Releasing the Dragon Read online

  As the shadow hand started to draw the nut—tiny dog and all—into Slo’vv’s chest, Annie couldn’t be still any more.

  “Oh no, please don’t!” she exclaimed before she could stop herself. “You’ll kill it!”

  There was a collective gasp from everyone in the room and they all stared at her and then at Slo’vv to see how the shadow-being would take her remark.

  Dru frowned and his eyes slitted open briefly to reveal the inner fire as he took a step that put himself between her and Slo’vv.

  “Forgive my x’aan-chow—she has a tender heart,” he growled and gave Annie a warning look.

  Slo’vv’s yellow eyes turned suddenly red but when he spoke, his hissing voice was mild.

  “That iss all right—it iss perfectly true that I decimate and destroy whatever I take within me. It iss my nature as a Shade-being to do so.” He leaned forward, focusing on Annie which made her shiver. “If you are sso fond of thiss little beast, you may have it, my dear. If you are willing to come and take it from my hand.”

  “Annie…” Dru’s voice held a warning growl but Annie chose not to hear it. Straightening her shoulders, she took a deep breath and nodded.

  “All right.”

  Dru didn’t try to stop her but he stayed protectively close as she crawled forward until she was right in front of the shadow-being—or Shade-being as he apparently called himself. This close to him she felt as though a chilly wind was blowing against her mostly-exposed skin.

  More than anything, Annie didn’t want to touch him—didn’t want to make contact with the weird, shadowy stuff that seemed to make up his body. But the poor little dog was whining and crouching low in the purple walnut and she knew if she didn’t take it away from him, Slo’vv would kill it, as surely as he had killed the everything plant and the light-up music cube.

  Taking a deep breath, she reached for the nut. She tried not to touch Slo’vv as she took it, but as she picked the nut with its precious contents out of his hand, tendrils of his shadowy black substance curled upward and traced along the bottom of her palm.

  Immediately her mind was filled with horrible ideas.

  Dru hates me and can’t wait to get rid of me…The minute I get home I’ll be fired from my job…My parents are dead—they got in car wreck and I didn’t even get to say goodbye…

  Then she was snatching the jewel-box purple walnut away from the creepy Shadow-being and throwing herself backward, away from him.

  Dru leaned down and caught her as she clutched the nut with the tiny dog protectively to her chest. Annie barely felt his hands. She was staring with wide eyes at Slo’vv who was regarding her with a disturbingly hungry look in his yellow eyes.

  “Mosst intriguing,” he hissed, staring at Annie. “You have courage, my dear. And your fear iss also mosst tasty…”

  The horrible thoughts were gone but Annie still felt like about a thousand spiders had just crawled all over her skin. She said nothing but held the nut safe in her hand. Inside it, the little dog had stopped whimpering and she felt a tiny, warm wet tongue lick her thumb gratefully.

  “It’s all right, little guy,” she whispered. “Everything is all right—I’m not going to let him have you.”

  “I think we had best go,” Dru remarked. Leaning down, he swung her up into his arms. “It seems my x’aan-chow is…tired after a long day of travel and excitement.”

  “Very well, Drugair. I thank you for your giftsss…and for the taste of your pet’sss fear.” Slo’vv’s high, hissing voice seemed to echo in Annie’s head. “I hope we may expect to ssee you at dinner shortly?”

  “Yes. Yes, of course.” Dru nodded shortly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must see to my pet.”

  Still holding Annie, he bowed his head briefly and turned, taking her away from the freaky Shadow-being to Annie’s great relief.

  Sixteen

  “You should not have done that.” Dru paced the room, his Drake roaring within him, angry at the perceived danger to the female he wanted to claim as a mate.

  But Annie refused to look chastened or remorseful. She lifted her chin and frowned at him.

  “You shouldn’t have given him a living thing! How could you possibly think of letting him kill this poor little guy?”

  She held up her palm where the tiny canine frisked and played, barking with high, almost inaudible joy.

  “I did not know it was a real canine,” Dru growled, frowning down at her. “I thought it was some clever kind of toy. But regardless of its status, you should have let Slo’vv have it! Now that he has gifted it to you, you are in his debt.”

  “In his debt?” Annie shivered, looking worried for the first time. “How…what am I supposed to do to pay him?” She made a face. “Nothing sexual, I hope. Because I’ll be your x’aan-chow and follow you around like a good little kitty but there are limits.”

  “I will have to try and find him another gift to erase the one you owe him.” Dru sighed, making a mental inventory of the items he had left. He had given the best ones to the Shadow-Demon already and he wasn’t certain if anything that remained would suffice. After all, what could be equal to Annie’s curvy, goddess-kissed beauty?

  “Well maybe we won’t be here long enough for him to demand another gift,” she suggested hopefully, breaking his train of thought. “After all, we’re just trying to find out about that Zar’ren guy right—about what he has planned for the Mother Ship?”

  “Yes, but that is easier said than done,” Dru pointed out darkly. “Zar’ren is notoriously tight-lipped until he is ready to reveal himself.”

  “I bet I can get at least some information from his x’aan-chows,” Annie said thoughtfully. “Aren’t we going to dinner in a few minutes?”

  Dru nodded. “We are.”

  “I’ll see if I can talk to them then. Remember, I’m your man on the ground. Or your woman on the ground, I guess.” She smiled at him and then looked thoughtful. “You know, speaking of getting information, there’s something strange about the girls Zar’ren brought with him. Especially the little one—that Tatti.”

  Dru scowled. “I know it might seem strange and heartless for him to bring a virgin and invite others to despoil her but I assure you, Zar’ren is capable of that and many other cruelties.”

  “Yes, that’s awful,” Annie agreed. “But there’s something strange about Tatti—something I can’t quite put my finger on. She—”

  Just then a huge gonging sound reverberated through the entire Shadow Palace and they both jumped.

  “Oh my God!” Annie pressed a hand to her chest. “What in the world?”

  “That’s simply the summons to Last Meal—or dinner as they call it here,” Dru explained. “Come—put your tiny canine back in his shell. Food and drink are provided by the nut that houses him and too much time spent outside it will weaken him.”

  Annie looked like she wanted to protest but when she heard this, she nodded and placed the tiny canine back inside the wrinkled purple nut shell. The moment he got inside it, he settled tiredly on the blue satin cushion and promptly went to sleep.

  Carefully, Annie shut the lid and placed it on a nearby night table beside the vast bed which dominated the sleeping chamber Dru had been assigned. She looked up at him, her ears pricked forward and her tail lashing.

  “All right—I’m ready to go.”

  Dru sighed deeply. He didn’t like taking her to Slo’vv’s table, especially feeling that she owed the Shade-being a favor. But there was little else he could do. Within, his Drake roared angrily, proclaiming that their female was in danger and they ought to leave at once and take her someplace safe.

  “Hush,” Dru told it. “We cannot go yet. I must complete my mission.”

  But the Drake was not happy as he picked up Annie’s leash again and led her out of their rooms and down the plushly carpeted corridor to the dining area.

  The dining room was a grand affair that looked like something out of Arabian Nights, Annie thought. There was a long,