by Denise Lynn
Danielle’s ragged gasp and theatrics nearly had her on the floor. She pointed at Alexia. “It’s her fault. She brought him here.”
“Most likely, yes.”
Ignoring their aunt, Alexia slowly swiveled her chair around, looking at the brothers one at a time. “So what now? Can the three of you defeat him?”
Cam answered first. “If it’s just him, perhaps.”
She could tell by the flat, serious tone of his voice that he wasn’t joking. She glanced at Sean, who only shrugged in response. Alexia swiveled back to face Braeden. “Well, can you?”
“I don’t see where we have a choice in the matter. If you do, please share it with us.”
Everything that had happened the past couple of days exploded. Rising, Alexia glared at Braeden. “Between being threatened, my home blown up, the pages of that manual just appearing, a dragon coming to life and rituals being held on top of my car, I’ve had more than enough. I don’t have any magical skills you can use, so I’m not needed here. And I sure as hell don’t need your sarcasm.”
Her pulse racing in anger, she headed for the door. Before she got within arm’s length, the door slammed closed.
“Sit down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” She put her hand on the door, waiting for Braeden to release the spell holding it closed.
Instead, he repeated, “Sit down.”
She turned around and studied each of the faces now staring at her. Not one hint of sarcasm met her perusal.
Fighting the sudden churning of her stomach, she took her seat and asked, “What kind of powers does this Nathan have?” She paused and looked at Braeden. When he shrugged, she continued, “So how do you even know if you can defeat him or not?”
It was hard to imagine that she’d just asked those questions, so the next one was almost impossible to fathom. “This is going to end up being a war with an unknown force isn’t it?”
This was turning into a nightmare, one she hoped to wake up from soon.
Danielle waved an arm in the air. Her flowing sleeve billowed. “He’s a Learned. A wizard like Braeden. At one time he’d been trained to be the High Druid of Mirabilus, but that was denied him. Who knows what he can or can’t do?”
“He can’t translate the manual.”
Alexia looked back at Braeden. “Obviously.” She took a breath. “Where has he been hiding all this time?”
Braeden raised his hand. “Hold on a minute.” He directed his attention to Danielle. “I want amulets for everyone.”
She nodded in agreement.
He then focused on his brothers. “See that the Lair and the perimeter is secured.” He pointed at Sean. “Physically.” Then he pointed at Cam. “And magically.”
Leaning back in his chair, he frowned before adding, “We’ll meet at dinner.”
Alexia watched in amazement as the other three took their leave. “They take orders well.”
“Too bad you don’t.”
She glared at him. “I’m not one of your serfs.”
“But you are my family and that puts you under my protection whether you like it or not.”
His family. Funny she hadn’t felt like a member of his family in years. And right now, she actually preferred it that way.
Alexia stood up. “If I try to walk out the door, will it open?”
“Of course it will. But you aren’t going anywhere until I’m ready.”
If he was trying to piss her off, he was succeeding. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t play dumb. You said yourself that you have no powers. Until Nathan is dealt with, you aren’t going to be left alone. You pose too much of a risk.”
Alexia crossed her arms. “How so?”
He rose and shook his head. “Please, the role of dimwit doesn’t suit you. What do you think would happen if Nathan captured you?”
She shivered. “He’d kill me.”
“No. That would be the last thing he did. First he’d use you to get the book and Mirabilus.”
“That choice would be yours. And I don’t see you giving up Mirabilus for me.”
She’d forgotten how quickly Braeden could move. Before she could take a step back, he came around the desk, grabbed her arms and pulled her hard against him. “Then you are a fool, Alexia.”
Her hands resting on his shoulders for support, she stared up at him. She could see his intent in his overbright gaze. He was going to kiss her again, and this time she didn’t think she’d come away unscathed.
“Braeden, please, don’t.” Her trembling voice disgusted her, but she was unable to stop the shivers racing through her body at his nearness.
He threaded a hand through her hair and lowered his head to brush his lips gently over hers. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him harm you.”
She closed her eyes on a groan. “I’m not afraid of him.”
Nathan tipped his vaporous wings and circled the Isle of Mirabilus far below. He glided lower until rivers, mountains and valleys came into sharp focus. Someday soon it would be his—along with the rest of the world.
The certainty that he would succeed excited him, leaving him with a hungry need. A hunger so intense that it drove him into the currents of autumn air swirling about the island. It’d been nearly eight hundred years since his last visitation upon the inhabitants. They wouldn’t know what hit them.
But the Dragon would know. Between the death of an innocent and another orchestrated break-in, the Dragon of Mirabilus would rush home, leaving his lair—and his mate—unprotected.
Chapter 9
Maybe it was nothing more than the rush of adrenaline at the thought of the coming battle with Nathan, but she tasted so good. Braeden pulled her closer against him as if holding her would keep her safe.
He broke their kiss and stared down at her. A trace of tears shimmered in her eyes and he cursed himself for being such a fool.
Slowly he released her. And even more slowly she backed away. Her hesitancy showed that her body wasn’t as averse to his touch as her words claimed.
Alexia turned toward the door. “There’s work to do.”
A slight tremor was still evident in her voice. Braeden narrowed his eyes. There were too many things left unsaid. Not just about their past or present. He was positive Alexia still withheld information he needed to know.
If he waited for her to tell him about her dissertations on the manual and her involvement with Nathan, they could all be dead. But Braeden also knew that if he approached those topics head-on, she would clam up.
There were other methods. Some mortal. Some not.
He waited until she was a few feet away before saying, “The good news is you’re right. We do have work to do.”
Without turning around, she stopped and asked, “And the bad news?”
“We need to solve us, Alexia. One way or another.” He waited for the eruption.
“Why? Just let it rest.”
He didn’t like the sound of defeat in her tone. Alexia didn’t talk when she was upset. Instead, she sought solitude by climbing into a cave, then pulling a rock over the entrance.
But when her emotions ran high, with passion or anger, she had a tendency to talk—sometimes too much. Her anger or passion would serve him better right now. “For how long? Another three years?”
“We tried to talk about this yesterday and you walked away.”
It galled him that she was right. “Yes, for once I walked away.” He couldn’t tell if the flush reddening the tips of her ears was from guilt or anger.
“If I apologize for leaving, will you stop throwing it in my face?”
He stared out the windows at the swaying pines. It probably would be easier to take her advice and just let it rest. He could obtain the information about Nathan from her any time he wished. But something inside struggled with the idea of taking anything from her mind without her permission.
Some nearly forgotten sense of chivalry demanded he play fair. He had to get her to talk. First, they needed to
get beyond that one moment in time—the one that tore their world apart. And the only way to do that was to shove the doors open and face the monster on the other side.
Was he ready to do that?
Braeden clenched and unclenched his fingers before turning toward her. “There’s no need for you to apologize for leaving a situation you couldn’t bear.”
Alexia blinked as his words sank into her mind. She turned around and looked at him. Frown lines creased his forehead. His eyes darkened, glimmering with an emotion she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It wasn’t exactly anger, but neither did he appear to be willing to have this conversation.
She sighed and waved absently toward the door. “We don’t have to do this now.” In all honesty, as far as she was concerned, they never had to have this conversation.
He stepped closer. “Someday soon we’ll have no choice.”
Her pulse quickened. She wasn’t at all certain she was ready to hear or say things that would only bring the reason for her departure back into sharp focus.
Before she could fully decide, the warmth of his hand on her shoulder made her knees sickeningly weak. He traced the side of his thumb along her neck, making the urge to lean against him almost impossible to resist.
Alexia swayed. It would be so easy to accept the gentleness he seemed to offer. No. She pushed him away. “Braeden, don’t.”
He lowered his hand. “Go back to the suite. I’ll be up…later.”
His slight hesitation let her know there was more than angry frustration driving him. She looked away. “I’m sorry. I just…”
Braeden shook his head. “Save it.”
“I just…I don’t…” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to share your bed.”
“You say that like it’s a challenge.” He reached out again and stroked her cheek.
“No.” Alexia backed away. “I mean it, Braeden.”
He didn’t say anything. He simply stared at her lips, making her mouth go dry. Then he lowered his gaze to her breasts, causing her nipples to harden. Between gritted teeth, she ordered, “Stop it.”
“Fine. I will.”
She headed to the door. Before leaving the office, she heard him add, “For now.”
Braeden paused just inside the door to his suite. It hadn’t taken him long to come to a decision. Before this day ended, he’d have all the answers he needed, one way or another.
Alexia stood before the worktable in the office, staring down at a page of the manuscript. Without turning around, she asked, “Did you move these?”
“No.” He hadn’t been in here since they’d left earlier. Walking up behind her, he asked, “Why?”
She picked up her notes. “According to my notes, this is the page I was working on.”
He glanced over her shoulder. “Isn’t that the same swirl at the top?”
“Yes, but doesn’t it look…different to you?”
“It could be smaller than I remembered.”
“And look at this.” She pointed at the first line.
He moved to stand beside her, remaining silent when she put a little distance between them. She’d obviously understood his silent warning—he wasn’t going to let her challenge go unanswered.
He shifted his attention to the page. A frown marred his forehead. “Where is that draca symbol?”
“Oh, it’s still there, but it’s extended out now, letter by letter, instead of all four letters on top of each other.”
“How?”
“I’m only in charge of translating.” She glanced up at him. “Anything magical or mystical is your responsibility.”
“Are you positive this is the right page?”
She handed him her notes. “Yes.”
Braeden studied the crude drawings on her pad, then looked back at the page. He handed her back the pad. “What else is different?”
“There seem to be more words on the page.”
“Can you make anything out now?”
She sat down, put on her gloves and picked up a pencil. “The writer is telling the story about the Mirabilus twins who existed at that time. They were women and had been separated at birth. One was raised by her mother, a Druid priestess, while the other was raised in Normandy by her titled Christian father.”
He sat in the chair next to her, leaned back and seemed to absorb her recital.
“Look! Braeden, they were each given a dragon pendant. The girl raised by her father was given an amethyst pendant that matched the color of her sister’s eyes. The Druid sister owned a sapphire pendant that matched her Christian sister’s eyes.”
She turned to him. “You and Cam even have the right dragons in your offices. You have the sapphire one, and didn’t you say he has the amethyst one?”
“Yes. Any particular reason that seems right to you?” She was so engrossed in her discovery that she didn’t appear to notice how easily she shared the information, or her excitement with him. Nor was she aware that he’d moved closer.
“Well, other than what I’ve just read, not really.”
He waved her back toward the manual. “What else?”
Alexia tried to write as quickly as she talked. “The Druid sister was called Evonne, queen of Mirabilus. The other was Rhian of Gerviase. They were brought back together when their father died shortly after his wife.”
“Had the parents lived apart all that time?” Braeden stretched his arm across the back of her chair.
“It appears so. There’s no mention on this page of them reuniting.”
She paused, studying the words on the page as they seemingly became clearer before her eyes.
“After returning to Mirabilus, Rhian soon married Gareth of Faucon—the man who’d escorted her to her sister—and then she moved to England with her husband.”
Braeden intently studied a gentle wave in a section of Alexia’s hair. He trailed a fingertip through the soft wave, letting it curl around his finger. “And the queen?”
“Her first husband died a week after their wedding. Eventually she wed…” Alexia shook her head, pulling her hair free of his touch. Then she continued, “She wed an earl, Jared of Warehaven. He was known as the Dragon. He gave up his lands and title to move to Mirabilus, where he and Evonne eventually took on the surname of Drake.”
“Ah, the beginning of my family.”
Alexia set the page aside and pulled the next one forward. She groaned in dismay.
Braeden stroked her neck and watched the goose bumps race along her flesh. “What?”
“It’s garbled, like the other one used to be. I don’t understand this.”
“How do you think the first page changed to something coherent?”
“If I knew the answer to that, don’t you think I’d use it again?”
He ignored the sharpness of her tone and suggested, “We could sit here and watch.”
“Watch what?”
“Just simply watch to see what happens, if anything.”
Alexia sat back in her chair and stared at the pages. Minutes ticked by and nothing happened. Braeden’s even breathing was the only sound to break the silence of the room.
He caressed her shoulder, making her heart momentarily kick into higher gear. When it settled into a more stable rhythm, she glanced at him and noticed that he’d narrowed his eyes.
Whether he was aware of it or not, his breathing had quickened before falling back to normal.
With his arm still slung across the back of her chair, she knew he’d taken her comment about not sharing his bed as a challenge.
That was typical of Braeden. How could she have forgotten that? Yet it was his quiet contemplation that had her on edge. Why did his next move require so much thought? It was doubtful that whatever plans he made would benefit her.
She wished things were different. It would be easy to accept his closeness, even to swallow her challenge if she wasn’t so certain he was actually plotting to get her into his bed simply to prove her wrong.
Why couldn�
�t there be more? Alexia wondered if the same memories ever ran through his mind. Did he occasionally wonder what it would be like if things had been different? Did he ever find himself mourning what they’d lost?
Her breath lodged in her throat. She wished she didn’t still care about Braeden. If only she could find a way to make her heart forget that she’d ever cared, that she’d ever loved him—or that he’d once loved her, too.
Braeden leaned forward and stared at the pages. “Look.”
She leaned forward, too, and looked at the manuscript. The top quarter of the page had filled in with readable writing. “How?”
He stood up and paced the floor. “A spell binds the book.”
Alexia didn’t tell him how obvious that was because she knew he was just thinking out loud and she didn’t want to interrupt his thoughts.
He frowned. “What were you thinking about just now?”
Heat fired her cheeks. “Nothing.” She turned away, hoping to hide the flush.
Braeden stared at her. Now what was she hiding? He’d had enough of wondering what she hid, and more than enough of her half answers.
If there was a time to coax her into providing answers, now was it. She was flustered, embarrassed and still excited about the manual.
He could take her up on her unwitting challenge, make headway before she’d realized what was happening. While seduction might not be considered fair play, it was useful. And right now there were too many loose ends, too many questions unanswered. He needed to employ every tactic in his arsenal if he was ever going to obtain the information he sought.
Without drawing her attention to what he was doing, Braeden willed the bolt on the entry door to slide into place. Just as silently, he willed the double doors to the office closed.
Since she appeared not to notice either action, he moved behind her, asking the obvious, “Was Nathan the one who contacted you to begin with?”
Her shoulders tensed. “Maybe.”
Even though he was certain Nathan was involved, Braeden refused to settle for her half answers. He placed a hand on her shoulder, brushing his thumb along the side of her neck, and coaxed, “Maybe, as in yes, or maybe, as in you aren’t sure?”
