by Kira Nyte
“Forever.”
Her single-word thought chipped at his heart. A heart that ached for his lifemate and whatever pain and cruelty she had endured.
“No need to thank me. Everyone deserves kindness. You deserve kindness.”
He waited several beats for her to say more. When she remained silent, he slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him. He dragged his hands roughly down his face and groaned inwardly.
He needed to learn her secrets. Her past.
He feared that if he couldn’t unravel the mystery inside her chaos, he would lose her. Not to the Baroqueth.
To herself.
Chapter Thirteen
Gabby emerged from the bedroom wearing the Taryn-sized sweatpants and sweater he had given her. She did her best to clean up the mess she’d made, along with a promise to herself to replace the items she had ruined. She had to convince him to return to the trailer so she could get some clothes. She wasn’t going to leech off him and his generosity. She needed to find a new job and start getting her life in order.
Almost thirty-one years old and still so lost.
“Taryn?”
A muffled laugh drew her attention down the hallway to an open door. She made it two steps before Taryn appeared in the doorway, his mouth curled in a smile and his eyes glittering with life. The sight of him filled her with ease, an unspoken permission to relax and be herself. Not that she knew who that was.
“Come on out and join us. Want a cup of coffee? Juice? Soda? Wine?” He moved toward her, that smile lighting up his handsome face. His eyes barely brushed the bruises that had begun to show on her cheek, but when he reached her, he placed the softest of kisses on her marred flesh. “Did you enjoy your bath?”
Gabby raised her fingers, the oversized sweater falling away from her hand. “Maybe a little too much.” Her fingertips were wrinkly, but she didn’t care. The water had felt so amazing and whatever oils Taryn put in the water did wonders to ease the tension that had built up inside her, an entire lifetime’s worth. “Where’s a broom so I can finish cleaning up the mess?”
Taryn scoffed, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “Nice try. Briella and Syn are outside. Go join them. I’ll be out in a minute with your drink of choice.”
She quietly admired his strength as the warmth of his body soaked through her clothes. He had a silent power about him, one he hid beneath a smile and charisma that she thought might make an unsuspecting enemy none the wiser. A true predator.
He didn’t frighten her. He simply made her want to admire him and open that door of hope she had barred shut.
She stopped just outside the back door and gasped. “Oh my, this is beautiful.”
Taryn’s lips quirked. “I try my best to keep it up. A sanctuary of sorts. Go have a seat at the table. Would you be okay if we ordered takeout?”
She looked around, barely hearing him as she drank in the serenity of the courtyard. Lush plants and colorful flowers had been strategically placed throughout the space that stretched far back. A few benches, chairs, and two small tables dotted narrow paths around a water feature in the center of the yard, a pool-like ornament with a bubbling fountain and delicate vines around stone walls.
She spotted Briella and Syn—hard not to spot the gorgeous couple—seated at a table, mugs in front of them. Syn lounged in his chair with an arm draped behind Briella.
“I could watch that look on your face all day and never grow tired of it.”
Heat suffused her face as Taryn’s voice eased into her mind. She turned to find him watching her closely. His attention drew her in, pushing back the barriers she desperately wanted to keep in place. His gaze was as tender as his touch, and it made her heart flutter.
He made her body rise from darkness and shadows. Awaken from a cold sleep.
“Drink?”
She cleared her throat. “Um, coffee will be fine. And takeout is perfect. I have some cash—”
Taryn snorted and rolled his eyes. The motion was childish, but for some reason, he made it look sexy.
Sexy. She never found anything sexy.
“Don’t even start. I’ll be right back.”
He gave her lower back a gentle nudge with his palm before returning to the house. Gabby tamped down the urge to follow him. Why on earth did watching him walk away feel like something physically tore out of her chest?
It made no sense.
Unless…
She shook her head and headed toward the smiling Briella and the laid-back Syn.
Lifemates don’t exist.
She’d ask the couple. Surely they were level-headed enough to agree with her on that point.
“You’re glowing. That bath must’ve been just what you needed,” Briella said brightly as Gabby took the only seat at the table with no mug in front of it.
“It was a treat, for sure,” Gabby admitted, playing with her damp hair in an effort to tug some strands forward to conceal her injured face. Like Taryn, Briella avoided looking at the injuries, but Syn clearly felt no such compunction. God, she couldn’t forget that these men were dragons. Predators behind gorgeous faces. “Do you live here, too?”
“Yes and no. Depends on whether I have an exhibit at the art gallery or not. I’m a painter, if you didn’t already guess. We spend most of our time at The Hollow. For now, it’s safer.”
Gabby perked up. “The Hollow? Where’s that?”
Briella leaned forward, braced on her forearms. An excited spark lit her blue-gray eyes. “Taryn hasn’t told you about our home? Our real home?” When Gabby shook her head, Briella laughed. “Oh, you’re going to love it!”
“I don’t understand. Isn’t this home?”
“This is a temporary residence,” Syn said. “A vacation spot, in a sense. Although Taryn rooted down here over the last few decades, home is back in our world.”
“Words can’t describe it. Only one way in and one way out. A magical portal. It’s an untouched land with magic and beauty unlike anything you can imagine.” Briella glanced at Syn. “Maybe some of the spring water will help with the healing?”
Self-conscious, Gabby tugged more hair over her bruised and swollen cheek. There wasn’t much more she could do without looking like Cousin It. “It’s nothing that won’t heal in a few days.”
“I’m sure you don’t want people asking questions at the club.”
“I won’t be going back there.”
Briella’s excitement fizzled. A crease formed between her brows. “I know it’s a silly question, but why not? Is that where you got hurt?”
Well, hell if this conversation wasn’t going straight into the fire.
“I don’t think I’m a good fit with their standards.”
“You’re too good for them.” Taryn reached from behind her to place a steaming mug of coffee on the table. She avoided his probing gaze as he took his seat beside her and rearranged a sugar bowl and creamer for her to use. She thanked him and mixed her coffee, trying to ignore the burn his potent attention lit along her skin. “It’s a great place to hang, but I’m not sure about working there. Questionable crowd.”
She took the bait, lifting a brow at him. “How so?”
Taryn snickered against the lip of his mug, eyes darkening. “Trust me on it.”
“Implying customers such as yourself?”
“Perhaps.”
Gabby didn’t tear her eyes from him until he lowered his mug and stretched out in his chair.
“Let’s just say they can be an unsavory bunch. And there is no way I want you around unsavory bunches. You don’t deserve that.” Taryn shrugged, a grin settling on his mouth. A mouth, she realized, she was staring at. She quickly lifted her mug and took a sip of coffee to hide the urge to lick her lips. Whatever it was about Taryn that made her feel and think and dream things she otherwise despised—thanks to her mother—she wasn’t sure she had the strength to fight it. “When you’re dealing with paranormal crowds trying to hide among humans, it can get interesting when
alcohol becomes a factor.”
“I was told you’ve stepped in a few times. To protect some of the staff,” Gabby said.
“Who said that? Suzanne?”
Gabby scowled at the name. If there was one reason she was happy not to return to that place, that manager was it. Another was simply to piss her mother off.
“I’m not going to sit by and let customers be assholes to the staff. Simple as that.”
“Modern-day knight in shining armor.”
“Don’t inflate his ego,” Syn groused.
“He seems pretty grounded,” Gabby said mildly, earning herself three sets of curious eyes. She quickly took another sip from her mug.
“They are,” Briella said, her hand dropping to Syn’s thigh. “The guys like to mess around, but don’t be fooled. Wait until you meet Gabe. He ran out for a bit, but should be back by dinner.”
Gabby looked away when faint flames licked at Syn’s eyes before he turned his attention to Briella. Unfortunately, where it landed earned her a smoldering gaze from Taryn and a wave of liquid heat coiling through her belly. Taryn in no way tried to hide his lust, if that’s what she wanted to call it. It was so strange that she actually enjoyed that look in his eyes. Barely restrained hunger. Seeing that look on anyone else made her sick to her stomach.
“How many of you are here in New Orleans?” Gabby asked.
Taryn’s expression didn’t lighten from the lust-laced shadows. “Right now, the two of us and Gabe. He’s hanging here for a short duration. We had a party about a month ago when the Baroqueth decided to unleash a very public attack on Briella and Syn.”
“What a mess,” Syn muttered.
“Clean-up was a bitch, to say the least. We dispersed for a period of time. The Baroqueth came back and did some damage control, memory cleansing and such, but not before it hit the Internet and the media. We’re still lying low. Seems to be an influx of tourists after the events.”
“That has to be why my mother decided to come here. She wouldn’t give me details, but I managed to find something on the Internet before it was wiped out. There’s nothing anymore.”
“We don’t need humans finding out dragons are real. The only good the Baroqueth did was try to erase the events from the public eye. They don’t want the competition when it comes to who gets to kill us for our power,” Taryn said with a sarcastic chuckle. He winked at Gabby. “Dragons are hot commodities, you know.”
The smile that came to her lips was nothing shy of surprising. The ease with which her lips tilted and the lightness that filled her chest could easily become a drug to her soul. A prescription her body badly needed.
It gave her another nudge toward hoping for a better future.
“I’d suspect they would be, since they aren’t supposed to exist,” Gabby said.
“Well, they certainly do, but few have the history of the Firestorms. They’re like a myth within the myth. Mostly because they don’t exist on this plane. They have their own world,” Briella said. Her brows arched up when Gabby looked at her. “My parents have been giving me a long overdue history lesson since they learned Syn survived when the Baroqueth attacked The Hollow, killing most of the dragons and the Keepers and their families.”
Taryn leaned toward Gabby. “Brie’s parents knew your father. Most Keepers hung out together, either for defense classes or skills upkeep. I’m sure that aside from what I can tell you, you might enjoy hearing about Corvin from someone else’s perspective.”
Her father. A man she had never met, yet the mere mention of his name made her chest tighten with loss and her eyes sting. She never should have believed the lies her mother told about her father. She knew better than anyone Janice couldn’t be trusted. Gabby lowered her head and stared into the cup of coffee. How different would her life have been if her father was around? Would her mother have played the role she had, or would her father have kept Gabby and raised her in a loving and caring home?
Damaged goods, girl. That’s all you are.
* * *
Gabby enjoyed the delicious meal, taking the time to savor each bite. She was grateful Taryn kept the conversation diverted from her past, and her present, for that matter. She learned about Briella’s gift of hearing thoughts and seeing visions, and her talent as an artist.
“Syn and I decided it would be best if we kept my art exhibits to a minimum until tensions with the Baroqueth blow over. Although, by the looks of it, that won’t be anytime soon. The owner of Stackwood has been after me to set up another show. My debut was successful. Explosive, as he described it.”
Taryn snickered. “Oh, he has no idea just how literal that was.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and pushed his empty plate aside. He had switched out his coffee for a beer and took a swig from the bottle. Gabby washed down her last bite of gumbo with water and sighed with delight as he added, “The sky most definitely exploded all right.”
“The night of the attack,” Briella answered Gabby’s unspoken question. A forlorn shadow crossed her expression. Gabby’s heart gave a little tap, understanding disappointment even if she never had the opportunity to aspire to much besides becoming the lifemate of a beast. According to her mother, dragons were beasts in the most basic form of the word.
She dared a glance at Taryn and caught him watching her, curiosity and adoration in his eyes. Her cheeks heated. So far, she hadn’t seen much of a beast in the man who was supposedly her lifemate. Then again, she had yet to deal with his bedroom etiquette.
Despite all the horrors her mother prepared her for, she couldn’t see Taryn being the brute Janice had painted him to be.
“What are you thinking, angel? You have a storm in your eyes.”
She wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to hearing him inside her head. The conversations, however short, were so intimate and sensual. His voice rolled like thick honey, warm and golden. It rocked her mind and dared her to see beyond the horrors of her life and dream of a different future.
“How is this house safe from the Baroqueth if they know you’re here? Can’t they trace you?” Gabby asked.
The sly curl at the corner of his mouth as he took one more drink from his bottle could undo a woman as shattered as she was. Taryn was handsome, charming, and relaxed. Had she not witnessed the beastly side of him coming to her rescue, she would argue he was an upstanding gentleman.
“Wards.” He spoke the word as casually as if he were saying air. He placed his bottle on the table and folded his arms on the table top, pinning her with a dark look. “Magic. I’ve been here for a while, as Syn said. Made some really powerful friends. They’ve helped lay wards around the property to keep danger at bay. Can they come in?” He shrugged. “I suppose. I haven’t had a Baroqueth guest yet. They’d trip the wards and we’d escape before they could so much as wiggle their fingers and call up some spell.”
“There are some very strange entities in this city,” Briella said with a shudder.
“That, sweet Brie, is why you don’t play in graveyards at night.”
Briella pitched her napkin at Taryn with a snort. “Keep calling me that and I’ll start thinking I belong beside a serving of apples and crackers. And I don’t play in graveyards.”
Gabby bit her bottom lip as she watched the exchange with suppressed humor. Taryn’s attention shifted to Syn.
“That’s not what I heard.”
Syn groaned. “Quiet. I was with her.”
“Exactly my point. Playing.”
Smoke rose from the corners of Syn’s mouth. His pupils stretched into vertical slits. “I’ll show you playing.”
“Tsk-tsk. You’re not my type.”
Briella laughed and placed a hand on Syn’s arm. “You get riled so easily.”
“He does.” Taryn clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “Besides, I don’t think it would serve any good purpose to draw attention to ourselves by spitting fire at each other in the air.”
“On that note”—Syn stood up and stretched his arms over his
head before gathering the plates in front of Briella and himself—“I think I’m taking Briella out for a while.” The kind grin he bestowed on Gabby shocked her, considering she thought he’d been seriously upset. “Let you two become more acquainted.”
“I have to shower first. It didn’t happen when Taryn and Gabby first returned.”
Briella sidled by Syn, dragging her hand along his back before she hurried into the house.
“Always teasing me with the damn shower,” he muttered, unable to hide his grin as he followed Briella into the house.
“And that’s family,” Taryn concluded. Gabby laughed quietly, feeling shy. She played mindlessly with the ends of her hair. “You know, that smile looks good on you.”
“Thanks. I haven’t had much reason to smile in a long time,” she admitted.
“Well, then”—he unfurled his arm and held open his hand for her—“maybe it’s time to change that.”
She stared at his palm. Strong. Calloused. The hand of a man who could offer protection or punishment. She hated touch. Touch had defiled her.
Yet…
Slowly, she lowered her hand into his and allowed him to bring her knuckles to his lips. He kissed her softly, the gesture so tender it unleashed sensations and feelings within her body she feared to acknowledge. His lips, hot and firm. His eyes watched, admired.
“You appeared to enjoy dinner. If you like, we can attempt beignets for dessert. Or kick back and watch a movie with popcorn.”
Gabby raised a brow. “I can’t see you watching a movie with popcorn.”
Taryn stood up. “Angel, let me tell you a thing about me, movies, and popcorn.” He helped push back her chair as she climbed to her feet. He caught her free hand as she reached for her plate. “Nope. I’ve got that taken care of. Come. I’ll let you pick out the movie.”
They barely made it a step into the house when the musical chime of the doorbell brought her to an abrupt halt. Taryn’s good-natured attitude turned icy cold as his fingers gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
Syn came out of the kitchen, tossing a cautious glance at Taryn. The air around them grew thick and hard to breathe. Gabby moved closer to the man who’d already saved her from one horrible fate.
