by Mikayla Lane
Drago backed her up against the closed door, thinking only to intimidate her into telling him what she was hiding so he could help her. Protect her. But, her nearness and her scent was overwhelming his senses and he ran his hands up her arms and clutched her shoulders, reveling in the feel of her body.
“Do you plan on molesting me?” Devon’s cutting tone pulled Drago out of his fog and he dropped his hands and stepped back. Barely an inch, to Devon’s dismay. She had definitely wanted him to move a lot farther away from her than that.
Damn, she thought, trying to catch her breath. He was potent. A little heat and the amazing way that he smelled was enough to turn her stupid. No, opening the door for the man had been stupid, she thought. She should have kept ignoring him, but knew somehow, that it wouldn’t work. He was too strong, too determined, with a stubbornness that may even surpass her own. That realization almost made her smile. Almost.
Drago leaned down and blue eyes clashed blue-gray. Devon could swear that she could feel herself drowning in his heat and his powerful presence. Everything about the frustrating alien was larger than life and she found herself drawn to him in a way she’d never felt before. It terrified her and excited her at the same time.
She had always been strong. In mind, spirit and body. She had been raised to be that way. But, when she was around this strange man, she felt like curling up in his lap and letting him protect her from the world. And her own machinations. Feeling a little overwhelmed, she took a step back from him. Only to end up pressed fully against the door.
Drago could smell her excitement and it only increased his own, igniting a primal need in him that was overwhelming. He stepped forward and placed his hands on either side of her, trapping her against the door. Leaning his head down beside hers, he kept it bare millimeters away from the skin of her neck as he breathed deeply of her scent.
He relished the pure, feminine arousal that rolled from her in waves and allowed it overtake his own senses. His fingers pressed hard against the door to keep them from touching her. Taking her. He was an honorable man, he wouldn’t take her like this. Not knowing who she was and if he could make a life with her. It wouldn’t be fair to her. No matter who she was, he thought sadly.
Devon’s breath caught in her throat as Drago held himself perfectly still. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest as she waited for him to touch her. Taste her. Her mind screamed that she had to end this, while her body screamed at her to lean into him. To give him some sign that she was more than willing.
She jumped a little when his deep, husky voice whispered in her ear. His warm breath sent goose bumps skittering across her skin and caused her nipples to tighten painfully. Until his words penetrated the heated fog in her head like a bucket of ice water.
“I need you to tell me what you’re doing and who your boss is. This is not a game, beautiful and you are in real danger. I cannot protect you if you don’t tell me who you are and what you’re doing here.”
Devon felt a different kind of heat flow through her like a tsunami, her face flushing with it. She slid down the wall and escaped him, knowing full well he had allowed her to. That pissed her off too. Standing behind him, she shook with anger.
“You arrogant…grrrr…,” Devon said as she clenched and unclenched her fists and tried to calm herself. Control, she thought, I need to get control. She had always been told her that it was her worst fault. She was too emotional. But damn! Even a saint would have decked this jerk, Devon thought as she turned angry blue eyes to his.
“You, who have no idea about anything that I am doing or who I work for, dares to come here and tell me I’m in danger and must trust you? Are you stupid?” Devon snorted and paced in a wide circle in the foyer.
She turned back to him, but made sure to keep her distance. “I know enough about, not only my situation, but yours, to have killed you many times now. And I have not. Do not make me change my mind.”
Devon hoped to make him think twice about this path he was taking. She was disappointed, but not the least bit surprised by his response.
Drago wasn’t going to put up with her façade of bravado. He could feel small shocks of fear intertwined in her energy with a riot of other emotions. He knew she wasn’t afraid of him. In his mind, that left only her boss for her to fear.
He stared at her, trying to determine how far to take this without giving her too much information in case she was the enemy. “Your boss is an incredibly dangerous man. He cannot be trusted. Ever. He holds no allegiance to anyone but himself and he kills indiscriminately. No matter how well you may think that you know him, you do not. No matter how important you think you are to him, you are not.”
Devon snorted and paced in a circle again. Drago could feel her fear spike a little before settling back into the steady pattern she had before he had spoken. It told him that she knew her boss was dangerous, enough to be only vaguely surprised at what Drago had said.
Damn, he thought with irritation. What the hell was wrong with her? If she knew he was so dangerous why the hell was she still here and working for the guy? A thought occurred to him and he had to ask, although he didn’t expect the truth.
“Are you too afraid to walk away?” Drago had a feeling she would rather die than admit she needed help.
Devon stopped and rolled her eyes at him. “Oh please! There is little I fear on this planet and he barely reaches the top ten.”
When Drago looked to interrupt she held her hand up to stop him. “Look, I have a healthy respect for how dangerous the man is. Trust me, I am no fool. But the danger you think that I am in, is beyond misplaced. You are the one who needs to be concerned, because you have no idea what the hell is going on. You are the one that should leave and come back in a few weeks to play tourist.” Devon gave him a smirk. “The air will be much clearer then and the weather better for viewing the monuments,” she added sarcastically, unable to stop herself from throwing his own words back at him.
Drago had to force himself to close his mouth. He’d stared at her in open mouthed shock throughout her speech, unable to believe that not only was she truly concerned about him, but she was trying to protect him! Him!
Her. The evil Devon. Who was smaller, weaker and much less lethal than he was, was trying to protect him. He wasn’t the only one surprised when he heard Dree in his mind.
“Doesn’t sound like such a heartless killer to me. Sounds like she likes you!” Dree said the last in a sing-song voice that made Drago smile.
“No, it doesn’t,” Drago said.
“What doesn’t what?” Devon asked snippily, her hands on her hips.
Drago almost smacked his own stupidity in responding to Dree aloud. Yeah, he thought, he was going to have to be more careful around Devon. She was definitely not a fool. He was thinking of a suitable half-truth to tell her when she held up her hand again.
“Never mind. Like I said, I know everything about you, so take the beast in your head and whoever you’re chatting with through the Shengari’ and get out of my house,” Devon said angrily as she pointed at the front door.
Drago was getting desperate and with nothing to lose, he asked a bold question. “Will you give me a tour of your home, while you give me one last chance to convince you to trust me?”
Devon immediately narrowed her eyes before starting to laugh. Drago didn’t think it was that funny, but he waited for her to stop laughing and answer him. He didn’t have to wait long. One moment she was laughing and the next she’d pulled a pulse weapon, from where he didn’t know, and held it up towards his head. It left no doubt in his mind she was aiming for a kill shot. He was no longer amused either, as he heard Dree’s gasp in his mind and he moved quickly.
Devon looked at her empty hand in shock for a moment before staring at the pulse weapon that was now in Drago’s hand, well above her head. She hadn’t seen him move. One moment she was pointing the gun and the next he was standing in front of her with her weapon in his hand. What the fuck? S
he thought.
Her anger began to rise rapidly as she realized that he had just disarmed her in the blink of an eye and she cursed a string of unladylike words that would have made anyone blush. Drago seemed unaffected by her tirade.
He stepped back from her as he felt her anger rise, knowing that she was going to freak out and not wanting the weapon within her reach. She was so angry, Drago wasn’t sure if she would remember that she had been trying to protect him only moments earlier and that she didn’t want to kill him. But, he didn’t think it would be a good idea to push his luck either.
Devon turned to him, her eyes spitting fire, arms held out to her side like an old time gunslinger ready to draw. “You may be House of Death, but I’ll make sure not to be nice next time and give you a chance to leave. Intact. Now, unless you would like to test your skills, I suggest you leave. NOW!” Devon roared the last as two wicked looking throwing daggers appeared in her hands.
Drago sighed and held his hands up as if to surrender. Seconds later, the daggers were in his right hand while his left hand held both of Devon’s behind her back. He had no damn idea where she was pulling the weapons from, but he figured if he kept hold of her hands there was little chance for her to keep grabbing more. So he thought.
Devon cleared her throat and made sure that he made eye contact with her furious blue eyes, before she nodded her head downwards. Looking down, towards the floor, Drago saw her leg raised to the side and a wicked looking blade protruding from the toe of her boot. Which was held right against the location of the main artery in his thigh.
Drago sighed and shook his head as he let go of her hands and took a few large steps away from the dangerous woman. He had to admit, although peeved that she had been thwarting him at every turn, he was proud as hell of her intellect and ability to adapt. She was nothing if not tenacious and brave, although the last bordered on stupidity, he thought, especially when she claimed to know who he was.
He closed his eyes and prayed for patience. When he opened them again she had another gun in her hand. He cursed before trying, again, to keep her from getting killed or hurt.
“Devon, I am not trying to harm you. If I didn’t truly believe that you may be in danger, I wouldn’t be here. Please, let’s sit down and see if we can figure this out,” he was close to pleading and decided to shut up, unwilling to give away anything that may endanger his family or friends. In case she was the killer they assumed her to be. She was certainly well armed and obviously trained.
Devon sighed and shook her head sadly. “Drago, if you would just go away for a few weeks, I would be more than happy to show you around my home. Tell you almost anything you want to know. But right now, I have too much to do and you need to leave the city. Please, just leave for a week or two.”
“I can feel her fear. It is real, Drago, she is trying to protect you,” Dree said in Drago’s mind.
Drago turned suspicious eyes on Devon. “What if we do not and cannot leave?” He asked, wondering what she would say. How far she was willing to go to protect her boss or him.
Devon looked at him with eyes as cold as steel, no hint or trace of compassion or the concern he’d seen in them earlier. “I will do what I have to do in order to protect my own. Do not test me Drago, you will not like the person I will become.”
Drago considered her words and tried to hear what she hadn’t said more than the words she had spoken. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew something wasn’t right. He knew, deep down, that she was trying very hard to tell him something that he just wasn’t understanding. He stood there for long moments staring into her cold eyes until he again saw the flicker of concern in them that he had seen earlier. Although, she still hadn’t lowered the gun in her hand.
He was silent as the gun wavered in her hand before she put it at her side. She shook her head and turned softer blue eyes to his. “This won’t sound any crazier than the rest of this situation, so here goes. I need you to trust me Drago. Let this go for right now. Give me a few days to clear some things up. A week at the most. And I promise I will explain it all to you. Please.”
The pleading note in her voice as she said the last made even Dree seem to pay closer attention. Drago could feel her stirring in his mind, trying to look deeper into Devon Sinclair to figure out the puzzle she presented. Drago considered Devon’s words, the way she was acting and made a decision he knew may cost him dearly.
He strode up to her and gently took the hand that wasn’t holding the gun in his own and gently kissed the back of it. If the situation wasn’t so serious he would have smiled at the shiver that he felt go through her at the contact. He looked deep into her eyes, drowning in the feel of her warmth and energy surrounding him.
“I will give you a few days if you promise me, that if you are in danger, you will call me. You will let me help you,” Drago said as his eyes implored her to give him this one thing. To compromise with him on something.
Devon blushed and looked down at the hand that had completely engulfed her own. Not sure if she could speak without sounding like an idiot, she just nodded her head and smiled up at him. Drago stepped back, holding her hand until the distance caused them to separate. He went to the door and grabbed the handle before he turned back to her. “Promise me.”
Holding her hand tightly to her thigh, hoping to make the tingling warmth last longer, Devon nodded her head. “I promise.”
Without another word, Drago went out of the door. He hit the sidewalk in quick strides and buried his hands in his jacket pockets as he strode down the street in the opposite direction of the house where his family was staying.
“I’m glad you decided on a walk. We need to think about this before we head back to the others,” he heard Dree whisper through his mind.
Drago heard the two little boys running up behind him and scooped up a very large handful of snow without breaking his stride. He listened carefully to the footfalls, waiting patiently for the sound he was looking for. There! Turning quickly he threw the ball, hitting the first boy squarely in the forehead with such force he was thrown into the boy behind him.
He watched as the illusion of the children shimmered and disappeared completely, leaving Trick and Mir’s true images sprawled on the ground with Trick holding his snow covered stomach with a groan.
Dree laughed hysterically in his mind and he couldn’t help but crack a smile when Trick called out, “Yeah, you just have a nice walk. We’ll talk later.”
Turning on his heel, he headed back in the opposite direction. Dree was still chuckling when she said, “You knocked the illusion right out of them! I’m never going to let them live it down. So novice.”
Drago didn’t want to think about her brothers right now, he wanted to know what she had seen or not seen while they were at Devon’s.
“What did you see or feel?” He asked her bluntly as he walked aimlessly down the snow covered sidewalk, his mind playing back his entire interaction with Devon, searching his mind for the tiny details that would give him an idea of what the hell she was up to.
He heard Dree sigh in his mind before she spoke. “Whatever it is, it is too powerful for me to see through. A few times, when the energy level spiked high with the two of you, I saw the shimmer in the walls. But that was all.”
Drago nodded his head sharply, adding it to the information that he already had. Wait, he thought, as he stopped short. “Dree, this illusion would still be hidden in the home right? It wouldn’t be out in the open?” He asked, his mind working quickly.
He could feel her mental nod before she said, “Yes, why?”
Drago smiled. “Because I wasn’t lying to her when I said the houses were almost identical. At least they are from what I could see and estimate from the rooms, halls and doorways I was able to see the few times I was there. Disconnect from me. Search our house for the most likely locations to hide the original illusion.” Drago paused.
“Dree, I need you to keep this to yourself for now, can you do that for
me?” Drago asked, feeling a little more hopeful than he did before, he headed back to the house. He had his own plan to put into motion now.
“Of course, my friend,” Dree said before the connection between them was severed.
Drago barely noted the absence of Trick and Mir or the child illusions they had taken on. He figured they probably needed a break from the cold and the arduous mental task of deconstructing the outer illusions. He noted the changes that they had already caused as he passed Devon’s house.
The shrubs out front looked much more scraggly and sparse than the same shrubs that grew in front of the homes on either side of Devon. The door and the shutters also looked more weathered than they had the first time he had seen them. Little changes, but it gave him a small insight into the true state of the home and the extent of the illusions affecting it.
He tested his memory by replaying the details of Devon in his mind, trying to determine if there was any difference in her from the first night he had met her to the moment he left her this morning.
He wasn’t the least bit surprised to realize that she was beautiful every time that he saw her. But in reality, he couldn’t think of any changes. Everything had remained the same. Her height, eyes, hair – all of it was the same. It gave him hope that maybe she wasn’t as affected by the illusions as they had first assumed.
He hit his doorstep around the same time that Dree shouted in his mind to meet her in the basement. Drago immediately turned from the front steps and headed to the back door of the house, hoping to avoid the others so that he could meet Dree in the basement.
He knew he should have checked the energy first when he walked in the door and everyone was in the large dining area in the kitchen. Right by the basement door.
He could see papers, reports and maps were scattered around the table where they were all talking animatedly about where the estate could be that Satalis had spoken of in his phone call to Devon. If Satalis was actually Devon’s boss, Drago thought.
They were obviously going through local reports, looking for anything unusual that might give them an indication of where the Dark Prime might be. So intent on their task, they barely looked up as he moved past them and down the stairs, through the basement door.
