“Good, because you two are the cause of this ruckus. Your fly-by show did nothin’ but give him good reason to bite y’all in the asses.” That brought a smile to dragon boy number two’s face, making her palm twitch.
Dragon boy number one dipped his head in acknowledgment. Good boy.
“We’ve come to inquire about the matter we spoke on the other day.”
What was it about dragons? So cryptic and formal. Or was that just with these two?
She could do cryptic if she had to. “It’s been dealt with.” She gave a slight nod to the half-empty vial on the counter. Her well-meaning sidekick, as it were, deepened his growl when they moved to where she signaled. “Let them be, Caden.” Her hand slipped from the scruff of Caden’s neck to rest on his back and caused him to settle, if only slightly.
“And the substance?”
She cocked a brow. “No need to play coy, boys. You know damn well what happened to the substance.” When a shifter’s blood was used in spell-work, they knew. Just like they knew when one of their own was in mortal danger. It pulled at an invisible connection they shared that linked them all together. Much the same way all dragon folk could communicate on sound waves that no other being—otherworldly or otherwise—could tune into for a listen. Not mind to mind, just a different frequency of hearing.
Their expressions turned grim and the way they made eye contact told her they were using their secret radio now. Dragon boy number one, turned slowly to face her and Caden.
“Before you go getting your wings all bent outta shape, it was an accident.” That she conveniently left out that to her coven sisters used a few drops tonight, did no harm, no foul. “The way I figure, the tally of favors is about even, but if I need bail money after tonight,” She gave a chin nod toward the sheriff. “You two better be ready to dive into your hoard. Oh, and by the way, virgin maidens aren’t considered currency. Just sayin’.” She gave a curt smile and waved. “Ciao, boys.” The faster she got rid of them, the faster she could defuse the situation and get back to what mattered most. Right now she couldn’t tell if that was Caden handcuffing her or seeing him naked after he shifted back. Both sounded like fun.
“Before we go...” The midnight black-haired dragon with amethyst eyes stepped forward and extended his hand to her. With the movement, long lengths of hair shifted to the side to reveal a wide strip of color buried beneath a few layers of hair.
She clasped his hand, which pulled another bestial growl in protest from Caden. “Easy, wolf, I only mean to bestow a gift.” The dragon returned his attention to her. So focused on keeping Caden from taking a bite out of them, she’d missed the streak of color in his hair that matched his eyes. Wicked cool.
The burst of unexpected color added a fun layer to the otherwise lethal vibe he put out. “My name is Obsidian.” He fell to one knee, still holding her hand. “As long as you require, my brother and I will defend you against any maliciousness brought on you by this task. You only need to call on us and we’ll come.”
The DraegonStones’ fully black assembles encased perfect bodies beneath. With the way the moon poured in through the skylights and the soft yellow light from inside, every contour in their bodies shifted with the shadows and denoted fierce strength. No doubt, they were a force to reckon with. Now she saw up close what had women falling at their feet to be their consorts.
Obsidian rose and canted his head. “I only have one more question. Did you find out a name? Anything we can use on how the human came in contact with the illegal substance.”
She flicked a glance over her shoulder at Caden’s wolf. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple. I went in, verified she had the substance, but something felt off from the start. I found no resistance and no guard to stop me from waltzing in and I didn’t stick around to ask why.” She gave a slight shrug. She didn’t mean to sound edgy or impatient, but the tension grated along her nerves and Caden didn’t look as if he fared well either.
She decided to stop trying for subtlety. It wasn’t her strong suit anyway. “Sorry some went missing, but you do need to know this. The warlock that the blood was intended for... he had vile plans that involved not just dark magick, but something that involved death. You should also know, I couldn’t tell if the human involved is innocent or not. I’ll leave that up to you and your council of elders. ” If they wanted more of an explanation about the missing blood, though, they’d better find a looser-lipped witch. Like Hades she’d give up her sisters.
They stared at her for a long moment, then at Caden, who stood sentinel between them and her. With a shallow bid farewell both said in unison, “We’ll be in touch.”
Great.
Both dragon shifters stepped clear of the door and pushed off the ground. Seconds later they were gone, their dragon forms melting into the cold night.
Where the hell did their clothes go? How did they expect her to contact them? Did dragons carry cell phones? That made her laugh and earned her a pointed look from a wolf that made her laugh harder. She tucked her questions in a little mental box to look at later.
Thunder quaked the ground seconds later. Not even their shadows lingered and they were gone just as fast as they’d shown up.
“That could have gone a helluva lot worse.” Harmony turned on her heel and aimed to do anything that got her away from Caden and the way he shot her a dirty sideways look now that the threat he perceived to be real had gone.
How he did that in wolf form and make her feel three inches tall was beyond her. No man ever made her doubt her actions, but the sheriff had an uncanny way of making her uneasy when she toed the line of the law.
“You care to explain what the hell all that was about, Harmony McKenna?”
Hmm. “Not if I don’t have to.” He thought the power of her full name would get her to talk? When her mama used it on her, she knew trouble brewed, but with Caden it just meant... Hades she didn’t know what it meant, but what she did know didn’t help defuse the situation any. If anything, it added fuel to the fire.
One hexed alpha who didn’t know why he couldn’t get a hold of his senses or emotions and the reason, she bet, why he couldn’t control his shift.
She hid her cringe behind a box of dried mushroom roots and started the task of cleaning up. If she delayed long enough, maybe the goddesses would take pity and let his metabolism work it out of his system. A wicked thought crossed her mind and she dipped her head to hide the smile. Or, she could help him along with a bit of cardio.
Soft padded steps drew up beside her, and she rolled her eyes at the thought of him never forgiving her of the small breaking and entering, even if it was for a good cause.
She gave up a silent prayer. For the love of all that is magick... give me strength to not jump his bones. With a quick look over the rim of the box, the full view of every inch of exposed man caught her attention. Scratch that. From the tousled hair, to his sculpted chest and abs and long well shaped legs, no way she could escape her inner minx demanding a tumble in the sheets with her man. And his thighs, goddesses divine they were made to be straddled. The way they parted hers and left her open for him the other night made her wet even now.
Then her attention roamed over everything in between as if seeing him for the first time. Fevered heat flamed across her skin and she could do nothing to hold back the flare of desire that warmed her skin and caused her to take a deep breath.
He scented her need and approval glittered in his eyes. At least she hoped. From the look he pinned her with, he left little room for doubt.
Her gaze caressed over his delicious contours and the sweet dip to his hips that led to the real treasure. Yum. “Is that because of the full moon or are you happy to see me, sport?” Harmony flashed him an angelic smile, left the box she’d stuffed random bottles in on the floor and cocked a hip against the end of the shelf. A glint of humor flashed across his face for a second and she saw a glimmer of hope with her change in topic to a more favorable one. Like all six foot something of pur
e naked male not three feet from her reach, and her mouth.
She’d had the pleasure of tasting the man a time or two. He made her mouth water despite the serious tone he wanted to keep. Little did he know the stern face he wore like a shield only served to tempt her naughty side.
She might be prone to fantasies about the man and his cuffs, but that didn’t make her an outlaw. A smile spread across her face.
“What devious plan are you scheming now, witch?” He growled in a rough baritone, pinning her with a hard look.
“One that will get you in between my thighs and your mind off the dragon shifters and their little hissy over spilt milk. Or blood in this matter.”
A small tilt in his lip caught her eye. “Straight to the point, as always. You ever worry about saying the wrong thing, getting caught in your own truths?”
“Not really.” Her gaze fixed on his lips, her tongue jutted out and licked along her lower lip. “Not when what I say, I mean.” His brows pinched at that. She pushed up. “Caden, tell me we’re okay. That tonight didn’t cause anything bad between us.”
“You’ll have to be punished, but I’m sure we can work something out.” He took a deep breath that relaxed his shoulders and visibly worked down the length of his body, but the real story hide from her in the brewing depths of his bright red eyes. All she needed to do was look deeper for the answers she really wanted.
“Now to figure out how to punish you, my witch.”
As much as she might need to, she couldn’t summon the strength to resist.
CHAPTER SIX
Caden’s voice was a bare whisper laced with a lusty intent. When he shifted back to human, his eyes remained preternatural. Still crimson with shafts of molten lava with gold specks and fogged over with enough emotion she didn’t need to read the future or be psychic to tell he was all over the place internally.
Fear easily coiled in her belly, ready to strike out and poison her heart with doubt.
Not for fear of the man, but of what might become of them. Her actions could tear them apart before they really came together.
When called to help others, it was part of her as much as her abilities. Couldn’t he see that? That she would be there for him just as much, if he ever needed her. “What’s going on in the beautiful mind of yours, Harmony? What has you so loose-lipped one second and shy the next?”
She could ask the same.
He raked a glance over her, not even bothered by his own lack of clothing. Her heartbeat spiked from the shot of lust that filled her system, as if he’d reached out and touched her. Angled toward her, she worshipped his body with as much heat. Blood rushed south and set a blaze so hot in her core he had to feel it too with how his cock hardened in response, the veins thick and the crown swollen with the same need that throbbed against her clit.
She licked her lips and took a step back to keep from slipping into his embrace and losing herself to the primal need to claim the man. She may not be a shifter, but everything in her screamed to mark him and let the world know he was hers.
“Everything.” Her mama always said she was too straightforward. She found it helpful, but understood how the truth could sound ugly.
She continued anyway. “The way you jumped in to protect me like a mate would tonight. The fact the dragons noticed it and said as much. How you abruptly left me after our last all-nighter. And a little tip, sweetheart—don’t you know that hurts a girl?”
Frown lines formed around his lips.
“I think it’s all starting to add up, Caden.”A long moment passed and an uneasy silence descended over them.
He stood there; breathing through his nose, jaw clenched as if he had something to say but didn’t know how. Or maybe, she figured, he had nothing to say after all.
She angled her head to the side. “Wow, you look so different under the waterfall of moonlight cascading over you. Supernatural. Determined and hurting.” She took a step closer, raised a gentle hand and then took another step until her fingers buried in the unruly lengths of his hair, his hardened length pressed against her abdomen. “I can help you if only you open up and let me in, sweetheart.”
His frown deepened, but he didn’t turn away from her. In fact, he did the opposite. With three steps he had her pinned against the end of a shelf, pressed between her thighs, just as she loved. With one leg supported around his waist and a firm grip to her upper thigh, she balanced on the other and sweet goddesses, how the delicious pressure against her pussy made her weak in the knees. The thick ridge of his cock pressed into her midriff.
Subtle, he was not.
With his free hand braced beside her head, his thigh the only part of his body that touched her, he ran the tip of his nose along the shell of her ear and inhaled. One little touch had her panties soaked.
It excited and made her crazy all at once. Rattled to the core, she reveled in the feel of him flush against her and melted under the soft murmur of appreciation next to her ear.
“Exotic and wild, you make me crazy with lust.” His hardness pulsated between them. Breathy, she splayed her palms against this chest.
“I don’t think you need my permission to follow through, Caden.”
He anchored one hand on her hip and rocked her over the flexed muscle of his thigh. “But I like to hear it. Tell me, Harmony. Tell me you want me to fuck you long and hard.”
Her head fell back against the wood and her world narrowed down to only him. Every nerve between her breasts and pussy lit up like a landing strip that led to the Promised Land. In this position even through the rough denim of her jeans could fell his heat.
He rotated her against his thigh again. Her eyes widened and her breath froze in her lungs. A jolt of energy burst from her core and aimed straight for her clit. The bundle of nerves tucked between tender folds quaked.
Pulsing pressure evaporated all words from her thoughts.
She bit back a moan when another shockwave ripped through her as he repeated his sweet torture.
“You have a way with words, Sheriff.” A shuttered breath pushed past her lips. “I don’t think I have anything else on my schedule for tonight.”
She wanted him. Not for a day or a fling that lasted a couple of months, but in a way that would tie her to this place and time with him. “You like pushing my buttons, woman.” He bent and captured her earlobe between his teeth for a nibble.
Their future may not be clear, but she didn’t need to go searching to know he made her world complete. That he was her reason for breathing and the other half of her soul.
“I know, I shouldn’t tease a hexed alpha. But, do tell, how do you plan on punishing me?”
She could count on one hand how many men she had in her life. Two were past lovers, the other her father and a brother. That left Caden. Neither of her two past encounters measured up to how he made her feel.
“What I have in mind would leave you at my mercy,” he teased, the pillowy softness of his lips against her skin, his tongue dancing along the pulse point in her neck. She screwed her eyes shut. Goddesses divine he made her want to do bad things. Kinky bad things that she’d dreamed about since their first date and that only he pulled out of the deeper corners of her mind.
He bent and gathered her ass in both hands and hauled her up the length of his body until he had his cock nestled in the V of her jean-clad legs. They needed to do something about that pronto.
Her head tipped back. “I know what I’d like.”
“Do you? What does my witch want?”
She loved it when he called her that. The deep rumble of his laugh worked over her. Piqued interest creased his brow as he stepped back and eased her down. She melted into his body and was tempted to hold him to her, but she had an idea that they would both love. Hopefully. “I’ll show you.”
He kept his hands on her as if he didn’t want to break their contact either. With a few short steps, she came to his discarded pile of clothing. With as much grace as she could muster in jeans and a sweatshir
t, Harmony bent over to retrieve what she needed and got a growl in response. His fingers kneaded the globes of her ass. “You’ll get your fun in just a moment.” Emboldened, she straightened and dangled her loot from her forefinger. “Wanna play, sweetheart?” With a perfect cocked brow and a devilish smile to top it off, no way he wouldn’t want to get her in bed.
His curiosity morphed from surprised to highly aroused, and with how his cock bobbed in anticipation, she’d say it was safe to say they shared the little fantasy.
“Follow me,” she cooed in a mischievous tone.
He snatched the cuffs from her hand and then picked up his white T-shirt from the pile of discarded clothes. “No, you come with me.” In one swoop, he bent and hauled her over his shoulder, eliciting a small yelp. Pure laughter bubbled up her chest as he strode across the front of Enchanted Embers in the direction of the back room. An echo of movement to her right caught her attention. In passing, he snagged something from the shelf. Palms pressed into his backside, she angled her head to see, but he tucked it beneath his shirt before she caught a glimpse of the label. “Naughty witch. No peeking.”
“Not fair. This was my idea.”
A deep chuckle rumbled up his chest. “Oh, my sweet witch. You have no idea.”
No idea of what?
With a couple of flicks, he had the door open and her on the bed, the soft, fluffy pillows and comforter hugging her body on all sides. When she and Ember had started the shoppe a few months back, they’d worked for hours on end and sometimes crashed in the back room, too tired to make the drive home. After a couple of nights of roughing it on cots, she’d gone out and brought back a queen-sized mattress and all the trimmings. Over a short time, small knickknacks, pictures of back home and even a few mirrors that made the place seem more spacious and homey had made their way in to decorate the antique furnishings. Her favorite was the old-timey brass-framed bed her aunt had given her positioned dead center of the room with a matching headboard. If nothing else, she was a creature of comfort. Now she didn’t feel so spoiled about her decision.
Enchanting the Alpha (Hex My Heart, #4) Page 4
