by Cecilia Lane
The closet by the front door held a handful of leather jackets and heavier coats. He had a collection of thick, dark wool scarves for the colder months. They were as soft as they looked when she brushed her fingers over them and they even held traces of the smoky, honeyed scent that was all Eoghan.
A door above her shut with a firm click. She cocked her head and listened. Even through the distance, she heard the shower clearly.
She thought briefly of leaving through the front door and then discarded it. He trusted her enough to let her explore without watching her every move. He cared for her through the worst of her sickness. The least she could do was not bolt at the first opportunity.
Besides, she reasoned, she wasn’t dressed properly and the thought of hauling herself back upstairs was daunting. Her legs wobbled and shook just from her brief journey and exploration. She broke out in a sweat imagining the extra steps upstairs and back down once she found her own clothes.
She would need to contact the shelter and explain how they were wrong all along and she didn’t need more drugs. She would have to throw herself on the mercy of her professors at the community college and the manager at her job and the grant organizers who helped subsidize her home and education. But that all would need to come after she had her strength back.
Her stomach made another noise. She didn’t know how long it’d been since she had any food. She remembered some awful broth that Eoghan said was made by Kenna. Was Kenna the one who owned the clothes on her back?
She found the kitchen and it fit everything else. The clock on the stove told her it was late afternoon. The appliances were all clean lines and stainless steel. It all spoke of money. Lots of it. The views, the furniture, the size of the condo.
Who had she been to attract the notice of the Shadow Mob? And a Don, no less.
Was she on the run from them? Was she one of them? It was a prevailing theory at the shelter. She’d harmed enough people and she was deliberately hiding her guilt.
One word came back to her and heat filled her cheeks. She dreamt a fraction of their first night together. The feel of his lips on her skin drove her to kiss him while she came off the drugs.
Mate.
She wasn’t just Eoghan’s girl. She was his mate.
The word felt familiar, like it should hold more significance than a simple definition. And when she thought of Eoghan, a tiny glimmer of the importance flickered before dying out again. She couldn’t deny that her body craved being near him.
What would cause her to run from her mate?
Annika probed at her thoughts and tried to find more of her memories. They were as blank to her as before, though a few gaps were filled in.
She dashed away her tears. She wanted—no, needed—to remember. It was frustrating to stare at the pieces of who she used to be and not know how to put that person back together.
Equal parts subdued and determined, Annika made her way further into the condo. She peeked in all the cabinets until she found one containing boxes of cereals. By the time she found a bowl and spoon and put the milk back into the refrigerator, she was happy to take a seat at the breakfast bar. It was almost exhausting to raise the spoon to her mouth.
She paused mid-chew and listened to the noise above her. The shower shut off and a buzzing began. When Eoghan jogged down a second set of stairs near the kitchen, she could see he’d shaved away the scruff that had started to grow. Pity. She liked the rugged shadow on his cheeks.
He regarded her silently with cold blue eyes, then passed her with an air of determination. “How’s yer stomach? All healed up?”
She tracked his movement across the kitchen. Every step shifted his shirt against the tight V-shape of his frame. “Fine.”
He rounded the counter and she dropped her spoon with a clink. Her heart sped in her chest as he approached her. “And yer head?” He brushed a bit of hair away from her face.
“I don’t remember much.”
His eyes held her attention and she found herself wishing again he could see into her mind. “You kissed me before. Do ya remember that?”
Heat washed over her, from his closeness and the memory his words sparked. “I was dreaming of you. We were here and I knew I needed to leave. But you changed. Something was different and I…”
She trailed off and broke their look. Cutting that connection gave her a chance to breathe. “But it wasn’t a dream, was it?”
His fingers brushed over hers and up her arms. “No, it wasn’t a dream.”
She stiffened when his lips brushed over hers. The second taste was more forceful and she melted into him. He moved with strong strokes, deepening the kiss in seconds and sending her head reeling.
Her hands fisted in his shirt and hauled him closer. His hands pressed the small of her back and dragged her against him. There was hardly any space left between them when he broke the kiss, letting their hot breath mingle.
Eoghan strangled a growl and stepped away from her, stuffing a set of keys into his back pocket.
“Going somewhere?” she asked breathlessly. Her eyebrows drew together in silent confusion.
He already crossed through the kitchen and yanked open the coat closet. “Out.”
“For how long?” The room chilled with his tone.
“Not yer concern.”
Annika glared at him. “You can’t just keep me here.” Not after that kiss, she wanted to add.
“I can and ya will stay. The doormen know yer disturbed and not tae leave. It’s for yer own good.” He pulled on one of his leather jackets.
“My own good?” she sputtered.
“Oh, and don’t try to go into my office.” He shook his phone in her direction. “I’ll know immediately and then I’ll have tae send the boys around tae collect ya.”
Her teeth ground together but he didn’t acknowledge her again. Fine.
The door closed behind him and she calmly finished her breakfast. She read the back of the cereal box a thousand times over while she slowly chewed and swallowed. It would give him enough time to leave the building and start toward wherever he was going.
As soon as she finished, she dumped her bowl into the sink and made her way to the foot of the stairs. She sized up her challenge. She didn’t think she’d ever been much of a mountain climber.
Annika gripped the railing like her life depended on it. She needed to pause halfway up the stairs to catch her breath. The cold cereal sat heavily in her belly. “Extra strength can kick in at any time,” she grumbled at her body.
At the summit, she clung to the railing and caught her breath again. She considered just continuing to the bedroom and crawling back into bed. She still felt weak as a kitten and could barely stay on her feet.
Irritation churned in her and gave her renewed strength. She wasn’t to be left behind or forgotten. She wouldn’t be used. If Eoghan could simply leave without hearing her objections, she would do the exact opposite of what he ordered.
She assumed the office Eoghan wanted to keep private was the one with the keypad next to the door. She checked down the hallway and saw a camera nestled in a corner and pointed to view all the doors.
Annika jiggled the handle but of course it was locked. She punched in a random set of numbers and winced when an alarm screeched loudly.
She focused on the camera and raised her middle finger. “Asshole. Keep me locked away like some helpless princess in a castle, will you? Give me no explanation and just leave? You can go fook yourself. I don’t know what I was thinking, mating the likes of you.”
She vented all her frustrations at the camera for several minutes. Her arm grew tired and she let it fall. When she started to repeat herself, she snarled a vicious smile at the camera.
Finally, the alarm quieted.
Taking a deep breath, she slid down the door and plopped to the ground. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her cheek on her knee. It would only be a matter of time before someone came to collect her, as Eoghan threatened.
> Eoghan’s phone chimed with a security alert almost as soon as he pulled into traffic at the far end of Locust Point. He needed to check in on his businesses, legal and otherwise. He didn’t have any patience for trouble in his flat.
He entered his code and the phone opened to a view of the triggered camera facing the office door he told Annika not to go near.
She stood with her back against the door and flicked the camera off. While he couldn’t hear any of the furiously spewed words he had a good idea that she wasn’t singing his praises.
Eoghan chuckled and shook his head.
That was something his Ann would do. Stubborn, fierce woman wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He heard her stumbling down the stairs and breathing hard when he woke. Weak as a wee bairn and she was still determined to get under his skin.
His grin turned to a grimace in lightning speed. Did he have any idea who his Ann was, truly? The things she said while coming off her drug cocktail filled his head with questions that he didn’t want to ask.
Even more, the feel of her in his arms and the taste of her on his tongue made him want to stuff all the questions in a dark, forgotten corner. He only wanted to see if she responded to him the same as before, see if a bit of their bond sparked to life, and then let himself get carried away. She tugged at his heart and his senses. He could still feel her lips giving way under his and the heat of her center begging him to sink inside.
Was she lying or was she ill?
There were too many inconsistencies, too many outright contradictions. None of it jived with the story she told him when they first met.
He remembered clearly every word she ever said to him. He spent countless nights staring at the ceiling and going over their conversations. His bed felt empty without her and the memories were the only thing he had left.
But those conversations were different from the snippets Annika spouted while she came off the drugs. Hard, fast, and ugly, that’s what the doctor said. Every single word of it true.
He could have had one of his sisters come over and nurse her, sure. The wives, sisters, and daughters of his other family would all have lent a hand. He wouldn’t let anyone into his flat. He couldn’t stand the thought of anyone else alone with her. He needed to hear any words that came out of her mouth after she mentioned brothers instead of sisters.
He pressed her when she seemed lucid and when she didn’t. Sometimes she answered and sometimes she spouted off nonsense about stolen princes living their lives away from the Dragon Court. Everyone knew the tales. Everyone knew the Mad Queen lost her mind when she lost her children. The only connection he could see was Annika felt her own mind had been lost.
Outside of her gibberish, she talked a bit about her life before they met. She came to Baltimore looking for him, which was flattering and something he easily dismissed as the detox spouting off. He pressed her on her parents, on where she grew up. Patomas. At least he thought it was Patomas from her description of cliffs and forest and sea. Isle of the dragons, if she wasn’t hallucinating or simply wishing for a life amongst her own kind. He’d been told her parents were dead, but they lived in her hallucinations.
Was she lying or was she ill?
He couldn’t decide and it boiled him from the inside. He wouldn’t know for sure until Donovan got back to him. They were at a standstill until then. He wanted to protect her and care for her while he wanted to push her far away.
He couldn’t even take his frustration out on the one who put her in her current state. He needed her memories to tell him who gave her the drug that sent her mind fleeing.
Eoghan considered leaving her in the squalling alarm until one of his boys could pick her up. But her sickness got the better of her. Her steady stream of insults slowed and her arm dropped. She snarled at the camera but still stayed upright.
He hit the button to turn the alarm off.
She slid to the ground and hugged her arms around her knees.
At the next light, he sent Gio a message to swing by his flat and pick her up. She was needling him and he’d give her the consequences he threatened.
He was nearly to the hair salon he owned and his sister Kenna operated when his phone chimed with a second alert. Not the blaring break-in alarm, just the signal that his front door was opening with the non-primary key code.
Mariko smiled at one of the ladies from the resident shops on the ground floor. She and someone behind her carried packages in their arms. She waltzed right through his fooking security.
He switched cameras and saw Annika perk up from where he last saw her.
Gio wouldn’t be anywhere close. No one would reach Silo Point in time to stop Mariko from stealing Annika away or killing her.
He could walk away. He could let Mariko take her prize. He could wash his hands of the snake he allowed in his bed. Mariko would undoubtedly use her to bait a trap. He’d already showed his hand when it came to Annika. He could use ambivalence toward Annika’s fate against his rival.
But the cold temptation wasn’t something he could humor for more than a second. Liar or no, she was his. He would decide her fate, not Mariko.
“Fook!” He slammed the steering wheel to the right and forced his way into the turn lane, ignoring the angry curses and car horns. He pushed into the first clear parking spot along the shore, already hauling his shirt over his head. He dug into his pocket and tossed Maura’s locket into the glove compartment. He wouldn’t risk losing it during a shift.
Eoghan reached for the Wyrd even as he tumbled out of the SUV and slammed the door shut behind him. The source of all powyr tantalized him the moment he first felt the connection with Annika. She pushed through whatever barrier that kept him from realizing his true power.
The shift ripped through him and large wings lifted him into the air. As soon as he cleared the cars below him, he drew more on the Wyrd and his shape expanded and thickened into his full dragon form.
Not knowing the danger that awaited and not caring for the onlookers pointing up at him, Eoghan turned toward Silo Point.
7
Annika heard the door below open and admit someone. She lifted her head and focused. Two someones. One was lighter on foot and nearly impossible to hear.
She didn’t bother to move. They would come find her and take her to wherever Eoghan wanted her to be taken. She certainly wasn’t about to meet them downstairs with a smile on her face.
She lost track of the lighter footsteps but the heavy set started up the stairs. That one took his time, judging by the creaks she grew intimately familiar with during her slow ascent.
She was in full view when the man mounted and paused at the top of the stairs. She expected him to call down to the other one. Instead, he pulled a knife from his back pocket.
Annika rose to her feet. There was malice in the man’s eyes. He wasn’t looking to collect her for Eoghan. He was looking to hurt her.
Instead of doing the smart thing and scurrying to the back bedroom, she took a step forward. Toward the attacker.
Her brain screamed at her body to retreat, to run, to hide. But her body ignored her mind. A feeling of calm came over her.
The man snarled at her. He flipped the knife from one hand to the other and watched for her weaknesses. There were many. She was slow. Weak. Stupid to even try defending herself in her state.
He charged at her and she ducked under the first stab of the knife. She chopped her hand hard at his wrist but he already switched hands and tried to stab her.
She pushed away from him, barely avoiding the slash to her midsection. Then she lashed out, kicking at his shins and trying to grab his wrists again.
He sliced and slashed, catching the air each time as she dodged or threw herself out of the way. Her movements slowed with each duck and dive away from the knife. She had to do something before he wore her out.
She pulled herself away from the railing, giving them more space. The man tried again to catch her across the midsection and she hissed when the blad
e connected. Not deep enough to kill, but still deep enough to let her blood flow freely.
The man snarled and his face changed shape. She could almost feel the powyr in him and he added claws to his free hand.
She turned and aimed a punch to his lower back. He grunted and she grabbed his arm and yanked it harshly behind him, only letting go when the knife dropped and bone snapped. He snapped at her over his shoulder and she shoved him away, over the railing to the floor below.
“Impressive. That was a clean break to his arm.”
Annika spun, grabbing the knife off the floor in the process.
At the other end of the room stood the dark-haired woman from the rival meeting. Shit. Annika hadn’t thought of the second set of stairs that led directly to the master bedroom.
“You shot me,” she said in an attempt to stall and catch her breath.
Mariko shrugged. “It was business then and it’s business now. You’ll be a valuable asset in the coming struggle with Don Gilchrist.”
“I’m not leaving here.”
“Come now. You’re tired and bleeding. Look how your arm shakes. Don’t make this worse on yourself than it already has been.” Mariko raised her hand and her fingernails changed into long claws one at a time.
Annika let out a breath. The alarm had sounded. Eoghan would send someone. She just needed to hold on until they arrived. “No.”
Eoghan envied other shifters their smaller forms. They could race around and snap their jaws at any threat in just about any sized space. He didn’t have that luxury when his other form was the size of a house.
He landed on the terrace he kept purposefully clear and snapped closed his connection to the Wyrd. His form shifted and contracted and he jogged the last few steps to his back door.
