Soul of the Dragon

by Natalie J. Damschroder

  Alexa inhaled to ease her tension and rubbed her palms on her jeans. “Yes, thank you. Just tired.”

  The man tilted his head toward the double doors. “You got family in there?”

  “A friend. She just had twins. I needed a break. I mean,” she corrected, feeling ridiculous, “They needed some time alone.”

  Something flickered in his eyes before he nodded.

  “Is your wife here?” she asked him.

  “No. I’m not married.”

  A spark of interest had Alexa looking more closely. He was definitely attractive. The kind of guy jeans were made for. Cowboy boots under the jeans, enough wear in those and in the jacket to tell Alexa they weren’t for show. Lines worn into his face said his life had been interesting, though she couldn’t tell if he was thirty or fifty. He looked familiar but she couldn’t pinpoint why.

  “So why are you here then?” she asked, motioning for him to sit. He did, and studied her for several seconds. “Trying to decide if you should tell me?”

  He smiled and she had the urge to test the firmness of his lips.

  “Trying to decide how you’ll react,” he told her, then held out his hand. “Ryc Dreugan.”

  Alexa shook it. “Alexa Ranger.”

  “I know.”

  Attraction abruptly became suspicion, and she pulled her hand away. “Oh?”

  “I came to find you.”

  Alexa glanced around. The waiting area was still deserted. Kurt and Marilee had fifteen more minutes or so with the babies before they took them to the nursery and brought her to a room. She turned back to Ryc.

  “Why?”

  He sighed and sat back. “It’s kind of a long story.”

  “Shorten it.”

  “Cyrgyn sent me to back you up.”

  Alexa didn’t know what to react to first. Habit had her hackles up about Cyrgyn’s drive to protect her. Suspicion made her think this guy was on Tars’ payroll. And underneath was hurt that Cyrgyn had contacted the associate he’d been adamant they didn’t need—that he did it because he didn’t trust her.

  Outwardly, though, she revealed nothing. She waited, watching him. When he only watched her back, a hint of a smile on those sexy lips, she twisted her chair to face him.

  “I’m listening.” She folded her arms.

  “O-kaaayy.” He tilted his head toward her, as if waiting for her to elaborate.

  Alexa growled. “You know what I want to know. If you don’t stop playing games, I’m walking.”

  “All right.” Ryc stretched his legs out. “I’ve been acting as kind of a liaison for Cyrgyn for a few years.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Gophering, mostly. Intelligence gathering. He couldn’t always get close to you. I helped him keep track. Got things he couldn’t get.”

  “Like what?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “How do you think he knew what a P to E ratio was?”

  Nice touch, she had to admit. Cyrgyn wouldn’t have revealed that to an enemy, and unless the hangar was bugged—which it wasn’t—this guy was the real deal.

  “So you’re the associate he mentioned?”

  Ryc nodded.

  “Why didn’t you show up sooner?”

  “Cyrgyn didn’t want me involved. He didn’t want me at risk.” His expression showed what he thought of that. “More, I think, he didn’t want to step on your toes.”

  Yeah, right. Cyrgyn had been struggling against Alexa’s independence since the first minute. She didn’t buy that one.

  “And you met him how?”

  Ryc seemed a bit less confident, shifting in his seat and avoiding her gaze. “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Why?”

  “I just can’t.”

  “What is he?”

  Ryc didn’t answer, and a second later Alexa heard footsteps in the hall. A nurse came around the corner.

  “Miss Ranger?”

  Alexa stood. “Yes.”

  “Mrs. Tucker is asking for you. She’s about to be transferred to her room.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Alexa waited until the nurse disappeared, then said, “Well?”

  “Alexa…”

  “Give me a break. If you’re Cyrgyn’s lackey, you know what he is. And acting all covert is dumb, because even if someone overhears you, they’ll think you’re talking about a movie or something. So…”

  Ryc pulled himself to his feet and ambled over to her. Though she was five ten he towered over her, especially because he didn’t stop a reasonable distance away. His boots touched hers and his face paused two inches away.

  “Alexa, I am a friend. I know you won’t trust me so easily, but I ask you to give me a chance. I know things you need to know. I can help you.”

  Alexa swallowed against her suddenly dry throat. He smelled of leather and musk, her weakness. “And?”

  One corner of his mouth went up. “And he’s a dragon,” he murmured. “Go to your friend. I’ll see you when you’re done.”

  For a second Alexa couldn’t move. His mouth quirked higher, and she whirled away, irked that she’d demonstrated any vulnerability, however minor.

  She was more irked at her reaction to the man. Besides the fact that she didn’t know if he was friend or foe, she wasn’t free anymore. She realized she never had been, but at least at the time she hadn’t known her early dalliances were betraying her soulmate. Now, she was honor-bound to wait for him.

  * * *

  Ryc watched Alexa stride down the hall. When she disappeared through a door, he let his breath out. The impact of being so near was bigger than he’d expected. Her mahogany ponytail twitched at him, and he’d almost pulled it free to see what it looked like long. Stepping close, it had been all he could do not to kiss her.

  She didn’t believe he knew Cyrgyn. He coughed a humorless laugh. Yeah, he knew Cyrgyn. He knew the damn dragon better than anyone alive.

  He wanted the creature dead.

  For now, he’d settle for helping Alexa in her quest. He wasn’t confident of her success, but she couldn’t succeed if she was dead.

  He sat back down to wait.

  Chapter Eight

  Alexa helped Kurt settle Marilee and kept her company when he went to the cafeteria to get his wife a snack, since she hadn’t eaten for so long.

  “How are you feeling? Tired?” Alexa adjusted the pillow behind Marilee, who smiled.

  “Not really. I actually feel energized. Just don’t ask me to get out of this bed.” She coughed ineffectively. “Oh, I’m so weak!” she laughed. “Okay, friend. Spill.”

  Alexa raised her eyebrows. “Spill what?”

  “I recognize that look. You met a man.”

  “What!” Alexa stared at her old roommate, wondering how the hell she knew. “How could I do that? This is a maternity ward!”

  “I know you. It’s obvious.” She sipped water from a cup on her bed table. “So, spill.”

  “I don’t…know what you’re talking about.” The desire to do just that, spill everything, almost overwhelmed her. It had to be fatigue. “Can I get you anything?”

  “Just my babies.”

  On cue, the door opened and a nurse pulled two bassinets into the room. “Here we go. Two hungry babies. Beautiful ones, too.” She aligned the bassinets by the bed and picked up the boy, who was crying lustily.

  “What are you naming him?” Alexa asked. “I know you wanted Savannah for a girl.”

  Marilee nodded, smiling maternally when the baby latched on easily and began sucking. “That’s my boy. Luke, I think. After Kurt’s dad.”

  “That’s great.” Alexa watched, wondering at the tug she felt in her abdomen. She had a feeling she was going to be making some changes in her life.

  Unbidden, Ryc Dreugan filled her mind. She waved her hand irritably, as if to erase the image. She didn’t have time for this.

  “Marilee, I can’t stay.”

  “Have to get back to the job, huh?” Marilee didn’t look at
her.

  “Kind of.”

  “Rock said it has something to do with GenCom, but that you quit.”

  Alexa closed her eyes. She knew Rock wouldn’t let it rest. “You talked to Rock?”

  “Kurt did.”

  “It really has nothing to do with GenCom.”

  Marilee looked up at her. “It has to do with Colin?”

  “No.” Alexa stifled a growl of frustration. “It has nothing to do with anything anyone has to worry about.”

  “If you say so,” Marilee said absentmindedly, studying her son’s fingers. Savannah, half asleep in her bassinet, began to fuss. “Will you pick her up for me?” she asked. Luke released with a smack and Marilee deftly switched sides.

  “How do you do that so well?” Alexa stood and went to the pink-blanketed baby, lifting her into her arms. She was wrapped so tightly it was like picking up a doll. She patted her gently and swayed back and forth.

  “I did a lot of reading, took a class, watched a video. You can’t be too prepared for this stuff.”

  “It paid off.” Luke quickly fell asleep, easily satiated at this stage, and Marilee motioned to trade. “You won’t be mad at me for leaving, will you?” Alexa asked. She handed Savannah to her mother and lifted Luke from Marilee’s lap.

  “No, I understand. You were here for the important part.” She looked up at her and grinned impishly. “I won’t hold it against you as long as you tell me about the guy.”

  “I’ll wait for Kurt to get back here, then I’ll hit the road.”

  “Nice evasion. I’ll find out eventually.” Marilee sobered. “Thanks, Alexa, for coming out here. It helped so much. Can I do the same for you someday?”

  “Absolutely.” Alexa bent and kissed her friend’s cheek. “I wouldn’t want anyone else.”

  Kurt pushed through the door. “Little help, here.” He was hidden behind two teddy bears and a giant bouquet of roses.

  “Was the gift shop open at this hour?” Alexa tightened her hold around Luke and took the vase from Kurt.

  “I ran down the street to an all-night department store.” He sounded pleased with himself.

  “I thought you were gone too long,” Marilee said. “Where’s my snack?”

  Kurt’s face fell. “Uh…”

  Marilee sighed and covered herself. Savannah was back to sleep already, too. “It’s okay. I’m beat. Can you take the kids back to the nursery for a while?” She sank back into her pillows. “I’m suddenly in dire need of sleep.” She dozed off before Alexa got Luke into his bassinet.

  She helped wheel the babies down the hall to the nursery. “She’s amazing,” she told Kurt. “She’s all over this motherhood thing.”

  “Yeah, in direct contrast to my incredible fear.” Kurt watched them wheel his children into the secured nursery. “You have to leave now, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “I know the drill.” He turned and hugged her. “Thank you. It was so much easier having you here.”

  “That’s just ’cause she stopped biting you.” Alexa stepped back. “I’ll call, okay? Take care of them.”

  “I will. You take care of yourself.”

  She smiled wryly. “Apparently, I now have backup.” She pondered asking Kurt to check him out, but that would be crass when the guy had just become a father. She could do her own search.

  “I’ll be in touch.” She turned and walked down the hall. She glanced into the waiting room and wasn’t surprised to see Ryc waiting for her. He rose and followed her out of the building.

  “Back to St. Paul?” he asked.

  She didn’t answer. It irritated her that he was tagging along, like a sidekick in a video game. It made her feel vulnerable again. Especially when he got close enough that she could smell him.

  “How can I convince you I’m safe?”

  Alexa stopped and turned. “It would have gone a long way to convincing me if Cyrgyn had told me about you first. Since he didn’t, you stay here. I’ll go there. If I need you, Cyrgyn can tell me how to contact you. Capisce?”

  He held up his hands and backed off. “I get it. Sorry.”

  “Good.” Alexa hurried across the drive to the parking lot where she’d left the rental car. When she looked back, Ryc stood on the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets, watching her go.

  And looking incredibly sexy.

  She sighed and settled in for a long, frustrating trip.

  * * *

  Cyrgyn cursed his foolishness in not telling Alexa about Dreugan. She’d stormed into the hangar half an hour ago, railed at him for ten minutes after he’d admitted to sending the man after her, and settled at her computer.

  “I could not reach you, Alexa,” he tried again. “When you disappeared, I had no way of contacting you. Dreugan was not available until after you had left.”

  “We established that.” She didn’t look up from the computer. “Damn it. Why can’t I come up with anything on this guy?”

  Cyrgyn lowered his head and looked over her shoulder. “His name is Ryc. R-Y-C. Not Rick.”

  “Cute.” Alexa typed the corrected first name. “Better. Here’s something.”

  Cyrgyn wandered back toward his now-flattened pallet. She would not find much. Ryc Dreugan was deeper undercover than Alexa had ever been, or could ever go. Cyrgyn was never certain when he could summon the man, or how long he would be around. But he had been incredibly valuable over the years.

  Several minutes later Alexa shoved away from the desk in disgust. “Where did you find this guy, anyway? There’s nothing there.”

  “Nothing at all?”

  “Barely. Driver’s license, no citations. Social Security number, no reported income, no tax returns filed, no public records. He practically doesn’t exist.”

  “I believe that is the point.” Cyrgyn studied her disgruntled expression and decided to move away from the topic. “How are your friends? And the baby?”

  “They’re wonderful.” Her eyes lit up and he was glad he’d asked. She raved about little Savannah and littler Luke, who would forever be struggling to keep up with his sister. She praised Marilee and her husband for their strength and courage, and he detected wistfulness in her voice when she described Marilee seeing Savannah for the first time.

  He curled up on his mattresses and sighed. “Do you want children, Alexa?”

  She looked at him for a long while before answering, and then it wasn’t an answer. “Do you?”

  “I have not thought of it for a long time. After our second failure, it seemed foolish to continue dreaming those dreams.” He rested his head on his claws, fighting the longing that rose in him. He could easily imagine Alexa swollen with child, dancing with a dark-haired imp beside a mountain stream—or an urban fountain. But he could not imagine himself in that picture.

  “I still dare not dream,” he said softly.

  Alexa rose and came to him, settling herself against his side. He closed his eyes, absorbing the weight and warmth of her, slight as both were.

  “Try, Cyrgyn. We both need to try to dream, if we’re to succeed.”

  Cyrgyn promised, knowing she asked the impossible. He had been too long without hope. Its meager manifestation now was too weak to support dreams.

  Waking ones, anyway. Cyrgyn allowed sleep to overcome him. Maybe in sleep he could find the strength to imagine a future with him—the human him—in it.

  * * *

  Tars studied Alexa’s file with the same intensity he’d used to study her. He knew every piece of information in the three-inch-thick file, but now he looked at it with new eyes. Not only was Alexa cannier, more cunning, and more of a challenge than he’d anticipated, she had talents he’d never dreamed she hid.

  He flipped the file closed and stroked the red streak on his hand. Alexa’s block had caused his fireball to rebound and skim his hand. He’d been too surprised to dodge or shield. For such powerful magic, Alexa had to have developed it over time. Yet not a single fact or observation a
bout her revealed it.

  He didn’t glance up as Mark opened the office door.

  “Well, I found out why I didn’t know she resigned,” Mark said, striding across the room. He leaned one hip on Tars’ desk and dropped a thin file folder onto the surface.

  Tars held his annoyance in check. The man was overstepping. But perhaps it was his own sense of inadequacy that caused the cheekiness to annoy him.

  “Why?” he asked when Mark didn’t immediately supply the reason.

  “It’s not official. Her supervisor didn’t accept it. Still wouldn’t have said anything if his boss hadn’t called him in the Middle East to find out what was going on.”

  “How did he know something was going on?” Now he did glance up from the letter he’d been studying. Mark looked uneasy. “Did you make an inquiry?”

  Mark lifted one shoulder in an almost subconscious hunch. “I put some feelers out. I couldn’t get anything the usual way.”

  Tars knew if there was no documentation, even speculation via e-mail of her whereabouts, Mark would not have been able to obtain the information without giving something away. Still, it angered him that someone outside might know of his interest in Alexa Ranger.

  He stood abruptly. The copy of Alexa’s concise letter of resignation fell to the desktop. “Nothing has changed. No one is to connect Alexa Ranger to Dragonsoul Enterprises. Do you understand?”

  Mark’s face cleared and he slid off the desk. “Of course. No one will. One of the headhunters of our staffing subsidiary called GenCom and asked for her. When they couldn’t locate her, Colin called Rock Davis on a transmission we could intercept. A transmission on which Davis admitted he was trying to talk Alexa into coming back.”

  “Did he say why she resigned?” Despite his usual emotional control, Tars allowed some eagerness to slip into him.

  “Just that she had something personal to attend to.”

  Deflated, Tars turned back to his desk. “Personal. Let’s see how personal we can make this.” Mark waited, but when it became clear his boss was absorbed in the next step of his plan, he silently backed through the doorway.

  Tars began flipping back through Alexa’s file. Back more than twenty years, to the most significant event in Alexa’s life. The moment when she should have become his. When she would have, had Cyrgyn not broken through Tars’ weak barriers—he’d been only twelve years old, after all—and ruined everything. Again.