Wyatt Drake

by Emilia Hartley

  Her words broke the spell over him. He froze. His whole body stiffened. Kennedy scrambled to capture his lips again. She thought that if she could kiss him, the spell would return, and he would sink into her once more.

  He moved back when she leaned forward.

  “You should be more careful,” was all he said before he disappeared.

  One moment, he was there. The next, he was gone.

  Kennedy knew she didn’t have that much to drink. Perhaps she blinked. Perhaps he knew a quick way to exit. This was his town, after all.

  The only thing Kennedy knew for sure was that she ached from the inside out. Now that he was gone and the cold had returned, she felt empty. She could try to force the feeling back, but it was stubborn and clung to her the whole way back to her hotel.

  When her cab driver tried to talk her up, his words fell on deaf ears.

  Chapter Five

  Her head throbbed. Belatedly, Kennedy realized she hadn’t eaten dinner. Her body raged against her, angry for the betrayal. She’d been too caught up in Wyatt Drake to remember to feed herself. Then, when he promptly disappeared, she’d stormed back to her hotel room, body still a bucket of fireworks near an open flame.

  It was a new day, she told herself. Later, she had a reservation at a two-star restaurant, but she couldn’t wait that long for food. She set out in search of breakfast and the biggest cup of coffee she could manage. Because she wanted to feel pretty, she wore her faux-fur coat over her leggings and sweater. A thin line of dried salt was forming on her black boots. She scowled at them and at the snow on the sidewalks.

  Her head hurt too much to think about it.

  The world around her rumbled. She grasped the sides of her head and groaned. The pain doubled. At first, Kennedy thought it was just part of the migraine. Weird things happened when she didn’t eat. Then, when she cracked open an eye, a flash of gold covered the sky.

  Her jaw dropped, pain forgotten. Over the town flew what looked to be a…dragon. Its wings spread wide and blotted out the sun. Then, it passed over. The winter sun glittered against the dragon. It made her think of gold coins, tumbling through the sky.

  This was impossible.

  It was a blimp. Or maybe the world’s biggest kite. That could be it, though she saw no strings binding it to the ground. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Kennedy did her best to figure out a logical explanation, but nothing came.

  Wyatt’s voice drifted toward her. “Oh, fuck.”

  Her attention snapped back to the street. Across from her stood Wyatt, glaring at the thing in the sky. He seemed to notice her, the barest of an acknowledgement as their gazes connected, before he took off. He ran past her.

  Despite her hunger and the way it twisted her stomach, she spun on her heel. Snow made her run slow and slippery, but she chased after Wyatt. He was much faster than any human had the right to be. Before she could catch up, he disappeared into the shadow of the massive evergreen trees.

  Common sense told her to stop. It told her to stay in town. Her soul, though, didn’t listen. She followed him into the woods. At first, she thought she’d lost him. Worry pinched her stomach even tighter. If she went too much deeper, she could walk herself in circles and never find her way back to Grove.

  Kennedy was not the adventurous type. She knew nothing about surviving in the woods. Thankfully, she came to the edge of a clearing. Wyatt stood with his back to her. He uttered one more curse word before his form changed.

  At first, she couldn’t believe it. Her eyes had to be wrong. His shoulders widened. Great wings burst from his back. Where there had once been a man now stood a dragon as large as a house. Her lungs shrank, breath leaving her as she watched the great beast beat its wings and launch into the air above.

  That was Wyatt, she thought. The bronze colored beast in the sky was Wyatt.

  She held her fingers to her lips. All this while, she’d been flirting with a monster. There was no simple way to describe what Wyatt had become. Monster was only fitting because she had no other words. Above, he was beautiful. His dark form raced toward the larger gold dragon. Kennedy guessed it was another man, though which one she did not know.

  Wyatt slammed into the gold dragon and they tumbled through the sky. She let out a cry and ran. She didn’t know what she would do when she got there. Either dragon could easily crush her if they landed on her. But she could not stop. Fear drove her. Not of the dragons, but for the dragons.

  Kennedy felt like she’d been inducted into some sort of secret society. She would have been happy with an invitation to a secret supper club, but this felt strangely right. The tug in her stomach was as strong as ever. It led her toward Wyatt.

  He roared. The sound shook her bones. Not because it frightened her, but because it was a sound of pain. She looked up, fighting to get a glimpse of the sky between the evergreen canopy. In a small grove, she saw the gold dragon bearing down on Wyatt. It gripped him and sank its teeth into Wyatt’s neck.

  She never felt so helpless in her life. She didn’t know what she, a human girl, could do. The fight was happening far above her head, out of reach for anyone like her. And still she felt the need to reach him. His pain hurt her. It bent her until desperation was all she felt.

  Two more dragons soared above her. One was copper while the other was almost invisible against the blue sky. Slowly, she realized the beast was silver. It reflected the blue skies in a way that nearly made it disappear.

  The gold dragon saw the two others coming for it. Wyatt used the moment of distraction to swing his tail around. The thick muscle collided with the gold dragon’s head. The gold dragon snarled. It raked its claws through Wyatt’s wings and flung him toward the ground.

  Kennedy screamed.

  The ground beneath her feet quaked. She closed her eyes tight, knowing an impact like that was deadly. Thoughts of their kiss brought a ghostly sensation to her lips. She wanted more, wanted to get to know the man who turned her insides to fire, but now she feared she would never get the chance.

  She let out a breath when she found him, human and unmoving, bronze hair haloed around his head like something out of a renaissance painting. At first, she hesitated at the edge of the small crater. She thought of the massive, bronze beast that had shot into the sky. That beast was Wyatt. They were one and the same. She shook her head and forced one foot in front of the other.

  Once she was closer, she saw that he wasn’t unconscious. In fact, Wyatt was staring into the sky with a scowl. When she stepped near, his eyes darted to her. She paused. His lips tightened before he blew out a sigh of resignation.

  “You’re alive,” she breathed.

  Wyatt grunted. He moved to push himself up then let out a groan. He hissed and clutched his ribs. Immediately, Kennedy sank to her knees, hands out to help him. That was when she realized he was very naked. His bomber jacket and jeans were gone. Now, she could see the stylized dragon tattoo on his chest and the scars that raked over his ribs, perhaps decades old at this point.

  Her eyes slipped a bit lower. She sucked on her lower lip, taking in the full girth of his cock. If this was what he looked like now, she wondered what excitement would do to him.

  “What are you doing out here?” he snapped at her.

  She jerked back, like his words were flames that burned her hands. Kennedy didn’t really know why she’d followed him. It had been all instinct and concern, but how did she tell him that? It didn’t even make sense to her. Surely, he would think she was crazy.

  Then again, what was crazy compared to the scene she’d just witnessed? For a moment, Kennedy leaned her head back and peered at the sky above. All three dragons were long gone.

  “Oh,” she said, an epiphany striking her. “That explains why a local broke some tourist’s camera.”

  Wyatt’s brows furrowed.

  “I’m guessing you weren’t here for that particular event.”

  “You’re taking this all surprisingly well,” he said, not bothering to hide the sus
picion in his voice.

  “Don’t get me wrong. At first, I thought I was hallucinating because of my hunger. This is all a bucket of crazy, but considering that you’re lying in a crater the size of the beast you turned into, I don’t think we can brush this off.”

  She couldn’t find any way to excuse what she’d seen. With no room for logic, all that was left was the illogical. The men of this town could turn into dragons. No wonder Wyatt warned her they were all dangerous. He wasn’t, though. Not for her.

  Together, they got him back onto his feet. He was heavier than she expected, like all the muscle of that massive beast was compacted inside this man. It also could be that she was weaker than she thought, and he weighed as much as any normal man. When he leaned against her, she wound her arm around his back.

  Her hand touched something sticky. A glance back told her it was blood. It coated her hand and his back from jagged wounds that ran from shoulder to his waist.

  “You need to get that cleaned!” The wounds were studded with dirt and stones. Even pine needles had pressed themselves into the blood and flesh.

  Wyatt shook his head. “I heal fast. They’ll be closed before we make it out of the woods.”

  Well, Kennedy thought, that’s nifty. With her arm around his back, mindful of the wounds, they hobbled out of the woods together. When she took a wrong turn, Wyatt gently guided her in the right direction. Kennedy didn’t lie to herself and think that Wyatt was lucky she’d followed him. If anything, his wounds would have healed, and he would have been able to pick himself up from the ground.

  Her presence was probably nothing more than a nuisance. She waited for him to inform her that he had to kill her or at least wipe her memory with some sort of magic. The things she’d seen should have been impossible. Men did not turn into dragons. It was the stuff of fairy tales, not reality. If no one else in the world knew about them, then they’d done their best to keep it a secret this long.

  Now that Kennedy knew, she figured her life was at risk. Not while she was with Wyatt, though. The sense of safety she found with him stretched into this moment, too. He would not hurt her just because she happened to see a few dragons. She wanted to think he would protect her from the others, but she knew nothing about their world.

  Wyatt jerked his chin toward a wooden box nailed to a tree. At first, Kennedy thought it was a bird house. Then, she realized there were no holes in it for birds, only hinges and a small handle. Wyatt pulled himself from her grasp and stumbled toward the box. Inside, folded neatly, was a stack of clothing.

  “Wow, that’s next level preparedness,” Kennedy said.

  Wyatt chuckled, slowly putting on the sweat pants he claimed from the tiny closet, bending as if each movement caused a wave of pain. Kennedy reached out for him but didn’t touch him. She wasn’t sure if it would hurt his pride. She wasn’t sure of anything at that moment.

  “These are all around town. People like us…we don’t magically come back with clothing. Half the time, we’re in such a hurry that we destroy whatever we had on to begin with. The little caches of clothes come in handy.”

  Kennedy raised a brow. “Do the lady…whatever-you-are have boxes, too?”

  Wyatt scowled. He was standing straighter, she noticed. He rolled his shoulders back, silent. Kennedy could tell there was a response to her question by the way he studied her. If anything, she thought he was debating how much to tell her.

  She raised her hands. “At this point, you already have to kill me. What’s a few more secrets?”

  Devastation crumpled Wyatt’s face. It was so sudden and overwhelming that Kennedy’s heart broke for him. She felt it like a physical crack in her chest, a part of her crumbling just because of an expression.

  “What do you mean?” Wyatt’s voice softened. He stepped toward her, but not close enough to touch.

  “I figured out your big secret. Considering that the world doesn’t know about you or the others, whoever they were, I’m guessing you have to go to great lengths to keep your secrets.” She licked her lips. Her heart, what was left of it, hammered now that fear was creeping over her. “There’s no way you can let me get away with what I know…right?”

  Wyatt laughed. It was a hearty sound that reminded her of cozy nights with bowls of rich stew and an open fire. The sensation caught her so quickly, dragged her into an imaginary place, and held onto her, that she forgot where she was.

  “No one is going to kill you.”

  Kennedy gasped for air, returning to the pine-scented forest and the man before her. He looked at her with honest eyes. They were soft around the corners, brows sloped in gentle concern. She didn’t flinch when his fingers grazed her cheek.

  But, Wyatt did hiss. He cringed in pain. Kennedy reached out for him as he swayed.

  “Seems like you don’t heal as fast as you told me. Let’s get you somewhere you can sit down.” Kennedy rummaged through her purse for her phone, checked the time, and came up with an idea.

  She wasn’t sure how much Wyatt would like it, but her only other idea was to take him back to her hotel room and that felt way too personal.

  ***

  She was sweet, he thought. He leaned in the dark corner of the restaurant, breathing shallowly while his ribs pulled themselves back together again. The host had not been pleased when she arrived with a companion, but before Wyatt could serve him with a cold look that would have him rushing to get their table ready, Kennedy sidled up to him. She leaned close and whispered. The din of the restaurant drowned out whatever she said to the host.

  Whatever she said made the man break out in a nervous sweat. He ran away. When he returned, he was all smiles and pleasantries. She’d grinned, beaming with pride.

  “I may not be a dragon that owns a bank, but I have my own powers,” Kennedy whispered after the host seated them.

  Wyatt leaned forward, interested. Was the woman a witch? It would explain his fascination with her. She could have enchanted him. Once she learned of his connection to Aurum Bank, she could have slipped something from her tongue to his that bound him to her.

  But Kennedy leaned close and whispered, “I run a food blog. I told him I’d leave a horrible review if he couldn’t seat you with me.”

  His relief was so great that he laughed. The sound boomed through the restaurant and had other diners twisting in their seats to stare at them. Kennedy was not a witch, but a normal human woman. Yet, somehow, she still managed to enchant him. Her little half smile was just for him, as if they shared a secret. He guessed they did now.

  Kennedy had taken all of this in stride. She’d seen dragons battle in the air. From the scream he’d heard while the wind rushed in his ears, she’d seen Jasper rip into his wings. When his eyes closed, even for a second, he could feel the echo of the blinding pain. Wyatt swallowed it down. A sweat broke out on his forehead.

  It’d been a nasty move.

  Kennedy touched his hand. His eyes snapped open to find her watching him, lips slightly parted in question. He pulled away, leaning back in his seat to put space between them.

  She didn’t belong in his world. Not here while Grove was a mess. The new king of the mountain couldn’t maintain his humanity for any extended period of time. The beast inside him had a mind of its own and a goal no one could figure out. Aside from that, the lesser dragons on the mountain were acting up without a proper king to keep them in place.

  As much as he would have liked to get to know Kennedy, he couldn’t ask her to stay in Grove. It was a danger to her. He refused to let her get hurt.

  Pain rippled down his back again. His skin was starting to knit together. He hoped that meant the muscle beneath had repaired itself. When he’d touched her earlier, the muscle had screamed in protest. Perhaps, it had been a sign to keep his hands to himself.

  Kennedy diverted her attention to the menu on the table when it became obvious that Wyatt would say nothing. He saw the tension that bound her shoulders but had nothing to offer that would unbind them.

&
nbsp; “I’m going to order the tasting menu,” she declared, as if Wyatt knew what that meant.

  He glanced down at the menu and was promptly confused. It was nearly empty. He was used to menus loaded with options, like the diner. He wanted ten flavors of chicken wings, two beer choices—light or regular—and fourteen kinds of burgers. Instead, he was greeted with three salads, all of which sounded awful to him.

  “This isn’t your kind of place,” Kennedy said, watching him. Her lips pursed. “How about you let me order for you? I promise I can make you love this.”

  He wasn’t used to this kind of attention. His ex would have shaken her head and left him to lick his own wounds. She’d assumed that because of the size of him that he could deal with all of his problems on his own. She hadn’t even known about the beast in him. Yet, Kennedy had seen the bronze monster he could become and still bent to help him.

  Even now, she lifted responsibility from his hands in a way he’d never experienced before. Wyatt was pleasantly confused. This was new territory, to have someone who was genuinely concerned for him. Someone who would care for him.

  “But, in exchange, you need to tell me everything you know. I want to hear it all. What it’s like to be…one of you, who the others were, why you were fighting. Everything.”

  He leaned back in his seat, trying to put space between them. This wasn’t her world. If he let it pull her in, she would get hurt. “I can’t tell you anything.”

  Kennedy pouted. It nearly broke him, the sight of her pursed lips and wide eyes, but he held fast.

  “Since you don’t think you can trust me,” Kennedy began, “I will tell you everything about myself. And, if you want food, then you’re going to have to sit through it all.”

  Despite himself, he smiled. Kennedy launched into a story about her early childhood, regaling him with memories of flying off her swing-set and the rock that was still embedded in her knee. After that, she moved on to middle school memories, of how she broke her wrist and the school nurse thought nothing of it, leaving her with wrist problems.