Tianna Xander (8 page)

Tansy pulled away from Tony enough to
give her brother a soft smile. Reaching out, she took her brother’s
hand. “How could you have known when I didn’t?”

“
This is no one’s fault,”
Drake said as he began to pace. “If anyone must place blame
anywhere, place it on the evil the scrolls tell about.” He ran his
fingers through his hair, obviously agitated.

April, attuned to her mate’s emotional
state as any mate should be, slipped through the front door and ran
down the steps of the front porch. “What’s the matter?” She slipped
her arm around her mate and fit herself beneath his arm.

“
Oh, nothing,” Tansy said,
her tone sarcastic. “I’m just cursed with a fire dragon’s power and
will end the world in the near future, that’s all.”

April stared at her for a moment, her
eyes wide. “What did you just say?”

Chapter Seven

Tansy’s entire body began to shake.
“What did I ever do to deserve a curse like this?”

“
It is not a curse, my
love.” Tony pulled her close, his arms wrapping around her as his
warmth seeped into her suddenly cold body.

“
You will not end the world,
Tansy. You have your mate and everyone from your sisters to all of
those who dwell in the otherworld to help you.” Drake reached out
to pat her shoulder, then pulled his hand back when it caught
fire.

“
You see? I can’t control
it.” She burrowed her face into Tony’s neck and sobbed.

“
That wasn’t you, love.”
Tony kissed her temple. “I’m afraid that was me. My dragon couldn’t
bear the sight of Drake touching you no matter how platonic the
intent.”

“
How can you help me control
my fire if you can’t control your own?” she asked and tried to pull
away. She had to get away from everyone before she hurt
somebody.

She scowled when Tony chuckled. “It’s
not funny. You don’t know what it’s like to live with the fear that
you’ll hurt someone you love.”

“
You’re right, angel. I do
not, but I do know that I can control my fire and yours, too. I
have had five-thousand years of practice.”

“
Five tho…” Tansy paused
then swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “Did you just say you’re
five-thousand years old?” She turned to her sister, first staring
at April before turning to Drake. “I knew we were in deep when you
met Drake, April, but I had no idea how deep.” She bit her lip with
a sigh. “What the heck are we supposed to do with these ancient
dragons?”

April shrugged with a grin. “Love
them?” Standing on her toes, April kissed Drake on the chin. He
smiled down at her with so much love in his eyes that Tansy hoped
that she and Tony could even have a fraction of that kind of love
between them one day.

Tony took her hand in his,
lifted it and kissed her fingers.
We
already have that, my love.

Heat rushed to her face and she
reluctantly pulled her hand away. “So what’s with this peace
through fire thing?” she asked, turning her attention back to
Drake.

“
Follow me and I’ll show you
the scrolls.”

“
You have ancient scrolls
here in your house, with
me
living here?” Now Tansy wasn’t sure if the man was
stupid or just crazy.

“
Of course not. They are
sealed away in a moisture controlled vault along with all of the
other important documents pertaining to the
otherkind.
”

For a moment, Tansy wondered
what kind of information her brother-in-law had about those he
called the
otherkind,
then decided she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

All of them were silent as they
followed Drake to his office. After closing the door, he made his
way behind his desk and bumped the mouse for his computer to wake
it up.

“
Copies of it all are stored
here on my hard drive.” He glanced at April and winked. “Now you
know why I needed so many new terabyte drives. I have thousands of
years of
otherworld
history stored here.”

“
Otherworld
?
”
April asked with a frown. “What exactly is that?”

Drake took a deep breath and
started to explain as he clicked through several directories,
typing in even more long and complex passwords to get to what he
wanted. “The otherworld is anyplace where the
otherkind
dwell.”

He looked around himself.
“My home would be considered a part of the otherworld, April’s
store, Tansy’s cottage.” He shrugged. “The
otherkind
would be us, brownies,
sages, imps. Anyone magical or other beings who would not be
considered normal.”

“
Like vampires?” Tansy
asked, not quite believing there were more such creatures as
themselves.

“
There are shapeshifters, of
course. Dragons are shapeshifters, but I have never seen a vampire.
I’m sure they are a figment of some human’s overactive
imagination.”

“
Oh.”
That
was a load off her mind. She
wasn’t sure she could stomach the thought of vampires being real
after finding out that everything they’d been told about dragons
when they were younger wasn’t true. Somehow, the thought of blood
sucking fiends running about town would have just been too much to
bear.

How long would they have gone on
thinking such horrible things about dragons had April not met and
married Drake? How many dragons might have they tried to kill in
their ignorance if Drake hadn’t convinced April to kiss him that
very first time?

She looked at her sister as April
pushed a stray lock of inky hair off her husband’s forehead, glad
that they had found each other before one of them had done
something unforgivable, like kill an innocent dragon out of
fear.

She glanced at Tony out of the corner
of her eye. He stood next to her, his fingers laced with hers as he
stared at the computer screen, while Drake began to
read.

“
Gone are the worries of man
when the wrath of great evil is at hand. Gone is their sorrow, for
there is no tomorrow, unless the
ignis et
pax
reaches out from within.”

Drake looked at each of them in turn,
his expression grim. “It could just be the translation from the
ancient dragon dialect to the modern, but we really thought it was
nothing more than a poor attempt at a limerick by a prankster.”
Drake sighed. “In fact, until I met April and the rest of you,” he
paused, his gaze resting on Tansy. “I thought this was nothing more
than the ramblings of a man too deep in his cups. It never occurred
to me that this was some sort of prophecy.”

“
Figures,” Tansy said to
herself. “I’m always getting myself into trouble.”

“
It’s your adventurist ways,
sweetie.” April patted her arm. “Mom and Dad always hoped you’d
grow out of it.”

Tansy glared at her sister.
“I don’t need
your
input unless it’s going to be constructive.”

April shrugged. “I’m just
sayin’.”

After two hours of searching Drake’s
computer files and discussing the evil that the scrolls spoke of,
they decided to give up—at least for the night.

“
I don’t understand. What
evil is this thing talking about? An evil witch, a dragon, some
kind of monster, what?” Lance closed the book he’d been studying
with a snap.

“
We have no idea. Whoever is
behind this has already targeted the girls. I think they are
killing witches to try to stop the one born with the dragon’s
fire.” Drake glanced at Tansy and winced when April kicked
him.

“
Don’t sugar coat it for
me,” Tansy said with a sigh. “There’s no sense in holding back. We
need to see all of the angles before it’s too late.” She looked at
them each in turn. “What happens to me doesn’t matter. All that
matters is that I manage to keep the rest of you safe.” She gave
them a wry smile. “Apparently, it’s what I was born to
do.”

“
But not at the cost of your
life,” April said as they all climbed the stairs, stopping at
Tansy’s room.

“
My life is nothing compared
to your lives and the lives of the rest of the people in the world.
You know the saying,
the needs of the
many,
and all that.”

“
It won’t come to that,
angel,” Tony said just before he pressed a brief kiss to her
lips.
I’ll be back later now that I know
where your room is.

Tansy smiled at him, her eyes filled
with unshed tears.

“
Of course it won’t come to
that. Why do you think you have twelve sisters and seven brothers?
Together we all make a small army.”

“
And don’t forget all of the
dragons you girls have been lamenting about. Perhaps you all aren’t
our mates, but that doesn’t mean that every one of us wouldn’t do
our best to protect you.” The last comment came from one of Drake’s
men who hurried up behind them. He whispered something in Drake’s
ear, then scurried away, but not before Drake growled and stormed
toward the stairs, April hot on his heels.

“
What’s the matter, dammit!
You’d better tell me, you stubborn dragon.”

Lance stood with them for a moment, his
expression grim. “Three years ago, I would have laughed myself to
death if someone told me my sisters would fall in love with
dragons.” He shoved his hands in his pockets with a sigh. “Now look
at us standing here together in the same house.”

I suppose there is no time
like the present.
Tony bowed to Lance who
just frowned at him as though he’d lost his marbles. “I stand here
unarmed and nearly unmanned, Lancelot Flowers, and I ask you for
your sister’s hand in marriage,” he paused, his head bowed as he
made himself vulnerable to her brother. “I would love her, protect
her and give my life for her. I only ask for your
blessing.”

“
I’m in a house full of
crazy people. There is some sort of evil out there bent on
destroying my sisters and here we are standing in this hallway
carrying out some ancient pre-betrothal ritual as though nothing is
wrong.” Lance closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose and
shook his head. “Whatever.” He waved his hand. “I can play along,
too. Yes, you crazy dragon, in the absence of my father, you have
my permission to marry my sister.”

He stepped closer to Tony. “Dragon or
not,” he paused, grabbed Tony by the throat and used his mage’s
magic to lift him off the floor. “If you so much as touch my
sister’s stomach before the wedding, I’ll beat the shit out of you.
Do we have an understanding?”

Tansy smiled at her brother, her heart
so full it felt like it would burst. She never thought to see her
brother threaten a dragon, let alone assault one and get away with
it. That he did it for her, almost made her cry.

You do realize that my
agreeing to your brother’s terms negates a visit from me later. I
have given my word and I know I would never be able to keep my
hands to myself if I were to visit you in your room.

I know, Tony. I love you all
the more for being a man of your word.
Knowing that Tony planned to keep his word meant the world to
Tansy. It also meant that she could trust him to do exactly what he
said. Though, with their bond, she knew that already. How much more
would she know once they truly bonded with each other?

“
Yes, Lance.” Tony nodded
his agreement. “We have an understanding.” Turning to April, he
bowed over her hand and kissed it. “Until tomorrow, angel.”
Straightening, he turned and walked away.

“
Thanks, Lance.” Tansy stood
on her toes to kiss her brother’s cheek.

Taking her by the shoulders Lance
looked deep into her eyes. “I know all of this is a lot to take in,
but try to get some sleep tonight, okay?”

“
Okay.” She reached out to
open her door. Pausing just inside, she smiled at her brother.
“You, too. It’ll all work out somehow.” Tansy had no doubt of that.
She would save her siblings lives even if it killed her.

Chapter Eight

Tony watched Tansy as she made her way
down the stairs. What would she look like tomorrow when she wore
her wedding gown and Lance walked her down that same flight of
stairs?

He hadn’t seen the gown due to some
strange human custom, but he was sure his mate would look beautiful
in a potato sack. What she wore was the least of his
concerns.

Sometime during the night,
someone managed to sneak past Drake’s security and place a
gift
on the front porch.
At least the note said it was a gift. Somehow, Tony didn’t think of
a paper bag filled with exsanguinated squirrels as a
gift.

There was no doubt in any of
their minds that the evil stemming from the appearance of
the
ignis et pax
was responsible. Still, as everyone agreed, the faster he and
Tansy were wed and properly mated, the faster she could learn to
control the dragon fire within her and he with her.