picked a hell of a time to start up now.”
Good. The way his eyes roved over her just before he pulled the bedroom door open to leave was enough to assure her he was none too happy about this interruption. She wasn’t the only one feeling frustrated and grumpy just now. But at least she didn’t have half an enormous boner jamming up against the front of her pants the way he did.
She smiled and nodded toward his very obvious problem. “You’d better get that under control before we go sauntering into that computer lab. Everyone on the jobsite must be awake by now and headed there.”
“You should go on before me, then,” he said. “I have a feeling it would be better for all of us if no one noticed me walking out of your quarters in the middle of the night.”
She couldn’t agree more. She wasn’t above a little extra sway in her hips as she walked past him, though. His knuckles clenched white on the doorknob, and his breathing sounded just slightly like an irritated growl.
“You owe me some curled toes, Vladik,” she said, meeting his sizzling eyes.
His smoky voice held a combination of promise and threat. “I always fulfill my debts, Ms. McGowan. You’ll soon be paid, I assure you—in full.”
* * *
Nic waited for Lianne to leave the guesthouse and dash across the open area between buildings. He let himself out but instead of following her, he slipped around the back of the guesthouse. The moon was bright and the sky glowed around it. He could see the vast, barren landscape around them plainly.
He could also see what the others could not. He opened his dragon senses once again and let his eyes readjust. Not only did he have powers of the mind that humans lacked, but his physical sight was far better than theirs, too. He could detect colors, heat signatures they couldn’t see. These were the telltale evidences of magic and his fellow creatures who lived behind the Veil of the Forbidden Realm.
One of them glowed faintly in the shadows behind this building right now.
“You’ve been spying on me again, Eubryd,” he called out in the low, rumbling tones of the language his kind had used for millennia.
“It is my duty to keep watch over you, master,” Eubryd said, her quivering voice trilling through the icy air around them.
Eubryd was a wyvern, a tiny, ancient creature devoted to serving his kind. They were similar in their properties, wyverns and dragons. They used the same language, possessed similar skills and abilities. Wyverns were dependent, though. Tiny, vulnerable, skittish. They served dragons in exchange for protection. Eubryd had been attached to Nic and his clan for centuries.
That did not give her leave to take liberties and pry into his activities, however. By hovering so close to the buildings, she risked detection by the humans. That was the last thing he needed right now.
“Hush,” he admonished as her trilling voice rose and she began her usual litany of worrying for his safety in this frail human form, as she called it. “Take care, Eubryd. You cannot let them hear you.”
“How could they hear me over that terrible sound? What is it, Master?”
“An alarm. Something is happening out at the mountain. It has set off the alarm and the humans are on high alert just now. They’ll all be roused in a very short time, I’m afraid.”
“I know, and they will want to investigate. That’s bad, Master. Not good for us.”
“Not good? Why is that? Have you been out on the mountain?” he asked, and then glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was nearby. “Our clutch is well hidden there, isn’t it?”
“Yes, or so I thought, sir. But…there is magic!”
“What sort of magic? What have you seen?”
“Fairies! I saw fairies snooping about the mountain.”
“Fairies? What sort of fairies?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. They were…they were trying to be hidden. You know their ways. Secretive, calculating creatures when they wish to be. Please,
Good. The way his eyes roved over her just before he pulled the bedroom door open to leave was enough to assure her he was none too happy about this interruption. She wasn’t the only one feeling frustrated and grumpy just now. But at least she didn’t have half an enormous boner jamming up against the front of her pants the way he did.
She smiled and nodded toward his very obvious problem. “You’d better get that under control before we go sauntering into that computer lab. Everyone on the jobsite must be awake by now and headed there.”
“You should go on before me, then,” he said. “I have a feeling it would be better for all of us if no one noticed me walking out of your quarters in the middle of the night.”
She couldn’t agree more. She wasn’t above a little extra sway in her hips as she walked past him, though. His knuckles clenched white on the doorknob, and his breathing sounded just slightly like an irritated growl.
“You owe me some curled toes, Vladik,” she said, meeting his sizzling eyes.
His smoky voice held a combination of promise and threat. “I always fulfill my debts, Ms. McGowan. You’ll soon be paid, I assure you—in full.”
* * *
Nic waited for Lianne to leave the guesthouse and dash across the open area between buildings. He let himself out but instead of following her, he slipped around the back of the guesthouse. The moon was bright and the sky glowed around it. He could see the vast, barren landscape around them plainly.
He could also see what the others could not. He opened his dragon senses once again and let his eyes readjust. Not only did he have powers of the mind that humans lacked, but his physical sight was far better than theirs, too. He could detect colors, heat signatures they couldn’t see. These were the telltale evidences of magic and his fellow creatures who lived behind the Veil of the Forbidden Realm.
One of them glowed faintly in the shadows behind this building right now.
“You’ve been spying on me again, Eubryd,” he called out in the low, rumbling tones of the language his kind had used for millennia.
“It is my duty to keep watch over you, master,” Eubryd said, her quivering voice trilling through the icy air around them.
Eubryd was a wyvern, a tiny, ancient creature devoted to serving his kind. They were similar in their properties, wyverns and dragons. They used the same language, possessed similar skills and abilities. Wyverns were dependent, though. Tiny, vulnerable, skittish. They served dragons in exchange for protection. Eubryd had been attached to Nic and his clan for centuries.
That did not give her leave to take liberties and pry into his activities, however. By hovering so close to the buildings, she risked detection by the humans. That was the last thing he needed right now.
“Hush,” he admonished as her trilling voice rose and she began her usual litany of worrying for his safety in this frail human form, as she called it. “Take care, Eubryd. You cannot let them hear you.”
“How could they hear me over that terrible sound? What is it, Master?”
“An alarm. Something is happening out at the mountain. It has set off the alarm and the humans are on high alert just now. They’ll all be roused in a very short time, I’m afraid.”
“I know, and they will want to investigate. That’s bad, Master. Not good for us.”
“Not good? Why is that? Have you been out on the mountain?” he asked, and then glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was nearby. “Our clutch is well hidden there, isn’t it?”
“Yes, or so I thought, sir. But…there is magic!”
“What sort of magic? What have you seen?”
“Fairies! I saw fairies snooping about the mountain.”
“Fairies? What sort of fairies?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell. They were…they were trying to be hidden. You know their ways. Secretive, calculating creatures when they wish to be. Please,
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