Falling Dragons (#3 Moon Shadows) (14 page)

Her breath caught at Simon’s words. She swallowed down the lump in her throat. After all those tender words up in the mountain side a few hours ago, did they mean nothing?

“I can’t keep walking into dangerous situations with her by my side. I can’t fight without worrying about her safety. I got her shot and she almost died because of it. How by Odin’s name am I supposed to protect her like this?”

Oh, so that’s his problem.
“Y...you don’t just want to get rid of me?”

“No, sweetheart.” His arms tightened around her. “I want to be closer than we are now, but I also need to keep you out of dangerous situations. I know you’re tough, but they have those drugs that leave you even more vulnerable. If something happened to you...I... I don’t know what I’d do.”

Her heart swelled with all the love and pride she felt for her mate. She pressed her lips against his, pouring all her feelings into it.

Slazzamar cleared his throat. “Not that I want to interrupt, but can you sort your personal stuff out later when the world is not in immediate danger?”

Simon drew back and sighed. “I know, but I won’t fight until this tether is broken.”

“Fine, there is a way I can break it, but you won’t like it.”

A fissure of unease ran up Opie’s spine at Slazzamar’s tone.

“I don’t care. Do it.” Simon gently pushed her from his lap and set her on the seat as he faced Slazzamar. The elf shook his head.

“Alright, if you are very certain.”

“I am. If it undoes the tether, then I grant you my full consent.”

Slazzamar sighed before turning to his mate. “Darren, leave now.” Darren’s eyes widened slightly at Slazzamar’s tone. He straightened from his position of leaning against the desk and walked from the room without comment, but his eyes betrayed the hurt in them.

Opie blinked, worry suddenly swamping her. “What are you going to do?”

“Sorry, Darren’s still human and will forgive me later. I don’t like him seeing when I do things like this.”

“Like what?”

In a blur of motion, Slazzamar moved. Opie gasped at the gleam of a silver blade in his hand as he plunged it directly into Simon’s chest.

“Kill my friends.”

Slazzamar pulled away. Opie leapt to her feet, ready to defend Simon, but Slazzamar grabbed her, wrapping his arm around her waist, pinning her arms at her side. His free hand clamped over her mouth, muffling her scream. Terror and panic made her jerk and struggle. Simon was dying. Slazzamar had just murdered him! Simon’s eyes widened, he glanced down at the dagger handle protruding from his chest.

“Oh, I see.” Simon muttered, before he collapsed completely.

“Keep calm and watch.” Slazzamar growled into her ear. “He’ll die only briefly. Your mate has a special brand of immortality, given to him by the North Gods. Do you feel it? Your spell breaking?”

She paused in her panic to realise Slazzamar was right, magic pinged, like a string being pulled too tightly and snapping. “I did mention a few days ago that one of you dying would break your little spell.”

He let her go and she fell to her knees, crawling over to Simon’s body. Slazzamar pulled the dagger out. “Dry your tears, Opie, he’ll heal soon. Don’t wait too long to tell him that you two are mates. Honestly, humans pussy foot around with their emotions enough. We’re not human, so don’t make the same mistakes they do. If you’ll excuse me, I have my own mate to go soothe.” Her mouth hung open as she gaped at the elf-demon creature. Wiping the blood from his dagger, he strode from the room.

Opie scrambled around, lifting and laying Simon’s head in her lap, her eyes glued to the bloody wound in his chest. Time seemed to stand still as she waited.
What if Slazzamar is wrong and he doesn’t wake?

Simon’s sharp intake of breath made his chest rise. He blinked his blue eyes, slowly focusing as he stared up at her.
Oh, thank the goddess!

“Remind me to thump that bloody idiot next time I see him, for not warning me.”

“Y...You died!” More tears blurred her vision and dripped onto Simon’s forehead.

“Hey, sweetheart.” He sat up and turned, pulling her into his lap. She curled her fist tightly into the fabric of his shirt.

“I thought I’d lost you.”

Soft butterfly kisses from his lips touched her cheeks; he thumbed away her tears. “I’m not that easy to kill. Unless you behead me, I’m pretty much indestructible. One of Odin’s gifts for the entertainment battles in Valhalla. You always live to fight another day, no matter how many times you died.”

She sniffed, trying to hold in her fear of what would happen next. “We’re not tethered anymore.”

“Yes, I can feel it, but it doesn’t mean we’re not going to stay together, my little dragon princess. If you’ll have me? I’ve done things in my past I’m not proud of, and things I fear you will hate me for. But it’s better if you know from me rather than someone like Jones.”

“I don’t care about your past, Simon, I...I love you.”

He grinned. “I know, I’m a hard man to resist, able to seduce little dragon girls with a simple smile.” He waggled his eyebrows and she playfully slapped his chest.

He winced. “Ooof, still sore from stabbing here.”

“Sorry.” She laid her hand over his closed wound.

“I don’t care if you are immortal and can take a stabbing, if he brings a blade near you again I’ll rip his balls off.”

“So possessive and blood thirsty. But I need you to listen for a moment, okay?”

“Okay, but I’m going to need a soda and some popcorn.”

He slapped her arse and she grinned. “That’s my girl, but hush now. Jones wasn’t far off with his story. It’s been a bit obscured through the centuries, but my tutor at the palace where I grew up was a wise old dwarf—or that’s what I thought at the time. He trained me in the art of warfare, knowing I’d be an even stronger King and Warrior than my father.” He shifted, lifting her in his arms as he moved them both back to the couch they’d been on earlier. Much to her disappointment, he set her down beside him, rather than in his lap.

“The only thing I didn’t know until it was too late—he had an ulterior motive to training me. Young and foolish at the age of eighteen.

Mini told me about the dragon and how he was terrorizing my people. He too easily tricked me into believing if I killed the dragon it would bring me a warrior’s glory and make me more beloved to my people than my father was. To this day I still remember his words.” Simon’s eyes glazed over slightly, lost in his memory.

“‘
It would be a great exploit, young Siegfried, if a prince as strong and brave as you succeeded in killing the dragon.’
How foolish and eager I was, forging ahead to do this heroic deed, wanting to be even more beloved by the gods and my people. I had no idea about the treasure until after. I can’t say that none of it was my fault. I was eighteen years old, head strong, stubborn. I also possessed my father’s sword. I charged into the black dragon’s cave. The battle was brief. I wounded him in his jugular and was splashed with some of his blood. It was then I started to hear a voice whispering to me to take the beast’s blood and bathe in it, for it would make me invulnerable. The voice went on to tell me how Mimi would betray me and take my life for the dragon’s treasure. Now, I have heard your voice in my head, while you are in dragon form. I think it was the black dragon who told me this. The dwarfs and the giants had cursed the treasure, not the dragon. For some reason I could never fathom, the dragon didn’t want it falling back into the hands of the dwarfs.”

Opie swallowed down what felt like sand clogging her throat and pulled back from him, wrapping an arm over her body as she stared at him. All the previous bath talk by Joshua made disgusting sense now. He’d covered his body in one of her people’s blood for his own selfish gain.

“That’s why Jones thought you were keeping me to use my blood?”

“Yes, and it’s why I won’t blame you if my past actions make you think or feel differently about me, or about us.”

Opie didn’t know how she felt. She’d killed for him, he was her mate, but it is a hard hurdle to jump over. She understood killing a dragon, but going that far?

“You think that dragon told you do to that, to uh, use his blood?”

“Yes, he spoke into my mind, as you have. I did get a touch of his blood in my mouth during the battle, would have that enabled me to hear dragons in shifted form?”

“Possibly, yes...but what happened after? The leaf shape on your back?”

“During the bathing, a lime leaf fell onto my back. Not all of my body was covered, hence not entirely invulnerable. That, combined with the treasure, led to my downfall. I became besotted with a princess from the neighbouring kingdom, her father, of course, agreed to the wedding. The joining would combine the strength of our Kingdoms. What I didn’t know, was that my new wife was just as greedy as her father. He persuaded his daughter to reveal my weakness. He had his best huntsman shoot me with a poisoned arrow in that very spot. I learned some very hard lessons that winter. Vanity, wealth, and pride gain you nothing in life. No doubt I was the careless fool and I paid the price, until Odin came to me with his offer.”

“And now you’re an immortal demon hunter, keeping humanity safe from demons for how long? Hundreds of years or more because of one foolish act?” She grabbed his hand. “All of us are different people throughout our lives, but who we are inside is what defines us. You’re a good man, Simon. I couldn’t have asked for a better man to fall on. Now I need to tell you something, I’m...”

Slazzamar walked into the room with a mobile phone clenched tightly in his hand. “Children, we’ll have to work out our differences later. I just got a report Jones is on the move, no doubt heading to the hidden prison to unleash his army.”

Another man suddenly appeared in the room, tall, dark, and very handsome. His eyes gleamed with an eerie gold, they flashed in the artificial lights of the office. The newcomer was dressed for battle with modern guns, sharp daggers, and long swords strapped to his leather clad body. He glanced at her, then nodded at Simon. Simon rose to his feet. “Neman, it’s good to see you.”

“I heard a human is about to unleash the imprisoned Gullu.” Neman’s lips drew into a tight line. Opie stood up, keeping a small distance behind Simon.

“We failed in retrieving the amulet before Joshua Jones did,” Simon acknowledged, and guilt swamped Opie. If not for her interference with her tethering, Simon would have been able to do it.

Simon ushered her forward, draping a possessive arm around her middle. “Opie, let me introduce Neman, once Sumerian Moon God of Ur, now...from what I hear, retired demon hunter.”

Neman smiled. “A pleasure, princess. I’ve already heard much of the gossip. Darren and my wife are BFF’s, as she likes to call it. They’re always texting and calling. I swear news travels faster between those two than the speed of light. You have the thanks of not only my family, but many others, for putting an end to that Kat Demon.”

“I am no longer a princess, but I just did what anyone would do to protect someone they care about.”

Neman’s eyes glowed with understanding, glancing from Simon to her. “Agreed. But to change the topic, we need to move. Slazzamar, call in the troops.”

“Already on it.” Slazzamar walked out of the room with his mobile to his ear, talking to someone on the other end.

“I take it you already know where the Gullu are imprisoned?” Simon asked.

“Yes, important knowledge passed onto us by our father. It was he who imprisoned them to begin with, when things got out of hand. The sins of our fathers are now passed onto us, and we need to make sure they stay imprisoned.”

“Can’t they just be like A-bombed or something? Completely destroyed?” It annoyed Opie that such a heavy threat lay over humanity for so long.

“If it had been that simple, the early gods would have done it already. You see, back then when the gods fought wars, they made their weapons as indestructible as possible. These Gullu have little weakness.”

“But Simon managed to kill one.”

“Two actually, but they were singular.”

“It was lucky you weren’t bitten. Their biggest strength is in their bite. One is all it takes to convert a weak human into one of them. Like a rabid infection, they would spread first over all of Europe and eventually wipe out the entire world.”

Neman eyed her over, noticing the blood stained shoulder, which was now healing much quicker as the drugs wore off and her dragon sleepily awoke.

“Head and heart.” Neman pointed to both of his. “Not one or the other, both must be destroyed to kill a Gullu. Will you fight with us, Ophelia the Dragon?”

“Yes!”

“No!”

Opie and Simon glared at each other at their clashing words.

“You will not fight. Look at what happened last time. Is your dragon even awake yet?”

“That was not my fault. Why aren’t you better with your sword, hunter boy? She’s waking up now and she’s pissed as hell. I won’t let them dart me again. Anyway, if not for me, even without my dragon, you’d be taking a long dirt nap six feet under, buddy.”

“That is not the point. We’re not tethered anymore, which means you’re staying here where it’s safe.”

“Oh no, I’m not!” Opie folded her arms. “Dragon fire can kill demon.”

“I don’t care what dragon fire can do! You are staying here, where it’s safe.”

“Technically...” Neman interrupted. Both Opie and Simon turned to glare at Neman, who took a respectable step back. “I’m just saying, nowhere will be safe if we fail to stop them. She could be helpful.”

“Would you let your wife go out and fight Gullu demons?” Simon waved a hand at Neman.

“No, but—”

“Then she’s not going, either.” He waggled his finger at her.

She shoved her hands on her hips. “I’m not your wife!”

“You damn well will be, so stop arguing!” Opie gasped and took a step back.
Wife!

“I was going to say my wife’s not a fire breathing dragon...but congratulations on your engagement.”

Opie gaped, completely at an utter loss for words. Her sleepy dragon slowly blinked and purred contentedly.
Ours.