by Donna Grant
Cináed began to take off. As he did, his gaze went to the manor, and at the back he saw the unmistakable wavy blond hair of the King of Dragon Kings. Constantine gave a bow of his head, an acknowledgement that he knew what Cináed was up to and approved.
“It willna be long now,” Merrill said.
He looked over into his friend’s dark blue eyes and nodded. There was no need to ask. Everyone knew that tensions were at a breaking point with Usaeil. Especially since they recently discovered that the Queen of the Light Fae was also part of the Others.
Just the thought of the Kings’ new foe made anger churn in Cináed. The Dragon Kings’ magic was mightier than any other being on the realm, but somehow the Light and Dark Fae and mie and drough Druids had joined their magic together. That combination proved to be lethal to the Dragon Kings.
Cináed didn’t want to think about them right now. He’d much rather concentrate on Gemma and her untold story.
“I saw what you and Ryder found,” Merrill stated. The King of the Oranges had always been direct.
Cináed glanced at him as he flew east toward the small isle where Gemma had been raised. It was part of the Hebrides Islands, and with so many of them dotting the waters, it was amazing that she had been found at all.
“I also heard you met her.”
Cináed sighed loudly. “Nothing stays private.”
“You let her run you over. How did you think that wouldna make the rounds?” Merrill asked with a laugh.
Cináed found himself chuckling as well. “I didna mean to get hit. It just happened. However, it did give me a chance to talk to her.”
“And?”
“She’s going to be a tough nut to crack.”
Merrill crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do you want to know her story so badly?”
“I can no’ say. I just have to.”
“And her taking the name Clacher gave you the excuse you needed.”
Damn Merrill. He shot his friend a flat look.
Merrill threw up his hands. “I’m on your side. Why else do you think I’m here?”
“To see if I do something else stupid.”
“Well, there is that.”
Cináed shook his head. “Despite Ryder’s attempts, he’s found no sign of her family. They disappeared that night.”
“No one disappears,” Merrill stated, his voice solemn.
“No, they doona.”
Cináed looked to Merrill to find his friend’s head of short dirty blond hair was turned to stare out the side. The smile was gone. No doubt Merrill was thinking of when they’d sent their dragons away.
“If Ryder can no’ find the family, then they’re gone,” Merrill said.
“You mean dead.”
Merrill swiveled his head to him. “Aye.”
“Why leave the daughter alive?”
“They didna want to kill a child.”
Cináed shook his head. “Gemma had an older brother. Kyle is gone along with the parents.”
“We’ll find some answers soon.”
Cináed saw the red light on the map flashing, indicating that he was drawing close to the coordinates that he had entered.
When they reached the isle, he flew them over it first one way, and then the other to get a look at the land, but also to see if either of them felt any spells that would alert someone to their presence. Luckily, they felt no magic.
It was a small isle, but there were places a child could run and play. The buildings were in ruin now, with part of the main house’s roof caved and parts of every building missing.
He landed the chopper and shut off the engine before they removed their headsets and exited. The first thing Cináed noticed when the helicopter blades stopped was the whistle of wind.
“There are many caves beneath these isles,” Merrill said, his gaze directed toward the water.
He jerked his chin to the sea. “Go.”
It was a long moment before Merrill said, “Later.”
They each went a different direction. Cináed walked to the house. It didn’t take long to go through each room because there was nothing to discover. The other buildings didn’t yield anything either. He made his way to the dock. As he stood on the edge watching the waves break in the distance he imagined how it would have been that night with the storm raging.
The reports spoke of violent lightning and gale winds. Surely the parents would have secured the children in the boat themselves. At least that’s what he would’ve done. If Gemma had been his child, nothing short of death would have stopped him from getting to her.
But if the boat had wrecked, there would have been proof of that. There had been no sign of the boat or bodies ever discovered. The only way anyone knew that something terrible happened was when Gemma had been found.
Merrill came up beside him then.
“The answers are in the water,” Cináed said.
Without a word Merrill dove into the water, shifting into his true form as he did. Cináed was right behind him. The moment his body was beneath the waves, he released his dragon.
Merrill swam ahead of him. While he might be a dragon, Merrill’s domain had been the water, specifically these waters. No one knew them better.
If there were something to be found, his friend would discover it. But Cináed had a feeling that it would give very few answers when they did. Instead, bringing forth more questions.
Chapter Four
“Gemma!”
She bolted upright in bed at the sound of her brother’s voice ringing in her head. The flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by the boom of thunder had her scrambling out of bed. Except her feet got tangled in the sheets and she fell hard to the floor. Gemma didn’t care that she banged her head during the fall as she crawled her way into the corner and drew her legs up to her chest.
With no dog to hold on to, she had to deal with the paralyzing terror on her own. And to make matters worse, flashes of that long-ago night went through her mind each time the lightning lit up the sky.
Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut, not that it did any good. Her heart slammed against her ribs, her breathing was harsh and ragged, and sweat ran down the sides of her face.
“It’s just a storm. It’s just a storm,” she tried to tell herself.
But there was something about the severity of it that took her back to the fateful night her life was forever changed. A night that she tried her hardest never to think about—but the memories were always there, waiting to rise up at the worst times.
She knew in her heart that her family was dead. They wouldn’t have left her behind. They loved her.
If only she could know if it was the storm that had taken them. Or if it was the figure she’d glimpsed.
Even now after so many years the thought of that tall, black silhouette in the storm made her shiver in dread. It had watched her, as if waiting to see if she would die. It was what had been on the docks, and she knew it had been in the house.
Who was it?
The better question should be what was it?
And why had it come to the isle?
“Mum,” Gemma whispered as the tears fell from her eyes and down her cheeks.
She hadn’t cried for her family in years, but today she keenly felt their absence. And the pain went so deep that it took her breath away.
Gemma didn’t move the rest of the night even when the storm finally passed, leaving nothing but the steady pounding of rain. She watched the sunlight stretch through the blinds on her window across the floor.
She didn’t know what time it was when she made herself climb to her feet. Every inch of her body hurt. She would be sore from holding herself so tense.
Gemma changed into a pair of sweats and an old tee shirt that she had cut the neck out of so it hung over one shoulder. She ran her fingers through her hair, put on a pair of socks since her feet always got cold, and went to put the kettle on for tea.
While the water heated, she went to her desk
to look at her planner and see what she had on her schedule. Besides a conference call at one o’clock with one of several private investigators she used, her day was quiet.
Since she’d made sure to get enough groceries to last her nearly a week, she didn’t have to go out at all. Unless she wanted to.
And she never wanted to.
Then her thoughts went back to the incident at the pub. She still couldn’t believe she had backed into someone. And not just any someone. Cináed was so gorgeous that she had forgotten how to talk for a moment.
The first thing she’d noticed was how casually he sat on the ground, as if he got run over every day. Cináed had worn a form-fitting beige shirt that showed off his incredible physique. He was just as she liked them. Toned and defined without looking overly so.
The shrill call of the kettle had her rising to her feet to go to the kitchen. While she made her tea she thought of Cináed’s face. And what a face it was.
All hard lines and ruggedness that would make the stoutest of hearts weak in the knees. His gray eyes had never wavered from hers. They had been clear and direct, penetrating even. His hair was perfect with it being extra short on the sides and back but elongated on top and worn back-swept like a pompadour without a strand out of place.
Some might say his hair was pale brown. She saw dozens of colors. Rich browns like the earth after a fresh rain, then softer shades of amber and whisky all mixed in with golden strands that reflected the sun.
One look at him, and she’d been awestruck. Utterly. Completely.
Then he spoke. The sound of his slightly roughened, sexy voice had actually made her stomach flutter. Until she realized she had backed into him. Her embarrassment made it nearly impossible for her to look at him.
But someone as handsome as he was couldn’t be ignored. She had looked as much as she dared while drowning in humiliation. It had been the right thing to do to give him her information in case he was injured, but a part of her wished she could give it to him under different circumstances.
But who was she kidding? Relationships and her didn’t mix. No one understood her need to be on her own when the memories of the past hit, when she evaded questions about her family, or when she wouldn’t talk of her past.
The one time she had told a man who she really was, it had backfired on her. Instead of making him understand her better, she became a sideshow he could tell anyone he knew about. That was the one and only time she had dared such a thing.
No, she was much better off on her own.
She made her way back to her desk, her gaze catching on the dog bed. Maybe it was time to get a new companion. She always went to the older dogs, the ones who had been abandoned. The sadness in their eyes was one she recognized well.
Gemma loved giving the dogs a home and love. Unfortunately, it meant that she lost them more quickly than she liked. Still, it made her heart feel good to turn to the animals that no one wanted. She loved puppies like anyone else, but no animal deserved to be set aside simply because they were aging or sick.
Her work schedule allowed her to be with the dogs at all times, tending to them when it was needed, and showering them with all the love she had. And she had so much to give.
She sat at her desk and turned to the small file cabinet. After tugging the drawer open, she fingered through the files when she saw the one she had stuffed into the back. It was full of every bit of information she had researched for three years about her family.
Every newspaper clipping, every article was in there. She kept each and every tiny nugget of a lead, but every single one led her to one dead end after another.
All these years she had hoped that her family was somewhere else with a different name, happy and alive. She wouldn’t have been pleased to learn she’d been left behind, but at least they would be alive.
She couldn’t get even that.
It was as if someone had set out to destroy her. Why then hadn’t they finished her off? Why had they let her live? Maybe they were waiting. If that was the case, she wished they’d just get on with it.
Gemma shut the drawer and turned to the computer. Instead of getting back to her work, she found herself looking at the business card that Cináed had given her. When she returned home she’d set it on her desk.
Unable to resist, she did a search on Dreagan. The first pages that popped up were things she already knew. The distillery was only a few miles from her, and it was the highest-rated, bestselling scotch in the world.
And Cináed worked for them. She shouldn’t be shocked by that with the distillery being so near along with the constant flow of tourists coming through for a tour. Somehow, it did surprise her.
Her quick search soon turned into all-out research on Dreagan. The majority of companies had what they wanted the world to see, but if someone dug deep enough there were secrets, scandals, and interviews that they wanted kept buried.
It didn’t matter how deep Gemma looked, there wasn’t a single shred of dirt on Dreagan. The closest she got was to the now deleted video about dragons. She had seen the video when it first went live and she was living in Edinburgh. How anyone could believe that was real boggled her mind.
She’d believed it was a publicity stunt, but now that the video was gone—meaning there wasn’t a single screenshot of it anywhere—made her rethink things. It could have been something by a competitor and Dreagan had it removed. Quietly, of course.
Yet she wasn’t satisfied. Every company—every single one—had something they wanted kept hidden. Dreagan had something as well, but they were just better at burying it than others. She really wanted to meet whoever did their work, because it was impressive.
She was good at her job, unearthing all sorts of things as she did her research. And yet, she was stumped. This time.
Gemma moved on to Cináed himself. She typed in his first name but hesitated when she saw his last name was Dreagan.
“Bloody hell,” she murmured.
Of course she hadn’t been paying attention yesterday and literally ran over a guy too gorgeous for words only to find out he was part of a multi-billion dollar business. It would be just her luck that they sued her.
She moaned in remorse and lowered her head to her desk, thumping it softly.
Her head snapped up when there was a knock on her door. Gemma frowned. She hadn’t ordered anything, so she wasn’t expecting anyone. And no one ever came to her door. There was a part of her that wanted to act like she wasn’t at home. She’d done it plenty of times, but today she rose from her chair and walked to the door.
She had to rise up on her toes to look out of the peep hole. All she saw was the back of a head. Then he turned around.
Gemma gasped and jerked back at the sight of Cináed. She hadn’t actually expected him to come to her house. How the hell had he found her? She’d only given him her email.
Then again, it was a small village. And with his resources, no doubt he was able to discover where she lived rather quickly.
She put one hand on the doorknob and the other on the deadbolt. Inside her a war raged over whether to find out what Cináed wanted or to remain silent. If he wanted to sue her surely he wouldn’t come to her himself. Right? At least that’s the chance she was taking when she turned the deadbolt.
Gemma cracked open the door a few inches. Cináed smiled as soon as he saw her. She couldn’t help but return it. There was something about him that drew her to him, something inexplicable that she couldn’t quite name.
All she knew was that the world was a little brighter when he was near. And she liked it.
Chapter Five
The moment Cináed saw Gemma, he had his breath taken away. Again. He wished he could explain what it was that pulled him toward her. He’d thought it was her story and the photo of her after she’d been found on the isle that stayed with him, touching him.
But he wasn’t so sure anymore.
He was beginning to believe that it might be something to do with Gemma herself.
And he wanted to find out everything about her.
“Hi.”
She swallowed, her blue eyes staring at him. “Hello.”
Cináed feared he might have woken her. “I can come back. I didna mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t.” She reached up and touched her hair. “I work from home, so I don’t dress up.”
“If I was able to work from my house, I wouldna dress either.” He ended it with a smile, trying to get another from her.
Because every time he saw her smile, it made his knees go weak.
Gemma’s gaze briefly dropped to the ground then she stepped aside, opening the door wider. “Would you like to come in?”
“Only if I’m no’ disturbing you.”
“I work all hours, so it’s fine.”
He stepped over the threshold into the small cottage. It was homey, but neat. Nothing was out of place. There were few furnishings, but with his digging, Cináed learned that she had rented the place furnished. “It’s verra nice.”
She closed the door behind him and shrugged. “It’s a rental, but I like it. It’s the office space that sold me.”
“So what do you do that allows you to stay at home?” He already knew, but it was the question anyone would expect him to ask.
Gemma moved past him to the kitchen, where she reached for a mug and raised her brows in question. Cináed nodded. “I’m a researcher. I worked for a larger company for several years, but then I went out on my own. I have all sorts of clients. Some are companies, some are writers wanting information for a book, and I have the odd individual here and there.”
“Yes, please,” he said when she raised up the milk for his tea. “That sounds nice. What exactly do you research?”
“Anything and everything. I do a lot on my own, but there are times I have to hire a private investigator.”
“To follow someone?”
She laughed, the sound going straight to his cock. He loved that her hair was mussed from sleep. And he thought her thick red socks were adorable.
“The PIs are pretty handy for a lot of things,” she explained. “For the most part, I can do ninety-seven percent of the work myself from the computer and phone, but sometimes I need people on the ground. If I’m near a city, I do it myself. Other times it’s easier to call one of the PIs. I use them because they’re trustworthy, and they don’t ask too many questions.”