He grimaced. “I assume this counts as sharing my thoughts. I expect extra credit for being so accommodating.” As he spoke, his hands slid up my knees, parting my legs so he stood between them.
“This isn’t a contest, you know. It’s not like you accrue a certain number of intimacy points, and then you can stop telling me things. It’s called sharing, and I’m going to expect you to do it for the rest of your life. Now, about this challenge…” My breath came shorter and shorter as his hands returned to my knees, this time his long fingers sliding under the silk material of my skirt, tracing an intricate and arousing pattern up my bare thighs.
“Yes?” He leaned forward, his mouth brushing the sweet spot behind my ear. Within me, passion, desire, and love all roared to life at his nearness, answering his silent call.
“I…you…Drake, everyone is waiting for us. They saw us go in here. If we stay to make love—which I admit sounds like heaven right about now—they’re going to know exactly what we’re doing. And while I don’t care that they know we’re mated, I really hate to flaunt illicit sex in their faces.”
He nibbled the edge of my ear, his hands sliding up to the apex of my thighs, stroking the satin of my underwear. I squirmed against his fingers, suddenly feeling that we both had far too many items of clothing on, clothing that constricted and bound and was just plain old in the way. “What we’re doing is not illicit, kincsem. It is recognized and sanctioned by the sept.”
My knees tightened around his hips as his fingers struck pay dirt, sliding beneath the now-damp satin to torment me further.
“Yes, by the sept, but not by the rest of the world,” I said on a half-sob, yanking his shirt of out of his pants so I could stroke the delicious planes of his chest beneath it.
His fingers froze in their beautiful dance of pleasure, his mouth ceasing the delicious nuzzling. He frowned slightly. “You are speaking of human marriage. You wish for me to marry you?”
Now, that is a question that a few short days ago would have had me rolling on the floor in hysterical laughter. But life had changed since Drake and I had resolved (most of ) our problems. Now it didn’t look nearly so ridiculous.
“My family is going to have a collective heart attack if they find out I’m shacked up with you for any length of time without marrying you. So although I don’t want to run out today and get married, I think that ultimately, we’re going to have to talk it over.”
“You understand that being a mate is much more binding than a human legal convenience which can be unmade so easily?”
“Yes, I understand, although I’d like to point out that you yourself mentioned I can be…er…de-mated, I guess.”
I swear flames flickered in the depths of his lovely green eyes. “Not easily,” he growled, his fingers sharp against my flesh. With a polished move, he whipped my underwear off my body without unseating me, grabbing my hips and pulling me forward to the very edge of the desk. I was pressed so tightly against him, I could feel the thud of his heart. “You are mine, and you will stay mine.”
I melted against him, my fingers dancing along the swells of his chest as I nibbled on his sweet lower lip. “Sounds good to me. Only”—I sighed and released his lip—“we can’t now, Drake. Oh, don’t look at me like that; I want to just as badly as you do.” I squirmed against his fingers. “As you can tell for yourself. But we can’t. Everyone is waiting for us.”
As if on cue, the door to the library opened. “There you are. You are engaging in intercourse again? Has the woman been tested for diseases?”
Drake sighed into my mouth, gave me a little taste of his fire that had me mentally damning any circumspection, and reluctantly pulled himself away from me to face his mother.
“In the future, you will knock before entering this room.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. This house was mine. I do not knock in my own home.” Catalina swept into the room, pausing a moment to frown at my underwear lying on the floor at my feet. “That is obscene. Tell your woman to remove it from my view.”
I started to slide off the desk to retrieve my undies—not because she ordered me to, but because I wasn’t comfortable having them lying around as an objet d’art—but Drake wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close.
“This house is mine now, and you will knock when you enter my private rooms. In addition, you will address Aisling by her name and refrain from giving her orders.”
Catalina smiled and sank gracefully into the nearest chair, crossing one leg over the other to show off a pair of elegant and no doubt extremely pricey shoes. “I am thirsty. Have your woman bring me wine. Spanish, not French.”
Drake’s face darkened with anger, his eyes flashing a warning. “Mother, I have just told you—”
“You know what? I’m going to let you two argue this out in private while I go grab a late lunch.” I kissed the tip of Drake’s nose just because I knew it would annoy Catalina, and picked up my underwear. “We can finish this discussion later, Drake. Maybe while you’re showing me the pool?”
“Yes. Later,” he said, his eyes filled with desire.
I smiled to myself as I left the room. Water was the green dragons’ element, and they had a special affinity for baths and pools. A large sunken bathtub filled with warm, scented water was one of Drake’s favorite places to make love, and I had to admit that I was very much looking forward to seeing the lap pool he’d told me was located in the basement of the house.
“Aisling? Telephone.” Pál handed me a cordless phone as I left the library.
“Thanks. Hello?”
“Bonjour, Aisling, it is Amelie here.”
The tense tone in her voice, so different from her cheery self when I had called her earlier, signaled that all was not well. I leaned against the wall and idly watched the people walk by on the street below. “I’d say it’s nice to hear from you, but I have a horrible feeling I’m not going to like what you have to say.”
“Non. You are not. The situation here is very bad; very bad indeed. It is without a doubt that Peter Burke has his origins in the dark powers. No one knows where he has come from. No one knows who he is. He simply showed up after the Venediger’s death and stated his intentions to take the position. We cannot tolerate such a being as he in control of the L’au-delà.”
My spirits fell. “Dammit. Any idea why he’s trying to get me in the position of Venediger?”
“No, but I must tell you—the feeling here is very warm toward you. People are saying that you are a Guardian, thus you will be able to control him. Banish him, even.”
I banged my head a couple of times on the wall. Pál, sitting in the next room, leaned sideways to look at me. I waved and walked to the other end of the hall. “Did you tell them I’m not interested? That there’s no way what so ever I can do the job?”
“Yes, but they do not care. Aisling, I must tell you—I know you do not wish for this to be thrust upon you, but I, too, will vote for you over this dark one.”
I groaned. “This is not happening. This is just not happening.”
“Perhaps if you could agree to be Venediger as a temporary situation only,” Amelie suggested. “Only until another person, one more suitable, could take the job?”
“No. Not happening. I’m sorry, but it’s just not going to happen.”
“Then we are all doomed,” Amelie said sadly, and after a few more minutes of discussion, she hung up. I struggled with a vague sense of guilt that I should be doing something to help, but I honestly didn’t see what I could do without taking on yet another massive responsibility.
I straightened my shoulders, put the problem on my mental back burner, and went to get some lunch.
“Wow,” Jim said, glancing from its plate to the clock as I entered a small, sunny dining room. “That was fast. Drake losing his touch?”
“Drake will never lose his touch, not that it’s any of your business.” I stopped in front of the demon, my hands on my hips. “What on earth is that?”
&
nbsp; “Your panties, I think,” it answered, squinting at my hip. “Doesn’t it look like panties to you, Rene?”
“Oui. Very much so. Satin?”
I stuffed the undies I held in one hand into my top, giving Jim a good glare. “Less observation and more explaining. What is all that food on your plate? You’re not allowed to eat that much! You’re on a diet, remember?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Have you eaten any of it?” I interrupted.
“I was just about to. Hey!”
“No excuses, buster.” I scraped half the mound of chicken salad, one hardboiled egg, and several small pieces of garlic-toasted French bread onto another plate, returning a diminished portion to the demon.
Nora sat down next to me as I took a fork from the sideboard and with a meaningful look removed a small plate of chocolate cake from Jim’s possession.
“Cake thief!” it muttered, managing to look sullen even while eating chicken salad. “You owe me after I put up with being disemboweled and stuff.”
I rolled my eyes at the disemboweled accusation, and ate the confiscated portion of its lunch.
“I never asked because you were bleeding, but your fire, it worked?” Rene asked, munching on bread and thin-sliced steak.
“Yeah, it worked fine. It hit just as I plunged the knife down, hiding the fact that Jim’s body had disappeared when I spoke the words sending it to Akasha.”
“Ah. You have learned to control the fire, then. This is good.”
“Definitely.”
“Aisling?” Pál stuck his head into the room. “There is a demon at the door for you. It demands you go with it to meet with the demon lord Ariton.”
I waved a fork of chicken salad at him. “Would you tell Obedama that I’m busy for the next couple of days, but as soon as I have a free hour, I’ll pop in to visit Ariton.”
Pál blinked twice. “Very well.”
I smiled at everyone in the room as he left. “There’s something to be said for living with a dragon who knows how to keep demons out.”
“Mais oui,” Rene said, helping himself to another hunk of bread.
We spent a few minutes talking about what I’d done with the imps, Nora suggesting we spend some time going over the more common attributes of several recently spotted beings.
I begged off for a quick nap, feeling drained by the events of the last couple of days. En route to the room, however, I heard Drake’s voice saying something to Pál about the swimming pool. I raced down the back stairs as quietly as possible, my libido shifting into high gear.
The pool wasn’t hard to find, and, thankfully, had a door with a lock on it for privacy. I smiled at it as I sat on a cedar bench and kicked off my shoes, removed my underwear from where I’d stuffed it into my bra, and peeled off the rest of my clothes in record time.
Drake liked his water warm rather than cool, so I wasn’t surprised to find the temperature of the lap pool a little warmer than normal. I didn’t mind it and swam a few lazy laps while I waited for him.
“I thought you were tired.”
I swam to the end of the pool and admired the man who stood leaning against the door.
“I thought I was. Then I remembered this pool and figured a little gentle exercise would do my gore spot good.”
Drake walked to the end of the pool, squatting next to me. “Is it bothering you? There was no redness this morning. Let me see.”
I swam backwards, smiling. “You’ll have to come in here if you want to examine my belly.”
His eyes, which had been exhibiting a subtle green smolder, lit from deep in their depths. He glanced at his watch. “I have a chevauchée shortly.”
“A what?” I reached the steps, lolling around in the water like a seductive sea nymph, flashing signals with my eyes that I was sure he couldn’t miss. He pulled off his shirt, carefully placing it on a cedar bench, sitting briefly to remove his shoes and socks.
I smiled and undulated at him.
“Technically it means a horseback raid, but in this instance, it is a ritual performed by those about to undergo a challenge.” His eyes narrowed when I ran a hand down my breastbone, the irises in his eyes all but disappearing as my back arched, exposing my breasts.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that challenge. What exactly is going to happen? And what do I need to do? And why aren’t you naked and inside me yet?”
A splash was all the answer he needed to make. Before I could wipe the water from my eyes, I was in his arms, my nipples rubbing against his now-slick chest. I squirmed a happy little squirm that had as much of me touching him as possible, licking a couple of drops of water off his chin.
“Dmitri has chosen trial by combat for the challenge. In specific, swords. You need do nothing other than be present. And believe me, kincsem, being inside you is all I can think about. We have been parted too many times today. I have been hungry for you.”
My hands slid around his hips to the proof of his hunger. “Good, because I’m positively famished.”
His hands closed around mine, gently prying them off his penis. “Aisling, right now I do not think I can bear your touch for long.”
I rubbed my hips against him. He groaned and grabbed my butt to stop me from moving.
“In the mood for a quickie, eh? That’s fine with me. My pot has been simmering all day. It’s not going to take much to make me boil.”
“I’m afraid that’s all I have time for.” His breath was hot on my mouth as he backed me up against the wall of the pool. The water was just over breast height on me, high enough to give me sufficient buoyancy to wrap my legs around his hips while I kissed the fire right out of him.
His body was hot and hard against me as I all but purred, squirming against him to feel as much of him as possible. My body ached for him, waited with every muscle clenched for the familiar invasion, needing him the way I needed to breathe.
“Drake, are you here? We will be late for the…ah.”
Pál’s voice echoed slightly in the room. Drake swore into my mouth. I made embarrassed eeking noises and sank into the water until I was submerged to my neck, my arms over my breasts.
Pál had his back to us, evidently examining a water pipe that ran across the ceiling. “I’m sorry to disturb you, but the chevauchée is to commence in fifteen minutes. Shall I tell Dmitri that you will be delayed?”
Drake swore again, his lips hot on mine as he gave me a quick, hard kiss that promised almost as much as the look in his eyes. “That would give him the opportunity to claim I defaulted on the challenge. I am ready.”
I cocked an eyebrow at his naked butt as he strode over to his clothing, snatching up a towel from a nearby stack. “OK. It’ll take me a few minutes to get ready, but I can put on makeup in the car.”
“You cannot attend the chevauchée, kincsem. It is a ritual cleansing for the combatants only. There is no need for you to hurry—István will remain behind to bring you to the fencing club.”
“You’re holding a challenge in a fencing club?”
“Yes. Is there something wrong with that?” He pulled on his black pants and the heavy silk green shirt I loved for him to wear because the material seemed to caress his skin.
“No, it’s just kind of an incongruous place to hold something so serious as a challenge, isn’t it?”
He finished with his shoes, grabbed another towel, and shook it out for me. I made sure Pál still had his back to me, hurrying out of the pool to clasp the towel around me.
“It is no less incongruous than holding a challenge in a bar.”
I smiled. “Yes, but my challenge to you wasn’t serious. I hope you’ll notice that I’m not freaking out about this at all. I haven’t even asked you how good you are with a sword.”
“I noticed.” His mouth burned on mine for a moment, his fire being shared between us as his tongue twined around mine in a fiery—albeit brief—dance. “You are learning to have faith in me as is proper between a mate and her wyvern.??
?
“No, I am learning to ask around. Pál told me earlier today that Dmitri had picked swords and that you were pleased because you were some sort of master swords-man a few centuries ago. You’d better not have forgotten anything.”
Pál peeked at me out of the corner of his eye, his grin not too obvious. Drake pinched my bare behind as punishment for my saucy tone. “I never forget. István will drive you when you are ready. The challenge is not for an hour. Do not be late.”
“Happy chevauchée-ing,” I called, feeling remarkably happy.
Pál hesitated at the door. “There was another phone call for you, but I thought you were resting.”
“Phone? Who was it?” Just about everyone I knew on this side of the world was in the same house as me.
“Apparently it was the demon lord Ariton.”
I sighed. “Him again. What a pest. Did you take a message?”
“Yes. He said if you will not come to him, he will come to you.” Pál’s eyes were dark as he considered me. “You are not in some sort of trouble?”
“Just the usual stuff.”
“Ah. Should I inform Drake?”
“Naw. I’ve got Nora to help me if Ariton gets bossy. Thanks for covering for me, though.”
Pál left with a cheery smile that I wholeheartedly shared. Life was finally starting to come together for me. Oh, there were trouble spots, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I just had a demon lord to placate, and a dragon war to end, and the Guardians’ Guild to convince. “No big deal, really,” I said aloud as I walked over to the bench.
Behind me, glass tinkled to the stone floor. Before I could turn to look, something stung my back, right between my shoulder blades.
I was out even before I hit the floor.
19
The voices around me were not speaking English. For some reason, that grated on my nerves. “It’s very rude to speak in a language that people can’t understand,” my voice said.
I frowned at the sound. I wasn’t aware I’d given my mouth the order to speak, but then, I didn’t quite understand why I was drifting somewhere on a gently rolling dark cloud of oblivion, or who was standing near me talking in a lyrical foreign language.