Alexa's Dragon (Dragon mates Book 1) (3 page)

What did she say to that? It wasn’t like he tracked her down as a child and tried to force her into something. Still it left her a little uncomfortable that he even thought she would ever do anything with him. What was probably worse was that her hands itched to touch him. She concentrated on the food trying to keep the troubling thoughts at bay.

The smell of the steak cooking made her mouth water. Her stomach pulled tight and the desire to sink her teeth deep into the meat consumed her.

“Almost done.” He turned the steak one last time.

Taking the vegetables, he poured them out between two plates before he placed the pan back on the burner. He opened the broiler, took out the steaks, and placed them on the plates. He handed hers over with a knife and fork. She would have looked for steak sauce; instead she cut a big piece of meat, shoved it into her mouth, and chewed. It was redder than she would have normally eaten. The feel of the meat on her tongue and its succulent juices running over her taste buds made her groan in appreciation. Keeping one eye on him, she ate in silence.

Alexa eyed the vegetables on her plate and pushed it away. She was full, the steak tasted like ambrosia. The strength she was losing every day had returned, or at least a small portion of it.

“I think explanations are in order.” She raised her head to look into his eyes. When his gaze met hers, she felt a shock of power flow through her body. She broke the connection. The power dwindled but the desire to touch him remained.

He sighed and stood. “I’m going to sit in the living room; it’s dusty but comfortable.” He turned and walked out leaving her to follow or not.

She followed. The living room was dusty, but not as bad as she would have assumed after a year of being left uninhabited. Her mom always said she would only tolerate so much dust in her house, and Alexa did her best to keep it tidy in her absence.

Syn settled on the couch once again looking like the master of all he surveyed. She took a chair trying to shove her nervousness aside to show a calm front, if he was crazy her being upset would make him worse.

“I’m waiting,” she did the imperial wave so he would know who was in charge.

He smiled at her showing way too many teeth.

“Where would you like me to start?”

“How about with me being freed from the first shackle of childhood?”

He nodded and his eyes grew serious.

“I need to go back a little further. Do you know anything about dragons?”

“I know they are a myth with roots in every culture. Some say they have wings others say they don’t. They can have scales or feathers and are usually considered to be reptiles.” She had looked them up after her mother had said the word dragon one too many times. “My mom seems to think they still exist today but I can assure you there are no dragons flying around the suburbs or the city.

“If I were to tell you dragons were real would that send you running to the kitchen again to grab your deadly knife?”

She hadn’t realized she left the knife in the kitchen, she was becoming much too comfortable with this man. Out of habit, she rubbed her arms but she wasn’t cold. Scanning the room, the fireplace wasn’t blazing and she knew he turned off the stove. She was always cold, yet she hadn’t been since she woke. That may be the reason she slept so long, because for the first time since she turned sixteen she was warm.

“Let’s call this a fairy tale. I find myself in the mood for a good one. Continue.”

“Dragons have existed from the beginning of time. Sea dragons, land dragons, and air dragons. We covered the planet in reasonable numbers. When the earth changed, we were able to dig deep into our private dens and wait out the change. We emerged to a totally different earth.

“Over thousands of years, some of our kind died off and even more were killed by humans. Not having any other defense, we retaliated. Our females were being killed when they were huge with child and unable to defend themselves.”

“I thought dragons were hatched.”

“We started that rumor long ago to get the human hunters off of our scent. It has helped. They have destroyed many eggs congratulating themselves on stopping the spread of our kind. One thing the storytellers got right was that we love precious gems. Every dragon has his or her own personal hoard of them.”

He stopped to stand. Thinking back to the black days stroked a burning anger within that never went away.

“Did you fight over them with humans?”

“Worse. We have a natural enemy. We call them demons. Not the ones you say serve the lord of the underworld, true demons that were born and continue to spawn more of their kind. They were attracted to the wealth each dragon craves. Much of the thinning of our population happened at their hands. They are able to change forms whenever they choose. They became humans and instilled such dread and fear of dragons in people that it became obvious we would never be able to live beside you.”

He began to pace. Going to the row of windows, he slowly walked in front of them.

“Why didn’t the dragons become human and tell their side of the story?”

“Dragons were born dragons, we had no ability to shift. I led the war on the demon, Mutufa. He was determined to kill my people off, I was determined that he and all that followed him would die. We fought long and hard.

“Mutufa taunted us on the battlefield that last day claiming victory would be theirs. I knew he would die fighting rather than being holed up in a cave for the rest of eternity.

“My dragon opened his mouth to blast them with fire that they countered. I was expecting this; the fire was just to distract them as my brothers readied their final prison.

“Thank you, Syneca, your fire is the last ingredient I need. Mutufa began to chant and the voices of his followers joined him.

“There was black magic in the air, the only kind the demons knew. I could feel it reaching out for me. I called out to my brothers warning them. They had to hurry, or it would be too late.

“Once again I took to the air, met by my brother, Maceo. We flew at the Demons ignoring the chanting and the magic we felt enveloping our bodies. Together we pushed them into a never-ending pit that would lead them into the spiritual realm. They would search forever for a doorway to free themselves. Before my other brothers could come to help us seal this doorway with dragon fire, Mutufa finished his chant and blew his black powder into the wind to be spread far and wide on the earth’s surface. The four of us used our fire together and sealed the doorway making sure it could never be opened again. Then we dropped out of the air unable to stay afloat. When we woke we were human.”

“As in no more dragon breath?” He nodded his head. “What did you do?”

“We staggered until we found human clothes to put on and then began the long arduous and dangerous climb to our homes. Along the way, we realized it wasn’t just the four of us who were now human, but every dragon had been turned. We eventually had to learn to live as humans and at the time, we thought we would die as humans. As the years went on, we noticed we weren’t aging like the other humans. This meant we could only stay in one place for so long before we had to change identities and move again. We lived like this for over a thousand years until one day while crossing a desert I changed. I became dragon once again. The joy in my heart as I connected with my other self was overwhelming.”

A smile graced his face chasing away the dark shadows that encircled it. The masculine beauty of him took her breath away. She wanted to get up and hug him sharing his joy over becoming a dragon again.

“Wow, that’s some fairy tale.” She took a deep breath. The story had reached out and wrapped around her, she could feel their struggle. If it was a lie, it was the best she’d ever heard.

“It’s not over but I am going to skip thousands of years of dragon history and bring you up to the here and now. Each dragon has a mate. Call them fated mates, dragon mates or anything else. Whatever they are there is only one. Each dragon is doomed to a frozen hell if he doesn’t find his mate within the time Eternity says.”

“Eternity?”

“The Goddess of all life.”

“Oh I think I learned about her in Sunday school.” She rolled her eyes and waited.

“At a certain time in each dragon’s life he will fall into a frozen awareness in his dragon form and never move again if he is not mated. Once a dragon gets close to this time, he cannot shift around his mate until he has taken her. All the dragon knows is he needs his mate. The smell of you will drive my dragon crazy and he will try to claim you, killing you in the process. After we have mated then I will change for you.”

“Wow, you tell one doozy of a story. I almost wanted to fall for it, but since you can’t change, I think I will call bullshit on the whole thing and ask you to leave.”

“I’m not leaving.” His beautiful face became a mask of determination.

“Don’t make me call the cops, then you’ll be in jail.”

“Alexa, why aren’t you freezing? You’ve been freezing since your hair turned white. Because your body needs to be wrapped in my essence. My body knows you belong to us and has reached out to comfort you.”

“Look, I don’t know if you’ve been following me or someone told you all about me. Maybe one of the doctors I used to pay big money to for nothing. Whatever the reason, I’m not the woman you’re looking for. All I want is a chance to live the life I’ve been given even if there is no prince charming waiting to place a glass slipper on my foot.”

“I was there; it wasn’t really glass it was diamond, as if he would ever come into contact with glass. And he was a dragon shifter.”

“Well they say all fairytales have their roots in truth somewhere along the way.”

He stood in front of the windows with his arms crossed over his muscular torso making her want to touch them.

“All right, why don’t you tell me why you think my hair turned white?” She should have picked up her cell phone and called the cops. It only made sense, but he was right, his presence was making her feel better. Running her hands up and down her arms, she wondered how that could be possible.

“There are several types of dragon mates and several different levels of power. The ones who are born with white hair are the most powerful. We have not seen one of those in thousands of years. The female you referenced, who received the shoe of diamond was born with white hair. The next powerful is the female whose hair turns white after a certain number of years. This too is rare. The next is the fiery redhead. Her hair will look like flames. And it goes on from there.”

“Someone with white hair would stand out but there is a world of redheads both natural and out of a bottle.”

“Color is not used as an identity; it simply helps to let us know your level of power. Our bodies know our mate. I can feel you calling to me. Your desire for me touches me like a caress. I know you are my mate just as you know I am yours.”

“Here’s the thing, we mortals don’t believe in mates. We believe in a boyfriend who may make us feel special enough to become a fiancée. If the fiancée can stand the heat, he will then become a husband. So you see, no mate for me.”

Syneca looked at her before doubling over and laughing harder.

“What’s so funny?”

“You. You called yourself a mortal, a human, one that is aging. I bet if you were honest, you would admit you still look twenty-five in human years. You will not age again unless I freeze and even then you may not. No one knows for sure what happens to a dragon’s mate after he freezes.”

The sadness in his voice wrapped around her.

“Do you know someone who froze?”

“My brother. It was always thought he was the second born and I was the oldest. We were wrong. He froze a long time ago. I visit him, he sits there encased in his dragon form seeing and hearing but unable to respond. I know I should put him out of his misery, and still I continue to hope.”

“I’m sorry for you and your brother.”

Alexa turned and left the room.

“Where are you going?” he called out after her.

“To bed, tomorrow when I wake up I will realize you’re nothing more than a figment of my imagination. Which means I don’t expect to see you in the morning.

Her voice floated down the stairwell followed by a door slamming.

Alexa stretched. It was a perfect morning. The birds were singing outside the window, her body was well rested, and the dreams of yesterday were faded memories. All she needed was her parents to call her name and everything would be glorious. She pushed that thought away and got up heading for the bathroom, glad she had kept the utilities on.

She sang in the shower taking time to enjoy the hot water against her warm skin. Not being cold was something she could get use to quickly. She got out and dried off. She redressed in what she wore yesterday not having any updated clothing in her closet. She would have to change that later. Dreading the long walk back to her place in the city, she headed down the stairs, only to be sidetracked by the smell of bacon sizzling in the kitchen.

Walking in, she saw Syn standing at the stove. “Why are you here? Sorry, that came out rude. What I mean is I thought you were leaving last night.”

“I stayed.”

That much was obvious. She sat down. “I’m going back to my place in the city and you’re not invited.”

“Ok.” His dragon snarled but he shut him down.

“No arguments? What happened to the you are my mate stuff?”

He slid a plate of bacon and eggs before her with two pieces of toast.

“Eat it all, you need your energy. I can’t force you to come with me. The decision is yours.” He lowered the hand that was close to caressing her face.

She looked him over. He looked a little tired as if he didn’t get the good night’s rest that she did. It was a bit disconcerting to see him standing before her with his wide shoulders and his beautiful eyes and to know she was going to walk out that door and leave him. It was all she could do though. It wasn’t like they knew each other, not really and they weren’t linked together.