Celtic Dragons

by Dee Bridgnorth

  At first, Darren had been happy just to take what was readily available in the vault, a bit at a time. It was almost like a game, and he liked that no one would ever know. He’d enjoyed imagining that Grady would count his money and wonder if he had imagined that there was some missing—because there would be no trace.

  But that was before Grady had killed Callum. Now it was about blood. Vengeance. Honor. The only kind of honor that Darren cared about anyway. He would deal with Grady Princeton and his dragon cohorts, whoever they were, and then he would move his followers on to the next city.

  And if anyone ever asked him why again…he would give them a very simple answer.

  Because I can.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Grady

  Without him even noticing, it was somehow mid-afternoon. A morning that had begun with an unheard-of decision to stay home from work and take the day off had grown into one of the most frantic days at work he had ever experienced. He’d spent his time giving statements to the press, to the officers, checking in on Barat, reassuring Abigail and his parents, calming his employees, fielding calls from concerned clients who had seen the news, coordinating with the company that owned the building, and putting out any number of other small fires.

  It was only when his stomach growled so loudly he couldn’t ignore it that he checked the clock and realized it was almost four o’clock, and he hadn’t eaten all day.

  “Jason?”

  Immediately, his assistant appeared in the doorway. Jason had been an incredible help through the entire disaster, jumping in to help on whatever task was required without a moment of hesitation or a word of complaint. Grady wouldn’t forget that after all the chaos died down.

  “Have you eaten?” Grady asked the man.

  “No, sir. Not yet. I can wait.”

  Grady shook his head. “No. Order something in for all of us in here—doesn’t matter to me what it is. Just make sure that everyone working gets fed. Drinks too. Anything non-alcoholic that they want. Just charge it to the company.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jason said. “Anything else?”

  “No. Just know that I appreciate your help.”

  Jason nodded. “Of course. Anything I can do, given the circumstances.”

  “Do you know where Moira is? She’s been in and out. I want to make sure she eats too, and I need to check in with her.”

  Jason shook his head. “Not specifically. The last I saw her, she was heading down to the underground levels…”

  “Damn it,” Grady said, standing up from his desk. He had no idea if it was safe down there, but the last time they had gone down to the tunnel, they had almost died. “Thanks. Just let me know when the food is here. I’ll go track her down.”

  He hurried to the elevator, taking it down to the lowest elevator. At some point during the day, amidst everything else, he’d already given the word for the vault to be evacuated of all of his possessions, but he had no idea if the orders had been carried out yet, or to what degree. He hoped that there were people taking care of it though, because that meant that if Moira was down there, she wasn’t alone.

  But when the elevator doors opened, Grady found only stillness and quiet.

  Cautiously, he walked out of the elevator, stepping onto the largely-destroyed floor and glancing around. It was hard to believe that just the day before, a supernatural battle had taken place right where he was standing, but when he closed his eyes, he could put himself right in that moment again.

  He didn’t much relish being in the moment again, so he advanced past the torn-up areas. “Moira? Are you down here?”

  “I’m here!”

  He heard her voice calling to him, but he couldn’t see her yet. Rounding the corner, he approached the vault, the door cracked open. So much for security …

  Pushing the door open, he stepped inside, and saw Moira down on her hands and knees, inspecting the floor. “What…are you doing? How did you get in here?”

  She glanced back at him. “Your security team quit—sorry. Said there were too many weird things happening. But they let me in before they left.”

  “Oh good,” Grady said, dragging a hand over his hair. “One more thing to do. Well, actually, if I’m evacuating this place, I guess I don’t need to. But this brings me back to—what are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to find how they were getting the gold bars out of here,” Moira said, getting to her feet and dusting off her hands and knees. “All I can think is that they only came in two or three at a time. The cameras would have picked up on a whole line of roaches marching in. They worked in separate areas, so that we would never get footage of two roaches together—not that we would have thought anything of it—and they transported the gold bars by walking underneath them, one at a time, to store them in hollows in the walls. Then they removed them from there.” She shook her head. “So much work. I don’t really understand it. Why not just take the form of a bear, bust in, take what you want, and go?”

  “Maybe they take pride in their art,” Grady said, his voice sounding as tired as he felt. He walked over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and drawing her toward him. “I know that we need to keep working on all of this, but can we …just for a minute …shut it all out?”

  Moira leaned against him, her head tucking against his shoulder and her arms winding around his waist. “Yes. How are you?”

  “Exhausted,” he told her, resting his cheek on her hair. “This is exactly what I need, right here.”

  She lay against him, her warmth seeping through to his skin. Her hair smelled of flowers and her body curved perfectly against his. He ran one hand up and down her back, just to feel more of her, and when his hand cupped the base of her neck, massaging lightly, the soft groan she emitted vibrated through to his core.

  With that one sound, the moment changed from companionable comfort to desperate desire. She felt the change in him immediately, her hips pressing instinctively against his as he hardened, betraying his need. The hand on her neck slid upward, into her hair, and when his fingers tangled in her curls, he pulled her head back just enough to look down into her eyes and see that she wanted this as much as he did.

  That was all he needed to know, and he bent his head, covering her mouth with his in a fiery kiss born of long-stoked passion and the intensity of the day. She responded in equal measure, her tongue teasing his as his hand that wasn’t in her hair slid down to cup her backside and yank her harder against him.

  Moira gasped into the kiss, her own hands dragging down his muscled chest. Pulling her mouth from his, she trailed kisses down his neck even as her hands lowered to tug his shirt up from the bottom. He helped her, moving back just long enough to pull his shirt over his head and toss it aside, loving the way her eyes lit up at the sight of his tight abdomen and firm pecs.

  She was on him again in an instant, her fingers and lips exploring his body as he stood there in his vault, head back, eyes closed, savoring every touch. He stopped her only when her hands went to the buckle of his pants, but just because he didn’t want to get to the endgame before having the opportunity to explore her with the same devotion.

  Dragging her back up, he took her in his arms, cradling her before he laid her down on the floor of the vault, hovering over her with a look of wicked intent in his eyes. As he kissed her again, making her arch upward, he slid his hand beneath her shirt, fingertips skimming along her smooth skin. She was so soft and silky, and he couldn’t help but want to touch all of her.

  As she had done for him, he pulled her shirt up over her head, exposing more of her to his eyes, fingers, and lips. Her full breasts threatened to spill out of her sky blue, lacey bra, and he kissed over the curves, his hands cupping her from below to offer more to his eager mouth. The way she reacted set him on fire, and all he could think about was getting her to wriggle and moan even more as he brought her pleasure.

  “Moira,” he whispered, tugging one cup of her bra down and fastening his lips around her ni
pple, sucking so hard that she let out a cry of pleasure. “Moira …so beautiful.”

  His hands slid around her, pressing on her back so that he could better devour her breasts. Tearing the bra from her body, he explored her fully, listening to every breathless moan and soft cry to help guide him in his efforts to please her. When her hands slid into his hair, tangling there, the scrape of her nails against his scalp resonated all through his body, and he knew that there was something different about this time—this moment.

  Gradually, he moved lower, kissing over her flat stomach, down to her hips. His hands slid up and down her legs, his fingertips teasing at her backside to make her wriggle all the more. Then he unbuttoned her jeans and slid her zipper down, his eyes lifting up to hers as he smiled wolfishly. With flushed cheeks and hazy eyes, she grinned back at him, and it wasn’t just his lower body that reacted. His heart flipped over in his chest too.

  Sliding her jeans down, he slowly revealed her body, staring with fascination at the curve of her hip, the delicate fabric of her matching panties, and the toned length of her legs. He kissed his way up one leg, then the other, ignoring, for a moment, her pleas for him to touch her where she wanted him most. Grady wasn’t done enjoying her skin.

  But even he couldn’t wait forever, and as she arched for him again, he finally brushed his fingers over her damp panties, pulling them to the side to replace his fingers with his mouth. Moira cried out, gripping his hair and pressing him closer to her as one leg looped around him.

  There was no saving her panties. He ripped the side of them to get them out of the way, then set his mouth on her fervently, using his tongue to drive her to utter distraction. His hands cupped the curve of her ass, anchoring her beneath his mouth, and then he lost himself in her taste and desire until she was shuddering and trembling with her climax.

  She called his name as she came, and he lapped that up along with the rest of her, easing her down from her high gently and letting her come to rest.

  When he looked up, her chest was heaving and her skin was flushed, her head tilted to the side as she tried to catch her breath. But when her eyes opened and peeked at him, she grinned again, and Grady had to laugh. Climbing his way back up her body, he nuzzled at her neck. “You’re beautiful when you come,” he whispered, kissing her earlobe.

  “You make me that way,” she whispered back, her legs circling his waist and tightening so that his hard length pressed against her softness. Before she did that, he had been entertaining the idea of bringing her to climax again before taking what he wanted, but feeling her pressed so intimately against him eliminated his ability to wait another second to feel her body completely.

  Pulling back, he shed his pants and the boxers beneath, baring himself to her eyes for the first time. She looked more than eager to feel his significant length inside of her, and he didn’t keep her waiting, not even letting her fingers wrap around him as he bent back over her. He wanted her and he wanted her now, and as he positioned himself at her entrance, teasing her relentlessly, he knew she wanted him just as much.

  His lips touched hers as the tip of his cock pressed against her, and then he slid fully inside her tight, wet body, shuddering with the pleasure that enveloped him. She felt like nothing else he had ever experienced, and he knew that it would be all too easy to lose himself in his own pleasure and just take from her.

  But he wasn’t done giving, so he forced himself to move slowly at first, sliding in and out of her with deliberate gentleness designed to let them both get used to each other.

  Moira sighed softly, staring up at him, her hand on his cheek. But then that light was in her eyes again. “Harder,” she murmured. “Take me.”

  Those three words were all he needed to hear to push him over the edge. With a deep groan, Grady began to move over her, thrusting in and out of her body with increasing force and speed. She moaned with every thrust, her legs tightening around him, and he marveled at how in sync they were with what they wanted. He wanted to ravage her, and she was completely on board.

  He took her that way, thrusting in and out of her relentlessly, waves of pleasure washing over him every time he slid back into her body, seating himself deep within her. Grady made it last as long as possible, looking down into Moira’s eyes as he moved within her, watching her cheeks flush, and her eyes glaze over as she neared her peak again.

  Her body tightened around his when her pleasure finally crested, and the sensation of her pulsing around him sent him over the edge that he had been holding back from. With a groan, he buried his face in her neck and spilled himself inside of her, gathering her close with his arms as they both shuddered through their releases together. Grady kissed the spot just behind Moira’s ear, closing his eyes as his body relaxed over hers.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Moira

  Wrapped around Grady, Moira had no desire to move. She didn’t want to reenter the real world and the problems that waited for her there. She just wanted to keep lying there beneath him, his body still joined with hers, and revel in the experienced they’d just shared together, knowing that it had never been that way for her before.

  “Your phone is ringing,” Grady said, nuzzling against her hair. “Ignore it.”

  She opened her eyes, glancing toward her discarded jeans. “I didn’t even hear it.”

  “That’s because your ears are still ringing,” he teased, kissing her neck again. “I shouldn’t have told you.”

  “No, because now I have to get it…”

  In spite of his playful protests, she wiggled out from beneath him and grabbed for her pants, securing her phone just as it gave its fifth and final trill. She answered it, putting the caller—whoever it was—on speaker since she couldn’t get the phone to her fast enough.

  “Hello?”

  “Where are you?” Kean asked. “In a tunnel? You sound like you’re echoing.”

  Moira smirked, glancing back at Grady who pretended to grab her leg and drag her back toward him. “What’s up? I’m in the middle of something.”

  “Something more important than the person I’ve been tailing all day?”

  And just like that, Moira’s bubble disappeared and she reentered reality. Sitting up, she pulled the phone closer to her, pushing her wild hair out of her face. “What’s going on?”

  “So…Fake Grady got a hotel room a little while ago, and I’ve been stationed here, at the end of the floor he’s on. Here’s the thing. If Fake Grady transitions into someone else and walks by, I don’t have a clue if it’s him or her or whoever. Nobody has come by so far. It’s early in the day for in and out of hotel rooms. But what do you suggest I do? Or do you want me to just go up and knock on the door?”

  Moira turned back toward Grady, who was now also sitting up, both of them reluctantly getting back to business. “I think the only chance we have of really figuring out who these people are is if he confronts the person at the door.”

  “And if he gets attacked?” Grady asked, reaching for his boxers and tugging them on. “The one we encountered yesterday immediately went on the defensive.”

  “Kean can handle himself if that happens,” Moira promised him. “But, Kean? My sense is that the person won’t transition in public. It seems like he knew you were following him and he’s trying to wait you out. I think it’s safe to assume, based on the research we’ve done, that they have limited energy, and most likely this person’s energy is very low right now. That’s why he needed the hotel room.”

  Over the phone, Kean agreed with her. “Yeah, I’d say that’s on point. Most likely he has no reserves for transitions right now. Could be the perfect time to act.”

  “I think so,” Moira agreed. “But I want to be there. What hotel are you in?”

  He gave her the address and promised to wait the twenty minutes it was going to take her to get there. Moira hung up the phone and turned back toward Grady, finding him completely dressed. She looked up at him in surprise, and he chuckled.

  �
�Did you think I wasn’t going to be part of this?” he asked, reaching down to help her up. He pulled her into his arms, drawing her naked body into his and kissing her. “We didn’t get a chance to say all of the important things after earlier…” He smiled down at her. “Like…that was amazing. You’re incredible. I can’t wait to do that again. It was totally worth waiting for. You’re so beautiful.”

  Moira touched his cheek, her thumb stroking over the five-o-clock shadow that was beginning to grow into true scruff. “Do I get to say ditto?”

  “Awww, baby, you think I’m beautiful?”

  She laughed, dropping her forehead against his shoulder. “You know what I mean. I felt the same way. I just…I mean, I’ve never felt like I wanted to say those things before. Not to give too much information, but usually my…encounters are very casual.”

  “Oh, you’re a men’s lady,” Grady said, squeezing her, then stepping back to help gather her clothes. “Good to know.”

  “No,” she laughed. “I’m not a men’s lady. Is that even a thing? I don’t sleep around—trust me. But when I do date…it’s not an emotional thing for me. It can’t be.”

  He looked over at her as he handed her shirt over, and the sweet, open look in his eyes melted her heart. “So this isn’t emotional for you?” He wasn’t really asking her, but rather prying, trying to get her to say the words that she was ardently avoiding.

  “It is,” she admitted, rolling her eyes at him as she hooked her bra on, then slipped her shirt over her head. “That’s what makes it difficult. This is new to me …and just so you know …there are rules for me. About dating.”

  “Rules?”

  She didn’t answer him immediately, pulling on her jeans and shoes instead. She didn’t want to keep Kean waiting and risk missing an opportunity to corner one of the shifters they were up against. Instead, she waited until they were in the elevator before telling him what their reality might be. “According to Dragon Clan tradition, I’m going to be assigned a mate,” she said, watching him carefully for his reaction.