by Alice Brown
“Natasha!” Blain sharply reprimanded. Yes, Natasha was his mate, even though he hadn’t told her yet. But that did not mean he was going to sit and watch her start a cat fight or in this case, a dragon fight, with Jade.
Natasha rolled her eyes at him, refusing to back down. For some reason, every time she as much as thought of another woman touching Blain, she was ready to tear them to shreds. Unfortunately, neither woman had a chance to finish the debate, as one of the guards appeared in the bedroom doorway to announce a Ms. Hazellette of the High Council had just arrived.
Blain never got the chance to tell his guard to send her in. The woman simply pushed past his guard and started making her way to the bed. Natasha automatically moved herself closer to Blain. She knew deep down he was safe, the Council was supposed to be fair and just, never causing harm to anyone unless it was in punishment. She had never understood this concept though. She had never done anything wrong to anybody, well, at least not to anyone who didn’t already have it coming to them. No, the Council viewed her as a threat. They didn’t know what she was capable of. They didn’t know if her powers would someday hit all of a sudden, making her dangerous. And, she had to face facts. Even a group of what humanity would deem “different and dangerous”, they were still judgmental against their own kind if said being was different from the norm.
Ms. Hazellette was the witch who sat on the High Council board and was in charge of all beings that practiced sorcery and magic. She was Blain’s best option for removing the vile poison running through his system. “Tell me about this run-in you had with a magic user.” She placed her hand over the closed wound on Blain’s shoulder and shut her eyes briefly. When she opened them, she snapped her head up and threw a glare at both Natasha and Lady Jade. “You two, leave now.”
Lady Jade looked to Natasha to see what she was doing. Natasha looked to Blain. She would not leave if Blain thought he might need her. But a few seconds later he nodded his head, letting her know that she and Jade needed to leave the room.
The two women walked downstairs to find several of the staff complaining about their latest house guest. Hazellette was well known not to show any emotion to anyone. Whether she came by this personality naturally, or if she had learned over the years to have thick skin while working with the other Council members, was anyone’s guess.
Lady Jade walked over and plopped down on the couch. “Who in the hell is that woman?”
“That would be Hazellette, the witch who sits on the High Council. She’s in charge of all magic users.”
“Oh,” Lady Jade replied, the very air seeming to leave her suddenly. “I didn’t realize she was a witch. I guess it is a good thing that she came then. She should be able to help Blain and put a stop to these kinds of attacks.
She turned and looked at Natasha. “What did happen out there today?”
Figuring they were going to be there for a while, Natasha sat down on a stool and started with their leaving, and how she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. Then she went into how everything seemed fine when they arrived, and that none of the guards had even smelled anything different. “It’s like she masked not only her scent, but the scent of all the others. But what was really weird was after she died, once we were able to gain the upper hand on her merry band of misfits, they killed themselves. Every last one of them. I think they may have had some sort of “insurance policy”, so when they got caught, they broke open something hidden in their mouths, swallowed it and bam! It worked almost instantly.” She stopped there, figuring the princess had heard enough.
“Wow, so once they all died, that was the end of it?” Lady Jade asked, horrified.
Natasha snickered. “I wish. No, more of them chased us most of the way home. There were three cars. On two, I only shot the tires out, so by now they have made it back to tell their boss.” She stopped and cocked her head, thinking out loud for a moment. “What I don’t understand is what the motive really is.”
“Does Blain have any idea why these people were after him?”
“Evidently he turned down a business proposition from a Mr. Boragello recently. I just started here, so I am not up-to-date on all of his prior business deals. This bitch he was supposed to be training with, Danielle, said, ‘Mr. Boragello sends you his regards. No one walks away from Mr. Boragello.’”
“You’re joking! All of that just over a business deal? It must have been some business deal for the man to get that bent out of shape that he sends a small army to kill Blain? It makes no sense!” Lady Jade exclaimed.
“I know, and I agree, it doesn’t make sense. I wanted to wait until he was feeling better to try to piece the puzzle together a bit more,” Natasha confirmed.
They heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to see Hazellette coming down. The witch walked up to Natasha, hand on her hip. “Why is it trouble always has a way of finding you? You are damn lucky that for whatever reason, Mr. Blain is adamant that you stay. By all rights, you have failed at your job. And you’ve only been here what, one day?” she sneered.
“Shut up and get out of my castle!” All eyes turned toward the stairs where Blain was walking down. His eyes were narrowed and fixed on Hazellette. “I might be grateful for you removing the poison, but you will not talk to anyone in my house this way!”
“Oh, Blain, you always did have a thing for your workers. You really need to toughen up.”
“Out, witch!” he ordered.
Hazellette showed herself out quickly. Blain walked into the living room and sat in one of the wing-backed chairs. “Ladies, now that I don’t have poison running through my system, we are going to get a few things straight.”
He leaned back into the chair before continuing. Looking at Natasha, he started, “Jade and I are nothing more than friends. We are not lovers, nor have we ever been.”
“Just who are you trying to fool?” Natasha was pissed that he would blatantly lie to her. “I hate to do this, being the first day on the job and all that…but I call bullshit.”
Blain looked over at Jade, hoping she would back him up. “Natasha, Blain is telling you the truth. My father thinks in sending me here we will fall madly in love with each other, but the reality of the situation is this. The only reason I didn’t fight my father over this visit is because frankly, I need a break.”
Natasha picked up her little tablet she had sat next to her. Using a stylus, she quickly scanned through everything until she came to what she needed. “Well, I hate to break this to the two of you, but here is a post that was just made early this morning. As a matter of fact, it has hit several big city papers.” She walked over and handed her device to her boss.
“I am going to kill the pompous son-of-a-bitch!” Blain roared as he quickly passed Natasha’s tablet to Jade. He couldn’t believe the nerve of her father. It looked like the man had waited until he knew his daughter was getting ready to walk out the door before placing an ad in several high-volume newspapers announcing the engagement of Blain Theodore Barrymire and Lady Jade Oshiro.
Chapter Four
Natasha finished brushing her hair and finished the last sip of her wine. She gazed back at her reflection in the vanity mirror, pulling her night robe tighter around herself to fight off the inner cold. She had finally been able to have that good, long soak she had so desperately wanted ever since they arrived back home earlier today. Although both the bath and the wine helped to relax her, nothing could soothe her heart. She hadn’t waited around after Blain blew up about the article on her tablet. Not her problem. Nope, absolutely not her problem. Now, if she could just convince her heart of that. When one of the guards had brought her a bottle of wine, she had asked not to be disturbed for the remainder of the day. Blain was healed, thankfully, and although she certainly didn’t know why he had gotten so mad over the article, she was sure both he and Jade had a lot of catching up to do. And she had to find another bottle of wine to drown her sorrows. She peeked out her bedroom window. Night was sett
ling, but it was still light enough to see the storm clouds growing. Her stomach took that moment to grumble in protest that she wasn’t feeding it enough. Well, it would just have to protest a bit more, because she absolutely refused to join the two love birds while they cooed at each other over a meal. Nope, not going to do it, she told herself sternly.
Turning, she walked over to the bed, emotionally drained and more than ready to snuggle under the covers and forget about the day. She groaned when there was a knock at her door. She cracked the door open—fearing that it was him—and peeked out.
“Good evening, Ms. Clayton.” It was only one of the household guards.
“Jaron,” she replied, a bit leery. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone for one night?
“Master Barrymire wishes you to join him in the dining room this evening.”
“And I wish to be left alone. Now, why is it that he should get his wish, which I might remind both of you it is after hours, so I should be able to do what I want, yet I can’t?” She didn’t want to go downstairs and watch the two lovebirds go at it. Her tender heart wouldn’t take it. “You can tell him that I respectfully decline.”
She closed the door in the guard’s face, but not before hearing him state, “He’s not going to be happy with you.”
Yeah, well, right at the given moment, I am not real happy with him. And with that thought, she burst into tears.
“What do you mean, she refused to join me?” Blain’s roar could be heard throughout the castle.
His guard stood silently, not sure how to answer his boss. “Did she give a reason?” Blain tried to bring his temper under control, but was fighting a losing battle. On top of which, the moment his dragon heard that his mate was not joining them, began throwing an internal fit within the confines of his mind.
'I told you to fix her, but do you ever listen to me, nooooo! Now, she don’t even want to be in the same room with you! Get rid of dragon lady and tell Tashe that we are her mates!'
'Tashe?'
'Nickname I gave mate. You like?' Oh, brother, his dragon had it bad. Blain rubbed his temples, feeling a major headache starting to form.
“Blain, maybe I should go talk with her. Surely she has the wrong impression of us. Are you two…?” Jade left the question hanging in the air.
“No, we are not, but she is my mate. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have enough powers to scent that I am her mate, and I was hoping for just a bit of time to get to know her before the whole mating thing gets started.” He stood. “Excuse me just a minute, please. It seems I need to go have a word with my mate.”
Natasha had climbed into bed, tears silently tracking down her cheeks, when there was another knock on her door. “I said I was not coming downstairs. Tell Mr. Pompous Ass that he does not need me to keep him safe from the kitchen staff. They have all checked out.”
The door opened. “Mr. Pompous Ass, huh?”
Blain walked over to the side of the bed and sat down, but not before she pulled the pillow over her head and groaned loudly. “Oh, please, someone just kill me now!”
Blain chuckled. “No, babe, can’t go allowing that to happen.” His dragon had alerted him that she sounded like she was crying even before he had opened the door. She had her back to him, and with her head buried under the pillow, it was hard to tell what was going on with her.
“Natasha, sit up and look at me for a moment.” He waited for a moment to see if she would respond. Not seeing her move, he placed his hand on her shoulder. “Baby, I really do need to see you and talk to you for a moment.”
She removed the pillow and glared at him. “I think your “baby” is downstairs. Now, could you just leave me alone…please?”
Blain reached over and caught a tear with a fingertip. “Why are you crying, sweetheart?”
There he went with the sweet talking. “Sir, I’m fine.”
“Bullshit! And stop it with the damn sir crap. You’re upset, now tell me why.” He ended in a much softer tone of voice.
“Sir…uh…Blain, I’m just really tired and drained from today. Besides, I am sure you have an evening full of plans with Lady Jade, and wouldn’t want her to think of you as a bad host, so please just allow me to turn in for the night.” She didn’t feel right flat-out lying to him, but she couldn’t tell him the truth either.
In a low, sexy voice, he pressed on. “Please, baby, why are you crying?” He wanted to wrap her in his arms and comfort her, but was it too soon? They had only known each other a hair over twenty-four hours. Even in the shifter world, that was moving fast.
There he went with that ‘baby’ thing again. Did he use the endearments with every woman he came in contact with?
“Because I’m just emotional. I am female after all. Call it fall-out from earlier today.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t the full truth by a long shot, either.
“Trust me, the fact that you are a female has not escaped my notice.” There he went with that sexy, smooth, warm voice that reminded her of slow-drizzling honey.
If she didn’t know any better, she would have said he was flirting with her. But then again, maybe he just thought that he could have her on the sidelines as his mistress. If that were the case, he had another think coming.
“Blain, please…”
“All right, Natasha, I’ll leave you be for tonight. But I am having Cook bring you up some dinner, and you damn well better be ready to talk to me in the morning.” Blain paused and slowly inhaled and then exhaled. “Good night, love.”
Natasha groaned and pulled the pillow over her face at the sound of knocking at her door. What time was it anyway? Must still be early, my alarm clock hasn’t even gone off yet. The knocking sounded again, and Natasha grumpily got up to see who was disturbing her slumber. This had better be good, or someone just may die this fine early morning. A quick glance at the clock on her way to the door told her it was 5:30 am. What? Five freakin’ thirty in the morning? This damn sure better be an emergency of epic proportions. Someone in this castle was getting ready to learn to leave her alone until 7:00 am. And even then, it was always best to let her get at least one cup of coffee in her before speaking to her.
She cracked her door open to find Lady Jade standing in front of her with a large tray in her hands. “Um, good morning, Natasha. I brought you some breakfast. May I come in?”
Natasha groaned and banged her head against the doorframe. “Look, Jade, don’t worry about…are those doughnuts?” she asked, pointing to a plate on the tray.
“Yes, Cook just made them. I also have blueberry muffins and fresh coffee.”
Natasha opened the door all the way to allow Jade to come through. “Just so you know, the only reason you got through that door is because you brought doughnuts and coffee.”
Lady Jade giggled and sat the heavy tray on Natasha’s dresser. She wasn’t dressed to the nines like she had been yesterday. No, today she wore no makeup, hair in a messy ponytail, and was wearing a pair of worn jeans and a sweater. She quickly poured two cups of coffee and fixed two plates of breakfast goodies. Sitting in the only chair in the room, she placed her cup on the table beside her and sighed heavily.
“Natasha, I really need to talk with you, alone. And no, Blain knows nothing of this. As far as I know, he is still in bed. No, I came to talk with you one on one.”
Natasha’s stomach flipped, her appetite leaving her immediately. Here it goes, she thought to herself. She is here to tell me that Blain is hers, and that I need to learn my place or find other employment.
“It’s okay, Jade. I understand. Blain is yours and, trust me, I do not pose a threat to you,” she stated in an attempt to dodge part of Jade’s awkward speech.
“Natasha, you’ve got it all wrong. I tried to tell you this yesterday, but you were too upset. Blain isn’t mine, nor will he ever be. We are nothing but friends. I am lucky enough to call him my friend, as he opens his home to me as a way of getting away from my own controlling father.”
Natash
a plopped down on the end of the bed, letting out a huge sigh. Now that she thought about things, she did remember both Jade and Blain openly tell her they were not in any type of relationship; she had just been too far gone yesterday to listen.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” she asked, looking across the room to Jade.
“Sure, but I think I know what you are going to ask, and the answer is no, I have never slept with Blain.”
“Oh,” was all that came out of Natasha’s mouth as she re-evaluated everything that had happened over the past forty-eight hours.
“Natasha, I am fairly sure Blain is developing feelings for you, dear. Why don’t you give him a chance? He really is a nice guy once you get to know him.”
“Jade, while I appreciate you clarify the situation, I don’t think Blain has feelings for me. I am just a glorified secretary with some kick-ass skills on the side. Today is only my second day on the job. No, I am sure he only wants me comfortable since we will be working closely.”
Jade wore a smirk on her face. “Oh honey, how wrong you are. Are you actually that blind that you have not seen his interest? Hon, I spotted it within two minutes of being near him. His eyes fairly sparkle every time he looks your way.” She paused for a sip of her coffee. “If I tell you a secret, will it stay strictly within these walls?”
“It will unless it has something to do with Blain’s safety,” Natasha answered truthfully. Now that she was actually giving Jade a chance, she realized the lady really wasn’t that bad. She actually kind of liked her.
Jade shook her head. “No, it is nothing like that. I just don’t want Blain to find out I was the one who told you.” She stopped there and suddenly seemed nervous. “You are his mate.”
“What? No, you can’t be serious? How do you know that?” Natasha asked, in shock.
“Well, I kind of asked him, and he sort of confirmed it,” Jade whispered.
