Page 33 of Dragon’s Rebel

Chapter 15

Rebel was alone in her room flipping through channels on the TV when there was a knock on the door.

She put down the remote, frowning. Who the hell was that at this time of night? Tempest had gone to bed, and Zane and Blaze were shagging their way to ecstasy in their bedroom upstairs.

Thorne had gone off somewhere to brood some more.

That left her with nothing but Law and Order reruns, Shopping Channel, and late night porn.

The knock was repeated, louder, but no one called out. Rebel went to the door, hand on her Colt. Yeah, maybe they were in a magically protected dragon lair, but Corwyn had already broken in once. You could never be too careful.

She opened the door slowly, ready to draw her weapon. Nothing was there.

She looked down. A small blue velvet pillow hovered in mid-air about waist height, with a blue and gold cuff bracelet perched on it.

A zefir. With another mating gift from Thorne.

Apparently, Thorne was still convinced that every girl’s dream was a golden hoard of her own. She sighed and looked around the room at the crowded surfaces. She really didn’t have any room, but she didn’t want to hurt Thorne’s feelings by refusing.

She also knew that the zefirs, once Thorne had given an order, wouldn’t go away without fulfilling it.

“Thanks,” she said resignedly, reaching for the bracelet.

The pillow dodged out of her way and pushed past her into the room.

“Now just wait a minute—”

Rebel turned around and followed, grabbing for the pillow, but it dipped adroitly out of her reach. It was making for the balcony doors.

“Excuse me? I’m in here!” Was there such a thing as a blind zefir? Or was it trying to lure her out on the balcony for some reason?

“Okay, stop right there!” The pillow ignored her. The door to the balcony opened and the pillow headed out.

Rebel flattened herself against the wall next to the balcony doors. There was a rushing, whirring sound right outside the window, and an eerie blue light. Slowly, she inched the muzzle of the revolver out, and then stepped into the opening, Colt at the ready.

Don’t shoot. I surrender.

Thorne was hovering outside her window, his huge wings making the whooshing noises she’d heard. The blue light was from his eyes. And she was pretty sure he was laughing at her.

Rebel lowered the gun. “What the hell are you doing lurking outside my window like a stalker at one a.m.?”

Technically, I’m not lurking. I’m hovering. There was a pause. My dragon wants me to point out that it takes a fuck-ton of strength to hover for this long. He thinks that will impress you. So look impressed, or he’ll be disappointed.

“I’ll try. In the meantime, let me rephrase my original question. Why are you hovering outside my window like a stalker at one a.m.?” The floating pillow zipped in front of her, and Rebel looked from it to Thorne and back again. Oh, crap. This wasn’t some kind of formal mateposal, was it?

My dragon insisted. He—we—made you something. He wanted you to have it, in case…

In case he decided to take the serum, and he disappeared? Fuck.

She took the bracelet carefully off the pillow. She could have sworn she heard a tiny sigh of mixed relief and annoyance from the zefir. She felt a breeze and then it was gone, shutting the balcony door hard enough to express its feelings, but not quite hard enough to qualify as a slam.

The bracelet was gorgeous. Gold filigree, with a rendering of a dolphin leaping out of the ocean made from some kind of jeweled material that shimmered in the dim light. It was all in various shades of blue, reminding her of…

Damn. “Are these dragon scales?”

Yes.

“It feels magical.” She could feel a slight tingling in her fingertips where it she touched it. “What does it do?”