by Teshco, Mel
Running a bath, he adjusted the taps before turning to her. “I’ll take that as a compliment, such as it is.” Furrows etched his brow as he considered her. “Tell me, why did you become an agent?”
She shrugged, going for nonchalant but failing. She doubted anything would escape his astute gaze. “I sense supernatural beings.”
Intrigue sharpened his expression. “With your ability to breed with my species I can understand you sensing a dragon, but I don’t know why you’d cultivate that to sense other species.”
She breathed slow and deep before continuing. “I vowed one day I’d avenge my parents’ deaths. Joining the PDA seemed the logical choice to fulfill that promise. Nurturing my ability was the next obvious step.”
His face flickered with shadows and light from the candle’s glow. “But why a paranormal agency?” His frown deepened. “Did something supernatural kill your mom and dad?”
It seemed even his huge wealth couldn’t buy him all the facts. She nodded jerkily, reliving the pain, the undeniable knowing of a supernatural presence. “Yes,” she croaked. “I felt it—whatever it was—leave the bedroom even as I entered.” She only wished she could identify each creature she encountered, not just know they weren’t human.
His stare softened, but he seemed to perceive she didn’t want his pity. Retrieving a bottle of bubble bath, he squirted a good amount into the steaming tub. Vanilla tinged with some exotic floral scent teased her nostrils. He capped the lid and turned back to her. “Grace, in every species, there’s good and bad.”“
She nodded stiffly. “I know that.” She sighed, weary to the bone. “Just as I know not all supernatural creatures are immortal like dragons.”
“Yes. We’re that, until someone kills us.”
Her chest tightened at the thought. She frowned, masking any further emotion that might show on her face. “Murder aside, if being a dragon means living for an eternity, why is your people so few in numbers?”
His eyes darkened. She resisted stepping back. He looked dangerous somehow as his thoughts turned inward. “The fertility of our women is sporadic at best. They have only an infinitesimal time frame in which to be impregnated—a month, maybe two every year for three or four years—before they become completely sterile.”
“That’s terrible odds.”
He flipped off the tap, shrugging off her apology. “I have two siblings, which is almost unheard of for my kind. It’s why my species has never flourished, why the Riddichian males might one day rely on other breeders … if they haven’t already.”
Grace shivered. Her mom and dad might have died, but she’d survived and might well have children of her own one day. Grief welled alongside guilt, and she stared blindly into the tub as she bent and trailed a hand through the fragrant bubbles that immediately burst, reformed and expanded.
His touch was warm on her shoulder, his voice reassuring. “Take your time, rest. You need it. I’m going to find us some clothes and hopefully a backpack to take some essentials with us.”
She nodded, relieved this once at not having to take charge, glad this time to be taken care of when her emotions were all tied up in knots. She looked up, drinking in his gorgeous face, his splendid form. “Be careful.”
“I intend to be.”
“Good.” Her composure at least partially restored, she straightened and unhitched her blanket. As it dropped to the floor, Kadin paused in the doorway, his frown turning into a grin that was more than a little bit wicked.
Despite herself, a smile twitched her lips at his blatant admiration. As she climbed into the tub she gave a saucy wiggle of her ass before sinking into the warm water with a blissful sigh. His chuckle resounded down the hallway as Grace pulled free her only hairpin. As a mass of damp curls fell past her shoulders, she closed her eyes, allowing her sore and aching body just a few minutes to relax and recuperate.
Too soon she’d be on the run again, fighting to stay alive and evading an enemy—her old friends—with limitless resources. The tension that had begun to seep out of her body immediately returned. What had she ever done to deserve this treatment? She’d been the perfect, loyal soldier, following the PDA’s directives without dispute.
Her hands fisted. Had the agency had an idea from the very beginning that she was a dragon breeder? Had they in fact groomed her as bait for Kadin, knowing he’d been aware of her existence before she’d disappeared and became an operative?
Stupid, stupid, stupid! She’d become a drone, a husk without voice or reason, surviving on the occasional pat on the head, a syllable or two of praise. Far better she died fighting for her freedom with Kadin by her side than pine for the life she’d had on its short, chokehold leash.
Now that she’d had no choice but to step back from her life, she realized she hadn’t really been living. Not for a long time. Even the adrenaline rush of a close call had begun to pall.
She breathed out a sigh, weary beyond belief now that she’d accepted the truth. Sinking lower beneath the water, she gave in to the unstoppable waves of tiredness pushing at her consciousness…
Grace withheld the sobs threatening to choke her, wanting only to block her ears to the thwack of heavy soil hitting her mother’s and father’s coffins. The wizened old man was relentless with the shovel and totally immune to her grief.
Mom … Dad. I need you!
No words pushed past her throat, no tears leaked from her eyes. She’d done all her pleading, all her crying for too many days now already.
Despair blinded her, consumed her. And for one agonizing moment, all she wanted was to jump into the chasm in the ground that was filling up fast. Join her mother, her father.
Then Mr. Briggs, her middle-aged, cherub-faced neighbor, moved alongside her. When his cold hand clutched hers, she wasn’t comforted. Not one bit. She looked up, seeing only the face of a dirty old creep—not the god-fearing man all the adults seemed to hold dear.
“Don’t you go fretting now, my sweet Gracie,” he said kindly. “I don’t mind having to step in and take care of you.”
Hatred welled from deep within. She jerked her hand out of his and stepped back. “Go to hell!”
No one tried to stop her as she turned and ran from the funeral. Ran from everything, everyone she’d ever known.
Chapter Five
Grace abruptly started, coming wide awake with her heart jumping and her senses jangling with alarm. Someone was near. The water sloshed in the tub as she jerked to her feet, her pulse settling only when her stare connected with a fully dressed Kadin as he approached the doorway.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he offered huskily.
“I fell asleep,” she managed, only too aware that as the soapy water slid off her body, her anxieties quickly slid away too. Replaced by something delicious and hot, something wanton and desperate.
“I found you some clothes.” His eyes drank her in as though he was desert-parched and she was a tall, iced glass of water. He held up a pair of jeans, a lacy bra, thick socks, a long-sleeved shirt and a dark sweater. “They’re small. They should fit.”
Though she was relatively normal-sized at five-foot-six, compared to Kadin, she was tiny. “I hope you’re not complaining.” She shook her head, trying to lighten the mood but failing. “About … about my size.”
“You’re perfect,” he said throatily, stepping toward her and running the back of his hand along the strands of her wet hair. “Exquisite.”
“Really?”
Oh hell. She’d chosen now to voice her insecurities?
“Yes,” he said. “Most definitely, yes.”
And then his head swooped down, his mouth taking possession of hers with an urgency neither wanted to deny. He moaned against her lips as her arms slid around his shoulders. His palms cupped her soapy ass, kneading and caressing as their kiss deepened, their tongues twining, tasting.
She pulled back, panting. “You chose a hell of a time to get dressed.”
He grinned, though ther
e was little humor in his hot stare. “Allow me.” Then he was tugging off his borrowed jacket and t-shirt, toeing off shoes and socks before unzipping tight jeans that revealed his straining cock. Fully naked once more, he stooped low, his mouth claiming hers even as he lifted her high against him and strode into a bedroom.
Grace closed her eyes at the intimate sharing of breath, giving in to the electrifying sensation of her nipples brushing against his lightly haired chest. And blocking out the fact that, any minute now, her team could come charging in here like riot police with their guns raised and ready to fire. Blocking the fact that Kadin was a dragon and she was a dragon breeder.
In that moment, she forgot about everything but the moment.
A fleecy bedcover was soft and warm against her wet spine as he placed her on the end of the bed and parted her thighs. The drapes were open wide, the half-moon outside giving off a weak glow and illuminating his glittering eyes, the heated promise in their brilliant depths.
“I wish I had all night to do with you what I wanted, to lick your pussy and suck your clit.” His voice thickened with lust. “To taste your essence.”
His words alone had her close to shuddering with orgasm, even before he pressed the wet head of his cock inside her then paused, teasing her. She wanted to cry, to scream in frustration. “Fuck me hard,” she gasped. “Please!”
Kadin’s smile was that of a hungry predator, intent on its prey. “With pleasure.”
He grasped her thighs and held her still, and with one hard thrust of his hips, his cock filled her completely.
Her teeth dug into her lower lip as one part pain and two parts delight chorused through her veins. “So big,” she groaned. But then all conversation ended as he rocked inside her with long, furious strokes meant to swiftly eliminate their lust.
Yeah, before the enemy eliminates us.
Though she tried to block the thought of death waiting for them, it was still there, nipping and biting in the deeper recesses of her mind. It gave their joining a dangerous edge, where every thrust, every emotion and response was amplified a hundredfold.
He pulled her legs upward until her feet were curled over his shoulders. And as his balls slapped against her, the head of his cock grinding into her G-spot with unerring accuracy, she bowed taut, climaxing with a shuddering, frantic gasp that saw her pushing a fist over her mouth, holding back her ecstatic cries.
Kadin cupped her ass and held her tight against him. As her channel squeezed hard, his own climax followed, his seed spilling deep inside her, his head tipping back and the muscles in his jaw appearing to lock as he moaned her name.
There was no time for lingering kisses and holding one another. Instead he slid out of her wet depths and lowered her legs to the bed even as Grace dragged breath into her lungs.
He looked down at her, eyelids at half-mast. But even in the dull light of the moon, she could read the tender warmth in the dark depths, the adoration that, in this moment at least, seemed much stronger than the antipathy she’d been witness to at their first meeting.
He kissed her brow, her eyelids, before straightening. But although their lovemaking had been frantic and urgent, there was tenderness in his stare that melted something inside her even before he said huskily, “I meant every word. You’re truly beautiful. Inside and out.”
Her smile wobbled a little. “Thank you.”
He nodded, becoming thoughtful. Then he raked a hand through the dark hair brushing his shoulders, as though bringing himself back to the task at hand. “We’d best get dressed and find something to eat.”
“And then get the hell out of here.”
His eyes crinkled with a smile that was almost sad. “You know the drill.”
Her throat thickened. She was already forming a bond with Kadin that had nothing to do with her breeding status. For the first time in her life she felt a deep connection to someone, an emotional spark that was flaring into something far stronger.
Kadin perceived it too, she realized. And now … now they might well lose it all.
They dressed in silence and Grace was relieved the borrowed clothes did indeed fit almost perfectly. She entered the walk-in closet and, with a feminine pang, ignored a pair of velvet-soft, knee-high boots, instead reaching for a pair of practical joggers.
Finger-combing the curls of her damp hair, she retrieved her hairpin from the bathroom and pulled her hair back as best she could before moving toward the window, staying out of sight of anyone who may even now be studying the house. She peered into the night. Along the lake, the lampposts glowed eerily.
No shadows moved, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. But then, even if her team were out there, they’d be hidden. They were all trained far too well.
She turned away from the window with a set jaw, fighting back the hurt, the disbelief still gnawing at her insides from her team’s betrayal. As one of their superiors, the operatives had respected her, had been more than a little in awe of her.
Damn it—they’d obeyed her every order!
Yeah, until they’d discovered I was a breeder.
Again, she wondered if the agency had suspected from the very beginning that she might be a dragon breeder. Someone had no doubt done their research and uncovered the fact breeders could sense dragons, and possibly other shifters too.
Kadin shrugged a backpack onto his shoulder and stepped toward her, his stride as fluid and graceful as a cat’s. Her despair fled, her breath catching when he clasped her hands and leaned down, his mouth touching hers softly at first as he kissed with a tenderness that was almost disconcerting.
She sighed, her lips parting. She could get used to this, used to this kind of intimacy. His kiss deepened, his bristles scraping across the soft skin of her jaw. He smelled faintly of pine and eucalyptus, a scent that intermingled with the erotic tang of his sweat.
When he at last pulled back, a newfound awareness seemed to throb between them in a silence broken only by the faint ticking of the hallway clock.
She swallowed back desire and something much deeper … that undeniable connection to this man that she shouldn’t feel, but did. Her voice came out too sharp. “We can’t do this. Not now.”
With an almost desperate sounding expletive, he nodded in agreement and led her out of the bedroom. They left the candle to die its own death in the bathroom and made their way downstairs in the semidarkness, all too aware of their surroundings … of each other.
Grace double-checked that the thick curtains were drawn. The lamp she’d turned on in the living room suddenly seemed as though it were a beacon to the enemy and she had to restrain her instinct to race over and flick off the light.
Kadin opened the pantry door and quickly perused its contents. “We don’t have time to cook.”
Not when they’d spent what little time they had fucking each other like there really was no tomorrow.
Not that she was complaining.
He grabbed a can of baked beans. “This will do to start with.” Peeling back the pull-top lid, he grabbed a spoon from the cutlery drawer. With a shrug and a too charming grin, he proclaimed, “Let’s eat.”
She forced down a couple proffered spoonfuls, but mostly she watched as he downed the can’s contents then went on to find and consume four more.
She couldn’t resist a smile, finding a kind of charm to his apparent gluttony. “At least now I have a pretty good idea why you’re able to breathe fire.” At the amused glint in his eyes, she turned to the sink and filled a glass with water, waiting for her heart to stop its silly fluttering before she took a few sips and passed it to him.
“Thanks—”
A dog from one of the neighboring houses barked aggressively once. Twice.
It let out a sharp yelp and then … nothing.
Shit.
They stared at one another for perhaps a nanosecond. He placed the glass on the counter and with a barely discernible nod, they moved in unison out the back door, slipping quietly into the darkness of the surroun
ding woods.
They’d traveled perhaps a couple hundred yards when Grace sensed her team closing in. Not because they were in any way paranormal. She’d lived, trained and fought alongside her team long enough to be aware of each and every one of them. She slowed. And in that moment her training kicked in, a calm settling over her even as her brain shifted into overdrive.
She and Kadin had only a small window of opportunity to get away. To save themselves.
Kadin stilled. She put a hand on his shoulder and pointed to the towering gum tree on their right, just visible in the gloom. One branch was low enough to grab hold and swing onto. A perfect hideout.
He nodded and stood back, making certain she went first. Grace sucked in a breath and pushed into a sprint. She leapt, her fingers catching hold of the hard, gnarly timber. Using forward momentum, she deftly swung up and around, landing roughly on her knees and forearms.
She stifled a groan. The pain of cuts and scrapes would be nothing if her team caught up with her and Kadin.
The half-moon chose to peek from its cover of clouds just as Kadin threw her the backpack. Moving back a couple of steps, he ran and vaulted high, swinging a leg around the branch to haul himself up. They quickly climbed higher, until the approach of her team—ex-team—far below caused them to freeze where they were in the tree.
Grace could just make out three of her former comrades and friends passing beneath. They wore fire-retardant suits that were camouflaged black and green, their semiautomatics trained ahead and at the ready. From their gaits, heights and builds, she guessed the agents were Alexander, Luke and Pete.
One of them had professed being in love with her while another had been her lover a few years back. The third had followed her orders with absolute devotion.
Her lip curled. They’d used her as surely and deftly as the agency that pulled their strings.
She closed her eyes for just one second, gathering her quickly slipping composure. Seeing the stark truth again made the knife of betrayal sink in that much deeper.
