A Mate to Believe In (Dragons of Mount Aterna Book 2)

by Riley Storm

  “Have a bump the size of a baseball on the side of your head? Yes, yes you do,” she snapped in that same low-volume voice, this time injecting it with anger. “Now you stay down, and let me do my job.”

  A hand closed over her palm as she reached for the radio. “No backup,” Pace said.

  Risking the distraction, she looked down at him. Already, focus was returning to his eyes. Was it her imagination, or was the swelling on his head already diminishing? Maybe the darkness had made it seem worse at first glance, but she didn’t think so.

  “Pace, someone is in here with us. They snuck up on you, they assaulted you. We need to find them.”

  “I’ll find them,” he snarled, his eyes blazing with a brightness she’d never seen before. Fire, was the only word that described it. She could practically see the flames dancing, despite the dimness of the warehouse.

  There was a creaking sound from above.

  “Shit,” Pace muttered as they both looked up to see a massive pallet loaded with something tip over from the top rack.

  Carla didn’t have time to scream. She took in a breath, but it was driven out of her explosively as something grabbed her up. Her eyes went wide as the pallet smashed to the ground, narrowly missing her head. The boxes piled upon it exploded, sending debris in every direction, peppering her with shards, but inflicting no damage.

  “Are you okay?”

  She gasped, sliding out of Pace’s arms—how the hell did I end up in his arms?—and to the floor, struggling to regain her breath. It came in fits.

  “My gun,” she managed.

  Pace turned, understanding what she meant. At some point in the blur of action, she’d lost grip of it. The weapon was buried in the pile now.

  Metal shrieked, and the entire row of warehouse racking tilted and began to collapse in on them. There was no time to escape it.

  “Stay down, Carla!” Pace roared and flung himself on top of her.

  She heard him grunt loudly and then his torso hammered her into the floor as the weight of everything crashed down on top of him, while he used his body as a shield.

  “Pace!” she shrieked, fear wrenching back control of her stomach muscles and returning air to her lungs. “Pace!”

  “I’m fine,” he wheezed. “Just…can you move your elbow?”

  She frowned. Her elbow, why did that matter? Tons of warehouse racking and product had just fallen on him. He probably had dozens of broken bones and—her mind connected their placement around one another just then and filled in the blank of where her elbow was.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” she said, shuffling some so she could retract her elbow from his groin.

  “Thanks,” he gasped. “Now, close your eyes, will you? I don’t want you getting anything in them when I move.”

  She did as she was told. Pace growled and she felt the vibrations as heavy things shifted and tumbled away. There was the sound of more metal being stressed.

  “You’re good now.”

  Opening her eyes, she got to her feet, surveying the destroyed metal and boxes around them.

  “How are you not hurt?” she asked, looking at him over. The back of his suit was ruined, holes poking through it at random points. Yet from what she could tell, his skin was unharmed.

  “Luck, I guess,” he said. “Come on, whoever did that is still in here. We need to go after them.”

  “How do you know they’re still in here?” she asked, reluctant to leave her weapon behind.

  “Just trust me. We’re not out of this yet.” Pace grabbed her hand, and they picked their way clear of the wreckage.

  She was about to open her mouth to ask what next when Pace abruptly spun and kicked at a crate sitting on the floor of the warehouse, underneath racking on the other side of the aisle, where it was still standing.

  The package shot out the other side, and she heard someone curse as it narrowly missed them before crashing into yet more items in the next row over. Pace didn’t hesitate and ducked through the opening in hot pursuit of whoever it was.

  Cursing to herself, she went after him. “Pace, be careful! This person already got the drop on you once.”

  “Thanks for the reminder,” he called back. “But that’s why I’m going to catch this asshole.”

  Her legs struggled to keep up with Pace, but the warehouse, while large, wasn’t a massive city-sized building. She rounded the corner at the end of an aisle and found herself back where she’d started. Right in front of the opening to the office.

  Pace was standing twenty feet down, looking around in confusion.

  “Did you lose them?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah. I had them, then they just…disappeared. I don’t get it.”

  Outside, she heard an engine roar.

  What happened next occurred far too fast for her to process. Caught halfway between looking at Pace and focusing out into the office, she saw everything through the periphery.

  The front of the warehouse began to crumple inward, the door and windows shattering as something large crashed into the building. Coming right at her.

  In the other corner, Pace raced forward, shouting her name.

  The vehicle, or forklift, whatever it was, should have gotten to her first. The distance was too great. She tried to lift a hand, to tell Pace to stay back to save himself, but her arm slapped against his body. He was already there, wrapping her up in a hug.

  Carla screamed, and then something burst into being, swooping around them, protecting them. They were battered and tossed about as the walls of the office and warehouse crumpled inward and debris slammed into them.

  Then she blacked out.

  “Carla! Carla wake up!”

  She jerked, suddenly awake.

  “How long was I out?” she asked, her mind snapping back into reality. She was lying on her back. Pace’s arms were wrapped around upper body, his face inches from hers.

  “Five, maybe ten seconds,” Pace gasped, sighing in relief. “You gave me quite the scare.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “I promise. I—”

  Pace’s lips crushed into hers, cutting off any other words she was going to say. Carla gasped, but the shock and adrenaline were pumping fully through her system, and she didn’t fight it. Namely because she didn’t want to fight something that felt so good.

  It spread, through her mouth, down her neck. Warm, pleasant sensations, like the tickle of a summer breeze, or the good burn of a strong workout. It filled her body and Carla felt like she would float away if it weren’t for his muscled arms holding her down.

  No, not down. They were holding her against him. She was pressed into his chest, where she could feel his heartbeat and the power that beat within him. It was hot, and intimate, and she longed for more.

  Under all her clothing, her body was reacting to his touch, igniting with warmth that started in her neck, spreading out over her breasts and down her stomach. It burned brightly from within, before a subtle tingle between her legs gave confirmation to the desire she was experiencing in that moment.

  Something groaned and more of the warehouse settled. The loud, painful-on-the-ears noise brought a shock of reality back to her brain, and Carla pulled back.

  It was only when she did that she realized her mouth was open, their kiss having grown deeper without her realizing.

  “We should focus on the case,” she said awkwardly, trying to look anywhere but at his gorgeous face, which was incredibly hard, given that he was holding her safe in his arms. “They could still be here.”

  “Um. Right,” Pace said, standing up and casually lifting her to her feet.

  Carla looked around at the circle of cleared debris where they now stood. She was going to have a lot of questions about how Pace had saved her life, without any seeming harm to himself.

  The vehicle used in the assault idled nearby, the large forklift unmanned. Whoever it was, they seemed to be gone.

  “At least we can see now,” Pace said, pointing at all th
e sunlight streaming through the new front door.

  “Yeah. So let’s go find my gun,” she said, taking a surreptitious glance at the side of his head.

  The swelling was almost gone. Yes, Carla was going to have a lot of questions for him, once she was able to calm her brain and replay the events of the warehouse.

  For now though, she focused on finding her gun, not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands.

  “There we go,” she said, locating it amid the debris—this section of fallen racking seemed positively easy to sort through compared to near the front. With her weapon holstered, she turned to Pace. It was time he answered some questions.

  Her train of thought was interrupted by the appearance of a figure in the new opening.

  “What the fuck did you do to my warehouse?”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Pace

  He whirled, shocked to see someone standing less than ten feet behind him.

  Get your brain back in the game, Pace. Stop staring at the Deputy’s behind, and focus. Her safety needs to be paramount right now. You just got your ass kicked. If you were a second slower, whoever that was would have left her as little more than a pancake. And it would be your fault!

  “Who the hell are you?” he snarled, storming forward, taking out his anger on the newcomer.

  “I’m Wilson. I own this warehouse. Who are you?” the other figure said, a hand disappearing into his jacket.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” a voice called from behind Pace. “Keep your hands where I can see them, Wilson.”

  The figure in front of him sighed. “Hello Deputy. I hope you have a good explanation for the damage you’ve caused.”

  “She caused?” Pace said icily. “Someone just about killed her, twice. Not to mention attacked me. In this warehouse. Then you show up. Mighty convenient, don’t you think?”

  His eyes were focusing better now, and Pace looked the man up and down.

  “Crap,” he said as he put two and two together.

  “Wilson didn’t do this, Pace,” Carla said, coming up to stand at his side. “He couldn’t have.”

  “Yeah, yeah I know,” Pace muttered, noting the gray hair and belly on the older man in front of them. “I’m just mad.”

  “You’re going to be even madder when I sue for destruction of property,” Wilson stated.

  Pace ignored the comment. Something about this man, about his name, it was ringing a bell in his head. Where did he know the man from? He had come up recently somewhere. Where was it?

  “Aha!” he shouted. “I’ve got it.”

  “What?”

  “You are the one who tried to kill my brother,” he growled, advancing on Wilson once more.

  Two other men came running inside at that moment. “Boss!” the lead one shouted. “Boss, what happened? Are you okay?”

  They saw the furious Pace moving toward their boss and hands dipped into jackets.

  Carla was suddenly there, pistol drawn, pointed at the ground between her and the two men. “Hands where I can see them, boys. Nice and easy now.”

  With the Deputy guarding his back, Pace didn’t slow, getting right up into Wilson’s face.

  “We have some questions for you,” he rumbled. “And you’re going to answer them, or I’m going to make you pay for what you did to my brother.”

  It was a complete and total bluff. Pace was not the type to exact revenge for something. In fact, he was one of the least militant and physical dragons in his clan. That didn’t mean he was a slouch; he could hold his own, but he simply didn’t defer straight to strength and violence like most of his kind did. He was a bit of an outlier that way.

  Wilson didn’t know that, however, and it showed in the whites of his eyes that he recognized immediately who Pace’s brother must be.

  “Asher,” he said, leaning back nervously from the much larger man.

  “Exactly,” Pace said, his temper not calming. Where was this sudden burst of fury and anger coming from? It was so unlike him. He wasn’t the type to go off like this.

  Someone attacked me. Blindsided me, and nearly killed the Deputy. Twice.

  The instant his mind focused on Carla, red, blinding rage filled his entire being. If she had died there...

  Pace shook his head, trying to use his analytical side to get things under control.

  “You’re going to answer the Deputy’s questions,” he growled. “Do you understand me?”

  Wilson, intimidated as he was, didn’t back down right away. There was a spine to him that Pace hadn’t expected. “If she is going to explain what happened to my warehouse, then I will—urk!”

  Pace snatched the man up by the scruff of his neck and held him in the air, his feet dangling helplessly. Then he gave him a shake.

  “Answer. Her. Questions,” he said icily. “Am I understood?”

  Wilson’s head went up and down.

  “Deputy, the floor is yours,” Pace said cheerfully, setting Wilson back down roughly.

  They traded places, with Pace moving over to watch the hired muscle. They were both large, obvious bodybuilders, but the way Pace had so easily manhandled their boss had them both watching him warily. He smiled broadly, showing his teeth, and crossed his arms, showing them just how unworried he was about them.

  “Wilson, I’ll make this short and sweet. I need to know if you’ve heard anything about a new group setting up in town. Thieves, targeting the wealthy.”

  Wilson frowned. “Now, Deputy, I assure you, I would not know of anything like that.”

  “I don’t have time for the usual spiel today,” Carla snapped. “We both know what you are, and we both know that the Sheriff’s Department in Five Peaks lets you do it because you don’t get too violent and keep crime down to a reasonable level. But if that’s changing, then you also know we’ll snap you up like an eagle would a snake.”

  Pace grinned. He liked her. She didn’t take crap from anyone, and he could respect that, especially on a day like today. It was clear that he wasn’t the only one pissed about the attempt on her life. Carla was done playing nice.

  There was a long pause. Pace didn’t look over at the other two, but he could imagine that Wilson was evaluating his options.

  “I hear a lot of rumors, Deputy. I know many people in town. I haven’t heard any rumors about a group of thieves.” There was an angry grating of teeth. “If you have heard of such a thing, I expect you would be kind enough to let me know, so that I and others can keep our eyes open and see if we can find them. To notify you about them, of course,” he added.

  Pace rolled his eyes. How did people play this sort of charade? It was so lame. Everyone in the room knew that Wilson was basically saying he would deal with the issue himself if Carla told him what was going on. But he had to use five words instead of one, just to keep from incriminating himself.

  “Do you know anything?” Pace snarled. “Has anything unusual happened lately? Any new rumors? Anything?”

  “Nothing about what you say,” Wilson said. “I almost wish I had. Five Peaks is so boring sometimes.”

  Carla snorted. “I promise I’ll make it a hell of a lot more interesting for you right now if you don’t give me something to go on.”

  Yes. Pace liked the Deputy a lot. That last sentence had just confirmed it for him. She was a badass, and he was intrigued. Beyond intrigued. It was hot hearing her tell off the criminal.

  Plus, she’s a heck of a kisser. Those lips!

  “I have not heard of any new high-end thieves moving to Five Peaks, Deputy.” Wilson sighed. “The only interesting thing to come my way recently was a request for a person good with computers.”

  “A hacker,” Carla said.

  “Good with computers, Deputy,” Wilson said, again refraining from implicating himself.

  “There can’t be that many people like that in Five Peaks,” Pace growled menacingly.

  “A name, Wilson,” Carla said, in full agreement with his thoughts. “Don’t bother giving me any
spiel. Just a name, and I won’t call the department down here to investigate the damage to the warehouse thoroughly. They’ll have to open everything in here to ensure nothing was stolen, mind you.”

  Pace’s lips peeled back in a silent victorious snarl. She was perfect, just perfect!

  “Jack Stile,” Wilson said with a sigh of defeat.

  “Thank you,” Carla said in her own false-cheerful voice. “Come on, Pace, let’s go.”

  He smiled broadly at the two goons again, lunged at them slightly just to make them flinch, and then followed Carla out of the half-destroyed warehouse, a huge grin on his face, stretching so wide his cheeks hurt.

  “That was fun,” he said as they got into her car. “Well, intimidating, Wilson. Not the part before.”

  “Yeah.”

  They stared at the caved-in wall, where the forklift sat covered in debris and part of the wall itself.

  “I’m going to find whoever did that,” Pace vowed

  And when I do, they’re going to regret it.

  “It’s got to be the same person we’re after,” Carla said. “They’re trying to send us a message. Trying to get us to stop looking into them.”

  “What are you going to do?” he asked.

  Carla’s eyes went flat. “I’m going back to the station, and I’m going to find this Jack Stile. Then tomorrow, you and I are going to pay him a little visit.”

  Pace grinned.

  The Deputy was mad, and he pitied anyone who got in her way.

  “Let’s get that sonofabitch,” he agreed.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Carla

  Day Two

  “Barton!” she shouted as her dog suddenly shot across the room and slipped between her and the door as she was getting ready to leave for work. “Get back here!”

  It was so unlike him that she wasn’t at all ready to react to his sudden escape attempt. Normally, he was well behaved, understanding that she was leaving without him to go off to wherever it was humans went during the day. Not this time, it seemed.

  She went after him, only to come up short at the sight in front of her.

  At the end of her driveway, Barton was up on his hind legs, tail whipping back and forth as he was embraced by a familiar figure.