Holden's Mate

by Meg Ripley

  She was silent for a moment. Of course she wanted to tell him the rest, but years of keeping silent made for a difficult habit to break. And yet, she wasn’t afraid to tell him, she just had no idea what to say. It wasn’t something she’d ever rehearsed. Finding no pre-written script, she waded in the best she could.

  She told him about the rock with the strange glow, the haze that developed and the strange things that began to happen. And she told him how she’d spent her life ever since trying to track down whatever it was she touched, realizing only hours ago that the Creag Bruadar had anything to do with it.

  “Why?” he asked simply.

  “Why, what?”

  “Why have you spent so much time searching for it?”

  “In hopes of undoing it, of course.”

  He was silent for a moment, but she could feel that he was not pleased with her answer for some reason, though she couldn’t see exactly why.

  “I hated being able to…see so much more than everyone else, Noah. Not just see it, but feel it. And nearly a century of never touching people…of never being touched…it isn’t the same with you as it is with most people,” she confessed shyly. “I don’t know why it’s different with you, but usually it’s…painful. And everyone I knew kept aging so fast…and I didn’t. I haven’t aged a day in more than eighty years. I still looked the same when my uncle died as I did when he published his first major article. I’ve been alone for a very long time.”

  “You’re not alone now.”

  She was about to reply with some glib comment about his never-ending string of female conquests, but something stopped her. He wasn’t joking, and he wasn’t only talking about this moment, either. But as tempting as the thought was, she couldn’t negate the fact they’d known each other for such a short amount of time. He would eventually grow tired of her. It was inevitable for a man who could have any woman he wanted—and did on a regular basis.

  “You stopped aging when you were in your early twenties, right?” he asked, drawing her back to their present conversation.

  “Yes.”

  “And you see people in a way others can’t? You see deeper?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  He was probing for something, making sure dots were connected.

  “It’s like touch transfers pieces of you and them?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “I don’t think you can undo it, Claire,” he said with a certainty she could feel came from past knowledge. “I didn’t know whether I should tell you or not, but I think you have a right to know, and you may not find out on your own.”

  “I have a right to know what?”

  “You’re what is known as a Venefica Eis. It’s Latin, and loosely translated, it means ‘enchantress.’ No rock made you this way.”

  “You can’t possibly know that. I touched that rock, and soon after, that’s when I started to see things. I’m sure of it now.”

  “It’s possible something about that rock sped it up, but it didn’t cause it. Nothing ‘caused’ it. You were born this way, Claire, but it usually lies dormant until one starts to approach adulthood. For some reason, whether it was the rock or something else, you simply developed your gift faster than others.”

  This wasn’t happening. He couldn’t be right. He didn’t know her, so how could he possibly know what she was or how she got this way? But he was so certain.

  Still touching him, she could feel that his knowledge came firsthand; she could almost see an image of the young woman. A thrill ran down her spine, thinking that she might finally have the answers she sought, and she wasn’t the only one, but she squelched it quickly. There were no guarantees, after all.

  “You’ll never age; you’ll never get sick,” he said matter-of-factly. “And you’ve believed that your gift is a passive one, but it isn’t. You have no idea what you’re capable of, Claire.”

  “I don’t understand. You call it a gift, but it’s not.”

  “It’s a gift that takes time to develop. Your parents should have been the ones to help you learn to use it, but they were taken from you. But when you hone it, you won’t just see what a person feels or what they’ve done. You’ll be able to see what they’re going to do. And you’ll also learn how to segregate it from your own thoughts and emotions.”

  He paused, but she could tell there was more.

  “You don’t just see into them, Claire. Your gift allows you to do so much more. You can settle your own emotions into any human, turning them away from any number of evil things.”

  It was just too unbelievable, wasn’t it? But she could see he wasn’t lying. “Where do these Venefica Eis come from and how can they do so much?”

  “There is an ancient myth that the Venefica Eis were created as the ultimate peacekeepers, to keep humans from committing the very atrocities they have,” he told her easily. “Some of them started to take advantage of their power, though, using it for their own selfish gain instead, and they were hunted. It wasn’t easy, since they are likeable by nature; they’re mesmerizing creatures, but humans employed the help of other beings, and thus brought the Venefica Eis to near-extinction. It’s nothing but a myth, though, and it’s difficult to know what truth to glean from it.”

  Likeable, mesmerizing creatures? Did that really describe her? And if they’d been brought to near-extinction, what was the likelihood she happened to be one of the remaining few?

  He smiled knowingly, as if he could tell exactly what she was thinking. “Since you stopped aging, everyone you’ve come in contact with has liked you, haven’t they? And you’ve been picked out of a crowd more times than you can count?”

  But if it was true and people were only drawn to her because of what she was…

  “Then you’re only here because—”

  “No,” he cut her off before she could finish the thought. “It’s different, Claire. Your gift gives you sway over humans, not dragons. I don’t know what this is, but I can tell you it isn’t just because you’re a Venefica Eis. You and I…the connection between us isn’t the same as it’s been with other people, is it?”

  “No, it’s nothing like it.”

  Her head was swirling with all the things Noah had told her; things that had the potential to completely change the way she thought about herself. And it was too much to process all at once.

  She forced her thoughts elsewhere, and it didn’t take them long to latch onto something else; a thought that had been lingering in the back of her mind since she’d woken up in Noah’s bed.

  “I want to see you,” she said, arousal tingling through her veins.

  He was silent, but he knew what she meant. His eyes met hers for some time until he finally nodded. He seemed reluctant to get up, to put any distance between their bodies, but he did, and she immediately regretted asking. But he grabbed his pants from the floor and shrugged into them while she went to follow suit. It didn’t take long for her to realize her clothes were in shreds; what Damon hadn’t destroyed, Noah had ripped off her in his hurry to get her naked. She wondered if she shouldn’t just lunge for him and banish all thoughts of going anywhere but back to bed, but he opened a dresser drawer and tossed her a long-sleeve, button-down shirt from it.

  “Don’t worry. We won’t be going anywhere you’ll be seen,” he told her when she stared down at the shirt in her hands dubiously. “If you don’t cover up, though…”

  The heated look in his eyes told her what he meant. She slipped into the oversized shirt and followed him out the door and onto the boat’s deck. He seemed to be taking great care not to touch her and she was taking equal care not to think about the floating hunk of metal beneath her feet.

  Once off the boat and onto the wide dock, he stopped, looking around and listening. It was dark, so she could see little beyond the dock, illuminated by a single light near the boat, and she couldn’t hear anything but the waves gently lapping at the boat’s hull.

  After a moment, he took a step away from her, and then another. She
followed him. She wanted to tell him he didn’t have to do this, but the words stuck in her throat. He leaned in and kissed her, his lips light against her own. But quickly, the pressure increased, and he pulled her to him, the kiss growing more urgent by the second.

  “Just…stay here, Claire,” he told her as he wrenched his mouth away. “No matter what, just stay here.”

  She nodded while he took several steps back, not stopping until there was at least twenty feet of space between them. He closed his eyes, and then it happened; so quickly, she might have missed it if she’d blinked.

  Nothing she’d ever seen came close to the magnificence in front of her. He was beautiful, powerful and utterly mesmerizing. She saw him more deeply like this, even without touching him. He was terror and goodness, strength and warmth. He was pure, blatant sexuality and deep-rooted wisdom.

  She didn’t know when it happened, but she’d started forward, closing the large gap he’d created. There should be some semblance of fear as she approached the massive beast, but she felt none as she reached out to brush her hand along the scaled arm in front of her—the arm that had saved her life.

  He took a mighty step back, and then another. A few more inches and he would have collided with his boat.

  “Please, don’t. I want to…” She didn’t finish the sentence, but stepped toward him once again. Her fingers grazed along his face that was bowed down low to meet her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, for the trust he’d put in her, and for saving her. She leaned in and pressed her lips against the plated hardness of his cheek.

  His massive body shook, and he sidestepped away quickly—five yards in a single step. And then another. And then she watched in the dim light as he changed back.

  “Why did you…”

  “I can’t control myself like that, Claire. I can barely maintain control like this.”

  Rock hard, and his hands trembling, she understood what he meant, and a thrill shocked through her body to know she drove him wild like that.

  She didn’t know whether he’d come to her, or she’d gone to him, but they were together there, alone on the dock, and sparks flew behind her eyes as he kissed her. She was naked in seconds and their hands roamed over each other’s bare flesh. He drew her down to the ground quickly, but as he moved over top of her, she struggled.

  “Roll over, Noah,” she whispered against his ear.

  This time, she would ride the dragon.

  7

  Three weeks passed, and she tried to let it go, to forget the quest that had fueled her for the better part of a century. They hadn’t spoken of Damon since the morning after their first night together. He’d warned her that the man was a very determined individual, and if he felt she was a risk to their secret, he would be back to finish what he’d started.

  Noah had urged her to stay; to remain under his protection. She’d objected at first. The newness of whatever it was between them had scared her, and she wasn’t entirely certain it was something she should be exploring further. Besides, it had been a long time since there was someone else around to look out for her. Uncle William had been gone for more than thirty years, and there hadn’t been anyone else before, or since. She’d managed on her own and figured it would come to that again, no doubt. Still, she’d relented quickly. He’d touched her, wrapped her in his arms and all reasonable thought had fled. And really, she didn’t want to leave him.

  For the first time in her life, she didn’t loathe the curse. In fact, she’d come to welcome it in the times she was alone with Noah. That was often, lately. She’d extended her vacation to the United States easily. It wasn’t uncommon for an archaeologist’s research to keep them detained longer than expected, and she’d spent day and night with him ever since, much of that time intimately ensconced in his hotel suite, his mansion outside the city, and even on his yacht.

  They kept their appearances in public to a minimum after their first venture out caught the attention of the media, and their second resulted in a media frenzy. The great Noah Hunter wasn’t well known for repeat appearances with the same woman on his arm. In fact, he was notorious for quite the opposite. That should bother her, but it didn’t. He’d long ago accepted his lot, one in which a person of any permanency in his life wasn’t possible. She knew exactly how he felt. What hindered them might have been different, but they were both hindered, nevertheless.

  Still, she’d been waiting for him to get bored with her. After all, neither of them was accustomed to another person’s company. But the fire between them that she’d expected to fizzle had only grown hotter, at least it had for her. Wasn’t that unusual? Not that she had any experience with relationships, but she’d seen plenty of couples blaze hot in the beginning and quickly turn to cold embers.

  Of course, this wasn’t the same as a typical relationship. Noah wasn’t spending his every waking—and sleeping—hour with her because he couldn’t bear to part company. He was worried that, left unattended, Damon would quickly find her.

  But what was she supposed to do? Stay by Noah’s side indefinitely? What happened when he inevitably tired of her and sent her on her way? Or worse, what happened when he tired of her but kept her around out of a sense of responsibility for her?

  No. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She needed answers and she needed a plan.

  Even if Noah was right and the Creag Bruadar was not responsible for what had happened to her, it still held some sort of answers, she was sure of it. The odd glow that surrounded it, she was reasonably certain no one else could see it. The glow was like a haze, wasn’t it? Like the auras she saw surrounding people? If she could touch it, just for a few seconds, maybe she would be able to see deeper.

  And tonight might be her only chance to find out. Noah had left her—reluctantly—less than an hour ago. He’d been searching for Damon all this time and finally found a lead. But since he couldn’t guarantee it wasn’t a trap, he’d left her in the hotel suite with strict instructions to stay safe. Well, if knowledge was the most powerful weapon, she’d be safer if she was armed with as much of it as she could, she reasoned. And really, she’d be in and out of that building in minutes.

  So, she slipped out of the suite and hurried down to the elevator, reminding herself she didn’t need to tiptoe. In the lobby, she looked around, though she didn’t really expect to find Damon Cross there. He couldn’t possibly know she’d be sneaking out of the hotel at precisely that moment.

  She’d nearly made it to the front entrance when a man stepped out in front of her, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, though more likely, she’d been paying so little attention to anything except her goal that she hadn’t noticed him there.

  “Claire Thomas? I’m afraid I can’t let you leave the building at the moment,” he told her in a genial tone as he lightly took her by the crook of her elbow. “Why don’t you go back up to Noah’s suite?”

  “Just who are you?” she asked, mustering up her most authoritative tone, though she knew the answer already. She’d seen the man standing next to Noah on the front page of an old newspaper.

  “My name is Cade Stryker. I’m a friend of Noah’s.”

  “And what exactly do you think you’re doing?” She could tell from the aura surrounding him that he wasn’t a menacing character, and more than that, she’d come to recognize in a short amount of time that dragons have a different type of aura than humans. And Cade Stryker was definitely not an ordinary human.

  “Just doing a friend a favor.”

  “By keeping me locked up here?”

  “No, by making sure nothing gets in here.”

  “Then you should have no issue with me leaving,” she said and attempted to extricate her arm from his grasp. Not that she really expected it to be that easy, but a girl could hope.

  “I think if I consider the context of the favor, rather than the wording of the favor itself, I have a feeling Noah would be none too happy with me turning a blind eye,” he replied, tightening his grip just
enough to let her know he wasn’t budging.

  Alright, so this definitely wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d thought, but she wasn’t going to let it deter her. “Look, there are some…personal items I need from the pharmacy. Now, I was just going to take a cab there, but if it will make you happier, you’re welcome to take me there instead.”

  There was a pharmacy not far from the nature preserve. All she had to do was walk in there, find a back door out and hightail it to the museum. She’d probably be back in the store before Cade Stryker even realized she’d left.

  He stared down at her, seemingly trying to read her expression. “I have a feeling you’d get along great with my partner,” he sighed, releasing her arm and motioning toward the door.

  She smiled triumphantly and took the lead, only slowing once they were outside, waiting for him to direct her toward his car. It turned out there was really no reason to wait, she realized as he directed her toward a car that looked a lot like Noah’s. Did all dragons have an obsession with cars like that?

  Once inside, she told him where she needed to go—or rather, she told him about the pharmacy right next to the place she needed to go. They kept up a polite banter as he drove, but like with any potential discovery, her mind was preoccupied.

  The moment he brought the car to a full stop in the pharmacy’s parking lot, she hopped out. “Thanks very much. I’ll be right back,” she said in a rush and hurried into the store, navigating the aisles to the back and slipping out an emergency exit door as surreptitiously as she could.

  Hoping the whole time that Cade Stryker would be content to sit there waiting for her, she dashed across the hundred yards to the empty parking lot of the preserve.

  “Claire!” Cade’s voice called out, his tone urgent.