Dragons Prefer Blondes (6 page)

“I told him that he took such good care of me. He leaned across the table and took my hand. ‘I want to take care of you for the rest of your life,’ he said.”

It was cornball to the nth degree, but I could see how she thought it romantic. She’d paused in her story, and I realized she was waiting for me to react. “Wow,” I said with feigned interest and maybe a tiny touch of jealousy. I couldn’t remember the last time a guy had done something special for me without expecting something in return.

“Then he pulled this out of his pocket and put it on my finger.” She flashed a ten-carat diamond in my face. “It’s from his family, and—” A tear slid down her cheek. “It just means so much to me.” She hugged her hand to her chest. “This is it, Alex. He really loves me, and I think this one is going to stick.”

“Absolutely.”
Fourth time’s a charm.
I was saved from having to comment further since we were about to land.

Once we arrived, the limousine picked us up on the tarmac. My phone buzzed shortly after we climbed into the car.

“Miss Caruthers,” Jake said, “we have a problem.”

“What’s up?” He didn’t seem to be upset with me, which was a good thing. I still planned on apologizing.

“We’ve seen several jumpers in Montreal. They left the center of the city close to your location last night and jumped to Xerxes.”

“Well, if they’re headed home, then why are we worried?”

“They’re taking humans with them.” His tone was flat.

Oh, hell.
“Did you just say what I think you did?”

“Yes. I thought you’d want to know.” This time there was the slightest bit of sarcasm.

“Of course. I’ll—” I looked down at my watch. Then I looked up at one very interested Aspen. “I’ll catch a plane back as soon as possible,” I said to cover, but in truth I’d be teleporting back home. Aspen frowned.

I shook my head and mouthed “Sorry.”

She was furious with me when I made her drop me off at BoDu. But I decided she’d get over it. What’s the worst that could happen? She’d fire me as her wedding planner, and that would most definitely be a blessing. I might also lose best friend privileges, but I’d live.

Since it was still fairly early in the morning, no one was at the club, which meant I could slip in and use my tattoos to get back to the house fast.

Thirty seconds later, I was home.

“Tell me what you know,” I said to Jake as I made my way into the weapons room.

“There were three dragons and four humans involved in the jump. It took place about fifteen minutes ago.” He watched as I pulled the holsters out of the steel drawers. “Don’t you need to change?”

I looked down at my Marc Jacobs swing dress. “Oh, hell. I forgot.” I was dressed for wedding dress shopping, not slaying dragons. I’d already lost so much time.

He handed me a pair of jeans, boots, and a T-shirt from the table. “I thought you might need these.”

“Did you—Wait. I don’t want to know if you were going through my things.” I grabbed the clothes from him, and peeled off my dress. There was no time for modesty. His eyes flashed, and I definitely picked up on some interest.

Then he turned his back to me. “Of course not. I sent one of the female security agents to get your clothes.” He sounded angry, and I realized I’d basically called the guy a pervert and then stripped in front of him.

Smooth, Al. Real smooth.
“Sorry. Honestly, everything I say to you comes out wrong. I meant that I was sorry you had to go through the monstrosity that is my closet, and that I’m grateful you had this stuff ready for me.”

I pulled on the jeans. “You can turn around. Did you see where they landed?”

“We have an approximate location.”

“Great. Can you set the coordinates on the watch?”

“It’s been done.” He handed the wristwatch to me.

“Oh, uh, thanks. You really do think of everything.” I slipped it on my wrist. “And about last night. I think you misunderstood—”

“Not a problem.” He turned and left.

“Okay, then.” I loaded my weapons and pushed the buttons. Time to spank some dragon ass.

The thing about the watch, Bailey’s invention that allows us easy transport through the portals, is that it doesn’t always get you exactly where you want to go. Well, that’s not exactly true. It works great as long as your mind is focused on the right location. My problem is I have a tendency to wig out at the most inopportune times. Which is why I had to pull out my crossbow shortly after landing on Xerxes.

Nasty Kevan dragons surrounded me. They are hardheaded beasts that prefer to be in their natural form. Scaly, fiery, and claws ready to rip me into human hamburger. The dragons of legend do have a basis in fact, though the real ones aren’t as large as most people imagine. I’ve never seen one bigger than eight feet, but their scales are impenetrable, and the whole fire from the mouth thing is absolutely for real.

“Shesan Solmt,”
I screamed at a high pitch. Dragons can only hear certain sounds when they aren’t in a semihuman- looking state.
“Shvol Con Mre.”
Basically I told them to back off; I meant them no harm. That was, unless they tried something.

A large red dragon threatened me with its claw. I aimed my crossbow, prepared to do what, I’m not sure. It dawned on me that I was up a creek even with the crossbow; there weren’t enough arrows to take them all down. Widening my stance, I prepared for a fight.

Suddenly they all backed away and bowed. I looked behind me to see Ginjin, his silvery wings spread wide and a snarl on his lips. I sometimes forgot how beautiful he could be—for a dragon.

He roared, and the other dragons changed form. Of course, now everyone was naked. Most of the group was comprised of older men, but there were some young warriors, as well as the red dragon who had become a woman. A very beautiful woman. Nudity doesn’t bother dragons, though in the larger cities most of them wear some type of clothing when they are in human form.

As many times as I’d been in this kind of situation, it was still a bit disconcerting. Ginjin transformed and I tried hard to not stare at his muscled abs or his broad shoulders. The bottom half of him was no less impressive, but I had to concentrate. His eyes were still in fight mode, and they glistened like red fire.

He pointed to me. “Explain.”

“We had jumpers who landed here with human captives.”

His head snapped to the group. “Jene?”

Oh great. His supposed-to-be bride was a Kevan. I hated her already.

She raised an eyebrow and slinked toward him. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.” She waved a hand behind her. “We were basking in the sun. Talking among friends. Nothing more.”

Snotty, lying bitch.

“You were here in the middle of the desert sunning?” Ginjin’s accusatory tone wasn’t lost on any of us.

“Yes.” Wicked green eyes dared him to contradict her.

“Are you sure they landed in this location?” He tore his gaze away from her to glance at me, and I saw that the fire in his eyes had died down to something else. Ginjin might not trust the red dragon, but he wanted her.
Um. Ewww.
I really didn’t like being in the middle of dragon lust.

“It’s tough to be exact when tracking a jump from world to world, but the group definitely arrived in this general vicinity.” I sheathed the crossbow in the holster on my back. With Ginjin around, I wasn’t worried about being attacked, and he hadn’t tried to kill me since I saved his life a few weeks ago. “Can you sense them with your super dragon schnoz?”

I’m not so bad with tracking, but it’s easier for me to sense stinky dragons than humans. The monsters’ scent covered everything for miles around us. It was a combination of coal and smoke, with a hint of musk.

Lifting his head in the air, he took a deep breath. His eyes snapped back to Jene, and he gave her a strange look. “I smell nothing.”

I didn’t believe him. That look meant something. I just had no idea what. “Then they ate them.”

Jene snorted behind me. “Disgusting. We don’t eat your kind. Nothing but fat.”

The dragons surrounding us grunted in agreement.

I really, really hated her.

“Ginjin, humans are on your planet, taken against their will. That’s an automatic death sentence.” I grabbed the crossbow from its holster and held it by my side. “When I find out which one of these idiots took them . . . Do I really have to explain?”

I took aim at one of the older beings. Something told me he was important to Jene. When she stepped between us, I knew I was right.

“I will kill you.” She began to transform.

“You can try.”

“Fledstm.”
I could feel the heat of Ginjin behind me, but the power rolling off him was directed at Jene.

She stopped mid-transformation. “The human threatened me. She will die.”

“The human is a Guardian, and if you touch her, I will have to kill you,” Ginjin warned. Funny coming from him, since he’d tried to do the same thing to me more than once. “You and the others go back to Moit. I will meet with you there.”

“You would choose the Guardian over me?”

Lady, you have no idea.
I wondered what she would think if she knew Ginjin wanted me to be his mate. Though I understood that less now. She wanted the power and seemed to be the perfect match for him.

“We follow the council’s law, Jene. Humans were taken from Earth, and she has every right to investigate without fear of being killed.” His voice lowered just slightly. “Go.”

No one moved. “Now!” he roared. “I will deal with you later.” He directed the words to Jene. She’d done something to anger him, and it had absolutely nothing to do with threatening to kill me. The group transformed and took off in flight.

I put my hands on my hips. “Great. Now we’re never going to find them.”

“You may be correct. Beyond yours, there is no scent of humans nearby, but I will search. I can cover the ground more quickly. If I find any, I will return them to Earth. My guess is they are long gone. They may have stopped to jump through another portal, since whoever took them would know you would come after them.”

“I can’t just leave, Ginjin. This is my duty. You have to understand that.”

“Yes. Duty is something I understand all too well, but it would be a waste of your time to search on foot when I can do it in a few seconds by air. You have my word, and I do not give that lightly.”

I sighed. He had a point. “Promise me that you’ll really look.”

At first I thought he might scream at me. “My word is my bond, Guardian, and I have given it to you.”

I shrugged. “That’ll have to do.”

After holstering the crossbow, I pushed the button on the watch and stepped through the portal.

For once, there was no one waiting on the other side with bad news. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I saw Jake through the window.

I realized it was the first time in weeks he hadn’t been waiting to greet me or yell at me. For some reason, that bugged the hell out of me.

CHAPTER 6

“Bailey, I need a dragon blower-upper,” I shouted into my cell as soon as I returned to the control room. As I talked to him, I put away my weapons. My brother drove me nuts, but he was the best when designing weapons, and I really wanted to kill me some dragons.

“Hi, Al. Dragons burn you again?” His puns were the worst.

“Ha. I mean it. Design me something that will blow them up with one shot.”

“Ah. So you want a new toy gun. Why not the plasmas? You guys had good luck with those when you had to protect the high council.” He sounded out of breath.

“Where are you?”

“I’m running for the jet. It’s raining like crazy.”

“Oh. The plasmas worked great on the demons, but they only stun dragons. Probably has something to do with their incredibly thick skin. I need something where if they aren’t airborne I can get off multiple shots at close range without blowing myself up.”

“Isn’t that why I made you the automatic crossbow?”

“Bailey, you aren’t listening. The crossbow works great if they are some distance away or flying, but not so much on the ground. And I’m an excellent shot, but if I don’t hit them in the eye or directly in the heart—You get the picture. There’s also the problem that it’s not something I can keep with me at all times. I need something I can conceal.

“Used to be we’d have an infestation of one or two; now they seem to be traveling in packs. Bullets don’t have much of an effect on them. It’s tough to kill six at a time with a sword, though I’ve done it.”

“Huh.” I could tell he was intrigued. It didn’t take much to get Bailey’s brain going. “Let me see what I can do. I’m gonna need to do some research on your dragons.”

I wanted to yell that they weren’t
my
dragons. Everyone always said that. Dragons were nothing but a huge pain in the ass. Period. But yelling never accomplished anything with Bailey. Besides, since the kidnapping I’d noticed he’d been overly sensitive to any kind of aggressive behavior. Last week he’d walked in on Mira bellowing at me for charging into a nest of dragons with only a sword, and he’d gone a little whack. He kept going on and on about how we had to love one another and support each other. A thirty-minute sermon, in all. When he was done, he made us hug.

After that, we tried to keep our sisterly arguments behind closed doors.

“Okay, cool,” I told him. “Let me know if you need anything. A little dragon DNA, whatever.”

We hung up.

I’d just stepped out of the shower when I heard my phone ringing again. Didn’t recognize the number, but I picked it up anyway.

“Alex, it’s Colin Granze. We met at your club for the Save the Edens fund-raiser last month.”

“Of course. How are you?” I would have known his voice even if he hadn’t mentioned his name. He was one of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws. His appearance at the fund-raiser had guaranteed a multimillion-dollar give. Charm oozed from every pore of the man, not the creepy kind, the I’ll-do-anything-just-to-stand-and-gaze-upon-your-extreme-hotness kind. People wanted to impress him, and that meant they were more generous.