by Rinelle Grey
Or at least, he didn’t think he did.
He shouldn’t.
So why was he hoping that she did?
The truth was, he was more than a little confused. Everything had happened so fast that his head was still spinning.
He couldn’t possibly be in love with a woman he’d only met twenty-four hours ago, could he? Love didn’t work like that. Or at least, not any kind of love he’d experienced before.
Then again, he’d never felt like this about anyone before in his life.
Kytrima had told him it was because she was a dragon and he was a human. Their strange magic seemed so tied to love and sex, especially with the way they needed it to regenerate, or whatever it was they did.
It would be completely believable that her being a dragon was the reason he felt this way. Even if it wasn’t a result of her magic somehow, her strange, exotic nature was exciting in and of itself.
There were plenty of reasons to think this wasn’t a real feeling.
Somehow, he wasn’t convinced.
She hadn’t sounded too convinced either. Maybe this was as confusing to her as it was to him. That thought made him feel a little better, not so out of his depth.
It helped enough for him to reach over and put his hand over hers. “Are you okay?”
He wasn’t quite game to ask whether she was thinking about mating with him or thinking about finding the princess. He wasn’t sure that he’d want to hear. Her thinking about mating with him would freak him out, even though he was already thinking about it himself.
She looked up, and her eyes met his, and Nate’s breath caught in his throat.
He had a sudden impulse to kiss her.
As soon as he thought of it, the idea consumed him.
He tried to hold himself back. Even if the feeling was overwhelming him, he wasn’t sure she felt the same. She seemed to have a single minded focus on finding the princess. Not on him at all.
And yet, she was staring back at him as transfixed as he was. Her eyes were wide, and her lips parted slightly.
Maybe to her being with a human was exciting? It seemed crazy, but how else could he explain the fact that she was swaying slightly towards him, her lips coming tantalisingly close to his?
So close that Nate found it impossible to resist. He leaned in a little closer, his eyes going to hers, watching to see if she was about to pull back.
But she didn’t. In fact, she edged closer.
Nate took that as an invitation. An invitation he in no way wanted to refuse. He let his lips touch hers, the soft groan she gave only tempting him more.
He reached up and slipped a hand through her hair, using the hold to deepen the kiss.
Kytrima didn’t pull back or object. In fact, she was rather enthusiastic in her response.
Nate wasn’t too sure how far things might have gone. He certainly wasn’t going to hold back any.
But suddenly Kytrima jerked back with a small exclamation, and Nate opened his eyes only to see Kytrima’s burger on the grass and Luna gulping it down.
“She took it right out of my hand,” Kytrima said in disbelief. “I was too distracted to notice.” She glared at him then, but it was a teasing glare marked with disbelief rather than anger.
Nate found it a little hard to believe too. He’d been so distracted by her closeness, he’d almost forgotten they were in the middle of a public park.
He gave an unwilling laugh. “It never pays to be distracted around dogs.”
“Or around dragons,” Kytrima added solemnly.
Nate wasn’t sure if it was a joke, or a warning. He laughed anyway, even though if it was a joke, it was probably on him. “I suppose we should be focusing on how we’re going to find my brother and your princess anyway.”
Kytrima nodded, then glanced down at the burger, her expression disappointed. “So much for food helping me think.”
Nate broke the rest of his burger into two and offered her one half. “Here.”
She glanced up at him, her eyes meeting his, her expression unreadable. But she thanked him and accepted the burger.
They both ate in silence for a while, and Nate racked his brain for any ideas that might help them in their quest.
Driving around the town hoping to randomly run into Brad obviously wasn’t going to help. Though the town wasn’t large, their chances of stumbling across the pair were slim, as they’d already proved.
But what else could they do?
There were only two places that he could think of that Brad might go. Back to Henry’s house, or back to the pub. Other than that, there was no one place he could suggest over another.
If only Brad had his phone, this could be solved so simply. Nate could just ring him and ask where he was.
Brad would tell his brother everything, without even considering if he should. He had no idea about Kytrima. No idea that Nate was helping the princess’s enemy.
That thought made Nate a little uneasy. When Brad had seen Kytrima, he’d run. He and his princess obviously knew that she was after her, and were trying to avoid her.
It was kind of good, in a way, that Nate couldn’t phone Brad. His twin brother wasn’t going to be impressed when he found out that the princess was bad news. He must care about her a lot to be risking everything to help her.
Nate didn’t want to be the one to tell him. He wasn’t even too sure he wanted to be the one to find him.
But his brother could be in trouble.
Kytrima had agreed not to harm Brad, but if another one of her clan found him…
Nate bit back a sigh. There was no good outcome to this.
But one thing he was sure of, finding his brother sooner rather than later would be much better.
Chapter 14
Despite their delicious, shared food, Kytrima couldn’t come up with any fantastic new ideas for helping them find the princess. So they spent another few hours driving pointlessly around the small town in desperation.
They even drove out to the house again, but it was just as empty as when they’d left it. Nate’s brother hadn’t gone back there.
All that driving left Kytrima with plenty of time to think, and none of her thoughts were good.
She should be ready to admit that she couldn’t do this on her own. They had no reasonable plans, and they hadn’t seen the princess or Brad’s brother in several hours. It was time to go back to her clan and ask for help.
But she didn’t want to.
And the fact that returning to her clan without the princess was likely to result in demotion wasn’t even the biggest factor in her lack of enthusiasm.
Leaving Nate was.
That was far more concerning.
She’d let him kiss her earlier. Even encouraged him. She’d gotten so lost in that kiss, she hadn’t even noticed the dog taking a burger out of her hand.
It was deadly to be that distracted. What if it had been a Rian dragon she hadn’t noticed? What if her distraction had given the princess time to sneak up on her and kill her?
These feelings she had for Nate were going to get her into trouble, in more ways than one.
That realisation should strengthen the case for leaving. Convince her that she needed to get away from him so she could think more clearly. But every time she thought about that, tried to consider it as a valid option, her mind shied away from the possibility.
She didn’t want to consider it.
Which meant she had to consider the other possibility.
That she was falling in love with him.
Strangely, her mind didn’t shy away from that one anywhere near as quickly.
That thought made her even more nervous.
Kytrima had always avoided falling in love. Her parents had tried to push her into choosing a mate early, telling her love was the best thing that had ever happened to them. But Kytrima just hadn’t been interested.
Oh, she believed in love. Believed in Ultrima’s cause just as much as anyone.
She’d j
ust never felt the pull herself. And there was no point in mating if you weren’t in love.
Was she now? Was this what love was? She certainly couldn’t think of any other reason for the strange feelings. And it certainly explained a lot.
It helped her understand her clan’s goals a lot better too.
Like why Ultrima was so determined to get to Princess Sarian he’d reorganised a whole clan to achieve that aim. Like the fact that in three hundred years, he’d had no interest in other dragon women. She’d thought the mating bond was required to create that, but when she tried to think of other dragons, even ones she’d admired, any sexual interest she’d felt had waned.
Maybe this was the lesson she was meant to learn? Ultrima always said that when something you didn’t like happened, look for the lesson. He was almost obsessed with the idea that there was a lesson to be learned in everything.
Kytrima had never taken it too seriously. Until now.
Because if there wasn’t a lesson for her to learn, then falling in love with a human, twin brother to the one who was possibly mated to one of the enemy princesses, was an unbelievable coincidence.
She had to face up to it.
She was in love with Nate.
“I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere more tonight,” Nate said, interrupting her revelation. “We’re going to need to find somewhere to stay for the night. That’s going to be hard with the dogs though.”
Kytrima glanced over at him, his face lit by the setting sun, and all she could think about was the fact that she was in love with him. It overwhelmed all other thoughts, even those of trying to find the princess.
She barely heard what he’d said. Except… there had been something about finding somewhere to stay, hadn’t there?
That seemed like a great idea.
So she nodded. “Finding somewhere to stay sounds like a good plan.”
Nate glanced over then, his eyes meeting hers, looking surprised. “You’re happy to stop the search then?”
What had he said? Oh, yes, no more searching tonight. She nodded. “Not much point in the dark, is there?”
In reality, her dragon eyes could see almost as well in the dark as during the day, but that explanation wouldn’t help her point any.
“We could stop at the pub, where your brother was staying. Then we won’t miss them if they do come back,” she suggested.
Nate looked at her weirdly. “The dogs?” he said pointedly, as though she were missing the obvious.
Oh, yeah, he’d mentioned that. “Can’t we ask?” Kytrima suggested.
Nate considered her idea for a moment, then shrugged. “Can’t hurt I guess. It is a small town. Maybe they’ll be sympathetic.”
He turned the car around and headed back into town.
Leaving Kytrima with far too much time to think again.
She was in love with Nate.
The idea was still so hard to believe.
What did she do with this knowledge, now that she had it? Should she tell Nate? Would he understand?
Did he share her feelings?
How did one go about telling someone that, anyway? It seemed almost like a feeling that should just be shared and understood without words. That would make it easier anyway.
She didn’t have any better ideas by the time they pulled into the pub parking lot.
Automatically Kytrima scanned the other cars, but there was no sign of the burnt ute Brad drove. Good. Nothing to interrupt them.
The fact that she was pleased that the princess wasn’t here was even more concerning than being in love. What had happened to her goals? To her belief in her clan’s goals? Where was the lesson she was supposed to learn in all this?
She was sure it was in there somewhere. Maybe she just had to experience a bit more to find it.
She followed Nate into the pub, slipping a hand into his automatically.
He turned to stare at her, his eyes wide. Then he smiled.
Maybe she didn’t have to tell him. Maybe this was a shared understanding after all.
Nate walked up and leaned on the bar.
“How can I help you?” the man behind the counter asked. Then he recognised Nate. “You were looking for your brother earlier, weren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Nate said. “Did he come back?”
The man shook his head. “Haven’t seen him. But I’m sure he’ll be in, since he’s already paid for his room.”
Kytrima’s heart skipped a beat. Was it really likely that Brad and the princess would turn up?
Not a good idea to get her hopes up. Given the idea that the pair had seen her here earlier, it wasn’t likely they’d come back. But she couldn’t rule the possibility out either.
“You’re welcome to wait if you like,” the man behind the counter offered. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Nate hesitated. “Um, this is a kind of strange request, but we ended up being longer than we’d planned and it’s too late for me to make it back to the city tonight. I’d like to book rooms, but I have two dogs, and I’m not sure what I can do with them. Is there any way we could have them with us?”
Nate winced, as though he expected the man to say no.
The bartender regarded him thoughtfully for a few moments, wiping down the counter absently.
“Could probably put them up out the back, if they’d be okay with that,” he offered. “There’s a fenced in yard.”
Nate hesitated. “That would be fine for Luna, but Lily’s just a puppy. I’m not sure she’d handle it.” He looked at Kytrima, as though seeking her opinion.
As if she’d know what the puppy could handle.
Actually, considering how the puppy had whined when they’d left her in the bathroom yesterday, Kytrima didn’t think it would go down well.
Nate obviously didn’t either. “Do you know of anywhere else we might be able to stay that would let us keep her with us?”
The man regarded him thoughtfully. “Is it toilet trained?”
Nate nodded. “Yeah, she hasn’t had an accident in months.”
The man stared at them for a moment, and Kytrima found herself almost holding her breath, even though she wasn’t sure what she was waiting for.
He heaved a sigh. “I suppose you can keep her with you,” he offered. “But just for one night, mind. You’ll have to find somewhere else tomorrow.”
“We will,” Nate promised. “Can I get… um…” he glanced at Kytrima, then back at the man, “two rooms please?”
Two rooms? That wasn’t what she wanted at all. “Make that one room,” Kytrima purred.
Nate turned and stared at her again.
“It’s better if we stay close,” she said privately, directly into his head in dragon voice. “Just in case the princess turns up. I wouldn’t want her to cause you trouble while you were on your own and defenceless.”
The excuse, the lie, backfired on her, as the thought of him being hurt by the Rian princess, twisted her gut. Kytrima took a deep breath.
As did the fact that she was lying again. Why did she keep doing that? Why couldn’t she admit to him that she just wanted to share a room with him?
From the way the man behind the counter was watching them in amusement, he wasn’t in any doubt as to her motives. He looked from Nate, to Kytrima, then back. “One room or two?” he asked Nate directly.
Nate actually blushed. He glanced at Kytrima, and she realised he wasn’t fooled either. And he didn’t seem upset.
“Better make it one then, if that’s what the lady says.”
The man laughed at that, and handed them a key. “First door on the right.”
“Thanks,” Nate said. “If my brother comes in, can you give me a call?”
“Sure thing,” the man agreed easily.
Kytrima followed Nate, trying to ignore the man’s teasing, and her own discomfort at the lie. What did it matter what the human thought? There was nothing wrong with her being in love with Nate. And she intended to tel
l him why she really wanted to share a room once they were alone. It wasn’t something to discuss in front of the other human.
Of course, this one wasn’t the only lie she’d told him. Some of the other lies she’d told were big ones.
Ones that if he knew the truth, he might be pretty angry with her.
By the time Nate had opened the door to their room and they were both inside, Kytrima was feeling pretty bad about the whole thing.
She didn’t deserve Nate. She’d used him to get to the princess, and while she’d been honest to him about that, she hadn’t been honest with him about the very real fact that the princess and his brother could well be in love. That the baby was almost certainly his brother’s.
She was the bad guy in all this, and no matter how much she loved Nate, she couldn’t make up for that.
Or maybe she could. If she helped him find his brother and didn’t try to take the princess back to the Trima lair, maybe that would make up for the lies she’d told?
If she did that, then maybe she could come clean to Nate. Maybe she could tell him the truth about everything, and he’d forgive her.
Of course, going back to her clan and telling them the truth, that she’d had the princess in her sights and let her go, was another matter.
She decided she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.
Chapter 15
Once they were in the room with the door closed, Kytrima’s behaviour suddenly changed. Nate had been sure she’d asked for a shared room because she wanted to take things further. Every look she’d given him, every touch, even just holding his hand, had convinced him she was looking for something more.
It must have been a trick to convince the bartender, because once the door closed, she was suddenly all business.
“You’d better get that puppy settled so we can get an early night, we still have to find your brother tomorrow,” she said firmly.
Nate stared at her for a minute, but there was no trace of the lover like behaviour in her now. And her comment reminded him of the fruitless day’s search. “How are we going to do that?” he sighed. He sat down on the side of the bed and pulled his shoes off.
