Soul of the Dragon (21 page)

Alexa made preparations to go back to St. Paul. Amazingly, no one, including Aunt Ethel, protested.
 

“I know you have a life, dear.” Ethel patted Alexa’s hand and shifted to a more comfortable position in the recliner. “We’ll be fine.”
 

“Don’t worry,” her father said, hugging her tightly. “We’re fine. We’re not a bunch of old fuddy duddies.”
 

“I know.” Alexa inhaled his familiar scent of old wool and faded aftershave, squeezed him tighter, and let go. “Just please, lay off Peter, okay? You know the harder you oppose this marriage, the more he’ll dig in, and even if it’s not the right thing for him, he’ll go ahead and do it. You have to start letting him make his own mistakes, and not berate him when he does.”
 

Paul looked at her and shook his head. “Gosh, sometimes you sound just like your mother.”
 

Another pang of loss left her momentarily weak, and tears pricked behind her eyes. “You never tell me that.”
 

“It’s true. Maybe I’ve been hard on your brother because I’m subconsciously expecting her to balance me. I’ll work on it.” He frowned and looked more like his old self. “I still don’t trust that woman completely, and I want him to sign that pre-nup. But if he won’t, and she runs off with all his money, I won’t say I told him so.”
 

“Okay, Dad. That’s fair.” She started to move away, but he tightened his grip on her right shoulder and pointed at her with his other hand.
 

“Don’t think you’re out of the woods yourself, missy. You’re not exactly living the good life. I want you to be happy.”
 

Alexa smiled sadly. “I’m working on it, Dad. It doesn’t look good, but I’m working on it.” She left him before he could ask what she meant, and motioned for Peter to walk her out.
 

Her brother scanned the parking lot once they were outside. “How are you getting to the airport?”
 

“A friend is picking me up at the corner.”
 

“A friend?” He narrowed his eyes at her, looking more like an older brother than a
younger one. “What friends do you have around here who wouldn’t come inside?”
 

“He’s not from around here. Listen.” She tugged on the placket of the button-down shirt he wore loose over a t-shirt. “I think you should sign the pre-nup.”
 

His face hardened. “I told you, Alexa…”
 

“No, really, Peter. I like Victoria, I always have. She’s probably not after your money. But if you sign the pre-nup, which she said she’s willing to do, you ease Dad’s mind, avoid any subconscious doubts you may have—”
 

“I have no doubts.” He still looked sullen.
 

“Okay, but even if she’s not after your money, things change. If for some reason your marriage fails, you don’t want her to take anything she’s not entitled to.”
 

He made a sound of disgust and started to turn away. “I should just dump the money. I don’t need it.”
 

Alexa grabbed his shirt in both hands and held him there. “Peter, listen. I put almost half that money there. I did it because I want you to have the ability to realize your dreams. I don’t want you to lose it, in any manner. And I especially don’t want it to cause problems in any of your relationships.”
 

“Mom gave half the money to you for the same reason. You gave most of yours away. Why can’t I give mine away?”
 

“Peter, what is your dream? For yourself alone. What do you want to accomplish?”
 

He stared down the street for a long time. Finally, he refocused on her. “You want to know my secret dream? The one I’ve never told a single living soul?”
 

“Yes. Please.”
 

“I want to build fantasies. Tree houses, forts, school playgrounds and town parks.”
 

“Wow,” Alexa said. She dropped her hands. “That’s something I can see you doing.”
 

“I have experience. I worked construction the last four summers, and I’ve been taking classes at the home superstores. I have almost three file drawers of information.”
 

“So why haven’t you mentioned it to anyone?”
 

He shrugged. “It’s not that big a deal. Not like saving the world. I mean, I’d like to do some of it for charity and stuff, but I want to make a living at it so the trust can pay for the special ones and not my rent.”
 

“Why haven’t you told Victoria?”
 

“I’m afraid she won’t be impressed.” He swallowed. “I mean, she wants to be a veterinarian and specialize in trauma. Saving lives and stuff. Swingsets and wooden lighthouses are petty compared to that.”
 

“No, they’re not.” Alexa rubbed his arm. “They’re just as important. Talk to her. And I support you one hundred percent.”
 

He looked more relaxed, as if her opinion was important to him and she’d said the right thing. She hadn’t realized before how much stock he put in her advice.
 

“Now, what about you? Why isn’t your dream as important as mine?”
 

Alexa looked at the ground. “My dream is important, but money can’t achieve it.”
 

His fingers cupped her chin and lifted it. “Why not?”
 

“I can’t…” She swallowed against the lump in her throat. “I can’t tell you. You wouldn’t believe me, anyway. But it’s important.”
 

Peter took a deep breath. The motion lifted his chest, pulled his shoulders back, and he
was taller, stronger than Alexa ever thought him to be. “It’s the dragon, isn’t it?”
 

She froze and stared at him, tears forgotten, fear now the basis of her tight throat. How could he know about Cyrgyn? “What are you talking about?”
 

“The dragon. I used to see him, at night, before Mom died. I wondered why he didn’t come to see me. The last time I saw him was the day she died.”
 

Alexa gasped. Cyrgyn had been there the day she died? He’d said he hadn’t been! She almost didn’t hear what Peter said next.
 

“After she died, I didn’t see him anymore, but last night…”
 

He trailed off and Alexa wanted to shake him. She’d thought Cyrgyn had only communicated with her in dreams, but maybe he hadn’t, at least not at first. “What about last night?”
 

“On my way home, I saw him. Flying over the woods. I’m sure it was the same dragon. He’s unique.” Peter snorted at himself. “Like any other dragon could exist.”
 

Alexa didn’t know what to say. He shouldn’t have been able to see Cyrgyn ever, but especially not at night. And, she realized, snapping off her incredulousness, anything she said to Peter could get to Tars through his sister. Better to keep her mouth shut.
 

“Pete, honey.” She blinked and stepped back. “Better lay off those wine coolers when you’re driving.”
 

His brows dipped. “I wasn’t drinking. I went to the store to get some soda because we were out. Victoria was doing a last search of the apartment to see if Dad had left anything else we’d missed. The dragon was circling the woods where we used to play. He disappeared almost as soon as I spotted him, but he was definitely there.”
 

Alexa shrugged. “Whatever. In any case, my dream does not involve a dragon.” She almost choked on the lie. “I have a plane to catch.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Take care.”
 

She headed across the parking lot to the street, but still heard his parting words.
 

“I hope you save him, Alexa. You deserve what you’ve been waiting for.”
 

* * *
 

Alexa settled into her seat and watched, amused, as Ryc double-checked his seatbelt and glanced out the tiny oval window again. His left hand tapped the armrest between them, and he shifted his legs for the tenth time since they sat down three minutes ago.
 

Alexa placed her hand over his on the armrest. It stilled, and he turned to look at her.
 

“Relax,” she told him, trying to ignore the zings of electricity pricking her palm and fingers. “It’s safe.”
 

“I know that.” He looked out the window again. “I’m just not used to flying this way. I feel claustrophobic.”
 

Alexa couldn’t believe this nervous man was the ultra-confident protector who’d been following her around for the past few weeks. She’d been around people who were afraid to fly, of course. Even some operatives had to conquer it before taking on a far-off mission. But somehow…
 

“Wait a minute. If you haven’t flown ‘this way,’ how have you flown?” He gave her a significant look. “Oh.” He must have ridden Cyrgyn. Jealous because he’d been there before her, she pointed to the window. “Look. We’re moving.”
 

His hand grabbed the armrest and he whipped his head around to watch the land speed by. He didn’t move until they were in the air, and even then he didn’t lose his tension.
 

“Are you okay?” Alexa asked. Most people adjusted after they were airborne. Ryc’s muscles were still locked, his entire body stiff.
 

He nodded tightly. “It’s different, racing along the ground like that.”
 

“Yeah.” She lowered her voice to a murmur and leaned toward him. “My first flight on him was yesterday. Totally surreal, climbing up onto his gleaming back, feeling the backwash from his wings. When we got above the clouds…” She continued describing the experience. After a minute he closed his eyes and slowly, one by one, his muscles loosened. His ebony eyelashes rested against razor-sharp cheekbones on either side of a long, straight nose. Above the strong jaw was a wide, firm mouth she could almost taste.
 

His hand was the last to relax and he twisted it to capture hers when she finished. “Thank you,” he murmured, his head turned toward her on his headrest but his eyes still closed. “That was beautiful.”
 

“You’re beautiful,” she whispered back without thinking. She didn’t even realize what she’d said until Ryc’s eyes popped open.
 

The gold irises glowed with an internal heat. She felt scorched, but this time it wasn’t her brain that burned.
 

“Ryc,” she couldn’t help whispering, and didn’t know if she was pleading or warning.
 

“This is wrong,” he rumbled, and she felt the words in her chest more than she heard them in her ears.
 

“Completely,” she agreed. “Do you care?”
 

“Of course I care. Cyrgyn…”
 

“Isn’t here.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that. Couldn’t believe she was contemplating kissing the one man her friend trusted.
 

His eyes fell to her mouth and she licked her lips, not seductively but instinctively. He groaned and lowered his head the last inch.
 

An explosion ripped through Alexa’s brain, thundered through her chest, blasted her abdomen, and petered out in her fingers and toes. Stunned was too mild a word to describe her reaction—when Ryc pulled back, she half expected the plane to be falling from the sky.
 

As kisses went, it wasn’t much. He’d only pressed his mouth to hers. No movement, no tongue, no technique.
 

No contest.
 

Alexa pulled the airline magazine from the pocket in front of her and flipped it open. She didn’t dare look at Ryc, never mind comment on her reaction to the kiss. Under normal circumstances she would consider it a sign, since she’d never felt anything remotely like it.
 

But it couldn’t be a sign. She belonged with Cyrgyn.
 

Didn’t she?
 

Anyway, Ryc might not have felt anything like she had. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was staring straight ahead, a dazed look on his face. Okay, maybe he had. A little bubble of glee swelled inside her.
 

Focus. You need a plan against Tars.
She tried, but her mind kept drifting. Maybe it needed a break. She squinted at the magazine she held, and couldn’t even figure out what kind it was. Her eyes kept straying to Ryc’s legs, with his scuffed cowboy boots and worn jeans. Plain apparel, but they fit him so well that if she saw them off him, she’d still know they were his.
 

She let her gaze wander up his legs, past solid thighs, hopping over the part she really
wanted to look at, but was hidden by the armrest and his leather jacket. She lingered at his abdomen, the flattest she’d ever seen. Was it soft, or rippled? His black t-shirt—did he ever wear anything else?—stretched across his chest. Again, she lingered, trying to decide if it was hairy or not.
 

His neck was as strong as the rest of his body, and she wondered if he’d like being kissed there. His jaw looked like it would take a punch. His lips—finally she knew what they tasted like. His eyes, burning even hotter than before.
 

Oops.
 

“Alexa, you’re courting trouble.” His voice was low and husky and vibrated her bones.
 

She faced forward again. “I didn’t do anything.”
 

His sigh moved her hair.
 

The plane couldn’t land too soon. She thanked the stars they had a non-stop flight and when the fasten seatbelts sign went off, Alexa was the first one down the jetway.
 

Outside the terminal she turned to him but avoided his gaze. “Okay, then, I’ll head back to the hangar. See you around.”
 

“Alexa.”
 

She turned back and her heart flipped when she saw him standing there, so tall and solid and sexy. “What?”
 

He just looked at her a minute, and she had the feeling he wanted to say something vitally important. What he finally did say, though, was below mundane. “Say hello to Cyrgyn.”