by Susan Arden
Her brother gave her his grudging approval at sidestepping Necrodemas, but he didn’t approve her running away from the family or Denver. Easy for him to say, considering he was the shining star for Mom and Dad and the entire shifter populace in the Southwest … and where did that place her? Black sheep, selfish, not doing her duty—the list was endless. She’d received enough ugly anonymous emails and phone calls, and then was let go from her job at Sternberg and Fink. It was too much to bear the fall from grace. Still, Shawn had offered her money when her parents shut down her trust fund, tangling it in legal knots trying to sway her to reconsider staying, but she refused. At least she walked away with her head held up.
Unfortunately, the freak fest didn’t blow over—she’d recently gotten information that Necrodemas was looking for her. That part she didn’t understand, but she’d still flown under the radar, unwilling to test whether or not the old alpha actually possessed all the power he’d boasted.
Score one for Drake in being the first to find her.
But she’d die before admitting that he was right and she was wrong about her being free to just walk away unscathed.
Didn’t matter, since that their little sex affair was a total snafu. She didn’t just jump from the skillet into the flames, she’d started a firestorm. And she didn’t settle for a tiny flicker of heat, Oh no! She’d thrown gallons and gallons of combustible fuel on the backdraft by harnessing herself to all-powerful dragon in wild, messy hair, screaming sex. In retrospect, their blistering affair had ended all too quickly before she’d left the villa and had the chance to recoup her sanity—turn the tables on him and his mind-warping ability.
It was the last time she’d seen Drake. The last time she’d talked civilly with her parents before they’d angrily disowned her. The last time she’d lived without looking over her shoulder.
Now, her body clenched at the potent scent of him this close. Achingly familiar—bone deep—and in seconds she longed to strip off her clothes and meld against his warm skin and hard body. The way his scent torqued her self-control made liquid fire run free in her blood and fill her from the inside out. Lust roiled in her veins as all her thoughts dissolved save one: fucking him.
No. Goddamn. Way.
“Come with me,” she said between gritted teeth, curling her fingers into fists, and marching past him. This dragon mind game was going to end and it was going to end right now.
“With pleasure,” he whispered in a gravelly voice that massaged her in places she’d forgotten about and by rights should have exorcised out of her system. “Speaking of past experiences, it was perfect being in back of you.”
She swung around, her nostrils flaring, and her canines bared. “Don’t push your luck.”
“I believe I was the one who said don’t push,” he growled as his eyes glowed green, flashing her with a fire she remembered oh-so-well.
“Is this about settling a score?” she asked before she resumed walking. Over her shoulder, she tacked on, “Better get in line.”
Once outside, she noticed his motorcycle. The man hadn’t changed. Had she really ridden with him once? Her arms wrapped around his waist, burning up the mountain roads outside Lisbon?
“Kitten,” he said. “Put away your claws.”
She spun toward Drake, without gazing up into his face, and unfortunately found the contoured pecs that strained his T-shirt right in front of her nose. “What in the name of all that’s holy are you doing here?”
Oops! She’d forgotten. With lightning fast reflexes that only a dragon was capable of, he had her up against the side of the building, in the shadows, his body pressed to hers. “Didn’t I say I’d come find you?” Then his glimmering eyes widened and he looked downward as though noticing her protruding belly for the first time.
She was dressed in a loose fitting shirt and apron that so far had hid her condition. But his speed was never a match for her ferocity and she pivoted him a full one hundred and eighty degrees and slammed him against the brick wall. Besides picking up some social skills training, she’d studied martial arts these last five months and twenty-six days.
But who was counting?
She did better barefoot, where she was unencumbered by shoes like the heavy work boots she wore or these jeans. But with her forearm pressed against Drake’s throat, she was pretty sure he got the message. Then he moved his hand to her rounded belly, spread his fingers over the front of her jeans, and pressed.
“My baby?” he whispered, his warm palm cupping her abdomen. “Shit. Why didn’t you contact me?”
“Don’t mess with me,” she hissed, trying to back away, but he held her steady with his iron grip on her arm and his palm still tenderly squeezing her. His green eyes focused on her and her gaze collided with his. “Why are you here?”
“Apparently a lot has changed between us.” He frowned. “First you’d better answer my question.”
“What was the point?” she scoffed. “I can take care of myself. I’m not some wilting daisy. Pregnant or not, I can kick ass.”
“We’re talking about my baby,” he growled. “You’re not going to kick anyone’s ass. Hell, I have a good mind to lay you over my lap and spank your bottom.”
She released him and smirked, then backed up a step and waved him forward. “C’mon. Why don’t you give it try? Give me your best shot. I’ll have you laid out. Promise.”
He took hold of her. Again. Not lightning fast and she easily could have avoided him. But she didn’t want to—this had to be more dragon mental wrangling.
“Little girl, we gonna do this dance? ‘Cause if memory serves me correct, you liked it rough, but in the end it was with your wrists and ankles tied to my bed. We never tried mine … unless you’ve developed a taste for doing the tying. If that’s what it takes to get you to talk to me, I might acquiesce to your whims.”
“Drake, stop playing with my mind! Don’t you dare go there,” she warned and turned from him, only to hear his scurrilous chuckle fill the air. Oh Jesus. Her skin was seared from his touch—worse from his words and stare.
“If I could, I would. In a city second. I’m here on business so put away your claws and canines unless you want me to mount you. And darling, I’m a click away from reminding you how good we are in bed.”
“Is that what this is? You want to make me remember? I have enough, way more than enough, to never forget the nights you spent in my bed.”
He arched a brow. “That’s not why I came. But now, our little reunion has taken a turn for the serious.”
“Whose business?”
He leveled her with a look, setting his jaw with just the right amount of displeasure to come off as badass sexy. “Shawn needs you,” he said, his tone turning solemn. “Damn, I can’t believe if he hadn’t contacted me I never would have found out about my baby. What are you thinking? You shouldn’t be alone. All this time and I could have helped you.”
She snapped her head upward, risking her wellbeing, and searched Drake’s eyes for clues as to what he had yet to divulge. Her heart squeezed. “What’s wrong? Is Shawn all right?”
“Your brother is fine. He’s in charge of the council.”
“And you came here to tell me that instead of him. What of my father?”
“Quick as ever, kitten. I’m here on council business. Things are heating up in Denver. All over the country. The Western council needs to harness the power of other sectors, other continents.” Flickering green sparks, tendrils of heat flared from his gaze … and she felt herself begin to fall under his spell. Dragon magick. Intoxicating to only one: the mate to an alpha male dragon and he’d branded her without her consent. Marked her to every other male—not that she was in the market for another over-the-top dragon … or any other guy.
“Don’t start that serpent mental shit with me, Drake,” she whispered, tearing her gaze away from his by closing her eyes and drawing in a deep cleansing breath. The muscles in her extremities trembled and the spiraling sensation deep in her bell
y pulsated—only one way to stop the coiling and he damned well knew the effect he was having on her. She glanced down to avoid looking into his eyes. But seriously! The sight of his bulge—clearly erect behind his leathers—was of zero help.
“So Shawn is fine? Swear it!”
“Yes. I swear. It’s strictly the council. A meeting is planned and requires all heirs to appear. There. I’ve done my due diligence.” Drake said, then paused, his breath caressing her cheek. “Do you have a reply?”
“I don’t owe you reply.”
“On that, you’re wrong. We can stay out here all night, and if that’s what you need, I’ll accommodate you. But we could be naked right now and on our way to a more fitting reunion. One that I promise won’t disappoint you.”
“How the hell do you get a helmet on that ego of yours?”
“Darling, that’s not the head you should be concentrating on right this second.”
“You’re insufferable. Really, Drake,” she said.
“I meant yours, not mine,” he replied.
CHAPTER 5
Seeing Shannon again and pregnant with his baby rocked his entire world. But hell would freeze over twice before that slipped from his tongue. Sure, he’d had a jackass plan coming down here. Originally, he would have given his left nut to fuck her. Then maybe, just maybe, he’d stop incessantly carrying this torch he’d rooked himself into ever since she ran out on him. His plan on hooking up with Shannon ran pretty linear: he’d find her, fuck her, leave her … forget her.
In that grand order.
With one minor issue: she was his mate and forgetting her was as easy as forgetting to breathe. Every goddamn night she haunted his dreams. His dragon ego had demanded that he let her go when she’d hauled ass away from Lisbon. When she’d left him, only his blasted pride enabled him to build a wall around his dragon instinct to claim her, when rightfully she was his. He would have gone solo through eternity rather than let her see how deeply she’d crawled under his skin—but that was before he’d discovered she carried his child.
She paused in front of him now, and flipped him off. “My head is just fine. I’m here. Employed. And so far, I’m not married to some old geezer or shacked up with some control freak who spews fire.”
“You aren’t anywhere near living fine and dandy. Dammit, you’re on the run. Holy hell,” he muttered, reeling and fighting the urge to encircle her in his arms. According to his grand plan, sometime soon, he’d have to divulge that she was due back in Denver on the private jet her family was sending. Except encountering Shay with her rounded belly filled with his baby dissolved all plans. He wasn’t ever going to leave her alone and certainly wasn’t about to let her go back to Denver to face Shawn by herself.
“How would you know anything about me?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
He tried not to stare at her tits, but looking at her rounded belly did things to him. Off the charts things like want to protect her and at the same time, strip her naked and explore her body.
“I know plenty. What’s important and from now on, I won’t be fucking ignored or cut off from you. You’re carrying my child and I will be a father … an involved father, Shay. Better get used to it.” Glancing around the parking lot, he sucked in a breath that tasted like smoke and lust.
“How magnanimous of you. Don’t I have any say?”
He flashed his focus over to her, itching to kiss her quiet, but the chance of that happening: zilch. Well, not yet, and he looked for an angle so she’d put away her claws. “At least things are laid back down here.”
“Things were laid back. Until you showed up … you could have called,” she retorted.
“And risk you running again? I’m not just a pretty face for your pleasure, my lady.” He winked at her, then let his gaze roam down to her chest and lower to her curvy figure.
Apparently, she still wanted nothing to do with him. The way her tits were rising and falling, tempted him to do more than stare, but most definitely, she was breathing air if not fire where he was concerned. Well that stunk for her. He wasn’t going anywhere until she gave birth.
The question was how to get her to stop fighting him. For sure, he could use his dragon mind linking. Mind read and wipe. Even mind warp, but he wouldn’t do that to her and had fought linking his mind to Shay all these months just in case she was sensitive enough to realize. Some shifters knew exactly when a mind link occurred, and he bet Shay was one of those sorts. Underneath all the bullshit swirling around his own brain and lashing his chest in barbed wire, he craved that she meld to him of her own accord. Maybe this was all a challenge, and heaven only knew too well, he’d be up for scaling his personal Kilimanjaro in the form of a golden-eyed feline with a smart mouth.
No, he needed to get to know her … on her terms. Show her he could be trusted and then maybe she might put aside fighting him tooth and nail. “So you tend bar now?”
“Idle chit-chat?” she commented, arching a brow. “Should I ask you over for tea and we can catch up?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “So I suck at small talk, but we still need to talk. I’m the father of your baby and do you seriously think I’m going anywhere?”
“We have nothing to discuss—”
Without thinking, he reacted, eating up the distance between them until he had her in his arms, so close from thigh to chest it was impossible to distinguish where their bodies began and ended. “You’re carrying my seed. Do you know what the statistical relevance of you becoming pregnant is? So low I didn’t even worry about protection because it’s near impossible to impregnate another dragon … forget about a leopardess. And yet here you are pregnant with my son or daughter.”
“Is this some type of cold analysis of offspring reproduction rates on your part? Are you saying you’re going to take your progeny back to your dragon family? I’ll fight you with everything I have at my disposal.”
“If I wanted to whisk you away from here, do you think there’s anyone or anything that would get in my way? I warned you once, don’t push me.” He moved his hands to her hips, spreading his fingers over the curve of each of her ass cheeks and cupped her bottom, hiking up her hips and pressing into her. “You’re mine. I tried to warn you, but you refused to listen.”
“Please, don’t use what we did a few nights so long ago, I can’t recall the actual details … just the effect.”
Fuck. Did everything she say have to come out like chewed glass from her beautiful mouth? “You said you’d never forget,” he murmured, savoring the feel of her heat spreading over his erection. Yeah, his baby was inside her. He absorbed the energy wavelengths that were stronger than usual for an infant dragon. “We need to get you checked out by a doctor familiar with dragon pregnancies.”
“I’m aware of what happens to dragons, Drake. I’ll never agree to go to your family’s compound.”
The back of his neck tightened. “So am I and that’s not what I’m suggesting.”
“Then you’re also aware that I’ll never subject my children to those archaic traditions. If I didn’t do that to myself, I sure as hell won’t do that to my babies.” She untied the apron and lifted the neck strap over her head.
“Babies?”
She glanced downward, uncertainty flashing through her expression. “Twins. A boy and a girl, and they’re strong. Growing and as I understand, I’ll give birth in April.”
“Twins?” he repeated and his knees weakened. He’d witnessed all sorts of war atrocities without flinching, yet hearing that Shay was not only pregnant but with two babies stunned him; he stared with his mouth wide open.
“I was a twin, but my sister died. Fraternal and identical twins are common for leopards.”
“Do you know anything about giving birth to a dragon … let alone two?” he asked. “I don’t know if April is correct.”
“What do you take me for? I’m not some idiot. Just because you saw me the summer after graduating, trying to let off some steam, doesn’t
mean I’m an airhead. Besides, who says our babies are dragons?”
“My children are dragons,” he snorted. “And yes, I’m well aware of your level of intellect and creativity … you slipped by my team enough times to have made that point.”
“I can slip by you again.” She notched her chin up and his chest tightened. This was not the time to push one wayward leopardess.
In truth, she’d slipped by him and out the door of the villa. For months he failed to track her down. Without resorting to mind linking, and without the monetary backing of the Barclay Enterprises, he’d relied on his navy buddies’ connections and he’d gotten a handle on where Shay had ended up. Louisiana of all places. She was smart all right. Down here was one of the few places on earth where the supernatural community didn’t sell out to outsiders. Harmony had some hardcore eyes and ears as evidenced by the glowing red eyes yards away, observing him and Shay. He imagined if those same eyes perceived Shay was truly in danger, they’d try to subdue him. “Try” being the operative word.
He needed to make her feel safe. Secure. It would be her natural shifter instinct when pregnant to secure a place for herself. Since he couldn’t handcuff her to his bed, he needed to do whatever he could to make sure she didn’t give him the slip. “You have friends here. Several who protect and watch over you. I don’t want to inadvertently harm an overzealous buddy or two.”
“This is a safe place and why I settled here,” she said. “Isn’t that what you preached?”
He nodded. “Glad you listened to something. Can we find a place to talk? I promise not to try anything you don’t want.”
“No mind tricks? Promise me.”
“I don’t need to use mental kink to get a woman to spread her legs.”
“That’s what he said,” Shay scoffed, then she shrugged. “I guess I always knew this day would get here. C’mon. I live above Mony.”
“After you.” He motioned that he’d follow her and he did, far enough away to keep from overshadowing Shay. He took advantage of bringing up rear by admiring the gentle sway of her hips and recalling the times he’d spent in back of her, making them both dive for the edge of ecstasy.