"Mountain Aspen Retreat, how may I direct your call?"
I thought fast. "I'm a relative of one of your clients, and I want to come visit him. Who do I talk to about scheduling a visit?"
"One moment," she said, putting me on hold.
Delilah narrowed her eyes. "Give me his name, and I'll run him through Chase's computer before Morio and I head out to check out that shop.
I motioned for her to hand me a steno pad and scribbled Ben's name on it, and the name of the Mountain Aspen Retreat. As I handed it back to her, a different receptionist came back on the line.
"Front desk. Ms. Marshall speaking. May I help you?"
"Yes, I'd like to make an appointment to come see my… cousin. He's a patient at Mountain Aspen." Cousin was good; I could hide my glamour if I tried. Buy a simple dress for the occasion. Yeah, right, I thought. If nothing else, I could charm the receptionist to let me through.
"His name, please?"
"Ben. Benjamin Welter." I though for a moment, then added, "I know he's not very responsive, but I thought I'd like to just come sit with him for awhile."
A brief pause. "I see here that it's been seven weeks since his last visitor. Are your aunt and uncle still on their world cruise?" A hint of disapproval in her voice. Ms. Marshall probably cared more about the patients than their own families. I decided to capitalize on it.
"I have no idea. I've been away at school, and this is the first time I've been home in over two years. I had no idea that my cousin was having problems until now. My name's Camille, by the way."
"When were you thinking of coming out, Ms. Welter?"
I didn't correct her. Let her think that I was related on the father's side—it didn't make any difference to me. "Would tomorrow be too soon? Around three P.M.?"
The sound of tapping keys and then she said, "I've got you scheduled and on the visitor list. Thank you, Camille. We encourage families to visit as often as possible. Even when the patient is as unresponsive as Benjamin, it seems to help them. You know, just having people here who care."
As I hung up, I felt like a first-class rat. But then again, Benjamin didn't want human companionship. Whether I was actually his cousin or just the stranger I really was, it probably wouldn't matter to him. And maybe, just maybe, there was something I could do to help. I pushed back the chair and stood.
Delilah glanced over at me. She'd managed to fashion a padded pen of sorts for Mistletoe, who looked miserable, stretched out on the mattress pad. He groaned and rubbed his belly.
"I've got to go. Smoky's about ready to blow. I'd better go find out what Morgaine's up to out there." I took a deep breath. "Everything should be okay but… just in case…"
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked immediately. "You can break the deal. We'll find some other way to pay him back for his help." She hugged me, the black crescent tattoo beating a staccato pulse on her forehead.
I stared at the mark. A tremendous burden had been thrust upon her when she suggested we seek help from the Autumn Lord, and she seldom complained. Though she was bound to the Elemental Lord as one of his Death Maidens, Delilah took it in stride with as much grace as she could muster.
The Autumn Lord hadn't offered her a choice. Smoky had given me the option. Spend a week with him, and he'd help us contact the Autumn Lord. One week of pleasure, compared with a lifetime of fearful bonds to an Elemental prince? I had no right to complain.
I cleared my throat. "Everything will be fine. I'm looking forward to it, actually." And I was. For the most part. Yes, I was afraid, and yes, Smoky was likely to wreak havoc with my life. But who hadn't dumped a bucket of chaos into our lives in the past six months? Might as well be in the form of a tall, cool drink of water.
"I'll be home tomorrow," I told her. "We can discuss what you and Morio found, and what I've discovered about Morgaine."
She gave me a tentative smile and then pulled me in for another hug. As my head rested under her chin—at six one, she was a good six inches taller than me—I closed my eyes. It almost felt like Mother was holding me again, tight in an embrace that was forever safe and welcoming. Delilah reluctantly let go, and I stepped back.
"Have fun." She winked. "Smoky likes you. He won't hurt you. And if he does… we'll get him."
Laughing at the thought, I made my way out of the kitchen and into the living room. Morio was handing Smoky a satchel.
"I see you've been pawing through my goodies again," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
"I like pawing your goodies," Morio said, arching his eyebrows. He planted a long, slow kiss on my lips. So different than Trillian. Bewitching instead of demanding. Trillian overwhelmed and conquered, whereas Morio encouraged his conquests to hand over the keys to the kingdom without so much as a twinge of regret. Trillian was alpha, Morio stood outside of the whole testosterone match and calmly bided his time.
I lingered in his arms, and he playfully pinched my butt. "You better get a move on," he said, then leaned close to my ear. "I'll be out there tonight, watching, to make sure you're okay." Without another word, he pulled away and gestured to me with a flourish. "She's all yours, Smoky. Treat her with care."
Smoky let out a long breath. "I never intended anything else," he said and turned toward the door.
I ran over to Feddrah-Dahns. "Stay for a day or so; you'll want to hear about Morgaine, I'm sure."
"Just don't let her get hold of that horn," he said. "You must not allow the horn to fall into the wrong hands."
Like Morgaine could withstand a million-amp lightning bolt any better than me, I thought, but left the thought unsaid. "Right." And then, without further ado, we were off.
"Did you want to take my car?" I started to say, but Smoky motioned for me to come closer.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Now you'll find out how I travel." Cryptic, but enough to warn me that I'd better prepare for something out of the ordinary.
I steeled myself as a swirl of magic spun up, a vortex with us as its focal point. Dragon magic. While I'd felt it moving within Smoky's aura before, the power had never gone raging through me like it was now.
One moment I was standing on the front lawn with his arm around me. The next moment the sky opened, and stars whirled above us as the world shifted. A chill a million degrees colder than the grave stabbed into my body, like someone had thrust a dagger made of ice between my shoulder blades. This was ancient magic, old and cunning and whirling us about like we were two leaves in the wind as we fell into the void. A crashing of thunder, and then mist rose around me, and I heard the persistent lapping of waves against a beach.
Oh cripes, I knew where we were.
We were swimming, but not like any fish or whale or porpoise I'd ever met. No, Smoky had shifted us between the veils, and we were zipping along through the icy currents of the Ionyc Sea.
The astral, etheric, and spirit realms were all vague and nebulous to physical life. An astral or etheric entity could pass through a corporeal form, and while the person might feel the sensation of intense cold, or sense someone there, the two realms wouldn't clash for space.
But out in the astral, the three realms of intangible force were joined by several other dimensions, and together they all comprised the Ionyc Lands. The energy that connected them also managed to keep them separate, for they were forever shifting and moving. That same energy also allowed passage from one land to another. This energy swirled around the Ionyc Lands in canals, like the waters of Venice.
The Ionyc Sea was a vast, churning ocean of currents that prevented the different realms of force from colliding. Collision was a bad idea. Collision of the differing Ionyc Lands could set off a chain reaction capable of neutralizing life as we knew it.
Essentially, the Ionyc Sea was a demarcation zone: open to all, dangerous to all, and eternal. Very few creatures, especially those of flesh and blood, traveled along the channeled canals that ferried the seas' volatile waves.
Creatures of the northern lands—those whose life force came from ice and snow and wind and vapor—could conceivably find a way through. Mythic ice serpents routinely crossed the Ionyc Sea. And, apparently, so did some dragons.
Whether it was his silver or white dragon heritage that allowed him to forge through the energy currents, I didn't know. And now was not the time to ask. I had no intention of distracting Smoky. Who knew how hard it was for him to keep up the protection that kept the currents from zapping our bodies to dust? Better to keep my mouth shut until we were safe and back on solid ground.
Smoky's arm felt suspiciously like a large wing as it draped around my shoulder, and I could see that we were encased within some form of barrier. Spherical in nature, it surrounded us like an invisible bubble.
How long we journeyed through the sea, I couldn't tell. Time ceased to exist here. A second might feel as long as a year, and a year might wing by in the guise of a week. After awhile I began to grow tired. I leaned my head against his shoulder and let the rocking motion of the currents lull me to sleep.
"Camille? Wake up. We're here."
At first, I didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't Trillian. Nor was it Morio. That much I knew. Wondering why I felt so stiff—I usually slept deep and well—I forced myself to open my eyes. The glint of late afternoon sunlight blinded me, but there was no heat behind it, and as I pushed myself up, I shaded my eyes with my hand. Where the hell was I?
The ground felt springy beneath me, and I looked down. I was on an air mattress, a blue one partially covered with a crisp white sheet. Huh? And then I remembered.
"Smoky? Smoky? Where are you?" When I swung my head to the left, a wave of dizziness rushed over me and, moaning, I fell back on the mattress. The world was spinning like I was tied to one gigantic wheel of fortune.
"I'm right here." His voice was soft and coming from behind me. I leaned my head back and saw that he was squatting, frozen in place, watching me. "You'll be okay. You'll feel much better in about ten minutes, as soon as you sit up and drink this." He held out a mug filled with something that was bubbling. A cloud of steam drifted up from it, and the fragrance smelled like spring meadows and wildflowers.
"What happened? What's that? Why am I lying on an air mattress in the middle of…" I slowly—very slowly—glanced around. Forest. Woodland. My guess was that we were near Smoky's barrow. "In the middle of the woods?"
He set the mug down and scooted in behind me, slowly helping to prop me up so that I was leaning back against his chest. Despite my dizziness, I decided this wasn't half-bad. I sank against his tightly muscled shoulders and felt his hardened body shoring me up. Change that. Not bad at all.
Smoky reached for the tea with his left hand, while he kept his right arm cinched snugly around my waist. He brought the tea to my lips, and I reached up to steady the cup. "First, drink. Then questions."
I tasted the brew. Honey, that much I could tell. And lemon. Rose hips and peppermint, and something else I couldn't identify.
"Good," I whispered, taking the mug and cupping it in my hands. I hadn't noticed at first, but now I realized I felt frozen to the core, as if I'd walked into an ice cave and fallen asleep for a long, long time.
As I drank, strength began to seep back into my muscles, and the dizziness started to subside. A few minutes later, I drained the mug and handed it back to him. Smoky tossed it to one side but kept me tight against him, nuzzling my ear.
"Tell me, now that I don't feel ready to keel over," I said.
"When humans and Fae traverse the Ionyc Sea, even though they may be encased inside of a barrier, they still can't fight the tides of energy. It sucks the warmth from your body and drains energy, then cycles around. If we rode long enough, you would have woken up while we were still in the sea, full of vigor and strength. And the pattern would have continued: drain, then recharge. But we had only a short distance to travel, so you didn't get the chance for the seas to refresh you."
He planted a delicate kiss on my earlobe, then another on my neck. I shivered, and this time, it wasn't from the chill. Here was a creature as ancient as almost anyone or anything I'd met. And yet, he wanted me. The thought was overwhelming, but I'd had too many bizarre things happen over the past year to brush it aside as whimsy.
Whether it was something in the tea or something left over from my ride through the Ionyc Sea, I felt a stirring within me, a quiver of desire that quickly became a flame, shooting from my breast to belly as it unfurled like tendrils on a maidenhair fern. I caught my breath, and he felt it.
"You want me, don't you? You want me as much as I want you. From the first time I saw you, I knew that I had to have you. That I would have you." His voice was deeper now, more demanding. "I'm flush with wanting you. I'm coming into rutting season, and you are my chosen mate."
The time had come. I knew it in my heart. There was no turning back, and now that we were down to the count, my fear slid away like water on duck down. Smoky and I had an appointment to keep, made that first moment I gazed into the dragon's liquid crystal eyes when he stood before me, majestic, wings spread, ready to take me down if I made the slightest mistake.
I twisted around, pushing deeper into his embrace, and leaned into the kiss. "I want you," I heard myself say. "Take me into your world, and teach me what it means to love a dragon."
Chapter Fourteen
Smoky gathered me up in his arms and rose as if he might be holding a kitten. I pressed against him, wondering what would happen next. I'd been with a lot of men and yet never one so alien. Morio was a fox demon, and it had taken me awhile to get used to his shape-shifting during sex, but he was more human than Smoky, even when he didn't look it. And in some ways, Morio was more human than Trillian.
