Burning for the Dragon: BBW Dragon Shifter Paranormal Romance (Fated Hearts Club Book 1)

by Cecilia Lane

  “Penelope, please open the door. Let’s talk about this.” Luca’s voice was thick with emotion even through the door.

  She glanced down at the shirt she wore. If she could unbutton the top and wiggle her arms out… Thank God for DIY.

  She fastened the shirt around her top and twisted the dangling sleeves around her waist to tie in a bow at her back. Anyone looking close enough would see a walk of shame outfit of epic proportions, but it would get her home without a public indecency charge.

  She planted her feet in her heels and took a few quick breaths of courage before opening the door. She ducked under Luca’s arms braced against the frame and made a quick dash for the door.

  “Penelope!” Luca called after her.

  “Oh, Luca, let her go. Clearly, she’s not worth your time.” The woman’s tinkling laugh made her ears red.

  Penelope wanted nothing more than to turn around and give them both the finger and an earful of foul language. She just didn’t trust herself to get through her speech without her voice cracking and tears streaming down her face. She was already a mess; she didn’t need to add mascara lines to the mix.

  She slammed the door behind her and prayed the elevator would arrive before Luca chased her into the hall.

  ***

  Alexa blocked his path as he tried to follow Penelope into the hallway. Maybe he could still talk her down and back into his apartment. They could throw Alexa off the roof together.

  He pushed Alexa aside and opened his front door just as the elevator closed. He punched the button to try and force it back open, but the descending numbers taunted him. Penelope was slipping away as surely as the elevator sank down the building.

  He stalked back into his apartment. The door shattered behind him with the force of his slam.

  Luca turned furious eyes on Alexa. She settled on his couch and hooked an ankle over her knee. Her skirt hiked up in what he was sure was a deliberate attempt to lure him in.

  How had he ever wanted a life with her? She smelled of desperation under her thin veneer of confidence. She was all hard planes in body and soul, where Penelope was soft and good.

  “Get out.” He ordered.

  “You’re not even going to ask me why I’m in town?” She asked sweetly.

  It’d taken too long for him to figure out that Alexa desired power more than any one person. She attached herself to the most viable prospect that would further her own reach. He didn’t care why she was there; he already knew.

  He’d been worried when she didn’t cleave herself to him at his brother’s funeral. So many other women of the court had tried to snare him. She had simply been biding her time. She let him settle in with the knowledge that he would need to take a mate, and now she appeared.

  She wouldn’t care that he’d already made his decision.

  “Well, since you asked. I’m here to check in on the search for your mate. You wouldn’t want to make the wrong choice when it comes to picking our next consort.”

  Implying, of course, that any choice but Alexa would be the wrong choice.

  “Leave.” He ordered again. He allowed some of his dragon’s anger to enter his voice. Twin trails of smoke exited his nostrils at the end of the word.

  Alexa only sighed. “I knew this would happen. You de Rege boys just don’t know how to find someone worthy.”

  “Do not speak of him.” His tone held more than a hint of warning.

  He felt too naked under her eyes. Penelope wouldn’t like him showing off for other women, just as surely as he would be upset if she were in a similar state of undress in front of other men. His dragon hissed at the possibility.

  He ignored Alexa and padded toward his bedroom. Reminders of Penelope were everywhere. Her scent was heavy in the air. Her discarded clothes were still on the floor. His poor mate had left in such a disheveled state and he was to blame. If he had kept his claws to himself, she would have had more clothes than just his shirt to wear.

  He pulled pants and a shirt from his closet and yanked them on his body. He needed armor to stand against Alexa. She was a fierce fighter in dragon form, but he was equally wary of her human form.

  He stepped out of his closet and found she’d snuck into the room behind him. She lounged long on the bed mussed from his night with Penelope. Instead of his mate beckoning him back to bed, his ex-lover fluttered her eyelashes at him and pat the bed next to her.

  Rage fueled his movement. He rushed across the space and hauled Alexa off his bed. He slammed her into the wall, hand wrapped around her throat. He wanted nothing more than to wring the life from her. “You come into the lair of your king—”

  “Heir,” she hissed, her eyes blazing with inner fire. “You’re not the king yet. Will you ever be, if they see her? She’s not one of us. Will they accept her or will they kill you both to spare our kind your weakness?”

  Some of the anger sapped from his muscles. He released Alexa’s throat. Had that been the message she was surely sent to give him? Choose wisely, or they would both die? It was an old tradition and used to cull weakness from the dragons. So few still lived that even the ancients of his people didn’t remember it being used. He wanted to believe it was just Alexa trying to mess with his mind and force him to choose her.

  His parents certainly wouldn’t object to the match. She was a full dragon shifter, after all. She’d been raised at court. She knew how to fight in both dragon and human shape. On paper, she was a good fit to be Consort to the Dragon King.

  But she wasn’t Penelope. He would kill anyone who threatened her.

  It was the questioning opportunity Alexa sought. She stroked his chest. “You were made for ruling, Luca. The power is almost in your hands. Don’t blow it on some human girl.”

  He shook his head. “No. Leo was the one made to rule. I wasn’t born for it.”

  “That doesn’t matter now. Don’t you see? The power is yours for the taking. What good is denial?”

  The heart of her words was correct and he hated to agree with her. He hadn’t been born to rule, but that wasn’t anything he could rely on now. His brother was dead and he was next in line for the throne.

  Her hand stroked down his chest again and her fingers trailed over the waistband of his pants. “We could be great together…”

  He snatched her hand away in a punishing grip. The bones of her wrist crushed together, but he twisted and squeezed until she sank to her knees.

  Again, the power of his dragon sank into his human form. His shoulders expanded with the gathering of his shift and his eyes darkened until all the color left them. His face elongated to fit many sharper teeth in his mouth.

  He held her before him and let her see the anger of her future king. She had invaded his lair, she had driven away his mate, and now she tried to seduce him. She was nothing. He only let the blood stay in her veins because she was a dragon and too few still lived.

  “Leave.”

  He unleashed her wrist and shoved her away from him. The scrambling sounds of her hasty retreat pleased both dragon and human.

  Chapter Eight

  Penelope thought of going straight to Vera’s. She would curse the ground Luca walked on and the club that allowed him to be a cheat, have a good cry, and end the night in a wallow of cookies and ice cream.

  Then she thought of the pity that would show on her friend’s face that she’d fallen for the wrong sort of guy again. There would be anger and indignation that someone could play with her emotions. Again. It’d be followed by the inevitable speech about how it’ll be better next time.

  Next time. She didn’t want next time. She had been so sure she was done with love, and Luca dared to make her hope for something real. Even a man in a trillion could be a scumbag.

  She couldn’t handle it. She needed to be alone. So she told the cab driver to take her home. Home, to the dingy studio apartment she could barely afford on wages she earned from a job she didn’t care about. All because she’d put her trust in the wrong sort of person
on the last flirtation with love.

  She’d been so stupid. She and Luca knew nothing about one another. He certainly didn’t mention anything about that woman. Not that there had been any time between dinner and the sheets, but that proved her point. He was practically a stranger.

  A stranger she desperately wanted to get to know. No, scratch that. She used to desperately want to know everything about him, from his favorite flavor of ice cream to the types of books he liked to read in his free time. Now, she wanted nothing to do with him.

  Because if she wanted him, mind and body, it meant she still cared. She wouldn’t care about a no good, two timing, devil of a man. Dragon. Whatever.

  It took the cab driver two attempts to get her attention before Penelope realized they’d parked in front of her building. She handed him enough bills to cover her fare and a tip, then fled up the rickety stairs to her floor.

  It took a few tries to fit her key in the lock. Hot tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. She didn’t want to cry in public. She didn’t want to be that girl. But she was so close to the privacy of her four walls. Finally, she managed to get the lock in the keyhole, and pushed into the door with her shoulder.

  Her hands shook as she stripped out of Luca’s shirt and threw it in the garbage. His delicious, smoky scent still clung to the fabric. She couldn’t keep that around, not even long enough to make it to the laundromat. She didn’t want to look at it and imagine how it looked hugging Luca’s arm and chest. Into the garbage it went, just like all her relationships.

  A shower was next on her list. Long and hot enough to eat into her utility budget, but that was something to worry about later. After she had time to properly feel sorry for herself under the scalding flow of water. Her tears flowed then, hot and silent. The walls were too thin for the ugly crying she wanted to unleash.

  She’d been betrayed again. As much as she wanted to place the blame firmly on the others, a part of her doubted herself. She was always the one being hurt. She fell too hard and too easily, and it opened her up for a world of pain. Even the hot water couldn’t rinse away the loathing she allowed herself to feel.

  After the shower, Penelope dressed in her comfiest pajamas and ordered a large pizza with piles of toppings. She didn’t care if it was only mid-morning. She didn’t plan to leave the apartment for the rest of the day. She’d spend the rest of the day staring blankly at the television as she binged episodes of programs she couldn’t even recall.

  She roused herself at the sound of a knock on her door. Expecting the pizza delivery, she was shocked to silence when she opened the door to find Alexa on the other side. Her mouth dropped open to gape openly at the taller woman.

  “Well, aren’t you going to invite me into your...home?”

  “How did you find me?” Penelope managed to whisper.

  “Oh, please. You weren’t difficult to follow from your workplace to this dump. Luca may have been happy to wait for your date, but I had to prepare for any threat that could come between us.” She pushed Penelope aside and walked into the apartment.

  Penelope didn’t know whether to run down the stairs and cry for help. Not that she’d get very far. The neighborhood was dangerous, and she was as likely to be harmed on the street looking for help as in the same room with Luca’s stalker girlfriend.

  She wanted to stick up for herself. Alexa toyed with a necklace around her neck as she took a quick tour of the one-room studio, taking in the bed that served as her couch and breakup nest, the tiny kitchen, even poking her head into the bathroom.

  Penelope’s eyes slid to the table she used to hold her purse. A necklace she meant to return to Vera was on the surface. Silver. Shifters didn’t like silver, Luca said. She edged closer to the table, but Alexa pinned her to the spot with a sharp stare.

  “I honestly don’t know how you live like this. I certainly can’t stand to be here longer than necessary. So, I guess you’re coming with me.”

  “I will not.”

  Alexa smiled brightly and revealed a mouth full of sharp teeth. Adrenaline shot through Penelope’s veins and she made a quick leap for the silver necklace. She screamed wildly and pressed it into Alexa’s face, but it didn’t do much more than anger the woman.

  She hissed and bat Penelope easily out of the way. She landed on the floor in a heap. Penelope shivered when Alexa turned murderous eyes on her. A red line like a burn remained on her face where the silver had met skin.

  “I tried to be reasonable,” Alexa said. “Remember that when you’re howling as I flay the flesh from your bones. It didn’t have to be this way.”

  Her tone chilled Penelope to the bone.

  ***

  Luca waited until he was sure Alexa had left before yanking open the door hidden away in his home office and taking the staircase to the roof. He couldn’t wait for the car to come for him. He wanted to be at Penelope’s apartment when she arrived. He needed a chance to explain everything to her. The day was cloudy enough to conceal him in his other shape, should any from below look skyward.

  Undressing, he let his shift rip through him instantly. There was no in between stage like other shifters, where he could feel his bones and body changing shape. He was simply human, and then dragon.

  Large wings the color of dried blood clung to his side. His tail, ridged with sharp spikes made for smacking into enemies in flight, flicked in agitation. Long claws clacked against the hard concrete of the rooftop. The dragon was impatient to go after their mate. He shook the rain from his eyes, the motion shivering down his long neck and through the bulk of his body.

  He forced the dragon to hook a claw around the sack that would contain his clothes. He doubted she would be pleased if he showed up naked. Then his wings unfurled and beat downward and the same time his powerful hind legs launched his body into the air. Higher and higher, his wings carried him into the cover of dark clouds.

  Just a few coasted beats later, and the dragon dipped a wing to start a slow spiral downward. Penelope’s building was nearing. Faceted black eyes judged the distance and didn’t betray the barely concealed anguish and fury that warmed him from the inside. He stroked wings to make the landing. A sharp claw brushed against the roof of the building, then Luca shifted back. Dragon became man.

  A naked man. He hastily dressed in the pack he forced the dragon to carry. The rain started to really pour, and he was soaked by the time he busted the lock and chain holding the access door shut.

  It was a surprise to check each of the building’s floors and not catch a whiff of Penelope’s scent. Her lair was there. Anywhere she regularly spent time would hold her scent. He sought after her spicy cinnamon flavor, urged it to hit his nose so he could follow it to her door. But nothing came to him but desperation.

  One of the lower floors gave him a brief trail. It was nothing close to the strength of what his lair would smell like, but he took the chance and followed the wisp of a trail to a door. Only a number was nailed on.

  He knocked. He didn’t know exactly what he would say, but he would demand she listen to him. He had done nothing wrong. Alexa was an old flame and an uninvited intruder. Surely Penelope would see the truth of it.

  He didn’t want to think about what happened if she still refused him.

  “Yes?”

  It wasn’t Penelope that spoke through the door. The voice was from the night before. Her friend?

  “Is Penelope in there?”

  “No. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave right now.”

  “I just want to talk to her.” He braced his hands against the doorframe. It’d be simple enough to beat down the wood. But Penelope wasn’t there. The scent was old and faint.

  “I don’t know how you got in here without buzzing, but I’m going to call security and then the police.” The voice faded into the apartment, and he heard the muffled sounds of a phone ringing. “Yes, there’s someone at my door that shouldn’t be in the building.”

  Luca wasn’t proud. He fled back ups
tairs and into the air. He couldn’t find Penelope if he was in custody.

  He used thermals to circle over the city. The storm gathered around him, but he didn’t leave the clouds. The deafening thunder in his ears and blinding lightning in his eyes fit his mood.

  He scanned the city below. There were too many scents and too many tiny ants to pick out one person. The one contact he had for her was wrong. She’d vanished.

  He hadn’t felt real despair when she disappeared into the crowd after the Fated Hearts Club had been evacuated. He still had a chance of finding her and making her his mate. Now, though… Now she’d disappeared again and her heart was filled with hatred of him.

  He was a powerful man and dragon. Defeat didn’t come easily to him. Anger, however, did. He’d been forced to find a mate. He’d been forced to take his brother’s place as the heir to the throne. Now he was being forced away from the woman he wanted to share his life.

  He thought of calling in Franklin and having him hack the Fated Hearts Club site again. Surely there was payment information stored on their computers. Payments needed billing. Did the potential mates need to pay for entry, or was that only the shifters looking for their future?

  He shot fire into the air in frustration. Any eyes looking from below would see odd lightning. Alexa would recognize it for what it was. He didn’t bother hiding his bellows of rage or bursts of flame. Let Alexa come and start a fight. He itched to let off the burning agony in his veins. She’d caused it and she could pay the price.

  He knew his lair had been invaded again as soon as his feet landed on the roof. The scent was more than just his own, and the door was left ajar. Alexa’s scent, though faint, lingered all around. Luca’s growl rippled from his chest and fangs hung over his lips.

  A ribbon was tied to the handle when he pulled open the door. A piece of parchment was attached. His name was written in Alexa’s handwriting. He unrolled it and read it. Then read it again. His dragon was ready to spring back into the air and do battle. Rending flesh with claws and fire, that’s what the beast wanted and Luca was more than happy to agree.