Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by Colleen Gleason

  ***

  “You don’t need to do that,” Thane said, exasperated. “I can hire someone to come.” She was his lady; she didn’t need to be doing common chores.

  “Oh yes, I do. Bryan’s going to be back any minute.” Ember shoved the sheets in the small upright washing machine, dropped a blue cube inside, slammed the lid, and gave a dial a twist. “And open the window, please.”

  Thane had readily agreed to the shower sex. He’d loved how the water evaporated from their bodies into hissing steam as they’d coupled, but part of him wanted the wolf to know what had transpired while he’d been gone so that there could be no confusion—ever—about what Ember was to Bryan and what she was to Thane.

  He needed to talk to her about their new situation, but she threw a pair of the wolf’s athletic pants at his head. Thane’s own clothes had been too ruined from the vampire attack to be salvageable.

  “Put those on,” she said.

  He needed to tell her that she belonged to him, and he needed her to acknowledge it absolutely by accepting his ring on her finger, and soon. She was the woman he wanted. They could get to know each other’s nuances better in time. Courtship was highly overrated.

  But he kept silent because that was exactly what had happened with him and Carreen and their arranged marriage. Ember was a modern woman who had professed often, and with feeling, how she wanted her independence from the Bloodkin. Words of possession might make her run away from him. Matthew had warned that it would.

  Thane needed a strategy.

  “Pants,” she said, smiling too-sweetly, as if to make him hurry. “You put your feet down each leg and pull them up.”

  Just for that, he balled the pants, threw them to the side, and advanced on her. She wore only a towel, her hair a mess of wet waves. She smelled too sweet again. A little sweat would make everything better.

  “No, no, no,” she said, laughing as she backed away. “There’s no time for that, and you know it.”

  He grinned. “Dragons have all the time they want.”

  “Not now they don’t. You’ve got problems, buddy. Serious problems.”

  “And isn’t it wonderful that I have a solution, as well.” He was getting hard again. It was good to be alive, and even better to be in her company. His dragon had ceased fighting him, content again after so long. He felt light, strong, and so pleased with himself.

  “Well, you can just put your solution away,” she said, trapping herself in the small galley that served as a kitchen. Her skin was rosy and golden, and nothing was prettier on her than the happy smile beneath her dragon-green eyes. If he was very careful, he might just get her to reassess her opinions of the Bloodkin, living like one, living with one.

  He lunged for her, but she squealed and scrambled up on the counter, dodging around him. He snagged her towel as it flapped behind her, so he achieved half his goal anyway. Now to catch her…

  But she’d paused, looking out the window. She crossed her arms over her lovely breasts and frowned deeply at the street below, her body going still with tension.

  Damn. What now? Those wolves were such a nuisance.

  He joined her and surveyed the area, the pavement glowing slightly yellow in the early morning sunlight. A car passed, but the pack was gone. And so, apparently, was the last of the morning’s interlude with Ember.

  “Call Bryan,” he said, deciding once and for all that he needed a phone of his own. He was ready to concede that battle to Matthew.

  It’d been a half hour since Bryan’s last call, the one that had driven Ember out of Thane’s arms and into a cleaning frenzy. Bryan should be back, and in another hour at most, Matthew and the Herrera people would arrive, too.

  “Do you think they went out to get pancakes?” she asked, punching at the face of her mobile angrily.

  No, he did not. The Alpha had surely found a way to trap or intercept their renegade pack member.

  “He’s not picking up,” she said.

  Thane kissed her temple. “We’ll find him. The Wolfkin scent is very…distinctive. We’ll have no trouble tracking them.”

  She didn’t laugh, as he’d hoped, but turned away to return the pile of clothes she’d dug out of one of Bryan’s drawers. “Do you have good lawyers?”

  “I have the best lawyers.” He retrieved the athletic pants and chose a T-shirt from the pile. “Why?”

  “If they hurt my brother,” she said, shoving her legs into her skirt and zipping it up, “I’m going to commit murder.”

  She was a dragon all right, through and through.

  “I’ll bribe the judge and get you off,” he said gamely, though he would never allow any of those wolves near her. He reached for his shoes—one was crusty with blood, a testament to how much he’d lost during the encounter with the vampire.

  They were out the door in short order.

  Indeed, a pack of wild dogs was not hard to follow. Their scent was earthy, their sweat slightly sharper to the nose than that of humans, and many had not showered for the long days of their watch beneath Bryan’s apartment.

  Thane set off down the street that led toward the sun. He could almost see their scent in the air. Even Ember made the first turn without waiting for his signal, and from there, he let her lead. A garbage truck momentarily confused her and she stalled in the center of an intersection, but then she pointed down State Street, and he nodded.

  He heard the growls long before she looked over at him, worry rounding her eyes. But it was the note of blood in the air that really concerned him. Ember took off her heels—the only footwear she had with her—and in her bare feet ran toward the sound of violence.

  They caught up with them in a parking lot near Mission Creek, next to an unfinished construction site, rebar sticking up out of concrete columns like lightning rods.

  The Wolfkin pack—some thirty males and females, several in wolf form—had made a circle around two shirtless fighters at its center. Ray and Bryan stalked each other, dust and sweat creating patches of brown grit on their skin. One of the wolves in the outer circle had pissed nearby, the acidic smell mixing with the back-alley funk. The Wolfkin’s heartbeats drummed rapidly, all out of sync, creating a cacophony of savagery.

  Bryan was bleeding from his side, and a dimpled welt on his skin said his lower ribs were likely broken.

  Ember started to rush forward, but Thane held her back. “Let him fight.”

  “He’s hurt!” she said, struggling futilely in his hold.

  Yes, Bryan was hurt. Badly. Thane didn’t like how he was favoring his injured side.

  Ray took advantage, taunting Bryan with his jaw out and his hands down. “You’re weak. Always been weak. Always will be weak.”

  “It’s the Wolfkin way,” Thane said low in her ear. “This is an Alpha fight. Whoever wins controls the pack.”

  Which was why dragons thought it was much better to choose leaders in Assembly. And not so long ago, he would’ve agreed with them. But Godric was one of the Triad and he’d shed so much blood that now Thane considered that the Wolfkin way might be better. A single fight to the death and the matter was decided.

  “But I just got him back,” Ember said, her voice loaded with anxiety.

  Bryan circled Ray to the left, and Ray tracked him, feinting while looking for the best angle to jab at Bryan’s injury.

  “Give your wolf a chance,” Thane said. “He’s clever. Biding his time. I think he can win.”

  “He doesn’t even want to be Alpha,” she told him. “He wants to go lone wolf.”

  “Maybe becoming Alpha is the only way he can.”

  Bryan had finally had enough of Ray’s taunts, and with surprising speed, he lunged at him, trying to pin him against a low concrete wall. But Ray was ready, and he managed to get ahold of Bryan’s neck…momentarily. In one smooth motion, Bryan swept Ray’s leg out from under him and brought his weight down, flipping Ray over and slamming him to the ground. Ray recovered quickly, but when he rolled and stood up, Bryan caught
him with a swift, hard kick to the face.

  Ray limply fell back in the dust as Bryan collapsed onto his knees, one arm awkwardly winged at his side. Blood frothed at his mouth. He was the victor, but also easy pickings for the next wolf who dreamed of being Alpha. Which looked like all of them.

  “Can I go help now?” Ember asked Thane.

  He nodded. “Now would be good.”

  She ran to the circle, battering a male out of her way, who growled viciously at her. Thane stalked calmly behind her. His dragon was showing in his eyes, in the hulking of his shoulders, and the itch of his thickening claws. He lashed out at the growling Wolfkin—no one threatened Ember—and the dog yelped.

  Bryan’s head was in her lap, his body broken, something crushed in his spine, as well. He trembled, but gritted his teeth against the pain.

  Ember didn’t look up when she asked, “How do I do it?”

  Thane knew what she meant, though the Assembly had a law prohibiting sharing dragon blood with other types of shifters. But Bryan was her brother, too; he was kin, family, and that’s exactly what Thane would argue when defending her before the Triad.

  He knelt down beside her and took her forearm in his grasp. With the pad of his thumb, he sought for a good spot on her vein, and then he pierced her soft skin with his nail. She didn’t whimper or recoil, but the green in her eyes shined brighter than ever. Always the brave one.

  “I have to keep hold”—he pressed steadily with the point of his nail—“or you’ll heal too quickly.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Whatever he needs.”

  Deep-red blood, rich with old magic, trickled across her wrist. She brought her arm near Bryan’s mouth, and though his eyes flickered back in their sockets and he choked with pain, she let her blood drip between his parted lips.

  The growling around them got louder and angrier, but when Thane cast a lazy glance over his shoulder—please, try me—the pack quieted into frightened whimpers.

  “He’ll live?” Ember asked as the drips became a narrow stream.

  “Longer than usual,” Thane replied. Bryan might also experience some unpleasant side effects, but that couldn’t be helped. What Ember wanted, Thane would make happen. And she wanted Bryan to live.

  She smiled shakily at Thane, relief in her eyes. And then her gaze shifted over his shoulder, and her expression sobered. “Who’s that?”

  Thane turned, and his dragon nearly blacked his mind with sudden bloodlust.

  “Godric,” Thane ground out. The stink and noise of the wolves had disguised his approach. For the first time, Thane could see what had drawn Carreen to him: the angled set of Godric’s dragon eyes made him appear more fae than beast. His irises were a pale blue color that gleamed in contrast to his moonlight-silver hair. Someone might think he was gentle, like a poet. Poor Carreen. She should’ve known better.

  How had he known where they were? Had the Herreras told him? Possibly. Thane glanced at Ray’s corpse. Or maybe the dead Alpha had contacted the Triad complaining of dragons in their territory. Either way, it seemed this trap set for Bryan had been a trap for dragons, as well.

  A clever trap. So clever that Thane could feel the cage shutting around him. There was no way he could win…or win everything.

  As a dragon, Godric could easily overpower any man, including a Bloodkin. And if Thane shifted to fight, he’d be too feral, too mindless, to shift back, and thereby he’d lose Ember. And then Godric could claim that Thane’s dragon had ascended, and Godric was forced to put him down, just as Thane had done with Gerard. Very clever.

  “Want me to kick his ass?” Ember asked. “I’m pretty sure I can. Lemme try.”

  Thane smiled at her. She would’ve made him so happy.

  “I would,” he said, looking down at her, “but Matthew would have my head. He’s very old-fashioned.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said dryly, as if she knew something was awry. “Sure he is.”

  Godric had killed Carreen and Rinc, and now Thane was going to die, too. At least he was going to take Godric with him.

  He winked at Ember and stood, his body blocking her from Godric’s view. “Hello, old friend,” he called out. “Isn’t this convenient?”

  CHAPTER 12

  “You’re a hard man to kill, Thane,” Godric said. “The closest I’ve been able to come is to let time have its way with you, but then time burped up those bodies from the very bowels of the earth and here we are again.”

  Emerson’s mind was hopping through the implications of Godric appearing here and now, and she’d come to one conclusion: he had one-upped Thane with a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t scenario. Thane couldn’t win against a dragon unless he shifted himself. Sneaky.

  “Perhaps it’s fated that we meet,” Thane said. “You took a coward’s way by going after my wife and child, and now you must face me.”

  She glanced down to find the skin on her wrist now unbroken, blood drying in a dark trickle down the curve of her arm. Bryan had gone silent, his pallor chalky, so either he was dead or healing, but she couldn’t afford the moment to check which one. She gave his hand a little squeeze as a prayer and felt his fingers twitch inside her grasp. Thank God. The rest of the Wolfkin had retreated slightly, glued to the spectacle before them.

  Godric laughed. “I never cared about you,” he said. “I wanted Carreen and her land. She had been intended for me until her father got greedy and wanted to form a dragon dynasty with the Ealdian blacks. So I took what should’ve been mine.” He shrugged. “And I disposed of what wasn’t.”

  He meant Rinc. Which made Emerson’s skin heat with rage. A baby. Innocent. Helpless. Thane’s.

  “Carreen got upset about that,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “We quarreled. It didn’t end well.”

  Okay, Emerson really didn’t like this Godric guy. Someone needed to take steps to see to his speedy removal from this earth. She’d always wanted to perform a public service but had never found the time. And she certainly wasn’t going to sit back and let the boys duke it out—to Thane’s ultimate disadvantage. Because, hello, she was a dragon, too. Or was Godric so pigheaded that he didn’t think she would fight?

  She stood and brushed the dirt from her skirt.

  “Ah, Emerson,” Godric said proudly. “I would know you anywhere.”

  Her head ached and spun, as if she’d been hit in the face.

  His words echoed in her ears—would know you anywhere—and she shivered, recognizing the sentiment behind them.

  Please, no. Because that would just suck.

  Statements like that and the pride behind them were the stuff of orphan fantasies—having the eyes or the smile or the coloring of some long-lost relative—when in reality, the relative often turned out to be a total shit. Ember wouldn’t have spared it a moment’s thought, except his uttering the orphan line had also answered the final question left hanging with Lena’s death: what the hell did Emerson have to do with anything?

  She could take a pretty good guess now. She might be an Emmerich Red, but somehow she had Godric’s blood in her, too.

  “Ember,” Thane said, “get away.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do,” she cut back. She was busy grappling with her total-crap heritage. She’d gone from nobody, to royalty, to spawn in the space of ten days. She just really wanted to be Ember. Ember Clark. Was that so much to ask?

  “This is between me and him,” Thane said.

  She kinda wished it was, but nothing was that easy.

  “And what if I’m his heir?” she asked Thane. Because he’d sworn over and over again to avenge both Carreen and Rinc by taking the lives of both the murderer and his heir. Godric’s son might’ve died, but she bet she was next in line.

  Thane turned her way, horror blanching his skin white. Yeah, he’d slept with the enemy. Like five times in one day. Actually, the sheets probably needed to go into the dryer now.

  “Come stand by me,” Godric said, lifting an arm to her in welcome. “I swear on the Tredan
bloodline that I didn’t know about you. That I would’ve come for you.”

  The Bloodkin had a thing about blood. It was all-powerful, the ultimate connection. Now, more than ever, she was glad she wasn’t really one of them.

  “Why should I believe you?” She couldn’t be too eager.

  “Because you are a dragon,” he said fiercely. “Inside, you must have always known you were set apart, that you were born to fly, not scrabble in the dirt. I would’ve given you the world, but Lena, in her anger, kept you from me and gave you to Thane.”

  She lifted her chin and slid her gaze over to Thane. “Mr. Ealdian intends to kill you.”

  Godric smiled. “Mr. Ealdian died with his wife and child. It’s time he knew it.”

  “And then what?”

  “And then the future is ours.” He gestured impatiently with his hand. “Come!”

  She thought of The Goddess in Thane’s home and let tranquility loosen her shoulders, giving her the heat of confidence when she should be quailing. But the truth was, Thane couldn’t do this. Not alone.

  Just a little bit closer. She walked over to Godric and said, “Take me home.”

  ***

  Thane closed his eyes for a moment to recover his composure.

  Lena had tried to be loyal, in her own way, after the fact. She’d given him Ember and had kept Ember’s existence a secret from Godric, which had been her revenge for the murder of her sister and nephew. He could forgive Lena now.

  “I sent two dragon slayers after him,” Godric said to Ember.

  “The vampire almost succeeded,” she coolly told him.

  “Occasionally, it’s best to handle business yourself.”

  Thane had to work hard to conceal his awe. Ember was as cunning as any dragon ever. Godric was betting on blood, but she made her family where she wanted. Blood had no claim on her—never had—and if Godric had taken one more minute to get to know her, he would’ve realized it, too.

  Never trust a serene Ember.

  Thane inhaled and stepped slightly back to survey the area for a weapon, an advantage, anything. The pack of angry wolves was gathered behind him. They’d started growling again, which could be good or bad, considering Bryan was still collapsed in the dirt. Rebar from the surrounding building demolition was exposed a half a block away. Some humans were watching from the rooftop, and far off, the wail of a police siren signaled the interference of human law.