by Riley Storm
Cheryl gaped. The waiter shifted uncomfortably. Sparing the innocent man any more trouble, she just waved him off. “I’m fine, thank you. I won’t be staying long.”
“Do you promise?” Victor asked without missing a beat.
“Oh, I promise. I’ll be here just long enough,” she said, sitting back, smiling.
Let him be the asshole, she thought. No skin off my back. None at all. It’s just going to make it all the sweeter when I tell him what’s about to happen.
Cheryl sat back and just kept smiling, watching Victor shift ever so slightly as his discomfort began to show. He had no idea what she was there for, and his curiosity was killing him.
One can only wish.
“Well, what is it?” he snapped.
Cheryl just let her grin grow wider.
Chapter 11
She was playing him.
She was playing him, and he knew it. That was the worst part. Victor knew she was just trying to make him uncomfortable, to get him to snap and ask her to just tell him whatever it was she wanted to.
The worst part was, it was working. This beautiful curved specimen of a human was somehow managing to make him feel worried. To make him anxious about whatever it was she was going to say. It couldn’t be that bad. Could it?
“You’re fucking us over.”
He arched an eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything. He’d see how she liked the silent treatment. There was no need for him to speak right now.
“So, you agree then?”
Victor rolled his eyes. “I am doing what must be done. There is a difference.”
Cheryl smiled victoriously. “As am I,” she said. “As am I. I’m glad you understand then, that sometimes things are out of our control, that whether we want to or not, they simply must be done.”
Ice formed in his veins as the water hardened, fear paralyzing him momentarily. She hadn’t made any sort of threat to him, and yet Victor could see all his plans wobbling, ready to come tumbling down with just the right push.
A push, it seemed, Cheryl was about to make, whether she understood the implications behind it all or not.
“What do you mean?” he hissed, furious at her, and at himself. He was supposed to be in control of these things, but at every turn, Cheryl kept stealing it back.
It was all too similar to events in his past. To Elizabeth, and the way she’d managed to do the same. Cheryl must be related, there was simply no denying it. Not with the way she was unafraid to stand up to him. Even her eyes took on a familiar glint when she was speaking from a position of strength. It was an eerie reminder of a dark time in his past and didn’t help his current mood.
“What I mean,” Cheryl said, leaning forward, not intimidated by him. “Is that if you continue to play your little games and try to fuck us over, we’re going to do the same. You might be a Drakon, and that gives you a lot of sway with some people. But not me. Not my team, and not the rest of the county office.”
“So?” he challenged, trying to show his disdain. “What do I care?”
“You should care,” she said with a razor-thin smile. “Because we’re the ones who can approve or disapprove any project we deem necessary. We can apply stop work orders. Surprise inspections. We can lose paperwork with ease; after all, we are the government, it happens all the time.” Cheryl leaned forward like a hawk stooping on its prey. “And I can guarantee you that all of those and more will befall you. Every. Single. Project.”
Victor glared at her as she revealed her hand, playing her cards with a flourish to reveal a deck that they both knew he couldn’t match. She had him by the balls, though she didn’t know it. He could only afford to call her bluff to a certain point. If she tried to follow through, he would lose everything.
“I’m sure the public would love to hear about all the money you’re denying it,” he said. “The newspapers would just eat that up. I can imagine how the mayor would react, considering it’s her they would go after. Do you think she would sacrifice you, to improve her own image for re-election?” He let his own smile play across his face, showing he wasn’t scared, and that he wasn’t going to go down easily.
But what he saw across from him had that confidence wavering and ready to topple. Cheryl didn’t look disturbed. She didn’t look worried. If anything, she looked just as confident as before. Why hadn’t his comment about going public rattled her?
“Who do you think approved this idea?” Cheryl said wickedly. “You don’t really think I’d do this without her support, now, do you? Just how dumb do you think I am?”
Clearly more than you actually are, he thought, revising his opinion of Cheryl upward several notches. He couldn’t afford to underestimate her any further, that much was for sure. If he did, it was going to cost him.
Big time.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he challenged.
“Can you afford to believe that?” she fired back evenly.
Victor was getting worried. This shouldn’t be happening. She was a human. A weak, pitiful, feisty, gorgeous, strong young woman.
Dear Brain. Shut up.
“So, you’re going to fuck up every other project that my H… family… that my family has going on,” he said, hastily covering his slipup. “That’s blackmail. What is it you’re trying to get out of me then?”
“Fifty percent.”
Victor inhaled sharply. She wanted fifty percent of his cut? Of the money he was going to be funneling out of House Draconis that Aaric thought was going to the city? That was an astronomical amount to her. To him, it was barely enough to cover what had been stolen from him a century ago.
“You must be joking,” he said, laughing. There was no way he was going to split it with her equally. It simply wasn’t happening.
“Does it look like I’m joking?” she said icily, her tone cutting through him like a knife.
He had to admit that there wasn’t an ounce of humor to be found on her face. Shame, as it was much nicer to look at when she was amused, but that was the way of things sometimes.
“Can’t be done,” he said, sitting back.
“It can, and it will. You should be glad I’m not arguing for you to put it back to the way it was instead. You will commit fifty percent of your original budget and plan, or I will make your life a living hell. I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but I doubt you appreciate just how difficult we can make things for you. I don’t care what your last name is or how important you think you are to this town. I will do it.”
Victor blinked. He’d misunderstood completely. She wanted him to scale the project back up. Not buy her off.
How noble.
He’d tried to get the mental thought to come off sarcastic, to further denounce her, but try as he might, he was unable to completely avoid his respect for her going up another notch. She could profit off this immensely, but instead of doing that, she was fighting for her town, for its inhabitants. She wanted jobs for them, prosperity for her fellows, instead of wealth for herself.
Damn this woman and her morals.
Greed, he could work with. He understood it and what drove those who were motivated by it. But this, this was beyond him. This idea of working toward the common good. That had never been something Victor believed in. He was a firm proponent of every dragon for themselves.
“Twenty-five,” he said after another moment of thought. He wasn’t going to just cave without negotiating.
“Fifty. Non-negotiable.”
Damn her.
“Fifty percent,” he said gruffly, sticking his hand out over the table.
“Like I believe your word at this point,” she said derisively, disdaining to shake his hand in agreement. “You have five days to deliver the updated plans to my office. In person. If you don’t, then I begin blocking your other projects one by one. Until you are unable to do anything, buy anything, or even hire anyone in my town until you do. Do I make myself clear?”
Victor laughed. It was brutish, loud, and drew
the attention of the other patrons, many of whom turned to see what the commotion was all about. He cancelled their stares with a furious glare that had everyone hurriedly turning back around, even the Canis and Ursa shifters.
“You’ll have your plans,” he said evenly. “But I hope you know who you’re messing with.”
She quirked a lip upward. “I’ll be fine. You’re not the first stingy asshole I’ve dealt with who thinks he’s more important than me.”
“No,” Victor said lazily, his face full-blown grinning at the city planner now. “No I don’t suppose I am. Is there anything else?”
Something about his cavalier attitude must have shaken Cheryl. Unless he missed his guess, she’d just grown a shade or two paler. That was good. Very good.
“No.”
“I thought not,” he said, letting his smile turn predatory. “Have a good weekend, Miss Anders. I suspect it will be…well,” he shrugged. “I won’t pretend to know the future. Good day.”
Dismissing her, he turned and signaled to the waiter who was very obviously trying not to intrude, though he had the wine Victor had ordered ready in-hand.
There was the sound of movement across from him, and by the time he turned back, she had gotten up and was headed back across the restaurant toward the exit.
Victor watched her go, admiring the shape of her hips. She really was quite beautiful. Perhaps he should tone down the hardness of his attitude and turn up the charm. She might be willing to ease up her demands if he rocked her world.
The path to the doors led past the bar, and Victor watched with idle amusement at first as a group of young Ursa shifters detached themselves from it and went up to her. Obviously, the others had picked up on the fact that she was not, in any way shape or form, with Victor, and so they had decided to make a move.
“Who shall win?” he muttered to himself, sitting back in his booth to watch the show.
She tried to brush them off at first, but they just kept coming. A hallmark of the Ursa persistence. But then one of them slid his hand into the small of her back.
Victor sat up abruptly, air hissing through his nose as he inhaled sharply. Anger spiked for no reason. His dragon screamed at him, but he couldn’t make sense of what it was trying to say through all the red that had descended over his mind and vision.
He reached out a hand to try and steady himself against the table, hoping it would provide a bit of solidity for him to latch onto and control himself.
Under his white-knuckled grip, the wood cracked loudly.
Chapter 12
“Boys. I’m not interested,” she said, pushing the hand out of the arch of her back with as much firmness as she could muster without risking escalating the situation.
She’d spied them on her way out with a growing feeling of dread with every step that had brought her closer to the bar. The quartet had been amongst the loudest and longest of her lookers when she’d walked in.
What is it with the big buff men in this town and liking me all of a sudden? Where were they when I was in my twenties and would have considered all of them?
It didn’t really matter though. They were here, now, and she had to deal with their unwanted attention.
“Are you really telling me that you don’t find any of us attractive?” the big bald-headed one asked, trying his best to look pitiful and hurt.
“Listen dude, the puppy-dog eyes might work if, A – I were ten years younger and drunk, and B, you weren’t like six-six and two-fifty of pure muscle. So please, don’t insult my intelligence by thinking I’ll fall for that bullshit.”
“Damn, she skewered you in one, Konine,” one of the others laughed, slapping a hand against his thigh.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must be going.” She pushed through them, but only got three more steps before they caught up with her.
Damn these short legs.
“We’d treat you better than that oaf of a Drakon would,” the one called Konine said into her ear.
“Really? Because I told him to leave me alone, and he’s doing it. You four on the other hand, seem to lack a basic grasp of the English language. So, a point for him.”
There were growls all around, but none of them got in her way as she pushed past the host, who watched the procession uncomfortably but did nothing to stop it.
Not that I can blame him. He’s maybe two-hundred pounds at best, and there’s only one of him. Any of these guys would eat him alive for breakfast.
“That’s just ‘cause you don’t know us yet, babe,” one of the others said, earning grunts of agreement.
“Why is it that you seem to think persistence is the best way to make me change my mind?” she asked, whirling on them. “Does that usually work? Why can’t you just do as I ask?”
“Because you haven’t given us a chance yet,” another chimed in, crossing his arms in an attempt to look tougher, or bigger, or something. She really didn’t care.
“Can’t you figure out that I don’t have to? I’m not out here looking for love, or whatever you’re offering. I was here on business. Nothing more. Please, please respect that. It’s a simple request. I’m not being rude. I’m not yelling at you. I’m simply asking you to understand I’m not interested.”
The giants paused, looking at one another uncomfortably, as if waiting for someone else to take the lead and continue their pursuit of her.
“Fair enough. You have a g—”
“Listen assholes, the lady told you to leave her alone,” a deep voice boomed from behind them.
Cheryl sighed. “It’s fine, Victor. I can handle myself, thank you.”
“This guy bugging you?” Konine growled as his group slowly turned to face Victor, who had belatedly emerged from within Leblanc to come to her aid, little though it was needed.
“No more than you,” she said with a sigh. “Victor, go back inside. Situation is resolved.”
“I saw the way they touched you,” the big man snarled.
She backed away as Victor advanced. “Really, boys? You’re going to do this, are you? Here? Now? Like children?”
But none of the five was paying any attention to her anymore.
“You guys don’t have to do this,” she called.
No response.
Rolling her eyes, Cheryl reversed her direction and pushed herself between the two sides, stepping closer to Victor.
Tell me why I’m doing this again?
“Listen. I don’t really like you, but at the same time, I don’t particularly want to see you get your ass handed to you. In case you haven’t noticed, there are four of them, and just one of you. I know math isn’t your specialty, but that means they have a rather good chance of leaving you a bloody mess on the sidewalk here.”
“That’s not true,” Konine said viciously.
“It’s not?” she asked, wondering what he meant.
“No. We wouldn’t leave him on the sidewalk. We’d toss him into a dumpster!”
All four of the large men guffawed along with each other.
Victor stepped forward until his chest was so close, if Cheryl sneezed, she’d end up motorboating him.
“Stop this,” she said, lowering her voice. “You’re going to lose.”
“I highly doubt that,” Victor chuckled. “It’s about time these whelps learned what it meant to cross a Drakon. They’re long overdue for a reminder, I think. Long overdue.”
“Your time is over,” Konine shouted back. “We’ve passed you by.”
Victor laughed even harder at this and stepped around Cheryl as if she was little more than a pylon in his way.
“Better call for backup,” he growled. “Because you’re gonna need some help to carry your broken bodies home.”
Cheryl closed her eyes and sighed.
“Bloody testosterone.”
Chapter 13
Victor cracked his knuckles, flexing his arms and loosening everything up in preparation. He hadn’t come to Leblanc expecting a fight, and it pained hi
m to ruin the suit, but he could always buy another one.
He couldn’t buy the ass-whooping he was about to lay down on the Ursa assholes. Only beating them down would satisfy his anger, would calm the fury that had arisen in him when one of them had dared to touch her. It was a matter of honor at this point, of principle.
It didn’t enter his anger-riddled brain to question why he was coming to the defense of a woman he professed to loathe, nor did he question why the other shifter touching her had lit such a fire in him. It just had, and that gross inappropriateness needed to be addressed in the proper manner.
“Last chance to fuck off,” he growled. “Do that, and I won’t tell Kaelyn what you did here today.”
The others looked at each other, but not with the fear and nervousness he’d expected the name of their Queen to evoke in them. Instead of unease, there was confusion.
“We haven’t done anything today,” the leader said with a snarl. “It’s you who has intervened with your big head where it isn’t welcome. Now do us a favor and piss off to whatever hole you came out of. This town doesn’t need you anymore.”
There was a cough from behind him that sounded suspiciously like it had masked the words ‘you’ve got that right’, but Victor ignored it. Now wasn’t the time to get into it with Cheryl. Now was the time to fight.
“Fine,” he snarled, stepping forward. “Then I’ll just have to dole out the punishment myself.”
The four split immediately, two moving to his left, two to his right. A second later, they split again, giving him four targets. Victor upped his impression of them slightly. They had fought in group tactics before, it seemed.
But they had never fought a dragon before, and that would be their downfall. They couldn’t be prepared for his speed. His strength. They would fall, and he would—
All four of them came at him at once, and there was no more time to think. Only react.
Three came high, one went low. Victor turned and lashed out with a back-kick at the one ducking low. The blow was only glancing, but it was enough to topple the shifter over, removing him from the fight. It would only be for a few seconds, but it would be enough. Suddenly, the odds against him were decreased by a quarter.