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

by Riley Storm

  “I won’t be here for long,” he promised.

  Pierce eyed him for an extra moment, then jerked his head in Ellyn’s direction questioningly.

  “Pierce, this is Ellyn. Ellyn, this is Pierce. The head of the Teres Clan.”

  Ellyn had been about to wave her hand in greeting, but she stiffened and stood up straighter when Vlad finished.

  “Nice to meet you Pierce,” she said with a polite bob of her head. “Thank you for having me in your…place, I guess. Home doesn’t sound quite encompassing enough for something of this size.”

  Pierce smiled. “You’re welcome anytime, for as long as you’d like. Same for you Vlad. Is Sache with you?”

  Vlad licked his lips. “No,” he said quietly, looking away, fighting to contain his sense of despair and defeat, that he hadn’t been able to bring his wayward former partner and friend back with him.

  “Vlad tried to convince him to come with us,” Ellyn said, leaping to his defense, pushing off the counter. “He argued with him, told him that it was the right thing to do. But Sache wouldn’t come. He wanted to stay with them.”

  Pierce’s gaze narrowed dangerously. “Stay with who?”

  “The Cado,” Vlad answered, nodding his head thankfully toward Ellyn.

  Pierce looked at Vlad for a long moment, and in that instant Vlad knew his clan head was fully aware that Vlad had fallen in with them as well.

  “The Cado,” Pierce said at last with a heavy sigh. “Perfect. I was afraid of that.”

  Vlad slumped, defeated. “I should have been able to bring him with me, Pierce. I should have done it. He was my friend. But he wouldn’t come. He just…felt like he belonged there, more than he wanted to come back here.”

  Pierce fixed him with a gaze. “You don’t feel like you belong here either, do you?”

  “Well that’s because…” Vlad trailed off, not sure what else he had intended to stay.

  Pierce was right, after all. Vlad didn’t feel like he belonged here.

  “You’re wrong,” Pierce said, facing him straight on. “But it’s up to you to come to that conclusion on your own.”

  Vlad was about to reply, to state his case, but Pierce raised a hand to forestall that argument.

  “I’ll come find you later. After you two have gotten settled more. Take your time. You’re welcome to stay for as long as you want.” He nodded politely at Ellyn, then was gone.

  Immediately Vlad turned to her. “Why did you do that?”

  She frowned. “Do what?”

  “You lied for me. You made it seem like it wasn’t my fault that Sache isn’t here with us.”

  Ellyn gaped at him. “It isn’t your fault you oaf. Stop thinking that. Sache is his own person. You don’t control him. He makes his own choices, even if you don’t like them. Don’t demean him as a friend by thinking that you can rule his life for him. That’s not how a friend should be.”

  Vlad recoiled at the frustration in her voice. He hadn’t expected such an outburst of emotion from her.

  “Maybe,” he said, not willing to agree, but sensing that arguing any further would only drive a wedge between them, and he didn’t want that. Not right then. Ellyn was the only person in the compound he felt comfortable interacting with. If he destroyed that…

  “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  “Huh? What? Where are we going?” he asked. “And since when are you in charge?”

  Ellyn snickered. “We’re going somewhere,” she said forcefully.

  “Uh huh.”

  “I don’t want to sit in the house all day long,” she said.

  “You could go out on the balcony?” he suggested.

  Ellyn gave him a withering glare. “You know what I meant. I’m not going to lie around doing nothing all day, inside the house or outside it. Besides, you need cheering up. Obviously just being back here isn’t doing it for you, so we’re going elsewhere.”

  “I don’t know,” Vlad said, not entirely sure he liked this idea.

  “Vlad, I’ve showered, which is wonderful, but I’ve been wearing the same clothes for three days straight now. Or is it four? I don’t even know anymore. I need new clothes.”

  “You want to go into town,” he said quietly, realizing now where she was heading with it all.

  “Unless you have a supply of clothing here that will fit me…”

  Vlad thought about it. “We could probably scrounge up—”

  “I’m not wearing someone else’s clothing Vlad.” She paused. “I have no money though. You took all my stuff.”

  “It’s in the truck,” he said with a shrug. “But money isn’t an issue. Look around, there’s plenty of it. Getting you a few outfits is on me.”

  “I don’t want your charity,” she growled.

  “Then consider it as a thank you,” Vlad said, not backing down.

  “A thank you for what?”

  He met her eyes. “For being the reason that brought me to my senses and got me out of there.”

  “Oh.”

  There was another long, awkward pause, just like the one they’d had outside her room. Vlad’s stomach tightened, looping itself around.

  How does she always have this effect on me?

  He wished he could make it go away. She didn’t want anything to do with him, that much was clear. So he had to contain himself, and his reactions, around her.

  “Fine, we’ll go shopping,” he said, conceding to her plan. “But if you try to escape, I’ll keep you locked in that room until I trust you not to escape. No matter how long that is.”

  Ellyn sighed. “I always did like Rapunzel the most growing up,” she muttered under her breath.

  Vlad tried not to interpret that as a sign of whether he could trust her or not.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ellyn

  “It feels weird to be going somewhere without having to look over our shoulder,” she quipped as they made their way down the mountain roads toward the little town.

  Five Peaks, she’d learned it was called. Named after the five mountains that surrounded it. Not overly original, but she liked the name anyway. It had that quaint ‘mountain town’ vibe to it, and based on what she had seen so far, it was an apt moniker.

  “You mean in that we’re not on the run? Or that you’re not breaking the law?”

  Ellyn gave him a look. “I wasn’t always breaking the law. All the time between jobs wasn’t just filled with one big long screw-you to the law.”

  Vlad grinned. “I guess.”

  “Yeah. Sometimes we even paid for things,” she joked back.

  “We?” Vlad asked, chuckling at her joke.

  “Yeah. Me and some other members of the organization. Those that I didn’t completely hate.” She shrugged. That was the first she’d told Vlad about her past, about who she was.

  It was the first time she’d let down her guard around him.

  It terrified her.

  So where was the fear? Why wasn’t she buttoning back up, closing herself off and trying to distance herself from the topic and from such vulnerability?

  “You seem more relaxed,” Vlad offered. “Since we got here I mean. How goes it with the whole dragon shifting thing?”

  Glad for the distraction from her own internal thoughts, Ellyn shrugged. “It’s only been a couple of hours so far Vlad. Something like that is going to take time, to really absorb it until I know it on an instinctual level. But for now? I’m doing okay. It’s really cool. I’m kind of jealous,” she said with a laugh.

  “It’s a blessing and a curse,” he said with a shrug. “Though at times like this, I often see it more as a blessing.”

  “I can understand that,” she agreed.

  “So, tell me, if you had complete and free rein right now. To do anything. What would you do?”

  Ellyn was silent. She knew he was asking as to whether she would escape, leave him and everything and go elsewhere. Yet there was another undercurrent to that question. One she couldn’t quite
pick out. But he wasn’t looking for the simplest of answers.

  Thinking about it, Ellyn realized that, despite picking the lock on her room, she hadn’t actually thought about leaving the compound. She’d simply done it because she was hungry, and wanted to explore. Not because she was looking to escape.

  Come to think of it, she hadn’t thought about escaping from him once since they’d shared that moment back on the side of the mountain, her in his arms, held to his chest. Ever since then she’d been…calmer.

  “Would you go back to your previous life?” Vlad asked when she continued to stay silent.

  Ellyn snorted. “What life? It wasn’t much of one.”

  Not to mention, going back to her old life would mean facing Lex, something she had no desire to do. If she went back now, she would have to account for all the missing time, and wouldn’t that be a challenge to explain, and then she would still be in debt with him. Big time.

  “Does that mean you’re considering letting me go?” she asked, wondering why Vlad was asking.

  “Of course I’m considering it,” Vlad said. “I don’t want to hold you here against your will. But I hope you understand that protecting the secret of my race sometimes supersedes those types of wants. But I want to do the best I can to help you adjust and accept this reality.”

  Ellyn heard the note of altruism in his voice, the ring of truth. Could it be true? Could he possibly actually want to help her? It seemed…far-fetched.

  “You’re not doing a bad job so far,” she said quietly. “Given what you need to work around. And you’re being really nice about it, which is unexpected.”

  “I’m glad that you’re handling it well,” Vlad said slowly, tentatively, as if feeling out what he was going to say next. “Though I’m sorry that you aren’t used to people being nice to you.”

  That’s not what she had said. How did he know that?

  “Yeah,” she said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. “I barely feel that I’m not allowed to leave.”

  “Oh. That’s, uh, good?” Vlad said.

  She was saved from any more awkward talk by the sudden appearance of buildings as they came over a slight rise in the road and the trees stopped.

  “We’re here,” Vlad announced anticlimactically.

  “To the bustling town of…Five Peaks,” she added with a laugh, reaching out to lower the window.

  A blast of fresh mountain air swirled through the truck, immediately lifting her spirits. It was so clean, so free! That confining press of the air in the city was nowhere to be felt. Ellyn drank it deep, nostrils flaring wide as she sank back into her seat with a sigh.

  They wove their way through town, Ellyn admiring all the older buildings and architecture, dating back to a different time and age.

  “It’s so…quaint,” she said, the word feeling appropriate. “In the most charming of ways. It’s nice.”

  “Yes, it is,” Vlad said quietly.

  She glanced over to see him quickly averting his eyes.

  Ellyn frowned to herself.

  Now what had that been all about?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ellyn

  “Well I am stuffed,” she proclaimed, patting her stomach appreciatively.

  “That was quite the meal,” Vlad was forced to agree.

  She saw him nodding slowly at another male who had come out from the back periodically.

  “Who’s that?” she asked, nodding at the blond, blue-eyed giant. “Friend of yours?”

  “Coworker,” Vlad said quietly, clearly lost in thought. “Former coworker I guess.”

  Ellyn looked around where he had taken her for an early dinner. “The Dragon’s’ Eye pub you say. Coincidence, or?”

  “No,” Vlad said in that same voice. “That’s Kal, of clan Aterna. His mate Anne owns it.”

  “Do you want to go talk with him? I don’t mind. You guys haven’t seen each other in some time.”

  Vlad shook his head. “No. I will at some point. I’ll hear what happened.”

  “What do you mean?” Ellyn asked, looking at him curiously.

  “When I left town, he was in the midst of helping her renovate. It seems they finished, and the others took a liking to it as well. There’s probably a story there.”

  “Every gang needs a hideout,” she teased.

  Vlad had been halfway to taking a drink when she uttered the line, and he nearly snorted cola across the table, causing both of them to chuckle even more.

  This is nice.

  “Care to go for a walk to burn off dinner?” he suggested once they had recovered.

  “As long as you can keep your composure.”

  “That’s your fault,” Vlad shot back flirtatiously as they rose and he put some money down on the table before she could say anything about the bill.

  “My fault?” Ellyn yelped. “How is it my fault if you lose your composure?”

  “You keep making me lose it,” he replied, eyes twinkling as he headed for the door, forcing Ellyn to keep up.

  “That’s not fair,” she pouted, falling in step next to him as they slowly walked through the darkening afternoon.

  With the mountains rising high to the west, the sun set early up here she noted, providing a long-lasting dusk that was already tugging at her, making her feel relaxed and calm.

  “It really is beautiful here,” she said, looking up at the sky, wondering what it would look like once the sun was fully set.

  “Yeah,” Vlad said. “It is.”

  They walked in peace, Vlad guiding them to a large grassy park area near the center of the little town.

  Ellyn paused in the center, looking up at her rescuer-captor. Though he might not be letting her go free, she no longer felt confined around him. He wasn’t keeping her to hurt her, just to ensure that she was okay from the shock.

  “Thank you.”

  Vlad lifted his eyebrows, turning to look at her directly. “For what?”

  She shook her head. “Just, for everything Vlad. For today. Thank you for taking care of me. Looking out for me. I’m not sure I’ve ever had anyone spend their money on me, to take care of me.”

  Vlad’s face softened.

  “Not willingly at least,” she added, to which they both shared a soft laugh.

  The huge dragon shifter stepped a little closer, looking down at her with an intensity that should have scared Ellyn, sent her running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Instead though, she simply stood, rooted to the spot.

  She wasn’t afraid of Vlad anymore.

  Butterflies danced in her stomach and her heart beat a tune it would be hard pressed to match if she’d filled it with caffeine and adrenaline. That was the effect Vlad had on her and, while she didn’t understand it, Ellyn was no longer certain she could deny it.

  Not when it was this strong.

  Vlad drifted closer. Overhead a few wispy clouds floated past, the orange-hued sky causing them to practically glow. A breeze wafted over them, slow and thick, like the tension that was pulling her and Vlad together.

  Ellyn stilled a quiver in her legs, staring wordlessly at the man she’d met just a few days earlier. The man who had rescued her. Cared for her.

  She swayed a little closer to him, her body moved by the gentlest brush of air. Her shoe scuffed at the path underneath, fingers practically vibrating with nervous energy. Everything was silent. In that moment, it was just her and Vlad. Nothing more.

  “You treated me like a human,” she said softly, feeling the need to fill the silence. “I feel…special. Wanted. You made me feel like a human, and that’s—”

  Her voice failed her.

  Vlad stepped closer, pushing into her bubble, forcing it to encompass him as well. But he didn’t speak.

  “That’s not something my life has ever allowed me before,” she said, trying not to let her mind linger on where all of this was going to lead, and yet finding herself unable to do anything but think about it.

  “I understand,”
Vlad rumbled, his deep bass filling the night, pushing back any other sounds but that of his words. “Though I have to wonder, if you have ever let anyone like that into your life. I suspect that the answer is no, that you have worked quite hard to push them away.”

  Ellyn chewed on her lip, knowing that he was right. “You might have a point” she acceded, hearing the huskiness of her voice, the soft rasp caused by her nerves. “I’ve always been a little standoffish. Rather guarded.”

  “I know,” Vlad agreed.

  For a moment, she thought he was going to push in close to her and kiss her. It was the first time Ellyn had truly entertained the idea that they might end up kissing, in a meaningful way, and she nearly panicked. Nearly.

  Vlad must have picked up on that, because he smiled, a broad, gentle smile that immediately soothed much of her desire to flee.

  “Here,” he said, turning slightly.

  She looked down to see that he had extended his arm, bent at the elbow toward her.

  Ellyn laughed, much of her nerves and tension rushing into the night with the sound. He knew her well. So very well.

  Kissing her might have sent her running away. This though, this she could handle. Stepping forward, she linked her arm with his, resting her hand on his thickly muscled forearm.

  Arm in arm Vlad guided them off, continuing their stroll as dusk slowly, slowly turned toward night. He casually held the fruits of their shopping in his other arm, while she stayed close to him, enjoying the contact.

  For the first time she could remember, Ellyn let down her guard, and simply enjoyed the moment. Letting herself be her, and not some hardened version of her that the criminal world dictated she be.

  It wasn’t long before another urge came over her. Biting her lip, she glanced at Vlad out of the corner of her eye. He was looking up at the stars, oblivious to her look at the moment. She could do it, Ellyn decided. It would be easy. Just, right there, and then bam, it would be done.

  Should I though? What if it’s a mistake?

  Sobering slightly, Ellyn faced the question within herself. What if it was all a mistake?