Dance of the Dragon

by Kira Nyte

  “Police,” Syn said on a growl. His gaze went to Gabby. “Briella just had a vision.”

  A knock followed this information.

  Taryn seemed to shake free of whatever trance held him. He ushered Gabby into his bedroom, his expression dead serious. “Stay here. Be quiet. Whatever you do, don’t come out. They have werewolves on the police force in this city.”

  He tapped his nose, indicating exactly what he meant before he closed the door.

  Gabby shuddered as fear trickled through her newly discovered happiness. Rivulets that created fissures, reminding her who she was, where she came from, and where she’d end up.

  No one, not even a lifemate, would risk their freedom to hide a criminal and a stranger.

  Putting her back to the wall, she closed her eyes, pressed her lips together, and silently prayed that this nightmare would just be over.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The effort to keep his dragon calm while feigning his usual laid-back demeanor was more difficult than he imagined. Syn waited on the stairs, out of sight, as Taryn answered the second forceful knock.

  There was only one reason he could imagine the police would show up on his doorstep. Hopefully the wards around his property averted any wolves. There wasn’t much he could do to disguise Gabriella’s scent. Not at this point.

  Two officers in suits stood on his stoop. They appeared curious and determined. Neither smelled like wolf. The relief was small, but it was definitely one score for him.

  “Good evening, sir. Sorry to bother you. Is there a Taryn Chovetz living at this address?”

  Taryn nodded once. “I’m Taryn.”

  “I’m Detective Jenkins and this is Detective Garner with the New Orleans Police Department.” Each man held out their ID for Taryn to inspect. “We’re following a few leads on an incident that occurred earlier today. Do you have a few minutes?”

  Taryn leaned against the doorframe, taking the time to scan the surrounding street. He detected no signs of Baroqueth or Janice.

  “Always ready to help when I can. What’s the problem?” Taryn asked. A prickling sensation at the back of his mind kept him on edge. Gabriella was starting to panic, and right now, he could do little to reassure her. “Calm, angel. Everything will be fine.” He opened the front door a bit wider, allowing the detectives a better look inside to show them he had nothing to hide. “There’s always an incident in good ol’ NOLA. What happened today?”

  Jenkins pulled a small notebook from his chest pocket and flipped it open. “Are you acquainted with a Mr. Jack Stanley? Or a Ms. Janice Metz?”

  Taryn pursed his lips in feigned thought. “Doesn’t sound familiar.”

  “How about a Ms. Gabriella Metz?”

  Taryn narrowed his eyes. “I know a Gabby who just started to work at The Spotted Cat. But I’m sure there are plenty of Gabriellas around.”

  Garner cleared his throat. “Actually, she is the Gabriella in question.”

  “I don’t understand.” Taryn pushed off the doorframe and hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans. “She’s been at the club for two nights.”

  “We’re investigating the death of Jack Stanley. His body was found earlier this afternoon in his place of residence. There is speculation about Gabriella’s whereabouts and her involvement in his death, as voiced by her mother, Janice, who says you’re acquainted with her daughter.”

  Taryn forced the smoke down into his throat and clenched his teeth at the urge to rebuke such a silly notion. Gabriella’s fear sparked in his mind so strong it actually sent a tremor down his arms.

  “Acquainted, yes. From the club. I can’t imagine the woman having the nerve to harm anyone, let alone be involved in the death of someone. Shy little thing.” He’d left the blasted man alive, to suffer in his own hideous malformation. He could think of two ways the poor excuse for a human might have ended up dead. One, Janice had finished him off in an attempt to set up her daughter, although that made no sense if she was hoping to get a chunk of Taryn’s hoard. Two, someone else had found Gabriella’s residence and he’d arrived not a moment too soon in more ways than one.

  “My understanding is that she moved to New Orleans about a month ago. I only know her because I frequent the club.” He shrugged carelessly. “She’s a pretty girl. I noticed her.”

  Had the damn Baroqueth tracked them from the trailer, too? Were they on his trail, closer than he imagined?

  His chest tightened in response to his lifemate’s panic. Goddess, the physical reaction was overwhelming. Was this what she fought every day of her life?

  Jenkins jotted down his statement. “How is it that Ms. Janice Metz could give us a full name and description of your appearance if you are not acquainted with her?”

  Taryn chuckled as his frustration grew. “Perhaps she saw me at the club? And perhaps her daughter disclosed my identity to her? Certainly, that is no basis to imply I might be involved in this.”

  The detectives shared a silent glance before Garner motioned to Taryn’s truck.

  “Is that yours?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “A truck matching that description was seen in the vicinity of Mr. Stanley’s residence.” Garner’s eyes hardened when they turned to Taryn. “Can you explain that?”

  Well, damn.

  “I was visiting a friend earlier today who lives off St. Philips Street. Her name’s Amelia Reinhardt. I don’t know where this Stanley guy lives, but I can assure you, my truck isn’t all that unique.” Amelia would cover for him. She lived close enough to the trailer park that it was a plausible explanation.

  “Mr. Chovetz, let’s cut to the chase. A man matching your description was seen walking down the sidewalk with a woman matching Gabriella Metz’s description not far from the scene of a suspicious death. Both man and woman left in a truck matching the one in your driveway and that you just stated belongs to you.”

  Tempering his dragon was becoming a bitch.

  “As I said—”

  “Hey, sexy. I’ve been waiting upstairs for you. What’s taking so long?”

  Taryn jerked around and practically choked as Syn sauntered forward to join him and winked.

  Ohh, hell, no.

  His dearest friend slung an arm around his shoulders and dipped his head to nuzzle Taryn’s neck. Taryn nearly pushed him away until Syn growled. “Play along.”

  Ugh.

  Taryn mustered a smile and leaned into Syn, silently cursing the man. “Sorry, sweetie. These two detectives dropped by to ask some questions about a guy who died. Someone said they saw me and my truck.” He snickered. “And a woman.”

  Syn laughed. “Seriously? Gentlemen, all due respect, but Taryn is not a woman’s man. I can assure you. He slid out from under me to drop something at his friend’s house and came right back.” Syn rubbed a strand of Taryn’s hair between his fingers. “He doesn’t like to be away from me for long.”

  The detectives exchanged an uncomfortable look. Jenkins removed a business card from another pocket and held it out to Taryn. “We’ll be in touch. In the meantime, if you remember any details from earlier, or come across Gabriella Metz, please give us a call immediately. Her mother warned us she is mentally unstable and prone to violent outbursts.”

  Taryn fought the resentful twitch in his head as Syn’s fingers drew down his neck. “Yeah. If I see her, I’ll let you know.”

  The detectives turned away and headed down the stairs. Taryn couldn’t close the door fast enough. Syn scowled and backed away, wiping his hands on his jeans as though wiping off a squished bug.

  “I can’t believe I just saved your ass like that,” he groused.

  Taryn winked. “And here I thought I wasn’t your type.” After a short silence, they both laughed. “Well, you go back to your type. I’m going to check on mine. And let’s pretend you didn’t just come on to me. I’d hate to get on Brie’s bad side.”

  “There will be no pretending. It never happened.”

  Taryn shook his
head as Syn bounded up the stairs. He glanced out the window as the detectives exited the gate of his property. Only when they pulled away from the curb in their unmarked squad car did he return to his bedroom.

  He was both shocked and concerned when he found Gabriella pressed to the wall just inside the door, her body stiff as stone, pale as ivory, and her breaths coming in fast, shallow gasps.

  “Angel, they’re gone.” He stepped up to her, drawing his fingers over her cheek. He witnessed the magic of his touch as it calmed her breathing. She opened her eyes and hit him with a powerful dose of fear and anxiety. A shaky breath left her lips, but her shoulders remained stiff. He stroked her brow, tucking strands of golden hair behind her ear. “I told you, you’re safe with me.”

  “You didn’t kill him,” she whispered. “How’s Jack dead?”

  “Because someone didn’t think my punishment was enough.” Which begged the question, why would the Baroqueth waste their time killing the bastard and not just wiping his memories? “Your mother is a piece of work.”

  “Taryn, I-I should really leave. You don’t deserve this. Not the hauntings of my life.”

  He moved closer, molding his palm along the smooth contours of her face. He traced her plump lower lip with his thumb, bracing his other hand on the wall by her head.

  “If you could trade your hauntings for something beautiful, would you?” His mouth burned to taste hers again. The way her lips parted and her eyes grew cloudy with something other than the ever-present anxiety gave him a spark of hope that perhaps he could win her over. “If I could give you peace and happiness, would you take it?”

  He lowered his head, inhaling the scent of her skin. Her hands lifted to his waist, her fingers trembling.

  He feathered a kiss over her brow. “You are my lifemate, Gabriella. Someone so precious to me. Your pain is mine. Your shadows my own.” Her fingers tightened on him, pulling him closer. He obliged, resting his leg against the outside of hers, holding her to the wall. Another light kiss to her cheek drew a sigh from her. “Show me what haunts you and I’ll take it all away.”

  Gabriella leaned into his palm as he rested his forehead on hers. Her eyes fixed on his mouth, her breaths unsteady. “I-I can’t. It’s too hideous. You’ll realize I’m right.”

  With a tip of his head, he brought his lips to hers in a soft, airy kiss. “Let me prove you wrong. Open your mind to me, angel. You don’t have to speak. I can see your memories, if you let me.”

  He lifted his mouth from the temptation of hers, keeping their foreheads connected and the tips of their noses brushing. Her fingertips pinched his waist as she clutched him, her lips drawn tight. He began to wonder if her secrets would forever be locked inside her.

  Then he received the first memory.

  Gabriella, a small girl no older than five, being coaxed by her conniving mother to kneel between a grown man’s legs. Another memory, a few years later, a crying Gabriella standing naked in a room while two men ogled and fondled her.

  The memories came more quickly, bouncing between early childhood and the present, each one worse than the last. Soft sobs escaped her despite the waves of comfort he tried to provide. Comfort he found difficult to hold onto while both he and his dragon coiled and twisted with dangerous levels of rage.

  As the horrifying memories flew through her mind, he absorbed each one, vivid as if it were happening in front of him. Her pain. Her shame. Her embarrassment. Her self-loathing and helplessness.

  Her regret.

  Her strong desire to end it. To be done. To give up on life.

  Taryn eased away, both from the nightmare of her life and the heat of her body. She looked up at him, tears streaking her face, but his fury had reached far beyond his control.

  “That was everything?” His voice was as deadly as venom-laced wine. Smooth, with a bite. She shook her head. Such a small motion, but one that snipped the last cord that kept him grounded.

  He snarled, spun away from Gabriella and stormed out of the room. Red-hot fury burned in his veins, singed his mind and blinded his sight. Sight that had turned thermal with his dragon as he burst through the front door and left his house, prepared to hunt.

  * * *

  “Taryn, please!”

  The pathetic wails that exploded from her chest didn’t bring him back. She had never seen anyone look so lethal and angry. Never seen such hatred and disgust. She crumpled to the floor and sobbed, her body shaking mercilessly. Her head began to throb and her chest tightened until she swore her heart was wringing the life out of her.

  Each breath became a struggle to get past her closing throat. Her stomach lurched.

  She should never have given herself permission to hope. To think, even for a moment, that a man like Taryn would find anything worthy in her.

  She lived a nightmare. Not a fairytale.

  Gabby gasped for air, the pain in her chest restricting her lungs. She frantically looked around the room until she found her purse on the nightstand by the bed. The room pulsed in time with her pounding heart and darkness crept around the edges of her vision.

  She pitched forward onto her hands and knees and struggled to move on shaking limbs. Tears spilled from her face, splattering over her hands and she forced herself to cross the room. Twice, her elbows buckled and she splayed onto the rug.

  She reached the nightstand and sat back against it, grappling for her purse. It fell into her lap. She frantically dug for her medications.

  One bottle.

  Two bottles.

  All of them.

  She fumbled with the top of the first bottle until it opened. Her hands shook so badly that pills spilled over her.

  She didn’t care.

  Anything to make the pain stop. Anything to make the shame stop.

  She poured what was left into her palm. Stared at the contents.

  Anything to make it all stop.

  The door crashed against the wall. She didn’t look up, focused on her hand.

  “Gabby?”

  Not going to stop me.

  She popped the handful of pills into her mouth as Briella started screaming for Syn.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rage took on a whole new meaning as he stalked the streets of the French Quarter. He’d kept his head low, his senses on high alert, hiding his eyes until he could force the dragon back under his control. His body boiled with fury, his mind spinning at what he had seen.

  The horrors. The abuse.

  Goddess, no wonder his lifemate was so shattered.

  And Janice was to blame.

  Jack wouldn’t have been the first man to abuse his lifemate. He doubted he would’ve been the last, if Janice had her way. It was Gabriella’s own self-loathing and severe anxiety and depression that kept her tied to Janice. That, and Janice’s slick use of her own daughter’s abilities to get blackmail material.

  Gabriella truly believed herself worthless.

  Oh, sweet Goddess, he’d prove just how wrong she was.

  He was almost at the trailer park when he saw the despicable woman smoking a cigarette on the sidewalk outside the gate. She did a double take when she saw Taryn.

  “Well, look who it is. Tell me you’ve found my daughter,” Janice said, exhaling a plume of smoke. Her exasperated expression shifted to wariness when Taryn didn’t answer. “I knew it was only a matter of—”

  Taryn grabbed her arm, silencing her mid-sentence. Her eyes widened. She dropped her cigarette.

  “What have you done to her?” A mix of his dragon and his human self formed the question on a lethal growl. Her eyes widened more. “You’d be dead right now if you weren’t a female. I have morals, Janice, and I’m finding them fucking hard to hold onto as I look into your face, knowing what you did to her. What you exposed her to. How horribly you’ve exploited her.”

  Janice blubbered nonsense until she cleared her throat. “I-I don’t know what stories she’s told—”

  Taryn pulled back his lips, baring his dragon fangs. A
fierce shudder wracked the woman. “She told me nothing. I saw. I saw everything she was willing to let me see, and by the Goddess, what I saw was enough to scar even me.”

  Janice sneered even as fear roiled through her eyes. “I’ve prepared her for you—”

  Blind rage.

  It swept over him with a force he couldn’t stand up against.

  “Taryn, stop!”

  Strong hands clamped down on his shoulders and yanked him back. He released Janice’s arm, but the throbbing red of his fury didn’t subside. Janice stumbled backwards, rubbing her arm.

  “Taryn, look at me.”

  He turned his head stiffly, not wanting to let Janice out of his sight.

  Syn’s face was set in hard lines, but his eyes sparked with concern. “She needs you. At the house.”

  His dragon lusted for blood.

  Syn’s eyes narrowed. “Now, Taryn.”

  Taryn blinked. A sense of disorientation shook him. He looked at Janice. She leaned her back against the gate leading into the trailer park, hugging herself.

  Syn shoved him away from his target. “Now!”

  The urgency in Syn’s voice fractured his rage enough to allow his thoughts a chance to gain footing, to sense the utter despair of his lifemate’s thoughts.

  Taryn and Syn took off down the street, keeping to the shadowy side roads until they came to Esplanade. He bolted down the sidewalk, practically mowing pedestrians down. He never slowed until he burst into the house, heard Briella’s frantic assurances, and followed them into his bedroom.

  He stood in the doorway, trying to process what was going on. Small white dots littered the floor beside the nightstand. Two pill bottles—

  “Gabriella!”

  He stumbled to the bathroom and found Brie holding Gabriella in her lap. She was brushing Gabriella’s hair away from her face with a shaky hand. Her eyes glistened when she looked up at Taryn.

  “Syn went to get Amelia.”

  Taryn hadn’t even noticed when Syn veered away from his mad dash.