by Rosko, Mandy
The enormous room she’d just been in and the vast lawn she’d seen outside in the coming dawn suddenly made a little more sense.
“Are you saying I’m in the royal palace?”
The guard smiled so wide Fiona almost looked away from how bright it was. “Indeed you are, miss. Welcome.”
“Does the prince have a palace in Ottawa that I don’t know about?”
The guard shook his head. “No, miss. You are in Inferno City.”
Inferno City, which happened to be a whole time zone away from her home.
A sound escaped her as she sank to the floor again, trying to wrap her mind around this new situation.
4
Inferno marched down the vast halls of his home. This place was too fucking big. It had been a maze as a child. He could almost get lost in it. As an adult, it was just a pain in the ass to get around.
The message he got from the guards outside his mate’s window claiming she was awake had been enough to make him end the conversation he’d been having with his aunt and Tinder. The looks on their faces when he’d broken off the engagement were something he would very much like to forget, but that didn’t seem likely to happen.
Both had been sullen. Tinder hadn’t cried, which was odd because Inferno had expected it. She hadn’t appeared angry either. Perhaps it was just the shock. She would come out of it in time and lash out. She usually did whenever there was something that disappointed her.
Inferno knew it was a dick move to leave Ember alone to deal with their relatives. Ember was usually a generous brother, but Inferno knew there was a very real chance he’d get his ass kicked for abandoning him like that. It was Inferno’s drama, after all.
His phone buzzed again. He glanced down at the SOS message. His grip tightened on the phone as he hurried even quicker to the guest wing. His temper flared with his impatience. I should have kept her close to me, not across the castle.
It seemed to take forever to get there, and he heard a shriek just before he turned the final corner and saw the woman and some of his security staff down the hall. “What is going on?” His roar carried down to the figures, who all stilled at the sound of it.
“Your Highness!”
Fiona, whose name he’d had a chance to learn while she slept, was sitting on the ground, rocking herself. Eric, the one he’d assigned as her primary guard, was crouched next to her, but it was the second guard, with his hand on his Taser, who Inferno was primarily concerned with.
“I don’t think you’re going to need that weapon against a frightened guest.”
The man tensed. “She took a swing at Eric, and then had another outburst, sir. I was just standing prepared.”
“You really couldn’t handle her? She can’t weigh more than a hundred pounds soaking wet; you’re telling me you’re scared of her?”
“Hey!”
Inferno looked back at her. “There’s no shame in being as vicious as a kitten.”
“Double hey!”
He liked her. He liked that she had some spunk, but then he frowned, that red haze clouding over his vision once more. “Is that blood on you? Who made her bleed?” He hissed at the guards, and once again they cowered.
Inferno looked to Eric, who was only just now helping his mate back onto her feet. “You?”
His eyes flew wide. “What? No, your highness, I wouldn’t do that.” He stepped away from her as if his mate was suddenly made of acid. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Fiona lifted one hand to her neck and looked at the knuckles on her other. “I must have scratched at my neck while I was sleeping. Nightmares about what happened last night, most likely, and then this,” she indicated her bloody knuckles “was the result of me trying to take on Eric, and landing a blow onto your great doorframe instead.”
“You did this?”
There wasn’t a lot of blood that he could see, but he wanted a closer inspection. He walked up to her. Fiona’s eyes widened. She backed up, but the wall was immediately behind her. Inferno reached out and snatched her hand, pulling it up to have a look at her knuckles. They were more scraped than injured in a way that would require bandaging, and he couldn’t discern any splinters. He turned his attention to her throat, having a look for himself.
“Turn your head to the side.”
She blinked those big green eyes up at him and didn’t move.
Inferno sighed. He gently pushed her red and orange flame hair away from her shoulder. The red mark left from the bag’s string had swollen up and bruised, but he could also now see nail marks where she must have been scratching at it in her sleep. He didn’t like any of it, not the reminder of what she’d been through, and not the idea that she was still fighting off those attackers in her nightmares. He couldn’t do anything about that, though, so he’d focus on what he could fix, starting with getting her wounds tended.
He took her by the arm. “Come with me. We have some things to take care of.”
Fiona didn’t move. “Why did you kidnap me?”
Inferno paused. He blinked down at her rather stupidly. “Did you hear me? We have somewhere to be.”
“No. Not until you tell me why I’m here.”
He jerked back. Did she…? She had. She’d made a command.
Inferno glared back at Eric and the other guard, remembering they were there. They seemed to be collectively attempting to pretend this whole thing wasn’t happening since they weren’t allowed to leave without Inferno’s say-so.
“I will explain myself, but only because this is a new situation for you, and it is understandable that you would be upset by your attack, and then waking in an unfamiliar location. I took you for your protection.” Fuck. Why did it have to sound so lame even to his ears?
She stared at him as if waiting for more. “That’s…that’s it?”
Inferno frowned. “What do you mean, that’s it?”
“You said you were going to explain.”
“I did.”
“That’s not much of an explanation. Eric said something about you not trusting human authorities. Does that mean you know who attacked me? And why?”
Was this a thing with human women?
“You were attacked by men who tried to kill you. I would not stand for that.” Inferno waved his hand out to the guards and the wealth around them. “This will provide you with more protection than you could receive in your apartment building, or at your little bakery.”
She looked away, frowning slightly. She seemed to be thinking about his answer, but Inferno was uncertain what she needed to consider.
“But why not just call the police? Why did you have to take me out of my home? Out of my city? Not that I’m not grateful; I am, believe me.” Something dark and panicky danced in her eyes as if she was reliving her attack. “But isn’t it kind of extreme to have me here?”
“This is your home now.”
Now she blinked up at him. “What? What are you talking about?”
He couldn’t stand this for much longer. “You will come with me now, then I will answer more of your questions,” he added as an afterthought. Gentle. He had to be gentle. She was a human, and she was supposed to be frightened and finicky after her ordeal.
“Uh, sire?”
Inferno looked towards Eric. He held out a pair of Flare’s slippers. Inferno had asked his little sister to borrow them for his mate, since she had a tremendous collection and certainly had some she wouldn’t mind parting with.
“I suppose you kicked these off while attacking the guards?”
Fiona’s face flamed up. The red in her cheeks was a different shade than that in her hair, but Inferno thought that Fiona looked positively lovely. Her flame hair was a tousled mess around her shoulders, and he loved the look of her cheeks and nose bursting with color.
He handed her the slippers. She took them with a mumbled thanks.
He couldn’t resist. Inferno took his mate by the chin and lifted her face. He pressed his mouth to hers, feeling the sudden tension in her body, followed
by her hands touching his chest.
* * *
Fiona shoved Inferno, breaking the chaste kiss.
“So this is really what it’s about? So much for wanting to protect me. You’re probably the one who sent those men to kidnap me so I’d become one more woman for your harem, isn’t that right, oh mighty dragon lord?”
He just kissed her. Was that real? Or had she only imagined it?
And had she just shoved him away and berated him?
They’d stood locked in an awful stare down for just a moment before he took her arm and guided her away from her room. She was too afraid to object. He’d kidnapped her, and he was a very powerful man. The two guards would be able to take her out in an instant if he didn’t want to get his hands dirty. She needed to toe the line better if she wanted any answers and wanted any chance of getting out of there.
This had to be a dream. Fiona was walking in a daze. That stuff she’d thought happened when those people broke into her apartment had to be fake. That stuff didn’t happen in real life, and it seemed like such a haze.
She’d been drooling all over Inferno just the day before, and she was supposed to believe this was somehow her new reality? The most gorgeous royal in the world had rescued her, whisked her off to his palace, and then kissed her. Without her consent. And while he was engaged. “I’m starting to think I might be dead.”
“No, not quite, thank God.”
She looked up at him. “Then…why did those people try to…they came into my apartment, and they tried to…”
Fiona hadn’t been able to see when they’d thrown that suffocating back over her head. She hadn’t been able to breathe much when they’d tightened the cord on her either, but she could remember exactly what it felt like when they’d grabbed her.
Inferno stopped suddenly, his hands on her shoulders as he stepped in front of her. The fact that this big man was suddenly in her personal space threw her off for a hair of a second, but she wasn’t in her apartment, and there weren’t a bunch of men on top of her trying to kill her.
“I will never let that happen to you. Not ever again. I will find the ones responsible for what happened to you, and I will pour every resource into seeing they are brought to justice.”
Red scales suddenly appeared on Inferno’s face and neck, as if just under the last layer of skin at first, then they were the top layer. His eyes blazed, his grip on her shoulders tightening.
His reaction calmed her. It should have made her tense up again, but it didn’t. It made her feel better. “Why would you do this, for me of all people?” She had to know. The need was too strong. “You say you want to protect me, but why? Are my cupcakes that good? If you want more, I’m happy to make them, but I don’t want to be your side piece.”
“Side piece?”
Her voice went unexpectedly small, and she almost couldn’t say that last part at all. “Is it just because you’re rich? Because you want to mess with me? I can’t think of any real reason as to why you would fly me out here unless you’re bored and used to getting what you want.”
“I am used to getting what I want.”
Fiona exhaled a hard half laugh. “Well, at least you’re honest.”
“I am.” Inferno leaned in, allowing Fiona to see the fire in his eyes. A literal fire. It burned and crackled, sucking her in and warming her from the inside out. “So believe me when I tell you that you’ll never be a side piece. My engagement to Tinder is off, now that I’ve found my destined mate, you, and I’m prepared to give you my name and my power if you would do me the honor of taking it.”
She blinked stupidly up at him. The fantasy part of her brain wanted to jump at him, accept what he said at face value, and ride off into the sunset with her happily ever after.
That wasn’t what she blurted out. “What if I don’t want to take it?”
He looked at her long and hard. “Then I will wait for you to accept, but we will both remain here.”
“Here.” She looked around.
“Where else would you stay when you need protection from a threat?”
Fiona couldn’t believe it. A dragon prince was kidnaping her.
5
His mate didn’t appear happy with the knowledge that she would be staying in his vast home. Inferno reasoned that it was nothing more than a case of shock. She couldn’t believe her new surroundings, or that this was all now hers. Considering the tiny apartment Inferno had pulled her out of, he couldn’t blame her for that.
He was no fool. He knew there was more to it than just the grandeur of his dwelling. He may be a dragon prince, but he still understood well enough that her surroundings were, in fact, not what was making her speechless.
“The men you met will be keeping you safe while we look into who attacked you. Eric will be in charge. He’s young but loyal and talented. He’ll see to your safety.”
“Eric? The guy who was outside my room? Blond hair, sunglasses, and the earpiece?”
Inferno couldn’t help but smile at the ridiculous description. “That would be him?”
“Is he human?”
Inferno glanced down at Fiona. “No. He has dragon blood.”
“He does?”
“This shocks you?” He couldn’t understand why.
Fiona glanced away quickly, color rising in her cheeks. God, with her red and orange hair, she was the loveliest thing he’d ever seen in his life, and she was an Istavan. She was his mate.
“I just…I always thought that dragons had fiery sounding names, you know? Your name is Inferno, for God’s sakes.”
Inferno chuckled. “Yes, and while I do like my name, sometimes something a little more normal would have been better. Like William or Phillip. Those are perfectly royal sounding names. They just don’t keep to certain old dragon traditions.”
Fiona smiled softly at that. “I guess that makes sense.” She paused. “So, about this whole, I’m your mate and I live here now thing… You know you can’t keep me here, right?”
“I’m fairly positive that I can.”
Fiona stopped walking beside him, forcing Inferno to stop and look back at her.
“What is it?” Her glare and clenched hands were concerning.
“What do you mean, what is it? It’s kidnapping, that’s what it is. Which, by the way, is totally illegal.”
“And I am a prince.”
“So you’re above the law?”
He smiled at her.
She threw her hands in the air, then pushed her fingers through her hair. “Unbelievable. You can’t just force me to stay here.”
Inferno frowned at that. “Do you feel this is bothersome for you? Being here?”
“Of course it is. I need to go home. Back to my life. Back to my job.”
“The job where you accused the owner of theft?”
Fiona jerked back. “What?”
Inferno pulled out his phone. “You posted this just before the attack, correct?”
He held out the phone, allowing her to see her handiwork.
Fiona glared at him. “So you started stalking all my profiles, is that it?”
Inferno lifted a brow. “You’re my intended mate. Of course, I’d want to find out all I could about you. Strictly above board, that is. I wouldn’t want to invade your privacy. And this tidbit of information was posted on your blog for all the public to see, which makes my reading it hardly stalking.”
“Whatever. All right?” She swiped her hand out, trying to take the phone, but Inferno pulled back as Fiona danced around him, desperate to take it out of his hands. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Mateen is an asshole, but he’s my boss, and I need that job.”
“Why work for him at all?”
“Because everywhere else I tried to get a job had me on the register too much or cleaning toilets. I’m a baker, and Mateen lets me bake. That’s the point of working for him. Then you walked in and—”
Fiona’s word cut off. Inferno saw her lovely green eyes glaze over. She’d gone somewhere
else. It brought out all the protective instincts Inferno had within him. The idea that someone, anyone, had put their hands on her and the only reason Inferno had been there to stop it was through some sheer dumb luck made the dragon side of himself wild with rage.
He squashed it down. Inferno curled his arms around Fiona’s shoulders, holding her snuggly but not too tight. After her ordeal, he didn’t dare risk her falling back into that state of fear. He wouldn’t let that happen.
“I am so sorry that happened to you.”
She was small in his arms, which did nothing to help stop those protective instincts from rising inside him. She was fragile, and someone had tried to snuff out that life. Someone he was going to find and make suffer a long and painful death.
No, death would be too good. He could think of worse.
“It’s over now.” It wasn’t over. He was lying. “They can’t hurt you anymore. Not while you’re here.” He couldn’t guarantee such a thing until he had the ones responsible for this in front of him, and he tore out their throats with his bare hands.
“Why did they do that?”
Inferno sighed. He suspected it had something to do with him. What else could it have been? He couldn’t say such a thing to her. Not when she was adamant that she shouldn’t be here at all.
“Whoever they were, they will pay, kitten. Believe me. I won’t rest until they have been brought to justice. Until then, try not to concern yourself with the bakery.” He couldn’t help a wry smile. “From what I saw of that post, you didn’t much enjoy working for him anyway.”
Fiona groaned. She buried her face against Inferno’s chest, which he had to admit, he enjoyed. “I can’t believe I did that. He’s going to fire me for sure. I should have been in this morning.”
“I told you not to worry about it. I will cover whatever costs you have.”
Fiona tensed. She pulled back just enough to look up into his eyes. He could see the want within them, the desire to take the protection he offered, but she shook her head, the reluctance obvious. “N-No, I can’t ask you to do that. I mean, I am so very grateful that you saved me and everything, but…” She must have just noticed that she was in his arms. She pulled back, the flush to her cheeks as bright as ever. “I can’t just have you pay for me. That’s not right either.”