33. Jaiyana

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

JAIYANA

I studied the dragon shifter watching me. With two people and two potions bubbling away in his little cave, the space had gone from cool to humid and warm. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his diamond-shaped face, sliding past a cluster of runes decorating the curve of his neck.

He was much more connected to his magic than Rehan or Tyson. I'd decided hours ago I wasn't dwelling on how I got knocked out or that he locked me inside a mountain and was starving me. The warlock had the tools and knowledge I needed. I could put my pride aside.

Pride aside.

Don't fucking say it.

My stomach growled, echoing off the cave walls. I'd not eaten in the last twenty-four hours, possibly longer. My smell hadn't improved, and if my captor got too close to a bucket in the far corner, he'd discover body fluids that should have gotten flushed hours ago.

But I needed him to trust me.

I'd gone a lot more than twenty-four hours without eating before. Fuck, fasting was one of the stupid health crazes I tried out in the last decade. Stupid internet.

Ignoring my hunger, I picked up my pad and paper and sat on the bed. ‘Ask away.'

Ogden grinned. "What's your name?"

I rolled my eyes. ‘Jaiyana, but everyone calls me Jay.'

Ogden's grin fell, and he sat in the only other chair in the room. "Ah, I didn't think you'd just give it to me."

I glared at him. Although I wanted to say: I'm tired, dirty, and just shit in a bucket, move on! I couldn't say anything, so I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

Ogden stiffened in his chair across the room and steepled his fingers in front of him. "What is worm rot used for?"

I raised an eyebrow and wrote on the pad of paper. ‘It's a spell component used in many different potions to call negative energy. You can also eat it; it made great shoe polish back in the day. I'm not listing out every potion it's used in. What kind of a question is that?'

Ogden chuckled, and his posture relaxed. "How do you make stardust?"

I pursed my lips, not liking being ignored, but wrote out the instructions. After looking them over, he nodded, positively beaming. Little dimples formed on his cheeks, and twenty years dropped off his face.

He took a moment to tie a green scarf around his head, keeping his messy black hair out of his eyes and the sweat from rolling down his face. I hadn't been sure what to expect from my captor. Leaving me in here with nothing but some bottles of water had been a shitty thing to do, literally.

But he'd also left me here with all his stuff. I didn't know much about vintage records, but I knew they were ‘old,' and the people who still listened to them were usually collectors. He had the supplies to make several poisons, and with my limited fire magic, I could easily have made something explosive to surprise him with.

He asked me another technical question, this time about runes.

I sketched out the fundamentals for a binding spell that would function with any substance and passed him the pad. He crossed his legs and rested his bare forearm on his thigh to study my work. His questions targeted my technical knowledge, probably establishing I was what I said. It was a smart move, although it gave me just as much information on him.

"OK." He looked up from my rune with another beaming smile. I found my guard dropping despite myself. "I believe you're an enchantress or at least very good at magic."

I snorted. I'd forgotten more than he'd ever learn.

The thought froze me in place. Multiple times now I'd found myself drifting oddly… as if getting lost in thought, except there were no thoughts. What if it was a problem with my memory? How would I even know?

"I mean," he rubbed his hands together. "Never mind." He blew out a breath, and I focused. "How did you learn magic? Are you a shifter?"

I threw my hands up and motioned for the paper pad. ‘I'm not writing you a fucking novel. I'm God-damned old, and I got it through blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of trial and error. What's your plan? Just to keep me in here, shitting in a bucket until I've written a textbook for you?'

The color drained out of Ogden's face. "No, I didn't mean, that wasn't…." He rubbed his scruffy jaw and took a deep breath, his dragon-slit eyes growing and shrinking as he fought with his nature.

I wrinkled my nose. This guy wanted to protect his people yet felt drawn to me. It had to be the curse that pulled in Rehan and Tyson. He had no idea what to do with me. I tapped my knee twice before standing and sliding over to the glass bowl of food. I looked down at him, still sitting, and made eye contact before picking it up and backing away. His gaze bore into mine, but he didn't stand. Instead, he nodded, relief filling his eyes.

The warlock shouldn't be relieved I stole the food he brought as a bargaining chip. I sighed and popped off the top of the glass bowl. A pile of lukewarm meats and hummus rested at the bottom.

At least he doesn't think you're a vegan.

I picked up the little spoon and inhaled the meal. It was good, and I hummed appreciatively. Back in my teens, when I'd been trading my internal organs for more power, I'd gotten the opportunity to exchange my taste buds, but that meant never tasting again. Even as a hot-headed, power-hungry youth, I'd realized food was one of those pleasures that made life worth living.

"I'll bring you more," Ogden said, watching me with glowing, pleased eyes. "I should have brought you more." He clenched his fists.

I got out the notepad. ‘Look, if you're trying to starve me and make me uncomfortable so I'll be more pliable, you shouldn't bring me more food. And for fuck's sake, take the stuff out of here that I could use against you.'

I pointed to his LP collection before holding out a very flammable Toad Piss bottle.

He widened his eyes and stood, snatching the bottle out of my hands. Before either of us could say more, a floral scent billowed into the room. My potions were ready to go.

We separated the two bright liquids into four beakers, and I placed one of each in front of him first and then myself. He elongated a claw to prick his finger, adding a drop of blood to each and a scale to the latter. I hadn't found many sharp objects, and though I suddenly understood why, it didn't help me. After a moment, he hesitantly held out his dragon-clawed finger.

I reached out and pricked my pinky. Ogden gave me a goofy grin, and my stomach fluttered.

Oh, fuck me.

Oh, let him!

Shut up.

Ignoring the flutter and my inner voice, I dropped blood into each beaker. The thick red swirled in the bright color liquids, absorbing my essence so it could better target everything else.

I turned to Ogden with the bright pink one in my hand and held it up like a glass of champagne. ‘Cheers, dude.' Though just "squeak squeak" came out.

Ogden cocked his head to the side but clicked his beaker against mine.

Both potions tasted like ass, and I knocked them back like shots.

Ogden didn't change. There was no foreign magic on him, or at least none that my basic potion could find. My skin glowed white before lighting up with bright green like a glow stick. I poked my forearm and wished I was close to a wall so I could knock my head against it.

"Right." Ogden brushed his fingers across my shoulder. When I didn't pull away, he let them lightly rest there. "So, based on the color, the curse is tied to your magical essence, not your physical."

No shit, Sherlock. I looked at him through my lashes as if dazzled by his brilliance, wondering if silent sarcasm came across.

It didn't. He squeezed my shoulder, oblivious. "And you have no idea how this happened?"

I pulled away from his touch, disliking the comfort it gave me. He didn't glow, so whatever curse drew him to me only came from me. The spell work on me had to be targeting specific dragons. Otherwise, males would have swarmed me at The Social.

Ogden seemed hurt when I pulled away, and my stupid heart broke a little. I itched my chest to remind myself I was dirty and locked up in a dragon's lair, not falling in love.

You like him!

Oh my fucking god, please stop.

I stepped back to the bed, and Ogden followed me, dropping down at my side so he could read over my shoulder.

‘I do not know how this happened,' I wrote on the pad. ‘A semi-truck slammed into my car. I should be dead. Instead, I woke up enrolled in the island's hunt.' I swallowed and pressed the pen's tip into the pad before turning to Ogden.

He was so close his head almost rested on my shoulder. I bit my lips together. He might have planned to starve me. But he hadn't liked it. Regarding the rest of my living conditions, I don't think they had even occurred to him. He wasn't trying to make me miserable. He didn't know what he was doing.

"I won't hurt you," Ogden said softly. He brushed his hand down my back. "I honestly want to help you. But my family, my daughter, everything I am is here."

He was fiercely loyal to his community. I had a lot of respect for that. Hell, I wish I had that. A gym membership was about the extent of my loyalties these days.

I closed my eyes and turned away from him, acutely feeling how much I didn't belong here. Someone trapped me on this island, and I needed to get out. Not even because I had something to go home to but because Ogden was correct. The dragons were walking a fragile line to stay hidden in a world of technology built to see and understand everything. I was a homing beacon for trouble.

It was why I'd turned my back on the supernatural world in the first place.

Pulling his hand off my back, I gripped it between my palms and squeezed before picking up the pad of paper.

I could be out of here in a heartbeat with my magic.

The curse pulled us together. Maybe he didn't need to mark me. This could be just sex. Wham bam, thank you, ma'am – or sir in this case.

I wrote on the pad. ‘Daughter. Are you mated?'

Ogden shook his head so vehemently I thought it would come off his shoulders. "Ah, no, it's complicated, but I don't even, um, have…"

The poor guy trailed off, rubbing the back of his head and blushing brighter than I glowed. I chuckled, giving Ogden a second once over. He was handsome, more corded than built, but still fit. There was an ageless look about him, old enough to have his first few wrinkles but young enough for them to get lost on his youthful skin. He was clearly an adult, just lacking the commanding confidence Rehan and Tyson projected.

Fuck it, only one way to know if I could get around the mate mark bit of this. And I needed my magic back.

I started to write out, ‘Can I give you a blow job,' and stopped myself. Some things didn't need to be written down. I placed the pad back on the bedside table and rushed Ogden, pushing his back onto the bed and straddling him.

The warlock's eyes flew wide, and a shield of magic flew out of his hands to protect his face, but I'd already shimmed down his body. I pulled up his shirt and trailed my tongue down his flat stomach.

"What are you doing?" Ogden hissed, trying to push me away. I captured his hands in mine and bit his cloth belt, shaking my head like a dog, before looking up at his heated eyes.

He shifted his hips to buck me off and grunted as his large package pressed into my stomach. "This is not?—"

I released his hands and made quick work of the square knot, keeping his pants on. I pulled them down to free his dick and just kept pulling. My jaw dropped. Large would be an understatement for what I found. Long and thick, tiered ridges of soft brown and green scales grew out of a bulb-like oval at the base. The ridges continued, thinning until they feathered into the more familiar tip of a human dick. I flicked my gaze to Ogden, who immediately attempted to wiggle out of my grip. I dropped his smooth dragon shlong and pinned him back to the bed.

If you say no, I'll stop. I thought as hard as I could while squeaking at him.

Ogden's mouth opened and closed. A blush stained his cheeks. It had to be the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. I licked his length from base to tip. The knot swelled at my attention, and purrs ripped out of his chest. I licked up his length again, kissing each ridge. This time, when I got to the top, he fisted my hair, and I took that as all the permission I needed.

I sucked his tip into my mouth. He tasted like ginger, dark chocolate, and spice. Rich and decadent in all the right ways. I moaned as the flavor spilled over my taste buds. I swirled my tongue around his tip, and a gob of thick precum added a salty tang to the mix. At this angle, there was no way I could fit all of him, but I did my best, bobbing and sucking. I gripped his base and gingerly squeezed, running my hand up and down what my mouth couldn't fit.

Despite my need to get him off, his ridges sliding across my tongue sent heat flooding to my core. Pure lust charged into my system as I imagined how it would feel to have those same ridges sliding into me. I moaned, the back of my throat vibrating against his tip.

Ogden let out a whimper and released my head to fist his sheet. "This…"

Whatever he meant to say cut off as I sucked him in hard before slowly backing out and working his knot with my slick hands. Once I reached his tip, I lightly kissed it before pressing my tongue into the little hole. Ogden swallowed a moan, trying to keep quiet, though I had no idea why.

I stopped to gaze down at his twitching body. I had no idea why he refused to make any noise for me, but I took it as a personal challenge.

He opened his eyes, and they burned with heat, pleading for me to continue without him needing to ask. I made sure he watched me lick him from base to tip a final time before I settled into a fast rhythm, promising myself I wouldn't stop until the fat lady sang – or massive dragon dick, in this case.