by Mina Carter
He cut that thought right there and broke away, easing the pain of separation with a few soft, more chaste kisses. “You should get some sleep.”
She blinked up at him, the dark and unfocused look in her eyes almost breaking his control. Then she smiled, and his heart contracted. He reached out and smoothed her wayward hair back behind her ears. She looked softer like this, as though her work clothes were armor she hid behind. “What, alone?”
Lord God, give him strength. How could he pass up that offer? But he had to. He couldn’t claim her until the threat to her life was gone.
“Yes, sweets, for now. But I won’t be far away. If you need me, just call out. Okay?”
She nodded, and despite the fleeting pout, pleasure mingled with banked desire in her scent. Perhaps pleased he hadn’t pushed? Baron had no idea, women of any species were a total mystery. He watched as she smiled, her eyes dark and sultry, and slowly closed the door. He didn’t move until he heard her cross the room, the sound of her footsteps almost on the edge of even his sensitive hearing, then the rustle of fabric as she dropped the robe and climbed into bed.
His dragon howled at being denied when he turned and walked toward his own room, but he ignored it and a smile spread over his face. Nothing could dint his good mood, not now that he’d found his treasure. The corridor was one of the shorter ones in the house, and at first he’d thought being on the same corridor was a good thing. It was closer to Honor so he could protect her. If anything happened in the house, then he could get to her in seconds. But now that his dragon had decided she was theirs, who was going to protect her from him?
He shook his head and carried on. The plushness of the place still astounded him even though he’d had a couple of hours to get used to it. His dragon huffed, giving the sculpture on the occasional table at the end of the corridor a covetous glance, which was out of character for the creature. Baron was not a hoarder, not like Duke, but perhaps his dragon had more expensive tastes than the magpie hoarder of his brother who liked to collect any cheap old shit.
When he reached the door to his room, muttering from the room within made him pause, and frown. Opening his senses he could find nothing untoward, just the large mass of dry energy that indicated his brother. Pushing the door open, he stopped dead. There in the window, tangled in the drapes, was Duke. Quickly, Baron stepped inside the room and shut the door.
“What the hell are you doing, you great idiot?” He strode across the room to untangle his stupid brother. Duke had managed to get one arm free, and started to extend his claws. “Don’t you dare! How the hell will I explain you shredding the fucking drapes, numbskull?”
It didn’t take him long to extract his twin from the drapes, muttering the whole time. How the hell Duke got himself into crap like this, he had no clue, but he always managed to do something. As Duke stood up, smoothing his clothes down, Baron frowned. There were new scrapes on the side of Duke’s face, and a purpling bruise that looked for all the word like someone had smacked him in the mouth.
“What happened to you?”
“I crushed some of the pebbles and something came looking.” Duke walked past him and flopped on the bed, sprawling all over it. He folded his hands behind his head and watched Baron.
Despite his relaxed attitude, Baron wasn’t fooled. Duke had that excited gleam in his eye that said he knew something his twin didn’t. “And?”
Duke grinned, the expression broad and totally at odds with the injuries to his face which must have been serious to leave a mark even after a change. “It was a dragon…one like us.”
The floor yawed beneath Baron’s feet. There were few things that could rock his world. Finding his mate, in the room down the hall, had been one of them. Another was finding out that they weren’t as alone as they’d thought they were. “How like us? A shadow dragon? Where? What did he look like?”
“Very. Yes. Led me a right dance all over the city, then entered the old sewers west-side and bloody disappeared.” Duke answered the questions quickly and to the point, also very unlike him. “And not he…she.”
Baron sat down heavily in the chair by the window. “She? A female dragon?”
Duke nodded, sitting up with an eager light twinkling in his eye. “Yes, I think so. She kept herself shrouded in shadow but she felt like you do in that form, dry energy…but feminine. Not as coarse and prickly as you are. She was…glorious.”
The sly smile started small then spread over Baron’s lips. His brother sounded smitten…which would make things so much easier when he admitted Honor was his mate, and he didn’t plan on sharing. “Glorious, is it?”
“Uh-huh.” Duke stretched out again and yawned widely. Exhaustion was written into every line of his body, upping Baron’s estimation of the chase the female had led him on. Despite their joking words about workouts earlier, both brothers worked hard at their physical fitness. For someone, especially a female, to get away from him, she had to be good. “What are the chances huh? Both of us meeting our mates in the same day?”
The words, falling so carelessly from his brother’s lips, took Baron aback. He’d been trying to figure out how to tell Duke about Honor, started to lay up all his arguments against how they’d always thought things would go…and now he didn’t have to.
“You know, don’t you? She’s the one…she’s—”
“Yours. But not mine.” Duke nodded, the expression in his eyes wiser than Baron had ever seen it. Duke was the grumpy one, but also the impulsive, more child-like almost, of the two of them. But right now he seemed to have all the answers as he sat up and speared Baron with a direct look. “Yes. Knew it as soon as I saw her. Your dragon recognizes her, mine doesn’t. Well, it does, but not in that way. She’s your treasure, you almost called her that earlier.”
He frowned, thinking back. Shit, he had as well.
“Iliona’ll have your balls.” Duke added with glee.
“Yeah.” He fell silent for a moment, then shrugged. “Don’t care. She’s worth it.”
“Amen to that.” Duke yawned again. “We’re taking watches tonight?”
“Yeah,” Baron nodded toward the bed. “You get some sleep, I’ll take the first one.”
***
Baron jerked awake, sitting up and dragging himself out of a nightmare all in the same motion. The harsh rasp of his breath filled the room as surely as the thunder of his own heart filled his ears. Crap. He didn’t get nightmares, not ever, his sleep as peaceful and undisturbed as a baby’s. Not tonight though. Whether it was the strange bed or meeting Honor, his rest hadn’t been an easy one. From the moment he’d closed his eyes the nightmare had ensnared him.
It had started out innocent enough. He’d been flying in the early morning sun, waiting for that moment when the sun burst over the horizon and bathed him in its warming light. It was his favorite time of day to fly, and the only time he could. Although shadow dragons craved the heat of the sun, they were creatures of darkness. Too much light blinded them, left them reliant on their other senses, and in worse cases, drugged them into an insensible sleep. But the early morning light was too weak to cause a dragon of his size many issues, so he could enjoy his flight without worry. Reveled in the sensation of the air under his wings as he rode the thermals up, then glided down to catch the next one. Up and down he went, doing lazy back flips and just enjoying being alive.
Then a scream tore the air and a body hurtled past him, the small shape almost tearing a hole in his wing. He banked o the side, an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach as he turned to see what it was. Who it was. His heart froze as he recognized Honor’s voice and her slim figure as she plummeted toward the ground below.
Nonononono. He back flipped and dove, massive wings pumping faster than he ever had before to try and catch up with her. But she was falling fast, too fast for him to catch up with. The distance between them stretched out, pulling them further and further apart until—
He shuddered, lurching out of the memory before she could h
it the ground. He ran a hand through his hair. It shook. Badly. Flopping back on the bed, he took a few deep breaths to regulate his heat-rate. A nightmare, that’s all it was. Now that he’d found his treasure, of course his sub-conscious would be scared about losing her. And a fatal fall was about as final a loss as one could get.
He shuddered again, heart beat at about the right level, and turned his head. His brother was slumped in the chair by the window. A frown crept over his brow. Duke was supposed to be on watch. Perhaps he’d just shut his eyes for a moment.
“Hey, Bro. You ’wake?”
There was no reply. Wariness rustled his scales under his skin as he sat back up. He couldn’t see Duke’s face, even with his sharp draconian vision, not with Duke’s hair loose and falling forward like it was. Wrongness permeated the air, extending its tendrils into the room from outside. Baron stilled and extended his senses. The house was too quiet. He should have been able to pick something up. The faint murmurs of conversation from the two guards on duty, perhaps the hum of a television left on…but nothing. Reaching out, he tried to turn on the lamp by the bed. No power.
“Shit. Duke, wake up!” He ordered, grabbing his pants and yanking them on as he crossed to his brother. Duke didn’t move, not even when Baron shook him hard. Instead he murmured and settled back down again, snoring. Swearing again, Baron shoved his claws free and drove them into Duke’s shoulder, scraping along the collarbone. His brother yelped in his sleep but Baron didn’t care. It would hurt like fuck but a shift would heal it up quick smart, and he’d done what he needed to…gotten the attention of Duke’s dragon. He could feel the thing rousing, yammering at Duke to wake up from whatever spell had been cast over them.
Baron yawned until his jaw cracked and headed for the door, fighting off the pull of sleep that tried to drag him down again. He’d never heard of a sleep spell powerful enough to take out a whole house. One or two people in the same room, yeah, but the Croft property was immense. Which meant whoever was behind this had some serious magical mojo. Fuck, just what he needed.
All thoughts but one faded from his mind as he wrenched the door open. He had to find Honor, make sure she was safe, because if she wasn’t…then life as he knew it was about to end.
*
Honor woke with a start, her eyelids snapping open to study the ceiling above the bed. That in itself was unusual. Normally she needed a good run up to the day and at least a bucket of coffee, so for her to be wide awake straight away…. She blinked and sat up, looking around. Her room was dark, like normal when she slept, but this was a wrong darkness, not comforting like normal. The reassuring glow of her alarm clock was gone, the purple LEDs now dark. Shit, there must have been a power cut. She closed her eyes on a sigh of relief, and stifled a chuckle.
Just a power cut, Honor, get it together.
She opened her eyes again and sat up, reaching for her robe on the chair at the side of her bed. It was the cold that clued her in. Even if the power had gone out, it shouldn’t have affected the temperature in the house. On a normal night the place was baking and the only time they could get it down to a reasonable level was to run the air-conditioning twenty-four-seven. She paused, hand halfway to the robe. If the power was out though…it should have been like an oven in here, not a fridge.
Lightning flashed, lighting up the windows. She squeaked as, in best horror movie tradition, branches from the tree outside tapped against the window pane. For a second she wanted to dive under the duvet and take shelter like she had when she was a child. Back then the duvet had been both shield and invisibility cloak rolled into one, and nothing, no monster from under the bed or the closet could get to her. But much as she’d like it to, the real world didn’t work that way. The wrongness in the air caught in her lungs as she dragged in a shaky breath, and the shadows around her whispered dire warnings. If she stayed here in bed, she would die. She knew she would, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Danger crawled over her skin, making her feel sick. Surging to her feet, she grabbed the robe and hauled it on, tying the belt in a shaky hand. She’d had this feeling before, a couple of times. The first she’d been out with a few friends but when it came time to walk home, she’d felt sick and said she’d catch up after visiting the restroom. Her two friends had been mugged, one beaten so bad that she’d ended up in intensive care. She’d felt so guilty she’d camped at the hospital all that week.
The second time it had happened, they’d been about to get on a subway train. The sickness and wrong feeling had hit her out of the blue, so strong it had driven her to her knees. Her friends had thought she’d gone mad, but she persuaded them not to get on the train. And she’d been right. Less than five minutes into the journey, a bomb had taken out the center carriages, right where they would have been. Since then she swore, if she ever got that feeling again, she wouldn’t ignore it. And she wasn’t going to. Emptying her purse onto the bed, she grabbed her car keys and cell phone. The rest she could leave, all she needed to do was get to Lucy’s. She could deal with anything else from there.
Her steps were silent on the carpet as she raced for the door. Her breath billowed in icy puffs in front of her. What the hell…? How was it this cold? She yanked open the door, intending to race down the corridor and hit the service stairs at the end of it. But before she could, a dark shadow rose in front of her. Hard hands grabbed her arms, spinning her around. She slammed into the wall, the air driven out of her lungs in a hard whoosh as a solid male body pinned her against the hard surface.
She had no clue what was going on, but right now she didn’t care. Whatever other threats were in the house didn’t matter, she had one right up close and personal and she needed to get loose. Fast. Dragging a breath in, she opened her mouth to scream but a hard hand dropped down and covered her mouth, cutting off her air.
Shit, this was it. She was going to die.
Chapter Six
“Shh, honey. It’s just me.” A familiar voice rumbled by her ear.
Smith. Relief hit her like a tidal wave, weakening her knees and almost dumping her on the floor. She clutched at his arms for support and managed to stay on her feet. Only just though.
“You okay?” He pulled back to look at her, concern written in what she could see of his expression in the dim light. Was it her or was his voice deeper now, more animalistic? No, that was just ridiculous. She shook off the silly idea and smiled up at him. Touching as they were, she felt him speak, as well as hearing it and that was why his voice sounded odd. Smith was as human as she was.
Their gazes caught, then held. She sucked a breath in at the dark heat in his eyes. Like pools of midnight, unlit by either moon or stars, they called to her. Pulled her closer. She shivered, biting her lip. His gaze dropped to her lips and a deep groan rolled up from the center of his massive chest. His warm breath stirred the fine hairs on the side of her neck, sparking heat to swirl through her veins and further threatening the rigidity of her knees. Crap, she wasn’t doing this. Wasn’t having a female moment over him when there was…whatever the hell was going on in the house.
“Don’t….” he started, but before she could ask him ‘don’t what?’ his lips crashed down over hers.
He parted her lips with a hard sweep of his tongue, a dominant act that took her breath away all over again. She clung to him, absorbing his strength, and kissed him back. No meek embrace, heat flared between them, intensified, and became an inferno. Desire rolled through her veins, fanning out over every inch of her skin before diving underneath and centering in her core. Her pussy clenched, panties instantly damp with her arousal as she tried to get as close to him as she could. Unbidden, amongst the heat of the torrid kiss, a sense of calm stole over her. Everything was going to be okay. Smith would make sure of it, she knew he would. How she knew, she had no clue. The knowledge was simply there, deep down, as though it were ingrained in her being, in her very soul.
Whimpering in the back of her throat, she tried to get closer, but he pulled away. For a
second, she tried to pull him back, disappointment a knife that sliced through her gut, but just as quickly reality intruded. Embarrassment swept all other feelings away. What was she thinking? She wasn’t some too-stupid-to-live gothic heroine who needed a man to come save her. She was the hero of her own tale and she’d damn well rescue the prince instead of vice versa, if she wanted to.
“What’s going on, Sm—” She frowned. “And what’s your first name? I can’t carry on calling you by your surname. Not after….”
He looked down at her, a strange look in his eyes. As she watched, a gold sheen washed over them. Here one minute and gone the next. She shook her head, amused by her own imagination.
“Baron,” he said, his reluctance obvious.
“Really?”
He sighed. “No, it’s Thorningumbald Burtswick the second. Of course, really. I know my own damned name.”
She couldn’t help the grin that stole over her face, both at the name and his reaction. Definitely a sore point there.
Baron. It was unusual, not bad but unusual. Living in the upper echelons of society, she’d heard some odd names. A lot of biblical types and some old, obscure ones as well, but they tended to come with the rider ‘Junior the fourteenth’ or something. But Baron, that was a new one…. Not many of the upper crust were ballsy enough to give their kids names drawn from noble titles. Baron was nice though, she liked it.
“Must’ve been difficult as a kid, with a name like that,” she commented as she trailed him down the corridor. She reached out to flick the light switch at the top of the stairs but he stopped her with a shake of his head.
“Why not?” Confusion flowed through her thick and fast. Helped her not think about the fact she was wandering the house in a very thin shift and night robe, with a guy that looked like he’d just stepped out of a GQ cover shoot. “There’s an emergency generator in one of the outbuildings, it should have kicked in by now.”
