Holy Smokes Read online

  “What situation?” I asked, one eye on Fiat as he trotted down the steps of the cathedral, flanked on either side by his two henchmen. “No, never mind, I don’t have time for it right now. I have to attend a meeting of the blue dragons, and you’re here in the guise of protection. Got it?”

  “Er—”

  “That guy approaching who looks like he should be on the cover of GQ, that’s Fiat, the blue wyvern. You’re to particularly watch him, OK?”

  “Eh—”

  “And his cronies.” I straightened my shoulders and tried to look a lot calmer and cooler than I felt. “They may all look like Adonises, but they’re sneakier than snakes. Don’t take your eyes off of them.”

  Jim squinted at Fiat as he stopped in front of us. “Hey, Fiat. Nice highlights. You use Miss Clairol or another brand?”

  I tried to keep from smiling at Jim’s irreverent quip. There was no love lost between Fiat and my demon, but I didn’t need any more antagonism than was absolutely necessary. “Hush, Jim. Hello, Fiat. Long time no see.”

  Fiat ran a quick glance around at my companions before taking my hand and kissing it. “Cara, cara, do you really think I would harm my own mate? This show of force is unnecessary, I assure you.”

  “Unnecessary, possibly, but I have no intention of putting myself in your control.” I tried to pull my hand back from where he was still holding it, but his grip was deceptively strong.

  He smiled. It made my skin crawl. “Do you believe you could be free of that?”

  “Let’s get something straight right now,” I said briskly, jerking my hand out of his. A flash of blue fire lit his eyes for a moment, but it was nothing to my ire at finding myself in this position. “You may have finessed a way for me to act as your mate, but we both know that it’s not going to be a relationship that will work out. The green dragons acknowledge me as their wyvern’s mate. Drake and I are going to be married in a few days. We love each other, and nothing you can do is going to stop any of that. I accept the fact that I have to attend your sept meetings until such time as you come to your senses, but don’t deceive yourself that I am weak and powerless. I may not technically be a Guardian at the moment, but I am a friggin’ prince of Abaddon, and you do not want to see what happens when I get sufficiently pissed.”

  “Yeah,” Jim said, plopping its big old Newfie butt on my foot in a show of support. “She came close to bringing the Guardians’ Guild building down around their ears yesterday.”

  “I find that rather difficult to believe,” Fiat said, eyeing me up and down as if I were a piece of beef.

  “Believe it,” Rene said, straightening his shoulders and adopting a grim expression. “I was present. I saw the head of the Guild acknowledge her power.”

  “Such a brave little woman,” Fiat answered, clearly amused. “Threatening the Guardians’ Guild all on her own? I am most impressed.”

  “Aisling is not alone,” Uncle Damian said in a low voice that would have sent a lesser man screaming from the scene.

  Fiat, however, was not so easily intimidated.

  “So I see.” His gaze flickered over Uncle Damian before moving to Rene and Traci. “A mortal.”

  “This is my uncle, Damian Carson. And don’t let the mortal bit fool you—Drake has absolute confidence in my uncle’s ability to serve as my bodyguard.”

  Fiat’s eyebrows rose a smidgen. “High praise indeed. And here we have…a power?”

  “Daimon,” Rene said, his jaw set firmly.

  “A fate. What a very interesting choice of companions.” Fiat bowed his head at him before turning back to me. “And two demon minions. Very well, cara. Since I have no choice but to accept your foolish desire to be accompanied by a crowd, I will acquiesce. Shall we go? I have a car waiting.”

  Uncle Damian went into full security mode as we approached the waiting limo, whipping out a small electronic device that he used to examine the car briefly before nodding at me. “It’s safe.”

  “Really, cara, you must give me more credit than that,” Fiat said in a low voice right next to my ear, his hand cool on my back as I got into the car. A little shiver went down my arms and back as I shrugged his hand off. The blue dragon element was air, which caused them to feel a few degrees cooler than everyone else. “As if I would harm you.”

  “You don’t think shoving a needle in my neck and injecting me with poison is harmful?” I asked, scooting a few inches away when he seated himself next to me. His two bodyguards, just as blond and gorgeous as Fiat himself, took their positions on the seat across from us, while Uncle Damian, Rene, and Traci were along the side. Jim sat on my feet and covertly drooled on Fiat’s expensive shoes.

  Fiat reached for my hand. I made a fist and glared at him. He gave an exaggerated sigh instead and let his hand fall. “Why you insist on creating such difficulties is beyond me. The incident with the poison was regrettable, I admit, but alas, necessary.”

  “That’s your interpretation of the word ‘necessary,’” I said, starting to get riled up again over the memory of the event a month past.

  Oh good. I love it when you get riled.

  “Cara—,” Fiat started to say.

  “No, never mind, it’s not important now,” I said quickly, trying to squelch the desire to pull on the dark power. “I’m sorry I brought it up. I’d rather focus on the current situation.”

  Fiat leaned back with casual grace and smiled. Like most of the wyverns, he had a tendency to wear articles of clothing bearing the color of his sept. Currently, he was dressed in an extremely well-cut suit made of midnight blue fabric.

  “Is that dragonweave?” I couldn’t help but ask, watching with fascination as the material in Fiat’s suit seemed to shimmer and change.

  “Yes. I shall have some sent to you.”

  I smiled. “Don’t bother. Drake had some made into dresses for me. I just didn’t know it came in colors other than green.”

  “I wouldn’t mind a dog collar made in it,” Jim said, unobtrusively wiping a tendril of drool on Fiat’s pant leg.

  Fiat and I both glared at it.

  “What?” it asked, blinking its eyes at me in an attempt at innocence.

  Rene snickered. Uncle Damian watched Fiat with narrowed eyes. Traci was absorbed in its Palm Pilot, no doubt taking care of some of the business I’d put it in charge of.

  “I take it that the meeting today is something important if you’ve trotted out the good suit?” I asked Fiat.

  “You could say that. We will discuss our involvement in the war between the red and green septs.”

  I stiffened. “Your involvement as in working with Chuan Ren?”

  “Who can say?” He made an elegant gesture, his eyes half-closed as he watched me. “That is what we meet to decide.”

  “I think you can guess how my vote is going to go,” I answered, smiling as sweetly as I could, which was a minor miracle considering I wanted to throttle Fiat.

  Why strain your hands? You could destroy him so much more easily.

  “Alas, as my mate, your role is to support me in all things, and thus you do not have a vote of your own.”

  I ground my teeth just a tiny bit.

  “I have every confidence that your support will drive home to the sept just how unswerving is your devotion to me. It will do much to convince them of the rightness of our chosen path.”

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I asked.

  He leaned forward, his sapphire gaze piercing mine. “Oh, yes. Very much so, cara.”

  There was a warning in his voice, a warning I should have taken heed of…but hindsight is such an annoying thing.

  As dragon events go, the meeting itself started off at a brisk pace. We arrived at the convention center where the gathering was being held.

  “Holy cow,” I murmured under my breath as Renaldo, one of Fiat’s bodyguards, ushered us into the room where the meeting was taking place. I was used to the green dragon sept gatherings with its two hundred or so members. Th
is room was filled with at least three times that number of dragons, a vast expanse of ballroom that was covered wall-to-wall in dragons.

  “Merde,” Rene whispered under his breath, patting the spot on his chest where his gun was hidden. “So many?”

  “How many members of the blue sept are there?” I asked Renaldo.

  “More than twelve hundred,” he answered as we marched up to a raised dais at one end of the room. Fiat was already there, surrounded by a group of men. In the center of the dais was a chair that can only be described as a throne, dark wood carved into intricate scenes of dragons, embellished with gold. “Although only half that number is here today. You sit here when Fiat tells you to.”

  He turned his back on me. I looked around the platform. There was a podium with a microphone, the throne, a small folding chair that was evidently my seat…and nothing else.

  “And he talks about me doing things the hard way,” I said, shaking my head and sighing to myself as I strolled off the platform and over to the first row of chairs. People were still wandering around, chatting, mingling, and socializing in general, but the ones nearest me stopped dead and turned to look as I smiled.

  “Hi. You using those? No? Thanks much.” I grabbed two chairs and started hauling them over to the dais.

  “Drake will not like that,” Rene said as he rushed to take the chairs from me. “Remember le bébé!”

  Uncle Damian jumped down and snagged another chair. Evidently someone said something to Fiat, or he noticed the shocked silence in my corner of the room, the dragons coming to a halt as they watched my little group carry chairs up to the dais.

  “Cara!”

  “Chair or floor?” I asked Jim.

  It tipped its head to the side. “Oh, chair, don’t you think? For maximum effect.”

  “Cara, what are you doing?” Fiat hurried over to us.

  “A demon after my own heart,” I said, patting it on its head. I nodded toward another chair. Traci heaved a long-suffering sigh and fetched it. I lifted my chin and smiled at Fiat. “Just arranging for seats for my support team. Set them behind mine, guys, in a nice little row. Excellent. Are we ready to go, Fiat?”

  His eyes flashed fury, his hands fisting for a moment before he forced them open. He bowed and gestured toward the chair waiting for me. “As you desire, mate.”

  The word grated on me coming from his lips, but I knew he knew that, so I kept the smile on my face as I took my place next to him. He stood before the throne, his expression relaxed, but I could feel a sense of keyed-up excitement emanating from him as he waited for everyone to take their seats.

  He went through the usual formalities, issuing a greeting in Italian, and going over official sept business that held no interest for me, if Rene’s whispered translation was accurate.

  It was a bit trying to be formally introduced to the sept as his mate, but I got through it by reminding myself that what could be done, could be undone.

  Quite easily, as a matter of fact, but will you do that? Oh no, you insist on being stubborn.

  I pushed down the voice, ignoring it as I focused on Rene’s whispers in my ear as he translated Fiat’s speech. The members rose and bowed to me when Fiat introduced me, but I had the feeling everyone here knew it was a meaningless gesture.

  “You have to wonder what they think of Fiat taking another wyvern’s mate as his own,” I whispered over my shoulder to Rene.

  Renaldo, standing on the other side of Fiat, shot me a glare.

  “I do not believe they have much choice in the matter,” Rene whispered back. “The blue wyvern seems to rule with very much the hand of iron.”

  “Wouldn’t surprise me to find out he took the position by force,” Uncle Damian said softly.

  I glanced at him in surprise. “Why do you say that? The blue dragons don’t seem to be cowed or afraid of Fiat, just kind of subdued when compared to the green dragons.”

  “He’s got the dictator mentality. Seen it before in men who’ve forcibly taken over businesses. You watch him—I bet he’ll lay down the law to those folks over this war. They won’t have a thing to say about it.”

  “They may not, but I certainly will,” I muttered, lapsing into silence at yet another pointed look from Renaldo.

  It took another half hour before Fiat stopped speaking, the crowd applauding politely. He turned to me and held out his hand, clearly desiring my presence next to him. I took a deep breath and got up, placing just the tips of my fingers in his hand. I would have ignored it altogether, but I hesitated to embarrass him in that manner with so many sept members watching.

  He said something to the crowd, holding up our joined hands. There were several murmurs until a hush fell over them. I glanced back at Rene, who rose and started toward me.

  Renaldo intercepted him.

  “Rene speaks Italian. He’s translating for me,” I said quietly to Fiat.

  He shook his head at Renaldo, who pushed Rene back into his seat. “You do not need him. I will tell you what is being said. We are to discuss the war now.”

  Fiat was one of those people who needed his hands to speak, releasing my hand as he addressed the congregation. I covertly rubbed my fingers, trying to get the warmth back into them as he talked. At one point he gestured to someone in the audience, who stood up and said a few words. Fiat smiled, nodded, and spoke some more before turning to me. “You must now state your support of the sept decision, cara. I will tell you what to say in Italian. It is not difficult.”

  I just bet it wasn’t. “What exactly has the sept decided?” I asked.

  A lazy smile curled his lips. “Naturally, they are distressed by the war and wish to see it brought to a timely end.”

  “Uh-huh. And that’s going to be achieved how? By helping the green dragons beat the snot out of the red ones?”

  His smile widened. “The red dragons are stronger, cara. They must surely win in time. We will simply ensure that fewer dragons die by helping them bring the war to a swift close.”

  You know—

  I gritted my teeth and blocked out the voice before it could tempt me. “And you expect me to stand here and tell these six hundred dragons that I support that?”

  “You have no choice, mate,” he answered, his eyes going cold and hard. “It is your role to support me. To do otherwise would be intolerable.”

  “Why do you even bother having me speak to them when you know I won’t mean a single word?” I asked, frustrated beyond all belief. I hated Fiat at that moment and thought seriously about banishing him…except that would get me deeper into trouble than I already was.

  What do you have to lose?

  “You are my mate. The sept needs to hear you speak.”

  I took a few deep breaths to calm myself, sick to death of all Fiat’s machinations. “Rene?”

  Renaldo leaped forward as Rene stood up, obviously intending to stop him. My temper, already frayed, snapped at that point. I spun around and drew a binding ward on Renaldo, stopping him cold.

  Uncle Damian and Jim hurried over to stand behind us, Traci following, a wary look on its face.

  “You dare?” Fiat hissed, his face tightening. Stephano, the other bodyguard, started toward us. I nailed him to the floor by the same ward.

  “I dare. You want me to speak to the sept? Fine, I’ll speak, I’ll tell them exactly what I think, but Rene is going to translate for me.”

  I grabbed for the microphone but Fiat caught my arm and jerked me up close to his body. Uncle Damian shouted and would have leaped forward, but I waved him back.

  Fiat’s eyes burnt into mine, his breath cool on my cheek as he spoke a few inches away from my face. “Do not try it, cara. I have not laid my plans so carefully to have you destroy them with a few ill-chosen words.”

  “Oh, I’ll choose my words carefully, I assure you,” I told him, fury mingling with an uncomfortable spike of fear. There was something in Fiat’s eyes I hadn’t seen before, a conscienceless element that frankly scared me silly. />
  “You had best do so, if you want to see Drake again,” he warned, the intent in his voice crawling along my skin.

  “Are you threatening him? You can’t do that. It would mean war between the blue and green septs.”

  His fingers tightened around my upper arm until I thought he would break the bone. “The green dragons would be lost without Drake, as I have so easily proven. If he were dead, they would not fight. Just remember that when you speak to my sept. You hold the fate of your beloved Drake in your hands. Choose your words wisely, cara. You will not like the outcome if you do otherwise.”

  I stared at him, unable to believe what I was seeing and hearing, and yet knowing in my heart he meant what he said. If I told this sept that I did not support Fiat, he’d try to have Drake killed. It wouldn’t be an easy feat, but I knew that he wouldn’t stop until he’d utterly destroyed Drake.

  If he died, so would my heart. I couldn’t bear that.

  “Aisling?” Rene asked, his eyes going from Fiat to me. “What do you wish me to say?”

  Fiat released my arm, standing back, his face a smooth mask. I looked out at all the dragons gathered and wanted to vomit. I had no choice—Fiat after Drake’s blood was not an option. If the blue dragons joined forces with the red…well, wars had ended before; this one could end as well. I wasn’t alone in this battle—I had Drake and friends. We would think of some way to end the war.

  “Aisling?” Rene touched my arm.

  “You must speak, cara. They are waiting.”

  It went against everything I wanted, everything I felt, everything I knew to be true and right and good, but there was simply no other choice.

  There is a way. You choose not to use it. Silly woman.

  The dark power nudged me, tempted me, teased me with all the possibilities it had to offer. I fought a little battle within myself to keep from pulling on it, finally turning to Rene and growling through my teeth, “Tell them I support Fiat.”

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