EDRA SOARED and tumbled as the air currents buffeted and played with him. There was nothing more fun than the buildup to a storm. The female greater dragon seemed to agree as she chased clouds out over the bay. The light rain hid the city in a cloak of gray that almost made it invisible. It looked so much like home that loss gouged his gut and made it hard to breathe.
There were no complications up here, only the need to keep enough air beneath his wings. As he played with the dragon, he was almost able to put everything else aside. The dragon had politely asked after his mate, and Edra hadn’t expanded the lie. He just said he was fine.
Lesser dragons didn’t care what species their mates were. If the mate wasn’t a lesser dragon and they felt the urge to breed, they went to the rookery and did what was needed to complete that urge. Then they went home. It had never been a problem in Tariko.
The wind knocked him down, and he let himself fall toward the bay and caught himself only yards over the waves. There were no mermaids out on the rocks today, no water dragons either. Narv would be somewhere safe, not in the deep with the mermaids, because like him, Narv had to breathe air. It took effort, but Edra gained height, and the rain streamed off him and battered him. He opened his mouth to drink.
The water wouldn’t sate the hunger building in his belly, and not just for food. The pull was there, always leading him toward Jordan. But it wasn’t too late to break it.
Last chance.
The Strega could be wrong, but not about events, just about time. They saw things differently from everyone else. The strands that wove their predictions together didn’t follow the rules of time.
He called goodbye to the dragon, circled over the city, and stalled before he gave in and found the one gray roof that mattered. He shimmered, not wanting to land on Jordan’s balcony in dragon form while visible—the neighbors would talk and they wouldn’t have anything nice to say.
He hesitated, wings beating against the storm. He was tiring.
Slowly, as though giving in to the inevitable, he landed. The furniture that was usually out had been dragged in. For a moment he stood outside and watched the man he wanted but wasn’t sure how to have.
Jordan had his feet up on the coffee table. His socks were purple and fluffy like two cats. The laptop rested on his thighs, but he was patting Sinner, who was staring out the glass doors right at Edra as though she could see him. She leaped off the sofa and stalked over, mewing her displeasure. Jordan was looking now too, a faint crease between his eyebrows.
Edra was being a weirdo. He shook off the shift and then the invisibility, which was much harder than it should have been because he was cold and hungry. He should have gone home. That would’ve been the smart thing to do, but he couldn’t stay away.
Jordan got up, smiling, and grabbed the blanket off the back of the sofa. He opened the door, and warmth bled out of his apartment. “What are you doing out there?”
“Playing mostly… up there.” But he could play in the storm with his feet on the ground. He lifted his eyes skyward and held out his hand. “Come into the storm.”
“It’s raining.” Jordan wrapped Edra in the blanket and kissed him. His mouth was warm. “And you’re cold.” He kissed him again. “And the neighbors would see me with a naked man on my balcony.”
“Who cares if they see us in the rain.” Edra tugged Jordan’s hand. The blanket was already getting damp.
Jordan stepped forward. “Why do you want to be out here?”
“Can’t you feel the power as it starts to unfurl?” Edra ran his fingers up Jordan’s arm. “The tingle in your skin?” He smiled. “Dance with me.”
Jordan looked away and shook his head. “There’s no music.”
“There is if you listen.” Edra tugged him farther onto the balcony. “Hear the wind… the pitch of the rain as it hits a hundred different things.” He moved in close, as if they were at the party when Jordan had danced with him and didn’t care who saw or what they thought.
But today Jordan was sober. He broke free, stepped back, and pushed wet hair off his face. “Come in.”
“Come out. It’s not often there’s a storm like this.” Edra frowned. “You don’t feel the difference.” There was a magic to this one, as it had been drawn from the currents of the deep. All storms were fun, but this one had a shape and a reason, a taste and a rush.
“It’s just cold and wet and windy. And the neighbors will wonder what we’re doing.”
“Who cares about them?” He spun Jordan and kissed him. “This is fun.” He wanted to share it with him, the man who could be his mate. “I want to play with you.”
Jordan grabbed the edges of the blanket and dragged him toward the door, and Edra let himself be drawn out of the storm, but his heart dragged him to the bottom of the bay. Jordan didn’t get it. And even though the need to be with him was there, they still weren’t meshing the way they should be. And that had nothing to do with what the neighbors thought.
“I was thinking about you.” Jordan kissed him, deeper this time, and then smiled against his lips. “I want you.”
“I know. I want you too.” But it was still pure need for Jordan. And while there was nothing wrong with that, the desire wasn’t developing into something more. The bond wasn’t forming.
“What’s holding you back?”
Edra opened the blanket, wrapped his arms around Jordan, and pressed himself, naked, to him. Jordan slid his hands over Edra’s skin and cupped his ass. It would be easy to just keep going, give in and then deal with the consequences, worry about the way this wasn’t growing the way it should. This wasn’t Tariko, and maybe it wouldn’t be the way he expected.
“You’re all I can think about.” Jordan kissed down his neck, and Edra wanted to purr. “I need you. It’s a buzz in my blood that I can’t ignore.”
Edra drew in a breath and took half a step back. “That’s not me. That’s Bliss cravings.”
“I can tell the difference.”
Edra took Jordan’s chin and looked in his eyes. His pupils were wide, trying to swallow the color, and his pulse was fast. He smelled like lust, like sex, and altogether too delicious. “I don’t know that you can.”
Jordan snatched Edra’s hand. “You wanted to wait to make sure. And now you pull away. What is it about me you find so unappealing?”
Edra had to look away from the hurt in Jordan’s eyes. “Nothing. You are what I want. But you aren’t mytho. You don’t mate for life. No one, not your people or mine, would happy about this.”
“So what? We keep dancing around, never committing? Or do we do it anyway and to hell with the rest of them?”
“I don’t know.” No matter what he did it felt like he’d lose. The Strega’s reassurance that he’d be happy was no balm. “We don’t need to rush this part. We can take our time. You aren’t even ready to tell your friends.”
Jordan stared at him. “You made me want you. Your dragony chemistry has messed me up.”
“Is it? Or is it Bliss riding you, making you want me? Your body craving what you aren’t giving it.”
“What would you have me do? Fuck someone else to get free of Bliss?”
Edra stepped back as though hit. “If you can do that, then do not blame the mating bond.” He studied Jordan. “Do you want to have sex with others?”
Jordan blinked as though confused. “I want….”
“It’s not me you crave. It’s release.” Release that he could get from anyone or from Bliss. “Drink your witch’s tea and get clean. Then we can talk mating.” He dropped the blanket and went into the storm. Then he shifted and leaped off the railing and into the wild night.