AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I knocked softly on the light blue door of the tiny stuccoed house. It was the darkest house on the street, the porch lit only by the streetlights. From what I could see of the inside from the small, twin front windows, every light inside of the house was off, as well.
The place looked deserted. There was even an old for sale sign in the tiny desert landscaped front yard.
I wondered briefly if I was somehow at the wrong address when the door flew open, and a hard hand yanked me inside. A harsh voice that I recognized well kept me from lashing out at the sudden contact. "About time," Caleb told me, shutting the door quietly, then dragging me further into the dark house.
I shook him off, waving him ahead of me when he shot me a glance.
I certainly didn't need the sociopath chameleon alien to hold my hand.
He led me down a dark hallway to a door with faint light showing through the bottom. I was surprised, when he opened it, that it led to a basement. Basements were hard to come by in Vegas, especially in a tiny house like this one. But it did explain why the rest of the house was completely dark.
Caleb waved me down the narrow stairway first, closing the door very quietly behind us.
I just blinked for a moment when I saw the inhabitants of the top secret basement meeting place, and what they were doing.
Christian and Luke both rose as I entered, but I didn't miss what filled their computer screens, the bright colors vivid even across the room.
Christian positively beamed at me, rushing forward to lift me up in a bone-crushing hug, spinning me around and talking all at once. "We missed you, girl. And you're all glowy and golden. Preetty. Is that what color your dragon is?"
I didn't answer, since he was both squeezing the air out of me, and not stopping long enough to let me get a word in.
Caleb managed to cut in with an answer. "The pictures I saw of her landing on the roof looked to be pale gold, or even silver, in the dark."
"Ohhh," Christian said, setting me down to study me. He took a lock of my hair between his fingers, rubbing. "It's so bright, it looks like it could rub off."
I shrugged it off, not really worried about the after-effects of my dragon-trance. I knew that they would fade away, eventually. I pointed at his computer. "How's WoW treating you these days? Please don't tell me that you made me come here for a top secret World of Warcraft party," I told him archly. If they had, I was going to be royally pissed.
Christian waved a cursory hand at the gaming computers set up in the corner. "That? Naw. That was just to kill time."
I looked at Caleb. He met my gaze with a very blank expression. "No, Jillian, we did not invite you here for a gaming party," he said, his tone slightly disgusted.
I supposed that, while I could have expected something that silly from Christian, I should have known better, with Caleb involved.
I was suddenly distracted by Luke, who had moved close behind me and gone to his knees, his head lowered.
Oh Lord, he was still doing that.
I sighed.
"Um, hey, Luke. How's it going?" I asked, patting his head rather awkwardly.
"Good, Mistress Jillian, now that I've gotten to see you again. My Mistress is even more beautiful than I remembered."
Christian giggled like a school boy. I glared at him. I had no idea what to do with a submissive man. Generally, the men I hung out with were sarcastic, crude, dominant, aggressive, borderline or not so borderline psychotic, violent to the batshit crazy degree, and sometimes just plain obnoxious. None of those qualities could be called submissive. Frankly, I didn't even know what to do with a man that didn't give me shit just for breathing. Which reminded me . . .
I pointed a finger at Christian. "You need to stop baiting Dom. It's gotten old already."
His giggles died until he was just smiling at me, an almost fond expression on his face. "You know I'd do almost anything for you, girl, but I won't do that."
I closed my eyes and counted to ten. This meeting was not off to a productive start.
Caleb spoke, finally bringing up the reason I had come. "Tianlong is still in town, though the rest of his people left months ago. Luke here has joined his household, becoming one of his favorite pets. He overheard news of another dragon visiting Vegas, one of the Chinese, and he thinks it might be Drake. Luke needs to get back undercover very soon, but he refused to go without getting to see you, since he unfortunately overheard us talking about your return."
Caleb gave Luke a very unfriendly look. "Well, here she is. Anything you want to say before you go back?"
Luke just shook his head, darting a quick glance at my face, then looking back down at my feet. "No. Everything I need to say to Mistress Jillian I've said in the letters that Christian is holding for her. And I have gazed upon her beauty. I can go back to my duties with a light heart."
I shook my head at him, exasperated, but still, I tried to be nice. I could do nice. Sort of. "You're, um, doing a good job, Luke. Thank you for helping us."
