Read A Dragon's Seduction Online

Authors: Tamelia Tumlin

A Dragon's Seduction (2 page)

Brayden’s inner dragon hissed and pawed, not at all pleased to be in the presence of a sorceress. Brayden gritted his teeth and struggled to keep the beast under control.  Never had the urge to shift been so strong. Never had his body – mortal or not – responded with such raging desire. But his inner dragon didn’t share the mortal’s instant attraction. Instead it snarled with antagonism and rage, knowing a sorceress’s touch could be toxic to a dragonshifter.

With careful control, Brayden inwardly soothed the dragon once more. It protested furiously before finally going quiet.

 “What do you mean you couldn’t stop it? If you can put a protection around the kids, surely you could have put out the fire.”

Callie’s shoulders deflated. “There wasn’t enough time. The building went up within seconds. I heard their screams and came as quickly as I could, but I wasn’t fast enough. They were trapped. My Magik isn’t strong enough to extinguish the blaze. I could barely send you the telepathic thoughts and keep them safe.”

Brayden’s brows slashed together. He had never known a sorceress who wasn’t as powerful as the dragon race. Many were even more powerful and certainly more dangerous.

 He flattened his chin. Was Callie telling the truth about her powers – or rather lack of them – or was this just a trick to catch him off guard and rob him of his ability to shift into human form? Maybe it was she who had called up Cyrus and this was a trap.

Brayden studied her for signs of deception. He didn’t find any. A muscle flexed in his jaw. She could be veiling her trickery.

Callie lifted her face and a faint smile hovered on oh-so-delectable lips. An overwhelming urge to kiss her flooded his thoughts. Brayden promptly nixed it. It would be a hot day in the Arctic before he allowed a sorceress to take his power. No matter how innocent she appeared.

The feud between Jarithia’s dragons and wizards had been going on for as long as he could remember, and the battle for power and prestige in the otherworldly realm had destroyed many families including his. Centuries of war and destruction kept strong their antagonism for each other.

A flaming piece of ceiling tile crumbled to the floor beside them. Brayden jolted. He needed to get the children out before the whole building came down.

He reached for the youngsters. A bolt of electricity shot through his arm as his hand tried to penetrate the purple glow.

He jerked his head around and glared at Callie.

“Sorry.” She blushed. “I forgot.” Then her gaze softened as it rested on the children and Brayden’s heart thudded erratically at the transformation. Her tender look almost made him forget what she was. Almost, but not quite. “They can’t see us, by the way – at least not until I release the shield.” She lowered her hands and the room flashed with bright white lights. Callie’s small frame shook violently then the purple glow dissipated. The room stilled.

Brayden shot one more glare toward Callie. He didn’t like being made a fool of. Not even a little.

The impish smile still playing on her lips didn’t help his disposition, and his mortal body was still reacting to her sensuous blue eyes in a way he didn’t care for.

Brayden frowned. He knew better than to be drawn in by a sorceress’s seduction. He’d been warned since birth of their trickery. In Jarithia’s empire the dragonshifters and the Magik makers had been banished to opposite ends of the kingdom by their Grand Wizard in order to keep the peace. Very few of either race were allowed to enter the Earth realm. Only those who’d obtained favor with the Grand One could move freely between the two worlds. But even if Callie had been given permission to live in the Earth realm, that didn’t mean she wasn’t still dangerous to his kind. As with all Magik makers, she still had the power to take his shape-shifting abilities and destroy his mortal side, leaving him trapped inside his inner dragon for eternity. 

Not in this lifetime, sugar
. No damn sorceress would ever take his power. Not if he could help it.

Although Callie didn’t seem to be trying to seduce him, or even trick him for that matter, Brayden kept his guard up and steeled himself against her charm. No way he’d be sucked in by her spell.  

His inner dragon hissed in agreement.

He turned his back to her and waved a layer of smoke from his view then reached for the kids.

“Oh, thank God!” the teenager hiccupped as she ushered the two younger children out from under the table. “I thought we were going to die.” Her voice choked at the admission.

“Not on my watch.” Brayden reached for the youngest child – a boy of about three – and hauled him into his arms. The teenager scrambled to her feet, coughing in the smoky haze, then picked up the little girl.

Brayden glanced back over his shoulder.

Callie had vanished.

Disappointment settled in his stomach like a cold weight. The feeling caught him off guard. Why should he care if the lovely sorceress had disappeared?

* * *

 

The next day Callie did her best to concentrate on the floral orders, but for some reason the image of the sexy fireman kept intruding on her thoughts. Her heart had locked after one look into his stormy eyes and instant attraction had zinged through her like an electric shock. No other man had ever come close to making her lose control – of her Magik or of her body.  Why him? She tried to chalk it up to the life-or-death situation they’d been in, but deep down she knew it was more than that. Had he felt it too? She didn’t think so. Not if the permanent scowl he’d worn was any indication. Still...

“Something wrong?” Melody Pipes, Callie’s best friend and assistant at Ribbons and Roses Flower Shop, pulled a bundle of daisies from the cooler then crossed the room to set them on the counter. “You’re awfully quiet today.” She leaned over the countertop and propped her elbows, concern etched in her dark brown eyes.

Callie forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just a little tired I suppose.” She nodded toward the flowers on the counter. ”Are these for the call-in order for Mrs. Jackson?”

“Yes. I’ll deliver them if you like.”

“I’ll do it. I have a couple of errands near there anyway.” Callie carefully arranged the daisies in a glass vase, added a few sprigs of baby’s breath as filler, then tied a yellow ribbon around the neck of the vase. “Is this the only delivery we have left?”

“Yes. I took care of the other ones this morning.” Melody glanced at the clock on the wall above the cooler. “Are you coming back in afterward?”

“Not tonight. It’s almost closing time so I’ll just take the rest of the day off.” She didn’t bother to add that her energy level was zilch after yesterday’s ordeal with the children. Practicing Magik always drained her. Probably because she didn’t use it very often. Of course, she couldn’t tell Melody that. Her friend didn’t know she was a sorceress.

Not that she was particularly ashamed of her Jarithian heritage, but humans did tend to be a bit skittish about the subject of Magik makers. Years ago, the Grand One had granted her father – a powerful wizard – permission to live in the Earth realm when he wed his human wife, Callie’s stepmother. Unlike her stepbrother – a half-blood enabled by Jarithian law to choose which realm he would call home – when Callie came of age she also needed special permission from the Grand Wizard to continue her life on Earth. And it had been granted, with the proviso she was to keep an eye on the half-bloods and help ensure a peaceful co-existence among all. Of course, given her current situation, she wasn’t technically living up to that last part.

Callie placed the get well card in the holder, picked up the delivery and headed toward the door. Hopefully, Mrs. Jackson felt better than she did at the moment.

“Okay,” Melody called after her. “See you in the morning. I’ll lock up in a little while.”

Callie nodded then stepped outside onto the sidewalk. The late afternoon sun had drifted low behind the buildings lining the cobble-stoned road.

Callie reached her car, balanced the vase of daisies and fumbled for her keys. Just as she opened the car door, the air instantly cooled around her. Callie shivered. She sensed a presence, but one quick glance around her proved nothing. She didn’t see a thing. Not even in her mind’s eye.

She opened her car door and slid into the driver’s seat.

Get it together, Cal. It’s just your imagination working overtime.

Callie shook off the foreboding feeling and started the engine. Ever since the apartment fire she’d had a feeling that someone or something was watching her. Before the sexy fireman had shown up to save the children, she’d felt another presence. A familiar evil she couldn’t quite place.

Callie shifted the gear into reverse and glanced into the rearview mirror.

Her heart skidded to a stop.
Oh, dear Lord, no!

Grigori
.

Her half-brother’s image morphed into the head of a black dragon then dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. But not before she saw the sinister smile and heard his mocking laugh echoing through the car.

Her stomach twisted. Dragons shouldn’t be in the Earth realm. By Jarithian law, only Magik makers could enter; dragons were prohibited unless they were one of the four Gatekeepers who guarded the portals. And if the wicked aura surrounding the black dragon were any indication, he certainly wasn’t a Gatekeeper.   

Callie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She’d found the evil presence and it was much worse than what she’d imagined. Her half-brother had invoked a dragon and that could only mean one thing. Death and destruction to the beautiful city of New Orleans unless she could find a way to stop him.

* * *

 

The fire alarm shrilled inside the fire station sending Brayden to his feet. He grabbed his gear and kicked into his pants.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Jack shoved up as well and reached for his gear. “How many fires can this part of town have in one day?”

“Six is sure making it look like we have an arsonist on our hands.” Brayden headed toward the door.   

“Damn! When they catch this nut I want a few minutes alone with him.” Jack jogged out the door behind his partner.

Or with her.

An image of a lovely dark-haired sorceress swept through Brayden’s mind. What if the nut was a woman instead of a man? What if Ms. Callie Gautreaux was behind the recent outbreak of fires in his district after all? It was looking more and more like she was the one who had invoked Cyrus. Disappointment skittered over him. He’d really hoped the lovely sorceress wasn’t responsible for the sudden spike in arson. She’d seemed genuinely concerned for the children yesterday, yet his gut told him she knew something about – or worse yet, was responsible for – the recent pyromania outbreak.

“Take a number,” Brayden muttered as he climbed aboard the fire engine. “Let’s go.”

They arrived on the scene within minutes to find another building, this one a bakery near a residential street, engulfed in flames. Any other day Brayden would have thought the cause might be just a kitchen fire. But not today. Not after five other unexplained fires within a few blocks of each other.

Two more fire engines arrived as Jack hooked up his hose to the hydrant on the curb.

Brayden sprinted toward the building. As with the other recent fires, the air reeked with the scent of Cyrus. Brayden clenched his fist around the hose. This dragon had to be stopped before the whole city went up in flames.

“Is anyone inside?” Brayden shouted to an elderly man standing outside the shop.

“No. Everyone made it out.” The man shook his head. “I just don’t understand how this happened. It didn’t start in the kitchen. Could it be electrical?”

Brayden’s lips thinned. That’s what he was afraid of. Another deliberately set fire. “We won’t know until after the investigation.” He aimed his hose and tackled the fiery beast ahead. Looked like he’d be able to handle this one in his human form – and by the book. The chief would be thrilled.

Within minutes the fire was under control, but it was apparent the building was a total loss. Brayden hoped the shop owner had good insurance.

A movement on the other side of the street caught his attention: a young woman exiting one of the residential homes. 

Brayden’s pulse quickened.

Callie.

Why was she at the scene of another fire?

One quick glance at the burning building assured him the others could handle the dying blaze. Brayden crossed the street with long purposeful strides. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

 “Ms. Gautreaux?” Brayden reached her before she opened her car door. “May I speak to you for a moment?”

Callie started then relaxed as she recognized him. “Mr. St. John.” That impish grin played on her full lips. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

Brayden didn’t find humor in her joke. “That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

Callie’s smile faltered. “What do you mean?”

Never one to beat around the bush, Brayden got straight to the point. “What are you doing here?”

“Last I heard this was a free country. Do you know something I don’t?”

“I want to know why you keep appearing at these fires.”

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