Taming the Dragon (Loved by the Dragon, #3) (13 page)

The following morning dawned bright and offered perfect weather for a swim in the cove. Teo cut through the water as efficiently as a dragon as he’d flown through the air on his wings. Marcy straddled his back and held on tight as he took her in short dives beneath the waves to explore the colorful coral formations below. As with the wildlife on his island, the local sea creatures had become accustomed to his presence. They didn’t flee for cover as Marcy expected.

Another day was spent on the main island enjoying the attractions. The moment Marcy learned Teo had never built a sand castle, she dragged him to the beach where his guests enjoyed the sun and surf. As the sun began its descent, Marcy manned the boat’s helm and took them back home.

“Did you have fun?” she asked once they were settled inside with their clothes stripped away.

“It was better than I expected,” Teo agreed. “Better still now we are alone, away from the noise and prying eyes.”

Leaning over her in the bed, Teo nibbled the sensitive spot on Marcy’s throat. Their joint explorations had acquainted them with the subtle nuances of each other’s bodies: where to touch light, where to knead with more pressure, and which areas turned them into a ball of putty.

Distracted by his kisses, Marcy fumbled for the adjacent box of condoms. Foil packets spilled over the floor and scattered, then she raised her hips and moaned. Part of her wanted to feel him skin to skin, to let him experience her inviting clench without the layer of latex between them. Something feral within her demanded to claim Teo as thoroughly as he claimed her. In the end she prevailed through the struggle and smoothed the ring over his cock.

“Why must I continue to wear this ridiculous sheath? It is time to conceive our child, Marceline.”

“What?” His words may as well have accompanied a bucket of ice water.

“To mate as was intended by nature. Is there no better time than now?”

“Uhh, yeah, like never,” Marcy replied, bewildered.

A low growl rumbled in Teo’s chest. “You cannot be serious. We came to an agreement in which you swore to be my mate. You accepted me.”

“Wait, hold on, wait. I never agreed to bear you a child. I never agreed to that.”

“What did you think I was asking of you when I asked you to allow me to mate to you?” Teo’s green flashed with anger only to dim moments later. A furrow creased his brow. “Marceline, if we do not... what point is there to being mine if I will lose you?”

Marcy shook her head. “We didn’t discuss making a child. That’s where I draw the line. I adore you, but I’m not going to subject myself to what I helped Chloe through. She almost died. She had an excruciating, horrible birth, Teo. Her uterus
ruptured
. If you want me, you get me for a human’s life span.”

“Marcy—”

“Don’t
Marcy
me,” she snapped. “What? Don’t like the idea of me growing gray and old because then I won’t be so fun anymore? Is that it? No one wants to have sex with a grandma.”

Teo quieted.

“I’d be too human then, wouldn’t I? Another monkey. So there we have it.”

Her dragon remained silent.

Marcy and Teo didn’t speak for the rest of the day. He shut himself away outside in the wilderness and left Marcy to the hospitality of his home. Kekoa arrived to engage her in conversation, but his conflicted feelings of fondness for Marcy and loyalty to Teo sent him back into the waves. He didn’t want to judge either of them.

I’m alone here. Is this what I can expect any time we don’t agree? Being left alone and isolated?

Without him there, Marcy sprawled outside in the shade with Philomena stretched out alongside her. The jaguar rubbed her face against Marcy’s cheek and purred.

“I must smell like Teo now, huh? Is that why you love me so much?” Her fingers slid over the jaguar’s furry head and stroked her ears. One of the cubs came up to join them next. He batted Marcy’s hair and rolled across her lap. “Hello to you, too, Chapo.”

Despite the company of the jaguars, Marcy was lonely. It reminded her too much of her empty apartment and days spent without friends. She missed Chloe. She missed going out on her own.

Most of all, she missed Teo. On the second day, Kekoa cooked for her and took her out to the main island. She caught a performance and visited the aviary, but it wasn’t the same without her dragon by her side.

Her mate returned on the third morning, nude and gleaming from head to toe. His dark hair lay wet against his shoulders when he strode into the bedroom to find her.

“Why are you packing your belongings?” Teo asked.

Marcy’s open suitcase lay over the enormous bed, half-filled with the clothing she’d stored into his closet. “I’m going home.”

“Home?” The smile dropped from his face. “I do not understand.”

“Home. I need time to think about this. Maybe we jumped into it too fast without thinking things through. Without talking about what we both wanted.”

“Are we unable to talk now? Is this not a talk?”

“I need to go for a while.”

“But why?!”

“Space,” she replied in a clipped tone, unable to look at him.

“Did I not give you space?”

“You walked away without telling me a thing. I’m at least informing you I plan to leave and where I’m going.”

“You will not return. You do not plan to return.”

“Don’t tell me what I plan to do, Teo. I know my own fucking mind. I just need some space away from this, away from you, to think about things and what we’ve done here.”

“You must stay and speak of this with me.”

“You have a lot of nerve to insist I need to stay here when you left me alone for two days.”

“I allowed you time to think. Time I felt we both needed.”

“And now I’m taking some more time to think. Just as you did.”

“I did not leave to another country!”

“Who knows where you went off to? I sure didn’t,” she snapped back at him. “I need to go home and handle some things and that’s all there is to it.”

“I can make you stay.”

His words held truth and they both knew it. He was a dragon and she was only a human woman. If he chose to hoard her away like the rest of his treasures then there was nothing much she could do about it.

“Force me, Teo, and you’ll lose me forever,” she said in a soft voice. With all her belongings packed, she zipped up her luggage and headed out the door.

Teo didn’t stop her.

“Y
ou’re certain about this?”

“It’s time, yeah.” Marcy smiled at her long-time employer and held out her hand. Howard pulled her into an embrace instead.

“You'll always have a place here with us, Marcy, if you ever change your mind. Even if that doesn’t happen, don’t be a stranger.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Marcy left the building feeling lighter. Her substantial savings and numerous talents meant she didn’t need to worry about work right away, but she didn’t want to get lazy either. Between all the contacts she’d made at Teo’s resort and a few from work, she was confident she could build a small clientele base. Going into business for herself was a longtime aspiration, and it had taken cleaning up Teo’s tangled accounts to make her realize she could handle it.

Her apartment was quiet when she unlocked the door and stepped inside. Too quiet, almost. The bright, open space felt barren without her best friend there living with her.

At least I can turn her old room into a dedicated office,
she thought.

The ring of the phone broke the depressing silence. Marcy smiled faintly down at the Caller ID window, wondering if Chloe’s new abilities included knowing when someone was thinking about her.

“Hey, Chloe,” she answered. “Recovered from your vacation?”

“Are you kidding? Astrid is ready to go back for another glass bottom boat ride.”

Marcy laughed. “Those were fun, I agree.”

“So how are
you
doing?” Chloe asked. “You never called and said you were coming back home.”

She heard the worry in her friend’s voice clear as day. Marcy swallowed thickly, tears threatening to well in her eyes. “A lot happened, chica.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Starting at the beginning, Marcy let it all spill out, from Teo’s back and forth behavior to his threat the day she packed her bags.

“So I left. I asked Mahasti not to mention anything to either of you.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Chloe whispered into the phone. “I’ll be right there. She’s bringing me now.”

Before Marcy could hang up the phone, Chloe was there in a puff of jasmine-scented smoke, tendrils of the genie’s magical essence wafting through the apartment. The two friends met halfway and collapsed against each other. Their limbs tangled in a tight embrace and they sank to the couch where Marcy wept against the other woman’s shoulder. Uncontrollable sobs shook her body, and through it all Chloe held her tight.

“He... he didn’t even care I was leaving. He didn’t say please. Instead of asking to come with me, he threatened to make me stay like I was another gem in his treasure pile.”

“I promise you, Marce, everything you feel, he experiences double.”

“What makes you think so?”

Chloe hesitated. “I knew to call you and check on you because... Teo called Saul. He’s devastated and blames himself for trying to pressure you. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“What did he say to Saul?”

“I didn’t eavesdrop in on the call, sweetie, so I can only repeat what Saul told me. Apparently dragons have their own bro code, because that’s all he’d say.”

“Figures. Shit. I don’t know if I did the right thing anymore. I don’t want to second guess myself but now I’m home, none of this feels worth it. I was
happy
with him.”

“It isn’t too late to go back to him. Saul told me he never once considered not taking me back after I ran him away the way I did. It takes a while for a bond to break.”

“No, Chloe. He isn’t Saul, and I’m not you. I’m not the one in the wrong here. Why can’t he love me for me without wanting to permanently change me?”

Chloe sighed gently and smoothed her hand up and down Marcy’s back. “Do you remember what I said about being pregnant with Astrid?”

“You said it was worth it.”

“To me, it was. But if you don’t want to do it, Teo needs to respect your choice. You did the right thing for
you
, Marcy. Teo, Saul, and even I realize that.”

“Then why do I feel so awful?”

“Because of the bond, and because you have feelings for him that transcend that bond. Everything about loving them is... it’s more intense than anything I ever felt as a human. You feel awful because... I think you’re experiencing his pain, too.”

“It sucks,” Marcy blew her nose into a tissue. “It’s like he only wants me if I’ll pop out babies. God forbid he be attached to a plain, unspecial human.”

“Oh sweetie, there’s nothing unspecial about you.” Chloe squeezed her again. “Maybe the problem is you’re both looking at it in absolutes. You won’t consider a child and he wouldn’t consider a bond without one. Maybe... you both need a compromise.”

“Like what?” Marcy asked, sniffling. “I feel like an idiot for crying. I didn’t even cry over Matt or anyone else. What’s wrong with me?”

“Marce. There’s nothing wrong with crying and letting out emotion.”

The Latina nodded her head and scrubbed her cheeks with one wrist. “Okay. A compromise. How do you compromise on something like this?”

Chloe smiled sadly. “See things from his point of view and give him the chance to see things from yours. You said it best, girl. You’re only 34. Maybe five years or ten years from now, you’ll feel differently. Maybe you won’t. Ask him if he’s willing to accept a compromise and take it one day at a time. Don’t walk away from each other for days and waste what precious time you do have.”

Eventually, the tears subsided and left a dull ache in Marcy’s heart. She sighed and looked down at the picture frame on the coffee table. In the photograph, Marcy was attempting to flash her most alluring smile while Teo held her close for the camera. She hadn’t noticed until later that he was smiling. It was a faint, fragile thing, no doubt his attempt to maintain a straight face.

She’d made him smile on their date. She’d made him smile so many times after. Marcy would never forget the elation on his face in the moments after their bonding.

“Do you want to come home with me tonight?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah. I don’t want to be here alone. I’m so fucking tired of being alone,” Marcy admitted, shaking her head sadly. She’d been lonely ever since her best friend in the world moved away, and no amount of teleporting to see her was enough to make up for the distance in their friendship.

“Why don’t you move in with us? We have the room and Saul won’t mind. Astrid would be overjoyed to have her tía with her every day.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Give it some thought. Mahasti?”

“I am here,” the genie’s voice whispered into the room.

“Take us home.”

The djinn magical transport didn’t leave Marcy as dizzy as it usually did. Or maybe it was because her head was already pounding and heavy from her cry-fest. They appeared in Chloe’s solarium where golden beams of sunshine angled through the floor to ceiling windows and warmed Marcy’s cool skin. Potted plants in multiple varieties added colorful splashes to the bright, feminine space.

“Chloe!” Saul’s voice boomed, a telltale sign of drawing power from his dragon half. “Chloe! Come quickly!”

“Just a sec, hon!”

“Hurry or you’ll miss it!”

“Go on, chica, I’m right behind you,” Marcy encouraged. Chloe hurried off to the next room and soon she was squealing in excitement and calling for Marcy to join them.

“All right, all right, I’m coming.” Swiping the last tear streaks from her face, Marcy crossed the room to join her friends. “Now what’s so — oh my God!”

A small dragon, roughly the size of a German Shepherd, chased a ball across the playroom floor. Astrid’s soft skin was golden in color, brighter than her father in his dragon form. Pin feathers lines her small wings, interspersed with small tufts of pale white down. Saul beamed proudly while Chloe had her hands clasped over her mouth, joyful tears streaming from her eyes.