Tor strode through the front door of his mansion, brushing the blood of an errant shifter off his hands and onto his jeans. Perry was just behind him, muttering on the phone to one of their contractors about what needed to be done to clean up the scene.
Ever since their tigers, the best help they’d ever had, had all settled down and found mates, the dragons had found themselves with more work than they’d ever imagined.
They’d taken for granted just how much their tiger enforcers had been doing for them. Not that they weren’t still helping as their time allowed, but for the most part, it was up to Perry and Tor to restore justice.
As he walked into the main entryway, he saw Lexie walking across the middle, a book clutched to her chest, her hair frizzing out of her prim bun of dark hair, her tawny skin flushing as she caught him watching her. She ducked her head and walked to her office, shutting the door behind her.
Tor grinned.
She was such a funny little thing, burying that curvy, voluptuous body that would drive any shifter crazy under lumpy, shapeless clothing, and hiding behind her desk with her nose in a book whenever she could. It reminded him of how he’d found her, cowering under a desk in the middle of the wreckage caused by one of their cases.
Now she was under their protection, and they had a job for her. One they hadn’t been able to explain yet, so she’d simply been allowed to do what she wanted and get adjusted to her office and their daily routine, which mostly involved them leaving during the day and letting her watch the house, which was more than secure. While she stayed home, she had been working to organize paperwork, take calls from new prospective shifters they could work with, and giving messages as needed.
Tor rather liked having a secretary. And even though it had been some time that she’d been staying there with no one but them for company, she didn’t seem to have anything to complain about.
She was learning a lot about the shifter world, and Tor was proud of her progress. She was smart and witty and quick to absorb info.
If she did have anything to complain about, it was probably the fact that Tor had found an amusing new hobby in scaring her by jumping out around corners or ruffling her by getting too close at her desk.
If they ever got close to a female, he had thought it would be a dragon-heart, the one destined to be their mate.
Dragons had special requirements for a mate. First, they had to share her, which was fine because dragons could literally share one mind, and it meant they could do everything as a partnership, which protected both them and their mate. Dragons had to do everything in pairs, and Tor liked his partner, so it wasn’t a problem.
They’d even had some fun with admiring shifter women over the years, just to pass the time. Very fun time.
The second requirement was they be dragon-hearted, so when the mating ceremony was completed with a sharing of blood, the mate would gain one of the six dragon powers and thus add an important element to the triad.
If dragons mated with a non-dragon-heart, they lost a vital opportunity.
So sweet little Lexie could never be any more than an entertaining distraction, no matter how he wished otherwise. Because as much as she was smart and funny and quirky, the one thing she most assuredly was not was dragon-hearted.
She’d proved that by cowering under a desk.
And with the shifter world going to shit and the dragons spread out with only two per region in most places, they needed every bit of dragon power they could get.
So Perry and Tor had decided it was time to take a mate.
And it wouldn’t be easy to find the woman they needed. The only way to really find a dragon-hearted mate was to search the paper for news of disasters and look for someone who had behaved in a way that was truly heroic and selfless, because only that type of person would hopefully be gifted with dragon powers to match the dragons.
The dragons that ran New York had done it, and now Tor had to hope it would work for the dragons of the Midwest.
“Lexie!” he called in a booming voice as he walked to her office and easily pushed open the door.
Her dark eyes flashed up at him as she timidly tucked a curl behind her ear in frustration. “Dammit, Tor, do you ever knock?”
“Why would I knock when it’s so fun making you jump?” he asked, sauntering forward to sit on the edge of the desk with one hip, which made the wood creak and groan.
She looked up at him in alarm, her small nose wrinkling in disgust. “Get off. You’re going to crack it.”
He leaned forward, getting close, and enjoyed the way she seemed to heat up all over when he was near. “Why does it matter? Planning to hide under it?”
She sniffed and pushed away from the desk, and he got off to block her way.
She had a beautiful body, one that made his mouth water, and while she had gotten smart enough to stop loudly thinking dirty thoughts when he was around, he could still tell how much he affected her.
Dragons were meant to be beautiful and charismatic, to give them the best chance at mating. The image of him and Perry, together and giving her the time of her life, shot through him, stealing his breath and allowing her to push past him.
“Wait,” he said. “Don’t go. We have to talk about something. Perry is bringing someone in to—”
“I don’t care. I have work to do, and you can’t keep interfering…” She trailed off as she looked at the front door, which was opening. She sent him an angry glance and turned on her heel to go back into her office and slam the door behind her, giving him only a small glance of her gorgeous, rounded hips in her prim, floor-length black skirt.
Tor turned to face the door and saw Perry coming in with Jace, one of their tiger informants. Now that Jace had a mate, he couldn’t bring in dangerous bounties for them. But Tor and Perry had a feeling he’d be good at finding things in general and had a job that was right up his alley.
And if he couldn’t do it, they’d offer it to all the tigers together and tell them what it was actually about.
Jace was tall, like all his tiger brothers, and engineered with a mix of shifter and dragon blood to be stronger and smarter than anything other than a dragon. There were only three of them in the world, so far as Tor knew.
Jace had dark, shaggy hair, tanned skin, piercing orange eyes, and a tall, muscular build that befitted a former bounty hunter. He was, as usual, wearing all leather, and when he saw Tor, he raised one hand in a casual wave that Tor returned with a shrug.
He couldn’t afford for anyone to think he was going soft.
“Long time no see,” Jace said, walking forward as Perry locked the door and set the alarm behind them. Security was first priority.
Perry was wearing a crisp navy blazer over a white shirt, unbuttoned at the top, and gray slacks. He loosened his tie as he walked forward, sending Tor a weary glance.
The past few weeks had worn hard on Perry, who was strong but also primarily responsible for all the planning and brainpower of the group. Heaven knew Tor didn’t have much. He was the muscle, nothing more. And a lot of muscle at that.
But things didn’t wear on him the same way they did Perry, and Tor wished he could do something about it. Like share his own amazing ability to heal himself. He couldn’t do that anymore than Perry could share his ability to move things with his incredible mind.
They were gifted with their powers associated with their colors and nothing more, which made it that much more important that they find a dragon-heart quickly to add to their power.
“Let’s go into Lex’s office,” Tor said, hiding a grin at his pleasure at the prospect of seeing her again. He loved making her uncomfortable.
Perry sighed and led the way, knocking softly on the door and calling for Lexie to let them in. Lexie opened the door right away. She always did things right away for Perry.
Which didn’t make Tor jealous. At all.
“Lex?” Jace asked, not knowing about their secretary. “Who’s that?”
“You’ll s
ee,” Tor said.
“Our secretary,” Perry explained, ruining the tension as he sat in a chair across from Lexie’s desk.
Lexie stood, uncertain if she should let Perry sit there to talk with others, but Perry waved a hand.
“If you wouldn’t mind taking notes,” he said, gesturing her to sit down.
She nodded, her eyes glancing at Jace with interest.
Okay, that made Tor slightly jealous. “This is Jace. He has a mate.”
Lexie’s dark-chocolate eyes widened and observed him curiously, unsure what he meant. The other two men in the room looked at him as well. He scratched the back of his head and considered how to cover that one up.
“Uh, I just meant he’s able to do desk work and stuff because he can’t do the dangerous shit because he has a mate.”
Lexie looked uncertainly at Perry, and Tor wanted to wipe the smug look off his partner’s face at her trusting him.
“Anyway, Lexie has been working for us since the Felding case. She was connected, and—”
Jace stretched back in his chair impatiently. “And she needs witness protection.”
“Right,” Perry said. “Anyway, we called you here to ask for help with something especially important.” He walked to one of the filing cabinets and started rifling through before getting a confused look on his face.
“Which one?” Lexie asked.
“Project 10A,” Perry said.
“Look in that cabinet,” she said. “It’s numbered.”
Perry shook his head in amazement and walked to the right cabinet and found the file. He handed it to Jace and sat down, grinning at Lexie in approval. “I knew you would be safe with us, but I had no idea you’d be so useful. Maybe we’ll have to keep you around when we’re done.”
But he looked like he regretted what he said the minute he did, and Tor knew as well as anyone else it was impossible. That she wasn’t a mate and thus she had to go back to the life she’d had before, regardless of how much they enjoyed her there.
Lexie, for her part, turned her attention to her computer, probably starting one of the games of solitaire she liked so much.
Jace flipped through the file silently, and Tor was pissed to see Lexie’s eyes dart to him once in a while. What was so interesting about a tiger shifter who seemed to think he was a pirate?
“So,” Jace said. “You want me to keep an eye on accident reports? News on disasters? Heroic women? Any reason why?”
“We can’t say exactly,” Perry said. “But it’s important.”
Jace closed the file. “I mean, I can do it. What exactly do you want me to do with the names I find?”
“Get their contact info, look into them,” Tor said.
“Should I get my brothers involved?”
“The fewer people who know, the better,” Perry said, folding his arms and crinkling his jacket. “You can work together with Lexie. This is one of the main reasons we hired her. You can send her contact info, and she can arrange for interviews with them. Then you can pick them up and deliver them here.”
Jace shook his head. “You aren’t planning something stupid, are you?” Perry simply stared at him and he corrected himself. “Well, nothing you ever do is stupid. I don’t think you’re capable of stupid, but I mean… illegal. Or bad.”
Perry laughed lightly. “No. Nothing illegal or bad. Simply an opportunity.”
“I think I have a vague idea,” Jace said. “But I know better than to pry.” He stood, file in hand. “Can I take this with me?”
Perry waved a hand. “Sure. We have copies. Let us know what you think as soon as possible. We’d love to start with candidates as soon as next week.”
Jace nodded. “Shouldn’t be too hard. With all the awful shit going down, there have to be some heroes around. And some female ones.”
Perry nodded. “One can hope.”
With that, Jace tipped an imaginary cap at all of them and left them alone, and there was an odd tension as the door shut behind him, leaving just Tor and Perry sitting in front of the desk, staring calmly at Lexie, who was now interested in the situation.
She put her clasped hands in front of her on the desk and looked sternly over at them. “Okay. I haven’t asked a lot of questions. I’ve done whatever you’ve told me for weeks, and I’ve learned what I can. But you have to tell me what the crap is going on. Why are you interviewing these women?”
Tor looked behind them, as if to check that Jace was really gone. “It’s simple, really. We’re ready to take a mate.”
3
Lexie nearly fell off her seat. “You what?”
“We’re ready to find a mate,” Tor repeated, looking pleased with himself as he put his hands behind his head and stretched his magnificent body out on the chair.
He looked damn good that way, and he knew it, dammit.
The two dragons had been taunting her for weeks with their looks. Not to mention the fact that every shifter to set foot in this place in the time she’d been there had been drop-dead gorgeous.
Like the orange-eyed dude she’d just seen in the office, the one she was supposed to be coordinating with by phone.
Hot damn, did they put something different in the shifter water?
She saw Tor frown slightly and grinned. Serve him right.
Then she remembered what had shocked her. “What do you mean mate?” She blinked. “Wait, you said that guy, Jace, had a mate, too.”
“You’ve been studying shifters. Surely you understand mates.”
“Right,” she said. “But funny thing, I know a lot about how all of the other species do it, but there’s nothing about dragons. I was sort of starting to assume you… um…”
Tor raised a dark eyebrow. He was too handsome by half, and she felt that traitorous warmth moving up her face again. “What?”
Perry grinned slightly, knowing what was coming. He always seemed to understand her thoughts before she even thought them.
“Um… that you mated… each other.”
Tor slammed his hands on the desk and stood with a huff. “What? With Perry?” He gestured to his friend. “Me and Perry?”
“Well, you are two men living alone, and you don’t seem to have women around.”
“There isn’t much fucking time, if you haven’t noticed, with having to police that many fucking shifters—”
“Calm down, Tor,” Perry said, folding his arms and looking relaxed. “It’s a valid assumption. But no, dear. We don’t mate with each other. We mate with a woman.”
“Right,” she said. “Okay. So you want to find a woman. One who’s been in a disaster?”
Tor nodded, sitting down again with a grumble. “Me and that cold guy. Ha!”
Perry’s grin just widened. Then he leaned forward, slender hands intertwined. “Do you have any other questions?”
“So you said a mate. Are you only looking for one? Like, for one of you?” she asked, feeling a vague sense of disappointment that even one of her dragons would be taken from her.
Not that they were her dragons, per se, but they certainly felt like it after weeks of living with them and getting to know their business intimately.
Or maybe it just felt intimate because they were so hot that her brain wanted it to be that way.
Tor was quiet, staring at her with that stubborn look that turned his masculine features slightly cute, his brow rumpled, his lower lip pursed. But his blue eyes were as clear and sharp as ever, and his muscles as he crossed his gigantic arms over his chest were just as panty-melting hot as always.
A slow grin crossed his face. The damn man was hearing her thoughts, of course.
“Not for one of us,” he said. “For both of us.”
Her mouth fell open and both men cocked their heads and looked at her in response.
When she’d pulled her jaw back up into place, she sat back in the chair and pushed it away from the desk, needing space from the very idea of it.
“Wait, you… share?” she asked disbelievingly.
Perry nodded calmly. “There’s a good reason for it. Dragons do everything in pairs. We compliment each other with our powers, and we are hunted for our blood and because of our enemies. One of our ancient rules is staying together. That would be hard to do with different mates.”
Tor nodded. “Besides…” His mouth spread into a smirk. “It’s fun.”
Perry nodded, and Lexie was caught up in a brief fantasy of how that would go. Perry, leaning down over her neck to place a gentle kiss and Tor holding her down as he made love to her.
Both men’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she realized once again she’d given them her thoughts.
She stood, embarrassed by the blood flow in her face and rapidly spreading to her nether regions. “That’s… um… well, interesting. Had to think about it, just to know, um, how it works.” She gathered up some papers on the desk that she didn’t even need, just to look like she was busy but, in reality, just to get the hell out of there. “I have to go… um… work on things.”
Perry stood. “I understand.” He put a hand on her shoulder as he turned to go out the door before her. “I know it sounds complicated, odd. But whoever we mate with, we will treat her well. So please help us find her.”
She nodded mutely, unable to ignore how Perry’s quiet touch affected her, set her blood racing.
She imagined that amazing mind could come up with so many ways to keep a woman satisfied.
Then Perry walked out the office door, and Lexie turned to see Tor looking smug as ever. Her hands balled into fists. “Why don’t you just get out, and then I can work here and not have to leave?” she asked.
Tor stood, shoving his hands in his tight jeans pockets. If he turned, she’d have a spectacular view of his ass. “I was just going to,” he said. Then he stopped with a hand on the doorknob. “You know, you don’t have to be a mate to try it sometime.”
Her mouth fell open again and her knees nearly buckled, but Tor caught her with a hand around her waist, pulling her up until their faces were merely a breath away.
For a second, it looked like he would kiss her.
Then he set her back on her feet.
A Dragon's Heart Page 2
