Dragons' Bond (6 page)

When her stomach rumbled, she thought of breakfast, and realized that having put off shopping all week, today it was something she really needed to do. There were a few slices of bread left, which she’d intended to have for her own breakfast, but she was almost certain there weren’t four, and she was also fairly sure one slice of toasted bread wouldn’t be enough breakfast for a man. It was barely enough for herself.

As she brushed her hair and tied it in a ponytail, Mallory mentally began writing herself a shopping list, but she kept being distracted by the thought of Angus’s sparkling green eyes, of William’s fair skin and tender looks, of the loving way Mark had kissed her back before he possessed her ass that morning.

Dammit, concentrate, Mallory. You have a job to do, and now you have an evil museum director to prevent from catching your men as well.

My men? Really?

Oh, yeah, they’re mine, and I don’t plan on giving them up any time soon.

She threw yesterday’s clothing into the clothes hamper and pulled on fresh underwear, her favorite deep-green top, and a clean pair of jeans. Then, wondering where the men were, and if they’d changed back into statues already, she slipped her feet into her gym shoes and walked into the kitchen.

If I beat the eggs and chop the tomato, would that make enough of a topping on the toasted bread to feed the men? Assuming they haven’t shape-shifted yet. Do they even eat?
She hadn’t thought of that.

William had her four shopping bags out sitting on the bench beside him and was pouring coffee. Mark was sitting at the table, writing something on a sheet of paper. Angus was flipping her eggs in a pan, and suddenly the smell of fried bread made her feel even hungrier. All three men had wet hair, so they’d obviously gotten cleaned up. Since there wasn’t another bathroom, they must have washed up here in the kitchen or out in the roof garden.

“While you eat your breakfast, check this shopping list and add anything else you need me to buy for you,” said Mark, handing her the pen and paper.

“And here’s your breakfast,” said Angus, handing her a plate with two eggs on fried bread, an apple, and a cup of coffee.

“What about you? Do you eat?” Mallory took a bite. “Oh, good idea to use the paprika. That gives the eggs an extra zing,” she mumbled around a mouthful of food.

“Yes, when in human form, we’re normal people. I’m afraid we ate all your pasta and vegetables, not that there was much in your refrigerator anyway. Hence the list,” said Mark, waving at it to get to her to read it.

“Sorry. I’ve been meaning to go to the store all week. I’ll do it today.”

“You need to be visible doing your regular work, just as if today was the same as yesterday. Mark is going to the bank to access our accounts and sort out our finances, and then he’ll shop for us all. He can carry a much heavier load of food than you could, and four of us will eat quite a lot of food, even if two of us stay in statue form during the day,” said Angus.

“He’ll use the back door, just as you usually do. Do you normally talk to people around here or at the store?” asked William.

“When I go to the little store on the corner of Twenty-First Street, it’s usually Giorgio serving there and I say ‘hi’ to him. But if I go to the supermarket on Twentieth, I don’t know anyone there. As for people walking around on the streets, I haven’t gotten to know my neighbors yet. I’ve been meaning to, but…”

“It’s actually a good thing you’ve been too busy to make friends, otherwise we’d have to keep them safe from Teivel, too,” said Angus.

“Why don’t you go now to Giorgio’s? If you haven’t shopped for a while, he’ll have missed you. Just buy whatever you’d usually buy. Then when you get back, Mark can go and do a more comprehensive shopping excursion at the supermarket,” suggested William.

Mallory ate the last bite of her meal, sighed happily, and nodded. Angus looked at her and said, “You’d better buy more shopping bags, too, Mark. Four won’t hold enough food for us for a week, and you don’t want to be going there so often people start recognizing you.”

Mark nodded and went and put on his necktie and suit coat, while Mallory left via the rear door.

* * * *

Once again Mark thanked all the gods in the pantheon that they’d used thumbprints for their lockboxes, not some kind of key or code. The thin, elderly banker recognized him instantly, just as he’d recognized the old man. That was one worry removed. He’d wondered whether the old man had retired or even died over the past few years, and had pictured himself trying to explain to a new staff member the kind of “business” that had prevented him from any kind of contact with the bank over that time period.

The city apartment was just as they’d left it. The bills had all been paid by direct debit as they’d fallen due, and apart from a layer of dust over everything, it was fine. Mark quickly packed a suitcase of underwear, toiletries, personal papers, shoes, and some jeans and tops for them all, then stashed the case in the trunk of the car he’d just hired.

His next stop was Walmart where he outfitted himself in the latest fashion in jeans, footwear, T-shirt, and sweaters. At an electronics store, he added a laptop computer and a cell phone to his purchases, and then at a second similar store, he bought the same again.

They’d said only one of them would transform at a time, but he wanted to be prepared in case two of them were out of the museum. He considered buying a third cell phone, but thought it unnecessary.

He then visited a large food store, carefully getting everything on his shopping list before going to a second large supermarket and buying more food and staple items. The trunk of the hired car was crammed full, and he was very tired of shopping, so Mark decided he’d done enough for now and drove back to the museum. His key opened the back door and reminded him he still needed to arrange for a locksmith to change all the locks. As quickly as he could, he unloaded the things he’d collected into the rear hallway, and then he locked the door and drove away, travelling six blocks before he started looking for a parking lot where he could leave the car.

Hiring the car was deliberate. The three of them had decided it was the easiest way to keep changing vehicles, in case anyone recognized them or the car, and having a vehicle had definitely made his chores today much easier than having to do it all on foot. It meant he’d done all the shopping in a neighborhood where he was unknown, and so was Mallory, which he hoped had given them some protection from Teivel finding them.

Back at the museum, he unpacked all the shopping, enjoying the way the refrigerator and pantry were filled with food. Gratefully, he took off the outdated suit pants—he’d removed the jacket and necktie as soon as he’d left the bank—and changed into new jeans and a T-shirt. He left the suitcase of clothes for them all in the bedroom, and set up one of the laptops to search for a locksmith.

A webpage for a female locksmith caught his eye as he surfed the web. “Mallory would be likely to choose another woman,” he said softly to himself, scrolling through the site and checking all the details.

Just as he was about to phone the woman, Trudy, he realized that Mallory would need to do it herself, and that she would need a reason the directors of the museum would accept as to why she was changing the locks.

Mark bookmarked the page and leaned back in his chair, his hands behind his head. His mind focused on Mallory. Mallory sucking his cock last night, trying to make it as good as possible for him, even though she was on the brink of her own orgasm. Mallory writhing beneath him in joy as they all fucked together this morning. Mallory screaming her release as she came and came and came, gripping his cock so hard the cum burst out of him in an explosion so strong, he’d never come as hard in his life before. Mallory—

That was it! Mallory had screamed loudly in release this morning, and it was possible those oak dragons had heard her. Even if they didn’t, her scream could be used to good effect. What if she’d woken from a nightmare about someone in her room…No, that might lead Teivel to think one of the dragons had shifted. It would have to be a nightmare that the museum was being robbed. Yes, that’d work. She knew the locks hadn’t been changed, and who knew how careful the previous owner may have been with the keys. He was very old after all and may have given or loaned keys to any number of people. So after her nightmare, Mallory had decided the best thing for the safety of the museum was to have all the locks changed. Problem solved!

* * * *

Mallory was concerned that she’d pay extra attention to Angus and William, or even talk to them and likely say something she shouldn’t, in case the dragons in the back storeroom overheard her. She even wondered if there may be other dragons around who were shape-shifters and might be working for Teivel, or he might suborn them at a later date. There was a group of small dragons, carved of all different materials, each just the perfect size to fit in the palm of a hand. Mallory had been fascinated with them since she first saw them, so she decided today was a good day to work on them as she could take them directly into her office. If she spoke out loud there, it didn’t matter. Unless, of course, these statues were shape-shifters.

Mallory sighed. How had her life gotten so complicated so quickly!

But once she started working, Mallory forgot about everything else. These little statues were beautiful, each tiny dragon carved out of a single piece of rock. She cleaned each one carefully then started looking for their paperwork. They had numbers, not names on their bases, and no paperwork was filed by number. Mallory sat turning the jade one round and round in her hand. Suddenly, a light bulb flashed on in her mind. “I bet you were carved by a Chinese artisan. The Chinese are famed for carving statues out of a single piece of rock. And the layers in your wings seem to me to be traditional Chinese artistry, too. Jade! Duh! I should have thought of that sooner.”

She carefully placed the jade statue back on her desk, with the rose quartz one, the ivory one, a dragon carved from soapstone, and the final one carved from lapis lazuli, and went to the filing cabinet looking under China/Chinese. And there the paperwork was, the sheets for each statue jammed together in a crumpled pile.

Settling in front of her computer, Mallory filled out the paperwork for the pieces then laid the dragons out on a piece of deep purple velvet, angled the desk lamp to illuminate them but not cast shadows, and took photographs of them all. Her next step was to upload the pictures, save and print out the dragons’ provenance cards, and back up her computer.

Finally, she took the little dragons back downstairs to the second room and laid them back on their table, arranging them on the purple velvet fabric, which accentuated their colors. “I really need to polish your table, too. It looks dusty now you’re all looking so handsome,” she told them. But as she looked to the windows, she saw it was growing dark and knew she should finish for the day. “I’ll do that first thing tomorrow,” she promised, turning off the lights.

Mallory went from room to room, checking the windows were all locked and barred, testing the front and back doors were still secure, and then finally she walked into her apartment. The day had flown by, but now she’d stopped working, she was tired. And hungry. Besides, she wanted to spend time with Angus, Mark, and William—if she hadn’t imagined them! No, she hadn’t imagined the sex. Twice. The best sex of her life and the only time she’s ever had more than one man. Each of them was so different, each an individual, but she couldn’t choose between them. They were all caring, considerate, and hotter than hell.

She was falling in love with them, too. She wasn’t at all sure how that could be as she’d only known them in human form for a day, but she’d been working on and with them for much longer than that, building the connection, she guessed.

With a sexy little shiver at the thought of the evening ahead of her, Mallory hurried into her apartment. As soon as she opened the door, she smelled the most delicious scent. A pot roast was on cooking! Mark must have not only shopped, but then prepared a meal for them all as well.

“Gotta love a man who cooks,” she said, walking into the kitchen.

“Why thank you, beautiful one.” Mark bowed with a flourish.

Just then, Angus and William appeared behind her, stark naked.

“Unfair competition. Go and put on some of your clothes that I brought with me. They’re in the suitcase in the bedroom.”

“They’ll be all old and out-of-date!” complained William.

“Yeah, I know, but I tried to get you each something you could wear to go clothes shopping for yourselves. I bought most of my new clothes at a chain store. The prices there are very reasonable even if they aren’t exactly Armani.”

Mallory looked at Mark critically. The jeans and T-shirt he was wearing would blend in anywhere. He looked neither over nor underdressed. “You’ve chosen well. Those clothes are perfectly normal,” she said.