A Dangerous Legacy Pt. 18

I blushed, remembering dragons had similar senses to a wolf's. "We're just here to rest until Francine comes back. Then you'll have you turn to fly free, we make a couple more stops, and we're done."

"I don't know. Remember how good it was before love came? When it was all animalistic heat?"

If anyone had been animalistic with my pack, it had been me. The men I knew had lived centuries as slaves, had a yearning deep inside them that made them skirt the system but look for any weakness to exploit. They were good, honest men, and these brothers were not that same. In this world they were never slaves. Who knew what they would be like?

"Not really," I simply offered and sipped the bland ale.

"And here, should I know you to be safe, I can do what perhaps Francine is doing, and take a male dragon for my lover. You have no idea the ecstasy of making love in flight, soaring above the earth-"

"Ladies," Julian said, cutting her off.

Next to me Andre slid onto the bench, across from him Pierre did., Julian bore four trenchers and set them down with a smile. "Mistress witch and lady dragon, may I present to you my brothers, Pierre, and Andre, protector of the town. Gentlemen, this is Anna and Nadine."

"Um, nice to meet you. And thanks for the food," I managed.

"On the house," Julian said and scurried away as a large party of brawny wolves came in through the door.

"What brings such a high, and beautiful, witch to our fair hamlet?" Andre asked in his baritone rumble.

"Just passing through. We are meeting a friend here."

Pierre smiled and moved closer to Nadine. "And who is this friend?"

Nadine shoved him back. "My sister. And I've had wolf, never developed a taste for it. Try her."

"Some bodyguard you are," I said in English, and Andre smiled, but Pierre did not.

"And where do you hail from?" Andre tried.

I picked up my spoon, not a fork in sight, and tried the stew. It was heavenly, as were all Julian's meals, but lighter on spices. Hell, by my calculations the world had progressed to only the fifteenth century, despite being the twenty-first.

Crap...an entire race enslaved versus a world without penicillin.

"America," I said and was met with blank looks.

"The New World?" Nadine tried.

"Ah, a wild place," Pierre said, a sparkle in his eye as if he daydreamed of adventure.

"Why should it matter?" I asked Andre.

He leaned in close, and I caught Andre's natural scent covered by something foreign and pure, like mountain air. Familiar and foreign combined in the most arousing manner and I could tell he noticed.

"I am Alpha here, this is my town. All who come and go are my business. And any witch who deigns to rub elbows with wolves is solely my business."

"What? Our...species don't spend time together here?"

"The New World must be very different," Pierre quipped.

"You can say that again," Nadine drawled, clearly interested in the show but taking her responsibility seriously.

"In the civilized world, of course not. Your kind are the makers of mine. No witch would be seen with any 'mongrel' unless we were needed for some shit duty."

Eep. "Where I come from it's completely different."

"I hear the New World is crawling with humans, one of the last holdout on both the south and north continent." Pierre polished off his food and set his empty plate atop Nadine's.

"Yes," I hedged, knowing the building I had purchased still existed, but I had seen nothing else of the city. Perhaps it existed, perhaps it didn't, and it the building had vanished as we left. Magic was still such an uncertain entity to me.

"So you have known wolves before?" Andre drawled, trailing a finger along my arm.

I had never seen him like this. The emanating power was the same, but the aloof control was gone. The rigidity was missing. All that was left was a cocky playfulness so different than the childlike wonderings I was used to.

"Er-"

"Are you the type who so enjoy humiliating one of your makers?" Nadine asked, beautiful dark eyes narrowed.

Andre laughed. "Never humiliate."

Pierre's smile sparkled. "But making one scream in pleasure, controlling her body, hearing her beg for the boon only we can grant?"

"Always," Andre said.

Damn it but that shot arousal through me. This was truly dark temptation, they could teach Malachai and any sorcerer a thing or two.

"All three of you," I said, knowing that damn line had appeared between my brows.

"Anna?" Nadine questioned.

"Kinky," Andre laughed.

"And perfect."

"Pierre, get them two rooms, the ones up top that connect. Will that be close enough for you to guard your lady's body?" Andre turned to Nadine.

"Ugh. I'm going to need some wine."

"Finish your meal and follow my brother upstairs to your room. Julian and I will join you when our daily business is concluded." With that Andre left abruptly, his meal untouched.

Pierre pulled it over, spilled half into the empty trencher and split it thoughtfully with Nadine.

"Well, there's that aloofness."

Pierre raised an eyebrow but when I didn't reply finished the food and stood. "I'll go make arrangements, and the food tonight, the wine we'll send up, and the morning meal will be billed together tomorrow."

I watched him go, wondering at this. "Why am I doing this?"

"Because, if you'll pardon the expression, you're only human...so to speak. None of us are free of our baser urges. You need to know if this world is the better or ours. Sometimes such heavy decisions cannot be made trying to see all the forest, merely the trees you planted."

"Come again?"

She sighed. "Fuck them. Talk to them. Learn what you can about them. When we go back we will have a chance to truly create this world. Think of them when the time comes, both sets of men."

It seemed a most callous parsimony. Shaking it of, I remembered our conversation before the men arrived at our table. "You mentioned two things from that king's dream. Two major differences."

"Cultural retardation."

"No forks, no buttons on clothes, gas lamps...I'd say that king's dream may have been a vision of this."

"Well damn. You're not gonna like the second oddity."

"Lay it on me."

She shifted uncomfortably. "Here wolves are not slaves, neither are dragons, not even vampires. But witches and sorcerers still need slave labor. Here the humans who wander too far from their hidden villages are snatched up. In this world, all humans are slaves."