Releasing the Dragon Read online

  Except I’m not doing a very good job of controlling it now, am I? he asked himself angrily. But he couldn’t help it. Seeing the female he had been Dream-Sharing with for the past three solar months leave to go be with another male—a male all his senses told him was not to be trusted—was almost more than either he or his Drake could bear.

  Abruptly, Dru knew he had to go—he had to leave before he lost control of his darker half completely and shifted here and now into the Drake. It was that close to the surface—so close he could almost taste the fire in his throat and feel its wings beating the air. If it came out here and now, in this crowded building, innocent people were going to die horrible deaths—all because he couldn’t control the Drake’s jealous rage.

  Turning, he left quickly, exiting through the red and orange lighted doorway he had come in by. He had to get control of himself—control of his Drake—before he did something he would regret forever.

  Seven

  Annie saw him leave from the corner of her eye just as she settled herself on a stool beside Christian.

  Good, she thought defiantly. Go on and leave—nobody asked you to come in the first place. Or to invade my dreams for that matter. Now maybe I can do what I came here for. But she couldn’t help the twinge of unease she felt when she saw Dru’s large figure exit through the festively-lighted doorway. What if he’d somehow been right about Christian? What if—?

  “Hey, I was wondering if you were ever going to show up,” Christian said in her ear. His breath was heavy with scotch fumes but he seemed to be talking clearly enough. Maybe he’d had just enough to loosen up which was why he’d approached her in the first place.

  “Sorry about that.” Annie turned to him with an apologetic smile. “It just took me a while to extricate myself.”

  “Trouble in paradise?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that guy your husband or—”

  “No, no—nothing like that,” Annie hastened to assure him. “I actually just met him in person tonight for the first time and he kind of…followed me here.”

  “Oh, on-line date?” Christian asked.

  Annie thought of the strange dreams where Dru had huge, dark wings sprouting from his back and the deep, inhuman voice that growled, “Mine!”

  “Um, something like that.” She laughed weakly. “So anyway, how have you been? I haven’t seen you since graduation.”

  “Likewise, pretty Annie. Here, come into the light so I can see you better.” Christian drew her into a puddle of light that was beaming down from a dim bulb placed over one corner of the bar and Annie let him. “Wow,” he murmured, looking her over. “Amy told me you were different but I didn’t believe her—you’ve changed so much. You’re gorgeous now!”

  It was exactly the kind of thing Annie had imagined him saying to her but somehow she couldn’t seem to take much pleasure in it. For one thing his words implied that she hadn’t been gorgeous before—which was technically true—but it seemed kind of rude to point it out. And for the second, the scotch fumes on his breath were really strong and he was getting too close—it made her want to wince away from him. She held her ground uneasily, afraid she might offend him.

  “You’ve changed too,” she said and it certainly wasn’t a lie. In the slightly stronger light, she could see that Christian’s hair was no longer the gold of melted honey. Or if it was, it was really hard to tell because there was less of it—a lot less. Clearly male pattern baldness ran in his family which was kind of too bad—his hair had always been one of his best features. Also, he had a definite beer gut straining the buttons of the cheap white shirt he was wearing.

  Then Annie realized what she was doing—judging someone solely by their appearance, just like Michelle Prouty.

  I’m not like that—I’m not that person, she told herself firmly. Christian was always nice to me in high school when almost no one else was. He didn’t judge me by my appearance then so I’m not going to judge him by his now. He’s a beautiful person on the inside—right?

  Plus, his eyes were as sky-blue as ever, even if they did have bags under them now. Wow, he looked like he hadn’t been getting enough sleep for a long time. Annie wondered if he was all right.

  “So what do you do for work?” she asked as casually as she could, trying to keep the conversation going.

  “Me? Oh you know…” He waved vaguely. “I’m in management. Fast food management, actually.”

  Fast food management? What does that mean? Does he run a Burger King or something? But she didn’t like to ask out loud—it might hurt Christian’s feelings.

  “Oh, that sounds very…rewarding,” she said instead.

  “Yeah, right.” Christian snorted. “How about you, pretty Annie? What do you do now? Are you a writer? You certainly were good at that in high school.” He nudged her and grinned. “Mrs. Hampstead our English teacher sure thought so, right? All those papers you helped me with…”

  Actually, she’d written every paper line for line but Annie wasn’t going to quibble about details.

  “I’m not exactly a writer—although my job does involve some creative writing. I’m a game designer for Oculus Chasm.” She couldn’t keep the pride and excitement out of her voice.

  “Oh yeah?” Christian asked. “What’s that—the, uh, virtual reality thingy you put on your head?”

  “Right.” She nodded. “Right now I’m working on a new game that’s specifically targeted at women. Did you know that forty-eight percent of on-line gamers are women but there are almost no games aimed at them? It’s ridiculous, really—the same way Hollywood aims so many movies at men in the 18-29 age group and doesn’t even consider that women spend money on movies too.”

  Christian made a face.

  “Christ, don’t tell me you went and became a feminist. That would be a damn shame, sweetheart. Especially now you’re finally thin enough to be fuckable.”

  “What?” Annie felt as though he’d slapped her. It was the same kind of thing her last Love Match date had said when she revealed what she did for a living. But at least he hadn’t referenced her weight and said she was “fuckable” while he was at it!

  Christian seemed to realize he had upset her because he made a soothing gesture with his hands.

  “Hey—sorry about that. Too much scotch, you know? I’m not drunk but my mouth is getting ahead of my brain a little. Forgive me, okay pretty Annie?”

  “Um, sure.” Annie tried to smile at him but she couldn’t help thinking her first meeting with Christian since graduation wasn’t exactly going as she had envisioned it. In fact, her fantasy was getting further and further from reality.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” Christian gave her the old, charming smile she’d loved so much in high school. “I feel like I owe you one after all the help you gave me back in the day. I never would have gotten through English Lit without you.”

  “Oh…okay.” Annie nodded. “I’d like a strawberry daiquiri please—a virgin one,” she added, thinking that she didn’t need any alcohol clouding her judgment right now.

  “A virgin daiquiri? That’s no fun!” Christian complained. “I’m going to have another double scotch—why don’t you join me?”

  “No, a virgin daiquiri will be fine, thank you,” Annie said firmly. “I have to work tomorrow,” she added, which wasn’t exactly true. She had just finished a project and the new one she was working on was still in the conceptual phase. As soon as she finished writing up the story script she would seek approval from the managing designer but in the interim, she was on her own working from home. So she didn’t technically have to work on the weekends although she often did, just because she loved her job. It was a good excuse though.

  “All right, all right. Hey you—another double scotch on the rocks and a virgin strawberry for the pretty lady here,” Christian shouted too loudly at the bartender who was in the middle of serving another couple.

  Annie winced in embarrassment as the bartender turned a baleful eye on Christian and gave a short, s