Denying the Dragon Read online

  She opened her mouth wider, her fingers twisting in his hair. He tasted of the passion of the river in spring flood, promising life, celebrating rebirth. It changed her. Her body melted and flowed into new desires, new demands. She wanted greedily to take him into her.

  “Sit.” He gripped her thigh, just above the knee, urging her over him.

  “You’re hurt. I’ll hurt you.” But she drank his kisses, drowning in the merging of his power and hers. She hadn’t known dragon natures could add this edge of stimulation. Her skin burned. She wanted to take what he offered, to give what he asked. She wanted to burn away the barriers between them.

  “So be gentle.” He thrust his tongue into her mouth.

  The slide of his tongue against hers fed her hunger. He touched her breast, massaging it through sweater and bra, till it ached and the nipple hardened.

  She forgot her doubts and straddled him, sinking down so the zippers of their jeans rubbed. It was like the long, slow slide into a hot bath. It was a freefall into sensual indulgence.

  He stripped off her sweater and freed her breasts from the lacy constraint of the bra. His hands were a much better fit. The calluses rubbed enticingly over her sensitive flesh, swelling it further.

  “Beautiful.” His breath was fast, his color high. “Kneel up.”

  She obeyed, lost in the wonder of what she felt. His dragon nature complemented hers. She could surrender control and still be safe. The intensity of her passion wouldn’t scare him as it would a human lover. He could match it. More than that, his power excited her. It was like diving into an ocean storm. She came alive.

  He took her breast into his mouth, licking the nipple, then sucking hard. Fire flowed through her, feeding him. He gripped her thighs, teasing her with strokes that never quite reached where she was wet and ready for him.

  She tore at her zipper and tried to push her jeans down. They were too tight, too snug, and she whimpered, frustrated.

  “Isolde,” he whispered her name, rubbing his face between her breasts. He kissed a path to her untouched breast.

  “Please.” Her thighs trembled. She gasped for air.

  “Oh yes.” He forced her jeans open. “I want you.”

  “Yes.”

  “I can’t.” He groaned it against her breast. But before she could argue, he was sucking again, and his fingers were skimming her intimately, rushing her toward mindless pleasure, parting, stroking, demanding she let go.

  “Danny,” she screamed. Her power flared out as she climaxed.

  He lowered her trembling against him.

  She turned her face into the curve of his throat as aftershocks rocked her body. She felt the drift of his hands against her back and the hard tension of his body. Her tongue flicked out and she tasted his skin. She was still hungry.

  He shivered.

  “You didn’t…?”

  He understood. “I had to heal. But not coming with you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

  “Pun intended?” she asked as she shifted over the hard pressure threatening his jeans.

  “Pun unintended, but true.” He caressed her breasts.

  “Mmm. Are you healed, now?”

  His hands stilled. “Izzy?”

  For answer, she kissed him, then broke the kiss long enough to pull off his sweater.

  “Incredible.” His skin was smooth over muscle that rippled under her touch. The wounds had healed without scarring.

  She rubbed her breasts against him and took his groan into her mouth. She ducked down and licked a tight male nipple before tugging it with her lips.

  “Tease.”

  She smiled and unzipped his jeans. He bucked beneath her as she encircled him.

  Storms of fire and water power crashed around them, crackling the air and stimulating their senses.

  Izzy felt the tension in him as he fought for control. She stroked the length of him, amazed at his size, and saw the sheen of perspiration on his skin.

  “Condom,” he croaked.

  She froze. “I don’t…I don’t have any.” In a life without lovers, there was no need for protection.

  He groaned.

  “You don’t…?” she suggested.

  He groaned, again. Definitely a no. But he pulsed in her hands.

  “I could…” She licked her lower lip.

  “Don’t tempt me.” He gripped her wrists.

  She leaned back to consider him. “There are ways…”

  “When we have more time, we’ll explore them.” He managed a tight grin.

  She blushed. She thought she’d ceased blushing when she was seventeen.

  He touched her face, smoothing her hair back. “I could use a cold shower.”

  “Second door on the right.” She made herself release him, falling sideways and back against the arm of the sofa. “Towels in the cupboard. Toiletries in the second drawer.” She had unexpected guests, family and friends, often enough to keep guest toiletries. Dragon guards lived uncertain lives, and Izzy could never tell when her family’s work would bring them to New York and her safe apartment.

  “You are beautiful.” Danny stood and studied her openly while his arousal jutted from his jeans.

  His hunger raised her own. Her breasts ached, and she touched them unthinkingly.

  He growled.

  With a slow smile, her touch became conscious. She cupped her breasts, offering them, and holding his gaze as she slid down the sofa, legs parting naturally.

  His eyes darkened.

  She felt a stir of dragon power, and then, as he turned and strode off to the bathroom, the power wove around her breasts and lower. It stroked and pleasured and tortured, until she flung back her head in surrender.

  When Danny walked back in, hair wet from the shower and jeans snapped, she regarded him darkly. “I will learn how to do that.”

  “I look forward to it.” But the humor had fled his eyes.

  She remembered why he was here. He was looking for another woman. Abruptly, she felt naked where before she’d enjoyed her rare wantonness. She reached for her sweater, hiding her face and her sudden sense of vulnerability. “Where are you going?”

  He sat on the sofa and watched as she dressed. “Anna’s father was Gob, King of the Goblins, a good person, despite what you may have heard. He was on an archaeological dig in Turkey when his jeep overturned. He died, but not before he passed me his crown and asked me to give it to Anna. I promised.”

  A deathbed vow was a serious business. Izzy finished dressing and sat beside Danny on the sofa, careful not to touch him. For the first time she paid attention to the patterned gold armband encircling his left bicep. The goblin crown. “Go on.”

  He took a deep breath. “You’ve seen Orde. He’s Anna’s cousin, Gob’s nephew. He’s challenging the succession. If he gets his hands on the crown first, then he becomes King of the Goblins.” He paused. “That means trouble for more than Anna. Orde hates humans. He’ll twist the earth to reject them. The Sahara Desert is an example of the consequences. I can’t let him have the crown.”

  Izzy nodded. “What happens when Anna has the crown? Is she still in danger?”

  “No. Once crowned, all goblins must swear fealty to her. Orde would be killed just for touching her.”

  “Okay. So where is Anna?”

  “Somewhere in New York. She was studying at Columbia. Orde couldn’t get the crown from me earlier since I travelled by boat from Turkey and the ocean is my element, not his. But here in New York, he was waiting for me at Anna’s dorm.”

  “And Anna wasn’t?”

  “Anna’s run. Her home is in Botswana. She doesn’t have allies here, and I don’t blame her for fearing Orde.”

  “No,” Izzy agreed. She looked down at her fingernails and their perfect pearl polish. They were a real estate agent’s nails, not a guard’s, but she could help. She could find Danny’s woman for him. “I’ll find Anna.”

  “How?” He didn’t sound grateful.

  His doubt rasped
across her nerves. “It’s my job. I’m a real estate agent. I find homes where other-natured beings feel comfortable, and this is my city. I can work out where Anna will have retreated, where she’ll feel safe.”

  “She can’t have gone underground or Orde would have sensed her.”

  “I’ll find her,” Izzy repeated. She stood. “Would you like coffee and sandwiches while I think?”

  He brooded a moment, then nodded, accepting her offer of help as much as the food. “Yes, please. I’m ravenous. I can make them while you think.”

  “I think better while I’m busy.” And perhaps away from him, her body and churning emotions could settle. At the moment, she didn’t know herself. The passionately abandoned woman on the sofa wasn’t her. A woman like that was frightening. Izzy liked to be in control.

  But Danny followed her into the kitchen. Still shirtless, he remained a distraction as she assembled the sandwiches. He leaned against a bench, watching.

  “I can’t forget you’re naked under the sweater,” he said. “Or how your breasts feel.”

  They peaked at his words, simply at his words. “At least I have a shirt on.”

  “Do I bother you?” He prowled closer.

  She concentrated on the sandwiches, slicing cheese.

  “When I watch you, I have a hard time thinking of anything else.” He stopped so close his chest and thighs trapped her.

  She put the sandwiches together shakily, then stopped breathing as his hands slid under her sweater and caressed her breasts.

  He kissed her throat.

  She gripped the counter as he rocked his hips, pressing his arousal against her. She wanted to turn and capture him and take him so deep inside that the world ceased to exist.

  “Now is not the time,” she said, instead, although her shaking, needy voice betrayed her.

  “I know.” His arms tightened for an instant before releasing her. “Now’s the time for coffee, sandwiches and saving the world.”

  She laughed, glad to break the tension. “Something like that.”

  “But later we’ll make time.” He carried the sandwiches back to the living room.

  Chapter Two

  Later. Izzy silently repeated Danny’s promise, shocked at how she enjoyed the challenge of it. The future had changed, irrevocably, whatever happened. Her body was alive, her long-denied power prowling, and instead of being afraid, she felt exhilarated. She didn’t quite trust it, but she couldn’t deny the thrill of it.

  They ate on the sofa while she spread out a large map on the coffee table. Knees bumped and shoulders brushed. She called on all her professionalism.

  Pretend he is no more than a satyr client. You’ve dealt with those. But she didn’t know the taste and power of them, had never accepted the pleasure they offered, had never screamed their name. She had never trusted them.

  The coffee was hot and strong, a lifesaver. It scalded her mouth, driving away the flavor of kisses. She focused on the task. “You’re right, Anna can’t hide from another goblin underground, but she won’t want to lose her own contact with the earth. If I was her…I’d want contact with all four elements. Somewhere safe. Somewhere with its own power. Of course!”

  The coffee in her mug sloshed, and she put it down quickly on the table before turning to him. “The Statue of Liberty. It has all four elements plus the symbolic power of freedom. It’s on an island, so that’s earth and water. The torch is fire, and the statue is so tall that it’s part of the sky, the air element.”

  Certainty dawned in his eyes. “The Statue of Liberty.” He caught her up, hugging her tight. “You’re brilliant.”

  “Thank you.” She smiled back. “Although it wouldn’t be so easy if the city weren’t my territory. It tends to respond to my requests. Usually it’s to find a home for clients, but this time I asked for Anna’s location.”

  “And the city answered. Calling it your territory is very dragon nature. I don’t know why you think you can’t be a guard.”

  Her smile died. She pulled away.

  He pulled her back. “The Statue won’t be open till morning. We have time to settle other things. Tell me.”

  She looked away from the concern in his eyes and focused on the goblin crown encircling his arm. “We could borrow a boat and travel over, tonight.” She touched the crown and found it warm from contact with his skin.

  “No. Orde is concentrating on me and the crown I carry, so Anna is safe. Clearly, he hasn’t found her. And goblins are more powerful at night. Given a choice, I’m waiting for dawn before I leave here. Unless you want me gone?”

  “Stay.” She placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

  “Thank you.” He smiled and cupped the back of her neck under the fall of her hair. “Tell me why you think you can’t be a guard?”

  She looked at him straight, conscious of his hand, warm and strong, holding her. Sometimes the truth could hide a deeper, more painful experience. “I lack the right instincts.”

  “No way. Your instincts are just fine.” One hand stroked her hip and laughter sounded in his voice.

  “They’re not,” she said sadly.

  “Why do you say that?”

  She pulled away and sat on the sofa, curling in a corner.

  He observed her closely, but let her keep the space between them.

  Perhaps that was why she decided to trust him with the truth. Or perhaps there was a deeper reason, a truer trust growing between them.

  “When I was fifteen, my family moved to New York. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so when I made friends with Talia, the sense of sisterhood was amazing. Although she wasn’t other-natured, she was bright and smart. The world sparkled around her.”

  Izzy hugged her arms around herself, feeling cold. She stared at the drawn curtains. Behind them, the world was dark, haunted. She had felt that darkness seven years ago. Her throat hurt as she forced the words out. “When Talia was seventeen, she killed herself.”

  “Izzy—” He reached for her, but she shook her head.

  “Talia left a note. She hadn’t been able to tell anyone while she was alive. Her stepfather had been abusing her. Raping her. I should have known.”

  This time Danny ignored her resistance and tucked her against him. “You were only a kid.”

  She shivered against the warm silk of his skin, uncomforted. “I was seventeen. I failed her. Talia died because my instincts were rotten.”

  “Did her mom know what was happening?”

  She shook her head.

  “Did anyone?”

  “He was a doctor. People thought he was…good. He was blonde and tall and he smiled a lot. I…” Her voice broke. She choked, swallowed and went on. “I had a crush on him. I envied Talia her stepdad.”

  “Oh, hell,” Danny said with rueful understanding. “So teenage hormones made you feel doubly guilty.”

  “I was guilty.”

  “No, honey, you weren’t. All dragons get tangled instincts through the teen years. You’ve seen how powerful passion is. Adolescence pulls us in all sorts of directions. You couldn’t have sensed the stepdad’s evil because your instincts were rioting, growing and stretching. The only guilty party is the stepdad. You were the best friend to Talia that you could be. Even dragons aren’t infallible or all-powerful—look at me. I’d have died by the river if you hadn’t saved me.”

  “I still feel guilty.”

  “Maybe you always will. But maybe some of what you call guilt is simply grief. You miss your friend. Your life has gone on, but she’s not sharing it. Keep the good memories, Izzy, and move on. Talia wouldn’t want her stepdad to ruin two lives.”

  She sat up and sniffed. “I never thought of it that way. Feeling guilty gives him power over me, too.”

  “Yes, honey. And it’s time to take it back.”

  That felt like the truth. She smoothed a hand over his chest. “I feel better.”

  He gave her a friendly hug. “Free of old ghosts?”

  “Mmm.” She
sighed deeply and cuddled into him. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He stroked her hair. “Will you come with me to the Statue?”

  “I’m still not a guard.”

  “I trust you. I know I shouldn’t ask it of you.” Second thoughts crept into Danny’s voice. “It’s dangerous.”

  She tipped her head back to study him. “I’ll go with you. After all, I saved you once.”

  “Twice.”

  “Pardon?”

  “When you healed me so powerfully.”

  “Oh.” She traced an idle finger along his chest, blushing and heating as she remembered how she’d healed him.

  “Izzy?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Just this.”

  The touch of his lips was heaven. Kisses that soothed, then heated. Kisses that tasted and tempted.

  She arched against the back of the sofa, pleading mutely for the satisfaction of his body against hers.

  He resisted, his hands still, only his mouth coaxing, demanding and promising.

  “Touch me.”

  “Where?” he demanded rawly.

  “Everywhere.” She dragged his hands under her sweater to her breasts. “I’m burning.”

  Her nipples tightened unbearably as he rubbed them. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, gathering more of his taste. He welcomed her with strokes and curls, while his hands massaged harder till she panted in time with the rhythm he’d imposed and her fingers pressed into his shoulders trying to drag him over her.

  He broke away, but only for a moment. He stripped off her sweater and picked her up bodily before lying her down on the plush carpet.

  She held out her arms. “Danny.”

  “I’m here.”

  And he was. He knelt between her legs and smiled down at her. “This is crazy when we don’t have condoms, but…”

  “Crazy feels great.” She pulled him down.

  “You feel great.” His mouth devoured hers. He drew her legs up, and she wrapped them around him. He thrust in instinctive response and groaned.

  Hot, hungry kisses trailed down her throat to her breast. He licked the nipple, then looked at her. “I drank fire from you before when you healed me.”

  “Yes.” She was almost beyond words, beyond thought. Her body pulsed. She ached, and no matter how she shifted, with denim between them, he couldn’t come close enough.