Deception_Paranormal Romance_Dragon Shifters and Immortals

by Laxmi Hariharan

  The muscles of her shoulders relaxed. “You promise?”

  “I’ll do everything I can to help you and your brother.” He placed his hand over his heart.

  She threw a last glance over her shoulder then broke into a run.

  He followed her.

  Reaching the pier, she headed to the cruiser moored at the end.

  Putting on a burst of speed, he shot ahead of her and leaped on board the sleek boat.

  She was just behind.

  As he cast off, she ran up the stairs, into the cockpit.

  The motor throbbed to life. The sound echoed through the empty jetty as they pulled away.

  Coming to a stop next to her, he held on to the rail as the boat raced ahead.

  Behind him, guards shouted.

  A flare of light cut through the air, arcing over the boat to hit the water on the side. Then there was silence.

  The darkness swallowed up the island.

  Dora’s thick blonde hair streamed behind her. “They’ll be coming for us. They won’t let us get away so easily.” Her back was straight, feet planted on the deck.

  She was an empath, and sensitive, but right now she reminded him of a Valkyrie.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” He growled.

  A chuckle bubbled up from her throat only to be torn away by the gust of wind that flashed past them. “More than I thought.” She shot him a glance, those silver eyes glimmering in the darkness. “You seem to bring out the part of me that I’ve hidden from all my life.” She bit her lip. “Forget I said that.” She rubbed her forearm. “When I’m around you I can’t keep my thoughts to myself.”

  One side of his lips twisted up in a smirk. “Do I make you nervous, Dora?”

  9

  Pandora

  He’d called her by her nickname again, and that unnerved her. She’d just met him and yet she trusted him more than her own race.

  He’d made her defy the Elysian rebels and break their hold on her.

  “Keep straight.” He touched her arm.

  A shudder ran down her spine.

  His psychic presence was a steady strength that grounded her. On the physical plane his body excited her.

  She was very aware of his bare chest and the hard, sculpted planes with those tattoos that she wanted to trace her fingers over.

  She stared into the distance. “Where are we going?” She raised her chin toward the open sea.

  “Home.” The word was stark.

  She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

  “At least, I think I am headed there.” A nerve pounded at his temple. “White sands, beaches, green seas, and a skull of a dragon shifter that is bleached by the sun and which hangs in a large room.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his chest heaving. “That’s all I remember of my childhood.”

  She sensed his emotions churning.

  Her chest constricted, and she felt dizzy.

  She was feeling his pain as her own. She’d shared her energy with him and stabilized the fledging connection with him already. One more such shared experience and the mating bond would snap into place.

  “I was found at sea, right after the tsunamis of 2014 that destroyed many of the big cities. I assume I was washed away by the tsunami.” His voice cut through her thoughts. “I don’t know the name of the place where I come from.” His arms hung by his sides in a gesture that was meant to be relaxed. His coiled muscles indicated otherwise.

  “Mauritania. You’re talking about the island where the dragon shifters are based.” Her tone was casual.

  He went still, the tension between them rising another notch.

  “I heard Vesta and Tibor speak about the shifter they’d kidnapped from there.” She stared straight ahead, refusing to look at him.

  His gaze raked over her face. “What are you not telling me, Dora?”

  She owed it to him to tell him that he was her mate, especially with the fledgling bond she had formed.

  A shudder of fear twisted her guts.

  She had only just found out what he meant to her. She couldn’t tell him yet. Not until she’d found a way to save both him and Bran, no matter what happened to her in the process.

  “I am not sure what you mean.” She flicked her tongue out to lick her suddenly dry lips.

  That piercing blue gaze of his locked with hers.

  “You’re trying to distract me.” His gaze dropped to her lips.

  Her throat closed. “Am I succeeding?” Her voice hitched. She was playing a dangerous game, one she had no practice of. She couldn’t recognize who she was anymore.

  Her shoulders twitched, and she shifted her weight from leg to leg.

  Leaning in, he placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him.

  She had to tilt her head all the way back to gaze into his eyes.

  “They hurt you, Dora.” He placed his other palm against her cheek.

  Goosebumps rose on her skin.

  She wanted so very much to turn her face into his palm and kiss those gentle, wide fingers whose calluses rubbed against her cheek.

  “What else do they have on you?” The tenderness in his voice washed over her. “I’d give my life for you, Dora.”

  It’s what she was afraid of.

  She was not going to let him risk his life for her. If she told him that he was her mate, then, she had no doubt that he would insist on completing the fledgling mating bond.

  It would make it impossible for them to walk away from each other. Something she had no doubt he would have to do, to keep him safe from the Elysians.

  She pushed back her shoulders. “My parents died because of Tibor. Him and Vesta kidnapped my brother and made me a fugitive in my own home. Isn’t that enough?”

  His gaze narrowed. The warmth of his body receded. He didn’t believe her.

  The sea wind rushed into the space separating their bodies.

  She shivered, wanting to bridge the space between them. What would it be like to place her hand on that wide chest and lick the hollow at the base of his neck? To Inhale that scent of wood smoke that would be strongest that close to his skin?

  Oh, she so wanted to tell him that Tibor and Vesta had asked her to mate with Rage. That they wanted to use the mating bond to control him and defeat the alliance of the Dragon and the Council of Bombay. That she had agreed to bond with him to save her brother, until she’d discovered that he was her true mate. She wanted him and would do everything in her power to protect him.

  She couldn’t risk telling him all that, not until she had found a way to save him and her brother.

  She stepped back.

  His hand dropped away.

  “I’m tired, Rage.” She reached for her braid and wound it around her fingers. “The escape has taken more from me than I realized.”

  His forehead furrowed. His lips pursed.

  If she stayed, it would only make her weak. “I should get some rest.” Turning her back on him, she headed for the cabin below deck.

  10

  Rage

  He wanted her with a yearning that came from deep inside.

  If he revealed the extent of his need when she was vulnerable and at her weakest, he would only scare her away.

  He gripped the steering wheel.

  He had to let her come to him.

  Turning to the task at hand, he raced the boat over the waves.

  Images crept into his mind. The scent of salt and seaweed, the cries of the eagles as they circled in the sky…the heady smell of cooking with coriander and ginger, his sisters chasing him on the beach.

  The boat rolled and shook him out of the memories.

  The beast inside him twitched, brushing up against his skin, and the hair on the back of his neck prickled.

  Something was wrong.

  The sound of a motor reached him. He pivoted around just as two boats drew up behind them. They split off, coming at them from either side.

  He put on speed, pushing the cruiser forw
ard. But already their pursuers were gaining.

  The boat increased speed, drawing up close. A man on the deck bent his knees, his body in position to jump. The craft leaped forward, coming so close that its bow brushed the cruiser.

  Their cruiser rocked from the impact.

  Rage struggled to bring their boat under control.

  The man jumped. Hitting the deck on the far side, he rolled to break his fall.

  Letting go of the wheel, Rage charged toward him.

  The stranger sprang to his feet. In his hand was a modified gun.

  Rage kicked the legs out from under the other guy and caught him in the stomach.

  The man howled with pain and bent over.

  Rage seized the man around his shoulders. He twisted the stranger’s body then flung him overboard.

  Rage’s breath came in pants. Sweat poured down his forehead. He threw himself at the wheel and steadied the boat.

  The next man jumped. The deck rocked.

  With a snarl, Rage pulled the lever that would put the boat on autopilot.

  He rushed at the man, headbutting the stranger in the stomach.

  That guy was almost as big as Rage. Broad shoulders, massive thighs, arms like tree trunks.

  The scent of metal was heavy in the air. These men were Elysians.

  He grabbed his beefy neck, squeezed it tight. “How many of you have been sent?”

  The man growled at him, the whites of his eyes showing. He struck out, smashing his fist into Rage’s side. His ribs snapped. White pain streaked through his brain.

  Rage couldn’t heal as fast as most shifters, due to his latent state. He gritted his teeth and pushed the pain aside.

  He was going to make sure he got rid of this intruder before the man endangered the boat and the woman sleeping below.

  That Elysian wasn’t telekinetic, but he made up for the lack of psychic power with raw physical strength.

  He flailed out with his leg, managing to catch Rage in the thigh. Pain shimmered through his side, and Rage’s grip on the man slipped.

  “Bollocks!” Rage swore, using the choice words he’d picked up in the fighting arenas of London.

  Tensing his muscles, he bent his knee and plowed it into the groin of the other man.

  A howl rose from the man. His body shuddered and went still for a second.

  Enough for Rage to wrestle him to the edge of the ship. The man struggled in earnest. His palm slapped against Rage’s chest, the man trying to hold on, and furrowed down the front.

  With a grunt, Rage managed to get the man up over the edge, his muscles quivering with the effort. The boat tilted over. Rage began to slide over the side with the other man.

  Just as Rage was sure that he was going to go over, too, arms slipped around his waist, steadying him. The scent of jasmine rushed over him. Her silver, glittering energy surged against his senses, supporting him. A burst of adrenaline swept through him. His muscles locked, and he heaved.

  With a scream fading as he fell, the other man went over.

  Rage hung there, breath coming out in gasps. Holding on to the edge for support, he turned to find silver eyes blazing with copper. His empath was drawing on that strength he’d sensed inside all along.

  “You’re bleeding.” Her fingers fluttered over his chest.

  “We have more than that to worry about.” Rage jerked his head to where the boat that had fallen behind roared toward them.

  11

  Pandora

  The boat headed straight for them. Her heart hammered, and adrenaline poured through her veins. Her hands went clammy.

  She wasn’t going to let Rage die.

  Stepping back, she reached out with her senses toward the driver of the oncoming boat.

  She felt his anger, fear, and the intent to harm.

  She nudged his mind to propel his boat away, leaving with him the idea that he had seen their cruiser go down.

  For a second there was only the sound of his boat screaming toward them. The waves, displaced by the boat, surged at their cruiser. The cruiser rocked, and water poured over the side, spilling onto the deck and splashing them.

  At the last minute the boat swerved and missed them. Its boards creaked as its nose turned away. The side of the craft scraped their vessel. The impact of the collision shuddered through the cruiser. The floorboards below her feet shivered as their boat tilted to the side.

  Her body slammed into Rage. The breath was shoved out of her.

  His arms came around her waist. He held her close as they went sliding down the deck and crashed into the wall of the cockpit. He kept her close, cushioning her with his body, taking most of the shock of the impact.

  His shoulders shook. A groan was torn from his throat, and he sagged against her back.

  Her insides twisted with fear. Pulse racing, blood pumping in her ears, she turned and gripped his upper arm. Bracing her legs on the deck, she tried to take some of his weight and help him stay upright.

  Blood dripped from the deep grooves that Vesta’s telekinetic power had gouged in his chest. “The boat, you must right it,” he gasped. The color leached out of his cheeks, leaving his skin pale.

  She wanted to take care of his wounds but knew he was right.

  She tore off a large strip of cloth from her sarong and bundled it up and pushed it against his bleeding chest. Bringing up his palm, she made sure he had a good hold on it.

  The boat rocked, and she slapped a hand onto the wall next to his shoulder, trying to keep her balance. When the cruiser stabilized again, she turned and made her way to the steering wheel.

  Switching off the autopilot, she gripped the wheel, coaxing the boat to steady. The shock of the attack began to wear off. Her head spun, and she felt dizzy with relief. They were safe.

  Clutching the steering wheel, she once more snapped on the autopilot.

  Racing back to Rage, she dropped to her knees.

  The blood had soaked through the cloth, showing splotches of red. “We need to get you down to the cabin where I can see to this.”

  “No.” He gripped her hand, his voice hoarse, the English accent cutting through the vowels. “I am too heavy for you to help me down. Besides, I’d rather stay up here keeping watch as you steer.”

  “But—”

  He touched her face. “Get the first-aid kit; there should be one in the cabin.”

  If he’d raised his voice or pushed her, she would have resisted. She was used to people underestimating her.

  His actions were calm, deliberate, with that focused attention she was coming to expect from him. There was a gentleness to his touch that she found she couldn’t resist.

  Rising to her feet, she rushed down the short flight of steps and into the cabin where she’d been asleep earlier. Grabbing the kit from where she’d seen it on the wall, she ran back to him, pausing only to take a bottle of water from the galley that adjoined the cockpit.

  He had his eyes closed, and his breathing was labored.

  Her limbs were shaky as she peeled off the blood-soaked sarong and poured the water over his chest.

  Then, taking the lid off the bottle of antiseptic, she held it up to warn him.

  At his nod, she drizzled that over the gashes.

  He hissed out a breath but didn’t move otherwise.

  White pain ebbed through the shield that was held in place by their joined-up energies.

  She winced. “You are hurting.” She pursed her lips, trying not to show how much his pain was affecting her.

  When his dragon came to life, he’d sense the fledgling connection between them. I’ll be long gone by then.

  Taking off the rest of her sarong, she tied it around his chest. Testing the knot until it was to her satisfaction, she sat back on her heels. The wind rushed over her bare skin, and she shivered.

  She was clad in a vest and the thin shorts she’d worn under the sarong.

  She handed him the painkillers she’d found in the kit, then shared the bottle with the
remaining water in it so he could wash the medication down.

  “You are latent.” She couldn’t stop herself from tracing the inverted phoenix-like scar that ran down the side of his chest. “It was unfair to have you fight when you could not harness the full power of your animal.”

  She raised her eyes to his, and a fierce need to protect ran through her, surprising her with the vehemence of what she was feeling.

  Unable to stop herself, she leaned down and touched her lips to his scar.

  A shudder rippled over his shoulders.

  This man was strong, yet she could make him want her. Desire, lush and ripe, pounded through her veins.

  It made her feel powerful. For the first time in her life she felt in control.

  The beast inside him called to her like nothing had before.

  An answering sizzle of desire streaked to her core. Liquid heat bloomed between her legs. Trailing her tongue across his chest, she followed the scar all the way to the base of his throat. When she bit the hollow between the tendons, a groan rolled up his chest.

  Dense heat plumed off him and slammed into her chest. She shuddered. The want in her intensified.

  He made her want to push aside all caution. He brought out a part of her that was wild and reckless.

  His chest muscles flexed, and a pulse leaped to life at the base of his throat.

  An answering throb in her core made her shudder. She wanted to yank him close and lick him up. His nearness was affecting her. Her cheeks went fiery hot. She couldn’t remember having such a reaction ever before.

  “You shouldn’t be near me.” His chest rose and fell. “My dragon is getting stronger. Soon I won’t be able to control it. I don’t want to harm you, Dora.”

  She raised her hand to his cheek, mirroring the tenderness he had shown her earlier. “You won’t hurt me.”

  Taking care not to touch his wounded chest, she reached up and pressed her lips to his.

  12

  Rage