High House Draconis Box Set

by Riley Storm

  “Got something?” Peter asked, coming over to stand nearby.

  Liz nodded absently, starting to go through the footage faster. But she couldn’t find any faces. They were all obscured, preventing her from seeing who it was.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said half an hour later. “Did either of you see anything?”

  Both Peter and Chase were peering over her shoulder, and she felt them shake their heads, making soft negative sounds.

  “Just the license plate number of the SUV, which you got,” Peter said, sounding dejected.

  She nodded, looking at the little sticky note. That was their only clue.

  The vehicle had been rather noticeable, a large, modified-looking, blood-red SUV had been seen driving in and out of the site. Several men had gotten out, all wearing masks, and had taken another truck, this time of masonry supplies. Stones and such.

  “What the hell do they want with all this stuff?” she asked herself, unable to come up with an answer. Neither did Chase or Peter, both of them just shrugging helplessly.

  “Can either of you track this down?” she asked. “Do you have contacts or whatever?”

  “Yeah,” Peter said, taking the note from her. “I’ll see what I can find out for you.”

  “Thanks,” she said, getting up to stretch, peering out the window as she did, then biting back a curse.

  “Something wrong?” Chase asked, moving to the window. “Oh great. This asshole again?”

  Liz found herself giggling, reminded of the same way Valla had thought of these two. The testosterone-fueled boasting was quite amusing when viewed from the outside, but she really didn’t want to see them go at it. Not now that she knew what Valla was, and what he was capable of.

  “It’s fine,” she said, watching Valla get out of his car and walk toward the office. He seems to be in a bit of a rush, she thought with a frown.

  The door opened and Valla came inside. He eyed the two men, and for a moment, she thought that he was going to start something, but instead, the big shifter just nodded politely at both of them.

  Both Chase and Peter seemed to relax at that, then looked to her for guidance.

  “Go grab yourselves some lunch,” she said. “I assure that I’m as safe with him as I am with you two.”

  Peter shrugged and headed for the door. Chase took a second longer, giving Valla another evaluation. Then she was surprised a second time as the former Marine stuck out his hand to Valla. The two shook, and then her human guards departed, leaving Liz alone with the dragon shifter.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. “I thought you had stuff to do.”

  “I did,” he said, walking over to her, moving slightly stiffly. “Then I went back to the house and you were gone.”

  “You arranged for me to come back to the city,” she pointed out. “Did you hit your head and forget or something?”

  Valla reared backward in surprise, then winced and held his side.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said, though the clench of his teeth told her otherwise.

  “Valla…” she tried to speak, but he shook his head.

  “I promise. I’ll be fine.”

  “You are fine, or you will be fine, are two separate things,” she said forcefully. “Especially if you’re suffering memory loss too.”

  “No, I remember now,” he said. “I just…I need you to go back to the house. To Drakon Keep.”

  “Why?” she wanted to know.

  “Because you’ll be safe there,” he said, extending a hand. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  “Safe? What do you mean by safe? Why wouldn’t I be safe?”

  Valla looked like he’d swallowed a bitter pill. “You would, I just mean that you’d be safer there, you know?”

  “No, I don’t know,” she said, crossing her arms and fixing him with a hard glare. “I think you had better explain. What’s going on, Valla?”

  He tensed, and she pressed on some more.

  “What is it you aren’t telling me, Valla?”

  Chapter 28

  He was in it now.

  Valla had panicked after the two vamps had hurt him, and his only thoughts had been for the safety of Liz and his child. Now, however, he may have just jeopardized the budding relationship between them because of his fears. He could see it on her face. She wasn’t impressed.

  “Please,” he said. “I just need you to go back there, just for a bit.

  “I’m going to need you to give me more than that,” she said, crossing her arms in refusal. “I want the truth, Valla. All of it.”

  If she’s going to trust you, you’re going to need to extend that same trust to her. There’s no escaping it now, she knows you’re hiding something. Just put it all out there and hope she sees reason.

  “You’re in danger,” he said, taking a step back, slumping down onto the nearest desk. “And it’s all my fault. If you weren’t carrying my child…” He shook his head. There was no point in the what-if game. It didn’t matter.

  “How am I in danger?” she asked tightly, biting her lip.

  “Vampires,” he said heavily. “Our oldest, worst enemy. We’d thought them extinct, but we were wrong. They’re back, and they’re here. In town.”

  “Vampires.” The solitary word echoed through the trailer-office. “Right.

  “Listen, Liz, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier,” he said. “I had hoped that it would be taken care of before things became an issue. Before you were put in danger. But they’re doing things we don’t understand, or know why, and it means you’re in danger.”

  That was the truth. Upon his arrival back at Drakon Keep, he’d immediately told both Victor and Aaric. They had called their mates and told them to return to the keep, to the protection of its magical wards and other, more hidden, defenses. Until they could figure out what was going on, that was the safest place to be.

  Valla hadn’t held out much hope that either of his brothers would understand why the vampires would be moving into the area. They had to know they wouldn’t be welcome. Yet it didn’t entirely seem as if they were intent on outright killing off the shifters either.

  None of this makes any sense! What is their plan? They’ve waited centuries. Why act now?

  “Please, tell me again, why I’m in danger from vampires? I’m not a dragon.”

  Valla’s eyes fell to her stomach.

  “How can they know?” she asked, putting both hands protectively over her belly. “There is no possible way to know.”

  “They can tell,” he said. “They know you’re…” he hesitated. Should he tell her now?

  No. The vampires are enough. Don’t overwhelm her. Tell her when the time is right. When you’re completely certain of it yourself.

  He’d only recently started to come to the conclusion himself, and right then, the last thing Valla wanted to do was to speak something that wasn’t the truth. So, he held his tongue.

  “They know you’re carrying my child,” he finished. “My, uh, my scent, is on you now,” he said, shrugging helplessly.

  “So, they can sniff me out like a dog?”

  “Basically,” he said unhappily. “Most paranormal entities are blessed with enhanced senses. You don’t detect another creature through scent exactly, but you can detect it. They will find you, they will either use you against me, or kill you, or both. I will not allow that to happen,” he growled protectively. “I won’t fail you or my brothers.”

  Liz looked around, shaking her head. “I don’t believe it. You want me to hide away, like a coward. What about my work, Valla? What about my coworkers? You expect me to just up and disappear while you fight a war they won’t ever know about?”

  He cringed, unsure of just what else to say.

  “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “I have a job to do, Valla. Several jobs, actually, none of which I can do from there. I’m not some princess to be locked up. Nor, if I’m honest, am I sure I’m ever going
back there. I don’t know that what we did was a good idea. I…I can’t let you in to my life. I need to keep the baby safe and give them a stable upbringing.”

  “What are you talking about?” Valla asked, aghast. “I thought we were making progress? I thought—”

  “I’m sure you did,” she said. “But Valla, you’re a dragon shifter.”

  “Which is precisely why I need to be around. Because our child is going to be one as well,” he pointed out.

  “Valla, how can I trust you? You’ve lied and hidden so much from me. I can’t have that around my child. I won’t have that around my child.”

  “Are you not listening?” he said, standing up, fighting to contain his anger. “Do you not understand?”

  She started to reply, but he cut her off.

  “No. No more excuses, Liz. You accuse me of hiding things from you, but you’re just as guilty of it as I am,” he said, challenging her for the first time, tired of being treated as if he was the only one who had ever screwed up.

  “What do you mean?” she asked defensively, arms still crossed, but now she refused to meet his gaze.

  “What is making you so stubborn and unwilling to believe me?” he shouted. Shaking his head, hating that his emotions were getting the best of him, he took several deep breaths, calming himself.

  Then he moved closer, forcing Liz to look up at him, to make eye contact.

  “What happened to you, that you’re blaming me for?” he asked softly.

  Chapter 29

  Shaking her head, she tried to end the conversation. To move on from it.

  Valla’s emotions were up. He was upset, hurt, even. There was no way for her to deny that his accusation didn’t bear any truth. But she still wasn’t sure she could bring herself to tell him. The memories were too painful.

  “I’m not them,” Valla said softly, as if sensing she was on the edge. “I am not them, whoever they are.”

  “I know that!” she snapped, walking away to the far end of the trailer, not able to be close to him. Not just now.

  “Let me in,” Valla begged. “I want to help you. But you have to let me, Liz. I refuse to force myself anymore. I’ve told you my secrets. You know things about me that only a handful of other humans do. Things that could doom my entire species. So, don’t say that I haven’t trusted you.”

  She wanted to scream at him. To tell him to shut up, that it was different, that she would never spill his secrets, that he could trust her.

  But that was just it. He did trust her. It was Liz who wasn’t trusting Valla. It was Liz who refused to extend the same respect to him, as he had done to her. And why? For what reason did she continue to deny him that treatment?

  Because you’re terrified.

  Not of Valla. He wasn’t scary. Not in the slightest. In fact, she felt safer and securer around him than she could ever remember. And that was what scared her. The idea that with Valla she could be protected, that he would be able to look after her, providing something she’d never had before in her life from another.

  Security.

  “I was a child when it happened,” she whispered. “Old enough to remember, too young to have a voice.”

  A shudder wracked her body as emotions threatened to win free after less than two dozen words. Emotions she’d kept bottled up to herself for more years than she could count. Valla was pulling on them, trying to get them to unravel, but if they did, Liz feared she would go with them.

  “I can’t let it happen again,” she said, looking up at him, forcing her will into her gaze, so that Valla and his blue-white eyes would understand she was deadly serious. “I won’t let it happen again.”

  “Let what happen?” Valla asked tentatively, shuffling closer to her once again, though he stopped when she tensed. He was pushing her boundaries inward, invading her space, but at a pace that she wouldn’t break from.

  “My parents,” she said in a voice so hoarse it sounded like someone else entirely. “They didn’t want me. Never did, from the start. I was given up for adoption.”

  Valla’s growl rattled the windows, the sudden loud noise causing her to start. She looked up at him to see pure hatred in his eyes.

  “How dare they,” he snarled in that same deep tone. “To give a baby up for…”

  He paused, and she knew then that he understood.

  “Old enough to remember,” he said quietly, quoting her. “Not a baby.”

  She shook her head. “I was seven,” she said. “I was seven, Valla, when my parents put me into foster care. I can still remember their smiles as they walked away. They were happy to be rid of me. I should have been their everything. They should have done anything to protect me. To keep me safe from what I went through for the next eleven years, until I could move out on my own. But they didn’t,” she spat.

  “And now you fear anytime someone isn’t there for you,” he said, nodding, taking several steps closer.

  “How can I not?” she asked. “Everyone in my life has let me down. Has abandoned me when I needed them most. I’m the only one I can trust to be there for my child.”

  Her voice broke then, and that was the signal for the tears to start flowing as the dam broke. Slumping back against the outer wall, Liz tried to stabilize herself, but her knees were growing wobbly and weak. She looked for the nearest chair, but it was too far away. The ground was closer. She slid downward.

  Then Valla was there. One strong arm around her. Then the other. He held her easily, and without issue, lending her his strength when she had none.

  “I am here for you.” The words, whispered into her ear as she clutched at his chest, resonated with her on a level she hadn’t known before. “I will keep you safe, Liz. You and our child. That’s all I want. That’s all I’ve wanted to do.”

  “I’m scared, Valla,” she told him, finally admitting the truth. “If I trust you, and you let me down…”

  “I know. But you have to extend that trust, Liz. You have to reach out, when others reach out for you, and you have to try. Otherwise, you will be forever alone. I would very much like to ensure you aren’t alone. Neither you nor the baby. That’s why I’ve been doing what I have, can’t you see?”

  She frowned, wiping her eyes on his shirt. It was a useless gesture, because the tears continued to flow. Tears she’d held back for a long time.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Everything with the vampires, that’s all for you. For our child. You will be safe then. I have made a promise to myself, Liz, a promise that I will do whatever it takes to protect the two of you. You’ve been pulled into my world against your will, and now it’s my responsibility to ensure that you aren’t hurt because of it. I’ve not been taking off for no reason.”

  “I didn’t know,” she admitted.

  He nodded, stroking her hair with one hand while the other held her tight to him still. Liz rested there, partaking of his strength, basking in his presence. It wasn’t like she disliked being around Valla. There were a great many positives to him, and she had, in her most vulnerable moments, wondered if there was perhaps a little more between them than just a night of passion.

  Something of an enigma at first, she was starting to understand him, to figure out what motivated him, and the truth of it was, she still didn’t quite believe him. How could she, when he continued to insist that she was his primary motivation? Well, her and the child. It wasn’t something Liz was accustomed to.

  Nobody had ever put her first before.

  “Do you mean it?” she asked. “About wanting to be there?”

  “Yes,” Valla said. “I want to be there for you. For the child. To be with you.”

  With her.

  Not for her, but with her.

  “Have you ever…you know,” she said, looking back a bit, the tears drying up. “Thought about it?”

  Valla, bless his soul, looked at her blankly. “Thought about what?”

  “You know. Us.”

  “Us?” he echoed. “Wait…do y
ou mean like, have I ever thought about the two of us? Together, not just co-parents?”

  Liz felt her bottom lip curl up under her teeth as nerves frayed her courage, but she managed to get out a short nod.

  “Not at first,” he admitted. “But lately…lately, I have.”

  She smiled nervously. “Same.”

  “We don’t need talk about that now if you don’t want to though,” he offered, still stroking her hair.

  Feeling some of her strength return, Liz nodded and stood on her own accord, no longer resting on Valla. There was no attempt to pull away, she still enjoyed having him close. But the mood had changed. It was subtle, yet she felt it. They had crossed some sort of barrier, a line, of sorts, and the interior of the office-trailer was growing smaller it seemed.

  “Maybe later,” she agreed, though her mind was already opening up to the multitude of thoughts that would come with such a discussion.

  To her surprise, her fears were no longer the leading thoughts when it came to such an idea. Instead, she felt something new, something different. It swirled and danced in her stomach and made it do butterflies and swept up into the rest of her as she hooked both her arms around his neck, drawing Valla’s attention down to her face.

  Hope blossomed inside Liz, and suddenly anything was possible.

  Chapter 30

  Liz’s kiss caught him by surprise. He hadn’t expected her to be so forward, so pointed about what she wanted, but when her hand gripped his pants between his legs, there was no way for Valla to confuse that.

  “The windows,” he said, looking around. “People can see in.”

  The pair looked at each other, not moving. Then as if of one mind, they split apart. Valla lowered the blinds on one side, ensuring they were closed, while Liz went to the other.

  He was already removing his clothing as she finished, and Liz hurriedly stripped out of hers as well. Valla picked her up, lifting her onto a desk even as their lips met, parted and pressed together again in a furious stream of kisses that further increased his desire for her.