“Drink, Andrea,” her uncle said, offering a full glass of ice water to her before returning to his seat.
Andi took it from him and swished and spit into the trash can, to clear the sick out of her mouth. “Thanks,” she muttered.
“That’s better,” he said, sounding kindly. Just like the uncle she’d known her whole life. Why did he have to go and be an entirely different man? Tears were pressing, and she swallowed them down, roughly wiping her face with her sleeve. She went to take another sip when she realized she shouldn’t trust him.
She shouldn’t trust anyone.
Except for maybe Damian…so far.
She stared disconsolately at the wastebasket, feeling wrung out, and reached up to touch her heart where it was pounding…and fished the tracker out of her bra while she seemed to waver, pretending to be tempted to throw up again before she shoved the device in between the elephant’s thick toes.
“You should drink more,” her uncle said, as she got back up on unsteady feet and thumped into her chair.
“Is it poisoned?”
He rolled his eyes. “You might find it hard to believe, but I have better things to do than to poison my favorite niece.”
“Only niece,” Andi whispered out of long habit, setting the glass down on his desk, untouched. She looked over the desk at him—the sea turtle shell positioned behind his head gave him a malevolent halo. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why everything.”
Her uncle steepled his fingertips in front of him. “You believe in the science of the world, yes?” he asked. “And now you believe magical things are also possible?”
“I guess,” she said flatly.
“Andrea, what if I told you that magic wants to take this world over?”
“I would say, ‘here, magic…take the world, it sucks.’”
“Andrea,” he tsked. “I know you are hurting now, but there are actual lives at stake.”
She fiercely rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. She knew she couldn’t let on everything she knew, and she still needed to play along to figure out his plan—for Damian and his crew. “If I believe you…a big if…how? And why?”
“There are other worlds than these, Andrea. We are in a war that you can’t even begin to comprehend.” He leaned back in his chair and opened up a desk drawer, pulling out paper and pen. “What I think is best for you now, Andrea, is that you accept your fate.” He began to scribble quickly.
“And what’s that?” she asked him as he switched pieces of paper. A quiet part of her supposed that sounded ominous, and she ought to be concerned, but the rest of her felt so distant and depressed that she couldn’t be bothered.
“I want you to take this check here and cash it. Consider it a part of your inheritance—from your mother…not from me.” He handed the paper over to her, but it was just that—a piece of paper, not a check—and on it, he’d written in his precise cursive:
My dear, do you not think I know what dragon smells like?
Andi read it, and her heart flew into her throat, finding sudden life. By coming here, had she put Damian’s life in danger?
“No?” he went on loudly. “Such foolish, foolish pride,” he said, handing her another piece of paper as he loudly tore the first in two. “Andrea! Don’t be so stubborn!” he protested genuinely enough to earn an Oscar as she read his second note.
You deserve answers, but I need to talk to you alone.
I’ll send a ride two nights from now.
She stared at the note in her hand. Her uncle knew she was being followed and was wired even, which was why he was writing notes. And he knew there was another dragon in her life. Did he know who? She bit her lips. Her heart called out for Damian, even if she didn’t dare say his name.
She had to fight to stop her hand from shaking.
“Well,” her uncle continued, sounding contrite. “We’re almost back to shore. But if I could counsel you, you should rest for a few days and consider what you’ve seen.” His voice was congenial, but his eyes were narrowed and his shoulders set, as he leaned over the desk to stare at her. “Not everyone has an inheritance as rich as yours, Andrea. The least you could say is thank you to your uncle.”
Her mouth was dry as she breathed, “Thank you.”
Chapter 8
Andi struggled to stay steady as the small yacht her Uncle Lee had semi-kidnapped her in rocked to a stop. She heard the voice of men outside calling to one another, coordinating the tying of the boat to the pier, and she couldn’t stop reading the note on his desk, the word “alone” echoing in her mind.
“Think about what I’ve said, Andrea,” her uncle said, pointing to the piece of paper.
Could she keep her uncle’s offer a secret from Damian? She did need answers—she longed for them. There had to be some way to make sense of things, to understand why her brother was a dragon now and how come her mother had betrayed her. But there was no way Damian would ever let her risk her life like this again if he knew.
Andi swallowed. “I will,” she told her uncle. He gave her a silent nod.
After that, Elsa, her uncle’s very blonde, very unhappy secretary swooped in and grabbed her arm, practically hauling her off the boat. The brusque woman loaded her into a car waiting at the dock, and they drove off at top speed, to Andi didn’t know where—until she saw a horizon full of familiar towers, with the Blackwood Industries skyscraper dominating the rest of the skyline.
Andi realized she hadn’t talked for at least five minutes and could only imagine how worried Damian was for her.
“How far are we away from my apartment?” she asked aloud for his sake.
“Just ten minutes now,” Elsa said, after glancing at her phone. Did she know she was being listened to as well? Or was only her uncle privy to that information?
Damian claimed she smelled like apples, caramel, and the sea. She’d never thought to ask him how many other people in the world could scent dragons.
“So, what does henchwomaning pay these days?” Andi asked, reaching down to adjust her shoe as though she were uncomfortable. In reality, she was pulling the tracker Jamison had placed there out and tossing it underneath the passenger seat of the car.
Elsa snorted and rolled her eyes. She was wearing all black again, only this time a turtleneck and pants rather than a dress. She still had the same mysterious claw on a leather thong around her neck, though, like she was a goddamned hippie instead of a murderer.
“It’s a serious question,” Andi protested, righting herself at last.
The much taller blonde shrugged. “Top pick of trophies, first round of meat.”
And no matter that she’d just thrown up, Andi clutched her hand to her stomach again. “Don’t tell me that.”
“You asked,” Elsa taunted. “I can’t believe that you and your brother share the same seed.”
“Yeah, well, maybe he absorbed all the evil bits out of me in the womb, did you ever think about that?” Andi muttered. Elsa stared at her blankly. “Jesus Christ, does no one else read Stephen King?” and then she laughed to herself because if she didn’t, she would sob.
The car pulled up in front of her apartment complex shortly thereafter, and Andi got out. Before she closed the door, Andi said, “Nothing…no…everything personal, but I hope I never see you again.”
“I feel the same,” Elsa said, leaning over to lock the door the second it was closed.
Andi stumbled up the stairs to her apartment and then waited for a moment, wondering if Damian’s car would come flying around the corner. When it didn’t, she let herself inside.
She tossed her keys onto the portion of counter that she and Sammy used for such things and checked her phone. No notes from Damian, no “hey, glad you’re not dead, sorry about the puking,” and then she wondered if she needed to send him one. “Sorry you all had to listen to me puke.”
“Sammy? Sammmmmmmy?” she said like she was calling a cat. No response. She opened up her pho
ne and shot her roommate a text.
Home. Might be going out again. Or might not. Just thought you should know.
Not home, definitely getting laid again. Just thought you should know! her roommate texted quickly back.
Andi snorted, then made her way back to her bedroom, shedding all her clothes before heading into her bathroom to turn the water on.
This was going to be her third shower of the day. Hell, her thick hair wasn’t even fully dry from the last one at Damian’s, and all this hot water would strip the blue streak out of her hair like whoa. But if she didn’t take it, the smoke from her uncle’s pipe would haunt her in her sleep, and she couldn’t cope with that. She brushed her teeth while the water heated, gargled mouthwash, and tried to erase the sourness of being nauseous from everywhere else that she could…because she couldn’t quite clean her memory.
Her mother had known…about everything? All along? How was that even possible? How…and why?!...would she have lied?
And if she’d chosen a child to confide in about the truth of things, why the fuck had she picked Danny?
Andi splashed her face with water so cold it made her gasp, then jumped into the shower.
She stood beneath the hot water replaying every interaction with her uncle in her mind. It was all suspect, seeing as he knew she’d been followed, which was why he’d hardly told her anything.
He was right, though. She deserved answers. She needed someone to help her make sense of her entire goddamned childhood. Why could Danny turn into a dragon now? And why couldn’t she? Damian…and Rax!...both thought she was normal. She looked at her skin in the mirror, willing it to change or willing her twin brother to come back and be normal with her. So that everything could go back to being the way it was again, like when she didn’t have to entertain the thought that her own beloved mother was evil. When that didn’t work, just like she knew it wouldn’t, she stared down into the drain and let her thoughts swirl with the water.
A tapping at the shower’s glass door made her jump. Damian was standing on the other side, holding a massive duffle bag. He’d apparently teleported from his castle to her bathroom through one of his many mirrors.
She slid the shower door open quickly, sending it rattling in its track and letting water spill on the floor. “You’re supposed to ask permission!”
“Next time,” he promised, before sweeping into her bedroom with his bag in tow, closing the door behind himself, keeping the heat in for her.
Andi raced through the end of her shower, worried about Damian left to his own devices in her room, and when she turned the water off, the bathroom door opened again.
“Damian,” she protested, hiding behind a towel only to find him waiting on the other side of the door with a much larger, fluffier one—one of the towels somehow spun from clouds that he had on his side of the mirror in his much nicer bathroom. He stepped in and tsked, taking her towel away from her, giving her an appreciative glance, and then swaddled her in the newer, bigger, softer one, sweeping her up into his arms.
“You’re ridiculous,” she said. She wanted to be mad at him, but it was hard.
“And you’re alive,” he said, squeezing her tight as he navigated them through the door and into her bedroom where somehow he’d changed all of her penguin sheets out for fresh teal and white striped ones. A tea course sat on a tray atop her bed, where something spicy was brewing in a French press. He set her carefully down at the head of her bed, towel and all, and sat across from her after kicking off his shoes.
“What the hell?” she asked lightly, more than a little mystified.
“Okay, so, let’s agree those penguins saw things their little furry virgin eyes were never meant to, eh? And then, I know things were rough for you, so,” he said, gesturing to the tea set. She’d known he’d heard everything via the tracker she’d had on her—except for her uncle’s note, of course—so he’d heard about her mother’s betrayal and her subsequent throwing up. “I asked Austin what to get you for your stomach, and he said ginger tea.” Then he reached into his duffle and pulled out a set of teal and white striped pajamas that matched the sheets. “For later if you want. Mills helped. She said nothing sexy right now.” He gave her a look with a hint of a leer. “Let me know if she’s wrong, though, and I’ll go right back. And technically, Grim helped with everything, of course.”
Andi put her hand to her mouth. “Am I dating you, or all of them?”
“Happy dragon…happy wagon?” he guessed with a grin, and Andi gave up and grinned back. He really did have feelings for her. And despite never having been in a relationship before, he was trying. Hard. He’d gone from being carved of ice to being…a pizza stone. Or a sauna stone. Some kind of fancy stone thing that had cheekbones you could slice butter with, but that was also hot.
For her.
And she’d just gone and possibly put him on her uncle’s radar. She bit her lips. “Damian, my uncle…he really is a Hunter—”
“I heard,” Damian said softly, his voice kind.
“No, like…he’s dangerous, Damian.”
Damian caught her chin in one hand. “And I’m a dragon.”
Andi fought not to sway. Damian would never let her meet her uncle again if he knew what she now knew. But meeting her uncle alone would be the only way to get answers, not just for her life, but about what her uncle was planning. To keep Damian and his crew safe.
Because she knew—oh, she knew—that her uncle was a dangerously patient man.
“Are you okay?” Damian asked.
Not telling him about her uncle’s note would be the hardest thing she’d ever done. She gave him a tight smile. “Not really.”
Damian inhaled and exhaled deeply, taking his hand back. “I’m sorry, Andi. For all of it.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“No…thank you. After we realized you tagged your uncle’s boat and car with the extra trackers we’d put on you, Jamison seriously considered proposing.”
But if her uncle knew she was wired, how long would it be before he scanned everything she sat in, near, or touched, to make sure she hadn’t tried to wire him? She shook her head. “My uncle’s a smart man. I don’t know how long they’ll work.”
“It doesn’t matter. For right now, it’s a win.” He carefully poured her a glass of tea into a large teal mug. She took it from him and blew on it before taking a sip, and it did help. Looking around her room, she realized everything helped. Especially him. She watched him take a straight swig of hot tea and guessed that dragons didn’t have to wait for things to cool…then saw he’d put her Fast and the Furious poster back up.
“Oh, my God.”
He straightened, and followed her gaze, then grinned. “Come on now. You know Vin and the Rock have seen some shit. They’re gonna be okay.”
Andi set her mug down on the table between them and then laughed full throatily. Maybe just a hint manic. Because just an hour ago she’d been throwing up into an elephant-footed travesty and now here she was sitting across from Damian, who’d casually redecorated half her room, brought her tea—and now as she noticed, tiny cookies—and was defending The Rock’s sexual honor. “You’re insane, Damian.”
“No, princess…you are,” he said seriously. “When I go do dumb shit, I know I’m still a fucking dragon. Where the hell do you get off being so brave when all you’ve got is skin?”
The second note her uncle had shown her hovered in her mind. Come alone. She hugged herself. “It’s all I’ve ever known.” He made a sound that shared what he thought of that. “Hey, though, it wasn’t so bad, was it? You made it through on your side waiting?” She forced herself to sound chipper.
Damian set his now empty mug of tea down and rubbed at his chin. “Max punched me, and Jamison threatened to shoot me, so, yeah, I toughed it out.” Andi snickered. “And now I know, being the person left behind sucks.”
She took a careful sip of her tea then set it down. “Did you…hear everything?” she asked, her voice going
high. Damian reluctantly nodded. “I’d like to say the interlude of me throwing up was just a clever ruse to get to tag his trash can, but….”
She watched his expression go dark on her behalf, brooding for her instead of because of her for once. “Andi, I was surrounded by traitors my whole life. I didn’t know there was any other way to be until I came here. But the surprise of finding out…your whole family.” Andi started nodding to agree and didn’t stop, putting her hand back over her mouth now in horror, and he picked up the tea tray and set it on the ground. “Come here,” he suggested afterward, offering his arms out, and she did so, flowing over the small distance between them, to curl up against his chest, still wrapped inside the towel. He pressed her head to himself and stroked her hair. “You can talk as much or as little as you’d like. And whatever else we do tonight…it’s your call. I can take you out; we can stay here; we can go back to my place—”
“I don’t want to go through a mirror again,” she said quickly.
“They have this thing called Uber. You might’ve heard of them,” he teased, then kissed the crown of her head. “You just tell me. Anything you want, consider it done. And you don’t need to tell me anything else about what happened.”
Andi clung to him, suddenly relieved of the need to tell him about her uncle’s note. It was a technicality to not tell him, yes, but she wasn’t even really lying to him until two nights from now, and so there was no harm in being good to herself in the meantime…as long as they didn’t leave her place where anyone could see. She sighed into him and then spotted the pajamas Mills had sent over.
“Can we just have a simple night?” she asked, pulling back.
“Of course.” He smiled down at her, his golden eyes glowing.
“Good.” She extricated herself from his arms. “First, I’m going to go put these on,” she said, picking up the pajamas that were perfectly soft and fuzzy like they were already broken in, “and then we’re going to go sit on the couch and watch Netflix and order delivery.”
Dragon Fated: A Billionaire Dragon Shifter Romance (Prince of the Other Worlds) Page 14
