by Tami Lund
Thank the gods. “Good.”
“That decision has nothing to do with you.”
“I didn’t say it did.” Why was the woman so damn defensive?
“There he is!”
The shouted voice sounded familiar. Noah twisted his head.
“That’s the bastard who fucking attacked me!”
Uh-oh, it was Petra’s date, and he’d found a few friends. The group of four dragons started jogging down the sidewalk toward them.
“We gotta get out of here,” Noah said, and this time, he grabbed Petra’s hand and dragged her down the nearest alley.
Which ended at a solid brick wall.
“Shit.”
“Next time, let me lead,” she said. “I’ve lived here for a year now. I know which alleys are good escape routes and which ones end like a bad horror flick.”
She glanced around, clearly assessing their situation. The pack of dragons paused at the mouth of the alley.
Noah didn’t wait for her to come to the conclusion on her own. He nodded at the sky. “Time to fly.”
“There are a ton of humans around here.”
“This alley’s plenty dark enough to cover our shift, and the sun’s gone down. Besides, would you rather stick around to find out if the two of us can best the four of them?”
“Fair point,” she said, eyeing the dragons who were now stalking toward them. “Okay, once we shift, follow me. They’re probably going to do the same thing; I know a place we can lose them.”
“Go,” he shouted. He wasn’t about to shift until he knew damn well she had and was out of harm’s way.
That tell-tale shimmer of magic shot down his arm; he released his hold on her hand as it morphed into a clawed foot. The alley was narrow, too narrow for her to spread her ten-foot wings and fly, so once she’d fully transformed, she leaped up, her claws latching onto the wall. A cloud of dust smacked him in the face while chunks of brick and mortar crumbled and crashed to the cement as she scaled the vertical surface. The other four dragons shouted and began running toward them.
Noah wasted no more time. He summoned the magic, willing his body to let go of its human form and turn into a massive beast with leathery wings, snakelike eyes, and scales. His dragon roared in his head as his skin bubbled, turning from tan to silver. His shoulders expanded and wings sprouted from the blades while his tailbone grew until it was long enough to whip against the wall, shaking a few more bricks loose.
“We need to shift and go after them,” one of the chasing dragons shouted.
“Get deeper into the alley first,” another called back.
Noah glanced up the height of the wall in front of him. Petra perched at the top. Shit, he needed to get up there so she’d take off and fly. They needed to get above the clouds before a human spotted them.
With a growl, he jumped, shoving out his front legs at the same time so that they latched onto the brick and held him in place. Extracting first one clawed foot then the other, he scurried toward the roof. If they weren’t being chased by pissed off dragons, this might actually be fun.
The air shimmered, warning him that another dragon was shifting. Time to move.
The second he reached the top, Petra belched a small ball of fire and took off, and Noah shoved off from the clay tile roof, his wings spreading and flapping, catching air and shoving him toward the darkened sky.
Petra hovered a few hundred feet up, waiting for him. She nodded and then tilted to the right, beating her wings as she led him away from danger.
He stayed slightly behind her while they flew, and took the time to admire her dragon form. She was magnificent, breathtaking, gorgeous. He wanted to play, to entice her into a dragon game or two. He wanted to nip at her tail and blow a ring of smoke for her to fly through.
And then he wanted to shift back to human form and entice her to play like they had the day they’d conceived Sadie. Damn, why hadn’t he thought to bring a condom with him?
A bank of clouds momentarily covered the moon and Petra abruptly twisted into a nosedive, forcing Noah to stop thinking with his dick as he chased after her. By the time the sky brightened again, they were on the ground, in the middle of a cemetery where the gravesites were all above ground and adorned with elaborate stone statues.
Petra shifted back to human form and magicked her clothes onto her body far too fast for Noah to glimpse anything inappropriate.
Too bad.
He followed suit and then hurried after her as she ran for a massive oak tree that was dripping with Spanish moss. “Brilliant idea,” he said as he pushed aside streamers of moss and stepped underneath the low hanging branches.
Petra grabbed him by the front of his shirt, twisted him around, and shoved his back against the tree trunk. He lifted his hands as if in surrender and said, “Whoa. Déjà vu.”
No idea if she heard him, because she clamped her hands onto his cheeks, leaned in, and pressed her lips to his. Her mouth opened and her tongue teased at him, encouraging him to let her in.
Oh, hell yeah.
He cupped the back of her head with one hand and grabbed her ass with the other, dragging her closer. She shimmied her hips, rubbing against his erection. Gods, it’s been so damn long.
Since the one and only time with her, actually.
“Fuck,” he growled as he tore his lips away and placed both hands on her hips to still her movements.
She blinked like she’d been hypnotized and then looked around in apparent confusion. “What the hell?” When her gaze dropped to his raging hard on, she scrambled backward, tripping over a protruding root and falling on her ass.
“Shit,” she said, batting his hand away when he tried to help her up. “What the hell was that?”
“Almost a repeat of a year ago, I’d say.” Noah winced as he adjusted his throbbing erection. Gods be damned, that had been close. Too damn close.
She slapped the ground and then climbed to her feet. “Godsdamn it. I don’t want to go down that road again.”
“Me neither,” he agreed.
She glanced into the tree branches and then flapped her hand at the trunk. “Why did that happen? It was like—like I couldn’t help myself.”
“I get it. I felt the same way.”
She shook her head. “Hormones. I…I haven’t been with anyone else since, well, you know.”
“Me neither.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
He shrugged.
She shook her head again and said, “I can’t deal with this right now.” She walked to the wall of Spanish moss and parted it with her hand, scanning the sky above the cemetery. After a few moments, she let the streamers fall back into place and said, “I think we lost them.” Then she pulled her phone out of the purse she’d draped across her body, and pressed a button before lifting it to her ear.
“Hi, Rebecca, it’s Petra. Just checking in.” She glanced at Noah. “Yeah, he found me.” She didn’t sound pleased. “Yes. Okay, good. Yes. We’ll be home in a little while. Thanks, Rebecca. ‘Bye.”
After disconnecting the call, she sighed and said, “Come on, let’s get back to the house and regroup.”
Good idea. They had a hell of a lot to talk about. Like why the hell she’d gone on a date with an abusive asshole—and what it had to do with breaking the curse on their colony.
Chapter 5
Rebecca didn’t seem inclined to leave once they made it back to the guesthouse, and Petra welcomed the distraction she provided. At least, until she started flirting with Noah. Then Petra’s dragon wanted to beat the girl over the head with her tail.
Which sucked, because once she ushered the clueless college student out the door, she was left alone with Noah and Sadie. And since Sadie was content to sit in her swing in a breast milk coma and watch the world rock by, Noah was provided with ample opportunity to grill Petra to within an inch of her life.
“For the last time, I am not pulling you into this assignment,” she snapped when he asked yet
again for her to share the details she’d gleaned from Carlos, the guy she’d met for dinner and drinks.
Damn Noah for his meddling. She’d excused herself to use the restroom with every intention of quietly slipping out of the back door of Oyster House and heading to Royal Street to peruse the antique shops. According to Carlos, Gabe’s mother might very well own one of them. Petra had never been this close to her goal before, and Noah had gone and ruined it.
“Why did you feel the need to spy on me anyway?” she asked when he returned to the living room with two glasses of wine. She was a hard liquor girl, normally, but she hadn’t had any sort of alcoholic beverage since she figured out she was pregnant. Probably best to ease back into the saddle with something less potent than vodka or whiskey.
We could have hopped right onto that horse when we were in that graveyard, her dragon commented.
Shut up. That isn’t happening.
Meanie.
Yeah, she could say that again. It was self-preservation.
He shrugged and dropped onto the couch next to her. She scooted away until her hip pressed into the arm. Being within touching distance of Noah Ladon was dangerous. His close proximity tended to melt her self-control and panties.
“I don’t know. I was curious, I guess.”
“About what?” She sipped her wine. It was good. Sweet and tangy. “What is this?” she asked before he could answer her first question.
“Sangria. I made it.”
Petra stared at the red liquid. “I had the ingredients to make sangria?”
One corner of his mouth lifted into half a smile. “Not remotely. Rebecca offered to go grocery shopping while we were both out this evening, so I took her up on it and put together a list for her. You now have a stocked fridge.”
Huh. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d had a stocked fridge. It was possible it had never happened before, at least not since she moved out of her parents’ home.
“It’s good,” she said, taking another sip. “Thanks for sending her shopping. I hate to do it, so I always put it off until the cupboards are bare and I’ve been eating out for three days straight. How much do I owe you?”
“You can pay me back in answers.”
Wonderful. Now he’s the Great Negotiator? She rolled her eyes.
He turned sideways on the couch and leaned toward her. “Petra, I only want to help. Why won’t you let me? I thought you wanted to go home.”
She did. Sort of.
“What do you expect in return?” she asked.
“Nothing. Why are you so damn suspicious?”
She stood and paced over to the sliding glass door that led out to the backyard. Brick pavers formed a small patio that bled into a path leading up to the big house. A fountain, also made of brick, and a veritable jungle filled the rest of the space. Pacey had recently been making noise about clearing away some of her beloved plants to build a play area for Sadie. Petra hadn’t the heart to tell her she didn’t plan to stay here that long.
“I’m worried about your intentions,” she admitted with her back to Noah.
“My intentions?”
She nodded and continued to watch out the window. “I don’t want you to think we should be together just because we have a child.”
Fabric rustled. She could tell he stood up and was moving closer. She could actually feel him. She flinched when he placed his hand on her shoulder.
“I have every intention of being involved in my daughter’s life, but I don’t want to mate with you, Petra.”
She glanced up at him. His face was somber, his eyes wide and honest. “You don’t?”
Don’t you dare pout, she warned her dragon.
He shook his head. “Not part of my life plan.”
“Me or…anyone?” Jeez, why had she asked that question? She made it sound like she cared that he wasn’t interested in her, which was stupid because she sure as hell wasn’t interested in him. At least, not as a potential mate.
One side of his mouth quirked. “Anyone.”
The deep exhale was released before she could catch it. His smile grew wider as he tapped the tip of her nose. A perfectly innocent gesture that sent butterflies to fluttering in her belly.
“Why are you so adamantly against love and happiness?” he asked.
“Not against happiness. Or love,” she said, raising her glass in mock toast before taking a drink. “It’s a family thing. My parents. And a couple of aunts and uncles. And my grandparents. I come from a long line of loveless relationships.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the vast majority of the Sharmells have done the whole kid first, mating later, happiness never.”
“You’re saying a few members of your family got pregnant and mated because of the baby, even though they weren’t in love?”
“Not a few. A lot. Most. In fact, Uncle Blake is the only relative I know of who didn’t end up in a loveless relationship, and I’m convinced it’s because he was gay. No chance of accidentally getting pregnant.”
“The fact that condoms are the only birth control that works for dragons is a bit of a challenge, I suppose.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. And I swore to myself that I wouldn’t follow in their footsteps. Except I’m already halfway there, and now you’re here, and even though I’m attracted to you, that’s not love. It’s lust. Big difference. And I need you to understand that. I’m not going to be like the rest of my family. I’m breaking the loveless relationship cycle if it kills me.”
“I understand.”
She canted her head and studied him. “You do?”
He touched the rim of his glass to hers. “Now that we got that out of the way, will you let me help you with this assignment?”
She blew out a gust of air that fluttered her bangs. “You aren’t going to let up until I do, are you?”
“Nope.”
“Ugh. Well, let’s go sit down. It’s a pretty long story.”
***
She sat on the couch with her feet propped on the coffee table, her laptop resting on her thighs. Noah was next to her, his leg pressed against hers, his arms resting on his knees. Two wineglasses and a pitcher sat on the table. The pitcher was two-thirds empty.
Noah made damn good sangria.
Petra pointed at the screen. “I knew her name was Dahlia, which isn’t terribly common, so that played in my favor. And based on information from Gabe’s father, we believe she’s living here in New Orleans. Within the first few months after I got here, I tracked down three different Dahlias who weren’t the right person. And then I figured out I was pregnant. I had to take a break to mentally beat myself over the head for being so stupid.”
“You weren’t stupid on your own. I helped.”
“I had never, ever had sex without protection before. Remember the whole refusing to follow in my family’s footsteps?”
“Me either,” Noah insisted. “Remember the whole not interested in mating bit?”
She chuckled. “We are a pair, aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice soft. “We are.”
“Anyway, after a while, it dawned on me that being pregnant was going to make this assignment ten times harder, and I didn’t really want to stay and have the baby here. I honestly thought I’d be home by the time she was born.”
Noah glanced at the baby, asleep in the gently rocking swing. “I wish you’d told me about her. I could have helped sooner.”
“Trust me, there are a lot of things in my life I wished I’d done differently. So I tracked down a few more Dahlias and they were all dead ends. And then I stumbled upon one that had no trail.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, she existed and then she didn’t. And not like she died, but like she just…disappeared. It was weird, and really, really curious. So I started digging deeper and found a few vague connections to the Rojo colony.”
“I thought we knew already that she’s Rojo. Isn’t that why Gabe is imm
une to the curse?”
“Yes, but this person, before she disappeared, seemed to have no connection to them. I wasn’t even going to investigate her initially, but then I decided, what the heck, might as well turn every stone. And when she disappeared, it piqued my interest. And then I found the connection to the colony. And then another. But I couldn’t ever find her. It was really frustrating.”
“Hence tonight’s date? Is he somehow connected to her?”
“Actually, first I took the time to have a baby and then to figure out this whole parenthood gig. And I’m working for Pacey, too, so that I can afford to live here and buy diapers and such without letting Gabe know what was going on.”
“What about the charges to Nola Kids?”
“That was a mistake. Pulled the wrong credit card out of my wallet.”
“I can help. I have plenty of money. I don’t have much to spend it on, and being the reeve’s personal chef is actually quite lucrative, so…”
“I’m not going to take your money.”
“You’re raising my kid.”
“Stop with your logic,” she said, and he laughed.
“So you took a break to have Sadie, and now you’re returning to the assignment?”
“I had just started digging again a couple weeks ago. Started trolling the various bars and restaurants Rojo dragons like to hang out in. As much as I could, anyway, considering my lack of sleep lately. I met Carlos—”
“Your date?”
“Would you stop calling him that? I only went out with him to pump him for information. I never had any intention of doing anything with him.”
“You sure looked friendly.”
Was that jealousy in his voice? “Yeah, that’s how you get info out of guys like Carlos.”
He pursed his lips and fell silent.
“Anyway, I met Carlos at one of the clubs. We flirted a little, I fed him a few too many drinks and got him to talking, and he kept referring to this woman named Delilah.”
“Not much of a leap from Dahlia.”
“Exactly. So when he asked me out to dinner, I accepted so I could find out more info.”
“This explains Gigi, I presume.”
“Seemed smart not to give him my real name. Just in case.”