by Lola Gabriel
“You came,” she murmured, her hand reaching through to touch his head. “You came.”
He bowed slightly, allowing her to stroke the line of his snout, and Ara felt a spark of excitement flooding through her.
“Can you get me out of here?” she asked. “I don’t want to die here.”
“You won’t die here, Bella.”
She spun around, the dragon at her back forgotten as she stared at Titus.
“How did you get in here?” she demanded, her heart fluttering with happiness. Without giving him a chance to respond, she threw her arms around him, squeezing her body to his.
“We need to get you out of here,” Titus told her, pulling back slightly to stare into her face with concern. “You’re not safe.”
Even as he said the words, the smoke seemed to thicken around them, but Ara didn’t care. If she was going to perish, she wanted to do it in his arms.
“Not yet,” she begged, reaching up to pull his face to hers. “Please.”
His gray eyes were almost slate in the dimness of the jail cell, the smoke clearing as they kissed.
The familiar sweeping sensation enveloped her, and she felt his resolve to stop what was happening dissolving. She had been waiting for this moment since being virtually ripped from his arms, and nothing was going to stop her from feeling Titus’ skin against hers.
“Bella, please,” Titus moaned. “You need to go. I can help you—”
“Shh!” Viciously, Ara bit down on his lower lip, watching as his eyes widened in shock.
He seemed stunned, and she tasted blood, but the look of surprise was quickly replaced by a spark of fire. Dancing her back, he pinned her body against the bars, his mouth crushed to hers.
Ara gasped for breath, but he gave her no chance to breathe, his hands grabbing along the ruffles of her skirts, yanking them up to her waist. Abruptly, her head fell back, feeling the push of his hardness against her thighs, a fire of her own growing from the depths of her belly.
“You are in danger. The plan is to pin it all on you,” Titus rasped into her ear, his fingers spreading her cheeks apart beneath the hoops of her dress.
“No,” she breathed. “You’re wrong. They would never do that to me. It’s Skylar, all Skylar.”
He started to shake his head, but she twisted her fingers into his blond curls, forcing his head down along the line of her neck toward her swelling bustline.
“I should have never told you about the spell,” he murmured, his tongue lashing out to sample her skin. “If I hadn’t said anything, you would have never run off.”
His words were making her heady with pleasure, although they made little sense. It was the mere throatiness of his masculine tones causing a spill of heat from her center to lubricate his prodding fingers.
Ara was wedged between Titus and the bars, her back arching toward him as she silently begged him to take her, and he seemed to hear her plea. Suddenly, he was naked, his engorged member teasing at her pulsating button.
“Oh, yes,” Ara exhaled. “You’re all I can think about in this place. I knew you would come for me.”
Titus grabbed her thigh and yanked it up to his waist, a single, full thrust penetrating her.
She yelped, relishing the fullness of his manhood, and his fingers dug into the tender flesh of her upper leg. Pulling his head up from where he was nuzzled in her chest, she parted her mouth, their tongues playing as their eyes locked.
Titus began to pound at her, steady, deep, and hard. Ara gasped, savoring each thrust as if it was going to be the last, low moans of desire emanating from her diaphragm. His shaft grew slicker with her juices, his nails piercing the flesh of her thigh, and Ara’s body seized as her climax mounted.
“I knew you wouldn’t leave me here,” she mewled, quivering as she released against him. A feral grunt escaped Titus’ lips.
“I’ll never let you go again,” he vowed. “You are mine forever. No one can keep us apart now.”
Suddenly he choked, his body tensing, and Ara watched as his eyes turned into golden lava, his face contorting into the shape of the beast in the corridor. Hot streams of juice filled her, and she was caught in a place between reality and fantasy as her lover became a dragon.
“I’m sorry,” Titus mumbled. “I’m sorry, I should have told you before—”
A blow to her face shocked her back to reality, and Ara gasped, choking as she fell from her bunk onto the filthy floor of the prison cell.
Her cheek was on fire, and she blinked, trying to make sense of what was happening. As she looked around, she realized her other three cellmates were gone and she was alone with Inga, who hovered over her, smirking.
“Now I gotcha alone, don’t I?” she snickered. “No one around to interrupt us now, is there?”
Ara rubbed her face and sat up, unwilling to show the bully any weakness.
“If you’re going to—” Ara couldn’t bring herself to say the word aloud. “—abuse me, I’ll scream.”
Inga stared at her before bursting into a raucous laughter. She looked around as if wanting an audience. “Holy hell, woman, where do you think you are? No one gives a shit about you here. If I want to abuse you, I’ll do it all day long, and no one will give a rat’s ass about it.”
Ara believed her.
“Anyway,” Inga continued, leering at her, the gold teeth flashing in in the shadows. “I’m not gonna hurt you. We’re gonna be friends.”
“Friends?” Ara scoffed. “You just punched me in the face!”
Inga scowled. “You call that a punch? You really are as weak as you look, aren’t you?”
Ara jumped to her feet, her cheeks growing red, but she was not embarrassed. She was livid.
“Get the hell out of here,” she spat. “I’m not going to be your friend. You’re wasting your time trying to intimidate me.”
A slow smile formed on Inga’s face, and she folded her arms over her chest.
“Well, would you look at that,” she mused. “Who knew you had any balls under that innocent exterior?” She turned toward the bars and swung the cell door open. “I would reconsider the offer,” Inga commented over her shoulder. “Because the people you think are your friends would probably rather see you dead.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Ara yelled after her, idly wondering where everyone was. There was not a sound to be heard around their spot. I don’t believe for a second everyone is asleep and not hearing this.
Inga glanced at her, amused. “I mean your pal. Emma? Yeah, she made a deal to get dirt on you so you could take the fall for all your friends on that reserve job.”
Ara blinked and opened her mouth to deny Inga’s words, but her dream suddenly came flooding back to her in a horrific rush. What was it Titus had said?
The plan is to pin it all on you.
“Think about my offer,” Inga chuckled, walking away.
“Wait!” Ara called desperately. “What do you want?”
Inga paused, her face only half visible in the darkness now, her expression as disturbing as ever.
“I want what everyone in this shithole wants,” she retorted. “To get the hell out of here.”
“I have a good lawyer—”
Inga snickered. “You are a babe in the woods, aren’t you?”
Ara shook her head in confusion. “I don’t get it. What do you want?”
“I’m going to take care of your spy,” Inga said, “and you’re going to help me escape.”
“What do you mean ‘take care of her’?” Ara demanded.
“Do you want me to take care of your problem or not?”
“Not if you’re going to kill her!” Ara cried.
“Keep your voice down! I’m not going to kill her, you dumb asshole.”
Ara exhaled. “Oh.”
Inga stared at her through the shadows. “So? Do we have a deal?”
Ara swallowed, thinking about how much it would help if the witness was no longer a problem.
“
You’re not going to kill her?” she insisted.
“I’m not even gonna hurt her,” Inga snapped. “Get it together.”
Ara nodded. “Okay. We have a deal.”
17
Bella’s face was abnormally pale, and Titus longed to touch her, but it was impossible with the six-inch glass separating them. The phone pressed to his ear, he placed his palm flat against the surface, and Bella immediately reached up on her side to outline her hand to his.
It was their first meeting since she had been brought back to the prison almost two weeks earlier, and while Anders had assured him that she was fine, the growing anxiety had been causing Titus to imagine horrible scenarios.
“Are you eating?” he demanded, noting a fading bruise on her face. “Did you get hurt?”
Bella shook her head, lowering her eyes.
“I’m fine,” she replied quickly. “I’m eating.”
He could sense the lies in her words.
“Anders has been in touch with the American embassy,” he assured her. “We are constantly working on your defense.”
Ara tried to smile, but the action was one of futility.
She’s lost at least five pounds, Titus though, which she can’t afford, and she looks haunted. I have to get her out of here.
“What do you need, Bella?” he asked, and the words were ridiculous to his own ears. He knew what she needed.
“I need you to do me a favor,” she whispered, her eyes darting around the space as if she was expecting to be overheard.
“Anything!” he agreed. “Anything at all!”
Bella stared at him with worried eyes and inhaled sharply. “I need you to arrange for a car and some money to be at a certain location at a certain time.”
Titus stared at her, his eyes widening in shock.
“What are you planning?” he hissed, leaning forward to gape at her. “If you’re thinking about—”
Her hand smacked against the glass as she shook her head vigorously, her cheeks opaque.
“I’m not thinking about anything!” she cried in a hushed tone. “Don’t say anything aloud!”
Titus sat back, his gaze falling on the guard wandering aimlessly behind the inmates visiting. If she wants me to break her out of here, I could have done that weeks ago, but she was clear that she didn’t want to run. What has changed?
The thought of Bella trying to escape and being caught was almost too much to bear. What if she was hurt in the capture? They would not be kind to her, he was sure.
“It’s not for me,” Bella murmured, as if reading the confusion on his face. “But I need you to do it for me. Can you manage it?”
Titus’ eyes narrowed. “Bella, you should be worried about you and no one else right now,” he said gruffly. “I am not going to ask you questions, but…”
She stared at him stoically, and for a second, Titus didn’t recognize her. There was a hardness in her face that had not been there before, a determination that both bothered him and made him inexplicably proud. She almost looked like she had a plan.
But how much could she really do from behind bars?
Titus nodded slowly.
“I’ll do anything for you,” he repeated. “You know that. Just be careful, please.”
Bella nodded. After a moment of silence, she said, “I keep dreaming about you.”
Titus couldn’t help but smile. “I guess that’s one way for me to touch you,” he replied. “I’ll take it.”
“We’re going to be together again.” He blinked at the conviction of her words.
“Of course we are,” he answered, even though his heart was sinking at the evidence that seemed to be piling up against her.
The witness who was going to testify against Bella was to remain anonymous until after he had taken the stand, but Anders had warned Titus that there were others who wanted to confirm the story.
“I know who the witness is testifying against me at trial,” said Bella.
The words stunned Titus.
“Who? How?” he sputtered. “Tell me.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to deal with it, but I need you to keep looking for Skylar and Jasper. I think they’re together in England. If you find Jasper, I suspect you’ll find Skylar, too.”
She makes it sound so easy, Titus thought. I’ve been trying to find that bastard for weeks. Without her help… He was about to protest, but he clamped his mouth shut. She has already given you everything you need to find what you are looking for. And you have help… if you can trust them.
“I’ll find them,” he vowed. “You tell me what you need from me, Bella, and I will get it for you.” She stared at him, and he could see the concern on her face.
“Titus,” Bella whispered. “If I don’t get out of here, I want you to promise not to do anything crazy.”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at her. “Crazy how?” he demanded.
“I keep dreaming about you,” she explained. “And in my dream, you’re a dragon.”
The words caused Titus to sit upright in his chair. He forced out a laugh, but the sound was empty.
“That sounds like quite a dream,” he said. “If I was a dragon, I could burn this place down and get you out of here.”
Their eyes met, and Bella shook her head.
“I don’t want you to do anything crazy if my trial proves unfavorable,” she insisted. Titus dropped his gaze. “Titus…”
He nodded slowly, but he was not sure if he could honor his promise to her. He had just found her. He couldn’t let go of her now.
“Promise me,” Bella insisted. “I don’t want to live my life on the run. You have an entire life here, a company, a beautiful home. You deserve to live freely and not with the scrutiny of the police breathing down your neck.”
She is so brave, Titus thought bitterly. She wants nothing more than for me to steal her away from here, but she is worried about our future together. She’s never experienced security in her life.
“Titus!”
“I promise,” he growled, a sudden burning of regret behind his eyes. “We will get you out of here legally and forget that this ever happened.”
Bella nodded, a sad smile forming on her lips. “If fate really brought us together, it will keep us together, too,” she told him, and a pang of pain pierced Titus’ heart.
“Everything will work out,” he promised.
He hoped he was right; the trial was set for next week.
“I don’t like this,” Anders muttered. “I feel like I’m violating every single oath I’ve ever taken.”
“How?” Titus replied, slipping into the passenger side of his brother’s Mercedes. “You don’t even know what just happened.”
“And I’d prefer to keep it that way,” Anders grumbled, pulling away from the stationary car.
“Take me to the airport,” Titus instructed, wiping his sweaty palms over his cargo pants. “And then you can go back to your hotel and pretend to work on Bella’s opening statement.”
Anders scowled. “Why do I feel like you have no faith in my ability to get her out of this?”
“I have all the faith,” Titus said, “or else I wouldn’t have called you in the first place.”
“It doesn’t look good,” Anders told him again, and Titus bristled.
“You are making me lose faith now.”
“Where are you going two nights before the trial, anyway? Arabella needs you there, Titus. You shouldn’t go. What if you don’t make it back?”
“I’ll make it back by morning,” Titus assured his brother. “Come hell or high water, I’ll be there.”
“Should I even be asking?”
“Not if you don’t want to hear the answer.”
Anders sighed deeply. “Is Arabella planning something illegal? I can’t defend her if she’s—”
“I swear, she’s not. I think we both know that if I wanted to get her out of there, I could—easily. She wants to do the right thing.”
“And yet you just left the keys in a car only a mile away from the prison,” Anders commented. “As if someone might need it in the event of a prison break.”
Titus shrugged. “Believe what you want,” he told his brother. “But think about what makes sense. I could have burned that place to the ground weeks ago and been long gone with Bella. No need for theatrics like this.”
Anders was quiet as he continued to drive toward Port Elizabeth International Airport.
“Does this have anything to do with Skylar Vernon?” he finally asked, and Titus grunted as his brother steered the expensive vehicle toward the terminals, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.
“For someone who doesn’t want to know, you sure are asking a lot of questions.”
“Tito, I still think you have invested too much of yourself into this woman for the wrong reasons.”
“And I still think you’re offering unsolicited advice.”
His words seemed to silence Anders, at least temporarily, giving Titus a moment to reflect on what he was about to do. It had been a harrowing week, and he was not sure he had trusted the right person to help him, but what choice did he have?
Either Trina is working with Skylar and warned him I am onto him, he thought, or she is innocent and can help me find him. In his gut, he felt that his assistant, for as much of a bitch as she could be, always had his back. And she did track Jasper’s IP address to England, just as Arabella claimed she had. If Trina couldn’t be trusted, she would have led me on a different path.
There was a bittersweet emotion that came with realizing that Trina was on his side. He was grateful, but at the same time, it meant someone else had been selling him out to the elusive hacker who wanted something from his company. And Titus had a bad feeling he knew who it was.
I guess I’ll find out soon enough, he thought regretfully as Anders pulled up to the international departure gate.
“I’ll ring you when I get home,” he promised his brother, offering Anders a smile. “We’re almost done with all this madness, brother.”
Anders didn’t return his smile. “Not if we need to file an appeal,” he replied shortly.