Dragon Fixation

by Amelia Jade

  It was obvious the Alpha didn’t believe him for an instant.

  “Indeed.”

  Aiden paused, trying to act surprised. “Why are you here?”

  Stephen shrugged. “Well,” he started pacing back and forth in front of the entrance. “I was in my office having a meeting with Flint and Orren. We usually do that every Sunday you see.”

  Aiden nodded, his eyes watching Stephen closely. He was up to something. His pacing was absolutely on purpose, heading toward an end result that Aiden couldn’t quite pick up on yet. Was it a distraction? He’d searched the room fairly carefully; there didn’t appear to be any other entrances or exits, or ways for others to sneak in behind him. Trying to disguise it as scratching his face, Aiden lifted his nose and tested the air.

  All he could smell were Patrice, Stephen, and the vast amounts of metal around him. No other scents reached his nose.

  “And then, in the middle of the meeting, Willow comes barging in, says she just has to talk to me.” He stopped and gave Aiden a knowing look. “You know how women are. Tells me to dismiss my men, we need to talk now. So, I do. They leave. And then she starts to ask me questions. Questions she hasn’t asked me for years. Then she calls me a liar. ME!”

  Aiden understood now. The pacing wasn’t a distraction. It was a lead-in to the anger that Stephen was doing his best to contain. He was furious, and it was dictating his actions, making him think less clearly. Perhaps Aiden could use that to his advantage somehow. He looked around as surreptitiously as he could while Aiden continued to speak.

  “She proceeds to ask me what happened to her family. When I tell her, she doesn’t believe me. And you know what else she told me, Aiden? Do you?”

  No, but I suspect that you’re going to tell me one way or another.

  “She tells me that the person who fed her the idea that I was lying, the one causing her to question all this? That it was YOU!” The final word was a bellow, the loudness of it catching Aiden off guard.

  Even as he yelled it Stephen came at him, cold fire burning in his eyes, careful training guiding his motions. Aiden dove to the side, just ahead of the charging Alpha. He had underestimated the older werewolf, assuming him to be caught up in his anger. Instead, Stephen had played him with ease, luring him into a false sense of security before attacking.

  Aiden got to his feet and dodged behind the nearest container, buying himself a few moments of time as he moved deeper into the miniature maze of wires, boxes, and other equipment.

  “You know what the worst part of all this is?” Stephen said, his voice echoing so much it was hard to pin his location down. “Now I’m going to need to find a new secretary.”

  Aiden’s blood froze. He was going to kill Willow. His own daughter.

  “Why even keep her all this time then?” he shot back, fighting for time, hoping to keep the Alpha talking.

  He needed to win this fight, and win it swiftly. Aiden felt he could beat Stephen one-on-one. But to do so would require a lot of him, and he wouldn’t emerge unscathed. One way or another he was going to need to deal with the rest of the pack as well. Whether they were waiting outside for him, or back at the pack house, Aiden needed to save his energy. There was also the RRT to consider. They would be mobilizing and heading this way at all possible speed. In fact, they might be going to both here and the pack house. Aiden needed to go, and go now. The best way to do that was to not fight fair.

  To cheat.

  He crept around several more coffins until he found something he could use.

  “I never took you for a simpleton,” Stephen said. His voice sounded more like it was coming from off to his right now. “But come on. How perfect of a cover was it? Nobody would suspect the guy who took in a human and adopted her. That’s not the sort of person that gets another look. It was the perfect cover.”

  Aiden felt chills as the layers began to peel back around Stephen, revealing his true ugliness. He’d hated the bastard even before Mack had assigned him here. Now his hatred was justified even more.

  “I cannot wait to take you down,” he snarled. “I was going to kill you, but now I think I’ll leave you and Patty-cakes there for the RRT. You deserve to be locked up for a long time. Death would be too kind to you.”

  As soon as he finished speaking Aiden hefted the chunk of metal pipe he’d found, bouncing it off the aisle three coffins away. He spied movement as Stephen went to inspect it.

  Which is when he hurled the bigger piece of pipe straight at him like a javelin.

  Stephen heard something and pulled back, but not before the wobbling piece smacked sideways into his neck. The blow wouldn’t have been anything damaging, except for the fact that Aiden was charging in right behind it. He hit Stephen low, like a linebacker, intending to take him to the ground and try to choke him out.

  “ARGH—”

  Stephen’s voice cut off abruptly as a massive tremor ran through his body and into Aiden. He abruptly bent in half over his shoulder, and when they hit the floor, the Alpha didn’t rise.

  “What the fuck?” Aiden stood up, looking at the limp body, taking several steps back in case it was a trick.

  That’s when the blood started to leak from the back of Stephen’s head. He frowned and reached down for a pulse. He was still alive. Aiden had mixed feelings about that. Looking around he finally spied what had happened. The long piece of pipe had gotten jammed in the floor under one unit, and it was long enough that it stretched across the passage between it and another, like one half of an X-shape. When Aiden had tackled Stephen, he’d been low enough to go under, but clearly the back of his head had impacted on the bar, knocking him out.

  Aiden smiled. That would keep him out for some time, but he needed to take it another step. Taking the long piece of pipe, he wedged it in really tight between the two coffins. Then he grabbed the shorter piece of pipe. Holding that under his chin, he placed Stephen’s hands on the ground above his head, palms up, one atop another.

  “This is for threatening Willow,” he growled, and then stabbed the piece of pipe right through the middle of both hands.

  Stephen awoke with a scream, but Aiden was moving swiftly and expertly. He lifted the now-pierced hands from the ground, and with a grunt of effort he folded the shorter piece of pipe around the longer one, effectively tying Stephen to the wedged piece of pipe.

  “Shut up,” he snarled and knocked the Alpha unconscious with a huge right hook.

  There was no more time to waste. Aiden darted for the door, phone already in hand.

  Aiden: Willow! They’re going to try and kill you. Get to safety! I’m coming.

  His phone buzzed before he’d fired up the truck and he glanced at it, scrambling to read it once he realized it was from Willow.

  Willow: AIDEN! Oh thank God your alive. They’ve locked me in my room. I don’t know what to do. Please hurry.”

  He ignored the typo, deciding to forgive her for improper spelling based on the circumstances.

  “I am a generous God,” he muttered as the tires screeched, quoting a semi-famous movie from a decade earlier.

  It often amazed others how he could remain so calm under pressure, often cracking jokes and being a general wiseass regardless of the situation. But that was just the way he was. The shittier things looked, the funnier he got.

  At least, that’s what Aiden thought. Not everyone always agreed with him, but whatever. He got the job done. Every time. Just like he was going to do now.

  “I’m coming, Willow,” he said, repeating the line out loud as the truck tore out of the parking lot, an oncoming car swerving and slamming on the brakes to avoid hitting him.

  “I’m coming.”

  Nineteen

  Willow

  Aiden was right.

  It irked her to admit it, even to herself. But even more than that, it hurt. Because it meant she’d been wrong. Completely, utterly wrong. Not just about something, but about everything. The way that her father—NO. He is not my father. He is “
Stephen”—the way Stephen had changed so completely and without any remorse had been a cold slap across the face.

  Willow was starting to wake up now, to realize just how badly she’d been played. The reason why he’d adopted her was still a mystery to her, but it didn’t matter. For whatever reason, it had all been an act. He’d never cared. All the memories she had, they were false. Lies.

  The tears continued to come down her face as her life came crashing down around her. Everything she’d thought she’d known was going up in flames. Burn it all, she figured. It was time to start fresh. The blinders were off now. No more looking the other direction.

  She walked over to the door and locked it. Then she started piling objects in front of the doorway, pushing furniture, whatever she could to block the doorway.

  “What are you doing in there?” Deckard called, pounding on the doorway.

  “Throwing a hissyfit and preparing to smash some shit, you arrogant micro-penis!” she hollered back, surprised at her own vocabulary. “Now fuck the hell off and let me rage in peace.”

  There was no more calling from the other side. But moments later she heard a plethora of voices start cursing. Heavy footsteps pounded down the hallway, and suddenly everything was silent.

  Willow sniffed in derision. “Well then. It’s about time they gave me the respect I deserve.”

  The sudden noise of something bouncing off her window caught her attention. She ran over to it and opened it.

  “Aid—Pleh!” She spat the pebble that had landed in her mouth back out. “What the fuck, dude? You just threw that in my mouth! You need to ask before you do that!”

  Aiden stood on the ground, arm raised to throw another pebble. “Uh, sorry,” he said, caught off guard.

  “Seriously? You’re going to let me get the better of you with one dirty comment? Let’s go, Rescue Boy. Get me the fuck out of here.”

  Aiden shook his head. “Holy shit, I fucking love you.”

  She hadn’t been intending to hear those words, but they were said loud enough she could pick it up. A grin spread across her face as she realized, right then and there, that she felt the same. This man, this incredible man. He was hers and she wanted to be his oh so badly. It wasn’t going to be easy, and she was going to need some time to adjust to the complete upheaval and betrayal of her past life. But if he would stick by her and accept her nervousness over trusting someone again, she knew they could create a life together that others would only dream of.

  “Yeah? Well get up here and say that to my face so that I can show you my response.”

  “You need to jump,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll catch you. But we need to go. Now. There is exactly zero time, Willow. Let’s go!”

  Jump? It was two stories down. Two big stories. That was a long, long way to fall. She knew Aiden was strong, but the idea of just blindly launching herself out the window was terrifying.

  “Um, are you sure?”

  “Yes! Positive! There are things going on you don’t know about. We need to GO!”

  His tone was urgent enough to spur her into action. Willow ripped the screen off with a burst of strength she hadn’t realized she possessed. Then, backing up, she prepared to jump.

  “GO!” he shouted from outside.

  She started to run forward at the same instant the door behind her exploded inward under a massive blow. A huge body—Rokk—came through the door. Furniture and objects sprayed outward in a half-circle as he bulldozed his way through. A spinning piece of a chest took her in the side, throwing her off balance.

  “AIDEN!” she shrieked as she fell to the floor.

  Rokk was on her in a second, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder as he headed for the door. “I don’t think so,” he rumbled. “We have other plans for you. Let’s go.”

  She beat and pounded on his back, but it was no use. The werewolf was far too strong for her to resist.

  Behind her there was a roar and a huge figure came through the window, taking out the frame with it. Aiden thrashed his way into the house just as Rokk exited the room and ran down the hallway. Another shifter ran into the room to take him on. Langdon, she thought, but it was too fast for her to see. They retreated to Stephen’s study.

  Stephen was there. His hands were a mess, covered in gauze that was soaked with red. Fury was etched in his features as he looked upon her while Flint wrapped the gauze around one palm then the other.

  “I’m going to kill him,” her non-father snarled. “Slowly, and as excruciatingly painfully as I can, he will die. And you will watch.”

  Rokk tossed her into a chair and then went to help Orren and Deckard, who were barricading the door behind them. They shoved a huge wardrobe in front of the door, then the massive oak desk, and piled other tables and chairs in front of it.

  Orren tore up some floorboards and was in the process of wedging things tighter when a werewolf missile came hurtling through the doors, shattering the barricade in the process. The beaten and bloodied form hit the far wall, nearly going right through it before bouncing off. At first she feared that it was Aiden, but as the others reacted with anger and turned to face the door, she saw through the bruised and bloodied face that it was Langdon.

  “Let her go.” The voice that came through from the hallway didn’t sound like it was coming from any human throat. It was too deep, snarly, and sounded like there were teeth in the way.

  “Fuck you!” Flint shouted. “Why should we? There’s more of us than there are you. You’re screwed.”

  She edged closer until she could see into the hole. Aiden was standing there, his features enlarged and filled with animal qualities. She gasped. He was holding his shifter-change in check, giving him some of the animal qualities while still in human form. His jaw was a little longer and filled with more teeth, his limbs more fluid, and long claws could be seen in place of his fingernails.

  Oh, and there was midnight black fur everywhere. He still looked more human than not, but it was an unbelievable display of power that she knew very few could handle.

  “Not nearly as screwed as you think,” the man-wolf hissed. She watched him reach into his pocket and remove a cell phone, waving it at Stephen’s pack.

  “Oh no. What are you going to do, call the police?”

  Aiden sighed visibly. “No, you gargoyle, it’s not what I’m going to do. It’s what I already did.”

  There was a massive BOOM! from what sounded like the front door. The entire house shook.

  “What was that?” Stephen asked, sounding a bit panicky.

  “That,” Aiden said, supplying the answer, “would be the first half of the RRT that I summoned. The second should be here any mome—”

  Willow screamed and dove for cover as the glass ceiling above them shattered and half a dozen figures came leaping down into her father’s study.

  Twenty

  Aiden

  He hadn’t expected them to come from the ceiling of the office. It was a nice touch, he had to admit, but it was unexpected.

  “Willow!” he roared, dashing forward even as she ran toward him, hands over her head to protect herself from the rain of deadly shards.

  Reaching her side, he snatched her up into his arms and darted out into the house. Behind them the rest of the pack bellowed and took up pursuit. All around the house more sounds could be heard.

  “Damn, they must have brought two teams. That’s some serious firepower.”

  He swung around the corner, deposited Willow on her feet, waited a second with his head cocked, and then kicked out. Hard. His foot lashed out past the corner and took the lead shifter in the chest. The motion was so quick he never even saw who it was.

  “Time to go!” he yelped, snatching Willow up and heading down the hallway, picking up speed as he went. The others were right behind and catching up. They didn’t have to worry about keeping a woman in their arms safe, so they ran with reckless abandon.

  “You guys should try to escape!” he shouted back at
them. “Priorities!”

  The growls only grew louder.

  “I don’t think they agree,” Willow said as she bounced in his arms.

  “You know, I think you’re right. You should try.”

  “Go run and hide like the flea-bitten cowardly dogs you are!” she cried. There was a brief pause. “It didn’t work. I think they’re getting madder now.”

  “Well, that happens when you call them dogs,” he said conversationally, turning a corner and heading for the staircase.

  “It was just a joke,” she complained. “Can’t they—Ooph!—Hey, driver. Doesn’t this thing come with shocks or something? What’s with the rough ride?”

  He snorted. “You took forever to get in the cab. It’s not my fault we’re behind schedule now.”

  They reached the bottom of the stairs in a hurry, mostly because he took it in two bounds, holding Willow tight to his chest to try and minimize the bumping around. He was halfway turned toward the right when Willow hammered on his shoulder.

  “GO LEFT!” she screamed.

  Aiden didn’t hesitate, he just flung himself to the left. A split second later two wolves went sailing right through the space he would have been. Instead of landing on him and taking him to the ground, they both hit the hardwood floor. Paws searched for traction that wasn’t there. Amid yelps and snaps at each other they went down. Their momentum carried them into the wall that stopped them dead.

  Aiden didn’t stick around to see any more. He was already tilting his body forward and accelerating once more. Stephen’s pack wouldn’t stay down, they would keep coming after him.

  “They’re going to catch up,” Willow said, looking over his shoulder as he raced for the back door.

  She was right.

  “End of the line, please exit the vehicle to your left,” he said, and tossed Willow to his left.

  “WHAT THE FUCK!” she yelped in midair, before landing on the couch he’d aimed for. “Ooooh, you’re so lucky, mister!”

  All around them the house was shaking as the RRT closed in on them. He could hear shouts and noises. It felt like the entire house was being invaded. There were only three teams in the entire city. To cover a population of nearly a hundred thousand shifters among almost five million humans if you included the suburbs, that was not much. Had all three been tasked with hitting the pack house at once?