Holy Smokes Page 20

  He didn’t smile at my teasing tone. He didn’t even look remotely happy, two things that surprised me.

  “I know about the challenge,” he said, his hands sweeping up my back. I shivered a little, his touch stirring the desire that was always simmering.

  “You do? How? Uncle Damian went off to see some of his friends, and Nora had work to do, so Rene took Jim and me straight here after we left Bastian. Did someone call you?”

  He nodded.

  “Who? Bastian?”

  “No. Fiat.”

  I stared at him for three seconds before swearing profanely. “Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ! Fiat called you?”

  “Yes.” He pulled me close, nibbling a spot behind my ear that made me turn into a big old blob of goo. “I’m sorry, kincsem. Fiat apparently escaped Bastian’s custody shortly after you left. He claims he is still the blue wyvern, and you are his mate.”

  “How can that be?” I wailed. “Dammit, Bastian beat him at a challenge! We were there! We saw it!”

  He sighed into my neck, his arms tightening around me. I wanted to cry again, not sure if it was the pregnancy hormones stirring my emotions, or just the frustration of never seeming to catch a break that drove me to the brink. “There is a bit of a situation. Fiat is claiming that the challenge was invalid because Bastian did not present the terms of it before the challenge started.”

  “You mean he cheated by getting a jump on Fiat? But Fiat did the same thing with Dmitri…oh, hell.”

  “Abaddon,” drifted in faintly from the hallway.

  “Stop listening at the door!” I bellowed. “And that’s an order!”

  The sound of toenails ticky-ticking on the tile floor faded away to nothing.

  I looked back at Drake. Regret was stark in his face. He nodded, brushing his thumb over my lower lip. I bit him.

  “I wondered if you would remember that challenges for a sept always follow the formal challenge, while challenges for a mate are pretty much anything goes.”

  “So Bastian didn’t really win control of the sept?” I asked, my heart breaking into a dozen little pieces.

  To my surprise, his frown eased somewhat. “Actually, that isn’t quite clear at the moment.”

  “What do you mean? Either Bastian is wyvern, or Fiat is. They can’t both be wyverns…can they?”

  “Not of the same sept, no,” he answered, his hands getting busy.

  I grabbed his wrists as they swept along my hips, heading for higher ground. “Trying to get a straight answer out of you is like trying to ride a greased weasel.”

  “Would you like to ride me, instead?” he asked, his eyes alight with interest.

  “You are utterly shameless. Luckily, that’s one of your charms,” I told him, pushing myself away from him in order to keep from jumping him right then and there. “Spit it out, Drake. What’s the deal with Bastian?”

  “I’d rather talk about you riding me,” he answered, his dragon fire building inside him.

  “You can seduce me after you tell me what I want to know.”

  He simmered at me. He positively simmered, his eyes molten, his body a temptation that I had to steel myself to ignore. “I can think of other things I’d rather do, naked things, than talking about the blue dragons.”

  I rubbed my head. My body was demanding I give in to him, but my brain wanted answers.

  Sometimes brains are overrated.

  “Please, Drake,” I said, teetering on the verge of desire. “I hate being kept out of things. Please just tell me, and then I promise I’m all yours.”

  “You’re all mine right now,” he growled, pouncing on me with his usual feline grace. His lips burned mine for a moment before he kissed a fiery path to my collarbone, his tongue swirling around the sept brand he’d burnt there. “The situation isn’t clear because Bastian is by right wyvern. Fiat never formally challenged him for the sept.”

  I shivered again and pulled his shirt out of his pants so I could slide my hands under it, my fingers dancing along the long, strong lines of his back. “Which would mean that Bastian wouldn’t have to challenge Fiat, because he was already wyvern? Hallelujah! But why is Fiat still claiming to be wyvern then?”

  “His claim is that Bastian wasn’t formally named wyvern. Aisling…” Drake pulled back enough to look me in the eye just as I was nibbling on his delectable earlobe. “Fiat has many followers in the sept. This will likely divide the sept between those members who are loyal to Fiat and those who are loyal to Bastian.”

  “Oh, no. That would be horrible. Those poor people. Is there anything we can do to help Bastian?”

  He shook his head. “No. Intra-sept struggles are beyond my reach. It must be for them to resolve.”

  “But Fiat has so much power, and he’s been around the last hundred or so years, so everyone is more familiar with him than with Bastian. If we don’t help Bastian, I’m going to be stuck with Fiat!” My voice rose on the last few words, despair my companion again.

  “I will not allow that. Kincsem…it has not been easy for me, this last month. I have not liked involving myself in sept business without you.”

  I nuzzled his neck, holding him tight against the pain that stung within me. “I know. It hurts.”

  His lips were hot on my flesh. “I would not hurt you for all my treasure. And now that I know what the situation is with Fiat, I will take action.”

  “What sort of action?” I asked, nibbling his jaw, unable to resist the lure of his sexy self. “Are you going to challenge him for me? Lusus naturae?”

  “No.”

  The word pierced my heart like a dagger.

  “Do not look at me that way,” Drake said, pressing his forehead against mine. “I am not betraying you, Aisling. But a challenge with Fiat would not serve the purpose. He would take extreme steps to ensure that he did not lose you, and I am not willing to risk him harming you.”

  The pain eased as I acknowledged the truth of what he said. Fiat wouldn’t hesitate to destroy me utterly if he thought Drake stood a chance of winning me back. “What are you going to do if you can’t challenge him?” I asked, ashamed of the pathetic tone of misery in my voice.

  Drake smiled. His lips curled up, and his eyes went dragon as the smile grew in a way that made me thankful he was on my side. “I am wyvern of the green dragons.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Such a look of confusion in your beautiful face. What do green dragons do best?”

  “You’re not going to make love to him,” I said, scandalized for a moment even though I knew Drake couldn’t mean that.

  He gave me a long-suffering look. “Hardly.”

  “Well, good. Because I told you once I don’t share, not even with another guy, although I have to admit that…um…never mind.”

  One of Drake’s eyebrows rose. “Such unplumbed depths to you. I’m afraid that particular fantasy will never be fulfilled. I hold what is mine. No others will have you.”

  I smiled at the slightly outraged glint in his eyes. “Don’t worry, it’s not a fantasy. I always kind of wondered what it would be like to have so much attention, but then I met you, and, well, I don’t think I could survive more attention than what you give me.”

  “That was the correct answer,” he said, his voice rich with smugness.

  “Uh-huh. OK, so back to Fiat…” I pulled my mind from the delightful sensations Drake’s hands and mouth were giving me, and thought hard. If he couldn’t challenge Fiat, what could he do? Drake was a man of many talents, but I couldn’t think of one that would help him get me back without some sort of fight between him and Fiat.

  And then the penny dropped.

  I started laughing, causing Drake to pause as he unbuttoned my shirt. “Figured it out, did you?”

  “I’m allowed to be a bit slow. I’ve had a hell of a day. So, my darling green dragon…what treasure of Fiat’s are you going to steal?”

  20

  “Here I am! Sorry I’m late, but I had a bit of trouble locatin
g your secret clubhouse. Did I miss anything good?”

  Three of the four male faces in the room turned to me with astonishment. The fourth shook his adorable head resignedly. “We have not yet started. Out of idle curiosity, how did you find this room?”

  I donned my most haughty look as I perched myself on the arm of his comfy leather chair. “You expect me to reveal my Guardian secrets? Ha! I think not, plebeian!”

  Drake’s eyes narrowed in thought. “Ah. The ward at the entrance.”

  “Dead giveaway,” Jim said, plunking itself down in front of a small fireplace that was merrily blazing.

  I nodded, patting Drake on the head. “No one binds a perdu ward on a bookcase unless they have something to be concealed. So when I knew you were in the house but couldn’t find you, I decided it was time to investigate that bookcase. What’s going on?”

  “If I told you that we were conducting sept business…” Drake’s eyebrow rose meaningfully.

  I pushed it back down with the tip of my finger. “I wouldn’t believe you. For one thing, you don’t hide when you have sept business. And for another, you would have just told me if that’s what you were doing.”

  He smiled. “I had a feeling you would see through both the hidden entrance to this room and that objection. As it happens, we are discussing strategy.”

  “Oh, good. I like strategy. What are we strategizing about?”

  Drake pulled me down onto his lap. Before he could answer, Kostya, who had been standing with his hands behind his back, looking out the high, round window that graced Drake’s hidden room, turned and said something in what I assumed was Hungarian.

  “We will not speak Magyar in front of Aisling,” Drake answered, his hands warm on my belly. “And there is no question of not allowing her to remain. What we are discussing is not sept business; if she wishes to participate, then I welcome her input.”

  I wanted to kiss him for such support, but Drake had rather old-fashioned notions about propriety in front of his sept members, so I contented myself with giving his thigh an unobtrusive squeeze. “I take it we’re planning the theft?”

  “Yes. I feel certain that Fiat’s hoard is in Italy, in a house that is heavily protected. We must find our way through his defenses and into his treasure room.”

  “Sounds good. When do we leave?”

  “We?” Kostya asked, frowning as he paced past me. “You will not be going with us, Aisling.”

  “Oh, man,” Jim said, shaking its head. “He didn’t just do that, did he?”

  “He did,” Pál said, also shaking his head.

  I stared at Kostya in disbelief for a few seconds before asking Drake, “Did he just order me around?”

  Drake nodded.

  “And I thought you were the bossiest of all the dragons. He’s got some nerve thinking he can tell me what to do.”

  “He has been isolated for over a century,” Drake explained, the very corners of his mouth tilting up. “It is to be expected.”

  “Expected my Aunt Fanny. It’s just another sign of dragon arrogance.”

  “This is the way you manage your woman?” Kostya asked, stalking across the small room only to turn and pace back to the window. “You allow her to dictate to you, brother?”

  My hackles went up at that. “Hey! I am not a wayward sheep to be managed—” I started to say, but Drake interrupted.

  “Aisling is my mate in all senses of the word. She has experience in matters that are beyond ours, and I value her insight. There is no question of managing her or allowing her to rule my life. I admit it has taken me a bit of time to realize the value in a partnership, but that is what we have, and it will not change.”

  “If I wasn’t already madly in love with you, that speech would have done it,” I told him, giving his ear a quick kiss.

  “She carries your child!” Kostya said, his frown almost identical to Drake’s, although on him, it wasn’t even remotely attractive. “You would allow her to endanger herself and your son?”

  “Clear the decks,” Jim said, backing up into a corner. “Fire in the hole!”

  “Right, now you’re getting on my nerves,” I said, pushing myself off Drake’s lap. He made a grab for me, but I slipped away and marched over to where Kostya had taken up a pose, poking him in the chest as I clued him in to a few points. “I was prepared to like you because you’re Drake’s brother and part of my family now, but this is way over the line. You’re insulting and degrading, and I won’t stand for it!”

  Kostya looked shocked, shooting Drake outraged looks that demanded he do something. A little puff of smoke escaped from his mouth as he sputtered, “You speak to me thusly?”

  “Damn straight I do. This is my house, and you just insulted my husband-to-be.”

  “I would not insult my brother—”

  “You just did, you annoyingly arrogant dragon! Do you seriously think that Drake would allow harm to come to me? He’d die first—not that I’d let him—but you insult him and me both by saying either one of us would endanger our child.”

  Flames leaped across the floor. Jim yelped and scooted even farther back.

  “Control your anger,” Drake said, frowning at the fire as István leaped up to stamp it out.

  Kostya seethed, turning again to Drake. “You have nothing to say about this abominable treatment by your woman?”

  “If you had asked me that two months ago, I would have had much to say on the subject of women who do not know their place,” he answered, his eyes lit with amusement. “But I have since learned that there is one woman for whom that place is at my side, and I would not have her anywhere else.”

  “You”—I pointed at Drake—“are the most adorable man on the face of the earth. You”—I turned to glare at Kostya—“are almost as annoying as he was when I first met him. The sooner you get over yourself, the happier everyone will be.”

  “I will not be spoken to in that insolent manner!” Kostya all but yelled.

  A ring of fire broke out around him. I clenched my fists and struggled to keep from drawing a silencing ward on him.

  “Do not yell at Aisling,” Drake said, leaping to his feet. He pulled me behind him in his usual dominating way, facing his brother with a dangerous look. “I will not allow you to speak to her in that way any more than I would allow our mother to do so. She is my mate. You will respect her as you do me.”

  “You take much upon yourself, little brother!” Kostya answered, a warning in his voice. “Do not forget who you are speaking to!”

  Drake’s eyes went pure dragon. Pál and István jumped up, immediately taking a position behind Kostya. The fire ring around Kostya grew higher. “I have not forgotten who or what you are,” Drake answered in a soft voice that sent shivers down my back. “But you, it seems, have forgotten what you owe to Aisling.”

  Kostya looked like he wanted to burst, but he managed to rein in his emotions and give Drake a curt nod before spinning around and resuming his abrupt pacing.

  The tension in the small room eased. Pál and István sat back down. Jim pursed its lips and whistled a tuneless song.

  Drake pulled me back down onto his lap and said somewhat wearily, “Let us stick to less inflammatory subjects. Pál?”

  I grumbled under my breath, but listened with interest as Pál pulled up a report on his laptop and read off what information they had about Fiat’s house in Italy. It was detailed enough for me to speculate that the green dragons had done a little spying on Fiat, which made me wonder if the other septs were doing the same to us. A half hour later, a basic plan had been agreed upon…except for one vital point.

  “You cannot be serious!” Kostya stormed, striding past where I had curled up on a tiny loveseat. “You just got through saying you would not put yourself in danger, and now you expect to come with us? Ridiculous!”

  “It won’t be dangerous,” I answered, my eyes on Drake. He wasn’t looking very happy, and had, in fact, offered his opinion that I should stay home lest I come to any
harm in Fiat’s house.

  “There could well be trouble,” he said slowly, his brow somewhat furrowed.

  “I don’t see how. Fiat’s in London trying to deal with Bastian. It’s not likely that he’s suddenly going to jet back to Italy while Bastian is rallying as many blue dragons to his cause as he can. The members of the sept are too busy wondering which of the two wyverns is going to come out on top to be worrying about us.”

  “There are guards at the house. It will still be dangerous even if Fiat is not present. I do not wish to hurt your feelings, kincsem, but it is intolerable to put you at risk.”

  “Now you are speaking as a man,” Kostya said with a sharp nod.

  “Oh, pipe down,” I snapped at him. “And put out that fire before it reaches the curtain!”

  Kostya stomped on a little outbreak of fire next to the curtain, shooting me a seething glance as he did so.

  I ignored it, turning to Drake. “There’s no risk at all, no more than I run by being at home and possibly being attacked by one of Chuan Ren’s hired hit men. I won’t get in the way. I’ll stay back and let you and Pál and István take down the couple of guys who will be guarding the house. Besides, you can’t deny it would be handy having a Guardian and her demon there to help out.”

  “Especially the demon,” Jim said.

  “Bah!” Kostya snorted.

  Drake hesitated a moment, and I knew I had him. I trailed my finger down his leg and tried to look humble. “Sweetie, I don’t want to put myself in danger any more than you do. But even if Fiat’s guys did catch us, they aren’t going to hurt their boss’s mate. I promise I’ll do whatever you say. I won’t go off and beat up people on my own, OK?”

  His lips tightened. “I don’t like it.”

  “I know you don’t. You never like it when I want to do things, and you get bonus points for discussing it with me rather than just giving me an order and marching away like some people would do.”