Page 7 of Savage (Savage Dragons #1)

Kaida walked up and down the street a third time. Something or someone was calling for her, and she didn’t understand the freaking magic that was having her walking the street like some kind of idiot. As she passed the restaurant once more, she decided that she was going to eat. Maybe that was all it was. She needed some food, and the magic was telling her to get her ass in gear and eat.

“You couldn’t just say that, could you?” Waiting to be seated, she felt this was right. The place was calling to her, and she was going to sit down and have a good meal. As she was being seated, Kaida bumped ever so slightly into the waitress who was coming toward her and nearly fell to the ground when the surge of power washed over her. Sitting down rather than chancing another step, the woman asked her if she was all right. Simply putting her hand onto her arm told her everything she needed to know about the other woman.

“He’s coming for you. Today. You’re not safe here.” The girl looked around before jerking her arm from her. “He’s your ex-husband, and he wants your son. I can protect you.”

“What are you talking about?” She laughed, but it was strained. “I don’t have any children, nor have I ever been married.” Pulling her hand to her, she pointed to the marks where a band might have been.

His name is Jason, and your name is Skye. Your last name is Houston, but you changed it to Wilson so that you could find a job. The people here think that your first name is Amanda. Your son’s name is Matt. He’s ten. Very smart for his age because you’ve been tutoring him for the last four years.” She put her hand on her arm again. “Your parents are both dead, and you believe that Jason killed them. Your son is right now hiding out in an abandoned home so that he can be safe.”

“What are you talking about?” Skye looked around before standing up. “Lady, I don’t know where you got your information, but you’re wrong. About it all.”

“He’ll be coming through the door with a gun in about two minutes.” Instead of arguing with her more, she took off her apron and headed to the back of the place. Kaida told her to come and sit with her. He’d never see her if she did. “I promise you, Skye, he’ll never touch either of you again.”

Instead of arguing anymore, she slipped into the empty booth next to them, and Kaida joined her. Almost as soon as she put her arm around her shoulder, the door opened, and just as she said, a man came in with a gun pointed at the place. The small whimper that Skye made had nearly had her jump out of her skin when the man looked in their direction.

Shooting his gun to the ceiling, he asked where she was. He was looking for Skye Houston, and they had better turn her over to him, or he’ll kill someone every ten minutes if they don’t bring her to him.

“I don’t know any Skye Houston.” The manager looked around and then back to the man. “I have staff here by the name of Amanda and Carol Anne. Other than that, I can’t help you.”

Jason pointed the gun at the man’s head, and it was all she could do not to get up and slam her magic into the man and kill him. Instead, she reached out to all the family and begged them to come to her. That she had a problem she was in over her head with. It was Tucker who answered her first and asked her where she was.

After telling them all what was going on she also told them that she was hiding a woman by the name of Skye. Also, that someone needed to go and get her son, or he might well be in trouble as well. It was Kings that said he’d get the boy, at least make sure that he was all right.

She knew that Skye’s son would be all right with Kings watching over him, and she was never so happy with anyone as she was to see Tucker and Brenin come into the place next. With a short pop to the back of the head, the man was down, and his gun went flying.

For the silence when the man fell to the floor, there was so much noise that she wanted to clamp her hand over Skye’s mouth to shut her up. Instead, all she did was put her hands over hers and tell her to calm down.

“I have to go to Matt.” She told her that he was fine. The look she gave her had Kaida thinking that she didn’t believe her. “He’s all I have in the world. We’ve been running for the last five years, and I need to keep him safe.”

“I understand that. But he’s with my cousin-in-law, and he’s bringing him here to you. But you have to think for me. What is the code name that you use to know that it’s safe to go with him.” She told her that it was April Showers bring May flowers . “That’s a good one. I love it. All right, Kings is bringing him here. Then we’ll head to our house and see what we can do about keeping the two of you safe from now on. I’m under the opinion that we just bury him in the back yard someplace there are red ants, but that’s just me.”

Skye laughed. It was nervous sounding but not nearly as stressed as before. The police arrived and no one mentioned that he was there for Skye. Amanda Wilson would be safe as well as the owner of the place was going to fire her for leaving in the middle of the shift. Kaida was able to get her out of the place without anyone seeing her.

“I need some juice.” There was a juice bar not far from where they were, so she and Skye headed there. “I was told that when I use a lot of magic that I was going to need to have more fruit and juices in me.” Kaida babbled on while Skye looked around.

She didn’t know if she was worried that someone might recognize her or she was looking for her son. But when Kings showed up with him in his car, the reunion was tearful. She was glad now that she didn’t ignore the need to get out of the house and walk the streets. Kaida was sure that she had saved the woman, for he would have killed her to get to her son.

After heading back to their home, she got her another glass of juice. She expected Tucker to ask her what she’d been doing but all he did was to ask her if she was all right. She was, she told him, but for being really dry.

He went into the kitchen and brought her back a large pitcher of what looked like orange juice. She nearly drained it in favor of talking. When she was feeling better, she turned and looked at Skye and her son.

“How did you know?” confused for a second, she asked her what she meant. “About him coming to get me. For all I know, you told him where I was, and when he brought in the—don’t answer that. I’m sorry. You wouldn’t have risked your life if that had been the issue. But I would like to know how you did that.”

“What do you know about the Savage family?” She said that it was reported that they were shifters, dragons of all things. “They’re both. Shifters and dragons. I’m mated to Tucker, now married, and with that, I was able to get some of his magic and a bit of my own. When asked by the council, they said that I must have had a dragon sometime in my family and that’s why I can do as much if not a few extra things that Tucker can’t do. You needing help from me called to me while I was home, and I came to figure it out.”

She went on to tell her how she was ready to give up and get some lunch when she bumped into her. Telling her what she got from that small touch. It was Tucker that finished up for her.

“My little dragon called for help, and we came to help her. I’ve seen Mr. Houston in—” she told them that she’d never been married to Jason, but he’d asked her out, and things went downhill from there. “I’m sorry then. Is Matt his son?”

“No. He’s not really mine, either. I was on the run, and so was he. But someone put a flyer out for a million dollars if they were to bring Matt back to them. He said that he didn’t know where they were going to get that much money as they always told him that they were broke.” She looked at the young man, and when he nodded, she continued. “They do have money. A great deal of it. But they only brought Matt around when they had people over for dinner and such. He’s very brilliant and can read something once, and he knows it word for word. Other things as well, but he didn’t want to be their…he called it a dog and pony show anymore, so he ran away about the same time that I did, and we just clicked.”

When dinner was served, the two of them looked as if they were going to sob. Apparently, it was the first hot meal they’d had since getting together and on the run. Even the meal that she got at work, she’d bring it back to the house and share it with him.

After dinner, Tucker made a few calls. They were going to be safe in their home. As soon as she showed them their rooms, she was sure that they could have slept standing up. Since she had no idea how to give magic to someone, Kaida asked Tucker to give them the magic of clothing. Skye said it had been several days since she’d been able to get to the laundromat, and she needed some clean clothing on her back. Everywhere else, she told her too.

She was nearly ready for bed, too, when Matt came to find them. He said that he wanted to talk to them since they’d been so kind as to help him out of the situation that they’d been in.

“My parents are Matthew and Delilah Connor. I’m sure that you’ve heard of them. They have heard of you.” Tucker said that he’d had a few dealings with them, too. “I thought so. They don’t have a very high opinion of you and your cousins. You’re not old money like they are. I’m not sure where they got that, as I’m sure you’re older than this town, but they think that you shouldn’t be allowed in respectable places because of how you got your money. How did you get your money?”

“As you guessed, we’ve been around forever. Made investments in things that were new then but still around today. Like lumber companies. Computers and phones. You might as well know that we’ve been the start-up for a lot of things that are going on in his world today. One of them being airplanes.” Matt said that he knows about investments as well, and that was what had saved his parents from ruin. “However, I stopped doing that as well when I got smart enough to know that they didn’t care if the company was selling shares or not. They were going to invest in it.”

“I’ve heard about that as well. They’re being looked at for a couple of murders, too. I wouldn’t put it past time to kill, but I don’t know them all that well.” Matt said that he did and knew that they had done that and more. “I would imagine.”

Matt told them of a few other things that he could do as well. “My father figured out that I could see a bit into the future when it came to investments. As far as I know, he never said anything to my mother, but he would beat me regularly when I didn’t give him what he wanted. What he never figured out was that not only can I see the futures on a lot of the things they wish to invest in, I can see the ones that fail after a few years too. Those are the only ones that I would give him. As you can well imagine, they didn’t appreciate that too much.”

“So this man, Jason, he’s been looking for you and he just so happened to be looking for Skye as well.” Kaida snorted and asked for the real truth as to why she was with him. “I saved her a couple of times. She knows I have some abilities. Whenever Jason gets too close, I can tell her. I messed up this time because I wasn’t paying attention to the signs that were given to me. He figured out that she was with me and then that I was the boy who was worth a million dollars. He told me once that he was killing two birds with one pistol. Jason isn’t very bright and has a one-track mind. Also, he bets on the ponies, and that is why he’s desperate for the money he’ll get for turning me in.”

Kaida was beginning to see other things too that the boy could do. He’d brought a Danish to himself at dinner. Also, his napkin that had fallen in the gravy on his plate was once again clean when he gave it a hard shake. Little things that she had to wonder if the kid even knew he was doing. Looking at him now, she wondered, too, if he realized that he could hide from his family without much in the way of thought.

“I know that.” She asked him what he meant. “That I can hide myself away. I could have easily taken all their money, too, but I have to protect Skye. She’s the only person that I know who has never expected anything from me other than her friendship. Not to mention, she’s been kinder to me than anyone I’ve ever encountered other than you guys.”

“Thank you, young man. You’ve no idea how much we appreciate that.” He nodded and then looked around the room. “What are you looking for. You’ve been looking around this place since you arrived.”

“There are secrets in the walls here that you could get to. Some of its money and jewels, but there is not just a journal tucked away but an old bible as well.” Tucker asked him if he knew where it was. “I do. It’s just above the fireplace and near the pocket doors. I know you have no use for the money that you find, but I have a feeling that the people you brought this house from could use it.”

“I’ll do that.” Matt showed him where each piece of history was hidden. In addition to the things that he’d told them about, there was a bundle of silverware, several more diaries, as well as the first deed to this place that had been built by the family on the original fifty acers. “Are there any pictures of this place?”

“Plenty that have been hidden away as well. There is an old barn out back that you might want to go through as well. You’d be surprised at how much one family can horde away when they don’t want anyone to take it from them. The original name for this place was called Manchester Manor. When you make the improvements on this place, the extra three bedrooms and baths, you’ll find a hidden room that is also full of things that were stashed away during the wars.”

They’d only just spoken of adding other rooms to the place this morning. It thrilled her that she’d be able to find a bit of history about the place and perhaps put some of the pictures on display around the rooms. She was especially happy to find the old money. She’d frame it up and hang it on the walls as well.

After Matt left them, they headed up to bed as well. Almost too excited to sleep, she curled herself about Tucker’s warmth. In the morning, they were going to have to figure out what to do about Matt’s parents as well as the man looking for Skye. He needed to be dealt with by one of the dragons she thought.

Kaida wondered if Skye was mated to any of the cousins. She was disappointed when she realized that they’d all been around her, and no one had said a thing. Maybe they were just supposed to help her. She could do that, too. Help someone who was as down on their luck as she’d been before getting with this family.

Sure, she had a bit of money in the bank but now she had so much more than currency. She had a love of her life, a home, not a house as well as magic that she could use to help others. Kaida thought that she could help others all the time if it was as easy as it had been with Skye and Matt. She also knew that this was a rare case and that she wasn’t going to have it as easy as she did today. Things just clicked for the two of them.

~*~

Tucker decided that they needed a bigger bed, this one was all right but when Kaida tried to pull away from his heat, she was nearly off the bed. Holding her was wonderful, but he didn’t want her to suffer needlessly if he could do something about it.

When she rolled over atop of him, taking his body to the mattress, he held her to him and watched her face. There was little to make him think that she was exhausted anymore but needed him. And Christ, he needed her with every breath he took.

This woman, above all others, made him feel things he’d never felt before. His need for her never ceased to amaze him. His mouth crushed against her, and he took whatever she had to offer. It seemed to him that she was offering her all to him. His dragon was happy with the turn of events as well.

Her body responded to his need immediately. Sitting up, he lifted her up so that her soft folds met intimately with his hard cock. As soon as Kaida wrapped her legs around his hips, he took them to the floor. Neither of them was hurt, but the harder surface was much nicer than the slightly too soft bed. Pulling away from her, he was on his knees between her legs on either side of him.

He rested back on his heels while he looked down at her. “Take off your jammies, Kaida. I need you. I want to fuck you right now.”

While she pulled her top from her bottoms and unbuttoned it, he worked at the snap and zipper of her pants that he’d yet had no time to disrobe for her. Standing to pull them off her, he stripped off his own shirt and tossed it behind him. The sight of her in only her bra and panties made his cock jerk hard in his pants.

“Take off your bra. Make your nipples hard for me, baby. Make them ache for me.” He felt his teeth drop in anticipation of tasting her. His dragon wanted a bit of her as well. He loved her taste, her scent that she exuded just for him. When his eyes began to turn, her body was outlined in a deep red that made his need sharp. Stripping his pants off with his boxer briefs, he stood before her naked and stroked his cock while she watched, her nipples beading hard as she rolled and squeezed them for him.

“Tucker, please. I need you. I want to feel you inside of me. I want you to drink from me, you and your dragon. Make me come hard. Please, baby. I want to feel you come deep inside of me.” His low growl had her eyes roll to the back of her head.

Tucker knew he wouldn’t last if she touched him now. He needed to take the edge off, needed to sip from her so that he would last longer than it would take for him to enter her. Dropping back down, he ran his hands up her thighs and his fingers under her tiny thong. Gripping it in his hands, he looked into her eyes, and he tore it from her body. Her cry of hunger made the teeth from his dragon burst more through his gums.

“I’m dying here, Kaida. I need to take you quickly. Fast, hard, and dirty. Roll over for me. I need you too much to do this any other way.”

When she rolled to her belly and curved her body up over her knees, he growled at her. Her arousal was strong, and he could see her pussy was wet. Pushing her head down to the floor, he nudged his cock at her entrance.

She coated him with her juices. Grabbing her hips and pulling her hard back against him, he slammed into her hard and deep. Her answering groan nearly sent him over the edge. Pulling out to nearly the tip and slamming again, he felt her grip around him; her tight sheath wrapped around him tightly and sucked him deeper. He felt his climax grip his balls, and the tingle of it run up his spine. Reaching his hand around her front and finding her clit, he pulled hard on it and then squeezed. Over and over, he tormented it until she started to grip him tighter.

“Tucker, now! Please, I’m coming now. Take me.” Leaning forward, he licked at her shoulder and then sank his sharp teeth deep into her. The hot, spicy blood filled his mouth as she came, milking him and bringing him over the edge with her. As he filled her with his seed, she took him deeper inside of her. Sealing the bite marks with his tongue, he pulled her up so that both of them were on their knees, and he was still buried deep inside of her. Tucker pressed his wrist to her mouth and moved slowly inside of her again as she bit into him and drank, bringing her to another climax. As soon as she sealed the wound with her saliva, he tilted her back and took her throat. If this didn’t change her into his little dragon, he was sure that there wasn’t any other way to do it. He had to try. She was his all, his everything to him and his dragon.

Taking enough to make his dragon happy, too, he licked her throat and kissed the large wound. He held her to his body, feeling her heartbeat return to normal and her breathing slow. He wanted her again, but not now. He would move them to the bed soon.

“Tucker, I love you very much. I don’t know what I would have done without you all these months when you found me. You’ve made me so very happy.”

“And you me, my love. You have given me a reason to live and a reason to smile. Let’s get to bed so that I can make love to you properly.”

Lifting her gently in his arms, he carried her to the bed and snuggled in behind her. Holding her to his body, he felt when she relaxed against him. Smiling he was warmed by her security of being next to him.

Getting up to clean up, he looked in the mirror and wondered not for the first time how he’d been so lucky to have her in his life. He’d been a royal prick when he’d met her, and he was happy for the changes that she’d made in him when she’d told him how much she loved him. Every time she said that he was more in love with her than he’d been before.

He was nearly down the stairs when he thought about his cousins. He only wanted the best for them but doubted that they might find a love like he did. They were jealous, he knew, but Tucker also knew that if any of them could make it work, it would be the others. They were much smarter than he was by a great measure.

With his computer turned on, he decided to take some chances with some of the investments that Matt had told him about. When that was finished, he looked up the Connors to see what sort of people they were. The first thing that appeared was their missing son and how much reward they were offering for his safe return. He wondered what they’d do if they knew that he wasn’t going to be going home with them again, as far as he was concerned. The kid had taken a piece of his heart, and he didn’t know if he could let him go back to the family that had treated him so wrongly.

“Are you up?” He told Kings that he was. “Are you alone, too?” He told him again that he was. “Good. I have something that I need to talk to you about, and I don’t want you to mention it to Kaida. She’s scary when she thinks that she is right about something. How did you know that Kaida was your mate?”

“I got an overwhelming feeling of protection toward her. She knew first, too, I think. But it was more than just a little protection. I felt as if something were to happen to her, I’d die, and I just couldn’t let her hurt. Seeing her—Is Skye your mate?” He told him that he didn’t know, but the boy needed his protection, and he thought he’d die if anything were to happen to either of them. “They told us tonight that they’re not related. They just happened to be on the run at the same time.” There was more to it than that, but he knew that it wasn’t his story to tell.

“Then I might be wrong. When I went to find the boy, it was all I could do not to grab him up in a huge hug and tell him how much he meant to me. I got the same from the woman, but not like I needed to protect her, but that she would and could protect Matt and me both. Am I making any sense?” He told him that he was. It was just what he felt about Kaida when she found him. “But for the boy? I don’t think so. He’s too young, and I’m not into children. No, I’m wrong, and that’s the way it should be.”

They talked for a few minutes more as he worked on the investments. Tucker was also able to find a reputable firm to tell him about the things that they’d be finding. He’d, of course, ask Matt about the firm, and that was all right as well.

“Are we still going to go over the projects that we have going? I have a feeling that between the five of us, we can make a huge difference in a few people’s lives.” He told Kings how much Kaida was looking forward to it as well. “Also, the computer projects are coming along nicely. They were able to get enough donations that they could buy four computers with printers and I said we’d purchase another four so that they’d have enough to put into the library. I was surprised that they wanted to go with that. I expected them to demand that we bought six more so they’d have the ten that they originally wanted.”

After making arrangements to get the computers taken to the library, they closed the connections. After investing in the ten places that Matt had told him to, he looked up more about the boy. There was never any mention of him being brilliant but there was an article about his parents trying to get him into college at ten. The boy had played dumb, and that had pissed them off so much that they sent him away to military school, where he was able to escape.

For a kid, he had a good head on his shoulders and was glad that he’d shared his secret with all of them. He hoped that Kings was wrong about Skye and that she was indeed his mate. Or one of the others? He didn’t care so long as the boy was around to hang out with. He was easy to speak to and to have an intelligent conversation with.

Making his way back up to the bed, he realized how exhausted he was. He and Kaida had been making love every day and night, and while he knew that it was wearing him down, he couldn’t imagine what it was doing to her. He was going to have to make her behave herself and perhaps wear a sack over her body. But then he realized that it would do little good. He knew just what she looked like in anything she wore. Smiling when she curled around him again, he tossed the blankets off of the two of them because he knew that his dragon would keep them both warm. Besides this way he could look at her longingly without her jumping his bones again. And again.