by Mina Carter
Not yet, he sent back, a warning not to count their chickens before they were hatched. Adra wasn’t theirs yet but... he’d sensed a definite warming toward him since this morning. The feel of her against him when they danced had sent shivers down his spine and heat through his blood. She’d never danced—not properly, that much was obvious—but she moved easily in his arms, following his lead like she’d been made just for him. Made to be there in his embrace.
He shivered again and locked the thought away, feeling like the big bad wolf as he led her through the villa to the suite he always booked when he was here. The building was a large triangle and the suite, the best on offer, filled one of the points. It meant they would have fantastic views of both the sunset and sunrise.
“Oh, this is gorgeous,” Adra breathed as he opened the door and ushered her inside. She walked ahead of him, her expression open and honest as she looked around in awe and delight.
“Wow... this place. That countertop alone could feed a family for a month.”
Her words humbled him and forced him to look at the rooms with new eyes. He’d been born into luxury, and money had never been an issue. So he’d long since stopped seeing the marble and gilt, the plush rugs and priceless artwork on the walls. It was just window dressing for the world he inhabited.
Seeing her trail a reverent finger over the carved wood of a side table and stop to appreciate a painting made him look... really look. But no painting or sculpture could compare to her and he found himself mesmerized—utterly fascinated by the delicate woman in front of him.
Even though he’d seen her in battle, fought alongside her, and knew she was harder than a coffin nail, he couldn’t help but feel like a ravening beast as he watched her. Like he was too big and brutish to even touch her.
If she was his, he’d shower her in luxury... anything she wanted. Clothes. Diamonds—
His thoughts stopped as his gaze dropped to the dress she wore. It was borrowed, he realized. It had to be. That’s why she had been fiddling with it all evening. And why it looked at least two sizes too small, something the very human, very male animal within approved of. His mind flitted back to the apartment block, to the neighborhood they’d driven through where she’d been waving at people out of the limo.
And they’d been waving back.
Everything clicked into place in one startling moment of clarity. It wouldn’t impress her if he showered her in diamonds. In fact, she’d probably pawn the things to help her family and the people she cared about. No, expensive gifts weren’t the way to her heart. Not at all. He smiled to himself. In fact, the only diamond he planned to give her was a solitaire... when she agreed to become his wife. Until then though... he could help her family and the community she came from.
But that could wait until morning. Right now, he was more interested in the woman in front of him as she turned, a frown on her face as she clocked that the room had only one bed.
“I thought you said this was a pretend thing—” she started, but he was there, pressing a finger to her lips before she could say anything else.
“It’s a two-room suite,” he said, taking her hand and leading her to a side door by the large picture window that formed one wall of the room. Opening it revealed a second, identical bedroom. She made a little sound, pursing her lips, and he couldn’t work out if it was relief or disappointment. Reaching around, he plucked the key from the lock and placed it in her hand.
“My side will stay unlocked. It’s your choice whether to walk through the door. It’s always been your choice, Adra.”
Nik hadn’t kissed her last night.
He’d wanted to. Only an idiot would have missed the tension in his body and the desire in his eyes as he’d looked at her, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d held back with the sort of self-control she could only ever dream of accomplishing and shut the door between them.
She’d needed a cold shower, a long one, before she’d had any chance of sleeping. She pursed her lips as she lay on her back in the pool.
Why hadn’t he kissed her? Wasn’t that what womanizing playboys did?
Her dragon growled at her in response. The answer she was trying to avoid was in his words to her last night. It was her choice.
She hadn’t believed him when he’d said that. In fact, she’d stayed awake most of the night waiting for him to prove her right and try the door. The sunrise had begun to lighten the sky outside before she’d been forced to admit she’d been wrong. Before she’d had to admit that it really wasn’t going to happen.
For the first time, she realized that all the pretty words she’d thought were just a line, weren’t. They weren’t practiced lies that fell off his lips in order to get her into bed as she’d assumed.
No, he’d actually meant them.
Which also meant because of her assumptions, she was as frustrated as all hell and craving his kisses.
And more, a little voice in the back of her head added. You might as well admit it. You’re falling for him.
“Am not,” she murmured to herself and then kicked her legs in the water to cover up in case anyone had heard her.
Totally are, the voice argued, backed up by a purr as her dragon got in on the act.
You can shut up as well, she told it and flipped over to swim a length of the pool underwater.
She swam harder. Faster. Used to the relentless training regime of the blacks, she couldn’t just doze in the sun and relax. She got antsy and needed to do something if she was forced to sit still for more than five minutes at a time.
This was definitely a different sort of life, she decided. The women with Nik’s business associates had all congregated around the main pool after the breakfast she’d missed and had spent the day either sunbathing or glued to their phones. One of them appeared to be searching for that perfect selfie in vain while the rest looked on, bored expressions on their faces. Not one of them appeared to be here to do anything other than relax and look pretty when required.
And none of them seemed bothered by the total step backward for women to be considered nothing more than arm candy. She’d actually heard one guy tell his wife/girlfriend/mistress... whatever she was... not to worry her pretty little head about business she wouldn’t understand.
Adra had been forced to grit her teeth and see how long she could hold her breath underwater at that point. Other people’s relationships were none of her business. If the wife was happy to be spoken to that way, who was Adra to argue? She didn’t want to take another woman’s choices away any more than she’d tolerate her own being removed.
But if Nik ever brushed me off like that.... She cut the thought off mid-way through. Nik would never treat her like that. He’d always asked her opinion on matters and never once treated her as less because of her gender.
That might have been because dragons were far older than most other species and therefore way more enlightened. And also because females, especially whites and blacks, were often bigger than their male counterparts.
Adra shrugged to herself. She’d actually pay money to see anyone try to talk down to Cadeyra, the dragon queen. She’d toast them before they’d even finished speaking.
The arrival of wait staff on the terrace alerted her to the fact that dinner was about to be served, so she hauled herself out of the water in one easy move. Flicking her wet hair out of her face, she stalked toward the sun-lounger where she’d left her things.
As she walked, she felt envious eyes on her. When she reached down to grab her towel, the woman on the lounger next to hers slid her sunglasses down her nose to look at Adra.
“Darling, you simply must give me the name of your weight loss guy. He’s done a fantastic job with you.”
Adra frowned, using the towel to squeeze her hair dry.
“What do you mean, weight loss guy?” she asked. Finished with her hair, she wrapped the towel around her waist like a sarong. The chairs over by the buffet area had cushions on them and she didn’t want to get them wet. They look
ed like they’d water-stain badly. Whoever had picked them obviously hadn’t considered what they’d be used for.
“All that.” The woman, a human who had to be in her late forties but was nonetheless dressed like the twenty-somethings in the group, gestured to Adra’s figure. “Can’t be natural. Let me guess... gastric band?”
She sighed as she levered herself up off the lounger. “I would try that, but that baby food goop they give you?” She shuddered, sliding a sideways look at Adra again. “But if it gets me results like yours, perhaps I should give it a try. My Roger has been whittling that I’m gaining weight recently.”
“I haven’t had any surgery,” Adra said flatly. Where did this woman get off assuming she’d gone under the knife just to look a certain way? Hell, she’d love to be able to gain weight... to have the sort of curves most women tried like hell to eradicate, but her metabolism simply ran too quickly. “I just work for a living.”
“Really?” Her new best friend asked in surprise, joining her at the buffet table. “Your husband allows that? My Roger never would. Likes me being there for... well, you know. A man has needs,” she trilled, the sound ending in a small, empty laugh. “It’s why we never had kids,” she added, an empty note creeping into her voice.
“He stopped you from having kids?” Adra asked in surprise. “Screw that. Why didn’t you leave?”
She’d expected some remark about being cut off, but the other woman merely shrugged and gave a sad smile. “I love him. Always have. Fates are bitches, huh?”
This place was like a damn rabbit warren.
Adra sighed as she found herself back in the lobby for the third time. With a grumble in the back of her throat, she turned around and trudged back the way she’d come. Perhaps she needed to go left instead of right at the big painting of all the fruit. Her lips curved up in amusement. It was probably a priceless work of art and here she was, using it as a sign post.
Because she really needed to find the library.
She’d had to give up on the swimming after Brenda—her new friend—had complained that just watching Adra wore her out. But then, she had been on something like her hundredth lap by then, so perhaps it was a fair comment. She’d tried to sunbathe. The sleep would have done her good after her restless night of fruitless door watching and, bonus, because of her dragon physiology she couldn’t burn if she did drop off.
Unfortunately, her dragon hadn’t seen it that way. Instead, it took the opportunity to push its own agenda, giving her a blow-by-blow replay of the last time they’d sparred with Nik. Her head had been filled with image after image of Nik in his dragon form. Flying. Wheeling and banking in the air to hit a target with a gout of flame. Landing. There were a lot of images of Nik landing and his dragon’s scaly ass. It was like a damn dragon porn channel right there in her head.
I get it! she laughingly told her dragon as she’d given up on her nap. You like his dragon. Enough already!
The left turn at the painting proved to be the key and she walked into what turned out to be a surprisingly well-stocked library. Forget diamonds and fancy clothes, books were Adra’s weakness. Growing up, money had been tight. Oh, they’d always managed to scrape through and no one had gone hungry. Not really. But treats and trips had been out of the question when there were more important things to pay for... like the rent or school uniforms.
So she’d found her own treats in the form of books at the local library. Mrs. Swinton, the old librarian, enthused by finally finding a voracious reader, had ordered whatever and as many books as Adra requested. Her “trips” had been varied and wonderful as she found magic hidden between the pages of her books greater than any that existed in the real world. Settled in her favorite chair by the window, she could go from warrior queen to the captain of a starship, all before supper.
So she breathed a happy sigh as she walked along the shelves, her fingertips running gently along the spines as she said hello to old friends she recognized and welcomed new ones she didn’t. Whoever the library, and villa, belonged to was well-read. There were a lot of classics, volumes on history and politics and a fair few autobiographies. But they also appeared to have a frivolous side, battered rom coms next to satires. Male or female... she couldn’t work that one out. Romances sat side by side with The Art of War and engineering tomes. All were battered and had obviously been read more than once.
Wandering toward the window, she found her attention caught by a small section of paranormal books. History texts from the different species, spell books and even a thin volume on wyvern anatomy and physiology. That one caught her eye for a moment.
She hadn’t caught up with Blake about the injured wyvern in the sewers, and for a moment she bit her lip, concern running through her. He wouldn’t still be there guarding the entrance to the tunnel it had disappeared down... would he? Waiting for someone to come and relieve him?
No. She shrugged the thought off. If that was the case, Damian would have been down on her like a ton of bricks. Blake was his trainee and, ultimately, his responsibility. If he hadn’t returned from training, Damian would have wanted to know why the hell not. No, she was worrying for nothing. No doubt Blake was back at base, bugging the shit out of Vane like he usually did.
Her hand paused and she slid a book from the shelf. The Life and Loves of the Demon Queen Morgause. The name made her smile. Before she’d learned to read for herself, she’d discovered her love of story at her grandmother’s knee. Dragons were extremely long lived and the elderly dragoness had often told tales of her childhood in old Briton.
She’d grown up with Morgause—a warlock turned demon queen who’d almost derailed a legendary king—and the stories she’d told about the pair growing up were epic. But she’d never told Adra anything about the two when they were adults. It would be interesting to find out what had actually happened to Morgause in the end.
Settling down in the cuddle chair in front of the big window with a lovely view of the ocean, she became aware that she wasn’t alone. Looking up, she saw Johnson leaning in the doorway. At his slick, smug smile, all the hackles went up on the back of her neck, and she had to grit her teeth to stop her dragon’s warning snarl escaping.
His smile grew broader. He seemed to take her silence as permission and walked toward her. No, stalked was a better word. He stalked her like she was his prey. She almost laughed. He was so shit out of luck if he thought she was ever likely to be his prey.
“I still can’t figure out what a beauty like you sees in someone like Waldek. What are you doing, sexy... reading up on how to catch a better man? You don’t need to. I’m right here.”
She almost rolled her eyes. Was he for real?
“Learning the cha-cha-cha,” she dead-panned. Perhaps if she didn’t engage, he’d get the message and go away.
No such luck. He looked surprised and flicked a glance at the book in her hand. “Really? You can’t learn that from a book, sweet thing. You need a man to show you how...” He slid an appreciative glance down the slender length of her legs, bared by her shorts. Her dragon snarled again, louder.
Need a man, it sneered. We need a man like a lion needs wings. Perhaps we should teach him to fly...
Behave, she warned it firmly. Most of the time it was under her control, the human half running the ship so to speak, but there were instances when the beast could and would take over.
She watched as Johnson stalked closer. Even though she was one of the biggest predators out there, she knew better than to take her eyes off another one. There wasn’t any comparison between a lion and a dragon when they were shifted. One good belch and he’d be toast. Literally. She could just imagine the scene in court.
“So sorry, Your Honor. I had pizza for lunch and garlic always gives me acid reflux. It was just unfortunate that Mr. Jones stood where he did. Tragic accident... scale rest his soul.”
“I really do not,” she argued, but he didn’t back off, putting his hands on the armrests of her chair and penning her in. H
is expression had changed from charming to more severe.
“You should be nice to me,” he warned, the edge of his lion in his voice. “Pretty little thing all alone in here... who knows what could happen to you without your big, strong dragon to protect you.”
She almost laughed in his face, but then his threat registered. Was he really... by scales, he was! She was so stunned she didn’t move as he lifted a hand and ran it up her thigh, lust tightening his expression.
“That’s it. You know what’s good for you. Don’t you?”
“Get your hand off me,” she warned, her voice dangerously low. “Or I won’t be responsible for what happens.”
He grinned, the expression triumphant as his hand crept higher, skating across the front of her thigh. “No one will believe you. You realize that. Don’t you? God, I’m going to enjoy fucking you. I’ll ruin you for Waldek. I promise you.”
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on telling anyone.” She smiled back, moving to grab him by the balls before he could grab her crotch. Her grip was hard, and he squeaked, lips tight with pain as she squeezed. “I think you and I can deal with this little situation right here and now. Don’t you?”
He paled as her claws pressed against the sensitive skin of his balls. “I’ll have you thrown out for assault.”
She grinned, showing off teeth too sharp to be anything close to human. “Who said they’re going to find your body?”
“You’re crazy...”
“Yeah,” she nodded in agreement and let her dragon leach into her eyes. “I’m a black. I’m as fucking crazy as they come, sunshine.”
Her words took a moment to sink in, but then fear rolled from his pores, his fur poking through his skin. He’d underestimated her and by the looks of it, that fact was just beginning to sink in.
“Never touch me again,” she snarled, smoke rising from her nostrils. “In fact, never touch any woman without asking. If I hear you have, then all that training they give us? I’ll use every single ounce of it to fucking track you down and kill you. Slowly. Understand me?”