Chapter Four
“Oh, my God, I’m a witch!” the woman moaned, her bravado lost in a fit of uncontrollable sobs as Aiden looked on in horror and helplessness.
Aw, hell, he’d only meant to scare her a little—just enough to ensure her silence about him and the town, to teach her a lesson after she’d put him in a cage. And, if he was being honest with himself, he’d enjoyed taking her down a notch or two. But he hadn’t meant to hurt her like this. Even though she’d hurt him a little—okay, maybe more than a little since his fingertips still stung from that damned electrified cage—it was only physical. That pain would fade. It had mostly faded already.
Judging from the tear-streaked mess of woman on his living room floor, her pain ran much deeper.
She was clearly smarter than the average Earth dweller, and she’d shown a fair amount of determination last night. Still, she didn’t strike him malevolent or particularly calculating. He doubted anyone could fake this level of confusion and anguish. It reminded him a little too much of his own state of mind when he’d escaped Tarakona as a confused, scared, and angry youth.
I’m such an asshole.
“Hey, don’t cry,” he said, crouching low and approaching with caution. Wounded animals were dangerous, and wounded people more so. She could still kill him. After all, she actually had blown a hole in his fucking wall.
Still, he got the feeling that she hadn’t meant to do that. It was clear that she had hadn’t controlled the spell she’d cast in a fit of panic.
Magic is not real!
She’d said to him a before she started crying, and she’d said it last night, too. It didn’t make sense. How could someone clearly using magic claim that magic wasn’t real? He’d risked a glance into the living room after the television had blared to life and watched in confusion as she ran her hands over random objects and scowled. Things happened whenever she touched plastic or metal…but there was more to it.
Things happened when she touched objects that used electricity. That was when it dawned on him. She’d been testing her capabilities, methodically, systematically, and scientifically experimenting on the materials available to see which ones channeled her magic.
She didn’t protest when he scooted closer. Perhaps she just didn’t notice since she was busy rocking back and forth with her head in her hands. He wanted to reach out, put his hand on her back, and tell her it would be okay, just like he’d done for Nadia when they’d attempted to escape the ceremony that would have implanted them both with thrall crystals after they had morphed into dragons. Then again, it hadn’t been okay for them on that horrible day. They’d caught Nadia, and he had barely escaped with his life and freedom.
How could he tell the woman in front of him everything would be okay?
He couldn’t. But maybe he could listen if she was willing to talk about it.
At a loss for how to begin, he said quietly, “Are you upset because of me, or is something else going on?”
She yanked her hands away from her face and flinched, no doubt startled by his proximity. To her credit, and surprisingly to his relief, she didn’t move away. She shook her head and said, “I’m a witch.”
“Yeah,” he said in what he hoped was an encouraging voice. “And?”
“And I had no idea. I mean, my mom and aunts and sister all told me they were witches and that I was one, too, but that’s crazy. My dad believed it was crazy and I believed him. I’m a scientist,” she explained, offering a wry smile through her tears.
He looked at the rumpled, dirty lab coat she still wore and chuckled. “So I noticed. But what does that have to do with anything?”
“I became a scientist because I thought my mom was crazy. I thought all of them were crazy, and I wasn’t the only one.” It almost seemed as if she was trying to convince herself more than him.
She brushed a lock of hair from her face and met his gaze, her hazel eyes filled with confusion and heartbreaking regret. “Everyone in town made fun of us, but some people were afraid. Those were the worst. They were the ones who threatened us and tried to drive us out. One night, they succeeded.”
“What happened?” he asked.
She closed her eyes and shuddered. “Someone threw a brick through our window. It had happened a few times before, but this one came with a flaming, gasoline-soaked rag. We lost the house. No one was hurt, but we got the message loud and clear. Dad moved us before the insurance check cleared.”
“And your mom?”
She opened her eyes and met his gaze. “Like I said, Dad thought she was crazy, especially since she kept practicing after we moved. That’s why my parents split up. But he was wrong. I was wrong. I never really knew her, my mother. She died when I was young, and I spent my whole life thinking she was delusional, that it was all a big lie. But it’s true. I’ll n-never get to t-tell her and, oh God, my sister!”
She succumbed to a fresh wave of sobs. Throwing caution to the wind, Aiden took her into his arms and let her cry it out on his shoulder while he carried her to the kitchen. Sitting down at his usual spot next to the table, he cradled the trembling witch on his lap as he rubbed her back in an effort to soothe. God, she felt good in his arms, but he clamped down on his male response to her nearness. That wasn’t what this was about. He tried to think of something to say, some words of comfort to offer, but what did you say to someone who’d just had her whole world turned upside down?
You could tell her what Rocky told you.
He took a deep breath and recalled the words of his adopted father in the Earth dimension. When John Rocco found him, he’d been a scared, scrawny, starving kid who’d had his world turned upside down after stumbling through the portal. The man had taken him in and, with the help of some of Magic, New Mexico’s finest citizens, had helped him build a life for himself on Earth.
Not that Aiden had gone with him willingly at first. Headstrong, stubborn, and terrified, it had taken some tough love from Rocky to get him through to him.
Aiden lifted the woman’s chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. Then he said what Rocky had said to him all those years ago. “I know you’re in a bad place. I don’t know all the whys and hows, and I don’t need to know them right now. There’s only one thing I need to know. Are you ready to fight your way out of it?”
She looked up at him, stunned, as if that was the last thing she’d expected him to say.
Well, that made two of them.
He’d just met this woman and didn’t know anything about her except that she was a witch with some kind of engineering fetish and dubious sanity. Not that he was sure of his own sanity at this point, but still. He didn’t even know her name.
Well, that’s an easy fix.
Clearing his throat, he said. “My name’s Aiden, by the way. Aiden Silver. What’s yours?”
Instead of answering, she kept staring at him as if he’d sprouted another head. Or maybe it was his magic tracery going haywire again. He glanced down at his hand and swore under his breath. No, he hadn’t sprouted another head. He’d just let his emotions get the better of him and reminded her what a freak he was. She was probably repulsed.
He started to pull away, but she took his hand in hers and examined it, turning it over and watching as lines of silver danced beneath his skin to form elaborate patterns. The magic that ran through his body was like a living tattoo and served as a reminder of what he was. A signifier of dragonhood in his world, it made him a pariah in this one. He kept his body covered most of the time with long sleeves and work gloves. He hadn’t even shown his tracery to his acquaintances in town. Only Rocky knew.
And now, so did this woman.
She looked back up at him, her gaze alight with curiosity rather than revulsion, and he released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“Why?” she asked.
“Why what?”
“Why are you being nice to me?” she asked, studying him as if he were a particularly challenging puzzle. Then she shook her head and said, “Not that I’m not grateful, considering you could’ve eaten me, but you didn’t. Why?”
He leaned back and blew out a breath. Why, indeed… “For starters, I’m not a murderer, and I don’t eat humans. I used to be one. Second—”
“How is that even possible? And you may not be a murderer, but you kidnapped me.” She scrambled out of his lap and loomed over him, arms crossed under her generous breasts and gaze filled with fury. Seemed like she’d traded grief for outrage. It was almost funny, and decidedly sexy, which was ridiculous. The unexpected jolt of attraction stoked the flames of his anger with a vengeance.
“Turnabout’s fair play, sweetheart,” he snapped. “False imprisonment and assault aren’t exactly minor offenses, so if you’re thinking about running off to the cops after we’re done here, you might want to consider what they’d say about your actions.”
Her cheeks flushed, the lovely shade of rose painting her face and making her seem less like a mad scientist and more like a woman—an enticing, if infuriating and dangerous, woman who looked as if she’d love nothing more than to unleash another trap on him. This woman was miles away from the gentle, troubled soul who’d wept in his arms only a moment ago. She scanned his small kitchen as if looking for a way out or a weapon. Would she go for the knives or a frying pan?
Who was he kidding? She’d grab his electric meat slicer so she could saw his fucking head off.
“Don’t get your panties in a wad,” he said, taking a small amount of pity on his unwilling guest. “I’m not going to hurt you, and I plan on letting you go.”
She stood her ground, shoulders squared, chin jutting out in defiance. “Why not let me go now? And you didn’t answer my question before. Why play nice with me? And why didn’t you just leave me in the desert?”
He laughed. She had trust issues. He got that. It was something they had in common. She was also a fighter. He’d give her that, too. And since she was all about science and rational explanations, he figured he might as well tell her the truth and hope it appealed to her sense of reason.
“I couldn’t let you go after you’d seen me. I needed to make sure you’d keep quiet about my existence, and I figure playing nice is the best way to convince you to keep a secret. As for the leaving you in the desert, I couldn’t risk you going through the portal. Believe me, Pandora, you wouldn’t like what’s on the other side.”
She arched a brow. “My name is Gillian Hohenwald, and what’s on the other side? More assholes like you?”
Okay, now she was pissing him off. Clamping down on his anger, he took a deep breath and tried to remember that she’d found him and the portal to Tarakona on accident and that she’d just had her worldview shattered with the revelation that magic was real. No matter how much they bugged him, her attacks weren’t personal. He’d have to play it cool if he had any chance of convincing her to maintain Magic’s clandestine status—and his.
He got up and poured a cup of coffee, handing it to her as a peace offering. Then he filled his own cup and sat back down at his small kitchen table, inviting her to do the same. She huffed but eventually took a seat and eyed the cup of coffee like it might be poisoned. He sighed and grabbed her cup. Never breaking her gaze, he placed the mug of steaming goodness to his lips and let the warmth and aroma caress his senses before taking a sip and allowing it slide down his throat is a long swallow.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth as that lovely blush painted her face once more. His senses weren’t quite as keen in human form as they were when he became a dragon, but he caught a trace of feminine interest and fought a smirk. So the hard-ass intellectual was human, after all—a woman who appreciated him as a man.
Well, he wouldn’t go that far, but if he failed to persuade her to keep quiet about him, the portal, and the town by simply asking her, seduction might not be a bad alternative. Fates knew she’d already seduced him. No, it wasn’t seduction. This was something else, something new—when she wept in his arms, she’d done something far more profound and meaningful.
She’d done something far more dangerous. She’d touched his heart, something he’d guarded for very long time.
He sipped his coffee and tried to ignore the signals she was giving off, and especially his response to those signals. Shifting in his seat and clearing his throat, he said, “There are worse things than me on the other side of that portal, Gillian. Most humans aren’t treated very well in my dimension. They’re second-class citizens. You’d probably be treated as one of them. I myself am a dragon.”
“You’re really a dragon?” she asked, running her gaze over his skin. A lick of heat danced across his flesh. How extraordinary. She didn’t seem afraid or repulsed. Quite the contrary.
“Yes,” he said. She wasn’t the only one affected by the chemistry brewing between them. His husky voice betrayed him.
“Show me,” she whispered.
He shouldn’t. Obviously he couldn’t fully shift within the confines of his kitchen, but her hungry, fascinated gaze compelled him. He allowed silver scales to ripple beneath his skin as she watched in apparent awe and wonder. This strange woman wreaked havoc on his mind with her mood swings, not to mention what she was doing to his body and heart.
Naturally, she threw them out of the moment with another blasted question. “So, you’re from another dimension? Like an alien?”
He sighed. “I didn’t come here in a spaceship, though I do know a few guys who did. I think Earth and Tarakona, my dimension, are sister dimensions, parallel realms or something. Our species are similar. Perhaps that’s why the portal leads here.”
“Tarakona,” she said, the word rolling off her tongue. “So there’s a humanoid species, a shapeshifting dragon species, and—”
“We’re all the same species,” he corrected. “The third type of humanoid, as you call them, is wizard.”
“A trimorphic species,” she said. He could almost see the thoughts racing through her mind. He sensed curiosity and excitement but no fear. No, she wasn’t afraid or repulsed. She was truly fascinated.
“Are there breeding programs or arranged matings in order to achieve the desired offspring?” she asked. “The differences must be due to genetic variation. How does that work?”
His chest tightened and he struggled against the ghosts of past terrors. He busied himself filling plates with bacon, eggs, and hash browns. The food had gone cold during their sparring session, so he stuck one plate in the microwave and rubbed a hand over his face, struggling with how much of his culture and past to share.
“I apologize if I brought up an uncomfortable subject,” she said quietly.
He shrugged and turned his back on her while waiting for their food to heat. “It’s fine,” he lied. “Short version? We’re all born human. Once we hit puberty, we find out if we stay that way or if we’re wizards or dragons. Wizards are best, or at least most powerful, since they can do magic and they’re pretty much in charge. Humans are lower on the food chain, but they’re mostly left in peace as long as they swear allegiance to the ruling wizard in their territory and pay their taxes.”
“What about dragons, Aiden?”
He closed his eyes and fought against flashes of memories and emotions. Damn it, he needed to get a grip. He’d left that scared fourteen-year old boy on the auction block behind along with the rest of that horrific day when his parents sold him and his twin sister to the highest bidding wizard. The prize pair of silvers was rushed to the stage in a frenzy of excitement and greed as wizards from around the realm bid gold, gems, and other dragons for the right to possess them. There had never been a bigger auction in all of Tarakona’s recorded history.
And once it was over, hands clutched at his body, pulling him off the stage and away from his screaming sister, and threw him into a carriage where the minions of his new wizard master held him down so they could force the thrall crystal into his body, which would compel him to do his master’s bidding.
He’d escaped during an unfortunate carriage crash, darting into the teeming human warren, blending with the street kids, and eventually ending up in the ancient underground ruins.
Nadia hadn’t been so lucky.
The ding of the microwave shook him from his dark musings. He took the plate out and put it on the table in front of his guest. “You must be starving. Eat. I’ll find some fresh clothes for you to put on after you shower.”
“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked.
“No,” he said, refusing to meet her gaze. “When you’re ready, we’ll go see Rocky and then I’ll let you go.”
He almost made it out of the kitchen when she asked, “What happens to dragons in your dimension?”
“We’re slaves,” he said, and then hurried out of sight like the fucking coward he was.