Page 12 of Dragon My Crazy

“Stand down, Flame. I’m sure he means no harm.” Blaze, ever the calmer of the two, pulled his brother back.

Nak ignored the hot-tempered djinn, and focused on me instead. “And you must be Lady Elana. My lord awaits you within.”

LadyElana? That was a little much. Even when I’d lived with Samuel along with our servants and nannies way back in a life I’d rather forget, they’d always just called me ma’am.

“I’m no lady. It’s just Elana.”

“As you wish.”

He ushered us through the gate and into a golf cart before getting into the driver’s seat and chauffeuring us up the long driveway. Desmon had a long driveway too, but his was lined with rows of well-maintained trees and shrubs. This one was wooded on both sides, the giant trees extending almost like an arch over us.

After a while, the trees thinned out to show the building ahead. Nak had called it a manor, but I thought it looked more like a castle straight out of a fairy tale. Except this one wasn’t freestanding and instead blended right into the mountainside.

It even had a moat which extended around the front, complete with a drawbridge which we were currently crossing. As we approached, the portcullis lifted with a groan.

Once inside, everything changed, from straight out of a medieval fantasy, the air thick with the scent of evergreens and decay, to something a lot more modern. I found myself in a beautifully maintained courtyard. The scent of jasmine drifted to my nose, and I looked around to find the source.

I loved jasmine and was surprised it grew so far north. I found a row of potted bushes lined up against a wall, their little white flowers the source of my favorite scent. Each large pot was on wheeled plant caddies. Ah, no wonder. They must get moved back inside in the fall and winter.

There were entrances into the main building all around us, but it was from the largest entrance up ahead that Emmett stepped out in his human form. A silk shirt stretched across his broadshoulders, and leather pants hugged his trim waist, giving him a total swashbuckling pirate look. It was different from the more tailored garments Desmon often wore when he was home alone. The air behind him shimmered like his wings were trying hard not to show.

It was one thing playing housekeeper to a dragon who had only viewed protecting me as a way to access my son’s magic, a dragon who now thought of me as a friend, and another thing altogether to be coveted by one. Emmett looked at me like I was something he wanted to add to his hoard, and that was unnerving.

He might be in his human form, but I saw the dragon underneath as clear as day. Not just the air shimmering where his wings were either. His five o'clock shadow almost formed a scale-like pattern. But when I looked again, it was normal.

If Emmett was anything like Desmon, then he had three natural forms. His full human form, his dragon, and a mixed form that combined the two. I couldn’t help but wonder what Emmett’s other forms looked like. I’d only ever seen this one.

I did know that his dragon form was bronze because of the scale he’d given me. This was echoed in his human coloring.

“Elana,” he purred, his voice smooth as aged whiskey. “Right on time.”

I opened my mouth to respond—

“Hold it right there.”

A new voice cut through the air, sharp and commanding. I turned to see a man striding toward us, with an old-style wizard cloak that had gone out of fashion last century flaring out behind him like a dark shadow.

This must be Leroy, the wizard Seth warned me about. He had that look that many traditional wizards did, where they looked simultaneously young and old at once, a side effect of extending their lives or enhancing their looks with magic.

He looked me over, sizing me up. His frown was impossible not to notice. Had he expected someone else?

The wizard’s voice was as severe as his look. “No uninvited guests past this point,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Put your demon pets away in their vessels.”

And that had Flame going again. He grew in size, the orange flames around him dancing with irritation. “We arenotpets. And ifrits are not demons, we’re djinns,” he rumbled, his voice deepening as his form expanded.

Leroy took an instinctive step back, his hand twitching toward something hidden inside his cloak. “Control your pets,” he snapped, his eyes flicking between the two massive creatures and then to me.

I felt a surge of irritation. He spoke as if Flame and Blaze were nothing more than trained animals.

This was what Seth had meant earlier. The man might not be part of the Wizard Elder Council, but he thought the same way. Magic was a tool to be exploited, and creatures like the ifritswere assets to be controlled. I was suddenly very glad Seth had wrapped my magic in a concealment spell before we arrived. If this Leroy sensed my magic, he’d want access to it, especially since I couldn’t control it myself.

Fuck if I’d ever let anyone use me for my magic again!

I lifted my chin, channeling my inner bitch. There was only one chance to make a first impression, and I wanted this wizard to know that I wasn’t victim material. “They are not pets.”

“Yeah,” Flame said, his voice almost belligerent. He was always the more emotional of the two, quick to anger, quick to defend. “We’re her guards.”

Blaze, the other ifrit, remained silent but shifted closer to Flame, a lick of smoke reaching out to calm his brother. To the best of my knowledge, the two ifrits were visually identical but had very different temperaments.