I wasn't at all convinced, but since there was little I could
do, I let it go and changed the subject. I curled up against him again,
welcoming his heat as it sank into my flesh. "Fiat isn't to be trusted, Drake. I
meant to tell you this earlier, but what with everything going on, I forgot.
He's not at all committed to this peace accord you're trying to hammer out. He
spoke to me a few days ago about some battle he's anticipating. It sounded like
he meant a battle for supremacy over all the dragon septs." I turned my head and
looked up at him. His gaze was steady, no real anger or even surprise visible in
his eyes. "You're not concerned about this?"
One eyebrow slowly rose. "About Fiat? No. It is not he who
concerns me."
"But he's clearly planning something underhanded, Drake. He's
a baddie, in case you haven't noticed. He's going to throw a monkey wrench in
the negotiations, if he hasn't already." I stopped for a moment, prodding my
tired mind into thinking, "How did things go today, speaking of that?"
"We move forward—slowly."
"Oh. Good. But I'd be a lot happier if you took Fiat's threat
a little more seriously. He's bad business, Drake."
"I appreciate your concern, kincsem. It is unnecessary, but
it pleases me that you put the welfare of the sept before your own concerns."
I didn't say anything to that. It was just better if I didn't
admit that for a good portion of the day I hadn't thought of the green dragons
at all. I looked down at my fingernails. They looked perfectly normal, not at
all like the sort of fingernails that might spontaneously burst into dragon
fire. "What does kincsem mean?"
"'My treasure.'"
A warm spurt of pleasure mingled with a tiny dash of
irritation. I looked up at Drake, admiring his manly profile for a moment or
two. "Trust a dragon to use the word treasure as a love name."
He said nothing, just sat there, one arm around me, the other
hand resting on his thigh. I looked at his hand. I looked at his thigh. My mind
came up with a number of interesting scenarios for investigating the latter. I
ignored them. "I want one for you."
"One what?"
"A love name. 'Drake' doesn't lend itself to nicknames. I
want a seductive foreign word I can whisper in your ear to make you go wild with
passion. What's 'dragon' in Hungarian?"
"'Dragon.'"
"Poop."
Drake's lips curled into a smile. "Do you wish for me to
translate that, too?"
I dug my elbow into his side. "Pass. Give me a sexy Hungarian
love name."
He thought for a moment. "Draga."
"Dragon' is too mundane." He went stiff at that. "I meant the
word, not you guys. Besides, I already call you 'dragon.' I want something fun,
Something mushy."
He relaxed, his arm tightening around me. "I did not say
'dragon,' I said draga.'"
"Oh! I know that word—it means 'darling'!" I glanced up at
him. He was smiling. "What sort of a darling? I know that smirk, Drake. It means
there's something you're not telling me. Does draga mean hot, sexy studmuffin
darling? Manly fleshed, well-endowed darling? Darling man who makes me slobber
great big puddles of drool whenever I see him?"
His lips brushed mine. "No, although you may certainly endow
the word with those meanings if you desire. In this instance, draga also means
expensive."
"Ha!" I laughed. "That's certainly applicable. OK, draga it
is."
"For your use, dragam is the correct form of the word. It
means 'my darling.'"
"Gotcha, Um. Drake?"
"Yes?"
"Do you suddenly not find me attractive?"
He turned to look at me at that his eyes wide with surprise.
"What are you talking about?"
I bit my lip, wondering if the lack of sleep was making me
wonky. "It's just that usually when you kiss me, I end up a big puddle of
jellified Aisling. That last kiss was kind of... anticlimactic. I wondered if
maybe that now we were officially mated and all if suddenly the zip had gone out
of our relationship. Last night was fun, but the man who gave me that little
peck is definitely not the same one who had my body erupting in flames.
Literally."
"You think I do not desire you?"
"Well—"
"You think that because I have what I want, I no longer am
interested in a physical relationship?"
"That kiss—"
He turned so he could grip me with both hands, his eyes
darkening to a deep forest green. "You think that this was all about the chase?"
Lord, I'm a fool sometimes. Still, I felt obligated to point
out the obvious. "You're a predatory kind of guy, Drake. I bet you liked the
chase."
"I did. But I like the yielding better."
I looked into his eyes, wanting to believe him but suddenly
feeling very vulnerable. He sighed a gusty sigh, sliding his hand down my arm
until he captured my hand, dragging it over to his groin.
"Tell me I do not desire you."
A blush heated my cheeks. Beneath the soft linen of his
pants, he was hard. Fully aroused. For me. "I’m sorry. Clearly, I'm at a loss
with this mate stuff. I apologize."
He accepted my apology with a graceful nod of his head
releasing me to sit back against the seat. I gave his happy parts a little pat,
then slid my hand over to rest on his thigh. It was a possessive move, but it
felt good.
"Aisling?"
"Mmm?" My mind, always willing to indulge in Drake-centered
fantasies, went off on a wild tangent involving that pool of warm water that had
been featured in my dragon dream.
"I did not kiss you as I would have liked because it is not
proper. We are in public." His voice was gruff and oddly stiff. It took a minute
to sink in through the lustful fantasies that were developing with startling
clarity.
"What?" I asked, twisting out of his embrace to look at him.
"Since when have you ever let a little thing like innocent bystanders stop you
from kissing me?"
"That was before," he answered, trying to pull me back
against his side. I slapped his hands off my arms. "You had not accepted me
then. It is not proper for a wyvern to treat his mate in such a manner. It is
disrespectful."
I blinked a couple of times, hoping it would clear up my
confusion. It didn't help. "So all those times you grabbed me and sucked the
tongue right out of my head in front of everyone, great big huge crowds of
people, strangers, you didn't give a damn about respecting me?"
Drake pursed his lips. His eyes took on a wary glint.
I poked him in the chest. "Well?"
Heat flickered in his eyes. He jerked me back against him,
holding me tight with an iron-hewn arm. "There is no way I can answer that
question without making you angry with me. I choose not to answer it."
I dug my elbow into his side until he released me. He must
have been expecting me to jump to the other seat, because he looked surprised
when I lunged for him, straddling his legs, clasping his head in my hands. "Some
rules are meant to be broken, dragam, and this is one of them."
I kissed him aggressively. I clutched his hair and tugged
until he gave me what I wanted, opening his mouth to me, his dragon fire racing
through me, leaping back and forth between us until I thought we'd set the limo
on fire.
He allowed me to dominate him for a few minutes, my hands
sliding from his head to his chest as I sent my tongue forth on a
search-and-explore mission. But when I reached down to yank his belt open, he
decided he'd had enough.
"You defy sept laws?" he growled into my mouth, pinning me
against the side of the limo, his body hard against me.
"No. I just want to drive you wild for a change. Come here,
dragon, and let me feel your fire."
We both still had our clothes on when the limo stopped at the
hotel, although Drake's hand was beneath my blouse, his finger teasing my breast
while I had both hands on his rear end, trying to pull him closer to the part of
me that was all but sending up flares in order to attract his attention.
Neither one of us noticed that the car had stopped. We did
notice, however, when Pal, unable to see into the limo through the tinted
windows, opened the door and we spilled out onto the pavement.
"'Oomph," I grunted when Drake landed on top of me, knocking
the breath out of me and causing me to bite his tongue. A pair of shoes stopped
beside my head. Drake heaved himself off me, touching his mouth and pulling away
a finger red with blood.
"You will be seen in an inappropriate state by many people."
The dispassionate voice drifted down to me.
"Dammit," I snarled, grabbing Drake's arm to haul myself to
my feet. 'That's it. I've had it with you! You are so on my list! Come back
here, you coward!"
Drake stopped me from going after the deranged Diviner.
"Aisling, do not. You will just embarrass yourself."
"I don't care. He's deliberately tormenting me, and it's
going to stop now," I said, fighting the restraining arm he'd wrapped around me
for a second, then realized that indeed, the people who'd been silting outside
the hotel were all watching us avidly. I stopped struggling, straightened my
shirt, and tried to look like I hadn't just been indulging in a makeout session.
"Sorry about your tongue. How bad is it? Let me see."
He refused to stick out his tongue so I could determine how
badly Td bitten him, ushering me into the hotel instead, ignoring all the
titters and giggles from the people who'd seen our memorable arrival.
The people at the front desk acted like I was some sort of
Typhoid Mary. "'Hi, I'm Aisling Grey, and I was wondering—"
"I am very well aware of who you are, madam," a starchy man
with graying hair and a shiny navy blue suit said. He looked unhappy, angry
even. I searched my mind for reasons the hotel staff would be angry at me and
came up blank. "It is good you stopped here. It will save me the trouble of
visiting you. The management of the Thermal Hotel Danu wishes to respectfully
suggest that you seek lodgings in another hotel."
I goggled at the man. He wanted me to leave? "I beg your
pardon? If this is about the spot on the carpet, I can promise you it wasn't my
dog. That spot was there when we first got to the room—"
"
The management's objection to your presence is not due to a
spot on the carpet," the man said, speaking carefully, as if he had a mouthful
of marbles and was afraid of swallowing one of them.
"But—why?"
"It has been drawn to the management's attention that you
have been personally involved in the two recent tragedies that have blighted the
good name of the Thermal Hotel Danu. This hotel has been in this location for
one hundred and twenty-seven years. We would like to remain for one hundred and
twenty-seven more, and I highly doubt that will be possible if customers
continue to drop dead while in the hotel. It is for the good of the hotel that
we request that you seek lodgings elsewhere."
"You can't possibly believe I had anything to do with the
deaths of those two women? I barely knew them!"
The man tidied an already tidy penholder. "You have, I
believe, been detained not once but twice by officials regarding the deaths?"
"Yes, but that was just routine questioning—"
"Nonetheless, the staff are beginning to talk. They say you
are the angel of death. They say that all those people whom you meet with end up
dead. Such things are foolishness, naturally, but the fact remains that you are
connected to the deaths. We wish to avoid any more, thus we politely but
adamantly request that you remove yourself and your belongings from the hotel.
We realize that you must be allowed access to the premises during the hours of
the GODTAM conference, but beyond that, we ask-that you locate yourself
elsewhere."
"Is there a problem?"
I straightened up as Drake's voice rolled around me. I
debated handling the situation myself, explaining to the hotel man that despite
a couple of odd coincidences, L had nothing to do with the Guardians' deaths,
but decided that one of the perks of having a boyfriend who was arrogant, bossy,
and rich was leaving such petty details to him.
"This guy is trying to throw me out of the hotel," I said,
and gave Drake a questioning look.
"Is he?" Drake's eyes considered me carefully.
"Yes, he is." I waited for a moment, but Drake didn't do
anything but look at me expectantly. I prodded him. "Aren't you going to do
something about it?"
"That depends. What will you give me to help you?"
My jaw dropped. "What? I'm your mate—you can't ask me that
anymore!"
"It seems to me I just did."
"Drake!"
Laughter lit his eyes. He was teasing me, the great big
lizard. I almost pinched him, I was so irritated.
Drake turned to the hotel man, the amusement in his eyes
quickly changing into something a whole lot less pleasant. I thought the guy was
going to swallow his tongue. His whole body panicked, his hands suddenly
trembling as they clutched the penholder while he stammered out an excuse.