Dragon's Claim

Chapter 4-4

THE WIND FUNNELED THROUGH her hair, whipping into wild abandon. She couldn’t help herself. She threw her hands into the air and felt the wind buffet her skin. In this tiny car, with the word racing around her, she felt alive. It was a wonderful feeling.

A smile snaked across her lips. Who would have imagined that a car as simple as this would have ignited such a feeling inside her cold heart? She was going to have to have one of these for her own. Drake informed her that she would have to get an American license, but her pay check from the Embassy they would build would probably foot the bill for a car like this.

She liked that idea. It was the only perk she’d come across regarding this new role she was supposed to fill in life. Why they expected her to be diplomatic and reasonable with the public was beyond her. She didn’t want to deal with humans and dragons like she’d had to in the forest with the white dragon. She didn’t want to make decisions like that for the rest of her life.

Maybe she was being a child. She sucked in a breath of chill, clean air as it rushed around her. She was most definitely being a child. There had to come a day when she didn’t spend all of her time watching movies with her big brother or poking fun at Elgar.

No one knew that she used to sneak into Elgar’s home, long after the first day. There was something about the man - the dragon that lost his mate and his mind - that made her care for him. He seemed sad and broken, the shadows in his eyes for the destruction he’d wrought dancing between the madness that gripped him.

Elgar firmly believed that he would find the Holy Grail and that it would bring back his dead mate. As a child, she’d been apt to believe him, yearning for a day when her own parents would walk through the front door again and call out to her. She wished her father would return and sweep her into her arms. But, the longer she spent with Elgar, the more her heart hardened.

It would never happen. Things like that didn’t exist. Elgar’s wife, her parents, they were both long dead and in the ground. She and Elgar had to keep on living. Only one of them had managed to do so. Still, she would visit. She would bring him Maggie’s atrocious attempts at baking. She would bring him a new chalice she’d bought online.

But, she knew. Layla knew that they were no longer kindred spirits. Not in a way that hope brought people together. Perhaps, now, they were once more kindred spirits, but in the way that darkness brought people together. She had not ravaged a city for revenge. But the monster inside of her ached for blood. Raphael’s death had not silenced it.

“You became really quiet,” Drake’s voice broke through the hazy wall of thought she’d been wrapped in.

“What colors does this car come in?” she asked, shoving aside her thoughts of home. Elgar would keep carving his path day in and day out without her, not once breaking from his routine to think to miss her. Why should she miss him?

“I’m sure you could get it customized in whatever color or design you could think of. Heck, I’m sure you could find someone willing to paint dragon scales onto it. Then you could call it the Embassy’s mascot.”

“I kind of like that idea. I could have it painted like the twins,” Layla began. “I’ve never seen such beautiful dragons before in my life.”

She might have feigned indifference, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the two dragons as they took to the sky with their snake-like bodies painted with all the colors of the world. Their scales had morphed beneath the light, never settling on one color at a time. Their wings, even, had taken her breath way. The brothers did not have the thin, membrane wings that most dragons shared. Instead, the brothers’ wings were decked out in long, elegant feathers. She didn’t have a name for their kind, but she knew she was enamored with whatever they were.

Beside her, a low growl was almost lost on the wind, but she caught it. Drake flexed his hands on the steering wheel, trying to hide the tension that tightened his fingers. She raised an eyebrow, confused by his sudden anger. Did he not like people gawking at his people?

Or, was there another, more personal, reason that he did not like her gawking at another male? He could take whatever he was feeling and shove it somewhere dark, Layla thought. She didn’t need that in her life.

Although, she did have an idea.

“I can’t decide which I like more,” Layla began, leaning back into the leather seat. “The quiet twin or the fun twin. I feel like Luc would make life interesting. He might make the bedroom very fun, but on the other hand, he could also be a bit tiring after a while.”

The growl in Drake grew louder. The car surged forward, gas pedal nearly hitting the floor board. He refused to look at her as she spoke. She smiled and kept pushing his buttons.

“Marc might take me on a nice night on the town, treat a girl with flowers and an expensive dinner. He might make love in the same, patient way. I bet he wouldn’t miss a thing.” Her hands moved over her legs as if she could already feel another’s hands on her.

The funny thing was, she wasn’t thinking of Luc or, even, Marc. Her mind was imagining Drake’s hands running along her bare skin. Her mind imagined his bare body pressed up against hers. Should she lay with the American leader and get this crazy desire out of her system? Or, should she try her hardest to ignore it?

“If that’s what you want,” Drake said, managing to get his anger under control. His words surprised her. She hadn’t expected that kind of release. “Luc makes a good one night stand if you’re looking for that kind of thing. Marc might be a better bet for the long run. I can’t speak for what they might want, though. They might not even want you.”

Layla laughed. “Very true.”

This time, Drake managed to cast a glance in her direction. She caught it. Layla caught the deep-seated want in them. Drake might have given her permission to sleep with his dragons, but she could see that was not what he wanted her to do. She could see that he wanted her for his own.

Yet, he’d given her freedom.

She was starting to see the real man and it wasn’t bad. If anything, Drake would have made great mate material if she’d been looking for that kind of thing. It was just another reason for her to keep her clothes on. She couldn’t risk it. She couldn’t risk love.

Layla didn’t want to be cut in half like Elgar or Maggie. She didn’t want that kind of pain to weaken her. She had to live. She had to fight.

But, she could stand beside this man. She could fight with him.

“I just had a realization,” she blurted out.

Drake flicked a glance at her. The car swerved around the tight corner, tires screeching against the pavement and her stomach doing flips. She laughed and smiled before the realization settled back in again.

“I’m going to have to play diplomat. For the rest of my life, probably.” It meant that she would forever have to use her words to diffuse situations, something she wasn’t sure she would be very good at. “Cameron would be so much better at this job that I will be.”

Drake shook his head. “You were the one that led up to a white dragon becoming part of Snowdonia for the first time ever. That was your decision and look how well it’s working right now. It looks good for the red and white dragons to stand in solidarity now. That’s because of you.”

Layla sighed. “It was a fluke, a one off. I can promise you it won’t happen again.”

She flexed her fingers in her hands. She would much rather feel blood pumping through her veins as she chased prey, as she protected those she loved. Now, she was chained to a damned desk and it infuriated her.

“My life is going to become so boring.”

Droplets of water began to hit the windshield with a tinging sound. They pelted across Layla’s shoulders. She let her head fall back so that it could wash over her face. Beside her, Drake flicked his gaze to the sky, concern scrunching his features for a moment. Then, his hand flicked out and the roof began to fold back over them. Her heart sank.

Drake’s gaze danced between the road and the storm above them.

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