When they arrived at the apartment building, they paid the driver and then got out, Red looking around warily as he kept Faye behind him.
“Is it safe?” she asked.
“I don’t see anything,” he said. “Let’s just get upstairs before anything can happen.” He grabbed her hand, and they jogged toward the stairs. She nearly stumbled, making him aware he had to be careful with her much smaller stride. “When we get up there, if anything goes down, lock yourself in your apartment and don’t come out.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not just going to leave you out there.” She held up her purse. “I have pepper spray.”
He grinned ruefully. “I don’t think this is the type of thing pepper spray can fix.”
She frowned. “Just what is it you know that I don’t? I saw you handle Braden. What has you so nervous?”
He wasn’t nervous for him. He was nervous for her. He had someone he really cared about now, and if something inhuman was targeting her for being involved with him, he didn’t know what he’d do.
“I just… Let’s go.” They cleared the second landing and he breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw the way was clear to her apartment.
Then he saw the fire escape door open, and a few men dressed in black spilled out, wearing masks.
“Shit,” he said, running down the corridor, yanking Faye with him. He got her to the door of her apartment, kicked it in, and then shoved her inside. “I’m sorry,” he said. Then he slammed the door behind her as the men ran toward them, almost in seemingly slow motion.
“Wait!” he heard Faye yell and yank on the doorknob as he held the door shut. “Wait, what are you doing?”
He put his hand over the doorknob and focused, hoping to access just a small part of his dragon powers, as he’d been able to do so far. The doorknob glowed. “Move your hand, Faye. Please.” His voice was authoritative, and he felt her release it. Then he focused on the knob.
One of the men strode up, getting in his space, and he threw out his free hand in a loose punch, catching him in the face and sending him reeling backward.
The knob grew white hot and began to melt, and he focused on making the hot metal into a bar that filled the lock area.
Try to get through that, fuckers.
Then he whirled to face them. The man he’d hit was rubbing his eye, and the others were standing back. One of them, a tall one who looked like their leader, pulled off his mask.
A beautiful man with blond hair and striking green eyes stared out at him, a calm smirk on his face. “How do you like the new wyverns, Ruby?”
Red raised an eyebrow. “Punchable. I like them.” He frowned. “I heard you were working for the asshole side, but I didn’t want to believe it.” He folded his arms and looked at his old friend. “I guess you weren’t the same after Opal. You gonna let one woman fuck you up like that?”
Aegis’s lip curled. “You have a woman now. You tell me.”
That struck center. If something went wrong with Faye, he didn’t know what he’d do. Still… “I wouldn’t become evil.”
“Evil is a matter of opinion,” Aegis said. “Anyway, we’re just here to see if you’ll consider joining our side. With your particular powers, we could use you.”
“You haven’t been very successful recruiting any of the rest of us. What makes you think you’d get me?”
Aegis was quiet. Thoughtful. “You know me,” he said. “And Zach threw you out, so I assumed you weren’t influenced by him.” He glared at the collar on Red’s neck. “You seriously like being chained like that? Being turned into a slave for humans?”
“You like making genetic rejects for the purpose of being punched by other dragons?” Red asked sarcastically.
Aegis drew himself to his full, towering height, looking haughty. “I guess we’ll see how punchable they are. I was just going to ask you politely to consider talking to us. But I guess you can be the test of how the new wyverns do against a collared dragon.” There was a sneer in Aegis’s voice but almost a hint of remorse in his eyes.
Did his friend regret what he had become?
“Aegis,” he said, “it’s not too late. Work things out with Zach. Come back.”
Aegis let out a bitter laugh. “You have to be joking if you think I’m teaming up with that lot.” He bit his lower lip. “You know he was awake first, and he just left us there, on ice? Could have freed us, but no, just took the collar and let himself live, knowing at some point, we’d be woken and turned into slaves, too.”
Red exhaled slowly. “I’m no one’s slave,” he said. “I trust the oracle. My life has been good since I’ve been awakened. How has yours been, with all the freedom in the world?”
Aegis went quiet at that, his green eyes cautious. “Anyway, it’s been nice seeing you, Ruby. It really has. But since this isn’t going to work out, I have other places to be.” He looked at the other guys. “Be careful with them. They’re expensive.”
And then he walked to the window at the end of the hall, opened it, and hopped out.
The next moment, Red saw a faint shadow taking off into the sky, flying into the distance.
He turned to the men, who were still masked. They rushed him as one, and he caught two with his fists and pushed the third back with his foot. All three slammed into the wall. The last two rushed him, and he head-butted one, crushing his nose with a satisfying smack, and sank his fist hard into the other’s stomach.
But despite the way they stumbled back, they looked barely affected by his use of force.
He was going to need at least some of his powers. Luckily, when a human was in danger, he could access more of them. And right now, his future mate was just behind a door.
He walked forward, feeling heat bottle inside him. “I didn’t want to do this. Damn Aegis for bringing you into this.” He let the fire build, swirling inside him, until he felt dark, black smoke forming.
He looked down the hall, glad no one else was around in this rundown building. Then he breathed out with all his force, coating the men in front of him in thick, dark smoke. It clung to them, encasing them in a sphere as they coughed and struggled, stealing their air.
He couldn’t use fire for now. It would be too obvious. Leave singe marks. But he could do this.
He heard the gasping stop and walked over to the pile of men slumped on each other, unconscious.
He hadn’t even seen their shifter forms, but they’d been incredibly strong, impervious to his hits. And Red knew he hit hard.
He leaned over them, listening for breathing and heart rate. They were still fine, as he’d surmised, but it would take time for their bodies to get over his smoke. He pulled out his phone and dialed Sapphire.
“Yeah?” Sapphire asked.
“I need a pick-up,” Red said.
“What is it?”
Red scratched his head. “You know those wyverns you were talking about? Well, Aegis showed up with some. Some kind of test.”
“Shit,” Sapphire said. “You took care of it.”
“Obviously,” Red said. “My mate lives here.”
Silence. “Wait. Your mate?”
“Oh yeah, I found one,” Red said. “We can talk about that later. Right now, I need you and Zach here to pick these guys up before they wake up, and I’ll need to bring Faye—that’s my mate—over to your place.”
“We can be there in ten,” Sapphire said. “Maybe faster.”
“I’ll drop them out the window,” Red said. “They’re durable.”
Sapphire snorted. “Disturbing. But probably accurate.”
“Okay, I’ll be waiting,” he said. “We’ll meet you outside.”
“Fine,” Sapphire said. “I’ll go get Zach.”
“Thanks,” Red said and hung up.
He turned back to the door Faye was behind and realized there was a peephole in it. Had she seen anything without him intending? Not that he was trying to keep her from seeing it. All he’d been thinking of was keeping her from ge
tting involved, making sure she stayed safe.
But now he realized he probably also should have made sure he didn’t shock her.
He knocked on the door. No response. But he could hear her labored breathing on the other side.
“Faye? Let me in,” he said.
“No,” she said. “Explain what you are.” Her voice was shaky. He supposed for a human, watching your boyfriend emit a giant ball of smoke to smother people or making your doorknob glow was a bit much to handle.
“I can explain. Let me in.”
“I don’t even think I can. You messed up the door. I couldn’t even come out to help you.”
“You saw those guys. You think you really would have been able to?”
“You trapped me,” she said bitterly. “You lied to me.”
“No,” he said, touching the door. “I just didn’t tell you. Yet. But if it’s all right, I’m coming in, and we can talk for a minute before my friends pick me up.”
“What are your friends?” she asked, sounding slightly hysteric. “Do they knock people out with smoke bombs, too?”
“Not a bomb,” he muttered. “We do what we have to in order to protect those we care about.” He put his hand on the doorknob and manipulated the metal so he could open it.
She was standing there, leaned against the kitchen table, pale as fresh cream. “What did I just see?”
“Listen,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of time, and my friends are coming to pick us up. I gotta get those guys out of here and through the window before anyone comes up.”
She nodded.
“But here’s the short story, and please remember this doesn’t change anything between us. I’m actually an ancient, powerful dragon, brought back to this time to prove myself as a protector of humans. And you’re my mate.”
“What the—”
He lit a flame on his fingertip and let it glow, fluttering softly in front of him. “See? Dragon.”
She stared at him, unblinking, and he hoped for just a second she wasn’t taking it too hard.
Then her eyes rolled back in her head, and he ran forward to catch her.
He sighed at her slumped body in his arms. One more unconscious person to move. He set her down on the couch and went to deal with the wyverns before Sapphire got there.
He’d have to try and do a better job of explaining to his mate later. Once they were safe.
9
Faye woke up slowly, rubbing her head, confused by the voices around her.
“She fainted, and you brought her here?” a deep voice rumbled. “Red, that’s kidnapping.”
“I’m a dragon,” a familiar voice said, pulling her closer to the surface. “I’m not leaving my mate behind when there’s danger.”
“She’s not your mate yet,” the other deep voice responded.
She opened her eyes slowly to see she was on a green velvet couch with gold embellishment, surrounded by sparkling gray granite floors and columns. Walls papered with accents of gold and silver. A huge chandelier over a giant ballroom-like room. Her couch was against a wall at the edge of it.
Foggy figures swam in front of her. All tall. All frightening. She sat up with a start and felt a warm hand push her down. She bit out at it instinctively and heard laughter as well as a muttered curse.
“Fiery one,” a voice said. “Suitable for the fire dragon.”
She let her eyes focus and saw familiar reddish-purple hair framing a tanned, exotic face and catlike green eyes. Her mind focused in on the word dragon. Why did that feel so relevant?
She blinked, realizing it was Red in front of her. Red, who she’d just started dating. Red, who she’d just made love to. Red, who’d claimed to be a dragon. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to sit up.
He placed a hand on her shoulder again, gently. “Hold on,” he said. “I know how it looks.”
She folded her arms. “You kidnapped me.”
“Do you remember what just happened? We were attacked by a bunch of masked guys. Would you really rather I left you behind for them to come back?”
“Seemed like they were after you, not me,” she said.
“Yeah, well, I’m guessing after the protective display they just witnessed, they realized you’re the key to hurting me. So whatever you think about me being a dragon, I’m not going to let this go until you’re safe.”
That sounded like the Red she knew. She sat up and patted the seat next to her, gesturing it was fine for him to sit down. Despite having a few trust issues, she still felt safest with him next to her. Especially in this new house with people she didn’t recognize.
All she knew was if there was a secret planet of super-hot men where Red had come from, these men seemed to be from the same planet.
One of them had dark-blond hair and eyes that were a striking mix of every shade of blue. The other had dark, pirate-ish hair and a dark gaze to match, along with tanned skin.
“I’m Luc, and this is Zach,” the blond one said, pointing to the other.
“Or Sapphire and Onyx,” the dark-haired one said. He nodded to Red. “And you could probably guess that’s Ruby.”
“Ruby?” she asked.
“You didn’t tell her about the gemstones?” Zach asked, scowling at Red. “What did you tell her?”
“I only got to the dragon part before she passed out.”
Zach rubbed his temples in frustration. “So if I say more, is she going to pass out again?”
“Excuse me,” she said. “But I saw my doorknob melt, my boyfriend make a giant smoke bomb that knocked out five men, and then heard the dragon thing. After a full day of work on my feet. So I think it’s a little different.”
“I’m your boyfriend?” Red asked because that was apparently all he heard, and he looked transcendently happy.
“I don’t think that’s the point right now,” Zach said darkly. “Anyway, we all have a different gemstone, corresponding to the ring we give our mate, endowing her with some of our powers.”
“Mate?” she asked, feeling baffled.
Zach sighed in aggravation and looked at Red. “Did you seriously tell her nothing?”
“Well, not everyone can pull off swaggering into a salon and blurting everything out about being an ancient dragon, Zach,” Luc, the blond one, said. “Some of us have to be a little subtler.”
“A little,” Zach said. “But for Pete’s sake, when were you going to tell her? Did you think she wasn’t going to be totally shocked?”
Red shrugged. “I just… I was more worried about making her feel safe with me as a man. I knew it wasn’t the right time to dump more on her.”
She rubbed her own temples. It made sense. She’d fought Red hard every step of the way as he’d tried to get inside her heart. No one else here could understand that. Of course he hadn’t wanted to overwhelm her or offer more info that could make her step back.
She looked into his concerned gaze and remembered the way he’d made love to her the previous night.
“Avert your thoughts,” Red said sharply, glaring up at the others.
“What?” she asked.
“Dragons can read thoughts,” he said.
“Oh. There really is a lot to learn, isn’t there?” she asked faintly.
He took her hand. “Look, all you need to know is I’m me. I’m the man you’ve been getting to know. And yeah, there is another side of me. One I’ve been dying to share with you when it was the right time. I’m sorry I couldn’t say sooner. I’m sorry you had to find out that way. But I promise I haven’t lied to you. There was just no easy way to tell you what I was holding back.”
She sighed. “I guess so.” She could feel a choice inside her, to overreact and run away, to not risk getting hurt again by someone keeping secrets. But she also could remember how he’d held her. Loved her. Protected her. Looked at her like she was the only woman in the world.
Something had always been odd about him. She’d known that from the start, and she’d still let him in. And
anyone she dated would have a past.
“I forgive you,” she said and heard him let out a relieved breath.
“Thank you,” he said genuinely. “So do you want to meet the other mates?”
“Oh yeah, mates. What is that?”
He pressed his lips together. “Maybe I’ll explain that later. In private.”
She tingled with curiosity, but she was hungry, and she supposed it would be good to just go eat. “Oh,” she said, remembering. “What happened to those guys you smoked?”
“In the basement,” Luc said. “On ice until we can figure out what to do with them.”
“You have a freezer down there?” she asked, screwing up her nose as they walked into an impressive dining room with burgundy wallpaper and elegant cream carpet.
“You could say that,” Luc answered with a smile.
Seated around the table were two women. One had auburn hair and blue eyes and a soft smile directed at Faye and then at the dark-haired man, who came to sit next to her after giving her a quick kiss.
The other girl had strikingly dark hair and contrasting grey eyes, and she clearly had eyes only for the blond man who squeezed her hand before sitting next to her.
Faye sat across from them, after Red pulled out a chair for her. Nerves moved through her, as the only person who didn’t know everyone here. Everyone else was clearly chummy.
As the first course was served, a green soup that tasted amazing, she couldn’t help looking around the table. “So, um, you’re all dragons?”
The women laughed. The one with gray eyes gave her a smile. “No. Just Zach and Luc. And your guy there. Red, was it?”
She nodded.
“Yeah,” the auburn-haired one said. “We’re their mates. My name is Erin, and this is Hallie.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Faye,” she said.
They gave her friendly grins, and she felt herself settle in slightly. Yes, it was all still a huge shock, but at least these seemed to be nice people. Nice women. If they could deal with the whole being a dragon’s mate thing, so could she.
“So what does being a mate mean?” she asked, wanting to hear it from mates themselves.
Ruby Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 3) Page 7
