Smoke and Fire

by Donna Grant

  Ryder’s faced eased into relief. “You willna regret it.”

  Con prayed he didn’t. It was bad enough that Kinsey had run from Ryder after seeing him shift. Ryder was a tough individual—all the Kings were. But they had their breaking points as well.

  “Do you think you can earn her trust again?” Con asked.

  Ryder gave a brief nod. “I believe so.”

  “Does she still care for you?”

  “That I can no’ say.”

  “Find out,” Con ordered. “If she’s afraid of you—us—then she may be using you to get close and attempt something.”

  Ryder lifted his chin. “No’ Kinsey.”

  “Give me proof. I want to accept your word for it, Ryder, but with MI5 here, and Ulrik out doing God-knows-what, I have to be sure.”

  “Then you’ll have your proof.”

  As Ryder walked out, Con prayed he didn’t have to kill another mortal. The first one nearly did him in and lost him a best friend.

  This one would lose him everything.

  CHAPTER TEN

  It usually took a lot for Kinsey to get as frustrated as she was at the moment. It had nothing to do with the equipment—because it was state of the art and gorgeous—and everything to do with not being about to find jack squat on Ulrik or his people.

  “Ryder warned you.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Dmitri asked.

  Kinsey threw him a quick smile. “Sorry. I tend to talk to myself sometimes.”

  “You’re looking up Ulrik. Ryder does that daily and rarely finds anything.”

  Daily? Holy shit. And here Kinsey thought she had some new moves that would show her more and impress Ryder. She was out of luck this time. “Oh.”

  “Doona be alarmed, lass. We’ve been doing this sort of thing for years. At least now we doona have to physically watch him. I like the cameras for that reason alone.”

  Kinsey stretched her arms over her head and rotated her neck from side to side. She had been sitting for so long that she needed to move around and get the blood flowing.

  She stood and walked to the window. The snow was falling heavily now, covering the slopes of the mountains in white. It looked magical, as if she were in a different world. And in some aspects, she was.

  After a few more stretches, Kinsey remained at the window simply taking in the majestic, wild beauty that was Dreagan. If she peered far to the left she could see the pasture where the cattle were. There were sheep seemingly everywhere.

  No one would ever know this splendor was behind all the buildings housing the distillery. Even the manor was hidden, keeping another wall up between the Dragon Kings and the humans.

  “What do you see?” Ryder asked as he walked up next to her.

  She smiled as she folded her arms over her chest. “I see land that’s been sustained and preserved as beautifully as it must have been thousands of years ago.”

  “And?” he pushed.

  He’d always been able to tell when there was more she wanted to say. Kinsey looked at the mountains all around them. “I see a land that shouldn’t be sullied by humans. I see a home.”

  “It is a home,” Ryder said. “It’s our home. It’s the only place left on this realm that we claim as ours.”

  Her people had taken the rest. Kinsey couldn’t imagine how that felt, and she didn’t pretend to. “You have every right to protect it.” She faced him then, realizing that Dmitri had exited the room without a word. “Even if it’s from me.”

  His dark blond brows rose high in his forehead. “What does that mean?”

  “You know exactly what it means. Ryder, if somehow your enemies are using me, then I want to know in what capacity, and I want it stopped. If we can’t stop it, then you must.”

  He held her gaze for long moments. “It willna come to that.”

  She really hoped it didn’t. “What did Con have to say?”

  “Did Dmitri tell you where I was?” he asked with a sigh.

  “I figured it out.”

  Ryder clasped his hands behind his back. “Con is thinking of all of us Dragon Kings and the mates and Dreagan when he makes a decision. That doesna always mean the decisions are good.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I knew he’d want to isolate you in case Ulrik has somehow manipulated you to help him. I convinced Con to allow you to remain with me.”

  “Is that wise?” she asked. “I mean, if Ulrik or his people somehow did get to me. Wouldn’t that put you in a difficult position?”

  Ryder walked around her to his chair. He flipped the lid on the box and grabbed a donut. Before taking a bite, he said, “Working side by side, I can monitor you closely.”

  Too damn closely for her peace of mind. She’d managed to keep her hands to herself so far, but how much longer could she do that with Ryder so temptingly close?

  And that boyish smile? She had missed that so much. With as slow as it was gaining any information on Ulrik, she could be there for days. Weeks. Months, even.

  There’s no way she could keep her indifference together that long. She didn’t want Ryder to know that she still pined for him. That would be disastrous. Especially since he’d so easily left her the first time.

  Somehow she would have to hold it together. After all, she’d spent the last three years without him. It had been a little easier because he wasn’t in the same room with her just feet away talking to her, smiling at her … looking at her.

  There had been a few opportunities for her to move on with her life. She’d met a couple of men who would’ve been good for her, but none of them compared to Ryder.

  Now she knew why.

  No mortal man could compete with a Dragon King.

  Kinsey returned to her chair and sat. Then she grabbed the table and pulled the chair forward. She had to talk, to take her mind off wanting Ryder. “I don’t think Ulrik is in Perth. None of the CCTV cameras have spotted him.”

  Ryder pointed to the screen to his far left. All the cameras were pointed at different angles, front and back, to a business called The Silver Dragon. “That’s Ulrik’s business. People have been visiting it all day. He’s there.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because that’s where he spends most of his time. Though he has been known to slip out on occasion.”

  Kinsey looked at the antiques store. “When was the last time you spoke to Ulrik?”

  “Before he was stripped of his magic and banished from Dreagan.”

  “Oh. So just a couple million years or so, right?”

  Ryder chuckled. “Right.”

  “Have none of you tried talking to him?”

  “Aye. A few of us, but it doesna do any good. Ulrik willna be dissuaded from his path.”

  Kinsey looked at one of the pictures of Ulrik. He was in a black suit and pale gray shirt. He didn’t wear a tie, preferring to leave the dress shirt unbuttoned at the top. His black hair was pulled back in a queue, and his gold gaze was directed off to the left.

  The people on the sidewalk gave him a wide berth, as if they sensed the lethal, caged animal within. He didn’t have what she would call a cruel expression, just one that let others know he wasn’t to be trifled with for any reason.

  She couldn’t imagine how it felt to have the one place she had always called home forbidden to her. How that must sting. But it couldn’t be as bad as having those she considered her family turn their backs on her.

  “I wonder if I’d feel differently in his place,” Kinsey said. “We’re talking millions of years walking around as a human. The very beings he blames for everything. That was beyond cruel.”

  Ryder made a sound at the back of his throat. “We couldna allow him to shift, Kins. He’d kill humans.”

  “But to take away the one thing he was?” she asked as she slid her gaze to Ryder. “How would you feel if you were unable to shift?”

  “All Dragon Kings are essentially grounded right now with MI5 on the property. We know exactly how Ulrik feels.” />
  “So you don’t shift at all?”

  He looked away briefly. “We go into the mountain when we need to be in our true forms.”

  It’s what she’d thought. “I’m not trying to take Ulrik’s side. I’m only attempting to sort through all of this.”

  “There’s nothing to sort through,” he stated tersely. “You were no’ there. You didna see the slaughter of our dragons or watch them leave this realm, possibly forever. If Ulrik had only stopped killing mortals it might no’ have come to that.”

  Kinsey turned back to her screen. She hadn’t meant to upset Ryder, and he was right. She hadn’t been there. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t see when something was wrong.

  Had the Kings been wrong to banish Ulrik?

  Possibly.

  Had they been erroneous in binding his magic?

  Not at the time, no.

  Had they been mistaken in keeping him away from Dreagan and all those who could possibly help mend the hate within him?

  Definitely.

  But she couldn’t tell Ryder that. He wouldn’t wish to hear it. None of the Dragon Kings would. Not to mention Kinsey wasn’t all fired up to piss off men who could shift into massive beasts who breathed fire. So, she would keep her thoughts to herself.

  She decided to pretend Ryder wasn’t there. It was easier than thinking of how she missed the way he used to move her hair off one shoulder and kiss the spot toward the back of her neck.

  Kinsey found a file labeled ULRIK_SCOTLAND. She opened it to find a map of Scotland. There were red dots, like little pins, that showed all the places Ulrik had been seen. Edinburgh was a favorite destination, as evidenced by the large red dot.

  With it being in close proximity to Perth, it was no wonder why. Kinsey then used the code Ryder had written to hack into the CCTV throughout Edinburgh. While a scan began to run looking for Ulrik, she dug deeper into the file folder labeled ULRIK.

  Inside, she found a spreadsheet titled EDINBURGH. Kinsey opened it and gaped at the places Ulrik had visited. For all the eyes watching him, the man—or Dragon—was good at hiding. There were only a handful of listings in Edinburgh, and most of them were restaurants.

  With a stroke of a key, Kinsey moved to another monitor and began to go down the list of known places Ulrik favorited. Another hack into the cameras of the restaurants and cafes, and she was able to look for Ulrik. Even though Ryder was sure Ulrik was at his business, Kinsey would rather have definitive proof of that, and since they didn’t, she opted to search.

  One by one, she ticked off the list with no sign of Ulrik. The CCTV scan of Edinburgh would take hours yet with the size of the city and the numerous cameras.

  The world and room faded away while Kinsey focused on one city to the next in Scotland. She at first kept her focus on the largest cities, even if there was no record from the Kings that Ulrik had been there.

  When she exhausted all those searches, Kinsey sat back and waited for the CCTV search in Edinburgh to complete. A glance at her watch showed it was nearly seven in the evening. It had been well over eight hours since she’d eaten.

  Now that she noticed the time, she realized how hungry she was. And she went from starving to nauseous in a split second from not eating. How Kinsey hated her body sometimes.

  She swallowed, wishing she had something to drink. Her mouth was dry, and it might help to calm her rioting stomach. With Ryder engrossed in his own search, she was loath to disturb him.

  So she closed her eyes to try and fight her rumbling stomach. Every few minutes she would crack open her eyes to check the progress of the search. And each time grew more and more difficult.

  “Kins?”

  How wonderful it sounded to have Ryder’s voice in her ear again. It made Kinsey think back to the days before he’d left her. How they would wake up in each other’s arms in the mornings before one of them would start cooking breakfast while the other made tea.

  It had felt like a marriage. It had been a marriage, of sorts. And she missed it so much it left a hole within her.

  “Kins,” he said again.

  “Five more minutes,” she said and turned her head the other way.

  There was a soft chuckle, and then it felt as if she were being lifted. Kinsey woke up enough to realize that she was no longer in her chair.

  She was in Ryder’s arms.

  The joy was quickly swept aside as the pain set in. She couldn’t allow herself to get close to him again.

  She pushed against him as he was walking down the corridor. Kinsey managed to get out of his arms and stumble until she righted herself. “What are you doing?”

  “Taking you to bed.”

  The images those words conjured were a hazard to her health. Kinsey lifted her chin. “Just point me in the right direction.”

  “You should’ve told me you were sleepy,” Ryder said as he began walking.

  Kinsey followed him since she didn’t have another choice. He took her past the stairs, and then to the right along another hallway, this one narrower.

  Ryder finally stopped at a door and opened it. Then he stepped aside and motioned for her to enter with his arm. Kinsey walked past him into the room and sighed with pleasure at the sight of the bed.

  She walked over and climbed onto it, falling on her stomach with one arm hanging off the side. Her eyes closed. She briefly thought about telling Ryder to leave, but it took too much effort.

  Tomorrow she would do a better job of erecting a barrier around her heart. Though she feared it might already be too late for her.

  Again.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  A Tropical Island

  Location Unknown

  Rhi lay on her back beneath the stars with the water lapping at her feet. Beside her was Balladyn. Her best friend from long ago—and her enemy.

  And apparently, now her lover.

  It had been so long since she’d given herself to another that she’d feared she might forget how. But Balladyn hadn’t let her.

  He slept with his face turned toward her. In sleep, he was relaxed, the concerns and lines of worry were gone. Leaving nothing but the visage of the man she used to follow with her brother.

  Rhi softly touched his cheek and smoothed a finger over one black brow. Her heart caught as she recalled looking into his eyes—eyes that had been silver. Not the red she was used to seeing after he’d turned Dark, but silver.

  There was no denying it. At first she’d thought it was her own passion playing tricks on her, but each time she looked at him, Balladyn stared back with the silver eyes of a Light Fae.

  Rhi sat up and brought her legs to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees while she stared out over the moon-drenched water.

  After years of pining for her Dragon King lover who had so easily—and cruelly—tossed her aside, Rhi felt a piece of herself mend.

  It was a tiny piece, infinitesimal to the multitude of pieces that was her heart. But it was still a piece.

  To be loved so thoroughly made her sigh. There was no doubt Balladyn was an excellent lover. It made Rhi smile as she recalled how completely and utterly he’d loved her.

  She’d almost forgotten how it felt to be wanted so desperately, to be desired so fiercely. Now that she remembered, she was going to make certain to never forget again.

  All those thousands of years longing for a Dragon King infuriated her. He’d made her look like a fool, but it was her own fault for believing his words of love and forever.

  But lies came easily to him.

  Rhi refused to dwell any more on him. He’d nearly ruined her chances of finding happiness, and the sad part was that she’d almost let him. But not anymore.

  It brought to mind her watcher. He stood behind and to the right. He’d become such a constant that she found herself relying on him—a dangerous thing. Especially since she didn’t know why he was following her, or even how he was able to follow her as he did. Nor did she know his name.

>   He was Fae. Of that she was sure. Light or Dark though, that was the question. If he worked for Balladyn, then her watcher would’ve left when Balladyn arrived. But he’d remained.

  She turned her head to look in his direction. He was constantly veiled, which took an incredible amount of power. Rhi knew because she was able to do the same. The only other Fae who could hold a veil that long was Usaeil, Queen of the Light.

  As a previous member of the Queen’s Guard, Rhi knew none of them could remain veiled for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Unless they hid the ability, much as she had.

  Balladyn’s hand touched her lower back right before his Irish accent filled her ears. “What’s on your mind, pet?”

  “Nothing,” she said and once more looked at the ocean.

  “Liar.” There was no heat in his words as he sat up beside her. “Tell me you don’t regret this.”

  Rhi looked at him and smiled, even as sadness filled her when she saw his red eyes once more. “I don’t regret this.”

  “But you’re not happy about it either.”

  “That’s not true,” she said and turned toward him.

  Balladyn touched a strand of her black hair near her face. “I’ve wanted you for so long. I told myself I’d wait for you to come to me, but I couldn’t.”

  “If I didn’t want what happened between us, I would’ve stopped it,” she assured him.

  “Aye,” he said with a nod. “But was it really me you wanted?”

  Rhi gawked at him. Was he serious? Yes, he most certainly was. “Yes, Balladyn. It was you I wanted.”

  “Then why are you so sad?”

  She swallowed and looked down as his hand took hers, their fingers lacing together. “For a long time I fooled everyone into thinking I had my life under control. It’s all been a lie. When you captured me and tortured me—”

  “I’m sorry,” he interrupted her.

  Rhi paused. The depth of sadness in his words touched her deeply. “Something snapped inside me. Suddenly there was this darkness that felt like it was swallowing my light.”

  “That’s my fault,” Balladyn said and looked away, desolation lining his face.

  Rhi didn’t deny the statement.

  “I wish I could undo it all.”