Light Dragons 01 - Love in the Time of Dragons

are you?” Baltic roared as he stormed down the stairs. A woman had emerged from the car, a slight woman with brown hair and pale green eyes. She flinched as Baltic leaped down the last three stairs and pinned her against the car. “You? How did you get in here?”
    “Eek!” she cried, trying to squirm away. “Tully, help me!”
    “Tully?” Baltic spun around and glared at me. “You know this woman?”
    “Yes. She’s my sister-in-law, Ruth. Which means that must be my husband.”
    “Husband!” he said, his eyes lighting with unholy pleasure.
    Gareth slowly emerged from the car, his mouth hanging open as he stared at Baltic. Gareth in his best moments wasn’t a terribly attractive man—he stood about my height, had no hair on the top of his head, and possessed a somewhat weak chin and narrow eyes that made me think of a particularly obstinate ferret.
    “Holy Mary, mother of god,” Gareth said now as Baltic rounded the car, clearly about to grab him. “You said silver dragons! You said you were with the silver dragons! You didn’t say it was Baltic!”
    Baltic paused at his name on Gareth’s lips, squinting at him in the bright sunlight. A flicker of recognition glinted momentarily in Baltic’s eyes, causing me to stare at him in stunned surprise. “How do you know who he is?” I asked, gesturing toward Gareth.
    Gareth backed up, his hands in the air as if to surrender or protect himself as he stared at Baltic. “Good god, she really did it. You’re alive again! Holy Mary!”
    “You know my husband?” I asked Baltic, running past Ruth. She grabbed at my arm as I passed her, but I shook her off.
    “Husband? He is not your husband!” Baltic snorted.
    “Yes, he is. He’s Brom’s father.”
    “I am Brom’s father! You yourself witnessed the oath between us!”
    “I don’t understand any of this,” I said, rubbing my forehead again. “How do you know Gareth and Ruth? And how did you two know where to find us?”
    “Attack him!” Ruth shrieked to Gareth, almost hopping with excitement. “Kill him, you fool! He’ll ruin everything we’ve worked so hard for!”
    “I can’t kill a dragon,” Gareth said, bolting as Baltic started toward him again. Gareth grabbed my arms and held me like a shield before him. “I didn’t know she could do it! She’s tried for all those centuries, and I didn’t think she would ever do it! Holy Mary!”
    “Will you stop saying that and tell me what’s going on?” I snapped, trying to get free of his grip.
    “Release my mate,” Baltic said in a low growl that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. His eyes were burning with black fire, and I could sense, even from the few yards that separated us, that he was about to pounce.
    “You can have her!” Gareth shrieked, and flung me at Baltic, making a dash for the car.
    “Hey—oof. Ow!” I rubbed my nose where it connected with Baltic’s chin. “What on earth is going on?”
    “He will tell you,” Baltic snarled, lunging for Gareth.
    “No! There’s nothing to tell! I swear to you! Gark!”
    Before I could so much as blink, Baltic was on the other side of the car, one hand clamped around Gareth’s throat as he held him a good two feet off the ground. “How did you find us?”
    “Man . . . hired . . . save Tully . . .”
    “Savian Bartholomew,” I growled, my fingers curling into fists. At a look from Baltic I explained, “He’s a thief taker and some sort of übertracker. Gareth sent him to rescue me from the silver dragons. No doubt Gareth hired him again to find me.”
    Baltic snarled something obscene as his fingers tightened around Gareth’s throat. “You took my mate!”
    “Stop that! You’re hurting him!” Ruth shoved me aside with a force that sent me reeling into Brom and Jim, who had raced outside at the sound of raised voices.
    “Hoo. Maybe I’m not sorry you demon- napped me,” Jim said, watching with wide eyes as Ruth leaped on Baltic’s back.
    “Hey!” I shouted. “Get off of him!”
    “You got a video camera?” Jim asked Brom.
    “No. Sullivan won’t let me get one.”
    “Shame. I bet we could make enough money to choke a mummy with a video of your mom and that lady going at it.”
    “No one is going at anything—” I started to say, but then Ruth started beating Baltic about the head, and fury rose within me. I threw myself over the hood of the car, grabbing Ruth around her waist and yanking her off Baltic.
    She snarled something that had