And perhaps after her stressful stay with the shifters, she was a little ready for some relief as well.
“I suppose we’re sharing the bed,” he said, looking at her tentatively.
“Are we?” she asked, folding her arms and suppressing a shiver, though the room was quite insulated and warm.
“I haven’t had a bed in a long time,” he said. “And I wouldn’t want you on the floor.”
“Do you promise to be good?” she asked.
“Define good,” he prompted, scooting back on the bed so his back was against the headrest.
“Good as in not touching me when I don’t want to be touched.”
He snorted. “I don’t have to touch women who don’t want to be touched. If you don’t want it, I don’t either.” He ignored the little ripple of disappointment that ran through him.
Fine, then. The little human could have had the best night of her life, but if she didn’t want to…
“All right,” she said. “Then we can sleep on the bed together.”
He stared at her. “You trust me? Just like that? Not to ravish you?”
She laughed as she walked past him and into the bathroom. She turned on the water, washed her face, and dried off with a towel. “Should I not?” she asked frankly, handing him the towel. “Have you had a shower yet?”
“No,” he said. “I just had one at the facility. Well, you know, being locked in a room and sprayed down, if that counts as a shower.”
“Well, you’re welcome to take one now if you want.”
He looked at the towel she’d handed him and then at the small shower with the curtain around it. “How can I trust you not to peep?” he teased.
She rolled her eyes. “I think I can resist.”
Her words lit a challenge in him. Could she? Now that they were out of danger, at least for a while hopefully, it was more and more apparent to him there was a kind of unresolved chemistry between them.
Perhaps that was why he had saved her. Perhaps he wanted her more than he’d previously thought.
Perhaps it was just seeing her so many times from behind his bars. Perhaps she was freedom or kindness or something else to him.
Or perhaps her curvy body was just perfect for touching, and it had been so long…
He had an idea and turned on the shower. If he played this right, maybe he could get lucky tonight after all.
Bridget was in the bed, reading one of the books she’d brought, when the door to the bathroom opened and Alistair stepped into the doorway, silhouetted by the light.
So tall, so broad, his damp brown hair streaming over his strong shoulders. His chest and arms were bare, and he wore only a towel.
She knew shifters were naturally strong and muscled, but dragons must be something else, because he looked like something from a bodybuilding magazine.
Despite her resistance to him and his obvious ego and shallowness and the fact that he was clearly dangerous, her body started to respond.
Dammit.
She put the book aside and tried to look unaffected. “Was it a nice shower?”
“Yes,” he said pleasantly, lifting the covers on his side and getting in bed with her.
With her.
Her heart thumped as he pulled the covers over his legs, leaving him bare chested next to her. So big. So free to do anything he wanted.
No more bars between them.
She could smell his natural scent. Spicy. Sharp. Cold. His long hair looked amazing, touchable.
“I can hear your thoughts, human,” he said. “Though, I’m not trying to.”
She flushed. “Yeah, well, unless I say something, it doesn’t count.”
He chuckled and leaned back on his arms, crossing them behind his head and displaying the muscles to good advantage. “Fine by me.”
She felt her body crawling with an odd need to look all over him but resisted the urge. Hadn’t she had enough trouble today? She didn’t need to deal with horny shifters.
And was he horny? He was so cool and collected, as always, so who knew if he was affected like she was?
“I am,” he said. “I mean, maybe it’s just this unresolved thing between us, but I’m curious what would happen during a coupling.”
Her jaw dropped, and she bit back a hysterical laugh. “Coupling?”
He nodded. “Intercourse?”
She giggled, sinking lower in the bed and pulling the blanket around her. “Wow. Mood killer.”
He lay down, too. “What do you mean?”
She sighed. “Don’t worry about it.” She tried to keep her mind clear so the blasted dragon couldn’t read it, but she could feel him watching her. It was hard not to be turned on.
She’d been the worker, he the prisoner; she the human, he the dragon.
But now, here in this little room, Scrangey asleep downstairs, she thought of things in a different way.
A man and a woman.
She shivered and got even farther under the covers, trying to ignore the obnoxious pull of her body to get closer to him.
He grinned down at her but made no attempt to get closer. “Are you sure you don’t want to try things out between us before we go to sleep?” he asked. “It could be fun.”
She nodded, clenching her teeth. “Positive.”
“Prude.” He lay back on his pillow, staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Should I turn out the light, then?”
She shook her head. “I can’t sleep yet. And I don’t like the dark.”
“That’s unexpected,” he said. “You seem like the type who isn’t afraid of anything.”
“Of course I’m afraid of things,” she said. “I just don’t let that affect me when someone I love needs me.”
“So you love this girl,” he said. “Is she a lover?”
She snorted. “No. Just a friend.”
“But you would risk your life for her?”
“Any day,” she vowed. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, if you can’t sleep anyway.”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me how we’re going to get you back with your friends.”
“Good question,” he said. “You go first.”
She sighed. “It’s not that important, so I don’t know why you care. You’re just here to help me either way.” But she figured she might as well talk to distract herself from the tingle she felt just being near him. After all, they were likely to be together for a few days.
“She was my roommate in college. I was from a small town. Didn’t know anyone. Didn’t even really understand the world. I dressed weird. I looked weird. I talked weird. No one wanted to be my friend.” She laughed. “I was so intimidated by Lana.”
“Why?” he asked.
She felt little like she was telling a bedtime story but continued. “She was everything I wasn’t. Sure, she was a curvy girl like me, but she owned it, and everyone loved her. Confident. Pretty. Funny. She came from New York City and was very worldly.”
“Worldly?”
“Savvy…” She attempted. “She just understood the world I guess. Like I didn’t. Anyway, she could have treated me like a loser roommate, but she took me under her wing. Helped me with makeup and hair. Let me borrow her clothes. Didn’t accept invitations unless I was invited, too. I didn’t often go with her, but I appreciated her caring. We liked different things, but there was always respect.”
“Sounds like a good friend indeed,” he said, looking a little flustered.
“What’s that look?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “Go on.”
“Anyway, we stayed close through college. She helped me get into my major, helped me get interviews I was nervous about. She believed in me, always stood with me. And I stood with her. Helped her with subjects that were hard. But she could have had anyone help with that. Whereas, without Lana, I would have been alone and probably ended up going back home where there was nothing waiting for me.”
“No family?” he asked.
“N
o.”
“I understand that,” he said.
“You don’t have any family?” she asked.
“Dragons work a little differently,” he replied. “At least my kind do. Diamond dragons have little use for something like children, so I was shunted off to boarding school with humans. Which was fine with me. To humans, I was valuable. Beautiful.”
“Are dragons normally raised with other dragons?” she asked.
“I would have to ask other dragons, and I’m not that friendly with them,” he answered.
“You called them your friends,” she said.
“That’s because dragons like me are the closest things I have to friends in this world… other than you.”
She nodded. Despite all the other weird elements of their situation, they were friends, sort of. “I see.”
“Anyway,” he said. “I figured out my powers on my own and how to use them to be most comfortable in the world, and that was fine.”
“That sounds kind of awful,” she said quietly.
“How?” he asked. “I had people all around me. The best of everything. And could control things at my whim.”
She shrugged. “Just sounds lonely.”
He gave her a long look, and she found herself kind of missing his rainbow eyes. They flickered back to rainbow for an instant. “That better?”
She flushed and looked up at the ceiling, and when she glanced over at him again, his eyes were back to brown.
“For what it’s worth, I’m not trying to read your thoughts,” he said. “You’re just being open to me.”
She nodded. “I get that. I guess now that there’s nothing between us, it’s hard for me to remember I should be guarded. That you could be dangerous.”
“Right now, there are a lot of things out there that are more dangerous to you than me,” he said. “I’m here to protect you.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
He was stoic. “Of course.”
They lay there in silence, listening to the tick-tock of the clock on the wall, and then he cleared his throat. “You asked me about finding my friends.”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s going to be tricky,” he said. “I mean, if one of the dragons, the amethyst dragon, is awakened, it’s only a matter of time before he reads my thoughts and finds us. He can hear thoughts even across a world. And he also has visions.”
“Ah,” she said.
“Yeah, kind of a creepy guy, but I found him interesting,” Alistair said. “If he isn’t awake, it’ll be tougher. We’ll have to keep moving, and I’ll read minds until I can find someone on the good side of shifters and see if they know anything about how to find the dragons or the person who had me in cryo.”
“Right,” she replied. “Sounds like a good plan.”
‘Think you can put up with me until then?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “More than that since you have to help me save my friend.”
He sighed. “You don’t have to keep reminding me of that. I’m not planning to leave you high and dry.”
“That’s right.” She confirmed. “I have your ring, so you can’t.”
“You know,” he said, leaning on his side and getting close so she could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek as she avoided his gaze. “You could be a little more trusting.”
Her heart sped up as she tried to ignore him. “Hm.”
He reached up to touch her hair, and since it felt oddly nice, she didn’t stop him. Just stared at him with wide eyes and tried not to shudder as his long fingers threaded through the strands.
“I’ve always wondered how this felt,” he said quietly, his eyes narrowed.
“Stop that,” she said, not meaning it.
He withdrew his hand, but she still felt marked by him. If just a stroke through her hair could affect her like that, what would something like a kiss do?
His lips curled into a grin, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. It was warm and surprising.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“I just felt like it.”
“You’re confusing,” she said.
“I’m not,” he said. “You’re the confusing one. You make me want you, make me think of you, when I’m not used to it. When the wolf touched you today, I was angry. More than angry. I was filled with rage.” He reached for her hair again but drew back, looking thoughtful. “Yes, you’re the one who is confusing.”
She felt like her tight pulse couldn’t take any more of him looking at her tonight. “I’m sorry…”
He laughed and lay back again, pulling up the covers. “Good night, princess.”
“Princess?” she asked.
“Just a nickname,” he said. “You don’t like it?”
She shook her head. “I’m not anything like a princess.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Just the first thing that came to mind. What do you prefer?”
“Bridget,” she said firmly.
“Bridget,” he repeated, and her name sounded odd on his lips, as if he were tasting her.
He clicked off the light, plunging them into darkness. But even without seeing him, she was so aware of him. His scent. His warmth. His presence. His maleness.
She needed to stay focused. Tomorrow, they would need to run again. And until Lana was back, she couldn’t focus on anything else.
Still, the sexy dragon in bed next to her was making it very hard.
She began counting sheep in her head, and when they turned into little dragons, she had to laugh in exasperation.
But soon enough, she heard his light snores next to her. She turned over, and his pale face appeared oddly innocent in the darkness.
She reached out with a finger, wondering about his skin, and then pulled back.
They were just partners working together for related causes.
She wouldn’t let him get her confused about her goals.
Chapter 5
At Onyx’s Mansion
“Is he still up there?” Zach, the onyx dragon, asked, as they sat at the dining room table, discussing their options.
“He’s always up there,” Luc, the sapphire dragon, said, looking in the direction of Amethyst’s room.
“And still talking to himself,” Red, the ruby dragon, said cheerfully. “So glad we woke him up. So helpful.”
“He’s still adjusting to modern life,” Luc, always the empathetic one, said. “We can’t ask too much of him. I do know he’s serious about helping us find Diamond. They were friends, you know. As much as Diamond was friends with anyone.”
“Right,” Red said. “So he needs to hurry it up. I hate the idea that there’s a dragon out there, possibly being tortured, definitely exploited to make horrible creatures that are difficult to fight.”
“I don’t know,” Zach said. “Between my onyx shield, Luc’s ice, and your flames, I think we’re a pretty competent team.”
“Yeah, but after seeing them herself, my mate would really rather we didn’t have to deal with wyverns.”
Zach could understand that. Red’s mate had to come with them to rescue him on their last mission, and things had gotten a bit dicey there for a minute.
Still, it took more than a few hundred wyverns to take down an awakened dragon.
“There’s nothing we can do until Amethyst makes contact,” Zach said.
“We can’t send out people to search?” Red asked.
“We have no idea who to trust,” Luc answered. “Anyone could be on the wrong side. It’s safest to wait.”
A triumphant, muffled shout from upstairs interrupted them, and they all froze, listening to heavy footsteps as someone pounded down the main staircase.
A moment later, Dominic, the amethyst dragon, stood in the doorway, breathing heavily. His black and purple-streaked hair was pushed back, but some streamed over his face, hiding one bright-blue eye.
“I’ve seen him,” Dom said, giving them all a slightly crazed look. “I haven’t made contact f
ully, but I’ve seen him. A vision.”
Luc stood, placing his hands on the table excitedly. “Where?”
“I don’t know,” Dom said, walking over and slumping in a chair. He leaned forward, dropping his head in his hands, and let out a long, ragged breath.
Zach felt sorry for the guy. He went through things, saw things that no other shifter could understand, and bore it all himself.
Then again, he wasn’t the easiest to get close to either.
Since they’d brought him into the world, he’d easily begun to identify with gothic culture (which Zach only knew after his mate had explained it to him), and you could see it in the leather accents he preferred, the dark boots, and the piercings going up one ear.
But then again, Zach bet no Goth was ever as tall or buff as Dom appeared to be.
He probably made the humans he saw when he went out want to wet themselves.
And he did go out, especially super late at night when he thought no one was around.
But Zach wasn’t worried about it. Dom had always done his own thing.
In fact, when he’d been woken up, the oracle hadn’t even seen fit to put on a collar. One, they needed his powers to help find Diamond, but two, Dom was zero interested in anything to do with self-interest or the modern world.
He’d told them multiple times he wasn’t a danger because all he wanted was to go back to sleep. He would help them find Diamond, and then he wanted to be put into cryo once more.
Zach hoped he came to change his mind. He knew Dom’s powers probably wore on him, but the world could really use him right now, even once Diamond was found.
Dom sent him an odd look from beneath his dark hair and then blew it out of his face. The whites of his eyes were red and bloodshot, and his expression was drawn. “I’m going back to sleep, Zach. So stop thinking about it.”
Zach shrugged. He should have known better than to think about it with the amethyst dragon around. “Sorry. Of course, your call. So anyway, about Diamond?”
“Right, I saw Alistair escape with a woman. A human, I think. They were driving. Running from their captors. I don’t know who the human is, but she is helping him, I think.”
“Wait, so he’s lose, and he’s alone with a human?” Red asked. “Is that even safe?”
Diamond Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 4) Page 4
