by Rinelle Grey
Chapter 3
By the time he was nearing his uncle’s house, Nate was struggling to stay awake. Adrenaline had kept him awake for the first couple of hours, but even though he was still just as worried, the adrenaline had faded. He’d been driving all night.
Lily had no such problems. She slept on the back seat, curled up on her rug, her ball between her paws.
Nate wished he could be so carefree.
He pulled up in front of the house, the light of the rising sun shining in his eyes, making it hard to see. A dog barked frantically, waking Lily. She put her front paws up on the window, and barked back, her puppy bark squeaky.
Nate stared up at the house, willing his brother to appear at the front door.
But nothing stirred.
The police had called him an hour into his journey and said the house was empty. That yes, they’d found shotgun shells on the porch, but no other signs of violence. That they were on the lookout for his brother, and would let him know if they found anything.
It wasn’t enough.
Nate couldn’t help imagining his brother dead in an alley somewhere. It was what had spurred him to keep driving faster.
He’d called his brother’s phone several times throughout the night, but it went straight to message bank. Either it was dead flat, or out of range.
Nate climbed out of the car, leaving Lily staring at him out the window. He headed up the stairs and nervously pushed open the door.
The house was silent and empty.
He stared around him, not even sure what he was looking for. He’d come all this way because he couldn’t sit at home and wait. But was being here any better?
On the front porch were two spent shotgun shells. Nate stared around, wondering what his brother had been shooting at. Something outside, not on the porch.
He headed back down the front stairs and walked through the yard. A darker patch on the gravel caught his eyes, and he bent to examine it.
Blood.
So Brad hadn’t just shot at something, he’d hit something.
Question was, what?
Nate stood up abruptly. He wasn’t an investigator, but he felt the need to keep a record of this. He grabbed his camera out of the car and snapped some pictures. Of the blood stains on the gravel and the shotgun shells on the porch.
Inside, on the coffee table, he found Brad’s mobile phone. Not flat, but definitely out of range.
Nate stared at it, the feeling that something was wrong intensifying.
His brother must have been in a rush to leave his phone behind.
Who had he been shooting at, and why?
Nate shook his head. It made no sense at all.
Lily’s frantic barking from outside broke through his stupor. He snapped a picture of the phone, picked it up, then headed back outside.
Lily’s puppy barks were echoed by a louder bark. The same one he’d heard earlier. Nate headed around the side of the house to see what it was.
The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. This was the strangest situation he’d ever been in, and he’d been in some weird ones. Luna was chained up at the side of the house, barking frantically at the bushland nearby.
The absolutely frantic nature of her barking didn’t abate any of Nate’s apprehension.
Maybe he should call the police out again. Make them check what the dogs were barking at. But Nate couldn’t wait. The police had been no help whatsoever last night. He suspected that he’d already found more than they had. They hadn’t mentioned seeing the blood anyway.
Nate suspected they might have taken it a little more seriously if they’d seen it. But of course, it had been dark when they were out here. Spatters of blood weren’t so easy to see in the dark.
He edged towards the bush, and at that moment, happened to glance down at the ground.
Another dark patch.
Nate’s heart skipped a beat.
He’d been half hoping to find Brad hiding in the bush, but now he began to suspect that it was whatever his brother had been shooting at.
If he’d wounded it, and it had taken shelter in the bush…
Nate had no idea what he’d be facing up to. His best guess was a wild dog, but even that didn’t feel right. Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t going to be friendly.
Brad wouldn’t have shot at it if it were.
He took a step back. Time to retreat and fetch the police. This was over his head.
“You shot me!”
A woman’s accusing voice startled Nate so much, he almost dropped his camera.
She strode out of the bush, her silver hair flowing like silk. Sure enough, she had a wound on her upper arm. More than one.
Nate winced. One anxiety eased.
It was a woman. Apparently unarmed and not dangerous.
But another one took its place. What had gotten into Brad? Had his brother shot at an unarmed woman in the darkness?
His brother was going to be in serious trouble.
Now Nate was glad he hadn’t called the police before he'd seen her. Maybe he could smooth this over a little.
He held up his hands. “That wasn’t me,” he said quickly. “But I can get you help. Where are you from? What’s your name?”
She looked at him, her lips pursed, then folded her arms. “I saw you shoot at me. Where’s the girl?”
Something about the situation didn’t feel right.
Nate hadn’t ever met anyone who’d been shot, but if he’d thought about it, this isn’t the way he’d expect them to react.
She wasn’t scared. She didn’t even seem particularly hurt. She was angry.
Well, that did have a ring of truth about it.
Nate hesitated. This was a messy situation. “I think that might have been my twin brother. I’m sure he didn’t mean to. I need to find him, and find out what’s wrong. Do you know where he is?”
“How would I know where he is? He didn’t exactly stop to tell me where he was going after he shot me. I’m looking for him too.”
Nate stared at her. It just didn’t make any sense. Why would Brad shoot at this woman? “Look, why don’t you tell me what happened?”
She moved to fold her arms, gave a wince of pain and stopped. Instead, she just glared at him. “Are you trying to say this was my fault?”
Nate winced. There was no easy way out of this. Especially not without knowing what happened. He needed to find Brad and hear his side of the story. He held out his hands placatingly. “Look, I’m sure there must have been some sort of mistake.”
He couldn’t think what, but there had to have been.
“I can drive you to the hospital if you need to get someone to look at that.”
She glanced at the wound on her arm, and shrugged. “It’ll heal.” Then suddenly her eyes narrowed, and she stared at him. Then she shook her head, muttering under her breath.
Nate began to wonder if she was all there. There was something decidedly strange about this encounter.
Then it hit him.
The police had been here. Or they’d said they had anyway. They’d checked out the house and said Brad was nowhere to be found. And since he wasn’t, Nate saw no reason to doubt their claims.
So if this woman was in trouble, why hadn’t she approached them and asked them for help?
A chill ran up Nate’s spine.
It was possible that she’d run away and hid and only just come back. But why come back at all? Surely there were other houses around where she could go for help.
Was she a wanted criminal? That was the only other explanation he could think of.
It might be best if he got out of here.
He began to back away slowly. “Well, look, if there’s nothing I can do to help, I’ll head off.”
More words bubbled up in his mind, but he snapped his mouth shut before he could start rambling about his brother, his puppy, or anything else that came to mind.
When dealing with a maniac, better to say as little as p
ossible. Don’t engage, and get out of there.
Nate glanced back, trying to judge the distance to his car.
For every step backwards he took, she took one forwards. Nate’s heart raced. This wasn’t working.
“Where are you going?” she asked flatly. “You’re not going to rush off and leave me here after your brother shot me, are you?”
“I can’t do anything to help,” Nate said firmly. “I have no medical knowledge at all. I can call an ambulance for you though.” He hoped his voice wasn’t shaking.
Why?
He gave himself a shake. The woman might be mad, signs certainly seemed to point to that, but she wasn’t that big, and she didn’t seem to have a weapon of any sort. She didn't seem to be a threat.
And yet, Brad had shot her. There must be more to it than he was seeing.
But what?
“There is something you can do to help.” She stepped forwards, closing the distance between them faster than Nate could have expected, and grabbed him by the arm.
Her fingers were strong and tight.
Nate was pretty sure he could have pulled away, but he was too surprised to even try.
Her face was inches from his, and her eyes glowed silver in the early morning light. “Unless you’re as cold and unfeeling as your brother?”
Nate bristled at her words. They certainly didn’t describe Brad at all. “Hey, that’s my brother you’re talking about.”
“He shot me,” she reminded him.
Nate could hardly argue with that.
“What can I do to help?” he asked, more to buy time while he figured out how to get away than because he wanted to help her. “I can call someone if you like? My mobile doesn’t have reception, but there’s a phone in the house that still works.”
She looked interested for a minute, then she shook her head. Her eyes locked onto his, cold and calculating, sending a shiver up his spine.
“You’re going to help me find your brother.”
Even though finding his brother was exactly what he wanted, her words still raised goosebumps on Nate’s skin.
They weren’t what he would have expected from someone who’d been shot.
What did she want his brother for? The only thing he could think of was revenge, and he certainly wasn’t going to help with that. No matter what had happened here, he was sure his brother had a reasonable explanation.
“Look, I don’t know what your goal is, but I’m not helping you find my brother,” Nate said firmly. “I’m going to find him.”
He shook his arm, trying to pull it out of her grasp.
Her fingers tightened. She moved her face closer to his, and suddenly her eyes whirled. The pupils narrowed into slits, and for a second, Nate felt as though she were staring into his soul.
His heart hammered in his chest.
Who was she?
What was she?
“I have no interest in your brother,” she said, her voice cold and calculating. “It’s the girl I want. If you help me find her, I’ll let him live.”
For some reason, despite all evidence to the contrary, Nate felt no disbelief at her being able to carry out her threats. Something was going on here. Something far bigger than anything he’d ever seen before.
And for some reason, instead of making him freak out and want to run, her closeness was heating his blood.
What the hell?
She knew it. A smile twisted her lips, and she leaned in and kissed him.
Nate knew he should shove her away. Knew he should take advantage of the fact that her fingers had released their death grip and were stroking his arm instead, and run for his car.
But he didn’t want to.
Her lips tasted of salt and spice and adventure.
And Nate never said no to an adventure.
Chapter 4
Kytrima hadn’t intended to kiss the human.
It made no sense.
She couldn’t possibly trust him enough to let him help her enter the Mesmer. His brother had shot her. And he was determined to find his brother.
If all she’d had to do was sleep with him, that would have been okay. But in order to enter the Mesmer, she had to sync her vital signs with his. Once she’d done that, she’d be entirely at his mercy. The Mesmer sleep was a deep trance, allowing her body to heal, but while it did, she’d been unable to defend herself in any way.
To even be considering it was madness.
Far better to use the phone, as he had suggested, and call her clan.
That was the sensible option. She could tell them Calrian’s chamber was unguarded and get them to send someone out, and they could call on their human resources in Mungaloo to find out where the princess was hiding.
Trouble was, it meant handing this over to someone else.
Someone else would find the princess. Someone else would be guarding the Mesmer chamber. She couldn’t even prove that the princess had been here. She’d just be in disgrace for leaving the prince’s Mesmer chamber unguarded. She’d never make it back to any position of power.
Unless she found the princess…
She put her hands against the human’s chest, and kissed him, giving it everything she had.
If there were some way to bring him over to her side…
His lips were warm and surprisingly soft. Something hard jabbed into her rib cage between them, the object he had been carrying.
He didn’t move it. Keeping it between them, almost as if it could protect him.
But he was kidding himself. He was kissing her back.
If Kytrima could do this, she could return home a hero. If she found the princess, leaving her post unattended would be nothing. The dragons still protected in their Mesmer chambers were useless. All they could do was watch them, like they had for the last three hundred years. Yes, they could attack anyone who tried to wake them. They had, many times.
But none of that got them any closer to winning this war. None of it got Ultrima any closer to his princess.
And if the Rian clan had showed up in force to wake the prince, as they had last time, her presence, her calling the clan, none of that would have helped. Ever since Rian clan had used a human to wake Prince Taurian, the balance of power had shifted. With the human’s help, Rian clan had put up a good fight when they’d turned up to wake Prince Verrian. They might even have won if the fight hadn’t been interrupted.
In three hundred years, even with all their watching and waiting, no one had managed to get hold of one of the Rian princes or princesses. She would be the first. What glory that would bring her.
She just had to convince this human to help her.
As if sensing her determination, the man pulled back, breathless, his eyes searching her face.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
He didn’t look very safe or trusting.
“Is this what you did to Brad?” His eyes widened, as though something had occurred to him. “You’re not the girl he’s had a crush on, are you? Lyrian I think her name was?”
A strong denial hovered on the tip of Kytrima’s tongue. But she paused, trying to figure out how she could use this. If she could convince him to help her…
“No, I’m not,” she admitted. “She’s the one I’m after, actually. Not your brother.” She paused and stared into his eyes, swaying her hips towards him, wishing the hard object he held wasn’t still between them. “She’s bewitched your brother with her… wiles. He needs your help to escape from her.”
The man’s eyes widened, and his expression wavered. She could see the uncertainty in his eyes. “Like you’re doing with me?” He pulled back a little then, shaking his head as though to rid himself of some curse.
He gave her a lopsided grin. As though he wanted her to convince him otherwise.
As though he wanted to believe that by helping her, he’d be helping her brother.
She’d almost won him over, but this was the delicate part. She needed just enough to convince him that sh
e was genuine while still promising him all the excitement that he was hoping for.
Trouble was, this wasn’t something she was doing deliberately. Dragons might have magic, but not to manipulate people like that. She’d intended to straight out seduce him, but something else was going on.
And it was affecting her too.
If it weren’t for the fact that she needed his help so much, she would have pulled out of this now, while she still could.
Instead, she made herself keep just a little distance between them. “You are free to go, if that’s what you really want. I won’t stop you. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding your brother on your own. Be careful of that woman of his though. She’ll cause trouble.”
He didn’t move, of course. He stared at her instead, his expression uncertain.
The story was close enough to believable.
Even he suspected something wasn’t quite normal about Lyrian.
Who wouldn’t? The wind dragon certainly had enough quirks that she would always struggle to fit into the human world. Not like lightning dragons. No one would guess she wasn’t human unless she told them.
“But they have a baby together,” the man said, his voice uncertain. “Or at least, that’s what Brad said…” he trailed off.
Good, he was off balance. Just where she wanted him.
She ran her hand up and down his arm, trying to ignore the fact that the caress sent goosebumps up her arm.
She could convince him to help her. There was only one problem. For this to work, she was going to have to admit the truth to him.
Well, she wouldn’t be the first one to do that.
“She isn’t human,” she said solemnly. “She’s a dragon.”
He laughed at that, but the laugh was uncertain, wavering. “Come on, you don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”
But his protest was half hearted.
He already knew, in his heart. His brain just had to catch up.
Kytrima let her eyes transform again, and stared solemnly into his, not saying anything.
His breath hitched, and he swallowed. “You are too, aren’t you? Is that why Brad shot you?”
He was taking it well, for a human.
“I am,” Kytrima agreed. “And I was in dragon form when your brother shot at me. I wasn’t expecting to see him. It is my job to find Lyrian, and bring her to my clan for discipline. She has meddled in too many human affairs for us to let her continue. But to do that, and to rescue your brother, I need your help.”
