“Yeah, about that…” He held up his phone. “No reception either. You have any luck with yours?”
Christina grabbed her phone from her purse and tapped on the screen. “Ugh. No.”
“Well then,” he said, settling into the seat. “I guess we’ll have to wait.”
“Excuse me? Wait here?” He could practically see the steam coming out from her ears. If she wasn’t human, she would have made a great dragon. “We’re in the middle of nowhere! Shouldn’t we get help?”
“Lady, it’s freezing out there.” He pointed to her stilettos. “Are you going to be walking around dark mountain roads in those?”
“I…I…” Her face turned red. “Then what are you going to do?”
“You think I’m going out there?” he looked back at her incredulously and shook his head. “We’ll stay here. When my dispatcher doesn’t hear from us in an hour or two, she’ll send someone to check. Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “This happens occasionally. We have systems in place for every eventuality.” He reclined the seat, closed his eyes, and relaxed. “We just have to wait it out.”
He heard her make an irritated huffing sound, then a resigned sigh. She shuffled around and when he turned to glance back at her, she had settled against the corner of the backseat, her coat draped over her, and legs tucked underneath. For a moment, Jason felt a surge of desire, watching her beautiful, peaceful face. He ignored it and closed his eyes.
Jason woke up later, jolted from sleep by the sound of something…chattering? Jason sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked back.
Christina was lying down on the backseat. Her wool coat was draped over her like a blanket, but it was too short. Even curled up, her legs stuck out. The temperature must have dropped significantly in the last three hours, but he didn’t notice because his shifter biology kept him warm.
His dragon roared in anger. Damn animal. Still, an ache pressed into his gut, seeing her cold and knowing it was his fault. She could get sick, if she wasn’t already. Fuck, he cursed inwardly. Without thinking, he slipped out the driver’s side and climbed into the backseat.
Jason nudged her over then draped her legs over his lap. “Jesus,” he muttered. Her shapely legs were ice-cold. He glanced at her face to check on her, but she didn’t wake up. In fact, she let out a sigh and moved lower, pressing her ass against his sides and curling her legs over his lap, seeking his warmth. He let out a groan as his cock stood at attention and adjusted his pants. He had to ignore the desire clawing at him because there was no way he was going to give in to it.
* * *
Jason wasn’t sure how long they’d been in the car, but by the time he opened his eyes, there was light outside. But that wasn’t what sent his senses into overdrive. No, it was the warm, soft body pressed up against him and the delicious, sweet scent that was threatening to overwhelm him.
His body stiffened and he looked down. A warm cheek lay against his chest, soft tendrils of blonde hair covering him. Quiet snores came from pink, parted lips. Even asleep, Christina was gorgeous, her face peaceful and calm.
They somehow must have shifted positions in the night, because he was now on his back and Christina was draped over him. She snuggled deeply against him, seeking his warmth.
He thought he groaned inwardly, but he must have done it loudly enough to wake her up. Her eyes flew open. Light-blue pools blinked up at him contentedly, but as she seemed to realize where she was, her expression changed as quick as lightning.
Christina scrambled to her knees, gathering her wool coot against her chest like a shield, and scooted to the other end of the seat. She looked furious. Her eyes blazed like hot blue flames and her face flushed. “What … how … how dare you!”
“What?” he asked nonchalantly. “I came back here because you were cold and put your legs over me. You were the one who wanted to cuddle.”
He didn’t think it was possible, but she got even redder. “I did not!”
Jason shrugged. “Hey, nothing happened. Are you embarrassed or something?” He pointed to a wet spot on his shirt. “You don’t have to worry, babe. What’s a little drool between friends?”
She let out an indignant sound and looked like she was about to claw his eyes out, when a tapping sound on the window made them both freeze. Jason turned around and saw a uniformed figure outside the car. Recognizing who it was, he immediately opened the door.
“Hey, Cole,” he greeted.
Deputy Police Chief Cole Carson gave him a strange look. “Mornin’, Jason,” he greeted. Cole was two years ahead of Jason in high school, but they both played on the football team for Blackstone High. Cole had been the star quarterback and would have gone pro if they allowed shifters in the leagues. Instead, he went military, then came back to join Blackstone P.D. “Is everything okay here?” He leaned down, and when his eyes landed on Christina, gave her a nod. “Mornin’, ma’am.”
Jason’s dragon nearly ripped out of him, wanting to tear Cole apart for even looking at Christina. Cole’s bear hadn’t missed it, based on his now-glowing eyes. Jason could feel the dominant creature inside Cole roaring to get out, ready for a fight.
Cole stepped back. “Jesus, buddy, quit it!”
Jason reared his dragon back, willing it to calm down. Cole didn’t stand a chance against him, but this was insane. His dragon was never a violent creature. He shook his head. “Sorry, man, I’m just a little disoriented.”
Cole’s eyes returned to normal. “Car trouble?”
“Yeah, just … something with the engine.”
“Officer,” Christina said in a sweet voice. “Thank God you found us. I thought we would have frozen to death before we got rescued.”
“Seems mighty unusual, you getting stuck out here.”
Shit. It was obvious Cole knew something was up. “Yeah, well, you never know how these things go,” Jason quickly added.
Cole raised a brow, but said nothing. “Can I give you both a ride?”
“Oh, that would be wonderful, Officer…”
“Carson. Deputy Police Chief Cole Carson.”
“Deputy Carson,” Christina said as she slipped on her heels and yanked the door lever open. “Do you think you could take me to Blackstone Hospital?”
“Uhm, that’s not really my—”
“Oh please?” She gave him a megawatt smile. “I’d really appreciate it” Her voice became breathy. “It’s an emergency. I have to check and see if my sister is out of her coma.”
Jason realized what she was doing and his fingers nearly ripped into the leather seats of his truck, but he stopped himself before he could do any damage. He’d just had them redone a month ago. Besides, the only thing that would sate his dragon now was punching Cole’s face in. Poor fool, he convinced himself. He couldn’t see she was only flirting with him to get what she wanted.
“Well, I am going into town,” Cole said. “Let me pull my car over. You really shouldn’t be walking around in the ice and snow in those heels.” With a tip of his hat, he turned back toward the cruiser. When he was gone, Christina scrambled out of the truck and slammed the door hard.
“Goddamnit,” Jason cursed as he followed after her. She was already walking toward the police car when he grabbed her arm. “Christina, wait—”
“Don’t touch me,” she said, jerking away. “Something’s going on here. I can feel it.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “You’re not a driver, are you?”
Damn. Gorgeous and smart. He was even more turned on. He put on a smile and gave her a wink. “What do you think?”
Her expression turned to controlled fury. “Frankly, I don’t care. After today, I’ll never see this stupid little town ever again. Don’t even think of getting into that car with me or I’ll tell Deputy Carson what you did and have him arrest you for impersonating my driver. I hope I never see you again!” She whipped around, yanked the door to the police car open and stepped inside. “He says he has to wait here for someone,” he heard her say to Cole. “We can go, Deputy
.”
Jason watched the black-and-white pull away from them. Shit. Hopefully Matthew had worked things out with Catherine. He kicked a stone as he walked back to his truck. He should just go home and forget what happened last night, and forget about Christina Stavros. But, as the engine of his truck roared to life, he found himself driving back to town. Have to make sure Matthew’s got his girl, he told himself. Yeah, that was it.
Chapter 2
Present Day…
“Are you okay?”
Christina turned around, her hands rubbing over her arms, trying to ward off the chill. “I’m fine.”
Her stepbrother, Kostas, gave her a skeptical look. “Christina, you don’t have to be here for cleanup. You should have gone home with the first transport out. You have a long trip—”
“I said I’m fine.” She shrugged. Kostas knew her too well. There were few things she could hide from him. “I just want to make sure we get those guys who did this.”
“Me too.” He put an arm around her. “And we will. Hurting shifters is one thing, but what they were trying to do to those cubs? A thousand slow deaths would be too good. We’ll find them.”
She nodded. “I know we will.”
He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I have to talk to Anton and make sure we have enough beds at the facility to take care of everyone. Xander and Father will want to know what’s happening as well.”
“Go ahead,” she said with a nod. Kostas flashed a weak smile then left.
She gave an involuntary shiver. It wasn’t the biting cold that made her tremble, but what she had just witnessed. Children inside cages. The brutal conditions in that freezing basement. Those men with the hollow look in their eyes, as if they held no remorse or guilt over what they’d done.
Of course, the moment they burst in, those cowards ran away. Christina didn’t even get the chance to knock some heads to take out the frustration that had been building inside her for weeks.
But there would be other chances, of course. There was an abundance of cruelty in the world, especially toward shifters. This shifter smuggling ring was just one group of many. Which is why her adoptive father, Aristotle Stavros, Alpha of the Lykos pack, established the Shifter Protection Agency.
Since governments all over the world would never allow shifters to band together, The Agency had to do their jobs in secret, under the guise of working for Stavros International, Ari’s company. Their primary work was to stop those trying to harm shifters. They were a small team and Ari’s vast wealth was enough to fund them, allowing them to run operations all over the world, wherever they were needed.
Ari had kept it all a secret from his stepdaughters and their younger half-sister, but Christina had figured it out when she came back from boarding school. Though human herself, she had begged Ari to let her join them. After all, she hated those anti-shifter groups as much as he did. But he had never allowed it. It was only when Catherine had run away and she threatened to do the same that Papa let her join, first as an analyst, and now as a field agent. Kostas and her brothers had been teaching her to defend herself since she was twelve, and now she was able to put some of those skills to good use.
Their intelligence network had heard about this shifter smuggling ring weeks ago, but they didn’t know just how bad it was. They weren’t just targeting shifters, but their children. There were at least half a dozen wolf and bear cubs in that basement Christina didn’t know what they were planning, but she could all too easily imagine. Despite all the savagery she’d seen in the past year as part of The Agency, it still made her furious. She wanted to break something or someone, preferably the heads of whoever was behind this.
“Christina.” Nikos, the youngest of her stepbrothers, called her name. He had come up behind her and she didn’t even notice.
“Yes?”
“We need to leave now if you’re going to make your flight to Colorado.”
“Gamisou,” she cursed under her breath.
Nikos grinned, obviously catching her words with his enhanced hearing. “You’ve been hanging around us too long. What would Father say if he heard you curse like that?”
“Where do you think I learned?” she retorted. “Not from boarding school, that’s for sure.” She sighed.
“It’s just one week, Christina,” he said. “And we’ll follow in a few days.”
“Right.”
One week in Blackstone. In one week, her twin sister would be marrying her dragon. Catherine and Matthew’s engagement shouldn’t have been a surprise, since they were already mates, but she’d hoped it would be a while before she had to go back. The churning in her stomach wouldn’t stop when she thought about going back to Blackstone. Which led to her thinking about that handsome face and those silvery eyes.
Damn Jason Lennox. How could one man have such an effect on her? It had been weeks since that night, and still she couldn’t stop thinking about him. That big fat liar. Arrogant asshole. Catherine had explained why he did what he did, but still …
She shook her head. Just one week. After this week, she’d have to insist that Catherine and Matthew spend some holidays back home in Lykos. Because she had no intention of going back to Blackstone or spending more time around Jason Lennox than necessary.
She looked around her, at the instruments of cruelty and evil littering the basement. This was what she was meant to do. Put a stop to those trying to hurt shifters and their loved ones, so that no parent would ever have to lose a child, and no child would ever grow up without a parent.
It was the vow she made after those evil men murdered her mother.
* * *
The flight to Blackstone was uneventful, if long. She wished that the jet could have brought her here, but unfortunately, her father had to finish up some work in China and Korea before the wedding, so she had to fly commercial.
It wasn’t that she was too good to fly commercial; she’d done it lots of times, of course. But she preferred the peace and quiet of flying private. No one bothered her unless she needed them. Even waiting at the gate in Heathrow to board had her bristling. Too many people in one small space. The first class cabins on the larger plane to New York gave her some semblance of privacy, but once they reached the US, she had to transfer to a smaller airline to get to Colorado.
The plane that brought Christina into the regional airport outside Blackstone was half-empty and she was grateful for the peace and quiet. A strange, unnerving feeling passed through her as the plane touched down on the runway. Nervousness? Anticipation? She scoffed. Ridiculous. There was nothing to be nervous about. Blackstone meant nothing to her. The only connection she had with the place was her sister.
Why Catherine would choose this backwater town as her home was beyond her. They’d grown up on their own private island paradise surrounded by luxury for God’s sake. Papa gave them everything they could want or need. Why would anyone give that up and live here? Christina was already dreaming of going for a swim in the Mediterranean. Yes, that would be nice. A quick break on Lykos before going back to work. She wouldn’t be too long. After all, the bad guys didn’t take vacations, why should she?
Christina grabbed her luggage from the carousel and headed toward Arrivals. Her phone had died halfway through the flight and there were no charging ports on that dinky little plane. Still, she wasn’t worried as Catherine said she would be picking her up. But, there was no sign of her. In fact, there was only one vehicle, and one person waiting outside as she exited the door.
“Bloody hell,” she muttered to herself.
Jason Lennox leaned against the side of his truck, arms crossed over his chest. She bit her lip as she watched the muscles in his shoulders move deliciously under his black T-shirt. Her cheeks went hot when she remembered that morning when she was laying on top of him, pressed against his hard chest. He had been so warm and lying next to him felt wonderful, especially after being in that freezing car for hours. Which had been all his doing, she reminded herself. He also had that smi
le on his face, the same one that infuriated and made her knees go weak at the same time. He had been clean-shaven at the time, but now, the dark stubble on his jaw only made him look more handsome. And dangerous.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in the frostiest tone she could muster. “Where’s my sister?”
Silvery eyes bore into her and her heart began to race. “She was called away. Wedding shit.” He shrugged. “Sorry, I was the only one who could come and pick you up.” He glanced down at her outfit—knee-high leather boots over thick leggings and a lightweight puffy coat. “Glad to see you’re dressed for the weather.”
“You never know when someone will try to get you stuck in the middle of nowhere and make you freeze to death,” she retorted.
His face lit up with amusement. “Don’t worry, I only do that when I meet someone for the first time.”
She was taken aback by his reaction. Indeed, Jason Lennox wasn’t like any man she had met before. Most people were intimidated by her demeanor, but not him. “I could have taken a cab. What are you doing?” He ignored her and was already grabbing her suitcase. “I can do that, you know. I’m not an invalid.”
He tossed the luggage into the back of his truck. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.” He walked over to the passenger side and opened the door. “I’m not playing driver today, so I hope you don’t mind staying up front.”
“It’s fine,” she said, climbing in.
“Shouldn’t be too long,” Jason said as he stepped up into the driver’s seat, “and the weather’s holding up. Starting to get warmer, too.”
“This is warm?” she asked, tugging her jacket closer. “It doesn’t feel any warmer than my last visit.”
He chuckled. “That’s because you’re not from around here. Of course, you’re also human.” He flashed her a look from those silvery eyes and her stomach flip-flopped.
“I’m not used to snow or the cold,” she said.
The Blackstone Bad Dragon Page 2
