He leaned forward and rested his head on her knee as if just the simple touch of skin on skin settled the torrent inside of him. She reached out, her fingers moving through his short hair. The feeling of it against her skin sent chills through her. Was this the bond, she wondered?
Still, Marc shared no words. He simply basked in the moment, in the small protection of her home and the confessions she’d shared. It would have been nice to linger in that moment, in that small space, forever, but she knew it wouldn’t last. Someone, probably Luc or Dane, would come knocking on her door and ruin the bubble they lingered in. The world kept turning outside the walls.
She gripped either side of Marc’s face, grasping his cheekbones to make him look at her. In that moment, she wanted to reach down and see what those lips tasted like. She pushed the urge aside and, instead, spoke.
“What is your plan now?”
Those simple words seemed to be exactly what Marc needed to hear. He needed action. Where his father sat on his hands while all of this happened around him, Marc wanted to move and fix things. The other family was scared. That was plain to see. What they didn’t see was what this family had gone through. They needed action. They needed plans. They needed to get things done.
“I’m not sure yet,” Marc whispered.
Noelle nodded. “Let’s make a plan before we head out that door, alright? What do you want?”
Marc’s grip on her tightened.
***
Marc had a million things he wanted to say in that moment.
What do you want?
There was only one response that came to mind.
You.
He wasn’t sure Noelle was his, yet. He wasn’t even sure such a fiery and independent thing would become his. No, that was the wrong way to think about it. He would never own her. He only worried that she would never open her heart to him. It was a thing she kept away from prying eyes, under close guard so that no one would ever see who she really was again.
So that she’d never go through the pain of losing anyone again.
Marc wanted, more than anything, to reach up and place his hand at the back of her head. He wanted to capture her mouth with his own and memorize the taste of his mate while the doors were still closed. Marc wanted to pick her up and throw her down onto the narrow mattress so that he could cover her body with his own. He could feel his desire growing and lengthening his cock. But, that didn’t seem like an option.
He traced his thumbs over her skin. She wore cut off shorts that revealed pale, white skin. When he looked up, he saw past the black curtain of sharp angled hair. He saw her dark eyes burning and wondered what set the fire.
His mouth opened and a bundle of words caught in his throat all at once. He wanted so many things. He wanted his mother freed from GOE’s clutches and his father to realize how his decisions affected his sons. These were not things Marc thought he could change.
Not alone.
Noelle’s fingers travelled back toward his hair, like she couldn’t help but touch it. He looked up at her and managed to spit out a single question.
“Will you help me?”
A sharp smile slid over her lips, revealing sharp teeth like the predator she was. “With anything,” she replied.
“Even if I wanted to jump head first into hell?”
“Sounds like a fun afternoon. I’d throw you in and jump after you.”
Marc laughed, feeling it reach his heart. What had he done to deserve her? She would be the rock beside him in a windstorm, the thing he clutched to for dear life when the world tried to sweep him away. She would be his lantern in the night.
He was becoming poetic, he realized. It was time to become pragmatic, but there was a knock at the door. A small face peeked through the window and Marc couldn’t help but laugh as he recognized the honey colored eyes and tiny nose.
“Get in here,” Noelle snapped at the person on the other side of the door.
It swung open to reveal Luc. Anya released the window and appeared beside her mate. Luc looked at Noelle like he still didn’t know how to treat her. She was one of the few dragons on the Territory that he hardly ever dared to prank. It hadn’t gone well the first time, when he took the tires off her mobile house.
She’d damn near ripped his head off. That was the day Marc realized she was his mate, as he was holding her back from her attempt to murder his brother. It was a strange day for him, one that left a great sum of confusion. She’d still been adamant about inserting herself at Dane’s side at the time, nearly breaking Marc’s heart. He’d been lucky he already knew how to handle his emotions or else he would have lost it.
Luc and Anya sandwiched themselves inside the tiny home like sardines. Thankfully, they were happy to press themselves into what could have been the space of a single body. Luc’s eyes flickered between Marc and Noelle, still barely containing his surprise. Marc was sure Isaac would have had the same look on his face if he hadn’t been camping out in another city with his own mate.
“What are we all doing in here?” Anya asked from beneath Luc’s arm.
“Hiding,” Marc said into Noelle’s knee. He breathed in deep, taking in the scent of her. She would have clocked him upside the head if he confessed she smelled like flowers. Lilacs, he realized. That’s what his mate smelled like.
“I can’t say I blame you, brother,” Luc said as his eyes moved toward the window and the world past it.
Their world had changed so drastically since Luc first stuck his nose into GOE business. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t Anya’s fault either. GOE had set a trap to weed out those that might betray their ideals and lure in the brothers in search of their family. They managed to expose GOE for their crimes that day, but the organization used a few of their employees to serve as the scape goats for the organization’s crimes.
Now, Isaac’s mate was undercover in a larger facility so she could write a huge expose piece on the organization. Marc wondered if it was like this all over the world, or if GOE simply had it out for the American dragons? It made sense, the more he thought about it. The dragons in the states had been unorganized for a long time. They lived in secrecy and without large families to hide amongst. It made them weak. It made them easy pickings.
A growl vibrated up Marc’s chest and Noelle’s hand tightened in his hair as a warning. It only made his cock grow harder. He wanted to push his brother and Anya out the door and be alone with his mate again.
Instead, Marc readjusted himself so that he could hide his desire and waited for it to fade as he knelt on the floor. He was sure Luc and Anya wouldn’t blame him. They knew what it meant to have a mate. Marc wasn’t sure Noelle needed to know how badly he needed her, yet. He would give her the time and space she needed to open her heart to him on her own.
Marc needed to remember the well of serenity he’d dug within himself. He needed to find that calm center again so he could think straight. It was there, but just out of reach and it was only serving to further infuriate him. All he could do was cling tighter to his mate.
“I was trying to get Marc to come up with a plan,” Noelle informed the other mated pair.
Two pairs of eyes shifted toward Marc. He knew what he wanted, but he couldn’t help but think it was foolish. It was something he thought his brother might do. It was brash and direct, but it was all Marc could think of. What was the worst that could happen? He could tell them and they could tell him all the ways it wouldn’t work. They could help him come up with the right plan, instead.
“I want to infiltrate the facility where our mother is being kept,” Marc blurted out.
Noelle stilled under his hands. He watched his brother absorb the words, but before Luc could speak, his mate chimed in.
“That could work.” Anya’s face was full of hopeful thought. She chewed her lip while her mind moved over the steps they’d need to take.
Marc was thrown. It was… possible?
“I could talk to Dad,” Anya suggested. “He wants GOE�
��s underground experimentation to stop, as well. I’m sure he’d be willing to help us get you into the facility. I don’t know how you’d get identification to even get the jobs, though. That’s the problem as you’re both dragons.”
It was Noelle who then spoke up. “I may know a guy.”
Luc laughed. “If that isn’t the sketchiest sentence I’ve ever heard, then I don’t know what is.”
Noelle shrugged, not at all fazed by Luc’s humor. “I like to get off the Territory from time to time, grab a drink, play some music. I know someone who can help us both get fake IDs that should pass as the real thing.”
Marc’s world was shifting. He couldn’t believe this was happening. It was hard to think that he could walk into a facility and get his mother.
Marc forced himself to stand. As he rose, the well of calm finally came into reach. He settled back into it as he rolled his shoulders. “First, we get the fake ID, then we talk to Anya’s father.”
“I don’t know about this,” Luc said. “I’m all about recklessness and saving Mom, but what if this doesn’t work. What if I lose you, too?”
Noelle stood beside him. She wasn’t very tall, but her cutting gaze made those around her feel smaller. “You won’t. I’m going with him.”
“Hold up.” Marc spun toward his mate. He never said she had to be involved.
She looked up at him, not sparing him the cutting glare. “You asked for my help, right? That means I’m going with you.”
“I asked for your help, sure, but I meant it more as support.”
She shrugged. “I am supporting you. I’m not letting you get killed in there.”
What Luc and Anya didn’t see was Noelle’s hand, reaching out and grasping Marc’s. She squeezed it tight, revealing her fear and worries. There was a chance GOE had taken her sister, Marc realized. Even if she didn’t love him, Noelle would instinctually want to keep her mate safe. His heart warmed, even if it was only instincts making her react the way she did.
“No,” he reiterated. “You aren’t going inside with me.”
“Like hell you can stop me.”
Marc had a feeling she was right. It would be hell to try to make her do anything against her will, including staying safe.
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Chapter Two
Luc and Anya left to speak to her father. The idea that they were going through with made Noelle’s skin crawl. It was a combination of fear and anticipation. On one hand, she was excited to trick GOE in such a devious way. On the other hand, there was a strong possibility they were both going to get caught.
Noelle knew little about what happened in the underground GOE facilities. She’d seen some of the scars the other family of dragons carried. She’d seen the blackened scales and knew what kind of pain one had to endure for scales to darken.
The sun was still rising high in the sky and Dane asked to speak with Marc, probably a warning against any stray thoughts or wild ideas. Perhaps like the one they had. Still, Noelle was left alone so she called Liana and asked the leader’s mate if she had time for a lunch date.
Noelle hadn’t had a confidante in years. There hadn’t been anyone for her to talk to since her sister disappeared. When Liana showed up, Noelle first saw it as a threat. Noelle knew what the female dragon was to Dane and that meant her chances of becoming Dane’s wife were smashed. She knew by then they’d never be mates, but there had still been a chance for a relationship that could have lent her power.
Then, after finding young Miri alone in the forest, Liana destroyed the dragon that had long been haunting their nightmares. The dragon man thought himself the only law outside the territory and took it upon himself to stop the raiding dragons the only way he knew how: by killing them. Dane and Liana knew there were other ways to stop the raiding, but the dragon wouldn’t let up until they were forced to kill him.
Noelle had to admit defeat at that point. Liana was good for Dane. She was fierce and loyal and everything a leader needed as a mate. Noelle was many things, fierce among them, but her loyalty was reserved for those she cared deeply about and they were gone.
Noelle settled into the restaurant chair and reached for the chill glass of water they provided. This was human life, she thought. This was the world she missed. It’s been a long while since her days of pretending to be human. Sometimes she missed things like restaurants and movie theaters. Sure, she could still go, but humans knew what she was now.
There was no hiding the beast inside of her.
Liana appeared and slumped into the chair across from her. Noelle snorted, taking in Liana’s exhausted form. Her shoulders were hunched on themselves and her eyes were drifting closed as she stared blankly at the table.
Noelle snapped her fingers before the woman’s face and watched Liana snap back to the present, jerking upright and snatching up the menu on the table. Noelle laughed softly. She knew Liana’s work at the embassy had become difficult as of late. The dragons from the nomadic family of survivors were flocking to the embassy to recount their terrors. The file was growing larger than they ever expected and the stories came will all sorts of strings attached, mostly fists of PTSD.
“I need this,” Liana muttered to herself. “I deserve this.”
“Trying to convince yourself it’s okay to eat lunch out of the office?” Noelle teased. It was true. She could see that Liana’s heart was telling her she couldn’t spare any time off when the woman was close to falling apart. She’d gone from a single welsh dragon lady to the mate of Dane King, with an adopted child suddenly in the mix. The embassy seemed like it was going to drag her down. “No one will curse you for taking care of yourself. You know that, right? No one is going to break down your office door and accuse you of not caring for them.”
Liana sucked in a breath. “I’m used to punching my problems in the face. There’s no one I can punch in this instance and I think I’m going to lose my mind.”
Noelle shrugged. “You could always pick a fight on the Territory. Punch Luc. I’m sure he did something to deserve it in the last twenty-four hours.”
“He’s been on his best behavior since he met Anya. I don’t think it’s because he means to. They’re just too busy getting to know one another.” Liana’s eyes roved over the menu before she settled on something. The laminated card slapped the table when Liana turned her eyes back up to Noelle with a small smirk on the corner of her mouth. “Speaking of which, when are you and Marc going to get to know one another?”
Noelle felt her face warm. The fire inside her danced back and forth, blazing with the heat of anger and confusion. How did everyone know? Who went and blabbed their mouth? But, Noelle remembered the day Isaac came back from his mission, the day the nomadic family came to live on the Territory with them. Marc had been broken by the news of his mother’s capture and came straight to Noelle.
She didn’t know why he came to her. They both raged like a firestorm. Why he thought she would help him find that Zen-like calm he always carried around with him, she didn’t know. What she did know was how it had made her feel. She’d held him, tightly. Her heart had surged in a way she hadn’t felt since she lived with Mary.
“It’s complicated,” Noelle insisted.
“Complicated is a social media status that shouldn’t exist.”
The waiter appeared before Liana could launch into any kind of speech and Noelle felt more relieved than she thought. They place their orders, Liana requesting the rack of ribs and Noelle demanding a slab of prime rib. The waiter looked at them with confusion until his eyes focused on Liana. She flashed him a wide smile and winked when the realization made his eyes bulge.
He quickly scampered away with their meal requests, neither afraid nor excited. He might have simply been thrown off by the unexpected. It was a different reaction than normal, Noelle thought. She too
k that moment to quickly capture the conversation before Liana could return to her speech.
“I’m going undercover in the GOE facility holding Lucia.” Her words were blurted out all at once. Her eyes stayed on the tabletop or else she would have seen Liana’s face turn a shade of red similar to her hair.
“Did Dane sanction this?”
Noelle brought her shoulders up. She was fierce. She was brave. No one in the world was going to stop her from helping Marc and his mother. She hadn’t been able to help Mary. This was the least she could do.
“No. We haven’t told him. I don’t know if we will until we’re inside and can’t turn around without consequences.”
“Well, there will be consequences no matter what you do. You’re talking about taking your dragon ass into a facility where dragons are lab rats.” Liana raised an eyebrow, as if to ask if Noelle understood what she was trying to say.
Noelle had so little to lose. She didn’t have a family to risk. Her sister was already gone, most likely dead by GOE’s hands. She was not a big part of the American Territory family. Noelle had gone to great lengths to get to Dane’s side, but hadn’t made an effort to involve herself in the lives of those around her. She’s been a force, a voice, but not a friend. If Noelle were to find herself in trouble during this mission, what did she have to lose?
Her life, at most.
But, Liana watched her with a knowing look that Noelle could not escape.
“Bugger off,” Noelle muttered as the waiter returned, bogged down with their food. She knew what Liana was trying to insinuate, but she didn’t know if it was true. Marc was her mate; that she knew. Yet, was she really willing to go head first into this facility to help him because she… loved him?
No. That was ridiculous. Noelle barely knew him, despite being his neighbor. They’d interacted only a handful of times in their lives on the Territory. Perhaps the most interaction they’d ever shared had been the day she’d tried to kill Luc after he took the tires off her little mobile home. She’d threatened to leave the Territory the day before. Luc did what he did to keep her with them, she knew now, and Marc had held her down to keep her off Luc.
The Dragon's Woman (Elemental Dragons Book 3) Page 2
