The Mating Game: Dating a Dragon(8)

So, he had some kind of cell phone blocker in the cab.

This couldn’t be a coincidence. This was far too sophisticated a setup; it must be one of the ice dragons trying to kidnap her.

She closed her eyes and willed herself to shift, desperately trying to summon her wolf, but it was gone. Loneliness filled her; her wolf had been a part of her once – a fierce, wild sister who’d given outlet to her most passionate emotions. She’d never feel her again.

She blinked back tears, closed her eyes again, and tried to summon up her dragon. What would her dragon look like? She didn’t even know. She pictured her cousin Maude in her dragon form, with her beautiful white scales edged in turquoise blue. Maude had sent her pictures. That long tail with the spade-shaped tip, almost like a heart, that great diamond-shaped head with its eyes glowing blue… She imagined enormous wings unfurling, a ridged tail lashing…

She felt something faint stirring inside her. It was there, but buried too deep.

The cab driver drove even faster.

* * * * *

Orion scowled, keeping his eyes on the road as he talked to his brother.

“She ditched me,” he complained. “Is there something wrong with all the women in Cedar Park? I mean, it’s not a full moon. But they’ve all gone crazy.”

He heard his brother’s snort of scorn.

“Seriously, Nikolai. I know it can’t be me.”

“Of course not.” Nikolai’s tone was smug and condescending. Orion felt anger raging through him, and his cell phone case started to glow red. This was why he used fireproof cell phone cases.

He struggled to keep his fire contained.

“I am your Dominus!” he roared furiously.

Nikolai’s tone remained calm. “And I am your brother. I know how you behave sometimes. Do you want things to work out with this woman, or not?”

Orion did, in fact, want things to work out with the woman. It wasn’t just because she was pretty or sexy. He had his pick of women like that. It wasn’t even that she was funny and challenged him and didn’t fall down slobbering at the thought of his wealth.

It went even deeper than that – he felt a pull towards her, an attraction that he’d never experienced before. There was an urgency to it; he needed to be close to this woman. To win her heart.

“Yes,” he ground out. “But don’t think I won’t whup your tail when I get back.”

“Ready when you are,” his brother said, far too cheerfully. Jerk. Someone needed his scales singed.

But in the meantime, his brother might actually have something to offer in terms of advice when it came to sealing the deal with a woman. Nikolai was happily married. Granted, he was married to a human. Since Nikolai wasn’t the Dominus, he was not obligated to somehow come up with dragon heirs. He’d married for love, their children were human, and Nikolai doted on them to a ridiculous degree. A real gold tiara studded with fire opals, for a two year old? Even Nikolai’s wife had laughed at that.

With love.

Orion suddenly realized that he wanted that love too, and maybe, if he could figure out what he’d done wrong with Cadence, he could have it. That and children. Dragonlings.

“Tell me what I did wrong,” he said. He described everything he’d said and done from the minute Cadence and Daisy had walked into the restaurant.

A few minutes later, after his brother had given him a thorough dressing down, he had to reluctantly admit that he might have come across as a little bit rude. A tad arrogant.

He quickly dialed the cab company that, according to one of the waiters, had picked up Cadence.

They had alarming news. They had no cabs in that area of town. None. They swore on their lives – which he threatened, if they were lying.

Someone had been waiting for Cadence. Someone had taken her from him.

Someone was going to burn.

He pulled over to the side of the road, parked, and scrambled out of the car.

He let his rage fuel his shift, roaring through his body. His suit exploded off him, shoes flying through the air as he sank down onto his mighty haunches. Scales flowed over his body like thick armor.

Power rushed through him, and his enormous wings unfurled.

He flapped his wings and took to the air, soaring low over the city, watchful for power lines and helicopters.

He flew in the direction in which the waiter had pointed.

Soon he spotted it – a yellow cab speeding dangerously fast down a country road. The road was hemmed in by trees; there were no houses in sight.

Fortunately, Orion was a supremely accomplished flyer. He maneuvered ahead of the cab and settled down into the road, blocking its path. The cab screeched to a halt and then began reversing. Really? Had the cab driver not noticed that he could fly?