He shrugged. “I didn’t.”
The man was full of embellishments…not.
“Hmm,” I said. “Can you see the others?”
He shook his head. “No, only this one.”
“Hmmm,” I said again, turning to look outside as I took a seat.
Ian didn’t say anything more, and I didn’t ask him to.
We sat there in silence as we looked over the lawn.
The three ice dragons, that seemed like they’d grown in the last day alone, were playing in the swimming pool that Keifer had turned to ice in front of my eyes.
They were having a grand old time, and about five other dragons belonging to the other dragon riders in the house, sat and watched them.
“What’d you name her?” I asked.
“Daisy,” he answered shortly.
“Do you mind if I sit here?” I asked. “I’m a little overwhelmed, and for some reason, you’re making my head feel better.”
He grunted.
“Do you know why that is?” I questioned him.
He sighed.
“I’m a healer,” he answered.
I blinked. “You’re a healer?”
“Are you going to repeat everything I have to say?” he asked.
I scowled at him.
He sighed again.
I seemed to be getting that reaction from him a lot.
“I get my healing powers from Mace.” At my questioning look, he said, “My dragon.”
I nodded, not saying anything to encourage him to continue.
“I can heal just with my presence,” he explained. “And go even deeper by touching you.”
When my eyes widened, he shook his head. “No, I will not touch you.”
“Damn right you won’t, Ian,” Nikolai said.
The headache started again at my temple, then spread back into my skull until it was pounding once gain.
“You give me a headache,” I said, not totally lying.
He frowned.
Then his expression turned to understanding.
“Touch her,” he ordered Ian.
I laughed.
Ian didn’t move.
Nikolai glared at Ian.
“Touch her, please,” he grated out through clenched teeth.
Ian sighed and touched his pointer finger to the middle of my forehead.
My eyes crossed as I tried to see the tip of his finger, then my headache started to slowly disappear until I no longer had it.
“Wow,’ I said. “That was better than ibuprofen!”
Ian grimaced.
“Ian doesn’t like calling attention to his abilities,” Nikolai explained. “Keifer and I are the only ones who know that he can do it.”
“Ahh,” I said. “Any idea why my headache keeps coming back?”
When you talk? I wanted to add.
You’re blocking him, floated through my brain from Perdita.
My eyebrows rose to my hairline.
I am? I asked secretively. From what?
I think you’re blocking him from your emotions and your head, but I can’t really tell because you’re blocking from me, too. I only get bits and pieces from you, which is what I’m assuming Nikolai is getting as well. I just know what to look for when someone is blocking, and you’re doing it.
I pursed my lips as I thought about what she’d said.
I wasn’t intentionally blocking him.
Really, I was just being me.
What would I have to block from him?
Ian and Nikolai spoke about possibilities, and I thought about others.
I did it so long and intently that I hadn’t realized that Nikolai had asked me a question.
“What?” I asked when the silence became deafening.
“Are you ready to go to bed?” he asked.
Ian got up and walked out the back door without another word, and I watched him curiously.
“He’s not very social,” I observed dryly.
“No, he’s not,” Nikolai agreed. “And you need to be careful with him.”
I blinked. “Why?”
Nikolai thought about it for a long moment before he said, “You just do.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but he was being completely serious, so I decided not to argue…for now.Chapter 12Did you happen to me, or did I happen to you? Because I want to know which of us has the shitty luck.
-Brooklyn’s secret thoughts
Brooklyn
My muscles strained as I held onto the headboard with both of my hands.
My eyes squeezed tightly shut as Nikolai took me slowly from behind.
And when I say slowly, I mean so slowly that I wanted to yell at him to speed up.
Alas, Nikolai was in charge, something he’d told me no less than twice already since we’d begun.
My eyes crossed as he pushed into me so deep that I had to bite back a curse at how good it felt.
There was a house full of people, and both rooms on either side of us were filled.
Keifer had thought it best to make sure all the dragon riders were under one roof, meaning all the other rooms, including the one I’d been previously occupying, were now occupied.
But these people had supersonic hearing thanks to their magical abilities from their dragons.
I buried my face into the mattress, gasping for breath as he pulled all the way back out.
With infinite slowness, he filled me once again.
I was so full. So very full.
Please.
Please what? he asked.
Please, I need more, I said, keening.
His version of more, wasn’t my version of more.
But I couldn’t say his version of more didn’t have me feeling like I’d been stuck into an electrical socket.