Ruby Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 3) (14 page)

She nodded. “Will you?”

He captured her lips, kissing her deeply. “Oh yeah,” he said. “I never had any choice. You were my forever from the moment I saw you.”

She wrinkled her nose and laughed. “You romantic dragon.”

“Oh yeah, baby,” he teased. “You light my fire.”

She put a finger to his lips. “Can I ask one more thing?”

“Anything.”

She grinned. “No more dragon jokes. Not right now.”

He laughed and put an arm around her. “Fine. Later.”

She looked up at the ceiling and let out a little sigh. “I think I figured out where I want to live.”

“Where?” he asked, leaning on one elbow to face her.

“Somewhere a little bit distant from anyone else.” Her blue eyes were mischievous. “So I can scream as loud as I want.”

His grin spread wide, and he felt heat run through his body again. “Oh yeah? I’m going to need to know just how loud you want to be.” He straddled her and pinned her hands again, and she grinned.

“Well, I guess there isn’t really anyone around now.”

“Right,” he said, leaning forward to tickle her neck with his lips. “And this is for research, so let me see what you’ve got.”

She let out a shriek of delight as he moved his hands over her, and he felt utter happiness move through him as he began to make love to his mate again.

He was the ruby dragon, yet none of the insatiable fire inside him could compare to the heat of having Faye in his arms.

He was truly the luckiest dragon.

R
edmond was working
with Faye to paint the walls of their new apartment when his phone rang.

“We’re outside, can we come up?” Zach said.

“Sure,” Redmond said. “Just painting.”

“Ugh, can’t believe you didn’t just hire someone.”

“Faye and I are enjoying doing it together. Why, what’s up?”

“I’ll talk to you when we’re up there,” Zach said, then hung up.

Redmond walked over to his mate, both of them flecked in white primer paint, and drew her in for a kiss, letting their smocks brush. “The guys are coming up, is that okay?”

“Sure,” she said, setting her brush aside and pulling off gloves. She stretched, and her beautiful blond hair caught the sunlight streaming through the windows. “I was ready for a break anyway.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, pulling off his smock and his work clothes as he walked into the master bedroom, which was much more finished than the rest of the penthouse.

“Of course,” she said. “I’m having a blast. Your idea to buy the building where we met and renovate it and knock out the top floor for a penthouse for us was amazing.”

“Plus you wanted to try being a landlord. We’ll have good tenants after the apartments below are remodeled.” He grinned. “You do know that we have no need of any extra money, don’t you?”

She smiled back, her blue eyes peaceful and happy. “True, but I need something to keep busy with. I like working. I like earning.”

He helped her pull the rest of her painting clothes off and they both changed into clean sweats just as the doorbell rang.

“For what it’s worth though,” she said as they walked to the door. “I’m glad I don’t have to do all the other apartments. I just want to do ours.”

“Yeah,” he said, loving how huggable she was in a pair of gray sweats. “It’s fun making a home together.”

She swatted his butt as he started to open the door. He gave her a grin and then pulled it open.

“Well, don’t you two just look like little newlyweds,” Zach said.

“It’s coming along nicely,” Luc said, as they both walked in.

“Where are Erin and Hallie?” Faye asked.

“Right here,” a feminine voice said, before Erin’s auburn head peeked around the corner. “Just hidden by these giant bodies.”

“First rule of protecting a mate,” Luc said. “Always enter a room first.”

“Like there are hazards in here.” Red snorted.

Zach raised an eyebrow at the half-painted room. “With you constructing this place, there very well could be.”

“I’m just going to stay outside,” Hallie said, her gray eyes shy and evasive.

“What is it?” Luc asked, looking suddenly nervous.

She leaned up on tiptoe to whisper something and he frowned and then nodded. “We’ll stay out here. Zach can update you.”

Zach screwed up his face in concern. “What’s going on?”

Luc sighed and looked at his mate. She sighed, pushing dark hair over her shoulder. “You can tell them.” Her hand rested protectively over her stomach and Red knew immediately.

Joy rushed through him. “You mean…?”

“Yes,” Luc said. “We think she is pregnant. Well, the tests say so, but we are still being careful. With her being human and me being dragon, it’s a little complicated. Anyway, Hallie says paint fumes are a no go.”

“Wow,” Erin said. “So it’s possible?” She looked up at Zach. “We weren’t sure. Oh my gosh, that’s good to know.” She rushed forward to hug Hallie. “I’m so happy for you!”

Faye came forward too, hugging both of the other woman as they turned into a babbling mess of feelings.

Red felt all the contentment in the world as he looked over at them.

“Looks like you better get moving on that,” Red said to Zach.

Zach snorted. “Or maybe we ought to start taking tests more often. I took for granted that it would or wouldn’t happen. Now that I know…”

“Ah,” Red said. “Yes, it’s exciting. Don’t you want a dragon baby?”

“I’m almost afraid to hope,” Zach said. “But yes, it would be amazing.” His normally hard, dark eyes were soft and gentle as he looked at his mate.

“All in good time,” Red said. “Hopefully.”

“Hopefully,” Zach murmured.

“Anyway, do we want to go talk outside then? We aren’t just leaving our women in the hall,” Luc said.

“The building is totally abandoned for now,” Red said. “The tenants were all moved to temporary housing. The ones that wanted to stay, anyway. But sure, let’s talk outside.”

They walked past their mates and stood at the end of the hall by the stairway, once again making sure that anything that came through would have to get past them first.

“So, the oracle got in touch with us. She has a job for us,” Zach said.

“A job?” Red asked. “For all of us?”

“Yeah,” Luc said. “So it might be good if the girls all stay at the mansion for now. The security there is top notch.”

“You mean, all of us would have to go at once?” Red asked, feeling nervous. “Your mate is pregnant.”

“If one of us should stay, it should be you,” Zach said. “Ruby and I can handle it.”

“Well, I’ll talk to Hallie,” Luc replied. “But she is still early, and we would make sure she was protected. Anyway, more about the job.”

“Right,” Zach said. “So we were right, they have a dragon they are extracting blood from to make wyverns. There was an uprising at the oracle’s place a few weeks ago, and in the chaos, a switch was made, so that the cryo cell would still seem full, even though the dragon inside had been taken.”

“Shit, they’re getting smarter about it,” Red said.

“Right,” Luc said. “And the oracle has her hands full with everything else going on. I mean, that’s why we were brought back in the first place. So she needs us to find this dragon.”

“None of us have tracking senses,” Zach said. “Which of the other dragons could help us find someone?”

“Amethyst,” Luc said. “But that’s always risky.”

“Right,” Zach said. “Psychic dragon could hear thoughts at long range. But on the other hand, he’s also half crazy.”

“All crazy,” Red muttered.

“You would be too if you had visions,” Luc said, always the empathetic one.

“I guess we should go talk to the oracle about waking up another dragon,” Red said.

Zach folded his arms. “I guess if we need to, yes. But no offense, new dragons are always a lot of trouble.”

“Hey, this one isn’t up to find a mate. Just to help us and go back into cryo,” Red said.

“If you think it’s just going to work out like that, you don’t understand dragons at all,” Luc said.

“Maybe I don’t,” Red said. “But what else would you suggest? Flying all over the country, just hoping to smell him or something? You know dragons don’t have the best sense of scent.” Red shook his head. “We have all the brute force in the world, but that doesn’t matter if we don’t know where to apply it.”

“Good point,” Zach said. “We’ll contact the oracle. So that’s set.”

“All right,” Luc said. “I’m going to take my mate out to lunch. You’re welcome to join.”

“That sounds great,” Red said. “We worked up a sweat painting.”

“Ew,” Zach said, wrinkling his nose.

“Not a euphemism,” Red said. “Actually painting.”

Zach shrugged. “I’m just used to saying ‘ew’ to you. Gonna take a while for that to wear off.”

“By the way,” Red asked, before they reached their mates. “Which dragon is imprisoned?”

Luc and Zach looked at each other before answering. “Diamond,” Luc finally said.

“Seriously?” Red asked. “Shit.”

“Yeah,” Zach said. “I mean, the snobby son of a bitch had it coming, thinking he’s better than basically all dragons. But they couldn’t have picked a worse dragon to draw blood from. If they find a way to actually endow wyverns with his powers, we’re all screwed.”

“They already have some of his durability,” Luc said.

“Oh yeah,” Zach said. “We have to find him or we’re done for.”

“We’ll do it,” Red said. “It’s odd to be a team, but together, we can do it.”

Luc nodded at him as they reached their mates, and Red felt relieved to put work aside and just look into Faye’s shining eyes.

They locked their apartment and then walked after the other couples, her arm tucked into his.

She looked up at him privately, a twinkle in her eye. “Are you excited about the idea of dragon babies?” she asked.

“Hell yeah,” he said quietly, so the others didn’t hear. “I’m going to be trying to put one in you every second.”

She giggled. “You already do. I’m afraid to see what more would entail.”

“No, you’ll love it,” he said, nipping at her ear since the others weren’t watching.

She laughed again and swatted at him. But flushed, letting him know that he’d be welcome to continue when they were home.

“I’m going to have a mission,” he said. “It might take me away from home for a while. You might need to stay with the other women.”

She nodded. “I understood when I put the ring on that your world was complicated. I accept that things will be odd at times.”

“The good kind of complicated?” he asked nervously.

She patted his arm and then ran her hand over it, warming him and soothing him. “The best kind of complicated.”

He smiled down at her, bursting with happiness at having her by his side.

“Now come on, we’ll be late for lunch,” she said, dragging him forward to catch up with the others.

When they caught up, there were more hugs and talking, and as they all piled into the restaurant together, Red found himself more grateful than ever that he’d been awakened.

Sure, he’d gotten his treasure back and his powers. But the real prize was his mate and his new family, made up of humans and dragons in a way he’d never expected.

That was his new treasure.

* * *

M
eanwhile
, elsewhere…

A
listair
, diamond dragon, looked up from his cage to see the small human woman who usually attended him coming down the dank, stone steps as carefully as possible.

As usual, she was carrying a tray of basically inedible food, and as usual, she was trying her best not to look at him as she did what had to be done.

Perhaps she avoided his eyes because she could see the anger there, at being awakened and entrapped, here in this dank cell made of moldering stone.

He was one of the most powerful creatures on earth, at least he had been in his time.

Thanks to them keeping him down here in the semi-darkness, he had no idea what the world was like now.

He didn’t know how long he’d been here either. Weeks maybe. The only people he saw were the men in white coats who came to take his blood, and a couple of masked shifters who spoke to him while hiding their faces.

Damn right they should hide their faces. When he got out, he was going to hunt down every last one of them for the indignity of putting him in chains.

Enslaving him for his blood.

He let out a low growl and saw the girl let out a small squeak and stop at the bottom of the stairs, hesitant to come forward.

“Please, don’t stop on my account.” He held up his chained wrists. “I can’t hurt you.”

Her green eyes met his. “So you would if you could?”

“I didn’t say that,” he said in a smooth voice, leaning back in his stall to make himself appear as harmless as possible. Something that wasn’t easy with his sheer size and height.

He knew he looked nothing like the humans of her world, if the ones he’d known in his day were any indication. His long white hair and eyes showing every color ruined that.

“Your dinner,” she said quietly, walking forward and setting the tray down. She pushed it forward, under the bars, and he just stared at it before taking it.

He picked up a small, round, bread-like object and tossed it to the mangy cat who sometimes took naps at the end of the hall. Alistair couldn’t stand the stuff, but his only friend might.

The cat batted the bread around and then began nibbling, as the girl watching Alistair cleared her throat.

“You have to eat,” she said nervously, pushing back her blond hair. It was straight, and sort of unkempt. She clearly wasn’t one who cared much about appearances. She was rather plain, but there was something about her.

“Why should I?” he asked. “So I can produce more blood for these vampires?”

“It’s just experiments,” she said. “They aren’t eating it.”

“What do you know about it, human?”

She bit her lip. He read her thoughts, and saw that she only barely had any idea who she was dealing with. When she’d accepted a job here, she hadn't known anything about shifters.

Now she knew some things, just from seeing things she shouldn’t. And she was scared.

And she should be.

He almost felt sorry for her. She’d accepted a job position in the worst place on earth, and the shifters here saw humans as trash, or at best, means to an end.

When they didn’t need her anymore, or even before that, they would either try to turn her, experiment on her, or throw her to the wolves, literally.

Wolf males were horny and never had enough females. Only the truly noble alpha ones had ever been worth anything, and they were few and far between.