Paranormally Yours: A Boxed Set

by Alisha Basso

  His body tensed, but he couldn’t do anything. A sudden move now might make this half dragon pull the trigger.

  He breathed hard.

  One little twitch...

  It wouldn’t be a done deal. He was fast. Faster than this half dragon—Claude Willowby, who had somehow followed Hamish here.

  That didn’t mean Claude could be as fast as a full dragon. Or be as smart.

  As they stared at each other, estimating the other’s strengths, Noah heard movement on the steps. He ignored the sounds, concentrating on Willowby, paying attention to the finger on the sensitive trigger.

  One twitch. That’s all it would take to make the rifle go off.

  Heat shimmered inside him. Hot. Too hot for a human, but his body organs and membranes adjusted to accommodate the changes inside him. And as his body changed, his disdain for the half dragon intensified. A sneer grew in him at the puny half man, half dragon with his human weapon.

  What was a human weapon to the fire building inside him?

  He crouched more deeply, and a muscle in Claude’s left cheek twitched. Noah knew without looking that his finger on the trigger mechanism twitched, too.

  Noah held his breath, but nothing happened.

  This time.

  He could take the chance and rush forward. Push Claude down before he could trip the trigger.

  He figured he had an eighty percent chance of stopping Claude. Maybe ninety percent.

  But he didn’t move because there was that small possibility that he might be wrong. That he might not be fast enough.

  Noah could withstand a lot, but he suspected a barrage of bullets would kill him. He wasn’t invincible. No creature was.

  He straightened slowly, still ready to sprint forward if necessary. If any of Claude’s fingers twitched even once...

  Claude’s fingers relaxed.

  “You’re one of us.” Claude breathed heavily, lowering the rifle barrel two inches. “Full-blooded or half-blooded?”

  Noah raised an eyebrow.

  A muscle in Claude’s face twitched. “You’re not with her, too, are you?”

  “Are you speaking of Jin?”

  Beads of sweat popped out on Claude’s brow, and he jerked the barrel of the assault rifle upward. “Don’t fuck with me.”

  “Jin is my mother.”

  “No!”

  “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t she tell me there were more like me?” It was a cry of hurt, and Claude’s face twisted. “That there was another half-dragon man around?”

  The more unnerved Claude became, the cooler Noah felt. An icy coolness. “Because there’s nothing half about me.”

  Claude shook his head. “A full dragon. I don’t believe it.”

  Noah shrugged. “Both Jin and my father were dragons. A fact is a fact.”

  “You would have to be...”

  “Ancient. Very ancient.” Noah bent at his waist in a half bow, an old mannerism that he sometimes still employed. This seemed to be the right time for it. “Yes, I am.”

  The assault rifle trembled. Looking at Claude’s tortured face, Noah had the sense that the rifle was heavy, and Claude would prefer to put it down.

  “How can you live?” Claude’s words came out in a tortured whisper. “How can you not kill yourself?”

  Noah cocked his head. This was not a conversation he wanted to have with this twisted and armed half man.

  But he could see the distress in Claude’s face. See his pain.

  Plus, Claude still had the assault rifle, and Noah wasn’t ready to die. Not as long as Lila lived.

  “I have my music,” he said, his voice even. Smooth. “I changed to human because of the music. My mother lives for the wine.”

  Claude stared at him, still holding the rifle...

  “Are you going to try to shoot me?” Noah asked.

  “If I did, your mother would never forgive me.”

  Noah lowered his head in agreement. Though he wasn’t sure what his mother would do, he suspected that Lila would do more than just hold a grudge. She had stopped her descent on the stairs and was only a few feet above him. The stair wall kept Claude from seeing her, but Noah could smell her. He could feel her gaze on him. He could even feel her tension, a vibration in the air that only he was attuned to.

  “I just want to talk to her.”

  “With an assault rifle?”

  Claude’s jaw clenched. “If it’s the only way she’ll listen, I don’t have any other choice.”

  “There’s always a choice.”

  “You don’t know what it’s like to be alone.”

  Noah raised one eyebrow again, not saying anything. Not telling him that he’d known despair. That he’d suffered through the darkness. The loneliness. And not just years of suffering. Centuries. Millenniums.

  But there was a strength in him that Claude didn’t have.

  And there was the music...

  “I just want to talk to her,” Claude said.

  “You should leave. She’s not for you.”

  Claude’s facial muscles clenched, and Noah’s gaze snapped to Claude’s grip on the assault rifle trigger. The rifle barrel trembled.

  “I’m not going to shoot you.” Claude’s tone was tortured. “I just want to talk to her.”

  Noah held out his hand. “Give it to me.”

  “I can’t.” Claude shook his head. “Take me to her.”

  Noah looked into Claude’s eyes and saw the whirling darkness. This man was torturing himself. On the edge of madness.

  “If you kill me”—Noah purposefully kept his voice calm—“you won’t live long.”

  Claude just stared at him. “Take me.”

  Noah had the thought that Claude didn’t care if he died or not. That he’d reached the point of despair where death seemed preferable to living. The point where he’d lost all hope.

  Maybe Claude wanted to die, but after centuries of just existing, Noah finally had Lila to live for. And his mother had Hamish and the baby.

  “I’ll take you up to see Jin, but you have to leave your weapon here.”

  “If I shoot anyone, it will be myself.”

  “Then you need to pull that trigger now. Because I’m not taking you upstairs with it.”

  A silence followed, and he could see the indecision in Claude’s eyes—then a creak came from the stairs, and Claude’s eyes twitched up.

  So did the assault rifle.

  Chapter 22

  Noah rushed him, and as he plowed into Claude, the rifle went off, a blast of bullets before he ripped the rifle out of Claude’s hands.

  Lila! The name screamed in his head. Lila!

  * * *

  Lila jumped down to the landing and crouched as a barrage of bullets exploded above her head. She winced at the noise even as she turned her head.

  Noah was tearing the rifle out of the bastard’s hands and sending it sliding down the hallway. Then he let go of the bastard to turn around and look at her...

  Not noticing that the bastard was reaching for something in his pocket.

  Not an assault gun, but it could be deadly.

  Noah spotted her. His face relaxing with relief.

  And behind him, the bastard was lifting up a small gun and—

  She leapt forward, shoving Noah out of the way. Easy, because he wasn’t expecting to be pushed aside by her. Then she stood over Claude, her leg up, her foot positioned to smash down on his throat.

  He would be dead in seconds.

  As her foot came down, she saw that he wasn’t going to shoot Noah. He wasn’t going to shoot her.

  He was going to shoot himself.

  * * *

  Everything Claude had done was turning on him. And why not? He should never have been born. His father had feared him. His mother had never loved him. No woman had loved him. No parent.

  He didn’t even love himself.

  He’d had his last chance, and he’d blown it.

  But his finger on the trigger hesi
tated, making him a coward, and as he sucked in his breath and tensed his muscles to pull it, the dragon-man, who reminded Claude of Jin with his tensile combination of thinness and muscles and his sleek black hair, kicked the gun out of his hand.

  He cried out, his hand hurting, as a blonde woman tumbled against the dragon-man, who lost his balance, and he and the woman both toppled down on top of Claude, knocking him to the floor.

  He laid there in defeat, his back and his ribs aching, the dragon-man and the woman heavy on top of him ... and he wished he were dead.

  His only consolation was that his wish would soon come true, with the dragon-man pulling the trigger.

  * * *

  Still off balance, Noah and Lila struggled to get off Claude. As Noah tried to roll over Lila and she tried to roll over him, something strange kindled inside of Noah.

  Joy.

  Sparkles of it shooting up inside him.

  Streams of it shooting outside him.

  As Lila finally twisted the other way and jumped up to her feet, laughter built up in the same throat that had been tight with fear a moment ago. Not fear for himself but fear for Lila.

  Right now, it was fully open with happiness.

  Lila, the woman he loved, was alive and well.

  He was alive and well, too.

  Even Claude was alive.

  “Are you hurt?” she cried, bending over Noah as he remained half sprawled on Claude. “Give me your hand. Get up.”

  He lifted his head and grinned at her, savoring this emotion, this instant.

  A half growl came from her throat. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “Get off me,” Claude said. “Get off and kill me. Get it over and done with.”

  Noah ignored Claude, who was futilely trying to shove him off his chest.

  “Love.” He looked into Lila’s chocolate eyes that were his heaven. “That’s what’s the matter with me. Love.”

  Her lips parted and her pupils enlarged the way they did when they made love. “You fool,” she murmured, but she didn’t look like a woman in the throes of anger.

  She looked like a woman in love.

  He laughed and held up his arms, and he let her pull him up. Then he whooped and kissed her. Closed-mouthed and hard and fast. That’s all he had time for now, because the idiot was getting off the floor, and they needed to make sure he wasn’t going to grab the assault rifle or the smaller gun.

  And it would be a good idea to check the fool’s pockets and see if he had any other weapons on him.

  So he stepped back from her but gripped her hand.

  “What are we going to do with him?” he asked.

  “I could kill him.” Her voice was hopeful.

  Claude stood stiffly, almost as if he was waiting for her karate chop or his bullet.

  “Sorry.” Noah shook his head. “Not yet, anyway.”

  She shrugged, an elegant movement of her shoulders. “Then I guess we’d better take him upstairs where we can keep an eye on him.”

  Chapter 23

  “I’m glad you’re alive.” Jin’s glance encompassed Noah and Lila at the edge of the living room. Then her gaze took in the muscular man who walked in front of them. “What’s he doing here?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Lila said.

  Hamish stepped up to Jin’s side, and Noah could see the tension in his face. His need to protect Jin, though she was a thousand times stronger than him with his flimsy human strength.

  “He doesn’t have any more weapons on him.” Noah glanced at Lila, who’d done a thorough search on him—though not as far as stripping him down and checking any orifices. “It’s my belief that if he had one, he would turn it on himself.”

  Claude groaned.

  Jin huffed and turned to Claude. “I don’t know why you came here,” she said in an icy voice. “If you think you can make me change my mind, you’re deluding yourself. I don’t know what to do with you now. Kill you or just kick you out. I’m veering toward the first option.”

  “Do it. Just kill me. I can’t go back to the life I led.” He swallowed. “My life has been a void. I belong nowhere. There’s no one else like me. You were my only chance, and you rejected me.”

  “He didn’t shoot,” Noah said. “He had a three-second chance before I jerked the assault rifle out of his hand, and he didn’t shoot.”

  “I was hoping you’d take me to Jin.”

  “You thought I’d tamely take you up to my mother so you could shoot her?”

  “I wasn’t going to kill you or your mom.” His face scrunched into self-hatred.

  “Then why the artillery?” A chill iced through Noah. “You wanted me to kill you. That’s what you wanted.”

  “You’re not man enough to kill yourself?” Hamish’s voice was harsh with scorn.

  “Or see a human psychiatrist?” Jin asked. “Or take pills, drink too much alcohol, smoke marijuana? Instead, your solution is to make us kill you?”

  Lila put her hands on her hips. “I totally agree with Jin and Hamish. He’s doing this because he’s too much of a coward to kill himself.”

  “Lila.” Noah shook his head, though he knew her anger stemmed from her fear for him when he’d faced Claude on the stairwell.

  “No!” She glared at him. “I love you, but I’m not going to baby this man.” She pointed at him. “He’s dangerous. First, his unwanted attentions forced your mother to leave her winery. Then he brought an assault gun into the shop. Into our home. He pointed it at you.”

  “You heard him. He didn’t shoot. He had no plans to shoot. He didn’t shoot with the gun, either.”

  “I don’t care.” Her face flushed with emotion, and moisture welled up in her eyes. “He could have killed you.”

  “Haven’t you ever been lonely?” Noah asked. “Haven’t—”

  “Lonely?” She bristled. “You know my background. What a bastard my stepfather was. What he did to my mother. But did I go around saying Poor me, poor me, poor me? And did I stalk people? Did I take an—” She stopped mid-word and turned her glare on Claude. “Never mind. Just know that what I didn’t do was whine about it.”

  “I’m not whining!” Claude scowled.

  “All you’ve done is whine. If you can’t suck it up, then go to a support group for lonely people. Don’t come to our home with an assault gun.”

  “There’s no group like that.”

  “Sure there is. They call it Match dot com.”

  He glared at her. “They can’t match me with half dragons.”

  “Because there aren’t any other half dragons. Get over—”

  A cracking sound got their attention. Jin gasped, and Noah watched her scurry to the egg.

  Claude took a step after her, staring as if transfixed.

  “No!” A modern-day Viking with a Scot’s accent slammed into Claude.

  As Claude shouted, Lila went into a karate crouch.

  Noah’s belly smoldered, but he held himself back. Though he was a fire-breather, his head was cooler than Lila’s.

  The Viking scowled. “I’m not letting that damn stalker near Jin or the baby.”

  “Baby?” Claude rubbed his arm where Hamish had slammed into him. “That egg... Is that a ... dragon baby?”

  Lila straightened from her karate stance and crossed her arms.

  So did Hamish.

  Noah turned to Claude. “It was a mistake to bring you upstairs. You’re upsetting everyone, and you need to leave.”

  “I can’t go.” Claude frowned. “I won’t hurt anyone. It’s just”—his breath sucked in—“this...” He waved his hand at the egg that was rocking crazily, more cracks showing. “This baby’s like me, isn’t it?”

  Noah looked at Hamish, who was gazing at Jin longingly. It was obvious he wanted to be at her side.

  The Viking was in love. With Noah’s mother.

  And Noah had seen the way his mother’s face had lit up when Hamish had come into his home.

  He was glad for he
r. Why shouldn’t she be as happy with Hamish and the new baby—dragon or human—as he was with Lila?

  Lila was the love of his life.

  When she died, he would have no reason to stay. No reason to live.

  Unlike Claude, who had been ready to let Noah kill him, Noah would take care of his own death. Efficiently and quickly. Not expecting anyone else to do the job for him.

  But before that... He stepped forward to grab Claude and drag him downstairs, step by step and, if necessary, thump by thump.

  He should never have let him come upstairs.

  “Jin!” Claude held up his hands, as if he could ward Noah away. “Let me stay. I give you my word that I won’t harm any of you. I swear to it.”

  She crouched in front of the egg, not looking back at him.

  Hamish hovered near Claude, Lila, and Noah, but he kept shooting glances at Jin and the egg.

  “Please.” Claude got down on his knees in front of Noah, and he looked damn uncomfortable, his face contorting. Noah wondered if that crash onto the hall floor with him and Lila on top of Claude had broken a few bones or torn a muscle or two.

  At least he wasn’t complaining about pain. Noah gave him that much.

  Claude put his hands together, as if he were praying—and even like this, arrogance burned in his eyes as he stared at Noah. “Please. I need to see this. Don’t you understand? This half-human, half-dragon creature will be like me. I would never harm it. Ever.”

  “It’s a baby.” Lila crossed her arms. “Not a creature.”

  Still on his knees, Claude laughed harshly. “Do you know how old I am?”

  “Forty-four,” Lila said promptly. She’d looked him up on the computer. Though Noah would’ve put him ten years younger. Perhaps in his early thirties.

  “Try adding another forty years to that,” Claude said.

  Noah narrowed his eyes at him.

  “After I realized I wasn’t aging like other people,” Claude continued, “I had to reinvent myself and then pretend to die.” His mouth twisted in a sneer. “You can buy anything for money. Death certificates. Birth certificates. I’ve already created a fictional nephew, still American, who will inherit everything of mine.”