“Oh… that’s him, isn’t it?” Kayla’s voice was soft.
When Esther glanced down at her, she saw Kayla was watching Bryant and the mystery girl as well. Heat rushed to her face, embarrassed that she was reacting this way. There was nothing between her and Bryant, nothing real at least.
They were almost to the elevator.
“I have to go,” she blurted out, already rushing towards the oblivious couple. Her hands shook as her vision tunneled in on Bryant again. Her nostrils flared and a hot sensation swept through her chest. How dare he?
She managed to throw herself into the elevator just in time. Bryant gave her a startled look but she spoke before he could say anything to change her mind.
“Thank goodness I caught up with you!” she practically shouted the words. “I got that STD check back from my doctor and we have to talk.”
No.
No, no, no no no no no no no no no no!
She did not just say that.
Bryant and his woman stared at her, both of them with slack jaws. The woman glanced at Bryant from the corner of her eye and edged away a little, which Esther took as a small victory. She clenched her hands and tried desperately to know what she should say next. Start laughing and try to play it off as a joke? Start talking to the girl about sex, try to scare her off some more?
“How do you like threesomes?” Esther blurted.
The woman’s face went red.
Bryant cleared his throat. “Esther, you need to stop talking now.”
She really did. But the elevator stopped and she opened her mouth again.
“My key,” Bryant said, pressing a card into the woman’s hand. “Esther and I are going to have to talk.”
The woman slipped away, leaving the two of them alone. Esther’s hands balled. So, she had gone and humiliated herself, and for what? He was still going to go sleep with her. She might as well have stayed back with Kayla. At least then she wouldn’t feel like digging a giant hole and burying herself.
They started upwards.
“What are you on?” Bryant demanded.
Esther jumped. Guilt made her stomach clench but she shoved it away. “If you’re not going to let me file an annulment, then you are damn well going to be faithful to me. I won’t have a husband that runs around with other women.”
Bryant threw his hands into the air. “It’s not like we’re really married.”
“Our marriage certificate would state otherwise,” Esther shot back. “And if we’re not really married then we can get our not-real annulment and you can go back to screwing blondes with perky boobs.”
Bryant stared at her for a long moment. He opened his mouth, then seemed to think better of whatever he was going to say and closed it again. After a moment he shook his head. “I don’t expect you to stay faithful with this sham of a marriage—”
“I do.” Esther sucked in a deep breath. “Look. I’m leaving soon to go on a dig and I need to know where we stand with each other. We either need to be married in action and legality or we need to annul it. I don’t know what is going through your head, but I’m not going to cheat.”
He opened his mouth.
She hurried to continue. “And if it’s not cheating on you, then it’d be cheating on whatever guy I was dating. You said you’re not the marrying type? I am. I am going to find the right guy for me one day and I’m going to marry him. So, this is going to come out one way or another. If we annul it quietly, then that’s it.”
Bryant ground his teeth. Esther didn’t care. He couldn’t demand that they stay married and then act like they weren’t. It wasn’t going to work for her. She folded her arms, stared him in the eye and waited.
Chapter Six
Bryant
It took a lot of self-control not to say anything else in the elevator. His fingers drummed on the little railing that circled the room. Words pushed at his lips but he was determined he wasn’t going to say anything until they were assured of privacy. Her rudeness notwithstanding, he didn’t want to embarrass her more than she had already embarrassed herself. Not an easy task when he was inwardly seething.
How dare she?
How dare she come running after him and start babbling about STDs when a simple ‘we need to talk’ would have cleared up everything. What must Camille be thinking of him right now? Shaya’s sister, and like a little sister to him. Clearly, Esther thought that he had been planning to have a night of passion.
Part of him wanted to pump his fist in the air and shout hallelujah. It was clear that she was jealous and that shouldn’t have been making him feel as happy as he did about it.
Everything else that Esther had done, however, was combatting that ill-timed happiness with the simmering rage that he knew he should feel. How dare she presume that all he was was a skirt-chasing jackass that would betray his wife, however much the marriage wasn’t real. Would she even believe him if he told her who Camille was? No, he decided. She had already made up her mind and didn’t want to change it. And like he had told her, they weren’t really married. Legally, sure, but that wasn’t binding in the sense that mattered. Just words on a piece of paper. Nothing about the feelings of the heart.
He led her to the roof and turned to her. His heart lurched when he saw tears glimmering on her face. Was she really so hurt by what she thought he had been doing? He reached for her, almost unconscious of the movement, wanting to ease her pain.
She stepped back and glared at him. “Well?”
“Well… what?”
It was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes hardened. “Well, are you going to give me my annulment?”
I don’t want to annul it. “Our relationship is complicated—"
“No. It’s really not.”
“Yes, it is.”
Esther scowled at him as her glasses slipped down her nose. Apparently, she needed new ones that actually fit. “Exactly how is it complicated other than your reason not to seek an annulment which, by the way, still makes no sense to me.”
He stepped in a little closer. “It's complicated because whether or not you want to admit it, there was a reason why you married me that night. You want me. You want my hands in places no man has ever touched and you want the taste of me on your lips and the soft sounds of your moans to fill my ears as I lap at you. And your cry of pleasure as I take your virginity.”
She gaped at him. A red flush rose up her neck to stain her cheeks as she just stared as though she had never been so shocked-and aroused-in her life. Bryant almost apologized. He hadn’t meant to be so crude. In truth, he had just named what he wanted from her. But the look on her face and the faint aroma of arousal that wafted towards him was too much. He seized her around the waist and crushed his lips to hers.
For a split second she melted into his embrace. Then she went rigid and pulled herself sharply away. As he opened his mouth to apologize, her hand whipped across his face.
“Oh!” Esther clapped both hands over her mouth. Then she dropped them and pointed accusingly at him. “N-no! You don’t get to just grab me like that. I don’t care what sort of sick game you think this is, but I’m not playing!
Bryant rubbed his face. “You hit me.”
“Defending myself against an unwanted kiss.”
“You wanted it.”
Esther put some distance between them. “Do you know how much like a rapist that makes you sound?”
Bryant opened his mouth to tell her that she had wanted it and he could smell her heightened arousal but stopped himself. She was right. There was clearly a mind/body division going on with her and he had no right to just grab her like that. “I’m sorry.”
Esther hmphed and looked away. “I don’t want you. Well, maybe I do, but my hormones don’t control me. I’m not throwing away something so precious on a guy like you. Hit ‘em and quit ‘em. You’re only looking at me as a challenge, aren't you?”
Bryant shook his head.
“You are. Dragons only have one mate and yours died, so
there is no way you want anything permanent with me.”
Bryant tensed. His flames scorched his belly as they flared higher, both at the accusation and the reminder. He wasn’t so sure why these feelings kept crowding into his body, but one thing was certain. This had to end. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something that he was going to continue with. His chance at real love had died and he wasn’t going to let himself get sucked into a shallow, hollow replacement.
“I did have my mate,” Bryant said. His voice was low and furious. “I had her, and I loved her, and I thought she was going to be with me for the rest of my life. Every time I am with a woman, I see her face. I pretend that they’re her and for a moment it doesn’t feel like my heart was ripped from my chest. But then the moment is gone and so is she.”
Esther’s eyes widened.
He’d said too much. Revealed too much of himself. “And you’re nothing but a prickly virgin who denies what you want because you, what, think that sex is special? Think that having more than one partner makes it less enjoyable? Give me an experienced girl any day of the week over a nervous, uptight virgin.”
Her face darkened again. Her hands clenched and she shook her head. “You think you’re the first guy to insult me over what I decide I do with my own body? Your grief doesn’t give you an excuse to be an utter asshole to everybody else. Do I think sex is special? I think it can be. I think that an emotional bond is far more important than anything else, and I’ll have that when I marry. I’ll know it’s real and not just some guy trying to get me into bed. Like you, wanting to pretend that I’m someone else.”
Only he didn’t. He didn’t want to pretend that she was Shaya, he wanted to look into her beautiful dark eyes as he made love to her, he wanted to whisper her name over and over and be with her. And that frightened him as much as anything else.
“Whatever,” he said gruffly. “We’re done talking.”’
The door to the roof opened. A curvy, strong-bodied woman charged into the space between them and held up a canister of bear spray, pointing it towards Bryant. He fell back a step. He might be a dragon with a good tolerance for heat, but that didn’t mean he wanted to get an eyeful of that stuff.
“Get back!” the woman shouted. “You can’t go around threatening people like that!”
“He’s not threatening me, Kayla.” Esther snapped and forced her to lower her arm. “He and I were talking. And what are you doing pointing bear spray at people? You know that’s illegal, right?”
Kayla grimaced. “It’s not illegal if he was actually threatening you.”
“I can handle this on my own. Just… go back downstairs and I’ll come down in a little bit.”
Kayla stepped toward the door, then hesitated. “Maybe you should both come and talk in public.”
Bryant rolled his eyes. What did she think he was going to do, hurl Esther off the side of the building? He wanted to snap at her to mind her own business, but the truth was that they were done talking. There was nothing else to say. He couldn’t give Esther her annulment and she wouldn’t understand why. Any further discussions would just end up in a bigger fight.
“I have to go,” he said, stepping for the door. “I’ll talk to you later, Esther.”
“No, you can talk to me now. And Kayla, just go back downstairs!”
Before any of them could say anything else, there was a rush of wings. A dragon sprang over the edge of the building. He shifted mid-flight and landed lightly on the building. He brushed shaggy black hair from his eyes and grinned at Bryant.
“Shit. Dunn.” Bryant rolled to the balls of his feet, glowering at his rival.
The two women made choking noises. Kayla burst out. “Put some clothes on!”
The dragons ignored her as they started to circle each other. The last time they had met, Dunn had nearly ripped one of his wings off. He wasn’t going to let himself get caught off-guard like that again. Dunn grinned at him, as if they were old friends instead of the bitterest of enemies. Bryant’s flames rose higher, yearning to be released into the face of this son of a jackal’s hind leg.
“I was at the justice of the peace the other day,” Dunn said. “Guess what I saw? It was the darnedest thing. There was you and there was her.” He gestured with his chin at Esther. “She was all dressed in white and you were kissing. Such a cute couple… and then I thought, hmmm… this could be fun. I let it stew a couple days but I haven’t seen you go back to annul your marriage… do you love her, Chandler? What would Shaya think? Oh, well… maybe you’ll be able to protect this one.”
That did it. Bryant didn’t care about what sort of plot he had or what he was doing here. He just wanted to rip that smug smile off his face and burn Dunn to the ground. He threw himself forward with a howl. He was never going to get his hands on Esther, never going to hurt another person that Bryant lo—
The scent of hot peppers and oil burst into the air as Dunn dodged to his left, charging at the women. A blast of spray hit him in the eyes and he wheeled back, howling with pain. Bryant drove a fist into the other dragon’s stomach, but even that brief moment was enough for him to get his mind back in its right spot.
Dunn was a stronger dragon than he was. There was no point in arguing that fact. And if they fought, in this limited space, the chances that one of the women would get hurt was too high. Bryant shifted and grabbed the two women. He held them close to his chest as he sprang from the rooftop.
It was only after he became aware of Kayla screaming that they were being kidnapped that he realized he’d made another mistake.
Too late now, he thought grimly. His career was over, Dunn would see to that. So, in the meantime? He held the women tighter and just flew.
Chapter Seven
Esther
Okay. He didn’t kidnap them. He was acting out in defense against that other dragon. Robert Dunn. The one that he said he had a rivalry with. Dunn had insinuated that Bryant’s mate had died because of something that he did… or didn’t do…
Esther stumbled as Bryant set her and Kayla down. Her feet were freezing and her head spun in circles. The fast flight or high altitude had not been kind to her. She sank to the ground, putting her head between her knees as she fought against the nausea swirling in her. Beside her, Kayla braced herself on her hands and knees, panting.
“Are you okay?” Bryant bent over them. “Flying can be hard and—”
“You kidnapped us!” Kayla’s voice was a shriek. “You just kidnapped us!”
Esther managed to get herself upright again. “He didn’t kidnap us. You heard that other dragon, he was making all sorts of threats against us.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“He was going to attack us anyway.”
Kayla scrambled to her feet. “He was down. What I saw was this guy attacking him and then you stole my bear spray and—Where is it? You lost it, didn’t you? Don’t you dare come near us!” She glowered at Bryant, though he hadn’t moved. “No. No, this is unacceptable. You are going to take us back to the city at once. Not keep us… wherever this is.”
That was a good question. Where were they? Esther glanced around. They were in a grassy meadow with trees ringing it. She shook her head and turned to Kayla. “Hey, we can’t freak out here. Bryant isn’t going to hurt us. You don’t know who that other dragon was.”
“And you do?”
Esther hesitated. “I know that he and Bryant hate each other. That’s not the point, the point is that Bryant did what he thought was best. Right?” Bryant didn’t answer. Not helping her case. “Let’s just take a moment to breathe and then discuss this. Yeah.”
“Um…” Kayla pointed, her face blanching. “I think we were followed.”
Both Bryant and Esther swiveled around to see the shape of a dragon hurtling toward them. Her heart jumped into her throat as she backed away. Bryant growled as he ran several meters and then leaped into the air. His dragon’s form burst free of its human constraints and her breath caught in her lungs. His scales
were bronze, hard and glittering. Spikes ran down his spine and more jutted from the joints on his limbs. He was terrifying. He was beautiful.
The newcomer, a sleek, blue-green color, dodged to the right as Bryant came at him. His back was smooth, but his tail was extra long and as he twisted in the air, it whipped across Bryant’s chest, hurling him back. The bronze dragon quickly regained himself and let out a burst of green-white flame at his attacker. Both dragons dropped to the ground and clashed with each other. Spurts of scales sprayed into the air.
Bryant closed his teeth around the other dragon’s neck, and it let out a growling rumble and grabbed his wing with a clawed hand. Both howled as bursts of flame shot through the air.
Esther clenched her hands and danced on the spot, unable to fully pull in a breath. Then it hit her. The dragon that had turned into Robert Dunn had been a sea-green, similar to this one, but he’d had spikes. On his back, on his tail, and horns curling back from his face. This one had none. He wasn’t Robert Dunn.
The dragons continued to fight. Blood ran slick over their scales and she ran forward, heedless of the danger. “Stop!” she cried. “Stop! It’s not Robert Dunn! Bryant! BRYANT!”
With a roar, Bryant tore himself from the other dragon’s grip. They backed away from each other, smoke rolling from their nostrils. They growled at one another, and Kayla was suddenly running past her. Esther blinked in surprise, and then the other woman was between the two dragons. She held her hands out to both of them.
What was she doing?
“You have to stop fighting!” she shouted. “I don’t know what the heck is going on here, but there will be no more fighting, do you understand me?”
Both dragons stared at her with what could only be described as blank expressions. Esther rushed forward and grabbed Kayla and dragged her back. She was certain that Bryant wasn’t going to attack again, but she had no idea who the other dragon was and what he wanted.
The dragons eyed each other for a moment before both nodded. They shifted back to their human forms slowly. Esther hurried to Bryant’s side to check if he was okay. Their previous argument was all but forgotten. Who cared about marriage and annulment when he was bleeding? He ran a hand through his hair as she got closer. Panting, but he didn’t look any worse for wear except for the blood. When she reached him, though, she saw that the tears in his skin were already starting to scab.
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