Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5)(9)

“Good.” I settled back into Mick’s warm body, and he put strong arms around me. The dragon tatts on his arms shimmered. “Why did John and Monica act like they were ready to call it a night, and then all the sudden decide to stay and keep playing? I don’t think they’re connected with the demons. I didn’t get any sense of binding around them, and they’re human, not supernatural.”

Mick’s chest rumbled with his soft laughter, as though I’d said something funny. “They wanted us all to leave together and adjourn to their motel room. For sex.”

I turned in his arms to look up at him in amazement. “They wanted us to have sex in their room? Like where? In the next bed?”

Mick turned me around again and held me closer, his cheek next to mine. “You are sweet. They wanted the four of us having sex together.”

I jumped, banging back against him. “Seriously? Ew.”

Mick’s body moved with his chuckle. “Some people are into it. I liked that they were cool with us either way.”

I looked at Mick. He had his gaze on the bar and its front door, watching with the patient stare of a dragon who knew he could sit there for years if need be.

I tried to process the group sex idea and couldn’t. Mick had been my first lover, and I’d had no other but him. While Mick could be creative in the bedroom, I was somewhat naïve about sexual practices in the wider world. Oh, I knew they existed, but I’d never come into direct contact with them.

I had to wonder now whether Mick had participated in any menages before he’d met me. He’d been alive a long time, and he seemed unconcerned with John and Monica’s offer. The fact that he’d figured out what they wanted while I’d been oblivious meant this hadn’t been the first time he’d been propositioned. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Mick leaned to me again, his breath warm in my ear. “Go home if you want, sweetheart. I can stay and wait for demons.”

I snuggled into his embrace. “No thanks.” If I went back into the hotel, I’d only have to solve problems like leaky faucets and the magic mirror trying to scare the somewhat magical. Out here, I could continue my date with Mick, even if we had to spend it on the watch for demons. He warmed me against the night, and moonlight glinted on the turquoise and onyx ring he’d given me when a breeze moved the tree’s limbs.

After a time, I asked him. “What did you mean, what kind of demon?”

“There are several varieties,” Mick answered readily. “The ones from Beneath are pretty much monsters with little going on in their brains. They act on instinct and hunger. But there are other demons, born of the earth as the dragons are, who can live among humans without detection if they choose. They’re still flesh eaters; they’re just more subtle about it.”

“Great. And I don’t know about them, why?”

Mick kissed the top of my head. “They’re rare, and they tend to lie low, far from any mage who could detect them and stop them.” I felt the smile in his kiss. “And, you’ve been busy.”

“If they stay away from mages, why did they come here?”

The Crossroads Hotel was becoming notorious as a refuge for the paranormal. I had one of the most powerful mages in the country as my manager, a Nightwalker in my basement, and a shaman storing her magic in the room next to the Nightwalker’s. Not to mention a dragon I was going to marry, and me, the crazy woman with the Stormwalker and Beneath magic mix. Plus Gabrielle, who was more powerful than I was, and various and sundry supernatural guests.

“It is curious,” Mick said.

When Mick sank into his dragon self, his mode of speech became archaic, more precise. The biker bad boy started to sound like a Victorian college professor.

“Curious is one word for it.”

“Suspicious is another,” Mick said. “Especially coming hard on the heels of Emmett’s impromptu visit.”

“You think they’re here to help steal the mirror?” I glared at the open front door of the bar as though it would give me answers. “I don’t think they stand a chance.”

“I’m sure Emmett’s plan is more devious than sending demons to carry off a giant mirror weighing close to three hundred pounds.”

“I know you’re trying to make me feel better.” I patted Mick’s broad hand where it rested on my abdomen. “But it’s not working.”

“A dragon’s got to try.”

His answering caress reminded me of other things my dragon boyfriend liked to try. I shifted with impatience. As soon as the demons emerged, we’d grab them, interrogate them, and maybe slay them, and then I’d haul Mick off to bed. The remnants of our date night might just be salvageable.