“What’s this cardboard box doing in the front lobby?” bellowed a man’s voice from the first floor.
She heard the shuffled footsteps of the woman moving down the hall. “It’s for you,” she shouted back. The edge of annoyance clearly in her voice.
“Who would send me a box of open coffee grounds?”
Nausea burned in Ruby’s throat. The box had been addressed to Chris Jenkins. That was the alpha. Oh shit.
“What?” Light footsteps raced down the stairs. “Someone sent you a huge box of coffee? Let me see.” She sounded excited. “I’m so tired of the cheap shit you serve here.”
Ruby pulled out her cell phone and dialed Neil’s number. Screw texting. Her hands shook too much to type coherently. He answered on the third ring. She would have thought he’d be anxiously awaiting for her call. “I need an evac now.”
It wouldn’t take long for the wolves to realize they might have an intruder in the den. The coffee had only hid her scent while she was in the box. She had left them a nice trail to follow throughout the apartment building.
“Uh.” Neil’s voice shook. “We’ve got a situation.”
She glanced at the phone as if she misheard him. “I have werewolves. How come you didn’t send me a warning text?” They had one job.
“We have a pissed off dragon who wants to eat me and is in the process of strangling Nick.”
She closed her eyes and dropped her head into her hands. “Save him, dumbass. Then when you’re done, save me.” She shut off the cell phone and returned it to her back pocket. The crystal was going to give her a third-degree burn. Quickly, she pulled her pocket lining out and let it fall to the carpeted floor. The flesh on her thigh complained at the abuse.
The only dragon in the area who would bother the gargoyles was Eoin. How had he found them in Riverbend? She could only deal with the problem at hand and pray Nick survived his reunion with the dragon.
The grimoire had to be in this apartment. That was, if the crystal was working properly. It was much hotter now than it had been at the other end of the hall or when she’d been in the box. The crystal was really designed to direct her to black magic and not just the book. Maybe the woman was somehow linked? Ruby had seen and heard weirder things.
She grabbed a dishtowel from the kitchen and wrapped it around the crystal. It burned hot enough that she could see smoke rise from the fabric as she went from room to room of the small apartment until she came to the bedroom. On hands and knees, she looked under the bed and found a lockbox.
Voices grew louder. She could distinctly hear the alpha and the woman shouting at each other. Ruby pulled out the locked metal case. If she wanted to safe keep a dangerous spell book, this seemed appropriate. She set the wrapped crystal on top of the metal. Out of time and out of options, she would take the whole darn thing with her and hope for the best.
The dishtowel caught fire. She jumped to her feet and stomped the flames out. She wasn’t going to add arson to her list of crimes. Grabbing the handle of the lockbox, she headed to the exit. The gargoyles were supposed to fly her off the fire escape, but they had their hands full of dragon.
She’d go with plan B. Save her own ass.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It wasn’t the first time Nick had awoken to Nate about to give him mouth to mouth. He shoved him. “Get away.” The croaking sound came from his throat. Nick’s tongue felt twice its size. He swatted Nate across the back of the head for good measure. He’d rather die before their lips ever touched. Again.
Eoin’s gravelly laugh caught his attention. “Now, I believe you. I have brothers too. You act like family.” He squatted in front of Nick. “How are you human? I know gargoyles can’t change shape.”
Neil held his cell phone above his head, hopping up and down behind the dragon. It was distracting.
Nick rubbed his aching neck and rolled the ache from his shoulders. “Long story short? A witch.”
The dragon threw back his head and laughed. He then bent over. The terrifying sounds were part man and part demonic nails on a chalkboard. Smoke puffed around his head. “You got yourself cursed.” He wheezed and stood, wiping tears from his eyes. “Serves you right. What did you do to her?”
Opening the throat of his shirt, he exposed the charm around his neck. “I stole this. Are you done laughing at my expense? My girlfriend is in mortal danger.”
Eoin helped Nick to his feet, snickering the whole time. He cradled the charm in his hand. “There’s a good load of magic in this. Very skillfully woven.” He gave Nick a weary smile. “You stole this from Nikita?”
He nodded.
“She’s good. She’s the only witch I use. You either have balls the size of a dragon or you’re very stupid.”
“I’m leaning towards stupid,” Norm interjected.
“A bit of both,” he answered. There was no point in denying it. His plan would have worked if fate hadn’t butt its nose in his business.
Look, here he was on a mission to destroy black magic. In the grand scheme of things, he’d done the right thing.
“More like stupid in love,” Nate said on the heels of Nick’s answer.
“Why are you in Riverbend?” Eoin stared at Neil’s dancing.
Nick frowned and gently shook the fog from his brain. “Neil, what is it?” He was trying to make friends with the dragon so he didn’t harm them.
Neil rushed over, cell phone cradled in his hands. “Ruby called. She needs help. The werewolves are back.”
He snatched the phone from his hands. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Her chest felt tight. Ruby was on her own against the whole pack. All five feet two inches of her and her nonexistent ninja skills. She couldn’t believe she had talked everyone into letting her do this. The only ones to blame were her heart and her ego.
Breathe, Ruby.
She didn’t have time to freaking breathe. A werewolf was going to walk in here any minute and find her stealing the grimoire red-handed. Panicking never got her anywhere. When a street gang had had her and Trixie cornered, what had they done? Kicked and bit and punched anyone within range until a crack formed in their ranks and they’d escaped by running like gazelles on fire.
Ruby had to find a crack.
Fighting off humans on equal ground, she could do. Fighting werewolves was suicidal. She was just a Happy Meal to them. Even if she did get out of this building in one piece, she still had Eoin to deal with. That dragon had the worst timing. Nick had been free from the castle for days yet somehow that flying lizard had tracked him to Riverbend.
The shouting grew louder. Or closer. “You don’t let anyone in while we’re gone, Jade.” From the sound of the alpha’s voice, she suspected he was still in beast form since it held an inhuman gravelly tone.
“Yes, master.” The woman’s words were meek but her tone was acid.
“Stop that.”
“Stop what?” Fake innocence.
“You know what.” The sound was by the stairs. Doors were opening and closing as shifters systematically searched the floor, drawing closer to this room.
“I don’t, master.”
“Jade, I’m not your master.” He spoke softer. “I’m your alpha.” Soft enough that Ruby realized they must be just outside the door.
“I don’t see the difference, especially since I’m not a shifter.”
Oh, dear lord, they needed a private room and a huge bottle of wine. If she wasn’t so terrified, she’d be rolling her eyes into a parallel universe. She clutched the box to her chest and tiptoed to the open living room window. Maybe she could just toss the book out and the gargoyles could retrieve it. Nick would get what he needed to have the curse removed and maybe, if she used the sweet tone of voice Jade was using on Chris, she could talk her way out of this fiasco.
“I’ll search my own apartment,” ordered Chris. “Are you coming, Jade?”
“Yes, master.”
Ruby stifled a frustrated growl. Of course, she was
robbing the alpha’s apartment. It wasn’t like werewolves were territorial or anything. Because everything else was going so smoothly, she was starting to wonder if anything could get worse.
“Why would you let the delivery person walk up here?” the alpha asked the woman.
“I didn’t.” Genuine surprise. “He just set the box inside the door and left.”
“He? I smell a she…”
Crappy crap crap. Ruby set the lockbox on the ledge that ran along the building and crawled out after it. Her lungs forgot how to work and sweat trickled down her back. Nails digging into the old, crumbling brick, she slowly straightened and pressed her back to the wall. The process felt like it took an eternity, but in reality, it must have taken seconds.
She was going to kick that dragon’s balls up into his pancreas. He had wrecked everything.
Chapter Thirty
“Fly,” Nick shouted at his brothers, waving his arms as if scattering a flock of seagulls. “She might be waiting for you on the fire escape like we planned.” He couldn’t believe Neil had stood there all this time without saying anything. He spun to face Eoin. “Do you have any influence with the city’s wolf pack?”
Eoin’s face returned to his earlier fury. “No, their alpha is a bigger asshole than Ryota. Did you know he forced a challenge on New Port’s beta to take his soul mate? What kind of alpha does that?”
Nick growled and wanted to pull out his brand-new hair. “I don’t care.”
The dragon crossed his arms and leveled a glare in his direction. “Did one of your brother’s say Ruby?”
Not even the hostility lasering in his direction could snap Nick into thinking rationally. He’d known something like this would happen. Their plans never work. Even when they were designed by a billion-year-old vampire general. “The woman I love is trapped in the wolf pack den.” He pointed with both hands at the building down the street. His brain was on the verge of exploding from the sheer frustration of being so useless when Ruby needed him the most. “We need to rescue her.”
Eoin narrowed his gaze. “Is this one of those things you do that will make me want to chain you to my home again?”
“Absolutely.” He nodded vigorously. “For the rest of my life.”
Eoin massaged the bridge of his nose. “You’re worse than my army of cats.”
“They’re your pets. Why are you comparing me to your pets?”
The dragon’s furious look turned amused.
“I’m not a pet.” He clutched his throat where his collar had been. Eoin had chained him to his wall like a… He was about to say prisoner, but Eoin had a dungeon below his castle and used it. Prisoners went in the dungeon. The dragon had chained him to the wall like a…dog.
Eoin patted him on the head. “That’ll do, gargoyle.”
Nick shook off his hand and stormed to the edge of the building. This wasn’t the time to define his relationship with this insane, fire breathing monster.
Somebody crawled out the top floor window onto the ledge. It was hard to see any details because the person wore all black, including a hat. It had to be Ruby, standing three floors above ground with no wings. What was she doing? She was supposed to go to the fire escape where he had sent all three of his brothers. He clenched his jaw and snarled. Why had he sent all three of them? Nick scanned the night sky and couldn’t spot any of them so he pulled out his phone and called Neil.
The phone rang. In his other hand. Dammit. He smashed it against the rooftop floor.
The dragon peered over his shoulder. He shoved Nick out of the way and leaned over the edge of the roof, staring at the pack’s home. “Is that Trixie’s sister on the ledge?” He grabbed Nick by the throat again, smoke drifting from his nostrils. “You’re seeing Ruby? Did Viktor give you permission to pursue her?”
“No, was I supposed to ask him?” He forced the words past Eoin’s constricting hand.
“Why did you send her inside the den? I thought you said you loved her.” Eoin took a deep breath, his skin rippling.
“I’ll make any deal you want, just save her.” The dragon was the only one with wings on this roof.
Eoin dropped Nick and stripped. “Anything I want?”
Nick nodded.
She had size six feet yet the ledge was barely wide enough for Ruby to stand upon. Balancing the lockbox next to her didn’t make things easier. She considered letting it fall, but there was a sidewalk below. What if a person or animal happened to pass by at that moment? She couldn’t take that risk. Not with the way her luck had been running so far.
The wind howled so loud she couldn’t hear if the werewolves were inside the apartment yet. She suspected that if she had trouble balancing on this ledge, an eight-foot beast wouldn’t try.
Either way she was going to die. If not from the shifters, then in a fall.
The flipping wind grew stronger, sucking at her body as if trying to pull her away from the building. Only her death grip on the crumbly bricks kept her from pitching forward. A large shadow blocked out the stars. Too big for any of Nick’s brothers.
Oh no. Her stomach dropped. Not the dragon, a tiny voice screamed in her head. She shouldn’t have sworn to kick him in the balls. It proved too much of a temptation for fate to resist, and karma threw her right in his path. She’d had nightmares about Eoin ever since their first meeting. He had clung to the side of her apartment building like a huge cat and caused quite a neighborhood stir.
This mission had been about stealth. Dragging Eoin into this was a WE DID IT billboard for the Riverbend pack to read. If they knew how to read. There were only two dragons in the area. Now didn’t seem like the time to complain though. The dragon might be trying to save her life.
The beat of Eoin’s wings were silent yet stirred the air into a higher pitched howl.
“I don’t remember a storm in the forecast.” Ruby recognized Jade’s voice just before she slammed the window shut.
Ruby startled and her foot slipped off the edge. Struggling for balance on one bent leg, she gripped the handle of the unsteady lockbox and bit back a scream. Jade and Chris hadn’t noticed her on the ledge or the huge dragon hovering just below. The wind masked any noise he made.
It also made it harder to remain standing. The ground called to her as she slid off. The weight of the lockbox dragged her down like an anchor. Then she stopped with a sudden jerk. The lockbox snapped out of her hands and continued the fall. She groaned at the ache in her shoulders and blinked her eyes open.
Nick held her in his arms. He sat astride the dragon and ran his hands over her. “Are you hurt?” He lifted the hem of her shirt, examining her skin for wounds.
She jerked it out of his hold. “Easy, sweetie. Not in front of the children.” She pointed to his three brothers racing to catch up with the dragon. “I’m fine.” She tossed her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “He didn’t kill you.” She glanced over her shoulder at the huge beast under them. “How did he find you?”
Her lover shook his head. “I’ve been too busy trying to rescue you to ask.” She noticed a bruised ring around Nick’s throat and fingered the discoloration. Nick flinched. “It’s nothing.”
Ruby gasped and raised her empty hands. “The lockbox. I dropped it as I was falling. We have to go back for it.”
Nick shook his head. “No way. I came too close to losing you. I’m not taking any more chances ever again.”
“Nick,” she snarled. “I didn’t go through all that for nothing. Turn this dragon around.”
A deep rumble vibrated through the dragon and it took her a moment to realize he was laughing. “Yes, Nick. Turn me around to head back to the wolf den.”
Nick hung his head and pressed their foreheads together. “The only thing that matters is that you’re safe. I never should have let you go in there. I love you so much.”
“Like you could have stopped me.” She pressed a tender kiss to his lips. “You love me?” The words finally sank in. Sure, other men had claimed the same
, but for the first time, she actually believed it.
“More…” He paused with a wicked grin. “More than any magical charm could ever be worth.”
“I love you too,” she whispered against his lips.
“Get a room,” Neil shouted.
She sighed and distanced herself from Nick. “After all that, I can’t believe I dropped the book.”
The dragon raised an arm and rattled something. “Looking for this?” He held the lockbox between his claws.
Relief flooded her body and left her limp in Nick’s arms for a minute. Thank goodness, she hadn’t endured all that for nothing. She didn’t want Nick trapped in this human body against his will.
“What could this possibly be holding that you would risk your life for?” He sniffed the box. “It smells awful.” His forward momentum slowed until he hovered high in the sky in the middle of nowhere between the cities.
The gargoyles circled them. Armand rode in Norm’s arms and looked like roadkill.
She clapped her hand over her mouth and averted her gaze from the carnage. “Is he alive?” It would be very impolite to puke on a dragon. Not to mention life threatening.
“Technically, I haven’t been alive in centuries.” He spoke slowly as if each word pained him. She bet it did. His jaw looked broken.
“I thought you said they wouldn’t catch you,” said Norm to the vampire.
“I must be getting slow.”
Her stomach roiled at his pained words. “Stop making him talk and let him rest.” They owed the vampire a huge debt but she couldn’t stand to look at him anymore.
A loud click caught her attention. The dragon held an open lockbox and sneezed a fireball the size of a small sedan. “Black magic. You think you can bring black magic into my city? You’re a greater fool then I had thought, Nick.” He slammed the lockbox closed, denting the metal. “I’m beginning to believe you’re too dangerous to ever be set free.”
Her lover shrugged his shoulders and hugged her even closer.
“Don’t blame him for this mess. That witch forced him to steal that book. She cursed and blackmailed him.” Ruby left out the reason for the curse.
Not Her Gargoyle: Shifter Romance (Not This Series Book 4) Page 20
