Drakon's Past

by N. J. Walters

She sucked in a breath but didn’t stop him. He stepped back and pulled his jeans back over his hips and zipped them.

  Constance eased off the table and began the process of untangling her jeans. He’d turned the leg inside out when he’d yanked it off of her. He started to help her, but she stopped him.

  “I’ve got it.” She slid her leg into her pants and pulled them up. The shirt was only partially undone and fell into place. She quickly fastened the buttons. “Ah, I’ll be right back.” She started to scurry away, but he swept her off of her feet before she could take more than a step.

  “Broken glass,” he reminded her. He leaned down with her in his arms so she could grab her sneaker. Then he carried her around the table.

  “What about you?” She peered in front of him and then over his shoulder.

  “It won’t hurt me,” he promised. He liked that she worried about him. Her concern was a balm to his battered soul. He wanted to keep her in his arms, so he forced himself to set her down once they were clear of the glass. “I’ll just clean up the mess.”

  She peered up at him, looking uncertain. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be right back.” He watched her scurry down the hallway. When she’d disappeared into his bedroom, he finally turned away.

  Sure enough, both mugs had ended up on the floor. Good thing he’d cleared the rest of the dishes from the table or he’d have a real mess on his hands. It was bad enough as it was. He retrieved a broom and started sweeping up shards of glass. In the distance, he heard water running and knew she was in his bathroom cleaning up from their lovemaking.

  He growled and ignored his cock, which hadn’t gone down one bit. By the time he dumped the last of the glass into the trash and returned the broom and dustpan to the utility room, she was back.

  She’d not only buttoned the shirt as high as it would go, she’d combed her hair and splashed water on her face. She looked calm and composed once again. He wanted the flushed and mussed Constance back again, but he supposed this was for the best.

  “So what’s our plan?” She spoke before he could.

  “We wait for—” He broke off when something outside caught his attention. He tilted his head to one side and listened.

  “What is it?”

  He held up his hand for her to wait. Then he stalked through the living room and peered out the front window, being careful to stay out of view. The low rumble of several vehicles coming down the road was unmistakable to his extraordinary hearing.

  It had to be the Knights, but how had they found his home? He slowly turned back to Constance. “We don’t need to worry about finding Dent, he’s found us. And he’s not alone.”

  She appeared confused, and then fear flashed across her face before quickly disappearing.

  “How did they find us?” He hadn’t meant to ask it aloud.

  All color leeched from her face. “You think I betrayed you again, don’t you?”

  He didn’t want to, but it was a logical explanation.

  “When would I do that?” She strode toward him, fury echoing in every word. “When I was bleeding to death because they shot me? When we were making love?”

  “You were alone after you showered.” He really needed to stop talking, but the words kept spewing out of him. “And again just now.”

  “I don’t know where my bag is, so I don’t have a phone.”

  He’d tucked it in the back of his closet. She could have found it, but it was unlikely. Relief hit him, but it was too little too late.

  Then she paled. “Oh my God. My phone. The guy on the phone told me to remove the battery and SIM card. I was going to, but I got hurt and forgot. Do you think that’s how they found us?”

  “Maybe.” He didn’t know how fast Dent could access those kinds of records.

  “You don’t believe me, do you? You still think I may have betrayed you.” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “You know what? I’m done.” She threw her hands in the air and walked away. “We’ll deal with Dent, and if we’re both alive when it’s over, we’re done.”

  Nic got a sinking feeling in his stomach that she wasn’t kidding. And that scared him more than the men currently surrounding his home.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Constance’s heart was breaking. Technically, she knew it couldn’t actually happen, but that didn’t stop her chest from constricting to the point of pain. He thought she’d betrayed him yet again. She didn’t know how to break down the emotional barriers he kept erecting between them. She couldn’t live like this, having him always suspect the worst from her.

  Maybe that wasn’t fair of her, but that’s the way it was.

  She couldn’t go from making love to him one minute to having him mistrust her the next. That wasn’t healthy, and she had too much self-respect to stay under such circumstances.

  Not that it likely mattered. Not with Dent and his men outside. “You said Dent wasn’t alone? Any idea how many?” She had no idea how keen Nic’s senses were. There was so much she didn’t know about him.

  He cocked his head and listened. “Uncertain. Maybe a dozen.”

  “A dozen?” How were they supposed to fight a dozen armed men, and they would be well-equipped. Of that she had no doubt. After what had happened back at the warehouse, they’d have even more firepower. “Where did Dent get them?”

  Nic shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. She wanted to smack him. “Probably called up another team.”

  “Another team?” She knew she kept repeating his words, but it was all so unbelievable, even after all she’d been through. “Just how many teams does this guy have?”

  “Who knows.” Nic backed away from the window, took her by the upper arm, and led her away. “All the members in high-ranking positions have money. Lots of it.”

  She frowned. “Why don’t you have teams to protect you? I assume you have money. You’ve been around long enough.”

  He came to a complete stop in the center of the room and just stared at her as if she were speaking a foreign language. And then it hit her.

  “Of course you don’t have teams. You can’t trust anyone.” And the sad part was she could understand his reasoning. There were a lot of people who would betray such a secret for money or power. “So what do we do?”

  “You hide, and I’ll deal with them.”

  When he started to drag her toward the bedroom, she dug in her heels. “You’ve got to be kidding. You want me to hide?”

  “I don’t want you hurt again.” His jaw was set in that stubborn way she was coming to recognize. She might love him, but she wasn’t oblivious to his flaws.

  “Too late. You already hurt me. I might as well fight. Or hey, maybe you think I’m on their side and I’ll stab you in the back when you’re not looking. Of course, I don’t think there’s been a blade invented that could penetrate your thick hide,” she muttered the last part.

  He raked his fingers through his hair, totally exasperated with her. “I don’t think you’ll stab me in the back. There isn’t time for this. You need to be safe.”

  The hardest part of this for her was she knew he meant it. He truly wanted her out of harm’s way. He didn’t think she’d stab him in the back. At least not at this moment, but that could change if something happened to make him suspect her again.

  “Let me fight with you.” She stepped closer and placed her hands on his chest.

  There was anguish in his eyes. “I can’t let anything happen to you.”

  She tried to stay strong, but her insides melted just a bit. “I’m tough,” she reminded him.

  He blew out a breath. “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known.”

  She tried not to feel pride but stood a little taller. Then something else occurred to her. “The statues. We can’t let Dent get the statues.”

  Nic nodded and stepped back. The gap between them widened even though he was only a foot away. He was already distancing himself from her.

  He hurried to the bedroom with her right behind him. He already had the clo
set door open and was rummaging around. He pulled out her tote bag. “Really, you put them in my bag. Unbelievable.” She poked him in the shoulder. “What if I did want to betray you? I would not only have found my phone if I’d gone looking for my bag, but the statues, too.”

  Nic ignored her and dropped the satchel on the bed. He dug out the three remaining statues they had. The crystal one was in two pieces. The small dragons were works of art. They were also humming with power, even the broken one. Being in close proximity of Nic was making them hot again.

  “Too bad you don’t have a vault or something.”

  “I do,” he told her. He grabbed the statues and put them in the center of the floor.

  “Then why didn’t you lock them up?”

  “There was no time.”

  Right, he’d been busy saving her life. Then they’d been making love. “Okay.” She shoved her hair out of her face. “So what’s our next move?”

  “I destroy the statues.”

  “Do you think you can?” After all, his fire hadn’t had any effect on them when he’d been trapped.

  “If they’re not in alignment, their power is much weaker. I should be able to.”

  As much as it pained her to destroy such amazing works of art, there was no other choice. They were dangerous to Nic as long as they existed. Nothing was more important to her than his safety. And if her phone was able to be tracked, it was dangerous to them both. She grabbed it out of her bag. “This, too.”

  “You sure?”

  She nodded and placed it next to the statues. “Do it.”

  “Stand back.” He pointed toward the open bathroom door. “I don’t think Dent and his men will wait much longer.”

  She hurried to the bathroom. She’d barely reached it when there was a blast of energy behind her. Constance whirled and gripped the doorjamb for support. Nic had already stripped off his shirt and jeans and was shifting.

  She’d seen him do it before, but things had been complete chaos at the time. Now, she watched in awe as his body grew to massive proportions, filling the entire bedroom, shoving the bed aside. The scales on his body glittered like fire, the reddish color glinting in the sunlight streaming through the window.

  He lowered his enormous wedge-shaped head, extending his snout toward the statues. He was hunched over, unable to even sit upright in the normal-size room.

  Heat built in the immediate area. He took an enormous breath and released it. Fire erupted from his mouth. Instead of spewing everywhere, it was focused entirely on the three miniature dragons. The backlash from the blast was like being struck by a fierce wind. She actually stumbled back several steps before she caught herself. Bracing her feet and clinging to the door, she tried to watch, but the fire was too bright, too strong. She closed her eyes and looked away, shielding her face with her arm.

  The wind stopped and, even with her eyes closed, she sensed the room had grown darker. She dropped her arm and opened her eyes. After the brilliance of his fire, it seemed like night, even with the sunshine pouring through the window.

  She blinked and stared at the floor. There was nothing left of the statues. Not any ash or mangled metal. She blinked again. That wasn’t quite true. “The eyes are left.”

  Nic shifted. Naked, he crouched down and reverently retrieved the six gems. “Yes. Only a drakon’s own fire can destroy his tears.” He carried them over to the dresser and carefully deposited them into one of the drawers.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d be able to destroy them.”

  He shut the drawer. “If they’d been infused with drakon blood, I likely wouldn’t have been able to, but they were stone, wood, and metal. Those I can handle. Whatever was giving the statues power seemed to only work when they were put in the proper formation. Outside of that, they were much weaker.”

  “That fire was amazing.” She walked over to stand beside him.

  One side of his mouth quirked upward. “Fire drakon.”

  “Really? Can’t all drakons breathe fire?”

  “Yes, but as a fire drakon, it’s my element.” He started to say something but suddenly whipped his head around. “They’re coming.”

  He cupped her face in her hands. “If you’re going to betray me to them, do it now. I don’t think I can survive if I give you my trust and then you do it.”

  She felt his pain like a living, breathing entity. He wanted to trust her but was afraid to. “Who betrayed you?” She placed her hands over his. “Who hurt you?”

  “My mother.”

  …

  Constance looked shocked. But she couldn’t be any more so than he was. Other than his brothers, no one else knew what had happened. He’d never once breathed a word to another living soul.

  “Your mother?” She said it as though she couldn’t believe such a thing.

  “Yes. After my sire left and she realized what he was, what she had birthed, she became afraid. The other people in our village discovered my secret. Puberty was not an easy time. To save her place among them, she stood alongside the rest of the village as they cast me out.”

  “Oh, Nic.”

  There was no time, and he didn’t want to talk about it. “Dent’s men are getting closer.” He tugged her toward the closet and shoved her inside. “It is thick adobe with a layer of steel embedded in it.” He pulled open a second set of doors that had been hidden inside the closet, ones he hadn’t closed before. “These can lock from the inside or the outside.”

  “Your closet is a safe.” There was wonder in her voice.

  “Yes.” She now realized he could have locked up her bag and the statues but had chosen not to. “You should be safe here.” He captured her mouth in a short but passionate kiss and then stepped back. “Stay here.” He shut the door and thought about locking it from the outside but didn’t want Constance trapped in case she had to run.

  He had another reason for wanting her to stay inside the closet, other than her safety. He didn’t want her to see what he was about to do.

  The Knights had taken their war on the drakons to another level these past months. Nic wanted no part of it. None of them did. But these men would never stop, never go away. Power, money, and the promise of immortality were what they craved.

  He walked down the hallway of his home. Glass shattered and some sort of canister started spewing gas. Nic took a deep breath and held it. He didn’t think the gas would affect him, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

  Giving a huge roar, he ran toward the living-room window. He was starting to shift when he crashed through the glass. He released the deep breath he’d taken, spewing a wall of fire in front of him.

  Men screamed. Guns fired. He unleashed his wings and took to the air, circling the house. As a fire drakon, he had more control over the element. His fire burned longer and much hotter. He used it like the weapon it was.

  Bullets pinged off his scales and fell to the ground, the metal crushed.

  “The darts,” he heard Dent yell. “Use the darts.”

  Several sharp objects hit him, but they too shattered against his scales. They’d have to get lucky and get the soft area around his neck if they hoped for success.

  He swooped down from the sky, a giant predator sighting his prey, and began to destroy the small army of mercenaries Dent had brought with him. They scattered, but he chased them down without mercy. He forced himself to ignore the terror in the men’s eyes as he killed them. This was about survival. It was them or him. Plus, he had Constance inside, and he knew these men would have no problem hurting an innocent woman.

  He caught something out of the corner of his eye that made his blood run cold. One of Dent’s men had slipped by him. The one called Oscar was coming out of his house. And he wasn’t alone. He was dragging Constance with him.

  …

  Constance couldn’t hear a sound. The more time that passed, the more she worried about Nic. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to open the door for a second or two, just long enough to hear what was going on.

/>   Decision made, she took a deep breath and shoved the bolt back. Nic was not going to be happy with her if he found out about this. Better he’d never know. She slowly pushed the door outward.

  It was yanked open, and she found herself facing a man with a gun. She was so worried about Nic, it hadn’t occurred to her that any of Dent’s men would get past him.

  Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out. “Come with me.”

  “No.” She dug in her heels and tried to fight, but he simply raised the lethal gun in his hand and pointed it toward her. She recognized him as the man who’d gotten away with Dent.

  “Don’t make me use this.” He started pulling her down the hallway toward the front door. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Shit, Nic was going to believe she was betraying him again. After all, he’d left her supposedly locked in what amounted to a vault. Yet here she was with his enemies.

  His own mother had cast him out, choosing to side with the villagers over the well-being of her son. No wonder he didn’t trust anyone. That kind of event left a scar, an invisible one that never truly healed. If it was still that raw after all these years, Nic might never be able to accept that she loved him and would never betray him.

  They walked out of the house and into a war zone. She hadn’t been able to hear much while locked inside the closet, but nothing could have prepared her for the carnage awaiting her.

  Dead bodies littered the ground. Some had been crushed. A few looked as though they’d been caught in cross fire. She saw half a body in a heap. The top half was totally missing. Like it had disintegrated. Drakon fire. She knew that’s what had happened.

  The stench of blood and fear was overwhelming. She tried to breathe through her mouth and not her nose, but the acrid smell was unavoidable.

  “Fuck me,” her captor swore under his breath.

  She heard a familiar roar and turned her head, meeting Nic’s gaze. She wasn’t sure what she saw there. He had to know she wouldn’t betray him. She fought the hold the mercenary had on her, but he was too strong.

  “Settle down,” he told her. “This ends here.”