For the Memory of Dragons (20 page)

“It’s all right.”

Gentle hands rubbed down her back, pulling
the blanket away from her. Rolling back to her stomach, Terra
opened her eyes. Sleep clogged her vision, and she raised her hand
to rub it way. It was an odd stretch, but she finally got her hand
up to her face.

Alex caught it before she could clear her
eye. “Careful,” he cautioned as he rubbed her hand. “Your claws are
sharp, and you could hurt yourself if you aren’t careful.”

Claws?
Terra blinked away the sleep
and turned to look at the man lying on the bed next to her. Her
vision was still funky, but he looked as handsome as she remembered
him being. But, he was bigger than she remembered.

Mine,
some part of her purred in
satisfaction.

Shaking her head, Terra tried to sit up, but
she didn’t bend right. She managed to push up to her hands and
feet, but her balance was off, and she toppled over on her
side.

Alex caught her before she could fall off
the bed. “Easy there,” he soothed. His fingers ran down her side in
a soft caress. “You’re dragon now, so things are going to be a
little different. I’ll help you as much as I can, but you might
want to take it slowly.”

Terra considered his words as she lay there.
I’m dragon now.
That she could believe. She felt different.
Warmer. A stray thought raised her tail up and thumped it on the
bed. She had a tail now! Another thought rustled her wings. She had
wings! She felt both strange and wonderful at the same time.

Rolling her head over, she stared at the man
next to her. He stretched down the bed with his head propped on his
hand, watching her with those gorgeous eyes. She loved his eyes.
And with her new vision, the colors in his hazel eyes sparkled.

All ours,
that reptilian part of her
purred.

Fear rubbed at the edge of Terra’s mind. It
felt as if something had invaded her brain.

I am you,
that piece said
soothingly.

No, you’re not,
Terra argued back.
She had never had any part of her talk back to her before.

That part laughed.
We are one and the
same.

Doubt crept into her mind.
What do we do
now?
she asked.

Go on,
her dragon answered.

Terra paused to think about that.
Go on?
But how?

Another snicker crept out of the wayward
bit.
We both want the same thing.

Terra studied the man next to her as she
considered what her dragon had said. It was true; she did want him.
In more than one way. And that, in itself, was disconcerting. She
barely knew the man, but she couldn’t stand the thought of losing
him.

He will not leave us,
her dragon
reassured her.

But does he love us?
she asked,
worried.

The answer came back to her in a mix of
emotions. Desire. Need. An overwhelming possessiveness. None of it
was love as she had known it. It was something much stronger.

But he’s human, and we are not,
Terra
complained.

Then change that.

How?

The answer came rushing into Terra, and she
instinctively knew what to do. Closing her eyes, she let go of the
part of her that was dragon. Magic tingled across her skin as the
scales slipped away, leaving her in human form. She heard Alex draw
in a sharp breath and opened her eyes to look at him. Surprise rode
his face.

“Beautiful.” The words slipped from him in a
soft whisper as he reached out and pushed a stray lock of hair from
her face.

See,
her dragon gurgled at her,
bringing the ghost of a smile to her lips.

Curling her hands up under her head, she
considered Alex. His fingers played along her cheek and shoulder,
sending shivers of delight through her. After a few minutes of
enjoying his touch, she let out a sigh.

“Now what?” she asked, unsure of how to
proceed. Everything about this situation was new and confusing. Not
to mention, scary as hell.

Alex let out a soft laugh as he reached out
and drew her in against him. “Whatever you like.” He laid a kiss on
her forehead. “We can take this as fast or as slow as you
want.”

Terra curled in his arms, thinking about
that.
Whatever she liked.
She drew in a deep breath, filling
her lungs with his scent. It was clean and rich, with a hint of
spice and musk. Desire pooled in her core, and she knew where she
wanted to start.

“Anything?” She pressed herself against
him.

He laughed, and as he slid his hand down her
back, he pulled her harder against him. “Anything,” he purred as he
leaned in and captured her lips for a kiss.

She savored his kiss as the passion built
between them.

When he pulled back, the color of his eyes
had darkened, and the evidence of his arousal was pressed firmly
between them. “What does my lady desire?” There was a suggestive
tone to his voice.

Terra bit her lip and looked up at him
hopefully. “A big, fat, juicy steak. And a baked potato,” she
answered as her stomach rumbled.

Surprise flashed on his face from the
unexpected answer, but he smiled. “As you wish.” He kissed her
quickly and went to roll out of the bed.

Catching him by the shoulder, she stopped
him from getting up. It made her happy that he would give in to her
demands even though he clearly wanted something else.

Alex looked at her, confused.

She smiled at him. “That is, as soon as we
finish what we started back in that hotel room.”

Letting out a growl born in desire, he
pounced on her, reclaiming her lips.

Terra let out a giggle before letting
herself be swept away in his passion. This whole dragon thing was
going to take some getting used to, but as long as she had Alex
there to help her, she could face anything.

Daniel sat at his desk and looked over the
stack of files spread out before him. He had triple-checked each
file, trying to figure out who could have leaked the information
about either the solitary dragons list or Alex’s use of the rest
house. Hours he had spent, checking phone records and alibis,
trying to come up with some answer. Hours he had wasted. Everyone
he had checked had been airtight.
How had the information
slipped out without anyone knowing?

Letting out a deep sigh, Daniel gathered up
the files and slid them neatly into the box next to his desk. He
would keep these files and watch these agents. Someone was going to
slip up sooner or later, and he would be there to catch them. Now,
he just had to worry about what to do until then. There were still
a lot of people on the solitary dragons list that needed to be
notified and relocated, just in case that was the common link. But
who should he trust to do it? Only his finest agents had access to
the entire list, and Alex was right. The dragons who had come up
missing had been on all parts of the list.

How could any agent in Eternity give up
dragons to be murdered?
That thought ate at him. Their entire
sworn duty was to protect dragons. These men had trained hard to
achieve the status and rank they had, and for one of them to betray
the very people they were sworn to protect was unthinkable.
Or
more.
Daniel growled in anger. One of his men had already
proven to be an agent for the group killing dragons, but he wasn’t
being any help to them. Somehow, even under lock and key, the man
had found a way to take his own life before Daniel could get the
chance to beat the information out of him.

Hell, they didn’t even know who this group
was. The only information they had was Alex’s sketchy memory, the
medallion he had recovered, two dead men, a few burner phones, and
a car. Of all of that, the car proved to be the most useful. It
contained several vials of some serum—the stuff they had injected
Alex’s girl with. He had every one of his scientists and mages
researching the stuff to find out what it was and how it had
changed the girl into a dragon. The idea that they could use a drug
to change a human into a dragon was preposterous, yet it had
happened.

Daniel clenched his jaw as he thought of the
consequences of that.
How much would people pay for the ability
to become a dragon? A lot! Was that why dragons were disappearing?
So that someone could use them to make this wonder drug? Holy
hell!
If that were the case, things were going to go to hell as
soon as this group figured out how to make it work properly. If
they found out it had only taken a bonding to complete the
transformation, then all hell was going to break loose.

Daniel shoved the rest of the stuff off his
desk and got up. He needed to get down to medical and get Alex put
on the disabled list as soon as possible. With the gap in his
memory, no one would question Daniel’s decision. Then, he had to
get Alex and the girl out of there before word got around that she
had recovered and could turn into a dragon. Kyle had brought that
information back to Daniel this morning, so suppressing the fact
shouldn’t be too hard. Daniel had a few old friends that he could
send them to stay with until they could find the leak and stop this
group. The next question was… how?

With no real leads, Daniel didn’t know where
to start.
There’s the medallion
. He paused as the thought
passed through his brain. This group had been very insistent on
getting that thing back. Right now, it was locked up in the hidden
safe in his office, and he was the only person who knew it was
there. Maybe he should let that information slip out and see who
came to collect it. No. This group was covering their tracks pretty
well; they wouldn’t be foolish enough to try anything in his
office.

Daniel shook the idea away. Right now, he
had to get Alex and his new mate to safety before something
happened to them. Then, he could think about how to catch their
mole. And once he did, someone was going to pay dearly for
betraying his trust.

Dragons. Be them Asian dragons with their
long bodies or European dragons with their strong wings, they are
beautiful. They have always been one of my favorite mythological
creatures. So when Marya asked for dragon stories, I was happy to
offer up my contributions with On the Accidental Wings of Dragons.
But I never expected it to go any further than that. So I was
surprised when Rebecca came back and asked if I could expand the
single novel into a series.

I said yes, but honestly, I was at a loss as
the where I could go with the story. I could have followed Michael
and Carissa as they learned to live with each other, but I wasn’t
sure if there was enough plot line in just that to give me a good
story. I didn’t really want to write a novel based solely on their
romance. Sure it would make a fun read, but I like a little more
plot in my novels than the traditional guy-works-to-get-girl motif
you see in most romance novels.

I had to step back and reread the story to
find the loose thread, but it was there, dangling in my face the
whole time. I hadn’t even considered the unaddressed mystery left
hanging in the story. To me it had been a convenient reason to
chain poor Michael up, not a plot device to drive a whole series.
But in that one idea, I found enough fodder to drive this story on
in to several books. It’s amazing what you can do with a little
loose end.

And of course it takes more than a plot
device to make a book. It takes people. I have plenty of those
supporting me on my way. I would like to thank all those that
helped me on my path: my mother for listening to me and helping to
bounce ideas; my family and friends for being there for me and
understanding as I pounded away at my keyboard; the ladies at
Crimson Tree for believing in me; my blogger friends for supporting
me (even the ones that don’t do fantasy…Ethan); and last but
certainly not least, all of you readers that have made it this far
with me in this journey. Thank you all from the bottom of my
heart!

Originally from Ohio, Julie always dreamed
of a job in science. Either shooting for the stars or delving into
the mysteries of volcanoes. But, life never leads where you expect.
In 2007, she moved to Mississippi to be with her significant
other.

Now a mother of a hyperactive red headed
boy, what time she’s not chasing down dirty socks and unsticking
toys from the ceiling is spent crafting worlds readers can get lost
it. Julie is a self-proclaimed bibliophile and lover of big words.
She likes hiking, frogs, interesting earrings, and a plethora of
other fun things.

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Dragons of Eternity series by Julie Wetzel. For the Heart of
Dragons will release in early 2016.