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  She melted into the kiss, meeting him with gentle hands and closed eyes, soaking in his act. She wanted to him to pretend they were falling in love. She needed that emotional human validation for what had just happened.

  He would create an illusion of anything she wanted, anything at all, but he couldn’t give the real thing. He wasn’t capable of it. The bitter reality smoldered in useless anger. He was not capable of the one thing she wanted desperately. Soulless creations could be a shitload of things, but all of them were hard and demanding. Love was not something that could be mixed in a lab and added to the beast.

  Illusions were easy though. Reading her desires and using them to create what she needed was one of the things his kind was very good at. Sly, deceptive, manipulative, all natural abilities that were part of being a predator who took what he wanted by any means. A dragon always got what he wanted from a human and most animals.

  For a dragon there are no rules, no morals, no regrets a soul would hamper them with. But his creators had found a way to leash him. They’d wrapped it up in pretty words and high ideals, convincing him that he was different, cruelly giving him the illusion of choice.

  Holding this woman, drinking her, he knew with complete clarity that there was no choice and there never would be. He would do anything to keep her in his arms, giving him this. Any deception, any lie, any act of violence. For her, he’d be as fully dragon as any killer from that bygone age. And that was exactly what they’d built him for. It was working perfectly. He hated them with the same intensity he needed her.

  She deserved more, and in making him, they had stolen her future as surely as they’d written his into the biological cement of DNA. She would never be free. Her choices would be manipulated, bent to his will. Even if she eventually suspected it, there would be no freedom for her. By that time she would crave what he gave her.

  A soft light broke over the dark path his thoughts had taken him down. Above them in a blindingly pink bedroom, hope stirred in her bed. There was the one thing the old ones could not control. The reality they hadn’t thought big enough to conceive. Proof they could not be in command of every life. Dangerous, incomprehensibly precious, a miracle who would make the future one that belonged solely to this age.

  Her mother and he might not have a choice, but Minuet had every choice imaginable.

  Cord lifted his head, feathering kisses over Kelley’s face. Her eyes opened in lazy pleasure as he licked down her neck.

  “That was not nice,” Kelly murmured.

  “No? I was pretty sure you enjoyed it,” Cord growled back, unwilling to lift his head off her skin very long.

  “I was lonely.”

  That did jerk his head up to look into her eyes. “Lonely? Honey, there is only one way I could have been closer to you.”

  “Uh-huh, and you ran away from me,” she accused.

  Cord regarded her as he tried to understand what it was she thought he’d done. “I was being careful not to rush you.”

  “You were being a coward.”

  “Because I didn’t bang you within hours of meeting you?”

  “Because you were afraid to trust me emotionally,” Kelly told him.

  Cord sat up slowly, pulling her up as he did. “What makes you think that?”

  Those lovely eyes were a little sad as she opened her mouth to respond. She abruptly shut it as little feet pounded down the stairs. Cord stealthily adjusted Kelly’s clothes telepathically, closing shorts in the nick of time.

  Without hesitation Minuet ran in beaming, launching herself from a few feet away. Cord shifted slightly to make sure his body took most of her weight as she landed on them. Laughing, she was totally confident she’d be caught.

  “Cord gow’ed big,” Minuet exclaimed as she lay across them. “Now you pretty.”

  “I am not pretty, little woman,” he corrected in mock seriousness while making sure Minuet and Kelly could feel his humor in the air around them. “Guys are never pretty.”

  Kelly was laughing and holding Minuet’s shoulders as Cord wrapped an arm around her kicking legs and threatened to tickle. “Say I’m not pretty or the tickle dragon gets you.”

  Shrieks of wiggling laughing met his threat. Cord let her struggle out of his hold and wrap little arms and legs around her mother. Regarding him triumphantly, she laid out the rules as she saw them.

  “No tickle when Mommy holding me.”

  “That’s not fair,” he challenged.

  “I no tickle when Mommy holding you.”

  Cord nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

  “Time for breakfast,” Kelly interrupted them.

  “Is Cord eat too?” Minuet wanted to know.

  “If he wants to,” Kelly agreed as she stood, letting Minuet slide to the floor.

  Cord stood with them and smiled down at Minute. “I’d like to see you and Mommy a lot now. How do you feel about that?”

  Minuet looked up at her mother a moment. Kelly smiled and raised a brow, giving Minuet permission to say whatever she liked.

  At her request of raised arms, he quickly scooped her up and set her on his hip as he smiled into her serious face. Minuet placed two small hands on his cheeks to hold his head in place.

  “I happy. Bad birds all gone.”

  “What?” Kelly questioned in concern.

  “You have bad birds?” Cord asked casually as he took Kelly’s hand and sauntered toward the kitchen with his little armful.

  “They gone,” Minuet assured him as he sat her in the kitchen chair with a booster seat.

  Kelly sat down beside her daughter, worriedly taking her hand. “Honey, tell Mommy about the bad birds. What did they do?”

  Cord gave them a little space. Getting a bowl from the cabinet, he carefully cut a biscuit in it then poured gravy over it, heating it for twenty seconds in the microwave. At the table, Minuet tried to explain.

  “They fly an talk. I not talk birds. They bitey.” She made snapping motions with her hands as if they were clicking beaks.

  Grabbing a spoon, Cord brought the bowl to the table and handed them to Kelly. He sat on the other side of Minuet as her mother tested it for heat.

  “Bighty?” Kelly asked “What is bighty?”

  “Bitey. They big moufs. Scary.”

  “Good girl,” Cord approved. “Never talk to strangers, even strange birds. Mommy taught you that, right?”

  “Yes. I hide pillow. But I hear dem.”

  Kelly inserted a spoonful of food in Minuet’s mouth. “I’m very proud of you. But you should have told Mommy about the birds.”

  “You not hear?” Minuet asked in surprise as her mother raised the spoon again.

  “No. When were they here?”

  “Comes wif boxes truck. Talking all a time. Go wif truck. They come back. Flying, flying.”

  “Well, they are gone now. I’ll make sure they don’t come back,” Cord assured Minuet. “But in case I don’t hear them first, be sure and tell me when they come back. Don’t tell me in my mind, they might hear that.”

  Minuet chewed and swallowed before she could reply. “I know dat. They wanna hear in my head.”

  Her tone told him she thought that was evident to anyone.

  “Exactly right,” he agreed. “We don’t let anyone hear us in our heads. Right?”

  Minuet glanced at her mother and shook her head while chewing the next spoonful. Cord looked up over her head and raised a brow at Kelly, asking what the look was about.

  “We’ve been very careful not to use the other ways,” Kelly explained conversationally. “It’s a big no-no.”

  Well, that explained a lot. These two actually worked at not testing and controlling their skills. Cord got up and moved to the sink, turning on the water to do the dishes. Mostly he needed to keep out of the conversation until he had a chance to talk to Kelly. Not contradicting her rules in front of Minuet was important. He knew that much about parenting.

  Kelly didn’t give him a lot of room to work with though
. She wanted Minuet reassured that she was safe, so she pressed him.

  “Cord is going to take care of the nosy birds. Aren’t you?” Kelly stated confidently.

  Cord turned from the sink to face her. “I’ll protect you from them, but it would be best if we left them alone. Minuet had the right idea when she was quiet. They can’t know you ladies are here if you don’t give them a sign.”

  “Why they talk us?” Minuet wanted to know.

  Kelly’s hand trembled slightly as she shoved another spoonful in Minuet’s mouth.

  Cord considered his answer. “I think they are looking for anyone who can hear them. You said they are birds because they look like birds? Or do they just feel like birds?”

  “Black wif wings. Birds,” Minuet clarified.

  “In that case, someone is using the birds, honey. You know how you can talk in someone’s mind? Sometimes a person who can do that will take control of a little animal and use it. That person can see and hear everything the little animal does and so they don’t have to go everywhere the animal can,” Cord explained. “I need you to be very careful of animals. If you feel one watching you, you have to tell me or Mommy.”

  “Okay,” Minuet agreed, obviously bored with the animal conversation and ready to be done with it.

  “If it’s okay with Mommy, I’ll teach you how to make sure they can’t reach into your mind and hear you,” Cord offered, watching Kelly’s reaction to the offer.

  Kelly’s eyes rose to his. There was no fear in them, just sadness. “I think that would be a good idea. It’s important to be able to protect ourselves.”

  “But you said no-no magics.” Minuet frowned at her mother.

  “Yes, baby, I did. It wasn’t safe for us. Weren’t you afraid of the loud birds?” Kelly paused as Minuet nodded. “Cord is here to help us now. It’s okay to do exactly what he shows us how to do. Do you understand, Minuet? No trying anything unless you tell Mommy or Cord. No matter what.”

  Minuet’s eyes glanced between them and a huge smile appeared on her face. “Cord make daddy?”

  Chapter Six

  He couldn’t say Little Miss Miracle was slow on the uptake. She nailed them with the one question he was more than willing to answer but suspected he shouldn’t.

  Kelly hesitated a moment, glancing at Cord. “He is our very good friend. It takes time to be a daddy.”

  “How much?” Minuet wanted to know.

  “Honey, being a daddy is about loving us, loving us with all his heart. You can’t expect it from someone who just met us and it’s not polite to ask,” Kelly explained as she fed another spoon of food into Minuet.

  Minuet frowned and chewed. Taking a big swallow, she leaned toward Kelly and whispered loudly, “How we see him love us?”

  “Let’s just be happy we have a new friend. Okay?” Kelly stated, trying to cut off the endless questions.

  Cord decided it was time to give Kelly a break and distract Minuet from the subject. “Minuet, I have a very important question for you. Don’t be afraid of answering honestly. Taking responsibility for what we do makes everything much better. You know you can tell me anything. Right?”

  Serious little face chewed and nodded as she looked into his eyes.

  “Why do you think the loud birds followed the truck that brought your boxes? Was there magic they could feel in it?” Cord asked.

  Minuet looked down at her bowl but answered clearly. “I not magic anyting we pack. Mommy said no-no. So I magiced truck, no breaking. Maybe birds feels it.”

  “Minuet.” Kelly frowned at her daughter. “You know that was wrong.”

  Minuet defended. “No magics our stuffs. Smelly man’s truck is all.”

  Cord interrupted. “When does the magic end, honey?”

  “End?” Minuet asked puzzled.

  “You didn’t put an end on the magic?” he asked.

  “No. How do dat?” she wanted to know.

  “Mommy didn’t teach you to end the magic?”

  “Mommy not like magics,” Minuet explained seriously.

  “I didn’t teach her to spell either,” Kelly said calmly, “she knows how though.”

  Cord looked at Kelly. “A natural gift. She’ll be fine with a few lessons,” he stated as if it were a simple thing. “The smelly man’s truck just became his best machine. It will never break. However, someone felt Minuet’s power. They will follow the truck for a while, but eventually they’ll give up and backtrack. I’m guessing we have maybe two months.”

  “Two months before what?” Kelly asked then glanced at the little face swiveling between them. “Never mind. So we might move again?”

  “This is a good place for a while. You two can learn how to handle the craft. That’s the most important thing,” Cord emphasized seriously. “Especially Minuet. She has to be taught, Kelly. Next time she could unwittingly cause damage. You can’t act like she doesn’t have the gift.”

  “I know. It’s just, well, things have changed,” Kelly finished softly while she pasted on a smile for Minuet, who was watching the adults with sharp eyes. “What about my job, our life?” she couldn’t resist asking in the next breath.

  “You’ve recently came into a huge inheritance,” Cord informed her with a half smile. “From a great-aunt. She left you everything. Quitting your job will be understandable. Besides, you just moved here, right? No big deal.”

  Kelly frowned. “Do not think I’m about to become dependent on you. I can support my daughter, thank you very much. Molly got me the job at the place she works. I do not want to make her look bad. Besides, it’s a very good position.”

  “Molly inherited more than you did. How difficult do you suppose it is for an earth dragon to find a vein of gold? Or diamonds? Or any other thing he might need? Molly will not be working there either,” Cord informed her.

  Kelly raised a brow. “Can you even afford us? Wind doesn’t exactly make money.”

  Cord chuckled. “When an investor has been around long enough, he owns a share in every bank, every company, everything worth investing in. Inventing shell companies made me invisible and has been very profitable. But the point you’re not getting is all of it really is yours. I was created for you. Everything I might own is yours.”

  Minuet took the spoon out of her mother’s hand and continued eating.

  Kelly cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “No, it’s not and you’re not. I don’t own living beings. No one is owned.”

  Cord reached around behind Minuet and lightly traced a finger down Kelly’s cheek as he said softly, “Yes they are and you do, but it’s going to work a bit different than you’re thinking.”

  She got his message. He could see it in her unblinking stare and soft gasp. She did own him and everything he was. It would be his pleasure to show her how that was going to benefit her.

  “You have to think of Minuet,” Cord continued in a normal voice, pulling the trump card. “Sending her to daycare while you work might not be a good idea. We’ve been given a small window of time for both of you to learn a great deal of skill. I can teach you, but not in the evenings when you’re both tired from a long day. Your new job has to be helping your daughter master her talents while honing your own. Your lives depend on it.”

  “You really think… I mean, we don’t even know who the birds are from.” Kelly stumbled around, voicing her real concerns in front of Minuet. “Surely it’s not as serious as all that.”

  “There is a truck rolling around the country with a powerful, endless spell on it. Obviously the wielder does not have to be near it for the spell to continue at full strength. The best we can hope for is only one interested party has noticed it and wishes to find the source of such never-ending power,” Cord said conversationally to shield the importance of the statements from Minuet. “I’m not that optimistic by nature.”

  “Oh. Can’t we find the truck and un-spell it?” Kelly asked.

  “Sure, but you or I can’t. The little lady responsible would have to, and I
don’t think she has the skill at the moment. Removing is always harder than putting on. If she made up the spell on her own, the words could be tricky. We can’t risk the explosion of power a mistake would cause.”

  “I sorry,” Minuet said quietly, proving she was following the conversation much more closely than the adults wanted her to.

  “Sweetie, it’s okay. Mommy and Cord will take care of it. All you need to worry about is not doing something in secret again,” Kelly cautioned.

  Big eyes blinked as she looked at her mother. “I pomise.”

  “Good girl.” Cord smiled into the worried little face. “We will not be making that mistake again.” He picked up her empty bowl and took it to the sink.

  “Am I gowned?” Minuet asked Kelly.

  “Gowned? You can put on your dress-up gown if you want,” Kelly assured her. “We unpacked dress up a few days ago.”

  “No. Gowneded for being bad,” Minuet insisted. “No dress up.”

  “Grounded? Is that what you mean?”

  Minuet nodded.

  “Where did you learn that word? You can’t be grounded, honey. You don’t drive or use the phone,” Kelly explained to her worried daughter.

  “I see TV. Gownding is da worst.” Minuet nodded confidently as she said it. “Can I play Coco? She waiting.”

  Cord had felt the little dog sitting at the back door too. The animal hadn’t made a sound and he’d waited to see if, as he suspected, it communicated with Minuet. Quickly he questioned the relationship. “Who owns Coco?”

  “She is Molly’s,” Kelly explained. “A sweet little border collie who has as much energy as Minuet. They spend hours running each other into the ground with fetch and chase.”

  “Minuet, does Coco ever use words when she talks to you?” he asked seriously.

  “No. She happy,” Minuet responded.

  “This is important.” Cord looked into Minuet’s eyes. “If any animal, even one you know, uses words to talk to you, call me right away. Do you understand? Small animals are easy for bad people to control. Always use words out loud when you talk to them. Do not use mind pictures.”