by Bethany Shaw
She should push away, smack him, do something to get away, but she didn’t want to. His arms felt safe. She closed her eyes. “What is going on?”
“I can explain. Let’s get to your apartment so you can warm up.”
She leaned closer to him, letting his warmth envelop her. He was so hot. His body heat took the chill from her bones.
Daire kept one arm wrapped around her, leading her onto the path up to the complex. He looked over his shoulder. “Ethney’s in 22A. I’m going to take Grace to her apartment.”
“Is there a mess to clean up?” the other man asked.
“No. It’s been taken care of,” Daire said.
Grace glanced back at the mystery man who had emerged from the lake. He had pants on now, but he was still shirtless. She blinked, trying to process what she’d seen. When he’d emerged from the water, he’d been blue. If the Loch Ness monster was real, it was him. For the billionth time, she wondered what was going on.
Her eyes fixated on Daire. His jaw was set, his eyes staring straight ahead. He’d killed a man–several men, in fact—and she was letting him lead her to her apartment where he would do...what? She swallowed. He wouldn’t hurt her. There had been plenty of opportunities for him to and he hadn’t. Did that mean he was protecting her?
“I’ll see you in a bit,” the man said as they emerged from the trees. He trotted ahead of them, making a beeline for 22A.
“What is going on?” Grace whispered, her voice hoarse from all the earlier screaming. “What is he? What are you?”
“Aric’s a water dragon. I’m a dragon,” Daire said. He guided her to the stairs, bringing her to a stop in front of her door.
She stared at the white opening for a long minute until she realized he was waiting for her to unlock it. “I... I don’t have my keys. I dropped my purse outside the Lucky Five.” She groaned and covered her face with her hands. “My keys, phone, and credit card were all in there. Shit!”
“I’ll send Aric or Ethney to collect it,” Daire said. He reached forward, putting his hand on the knob and twisted.
It clicked before the door swung open. “Did you just...?” He’d broken the lock with a flick of his wrist. Could this night get any crazier?
“Dragon strength,” he commented.
“Right. Dragon.” She shook her head, leading the way in. If she hadn’t seen him with her own eyes, she’d think he was nuts, but she’d never forget the aerial view of St. Joseph she’d gotten just a few moments ago.
Daire shut the door, then pulled out his phone. Grace went to the couch and slipped off her shoes, waiting for him to finish what she assumed was a text. Maybe if she pinched herself, she’d jerk awake only to find this had been some insane dream. She shook off her jacket and grabbed a chunk of her forearm, squeezing the skin between her nails. Her nose wrinkled as the tips dug into her skin, but she didn’t wake. This was really happening. Either that or she was having a psychotic break. She prayed it wasn’t the latter.
He slipped his phone into his back pocket and then joined her on the couch. “I want to tell you the truth, Grace, but you can’t tell anyone. Do you understand?”
“What happens if I don’t agree?”
“Then I’ll have to have your memories wiped,” he said with a sigh.
“Oh?” she shifted on the couch. What did that mean? Hopefully, she wouldn’t find out. “Okay. But what about those guys? They’re all dead. Their bodies...” She shuddered, unable to bring herself to finish the sentence.
“Cleaned up.”
“How?” she asked, eyeing him.
“Fire. A hot enough fire will turn bone to ash.”
“Like the fire that came out of your mouth?” she asked, still trying to make sense of everything. Part of her still expected to wake up in the hospital or on the couch having had a very vivid dream.
“Yes.”
“How is that possible?” It wasn’t, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t true.
“Are you familiar with the Greek gods and goddesses?” Daire asked.
Grace frowned. What did that have to do with anything? “I’ve heard of them. Why?”
“I serve the goddess Astraea. She is the goddess of the stars. She is also a goddess of justice.”
“Okay...” she said, drawing the word out.
“Selene is the goddess of the moon. Many years ago, Selene had a love affair with Pan, the god of wild, shepherds, and flocks.”
She opened her mouth to ask what this had to do with anything that had happened tonight, but Daire held up a finger to quiet her.
“Like many of the gods and goddesses, fidelity was an issue. Pan cheated on Selene, which brought on her wrath. She created the lycanthrope, which people nowadays refer to as werewolves. They were released during a full moon. These beasts fed and preyed on the sheep that were supposed to be under Pan’s protection. Once the sun rose the next day, they turned into people until the next full moon came and they slaughtered more sheep. The people prayed to the gods and goddesses for help. Astraea heard them. She enjoyed her time on earth and spent a lot of time with its inhabitants until people became too violent for her liking. Being the goddess of justice and the stars, she stepped in to help the people who were being punished unfairly due to a god’s actions. Does this make sense so far?” Daire stopped, waiting for her answer.
Grace closed her eyes. “I read a little mythology in high school, but I’ve never heard of Pan and Astraea. I guess it doesn’t surprise me. It seems in all the stories I read about the Greek deities, they were always squabbling about something silly.”
Daire chuckled. “Don’t let them hear you say that. There are many stories that were never documented.”
“Okay. So, Astraea helped the people because Pan cheated on Selene, causing unforeseen consequences,” she said, before motioning him to continue.
“Yes. Astraea could use the power of the stars to send the lycanthrope back to the moon–well, most of them. A few had gone into hiding. When they realized the loss of their brothers on the next full moon, they yowled into the night. The howling drew the peasants from their homes and the lycanthrope savagely attacked them instead of the sheep. Most magic has consequences that cannot be foreseen. The blood of humans drove them insane, creating a lust for human blood and the desire to make more of their kind. A bite from a lycanthrope turns the victim into one too, or they succumb to the poison and die.”
“That’s who you killed outside of the Lucky Five? A lycanthrope?” Grace asked, trying to make sense of his story. How long ago did all of this happen? How did Daire fit into all of this?
“That’s right,” Daire said with a nod.
Grace ran her fingers up and down her arms, checking for puncture wounds even though she was certain she hadn’t been bitten. She didn’t want to change into one of those things. None of this explained how Daire could turn into a fire-breathing, flying dragon, though.
“Wait!” She held up a hand as his words hit her. “If this happened in ancient Greece, why is this affecting us here and now in St. Joseph?”
Daire ran a hand through his hair. “The lycanthrope spread like a disease and Astraea was unable to stop them all. Over time, they traveled across the world and are everywhere. At one point, their numbers were dwindling, but there’s been a new resurgence. More and more of them are being created, making it near impossible for the twelve guardians to track them down.”
“Is that what you are? A guardian?” she asked. What did that mean?
“Yes. I serve the goddess Astraea and shall continue to do so until the entire lycanthrope threat has been eliminated,” Daire said. He sat back on the couch, watching her.
“But if this has been going on for centuries, then...” she trailed off. Was he immortal? He was a dragon shapeshifter; at least, that’s what the books she read called them.
“I’ve been around for a very long time,” he said with a simple nod.
“Why? Why would you agree to this?” she asked without thinking.
He’d have to be nuts to serve a goddess eternally. From what she remembered of mythology, the gods were not people you wanted to work with.
“To save my wife and daughter.” He sighed while shoving his fists together in his lap. “They were murdered, as I told you, in what you nowadays would call a home invasion. Astraea heard my anger and appeared to me. I traded my life and servitude in exchange for their lives.”
Grace blinked at his admission. What was it like to love someone so much that you would make an eternal deal to save them? She’d do it for Caden in a heartbeat, but no one would do it for her. Daire must have loved his wife more than she could imagine.
“I became the first zodiac guardian.”
“What is a zodiac guardian?” Grace asked.
“Astraea is the goddess of the stars. She derives her powers from them. There are twelve constellations. Because I was born in mid-February, I’m an Aquarius. She tied my powers to the month in which I was born to make me as powerful as possible. Aquarius is an air sign.”
“Is that why you are a dragon?” she wondered. Air equaled a flying dragon, right?
“Yes. Guardians are required to choose an animal based on their sign’s element. I chose to be a dragon shifter to help protect the people who needed it. That’s why I’m here—to stop the beasts from taking your town like they did last month in Washington.”
Wait! She remembered doing research on it for a story her channel had done. “That massacre was the lycanthrope?” She shuddered. Over thirty people had been killed. What were they planning to do to the residents of St. Joseph?
“It was. That’s why Ethney, Aric, and I are here. To stop them. We want to protect this town to keep it from happening again.”
Grace inhaled a deep breath. The full moon wasn’t that far away. Two weeks, to be exact. “How do we stop them?”
“We don’t do anything. I and the other guardians will—”
“You told me all this for me to sit on the sidelines?” She rolled her eyes as anger surged through her. She shot to her feet. “No. I might not be a reporter, but I know how to dig for a story and can help you find where the rest of the lycanthrope are hiding. My son lives in this town; so do my parents. You can’t expect me to sit back and do nothing.”
This was a story of a lifetime—her big break. Even if she hadn’t finished school, a story like this could send her straight to the top. Except, didn’t she just promise him a few minutes ago not to tell anyone anything? Crap. How was she going to work around that?
Chapter Six
“Here’s all her stuff. At least everything I could find. Her car is parked out front too,” Ethney said as she handed Grace’s purse to Daire. “How’d she take everything?”
“Better than I thought she would,” Daire admitted while leaning against the doorframe to Grace’s apartment. After the initial accusations, she’d been relatively calm. There were two kinds of people: those who simply couldn’t believe what they saw and those who believed and accepted it without question. He was glad Grace was the latter.
“Good. Now you don’t have to lie to her anymore.” Ethney wagged her brows at him. “You can show her what it’s like to have her world rocked by a dragon.”
Daire shut his eyes and covered his face.
“She’s cute.” She jabbed him in the shoulder. “Plus, she must like you at least a little. I mean, she didn’t go shrieking into the night, and she hasn’t kicked you out yet. I’d take that as a good sign.”
He let his hand slip down to his shoulder where he rubbed at the muscles. “Really?”
“Yeah. Make a move. You won’t regret it,” Ethney said.
He shook his head. Part of him wanted to taste the curvy beauty. “What about Astraea?” he asked.
Ethney snorted. “Who cares? Do you think she doesn’t know we have a little fun, too? At the end of the day, we’re still getting the job done, and that’s the most important thing.”
The other guardian did have a point. Astraea was involved enough to tell them where they were needed and when. Otherwise, she left them up to their own devices unless there was a real emergency.
He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when the water turned off in the bathroom. The apartment walls were paper thin, and he didn’t want Grace to overhear Ethney talking about him getting laid.
“How’s Kevin?” he asked.
“Confused. He gave us a few possible locations for the lycanthrope base, but given tonight, I doubt they’re still hanging around.”
“At least I got a few of them.”
She huffed. “There’s still over fifty of them, and we don’t have a lot of time to hunt them down, especially since one of us has to babysit the kid.”
“We’ll figure it out. I’m going to make sure everything is cool with Grace, and then I’ll be down,” Daire said.
The lightness left Ethney’s face. She licked her lips, her eyes darting past the door and into the apartment. “All joking aside, can we trust her? Do you really think you can leave her alone and she won’t say anything?”
“She won’t say anything.” Grace was curious, but he trusted her to do the right thing.
“If you’re sure.”
“I am.” He’d been around long enough to read people. Grace was a good person.
“Everything okay?” Grace asked. Her feet padded across the carpet until she was right behind him at the door.
“Yeah. Ethney was bringing back your things.” Daire handed her purse over to her.
Grace took her bag and hugged it to her chest. “Thank you! I was worried I’d have to call the credit card company and get a new phone and keys.”
“It should all be there,” Ethney confirmed. “I’m Ethney, by the way. It’s nice to meet you.” She squeezed past Daire so she could stick her hand out.
Grace took her hand. “Grace Tyler. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.” She shifted her gaze from Grace to Daire. “I’ll see you soon, then?”
Daire nodded his head as Ethney backed out the doorway and hurried back down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“She’s not really your sister, is she?” Grace asked. “And there probably isn’t a nephew either?”
Daire turned back to her. Her eyes were downcast, and her fingers fiddled with the strings on her robe.
“No. Not by blood, but I think of her like a sister. We’ve worked together for a long time. There is a sixteen-year-old boy in my apartment. He’s been bitten by the lycanthrope. We’re trying to help him,” he told her honestly.
“Is she a dragon, too?” Grace asked.
He shook his head. “A mermaid. She’s a Cancer, which is a water sign. So is Aric, but he’s a Scorpio. He’s a dragon, too, but a water type.”
“So, that’s why he looks like the Loch Ness monster,” Grace said.
Daire chuckled. “I think he might be the monster.”
Her eyes widened, and he laughed harder.
“Aric likes to play those types of practical jokes on people. When you’ve been around as long as we have, you get bored. It’s all in good fun, though. Aric would never do anything to harm anyone.”
“I see.” She kept her eyes trained on the floor while her teeth chewed on her lower lip.
He sobered, concerned by her sudden quietness. “Do you understand? Is this too much for you?”
Grace hugged herself. She turned around and ambled to the couch, plopping down onto the cushions. “I keep going from intrigued to shocked,” she admitted.
“It’s a lot to take in.” He followed her to the couch and took a seat next to her.
“Yeah. It is. Why are you telling me all of this? I don’t understand. If I’m not supposed to know, why tell me?” Her gaze darted up to meet his.
“I don’t want to lie to you, Grace. I never did. I...” He trailed off, unsure how to say the words to express what he was feeling. No one had stirred emotions like this in him since Alannah. “There’s something between us. I don’t know
what it is,” he admitted, lifting his hand to reach out and touch her before letting it drop back to his side.
Grace gulped. “I feel it, too.” Her gaze finally drifted up to meet his. “This is crazy.” She inched a little closer.
Daire leaned forward, letting his lips brush over hers. They were soft and had a slight minty taste to them. Her mouth parted and her tongue flicked out, tracing along his lower lip.
He groaned at the feel, deepening the kiss. Her breasts pressed against his chest as she moved forward. His hand went to her behind, pulling her so she was straddling his lap. He wanted Grace like he needed his next breath. The thought scared him and excited him all at the same time.
What was he getting himself into? This couldn’t be anything more than a temporary thing. He’d sworn his services to Astraea for eternity. Grace was mortal.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling back so she could peer into his eyes.
He pushed a damp lock of hair away from her face and sighed. “After the full moon, I’ll have to leave. I don’t have a choice. I don’t want to hurt you, Grace, and I can’t give you anything more than the next two weeks. Even at that, I have a job to do. I’ll be in and out hunting lycanthrope.”
She exhaled loudly and looked down at her fingers that had gripped the lapels of his flannel. “I understand.”
“I’m sorry.” He leaned forward to brush his lips against her forehead.
She slipped off his lap and curled herself into a ball against the arm of the couch, hugging her legs close. “It’s okay. I should’ve known the moment I met you, you were too good to be true.”
He frowned.
Grace laughed before elaborating. “Cute guy, great accent, nice, doesn’t care that I have a kid. You’re too perfect. There had to be something wrong with you, right? It’s probably better that we don’t go there and we just stay friends. It will make saying goodbye easier.”
Daire swallowed. He didn’t think it’d be easy at all to say goodbye to Grace. Things were already hard enough, and he didn’t want to make them harder on her. He had to do the right thing, and that was to let her go.
“So, friends then?” Grace asked with a small smile.
