Dark Heat: The Dark Kings Stories

by Donna Grant

  The ink looked like a peculiar mix of red and black. Many of her friends in Atlanta had gotten inked, but she’d never seen anything like this before. Not just the ink, but the artwork as well. It was beautiful and impressive.

  After they’d made love the first time in the shower, she’d sworn the tat looked at her. Elena smiled and started to draw her hand away when she gasped.

  The tattoo had moved. She’d stake her life on it.

  It was just another thing that made Guy so different from the others. Like his immortality.

  Immortal. She thought over that word long and hard as she stared out the window, watching the sky continue to lighten. What did it mean, exactly?

  There were hundreds of questions rushing around in her head. She’d wanted to ask them before, but she had a feeling Guy wouldn’t have told her the answers. Not yet, at least.

  As she looked at the vivid green grass and the sheep dotting the rolling landscape, immortality didn’t seem so unbelievable.

  Maybe it was Dreagan itself, but the land felt old … ancient. Older than anyone knew. Was it the stories she’d heard of the magic of Scotland? Or was it something else?

  Strong arms locked around her from behind as Guy kissed her neck. “Couldna sleep?” he asked.

  She leaned back against him with a smile. “I was asleep. I can’t get used to the sky lightening up so early. For me, when I see light, it’s time to get up.”

  He chuckled and turned her to face him. “There’s a switch next to the bed that will lower the blinds to block out the light. Now, is that all?”

  “It was. Until I started thinking about what you asked me last night.”

  His smile slipped. “Elena—”

  “Wait,” she interrupted him, and put her hand on the flames across his chest. “Let me talk, please. I’m not saying I’ve changed my mind. I believe you.” She shook her head with a laugh. “As impossible as that is for me to imagine, I believe you. Why did you tell me?”

  “Most people would think I’ve gone mad. Instead, you accept what I say. No questions or anything.”

  “Oh, I’ve questions. Plenty of them, but I was still wrapping my head around the immortality bit. Plus, I saw your hand heal in the cave.”

  He ran a thumb down her cheek. “You were no’ supposed to see that. And I shouldna have told you about my immortality. If the others learn that I’ve—”

  “I won’t tell them,” she assured him. “But you still haven’t answered me. Why tell me?”

  “I doona know. I wanted to.” He sighed and looked over her head out the window. “For so long we’ve kept what we are secret. We knew it wouldna last, but we were hoping to keep it going a little longer.”

  “Which is why everyone freaked the hell out when Sloan and I were in the mountain?”

  He nodded and looked at her. “There is only one other human who knows we’re immortal.”

  Elena blinked and leaned back a ways. “Human? What do you mean human? You aren’t human?”

  Guy was opening his mouth to talk, when there was a single knock on the door and Guy’s name was called.

  “Bugger,” he muttered, and began to gather his clothes.

  Elena followed him. “What is it?”

  “Con’s on his way. Get dressed and hurry.”

  Elena let the blanket drop and gathered her clothes before kicking her pants ahead of her in the bathroom. She caught Guy’s gaze before she closed the door.

  There was something about the way he said human that she had a feeling had nothing to do with immortality. Would he have told her had they not been interrupted?

  “Guess I’ll never know,” she said.

  Elena dressed, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair. When she walked out of the bathroom, Con was standing next to Guy at the fireplace.

  Con smiled at her, though much like last time, it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Good morn, Elena. How is your ankle?”

  “It’s improving. Rather rapidly, actually. I can put a little weight on it now.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. Sometimes just resting will heal an injury.”

  She didn’t believe him. There was something in his tone, a look in his eyes. She knew in her gut they had done something to help speed the healing of her ankle.

  Con chuckled while Guy looked at the rug with no emotion showing. Elena put her hands in her khaki pockets and waited. She assumed the interrogation would begin again, though she wondered where Rhys and Banan were.

  “Would you like for me to answer the same questions as before?” Elena asked. She figured she’d be better getting right to the point than beating around the bush.

  Con shrugged with a grin. “We could. Or you could actually tell me the truth.”

  “I’d be happy to take a lie detector test if that’d help. I’m not lying. And regardless of whether you press charges for trespassing or not, you can’t keep me here forever.”

  Her gaze moved to Guy as she finished, and she could have sworn she saw a flash of hurt.

  “I want to believe you,” Con said as he slowly walked toward her. “Too much is at stake for me to accept what you’re saying so easily.”

  “I don’t know what’s at stake, but I can see it’s important. Is there some way I can help to prove my innocence?”

  He studied her for a moment before glancing at Guy. “You said you’re a gemologist.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you think there are valuable stones in our mountain?”

  She was nodding her head before he finished. “Of course. There are stones everywhere in the world. Below the water, below dirt, beneath rock. You name it, the stones are there. I imagine there are stones that have yet to be discovered.”

  “Do you want to be the one to discover one?”

  Elena thought of the cold, damp cave and shuddered. “No,” she said, and took a step back. “No. That’s not something I ever wanted to do. I’m not daring enough. At all. My idea of running is on a treadmill at the gym, not at a park where some madman might rape or kill me.”

  “Hmm,” Con said, and rocked back on his heels. “You think Sloan might have found something in the cave?”

  “As I told Guy, it’s a possibility. She was in a hurry, that much was obvious. Once we reached that spot, she was fine for me to sit and rest as long as I needed.”

  “Did she have a map?” Guy asked.

  Elena thought back over the ride to the mountains and while in the cave. “No. She seemed to know where she was going. There were a few times she hesitated when the cave branched off, but I just assumed she was trying to determine the best course to take.”

  Con and Guy turned to each other.

  “She could’ve been there before,” Guy said.

  Elena hurried to say, “No. She was adamant about finally getting to cave in such a private place.”

  Con’s face grew grim. “Which means someone else was.”

  “Ulrik?” Guy offered.

  “We’d know.”

  “Then who, dammit?”

  “Let’s hope Banan finds out.”

  Elena looked from one to the other as they spoke rapidly. “Where does that leave me?”

  Guy looked up from his musing, his amazing light brown eyes softening as they met hers.

  “It means,” Con said, breaking into their stare, “that we need your help.”

  Elena smiled at Con. Eagerness filled her as she realized she could finally help him see she wasn’t lying. “I’d love to help. What can I do?”

  “We need you to go back into the cave.”

  “Nope,” Elena said, and limped out of her room and into the hallway. “I told Guy I wouldn’t go back there, and I’m not.”

  “No’ even if it clears you of suspicion?” Con asked as he followed.

  Elena gripped the wall as she put too much weight on her ankle, but she kept going. “I want you to believe me. I really do, but if it means going back into that … that … cave…” She shook her head. “Forget it. I don
’t care what you think of me. Press charges, do whatever you want, but don’t make me go back there.”

  Guy stood in the doorway of Elena’s room and watched her gradually limping down the corridor. She was going so slowly, Con had to actually stop walking to let her get ahead.

  If there had been any doubt in Guy’s mind about her innocence, it was gone now after hearing that speech. She wanted no part of the mountain.

  And if a cave scared her, what would a dragon do?

  Guy leaned a hand against the doorframe and sighed. He’d been about to tell her he was a dragon when Rhys had knocked. Maybe Con was right and it was best to keep their secret amongst themselves.

  He’d already done enough damage by telling Elena he was immortal. But to tell her the rest of it … he couldn’t, wouldn’t now. He’d lose her for sure.

  “You look like someone just shot your puppy,” Rhys said as he walked up. “I’d thought you’d be thrilled to have Con asking for Elena’s help.”

  Guy didn’t bother to respond. Elena had reached the stairs and was attempting to make her way down. Con wasn’t going to stop her, so someone had to.

  He started toward them, lengthening his strides when Elena gripped the railing. She was just about to jump on the first stair when Guy scooped her up in his arms.

  “You’re going to kill yourself,” he ground out.

  She looked up at him, her eyes wide and mouth open. “I did all right these past twenty-eight years. Humans are fragile, but we heal well enough.”

  Guy inwardly winced at her words. Would Con and Rhys pick up on the double meaning? Would they guess he’d told her something?

  “No’ if you break your neck,” Guy said, and started down the stairs.

  He didn’t know where he was going, but it didn’t matter. She was in his arms, and he had to get away from Con and Rhys to calm his thoughts and his breathing.

  “I shouldn’t have said that,” she whispered.

  “Nay,” he murmured.

  She rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  He gave her a light squeeze and brought her to the entertainment room. Usually it was full of the other Dragon Kings, but they’d been ordered to stay away because of Elena.

  “Such a huge house for just the four of you. Why do I believe there are more?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with merriment.

  He didn’t answer, but she laughed just the same.

  “There are. I knew it,” she whispered as he set her down on the couch.

  Guy moved away from her in time to see Con raise a brow at him. There was no need to try to deny anything. He wasn’t keeping what was between him and Elena a secret.

  “Verra protective,” Rhys murmured as he walked past. “A sign no one can ignore.”

  Guy glared at him before turning to Elena and sitting on the arm of the couch. “Will you at least consider going back in the mountain?”

  “I can’t,” she said, and picked at her fingernails. “Have none of you ever been so afraid of something that you can’t face it?”

  “Nay,” Rhys said.

  Guy had never encountered anything he feared. Until Elena. She scared the hell out of him because of the feelings she evoked.

  “It’s no’ in our nature,” Con said as he walked to a chair opposite her.

  “What you’re asking me to do is like asking someone who’s scared of heights to jump off a building,” she said.

  It was the tremor in her voice that made Guy want to get up and punch Con for pushing her. Instead he gripped his knees. “You willna be alone, Elena.”

  “No?” she asked, and looked at him. “I wasn’t alone with Sloan when she died. She wanted me to go down there with her. Had I gone, I’m the one that would be dead.”

  The thought left Guy cold. He stood and walked around the back of the couch, raking a hand through his hair. Humans were delicate creatures. That had always been fact. But he’d never had one he wanted so desperately to be safe before.

  “What if I can guarantee your safety?” Con asked her.

  Guy jerked his head to Con.

  Elena laughed shakily. “No one can guarantee anything but death and taxes, Con.”

  “Then what can I give you that will change your mind?”

  Con rarely made that offer, and when he did, he meant it. Elena could ask for anything, and Con would give it to her. Guy waited for what she would request, unsure of how he wanted her to respond.

  “There’s nothing I want,” she finally said.

  Con’s blond brows rose. “Nothing? I find that hard to believe. Everyone wants something.”

  Guy’s breath caught when Elena looked at him.

  She looked away and down at her hands folded in her lap. “If I asked for your secret, would you tell me?”

  A muscle in Con’s jaw twitched, the only sign that he didn’t like where the conversation was headed. “Aye,” he said tightly.

  She exhaled loudly. “I don’t want your secret. I don’t want anything from you.” She turned on the couch and faced Guy. “But I’ll help. For you.”

  “In the cave?” he asked.

  “Yes, though I’m going to regret it. And my threat still holds, Guy. If I die there, I’m haunting you.”

  While Con and Rhys were talking, Guy let his fingers touch Elena’s on the back of the couch.

  CHAPTER

  TEN

  Elena asked herself for the hundredth time what she was doing back in the damned mountain. It didn’t matter that she was clipped in and connected to Guy, she was scared silly.

  They’d been in the mountain for three hours, forty-seven minutes, and eighteen seconds. She knew because she kept looking at her watch.

  What Elena discovered was she didn’t mind climbing up something as much as she hated climbing down. She’d managed to keep calm the deeper into the cave they went. Guy was always behind her, helping her up an incline or over something.

  Rhys and Con were in front of her, but even they looked back often to check on her.

  She’d had them tape her ankle securely and taken plenty of aspirin, but the pain was coming back. She dug into her pocket and pulled out two more aspirin and downed them with water.

  “You’re hurting,” Guy said.

  It wasn’t a question, so she shrugged and swallowed her water. “I’ll be all right.”

  All three had helped to keep the majority of her weight off her injured leg, but that didn’t stop it from aching. As soon as the tape was off her ankle, it would be swollen once more.

  “We’re here,” Con suddenly called.

  Elena’s heart dropped to her feet like lead. Here meant where Sloan had fallen. And died.

  “You doona have to do this.”

  She looked at Guy and adjusted the strap of her helmet beneath her chin. “I do, and you know it.”

  Elena put her back to the opening in the floor as Con and Rhys got everything ready for their descent. She touched Guy’s hand to get his attention.

  When he looked at her, she wondered how she’d tell him what she’d found. Or if she should.

  “Elena?” he asked, a frown marring his forehead. “What is it? Do you want to return to the house?”

  She paused, contemplating if she should tell him. “I saw something, well a couple of somethings, as we were making our way here.”

  “Rock?” he asked with a teasing grin.

  “Smart-ass.” She couldn’t stop her smile, though. Her hand covered the marking behind her as she leaned back. She thought of the beautiful dragon tattooed on Guy’s body and of the markings.

  “First, tell me what Dreagan means?”

  Guy grew instantly still, all traces of teasing gone. “Why?”

  “Please. Just tell me what the word means.”

  “It’s Gaelic,” he said slowly. “It means ‘dragon.’”

  Elena took a deep breath, excitement and fear mixing within her. She stepped aside to reveal the carving in the rock. It was about the size of a man’s hand,
and would have been missed had her light not fallen upon it as she sat down.

  “I’ve seen a couple of these today,” she said as Guy squatted beside the picture of a dragon in flight. “All of them are different. Some in flight, some sleeping, some with their wings spread.”

  Guy still said nothing. He traced the drawing with his finger before he stood and faced her.

  “Dragons. The meaning of your distillery. Your tat. The drawings in the mountain. It all comes back to you, doesn’t it? What does it mean?”

  Indecision warred across his face. He glanced at his friends, and when his gaze returned to her, there was despair. “You’re no’ going to like my answer.”

  “What? That you can’t tell me?”

  “Do you keep an open mind about things?”

  His tone was soft, his question serious. She thought of the way he’d loved her and held her. How he’d kissed her with more passion and need than she had ever known was possible.

  “If you mean if I believe in ghosts, the answer is yes. Aliens, well, I’m not sure there. I don’t think we’re the only ones in the entire universe. There’s something else out there I’m sure of it.”

  “And my immortality?”

  She shrugged, growing more unsure of things as the conversation continued. “I don’t know how it’s possible or why. My first thought is to doubt you, but then I look at you. You aren’t like other men. There’s something … more … to you, Guy.”

  “I want to tell you,” he whispered, and grasped her elbows as he pulled her closer. “I want you to know. Keep an open mind, Elena. Keep looking.”

  She was about to ask him what he wanted her to look for, when Rhys took her arm.

  “It’s time, Elena. I need to get you secured to the line.”

  She was so caught up in her conversation with Guy that she paid no attention to Con lowering himself into the hole. Not even when she found her feet dangling in the air and Rhys holding her did it bother her.

  Rhys was talking, but she didn’t hear his words. It wasn’t until Guy took her hand that she was able to focus again.