In a Dragon's Mind (Dragons of Mount Teres Book 1)

by Riley Storm

  Vlad scratched his head, noting that he needed to give it another shave, the stubble was returning. “Wait. So because I’m nice to you, it means you can’t trust me?”

  Ellyn nodded. “You can always trust an asshole to be an asshole. They don’t change. You never know when a nice person is going to show their true colors.”

  “Some people are genuinely nice,” he pointed out.

  “Not in my world. Nobody gives me handouts, or helps me escape from tight places. Not without a price. I just haven’t figured out what yours is yet.” Her eyes blazed with rock-hard belief, confident in the knowledge that she wasn’t wrong about him at all.

  “I’m not so sure I buy that excuse,” he said. “But my price, such as you say, is quite simple really. All you have to do, is tell me whatever it was you saw while you were watching the house. Everything, along with whoever you told. That’s all, nothing more.”

  “For the last time!” she shouted, slamming her hands into the dash in frustration. “I did not see anything. A few tall men with lots of muscles walking around, looking like they were patrolling the joint. That’s it. Nor did I tell anyone. I was there to rob the place, not conduct surveillance and report back!”

  She sat back hard, crossing her arms over her stomach, looking straight forward sullenly.

  Vlad didn’t believe her. Mostly. Part of him was saying she was telling the truth, that she hadn’t seen anything the other night. The dragon in him, however, was well aware of the lengths people would go to in order to deny what they had seen, both to themselves and to others. He couldn’t let this go, not until he was sure she was being completely honest.

  Protecting the secret of the dragons was important. He wasn’t going to torture the truth out of her like the Cado, but Vlad believed in keeping that secret, well, secret, as did every other dragon. He had to know if Ellyn had seen anything, and if she had told anyone. On top of that, he had to know how she was going to react to it once she had time to really think about it.

  He couldn’t risk it getting out.

  “Can we go get some food now?” Ellyn asked grumpily after they had sat in stony silence for several minutes. “I am legit starving. Possibly to the point of it being factually true.”

  “If we go inside, you know we’re going to stick together the entire time, right?” he asked calmly. “You won’t be allowed out of my sight.”

  Ellyn’s head tilted back as she looked at the sky and exhaled loudly. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

  “Why should I? You just told me that you don’t trust anyone.”

  “Yeah.”

  Vlad reeled in his temper. She was impossible, this woman. Just when he thought he was getting a handle on her personality, she went and showed him some different side of her.

  “Fine,” he said caustically. “Can I trust you not to try and escape from me if I turn my back on you?”

  Ellyn opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. Then a few moments later she opened it again. Vlad watched, waiting, wondering how poorly she would react if he told her she looked like a fish out of water.

  “Whatever,” Ellyn said, and got out of the truck, heading for the inside of the truck stop.

  Vlad, not expecting it, was momentarily left behind, before he collected his wits and raced after her.

  Just what was going on here?

  Chapter Ten

  Ellyn

  He caught up with her before she was halfway across the parking lot, but Ellyn ignored him. She simply walked, keeping her eyes forward, and absolutely, definitely not on the man beside her.

  A man she had just met twenty-four hours earlier.

  A man she should have had no issues lying to.

  It should have been easy, really, tell him in her best convincing voice that she wasn’t going to try to escape from him here. That she was starving, had no money, and thus was reliant on him to get her food. That extra detail should have sufficed to make him just the slightest bit overconfident, allowing Ellyn the chance to disappear.

  There were trucks pulling in and out of the truck stop. It would be easy for her to get a ride with one of them and simply leave. That’s how it should have gone down.

  Instead, every time she’d tried to tell him that lie, to fool him, she’d balked. Her conscience, a rare sight, had reared its head and prevented her from getting the words out.

  That scared Ellyn. Rattled her to her core, in fact. She’d never been unable to lie to someone. It was the trademark of her life since she was…younger than she could recall. Lying is what got her where she wanted to go. It opened doors and, in many vases, safes and vaults as well, revealing the riches beyond that were just waiting to be plucked.

  So when that ability failed her—no, not failed her, deserted her, running away as fast as it could at the sight of a six and a half foot tall mountain of muscle with a gentle smile, gorgeous blue eyes and a jaw that could carve marble—it left her shaken.

  Who are you, and what the heck is going on with me when I’m around you? She watched him in the reflection of the double doors as they approached, trying to get a better understanding of her would-be-rescuer.

  That was only one of the questions she had for Vlad. The other seemed less important given the way he made her feel. Still, despite rescuing her, he was just as concerned about what Ellyn might have seen as the others.

  So what was it they thought she saw? What were they hiding?

  “After you,” Vlad said, surging ahead and opening the door.

  It’s just an act. It’s just an act. Remember that. You start trusting him and, when the time is right, he’s going to reveal his true self to you. That’s when it will hurt the most as well. Don’t forget it!

  The same thing had happened to her before, over and over again throughout her life. The instant she stopped expecting the worst of someone, they dropped her and used her body to propel themselves further upward.

  She reached out and opened the left-hand door and walked through that instead. Behind her Vlad snorted, but didn’t say anything.

  Was it impossible to get underneath this man’s skin? Honestly, what did it take to set him off?

  And why do you care so much about what Vlad thinks? Why does it bother you so deeply that you can’t lie to him?

  Again Ellyn didn’t have an answer to the question, so she avoided it by browsing the aisles. If Vlad wanted to keep her in sight, he could come with her. Otherwise, she would do her own thing.

  “Get whatever you want,” he said, materializing over her left shoulder as if by magic.

  The bag of chips she’d picked up went flying as she yelped, looking back up the aisle to her right where she’d expected him to be.

  “Don’t do that!” she hissed.

  “Do what?” he asked innocently.

  “Oh very funny. You know full well that you snuck up on me. I don’t know how you move so silently, but I’ll figure it out eventually,” she snapped. “Now stop it. Behave.”

  “It was a little funny,” Vlad insisted. “You’d do the same to me if you came across me staring blankly at a bag of chips.”

  Ellyn frowned. “I was not staring at them blankly.”

  Vlad hummed a single uncertain note at her.

  Now Ellyn wasn’t so sure. Had she been staring at them, lost in her own train of thought while Vlad walked up to her and scared her?

  “I don’t like you being able to sneak up on me,” she said grumpily. “I’m not used to it.”

  Vlad smiled, and Ellyn’s stomach did a backflip.

  What the heck was that for?

  “You’re very stealthy for a hu—humble person,” he teased.

  Ellyn’s eyes narrowed, her brow tightening. That was the second time he’d started to say something like that, and then changed his words. It was very noticeable too, but she still had no idea what he was originally going to say. She filed this incident away as well, wondering what it meant. Maybe she’d get it out of him eventually.

  So now yo
u’re planning on sticking around?

  No!

  I don’t know.

  The conversation died as Vlad grabbed another bag of chips and pushed it at her. “They aren’t nutritious, but you’re starving. Don’t cheap out.”

  Just to be difficult, she put the bag back and grabbed a different flavor. Vlad snorted when he saw, but otherwise didn’t say anything.

  Ellyn smiled at the byplay and turned to follow him up the rest of the aisle, wondering what else she was hungry for.

  Wait a minute. Did you just flirt with him?

  Had she? Ellyn replayed the last interaction, and nearly groaned as she realized that’s what she’d been doing. Playfully flirting with him.

  Great. One day in and you’re already suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Perfect, just perfect. Two days from now you’ll think he’s the greatest, and in a week you’re going to want to marry him. How lovely.

  Clamping down on her emotions, she tried to pull it all back into herself. If she could just build a wall between her and Vlad, keeping him out, then she could do this. She could hold on to herself for as long as it took.

  Once she was gone from him, then she could start looking out for number one again. It wasn’t just Lex who was going to be coming after her now, but also Vlad and his people. Former people. Whatever they were. Lots of people wanted a piece of Ellyn, and she didn’t feel like giving it to anyone. It was almost time for her to disappear.

  “You coming?” Vlad asked from the end of the aisle.

  Ellyn looked around, realizing suddenly that she had paused halfway down it.

  “Yeah,” she said gruffly and hurried after him, stuffing the two bags of chips into one hand as she caught up.

  A whiff of Vlad’s scent wafted to her nostrils and she drank it in greedily, inhaling the musk before she realized what she was doing.

  Stop it. Right now.

  They were in the candy aisle now, and she perused it slowly, a step behind Vlad, but ensuring she didn’t get distracted.

  “Ah ha,” she said, spying her favorite pack of chocolate covered fruits.

  She reached for it.

  So did Vlad.

  Their hands brushed. A burst of electricity from the contact raced up her fingers and along the top of her arm, raising goosebumps as it dove into her spine, tightening skin across her body.

  Ellyn slowly pulled her hand back, looking over at Vlad to see if he’d reacted too.

  He was staring right back at her, those damnable icy blue eyes open wide. They were so entrancing, she could fall into them for hours on end if time permitted.

  Neither of them spoke. Time froze around them, the chime of the door dulled in her ears, the drone of the worker behind the register nothing but blank static. All that she could see was his face, and all she could hear was the thudding of her heart in her chest.

  This went on for an eon, eternity really.

  And then, a couple of seconds later, it was over as they both pulled their hands back. Licking suddenly dry lips, she gave him a tight smile, and then grabbed a bag.

  “Here,” she said, handing it to him, trying to regain control of her mind, and the rest of her body. She was afraid her knees were going to give out, and that she might throw up from the knots her stomach was tying itself into.

  Get a grip. Just because he’s really nice to you, and appears genuine, and is also reaalllyy hot, does not mean he’s real! There’s something about him. Something else. You know it, you’ve seen glimpses of it. Until he lets that out, he’s hiding something from you. Be careful.

  The words were great, yet even as Vlad reached for the bag she was giving him, Ellyn kept hoping he would touch her hand again by accident as he took it. She wanted another shock like that, another jolt to her system.

  “Thank you,” Vlad said, working his jaw twice to get the words out.

  Then he turned away and wandered aimlessly down the aisle. With his back turned to her.

  She could do it, Ellyn knew. Right now, she could be gone before he realized it. All she had to do was choose to run, to escape him.

  You’ve always run. Always, even when you’re far less scared than this. So do it now. Just take that foot, slide backward. Move to the end of the aisle, duck down and head for the door. Slip outside when that trucker paying goes out, then dash over to the line of trucks. Show a bit of shoulder to the first one in line and then you are outta here. Sweet, sweet freedom.

  Try as she might, her feet were rooted to the floor. She couldn’t move.

  Ellyn wanted to stay.

  No, correction. She wanted to stay with him. There was something magnetic about Vlad, it kept drawing her in, making her want to know more about him, spend more time around him. The more they talked, the more she was in his presence, the harder it got to be away from him.

  This is insane. How can one man have such power over someone else?

  She decided to stay. Whatever it was that he was doing to her, Ellyn knew she needed to figure it out, and then ensure she was hardened against it. To stop herself from ever feeling this way again. It was time to cut this weakness out of her.

  As soon as I figure out what it is.

  Chapter Eleven

  Vlad

  After his brain had returned to normal, Vlad had fully expected to find Ellyn long gone, having hopped into some trucker’s cab while he was in a daze.

  Yet instead, she had been right there, a few steps behind him, wandering through the truck stop as well. He didn’t know how long it was he’d been lost in his own thoughts, trying to understand what the heck had happened between them, but he knew it had been plenty of time for her to escape. Instead, she’d returned with him to the truck.

  Why is she still here?

  He glanced over at her still form. Despite the caffeine, despite the bag of chips and chocolate, and the truck-stop sub-sandwich, sleep had won out eventually. She was once again curled up against the window with the blanket half under her head, half over her, completely passed out.

  Not dozing, but asleep.

  For a thief, someone who apparently had trouble trusting others, she certainly seemed comfortable enough sleeping around him.

  In time he figured she would wake up. The sun was streaming in through the windows as the great flaming orange ball rose into the sky behind them, lighting the mostly empty landscape.

  Well over twelve hours of continuous driving, with only two stops for gas. Vlad had stayed awake for much longer periods of time before, but rarely had he done that much driving in one go.

  It was worth it though. Very worth it. The mountains were looming ahead, and in a short period of time they would begin the climb up the road to a place he had thought was left in his past. It wasn’t so long ago that Vlad and Sache had left Five Peaks behind, but the past two months made it feel longer. Much longer.

  He chewed on his lip as the distance closed, wondering privately just what sort of reception he would get upon arrival. Would he be welcomed, or had word reached his former clan about where he had ended up? If they knew he had fallen in with the Cado…

  Maybe they shouldn’t have treated us the way they did then. The Gate.

  It was the reason the dragons were even in Five Peaks to begin with. The Gate was one of three known entrances to the Otherworld, a realm that mimicked earth, but was filled with all sorts of other creatures, like the Fae, trolls, orcs, giants, elves and vampires. It was the dragons’ job to ensure such beasts stayed on the other side.

  They were very, very good at their job. Few things could handle a dragon at its strongest, and the five dragon clans that inhabited the five mountains surrounding the valley that housed the town made sure there were always guards on duty, preventing anything from coming through.

  But something had. The Gate had been breached for the first time in over seventy years, and Vlad and Sache had been on duty, along with two other guards. As a result of the creature managing to escape, they had been thrown from the Gate Guard in disgrace.

/>   The reaction had been far too swift, and too strong, in Vlad’s opinion, but that hadn’t mattered to the Guard Commander, Viko. The fall from grace had hit the quartet hard. One of them, Kal, had left first, disappearing into the town of Five Peaks and finding his peace with the bottle.

  Vlad and Sache had decided to head eastward, eventually planning to cross the Atlantic and return to the ancestral dragon homelands in Europe, where the other two Gates were located. There, perhaps, they could start anew.

  Except they’d never made it, falling in with the Cado first.

  Now he was coming back. Back to the place that had been his home, and he had no idea what was going to happen next.

  He drove through the little town of Five Peaks without stopping and guided the truck up the winding road of Mount Teres with calm practice. Thirty-seven years of his life had been spent here, he knew the place like the back of his hand.

  At last they arrived, and he reached over to wake up Ellyn. He stopped partway however, and instead spoke loudly, recalling the last time he’d tried to gently wake her.

  “Ellyn,” he said.

  She came awake almost instantly at the sound of his voice. Vlad felt sorry for her. What a life she must have led up until now, to be so traumatized that she had to attack anyone who woke her. People deserved better than that.

  She’s held herself together well though, given everything that’s happened to her, and everything she’s seen. Still, it can’t last. Can it? At some point her denial has to crack, and the truth will come out. Then we’ll see if she can withstand the new reality she’s been presented with.

  Assuming Ellyn had seen anything. Vlad was starting to wonder.

  “Where are we?” she asked, sitting up and looking around. “You drove all night?”

  “Yes. It was a long drive.”

  “I could have driven,” she said. “I’m not incompetent.”

  “Never accused you of it,” he replied calmly as they rounded the next bend.

  “Is that where we’re going?” Ellyn gasped as the building came into view.

  Partially hidden by a wall, the road was currently slightly above the elevation, affording the pair a brief glimpse into the interior before they dropped back down and started approaching the front gate.