Dragon Soul(36)

Aoife gave Rowan and Sophea a wry smile. "So nice to meet you, Sophea.  Rowan, welcome to the dragonkin. I'm glad to see you well. Let me know  about the group wedding. I think one might be kind of fun. Kostya! Don't  you dare get yourself hurt again! If you keep breaking that collarbone,  it'll stay broken … " She was gone in a flurry of scattered threats  toward her dragon.

"Bee," Rowan said.

She fluttered a hand at him and tucked the other one into the crook of  Constantine's arm. "I know, you want some private time with Sophea. And,  I assume, to come to grips with what's happened. I have to admit I'm  not quite clear on the latter, but since you've evidently not suffered  any ill effects-that I can see-I'm going to assume you're hale and  hearty and can continue on with the job of getting the ring from that  thief."

"That thief is a very nice old lady, and he is not going to steal anything from her," Sophea said, bristling.

Bee looked taken aback for a few seconds. "He'd better, or there won't be much of a world left."

"No stealing!" Sophea took a step forward, yanking her sword from her back as she did so.         

     



 

Rowan caught her arm and pulled it down, pinning her to his side while  Bee sputtered indignantly at them. "It's all right, love. You don't have  to go Xena all over my sister's ass. I'm not going to steal anything."

"I knew it!" Constantine said, frowning fiercely at Rowan. "The Dragon  Breaker has betrayed us. I told you that we couldn't trust him."

"My dear," Rowan said politely to Sophea, "would you mind if I borrowed  your sword? I have to beat a man about the head and shoulders with it."

She handed it to him with a smile.

"I'd like to see you try," Constantine said, starting forward.

"For heaven's sake, Rowan!" Bee snapped, pulling her dragon back to the  doorway. "Don't you know any better than to antagonize dragons?  Especially wyverns. They're very quick to take offense."

"He started it," Sophea said, taking back the sword and sheathing it when Rowan reluctantly handed it back.

Bee rolled her eyes and pushed Constantine out of the room, saying as  she left, "I don't care how you get that ring …  just get it. The world is  lost without it."

"And then there were two," Rowan said, looking at Gabriel and May.

"We have a cabin on the ship," Gabriel reminded him, obviously amused by  the proceedings. His expression turned serious when he added, "To be a  wyvern is an onerous task on its own. To be created not only a dragon  but a wyvern must have consequences. If you have questions or need  assistance, know that May and I are at your service. She has unique  insight into what it is to become a dragon, and I have been a wyvern for  many decades."

"Thank you," Rowan said, deciding that he would tolerate Gabriel and May  being on the same ship as Sophea so long as they kept their distance.

"We're on the deck below this one if you need us," May said, then the pair of them left, closing the door quietly behind them.

"At last, we are alone," Rowan said, striking a dramatic pose.

"Mmm." Sophea seemed to be distracted by a thought.

He tipped her chin up. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I'm wondering why Mrs. P didn't come down to see what was up. That golden light thing was …  phew. Intense."

"She's not a dragon. She wouldn't have felt it." He cast a glance toward  his bed and wondered if Sophea would object to him simply shredding the  clothes off her before working through the many and varied demands that  filled his mind. He decided that given the sparse state of her wardrobe  she would mind, and simply picked her up and carried her over to the  bed, depositing her on it and kneeling to untie her sandals.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" she asked as he freed first one foot, then another.

"I believe the term is ‘claiming my mate.' At least that's what the others seemed to feel I need to do."

Sophea sighed, a sound that turned to a moan when he bent down and  kissed the inside of her leg. "Oooh! I suppose I could stay for a bit,  although I would like to check that Mrs. P and her priestly entourage  are okay."

"Why wouldn't they be? There's a vast herd of bodies crammed into her  room, so any attacker would stand little chance of getting through to  her. And in addition to that, you told me she locked her door, and you  locked the cabin door." He rubbed his cheeks on the tender flesh of her  inner thighs. He loved the scent of Sophea's skin. It was as if she'd  bathed in wildflowers, a slightly spicy, vaguely floral smell that  reminded him of sunlit meadows in the flush of summer, flowers moving  gently in the breeze.

"Well …  I guess that's true. And I'm really not against staying here with  you for a bit …  although I do think we need to discuss that whole mate  thing. If you recall, I was married to another dragon, and that makes me  his mate. Maybe I can't be yours because I was Jian's mate. Although  that wouldn't be very fair."

Rowan looked down at her where she lay before him, his to claim, the  woman who was put on this earth for him, and couldn't help but feel that  he was stepping into her late husband's shoes. "Sophea …  this is going  to sound awkward, but I don't know how else to say it. Are you  comfortable with this? With me?"

"Of course I'm comfortable with you," she said, rubbing her leg against  him. "You're beefy, but not so beefy that you are unreasonable."

He nipped her calf. "I mean with us. Me being a dragon. More specifically, I now hold the position your late husband held."         

     



 

She looked thoughtful at that, but smiled after a minute's thought. "You  know, I think Jian knew what was coming-although how he could is beyond  me, but then again, he was a ghost talking to me at a séance, so who am  I to quibble about impossible things. He seemed to be telling me that  someone else was coming into my life, and to embrace it. Embrace you. So  if you're feeling like you're suddenly a Jian substitute, don't. I  don't think of you that way at all. Jian was himself, and you are an  entirely different man. Both good, just different."

"You are wise beyond your years," he said, feeling a tightness in his  chest relax. He'd never had a relationship with a widow before, and  wasn't sure how to proceed without feeling like he was stomping over her  memories.

"Hardly that. But I have had some time to reflect since we were in Munich." She fluttered her lashes at him. "This feels right."

"We have an obvious connection," he said, sliding his hand up her bare  leg. She shivered in response, and he took the moment to reach behind  her to unhook the leather bodice. "I am now a wyvern. You are a wyvern's  mate. We were meant to be together."

It was amazing just how true that was, and how quickly his mind had  adapted to his changed circumstance, and yet already he was having  difficulty remembering the time before the event.

"Now you're being overly dramatic," she chided, but smiled as she did  so. "Why don't we just enjoy the moment, and worry about what sort of a  relationship we will want after we've dealt with the whole situation  with Mrs. P and the ring?"

He peeled the bodice off her, instantly possessing himself of her  breasts, the weight and heat of them in his hands making his blood sing.  Desire blazed into being within him, roaring to life with an intensity  that threatened to overwhelm. It wasn't until the pressure built up  within him that he noticed the floor around them was on fire.

"Is that you or me?" he asked, pausing a moment in the torment of her delightful breasts.

Sophea, who had pulled off his shirt and was nibbling a path along his  neck and shoulder, paused to look down, her eyes narrowing. "Yours, I  think. Wait." Her forehead wrinkled as she focused, and eventually  managed to set her feet afire. "Yes, that's yours. Mine feels a bit  different."

"Ah. We should probably stop it, since I doubt if the carpet is fireproof."

"Smart thinking." They both tamped down their respective fires until  nothing was left. "Now then," he said, returning his attention to her  silken delights. "Where was I?"

"About to give me a chance to play with your nubs," she said, pushing back on his shoulders until he released her.

"No," he said, turning his attention to her skirt. How did it attach? And more important, how did he take it off her?

"Excuse me? Did you just tell me no? I assume your mind is muddled by  the trauma of being zapped into dragonness, and that what you really  meant to say was ‘Yes, Sophea, I will gladly let you reciprocate the  wonderful feelings you've been experiencing, for I, too, am looking  forward to having my nipples molested.' That is what you meant to say,  right?"