Page 26 of Tempt the Dragon
“We’ll find him and you’ll get your payment.” He’d make sure of that, and the money would come from the Collectors because Aiken respected her far too much to go behind her back and make the arrangements for Rosilda on his own.
“And we’ll become collateral damage in the process.” She sighed with that admission and he tried like hell not to agree withher.
“We’re too old for games, Mel. We both know where we stand. There’s no reason we can’t get through this and come out on the other side.” Except that their beasts were going to put up one hell of a fight along the way.
“I don’t doubt we’ll come out of this. My concern is what condition you’ll be in after this is done.” She was concerned about him, not herself. That was typical. Nomatter what he said or how he’d proven her beast had a stake in this thing between them, as well, Mel was hell-bent on standing her ground. She wasn’t going to claim being a Drakon and if she didn’t claim it, she didn’t have to accept any of the truths about their kind—including the Selection process.
He pushed away from the wall and went to stand next to where her head lay on the couch. Kneelingdown so they were face-to-face, he reached over and brushed a few curly strands of hair from her forehead. “Don’t worry about me, baby. I’ve been here before and I survived. I’ll do it again.”
“I will too.”Bravadoshould’ve been Mel’s middle name. She’d carry that act to her grave. He both admired and cursed that part of her.
Mel hated lifting weights. She despised the treadmill,the elliptical and every other piece of exercise equipment ever created. They were all demonic and designed to evoke pain and misery. Muscles, toned bodies and strength all may seem like the rewards of using the torture traps, but she knew better. And still, when Bleu told her they had a full gym, complete with a five-mile track and a hot tub to assuage her aching bones, she’d immediately sought outthe space.
The Distinguished Gentleman who’d been watering plants in the foyer when she’d emerged from Aiken’s suite this morning, had greeted her with a smile. That’s when she realized that not only was Bleu well dressed at all times, he was also quite handsome, with his full snow-white beard and head full of curly hair. A tall lean man, there was a quiet strength about him even as she watchedhim do something as mundane as take care of plants—which, by the way were gigantic in this cavernous space. They’d chatted briefly about nothing more serious than what type of plant food he was putting in the soil to get those plants to look like they were some type of mutant species. Then he’d smiled as she set out to find the gym.
An hour and a half later she cursed him for ever mentioningthe gym to her. Lying flat on her back, she placed the bar on the base after her sixth set of five lifts.
“One-fifteen. That’s pretty decent,” Ravyn said as she came up beside the bench and glanced at the weights attached to the bar.
“I’m not a fan of the gym.” It was a quick admission, but one she thought might excuse her for not lifting more. She suspected the other Drakon in this placewere much stronger than she was, but it didn’t matter. The strength she had worked just fine bringing in her targets and that’s all she needed.
Sitting up, she rested her hands on her thighs and took a few deep breaths. Ravyn tossed her a towel and she nodded her thanks before dragging it over her sweat-soaked face.
“Me either. Even though I did enjoy all the self-defense classes I’vetaken over the years.” Ravyn shrugged, the long, straight side of her hair brushing over her shoulder as she did. “These days I spend most of my time flexing my witchy muscles.”
That’s right, she was the witch of the family.
“How’s that working out for you?” Mel asked, for lack of anything better to say.
Ravyn sat on the top part of the bench leaving Mel no other choice but to pullher other leg over to the side and turn so that they were now sitting side-by-side.
“So far so good, I guess. I mean, I haven’t come up with a spell that’ll be strong enough to kill five-hundred-year-old ancient vampires yet, but then again I’ve only been a witch for about nine months.”
“Really? You just signed up?” She knew that wasn’t how it worked but was trying to find a light wayof asking what could be considered very probing questions.
Ravyn smiled and Mel relaxed another notch. “Nah, I just found out who and what I was. Enes told me after the cursed dagger found me. It’s a long story complete with the crazy ass witch/vampire breed called a Dhampir named Temptra who hated me so much she tried to bury me alive in a tomb.”
Mel had pieced together some of that longstory last night, so she didn’t push Ravyn in that direction.
“Sounds like a pretty eventful nine months. After which you ended up mated to a hot guy dragon. You think you got what you bargained for?”
“I think I got what was meant for me. That’s how it works.”
Mel stilled. Her fingers gripped the towel and she let her head loll back for a few seconds trying to decide how to proceed.Had she really wanted to know more about Ravyn and Steele as a couple versus Ravyn the witch and how she could help them get this job done?
“You and Aiken have history. And before you get all tense, nobody’s told me anything about it. I don’t think anybody knows details, only what’s so plain for us all to see.”
Looking over at Ravyn, Mel gave in. “What do you see when you look at us?”
“Unresolved emotion. So much of it that it circles the two of you like this heavy cloud. You both know it’s there but you’re kind of tiptoeing around it, like you believe if you don’t touch it, it won’t burn you.” Wow, that was a lot for Ravyn to have seen when they’d only been back together a couple of days.
“It’s not unresolved. I made a decision a long time ago and I’m sticking by it.”
Ravyn nodded. “Yeah, I know how that works. I made lots of decisions before I met Steele. He made some before he met me too, and neither of us wanted to change our minds.”
“But, let me guess, you did change your mind and you decided to go along with what you thought was fate or whatever and now you’re living happily ever after.”
“No.” She stared at Mel pointedly. “I thought my bestfriend was going to die, watched as a legion of powerful dragons took to the sky in an attempt to kill the woman who threatened my life and then, because all that wasn’t enough to change my every thought, I watched Steele offer his life to the Reaper of death in place of mine.” Ravyn’s gaze had grown intense, her hands fisted on her thighs. “That’s when I stopped taking shit for granted and stoodup to do what I was meant to do. When you get to that point, the moment when it could all be gone in a flash, I’m betting you’ll start thinking about what your happy ending could’ve looked like too.”
