Chapter 18

Chardum

My stomach was in knots after our last confrontation with the vampire and her henchmen. I had sensed that they were shifters such as me, though none were dragons. That was why I’d been willing to call her bluff. A tiger and a pair of coyotes were no match for a dragon; I could squash them with a single paw or scorch them to cinders with a breath.

The vampire was more of a wildcard. I did not know how old she was, and every vampire was different. They gained powers as they aged, and those could vary a great deal. There were even vampire witches, though I did not smell witch magic on this particular vampire, so I was fairly certain we were safe from that.

The tiger was the one with the familiar scent, something that I’d confirmed when I’d grabbed his wrist when he dared to attempt to grab my mate. He’d been in the rubble with me when the rock slide came down twenty-six years ago. He must have managed to escape, avoiding the curse that trapped me, and now he was back, working for a corporation that was only a flimsy cover for their real purpose.

I did not recall if any such cover was used last time; Zachary was always the one that handled the contacts in town, the legal threats and such. I just did the destroying whenever it was called for, and on the side, I worked with my hands to fix things, because I liked that just as much.

My thoughts spun toward the half-human at the house, my mate. I envisioned her curled up on the mattress in her bedroom. Pictured how the afternoon sun was streaking across her pretty mahogany skin, giving it a glow. Her body was all soft and warm in relaxation. It was so tempting to just turn around and climb those stairs to join her, but I had promised I would not cross that boundary. Not until I was invited in.

I landed in the prison clearing and used my dragon senses to sniff around, only relaxing when I discovered no new scent trails. It was quiet, and the trail of the vampire had grown old and stale. She had not been here in weeks.

I circled the woods and checked as close to town as I could without showing myself to the villagers. Only when I was certain there was no sign of the creatures did I turn around. This time, I gave myself permission to let my thoughts wander back to my mate. Would she be sound asleep or lightly slumbering as she waited for me?

Could she feel my thoughts manifest when I imagined stroking my hands along her arms and down her hips? I could vividly picture lapping at the pulse point at her throat; her taste would be so pure and sweet. What would it be like if she let me between her thighs so I could lap at the well between her legs? How would she react if I shifted my tongue just a little so I could reach deep inside?

I groaned, the sound deep and harsh as it rumbled from my giant dragon's chest. I was eager to return home and find out the answers to all those questions. But when my eyes landed on a small figure standing in the middle of the road, I knew I had other duties to fulfill first.

I landed with less grace than I normally might, thudding to the ground in front of the bright green, little car and the gray-haired woman standing next to it. Lizzie was waiting for me, propping her hip against her vehicle with a pensive frown on her face as I shifted.

Now that I had a spot I neatly kept with my clothes inside the farmhouse, shifting and directly pulling my clothing back onto my flesh had become easier. Still, I only bothered with a pair of pants, aware that the werewolf alpha would not be bothered by any kind of nudity.

“So you heard, huh?” I said, in lieu of a greeting. I vaguely recalled that she used to scold me for being rude that way, but this afternoon, she didn’t comment and simply nodded. She looked worried, even a little scared, and that was not a good sign. I recalled Lizzie as one of the fiercest werewolves around. In all our time together, she had never backed down from a challenge and always been ready to offer support to Zachary and me when intruders visited.

But her pack had dwindled to half its size, many members had left as the town had withered in Zachary’s absence. I was a dragon, a fighter, and a destroyer, not a lifegiver like my friend had been, without his powers keeping the valley and surrounding area lush. It was no wonder the farms had suffered and many had simply chosen to leave.

“You need to know that Sunworld and that vampire have been buying people out for years, quietly pushing out the humans first, and then the weakest links in my pack,” Lizzie explained as she stared in the direction I’d come from: the town. The sun was starting to sink toward the horizon and with my sharp eyesight, I could make out the first signs of the handful of remaining shops closing down for the day.

“I see. When did this start?” I asked resolutely. I turned my back on the town to look in the direction of the farm. I fully expected her to announce that it started twenty-six years ago, on a night that had been a failure to Zach and me, resulting in the both of us trapped in a curse.

She ran her hands through her mane of springy hair, then tapped her lip with a bright pink fingernail. “I’d say about ten years ago? For a while, it was very quiet. We were worried, but Zachary was there. He said we were fine. Then he left, and the town started to wither… This female vampire, she’s not the same one who came here twenty years ago. But I do think she is connected to the last one.”

Her words stirred my memories, and I nodded. Yes, last time there had been a vampire who’d stirred things up in town preceding the attacks. I recalled Zachary rumbling about some kind of legal hassle then too. It was what had called him back to the farm when all he’d wanted was to remain in New York and woo his woman.

A male vampire then, and now that it was brought up, I remembered breathing fire on his body during the attack. I remembered opening my maw and swallowing him whole, to die a painful, crushing death inside my throat and belly. We had defeated that evil, only for his flailing, retreating forces to strike us a hard blow too. A battle of mutual destruction.

I needed to return to the farmhouse and dig through Zachary’s papers. I had this faint idea that this ‘Sunworld’ might be the name on the documents from that time, too. If so, this new vampire had to be related to the last, and the reason they’d bought up as much as they could from the townspeople might mean that she had, at first, not known the precise location of the prison. But they definitely knew now, because they’d found Rosy and me.

“Thank you,” I said roughly. “I need to return to Rosy, but this helped. We will defeat this evil like we defeated it last time.” Come what may, this Sunworld wasn’t getting their hands on a Galamut. I might have been called the Destroyer, but I knew that true destruction was what followed when you let a Galamut out of its cage. It had happened in Pompei a long time ago, and though most supernatural creatures did not know exactly what had caused that disaster, it even lived in the memory of mankind.

“Just be careful. You know we are loyal to your cause. Call us if you need help,” the woman stepped into her little car without another word and drove away. I was grateful for her offer, reinforcing an alliance that had been in place for several hundred years. Since the moment, Lizzie had arrived here to settle down with her pack.

I didn’t shift, but jogged along the path back to the farm. I hoped I could locate the tracks the vampires and her allies had made, and from that decipher which way they’d gone, but they were good. There was no sign of their passage and I was still contemplating that information when I jogged into the yard and discovered that my mate had not rested, but instead worked her magic on the garden.

My stomach rumbled at the sight of all that fresh promise of nymph-grown vegetables. They would be so very tasty. Since that was not an option, I’d have to make do with a sandwich from the kitchen. Once the outside of the house had been restored, that would be my focus, and I could already eagerly picture myself cooking meals for my mate in it once I’d fixed up the counters, floors, and fixtures.

An older truck was parked in front of the barn, the scent of Gregory all over it and the keys dangling from the ignition. Ah, so the mechanic had figured something out to get my mate some wheels. Good. I took the keys and headed for the porch, dropping them on an old sideboard in the hallway with a quiet clatter.

Everything was peaceful inside, my mate softly sleeping in her bed upstairs. I could sense every breath she took, feel her heat radiating down on me when I stood in the living room directly beneath her. Eventually, temptation won out, and I made another sandwich in the kitchen as a flimsy excuse for heading upstairs.

I’d been fighting to keep my thoughts to myself, forcing my desire for her to remain contained now that I was this close to her. She had worked her earth magic, and she needed to rest, not get disturbed by my mental touches. But two hours was probably enough, wasn’t it?

I walked on my toes as I went up the stairs, but the floorboards in the hallway creaked when I approached her door. This was Zachary’s old room, and across from his room were several spare bedrooms that we’d never had much use for. Rooms he’d wanted for his future mate and children, because Zach had always dreamed of family and love. A dream I hadn’t believed in because mates were that rare, a dream I now wanted to claim as my own.

Her door was open, and I peeked inside with the plate clutched in my fingers. She was tangled with the sheets, wearing little more than a tank top and a lacy pair of panties. All her silky skin was on display, contrasting beautifully against the creamy white sheets. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, and it set my blood on fire.