by Vella Day
Regardless of their mate status, she needed him to sign off on the fact that her family had not been at fault for any of the accidents. The insurance company was already breathing down their necks.
Nessa pressed the elevator button to Kyle’s hospital floor, and it arrived too quickly. Once at his door, she knocked and then entered. Two heads turned. Oh, crap. One face glared at her, while the more important one gave her an appreciative look, helping to boost her confidence. Clearly, she was interrupting some important conversation.
“I, ah, can come back later,” she said. Talk about uncomfortable. “I didn’t know you had company.”
“No, stay. This is my sister, Lily.”
She should have guessed. Wasn’t this just fantastic? Standing straighter, Nessa plastered on her best smile and held out her hand, but the handshake was not returned. Nessa hoped Lily would excuse herself, but she must not have trusted Nessa with her brother, so she remained seated. That was okay. Nessa would have to try harder to show both of them that she meant well.
Because there was only one chair in the room, Nessa had to stand. “I’ve studied the video of the incident.”
Kyle pushed up on his elbows. “Were you able to identify him?”
“No.” She glanced at Lily, who was still glaring at her. “The video shows you collapsing. That’s all.”
He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t either at first. Vic thought you’d just fainted, but we couldn’t explain the blood to the back of your head since you landed on your face. After watching a few times, it became clear that an invisible being picked up a rock and smashed it over your head.”
“Invisible being?” he asked.
“I bet it was a dragon shifter,” Lily said. “Nelor could cloak himself when he became a dragon.”
Nessa stepped closer. “Could Nelor become invisible in his human form?”
She shook her head. “No, or at least not that I knew of.”
Nessa didn’t know this Nelor so there’d be no reason for him to target her family. “Good to know. From what Vic and I could tell, this person was able to become invisible in his human form as well. That means he’s a dragon shifter as well as a powerful dark lighter.”
“Damn,” Kyle exclaimed.
The image of the attack raced across her mind. Oh, shit. She’d meant to take the rock that had Kyle’s blood on it to the police department, but after Greer told her she was such a tomboy, Nessa had totally forgotten about it. “I plan to ask the police to test the rock to see if there is any trace evidence on it.”
“I appreciate that. You said you found the location of the explosives. Let me ask you this,” Kyle said. “If you wanted to blow up your mine, where would you have placed them?”
Her initial reaction was to go on the defensive, but then she realized it was an excellent question. “Exactly where this person put them.”
A small smile lifted his lips. “Then I’d say that narrows down the suspect pool even more. How many men or women are experts in demolition?”
Nessa looked down to the side then back up at him. “I couldn’t say, but there have to be two or three people at each mining company who specialize in explosives.”
“If you limit the number of mines to this province, what are we talking about? Ten or fifteen people max?”
She liked the way he thought. “I’d say even less than that.”
“I’ve spoken to every mine owner already, but I’ll ask them again to list the people who possess the skill. I’ll pass that onto the cops.”
“I suggest you ask them to only list dragon shifters.” Goddess, she was adding fuel to Lily’s fire.
“Have you figured out why this person conked me on the head?” Kyle asked. “I never saw his face.”
“That’s what I’m hoping the cops will find out.” She chanced a glance at his sister again, but she still had a sour look on her face. “I need to get going. I’ve taken up enough of your time. Sorry to have interrupted.”
“I’m glad you came,” Kyle said.
“Me too.”
His eyes turned softer, and as he scoped her out from head to toe, heat suffused her body. Nessa could tell some of her purple scales were starting to glow under her dress, so she smiled and waved as she hauled her flash dancing dragon ass out of there.
As soon as Nessa left, Kyle looked over at Lily. “You weren’t very nice to her.” Though Kyle should probably be thankful his sister hadn’t been outright rude.
Her jaw dropped. “Nice? She’s a dragon shifter. Did you forget what—”
“No, Lily. I never forget, but I’ve learned that not all dragon shifters are the same. Nessa is a great person.”
She huffed. “You’re thinking with your other head.”
Heat flushed his face. His usually sweet sister never said anything like that. She must be upset. “Do I find her hot? Hell yeah, but I’m trying to stay objective. Trust me, I can’t forget what she is.”
“Your eyes tell a different story.”
He lifted one shoulder. “Don’t worry, I have no intention of dating her. Nessa is just interested in finding out who tried to kill either of us, more so than any human I’ve ever met. She’s never done anything to indicate she’s unscrupulous.”
Lily shook her head. “You are a fool. She’s trying to seduce you so that you’ll reopen the mine. Ten bucks says she knows who tried to harm you. Hell, I bet she hired him to run you off the property.”
That couldn’t be true. “If that were the case, would she have brought me to the hospital?”
“Kyle, she set you up. She probably had you knocked out so she could swoop in and save you. Like a knight in shining armor. She wants you to think she’s amazing.”
He still didn’t buy it. “I can’t be that bad a judge of character.”
“Seriously? What about Mary Lou or Janet? You thought each of them was the perfect woman.” She tapped her chin. “Let me see. Mary Lou got pregnant with another man’s baby, and she wanted you to pay for it. And Janet? She stole you blind.”
“I was young and foolish.”
Lily held up her hands. “Do what you want, but I will never believe Nessa cares for you. She clearly came here to catch your eye, so be leery of her motives.”
“Don’t forget it was Nessa who almost died in that last explosion.”
“No one could have survived that. She must have known about it and protected herself somehow.”
Her bitterness was eating such a huge hole in her heart that Lily might never recover. He hated that his sister would never know true happiness if she didn’t change. “Until Nessa proves that she was behind any of these attacks, I’m going to believe she means well.”
Lily stood. “You’re an adult and will do what you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ll stop by tomorrow morning and drive you home if the doctor releases you.”
“I appreciate that.”
Once his sister left, Kyle’s head pounded worse than before. He didn’t want to believe anything Lily said, but she’d brought up some good points. The fact that Nessa had dressed up kind of implied that she was trying to use her wiles on him. But why? Did she think he’d open the mine just because he liked her? Hell, maybe he had been blinded by Nessa’s beauty and strength. Kyle should probably keep his distance and gain some perspective.
Chapter Eight
Nessa couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital. Her hormones had gone haywire the moment she stepped into the hospital room, and it hadn’t helped seeing Kyle in a bed. She wanted to ask Greer or Declan to heal him, but she had the sense Kyle would think she was trying to manipulate him.
Even with the bandage on his head and pain shooting from his eyes, Kyle was sex on a stick. Goddess, she had it bad. If only there was something she could take to help calm her overactive imagination when she was around him, she would.
Lily shooting daggers at her helped dampen the feeling of lust somewhat, but Nessa’s sympathy for Ky
le kept swelling. It also hadn’t helped knowing he’d been injured on Caspian property.
The only plus was that Kyle had ogled her when she’d walked in. He might not like that she was a dragon shifter, but he did seem to find her attractive.
Most likely Lily had seen Kyle check her out. Right now, she was probably trying to warn Kyle to stay away from her, reminding him that dragon shifters were evil.
If only Lily knew that she and Kyle were destined to be together, his sister might change her mind. Nessa, however, wasn’t ready to spill those beans. While she’d give anything to get his sister on her side, the only way to do that was if the cops found the man who’d injured Kyle. To succeed, they’d need the rock.
After a quick drive back to her complex, Nessa rushed up to her condo to change and retrieve the small bit of explosive she’d discovered before flying over to the SinCas building to retrieve the rock from her locker. After a short flight, she landed on the roof. She transformed into her human form and took a quick elevator ride to the first floor. Once in the changing room, she jerked open her locker.
Her heart stopped.
The rock wasn’t there! Her shirt with Kyle’s blood on it was gone too. What the hell? Had it smelled and some janitor needed to investigate where the stench was coming from? That would explain the missing shirt, but why take the rock? She’d even wrapped it in a bag.
Before she let the panic set in, she raced down the corridor and took the elevator to the basement where the maintenance crew had their headquarters. Hopefully, they had an explanation.
Unfortunately, no one was around. Crap. When voices echoed down the hallway, relief soared through her. She followed the sound. Inside the room labeled Shop were two men working on a piece of metal, bending and twisting it. They both looked up at the same time and then straightened.
“Ms. Nessa. This is a surprise,” said the dark-haired man.
They knew her name, but she only recognized the man with the scruffy beard. “Hey, Joe. I had a soiled shirt in my locker, as well as a paper bag that contained some evidence to a crime. Did either of you touch it by any chance?”
They both looked at each other. “No. It was in your locker, you say?”
“Yes.”
“The monitors would catch it if anyone was in there.”
She’d forgotten about that. Normally, she changed in the bathroom because of the cameras, but today, she’d been so worried about Kyle that she forgot they were running.
Ever since the cave-in, her brains had been scrambled. Once she thanked them, she rushed to the monitoring room located on the fourth floor. A woman by the name of Helena was hunched over the screen. She jerked when Nessa stepped in.
“Sorry,” Nessa said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No problem.” She smiled. “What can I do for you?”
“Can you run a tape for me?” Helena nodded. “Someone stole something out of my locker in the changing room.”
Her eyebrows rose. “That’s terrible. What time was this?”
She had to think. “Today, maybe around two o’clock?”
Nessa pulled up the chair next to Helena and watched her scroll through the feed. At 2:32, the locker handle just disappeared and then the door opened—all by itself.
“Did I just see that?” Nessa asked.
Helena’s hands shook as she replayed the video. “If I believed in such things, I’d say it was a ghost.”
Oh shit. It was him—the man who hurt Kyle. He’d followed her there and then cloaked himself in his human form. But how had she not sensed him?
She turned her attention back to the screen. Her shirt disappeared, and then the right half of the rock became invisible before the left half did. The door then closed.
“It was a ghost—or rather, it was a human who can imitate a ghost very well. Thank you, Helena. It’s what I needed to see.”
Nessa decided to walk home since it wasn’t more than a few blocks to her condo, hoping the hustle and bustle of the city would clear her head. By the time Nessa finally entered her apartment building, she realized this was far bigger than she’d first imagined. With her evidence gone, she didn’t know what Anderson Caspian could do. Regardless, she had to call him and confess what happened.
“Can you send me a copy of that video?” he asked.
“I sure can. I really am sorry. I think the cave-in did a number on my ability to concentrate.” Being around Kyle didn’t help either.
“You didn’t mean to lose evidence.”
“No, I definitely did not.”
“I have a small piece of explosive I found half way down the shaft. I can tell it was one of ours. Do you want it?”
“Keep it for now, but don’t lose it.”
“I won’t.”
Next, Nessa called Helena and asked her to copy the video and send it off to her cousin.
“I’ll do it right now,” Helena said.
“Thanks.” Crap. No one was any closer to finding Kyle’s attacker—mostly because she couldn’t keep her head in the game.
Once she reached the top floor of her condo building, one of the men her father had assigned to watch her place was leaning against the wall doing something on his phone. “Ms. Nessa.”
“Has anyone been by?” she asked. She’d only been gone twenty minutes.
“Not since you left.”
She smiled, leaned over to place her eye near the scanner, and waited for the door to open.
Once inside, Nessa poured a glass of wine, and then filled the tub with hot, soapy water, needing a relaxing soak. Even after staying in the heated water for half an hour, it only helped calm her a little. First of all, she couldn’t get the image of Kyle’s reclined body out of her mind. Had she not seen the live feed, Kyle might have bled to death. A small shiver raced up her spine at that terrible thought.
To her surprise, she was more worried about Kyle staying safe than the mine reopening. When her family returned from their humanitarian mission, they’d have to sit down with Kyle and go over all of the facts. They’d done that exercise after each of the first two incidents, but her dad said they’d come up empty handed. The only thing Nessa knew for sure was that a dragon shifter was involved—one that was part dark lighter.
She snapped her fingers. Maybe the Four Sisters knew someone who fit the bill.
Adrenaline pumping, Nessa told the guard where she was going, and then shot out of her apartment. She flew to their shop. Despite it being late, the front door was open and Magnolia was inside organizing some of the shelves.
Wearing a baggy black blouse over a long black skirt, she rushed over to Nessa as soon as she entered. “Am I happy to see you looking so well. I can’t imagine what it must have been like being trapped under all that dirt. I admire your determination to reach the surface.”
News did travel fast. Nessa half chuckled. “It was either climb up or possibly die down there.”
Magnolia nodded. “What can I do for you?”
Nessa inhaled, not sure where to begin. It shouldn’t matter. The white lighter probably knew what she wanted before she’d walked in. The Four Sisters had more magic in them than all of Tarradon combined.
“We had another attack at the mine.” She explained about Kyle seeing someone near one of the warehouses. “When he went to investigate, someone smashed him over the head with a huge rock.”
Magnolia’s jaw slackened. “That’s terrible. Is he okay?”
“More or less. I took him to the hospital where they patched him up. I’m hoping he gets to go home tomorrow. The strange part was that on the tape we couldn’t see anything. Whoever hit him was invisible.” Nessa then explained how the rock she’d found disappeared from her locker. “It was so strange. Unless multiple people are involved, I believe it was a dragon shifter who can remain invisible in his human form. Do you know of anyone who has that ability?”
“There are many who can disappear at will without being in animal form.”
“Really
?” How had she never heard about this type of person? “He would also have to be highly skilled in the use of explosives. Does that narrow it down?”
Magnolia placed a hand on Nessa’s shoulder, and her heart rate jacked up. “If you’re asking me to identify the man who wants to bring down the Caspian mines, I’m afraid I can’t.”
“You can’t or you won’t?”
She smiled. “Choose whatever word you like. My sisters and I have given an oath to not interfere in anything that might change the path Fate has set.”
“But you helped my cousin’s mate—Finn McKinnon—break into the castle to free Kaleena.”
Magnolia looked to the side. “My sister Acacia can be very impetuous at times, but remember she merely helped transform Finn to look like the guard for a short time. She didn’t name names. The path Fate set for Finn and Kaleena wasn’t changed. In fact, it actually aided in a small way.”
Nessa hadn’t thought of it in that way. “Kyle and I are mates, so I guess Fate wants me to work through this.”
Magnolia smiled. “Yes.”
“Would it be possible for you to give me something to hide my shifter signature?”
Kaleena’s mate had said that Magnolia had given him the ability to appear as a dragon for a short period of time.
“Why would you want to do that, my dear?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but if that man ever comes near me, I’d like to be able to hide from him. The charges set at the mine were meant to kill me. Fate might have helped me escape.” That might have been a little white lie since Nessa couldn’t be positive the collapse was aimed at harming her.
“Hmm. I see no reason not to help, but note this will only work for a little while.”
“Even if I can remain undetected for a minute, it could save my life.”
As if she knew what Nessa was going to ask all along, Magnolia pulled out what looked like a highly polished clay stone from her top pocket. “If you need to hide, hold this tight in your palm for three seconds, and your scent will disappear.” As soon as she handed the stone to Nessa, a tremendous weight lifted off her shoulders.
