Koishi

Chapter 12

Sandra had found a lovely button-down pink dress in the trunk of misfit clothes. It came down above her knees with a flare that danced in the wind, but she may as well have worn her wet clothes for all the notice Ishi showed as he strode onto the ledge.

His suit jacket flapped in the gentle wind, and the open collar of his white dress shirt hinted at the solid muscles of his chest. Water dripped from the ends of his freshly washed hair. “I can’t fly us down. The wound is deeper than I thought. I have to let the muscles knit together, or risk worse damage. It should only take a few hours.”

“Oh.” She stared down the side of the volcano at the ocean and the far away docks where she’d have to catch the ferry back to the main island of Japan.

“This isn’t a ploy to trap you here.” He scowled at the ocean and possibly the same docks. “We’ll drive.”

“I thought you said there wasn’t any way to get up here but by flying.”

“I lied.” He jumped off the ledge by the entrance.

She raced to the side, expecting to see his body squished on the side of the volcano. “Ishi!” Freezing in her tracks, she met his gaze.

He stood on a narrow shelf. “What?” he bit out the question.

She choked on her relief, almost sinking to her knees. Even if he’d jumped off, he’d probably survive. He was a dragon, after all. “How do I get down?”

Holding out his hands, he gestured her closer until he grasped her hips and lowered her to the shelf. Pressing against his body stirred a mix of desire and sorrow.

She wanted to take the saji from her pocket, toss it off the mountain, and declare she’d never leave him. Duty and love could really suck lemons. Her sister needed her more than Ishi did. Life and death trumped love and happiness.

He led the way, holding her hand. She didn’t doubt that if she fell he would shift shape and catch her, no matter how injured he was. Her faith in him had grown fast over the last few days. How could she have reservations about a creature who’d spent such a long time defending a world not his own?

Honor, strength and power were fused to him in such a way that she doubted he was even aware of it. Afraid of what? he had asked, as if bravery was a given, fear nonexistent for him.

It was very real for her. Hovering over her for the last twelve months, the fear of losing her family had consumed her to the point of–of making deals with dragons.

She glanced at his broad back. But he had admitted to experiencing fear when she almost fell into the lava. She squeezed his hand.

He didn’t respond and released his hold when they reached a dirt path with his parked, well-used 4x4 truck. After opening the passenger side door, he helped her inside.

The ride consisted of bumpy trails, rocking the truck to the point where she thought they were going to roll over. Not exactly a time to clear the air between them. She clung to the chicken bar and prayed for asphalt.

By the time they hit the city road, she was too car sick to give a shit about making amends. She stared out the window and tried to calm her nausea, not wanting to toss her cookies. She’d already puked in front of Ishi once today, so why would a second time matter?

They parked in front of the restaurant, where he jumped out and opened her door. “You look a little green.”

“I prefer your flying over your driving.” She oozed out of the vehicle and rested her head against his chest. He was so solid and warm. She could stay there forever.

“I’ll remember that.” He ran his fingertips over her spine. “When do you leave?”

“In two days.” It was the soonest opening on any flights to America, unless she went stand-by.

He buried his face in her hair. “We’ll make the best of that time.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheeks, anger boiling in her belly. Male miscommunication apparently crossed species as well as worlds. She punched his injured shoulder, glaring at his pig-headed handsome face. Men!

“Ouch.” He winced. “What was that for?”

“I can’t come back to see you?”

He blinked and worked his jaw like a pelican with a full maw.

“You didn’t think of that, did you? You storm around your den like–like…”

“A dragon?”

“A stupid dragon.”

“I never claimed to be smart.” He grinned and eyed her fists. “I thought you were leaving for good.”

“See, that’s the problem, you were thinking. Leave that part to me. Stick to the fighting.”

He swooped in, molding her to the truck, and pinned her hands to her sides before smothering her with a kiss. Hard and hot, he entered her mouth, plundering her senses as if he owned the rights to her body. Heat washed over her as the press of his flesh ignited her passion anew.

She jerked away and gasped for breath. Hot damn. “Let’s take dinner to go.”

His dark gaze traveled along her curves before returning to her face. “Patience.”

Gaping, she kept from stomping her foot like a three-year-old. “Two days.”

“But you said you’d come back. I think maybe we should wait until you return. It would make the meeting so much sweeter.”

She gave her best impression of a dragon snort. It came out more piggish. “You won’t make it.”

“I’m a dragon. Patience is in my blood.”

She ran her fingertip over the fly of his pants.

He jolted as if she’d used a cattle prod.

“So is sex.” She slipped around him, making sure to rub her breasts against his arm as she passed, and moseyed to the restaurant. She held in a laugh at the sound of him taking a deep breath before he followed her with a hurried step.

Inside the restaurant he exchanged words with the hostess, who knew him by name and acted as if they were old friends. When the hostess touched his arm with her delicate fingers, Sandra wanted to bite them off.

She ground her teeth and stared at the mutant goldfish, called Koi, swimming in a tank by the doorway instead. All the while, images of dumping that tank over the hostess’s head kept her occupied.

Ishi took her hand and led her to a private table in the back. “I already ordered our meal.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You must come here often to know the menu by heart.”

“I hate to cook, and they do it so well.”

“Hmm…” She watched the pretty Asian woman who knew him by name cross the room. “Sample anything else here besides food?”

The waitress set a warm bottle of sake between them.

Pouring it into small ceramic cups, he grinned. “I remembered you like this.” So did she. Except, she had chugged the sake straight out of the bottle the last time she drank it.

What was so urgent in America that it couldn’t wait a few more weeks? Ishi liked his new toy very much. She made him laugh and was fun to play with. She was strong, with just enough muscle to punch like a man. He rubbed his shoulder. Nothing like the delicate flowers he’d plucked from the island from time to time.

How could he not admire a female brave enough to approach him to make a deal? Most humans cowered or cried, or worse, pissed themselves when he was in dragon form. She’d cared for his hide and treated both his forms as equals.

The air seemed too thin to breathe all of a sudden as his gaze met hers. Sweat trickled down his back. By his grandfather’s hairy balls, she cared for him. He tossed his sake back like a shot. Worse, he cared for her.

She made him happy.

“You look a little pale.” She placed a hand over his. “Maybe you should take it easy on the sake. I don’t think I can carry you home.”

The image made him chuckle. “It would take more than a bottle to get me that drunk, sweetie.” He did sip his next cup, though. These feelings swirling in his chest worried him. Normally he’d stomp them out or deny their existence, but they wouldn’t let him ignore them. They’d been there all along, ever since she asked him for directions to a brothel instead of a hotel. He had thought his attraction was only carnal.

“Should I ask what I’m going to eat, or is it better I don’t know?” She finished her drink and made a face. “I won’t eat tentacles.”

Warmth that had nothing to do with the sake spread from his belly. She had such a lovely way of expressing herself. “Nothing bad. I promise.” She opened a new world for him. All he had to do was step in and conquer her heart.

“This, coming from someone who has eaten goblin.”

“Dragon taste buds are different from human ones. I won’t eat dog in this form.”

“Dog?” She leaned away from the table.

The serving wench returned with a tray. Samples of their culinary art were displayed for Sandra.

She regarded dinner with a strategic expression.

He plucked a piece with the chopsticks provided. “It won’t bite. It’s dinner, not a battle.” Lifting it to her mouth, he waited. First, she needed to learn to trust him. He’d never harm her.

With a huge sigh, she opened her mouth and closed her eyes.

He wasn’t feeding her entrails, but she acted like it. The sushi roll he’d chosen didn’t even contain meat. He popped one in his mouth as well, with a generous piece of wasabi and ginger.

Nodding, she chewed with more vigor. “Not bad. So if your tastes are different depending on your form, why don’t you hunt in Outremer as a dragon? Or are you not allowed to pass through the gate?”

“I can pass, yet it calls me when it’s breeched. Like here, I might be able to fly in any direction, but I always get called back.”

“What about just outside the gate? Like here?” She struggled with the chopsticks. Pieces of sushi kept slipping from her grasp, and then with the bravery of a warrior, she used her fingers, tucking one in her mouth.

“Not exactly a place I want to stay. Shadowburn is populated by the darker brethren of supernaturals.”

She paused in taking a sip of her sake. “In English now?”

“It’s where the bad monsters live.” He offered her a roll with tuna hidden inside. “The goblins have a huge nest outside my gate. Well, had a nest. A colony of dwarves have driven them out of their cave system. They even herded a few groups through the gate so I’d do the killing for them, lazy metal grinders.” He shook his head at their audacity. “That’s how I got Urgle.”

She gave a crooked, gentle smile. “You have a soft spot for him.”

“Of course I don’t. He’s just a pet.”

“Most people love their pets.”

“I’m not sleeping with Urgle. No matter how much you beg. I’m not into that kind of thing.” He understood what she meant, but he loved how she threw her head back when she laughed and how her eyes sparkled.

“Okay, so no menage with the goblin, and no vacations in Shadowburn.” She blinked. “Where do your people live?”

“Oh, we can’t bear to live together.” Just the thought sent a shiver down his spine. “But most of us live in Upper Firth. There’s a high concentration of humans in that realm. You’d like it there.”

“You’re isolated from everyone.” Her eyes turned sad.

That was the last thing he wanted to see on her face. “They visit and I can’t wait until they leave. This island provides enough entertainment.” Until recently…

“Oh, well, that’s good.” Her gaze traveled to the waitress serving another couple.

He offered her another piece of sushi.

“You know I can feed myself.” She took the morsel, the delight in her eyes tempering her words.

“I believe you can, but why should you when I’m here?”

“Very smooth.” She dabbed the corner of her mouth. “Don’t you miss your home?” The wistful words caught at his heart and sizzled on its surface. She obviously missed hers.

“The gate is my home. I’ve been here so long, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t guard it.”

She leaned forward. “How long exactly?”

Ah, the age old question every human eventually asked him. Experience had taught him discussing time with short-lived species always made them sad. He didn’t want her ever being like that around him. Yet, time would stalk her, unlike his race.

“Long enough for me to think of this realm as my own.” He waved at the waitress and signaled for another bottle of sake, since theirs had emptied quite quickly.

“Fine, Mr. Evasive, how did this become your job, then?” She jabbed a piece of sushi, spearing it viciously with both chopsticks, and offered it to him.

He appreciated a ferocious streak in his females. Chewing the piece she’d fed him, he considered his toy–companion. “A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away–”

She held up her hand. “Does this involve a man in a black outfit and helmet?”

“It does!” He grinned as she rolled her eyes. “Except where I come from they use real swords, not those fancy light gadgets.”

“Sabers.”

He shrugged. “A dark knight tried to take over all of Outremer. I fought in the war against him.” It was a bloody time in the realm. His mother had thrived on the battles and he had learned there could be more to a dragon’s life than gold.

“And you killed him?”

“No, his son did, but the boy was my squire for many years before obtaining his own knighthood.” The good old days, the clash of metal against metal, the cries of the fallen, the wenching…

“Ishi.”

He blinked, returning to the present. “I may not have swung the killing stroke, but I led many armies against evil and trained even more warriors in my wake. When this gate lost its keeper, it called me. I’ve guarded it ever since.” Goblin hordes had killed the last keeper and almost taken over this island. The offer to fight and defend a helpless realm rang true with his soul when he’d agreed to it.

“Fighting goblins and whatever else that comes through the gate, protecting us.” She took his hand in hers and pressed her lips to his knuckles.

He scanned the room to see if anyone had noticed. “What are you doing?” Males kissed female’s hands. Not the other way around.

She rubbed her cheek against his palm. “You’re a real live hero.”

Laughing, he leaned across the table to kiss her lips before she could notice the blush burning across his cheeks. She had surprised him again. Touche. Settling back in his seat, he pinned her with his stare. “So, who’s dying?”

She sat up straighter in her chair. “What do you mean?”

“You came all this way to obtain the saji from me, a dragon. There has to be something big to drive you to this extreme. People don’t come looking for me, Sandra.”

She fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth. “My little sister. Well, she’s not exactly little, she’s in her twenties, but she’ll always be little to me.” A small chagrined laugh escaped her. It endeared her to him, tying her strings around his heart even tighter. “Anyways, it’s cancer.” She glanced at him. “A wasting disease.”

“I do read and have television. I have a clue.”

“It’s non-operable. Chemo and radiation were shrinking the tumor in her head, but three months ago they found spots on her liver and lungs.” She clutched the pocket on the chest of her dress tight in her hands. “It’s her only hope.”

“You have the saji with you?”

“Yes, I didn’t want to risk leaving it in the den.”

He leaned across the narrow table. “Why?”

“You were in such a foul mood I wondered if you’d take me back to the den.”

A drum began to pound inside his head in time to his heartbeat. “You still don’t trust me?” Her actions cut him deeper than any weapon ever had. Pain sliced through his chest where she’d been weaving herself around his deprived heart. Was all this aching worth it? First her leaving, now this. Sure, she made him happy, but she also gave him insurmountable distress. He grabbed her wrist across the table so she wouldn’t escape.

“You’ve been tricking me ever since we’ve met.” She struggled within his iron gaze. “What do you expect?”

He tossed enough bills on the table to cover three meals, and dragged her from the restaurant. Once outside in the cool air, he pulled her into the alley next to the restaurant for privacy and spun her to face him. “For fun, but nothing I did hurt you except maybe your pride. You should ship the saji to your sister instead of waiting for the plane flight. I’d pay for expediting the package. We could have it there by tomorrow morning and she’d be healed before you ever reached her bedside.”

She stood up straighter as if poked by a sharp stick. “You’d do that?”

A growl escaped him and he almost snapped his teeth. All this time, she thought him a monster, yet treated him like a person. Who was the one being tricked now?

She jumped. “It’s doesn’t matter. I can’t ship it. No one believes in magic where I live. They’d never use it on her.”

He retreated farther down the alley.

“Where are you going?” She didn’t follow.

“I’m taking you back to my den where both you and the saji will be safe until it’s time for your flight.” He shifted form, tucking in his tail so it wouldn’t roll out onto the street. The night should cover his flight well enough. Even then, most residents knew about him in some form.

“I don’t think–”

Not bothering to listen anymore, he snatched her in his claws and took flight. His injury was sore, but he could manage the short flight now.

Sandra punched at his palm until a sharp pain ran up his finger.

He winced. The bitch had bitten him.