WickedBeast (16 page)

Kelly’s head tilted to smile at him. “See why I’d like the
beast?”

“Not so much, but don’t pay any attention to my doubts. I
won’t.”

Kelly’s hand rested on his abdomen. She moved it up over his
chest to tap his chin with her finger. The caress was oh so innocent and full
of a woman’s promise. “Good,” she stated softly. “That’s another thing I’m
going to enjoy about the beast. He’s dependable.”

His eyes reminded her of steam pouring over her. The heat
enveloped her, sinking into her skin, warming her bones. He didn’t have to say
a word as the heat moved over her lips, burned down her neck. She could feel
him drag them back to her face. Building hunger was forced to a new level as
she watched him try to pull back the distinctly sexual perusal of her body. It
was one of the sexiest things she’d ever seen.

“Stop,” he breathed.

“I didn’t do anything. You’re the one with dangerous eyes,”
she whispered back.

“You liked it. Don’t invite the beast, baby. He doesn’t play
nice,” Cord warned.

“Nice is overrated,” Kelly stated.

Cord remained carefully still as he regarded the enticing
Wind Witch. “You’re pushing. Last night was only a taste. Understand what I’m
saying?”

Kelly’s bottom lip disappeared between her teeth. Her eyes
remained gazing into the heat pouring from the male holding her. She nodded and
little lines appeared under her eyes, her lip reappeared and she pressed into
him with her body. A small movement only he could be aware of.

“Is that a promise?” she wanted to know. Her laughing eyes
twinkled as she added, “You know how I like promises. They make me feel good.”

Cord’s entire body flashed to rock hard as she pressed into
him and demanded he promise her the dominant lover she’d met last night.

“Count on it,” he answered, his arm tightening behind her
for a moment. “Feeling very brave, aren’t you, baby girl?”

“Should I be afraid?” she asked boldly.

“Depends,” he conceded. “Nothing compares to that path, it
changes you. Teaches you needs that can’t be unlearned, obsessions that will
not let you rest. But if you go there, darlin’, it’ll be with me. I’ll never
let you crave what you can’t have,” he promised her.

Kelly studied his face, the humor leaving hers. “Why does it
scare you? Your warning is dark, what we shared last night was not. You showed
me a level of sensation that was new but I was never afraid.”

“Scared? That’s not the right word. I’m concerned. Being
afraid is not the issue, exploring a new level of sensation is. You’ve heard of
domination and submission, right? This is what you’re asking for.” He regarded
her seriously a moment then glanced at Minuet who was still engrossed in her TV
show.

Kelly settled her head on his shoulder, gazing blindly and
the TV. “The two words you just used to describe what we did don’t seem right.
They bring to mind people with whips and chains, dressed in black leather all
involved in making rules just to give them a reason to punish someone. Where
you took me was nothing like that, so if that’s what you’re trying to warn me
about, thanks. Forget I said anything.”

“Good,” Cord said mildly. “All the dressing up and
carrying-on looks like a lot of playacting to me. I’m not interested in pretending
anything. But that’s not what I was referring to and it certainly doesn’t have
anything to do with our relationship. What we did was all about trust. It’s not
something you can pull out of the closet and dress up in.”

Supper was light and early, a salad and some fruit. Minuet
was a source of endless energy, but she was also a little girl who had spent
the day learning. There wasn’t much play after and it was soon time to get
ready for bed. Minuet slowly got up and agreed with her mother that she had better
kiss Cord good night now.

After they disappeared up the stairs, Cord found himself
drawn to the back door. Stepping into the early evening gloom, he automatically
rechecked his surroundings. The conversation with Kelly made him uncomfortable.
He hadn’t clearly explained his caution nor how incorrect her assumptions about
getting involved in a submissive relationship with him.

Fire rippled down his spine as he inhaled. His body was
instantly ready to shift and it had nothing to do with the conversation. He
opened his mouth to breathe deeply, tasting the air as it invaded his being.
Abruptly his mouth snapped shut in frustration. The information on the wind
told him of clumsy eyes trying to see things they barely understood.

Whoever had sent the birds that had bothered Minuet was
probably the same curious amateur. Perhaps calling the person an amateur wasn’t
quite correct. They had managed to narrow the search to this area. The
explosion of power required to kill a dragon had not helped conceal them, but
he had thought that kill had been made far enough away to appear a singular
event. Apparently someone was much better at connecting the dots than he’d
like.

What he smelled was bitter, the distinctive signature of a
young wizard. Actually, there were three flavors. A little gang of them. They
were perhaps one-hundred miles away. The three of them were currently engaged
in a power search. Obviously no mature wizard had taught them the art of
shielding.

It would be foolish to think that since the witches were
just discovering their powers that the human wizards were in the same
underdeveloped condition. Assuming the best possible scenario was inviting the
worst possible outcome. No, he had to assume these three were trying to impress
their superiors by striking out on their own to gather information.

Simply killing them would send a message, but it wasn’t time
to communicate with that adversary yet. The three delinquents had simply given
away any element of surprise their superiors might hope to employ.

Legion stepped out into Molly’s backyard and nodded at Cord.
“We’re leaving in the morning. How about you?”

“Same,” Cord answered. “It would be fun to spank the pups
and send them home.”

“Yeah, I miss the old days too.” Legion sighed. “Stay dark
tonight. We don’t have time to take care of both threats.”

“Worry about your own situation.” Cord grinned as he looked
at the earth dragon. “I haven’t noticed that Molly takes direction kindly.”

Legion grinned and scratched his chin. “No she doesn’t,” he
agreed.

Cord shook his head and turned back to the kitchen door,
silently entering and locking up behind him.

Legion had no complaints about his sharp-tongued little
witch, and it made Cord smile. It also reminded him how well each dragon had
been crafted to fit the witch he belonged to.

Kelly came downstairs and was a little surprised to find him
in the kitchen. “Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?”

Cord ignored her questions and walked directly to her,
gathering her in his arms for a deep kiss. His palm cradled the back of her
head as he took her mouth. She melted for him. Her arms gliding around his neck
as she pressed into him.

Lifting his head reluctantly, Cord told her about the new
threat. “We have company tonight, and I don’t mean Minuet. I’m pretty sure the
wizards who were using the birds Minuet didn’t like are three apprentices.
They’ve managed to narrow their search to this area. Legion and I could easily
take care of them, but that would be sending a message to their superiors, who
I suspect have no idea what these boys are doing. For right now we want to
simply avoid them. A confrontation with an unknown number of wizards is unwise
at this point. Our focus has to be on ensuring the frozen dragons remain
undiscovered.”

“What do you mean we have company? Are they coming for us?”

“No, they’re about one hundred miles away, seeking any power
signature. Remember what I said about making love? It’s very difficult to
completely shield that level of involvement. A sensitive within range will know
something even if they can’t pinpoint who or where the sexual activity is
taking place,” Cord explained.

“Seriously?” Kelly frowned.

Cord smiled down at her. “We’ll be leaving on our journey
tomorrow, using human means of transportation just to be sure to lose the
little bastards. Tonight is the problem. No whisper of power can leak out of
this house.”

Kelly nodded. “So this means you have time to explain to me
exactly what you and Legion are so worried about. What’s to the south that
Legion has to keep an eye on?” she stepped out of his embrace and went to the
coffee machine. “Sit,” she instructed. “I’ll make coffee and you tell me
everything.”

Cord sat down obediently, grinning at her take-charge
commands. “Everything? You know we only have a few hours and I’ve been alive
longer than humans mark time. At least how they do it now.”

“See, its comments like that that make me crazy. What do you
mean?” Kelly wanted to know. “You act like history has been cut in half
somehow. As if there was a before and there is a now. Time can be measured, but
it can’t be stopped and started again. There’s no cutting it off and patching
the new part on.” Done with the coffee, she switched on the machine, turning to
frown at him as she crossed her arms and waited for an answer.

Cord was mildly surprised at how clearly she articulated
exactly what had happened. She was using the phraseology as an example of what
could never happen when it was exactly what had happened. “Kelly witch, the
ladies of your kind did exactly that. They stopped time. You know what happens
in a video game when you hit the reset button?”

“Sure. Everything disappears and you start over from the
beginning. Well, from where you last saved the game.” She stated confidently
“There is no way you can tell me witches are capable of doing that with a
planet.”

“Exactly why it worked, being the inconceivable option was
its brilliance. So yes, I am telling you they can do it. You could do it if you
had to. It wasn’t simple and it wasn’t easy. Taking that path involved the
death of all life at that time. They saved an incredibly small number of humans
in the hopes that they would build a new world, one without dragons. It was the
biggest gamble imaginable. The choice was made because the vast majority of
humans would rather die than live in the world as it was. There was no hope, no
other method to gain freedom. So when every possible option is exhausted, all
that is left is the impossible. Global reset.”

Kelly stepped away from the counter, slowly coming to the
table and pulling out a chair. She dropped into it heavily, staring at his
face. They sat in silence as the coffeepot gurgled on the counter. Her eyes
never left his as she tried to comprehend the huge concepts he was so
confidently telling her. “The flood? As in the Bible?” she asked dazedly.

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“Are you saying there is no God?” she asked softly.

“No. There’s no question in my mind that God exists. I fully
believe God created the world and life in it. God had nothing to do with
dragons. Brilliant humans meddling with the keys to life came up with the
abominations that are dragons. Humans have tried it in this age too. They call
it creating the perfect soldier,” he explained.

“God’s plan for life and how it should develop is perfect.
Even though humans try it all the time, they have never managed to enslave the
world under one rule. Humans are ruled by the original laws of nature that
inserts checks and balances. Abilities that enable the oppressed to overthrow
their oppressors. There is reason, compassion, that spark of Godlike
inventiveness that envisions progress. Dragons were not so perfectly made. Once
they gained global control, there would be no human power that could defeat
them.

“The great mystery of you ladies called witches is the
brilliance of God. You have the capacity to do good that is bigger than
yourselves. God gave humans everything they needed to develop into masters of
the universe. The only problem is, some humans keep getting impatient with
evolution. They sense the power within themselves and seek to use it for all
the wrong reasons.

“The dragon disaster was a human problem to solve. God’s
only involvement was that He’d even given humans the ability to fix something
that horrific. Humans possessed the vision and power through the three
elemental witches. Since humans had played at being God and created life, they
also had to accept the responsibility of destroying it. Unfortunately it was
not possible for that generation to destroy the abominations. They could only
capture them and hope future generations would find a way to complete the job.”

Unusually still, Kelly stared at him. The coffee had long
since finished but neither of them stood to get a cup. “But you are here. How?
I mean why would they…” She couldn’t finish the thought as she looked at him.

“The three elemental dragons are the latest thing in dragon
engineering,” he said softly. “We were made differently, created for a
different purpose with different abilities. Our makers learned from the
mistakes of others and engineered creatures specifically designed to assist the
humans. They knew that nature, as God created it, was infinitely resilient. It
would take time but they had no doubt their kind, gifted individuals, would
reappear in the world. We were made for the witches of the new world. Our mission
concealed even from us it seems.

“The great deception in short was this. The dragon leaders
were tricked into believing a final battle for control would be mounted by the
humans at the South Pole. At the moment dragon forces attacked, the three witches
gathered all the power at their disposal and shifted every tectonic plate.
Think of how small a shift is that creates the earthquakes your world knows.
Consider what happens when the shift is significant and universal. This
triggered destruction on such a scale as to knock the planet off its axis.

“The result was an instant deep freeze at the poles. The
rest of the world experienced volcanic activity, earthquakes, floods, basically
the landmasses sank and new ones rose. Everyone and everything was destroyed
except for one small group in a boat and the three dragons, whose job it was to
ensure only that boat survived. You know the rest.”