Cimmerian Shade: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Collection

by Kiki Howell

  She lifted her head from his shoulder and frowned as she stared out the window. “Dom? Your driver, he missed the turn off for my apartment.”

  “No, he didn’t.” Dominic gazed at her as his thumb moved back and forth over her knee in a rhythmic fashion. “You’re not going back there. I told you ... we’re going home.”

  His face held a very matter-of-fact expression, and Lucinda wasn’t sure what to think as she stared at him. Part of her was overjoyed by his domineering statement. It wasn’t like her tiny apartment was the lap of luxury or anything. Certainly not the opulence she had grown up in, but it was all she could afford since the authorities had clamped down on her father’s assets. Still, part of her couldn’t resist the urge to fight. “Well, that’s a little sudden, isn’t it? Moving me in, without so much as a discussion first?”

  Dominic cocked an eyebrow and looked at her. “No, it’s not.” A deep scowl settled into his brow as he turned slightly to face her. “We’ve been doing this dance since you were fourteen-years-old, Lucinda. Tonight we’ve finally cut through all the fears and the bullshit, and taken what we’ve both wanted after all these years. Do you really want to waste more time taking things slow when we could just be happy and be together?”

  Dominic, happy? It was a concept she had never really thought about before. One of those things that sounded amazing in theory, but never actually played out in real life. But he just implied that she made him happy, didn’t he? That they could have a happy life ... together? She grinned at him.

  “Do all shifters move this quickly, Mr. Draco?”

  Dominic smirked at the question. “You mean, once they finally stop denying their true feelings? Yes.”

  They travelled in silence the rest of the way, and when the SUV slowed to a crawl, Lucinda looked out the window at the handsome estate. She had been here a few times before with her father for different functions – business dinners and such. But she had to admit she found the place a bit intimidating. It was dark and mysterious. Almost as brooding as its owner, if a home could brood that is. Outside was all stone and mortar, with terrifying gargoyles and even a large stone dragon that kept watch at the entrance. The first time she had come here, Lucinda had been fascinated by that statue, wondering if it was a true representation of how Dominic might look when in dragon form. If so, it was both incredible and terrifying. Dominic helped her from the car and placed a hand on her lower back as he led her up the front steps and past that ferocious stone dragon on their way to the front door.

  “Welcome home, my love.”

  The door opened as if by magic, and when they stepped inside Lucinda looked around and smiled. It was just as she remembered from her previous visits, all dark wood and deep blood red furnishings. The air inside was hot and sultry, almost overly so, and Lucinda knew without even checking that there would be a lit fireplace or a free-standing fire pit in every room. It was typical of dragon shifters for some reason. It wasn’t simply that they had the ability to breathe fire. They also had a deep affinity for its warmth. They adored the heat. It was something she would need to get used to now, she supposed.

  Waiting at the door was a tall older gentleman with graying hair, and a plump middle-aged woman. Both were dressed in black servant attire, and they stood at attention, waiting to greet their boss.

  “Mr. Draco.” The name was uttered in unison, and Lucinda wondered if this was a nightly occurrence or just for her benefit.

  “Good evening, Felder. Mrs. Mott,” Dominic said as he handed his briefcase over to the tall man. “May I present Ms. Lucinda Lindley. You’ve both likely met her in this house before during a function. However she is now my mate, which means she is also now the lady of this house. You will regard her as such from this moment on. Is that understood?”

  “Of course, Mr. Draco. Welcome home, Ms. Lindley.”

  The butler gave a slow bow of his head, and Lucinda was taken aback for a second. Was this for real? Her gaze darted to Dominic for a second before she shot a nervous smile the butler’s way. “Thank you, um ... Felder, was it?”

  “Yes, miss.”

  “I’m available whenever you would like to discuss how things should be run now, ma’am,” the woman said.

  Lucinda looked at her as though she were crazy.

  “Mrs. Mott is my housekeeper and cook. Going forward, she will defer to you with regard to how our household should run,” Dominic said, leaning close to her ear as he explained the situation.

  Lucinda glanced at him expecting to see folly in his eyes, but he was completely serious. She was now his mate, and he obviously expected her to step into her role of running their home. She took a deep breath and tried not to let her anxiety get the best of her. She could handle this. She’d been raised to run a stately household of this manner, hadn’t she? She turned to Mrs. Mott and smiled. “Well, let’s save that conversation for tomorrow, shall we?” she said as she handed her coat to the butler.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She glanced around, taking everything in. There seemed to be security guards lurking in every corner of the home, attempting to blend into the background as they endeavored to give their boss his privacy. She wondered if security was always this tight or if it had something to do with what happened to Dinah Martin.

  Dominic took her by the hand. “Come. Let me show you your new home.”

  He took her on a tour of the impressive mansion, showing her every square inch of the place from the living room, kitchen and den to the library, the exercise room, and the indoor swimming pool. He even led her down to the basement and showed her what he jokingly referred to as his treasure trove — an almost cavernous space that housed a virtual museum of dragon shifter history, complete with scrolls and artifacts and books. The chronicles and records of his entire clan, dating back to the Middle Ages. It was a collection he was immensely proud of.

  Their tour ended in the master suite of rooms, and Lucinda noted the same dark masculine decor that she had seen throughout the entire place. Hanging over the sumptuously appointed king-sized bed was a large colorful tapestry depicting a pair of dragons on either side of what looked to be some sort of medallion with an image in the center of it.

  “What is this design? The same tapestry hangs over the fireplace in your living room, and also down in the history room of your basement.” She stared up at the tapestry as she asked the question, almost fascinated by it.

  “You don’t like it?”

  She turned to look at him. “Oh, no, it’s not that. I think it’s beautiful. I’m just curious. It obviously has some meaning, otherwise it wouldn’t be displayed so prominently in your home.”

  Dominic stared at her for a moment. “Our home.”

  Lucinda smiled at him. “Our home.”

  “It’s the Draco family crest. You’ll find it hanging prominently in the homes of most of my clansmen.”

  She studied him for a moment before she turned her attention back to the tapestry. Something about it brought up questions she wanted to ask, but she pushed them aside for the moment and turned to face him as she took a seat at the end of the bed.

  She gave him her best disinterested pout. “Well, the whole place is in dire need of a woman’s touch you know? I’m guessing I arrived just in time.”

  Dominic’s piercing eyes softened as he stared at her and a small smile parted his lips. “Well, then I guess I’m fortunate you have such impeccable tastes.”

  He pulled off his suit jacket and proceeded to get undressed, and Lucinda simply sat and enjoyed the show, watching as he peeled off his dress shirt and tossed it into the hamper.

  “Aren’t you going to get ready for bed?”

  She looked at him with a coy grin. “Well, I would, but I don’t have any of my things here. And apparently I’m no longer allowed to return to my apartment.”

  He smirked at her. “I’ll have a few of my men go to your place and box up your things. They’ll bring them here in a day or two. In the meantime, I’ll buy you
whatever you might need.”

  Lucinda folded her arms over her chest. “Are you holding me captive in this elegantly masculine, charmingly old world prison, Mr. Draco?”

  Dominic smiled at her. One of those genuine, honest-to-goodness smiles he almost never gave to anyone, and Lucinda’s stomach tightened into a knot before it gave way to jelly. She smiled back at him as her heart melted into a puddle. She had loved him for so long, and part of her couldn’t quite believe that her dreams of being with him were finally coming true.

  He moved closer to her, the muscles of his chest and abs rippling with each step before he bent toward her and placed his hands on the bed on either side of her. The action brought his face just inches from hers. “This is your home now,” he said with a stone serious expression as he stared into her eyes. “It is not a prison, so please don’t feel that way. You are free to assert your colorful personality and design preferences into any room, within reason. And you are free to come and go as you wish, as long as you always have security with you.”

  That damned urge to argue sparked an immediate attitude, and she cocked an eyebrow at him. “What? No. I will not have security following my every ...”

  “Lucinda, don’t start.” His voice was harsh, and his eyes flashed with a sudden steely determination as he stared her down. “This is not a request, it is a requirement. I was serious tonight when I said it is dangerous for you to be with me. Dinah Martin is dead because of her involvement with me, however superficial that involvement may have been. Part of the reason I fought a relationship with you for so long is because I need you to be safe. Trust me, that need is truer now more than ever before. You will have a team of my security with you whenever you leave this house from now on. Do you understand me?”

  Lucinda glared at him, hoping but not really expecting him to back down. She’d seen his face earlier tonight when he spoke of Dinah Martin. She knew how upset he was over the ordeal, and the look in his eyes right now told her there was no way she was going to win this one. He wasn’t about to let up. She sighed as she lowered her gaze, reluctant to challenge him any further.

  “I understand.”

  “Thank you.” He placed his fingers at her chin, lifting gently and forcing her gaze to meet his own. Then he kissed her.

  The instant his lips touched hers, all the mounting anxiety evaporated, and Lucinda threw her arms around him as he deepened their kiss. He pulled on the sash of her dress, opening it properly this time as his hands roamed over her soft skin. In no time at all, their clothes lay in a tangled heap on the floor at the foot of the bed as they slipped between the sheets.

  “You are so damn beautiful, Lucinda.” His gruff voice sounded so sexy at her ear, and Lucinda moaned as he kissed her.

  Nothing like the urgent explosion of their earlier encounter in his office, their lovemaking took on a whole new dimension this time around as Dominic seemed intent on exploring every inch of her body with his mouth and his hands. She floated in an orgasmic daze, lost in a blissful state of euphoria with his head buried between her thighs.

  “Ooh, Dominic. Please!”

  He wasn’t certain exactly what she was begging for, but he grinned as he looked up at her from his position, loving the pink flush of her skin, and the far away expression on her face as her body trembled. He didn’t want to give her the chance to fully recover. He wanted to keep her in that state of ecstasy. He planted a kiss at her naval as he crawled over her body. Then he entered her in one deep swift plunge. Slow deliberate movements drove his every thrust onward, propelling her over the precipice and taking her to the very brink of ecstasy over and over again. Her fingernails scraped over his back as she screamed his name, and Dominic emptied himself into her with a loud satisfied groan.

  Moments later, she lay panting in his arms, listening to the sound of his heartbeat as her head rested on his chest. Her gaze drifted around the dimly lit room, and the dancing flames in the fireplace created spooky shadows on all of the walls. Lucinda studied them for a moment before a small ceramic dragon came into view. It was sitting on the shelf across from the bed, and it made her think about the tapestry again, and the room in the basement. This entire mansion represented thousands of years of dragon shifter history, and she couldn’t help but wonder how, or even if, she fit into all of that. She found it strange. It was a question she had never even considered before he finally returned her declarations of love. But suddenly, it was all she could think about.

  “Dominic?” she asked as she felt his hand moving gently back and forth over the skin of her back.

  “Yes.”

  “Why have you chosen me?”

  Dominic frowned at the question. “After all this time, Lucinda, why would you even think to ask me that question? You know how I've always felt about you. You’ve always known how much I want you.”

  “Yes, but ... I mean, why me? Why didn’t you seek out some pretty female dragon shifter? Like Dinah Martin? Why didn’t you mark her as your mate?”

  Dominic looked down at her, still wondering where this was coming from. “I told you. I couldn’t mark Dinah because I wasn’t in love with her. Why would I take a mate I had no real love for?”

  Lucinda propped herself up on his chest and looked into his eyes. “I guess what I’m really trying to ask is why a human at all? Won’t your clan be upset that you’ve chosen a human mate?”

  Dominic looked truly puzzled as he stared up at her. “Lucinda, you know human shifter pairings are not uncommon. I don’t understand this line of questioning.”

  “I just ...” She paused for a moment as she tried to decide how to phrase her question. “That room in the basement, and the tapestry. They made me realize what a rich history your clan has. It made me wonder how they might feel about you taking a human mate.”

  A slow grin settled into Dominic’s lips. “If this is your way of trying to back out now, I’m afraid it’s much too late for that, baby.”

  Lucinda smiled and nudged his chest in a playful manner. “I don’t want out and you know it. But I don’t want you to catch flack over choosing me either.”

  He tightened his arms around her and then reached up to move a strand of ebony hair from her eyes. “Lucinda, dragons are hatched, but dragon shifters are not. We’re born. And throughout history, it has been our custom to choose a human female to bear our young.” He shrugged a shoulder as he continued, “Now, that’s probably in part because female dragon shifters were so rare at one time. That’s changing now in the last couple of hundred years as more female shifters have been born, but the practice of choosing a human mate is still perfectly acceptable. Even preferable to some.”

  She smiled at him. “So we’re not breaking any laws or anything?”

  “No, we’re not.” He grinned at her. “Sorry to disappoint. I know how much you love pushing the envelope and breaking the rules of convention.”

  “Are you calling me a trouble maker?” she asked in mock horror.

  “Well, you did come onto me when you were underage. I think you obviously enjoyed shocking me and teasing me whenever your father was somewhere close by and could catch us at any minute.”

  “What?” She smiled at the playful outrage in her own voice. “Okay, I’ll admit to coming onto you, but I was never a tease!”

  “Oh, please. You were such a cock tease, and you know it! You got off on it, making me squirm. You loved making me uncomfortable around your father.”

  He stared at her with the biggest of smiles, laughing as he held her close, and Lucinda loved the sound of that laughter. She didn’t hear it often, and the knowledge that she could pull that wonderful sound from him made her immensely happy. Without another word, she pressed her lips hard against his in a frolicsome kiss.

  In the space of a heartbeat, Dominic cradled her head in his hand as he deepened their lighthearted kiss and turned her over onto her back. There was no more discussion as they lost themselves in each other once more.

  .

  Chap
ter Seven

  “SO TELL ME again why you wanted to go shopping with me?” Lucinda set her cup of coffee down and looked at Cara with a skeptical grin. Her new friend shrugged her shoulders.

  “Why not? You’ve got a great sense of style, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I could use a little wardrobe update.” The female wolf shifter took a sip of her cappuccino and glanced around the small cafe they were seated in.

  “Mmm hmm.” Lucinda narrowed her eyes, still not believing a word of it. “Dominic put you up to this somehow, didn’t he?”

  She smirked at the thought of her big strong dragon shifter being so paranoid about her safety all the time. It was sweet and all, but it was beginning to grow a little bit tiresome. They had only officially been together for a little over a month now, and things between them were going so well. Dominic was sweet and attentive to her, even when his men were around and awaiting his orders. He seemed to have no trouble dropping whatever he was doing and giving her his undivided attention whenever she asked for it. And he went out of his way to do small romantic things for her, like filling their home with cymbidium orchids, or joining her for walks around the grounds of his estate.

  He was the perfect boyfriend, and she was falling deeper in love with him by the day. But no matter what she said or how much she protested, he steadfastly refused to let up on her twenty-four hour a day guard duty. At least he had until today. She’d thought it strange that morning that he would suddenly loosen up the reins just out of the blue, and now it seemed her suspicions were right.

  Cara set her cup down and sighed as she ran her index finger around the rim of it. “All right, fine. I’m not really interested in your fashion sense, although you are unquestionably much more stylish than I am. But the truth is ... I don’t just tend bar at the nightclub. My job description at Inferno is a little broader than that.”