by Lucy Lyons
“And is there a Dragon Helicopter Service?”
“Ah, there will be. Here,” he opened a desk drawer and handed Steph a folder.
“Your first assignment. Here is a shell company I incorporated about ten years ago.”
Steph took the folder and read the tab.
“Dragon Services?”
“Yes. I had no idea if Ryan being a dragon would come up but I wanted to be prepared. Find an office and set it up at one of the smaller airports in the state. I don’t care which one. I’ll call my accountant and tell him that you have power of attorney over the company. You draft the documents as well as your employment contract. We’ll start you at $250,000 per year, and include some performance bonuses on top of that.”
The elder Kaur was in full businessman mode, rattling off instructions and not giving time for Steph to be amazed at the money he offered. She grabbed at a pad and pen on Kaur’s desk and started writing furiously.
“We’ll need at least three helicopters to make it look good, so you are to order them and have them delivered to the new office, all with the Dragon services logo on them. We’re backfilling here, so we need to be quick about this. But order them through the Kaur aircraft division, and order the top of the line ones.”
“Any particular color?” quipped Steph.
Kaur gave her a quizzical look. “Order what you think is appropriate.”
“Blue then,” said Steph. “As a dragon, Ryan is blue.”
“Blue, eh? Well, blue it is.” He continued without missing a beat. “We’ll have you move in here.”
“Now wait Mr. Kaur. I don’t think Ryan will like that.”
“Why?”
“Because he left me,” she said bitterly. “Fired me and flew off with that other dragon.”
“Other dragon? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Another dragon showed up at the hospital, the second time, and Ryan went off with him.”
“That damned rat Watins,” cursed Ivan. “He told me Ryan flew away the second time like the first.”
“Are you surprised he lied, sir? After the lies he’s told you all these years.”
“No. I suppose not. But this is news to me and concerns me greatly. Do you know where he is?”
Steph shook her head. “No. I haven’t heard from him.”
“Damn. That can’t be good.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ryan
Ryan’s feet hit the marble floors of the hallway of the dragon’s palace with a dull slap. The dragon queen was certifiable and he wasn’t go to spend another minute here, answers or no answers. But he didn’t know where he was going and afraid he ran deeper into the underground compound rather than out.
Behind him the queen’s roars rumbled through the halls though they were getting fainter. Ryan didn’t know what this meant. Either she changed form to pursue him or she sent other dragons to chase him. Ryan’s only hope was to get away from here. Now.
But Ryan’s shins hit a hard surface and he flew forward to crash into the solid floor below him. He turned to see a man who looked to be about his age standing with a staff.
“Sorry,” the man said. “I had to stop you and this was the fastest way to do it.” He held out his hand. “I’m Evan Waters.”
Ryan took the offered hand and stood as he tried to place the name. “Wait. You’re one of the dragons that escaped the English prison.”
“Well, I escaped but I landed here, so I don’t know if I’m better off. But you managed to get the queen royally pissed off. What did you do?”
“She read my thoughts.”
Evan shrugged. “Well, that could do it depending on the thoughts. Come on, we don’t have much time. They’ll be watching the courtyard and that is the best place for launch.”
The man turned and sped in the direction that Ryan had come, but soon turned down a hallway perpendicular to the other. Ryan followed and Evan entered a stairwell leading up. They broke onto the courtyard where Ryan had arrived hours earlier. It was dark and no moon shined so they were both shrouded in darkness.
Evan pulled the robe off him.
“Shift and go now,” Evan whispered, then he backed away.
Ryan stood in terror, his heart beating wildly. Now when he needed to transform he couldn’t seem to do it. So far shifting had been totally involuntary and in response to immediate danger. The white fire he breathed was involuntary too and he was shocked that it did nothing to harm Rhea. Right now he was standing in the dark, totally naked, and doubting his ability to do anything.
“Shift!” urged Evan from the shadows.
“If I could I would!”
“Don’t you know how?”
“Only when something dangerous happens.”
“Well, think of the most terrible thing that can,” suggested Evan.
Ryan remembered Calvin’s warning that should he leave Steph’s life would in danger. That made him furious. Ryan saw for himself how volatile Rhea Gentrix was and it wasn’t hard for him to imagine the dragon queen harming Steph and that he could not tolerate. His anger sparked and rose through him and the prickly sensations on his skin drove him mad. But he was a dragon, and he spread his wings and roared.
“Oh, god,” Evan said from the shadows. “Fly out of here now. I can hear the queens’ guard arriving.”
Ryan did feel the rumble of many feet on the ground. With a great leap, he hurled his body into the air and immediately caught a thermal under his wings. He spiraled upward into the clouds as the sounds of other dragons trumpeting followed him. He beat his wings looking to gain height, but he realized quickly that he had no idea where he was, other than he was flying above a very spikey mountain range. He could be in the Rockies or Tibet for all he knew.
The cries of dragons grew louder and the beating of wings filled the air. He was surrounded. One dragon flew above him and then dove straight at him.
Ryan dove and tried to twist out of his way, but the dragon’s fore claw struck Ryan’s snout painfully, and knocked Ryan off balance. He spun out of control and fell. If he didn’t pull out of this dive he’d smash into one of the mountain peaks below him.
Ryan thought how desperately he wanted to be home. If he ever saw his father again he’d apologize for all the problems he gave him.
And then suddenly the sky cleared of clouds and the air was thicker. Ryan was still falling and he couldn’t seem to get his wings under him. He spun crazily and tumbled but in one of the rotations he noticed a large swimming pool below him. In fact the distinctive shape was that of the pool on at his, or rather, his father’s house. He twisted his body to aim for the pool thinking the water would be an easier landing than the ground.
Bam! Water sprayed around him as he hit the pool. A wave of pain surged through him because the landing was not soft as he imagined it would be. It felt like a very painful belly flop from a diving board only worse.
He bellowed from the pain as two people ran from the house. Ryan thrashed his tail trying to get it under him so he could get upright, but nothing seemed to fit in this damned pool. Why did he think it was big?
“Ryan?” called Steph.
Steph. Thank god it was Steph. He bellowed though it came out a throaty whine.
She jogged to his head and threw her arms around his neck.
“Where did you go?” she said.
Ryan huffed. He must be in shock because not a lot was making sense right now. All he knew was that he scented Steph and that made things a little better.
“Ryan, be human again, okay,” she urged.
Human? He was a dragon, not human. He thought he was human but he wasn’t.
“What’s wrong?” said a deeper voice. He struggled to place the familiar voice. Father. That’s it. It was his father. Only he didn’t have a father. Or a mother. Just Rhea Gentrix—one scary evil mother.
“He’s confused. Probably shock from the fall.”
“Son! I need you to be yourself. Can you do that? Be the Ryan t
hat I know.”
An image of his human body filled his mind and he knew it was how Steph saw him. Blond, tall, muscled, sexy. Everything she wanted. Except he couldn’t have her. Rhea would kill her. He had to get her to leave and stay far away from him.
“No, no,” he said. The pool grew bigger. Water swirled around him to his neck. Steph held out her hand and Ryan pulled up and out of the water and he promptly dropped sit at the lip of the pool. Droplets dripped down his face from his hair while someone draped a large towel on his shoulders.
“Are you okay, son?” asked his father.
“What?” Ryan said, “Is she doing here?”
“I hired her,” said the elder Kaur.
“No!” croaked Ryan hoarsely. “She has to go. Take her away. She mustn’t be here, ever.”
“Ryan!” chided his father. “Ms. Brooks has done nothing but help.”
“Out!” he ordered. “Out of here.”
“No, that’s okay, Mr. Kaur,” said Steph in a steely voice. “If Ryan doesn’t want me here, I’ll leave.”
Her heels clicked away on the patio and Ryan slumped.
“Here,” said his father. “Get him to bed. I have some business to take care of.”
Two of the estates security men hauled Ryan to his feet, and between them dragged him up the stairs to his room. He fell into the bed, grateful for the give in the mattress that eased his bruised body. His stomach was aching badly and he wondered why. He had tried to burn Rhea Gentrix but nothing happened to her.
For some time he lay on the bed going in and out of consciousness, when his door opened. A man he did not recognize flashed a penlight in his eyes and asked him some questions. He pulled down the towel which Ryan used to cover his stomach.
“Yeah. That’s a bruise.” He felt around Ryan’s stomach and asked if it hurt when he pressed on certain areas. Ryan shook his head.
“That’s the fastest healing bruise I ever saw.”
“But, how is he?”
“Exhausted, more than likely. But his fall didn’t damage any bones or organs that I can see. You should take him to the hospital and get a CAT scan.”
“No. We have legal issues to deal with. The hospital is not a good idea. I want him in tip top shape before we deal with the courts.”
“As you wish, Mr. Kaur. Quiet and rest is the best thing for him. If he loses consciousness or starts vomiting, call me.”
“Thanks, doctor.”
Ryan was alone in his room with his father who pulled a chair to the side of the bed.
“So what happened?” asked his father. “Where did you go?”
“I don’t know. But I met my biological mother. She lives in some mountains underground with a bunch of other dragons. My god, dad. She found out about Steph and went nuts. I barely got away.”
“Why would she care about Ms. Brooks?”
“I didn’t get a chance to find out. But, dad. She can’t be around me.”
“I can’t?”
Steph walked into the room with her arms crossed.
“Why are you here? I told you to go.”
“Silly me. I was worried about you.” Steph sounded angry but she didn’t understand.
“Look, Steph.”
“Don’t ‘look’ me, Ryan Kaur. You told me I was fired, left me at the hospital to deal with by myself, and then the first thing you tell me is to leave you. I suppose I will. I know when I’m not wanted.”
Steph stormed out of the room.
“Wait, Steph, that’s not—”
But Steph slammed the door and he was alone with his father.
“Is that your technique with women?” said his father. “Now I know why you are single.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Steph
Steph stomped down the stairs of the Kaur mansion full of fire and fury. After everything they’ve been through and what they did together, he has the nerve to tell her to leave? Yeah. She’ll do that. And Ryan freakin’ Kaur could go jump in the pool for all she cared.
She got to the bottom of the stairs and then stopped. Not only did she not know where she was going, Steph also realized that she had no car. The Kaur house was deep in the countryside of Connecticut, miles from anywhere. Steph left her purse in Mr. Kaur’s study so she walked to the door and pushed it open.
A flash of movement caught her peripheral vision while arms came around to grab her by the throat. Her training kicked in automatically and she delivered an elbow jab to her attackers’ side, jammed her spike heel into the attacker’s ankle, then yanked on the arm now loosely across her throat and tossed man over her hip. He landed with a loud thud at her feet.
“Who the hell are you?” She said as she put her spiked heel at his throat. The spike at his throat looked satisfyingly lethal but all it took was one yank of his strong arms to send Steph to the floor.
She grunted as her bottom slammed into the carpet. While she scrambled to get to her feet, the sound of men running toward the library alarmed her assailant. He got to his feet and run for the patio doors. They rattled as he pulled them open and fled.
Mr. Kaur, and two security people appeared at the doorway.
“Intruder ran through the patio doors,” she said pointing to where the man fled.
“Go,” said Mr. Kaur and the security men took off after him.
Steph scrambled to her feet and took off after the man who attacked her. She was aware that the security men were chasing him, but Steph would be damned if she’d let that creep get the best of her. She tore through the patio door and darted past the pool with her heart pounding in her chest.
“Wait!” she heard Mr. Kaur call.
Wait, Steph, said Ryan in her head. She looked over her shoulder to glimpse Ryan standing in the doorframe of the patio doors. He had put on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She couldn’t help but notice how devastatingly handsome he was in clothes that revealed every muscle in his upper body and hung about his hips lazily. But she was still angry with him for what he did and said so she wouldn’t stop—not for him.
“Steph!” called Ryan across the lawn.
She stopped on the broad lawn beyond the pool and surveyed the area. To the right was the long and high wall that surrounded the Kaur estate. To the left was a wind break of trees that stretched south. Neither the security men or the intruder were in sight. She turned toward the gate at the northern end of the property and spotted one of Kaur’ security at the gate, but the other she couldn’t see.
Steph! Called Ryan again this time inside her mind.
She shook her head.
They want to hurt you! Please, come back.
Steph ran toward the windbreak. There was at least some cover there, and if someone wanted to hide that is where they’d go. When she reached the line of trees she peered inside. It was a jumble of tree trunks, old leaves, vines and broken branches spread as far as she could peer into the leaf-shadowed depths. If it wasn’t for her stilettos sinking in the landscape’s soft loam she would enter.
What she’d give right now for a pair of sneakers.
A crack of a branch caught her attention and she turned her head to its direction. A sweep of her head caught the laser target on her chest and she dropped and rolled as a shot whizzed above her head.
Steph!
Black talons clamped around her waist and she was jerked upward into the air. With difficulty, she twisted to see Ryan’s blue scales.
“Hey!” she complained.
Would you rather be shot by the assassin? Hold your breath.
You’re not—
I am.
Steph, remembering the last time Ryan shifted to another location, sucked in a deep breath and shut her eyes against the sensation of falling that surrounded her. Absolute cold prickled her skin like an itchy rash forming. Her heart hammered in her chest and her lungs wanted fresh air desperately. She resisted the urge to breath, to scream, to protest this latest crazy action by Ryan.
And then a current of air buffeted he
r body and the sun shone on her face. She pulled in a deep breath even though the insane flight by the dragon left her lightheaded. Steph looked to the landscape below her and saw sweeping mountain peaks between rolling valleys of green. She caught a glimpse of a castle rising from the land and Steph wondered where he took her.
He swooped down to the ground and settled on his hind legs and shifted. The strange sensation of Ryan’s body reducing and his dragon hide turning to human flesh spread trepidation through her. She’d seen him change but it was different to feel his talons shrink and his claws turned into hands. She hooked her arms around his neck to keep from falling.
“Hello there,” he smiled.
“Let me go,” she sputtered.
Ryan lowered her to the ground and she swallowed hard when she viewed him naked.
“Where are we?”
“Scotland. See that small castle there?” He pointed toward the turret they’d seen on the flight in. “My family owns that.”
“Okay. But what do you expect to do? Walk in there naked?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“Why not? Don’t they have decency laws here?”
“I suppose. But seeing that my dad owns this land that’s not really an issue. Besides I have my lawyer with me.”
“Oh my god, Ryan Kaur, could you be more ridiculous?”
“Who is being ridiculous?” You insist on putting yourself in harm’s way and not accepting help from my father or me. I don’t know if you realize this, but you are in serious trouble because of me. I take that seriously. And I’m damn well going to make sure you are safe.”
“Don’t put yourself out on my account. I can take care of myself.”
“No. You can’t. Not against the dragons I saw. Steph, they want to kill you.”
“Why?” said Steph pointedly. “Why would they?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t. All I know is that the queen of the dragons went insane when she read my thoughts and found we went to bed together.”
“And what makes you think that we’re safe here?”
