Tianna Xander (7 page)

Drake nodded. “Thanks, Damek. I owe you
one.”

Damek smiled. “I leave for a business
trip to Canada in the morning. I’ll stop by next week to collect.
I’ll be there at ten on Tuesday. Be ready.”

Tansy frowned at that. What in the
world was he talking about? She shook her head. Whatever it was, it
didn’t matter. They had found May and she was safe. Now they just
needed to get her dressed and back to the house.

It took May almost an hour to get out
of her costume, pack it up and get out to the car. The limo
wouldn’t have been quite as packed on the way home as it had been
on the way out. Rose and Viktor left in his car and the car seemed
much less crowded without the large dragon in the back seat. Still,
like Viktor, Tony decided to call his own driver to take them back
to Drake’s house so they could have some privacy.

“
Who was the man you were
talking to at the club?” Tansy asked Tony as soon as they were on
their way back to her brother-in-law’s home.

“
Damek?” Tony shrugged.
“He’s the Earth dragon. It was his mistake that saw the Dragon’s
Desire find its way to the botanical gardens.”

“
He didn’t seem too happy to
see you.” He hadn’t. In fact, he looked rather pissed to find Tony
there, or did she pick up that emotion when May took the stage? She
wasn’t sure.

It’s probably because I threatened to
beat him within an inch of his life if you had already consummated
your relationship with Armand when I found you.” Tony shrugged.
“What can I say? I was pissed.” He stared down at his hands. He
held them clasped in front of him as though he didn’t trust himself
enough to let go of his own fingers.

“
I’m sorry.” Tansy bit her
lip and stared out into the darkness. “I was afraid.” She sighed.
“I was afraid of losing myself, of becoming your mate and being
nothing more than a trophy on your arm.”

That was the truth. Tansy knew April
was happy, but she also knew her sister had been completely happy
on her own, running her bookstore. Now she sat at Drake’s home
while employees ran the store and she never got to go anywhere
without an escort. Tansy wasn’t sure she was ready to put up with
that for the rest of her life.

Tony turned to stare deep into her
eyes. “I hope you know that I don’t want that. I don’t want you to
be some agreeable puppet that does what she’s told.” He stared deep
into her eyes until she could see the truth there. “I want you as
you are, all honey and fire. I don’t want to change a thing about
you.”

“
I’m an adrenaline junkie.
You know that, don’t you?” She stared back at him, hoping he would
understand that she needed excitement in her life almost as much as
she needed nourishment and oxygen.

“
Yes, love. I know you’re an
adrenaline junkie. How could you not be with your fire as a
companion all your life?” He looked away for a minute before he
continued. “I would just ask one favor of you.”

“
Just one?” She
smiled.

“
I would ask just one favor
regarding your need for excitement and your safety.”

“
And that is?” Tansy
couldn’t agree without knowing what it was. She never backed down
from her word, but she also didn’t give her word frivolously. Once
she said she would do something, she did it. Period.

“
I would ask that you at
least hear me out in matters of your safety. I wouldn’t want to
force you to do something that you do not wish to do, but I also
cannot allow you to put yourself in an untenable
position.”

“
You can’t
allow
me to put myself in
danger?” Tansy wanted to be angry with his highhandedness. She
really did, but she also knew that he had her safety in mind when
he said it.

Sighing, she shook her head. “I really
don’t know what I’m going to do with you.” She leaned into him, her
head on his shoulder and looked out through the glass beyond
him.

The city sped by as they headed toward
Drake’s home where she knew he would take her until he had both
Drake’s and Lance’s blessings to marry and mate her. Reaching up,
she grasped his arm. Heat seeped through his sleeve and into her
fingers, his muscle tightened beneath her fingers and she squeezed
his bicep.

Never had she thought to fall in love
with a dragon. In fact, her parents had brought her up to fear
dragons, to never trust her safety to one. Somehow, all of their
legends were based on untruths. Dragons didn’t want them dead. On
the contrary, dragons wanted them very much alive, for only with a
dragon could a witch meet her true potential and only with a witch
could a dragon truly love.

Tansy stared up into Tony’s eyes and
smiled. “I agree to your terms so long as you’ll agree to
mine.”

“
And that is?” Tony looked
down at her, his green eyes glowing with an inner light.

“
I get last say on the names
of our kids.”

Tony just grinned at her.
“Deal.”

Chapter Six

“
I don’t know how long it’s
going to take for the grass to grow back in that spot.” Tansy
frowned down at the sorry-looking charred spot on Drake’s front
lawn. “I understand that Summer was mad earlier, but she really
needs to learn to control her temper. She can’t control her powers
when she’s upset.”

“
If I’m not mistaken, that
saying is true of all of you.” Tony stared past her to the house.
“What do you think they’re talking about in there?” Tony worried
about it. What if Drake and Lance had found another dragon more
worthy of Tansy? They could throw him out on his ass and tell Tansy
to marry someone else.

“
I think they’re in there
having a drink and laughing at how long they’re letting you worry.”
Tansy smiled at him. “It doesn’t matter what they say you know.”
She rested her hand on his arm and squeezed. “I’ll marry you no
matter what they say. You belong to me now, mister, and you’re not
getting off
that
easily.”

“
I don’t deserve
you.”

Tansy grinned. “No, you don’t, and
you’re going to spend the rest of our long, long lives proving to
me that you do.”

“
You’re right you
know.”

“
I know I am, but I’ll tell
you a secret, Tony.”

“
What?”

She leaned closer to whisper in his
ear. “I love you and the rest doesn’t matter a bit.”

Tony gathered her in his arms, his chin
resting on the top of her head. “I love you, too, angel. Now kiss
me and feed me your fire. I’m in need of your essence.”

Standing on her toes, Tansy pushed back
that unruly lock of hair only to watch it fall back into place over
his eye. Thrusting her fingers through his hair, she brought his
head down to hers. Who am I to deny the fire dragon?” she asked
just before his lips covered hers.

Like all the times before, their kiss
was electric, filled with energy and heat. Tansy lost control of
her fire and let it pour into Tony as he thrust his tongue into her
mouth, mapping the inside as he took control of their
kiss.

More of his life flashed before her
eyes and she saw nothing that would change her mind about the man
with whom she’d agreed to spend the rest of her life. He was
everything she ever wanted in a male and some things she hadn’t
known she wanted. His every wish, every desire filled her
consciousness and they all included her.

The sound of buzzing nudged her
consciousness and she ignored it. Tony thrust his fire at her and
she took it, swallowed it then sent it back to him with her own
fire melded with it. The buzzing grew louder and she frowned. If it
was one of her sisters interrupting again, she may just set them on
fire on principle.

What is that noise?
Tony asked just before he ended their kiss and
Tansy opened her eyes.

“
What is
that
?” Tansy asked as they both stared
at the sphere of fire that surrounded them. Nothing seemed to
penetrate it, even the ground below them. They stood slightly above
the ground, the orange glowing sphere lifting them up off the
untouched grass beneath.

“
I have no idea. I’ve never
seen anything like it before in my life.”

“
I know what it is,” Drake
said as he and Lance strode down the front steps.

Lance frowned at the sphere.
“Then tell me what the hell it is. I’ve never even
heard
of anything like
that before.” Reaching out, he touched it with a finger, then
jumped back. “It burned the crap out of me!”

“
What did you expect? It’s a
ring of fire, you moron,” Tansy said, rolling her eyes.

Lance scowled at his sister.
“Just because it looked like a ring of fire, didn’t mean it
was
a ring of
fire.”

Tony wanted to laugh, but held it in
check. He could laugh at Lance all he wanted after they figured out
what happened to them and after the other man agreed to Tony’s
claim on Tansy. “Perhaps it’s something Tansy was born to do, but
hasn’t been able to because she needed her mate
present.”

“
No.” Drake shook his head
as he walked around the sphere, examining it. “It is the
ignis et pax
. It is the
by-product of the fire dragon and the fire witch if, and when, they
find each other. You both will have more control over it once you
truly mate. Until then, it will be more of a nuisance than anything
else.”

“
What is
this…
ignis et pax
?”
Tony asked as he watched the sphere fade and finally disappear. “I
know my Latin and I know it means peace through fire, or something
similar, but I’ve never heard the phrase before.”

“
It is a force field of
sorts.” Drake knelt down and pulled a few blades of grass out of
the ground. “Strange how it never scorched the grass, but burned
your brother’s finger,” he said to Tansy. His look was thoughtful
for a moment. “I wonder if it is because the grass is a part of
nature and it looked upon Lance as a threat.”

Or it could have been because Tony
looked at him as though he were a threat. Whatever the case, Tansy
didn’t look happy that her brother was injured.

“
Whatever it is, it’s
dangerous and it’s my lack of control is to blame, as usual.” Tansy
cast her gaze down to the ground as though ashamed.

“
It wasn’t you alone, my
love.” Tony pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. It
was the most he could do with her brother standing there scowling
at him as though he’d like to turn Tony into a gecko…or something
worse. “Both of us caused the manifestation of the fire this time.
It wasn’t just you.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “This
was a controlled instance. Fire never burns in a perfect ball. Its
flames are too unpredictable and too volatile. Surely you know
that.”

Drake knelt staring at the grass for a
moment and sighed. “I had hoped to never see this in my lifetime.”
He stood, brushed his hands together and stuffed them into his
pockets as he continued to stare at the ground.

“
There is a set of ancient
scrolls that tell of the
ignis et
pax
. It states that once, long ago, there
was a witch who, like her mate, the fire dragon, could control
fire. She was also a seer. When her mate was murdered before her
eyes, she pulled his fire from him before he died and cast a spell.
With her last breath, she sent a message to one of her sisters who
wrote the scroll.

“
One day the evil who killed
her husband would return and when it did, her spirit would release
her mate’s fire into her descendant. A witch who would either bring
an end to the evil or an end to the world.”

“
Oh, my God,” Tansy said as
her legs gave out and Tony caught her to him. “I can’t,” she paused
to shake her head. “I can’t do this. I can’t control the fire.” She
turned her beautiful green gaze to Tony. “Don’t you see? I have no
control. It’s just my luck that I won’t only kill us, I’ll end the
whole frickin’ world!”

“
Shh, baby. You aren’t alone
any longer. You have me and with our bond comes control. We shall
not fail to meet this challenge head on and win.” Tony pulled her
closer. Tucking her head beneath his chin, he stared at Drake and
Lance in turn. “You have to get your brothers back here. We’re
going to need all the help we can get.”

“
That’s the damned
understatement of the year,” Lance said as he turned toward the
house and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I just don’t know
if I can get them back here in time to make a difference.” He
turned his attention to Drake. How much time do we
have?”

Drake shrugged. “The scrolls
do not give any specific time, only that the chain of events starts
soon after the
ignis et pax
appears. The witch was
your
ancestor, isn’t there something
in your family history to tell of this?”

Lance shook his head. “No, there isn’t.
Don’t you think we would have known what Tansy was if we had? You
forget, Tansy was adopted after her biological parents were killed
in an accident. To my knowledge, no other witch or mage has ever
had as much power over fire as Tansy does.” He looked at his sister
and shook his head. “I’m sorry, sis. Someone should have known and
been able to help you through this.”