Chapter 50

"Your plan sounds risky." Beau didn't mind taking the occasional risk himself but he discovered that he was violently opposed to the idea of Dana putting herself in danger.
"If the security looks like we can't beat it at the new location, we can always call for back up. I know a couple of other dragons in England, and Bram's friend from Interpol is a werewolf."
It made sense and he tipped his chin in silent concession. He still didn't like it. Dana, however, wouldn't take well to being coddled, so he decided the safest course was to change the subject. "You are in regular contact with other dragons?" He had no idea what dragon, or half-dragon society was like.
"We're not a large population, so it's fairly easy to stay in touch." She finished her beer and gestured to the waitress across the room to bring her another. "Not everyone, of course but Bram made sure I was part of the community, even though I never met our father."
"So your mother was human?"
They paused for a moment while the waitress brought their meals and fresh drinks, then a little longer to take their first bites. Watching Dana sink her teeth into a rare cheeseburger made Beau's jeans uncomfortably tight. Trying to focus on his own fish and chips didn't help. After they'd both swallowed, she resumed the conversation.
"Bram and I are only half-siblings," she told him. "Both our mothers were human. Our father...well...got around is probably the nicest way to say it. He made a habit of knocking up humans and then running off. We have two other half-brothers too. One of them lives in Scotland, so that's how I got to know the dragons on this side of the pond. Anyway, once Bram grew up, he went looking for his father and kept tabs on him. When I came along, Bram stuck around to help my mother out. Once she figured out I wasn't quite human, my mother dumped me on him and split. Not even a Christmas card until she died when I was in college."
"I will never understand how a parent could abandon a child," Beau growled. "What about your father?"
"He died in a fight with another dragon when I was little," Dana said. "Apparently the woman he was messing with that time was mated to another drake. Since my father never believed in mating for life, he didn't bother to respect it in others. The angry husband ripped his throat out. Ironically, that was another of his sons, my oldest brother Adrian. He and his mate live in California and don't talk to any of us, though Bram and Carrick have assured him that nobody blames him a bit."
"So some dragons do mate for life?" Even though he knew this was risky ground, Beau couldn't resist asking the question.
Dana's skin flushed and her eyes darted down to inspect her food. "Sometimes. Bram and Twyla are. Once a dragon makes the commitment, it's usually permanent."
There was something she wasn't telling him. He scratched the reopened bite mark on his shoulder with one hand and ate a cod fillet with the other. He made a mental note to pick up some vegetables when they stopped at the grocery store before heading back to the flat. Even though they both had super-human metabolisms, they shouldn't exist on nothing but deep fried food and beer.
"So are all dragons shifters, then? They must be, if they can mate with humans - or pixies." He remembered Dana's petite sister-in-law from the wedding, remembered thinking that the babe she was expecting would be an interesting mix of dragon and pixie.
"Yep. Even as a half, I can shift into dragon form, though I'm smaller than a full-blooded bronze would be. In my neutral state, I'm still mostly human but with wings and fangs and tiny little horns on the top of my head."
"I'd like to see that someday," Beau said with a grin. "Though perhaps not in your microscopic flat."
"You're right - my wings would probably go right through those flimsy walls." She waggled her eyebrows and chuckled. "Tell you what, big guy. There's a park near my house that's wooded and totally secluded at night. You show me yours, I'll show you mine. I've never seen a gargoyle in your natural form."
"You're sure it's safe?" A chance to stretch his own wings would be welcome and the thought of seeing Dana in all her dragonny glory was as erotic as hell.
"I can cast a circle," Dana added. "Make sure nobody feels like wandering into that part of the park for an hour or so. Come on, it'll be fun."
Of that he had no doubt. Just being with Dana made the world a sunnier place.
Dana finished calling the winds and closing the magical circle she'd set in the small wooded grove. She'd found this place in a little-used city park her first week in London and had used it whenever she needed a chance to meditate and commune with nature.
They'd stopped for groceries, then taken their purchases back to her flat, pausing only long enough to put the food away and for Dana to pick up a few candles and other ritual supplies. She always consecrated the grove before performing any rituals in it and somehow she felt that sharing her true nature with Beau and seeing his in return, counted as a sacrament.
Tonight she also cast a small obscuring spell, reassuring her that no one outside the circle would have a clear view of anything that happened within. Then she stepped into the center, smiled at Beau and slowly pulled her shirt off over her head. "Your turn."
Beau stood in the clearing, feet shoulder-width apart and tugged off his snug black polo shirt. They'd both already set their shoes aside and he added his shirt to the pile of his sneakers, Dana's purse and her flip flops. Dana dropped hers onto the heap and opened the button on her jeans.