by Anna Lowe
When she came out on a lawn by the open-sided building where she’d met the men the previous night, her steps slowed, and she adjusted the sarong around her waist. She wished she had a mirror — not to mention a can of Mace. Could she trust these men? Couldn’t she?
Slowly, she approached, eyeing the space. Was anyone there?
The thatched building was as simple as they came — just a concrete floor carpeted with woven mats and some supports for the roof — yet elegant at the same time. The burgundy couch she’d used the previous night was one of four set in a square in what made up the living room portion of the space. The clock standing on the table said eleven.
Whoa — eleven? She did a double take. Had she really slept that long?
“Morning,” a deep voice rumbled from her left.
She turned and saw Hunter sitting at the kitchen counter. His hair was mussed and his eyes sleepy as he stirred a bowl of porridge.
“Morning,” she managed, trying not to sound too surprised. Were bears late risers or had he had a late night?
He smiled, stirred a dollop of honey into his oatmeal, and sighed at the first bite.
Tessa decided she could deal with the bear. The wolf had been friendly enough, too, but what about the others? The tiger was there, too, but the moment he saw her, he picked up his plate and left.
“Never mind Cruz,” Kai’s smooth voice said.
She whirled and found him standing at the far side of the shelter, leaning against the twisted wooden trunk that formed one of the ceiling supports.
Even in daylight, the man was all angles and shadowy shapes. His cheekbones were high and chiseled. His eyebrows curved up. The black T-shirt he wore stretched across a hell of a lot of chest, and his fingers gripped the natural wood column so hard his knuckles were white. Which was funny because she was the nervous one, right?
“I don’t think Cruz likes me,” she managed, ripping her gaze away from Kai. Telling her heart there was absolutely no reason for it to go pitter-pat.
“Don’t take it personally,” Boone said, coming up behind Kai. “He doesn’t like any humans.”
The wolf was every bit as tall and chiseled as Kai, but it was the dragon who commanded her attention. She couldn’t drag her eyes or mind away from him. Then it struck her. Did Kai like humans?
Silas appeared from along the path, nodding a greeting, and she wondered the same thing. Did Silas hate her? Resent her? Did he simply want her to go away?
“Hungry?” Kai asked.
The second her eyes bounced back over to him, her mind came up with a dozen possible interpretations of hungry.
“Help yourself,” Boone said, motioning toward the kitchen. He pulled the freezer door open, took out a frozen pizza, and popped it in the stove.
Tessa came around and peeked in the fridge. The shelves were packed with condiments and appetizers, but nothing approaching a proper meal. There were pickles, five kinds of mustard, three kinds of milk — one of which looked long past its expiration date — and a forlorn lump of cheese. No fresh fruit or vegetables other than half a pineapple turned upside down on a plate. Maybe the estate really was one big bachelor pad. She peeked into the garbage, and sure enough — it was filled with takeout containers.
“Find something?” Kai asked, coming up behind her. Close, but not close enough for her taste.
Found you, she wanted to say.
She forced in a slow, steadying breath. Why did he make her blood heat?
“Um…well…”
He crooked an eyebrow at her, a look that was part James Dean, part 1960s Clint Eastwood. She knew because she’d had black-and-white images of both on the wall of her college dorm room, way back when.
“This will be fine.” She straightened quickly, pulling out the cheese.
“Someone has to go shopping,” the bear said, looking at the others. “There’s not much left. Who’s cooking tonight, anyway?”
The room went still. Silas looked at Kai. Kai looked at Boone. Boone looked at Hunter, whose eyes hit the floor.
“Didn’t you say you were a private chef?” Boone said, and four pairs of hungry shifter eyes turned to Tessa.
She nodded, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Being the center of attention didn’t bother her, but the men were so… intense. So powerful. So…larger than life.
“Perfect. I nominate the human.” Boone grinned. “To make dinner, I mean. Not to be dinner.”
Tessa put her hands on her hips. “Very funny.”
A growl sounded, and she saw Kai shooting Boone a withering look.
“Sure,” she said, projecting calm before those two worked themselves into a glaring contest. “I’d love to make dinner.”
“You don’t have to,” Silas said, none too pleased.
“It’s the least I can do. How far is the grocery store? Can anyone take me?”
Boone started to raise his hand, but he glanced at Kai and immediately dropped it again.
“I’ll take you,” Kai said firmly.
Just what she’d been hoping for — and against. Something about him terrified her at the same time that it titillated. Her heart thumped wildly, and her face flushed.
“Great,” she said, trying to sound casual. “What would everyone like?”
“Steak,” they all grunted at the same time.
Tessa nearly took a step back. Okay, so steak it was. “Rare, or do I have to ask?”
“Rare.” Boone nodded.
“Definitely rare,” Kai agreed.
“Rare with honey glazing,” Hunter murmured.
Tessa looked around. If she could win these shifters’ hearts through their stomachs, so be it.
“We need to talk first,” Silas said, as dark and intent as ever.
And just like that, reality came crashing back in. These weren’t new clients she could enjoy cooking for. They were shifters who were every bit as dangerous as Damien Morgan. Maybe even more dangerous. There were five of them, after all.
Then again, if they’d wanted to kill, rape, or torture her, they would have already done so.
“Sure,” she said, hating that her voice wavered. “We can talk.”
Silas tilted his head, leading her past the couches to a table in the corner where he pulled a chair out for her, ever the gentleman. But before she could sit, Kai squeezed between the two of them and grabbed the chair.
No one seats this woman but me, his stiff back said.
Tessa looked at Silas, then at Kai, and found them glaring at each other in a replay of the previous night’s showdown.
“Maybe I’ll just sit here,” she murmured, maneuvering around to another spot.
Behind her, Boone chuckled then shut up the moment the dragons glared at him.
Tessa shook her head. Shifters. How was she ever going to make sense of them?
Silas seemed to have the manners of an era long gone. Boone, on the other hand, was a modern, feet-up-on-the-coffee-table kind of guy. Kai was somewhere in between. Were they just different personalities, or did every species have its own unique characteristics?
Kai took the seat next to her, leaving the chair across the table for Silas. Having Kai close settled her fluttery nerves, but his attentiveness scared her, too.
Dragons are insanely possessive, Ella had said. Once they see something they want, they never give up.
She sat down and knotted her hands on the table, telling herself this would be just like the police report she would have filed if she’d been attacked by a human and not a shifter.
No one can know about shifters. No one. You understand? Ella had taken her by both arms to impress the point, whispering in a corner of the airport as they waited for Tessa’s flight.
“Tell us from the beginning,” Silas said, taking a seat opposite her and Kai.
Her nervous hands went straight to the pendant around her neck. Silas’s eyes shone with interest, and she quickly tucked the emerald look-alike under her shirt. Was it true about dragons and treasure? If
so, couldn’t they tell it was a worthless fake? Worthless, that is, except for the sentimental value it held.
“Damien Morgan’s assistant phoned me,” she said quickly. “He said Morgan was trying out different chefs for the few occasions he spent in town, and we spent forever making an appointment.”
He’s a very busy man, the assistant had said in a haughty voice.
“Busy where?” Silas cut in.
Silas wanted to know everything: the extent of Morgan’s business interests, his contacts, his daily routine — the kind of details any police detective would ask. But Tessa barely knew Morgan enough to answer.
“That was my first time at his house.” First and last time, she thought to herself.
“And he attacked you out of nowhere?”
She considered. “One second, he was sniffing the onion soup, and the next, he was sniffing me.” She shivered. “Then he grabbed me and pinned me against the wall.” She hunched over, unwilling to relive the terror of it all. The skin-crawling weirdness, too, when Morgan crowed something about mates and breeding and—
She fast-forwarded through that part. “Then the doorbell rang, and he shoved me into another room.”
“And Ella showed up out of nowhere?”
Tessa nodded. “That was the strange part. It was as if she’d followed me up there in case something happened. Wait.” Her blood ran cold. “Do you think Ella had something to do with—”
Silas cut her off immediately. “You can trust Ella.”
“Are you sure?” Tessa had been so grateful for Ella’s help that she hadn’t stopped to think about it much. But in retrospect, it seemed strange that the woman from the apartment next to hers would save her from a dragon. It was as if Ella had suspected something was afoot. But what?
“We’re sure,” Silas said so firmly, she didn’t dare question him. “What we don’t understand is why Morgan targeted you.”
Target. Tessa hated the sound of that. But it was the truth.
“Do you think he’ll try to find me?”
Silas tipped his head this way and that. “Depends. Did he show his dragon?”
Tessa gripped the edge of the table and closed her eyes. “His fingernails turned into claws, and his ears extended.” She swept her fingers over her own ears as if to mold the corners upward, Spock-style. “His eyes glowed red like lava. Like a fire. Like…like…” She struggled for the word momentarily, then pointed at Silas. “Like yours.”
She trembled at the sight of sparks and flicks of flame in Silas’s eyes but forced herself not to flinch. Maybe dragons were like dogs or horses — creatures a person shouldn’t show their fear to.
She glanced at Kai just to prove how tough she was — even if she was a mess inside — and froze. His eyes were glowing, too, but there was blue mixed in with the orange and red. A rich, pure blue, like the innermost part of a fire. More beautiful than frightening.
Silas made a harsh, clearing-his-throat sound that had to be some kind of signal. Kai blinked, dousing the blue flame. Tessa turned away hastily, studying her hands. What was that about? Was there a color code to dragon eyes? If so, what the heck did blue mean?
“Nothing else?” Silas demanded. “Did he show his teeth? His wings? His tail?”
Tessa chortled. “I’m pretty sure I would have died on the spot if he showed me his teeth. Well, his canines extended a little.”
“Like this?” Silas opened his mouth, curling back his lips and—
Tessa threw up her hands. “Please don’t demonstrate. I’m not ready for that yet.” So not ready.
“What else did you see?” Kai asked.
“I looked through the keyhole and saw another man come in. I couldn’t see his face, but I did see Morgan, and his arms turned into wings as he paced back and forth. Thank God Ella tapped on the window and helped me escape.”
Ella, who’d coaxed her along an inch-wide railing over a sheer cliff, then shifted to fox form and guided Tessa down the steep slope, away from that awful place.
Tessa closed her eyes and held her pendant tightly, fighting back the taste of bile. To think how close she’d come to a horrible fate…
“Tessa,” Kai whispered. Well, she thought it was Kai, though she’d never imagined his voice could be so soft or so kind.
She looked up.
“Not all dragons are evil, Tessa. Damien Morgan is an exception.”
His eyes pleaded with her — really pleaded, as if it was incredibly important to him that she understood. His eyes glowed again, and he seemed to hold his breath.
Her cheeks warmed, and the rest of the room faded slowly away until it was just her, Kai, and the promise in his eyes. The plea.
Please trust me. Know that I will never hurt you. Never, his eyes said. Dragon eyes just like the ones in her dream. I will protect you to the end of my days.
For one magical moment, all the anxiety eased out of her soul, and she wished she had her own glowing-eyes trick. One that could tell him, I believe you. I trust you.
She might even have been bewitched enough to add something crazy like, I think I could even love you, if Silas hadn’t thumped his mug on the table and broken the spell.
“What did Morgan say? Tell me his exact words.”
She hugged herself and leaned back as Morgan’s words flooded through her mind, drowning away Kai’s.
You will make me a good mate, he’d said, exhaling a sulfurous breath in her face. You will breed me many heirs, and I will become the most powerful of my kind.
“I don’t remember,” she whispered, hoping dragons couldn’t smell a lie.
Chapter Five
Kai could see Tessa wearing down under the questions, and it nearly killed him to see her relive the horror of what had happened.
Give her a break, already, he barked at Silas.
They were getting nowhere, and Tessa was growing more and more distraught. Not that she showed it — much. The brave little human was doing her best to put on a soldier’s face. But still, the strain showed. A few minutes earlier, she had cracked the dawn of a smile — back when the topic was dinner, that is. Now that they were discussing her near-death at the hands of the dragon he hated more than any other on earth, she was white as a sheet.
Silas was unrelenting, as Kai normally would be, but enough was enough. He allowed Silas two more questions before pushing his chair back and announcing, “We need to go before the stores close.”
Silas furrowed his brow. The stores were nowhere near closing, and they both knew it.
Enough with the questions, he told Silas. Let me see what I can get out of her on the drive into town.
“Maybe we can check on my luggage, too,” Tessa said, sounding so exhausted, Kai nearly took her hand.
“Not sure it’s a good idea for you to leave the estate.” Silas stood quickly, blocking the way.
Kai drilled Silas with his hardest glare. She’ll be with me.
Silas gave him one of those That’s what I’m worried about looks he excelled at.
Look, she’s barely over the shock, Kai said. It’s just as much of a puzzle to her as to us. Let’s give her a little time. She might remember an important detail if she feels more in her element.
Silas’s fiery eyes darted from Kai to Tessa and back. Finally, he gave a slow nod. “Just be careful.”
The second Kai stood and took Tessa’s hand, he knew what Silas meant about being careful. Just that bit of contact with the human made his dragon come alive.
Mine! My mate!
Yeah, he had to be careful, all right — with his heart.
Not keeping her, he scolded his dragon. Just helping her for now.
Forever, his dragon huffed.
“Maybe you can reach Ella in the meantime,” Kai told Silas, trying to distract his dragon.
“Been trying all morning,” Silas sighed, watching them go. Kai could tell from the burning feeling in his back.
Watch what you let yourself feel for that human, Silas murmured into
his mind. Watch out.
Kai hurried Tessa around the corner toward the garage.
“Um, Kai?”
He played her voice back in his mind, exulting in the sound of his name on her tongue.
“Yes?”
“Do we have to go so fast?”
Oops. His steps had grown faster and faster until he was practically jogging along.
Her legs are long, but not that long, his dragon murmured. Slow down.
“Sorry,” he murmured, forcing himself to a walk.
“Kai?” Tessa asked a second later, setting off the fireworks in him again.
“Yes?”
“You’re crushing my hand.”
Oops. He let go immediately but grabbed it again a second later, ordering himself not to squeeze this time. “Sorry. It’s just that Silas can get to me at times. He’s a little intense.”
She snorted and gave him a pointed look. “Silas is a little intense?”
He glanced at her, and there it was again. That fire, that roar in her eyes. Little flicks of orange and red amidst the green.
She’d make a good dragon, his inner beast hummed.
He pursed his lips. Bet Dad thought that about Mom.
That shut his dragon up, and it brought back all the memories, too. Faint memories of the mother who’d died when he was young. A human mated to a dragon, she’d been unable to defend herself against a rogue dragon attack. Rogues who’d been tipped off by humans. His father had never forgiven himself, and he’d died not long after hunting down the rogues who killed his mate.
Is that what you want for Tessa? he barked.
His dragon side refused to reply, so he went on, hammering in his point.
That’s why she can’t be ours. Get that into your head. No humans. We can’t put her in that kind of jeopardy.
She already is in jeopardy, his dragon pointed out. It’s us keeping her safe.
Kai stomped along. If only it were that simple.
“Kai?”
Tessa’s voice cut through the storm cloud of emotions spinning around his heart, settling him down again. “Yes?”
“You okay?”
Now it was her squeezing his hand hard. He grinned in spite of himself.
“Fine,” he murmured. “Thanks.”
