by Wolf,Terra
“Look, I didn’t realize he was taken, if that’s what all this is about. He made no indication whatsoever he was involved with someone.” I pulled the edges of my robe tighter and wrapped my arms around myself, fighting against the feelings of betrayal and anger slashing through my insides. How could I have been so stupid? “I didn’t—”
“You’ve got it all wrong. I’m not involved with him.” She spat the words as though even the thought of such a thing had her skin crawling. I watched her closely as she spun with all the grace of a dancer and whipped her long leg around, nailing Silas in the upper thigh. “I’m here to kill him.”
My jaw dropped. She was here to kill him? What the hell had I walked into?
Chapter 10
Silas
Violet shouldn’t have been here. Vanessa was dangerous and there was no telling what she would do now that there was someone in the room she knew I’d do anything to protect. From the conversation we had before punches were thrown and lamps were broken, I knew she’d been following me the bulk of the day. She’d seen the two of us together, and she’d damn sure seen the kisses we’d shared.
My eyes continued to shift in Violet’s direction as I blocked the repeated blows from Vanessa. She looked as though she might pass out from the admittance Vanessa had given about being here to kill me. Maybe it would be for the best, I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to hold off the change. My inner dragon was dying to break free so I could protect myself in the way I was meant to against Vanessa. Once I let him out, I could put an end to this.
One targeted breath of fire and Vanessa would be an issue no longer.
“Violet, you should get out of here.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think about them. My tone was harsher than I’d intended, and I noticed her flinch because of it. I willed her with my eyes to leave, hoping she’d take the hint. My skin itched to shift, but I fought against it while holding back more of Vanessa’s blows.
Violet glanced at Vanessa. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip and I wasn’t sure if she was debating whether it was safe to leave Vanessa with me or vice versa. Whatever she was thinking, she seemed to be struggling with an answer. A hit to my ribcage had me cursing under my breath while nearly dropping to my knees. Vanessa was a skilled fighter. She’d always been lethal, having taken years of martial arts, but her skill combined with her hunter abilities placed her in a category that was off the charts.
I pressed against my aching ribs, hoping to dull the pain, but all it did was intensify things. My eyes lifted to lock with Vanessa’s. There was a smug smirk stretched across her face. She was enjoying the fact that she’d caused me pain. Fire boiled beneath my veins, pleading with me to let it free. In a movement faster than I could predict possible, I noticed Violet grab the bronze dragon statue Scarlet had gotten me as a gift ages ago from the table near the front door and smash it across the back of Vanessa’s head. She should have gone down from the blow, but she didn’t.
Instead, her eyes flashed with anger as she pivoted to face Violet. I knew what I had to do. Explanations could come later. Right now I needed to end this thing with Vanessa once and for all. Violet’s safety was hanging in the balance if I didn’t.
Giving in to the fire coursing beneath my skin, I kept my eyes trained on the two as I shifted into my true form. It only took seconds for me to change. Scales covered my skin and tiny spikes raised up to reveal intricate patterns. My large wings pushed through the skin covering my shoulder blades and unfolded behind me. While I still bore a resemblance to a man while in my true form, the wings, spikes, and scales were a dead giveaway that I was anything but.
Relief surged through me as I allowed my dragon to emerge, but it was the taste of Violet’s fear saturating the air that grabbed hold of my senses.
Vanessa lunged for her before I could act. Her hands gripped Violet’s upper arms and she shoved her backward. Smoke flared from my nostrils as I watched Violet smash against the wall behind her, hitting her head. My eyes narrowed on Vanessa and I didn’t hesitate in doing what I knew needed to be done.
My body lurched forward and I reached out to grab hold of her, my claws piercing her skin and injecting a paralyzing venom. Once I had her in my clutches, I spun her around to face me.
“Never again,” I growled through clenched teeth as I stared her directly in the eyes.
Fire built in my chest and I released it without a second thought, sending my flames dancing across her skin. I watched as it scorched her to ashes. Her mouth opened, but her screams were silent. I was glad, because I didn’t think I’d be able to stomach the sound of them. The scent of burnt flesh was enough.
I stomped out the tiny flickering flames dancing on her ashes victoriously. My heart raced inside my chest. Killing Vanessa hadn’t been something I’d wanted to do, but it had been a necessity. Not only for my family’s safety as well as myself, but also for Violet’s. Vanessa would have never let her be. She would have killed her. Maybe it wouldn’t have been tonight, but eventually, Vanessa would have killed her. I knew she would, because I knew Vanessa.
A soft moaning sound made its way to my ears and I realized it was Violet coming to. I quickly shifted back into my human form, wanting nothing more than to make sure she was okay. My hands hovered over her as my eyes traveled the length of her body, assessing any injuries she might have acquired.
“Are you okay?” I made sure my tone was gentle yet steady. If she had seen me shift, I was positive she’d be terrified of me.
Her hand came up to press against the back of her head as she moved into a sitting position. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Are you sure? That was a pretty nice shove she gave you.” I attempted to crack a smile, even though she wasn’t looking at my face.
“You’re naked. Why are you naked?”
I had to search hard for an answer, because I didn’t have one waiting on the tip of my tongue. I’d never been in this situation before.
“And where did that woman go? And the creature thing that was standing behind her?” She pressed her body against the wall as though she could blend into it as her eyes jumped around the room, searching for both.
“Creature?” Guilt crushed me the second the word left my mouth. I didn’t want to make her think she was crazy. I wanted to tell her the truth. The question was: how?
“The lizard looking thing with the giant wings! It was behind the woman who said she was going to kill you.” She leaned around me and rubbed her forehead with her hand as though she was beginning to think she might actually be crazy. “And what’s with the pile of ashes on your floor and that horrible scent? What did you burn?” Her nose wrinkled as the rancid scent in the air wafted to her.
I sat back, giving her space. How was I going to explain?
“I know I hit my head, but it wasn’t that hard. I’m not delirious,” she insisted.
“No. You’re not.” I chewed along the inside of my cheek as I stood to gather my scraps of clothes. I covered my groin area with them while debating where to start with my explanations. It didn’t take me long to decide there was no easy way to tell her. I just had to get the words out no matter how crazy they sounded. “The creature is gone, sort of, and the woman is…” The word dead hung on the tip of my tongue, but I refused to say it, knowing it would surely send Violet into a tailspin.
“Where is she?” Her eyes seemed fixated on Vanessa’s ashes, as though she knew exactly what they were.
“Gone,” I whispered. “She’s gone.”
“Should we call 911?” Her blue eyes snapped to mine. They were wide with fear that tore at the edges of my heart. I hated to have pulled her into this situation, into this world, but it was too late to turn back now.
I had to tell her something, now was my chance. If I waited too long, she might not believe me.
I tugged my pants on. “No. There’s no need to call 911.”
“Why not? That woman said she was here to kill you.” She moved to stand, but her kn
ees gave out, and she was forced to lean against the wall behind her for support. “We have to call 911, we have to report this.”
“There isn’t a need, because she isn’t coming back.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’ve taken care of her.”
Swirls of panic darkened her eye color. “How?”
“I got rid of her myself.”
Chapter 11
Violet
What was he insinuating, that he had murdered her? I was being paranoid. That had to be it, because there was no way that was what Silas meant.
“I’m sorry. I thought I heard you say you got rid of her yourself.” I tried to keep the nerves out of my voice. “Only it sounded as though you meant you killed her. I must’ve really hit my head hard.” I tacked on a nervous laugh and rubbed the side of my head.
“I did.”
My heart beat triple time. I needed to get the hell out of here. Silas was psychotic. Panic pinched at my insides as I struggled to craft an excuse to leave, besides the obvious. I didn’t need him thinking I was going to call the cops and turn him in the second I stepped foot inside my place.
Silas started toward me before I could think of anything. His hands reached out and I flinched, thinking he was going for my throat when he was only reaching for my shoulders. Regret shifted through his eyes. Did he regret what I’d seen tonight? Did he regret what he told me? Or did he regret what he was about to do to me because of those things?
I didn’t want to wait around and find out.
“I think I should go.” The words tumbled from my mouth sounding scared and weak, which seemed to make the regret in his golden-colored eyes more prominent.
“Please don’t. I need to explain a few things to you before you leave here tonight.” Excitement and terror from his words, and the feel of his hands smoothing along my arms, caused bumps to prickle across my skin.
“I promise I won’t say a word to anyone. I’ll keep my mouth shut about everything that happened here tonight.” My voice trembled as my heart thundered in my chest.
Silas’s warm breath caressed against my face as he expelled a long sigh. “This is not the way I wanted you to find out about this side of me.” His head hung in shame and so help me God, but the sight of his brokenness kindled a sense of sadness inside me.
I felt bad for a man who’d said he killed a woman moments before. Silas could be a serial killer, and yet here I was feeling bad for him. What was wrong with me?
“I’m just going to come out and say it, because I don’t know any other way.” His eyes locked with mine and I could feel his emotions as though they were my own. All of his shame, heartache, and something else I couldn’t name twisted in the air around us. “I would prefer to leave the cops out of this, because this isn't a normal situation, Violet.”
“What type of situation as it, then?” A warning burned deep in my stomach as soon as the words left my mouth, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“One of the supernatural variety.”
Fear clenched at my gut, prompting me to step away from him, but it was the look in his eyes that forced me to stay.
“The creature you saw earlier… it was me.” He said the words slowly, emphasizing each one. “I was in my true form.”
My eyes bounced around the room as I jerked myself out of his grasp. “That’s not possible.”
Great. I finally found the man of my dreams, and he thought he was a freaking lizard creature with wings. Fantastic. Casey was going to have a field day with this when I told her. I swallowed hard, realizing telling Casey any part of this night might not be the best idea.
“I know how it sounds, but it’s the truth.” He erased the distance I’d placed between us. For every forward step he took, I matched it with two away from him. “You know what you saw, Violet. The only explanation is the one I gave you, something of the supernatural variety. I’m a dragon.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. Images flashed behind my eyelids. Clips of him being swallowed by air that seemed to vibrate. Flashes of his skin taking on a scaly texture and breaking out into spikes all over. Large wings expanding from his back.
“No.” I pressed my fingertips to my temples. There had to be something wrong with my brain, because there was no way I saw Silas shift into a dragon. Dragons weren’t real.
“Yes.” His hands were on me again, smoothing along my arms and rubbing my shoulders. “I’m a dragon shifter.”
The scent of his cologne invaded my nose, and the feel of his touch had sensations spiraling through me that surprised me. Maybe he wasn’t the only twisted person in the room. I began to wonder if I was as sick and demented as he was. What kind of person did it make me if given everything I’d seen tonight, and everything he’d said, I still wanted him?
I pulled away from him and pressed my back against the wall behind me. My eyes squeezed shut and my fingernails dug into the palms of my hands. “This isn’t happening. I’m not having this conversation. I hit my head, and now I’m dreaming. Dragons don’t exist.”
I forced deep, measured breaths through my lungs until I could feel the tightness in my shoulders and neck dissipate. When I open my eyes, I’ll be back in the bathtub. I fell asleep. This was all a dream. I repeated the three sentences as though they were my mantra. When I felt relaxed and calm, I opened my eyes.
Silas was still standing in front of me, shirtless and looking as broken as ever, and there was still a pile of ashes lying a few feet away. Nothing had been a dream. Everything I witnessed tonight had been real.
Silas was a dragon shifter, and apparently he’d torched the woman who’d been sent to kill him, turning her to ashes.
I tightened my robe around my body and hightailed it out of there without speaking another word. I wasn’t sure what was racing faster as I dashed through the front door of my place, my heart or my mind. All I knew was that I needed to get out of there.
I needed to get away from Silas LeFroy.
Chapter 12
Silas
I didn’t stop her. Part of me wanted to, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. She needed time to process. She needed time to think. Learning there was an entire world of supernaturals hidden in plain sight wasn’t easy to swallow, I was sure.
I shifted my focus to what was left of Vanessa as soon as my front door clicked shut. My hands smoothed over my face as equal parts relief and remorse filled me. I never would have thought I’d one day be standing over her ashes.
The sound of tires crunching against gravel filtered through the open windows of my living room. Scarlet must be home. I collected myself, knowing I needed to seem levelheaded and calm when she stepped through the door. While Scarlet understood the need for Vanessa to be completely eradicated, it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t feel something from the fact I’d actually gone through with it.
“I’m home,” Scarlet said as she breezed through the front door. She dropped her things on the catchall table and slipped off her shoes before realizing I was standing in the living room. “Jesus, you scared me! Why are you standing there like a creeper?”
She’d flinched at the sight of me, but her reaction to me was nothing compared to when she finally spotted Vanessa’s ashes.
“Holy shit! Is that Vanessa?” Her golden eyes, so similar to my own, widened with fear.
“Yes.”
Scarlet rushed to me. Her gaze traveled the length of my body, searching for any injuries I might have received in my battle against the hunter. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“What happened? Why the hell didn’t you call for one of us to help you?” She slapped my arm as frustration festered inside her. “She could’ve killed you, Silas!”
Her words irked me, as they insinuated I couldn’t handle her on my own. “I had everything under control.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m sure you did.” She released a long breath as her eyes locked with mine. “I just can�
��t believe she found us.” A tremble ran through her, and I reached out to comfort her.
“It doesn’t matter now. It’s over. No more running.” At least I hoped. Violet’s knowledge of us ate away at my insides as I wondered how I should break the news to Scarlet and Sebastian that I’d been forced to reveal myself to a human.
While it wasn’t uncommon for shifters to reveal themselves to humans, at least to those who were their mate, there were always risks involved.
“What should we do now?” Scarlet asked, pulling me from my thoughts. She untangled herself from my grasp. “Should I call Sebastian?”
“I’ll call.” I reached for my cell and proceeded to dial Sebastian’s number.
Twenty minutes later, the three of us were standing in my living room, staring at Vanessa’s ashes.
“Well, I for one am glad that’s over with.” Sebastian smoothed a hand along the back of his neck.
All the tension in my muscles subsided at his words. I was glad my siblings were okay with what I’d been forced to do. My only hope was that they would be okay with learning I’d also exposed my true form to Violet while doing so.
“What should we do with her ashes?” Scarlet asked.
“Sweep them up and toss them in the trash.” Sebastian stepped into the kitchen, already heading to grab the broom.
“No, we can’t do that, Sebastian. Whether Vanessa was an evil bitch or not, she was still a person. She deserves better than to be swept up and tossed in the trash.” Scarlet moved from the chair she’d been sitting in and began to pace. The area between her brows pinched together as she struggled to come up with a better alternative. “We should at least release her into the swamp. It’s a beautiful setting, and at least her soul might be more at ease there than if she were resting in the bottom of a trash bag.”
