WickedBeast (5 page)

Chapter Four

“You were feeding? Is that what you’re telling me?” Kelly
asked, offended comprehension raising her voice.

“No,” he denied but had to amend. “Yes. I was feeding but
it’s different with you.” His voice deepened as he saw the bitter disbelief on
her face. He should give her some space to work through the information but he
didn’t have time. Nor did he have the will to move away from her. He had to
make her understand.

“That line wasn’t believable when I was sixteen,” she stated
flatly, withdrawing all emotion from her face as she now regarded him coldly.

“It’s not a line. I was created by a Wind Witch for the next
Wind Witch. You. She didn’t tell me that important fact. I didn’t know until
Minuet brought me here.

“Kelly, listen to me. Dragons are thinking, learning beasts.
The originals soon did not need their weak, human creators, wizards. About the
only thing they shared with the ones who designed them was greed.

“The shortsighted, greedy wizards intentionally created
dragons with a constant, limitless hunger, thinking it would be a means to
control the army and a weapon when unleashed on an enemy. Very shortly the
highly intelligent, impossible-to-kill and veraciously hungry beasts disposed
of their masters. They have no built-in control such as a conscious, a sense of
right and wrong. There is only the drive for more of what a dragon needs. The
more hideous the abuse, the stronger emotions humans gave, and the dragon could
become powerful beyond imagining. A well-fed dragon can continue to develop
both size and strength if he wants too.

“The three witches realized that love was the only edge
humans had. That emotion can dominate all others. If a dragon’s need could be
refined to only feed on human pleasure, he could become powerful without being
out of control. If he found the most pure source of power was the sexual
satisfaction of a woman, then giving him the genetic handicap of having a
single mate would ensure he never strayed to the darker gratification of fear
and abuse.”

Cord carefully took his hands from the wall beside her head.
He backed to the other side of the stairwell as he watched her work through
what he’d just said. He continued softly.

“Not telling the dragon he could be trapped by a single
female ensured he didn’t know enough to resist her and stay away. The failsafe
was telling him his mission was to kill the next Wind Witch who appeared on
Earth. If he killed her, he’d never become powerful enough to be dangerous to
humans. If he didn’t kill her, he’d still be leashed to her.”

Cord paused as he realized the promise of a soul, redemption
from a God who named the creatures he did not create abominations, had been
incentive. A lie.

The three witches’ plan had worked perfectly. He’d done
exactly what they’d programmed him to do. Bile rose in his throat. Being used,
forced into servitude was a long way from what he had thought he was. It had
never actually been his choice to take the so-called mission, just as he never
really had a choice where Kelly was concerned. However, there was something
they hadn’t foreseen. Something they couldn’t control.

“What they didn’t know was that it is possible for there to
be a dragon caller. One who can reanimate them without loving or hating. One
who’s power is so pure it draws dragons from the sleep of ages. Minuet.”

Her eyes widened as fear bloomed across her face. Her glance
darted down the hall and then swung back to him.

“Call them? Which ones?” she wanted to know.

“All of them, any of them,” he confirmed. “And they are not
like me. There are only two others like me. I promised I could protect you
both. I was wrong. I can’t unless we…” He paused, looking into her eyes he let
the realization dawn on her without the words. Said this way, it was so damn
crude. When he saw her grasp the facts, he continued. “I’ll reach full strength
and you will be tied to me forever.”

She took a few minutes but her gaze never left his as she
processed their situation. Cord had to give her credit for fearlessness as she
looked at the face of the stranger who’d just told her he’d be having her body
if she wanted to protect her daughter.

He knew exactly when she got over that. Her eyes narrowed as
she leaned toward him from her wall. “Alone? You could protect us from some
unknown number of vicious dragons by yourself?”

“It would help if Legion mated Molly and we found the third
witch. Then there would be three witches, a perfect circle, and three extreme
dragons,” he admitted to her question, which led him directly a bitter truth.
“The thing that can’t work about this is you cannot love me on command. Humans
don’t work that way, especially freeborn, non-genetically engineered ones. And
there is no guarantee Molly will like Legion, much less love him.”

He had to turn away from the woman trapped with him in this
nightmare. “For God’s sake, what were they thinking?” he demanded in
frustration, his base instincts reacting to his anger. Betrayal by the women he
had considered a mother on such a grand scale might have made him sick to begin
with, now he just wanted to kill something.

Kelly grabbed his arm. “Come downstairs if you’re going to
start roaring,” she hissed.

Her hand on his body was the shackle he’d been designed to
make it. His anger didn’t dissipate, if anything it increased as they moved
down the stairs. He let her think she was leading him, perhaps she was. His
inability to separate from her was the bottom line.

Kelly stopped just outside the kitchen to look up into his
face. “You’re too angry,” she said softly. “I understand most of your story.
You feel trapped and betrayed. Stop thinking this is all about you.”

“What? This is all about you, Kelly. I can’t change what I
am. Now you have no choices.”

“I happen to disagree. There is always a choice and I choose
my daughter, whatever it takes.” Kelly frowned up at him and poked her finger
into his chest to make her point. “You had choices and you made them. You chose
not to kill us. So you betrayed your witch and her plan before you learned how
she’d programmed you. That tells me you’re not as programmed as you seem to
think you are.”

Cord scowled and conceded she might be right to some degree.
He’d made his own choice. Who was to say if Marelda had programmed it into him
or simply guessed it was the one he would make.

He reached out, his hands spanning her waist, and drew her
lower body flush against his. She grasped his forearms but didn’t protest as he
surrounded her.

“I don’t have a choice about this,” he gritted out as his
cock rested hot and hard against her soft belly. Even through both sets of
clothes there was no hiding his response to her. “And now you don’t either. I’m
not a man. I’m more predator than anything and I am possessive.”

Kelly’s bottom lip sucked in under her teeth as she regarded
him. “Does that mean we don’t have to use condoms?”

A smile crept through his anger and onto his face. Somehow
the twinkle in her eyes as her hands glided up his arms to circle his neck had
the power to displace all that indignation, righteous anger and bitter
resentment. Just like that.

“You know what one of the most powerful things in the world
is?” he asked her in a low growl.

“Tell me,” Kelly invited with her lips as the rest of her
invited everything else.

“Laughter, sweet Kelly Wind Witch,” he informed her as his
mouth ate all those invitations she was making.

“Kelly, enough crawling over the big fungus. We don’t know
where it’s been,” Molly interrupted. “I was willing to pretend I couldn’t hear
every word of the argument from the kitchen door, but I draw the line at
copulation.”

Kelly reluctantly turned her head to face her friend. He had
one arm snaking up her back, she wasn’t pulling away. Cord didn’t feel there
was any reason to stop tasting so continued down her cheek and around her ear.

“Not to worry. Copulation will not…um, oh…” Kelly seemed to
lose her train of thought as his tongue dragged slowly down the side of her
neck. “Relax, Molly, you’re turn is coming,” she managed to croak.

“Oh really?” Molly faced them from the stove, one hand on a
hip the other brandishing a wooden spoon. “Fungus thinks he’s getting some
witch sandwich action? Kelly, you might think he’s all portabella in garlic
butter, but he just became poop-fur to me.”

The rumble of laughter in his chest was a welcome
interruption. Cord’s head lifted from Kelly’s body as he chuckled and slowly
let Kelly go. “That’s a good one, Mol. Sure you don’t want to save poop-fur for
Legion? It’s particularly disgusting.”

Kelly grabbed Cord’s hand, edging him to the table. “This
one is mine, Molly,” she stated firmly, but laughter laced each word. “You’ll
have to settle for your own dragon. I don’t share.”

Molly was still frowning at them. The housecoat was
swallowed under a long apron that was obviously Kelly’s. Molly would be giving
in to wishful thinking to call herself five foot four inches tall. Kelly was
easily six foot.

“He’s grown!” Molly exclaimed as they stepped into the
kitchen. “Kelly, look at him. He’s gotten all big.” The spoon wavered at she
pointed it at Cord.

“Is something burning?” Cord asked, leaving Kelly’s side to
stride toward Molly and the stove.

“Oh my God. The biscuits. Potholders. I need potholders.”
Molly’s voice betrayed her stress as she turned to pull out draws and snapped
them shut in frustration.

Cord opened the oven and pulled out a tray of golden
biscuits, placing them carefully on cooling rack by the stove. Both Kelly and
Molly froze.

“Your hand?” Kelly breathed in concern.

“Dragons have a thing about fire,” Cord commented. “It
doesn’t exactly burn us.” He held up his hand so both women could see his
unscathed palm.

“Oh.” Molly gulped, and backed up a step.

“But we don’t know shit about cooking. Should I stir this
gravy while you get over it?” Cord asked Molly conversationally. “Smells too
good to let it burn over a little shock.”

Molly nodded and Cord plucked the wooden spoon out of her
hand. “Thanks,” she responded automatically. “I cook when I’m nervous, or…” Her
words dropped off as she stared at Cord stirring her gravy and backed closer to
Kelly.

“I think we’re in trouble,” Molly said after a brief
silence.

“Yeah,” Kelly agreed with her.

“This is really happening,” Molly continued.

Cord took the gravy off the stove, placing it beside the
biscuits. “Mind if I eat while we discus what’s happening?” He hadn’t ingested
food in quite awhile. Though he didn’t need it to live, it was a pleasure he’d
not bothered with. Molly’s breakfast smelled good.

“No, um, yes, of course,” Molly agreed. “Where are the
plates? I can’t find anything in this kitchen,” she accused Kelly as if that
were the root of all her problems.

“I don’t know. We’ve been using paper plates. I don’t think
I’ve unpacked the dishes yet,” Kelly stated as she glanced around her own
kitchen.

Cord opened the second cabinet from the stove and pulled out
three plates. “Saw these while looking for glasses,” he explained casually.

Kelly was quiet through the meal. Eating thoughtfully and
glancing at him under lowered lashes. He was more interested in what was going
on in her head than explaining the stalking skills of evil creatures.

The plates were clean and sitting in the drain by the time
Molly had mulled things over enough to ask questions. “Bottom line, will the dragons
you said were designed to kill us start showing up soon? And if they do, don’t
you think the government will notice and do something about it?”

Cord raised a brow. “Would you have known I was anything but
a normal guy if Kelly hadn’t needed healing? We are very good at stealth. I
don’t know if any of them have animated, but I’m pretty sure the presence of
natural-born white witches in the world again means there are Silver-phin
Wizards as well. Those are the guys who thought it would be cool to invent
creatures that feed on terror with an insatiable hunger.”

“Well, why haven’t we noticed your wizards or dragons
before? What do they want from us?” Molly wanted to know.

“Minuet,” he stated.

“Explain,” Molly demanded.

Kelly looked up from under her lashes, her eyes on his face.
Cord was captivated with the look. It was innocently seductive but speculative
too.

“She is a dragon caller. I’ve never heard of such a person
before, but then, apparently there are a lot of things I was not told.” Cord
glanced at Molly. “She is power, pure power. Isn’t that the root of all
conflict? Doesn’t matter if they know she can call dragons. The wizards get a
whiff of her and they will do anything to acquire her. If one of the original
dragons realizes what she is, he’ll do anything to get her under his control.”

Kelly’s hands were clutched together on the table. Feeling
her stress, Cord reached over and covered them with one of his. “There are only
supposed to be three animated dragons. We know what happened last time and we’re
not giving them tips. It might be different this time. The only thing we know
for sure is the white witches are women of the earth and elements. As a unit,
they can work together to save the planet. Or they can destroy it and
everything on it.”

Both Kelly and Molly frowned. “Destroy it? We’d never do
that.”

“You would if there was no other choice. You’d come up with
a plan if the forces working to enslave humans were so strong that they would
soon destroy you, the last power fighting for freedom. You’d do it to give your
people another chance at freedom.” Cord’s hand tightened on Kelly’s as she
shuddered at the picture he painted.

Molly sat back and crossed her arms. “You’re talking
destruction in Biblical proportions.”