Dragon's Fake Wedding Date (Dragons of Mount Atrox Book 3)

by Riley Storm

  Whatever it was, he didn’t know, and it didn’t seem like he was ever going to know. Not without contacting her, and she’d made it rather clear she didn’t want him to do that. She wanted him gone. Out of her life.

  And so he was. Except for the fact that he was watching her house instead of doing his job. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to leave. It hurt too much to be away from her. All Rann wanted to do was—

  Something hit him from the side.

  He had no warning at all. His thoughts were too jumbled, his mind too distracted. He wasn’t looking for danger, wasn’t aware of his surroundings.

  Rann had been perched on the peak of the house next door, and the impact sent him crashing to the ground between houses. Thankfully, the older builds didn’t have fences between them, and he landed on nothing but grass.

  The air was partially driven from him, but he rolled away from his landing zone and then got to his feet just as someone dropped from the roof. If he’d not retained his wits and moved quickly, they would have landed right on him.

  The tall, lean, powerful figure rose to its full height. A pair of empty black eyes focused on him. They were the only sign, other than the nearly ethereal grace of its movements, that the creature he was facing wasn’t human, but was in fact a vampire.

  Rann snorted wryly.

  “What do you find so funny?” the creature asked in heavily accented English.

  “You,” Rann said, fire blossoming just under his skin, his powers ready to come to his call. “Here I am, chastising myself for not being out there hunting you down, and what do you do? You come to me. Now that’s what I call irony. Making my job easier.”

  The creature tilted its head. “I see. Well, we shall do our best not to disappoint you.”

  We?

  Rann’s head whipped around. This time, he had half an instant to brace himself before another vampire hit him from the left. He managed to snag part of his attacker’s clothing, and together they went for a tumble, though the momentum meant that the second vampire bounced and tumbled a good distance more.

  “It really wasn’t a challenge to find you,” the second vampire said as it got to its feet, collecting itself, brushing some grass from its shirt. It was the former preacher. “Not when you know exactly where to look.”

  Rann stiffened in alarm. They knew about Gayle!

  “Oh yes. We know about the woman,” the vampire-preacher said with an ugly grin. “Our agents informed us.”

  Rann snarled. “I knew that the Church was in league with you. I knew it!”

  The preacher laughed, confirming Rann’s suspicion that they must have found out about Gayle the day before during the incident at the tent city. One or more of the vampire-sect hidden within the Church of the Anti-Wyrm must have reported back to them. Informed them about her.

  “You can’t get to her,” Rann growled. “She’d behind a threshold. There’s nothing you can do to her.”

  The first vampire spoke again. “Who says we’re here for her?”

  Rann snorted, and fire burst into being in his hands as he clenched his fist. “Then you should have brought some more friends.”

  Something slammed into Rann from behind. He stumbled forward even as the creature vaulted up over his head. It raked a hand across his face and lines of pain bloomed as its nails dug through his skin, drawing blood.

  “Well, if that’s not an opening, I don’t know what is,” the woman from the news video, Isabella, drawled lazily. She sauntered away, perfectly confident in herself to the point she even turned her back.

  “That’s the thing about humans,” Rann said, picking himself up. “Former humans, in your case, lady. You think you understand what you’re dealing with.”

  He flung a blast of flame at the older vampire, the Hunter, and charged at the female. Rann had to force himself not to think of her as a woman. She was a vampire and therefore the enemy. The woman who had existed before was gone. To the best of anyone’s knowledge, there was precisely no way to reverse the process.

  She was gone, and she wasn’t coming back.

  Rann had begun his attack when her back was still turned to him, but despite the surprise, the enhanced speed of a vampire allowed her to react before he hit her. All of which meant that Rann got to savor the look of incredulous surprise on her face before he ran right into her.

  The shriek of anger was worth it as well as she went flying through the air, slamming a leg off a tree and pinwheeling out of sight.

  There was no time for Rann to appreciate the beauty of the moment. He flung himself forward into a dive roll just as something swooshed through where his neck had been. Coming out of the roll, he thrust his arms out wide, spinning in an arc.

  Flames raced out in every direction, and the two male vampires recoiled with hisses that filled the night and sent shivers down his spine. There was no way he could let them go. People would be hurt.

  Gayle could be hurt.

  Rann had to take them all out. Here and now. He’d originally hoped to drive them off and track them back to their lair, but now his plans had to change. A public fight wasn’t ideal, but what choice did he have?

  He went after the preacher. If he could put the other young vampire out of the fight early on, he could focus on the Hunter. One on one, the vampire wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The fourth vampire came out of nowhere, and Rann’s world spun. He went down. Hard. Blood poured down the side of his face. Anger propelled him back to his feet, and he met the oncoming attacker with a fiery hug.

  Skin bubbled and blistered and the vampire’s clothing went up in flames. It shrieked and howled, clawing at him frantically in an attempt to get away. Rann held on, but the creature managed to wiggle its way free and escape.

  Snarling, he spun, looking for the next attacker, the next vampire. His own clothing was falling away in ash, incinerated by the brief but intense heat. The boots he’d worn had melted and now his bare feet left black impressions on the grass.

  A light went on in a nearby house. He cursed. More would follow soon, and people would come outside. Past their thresholds. They would become vulnerable. The vampires could feed and heal.

  He couldn’t.

  “I’ll take you all on!” he roared, lunging for his closest target.

  The vampire spun out of the way, dodging. Rann tried to stop and pivot back, but the female vampire came at him. A flap of skin was dangling down her face, though it didn’t bleed. Only Rann could bleed.

  She hissed and came at him, fangs sprouting rapidly as she tried to feast upon him to heal herself. Rann greeted her with a fireball to the face, burning away her eyebrows and most of her hair as well. She shrieked and then wailed in pain as she inhaled some fire.

  Rann booted her away with a firm kick to the midsection.

  The first vampire came back in, and his fangs tore at Rann’s shoulder, ripping away a chunk of flesh. The dragon howled with pain and spun. His elbow connected with the vampire’s face, and the pressure on his neck vanished.

  The preacher struck him in the knees, and they both went down. The lightning quick vampire was on him, lashing out with a fist that broke Rann’s nose.

  He replied by grabbing the next punch aimed at his face, closing his fist over the vampire’s knuckles and turning, even as he squeezed with all his might. Bones cracked. Then, Rann drove the flat of his palm through the elbow, dislocating it. Finally, he thrust both hands straight out into the vampire’s chest and hurled him backward in a spray of fire.

  Rann leapt to his feet just as the first vampire swung a wooden beam he’d found somewhere in the yard right into his chest. Ribs popped and broke, and Rann was flung back into the neighboring house. Brick cracked, and he slumped to the ground in a shower of mortar dust.

  But he was Rann, a fire dragon of Clan Atrox, and he wasn’t out of the fight yet. Angrily, he got to his feet, dazed and hurt, but still ready to take them on.

  He snarled and barreled straight in at the first vampire
. They fought. Rann’s strength was waning, and the fight was far closer than even he would like. They exchanged a dozen blows in the span of seconds as Rann drove the vampire across the yard. Cuts opened on both of them. Rann bled profusely.

  Lights were coming on everywhere, and he could hear shouts of confusion.

  “Stay inside!” he bellowed. “It’s not safe!”

  “You cannot win,” the vampire hissed.

  “Neither can you,” Rann panted. “You’re going to die here. Now.”

  Then he swung both hands down in an arc from over his head. Flames blossomed into a long blade, and Rann carved a horrific line down the vampire’s chest, the attack bursting through the creature’s defenses.

  The Hunter howled an unholy wail of agony and slipped aside. Fleeing.

  “Get back here!” Rann snarled. “I’m not done with you.”

  But the vampires were done with him. He watched them flee into the night, the female vampire carrying the preacher.

  Then, they were gone. Rann swayed. He was weak. So much blood lost.

  Need to get safe. Before they feed and come back. Have to get inside. Behind a threshold.

  But the only place nearby was one where he wasn’t welcome anymore. It didn’t matter. Rann had to try, to hope he could convince her to see reason.

  Otherwise the vampires were going to kill him.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Gayle

  She’d been staring at the blank message screen for minutes on end, her fingers refusing to move.

  What could she possibly send in the way of a text message to even begin undoing the damage she’d done upon her hasty and ill-advised exit from Rann’s life?

  “You should just call him,” she said to herself unhappily.

  That would be so embarrassing though. How should she start that phone call? ‘Hi Rann, I’m an idiot and believed someone else instead of you and didn’t even give you a chance to explain?’

  It just wasn’t that easy. It should be, but it wasn’t, not for her.

  Send him something. Don’t wait too long and miss your chance at fixing this.

  Claire and Lilly had left much earlier. Both of them had lives to get back to. They’d been heading up the mountain, they’d informed her, wanting to be home before the sun set.

  Even in the dead of summer, the sun set early in Five Peaks, thanks to the mountains that rose up to the west of town, shortening their days by several hours. Now night had fallen completely, and Gayle was still struggling to decide how to best reach out to Rann.

  “I give up,” she moaned, slumping back into the couch. “I can’t do th—Eek!

  The phone went flying as something heavy pounded against her front door repeatedly. Gayle clutched at midair, but only succeeded in knocking the phone onto the carpet in front of her.

  She bent over to get it while looking at the door nervously. It was ten-thirty at night. Who was knocking on her door after dark? And so aggressively too. Clutching the phone, ready to call 911 if needed, Gayle went closer to the door.

  “Hello?” she called.

  There was no answer. Something knocked again. More calmly this time.

  “Who’s there?”

  This time, she thought she heard a muffled reply, but she couldn’t make out the actual words through the door. Creeping closer, trying not to make any sound, Gayle put her eye up to the peephole.

  There was nobody there. Looking around nervously, scared of what was going on, she backed off, standing to the side of the door. Just in case someone came through it.

  “Who’s there?” she called again.

  “It’s me,” a familiar voice said.

  But there was something off about it.

  “Rann?” she said, trying to figure out if she’d heard properly or was just imagining it, hearing a voice she wanted to hear.

  “Help,” came the single word reply, from somewhere down near the bottom of the door.

  Something was very, very wrong.

  Throwing caution to the wind, fearful that he was in trouble and desperate to do whatever it took to show him she was sorry for earlier, Gayle flung the door open.

  “Rann?” she yelped upon seeing the blood-soaked figure curled up around her crimson-stained front door mat. “Oh god, there’s so much blood! Rann, what do I do? I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry for before, Rann, tell me, how do I help you?”

  “Inside,” he said. “Need inside. Hurry.”

  Of course he needed to come inside. She couldn’t just leave him out there to bleed to death!

  “Okay,” she said uneasily. “I should probably call 911 though. You need an ambulance Rann. There’s so much blood. So much.”

  “Inside first,” he said, hauling himself up onto one arm and dragging himself forward, over her threshold. “Not safe outside.”

  “Not safe?” she said, suddenly looking out into the dark. “Why not?”

  “Vampires,” he said.

  Gayle stiffened. Vampires? Here?

  “Is that what happened to you?” she gasped, crouching down, reaching out with her hands repeatedly to try and get a grip to help him, but every time she tried, she almost squeezed another open cut. He was bleeding everywhere.

  “How do I help Rann?” she pleaded, feeling completely useless while he dragged himself inside. “I can’t lift you. You’re bleeding everywhere.”

  “Towels,” he said. “Water. Don’t kick me out.”

  “Kick you out?” she gasped. “Oh, I would never do that.”

  He paused in his crawling to twist his head and look at her. Somewhere out in the night there was a piercing cry. The sheer unnaturalness of it prickled the skin along her spine.

  Both she and Rann looked out the open doorway.

  “That wasn’t a bird, was it?” she asked quietly as it sounded again, closer this time.

  Rann shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Come on, get in here,” she said, taking his other hand and hauling on it hurriedly, ignoring the feeling of cuts under her fingers.

  She had to be hurting him, but anything was worse than being stuck out there with whatever made such a horrific noise. If it was a vampire, like Rann said, then she didn’t see how he could possibly fight one of them off. Not in this state.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Rann was inside on her tiled entry floor. Gayle got up and all but bodily hurled the door closed, sliding the deadbolt. She didn’t know if it would do anything against a determined intruder, but she didn’t see how it would hurt.

  “Oh, Rann,” she said, falling to her knees beside his head as he flipped over onto his back, revealing a welter of deep cuts across his face and upper body. “You need to go to the hospital.”

  “No hospital,” he said, shaking his head. “Not safe there. Too many innocents. Safe here. They can’t cross the threshold.”

  Gayle looked over her shoulder at the door. “That’s a real thing then? Vampires can’t come in somewhere uninvited?”

  He nodded, and she already could see him regaining some of his vigor now that he was safe.

  “What happened out there?” she asked cautiously. “Where was the rest of your team? I thought you guys hunted them together?”

  Rann shook his head. “Wasn’t with them.”

  “What were you doing?”

  He closed his eyes and looked away. Was that shame she saw on his features? It was tough to tell through the blood, but Gayle thought she was on the right track.

  “Keeping watch on you,” he said quietly. “I…I couldn’t stay away. So I was guarding your house. Just in case.”

  Gayle’s heart nearly melted. Even after what she’d said to him, the callous, cold treatment she’d given him for no reason, and still he couldn’t get her out of his head. What had she done to deserve someone like this?

  “I’m sorry for bothering you,” he added. “I just…didn’t have anywhere else to go. I drove them off, but they’ll be back. Bastards snuck up on me, pulled a fast one. Anyway,
I’ll go in a minute. Just need to recover some strength. Once I can change, they can’t fly, so I’ll be okay.”

  “Absolutely not,” Gayle said with utter authority. “You’re not going anywhere until you’re in much better shape and not looking like you lost a fight with a woodchipper. The only place you’re going right now is the tub.”

  She thanked her lucky stars she lived in a bungalow and didn’t have to help him up the stairs. That probably would not have been possible.

  Rann eyed her for a handful of seconds, likely wondering just how much he could fight that command. She knew his type. They had to run off and be the brave hero. Well, not tonight.

  Gayle put her hands on her hips and glared right back, letting him know she meant business.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he eventually said, his lips twitching in what was probably an attempt to restrain a smile.

  “Good.”

  It was an effort, but together they managed to get Rann stripped of the tattered remnants of his clothing and into the tub. He didn’t exactly fit very well, but she didn’t care.

  Then Gayle stood up, and she stripped, removing everything before she got to work. Rann eyed her, but he didn’t say anything. Just watched, his face still from weariness.

  She reached out across his legs and turned on the water, letting it run warm, but not too hot.

  “That good?” she asked softly, the sound of spoken words sounding odd after so much silence.

  Rann just nodded.

  She rummaged around under the sink until she found a sponge. Holding it out under the faucet, she let it soak up the water, and then, very gently, she began to clean Rann. She started at his head, sponging water through his long hair. The tub immediately ran red as blood sluiced off his body and down the drain. Gayle ignored it, ignored the wincing from Rann as she worked around the worst of his cuts.

  Bit by bit, dab by bad, she cleaned him. There was nothing sexual about it, despite their shared nudity, yet there was an intimacy to the moment that she suspected neither of them had been ready for. They didn’t speak, and the only motions were from her as she moved around him, lifting his arms, and ensuring that he was clean.

  Every nook and crevice received her treatment, and as she worked, Gayle noticed something happening to him.