Chapter 10
Azh returned to the hotel, pleasantly surprised to discover Wynn waiting for him. He had expected her to disappear while he was preoccupied. She made a habit of forcing him to track her down.
Pacing the cramped space, Azh shared his conversation with the Watcher word for word. Wynn leaned against the wall, her face pale as she absorbed the depths of the danger they were facing.
This was no longer a fun game of pursuit, while Wynn tried to get rid of a mysterious strand of magic. This was do or die. Perhaps literally.
She studied him with a worried expression. “What could weaken the rift?”
It was a question that gnawed at Azh. “It must be related to Gabriela. It was her magic that created the opening and sealed it after we came to this world. Something must have compromised her powers.”
Wynn pushed away from the wall. “You think I’m responsible?”
Azh halted, confused by her sudden surge of anger. “Of course not. I don’t know what’s happened, but I think it’s possible that the statue was stolen from the cavern where it was hidden and you crossed paths with it at some point.”
Her anger slowly faded, as if realizing he hadn’t been accusing her of deliberately attempting to open the rift.
“I agree,” she said in low tones.
He arched a brow. “Thank you.”
“I wasn’t done,” she chastised. “Even having a potential explanation doesn’t help us.”
“Why not?”
She spread her hands, her expression frustrated.
“I’ve spent over a year searching for the object responsible for the mysterious magic.
I returned to every vault and safe that I’d.
..” She took a second to find a word that didn’t make her sound like a thief.
It had to be habit. She couldn’t be worried that he was concerned with her habit of taking stuff that didn’t belong to her.
He was a dragon. Stealing treasure was a long-honored tradition.
“That I’d visited just before I absorbed the magic.
When I couldn’t find anything, I started searching through pawnshops and auction houses and private collectors in case it’d been stolen or sold since I touched it.
” She waved a hand around the cheap hotel room.
“The past few weeks I’ve been stuck in this place, chasing down a dozen rumors of powerful objects.
There’s been nothing that resonates with the magic inside me. ”
“You can usually sense where the object is located?”
“Not necessarily, but most of the time I feel the magic as it’s being absorbed so at least I know where I encountered the power. Especially if I absorb it by accident.”
Azh studied his companion with a sudden burst of curiosity. He’d logically accepted that Wynn could absorb magic, but he hadn’t considered the finer details of what that meant. Including the danger of being consumed by a magic she couldn’t control.
“Does that happen very often?”
She made a face, as if recalling more than one unfortunate incident. “It did in the beginning, but I’ve developed shields to help avoid most unpleasant surprises.”
Azh’s gaze slid downward. That explained the heavy coat she wore despite the smothering heat in the cramped room. As he’d suspected, it was layered with spells of protection.
“But the dragon magic slipped past your defenses?” he asked.
“It must have.”
It made sense. Dragon magic wasn’t intended to be used by any other creature. Why should she be able to sense it?
Still, it was strange that she’d been able to absorb the power if she couldn’t use it.
“How did you first notice the magic?” he asked.
“The strand just appeared one day.” She pressed a hand against her stomach, as if she wanted to yank it out. “It was weird, but I ignored it.”
“You ignored a mysterious magic that appeared inside you?”
“I ignore a lot of stuff. There’s been too many strange things happening for the past two centuries to get worked up about everything. It wasn’t until it started to expand and interfere with my other magic that I really noticed it. And then the nightmares started.”
“The nightmares must have something to do with the corruption,” Azh murmured.
“How?”
A good question. If she were a regular mage he would assume she had the power to tap into dreams, but he suspected her nightmares were a direct result of her brush with dragon magic.
“Maybe the dreams are trying to warn you. Are there any specific details you can remember?”
She shivered. “The glowing eyes.”
“Beyond the glowing eyes.”
There was a long pause, as if Wynn was afraid to speak the nightmares out loud.
“They’re always the same,” she eventually said. “I’m walking through the streets of London and I notice some demons walking toward me. As they get closer I can see the putrid green light in their eyes. I know they’re infected with some sort of evil and that I can’t let them touch me.”
“Do you recognize the demons?”
She nodded. “Axton and his clan of goblins. They own a shop in Covent Garden. Or at least they did. I haven’t been there in decades.”
“It’s a place to start,” he abruptly decided.
Wynn looked confused. “Even if Axton has something to do with the corruption, how does it help to locate the dragon statue?”
Azh waved aside an inconvenient question. As a dragon he understood that patience was a virtue. How else could he endure endless eons of hibernation? But right now, the need to protect Wynn was vibrating through him with a painful intensity.
They had to figure out how to close the rift before the toxic magic could flood this world.
“Is it better to stay here and chase rumors?” he demanded.
She wrapped her arms around her waist, her eyes darkening with a sudden weariness.
“Right now I just want to find a dark hole and disappear for a few years.”
Azh understood her exhaustion. She’d been fighting a battle she didn’t understand for months. Every instinct inside him screamed for him to sweep her off her feet and carry her to his lair. Once she was away from this world she could have the peace she so desperately desired.
Unfortunately, the danger was all too real. For everyone, including the dragons. Right now all he could do was offer her support to face the enemy lurking in the mists.
“You’d never do that.” He crossed to stand directly in front of her, cupping her cheek in his hand. “You’re a fighter.”
She thankfully didn’t pull away. “I’m tired of fighting.”
“Then lean on me,” he urged in gentle tones. “Fate brought me to you for a reason.”
The lavender eyes darkened, as if she were tempted to snuggle against him, but even as she swayed forward, her expression abruptly hardened. As if she suddenly remembered why she didn’t trust him.
“You mean it was fate that brought you to Gabriela,” she said in cold tones. “You’re obsessed with her magic, not mine.”
Ah. Azh was smart enough to hide his smile of satisfaction. She was jealous.
“I followed Gabriela’s magic,” he cautiously agreed.
“But my obsession is with you, Wynn.” He stepped closer, wrapping her in his heat as he allowed the flames to dance over his fingers before he smoothed them over her cheek.
“The extraordinary lavender of your eyes. The soft silk of your skin.” Hunger blasted through him as she shivered in response.
It was perilously easy to imagine having her stretched beneath him as he pleasured her with the brush of his flames.
And lips. And teeth... “I’m obsessed with the threads of gold in your hair,” he continued, his arousal pressing painfully against his slacks as he lowered his head to stroke his lips over her brow and down the slender length of her nose.
“And the sensual promise of your lips.” He pressed a kiss against her mouth, growling as the taste of her seared through him.
It wasn’t dragon. Or demon. Or human. It was something utterly unique.
“I’ve longed to devour you from the moment I first caught sight of you. ”
She reached up to grab his upper arms, as if her knees were weak. “Devour me?”
“Does that frighten you?”
“You are a dragon. I’m pretty sure you really could devour me.”
Azh chuckled. There was curiosity in her scent. And desire. A blazing desire that matched his own. But no fear.
Inside him the dragon stirred awake, lured by Wynn’s sweet floral scent and the sensation of soft, silken skin beneath his fingertips. Then, without warning, it released a low roar of possession, the flames erupting to flare around them in a cyclone of flames.
“I promise that my beast will give you nothing but pleasure,” he assured her in a rough voice.
Wynn tilted back her head, her face flushed and her eyes shimmering with enchantment as she watched the sparks dance over her skin. But before Azh could sweep her in his arms and carry her to the nearby bed, she flattened her hands against his chest.
“Azh.” She had to stop and clear the lump from her throat. “This isn’t the time.”
He pressed a hungry kiss against her parted lips. “No. It’s not the time,” he agreed.
She trembled. “Or the place.”
“Definitely not the place.” His fingers trailed down the curve of her neck.
“So what are we doing?” she rasped, her head tilting to the side to allow him greater access.
Unable to resist temptation, Azh skimmed his lips down the same path of his fingers, lingering on the rapid pulse at the base of her throat.
“A small taste of what’s to come,” he whispered.
Her nails dug into his chest, her breath ragged. “This doesn’t feel small.”
“No. It feels...”
Deep inside him, Azh’s dragon parted its mouth to reveal the razor-sharp fangs, then with a smug contentment, it released a white blast of magic. Azh shuddered as the power raced through him, allowing the beast to absorb Wynn’s essence until she was imprinted on his soul.
Wynn leaned back, eyeing him with a wary expression. “It feels what?”
“Earth-shattering.”
“Azh.”
“Ssh.” He slid his arms beneath her coat and around her slender waist, pulling her tight against him. “I’ve got you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”