Dragon Cipher Read online

  I bit my lower lip, suddenly wondering if that was an option for me. What if I never did, either? No, there was no way I could accept a life of self-imposed exile, as he had. My world needed me. That was my life.

  In a swirl of manly physical grace, Safyr released me from his arms. He politely took my hand and steered me from the dance floor. All at once, I missed the contact I’d had with his body. While we’d been dancing, I’d been uneasy about how hot it was making me. Now that we had stopped, however, I missed it with an intensity that astonished me. Was he done with me?

  “Perhaps you need to tend to work now. I understand.” I blurted out the words, feeling foolish that I minded that we had stopped dancing together.

  He stood still, not touching me at all. I was still aware of every molecule of him, from his rakishly tousled hair to his taut shoulders, and then lower, to the narrow hips that concealed what I was sure was tremendous power. Somehow, I couldn’t stop thinking about his body.

  Safyr’s gaze lingered on me, as if he wanted to memorize my face. That was silly; I was thinking like one of the giggling girls who peeked at young men in the town square on laundry day. He wasn’t interested in a peasant like me.

  This man was nothing like the lean, gangly boys of the town at home, whose advances had annoyed me for years until I opened my own herb shop and cemented my status as a spinster. Safyr was a dragon shifter in his element here, with far more important things to think of than me. Our inconsequential dance floor conversation had either offended him or wasted his time; I wasn’t sure which.

  He must have seen something in my face that made him want to step away from me. More like run away, really. In the back of my mind, I cursed myself for even caring.

  “Yes, my lady,” he murmured. “I believe we have spoken together enough for this evening.”

  What was that about? Just when I was starting to like him, he retreated into some kind of shell of formality. I felt myself gritting my teeth in an effort not to tell him what I thought of his courtly manners. He was a fake, like all the dragons. Honor was supposed to be the quality that ruled the blue dragons of Caerulean House, but they interpreted that differently than I did.

  “Fine.” I turned away from him, not even bothering to pretend good manners. Just when I’d been enjoying myself. Did he think he’d spilled some kind of secret to me, and that’s why he left? I was quite sure I didn’t know anything more about him than I had before.

  And I didn’t care.

  As I stalked away from the dance floor, my hands firmly in fists at my sides, I was sure I was ready to go home. What was the point of hanging around here, when I didn’t have a single thing in common with anybody here? Even Kat, who had kindly invited me to stay with her, was one of the dragon shifters now. She had their best interests at heart, not mine.

  I felt my shoulder brush a man as I tried to walk past him. Great. Now I was back to square one, wondering which of the dragon men in this place was going to shout at me or threaten my demise. He surprised me, though, by turning and smiling charmingly at me.

  “I do beg your pardon,” he murmured. “I don’t believe I’ve seen you here before. Is it your first night visiting the club?”

  Something about the dark color of his eyes pinned me, so that there was no possibility that I could escape without answering. Actually, I didn’t want to leave. After getting the brush-off from Safyr, I felt like chatting with a more congenial man. And here he was.

  Like a schoolgirl, I hoped that Safyr was watching.

  “You’re right. I have not been here before. It is a beautiful place, isn’t it?” I could hear my mouth making small talk, almost as if it were working on its own.

  “Not as beautiful as you, mademoiselle,” he smiled with an ironic flourish. He seemed to be indicating that such a corny line was acceptable as long as we both knew it was silly.

  And he was right.

  It was kind of charming, in a dragon sort of way.

  All at once, I found that I didn’t mind talking to him. I was here in this world for research, and to gather new herbs. I might as well take the opportunity to learn about the dragons that visited here as well. This man might think he was some kind of player, hitting on me with those transparent tactics, but I could handle him. I was here to learn, to work. Not to fall into lust, or whatever that had been with Safyr a few minutes ago.

  I took the hand of the stranger and smiled coquettishly as he led me back onto the dance floor. Dancing with him was nice enough, although nothing about him lit a fire within me. But my efforts to talk with him were hopeless. I was getting nowhere.

  After a few fruitless efforts, I had to admit to myself that it was a hopeless idea to think I could get any information out of this dragon shifter. Even the smallest forays into chit chat went nowhere with this dark-eyed stranger.

  “We have not yet even met properly, sir. I don’t know your name.” After two dances, I felt that even the most mediocre take on etiquette should have gotten us that far. He sent me another shadowy smile that somehow combined with his lack of talkativeness to seem sinister.

  “I am Brick, of House Rubellus. And I already know your name, my lady. You are Laurel, of course.” The smile on his lips did not, I saw now, extend to his eyes.

  “I didn’t tell you that,” I said, looking around the room, wondering who I could trust in this club. I’d walked in here like a lamb to the slaughter, hadn’t I?

  “No, but I overheard it when you first arrived. I knew immediately that I would want to dance with you. It was a pleasure when our court jester Safyr left you alone, so that I could have a chance. He is good only for a laugh and a drink, nothing more.”

  I felt my feet tangle, almost tripping me, and I knew that there was no point in pretending to dance with him anymore. Any hope I’d had that it would be fun was gone now. I didn’t even have to talk to him. I was free of that sort of thing now. Wasn’t I?

  I whirled away from Brick, thinking I would stalk off the dance floor. As I looked around the room, I realized that three other men were rising from their seats and coming over to us. They looked just as stern and unpleasant as the man I had been foolish enough to dance with. Rather than allow myself to be cornered, I began to move away from him as quickly as I could without drawing the attention of the rest of the room.

  But I couldn’t. He caught my wrist, holding it in an iron grip.

  “Do you really want to make a scene, Laurel?” he hissed. “I know you are nothing more than a jumped-up peasant woman. I know you from Caerulean town, even if you don’t recall me. Perhaps you don’t remember the spell you once sold me. You are merely a village witch who hides in corners and sneaks around behind her betters. You are lucky to even be here in the same room with dragons without us tearing you apart.”

  The flush that crept up my cheeks was not one of embarrassment. On the contrary, it was fury. He was wrong about all of that. I knew him now. I’d once sold him a charm that bound me to secrecy even when he used it in a dishonorable way. Red dragons were like that, and I should have known better. If I’d had any sense at all, I would never have allowed him anywhere near me tonight.

  I was going to have to turn around and confront him.

  Right here and now, I was going to have to face a dragon.

  Not just one, but four. The three other men had closed on us. They were all tall, breathtakingly handsome, and fit. More than anything else, though, they were menacing. Something about them suggested a dark evil, the kind that lurked in the backs of mountain caves. They all had the same dark red eyes, somehow suggestive of pools of blood.

  Ugh.

  My skin was crawling as I surveyed the repulsiveness of these men, yet there seemed to be no ordinary way to step away from them. They wanted to trap me here. Worse, they wanted to silence me by doing this in public.

  I didn’t have to stand for that. My days of settling for that treatment were finished. Even if it meant that I was going to make the biggest scene here that ever was.r />
  Did Brick, the red dragon who had wormed his way into my evening with a dance, think I was so insignificant? He could think again. He might change his mind when I showed him that my magic was a match for a dragon.

  Or four.

  Chapter 4: Safyr

  This evening was going to be one that I remembered forever. I could feel it. And forever was a long time, even for a dragon. Immortality was not a choice for us. It was our lot in life, no matter how we felt about it. It was impossible for me to truly grasp what it would be like to have a finite life span.

  What I did know was that my life had already been so long that there were parts that blurred together. There were centuries that I had spent with people who no longer mattered to me. I’d killed time by wasting it in activities that meant nothing to me.

  Tonight, though. This was a turning point for me that was so sharp that it might skewer my heart.

  In fact, if I was being honest, I’d have to admit that it already had. Laurel had established herself as the central force in all my existence, just by turning up here at the club tonight. Her presence here had changed my life forever. No longer was I a rakish, self-centered dragon who lived only for his own pleasures.

  Now, after so long, I had found my mate.

  Not in any place I would have expected, that was for sure. When I vowed not to return to my home world, I had thought that I would live without a mate forever. That was my plan.

  And here, tonight, Laurel changed all those ideals. She had strolled in, jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and ready to cause me no end of trouble. Dancing with her had almost been too much for my self-control. I’d come so close to breaking down and accidentally telling her my secrets. There had been nothing else to do but walk away before I said too much.

  I stayed away as long as I could.

  When the mood changed on the dance floor, though, I tended to it. I would have under any circumstances, as it was my job. Keeping the peace at the club was my sole purpose in life these days. If I could carve out any peace involving dragons, then I could believe that I was atoning for my misdeeds of the past.

  But this wasn’t just any conflict.

  It took only a flash of a moment, however, for me to realize that the trouble on the dance floor was centered on Laurel. I should have known. She’d come here with a chip on her shoulder, and she wasn’t afraid to let others see it.

  No, wait. She wasn’t the cause of this, not at all.

  I pushed my way into the group of four red dragon shifters who were standing far too close to her. Laurel had her chin up, although her face was drained of color. Just as I was about to ask her if she was all right, I saw the glow of magic that was beginning to form around her.

  “Laurel,” I hissed, heedless of the four sneering, burly men who still leaned toward us. “You can’t do that here. Magic and violence are both forbidden in the club.”

  She widened her eyes at me with a mocking glance. “Which part is most shocking to you? Using magic at all, or the fact that I’m going to burn these dragon men to a crisp?” Her light words overlaid a fury that startled me.

  “Easy, there,” I held out a hand, cautiously. I knew better than to touch her skin when she was gathering this much power to her. Holy hell, how was she able to do that? No peasant that I had ever met from my world could muster magic like this.

  The four dragons from House Rubellus were beginning to look uneasy. One of them backed away, murmuring something about the time. The other three continued to press toward Laurel, but they too refrained from touching her. Their dark red eyes were full of the overconfidence that came with vanity. As always, they overestimated their abilities. Blinded by their tendency toward violent passion, red dragons did not make the best choices.

  I stood firm against them. My own anger was building. “You need to step back now. You know that it is only through our great patience that red dragons are even allowed in the club. Our tolerance is not without limit. Get back from this woman, now.”

  “Or what?” The leader of the red dragons drawled his words, leaving them just short of an insult to me. Something about his tone made me turn my head swiftly to get a better look at him.

  “Brick.” I bit out the word and spat it at him. “You should never have been been able to get in here. Not after what you’ve done to Cobalt and Kat.”

  “You don’t see everything, do you?” He smiled, showing his teeth. “I got in without any trouble. It just took a little bit of shared magic from the other dragons of my House.” His appearance shimmered slightly, and his face fell into place as the red dragon that I knew and disliked intensely.

  “We’ve banned you. This won’t happen again. And you should never have asked this woman to dance,” I returned. “The human women who come here are not toys for the likes of you. They are people and they deserve respect.”

  “They are hardly people that matter to us dragons,” he answered. “They are like bugs to us. You ought to know that. You would if you weren’t so bent on blending in with this world yourself.”

  I kept my voice low, trying as hard as I could to pretend that we were not drawing a crowd. Soon enough, the entire clientele of the club would stop having fun and come over here to gawk at us. That was the last thing I wanted. I had to keep my words civil.

  “You are welcome to go elsewhere to pursue your interests. However, within the walls of this club, we require courtesy to our female guests. They are not dragons, but we show them every deference as if they were. We are lucky they join us here in the evenings.”

  “No, they are lucky to have the chance to spend time with dragons,” he said. He sneered at Laurel. Just when I was beginning to hope that she was going to be able to stand down without harming anybody, her anger flared again. My heart sank. That was going to be the end of that.

  She tossed her head. Her long hair was beginning to float unnaturally around her as her magic manifested itself in the air. This was not looking good for the peace of our club.

  “There is no world in which I would be lucky to spend time with dragons. You are a curse on every dimension. I thought there might be hope that we could even talk, but you are hideous bullies.”

  With an ugly twist to his mouth, the man who had been dancing with my Laurel lunged at her. Perhaps he meant to try to break her concentration. Or scare her enough that she would apologize. Instead, he sparked a new level of rage within her.

  Anybody could have seen that would happen.

  She lifted one hand so that when Brick moved toward her, she touched him gently on the shoulder. With a shimmer of light that was momentarily blinding, she delivered him a jolt of power that laid him out flat.

  Her lips pressed tightly together, her eyes wild, she looked around. In a building full of dragon shifters, she had just painted a massive target on her own back. Foolhardy, but so damn brave.

  I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of a woman with so much strength and so little regard for her own safety. It was crazy, and I liked it.

  Hell, I loved it and I loved her. She was a mate worth fighting for, all right.

  “Laurel, it is time to stop.” I still did not make contact with her pale, soft skin, but I edged closer to her. Something about the amusement in my voice made her turn to look at me. When she saw that I was not angry or appalled, or whatever else she thought that the dragons around here be aiming toward her after what she’d done, she relaxed visibly.

  Her face was ashen. Her slim hand dropped to her side, and her magical light show began to dissipate.

  The two red dragons whom she had not yet struck seemed to have reached an understanding that if they remained there, it would be only a matter of time before they too would be prone. They stepped away from their unconscious friend, chatting suavely with each other as if they had never been involved with him.

  The hum of conversation around the room picked up again. Nobody wanted to belabor this sort of thing. It was not at all unheard of for dragons to brawl with each other. We discouraged
it, and we often had to issue a temporary ban to a troublemaker, but it happened.

  What never happened, of course, was this.

  A peasant woman had the gall to oppose dragons and the strength to match.

  Oh, she was my kind of woman.

  Now that she had allowed the magic to drain from her, she sagged as if she might fall. I very gently placed an arm around her and led her from the dance floor.

  “You might have cost me my job, you know,” I joked with her. “How could I remain here at the club if you struck down all the dragons I like the least? It would look a little fishy, wouldn’t it?”

  She drew a shaky breath. “Do you mean that there are some of your own kind that you don’t care for either?”

  “Of course. Many of the shifters here are men I wouldn’t want to spend even a few minutes with. I just put on a good show, making it look like they are all my friends. That’s the job.”

  She looked up into my face, as if she was only just realizing that dragons were not all alike. “Where are you taking me?” She struggled momentarily, then slumped against me as if realizing that I was in fact an ally. I hoped that was what she was thinking. It was better than capitulation to a stronger force. No, she didn’t have that in her.

  “We don’t have to leave. You aren’t being ejected from the club.” Again, I sent her an easy smile, which she almost returned. “But you might be more comfortable in a place that has fewer dragons in it.”

  “I certainly would,” she breathed. “But where?”

  “If you’ll just step this way with me, to my elevator, you can take a rest in my apartment.”

  “You have an apartment here?” Laurel’s astonishment was not exactly flattering. Had she thought I slept on the floor of the club itself? There were certainly times that I’d spent long enough days at work that it seemed like it.

  “Yes, in this building.” As she nodded, I forestalled her next words. “Just like Cobalt and Kat.”

  “Huh,” she muttered. I frowned at myself. Now that I’d mentioned her friends, she would want to go to them. I was wrong, though. She did not suggest that we go to their apartment. Instead, she kept walking with me, following me companionably to my home.