Dragon Burn

by Donna Grant

  At the back of his skull was a bony plate that projected backward to protect his neck, while a single horn protruded from the base of his chin. A row of spines ran from the base of his skull down his back to the tip of his tail where there was a bladelike extension on the end.

  She wanted to touch him, to feel his scales beneath her palms. The need for that connection drove her, propelling her to take another step and another toward the beast and away from Mikkel–who, curiously, didn’t stop her.

  The moment she made contact with Sebastian, something zapped from his scales into her hand. She jerked her gaze upward to his dragon eyes. That’s when she realized the safest place for her was standing next to the giant dragon.

  The Dragon King.

  Sebastian shifted so that she stood between his two front legs. She barely had time to get used to that when, without warning, he opened his mouth and fire came billowing out, right toward the woman he kept calling Druid.

  His rumble of a roar filled the area. The next instant, Sebastian was in human form once more. He roughly shoved her behind him. Then he blew out a breath toward Mikkel, except it wasn’t air that came out, but lightning.

  Gianna glanced over at the fire containing the Druid. Her mouth fell open when the woman held her hands up, waving them about with her lips moving, while somehow extinguishing the fire.

  So...Druid really meant...Druid. After Gianna witnessed Sebastian’s fight with the Dark Fae, the Druid didn’t come as such a shock. Other than the fact she wished she had her own magic right now. With Sebastian containing Mikkel, Gianna decided to try another tactic.

  She stalked to the Druid and stood before her once the fire was out. “Leave,” Gianna demanded.

  The Druid raised a black brow as her greenish gold eyes watched her. “I like your courage, but I can’t do that.”

  “Sure you can. You turn around and walk away while you still can.”

  “You think your Dragon King will kill me?” There was a hint of a smile on the Druid’s lips. “It will come, but not by his hands.”

  Gianna heard Mikkel yell in pain. She opened her mouth to speak again, but the Druid waved her hand from right to left, and Gianna went flying.

  Her back slammed into the corner of a crate, knocking the breath from her. She gasped for air, her hand over her ribs as the pain sliced through her. Even as she worked through the blinding agony, her eyes tracked the Druid, who was making her way toward Sebastian.

  Gianna wanted to call out to Sebastian, to warn him. But there was no need as he turned and spotted the Druid. His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as he let loose another volley of lightning directed right at the woman.

  As soon as the bolts slammed into and around her, the Druid let out a cry of pain. Her body was frozen as it jerked helplessly from the currents. After another few seconds, Sebastian held up his hand. Though Gianna didn’t see anything come from his palm, it was obviously magic that tossed the Druid out the door before it slammed shut.

  Sometime during all of that, Gianna was able to take a normal breath. She dragged air into her greedy lungs as the stinging began to diminish enough that she could push herself up on one hand to look for Mikkel.

  She found him on the ground unmoving. Was it over then? Or nearly? She truly hoped so, because she’d just about reached her limit of…well, everything.

  Sebastian turned to her, his gaze darting to the closed door where the Druid had been flung.

  “I’m fine,” Gianna said. “Go do what you need.”

  “Stay here. I’ll return.” Then he was striding to the door, yanking it open, and disappearing.

  Gianna had no doubt Sebastian would take care of the Druid, and quite frankly, she didn’t care how he did it. Not after everything she’d seen and heard. Whoever the Druid was, she had chosen to work with Mikkel, and that made her a threat in Gianna’s book.

  She sat up and took stock of her body while keeping an eye on Mikkel. He might be unconscious, but she didn’t think they’d get lucky enough that he was dead. She winced when she took a breath. There were various aches and twinges, but it was nothing to the burns on Sebastian’s body that he sustained during the Dark attack. Burns that she had seen begin to heal.

  A Dragon King. And immortal.

  Why wasn’t she more shocked at it all?

  It certainly wasn’t because of the story Mikkel told. The tale might have helped explain things, but there had always been something uncommon about Sebastian that went far beyond his confidence and charming smile.

  Now she knew. He had magic. No. That wasn’t it at all. The reason was because he was a dragon.

  There was a smile on her face when she leaned her head back against a crate and closed her eyes. Her lover was a Dragon King. And she couldn’t wait to be in his arms again.

  As her breathing evened out, she thought about Mikkel. For years, she’d worked for a maniac without even knowing it. She’d known that not all of his business contacts were on the up and up, but she hadn’t delved deeper.

  That was because she’d known what she might find, and she hadn’t cared. That apathy was not the woman she knew herself to be. It was a part of her life that she would close the door on and move forward, but never forget.

  It would always be there, a constant reminder of how she let indifference control her. The complete and total disregard to what was moral and what wasn’t. The new her wanted to slam her fist into Mikkel’s face.

  She lifted her head, her eyes opening as she contemplated doing just that. When she thought of how he’d roughly handled her, how he’d cut her finger and yanked her hair, she wanted to hurt him. Mikkel would continue to harm others.

  Gianna held her ribs before she tucked her legs under her and climbed to her feet. She put her hands on the crate. Then she quietly walked to where Mikkel was lying.

  Only when she made it around the crates, he was gone. She hastily looked about, thinking he might have crawled somewhere. Then she began to search behind the numerous crates, but she quickly discovered that he was well and truly gone.

  The sound of footsteps had her spinning toward the door. When she saw Sebastian, relief filled her. His frown, however, spoke volumes about his anger.

  “She’s gone. The damn Druid is gone,” he grumbled.

  She wrinkled her nose. “Then I really hate to tell you that Mikkel is, too.”

  Sebastian said nothing as he hurriedly searched the room for Mikkel. All the while she looked over his fine body. The wounds were almost healed, attesting to his immortality. Then she looked at his dragon tattoo.

  Was it merely a stroke of chance that she had gotten a dragon tat? Or had it been something more like the hand of Fate reaching down and turning her in the direction she was supposed to go?

  “I had them both,” Sebastian said, annoyance deepening his voice.

  She shivered against the cold. “What now?”

  “I should look for them.” Then his gaze landed on her. “After I get you home and make sure you’re safe.”

  “What about this whole Dragon King thing?”

  He searched her gaze but didn’t come closer. “Knowledge of us usually puts people in danger.”

  “And you were trying to save me from that,” she finished. “I understand. I’d have done the same thing. But I know now. I saw.”

  “So you did. You didna run. Why?”

  “I gather from that statement that others normally run away?”

  He gave a single nod.

  She licked her lips and walked to him. If he wouldn’t come to her, she would go to him. She stopped before him and stuffed her hands in her pockets so she wouldn’t reach out for him, even though she craved to touch him.

  “I told you about my marriage,” she said. “After the divorce, the thought of another man in my life gave me hives. I put my effort into my career. It wasn’t until I saw you at the bar that I found I wanted to be with you. When I was, I forgot about my past and only saw the present and how wonderful it was to be wi
th you. Even had I wanted to ignore the attraction, I couldn’t have. It was entirely too strong.”

  She stopped and swallowed, hoping Sebastian would say something, but he continued to look at her. “And I realize I was part of your plan to get to Mikkel. You’re leaving Venice, but before you do, I have something I need to say. Our time together was short, but you cleared away the fog I was living in. You helped me to remember who I used to be and the dreams I once had.

  “I knew when I met up with you the other morning that I was putting my heart in jeopardy. And I didn’t care. I wanted to feel again. So it was no surprise when I left your palazzo that I realized I’d fallen in lo—”

  She never got to finish her sentence. Sebastian grabbed her face and yanked her against him, kissing her deeply. She sank against him, her arms wrapping around his neck as she forgot about her aches and pains. His warmth enveloped her as his kiss made her toes curl. They could’ve kissed for eternity and she wouldn’t have cared. She was in his arms, the only place she wanted to be.

  He finally ended it and pressed his forehead against hers. “I came to seduce you, but you’re the one who stole my heart. Completely. Utterly. I was willing to walk away to keep you out of our war, but it was more difficult than I ever counted on.”

  “Does that mean...you love me?”

  “Aye, I love you,” he whispered huskily and kissed her again.

  Her heart was bursting with happiness when the kiss ended and she rested her cheek against his chest to hold him tightly. “What now?”

  “We get out of Venice.”

  “To where?”

  “Dreagan,” he answered.

  She leaned back to look at him. “Like the Scotch?”

  “Aye. We distill it.”

  Her eyes widened at the news. “Now I understand where the money comes from. But tell me something else.”

  “Anything.”

  “Is the story Mikkel told me true?”

  The light faded from Sebastian’s eyes a little. “Sadly, it is.”

  “That’s why Ulrik was banished, and why you’re looking for him.”

  “He walked alone for centuries. I should’ve been there for him.”

  “You were today,” she said. “How is it you don’t hate humans? And why was any mention of dragons erased from history?”

  His topaz eyes crinkled at the corners. “We made sure there was never any history of us. As for the other, no’ all mortals are bad, just as no’ all dragons are like Mikkel.”

  “But you sent the dragons away.”

  He wound a lock of her hair around his finger. “Aye. We miss them terribly, but mortals and dragons can no’ live in the same realm.”

  “That makes me sad.”

  “The past is the past. It can no’ be changed. But the future is as yet unwritten. With your help, I learned all I needed from Mikkel to let the other Kings know our target isna Ulrik but his uncle.”

  Gianna looked to where Mikkel had fallen. “Who can apparently disappear.”

  “The Druid as well. Right now she’s a bigger threat. I’d intended to kill her.”

  “She said you weren’t the Dragon King who would end her life.”

  Sebastian’s forehead crinkled in a frown at that news. “It helps to know that a King will end her life.”

  “But will it be soon enough?”

  “It better be. She’s done enough damage already,” he said as he pulled away and began to dress.

  Gianna took his hand once he finished and they walked to the door. They exchanged looks, his fingers tightening on hers.

  “It’s going to be all right,” he promised.

  To her surprise, she truly believed it would.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “I’m going to kill him!”

  Eilish watched Mikkel from her position in one of the chairs as he paced the office inside his palazzo.

  “What the hell did you think bringing me back here?” he demanded as he whirled around to face her. “Here? The verra place they’ll start looking for me!”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to “fek off,” but she kept the comment to herself. Mikkel might be a master at setting the stage for his coup, but he had yet to learn to control his rage, which always bled through in his Scots brogue.

  She merely stared at him, refusing to speak until he calmed. He huffed loudly before he began pacing again. Eilish took that time to mentally check her body. There were going to be many bruises, and she was fairly certain at least one rib was cracked along with her broken wrist, thanks to the lightning strike.

  While Mikkel grumbled to himself, she closed her eyes and let her magic begin to heal her body. As the magic moved through her like a comforting hand, the pain diminished. When the last of it vanished, she opened her eyes to find that Mikkel stood before her. His gold eyes were narrowed, anger contorting his features.

  He and Ulrik looked so much alike they could pass for twins, but that’s where their similarities ended. Ulrik’s patience startled even her. Not that he didn’t get angry. She’d seen a flash of it in his eyes recently when he’d visited her at her pub, but he hadn’t let it control him. Not like Mikkel.

  It was her first time meeting Ulrik, and she’d realized right away why Mikkel hated his nephew. He was everything Mikkel wanted to be—and wasn’t. Ulrik was everything Mikkel believed he deserved—and didn’t.

  She was really going to hate killing Ulrik.

  “You’re welcome for saving your ass and keeping you out of the hands of the Dragon Kings,” she said as she stood and strode past Mikkel to the doorway.

  “You can’t walk away from me.”

  She rolled her eyes at his dramatics, but didn’t look his way. “Watch me.”

  “I own you!”

  That brought her to a halt. Rage stormed inside her with a ferocity that she contemplated unleashing on Mikkel. Slowly, she turned to face him. Magic crackled through her veins, making her skin tingle while urging her to wreak her brand of havoc on him.

  She almost gave in. It was such a tempting thought that she was raising her hand when she recalled their agreement. “Let’s get something straight right now. You don’t own me. And you never will. I agreed to help you in exchange for information.”

  “Information you won’t be able to obtain by anyone else. Only me,” Mikkel stated brusquely.

  The one thing she’d always promised herself was that she would never be beholden to anyone again—and look what she’d gotten herself into. It was the information Mikkel dangled before her, teasing her with, that kept her answering his summons and demands, but she was growing weary of it all.

  “I can tell you who your real mother is,” Mikkel said.

  They’d been through this multiple times. She knew the outcome, and yet she found herself saying, “Tell me.”

  “Not yet.”

  “I’m beginning to think you don’t really know.”

  Mikkel’s smile was slow as it pulled at his lips. “Is that a chance you’re willing to take? After searching for so long?”

  Man, she really hated him. One day, the two of them would clash, and she wasn’t going to come out the loser.

  “You should go,” she said. “Sebastian will be coming for you soon.”

  “There’s one thing you need to do first.”

  Eilish could well imagine what he wanted of her, but still she asked, “What?”

  “Wipe Sebastian’s mind of everything I told him. I don’t want him to recall any of it or me.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, surprised by his request. “All right.”

  “Kill Gianna. Make Sebastian believe he did it.”

  Now this was the Mikkel she knew and loathed. “I’ll see it done.”

  She didn’t wait around for him to leave before she touched one of the silver finger rings and disappeared.

  * * * *

  Con broke the surface of the water beneath the palazzo Dreagan owned and climbed up the dock. He ran upstairs
, unmindful of the trail of water he left in his wake, all the while calling Sebastian’s name through the mental link. The longer it went on without a response, the more worried he became.

  He used his magic to open the door of the palazzo. After drying off and finding clothes, he was soon on the streets of Venice headed to the location that Ryder sent him by the mental link.

  No matter how many times Con called Sebastian’s name through their link, it was only silence that greeted him. There were no sounds of roars from a dragon, so Con held out hope that Sebastian hadn’t shifted. Especially since Ulrik had no compunction about doing the same, as he’d shown everyone in Paris when he’d attacked Asher.

  The closer Con got to the building, the more alert he became. He expected Dark to jump out or to see some sign of Ulrik. But there was nothing.

  Not even a sound.

  He found the entrance of the building and easily got through the lock with a little magic. When he stepped through and looked around, he saw evidence of a battle. There were scorch marks from dragon fire, but they had been quickly extinguished. There were also marks from Sebastian’s lightning. Unease curled through him. His gaze lifted to the cracked crates. Then he saw the blood.

  He knelt beside one of the puddles and drew in a deep breath. “Dark Fae,” he mumbled.

  At least it wasn’t Sebastian’s. Or the mortal female’s. But where were the two of them? And where was Mikkel or Ulrik?

  Con spotted the splintered wood near another door and walked to it. Rubbing his finger over it, he looked beyond into the corridor to see a wall that someone had impacted hard. Beyond it was a tunnel. He followed the pathway, spotting more Dark Fae blood as well as human blood. The few drops meant the mortal wasn’t seriously injured. Most likely it was used as a means to lure Sebastian.

  Con didn’t stop until he reached the open door into the palazzo. He stood at the doorway and listened for any sounds of another somewhere inside. The structure was completely empty, shocking him.

  He walked to the office window and looked out to see that he wasn’t far from Dreagan’s palazzo. Whether this was Mikkel’s or Ulrik’s home, they were entirely too close for his comfort. It made him realize it was time to have a look at their other properties and their neighbors.