by Donna Grant
Ryder briefly looked away. He felt like it too. Unwilling to return to human form, he opened his mental link to Con and said, “I’ll be fine.”
“Hmm,” Con said after a moment. “I’m no’ so sure. Kinsey is messing with your head.”
“There’s a lot going on between Ulrik, the Dark, and now trying to clear her name.”
Con released the cuff link and leaned his forearm on his bent leg. “I trust your judgment, Ryder. You’ve never let me or any of the Kings down. It’s why I didna allow Rhys to interrupt you and Kinsey last night. Everyone deserves a night off here and there.”
“But?” Ryder urged.
“There was a breakthrough with Esther. She gave us a name.”
This shocked Ryder so much he shifted into his human form. They should’ve told him immediately. When he thought of all the answers he could’ve learned from a single name, he wanted to shout his fury at losing those hours.
Then he remembered who he’d been with.
“You should’ve let me know,” he told Constantine.
“I did a search of the name.”
The thought of someone else messing with his equipment irritated and infuriated Ryder.
“Ah,” Con said with a slight smile. “You doona like the idea that I was in your space?”
“Nay.” No use beating around the bush. It was always best to be honest with Con, no matter the outcome.
Con gave a little tilt of his head in acknowledgement. “I can understand that. We’ve all had our jobs for the last several hundred years.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing.”
Ryder walked to the corner where a notch was carved into rock where clothes were stashed for just such occurrences. He took a pair of jeans and a flannel plaid button-down and put them on. “How deep did you search?”
“No’ as deep as you will. I wanted to see if anything would come up. There was nothing.”
“Which means there’s definitely something.”
Con nodded his blond head. “I agree. I’ve got a meeting in Paris tomorrow. I’ll be leaving later this afternoon.”
“Since when do you tell me what you’re doing?”
“Since all of you have been snooping into my life.”
Ryder grinned. “We just want to know who the lucky lady is.”
“No’ going to happen.” Con dropped his arms and stood. “I’m sending Asher to a distributer meeting in Prague tomorrow.”
“Do we expect a surprise visit?”
“I always expect the Dark now. Doona factor out Ulrik either.”
Ryder crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m good, Con, but I’m already stretched to the limits with all the searches I’m doing.”
“Then make use of Kinsey. While she’s here,” he added as he walked from the cavern.
So much for Ryder wanting to get away. He had no choice but to get to his computers immediately. The fact Con left him alone last night was surprising, but also concerning. It was out of character for Con in a very big way.
Ryder hurried from the mountain. It wasn’t until he was halfway up the stairs that he remembered his boots. He’d get them later. There was too much to do for him to waste time turning around.
He got to the room and took his seat, pulling his chair forward. The computers recognized his presence instantly and the virtual keyboard lit up.
On one screen was a name typed into a search: Sam MacDonald. A common enough name. So common that over eleven thousand pulled up.
Ryder narrowed the search to look for men around the same age that Ulrik appeared—mid-thirties. It reduced the number to right at four thousand.
Still too many names. Next, he tightened his search to any of the Sams who owned their own business. That significantly lessened the hits to fifteen hundred. Ryder couldn’t focus the search on hair or eye color, because Ulrik would be able to change those if needed. Nor could he search by area.
He was going to have to go through each and every picture to see if any of them matched Ulrik. That was going to take an enormous amount of time.
Ryder looked up at his monitors. The eight closest to him were all either running searches or showed live feeds from the cameras throughout Dreagan.
With no other choice, he moved what Kinsey had been working on to the last four screens farthest from him and took over another four.
He continued searching for Ulrik in Ireland and Scotland, going through every Sam MacDonald who owned a business to see if they were Ulrik, checking on MI5 who were still on Dreagan, trying to tie Ulrik to sending Kinsey to Dreagan, not to mention clearing Kinsey’s name.
Kinsey. She was never far from his thoughts. Even when he was as swamped with work as he was right now, she was still there in his mind.
Their night together only reminded him of everything wonderful she brought to his life. Immortality was monotonous when spent alone.
Ryder didn’t go looking for love. He’d had his share of women, but none of them caught his attention—and his heart—like Kinsey.
Her infectious smile, her genuineness and sincerity, and her empathy were what hooked him. Her beauty and amazing violet eyes might have first caught his attention, but it was just a benefit to everything else she was.
And he’d ruined her.
How many times had he seen humans move on from such loss and find happiness again? Millions of times. Ryder had honestly thought she would do the same. He should’ve known Kinsey was different from the rest.
Ryder didn’t want to spend the day with his computers as he normally did. He wanted to be with Kinsey. It wasn’t enough to have her in the same room working with him.
He wanted to see her smile, to hear her voice as they talked about anything and everything.
He wanted to eat a meal with her across the table from him instead of stuffing bites of food in their mouths as they worked.
He wanted to walk the grounds of Dreagan with her, to take her into his mountain and show her his home. It was a place no human had ever been, but he wanted her to see it.
Ryder’s shoulders fell. As much as he yearned to do all those things, he wasn’t sure Kinsey would be willing. Perhaps after they discovered her innocence. He’d had a night in her arms. That was all he could spare right now.
All those at Dreagan were counting on him. What he wanted and needed would once more be put on hold for the good of Dreagan and his brethren, as well as their mates.
Ryder rolled his head from side to side. It was time to get down to business.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Kinsey opened her eyes. She blinked at the sun shining through the window and smiled as she recalled her night in Ryder’s arms.
A night like that could change a woman’s life. Kinsey should know. He’d done it to her before. And he almost repeated it last night. The only thing that kept her safe was that she didn’t give herself completely.
She turned her head, hoping to find him. Her smile died a little when she found Ryder gone. But this time there was an indent in the pillow. Proof that he’d been with her.
Kinsey threw off the covers and rose from the bed. She quickly showered once she saw the time. Today she threw her hair up in a messy bun at the back of her head and didn’t use any makeup. She threw on a pair of leggings, a waffle-knit red shirt that went under her favorite flannel shirt that was a blue, white, and red plaid, and her boots.
It wasn’t until she was walking into the kitchen that she realized the plaid shirt once belonged to Ryder. He’d left it behind.
Kinsey turned around to change when she found four women in the kitchen doorway. She recognized Lexi and smiled.
Lexi moved away from the women to her. “Hope we didn’t startle you,” she said in her American accent. “We saw you coming down the stairs, and the others wanted to meet you.”
“All right.” What else was Kinsey supposed to say? That she was more comfortable with computers than people? Strangers were no problem, but people that wer
e friends of Ryder’s? Well, that could be tricky.
Lexi’s smile grew. “I promise we don’t bite.”
“That we leave up to our men,” said a tall woman with short blond hair. “I’m Grace.”
Her accent sounded American mixed with something else. French, perhaps? “Hello.”
A woman with wavy blond hair and kind brown eyes smiled as she said, “Hi, Kinsey. I’m Iona. I hear you’re giving Ryder hell. Good for you.”
Another Scot, though her accent was barely there, as if she’d spent a lot of time away from Scotland. Kinsey chuckled. “He can run circles around me on the computers, but don’t tell him I said that.”
“Never,” Iona said with a wink.
Kinsey turned to the last woman who had sandy blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and beautiful powder blue eyes. She shot Kinsey a half-smile.
“That’s Samantha, though we call her Sammi,” Lexi explained.
“Sammi,” Kinsey said with a nod, unsure of how to approach her.
Sammi glanced at the others, then spoke in a thick Scots accent. “They don’t want me to ask, but I need to.”
“Ask what?”
“We’ve heard you’re afraid of Ryder.”
Kinsey should’ve known something like that wouldn’t stay private. She’d hoped it would remain between her, Tristan, Con, and Dmitri.
Though she didn’t know how many Dragon Kings were on Dreagan, she knew it had to be several. Add in the women, and it was a lot of people. Almost like a small village.
Nothing stayed quiet or private in a village.
Lexi touched Kinsey’s shoulder. “You don’t have to answer.”
“No, it’s okay.” Kinsey swallowed. “Yes, I said that.”
Sammi took a deep breath, a small frown forming. “You spent a year with him. You knew him.”
“I didn’t, actually. He kept secrets from me.”
“But he saved your life,” Iona added.
Kinsey nodded, agreeing. “That he did. However, seeing a dragon drop from the sky breathing fire, only to shift right in front of me to the man I knew was terrifying.”
“Not once in a year did he allude to being a dragon?” Lexi asked.
Kinsey turned and grabbed a mug to fill it with coffee. It was too early in the morning to be answering such personal questions without at least two cups of caffeine in her. “No.”
“But you saw the tattoo, right?” Grace asked.
She turned back around with the coffee between her hands to face the women. “Each of you are mated to a Dragon King, correct?”
“Yes,” they answered in unison.
Just as she’d figured. “Tell me how long you were with them before they told you who they really were.”
All four looked at each other, suddenly very uncomfortable. Whatever hurt Kinsey thought she was getting past reared its head again. She knew the answer. Why did she have to ask it? Did she like being hurt again and again?
Sammi was the first to say, “Tristan was sent to help me since I was being targeted by the Mob, which of course is run by Ulrik. I saw him in dragon form when I fell from a mountain and he caught me. I’ll admit, I was scared for a bit.”
“My father was murdered,” Iona said. “That’s why I returned to Scotland. Since Campbell land borders Dreagan, I became the custodian. I fell for Laith the first time I saw him, and loved him before I knew he was a dragon. I learned about Dreagan and the Dragon Kings slowly, so when Laith shifted, I was in awe, but never afraid.”
Kinsey wanted to curl up into a ball. She started to tell the others never mind, that she didn’t need to hear any more, but Grace was already talking.
“I had writer’s block and found Arian’s mountain. I saw him battle a Dark Fae, and I’ll tell you, I was horrified and scared out of my mind. I’d only known Arian for a few hours, but he was injured from the Dark magic. I couldn’t leave him. Helping him back to the mountain prompted him to tell me everything. Mostly because he thought I was working for Ulrik, which I kept telling him was wrong,” she ended with a laugh.
Kinsey stared into the black liquid of her coffee. Her blood pounded in her ears as each story was confirmation of what she’d suspected from the beginning.
Long minutes passed before she realized there was silence in the kitchen. Kinsey looked to Lexi who was staring at her. “And you?”
“I don’t think it matters,” Lexi said.
Kinsey appreciated her kindness. “It does. Please tell me.”
Lexi swallowed, sadness in her slate gray eyes. “I already told you how I saw a Dark kill my friend and I began hunting them. I knew there was something different about Thorn, so I followed him one time when he left me at the flat. I saw him shift in the warehouse in Edinburgh to burn the bodies of the Dark he’d killed.”
“Don’t forget how Guy wiped your memories of Thorn, and yet they returned to you,” Grace said.
They could wipe memories? Now that was something Kinsey hadn’t known. Interesting. And freakishly chilling.
Lexi shrugged at Grace’s words. “The point we’re all trying to make, Kinsey, is that the first time we see them we’re all a little scared. They’re huge and powerful and immortal.”
“The point, Lexi,” Kinsey said with as much of a smile as she could muster past the hurt in her chest, “is that each of your men showed you who they were. They chose to make that decision. Ryder kept it from me. He left me. For three years I had no contact with him or a way to talk to him. Then, out of nowhere he’s there. One minute as a dragon, and the next as a man.”
Sammi’s gaze was full of misery and sorrow. “You’re in love with him.”
“No,” Kinsey stated firmly. At one time she was, but not anymore. “That time is long gone.”
“Perhaps not,” Grace said.
Kinsey walked past them as she said, “It was nice meeting you.”
She hurried up the stairs to the third floor. The walk down the corridor to the computer room seemed exceptionally long that morning. She couldn’t help but feel as if everyone at Dreagan was watching her.
Or it could be the dragons in the pictures lining the hall.
Either way, it was eerie.
“Did you sleep well?”
She halted at the voice coming from inside a darkened room she’d just passed. Kinsey backed up and leaned to peer inside the room. A form moved from the darkness and walked into the hallway. Constantine.
“I did,” she replied. So she had been watched.
Con walked slowly toward Ryder’s office, motioning her to follow him. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said with a bit of an edge to the words.
“Why don’t I believe that? You say the right words, but your tone says something completely different.”
He cut his black eyes to her. “I appreciate your frankness, Kinsey.”
“Because you don’t get it from humans often?”
“Nay, I doona. They’re intimidated by me.”
She snorted. “Just the way you like it.”
A small smile lifted one corner of his lips. “Perhaps.”
That’s when it hit her that Con knew about her night with Ryder. “You don’t approve of me and Ryder, do you?”
He halted and turned to face her. “If I say yes?”
“I’d tell you that you don’t need to worry. Whatever was between us is gone. I enjoy being with him. He’s an amazing lover.”
“You wouldna continue the relationship?”
“No.” She was really getting good at lying. Soon she’d be able to convince herself.
Con’s look was doubtful. “What of Ryder?”
“What about him? He’s a Dragon King and immortal. Not to mention he left me.”
“I believe he regrets that.”
Kinsey shot him a dubious look. “Why tell me that? You don’t approve of us, but imparting that kind of information could change things if I was of a mind to try.”
“Are you? Of a mind to try?”
There was no
emotion on his face or in his gaze. Kinsey wasn’t sure if he was teasing her or testing her. “No.”
“You said that a wee bit fast.”
“Truth comes quickly.”
Con gave a nod before he pivoted and walked away. She shook her head, wondering why every encounter with Con left her more confused than before.
Despite her wanting to ignore Con’s words, she couldn’t. Did Ryder really regret what he’d done? He’d said as much when he thought her asleep, but she hadn’t believed him. She wasn’t even sure she believed Con.
They could be attempting to get her to fall for Ryder again so they could use her as a mole in Kyvor.
She started toward the computer room when she heard her mobile phone ringing. Kinsey walked faster, but it stopped long before she reached her chair.
When she checked the phone she saw that Cecil had called her three times last night and twice that morning. She set her coffee down with a groan.
“Bad news?” Ryder asked without looking in her direction.
Kinsey turned her head to answer him when she saw he was now working on fourteen of the monitors. “It’s Cecil. I forgot to turn in a work order yesterday to give me a reason to remain on Dreagan.”
“They didna put a tracking device on your phone, but they could hack in and locate your GPS. However, on Dreagan, they wouldna be able to find you.”
That was a small comfort. “If that’s true and my tracking isn’t showing up, then they know I’m still here.”
“Aye,” he said, typing.
She leaned back in her chair. “Will you sign whatever work order I draw up?”
“Of course. We need you here.”
She almost asked if they would allow her to leave, but then she realized it didn’t matter. If she wanted to prove her innocence, she needed Ryder. The only way to do that was to stay on Dreagan for however long it took.
Kinsey pulled out her tablet and typed up three different work orders. They weren’t anything that would look suspicious. In fact, they were add-ons to what she originally was sent to Dreagan for.
When she finished, she handed the tablet to Ryder, who signed without looking at what she wrote.
“Aren’t you even curious about what they say?”
