The Sapphire Dragon (7 page)

“It was still a lie. A lie of omission is no less an untruth. And you knew I didn’t want to date a dragon. You
knew
!”

He couldn’t bear to see the distrust and accusation in her eyes. Jarrod had hoped she could love him regardless of what he was. What man didn’t want to know that the woman who had stolen his heart felt the same way for him as he did for her?

“I had hoped you could come to love me regardless of my parentage.” He met her gaze. “I would be human for you if it were possible, love. But I cannot. I am just me, and, unfortunately, I am a dragon.”

Nothing in his life had prepared him for this confession. Here he was, sitting before her, spilling his guts, figuratively ripping his heart from his chest and laying it bare for her inspection. Jarrod had never been so terrified of anything in his life, but he found that he was scared to death that he couldn’t convince her to stay with him.

“I-I can’t.” She shook her head, still trying to escape his hold. “I can’t do this, Jarrod. I just can’t!”

Closing his eyes, Jarrod took a deep breath. “Relax, Daisy. I will release you, but I need to do something before I let you go. Let me do this one thing. Afterward, I’ll let you go. I promise. If you’re going to refuse me, at least do me this one favor.”

She stopped struggling and glared up at him, obviously suspicious. “What is it?”

“Kiss me. Just once. Don’t send me away without knowing what it’s like to feel my mate’s lips pressed against mine—in a
real
kiss,” he added before she could mention the buss on the lips he had given her when she had entered the library. That one inside didn’t count. “Please.”

Daisy stared down at their joined hands. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She chewed on her bottom lip.

“What are you afraid of, Daisy?” He slid his thumbs over her knuckles. “Are you afraid you’ll change your mind?”

“Nothing,” she paused to look up at him, her gaze fierce. “I repeat.
Nothing
could make me change my mind. I don’t want a dragon for a mate. I will refuse you if you kiss me or not.”

Jarrod hoped she was wrong. He hoped that once he kissed her, she would realize they belonged together. Afterward, he would have to let her go. He couldn’t force her to love him any more than a human male could force her affection.

Love was love and he could only pray that he could convince her to trust him with her heart. Though, he couldn’t blame her if she never trusted him again.

Daisy pulled away from Jarrod. She couldn’t let him kiss her. She didn’t want to know what a real kiss would feel like, not after the way her lips tingled when he had pressed that quick kiss to her lips inside the library. If that little peck on the lips could make her react the way it had, she couldn’t afford to let him give her what he would deem a
real
kiss.

How would she ever be able to trust another man enough to get close to him after this? She would forever be wary that any man she dated was really a dragon, hiding his true self from her. Damn him for ruining her trust in men.

Could she be a mate to more than one dragon? Her sister Tansy had thought so for a bit and no one seemed to think it odd. It hadn’t been so, of course. They finally discovered that she was the fire dragon’s mate. It turned out that she had been under the influence of some kind of aphrodisiac.

Daisy could only wish that was what had attracted her to Jarrod. She knew it wasn’t true, but a girl could dream.

“I-I think you should go.” She turned her back to him, unable to look into his eyes while she rejected him. She
couldn’t
have a dragon for a mate. He would only make her magic stronger and she refused to use her powers. Of all of her sisters, hers were the most deadly.

Rose had the power to blow things up. Tansy had power over fire. April conjured little things that she or anyone else needed. Jasmine brought things back from the dead. At least she
used
to bring things back. Now that she had her mate, the only dead thing following her around was the bones of a long dead wooly mammoth baby that Jasmine had yet to name.

April didn’t know how she knew, but she knew that she had power over everything, including time. Knowing what she could do was difficult, especially when she knew that she could change history. Their parents’ history, to be precise. She only wished she knew if it was the right thing to do. Somewhere, she’d heard someone say,
What’s dead should stay dead.
Jasmine’s bony mammoth was proof of that.

“Why won’t you kiss me?”

“Because I don’t wish to.” She spun around, stepping back when she realized just how close he’d gotten to her. “You don’t understand. I could hurt you. I could hurt someone else. I’m not like my sisters. My powers are more dangerous than the others. I know this and I refuse to endanger them or anyone else.”

“I doubt that you could harm me, or any of your mated sisters, for that matter,” he said thickly.

He looked upset, but she couldn’t help but think it was just a ruse to garner her sympathy.

“Remember, we dragons
and
our mates are difficult to kill.”

“Your kind aren’t so difficult to kill that a human couldn’t manage to do so at the restaurant the other night. But you already knew that. Didn’t you? How convenient for you that the one man knocked me out. You didn’t have to use any of your dragon tricks in front of me. It saved you a lot of explanations.”

Daisy still couldn’t believe that he’d lied to her. Dragons held honor above all else. She glared at Jarrod and wondered what kind of dragon he was that he didn’t hold himself to that high standard.

“You make it sound as though I wanted to hide what I am from you. Nothing could be farther from the truth.”

“Oh, really?” She asked, keeping her tone sarcastic. Was she being unfair? Daisy bit her lip and gave herself a mental shake. She stared at his pained expression. He had no one to blame for his bruised ego but himself. She had made it no secret that she wanted nothing to do with dragons. “I have made it perfectly clear that I would not accept the advances of
any
dragon. And here you stand, admitting that you knew I didn’t want a dragon for a mate going in. Yet, you pursued me anyway. Why?”

“Well.” He paused and ran his fingers through his hair. “I had hoped that you would fall in love with me before your prejudice clouded your judgment.”

“I am
not
prejudiced! I don’t have a bigoted bone in my body.” She held her hand to her throat. How could he accuse her of such a thing?

Jarrod threw his head back and laughed out loud. “From where I’m standing, you do. What you have done is no different than refusing to date me because of the color of my skin or my nationality.” He stopped laughing abruptly and stared down at her. “Do you think I had any kind of control over the circumstances of my birth?” He snorted. “If you do, you’re either disillusioned or you know a hell of a lot more about life than I do.”

“You make it sound so…so bad. I’m not prejudiced. I just can’t bring myself to live this kind of life.”

“To what kind of life are you referring, Daisy?” He moved closer, bent and stared deep into her eyes. “Do you refer to a life where you would live with a man who would put your happiness, your life, above his own? No human man could guarantee you that.”

“No dragon can either.” She spun around, unable to take his scrutiny.

“At least one dragon can.” He grasped her shoulder and turned her around. “I can. I can promise you that I will always put your wants and needs above my own.”

Daisy shook her head. “No you can’t. The moment you think I’m in danger, you’ll lock me away like some sort of porcelain doll. All of my sisters’ husbands do that.”

“Only because your sisters allow it. If being in danger is what would make them truly happy, there is no way their mates could ever deny that to them.”

He gave her a look so intense, that Daisy had a difficult time not falling into his arms. She knew that was what he wanted. He wanted her to kiss him. She couldn’t allow that…ever.

“Nice try, Romeo. But I’m out of here. Don’t let the front door hit you in the rear on your way out.” Turning, she stalked into the house and up the stairs.

She couldn’t stay and listen to him any longer. His arguments wore on her resolve and she couldn’t afford that. She had to stay strong, or he would catch her in his trap.

Three weeks later, Daisy watched Drake and his goons bring a human in for questioning. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was one of the men who had tried to kidnap her the night she went out with Jarrod.

A shaft of pain shot through her when her thoughts turned to Jarrod. He had been around. She had no doubt that he was attempting to tease her. It was working. She felt him every time he walked through the door. He barely looked at her when he visited, which was worse than if he’d sought her out.

It made her curious as to what the man was up to. Curiosity was a dangerous thing. She chewed on her thumbnail for a bit and then frowned. Why didn’t he try to talk to her? She shouldn’t care that he didn’t. It wasn’t as though she wanted him to talk to her. Conversations between them always turned toward why he wanted her and why she wouldn’t accept him. They’d beat that proverbial dead horse into the ground. It still didn’t stop her from wanting to see him.

She pressed her hands to her chest. It hurt more and more every day and she couldn’t figure out why.

The muffled sound of a cell phone ringing reached her ears. A moment later, the house exploded into a flurry of movement. The dragon males were excited. Something bad happened. Daisy could feel it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked one of them as they hurried past. The dragon turned, gave her a dirty look and kept going.
What the hell is going on?

She needed to find one of her mated sisters. They would know. After that, she could go hole herself up in her room until the large group of males left. The last thing she wanted was to run into Jarrod. The man was impossible.

“What’s going on?” she asked April as soon as she walked into the kitchen. “Everyone is going nuts out there.”

“There’s a situation.”

April was usually more forthcoming than that. Was she stalling so Jarrod could make his way into the room? Whatever happened, she needed to avoid the man at all costs. Every time she spoke to him, her resolve faltered. One of these days she’d allow him to kiss her and she’d be lost.

“Look, I know what you’re doing. You give me a bit of information here and a bit there, until it gives Jarrod enough time to rush in here and chip away at my resolve. It’s not going to work. I’ll run out of this room if I even think he’s close.”

“I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about that, today,” April said as she slammed the refrigerator door. “In fact, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him contacting you ever again. He and two other males had a run in with the man in custody and his buddies. Since he had no prospects of a mate, he used himself as bait while the others captured that dragon-killing piece of crap. The other two bad guys dragged Jarrod off.”

April crossed her arms and gave Daisy a tight smile. It was no secret that she didn’t approve of Daisy’s choice to remain dragon free. “Jarrod is finally out of your hair. You no longer have to worry about that annoying dragon. Drake doesn’t expect him to survive the night. None of them do. Wanna celebrate?”

Jarrod woke slowly. He lay on a hard slab, his hands bound at his sides, and his feet manacled with what must have been tempered steel. A band wrapped around his forehead, keeping him from moving his head even a fraction of an inch. He could do nothing but stare at the ceiling.

He reached for his other half and attempted to change into his dragon. His dragon could break his bonds, but something kept him from doing so. Had they drugged him? Was there even a drug to stop the shift into his dragon form?

Water dripped from somewhere just out of sight, the sound echoing through the cave. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, their sharp points aiming down to the floor. Strange swirls covered the smooth stone that someone had cleared of any stalagmites that might have formed.

Closing his eyes, Jarrod took a deep breath and attempted to shift his consciousness into the ether. If he managed to let go of his corporeal form, he would be able to find his way out of here and alert the others as to his whereabouts.

“He’s awake,” a deep male voice said behind him. “Go get the boss and let him know he’s finally opened his eyes. I think he wants to question our
guest
.” The man didn’t bother to hide the humor in his voice.

No doubt, they each found their employer’s type of questioning entertaining. Perhaps they intended to torture him. It wouldn’t matter. Jarrod took a deep breath, firming his resolve. They wouldn’t get whatever it was they sought. Not from him.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the cave, growing closer until the sound stopped with his captors still out of sight.

“Welcome to my home, Jarrod. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other.”

Jarrod tested his bonds again, hoping to find a weakness. There was none.

“It seems as though it will be longer, if you insist on staying out of sight.”

The voice was familiar.
Very
familiar, but it couldn’t possibly be. “Durham Bently,” he said as three men finally stepped into view, wearing huge grins. “You were thought long dead.” For good reason. Drake’s father thought he’d killed him in a mate battle. Drake’s mother had been a mate to both the sorcerer, Durham, and Drake’s father, Zachariah.

“Yes.” His smile faded. “But I fear you dragons no longer. Certainly you all had to know that it was only a matter of time before someone found your weaknesses.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” As a rule, dragons didn’t have weaknesses. Their strength was legendary. “We have no real weakness.” Well, they had their mates, but he wasn’t about to point
that
weapon at their females.

“Yes. You do.” Durham grinned. “It will please me greatly to show you what it is. First, I think I’ll let you sit here a bit longer and stew about your situation. I’ve found that the longer a dragon stays helpless, the more delicious his awakening to his newfound frailty.”