Dragon Protectors: Shifter Romance Collection

by Lola Gabriel

  The unexpectedness of the bold question took him by surprise, and Lennox suddenly found himself blushing like a schoolboy.

  “Relax, Lenny! I’m just joking with you!” Mia howled. “Man, I wish you could see your own face right now. And I thought you dragons were known for your sense of humor. Are your brothers this dry, too?”

  Lennox scowled. He didn’t want a reminder of his brothers, not when he was trying to forget his sorrows. Mira didn’t seem to notice his distress, because she turned to the bar to order a drink.

  “Mira, I’m sorry,” Lennox said, rising from the barstool where he had only just sat. “I’m really not in the mood for company right now.”

  “Hey!” she protested, seriousness crossing over her face. “What’s going on? I was just teasing you. I’ll stop, I promise.”

  Lennox eyed her, unsure if he should stay. She seemed sincere, but he truly was not in any mindset to entertain anyone, least of all a pixie who was probably angry with him. When he caught Mira’s dark eyes, though, he saw nothing but warmth and concern exuding from them, and he didn’t sense any malice emanating from her.

  I’m a dragon, he told himself. I would know if one of my underlings was feeling vengeful. After all, I’ve felt it enough times.

  “Please?” Mira pleaded. In the end, Lennox nodded.

  “Let’s find a booth,” he said before she could insist on him sitting down at the barstool again. “I always feel conspicuous sitting in front of the bartender.”

  “Works for me. We’ll find a booth, stuff our faces with tapas and cocktails, and you can regale me with the woes of ruling the Hollows.”

  Lennox heard a bell of alarm sounding in his head. That sounded an awful lot like sarcasm.

  “Geez, Lenny, everything I say seems to rub you the wrong way,” Mira sighed as they headed toward an empty booth. “Is it my tone or…?”

  “It’s not you,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve just got work issues on my mind.”

  Mira snorted. “What do you need work for, anyway? I never understood that about you and the others. You could literally be anywhere in Sunside or below, doing exactly what you want, and yet you still choose to play the mortal head games. Why?”

  Lennox blinked at her inquiry, surprised that she would even ask. “How many Mai Tais can one drink, Mira? You know what happens when the brain starts to stagnate?”

  “I haven’t had the pleasure of knowing,” Mira replied dryly. “But I imagine you’re going to tell me.”

  “You may not be as old as me, Mira, but you have been around long enough to see what happens when beings lose their sense of self-worth?”

  Mira cocked her ginger head to the side and smiled beguilingly. “They have sex with strangers by the truckload.”

  Lennox bristled. There was no denying that she was purposely goading him. He wasn’t just being sensitive.

  I knew this was a mistake, he thought, standing from the booth. She only wanted to do this to stick it to me. She’s pissed that she was nothing more than a one-night stand.

  “Where are you going?” Mira demanded, her black eyes widening to half the size of her translucent face.

  “I’m tired,” he lied. “I’m going to my suite to lie down, and then I’m heading home.”

  “Wait a second,” Mira said. “I’m scaring you off, aren’t I?”

  “No,” Lennox denied, not wanting to get into it with her any more than he already had. “I’ve just had a brutal day.”

  “Let me make it up to you,” she insisted, reaching out to grab his hand pleadingly.

  “There’s nothing to make up,” he told her. “I just—”

  “What if I grant you a wish?”

  The question hung heavily in the air, and Lennox looked around to see if they were being overheard. His pulse quickened slightly. How long had it been since he had heard that question and known it was meant in the literal sense?

  “You shouldn’t say things like that,” he growled. “It’s not proper to bring magic out of the Hollows, and you know you’re forbidden to grant me wishes.”

  “Why can’t I do magic on the Sunside?” Mira demanded. “You and your brothers fly around up here all the time, and you get caught most of the time, too.”

  “We are an exception to the rule,” Lennox reminded her—not that he needed to explain himself to her.

  “Well, what if I’m an exception this one time?” she asked coyly. “I can grant you any wish you want.”

  A hot flush swept through Lennox’s body as his mind began to run wild with the possibilities.

  Hundreds, even thousands of years before, the pixies and fairies had tried to win favor with the prince brothers by granting them wishes, but as Wilder grew more powerful, he had put an end to it, enacting a new law that forbade the princes from accepting wishes. Any sprite caught bequeathing them to a dragon would be instantly sentenced to death.

  It had been years since anyone had approached him with such an offer, and Lennox didn’t know how he felt about it or even what to make of it.

  Is this a trick? Has Wilder sent her to me to see if I would bite at the bit?

  It didn’t make sense that his brother would do such a thing, but it seemed like a big coincidence.

  “What are you really doing here, Mira? Did Wilder send you?”

  Mira snorted. “Wilder? Your brother? God, no. He terrifies me. He’s got even less of a sense of humor than you tonight.”

  “Why are you here?” Lennox asked her again, suspicion clouding his eyes. He couldn’t stop himself from wondering what he would do with one wish, even though he knew it might be a trap.

  “Where? In New Orleans?” Mira sounded confused. “I have a house here. I was just getting out of the Hollows for a while. Maybe you don’t feel it, but it can get really oppressive sometimes.” She grinned disarmingly at him. “Or maybe it’s just the rest of us that feel that way.”

  “No, I’m fairly sure most of us feel it,” Lennox sighed.

  “So? What do you say? I grant you one wish. Only one. And then we’ll wipe the slate clean, okay?”

  Lennox gnawed on his lower lip, his gut churning.

  “At least sit down while I finish my drink,” Mira chided him as the server approached with the drink she had ordered at the bar. “You don’t have to agree, okay? Just please don’t rat me out to Wilder. He really would have no problem sending me into a fiery pit.”

  “Why?” Lennox asked curiously. “What have you ever done to him?”

  Mira studied his face for a moment. “Are you seriously asking me that, or are you just being coy? Your brother loathes the pixies. He would have had us all murdered in the fourteenth century if the lycans hadn’t fought for us.”

  Lennox’s brow furrowed as he tried to recall such an order. Had Wilder even been powerful enough back then? It was hard to recall. Time had lost all its meaning so long ago.

  “In any case,” Mira continued, “he probably hates us more after that, but at least I know you like some of us.” She winked, and Lennox sat back against the vinyl seat, considering her offer. He crossed his arms over his barrel chest.

  Maybe this isn’t a set-up, he thought, his mind whirling as their gazes met. Maybe this is fate. What if Mira is here so that I have a chance stop my tyrant brother once and for all?

  “So?” she chirped, reclaiming the southern accent. “What’ll it be, baby? You want a wish or not?”

  Slowly, Lennox nodded his head, his heart thudding in his chest as he thought of exactly how to word his heart’s desire.

  “Yes,” he answered, grinning. “Yes, I do.”

  4

  “Stop looking like someone is going to jump out of the shadows and eat you!” Allegra laughed. “You’re making me nervous.”

  “I’m sorry!” Gia gasped, her eyes pouring over the cavern walls with unadulterated awe. “I’ve never seen anything so… so…”

  There were no words to describe the opulence of what she was observing. They were inside the
Parker Palace, a structure which had known many names over the years, changing with the dragons as they shifted personas.

  Once upon a time, it was a dreaded place; an eerie fortress the others avoided with great effort, the wrath of the princes real and terrifying. It had been stolen from the vampires and tried to be reclaimed many times, but the dragons held fast and strong to their pillaged goods.

  Although that had been before Gia’s time, the tales of the princes’ cruel reign was not easily forgotten, even as they adjusted and adapted into seemingly “normal” creatures, not plagued by the need to destroy and control. At least, not in the fifth century way. These days, their power was seen in wealth and on paper.

  The Parker Palace was the biggest building in the Hollows, though no one knew exactly how big it was. It had been built upon and destroyed many, many times. Now it was a majestic stone estate with high, domed ceilings of glass and dozens of entrances.

  There were hundreds of staff members working inside, given that the castle was not only a residence for the royal princes, but also a full-on complex of businesses. The palace housed a mall, several labs, and a floor of offices, including a travel agent and a real estate company.

  But Gia and Allegra were entering the seemingly endless ballroom, which had been decorated in a fairy tale theme. Gia was both impressed and disgusted by it.

  “You’re grimacing,” Allegra giggled, tugging on her arm again.

  Gia hadn’t realized she had stopped walking to take in the indoor English maze, constructed of lattice and thorns. She felt as if she were in a dream, floating on a cloud as Allegra guided her toward one of the many bars set up throughout the gallery.

  “You work in here?” Gia choked. “How—how do you find your way every day without getting lost?”

  Allegra snickered. Even that sound was musical.

  “I don’t work in the ballroom,” she assured Gia. “There are entrances closer to the boutique. Come on. Let’s get you a drink before you have a panic attack.”

  Gia allowed her new friend to steer her, but her mind was whirling as she wondered what it would take to live and work in such a place. Shyly, she cast her gaze toward Allegra, who was smiling at people she knew, confident and charming. Again, Gia was struck by how easy it seemed for Allegra to blend in among the people, as if she had been born and raised with a crystal goblet in her mouth.

  I imagine I’d have to be more like Allegra to end up in the upper echelons of Hollow society, she thought, not slinging drinks to college hooligans in Columbus, Mississippi.

  Gia had been both stunned and thrilled when Allegra called the bar a couple days after they had met, asking her out for drinks. Even though she had teased Gia about paying, Allegra happily picked up the tab, and from then forward, they had become fast friends, seeing one another almost daily.

  Sometimes, Allegra would come to her work and pick her up to bring her back to the Hollows crossing, while other nights they would meet after and find a twenty-four-hour hole-in-the-wall in the Trenches, where they would have coffee and laugh until dawn.

  They were together so much that Gia genuinely began to consider Allegra as her best friend, something she’d never had before in her life. She always been too awkward for friends, too meek. It was easy to be overlooked in the Hollows when everyone else was so intriguing.

  What does she see in me? Gia wondered, but she dared not ask Allegra, lest the blonde suddenly realize what a mistake she was making.

  “I’ll introduce you to some of my friends,” Allegra suggested. Her words made Gia freeze, unsure if she was ready to meet more creatures like the gregarious… sorceress? They had been hanging out for almost a month, and Gia still had yet to ask her friend where her power lay. Of course, Allegra had not volunteered the information, and Gia didn’t want to push her. She reasoned that Allegra would tell her if she wanted to.

  They stopped before a group of chattering men in tuxedos, accompanied by the most glamorous beings Gia had ever seen.

  I am so glad I called in sick tonight, she thought, trying to suppress the look of sheer admiration on her face. She felt ridiculously out of place, even though Allegra had dressed her in a stunning red ball gown that accented her slender but full figure like a glove. Gia found it incredibly difficult to breathe while she wore it. Still, she knew it was worth it.

  When else would she be able to experience something like this again?

  “Trojan, Lilith!” cried Allegra. A stunning couple of a dark-skinned man and woman turned their heads in unison to examine Gia head to toe before resting their gazes on her face. “This is my dear friend, Gia Cirone.”

  “Charmed,” the woman said, turning her head away, disgust coloring her face. The man only smirked, but he had the decency to accept the palm Gia had offered for a handshake.

  “Indeed,” he agreed, but there was nothing in either of their tones to suggest they were pleased to meet her.

  Gia shot Allegra a nervous look. Her friend didn’t seem to sense her discomfort.

  “Lilith and Trojan run the sector where I work,” she explained. “They might have openings for you somewhere inside the palace.”

  That caught Lilith’s attention, and she jerked her silken bob back to gape at Allegra.

  “I think not!” she scoffed, eyeing Gia through her peripheral vision.

  “I think so,” Allegra replied evenly, and Gia wanted to melt into the floor. She had not suspected that Allegra had brought her to the work party to find her a job.

  “It’s okay,” Gia tried to say, her inherent desire to keep the peace overwhelming her common sense to remain quiet. Allegra squeezed her arm as if to silence her, and Gia instantly clamped her mouth shut.

  “Listen to your little friend,” Lilith said coldly, apparently trying to melt Allegra with the heat in her angry black eyes. “She can clearly see she is not palace material.”

  A wave of shame overtook Gia’s body, and she willed herself not to show her true feelings on her highly expressive face.

  Oh, Allegra, she thought. I know you mean well, but please stop! You can’t force them to give me a job! I don’t have the proper breeding to work in the palace.

  She didn’t want to admit that she’d thought of nothing else since learning Allegra owned a boutique inside the sprawling building. Night after night, she lay awake staring at the crack on her ceiling, wondering what it would be like to work in such a setting. It was her dream, but she didn’t want to achieve it like this.

  “Oh, how quickly they forget the little people when they become high and mighty,” Allegra sighed, shaking her head.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lilith snapped. Her partner, however, appeared uncomfortable under Allegra’s penetrating stare.

  “Trojan knows,” Allegra said. “Don’t you, my ghetto brother?”

  Trojan bared his teeth, fangs elongating as he hissed.

  “We are not those people anymore,” he growled.

  Gia stepped back in fear. She had nothing specific to worry about with the vampires. Her blood was not what they sought, but their tempers were notorious, and Gia had no interest in arousing any negative emotions. If she could avoid unhappiness, she would at all costs.

  “Allegra,” Gia whispered, wanting to escape the suffocating aura of the irate immortal couple. Of course, her blonde friend ignored her.

  “I can see that, but where would you be if someone hadn’t taken pity on you once upon a time?” Allegra purred, her beryl green eyes glittering with interest.

  Gia realized that her friend was pushing Trojan and Lilith into a corner on her account, and it made her breathing quicken with panic. She didn’t want to get a job this way. She didn’t even know if she wanted to work in the palace at all!

  As if sensing her increasing nervousness, Allegra squeezed her arm again.

  “I heard there’s an opening at Parker Realty,” she continued. “A receptionist position. I think Gia would be perfect for it. She’s great with people.”
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  The vampire couple stared balefully at Allegra, but to Gia’s surprise, they didn’t shoot her down immediately.

  “Have her come tomorrow at nine a.m.,” Lilith finally spat as if Gia was not standing right there. “If she blows it, she’s gone.”

  “Blows. That’s an interesting word choice, Lil,” Allegra commented, batting her dark eyelashes innocently. The already waxen vampire turned nearly translucent, her blood red lips parting to release a gasp.

  “You wouldn’t!” Lilith breathed. Allegra smiled sweetly.

  “Not unless I have to,” she replied, seizing Gia’s arm and spinning away from them. “Toodles!”

  Gia was whisked away, but she could still feel the burning of eyes in her back.

  “Allegra!” she cried when the blonde had whisked her off to the hors d’oeuvres table. “Why did you do that? I didn’t know that’s why you asked me to come here tonight!”

  Allegra popped a stuffed mushroom into her mouth and chewed it before answering.

  “I asked you to come here as my date,” she replied. “You are much better company than any of the males I’ve had the misfortune of knowing lately. I need my girl army around.”

  “I am hardly a warrior,” Gia sighed. “Why did you do that? You can’t force them to give me a job, and I don’t need it! I already have three!”

  “You shouldn’t have three jobs,” Allegra said shortly. “You shouldn’t even be working in one shithole where you get groped by children. You should have a steady paycheck and a safe environment. The next step is getting you out of the Trenches.”

  Gia questioned the security of any environment overseen by Trojan and Lilith after what she had just witnessed, but she appreciated the sentiment.

  “You can’t blackmail someone for me!” she insisted, though she got the impression her arguments were falling on deaf ears.

  “It will be great!” Allegra chirped, reaching for a cracker and handing it to her. “Try the caviar. It’s excellent.”

  At the moment, Gia’s stomach was flipping much too dangerously for her to entertain the idea of eating, so she refused the cracker.