WickedBeast (28 page)

He sat back on his heels putting distance between them. Her
head sank to the pillow, eyes closed, shutting him out, and he knew he could
not live with that, even for second.

“I love you,” he stated nakedly. It was all he had to offer.
She made him capable of this, able to be something he wasn’t and he had tried
to crawl back into the shell of the creature he understood. Being an animal was
simple. Being her lover was more important and the most frightening thing he’d
ever faced. The end of the world didn’t come close to the devastation losing
her would bring about.

Kelly moaned as if she was in pain, but her eyes did not
open. “Don’t. Don’t hurt me anymore. I can’t take it.”

“I’m not hurting you. I’m trying not to hurt you. I love
you, Kelly. How can I prove it to you? Love is not a thing. I’m trying to give
it to you but I don’t know how.”

Her eyes did open this time and she studied his face. A
frown rippled across her brow and then was gone. “Then explain it to me. If you
love me, what was all that after we made love?”

“That was the jackass DNA at work. I thought you had
deliberately stripped me of control to prove you could make me do anything you
wanted. I was hurt. I hurt you back because I had no other defenses. No idea
how to handle being in love with a woman who can destroy me like that. Tell me
what to do and I’ll do it.”

Kelly rolled over and sat up, her eyes never leaving his
face as she moved. “The only thing I need,” she said in a trembling whisper,
“is to believe you love me.”

Cord was still kneeling beside the bed. Her words were the
most effective weapons he’d ever encountered. She had done exactly what he
asked, told him what she needed. The problem was, a dragon had no idea how to
provide proof of love. At least he knew better than to ask her for a quest to
prove it. That dumb-ass move had been used throughout the centuries by idiot
men to no avail. He would have tried it if he hadn’t seen it fail so many
times.

Desperation and pain floated around the room as they faced
each other in silence. Looking into her face, her sad, tear-streaked face,
forced him to understand how truly limited a creature he was. There was a
barrier between them that neither could remove. It was a glass wall. He could
see her, see what he needed but he would never be capable providing what she
needed.

Her eyes suddenly changed as she looked at him. Surprise and
amazement skittered across her expressive features only to disappear into calm
composure. Perhaps she was finally seeing him for what he was. A beast limited
by his animal heart. He couldn’t stand it anymore.

One arm was braced against the bed as he knelt a slight
distance from it. He turned his head to drop it on his biceps for a moment and
gather the strength to release her. It didn’t matter if he looked weak to her.
She already knew what he was. Giving her what she needed to be happy was his
only option. Finding a way to live with what it required of him would be his
battle every moment he remained sentient. So be it. He could do this. He had to
do this. God, he didn’t know if he could live through it.

How was he supposed to let go of the child?

Remembering what he was, a soulless abomination should do
the trick. All that nonsense he’d thought when his dick was engaged was exactly
that, nonsense. Fantasies of a bastard animal taking what he needed. His child
would not be that.

Born of a woman, his baby would have everything he couldn’t
provide for it. He would only cripple an innocent with his small, narrow
understanding of what it meant to live. She deserved a man who could give her
what she needed. The baby deserved love and support from parents who knew how
to provide it. Not the harsh handling of a killer pretending to be something he
wasn’t.

He would always be there. He’d come at her call anytime she
wanted, but he would stay out of her bed. He had no choice but to serve her as
her dragon, but that service had to include letting her build a life after this
crisis was resolved. He had no doubt that the three witches of today were just
as powerful as the ladies from the past. They would find a way. When the child
was grown, he’d fade away. The other two dragons were more than enough
protection for a world without the threat they had brought with them from the
past.

She had to be happy. That was the beginning and end of it.
They all, the three of them, deserved someone who knew how to provide
happiness. He must give them the freedom to find what they needed. Cord stood
and turned to the door.

“Wait,” Kelly asked hesitantly.

He stopped with his back to her. He couldn’t look at the
tears on her face. Not right now. Later he’d be stronger.

He heard Kelly slide out of the bed. Her light footfalls
thundered in his mind as she neared him.
Please,
he begged silently.
Please
don’t touch me. I’m not that strong.

Kelly came to stand in front of him. She was naked. Cord
stared over her left shoulder at the door. “What?”

She reached up with a single finger and traced a damp path
down his cheek. Taking her finger away, she stared at liquid evidence.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“You asked me to leave. I can at least honor your requests.”
She didn’t move. He couldn’t look down at her.

“You said you love me,” Kelly countered.

“I do not lie to you. I will never lie.”

“Then hold me or something,” she suggested with a hesitant
smile.

His eyes cut to hers. “If I touch you, I will not let you
go.” Cord’s hands clenched to keep from reaching for her. Changing her mind now
was confusing and he was dangerously low on resistance. Working up the strength
to leave her was a onetime deal. He had no illusions about being capable of
doing it again. “Choose now. I’ll never be a human, Kelly.”

“Thank God, and I mean that sincerely.” Her hands lifted to
his shoulders as she stepped into his body. “I was afraid for a minute that you
were going to be a jerk and run away. That’s what a human would do.”

Cord’s arms wrapped around her as he buried his face in her
hair, pulling her tight against his body. “Why would a human run away?”

Kelly groaned, her legs left the floor to wrap around his
hips. “Because it’s hard to be in love, the real thing. It means we can hurt
each other and sometimes we don’t even know we’re doing it. Love is risky
business, only for really brave guys like dragons and such.”

He carried her to the bed as she explained. “What happened
to proving I love you,” he wanted to know in a guttural growl.

“You did.”

“Yeah? Explain that to me, but later.”

Cord carefully lowered her to the sheets. Again he had no
control of what was going to happen next, but it didn’t matter. Worshiping her
with his mouth from head to toe was a compulsion he had no intention of
resisting.

“I love you,” Kelly breathed as he leaned over her, dropping
kisses along her hairline.

“I know. God help us,” Cord growled as the Wind Witch blew
through him. She was pure magic. They were magic. What they had become was new.
Creating a life was certainly proof that nothing was as he’d known it before.

Drawing back, he looked into the eyes of a future that was
free. Not free of responsibility, not free of danger, but it was theirs to
make. It wasn’t set in some master plan they had no control of. Succeed or
fail, they would be the crafters of this future.

Chapter Fifteen

A month on a luxurious, private sailing yacht was not a
difficult way to cross the Atlantic. Kelly stood at the rail and watched as
Minuet and Cord swam with a pod of dolphins. Minuet’s abilities had blossomed
at sea, as had her own. They were getting close to the East Coast though and
soon they’d have to start acting like normal people again. No more talking with
animals.

Cord glanced up at her and grinned. Of course he knew
exactly what she was thinking. He was more a part of her than the air she
breathed.

“We will be back on the water with our friends soon,” he
promised, his words carried on the breeze instead of telepathy. “Our job in the
glades will not take long.”

No, not long, Kelly mused. A few hundred miles off the
Florida coast she had no trouble detecting wizard signature emanating from the
interior marsh. The air told her everything, and the poor, arrogant fool had no
idea what he was broadcasting. The man considered himself a grand master wizard
and he had many followers who agreed with him. Indeed, he probably was, but he
was way out of his league with real witches and dragons.

It had been disciples of this fellow who had sent the birds.
That seemed like a lifetime ago. It was certainly a different age, one where
this fellow was probably the baddest thing in wizardness. She felt kind of
sorry for the man.

Cord and Minuet came out of the water and they pointed the
sleek, three double-mast yacht at a secluded cove on the Florida coast.

“He’s an evil soul. How can you feel sorry for him?” Cord
wanted to know. “You’ve seen what he does. What he wants to do. Believe me,
this time the wizards will not be in control of anything.”

“Of course not. I just felt sorry for his humiliation
factor. He’s about to experience a long fall down the ego ladder,” Kelly responded
with a smile.

“See, and I’m looking forward to making a fool out of him.”
Cord chuckled. “One of the perks of this stop. There’s the reason we need you
ladies so much. Compassion. I would have done things differently and probably
made a martyr of him. Your plan gets his followers out of the way too.”

“Mmmmm,” Kelly confirmed, and unconsciously smoothed a hand
down her belly. There was only a slight bump, hardly noticeable. “What can I
say, he’s the guy who scheduled his big show so helpfully. I will never
understand that drive to show off. I’d get it if he were trying to conceal what
he’s capable off.”

* * * * *

Much later that night the boat lay silent and dark as three
people floated just above the water to shore. Minuet between Kelly and Cord was
thrilled to be joining them. Actually they could not leave her. Even a weak
wizard was dangerous. Not to Minuet, the danger was what she would do if
threatened.

There was no way to measure her power, no norm to gage it
by, so how could a person express the fact that it was increasing as her
control and knowledge did. This part of the coast was thick with would-be
witches and wizards, the risk of one them stumbling on an enchanted boat was
slim but still too great to be ignored.

Using a combination of each of their powers, the three of
them were outside the human sight spectrum and any supernatural creatures as
well. The combination made them something new. It was probably way too
cautious, but Cord insisted.

The plan was simple. Uber wizard had called a hundred of his
best buddies to see how splendid he was by showing them he could kill a person
with his mind. He was going to torture the person first, all telekinetically,
then finally deliver the death blow without actually touching the person.
Thwarting his little show would be simple and make him look like an idiot, thus
dispersing his followers, at least that was how it was supposed to go.

The event was taking place at an abandoned sugar warehouse.
They had just stepped in the door when Minuet gasped. She didn’t do it audibly,
they were just as invisible as they’d previously been, but both Cord and Kelly
heard her shock.

“What,”
Cord asked telepathically.

“Him has dagon.”

Kelly and Cord were scanning the crowd, the dark corners of
the filthy building, the rafters, everywhere and couldn’t find a dragon.

“Where is it?”
Kelly asked calmly.

“Besides him.”
Minuet pointed at the makeshift stage.
“Dagon is hiddy, like us.”

“Does it see us?”
Cord wanted to know.

“No. Feels us,”
Minuet said softly.
“Feels me.
Dagon running away.”

“Don’t let him out of your sight! We’ll follow you.
Minuet, we must capture him or he will use another human to create this same
evil. He needs it like I need you and your mommy,”
Cord flashed to her.

He should have explained this. Should have told her how
other dragons were different than he. It’s just he thought there would be more
time. If she were a little older, maybe the complete evil would not be so
horrific. Right now he needed her to follow the dragon only she could see.

He’d been fucking wrong about something else. There were old
dragons walking the world, not just him and the other two like him. It had been
supremely stupid not to suspect that. An excuse for the stupid was why he’d
never run into anther dragon.

Well shit, here was why. This one knew how to shield from
him. Stood to reason there would be others who had figured out the plan and
found a way not to starve into elemental sleep, keeping sentient by consuming
only the minimum. Using humans to create the emotions they needed. Never
stepping beyond that line so he or the other two guardians suspected a dragon.

Minuet hesitated and then she was after him, Cord and Kelly
flashing with her.

“Wizard no hurt lady?”
Minuet wanted to know as she
took them after the dragon.

“It was always the dragon, honey. The guy is not a wizard
without him. We’ll make sure the lady is safe,”
Kelly explained to her
daughter.
“But we have to catch the dragon before he gets too far away. Can
you put in him a castle like you did Harrison?”

One a.m. in the morning, deep in the everglades, Barbie’s
Dream Castle sprang up in the marsh, complete with a roaring dragon thrashing
inside. They were much farther than human hearing could detect them from the
warehouse. Scanning the area said there wasn’t a human for over fifty miles in
any direction. There was no one he could be calling, no human or immortal, so
why the roaring?