Dana

by Kathi S. Barton

  “We got some information for you.” He nodded as he fired up the grill to make himself some steaks. “The woman that is coming for you, she’s close. Like in the mountain close.” Griffith nearly burned his hand off when he stared at him for too long. “In the mountain or on the mountain? And why is she there and not in one of the houses here in town?” “Your brother.” His heart started to pound when he heard that James was close. “He spotted her a few days ago and has hurt her.” “James is that close as well?” He said that he didn’t know it was him until today. “And why are you telling me this? I thought that there was some kind of rule about giving away too much information.” “You helped us. We wanted to return the favor.” He nodded and pulled his steaks off the grill, no longer hungry. “She is hurt, but on the mend. I don’t know that James did it or not, but she’s sewed herself right together and is resting inside the cave.” “Do I need to go and get her?” He said that he’d not. “Why not? I mean, you said she’s my mate. I don’t want her out there when I could be caring for her.” “You look too much like him.” He sat down, the dinner now forgotten on the platter by the grill. “You’ll scare her should you go up there. And she’s armed with magic.” “What is she?” He said that the earth said she was of it, the soil. “That could mean just about anything. Can you give me more than that? Can you go and—?” Bud took off and he nearly ran after him when he realized he’d never catch him. When he returned, he looked upset. “You need to be your dragon. Now.” Not even waiting to find out what was going on, he shifted to his beast. “Come with me and I’ll show you. I wasn’t aware that your brother cannot shift.” “My mother was dragon, my father human. They created one dragon and one human when they had us. We’re twins.” Bud said that he knew that now. “What’s happened, Bud? Is she hurt?” “Yes.” They entered the cave, which was just big enough for him to get into. But it narrowed as he made his way down. And it was then that he could hear her screams for help. Shifting so that he could move faster, Griffith followed the voice until he came to a cliff, where she was hanging from it for dear life. “Not you. Go the fuck away.” He said he wasn’t James. “How stupid do you think I am? Of course you are.” “I’m Griffith, and I’m not going to hurt you.” He reached for her arm and when he touched her, she screamed in pain. He nearly let her go but pulled her up and laid her gently on the ground. “What happened?” “I was just skipping along, minding my own business, when this giant hole just jumped up in front of me.” He nearly laughed at her tone. “I fell, you fucking moron. You have to be related to James—he never gets my sarcasm.”

  “Oh, I got it all right. I just thought laughing at you would get me hurt.” She just glared at him. “I’m a dragon. And I’m going to start a small fire so I can have a look at you before I move you, all right?” The fire blazed for a moment before settling down. He sent Bud to get more wood, and when he returned with some, Griffith put one of the dryer sticks in to use as a flashlight. She was really scraped up but seemed to be all right. That was until she turned her arm around where he could see the back of it. “Christ, that’s why you screamed.” She just glared at him. “I’m sorry, but are you always like this? Or is it the pain that makes you sort of cranky?” “You said that you were related to James, so you know what sort of person he is.” He said that he was sorry for anything that he’d done. “Yeah, well, that doesn’t heal me like I want. He’s a mean jerk off.” “I’m truly sorry.” She nodded and he picked her up. “I’m going to take us to my house and get you some help, all right?” “Flying?” He said if it was all right with her. “You’re different than he is. Or is this for my benefit? I know what you are to me, pecker head, so don’t be kind because you think you’re going to get laid. You’re not.” “Man, and here I thought I had an easy woman.” He stood up and told her to hang on. When he was out of the tunnel enough, he let his dragon take him as he held onto their mate. Halfway home, he saw James in his driveway. “I’m taking you to the back of the house. Bud will let you in. Just be quiet while I deal with him.” ~~~ James fucking hated his brother. This house was another prime example of the shit that he got when James had gotten nothing. Of course, he’d been left the family estate, but that only went so far when he had to keep paying off women he’d hurt. But he loved to hurt people too much to quit now. “James. What are you doing here?” He turned when he heard his brother’s voice and looked him over. As usual, he looked picture perfect and in good shape. It made him realize how fat he’d gotten over the years and tried sucking in his gut. “What are you doing here, I asked you.” “Can’t a man come and see his little brother?” Griffith told him he was only older than him by several minutes. “Well, that makes me the eldest. I came to tell you that I’ve sold the family castle. To an unknown— You bought it, didn’t you? Mother fuck, is there nothing I can do without you sticking your nose in it?” “I have no idea. But yes, I bought the castle back from the bank. But you can’t go there to live. You’ve got enough money to start up someplace else, and I suggest you get on with it. Not around here. I have my life just the way I like it, and I don’t want you here fucking it up.” He told him he’d found his mate. “Really? And who, pray tell, is stupid enough to want to be shackled to you for the rest of her short life?” “She’s a faerie. A pretty redhead.” Still he said nothing. “I’ve misplaced her. I was hoping that you could use your considerable skills that I didn’t get, even though I’m the oldest, and fly around and find her for me.”

  “How can you misplace a mate? Or is it that you want me to believe that she’s your mate? And no, I’m not going to help you get her back. She’s gone, and that’s good for her. You hurt her very much before she ran?” He smiled. “Believe it or not, I don’t think you’re very charming to people, no matter what sort of face you put on.” “You’ve always had it all, haven’t you, Griff? Even now you own the house that I was left, probably have tons of money and diamonds and shit stashed all over the house. Just give me some and I’ll be on my way. It’s the least you can do for me.” He told him not giving him anything was the least he could do, and that’s what he was going to do. “Come on, damn it. Get me some jewels and my mate, and I’ll not bother you again for a while.” “You mean until the money runs out? Or till you’re in trouble again, James? You seemed to be a magnet to trouble. Most of it you cause yourself.” A car pulled in the drive and he saw it was Griff’s friend, Kip. He hated him as much as he did Damn-bird. Fuckers all of them. “You remember my brother, don’t you, Kip? He’s here to beg money off me. Oh, and he found his mate, but she’s run off.” “She didn’t exactly run off so much as she broke free. You know how I like my sex, brother dear. And she didn’t care for it that rough.” “No one likes it like you do, James. And most of the time, if I remember correctly, you would murder them when you finished with them. That caused a great deal of heartache around the town. You’re not welcome here.” James hated to be told no almost as much as he hated his brother and his buddies. “Go away and find her if you can. I don’t care.” They went into the house, and he had no choice but to go back to his car. Griff would have some sort of spell on his home that would prevent him from coming inside. And it usually came with a bit of pain when he tried. As he drove out of the drive, he looked in the wooded area for the girl. Once he found her, he was going to throw her into that fucking cave he’d found her in. The insolent bitch. By nightfall he’d not found her. He knew that she was hurt—he’d made sure to mark her before he tied her to the tree. To have had her, naked and ready for him, he was getting hard just thinking about her. As soon as he found her, he was going to fuck her in every orifice that she had. And then come all over the bitch before getting rid of her body. James had about a thousand bucks to his name. When the bank had sold the castle off, he thought he’d get most of that money. But he’d had to pay whatever closing costs were, as well as pay the back taxes on the house. It came out to exactly enough to pay it off and give him the thousand he now had. He just knew that Griff had done that to him.
“It’ll have to do me, I guess.” He wasn’t dumb enough to go out and spend his money stupidly. He’d not buy a new suit or go to a fancy hotel and live it up. He had to be frugal and not be broke by the end of the day. Going to the grocery store in this little town, he bought himself noodles in those plastic containers that had seasoning in them, some bottled waters, and a box of cereal. The gallon of milk that he wanted but had nowhere to store turned into a quart. One thing that he did love was ice cold milk. Maybe he’d find the girl and sell her off to some of the people he knew that liked it like he didpreferences. Hard and rough, like he was mining for gold when he fucked a woman. And when he came, it was like his entire body came with his cock. He was the best at violent sex that he knew, and women knew too. He’d always had a taste for the violent things in life. Twice when they were younger, James had tried to kill Griff. For some reason he thought that if he killed Griff and was close enough, his dragon would come to him. When he’d asked his dad about it, he told him that it didn’t work that way, and told him he was appalled at his behavior. His father was the first person in a long line of people that he’d killed. Slicing his head from his body had been much easier than he’d thought it should have been. That’s when he found out that not only did he have superhuman strength, but he also liked the feel of blood on his face and chest. From then on, if someone pissed him off or told him no, he would kill them. The only two people that he wasn’t able to kill was his mother and his brother. Neither of them would die like he wanted them to. Then he’d found out about iron in the system of a dragon. His mother had been dead within a week. And who knew that their body would disappear like she had? He’d gone up to her room to feed her more of the nasty shit, and she had vanished. Manfred, the house servant, had told him that she was gone, that her body had left this world. Then just a few days later, he’d noticed that all the staff had disappeared too, in a puff of smoke. And they robbed him before they left. He supposed that robbing wasn’t what it really was, since he’d not paid them in months. But they were gone, and he was there all alone, until he realized that he could bring his dates there. After that, it was a good old time had by him. “Now my mate is missing.” He knew that she wasn’t his mate, but sometimes bitches would put out more easily if they thought they had found their other half. And for him, cooperation was nice but not necessary. And he liked them to be uncooperative to a point, like when he was fucking them. He had to find a place to sleep, so he drove his car to the abandoned hotel that was out on Route Forty and pulled his car around back. The bank was looking for the car and he needed it at the moment. As soon as he got inside the place, he knew why someone had let it go. It was a fucking mess. But he didn’t care about that so long as there were no rats in his bed and he had a roof over his head. Finding the one room that had that, the front office, was difficult, but he finally had a place to lay his head. Tomorrow he’d find the woman and teach her the meaning of staying still. “Yes, ma’am, you’re going to learn the hard way how I like things done.” Closing his eyes, he let sleep take him.

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  Kathi Barton, winner of the Pinnacle Book Achievement award as well as a best-selling author on Amazon and All Romance books, lives in Nashport, Ohio with her husband Paul. When not creating new worlds and romance, Kathi and her husband enjoy camping and going to auctions. She can also be seen at county fairs with her husband who is an artist and potter.

  Her muse, a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Hugh Jackman, brings her stories to life for her readers in a way that has them coming back time and again for more. Her favorite genre is paranormal romance with a great deal of spice. You can visit Kathi online and drop her an email if you’d like. She loves hearing from her fans. aaronskiss@gmail.com.

  Follow Kathi on her blog: http://kathisbartonauthor.blogspot.com/