by Chloe Cole
"Taya," his silky voice filled her head, but this time she could hear the command. "Come for me, love.”
And she did.
Like a summer storm, the lightning inside her was only a slow build to the thunderous, all-consuming explosion. It swelled and grew, coiling around her in a rush of sensation. Every muscle seemed to pulse with the energy of it, and only when she'd reached the precipice did she notice that Etienne had joined her, pulling her even deeper into the swells of her release.
“I love you,” she cried, as his cock pulsed and spurted inside her.
His responding roar was like the song of her heart and she clutched his shoulders, reveling in the way the muscle bunched beneath this skin as he jerked and quaked.
They stayed wrapped together that way for a long moment, until her tremors subsided, until his breath slowed, until the world stopped spinning.
She slumped forward onto his chest, body still humming in the aftermath.
“I love you too,” he murmured softly in her ear as he curled his arms around her bottom and stood, lifting her with ease.
His words settled around her like an embrace and the last of the hurt melted away. Deep down, she’s already known that. As improbable as it was, it seemed like some part of her had always known, from the moment he’d saved her that night in the woods.
Why else would he have been willing to risk so very much for her?
She pushed aside that thought, knowing it was a slippery slope that only lead to fear and anxiety, as he climbed the stairs of the hot tub. The air, though warm, was cooler than the water, and she shivered, nestling closer to him.
He set her down on her feet and proceeded to dry her off with a fluffy, white towel before drying himself and scooping her back in his arms again. Then, he carried her up the stairs through the dark and now silent house. Her body felt light and boneless and the sway of his as he moved lulled her into near sleep.
When he laid her onto the cool sheets and pulled a soft comforter over her, she let out a contented sigh.
“Sleep, love,” he whispered.
She forced her eyes open and held out a hand. “Not without you.”
He rounded the bed and climbed in next to her. “I’ve got to stay up for a couple more hours but I’ll lay with you until you fall asleep, and I promise I’ll be back once Mina’s awake and on watch, all right?”
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her mouth before pulling her close, tucking her head in the crook of his arm.
For a while, she just soaked it all in. The feel of his body, the head-to-toe humming satisfaction after their lovemaking. But before long, the tendrils of warmth and joy that had been wrapped around her like a cocoon began to fray again in the darkness and she burrowed more deeply into him, wishing she could hold onto that feeling just a little longer.
Stop it, her subconscious blared.
Thinking about tomorrow would only ruin the little time she had left with him, and she wasn’t about to do that. Instead, she let her mind replay every touch, every kiss, and it was then that she finally allowed herself to nod off.
There it was.
The nightmare again.
Flying and joy and the wind on her face. Etienne beneath her as they cut through the skies. And again, the dread as they began a downward descent. The murder of distorted, black crows surrounded them and Etienne slowly turned to stone.
Her heart pounded with terror, only this time, she knew it was a dream.
And, this time, instead of smashing into the ground, a burst of power snaked through her body. What was it? A jolt of strength like she’d never felt before, and then?
An awakening.
Her body felt as if it might split in two as sapphire wings sprouted from her back. She released her hold on Etienne’s plummeting form and as soon as she did, the stone broke away, revealing him in his dragon form. Massive, hard and fierce.
Fly.
He didn’t speak the words, but she heard them nonetheless and she didn’t hesitate. She flapped her wings once and again, and suddenly, she was aloft, with Etienne gliding beside her.
It was a miracle. A revelation. Now that she could carry her own weight, he didn’t need to die in an effort to save her.
She could save herself.
She awoke with a start, as if a bucket of icy water had been dumped over her head, but this time, instead of heartache and dread, she was filled with something else entirely.
Hope.
It filled her chest, and spread outward, all the way to her fingertips as she tried not to let it overcome her.
Maybe it was folklore. Something born of myth and legend and Hollywood magic. But if there was even a chance…
She turned to see Etienne’s empty but dented pillow and realized he was probably trading shifts with Mina. Even better. She definitely wanted to hear the other woman’s take on this possible solution to all of their problems.
She leapt to her feet and scurried across the room to Etienne’s dresser, riffling through until she found a sweatshirt and a pair of boxer shorts that she donned with trembling fingers.
She all but flew down the hallway, calling his name. “Etienne!”
“Taya?” his voice called back to her, full of concern.
She rounded the corner and barreled into the living room, chest heaving, legs like spaghetti. Mina stood in front of the fireplace, concern knitting her brow as Etienne cut a path across the room and took Taya’s hands in his.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes! No. I don’t know.” She swallowed hard and said a silent prayer for calm as she met and held his gaze.
“What would happen if you bit me?”
Chapter Twenty
He had thought his heart had taken all the abuse it could take. Meeting and falling balls to the wall in love with this little human. Seeing her attacked and nearly killed, more than once. Having to admit to her that, in spite of how they felt about each other, they could never be together. Knowing that, no matter how hard he tried to protect her now, failure was almost certain.
But apparently, pain—the kind that had nothing to do with flesh and bone—had no depth or width. It was fathomless, and, as he stared at Taya, he realized he was destined to plumb the depths. Seeing the hope lighting her beautiful face broke something inside him.
“Ah, Jesus,” Mina muttered.
Apparently, even the Valkyrie, who did her level best to open her heart to no one, was affected.
“It’s a good idea, right? I can become a dragon shifter, like you,” Taya said. Desperation bordering on hysteria made her voice shrill as her eyes darted over his face, taking in his surely bleak expression. “Don’t look at me like that. Don’t make that face. There are rules probably, but we’ve already pissed everyone and their mother off, so who cares now? I want to do it and maybe we actually stand a chance of beating them if there are two dragons, or three of us if we count Drake, plus Willa and Mina. We could totally do it!” She was rambling now, and he reached out a hand to cup her cheek.
“Please, Taya,” he murmured, stroking her soft skin with the pad of his thumb. “Stop.”
“No. Tell me why. Why can’t we do it? Why can’t I become a dragon like y-y-you?” Her voice broke into wracking sobs and his heart squeezed. “And then we can be tog…” She trailed off and pressed the back of her hand against her mouth.
“It doesn’t work that way,” he forced through numb lips. “Dragons are born, not made. If I tried to change you, you’d be dead inside an hour. Human bodies can’t take the stress. They literally fry from the inside out even as the dragon cells attach to the human ones. Believe me, as our kind got closer and closer to extinction, many tried. Even with scientific advances, it just can’t be done.” He shook his head slowly, in agony himself but wishing he could siphon away her pain. “I’m sorry.”
Maybe Drake had been right all along. Maybe he should have kept it all from her, right from the start. This world—his world—was ugly, and violent and danger
ous, but he’d wanted so badly not to let her go, he’d put her at risk by allowing her in.
A hot ball of rage at the unfairness of it all welled inside him and he tried to rein it in. Right now, he had to focus on Taya and getting her through this first wave of trouble. Then he would focus on the next set of tasks: Making sure she was far from danger and then finding a way to ensure they could be together forever. There were ways—already, ideas were brewing—but none of them were a sure thing, and he refused to give her false hope. She’d suffered enough disappointment at his hands and, until he’d locked down something he knew could work, he wasn’t about to put her through that.
“We are better prepared today than yesterday,” he said, squeezing her hands, doing his best to bolster her confidence without making promises he wasn’t sure he could keep. “All is not lost, love. We’ve got to stay strong.”
Tears still streamed down her cheeks but her sobs began to quiet as she swayed, leaning into him.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s not your fault. It’s been a long night, and I just had this dream and was so excited that maybe I’d figured out a way to get us out of this mess and maybe…” She cleared her throat and took a shuddering breath.
“Etienne,” Mina hissed, crossing the room on silent feet to where he and Taya stood.
He pulled back and sent her a questioning glance, his pulse pounding as she pointed to the ceiling. A low scratching noise sounded. So quiet, it was almost imperceptible, even to his sensitive ears.
“What? What is it?” Taya whispered, panicked gaze flickering between he and Mina.
“They’re here,” the Valkyrie said, a grim expression spreading across her face.
Jesus, that was fast. He’d thought they would have another day. Two, if they were lucky. Apparently, he’d underestimated how badly they’d wanted to shut this situation down.
Footsteps skittered along the ceiling again and he cocked his head to listen more closely.
Strange. If the best and brightest had been sent, they never would’ve seen or heard them coming until they were streaming through the doors and windows. This development added another little brick onto the pile of hope he’d started building.
Mina must’ve had the same thought, because a grin tugged at her lips. “Well that’s good at least,” Mina breathed. “Seems like they didn’t have time to gather the A-team together. I’m a little insulted, though. Who do they think they’re dealing with here?”
Etienne agreed, but wasn’t about to look this gift in the mouth.
“They’re going to come in through the skylights,” he muttered, just loud enough for Mina and Taya to hear him. “Let’s get downstairs to the gym and force them to come to us. We have loads of weapons there at the ready and only one way in, down the main stairs.”
The room was subterranean, so there were no windows either. Could be a blessing or a curse, though, because while they would be bringing the fight to their turf and would be able to keep the enemy from surrounding them, they would also have their figurative and literal backs against the wall. There would be no escape unless they fought their way out or died trying.
He locked gazes with Mina and she nodded without hesitation.
Gratitude rushed through him and he reached out to give her shoulder a squeeze. She knew as well as he did what she was risking for Taya. Etienne wasn’t sure what had changed, or how she had won the Valkyrie over, but it was clear she had, and there was no way Etienne could ever repay this debt.
“Thank you,” he said simply.
Her blue eyes went soft before she cleared her throat and winked, giving him and Taya a cocky smile.
“Are you kidding me? Any day I get to spend kicking ass is a good one. I’ve been stuck behind a desk for a month and I couldn’t wait to get some action.”
The low scratching grew louder and Etienne gave Taya a push toward the door to the gym.
“Go, go, I’m right behind you.”
The women headed down the stairs, Mina stopping off to scoop up her leather jacket from the doorknob and taking a second to slip it on.
They headed down the stairs as a unit and he closed the door behind him and locked it with a click.
He stalked toward the shelf against the back wall where all the weapons they’d been training Taya with sat.
“What did you feel most comfortable with?” he asked her.
She eyed the options with a look of bleak determination. He could smell her fear and the fact that she managed to push past it only made him love her more.
“Crossbow.” She chewed her bottom lip and turned toward Mina. “You think? I did pretty good with it.”
Mina nodded her glossy, dark head emphatically. “For sure. You can do some serious damage with that.”
Etienne loaded it with real arrows and handed it to her while he considered his own options. The room was big enough for him to shift if he needed to, but the assassins would almost invariably come in the human form to start, and because he didn’t yet know what variety of shifters they would be dealing with, he preferred to stay nimble until he got the lay of the land. Bigger form meant a bigger target and if they were armed with their own poison-tipped arrows, shifting could prove disastrous.
Mina caught his attention with the wave of one hand. In the other, she clutched a vicious looking katana and she pointed it toward the door.
He closed his eyes and focused on the sounds in the room.
A fly buzzed in the distance, trapped in the sauna room.
Water moved through copper pipes.
Almost silent footsteps descended the stairs.
Five sets? Six, maybe. And that didn’t take into account any others who might be upstairs or outside waiting.
He turned to face Taya and held her terrified gaze for a long moment, hoping his expression conveyed even a fraction of what he was feeling.
“I love you,” he said simply.
When the door burst open a second later, he didn’t wait for them to come at him. He exploded into action, letting the knife in his hand fly even as he bounded across the room, putting his body between the incoming attackers and Taya.
The wet gurgle coming from the throat of the first man through the door sent a bolt of satisfaction coursing through Etienne.
Direct hit.
The black-clad man stumbled and fell, clutching at his throat as three other men pushed past him, all dressed in what seemed to be the uniform of the day. He got to the ginger-haired one in the lead an instant before the other man let the throwing stars in one hand loose, clothes-lining him before punching him in the kidney hard enough to stun him.
Mina was by his side in a flash, her boot on the other shifter’s neck as she sent her sword through his chest, fileting him like a fish.
Two identical, mountain-sized men stopped a few yards away and exchanged a glance before dropping their weapons. Then, they threw back their heads, their clothes disintegrating around them as they morphed into a pair of massive Bengal tigers.
“Etienne!” Mina called, tossing him a machete before wheeling around to fend off a fourth assailant.
He plucked the blade out of the air and faced the tigers, eyes trained on their every move as they circled him; low, guttural sounds vibrating in their throats.
He had a slight advantage. Their instructions had likely been to immobilize him and murder the woman. As one of only a handful of strong, young males left in his species, he was too valuable to kill if they could help it.
He, on the other hand, had no qualms about ending their lives. So when they launched themselves at him in tandem, he put everything he had into that first blow.
His glee at the snarl of the big cat as steel sliced cleanly through muscle and bone as he decapitated his opponent was short-lived though, as teeth the size of a man’s forearm tore at his opposite shoulder.
“Nooo!” Taya’s scream reverberated through his head as the pain lanced through him.
A second later, the gnashing teeth released him an
d he stumbled backward to see the tiger fall to the ground, an arrow sticking straight between its eyes. He glanced up just in time to see Taya lowering her empty crossbow. Pride dulled his pain for an instant before another figure came barreling toward him.
“Etienne!” Taya’s panicked gaze held his own as she struggled to reload.
His shoulder was a mangled mess and useless until it healed, so he closed his eyes for an instant and focused on the rage in his belly, fanning the fire higher.
He opened his eyes and exhaled, sending a tongue of white-hot flames at his enemy. He didn’t have to hear the agonized scream to know he’d hit his mark.
The other man dropped to the ground as the fire engulfed him.
The last of the assassins paused by the door, hesitating. His eyes were like two cold chips of onyx as he surveyed the carnage around him before locking eyes with Etienne.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” he said softly. “Give up the woman, and all of us can end this and leave in one piece.”
Mina let out a low, harsh laugh. “All of us?”
Their enemy screwed up his craggy features and sent her a withering stare. “You know what I mean, Valkyrie.”
“He means you three,” Taya murmured softly, the hand that held the crossbow dropping to her side as a stricken expression clouded her face. She turned her tortured gaze to Etienne. “You said they were after you too. You said we were all in this together.”
“Because we are, love,” he assured her, making sure the man at the door heard him as well. No point in letting the fucker think that he would ever turn her over. That would be a grave mistake on his part.
“But we don’t have to be. That’s what he’s saying. You,” she turned to face Mina, her despair almost palpable, “and Mina. You can walk away right now and they would forgive you? Welcome you back into the fold?”
“No,” Mina and Etienne both said sharply, even as the alpha at the door said, “Yes.”
Etienne took a step toward her, his gut clenching at the confusion on her face. “He’s going to say whatever he can to get what he wants, Taya,” he warned softly.
