The Golden Dragon (3 page)

“Oh, my Goodness, April. You’re going to have to hire a manager for the bookstore now,” June said as she sipped a steaming cup of tea.

“Or sell it,” Tansy added.

“I’m not selling my store.” April crossed her arms over her chest. “Our parents left me that store. I’m not selling it.” She looked at each of her sisters. “Would either of you sell what they gave to you?”

April felt she was justified in her decision when her sisters all shook their heads. “Then don’t tell me to sell the store.”

“It was just a suggestion.” Tansy looked upset.

“Maybe so, but it wasn’t a good suggestion. I would no more get rid of that store than you would your cottage.”

Tansy nodded, indicating that she agreed.

“We still don’t know what you should do,” May said 29

as she waved her wand and brought the plant sitting on the end table next to her back to life. The plant in question quivered for a few seconds, then drooped back to lifelessness and May sighed. “I give up.”

“We can’t give up. None of us can now. We know that if Delfavaro finds out what we are, he will have us exterminated like his father did our ancestors.”

“Not
our
ancestors. We were adopted, remember?”

Summer picked a cookie off the plate in the center of the large table and took a cautious bite. “Hey, these are good. Who made them?”

“The
Cookie Hut
in town,” Ivy said with a shrug. “I figured that none of us could trust our powers enough to make them with magic and since none of us can cook worth a dang, I thought it wise to pick up some desserts and heat and eat entrées from the grocery store.”

“Good thinking,” they all said at once and reached for a cookie.

“Okay now. Getting back on track, we are all descendants of witches or we would have no power. Do you think the reason all of our real parents are dead is because someone is still exterminating us like they did during the inquisition?” April had thought long and hard on this while sitting in the backseat of her sister’s car on 30

the way to the house.

“Historically speaking, most of the people killed during the inquisition weren’t witches. Most of them were normal people who made someone else mad or jealous.” Daisy sat back and crossed her arms. She was the scholar. She never really wanted to be a witch. She only trained in witchcraft to please their parents.

“Can we stay on topic here?” April was getting frustrated. “Sure, you may think it’s only me in danger at this point, but he knows I have twelve sisters. You know you can’t lie to a dragon or they can smell it.”

“Only if you’re a lousy liar…which
you
are,”

Marigold added.

Why did they always make it seem like her inability to lie effectively was a bad thing? “Yes, well, with that in mind, can we
please
figure out what in the world we’re going to do?”

“Didn’t you say you hid your wand before he saw it?” Tansy picked up another cookie and frowned when the edges browned, then turned black. She quickly popped it into her mouth before it could start smoking.

“I hate burnt cookies.” She made a face.

“I said I
thought
I hid it before he saw it. Besides,”

April said with a frown. What’s to say he won’t put two 31

and two together and figure out that I’m a witch just from the toadstools that kept popping up around him?”

“Goddess! Toadstools again?” Iris shook her head. “I wish we could get a handle on our powers. This is just too much. We can’t even defend ourselves for Pete’s sake.” She plopped down in the chair next to her twin, Ginger. Like Marigold and Daisy, they were identical to each other except for the color of their eyes.

The sound of a car pulling up to the house drew them all out of their seats and to the windows.

“They must be lost.” April went to the door, fully expecting to have to give the driver directions. “No one in a limo ever comes here.” She stepped out onto the porch, her sisters behind her, and froze.

Drake Delfavaro stood next to the limo, just as tall, dark and good looking as he’d been in the alley. Dark sunglasses slashed across the upper portion of his face and she wondered if he wore them to hide his expression or if he just thought the sun was too bright. Whatever his reasons, she didn’t like not being able to see his eyes.

He looked almost good enough to eat in his dark slacks and white shirt he wore opened at the collar. It ticked her off, too. The last thing she wanted was to feel attracted to the brute, no matter how handsome he was.

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“What are you doing here?” April snapped and almost cringed. Her mother would be appalled at her lack of manners, even to a dragon, spawn of the devil though he may be.

He didn’t say anything. He just smiled and started forward. Her sisters drew around her, whether for protection or to protect her, she wasn’t certain. Surely, the thirteen of them together could take out one dragon if they had to.

She watched the man move as he approached the porch. Large muscles moved beneath the silk of his shirt, leaving little to the imagination. A delicious heat pooled low in her middle as the sun glinted off his pitch-black hair. The black slacks he wore hugged his body to perfection, leaving little, if anything, to the imagination.

Even her sisters were silent behind her as they watched the dragon’s perfect form mount the steps to stand in front of her.

“Why did you run from me?”

April snorted and he grinned. She didn’t dare ask him what was so funny. Instead, she gave him her most ardent glare. “Because,
dragon,
” she emphasized the word, “we value our lives and had you valued yours, you wouldn’t have come alone.”

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He didn’t look as worried as he should have and April wondered what he knew that she didn’t. In fact, the man was almost grinning. His expression did little to make her feel better.

“I have no fears, witch,” he said with a grin. “As a matter of fact, I
do
know something you don’t.” He crossed his arms and leaned against one of the support posts. “Invite me in and I’ll tell you what it is.”

“We’re not inviting you in, dragon,” May snapped.

“Do you think we’re stupid? We’ll have no protection from you once we invite you into our home.” She turned to her sisters. “Let’s just go inside. He can’t follow us if we don’t invite him.”

Drake sighed and shook his head. “That’s vampires, not dragons.”

“Vampires exist?” Marigold asked, her eyes wide.

It felt like April’s heart jumped to her throat. There can’t be vampires out there. She would never be able to go outside by herself ever again.

He shook his head. “I’ve never met one, but that doesn’t mean anything. I was just referring to vampire lore. Technically, nothing can stop me from entering your home but my manners.” He raised a brow. “Would you care to try them?”

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* * * *

Drake stood waiting for the sisters to run into the house and bar his entry. He would hate to knock down their door. It would be a poor way to attempt to ingratiate himself. Still, he would do what he must to get to know these women. What he couldn’t understand was, they obviously knew what he was, why did they fear him?

“So, dragon, are you going to kill us like you killed countless others of our kind?”

“What?” What in the world made them think that?

“Oh, don’t play stupid with me.” April scowled at him. “We know the dragons attempted genocide with our people several times throughout the centuries. How else could you explain the inquisition?”

“Religious fanaticism, fear or plain ignorance perhaps?” Where in the hell did they get their ideas?

Was this the reason they all went into hiding?

“Don’t give me that. Every witch knows that dragons were behind the church, driving them to execute our people,” one of her sisters interjected.

Another sister stepped forward, an evil grin on her face while waving her wand. “Let me blow him up. At 35

least let something good come from that dreadful talent of mine.”

That must be Rose.
Drake cocked a brow. “You’re welcome to try, but dragons are extremely hard to kill as you will discover.” Why did they think dragons were responsible for the deaths?

“Our parents told us that the dragons were behind the inquisition. Besides, what other explanation can there be for the extermination of all of our biological parents?

Admit it. Your people are still attempting to wipe us out.” April went into the house, leaving the door open for her sisters to follow. “You might as well join us, Mr.

Delfavaro, I don’t want to have to hire a carpenter to fix the door.”

That she expected to be alive to answer the door told him she had already begun to trust him at least a little.

Whether she realized it or not, she expected to be alive when he left.

Drake followed them inside and took a deep breath.

Gods, he hadn’t smelled patchouli and cedar together in centuries. He couldn’t wield a wand and he had no idea why the witches loved those two scents, but it would always remind him of better days. He even welcomed the underlying scent of sage, even though he’d hated it a 36

thousand years ago.

He loved the rag rugs on the hardwood floor and the straw broom that stood next to the door. Dried herbs and flowers hung in the lace-trimmed windows of the small living room. In fact, all of the plants in the room were dried, even those in pots. Apparently, it had been a long time since the girls had been here. All the plants were dead. Still, years of spell-casting and love were embedded in this house and it felt like an old friend.

The scents that surrounded him would always take him back to days filled with love, laughter and magic. It reminded him of why he fought so hard to become the leader of his people after his father died. He had wanted to protect the witches and his people and he’d failed miserably.

Too many lives were lost during the time of the inquisition. Too many witches and dragons died at the hands of fanatical clergy bent on world domination. He glanced at the women in this room, realized they were a new hope for the future and finally felt a sense of peace.

Seeing these witches alive and well brought his mind back to the path he had strayed from after the inquisition. Once, long ago, he had been an honorable man and an honorable dragon. He looked back upon his 37

life, ashamed to admit that he had changed throughout the centuries, building the businesses he owned, always gaining power.

Power for what? Had he somehow known that he would one day encounter these women and need the resources he’d obtained for the purpose of protecting them from whatever evil stalked their kind? This time he would not fail. He would protect these women with his life and he would kill anyone who attempted to harm them. “Dragons aren’t responsible for the countless deaths you speak of. We were also targets.” Taking off his sunglasses, he closed the arms and stuck them in his pocket, then moved to sit on a chair April waved him to.

“Dragons were also tried as witches during that time. Do not think that witches were the only people persecuted.”

The women lined up against the wall. “You may as well know the names of the people who will end your life, dragon,” one of them said. She put a hand to her chest. “I’m Marigold.” She moved past April to the next sister in line and began their introductions.

“These are May, June, Rose, Tansy,” she moved to her identical twin, “my twin, Daisy, Iris, Ivy and her twin, Ginger, Anise and Summer.” She shrugged.

“Yeah, we know our adoptive parents had little 38

imagination for names.” She smirked. “You ought to hear our brother’s names and they were their biological offspring.”

They had brothers? Had April mentioned that before? He couldn’t remember. All he could recall from the time they met was his shock at meeting a witch. He shouldn’t be surprised, his brain
had
stopped functioning. After all, he discovered a pearl of great price. It was difficult to believe that he had found a veritable treasure trove of mates for his people. Even if one the sisters wasn’t his mate, he could hold out hope that one of their brothers could sire the woman fated to be his partner.

He looked to April. He had a difficult time taking his gaze off her. He was almost certain she was the one destined as his though he wouldn’t know until he kissed her. Right now, that seemed almost an impossibility.

After all, these women were determined to slay him.

“I assume that because you have told me all this you have some sort of plan to kill me?” He smiled and leaned back, his arms resting over each side of the chair.

Drake deliberately put himself in a vulnerable position. If they wanted to take a shot at him, they were welcome to do so. However, he
did
know something 39

they did not. That was, until they found and mated the dragons they were destined to live the rest of their lives with, none of them would ever know the full extent of their power.

He wondered about their parents. How could they have mated with each other, trained these women as witches and their sons as mages, which he assumed they had, without informing them of that important fact?

The only explanation would be that their mother was a dragon swan and their father a mage. However, a dragon swan should have known that her people were not responsible for the countless deaths during the dark ages.

He looked at each of the women in turn, rested his head against the back of the chair and said, “Do your worst, ladies.”

They looked at each other, the indecision showing in their eyes. It was obvious they didn’t know what to do.

Fear drove them to their violent thoughts in the first place. He refused to do anything they could misconstrue as being aggressive. Attacking him or not was a decision they would have to make with no help from him.

He looked at April again. His gaze never seemed to stray far from her. He couldn’t help it. Regardless what 40

Martin thought, she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Her light blue eyes lit up the room like a beacon in the night. Her fair skin glowed with health and her silver-blonde hair shone brightly in the sunlight streaming in the nearby window. The way she smelled…like sunshine and citrus with a touch of vanilla, nearly drove him to his knees when it hit him.

If only she would allow him to kiss her, it would answer all of their questions—even his. He didn’t feel even the slightest pull to any of her sisters. The chivalrous male that was part of him wanted nothing more than to protect every one of these women, but his dragon wanted more from only one of them. April. It had to be her.

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