by Eden Ashe
Beside her, his hands clenched into fists, and she could almost see the rage pulsing out of him. A low, feral growl sounded in his chest. She looked up at his gorgeous face. He was fighting to keep his fury inside for her. He always did that. No matter how scary he was, he always tried hard to do the right thing for the people in his life.
Because he was making that soothing noise, she scooted in a little bit closer to him. She needed to explain that, too. Why she responded the way she did to the animalistic sounds that came out of his chest when pissed or upset, but she’d hoped to put it off longer.
“Keep going,” he finally ground out.
Needing to touch him, she slipped her small hand into his large one and held on. “Luckily Gabriel and Adrian had a source inside the police force that let them know when a magical being was in trouble, especially a kid.” She closed her eyes and forced herself to focus on the part of the story she wanted him to hear. “I was so afraid of that place. Porter had always warned me about the police and what he would do if I ever tried to get help, and then they were all so…loud.” She closed her eyes as her body let out a violent shudder. “And angry. There was so much yelling and fighting, and noise, and I couldn’t handle being stared at and their probing questions and everything, so I bolted when no one was looking.” She smiled because that had been her first act of defiance in her life. “I hid under a desk, making myself as small as I could. I was hurting so bad, and I was so scared. I didn’t want to go home, but I didn’t want to stay there, and I didn’t know what to do, when suddenly, this giant, scarred man crouched in front of the desk. He stared at me, too, but he studied every bruise and mark on me, and I could feel him getting angrier by the second just as I could feel my pain seeping out of me. And then he let out this sound. This growl. And before he knew what was happening, I’d crawled out and launched myself at him.”
The confusion on Dallas’s face reminded her of the look Adrian had that day so long ago. “Because he’d growled at you?”
She nodded. “Yes. He was the scariest thing I had ever seen, even scarier than Porter, and he was angry. Not at me, but at Porter, and I knew Porter would never be able to hurt him. Which meant if this giant kept me, Porter would never be able to hurt me again. And then, like Adrian had needed to prove to me that I was safe, he held his hand up for me to see.” Untangling her hand from Dallas’s, she lifted his hand, palm out, her gaze steady on his, despite the tears that continued to leak. “And then he told me to put mine against his.” She pressed her hand against Dallas’s so their palms were lined up, and they could both see the size difference. “He told me that I was safe with him because he would never, ever hit me. Because he would kill me if he ever did. It wasn’t exactly true. Porter was head of the Hunters then, and almost as big, but he hadn’t managed to kill me with his fists yet. But Adrian wanted me to see that my size meant something to him, and that he would use his superior strength to protect me. Not harm. And from then on, whenever I got afraid or felt like things were out of control, he’d stop whatever he was doing and hold his hand out for mine.” She pulled her hand back and used it to wipe at her tears. “And it reminded me that no matter what, when I was with him, I was safe.”
* * * *
Dallas was starting to understand why Lily and Adrian’s bond had been legendary. Adrian Cage, who had been the most violent and bloodthirsty of the Hunters for thousands of years, had settled down into a father figure, though he’d never lost his edge. If anything, he’d become smarter, sharper, and more violent. The dragons had kept a close eye on him, worried what he would do if he ever perceived the slightest danger from one of them.
Seren’s comment about Lily’s magic suddenly made sense. No matter what she thought, Dallas would bet anything it was her instinct and magic working together that had connected her to Adrian.
Without thinking, without giving it a single thought, Dallas hooked his arm around her waist. He hauled her into his lap, grateful he hadn’t put on a shirt yet. He wanted that skin-to-skin contact with her. He banded his arms around her, keeping his graveled voice soft. “That’s why you still call him?”
Her teeth worried at her bottom lip as she nodded. “The world isn’t safe without him. He was the strongest Hunter out there, and if something could kill him, then I wouldn’t stand a chance. Someone is coming after me, destroying everything I love, and I don’t know how to stop it.”
It was something he understood. If something was capable of taking out Daniel, the strongest dragon in existence, the rest of them would be fucked. How did you survive an enemy not even your king was able to defeat? One last tear trickled out. He wiped it away with the pad of his thumb before he dropped his chin down on her shoulder. His heart was pounding in his chest, and in that second, he would have done anything to help ease her fear without a second thought. Anything.
“I will look for him.”
Lily’s eyes went round, and she scooted back. “What? Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m not sure he’s dead, either,” he said, his gaze holding hers. “There’s too much that doesn’t make sense, and I was there that night. The only being there strong enough to kill him was Alexi, and he was dead before he had the chance. Cage was still alive and fighting when Micah took him out.” He cursed at the hope that lit her eyes, and he tangled both his hands in her hair so she had no choice but to hold his intense gaze. “I am not saying he’s alive, Lily, and I don’t want you getting your hopes up. They found his ring, and everyone else is accounted for. It’s almost impossible that he survived.”
She shifted to straddle him. “Thank you, Dallas.”
He sighed. “For what?”
“For not acting like I was a heartbroken kid and patting me on the head.”
Some of the shadows had faded from her eyes as she tucked her head under his chin. The ache in his chest tightened with something like pride that he’d somehow found a way to help her. He felt ten fucking feet tall.
Her head suddenly snapped up so quickly, she rammed it into his chin and made him curse. She kissed him quickly on the mouth in apology, then sat back and narrowed her eyes at him. “Wait.”
He instantly tensed, even as he tried to keep his face neutral. “What.”
Her teeth caught her bottom lip for a moment. She crossed her arms over his chest. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
He gave her a slow blink. “Okay,” he drawled, “why?”
“Because…” She tried to growl, but the sound came out more like a kitten’s purr. “I like you, damn it, and you promised to teach me self-defense, and you make me laugh and irritate me and challenge me, and I will be very, very upset if you let yourself get dead because you weren’t careful!”
Ryuu. It was in that second, with the storm of worry and determination swirling in her vivid eyes that he knew—he goddamn fucking knew—that he was in way over his head with her.
Shelby liked him, and for reasons Dallas had yet to understand, she considered him a confidante and was always calling him when Daniel was being an ass and she needed help to figure him out. No matter how many times he told her to stop calling him, she always did it again, anyway.
Seren liked him. While Dallas had fought the hardest against her mating to a Hunter, she’d expected him to work out his issues with her mate. But Lily… Ryuu. She found the good in him without even trying, good that he hadn’t even known was still inside of him. A goodness that he thought he’d lost when Portia and his family had been killed centuries ago, when he’d ceased to be Dallas and had become the Destroyer. But Lily saw that good in him, and it made him want to be that male for her.
So if she wanted him to be careful, he would. It was the least he could do for bringing him back to the land of the living.
Hooking his arm around her waist again, he stood up, bringing her with him. “I don’t know what you’re doing to me, woman, but you need to stop. I’m in over my head and drowning here, and you and those eyes and that body are not helping me
stay sane any.”
She glanced down at where her breasts swelled over her tank top. “Oh.” Her cheeks tinted in embarrassment, but she raised one perfectly arched brow at him. “I don’t feel too bad. You’ve been walking around without a shirt since you crawled out of bed earlier. At least I’m covered.”
He winked at her. “Yeah, well, I’m about to make us both all sweaty, so we’ll see who stays decent the longest.”
A truly wicked grin lit up her face. “You know you’re playing with fire. One more round of nookie, and we’re mated for eternity.”
He stumbled over his feet. “Nookie, Lil? You call what we did nookie?”
She shrugged and nodded, then wrinkled her nose and shook her head, contradicting herself. “No, but I’m a good girl.”
He barked out a laugh but knew she was right. About the good girl part, and the fact he was playing with fire. He was scared shitless at the invisible force shoving him at her, but he was starting to understand fighting was futile, and part of him was already thinking of her as his. While he wanted a mate, he refused to consider love actually existed. If Portia had been his ideal mate in that they got along perfectly, then it was possible Lily could be his mate, too. As long as she didn’t expect love out of the deal.
Because not even he was stupid enough to go down that road.
At that moment, a harsh pounding sounded at his door. His instincts reached out, and while the identity was cloaked from him, the presence was familiar. Hitching her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist, he crossed to the door and opened it. “Yeah.”
When no one answered, Dallas finally managed to tear his gaze away from Lily to see who was taking up his entire doorway, only to go rigid as a low, violent string of curses ripped out of him. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”
Adrian Cage raised one dark brow beneath the ratty ball cap he wore, his voice a quiet threat. “Get your hands off my sister’s ass, dragon, or I remove them from your body.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dallas barely had time to get himself and Lily out of the way before the mountain that was Adrian Cage pitched forward, landing face-first on the hardwood floor with enough force to rattle the building’s foundation.
Lily’s scream pierced his eardrums. She bolted toward her brother, her hands shaking as she fell to her knees next to him and leaned forward to check his breathing.
Her face crumpled in relief. “Help me, please. We have to get him off the floor.”
Stunned and unsure why there was dread in his gut, Dallas nodded and crouched next to her. He shifted and hefted Cage’s hulking form over his shoulder, gritting his teeth with the effort.
He glanced at Lily as he got back to his feet and he wasn’t sure what he was going to kill Cage for first: the terror in her eyes or the hope. She couldn’t seem to drag her eyes away from her brother’s face, as if she was worried he’d vanish again the second she did.
“Hey.” He waited a beat for her to shift her gaze to him, then he reached out and brushed the pad of his thumb over her pale cheekbone. “My phone’s in my back pocket. Call Gabriel, tell him to get his ass here, and I’ll get your brother into bed, all right?”
She shoved her tiny hand into his left back pocket. “I’ll have him bring Seren.”
“Just have him get his ass here immediately.”
Ryuu, the bastard weighed a ton. He didn’t bother to be gentle as he flipped him over onto the mattress. Hunters could heal themselves, and there hadn’t been any outward signs of injuries anyway.
The second Adrian sprawled out on the mattress, Lily crawled onto the bed next to him, her hand wrapping around Dallas’s. She stared down at the unconscious giant. “He’s alive.” She swiped her free hand over her tears. She sniffled. “I’m not crazy. He really is alive.”
His gut went cold. He couldn’t explain it, but something wasn’t right, and the urge to drag her out of there away from her brother—the one who’d rescued her and saved her life—nearly brought Dallas to his knees. He didn’t fight his instincts. He never had.
Until now. And the only reason he was ignoring them was because he was certain Lily would hate him forever if he forced her away from her brother right now.
Fuck. “Lil.” He untangled his hand from hers and gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders. His voice was deliberately quiet, as soothing as he could make it. “Why don’t we go get some water and let him rest until Gabriel gets here?”
She shook her head, her waterfall of sable curls swishing around her shoulders with the motion. “I can’t leave him.” She looked at him from dazed eyes. “What if I do and he disappears again?”
Dallas dragged a hand down his face and crouched next to her. Reaching up, he cupped her face with one hand, using it to gently turn her toward him so she had to meet his eyes. “Something isn’t right, Lily, and it’s making me nervous. Where has he been? And why the hell would his first stop be here? Why not his house? Why not Gabriel’s? Or the hospital if Seren’s working? Or Ryuu, your house? Why the fuck would he come here?”
She shook her head, and Dallas hated himself for the doubt that started to creep into her green eyes. “Maybe he knew I was here?”
“I wish to Gwendolyn that was it,” he said quietly, “but there’s something I haven’t told you about mine and Cage’s history.”
Her tiny body stilled, her eyes widening the slightest bit. “I’m listening.”
Fuck, he hadn’t wanted to tell her this. He wasn’t ashamed of it, but he knew once she found out what he’d done, she’d hate him for touching her.
It wasn’t the hate that would bother him. It was the fallout of her own emotions that worried him—if she thought her instincts had led her wrong after all…
He closed his eyes and rubbed at the back of his neck. He had no idea what the hell she would do.
“Dallas, you’re scaring me.”
He glanced down at where she’d slipped her tiny hand into his, automatically linking their fingers. But it was the absolute trust in her eyes that gutted him. And nearly had him swallowing back the words before he could spit them out.
He cleared his throat and lowered his gaze to their hands again. “Last month, when we were holed up in the cave while trying to find Shelby’s would-be assassin, a Hunter came after us. My job was to keep an eye on the cave—and Shelby—while the king and the others went to find the threat. Almost immediately, I realized it had to be Cage.” He shoved his free hand through his hair. “All the information we had pointed to a Hunter as Shelby’s shooter, which meant Cage knew something he wasn’t telling us. Which meant he likely knew the Hunter, and chances were good the hit had gone out through him.”
She shook her head slowly. “Adrian would never allow one of his men to shoot a female. Ever.”
Dallas swallowed his disgusted snort and raised a brow at her. “It sure as fuck wouldn’t be the first time an innocent female died because of a Hunter. Anyway, we needed answers, and Broderick’s computer research was taking too long. So I grabbed Shelby and…”
This time, her eyes narrowed at him, her voice going soft when his trailed off. “And…?”
“I used her as bait to draw Cage out with the intention of killing him.”
“I get it,” she finally managed, looking like she was about to be sick. “You’ve got a death wish.”
He snapped his brows together. “What?” He snorted and gave her a look that suggested she was out of her mind. “The hell I do.”
She pointed at him. “You know, Dallas, you may not want a mate, but you’re going to have to have one to keep your stubborn butt out of trouble. Do you realize that? Do you know what Daniel will do to you if he finds out you used Shelby? And my brother? You tried to kill my brother? Dear Gods above,” she whispered as she jackknifed forward and pushed her head between her knees. “They’re going to kill you.”
Dallas cursed under his breath and shifted, his hand tangling in the hair at the back of her neck. “Lily, breathe
.”
Her snort was pathetic. “I’m breathing, but you have to hide. If Gabriel gets here and Adrian wakes up and tells him what you did…”
It was Dallas’s turn to snort. “Gabriel doesn’t have room to talk. He handed Shelby over to Micah Dragan to get him close enough to his father to kill him.”
She lifted her head enough to peek at him. “But Daniel…” She shook her head. “Good gods, you’re all trying to get yourselves killed.”
“Maybe I didn’t mention the fact that Shelby stabbed me before Daniel showed up and your brother and I could do any damage to each other.”
“Shelby?” She shook her head and gaped at him. “Shelby Kincade, America’s Good Girl, stabbed you?”
“Yes. In the leg.”
She blinked wide eyes. “I’ll figure out how I feel about that later, but you’re saying Daniel knows?”
“Yes.” He dragged a hand down his face and straightened as he felt the familiar presence of Gabriel closing in on his apartment. “Do you understand what I’m telling you? A month ago, I used an innocent female to try to kill your brother, and he shows up, out of the blue, at my door to find his sister half naked in my arms. You need to prepare yourself, Lil. He’s not going to be in a talkative mood when he wakes up.”
* * * *
Lily had known there would be a battle on her hands if and when her brother and Dallas ever met, but this was something she’d never thought to prepare for.
Not sure if she wanted to go numb or scream or simply run until she worked out the mess clouding up her brain, she stood and followed Dallas to the front door as a heavy fist beat against it. Dallas yanked the heavy wood open, and the Behemoth’s gaze narrowed in on her face from the other side of the door way. “Lil.” He crouched in front of her so she didn’t hurt her neck. It was something he and Adrian had always done, from the moment they’d rescued her—got down on her level so she would have nothing to fear from them. One of his large hands reached out and gently tugged on one of her curls. “You okay?”
