of tall purple grass. The older one stopped and waited for the younger one. It was then that she knew it had been his brother.
Opening her eyes, she pulled her hands away from the symbiot to brush the tears from her cheeks. The warmth still ran through her body and she touched her wrists. Both had a band of the same silky material as the sym
biot wrapped around them.
Sniffing, Sandy groped along the ground for her cane. Picking up the cane and the paper heart, she rose to her feet. She was surprised when she felt the symbiot rise and press lightly against her. Turning, she focused on the cage. She swept the cane back and forth as she walked forward. In the shadows cast by the trees, it was harder for her to distinguish where things were and how far away she was from them.
The symbiot beside her stopped, but her cane met no resistance for another couple of feet. It seemed the symbiot was keeping a healthy distance from the other two who had formed the cage the men had been talking about earlier. Stepping forward, she stumbled when she heard a low growl of warning.
“I know who you are, Jarak,” Sandy said in a quiet voice. “I saw you.”
He may be terrifying, but underneath, he was a good man. She didn’t truly understand what had caused him to lose control of his dragon today, but the symbiot had shown her the heart of his pain, and she knew deep down that she could help, that she was meant to help. He was a selfless creature currently overwhelmed by rage and helplessness. She’d had many years to make peace with her situation, but she remembered her own rage and helplessness very well.
The dragon snarled, backing away from her when she took another step closer. She released her cane. It fell to the ground with a soft thump. Her hand reached out and her fingers skimmed over the symbiot holding him captive.
“Let me in,” she requested.
The gold bar vibrated against the palm of her hand before dissolving enough so that she could step forward. She paused when she heard a snort and the sound of scraping across the ground. Lifting her hand up, she stepped forward until her fingers touched the smooth texture of scales.
“You really are a dragon,” she breathed in awe.
Sandy felt the bracelets around her wrists warm, connecting them. She could feel his emotions inside her, the most shocking of which was fear. He was afraid he would hurt her, afraid of what she could mean to him, what it’d be like to lose her too. Unable to maneuver around her in the tight confines of the cage, he waited in tense uncertainty for their first touch.
Stretching her other hand out, she remembered the heart she was holding. She slid it down into her bra, not wanting to pull too far away from him. Using both hands, she explored the broad chest.
“I was scared once,” she murmured, sliding her hands down over his heart. “If I was honest with myself, I’d admit that I still am.”
She waited. A small smile tugged at her lips when she felt him nudge her with the tip of his nose, as if telling her to go on. His warm breath caressed her face, and she ran her fingers along his lower jaw.
“I was adopted. My parents didn’t know until I was almost thirteen that I had a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa. It is a hereditary disorder. I won’t go into all the wonderful and intriguing details of it, but I will tell you that learning I would eventually go blind wasn’t the kind of news I wanted to hear at thirteen. Throw in a case of puberty and you could imagine most parents would have been ready to lock me in a padded room, but not mine. Nope, they showed me how to take lemons and make lemonade.
“Dad has this infectious sense of humor. I swear he could make a living out of stand up comedy. Right now, he and Mom are on this pilgrimage to visit every National Park in all fifty states. Chad and I both have a box of decorative magnets which prove they are doing a pretty good job of it too,” Sandy chuckled with a shake of her head before she sobered. “But, that isn’t what frightens me. I can deal with losing my sight. I’m just not sure I’m cut out for being alone.
“I… I tried love once and it didn’t work out so well. He couldn’t deal with me being blind and I couldn’t deal with him being an ass. Unfortunately, it took both of us twenty years to finally realize that. Now… now, I’ve been sitting on a porch knitting and arguing with a cat who doesn’t listen. That’s not what I want in my life. I want to go on adventures and explore the world and discover places no one has ever been to, but I don’t know how.”
Her voice faded when she thought of all the things she wanted to do, but was too afraid to do now. She didn’t know why she was sharing this with a total stranger – hell, an alien! She had never told anyone, not even Wayne, about her concerns once the day came that the world went dark forever for her.
A soft gasp escaped her when she felt the chest she was touching change under her hands. She fell forward into a pair of strong arms. Her fingers splayed across his chest.
“Wow! You’ve got… just wow!” Sandy murmured in surprise, touching the hard muscles that seemed to go on forever.
“You play a dangerous game,” Jarak warned.
“Honey, with muscles like these, I could play all day!” Sandy retorted before blushing. “What I meant was—”
Sandy’s explanation was captured by a pair of firm lips. Her eyes widened in surprise before her eyelashes fluttered down and she closed her eyes.
Well, I can cross kissing a hunky alien off my bucket list, she thought as she melted against him.
Chapter Twenty
“What’s they doing?” Phoenix asked, walking over to where Jabir was gazing out the front window.
“Kissing,” Jabir replied with a sigh.
“I don’t knows why grown ups like to do that so much. It don’t look like fun to me,” Roam muttered around the cookie he was eating.
“I thinks our heart is working,” Spring said, peeking out of the window.
“Hey, Phoenix, Spring,” Jade exclaimed, “I founds some pictures of your mommy!”
“Our mommy?” Phoenix said.
“Jade, this isn’t your house,” Trelon said, stepping into the living room when he heard what she said.
“Let me see them,” Creon replied, following Trelon into the room.
Jade smiled apologetically up at her dad. “Amber and I was playing. I knocks the boxes over and was picking ups just like you tells me to, Daddy,” she explained, holding up the small box that had fallen over.
Creon reached for the rectangular box. Inside was a collection of images. Some were loose while others were framed. He walked over to the couch and sat down. Phoenix and Spring hurried over and crawled up on each side of him, peering down at the pictures.
“That’s before Mommy meets you, isn’t it, Daddy?” Spring asked, pointing to a picture of a very young Carmen sitting on one of the beasts from Paul’s ranch.
“Yes,” Creon murmured, fascinated by the glimpses of Carmen when she was younger.
There were pictures of Carmen and Ariel, an older couple who must have been her parents, Carmen with Trisha and Paul, and with dozens of others. Some of the images showed her when she wasn’t much older than Phoenix and Spring.
His fingers ran over each one. A smile curved his lips when he saw one of her when it was obvious she was mad. Her eyes were flashing in a way reminiscent of when he had first met her.
He reached in to pull out a frame that was wrapped in a thin, white paper. Unwrapping it, he drew in a deep breath. It was a picture of Carmen and her first mate, Scott. It must have been taken the day they joined. She looked so young, fragile… and happy as she stood next to a male with his arm wrapped around her. She also looked incredibly beautiful.
“That’s what Mommy was holding the night she saws me,” Phoenix whispered, her eyes swirling with colors.
Creon’s fingers tightened around the frame and he leaned down to press a kiss to Phoenix’s forehead. Emotion choked him at how close he had been to never having Carmen, Phoenix, or Spring in his life. Sitting back, he stared down at the photo again before he wrapped it back in the tissue paper.
“I love you, Daddy,” Phoenix said, leaning against him as he returned the pictures to the box.
“I loves you, too,” Spring said, wrapping her small arm as far as she could around his waist to give him a hug.
“I… I love you girls more than you could ever know,” Creon murmured.
“Can we’s makes Momm
y a Valentine’s Day card and brings it back to her?” Spring asked.
“We could gives her the box that Jade found. It belongs to Mommy, doesn’t it?” Phoenix asked.
“I think she would love both of them,” Creon replied with a tender smile. Creon glanced up as Paul pushed away from the wall. “Is it possible to create a Valentine’s Day card here?”
Paul nodded and smiled. “I think this is the perfect place to create one. There are a few things I wouldn’t mind taking back with me, and the Internet is a great place to order whatever we might need,” he said.
“There are boxes from all the girls’ places back at the ranch that you can go through. I had everything shipped there after I had their Power of Attorney drafted,” Chad suggested.
“Ann Marie had me put everything up in the attic. It’s all marked,” Mason added.
“I think we need a trip back to the ranch,” Paul said.
“What about Sandy and that… thing out in the yard?” Chad asked with a wave of his hand to the front door.
“They’s still kissing. I bets his pants is growings real big by now,” Jabir stated, still gazing out of the window.
“Oh, hell, I didn’t need that visual stuck in my head,” Chad muttered.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sandy stood still along the driveway, listening to the fading sound of Chad and Mason’s trucks. It was a miracle that she was even aware of them leaving. At the moment, all she could think about was the warm hands on her hips and the even warmer body standing behind her.
“You know you aren’t making this easy on me, don’t you?” Sandy teased, turning to face him.
*.*.*
A rusty chuckle escaped Jarak. The woman in his arms had no idea how difficult it was not to scoop her up in his arms and take her into the dwelling where he wanted to make love to her in every room of it.
I like idea. You carry, I bite, his dragon purred.