Authors: Ophelia Bell
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“D
id she choose?” Garen asked. Sweet Mother, if she’d chosen him he would have to make her change her mind. He couldn’t let Skye give up his inheritance. The small box he’d retrieved from the bay weeks earlier rested heavily in his pocket, a reminder of what was at stake. After seeing Alec and Julia together, he believed there would be hope for him. If Alec could avoid the Renunciation and find a mate so late in his life, perhaps Garen would find someone else. The thought of not being with Melody sent an icy spike through his gut, but he would have time to heal from that. Without his inheritance, Skye would lose rank and status, two of the most important things to a dragon like him. Guardians, fortunately, had less to lose than the other members of their race.
Skye’s face was grim, however, his posture tense. “We have a few more days to convince her,” Skye said, striding past Garen where he stood on the steps of the wide deck at the back of the house. He paused just outside the door, and glanced up at the second floor window.
The sounds of lovemaking had subsided, but the concentration of energy in the upper floor of the house was as bright as a star. Skye had to be able to sense something of what was going on, but he just stood there looking perplexed.
“He’s marked her,” Skye said softly. “Their auras are merged—and I can’t read either of them.” He let his hand drop from the doorknob, his shoulders sagging. With a sigh, he slumped down into one of the deck chairs and stared off in the direction he’d come from after talking to Melody.
Garen took the seat next to his friend. “She’ll come around,” he said. Once she heard his argument, he was sure she would choose Skye.
“I don’t know,” Skye said. “She’s conflicted. And I’m afraid I’ve already pushed her too far.”
Garen didn’t respond. He hoped Skye had pushed her far enough.
They sat without speaking for some time. Melody didn’t return, and the house grew quiet while the early autumn sun worked its way across the sky.
Five hundred years, Alec had held out that long before finding Julia. Garen himself was patient, too. A dragon like Skye couldn’t wait as long. And he’d seen them together, the morning after that first night. Melody had glowed radiantly, filled with Skye’s power and with something even stronger—the beginning of a bond and true affection. A similar deep glow had been at the center of Skye’s aura that morning, too. Staring up at the golden sun resting in the deep blue of the sky now made the decision seem even more right. Melody belonged with Skye, and whatever it was that had changed between them after that first night needed to be put right.
He refused to let himself consider the other half of his plan—the part where he gave them both up. As a Guardian, it was his nature to put those he served first and if anything, the ones he loved ranked even higher for that fact.
Yet he couldn’t stop himself from standing when Melody came striding out of the woods, down the garden path toward them. His heart pounded as she came toward them, her beauty even more vibrant than the row of sunflowers that lined the edge of the garden. The expression on her face was less grim and less full of despair than before. Now she was merely thoughtful, if somewhat resigned. She gave him a weak smile.
The smile brightened by a magnitude of a thousand a second later when the door opened behind him. He and Skye both turned.
A freshly mated human woman was a sight to behold, and one as beautiful as Julia simply took his breath away. The utter joy she exuded hit him hard enough to nearly obliterate his sadness. Alec was a Gold dragon, though, and considerably more powerful than they were, so Garen shouldn’t have been surprised. A pang of regret sliced through the joy with the knowledge that he wouldn’t be the one to evoke that look in Melody. He intended to leave before it happened.
“Mama!” Melody called, ignoring Garen and Skye completely and rushing to her mother. “My God, you look amazing!”
Julia’s face split into a wide smile. Tears glistened in her eyes when Alec came through the door and rested his hands on her shoulders. He gave Garen and Skye a self-satisfied look.
“When are the two of you going to stop wasting time?”
His expression grew stern for a split second before he turned to accept Melody’s tight embrace.
“It’s up to Melody now,”
Garen sent back.
Melody was absorbed marveling over her mother’s mark, a pretty glowing band that Alec had expertly etched around the woman’s delicate wrist. It gleamed like a piece of gold jewelry, and if Garen shifted his eyesight to filter out the magical aspect, it did look just like a beautiful gold cuff.
Julia’s gaze turned to Garen and Skye, her expression growing more solemn.
“Alec says you are like him,” she said. To Melody, she said, “And that you know already, even without having one of these.” She raised her arm up. “I wish you could have told me, honey.”
“I didn’t really know I was different until I met them,” Melody said. She finally shot a quick glance at Garen. “They showed me so much. And I wanted to tell you, these last few weeks, but Alec made me wait. Besides, I’m not really sure how I would’ve explained it at the time. How do you tell your mother the man she’s always loved is a dragon in human form? That they even exist?” Melody’s eyes widened and she looked at Alec. “Did you tell her about Anya and Viki?”
“He did. A little bit at least,” Julia said. “But none of that is important right now. What’s important is making sure you’re happy, too. Baby, I don’t want you to go through life lonely. Please tell me what’s going on with you—why these two men who clearly seem to care for you are here and you’re ignoring them. After what you told me last week …”
“Mom, I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay?” Melody said, cutting her mother off. “Can we please just celebrate for you and Alec tonight? I’ll start cooking. Let’s invite Anya and Viki, too, make a party of it. You have no idea how happy this makes me.”
Without another word, Melody left them, heading into the house. In spite of her words, happiness only gave the smallest glimmer to her aura.
Garen shifted his posture when Julia looked at him again.
“Which of you is the one making my daughter miserable?”
Garen glanced at Skye, hesitating. A mother’s wrath wasn’t something they took pleasure in. Making
this
woman happy would likely go a long way toward turning Melody around, in fact.
“I’m afraid it’s both of us,” Skye said. “And we’re trying to fix it, but it’s going to take more time.”
A shrewd look crossed Julia’s face and she nodded. “Well, you’re welcome to stay until it’s worked out, as long as Melody is okay with the arrangement. Do you two share a room? I only have the one spare room with a queen-sized bed—and the living room sofa is a pull-out.” She glanced between them, one eyebrow raised as she considered their size. When he and Skye didn’t answer she shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll let you two work it out. Linens are in the upstairs hall closet. Under the circumstances I’m not inclined to treat you as guests. There’s gardening work to do tomorrow, and we’re starting first thing in the morning. If either of you cook, you’re welcome to make meals, too.”
Julia went back inside, but Alec stood eying them both, his thick arms crossed over his t-shirt clad chest. He’d let his eye color shift to its natural golden shade, which lent an incongruous effect to the image. Gold dragons tended to be more easygoing, but Garen had to admit, Alec was the first he’d ever met in the context of wanting to mate someone’s daughter, adopted or not.
“Can you two explain why she’s showing a dual bond? The last time I checked that was still against our laws. You two aren’t Court and don’t have the leverage to get special treatment. I don’t want Melody dragged through a Council visit and see you two forced to submit to them. I’m giving you a week. One of you will mark her by the end of it. She’s confused now, I can see that, but it’s up to you to change her mind.”
“We don’t want to deal with the Council any more than you do,” Garen said. His skin prickled at the very idea of having to submit to those six imposing immortals. He’d seen dragons in the aftermath of having to do just that. At least the ones whose magic they didn’t outright bind for breaking the law. That’s what he and Skye might be in for if they both mated Melody. In past generations, binding would mean slavery. Slavery had been abolished with the new brood’s ascendance, but the Court needed to maintain some manner of punishment for dragons who broke the laws, and being sentenced to binding for a time was their compromise.
Submission to the Council would leave a dragon with the ability to use his or her powers, but essentially indentured to the Council for a sentence that they would determine. Normally a dragon would come away from the experience different—subdued and with little sexual appetite, leaving them unable to please their human mates and only able to find release by submitting to their superiors. He knew four dragons from his own generation who had been required to submit for dual-mating of a human. Those dragons had been able to offer a suitable compromise to the Council to avoid that sentence, but Garen knew neither he nor Skye would have that option. Melody’s happiness was far too important to risk it. It would be better if she chose Skye and let him make her happy. Especially if the alternative was no better than being alone.
“Good,” Alec said, his demeanor shifting to the bright, infectious joy of a Gold dragon. He stepped between them and slung his arms around their shoulders. “Now we have need to celebrate, but I do expect results from you two soon.”
“What about you?” Skye asked as they made their way to the French doors that lined the back of the house along the deck.
“What about me?” Alec asked.
“You’re here—you’re alive outside your own generation. Last time I checked
that
was against the law as well.”
Alec paused and looked at Skye. “Not anymore, it isn’t. I made my argument to the Council before I came back for Julia. They’d already given dragons like me amnesty. Unbound as well. The Hibernation and Renunciation are no longer compulsory, either. I’m surprised Kol didn’t tell you this.”
Skye blinked at him and for the first time since Garen had known his friend, he looked ashamed.
“The document is on my desk,” he said. “I didn’t read past the section on dual mating. Didn’t have the patience for it.” His blue eyes met Garen’s briefly, the gaze accompanied by a sad smile.
Garen had read all the new laws in detail. He’d paused at the section Skye had mentioned, but hadn’t been surprised. Two dragons mating a single human defeated the purpose of procreation. There had apparently been a compromise between lifting that law or the one allowing two dragons to mate each other—and even the revision of that one had carried too many qualifiers for his taste, limiting the mating to a male-female pair, to begin with, unless the dragons were able to meet a long list of other requirements, all of which were designed to ensure the proliferation of their race.
He hadn’t spent a lot of time worrying over the implications, however. Skye had shown no inclination to consider him more than a means to an end, and his own inability to find release with anyone else left him wishing he
had
a reason to care about those laws.
Sensing his confusion, Skye’s voice whispered in his mind.
“I would have mated you, if I believed we could pull it off.”
“She’s going to choose you, friend. If it’s the last thing I do it will be to see you with your mother’s power and the woman you love.”
With that, he stepped away from them, and headed toward the kitchen to lend his skills to the meal preparation.
Chapter Forty
M
elody couldn’t shake the tight sensation of anxiety that gripped her gut. Or the buzzing excitement that wrapped around it, rippling through her limbs just about every second she was in the same room with the two of them. They had to be able to sense what was going on with her somehow—she knew that much about their abilities. Yet they kept their distance.
Even in the relatively close quarters of her mother’s kitchen, Garen managed to avoid getting too close to her, choosing tasks that kept him out of her way. He barely even looked at her, which she hated, though he kept up an easy banter with her mother.
She found herself losing her train of thought every few minutes, her attention captured by the way he moved with such sure, easy grace, even for a man so big. His forearms flexed as he chopped vegetables for a salad, the knife moving in a near blur and the pieces winding up in uniform slices which he tossed into a bowl. The sweet, pale gold cowlick of his curled above his forehead, a strand of hair falling over one eye, but he didn’t seem to notice. She wanted like hell to reach across the kitchen island that separated them and brush it away, run her palm down his smooth cheek.
He glanced at her briefly and smiled, then went back to his work and his conversation with her mother as though he hadn’t just made her heart stop beating and her breath catch in her throat.
She finished her own tasks and tried to escape, carrying a glass of wine to the open dining area where Alec and Skye sat talking. The experience was no easier there, however.
Where Garen was quiet, attentive, and easy-going, Skye was the opposite. His voice rose and fell with intense emotion over a discussion on what Melody could only surmise was dragon law. As much as she’d love to hear more about it, she was too caught up watching his hands gesture to emphasize his points with no less grace than Garen’s when he cooked.
Skye ran his hands through his hair repeatedly, making it stand up in ruddy spikes. It was a gesture she had learned he did when he was upset, but all she could think of was how soft his hair was and the first time she’d run her own fingers through it.
The memory sent a sharp spike of aroused longing through her. Both Alec and Skye abruptly stopped talking and looked at her as though she’d said something, though she was sure she hadn’t spoken.
“Are you all right, Mel—?” Alec said.
“Fine, Dad,” she mumbled, taking a sip of her wine.
Skye said nothing, but his fist clenched tighter around the bottle of beer in his hand. His gaze fell on her face and she couldn’t look away from the intensity of those bright blue eyes with their deep inner glow. For an eternity their eyes stayed locked. Melody’s heart rate picked up pace and her breathing quickened. Even beneath the lingering sadness he still displayed from their earlier conversation was a hunger even deeper than she’d witnessed the last time they were together. She could fall into those eyes if she let herself, and just drift, carried by the undulations of his lovemaking—because that’s what he was doing to her right now, without even touching her.
An odd crackling sound hit her ears followed by a loud
pop
that drew her violently back to the present.
Skye cursed and stared down at his bleeding hand, small shards of brown glass sticking out of his palm from the busted beer bottle.
Alec stood without a word and went to the kitchen. A moment later Garen appeared with a hand towel.
“Faulty container, was it?” he asked with a touch of irony as he knelt down in front of Skye. He took Skye’s cut hand and held it tenderly. He shot Melody a furtive glance, seeming somehow afraid of giving her his full attention.
“Something like that,” Skye said as Garen began gingerly picking the shards out of his skin.
Watching the pair of them together made her entire insides seem to turn over on themselves. Skye flinched once or twice but never took his eyes off Garen’s face. When Garen looked up at Skye, they held each other’s gazes for several seconds, then Garen bent his head again, blew a soft breath over the cleaned cuts. It was the first time Melody had seen him do it, and she inhaled sharply at the shimmering white smoke that swirled out and condensed over the surface of Skye’s palm as though it were drawn by a magnet.
The smoke itself and the fact that the wounds closed instantly should have surprised her, but she was too overcome with love for the two of them to care about their extraordinary quirks. They belonged together—that much was painfully evident from her simple observation. But giving them up was too heartbreaking an option to consider.
Blinking tears from her eyes she downed the rest of her glass of wine and stood, seeking escape. Back in the kitchen she was faced with Alec and her mother in a passionate embrace and was unable to restrain the surge of bitterness.
“Jesus you guys. Get a fucking room,” she muttered, refilling her glass a little too much but not caring that the wine sloshed over the rim.
She was halfway out the door to the deck when Alec called to her.
“Melody, come back in here.” His voice was gentle, filled with understanding.
She sighed. “What is it?”
“Just … be patient if you can. It’s clear how much you affect them. Any dragon within a mile of this house would be able to tell a lot of strong energy is flying around inside. Hell, it’s affecting
me
, too, and I’m old enough that it shouldn’t be.”
“You don’t know what they’re asking me to do,” she said, her voice quavering. “It isn’t fair of them to make me choose. Mama, tell him—if you had to pick between one half of him or the other, could you?”
Her mother’s lips tightened and she gazed up at Alec, her eyes brimming with love. She shook her head slowly. “No, honey. Especially not now that I
know
the other half of him finally.”
Melody turned away from them, her heart heavy. She stepped out into the cool evening air and leaned on the deck railing trying very hard to enjoy the gorgeous sunset that filled the western sky but finding it difficult to focus over the overwhelming ache in her chest.
How could they force her to tear them apart? Didn’t they know it would tear her apart, too? No. She would just as soon die alone as to ruin what they clearly had together—something they might have found more easily if she’d never been around to begin with. They may have given her two choices, but there was a third they hadn’t considered—the only choice she could make and still live with herself.
She continued sipping her wine while her decision sank in. After a moment a pair of figures came into view across the garden, coming down the path walking hand-in hand. Melody waved and the two women waved back, their faces lighting up with a pair of beautiful smiles. Anya and Viki were another perfect example of a loving couple. The kinds of looks they gave each other didn’t happen in every marriage. Her mother and Alec had something that transcended even that, which was apparent after seeing them together every day for the last three weeks. Today that impression had grown exponentially.
She wanted something like that for herself, true, but more than that, she wanted it for the people she loved. With a deep breath she stood up straight and walked down the back steps to greet the two women.
***
No more glass-related mishaps occurred during dinner, for which Melody was grateful. Likely the presence of their guests helped, but her own frame of mind was definitely calmer than it had been earlier. She still had trouble looking at Garen and Skye, who sat across the huge picnic table from her, but was blessedly able to avoid conversations with them all evening.
Viki was a dark-haired, impish woman. Petite compared to Anya and easily the smallest person there but with the biggest personality. She flirted mercilessly with Garen, who sat across from her throughout the meal.
“Is it true they feed you virgins to make you grow so big?” she asked in a sweetly accented voice that Melody guessed was from somewhere in Eastern Europe. “You are even bigger than Alec! And he is not a small male.”
Garen’s expression clouded for a second, then he laughed, the sound making Melody’s heart pound harder. “There is some truth to the legend, but it isn’t literal. We devour the virgins in other ways.” He waggled his eyebrows at her, making her laugh.
“Too bad I haven’t been one since the fourth century.”
Melody’s mother choked on her wine and both Alec and Melody reached out to pat her on the back.
“Did I hear correctly?” Julia asked. “I was sure I heard you weren’t a virgin, Viki. How scandalous!”
They had all stopped talking to stare at Julia, but erupted in laughter at her statement.
“It is true,” Viki said. “He was a Gothic prince and very beautiful, though not as illustrious or skilled a lover as these men surely are … and not nearly as perfect as my Anya. But I still want to know more about you. The Sárkány—the Dragons, I mean—were legends even to our race. You hide yourselves among humans as well as we do, but without moving around so much.”
Alec interjected. “Oh, we move more than you would think. We just don’t migrate in such large numbers.”
Melody looked at the diminutive woman. “Are you a Gypsy?” she asked.
Viki laughed and waved a hand. “Oh, that isn’t what he means. When my people migrate, we fly, just like dragons do. At least we used to. Now we like to drive. Too much traffic up there lately.” She pointed up into the starlit sky and gave Melody a mischievous look. The air around her seemed to condense and with a graceful swirl of her hand, Viki was no longer there. A flurry of soft, feathered wings rose up into the night leaving Melody blinking back and forth between the soaring falcon and the empty dress that marked the spot where Viki had been a moment earlier.
“Fucking show off,” Anya said, her eyes bright and filled with laughter. “Get back down here!” she called.
The huge bird swooped low over their heads, her beak plucking playfully at Melody’s hair. Melody let out a yelp and covered her head. Finally, the falcon landed on the railing behind Garen and Skye, her wings stretched, showing off the creamy, mottled feathers of her breast. Her wings flapped slowly once or twice more, easily spanning the length of the table and then some and sending gusts of cool air across the table toward Melody. In a shadowy shimmer of air and light, the bird shifted before their eyes and Viki was in her human shape again, perched naked on the wide rail. She hopped down and strode around the table, entirely at ease in her bare skin.
“Does it hurt when you change?” Melody asked.
Viki was still shrugging back into her dress, so Anya answered. “Not at all. It feels fantastic to shift to our Turul form—like shedding a tight outfit and being able to stretch our muscles. What about you three?” she asked, directing the question to the men.
Melody looked at Garen and Skye who were both nodding. She’d forgotten that Garen had told her he could fly. In fact, it hadn’t occurred to her at the time that they’d have another shape in which to do it.
“It’s a lot like that,” Garen said. “But so many other experiences are better in this body.” He shot a glance at Melody that sent an electric tingle straight to her core. It was the first lingering look he’d given her all night and brought with it every little moment they’d spent together that first week. Every gentle, coaxing touch and caress blazed back, leaving her feeling flushed and breathless.
She tore her eyes away and stood, swiftly picking up dishes to carry them back inside. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Garen rise to help and cursed under her breath. The conversation went on behind them as he followed her in, but her ears throbbed with her pulse. She was close to hyperventilating when she made it to the sink and turned the water on full blast to start rinsing dishes.
“Melody, I can help,” Garen said, moving up and standing way too close for her sanity to remain intact.
“I can do the dishes fine on my own,” she snapped.
His large hand rested lightly on her shoulder, fingers squeezing. “I don’t mean with that,” he said in a low voice. “Your aura’s been a damn strobe all night. I can help you relax if you just …”
Tears sprung to her eyes, her throat constricting. She hated how fucking gentle and giving he was. “I don’t need to relax, don’t you get it?” She turned and glared at him. “I need
you
. Both of you.”
“You can only have one of us, love. None of this was supposed to go the way it did, and for that I am sorry. It was my fault and I hope you can forgive me.”
With a gentle tug she found herself wrapped in his warm embrace, crying into his chest. He caressed her hair, holding her while she wept.
“Take a deep breath,” he said. “I’m going to give you a little gift right now, all right?” He gripped her upper arms and held her slightly away from him.
She blinked up into his pale gaze, wishing she wasn’t faced with the prospect of never being touched by these gentle hands, of never looking into those kind eyes. If she could only have one more night with him, perhaps she could go on, but she couldn’t have him without Skye. One night with them both would be ideal.
To her astonishment, he tucked a finger beneath her chin, leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.
In an instant, all the comfort she had missed sank through her bones. Her sadness seeped away, replaced with a low, sweet pleasure of simply feeling loved to the depth of her being.
He didn’t coax or press, but simply swept his lips along hers in a light graze, capturing her lower lip between his own and teasing until she couldn’t help but open up to him. When she did, she expected his tongue to meet hers, but instead a cool, tingling breath puffed from his mouth and she inhaled. She moaned against him and sank in deeper, her body feeling like was melting right into his. When her legs gave way, he scooped her up and looked deep into her eyes.
“I’m taking you to bed. When you wake up you’ll have a better handle on this whole thing.”
“N-no,” she said, shaking her head, but the movement only made the room wobble and swirl around her. She sighed and rested her head against his shoulder. “I can’t go to bed without Skye. Never again.”