“That’s not easy- I’m not usually aware of how I normally think, it just happens. Wow, we’re high up, there are a lot of trees, how big is this forest…”
Etienne chuckled to himself as Brianna’s mind continued to whirl with what she was seeing and experiencing. It appeared she would need further tutelage to distinguish between the thoughts she actively wished to communicate and those that were just happening in the background. He pulled her in close to his body so she would be hidden from view and concentrated on flexing his scales to reflect his surroundings, sure enough, he seemed to disappear. Now that was done, he had the short flight towards the Darkhills town to enjoy listening in to his little Brianna’s running commentary.
She liked flying with him. She was impressed by his gentleness despite his size. She thought his scales were beautiful. That made him snort out a puff of smoke as his dragon proudly enjoyed her admiration. He also heard her admiration of his human form and how she liked seeing his scales on his chest and stomach, he deliberately tuned out of her musings when she began to wonder if his scales could extend further down his body. Those thoughts were private, and he was certain she wasn’t expecting him to answer her questions, so he focused on the flight and keeping his precious treasure tucked safely beneath him.
It was a short flight and when the town came into view Etienne, cautioned Brianna once more about remaining quiet as he chose to land in an empty open clearing on the edge of the forest that bordered the town. It would be a short walk from there. He slowly hovered in place then carefully descended, mindful of the fragile human in his grasp. When his hind legs touched down, he held his wings out and lowered his body to gently uncurl his claws.
Brianna stepped out on slightly wobbly legs and stumbled a little way off before turning back towards him. While she looked flushed from the journey, she gifted him a tentative smile.
“I will shift and dress now, then we will make our way to the town. If your legs are unsteady, I will carry you.”
She snorted at that and laughed.
“Because carrying a grown woman around the place won’t attract any attention.”
Etienne had to admit, she had a point, so he chose to ignore how he already missed having her body close to his. He turned his back and shifted into his human form, standing as he did and strode directly towards the trees.
That ass.
He heard Brianna’s thoughts before he had a chance to close off their mind link. He definitely smirked then. He wasted no time pulling on the clothes he had stowed in his satchel and returned to the clearing. He didn’t want to leave his little female alone in the open for any longer than necessary. He had vowed to guard her, being away from her didn’t allow him to do that overly affectively.
He watched as her mouth popped open and her eyes lit up as he approached. He didn’t need to read her mind to know her thoughts. Her dilated pupils and increased heart rate told him everything. He dared not scent the air, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to contain his dragon’s reaction if he did. It was hard enough to control his own arousal, having to withstand hers would be extremely testing of his resolve.
“Are you ready, Little One?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Shall we go into the town now to gather your preferred foods?” He repeated, his eyes flicking to her lips briefly.
He would really like to taste them. But instead, he offered her his arm, ready to escort the female.
“Town. Food. Yes,” she nodded and took a deep breath, before linking her arm through his, “lead the way, B.”
Chapter Twelve
Brianna
Brianna focused on putting one foot in front of the other, keeping her eyes purposefully on the ground. Even then she could see his huge, booted feet walked beside her dirty little sneakers. She snuck another glance up at him from under her lashes and instantly regretted it.
Etienne scrubbed up good. Really fucking good. No one should be able to make blue jeans and a plain white T look that amazing. It should be illegal. If she was perfectly honest, she was proud of her own ability to resist climbing him like a tree. Even though she really, really wanted to. His broad shoulders and muscular arms were perfectly wrapped up tight and his long legs encased in jeans that hung low, made her mouth water. Even his messy blond hair had that designer dishevelled look that only the truly gorgeous could pull off.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to head into the town now. She selfishly wanted to keep the glorious sight that was her dragon in regular clothes, all to herself. She didn’t want any other woman looking at him, especially when she was pretty certain that despite her bath in his grotto, she resembled something out of The Walking Dead.
With that thought, she brought her hand up to try to tame her hair, which had decided its naturally full and springy state was this season’s new look.
“You do not need to be concerned about your appearance,” Etienne spoke from beside her; she could feel his eyes on her but didn’t trust herself to return his mesmerizing gaze, “should anyone recognise you; I will intervene.”
Brianna swallowed at the seriousness in his tone. He was right she shouldn’t be thinking about whether she looked good enough to be on his arm. She had become a criminal in the last few days, from what she knew she hadn’t done anything too serious, but who was to say she hadn’t done more despicable things before trespassing on the vampire's estate and trying to blackmail him. As if that wasn’t bad enough.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
They made the rest of the short journey in silence, Brianna squeezed his arm tighter as they reached the main road that led them into the town, the dilapidated welcome sign let her know she was in Darkhills, and from what she could make out as they approached the main thoroughfare, it was a small and fairly run-down community. There were a few signs of an effort being made to spruce the town up but there was still a lot of work that needed to be done.
Brianna wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that she didn’t recognise the town. Either she hadn’t ever stopped there, or she had and her memories of it had been wiped along with anything else. She hoped it was the former. She would be able to relax a little if she were a stranger.
As they walked closer, Etienne seemed to become stiffer and more alert, he was on the lookout for trouble. She hoped he didn’t find any. They came to a small grocery store and ducked inside. Maybe they would be able to get what they needed and get out without anyone seeing them.
That thought went out the window the moment she heard the first feminine gasp. Brianna looked up cautiously and immediately relaxed. The woman’s eyes were huge, and she was eyeing Etienne with unabashed desire, seemingly oblivious to Brianna’s presence next to him.
They walked on, Etienne ignoring the woman effortlessly. Maybe this wasn’t going to be a problem. While she didn’t like having others gawp at her dragon, he was at least taking the heat off her. Feeling a little possessive was just the price she had to pay for keeping a low profile, besides, it wasn’t as if she had any reason to want to keep him for her viewing pleasure only. He was helping her, that was all, keeping her safe while she figured things out. He just happened to also be an off-the-charts hottie.
Brianna picked up a basket and released herself from Etienne’s hold, she noticed his frown and the way his hand settled on her lower back as they paced through the aisles. She was sure it was meant to offer reassurance, but the innocent gesture made her whole body tingle. Brianna could’ve sworn she felt a slight tremor come from his direction, but she chose to ignore it and focus instead on getting some supplies.
Up and down the aisles they went gathering fruits and vegetables, bread and far too many bags of chips, boxes of cereal bars and as much vegan-friendly candy as she could find. There wasn’t much by way of vegan food, except a few cups of instant ramen. Brianna guessed her kind of diet wasn’t particularly common in a small town such as Darkhills. She got the impression the residents were significant meat-eaters if the vast and
incredibly well-stocked butchers’ section in the chiller aisle was anything to go by.
As they reached the toiletries section, Brianna took her chance to slip out from Etienne’s side while a gaggle of women stopped to stare and then began to engage him in conversation.
“Oh, I don’t suppose you could help me reach the top shelf? - are you new here? I would’ve thought I’d remember seeing you around. You’re so tall, how tall are you exactly?”
That’s right ladies enjoy it while you can, Brianna rolled her eyes and hid her smirk as she heard Etienne giving short polite answers to his hoard of fans.
She quickly grabbed the essentials then looked about her for any sign of a clothes section and walked around to the next aisle, she’d only be away from Etienne for a minute. She didn’t exactly want him to be there when she picked out some panties.
She sent up a silent prayer when she found what she was looking for, while there wasn’t a huge choice, she grabbed herself some soft black leggings a couple of shirts, a baggy sweater, socks, the only bra they had in her size and finally panties. They came in either plain and comfy, or lacy and barely there. Apparently, there was nothing in between.
“Definitely the thong.”
Brianna jumped back and looked up at a tall and handsome man who had somehow snuck up on her while she had been engrossed in her quest for clean clothes.
“Excuse me?” She stammered.
“The panties. If I were you, I’d go with the thong,” he gave her a charming, dimpled smile and dared to wink at her.
“You’d wear a thong?” She asked.
“No! I mean, if I were a woman then that’s what I would wear, cos it would look good, not that I’m saying the others wouldn’t look good on you. You could be naked and look good…” the man started to turn pink and ran an agitated hand through his rich brown hair, “Oh Hell, I’ve screwed this up.”
Brianna couldn’t help but laugh at the guy. Clearly coming on to women in the underwear section was not his usual style.
“Not necessarily, if you like we can pretend none of that came out of your mouth and start over,” she smiled at him.
“That would be great. Sorry,” the guy sighed and stuck out his hand for her to take, “Hi, I’m Nate.”
“Brianna,” she replied as she shook his hand, he really was cute, if you liked plaid shirts and a boy next door kind of vibe. Personally, it didn’t do much for her, but she could appreciate his appeal.
“Nice to finally put a name to the face, Brianna,” he continued to beam at her.
“Sorry, but do we know each other?” Brianna asked, trying to keep up a facade of flirtatiousness when really her heart was hammering in her chest and dread filled her veins, making a chill sweep over her.
The man seemed to sniff the air and frowned before his smiling dimples returned.
“No, not really, I saw you at the bar a few nights back and wanted to say ‘hi’, but you were gone before I had the chance,” he explained.
“Oh, I see,” Brianna, smiled sweetly.
This was good. This was information she could use. She had been at a bar and this handsome lumberjack type had wanted to talk to her, but she had left quickly. Maybe she hadn’t stuck around for long and not many people would remember her.
“Yeah, I’m not very good at this, as you can probably tell, so I wasn’t brave enough to go straight up to you, especially with that other guy there. Is he… someone important to you?”
“Important? Who?” She asked, trying to look dazed and distracted.
“The guy you were with the other night, short guy in a trench coat. He seemed pretty rude to me, that’s just my opinion, you understand. But if you are with him then, I’m just saying I think you could do better,” the charmingly uncertain guy continued.
If Brianna had to put money on it, she would’ve said the man she had been with had been Kyle Daxton. Rude was just one of the words she had to describe him. Asshole was another.
“No, no I’m not with him. That was just a work thing,” she said, placing her hand on the guy’s arm, “so this bar- is it open for brunch?” Brianna asked, hoping that if she went there, she might be able to remember something.
“It’s not, but it’s almost lunch, so I could-”
“Turn around and walk away.”
Etienne appeared beside her; she didn’t need to look up at his fierce expression to know he was pissed. His voice was a deep rumble of thunder and heat practically poured off him, warming her back. There was also a distinct smell of campfire in the air.
Brianna removed her hand from the guy at the same time as he took a step back.
“Nate was just inviting me to lunch, at the bar I was at the other night,” Brianna tried to explain, hoping that Etienne would catch on and realise this was an opportunity to find out more about the gap in her memory.
“We have lunch,” Etienne replied, keeping his eyes narrowed on the other man.
The guy sniffed the air again and frowned before opening his mouth to speak, only to be cut off.
“Leave us, wolf, now.” Etienne’s voice was a deep and menacing growl and Brianna could’ve sworn she saw a flash of scales rise up his neck for an instant before they were gone.
A keening whimper caught her attention and she looked back to see Nate with his shoulders slumped and head ducked low. His eyes were screwed shut and his breathing was laboured as he backed away slowly around the corner and out of sight.
“B, what was that? Why did you call him ‘wolf’?” Brianna whispered.
“That was submission to a dominant creature. Wolf shifters work on hierarchy, your friend was thankfully not an Alpha, otherwise, matters might’ve become more physical.”
“Wolf shifter? As in werewolf?” Brianna asked, carefully looking around the place, “are there more of them here? I don’t really like wolves or dogs, or-”
“You seemed to like him well enough,” he said testily.
“He had information, he recognised me I just wanted to find out more,” Brianna explained, unsure why her plan hadn’t been a good one. Except for maybe him being a wolf.
“How much did you discover from putting your hands on him?” He replied, his scales flashing once again.
Brianna couldn’t believe what she was hearing, surely Etienne hadn’t reacted so strongly because he was jealous?
“I was just being friendly, I’m a tactile kind of person, I touch a lot, see?” She explained, putting her hand on his arm and lightly stroking the smooth skin. Scales rippled briefly beneath her fingertips and she smiled as he let out a sigh, as if her touch soothed him.
“We should leave.” He finally spoke quietly. “Do you have what you need?”
“I do, for now, I’m not sure how long this will last me. I have been known to binge on the chips a little too hard.” Brianna said, trying to lighten the mood further.
“Then we shall gather more.”
With that Etienne took the basket from her and with her hand in his, they retraced their steps and doubled up on everything she had. She snatched up a notebook and pen and added them to the groceries. When Etienne cocked a questioning brow she merely shrugged. She was a writer, she needed some way of journaling her thoughts, she had so much to process, doing it all in her head was exhausting.
With a basket overflowing with possibly the unhealthiest pile of groceries she had ever bought, they stood in line for the cashier. Brianna rooted around in her purse for her wallet. She cursed when she found it only held a ten-dollar bill. She didn’t want to use her card; in case she was being tracked by the cops. It was the same reason why she hadn’t brought her cell phone along for the trip, it was out of range back at the cave, and until she had her head straight, she was far happier remaining off the radar.
She bit her lip nervously. She’d have to ask Etienne if she could borrow some money.
“Erm… B, I’m a little short. Can I owe you for the groceries?”
His eyes lit up briefly before he bent his head
low and whispered in her ear making her squirm at the intimacy.
“Usually when someone dares ask a dragon for a share of his wealth, they offer a token of greater worth in return.”
“Like interest on a loan? I can pay you back, I swear-”
“I do not want your money, Little One, I want something far more valuable, but I will allow you a reprieve this one time.”
Brianna didn’t know what to say to that and she didn’t have a chance to respond before the pretty young cashier was scanning and packing their goods. All the while giving her dragon less than subtle glances.
Brianna had reached her limit, what was it with this town? It seemed everyone was looking for a chance to hook up. She wrapped her arm around Etienne’s waist and lay her head against his chest, letting out a sigh.
“Baby, I’m exhausted after last night, I just want to eat and go back to bed.”
The cashier’s wandering eyes turned downwards as she focused on her job with a small huff.
Yeah, that’s right lady, keep your eyes off my dragon. Brianna thought smugly to herself.
She was pleased to see that Etienne had finally cottoned on and was playing along, he pulled her round to face him and gazed down at her with a heated look, handing the cashier his card to swipe without looking her way. Brianna held his intense violet stare and felt as though her whole body were about to light up like the Fourth of July.
Your dragon, Little One? Is that so? His voice whispered huskily in her mind.
Brianna tried to ignore the seductive challenge in his tone and bit down on her lip to hide her smile. She pulled a strand of hair loose and began to play with it lightly while batting her lashes at him. She might have been playing the part of a coy and flirtatious girlfriend a little too hard, but it appeared to be working, so who was she to drop the act?
The cashier cleared her throat impatiently, while Etienne continued to warm her right down to her toes with just a look. Brianna eventually rolled her eyes and nodded her head in the direction of the cashier. The dragon slowly turned and took his card back before gathering up the groceries under one huge arm.
Broken Slumber: A Darkhills Romance Page 9
