Up in Smoke - Katie MacAlister [79]
A loud knocking at the door, accompanied by muted voices, disrupted my philosophical meanderings. I was brought back to reality with a sudden jerk as Gabriel lifted me off of the floor of the balcony and carried me into his room.
“What is it?” he called, setting me down next to my bags. I grabbed the nearest one and made a run for the bathroom even as he jerked on a pair of jeans to answer the door.
My legs were weak, my hands shaking as I dug through the bag, then stepped back to rub the sudden crop of goose bumps that rose on my arms. The experience I’d just shared with Gabriel was still strong in my mind, too strong. “It wasn’t me,” I told the mirror that did not contain my reflection. “I’m not a dragon; I’m not.”
I looked down at my gold-dusted torso and shuddered. I was being consumed by the dragon shard. I was changing, turning into a dragon, and that scared me to the tips of my toenails.
What if Gabriel preferred me as a dragon? What if he’d prefer to have a dragon mate, someone who understood his emotions, his needs, the things that drove him? How could I possibly begin to explain to him the fear that I was losing myself?
The door opened. I clutched at a piece of clothing in an attempt to cover myself, but it was just Gabriel. He marched over to a large shower and yanked the faucet so that the three showerheads burst to life. “I wish I had time to wash the gold off you in a manner that would please us both, but we do not have time, little bird.”
He held open the shower door for me, following me as I entered. “What’s wrong? Who was that at the door?”
“Jian.” He gave me an earthy-smelling soap and a loofah, taking another for himself.
I dutifully scrubbed the gold dust off myself, my feelings conflicted—part of me wanted to shove away the sea sponge he was using and lather him up with my hands, stroking the entire length of his wet, soapy body, the other part of me shying away from the thought of another lovemaking session that would end with me losing yet another piece of myself to the dragon shard. I dragged my mind back from that subject to more important matters. “The red wyvern’s bodyguard? What’s he doing here?”
He tossed his sponge to the side, stepping out of the shower, grabbing a towel to briskly dry himself. “He wants our help.”
“Our help with what?” I asked, hurriedly rinsing off, following Gabriel out of the shower. I accepted the towel he tossed my way, going to the door as he strode out into his bedroom, heading for a bank of closets that lined one wall.
“He wants us to rescue his mother.”
A chill swept over me that had nothing to do with the balmy ocean air striking my wet flesh.
Gabriel’s mouth was grim as he grabbed a shirt. “He wants us to bring Chuan Ren back from Abaddon.”
Chapter Eighteen
He came to me in the shadow world.
I felt his presence before I saw it, a warm glow of lightness filling me as I huddled in a dark corner of what was, in the mortal world, the hotel lobby. Faint, vague shadows passed in and around me, echoes of human reality, visible in my world, but not really tangible. Nothing was. Nothing touched me.
Until Gabriel found me.
He sat next to me, his image all that he could project into the shadow world, but even though his body remained in the mortal world, the dragon-heart shard was aware that he was close.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked, his voice mild.
“The reason I ran from you, you mean?”
He shook his head. Even here, his eyes were brilliant, glittering with so much emotion, they seemed to glow. “I know why you ran. It is part of the mating ritual. Females lead; males follow. What I want to know is why you are filled with so much fear and loathing.”
I rested my chin on my knees, my arms wrapped around my legs. I didn’t need to look at him to know he was hurt by my apparent rejection. “I don’t loathe anyone. Well, perhaps Magoth, but that’s natural, given the situation.”
He