A Dragon's Mark Read online

  Chapter Three

  By the time he came downstairs the house was filled with the aroma of food. His stomach growled hungrily, reminding him that he hadn’t actually eaten in at least forty-eight hours. Upstairs, he’d called Hawke to let him know where he was. He explained what happened in detail so that no one would worry about him being gone and the portal needed to be guarded or the caves completely collapsed so that it couldn’t be used. He knew the choice would probably be the latter since the rocks were so unstable. His next concern was why the Shen were back in Seattle. He’d cleared a nest already, so why come back unless there was something here that was needed? Or the king was close. The thought was almost invigorating. This could be over if they found and killed the king.

  They would fall apart with no ruler, no leader. All that would be left for the dragon warriors to do would be to destroy them as they tried to hide. But Aki knew that luck like that rarely came to man or dragon. No, they would have to fight this war to the bitter end. He heard Caye laugh in the kitchen and his stomach knotted with desire. This was the first time in a very long time that such feelings assaulted his body. He’d lain with women in Paladin and in this realm, but it was purely physical and never with an attachment. Yet it already seemed that after a few hours there was something about Caye that captured his interest. Did it happen this way when I met Miranda? he wondered. It was so long ago sometimes it seemed like a distant dream, one he couldn’t quite catch hold of.

  But the dreams goaded him when they broke though the subconscious wall he put up. Letting him know he’d lost her, he couldn’t save her, and it was his fault she died. Aki frowned when he heard laughter again. He put his mask firmly in place and walked into the kitchen. Her father was at the stove using a potato masher instead of the hand mixer. She was at the kitchen counter cutting up vegetables for a salad. This would be quite a comfortable scene if the Shen weren’t now putting them in danger. One he always secretly wished for but was scared to attain.

  “So the man-dragon, wait, dragon-man,” Bradley frowned. “What do we call you exactly?”

  “Aki would be fine,” he said.

  “Dad, you can be so politically incorrect sometimes.” Caye rolled her eyes and mouthed sorry to him.

  He smiled, a light-hearted feeling washing over him. By the Gods she made him want to do that a lot, smile.

  “I’m not human, Bradley,” Aki explained. “Not like you and your daughter. Where I am from we were given this gift by the Gods and placed where we are to protect this world.”

  Bradley shook his head. “I was raised to believe in one God, so was she.”

  “Many cultures have many different beliefs and I judge none, but after tonight you have to admit there is more to this world, the universe, than the eye can see.” Aki watched Bradley digest the information and work it through in his head.

  He nodded and turned back to the stove. “That’s the truth right there, anyway I hope you like this kind of food, unless you have a herd of sheep you need to blowtorch outside.”

  “Dad!” Caye said in horror. “Being old and cantankerous does not mean you get to be rude.”

  “I was kidding,” he protested. “I’m not old. I’m only sixty-two.”

  “By far I am much older than you both.” Aki walked to the cupboards and took enough plates and utensils for the three of them before preparing a dinner setting at the breakfast nook near the windows.

  “Please, you look like around thirty-nine,” Caye said.

  “I’m not.”

  “Then how old are you?” She put the salad in the center of the table.

  “One thousand dragon years,” Aki answered easily. “Still very young for my world.”

  Silence caused him to look up from his task of placing utensils next to the plates. Both Caye and her father were staring at him with open mouths.

  “You are kidding, right?” Caye said slowly.

  “No,” he answered. “We age to be older than what humans would. In my home your aging would slow as well. While you may not attain a life span as long as a dragon it would be considerably more than it is now. Our king was three thousand before he died.”

  ‘Well Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, sign me up for that,” Bradley murmured.

  “Can we see Paladin?” Caye asked.

  “If you’d like, but you cannot take pictures or speak of it,” Aki replied.

  “Yeah, who’s going to believe us?” Caye asked. “I just came back from a trip to an alternate universe.”

  “Now that’s the truth.” He put the steaks down with a bowl of potatoes. “Still, I’m going to say to hell with it and I want to see this place. While we eat you can tell us what’s been going on right under our noses.”

  Aki watched them each take a steak and the sides before he took two and heaps of everything. Two days without food and his dragon was famished. He barely noticed them watching him as he cleared the food off his plate with precision. He talked between bites, telling them about the last few years. He ended with Larissa and how he was trapped and asking Caye for help. He watched their expressions and saw excitement, horror, and sadness pass over Caye’s face. While her father ate his brow furrowed as if he was concentrating on a puzzle. Being that he was an ex-police officer, Aki was looking forward to hearing his assessment.

  “Sounds to me you have a really big mole problem,” Bradley said.

  “That rodent is not native to Paladin,” Aki said.

  Bradley choked on his beer as he laughed. After a coughing fit he wiped his eyes with a napkin. “No, son, I mean you have a traitor in your midst, someone with access to the palace and it has to be someone who no one would question moving back and forth.”

  “That could be an assortment of people, we live rather old-world in Paladin,” Aki said. “But our home is peaceful, no one hungers, no one is homeless, everyone is content.”

  “Content can lead to contempt,” Caye pointed out. ‘In every society greed can be a factor. If someone has jealously in their heart and is offered riches beyond imagination or whatever they want, that person won’t say no.”

  She was right of course and that thought bothered Aki. Who could want power or wealth enough to sacrifice women to a life worse than death? Who could covet a change that would take away all that they knew and hand it over to an abhorrent reign by the Shen? Either way, the twelve dragons wouldn’t let it happen. Like him they were invested in seeing Paladin thrive so whoever was trying to thwart their success would be sorely disappointed when they lost.

  “So what will your main focus be?” Caye asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

  “Right now it’s to find the new Shen cell here and get as much information as I can,” Aki said. “I’ve already notified the leader of our group about where I am and what happened. When I root out the cell, help will come and we will go from there.”

  “What do we do?” Caye asked.

  “You stay here and be safe,” Aki finished up the last few bites of his meal. In between the conversation he’d managed to clean his plate.

  “Well son, I’m going to have to say no to that,” her father said.

  “Son?” Aki raised an eyebrow in his direction.

  Her father raised his hands. “Okay, so you’re older than me, but I’ve over twenty years in law enforcement. I’ve got assets you can only dream about. Give me perimeters and a telephone. I’ll get you more information that you can shake a stick at.”

  “Why would I shake a stick…” Aki frowned at his choice of wording.

  “What it means is this,” her father leaned forward. “I’ve been sidelined for way too long and you drop this juicy morsel in my lap. I’m not backing out.”

  “Me either,” Caye said.

  “Whoa now, you’re not…” her father began.

  She raised her hand. “While you have information, I have long range camera lenses and I can scope out any possible targets without being seen, and yes a dragon overhead will be seen in this area.”

&nbs
p; “It wasn’t before,” Aki pointed out mildly. “And you both seem to forget I’m the one who has to give final approval on your help.”

  “Well?” they said simultaneously.

  He smiled because right there he saw the father’s personality in the daughter and vice versa. Bradley’s skin may have been older, weathered, but he had the same stubborn look on his face that Caye wore right at that moment. There was more gray than black in her father’s head, but Aki saw the strength in the older man, how his back went straight as a steel rod when he said it was his decision. He wasn’t accustomed to taking the orders, rather giving them. Both of them looked at him with light brown eyes and he wondered if they knew how much alike they actually were.

  “Yes, I will let you help,” Aki said and their faces split with grins. He held up one finger. “But you will follow my lead to the letter and if I feel the situation has become too volatile and dangerous you will stay here or anywhere I put you. And before you both protest, which I see forming in your heads, this is non-negotiable.”

  “Fine.” Once more they spoke simultaneously but it was more angst at being told what to do than anything else.

  “Well then, tomorrow we begin,” Aki said. “There is an assortment of bedrooms, fully furnished with all you need. There is also cable television and the pantry is fully stocked with snacks.”

  “Yeah we noticed,” Caye said dryly. “Did you manage to buy every Twinkie and hostess product in one supermarket?”

  “We burn calories quickly,” Aki explained and smiled. “And we like sweets.”

  “Well then it’s almost midnight and I’m going to watch some television till this steak digests and hit the sack,” her father said. “Coming Caye?”

  “No, I’m up for a little longer,” Caye answered.

  Aki noticed how her father looked from him to her and his eyebrows furrowed. “Maybe its best you go to bed too, I mean we’ll be up early.”

  “Dad, I haven’t had a curfew since I was eighteen years old, I’ll go to bed when I’m good and ready,” she said firmly.

  “Don’t worry Caye’s father, she is perfectly safe in my company,” Aki said.

  “She’d better be,” he muttered. “And I told you my name is Bradley.”

  They watched him walk out of the kitchen and Caye got up and started clearing the plates.

  “I’m taking it, you’re done,” she teased and took his empty plate. “How is it this is a safe haven and there are so many windows?”

  Aki stood to help her clear the table. “We dragons love the sun. Orin’s house was attacked a few years ago so now all our houses are reinforced and the glass is shatterproof.”

  “So you guys just jump back and forth through the portals to find the Shen things and keep us safe?” Caye asked.

  Aki scraped the remnants of the dinner into the garbage can and handed her the plate. She rinsed them and put the dishes in the dishwasher. As he did his task he explained how they worked. “No, all twelve are usually on this earth realm at some point or the other, but now the threat is on both worlds so we are in both places.”

  “Am I the first to know about you?” she questioned.

  “You are not the first to know us, some of my brothers have taken human mates,” Aki said.

  “Do you um…” She cleared her throat. “So, do you have a mate?”

  “Long ago, but no more.” He pushed away the memories and watched her load the last of the plates. “Thank you for the dinner and your help, sleep well Caye.”

  With that he turned and left the kitchen. He went through the living room to the sunroom where he grew his bonsai trees and other plants. It calmed him to prune and keep them tended but right now in the middle of the night all he wanted was some air. He took a deep breath and could smell the rain that had yet to fall, it combined with the smell of fresh damp grass and it made the air sweet. He closed his eyes and lifted his face to the sky as if waiting for the first drops to hit his skin.

  “Why aren’t you in bed?” he asked.

  Caye came to stand next to him. “Now you’re trying to give me a curfew?”

  “Your father seems to think I may be a threat,” he pointed out mildly.

  “Not a threat to us but a threat to my virginity,” Caye said. “Trust me, I’m not a virgin but you’re a guy and he’s acted this way since I was old enough to date.”

  “If I was a father I assume I’d be the same way,” he said. “Either way you should get some rest.”

  “What about you, do you plan to stay up and guard us all night?” Caye asked. “You look tired, you must need sleep as well.”

  “I don’t sleep,” Aki said.

  She looked up at him, amazed. “At all, I mean not ever? Is this a dragon thing?”

  “No it’s not dragon thing, it’s just me,” he replied.

  “How does one not sleep?” Caye shook her head. “How does your body get rest?”

  “I use a form of meditation which is akin to sleep,” Aki answered and found himself saying more than he usually did. “It’s dark and quiet, dreamless.”

  She reached out and put her hand on his chest. He felt the heat of her touch and the intake of his breath was loud enough that she heard it too.

  “Why don’t you sleep?” Her voice was soft, musical, and he felt unhappy as the wind carried her words away. She cupped his cheek and asked again. “Aki, why don’t you sleep?”

  “My dreams, my nightmares,” his whisper was harsh as emotion broke through.

  She laid her head on his chest and said with apology in every word. “I’m sorry, whatever happened to you, I’m so very sorry.”

  Unable to resist, he cupped his hand behind her head and held her warmth closer. She was so warm and it had been so long since he held someone and felt this way. She lifted her head a little and he kissed her forehead and then the tip of her nose. A low groan escaped him and he gave in to the ache, the need that was always beneath the surface. He took her lips, claiming a kiss that made him feel as if the world had tilted on its axis. She made a sound in her throat, almost a purr blended with a whimper. All it did was up his desire level and he wanted to take her right there.

  Her hands clenched his shirt as she molded herself to him. Their tongues parried and danced from his mouth to hers. He could taste the hint of wine from dinner blended with her own sweet taste, he could see himself lying with her, sharing himself with her, and mating forever. Mating forever, those words were like a bullet ricocheting in his head and he pushed her away, stepping back so that he couldn’t go through with the urge to touch her again. He could see the fall and rise of her breasts as she stood there and knew she felt the connection as well.

  “This cannot happen.” The calmness of his voice belied the swirling emotion inside him.

  “Obviously you want it to.” Her voice was soft.

  “What we want and what will happen are two different things,” Aki said.

  “Why?”

  Aki made his voice cold as possible. “My reasons are my own. You helped me through the portal and I’m sworn to protect you and your father, nothing more. Do not presume to know me or anything about me.”

  She gave him a look that could change raindrops to ice. “Gotcha, I know nothing about you and keep my distance, goodnight.”

  “Caye…” He took a step forward and hesitated, knowing full well that if he moved any closer he would end up taking her in his arms again.

  “No more needs to be said, goodnight Aki.” She turned and went through the front door of the palatial house.

  “Damn it all to hell,” Aki muttered.

  He lost his peace and soon even the fresh breeze couldn’t calm him and he went inside. There was no sign of Caye but her scent still lingered in the air. His dragon was agitated as well, wanting to mate because it had been so long. He went to the master suite downstairs and took his clothes off. He sat in the middle of the bed naked and crossed his legs in the stance he used for meditation. He centered himself, calmed his brea
thing, and tried to focus on that place that brought him the most peace. Usually he was able to find that place of stillness easily. But this time, and the first in a very long time, thoughts swirled in his head, Larissa, the Shen, and now Caye took up the main focus. It was a long time before the darkness enveloped his consciousness and he found some kind of stillness in the night.

  Chapter Four

  I’m in a house with my dad and a guy who shifts into dragons, how many people would think I’m crazy? She was lying in the bed of the room she was occupying until they could go home. Her father and Aki had taken off to follow-up on some leads and to check on the house to make sure everything was how it was supposed to be. Amazingly enough, the two men shared one common thing, and that was the archaic notion that she couldn’t take care of herself. They left her at home.

  Her father actually said, “Stay inside like a good girl,” and patted her on her head. She revisited the urge to bite his finger while she shot daggers at him with her eyes. Caye understood her father’s notions of protecting his daughter. But Aki was doing it for another reason. Since the kiss outside he was keeping her at arm’s length. When he talked to her it was so formal, she felt like bowing when he entered a room. It was driving her crazy, she wanted to shatter that stoic persona he had going on. But who was she to think that she could change the mind of a man who had seen the world evolve over a thousand years? Still, the kiss replayed in her mind. She was no shrinking violet and didn’t mind admitting that when he touched her she was practically butter in his arms. She wondered what had happened in his life that caused him to retreat from emotions and feelings. Anyway, it was no use sitting there and thinking about it, if they thought they were going to keep her stuck at home they were sadly mistaken.

  Aki had already retrieved her camera and equipment from her house a few days ago. She picked up her camera bag and went looking for the car keys. She saw at least three cars in the driveway. Caye was taking one and going out on her own investigation. Not only dad has informants, she thought with a wicked grin. It was easy enough to find car keys, hell they kept them between the visor, and while Caye thought it wasn’t safe she truly doubted that anyone would try to steal the cars. The man was huge as a man, let alone a dragon. She pulled out of the driveway and looked at the time on the dashboard of the Mercedes. It was her first time driving a luxury car and she had to admit she liked the leather seats and the way the engine purred. Caye could get used to it.