The Silver Dragon (3 page)

“You don’t?” Iris tilted her head and stared at him.
Why not?
“What gave you that attitude? From what I’ve seen most of you guys bend over backward to see that humans and dragons alike prosper.” She figured it had something to do with treasure. All dragons had their treasure and it was no secret that they helped others amass disgusting amounts of money. Iris had long suspected that it was to keep others from searching the dragon’s treasure out. Though again, what did she know?

Luc met Iris’s gaze. Her violet eyes stared straight to his soul.
How does she do that?
He shifted when the valet brought his car to the curb, the tires chirping as the driver brought the vehicle to an abrupt halt.

Bending, he opened the door and assisted Iris into the passenger seat of his sports car. He glanced at it with a frown. When had he become so pretentious? He barely remembered buying the thing.

“I...love your car.” She didn’t sound convincing. If Luc had to guess, he would say she hated it.

“Really?” He glanced at it critically. “I don’t. I would rather drive one of those trucks like the one Tony drives.”

“You want an SUV?” she laughed. “You don’t seem like the type. You seem more like the luxury sports car or just plain luxury car type.”

“I didn’t realize I fell into a category.” He frowned. “Perhaps it is time for a change.” He closed the door and started around the car. His frown turned to a scowl.
When did I stop thinking about the forever sleep and start thinking about change?
A politician he was not. Change held no interest for dragons who readied themselves for the forever sleep. Nothing held their interest. It was why they sought to end their lives.

Still, something about her had caught his interest. This slip of a girl who, if he thought about it, wasn’t small at all, had turned his life upside down in less than an hour. Tall for a woman, she was still six inches shorter than he was. A bit wide in the hips, she was gorgeous as hell.

Luc glanced at her as he slid behind the wheel. He was positive she turned heads wherever she went with her ass that drew his and every other man’s gaze as they left the restaurant. Iris Flowers was as close to perfect as he’d seen any woman get.

“So, what made you stop caring?”

What should he tell her? His loss of interest went beyond not giving a damn, but he didn’t say that.

“Things got boring after a while.” He shifted the car into first and hit the gas as he turned onto the road. Quickly, he jammed the gearshift into second and then third. Glancing at Iris, he almost smiled at her startled expression.

“Wow! This is...fast, isn’t it?”

He’d half expected her to recite the Lord’s Prayer or, possibly, the speed limit as they blew past the sign. She did neither. Their speed had topped out at nearly twice the limit posted, but she didn’t even glance toward the speedometer.

Usually, he didn’t pay attention to how fast he drove. Like most other shifters, his reflexes were faster than humans were. His reaction time was almost instantaneous—fast enough to avoid most accidents. However, he usually didn’t have a human with him.

Lifting his foot off the gas, Luc slowed to just below the speed limit with an inward sigh.
It’s going to take forever to get to the hotel at this speed.

Even though it would take twice as long at the slower speed, he didn’t have the right to risk her life.
He
might be ready to die, but Luc was certain Iris wasn’t. The last thing he wanted to do was extinguish the bright, inner light of Iris Flowers.

“I apologize if I’ve frightened you.” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Luc wasn’t sure why, but he wanted her to feel safe with him. It was important, for some reason.

“Oh, you didn’t scare me.” She chuckled, her violet eyes twinkling. “Ride with Tansy sometime. Now,
she
scares Tony, and that’s saying something.”

“I’ve heard about Tansy Flowers and her...zest for life.”

“
I
call it carelessness,” she said with a little sigh. “Tansy’s always been like that. I think they call people like her,
adrenaline junkies.
”

“Yes. I believe you’re right.” He downshifted and slowed as he maneuvered around the exit ramp. “I take it that you don’t like living life on the edge?” Luc wasn’t sure why that bothered him. It was only right. In his way of thinking, women shouldn’t be risk takers. Yet, if he thought about it, wasn’t that what they had always been?

In the era of his birth, just having a child was a risk. Caring for the sick—also a danger. Marrying a man one didn’t know was yet another risk women of that time took. He frowned. Why hadn’t he thought of those things that way before?

Luc glanced over at Iris. She sat staring straight through the windshield. What was she thinking? What did she think of him and why did he give a damn?

“I didn’t realize you were staying here.” Iris stared up at the huge hotel. It was one of the more expensive hotels in town. “Though, I suppose I should have guessed. You dragons certainly have a love for luxury.”

“It’s more about protection. We like knowing that our things are protected when we aren’t with them.” He glanced up at the building. “The security here is exemplary.”

“I should have known.” She murmured the words, but was sure he heard every one of them. Dragons had extraordinary hearing.

“You should have known what?”

Yep. Heard every word.

With a sigh, she strode toward the entrance, not waiting for him to join her. “You dragons and your damned treasure. Nothing is more important than protecting what’s yours. You
all
need to get a life.”

“I tried.”

Luc didn’t elaborate on that comment. He merely walked by her side until they entered the large lobby.

Her heels clicked on the shining marble floor as they headed for the elevators. Taking the elevator on the right, Luc held the door for her and then slid his keycard and punched the number for the top floor.

In her experience, dragons liked to stay as high in hotels as they could. It gave them a sense of security and they could easily shift shape, jump from the roof and fly away from any danger presented to them.

“I’m not like my sister. I’m not an adrenaline junkie.” Grasping the rail on the wall, she bit her lip.

“Excuse me?”

“Heights. I should have known you’d be on the top floor. I think part of me did realize it. I guess I just never thought of you staying in a hotel with more than five or six floors.”

“I don’t understand. You’re human. You would die just as easily from a five-story fall as you would from a thirty-five story fall. Why does it bother you?”

“I don’t know.” Iris shrugged. It wasn’t a rational fear. She knew that. Still, it was a fear just the same. “I guess I just like knowing that from the fifth floor I have a chance of reaching the ground floor before the hotel burns to the ground, or something. On the thirty-fifth floor, I have no way out.”

She stared at the door, willing it to open. She needed to get out. There was no way she could do this. How could she stay here with him when she could barely make it up to his floor?

Luc moved closer and wrapped his arm around her. “You’ll do fine. You’ll be fine. I am here. I will get you out if anything happens.”

She tilted her head back and met his gaze. “I’m scared of heights.”

“I gathered that.” He smiled at her. “I promise, I will not let you burn to death on the top floor of this hotel.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be such a baby. I don’t want to be a burden.” Heck, the man only agreed to babysit her for a night, he didn’t sign on to administer therapy sessions.

“Do you hear me complaining? I like knowing that someone needs me for once. Frankly, my life had become unceasingly boring.”

“That’s dangerous for dragons, isn’t it?”

“Yes and no.”

The doors opened and they stepped out onto the top floor. Long tables covered in blue linen runners and fresh flowers lined the hall. The scent of the flower mix filled the hallway as they walked to his room.

Iris gasped when he opened the door to his suite. Cream marble floors dotted with thick, colorful rugs gave the suite the warmth of a home. Carved crown molding accented the blue walls and the dark, cherry furniture. A large flat screen TV sat in the corner of the room just feet away from a gas fireplace.

“They went all out on this room, didn’t they?”

She followed him to a set of double doors on the left. “This is your room for tonight.” He paused. “Or for as long as you wish to stay.”

Something told her that he wanted her to stay for more than Valentine’s Day. “No wonder you offered to let me stay with you. It must be lonely staying here all by yourself.”

Did he think she was his mate? If so, was he under the mistaken impression that, like a few of her sisters, she didn’t want to find a dragon of her own?

“A dragon’s life is always lonely.” He showed no expression, keeping his face blank. “We have a difficult time interacting with others. Unmated males are usually not welcomed into mated male’s homes. Your family is different. Strange. In times long past, it was unheard of for a mated male to welcome the unmated. There was always the possibility that one male would try to steal the mate of another.”

“That kind of stuff really happened?” She wrinkled her nose. “I thought that kind of thing only happened in fiction.”

“It did, back when dragons didn’t realize that a female was specifically designed by nature to be their mate.” He leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms. “Now we know that the possibility of our mate being compatible with others is very slim, it tames our need to possess her so thoroughly.”

“I can’t imagine living in a time when a man could force me to live in such isolation.”

“It was the way things were done.” He stared at her for a moment. “Do not condemn them for doing what they thought was best to protect their greatest treasure. I’m sure I would have done the same, had I been lucky enough to find my mate.”

“Who says you haven’t?” Iris tilted her head and smiled up at him. Never before had she ever tried to hint at a man to kiss her. It was probably a good thing.

“If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go shower.” Turning, he stepped back out into the main room, closing the door behind him.

“That was a bust.” She pursed her lips.
That’s okay. He said I could stay as long as I wish, didn’t he?
She sucked on her bottom lip with a frown. If she didn’t know better, she would think that dragon planned to withdraw from life and she couldn’t allow him to do that—at least until she found out whether or not she was the man’s mate.

Luc stalked through the suite and entered his bedroom on the other side. “What in God’s name possessed you to let the woman come here?” He shouldn’t have given a damn that his friend, Tony wanted some alone time with his wife. Newlyweds, or not, they needed to get used to the fact that one didn’t always get what one wanted. He’d learned that long ago.

What was it about Iris that made him want to postpone the inevitable? Preparing for the forever sleep was
not
an easy task. It had taken years of preparation. It always did. One wanted to be certain they were on the right path when deciding to end their lives.

Nothing could have prepared him for the way he felt when he first saw Iris. Her beautiful violet eyes were unique, her long, glossy black hair like a cloud of spun silk surrounding her face. Everything about her had made his inner self, the part of him that had wanted the forever sleep the most, sit up and take notice.

Dots of silver rippled on his arms as his dragon stretched within him and he frowned. It had been years since his inner beast had stretched so thoroughly that it caused an outer reaction.

He ripped his shirt off over his head and tossed it against the wall. Silver covered his chest. His dragon wished to emerge. Together, yet not the same, the man and beast shared one form or another. The man fought for dominance over the beast and won.
You win this time. There
will
be another.
Though they were the same being, they were not the same and the dragon was, sometimes, difficult to control.

Removing clothing as he went, he made his way to the bathroom and the shower stall. A cold shower was in order. It had taken everything he had inside him to keep his hands off the woman.

Something told him Iris Flowers was his mate. Still, he didn’t want to risk it. He would rather die with the hope she represented than to die knowing without a doubt that the fates had cursed him with being alone forever.

When did you become such a coward?

He stepped beneath the cold spray and sucked in his breath. Did they have a tank filled with ice on the roof? Tilting his head back, he let the spray wash over his face and neck. He needed this. Keeping his hands to himself must be his first priority. As much as he would love to kiss the woman, to take her to his bed, he knew he couldn’t.

Time had all but stopped for him. Nothing interested him anymore and he didn’t give a damn about a thing. It was time to end it. Hell, it had been time to end it long before Iris Flowers had even been born.

After turning the frigid water off, he stepped out onto the thick rug in front of the shower, grabbed a warmed towel and dragged it over his body before hanging it back on the bar.

“That’s better.” He sighed as he stepped out into the bedroom.

“Did you say something? Oh!”

Jesus!

“I’m sorry. I thought I heard you say something. I didn’t realize...I never thought you would be...” With a red face and her eyes closed, Iris fumbled for the knob of the door he’d carelessly left open.

After she’d closed the door, Luc shifted his gaze toward the bed with a sigh. “It’s just one night. She’ll be gone tomorrow and you can get on with the business of preparing for the forever sleep.”

Luc headed for the dresser set against the far wall yanked the drawers open and pulled out his clothes. How could he have forgotten to close the damned door? Had he subconsciously left it open on purpose? Would he have done such a thing? He snorted. Whatever the case, Iris certainly hadn’t looked disappointed. In fact, he’d bet good money that the naïve girl had liked what she’d seen.