Yuki Shiro: 0 Absolutes: The Night Parade Read online

  Incensed, I shifted my hand, gripping her wrist instead and placing it against my chest as I leaned down to glare into her eyes.

  “Who showed you worse? I will flay the flesh from their body and make you a pair of boots,” I vowed. My little mate was a delicate, beautiful sprite, and I would not allow anyone to tell me otherwise, not even her.

  Laughing, she patted my chest and shook her head, “It’s okay, Vilhelm Vindorm, it’s okay.” Tilting her head back at the bodies we had left behind, she quirked a brow, “What should we do about those?”

  Oh, yes. I kept forgetting that ‘modern’ humans tended to freak out if they came across random corpses. Whatever happened to the good old days, where you could leave the bodies to return to nature? What a waste of good nutrients.

  With a sigh, I looked over at the corpses. Inhaling deeply, I released a spark of my power, then exhaled a stream of molten fire. Dragon’s breath was fluidic, igniting upon exposure to open air, where it burned white-hot with an intensity capable of melting steel as easily as snow.

  I used only enough flame to turn the corpses to ash, to evaporate the blood, leaving the ground scorched in a circle where the bodies once stood. Then, lifting my hand, I called upon my magic and drew the air from the flames, starving them of fuel, until they died.

  Looking down at my wide-eyed little mate, I queried, “Better?”

  Nodding, looking suitably impressed and awed, she replied, “Better.”

  My chest felt oddly tight at seeing the look on her face and a strange pleasure suffused my body.

  When she looked up at me, she blinked. “You’re blushing?”

  Blushing? Me? Ridiculous. “Dragon’s don’t blush.”

  She laughed, long and loud and with abandon. She laughed so hard, she was forced to lean against my chest for support, apparently unconcerned by the dried, crusty blood coating my exposed chest.

  Unsure of how to respond, I awkwardly patted her back.

  I needed to call my cousin. Maybe she could explain females to me.

  Chapter 16

  Yuki | Shadow Lake, Rocky Mountains, CO | December 6, 2017

  It’s amazing how a smile could completely transform a face.

  When Kurokō smiled, you could see the feline side of his nature, as if you were simply an amusement for his entertainment. When that strange guy, Kincaid, smiled at me, it was a wicked smile that promised naughty things and probably made panties drop around the world, like a rock star.

  Leaning against his firm body for support, I laughed until my sides hurt. Who knew dragons could blush? Apparently, Vilhelm didn’t, and that just amused the hell out of me all out of proportion.

  I mean, here we were, him wearing only a pair of blue jeans, me in jeans, a leather jacket, and a damned bustier, in the middle of nowhere, with the scent of scorched bodies, sulfur, and burning grass filling the air. I felt better than I had in a long time.

  Finally catching my breath, I leaned back, and that’s when I caught his smile as he looked down at me. His chest was covered with blood that had quickly dried from the incredible heat of his body, and I knew I probably didn’t look much better. It’d been a rough day so far, but the moment he saw my face, he smiled, an open and honest expression, and it was the sun illuminating a winter sky, free and open and inviting you to bask in its warmth, no matter how cold it might be. It transformed his arrogant, sharp face into a work of art.

  I thought his grins were sexy, but this open, unabashed smile of simple pleasure—mixed with a bit of confusion at why I was laughing so hard—was worth every bloody moment that preceded it.

  Even if that blood was currently flaking off his chest and smeared on my face. Ugh! And in my hair! Oh fuck, and my new bustier!

  Okay, this was officially no longer a laughing matter.

  Flinging myself back out of his arms, I scrubbed my face in my hands. “Blech! Okay, yeah, we definitely need to get cleaned up now.”

  This time, Vilhelm was the one paralyzed with laughter, and I couldn’t help but grin and glare at him as the big brute howled with far more amusement than the situation warranted.

  Finally managing to gain some control over himself, he offered his hand to me. “Come, my little mate. There is a stream not far from here where we can clean up.”

  Grimacing, I reached out and took his hand, “I’d much prefer a hot shower.”

  Looking down at me from that blasted great height of his, his expression turned considering. “Well,” he offered, slowly, hesitantly, “I have made a temporary lair in one of the cabins at the Estates, in the Sanctuary. It has a shower you could use.”

  Squinting up at him, and damned if it was like trying to look up at the top of a massive tree, I asked suspiciously, “What would it cost me?”

  Looking insulted, his hand tightened reflexively around mine, “Little mate, everything that I have, everything that I am, you already own. It would cost you nothing.” He hesitated, then grudgingly added, “But I feel compelled to warn you that my every instinct is urging me to not only get you someplace safe, but to make you my mate in every possible way.”

  I blamed my own yuki-onna instincts for both the shiver that wracked my body and the mental images of just how thoroughly and completely he could possibly mate with me. Yep, totally a biological response, and apparently, my biological responses were kinky girls, because wow, some of those mental images?

  I really hoped that he couldn’t smell the arousal that pooled between my legs over the other smells around us.

  Clearing my throat, I tugged on his hand, “Right, we’ll deal with that when it comes up.” Ecchi! I was becoming a pervert! “For now, I just need a shower.”

  He flashed me a grin, one that revealed he had most definitely scented my arousal—damned shapeshifters and their enhanced senses—but dipped his head in a low bow. “Then, my little mate, it would be my great honor to take you to our lair so you may cleanse yourself.” He tilted his head, his grin turning decidedly boyish. “Have you ever ridden a dragon?”

  Biting my bottom lip, I glared up at him, trying to see if he had actually said what I thought he said.

  With a sigh, I shook my head, “No, I’ve never ‘ridden’ a dragon.” In any sense of the word.

  Releasing my hand, Vilhelm backed away from me, still giving me that wide, boyish grin. Shrugging eloquently, he said, “Audrick would skin me if he knew I was doing this, but you’re my mate, and I wish for you to see the real me.”

  Who’s going to say no to seeing a real dragon?

  He seemed to be waiting for my response, so I went with a hurrying motion, “Go on then, Vilhelm Vindorm, hurry up so we can go get cleaned up!”

  With another one of those precious, deep laughs, he spread his arms wide, threw his head back, and ROARED!

  His flesh tore away from his body, his jeans shredding as his entire body expanded swiftly. I felt the displacement of the air, the wind rushing past my body in a heatwave as the power that had been constrained within his human prison was released.

  In the blink of an eye, before the echo of his thunderous roar had faded, Vilhelm Vindorm went from looking like a mountain of a man to being a mountain of a dragon.

  He was mind-bogglingly massive in scale. Even the word enormous doesn’t do him proper justice, not in his true, dragon form.

  He had to be at least the width of a football field from the tip of his snout to the end of his tail, with a wingspan easily the full length of the field. And yes, I mean an American football field in size. Granted, most of his length was in his tail, which was as long as the rest of his body, but the sheer scale of him was breathtaking.

  His scales were crystal clear, glittering like a million diamonds in the low-hanging sun, and even the membrane of his wings was a nearly translucent ivory. His head, surmounting a long, graceful neck, was a cross between an arrow-shaped wedge ending in a long, crocodilian maw, and covered with fine scales, with a thick, silvery-white mane that gave him a wild, feral appearance.
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br />   A massive upper body led to a much smaller waist, with powerful arms and legs that ended in webbed, taloned hands and feet, giving his actual body an almost feline appearance, with a supple back and agile tail.

  As he leaned down, his thick chest brushing the ground, he stretched out that head slowly toward me, almost hesitant as he watched me with those enormous raptor-like eyes. A nictitating membrane flicked briefly over the opalescent orbs, but even in the depths of those inhuman eyes, I saw Vilhelm.

  When his massive…sorry, I’ve run out of synonyms for fucking big here…head paused a few feet away, yet close enough I could feel the warm air of his deep breaths, I stepped forward and lightly placed my hand on the ridge between his nostrils; right above a mouth that could easily swallow me and my motorcycle in a single gulp, and still have room for more.

  He huffed and rubbed his head against my hand, all the while giving what he probably thought was a soft purr, but it made the entire ground vibrate like a miniature earthquake.

  With a laugh, I shook my head. “Alright, Vilhelm Vindorm, where do you want me?” Yeah, I know, I was still using his full name, but he was a dragon! Even I knew better than to piss of a dragon, even if he was claiming that you were his mate.

  Pulling his head back, his serpentine neck rearing upward in a curve that allowed him to keep his watchful eyes on me, he reached out a taloned hand, keeping his fingers spread wide as he held up his palm.

  I could lay down on his palm and still have room to sprawl. My bed back in my apartment in Tokyo was smaller than his hand.

  Stepping into his hand, I put my faith in the dragon who called me his mate.

  With a deep, rumbling chuff that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, he lifted me upward toward his head, while his mind once more reached out and gently caressed my own, seeking permission to enter my thoughts.

  ‘Climb upon the back of my head, at the base of my skull. Hold on to my mane, little mate.’

  No wonder he called me little mate. I mean, he dwarfed me even in his human form, and having long since resigned myself to being five-foot-nothing, I was used to all the short jokes and ‘chibi’ comments, but to him, I really was a little thing.

  I really hoped he didn’t squash me like a bug.

  He chuffed again, bringing me around as he twisted his head, drawing me dangerously close to that maw of his. ‘You are no bug, my little mate. You are safe with me. Nature and the Fates made us to be together. Even your coldness means that you can fly with me as high as we wish, and you will be unaffected by the temperatures up there.’ He paused, tilting his head thoughtfully, like an oversized puppy, ‘Although, I do not know about your need to breathe. Can you survive in high altitudes?’

  Rolling my eyes, I patted his palm, the one with creases large enough for my hand to be caught in. Yikes. “Yes, Vilhelm Vindorm, I can survive without oxygen for quite a while. I don’t need much oxygen to survive, although I’ve never attempted it in a vacuum, so let’s not try, okay? Stay in Earth’s atmosphere, and I should be okay.”

  ‘Dragons do not go into outer space,’ he snorted disdainfully, a gust of hot breath once more mussing my hair. ‘We are not aliens from another world, we lived here long before humanity arrived.’

  “Oh, I don’t know about that,” I muttered, thinking about some of the racy romance novels I had read back in college.

  His eyes dilated, the pupils going from the size of monster truck tires to the size of a coin, and I realized he was still in my mind, and seeing some of the particularly racy scenes that I had apparently memorized from re-reading them so often.

  Giving that rumbling chuff that served as laughter, Vilhelm lifted me up into position at the nape of his neck. ‘For the record, my little mate, know that I am already falling in love with you.’

  I swallowed. How did you respond to a statement like that, coming from a creature that even monsters considered to be little more than legends anymore?

  Burying my face in his thick mane, I wrapped my thighs around the sinuous length of his neck. Without waiting for a response, the titan between my legs leapt up into the air and took flight.

  It was a short flight, made easier by the magic I could feel thrumming through his body. His scales caught and distorted the light, and bolstered by the flows of magic he wrapped around himself, it rendered him invisible to sight. Even his flight was nearly silent, as his massive wings caught the air and propelled himself forward.

  Yes, I was completely unafraid. I had nothing to fear from falling, from the cold, thin air, or from the dragon beneath me. That didn’t make it any less thrilling, however. I’d become the wind, ridden the air currents, but to ride upon a dragon’s back, to feel the pulse of muscles flexing beneath me, the beat of his wings, the rush of the winds that adored him? It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

  I might have released some squeals of delight. Maybe. They were more ladylike sounds of amusement, surely.

  He soared up over a peak before banking downward, entering a deep, wide valley, and I felt the warm, inviting tingle of power that indicated we had entered the Sanctuary. We swiftly flew over what looked to be a recreation of a medieval European village, complete with its own stone fortress and surrounded by empty fields. The village seemed to be abandoned, with only a few people visible going about whatever they were doing, but what truly dominated the entire valley was the large castle straight out of a fairy tale that loomed to the west atop a cliff, giving it no doubt breathtaking views of the rest of the valley.

  Beyond the castle, barely visible amongst the canopy of evergreens, small cabins peaked out through the trees. It was toward one of these cabins, located high atop one of the slopes of the valley, that Vilhelm flew us.

  Before I even had a chance to wonder how he would land, he chuffed and mentally stroked my mind, ‘Just trust me, little mate.’

  Fuck. Whenever someone said, ‘trust me,’ they were about to do something stupid. Yet, no sooner had I tensed up, trying to brace myself for whatever dumb, guy stunt he was going to pull, he snatched me in his paw…claw…dragon-mitt, whatever…and pulled in his dragon.

  Suddenly, I found myself cradled in his thick arms, held against his chest like a baby, one hand tucking my head into the crook of his warm neck, as his outspread wings flared out to catch our plummeting bodies as he reverted to his dragon-man form.

  Alighting upon the ground with nary a jolt, he grinned down at me. “Welcome to our temporary lair, my little mate.”

  Bastard.

  ❆❅❆

  Vilhelm | Cœur de Lyon Estates, Shadow Lake, CO | December 6, 2017

  Burying my face once more in her fragrant hair, I luxuriated in the scent of my mate, in the feel of her safe and secure in my arms. Although this was only a temporary lair, I had already infused it with my magic, and it had a secret basement that led into a deep, hidden cave that would be perfect for later.

  Reluctantly allowing her to slip free of my arms, I opened the door to the large A-frame that had been secured for the duration of my stay here. I grunted in satisfaction as I saw the neatly ordered piles of my Wally World looting, while my little mate, Yuki, looked around.

  Turning to face me, she blinked, her eyes traveling briefly downward, before they jerked back up to meet mine. The dark, rich brown of her eyes was suspiciously bright, and a faint pink flush dusted her cheeks. Clearing her throat, she said “I have to admit, I half-expected to find you living in a cave.”

  Drawing myself up to my full, formidable height, which only made her grin and shake her head, I gave her a flat look. “I may be a rampaging beast and claim a Viking heritage, but I do appreciate modern conveniences, little mate.”

  She set her hands on her hips, glaring up at me, which only made my own grin break free. “When are you going to stop calling me ‘little mate’? I do have a name, you know.”

  Reaching out, I traced a finger along her delicate, upturned jaw. “You will always be my little mate,” I said simply and shrugg
ed. “And perchance I’ll use your name at the same time you cease referring to me by my full name.”

  Her outraged look morphed into a sheepish smile, “Fair enough.”

  Shrugging out of her jacket, she tossed it onto a chair and looked around. “Which way is your bathroom?”

  Ah. I’d allow her to change the subject for now. Besides, I had something to do while she was in the shower. Something that, unfortunately, did not include joining her quite yet.

  I pointed up the stairs that led to the loft, “The master’s bathing room is up in the loft. Please, feel free to make yourself at home, my Yuki. You are safe here. I need to make a phone call, but if you need me for anything, do not hesitate to summon me.”

  She gave me a strange look, one that made her look oddly vulnerable, before she turned away once more and disappeared up the stairs.

  Eying the strange shirt she was wearing, which left her shoulders and arms completely bare and cinched in her waist, I couldn’t help the warm glow at seeing the silver dragons decorating the silky fabric. Yes, I would most definitely need to bedeck her in dragons that more closely resembled my glorious form. Those sickly-looking dragons were pathetic.

  Reaching down, I idly rearranged my testicles where they had stuck to my inner thigh, as I looked around for my mobile phone. Mammals and their external testes. Inconvenient.

  Ah, yes. I had probably left my phone in my pants, which were shredded and scattered to the four winds by now.

  With a sigh, I walked over to the briefcase that had been delivered by Audrick earlier in the day. Flipping it open, I pulled out another unopened phone, going through the ritual I had memorized by now as I fired it up and transferred my account to the new device.