Tianna Xander (4 page)

“
I apologize for not having
a flashy car like Drake and Viktor. I have always felt that comfort
was more important than style or flash.”

Smiling, Tansy stood waiting for him to
open the door. She knew he would, these dragons were nothing if not
old fashioned. Besides, she was waiting for his kiss. It didn’t
matter that she knew it would tie them together irrevocably. What
mattered was finally making the connection. She hated to admit it,
even to herself, but she wanted to experience it now that she’d
resigned herself to the fact that destiny had bound them
together.

Tansy laid her hand on his forearm and
looked up. She wanted him to kiss her. She needed him to kiss her.
He stared down at her for a minute before she saw realization dawn
and he took her into his arms.

Warmth surrounded her, fire burned
through her body, her blood when his lips met hers. He slanted his
mouth over hers, his tongue caressing the seam, begging entrance.
Her body burned with need and something else, something…more. A
fire built deep in her belly as he breathed his fire into
her.

It was more than she could stand, more
than she could take, yet she managed to stay connected with him as
she saw bits of his life pass through her mind. She knew him. Deep
down, she knew everything about this man. She could see his honor,
his bravery and selflessness. She could see his resolve to let her
go if she didn’t want him even though he knew it would be a life
sentence of loneliness for him, several life sentences.

It could very well be centuries before
he found another like her. He knew he may never find another like
her and as much as he wanted her in his life, as much as he loved
her, he would find a way to let her go if that was what she
wanted.

Tears ran down her face when she saw
how loving, how selfless her dragon was. It was then that she knew
she had made the right decision to stay with him. No other could
possibly do for her. What worried her was the way the fire within
her built higher and higher until she was certain she would explode
with it. She didn’t want to hurt Tony, never that, but she didn’t
know how to contain it.

Let it go, my heart, my
love.

I can’t. I don’t want to
hurt you. With my luck, I’ll burn you from the inside
out.

Do not worry about me, dear
heart. Do you not know who I am?
He
chuckled into her mind.
I am the fire
dragon. Your fire can only make me stronger. Perhaps that is why we
were meant to be together. I can temper the fire within you. It’s
what I do.

Tansy tried to pull away, but Tony
wouldn’t let her. He held onto her as though she were a lifeline in
a turbulent sea. It was a sea all right, but it was a sea of
despair. It was her despair as she lost control of the fire and it
poured from her body into his.

The fire raged as it always did,
burning everything in its path. Tansy felt the flames licking at
her skin. As always, they never harmed her as they charred
everything and everyone around her.

Tony was on fire. Pulling back, she
watched with horror as the flames licked at his skin. She wanted to
cover her ears to block out his screams of pain, but his screams
never came. He stood smiling at her, his skin the angry red-orange
of flames as they licked at his skin and hair.

“
Do you see, my love?” He
continued to smile as the flames grew smaller and his color
returned to normal. “This is who I am. My body is made of fire. It
calls to yours, because it, too, is made of fire. We are mates, two
beings who can become one.” He held his arms out so she could
inspect every inch of him. “I am the fire dragon, Tansy. Never fear
the fire within you again. After we are mated, you will never lose
control again. It won’t be possible. If you find your fire growing
out of control, you will merely pass it to me. It feeds me as your
love feeds me.” He grinned. “And do not deny it. You love me. I
felt it when you thought I was burning alive. You feared for me
because you love me as I love you.”

Reaching up, Tansy finally gave in to
the urge to push that stray lock of hair off his forehead. As she
suspected, it fell back into his face, defying the effort to make
it look neat instead of unbearably sexy.

“
I can read your mind, you
know.”

“
Then stop it,” Tansy said,
her face burning with mortification. “My kissing you doesn’t give
you the right to go traipsing about inside my head any time you
please. My thoughts are my own and I would thank you to remember
that.” She felt like smacking him good, but decided against it. She
wasn’t sure how he would react and didn’t want to anger
him.

“
Nothing you could do would
ever anger me, Tansy. I love you. I would never hurt you. Surely
you must know that.”

She wanted to think that about him, but
she wasn’t sure. She looked around and noticed they were still in
the parking lot of Armand’s odd club and cleared her throat. “Do
you think we should leave?” She eyed the men standing at the door
who made it obvious that they weren’t looking their way by staring
up at the sky, whistling some familiar tune she couldn’t quite
place.

Tansy didn’t know what was
worse—knowing they had seen their kiss or knowing they had seen her
cry. She hated crying. She always had and she had vowed that she
would never cry in front of a man, they always seemed to think a
woman cried just to get their way. Were they dense? A woman cried
because something hurt her. Still, she had made that promise to
herself and broke it because of love.

Dammit!

* * * *

“
You’re right. We should
leave.”

He knew they should go. The last thing
he wanted was to be a spectacle for Armand’s band of goons, but he
found he couldn’t move right away. Instead, he stared down into
eyes the color of emeralds and wondered what he had ever done to
deserve one such as she.

Tony adored the way Tansy tried to
protect him. He would have laughed had her concern and her fears
not been so real to her.

Fire was like mother’s milk to him.
Still, her concerns were real and he didn’t want to make light of
them. Drake had informed him of Tansy’s inability to control fire
when she burned Drake’s assistant’s hair off.

It was then that he’d hoped she was his
mate. He’d fallen a little in love with her before he even met her.
Drake’s stories of his sisters-in-law were legend. Twelve available
witches were the things of dreams.

That one could be his mate was a dream
come true. Yet somehow, deep down, he had known when he heard of
her penchant for burning things, that Tansy Flowers could be no
other than the fire dragon’s mate.

She even looked like the mate of the
fire dragon, with her fiery red hair and green witch eyes. Meant
for him, was what she was.

He opened the car door, waited for her
to seat herself and closed the door as she buckled her seatbelt. He
grinned as he walked around the car. He had a mate and her name was
Tansy Flowers. Soon to be Tansy Saladino if he had anything to say
about it.

He slid into the seat,
fastened his seatbelt and started the car. Putting the vehicle in
gear, he headed for Drake’s house. The last he knew, Tansy’s oldest
brother, Lancelot, was there. Like
any
self-respecting dragon, he would
ask her oldest male relative for her hand. It was, after all, how
things were done.

There was chaos at Drake’s home when
they arrived. Storm clouds hovered over the house as lightning
continued to strike the same spot over and over. Thankfully, that
spot was nothing more than a brown patch of earth in the center of
the front lawn. He could bet that Drake was equally glad that his
estate was huge and a good distance from any neighbors. Somehow,
Tony knew one of Tansy’s sisters was responsible for the electrical
display.

“
Uh, oh,” Tansy said, biting
her lip as she frowned through the windshield at the strange
weather phenomena. “Someone has made Summer mad.” She looked at him
and grinned. “I should probably congratulate her, don’t you think?
I mean, after all, only a man could make one of my sisters
that
upset, don’t you
think?”

“
Should I take exception to
that remark?” Tony glanced at her and raised a brow. He tried not
to grin at her reaction. He loved that little crease that appeared
between her eyebrows when she was upset. It made him want to kiss
her there. He took a deep breath then changed the subject, letting
her off the hook. “We still need to speak with Drake and your
brother.”

“
You’re right.” She sighed.
“Though I don’t know how we’re going to get past that.” She waved
her arm toward the bolts of lightning that struck the front lawn in
erratic bursts.

“
I’ll drive through it. Just
cross your fingers that we don’t take a direct hit from the main
bolt of lightning.” Tony glanced though the windshield, obviously
worried. “We can handle the smaller charges, it’s the big one that
worries me.”

“
This would be the perfect
time for a joke, if this wasn’t so serious.”

Tony chuckled. “That it would. But, as
you have said, this is serious.”

Turning the wheel, Tony made as wide a
berth as he could past the lightning that continued to strike the
same unfortunate area of the lawn. Tansy squinted out into the
flashing lights and heavy rain.

“
What’s the matter?” he
asked when he saw her frown.

“
I thought I saw someone out
there, but all I could see was the charred ground, the repeated
lightning strikes and the accompanying smoke.” She pressed her lips
together, before turning to look at him, her expression filled with
such love it made his chest hurt. He was thankful that she was able
to come to terms with having him as a mate. Granted, it took her
nearly three weeks, but then as his father always said, anything
worth having was worth waiting for and she was definitely worth the
wait.

“
You know, at first I
thought it was unfair to ask us to give up our freedom so early
when all of you men have been free for so long, but after our kiss,
I knew that freedom came at a horrible price. Knowing what I know
now, how can I blame any of you for wanting someone to share your
life with?”

They made it past the lightning storm
and Tony continued up the narrow paved strip until he came upon two
cars and a motorcycle blocking the drive. “This is it, love.” He
put the car in gear and leaned over to give her a kiss on the
cheek.

Tansy turned in her seat and took his
face in her hands. “Now that I know how lonely you’ve been all
these years, I understand why you all would want to find and claim
your mate as quickly as possible. I’ve seen into your mind. I know
how hard it was for you to hold yourself in check, to give me the
time that you did.” She pressed her lips to his, giving him the
sweetest kiss he had ever had before she pulled back and smiled.
“Thank you.”

Smiling, Tony swallowed thickly. How
could she be so understanding when she knew he would take over her
life? She knew what would happen. No matter what he told her, he
wouldn’t be able to help himself. He would stop at nothing to keep
her safe, even if it meant curbing the freedom she cherished so
much. What he said before about preserving her happiness and what
he would do, could be two very different things.

“
I don’t believe that for a
second, Tony.” She smiled, then reached over to rest her hand on
his thigh. Her choice to open herself to his thoughts only cemented
their bond further and his dragon relaxed that much more. “I don’t
believe you would curtail my freedom so much that I would be
unhappy. You forget that I’ve seen Drake with April. He does
everything in his power to see to her happiness. If she wants to go
out, he puts his work aside and takes her. If she wants a girl’s
day out with my sisters and me, he arranges for an escort to follow
us discreetly, protecting us from a distance.” She shook her head.
“You would never keep me in a cage. I think you know that even the
most comfortable of prisons is still a prison.”

“
Of course I do.” He
released his grip on the steering wheel to cover her smaller hand
with his. “At one time or another all of us have been in some type
of prison. Whether someone has imprisoned us or it was a jail of
our own making.” He squeezed her fingers. Patting her hand, he
released her to depress the ignition switch, shutting off the
engine.

He was aware that they would have to
run to the house. The lightning slamming into the ground scared
him. Not for himself, but for her. He didn’t know what he would do
if something or someone hurt her. Getting out of the car, they
raced to the back door.

“
What’s going on?” he asked
when they entered the house through the kitchen door. Tony pocketed
his keys and looked at everyone in turn.

Tansy’s sisters were there sitting
around the large table, expressions of concern on their faces. They
were all there but one. He didn’t remember her name, only that she
had black hair and brown eyes. She appeared Hispanic. One thing was
certain, their parents did not discriminate when they adopted the
thirteen girls.