Dragon's Web

by Lia Davis

  “I don’t believe you. You got jealous because I told you that I still love Nyna. We know how territorial the dragon can be. Why would he want to share?” Kara folded her arms again and refused to look at Cayden. Briefly, she glanced at Nyna, then averted her gaze but not before Nyna saw the hint of desire in her eyes. Kara was attracted to him as he claimed to be with her.

  Nyna shook her head. They argued over me? That morning? She gently pushed at Cayden’s chest until he let her and Kara go. “This is too much. I don’t see how the three of us can work out. You and Kara are fighting your feelings for each other. Plus we have to prove that my uncle is a killer.”

  The dragon casually walked to the door. Before opening it, he said, “It will happen. I’m very old and very patient. And I want you both. Once you accept, we will form the dragon’s web. As for your uncle…he’ll get what’s coming to him.”

  Confused, Nyna met Kara’s gaze. “What’s the dragon’s web?”

  Kara shook her head. “I’ll explain later.”

  Figures. Yeah, Kara had a lot of explaining to do later. Nyna looked back at Cayden as he reached the door just as the bell sounded.

  Nyna stared at him while he took the bags from the deliveryman and paid for the food. How the hell did he know he was there?

  Kara groaned as the smell of chicken teriyaki and fried rice drifted from the brown paper bag Cayden set on the coffee table. She had skipped breakfast that morning. In the past week, she’d eaten as little as possible so she could fit through the bars on the window in her many attempts at escape. But the aromas of the Chinese food drifting from the containers Cayden pulled from the bags made her stomach rumble.

  The dragon glanced at her with one brow raised. With a low growl, he passed her a small container of the chicken teriyaki and a plastic fork. “You should never starve yourself.”

  “If you saw the crap I had to eat, you wouldn’t want to chow down either.” She stuck a few pieces of chicken with her fork and popped them in her mouth. “Mmm, this is heaven.”

  “First, it wouldn’t matter what they fed me because the first guard to come into my cell what be the appetizer.” Cayden carefully opened another box of chicken and handed it to Nyna. Kara frowned and realized he’d shown the same care with her, making sure she got hers first. He must have heard her stomach growl and knew she was hungry. The act confused her. She’d been on her own for so long, she had forgotten what it was like to have someone care for her.

  Nyna made a noise. “I’m about to eat. Please don’t talk about eating people.”

  “Sorry. I will have to learn your sensitivities.”

  “Do you always talk so formally?” Nyna asked as she leaned back on the sofa.

  Kara laughed. “He’s very old.”

  A low growl rumbled from Cayden. “I have been learning slang. Plus, I’m a writer. I like playing with words.”

  Kara nodded as she chewed. “True, but you do write historical fiction.”

  “Historical romance, too.” Nyna offered then laughed when Cayden shot her a narrowed-eyed glare.

  “Really? I’m going to have to check those out.” Kara smiled at the dragon. The private, hermit-like man never talked about himself. At least he never had before she was captured. So it was time to ask questions and get answers. Especially if he intended to make both her and Nyna his brides. They needed to know all about the beast and the man.

  “How old are you?” Nyna asked, and Kara almost choked on her rice.

  Cayden pursed his lips as he held Kara’s stare. A moment later, he let out a sigh and answered Nyna’s question. “I’m over one thousand years old.”

  “Holly cow! Seriously? That is old. How long do dragons live?”

  Kara continued to eat, enjoying the type of questioning Nyna was doing. She could tell Cayden didn’t want to answer, but he did without complaint.

  “No longer than a human life span, usually. However, I’m cursed.” Cayden shoved a forkful of rice in his mouth then made a face.

  It was Kara’s turn to ask a question. “Why did you order Chinese if you don’t like it?”

  “Because it is Nyna’s favorite food.”

  Nyna straightened and glared at him. “I would have eaten anything. You didn’t have to order something you don’t like.”

  He smiled, caringly. Reaching up, he cupped her cheek. “It’s not awful. I just prefer a very rare steak.”

  “Then that is what you are having for dinner tomorrow. I’ll cook at my place, for the three of us. Now, why are you cursed? Who did it?”

  The size of Nyna’s heart and her ability to see the positive in all situations were just two of the reasons Kara loved her. Where Nyna was soft, caring, and forgiving, Kara was anything but. The other female balanced her in ways no one else had.

  “The curse doesn’t matter at the moment. We need to research Henry’s extracurricular actives.” Cayden pushed his plate away and sat back in the chair.

  Kara finished off the last bite of rice and sat the container on the table. “The first place I would like to search is his email.”

  “How do you plan to get access to that?” Cayden asked.

  Kara shrugged and turned to Nyna. “He’s bound to have a computer he uses at his house.”

  Nyna’s eyes grew round. “You can’t break into his place.”

  “I won’t have to. You can go over there to talk to him about something, and I’ll slip in in cat form.” Kara glanced from Cayden to Nyna and frowned as both of then shook their heads.

  “It’s too risky.”

  “I agree with Cayden. Besides, Henry will suspect something. I kind of kicked him out of my store this morning. He knows I won’t talk to him until he apologies for being an ass.” Nyna sighed and tapped her finger on her knee like she did when she was thinking of something. “When I get home, I’ll check my password book to see if I still have his. I did some admin work for both him and my father for a little extra money awhile back.”

  Kara had forgotten about that. During college and through the time of the murder, Nyna had worked part time at Carter Enterprises. “Wouldn’t he have changed his password?”

  Nyna smiled, wickedly. “He rotates passwords between three different ones.”

  “Oh, that’s not very smart.”

  Cayden snorted. “The man has always been an idiot.”

  Kara laughed while Nyna rolled her eyes. “We can go to my house and research from there.”

  Cayden stood and began to clean up. “Unfortunately, I’m on deadline and need to work. You two go ahead. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Great. I’ll have breakfast made.”

  “Perfect.” Cayden collected the dinner trash and carried it to the kitchen.

  Kara stood and stretched. “Nyna, do you mind if I stay with you? I was going to stay here, but grumpy likes his alone time.”

  Cayden growled at her from the kitchen, which made her laugh. She would have to admit, the man was sexy with his crabby-do-what-I-say attitude.

  Nyna moved to the door. “Sure.” She paused and frowned. “Henry will know, though. He likes to pop in to ‘check on me’ from time to time.”

  A wickedness rose up within Kara. “Great. I look forward to seeing the look on his face when he sees me.”

  Cayden stepped out of the kitchen and glared at her. “You need to be careful. I don’t trust him. If he killed his own brother, he won’t hesitate to kill Nyna or you.”

  The dragon flashed in his eyes briefly. Kara understood the need to protect. Even though she shifted into a house cat, she was still a predator. Only on a smaller scale. So, yeah, she got it. The dragon would do anything to protect his family and life partners.

  I’m still not sure how I feel about being one of his life partners...

  “I’ll be careful and will refrain from mouthing off to his face. It’ll be hard, but I’ll try.”

  Cayden’s lips twitched. “That’s my girl.”

  She shook her head at the ‘my girl’ co
mment. He walked over and kissed her forehead, then did the same to Nyna. Kara’s heart melted a little more, strengthening the urge to let the male in. She studied him for several moments before finally averting her gaze and letting out a curse.

  She was falling for Cayden Reinhardt. Fuck.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Nyna glanced up from her laptop to Kara, who sat beside her on the sofa. “Nothing to be sorry for. I trust you. You’ve never been anything but honest with me from the day we met.”

  In her heart, Nyna believed every word. She may not have super strength, smell, or sight, but she was sharp enough to know that Kara believed Henry was behind the murders. One thing was for sure, Nyna was going to find out one way or the other.

  Bringing up the webmail for Carter Enterprises, she typed in Henry’s user ID and the first password on her list. An error message appeared telling her either the password or user ID was incorrect. Well, two to go. The next password didn’t work either, but the last one did.

  “Ha! I’m in. What are we looking for?”

  Kara scooted closer to read the screen. “Not sure. Maybe search for your father’s name?”

  There was a knock on the door. Nyna frowned and handed Kara the computer before she stood to answer it. It was too early for Cayden to stop by. Opening the door, Nyna blinked in surprise to see Joan on the other side. The other woman glanced over Nyna’s shoulder to Kara before meeting her gaze. Without a word, Nyna stepped aside and gestured Joan to come in.

  “What is it?”

  “I found something about a week ago that you should see. I’m sorry to show up unannounced, but it couldn’t wait until our lunch tomorrow.” Joan glanced to Kara one more time. “Is this a good time?”

  “Yes. Fine.” Nyna tugged the woman to the armchair next to the sofa. “What did you find?”

  Joan pulled a folder from her tote and handed it to Nyna. “I’d sit down before you open that.”

  Dread burned in Nyna’s gut as she eased down on the couch and opened the folder. At first, confusion clouded her vision, not allowing her to understand what she was looking at. The financial statements appeared just like the ones she and the rest of the board reviewed every quarter.

  Flipping through the pages, she frowned at the detailed distribution report of vendor transactions for the last six months. She studied each entry and shook her head. “Who is PurTech?”

  “I don’t know. Normally I wouldn’t think twice about it, but the longer I looked at the transactions for that account, the more it looked suspicious. So, I did some digging.” Joan pointed to the folder. “PurTech is owned by Crystal Jones.”

  Nyna’s chest tightened at the mention of her mother’s maiden name. Heartache mixed with confusion whirled inside her mind. “My mother never wanted anything to do with the business. She was content just being a housewife.”

  Beside her, Kara shook her head. “Henry has to be involved somehow.”

  Joan cut a glance to Kara then back to Nyna. Dropping her shoulders, Joan released a soft sigh. “Being David’s admin for as long as I was, I heard things. One of them was that Crystal and Henry had an affair years ago.”

  Shock wasn’t the word Nyna would have used to describe what she felt. Horrified and angry at Joan for suggesting her mother was unfaithful were better, but still not quite strong enough. “My parents loved each other.”

  The older woman averted her gaze and her lips dipped into a frown. “Yes, they did, after you were born. I’m not saying they didn’t before that, but they’d tried for years to have a baby without success. When she cheated, it just added to the stress of the relationship. But your father wouldn’t divorce her. He wanted to make it work. Then she got pregnant, and everything seemed to work out between them. Henry changed, though. He became distant and irritable.”

  “Because he was jealous,” Nyna and Kara said at the same time. It was Nyna who continued the thought. “For as long as I can remember, Henry always seemed jealous of Dad. He never came to family dinners or parties. And on the rare occasions he did, it was for only a moment.”

  Joan lifted her gaze to Nyna. “I have a friend in banking who works with offshore accounts. I had him run Henry’s and your mom’s names to see if anything came up. He didn’t find anything at first, but he made some calls. PurTech has an account in the Caymans.”

  Information churned in Nyna’s mind. Dread made her blood run cold. “What are you trying to say?”

  “I believe Henry is embezzling money from Carter Enterprises.”

  Nyna was afraid Joan would say that. Damn. She had been a fool for so long. But that didn’t mean he killed them.

  Kara spoke up next, her words echoing Nyna’s thoughts. “It’s a damn good motive for murder if your parents found out and threatened to turn him in.”

  Nyna hated to have to agree with her. But the pieces of evidence were piling up, and every one was pointing to Henry. “Why didn’t the police look further into this? Do they even know?”

  Joan shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “Can you gather more information and send it to the detective working the case?” Nyna stood, grabbed Detective Marcs’ business card from her desk, and handed it to Joan. “Since the murders happened in Louisville, that’s where Marcs is. I think Chief Rickman knows the details, but he’s not who we need to talk to.”

  The older woman nodded and rose to her feet, pulling Nyna into a tight hug. Before she left, she whispered, “You are your mother’s heir.”

  Of course I am. Nyna stared at the woman as she left. What the hell did she mean? Unless she was suggesting that Nyna take over PurTech. Or was she warning Nyna that all this shit could come down on her?

  ***

  Kara handed Nyna a cup of herbal tea as she eased down beside her on the sofa. Feelings of helplessness flowed inside her. Nyna had an overwhelming sense of loss surrounding her. Kara didn’t know if she should comfort her friend or push her to get up and research more about her slimeball uncle.

  After a moment of silence, Nyna said, “As much as I don’t want to believe any of this, I can’t see another explanation. I’m not sure where to start, though.”

  Relief washed over Kara. “We need to find the murder weapon.”

  “Yeah, but how?”

  “We could start by searching Henry’s home.”

  Nyna shook her head. “That’s too risky. Besides, why would he keep the weapon? Wouldn’t he ditch it?”

  “Maybe.” Kara leaned back and drummed her fingers on the couch arm. “We need to put the pressure on him somehow.”

  “I could tell him the bank contacted me about PurTech.”

  The female was brilliant. “That’s a great idea. It’ll be like a wrecking ball crashing into him out of the blue.”

  Nyna glanced at her, a sad smile on her. “Yeah. I’ll do it tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll stop by the store.”

  Kara’s heart hurt for her friend. Gripping Nyna’s wrist, she tugged her into her arms. Nyna let out a sigh and snuggled into her, raising desire within Kara. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what? I should be the one to apologize for not believing you.”

  Stroking Nyna’s hair, Kara kissed her temple. “For coming back and stirring up more pain and disrupting your life.”

  A soft laugh escaped Nyna. “Cayden would have disrupted it eventually.” She fell silent for a few moments before adding, “What did he mean by a dragon’s web.”

  Kara closed her eyes, not wanting to talk about dragons at the moment. “It’s a spell dragons cast when they choose a life partner. Once you’re caught in the web, you can’t escape it.”

  “Cayden said I had a choice.”

  That little piece of information warmed Kara’s heart a little more toward the dragon. “He is different, kinder than anyone I know. I trust that he wouldn’t spin the web until and unless you accept.”

  “You say that as if you’ve experienced it.”

  “Not personally, no.” Kara paused, trying to find the rig
ht words. She was about to tell Nyna something she had never revealed to anyone else. Something she couldn’t tell her when they were together before Nyna’s parents’ murder. “I had an older sister. She was caught in the web by an ill-tempered dragon she didn’t love.”

  Nyna laced their fingers together. “What happened?”

  “She killed herself the night the union was complete.”

  Lifting her head, Nyna’s brown eyes met Kara’s. “I’m so sorry.” As if realizing something, she frowned. “Now you’re about to be in a dragon’s web with me. If you accept.”

  Kara cupped Nyna’s face. “Cayden is nothing like my sister’s partner. Cay has a heart, even though he doesn’t usually show it to anyone. Besides, if I’m with you, I’ll be happy.”

  “I still don’t see how a relationship between the three of us could work. I mean, I’ve always thought Cayden was hot, but I never thought of him more than the sexy neighbor.” Nyna’s cheeks colored.

  Kara couldn’t stop herself from leaning in and claiming Nyna’s soft, pouty lips. Desires flared to life, making her ache in all the right places. When Nyna returned the kiss, all fear of rejection left Kara, replacing it with a renewed hope that everything would work out.

  Breaking the kiss, Kara pressed her forehead to Nyna’s. “Whatever happens, I’m here for you. Always.”

  Nyna hugged her. “I wouldn’t want to share my life with anyone else.”

  “Except a large black dragon.”

  Laughing, Nyna nodded. “Yeah, maybe. Our dragon.”

  “We’ll just keep that to ourselves for now. I want to see the dragon work for his right to claim us. Besides, I want to be seduced and pampered.”

  “Hmm.” Nyna settled beside her on the sofa, propping her feet on the coffee table. “Seduced and pampered, huh? That does sound hot.”