AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As I drift past a doorway, a blond human, slightly inebriated and wearing as little clothing as possible smiles and saunters up to me.
“Hey, honey. You looking for a good time?” Her red-tipped fingernails drift along my arm in what she must think is a seductive manner.
My lip curls. “I am not looking for anything that you’ve got, human.”
She snorts and backs away. “Well, I’ve never been so insulted.”
“I find that hard to believe in your line of work. Surely there must have been someone who refused your charming offer.”
“No.” She huffs and stomps back to her doorway. “It’s not like I’m trash or anything, buddy. Try for a little tact.”
“I am sorry. Tact is not my strong suit.” That is an understatement. Especially when it’s so obvious that she can’t be that shocked. I’m sure she’s heard way worse. She just doesn’t want to admit it.
“That is obvious. Good luck tonight, cher.”
“Happy hunting to you too.”
Tired blue eyes blaze back at me but she says nothing. Just leans back into her corner and goes back to checking out the people strolling past.
Sighing, I walk into the nearest bar and have a seat at a dark table in the corner. My eyes automatically search the room but I know of course that I’ll be disappointed. I would smell her. I’m not sure how or what she would smell like. I don’t know anything about how it all works. I just know that I will recognize her when I find her.
The band up on the stage warms up and then segues into a rousing eighties song. The audience sings along loudly, already very drunk. And I sit in my corner, content to just watch, hoping that she’ll come to me.
My mind drifts and then I feel something. An awareness. Some kind of certainty that my mate is coming.
I hold my head up and sniff the air. But all I smell are the disgustingly human smells of unwashed bodies and beer. No sweet scent that lets me know that she’s near. That I can hunt her down and make her mine.
Growling low in my throat, I clench my fists on the scarred table. Why can’t I find her? There’s just an uneasy, disturbed feeling buzzing in my blood. I’ve never felt anything like it before and the anticipation is killing me.
I shove myself to my feet and stumble out the door. A voice calls to me and I hear a faint whisper of a musical voice. So soft, so sweet and so enchanting that my dragon moans inside me, a huff of smoke hitting the air as he curls up and smiles.
The bastard smiles! He never smiles at or about anything. But this magical voice makes him smile.
I want to shift so that I can figure out what he’s going on about but the night life in New Orleans doesn’t quit and no dragon wants to be discovered amongst a bunch of drunk revelers for some unknown reason.
“Mate,” my dragon grumbles. “Her voice is like bells.” He sighs and curls up nose to tail and grins happily.
“Mate? You hear our mate? Is that what that beautiful sound is? Where is she? Why can’t I smell her?”
“Too far away,” he grumbles. “You need to find her.”
“I can’t track as good as you unless I shift and I certainly can’t do that in the middle of this mess.”
My disgusted eyes watch a couple stagger into a doorway and his hand slips beneath her dress. She throws her head back and I turn my head away, fighting the need to roar.
Our mate is alone in this mess. What if someone else touches her? What if she doesn’t know about me? Doesn’t want me when she does? What am I supposed to do then?
For once my dragon is silent, the smile slipping from his scaled face.
He doesn’t have an answer. And the one that I have isn’t very polite but desperate times call for desperate measures and I refuse to lose. I want my mate and one way or another I’m going to find her and keep her. Forever.
CHAPTER3
Artemis
The motel bed is uncomfortable and my mind is refusing to shut down. I pull out the letter from my grandmother, carefully unfolding the old, lined paper.
My darling Artemis,
