Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

unionize,” Jim suggested, wiping a tendril of drool on the empty chair next to it. “Mates Local 51. Make a new rule prohibiting mate swapping, and go on a sex strike if they refuse to negotiate.”
    Aisling looked at her demon with a startled expression. “That’s not a bad idea,” she said.
    “Really?” Jim sat up a little straighter. “Can I watch when you tell Drake that you’re not going to let him chase you naked through the house anymore?”
    “You were supposed to be asleep!” Aisling said, leaning across me to pinch the demon on its shoulder. “You did not see us! You couldn’t have!”
    “Let me tell you, the sight of nursing boobies flopping all around while you tear through the house isn’t something I’m going to forget anytime soon,” Jim added, leaning away from me so Aisling couldn’t reach it again.
    “That’s it! From now on, I’m locking you into the bathroom at night!”
    “You’re just lucky Drake didn’t put an eye out with his gigantic—”
    “Silence!” Aisling roared, and all of the occupants of the room turned to look.
    She smiled at everyone before turning a look on Jim that would have scared a couple of years off my life. “Ignore Jim, please,” she added. “It has moments of derangement. Oh, look, there’s Chuan Ren and Jian. Chuan Ren is the red wyvern. Those are her bodyguards with her, although I don’t see her mate, Li. Jian is her adopted son. I’ll take you over and introduce you. She hates me, so it’s always fun to say hi.”
    Aisling spoke cheerfully enough as we strolled over to the newest arrivals, a group of four people, all Asian, three men and one woman. The woman had long, straight black hair, and a figure that belonged on a runway. Two of the men were rather short but powerfully built; the third was tall and also would have been perfectly at home as a model.
    “Hello, Chuan Ren. Hi, Jian, nice to see you again. Hi, Sying and Shing. This is—”
    “Ysolde de Bouchier,” the woman named Chuan Ren said, her gaze locked onto mine. “So, you are not dead as they said you were. Too bad.”
    She turned on her heel and marched off, her two guards in tow.
    “She’s in a good mood today, I see,” Aisling said to the remaining red dragon.
    He made a face. “Chuan Ren has had a trying time the last few weeks. Her mate, Li, has disappeared.”
    “Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that, although he obviously can’t be dead or we’d know it,” Aisling said, glancing at Chuan Ren.
    “How would you know?” I asked.
    “Wyverns can’t survive the loss of their mates,” she said simply before waving at the blond she’d called Bastian. “I’d better see what the latest gossip is about Fiat before things start. Ysolde, it was a pleasure to meet you at last. If you need any help with things, let me know. I know how hard it is trying to come to grips with some of the dragon lore.”
    She left us, and after another moment of polite chat with Jian, I was about to return to my chair when I turned and saw a man standing in the doorway staring at me, his eyes burning with black heat.
    “Kostya,” I said, the word a whisper on my lips.
    He nodded slowly, stalking toward me. “It’s true. They said it was, but I didn’t see how it could be possible. I saw your body. I saw your severed head.”
    I touched my neck, horror crawling up my skin at his words.
    “I . . . I really don’t know what to say to someone who tells me he saw my severed head,” I admitted. “ ‘Hi’ seems a little bit of an anticlimax.”
    I swore he was going to bare his teeth at me, but he managed to stop. “A miracle has happened, Ysolde de Bouchier.”
    “Tully Sullivan. I’m thinking of having it tattooed on my forehead.”
    “A miracle has happened, and now the time has come for you to pay in like coin for all the deaths, for all the suffering.”
    “Punky! There you are!” May’s twin appeared at Kostya’s side, alternating glances between me and him. “Hi, I’m Cyrene. You must be Ysolde. May’s told me all about you. I don’t blame you one bit for losing your memory. I would have, too, if I’d had to be mated to Baltic.”
    “Pleasure to meet you,” I said, unable to break Kostya’s gaze.
    He leaned forward, his voice low. “If there is any justice in the world, you will suffer as long as the black dragons have suffered.”
    “Kostya, I thought Drake said you weren’t supposed to scare Ysolde,” Cyrene scolded, taking his arm and tugging him toward