Cornering Carmen (13 page)

Yes, you did,
Creon replied
dryly
before reluctantly rolling out of bed.
You really need to learn a little about control.

Control for wimps,
his dragon replied with a
roll
of his eyes.
You needed my dragon balls to lose control.

Fuck you,
Creon growled back playfully.

No, fuck my mate,
his dragon answered back with a huge yawn.
After nap.

Creon shook his head. He would probably need a nap later
,
he thought
,
as he stumbled toward the bathing room. He needed to finalize things with his brothers before he left. He also needed to talk to his mother. He wanted to thank her for her help. She had told him he needed to look beneath the mask to the wounded creature beneath. He now understood the depth of pain and grief his mate had suffered and he would do everything he could to make her life a happy and fulfilling one. Today was the first day of her new life and he was determine
d
it
would
be one she never, ever regretted.

*.*.*

Several hours later, Carmen was walking next to Cara, Ariel, and Trisha toward Abby’s living quarters. Along with over a dozen guards who kept a marginal distance behind her. Carmen had been surprised at the knocking at the door and out of habit had picked up the vase she kept near the door before realizing she probably didn’t need it anymore. She opened the door to find Cara bouncing like a super-ball. Behind her was Trisha and Ariel and a cart laden with pots of…

“Coffee?” Carmen asked hopefully looking at the cart with a look that had the guards backing up even further. “You have coffee?”

Cara’s light laughter filled the corridor. “Pots and pots and pots of it. All the good stuff! I’ve been reprogramming the replicators to make it. It took a while but I think I have it figured out. I also made a bunch of other stuff. It is so cool. Did you know if you….”

Carmen had lost track of what Cara was rattling off about. Something to do if you cross this wire with that and add something else you end up with something new. All her brain could process was it smelled
coffee. She would have followed the women anywhere if it meant getting a cup or a hundred.

“We’re headed to see Abby. She had the most amazing adventure!” Cara said excitedly. “I heard Mandra, who told Kelan, who told Trelon that she burned this guy that kidnapped her up! I want to learn how to do that.”

Carmen shook her head and put her hand on Cara’s shoulder to stop her energetic movements. “The only question I have is do I get a cup of coffee if I follow you?”

“Yes!” The answer came from three giggling voices.

Carmen looked at the guards who moved back another step. She frowned in confusion at them. Before, at least two or three of them would have been on her ass by now. She took a step toward them and they almost stumbled trying to move backwards away from her. She shook her head in confusion before closing the door and following the other women down the corridor. Every once in a while she would glance over her shoulder to see if the guards were still there. They were but they were like a school of Barracuda. They kept the same distance from her. If she moved toward them, they moved back. If she moved forward, they took a step closer. It was downright weird.

“So what’s with all the guards?” Cara asked as she bounced down the corridor. “I would have thought we had enough protection with all our gold BFFs.”

Carmen wouldn’t have been surprised if Cara didn’t start dancing on the ceiling with the amount of energy she was putting out. If they could harness it, they could power the entire planet for at least a month or two. Instead, she scowled when she listened
to
her sister’s response.

“Oh, they are guarding us. They are here to prevent Carmen and me from trying to escape again,” Ariel was saying.

Cara turned around walking backwards, practically shaking with excitement. “Do you need help? I bet I could rewire the
V’ager
! We could go exploring. Maybe we could try…,” loud groans from the guards drew laughter from the women.

Even Carmen couldn’t quite hide the smile that curved her lips. Cara was additive and exhausting all in the same sentence. It was obvious she was in rare form today. She wondered how Creon’s brother was holding up. Tired, exhausted, worn-out were a few adjectives that came to mind. Carmen had visited Trisha and Ariel enough over the last three years to know what their little friend could be like. Outrageous on a good day and destructive on an even better one. She had never seen Cara have a bad day so she figured the world would be safe until
that
day arrived.

She gave a silent ‘thank you’ when they arrived at Abby’s door. She was about ready to go feral if she didn’t get a cup of coffee soon. The smell was heaven and she was ready for more than a whiff of it. She bowed her head to hide the blush that rose on her cheeks as she remembered why she was in such a desperate need for a cup. She was working on about three hours of sleep. Creon had been insatiable last night. It had been a long time since she had a workout like that. Not since she and Scott spent that long weekend in Rio de Janerio
. A soft, warm glow filled her.
S
he could now think of her memories with him with
a measure of
happiness
instead of just pain and grief
. They had lived, loved, and laughed life to the fullest. Now, it was time to let go and live again. Tears burned her eyes. Not from sadness this time but with a gratitude that she had been given a chance to be loved like that not once but twice in her lifetime. Her fingers fell to her side. She felt a warmth spread through the tips of her fingers up her arm as Harvey brushed against her. Long tentacles of gold spun out from his coat, wrapping around her arms and moving under her shirt to encase her neck.

“Thank you, my friend,” she murmured quietly.

He let out a small snort before trotting through the open door into Abby’s living quarters where he promptly turned around in a circle several times before
lying
down in the first sunny spot he could find near the windows. Carmen listened to the other women chatting excitedly about everything that happened. She quietly poured herself a cup of coffee and walked over to the chair
nearer to
where Harvey lay. Curling her legs up under her, she followed along with Abby’s tale of everything that happened to her. She leaned forward when Abby dropped her little bombshell.

“I can change into a dragon,” Abby was saying with a nervous giggle.

The words echoed through Carmen as Abby described to Cara how she did it.
Carmen looked down at the soft, peach-colored skin of her arms but she was remembering last night. She had watched as ripples of color had run up and down them.

Just like when Creon had transformed at the hanger,
she thought stunned.
That was what he meant about the transformation.
That was what the burning fire
was inside me
. He was changing me… like…,
her mind froze for a moment. …
Like the phoenix. I was reborn last night.

A small nervous chuckle escaped her as more memories came. How she felt like something was moving under her skin. How her back had burned and itched as if something was trying to burst from it. How his eyes had lit with passion, desire, and delight as he stared down at her. How something deep inside her was reaching out to touch…

My mate,
the husky voice inside her whispered
. I want my mate.

Carmen remained motionless, listening to the voice inside of her instead of to the giggles coming from Cara and Abby. She lowered her head so the others couldn’t see the confusion in her eyes or notice when she closed them as she focused inward. She reached out again to see if what she had heard was imaginary or real.

I real,
the voice purred.
Just like our babies.

Carmen’s eyes flew open and her pulse sped up until she felt like she was about to hyperventilate.
Our what?!
She choked out silently.

Our babies,
the voice said with a satisfied sigh.
See, you look. You see me and our babies our mate gave us.

Carmen let out a trembling breath and closed her eyes again. She focused deep inside her, unsure of what she was looking for or what to do. It was as if some invisible thread suddenly began to glow inside her mind. Images swirled, mixing and forming into a solid shape becoming clearer the longer she focused. The image of a beautiful, slender dragon in the colors of the phoenix on her back appeared. Shades of white blended with reds, pinks, and purples from the tip of her long, narrow snout down to her tail. Her wings were folded in close to her body.

Look closer,
the husky voice said.
Look at our mate’s gift to us.

Carmen watched as one delicate wing lifted to reveal two tiny sparks of light. They were so small and fragile but glowed with a strength that belied their size. They moved closer to each other and to the dragon curled protectively around them. Carmen could feel the tightness in her chest as she fought with a collage of emotions. She reached out
with
her mind to gently stroke the tiny sparks.

Will I be able to transform into a dragon like Abby?
She asked her dragon in a trembling voice.

Silly, how else do I touch my mate if you no change!
Her dragon said as she wrapped her wing around the two sparks again.
My mate as horny as yours. He not want to wait for long. You watch. He call to me.

Carmen couldn’t stop the nervous giggle that burst from her. She opened her eyes and stared at Abby again. Once she started she couldn’t stop. The air filled with her giggles as happiness unlike anything she ever thought possible again filled her. All eyes whipped around to stare at her, unable to believe where the giggling was coming from.

Carmen wiped her eyes trying to stop from laughing. “Oh Abby, please teach us. I would love to be able to give someone else hell and I’m sure I could think of a hundred different ways to do it in the form of a dragon,” she said as images of Creon in his dragon form trying to catch up with her formed in her mind.

Soon, they were giggling and making up ways they could drive the men insane by switching between human and dragon and using the symbiots. Cara was the most creative but Carmen came up with the most devious. She could escape out the windows and fly down different levels or soar out over the ocean she had seen in the distance or when he got bossy she could wrap her tail around him and hang him upside down over the balcony until he gave in. The list went on and on, each getting more ridiculous than the one before. When Zoran walked into the room a couple of hours later and found all five women in hysterics, he groaned loudly. Carmen looked at his face and burst out laughing even harder.

Creon ran an exhausted hand through his hair. They would be leaving in the morning. Mandra was taking Ariel with him to meet Adalard. Creon paused outside the door to his living quarters and looked at the group of men standing outside it. All of them were looking warily at him. It appeared his threat to personally gut any man who touched his mate had spread. Each one of them looked like they expected him to start carving away on them at any moment.

“Did she try to escape today?” He asked the first guard brave enough to look at him.

“No, my lord,” the guard replied hesitantly. “She spent most of the day with the other females. She did not try to attack any of us.”

He would have released a sigh of relief if it hadn’t been for the hesitant pause in the guard’s voice. Something had happened. A feeling of dread ran through him. There was no way she could know about him giving her … he looked at the door as a feeling of tribulation ran through him.

“What aren’t you telling me?” He asked as his jaw tightened in determination.

The guard looked at a couple of the men standing near him but they just looked up at the ceiling and put their hands behind their backs. He scowled at the cowards. They were leaving him to face the wrath of the young royal known to show no mercy when dealing with those who displeased him.

“It sounded like she was moving things around inside. We could not go in to make sure she was well. Every time we tried
,
she threatened to make sushi out of us,” the guard said. “We were not sure what sushi was but it sounded very dangerous. She said if she needed us she would ask for our help when hell froze over,” the guard added. “We were not sure what that meant either but decided she was well if she was yelling and threatening us.”

Creon rubbed the back of his neck with a tired hand. She was not happy about something. He hoped she didn’t find out about her friend, Trisha. He tried to think if there was any way she could have. Her friend had knocked out one of the guards with her and disappeared. His brother, Kelan, was beside himself. Something had been said or something happened when they were with their friend Abby. He should never have let her go! Everything was too new and strange for her.