She glanced at her watch and sighed in relief. Five more minutes until closing. She just had to last five more minutes and then she could drown herself in misery and ice cream.
Honey sidled up to her, bumping Katie with her hip, and she turned her attention to the other woman. “Why don’t you head to the back and take out the trash? I’ve got this.”
Normally, Katie would be the first to snarl and growl at being forced to haul bag after bag to the dumpster, but today… she was happy to get away from people. Even with Honey’s shoulder to lean on and Blake’s strength propping her up, she was still too fragile. But tomorrow… tomorrow she would be better. Because it couldn’t get much worse.
She hadn’t seen Joey since last night. He’d stood her up for another woman and then he hadn’t even called or made some excuse. She thought she’d caught sight of him, of his tall, dark brooding form hiding in the shadows, but he wouldn’t be spying on her if he’d moved on so it couldn’t be him. That didn’t keep a tiny sliver of hope from worming into her heart. Then she’d remember the sight of his hands twined with that woman’s…
Then not a word. Not a peep. Pure silence.
Which was good, right? Right. Because she didn’t want to talk to him anyway. She didn’t want to know why he had pushed and pushed only to abandon her. She didn’t want to know why at all. Maybe she’d believe herself in fifty years or so.
“Yeah, I’ll take care of the trash.” She gave Honey a wavering smile and eased toward the swinging door that led to the back area.
Honey had already gathered the bags from around the bar and piled them near the backdoor. It would take no time to haul them to the dumpster that stood sixty feet from the building.
She grabbed two bags, each one filled with glass bottles and who knew what else, and strode to the backdoor. A quick bump had it swinging open, and she kicked the hunk of wood they used as a doorstop into the doorframe. It would keep the panel from swinging shut and locking her out.
The night enveloped her as she strode toward her destination, and it took no time to relieve herself of the first load. The second was just as fast, and it was on the third trip out the door she realized something was wrong.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and an involuntary shiver slid down her spine. Her hedgie was on alert and squeaking and chattering at her. It suddenly decided that being away from people was a very bad, not good idea. It really, really wanted her to go back inside and hide until Blake could come and get her. Not that he was actually supposed to pick them up from the bar, the animal just wanted to burrow into his side.
She picked up her pace, anxious to do exactly as her little beastie desired. The littered asphalt crunched beneath her feet, small pebbles and rocks marring her path, and she tripped when she was only feet from the dumpster.
She dropped both bags, the bottles clinking and clanking against the hard surface, and she caught herself with her hands. She winced with the sting of small cuts on her palms, and grunted when her knees smacked against the asphalt.
Dammit, she just knew there were new holes in her fishnets.
With a groan, she carefully pushed to her feet, wiping off her knees and rubbing her hands together to rid herself of the parking lot’s debris. Shaking her head, she moved to retrieve the bags as well as look for what caused her to fall. The last thing Honey needed was to get slapped with a lawsuit because a customer fell and hurt themselves in the parking lot.
She looked around, and it didn’t take long to see what caused her accident.
A single dragon claw lay on the ground. For a split second, she worried it belonged to Joey, and a stark uncontrollable fear overtook her. Because there was only one reason a dragon was without his claw—he was dead.
But she studied its shape, its length and color, and realized it didn’t belong to a black dragon at all. No, this was from an average fire breather from any one of the dragon population. It was a deep burnished red, almost easing toward the color of the dried blood, and that thought had her shuddering. Perhaps it wasn’t red at all, but merely coated in its previous owner’s fluid. Perhaps…
Gaze still centered on that single claw, Katie jumped when something else filled her vision. Two legs moved into her line of sight, a woman’s stiletto heels, the black leather almost blending into the darkness of the asphalt, filling her vision. She followed the length of her calves to her trim thighs. Her black skirt was short and hardly covered her slim hips. The shirt she wore clung to her skin, and it wasn’t until she got to the chick’s large chest that Katie realized who she was facing off against.
Joey’s little “girlfriend.”
Just the perfect way to end her night.
“Hello, there.” Even the woman’s voice was husky and sexy, the perfect complement to her model-like body.
Katie met the woman’s gaze, and forced a brutal smile to her lips. “Hi.”
Her hedgie was ready to play a game of hide and seek minus the seeking part of the game. Basically—Hide. All kinds of hiding. It screeched and squawked, nibbling at her mind and screaming at her to flee. Well, Katie didn’t want to face off against her mate’s little girlfriend either, but she refused to act like a coward and run. Instead, she straightened her back and squared her shoulders, determined not to show any hint of weakness. Joey didn’t want her? Fuck him. It was no skin off her nose. The bitch could have him.
“Can I help you with something?” Katie kept her tone brisk and unemotional, merely throwing her words at the woman and then tearing her attention away so she could grab her bags. As long as she seemed busy, hopefully the woman wouldn’t want to try and chat. “The bar is closed, and we reopen tomorrow morning at eleven.”
“Oh, lovely, but I’m not here for a drink,” the woman purred. “I’m here for you.”
Katie hauled the two bags toward the dumpster, swinging one into the massive metal container and then throwing in the other immediately behind it. She brushed off her hands on her skirt and turned toward her visitor.
“I don’t have anything to say to you.” Which probably sounded a little more emotional than she would’ve liked, but at least she wasn’t crumbling into a pile of tears. Or scratching the woman’s eyes out, because that still seemed like a viable option.
“And yet I have so many things to say to you.” The woman crouched and snatched the dragon claw from the ground. She waved it, ensuring Katie caught sight of the macabre remnant. “I have so much to tell you.” She slowly closed the distance between her and Katie, steps measured, heels clicking in a slow rhythm as she approached. “I also, have so much to do to you.”
Fear, not just the fear of emotional battery, but for her life, assaulted her. It sent adrenaline racing through her veins, forcing her heart to beat a rapid staccato.
And why was she afraid? Because the wind changed direction, banishing the scent of rotting garbage, and bringing with it the aroma of the woman before her. The woman whose expression was slowly turning from mocking to predatory. The woman whose eyes were no longer human, but the narrow slits of a reptile.
Not just a reptile. A dragon.
At least she now knew why Joey had abandoned her. What kind of children would hedgehog and dragon produce? It was obvious he wanted children, a dragon mate, and that’s what he was getting with the woman before her.
“Look, I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, and I definitely don’t want to do anything with you. So, I’m going inside, and you’re going to leave.”
The dragon dragged the claw across her bare skin, tracing the line of her cleavage, while her gaze remained intent on Katie. “There’s plenty to say. Such as, did you know that this once belonged to my brother? Your lovely little Joey murdered him. And so now it is only fitting that Liam have a hand in murdering you.” She waved the claw in the air. “Or rather claw.”
Joey was going to mate the sister of the dragon he supposedly murdered?
Katie didn’t have a chance to ponder anything else about the w
oman’s relationship with Joey. Not when said woman leapt at Katie, murder in her eyes. Light reflected off of the dragon claw she clutched in her right hand, but that wasn’t what she feared most. No, it was the ripple that overtook her skin. The rapid emergence of reflective scales and the sudden lengthening of her canines. The fingernails on her left hand quickly transformed into a perverted form of her inner dragon’s claws. And Katie knew there wouldn’t be a tomorrow for her. Even if she screamed and yelled for her best friend, there was nothing Honey could do for her.
This is it.
Well, if she was going down, it wouldn’t be quietly. Katie’s own hands grew tiny little claws that she could use to shred skin. She ducked the woman’s first strike, dropping to the ground and rolling over the pebbled surface. The chick snarled and change direction, closing in on Katie once again. She glanced around for any type of weapon and quickly spied one of the bar’s staples—an empty beer bottle.
It was easy to grab the neck, and slam the end against the ground with a great heave. The glass shattered as she’d hoped, leaving her with something to defend herself. So that when the woman was close once again, when her arm was raised, Katie met her attack.
That stained claws came closer, aimed for her throat, and she countered the move with the swing of her own. She stretched for the bitch’s face, jagged edges of her weapon ready to sink into her flesh. When she ducked, she also struck, doing exactly as Katie had desired.
Bright red blood flowed from her opponent’s cheek, the skin flayed and loose, exposing the bone just beneath. A sharp jab of pain struck her, stealing her breath, and she suddenly found herself unable to move her left arm. True, she’d landed a blow, but the woman had as well. The dead dragon’s claw stuck out from Katie’s bicep, and now her blood stained it as well.
The woman reached for the claw, fingers wrapping around the slick surface once again. The first tug to remove it from her body nearly sent her to her knees. A sharp cry escaped her lips, and she fought to shove the woman away before she could do any further damage. She swung once again with the bottle, aiming for the chick’s neck. The dark brown glass moved closer to Katie’s target, until mere inches hovered between herself and the target. Yes, Katie was obviously going to die at this woman’s hands, but she refused to do it alone.
“You bitch!” The woman screamed, fingers still slipping as she tried to grasp the claw. “You’re going to die. I’m going to take from him, like he took from me. I’m going to—”
“You’re going to do nothing.” The snarling roar shook the very ground beneath her. Then the woman was suddenly gone, her attack now over as she hurtled through the air.
As soon as her opponent no longer consumed Katie’s vision, she was faced with her savior. His name escaped her mouth as a whisper. “Joey…”
Chapter Nine
He glanced down at her, still in human form, but his eyes glowed midnight as his dragon shone through.
"Run," he bellowed, the sound boosted by the roar of his beast. She caught her breath. This was not Joey the carefree, sexy as hell charmer who had been trying to persuade her to mate him. No, this was Joseph the Black, lethal as hell and more badass than she’d ever want to deal with in her life.
She thought Blake was dangerous, and loyalty to her pack Alpha wanted to argue he was just as badass as Joey, but even she had to admit dragons were way more dangerous than hedgehogs.
She didn't stop and ask questions, didn't do anything more than squeak and scramble backward on her hands and ass over the rough asphalt of the parking lot.
Another roar split the air and the bitch dragon was back, her other form rising out of the darkness. Katie paused, eyes wide.
Joey’s massive draconic form blotted out the sky above. Light glinted off his black scales, scales with a multicolored sheen like a raven's wing, and a burst of flame erupted from his opened mouth to light up the parking lot.
The bitch dragon wasn’t like Joey. No light glinted off her scales, instead they seemed to be formed out of smoke, or mist, the trees behind her clearly visible.
What the hell was she? A frown marred Katie’s brow even as her hedgie chittered in terror, desperate to get back inside to the safety of the building. It was a false sense of security though, and Katie the woman knew that. If the bitch got past Joey, then no building, not even a bank vault would stop her. If she wanted to get to Katie, she would.
That thought filled her mind. Of her cowering behind the bar, as bitch dragon tore it apart looking for her. Of people getting hurt because of her. Of Honey, still safely inside, being hurt or worse. Heart in her throat, Katie stopped scrambling backward and rose to her feet. As scared as she was, this was it… this stopped here. No one was getting hurt because of her.
The bitch dragon roared at Joey, blasting a column of flame at him. Even though she seemed to be made of smoke, that didn’t stop the flame from being real. It hit Joey in the chest, bouncing off the scales and he roared back—his bellow one of fury and challenge. Snapping open massive wings, he took to the sky and launched himself at her.
His massive jaws snapped at the air, catching the smoke of her form, but sliding harmlessly through it. She twisted herself around him, coils of see-through darkness and then they were gone, Joey taking them farther into the night sky with hard beats of his massive wings.
The door behind her crashed open, Honey and Blake framed in the opening.
“Stay,” Blake ordered Honey and launched himself out the door toward Katie. He didn’t seem to need any explanation merely casting a glance upward toward the sky as he grabbed Katie and started to haul her back to the door.
“No!” she protested, fighting like a wildcat to make him let her go. And it was all her, no help from her hedgie whatsoever. The traitorous little beastie had curled itself into a ball and was trying to ignore everything going on around it. “Take Honey and get out of here, it’s me she wants.”
“Not happening,” Blake growled, yanking her to the side just as something dropped out of the sky. A woman’s body, bitch dragon in human form, slammed into the asphalt where Katie had been just moments before. Her clothes were ripped and torn, blood covering her pale skin. She moaned once slightly, but then her eyelids fluttered and her head lolled to the side. Out for the count.
Less than a second later, two more forms dropped out of the darkness overhead. Joey rose from a crouch, wiping at the corner of his lips with the back of his hand. Red stained the skin but instantly his eyes went Katie. They were filled with bloodlust, anger and dominance. She shivered, drawing back into the safety of Blake’s embrace.
“If I didn’t smell your mating, hedgehog,” he growled at Blake. “I’d tear you apart for touching my mate.”
Blake stood his ground, expression hard as he faced off against a creature who could bite him in half without a second thought. “If I didn’t smell your connection to Katie, dragon, I’d fucking rip you apart for putting one of my pack at risk.”
Katie’s heart all but stopped in her chest. That was it, Blake had gone too far. Now Joey would eat them both, in a bad, not good, way. She whimpered, trying to fight free of Blake’s hold and get to Joey before he went all out and roasted them both. Perhaps the scent of his mate could get through to him. Calm him down.
“He’s got a point,” a new voice broke into the conversation and Katie transferred her attention to the woman standing next to Joey. “You did put her at risk.”
Like Joey, she was a dragon, and if Katie didn’t miss her guess, a black as well. Now she saw both of them together, it was easy to see the similarities. The way they held themselves, the indefinable aura and sense of danger that wrapped around them. And as if that wasn’t enough, the woman looked at Katie and winked. Her eyes were violet, the pupils draconic and filled with amusement.
“Adra, you’re a pain in the ass,” Joey growled. “Keep your nose out of things.”
The woman, Adra, didn’t seem bothered by Joey’s anger. She simply shrugged and strode over to
the unconscious blonde by Katie and Blake. Reaching down, she hauled the blonde over her shoulder and looked at Katie again.
“Don’t make it too easy on him, asshole deserves a bit of a challenge.”
“Adra!” Joey’s exasperation came through loud and clear but the female dragon just chuckled and flipped him the bird with her free hand.
“Bite me, Joseph.” And with that she leapt into the air, her other form bursting from the slender figure and with three beats of her huge wings, she was gone.
“She was interesting,” Blake commented, only to be answered by Honey’s very human growl from the doorway.
It looked like Katie and Joey weren’t the only ones with relationship problems…
* * *
Joey stared at the front door, at the scuffs and scrapes that came with age, and imagined what lay just beyond the barrier. He couldn’t forget the pain etched in Katie’s features when he’d appeared. Yes, he’d saved her, but it was after he had hurt her.
Damn Sophia.
No, he should damn himself. He was the one who hadn’t showed up for dinner. He was the one who hadn’t called. He was the one who hadn’t chased after her when she spied him having dinner with Sophia.
He was the one who hadn’t taken the time to explain things to her and instead disappeared.
He only had himself to blame now.
He took a deep breath for courage, and rapped his knuckles against the wood. The soft padding of someone approaching reached him a moment before the door was tugged open to reveal Honey. He opened his mouth to pour out an apology, but she wouldn’t let him say a word.
“What you want?” She glared at him.
“I’d like to speak with Katie. She wasn’t at home, so I assume she’s here.” Her eyes remained narrowed, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I just need five minutes, Honey. Let me explain, and then I’ll leave if that’s what she wants.”
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