Dragon Fever: Limited Edition Holiday Romance Boxset

by Serena Meadows

  “I agree,” Kane said, picking up the rifle case and handing it to Neil. “Let’s just head on down to yours and Jordan’s, Neil. It’s the closest.”

  “You got it.”

  Leading the way, Kane opened the door to the suite and poked his head out. He looked in both directions, then beckoned. “I don’t see anything, so let’s go.”

  Ronan strode out behind him, followed by Daryl, Taylor, and Jordan, while Neil brought up the rear. As a group, they walked down the corridor, passing a few tourists who paid them no attention at all. Ronan guessed they were halfway to Neil and Jordan’s room when the pair of men, garbed in business suites and Arab headdresses, rounded the corner ahead of them. Ronan almost ignored them as well.

  Taylor, slightly in front of Kane, suddenly yelled, “Gun!”

  Ronan didn’t hesitate, nor did Taylor.

  At the same moment Ronan planted himself in front of Daryl and Jordan, Taylor whipped her gun from its holster. Kane also yanked his gun free, perhaps faster than the Arabs had anticipated. Ronan, his semi-automatic in his hand, saw them lift their weapons toward Taylor and Kane.

  Taylor fired first.

  Her shot hit one of the Arabs dead center. He fell back, stumbling, his gun falling from his hand. His partner, grim-faced, raised his gun at the same time he dodged back behind the corner of the hallway, sheltered from return fire.

  “Run!” Kane yelled.

  Leading the way to Neil and Jordan’s room, whose door stood halfway toward the Arab, Kane fired a round to keep the man from emerging to shoot at them. He tried anyway, but his bullet went wild, striking the plaster in the wall. Jordan raced ahead of them, her key card in her hand.

  Daryl stepped out from behind Ronan’s protection as they halted, waiting for Jordan to open the door. The Arab stuck his head from cover, and Daryl fired. The man yelped in pain and fell back, permitting them to rush inside the room and slam the door shut.

  “That’s why Snowman and Nasty are so quiet,” Kane snarled. “They called in reinforcements.”

  Neil leaned against the door, breathing heavily. “Warn Jude and Drake,” he gasped.

  “We got trouble,” Kane yelled into his radio. “Those fuckers called in reinforcements.”

  “We’re on our way,” Drake snapped in return.

  “No, not yet,” Kane ordered. “Stay on our targets. “We’re in Neil and Jordan’s room now.”

  “Are you pinned down?”

  Ronan stood beside Neil, peering through the door’s lens. “The gunfire is attracting attention,” he said. “People are peeking out of rooms, and security will be here within minutes.”

  “That’ll drive the survivor away,” Kane said, then touched his earpiece. “Stay there, Drake. We’re good for now.”

  Ronan turned away from the door as Jordan encouraged Neil to sit down on the couch.

  “Now what?” he asked, furious and chilled at the same time. “We can’t stay here, Kane. Security will go door to door, asking questions. We’re armed to the teeth and have nowhere to go.”

  “We play it cool,” Kane said, gesturing toward the bedrooms. “You all go in there and stay quiet. I’ll plead ignorance. I heard shots but saw nothing.”

  “We’re on the defensive,” Jordan snapped. “That’s not where we’re supposed to be, Kane. How can we get this job done when we can’t walk out of our rooms without being shot at?”

  “We get behind them, that’s how,” he retorted.

  A hard knock came at the door. Kane gestured for them to retreat into the bedrooms while he stood ready to open the door. Ronan obeyed, taking Daryl with him even as Jordan and Taylor helped Neil. Half-closing the door, Ronan listened to Kane’s voice speaking a greeting in the dragon’s native language.

  That boy is too clever for words.

  “Excuse me, but I must ask you some questions, sir.

  Then Kane replied slowly in heavily accented English. “Yes?”

  “Have you been in your room, sir?’

  Kane didn’t reply, and Ronan envisioned him playing the part of someone who spoke hardly anything save his own language. In dragon speech, he said, “You’re an ugly ass shit.”

  “Sir, there has been a shooting,” the security guy went on. “Did you see anything?”

  “Yes?”

  The man tried Arabic, but Kane commented again in dragon on his looks, and Ronan grinned at Daryl. “Can’t ask a man a question if he doesn’t speak the language.”

  “And I doubt there’s an interpreter for our native dragon tongue,” Neil added in a whisper.

  At last, Kane closed the door and strode to the bedroom. “All right, time to get down and dirty.”

  “What are you planning?” Daryl asked as she took Ronan’s hand, following Kane back into the main room of the suite.

  Kane studied the windows. Like the upstairs tower rooms, this suite had an entire wall made of thick glass. “Just how do we break this shit?” he muttered.

  “You can’t go dragon,” Taylor exclaimed. “You’ll be seen.”

  “We have no choice, love,” he answered, still studying the window. “Like I said, we have to get in behind them. If we can get to the ground, we can ride the elevators back up and catch them with their pants down.”

  “Are you certain there are more than two?” Jordan asked. “What if all this is not necessary, as security ran the survivor off?”

  “Kane is right,” Ronan said quietly. “We know there are more. Snowman and Nasty figured out where we are, maybe even who we are. They aren’t stupid, they know it’ll take more than two men to take us out.”

  “So, where do you intend to fly?”

  Kane grinned. “It just hit me. Up. Bash open that maintenance door in the spire Neil and Drake discovered and get back inside.”

  “Is there something for you to stand on?” Neil asked, stepping forward, his face a mask of worry. “You shift way up there; the wind can blow you off of that spire before you get inside.”

  Ronan shrugged. “Then we fly back up and try again. What are you worried about?”

  “At the moment, I’m worried about everything.” Neil sighed. “Maybe I should be the one to go.”

  “No can do, buddy,” Kane replied firmly. “You’re staying out of it as much as possible. Ronan and I can do this. What side of the spire was that door?”

  “The south. It’s not a very big door, however. I can see us going out easily, just not going in.”

  “We have to.” Kane looked at the big window. “Think I can put a man-sized hole in that?”

  “Don’t squish us,” Taylor warned him.

  “Step back, lover.”

  Ronan, Neil, Taylor, Jordan, and Daryl all moved away to give him room. Kane shifted, his dragon filling the entire front area of the suite. Heat overwhelmed the air conditioning as his flames, in a focused and narrow burst, struck the window. Glass cracked where it didn’t melt, oozing down to set fire to the carpet. He shut his flames down immediately.

  “Dammit.” Taylor grabbed a vase filled with fresh flowers from a nearby table and dumped the water onto the flames before they could spread. She glared up at Kane. “Watch what you’re doing.”

  Kane shifted back. “Sorry.”

  Striding forward, he examined his handiwork. “When that cools enough, Ronan, we’ll jump out, shift during freefall.”

  “Awesome.”

  “What about the rest of us?” Neil asked. “Are we to sit here while you bozos get all the glory?”

  “No.” Kane smirked. “Give us fifteen minutes, and then come out to join in the hunt.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Neil

  “Take your radios,” Neil told Kane and Ronan. “Let us know when you’re inside. “We’ll need to coordinate.”

  “Right.”

  Kane put his earpiece and radio into his pocket as Ronan did the same. “If these guys know our room numbers, they’ll come creeping back after security gives up.”

  Daryl went to t
he door to peer out. “Um, I don’t think they are,” she commented after a few minutes, watching through the lens. “It almost looks like they’re patrolling the floor.”

  “That’s not all that surprising,” Taylor remarked. “After a shooting that kills a man in the lobby, wild screaming when Drake cut loose, and now more shooting, these guys aren’t messing around.”

  Kane frowned thoughtfully. “All right, we take these guys down as quietly as possible. Hit them, knock them out, leave them for security to deal with. We shoot to save our lives, but if we can, we merely disable.”

  Ronan gently touched the rapidly hardening glass. “I think we’re good, Kane.”

  Kane took Taylor into his arms and kissed her. “Wish us luck, baby.”

  “You’ll be fine,” she said with a smile.

  Daryl returned to Ronan and hugged him. “You be careful, sweetie. I’ll be listening.”

  “And I’ll let you know the instant we’re back inside.”

  With Kane, Ronan strode to the big opening in the glass, the wind whistling through it in gusts and lifting their hair like invisible fingers. Neil watched, with no little envy, as Kane dove through the hole and Ronan followed immediately after.

  Within seconds, Kane banked past the window, his wings beating strongly, his neck outstretched as he climbed toward the top spire of the Burj Khalifa. Ronan blasted past in his wake, then the two dragons vanished from his sight.

  His head aching, Neil sat on the couch to sink back wearily into the cushions. “Now we wait.”

  Jordan sat beside him and took his hand. “I know it’s a stupid question,” she said softly, “but are you up for this?”

  “I have to be, babe,” he replied, his eyes closed. “Getting shot in the head sucks rocks.”

  “Maybe you should wait this one out.”

  Neil didn’t bother to open his eyes. “Nope. I’m not waiting anything out.”

  “We might need him to go dragon, Jordan,” Taylor added. “We have no idea what to expect.”

  Daryl paced, often pausing to stare out the window as though waiting for Ronan to fly back in. “What is taking so long?” she muttered.

  Neil smiled without moving. “They’ve only been gone a minute.”

  The radio crackled in his ear, and he sat up abruptly. Too abruptly, for his sudden movement sent shards of pain lancing into his head. “Hey, down there,” Drake’s voice said, too loudly for Neil’s comfort, “we can’t get Kane on the mike. What’s happening?”

  “He and Ronan are flying up to the spire,” Neil answered, “they’re going in from the top, and get in behind the bad guys.”

  “How’d they get out to fly without witnesses?”

  “The United States government will have to pay for a new window.”

  “How you doing, Neil?”

  “Okay.”

  “Do you need us, man? I mean, we’re going crazy up here not knowing what’s going on.”

  “I can relate.” Neil took a deep breath. “But we need eyes on our friends. We can’t afford to have them slip out the back door.”

  “Shit. I know. Take care, Neil.”

  “You, too.”

  As Daryl paced near the window, Neil, Taylor and Jordan simply at in silence, waiting. Long minutes passed in which Neil worried, trying to picture Kane and Ronan shifting into their human selves as they tried to enter the small door. The maintenance crews used straps and clips to prevent themselves from being blown off the spire. He pictured the two of them blown off the spire continuously, shifting to fly back, and trying again.

  At long last, Kane’s voice spoke in his ear. “We’re in. Neil, you were right. That wasn’t as easy as it sounded.”

  “You get blown off?”

  “Shit. At least three times.”

  Neil laughed. “All right, we’re on the move. We’ll meet up when all the bad guys are down.”

  “Copy.”

  Neil stood up and made certain his jacket covered his gun in its holster. “Ladies, are we ready to rock and roll?”

  “About time,” Daryl exploded, striding toward the door.

  “Daryl, slow down,” Taylor ordered, but Daryl ignored her.

  Opening the door, Daryl glanced down the hallway in both directions, then headed to the right toward the elevators. Muttering under her breath, Taylor followed, then Jordan, while Neil, once again, brought up the rear. Striding with confidence, Daryl still walked lightly, balanced, ready to fight and kill. While Neil admired her for her guts, he wondered if she was being too foolhardy.

  Gunfire exploded. Daryl cried out, stumbling, lurching to the side to hit the wall of the corridor. Whipping his gun from under his jacket, Neil searched for a target but saw nothing. Taylor, cursing, ran to Daryl even as Jordan, her gun in her hands, also searched for someone to shoot.

  “Where’s it coming from?” Neil yelled, taking cover along the side of the hallway.

  Another round flicked the collar of Neil’s jacket. Ducking, he saw two men in Arab clothing retreating behind the wall near the elevators. Come on, Kane and Ronan. Get behind these guys. “How bad is she?” Neil demanded.

  “Her shoulder,” Taylor called back, covering Daryl, who had slumped against the wall.

  “I’m fine,” Daryl called back, her voice strained.

  “Taylor, get her back to the room,” Neil ordered. “Take care of her.”

  “You don’t give me orders,” Daryl shot back, struggling to get up. “I’m going on.”

  “Shit,” Neil muttered. “Damn, girl.”

  “I heard that.”

  The men stepped from cover and fired, and Neil immediately retaliated, fearing security was on the way. Yet, he saw nothing of them, despite Daryl having seen them earlier. Maybe these guys took them out. But more will be coming.

  Neil didn’t hear the elevator door ding, nor did the attackers turn around to see who stepped off of it. Even so, the hulking form of Kane materialized behind them. He swung hard, his face a mask of anger and determination, and cracked one of them behind his head. Ronan knocked the other out with the butt of his gun, the man falling over the body of his comrade.

  “Ronan,” Neil called, relieved that he had finally arrived. “Daryl’s been hit.”

  Swearing, Ronan bolted toward her as Neil and Jordan straightened from their positions, half-hidden from the gunfire. Kane also ran forward, his semi-automatic still in his hand. Daryl, leaning against the plaster, scowled as Ronan reached her.

  “I’m all right,” she snapped. “We need to get out of here now.”

  “Hold still,” Ronan ordered, peering at her wound, her shirt and jacket stained red. “Dammit, you’re bleeding bad.”

  “We have to go,” she snarled. “There’s no time.”

  “She’s right,” Kane said, gazing around for security or more bad guys. “We have to get off this floor.”

  His arm around her back, Ronan helped Daryl to the elevators. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Neil covered their rear, turning to walk backward to watch for anyone stealing up behind them, but saw no one. Kane pressed the button for the car, waiting impatiently for it to arrive, almost dancing in place. Jordan and Taylor both took positions to watch up and down the hallways, casting glances at the elevators as they waited for a car.

  The doors slid open.

  Kane, yelling, fired a shot into the car, then leaped for Taylor. Neil caught a fast glimpse of at least six men in business suits and Arab headdresses in the elevator, guns in their hands. Gunshots poured from the car as Neil tried to cover Jordan, to protect her with his body while dragging her around the corner and into the hall.

  Losing sight of Ronan and Daryl, he heard the gunshots continue and feared his friends had just been slaughtered. Still pushing Jordan down the hallway, he cast a half glance over his shoulder upon hearing yells and screams. Oh, fuck, they’re all dead; they were right there in the line of fire.

  Desperate grief and raging fear swamped him as he and Jordan returned to the
ir room, slamming the door behind them.

  “Oh, God,” he cried, nearly weeping. “Are they dead? Fuck, are they all dead?”

  Jordan, panting, thumbed her radio. “Kane, are you there? Answer me, Kane! Ronan, Daryl? Someone, please answer.”

  “Jordan?” It was Drake, his voice loud in Neil’s earpiece. “What’s going on?”

  “Ronan, oh, shit. I think they’re dead, think they got killed, all of them, oh, Christ.”

  “We’re on our way.”

  Neil thumbed his radio. “Kane, talk to me. Kane, come in. Ronan, Taylor, come in; someone, talk to me.”

  “Neil.”

  He sucked in a deep breath as Taylor’s voice came into his ear. “Kane got shot, but he’s still on his feet. We’re okay, but we had to run for the stairs.”

  “That’s good; that’s great news, girl.” Neil met Jordan’s terrified eyes. “Taylor, where are Ronan and Daryl?”

  “I don’t know. I saw them running. I think they got away. We shot a couple of those guys, but the rest, Neil, they’re hunting us.”

  “Not anymore.” Neil strode to where he left the high-powered rifle in its carrying case. “We’re gonna hunt them, baby.”

  “We’re all scattered, Neil,” Taylor replied, calmer. “I don’t see any of them, but we’re one floor down. Security will be all over this place.”

  “I know, but stay calm. How’s Kane?”

  “Bleeding but swearing. I think he dropped his radio device.”

  “If he’s cussing, he’s fine.”

  “Jude and I are in the elevator.” Drake’s voice came in clearly. “Where was the last place you saw those guys, Taylor?”

  “Our floor. Where are Emily and Natalie?”

  “Safe. They’re still watching our friends and behind a locked door. They’re good. Now we need to find Ronan and Daryl.”

  The radio clicked a few times in Neil’s ear, then suddenly, Emily screamed, “They’re busting the door down. Dammit, they’re after us.”

  Neil’s mouth dried to dust. “Emily?”

  “Emily!” Drake roared into the radio. “Emily!”

  Neil heard gunshots, then nothing. “Oh, fuck. Fuck,” he groaned. “What the fuck?”