Dragon Heart

by Susan Arden

  “Guess I should be looking for a replacement. Don’t suspect you need a job?”

  “Nice of you to ask, but I have something I kick around. Keeps me busy.”

  “Yeah. Guys like you always do.” Solomon flipped the light switch.

  “Good night,” Drake said. “Thanks, by the way.”

  “For?”

  “Watching out for Shay. She’s been safe here and I won’t ever forget that.”

  “Shay’s a special girl.”

  He inhaled. “Yep. I keep hearing that.”

  Sol clapped him on the shoulder. “She’s been waiting for you. Glad you finally got here. I was wondering if I’d have to hire a detective to find you.”

  He felt his brows shoot up. “If I had known sooner, I would have come immediately.”

  “Hey. We’ve all been on the receiving end of a hardheaded woman. You’re here now.”

  Drake laughed. “Sometimes I don’t know which way is up.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked around toward the staircase. Mounting the stairs two at a time, he twirled the doorknob in his hand and frowned. Dammit. How hard was it for one leopardess to remember to keep the door locked? He entered the apartment and reminded himself to stay low key. Barreling back inside after storming out wasn’t going to help his situation of getting Shay to plainly see how good they were as a couple. He’d been a fool in how he’d demanded she marry him. What a jackass!

  An independent woman didn’t acquiesce to diktats. If he wanted Shay, it was going to be a partnership or nothing. He totally got that, or at least he understood after Mara and half the bar—the female half—had laid into him for the last three hours. He’d gotten an earful and an education on what it meant to have a mate, or more specifically, a pregnant mate. And equally important, according to the brouhaha downstairs, how the hell to be sensitive, masculine, the perfect gentleman and the perfect whatever for Shay. His head spun from all the advice.

  “Hey, you still up?” he called out as he approached her bedroom door, vowing he’d not link with her. He’d come clean and admit he was an overbearing brute and if she wanted her independence, he’d honor her wishes … as much as he could being an alpha obstinate dragon.

  Inside the room was dim from what he could tell of the cracked door and he wondered if she’d fallen asleep. Pregnant women had to need more rest. Didn’t they? He pushed open the door and stood there. With his dragon vision, he perceived the thermal temperatures within the bedroom, scanning the bed specifically. Shay wasn’t inside. He stepped to the nursery and opened the door. No Shay. His heartbeat started to throttle in his throat.

  He backtracked and passed the kitchen and the living room. Zilch. He scanned the walls and the various thermal prints with his infrared vision; Shay’s faded thermal handprints were hours old. He followed her footprints on the floor, almost too faded to perceive, all the way to the back door. What the shit? On the back porch his gaze trailed Shay’s footprints up and over the barrels, and down the stairs. When the footprints went in one direction—into the deserted field—his heart clawed its way up his throat. He roared in frustration, tearing off his shirt as his cranial horn burst through his skin. Forget the idea of not linking their minds.

  Where are you? Shay, for the love of all that’s holy, answer me! Baby, tell me where are you!

  Fuck. Fuck! Silence permeated the corridors of his mind. His wings unfurled and he felt his body begin to shift. His fingers turned into claws with sharp as fuck talons. The seams of his jeans burst as did his motorcycle boots until the tattered remnants of his clothing fell away from his body as he leapt over the side of the railing, landing on the ground below as his wings broke through the skin below his shoulder blades.

  “What in the world are you raising Cain about?” Carl stood a few steps in front of him. Kee cleared the corner of the building, still hovering in the air and looking downward. Both the vampires had blood on their lips, smeared on their mouths, and running down their chins; obviously they’d come during feeding.

  It was a little after midnight and Drake sniffed the air, dissecting the scents and picking up the faint residue of that diesel odor that intermingled with the other gasoline scents lingering in the parking lot. “Fuck! How could I be so imperially stupid?”

  “You’re a dragon,” Carl offered.

  “Shut the fuck up, bloodsucker. Shay is gone. And not in a good way as you’d like … away from me.” He snapped his wings, hovering above the ground. Shay! Answer me, sweetheart. Where in the fuck are you?

  Carl wiped the smile off his face. “Where?”

  Kee landed next to Carl. “What happened? Where is she?”

  “That way.” He pointed and simultaneously stabbed the air with his forked tail. “Those biker wolves. Where are they located?” He growled, flames shooting out from his mouth. If the vampires had been any other creatures, Carl and Kee would have a pair of singed faces, with third degree burns.

  “Near the swamps. What does that have to do with you breathing fucking fire left and right?”

  Drake roared, “Shay’s out there and has run headlong into the Unruled all by herself!”

  CHAPTER 11

  “It’s a hell of a thing,” the gypsy Fae said loudly. “Would hate to take a piece out of you by accident. No time to get a doctor to repair the damage. Come on, Miss Barclay. I can stay out here all night and all tomorrow. It’s gonna be a sunny day. You’ll need water eventually. Little leopardess, where are you hiding?” His sing-song voice made her fur stand on end.

  Shay was certain … nearly certain that he had no idea where she was hiding. A swatch of light swept over the ground and she hunkered lower, pressing her belly to the damp, mushy soil. Oh God! Under her, she felt something slither along her ribcage and prayed the cold coiling was a non-venomous snake seeking her body heat. She flattened her ears and sniffed. The crunch-crunch-crunch of the gypsy Fae’s boot steps were getting closer. Shay poked her head up and then dunked her chin onto her front paws to avoid the beam the spotlight cast in her direction. That shithead was wielding a machete back and forth through the cordgrass.

  She crawled backward, past clumps of wiregrass, clenching her jaws all the while. Note to self: running out the door, toward a swamp is not a beneficial way to blow off steam. Instead of sequestered at the town gym, safe and sound and deciding which machine and how many reps, she had to slink into one of the smelly canals that crisscrossed the salt marsh. Slowly, she scooted—not flipping easy with her belly bulging on either side. I’m gonna be fine, my babies are safely cushioned inside my body. She kept that on repeat; but still, she gritted her jaw, her canines stabbing her lip with each sharp rock that jabbed her underside. Her coat was wet and smelled fetid from the brackish water. Probably why the Fae was having trouble locating her. Just as she could sniff out his rank Fae odor, he was equally perceptive of her leopardess scent. Or in the very least, his wolves were keen. If he’d only shift into his werewolf form, she’d show him a thing or two about what it meant to mess with a mama leopardess. But that moron wasn’t a complete idiot.

  She stuck her back paw out and wiggled her toes into thin air. Holy Jesus, she was on the edge of steep embankment. This must be some sort of irrigation canal behind her. Manmade, judging from the sharp cut in the ground, and she scooted her body parallel to the edge to see what lay below. Keeping one eye peeled on the Fae, she adjusted her position just as he shouted an order. Shay clung to the edge, peering downward. The drop was at least fifteen feet, maybe more, going by how the moon reflected on the rippling surface of the fast-moving water. Geez, it smelled horrible. She didn’t know what was down in that water but as she peeked over the edge she heard a voice. Shay! Answer me, sweetheart. Where in the fuck are you?

  Her claws shot out as she instinctively flinched and squinted, using every last rod and cone of her nighttime vision to scan the brackish water below. Was Drake down in that god-awful water?

  The Fae wasn’t more than ten or so yards off to the side.
If she snarled, he’d hear her. She couldn’t give up her location. Shannon Barclay! Wait—that shouting was inside her head. What the flock was happening?

  Again she heard Drake’s voice crystal clear. Baby, talk to me. A word. One word, Shay. Now!

  Inhaling, she closed her eyes and focused on linking her mind with Drake’s. For all her bitching and moaning about having him infiltrate her mind, this was some awesome skill he had and she’d apologize later.

  “Point the lights over there,” the Fae hollered. “Get those fucking wolves out here. Now! I don’t care if they were bit and are bleeding. They’d better do their job and sniff out where the Barclay bitch is hiding or it’ll be their hides I nail to the wall.”

  Drake? Can you hear me? She felt Drake’s presence inside her mind, but she couldn’t seem to form the words so he could hear them. Even in her mind it sounded more like leopard growls and snarls.

  She clung to the muck as a warm glow filled her with a calming sensation. He must be doing something. The golden serpentine essence expanded, a relay racing across her nerve endings as if he were one with her.

  We’re coming to you. His deep voice radiated through her as a beacon, a shimmering energy. His dragon heat filled the deepest and darkest corner of her soul.

  If she wanted to converse with him, she needed her human brain in command. In leopard form, she could understand when Drake spoke, but she wasn’t articulate in English or any other human spoken language and he didn’t speak feline. Not yet.

  Okay. Here goes nothing. It was one thing to be a wet leopard stooped over the spongy swamp ground. It was quite another thing to be a woman with sensitive skin, lying prone in a salt marsh. Holy goddess! She shivered, her tummy pressed against mud and cordgrass, as she laid her forehead against the back of her interlaced hands. She disengaged her fingers and quickly reached down her thigh, scooting the snake away from her leg. The tiny hairs all over her human body rose from the chilly night air and her damp skin. But more than the cool temperature, she felt the sensation of Drake’s powerful magick washing over. She didn’t fight him linking minds with her and the feeling was exquisite, even lying in the muck and aside from being the target of a psycho gypsy Fae jackass.

  Drake? Can you hear me? She tapped her forehead and waited for a return message. Please, let him hear me. Plea—

  His voice boomed inside her mind.

  Shay, we’re coming to you.

  You can actually hear me! She dug her fingers into the soggy dirt; a jolt of adrenaline shot through her body.

  Yeah. About mind linking, look, there wasn’t a choice.

  Drake, please shut up. So not a problem. Come find me. I’m in the swamp—but I don’t know where. She looked up, and dammit she couldn’t find one point in which to reference.

  Find some landmark. Anything.

  Err … there’s a swamp buggy and it’s got a bright search light. Oh, about a half a mile back there was a cell tower. But nothing else is out here except the Fae and his crew.

  Nothing. Silence. Drake? She tapped on her forehead, trying to improve the reception, then realized it more than likely didn’t work that way.

  Yep. That’s the Sprint cell tower. Got it.

  Drake, I’m in human form. I need to change back.

  “Well, well. Look what we found here. Won’t be so pretty when I get hold of you now, and then that dragon lover of yours. He’s the real prize I’m after. What an incredibly simple trap to lure a dragon out here, past the warded borders of Harmony. Fucking child’s play.” At the sound of the Fae’s voice so near, panic took hold of her. She swung her face around and locked gazes with the Dark Fae. He was less than three feet away and the skin all over her body shrank. He lunged for her, leaving her no options. Scrambling, she rolled over the edge of the embankment, willing to do anything to escape that creature’s touch. Oh my God. I’ve got to shift back into my leopardess. I’m going down.

  “Motherfucker!” the Fae yelled at her. Lights flickered from above and illuminated the canal. The water was the color of café au lait, and a water moccasin sped by her.

  Shay, what just happened?

  Drake, I had to jump into the water. By the time she’d kicked her legs twice, she’d shifted back into a frantically paddling leopardess, moving in league with the water current away from the spot where the Fae stood.

  She blew the water from her nostrils and blinked as water droplets ran down her face and into her eyes, partially blinding her. Did Drake realize she could still hear him but couldn’t send a message back? The water moved with greater force and she bumped into the sides of the canal. Roughhewn sections, they more than likely connected the swamp basin and led out to the Gulf of Mexico, not that she was planning on riding the current that far.

  He won’t jump. Dark Fae and water don’t mix. Nor can he roll around in the mud. Earth elements will send him back to the realm from where he came.

  Drake continued talking to her and with his voice in her head, she felt a sense of calm in the midst of a total calamity.

  Good to know. The choppy water current carried her along the high-cut walls and the canal widened. More like the walls gave away and she saw why. This wasn’t just a canal, it was some sort of dike with several waterwheels spinning, lashed together. She paddled in earnest instead of being carried along and began swimming in the opposite direction, away from the wheels, churning up the water into white thrashing bubbles. Where in the freaking world was she? Some sort of water treatment plant but how could she get the message to Drake? She’d have to shift back again. She’d never shifted this rapidly in succession. She fought every instinct that told her to remain in primal form. As a leopardess she was stronger. A capable swimmer. A lithe feline force to reckon with. In human form, she could do a respectable breast stroke and tread water. That was it.

  She tasted the tang of metal—a brittle sour taste on her tongue. Was it fear or the electricity being produced by the water wheels? Shay glanced around at the fencing designed to keep people out and trapped her inside a watery conveyer belt.

  She shifted again, kicking her legs and dove underneath the water.

  • • •

  Drake circled around the cell tower. He’d called Mara for her ability to sweep into small spaces and her in-depth knowledge of the swamp. She flew next to him in owl form and the vampires zipped by like rockets. They had little control over how to glide on air currents and he gritted his teeth. If the Fae noticed them, that fucker would step up his game in attempting to trap and capture Shay.

  Baby, give me a sign.

  Drake! She sounded as if she were choking. Or coughing. I’m in some sort of water treatment place.

  He swooped down to the cell tower, using his ability to be noiseless. Stealth. “Where’s a water treatment place around here?” he asked Kee.

  “Fuck. I don’t know. Hold on.” The vampire removed his iPhone from his pocket and tapped the screen. “That way. According to my navigation application it’s one point two miles.”

  Mara perched on one of the metal rungs of the tower, softly screeching and blinked, flapping her wings and nodding. Apparently, she was aware of the place. She took to the air waves and he followed, until he locked in on Shay’s life force. Squinting, he identified the waterwheels lashed together across the canal. Some joker’s attempt to harness solar power and remain off the grid. Shit!

  He swooped down.

  Shay. I’m here. If you’re below the surface, can you come up for air?

  Oh Drake. One slender hand, then another surfaced, followed by the top of Shay’s head.

  He torpedoed her location, rocketing downward. Gingerly, he curled his talons over her body, unsure how to hold her. This was the first time he’d touched her while in dragon form and her delicate skin concerned him. She was so much smaller than him. She curled her fingers around his foreleg, and stepped up into his paw that he held out, wrapping her arms around his knee. He felt as though every nerve he possessed was suddenly exposed and simult
aneously amped with energy into a state of hyperawareness. She felt incredibly soft against his tough skin—like sensuous silk to his senses. When she hoisted herself completely out of the water, he was unprepared for her sleek, wet, and very naked body to break the surface. Her rounded belly and bouncing breasts spoke to every possessive atom composing his body—his soul went on red-alert status.

  Holy shit, did he just turn into a creature with all thumbs? His dexterity all but disappeared. He beat his wings and rose up into the air, focused on shielding Shay while vainly trying to enfold her in his paw. Christ almighty! Those dipstick vampires better keep their bloodsucking eyes to themselves. Fuck, I’m not going to be able to deal with this Fae until I get Shay situated.

  “Hey. I can hear you,” she said aloud and squeezed his foreleg, shivering. “Would you rather I shift back into a leopardess?”

  Don’t. I don’t want to chance you losing your footing. I’ll have you back at your apartment shortly. Mara will need to stay with you. I’m going to track down that Fae fucker and deal with him. One-on-one.

  No. Please. He has a mob with him. We’ll come up with a plan and then deal with him. Not like this. Drake, you can’t risk something happening to you. I’m asking for our babies. Don’t come back to the swamp … for me, do this one thing.

  He roared in frustration, shooting a plume of fire upward into the darkened night sky. The ground rumbled underneath them and from a languid flight, he tore through the air in anger. She could feel his rage and stroked a hand against the rough hide covering his chest. He was large, the size of Greyhound bus, but she didn’t fear him in this roaring, untamed state.

  His chest rumbled and after having flown a mile, he snorted, shifting his emerald eyes and regarded her. She felt him mind link and purred in response to the exquisite sensation of warm tendrils filling her body.

  We’re leaving tonight. No ifs, ands, or buts. I’m taking you away from here. Understand?