Visitors meant Hunters. Ryana was here and Hunters would definitely want to kill her. And Damian may or may not be alive because Ryana didn’t know what the fuck a helicopter was.
Andi wanted to scream, but instead she took a deep inhale to pull her shit together, ignored the knife, and grabbed Ryana’s shoulders. “I need you to go back right now, Ryana. It’s not safe for you here.”
“I am tired of other people telling me what to do,” the woman growled.
Andi danced in place for a moment, trying to figure out the best course of action. “Fine then, but whatever you do, don’t open this door and don’t say another word,” Andi told her and then left the bathroom, closing the door solidly behind herself.
Seconds later, she heard a cluster of men with Australian accents coming down the hall, talking to a coworker. “So this was a horrible tourist accident?” she heard Lovely ask them.
“Oh, yeah. We all told him it was a bad idea. There’s nothing to see at night.”
Another man said: “Ah, but money burns holes in some people’s pockets.”
“And there’s always other people around to help you spend it,” a third man said with a short laugh.
Andi knew who she was going to see before they reached the room’s front glass. The Australian hunter who’d wanted to see her mother’s notes for himself. All three of the men were tan with close cropped hair, wearing khaki slacks and pastel polos. They looked like they’d just come off a golf course, but the man she remembered had the same strange little toothpick, no doubt made out of ivory.
He nodded at her first. “Andrea.”
“You two know each other?” Lovely asked.
“Ah, no, I just saw her nametag.” He gestured at Andi’s chest, and then his own. “I’m Jack. Nice to meet you.”
Andi didn’t respond.
Lovely looked between them quickly. “All right. I’m gonna go give Faizah a break. You’re on deck next, okay, Andi?”
“Great, thanks,” Andi said, waving her away, as the Hunters surveyed their fallen comrade.
“He gonna make it?” Jack asked, giving her a sly look.
Andi frowned but kept her position between the men and the bathroom door. “He won’t die on my shift because of me, if that’s what you’re asking.”
The man chuckled. “Lee’s right. You’re too soft for that.” He put his hands into his pockets. “You’re going to have to toughen up when you join us.”
“I’m never joining you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, making a show of looking around, touching his friend, the bed, IV bags. Andi wanted to slap his hands down. “Consciences serve people in good stead in daylight, girl. But look at you. You live and work the night. You’ll come around.” He flipped the toothpick he gnawed on to the other side of his mouth and leered at her. “You wanna know if we got your friend?”
More than anything. But to announce it aloud would be to let them know they had leverage on her and would make this conversation go on longer, keeping Ryana in danger, if she hadn’t wisely poofed herself back through the mirror when she’d closed the door. “I want you to leave. You’ve seen your man. We’ll do the best we can.”
One of the men grabbed the belongings bag, taking stock of its contents with a grunt. “It’s all here,” he announced.
Jack rocked his toothpick across his upper lip with his tongue, considering her. “All right, then. We’re off. See you soon, I’m sure.” He touched the brim of an imaginary hat as his men left, and he followed them. Andi walked into the hall behind them to watch them depart, making sure they were through the next two sets of doors before heading back into the bathroom.
Ryana was waiting inside, looking like a sea-nymph out of a Waterhouse painting, her dress and hair all aflow, only sitting on the counter instead of a stone. Her knife was tucked petulantly up underneath her chin in her hand and her red bird was on her shoulder. “Those were Hunters, weren’t they.” She sat up straight and her green eyes pierced Andi, sharper than the blade she held for sure.
“Yes.”
“And…you didn’t betray me.” It was a statement, not a question. She’d been able to hear every word.
“I would never, Ryana.”
“Yet you’re trying to keep one of them alive?” She stared through the open door behind Andi, at her patient on the bed, and frowned.
“Also, yes. I’m not a murderer, Ryana. At least, I’m trying not to be. I know you probably think that makes me some kind of traitor, and I don’t know what Damian told you, anyhow.” Surely he didn’t think that of her, and even if he did, it didn’t matter anymore now, did it? Andi shook her head. She’d done the right thing…even though it hurt her! “All I know is that they were out tonight, trying to kill him, and I need to know he’s all right more than I need air to breathe.”
The words were out of her mouth before she could consider them, but every single one of them was true.
Ryana frowned. “Is a helicopter like that sky-weapon in Die Hard?” she asked sincerely.
Andi nodded helplessly.
The other woman’s eyes widened and she pulled her legs up onto the counter beneath her. “I’m going back then. But you,” she said, pointing at Andi with the knife, “the time is going to come when you’ll to have to choose.” The mirror behind her went black and a burst of freezing air came through as Ryana’s frown deepened. “And if some reason Damian’s been hurt—because of all your human-hunter-friends—I swear I will come back and kill you.”
Andi’s heart thundered in her chest as Ryana disappeared into the darkness. “I might let you,” she whispered after her, as her mouth went dry.
Alive.
Damian typed the word into his phone to send to Andi despite the fact that it’d never felt further from the truth. After confirming that Austin would be all right, Jamison had led them on a long and strange route home to make sure they weren’t followed, and Damian spent the entire trip trying to convince himself that the Hunters hadn’t just gone and proved Andi’s point entirely. How could he keep himself safe for her if they were willing to send helicopters after him?
“You’ve been quiet,” Austin said.
“Just thinking.”
“Hard thoughts?”
“Yes. No interstate side trips though.”
“Eh, I’m in no condition to meet strangers,” Austin said, shrugging his injured arm.
Damian was still lost in his own misery as Jamison parked the car remotely, right in front of his mansion’s front stair. As he got out of the car, he was surprised to see his sister running for his side.
“Ryana?” he asked as she engulfed him in an embrace. She was cold—maybe because she’d changed into a dress.
“Are you all right?” she demanded to know, despite the fact that he was standing right there.
“Sure, check in on the nearly immortal dragon first,” Austin said, grunting as he got out of the car. “Don’t mind me bleeding out over here.”
Ryana flashed him a look. “I’m not responsible for your incompetence guarding my brother, wolf-creature.”
Stella sucked in air through her teeth. “Austin, which do you want first, a bandage for that wound or some ice for that burn?”
Ryana wheeled on Damian again. “Did you really see a helicopter?” she demanded to know.
Damian blinked. Maybe she’d overheard Jamison leading them in.
“Yeah, but we’re fine,” he told her. Her sudden concern was mystifying, but then again, he was literally the only person she trusted on Earth. Before he could address her fears, Jamison came out of the house, trotting down the stairs two by two.
“My baby,” Jamison groaned, dodging everyone standing, heading straight for the car. “I knew it was bad, but….” He patted the hood with his metal hand and sighed.
“Sorry about that, Jamison,” Damian said, giving his friend a nod.
“We were going to have to ditch it once they made it, anyways,” Austin said.
“No, I kn
ow. It’s just such an uncivilized decommissioning,” he said, circling the SUV with a frown. Ryana peeled herself away to follow him and her eyes went wide. There were circular dents in the side of the vehicle where the paint had been blasted off, letting the dull sheen of the reinforced metal show through, and there was a pause where they all looked at the car together.
“I can’t believe we survived,” Stella said, shaking her head.
“I can’t believe I got shot by a goddamned helicopter,” Austin muttered.
Jamison looked down at the SUV’s dented hood with a sigh. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to figure out where to fit a rocket launcher into the next tour bus by dawn.”
Their small group went inside, minus Jamison, who was already working on his new task, and Zach thundered down the stairs to meet them. “A helicopter?”
“I know,” Damian said, trying to cut his surprise off at the pass.
“Are you all right?” he asked Stella next. Zach wasn’t wearing a suit anymore. He was in low-slung pajama bottoms and all the tattoos across his chest were clearly on display. Damian could feel heat splash across Stella in response to seeing him, like lighter fluid on an open flame.
“Look, I’m sorry my injury doesn’t rate, but can someone at least get me some whiskey?” Austin grouched.
Zach turned to his brother’s side. “Austin,” he tsked, at seeing all the blood, then looked at Stella again. “I thought I told you to keep an eye on him?”
She blinked in surprise, and her ruby lips pulled into a smug grin. “What do I look like, a superhero?” she laughed.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Austin waved his brother off. “I’ll heal.”
Ryana left Damian’s side and snapped her fingers at Austin. “Let me see,” she demanded.
“Why? Have you picked up tips from Gray’s Anatomy?” he snarked.
“Could I have been watching earthly medical instruction this whole time?” She sounded profoundly disappointed she’d been watching Aliens.
“No, no you could not have,” Damian told his sister. “Do not get your medical knowledge from TV,” he said, and gave Austin a glare in warning.
Ryana looked between the two of them, frustrated anew. “Well…I want to hear what happened.”
“Me too, Ryana,” Zach agreed.
“Yes, now that you don’t look like my father, you’re allowed to stay.”
“Up to your old tricks?” Stella asked him, her eyebrows high. Damian remembered how they first met, and it was Zach’s turn to flush.
Damian recounted their night quickly, noting the way that Stella was perched on her chair in particular, like she didn’t want to fit in. It wasn’t until he told the story of their last encounter, including the way that she’d helped save them with her quick thinking that he saw her relaxing, until she caught Zach looking at her with wariness.
“Okay, well, that’s enough of that!” she announced, throwing her bag of reclaimed talismans into the center of their circle. “I’ve gotta go.”
“But,” Zach began, also standing. “It’s not safe.”
“Hey, if you can’t figure out where I live, neither can anyone else,” she said lightly, backing up. “Don’t worry…tonight was too fun not to repeat sometime.”
Zach watched her leave with a frown, and then noticed the others noticing. “It’s not safe,” he repeated.
“You don’t have to convince me,” Austin said, shrugging his injured arm. “In any case, hooray, we survived. Damian didn’t dragon out in any capacity, and I need to go wash this shit, badly.”
Ryana turned towards Damian. “This is why you need servants, brother. He shouldn’t have to care for himself.”
“You’re right, he can’t. That’s why he has me,” Zach said low, and Ryana snorted.
“You know you were looking for a job, earlier,” Austin reminded her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I only supervise,” she said coolly.
Austin made a show of scratching the golden stubble on his chin before breaking into an easy grin. “Well, it just so happens, I’m a man who definitely requires supervision.”
Ryana laughed, and let him lead her away.
Keeping the Hunter alive was a matter of professional pride—nothing more—which was why Andi didn’t feel bad about checking her phone at the bedside. Damian usually texted late at night, when she assumed he was finally done saving the world and going to bed, and the second it turned two a.m., she started pacing, phone out, waiting for some message to come in, which was why she saw Sammy’s messages as they landed at 3:45 a.m.
I think Eumie’s out of the woods. I called in sick tomorrow and I’m going to bed.
You okay?
Andi stared at her phone, her heart still beating at the same frantic rate it’d had when Ryana left. No, I am not okay, she wanted to text back. And I will never be okay. But instead, she just sent back, Yeah, with the world’s lyingest smile emoji, and fell into the chair beside her computer.
The ventilator whooshed, the pumps pulsed, the sleeves on her patient’s calves inflated and deflated, but the longer she waited, watching her phone, the more still she got. She was so filled with fear there was no room for anything else. Even her heart had quieted down, beating once, twice a minute, at most it felt like, as her dread coalesced into a physical object around her, like a cloak that was both heavy and lined with spikes.
If being away from Damian hadn’t saved him, what had been the point?
Six a.m. rolled around. She was incredibly behind and she didn’t even care. She could chart anything she’d missed tomorrow.
If there was a tomorrow.
How could there be if she didn’t know what’d happened to Damian?
Andi picked up her phone, feeling like she faced a traitor. She typed in: Are you alive??? and hit send.
Damian didn’t bother to shower; he just kicked off his shoes and lay down on his bed. The last several hours in the training gym had been brutal. Jamison’s lasers had dismounted from the walls to join forces and walk toward him on spindly legs, like a tiny laser spider army, but he’d gotten what he wanted. His dragon was quiet at last.
He stared up at the ceiling. Sometimes, it felt like these moments, when his dragon was away, were the only moments he got to grieve properly. When it was safe to feel all that he’d lost—raw and sharp.
His phone blinked on his nightstand, and he turned to pick it up, sending the photos of Andi that he kept there fluttering to the floor. He sat up and picked them up, too, carefully aligning them and putting them back where they belonged, in a small stack on his nightstand’s corner. Always present but out of reach, just like the real thing.
He glanced at his phone, expecting to find a text from Austin that said his sister had hurt him, could he come retrieve her please, when he saw a note from the number he’d been waiting for all this time.
Are you alive???
Damian realized his own message to her was sitting as a draft on his phone, unsent—he’d been so distracted after the helicopter that, although he’d typed it, he hadn’t managed to hit send.
And because of that, he’d gotten his first sign of life from Andi. The first signal that she still cared and that they still had a fate. He went to text her yes, then realized his feelings were too big for just one word to hold anymore.
He’d been a fool to last as long as he had.
He got up instantly, grabbed a dark blue hoodie, and went for the door.
“Come to help?” Jamison asked from beneath the hood of a vehicle as Damian went outside. His techmaster was inside one of the garage’s bays, already working on modifying another SUV.
“No. Sorry.” Damian knew what he had to do, and he only had a twenty-minute window to pull it off. He jogged for the gates and then stopped, running back. “Jamison, how did you tell Mills you were meant to be together?”
The dark-skinned man put a wrench down and dropped the car’s hood. His metallic arm shone beneath the garage’s fluores
cent lights. Damian was painfully aware that Jamison was younger than he was and probably vastly less experienced at all things except for this—because somehow he and Mills were happy. She was even cursed too, and it never seemed to bother him.
“It’s different in humans, I think,” Jamison said and laughed, wiping his hands down the front of his work shirt. “But when it’s right, you just know. And then you tell her everything. Because not telling her feels like dying.”
“That it does,” Damian sighed gently.
Jamison jerked a thumb at the vehicle beside him. “You want me to drive? I’ve almost got this car ready.”
“No, I’ve got it covered.” Damian shook his head as Jamison gave him an improbable look.
“After tonight, you don’t think you need backup?”
“I need to do this alone. You understand.”
“I do, and I know you need her, but we need you too.” Jamison leaned inside the SUV’s open window and popped the glove. “Humor me; take this. I promise I’ll keep it one way, I won’t listen in.” He threw the earpiece at Damian, who easily caught it. “I’ll be your eye in the sky, all right?”
Damian settled the gadget in his ear. “Thanks,” he said.
“No problem.” Jamison gave him an earnest smile that was almost as bright as the oncoming dawn. “Go get your girl.”
Chapter 9
There was no guarantee that the timing would work out. Andi could have a meeting after work for all he knew. But he caught the bus outside the Briars and took it down into town and made the transfers so that he should be on the bus that she’d take home. He kept his hood up so that no one could see his earpiece, and rested back inside its shadows, so that hopefully no one could see him. A man tried to take the seat beside him at a stop before Andi’s hospital, but the low growling sound Damian made in the back of his throat made him detour away.
And then the bus was there. The brakes hissed, the whole thing lowered, and people in scrubs got aboard. Damian’s gaze flickered over each new entrant, waiting, hoping, and just as he was about to give up, the bus doors closed and the hydraulics lifted, there was a fast knocking at the glass door.
Dragon Mated: Sexy Urban Fantasy Romance (Prince of the Other Worlds Book 4) Page 14