Fire Dragon's Bride

by Riley Storm

  “Olivia,” he said, reaching out to lay a hand on top of hers. “Please, this isn’t anything to do with you, but you need to know, I’m not interested in selling. For any price.”

  “What the hell? Why not?” she snapped, abandoning any pretense of playing nice. “Everyone has a price. Tell me what yours is. I will have this property.”

  Aaric looked at her strangely. “Why do you need this so badly?”

  She hesitated. Should she tell him the truth? No. That would give him leverage over her, and Olivia had sworn she would never do that again. No matter how good looking he might be, or how nice his hand felt as it still rested on hers.

  “I have my reasons,” she said, declining to elaborate.

  Aaric nodded, still studying her. “Have dinner with me.”

  She stared at him, needing a full handful of seconds to comprehend what he’d just said. “Did you just ask me to go to dinner?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I did. Tonight. Have dinner with me.”

  Hell, no, you arrogant prick!

  That was the response that almost slipped out of her mouth. It was what she wanted to tell him. That she saw through his acting. He was having fun denying her what she wanted. It was obvious. Nobody was this kind, this nice, in her business. They were all ruthless assholes behind your back. It’s just how it was.

  But then she saw an opportunity. A chance. Maybe Aaric was just old-fashioned about it. He needed to be wined and dined, so to speak. A little black dress, some flirtatious behavior, and he would have what he needed to sign the property over to her.

  It was a bit exploitative, and absolutely not the method Olivia usually chose to employ. She tried to stay above using her body—and besides, most men weren’t into her that way either, which was tougher. Two of her competitors had tried to use their looks to get ahead, but both of them had been dumb enough to go and fall in love with a client along the way.

  Been there, done that. Never again.

  “Tonight?” she repeated.

  I’m not sleeping with you, if that’s what you think, buster. Show some skin, bite my lip, sure. But I have my limits. I’ll find another way, if that’s what you’re after.

  “Yes. I’ll pick you up at say, seven?”

  “I’m not sure I’m ready for you to know where I live,” she said politely, the reality of everything sinking in. “But if you tell me where to go, I’ll be there.”

  “Leblanc. Seven-thirty?” he responded without hesitation.

  Already had a place in mind? Interesting. Leblanc is a good choice too.

  “I’ll be there,” she said, finalizing the agreement.

  Aaric slipped his fingers under her hand and lifted it to his mouth. “I’ll see you later then,” he said, brushing his lips and stubble against the back of her hand.

  Then he was gone. No subtle implications in his voice, no leering of the eyes. If he was expecting her to sleep with him, he wasn’t letting it show.

  What’s your game, Aaric?

  She would figure it out. Sooner or later, she always did.

  5

  Aaric killed the engine with a push of a button, listening to the throaty rumble fade away, taking its time as it echoed off the abandoned buildings and concrete exterior of the crumbling manufacturing plant.

  “So, this is what my money bought me,” he muttered, lifting the gull-wing door of his car and standing up.

  It was a bit of an exercise to extricate himself from the sleek hypercar, and for a bit, he’d considered bringing something else instead. But he’d been doing his research, and in the six months since he’d been awakened, he’d learned a lot about technology, including cars.

  The Lotus Evija wasn’t the most expensive car in his swiftly growing fleet, nor was it the fastest, but he loved the fact it was electric. Plus, it had style. Nobody else in town would have one, that was for certain.

  He thought about the first time he’d taken Parre for a ride in it. Watching his mentor’s face light up had been worth the over two-million-dollar price tag.

  Reminded of Parre, he fell deep into thought, his mind revolving around what the elder dragon had warned him about.

  Evil is coming. You must awaken the others. You must find a mate.

  Aaric’s shoulders were broad and powerful, but even they could only bear so much weight. He was no Atlas, the mythological figure that held the world upon his back. At times, it felt like he was going to crumble, that he could no longer take the pressure of the task that had been assigned to him.

  Why me, he often wondered in private. Why couldn’t they have chosen someone else, someone better suited to carry out the mission? Aaric would fight, he was good at that. Very good at that. But he was no leader, he couldn’t inspire others, nor was he particularly adept with women. Not when it came to finding one that would settle down with him.

  Most just wanted to settle on top of him, which had its perks, but he was beyond that now, leaving his playboy days a century in the past. It was time to get serious now. The unknown fate of the world might be on his shoulders. He couldn’t afford to play around.

  Overhead, the sun was sinking below the horizon, turning the sky a beautiful shade of red. Gazing at the beautiful sight, Aaric closed the door and wandered off into the property, his mind working to envision how it would look after the transformation.

  Over here, would be the entryway, a tree-lined driveway off the street, leading to parking on either side. A beautiful building with smooth sides, gentle slopes and lots of greenery and glass would rise up to greet people. Aaric wanted as little concrete and pavement as possible in the construction of his building. Along with that, he was hoping to source lots of green projects to help lower the carbon footprint, something he was very keen on doing.

  Dragons were a part of the world unlike the other shifters, at least according to legend. Whether it was true or not, Aaric didn’t see the point in taking chances. If he could help save the world, then he would.

  “It’s going to be beautiful,” he said, eager for the construction to start.

  The sale should be done and finalized in a couple of days, once the lawyers got finished with it. Francis was working on a construction and design team now. The concepts of the buildings had been laid out weeks before by an architectural firm while Aaric searched for an appropriate property.

  And now I have it.

  It annoyed him that everything was taking so long, but there really wasn’t any way around it. Neither Parre nor Elanna could tell him any more about the evil they sensed, and nothing immediate seemed to be happening, so Aaric was forced to work with what he had.

  And I must focus my efforts on finding a mate, not tracking down this evil. If it’s truly bad, then it will be more than a single dragon can handle. I must awaken the others, and soon. Before it’s too late.

  The sound of crumbling concrete caught his ear, and Aaric wandered over to see where it came from. Everything was being demolished anyway, but the entire process was still novel to him. After all, this building had been built and gone through its prime while he was asleep. Aaric was younger, and yet the construction was abandoned, without use. The contrast fascinated him.

  Rounding a corner, he spied a door ajar.

  That alone wasn’t alarming, but it wasn’t just open. It was swinging, still coming to a halt.

  Someone was here.

  Aaric ran forward, careful to hold back. He’d been warned extensively about video cameras and their proliferation in modern society, and the ease with which he could be recorded.

  Diving through the doorway, he opened his mind, drawing lightly on some of his enhanced senses. The darkness of the interior evaporated before him as his eyes adjusted, easily drawing upon the dim lighting to make it look more like daytime.

  The sounds of the building sharpened immediately. In the distance, he could hear the slow drip of water as it fell. Nearby, the sound of a mouse as it crawled along the floor.

  But he heard nothing else. No footsteps.
No heartbeat. No breathing. Whoever it was must be either long gone or hiding in a room that helped shield their breathing.

  Stalking forward in near utter silence, Aaric looked in rooms. There was no smell in the building either, not of anything fresh. Just stale air and old rust and mildew. It felt abandoned.

  There was no wind tonight, however, and the door had been visibly moving, more than enough for even a human to have detected. Something was going on. What he couldn’t figure out was what was going on. There was always the chance it was some sort of creature that wasn’t human, wasn’t part of the world.

  One of the Fae, perhaps. Or an elf, though it seemed incredibly unlikely either one of them would just so happen to be there. Not many visited Earth anymore either, preferring to stay in their own realm, the last he’d heard. It was too dangerous.

  Unsure of what it was he was tracking, Aaric turned his mind to who, who would want to be here of all places? There’s nothing here.

  There was one person, he realized, who might want to be there. Who might have business of some sort on this particular property, at this particular point in time.

  “Olivia,” he called. “The game is up. Come out now.”

  Still he couldn’t hear any sound. No startled gasp of surprise as he figured out who it was. No hammering heartbeat. Just pure silence.

  Something alerted him and he dove out of the way just in time to avoid a figure that billowed past him in black robes. Aaric stared, noting the way the figure’s feet never touched the floor.

  What are you, he wondered, getting to his feet and racing off after the shadowy figure. Even with his superior eyesight, he was having an incredibly hard time picking up anything about his quarry.

  They could float fast though, that was for certain. Convinced now that he wasn’t dealing with anything human, Aaric let his true powers spring forth. He raced along the hallway now at incredible speed, but still he couldn’t catch up.

  At the corners, he was forced to slow down so his momentum didn’t carry him into the wall, while the figure he was chasing didn’t seem constrained by such petty rules as physics and gravity.

  “Rude,” he muttered, not giving up the chase just yet, following it up a set of stairs, and then down some hallways, before going up another two floors. Bit by bit, he was gaining on it. Give him another ten minutes and he would catch it. Whatever it was.

  Then the figure did something Aaric wasn’t prepared for. Instead of turning the next corner as he chased it around the perimeter of the building, it kept going, right through the empty window.

  “Like that’s going to stop me,” he snarled, flinging himself out of the fourth story window and plummeting to the ground below.

  He landed on the ground with a crunch, dirt and debris flattening under the impact as he bent his knees to absorb the force of his landing. Standing up he whirled around, looking for his quarry.

  There was no sign of them. It was like they had just disappeared into thin air.

  “Impossible,” he muttered. “Nobody can just disappear like that.”

  But whether they could or not, there were no signs for him to follow. He couldn’t hear anything, nor could he hear or smell anything that might lead him to figure out who the mysterious figure had been.

  He stepped back, considering the old factory. What would anyone see in this place, he wondered? Why would anyone be here? This wasn’t anything special, as far as he could tell, just the most suitable place for what he wished to build.

  But someone else has taken an interest in it…I need to know why.

  Looking around, he wished, not for the first time, that he could use his powers to simply fly up to the six floor. But he couldn’t. Instead, he would have to climb the stairs and then start his search.

  Whatever this place is hiding, I’m going to find it…

  He got up and headed inside to begin looking, his mind focused on nothing else.

  6

  “Where is that arrogant asshole?” she wondered, sipping on her second glass of wine, wondering if perhaps she should switch to water.

  Getting drunk now would probably not be the best idea.

  Her embarrassment was reaching new levels. This was far from her first time visiting Leblanc. She was known by some of the staff as one of the bigger figures among Plymouth Falls’ wealthy, such as they were. To sit here now, at a table set for two, clearly drinking to pass the time, was almost more than she could handle.

  “Are we still waiting, madam?”

  She looked up as her server, one of the old hands, came by.

  “No, no; I think I’m done waiting,” she said tightly, hoping Vincent wouldn’t think that her anger was directed at him. “Just the bill, please.”

  Vincent looked offended. “No bill, Miss Lawton. The bottle was already open, I believe.”

  She started to shake her head. Olivia Lawton didn’t take charity. She wasn’t that type. I earned my money, and I intend to pay for what I use or take. She opened her mouth to tell Vincent just that, but he smiled at her.

  “I don’t know who that jerk is,” the graying server said with a cluck of a disapproval. “But whoever he is, he doesn’t deserve your money. This one’s on the house. It’s okay, trust me.”

  “Thanks Vincent,” she said, swirling the last of the wine around, then downing it. No sense in wasting it. “You’re a sweetheart.”

  “As are you,” the server said with a wink. “Under that fiery exterior, that is. But don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. It’ll be our little secret.”

  Olivia laughed, a smile gracing her face. Instantly, she felt better about her situation. “Thank you. I needed that.”

  “Go home, watch a movie, go to bed earlier. Doctor’s orders,” he said, shooing her toward the door as he started to clean her table.

  “Yes sir,” she laughed, giving him a pat on the shoulder and then heading for the exit.

  Though she kept her vision straight ahead, Olivia felt more than one set of eyes turn her way. One entire table of very well-dressed and good-looking men all followed her, but she didn’t dare let them see that she’d noticed.

  Those Ursa men are trouble.

  She didn’t know much about the reclusive Ursa family or their rivals, the Canis, several of whom also dotted the restaurant. They kept to themselves, only coming into Plymouth Falls now and then, but if there was a royalty elite in the area, they were it.

  They were also well known for their appetites with women, and while a pile of muscles atop her wasn’t the worst idea in the world, Olivia was well aware she wasn’t truly wanting it. Nor did she want to set tongues wagging when people saw her leave in the company of one of them.

  So, she left alone, heading for her car.

  She’d just closed the door, finger about to jab the ignition button, when her phone began to ring.

  “Gee, what a surprise,” she snapped to the empty interior after fishing the device out of her purse. “A private number. I wonder who that could be.”

  Against her better judgment, she answered it.

  “You had better have a hell of a good reason for embarrassing me like that,” she snarled.

  “Who are you?”

  Her eyebrows went up at the growled accusation in a by-now familiar voice.

  “Excuse me?” she shouted into the microphone pickup. “Who am I? Who the hell are you, you rude bastard, leaving me to sit by myself for half an hour while I waited for your sorry ass to pick me up? Who do you think you are, asking me a stupid question like that?”

  There was silence on the phone. That surprised her. Had Aaric not been expecting her to fire back like that?

  “What?” he finally said, sounding very unsure about everything.

  “Are you suffering from memory loss or something, you oaf? Do you not recall, earlier today, you asked me, to dinner? Tonight. At seven-thirty. It’s now eight-ten, you jackass, and still no sign of you. I was in there, at a table, being watched by everyone as I sat alone, at a table s
et for two, without anyone showing up. Then I walked out, also alone, because I got stood up. So, don’t ‘what’ me. In fact, you know what? Don’t ever call me again.”

  She went to hang up.

  “Wait! Olivia, wait!”

  Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in, then exhaled. “What is it, Aaric?” she asked, wondering if she would regret staying on the phone.

  “You’re telling me you were at the restaurant for the past forty minutes? That people saw you there?”

  She frowned at her phone, as if he could see her confused face. Why did this matter? “Yes,” she said icily. “As I’ve told you twice now. I was in Leblanc, at a table, looking like an idiot.”

  Aaric hissed. “I see. Okay. I’m sorry.”

  Her eyebrows rose. That had sounded sincere. What was up with the sudden change in his attitude? From contentious and accusing, to apologetic and regretful?

  “What the hell is going on?” she asked. “Where are you? Why didn’t you show up?”

  “Listen, I can be there in about seven minutes. Please wait for me. I didn’t do this on purpose.”

  “You want me to wait for you,” she said softly. “After all that, you want me to now sit in my car and wait for you to show up?”

  “I promised you dinner,” Aaric said. “I don’t like breaking promises. I’m very sorry I was late, but I want to prove to you I wasn’t doing it on purpose. Seven minutes, and I can be there.”

  Olivia knew she should just hang up the phone. Tell him to go to hell, to stay out of her life. But she couldn’t. Not because she didn’t want to, but because she still needed something from him. Something she couldn’t get without talking to him again. Seeing him.

  “Are you still there?”

  She bit her lip. “I’m thinking.”

  “Oh.” Aaric fell silent again.

  Waiting would go against everything she’d ever stood for in her personal life. Never let anyone walk all over her or stand her up. Certainly, never do it twice.

  But I need him to sell the property to me. That’ll be impossible if I’m not talking to him. Maybe I can use this as leverage?