by Becca Van
He didn’t know what he would do if the latter happened.
* * * *
After showering and dressing, Niki went straight to her laptop and began surfing the net again. She’d found plenty of information on dragons, King Arthur, Guinevere, and Merlin, but so little of it was fact. King Arthur had been depicted as a legendary leader who led the British against the Saxon Invaders, but Niki had a feeling it was against the hunters. Most humans thought that Merlin had been a myth, but some thought he was a prophet and a madman. She found a lot of information on dragons but nothing about dragon shifters. And she hadn’t found anything on hunters. She’d even tried a specific word search on “Lord Jerome” but there was nothing.
She glanced to the clock on the bottom right hand of her screen and saw that she’d been sitting at her computer for most of the day and besides coffee hadn’t had anything to eat. Her stomach growled in protest but instead of making an early dinner and ending up hungry later that night, she grabbed an apple to munch on. There was only an hour or two of sunlight left and since she’d been cooped up inside all day long and sitting on her ass, she decided to go for a walk and stretch her muscles. Plus a little exercise would hopefully help her sleep better.
Niki put the apple core in the trash, washed and dried her hands, and then grabbed her jacket. It was cool out and although she would warm up quickly she didn’t want to catch a chill.
She enjoyed being outside and although she loved her hometown, it was pretty sparse of trees. There was plenty of scrub and it was very, well, rocky. She grinned at that thought knowing the land had everything to do with how the town got its name. She’d planted quite a few trees in her yard and some flowers for color and scent. Niki’s house was the last one at the end of her street and beyond that was only four-wheel-drive tracks. She often walked along the trails and breathed in the fresh air but it would have been nice if she had a companion, someone to talk to.
If she hadn’t burned her bridges with Randy, Rex, and Russ she would have liked to start dating them. She wasn’t sure about getting intimate with them so soon, but she couldn’t seem to control her body’s responses around them. Just thinking about the three men got her juices flowing and because she’d experienced their touch in her dreams, her body craved more. If they so much as kissed her she knew she wouldn’t be able to fight them. She would be lost and she wasn’t sure what to think about that. Her job had been everything to her and she didn’t want to have to give it up. She had a feeling if she accepted being their mate her whole life would change.
Well of course it will, you dumbass. It’s not like you can go about in normal everyday life if you mate with dragon shifters. They’ve stayed hidden for a very long time. If other humans even knew they existed they wouldn’t have just the hunters to worry about. Every man who owned a gun would come after them and I don’t even want to think about what the scientist would do if the dragons were ever caught.
Niki pushed her thoughts from her mind and just enjoyed the sun on her face and the breeze in her hair. Maybe by the end of the night she would know her own mind, know what she was going to do, but she doubted that very much.
* * * *
Darrien had just finished showering and dressing when someone knocked on his door. The only time he had any visitors was when the mayor had still been alive or he was dating a woman. He knew that Wallace was dead but he couldn’t use his hunter senses while he was supposed to be a normal human, so he had to go through the usual investigation process. Even if it was a long, slow process.
He opened the back door and quickly bowed his head to his leader. He should have known there was something up when the knock came from the back instead of the front. Jerome pushed in and closed the door before leaning his large muscular body against it and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Why don’t you have her yet?” Jerome asked angrily.
“Because she is always around the other deputy and the only time she’s been alone I’ve been stuck in fucking meetings,” Darrien snarled.
Jerome pushed off the door and walked from the dining area to the kitchen and straight to the fridge. He grabbed two beers and tossed one to him. “When are you going to make your move?”
“She’s on vacation for two weeks as of this morning. I’ll be able to get her easily enough now.”
“Good. We need her to bring the dragons into the open. I have orders to follow just as you do, so make sure you do your fucking job and quickly.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jerome nodded, drained the bottle in one go, tossed it into the sink, and left without another word. Darrien had always thought Jerome was leader of all the hunters but from what he’d just said, he wasn’t. Maybe he was just leader of the Midwest. He sighed with frustration. He’d planned to climb his way up the ladder to be Jerome’s right-hand man, but maybe he’d been aiming too low. There had to be a way to find out who ruled over all the hunters. He was sick of being the sheriff of a Podunk town and wanted more.
He was so much better than this. He’d been aspiring to take over as mayor after killing Wallace off himself, but that had been taken care of and he hadn’t had to lift a finger. A rare smile touched his mouth. Wally had been crazier than a two bob watch but he couldn’t fault the man for killing off another hunter in the hope of moving up. All hunters were money and power hungry. The bitch of a witch Rose Medwin had a lot to answer for. If she hadn’t been dead for hundreds of years he would hunt the slut down and kill her himself.
Although Wally had been insane, he’d also been very smart. He’d found some old parchments which had depicted the battle between dragons, hunters, Merlin, and Rose. Apparently the witch had written down the spell which had made the first hunters and had been trying to find another witch to counter the need for greed and power but as far as Darrien knew there were no living pagans with magic skills anymore. The only reason the hunters still existed was because not all the ones Rose had made had fought on that fateful night millennia ago, which meant that he was a descendant of the first hunters.
Of course there were some human women claiming to be wiccans or modern day witches but they were more like environmentalists than anything else. They worshipped the moon, stars, and earth but didn’t have an ounce of magic in their bodies.
Darrien had searched Wally’s house for those parchments but they had gone missing and he had a feeling Jerome had gotten there before him, but if he wanted to keep his head he couldn’t go around accusing his boss of breaking and entering.
The only way he was going to climb the next rung was to take Nikita and kill off Sid Clam, Jerome’s second, and that was going to be nearly impossible. Sid was a big son of a bitch and had a very short fuse. He’d seen the bastard rip a man’s head off with his bare hands and then calmly sit down to eat as if nothing had happened.
Maybe aiming for Sid’s position was a bad idea. What he really wanted to do was find a good woman and settle down with. However, if he did that he would have to completely change his identity and start a whole new life, but then he would spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder and that wasn’t any way to live.
He got angry and greedy like the rest of the hunters but his bloodline had been diluted more than others over the years. Male hunters always seemed to be attracted to and end up mated to women with hunter blood, but his dad had fallen in love with a pure human. Life had been interesting with his dad’s temper and his covetousness for material and monetary gain but his mom had always managed to diffuse him and talk him out of his greed.
He was as power hungry as his father had been but he was still a hunter and when given an order he couldn’t disobey otherwise he’d been forfeiting his life.
When Wally had disappeared he’d decided being mayor would be good for his image as a figure of authority in Rock Springs, and although he’d ridden Nikita’s ass it had nothing to do with how she did her job. In fact she was the best damn deputy he’d ever seen and he was attracted to her. And even though
he wasn’t sexist he couldn’t allow her to solve Wally or Belinda Starling’s disappearances. That would make him look weak in Jerome’s eyes and he couldn’t countenance that.
Hunters were expendable as far as the leaders were concerned and it didn’t seem to matter that their species was so few and far between. For all he knew the rulers could have found a way to breed more of them. And even though he wanted out he was still a hunter and he would do everything he needed to stay alive.
Chapter Seven
Niki stopped on her driveway when she saw Russ, Randy, and Rex leaning on the rails of her porch. She’d felt eyes on her the whole time she was out walking and knew one of them had followed her.
“Did you have a nice walk?” Russ asked and from the smile she glimpsed in his eyes she knew he’d been the one following her.
She moved closer to the house and halted at the bottom of the steps before crossing her arms over her chest. “I did. Did you?”
It was hard not to laugh when Russ’s face tinged red. He and his friends were so big, confident, and full of arrogance, it was funny to see his reaction knowing she got the better of him.
“Can we go inside?” Randy asked, meeting her eyes.
She chuckled when she saw the smile gracing his lips and then the laughter caught in her throat when the amusement in his eyes turned to hunger. She cleared her throat as she quickly looked away and walked up the steps. She’d left the door unlocked so all she did was turn the handle and walk in, but it was really hard to ignore the three angry growls coming from the three men as she moved into the living room.
“Don’t you ever fucking do that again,” Randy ordered in an angry voice.
She didn’t need to ask what he was talking about but for some reason she had the urge to pull the tail on the tiger. “What?”
“You know damn well, what. Are you trying to piss me off?”
Niki bit the inside of her cheek, trying to hold in the satisfaction that her goad had worked, but then she was battling her traitorous body, again. Her heart flipped and pounded hard and fast inside her chest. The lace bra she was wearing rubbed against her nipples as they elongated into hard throbbing peaks and her pussy clenched, moistening her folds.
“Don’t you realize the danger you could be in?” Rex stepped so close that all she could see was his massive cotton-covered chest. And what a chest it was. All three of them had the widest shoulders and muscled chests she’d ever seen. She couldn’t seem to stop her eyes from wandering lower and she could make out the ridges of each muscle in his washboard abs. Her knees weakened and her panties dampened and a shiver of need ripped up her spine, causing her to tremble.
Finally she was able to push her desire to the back of her mind and she moved around Rex to sit on the sofa.
“I know how to protect myself.”
Randy sighed and sat on the cushion next to her. Rex ran his hands through his hair and sat on the other side of her and Russ sat on the footstool near her feet.
“It’s not that we doubt your ability, baby, but if a hunter came after you there is no way you could fight him off. Hunters are stronger and faster than any man alive, plus their sense of smell and hearing is way more than a human’s.”
“Could he dodge a bullet?” Niki asked. She had her gun tucked into the small of her back since she’d dressed that morning, because she’d known that she was being watched. Of course she hadn’t figured out that it had been Russ until a few minutes ago but she wasn’t stupid and would shoot if she needed to.
“Yes,” Rex answered.
And that was when real fear hit her gut. Her heart beat so fast and hard it actually hurt and a cold sweat popped out on her body.
“Please don’t be scared, love.” Rex squeezed her knee. “We will do everything we can to protect you.”
“You have vacation time,” Russ began. “Why don’t you pack a bag and come stay with us for a few days? You’ll be safe in the lair and you can meet Belinda and the rest of our friends.”
Niki usually wasn’t frightened easily but she knew when to concede defeat. If these hunter guys could dodge bullets then she didn’t stand a chance. Plus, it would be a good opportunity to get to know these three men better. She finally nodded in acquiescence and headed to her bedroom to pack a few things. It took her all of five minutes because she normally only wore jeans, T-shirts, and blouses. She added her favorite pair of boots to her bag and after grabbing her toothbrush, hairbrush, and other such paraphernalia, debated with herself on whether to pack the one and only sexy nightie she had but decided against it. That nightie had been an impulsive buy but it wasn’t really her. She was a plain and simple type of girl and she decided that these men needed to see her as she was, not some sex siren who didn’t exist.
She snorted at that thought. She was a virgin for goodness sakes. What did she know about being sexy? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
When she had everything she thought she’d need she grabbed her bag and headed back to the living room and frowned when they all turned to look at her. “How did you get here? I didn’t see a car?”
Randy glanced at Rex and Russ before meeting her gaze again. “We flew.”
“In your dragon form?” she asked in a husky voice.
“Yes,” Russ said and walked toward her.
“Can I see your dragons?”
“Yes, darlin’, but not here. It’s too dangerous.”
She was disappointed but shrugged with a casual nonchalance.
Rex moved to her side and nudged her chin up. “We will show you when we get to our place. If we don’t use our reflection ability and there are hunters around, they will be able to lock onto our animals and be able to follow us.”
“How?”
“We’re not really sure, but we think they have a sonar ability which locks onto our body heat. We are way hotter than a human, love.”
“Yeah, I know. You guys are really hot.”
“Why thank you, Niki.” Rex smiled.
“I didn’t mean… You’re all handsome…but that’s not what I meant.” She felt her face heat and hated that she’d stuttered like a floundering schoolgirl.
Rex removed his finger from beneath her chin, winking and smiling at her before taking her bag.
“Do you have everything, baby?” Randy asked.
“I just need to get my wallet, keys, and cell.” She hurried toward the kitchen and got them.
“Are the front door and garage locked?” Russ asked.
“Uh, no.” Niki locked the internal garage and front door and then let Russ lead her out the back. He checked the back door after locking it and handing her the house keys. “Won’t I need my car?”
“Nope,” Randy said before he grabbed her other hand and led her toward the back of her yard. “Stand right there and don’t move.”
“Um…okay. What are we…” Niki’s words caught in her throat. Rex was about twenty feet away from the side and back fence holding her bag, but as she watched the air around him shimmered and he just seemed to vanish. All that was left of him was a shimmering wave of heat. Even her bag had disappeared.
“Where did he go?” she whispered her question to Russ who was still holding her hand.
“He hasn’t moved, darlin’. He’s right where you last saw him.”
“So how come I can’t see… The reflection thing. It’s like he’s totally invisible.”
“Yeah.”
“That is so cool.”
“Are you ready, baby?” Randy asked as he turned to face her. He’d moved to the opposite side and to the rear of her yard.
“For what?”
“For the ride of your life?” Randy tilted his head and waited for her answer.
That was when it sank in. She was going to be flying on a dragon.
“Um, how will I know where to climb on?”
“You don’t,” Russ answered. “Once Randy’s in dragon form he will pick you up in his front paw and carry you.”
“Oh. Wait! Won’t you
r claws hurt?”
“Baby, there is no way in hell my dragon or I would ever harm you. Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” Niki did trust him not to hurt her. She trusted all of them and knew that she’d made her decision. She was going to be a mate to three dragon shifters and to hell with the consequences.
Randy gave her one last look and then his body became blurred and he shimmered into nothingness. She felt a large huff of warm air cover her body, making the loose tendrils of hair around her face flutter and then her whole body was being enveloped in heat.
She drew in a loud, ragged breath and her chest began to rise and fall rapidly as she was lifted from the ground.
“Relax, Nikita,” Russ said. “Is Randy hurting you?”
“No.”
“Don’t be scared, darlin’. We are protectors, not destroyers.”
Niki allowed herself to relax and when she did, she realized her eyes were closed. She slowly opened them, expecting to be able to see some part of the dragon foot holding her but there was nothing to see. Then she caught a glint of light and she leaned forward to peek through. Her eyes widened when she saw the ground far below because she was so protected she hadn’t even realized they were in the air. Not even a waft of air had brushed over her skin. She moved her hand and gasped when she felt large, hard glasslike scales beneath her skin. She'd expected them to feel cold but the heat emanating from Randy's dragon was bordering on hot. Yet the heat wasn't painful or burning her skin.
Now she could feel a cool, stiff breeze washing over her and couldn’t help but shiver. The altitude and cooler weather, plus the setting of the sun, had made it downright cold. Randy must have felt her tremble or he just adjusted his hold on her because the small gap closed and warmth surrounded her. He was so warm she felt like she was sitting in front of an open fire, and that thought made her think of the horrific scene Lady Guinevere had showed her the previous evening. She covered her mouth when she yawned and her eyelids began to droop. She’d been up since four this morning and she was beginning to feel tired.