by Juniper Hart
Did I imagine that? If it was Raven, she wouldn’t have stayed back. She would have made her presence known.
Once more, he spun around, his eyes shining through the night. But there was nothing to be seen. Alec had been around long enough to know not to dismiss his sixth sense. In this instance, however, he chalked up the feeling to overwrought nerves, and he moved toward the door again.
“You’re back!” Briar gasped, sitting up on the sofa, relief flooding her eyes. “I was getting worried about you.” She peered at him, her smile fading slightly. “Where are all the supplies?”
“In the car. I just wanted to come and check on you first. Everything okay?”
“I’m just a nervous wreck,” she confessed, rising from the sofa to greet him. “I’ll help you with the stuff.”
“No,” he told her, extending his arms toward her. “Just relax. I’ll take care of it.”
“Relax,” she scoffed. “I’m being hunted. It’s hard to relax.”
“I know,” he replied, kissing her forehead as he wrapped his arms around her. Instantly, he felt her body melt against him, sinking into his barrel chest easily.
“How do you do that?” Briar murmured.
“Do what?”
“You just touch me and I’m putty.”
He chuckled lightly. “Are you complaining?” His hands stroked the fine strands of her blonde mane, his nose inhaling her sweet scent.
Briar’s hands slipped around the back of his shirt to draw him closer, her palms sliding into the back pocket of his jeans.
“Hasn’t work been wondering where you are?” she murmured, and Alec snickered.
“I’m the boss, remember?” he asked, peering down into her face. “I make the rules.”
“And break them too, I’m guessing.” Alec stared at her intently.
“I’ve never much felt like breaking the rules before I met you,” he told her sincerely. Their eyes locked, and a fuzzy smile formed over Briar’s lips, encouraging his lips to press against her mouth.
“I’m a bad influence, I guess.” Alec responded with a long, deep kiss, his hand encircling the base of her neck. A small sigh escaped her mouth. “It’s just so odd that with everything going on, I feel completely safe in your arms,” she muttered.
“Everyone needs an anchor,” he murmured. “There’s no shame in that.”
She dropped her head back and grinned at him. “I never said I felt guilty about it,” she replied wickedly. Alec’s eyebrow shot up in surprise.
“Oh, no?” he asked innocently. “Let’s see if we can’t change that, then.” Before she could protest, he had swept her up in his arms, striding toward the bedroom to lay her on the bed.
“Where did you come from?” Briar asked, their foreheads almost touching as they looked at each other.
“That’s a story for another time,” he replied. “Tonight, there’s no more talking.”
15
Like the first time they were together, the sensation wrapped Briar into a cocoon of protectiveness, one which was impenetrable to anything bad or scary. In those moments, they were only two people, falling in love. All of her reservations, the thoughts that Alec saw her as anything more than a lover went out the window, melted away by each of his burning kisses.
Briar’s fingers laced into his thick mane of hair, his tongue trailing along the lines of her stomach to tease the skin. Her body was on fire, matching the tone of his flesh to hers, and they twined together like they were fruits of the same vine. She moaned softly, calling out his name as her pants fell away, her calves looping around his muscular shoulders. Suddenly, the shadows spread around the room were no longer as threatening as they had appeared before.
It’s just us. Just us. We can handle anything that comes at us.
“I’ve waited so long for you,” Alec rasped, his breath hot against her inner thigh, his words punctuated by kisses. The stubble of his beard sent shivers through her body in tidal waves, one after the other.
“Where have you been?” Briar murmured, knowing she had waited just as long for him. Her pleasure mounted as he buried his handsome face between her legs and the tremors began almost instantly, Alec finding her sweetest spots effortlessly. Upward her body bucked, her moans becoming cries that echoed through the tiny cabin, her hands closing to grip onto something in fists, and rolling waves of passion swept through her until she could stand no more.
Briar barely managed to sit up, guiding his face toward her, ankles locking over his broad back to work him inside her, where she had wanted him all along. Alec fit like a glove, filling her like she’d never known, the sweat of his brow dripping down to catch on her own damp cheeks. They fell into a frenzied rhythm, their eyes locking, and Briar felt as though they had traded places, like she was inside him and vice versa.
“I love you,” Alec growled, the tone sending goosebumps all over her already prickled skin. “I’ve always loved you.”
Briar cried out, her climax bringing her to speechlessness, and she arched upward, feeling him tense above her. Together, they released against one another, their passion perfectly matched until there was no movement, nothing but their labored breathing.
Alec laid atop her, his breath hot on her neck, and Briar wanted the moment to last forever. If he moved, it meant they were forced to face reality again, and she didn’t want that.
“I could stay here forever,” Alec said. Not for the first time, Briar wondered if he was reading her mind.
“Why can’t we?” she asked plaintively. Alec propped himself up to look at her.
“Everything is being taken care of,” he told her softly. “You don’t need to worry about anything.” Inexplicably, Briar felt herself getting mad.
“Saying it doesn’t make it so,” she snapped, wriggling out from under him. “How can you be so sure?”
Alec released a long sigh, and he, too, sat up. “Briar, I know these past few days have been hell for you, but I need you to know I’ve been doing everything I can to ensure that it’s handled properly for everyone.”
There was something peculiar about the way he said the sentence that sat uneasily with Briar.
“What does that even mean?” she asked slowly. “Everyone who?” Her face abruptly registered shock. “What did you do? Did you turn my brother in?” Instantly, Briar knew her hunch was right, and she yelped. “Why?” she cried. “Oh, my God, Alec, why would you do that?”
“Listen to me,” Alec told her firmly, grabbing her arms. “Look at me.”
She was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. Raven is going to kill my brother. He doesn’t even know she’s coming. I have to warn him! She silently prayed she wasn’t too late.
“Briar, you need to listen to me. There is much more going on here than you understand. So much more.”
Briar was barely listening to him as she looked about for her clothes. I’ll steal Alec’s car if he won’t take me. I need to get in touch with Colton!
“Briar!”
“I need to find my brother.” She barely recognized her own voice, and the look she gave Alec was void of any emotion. “Take me to my brother. Give me a phone and take me back to Miami.”
“I can’t do that.” She spun and snatched her shirt off the ground, her finger sliding through the hole where the bullet had gone through. “Briar, stop!” Alec ordered her. “You need to stop and listen to me.”
But she wasn’t listening, not at all. Her only thoughts were on the woman with the cold blue eyes and her husband with the gun. I can heal myself. Colton can’t… can he?
“Briar, why do you think you’re not dead right now?”
She turned her head to stare at Alec blankly. “I need to find my brother.”
“Briar, do you and your brother share the same father?”
The question was so out in left field, Briar scoffed. “Really? That’s the question you want to ask me right now?”
“I need to know if you and your brother share the same genetic make-up.” Hazily, Ale
c’s words started to come through, even though they didn’t immediately make sense.
“What if we do?”
“Then there’s a good chance that he can heal, too.”
Briar’s mouth parted and she gaped at him. “You…”
“What?”
“How do you know that? Do you know why I can heal?”
“I have my suspicions,” he sighed. “Would you like to hear them?”
“What if you’re wrong? What if Colton can’t heal?”
“Has your brother ever had a broken bone? Been sick?” Alec asked quietly. “Ever?”
Consternation almost drowned Briar. “I don’t know! Alec, I need to find my brother. I can’t believe you—”
“Your brother will be safe as long as he does the right thing,” Alec said. “You need to trust—”
“Trust you?” Briar roared. “You sold out my brother!”
“Your brother is a criminal!” Alec barked back. “One who put a bounty on your head, and you’re blaming me? How much more are you going to defend him?”
Briar’s mouth parted, but no words came out. An image of James, the landlord, saying almost the same thing to her flooded into his mind. But this could kill him. This was different. She couldn’t let anything happen to Colton.
“Nothing is going to happen to your brother if he does what he’s supposed to do,” Alec told her again, stepping toward her, but Briar wrenched her arm away.
“No! No, I don’t believe anything you say now,” she snapped. “I need to get to my brother.”
Alec sat at the foot of the bed and folded his arms across his still-bare chest. “I’m not taking you back to the city. This is the safest place for you to be.”
“I’m going anyway,” Briar retorted. “And you can’t stop me.” She rushed toward the front room, her hands trembling as she fought to button her shirt.
“Briar, you’re not mortal.” At first, she thought she had misheard Alec, and she turned slightly to look at him, her hands still working at the buttons.
“What?”
“You possess blood inside you that makes you… special.”
“Are you on medication?” Briar demanded. Instantly, she was ashamed of herself for saying something so tasteless, but she was too upset to apologize.
“It’s why you heal, why that bullet didn’t kill you.”
“Are you out of your mind? Seriously? What are you saying? I’m a zombie?”
Alec snorted. “No, nothing like that,” he chuckled without any mirth in it. “You belong to a group of us called the Enchanted. Five millennia ago, a very powerful sorcerer and demon, named Alaric Aldwin, cast a spell on the earth, creating a species which we call the Enchanted.”
He really believes this. “A group of us?” she echoed, cautiously backing away from him. “You’re one of these Enchanted beings, too?”
“I’m a dragon, Briar. You were barely conscious, but you remember that I carried you to the hospital after I found you on that road.”
Briar shook her head, a lightness overtaking her mind. “No… I was delusional. I lost too much blood—”
“After you took a bullet through the heart, Briar. People don’t survive a bullet to the heart without medical treatment. Bullets don’t just pop out on their own. You were in two life-threatening situations, and you literally don’t have a scratch on you.” Alec gestured toward her as his proof. Briar found herself looking down at herself, his words beginning to stick, even though they made no sense.
“So… I’m a dragon?” she sputtered. “A demon?”
“No,” Alec sighed. “I’m a dragon, and Raven is a demon. I don’t think you’re anything fully. I think you have traits of something, but you’re not a full-fledged anything.”
Briar wanted to laugh, but she dared not. It wasn’t funny, no matter how she looked at it. If Alec wasn’t telling her the truth, she had put her trust into a maniac. If he was… She shuddered.
He’s nuts. I trusted the wrong man. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“This is insane,” she sighed. “There’s no way.”
“I know it’s a lot to digest,” Alec said. “But you have to understand that if Raven finds out you’re alive, she’ll figure out the same thing I have, and that’s going to make matters so much worse. Killing one of our own is much, much worse than killing a mortal. You need to lay low until your brother takes the blame.”
“No!” Briar howled. “This is crazy. I’m going back to Miami.” She whirled toward the door but stopped dead in her tracks as a figure stood, blocking her way.
“The only way you’re going back to Miami, honey, is in a body bag,” Raven announced, snapping on her black driving gloves. “But this time, you will die. Isn’t that right, babe?” She turned toward the door, where Drake appeared. He no longer looked like the attractive man who had put a bullet through her chest. His face was charred, red with singed black edges, his teeth yellow and razor-like.
“That’s right, babe,” he replied, his voice a guttural growl. “Let’s get this done. I’m starved.”
Briar screamed.
16
There was no time to think, only to act, and Alec leaped between Briar and Raven, shifting into his full dragon form as he moved. His tail whisked both demons aside, crashing them into the far wall, but Raven recovered quickly, her face contorting into the same ugliness as her mate.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Raven hissed. “You betrayed us!”
“You’re wrong about her,” Alec snarled, keeping his body against Briar, who was struggling for breath. “She’s one of us, Raven. You can’t kill her.”
“If she was one of us, she wouldn’t have robbed us!” Raven howled, her tongue jutting forward in a fork to spit at him. “All I need is one bite—”
“You’ll have to kill us both.”
“As you wish,” Raven replied evenly.
“ALEC, NO!” Briar screamed, but he exhaled a rain of fire against Raven and Drake when they rushed at him. They fell back, laughing.
“We’re demons, you fool!” Drake hissed, drawing back up to pounce again. “We love fire.”
“You will die if you do this,” Alec rumbled. “Think about this. You’re going to kill an innocent. She did nothing.”
“Alicia was right,” Raven snapped. “You’re in love with her. A mortal.”
“She’s not fully mortal!”
“It’s irrelevant.” Again, the pair moved toward him, and Alec sprayed another stream of fire on them. He knew he had to get Briar airborne before the demons closed in on her. A bite from either one of them would just as easily kill Alec.
And I can’t protect her if I’m dead.
“Maybe we can make a deal,” Raven suddenly said reasonably, and Alec was warier than he’d ever been. A calm Raven was a very dangerous Raven. If he could keep her talking, though, he might have a shot at getting both himself and Briar out of there.
“We’re listening,” Alec agreed, subtly moving his giant form back toward the door, his tail sweeping around Briar protectively. Don’t run. Don’t move, he begged her silently. He was banking on the fact that Raven didn’t really want to kill him and would avoid it as long as possible. Drake, on the other hand, was more unpredictable.
“Maybe if your princess will give up her accomplices, we’ll make her death less painful.”
“And our rings!” Drake snarled. “Where are our rings?”
“I already told you,” Alec spat. “She doesn’t know who was involved. Her vehicle was stolen and used in the robbery.”
“You are such a fool if you believe that!” Raven huffed. “I’m getting sick of this, Alec. Move out of the way. I really don’t want to kill you, but I will.”
“Then kill me.”
“Oh, God! It’s Colton!” Briar screamed suddenly, and all eyes turned toward where she was looking. The television was still on, broadcasting the only news station available to the cabin. On the screen was a young man who shared Briar’s
bright blue eyes.
“She’s about to die and she’s watching TV,” Raven snorted. “You really could do a lot better, Alec. If you make it out of here alive, I’ll introduce you to some girls I know.”
“Shut up!” Alec yelled. “Watch this.”
On screen, Colton was handcuffed, standing before a slew of reporters, his face gaunt and grey with fear.
“—stole my sister’s van to rob several people over the past few months,” he mumbled. “My sister, Briar, had no knowledge of these facts, nor did she participate before, during, or after the events in question. I am afraid for her safety right now, and I just want anyone who might have her to know that she’s not to blame. It was all me and my crew.”
There was a clamor of reporter’s questions following his statement. “Mr. Baker, where is the loot you stole?”
“The money is gone,” he confessed. “We have a pawn shop in Little Haiti that fences our stolen goods. I’ve given the cops the name, and hopefully all the stuff will be retrieved.”
Alec saw the demons exchange a glance through the corner of his eye.
“You heard him,” Alec barked. “That pawn shop probably has your rings. Are you going to wait for the police to get them first? An evidence locker is a lot harder to access undetected than a sleazy hock shop.”
Behind him, Briar was trembling so violently, Alec was sure she was having a seizure. “We’re almost done here,” he told her. “Hang in there.”
Slowly, the disturbing demon masks slipped away from the couple’s faces, and Alec could see they were communicating telepathically.
“Well?” he yelled, still fully in his dragon form. “Are you going or not?”
“Your hospitality sucks, Alec,” Raven purred, nodding toward Drake. “You can shift back now. We’re not coming after your lover.”
He didn’t obey her request, smoke still emanating through his nostrils as he watched them shuffle toward the door almost sheepishly.
“That’s it?” he roared. “That’s all?” Raven paused and looked back at him.
“Oh, come on, Alec. We’ve been through worse,” she replied sweetly. “You don’t need to make a big deal out of this.”
