WickedBeast (9 page)

“Time to start training your gift,” Cord stated. “What does
the breeze tell you? Who do you see in it?”

Kelly closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “There are
three deer in the woods. Two raccoon dens sorta close,” she stated. “There is a
sleeping owl, quite a few types of birds, lots of mice and rabbits behaving
normally.”

“Very good. Being aware of how the wild animals are acting
is important. They are extremely sensitive to the old ways. Domesticated
animals are harder to read. They behave in ways they think their humans want
them to. Now pick an animal and try to feel the world through it. Start with a
very small one and just touch its mind.”

Kelly frowned, her eyes still closed as she tried to do as
instructed. The breeze picked up, turning tree leaves over to show silver
backs.

“Easy,” Cord murmured softly. “Go small and gentle. Deep
breathes.”

The pull of air quieted and Kelly’s chest rose in a deep but
controlled breath as she narrowed her focus. A rabbit was grazing on the other
side of the stream. Slowly she flowed around it, feeling her way to see with
its eyes. The bunny jerked alert as its long ears picked up a loud banging.

Kelly started and jumped to her feet. The banging was muted
when hearing it with her own ears, but it was still there, coming from Molly’s
house.

Cord slid down farther in his chair and stretched long legs
in front of him, crossing them at the ankle. Hands stacked behind his head, he
watched Kelly spring out of her chair with the same alarm the rabbit had felt
at the new noise.

“Cord. Do you hear that?” she gasped in alarm.

“Yep.” He grinned.

“It’s coming from Molly’s place. Should we go see what all
the banging is? It sounds like a fight.” Kelly hadn’t looked at him as she
gazed at her neighbor’s back door.

“Oh, it could be a fight, but I doubt it. Feel the air
around the house. Listen to the rhythm of the noise,” he instructed softly. “Do
you really want to go over there?”

“Oh!” Kelly backed up a step in surprise and kicked her lawn
chair over. “Oh. Ah, perhaps not. Wow. That’s just not right.”

Cord chuckled. “I’m sure it’s very right or Molly’s back
door would not be rattling on its hinges. My only fear is they will knock it
off the wall and fall out the door.”

Kelly straightened her chair and sat down jerkily. “No. It’s
not right that we can tell what they’re doing. We should go inside and um,
shield or something.”

Cord did laugh then. “Shield? Can’t be done. The pure
emotional power of sex doesn’t allow complete shielding. A sensitive will
always know if they are in the area. Those two are not concerned at the moment.
Besides, it’s natural.”

“That does not sound natural to me. Good heavens, are you
listening to this?”

“Yeah,” Cord purred softly.

Kelly’s head whipped around to look at him.

He raised a wicked brow and half smiled as her eyes swept
down his long body. The bulge behind his zipper snagged her gaze. Her eyes
jerked up to his face and there was a frown between her brows.

“You’ve changed size physically since earlier. I know you
explained that we feed you somehow but…um…does everything change? I mean is
there some point you stop expanding? Ah, growing. Getting stronger, taller and
all?”

“Not ‘we’. You feed me,” he corrected softly. “In human
form, I’ll gain a few more inches. Taller,” he tacked on wickedly. “What you’re
concerned about is something you’ll have to investigate firsthand. As a
shapeshifter, there is no limit to what I can do for you, but nor would I harm
you, little Wind Witch.”

“Oh. Um, yes, I mean…I see. I think. Dang it, I’m not
little, you know. I’m a very tall person,” she huffed in frustration at her
nervous responses.

“If you say so,” he agreed while his smile told her she was
his little anything he wanted.

Kelly turned away from the sensuality in his look. Gray eyes
were warm pools of steam that beckoned. The close-cut beard promised sensation
in the most intimate ways and then there were his lips. If she watched them
while he spoke for another second, she’d have to taste them.

Looking away meant gazing at Molly’s house and realizing the
noise had gotten louder, the rhythm, womb-clenching fast. Just what she needed,
a reminder of how damn lusty these dragons were. Dragons…now there was a
thought to ponder.

Glancing at him, she asked casually, “So you shapeshift into
a big lizard with wings?”

Cord dragged in a deep breath to savor the spice of her
arousal. She was intoxicating. His eyes scanned the yard though he already knew
the exact location of child and dog. He needed a moment before he answered.

“I suppose,” he agreed lazily, unwilling to describe the
reality of what a dragon looked like or why that form was so different from the
current human assumption. “Dragon form is armor. Only engaged when someone or
something is about to die. I’ve mentioned we’re hard to kill. In true dragon
form it’s been impossible, as far as I know.”

“What about St. George who killed the dragon? I mean, he is
a saint and all. What exactly did he kill? Or do you know?” Kelly asked.

“Kelly, George probably wanted to impress a girl,” Cord
scoffed. “If there was a dragon involved who let him live, it had to be
Harrison, the water dragon. He’d think it was funny. They put way too much
dolphin in his DNA.”

“So you don’t think St. George killed anything? He was
really a big liar and they made him a saint?”

Cord shrugged. “He might have believed he killed something,
but it wasn’t a real dragon.”

The sound that interrupted them was the low rumble of an
earthquake. The muted boom of tectonic plates shifting, but it came from the
house next door and the earth in Kelly’s yard remained still.

“Seriously?” Kelly murmured as she looked over at the
innocent-looking Cape Cod that matched her own. “Everyone in the neighborhood
has to know? Every time? That really cuts down on the romance.”

“They are earth creatures. Both powerful in their gifts,”
Cord commented. “Wind folk are not the same.”

“Are you saying we’ll not be alerting the township every
time?” Kelly demanded. “Because I’m not interested in the public being able to
keep score.”

Cord gazed at the disgruntled Wind Witch as her slightly
aroused, a little annoyed, mostly curious mood washed over him. She was
everything sweet yet spicy with that strong streak of delectable dark-candy
danger. The woman was driving him crazy and doing it while sitting three feet
away. She had no idea how powerful she was.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he promised with a wicked smile.
Teasing her yielded a sexy mix of humor spiced with lusty fear. She fed him
without even meaning to. Greedily absorbing her essence was his pleasure, his
addiction, his sentence, his prison. Cord closed his eyes and let the smirk
shadow on his face for her benefit.

“Humph,” she sniffed. “Do that.”

Minuet raced up to them, leaping into her mother’s lap. “You
hear Aunt Molly laughing?” she wanted to know.

“Laughing?” Kelly was surprised but smiled at the innocent
interpretation. “Yes, honey. It’s okay.”

“I know. She happy,” Minuet stated with a kiss to her
mother’s cheek. “Mommy happy too.”

“Oh?” Kelly questioned. “Why do you say that, honey?”

Minuet cocked her head as she looked at her mother. “Bown
all gone. Mommy sparkly.”

“Mommy was brown?” Kelly asked cautiously.

“No Mommy, da airs round Mommy. Now pretty,” Minuet
explained. “You know, the pretties laughing are.”

Coco was wriggling at Kelly’s feet, holding her stick and
trying to get her playmate’s attention. Minuet hopped down and the dog took
off, triggering the game of chase again.

“I didn’t know she sees peoples’ auras,” Kelly said thoughtfully.

“She’s unique,” Cord agreed. “She’ll consider her view of
the world normal for several more years. Children do. It’ll not be a burden
until she realizes she’s the only one with that view.”

“What can we do for her? How do we make that easier?” Kelly
asked worriedly.

“Love her,” Cord answered softly. “Ultimate power is love.
Beyond that, she’ll have to make her world.”

Kelly’s worry was a good one. Minuet was amazing, but the
magnitude of her gift would set her apart. If they all lived long enough for
her to become an adult, would she be alone forever? She had the power to call
up the armies of hell and perhaps the power to destroy them, something he’d
never seen in one being.

The desperate battle for survival of the human species had
been won on the strength of the three elemental witches. They hadn’t been able
to kill the dragons. Only disengage them from the power that animated them in a
savage sacrifice.

And yet dragon lore whispered around the globe. On every
continent, in every culture there were old stories, exaggerated depictions.
Humans didn’t believe, but they suspected.

Now there was Minuet. Whatever the outcome, evil would not
be denied and dragons might get their second chance as well.

Finding the Water Witch was imperative. Cord was using precious
time to allow Kelly and Minuet to grow in their craft, but the ladies had to
know their power to use it. Finding the third witch would be useless if no one
knew what to do. It was also possible the Water Witch didn’t know her power
either. Looked as if locating Harrison was the first priority.

The water dragon shouldn’t be that difficult to track down.
Cord already knew where Harrison spent most of his time. Loch Ness, Scotland.

Chapter Seven

Evening shadows stalked the lawn as Cord sat in the kitchen
and watched his two ladies discuss supper. Since being released from the
long-held fear of experimenting with powers that came so naturally to them,
they had spent the day trying everything.

Cord was tired and it was his own fault. Using too much energy
to shield their exuberant experiments had drained him. But he couldn’t bring
himself to take what he needed. Gorgeous, graceful Kelly was what he needed,
and yet watching over her and Minuet was a pleasure he wanted to savor a little
longer.

He didn’t even have the freedom to offer them his protection
simply because it was the right thing to do. He wasn’t sure when he’d developed
hero envy, but there it was. He wasn’t the hero, he was the user. Hiding
fatigue, he smiled as Minuet insisted on cooking.

“Mommy taste,” she proclaimed triumphantly as a steaming
bowl of macaroni and cheese appeared on the kitchen counter.

“I don’t know. What did you put in this one?” Kelly asked
cautiously as she eyed the normal-looking dish.

“I tells it read box and make. Jus like you said,” Minuet
insisted.

“No more additions? You’re sure?” Kelly checked as she took
a spoon and dipped into the bowl of pasta.

“No chocolate, Mommy said not in mac.”

Kelly put the spoon in her mouth. “Very good!”

“I make, I make.” Minuet beamed at Cord.

“Good job. Let’s have supper,” he encouraged.

Kelly turned her smile on him then sobered as her eyes
studied his face. “What is it?” she asked softly.

Cord raised a brow. “What?”

“Something’s not right.” She glided away from the counter
toward him.

“How do you know?” he asked, unwilling to let any
opportunity slip by that made her more aware of her gifts.

“I feel… You feel…” Her hand reached for his.

As soon as she touched him there was a soft jolt as her
power flowed through the flesh on flesh connection. There was no hiding how
drained he was. He wanted her to know that. Know what she was to him. He could
give her knowledge, skill and protection but only if she let him use her.

So this was need. Her touch was life-giving but apparently
that wasn’t enough to ensure his compliance. Of course it wasn’t, he was a
dragon. Somehow his creators had programmed his need of this woman in such
detail that he wanted more. Perhaps it was just his natural arrogance. Who the
fuck knew anymore, but he wanted Kelly to touch him for reasons that had
nothing to do with their current situation.

He’d never felt the constraint of intangible needs before
and it showed him another side of the woman who’d made him. In the time before,
he’d known he derived power from females he seduced. He had excelled at finding
willing power sources. Now he understood the intangible emotion he wanted from
Kelly was the real strength and the fatal weakness that would shackle him
forever.

What the hell had those witches been thinking? They’d come
up with an incredibly complex plan that depended on what? Luck? There was no
way the three dragons could force this generation’s witches to love them. Love
was the ultimate intangible. It could not be demanded, controlled or commanded.
If it wasn’t a selfless gift, it was nothing.

Kelly unexpectedly sank onto Cord’s lap. He adjusted for her
naturally but raised a brow.

“You’re tired,” she accused.

“Yes.” There was no denying it.

“You should have told me.”

“I’m fine for now,” he stated. His eyes went to Minuet who
was setting the table by floating plates and spoons out of the cabinets. “Both
of you are doing well.”

“I can feel the hunger. You could have asked,” she continued
softly.

“And lose the pleasure of you touching me just because you
want too? It was bound to be a one-time event. Soon as you felt the exchange,
you’d be doing it for other reasons,” he explained quietly. “You weren’t in
danger. I’d never let myself get that weak for selfish reasons.”

“Kiss him,” Minuet directed as she brought the bowl of
macaroni and cheese to the table. “Cord good, we eat.”

“Kissing is private,” Kelly said.

Minuet cocked her head as she regarded them. “You like it.
He like it. I not umbarr…em…I like too. Happy Mommy. I seen Aunt Penny kiss
Uncle Hank for long time.”