Waterfall (Dragon's Fate) by Lacy Danes Page B

brothers’ spaces. You are the first to see ours.”
    Ours … She turned away from him. Every part of her body said this was correct, and she wanted him, but she was still wed to another. She had never considered herself someone who would be unfaithful. “Jordan—”
    “I know. Our timing is not ideal. I will make this work. Hudson wants something. Of that I am certain. I will make a deal he cannot refuse.”
    “He told me he wouldn’t let me go.”
    Jordan frowned. “That is not an option.”
    She didn’t want to think of such things in such an amazing place. Celeste walked to the pool. “I’ve never seen anything so wonderful. Tell me more.”
    “When we were born, each of us received a small journal. The journal held little information except for this.” He waved his hand out over the pool. “That we each needed a specific element to remain strong. For years, I lived on a lake up in the mountains, but the locals noticed I didn’t age. They then hunted me as a death walker.”
    She sat at the edge of the pool and dipped her toe into the water. The warmth startled her senses, and she tensed, then relaxed, slipping her entire foot in.
    “Indeed, the water is warm. Not like the sea, but like the hot springs high in the mountains. I spent the second part of my life in a cabin by a river tucked away from the world. That is where Ferrous found me.” He shrugged out of his robe and walked along the edge of the pool to the opposite end. He dove in, and his skin changed to iridescent blue as he swam the length of the pool toward her.
    His head surfaced at her feet, and water ran down his face in glimmering trails. “He brought us all together, Ilmir, Madoc and I. He searched us out, found us, brought us to this house and made rules for our existence. He gave us purpose, and a name. Zir. He is the reason we have survived.” His fingers gently clasped on to her calves.
    Her legs jumped. Gracious, she needed to relax. She smiled down at him.
    One side of his mouth quirked up, and he continued. “He had found other beings that were not human and had formed friendships with them. Friendships that led to stories, and stories that led him to know he was not alone in what he was. Those same friendships led him to small pieces of our lore and what little we have found so far about how we came to be. Hudson was one of that quality of friend. His fascination with the otherworldly and his power in human society has made him a great family ally.”
    Oh, she was certainly an unwanted knot in their family thread. She stared at the water as it rippled around him. “Hudson has a fascination with the otherworldly?”
    “Quite an obsession of his, actually. When his wife died, he tried at first to bring her back.”
    “Oh, how dreadful.”
    “Yes, it cannot be done, but many otherworldly creatures cannot die and some can perish only by certain weaknesses. Zir fall into the latter category. Our elements can save us.” He swept his hand through the water, and glimmering ripples followed in its wake.
    He was the water, but what were they really? They scandalously joined together, and she had no idea what he was or what she was. Gracious. She swallowed hard. They were mates, and he was in the water, wanting to swim.
    She had never swum before, and she wanted to. With him. She pushed off the edge and into the water. The warm liquid slid up her skin in pinpricks. Her feet hit the smooth floor, the water lapping below her chin. The white shirt floated up about her in a large circle, exposing her legs, belly and breasts to the water. To him.
    His blue eyes filled with the hunger she remembered from the bathtub. She wouldn’t hide herself from him. Heat pushed to her cheeks, and she shivered. He was beautiful. “What are you, Jordan?”
    “We have dragon’s blood in our veins. Though that is not all. We are human and something else. Until I found you, only the dragon’s lore of the elements fit us. Now I have experienced other