Dragon Consultant (6 page)

Copper barely left the bedroom he had commandeered for himself. The incubator was tucked into a corner. Dane thought Copper put the egg there the few times he ventured out, but for the most part he and the egg stayed curled in a nest he had built of blankets and pillows on the full-sized bed. Dane knocked on the bedroom door first before opening it and stepping inside.

"I have your breakfast," Dane called into the darkened room. Two eyes popped open from the direction of the bed. They glowed slightly, reflecting the light in the hallway. Dane felt the magic in the room shiver briefly and watched as those eyes changed position on the bed as Copper shifted from dragon form to human. His scales must have shredded Dane's poor sheets, Dane thought with a wince.

A boy with brilliant red hair and bright red scales covering his chest untangled himself from the blankets. Copper hopped off the bed and strode quickly over to Dane, as if he didn't trust Dane enough to allow him near his precious egg even though Dane had held it briefly not too long ago. Copper was wearing a pair of loose pajama bottoms—red, of course—that Daisy had forced him to wear, and he took the red plastic bowl from Dane's tray without asking which was his.

"Thanks," Copper mumbled perfunctorily as he spun around and hurried back to his nest with his prize in hand.

"Make sure that ends up back in the kitchen," Dane admonished. He knew Daisy had been trying to instill some sense of propriety into the otherwise wild kits and that she would be appalled to learn Dane had allowed Copper to keep dirty dishes in his room.

Dane closed the door behind himself when he left and headed down the hall to Mercury's room. This time he waited for the okay after he knocked before he opened the door. Dane walked inside and closed the door behind him so the other kits would hopefully stay out. Nickel was sprawled on the end of the bed and Mercury was tucked under the blankets. They both sat up and took their bowls. Dane sat in the chair still pulled up to the bedside and took the last bowl on the tray for his own.

"There's still no word from Jacobson," Dane began after everyone had had a chance to eat a few spoonfuls. "But I think I should go to the office anyway. He probably thinks that letting me sweat will make me more repentant and eager to do his bidding, so I want to be there to pretend anxiousness when he finally calls."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Mercury replied after a moment of thought. "Bring Nickel with you," he added.

Nickel scowled, but he didn't argue. Apparently they had already had this conversation. There was no way for Dane to know whether Nickel was coming along just in case Jacobson did get in contact today, or whether he was there to watch Dane closely to see if he was really an enemy. Clearly, Dane would have to work hard to convince Nickel that he was only going to help.

"Finish your breakfast, then change into some outdoor clothes." Dane knew Daisy had outfitted the kits with at least one pair of jeans and a few matching shirts. "Meet me in my office when you're ready." Nickel nodded in agreement, but he didn't get up to dispose of his empty bowl and get changed. Dane knew he would remain at Mercury's side until Dane left the room first or Chrome wandered in to take over guard duties. One glance at Mercury showed Dane that Mercury had noticed how overprotective his guard dog was being and that he didn't have the heart to send Nickel away. Mercury's beautiful lips were twisted slightly as he shook his head sadly when Nickel wasn't looking. Dane agreed completely. No kit should have to ensure such a heavy burden, yet Nickel did it like it was his duty.

Dane stood up first. He wanted to stay and speak with Mercury about something happier. He longed to see Mercury smile and Mercury's eyes light up again. Dane's terrible impulses when Mercury had been unconscious and naked had only doubled the moment Mercury had spoken to him. Dane wanted Mercury and he was pretty sure Mercury wanted him too, but Nickel wouldn't allow Dane the private time to find out for certain. Dane doubted he would find that time until after Jacobson was dealt with and they had rescued the air dragons, at which point Mercury would be healed and on his way back home with his kits. It would be better for Dane if he found a way to push his lust aside and forget about bedding Mercury altogether.

He would run screaming from Dane eventually anyway, just like all Dane's past lovers. Why put himself through that pain again, especially since he already knew Mercury would be leaving soon enough?

"I'll take your bowls back to the kitchen," Dane said, holding out his hand for Nickel and Mercury's empty bowls. They passed them over and Dane stacked them on the tray before turning and leaving the room. His resolve would have to start now. Right this minute. He had to stop thinking about Mercury in a sexual sense. Instead he thought about Nickel's face if he were to catch them in bed together and the murderous rage that would no doubt follow.

Dane was laughing softly to himself when he reached the kitchen. Three bowls had been left on the floor and there was no sign of the kits that had left them there. Dane stooped to pick them up and stacked everything in the dishwasher. Copper hadn't brought his bowl down yet, not a surprising fact, so Dane waited to start the wash cycle.

Nickel met Dane in his office a few minutes later. Nickel was wearing jeans and a blue T-shirt and it looked like Mercury had made him comb his blue hair. He didn't look nearly as wild now, Dane couldn't help thinking, except then he glared up at Dane. His eyes were still as serious as a serial killer's.

"Are we going?" Nickel snapped. He held out one hand imperiously for Dane to take so Dane could transport them both to work. How could Dane not obey his command? Dane took Nickel's hand while trying to hide a grin and pulled them both towards work.

Becky was already sitting at her desk when they arrived. She stood up with a wide smile when she saw that Dane wasn't alone.

"Who have you brought with you?" she gushed. Becky might have been a banshee, but she liked kids. She was too busy to help out at Dane's house like Daisy, but she never minded when Dane brought them to work.

"This is Nickel. He's waiting on the phone call from Jacobson with me."

"And the little one?" Becky asked. She walked around her desk and kneeled on the floor. She was looking at Dane's feet and he confusedly followed her gaze to see Lumie. He had the thumb of one hand in his mouth. The other hand was fisted around the cuff of Dane's pants. Dane should have noticed Lumie. There was no possible way Dane could have missed him. Hell, even Dane's magic hadn't noticed that he was transporting a third person.

Lumie smiled happily up at Dane and gave his thumb another contented suck. That damned brat!

"I Lumie," he chirped at Becky with another smile.

The kits never could stay away for very long. Mercury knew that. Even Nickel, his most independent kit, and Copper, his most aloof kit, had to stop by and see him at least once a day. All dragons had some form of separation anxiety thanks to the genetic behavior of parents abandoning their kits once they had physically grown enough to survive on their own. It was a terrible practice, but the territorial urges that all fully-grown dragons experienced meant that parents would be just as likely to accidentally view their kits as territory intruders as protect them. Dragons spent too much of their childhoods alone, something his kits were all too aware of.

Mercury had learned to fly at nine years old and had been lucky enough to eventually wander into a city where he was tossed into the local orphanage. Too many kits died because of a practice that dragons couldn't help repeating. Nickel and Copper, for example, had barely been surviving in the woods when the enemy had taken them. 'Ron and Chrome were too young to have experienced that firsthand, but they had been through the government labs and were equally scarred. Dragon kits needed the chance to actually grow up. To be fed and clothed and hugged even after they had learned to fly. It was an issue Mercury had thought about asking whether the Genie of the East had a possible solution to, not that he had high hopes someone could change a territorial need. Besides, he had to actually save the dragons from the enemy first before he could even think of a more long-term solution.

Chrome and 'Ron ended up sprawled across his bed not even an hour after Nickel and Dane had left. 'Ron whined and crawled under the covers, her head resting on Mercury's knee. Chrome took up the end of the bed with a grumble.

"It's not fair!" 'Ron moaned. She rolled over, pulling the covers with her as she moved. Chrome snarled and yanked on the blankets to flatten them back out underneath him, which made 'Ron squawk and flail to move the blankets back where she wanted them.

Mercury let out a snarl and sent a pulse of magic through the blanket. Both kits froze in place. "That's enough," Mercury admonished. He preferred their antics to sitting alone and bored, but allowing them to continue would destroy the bedroom and might accidentally also destroy Dane's house.

Dane seemed very prosaic about the kits running roughshod around his house. Mercury doubted the banister would ever be the same, given Chrome's stories about chewing on it, yet Dane had not complained even once. Dane was such a beautiful man with or without his glamour, but Mercury couldn't help also admiring Dane's easygoing personality. Plus, the way Dane had looked completely furious—his eyes flashing with power and his fists clenched in anger—when Mercury had told him about the labs had been both deadly and stunning. It wasn't an image Mercury would ever forget, nor did he honestly want to. Beautiful men whose power was equal to Mercury's own weren't a dime a dozen. Mercury wanted to savor every moment and every memory so that when he was healed and had moved on with his kits, Mercury could take advantage of his fond memories of Dane in his few, private—kit-less—moments.

"Sorry, Daddy," Chrome and 'Ron both grumbled simultaneously.

"But it's still not fair!" 'Ron reiterated with another whine.

"What isn't fair?" Mercury asked, wondering if he was going to regret asking. 'Ron had complained about the fact that she couldn't hop like a frog just as fervently as when she was pointing out the poisonous snake Lumie was about to investigate.

"That Nickel and Lumie both got to go to the office with Dane. I wanted to go too!"

"And Lumie?" Mercury repeated sharply. He knew Lumie fairly well after watching over him for a few months and couldn't help wondering when Lumie had decided to go too. The real question Mercury had was whether Dane had noticed Lumie tagging along. And the answer was probably not. Mercury sighed.

Mercury knew that Lumie's powers were above average, so if something did happen Lumie could take care of himself. Hopefully Dane would also notice Lumie before Lumie got into trouble. Unfortunately, all Mercury could do at the moment was worry.

"If you ask nicely, Dane might bring you to his office next time," Mercury replied, hoping he wasn't putting words into Dane's mouth.

Chrome and 'Ron immediately brightened. 'Ron crawled up Mercury's chest and stuck her head out of the end of the blankets right below Mercury's chin.

"Really?" she gasped excitedly. "I have to tell Copper!" She bounced off the bed and dashed for the bedroom door.

"Wait for me!" Chrome yelled as he jumped off the bed and ran after her. The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Mercury alone again. He groaned tiredly as he levered his body into a sitting position. Dragon fever sucked royally. Aside from the fact that he had probably been well on his way towards dying in the woods before Dane had rescued them, which would have left his poor kits alone and none of the other dragons saved, the recovery was a long and annoying process. He was a Bronze Precious Dragon, strong in magic and in body. His magic had recovered, of course, but he didn't have the strength or stamina in the rest of his body to handle the stress using his magic caused. He could barely walk to the bathroom and back.

It was an amazing improvement from the first time he had made that short journey. Daisy had needed to support him back to the bed then. He could do it on his own now, but it rankled that Dane had promised to return in time to make lunch for the kits because Mercury couldn't even get downstairs to the kitchen. He couldn't take care of his own kits!

Mercury pushed away his depressing thoughts. He only needed a few more days to recuperate, Mercury reminded himself. He would be back to full strength soon enough, and then he and his kits would leave Dane's house to continue on their journey. There was no need to impose on Dane for any longer than they needed to, even though they could hopefully continue working together against the government stooge hurting the dragons.

Yet the thought of leaving sent an unhappy pang through his chest. He would still see Dane, Mercury reminded himself, even if it wouldn't be multiple times a day.

Mercury threw his legs off the side of the bed with a snort of disgust and slowly levered himself to his feet. Maybe a bath would take his mind off of Dane's pretty face. He had clearly been lying in bed for too long if he couldn't get his mind off the man he wanted to join him in bed. Dane was the Genie of the East. He had said he wasn't an actual genie, but to get that reputation he had to have a lot of influence and power in the supernatural community. He wouldn't need to stoop to Mercury's level to find a bit of pleasure; hell, he probably had dozens of lovers eagerly waiting for him. Mercury was a precious dragon, which meant his magic was far stronger than most other magical creatures, but even he wasn't a match for someone with Dane's overwhelming abilities. Dane wouldn't appreciate Mercury's infatuation, Mercury knew, and he tried to force that resolve into his brain where lust had taken over.

His progress across the room was slow, but steady. His feet were sturdier than his thoughts, to be perfectly honest. Mercury reached the bathroom doorjamb and leaned tiredly against it. His eyes saw the bathroom—the sink, toilet, and bathtub unchanged since his last visit—but his mind was still stuck on that morning, eating oatmeal with Dane. It was difficult to wait on an invalid and his kits, yet Dane hadn't seemed to mind the extra effort.