Smoke and Fire:

by Donna Grant

  She stopped and rubbed her eyes. A glance at the time showed she’d been at it for hours. Kinsey then rose and stretched to give her poor muscles something to do. When she looked over at Ryder, he was still intent on whatever he was working on.

  With a yawn, she sat back down and spotted the note Ryder left her. It was a code to another piece of software he’d designed that would look for encoded e-mails.

  Kinsey didn’t waste another moment opening the software and putting it into action. While it worked, she decided to read more of the reports from Esther when an e-mail to Harriet Smythe caught her eye. It was from someone named Brewster.

  She opened it, her stomach dropping to her feet as she read.

  It’s all set. If KB has knowledge of the truth, it’s hidden well. A search of the house and computer came up empty. We’ll try for the mobile phone within the next day or so.

  Kinsey could barely pull in a breath. KB. That was her. It had to be her.

  She scrolled down to read the previous message from Harriet.

  Is everything ready? We’ve put a lot into this plan. Nothing can go wrong. I need to know everything she knows.

  Kinsey’s hand was shaking as she moved the cursor with the trackpad to the attachments sent in a previous e-mail. As soon as they loaded and she saw pictures of her and Ryder, Kinsey leapt from her chair.

  “Kins?” Ryder asked in concern as he turned to her.

  She could only point to the monitor and their pictures. Ryder rolled his chair over. He was silent as he scanned all ten pictures of them strolling through the streets of Glasgow during the day, eating dinner, exiting a movie theater, and lounging on her sofa. He said nothing as he read through the e-mails.

  It wasn’t until he sat back and she saw his troubled expression that she asked, “Does this clear me?”

  “I never believed you were guilty to begin with, you know that. However, this is definitely on the way to absolving you.”

  What? Surely she didn’t hear him right. “What do you mean ‘on the way’? This proves I wasn’t involved.”

  Ryder turned his chair to face her. “Look at this from Con’s point of view. What this proves is that you found an e-mail where someone is talking about KB.”

  “KB is me,” she insisted.

  “How many other employees at Kyvor have those initials?”

  She raised a brow. “Need I remind you about the pictures?”

  “It’s better to gather all the information. It’ll be relevant at some point.”

  Kinsey was usually much better at collecting material, but she’d never had her name slung through the mud before. This was her life, and it hit her harder than she’d imagined.

  “I want to find out who is responsible.”

  Ryder gave a nod. “We know who’s responsible. Ulrik. We need to ascertain the ones doing his dirty work in order to prove you’ve been used by him.”

  “Con still thinks I’m part of it, doesn’t he?”

  Ryder rocked back in his chair and closed the lid to the box of donuts. “Con wants definitive evidence before he’ll clear you.”

  “All right. Then I’ll find it. I know I’m not a part of this.”

  “I do, too.”

  She met his gaze, losing herself in his eyes. They were more green than blue at the moment, but the gold bled everywhere. Such gorgeous eyes. They made her think of forever. “Why do you believe me?”

  “Because I know you.”

  “That was three years ago.”

  He lifted one shoulder. “I still know you.”

  Was he trying to tell her that she should know him as well? How could she when he hadn’t shared his secrets? Despite that, she knew he was the one person who would stand with her. That kind of assurance went a long way in giving her the courage to dig ever deeper into his world.

  “What are the odds that we’ll find what we need?” she asked.

  At this Ryder dropped his gaze. “I doona know. In the past, Ulrik has covered his tracks so well that I’ve no’ been able to find the links connecting everything.”

  That wasn’t good news at all. If even Ryder was stumped then Ulrik had to be really, really good. Or lucky.

  Or …

  “What is it?” Ryder asked.

  Kinsey lowered herself back into her chair. “In all my years doing this, I’ve never seen anyone with half as much skill as you have. Not even the expert hackers who were convicted and then got hired by corporations to ensure they didn’t get hacked.”

  “Your point?” Ryder asked, a slight smile on his lips.

  “If you can’t find what’s missing to connect everything to Ulrik that means that he’s really good or lucky.”

  Ryder blinked, a look of alarm covering his face. “Or he’s no’ working alone.”

  Kinsey nodded. “Have you not thought of that before?”

  “Briefly. But Ulrik wouldn’t share his revenge with anyone, so that couldna be what’s happening.”

  “Is he that good with computers?”

  Ryder’s lips twisted. “I doona think so.”

  “Is he that lucky?”

  “He’s been damned lucky lately. Too lucky.”

  They shared a smile, because no one was that lucky.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Ryder was at once both happy at what Kinsey had found and anxious at her musings.

  “Are you going to tell Con?” Kinsey asked.

  Ryder gazed into her violet eyes. From the moment he spotted her four years ago on the streets of Glasgow, he’d had the compelling urge to protect her.

  Well, that wasn’t his first thought. His first thought had been that he wanted her. On the heels of their gazes clashing, Ryder knew he’d have her. That’s when the need to protect her began.

  From then on, that emotion only intensified and expanded until it occupied his thoughts constantly. After he left her, Ryder made sure he kept watch over her since he knew better than most just what monsters were out in the world.

  Now that Kinsey was once more by his side, he hadn’t been able to cap the need to safeguard her. The longer she was on Dreagan and the more information they uncovered, the more he knew she was in serious danger.

  “Ryder?” she asked with a furrow of her brow.

  He swallowed and began to reach for a donut. Just before his fingers grabbed a pastry, he hesitated. It wasn’t the donut he wanted.

  It was Kinsey.

  He’d been hard since the first night he slept beside her. Leaving her that morning had been nearly impossible.

  “Aye,” he finally answered. “I’ll tell Con.”

  “We’ll tell him,” she corrected.

  There was movement at the doorway and then a blond head emerged. “Tell me what?”

  Before Ryder could speak, Kinsey was talking.

  “I found an e-mail with pictures of me and Ryder.”

  Con briefly looked at Ryder. “What else?”

  Ryder knew how important it was to Kinsey that Con believe she was innocent, so he sat back and allowed her to answer all the questions.

  Kinsey’s wide violet eyes were trained on Con as she pointed to the monitor. “The e-mail was exchanged between Harriet and another individual.”

  “Harriet is the person above your boss, correct?”

  Kinsey gave a firm nod, a slight lift to her lips. “Correct. The individual mentions KB.”

  To help, Ryder swiped the thread of e-mails from Kinsey’s computer to the wall behind Con. Constantine turned to read them.

  Kinsey’s quick smile she shot toward Ryder made his gut clench. She thought it was enough to absolve her in Con’s eyes, but he knew Con would think differently.

  The information was certainly going to help, but it wasn’t going to clear her altogether.

  “Interesting,” Con said as he turned back to face Kinsey. “The pictures confirm it’s you they speak of. Otherwise, KB could be anyone.”

  Kinsey’s lips flattened for a heartbeat. “I know. Ryder and I
already spoke about that. The fact is, that e-mail is about me.”

  “They got into your flat and computer.”

  Ryder leaned back in his chair, his hands laced behind his head. “I already thoroughly checked and cleaned her computer and mobile when she arrived. There was nothing on it.”

  “That you found,” Con said.

  Ryder held his gaze for a long stretch of silence. Ulrik had gotten something past Ryder once. That wasn’t going to happen again. “There was nothing.”

  “I’m happy to hear it.” Con then shifted his attention to Kinsey. “This is certainly important. It proves they were watching you for some time. It also shows that these people knew our true natures, and they fully expected you did as well.”

  Ryder closed his eyes in frustration. He then sat up, his gaze snapping open. “In all of this, we’ve assumed that Kinsey was working with those at Kyvor.”

  “I’m not,” she stated.

  He ignored her and continued. “What if they were hoping she did know something to force her to talk about it?”

  “When they learned she knew nothing, then they changed tactics,” Con said with a nod.

  Kinsey sat back down and rested an elbow on the table. “To do what?”

  “If you didna have information to share, then they were going to put you in the nest with us,” Ryder told her.

  Her lips parted as the truth hit her. “So that I would turn to them scared out of my mind and give them what they want. That’s why Cecil was so adamant that I remain this morning.”

  Con pointed to the e-mails behind him on the wall. “There is more. This isna the first e-mail.”

  “Or the last,” Ryder added.

  Kinsey puffed out her cheeks before she blew out a breath. She turned her chair to face the table and began typing. “All right, you little buggers,” she said to the screen of e-mails. “Just try and hide from me.”

  Ryder rose and followed Con from the room. Con waited in the corridor. “She’s innocent.”

  “So both of you keep saying.”

  “You just saw proof.”

  Con merely looked at him. “Did we? How long have you been looking through those e-mails?”

  “I’ve been focused on other things. Kinsey has been sorting through them for the better part of yesterday and today.”

  “In all those e-mails, she manages to find one that would clear her? You doona think that’s odd?”

  “I think she’s good at what she does. I think she’s been looking through every e-mail. She didna stumble upon this one.”

  Con twisted his lips. “Fair enough. So she found the e-mail. With her initials and pictures of the two of you?”

  “We’ll find the data needed to clear her name for good.”

  “And if you doona? Have you thought about that, Ryder?”

  It’d crossed his mind a time or two. “I doona need to.”

  “Perhaps you should.”

  Ryder looked to the doorway. The rows of monitors hid Kinsey from view, but he could hear her talking to herself. “She’s no’ a part of this.”

  “I hope you’re right. If you’re wrong, then you’ve given Ulrik everything he needs to tear us apart.”

  Ryder watched Con walk away. He was sure of Kinsey.

  And yet, he couldn’t help but worry. The implications Con mentioned were staggering. Ryder wasn’t just putting his own honor on the line. He was putting the entire way of life for everyone at Dreagan in jeopardy.

  He strode back into the computer room, walked around the monitors, and grabbed Kinsey’s chair. He jerked it back, turning it so she faced him. Then he put his hands on either side of her face and gazed into her violet eyes.

  “Ry—” she began.

  He kissed her, claiming her lips in a kiss that he’d been dying to give. Her mouth softened beneath his, parting so their tongues met, dancing against each other.

  It was heaven. Pure, utter bliss.

  Ryder knew he stepped over the boundaries Kinsey had set upon her arrival, but in all honesty, he didn’t care. Not at that moment.

  Now he needed to feel her, taste her. To remember what it was to have her as his. To know the curve of her cheek, the touch of her hand, the smell of her skin.

  He ended the kiss the moment he sensed she was about to pull back. But he didn’t release her. Instead, he continued to hold her head between his hands.

  “I know you may hate me, and you’ve every right. But look around, Kins. This is home to us. Dragons and their mates. If you want to hurt me, then hurt me. Doona take the others down as well.”

  Her hands came up and grasped his wrists. Then she tugged his hands away firmly and forcibly. “I thought you believed me.”

  “I do.” Ryder straightened, his gut twisting with all the doubt and worry. “I staked my word on it just now.”

  “Not from what you just said.”

  “We’ve been betrayed before. If you’ve come to get your revenge, all I ask is that you leave the others out.”

  She rolled her eyes and swiveled her chair back to the computers. “You’re a real piece of work. Telling me in one breath that you’ve got my back and believe me, and in the very next spouting drivel about revenge.” She gave a loud, angry snort. “Oh, I wanted to get back at you, but I’m past that.”

  “All right.”

  “No!” she shouted and turned her head to glare at him. “It’s not all right.”

  Ryder felt something tighten around his chest, making it difficult to breathe. What had he said wrong? Why was she reacting so? All he wanted her to know was that if she was working with those at Kyvor to leave the others out of it.

  He gave a shake of his head, unable to find the logic to connect what he’d done to her emotional outburst.

  “Either you believe me or not.” Her eyes shot flames of annoyance and hurt.

  “I believe you.”

  “Right,” she stated sarcastically. “And don’t kiss me again.” She faced the computer, and this time she turned on her music, blaring it loudly.

  His smile began slowly. So that’s what had gotten her so riled. The kiss.

  She hadn’t just responded willingly, she’d wanted it as much as he. That must irritate her when she was trying so hard to pretend as if she had no feelings toward him anymore.

  Now he knew differently.

  Now Ryder was going after her with all he had. The fine line between love and hate had just been crossed with their kiss. It might not have been the words and caresses he’d been dreaming about giving her, but it was a kiss.

  He tasted the hunger, the passion. The eagerness.

  Ryder resumed his seat, where the smile quickly evaporated as he stared at the screen. Whatever wee bit of elation he’d felt vanished as he looked at the pictures of them together.

  He easily piggybacked on Kinsey’s hack into Kyvor and went to the e-mail string about Kinsey. He pulled every picture they had of them onto a secure server.

  Every moment of his time with Kinsey hadn’t just been recorded, it had been shared with a group. It took Ryder longer than he wanted trying to determine who the group receiving the e-mails were, but whoever set it up had gone to great pains to bounce the signal all over the world, creating an e-mail address within an e-mail address within an e-mail address.

  It was taking him forever to break through one of the addresses, and every step that brought him closer to discovering the truth left a bad taste in his mouth.

  “Why didn’t you tell Con that Ulrik might have someone working with him?”

  Ryder paused in his typing at the sound of Kinsey’s voice. “Because it’s a theory.”

  “Theories are what break open cases sometimes.”

  “I’ve a million speculations about Ulrik. We doona have the time to chase all of them. He’s already ahead of us.”

  “Then it’s time for you to gain an advantage,” she insisted. “There’s no way Ulrik can be running things on his own.”

  Ryder ran a hand down his f
ace. “It’s no’ so simple, Kins. We can no’ trust anyone.”

  “Especially not humans.”

  “I didna say that.”

  “You didn’t have to. I understand,” she said, her voice laced with ire.

  He sighed. “So many want to expose us.”

  “And why do you care?” she asked as she threw up her hands. She spun the chair to face him. “You’re a bloody Dragon King. You can’t be killed by anything other than another Dragon King. Why not show the world who you really are?”

  “We did that once. It didna work verra well, if you remember from my story.”

  She looked down at her hands, picking at her thumbnail. “You’ve magic and powers. You can shift. You can fly and breathe fire. Why do you hide from us?”

  “Because the alternative is to go to war with your race, and a second war means that one of us will be annihilated.”

  Read all four parts of this sensational e-series—and look for the full volume of Smoke and Fire in April 2016 from St. Martin’s Paperbacks.

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  A New Series in the Dark Kings world!

  Dark Alpha’s Claim, available 11/17/15

  Dark Alpha’s Embrace, available 2/16/16

  Dark Alpha’s Demand, available 5/17/16

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Donna Grant has been praised for her “totally addictive” and “unique and sensual” stories. She’s the author of more than thirty novels spanning multiple genres of romance including the bestselling Dark King stories, Dark Craving, Night’s Awakening, and Dawn’s Desire. Her acclaimed Dark Warrior and Dark Sword series novels feature a thrilling combination of Druids, primeval gods, and immortal Highlanders who are dark, dangerous, and irresistible. She lives with her two children, a dog, and four cats in Texas.

  Want to know when Donna’s next book is available? You can sign up for her newsletter at www.DonnaGrant.com, follow her on twitter @donna_grant, or like her Facebook page at facebook.com/AuthorDonna Grant. Or sign up for email updates here.