His Scorching Desire

by Kyl, Celia

  Grabbing his hand, she pulled him out of the chair. “Come on. I found something that will make you feel better.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “The garage. Trust me. It’s a good thing.”

  They stepped into the cluttered, musty garage and she led him to an extremely messy work counter. Elektra reached across the mess and pulled a big pair of bolt cutters from a peg in the wall.

  Waggling her eyebrows, she grinned at him. “If these don’t work…”

  She stopped herself because if they didn’t work, she had no idea how they would remove his collar. He was clearly thinking the same thing, judging by the furrow that dug deep between his eyebrows, but he smiled in the end.

  “Sure, worth a shot.”

  Elektra sat him down on a stool and tried to cut the collar in one big bite. As strong as she was, the collar was stronger. Even when she added a little dragon to it, the collar wouldn’t give.

  “Damn,” she sighed.

  Grizz laid a warm hand on hers and gave her a meaningful look. “How do you eat an elephant?”

  What the actual fuck was he talking about? Then it hit her like a lightbulb going off over her head and she smiled.

  “One bite at a time.”

  Placing the jaws of the cutters just at the edge of the collar, she choked all the way back on the grips and squeezed them together with all of her might.

  Snip!

  A tiny cut marred the bottom edge of the collar. It worked! Now she only needed to make a thousand more cuts just like it.

  “So, what’s our next move?” she asked as she worked.

  He sat rigidly for a moment. Elektra knew he wanted to argue with her again about helping him, but he didn’t bring it up again. Good, he could learn.

  With a heavy sigh, he shook his head slightly. “They’re going to find me, Elektra. No doubt about that. I mean, look how easily you found me.”

  She arched an eyebrow at him. “I found you because my instincts led me to you. Unless you’re somehow fated mates with the rest of my team, I doubt anyone will track you the way I did.”

  “Well, in that case, I suppose our next move, after getting this damn collar off me, would be to…” He paused, thinking. “I honestly don’t know. I don’t have access to any records, I can’t interview anyone, and you certainly can’t start asking around about ways to exonerate me.”

  One last snip and the collar clattered to the floor. Grizz glared at it, and then he lurched forward and stomped on it. He stomped and stomped, grinding his heel and kicking the bits around. Elektra stepped back and let him work out his rage. He had a lot to be angry about and he was allowed to take his anger out on that horrible hunk of metal. With each crushing blow from his foot, the collar cracked and splintered, spilling dragonsbane dust onto the concrete floor.

  “Grizz,” she said, but he continued his frantic destruction of the symbol of his downfall. “Grizz! Enough!”

  Wrapping her arms around him, she used a hint of her dragon strength to pull him back. His muscles quivered, desperate to keep going, but in a few seconds, he relaxed against her, snaking his arms around her waist and holding her tightly.

  It occurred to her again, like a clanging bell in her mind, that he was her mate. No question, no doubt. Together they would clear his name or die trying.

  They belonged together and she would stop at nothing to keep them that way.

  “We should go,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Nothing here can help me. Besides, we’ve been here too long.”

  “Okay, we’ll go,” she said hoisting the bolt cutters over her shoulder, “but we can’t leave behind any trace we were here. You go check that everything in the office is exactly as it was when we got here and I’ll do the same out here.”

  Without a word, he headed back to Harlow’s office as she replaced the bolt cutters, adjusting them slightly to fit the outline drawn on the pegboard. Anxiety prickled the hairs on the back of her neck. Grizz was somehow transmitting his emotions to her. Weird, but cool.

  Grabbing a broom propped in the corner, she started sweeping up the mess he’d made of his collar, marveling at the fact she’d found her fated mate. Of course, she’d known they existed, but they were uncommon enough, she’d never imagined finding her own. Maybe as a child, but not since she’d learned that the world could be a really ugly place. Now that she’d found Grizz, though, she couldn’t help thinking it felt a little like a fairy tale. A sort of twisted one, but she’d take it.

  Digging a greasy, old In-N-Out bag from the garbage can, Elektra was just finishing up sweeping it all into the bag when Grizz returned to the garage.

  “Stop!” he shouted and she froze.

  “What?”

  “That’s dragonsbane!”

  It took a moment for his meaning to sink in. When it did, she groaned. “Oh crap. I was so caught up in my thoughts I didn’t even think about it.”

  Dragonsbane was an herb that muted a dragon’s powers, including the ability to shift. Which explained why law enforcement used it in the collars they slapped on shifters. And now she’d touched it, breathed it in. Thankfully, it wasn’t harmful, but it would render her just as useless as a human for a while.

  “How long, do you think?” she asked as she dropped the bag on the floor, kicking herself for acting like a schoolgirl and not paying attention to what she was doing.

  “Probably ten minutes or so.”

  “Huh,” she said, moving to the work sink and washing her hands. Then she quickly set the timer on her phone for ten minutes and shoved it in her back pocket. When she turned around, she leaned her butt against the sink and smiled. “What should we do while we wait?”

  Grizz’s nostrils flared and his eyes flashed amber for a split second. The collar had barely been off for a few minutes and his dragon was already making itself known. Like a laser-guided missile, he stalked over to her, making her crane her neck just to maintain eye contact. Ten minutes wouldn’t be enough for everything she had in mind, but a quick make-out session sounded about right.

  Still, they took their time. Their movements weren’t hurried or desperate, like when they claimed each other the first time, but they were just as passionate. It took all the strength Elektra possessed, in her weakened form, to resist the temptation to strip down right there in a murdered man’s garage. She sensed Grizz was feeling the same. A clock was ticking, and as soon as the dragonsbane wore off, they’d fly.

  But for now…kissing.

  Each soft touch and gentle caress taught them about the other’s body. Deep sighs and pounding hearts were the only sound in the garage, aside from the light slurping of a couple of kids in love swapping spit. A thread of melancholy hung over them, knowing this perfect little bubble could pop at any second, but they were determined to enjoy each other as long as they could.

  At the precise moment Elektra’s timer started beeping, her dragon senses slammed back into place, leading with a sickening sensation in her belly.

  Someone was approaching. Someone familiar.

  No, make that multiple someones, plural.

  Her team, and knowing them, they had the house surrounded.

  Chapter Five

  The moment Elektra stiffened in his arms, Grizz knew something was wrong. Pulling himself out of their kiss, he caught her alarmed gaze for a split second and was about to ask what was wrong when the sound of the front door being kicked in reached them all the way in the garage.

  “Elektra!” shouted someone from inside Harlow’s house. His voice was joined by another, a woman’s, calling out for her too.

  The garage door rattled loudly as yet another someone tried wrenching it open. It wouldn’t last long. Whoever was inside was coming closer, and from the sound of it, they’d been joined by even more security specialists. Elektra’s coworkers, no doubt. She’d mentioned they were in the area.

  Grizz grimaced. Two weakened dragons against an entire team wasn’t going to be a fair fight, but he’d be
aten worse odds. The only thing keeping him going was the complete and utter certainty that Elektra would stand by him, even if it meant death. Together, they just might—

  “On the ground, motherfucker!”

  Grizz never saw her coming. One second he was preparing himself to face certain death with his mate at his side, and the next Elektra had tackled him to the floor and was screaming at him to put his hands behind his back.

  At the same moment, the garage door screeched upward on its tracks and more shouts filled the garage. Despite his training, Grizz was shocked into paralysis. The most he could do as Elektra flipped him onto his stomach was to turn his head and watch as an absolute behemoth of a male rushed inside with a slightly shorter one hot on his heels.

  “Out here!” the bigger one shouted, drawing the hurried footsteps of those inside.

  All Grizz could do was lie there. He didn’t react or put up even the smallest amount of resistance. He was too surprised and overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught. Out of pure instinct, he tried to flip back over, just to look in Elektra’s eyes, but her knee was pressed between his shoulder blades, pinning him down very effectively.

  Grizz had never been the emotional sort. Even as a child, he’d rarely cried. Then he’d become an undercover agent for the SBI, where losing control of his emotions could get him killed. Yet he lay on the garage floor, his face pressed into an old oil stain, on the verge of tears.

  Elektra was his fated mate. Of that much he was certain. Everything else was up for grabs. What happened to the woman he’d been kissing a few seconds ago? Had she only been trying to slow him down until reinforcements arrived?

  Maybe the dragonsbane had dulled his natural radar for dishonesty. For a dragon to make a bad judgment call on something as intimate as a fated mate was shameful. But for a seasoned SBI agent to make a mistake like that?

  Unforgivable.

  And Grizz had played right into her hands.

  Three more specialists—all dragons, naturally—poured into the garage and soon he was surrounded. Their eyes flashed and their pupils narrowed into slits, a clear indication their dragons were hovering just under the surface, ready to shift into action instantly. No way could he shift faster than them, not after being under the influence of dragonsbane for so long. He could shift, that much he knew, but he wasn’t quite back to normal. They’d blow him into the next state before he fully shifted, so he lay still. Defeated by the one person in the world who should never have betrayed him.

  “Careful, Elektra,” said the ridiculously big blond guy. “His collar’s off! I’ll get his legs.”

  “I got his head,” the next tallest barked, and the two males swooped in to hover over Elektra and try to get a hold on him.

  “Back off!” she snarled at them.

  Her body grew heavier and claws dug into his wrists instead of fingernails. She was shifting on top of him and all he could do was grunt under the weight.

  “This is my bust, and that makes this one my bounty, thank you very much.”

  “Aw, snap!” said a male voice, humor easing the electric tension in the room.

  Grizz had closed his eyes by that point and had no idea which of the males was speaking. It didn’t matter. His life was forfeit, and deep down he was relieved. Maybe no one would have to learn of his mistake. He’d be happy to die in disgrace over false charges, but misidentifying his mate? That’s a blunder he did not want to be remembered for.

  “She did get here first,” the other woman said with a chuckle.

  “But—” one of the other males started. Elektra cut him off.

  “Hey, you all thought I was nuts for turning around and following my nose. You can’t come crying about how unfair it all is now. Just sayin’.”

  The big blond chuckled. “Alright, alright. But you’re buying the first round tonight with your bounty. Deal?”

  Elektra’s voice was mild and steady, maybe even a bit teasing as she zip-tied Grizz’s wrists together tightly. “I’ll consider it.”

  The exchange hit Grizz especially hard. Their conversation sounded like banter between coworkers. Not just coworkers, but teammates. He knew better than anyone the closeness that developed between members of law enforcement. It was only natural, considering they had to depend on each other no matter what.

  Elektra clearly had a deep, personal history with everyone else in the garage. Everyone but him. Of course her loyalty would be to her team and not him. He was a stranger and a convicted murderer. He didn’t stand a chance!

  The betrayal wasn’t so much what cut him so deeply, but that he’d had a taste of what life with a fated mate could be, only to lose it in the span of a minute. It was a loss too great to bear, and he prayed they would end him now so he wouldn’t have to live another day with the full and painful understanding of what he’d lost.

  The weight on his back disappeared and Elektra tugged him to his feet. He didn’t resist. He couldn’t. Honestly, walking was almost too much for him. But he moved his feet as best he could as she shoved him toward the garage door.

  “I hope you didn’t break down every door in the neighborhood until you found us,” Elektra said from behind him.

  Each step was torture. But at least he had a view of all the specialists on her team. The other female had perfectly tinted hair and perfectly manicured nails. Pretty, but not his type. Of course, no one but Elektra could ever be his type. Not ever.

  The big blond brute walked next to another male blond, but this one seemed much more easygoing. He also smiled a lot, which grated on Grizz’s last remaining nerve. The other two males were smaller than the brute, but they were both close to Grizz’s size. Like it mattered.

  “In this neighborhood, I doubt anyone would have been around to object,” the well-dressed male said. “But no, we have Charlie to thank for this one.”

  “Hey, I convinced these slackers to follow your lead,” the other female said.

  “Way to rat us out, Wyntir,” said the smiler.

  The natty guy ignored the others to explain. “Charlie tracked your SUV here. Thrett and Allon were sorting out a couple of the informants who had contradicting info, and since you tend to have the better gut instinct for these kinds of things…”

  “None taken,” the smiler said, rolling his eyes before the speaker could presumably say, “No offense.”

  “You could have trusted my gut in the first place, but glad you showed up when you did,” Elektra said lightly, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “He nearly got me when I came through the front door, but thank god for those collars, otherwise…”

  Bright sunlight momentarily blinded Grizz as Elektra shoved him outside. Squinting hard, he made out a big, black Sprinter van parked next to her SUV in the driveway. The natty guy pressed a button on his key fob and the lights on the Sprinter flashed. Elektra shoved Grizz toward her SUV instead.

  “I’ll take him in myself,” she said, taking out her own key fob and unlocking her rig.

  The smiling guy barked out a laugh, as if she were joking. When she pushed Grizz toward the SUV, the natty guy stepped forward.

  “Elektra, we should—”

  “Oh, right, like I’m just going to let you take him while I follow in my own vehicle,” she snorted. “He’s mine, fair and square.”

  “No one’s arguing that,” natty guy said smoothly, though he was frowning his concern. “But we follow protocol for a reason. You know that better than anyone.”

  The big guy nodded. “Yeah, we won’t try to snake your collar. Scout’s honor. Besides, with this guy’s rap sheet, the more dragons on his ass the better.”

  Elektra paused at the front grill of her rig, but she wouldn’t meet Grizz’s eye, and what remained of his heart shattered to splinters.

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” she said. “But no drinks if you try anything funny.”

  The others gathered around the ass-end of the Sprinter, waiting for her to bring Grizz to them. The big guy opened both back doors wi
de. It reminded Grizz of being loaded into the prison van, but this was infinitely worse. He’d thought being sentenced to life in a human prison was bad, but life without his fated would be pure torture. Every minute of every day would be the worst of his life.

  Not that it would matter with so many dragons guarding him, but he decided in that moment not to fight anymore. What was the point? Even if he managed to escape again, he wouldn’t want to live. Not without his mate. No, the sooner this was over, the better.

  They cleared the back of Elektra’s SUV and were only a few feet away from his death sentence when she jerked him to a stop.

  “I almost forgot,” she said. “I have some evidence here you guys need to take in with you.”

  “Sure thing,” said the glamorous female, extending a hand for whatever Elektra had.

  Grizz couldn’t think of anything incriminating that she could have possibly picked up. His confusion mounted when he heard the sound of paper crinkling behind him. He turned his head in time to see her holding a greasy In-N-Out bag with one hand. With the other, she shoved him hard enough to send him flying all the way across the driveway. He landed far from the others on a Japanese maple that cracked and crunched underneath him.

  Her teammates stood stock still, trying to make sense of what she’d done, which gave her just enough time to dig into the fast food bag and bring out an overflowing handful of dragonsbane. With one big breath, she blew the powder into a large cloud that enveloped all of the Wildridge specialists.

  As they coughed and sputtered and wiped at their eyes, Elektra turned to Grizz, her eyes wide and panicked.

  “Shift!” she screamed at him.

  * * *

  Acting was one of Elektra’s many talents, and it had served her well in her career, but she’d never imagined using the skill on her teammates from Wildridge. They’d long ago learned to trust each other, mainly because they had to. If they didn’t, any one of them could die.

  But the second she’d realized they were about to raid Harlow Shelton’s house, she knew she couldn’t trust them. Not right now, anyway. They’d see Grizz Magna, the convicted triple murderer and former law enforcement dragon who’d not only betrayed his organization but the very tenets of dragondom, and they wouldn’t care that she’d found her fated mate. It wouldn’t matter to them in the slightest that Grizz would face an almost immediate death sentence for escaping custody. Some of them would welcome it.