Dragon Soul(15)

Had I heard a noise from out in the main room? Or was it a remnant from the dream?

Part of my brain boggled that I had fallen asleep at all, given the  events of the day and amazing revelations of the evening. The other part  instantly wanted to return to Rowan with his strange eyes, delicious  tongue, and tempting body.         

     



 

Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.

"Right, that is definitely a noise," I whispered to myself, and slid out  of bed as silently as possible. I'm not normally a heroic person, but  the idea of Mauritius Kim and his unwholesome buddy trying to harm Mrs. P  had me snatching up the lamp nearest the door and whipping the cord out  of the wall. As quietly as possible I slid open the door and peered out  into the living room section of the suite.

It was dark and silent. Just as I was telling myself that I must have  imagined it, I heard a faint whisper of a sound, almost so quiet it  didn't even register, the merest swish that wasn't what one expected to  hear from the room of a sleeping elderly lady.

"Mrs. P? Are you okay in there?" I asked, opening the door to her room, my lamp held high.

The room was just as dark as the outer one, and just as empty.

"Mrs. P?" I flipped on the light next to the door and frowned at the  unoccupied bed. The sheets hadn't even been rumpled. "Mrs. P, are you  okay? Did your dinner disagree with you?" I tapped on the closed  bathroom door, but after a moment of listening at it, I opened it and  found that the bathroom, too, was sans one old lady.

"Well, hell, she's given me the slip," I said, going back into the  bedroom, the lamp cord trailing behind me. That's when I noticed that  something was not right. Instead of sitting on the luggage rack, where  I'd left it, Mrs. P's suitcase was on the floor. "What the-" I started  toward the suitcase, but at that moment, there was a sibilant hoosh from  behind the curtain, and I knew without a doubt that someone had just  opened the window from the outside. Quickly I glanced around, trying to  find a hiding spot. Under the bed? Not enough room. The bathroom? Too  obvious. The armchair wasn't big enough to hide me, but next to the room  door was a large wardrobe, its doors spread wide to either side like a  giant wooden moth. Perhaps I could hide behind one if its doors long  enough to ascertain who was breaking into the room.

The thought flitted through my head that a lamp wasn't much protection  against an intruder as I ran to the farthest wing of the wardrobe, but  that evaporated into nothing when I scurried behind the door …  only to  find the space was already occupied.

Rowan must have heard the intake of my breath preparatory to screaming,  because his hand was over my mouth before I realized what had happened.

"Quiet," he breathed into my ear, his breath warm against my head in a  way that had little shivers spreading across my back. "Someone is at the  window."

"I know," I whispered back as he pulled the door flush against us.  Unfortunately, the lampshade was too big to let it fit behind the door  with us, which left my hand sticking out with the lamp gripped firmly in  it. "It's okay, though. I have a lamp."

The light behind the opened wardrobe door wasn't very bright, but it was enough to see the odd look he gave me.

A rustle of the drapes had me tensing, but before I could do anything,  Rowan suddenly twisted around, pinning me against the wall with his  body. For a few seconds, we were pressed together from knees to chest,  and I was extremely aware that I was a woman and he was a man, and it  had been way too many years since I'd entertained the carnal activities  that had been uppermost in my mind right before I'd been awakened.

"Oh," I breathed softly, unable to keep from taking a deep breath so that my breasts smooshed happily against his chest.

I swear his eyes got darker at that, and he hesitated for about two  seconds before he murmured, "To hell with the job." His breath burned on  mine, and then his mouth was moving over my lips.

With one hand, I clutched him, pulling him even closer so that he caught  my moan in his mouth. His tongue twined against mine, stroking fires  inside me that I hadn't known existed. I was about to let the lamp fall  so I could slide my other hand into his hair when suddenly he was gone.  He moved out past me, out from the cover of the wardrobe door. I stood  there for another handful of seconds just reliving the kiss before my  brain pointed out that Rowan had gone out unarmed to face whomever had  broken into the room.

With a bravery I hadn't known I possessed, I flung back the door and,  swinging my lamp forward, yelled, "Ha!" in the very best martial arts  manner. The cord snapped out like a whip, slashing through the air and  striking the man directly in its path who luckily wasn't Rowan. No,  Rowan was standing with his arms crossed, and his back against the door  leading to the living room.

Mauritius Kim swore and leaped to the side, one hand to his face where the metal plug had cut his cheek.         

     



 

"We meet again!" I said, suddenly full of bravado. I had no idea where  it had come from, but dammit, if I was truly the wife of a  not-so-mythical creature, and thus someone who could control fire, then  by god, I wasn't going to be afraid of some loser like Mr. Kim! "And  this time, I have the advantage!"

Mr. Kim stared in disbelief at the lamp in my hand, as did his buddy  Elton, who emerged from the drapes. "Are you insane?" he asked, giving  me a scathing look. "Or just stupid? That's not a weapon, it's a lamp."

"Tell your cheek that," I said, swaggering forward a couple of steps. To  my annoyance, he didn't back up. Perhaps a little more threatening was  in order. I shook the lamp at him and said, "In case you don't know,  you're not just dealing with a normal person."

"Oh, lord," Rowan said under his breath, before adding a bit louder, "Sophea, I don't think you want-"

"No sir, you're dealing with a dragon's mate. That's right, I'm a bona  fide dragon. Of sorts. Kind of. So Rowan says, and I have no reason to  doubt him because he did the test. I can control fire, and likely do all  sorts of other dragony things, so you had just better take your scummy  little friend there and get the hell out of Dodge while the getting is  good." I grasped the cord with my hand, snapping it toward Mr. Kim.

He actually took a step back.

"Sophea, you really do not know-"

"It's okay, Rowan," I interrupted, giving him a decisive nod. "I got this."

"No, I don't think you do."

"That's right," I said, pointing the plug at Mr. Kim. His friend was now  next to him, the pair of them watching me with absolutely no expression  on their respective faces. Perhaps they were as stunned as I'd been to  find out just how awesome I was. "You heard me. I'm dragon. A crimson  dragon!"

"Red," Rowan corrected.

"Red dragon. Rawr!" I said, making a little claw gesture with my hand.  "You may now leave before I unleash my unholy dragon stuff upon you!"

Rowan sighed and rubbed his face like he couldn't face watching the  ass-whooping that was about to be unleashed on Mr. Kim and Company.

"Well?" Mr. Kim said.

"Well what?" I asked, suspicious. I gestured with the lamp. "Well, as in, Rowan is blocking the door and you can't leave?"

"Well as in let's see you unleash your mighty mate's powers on us."

I blinked and glanced over at Rowan. He was now standing with one hand  covering his mouth, as if he was trying to keep from speaking. "You're  better at this than I am. Will you tell these guys just how badass  dragons are?"

He lowered his hand and gave me a wry smile. "They know."

"Then why aren't they running away?" I shook my lamp at them. "I'm a  fire wielder. Or whatever they call it. Maybe I can turn into a giant  scaly beast!"

"Go on, then," Mr. Kim's friend said. "Let's see you."

"I don't want to," I said, tilting my head so I was looking down my nose  at him. "I have to be in the mood to be a giant scaly dragon, and I'm  not right now. But I can do the fire thing just as I am, so you'd better  vamoose before I call down a rain of fire that will singe the hair  right off the tops of your heads And you know how bad burnt hair  smells!"

"Sophea," Rowan said tiredly, and stopped.

"What?" I asked him, keeping my eyes on the two men in front of me.

He gestured vaguely, then shook his head. "Never mind. Proceed."

"Show us your rain of fire," Mr. Kim said in a snotty tone.

"Don't think I can do it, do you?" I said, wondering wildly what my  stupid bravado had gotten me into. I didn't dare ask Rowan how to make  it rain fire, which meant I either had to do something to distract the  men or put my money where my mouth was. What was a rain of fire? It was  little blobs of fire dumping onto someone. The question was, how did I  get the fire going? I looked around the room, spied Mrs. P's handbag,  and said, "Fine. Give me just a sec."