Dragon's Curse (Harlequin Nocturne) (7 page)

Beneath the floral perfume she’d used, he once again caught the
exotic aroma of spices—frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, clove—a magical
combination that blended perfectly, creating her unique pheromones.

This scent, belonging only to Ariel, branded an imprint onto
his conscious.

She sighed, relaxing against him, offering herself without
reservation. Her easy surrender chipped at his willpower, making it nearly
impossible to keep a rein on his desires and wants.

Before his dragon took over, Cam regretfully broke their
kiss.

Ariel stepped back and looked away. “I…I don’t normally…”

Cam realized by her flushed cheek and stammering that she was
embarrassed. Guilty for causing her discomfort, he pulled her back against his
chest. “Don’t.”

Against his shirt she mumbled, “This isn’t appropriate, you’re
my boss.”

He brushed his chin across the top of her head. “Right, I’m the
boss. You have to do as I say.”

She shook with laughter. “We just met, this is insane.”

He didn’t disagree. The need to touch her, to hold her close
was insane. The only logical reason for doing so was that unbridled lust drove
him to take a kiss, and lust was still urging him to take more. “Perhaps.” He
released her. “Unpack. Settle in. Meet me in the lobby at two and I’ll show you
around the Lair.”

Ariel nodded, then walked into her apartment without another
word.

* * *

Aelthed held his shaking stomach and fell into the
corner of his prison cackling with glee. So far this Drake twin, this dragon
changeling of Mirabilus, had made grave errors.

First, he’d promised his sister-by-marriage that while she was
away, he’d guard her possessions—the emerald dragon pendant was now locked in a
safe in the twin’s office, along with the grimoire.

But unbeknownst to him, he along with everyone else seemed to
have lost track of the old wooden puzzle cube—the one Aelthed called home. The
changeling should have locked the cube away, too, instead of leaving it
unattended on a bookshelf in his brother’s apartment.

A fortunate mistake for Aelthed, it allowed him to hear and
envision what was happening. More fortunately, since he was of the dragon line,
they’d been unable to detect his weak magic as he’d practiced until he was able
to levitate his cube, unseen, to the basement. To his relief, it seemed that his
powers, which had been waning through the years, were now increasing.

Another error had been the changeling’s interest in Ariel
Johnson.

Enemy or not, this woman was the dragon’s mate. Of that Aelthed
was certain. It hummed in the air, vibrating through the Lair. There would be no
way around that simple fact for the changeling.

Whether his human form eventually fell in love with the woman
or not made little difference. His beast would never let the female go. It would
kill her first.

One thing he needed to do was to arm the changeling with
knowledge of the ancient curse. Somehow he had to get the grimoire into the
woman’s hands.

Chapter 6

A
riel clutched the Lair’s map in her hand,
making certain she wouldn’t lose the thing. Even with her guided tour, she knew
that she’d never find her way around the resort again without the map.

Cam plucked the key card from her hand. “Let me.” He unlocked
and opened the door to her apartment, then to her consternation followed her
inside.

“You found everything to your satisfaction?”

She quickly scanned the lush surroundings. “With this
apartment?” When he nodded, she said, “No. It’s too much. I don’t live like
this.”

He seemed surprised by her honest answer. “Like what? With a
roof over your head?”

She ignored his comment and swung her arm toward the living
room. “Suede-covered furniture isn’t exactly made for those of us less than
graceful with a full glass of soda. From the smell and feel, I’m guessing it’s
genuine suede, not something manufactured in a factory.”

He shrugged. “It’s just furniture.”

Ariel glared at him. “But it’s not
my
furniture.”

She’d be a nervous wreck worrying that she might damage someone
else’s property. Completely absurd, considering she was here to steal someone
else’s property to begin with.

Cam glanced up at the ceiling before asking, “So, what would
you prefer?”

“I’d prefer to move into the employee wing.”

“Since Danielle will be helping with the plans for the maze,
it’s easier having you here for now. Besides, the available suites are full.”
Frowning, he ran a hand through the back of his hair. “If it’s that big a deal,
we can have the furniture changed. What kind do you want?”

Ariel didn’t buy his reasoning about keeping her in proximity.
So, she wondered, why was it so important? Did he suspect she’d been the thief?
As far as she knew, she hadn’t given herself away.

Knowing he waited for an answer, she replied, “Something
practical like duck, denim or a heavy-weight broadcloth. Something sturdy that I
can scrub if I need to.”

The temperature in the apartment dropped dramatically. Ariel
shivered from the icy chill. A swift breeze whooshed through, whipping Ariel’s
hair in her face.

“What the—” Cam’s harsh curse drowned out her question.

She dragged her fingers through her hair, raking it out of her
eyes. Heart racing, she looked at Cameron, then followed his stare toward the
furniture they’d been discussing.

Instead of the buff-colored suede, the pieces were now covered
in off-white denim.

The temperature instantly returned to normal, but it did little
to warm the frigid terror assaulting her.

Ariel clamped her open mouth shut and gritted her teeth as she
backed toward the door.

Without turning around, Cam ordered, “Stay there and don’t
faint.”

She froze at the anger evident in his tone. He was enraged with
her?
For what? Before she could get her tongue
unstuck from the roof of her mouth to ask, Cam swung around to face her.

“Who are you?”

“Ar-Ariel John-Johnson,” she stuttered. “You think I did that?”
The idea would be laughable at any other time, or in any place other than the
Lair.

“I know I didn’t.” He came closer. Rage darkened his eyes until
they glittered like uncut gems. “There isn’t any sign of another wizard.”

“
A what?
” Ariel ignored his earlier
command and headed for the door. Earlier he’d only admitted to being a man and
nothing more. But she knew there was something different about Cameron Drake.
She’d thought he was gifted with psychic abilities. Possible insanity hadn’t
entered her mind.

Too leery to take her stare off Cameron, she searched blindly
with her hand behind her for the door handle. Unable to locate it immediately,
she fought back her rising panic and tried again. When her fumbling hand finally
touched metal, she held on to it like a lifeline.

Cameron hitched a brow. She thought she was leaving? He
silently locked the door against her escape.

“Sit down.”

Her eyes widened further and she shook her head.

“You aren’t leaving here.”

“You can’t stop me.”

Ariel spun around and tugged on the door.

He crossed his arms against his chest and watched her
frantically struggle, pounding her fists against the solid slab of wood to no
avail.

“Stop it. You’re only going to hurt yourself.”

When she ignored him, Cam went to pull her away from the door.
He stopped behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

Ariel screamed and jerked away from his touch. “Get away from
me!”

She hadn’t been lying—she hadn’t changed the furniture. From
the wide-eyed, unblinking stare on her near-colorless face, he could tell she
was terrified.

Of him.

The woman was mortal. Cam was fairly certain that outside of
the dragon changeling she’d barely seen at Mirabilus, she’d had little prior
contact with magic.

Even so, she was working for the Learneds; if they hadn’t used
magic around her yet, they eventually would. Just as they would use her to work
their vile magic here at the Lair.

That knowledge made it difficult to have much sympathy for her
fear now.

“Ariel, sit down.” He made no move to approach her, but she
still took off running down the hall toward the master bedroom.

The slamming of the door and loud click of the lock made him
shake his head. She thought that would keep him out?

He’d almost decided to play along with the locked-door routine
until he heard the sound of furniture being moved in the room. Cam had just
headed down the hall toward the bedroom, when his cell phone vibrated.

He pulled the phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen
before answering. “What do you want, Sean?”

“You need any help in there?”

Cam flipped the phone closed, cutting off his brother’s nosy
sarcasm and slid it back into his pocket. He waved a spell to temporarily
soundproof the apartment.

If Sean heard them, it was certain that Danielle would, too. He
wasn’t about to let his aunt get involved in this matter.

The sound of something heavy scraping against the inside of the
bedroom door drew him back to the task at hand. He didn’t need any special power
to know she was pushing one of the dressers against the door.

If the crashing noise of something breaking and her curse were
any indication, she wasn’t having much luck rearranging the furniture.

Cam knew he could walk away—just leave the apartment and by
morning she’d probably be gone. It would be easier. Unfortunately, his beast
disagreed.

The mere thought of letting her leave the Lair sent a wave of
pain lacing through him. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe through what
felt like an explosion in his head.

Perhaps letting her leave would be a mistake. The Learneds
would only find another way into the Lair. They obviously weren’t going to give
up until either they or the Drakes ceased to exist. While it was true that Ariel
Johnson was a threat—at least she was a known threat.

Relieved that the pain in his head eased to a dull throb, Cam
stood outside the bedroom door. The sooner he dealt with this difficulty, the
sooner he could try to deal with his dragon’s misconception about Ariel.

He rapped his knuckles on the door. “Ariel, open the door.”

“Go away.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Open the door.”

“I’ll call the police.”

That’s just what they didn’t need—attention from outside
authorities. Short of patience, he gave up on the idea of reasoning with her and
materialized in the bedroom. Before Ariel could react, he grabbed her and
dropped her onto the bed.

As he’d expected, she fought him wildly. Either she’d had some
training in self-defense, or she was frightened to death.

Between her clawing fingers and kicking legs, he had his hands
full. When he dodged, preventing her nails from raking his face, she dug gouges
down his forearms. She planted the hard heel of her shoe into his knee, then
brought her leg back, aiming higher.

“No, you don’t.” Strengthened by his own anger, and his beast’s
rage at the pain inflicted from her kick, Cam flipped her over onto her stomach,
pinned her wrists to the mattress and straddled her on the bed.

“Let me up.”

Her breathless, panting order made him laugh. “I like you
better where you are.”

She screamed her outrage at his comment and tried to
unsuccessfully buck him off her.

“Ariel, Ariel, you’re wasting your energy.” He leaned forward.
“No one is hurting you. There’s no danger threatening your life.” He kept his
tone gentle and even, hoping to calm her.

She ignored him and switched from bucking to trying to twist
herself free. “Do you think I’m stupid? You’ll talk nice and sweet until I’m
relaxed and then—” Her voice broke.

He felt her body heave with a sob beneath him. “If that’s
intended to make me feel sorry for you, it won’t work.”

She went limp. “Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll do whatever you
say.”

Cam frowned. Exactly what did she think he was going to do? His
stomach rolled. Quickly turning her over onto her back, he readjusted his hold
on her wrists. “Look at me.”

When she kept her eyes tightly closed, he bounced her wrists on
the bed. “I said, look at me.”

He could tell by her washed-out, hesitant gaze that she was
terrified. Cam shook his head. “Listen to me. I have never harmed a woman in my
life. You don’t have to fear me.” He leaned closer. “Nod if you understand
me.”

After she nodded, he loosened his hold. “If I release your
arms, will you attack me again?”

“Not today.”

Cam was certain her bravado was nothing more than a cover for
her wariness. He released his hold on her wrists, but he remained straddled over
her.

“What are you?” Her question was little more than a
whisper.

He could tell her anything, or everything, and it wouldn’t
matter. When he left this room she wouldn’t remember a thing. It would all seem
as nothing more than a strange, disconcerting dream to her.

“I’m a wizard.”

The pulse point in her neck pounded visibly. “A what?”

“Wizard.”

“Like a witch?”

“Not exactly.” Leave it to a mortal to confuse an element-based
belief system with a wizard. But it would be hard to explain the differences in
just a few minutes.

“I was born this way.” He didn’t add that it had taken a
lifetime to learn how to safely use the powers he’d been born with. Or that no
sooner had he mastered those powers than another one had come into
existence.

“Is that how you changed the furniture?”

No, he hadn’t, but he was fairly certain that she hadn’t,
either. Since the only other
presence
in the room at
the time had been his dragon, it had probably been the beast’s doing. It had
never happened before, but the beast had never been attracted to a woman like
this before, either, so it was impossible to know at this moment.

But he wasn’t about to tell her any of that. So he lied, “Yes.
Isn’t that what you wanted?” He did need to discover who, or what, had cast a
spell at the Lair without his knowledge—later.

“Well, yes. Sort of. I expected a couple moving men and a
truck.”

“Things at the Lair aren’t always what we expect.”

“Your family…are they like you?”

“No.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. None of them were changelings as
far as he knew.

“What else can you do?”

He could almost see the gears in her mind spinning. She thought
she was pumping him for information she could relay to the Learneds.

The idea of playing along was tempting. And he would—to a
point. He needed her to relax, but not for the reason she’d thought. And he
needed her to trust him. That was something that would take a little more than
just magic.

Cameron silently ordered the furniture away from the door and
back to their original places. The broken pieces of glass rearranged back into a
lamp, before sailing up to its spot on the nightstand.

Her eyes widened, but her pulse remained steady. “You’d be
handy on cleaning day.”

He leaned in a little closer. “You have no idea how many things
I’m handy with.”

Ariel’s heart fluttered at the seduction evident in his
half-closed eyes and deep, gravelly voice. If she wasn’t careful, she would find
herself drawing him closer to kiss him—and maybe more.

She closed her eyes and shivered at the thought of his strong
hands stroking her, caressing her body.

The warmth of his lips at the corner of her mouth made her
shiver again. She gazed up at him, ignoring the self-satisfied smile curving his
lips.

Cameron Drake wasn’t some young inexperienced boy, he knew full
well the effect he had on her. What was the point in denying it?

Gathering her courage, she slid a hand up his arm, coming to
rest on his shoulder, then asked, “So, tell me some of the other things you’re
handy with.”

Heat flooded her cheeks, but she held his gaze. Cameron’s smile
deepened. “
Tell
you?”

She stroked his neck, summoning up enough courage to finally
say, “Show me.”

With his hands planted on the bed alongside her head, he leaned
down and pressed a light, teasing kiss against her cheek. “What would you like
me to show you, Ariel?”

Of course, he wasn’t going to make this easy. She should have
expected that. Too embarrassed to come right out and ask for exactly what she
wanted, Ariel hedged, “Show me what you’re handy with.”

The lights in the bedroom flickered on and off.

She narrowed her eyes at his game. “Is that all?”

Cameron traced the seam of her lips with his tongue. Ariel
gasped at the jolt of desire shooting down her spine. She threaded her fingers
through his hair.

He easily pulled away and music filled the room.