“I can feel you.” Devon cocked his brow at her. “Well, that’s not quite what I feel. But I can hear you thinking, hard, on the fact that your dumb fuck of a father did something horrific to my family. So the fuck what? I’m here, so it couldn’t have been all that terrible. And even if it was, dumb ass, you do know that there isn’t shit you can do about it, so let it go. Before you bust something in that oversized head you have.”

  “I do not have an oversized head.” She laughed. “All right. I am thinking about it. I don’t know how to make you believe that I’m sorry.”

  “I know you are. Not that you have anything to be sorry about. Forget it. Deal with what we can deal with now. All right?” He nodded. “I would like to talk to your grandmother. Like now. Is there a place where I can speak to her without you guys hearing her berate me for being stupid?”

  “First of all, my grandmother would never call you stupid. She has much too large of a vocabulary for that. And secondly, I think we’ve all shared about everything there is to share here in the last hour, so spill it. Before I have to beat it out of you.” The change in her was profound. Devon was sure that had he not been looking at her when it happened, he wouldn’t have noticed it. But he had, and it had him standing up. “Nicole, tell me what just happened.”

  “I don’t know.” She pulled her sleeve back and turned her hand palm up. “This. I don’t know what— I think I know what caused it. But I don’t understand it. Jackson told you about the thing in the cave, the thing that seems to call to me. Well, it wants to come to me now. And I’m terrified.”

  Her veins were deep red, not the blue of veins like they should have been. The nails on her fingers were different too. They were thicker, like the beginning of claws. Her skin looked a little smoother, like she’d been polished. Devon had no idea what it was, but he knew that it had something to do with her and Jackson sharing magic.

  “I’d say you should call for it.” She was shaking her head before he finished speaking to her. “You have to. Good or bad, which I’m doubting very much that it’s bad, or it wouldn’t have been able to enter the cave in the first place. If you call it and we’re all here to help you with it, it will be a damned sight better than you being alone when you call for it.”

  “What if it’s—I don’t know, something huge that will crush me?” He didn’t laugh, but he had to work hard to control it. Nicole was already on edge, and he didn’t want her upset any more than she already was. “If I do this, you’ll speak of me fondly if I die.”

  “I don’t know why, but I really don’t think this is something you should be afraid of. Nor should you try and not call it to you. For some reason, I have a feeling that it’s going to save a lot of people.” He looked down at her arm again. “Has that spread to your body?”

  “Yes.” It was enough for him to realize that she was really afraid. Taking her hand and asking the rest of them to follow, they went into the yard and Devon looked around. “Back up. Don’t be close when it comes here. All right?”

  “They can back up, but I’m not. Whatever it is, you’re going to have me right by your side, Nicole.” Devon could tell that she was both afraid for Jackson to be with her and very glad. When they all stepped away from them, Jackson looked at him. “If this turns bad, kill me.”

  “Kill us both. Promise.” Devon nodded. He might not have any choice in that should it attack his family. But he still was working on the notion that it wasn’t going to be bad at all. Nicole held onto Jackson. “Whatever it is, I’m sorry if it tries to harm any of you.”

  Devon didn’t know what to expect, or for that matter, what she might say to do this. But as soon as the words, “Come to me” left her mouth, they all had a feeling that it was going to be huge. As well as very magical.

  The ground around them tumbled and shook. He fell off his feet, as did some of the others. Jackson and Nicole both stood steady, as if nothing had moved for them. Then Devon felt it coming at them fast.

  His first instinct was to go to them, to knock them out of the way before it hit them both. But almost as soon as the thought entered his head, the first of many things coming from the mountain began raining down around the couple. As he stood there, his eyes not believing what he was seeing, his grandmother laughed, hearty and loud. Devon wasn’t really sure what to think right now.

  The armor lifted from the burned grass. The speed in which it had come to them had been so hot that it scorched the grass a bit. When it seemed to get into some kind of order, the armor attached itself to Nicole, pushing Jackson to the ground as it covered her from head to toe. Noah’s parents were smiling, he noticed, as if they had a perfectly good idea of what had come to the young human.

  For some reason, Devon had a feeling that not only was Nicole no longer human, but by the look of the armor, she was much stronger in body than he might be. As soon as the sword, because he knew there had to be one, showed itself to them, he’d know just what it all meant.

  Not that he didn’t have an idea now. Devon was actually a little scared for what he thought was going on. But he’d have to see the sword. If it went to Nicole or not, this was going to be epic in keeping the hatchlings safe, as well as the rest of them. No matter what it turned out to be, they’d be able to rally around each other and keep the bad shit away.

  The sword landed in the yard with a hard shake. As they all waited, the handle still shook hard, the color so brilliant of red that it defied naming. But as surely as Devon stood there, watching it cool off, he knew what it was. It would be a blade of the rarest of diamonds. The blood red diamond of Jackson’s kind.

  “It’s not done.” He looked around when someone spoke. It was Bloom. Devon noticed too that she was now dressed in the livery of her master. No matter if Jackson and Nicole took on another faerie or not, she would only ever serve Nicole. “Wait for it, my lord. Or all will be lost.”

  When the sword was cooled enough, it rose from the ground, its blade much longer than he thought Nicole could wield. As it swung around, blade over pummel, he knew that as soon as it stopped, not only would it fit her hand like it had been forged just for her, but it would shorten too, to accommodate her size in any form. For as surely as he was standing there, he’d bet all his riches that Nicole was as much a red diamond dragon as Jackson was. And would be considered a full blood too.

  Taking the last two steps to the sword as it slowed, Nicole seemed to know just what she was about. The handle did fill her hand as he’d thought, and the blade of it seemed to hide the length inside of itself so that it only looked like it was about a foot long. The need to bow before her was great.

  The others did so, going down on one knee and not moving. Jackson stood then, his dragon coming out just as Devon reached the two of them. Together they stood, and Devon was so greatly impressed by the sight that he pulled them both into his arms for a hug.

  “You’re her.” Nicole fell to the ground. The armor disappeared with the sword, but he knew that as soon as she called to it again, not only would it appear, but he’d bet that it was a part of her for all time. “The defender of the dragons. I have never seen her. Never even knew that she’d ever return. And here you are. In human form.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” Devon laughed as he sat down on the grass by Nicole. “That fucking hurt. You know that, don’t you? And what the fuck do you mean, defender of dragons? I don’t know if you realize this or not, but I’m a cook. A chef at your restaurant. I knew that this was going to be a bad idea as soon as I called it to me and it said that I was the one.”

  “Who did?” Nicole said she didn’t know the voice, but she had a headache right now. She’d said it in her own way with it peppered with a lot of fucks and fuckity fucks, but he understood. “Nicole, would you really like to know what you are?”

  “I know.” She didn’t lift her head. “There was a book missing from your library. It’s been placed in there now. You have them all, the same as Bryce now has all the books she needs on spells and dragon care.”

  “You found them.” She said they sort of found her. “Yes, I can see that. You’ve been chosen to keep us safe.”

  The glare from her was perfect, and when Jackson laid down, his huge head on Nicole’s leg, Devon tried to think when he’d had a more entertaining day. He thought about all the things he could say to her, but decided he didn’t want to test her right now. She seemed a little on edge.

  “We’re all going to live a great deal better now.” Still nothing from Nicole, and that was when he realized that she was sleeping. Devon looked at Jackson. “She’s going to be able to have your children now. As many as you wish.”

  Yes, Devon thought, things were finally looking up around here, and he for one was happy about it. It had worried him, having over forty hatchlings to take from the cave and how to keep them safe until they were large enough to take care of themselves. Now he knew. There would be newborn dragons to replenish the magic in the world.

  Chapter 6

  The books were just where she said they’d be. Looking at the old bindings and covers, Nicole wondered when they were put together. Then she realized that she didn’t want to know. Her mind now was on overload, thinking about all the shit that had come down. A book was really low on her list right now.

  “Devon told me that you were a dragon.” Nodding, she didn’t say anything to Jackson. He’d been hanging around the restaurant kitchen with her for the last couple of hours. “Do you want to wait a while on trying that out?”

  “Fuck yeah.” She thought even to her ears she sounded a little frantic. “No, I don’t want to do that now. How much of this crap do you think you got? Because the way I feel, I’m a single plug being stuck up my ass from lighting up the fucking country.”

  “If you let me hold you, it might make it better.” She didn’t believe him for a moment, and she was sure he knew that. “I need you. I won’t lie to you. But I won’t rush you. Not unless you want me to chase you around the table.”

  Without her answering him, he got up. She was always startled at his height. She wasn’t short, but he had to be at least a foot and a half taller than she was. As he moved around the table, touching some of the items that she’d been playing with, he spoke softly to her. His tone was like pure dark chocolate being poured over her.

  “The first thing I’d like to do to you is sit you right here on this table and strip you down. After that, I would taste every inch of you, front to back.” He picked her up and sat her just where he’d said. “Then when I’ve had my fill of your body, I’d take your pretty pussy in my mouth and eat you until you couldn’t walk.”

  “I’d like that.” He nodded, and she found that they were both naked. “Why was the water red? You never told me that.”

  “Because as of now, we’re both red dragons. What sort of bra was that? Sexy, but it seems a little—I don’t know, too much.” Nicole pointed out that going braless for her would be painful. “I know that feeling. Though not in my breasts. If I go commando, my balls ache. Like that, I’m betting.”

  “You are such a smooth talker, Jackson.” He suckled at her breast and then nipped at the tip of each before moving his mouth to hers. “Jackson, I’ve fallen in love with you. I’m afraid a little of your dragon. He’s something that I know I can trust, but I’m still unsure around him.”

  “We’ll be together for a long time, Nicky love. And over time, our dragons will get used to each other. Now hush, I want to taste that tempting mouth of yours.”

  The kiss was devasting. It wasn’t just a kiss, she thought, but a claiming. Also, like he was trying to heat her up from the inside out. So when he lifted his head to look at her, Nicole pulled him back down for a second one.

  The way that he treated her body was like having a million fingers digging into her flesh. Nicole was puttie when he moved down to her feet. If the place had been in trouble, they would have surely killed her, because she had not the strength to breathe, much less run.

  The chair from the table scraped across the floor. Before she could lift her head and see what he was doing, his mouth covered her pussy and had her screaming her release. Christ, it was like she really could light up the night. But instead of it doing that, the lights in the building dimmed and flashed.

  Begging him to stop was useless. His mouth was doing things to her that she was sure he was making up as he moved along her body. Jackson’s tongue was long and rough, and she wondered if the dragon was taking his share as well. For as many times as she came, Nicole was at the point where she thought that a person really could die from too much sex. Then he stood up.

  “I need to be buried inside of you.” Nodding, she helped guide him to her entrance. There was cream all over his mouth and chin. Nicole wanted to lick him clean, to take a little of herself into her own body to see if she could enjoy it as much as he had seemed to. “Take me, Nicole.”

  The words from the book that she’d somehow read popped into her mind. They were binding words, words that would not just make them mate to mate, but fighter to fighter, dragon to dragon. Jackson paused, and she had a feeling that he was waiting for her to recite them. Nicole had never wanted to say anything more than she did these words to him.

  “I, Lady Nicole Fitzpatrick William, Duchess of Willow, Queen of Dragonwyck, defender of dragons, hereby pledge my heart and soul, and that of my dragon, to you, Lord Jackson Le Rouge William, Duke of Willow, King of Dragonwyck, defender of dragons, as my champion when I need you, my ride when I am in need of one, and the one man that I will love throughout all of eternity and beyond. Take me, love, and make me whole with you.”

  He filled her. His cock seemed to have touched off nerves in every part of her body. Even her fingers were tingling, and the hand that had remained red through the entire day seemed to attach itself to Jackson as he fucked her like he was meant to do.

  Screaming left her without relief. Nicole could not have held in whatever he was creating in her if her life depended on it. So when he told her to come, to release, she gripped him tightly at the shoulders and bent back. The release, or whatever it was that they were doing, came out of her from every part of her body.

  “See her?” Nicole wasn’t sure what Jackson was talking about. His voice, like her mind, was stripped of any sort of calmness. But when she opened her eyes and looked above her head, she was there. A dragon made entirely of the most beautiful shade of red that she’d ever seen. “Her eyes are green like yours. She’s your dragon, Nicole.”

  Putting out her fingers to touch the image, she wasn’t sure what she had expected, but for her to be cold wasn’t it. As she was pulling her fingers back, the dragon attached herself to them and entered her again through her red hand. Nicole screamed again this time, but from pain. The dragon was ripping her apart.

  When Nicole woke, she was in the yard behind the restaurant. Looking up at the night sky, again she wondered just how long she’d been there. Days, months, years? She didn’t know. But she was beginning to know what road kill might feel like after it had been hit several hundred thousand times.

  “My lady, rest a bit more.” She nodded but her head felt heavy. “She is most beautiful, your lady dragon. As red as the magical blood that now flows through the earth. Making the magic that only you can share there for all creatures to be stronger and to live again.”

  You’re saying too many words, Bloom. Nicole opened one eye when the little creature giggled. For some reason she looked much smaller than she ever had before. Did someone put you in the dryer or something? You look about half the size as you did before.

  “Nay, my lady, you are much larger than you were before. You can look, but do not attempt to stand as yet. I fear that the earth beneath you is not quite ready for your weight.” Sitting up turned out to be much more difficult than she thought it should have been. But once she was, all Nicole wanted to do was lay back down. She was a dragon. A huge fucking red dragon. “Do you not think you are most beautiful?”

  I don’t know what to think. Nicole asked where Jackson was.

  “He has taken to the skies. Him and the others, they are celebrating that you have become a dragon.”

  I thought celebrations would at least include the person that got the...you know what, never mind. Can I fly too? Bloom told her that she should wait until her wings were stronger. I see. Why?

  “I don’t know. That is what Lady Bryce told me.” Standing up was easier now that she had a hang of what she was. Nicole wasn’t sure what to call what she was doing, but flapping her big assed wings seemed to fit. And when they lifted her a foot or so off the ground, she looked at Bloom. “Go for it, my lady. Show them that you wait for no one.”

  The books that were in the cave and in the big houses were all imprinted in her mind. Sorting through them like a person would to find a good recipe, she found the information on flying.

  It turned out to be just like a favorite recipe. Nicole had all the ingredients within her. The ability to do it and the space that was needed to make it work for her. As soon as she closed her eyes, thinking about soaring upward, she knew that she’d accomplished it when Bloom, at her ear, started to laugh.

  You need a new name, my faerie. It says that I should let you pick it, as you are the one that will have to have the burden of carrying it. I don’t know about a burden, but you should have something that you want. Bloom told her that she’d give it some thought. We are, neither of us, the same, are we? I mean, you are no longer a simple faerie, and I am no simple dragon, am I?

  “No, my lady. And you will never be again. You are the knight to Devon’s king. The protector of all creatures that are in this world. You will stand with him when the fight begins, and there at his side when the war has ended in victory.” Nicole asked about Jackson as she ate up the distance in the sky to join him. “He, too, will be by your side. As his dragon, all that think to defeat King Devon for his position will only need to see the two of you to know that the war has ended without a single drop of blood being shed. However, there will be a few, an ignorant few, that will think that they can defeat all simply because they no longer believe that the red dragon has returned.”

 

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