Chapter 7
Zane flew through the starry night, a dragon blue as a summer sky. He was cloaked again, hidden from the eyes of anyone who might look up and see him. If they looked at just the right angle, at the right moment, it might have seemed as though a cloud passed over the moon.
That was all.
Behind him, he could hear the flapping of Tyr’s wings as he tried to catch up. Zane’s dragon was bigger than Tyr’s, though, and he soon left his brother behind.
Zane? What the hell? You okay? Did the witch beat you up, or what? Slow down, for fuck’s sake!
Zane ignored him, stretching his wings and catching an updraft to get away from all the questions. He didn’t know what to say, or what to think. Or what to feel.
He’d gone looking for the Dragonfly Seal, and had found the woman of his dreams. Rogue witch, dabbler in dark powers, adversary to his mission.
Human.
He didn’t know whether to laugh, get drunk, or just let out a huge gout of fire and burn half of North Portland to slag.
When he fantasized about one day meeting his dream woman, he’d always imagined she was another Wild Dragon. Maybe even a rogue Draken, willing to defy convention and upbringing to mate with an outcast.
Not a human witch with no past, a dark present, and an uncertain future.
How could they ever be together? But if they weren’t destined for each other, why the dreams?
A hundred years of hope, dissipating to nothing in the darkness of the night.
He rode the current all the way to the river before circling back. Even in dragon form, the skin of his face and throat were still prickling from the red dust.
Magical tracking dust, to be exact. It turned invisible once it touched skin, and was impossible to wash off by normal means. It was like the tracking residue that the CIA put on their top priority targets on TV—except it was powered by magic, not technology.
Blaze could track him anywhere he went—for weeks, if not months. If he were human.
But he was a dragon, and he had defenses against nearly every type of magic. It took only a few minutes of concentrated thought for him to burn the magic from his hide, and from inside his body where he’d inhaled it.
From inside his blood.
He continued circling over downtown Portland as he rid himself of Blaze’s magic. She might not have activated the tracking spell yet, but if she did, he intended the trail to end right where he was—in the sky, a thousand feet above the city.
He had every intention of seeing her again, but until he knew what she was involved in, he wasn’t bringing her home to the ‘family.’
Thorne had enough on his plate without Zane leading a dark sorceress straight to their lair.
Satisfied that he’d burned away every speck of the tracking dust, Zane banked and headed back toward the ridge. He only wished he could burn the witch out of his system so easily.
The dragons’ house was built into the side of the ridge—not unlike Blaze’s house, except about a hundred years older. Humans thought it had been built by one of the first men to make his fortune in Portland—and it had, in a way. One of the first Draken Guardians had built a mansion on top of the cave system he’d lived in for a thousand years.
Before there were any humans here but scattered tribes of Native Americans, who knew better than to come near the caves on the ridge.
But times changed, and dragons changed with them. Those who couldn’t adapt had gone back to the Dragonlands years ago, to fight their petty wars and annoy each other.
Only the Guardians had stayed. And the Wild Dragons, with their human blood, stayed too. They stayed, and spawned their young, remaining hidden until humans needed them.
When he landed Tyr was standing on the roof, hands on his hips. Zane came in fast, diving toward the roof with wings furled, and then dropped his hindquarters at the last minute and backwinged to slow himself down, like a duck coming in for a water landing.
Grit and dead leaves swirled across the roof in the wind from his wings. Tyr made a quick circular gesture with one hand and the debris detoured around him, as if he were enclosed in a bubble.
Show-off.
Tyr started in before Zane even had a chance to Change back to human.
“What the hell happened? How did you manage to set off the alarm? Why did you jump out the fucking window? Because, not stealthy at all. Did the witch see you? Did you get the Seal?”
Zane knew Tyr was worried about him. And they were all stressed out to the max, because time was running out and their mission so far had been an epic fail.
Even so, he was in no mood.
Zane blew a puff of fire at his brother. Unfortunately, Tyr’s shield kept that away from him too. Not that that tiny bit of fire would hurt either of them, but it would have burned Tyr’s clothes off, which would have been funny.
Tyr shot him the finger.
Zane contemplated just staying in dragon form. Flying back to Blaze’s house. Plucking her out of her bedroom and flying away with her in his claws, like the dragons did in the bad old days. Taking her back to his lair under the ridge and tormenting her with wild sex, keeping her on the edge until she told him everything about the idol and the spell in a frenzy of climactic desire.
And then giving her about six hundred orgasms, so that she never wanted to leave him.
Because life always turned out like the dreams, right?
Belatedly, Zane realized that Tyr was still yelling at him. About what a dick he was, because Tyr had his back, and then he fucking just flew away and he could be bleeding from magical wounds and he didn’t even care that Tyr was worried about him, which he’d never do again because Zane was an ungrateful fuck.
And he was asking again if Zane got the Seal.
Six hundred orgasms, Zane thought. And we’re not coming out of the cave for a thousand years.
Tyr smacked him across the snout with all of his strength. Ow. “Fucking pay attention!” he snapped. “I’m yelling at you!”
With a sigh, Zane Changed back into human form, clothes molding around his body as he did so. Unlike most other shifters, dragons had the ability to manifest clothing when they Changed to human form, instead of ending up naked like fools.
He’d changed his breaking and entering outfit for black jeans and a royal blue button-down shirt, rolled up at the sleeves. Black cowboy boots. He had a weakness for cowboy boots, though not for horses.
Dragons and horses definitely did not mix.
He’d added an unstructured black jacket instead of the combat vest—and felt something weighing down the pocket.
Blaze’s idol.
He closed his hand around it, feeling waves of cold darkness emanating from it. Once again, he heard a faint whispering.
He dropped his hand. Was the thing talking to him? That couldn’t be good.
“No. I didn’t get it, okay? It was a cluster fuck in there.” He’d been outmaneuvered by a human petty thief and a cat.
“How? What happened? How the hell did you manage to set off all the alarms? And what took you so long to get home? Are you—”
Zane cut him off before he could get to “okay.” “I said I didn’t get the Seal, all right? Now stop buzzing around like a mosquito, before I swat you.”
“Fine. See if I ever watch your back again.” Tyr stomped away and jumped off the edge of the roof to the balcony a story below, not even bothering with the wrought-iron spiral staircase.
Zane sighed. Tyr, he said quietly in his mind.
He felt his brother pause by the balcony doors. I’m pissed at you.
I know. I’m sorry. I’m a dick.
You’re a dragon-sized dick.
Despite his mood, Zane felt a half-smile curve his lips. That’s one damn big dick. Especially if it’s my dragon we’re talking about.
Tyr gave a mental snort. You mean mine, Peanut Wienus. He paused. What happened in there?
Zane shook his head, even though his brother couldn’t see him. Let’s go down to the Batcave and find Thorne. That way I only have to tell it once.