Playing with Fire

‘‘Are you going to threaten to turn me in if I don’t steal for you, too?’’

‘‘Too?’’ he asked, jumping on the word, his eyes curious. ‘‘You do not steal for yourself?’’

I paused for a moment, damning my verbal slip before tightening my lips. Why did I care what he thought of me, what any of them thought of me? Why did I want to explain to them how I had been bound to Magoth even before I’d been created, how I had no freedom in my life, no ability to make my own decisions. Why did it matter that Gabriel’s words stung me until I wanted to scream my innocence? I owed them nothing. They were no different from anyone else who tried to use me. ‘‘I am a doppelganger, a shadow walker. There is no end of people who have offered to hire me for one illegal purpose or another.’’

‘‘Then you will have no difficulty undertaking this task for Gabriel,’’ Drake said.

To my surprise, Gabriel turned to the other wyvern with a frown. ‘‘Drake, you are interfering with my mate.’’

‘‘I’m not your mate! And you needn’t couch your demand in such polite terms, dragon. There are those in the world who don’t bother with the niceties. They are the ones who use force to make me do their bidding.’’

‘‘I am not interfering,’’ Drake told Gabriel, totally missing my sarcasm.

‘‘You are, and I don’t appreciate it. May is mine, not yours. I won’t have you giving her orders or threatening her.’’

‘‘Oh, for mercy’s… I am not anyone’s mate!’’

Everyone ignored me. The green wyvern looked surprised at Gabriel for a moment. Aisling covered up a little chirp of laughter by suddenly taking a sip from her glass.

‘‘Might I point out that you have interfered with my mate on numerous occasions?’’ Drake said. ‘‘You even planned to challenge me for her.’’

A little spike of pain stabbed inside me. Gabriel flashed a glance toward me that I had no trouble deciphering as embarrassed. ‘‘That was before I knew… That doesn’t matter. The fact remains that you are interfering, and although I know you mean well, I would appreciate it if you would allow me to handle my mate in my own fashion.’’

‘‘The situation concerns us, as well. I believe that we have a right to ensure that matters are concluded satisfactorily.’’

‘‘You know, I think I’m with Gabriel on this,’’ Aisling said, putting her hand on her wyvern’s arm. ‘‘Maybe we should just butt out-’’

‘‘Kostya is not Gabriel’s problem alone,’’ Drake told her.

‘‘We are the only ones who are threatened by him,’’ Gabriel argued, taking a step toward the other dragon. ‘‘You are not fighting for your survival as we are ours.

We are the ones who must deal with Kostya.’’

‘‘That doesn’t mean-’’

‘‘Yes, it does!’’ Gabriel interrupted, the two men now toe to toe.

Their respective bodyguards lined up behind them as the wyverns slipped into a language I didn’t understand.

‘‘What are they speaking?’’ I asked Aisling, as she hoisted herself to her feet.

‘‘Bah. Baby’s sitting right on my bladder. Hmm? Oh, that’s Zilant.’’ She smiled at my look of confusion. ‘‘I only just found out about it myself. It’s a language that all dragons were taught centuries ago, so that members of different septs could understand one another. It’s pretty much unused now that most of them speak English. Zilant had something to do with the origins of the black dragons-it’s a region in Russia, evidently, and took the name from there.’’

The two wyverns were still going at it, arguing with occasional intercessions from their bodyguards.

‘‘Are they always like that?’’ I couldn’t help but ask.

Aisling smiled at me. ‘‘Pretty much so. They’re arrogant to a man, and bossy, and they always think their way is the only way…’’ She tossed a fond look toward the dark-haired green wyvern. ‘‘But they’re also absolutely unswerving in their devotion. I know this whole thing with Gabriel has probably made you feel like the rug has been pulled out from under you, but he really is a sweetie, and I doubt if you’ll have the trouble with him that I had with Drake. He was absolutely impossible when I first met him.’’

‘‘I heard that!’’ the man in question said, interrupting his argument long enough to shoot a potent glare at Aisling.

She blew him a kiss, then excused herself and went off to the bathroom.

I started to edge my way out of the room. I made it to the stairs before Gabriel turned his head to notice I was nearly out of the room.

‘‘Mate!’’ he said, frowning.

‘‘Mate?’’ A voice came from behind me on the stairs. Cyrene stood there, her face puzzled as she glanced around the room. ‘‘You can’t mean… May? A mate? A dragon’s mate?’’

‘‘I thought you were tired and taking a nap,’’ I said, hurrying up to her.

‘‘I had a quick bath instead. I feel much better, although I’m confused about what’s going on here. Did that delicious Gabriel call you ‘mate’?’’

I opened my mouth to explain, but found it hard to put things in a manner that sounded like anything but mindless babble. ‘‘Er…’’

‘‘That is correct,’’ Gabriel said, moving over to stand next to me. He didn’t touch me, but he didn’t need to-to my embarrassment, I found myself leaning toward him, as if he was a lodestone and I was a magnet. ‘‘May is my mate.’’

‘‘But she can’t be!’’ Cyrene said, shaking her head as she marched over to us.

‘‘She can’t?’’ Gabriel asked, looking from her to me. ‘‘Why can’t she?’’

Gods, he was handsome. That warm brown skin, those liquid silver eyes, along with a strong jaw and gently squared chin that for some reason made me feel suspiciously weak in the knees. But he was a dragon, a wyvern, and I was Cyrene ’s shadow. I moved a step away and tried to ignore the sorrow that filled me.

‘‘Why can’t she?’’ Cyrene looked at him as if he was insane. ‘‘Because she doesn’t like men, that’s why. She’s never had sex.’’

My face burned as I closed my eyes for a minute, fighting with the desire to shadow. ‘‘ Cyrene, no one is interested in this.’’

‘‘Well, I certainly think Gabriel is going to be interested if he’s under the delusion that you are his mate! I know it’s hard for you to be open about this, but evidently there is a major misunderstanding about you. We owe it to them to be truthful; these people are our friends, after all.’’

‘‘Istvan broke your neck,’’ I pointed out, momentarily sidetracked from the hell my life had suddenly become.

‘‘Yes, but I’m sure he didn’t mean it,’’ she said, turning to him. ‘‘You didn’t, did you?’’

Istvan nodded, frowned, then shook his head. ‘‘I thought you were attacking Jim.’’

‘‘There, you see? You know I would never want to put you on the spot, dear Mayling, but now is not the time for shyness. Do not be afraid to admit the truth.’’

‘‘Oh, gods,’’ I swore to myself, sinking into the nearest chair. Why me? my mind shrieked. Why did Cyrene pick now to bring up this issue?

‘‘I…’’ Gabriel looked as stupefied as just about everyone else. ‘‘Are you sure?’’ he finally asked Cyrene, his confused gaze on me.

‘‘Oh, yes,’’ Cyrene answered, taking up a position next to me in order, undoubtedly, to show support. ‘‘I’m quite sure. May’s never been with a man physically, even though more than a few have wanted her.’’

‘‘The things I miss while I’m in the bathroom,’’ Aisling murmured as she took her seat again.

I hunched over, dropping my head to my hands in mortification, regretting to the very depths of my being the day I had the bright idea of telling Cyrene that I had never had, and never would have, a sexual relationship with a man. ‘‘Please, Cyrene! No more!’’

‘‘So wait, she’s a virgin?’’ Jim asked in an awestruck voice, coming over to snuffle my hands. ‘‘Wow. I haven’t seen a professional virgin since we were in Hungary.’’

‘‘Well, not strictly speaking, because when she was created, I wasn’t… er…’’ Cyrene had a rare and lamentably late moment of circumspection, and thankfully stopped that line of thought before I died of embarrassment right