Holy Smokes (4 page)

“How about you do both?”

His lips touched mine, teasing, tasting, sending me into a near frenzy of desire as I opened myself up to his dragon fire. His kiss was as fiery hot as the dragon fire that surrounded us, burning around our bodies in a spiral of flame that would have set off the smoke detectors if Drake hadn’t had this room specially fireproofed.

Drake’s tongue got all bossy with mine, as it was wont to do, something I tolerated with extreme pleasure. As kisses went, it was at the top of the scale, his body moving seductively against mine to the point where I was considering how long it would take to engage in wild, sweaty bunny sex on the floor of the study. But there was something missing from the kiss, something that I’d taken for granted until it was gone, something that I hadn’t realized I would miss so much when it was denied to me.

I couldn’t share his dragon fire. He could heat me up from the outside with it, as he was now, but it was the sharing of his fire that had bound us so intimately, the fire doing more than just giving me energy—it had woven itself into my being, an element that was part Drake, part me, one that was unique to us. Without it, I felt…unfinished.

I kissed him with all the passion I had. He tasted as he always did—hot and spicy, like he’d been drinking dragon’s blood, a potent spiced wine that was favored by the dragons, and which could be fatal to mortals. Reluctantly, I pulled away from him, my heart aching for all that we’d lost. “Why did you have enough time to have a drink, but not to marry me?”

“István had a flask with him,” Drake murmured against my neck, his lips branding a hot trail of fire over to the spot behind my ear that made my legs go weak. “The police gave it back to him when they released us, and we had a pull on it in the car on the way home.”

I pulled back so I could look at him. “Police? You were arrested? Why?”

The passion in his beautiful eyes faded to a hard glint that made me shiver…and not with excitement. “Chuan Ren.”

“Goddamn it! She had you arrested?” I grabbed the lapels on Drake’s tuxedo, realized what I was doing, and smoothed out the wrinkles. “Why is she still doing this? I thought you took care of her silly legal wranglings when you went to Budapest last week.”

“I stopped her attacks on the holdings of the sept members in Europe, yes. But somehow, she managed to manipulate a judge here and had warrants issued for the arrest of Pál, István, and myself on trumped-up charges of terrorism.”

“Terrorism?
You
? That bitch!” I stormed around the room, so frustrated I wanted to scream.

Why be frustrated? If you use me, you can—

“Shut up!” I bellowed as I stomped past the desk.

Drake cocked an eyebrow but knew I wasn’t addressing him.

“Sweetie, I know you’re doing everything you can, but you have to stop this war with the red dragons. If Chuan Ren has the sort of power to get you arrested on your wedding day, then who knows what else she can do! I’m sure those huli jing were sent by her today—they’re Chinese fox spirits, and I can’t think of anyone else I’ve pissed off enough lately to set demonic beings after me.”

“You were on the street?” Drake asked, frowning.

“Not for long. Nora was at the wedding—what was supposed to be the wedding—and I couldn’t let the opportunity to talk with her slip away, so I dragged her around to the back of the church, out of sight of the street. I don’t know how the huli jing found us, but that is really a moot point. We can’t continue to live our lives in perpetual fear that the red dragons are going to attack us at any moment! We’ve got to stop the war once and for all! We can’t let it go on as long as the last war you had with them—that was, what, thirty years or something?”

“Forty-three.”

I put my hands on my hips. “This last month has been hell, what with the assassination attempts, you having to fly out to Budapest every couple of days, and all the other crap Chuan Ren is throwing at us. It has to stop, Drake.”

Drake sat on the edge of his desk, his eyes distraught. Immediately, I was filled with remorse for railing at him when he was doing his best to end the war between the septs.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry,” I said, rushing over to stand between his legs, wrapping my arms around him. “I know you’re doing everything you can, and I’m not blaming you one little bit. You’ve worked miracles these last couple of weeks, keeping Chuan Ren from destroying the sept businesses and homes and such. And everyone is grateful for the guards you’ve sent—Tamas from Germany said earlier today that they’d caught two red dragons trying to set fire to their house, and they would have been goners if the guards weren’t there. So I’m not holding you responsible at all for the fact that Chuan Ren is a lunatic who will do anything to destroy us—it’s just…if I am pregnant…I just don’t want…”

“I know,
kincsem.
I do not want a child growing up in the middle of a war, either,” he said, holding me tight as I gave in to the emotions of the day and had a little cry on his shoulder. “If it is within my power to stop the war, I will do so.”

“Our power,” I said, my voice muffled against the cloth of his tux as I hiccuped the end of my tears. “We will stop it. We work together now, remember?”

He kissed the top of my head and said nothing. I smiled into his shoulder, relishing both the feeling of protection he offered and the maddening frustration that was inevitable whenever he tried to keep me from becoming involved in something dangerous.

“Oh, crap,” I said, pulling away from him. “Your suit—I just ruined it.”

Drake looked at the sodden, bloody shoulder of his tuxedo. “It does not matter. I have others.”

“I hope so. Did I tell you the wedding was rescheduled for tomorrow?”

“Yes. Kiss me.”

“You are the bossiest dragon I know,” I said, leaning into him again.

Behind me, the door clicked open. Jim’s voice said, “Nope, they’re still at it.”

Drake nibbled my lip for a moment before I pulled away and turned to glare at the demon in the doorway. “I thought I ordered you out.”

“You did. You didn’t say I couldn’t come back,” it pointed out with a waggle of its doggy eyebrows. “You guys gettin’ busy, or should I tell Stephano you’ll see him?”

“Stephano?” I asked, surprised to hear the name. “Fiat’s Stephano?”

“You know any other blue dragons named Stephano?” Jim asked, moving away from the door as I started toward it. Drake caught my arm and held me back until he could go out the door first. I whumped him on the back as I followed.

Drake stopped in the doorway, his eyes narrowed, his arms crossed. “What do you want here?”

Stephano, one of the blue wyvern’s elite guards, gave Drake a stiff nod. “Fiat sent me to notify his mate of a con clave called for Wednesday. Her attendance is mandatory.” He made a little bow to me, then turned and would have left the house if Pál and István hadn’t been standing in front of the door that led out to the street.

“Hang on a minute,” I said, pushing past Drake. He caught my arm and held me close to his body. “I was thinking about this earlier, when I read the history of the green dragons. I know Fiat set up one of the green dragons to take a fall so I’d end up being his mate instead of Drake’s—”

“You are my mate,” Drake growled. “Nothing Fiat can do will change that.”

I kissed the tip of his nose. “You’re so cute when you’re stubborn. It’s one of your many charms, and although normally it drives me up the wall, sometimes it’s just downright adorable. Where was I? Oh, the mate thing.” I turned back to Stephano. “I know that Fiat used the
lusus naturae
challenge on the green dragon he set up as temporary wyvern, but he didn’t follow the rules of the challenge to win. He used a gun, and that wasn’t in the terms of the challenge. Thus, he didn’t really win, which means I’m back to being the green-dragon mate, and as far as I’m concerned, Fiat can stick his conclave where the sun don’t shine.”

Silence filled the hall. I looked from Stephano, to Pál and István, finally to Drake, all of whom were standing with odd looks on their faces.

“What?” I asked.

Jim shook its head. “Just when you were getting a clue, too.”

“What’s wrong in my reasoning?” I asked Drake.

“A challenge for
lusus naturae
is different from a challenge for control of the sept,” he answered, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “The latter must follow the terms of the challenge specifically. The former…” He shrugged. “There is a mortal saying that all is fair in love and war. I’m afraid that would apply to a
lusus naturae
challenge, as well.”

“Well, hell,” I said, grinding my teeth just a little as I looked at Stephano. “What time is this conclave thing?”

“Noon.” Stephano named a well-known hotel that was relatively close. “I will tell Fiat you will attend?”

“Are you good on that time?” I asked Drake.

Stephano interrupted before he could answer. “The green wyvern will not be allowed to attend.”

“Sorry, I don’t go anywhere without Drake.”

His gaze moved warily between Drake and me. “No dragon outside the sept is allowed at a conclave. It is not done.”

“Is that kosher?” I asked Drake.

His jaw tightened as he nodded. “Unfortunately, it is a law most septs adhere to—only members of the sept are al lowed to attend formal meetings.”

“Well, the answer is simple then. I just won’t go.” I turned back to Stephano. “Please pass along my regrets to Fiat, and tell him it was a good try, but I wasn’t born yesterday. If he wants me at a meeting, he’ll have to make it a less formal function so that I can bring Drake.”

The blue dragon smiled. For some reason it wasn’t a reassuring gesture. “Fiat assumed you would refuse, and instructed me to tell the green wyvern that if you do not attend the conclave, he will consider that an act of war and will reciprocate as necessary.”

Drake stepped forward, his hands fisted, clearly bent on telling Stephano what Fiat could do with his threat.

“Wait a minute,” I said quickly, moving between the two men. “This is stupid. The green dragons don’t have anything to do with my decision to not go to the conclave. Fiat can’t war with them because I don’t want to hang around with him.”

Stephano’s smile changed to a smirk. “You live with the green wyvern. You bear his child. You are treated as a member of the sept. If you do not attend, it will clearly be due to influence by the sept, and thus Fiat will be within his rights to reclaim his mate by force.”

I bit my lip as Drake said something to Pál and István in their native Hungarian. The two men closed ranks on Stephano, whose smirk, I was momentarily gratified to notice, took on a strained cast.

“Now, just wait a second, guys. Nothing is going to be served by beating the crap out of the messenger. Let’s think this out.”

“You will not go to the conclave,” Drake told me. “I will not allow you to go there unprotected.”

I nodded. “I have no intention of putting myself in Fiat’s control, but at the same time, I’m not going to allow another war to be declared. We have enough on our hands with the red dragons. There has to be another way around the situation.”

You are so foolish. You could end the situation so very easily.

“Argh!” I yelled, startling everyone in the hall.

“Ash,” Jim said.

“I’m sorry. It was the voice. Man, I’m sick and tired of it yammering at me day and night. What I’d give to shut it up…”

Everyone was looking at me oddly again. I cleared my throat and reminded myself that professional Guardians didn’t rant in front of others about the evil voices in their heads. “Sorry.”

Jim sighed and said, “You’re not thinking.”

I looked at it. It cocked its head. As a demon, Jim was bound by some silly rule that said it couldn’t come right out and tell me something helpful unless I asked for specific information, but it could—and often did—hint when I was missing something obvious.

Obvious like…“Oh! Brilliant! Jim, you get two dog cookies when you go to bed tonight. Stephano, you said I couldn’t bring a member of the green sept, correct?”

“No other sept may attend a conclave.”

“Gotcha. The answer is simple, then.” I turned my smile onto Drake.

He frowned.

“It is?” Pál asked, looking confused.

“Yup. I’m a prince of Abaddon, remember?”

“It’s not something we could easily forget,” Drake said dryly.

“Yeah, well, as a big, bad demon lord, I have scads and scads of demons under my control. If Fiat won’t let me bring a green dragon bodyguard, I’ll simply call up my demon legions and bring them instead. There’s nothing in the sept laws that says a mate can’t bring demons, is there?”

Stephano’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he finally answered. “No.”

“Good. Problem solved.”

“Er…” Jim said.

“It’s not?”

Drake took my hands in his, his thumbs gently brushing over the backs of my hands. “
Kincsem,
it would not be wise for you to summon your legions.”

“Why not?” I looked deep into his eyes. Regret was in there, as well as something extremely distasteful…pity.

Do not listen to him. You have struck a perfect solution.

I closed my eyes for a moment, swamped with sadness. “You mean I’d have to use the dark power to summon the legions.”

“Yes.”

“But I don’t use it to summon Jim or Tr—the steward,” I said, careful not to say Traci’s name out loud. For some reason we had yet to figure out, I had the demon on auto-call, and just saying its name summoned it to me.

“They are your personal servants. Legions are different.”

“All right then,” I said, nodding as I turned back to Stephano. “If Fiat wants to play hardball, I’ll play hardball. You can tell his royal majesty that I will attend his conclave—with a non–green dragon bodyguard sufficient to ensure my safety and general well-being.”

“Hoo boy, this ought to be good,” Jim said, its eyes lighting up as it realized what I was saying.

Drake rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “That will do.”

Pál and István exchanged glances before István asked, “Who will be bodyguard?”