Dragons justice 7, p.13
Dragon's Justice 7, page 13
Helena looked at me for help.
“Oh, don’t ask me for help. I’m drowning in nymphs. Besides, you should give it a try. They are super helpful. Till was in here the other day asking how she can net herself one.” I shrugged and saw a small purple portal on the other side of the office.
It was just barely a peephole, but I had no doubt Ikta was watching from the other side.
I needed to hurry before Helena saw it. She’d have a meltdown. “Anything else you needed to tell me?”
“Are you not worried about Norton?” Helena frowned.
“Of course I am. And I’m worried about you. But we’ll figure this out. I actually need to work on something else for a little bit.” My vagueness was alarming Helena. “Make sure you take good care of your nymph. She’s here to help you.”
“I can rile the Dragon King up so he becomes a beast with you next time,” the nymph added in an impossibly happy tone.
Her peppiness may not be the best match for Helena.
Helena grunted but didn’t otherwise acknowledge what her nymph said. “Can you do paperwork?”
“Yep.” The nymph saluted.
Helena frowned, but she at least nodded, walking out with the nymph.
As soon as the door closed, I locked the door and whispered, “Ikta, if she saw you peeping, she’d try to carve your heart out.”
The portal opened wider, and Ikta strutted out in a purple, sheer dress, her spider limbs on full display and her lips in a playful curl. “She seems like a bundle of fun. I wouldn’t mind letting her carve my heart out as long as there was some sex in there somewhere.” She pulled up a chair and patted it for me to sit down.
I played along and sat down.
Ikta then placed herself on my lap, her face only a few inches from mine. Her eyes were so deep; they felt endless as she stared at me and bit her lip. “See? Isn’t this nice?”
I nodded, glad that I’d been recently satiated.
“You are a lovely woman, Ikta, and I’ve made promises with you. But there’s still the issue of Jadelyn. Besides, grand gestures like building this manor are nice, but I still don’t know you all that well.” I got comfortable, which meant holding her hips to keep her balanced on my lap.
“Jadelyn, Jadelyn, Jadelyn,” she sighed. “You favor her so much. I am a little remiss that I wasn’t able to quietly replace her.”
I scowled at her. “That’s not okay.”
“Why not?” she pouted. “You would have never known, and then you would have enjoyed me endlessly by now.” She tilted her head and ran her nails along my neck until she reached my chin, pulling my head up to stare into her endless eyes. “Tell me, why is it wrong?”
“Because I love Jadelyn. The thought of someone killing her angers me.” It felt ridiculous that I was spelling that out for Ikta. “That you still think it is okay makes me concerned about your continued presence in my home. I won’t put any of my mates at risk.” I added a growl to the end of my statement.
Ikta clicked her tongue, but when I stared her down, she rolled her eyes and relented. “I gave my oath that I wouldn’t harm any of your women. Happy?” She crossed her arms under her breasts. “I’ve served as Jadelyn’s nymph for periods to understand that woman. Secretly, I’d added tracking enchantments to her jewelry so that if anything happens, I can swoop in and save her.”
“Does she know that?” I asked.
“No. That sort of ruins the ‘secret’ part.” Ikta shook her head. “But this is me trying. In my own way.”
“She asked you about a shipping lane, and you told her to ask me?” I brought up another topic.
Ikta bit her lip. “Yes. Well, that’s another issue. But I’m not sure if you are ready for it.”
“Hit me,” I replied. If it would help Jadelyn’s business, I didn’t want to stand in the way.
She frowned and punched me lightly in the shoulder. “What does that accomplish?”
I put my head in my hands. “It’s an expression. Just tell me and we can work things out.”
Her mouth made a big purple ‘O’. “Sorry for punching you. This modern-day life is filled with odd expressions.” She refocused on my question. “You are now a nexus of the fae. Between your blessing from The Dreamer and having a home with the blood of three fae queens...”
“Wait, three fae queens?” I interrupted her.
Ikta made a face. “Winter is in denial, and so is Maeve. When Maeve finishes absorbing the power in that wedding ring, she’ll be stronger than Winter. Mab might be ruling, but she’s not the queen, not to the Faerie realm. That’s probably why she’s been such a bitch to her daughter. We all hate to lose our power.”
“The ring is that powerful?” I was surprised.
“Extremely. It’s from a Winter Queen before I was sealed. She ruled during what you’d refer to as an ice age. For a long period of time, she was almost too powerful. Summer could not take back the season. Eventually, she sealed her power into several objects, such as the fragment of a crown you’ve given your wife.” Ikta bounced her eyebrows. “I’m a little jealous, if I’m honest. Are you going to get me such a powerful artifact when you marry me?”
“There’s still the issue of you terrifying Jade,” I reminded her, ignoring her question.
She leaned close in slow motion, as if waiting to see if I’d push her away or flee.
When I didn’t, she placed several delicate and wet kisses along my neck while she murmured, “You are giving me access to your entire body, and I’m not taking even the slightest of advantage.”
“Ikta,” I warned her.
Her nails dragged along my back. “Do I need to make myself vulnerable to Jadelyn, or her to me, and show her I won’t act?” Her tongue wiggled into a soft spot under my jaw, making me tingle.
“I don’t know what Jadelyn needs besides time.” I found myself pulling her hips closer to me. “But we got off topic, didn’t we?”
Ikta’s nails found their way into my hair, and she dragged them along my scalp. “Yes. You want to know why I need you to make the portals for Jadelyn’s shipping route, rather than make them myself?”
I was surprised. I hadn’t realized the task was for me to literally make a portal. But I waited for Ikta to continue.
She smiled. “You have a new fragment of Faerie, one that is whole in a way that the rest of Faerie isn’t.”
“Because the three queens have come together to make it?” I replied, trying to piece it all together.
“Yes, and because you have a large piece of my power waiting in you. Summer and I agreed that you should be the one to make the portal for Jadelyn, if that’ll be what it takes for you to tap your fae magic. We need to bind you to this house and the fragment of Faerie. Then you need to make it yours.” She put my hand on her breast and squeezed it.
“Don’t tell me having sex with you is the answer. I’m not sure I buy that,” I teased her.
She pouted, “Would that be so bad? I’d give you an army of dragons. Are you not the least bit tempted?” She took my hand up to her dark lips and suckled on my finger with a raised brow, as if challenging me to tell her no.
I pulled my finger out of her mouth, leaving a trail of saliva between it and her lips. “How do I claim this fragment of Faerie that you made my house on?”
She smiled that I didn’t say no, even if I tried to pull her back on topic. “It’s quite simple. You need to master your fae magic. We’ve already agreed it is your home, but the land has not.” She took my finger that had been in her mouth and pulled it down to her collar, drawing shapes on herself with it. “Or you could mark me and Summer and assert yourself.” She shrugged as delight at the idea spread through her eyes.
I frowned at her. “All it takes is me acknowledging this is my house, and therefore my piece of Faerie?”
She nodded. “Yes, although I did just offer a second option.” She leaned her head to the side, exposing her neck.
Well, if my house was a piece of Faerie, then saying something stated thrice should work. “This is my home, my fragment of Faerie, and it, along with everything in this mansion, is my domain.” I claimed it three times.
There was the twang of an oath snapping into place between myself and the house.
Ikta clicked her tongue. “I was expecting a little more possessiveness from you. Should have claimed everything in the house.” She ran a finger over her collar where I would have marked her. “Zach.” She dragged a nail along my neck. “Now you need to master my magic, and make me— I mean it— your bitch.”
I chuckled. She really wanted to keep riling me up. “So, fae magic. How is it different?”
“Well, now that you control this fragment of Faerie, within it, you should be able to make things a reality. At least for a short time.” She took my hand, and hers glowed purple as she held my palm up. “Since it is my magic, I can help draw it to the surface over your dragon magic. Focus. What do you want to make?”
“A pen?” One on my desk caught my eye and seemed simple enough. I tried to imagine one in my hand.
“Boring,” Ikta sighed, but my own arm glowed purple with hers and a pen popped into existence. “Oh look. A boring pen.”
I took it and twirled it. The pen felt real. I beamed. “So, what happens with it?”
“Well, if you use it, the ink will probably stay after the pen disappears. If you stabbed someone with it, it would disappear but the stab wound would stay,” she explained.
I stared back at her. “Those are the two uses that come to mind for a pen?”
She shrugged. “Yes?”
“What about portals? You make them, but Summer and Winter don’t.” I was curious.
Ikta bit her lip, trying to hold back a knowing grin. “That’s because the three queens have different magic. My magic draws from the Wild, the chaos in Faerie, such as the natural portals. Winter draws from the cold and the darkness, Summer from the warmth and light. This is why their powers ebb and wane. They follow the seasons of Philadelphia because that’s where their portal connects to your world.”
There was something she wasn’t telling me. “Because this fragment of Faerie was made by three of you, which will I follow?”
Her smile blossomed. “All of them, though your magic came from me, so obviously the magic of the Wild will be easiest for you. But hopefully your power doesn’t ebb and flow like Summer and Winter.”
“This is more significant than you are letting on, isn’t it? When else has someone had a piece of Faerie that has all three of your powers?” I asked, feeling like I was tugging at a thread that was going to unravel something bigger.
Ikta brushed my cock with her hand, grabbing it gently and pumping it as she leaned forward and kissed me. Her tongue pushed in immediately.
Her lips were amazing, and I kissed them to my delight as I grabbed her hips and ran her over my cock as she broke the kiss and threw her head back, watching me with her wild and crazy eyes. I could drown in them. Or other parts of her, happily.
But not yet.
“Just a taste.” Ikta smiled mischievously before the door opened to Pixie and Nyske. “When you are ready,” she whispered and fell off the side of the chair into a portal.
“You okay, my king?” Pixie put down a cup of coffee. “I didn’t realize that Ikta was here.”
“Fine. We were talking, and then she, well, she was just being a tease.” I straightened my shirt.
“Need us to get you another pair of pants?” Nyske asked.
I looked down at my lap. I was sticky and wet. Clearly, Ikta hadn’t been wearing anything under her dress and the woman had rubbed herself all over me.
“New pants. Then magic practice. And then I probably need to check in on everyone now that Norton is loose.” I tried to form my plan for the day. It would be good to go see Kelly and her pack too. They should be in the middle of summer practice.
“The Highaens have requested yet another meeting. Should I schedule one this time?” Pixie asked as she went into the closet for a new pair of pants, and Nyske picked up the room.
Neither of them seemed perturbed at all by the scene.
“Yeah, and tell my honor guard I’ll be taking another job tonight. We need to keep everything rolling. I doubt just because Norton is gone that I’ll get off completely.” I rubbed my hands over my face and blew out a breath. “Okay. Back to work.”
Chapter 15
“Poly is not going to let you go anywhere without a team on you. You should know better.” Larisa buckled into the back of the car before helping Regina with her buckle.
“I’m going to the stadium, and I’m going to be with Kelly’s pack. That’s about the safest place I could be,” I argued as I looked over my shoulder and pulled the car out of the parking spot in Morgana’s garage.
“Great,” Larisa said. “The wolves are fun. Besides, you aren’t complaining about your pink-haired nymph tagging along everywhere.” Pixie sat in the passenger seat.
“Maybe sometimes I want to bring a car smaller than seating for four.” My eyes drifted past a few of the sports cars that really only had two functional seats. Morgana and I used to take those out all the time.
“I really think you should just start using Jadelyn’s limos,” Larisa replied.
“Wait, I thought they were Scarlett’s limos? Jadelyn has to ask her every time she wants to use them.” Regina turned to the smaller dragon.
Larisa laughed, patting Regina’s thigh while shaking her head. “That’s because Scarlett is a much better guard than we are, and she has a much more obedient person to guard.”
I met her eyes in the rearview mirror, and we all knew what she meant. She gave me a wry smile.
“I will take notes.” Regina nodded seriously. “Jadelyn gave us a phone number to call too, if you get into any trouble.”
I grumbled as I pulled out of the garage. “A lawyer, no doubt. That’s fine. But Norton and the others are likely operating outside the law now.”
Regina’s hand shifted into a wicked red dragon claw. “Even better! Then we will operate outside the law, too.”
“Put that away.” Larisa smacked Regina’s hand. “It’s broad daylight. We are going to be more subtle than that. Put Norton’s head through a wall or a table if he comes for our king.” She held back from laughing at her own joke.
“That didn’t work so well last time,” I muttered from up front, looking at the two of them in the mirror as I started heading down the street to the football field.
“My king, can you not open a portal now?” Pixie asked.
“Portal?” Larisa asked.
“I was tinkering with fae magic this afternoon,” I replied. “Unknown if I can make a portal outside the manor.” Lifting one hand off the steering wheel, I tried to form a pen. It sort of formed before becoming a pile of sand.
Larisa clapped. “Yay, sand. Just what I’ve always wanted.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“Maybe when I’m not driving, I’ll try to focus harder. Let’s just say that, while in the manor, I’m doing okay with fae magic.” I grinned at the future possibilities. “Speaking of, Pixie, what kind of magic does Nyske have if not fae magic?”
Pixie frowned. “When she makes things, it is very much like a glamor, but it’s real, not temporary. Which is… very strange.”
“That sounds very powerful too,” I pointed out.
“Sort of.” Pixie waffled her head. “I felt that making her clothes was a strain. So her ability is somewhat limited.”
Larisa was leaning forward. “A full set of clothes? That’s not a small amount of material she produced from magic. Something like that could make enchanting items at a terrifying pace. Imagine just imprinting a complete magical circle on even something like cloth, then using the magic circle to do any big magic.”
I was reminded at that moment that Larisa was older than she looked. She was one of the smallest among the dragons with me, and she often wore flowing summer dresses over her petite frame. I’d also noticed her white hair was growing longer; I wondered if my mates had influenced her.
“That would be a very interesting use,” Pixie agreed. “But I am not sure where she got her magic from.”
“I’ll just have to let her continue to assist me. When she’s ready, I’m sure she’ll tell me.” I sighed. Nyske was a bit of a mystery.
“She’s pretty powerful, if she’s the nymph I’ve seen. The one with dark hair that changes colors in the light?” Regina asked.
“That’s the one,” Pixie agreed.
Regina nodded to herself. “She’s strong. I felt her magic. It reminds me of some of the older dragons back home.”
I looked in the mirror to check that she was being serious. She was, and that was sort of terrifying.
“Maybe she just wants to have your kids, my king,” Larisa suggested.
“Could be,” Pixie agreed. “She really seemed interested in him though, like she knew him already.” The nymphs were surprisingly adept at reading people, so I took her comment to heart. What it meant, I had no idea.
I pulled up into the football stadium parking lot. “Either way, we’ll have to wait for more information, it sounds like. But we’ll have to play ‘guess what’s up with Nyske’ later. It’s time to spend time with the pack.”
Even as I got out of the car, a tall, red-headed wolf came bounding out of the stadium.
“Hello!” Taylor waved excitedly. “Anything I can do for you, Alpha-alpha?”
“I came to check on you, Kelly, and the pack.” I smiled at Kelly’s head bitch, Taylor. Kelly led the pack, but there was always a girl keeping the bitches in line. She was largely Kelly’s second.
“Aww.” Taylor bounded over with the pep and spring in her steps of a cheerleader before she hooked one of my arms and leaned on my side. “You came to check on me. That’s sweet. I’m glad you remembered that raincheck for my date.”
