DragonMate by Jory Strong Page A

of the curse so he could claim her physically. He’d never imagined the pleasure to be had in verbal sparring.
     
    “I’ll allow you the opportunity for a rematch,” he said, luxuriating in the warmth of her caring as her heart pounded beneath his palm.
     
    “Go,” she whispered.
     
    “Promise you’ll remain in the car.”
     
    What he really wanted was to make her promise she would leave immediately should Mark return, but he doubted he could win that battle.
     
    “I promise.”
     
    “I’ll be back in a matter of minutes,” he said, giving her a hard kiss before leaving the car.
     
    His approach to the front door was unhurried. He had no intention of skulking around, looking for a way in that wouldn’t be observed. The covenants the supernaturals had agreed upon when they began returning to this world to play and explore might have forced his magic into a human shape, but at least he could still use some of it.
     
    The only good thing to have come from the sorcerer’s curse was that as a result of it, he had spent centuries studying magical tomes and practicing some of the more useful of the things he learned—not without a mishap or two—the most glaring of which was the way his eyes changed color, displaying his emotions when he was in the dragon realm, though thankfully it wasn’t a concern in this magic-poor one.
     
    A touch of his hand to the front door, accompanied by intricate gestures using the other one and a softly spoken spell, and he knew the house was empty. Another incantation and the simplicity of the door’s locks were revealed, their image communicated through his fingertips.
     
    Had the locks been complicated, knowledge of the spell would have saved considerable time. As it was, he used commonly known sigils accompanied by dragon will, and with a satisfying click, the locks disengaged.
     
    Kirill resisted the urge to look back at Jazzlyn as he opened the door and entered the house. He moved quickly from room to room, his speed a reflection of his desire to get back to his mate.
     
    Scents assailed him. Perfume and cologne. Food and furniture. All of them normal. None of them hinting of blood or violence.
     
    In the bedroom he was greeted by the smell of sex. The comforter was bunched and wrinkled, with a small indentation in the center of the mattress where Carolyn and Mark had lain.
     
    On a nightstand next to the bed were two empty wineglasses. As he bent to open the nightstand drawer, it brought his nose close to them.
     
    He caught a whiff other than wine. A drug maybe?
     
    Kirill carefully sniffed the rim of each glass, but the scent of whatever had been mixed with the wine was unfamiliar. Its presence troubled him. It could mean something. Or nothing. It wasn’t uncommon for humans to use alcohol and drugs together for entertainment purposes.
     
    The nightstand drawer contained sex toys. Items of bondage for the most part.
     
    His cock stirred to life as he imagined Jazzlyn kneeling in front of him with her hands bound behind her back, her eyes pleading with him to give her permission to press her lips to his shaft.
     
    A shudder of need accompanied the thought of her lying down and spreading her legs, her slit parted and wet as she willingly submitted to his desire to tether her to the bedposts.
     
    Kirill closed the nightstand drawer and turned away, forcibly shutting his mind to the erotic fantasies cascading through it.
     
    A second bedroom had been converted into an office. A photograph on the desk caught his attention. Mark stood on a boat dock with his arms around a woman. There was a faint resemblance to Jazzlyn, enough so Kirill knew he was looking at Caro.
     
    Both she and Mark were smiling for the camera, seemingly happy and carefree. Fingerprints smudged the frame, as though it was often handled.
     
    Kirill searched through the drawers. He found nothing that would either lead him to Jazzlyn’s cousin or indicate whether she was in trouble or not. As