Dragon Heat by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 16

“Oh, no.” Melina’s face fell as soon as Azure opened the door. “You look depressed. What happened?” She walked into Azure’s chamber. “You need to tell me everything.”

“It was a disaster.” Azure smiled, despite what she had just said. “I think I did it all wrong. That’s not entirely true; it did work, only not on Ice.” Azure shook her head.

“I brought wine.” Melina held up a bottle. “It’s a lovely oaky chardonnay.”

“Sounds good.” That was the thing about wine; it always sounded better than it actually tasted. Anyway, she’d drink it. Melina had been kind enough to give up more of her own time to be there, and she’d brought the wine. Azure noted that she carried a bag with her as well. It was casually slung over her shoulder.

Melina put it down in the living room and followed Azure into the kitchen. Placing two wine glasses on the counter, she handed Melina a bottle opener.

Melina got to work opening the wine. “What happened? Tell me all of it.”

“At first, I thought it might be working. Not that I had done anything much to begin with, mind you.” She shrugged. “Ice seemed off his game the whole day. Not himself. It might have been something else. I definitely can’t assume it was because of me. It more than likely was something else bugging him. He just seemed distracted.”

“Was he looking at you a whole lot, or not at all?” Melina asked, pulling the cork. She started pouring.

“Not that I noticed. I decided to try to step it up after I made a kill; we were about to head back to the lair, and it felt like a good time. I shifted back into my human form and I noticed him looking, so I did that move you showed me.”

“Which one?” Melina asked animatedly, her eyes wide.

“The one where I hold my hair up, close my eyes, and tilt my head up. I groaned as well and mentioned how muggy it was.”

Melina laughed, sounding excited. “That’s great.”

“You made me practice it twenty times last night, so I had it down,” Azure said. She wanted to laugh about the whole thing, but she couldn’t, not after what had happened. “Don’t get too excited yet. I haven’t told you everything. At this point, he was looking at me…he was looking plenty. In fact, I was so sure I could see desire written in his eyes. They were narrowed on me and smoldering. His jaw was tight.”

“Did he look angry?” Melina’s eyes were wide.

Azure gave a nod. “He did.” Melina had told her that a look of desire and anger were easy to confuse. Just because a male looked angry in certain circumstances didn’t mean that he was. She had seen the look that Melina spoke of. Ice had it. He did! She might not know how to seduce a male, but she knew desire when she saw it. Maybe she was just being a hopeful fool. She couldn’t trust herself where he was concerned.

Melina took a sip of her wine. “Go on. What happened next?”

Azure took a sip of her own wine. It was actually pretty good. “I had blood all over me from killing a moose bull.”

“Ewwww.” The human made a face. “That’s disgusting.”

“I hunt and kill game for our tribe to eat. That’s what I do. It means that there’s blood sometimes…in fact, most times.” Azure shrugged. Humans could be so weird. They ate meat but couldn’t handle the thought of an animal dying, or blood. How did they think that meat got on their plate? She didn’t say any of that. “We make a quick, clean kill. The animals don’t suffer. The moose I killed today was dead before he knew what had happened to him.”

Melina took a big sip of her wine. She flapped her hand. “I didn’t mean to be rude. On to the good stuff…what happened next?”

“Seeing him looking at me like that made me bold. I first complained about the muggy heat, and then I complained about being dirty by rubbing my hand over my belly and between my breasts. You said to do something to draw his gaze to erogenous zones, right?”

“Definitely.” Melina nodded. “You did exactly the right thing.”

“Sun and Fog were ogling me so hard I thought their eyes might fall out of their skulls. It was pretty funny.”

“And Ice?”

“He was looking too. Not like them.” She shrugged. “There was a big, beautiful lake right there.”

“You didn’t!” Melina leaned forward.

“I did.”

Melina squealed so hard it hurt her ears. “You are the best student I have ever had.” She looked up at the ceiling for a second. “Not that I’ve ever taught someone how to seduce a man, but still. You picked it all up so quickly. Please tell me that you suggested a swim?”

“That’s exactly what I did. I had hoped that Ice would join, but he didn’t. It was Sun and Fog instead.”

Melina giggled and clapped her hands. “Tell me why that is still good?” Melina lifted her brows.

Azure explained like a dutiful student, “Having other guys looking at me and showing interest in me will hopefully make him jealous. I don’t know how comfortable I am with that part.”

“Tell me what happened next, because so far, it all sounds perfect. We’ll chat about your concerns after I have the bigger picture.”

“We were fooling around in the water. Splashing each other. Dunking one another. The males were picking me up and tossing me into the deeper part of the lake, and then Ice whistled and told us it was time to go.”

“Okay.” Melina sipped more wine and nodded for her to go on.

“I took my time getting out of the water.”

“So that the drops could cascade down your naked body,” Melina said dramatically.

“I guess.” It wasn’t like that. She’d been a little winded. The water felt good. Normally Ice was relaxed and easygoing. “I squeezed the water out of my hair while I walked, and Ice shouted at me to hurry up. He looked seriously pissed off. So I started jogging over to them…doing what he asked in the first place. And then he lost it. I’ve never seen him so mad. He started shouting about fucking around during work and how it’s unacceptable. He shouted at me. His anger was aimed at me. Then he shifted and flew away. We had to scramble to try to catch up.”

Azure was shocked to see Melina grinning broadly. “What about when you got back to the lair?”

Azure shrugged. “Ice was gone when we got back. He’s never done that before. He just took off. All three males were the biggest pains after we returned. They tried to help me with everything. They were like flies buzzing around me. I was unsuccessful when it came to Ice. All I managed to do was piss him off royally. It worked on the others, which I didn’t want. I’ve worked hard enough in this team for my place. To be treated like everyone else.”

“Except you aren’t like everyone else, Azure. You’re a gorgeous woman. That doesn’t mean you can’t do a good job.”

“I don’t want them to flirt with me. I don’t want to be treated like a hot piece of ass. I have to work with these males.”

“Like it or not, you are a hot piece of ass.” Melina lifted a brow. “If you don’t think they noticed before, you’re crazy. You’re embracing your feminine side. Your sexual side, and there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it gives you power.”

“I don’t know if I like that kind of power, especially when it doesn’t work on the one person I want it to work on.”

“Oh, it worked alright.” Melina gave her a sly smile.

“No.” Azure frowned. “No way! You’re wrong there. He shouted at me.”

“I am not wrong. I know men.” Melina swirled the wine in her glass. “Ice was upset because he was reacting to you. He didn’t want to. Sometimes people fight their attraction. Especially in your case, where it’s not exactly above-board for him to date you.”

“Maybe.” Was Melina right?

“Not maybe, definitely. This is great.”

Azure took a sip of her wine because she didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t quite sure she agreed.

“You have to trust me. Carry on with the whole thing. It’s working.”

“Okay, but it’s going to have to be even more subtle…just for him. I can’t do any of those moves you taught me in front of the whole team. I just can’t. I know you say I should use it, but…it doesn’t feel right.”

“Okay…cool. Be subtle. Aim all of that sexual energy at Ice. Make him crazy. He won’t be able to keep ignoring his feelings. I promise you.” She used her finger to make a cross over her heart.

“Okay.” Azure sighed. “I hated him being so pissed off at me.”

“You need to get him angry like that more often. It will mean it’s working.”

“It might get me fired.”

“It might get you Ice. Think about that.” Melina looked at her pointedly. “Trust me on this, please.”

“Okay.” Azure nodded once. “I will stick with it.”

“I brought a couple of things with me.”

Here we go.“You did?”

“I most definitely did.”

“Like what?” She could guess.

“Clothes and makeup.” She looked at Azure pointedly.

“I’m not so sure—”

“Hang on a second.” Melina widened her eyes. “Before you go all negative on me, try one or two things on. That’s all I ask.”

“I’m not wearing them outside of this chamber.” Azure shook her head.

“You don’t have to. Try them on for me.” Melina winked at her. “It’ll be fun. I’d like to put a touch of makeup on you as well.”

Azure narrowed her eyes and gave Melina a pointed look. “I’m definitely not wearing makeup.”

“I’m talking about a little mascara…perhaps some lip gloss. We’ll take it off afterward, I swear.”

Azure sighed. “Okay…okay, that sounds acceptable. When are you opening your salon?”

“In a couple of weeks.” Melina jumped up from her chair. “I’m going to practice on you right now. Let’s get started.”

Azure was afraid. She was very afraid.