Chapter 37
Collum called ahead to ensure everything was ready when they reached Athens. His staff in Greece met them at the airport and delivered them straight to his home. Mar gave him a surprised look when they drove up to a modest, white washed apartment building on the edge of the city.
“I don't need to call attention to myself,” Collum told her when she turned questioning eyes on him.
“Patience, Mi Amigo,” Mar replied. “I've never been to Athens. Couldn't we be tourists for a teeny, tiny bit?”
“We aren’t here for vacation. You told me to get you to Greece. I did. Now, you get me to Alex.”
He pushed open the door to his home, showing her that what looked like an apartment building from the outside was instead, one massive house.
“I'm not an idiot either, Mar.” He grinned at her accusatory look. “I don't share my living space with strangers. Dragons don't live with roommates.”
Her lips twitched. “There's the archaic dragon we all know and love.” She pushed through the doors into the wide-open entrance hall. Ancient artifacts lined the room. “Some of these pieces must be five hundred years old. Does the Greek government know you have a museum of ancient treasures in the middle of a suburb?”
“Of course, they do. Who do you think is better at protecting history? A two-thousand-year-old dragon or a twenty-five-year-old soldier, fresh out of basic training, suffering from quick finger trigger syndrome?”
“Riiiight, point taken, Beast of the Realm. Makes sense. Look, can you point me to the bathroom? I stink like airplane and I need to wash up. Also, I don't suppose you brought any of Glenny's coffee with you. I could use a cup.”
Collum signaled the maid waiting in the wings. “Sorry, Glenn doesn't share his coffee. If you want to sample it again, you'll have to come back to England for a visit.”
“Is that an invitation? I thought you didn't like my obnoxious witch ways.”
“You were right it seems. You grow on people.”
“Damn right, big boy.”
Collum smirked, and turned to the young woman waiting. “Show the lady to a room in the East Wing.”
~ ~ ~
Downstairs in his den, Collum paced. They’d been there an hour. The sun had set. He lit candles rather than turning on lights. Greece reminded him of ancient times. When he’d been less tame. When he’d taken whatever he wanted. Played with the Gods and Goddesses of the ancient world.
He was preparing to go over financials when Mar rushed into his den, covered in bubbles, hair dripping soap into her eyes. A towel wrapped haphazardly around her torso, barely covered her breasts.
“You might want to get a robe on before . . .”
“Oh, shut up,” she interrupted. “I figured it out. I know how we can use the portal. Now, sit down and find someone to make me a Bloody Mary. If I'm not able to sleep my jet lag off, then I'm damn well going to drink through it.”
“Catalina,” he bellowed.
The girl ran in the room, nearly colliding with the witch dripping water on his marble floor.
“Get her a Bloody Mary and a robe,” he shouted at the maid.
She took off out of the room at another run.
“Now, tell me what you know. And keep a tight goddamn grip on that towel.”
“Yeah, I know, God forbid you see another woman’s assets.” She flopped her dripping wetness on to the cream leather love seat and pulled a throw from the back of it over her lap.
“Get on with it and tell me,” he growled.
“It's her blood, Collum. More specifically, a Parthen's blood, but she'll do.”
“Explain.”
“I knew I was close all those years ago. Thought I had everything right to open the portal. I'd worked on it for two years, but in the end, I couldn't find the right spell and Domhall gave up on me. He paid me very well, took all my research and thanked me from the bottom of his top-forty music loving heart and left. It pissed me off that I never completed the task. But when I was upstairs lying in that gorgeous freakin’ tub, I started thinking how nice it would be to have a family home. You know, somewhere your relatives could all come . . . and wham, my brain finally connected the dots. It's blood, the blood of the family. That's how you get a portal to Parthen. You have to be of their blood.”
“Son of a bitch,” he yelled. “Mar, I think I love you.”
He picked her up, wet towel, wet blanket and all, and wrapped her in a huge bear hug as Catalina came rushing back into the room with the pitcher of Bloody Mary and two glasses. She dropped the drinks on the turquoise tiled floor.
“Get out, Catalina. Take the night off.”
The girl tore out of there as fast as she could and both Collum and Mar broke into laughter.
“You know she's going to think we're having crazy kinky sex, right?”
He put her back down on the leather couch. “I'm two thousand, Mar. I'm too old for crazy, kinky sex.”
“Please, you probably know more crazy shit than the rest of us put together. Now, enough with this joking around. Since she dropped my Bloody Mary, I'm taking whatever’s in your glass back to my room. And you’re going to fall asleep and call out to your lady. You need her to come to you in your dreams and you need to get some of her blood. Think you can do that?”
“I'm Dragon,” he replied, power flowing from every pore in his body. “I can do anything.”
~ ~ ~
He left Mar at the door to her room and walked the darkened halls to his wing of the house. Like his estate in England, every inch of this home had been designed with comfort and protection in mind. He traced the walls with his hands while he walked. They could try to keep him away, but those who underestimated him had been proven wrong time and again through the years, just as they'd be proven wrong this time. He knew he could reach Alex. Dragons could always find their mates.
Upon entering his room, he removed his clothing and all pretence of being tamed. Let his wings expand in the small space. Wings engorged with the fire blood of his ancestors.
The room looked out over a private garden. It was perfect for nights such as this. He walked to the window ledge, leaped into the night. Allowed the dragon in him free reign as he flew in to the darkening sky. His roar echoed in the night air. He used the ancient telepathy of his kind, harnessed the energy of the moon. Flew higher, reached deeper, every inch of his soul concentrating on reaching out to Alex.
Telepathy was a primal tool. One he wielded well. “Alexedria, come to me.” Over and over he spoke the quiet command, sought her. Soared as near to the night stars as possible. The dragon in him flexed, pushed against his human flesh barrier. He allowed the beast more strength, fed his ancient nature with visions of his woman.
Her image surfaced. She lay in a pristine white room. He heard the ocean crashing below her. Smelled her. He pushed at the edges of her mind. Called to her. She twisted and turned. Moaned his name. He bared his teeth. The dragon soared.
As he flew, his finger nails thickened, twisted, turned to claws. His skin turned obsidian black. After a final sweep over the city, he headed back to his home and his bed, to await his woman.
He landed back on the upper patio, claws dug into the concrete ledge. He found his way in to his bed, still half beast, too exhausted to retract his wings. He left them instead spread wide in the room. She was coming. Let Alex, truly see him, he thought, before exhaustion carried him into a deep sleep.