Denying the Dragon Read online

  Izzy breathed again, but knew she couldn’t relax.

  The trio of goblins arrived silently four minutes later, just as Izzy and Danny walked through the metal detector and onto the ferry.

  “They had to stash their guns and plan out where we’re going,” Danny murmured in her ear. He had his arm around her like a long-time lover.

  She snuggled into his warmth. It kept the goblins’ cold evil at bay.

  By unspoken accord they skirted the lounge where Mamie could be heard listing the names of her grandsons.

  The goblins strolled aboard with Orde in the lead. He looked around, and Izzy saw him sight them. Her throat tightened, her breath coming faster. Under her skin, her dragon nature knew no such fear. The power burned through her veins. It tingled through to her fingertips, ready to do battle for Danny and to rid her city of the goblins.

  “We’ll stay on deck.” Danny had also seen Orde. He released Izzy and flexed his hands. “Goblins don’t like open water.” He showed his teeth in a fierce smile. “I do.”

  The ferry rocked to the surge of water power, and the goblins grabbed for the railings.

  Perhaps Orde saw Danny’s smile, because the goblins stayed away from them and close to the gangplank.

  No. Izzy shook her head. It wasn’t fear that ruled the goblins. They had a new strategy. Rather than attack Danny immediately, they intended to reach Anna first, then take the crown. And they wouldn’t care how many innocents they killed in the process.

  Dread rushed through Izzy as she realized she and Danny had made a fundamental miscalculation. She whispered in his ear. “There are so many people.”

  He gave her a grim look. Clearly, he’d been struck by the same dire thought. “Orde concentrated on me until now, so I never considered that bystanders could be used as weapons against me, us.”

  She shivered. It wasn’t that the goblins could get people to attack them, it was that Orde could attack innocent people, people like Mamie and her Edgar, to delay and derail Danny. She knew in her bones that Danny wouldn’t consider civilian casualties acceptable collateral damage.

  She looked at the Statue of Liberty at it loomed larger and larger. The huge statue had meant so much to the world. Its promise of freedom and hope was irresistible. It was what dragons fought to protect. “We can’t fail. We mustn’t.”

  “We won’t.” Danny frowned at the Statue. But apparently he wasn’t admiring its symbolic power. “How sure are you that Anna will be hiding in the torch?”

  “It’s the former lighthouse, a beacon for safety. It…” Izzy tested the aura of her city. It flowed reassuringly, wrapping her in the hum of its busy morning. It was so positive, she couldn’t be wrong about Anna. “It feels right.”

  “Then we’ll start there.”

  “Danny, what if they hurt people? Should we wait, stay on the ferry?” On the boat his water dragon nature gave them an advantage of the earth-based goblins. “I can phone my cousin, Rhys.”

  “Too late.”

  She followed Danny’s gaze, and saw he’d locked onto Orde who grinned fiendishly across the ferry at them.

  Danny ran a hand down her spine. “Orde won’t wait for the police. Anna can’t hide from him on the island. We have to reach her first.”

  “What if they hurt people?”

  His lips thinned and a pulse beat at a corner of his mouth. He was hating this. “We’ll have to move fast. If we’re not there to see them hurting, then there’s no advantage to Orde to attack humans.”

  “Is he likely to be rational enough to know that?”

  Danny shook his head once, sharply. “No, but we’re committed now. Unless you have a better plan?”

  She kept silent. She did. Her plan was reckless and dangerous, and he wouldn’t like it, but he was right. They were committed now. There would be no cavalry riding to the rescue. It was Danny and her, and the future of the world. Orde couldn’t be allowed to turn the land against its human inhabitants. He couldn’t be allowed to be crowned king of the goblins. Still, Danny would never agree to her suddenly dreamed up plan, so she let the business of the ferry docking steal away her chance to answer him.

  Passengers streamed off the ferry, the goblins among the first. They seemed to stand taller as their feet once more stood on land. They waited on the path to the Statue.

  Danny swore. With the goblins ready to engage, they would have to fight their way to Anna. And there were so many vulnerable people.

  Izzy had feared as much. She gripped his arm as they came off the ferry. “The important thing is to get the crown to Anna. That is the deathbed vow you made. I’ll deal with the goblins.”

  “Izzy, you can’t. Orde alone can…” His vow clashed with his need to protect her.

  “Don’t make this a wasted effort. Go.” She gathered her power and flung a clumsy thunderbolt at the goblins.

  Danny cursed, and sprinted for the Statue.

  She ran with him. Her raw power wouldn’t stun the goblins for long, especially as inexperienced as she was, but if she could just disorient them. She raised a dust cloud, a city choking of car fumes and old cooking fat. The island smelled suddenly of dank alleys as litter whirled up from the ground.

  But the goblins were earth beings, too. Orde shouted a word and the dust flattened.

  Too late, Izzy thought triumphantly.

  Danny was past them and into the Statue entrance. His other-nature don’t-look, don’t-see spell would get him past security.

  “Hurry and find Anna,” Izzy prayed. Her triumph was such a fleeting thing. All that stood between the goblins and Danny, between Orde and the crown, was her, and she was a fragile, unpracticed guardian.

  Orde realized it, too.

  A stone knife flashed at her, slicing her arm as she dodged. It hurt, and the goblins were advancing, drawing other weapons.

  She struggled to form her power into lines of fire, but raw earth power slammed her backwards.

  A goblin tackled her as she staggered. Teeth bared, he tried to strangle her. On his own, she knew he couldn’t succeed against her dragon nature, and he knew it too, but he could distract her while the other goblins slid past to hunt down Danny.

  “No!” She had one weapon left. If she couldn’t control her power, she could let it control her. For the first time ever, she called the change.

  Power boomed, splitting the air.

  Her body thickened and scaled, her hands turned to talons, wings unfolded, and her tail lashed out and whipped Orde and his companion from the entrance.

  They tumbled down, rolling neatly, and sprang up to attack her.

  The size of a bus, she was heavy with the unfamiliarity of dragon form. She shook off the third goblin, and tried to launch upward, for the safety of the air. From there, she could herd the goblins with fire. But inexperience made her clumsy, and the three goblins attacked before she could pump her wings.

  Agony exploded through her as the goblins beat and struck her. They tore her wings and stabbed at the vulnerable joints of her scales. She roared and spun, but couldn’t dislodge them, and knew she was weakening. An energy weapon pierced her like a spear, and she screamed.

  Orde slipped away. Through darkening vision, she saw him run for the entrance, and tried to flame. Nothing. Helplessness added to her agony. Her wings were torn and useless, her tail pinned to the earth by the energy spear. She called on the city, but its energy sped through her talons and vanished, too alive for her dying spirit to control.

  She twisted her neck, a great tear falling from a closing, wounded eye. She’d failed to defend Danny. In the depths of her failure, she couldn’t even hope she’d won him enough time to find Anna. He would have to fight alone. She should never have tried to be a guard.

  Orde reached the doors of the statue.

  The world shifted.

  As an earth-natured dragon, she felt the moment when Anna put on the goblin crown. A second tear leaked from her eye. One of gladness. Danny had succeeded. He was safe.

&n
bsp; The goblins on her back tumbled off and lay panting on the ground, defeated.

  Only Orde screamed. He turned from the entrance in a cloud of fury. He blamed her. It was there in his stalking stride.

  She tried to gather herself for his final attack, and knew she wouldn’t survive. Not against madness.

  The first terrible word drew power from the earth. Orde walked forward.

  “Isolde!” Danny dove from the Statue’s torch, changing in midair to a blue and silver water dragon. The air shrieked. His talons dug into Orde and ripped him from the earth. Three wing flaps sent Danny back up, over the harbor. He dropped the goblin into the murk of it and swung back.

  Izzy sighed and let her body resume human form. She bled from a dozen wounds and breathing hurt. Just looking at the sky hurt. She closed her eyes.

  “Izzy.” Danny knelt beside her. “Sweetheart.” He placed his hand over her heart. “You’re damn well not dying on me.”

  She’d never heard that harsh, hurting tone in his voice. It reached her slowing heart, requiring one last effort from her.

  “Danny.” The murmur of his name in her blood was enough. Power surged, as clean and healing as rain. Earth power joined it as Anna ran out from the Statue and saw them. The city itself gave its energy, finding a channel to Izzy through Danny’s love.

  He controlled what she couldn’t and healed her.

  She blinked, smiled and drew him down for a kiss.

  “Sweetheart.” He touched her tenderly, combing her hair, straightening her clothes, and soothing the marks healing on her body.

  She tasted his tears, and soothed him in turn, giving herself to his care.

  “Izzy, you make a coward out of me. I’ve never been so scared. I thought I lost you.” His kiss turned fierce.

  The passion matched her own stormy, new appreciation of life. When she finally sat up, they had quite an audience.

  Mamie was giving her version of events.

  “So then these hoodlums attacked the girl. She fought, though. Must know karate. Three of them against one girl. Cowards.” Her sneakered foot kicked the nearest goblin who accepted the treatment while looking sideways at Anna, his new queen.

  Even in jeans and sweater, Anna looked a queen. The goblin crown gleamed above her black braids. She scowled at Orde’s former henchman, who turned an unlikely shade of khaki.

  Unnoticing, Mamie continued. “Then the girl’s boyfriend came back and saw what was happening, and he threw one of the thugs in the river. And good riddance.”

  Humans, God bless them for their delusions. Izzy smiled and accepted Danny’s help to stand up. He kept an arm around her.

  “Er-hmm.” It had the sound of an official throat clearing.

  “Rhys?” Izzy stared at her cousin. “What are you doing here?”

  “What a question.” Rhys jerked his head at two other officers, and they moved the crowd away. “You bring our city to a roaring, panicked standstill. You have a fight in full view of all other-natured citizens in the middle of the harbor, and damn near get killed. Of course I’m here. Someone has to clean up the mess.”

  “Did you fish Orde out of the river?” Danny asked.

  “The goblin? Yup.”

  Izzy introduced the two men. “What do you mean I affected the city?”

  Rhys shrugged. “You were in trouble. It heard. As a territorial dragon, you’re a definite nester.” He frowned at Danny. “You healed her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Come to Sunday dinner. The family gets together then. They’ll want to meet you. I’ll phone Gran and warn her.”

  “Rhys!” Izzy protested.

  Her cousin grinned. “You never did pay proper attention to dragon lore. Only true mates can heal each other.”

  “Oh.” It silenced her for some minutes while Danny, Rhys and Anna conferred. Then she stuck an elbow in Danny’s ribs. “Did you know that? Did you know when I healed you?”

  “Yes, I knew when you began healing me in the cab, but I didn’t think you were ready to hear it.”

  “Izzy’s stubborn,” Rhys agreed.

  She turned her back on him. “Danny.”

  “I thought to court you.”

  “Oh.” That was a very good, and very romantic, excuse for not telling her they were true mates. She sighed and leaned against him. “I’d like to go home.”

  Rhys arranged a ride on a police launch. “But don’t think this is the last you’ll hear about this, Missy Iz.” He hugged her, though, veering from police protocol.

  She hugged him back, glad to leave the untangling of Orde’s crimes and Anna’s future in Rhys’s capable hands.

  “Thank you.” Anna’s eyes said all that words couldn’t convey. The two women hugged.

  Above them, the Statue of Liberty watched as Danny carried Izzy aboard and the small launch zipped away. The great statue was the symbol of all that was worth fighting for: freedom, justice and love.

  Chapter Four

  A police cruiser waited at the dock. The driver was elaborately incurious despite Izzy’s stained, ripped clothing and Danny’s protective manner.

  She thanked heaven for police discipline and let herself relax into the gentle rhythm of Danny’s breathing and the wider embrace of the city.

  He played with her hands, assuring himself that she was whole and safe.

  The caresses were gently arousing, a foretaste of his total cherishing.

  She leaned against him, letting him thank their driver and guide her into the apartment block. His hand rode at her waist. Only when they were alone in the elevator travelling up to her penthouse did she speak, and it wasn’t about events on the island. “Last night when I brought you here, you knew we were fated. Are there any other secrets you’re keeping from me, for my own good?”

  “Yes,” he said brazenly. He smiled at her as she stepped away. “One. I’m hoping you can help me with it.”

  “Tell me.” She opened the door to the penthouse, then locked it behind them and leaned against it.

  He looked so good in her home, strong and necessary, as necessary as breathing.

  “I’ve accepted a job with the United Nations as a food security analyst and I need to find a place to live in New York. I’ve heard you’re a guardian real estate agent. Will you help me find a home?”

  “Somewhere where you’ll be happy?” She walked forward and put her arms around him. Joy, relief and happiness bubbled up inside her. “Somewhere you’ll be loved?”

  “Loved would be good,” he said unsteadily. He held her close, teasing abandoned. “I do love you, Isolde.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “I felt it when you healed me.” She rubbed her cheek against his. “I love you, too.”

  “Thank God.” He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. He froze by the bed, still holding her. “I forgot to buy condoms.”

  She laughed.

  He dropped her onto the bed. “It’s not funny.”

  “Danny.” Her voice halted his precipitate departure. “Let’s take the risk. I’d quite like to have your babies.”

  He spun around.

  “Only if you don’t mind,” she added, and watched his eyes blaze with emotion.

  “I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all.” He pushed her back on the bed and followed her down. “God, Izzy. When I thought I’d lost you…” He kissed her fiercely.

  “I’m not so easy to lose.” She slid her hand under his sweater.

  He pulled back to strip off his clothes, and Izzy slid out of her own. She wrinkled her nose at the stains.

  “I really need a bath.” She squealed as he lifted her and carried her to the bathroom. It felt decadent to play naked.

  “Your wish is my command.” He stood her in the shower and warm water cascaded over them. He was beautiful, ripped and powerful. “Let me.”

  She purred as he soaped her body. The slick play of skin against skin made her boneless and she clutched his shoulders.

  When he knelt to wash her kne
es and circle her ankles, he nuzzled her wet curls and lightly bit her inner thigh. She swayed, and he rose quickly to catch her close, turning off the water and picking up towels to dry them.

  “No,” Izzy moaned. The softness of the towels was a torment when she wanted slick flesh. She tugged them from his hands and threw them away. “More.” She nipped his bottom lip. She could see how much he wanted her and raised on tiptoe so he pressed her intimately.

  “In bed for your first time.” But he nudged forward, making her gasp. “Bed.” He lifted her, and she gripped him with her legs. She rode above his arousal to the bed, and the feel of him, so nearly intimate, brought her to the edge of orgasm.

  He laid her down and her body opened naturally for him. He stroked her and she tightened around his finger. Their gazes locked. Her breath came shallow as her hips arched. She loved the taut need in his face, the concern for her that darkened his eyes.

  “I love you.” He fitted himself between her legs. “I love you.” He kissed her.

  All that mattered was the fullness of him, the way her body stretched and met his, the pleasure and power that surged and crashed around them.

  “Okay?” Every muscle in his body tensed as he waited for her answer.

  “I love you.” She wrapped her legs around him and dragged him deeper.

  “Iz-zy.” His control shattered and the wild, new rhythm of a first mating took over. It was primitive and forever. He pounded into her and she rode the surge to a crashing, shared climax.

  They lay panting and tangled together in its aftermath.

  “Danny?” Her lips moved against his skin. She lay across his body. He was still inside her, and she contracted her inner muscles.

  “Again?” The question was laughter and a groan. He ran a hand down her spine and curved the palm over her hip. The possessive, comforting caress enchanted her.

  “Too soon?”

  “Convince me.”

  Izzy smiled at the challenge. He was already hardening inside her. She knelt up, the better to observe her captive. Her breasts, full and tender, pouted before him. She felt pagan as she arched under his admiring gaze. With one finger she traced the line of his mouth which curved under her administrations. Her finger continued down his throat, over the swallow of his Adam’s apple, down and around a nipple, took a circle and dip at his belly button, and so reached their joining.