Luck of the Dragon (Entangled Covet) (22 page)

Over the crowd, Lucy searched for Joey and saw that several dragon ladies talked to him through the bars. That much had not changed. Joey still had a way with the ladies. Apparently, even the dragon ladies.

At the front of the stage, Alec clapped each of his men on the shoulder. The men bowed before leaping off the stage and into the crowd. Their athletic strides and swiveled glances around the roof reminded Lucy of hunters on the prowl. They were off to find their mates.

Alec sat beside her and slumped back in the chair. “Try to look a little less terrified.”

Lucy forced a bright smile, as if she was enjoying herself. “The doctor said you would mind-wipe me?”

“Yes.” Alec picked up her hand and kissed the back of her fingers. “It is not painful.”

The warmth of his lips penetrated. She turned her hand and laced her fingers through his so their palms connected. “How can you do that to me?” Her voice cracked.

Alec frowned and gazed at the moon, distracted. “I cannot allow you to expose us to the humans. There are those who would see us destroyed. ”

Lucy swallowed at his words. “Like St. George in the picture in your hallway?”

“You mean the picture that you moved to steal from my vault.” Alec pulled his hand away from hers, and Lucy felt the loss of contact in her empty hand.

“Joey is all I’ve ever had.” Lucy angled her body so that she could see his face as she spoke. “I couldn’t let him steal from you. You would have killed him.”

“Oh yes. I still might.”

“You don’t mean it.” Lucy swallowed. “If you were going to kill us, you would have already.”

Alec turned away. He seemed so distant from her, as if they were strangers, seated randomly together at a mandated awards banquet.

She had to get his attention. “When you told me you wanted me forever, I didn’t believe you.”

Still, Alec didn’t react.

“Nobody has ever wanted me.” Lucy’s voice broke. “I’m too…complicated.”

Alec glanced at her and shook his head. He touched her interlaced fingers before looking away. “None of that matters now.”

“But I don’t want to be without you. I want forever, too. It just took me longer to realize it.” Lucy’s voice broke as the words of her heart poured out. “I want the melding of spirit you spoke of before. I want to stay with you, figure things out.”

“Let’s just try to get through the evening.” Alec stood and pulled her to her feet. His words said he didn’t care, but the hard contraction of his bicep under her palm told her he was not so unaffected.

Lucy gripped his arm. “At least don’t take my memories. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

“I can’t trust you.” Alec looked at the sky before leading her to the microphone. The crowd was separated into same-colored groups, with the men on the left and the women on the right. They watched Alec expectantly.

“The ancients instruct us to search outside our fold first for a mate. Remember, there is greater strength in a cross bond. Do not forgo the old ways.” Alec lifted his face to the moon and closed his eyes. The crowd silently followed his actions. “Great One, bless our coming together. Let the ceremony begin!”

Chapter Eighteen

Alec led Lucy to the red and orange clothed females. “You’ll start here.” He left her without any further instructions. Lucy peered at the other women, but they all avoided her eyes and whispered among themselves.

Lil joined her, wearing a male’s white tunic and pants with a blue sash. Her clothes labeled her an ice dragon from the north. The water in the exhibit made sense now. Fire and ice made water.

“You aren’t going to participate?” Lucy asked.

“No.” Lil’s voice was matter of fact. “I’m going to keep an eye on you.”

“Even after what I did?”

“I pledged my life to protect you until after the ceremony. Just because you are unworthy, it does not change my pledge.”

Lucy swallowed against the hurt her words invoked. Lil believed her to be unworthy of her pledge.

“I’m sorry for what I did.” It was good to say the words aloud to someone who, unlike Jane, might hear them. “I thought it would save my brother.” Lucy pointed to the cage behind them. Joey and a sinuous brunette talked as if they leaned against a bar top instead of through iron bars. “But Joey does just fine without me. I don’t have to try and save him anymore.”

Lil nodded, seeming to accept her explanation.

“Do you think Alec will forgive me?”

“He needs the bonding, no matter how he feels about you.” Still, Lil looked doubtful.

Lucy sought Alec over the crowd. He stood with the men on the other side of a thirty-foot space across from the women. She smiled despite feeling more fear then excitement. Alec frowned across the gulf and crossed his arms over his chest.

Alec, Joey, everyone else would do what they would do. All she could control was how
she
behaved. She could savor the night and make a memory that might stay in her heart, even if her mind would lose it in the morning and she was terrified of the heights.

“How does the dance go?” she asked Lil.

“It is like waltzing, or your country-western line dancing,” Lil said. “You’ll catch on.”

Lucy had never done any line dancing, but she had gotten an “A” when she had taken ballroom dancing in college. The orchestra warmed up behind them. Out of the cacophony of string and wind instruments, a single drum banged with a low timbre. The dragons immediately stopped talking and clapped together rhythmically. Unlike the clapping from before, this clapping had emotion, hope, and soul.

“Have fun.” Lil nodded at her and moved to the side.

“Lil,” Lucy called. “Watch for me. I’ll be the human with ‘the kaleidoscope eyes.’”

Lil nodded, acknowledging the Beatles lyrics.

Lucy joined the clapping and moved with the women as they formed five lines facing the men. The beat of the drum thumped in her chest, making every nerve ending turn outward like a leaf before a rain.

Stringed instruments joined the drums, and then intermittent cymbals punctuated the song. The music swelled and the women put their arms around each other’s shoulders. They moved in unison to the right, while the men stepped to the left. Back and forth, the lines danced until the women formed five united circles with the men.

Around and around they spun. Lucy was grateful for the supporting arms of the other women. She threw her head back and laughed, giddy with the beat and movement.

The line of women broke away and swayed down the columns of standing men. Each man Lucy passed grabbed her hands and pulled her close to his chest before releasing her. Each pass brought the men and women closer and closer. Lucy’s senses filled with the scent and feel of so many different men—soap and spice, sweat and virility.

Elation buzzed in Lucy’s chest and she searched the crowd for Alec. He met her gaze and smiled. It was slowly given, but sincere. Lucy’s lower stomach muscles tensed. What would happen when he was across from her, pulling her close to his body? The tightness coiled between her legs. Sharp arousal shook her frame with longing.

…

Alec watched Lucy sway in time with the dancers, her movements graceful and abandoned. She threw her head back and laughed, and her throat reflected pale in the moonlight, in contrast to her dark red hair and the sari. He remembered kissing her on the neck, pulling her smell into his lungs. Need clutched his body. His dragon vibrated inside his chest, all of his single-minded bestial obsession focused on Lucy.

Was it enough? The desire without trust?

The next pass brought Lucy to Alec’s line. Her scent washed over him, and when her hands touched his, electricity shot between them, startling Lucy so that she faltered. Alec reached out for her and held her up, cradling her into him. The surety of the moment washed over him.

“Give me another chance,” Lucy whispered.

“Yes.” Alec leaned in and kissed the column of her throat. He needed to get her away from the crowd, so he untied the sash at his waist and handed it to her. “Tie the sash around my neck.”

“What?” Lucy said.

“Thanksgiving for what the Fates have willed.” Alec smiled before leaping into the air and changing into his dragon.

…

Lucy spun in the dark sky, and the moon and the stars tumbled with her. The casino roof glittered underneath them like an opened jewel chest. The shock of being airborne stretched her body wide, so her hands and feet splayed to the four corners of the earth, and then she tumbled and fell, head over toes, toward the concrete sidewalk of the Strip. The flashing neon signs blurred and rushed away with the speed of her descent.

Exhilaration changed to panic in one heartbeat.

She was going to die. She was going smash into the ground. It was going to hurt.

A lot.

Lucy screamed, full throated and loud, right before she landed hard on the back of Alec’s black dragon.

“Holy Mary, Joseph—”

And Peter
. Alec’s voice finished in her head with an amused inflection.
Tie the belt around my neck
.

“Are you talking in my head?” With fumbling fingers, Lucy tied the black sash around the dragon’s neck, so that she held a silken rein of sorts. She threaded her fingers through the soft fabric and fought down the galloping thunder of her heart.

Yes. We can communicate with our minds. But the words are not private, so be careful when others are around.

Lucy focused her thoughts and shot them to Alec.
You let me fall on purpose
.
I could have been killed!

Under her, the dragon bucked and nearly unseated her.
I would never let you be hurt.

Lucy believed him, and elation pushed away her terror. Whatever happened between her and Alec, this moment would not come again.

She leaned close into the dragon’s neck, feeling secure and mostly safe. Even if she fell, he would catch her. At their left, the tines of the Crown Jewel rose, but Lucy couldn’t see or hear the rooftop festivities. Under them, the lights of the other casinos flashed, making the whole experience seem surreal.

The dragon’s horns spiraled from his head like polished onyx. His muscular wings flapped through the night sky with elegant ease and so much power that the ride was smooth.

Lucy’s leg muscles spasmed uncontrollably as if she were falling again, but she fought down panic. She would not give in to the fear. She breathed in a steadying breath and focused on the wind on her face and the powerful creature under her. She was riding on top of a dragon, over one thousand feet in the air.

Are you afraid?
Alec asked in her mind.

Words flooded her mind—yes, no, yes—Lucy considered them and responded truthfully.
There is nowhere else I want to be in the world. No one else I want to be with.

Alec lifted his dragon’s head away from the moon and arched up. Up, up they climbed, sweeping aside veils of clouds, until only the stars and night sky surrounded them. The moon brushed loving moonbeams over their backs.

When they leveled out, Lucy released her hands and traced the edges of the dragon’s circular black scales. They were warm and alive under her fingers, like the softest leather stretched over muscle and bone. The promise of a greater joining than she had ever known beckoned to her. She wanted to join with this man. She clutched her legs tighter, making her pulsing center throb against the warm scales of his back.

Alec dove through the wispy clouds and leveled out over the desert. The barren land looked like a gray moonscape. Rocks that might have been red in the daylight towered around them, shadowy sentinels, guarding in the moonlight.

Where are we going?
She didn’t really care, as long as she was with him. Lucy leaned forward and squeezed her eyes against the wind.

Here.
Alec landed softly on the sand and shifted to his human form. He caught her against his human chest and eased her down his body. The power of their flight shifted to passion between one breath and another.

Alec traced a warm finger down her face and laced his hand with hers. “I should have known that you would have a hard time accepting the truth of our bond.”

“I thought you were just playing with me.” Lucy pulled away from him. “And my head kept screaming that it was all just crazy. I mean, dragons? Come on.”

Alec crossed his arms, and tense emotion furrowed his face.

“But I know now.” Lucy rose to her toes, kissing him with all the frustrated love in her heart. Electricity arced between them, and the wind picked up. Alec ran his hands up her sides, his touch sending shivers dancing across her skin.

“I love you. I want to be with you.” She looked at him, feeling her breath stick in her chest. “Do you believe me?”

Alec stepped back to a ledge carved into a tall stone. He leaned against it with a nonchalance belied by his next words. “You have to be sure. Do you want this? Do you want me and my dragon?”

“Yes.” Lucy ran to him, happiness swelling her chest.

Alec smiled and pulled her to him on the ledge. “Touch me.”

Lucy reached out trembling hands and helped him pull his tunic over his head. She trailed her fingers up the muscles on his chest. In the moonlight, they were like the barren desert landscape, ridges and valleys of hard muscle. She lowered her mouth to his pecs and sucked gently, then pulled the nipple between her teeth. Alec shook under her.

“Look what you do to me.” Alec leaned back and closed his eyes.

Lucy’s heart swelled, and she trailed nipping kisses along the taut cord between his neck and right shoulder.

“Lucy.” Alec grabbed her around the waist and easily flipped her beneath him. His hands at her back and head protected her from the rock surface. He paused and gently removed his hands, untying the side of her cloth so it fell away.

He traced a warm hand down her naked breasts to her belly, and then trailed his hand lower. “You are so beautiful.”

“Alec.” Lucy lay back and extended her arms behind her head. At once open, vulnerable, trusting him. He leaned down to kiss her. Lucy met him halfway, slanting her head to get closer to him.