Arrlien's Honor (Fire Bound Protectors Book 3) by Haley Weir (1)

Arrlien’s Honor

Chapter 1

Arrlien descended the steps into the subway platform on Parkside Ave, near Prospect Park in Brooklyn, with the intent of catching the yellow line to 72^nd street near Central Park on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. The yellow line ran solely at night and on the weekends. Since tonight happened to be both, Arrlien was sure to find some of the Borough’s seedier citizens riding the rails with him. He had been out looking for such unscrupulous characters in Parkside Ave, but the problem was, his intensity caused those he came across to scatter like rats in an alley when the cat came calling.

That was just as well, though. He had been itching for a fight for the last few weeks, but he knew that no human who dared to cross him would actually survive the fight. Ever since his brothers had brought their mates home, Ari found that their spacious brownstone on Lexington Ave, across the street from Central Park, suffocated him. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his brother’s mates, Claire and Jennifer. They were lovely women, and so good for his brothers; but it was so painful to be around their immeasurable happiness and love. 

Ari rubbed his chest at an ache that was so deeply rooted he couldn’t remember the last time his heart hadn’t hurt. He missed Siesha so much that there were some days he couldn’t remember how to breathe. As he descended the grime covered steps into the cities underbelly, he wondered if there was ever going to be a place in New York that did not threaten to suffocate him. He missed home, and the cavernous house built high on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the Hudson River in the valley. But his home had been destroyed by the Serpentina, the vile and vicious female counterparts of his kind. It was ironic to Ari that, even as dragon shifter, he felt trapped by smog and the late August heat of the city.

Ari let the weight of the air fill his lungs, intoxicated by the fumes.  Even soaring high above the city, prowling and patrolling for the Serpentina, had not given him any respite. However, he most sought relief from the crippling memory of Siesha, his mate from a few decades past. She had been his reason for living and breathing. Now, in the toxicity of a city he couldn’t escape, he found breathing of little consequence. 

Ari was aware that his self-sabotaging behaviors weren’t healthy. His only motivating force was his vow to uphold the safety of his leader, Drakkain, Lord of the Dragons. Drakkain and his brother Crylaine were mated, and Ari would lay down his life to protect their happiness. 

Ari leaned back against the wall and felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine.  Normally, the high temperatures didn’t bother him, but with a t-shirt and leather jacket on, even he was pushing it. He looked down the dark tunnel and listened for the train. Based on the echo that the rails emitted, he had another ten minutes before it arrived. The hum on the rails was so faint that he considered just shifting and flying through the tunnel toward his destination. He was done with tonight. All he wanted was to fly home, exchange patrol duty shifts with the newest member of his clan, Scryos, and flop into bed. But alas, there was too much of a risk of being spotted by squatters who came down to the rails to sleep through the night safe from the elements. It was raining above, but even with the rain, the humidity was trapped in like it was a blanket over the high rises. 

Ari decided to wait it out. After all, what was another ten minutes in his eternal lifetime? Ari shoved his hands in his pockets, grateful that he hadn’t encountered anyone so far. The fight drained from within as quickly as it had inflamed him. Ari listened as water dripped into the subway from up above. The drip, drip, dripping sound was about to drive him to madness when the piercing scream of a woman filled the platform. It echoed off the cement and tile walls like a whip cracking through the air. 

Ari hadn’t heard anyone when he first came down to the platform, but then again, he was so caught up in his own misery that he hadn’t really been listening. He shoved away from the wall, looking left and right when he finally spotted movement in the shadows. Ari darted forward, fists raised and ready to fend off any attackers. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, but his keen sense of hearing was what he relied on to locate the perpetrators. He spotted a woman cowering near a trash bin with her hands over her head, and two men were attacking her.

Ari’s rage ripped through him and he was on the attackers in a flash. He hadn’t heard a woman scream like that since Siesha was attacked. He failed her, and he wasn’t about to let another woman to suffer the same fate. He grabbed the first man, who was in his mid-twenties judging by a glimpse of his face, and swung him around, using his body weight as momentum to send him flying down the platform. He skidded and landed with a jolt against one of the cement barriers. The second attacker was a lot faster than the first, and he leapt onto Ari’s back when he turned around. Ari grabbed at the man’s head and felt a searing jolt of pain in his side just below his kidney. He grabbed his hand instead, and Ari’s palm came away slick with his own blood as the man clung to him in a piggy-back style. 

Ari swiped at the blade still embedded in his side. If he could just reach it to pull it out, his supernatural healing abilities would quickly take over. But he wouldn’t heal if he couldn't get the blade out. Ari finally managed to slam himself backwards into the wall, jarring the guy enough so he could duck and pull him up and over his head like he was peeling off a skin-tight t-shirt. The move drove the blade deeper into his side, but it was a price he was willing to pay in order to regain the upper hand. 

Ari slammed the guy down onto the ground in front of him, and then landed a solid kick to his abdomen. He heard a few ribs crack, and then the subsequent wheezing of the man’s breath as he doubled over and clutched at his stomach. Ari glanced down the platform where the first guy was still knocked out cold, and then at the woman who was still cowering and crying near the trash bin.

“Come on.” He held out his hand and then quickly wiped it on his pants because it was covered in blood. “We need to get out of here.” The woman shook her head and continued to curl herself into the tightest possible ball, trying to disappear into her surroundings. Ari really did not want to be around long enough for the police to show up, and he was worried the attackers would wake up and decide they wanted to go for round two. The fight he’d been yearning for wasn’t nearly all that he cracked it up to be. It didn’t feel good to wipe the floor with a couple of low lifes trying to rob this woman. Her purse was on the ground and the contents were strewn about the wheezing man. Ari stooped to begin picking them up and winced when he felt the blade in his side once again.

“Look, we need to get out of here. Get your stuff and let’s go,” he told her again. She glanced up at him and then began shrieking. 

“Oh my god! What’s wrong with your eyes?!” She pointed at him and it took him a moment to realize what she meant.

“What? Damn it!” he cursed. Ari pinched the bridge of his nose and then held his breath. He yanked his arm around, and after a few painful tries, he finally managed to close his slippery fingers around the hilt of the knife. He cursed again when he pulled it out and tossed it into the trash. He could already feel his skin start to knit back together as he stooped and gathered up the woman’s things. Then, he bent at the knees, scooped her up, and draped her over his shoulder. He didn’t think he could get far with her climbing up to the streets above. The police would be called on him so fast that he’d find himself in jail in the blink of an eye. There was only one option, even though he didn’t like it. 

Ari shifted and felt black wings unfurl from his back. In his dragon form, the knife wound was nothing more than a scratch. His body elongated and just as his arms were about to shift to massive limbs with claws on the tips, he let the woman slide down his torso. He finished the shift and launched himself from the platform, beating his wings so fast that he shot around the bend on the track before either of the perpetrators could catch a glimpse of him. The woman started to slip, but he caught her and cupped her body in his massive paws. He spared a glance down to look into her face, which was frozen with shock. He hadn’t wanted to reveal his secret, but she showed no signs of calming down. If she was in shock, at least she was calm. For now, anyway.

Ari glided through the narrow tunnel, careful to avoid hitting the walls or taking out any of the dim electric lights that lined the tunnels on behalf of the city workers. The woman lay curled in the same ball she had been trying to squish herself into by the trash can. Her green eyes stared up at him, wide and wild.  The woman’s hair was such a flaming shade of red, he wondered briefly what it would look like in the sunlight. He bet it shone with hues of burnt orange and red, like fire. What struck him most of all was that she resembled Siesha so much. Ari was afraid that once he calmed her down and let her go, he wasn’t going to be able to walk away from her very easily. 

The woman’s face was pale and lightly freckled, which stood out more than they normally would because of her current mental state. Ari wasn’t sure where he would take her, or how he would get out of the subway. He could hear the train approaching behind him, although he was far faster. His break came when the subway opened up onto a rare above ground platform, and he darted out into the night sky over Brooklyn. He heard the train rattle below as he climbed higher and higher, finally flying above the Brooklyn Bridge. He aimed himself out over the bay and circled the Statue of Liberty before touching down and landing carefully in her crown. He immediately set the woman down and shifted back to human form. He wished he had some clothes, but he figured at least out here, when she started screaming, no one would come and try to arrest him. The monument had been closed hours ago.

“I’m sorry I had to do that,” he began. “Look, tonight was just a bad dream. I’ll take you wherever you need to go, and then you can forget about me. I’m not going to hurt you, okay?” Ari held up his hands and then thought the better idea was to cover his naked form. He felt ridiculous shielding himself with her purse of all things, but there was nothing else to use. “Damn,” he muttered when she opened her mouth and no sound came out. At least abducting Claire had worked for Drake, sort of. Claire fell in love with him, but it looked like Ari had seriously misjudged the resilience of this New Yorker.

“Is this...a joke?” the woman finally whispered. Ari shrugged.

“Sure. It’s whatever you need it to be. Now, will you please tell me where it is you want to go? You only have to make it through one more shock tonight and then you can forget about me, okay?” He was starting to get annoyed. Why had he brought her here? Why had he been so stupid? His side was starting to hurt, too. He realized he must look pretty bad with blood running down his side, naked, on the top of the Statue of Liberty.

“Did someone slip something in my drink at the club? Am I tripping?” She touched her own face to make sure she was the one really standing there. Of all reactions he expected, he never thought the woman would call her own existence into question. He was the one who had turned into a dragon, after all.

“No, this isn’t a joke. Club? Were you out dancing?” Ari assessed the woman’s clothing.  She was wearing a pair of faded ripped jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a black button-down vest, and to top off the entire ensemble, a black fedora hat. She was perhaps the most unusual looking woman he had ever seen. Her tomboyish clothes were in sharp contrast to the softness of her feminine features. 

“I was down at Moe’s,” she replied. “I just got off a gig and was headed home.”

“Who is Moe?” Why was he still standing here having a casual conversation with her like there was nothing amiss? 

“He’s, ah...he owns a comedy club in Brooklyn. I had a stand up set at eleven. It was a bust, though.”

“Stand up?” Ari wondered what kind of performer she was. He was so secluded back home in the Hudson Valley that acclimating himself to the city and the strange things that went on here had been a process.

“Yeah. You...must not be from around here.” She rolled her eyes at him and stood up.

“Obviously.” His tone was a bit more dry than he would have liked. She was the one who was supposed to be traumatized here, which is why his eyes bugged out of his head when she started to laugh. He shook his head and found that it was one of the most lyrical sounds he had ever heard. She enchanted him, which was dangerous. He preferred solitude. His brothers liked to rile him up because he hadn’t been with anyone since Siesha was killed, but he did not have the heart to pursue women. But this woman had curves that Ari could appreciate. He noticed them more when she stood up, but what really captivated him was the way she threw her head back and laughed so deeply, like she thought the entire universe was funny. It was as if she was the only one in the world who was privy to the joke. Ari found that more attractive than anything else about her, and he couldn’t help but smile.

When she stopped laughing, she swiped at the tears in her eyes and continued to chuckle. “Oh, you’re killing me.”

“That was never my intention.” He looked her over carefully. She didn’t appear to be in any mortal peril, but humans often suffered afflictions that he had little understanding of. 

“No, I mean sometimes when life gets crazy, a good laugh somehow makes it all better. You know?” She looked at him and for a moment he felt like she could see through to his soul.

“Sure. I think I know what you mean.”

“Uh huh. Right.” Ari smiled at her sarcasm. He had to hand it to her, she was taking the whole situation of being carried off by a dragon pretty well, all things considered. 

“You have not told me where you wish to go,” he stated.

“Well that’s because you haven’t even told me your name,” she countered.

His eyebrows lifted, and he opened his mouth.  “Arrlien, but Ari for short.”

She stuck out her hand, “Riley. And everyone calls me Ri for short, or Wry, W.R.Y. because…”

“Because of your wry sense of humor.” He held her purse with one hand and shook her hand with his other.

“You’re a clever one.” 

“Thank you. Now...um, I think I we should address the elephant in the room. Rather, the elephant on the Statue of Liberty. I need to know where you want to go, and you need to decide if you are going to go into shock again when I shift into a dragon.”

“So, you don’t mean elephant in the room. You mean the dragon?” She put her hands on the crown of Lady Liberty and looked out over the bay.

“I suppose so.”

“Ok, so this isn’t some bizarre dream, then?”

“I’m afraid not.” He turned and looked with her. The lights from the city twinkled off the water, despite the stars and moon being hidden behind the cover of clouds. It had stopped raining, for now. New York was finicky that way. The skies could open up at any moment, and Ari found he was a bit uncomfortable standing in front of her naked. He didn’t have any issue with his physique, but he still felt like he belonged to Siesha. This felt...wrong of him.

“Right. Well, I suppose our first stop should be a hospital. I mean, that knife wound looks pretty bad.” She turned to him.

“Huh?” He completely forgot that he had been stabbed. Mostly because it was almost completely healed by now. “Oh, that won’t be necessary.”

“Are you sure? I saw that thing when you pulled it out of your side. It would have put the fangs in your mouth to shame.”

“Are you sure that’s not exaggerating just a little bit, maybe?” He glanced over at her. “You were the one being robbed with it, after all.”

Ari regretted saying it immediately. She tensed and bit her lip. With all of the things for her to freak out about, he thought the knowledge of dragons existing would be the worst of it. “I’m sorry. That was in poor taste. Do you want to go to the police?”

She shook her head. “Even if we did go, there is the issue of you being completely naked. This is New York, so it’s not the strangest thing anyone has seen, but they do kind of frown on that behavior. Then there is the issue of explaining how we got away. I think if we told them that you carried me off to the Statue of Liberty as a dragon, they are going to lock us both up and tell us to sober up until morning.”

“Fair points. Where would you like to go, then?”

“You sure are keen to get rid of me.” Her eyes shifted away from him.

“That’s not…I don’t mean…”

“It’s cool. I’m used to it every night at the clubs.”

“They don’t like your jokes?” He watched her face, hoping he hadn’t said anything that would upset her again.

“No, people laugh alright. It’s just I haven’t come across the right person to hear them and take a chance on me. Everyone has an agent these days, but the problem is getting the agent to begin with. To reach the right audience and all of that. Everyone needs a little help every now and again.” 

“Ah, I see. I think I understand.”  And he did, to an extent. But the person he was born to help was dead.

“So, I club hop every night. I take a different gig and hope that one night, I’ll come across the right person,” she said.

Ari thought about this for a moment and wondered if he was possibly doing the same thing. He was hopping from place to place in search of…who? Siesha was gone. He wasn’t looking to replace her by any means. He had the strangest sense that this was one of those defining moments. He was supposed to look inside himself and find something deeply profound. He focused on her instead. .

“It sounds lonely,” he commented. She looked at him in surprise.

“Lonely? No, I meet tons of people, it’s great! I get to catch a glimpse into their lives, find out what makes them laugh. I think that’s the best way I know how to reach people, you know? You can tell a lot about a person by how they laugh.” 

“Is that so?”

“Sure. People who laugh like they have stomach cramps tell me they are holding back and holding something in, like they feel like they don’t deserve to be fully happy. People who laugh because something makes them nervous are pretty easy to spot. Like, they want to be comfortable with the situation they are in, but they just aren’t. And then there are people who give you that genuine laugh. You know, the one that comes from their soul?”

Ari knew what she was talking about. He saw it in Siesha, and he saw it a lot more now in his mated brothers and Scryos. But Ari forgot what it felt like to laugh.

“I think I know what you mean.” 

“That’s really sad.”

“How so?” He looked at her sideways again and immediately regretted saying anything at all. He couldn’t stand the sympathy that was plastered all over her face.

“Someone who was truly happy in life and with themselves wouldn’t just think they know what I mean. They would just really know it.”

Chapter 2

Riley genuinely felt sorry for the complete stranger standing buck naked a few feet from her at the top of the Statue of Liberty. Of all of the jokes that fate could have played on her, this was the most bizarre. But she had always been one to roll with the punches.  He just looked so sad, and Ry didn’t think that a hug and a long chat would fix the sadness within him. Whatever his grief was, it ran deep. So much so that Ry was pretty sure he was permanently damaged goods. But she was not judging. She knew what it was like to be missing a piece of your soul, and it hurt like hell. People have ties to the world. Hers had been in the chords of life with her twin sister, Rosalind. Rosie was her anchor, always encouraging Ry to pursue her dreams of becoming a famous comedian, until she was killed in a hit and run accident around the corner from a theater on Broadway. Rosie loved the theater; her dream was to be an actress. But that dream was buried along with Rosie.

Ry closed her eyes against the painful memory, reminding herself that Rosie would have kicked Ry’s ass if she ever thought about giving up on her dreams because she was gone. It was why she kept slogging through the nights, trying to find gigs. It’s what Rosie would have wanted. Ry learned to use laughter as a balm for the pain of missing her other half. She would never feel right again without her sister, but she could at least try and make other people laugh. It was a reminder that there was still light and fun in this world. She could tell that the man, or dragon, standing next to her hadn’t laughed in a very long time. “Look, you should probably just bring me home. You can come in and we’ll get you patched up, if you don’t want to go to the hospital.”

“Very well. I am going to shift. What is your address so I can find a rooftop as close to it as possible?” 

She told him her address down in The Village, and there were no words for the enormity of emotion that swelled in her when he shifted into a dragon again. Her heart skipped a few beats when she took in his massive black scales, tipped with silver. His eyes were aflame when she looked into the serpentine depths. His tail had nasty looking barbs on the end of it that she had no desire to get anywhere near, even though she was accustomed to trading barbs and jokes on a nightly basis. He opened his paw, palm up and she walked over to him, hearing her heart beat loudly in her ears. She wondered if he heard it too and if, like other animals, he could sense how nervous she was. He must have an idea about the effect he had on people, because he held perfectly still as she hoisted herself up. 

She hugged her knees to her chest as he carefully closed his massive paw, cocooning her in. Ari jumped from the far side of Lady Liberty, to run less risk of a human spotting him. With the free fall, she could feel him gaining momentum. When he beat his wings, a draft of wind caught him and lifted him up so that he was soaring through the night sky. Ry lay crouched in his paws, listening to the wind howl past as he banked back toward the city. He explained when she told him the address that when people looked out the window as a dragon flew by, they would just swear they had seen a shadow and nothing more. He went on to say that the human mind had a penchant for coming up with plausible explanations when the improbable was encroaching into their reality. Ry just rolled her eyes at his text book explanation for it all. An hour ago, she would have said dragons were the stuff of fairy tales, or drug trips. But now, feeling him weave in and out of the streets of Manhattan like he was maneuvering his own personal air traffic, there was no denying this was real. But would she wake up tomorrow morning and laugh it off until the next time she turned her gaze up and could swear it was just a shadow passing by? Ry couldn’t wrap her mind around it, so she closed her eyes, feeling the bobbing and swaying of his cupped paws. It was almost like being on a gentle roller coaster ride. 

She was only jarred slightly when Ari was able to land on the roof of her apartment complex. She told him there was a rooftop access door. It was always left open for the tenants, despite the building superintendent complaining about it. Ari touched down and immediately shifted back into his human form. Ry felt herself begin to stumble backwards, but he caught her shoulders and steadied her. 

Ry stared up at him open mouthed. She had the strongest urge to kiss him and she didn’t know why. He looked like he was going to kiss her too, but he blinked a few times and shook his head. Ry felt the sting of rejection and tried to step back, but he held her shoulders tightly. Ry noticed the way Ari swayed toward her before he did, and she couldn’t help but to lick her lips. His eyes were glassy, and he shook his head again in disbelief. Ry looked around the rooftop. It wasn’t the first time she had been rejected by men, but the last time was before Rosie died. Now, she never took the time to notice men for more than what they might mean to her career. If they did notice her, she wasn’t aware of it.  

“So, umm, why don’t you come inside? We can get some bandages for you. I still think…” She gasped when she craned her neck around to look at the wound. It was almost completely healed. How was that possible? But then, she remembered. He wasn’t a human; his healing wasn’t normal. At least, not her version of normal. “It just looks like a scrape!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, I’m surprised it took this long to heal. But it was embedded in my skin for longer than I would have liked.” Ry’s fingers flexed as she reached out to touch it. She dropped her hand when she realized she was doing. 

“Well, do you want to come down for something to eat, or…” she trailed off. It took her a minute to realize she was stalling. She had not had time to process the attack, and wanted to put off the impending freak out for as long as possible. She knew better than to go down into the subway that late at night, but she had been trying to save money. 

“I should be getting home. I was supposed to check in with my brothers an hour ago and they will begin to wonder if I was attacked.”

“But you were attacked,” she argued. “Are you sure you don’t want to call them and let them know you are okay? Someone probably reported those two men by now.”

“Oh...those two,” Ari shrugged. Ry watched the way the muscles rippled in his shoulders and she was calmed by his strength. She found it comforting that he was a massive legendary beast who could have easily destroyed the two men who attacked her. “I meant the Serpentina,” he replied.

“The what?” There were more attackers? She knew there were shady people in the city, but if she chose to dwell on that fact, she would never leave her apartment. She knew the risks of her career; it required her to be out at night. She always carried a bag of pepper spray in her purse, but had gotten lazy as of late. She assumed that nothing would ever happen to her...until it did.

“The Serpentina are the females of our kind. They have turned vicious and attack us and our mates. My brothers will assume I was attacked by them.”

“Oh. And...your mate?” she asked hesitantly. She hadn’t even considered that he might be in a relationship. Perhaps that was why he had rejected her earlier.

“She was attacked a long time ago,” he said stiffly. Ry nodded and looked away. She should have known better. That was why he was so opposed to coming to her apartment.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pressured you to come…you should go check in with them and let her know you are okay.  I’m sure she worries every time you are gone.” She turned away but not before she noticed the look of confusion on his face. 

“What do you mean?” He grabbed her arm and she stopped. She had been making a hasty retreat towards the rooftop access door.

“Well you just said you have a mate. If it were me, I would worry every time you walked out the door. Especially if I were in her shoes and went through it all before.” she responded. She shook her arm loose and he seemed to collect himself.

“Ah. You misunderstand me. When the Serpentina attack, they prey on weaker beings. My mate was human...she didn’t survive.” Ry could see the pain on his face as he explained. So this was why he was so unhappy. She felt like a jerk for pushing him. She knew what it was like to lose someone special, even though it still felt impossible to talk about.

“Hey, I’m sorry.” She touched his arm and he flinched. 

“It is done and in the past,” he breezed. “My brothers Drakkaine, Scryos, and Crylaine believe the Serpentina are almost now defeated. But I think they are just laying low, regrouping until they can double their efforts to attack us.”

“I’m having a hard time coping with one attack tonight,” she admitted. “I don’t want to think about there being more dragons who are flying around ready to rip me to shreds.” Relief flooded her system after telling him her fears. She hadn’t intended to let him know how scared she really was, but their common bond made it easier to open up to him. 

Her words seemed to soften Ari, because he looked up at the sky and said, “you know what? I could use something to eat. It isn’t easy flying with a knife wound, and healing takes a lot out of you.” 

Ry smiled at him and turned back towards the door. She was desperately trying not to look below his waist. He was naked again, and the first thing she was going to do was offer him a towel when they got inside. She was relieved he was sticking around.

“Here. I don’t have any clothes that will fit you, but you can wrap up in this beach towel.” She had immediately gone to the hall closet where she had hung a bag from when she had gone to Coney Island the other day before a gig. She had left the towel in the bag and it smelled like suntan lotion and the sea, and she hoped he didn’t mind. He didn’t say anything but carefully wrapped it around his waist and followed her to the kitchen. She thought she caught a glimmer of red in his eyes before they turned to walk down the hall, but it might have just been a trick of the light. 

Ry dug into the fridge and retrieved some leftover beef stew from the night before.  Rosie used to tease her about cooking things over a hot stove on a hot day, but she enjoyed comfort food so much that the heat never bothered her.

“What are you thinking about?” Ari’s voice was soft right behind her.

“Huh? Oh, just cooking,” she replied. Maybe that wasn’t the whole truth, but she was not lying, either. Ari flashed her a look of concerned disbelief, but did not press her for details.

“I hope you don’t mind beef stew? It’s one of my favorites and I always make enough to feed an army.” She thought she saw his lips twitch, but he nodded. “What’s funny?” she asked as she ladled out two bowls and put the first in the microwave.

“Nothing,” he answered, but his smile grew. “It is perfect.”

“Oh, come on. I’m a comedian, remember? If there’s a good joke here, I want to know about it.” 

“I was just thinking about whether there was beef or lamb in the stew,” he shrugged.

“Well, I did say beef stew, didn’t I?” she furrowed her brow and grinned at him. The man was like a large dark shadow with his tan skin and black hair. Ari’s eyes were dark until they caught the light and then flashed with  flames that burned deep. But when he smiled, his intimidating aura melted away. 

“Yes, but I was thinking of human dragon lore,” he told her. “About how we supposedly attack farmer’s sheep all the time.”

“You don’t?”

“Well, not in a couple of centuries, no. There are tastier things to eat, like New Yorkers.” His lips twitched again as Ry laughed.

“That joke was clawsome.”

“You mean awesome?”

“Pun was intended.” They stared at one another, each daring the other not to let themselves laugh, despite the amount of silliness they were playing with.

The microwave beeped, Ry grabbed the bowl, and then quickly snatched her hand away. She was so lost staring in his eyes, wishing she could knock down both of their emotional walls and just let each other in that she forgot to grab a hot mitt before touching the bowl.

“Ouch!” She sucked her fingers into her mouth. In a flash, Ari was at her side. She could not fathom how he moved so quickly, but within seconds he  tugged her wrist, guiding her to the kitchen sink, and turned the cold water on. After she ran her fingers under the water, she was satisfied they wouldn’t blister. 

“Don’t touch that, it’s hot!” she cried when Ari let go of her hand under the water. It was impossible to focus with Ari so close. His presence dominated her kitchen. He was staring into her eyes, and she wished  she could see past the shadows in his eyes and know exactly what he was thinking. She was about to reach up and touch his cheek when he turned away and picked up the bowl from the microwave. Her heart skipped a beat thinking that he was about to scald himself, but he carefully set the bowl down on the counter and placed the second one in the microwave.

“Dragon, remember? If there’s something hot to be handled, I want to know about it.” 

It took Ry all of two seconds to throw back her head and laugh. He really was something. She couldn’t get a handle on this guy, dragon or not. He was so hot and cold, but when he was on fire with that buried sense of humor, she couldn’t deny she felt the heat down to her soul. 

The microwave beeped again and he placed the second bowl on the counter. He gestured to the first one. “That one will have cooled off a bit more. You should probably take it. I won’t be burned so easily.”

Ry nodded and retrieved spoons. She went around the counter and sat down, where she was accidentally  eye-level with his navel and the intriguing line of muscles that dipped below the towel. She was beginning to wonder what it would feel like to trace those lines with her fingers. They tingled in response, either from the heat of the bowl or desire. 

She glanced up, blushing when she realized she stared for so long, and she found Ari looking down at her with an intensity that mirrored her own. She looked back down at her stew, feeling heat inflame her cheeks as she dug in. They ate in relative silence as she fished for something to say. “So, do you prefer lamb over beef?”

The question seemed to surprise him, and he took another bite before answering. “I don’t mind one over the other. Siesha, my mate, she used to make stew with lamb. But I think that is because back in Europe, lamb was easier to come by.”

Ry nodded, not sure how to respond. She was not jealous; she did not mind that he felt comfortable talking about his mate with her. Ry was just anxious about being compared to someone else. “You haven’t had another woman in your life since she…” Ry trailed off. Ari shook his head.

“Two of my brothers have mates, and they are nice enough, but no. I have not.” 

Ry thought about this a moment. “Well, I have decided that you and I are going to be great friends. You can have women in your life in more than one capacity, and despite feeling like I owe you my life, I like you. I intend to be around a lot to hang out with you.” Ry almost giggled when Ari looked up. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. His eyes widened in surprise and then he looked mildly alarmed. 

“Here’s my phone.” She didn’t give him a chance to argue. “You should call your brothers and let them know you are okay. While you’re at it, you can add your own digits to my contacts so I can hit you up and we’ll hang.”

“...Hang?” 

“Yeah. You know. Like, hang out. Spend time together. Go to the movies, watch Netflix. What friends do.”

“Friends?” he repeated, vexed.

“Do you mean to tell me that you don’t have friends, either?”

“I have my brothers,” Ari reasoned.

“Oh man, the universe really is playing a joke on me. Alright, I got this.” Ry held out her fist, and he stared at it like it was going to turn into a weapon and attack him. “Fist bump,” she explained. He carefully balled his fist and looked hesitantly as she reached across the table and bumped fists with him. “Now blow it up.” She spread her palm open like her fist had just blown apart. He followed suit rather awkwardly, and she grinned at him again. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

“I don’t need my fist to blow things up,” he told her. “I have my breath for that.”

“This is true. But I kind of like my apartment the way it is, and if we’re going to hang watching t.v. and eating stupid amounts of junk food, you need to leave it like this and not in cinders.”

Ari nodded like it was the most serious thing she said all night, and she smirked behind a spoonful of stew. 

When they were done, she left the kitchen, giving him some privacy for his call. Her tactic had worked. She hadn’t given him a chance to say no to her proposition of friendship, and didn’t argue when she handed him the phone. He joined her in the living room and she patted the couch. He sat on the edge of it like he was immensely uncomfortable with his bare skin against the fabric.

“Everything okay?” She continued channel surfing and didn’t look in his direction.

“Yes. My brothers are relieved that I checked in. Here is your phone back.” He handed it to her and she set it on the armchair.

“Cool, so do you need to go, or are you good to watch t.v. for a little while?” she asked, glancing sideways at him. He continued to sit stiffly, leaning away from her.  “I don’t bite,” she promised. He glanced over at her and she smiled, causing him to relax a little. He sat back against the cushions.

“Scryos has gone out on patrol now that I have checked in, so I am good to watch t.v. What do you like to watch?”

“Cooking shows,” She confessed. It was how she relaxed after a gig. She always tried watching stand up sets on Comedy Central, but it ended up making her anxious for the next gig.

Ari nodded, and she settled in to watch a show about braised beef. If he minded, he didn’t let on. 

“Siesha was my best friend,” he blurted. Ry sat forward, hugging her knee she had brought up onto the couch. She stayed silent, watching his face as he spoke. “I didn’t know it was possible to have anyone else as a friend.”

She was trying to think of how to respond, but before she opened her mouth, Ari leaned over and kissed her. 

Chapter 3

Ari kissed Ry and couldn’t help but compare her to Siesha. He found Ry to be hesitant and shy, but he supposed that was because she was surprised. Siesha had kissed him like he was the oxygen she needed to breathe. Ry softened after a moment and he felt her leg drop from the couch as she leaned toward him. Ari was just about to pull away when he felt her hand splay across his chest, pinning him back. It was his turn to be shocked as she continued to advance. Her thigh slipped across his waist and the towel came loose as she slid across it. He raised his hands and gripped her waist. Her skin was so soft pressed against his as they continued their embrace. The kisses were becoming increasingly more confident and urgent. He couldn’t help the arousal he felt as his cock began to ache pressed between them.

His hands slid up her sides and groaned when he brushed against the soft swells of her breasts before letting his hands tangle in her hair. He could feel the heat of her pressed against him between her thighs. His head spun when she began to rock her hips back and forth on top of him, grinding her pelvis into his. It was maddening, and he had to grab her hips again when he felt himself being pushed toward orgasm. Ari broke off a kiss and stared into Ry’s eyes, holding her still. He saw a flicker of frustration on her face when he made her stop.

“What’s the matter?” she whimpered, and he opened his mouth to tell her this was wrong. They shouldn’t be doing this. She shouldn’t want him, because women didn’t find him attractive. If they did, he certainly hadn’t noticed it. He was broken, damaged. Why would anyone want him? Ari had no way of understanding the ways of women. He had been carefree in his youth, before he met Siesha. But he was not that person anymore. Ry was playing with fire by teasing him in such a way. 

Before he could respond and tell her to get up, that it wasn’t right for him to disgrace Siesha’s memory, Ry bit her lip which caused his own hips to twitch and thrust into the soft vee of her thighs. It was frustrating that her softness was being concealed by the rough fabric of her jeans. He wanted access to her, all of her, in that moment. Ry reached down between them to his exposed, throbbing flesh, and she wrapped her hands around his girth. The movement caused him to suck in his breath and grit his teeth. It felt so tantalizingly good when she started carefully stroking him up and down. All thoughts of a previous life were forgotten. All he could focus on was right then and there, that moment. 

When her palm rubbed up and over the head of him, he quickly grabbed her waist and stood up, forcing her to let go. She let out a surprised, “oh!” He dropped his face into her shoulder and stood there, with Ry hoisted in the air and her legs wrapped around his waist. He composed himself with a few steadying breaths. It had been so long since the last time he and Siesha had…but this wasn’t Siesha. There was a part of him telling himself how unfair it was to compare the two. But his body couldn’t understand that; it only knew that it had been far too long since his last release. 

He gritted his teeth as he thought about it, and the ache in his balls made him lightheaded. If she touched him again, he was sure to lose it, and he wanted this to last. He decided he was going to take his time and enjoy every erotic moment he could elicit with Ry. Then he would walk away. It wasn’t fair to her to become attached to him when he couldn’t give himself entirely over to her. Part of him had died along with Siesha, and he was afraid that Ry would want more than he could give. She deserved everything. It was best to give her one night and one night only, then disappear from her life. 

“Bedroom,” he whispered, and she pointed down the hall over his shoulder. 

He began walking with her wrapped around him. His cock pressed between her thighs.  The friction was making it difficult to navigate the hall, and as she cupped his face and continued to kiss him, he slowed down even more. He bumped into the walls, knocking a picture from it, but when he paused she turned his face back to hers.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll pick it up later.” He nodded and spied her bed, which was at the end of the hall through an open door. 

Ari made his way into the bedroom and carefully set her down on the edge of the bed.  He removed her hat and her red hair fanned out behind her. He carefully peeled off her vest and tossed it beside the hat which he had thrown onto a nearby chair. Her apartment was sparsely decorated from what little he had observed, but as her breathing continued to grow rapid, he only had eyes for her. His fingers trembled as he grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and slowly pulled it up and over her torso. She raised her arms and he watched her pupils dilate. Then, he finally looked down at her breasts which were peeking out over the top of a plain white bra. 

He had to close his eyes and concentrate on controlling himself for a moment. When he and his brothers came to the city, they were inundated with culture shock.  Women were a lot freer to express themselves and their bodies, and it had been a process to grow accustomed to, and accept, that freedom. Scyros had pointed out that their point of view could be considered sexist, but Drake had told him that they had come from a time and place which was used to women who were completely covered. They were now used to the changed trends, but Ari hadn’t been up close and ready to touch a woman in a long time.  Knowing he was about to caress her soft skin made his whole body shake with desire. He took a deep breath. 

He reached out his hand and lightly touched the swell of her right breast, just above the bra and he felt her twitch under his caress. He cupped her and gently squeezed her in his palm, and he had to grip the bedspread next to her waist to keep from reaching down, stroking himself, and coming against the side of her bed. She was so soft; softer than he had anticipated. He had forgotten what it was like. She sighed and he turned his attention to the other breast. He rubbed his thumb over her hardened nipples and she shivered as he brought his other hand up to cup her simultaneously. Her own hands wound their way into his hair as he leaned forward and began sucking one of her nipples through the fabric, causing the material to cling to her skin even more.

Ari pulled the straps of her bra down, freeing her from it. He sat back, admiring her breasts. She had freckles all over her torso and he enjoyed tracing his fingers from one to another, drawing little paths along her skin. 

Ry was getting impatient. She reached behind her and unhooked the bra, tossing it with the rest of her clothes. She was just about to reach down to her jeans, but he stopped her and rubbed the rasp of his stubble against her sensitive nipples, before capturing one of the buds between his lips. She gasped at the contact and squirmed as he gave the other nipple the same treatment.

“Ari, please!” she moaned. She reached forward and tried to touch him, but he moved his hips back. For now, he would focus solely on her pleasure..

Ari was quick to find the button on her jeans, and he didn’t waste time as he unzipped them and then slid them down over her hips along with her panties. When he had her completely naked, he sat back admiring the soft red curls between her thighs. He permitted a grin as he grasped both her ankles and pushed her legs up onto the bed, spreading her open in front of him. Ry propped herself up on her elbows, gazing down at him as he bent his head forward and slowly began teasing her with his tongue. She gripped the bedspread and let her head fall back, forgetting that she had previously been trying to take control.

Ari tilted his head to the side and nipped the inside of her thigh, causing her to jerk as he returned to teasing her. It wasn’t long before her body built itself up with the pressure of the intensity of his pleasure. He tasted her sweetness when her body quivered on the bed and orgasm overcame her.

Only when Ari was satisfied that he had elicited every last moan from her did he sit back and grasp himself. He rose quickly and knelt over her as he guided himself inside. She was so soft and wet that when his tip entered her, he couldn’t help the groan that escaped him as she angled her hips to give him better access. 

Ari pushed gently, not wanting to hurt her, but she wrapped her ankles around him and drew him in with her thighs.  When he was all the way inside her, he paused and leaned down, kissing her open mouth as she had gasped at the fullness of him. He only began to thrust when she used her thighs to rock her hips to indicate she wanted him to move. It was like being surrounded by silk and heat. 

Ari’s eyes closed as he let the sensations of moving in and out of her take over. He could feel her muscles squeezing around him. He couldn’t contain himself anymore when he heard her moan his name, “Ari.” He reached down between them and used the pad of his thumb to rub her to orgasm with him. When she seized up around him once again, he lost himself, burying himself to the hilt and fell over the edge. 

“Siesha!” he groaned, and it took him a minute to realize what he had said. Ari’s eyes flew open and he quickly backed off Ry. He hadn’t meant to say that. The guilt that washed over him was instant by the hurt look on Ry’s face. “Ry, I’m so sorry. I…”

“No. Don’t apologize. I get it.” She sat up and immediately grabbed a throw blanket that had been bunched up behind her. “I should have known, being the first woman who…”

“Riley, I’m sorry.  There is no excuse. I didn’t mean it, I just got lost. I’m so sorry.”  He stood in the middle of the room wanting to comfort her, but she looked so distant as she stared up at him like he was a stranger. But the fact was, they were strangers. He had no understanding of the depth of her thoughts or emotions. Perhaps he had been too hasty in succumbing to the desire he felt for her. It had been a lust born of denial, not a connection with this particular woman. At least, not to begin with. He shouldn’t have played with her emotions like that, especially knowing that his own were currently a maelstrom.

“Ry…” He ran one hand through his hair and the other he held out to her as she got off the bed. She ignored it and quickly began tugging her clothes back on.

“It’s ok, Ari. I get it, and I’m sorry for you that she is gone. I really am. But I think maybe you should go now.”

Ari waited another few moments and watched her as she dressed with her back to him, but quickly decided that pushing her any further was a bad idea. He turned and walked out of the room before he could make things worse. When he was halfway down the hall, he paused and looked at the picture he knocked over. It was of Ry with another woman. Their features were so similar they had to be twins. Ari wondered why, when he was talking about his brothers, Ry hadn’t mentioned her sister. He picked up the picture and hung it back on the wall. He straightened it, thinking it was the last kind thing he could do for her. He had stepped in on her behalf that night out of a sense of honor and kindness, and he was leaving with his head hung low, ashamed of the fact that he had dishonored her by entertaining the memory of another woman. 

Ari felt the only saving grace was that he would bow out quietly and never disturb her again. She wouldn’t have to look back on tonight, cringing and wondering if he was again thinking of someone else, because he had no intention of ever coming back.  He closed the door to her apartment softly so as not to wake the neighbors, and was filled with regret. He wanted to turn around and comfort her when he heard the sniffles coming from down the hall. She was amazing. He was the one who was eternally flawed and damaged.  He cursed the stars and the Cosmos when he finally made it to the roof and took off in flight headed for home. In a single moment, he destroyed his first chance at happiness in a long time. He truly believed he was destined for misery, and tonight’s screw up just confirmed it.

Chapter 4

Ry collapsed on her bed. How could she have been so stupid? She knew it wasn’t really Ari’s fault. She saw the pain on his face when he spoke of Siesha, so she knew how much this woman must have meant to him. If she really was the first woman to have been with him since Siesha was killed, then it was no wonder that Ari felt so strongly during sex. Ry could not deny that it still stung, though. Rosie would have told her she deserved better, but she didn’t think Ari was a bad guy. He was just dealing with some pretty heavy baggage. But she did still have some pride and dignity, so she could not get herself tangled in all of this. Until Ari was able to deal with his grief, so much so that he could be with a woman and not feel guilty about Siesha, she needed to stay away...or firmly place him in the friendzone.

Ry got up from the bed, dried her eyes, and then went to the bathroom.  She paused in the hallway as she walked past the picture of her and Rosie. The corner of the frame’s glass was cracked, which must have happened when they were making their way to the bedroom earlier. Ari had picked it up for her and put it back on the wall without noticing the crack. Ry made a mental note to go to the store and get a new piece of glass for it tomorrow. 

Ry figured that if Ari had wanted to, he could have come back and questioned her about having a twin sister, but he didn’t. There were a ton of reasons why Ari could have come back if he wanted to. He had said he was sorry several times, and she truly believed that he was. Maybe he would come back in the morning and they would talk it out and eventually laugh it off. Because laughter was key, right?

Ry stepped into the bathroom and plugged the tub. She began running the water for a hot bath, and took off the clothes that she had hastily pulled back on in the bedroom. When she sank down in the water, the warmth washed over her she imagined she was surrounded by Ari’s arms again. She couldn’t help herself. She felt so safe and protected with him, and after the night that she had, she desperately needed the solace that she had found in his arms. 

Ry wasn’t sure when reality merged with her unconscious thoughts, but she was having the strangest dream. She was in the subway. Out of the shadows, a pair of red eyes glowed back at her. They were different than Ari’s eyes; they were evil, vicious, and they were coming for her. In the pupils of the eyes were the shadows of the men who had attacked her, and they were walking through the dancing flames, trying to get out and attack her. Ry was screaming for help, and then more shadows whizzed past her. They were huge and monstrous, encompassing her entire field of vision. But she saw that one of the shadows was cloaked in white, and somehow she knew it had a name. What was that name? If only she could remember it, the evil red eyes would disappear. Ry stretched toward the shadow outlined in white. Its form was that of a mythical beast, one that was not supposed to exist, yet it somehow did. 

Ry knew that if she just touched the shadow she would be alright. She stretched forward, and when her fingertips reached the white, she was transported somewhere far from the reaches of the evil eyes. Flesh on flesh became her reality; lips and a strong body hovered over hers like a weighted shield. Whatever the white was, it was still there, surrounding the shield, protecting it...but what was its name? Ry felt the tremors in her body as her shield worked his magic over her. She climbed higher and higher and was just on the cusp of exploding into something beautiful when she began shrieking, “Siesha! Siesha!” She remembered her name.

Ry woke with a start and found herself in the tepid bath water. She climbed out and dried off, pulling a robe on her damp body. When she reached the kitchen, she squinted at the clock. Four forty-five a.m. She had only been asleep a few hours. Ry walked to the kitchen and brewed herself a cup of coffee. She was still reeling from her dream...or nightmare. She cupped the coffee mug in her hands. It warmed her and helped smooth the wrinkles in her fingers from lying in the water for so long. She decided to go up on the rooftop; her apartment suddenly seemed too small after having the enormity of a dragon in it. 

Just as Ry walked into the living room and pulled on her slippers to go up to the roof and watch the sunrise, she noticed her phone was still sitting on the arm of the couch. She clicked off the t.v., which was still on the Food Network, and picked up her cell. There were no new messages or texts. Then, she thumbed through her contacts, looking for Ari’s name. Despite asking for his number, he hadn’t left it in her phone. Hurt and dread washed over Ry once again. Had he known he was only going to use her once and then ditch her? Was that what last night was about? She felt so stupid and foolish at the idea of being tricked.

Ry tossed the phone down on the couch, disgusted with Ari and herself. She made her way out the door and down the hall to the access stairs. Ry was grateful no one else was sitting in the chairs that overlooked the city. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now. All she did with her life was talk to people. She told them jokes and made them laugh, yet there were so few who would take the time to reciprocate and try to make her smile. They just took advantage.

Ry hated when she got in sullen moods like this. It always made her life harder for the next gig. But with the night she had, she felt entitled to her bad mood.  Ari had just come in, used her for food, her phone, and sex. Anger surged inside of her and Ry jumped out of her chair. She took a deep breath and glanced out over the horizon. The way the sun was coming up, pink and gold hues sent tendrils of light between the buildings, causing shadows to play on the upper and lower levels of the city. Ry wondered if she would always stop and look at the shadows, wondering if the sky was full of dragons.Ry felt her heart beat faster as she finally turned away. She had a plan.

He had used her phone and that meant there would be an outgoing number in her call log. She was going to track that number, find him, march over there, and give him a piece of her mind. They were supposed to be friends, right? Well, maybe they shouldn’t have jumped the gun into friends with benefits, but everyone makes mistakes. Even though he was clearly hurting, there was no way he was going to get away with the bang and bounce routine.

Ry descended the steps into the apartment building and went to her bedroom, pulling on the clothes she was going to wear for that night’s gig. She quickly finished off her coffee and pulled her phone back out, now fueled by caffeine and the resolve to do what she was about to do.

She hit the redial button on her phone and after a few rings, a sleepy voice answered. It was deep and rough. She suddenly realized just how early it was. 

She bit her lip wondering if she should just hang up. “Hello?” the man said again.

“Uh, hi.” She was committed now. She had already woken the person whom Ari had called last night. “Ah, who’s this?” she asked.

“Well, since you are the one waking me up, I think it’s only fair that you should explain who you are first.” Whoever he was, she found it curious that his tone was annoyed and amused at the same time. .

“My name is Ry,” she said, and cleared her throat. “Riley.”

“Do you have a last name, Riley?” he countered.

“Yes, but it isn’t important. Who are you?”

“According to my…” she was sure he was going to say mate, but instead he said, “girlfriend, last names are very important.” 

“Well, you have a very wise mate,” she mused. She waited to see how he would react to her word choice. After a moment, he laughed softly.

“Yes, she is indeed. My name is Drake. How may I help you, Ry?”

“I was just wondering if Ari was home. Umm, Arrlien? He called this number on my phone last night, but he didn’t leave me with his last name, or tell me how to get in touch with him. He said he has brothers, you, Scyros, and a man named Crylaine. I am assuming based on the way he talks about you all, he lives there with you?”

“Indeed, he does. Might I ask how have you come to know our Ari, Riley?” He sounded bewildered, like he never expected his brother’s name to come up in conjunction with a woman.

“He saved my life last night in the subway. I was hoping to stop by today and say thank you,” she lied. Then, she launched into her story before she could stop herself. When she realized she was babbling, she stopped abruptly.

“Really? How very interesting. Well, you are more than welcome to stop by. Scyros just got home and Laine is just getting up. But I suspect even after just going to bed, Ari will be happy to see you.” He gave her the address, and she told him she would pick up breakfast on her way over as a thank you and apology for the early hour. 

“Ah don’t mind the hour, Ry. It’s all in a New York minute, is it not? This is a city that never sleeps, anyway.” 

Ry chuckled, and they hung up the phone. She was quick to grab her purse and head out the door. It wasn’t until she paid the baker and walked out of the store that she took a moment to wonder what in the world she was doing. She didn’t know these people, and they certainly didn’t know her. Yet, Drake seemed so keen on eliciting every detail from her about who she was and what relation she had with Ari. She told him about the attack in the subway, and about coming home with him to feed him. She left out the part where he flew her home as a dragon and that they had sex. She figured that there were some things one simply didn’t disclose to a complete stranger, especially over the phone. 

Her steps faltered as she cut through Central Park. She had chosen one of the main pathways that was already starting to show signs of life from early morning joggers. She felt more secure that way, and in addition to the bag of bagels she held in one hand, she had fished her pepper spray out of her purse. She would never let herself be as unprepared as she was last night. Ry felt the heaviness of fatigue as she recalled the events of the last few hours. She had barely slept since the whole ordeal. She wasn’t sure that she was thinking clearly. She should be home, resting for a few more hours before her set that night.

Standing still, Ry tried to make a decision. She looked down at her phone. Dragons were expecting bagels for breakfast now, and it felt rude to keep them waiting. Especially since she had woken one up and made a promise. Ry took a step toward her destination, and then another, and then she sighed and resigned herself to see this through. At the very least she would be able to speak her mind to Ari. Then, if need be, she could turn around, walk away, and never look back. But she truly hoped it didn’t come to that. She liked him for reasons she hadn’t quite figured out yet. She had the strangest sense that under all the sorrow, there was kind, genuine, funny man. She wondered if she could bring that out in him again. As a friend, of course. 

She stared across the street at a large brownstone townhouse. There was a wrought iron fence adorned with flowers and ivy that stood in front of the walkway, and a white, crushed stone path leading to the front door. Ry crossed the street and pushed through the fence. She climbed the steps, caught her breath, and gathered the courage to knock. As she reached for the brass knocker handle, the door swung open and an elderly man in a suit and tie opened the door for her.

“Uh, hi!” she said brightly. Probably a little too brightly since it was so early, but her nerves were getting the best of her.

“Good morning, Ms. Riley. Drake said we should be expecting you. Do come in.” The man stepped aside and held the door for her. She stepped in the foyer and was greeted by an opulent set of stairs and a sitting room to the left. In between the two was a long hallway and the man gestured for her to walk with him. She glanced around, noticing there weren’t any photos of loved ones hanging on the walls and wondered why dragons don’t take pictures.

“Because they wouldn’t fit inside the frames,” the gentleman said quietly next to her. He was smiling, and his dark hair and skin was hidden in shadow, but she could tell he had caught her looking and guessed what she might be thinking. Ry couldn’t help the giggle that escaped, either because she was so exhausted, anxious, or both. The gentleman took the bag of bagels from her and gingerly set them on the counter when they pushed through into the kitchen. Several people were already sitting at the kitchen table. The gentleman looked at the bagels with mild disdain and Ry wondered if she had somehow insulted him by bringing them. She was hit with the aroma of coffee and freshly cooked bacon that made her mouth water, but her stomach forgot all about that when she grew even more nervous under the gaze of three massive men. They were so close in resemblance that they had to all be brothers. Two women also sat at the table, chatting lightly with one another. 

One of the women rose and walked over to her, and the man sitting next to her followed. He was by far the largest, and she guessed he must be Drake.

“Morning,” Ry greeted, and stuck her hand out.

“Good morning,” the woman smiled and met the handshake. “I’m Claire, and this is my mate, Drake. He tells us you are aware of the family dynamic?”

“Yeah. I guess so,” Ry replied, shrugging. The closer Drake got, the more she felt like pulling out her pepper spray. He was huge, and although he was smiling, he was still intimidating. 

“Good morning, Ry,” Drake said. “I must say, we were all surprised when you said you are acquainted with our Ari. We are intrigued to hear the whole story of how the two of you met, and he came to tell you that we are dragons.”

“Sure. That’d be...great.” For once, Ry didn’t want to be in the spotlight as she shook his hand and looked around at his brothers. Where was Ari? Was he still sleeping? She broke in a cold sweat, realizing she probably should not have come. This was a mistake; she was messing with people’s lives and secrets. “I brought the bagels.” She gestured over her shoulder where the man who had greeted her at the door was slicing and toasting them.

“Thank you, that is ever so kind. The way to a dragon’s heart is…”

“Let me guess, through his stomach?”

“Precisely.”

“Isn’t the saying ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’?”

“Well yes, but dragons eat men too, so…”

“Drake, honestly!” Claire slapped him on the arm as the whole table began to laugh.

“I don’t know, my guess is you have a particular flavor, unlike a New York everything bagel. Some dragons might like the lean ones, some like them with some extra fat on them. I suppose humans are like steaks for you.” Ry couldn’t help but wring her hands together with the pepper spray between them. In the blink of an eye, the entire room was laughing at her joke. It helped put her at ease a little. She had been so nervous she thought she was going to be sick, now she felt a little better to be included with the joke.

“When I asked Ari about you briefly, he didn’t give me many details. He never said you were a comedian.” Drake was still chuckling.

“Actually, I am. I do standup comedy.”

“Really? That’s fascinating. Come sit and tell us all about it while we wait for Corey to finish breakfast.” 

Ry turned to Corey, prepared to offer help with the bagels but the look he gave her when she looked between he bagels and the knife quelled her thought to do so. He must be the kind of butler who thrived on serving others and taking care of the family. 

Ry walked up to the table and slipped the pepper spray into her pocket as she was introduced to Laine, Jennifer, and Scyros. She heard a familiar voice behind her coming from the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” Ry turned and looked at the disheveled Ari standing in plaid sleep pants and a white t-shirt. He looked as sexy as he had the night before in his leather and jeans, and she even found this look of vulnerability even more erotic.

“Good morning, Ari. You don’t call, you don’t write. What’s a girl going to think after a night like that without any way to get in touch with you? Friends don’t walk out on friends, right?”

Chapter 5

Ari stood dumb struck in the doorway as he took in the sight of Ry and his family together. Never in a million years had he guessed he would see her again; especially not here. He hadn’t given her any way to get in touch with him, or told her where he lived. How had she figured it out?

“You kicked me out, remember?” He did not mean to blurt that out, but it just came out.

“True. But to be fair, I had a pretty valid reason to be upset.” She dropped her hands to her sides after shrugging. Ry looked everywhere around the kitchen, avoiding eye contact. Ari was keenly aware of his brothers and their mates staring at them with rapt attention. He wished they would clear out.

“Do you all mind giving us some privacy?” he said through gritted teeth.

“Oh. I’m sorry Lord Arrlien, but breakfast is ready. It’s going to get cold. Please do have a seat.” Ari sighed deeply. Corey had the worst timing ever. 

Ari moved stiffly across the room, passing Ry on his way. He inhaled the scent of her; she smelled clean, and of lilac. He didn’t say anything as he passed, but he couldn’t help but to close his eyes and recall the memory from last night. 

“Ari, aren’t you going to ask your friend to join us?” Drake’s voice was low, but he knew not to push it. 

“There’s food,” he called coldly over his shoulder at Ry. Why was he being so rude? Was it because she was here at all? . 

“Gee, thanks,” she muttered. She had brought bagels. If there as one thing Ari loved about the city, it was the unique New York food, and that included a New York bagel. Ari slumped down next to Scyros. Between the bagels and the drama unfolding in front of him, he looked like Christmas had come early. Ari was aware when Ry sat next to him stiffly, and he reached forward for a bagel, not looking at her.

“So, Ari. Riley here was just telling us how the two of you met. From what I can gather, it doesn’t seem like the two of you parted ways on the best of terms. Perhaps a good meal and family who loves you will help the two of you work through it.” Crylaine was so reasonable, sometimes it made Ari want to punch him. He glared around at his brothers and then turned his attention to his breakfast, not looking at Ry.

“Oh thanks so much!” Ry replied brightly. His stomach sank when he looked directly at her and saw  the look of pure vindication that was plastered on her face. She took a deep breath and pressed on. “Ari saved my life down in the subway, for which I am eternally grateful. I told you so on the phone, Drake. He flew me to the Statue of Liberty, where he was ever so patient as I digested the information that dragons are real. Then, of course, he took me home. I fed him stew, we had a few good laughs, and then we made love in my bedroom. Now, I’m sure you are all wondering: I assure you, I have only the best interests in mind regarding your brother. I was a bit perplexed when he called out the name of his former mate in the throes of passion. But then I realized my mistake being so hasty and taking him to bed in the first place. I think with all of the excitement of last night that I...forgot myself. Kind of like I am doing right now, but I’m an over-sharer. Comes with the job description, I guess,” she said, and after a brief pause, continued. “Regardless, my intentions were for friendship. I mistakenly decided to express my thanks in a way that probably wasn’t appropriate for first time friends. That’s why I came here today. I wanted to apologize to Ari for the mistake and remind him that he forgot to put his phone number in my phone. I was going to text him this morning and tell him he is welcome to come to see my set tonight down in The Village.”

When Ry finally stopped talking, there was complete silence in the kitchen. Not a person moved, and Ari’s bagel was frozen halfway to his mouth. Had she really just confessed all of that in front of his entire family? Was she completely insane?

Ari accidentally expressed the last question aloud and Ry responded softly, “perhaps not as insane as a man who uses a woman for solace and then leaves, thinking that would be totally fine with her.”

“You told me to leave!” He burst out. He dropped his bagel on his plate, not caring that his brothers and their mates were watching.

“I did, but again, I had good reason to. You weren’t completely up front with me about Siesha, were you?”

Ari fished around for a rebuttal. She wasn’t wrong, but she was challenging him in a way that made him defensive. “Well…you didn’t tell me about your sister,” he countered. He instantly regretted it, given the hurt look on her face. He hadn’t meant to bring up a touchy subject, and now they were both spilling secrets and digging themselves into the trenches.

“Oh, you have a sister? What’s her name?” Claire was trying to be helpful by breaking the tension, but she was only making it worse. Ry closed her eyes.

“Rosalind.”

“What a lovely name, what does Rosalind do?” Claire responded, and both Ari and Ry wished she would stop.

“Nothing,” she replied. “She’s dead.”

“Oh. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean…” Claire stammered.

“It’s okay,” Ry said, loosening up slightly. “You didn’t know. It was a hit and run that was never solved, so I don’t like to talk about it. But anyway, I can see I’ve caused enough issues around here. I hate to hit and run myself, but I think it’s best if I just go. Ari, Drake has my number if you feel like showing up tonight. I meant it about being friends.”

So that’s how she found him. She must have redialed Drake this morning from her outgoing calls from last night. Ari glared at Drake, and Drake’s face remained passive. He was going to strangle one of his brothers. Laine looked shocked and Scyros looked like he was going to wet his pants with excitement as his head bobbed between the two of them.

Ry stood, and so did Ari. “Don’t worry, it’s daytime. No bad guys to grab me in the subway.” She waved a hand at him, grabbing her bagel. “It was nice to meet you all!” she called over her shoulder as she practically ran from the room. Ari could swear he saw the glistening formation of tears in her eyes as she left.  He was such an ass. All she was trying to do was smooth things over, and he had only made it worse. They were now both sitting in a pile of guilt, and he had no idea how to wade through it. Ari looked around at his family, who sat with open mouths. Even Corey looked astounded. 

He wasn’t sure who to answer first when the cacophony of sounds and questions echoed through the kitchen. Ari shrugged and grunted through most of it. The women berated him, and his brothers asked if he was okay, and if they needed to go protect Ry. Ari wasn’t sure what to do, so he sat there eating breakfast like the freakish beast of nature that he was. He could not believe he treated her so poorly. The only thing he was sure of was that he understood the comedy she used as a protective shield. She hid her pain behind her smile and her humor. He could understand that and empathized with her. 

Ari wondered how he might make it up to her. She had looked so hurt when he called her out on keeping her sister from him. What right did he have to cause her any more pain? He needed to make this right. He was honor-bound to protect her, and he had caused her more pain than perhaps the two attackers had last night. 

“I need her number,” he blurted out.

“Why should he give it to you?” Jennifer glared at him. “So you can treat her like crap again, embarrass her? I don’t blame her for doing what she did.”

“Jennifer,” Laine said softly. Ari thought she had a point, but Laine explained. “I think neither one of them really thought it through last night. When dragons mate, it is supposedly for life. I don’t think Ari meant to hurt her. But he has suffered like none of the rest of us have.”

“Thanks Laine, but Jennifer is right. I didn’t mean act that way, I just got defensive. I didn’t know what to say. I need to make it right though, so she will see that…I don’t know. So she will see that I want to be her friend.” He sat back against his chair, suddenly not hungry.

“Hmph.” Jennifer slumped back in her own seat. While he did not blame her, he was still grateful that Laine had come to his defense. He was rising from his chair when he heard Corey clear his throat.

“Lord Arrlien, might I have a private word?” Ari nodded and followed the older man out of the kitchen. When he told Ari his plan and his thoughts about the situation, Ari felt a flicker of hope in his chest. There might be a way to salvage this mess after all. If he could pull it off, Ry just might forgive him for all of his previous screw ups. He got her number from Drake without hesitation. His older brother had that annoying know-it-all smirk on his face that Ari and his brothers both loved and loathed. It meant he was feeling superior, like he knew something about fate that the rest of them didn’t.

Ari bounded up the steps to his bedroom and flopped on his bed. He carefully typed out a text and hit send, then spent the next half hour going out of his mind wondering if she was going to respond. When he couldn’t stand the wait any longer, Ari got up to take a shower.

While he was lathering himself up, he heard his phone ping from his bedroom. He all but ripped the shower curtain down as he stumbled out of the bathroom, slipping on the tiles in a mad dash to read the message. She responded with the name of the venue and the time of her gig, and that was all. He responded that he would see her later, and then returned to his shower to rinse the soap off. He was busy mopping up the standing water on the floor and carpet when a light knock on his door sounded. He answered it, having fully dressed for the day. He was too wired to try and rest any longer. So, when Corey handed over what he needed, he spent the rest of the day pouring through everything he asked for to prepare for the night ahead. 

He was determined to fix things with Ry, no matter how long it took. Whether he felt the urge to mate with her or not was irrelevant. He had not felt this way about someone in a very, very long time. Ari wanted to feel that happiness again, and if it meant watching t.v. shows that made him hungry and grumpy, then he would watch a gazillion of them. Ari spent the day locked away in his room, anxious for that night to roll around. He felt marginally better about his chances when another knock sounded on his bedroom door. He answered it and found all three of his brothers standing there, offering to help. That would increase his chances of succeeding exponentially. 

Chapter 6

Ry didn’t really expect to see Ari that night at her show, even though he had texted. When she saw his message come through, she shrugged it off thinking it was probably one of his brothers or their mates who insisted that he text her out of pity. Ry spent the day looking through old photos of Rosie and their family when she was growing up, rather than preparing for that night’s gig the way she should have. She supposed she could pull out some of her older jokes, but they never landed a comedian in the spotlight. Truthfully, she just wasn’t in a joking mood.

Ry traced the outline of Rosie in one of the pictures she held. It was the two of them playing jump rope in Central Park. They tied two ropes together and tied one end to a tree. They held the other side and took turns being the skipper and the other the swinger. She hadn’t realized how much she missed having someone to jump rope with now that there wasn’t anyone to anchor the rope to the tree and swing it for her. 

Ry smiled wryly at her own metaphor. She needed someone to tie and anchor to the world. She desperately hoped it would be Ari. She recognized the pain in him, and she thought they could commiserate. But as the saying goes, misery loves company, and Ry should have known better. She wished that they could help each other out of their ruts, rather than bring out sadness and bitterness common between them. Ry glanced at the photo again and wondered why she had been so drawn to this one. She realized the spot they played so many years ago was only a few hundred feet from Ari’s brownstone; talk about a coincidence. But he said himself he had a home in the Hudson Valley, and before that he was in Europe. So she supposed he hadn’t been living there when she played with her sister.

She suddenly began wondering about Siesha. Who was she? Was she pretty? What were her hobbies? Did she make Ari smile? The last question seemed the most important, somehow. It was important to make people smile. Ry snorted at the irony as she looked down at her blank notebook. She hadn’t written down a single joke all day, until an idea hit her. She set the picture of her sister aside and picked up her pen. After about an hour, she had so much material she would have to cut some of it. 

Ry worked on the material for another hour, before finally succumbing to the heaviness of her eyelids. She set her notebook down and went to her bedroom. She climbed into bed and set the picture of her sister on the pillow beside her, and then she balled up the towel Ari had used the night before and buried her nose in it. It smelled like suntan lotion and the sea, and now the scent of Ari’s skin. Ry fell asleep with the towel clutched to her chest, imagining it was him she was holding. 

When she awoke and got ready for the gig, Ry was in a much better mood.  Whether Ari showed up or not was weighing on her mind, but she was confident about her material and ready for the audience.

Ry hopped on the bus down to The Village and walked into Joe’s Comedy and Cigar Club.  She looked around at the crowd began to question her act. Most of the people here were men who had just gotten off work. There were business suits and ties everywhere, and she worried whether or not  this crowd would be receptive to her material. Ry went around to the side of the stage and climbed the steps, anxious to start her set and see if she could work the dynamic of the crowd into her act to engage with them specifically. 

“Hey guys, how’s it going tonight?” Ry only received a few half-hearted responses. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Long day, huh?” Again, completely non-committal grunts. “So, I’m willing to bet, based on the suit and ties, most of you work for the man, right? You slay the corporate beast everyday?” Ry didn’t wait for their responses, if there were any.

“So, I’m going to talk to you tonight about that beast, that monster. You see, I could come crashing up onto this stage like a dragon with its tail on fire, and most of you are too tired to really care. That’s fine, that’s okay with me. Because I am willing to bet after a long day at work, fighting the mountains of paperwork, customer and client complaints, wants, and needs, the last thing you want is another comedian joking about things you hear about every single day. Stuff like the weather, or the news, or some political crack that is a feebly disguised joke about my own personal views. Nah, I’m going to talk to you about the beast. Let’s face it, you’re all knights in shining armor in your own way. The pen is mightier than the sword and all that, right? None of us really take the time to consider that maybe the beast really is alive. Maybe it has a name. Some of us might call it monster, beast, or even a dragon. So let’s focus on that, since you’re all so good at slaying the dragon every day. You all look bummed out, let’s try and cheer you up. What do you do with a blue dragon?”  Ry waited for a moment then replied to her own joke. “You try to cheer her up!” She wasn’t surprised when no one laughed, but she wasn’t deterred. 

“Alright, alright. I can see my knights are tired out. Besides, we all know dragons are massive black monstrosities from hell who are brought down upon us to make our lives miserable and breath fire down our necks.”

“Sounds like my supervisor!” someone yelled from the back of the room. Ry let herself laugh. She was genuinely pleased she had captured the attention of at least one person. It also earned her a few chuckles from the rest of the crowd.

“Must be dreadful, huh? Makes a man come into a place like this, have a glass of whisky and a cigar. So, tell me guys, why did the dinosaurs live longer than the dragons?” No one said a word, and then the same voice came from the back of the crowd.

“Because the dinosaurs didn’t smoke!” Ry squinted against the stage lights and she still couldn’t make out who was back there. Whoever it was, she was grateful for them. That joke earned a slight cheer from the crowd as they raised their glasses and then each took a drag from their cigars. Ry chuckled and walked across the stage. 

“True, very true. So, we’re all getting a bit warmed up now, huh? I mean, not fire-breathing warm, but I was worried I’d be dragon my feet back and forth across this stage all night trying to entertain you guys.” 

There was a chuckle of amusement now. They crowd was starting to be on her side. Ry continued on, occasionally receiving comments from the person in the back. By the end of the night, her dragon themed jokes had the whole crowd in stitches as she moved from one to another, forgetting that her gig was almost over. She was glad she hadn’t decided to ditch the themed act for the basic one she had as a backup. 

After her set, she had almost forgotten her disappointment that Ari hadn’t shown up, when a man approached her. He was tall, thin, and older. He wore a business suit like everyone else there and he held out a card to her. When Ry glanced down, she had to do a double take. He was a talent agent.

“I liked your act, young lady. It was fresh and sweet, but it worked well for this crowd. Tells me you know how to read people and get through to them to make them laugh. I would like it if you came down to my office and we can talk more about getting you some more gigs around town. What do you say?” He held out his hand, and Ry took it. 

“Thanks, Mr. Peasey. I would love to. When do you want me to come down?”

“How about Tuesday at ten?” he suggested. Ry beamed at him and said she would be there. This was what she had been waiting for. Her chance had come at last! She was so happy she spun in a circle laughing after Mr. Peasey left, and she accidently bumped into a bar stool. Ry tripped and stumbled, and then felt the strong hands of someone catch her before she fell. She caught the scent of the man holding her, and her body instantly responded.

“Ari,” she said breathlessly as she looked up into his face. He had come to see her.  “The gig is over,” she blurted, trying not to sound hurt that he had missed it.

“I know. You were fantastic, and I saw you talking to that guy. Agent?” he asked softly. 

She nodded, shocked that he had actually been there. Most people she invited to her shows sat in the front, encouraging her. Then she thought about it a minute.

“Thank you for your help with the jokes,” she said, feeling a little embarrassed. Her whole act came about because she had met him. He could be mad that she had practically outed dragons in her pun infused act.

“I thought they were adorable. You did an amazing job catching the crowd.”

“Well, I suppose I have you to thank for that,” she confessed. She walked up to the bar and picked up her check. Then she met Ari, who stood in the back waiting for her. “So, umm. On patrol tonight?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

“Sort of. I came down because I wanted to apologize for this morning, last night again, and...well, sort of everything.”

“I told you, I get it. It definitely hurt a little, but I get it. I never want to talk to anyone about my sister. But I get how it hurts so much that the pain sometimes it just slips out.”

“Well, as a friend, if you ever do want to talk about it…” Ari rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Thanks,” she said, really meaning it. “I’m sorry about this morning, too. I shouldn’t have dumped on you and your family like that, it wasn’t fair. Were they really upset?”

“With me, yes. I shouldn’t have treated you so poorly. We are better at hospitality then that, and I dropped the ball big time.”

“So, tell me, how many balls of fire have you dropped lately, ‘cause in terms of women, that was a pretty hot one to drop.” She nudged his shoulder as they stepped out onto the street and for the first time, he tipped his head back and laughed. Its deep baritone was like music to her ears. 

“Yeah, I know, pretty corny. I have about another hour of material that I couldn’t use tonight. They only pay me for an hour.”

“Oh yeah? What else you got? I guarantee that when you throw barbs with a dragon, nothing hits as hard as our own.”

“Jokes, or barbs?” she grinned.

“Bring it on, Ry.” They started walking and trading jokes, and Ry found herself warming to Ari every time she made him laugh. It had a soothing, calming effect on her. She hadn’t laughed like that since Rosie was alive. Not genuinely, anyway. But he brought it out in her as easily as slicing through butter. 

Ry wasn’t really sure where they were going until they were walking through the theater district. She found herself staring at the cross streets where Rosie was killed, and she had no idea why her feet had taken her all the way there. It was as if she had been in a trance. Instead of heading home, she paused, staring at the place where it had happened.

“What’s the matter?” Ari asked softly. She blinked, looking up at him. For the briefest moment, she imagined she saw a white light glowing around him. She opened her mouth to explain why she had led him here instead of back to her apartment when the scene with the paramedics trying to revive her sister flashed in Ry’s mind. The intersection was a busy one, so there was no memorial or placard for Rosie. It looked just like every other corner in the city. Rosie deserved something so much better than this. She needed flower beds, photographs, and beauty as a reminder of her time on Earth. But Ry could not even afford to bury her; Rosies ashes were on her mantle behind a vase. She still could not get herself to look at the urn.

“This is where it happened. This is where I lost my Rosie,” she explained. She wasn’t sure why, but she launched into the explanation of it all. Before she knew it, Ari pulled her close as she cried. She did not know how much time passed in his arms, telling him everything she could remember about Rosie, the accident, and the aftermath. Even in the middle of the night, tourists passed them, staring and gawking at the woman having the breakdown in the street. Ry couldn’t bring herself to care. All that mattered was someone was finally here with her, looking out for her so she could grieve properly. When she was done crying, she rubbed at her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I know you have your own grief.”

“Hey, you pointed it out earlier, what are friends for, right?”

She chuckled. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that too. Can you forgive me?”

He looked surprised. “I was the one being the jerk this morning.”

“I think we both were.”

“Alright, we’ll call it a draw,” he reasoned. “I forgive you and you can forgive me, whenever you like or not. Speaking of that: I know I still have to make up for last night, but can I ask you a favor?”

Ry looked at him, puzzled but nodded.

“Will you fly with me tonight?” 

Chapter 7

After Ry agreed to go with him, Ari led her to an alleyway and checked to make sure it was clear before he stripped and changed. He kept an eye out, deep in the shadows as he squatted. Once he was in his dragon form, she climbed up, situating herself between two of his ridges. He craned his neck around to look at her once she was on board, and after a running leap, he took flight. He sailed straight up so that he wouldn’t catch the attention of any tourists who were enjoying the night life of the city, and then once he had gained momentum and speed, he swooped back down between the high rises, making his way down 7^th Avenue. He showed Ry the sights of the city at a break next speed that looked mostly like a kaleidoscope of colors to her. He could just barely feel Ry up on his back. When he looked back at her, Ry was smiling wider than he had ever seen. Ari thought she was the most beautiful sight in all of New York.
      Around dawn, Ari landed on Ry’s rooftop. He needed to shift before he ran the risk of being spotted in the daylight. In his human form, he dressed quickly and flashed a smile at Ry.
      She grinned back at him and said, “that was fun. Were you trying to count all the taxis in New York?”
      “Something like that,” he replied. “I should be going. I’ve kept you up all night, and I’m sure you have another gig to prepare for tonight.”
      “Actually, I don’t. I have the night off.”
      “Really?”
      “Yeah, Monday’s are usually pretty slow. Everyone just wants to go home after work, eat dinner, drink beers, and binge t.v.”
      “Fascinating. Would you want to go for another ride, then?”
      “Really?” she asked, surprised. “Sure, that would be fun. Think you can beat your total from last night?” She walked toward the roof door, opened it, and gestured with her head.  “Coffee?”
      He smiled and sauntered over. Coffee sounded nice, and then he could walk home rather than fly. They made their way downstairs and she brewed coffee for the two of them. They chatted on the couch for a while. He told her all about his home in the Hudson Valley, and Ry told him about how her mom had died during her sophomore year of college. She skipped over most of the stuff about Rosie, but then she asked a peculiar question.
      “Have you ever jump roped?”
      “Huh?” he asked.
      “You know, like skipping rope, jump rope?”
      “I don’t know what that is,” he confessed. Her whole face brightened. 
      “We need to teach you!” She got up, placed her coffee on the counter, and disappeared into her hall closet. When she came back, she was holding a long segment of rope. He frowned. There was no way that rope was secure enough to use for climbing, if that is what jump rope entailed.  
      Ry started tugging on his arm. “Come on.” He rose and followed her out the door of her apartment. They made their way to Central Park close to his house, and she stopped in the copse of trees he and his brothers used to shift to dragon form without being seen. She tied the rope to a tree on one end, held the other by the faded plastic handle, and began swinging it up and down in a wide arc. “See, you swing it like this. Can you do that?”

It was easy enough, and he mirrored Ry’s motions and speed. She stepped away and watched the rope swing up and down. Her head bobbed, like she was counting the swings. When the rope had just passed her and was coming down on the far side, she jumped in. Her red hair bounced on her back, catching the sunlight. Ari watched in amazement as she tried and failed numerous times before getting the hang of it. “It’s been so long since I’ve jump roped,” she confessed.
      “You do it very well, it must be fun,” he admitted. He had never seen this game before, and found himself captivated the way she closed her eyes and didn’t need to watch the rope as she became accustomed to his timing. The sunlight filtered through the trees and dappled her face like her freckles, and she laughed in sheer joy. It was one of those moments that he would capture in his memory for the rest of his life, however long eternity might be. As if she could sense him watching her, she jumped out of the motion of the circuit and stared at him with dilated eyes.
      “The white light. It’s all around you, you know,” she said quietly. It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. When he realized, he stopped swinging.
      “How do you know?” he whispered.
      “Because...it is my job to see people’s happiness,” she explained. “She made you happy. I’m sure of that.”
      Ari didn’t know what to say. It felt like she was acknowledging Siesha’s presence in his life and forgiving him for his slip up from the night before at the same time. Siesha was a part of his life; his happiness. She always would be. But as Ari stood there, watching this woman understand a part of his soul that he hadn’t wanted to share with anyone in a long time, he felt like it was possible for someone else to be a part of that happiness, too. 
      Ry walked over to him, took the plastic handle from his hand, and began swinging.  “Now you try,” she murmured. Ari wanted to bend over and kiss her, but he did not want to cross a line too soon. He had no doubt he was taking her to his bed again, the question was when. He didn’t want to ruin it the second time around, so he forced himself to turn and prepare to jump in. Because of his dragon senses, his eyesight was good enough that he knew the exact time to jump into the cadence. He suddenly understood her delight with the game.
      With every hop, it felt like he was flying and letting go of some piece of sadness within himself. Ari couldn’t help but laugh when he became tangled in the rope. They both collapsed on the ground laughing and giggling uncontrollably. Ari assumed it was due to fatigue on both of their parts, and when he looked over at her a few moments later, Ry had fallen asleep in the crook of his arm as they lay there on the grass looking up at the sky.
      He carefully cradled her head and picked her up. She murmured into his shirt as he moved, but when he glanced down, her fist was bunched in his t-shirt and she was still sound asleep. 
      Ari made his way across the street and mouthed a thank you to Corey, who opened the door for him. Corey seemed to take up a post next to the door every morning, waiting for them all to come home. Ari trudged up the stairs and strode into his room. When he tried to lay her down on his bed, she didn’t want to let go of his t-shirt. He tugged it over his head and she rolled onto her side, hugging the shirt.
      Ari smiled as he stared down at her. He felt her words touch him again and he reached over to tuck a stray strand of red hair behind her ear. 
      “The happiness surrounds you too, Ry,” he murmured. She turned her face towards him and he cupped her cheek.
      After a moment, he went and shut his bedroom door where Scyros was loitering. Then he climbed into bed, gathered Ry in his arms, and let himself fall sound asleep.
      It was the first time Ari didn’t have nightmares about Siesha’s death. When he woke, he wasn’t sure if it was because Ry was there with him, staring up at him with her sleepy groggy eyes, or because he was happy enough to finally let the memory of Siesha rest.
      “Good morning,” he said.
      “Don’t you mean good afternoon?” she asked.
      “Mhmm. Either way, it is good,” he admitted. She smiled up at him. “We left your jump rope in the park,” he realized. He was about to get up and go get it when she put a hand on his chest.
      “It’s okay. It’s been sitting in the closet collecting dust for a long time now. Let some kids who find it play with it.” 
      “That’s very kind of you,” he noted. 
      “Thanks. How often do we as adults take the time to go outside and play anymore, right?” 
      “You are an exceptionally kind woman,” he murmured, staring up into her eyes. 
      Ry smiled and ducked her head under the covers. Ari was about to say something, tell her this wasn’t necessary, but she pressed a finger to his lips and said, “shh. It’s alright.”
      Ari’s eyes rolled into the back of his head when she reached down and cupped the front of his jeans, squeezing lightly, teasing him mercilessly.
 

Chapter 8

At first, Ry didn’t know why she was taking the risk of being with Ari again. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized she wanted to give him a second chance. He groaned under her as she cupped his dick through his jeans, but he made no move to stop her or to coax her on. This was her show. She was in charge.

“Watch me, Ari. Don’t close your eyes, don’t look away. You keep your eyes on me the entire time, understood?” she whispered. His eyes widened and when he understood the game, the flames within them sparked to life. She was telling him to watch and observe who was about to do all of the things to him that would bring him pleasure. 

Ry bent over and mimicked him from the night before. She captured one of his nipples between her lips and gently tugged. She could feel him squirm under her, and it pleased her to have this much control over someone as powerful as him.

She leaned over and gave the other nipple the same treatment, this time arching her neck, so she could look at him sideways. His eyes were glued to her face and what her mouth was doing. Good. At least she had him cooperating. 

When she let go of his nipple she sat back and leaned forward for a kiss. She was testing him now. Rather than closing his eyes for the kiss, his remained opened as she darted her tongue into his mouth and explored him. She could feel his fists clenched in the material of her t-shirt at the base of her spine, but when she again sat back, he let go of her immediately. 

“Ry,” he whispered, and she smiled and pressed her forehead to his.

“I like it when you say my name,” she said. “Say all of it.”

“Riley,” he moaned when her hand played with the ridges of muscles she had been fantasizing about tracing since last night. 

“Riley James,” she responded, and he repeated it back to her. “Very good.” She gave him another peck on the cheek. Ry slowly kissed her way over to his neck and earlobe, and then she whispered in his ear all of the things she was about to do to him. It was hard for him to keep his eyes on her at this angle, but he remained true to the game. The flames within his irises danced the more she went into detail about her intentions. 

Ari was shaking under her by the time she was done, and she sat back, looking at him again. “Don’t forget, watch,” she said, leaning forward and tracing the muscles she was running her fingertips along a moment ago. But this time, she used her tongue. His fists were clenched, and she watched his chest rise and fall as his breathing quickened. When she was near his navel, she nipped the skin just under it and then licked where she had given him a love bite. His eyes rolled back, and she was quick to say, “don’t close your eyes. You are going to know who you are here with the entire time, Ari.”

He moaned, his hips jerked, and Ry was able to feel the press of his hard cock through his jeans against her torso. Ry watched as his eyes popped back open and followed her as she licked her way across his belly and gave one of his hips a love bite. Then, as she moved back toward the other, she could see as his stomach began to rapidly inhale and exhale. The muscles in his stomach tremored. She was building him up with sexual tension, and he was strung tighter than a wire. She was loving every minute of all of that energy and frustration being directed at her. It made her feel wanted and she reveled in it. 

Ry stopped at the button on his jeans and blew her cool breath over the sensitive skin. “Ry, you’re killing me. Please!”

Ry grinned at him, grabbed the fabric of his jeans with her teeth, and used her tongue to dart out and push the button through the hole. His head almost fell back, but she maintained eye contact the entire time. It wasn’t an easy feat; the material was stiff and the jeans fit him snugly, but she managed to grasp the zipper and painstakingly tugged it down, not breaking eye contact with him. 

When she was done, and she could see the swell of him through his boxers, straining to be freed from the confinements of the material. She carefully wrapped her mouth around his cock as he had done with her nipple, and sucked him lightly through the material. Ari wasn’t able to sit still anymore. His hands left the bedspread he had been clenching and dove into her hair. She could practically feel the tension of the energy as he fought to control himself and keep from using his hands to bob her head up and down on his cock. 

Ry let go of him and sat back, tugging on either side of the pants until she had them down off his hips. From there, he helped her kick out of his jeans and boxers. She dropped them to the floor and gazed down at his erect cock, which stuck straight up into the air. She grinned wickedly again. He knew everything that was about to happen; that’s what made this game so fun. That, and ensuring he never confused her with another woman again.

Ry bent her head over him and stuck out her tongue. His head bobbed, much like it had when they were outside counting the beats of the rope, only now he was counting each passing second that she held out on him, making him wait.  

She watched him swallow several times as she inched her tongue closer to the tip of him, and his nostrils flared when she was less than an inch from making contact. He swallowed a few times and she knew what was coming. Just before he started to moan and beg, she let the tip of her wet tongue touch the bead that glistened at the tip of him. His eyes rolled back again as she slowly slipped the tip of him into her mouth and began sucking.

But he remembered the rules, because he quickly picked his head up and said her name, reassuring her. He maintained eye contact, watching her mouth move up and down on him. Then, he disappeared into the soft wet depths of her mouth. 

He was getting close to the point of no return and she needed to act, or he was going to come from her mouth alone. She stood and slowly began to peel her clothes off. He remained immobile on the bed, staring at her like she was the Food Networks most divine desert and he was just waiting for a taste. But this time, it wasn’t about him getting a taste of her. She wanted to know what made him tick.

Ry climbed onto the bed and permitted his hands to go to her waist. It helped keep her upright as she swung her leg over him. He stared up at her as she guided his hands to cup, lift, and knead her breasts, then he did the same to her ass. She was already wet from watching him, and she settled that wetness down on top of him without moving. His cock was twitching between them, but she made no move to touch him otherwise. She let him explore her body with his hands and eyes, learning her in every intimate way. Ry reached back and cupped his balls, fondling them and rubbing at the ache from their tightness and arousal. 

She only started moving once she couldn’t stand it any longer. The friction that built up was erotic and tantalizing, but still not enough for either one of them. She slickened his cock between her thighs and commanded him to look down between them as the head of him continued to appear and disappear with every wave of her hips. He was mesmerized by the sight of it, and the friction it created was wreaking havoc on her own senses as he continued to rub against her clit.

Ry finally paused, and Ari immediately looked back up into her face. She was flushed and breathing hard, ready to orgasm, but she had denied herself. Ry wondered what it must have been like for him to have gone for so long. Even a few minutes seemed to be torturous. Ry sat up on her knees and grasped him between them, standing him up. She gently eased herself back down onto his cock and felt him fill her up as she slowly worked him up into her. 

When he was fully inside her, she rested for a moment. The intensity and the pressure from this angle was almost too much. She leaned forward with her palms pressed flat on his chest, and he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear that had fallen into her face. 

“Riley,” he whispered. “Riley, it’s okay to move.” He said her name again. She hadn’t realized that she had closed her eyes, just enjoying the feel of him pressed inside her. She opened her eyes and began to rock her hips. She imagined it was to the rhythm of jumping rope. She glanced down between him, and it was her turn to become transfixed by the way he disappeared up inside her. 

“Ry. Riley!” His moans were becoming more urgent and every time he said her name, she squeezed her muscles, milking him. She looked in his eyes and dared him to look away or close his own. She wanted him to see who was on top of him, working him this way. 

Ry felt his body jerk particularly hard with one of her thrusts and it was enough to kick off her orgasm. She squeezed around him, convulsing and crying his name as she came. Only when she had slumped against his chest did he seem to think it was alright to let go himself. Ry picked up her head and stared up at him as he lost himself inside her.

“Riley!” he moaned as he came, and it was like music to her ears. He continued to whisper her name as he shivered from the intensity of his orgasm under her, and she lay back down on his chest and finally closed her eyes. 

Ry dozed lightly on Ari’s chest, and it wasn’t until she heard a knock on the door that she scrambled off him. Ari rose and went to the door, wrapping a bathrobe around himself as he answered. He nodded and murmured to someone, and then came back with a large tray with food on it.

“Corey sends his regards,” Ari smiled when he saw her face. She hadn’t eaten all day, and dug into the bowls of fruits and pastries with glee.

“I think I adore Corey,” she confessed after a mouthful of one of her bagels. She was enjoying their breakfast for dinner, and only realized the time when she looked at the clock on the bedside table.

“Everyone does,” Ari admitted as he stretched out along the bed. He’d eaten his fill and turned his attention to her. She suddenly grew very self-conscious as she ate.

“What?” she asked.

“I enjoyed watching you,” he murmured.

Her cheeks grew red at the memory. She wasn’t usually one to take control, but it had been necessary to stake her claim and let him know exactly who was there in bed with him. “Yeah, yeah,” she grinned and tossed a pillow at him. “I know I’m fabulous!” She struck a diva pose and he burst out laughing. 

“That’s one word for it.” He tackled her after he had removed the tray and set it on a table. She shrieked and tried to run, but he was on her before she could escape. She was laughing so hard that tears were running down her face and her sides ached even before he started to tickle her. His poor family probably thought he had gone completely mad and was torturing her. 

After their wrestling match, Ari rose from the bed. “Come, we need to shower and get ready for tonight. My brothers are joining us and I don’t want to be late.” He held out his hand and Ry took it. He led her into the bathroom and the shower spray felt heavenly against her skin. She didn’t have a toothbrush or any clean clothes with her, but when they finally emerged from the shower, she found some in a neat pile of Ari’s bed. 

When Ari and Ry made it downstairs, they came upon three very amused looking men, who were all dressed in sweatpants and t-shirts. Ry was greeted by Claire and Jennifer, who were also dressed casually. Claire handed Ry a light jacket.

“Here, despite the heat of the city, we always end up cold.”

“Yeah, they have this cool trick where they can direct heat towards their ridges. But it takes away from their focus, and there are a lot of taxi cabs to count!” Jennifer added. 

Ry put the jacket on and wondered, “why are they counting cabs?”

“Who knows? They’re strange that way,” Claire grinned. “We aren’t complaining, though. With the Serpentina being quiet lately, we’re jumping on the chance to go out tonight.  We haven’t been able to go in a while.”

“Yeah, I’ve missed this,” Jennifer sighed as they all walked out the door. Corey rushed up to them all with baggies full of snacks.

“Corey, my brother. Those will have to wait until after,” Drake said. Ry watched Corey’s face, which looked crestfallen.

“Yes, my Lord.” He set the baggies down on the table beside the door.

“It’s not that we don’t love your cooking,” Drake continued. “But we’d be more apt to accidently take your hand off if you tried feeding us snacks in dragon form.”

“Yeah, then we’d feel bad about it.” Scyros grinned. The rest had a good chuckle, but Ry raised her hand.

“I don’t know about you ladies, but I got a bit peckish last night and could use a midnight snack along the way.”

Her words had the desired effect and Corey’s face brightened immediately. He gathered four of the bags, handed them around to the humans, and kept one for himself. Apparently he would be riding with Scyros. The party went out the door at last and made their way across the street to the park. 

Crylaine and Jennifer went first, so that when Drake shifted, he would have someone to back him up in case of an attack. Scyros shifted next, and a delighted Corey climbed on top of him. Finally, it was Ari’s turn. He turned to look at Ry before he shifted, and she watched as his body expanded and his scales erupted. When his wings formed, he had ridges and tips of white along his black body. She noticed the older dragons had more white streaks with their scales. Ari’s massive body looked like he had flown through a cloud and some of the fibrous looking material stuck to his scales like cotton strings from a cotton ball. 

After Ry climbed up, he took off quickly and she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she saw the brilliance of the city lights sparkling below her. She felt like she had become one with Ari that night as he flew through the city. It was like they belonged together, hunting and counting taxi cabs, whipping through the streets on a nightly basis. She had the realization as she was sitting astride Ari that she had a connection with him that went much deeper than friendship, or friends with benefits. She wasn’t sure what that connection was forged of yet, but she knew there was no way she was ever going to walk away from it again. She didn’t dare say it out loud yet, because she was not even sure it was possible. Could the memory of their loved ones be powerful enough to tie them together?

Ry could see how easy it was to fall in love with a dragon. She saw it all over the faces of Jennifer and Claire as they also wove in and out of the buildings on the backs of their dragon mates. Corey was exhibiting the same amount of pure joy as the rest of them. Ry wondered what his story was, but she figured he was family. What more could anyone want than the love and loyalty of a dragon? 

Ry was sad the ride was coming to an end that night. But as the dragons made their way back up toward Central Park, she was at peace with herself and her decision. As hasty as it may have been, she was falling for Ari. She rested her cheek against his ridge in front of her. Then, the attack came.

Chapter 9

One of the Serpentina slammed into Ari’s side, causing him to falter mid-flight. He felt Ry jerk on his back and then grab at the ridge in front of her. She had grown accustomed to the flow of his movements. He was just glad she hadn’t been thrown off the side when the Serpentina hit him. Ari regained his balance and banked left with his brothers out toward the bay. This was not a fight they wanted to have above the city and Central Park. They learned that their fights were best kept out over the ocean, where they could destroy the Serpentina and send their bodies to the water below. It also offered less risk that anyone would see them as they fought. 

It was going to be difficult, because the Serpentina had come out in full force. There were ten of them, all being led by the most ferocious of their kind. She had been one of the first to turn and would be the hardest to kill. Ari guessed this was the rest of the Serpentina; there were ten. Ari and his brothers were still vastly outnumbered. Ari looked around and found his brothers already engaging with the enemy. This time they were fighting dirty, not caring about the risked exposure. Ari could see jets of fire coming from the mouths of the Serpentina as they attempted to burn away the precious passengers that he and his brothers were carrying. He circled back to the park and quickly touched down, setting Ry on her feet and offering no explanation before shifting and taking off again. It took him a few moments to build up momentum and speed, but once he did, he plowed into the side of one of the Serpentina and caused her to begin falling from the sky. He used his claws and fangs to rip into her, and his brothers worked to hastily engage and return their mates and Corey to the park. Then they came back to the fight, one by one. 

By the time it was Drake’s turn to take Claire back, the Serpentina had grown accustomed to their tactics. They were making it hard for him to get away long enough to bring his mate home. Ry was infuriated with the way they kept sending fire at Drake, trying to burn Claire from the very place she sat. If Drake lost Claire, he would know the pain that Ari lived with every day. Ari was confident that he and Ry came to an understanding about Siesha; she was always going to be a part of his life.  But Ari didn’t want any of his brothers to suffer the way he had. The loss practically ellipsed his will to live until Ry entered his life.

He banked left, avoiding a narrow stream of fire that was intended for his head. What he really needed to worry about was his heart. Ripping it out of his chest was the only way the Serpentina could truly defeat him.  Everything always seemed to come back to matters of the heart. He glanced down, hoping Ry and the others had run for the safety of the brownstone. He thought the Serpentina were beginning to get desperate; they might just attack the house if they figured out where the warriors were keeping their mates. His mate: Ry. Riley. Ari knew it before the thought finished forming in his head. She was his, and he would do anything he could to protect her. 

Ry banked back around and whipped his tail out at the small Serpentina who had taken the pot shot towards Claire. The spiked on his tail caught her belly, and he ripped upwards, slicing her from end to end as he dove past. She fell from the sky into the ocean below in a grisly scene of blood and fire. Ari checked on his other brothers. Scyros was holding his own against two of the Serpentina, Crylaine was engaged with at least three, and every spare was gunning for Drake and Claire. 

Ari dove in between Drake and the lead Serpentina. He was caught by her tail and felt the burn of it in his shoulder. He took the hit, but it gave Drake the opportunity to dive right and out of the way of the other three who were coming towards him, and he just missed their fire by inches. Claire was screaming, and Ari felt bad for her.  She didn’t ask to go for rides much, mostly because she had been shocked when Drake first revealed himself to her. It was still a shock to her and she had to work up the courage to ask to go. Corey rarely went either. He was older and the cold wind on his joints made him stiff, so to have an attack on a rare day when the Serpentina had been so quiet recently was infuriating. 

Ari banked back around and flew straight at the oncoming trio. The lead Serpentina whom he had thwarted was regaining her speed and momentum flanked by two others, but he took the opportunity to break up the group. He split them two to one and their formation was forced apart. Drake dove for Central Park and dropped off Claire. He had enough of a head start that she was able to hide and then he darted back into the fray. Meanwhile, Ari was working on knocking the enemy down one by one. He managed to hit one with a face full of fire, temporarily blinding her while he used his claws to dig into her heart and end her like her sister. He barely glanced down to watch her fall from the sky before he turned around and split the other two. Drake was engaging with the lead Serpentina, Crylaine had finished two out of three he had been going head to head with, and Scyros wasn’t doing too bad, but he was bleeding from a nasty gash in his left side. 

Ari managed to finish one more of the two before the Serpentina began retreating. He and his brothers tried to pursue the few that were left, but the Serpentina were too fast. It made Ari irate. He wanted the war to be over so he and his brothers could experience peace, and not constantly live in fear of losing more loved ones. They managed to pull into a cloud cover, and he knew they would never find them in the early morning fog of the Hudson Valley. He turned back with his brothers and they flew hard and fast back to the city.  

Corey had managed to get Jennifer and Ry into the house and Drake came in not long after carrying a sobbing Claire. None of them were hurt, but they were scared out of their wits.

“No more rides until the war is over. I want it finished.” Drake was in a dark mood. Ari couldn’t blame him; no one could. He went over to Ry and pulled her into his arms, rocking her back and forth and saying her name over and over. She didn’t cry, but she was in a state of shock. Corey seemed to recover faster and was off looking for bandages. Once he got Scyros and himself patched up, he went in search of food to make them all feel better.

He was just serving coffee when Ry seemed to come to. “My meeting!” she cried.

“What?” Ari was alarmed.

“With the agent. It’s in half an hour. I need to get there fast.”

“You can’t go. The Serpentina…”

“Arrlien, I am going to that meeting. It could make or break my career!” She hopped off his lap and stood glaring at him with her hands on her hips. 

“Ry, see reason,” he pleaded. 

“I am. I’m not hiding from my life just because another bad thing has happened, Ari. I can’t. If I did that, I would never come out of my apartment.” She looked around for her things. 

“Drake…” Ari looked at his brother for support. “She can’t possibly…” He looked between his brothers. Jennifer and Claire looked hesitant, but they had both stood up for their beliefs and their careers. Claire was a professor, and Jennifer was a civil rights activist. He didn’t think he was going to get any support from them.

“I can’t force her to stay, Ari. She has a career, and it is important,” Drake asserted. “The Serpentina have been driven back to the Hudson Valley, and I think will stay there until they regroup.”

“They could have sent one to double back and get the exact location of our home!” he protested. 

“Ari, I am going to that meeting. Come along if you want to, but do not try to stop me! It isn’t anyone’s decision but mine.”

“So that’s it? You’re willing to risk walking out that door and potentially getting attacked again?” He could feel his temper rise, which was what got him in trouble to begin with.

“Yes,” she shrugged. “Just because I was attacked in the subway doesn’t mean I am going to stop using public transportation all together. Life doesn’t stop because there are bad people or bad things in it, Ari.”

“It did for me,” he said quietly.

She had a look of guilt on her face as she answered softly, “I know. I’m sorry Siesha was taken from you. I know what it must mean to you that they have attacked again, not just you and your brothers, but Corey, Jennifer, and Claire…”

“And you: my mate. They attacked you, Ry.” The whole room was silent at Ari’s proclamation and then Scyros let out a whistle.

“Man didn’t think he’d ever admit it.”

“Shut up, Scyros,” Laine ordered.

“What? I’m just saying.”

“Last warning,” Drake growled. Claire and Jennifer hid behind smiles, but Ari didn’t give a damn what they all thought.

“You think of me as your mate?” she asked.

“Yes. I do. I should have seen it from the moment we met.  Nothing could explain that level of protectiveness and comfort. Well, when I wasn’t being an ass, that is.”

His heart warmed when the smile that formed on her face lit up the room. “That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me!” She launched herself at him and he caught her in his arms.

“Well, it’s the truth,” he admitted. He couldn’t help but smile at everyone over her shoulder as she hugged him. Then he was kissing her. He kissed her like it was the first, last and only kiss he was ever going to have with her, because the attack that morning was too close for anyone’s comfort. He tried to express every ounce of love he had in his body, and some to spare from the love he felt from Siesha for finding happiness. He didn’t want to let Ry go, and he hoped the kiss was conveying every ounce of fear he felt since this morning.

When he pulled away, her voice was soft. She was mildly embarrassed when she looked around at everyone. “Look, I know what it means to you about what happened. That’s why I offered for you to come with me. I am not usually one to play the damsel in distress, but it seems you have a penchant for saving my life lately, so I am just going to go with it. Either way, I am going to that meeting. If you try to stop me, I’m afraid things are going to get awkward around your family because you are still naked, and I need to go get my purse.”

Ari laughed. “Alright, let’s go get dressed and we can take a cab to the meeting.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She grinned up at him. Little did she know, he was contemplating distracting her when they got to the bedroom, but she seemed to sense that. She whirled on him and pointed a finger.

“No funny business! That’s my job!” Ari grinned and heard the laughter coming from his family as they made their way up the stairs to get ready.

Chapter 10

Ry thought the meeting with Mr. Peasey went well. He made an offer to represent her and he was going to start calling around to see about getting booked at better venues. In the meantime, he tasked her with coming up with a bunch of new material.

Ry was on cloud nine when she walked out of the agency. “And then he cracked a joke about New York cabs and it was actually pretty funny, and then he offered to buy me lunch. I knew you wouldn’t love that, with everything that happened today. So, I told him I was still full from breakfast and I couldn’t go but thanks so much anyway. And then…”

Ry shut up when Ari kissed her. She sighed and melted into his arms.

“How fast do you think we can get back?” she murmured when he broke off the kiss. 

“Well, we could always go to your apartment for a while. It would have more privacy and you could pick up a few things. Or we can just stay the night there.”

“Mhmm. I think my place will be good for a few hours, but I would feel better at night being under the roof of four dragons who are honor-bound to watch over me, Claire, and Jennifer.”

Ari chuckled, and Ry smiled, loving her life at the moment. Things were looking up, despite having the threat of the Serpentina hanging over them. They walked quickly back to her apartment, and Ry lost no time helping Ari strip off his clothes. The lovemaking was what it should have always been. Neither was fighting for dominance, and neither was mistaking who was in their arms.

Ry was sitting on Ari’s lap, gently moving up and down. But this time, he was sitting up with her and looking in her eyes as he moved deep inside her. She took his hand and placed it over her heart as she leaned in and kissed him. Instead of fondling her breast, he kept it there, feeling the thumping of the beat. She placed her palm over his and listened too. Both of their hearts beat in time with one another, and the rhythm of their thrusts was in sync as well. Ry was about to orgasm when Ari stopped her and gently lifted her from him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing. Put on your bathrobe,” he told her. She did as he said, perplexed, and then he took her by the hand and guided her up the steps to the rooftop. She should have known that her dragon wanted to make love in the free, open air. It seemed so naughty; anyone could catch them at any time. Ari lifted the back of her bathrobe and gently parted her thighs. Ari only had a towel wrapped around his waist, and she felt the material bunched between them. She gasped when she felt the pressure of cock between her thighs. He moved very subtly, not giving away what they were doing to the outside world around them. To anyone looking, it would appear as if he were cuddling her from behind and they were simply enjoying the sights together. Ry couldn’t help but feel the pressure build inside her. With every short thrust, he hit against her g-spot and it made her gasp. When he covered her hands with his own so she couldn’t pull away from the intensity, she came. She whimpered and craned her neck so she wouldn’t cry out to all of New York, and then she heard him grunt behind her as he orgasmed as well.

Ry felt weak in the knees after, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse in his arms in bed. He remained where he was, pressed against her. But she grew alarmed when his body stiffened behind her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing. Remain here. I will be right back. Go back to your apartment and call Drake. Tell him which direction I fly in.” Ry turned around to look in Ari’s eyes and demand an explanation, but he was already beginning to shift. She stepped back as he dropped from the roof and then became a blur to everyone, including herself. She was able to tell he flew down toward 7^th Avenue judging by the shadow he cast. She could see it on the panes of glass on the high rises and so she did as he said and called his brother.

“Drake, I’m sorry to bother you. I don’t know what’s wrong, but Ari just flew off and told me to call you. He flew toward 7^th from my apartment.”

“Alright. Stay in your apartment, I will send Corey over with the car to pick you up. Don’t leave the brownstone until you hear from myself or Ari.”

“Drake, what is going on?” Ry asked. She was sick with worry. Had the Serpentina come back? Was Ari going after them alone? 

“All will be explained soon,” he assured her. “Just please do what I ask and it will be alright, I promise.”

“Okay.” Ry hung up the phone and made her way downstairs to the apartment. She got dressed and began pacing, and a half an hour later she heard Corey’s voice when he hit the buzzer.

“Ms. James? I am downstairs and ready for you.”

Ry picked up the overnight bag she had packed. When she got into the lobby of her apartment complex, Corey was waiting for her. He looked as put together as always, but he was serious and grim.

“Corey, what is going on?” she pleaded. 

“It isn’t my place to say. I’m sorry, Ms. James. But if it is what I think it is, it isn’t all bad.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” she cried.

“I know, and for that I am sorry. Let me take your bag.” He took the bag despite her resistance to give it up. He ushered her quickly to the car and helped her in the back. When they got to the brownstone, Claire and Jennifer met her on the stairs and ushered her inside. They sat her in the sitting room and Corey brought in snacks. Ry was appreciative that they were trying to cheer her up, but she couldn’t take her mind off of the fact that Ari was out there somewhere, potentially in danger. She listened as they each told their story of how they had come into the dragon world. She was shocked when Claire told her she had been kidnapped, and equally as shocked when Jennifer told her she dumped Crylaine for a week to give herself some space.

“No way!” she exclaimed.

“Yes way. Dragons are intense. Until you grow accustomed to their ways, you are in a constant state of shock. It gets better, but even we have things we still need time to adjust to,” Claire explained.

“Um, can I ask you something?” She looked at them both and bit her lip.

“Of course! This is girl bonding time,” Claire told her brightly.

“Did either of you know Siesha?” The question was out before she could think twice about asking it. They looked at one another and then at her.

“No. She was killed before we came along. We suspect back in Europe, but Ari doesn’t ever talk about her. Our mates are pretty tight lipped about it too, because in a way it was like they lost a sister themselves.”

“I see,” Ry nodded. She thought about this and she wondered if she would ever be considered a sister to the dragon warriors.

“Yes, you are.” Jennifer’s voice was firm.

“Huh?” She looked up.

“What you are wondering. You are a sister. You are as much a part of this family as any of us,” Claire assured her.  Ry couldn’t help the tears that welled in her eyes. She hadn’t felt this welcomed by anyone since Rosie was alive. 

“Thank you,” she whispered. She had to swallow hard to keep the tears from falling.

“Any time.” Jennifer reached over and squeezed her arm. Ry was trying to think of something to say when the door opened. Ari and his brothers walked in. He looked grim and Ry stood.

“Tell me what’s wrong. I can’t stand it anymore, Ari.”

“Come with me,” he told her. She followed him, bewildered. Jennifer and Claire went to their mates. “Quickly.”

“Ari…what is it?” She couldn’t stand the tension anymore. He opened the door. She stood out on the stoop and took in the scene in front of her. There was a taxi cab and several police cars with their lights on. She turned to Ari who gestured to the scene.

“Just watch,” he murmured. The detective who had pulled the cab over was questioning the driver. He was a large man in a grease stained t-shirt, news cap, and jeans.

“And how long have you been driving this cab, Mr. Monroe?”

“Last fifteen years.  It’s the only way I can get away from the old lady, you know?” he laughed. Ry was confused.

“Why do you want me to watch a routine traffic stop?” she asked Ari. At this point, the rest of the household joined them on the stoop. They weren’t the only gawkers. People in the park had stopped to watch the scene too.

Ry turned her attention back to the officers and the detective. The detective in a suit was jotting notes on a pad. “So, no one else ever drives this car, is that correct?”

“Hell no. I wouldn’t let anyone touch my baby. I’m privately licensed to drive in the city.  My wife don’t drive and my kids ain’t old enough. Little ingrates.”

“So, on the 26th of June, approximately a year ago, you were the one driving this vehicle?”

“I don’t know,” he man replied, his tone becoming defensive. “Probably. I always work nights. Better tips, drunk girls who look good. You know how it is.” 

Ry’s hands went to her mouth in disbelief. She knew that date. It was ingrained in her memory for eternity. Tears rolled down her cheeks. The only clue in her sister’s hit and run accident was a number that had imprinted on her from the impact of the car. 

“Sir, are you aware of any accidents on that night?” 

“Nah, what of it? Everyone knows you hit a little bumper to bumper sometimes. Forget about it!” The taxi driver waved his hands and the detective closed his notepad.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m Detective Webster and you are under arrest for vehicular manslaughter of Rosalind James.”

“What? Are you crazy? What are you talking about?” he hollered. One of the officers stepped up and placed cuffs around his beefy wrists. 

“I’m from the cold case division. I received a tip that your cab’s license numbers match the imprint left on the victim from the accident.”

“That ain’t true! I ain’t hit nobody!” Monroe screamed.

“Mr. Monroe, the imprint your cab left on Rosalind was hard enough that we could see the numbers on her skin. That means you were driving well over the speed limit. I’m having your cab hauled in for forensic evidence. We will match the tires to the tracks left on the body, and the numbers imprinted on Ms. James. We analyzed the scene a year ago, and we were able to conclude that you never even hit the breaks to slowed down. You hit that woman and kept driving. I am going to push to have you charged with gross negligence in addition to vehicular manslaughter. Maybe if you had called 911, she might have made it.”

“It wasn’t my fault. Betty had been on the phone nagging me and I waved that woman on. She didn’t move fast enough, and I just thought to scare her! It ain’t my fault!” Monroe screamed. The officer began reading him his Miranda rights and Ry turned into Ari’s arms and sobbed. She knew Rosie hadn’t stood a chance. The cab driver was going too fast, but she felt some vindication from Detective Webster chewing him out. She looked up to see Corey nod to the detective. Had he known the whole time? Had he somehow tipped off the Detective? How had he known it was Monroe’s cab? 

“How?” she began, and Ari led her back into the house after she watched the officers put Monroe in the back of the cruiser.

“I wanted to think of some way to express how sorry I was for that first night,” he confessed. She was still wiping her eyes when the rest of the family came in and sat around to listen to the tale.

“Corey approached me and together we hatched a plan. He has connections all over this city, and he knows Detective Webster. He was able to get a copy of the report. I was hoping with my dragon abilities, I might find something the Detective couldn’t. It paid off today. I was able to see the numbers in his cab. Of course, it was possible it wasn’t Monroe, which was why I needed to get close enough to look at the tire tracks. With the tracks and the numbers matching up, I put an anonymous call to the detective telling him I found the vehicle that was in the hit and run.”

“You…you did all of this for me?” she whispered.

“Yes. I wanted to show you that I understood the pain of losing someone and not having closure. When the Serpentina were done with Siesha, there was nothing left. I know how much it hurts.”

Love and gratitude washed over Ry like a tidal wave. “I love you!” she finally cried and wrapped her arms around his neck kissing him.

“I love you too,” he grinned. “I’m sorry I worried you earlier, but I didn’t want to lose him.”

“First, don’t ever do that again. Second, thank you!” she said, and kissed him again. She turned to Corey and threw her arms around him too, hugging him tight and kissing his cheeks. Ari’s brothers were laughing, and Claire and Jennifer were rubbing their eyes. “Did you all know?” Ry sniffled.

“We had an idea of what they were doing,” Claire said, “It was mostly Ari and his brothers searching the streets.”

“You really were counting cabs?” Ry looked at them in wonder.

“Yes. When one hurts our own, we don’t stop until we succeed in caring for them however necessary,” Drake told her. He was the one to walk over to her and pull her into a hug.  She sobbed as each of Ari’s family members hugged her.

It felt so surreal. In one day, she landed an agent and her sisters killer was caught. She had never felt more love than she did right then. She still missed her sister desperately, but at least now she had answers. Someone would finally pay for the trauma and pain that weighed so heavily on Ry over the past year. 

She looked up at Ari, her warrior, protector, and anchor in this world. “I love you,” she told him, not feeling like the words would ever be enough. 

“I know, I love you too.” He kissed her. 

Later that night, the detective had come to officially inform her that the District Attorney was moving forward with the charges against Alfred Monroe. She celebrated by enjoying the feast Corey prepared with Ari and his family. They had the rest of the war to push through, but things felt right in that moment, and that was all that mattered.

Ari brought her back to her apartment that night, and after making love again, they brought the urn of Rosie’s ashes back to the brownstone. Corey was waiting for them and the rest of the family held candles as they proceeded to pour Rosie’s ashes into a beautiful, ornate pot. The planted a rose bush inside it. Once the roots had taken hold and the bush grew too big for the pot, they would move the flowers to the garden. Drake placed a small placard in front of it that read, “In loving memory of Rosalind, “Rosie” James and Siesha Thompson.” Nothing more needed to be said.

Ry turned to Ari who kissed her softly. “I must be the luckiest woman in the world,” she murmured. 

“Nah, I’d say that’s my title,” Jennifer joked with her. Laine embraced her and kissed the top of her head.

“Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?” Claire griped. Ry laughed when Scyros piped up.

“Well, to a dragon…” He let out a pained grunt when Laine nailed him in the stomach with his elbow. The group laughed, but Drake’s face remained stoic. 

“No one better mess with our mates ever again,” he said darkly. But Scyros and Corey smiled when each of them gathered their mates in their arms and kissed them under the stars. Ry looked at Ari and smiled. She couldn’t wait for an eternity spent laughing and smiling with her dragon. She was so grateful he had reminded her how to feel such happiness and love so sincerely again. Yeah, she really was the luckiest woman in the world.

*****
THE END