by Lizzy Ford
He couldn’t escape Skylar’s sweet scent, but he tried, flying until his blood settled. At last, he floated lazily down to the bar, circling it multiple times before finally dropping to all four feet a short distance away.
Gunner waited for him, arms crossed as he leaned against the front post where his bike was parked.
Chace transformed into his human form and tugged his clothing on as he walked towards his friend.
“Heard there’s some trouble,” Gunner said, watching him.
Chace grunted in response and finished pulling his shirt over his head before answering.
“Lots of trouble,” he said. “As in, if things were bad before, they’re about to get worse.” And if I don’t talk to Mr. Nothing, you all might lose the bar, too.
“We were right about Mr. Nothing,” Gunner observed. “What the hell made him fry the people tracking us?”
“I think he meant to finish them off and managed to piss ‘em all off instead.” Chace rubbed his mouth. “I need to find Mr. Nothing. We’ve gotta warn the shifters, too. I am so fucking frustrated right now!”
“All right. Calm down,” Gunner said. “You’re not one to flip out over nothing.”
Chace drew a breath. “You know how you said not to make the deal with Mr. Nothing?”
“Shit.”
“Yeah I didn’t realize what all I was giving up. The bar is connected to my magic. When it’s gone, there’s no refuge for the shifters.”
Gunner grew pale beneath his olive-hued skin.
“The slayers now have a real reason to come after us all, thanks to Mr. Nothing, and I gave up the only place we’re safe.”
Gunner spoke, but Chace was distracted by his thoughts. He wasn’t able to dismiss Skylar from his mind. He was about to lose his magic and his bar. Absently he touched his chest, above the heart. His heart was whole, according to Mr. Nothing, and he wasn’t able to determine why exactly that bothered him as much as the bar situation.
It means the shifter has found the other half of his heart. What the hell was he supposed to do about that?
“Yo.” Gunner waved his hand in front of his face.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Chace focused on his friend.
“Like I said a hundred times already, why don’t you go find Mr. Nothing, and I’ll warn the others. Sound like a plan?”
“He’s nocturnal. He won’t be out until tonight,” Chace replied. “This is my fault, Gunner. I’ll help you warn the others. It’s the only thing I can do.”
“I’ve got our handy phone tree in the bar. Let’s start making the calls.”
Chace nodded.
Gunner strode into the bar.
With another look around him, Chace followed.
Notifying the other shifters took a solid two hours. They began to trickle in by pairs for the emergency meeting Chace had called. When the last of them arrived just after sundown, he took a count and frowned.
“Four more gone,” he said to Gunner, mind going to the rehab center and the pain he’d gone through while there. “That place deserved to be destroyed.”
“I agree,” Gunner said. “I can’t believe they tracked down so many shifters over the years.”
“I know.” Chace’s stomach churned just thinking about it. “I have a feeling they’ve declared outright war this time. I don’t think they’re taking them to any rehab center, just killing them on sight.”
“What’s the plan?”
“If my magic is going to be gone soon, then I want to move the bar one last time to see if we can delay discovery until I figure out how to fix this,” Chace replied.
“You plan on trying to reason with Mr. Nothing a second time?” Gunner was amused. “Enough is enough. We’ll figure out something else. I’ve known him for a few hundred years and never once had the desire to trust him.”
“What else can I do?” Chace demanded. “This is my fault. It was … arrogant of me to think there weren’t more consequences for my actions. Just like it was stupid for me to walk into the rehab center without thinking twice about walking out. I’ve been alive a thousand years and feel like I haven’t learned anything.”
“You have,” Gunner reassured him. “Some lessons are harder. I got my own demons with learning lessons.” Darkness flickered across his face.
Chace didn’t ask. They’d been friends too long to doubt one another, even if neither had learned the entirety of the other’s past.
The movement of someone entering the bar caught both of their attentions, and they looked, hoping it was another shifter. Instead, a buxom brunette in a tight black dress was making her way to the bartender. Chace saw her pass a familiar appointment card to the bald man then leave hastily when she saw Max headed towards her.
“Go find Mr. Nothing. I know you won’t sit still until you do,” Gunner said, nudging him forward with his elbow. “I’ll handle things here and see if we can’t prep people for the worst.”
“Thanks.” Chace slapped his arm and strode out, too edgy to protest, even if he knew he should. He crossed to the bartender, who held out the card as he approached.
Chace took it.
Fifteen minutes. Your cabin.
Expecting the short timeframe, Chace waved towards Gunner and strode out of the bar.
He had transformed into his dragon shape by his fifth step out of the door to the bar and flung himself into the sky. His grueling pace rendered him almost breathless by the time he’d climbed to the oxygen-thin elevation where his cabin was. He circled the mountain to confirm Mr. Nothing was waiting for him in the area near his cabin.
Chace began transforming before he was on the ground and dropped the last few feet. He yanked on his pants then approached Mr. Nothing, pausing to catch his breath.
“It’s too late, if this is a desperate attempt to not become human. It takes effect at dawn,” Mr. Nothing told him.
“I don’t want to change the terms of our initial deal,” Chace said. His body was too wired from emotion for him to feel the chill of the night air. “It struck me that the girl wasn’t part of our original deal. I wanted to amend our agreement.”
Mr. Nothing folded his arms across his chest, suddenly tense.
“I’ll bring her to you,” Chace added reluctantly. “But I want you to protect the shifters the way I have the past few hundred years, by giving them a refuge. If my magic can do it, yours can, too.”
Mr. Nothing was quiet.
“I’ll turn her over before dawn. You pissed off the slayers by destroying their center, and they’re killing faster now. The shifters have nothing but the bar as a refuge.”
“You should’ve known that before you made your decision. Your selfishness put everyone else at risk.”
“I also found the center where they were being killed,” Chace retorted, hating how right Mr. Nothing was.
“My generation of dragons is much different than yours.”
“I’m trying to make things right. Do you agree to my terms or do I just hide Skylar in a deep hole where you can’t find her?”
“You learned nothing from acting brashly.” Mr. Nothing muttered a curse. “I should say no.”
“But I have a feeling you won’t.”
It was Mr. Nothing’s turn to appear frustrated. Chace waited.
Part of him hoped Mr. Nothing refused. At least then, Skylar would be safe. But a small voice told him that he had to turn her over, at least temporarily, to save the others. At dawn, his entire world changed one last time after a thousand years under the curse.
It wasn’t right to escape and leave more skeletons behind him than necessary. It didn’t seem right to sacrifice her, either, but he tried hard not to think of what he felt when he was with her, how smooth and soft her skin was, her faint womanly scent mixed with the peaches of her shampoo ...
“I agree,” Mr. Nothing replied with the same reluctance.
Chace’s heart felt like it dropped to his feet. It made sense to trade one life for a hundred.
But
it felt wrong, too.
“Okay,” he whispered. “I’ll bring her to you by dawn. Where do you want to meet?”
“Maine coast, where we met before. I’ll be waiting.”
Mr. Nothing started away.
“Wait,” Chace called. “You won’t hurt her, will you?” The question sounded stupid out loud. What did he expect would happen to her?
“Not your concern at this point.” Mr. Nothing kept walking. He spread his arms and leapt off the edge of the cliff.
Chace cursed loudly. Moments later, the massive blue dragon soared overhead.
He watched it go, distraught by what he’d done.
Chace walked to the edge of the mountain and sat with his legs hanging over the ledge, pensive
He had a victory, the only good thing to come out of the choice he’d made a couple of weeks ago. He had a promise from Mr. Nothing, the oldest dragon and most powerful that he knew, to take care of the shifters.
The victory was as cold as the wind whipping up the cliff face. He didn’t fully understand what was between him and Skylar or even if it was sustainable beyond physical attraction. Being with her left him calm and centered. She felt so different from anyone else he’d ever dated or slept with.
Did it matter? He’d sold her out, good cause or not. Was this the ultimate price of all his bad decisions? He lost the part of him that made him feel whole?
Chapter Eighteen
The knock at her door jarred her awake. Skylar sat up straight and tossed off the blankets, halfway across the room before she fully registered what she was doing. She shook her head and blinked away what remained of her sleep.
It was midnight. She tied her hair back and made her way through the dark apartment, pausing to flip on the kitchen light so she could see better. She’d been inventorying her new equipment before bed and laid it out on the table to keep from forgetting anything when she set out early the next morning. The thick golden lassos and weapons assured her she had the necessary tools to handle whoever – or whatever – was at her door.
She slid the chain into place on her door then opened it, looking up into stormy dark blue eyes.
“Chace?” she exclaimed. “What’re you doing here?”
“You wanna let me in before the slayers in the lobby figure out I’m here?” he responded roughly. His air was tense, his gaze flickering around the hallway as if he expected slayers to leap out of the shadows lining the walls.
She hesitated, heat blooming in her belly at his scent and the familiar size of his muscular body.
“Or I can just morph into a dragon right here in the hallway.”
“Not my problem,” she told him. “You shouldn’t be here in the first place!”
“Who else can take you to the blue dragon?”
She closed the door, thinking briefly. She should be jumping at the chance to find the man who killed twenty of her coworkers. If the news came from anyone else but the sexy shifter she couldn’t keep her thoughts or mind from straying to …
With a frustrated sigh, Skylar unlocked the door and opened it, stepping away to let him in.
“I see you were expecting me,” he said, gaze going over her body with interest.
“Whatever.” She wore a tank and underwear, no bra. She tried to keep her voice steady, even though her body was growing almost fevered from his nearness. “Like you haven’t seen me naked before.”
“No complaints here.”
She rolled her eyes at him and went into the kitchen, eyeing the golden rope.
“You’ve got my attention,” she said. “Where’s the blue dragon?”
His gaze was on the table. He leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms. His chiseled features were calmer than he’d been in the hallway, his blue eyes no longer flashing with fire. His jaw was shaded by a day or two of hair growth, and there were shadows beneath his eyes.
“Two lassos. Two remaining dragons,” he observed. “So you really aren’t planning on stopping at the blue dragon.”
Skylar didn’t answer. She’d never felt endangered around Chace, but she had began to feel a little … uncertain about much of her life. If she was truly brainwashed, then were her emotions really hers?
“I guess that answers that,” Chace said tersely. “Is it safe to assume whatever was between us is over?”
She looked up at this. Her mouth was suddenly dry, and it was hard to breathe deeply.
“If that’s the case, just lasso me now and take me in,” he goaded, raking both hands through his loose hair.
“Maybe I should,” she retorted, as much to convince herself as him. She crossed to the table and rested her hand on the lasso. It was silky beneath her fingertips, its long fibers smooth.
Skylar’s emotions and thoughts were all over the place. Technically, she needed to take him in, before he, too, blew a gasket and wiped out a building full of people. The power of one dragon to destroy lives had never been clearer than it was less than a day before. She’d left the arms of one dragon to see what the temper of another had done.
Except she hadn’t been able to swallow the idea that Caleb and the others killed shifters. It wasn’t right. The blue dragon, yes, needed to be stopped.
But Chace? Whose worst crime was starting a building on fire to get her attention?
He doesn’t deserve to die. This thought was followed quickly by another, one driven by the instinct she wasn’t able to understand. I have to protect him.
“Hard to condemn someone to death just for being different, isn’t it?” Chace whispered.
She blinked out of her stupor and realized he was standing behind her. The heat of his body was at her back. He moved forward until their bodies were just touching and covered the hand she rested on the lasso with his. Too aware of his warmth and nearness, she froze.
He removed their hands from the rope and to her lower belly. His slid away from hers, under her shirt, and her stomach quivered at the touch. His other hand went to her hip.
“You didn’t come here to tell me about the blue dragon,” she said, seeking some semblance of control over her raging hormones.
“I did. Mostly,” he replied. “And to say farewell.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. But I’ll … take you to him. Just might be the last time I can see you.”
“Because I’m still a slayer?” she asked. His words tore her up more than she expected. She didn’t know what to think when they were together, but she didn’t want them to be permanently a part, either.
“No.” He said nothing else. He pulled her back against him firmly while his hand traveled down, slipping beneath the thin fabric of her underwear.
Her breath caught. “You’re here to show me farewell.”
He nudged her head aside and began kissing her neck, then down her shoulder.
Skylar twisted in his hold and gazed up at him, distracted by the large hand that was roaming over her ass.
“Really. What’s going on?” she pressed. “I don’t want a farewell.”
“No?” He searched her gaze.
“I have no idea what I want, but it’s not for you to be gone. Permanently gone.” I think.
“Almost sounds like you like me, slayer,” he observed, moving close enough that her thighs were pinned between him and the table.
“I don’t know what I feel.”
“How can you be so …” He gave a frustrated sigh. “…you. I guess.”
“Openly conflicted while you’re hiding all kinds of secrets?” she asked, amused. “Why don’t you just stop thinking and kiss me?”
She didn’t have to ask twice. He kissed her hard. His arms tightened around her, and he slid the hand on her ass downward, dipping into her core.
“You were expecting me tonight?” he teased.
“Shut up and take your clothes off, dragon,” she replied roughly.
He leaned back and released her enough to pull off his shirt, followed quickly by his pants. She
peeled off her tank and underwear, barely managing to toss them aside when he grabbed her and kissed her with enough intensity to push her back against the wall.
His thick dick pressed against her, and her belly was ablaze with need. Her core was wet enough for her to be uncomfortable.
Everything about him was rough, raw, from his demanding kisses to the pressure of his touching. He was branding her, claiming her.
Or maybe, afraid to lose me? Unable to identify where the random thought came from, she dismissed it, more interested in the sensations flying through her body and the feel of his warm skin and hot mouth.
He lifted her onto his hips and pressed her against the wall, his hard dick pressed to her core. She wriggled against him.
“No teasing this time,” she warned him.
“I won’t,” he said, withdrawing.
He studied her features, as if wanting to memorize her face. Freeing one hand, he pushed her hair back from one side of her face then traced a finger down the side to her chin.
“You okay?” she asked, not expecting the pensive look that crossed his face when their naked bodies were pressed together.
“Right now, yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Could change later.”
Her instincts wriggled, warning her that something was really wrong.
“Then let’s enjoy ourselves,” she said and took his finger in her mouth, sucking it hard.
He smiled, tenderness in his gaze. He pulled his finger free and traced it down her neck and stomach, towards where their bodies were pressed together.
“You have to trust me, if I take you to the blue dragon,” he whispered, kissing her lightly. “Can you do that?”
“Yeah,” she murmured and then took his lower lip between her teeth.
His finger stroked her clit hard, and she arched with a gasp. He made light, lazy circles around the aching button.
“You sure?” he whispered. He kissed her neck.
Skylar’s heart felt like it was going to explode from the adrenaline and need that lit her blood on fire.
