by Sadie Sears
“But then your dragon might die.” I blurted out the statement.
He’d just told me that happened—that it had already probably happened to create whatever Saul was—and I didn’t want to imagine that such a magnificent creature no longer existed, although that was crazy, given I’d woken up this morning with no idea they really existed at all.
“Yeah.” He heaved a sigh. “Yeah, then that would happen.” He still hadn’t returned his attention to me, and I changed the subject again.
There was nothing easy to discuss here, it felt like, but I could take the focus off Draven.
I needed to make this quick. Maybe if he spoke fast and my words barely had time to register, he wouldn’t be able to think anything that meant his demon would react and hurt him. “It’s just an idea I had.” I waited for him to nod. “I know you said we can’t go to the police about Saul, and now I get why, but I can still do something, right? I can still get justice in my own way. I have that power because of what I do.”
He waited, his expression blank so I had no idea what he was thinking.
“I can take him down. I’m a freelance reporter so all I have to do is write an article and submit it to whichever editor will print it—”
He held up a hand and shook his head, his face still perfectly still, but he looked like he was fighting something.
“Is it hurting you now?”
He nodded. “It’s really not that simple.” He tried to smile, but it slipped. “Writing an article would still involve the police, because how could the PD ignore what you’d said? And that would still put you on their radar, on Saul’s radar. And you still wouldn’t be safe. No.” He grinned. “I mean, I like the size of your balls, but you don’t need to go swinging them around quite so much.”
I snorted. “But if an article could get Saul caught and jailed, maybe I need to try? How can we even live normal lives? I’m hiding here, you’re hiding here… Shit. We’re the prisoners.” As I spoke, warmth filled me.
Even though he’d said I was his mate, like fate had matched us or something, we couldn’t even contemplate that with Saul running around the place growing leathery skin and claws at will.
I hadn’t thought about being with Draven. Not really, but now that he’d put a name to what being with him was—Mate. The word echoed around my head—everything seemed different.
And by different, I meant I wanted to throw myself across the counter and into his waiting arms, because after everything he’d just said, I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that he would absolutely catch me.
“You said Saul wants me?” It didn’t sound like he wanted me for anything good.
“Yeah.” A flash of regret crossed his features, and he pushed his fingers through his hair again.
“And how exactly do you know this?” An unwelcome sliver of suspicion crept into me.
“I told you. I find things for people. I’m a bounty hunter.” He whispered the words. “Among other things.”
I blew out a sigh. “Am I in danger here, with you?”
Before I could even blink, he stood beside me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me against him so my ear rested against his chest. “Never.” His heartrate increased.
“He’s hurting you again, isn’t he?”
His silence was the only reply I needed.
“Okay, then I get that the police are a no-go. But I need to help you stop this.”
He stiffened.
“Draven.” I murmured his name. “Sometimes being strong or brave is feeling the fear and doing something anyway.”
A laugh rumbled through his chest, and I pressed closer to hear the sound again, but it cut off abruptly.
“I think we need to find out as much as we can about this guy Saul. There will be something there that’s a weakness, and we can use that.”
I’d been ignored and overlooked by people who knew me all my life. So, my death sure as hell didn’t get to be so important to some insane demon guy who smelled of sulfur if it meant I never got to be with the one man who could maybe truly love me. My mate.
I just needed to make a plan. And all the best plans started with research.
8
Draven
I’d never grow tired of watching Mae in my kitchen. She moved around the space like it was her own. She made coffee in it like it was her own. She was making coffee in it right now, and I couldn’t keep my gaze from her. Every movement enchanted me. I’d never been bespelled or even moderately fascinated by a woman before, but it was almost as if she had some sort of mystical power.
My laptop sat open on the bench, and every so often, Mae clicked the keys and called up another search result. She’d been trying to gather information for Saul over the past three days—knowledge seemed to be her go-to, and I was caught between amusement and affection.
Still, while her searches frustrated her, they were also fruitless, and that kept her out of harm’s way. My demon didn’t sense any great danger from her and remained quiet. Sometimes, the wait and the anticipation were part of his reward. I worked for the almighty dollar, my demon worked for the cruelty and the chaos created by my assignments. Because although I could complete them neatly and quickly, I had no doubt that on some level, for someone, they did cause chaos.
Maybe I’d never truly thought about that before.
But maybe, whatever my demon dealt out, Mae could match. She was the most fragile thing I’d ever encountered, but she was strong enough to match my demon, my dragon…me.
She glanced up and smiled. “Coffee?”
I’d never had so much coffee. I no longer needed to drive or ride into the city. I could float there on sweet, sweet liquid caffeine.
But I nodded and took the mug she handed me. Our fingers brushed, and a spark shot up my arm.
Mate. My dragon shifted inside me as the word drifted across my mind in his now familiar growl. He was more awake than I’d ever known him, and something about that just… It felt right.
She smiled, and I focused on the curve of her mouth. I wanted to kiss those lips again, but fear prevented me. What if she didn’t want the same? What if she rejected me?
Mate. My dragon didn’t share my fear—he wanted me to try my luck, and I almost chuckled before my demon sent a lance of pain into my temple that white-knuckled my fingers around my mug.
“Damnit. What the hell? This guy really is the invisible man.” She slammed her finger against the enter key then shot me a sheepish glance. “Sorry. I’ll go easier on your computer.” She stood and scrubbed her hand through her hair.
The glint of the blonde shone, and my dragon murmured approval.
“This guy is just so frustrating. Are you sure you have his correct name? I can’t find a thing on him.”
I shrugged. “We’re not exactly on correct full-name basis.” I mean, shit. Saul was just one of many people I ran assignments for, and some of the others were even more shadowy figures than Saul. He was pretty much an open book in comparison.
“Okay.” I stood, the move decisive. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.” See? Really decisive. I had this. “I’m going to head into the city and find out if my contact has intel for you.” I gritted my teeth against the pain, and her forehead creased like she knew.
“I can come with you? It might be helpful to have me there?” She sounded hopeful.
I shook my head. Hell no, I couldn’t take her to the Lair. “I’ll take the bike. It’s quicker but easier for me to go alone.” I brushed her off for more than one reason.
The Dragon’s Lair wasn’t somewhere I needed her, especially when Saul was looking for her, and he could have hired many more guys like me to find her. Or he could be there himself. She was wanted, and I needed to keep her safe.
My head throbbed again. Maybe some distance from her would also get rid of this damn pain, too. Anything that put me back in Saul’s orbit should please my demon.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Just stay out of sight of the w
indows. It goes without saying, stay in the house—” I broke off and pulled my eyebrows down in a glare.
After last time, I didn’t need her running all over the woods. I certainly didn’t want to return home and find her brains splattered all over the nearest oak. She had a narrow escape last time, and I wasn’t close enough to go demon hunting for her this time.
I drew in a breath and didn’t finish my sentence.
She narrowed her eyes and parted those beautiful lips like she might argue, but her gaze locked with mine, and she sighed. “Okay.”
It was one small word, spoken in a smaller voice than I was used to, but it was victory.
“Good. I mean it. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She nodded. “I know.”
I caught my breath at the simple trust in the word, and I hesitated, wanting her in my arms, but I waited too long, and my moment was gone. Instead, I nodded like some sort of dumbass bobblehead doll.
The ride to the pub passed quickly as I roared down the highway. I didn’t quite screech into the small parking lot, but it was close. No sense in announcing my arrival quite so formally, though.
Ash wasn’t standing at the door, but that didn’t surprise me. It was the middle of the day. He had shit to take care of. Like meeting a mob boss or hacking a government agency network. I never knew with Ash, and he was pretty secretive, so maybe I’d only imagined he did those things and bouncing wasn’t just his side hustle.
I nodded to the guy at the door. I didn’t remember his name. Or maybe I’d never asked. Either way, the result was the same.
He looked kinda pissed to be standing outside a half-empty pub in the middle of the day. Chloe liked to know who was coming in and out of her place, although with her allowing Saul to use it, just knowing seemed a little redundant.
I sent an automatic glance around the space as I stepped inside. Saul’s booth was empty at least, and I released a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to see him today—far more than I didn’t particularly want to see him any day at all. My gaze skimmed over a guy hunched over a tumbler with a couple of fingers of amber liquid in a gloomy corner. He was new.
New and dangerous looking.
“Hey. Hey, Draven.” Chloe called to me in her low voice, and when I looked over, she was gesturing to me like she had the last time I was in. “Come here.”
I slid onto a wooden stool that wobbled a little under my weight. Shit, I hadn’t even had a drink yet and this thing was already unsteady. “Has Ash been in?”
“Hello to you, too.” She arched an eyebrow as she wiped a pint glass on a bar towel before racking it behind her. “It happened, didn’t it?” Her eyes sparkled as she asked the question.
“What happened?” My mind was on Ash more than Chloe. Hopefully he’d be in soon.
“You kissed your mate.”
I glanced up at her, and she shrugged.
“Just one of my talents. You can hear him, can’t you?”
“What?” I shifted backward, steadying myself with a tight grip on the edge of the bar as the stool wobbled again. “What do you mean?”
She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “I mean you found your mate. What does your dragon think?”
“Oh.” I ducked my head. Damn Chloe. The only fucking female dragon I knew was sure nosy.
“How’s your demon doing with it?” Her voice stayed low.
I met her steady gaze. “It hurts,” I admitted.
“Yeah. I heard.”
“You heard? How come yours never hurts you?” Now that I came to think about it, Chloe ran a pub. What the hell did she do to keep her demon happy?
“I’m pure dragon. As in nothing else in my head, ever.” Pride rang in her tone but didn’t show on her face.
“You’re what now?” I glanced around and lowered my voice. “I mean, how?”
She sighed. “Shit. Your dad did a number on you. Did he not tell you anything?”
Defensiveness prickled at my dry throat at the same time as it increased my heartrate. “What do you know about him?”
A wry grin slid across her face. “Another of my talents.” Then she sighed and hunkered down, her elbows resting on the bar as she watched me. “There used to at least be stories of when dragons were free, but even the humans no longer tell those, so I should probably tell you some shit that will help you understand things a little better.”
Excitement replaced my defensiveness, but I squashed it down. “Oh, yeah?” Remaining calm usually served me better.
She nodded decisively. “Yeah. Sit tight. I’m gonna pour you a drink. You might need one.” She reached for a shot glass and glugged a larger than standard measure of Jack inside it.
I sucked in a breath as she slid it across the bar. “The news is this good?”
Again with that shrug. “Depends on how you feel about the chance to be free like me.”
I choked down my first swallow of alcohol then winced as my demon laughed, the sound echoing in my head.
“Sorry.” But she didn’t look too apologetic. “This might hurt a little, but no pain, no gain, right?”
I pressed my mouth into a line and mumbled an agreement.
“Okay. I’ll make it quick but stop me if you have questions.” She looked at me, and I gave her one grudging nod of my head.
I was happy to not poke my demon, but the urge to know more was stronger.
“Okay then.” She wiped the bar, and I focused on the lazy sweeping arcs of her rag across the surface. A fire crackled on the other side of the room, almost a running joke as Chloe lit it every day of the year, rain or shine, snow or sun-bathing. “What do you know about reinfusing?”
Her question surprised me. “You need a dictionary definition?” If our whole conversation was going to go this way, she needed to line up the shots of Jack. One wouldn’t cut it.
She rolled her eyes, and I considered scooting my stool back and leaving, but I hadn’t seen Ash yet, so I couldn’t do that. I’d come to get facts for Mae. At the mere thought of her, my dragon rolled over and sighed with pleasure.
“I’ll recite the dictionary definition of dickwad if you don’t adjust your attitude.” But her tone held no irritation, and I settled in place to listen to the rest of what she had to say.
I finished my Jack and pushed the empty shot glass back across the bar. She raised an eyebrow but refilled it anyway.
“Good thing dragons metabolize alcohol quickly,” she murmured. “Couldn’t send you home on that donor cycle you drove here otherwise.”
It was my turn to lift my eyebrows. Maybe Chloe really did know everything.
“Let’s start at the beginning.” She didn’t make too much of an effort to keep her voice down this time, and I glanced at the guy in the corner, but he didn’t even look our way as he turned his tumbler, seeming to watch how the firelight made the liquid shine a molten hue. “Don’t mind him,” Chloe said. “Keir’s harmless. He’s Ash’s friend. Another waif and stray in my pub.”
I nodded, although the movement was acknowledgment rather than agreement. Right now, with Mae in danger, I minded every stranger.
“So.” Chloe started again, and this time I’d let her speak uninterrupted. “You might not know, but my dad is the only demon-dragon who has successfully claimed his mate and rid himself of demon blood.” She spread her arm, a wide grin on her faces. “And clearly I’m the product of that success.” She paused and pursed her lips for a moment, and I counted the beats while she seemed to think of the next thing to say.
I did know that about Chloe’s dad—it was an open secret among dragon shifters—but she’d never told me the story in her own words, and maybe I hadn’t realized all it meant. And I didn’t want to tell her she was almost local legend for simply being a female dragon.
“You’re almost local legend,” I blurted, apparently ignoring the fact I didn’t want to tell her that, and my dragon laughed, the sound almost a dry cough as it bounced around my head.
Chloe laughed too,
apparently pleased by the interruption I hadn’t planned to make. Then she sobered. “Finding your mate is when you become most in danger from the demons and anyone with demon connections. In fact, it’s when you’re in most danger from anyone, including your mate.”
An image of Mae floated into my mind, her ethereal green eyes sparkling with laughter and soft blonde hair as it flowed over her shoulders, and confusion overtook me. My dragon was alert, my demon was watchful.
“I don’t think she ever could—” I started, but I didn’t finish because Chloe held up her hand.
“Don’t misunderstand me. You’re powerful and you could win almost any fight if you set your mind to it, especially against a mere human female, so she isn’t a danger to you in that way. Your mate…” She glanced meaningfully at me.
“Mae.” I supplied her name without thought, almost like I hadn’t spoken myself at all, and my dragon chuckled again as his pleasure radiated along each of my nerves.
“Mae.” Chloe paused a moment, almost like she was feeling the name, like she could feel the vibrations of the bonds that connected me to the woman I’d left in my home too. “Okay. Right now, with your dragon awake, and I assume, speaking to you?” She lifted her voice in question but carried on before I could nod. “I bet your demon is getting noisier too.” She narrowed her eyes on me thoughtfully. “Is it getting busy up there?” She tapped the side of her head.
“Fuck, yes.” Relief rushed through me at finding someone who understood, even if she’d never experienced it herself.
“You might find they both become more talkative. Your dragon as he gains strength, your demon as he becomes more desperate to retain control. That was the way Dad said it worked for him, anyway. This is a make or break moment in your life, Draven. Don’t doubt that.”
I sat straighter, waiting for her next words.
“Your dragon is trying to take control, to bind you both to your mate, but your demon is fighting that—and he’s got help. Right now, you’re being hunted. Demons are trying to find you to reinfuse you with their—” She broke off and made an empty gesture with her hands as her lip curled. “With their demon essence. They always come when they think it gets too thin in your blood—when your dragon might rise up and take control. I don’t know what it’s actually called. But if they get you, it’s going to be brutal and it’s going to hurt.”
