SNAKE

by Leal, Samantha

  “Right,” Blaine said, taking a step forward and nodding as if Lance were saying the most reasonable thing in the world. “I know just how difficult that can be for you. Thinking you’re the only thing in the universe that matters.”

  Before Lance had a chance to open his mouth and respond, he cried out in agony and a sickening thud filled the air. Estelle blinked hard, unable to believe what she had just seen. Blaine had lunged forward, his fists clenched tightly, and knocked her brother out with one powerful thrust of his arm. Neither of them had seen the punch coming, but Lance was on the ground, his eyes lolling back toward his skull, and Estelle found herself falling forward toward his limp body.

  “Easy there,” Blaine said, catching her before she landed. “Don’t want to mess up that nice dress of yours.”

  Estelle blushed; the truth was that the dress was one of her favorites. She had packed it hoping that having it with her would boost her confidence when her family was being the same as they always were. But it hadn’t helped.

  “I…thank you,” Estelle mumbled, steadying herself against Blaine’s broad body. “But what are you doing here? Don’t you have things to take care of at BBT?”

  “I thought I’d take care of you first,” Blaine said simply, flashing her a grin that nearly made her heart stop. “You mean a lot to me.”

  “Right…”

  She couldn’t dare to believe what she was hearing, but the sight of her brother knocked out on the ground was pretty convincing.

  “Look, I have to catch my bus. I can’t stay here another second longer. You were right, I never should have come here. It was a huge mistake. I’m sorry you felt like you had to come out here to rescue me or something, but I’m not some damsel in distress…I just…”

  “Shhh,” Blaine said, surprising her by embracing her tightly. All her defenses melted and she just let herself be held for a few moments, fighting the urge that had been haunting her ever since she had arrived out east. She lost the fight this time, and broke down, dissolving into tears.

  “It’s going to be fine now,” Blaine said, kissing the top of her head tenderly. “You’re not taking any stinking bus back to the mountain either. I’m a wealthy man. We’re going back in style. I need my intern back at BBT as soon as you can get there.”

  “What…”

  Estelle looked up at Blaine, who smiled down at her, his dark, mystical eyes sparkling in a way that made the heat rise in her cheeks. He was something special, that was for sure. How had she ever been able to deny that to herself?

  “Come on,” Blaine said, leading her away from the motel. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Estelle was shocked when he walked with her to a long black limousine, parked on the other side of the motel. He took the small bag from her hands and the driver quickly grabbed it from Blaine and tucked it safely in the trunk.

  “After you,” Blaine said, opening the door for Estelle while the driver was tending to her luggage.

  She shook her head in disbelief and climbed inside. Soon, Blaine was beside her, filling the new-car-scent of the limousine with his rugged outdoorsy musk. She had to admit that she preferred it over the scent of leather seats.

  “You look like you could use a drink,” Blaine said with a soft chuckle, grabbing a bottle of champagne from the bucket beside him and pouring her a glass.

  Estelle took it in a daze and sipped it quietly. Soon, they were on the road, Blaine sitting beside her, a pillar of strength and comfort. Estelle leaned back in her seat, dazed by the rapidity with which they traveled from the motel to the landing strip with Blaine’s private jet in waiting.

  The next thing she knew, they were up in the air, leaving her family as small as ants on the ground behind them.

  13.

  “You didn’t need to do any of this,” Estelle said quietly.

  She had barely even looked at him since they’d gotten in the jet, and Blaine sighed in agitation. He hadn’t gone all chivalrous on her only to be told he hadn’t had to do it. Of course, he didn’t have to do it! That’s why it was called being chivalrous and not being a typical asshole.

  “Well no shit,” Blaine said, pursing his lips at her.

  Somehow, that made her smile, and Blaine relaxed. The poor girl had been through a lot. She couldn’t hide that from him. He had known from the moment she’d brought it up that it had been a mistake to go back there, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference to her. She was going to do whatever she wanted to do, and that was the end of the story.

  “I’m just so embarrassed,” Estelle admitted, looking suddenly at him with those sensual baby blues of hers. “You would never understand what it feels like to be completely hopeless like this. I bet nothing has ever made you feel weak in your life.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Blaine said with a soft laugh. “I’ve had my downfall.”

  Estelle quirked her brow at him, her full lips drawn into a skeptical frown. “What, did you lose a fight once or something?”

  Blaine laughed a little louder than he meant to and shook his head. It was weird being around someone who could make him smile so easily. He hadn’t done that in a long time.

  “Kind of?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Estelle’s eyes were boring into his, and Blaine shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t used to telling the story, but he supposed it would come up one way or another. And besides. It was just Estelle. Somehow, he didn’t feel like she would laugh at him for being a weak, pathetic asshole like other people would have. Especially the other miners.

  “Jack, you know the repairman, right?”

  “Yeah?”

  “He’s always talking about how I’ve changed, you know. Like I didn’t used to be such a hard ass. And I think he’s right. Something changed.”

  “Why did you change?” Estelle asked, her frown deepening.

  “Sometimes, love changes you.”

  “Love?”

  Blaine sighed. He wasn’t liking this sharing thing too much. But it was a little bit too late to go back now. The girl was already listening, damn it.

  “I fell for a girl once,” he began, kicking himself even as the words began to spill from his lips. “Right out of school, I knew that she was the one for me. Well, as much as a stupid kid knows anything anyway.”

  Estelle smiled sadly and nodded.

  “Anyway, I bent over backwards for that girl. Spent every second of my life trying to make her happy; trying to do whatever it was that I could do for her. But somehow it was never enough. She kept on wanting more and more from me. Finally, we got married, but that was just the beginning of my problems. I couldn’t do a fuckin’ thing right for her. I became a shadow of my former self; a person who just couldn’t do anything except focus on this woman who just wasn’t worth it.”

  He was ashamed of himself for it, and found it difficult to look at Estelle as he spoke. She reached across the table and stroked his hand, and finally he took a deep breath. He might as well continue. Finish the damned story and get her off his back about it.

  “So, one day, she goes off on me out of the blue. I had been working all day and came home, forgot to bring the laundry detergent or some shit like that, and she explodes. Tells me what a good for nothing I am. Tells me how she’s been sick of me since day one and started cheating on me with the neighbor. She wants a divorce.”

  “What the hell is wrong with her?” Estelle asked, her brow contorted in anger. “Why do people think they can get away with treating others like shit?”

  Blaine shrugged. “Some people will never be happy, so they just want to make everyone else feel the same way they do, I guess.”

  “That’s so wrong,” Estelle growled. “So, what did you do? I hope you kicked her ass.”

  Blaine raised his brow at her. “I’d never lay a hand on a woman.”

  Estelle’s cheeks reddened and she looked away quickly, but not quickly enough that Blaine was oblivious to the surge of
heat that coursed through her body. It perked the bear inside of him right up, demanded he stake his claim on her once again. For real this time. For good. But he couldn’t do that. Not yet. Maybe not ever. She was just too damned young for him. It wasn’t truly what she wanted. And even if it was, he knew they would never work. They were from two different worlds.

  “Well what I did was shut down. I watched her carry on for another few minutes and then leave the house I had built for us to live in. I moved to the cabin and she took off with the neighbor guy; at least she tried to. I beat him close to death. I couldn’t feel anything anymore. And ever since then, the only feeling I’ve really had was anger…”

  “You poor man,” Estelle whispered, coming close to her.

  The words agitated him – there was nothing poor about him – but before he could tell her off about it, Estelle’s arms were around him and he found himself being embraced for the first time since his wife had left him. Nothing had managed to feel good since then, and the only thing that had given him any comfort, his anger, began to melt away.

  Finally, Estelle broke the embrace and they stared at each other, unsure of what to do next. They knew they couldn’t be together. It just wasn’t practical. She was a young woman with everything ahead of her, and he was working overtime to discover the portals before the bear shifter’s ancient calendar pointed toward the equinox. They just weren’t compatible. They just had too much going against them for his claim to go anywhere.

  But the bear wasn’t happy with that, and it took everything he had to keep from reaching out to Estelle and making her his own, right then and there.

  “You deserve so much more…” Estelle said, studying him, her beautiful blue eyes shimmering as she touched Blaine’s cheek. “I can’t imagine what that stupid woman was thinking.”

  “She only ever thought of herself, and it was my mistake to deal with it for that long.”

  Blaine stood abruptly, knowing that if he looked at Estelle for even just one more moment, he wouldn’t be able to tame the bear within. He would make his claim and neither of them would know what had hit them. He just couldn’t be responsible for that. Not right now. Especially not when they were so close to finding the portal on Oak Mountain.

  “I don’t think that’s the only mistake you’ve made,” Estelle said.

  Blaine cringed, the scent of her arousal filling the small cabin of his jet. She wanted him just as badly as he wanted her. How could he refuse that? The bear was awake, aware, and grabbing for control. But he just couldn’t let it happen. Not this time. He had to be stronger than that.

  “Maybe not,” Blaine said, turning a sharp eye on her. “But I know better than to make the same mistake twice.”

  He immediately knew that facing her was a mistake. There was righteous anger on her face; she knew he was being a coward; hiding from his claim. Not only because it just wasn’t realistic, but because he was afraid of being vulnerable to a woman. The way it had ended the last time had been scarring, and he refused to make himself a slave to love. Not even if that meant finally being able to take what had so consumed his thoughts for all this time. He just wasn’t going to do it. And that made her angry. He could tell just from the way she stared him down.

  “Whatever you say, sir,” Estelle said pointedly. She stood from her seat and marched to the back bedroom, where Blaine had told her she could retire if she felt the need.

  Blaine sighed heavily and sank down into an armchair, taking a long swig from the bottle of whisky on the table beside him. He hadn’t had a choice, had he? He just couldn’t bring himself to jeopardize everything he had been working for just so he could gratify himself with the way too young intern. He needed to be in work mode right now, not stupid lovesick mode. And that was all there was to it.

  Whether they liked it or not, the BBT Mining Company had work to do. And without Estelle in the office, safe and sound, and Blaine’s mind focused on the job, they just weren’t going to reach the portal by the equinox, and everything they had been working for would go to shit.

  Blaine would never let himself be ruled by a woman again. Especially not when it counted so much to have his head screwed on straight. And nothing would ever change his mind.

  14.

  “What the hell are you sitting around for? The boss wants you on the field today.”

  Estelle glared up at Ken, who smirked at her.

  “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,” he said. “It wasn’t my idea. I don’t get a say in most things.”

  “Where on the field, exactly, did the boss want me?”

  Ken shrugged, his infuriating smile widening.

  “Guess you’ll have to ask around. it’s a big day today. Nobody is supposed to be in the office. Check the memo.”

  Estelle watched Ken leave, her blood boiling, and scanned her email. Sure enough, there was a memo there directly from Blaine, telling her and everyone else doing office work in the building to join him at the peak of the mountain. Apparently, he had big news.

  “He could have told me before I bothered to drive down here,” Estelle grumbled to herself.

  The truth was, she had been furious at Blaine lately. Ever since they had arrived back on Oak Mountain, they had barely even looked at each other, let alone spoke. He made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her, which felt cruel, especially after opening up to her about his past. She knew she should try to be understanding about it, but somehow, she could only feel angry. He wasn’t being fair to her or to himself. He was hiding from the truth; the pure, raw feeling that drew the two of them together. And no matter how he disguised it, she knew that it was all due to his own fear of commitment.

  Estelle continued to grumble to herself as she let herself out of the office and locked it behind her. she should have known something was off when she arrived and nobody was there. But seeing Ken saunter in and sneer at her had nearly driven her over the edge.

  But she had been trying not to make any waves ever since things had gotten tense with Blaine. The last thing she needed was to give him an excuse to fire her from the internship and lose the credit she needed to graduate in her program. There would be nothing worse than that.

  Estelle had no idea where she was supposed to go first, and headed up the mountain on foot. If nobody was in a hurry to tell her where she needed to be, then she would be damned if she decided she was in a hurry to get there. They were just going to have to wait.

  “That’s her, boss.”

  “Really? I never figured Blaine for that kind of guy…”

  “What kind of guy?”

  “Well you remember the first girl he was with, right? Rail thin…”

  “What the hell are you two talking about?” Estelle demanded, too angry not to even feel afraid.

  “So sorry, that was terribly impolite of me,” a tall, gaunt man with neat white hair said. He had on a shimmering blue robe with belled sleeves, and bowed at Estelle graciously. “It’s just that it appears we have an associate in common.”

  “Blaine?” Estelle asked, raising her brow. “What do you want? Who are you?”

  The two men exchanged sly looks, and suddenly Estelle knew exactly who these men were. The dragon shifters that Blaine had been worrying about.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Estelle said, her anger deepening. “This isn’t your land.”

  The two men erupted into unkind laughter, and the tall older man stepped forward.

  “You’ve got spunk,” he said. “I guess that I can see why Blaine likes you. But listen to you talking about things you don’t understand. We’re going to have to talk some sense into you.”

  Estelle opened her mouth to protest, but the man smiled eerily at her and suddenly, her body felt heavy; her limbs completely frozen. The shifters came toward Estelle, their eyes serious and soon she was moving forward against her will. A sudden fear surged through her as it suddenly dawned upon her just how much danger she was truly in. And there was no way that anybody would know where she
was or who she was with. Maybe she should have gotten off the mountain when she had the chance.

  ***

  “So, what the hell are we doing?” Estelle finally managed to ask. They had been moving through the woods for at least an hour, and although she was being strung along by some form of ancient magic, she was fully aware of everything that was going on. Still, it didn’t make any sense to her.

  “We’re not going to let Blaine get away with keeping these tunnels from us,” Geron said darkly. Estelle sighed.

  “You do get that this is his land, right? And he’s been beyond patient with your bullshit.”

  “This land belongs to none but he who sanctified it,” Geron growled, his eyes flashing menacingly at her.

  Estelle was chilled into silence, and they continued through the foliage until they finally reached the entrance of a tunnel made of rock, deep within the mountain.

  “I don’t want to go in there,” Estelle whispered.

  “Too bad,” Frenja, the other dragon shifter, snapped at her. he pushed her forward and Estelle fell inside. The air was cool and damp, and she struggled to her feet with the help of Geron, who refused to meet her eyes.

  “This task is bigger than your friend Blaine and his supposed claim on this land. We must take the mountain before the equinox. You have to understand. This is a significant task, and if you or anyone else gets in the way, you’re going to die. It’s very simple.”

  Estelle had to bite her tongue to keep her mouth shut, but somehow, she managed to do it as Geron and his lackey continued on their way. The tunnel was lit by torches that were mounted to the walls, and the deeper they went, the more afraid Estelle started to be.

  Finally, they came into an open area, glittering full of quartz, and Geron turned to her, his eyes reflecting the sparkle of the minerals on the walls of the cavern.

  “You’ve seen something like this,” Geron insisted. “I can tell you have. Where is it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Estelle growled, squeezing her eyes closed. Maybe if she didn’t look at him, his disturbing magic wouldn’t work on her.