He’d often imagined wrapping it around his hand and lifting it to his face. Wanted to feel the strands slip through his fingers. He wanted more than that of course. To know the lady. To get a whiff of her scent. To kiss her plump, wide lips.
Would she welcome him? Her mossy green eyes appeared curious in his dreams. He felt her desire, her desperation, and it pained him to not be able to help.
For some reason, he associated the raven-haired vixen with wildflowers and herbs. Could picture her in a garden where they grew in glorious disarray. Yes, even thinking of her seemed to conjure images of long hair and swirling skirts, laughing faces while she tended a patch of earth that very much resembled the old kitchen garden he must’ve walked past a time or a hundred over the years.
Of course, it was grossly overgrown with weeds and the years of neglect shone in its rusted fence and barren patches. He felt a sudden pang of sadness in his chest.
No, that wouldn’t do. He made a mental note to tell one of the Guardians to have it cleared and tended. Not that Kingston had the sudden urge to go gardening, but for some reason or other, he needed that small garden cleaned out and made ready.
Maybe Fergie would have some use for it. Or perhaps her friend would. The little kitchen Witch was always hanging out at the Keep now that Fergie had permanently moved in.
Exhaling slowly, Kingston relaxed every aching muscle he had in the steaming hot water. Having already washed the blood and muck from the earlier battle off his skin, this was the Dragon’s reward.
He would never admit it aloud, but he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the lovely maiden who haunted his dreams. Of course, those dreams were typically followed by overwhelming feelings of disloyalty to Neela, but he would deal with that later.
Right then, he needed her. Needed the dark-haired beauty with the curious eyes and fearless smile.
Yes, he thought, please. Come to me, little one, comfort me. Make me forget.
His eyes drifted shut and he felt her all around him. Her presence so real he gasped even as he recognized she was just an illusion, a made-up fantasy.
Still, he welcomed the faraway sound of her voice as she crooned. He felt her touch as she brushed ghostly fingertips across his brow followed by a tender kiss so soft it was like butterfly wings on his lips.
Sleep now, my Dragon. Rest, the time is coming upon us.
Her voice seemed to whisper inside of his brain and his beast rose inside of him. Growling softly, wanting to fully awaken, but she hushed and calmed his Dragon like no one ever had before. The silly beast wanted her as if she were real, but she was not. Sad as that fact was, it was still the truth. Someone knocked on the door to his private bathroom and he opened one golden eye and growled softly.
Fucking hell, what now, he wondered.
“Uh, Kingston?” Fergie’s voice rang through the door and he sighed as he made to get out of his bath.
He could not ignore one of his Guardian’s mates. It would not do for a man in his position. Not in the least.
“One moment,” he said and quickly dried off and tugged on a pair of jeans and a clean Henley, “yes?”
He pulled the door open and stared in shock at her appearance. The woman was usually dressed impeccably, in designer heels and smart business attire. She was now, with an added addition.
“Um,” he was at a loss.
Kingston had never seen Fergie covered in dust from head to toe. She appeared guilty and her new she-Wolf whined loudly so that his Alpha powers picked up on her obvious distress.
“What is going on?”
“Well, you see,” she cleared her throat, “Jessenia and I were looking around in the basement, um, exploring really-”
“You wanted faster access to the internet, didn’t you?” he narrowed his eyes aware of the current arguments over WIFI speeds within the Keep.
“Okay fine, I admit it. Hudson’s room has the worst connection and I thought if I ran an ethernet cable from the router straight to his room I could plug it in to my PC when I’m home and get my work done faster-”
“How is that coming?”
“Work? It’s fine,” she tucked her dust-covered red-hair behind her ears with her fingers and tried to remain dignified despite her ridiculous appearance, “anyway, the wall we drilled into kind of um, collapsed, and well, I think you need to see this.”
“Should I call Furio? He is the best carpenter among us.”
“Just come on. Hurry.”
Kingston followed barefoot behind the former normal. After she mated Storm, Fergie’s animal soul had been awakened and she was now every bit a Wolf Shifter. Still, he wondered how the hell she stood on those things she called shoes.
They looked downright painful to him, and seemed to defy all laws of physics, but she swore by them. Storm also seemed quite taken with the lethal footwear, judging by the way he showered her with new additions to her collection every month or so.
Whatever. Kingston had no interest in the Wolf Shifters’ shoe fetish. He simply followed where she led, down to the depths of the basement of the Keep.
“I used a power drill to make the hole, I mean I thought half an inch was no biggie,” Fergie continued her explanation, but he was beyond listening for the moment.
Something was happening to him. His Dragon scratched and snarled inside of him. The walls seemed to close in the deeper he went into the belly of the Keep, and yet, Kingston could not stop himself from investigating further.
Something was there. Something beckoning his Dragon forward. Magic sizzled along his skin, making the hair on his arms and neck stand up. The air hummed and vibrated with power. Perhaps she’d hit some kind of magical vein or ley line?
It was no secret that rivers of supernatural energy and magic dwelled beneath the earth in what were called magical veins or ley lines. Magic was finite. It was recycled and reused, passed down from one person to the next. Inherited, not made.
He could not be sure just what the female had uncovered, but his beast was hissing wildly and his pulse was racing like mad. He inched forward and noted the distinct drop in temperature. It was downright freezing there.
Jessenia was staring through the gaping hole in the old brick wall. He could tell from her stance that the tiny kitchen Witch was in a state of absolute shock.
“Fergie, take your friend aside,” he commanded but refrained from using his Alpha voice on the woman.
He had no wish to start a quarrel with Storm, and the way he saw it she was his Guardian’s conpar, his fated mate, not a Guardian herself. Therefore, she was not his to command.
Kingston did try to remember his manners when speaking to the woman. Storm was a good man and an even better Wolf. He hated to admit it, but he felt nothing but respect, with perhaps a tinge of envy over the man’s good fortune in finding his fated mate.
Yes, he’d been carrying the weight of Neela’s death with him for a while now, but it started long before that. He’d tried so hard to honor both the female and his brother, but he had failed them both miserably.
Not your fault, he thought he heard the she-Dragon’s voice whisper in his head.
Every single inch of Kingston seemed to stand at attention as he stepped over the rubble, careful not to impale his bare feet on the sharp stone as he entered the small hidden room. His Dragon snarled at the myriad of magic coming at him from every direction. Symbols lined the walls, he sniffed and scowled fiercely. That spell was old, but they had cast it in blood and for obvious, nefarious purposes.