Laura Jo Phillips (18 page)

Soon after they had settled themselves on the patio, Saige’s mind had automatically reached for the Lobos without her permission.  She couldn’t seem to help it, even though she kept admonishing herself not to do it again.  She didn't want to get too used to something she was going to have to leave behind when she went back home to Earth.  Nevertheless, she now knew that Faron felt bad for snapping at Lariah earlier, and that he was worried about her being angry with them.  She also knew that he was very relieved to learn that Riata was preparing to complete Ban’s healing in a short while.  Saige was relieved as well, but she didn’t want to know any more so she asked Lariah to tell her why she had left Earth so suddenly.

It was a long story and fully captured Saige’s attention, as she had hoped.  Now, as Saige sipped her juice, she thought about all that Lariah had just finished telling her.  It was no wonder Lariah had left Earth without saying good-bye.  But she felt that Lariah had skimmed over a few things concerning her relationship with the Dracons.  She’d told her about nearly being killed by Tiny’s former owner, and that the Dracons had saved her, but not how.

“Saige, I know I left a few things out of my story,” Lariah said as though she could read Saige’s thoughts on her face.  “I just have a feeling that there are things that it is not my place to tell you.”

“Whose place is it then?” Saige asked.  Lariah raised one eyebrow, and Saige felt her face burn.  “Ah, the Lobos,” she said.  “What if I choose not to stay here and be this Arima thing you all keep talking about?  What if, after my visit with you, I decide to return to Earth?” she asked.

“That is your choice Saige,” Lariah said.  “But can I ask you something?”

“Sure Lari, you can ask me anything you like,” Saige replied.

“Don’t you feel like you belong with them?” Lariah asked.  “I know that for me, no matter how much I argued with myself about it, I just knew somehow that I was supposed to be with the Dracons.  If you don’t feel that way, then maybe some sort of mistake has been made.”

Saige considered lying, but she couldn’t do it.  She couldn’t lie to the only friend she had.  “I feel as though there is a strong connection between us,” she hedged, unwilling to go so far as to say she thought she was
supposed
to be with the Lobos.  “I also feel like I know what kind of men they are.  And I admit that I have a strong physical attraction to them which, just between us, scares the heck out of me since I’ve never felt anything like it before and I don’t understand it.  And here is the strangest part,” Saige hesitated but Lariah waited patiently.  “I spent most of my life dreaming about them.”  Saige said the last as though in a hurry to spit it out.  Then she waited for Lariah to laugh at her.  Instead, Lariah’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Interesting,” she said.  “I dreamed most of my life about three dracons with leopard spotted fur.”

Saige frowned, not understanding the word.  “What is a
dray-con
?” she asked, pronouncing the word carefully.

Lariah smiled.  “A dracon is very much like a legendary dragon of Earth, except that they have leopard spotted fur.  It’s the alter-form Garen, Trey and Val shift into,” she explained. 

“Wow,” Saige gasped in surprise.  “So you dreamed of your men before you met them, only in their dracon form instead of their human form?”

“Yes,” Lariah replied.  “Maybe that’s one of the signs of a potential Arima.  As there are only the two of us, we should probably be writing this stuff down somewhere.”

“You’re the librarian, so I’ll leave that to you,” Saige said with a grimace.  She did not like to write.  Not even lists.  “So, I feel them, my mind reaches for them all of the time, I dreamed about them, and they cause physical reactions that are almost too embarrassing to talk about, even for me.  Does that all add up to me having to stay here?”

“No.  The only one who decides what you do is you, Saige.”  Lariah paused a moment.  “I believe that I was meant to be with the Dracons, and they with me.  I believe that we were made to be together, that our souls were created to be together.

“I also believe that, as Arima to the Lobos, you are meant to be with them.  But what I believe doesn’t really matter.  It is your life, and your decision to make.  Nobody will force you to do anything, and that is a promise.”

Saige sighed.  She knew that the Lobos would not force her to stay with them.  She wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she did.  The real reason for her hesitance about all of this, which she was only just beginning to admit to herself, had nothing to do with the Lobos.

“Lariah, tell me, how important is it to the Jasani to have babies?”

“Very,” Lariah responded at once.  “As a people, they have struggled against extinction for thousands of years.  Now that one Arima has been found, or, if you decided to stay, make that two Arimas, and three female Jasani are about to be born, they are just beginning to have hope.” 

Lariah studied Saige’s face carefully but this time she could not decipher what she saw there.  She wondered why Saige had asked that particular question.  Perhaps Saige didn’t want to have children.  Her own childhood had not been great.  Maybe she was afraid to bring children into the world because of her own experiences.

“I will tell you this much,” Lariah said carefully, taking a stab at what she thought might be Saige’s concern, “Garen, Trey and Val refused to perform the mating ritual with me because nobody knew what it would do to me.  Even though they were prophesied to find their Arima, even though they wanted family and children very much, they were adamant that they would not risk me in an effort to gain the things they wanted.”

“They were willing to give up having children for you?” Saige asked.  She didn't know what Lariah meant by a
mating ritual
but she was far more interested in the answer to her questions about children at the moment.

“Yes,” Lariah said.  “In fact, it was the first and only real disagreement we’ve ever had.”

Saige opened her mouth to ask another question, but paused when Suly stuck her head out the patio door.

“Lariah dear, Miss Flowers is here to see you,” she said, her usually cheerful expression replaced with one of disapproval. 

“Would you please show her out here, Suly?” Lariah asked politely.  “I’m sorry, I just don’t want to heave this mass of baby up just now.”

Suly smiled at her.  “Of course, dear,” she said.

Saige eyed her friend shrewdly.  “Who is Miss Flowers and why don’t you like her?” she asked softly.

“You’ll see.”

A moment later a woman stepped out onto the patio who instantly made Saige feel plain, dowdy and inferior in every way.  Darleen Flowers was so stunningly beautiful it almost hurt to look at her.  She had long golden hair that hung in perfect shining curls down her back, shifting gently like heavy silk as she moved.  Not remotely like Saige's short, straight, sensible haircut.

The woman's face was a delicate oval with perfectly shaped lips, big blue eyes and a straight, little nose that Saige was certain had never dared to get red or stuffy in all of its existence.  She wore a simple blue dress that hugged her perfect figure without a crease or wrinkle, short enough to reveal a shade too much of a pair of legs that Saige simply did not want to think about.

“Hello Lariah,” she sang gaily, her smile revealing faultlessly even, white teeth. 

“Hi, Darleen,” Lariah replied, smiling in return.  Saige wasn’t the least bit fooled. 

“How’ve you been feeling?” Darleen asked as she set a large bag on the table, turned around and looked at Saige as though she had just that moment realized there was another person on the patio.  She smiled with just the right amount of hesitance and raised her brows.

“Darleen, this is my friend from Earth, Saige Taylor.  Saige, this is Darleen Flowers.  Her sister Caitlyn owns a clothing store in town called
Lady’s Secrets
.”

Darleen stepped forward and pretended to shake Saige’s hand, barely touching her for one brief moment before stepping back.  “Nice to meet you Saige,” she said, sincerity practically radiating from her.  “May I ask, whatever happened to your face?”

“Ground-car accident,” Saige replied flatly, indicating it was not a subject she wished to discuss.

Darleen’s smile faltered just a tiny bit, but Saige was watching for it and felt no shame whatsoever in the satisfaction she felt when she saw it.

“Well I won’t interrupt your reunion for long,” Darleen said as she turned back to the bag and began taking items of clothing out of it.  “I just wanted to bring by a few new things from the shop that I thought you might like.”

She draped the clothes over the back of a patio chair smoothing out wrinkles here and there as though they were costly evening gowns rather than what looked to Saige like ordinary cotton shirts and pants.  She then proceeded to expound on the fabrics, the styling and the absolute need Lariah had for clothing that could
grow with her
as she continued to
blossom
.  Saige watched Lariah and Darleen carefully but she couldn’t make up her mind whether Darleen knew that Lariah wanted to rip her eyes out of her sockets and didn’t care, or if she was truly oblivious.

Before long Saige began to get suspicious.  There were only half a dozen items of clothing altogether, and they were, as she had suspected, nothing more than basic stretch pants and a few maternity tops, two of which were the most horrendous shade of mustard yellow that Saige had ever seen.  Not exactly high end couture fashions for the trend conscious socialite.  Besides which, Lariah was only ten days from delivery.  She obviously did not need any new maternity clothes.  Yet the woman seemed unable to stop talking about them.  She just went on and on. 

Saige wasn’t sure why Lariah didn’t toss the woman out, but she had heard enough.  She was just about to make an excuse so she could escape when she felt Faron, Dav and, thankfully, Ban approaching.  It was a huge relief for her to sense Ban up and walking, apparently fully healed.  As much as she had wanted to know how the healing was progressing, she had managed to prevent herself from checking on him.  

 She looked up at the patio door in time to watch them step through it and onto the patio, and then freeze as they stared for a long moment at Darleen.  Darleen met their stares with a smile so bright Saige thought it was a wonder they didn't all go blind.  Her eyes narrowed as she watched the woman set aside her “helpful friend” personality and put on the “woman hot for man” personality which, quite honestly, fit the woman much better. 

“Hello Faron, Dav, Ban,” she said, her voice an octave lower than it had been while she was talking to Lariah.  “I didn’t expect to see you here.  How are you?”

Faron’s face remained a stoic mask, as did Dav’s, but one corner of Ban’s mouth turned up in a half smile.

“Greetings Darleen,” he said.

Darleen’s smile got impossibly brighter.

“Saige, we would speak with you,” Faron said, evidently deciding to simply ignore Darleen.

Saige caught the flash of anger in Darleen’s eyes though nobody else seemed to.  She looked at Lariah and changed her mind.  Lariah had also seen it.

“Well, I will get out of your way then,” Darleen said, still using her new, deeper, sexier voice as she turned back to the table and her now empty bag.  “Ban, would you be a dear and help me with this?” she asked.

Ban nodded politely and picked up the empty bag.  Saige opened her mouth, closed it, then decided what the hell.

“Darleen, you are not leaving all of those...things, are you?” she asked, keeping her voice as sweet as she could possibly manage. 

“Of course I am.  I brought them all the way out here specifically for Lariah,” Darleen replied with a delicate frown that Saige noticed did not detract from her beauty in the least. 

“Oh,” she said, revealing all of her doubt in that one word.  She made a show of hesitating, then shook her head slightly as though she had no choice.  “Darleen, Lariah is due to give birth in just a few days.  She has no need for more maternity clothes.  She isn’t going to wear those so you might as well take them back with you.”

Darleen froze for a long moment, completely stumped.  She had been using Lariah’s advancing pregnancy as an excuse to visit the ranch on a regular basis for so long that it had not occurred to her that the woman would eventually give birth, and no longer need more maternity clothes.  Her face flushed an ugly, brick red and she hastily grabbed up the clothes she had brought and shoved them into the bag that Ban was still holding.

“Goodbye Lariah,” she said, her voice high pitched and somewhat screechy now, her smile no more than a stretching of her lips and a baring of teeth. 

Saige raised her brows in mock surprise at the woman’s behavior, though she saw Lariah raise a hand to her mouth to hide a grin.

“Come along Ban,” Darleen said for all the world as though she were ordering a dog to heel. 

“Wait,” Saige growled softly, surprising herself as much as everyone else.  Everyone on the patio froze, including Darleen. 

Saige forced herself to stretch her lips into a semblance of a smile.  “Darleen, Ban is just recovering from being seriously injured, so I am sure you will agree its best if you carry your own bag.  After all, you carried it in here all by yourself, so I’m certain you will have no trouble carrying it back out again.”