Dragons Prefer Blondes (9 page)

“Hey, you know how tough it can be on a human’s body. Cut the guy some slack.”

Gilly’s head snapped up, and she eyed me curiously. “Don’t get defensive, Al. I’m just kidding. You know I have all the respect in the world for Jake.”

“Sorry. It’s just been a long night.”

She nodded but gave me a strange look I didn’t have time to interpret.

“Tell him I said thanks, and that I’m sorry for going off the grid again. If I hadn’t been paralyzed, I would have pushed the comm.” It wasn’t much of an apology, but it would have to do.

I grabbed the monsters and teleported back to the house.

Ten minutes later I walked through a portal onto Xerxes and this time landed right outside Ginjin’s door.

I kicked it with my boot.

Eventually it opened, and Ginjin stood there in all his glory. Let’s just say there’s a lot of glory there. If he weren’t a nasty dragon, it might even give a girl pause.

“Don’t you guys ever wear clothes?” I looked up at the sky to keep from staring at his rather large, um, edifice. I’d seen it before, but it was still very impressive.

“I’m in my home, and it is you who disturbed me.” He stared down at the ground. “You have business to discuss?”

I kicked at the gryphon and tossed the dragon, still in human form, toward him. “They almost killed me. Damn gryphon’s poison attacked my lungs and nervous system. They had four human captives with them. Would you like to explain?”

His expression never changed, as if he couldn’t care less what had happened.

“Look, Ginjin, I’ve tried to be patient, but this is insane. It’s the second time I’ve killed dragons in the same area. We know you transported humans here the other day. We saw them jump. That’s enough right there to bring you in front of the high council.”

“I did none of this. And I searched for these humans you swore were in my world to no avail. I sent you a message stating such. Your equipment is faulty.”

I shook my head. “You know how much I hate games. And there’s something going on here. Maybe you didn’t kidnap the humans, but you know who did. My best guess is someone wants to use them as slaves, and you know I’m not going to let that happen. I don’t suppose it has something to do with your new gonna-be bride, does it? To say she acted suspiciously the other day would be the understatement of the year. She’s up to something.”

His jaw jutted out, and his silver hair swung at his shoulders. “She has done nothing!”

“Really? I could have sworn she was in the middle of something the other day. Like I said, I don’t know what the hell is going on, but if I find out you are hiding something or helping to protect her and her family, I will kill you.” I pointed to the monster at his feet. “That green dragon was with her the other day. I recognized him immediately.”

“He is a Kevan. That doesn’t mean he has anything to do with Jene. She told you they were sunning. It is time for you to go, Guardian.”

I closed my eyes for a second. “Ginjin, if I leave here without answers, I’m going to the council, even if that means I have to speak to my mother. I think your dragons are kidnapping humans. I have no idea why, but I’m going to find out.”

At the mention of the council, his silver eyes narrowed in on me. “Again, Guardian, I have done nothing wrong.” He yanked the Kevan dragon into his lair.

“Well, here’s the thing. You are temporarily in charge of this hell you call home, and that makes you responsible for these guys. Why do you have to be so hardheaded? They drugged humans and were going to do God knows what with them. I didn’t see the ones the other day, but I caught these guys in the act. They had four women with them. Four women they’d drugged and had transported from somewhere.”

“This conversation is over.” He had the nerve to slam the door in my face.

“Asshole!” I spat at the door. Not the most mature thing to do. The gryphon was still on the landing, and I decided to leave it there. Ginjin could deal with his own trash. “Merry Christmas,” I whispered as I pushed the button on my watch. Just as I was about to walk through the portal, I saw her. Jene was on the cliff just to the right of Ginjin’s home.

My guess was she’d been listening the entire time.

I pushed the button to close the portal.

Shoving the gryphon with my foot, I stared at her, keeping my eyes on her face, since she was nude. “This a friend of yours?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her wings sprouted out of her back, and she flew down to the ledge. If I didn’t hate her so much, I might have noticed she was as beautiful as any Hollywood starlet. That made me wonder why Ginjin didn’t want to marry her. She seemed the perfect match for him.

Unless she was responsible for the kidnappings, which would make her a criminal.

“Huh. Well, maybe you know the guy inside. Long green hair and kind of big? He’s dead, too.”

Her eyes flashed red for a moment, but her expression never changed. “No.”

“That is surprising. He’s a Kevan, and I thought you guys were pretty tight.”

“There are many Kevans all over the universe, Guardian. I’m afraid it would be impossible to know them all.”

I nodded. “Yeah, but this one was in the middle of the desert the other day—with you.”

“I know many green dragons.” Her wings flapped into her shoulders, and she smirked.

“So, you don’t know why this gryphon and his buddy were trying to kidnap four women?”

A sly smile crossed her face. “There, see? You’ve solved your own problem. You wanted to know who was trying to kidnap your humans; now you’ve discovered them.” She glanced down at the gryphon. “And as usual, you have murdered them.”

Talk about throwing your friends under a bus. “Yeah. I’ve definitely discovered the culprits. And it’s not murder when they are trying to kill you. It’s self-defense. At least in my world.” I gave her a hard stare. “Were you here to see Ginjin?”

“What?” She stared at his large front door as if she’d forgotten where she was.

“I figured since you were right there on the cliff spying on him, that maybe you wanted to talk to him.”

This time her eyes went full red flame. “I will not be dis respected, Guardian.” She bit the last part out through a tight jaw. “I was not spying on Ginjin. He is to be my mate.”

I almost laughed. I wondered what she’d do if I told her that Ginjin had asked me to marry him. “He mentioned that the other day. Funny, though, he didn’t seem too happy about the idea.”

Just then the door opened. Ginjin, who had thankfully put a towel around his waist, motioned to her. “I’ve been waiting for you.” He reached out a hand.

She stared at it for a moment and then took it.

Then he pretended as if he’d just seen me. “I thought you left.”

I grunted. “On my way.” I pushed the button and opened the portal. They were definitely hiding something. I smiled sweetly and turned away.

Don’t get too attached to her, dragon warrior. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to kill her.

CHAPTER 10

Back at the house I decided to take my frustrations out by working with Master Kanashi. She’s trained in almost every martial art, and has the incredible ability of knowing what we need to get ourselves centered. One of the best things about having her on retainer is that she is always there when we need her. We have other sparring partners, but she is the best.

By the time I changed, she was waiting for me in one of our private gyms. I bowed to show my respect, and she did the same. She doesn’t speak—her throat was cut in her earlier days—but she still gets her message across. When she launched an immediate attack, I realized we were going to work on my aikido training.

It was something I needed for fighting dragons, because they are so much larger than me. Aikido teaches the student how to move out of the aggressor’s line of attack without striking a blow. If that doesn’t do the job, there was a series of locks, small joint manipulations that could render the attacker helpless or dead, depending on where I applied pressure.

It was a martial art that took a lot of concentration because I had to strategize quickly and engage. It was also very spiritual, because I had to be in touch with my inner self in order to trust those instincts. She moved so fast it took everything I had to avoid her attack; since she knew my every move, it was difficult to pin her. When I finally did, we were both covered in sweat, and my muscles were looser than they’d been in a week.

She pulled out of the position and bowed to me. I again returned the sign of respect.

“Thank you. I needed that.”

She nodded.

I often wondered about her past. A former Army Ranger, she’d done and seen it all when it came to combat. My dad hired her to work for Caruthers Corporation full-time four years ago. Our mother had been in charge of our combat training before that, but once she became a council member, she wasn’t home much.

Though working with her was no easier, I preferred Master Kanashi. At the very least I didn’t have to listen to Mom’s disappointed tone when one of us didn’t do something right. The master never judged, only encouraged in her quiet way.

She grabbed her fencing gear, and I knew I was in for it now. After I suited up, I met her in the center of the room. A few inches shorter than me, the master always had an advantage when it came to fencing. Her center was lower, and she had much better balance than I did. I never used it as an excuse, but an inner ear infection as a kid had left me with a wobbly equilibrium at times. I’d learned to counterbalance, but fencing made that difficult.

It was almost easier for me to swing a larger sword. At least that’s what I told myself as she parried forward and kicked my ass for the next half hour. Anyone who thinks fencing is for sissies needs to work out with Master K.

My phone buzzed in the corner.
Thank you, Jesus.
I bowed, indicating that I really needed to go. She gave me a bit of a smirk but let it slide.

I said good-bye and picked up the phone.

“Ms. Caruthers, this is Gerald. I have a call for you from Melissa Chester, and she says it’s important.”

I didn’t recognize the name. “Did she say what it’s about?”

“You saved her life, and she has some information for you.”

“Huh. Okay, put her through.”

“Alex Caruthers?” The female voice on the other side was familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“Yes.”

“This is Melissa Chester, the nurse from Montreal?”

Hard to believe that had only been last night. “Oh, hi. How are you?”

“Good. Thanks to you, I’m alive.”

It took me a minute to realize what she’d just said. She remembered what happened, and she shouldn’t have.

“I drank whatever it was that old man gave us,” she informed me. “But it didn’t make me forget everything the way my friends have. I mean, I did at first, but this morning everything came back to me clear as a bell.”

“Okay, but you should know that was meant for your own good. Most people aren’t capable of dealing with what you saw—”

“I served two years in Iraq after getting out of juvie. I’ve seen worse than a couple of monsters fighting with a superhero.”

I grunted. “I’m no superhero, and you don’t look old enough to have served in Iraq.”

“Thanks for that. As bad as it was over there, it changed my life for the better. Before my tour I was a messed-up kid heading down the wrong road.

“Anyway, I called to tell you that I remembered something about what happened before they drugged us. We’d been club hopping for a couple of hours, celebrating that I’d passed my midterms, and we were beyond wasted before we ever saw them.

“We were at Bells when I saw the guy with green hair. I don’t know if you are familiar with that club. It’s kind of a mix of old-school punk and freaks, and he fit right in there. The next thing I knew, we were in the snow.”

I knew about Bells. The Fae loved that place because no one was freakier than they were. If the Fae and dragons were hanging out together, that could mean big trouble.

“I appreciate the info. I’m going to have our people check it out, but do me a favor and stay away from the nightlife for a while. Tell your friends to do the same. I don’t know what’s going on, but it might get a lot worse before it gets better.”

“I feel like such an idiot for going to that place. I know better. While studying for my degree, I’ve been working as a nurses’ aide. Every time I work ER rotation, someone comes in from Bells either with a drug overdose or a wound of some kind. Curiosity got the best of me.”

Fae could get violent, especially with their human partners. Problem was, as long as it was consensual—and it always was if the Fae were concerned—there was nothing we could do about it. “Like I said, we’ll check it out. You steer clear though, okay? If you remember anything else or see something weird, don’t hesitate to call me.” I gave her my direct line.

Her accent had made me curious and I had to ask, “Have you always lived in Montreal?”

She laughed. “I think my South Jersey comes out when I’m tired. I moved here after I came back from my last tour. I found a good school, and I needed to get away from the people back home. You know how it is.”

I did understand. Pulling people out of difficult situations and giving them a new life elsewhere was something I did a lot.

“Uh, can I ask you something about that guy Jake? The one who walked us to the taxi? Is he—? Oh, never mind. Leave it to me to pick some guy who doesn’t even live in the same country as me. I always choose the geographical undesirables. He was just so damn handsome and sweet. That southern accent made me—Well, never mind. Sorry.”

Something turned in my gut. It took a second for me to recognize it as jealousy. It bothered me that she thought Jake was cute. What the hell was wrong with me?

“I think Jake’s seeing someone,” I lied, “but I certainly understand why you are interested. He’s a great guy.” Maybe it was pathetic, but I didn’t want my fake potential boyfriend dating anyone else.

Never said I wasn’t a head case.

Since it would be a few hours before Bells opened, I went in search of Jake but couldn’t find him in any of the normal places. Finally I gave in and looked him up on the computer in the control room, after making sure that none of the guys could see what I was doing. According to his time log, the one we used for salaried employees, he’d signed out about fifteen minutes earlier. But his badge hadn’t shown up as clearing the facility, which meant he was still around somewhere.