by Sadie Sears
Taming My Rebel
Demon Dragons Of Port Lair: Book 1
Sadie Sears
Contents
1. Mae
2. Draven
3. Mae
4. Draven
5. Mae
6. Draven
7. Mae
8. Draven
9. Mae
10. Draven
11. Mae
12. Draven
13. Mae
14. Draven
15. Mae
16. Draven
17. Mae
18. Draven
19. Mae
20. Draven
21. Mae
22. Draven
23. Mae
24. Jo
Shadows Of Sin
Free Bonus Chapters!
Taming My Rebel
1
Mae
Saturday, April 14
Loud music throbbed through the air, the sound waves so dense they vibrated against my skin, and multi-colored disco lights pulsed from the corner of the room, obscuring my vision.
“Any hot guys? The owner’s rich, right?” Kailen’s voice sounded far away as I pressed my phone closer to my ear to hear her tiny voice.
I glanced at the guy who owned the compound where I was partying. That was right. A rich guy. Who owned an actual compound. In Port Lair.
In Port Lair. I shook my head. This all seemed a bit too much like an element out of a spy novel to be a thing in a city that had grown from pretty much just a trading town on the Atlantic Coast.
“Nobody hot. And the rich guy is kind of weird.” I turned away in case he could read my lips or my expression, but his gaze still bored into me. I could almost feel it.
For some reason, I’d never heard of this guy, although he seemed like the type of character to be local legend—the eccentric, rich man who lived in a large estate on the bluff. And he might be interesting fodder for the Port Lair Informer, especially since he’d only started making himself known to the wider community recently—like this invitation-only party he was holding.
My invitation, personally addressed to me in curvy, gold calligraphy, had arrived in my mailbox, much to the excitement of Kailen and Jessica, although that had quickly waned when they realized they’d be halfway across the country in an airport on one of their travel legs to Botswana.
I sighed. Only I would have friends enrolled with Doctors Without Borders, meaning they’d both abandon me at the same time. Kailen had still insisted on picking out my outfit, though—and from her closet rather than mine. I grabbed the fabric above my boobs and shimmied the dress back into place. I should definitely have been firmer about not wearing this scrap of fabric. It was too bold a choice and way too flimsy for April in Maine.
My invitation had made mention of covering some sort of unseen-before event, although it had been suitably vague. I wasn’t sure if I was witnessing the unveiling of a new invention or about to taste some spectacular new drink. I shrugged. One of the editors I regularly pitched ideas to might be interested, anyway.
What had my invitation called the owner of this place? Maybe I’d see what I could dig up on him when I got home—I didn’t plan to make it a late one. He might consent to an interview if I could find a good angle. But what the hell was his name? S-something. Simon? Stanford? Sam?
There was something…something about this guy. I clicked the catch on my purse open, leaning my head toward my shoulder to keep my phone in place, and dragged my invitation out to reread it. The curly writing shone under the flickering lights as I scanned the lines, seeking the guy’s name. There it was… Saul Brek. I couldn’t look at him for too long before nausea started a slow roil in my gut, and I couldn’t meet his gaze because fear prickled across my skin in a slow, clammy wave at the thought of what I might discover in his eyes.
I refocused on Kailen’s voice as she asked if I was sure he wasn’t hot.
I shook my head. “Definitely not. Short, maybe.” I chuckled softly.
That seemed more accurate. I had probably a couple of inches on him. More in my heels. But I was deliberately never cruel on the basis of looks since I definitely wasn’t the hottest woman in the room. Smartest? Maybe. Most kick-ass. Oh, surely. Hottest. Ha, ha. No. Besides, Kailen was short, too, so that was probably the kind of detail she appreciated.
“You could be in with a shot,” I added. I didn’t add if you like that kind of thing, but it was implied.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Maybe you’d have more of an interest in his bank account.” I spoke the words as I glanced around the room.
He was certainly living the life, with a gigantic space for this party, and the entire room had been fitted with expensive technical equipment I’d only seen in bars and clubs. Even the DJ sitting in front of his impressive deck certainly knew what he was doing, so no expense had been spared there, either. Still, it was probably business as usual for a guy who didn’t simply live in a house. The lives of the rich and famous of Port Lair—it wasn’t an angle of the city I often saw.
I glanced around the room at the partying people. It almost looked like this guy had rounded up every bum in a hundred-mile radius. Some of them shuffled rather than danced, all of them looked vaguely unkempt—despite the ill-fitting but expensive clothes—and some of them were filling their pockets from the buffet.
Interesting.
Kailen blew out a frustrated sigh that rattled noisily down the line, and I could imagine it lifting her bangs at the front. “Come on, Mae. You’ve got to put yourself back out there. How long has it been since Charlie? There has to be someone who attracts your attention at a party that sounds like that.”
I wouldn’t have said Charlie affected my confidence when he ghosted me and started a thing with my ex-best friend two years previously, but his behavior had definitely reinforced what I already knew—that I just wasn’t meant for good-looking guys. Or they weren’t meant for me. Either way, they needed to aim for someone more photogenic… And I just needed to focus on being good enough for me.
Grandma had always talked mysteriously about my other talents, and I probably had those in abundance. But I also had trust issues. Forget my ability to research a good article or take apart a car engine or redesign a room on a budget.
As more dry ice vapor crept across the floor, I scooted out of the eyeline of the dark-haired guy who kept glancing my way and sighed. Not happening, buddy. First a party held by a weird rich guy. Now an overattentive lackey. I rolled my eyes. Apparently, I had all the luck.
“What was that sigh for?”
Kailen had apparently handed the phone off to Jessica, and I withheld a second sigh. If Kailen had given me the third degree over my lack of man action, Jessica would definitely go straight in for the first and second. Alllllll the questions.
“Just ignoring a guy who keeps heading this way.” Then I nearly bit my tongue in two at being so honest.
“That’s great that you’ve caught someone’s eye.”
I pulled my phone away from my ear and looked at it. “Are you two in a bar?”
Jessica definitely sounded more than a little buzzed.
I rolled my eyes and spoke again before she could reply. “I’m not interested in a random guy who’s pretty much set up a club in his living room. What a desperado. And I’m not interested in one of his random friends, either.” I forced a laugh as the earlier uneasy feeling didn’t leave me. “They’re probably grooming me for a cult or something.”
But the dark-haired guy wasn’t giving up, and as he moved closer, weaving around the throng of bodies moving to the beat, I slipped farther into the shadows.
“
I should get some footage of the room, you guys.” I didn’t want to hang up but taking some video of the party would make it easier to write about tomorrow. “Have a fantastic time doctoring in Botswana.” Sadness filtered through my mind at the thought of my friends being so far away. “Call me when you get there?”
“Can’t.” Jessica’s voice turned sad. “We’ve already been told there won’t be a signal for our phones.”
I sighed. “Just expensive bricks, then?”
“Something like that. I’ll keep it charged to look at your face when I’ve forgotten what you look like, though.”
I snorted. “No need to torture yourself like that.”
Then she was gone in a flurry of goodbyes and kissing noises.
As I snapped some pictures first, I glanced up and watched as dark-haired guy abruptly veered from his direct path to me and seemed to almost nuzzle up to rich-guy. I withheld my laugh. So, that was another good-looking guy I was wrong about. My gaydar had failed me completely. I’d have to tell Kailen to set her sights elsewhere.
I took a pic of the two guys talking, then another of some of the artwork just about visible through the gloom and smoke effects—gigantic runes in repeated designs. All very Celtic- or Nordic-looking, and not at all what I’d expect to find in an estate on a bluff near Port Lair.
Kailen, the biggest party animal out of the three of us, had promised me this was clearly a night not to be missed—she’d been almost ugly-jealous she couldn’t make it herself—although it was feeling entirely missable without my friends by my side. I was using it as a work assignment, after all, not an evening of fun. My feet ached from the constant bass beat pounding through the floor, and the strobe lights were starting to get disorienting.
I shook my head, disapproving of myself for wanting to leave already. Seriously, I could get through one night, especially if I picked up some kind of angle for work—and maybe I could even write a series of articles because of it.
But this experience definitely wasn’t to be repeated—once was enough for me.
My mind began to wander as I grew bored of watching the dancing. Still, capturing other people for posterity was one of my talents.
As I flicked my phone to video mode to capture the enthusiastic partygoers dancing their little happy-to-be-here hearts out, a loud growl erupted from the other side of the room, audible even over the music. I swung around to see what it was, part watching the action as my phone recorded it, part looking at the commotion directly as rich-guy appeared totally normal one moment—a short, wiry brown-haired man—but then seemed to redden under the disco lights.
This was it. I’d been invited to cover a show. A small feeling of disappointment lodged in my chest before a flicker of unease claimed my attention. A strange prickly feeling of being in the wrong place at the wrong time tried to take control of me, but I tensed against it. I could make money by staying if I got a good article from it.
The guy—Saul Brek’s hands grew, his fingernails taking on the appearance of long twisted claws, and he bulked up around the shoulders and neck, his skin taking on a rough leathery appearance. Some sort of slime oozed from between the cracks in his skin as he moved, and the seams of his clothes stretched and shredded, leaving his expensive shirt tattered and hanging from his body. When I glanced at his face, his eyes flashed red, and his mouth was filled with rows of tiny pointed teeth.
Gasps rippled around the room, and a smattering of applause followed as the music scraped to a halt. The entire room seemed to hang in a moment of fascination for the visual effect he’d created, but it didn’t last.
I paused, caught between admiration at the special effects and true, nightmare-inducing horror at his transformation. Then a couple of screams bounced around the room, mingled with startled gasps as people began to move on from their initial surprise. It was like Halloween come early.
Then he bounded forward, indiscriminately slashing at the people in front of him and to either side, and they fell to the floor in pools of blood, their skin dangling from them in ribbons before they were hidden beneath the swirling dry ice vapors still being pumped out by the machine.
My breathing hitched because that hadn’t looked remotely like a show. The amount of screaming grew, and the stampede toward the door started. My gasp caught in my throat as I watched first a guy and then a woman drop to the floor at rich-guy’s hands, and I backed away as he raised his head, his nostrils flaring as he appeared to be looking for something, smelling for it like some kind of unearthly predator. He swung his head left and right, narrowing his eyes like he was peering into the shadows where I’d found refuge.
As his gaze seemed to lock directly with mine, I turned and began to run, my feet slipping on the slick floor beneath me, even though I didn’t want to think about what I might be stepping in. If this was a show, I didn’t want to stay. It was sick.
I pushed between bodies, snaking through the smallest of gaps as I made my way to the door, desperation to escape being his next victim overtaking my usual reserved politeness. Fear tangled my insides into knots, and my skin chilled as my teeth chattered. I preferred to be a background kind of person, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was the target of this rich guy, that he was hunting me, and panic whipped my thoughts into a hum of confusion as I forced my way forward with more power. I didn’t dare look over my shoulder. If the boogeyman was chasing me, I didn’t want to know.
But prickles crept up the nape of my neck, and I redoubled my efforts.
Surely it had all been showmanship… No one would hold a party to murder the attendees. Except it had all looked devastatingly real—and my fear response was certainly real. Anxiety beat a frantic pulse through my body.
Something I didn’t want to catch me was definitely behind me. Following me… Trying to what? Trying to kill me, too?
I took a deep breath, forcing the memory of watching people fall to the floor, their eyes wide, their mouths open, from my mind.
Finally, I shoved my way through the door, grateful for too many years of cross country running as I slipped past each of the other shuffling guests before I took off down the driveway. The compound was lit with an abundance of good quality solar-powered lighting, but the edges were dark, and I automatically made my way to the shadows of the tall stone walls, resolve filling in the cracks of my emotional shock as I refused to give in to the horror of watching people die. I took that feeling and balled it up, shoving it into my chest to fuel me when I had nothing else except a creeping blind terror, and that was useless.
I was kick-ass, and I could do this. I could escape.
And maybe those people weren’t really dead. But I couldn’t shake the feeling I needed to call emergency services. Ambulance, chopper, National Guard… Hell, Navy Seals and people with tanks and those huge guns, based on what I’d just seen. I just needed to get away to somewhere safe before I could make a call.
Trailing my hand along the wall kept me upright as I stumbled over the raised edges of flower beds and random rocks. Damn landscaping. As I stumbled over something else I couldn’t see in the dark, my hand slipped from the rough stone and hit thin air before my wrist landed against something metal.
Thank fuck. The gate.
I covered my mouth against a loud sob of relief. The screams still filling the air behind me probably would have drowned it out, but that was a chance I couldn’t take. Not when I still felt like I was being followed.
The gate was probably locked to keep us all inside, but I yanked on it anyway and almost fell over when it gave easily, swinging open on oiled hinges.
Perhaps they hadn’t anticipated anyone getting this far.
I spilled from the compound gates and spotted the road at the end of the unfinished loose stone and packed dirt track, but it had streetlights, so I avoided it. A deserted but lit road just seemed like a suicide mission. The one place I shouldn’t go in my own personal horror movie. And I hadn’t run into the attic or basement, so I was getting it right so
far. My pulse ratcheted up another notch as I ducked right into the woods surrounding the compound.
Tree branches clawed across my face as I ran, and I pulled my purse tighter over my shoulder. I still had my phone grasped tightly in my hand, and I didn’t dare stop to put it away. Shit. The police.
I needed to call the fucking police.
Tree branches snapped behind me, and I gasped as I found the energy to pick up my pace, darting left and right around obstacles as they loomed ahead of me. A scream caught in my throat because I didn’t have the spare energy to push it free.
Glancing at my phone as I ran, I tried to dial 911 and keep it steady, but my fingers trembled, and I fumbled the numbers the first few times.
The call finally connected. “Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“I’m in the woods. Someone’s chasing me.” I panted the words out in a low voice.
“Ma’am, could you speak up?”
I gritted my teeth as I continued to jog. Hell, no. I didn’t want every murderous bastard in a five-mile radius to know where I was. “I think someone is trying to kill me,” I hissed, my phone jammed against my mouth so the woman could hear. “I was at a party and now I’m being followed.”
I paused to suck in a breath, but she didn’t reply, and I glanced at my phone to see a plain black screen in the worst timed battery failure I’d ever known.
“For fuck’s sake.” I almost hissed the words, filling them with disbelief and panic.
It was no good. I couldn’t call the police again, and I couldn’t get to them to show them the video of the strange party, so I had to find somewhere to hide out, at least until the sun rose and I could see my way back to town. I had no idea where I was. Somewhere in the distance, the sea crashed against rocks, the sound rhythmic and like a heartbeat.
