Sarah shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m good.”
As soon as the waitress left, Sarah added sugar to her coffee and had a sip. It was hot and strong, exactly what she needed. She dug around online until she found six men in the immediate area with the same name as the doorman. Grabbing her phone, she started calling them one by one. She got yelled at three times, one call went to voicemail, and another number was no longer in service. She hit pay dirt on the final number.
“Yeah, this is John Barrington.”
“Do you work at Darius Varkas’s building?” She held her breath and prayed.
“Who wants to know?” His belligerent tone told her she’d gotten the right man.
“It’s important I speak to Mr. Varkas,” she began. “Tell him it’s about the Knights.” She rattled off her phone number. “Just give him the message and my number.”
The call was abruptly disconnected. All Sarah could do was wait and hope for the best.
…
Darius sat back in his chair and stared at the phone number he’d jotted down. His doorman had just delivered the strangest message from an unknown woman claiming to have information for him about the Knights.
Was this some kind of test? A threat? Either way, he had to know. He dialed the number and waited patiently as it rang twice before a woman answered.
“Yes.”
His entire body clenched at the soft sound of her voice. “You were looking for me?” He went on the offensive.
“Darius Varkas?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated, and he realized he was holding his breath, waiting for her to speak again. He turned his desk chair so he was facing the window. She was out there somewhere.
“You don’t know me.” He could hear the nervousness in her voice. “You might even think I’m crazy, but I had to warn you.”
“About what?”
“Do you…do you know about the Knights of the Dragon?”
His entire body was tense. It would only take the tiniest spark for him to explode in anger. “What do you know about them?” he countered.
“Not much. I overheard my new employer talking to another man about kidnapping you. I had to warn you.”
He frowned. “How do you know about the Knights?” he asked again.
“A book. I found a book in his library. I had to warn you.” He heard the murmur of voices in the background.
“Where are you?” he demanded.
“A diner. I thought about coming to your building, but it occurred to me Mr. Temple might have people watching you.”
“Mr. Temple?”
“Yes. Herman Temple. He’s the man who hired me to catalogue his extensive private library.”
“Tell me where you are exactly?” he ordered. “We need to speak in person. Better yet, come to my home.”
“I can’t.” He could hear the fear in her voice. He didn’t like it one bit. “I’m afraid they’re watching you. I know they’re watching me, but I managed to sneak out of my apartment earlier tonight.”
“I can get you into my building unseen. Just tell me where you are.”
She hesitated so long he was afraid she was simply going to hang up. Then she told him the name of the diner. He knew it well, had passed by it many, many times. “Wait for me. I’ll be right there.”
“Okay.”
“What’s your name?” Darius realized he didn’t know who she was and hadn’t asked.
“Sarah. Sarah Anderson.”
“Sit tight, Sarah Anderson. I’m on my way.” He ended the call, pushed out of his chair and headed for his private elevator, stopping long enough to grab his leather jacket. It seemed to take forever for the elevator to reach the basement.
He exited the back of the building and paused to look around. He couldn’t sense anyone watching him, but he kept to the shadows until he reached the end of the block. It took him only minutes to reach the diner.
He peered through the window and quickly discounted the male patrons and the waitress. There was only one other woman in the diner this time of night. She was sitting in the far corner playing with a fork. While he watched, she set the utensil down and shoved aside an empty plate.
Her hair was brown and cut short, with bangs spiking down her forehead. Her face was heart-shaped. There was nothing extraordinary about her appearance, but Darius found himself enthralled. He watched for several minutes, until he was sure the men seated at the counter weren’t with her. Then he pulled the door open and walked inside.
She looked up, and their gazes caught. Her skin was smooth, like fine porcelain. And when he got a good look at her eyes, it was like a kick in the gut. They were deep brown, like the finest chocolate. There was no guile there, only genuine concern and worry.
“Mr. Varkas?”
He slid into the empty seat across from her. “Darius. Call me Darius.”
She smiled at him, and he noticed one of her bottom teeth overlapped another. He found the tiny flaw utterly adorable. He shook himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He was almost waxing poetic about a woman he’d just met. His brothers would laugh their asses off if they could see him.
“Sarah Anderson.” She held out her hand, and he took it. The jolt was like being hit with a live wire. Energy shot up his arm to his shoulder before exploding through his body.
When Sarah gasped and her eyes widened, he knew she’d felt it, too.
What the fuck?
He released her hand, and she rubbed hers against her other arm. Whatever was happening between them was unusual, and therefore dangerous. Darius had no way of knowing if she was involved with the Knights. Just because she looked innocent didn’t mean she was.
What better way to trap him than to lure him with a seemingly guileless woman? The Knights of the Dragon were smart enough to plan something like this.
Darius felt exposed. He stood and motioned to the door. “We need to get out of here and go somewhere we can talk in private.”
She licked her lips, and his cock sprang to life. Shit, he did not need this attraction, not now. His suspicions grew when she hesitated.
“Maybe you’re waiting for your employer to arrive.” He tossed out the accusation to see how she would react.
Her skin paled and her eyes sparked with anger. She began to shove her belongings into her knapsack. “I shouldn’t have bothered to warn you,” she snapped. Then she paused and rubbed her forehead. “No, I had to warn you. Now that I have, we’re done.”
She dug into her knapsack and pulled out her wallet. Before she could get out her money, he dropped a twenty on the table. “Will that cover it?”
“More than enough. I only had pie and coffee.” She pulled on her coat and slung her knapsack over her shoulder.
He took her arm, braced for the shock this time, but touching her through her coat wasn’t the same as touching her bare skin. He caught a whiff of vanilla and knew it was coming from her. “Come on. We need to get out of here.”
She let him lead her out the door, but then she pulled her arm away from him. “We’re done, Mr. Varkas.” She turned and started walking away.
He walked beside her and waited until they were out of sight of the diner before he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her down an alley. “It’s Darius,” he reminded her.
“What are you doing?” She tried to pull away from him, but he tightened his grip.
“I need to know more, Sarah. I need to know everything.” He stopped and stared down at her. She was tall for a woman, but tiny when compared to him. He pulled on the one string he thought might convince her to come with him if she was as innocent as she seemed to be. “I’m not the only one at risk. There are others.”
She stared up at him. He felt himself being judged. Whatever she saw in his face must have convinced her he was earnest.
“Okay, I’ll give you an hour or so, but then I’m gone. I’ve got to get out of town.” She shivered, and he wrapped his arm around her again, this time to
offer warmth and comfort rather than to coerce her into going with him.
What she didn’t know was he had no intention of letting her get away from him. Not until he discovered what it was about her that attracted him on such a primal level. He still wasn’t completely convinced she was as innocent as she seemed. It was too much of a coincidence that she’d shown up in his life with information just when he needed it.
It was more likely she’d been sent by the Knights of the Dragon to learn about him, to weaken him in order to make him easier to capture.
It would be smarter for him to say good-bye to her and leave the city.
But there was no way he could let her go, not if there was the tiniest chance she was telling him the truth. If she was truly an innocent in this war, she was in danger from the Knights. The thought of her being harmed in any way made him want to roar with fury.
It took his thousands of years of control to keep the beast inside him in check. Sarah Anderson belonged to him, at least for the foreseeable future. And a drakon always protected what was his.
Chapter Six
Sarah hurried to keep up with the giant of a man beside her. She’d obviously lost her mind. There was no other logical reason why she’d left a public location and agreed to go with Darius Varkas. Yes, he might be in trouble, but he was also a total stranger. Everything she knew about him came from the articles she’d read online, and even they’d been vague regarding his personal life. They all agreed he was ruthless when it came to business. She’d done her part by warning him of the threat. She didn’t owe him anything else.
Except, if there were more people at risk, and she could help but didn’t, could she live with herself? She nibbled on her bottom lip and shivered against the cold.
His arm tightened around her. “Almost there.”
She had no idea where they were going, but his big body certainly gave off enough heat to drive back the chill. Darius was well over six and a half feet tall, maybe even closer to seven, and that was no exaggeration. He was tall and heavily muscled, with broad shoulders. The clothes he wore fit him perfectly, tailored to his size and build. His leather jacket was soft and supple. His clothes might look normal, but on closer examination, they screamed money.
She glanced up and then away before he caught her staring. The grainy pictures in the news article she’d read didn’t do him justice. His features were blunt and strong. His eyes were green. Not hazel, but a true green. His straight, black hair hung like a silky curtain around his shoulders. He looked more like a pirate than a businessman. Although these days, there probably wasn’t much difference between the two.
“This way.” He guided her down a back alley, keeping to the shadows. The skittering of tiny feet next to a dumpster made her shudder. She hated rats.
He reached around her and jammed a key into the lock on a heavy metal door. He yanked it open and all but shoved her inside. She couldn’t see a damn thing. The door clanged shut behind her.
She jumped when he grabbed her hand again and started towing her through the darkness. Enough was enough. She dug in her heels. “Wait. Stop.”
Darius slowed and finally stopped when she tugged her hand from his. “It’s not safe here. We need to go up to my apartment.”
She wiped her hand on her jeans, still able to feel the heat from his skin. “Yeah, well I don’t know that it’s any safer there than it is here.”
“You’re afraid.” He sounded surprised, as though such a thing had never occurred to him.
Sarah adjusted the strap of her knapsack and shrugged, even though she was pretty certain he couldn’t see her any better than she could him. He was a vague outline, a darker shadow in the unlit gloom of the basement they were standing in.
“I’m cautious,” she corrected. “And after everything I learned today, I have a right to be.”
She blinked when she saw something shining in the dark, but the light quickly disappeared. She was probably mistaken. Maybe it had been a reflection off something down here. Yeah, that had to be it. Because the only alternative was that Darius’s eyes had glowed.
Sarah was beginning to feel like she was in the middle of a nightmare that wouldn’t end. She wrapped her arms around her body and shivered in spite of the fact that she was wearing a sweater under her heavy coat and was no longer out in the chilly night air.
Heavy hands clamped down on her shoulders. “You have nothing to fear from me.”
God, she loved his voice. It was so deep and a little rough. She shivered again, and this time it wasn’t all because of fear, which was a sure sign she was losing her mind. This was neither the time nor the place for her libido to kick in, even if she had been in a sexual dry spell for more than a year.
“No offense, but I only have your word for that.”
He sighed, grabbed her hand, and began to lead her through the dark room. She went with him because, really, where else was she going to go? Home? She was afraid to go back to her apartment. She was exhausted from dealing with all the stress. Hungry, too. The pie she’d eaten had been the first thing she’d had since her sandwich at lunch.
Darius seemed to have no trouble seeing, because he led her straight to an elevator in the corner of the room. The button gave off a small light when he pushed it, and the doors slid open. She blinked when the light hit her eyes.
Darius pulled her into the elevator behind him and pushed the button for the penthouse. She tugged her hand from his and wrapped it around the strap of her bag. God, he’s big. At five-eight, she’d always considered herself tall for a woman. Next to him, she felt positively tiny.
He was watching her with those gorgeous green eyes. His mouth was firm, not quite a scowl, but nowhere near a smile. She glanced away, but her gaze was quickly drawn back to Darius Varkas. There was something untamed about the man, probably due to his size and the sense of barely restrained energy that seemed to pulse all around him.
There were no numbers to show what floor they were on, but the lift finally stopped and the metal panels silently opened. Darius stepped out of the elevator and kept his hand positioned so it didn’t close.
“Welcome to my home.”
Sarah pulled together the remnants of her courage and stepped forward. He released the doors, and they closed. She was beginning to feel like a gazelle being herded to slaughter by a massive lion. No…more like a tiger, or maybe a leopard. But some wild beast.
She made her feet move forward on the gleaming hardwood floor. Off to her right was a sitting area with shelves displaying art and artifacts. There was also the requisite large flat-screen television and a cabinet below, which she assumed housed his other electronic equipment.
The space was huge and very open. About thirty feet in front of her, the city skyline gleamed through the wide windows. “Wow.” She passed an antique dining table as she moved closer to the incredible view.
“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” He shucked his coat, tossed it over one of the dining room chairs, and headed toward the open kitchen off to her left. A granite counter separated it from the dining area. Stainless steel appliances gleamed against the dark cupboards.
Darius didn’t wait for her to reply and began making coffee. Sarah glanced at her watch. It was well past midnight, but what the hell, wasn’t like she was going to be getting some sleep anytime soon. “Sure. Coffee would be great.”
For a big man, he moved with grace and speed. She stood there, swaying on her feet, her gaze glued to his hands as he set the pot brewing. When he glanced in her direction, she looked away, chagrined to be caught staring.
“Why don’t we sit down in the living room and you can tell me what you know.”
Yeah, that would probably be smart. She needed to sit down before she fell down. The adrenaline that had carried her for hours was pretty much spent, leaving her feeling empty and exhausted.
“Probably a good idea.” The sofa seemed a long way away, but she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. She practically fell on
to the cushions made of buttery soft brown leather.
“Give me your coat.” He held out his hand, but she shook her head, reluctant to release any of her belongings. His mouth tightened in disapproval, but he didn’t press her.
He perched on the rather large and heavy coffee table in front of her and rested his elbows on his knees. “What do you know about the Knights of the Dragon?”
She marshaled her thoughts. After all, this was the sole reason she was here. She ignored the lock of hair that fell across his forehead, and the narrowing of his beautiful eyes. Really, the man was too good-looking for her peace of mind.
He clasped his large hands together, giving her a glimpse of his thick wrists and muscled forearms.
Sarah shook her head. She had to get a grip on herself. “Okay, let me start at the beginning.” She told him how she’d lost her job but had been steered toward the interview with Herman Temple. “It seemed like a dream job,” she told him. She scrubbed her hands over her face. “That should have been my first clue that something wasn’t right.”
One corner of his mouth kicked up. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it still made her heart flutter.
“Not an optimist, I take it?”
She shook her head but then thought better of it. “I generally am pretty optimistic about life, but this seemed too good, too perfect, if you know what I mean?”
He looked straight at her and nodded. “I understand perfectly.”
It took her a moment to catch the undercurrents in his statement. “You think I’m involved with the Knights, don’t you?” She waved off any reply he might make. “You’re entitled to your opinion. Do you want the rest of the story?”
“I’ll get coffee first. You look like you could use it.” He stood and strode to the kitchen. Sarah forced herself not to watch him leave. Honestly, she needed to get her act together. This was no time to be attracted to a man, no matter how gorgeous he was.
He wasn’t classically handsome. His features were too rough and blunt, his size too massive. But he was compelling and possessed an animal magnetism that would draw female gazes wherever he went. He certainly revved her engine.
Drakon's Promise (Blood of the Drakon) Page 5
