by Alice Brown
Natasha sighed as she leaned her head against her door. This job was not starting off like she thought it would. Never did she dream she would be out dancing and partying the night away the first day of arriving. But that was exactly what she had done. And now she wondered what tomorrow would bring. Would Blain be the cold, calculating businessman he portrayed himself to be yesterday when she’d arrived? Would he even remember the details of their night dancing together? Or would he be detached come morning, choosing to forget everything that had happened? Well, if he did, so would she. She would start tomorrow off quietly until she could get a feel for how he was going to act. Then, she would just take her cues from him.
There was just something about the man that drew her to him. She couldn’t remember ever having as much fun as she did tonight. And obviously he found her attractive also, if his hard-on all night long was any indication. Blain reminded her of the type of guy to have a different girl in his bed every week, if not every night. Now that she had thought about it, she wondered why he hadn’t taken his dinner date out drinking and dancing. Of course, she would bet her next paycheck the stiff, non-smiling Ms. Amberlynn would never go into a place like they were in tonight. To be seen with all those low-lives? No way. However, Natasha wasn’t going to fool herself. His raging hard-on and all night long bumping and grinding was nothing more than the drink talking. Yes, she was betting tomorrow morning he would walk into the office and act as if nothing whatsoever had happened tonight. And that was just fine with her.
Chapter Three
Blain stepped out of the steamy bathroom—his head still pounding with a slight hangover, and his dragon grumpy as well—wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and running his towel through his still wet hair.
“Good morning.”
He froze, nearly dropping the towel at the sound of her voice. He looked up to see Natasha standing by the French doors that led out onto his balcony. She wore a bright smile with her outfit of skinny jeans, high no-heel boots, and a thin sweater that helped show off all her curves. Her hair was pulled back in a tight fishtail braid, and she was holding onto a clipboard and pen, along with a steaming hot cup of black coffee. She offered the cup of coffee to him.
“Bless you,” he said, drinking the dark liquid deeply.
She stood, saying nothing, as he sat on the foot of his bed and pulled his shoes on.
“I take it that you’re here to tell me what all I have to look forward to today? Yes?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, her smile lighting up every inch of the bedroom. But there she went with the damn sir again. For God’s sake, she was his mate!
He opened his mouth to correct her, but she quickly held up her hand to stop him.
“Oh no you don’t, the rules were for last night and last night only. I’m willing to put it aside any time we are just being friends. Now it is morning, and time to get down to work.”
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. She sure knew how to get her way with him. “All right, so tell me what we have planned for the day.”
“You have an eleven o’clock appointment with your personal trainer, lunch, and then you are expecting a Ms. Lady Jade to come and stay with you?” She tried to keep her voice light, but one look into her eyes and Blain could see the happiness had just disappeared. ‘She’s jealous. You make mate mad, let me at her. I will love her and claim her and make her happy. Need mate happy,' his dragon rumbled unhappily.
He tried to soothe the inner beast. 'Not yet. She doesn’t even know we are her mates.'
'And just whose fault is that?' his beast growled back at him. Wow, it had been quite a while since his dragon had been this unhappy with him.
'Want mate, want mate, want mate!' His dragon reminded him sometimes of a child not getting their own way.
'Shush now, calm down. I know what I am doing,' he assured his inner beast.
His beast flashed in his eyes as he assessed their mate. 'No, you don’t. If you did, she wouldn’t be ready to cut your balls off! Don’t like mate mad. You make mate mad. You big jackass.'
'Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence,' he growled at his beast as he turned his attention back to their unhappy mate.”
He wanted so badly to rip that clipboard out of her hands and show her how much she meant to him. He wanted to tell her that Lady Jade meant nothing to him and that she was his one and only true mate.
Lady Jade was a Japanese dragon. She was considered royalty within her coven. And because there were so few dragon females, her parents had demanded that she mate with a strong, preferably well-to-do dragon. They had set their sights on the dragons of his realm in search of her a mate. Since the king’s twin sons had just mated with their true mate, they looked for the next in line that was available. That’s when their sights landed on him. And they had tried their best to talk him into an arranged marriage with Lady Jade ever since. Frankly, he saw Jade as a little sister, but absolutely nothing more. There were times when she was so irritating and infuriating that he couldn’t stand to be near her. He couldn’t imagine having to live with her twenty-four hours a day for the rest of his long life. Blain understood that living with her father was not easy. Hell, he personally couldn’t stand the man. And so, when she needed to get away for a while, she would come stay with him. He also knew that her father kept hoping that if the two of them spent enough time together, Blain would accept the proposal of becoming her mate.
'Uggh, Lady Jade, smade. Not our mate. Natasha our mate. She is pretty. And smart. And clever. Like Natasha,' his dragon sighed deeply.
Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, he answered, “Yes, thank you, Natasha. I’ll be ready to leave in five minutes.” She turned on her heels silently and quickly exited, never acknowledging him at all.
Natasha waited patiently for Blain by the front door, holding his coat and gloves. Her stomach had been doing somersaults since she had left his room. Why should it be? She knew deep down he would end up with someone of higher bloodline than she. She already knew he was one of the biggest playboys currently on the market. So why did she give a rat’s ass at the thought of another woman coming to stay with him? Yeah, she had done a little bit of digging on Lady Jade as soon as she had left him in his room. She knew her father was trying to rope Blain into an arranged marriage. And why should she care? If he were stupid enough to fall for something like that, well that certainly wasn’t her problem. Then why was she letting all of this get to her so much? Why did she feel like her heart was breaking in two every time she thought about him with another woman? She had only known the man for less than twenty-four hours, yet she still felt like there was something pulling them together.
“Hello? Anybody in there?”
She blinked to find Blain standing before her waving his hand in front of her eyes. She blinked again.
“I’m sorry, sir. I must have zoned out for a moment.” Her face turned a nice shade of bright pink at getting caught. She quickly handed him his coat and gloves, happy to have something to do to distract her.
“As long as you don’t go too far away, we’re good,” he said, smiling down at her.
God, that smile—and the scent of his cologne—made her stomach flip.
“Shall we?” He gestured toward the doors.
She could only bring herself to nod as a response. She waited until they were both seated in Blain’s limo to speak again.
“I have been informed that your trainer, Raphael, is out sick, but they have made arrangements for a replacement.” She handed him a thin folder. “Her name is Danielle Romanoff, five foot four, Russian, age twenty-three; remarkable knowledge in weaponry and combat,” she quoted, but he sensed she was holding back some of her thoughts.
“What’s your opinion about this?” Blain questioned.
“I don’t know, sir. I personally find it a bit odd that although your trainer is human, he has yet to miss a single day of work in the four years you have known him.” She stopped and sighed deeply as she glanced
out the window. “Something just feels a bit off about this situation, and especially with this new trainer. She’s never been mentioned before, and when I looked up her record, it was squeaky clean. Almost too perfect.”
Blain had to hand it to her, she had certainly done more in just the few hours she had been working that morning than his last three assistants had done in a week. The fact she thoroughly researched this new trainer and was now skeptical told him she cared for him on some level.
And that had his inner beast preening. 'She loves me, she loves me not…no, she loves me. Or she would if you would ever get on with things and introduce us.' His beast flashed him a picture of him in an open field of daisies, picking them one by one.
He cocked his head to the side and gazed at her for a long moment. To be honest, he felt much safer and at ease around her, knowing instinctively that she would never let anything happen to him. And he would never let anything happen to her, either. She was a treasure, and as such, needed to be treated as one.
Another picture of his dragon now rolling in the field of daisies, as he crumpled up what he had in his claws, bringing the bunch to his nose to sniff. 'Ah, she loves me. She loves me. She loves me.'
Blain wanted to chuckle at his inner beast. He had heard that when they found their mate, they tended to act strange for a time. He had never given much thought to the rumors, though. Now, watching his dragon roll through a field of daisies, he wished he had paid more attention.
He pulled out his cell phone. “Enough of my guards will be around us that she won’t get very far even if she does try to pull something.” He gave her knee a light squeeze with the hand not holding the phone. “Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.” Then after thinking for a second, he added, “Do you get these feelings of impending trouble often?”
And just like that his dragon sat straight up, eyes blazing, all fun forgotten. 'Mate in trouble? Who want to hurt mate? Protect mate, must protect mate. Mate special.'
She glanced out the window again, shrugging her shoulders. She wasn’t sure she wanted him to know she had dealt with this little gift her whole life. And it had never been wrong. Only now, her gift was telling her something bad lay ahead of them, but no details. No pertinent information as to who, or what kind of trouble might be brewing. And that made her very nervous.
They arrived a short time later to a clearing in the woods, which she guessed to be where he liked to train. The snow had stopped falling sometime in the night, leaving behind about six inches. There was more forecasted for later that day. Natasha walked up with Blain to meet Danielle, while his ten guards, who had been in a limo behind them, secured the area before taking up their positions.
“Mr. Barrymire,” the young woman started, strutting up to them to shake Blain’s hand. There was something about her that was off. She immediately reminded Natasha of Madonna in Die Another Day.
“Ms. Romanoff,” Blain said, cautiously accepting her outstretched hand.
“Shall we begin?” she questioned, shooting a sharp look over to Natasha.
Natasha glanced over to Blain just as he nodded in her direction. “We’re good,” he stated, as he walked over and handed her his coat and gloves in exchange for the sword she had brought from the car.
Natasha didn’t, couldn’t, believe him. But she did as she was told and took her place standing between two guards. Her gift was warning her that something bad was going to be happening quickly, so she didn’t trust this new trainer for a minute. She seemed fine to the naked eye, but lurking beneath was a sea of evil.
Half an hour later, Blain and Danielle took a five-minute break from their training. Natasha sat with him on a boulder as he caught his breath and drank some water.
“See, I told you there was nothing to fear here,” he stated, glancing down at Natasha.
She shrugged. “And maybe you’re right.”
“You still have doubts.” It wasn’t a question.
“I learned a long time ago never to push an intuition aside, but instead wait and watch until you know the full truth, before you dismiss anything. And always trust your gut feeling.” She watched the other woman closely.
“It may just be bad vibes.”
“It may, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep a watchful eye out.”
Blain cocked his head looking at her carefully now. “But you wear no weapons. What good does it do you if you have nothing to protect yourself?”
“That’s what you think. I have my boot knife, and I promise you I can turn anything around me into a weapon.” She gave him a smirk. “In time you will learn what all I am fully capable of.”
Danielle, who had been talking on the phone, stepped back into the circle and called Blain back to attention. Natasha stood and went back to her standing spot. She watched with curiosity this time when they did not immediately engage into training. No, this time, Danielle looked different, angry somehow. She listened in on what was being said between her and Blain.
“It is such a pity that your pretty little girlfriend must watch you die,” Danielle snarled.
Snarled?
And who was she to call Natasha ‘little’? Danielle only stood an inch or so taller than she did. Bitch. She continued to watch Danielle and Blain carefully, wondering if her feared thoughts were about to come true.
“Danielle, it is against the rules to change strategy in the middle of a session,” Blain stated as he quickly went down on one knee, raising his sword above his head to block a deathly blow as their weapons collided.
“I give you greetings from Mr. Boragello. You turned your back on a deal last month. No one turns their back on Mr. Boragello and lives to tell about it.”
“What? Danielle, stop, immediately!” Blain roared the order, but was completely ignored. She kept coming at him, giving all she had, and had no intentions of stopping until she was victorious.
Natasha was just getting ready to jump into action when Blain roared, “Natasha, don’t!” She stood there fuming, wanting to go against his order, and still trying to believe this was what the trouble was all about. Oh, she wished she truly had some type of magical power that other shifters were gifted with. She couldn’t even smell the damn bitch trying to remove Blain’s head from his shoulders to know if she was human or not. She cocked her head as she studied the sparring match that was quickly changing by the second. No human female could ever attack Blain and even match him, let alone get the upper hand. Blain was a dragon, for crying out loud.
“What the hell are you?” Blain roared as he just barely missed her sword.
The grin she gave him was evil. Pure evil.
Blain’s gaze shot back behind him when he heard her yelp. A man twice her size grabbed her from behind and held her in place. His guards, all ten, were lying on the ground, moaning in pain. What the hell was going on? He just barely caught Danielle coming back at him in time to avoid her sword. As it was, she nicked his shoulder. Warm blood oozed down his shoulder and back. This can’t be right. He was a shifter, and as such a simple cut should heal almost immediately. But it wasn’t. And it was burning like the devil.
Danielle came at him again, but this time Blain seemed to be moving in slow motion. Again, he just barely missed an all-out strike, but he quickly lost his balance as he dodged her sword and slammed his head into the boulder.
Natasha watched in horror as Danielle slowly stalked over to Blain, as he tried to shake his head clear of its sudden fogginess. The brute behind her held her tightly in place, as if he thought that was really going to stop her. Whoever these people are, they obviously did not do their homework on me. If they had been smart, they would have secured my legs. She kicked back and up until the heel of her boot smashed his balls. He immediately loosened his death-hold on her and leaned forward, in obvious agony. When his head came down and forward, she threw her own back, hitting him dead in the nose. She felt blood splatter onto the back of her head and grimaced, she so hated getting blood in her hair. He released her completely a
nd brought his hands up to his face, covering his nose.
“You bitch,” he growled out.
Why is it that every time a woman gets the best of a man she is called a bitch? “Yep, and proud of it!” She quickly spun around and gave him a roundhouse kick in the chest, which knocked him down completely.
Not sure how long her own attacker was going to stay down, she quickly sprinted over to one of the guards still on the ground, but seemed to be coming out of whatever he had been suffering from. If Natasha had to make a guess, she would say that some sort of spell had been put over them. Natasha wondered why she hadn’t been affected, but put it aside. No time to think about that now, must get to Blain! Her conscience warned her. She grabbed the guard’s sword and took off in Blain and Danielle’s direction.
Blain was trying his level best not to succumb to the dizziness and sickness he suddenly found himself fighting. What the hell has this witch done to me? The minute his mind processed this thought, his dragon huffed, 'She’s not like any witch we have ever come across!' He had managed to bring himself back up to a kneeling position, leaning heavily on the boulder he had just collided with. His head hurt like a bitch, and the burning pain in his shoulder was getting worse. Well, she has to be some type of magical being. My human body isn’t healing from where her sword caught me, and the burning tells me the sword has been either spelled or poisoned. His vision cleared just enough to see Danielle getting ready to take the kill shot. Damn, and I still don’t understand why she wants me dead. I mean, yeah, I turned down her boss’s business deal last month; the man is as crooked as they come. But the man actually ordered me killed because I refused a business proposition?
Natasha glanced over to Blain as soon as the sword was in her hand. She saw Danielle bring her sword up, readying to go for the kill shot. Natasha didn’t think, she didn’t have time to. In one huge leap, she landed between Danielle and Blain’s kneeling form. If the look in her eyes were any indication, Natasha had caught the other woman by surprise. Danielle jerked to a stop, her eyes going wide as Natasha brought her sword up to meet hers.
