Laney watched as Kyle and another man entered the ring from opposite sides. Lance’s drunken joking with his cronies faded into the background. The focus of Laney’s entire world shrunk down to Kyle Danner, wearing only a pair of worn jeans.
Lance’s hand clapped Laney on her back, drawing her back to the real world, where she was in the company of her dangerously drunk ex. She felt as though the force from his hand had almost ejected her from her seat.
“There he is,” Lance crowed.
“Who?” she asked her heart was in her throat. Everything hung on the tiniest, thinnest of threads at the moment. Everything—her entire future, Kyle’s life—hung in the balance.
“The animal,” he explained. “You’ll see—this is going to be good.” The two men were facing each other down, sizing each other up. The bell rang, and Laney watched as Kyle sprung toward the other man, both of them shifting. The other man was a large bear—it seemed as though the fight were unbalanced in favor of the part-bear, until Kyle resolved into his dragon-form, rearing up onto his hind legs, and let out a shriek. He was beautiful in his strength, graceful in form.
The half-bear flew at him, and Kyle deflected him with a swipe of his forelegs. The half-bear was cast against the far side of the ring. It got to its feet, stunned, but not out yet. Regardless, Kyle didn’t waste the advantage that the stunned half-bear’s fumbling to make another foray gave him. Kyle arched his neck, letting a stream of fire shoot forth from his jaws. It was brilliant, lighting up the darkened area of the warehouse. Cries of awe at the heat and size of the flames echoed from the crowd.
The half-bear reared through the flames, raking his massive claws across Kyle’s underbelly. Kyle shrieked, snapping at the half-bear with his lizard-like maw. He clamped down on the half-bear’s throat, tearing it out. The fight was over in a matter of minutes.
~*~
The standing room began to empty as the spectators filtered out. Lance stood, and Laney followed him. Lance placed his arm around Laney’s shoulders. It was heavy and bulky. She felt bowed beneath its weight, suffocated.
They stepped toward the side of the ring, where Kyle stood, his hands in his pockets. He had a large wound across his chest where the bear shifter had raked its claws across him during the fight. As she looked on, Laney saw the cut begin to close. She was trembling in fear. This was going to have to be played on point if Kyle were going to get out of here alive. She had given up on herself, she realized. As soon as she had seen Lance, she had known that he would never let her go. She was here to save Kyle. Lance’s arm dropped from around her shoulders.
“Danner! My man! Good show,” Lance’s jovial voice boomed. Laney kept her expression blank and cool and her gaze on the ground to the left of Kyle’s feet. She inhaled, looking upward and directly into Kyle’s eyes. She silently willed him to believe that this wasn’t a betrayal. Kyle’s eyes were large, confused. He frowned at her angrily as Lance shook his hand. Stepping back, Lance clapped him on the shoulder.
“Well, let me get you that prize money,” he said, placing a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “Come into my office.” Kyle kept his eyes on Laney, who tried to give him a subtle shake of the head, hoping that he would understand, and run immediately. Her heart sunk as he turned, following Lance to the office.
Laney began to follow, but pretended to trip. As Lance’s gang followers scattered to get out of her way, she grabbed the knife out of her boot. She got up slowly, pulling it into her sleeve. She glanced around the quickly emptying room.
Four men stood out—they were dressed well, in finely tailored suits. Laney frowned. Most of the spectators were grubby, dressed in jeans and t-shirts. She noticed a glint of metal in the hand of one of the men—it was a collar, she realized. It was a dragon’s collar. Laney turned to Kyle, who was still headed toward the office.
“Kyle!” he turned at the sound of her voice. “It’s a trap!” Noticing the men, he shifted, his form resolving into the shape of the dragon, large and dangerous in its wrath. Another two well-dressed men emerged from the office, focused entirely on Kyle.
Lance, on the other hand, whipped around, running toward Laney. He grabbed her with force, his hand clamping down roughly on her arm, causing it to jerk painfully. He grabbed her by the throat with his other hand. She tried to bring her hand with the knife up to stab him, but he was choking her. She did the only thing that she could think of, and stomped down on his foot with the heel of her boot. His grip on her throat loosened as he bellowed in rage and pain.
Meanwhile, the hunters were surrounding Kyle, chanting in a foreign language. Kyle struggled, attempting to breathe fire, but he seemed to be choking, unable to release his flames. He tried darting toward the edge of their circle, snapping with his fanged jaws, but they stood their ground. He seemed unable to get through.
Taking full advantage of Lance’s weakened grip as he shouted curses at her, Laney broke free, sprinting full-tilt at one of the hunters. She screamed as she stabbed him in the back. He fell face forward, breaking the hunter’s circle. Kyle attacked, ripping two into shreds—one with a claw, and the other with his teeth. Rearing back, he opened his mouth, shooting flames at the remaining hunters, who cried out in rage and pain.
Laney was caught off guard as she watched Kyle overtake his would-be captors. Lance’s hands clamped down on her arms, turning her to face him. He glared in her face.
“Were you with that animal all week?” he hissed. Laney responded by spitting in his face. He wiped it off. “You will regret that you bitch.”
Laney tried to free herself, fighting against his iron-tight grip. She struggled in vain as he brought his large, beefy hand back, slamming it into her face. The world faded to black for a second as Laney was almost knocked unconscious. She heard a loud ringing, and her left cheekbone throbbed with a painful heat.
With a vicious snarl, Kyle leapt at Lance. The dragon shifter brought the large man down with a single strike of his claw, darting his lizard-like head in and striking like a snake. Kyle tore Lance’s throat out easily.
Kyle shifted back to his human form. His eyes were wide with fury, as he turned and raced toward Laney. She dropped her knife, which she felt was useless. Kyle grabbed her, pulling her close to him.
“What were you thinking?” he yelled at her, over and over. Laney was unable to answer, her throat sore and raw. She found herself sobbing, large tears against Kyle’s hot dry skin. He kissed her on the top of her head.
“Hey. Hey. Look at me,” Kyle said, placing a hand on her cheek. She looked up at him, remembering when he had touched her on the cheek in the alleyway. He was looking at her like she was something precious.
“We need to get out of here,” she rasped. They looked about them. They were surrounded by the horribly mangled or burned corpses of all of the people who had chosen not to run.
“Man, you went from dating one monster—” Kyle began, but Laney wouldn’t let him finish.
“You’re not a monster,” she said. “You’re perfect. There’s money in the office.” Kyle placed his hand on the small of her back. He wasn’t forcing her; he wasn’t directing her—just reassuring her that he was with her.
Once inside the office, Laney walked to the metal desk. She opened the center drawer, pulling out the envelope where Lance kept his petty cash. She opened it, counting the wad of bills.
“Couple of thousand,” she said. Kyle gestured toward the safe in the back corner of the office, cocking his eyebrow questioningly. “I don’t know the combination.” Kyle shrugged in response, letting his right hand shift into a claw. He ripped off the door easily.
Inside, the safe was packed with money and drugs. Leaving the drugs, Laney filled a paper grocery bag with the cash. They left quickly, Kyle picking up articles of clothing off of the dead hunters as they went. They never looked back.
~*~
The house was cream-colored, with butter-yellow shutters and a red door. There was a wraparound porch with chairs. All around the house was a
vast garden, filled with sunflowers, forget-me-nots, violets, roses, and daisies. In the back, there were rows of vegetables, which they sold to the day hikers.
There were large fields, where they kept their animals, their tiny farm backing up to a large national forest. It was quiet except for the calls of the birds and cicadas, and the wind in the trees.
Laney was on her knees among the tomatoes, her gloved hands covered in dirt. She loved the smell of the rich soil and the ripening vegetables. She leaned back, straightening her back to get out the crick in it from working. She wiped her forearm across her face, wiping off the sweat that was beading there.
Arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Kyle kissed the back of her neck as she cried out in surprise.
“I didn’t hear you!”
“Surprise, darlin.’”
“Oh, you.” She turned, kissing him deeply and passionately. They both fought to contain their smiles. She pulled away, looking at him happily. Kyle was shirtless, wearing only a pair of rugged blue jeans. Laney ran her hand over his sun-warmed skin. She looked up at him lustily.
He scooped her up in his arms, carrying her inside of the house and into their sun-filled bedroom. Laney giggled as he threw her down on the bed, trailing kisses along her neck and sternum. She returned the attention happily. He unbuttoned the chambray shirt that she wore whenever she was gardening, kissing her skin as he revealed more of it. Laney closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy being slowly undressed by her lover.
He paused, and she opened her eyes. He was waiting for her. She grinned widely.
“Don’t stop,” she plead joyfully.
“Yes, ma’am.” Kyle entered her, making her inhale with pleasure. The friction between them was electric. They made love frantically and passionately, hitting crisis at the same moment. They lay side-by-side afterward, Laney’s hand clutched in Kyle’s over his heart. Laney looked over at him.
“That was lovely.”
“Quite.”
“Do you want to go for a walk before lunch?”
“As you wish, milady.”
“You’re horrible.” Laney smiled. She was still as much in love with Kyle as she had been at the beginning of their relationship. She couldn’t believe how lucky she had been, for a former foster kid. They got dressed and left their house, making their way while holding hands through their sun-drenched fields.
The forest loomed over them as they paused to inspect one of their fences. The post was beginning to look a little worse for the wear.
“I’ll have to replace it,” Kyle said, pushing on it to see if it would break.
“Hello?” The couple turned to find a girl, just barely beginning her teens walking out of the woods beside them. She had a ragged and battered backpack on, and she looked tired and hungry. “Um. Does Kyle Danner live here?” Kyle frowned, but nodded.
“That’s me.” The girl looked relieved.
“You’re a dragon,” she said. “I can tell.” Kyle cocked his head to the side, waiting for her to explain. Laney gripped his arm.
“Who are you?” Kyle asked the girl.
“I’m a dragon shifter—I lost my family a few months back to the hunters. I heard that you had escaped from the city.”
“Who did you hear it from?”
“Another dragon shifter. There are others of us,” she explained. “We’ve all been looking for you. You stood up to the hunters and won…we all kind of thought that maybe when we found you, we’d find refuge.” Her eyes were wide, and Kyle looked at Laney. She nodded, and he smiled. They had officially become two former strays providing a home for other strays.
“You can stay here,” Laney said. “We’d be happy to take any dragon shifters.”
~*~
THE END
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Forbidden Beast
~ Bonus Story ~
A Dragon Shifter Romantic Thriller
Samantha Hunter is a new resident at the Emergency Room at Linda Vista Hospital. She meets visiting doctor, Mark Johnson, and they hit it off.
Recently, there has been a rise in the number of patients suffering from significant and inexplicable blood loss—where the only visible wound is two tiny pin pricks—like a bite. Ignoring Mark’s remarkably cold hands and strange demeanor, she agrees to go out with him. That same night, Samantha meets a strange man in the blood bank…he claims to know the reason for the string of patients with the same condition…vampires. Jared Hamilton is hunting a rogue vampire. Jared himself is a monster, of an ancient and almost extinct race. He finds himself falling for Samantha, seeing a future with her…so long as they can find a way to stop the rogue vampire before he kills both of them.
* * *
Chapter One
I heard the code called over the intercom, and I rushed down the hallway toward the exam room that had been called. I left my coffee, abandoned by the machine. I was fighting exhaustion; every muscle in my body was screaming for sleep. It was my second week as a resident in the Emergency Room at Linda Vista Hospital. Upon entering the room, I beheld the patient, a young male in his late twenties, who was convulsing on the table.
“Starting CPR,” I yelled as I placed my hands above the patient’s sternum, beginning to pump, forcing his heart to continue to move blood through his body. My arms strained as I began to coax his heart to continue pumping. This was maybe the fifth round of frantic CPR that I had done this shift, and my arm muscles were aching from the buildup of lactic acid. One of the nurses rushed in, a clipboard in her hands. She was a blonde woman in her late forties, frown lines evident on her face, as though she had seen too many bad things in her life.
“Doctor,” she said, looking at me. It still hadn’t sunk in that that was now me. “Blood testing on this patient has come back from the lab.” She was frowning, making the lines on her face deeper and more pronounced.
“And?” I asked, my breathing labored as I continued to pump. A strand of my own hair had become stuck to my forehead, but I couldn’t risk stopping the CPR to push it away.
“It reports a low red blood cell count.”
“Anemia,” I commented in disbelief. “We’re going to have to transfuse, ASAP. Get me some O-neg.” She nodded, rushing off to get it from the Emergency Room’s supply. I frowned, continuing CPR, and looking at another nurse.
“We’ll need to defib to get his heart back on line.” She nodded, and went to get the defibrillator unit. This was the third case in the past week where the patient suffered from pronounced anemia that had nothing to do with the accident that had brought the patient into the ER, initially. I looked down at the patient. His skin was pale, bluish in the overhead lighting. His eyes were slightly open, showing only the whites. He had come in after falling while skateboarding; he had a concussion but no open or bleeding wounds on his head. I looked around his body as I worked; there were no signs of any major bleeding. His clothing was completely clean of any bloodstains; if he was suffering from massive blood loss, he should be covered in it. It just didn’t make any sense.
The first nurse ran in carrying several dark red bags of O-negative blood. She immediately hooked one up to an IV, sticking the needle carefully into the patient’s arm. She placed a small rectangle of tape over the needle to hold it in place. Then, she hung the bag on the hooked pole beside the ER bed, watching as blood began to transfuse into the patient’s arm.
The other nurse wheeled the cart with a defibrillator machine into the room. We needed to shock his heart back into acting on its own so that I could stop forcing it to pump with my flagging arms. She put gel on the paddles, and I knocked them together, gathering the shock.
“Ready,” I said, placing them on the patient’s chest. A shock went through the paddles, and the patient’s body arched on the table. We all waited in silence, listening and watching the heart monitor as it beeped. It was faint. Too faint.
“One mo
re time,” I said, placing the paddles together before then placing them on the patient’s chest. “Go.” The patient convulsed with the shock, and I looked at the heart monitor, seeing that the heart was beginning to come back online, tiny green mountains on the background of black, the numbers starting to climb as his blood pressure rose to a normal rate. I sighed in relief.
Handing the paddles to a nurse, I stood back, wiping sweat from my forehead and watching the patient’s vitals on the screen. As the blood entered his system, they began to further normalize.
As soon as the alarm was beeping slowly and normally, I watched the patient’s heart worked on its own for a little while. I looked around at the other nurses and residents who had crowded into the room. In the Emergency Room, whenever a code is called, anyone who is free in the area is required to answer. You never know how many hands you will need in order to get the heart started again, put the guts back in, or stop the bleeding.
“Good job, everyone,” I said. We all began to disperse, some people checking patients, some going to the break room to get some shut eye, and others to get some type of nourishment. So far, residency had been one long attempt to keep myself functional, or so it seemed. This was when he walked up to me.
“Excellent technique, doctor,” he said. He was dangerously good-looking: perfectly shaped facial features, deep blue eyes, and a smile that lit up his entire face. If I knew my body structures, what was hidden beneath the scrubs was an even better sight—a definite gym body, for sure. I needed to stay far away because this one was trouble, and he knew it. You could almost smell the confidence brimming from him. It smelled like expensive cologne—the good stuff that makes you want to devour the man.
“Thank you,” I said, pleased to have been noticed. I removed my latex gloves, tossing them into the trash.
Captured By The Beast I Page 10