by Donna Grant
Her eyes snapped open when she found him squatting in front of her. It was unfortunate that her laptop hid the lower part of him.
She felt her cheeks heat as she pictured him naked in her head. “No. No, I’m fine,” she hastily said.
“You didna answer me, lass.”
She tried to swallow, but all the moisture in her body seemed to be centered between her legs. “I was thinking.”
“Ahh,” he said with a nod. “About your book?”
Grace grasped the out he gave her. “That’s right. About my book.”
She really needed to pull it together. There was no telling how long she would be in the cave with him. Her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.
His sexy smile did her in. “I was about to ask if you were ready to eat.”
“Eat? As in you have food?” she asked hopefully.
He chuckled and stood. That’s when she saw he now wore a pair of jeans. Grace saw him walk off, wondering where his shirt and shoes were. Not that she minded him shirtless.
“Of course I have food.”
“Of course,” she mumbled grumpily to herself as she stood. “Why didn’t I think to ask for it earlier.”
When she followed him, she found him staring at her. The light from outside was fading, so she was only able to make out his raised brow.
“Sorry,” she said with a wince. “I tend to get obnoxious when I’m hungry.”
“Then I’ll make sure you have plenty of food.”
There was a click and light flooded the area from an electric lantern set by the water. Grace looked around in awe before turning back to Arian. She stared into his champagne eyes and forgot to breath. It was wrong for someone to be so handsome that he made all thought vanish.
“Choose whatever you’d like,” Arian said.
Grace pulled her gaze from him and looked down where there was a basket of food perched on a boulder that came almost to her waist. And good food like roasted chicken, several kinds of cheese, bread, water, and even a bottle of wine.
She glanced up at him and asked, “This looks like a picnic basket. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything with you and your woman.”
“I doona have a woman. I bring food with me when I doona know how long I’ll be staying.”
The words sounded right, but there was just something that didn’t sit well with her. Grace studied him, wondering if she could believe him. It wasn’t like she had much choice. She was stuck in a cave with him while the next great flood was happening outside.
And he had food.
Grace grabbed a chicken wing, a piece of bread, and water. She stood beside the basket and began to eat, snagging a piece of cheese every few bites.
She wasn’t the only one. Arian was also eating as he stood on the other side of the basket. She could feel his gaze on her, but Grace didn’t care. She was starving.
“When was the last time you ate, lass?”
Grace took a long drink of water before she said, “This morning when I reached the B&B where I’m staying.”
“You should’ve brought food with you.”
“I should’ve. Then again, I didn’t realize the storm of the century was going to happen today and that I’d get stuck in a cave.”
He smiled and took a bite of chicken. “Why did you choose this mountain?”
“It was by chance.”
“Tell me,” he urged.
Grace finished chewing. “Coming to Scotland was my last-ditch effort to get the story written. I’ve tried everything conceivable that other authors have attempted to break past their writer’s block. Nothing worked.”
“So you came here.”
“I’d been two years earlier and loved it. I thought perhaps if I returned that it might get me writing. I headed out this morning looking for a place that was quiet and beautiful.”
Arian’s head cocked to the side, allowing several thick strands of black hair to fall over his shoulder. “There are no roads leading here.”
“I know.” Grace laughed and shook her head at her foolishness. “I decided to find my perfect place I needed to get off the beaten path, so to speak. I took the first road I found. Then I turned off that onto a narrower one. Again and again I did that until I came to a dirt road. I traveled that for a long while, veering different directions at times until I ended up here. To be honest, I’m hoping I can find my way back.”
“You will.”
He said it with such authority that Grace believed him. She finished off her chicken wing and found a second.
“What brought you to this area of Scotland?” he asked.
Grace was beginning to feel like he was questioning her for something. The queries were worded innocently enough, but they all focused on one thing—this mountain.
“I was here before and liked it,” she replied.
He nodded, though his gaze didn’t leave her. “A simple enough explanation.”
“But you don’t believe me? Is that it?”
Arian shrugged and reached for the wine. She watched the play of his muscles as he opened the bottle and held up a glass, silently asking her if she wanted some.
Grace gave a shake of her head. “Look, I don’t like games of any sort. Well, that’s not true. I love backgammon, but my point is that if you want to ask me something, then just ask it. Stop beating around the bush.”
“I want to know why you’re on my mountain,” he said then took a drink of the red wine.
She popped the last bite of cheese and bread in her mouth and chewed while she observed him. Arian was much too confident. He had been naked earlier, but somehow he managed to find a pair of jeans.
Why hadn’t he worn them earlier? And why hadn’t it bothered her more that he was naked? She should’ve been screaming, or at the very least wondering about rape. But she had never thought that about him.
He frightened her, yes. But it was with a feeling that he was protecting something, and as long as it remained protected, he wouldn’t unleash his anger.
Grace finished her water and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She screwed the cap back on the now empty bottle and placed it inside the basket. “I told you why I’m here. I have no more explanation than that.”
“I’m afraid that isna enough.”
Wasn’t enough? Enough for what? Grace frowned and looked toward the cave entrance. Dusk had fallen. She could just make out the shapes of the trees on the opposite mountain. “Where are the men from earlier?”
“Gone.”
She slid her gaze back to him. “Gone where?”
“I’m no’ sure. They were no’ good men. They would’ve hurt you.”
Grace gave a bark of laughter. “You expect me to take your word about that when you refuse to believe anything I say? Oh, that’s rich.”
“I knew those men. They were no’ good men,” he repeated.
“And you are?”
He glanced away. “I didna say that. Though I am better than they are.”
“What did those men want?”
“Something in these mountains.”
Grace immediately had an idea for her next book. “Really? Like what?” she asked excitedly.
It was the uncertain look on Arian’s face that made her realize she had been a bit overzealous.
So Grace tried again. “It gave me an idea for a book is all. Your theories for what those men were looking for could help me decide what I have in my book.”
“I doona know what they’re looking for,” Arian said. “They’re trespassers.”
“This is your land?”
He lifted one shoulder as an answer.
Grace pinned him with a look. “You expect me to answer your questions. It’s only fair that you answer mine.”
“That’s no’ how it works, lass. You’re on my land. Uninvited, I might add.”
“So what? I’m your prisoner?” she asked in shocked anger.
Arian pointed outside to the rain that still fell. “I’m no’ keepin
g you here. The weather is.”
“It’d be just my luck that you control the damn weather.”
When he didn’t so much as bat an eye, Grace began to wonder if he was. Then she laughed at herself. Being back in the Highlands where the people were superstitious seemed to have rubbed off on her as well.
She laughed. “Thanks for the food. I feel much better.”
“Of course.”
She was still chuckling at herself when she went back to the boulder where she had been writing. Her characters were nestled in a nice hotel in Inverness while it rained. Real life always fell into her stories, and with the constant rain, of course it was part of her plot.
It also allowed lots of time for her hero and heroine to get to spend time together—in and out of bed.
Grace immediately thought of Arian kissing her. Her stomach flipped wildly.
No, she told herself. She wouldn’t think of him that way. He was as gorgeous as sin and had a voice as seductive as silk, but it wouldn’t do her any good to pine for a man like him.
They had been together for a few hours. If he found her attractive, he would’ve said something. And Grace had dealt with enough men to know she wasn’t going to put herself out there and be rejected. She had a book to write.
At that thought, she cleared her throat and sat before opening her laptop.
After another hour of writing, the words on the screen began to blur. She was mentally tapped out. A quick save of her document, and she turned off the laptop.
Grace heard the crackle before she saw the fire. She found the fire blazing about five feet from the water near where they had eaten.
She saw no sign of Arian, but that didn’t worry her. There was only so far he could go in a cave. As she walked to the fire, she saw several tunnels beyond the water that she hadn’t spotted earlier because the light from her phone hadn’t penetrated the darkness.
But with the fire and the two electronic lanterns set up, she was able to get a good view of the cave. She sat next to the fire and closed her eyes. It felt wonderful to feel the heat penetrating her clothes.
She hadn’t realized how cold she had been until she felt the warmth. Now she wished she had a thick blanket and a mug of coffee. And a comfortable chair.
Grace found herself drifting to sleep. So she curled up on her side with her arm beneath her head. Her eyes hurt from staring at the computer screen for so long, and her brain was complete mush after so many pages.
She drifted in thought as she listened to the sounds around her. The splash of rain onto the rock at the entrance, and the stillness within the cave.
At one point, she thought she heard the lap of water near her, but she was too exhausted to open her eyes. She tried to tell herself to remain awake until Arian returned.
Her trusting nature had gotten her into trouble on many occasions, and yet she still freely gave her trust. With her active imagination, she thought of all the things Arian could do to hurt her.
Then she realized, if he had wanted to harm her, he could’ve done it hours ago.
Arian. Who was he? Why had he been naked? And what was so important about his mountain?
Grace was going to find out. Right after she woke up.
Chapter Five
Arian emerged from the tunnel to find Grace on her side asleep. He had been watching her. It’s all he seemed to do since she walked into his cave.
He found it fascinating how she could stare at the computer screen while her fingers flew over the keys as if they had a life of their own. And somehow, a story came from all of it.
Arian had never been any kind of storyteller. It was amazing to him that people could craft such tales.
It also didn’t help that he wanted to believe she just stumbled upon his mountain. Earlier, while she worked, Arian had contacted Ryder, a Dragon King with a craving for jelly-filled donuts and a knack for computers.
Ryder confirmed who Grace was as well as her story. Still, that didn’t mean she wasn’t working for the Dark or Ulrik. Nor did it mean that she was.
Arian walked past her to the entrance and looked out. With a mere thought, he halted the rain. Grace had no idea the rain was situated atop them. Nor did she know how right she was that he could control the weather.
He didn’t like to use his powers that way, but there were instances where it was needed. And today had been one of them.
Had he left his cave the day before as Darius urged, Arian wouldn’t have been there when Grace arrived. He would’ve arrived soon after, but he doubted it would have been in time to stop the Dark from finding her or his cave.
Tristan and Banan had killed the Dark hours ago, but it still bothered Arian that they had gotten onto Dreagan. Even fortifying the magic on the perimeter of sixty thousand acres wasn’t going to be enough.
The Dark were determined enough to push through the invisible barrier despite great pain to themselves. All because of some weapon the Kings had.
A weapon Con hadn’t bothered to tell anyone about.
Arian suspected he was one of the few Kings who didn’t mind that Con kept such a secret. It would’ve been nice to know, but the fact Con hadn’t breathed a word of it told Arian it was for a reason. And not just because this weapon could be used to destroy the Kings.
There was something else at play here. Something that no one had thought of. Arian knew it was pointless to ask Con. The King of Kings wouldn’t divulge anything he didn’t want others to know.
As tight-lipped as he was in regards to the weapon, Con wouldn’t be telling anyone anything. Speaking of secrets, Kellan knew a great many as Keeper of the History. He had yet to tell a single one.
Arian stepped out of his mountain and lifted his face to the sky. It had been so long since he had seen the moon. As he looked, he spotted dragons flying among the clouds.
He glanced over his shoulder at Grace, and without another thought, hastily removed his jeans. He leapt into the air, shifting as he did.
His giant turquoise wings stretched outward, catching the air and taking him higher. The beat of dragon wings was all around him. He soared higher into the clouds to his brethren, twisting and turning as he remembered what it was to be a dragon again.
The more he flew, the more he missed his dragons. It was a hollow ache in his chest as he recalled the time before humans. Everything changed with the mortals’ arrival. That was the one constant throughout time, and yet he never thought he would see the day that dragons weren’t in the sky.
Arian usually didn’t fly so close to his mountain for fear of mortals seeing him since he was so near to the Dreagan border. But Grace was inside sleeping. He didn’t want to be too far away. Not that anything was going to happen, but he wanted to be prepared.
He gave a nod to Nikolai and Dmitri before he dropped his right wing and circled back toward his mountain. The others would remain until dawn, which was only a few hours away. Arian wanted to stay with them. And he would just as soon as Grace Clark was on her way home.
While flying, Arian had decided to let Grace go. Even if she was working for Ulrik or the Dark, she learned nothing from him. Nor would she. And the sooner she was gone the better.
One of the first things he would do was make damn sure she could never find her way back to the mountain again. Her or anyone, for that matter.
The first ray of sunshine crested the peaks. Arian saw his mountain and was getting ready to shift back into human form when he was alerted that Dark had crossed the border once more.
He flew faster when he spotted them on his mountain for a second time. How were they continuing to get in? He’d find that out later. Right now, his concern was getting rid of them.
Arian opened his mental link and told the other Kings there were two Dark that he was taking care of. If any of the other Kings came, it would likely wake Grace. Arian didn’t want her seeing anything.
He tucked his wings and dove. Then he stretched out his wings and opened his talons. He managed to grab one of th
e Dark, but not the other.
Arian crushed the Dark with his talons and tossed him in the air where he let loose a blast of dragon fire. Ash was all that was left of the Fae.
A volley of Dark magic hit Arian. He turned and flew back to his mountain. The Dark was close to the entrance. Too close, actually.
Did they know that there were tunnels deep below the mountains connecting some of them? Was that why they were resolute to get into his mountain?
Arian landed on the side of the mountain with his wings spread as he stared down at the Dark. He took a deep breath, ready to release another round of fire when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
It was Grace.
* * * *
Grace knew her knees were going to give out at any moment. She didn’t recall why she had woken, only that she had. With the rain no longer falling, she wanted to see how wet it was. Only she saw two men climbing the mountain.
The next thing she knew, a large form dropped from the sky, only to go back up again the next moment. She gaped in horror when she saw the turquoise dragon burn one of the men.
Before that truly registered in her mind, things got stranger. The remaining man threw what looked like a large bubble at the dragon.
“What the hell,” she murmured.
Was she really seeing a dragon? A massive beast that was as beautiful to behold as it was terrifying.
“Dragons aren’t real. And yet, there’s one. Right there. Right in front of me.”
More bubbles hit the dragon. It must’ve hurt because the dragon spun around and flew back to the man.
Only to land on the side of the mountain.
Grace gawked at the immense width and breadth of the dragon’s turquoise wings as he spread them out. The scales fairly gleamed in the morning sun, shining brilliantly like metal.
The dragon had two short brow horns and another short horn atop its nose. The head and body were so huge she could barely grasp it, and the tail extended far behind the dragon, twitching as if waiting to be used as a weapon.
Suddenly, the dragon’s black eyes turned to her. She froze in fear, unable to move. The last thing she wanted was to bring the dragon’s attention to her. She didn’t want to get eaten.
