INTO THE FIRE (Forbidden Love)

by James, Danielle

  “Shit, I can’t get a clear shot,” Antonio cursed.

  “Steady,” Rebel warned, raising both his Glocks. His eyes narrowed on the red dragon, zeroing in on his target. No way was he going to let that monster hurt Leigh. Not now, not ever. She needed his protection, and she was going to get it, whether she wanted it or not.

  As the pair turned in the sky, Rebel squeezed both triggers a microsecond before the red dragon was in sights. His bullets hit the mark. The red one lost its grip on Leigh and continued to fall from the sky. Leigh shot up, gaining back some of her altitude.

  Just before the wounded dragon hit the ground, it disappeared. Just vanished into thin air.

  Leigh shrieked furiously and dove for Rebel and his family. “Oh, shit!” someone yelled as they all dove for cover. All except Rebel. He stood there watching her approach. When she would have barreled into him, she shot straight up, narrowly missing his head. His hat blew off his head, but he didn’t move. She circled back landed directly in front of him with much more finesse than should have been possible for a creature her size.

  Then, she marched determinedly for Rebel.

  Not too smart, are you Cowboy?

  He shrugged as he holstered his guns. “I know you won’t hurt me,” he said. Big mistake. Her massive tail snapped around her body and struck him in the chest. His breath left him in a whoosh and he fell back on his ass.

  “Was that really necess..oomph,” One enormous claw pinned him to the asphalt. It was difficult to breath, but she could have crushed him if she had wanted to. But she didn’t.

  I told you to leave me alone, she growled. Now look what’s happened.

  “You could have told me,” he ground out.

  Shut up.

  Leigh leaned her head down so that she was nearly nose to nose with him. She snorted and blew a puff of smoke in his face from her nostrils. Then, she sniffed him.

  Rebel smelled so good. The dumb shit didn’t have the sense of a rock, but damn if she couldn’t just eat him up. His eyes were full of trust and… adoration? Surely she was mistaken. Not possible. He had just seen what she was.

  While keeping him pinned beneath her claw, Leigh dropped her snout to sniff him again. She inhaled the scent of his hair, noting the shampoo he used. She sniffed his neck and his shoulders. She wanted to commit that wonderful earthy smell to memory, seeing as how he would likely run for the hills the moment she released him. She could feel his body under the sensitive skin of her claw, could feel that he was laying perfectly still. Smartest thing he’s done so far.

  No, on second thought, he wasn’t sitting still. His hips were wiggling slightly under the pressure she was exerting on him. And what was that? Not his guns, they were too high up for… Aw, shit. He was getting a freaking boner. Leigh jerked her claw back and took two steps back.

  You are seriously screwed up, she told him.

  Rebel shifted to his feet and brushed himself off. “I like powerful women, what can I say?”

  Leigh made a harrumph noise and pulled on her magic. She shifted down to her human size again and regarded Rebel with wary eyes. She noticed his friends coming out into the open out of the corner of her eye. “What do you want from me?” she asked him.

  “I want to know you, to protect you.”

  “Yeah, that’s likely. You just want to be able to say you’ve banged the last female dragon on Earth. Well, sorry. Not going to happen.”

  “It’s not that,” he started, but Angel interrupted.

  “What happened to the other one? Is it dead?”

  “Ha! I wish.” Leigh shook her head. “No, he just jumped somewhere else to lick his wounds. Merrick will be back.”

  “So you know him?” Rebel asked.

  “Yeah, I do. He’s the man who came to your house today.”

  “I knew I didn’t like him,” Rebel straightened his hat. “So, is he really your fiancé?”

  “No. No. And NO. He thinks that because we are the last of our kind that I should want to mate with him.”

  Rebel growled deep in his chest. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well, Stalker-boy, on that we agree.”

  “I don’t mean to put a wrench in everybody’s morning, but it’s going to be dawn soon,” Gage pointed out.

  “I’ll get the truck,” Sebastian offered.

  “Coming with,” Antonio said.

  “Leigh, will you accompany us to our hotel?” Angel asked. “We have the penthouse suite at the Mirage. There will be plenty of room.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I would personally like to know more about you, because we want you to be safe, because Rebel needs to redeem himself.”

  “Hey!” Rebel snapped.

  “Well you do,” Angel retorted. Someone else chuckled. Leigh didn’t see who it was, but she had a good feeling that it was the one with all the jewelry on his face.

  “Come on,” Rebel urged Leigh. “Hot shower, clean bed, good food. What have you got to lose?”

  A nice shower did sound good. And food. Besides, this had been all his fault, right? So she should let him pay for it a bit. At least, that’s what she told herself as she dropped her bag in the Escalade and took a back seat. Merrick would need time to recover, and if Leigh didn’t use her power, he wouldn’t know where to find her. Really, Rebel was fascinating, and she wanted to stick with him a little bit more.

  EIGHT

  The penthouse suite at the Mirage was exactly what Leigh had expected. Nice furniture, heavy drapes, three sleeping rooms. There were three full bathrooms and a full kitchen. The first thing on Leigh’s agenda was breakfast.

  When she opened the refrigerator, she noticed that it was stocked with a fresh supply of blood. It was one of the perks in staying in a vampire-friendly hotel. But not a scrap of food.

  “So just what the hell am I supposed to eat?” she asked into the fridge. “You promised me food.”

  “I’ve already contacted room service,” Rebel said from directly behind her. Just great. Leigh knew without a doubt that he was checking her ass out, especially since she was leaning into the fridge with it up for all to see.

  She spun around to face him. Yep, she had been right. She saw him lift his eyes. He had been staring. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all,” he said. The corners of his mouth were twitching like he was fighting a smile.

  “Don’t you need to sleep or something?” Leigh snapped. Dawn had approached and the sky was filling with brilliant sunlight.

  “Sooner or later. But not yet. Come on,” he said, taking her hand. “Angel would like to see you in the sitting room.”

  “Sure, whatever,” Leigh sighed. She snatched her hand away from Rebel. That man just took too many liberties, as far as she was concerned.

  “I meant what I said,” Rebel told her as they walked. “I would never hurt you.”

  “So what?”

  “So maybe you could turn off the cold hearted bitch act for just a few minutes,” he said quietly. Leigh wanted to make a smart remark, to tell him that she was a cold hearted bitch and that it wasn’t an act. There were two reasons why she didn’t. One, they were in the sitting room by then and surrounded by his family. Two, he seemed to genuinely mean it. He seemed almost sad. It tugged at her heart.

  And wasn’t that just fucking great? The last thing she needed was to feel anything for Stalker-boy. Even if it was pity. Or whatever. Feelings got in the way. Feelings caused problems. Nope, no room for any of that in her nomad lifestyle.

  “Leigh,” Angel said as they took their seats. Leigh sat on the end of a cream colored leather couch and wouldn’t you know it, Stalker-boy felt the need to sit right beside her. Close enough so that their thighs touched. Since she was on the end, there was nowhere to go.

  “Yes?” she answered Angel politely. It was so out of character for her that she almost laughed.

  “Would you please tell us about yourself. About Mr. Keller?”

  Leigh sighed a long, drawn out sigh. T
hey had seen what she was. Merrick too. What harm was there in telling them the truth?

  “I’m a dragon,” she said simply. Five pairs of eyes stared at her expectantly. She had known that explanation wouldn’t be enough, but hell, she had to try. “Merrick and I are the last two of our kind. Five centuries ago, there was a war between the Coni and the Magi. It lasted for a hundred years. By the time the war was done, Merrick and I were the last remaining.”

  “What are the Coni and the Magi?” Angel asked.

  “Coni are, or were, the dragons that don’t change their form. Non-shifters. Magi are dragons who can shift. That’s what I am. What Merrick is. He killed the last Coni over four hundred years ago.”

  “How did you survive?” Rebel asked. His eyes were trained on her, soaking her in. Like he was trying to memorize her every feature.

  “I was very young. I fought, but only to protect myself and my family. When my family was killed, I shifted into human form and went into hiding. I could see what was happening. The entire species killing itself off. I couldn’t allow it. I knew that if I survived, at least there would be one dragon.

  “But Merrick also survived. He was considered a great warrior. And he was. Is. But personally, I didn’t care for his possessive attitude,” Leigh explained.

  “So how did you come to be running from him? You don’t seem the type to run from anyone,” the one with the spiked hair asked. He was leaning back in his chair with his leg crossed over his knee. He was idly toying with one of his earrings. He seemed to have an attitude problem, and that was saying a lot considering Leigh thought she had the market on that. But this man, he radiated discontent.

  Leigh barked out a laugh. “You’re right. At first, I didn’t run. I fought with him at every turn. Once he discovered I was still alive, he decided that we should repopulate the world with dragons. But I didn’t see it that way. I have always been a free spirit, and I wasn’t about to become his property. Which is what he wanted.

  “He caught me one day and took me to his home. When I tried to leave, he trapped me in a magical cell, chained to the damned walls. He seemed to think that would sway me to his thinking.”

  “I’m guessing that didn’t work out well for him,” Gage offered. Leigh looked at him. He was sitting in a chair with his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. She noticed that the rest of the group had assumed similar positions. They were very interested in what she had to say.

  “No,” she continued. “It didn’t. I was trapped there for years before I had saved up enough strength to break free. And even then, I needed him to release me from the cell. So I pretended to have a change of heart. Not all at once, you understand. Over time. I had to let the slimy bastard do all kinds of things to me before he believed me.

  “Once I was free, I decked him good and teleported away to America. Or what is now America.”

  “Wait,” Rebel interrupted. “You can teleport?”

  “Yeah,” she answered. “among other things. Do you want to hear this or not?”

  “Of course I do,” he snapped. “But I was just wondering, if you can teleport, why drive?”

  “Because if I use my power, he can sense it. He could find me,” Leigh said in an exasperated tone. “I have to be as human as possible if I want to hide from Merrick. He’s very powerful.”

  “Please,” Antonio said, “Tell us the rest.”

  “At least someone has some damned manners,” Leigh said. “So anyway, after I teleported away I ran. And I kept running. I have been hiding from Merrick for two centuries. I never stay in one place longer than a couple of years. I don’t do friends, I don’t make commitments because I know I will just be leaving them behind. And I don’t do relationships. Ever.” She ended that with a pointed look at Rebel. Better that he understand her point of view right off.

  “But why deny yourself companionship?” Angel asked. “What kind of life can one live without others to share it with?”

  “A safe one. For me and the companion. I cannot risk Merrick hurting anyone because of me. And he would. He would kill anyone who tried to be close to me.”

  “He will not kill me,” Rebel offered. He was looking at Leigh with determination. It was unnerving. He looked at her with adoration and possessiveness. “You are not his. Not now, not ever.” Rebel silently added Because you’re mine, at the end of that thought.

  “Yeah,” Leigh agreed. “I belong to no one.”

  Rebel muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

  “So, if Merrick can follow you anywhere, why do you not just kill him and get it over with?” the vamp with the light blue eyes asked.

  “Because, Blue Eyes,” Leigh remarked, “He isn’t exactly easy to kill. And even if he was, I wouldn’t want to because of the whole dying out species issues.”

  “Sebastian,” he said.

  “Huh?”

  “My name is Sebastian. And, is there any other way for a dragon to reproduce? What I mean is, can you produce offspring with another species?”

  “Oh, well, sometimes. The only kind of preternatural creatures that I have ever known to successfully mate with a Magi are fairies and humans. But that’s rare.” Leigh shifted her weight on the couch and tried to move away from Rebel. He shifted with her. The man had serious personal space issues.

  “What about with a vampire?” Rebel asked in her ear. The rasp of his breath against her sensitive skin cause goose-bumps to break out all over her body.

  “Didn’t your mother ever teach you that it’s rude to invade someone’s personal space?” Leigh snapped at him.

  Antonio chuckled. “She’s got you there man,” he told Rebel. “Any closer and we’re going to have to give you guys some privacy.”

  “So go then,” Rebel retorted.

  “I don’t think so Stalker-boy. I already told you, I’m not interested.” Leigh emphasized that with a shove to Rebel’s shoulders. He didn’t budge.

  “So can you?” Antonio asked.

  “What?”

  “With a vampire?”

  “Oh, well, I don’t know.”

  “Well, it might be fun finding out,” Gage offered. “I would, of course, be willing to offer my services in the name of science to figure it out.”

  Leigh knew he was kidding, but apparently Rebel did not. Or didn’t care. Cowboy leapt off the couch and onto Gage, his hands around the other man’s throat.

  “Never again,” Rebel snarled into his brother’s face.

  “Guys, that’s enough,” Angel snapped. “Rebel, control yourself. Gage, stop goading him. We have business to attend to and personally, I want to go home this evening.”

  “I agree,” Sebastian said.

  “Eat,” Angel told Leigh, “Then get some sleep. We can talk about this more at home.”

  “Yeah, sure, whatever,” Leigh said. Angel must have known that room service was right outside the door because no sooner than the words left her lips, someone was knocking.

  Leigh was impressed with the spread the vamps supplied for her. Steak. Potatoes. Vegetables. Salad. There was even a bottle of wine. She ate her food, pretending not to be concerned with the others watching her intently. When her belly was full, Leigh thanked Angel for the food, picked up her bag and sauntered to one of the three bathrooms for a nice, hot shower.

  “Can I be of any assistance?” Rebel asked from the doorway.

  “Get the fuck out of here,” Leigh said without looking at him. “I can shower all by my little self.” She turned the spray on and waited for it to warm up.

  “Oh, I have no doubt of that,” Rebel answered, still in the door. “I just thought you might need something. Or anything.” The look on his face told Leigh that his offer included a lot more than shampoo.

  “No, I’m fine, thank you,” she ground out between clenched teeth.

  “Ok then,” he said. Rebel left and closed the door behind him. Leigh snapped the lock in place as loudly as she could. She knew that if he really wanted in the lock wouldn’t
stop him, but she did it anyway for the message it conveyed.

  She quickly stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower. Oy. It felt sooo good. The water pressure was just right and relaxed her tired and aching muscles.

  Her thoughts eventually returned to her stalker. What did he want with her, anyway? To sleep with her for sure, but damn. Was he desperate? There had to be any number of women who would willingly fall into his bed. Why her?

  And didn’t he understand the danger he was putting himself in? Apparently not. Or was it just plain stupidity? Maybe he was just so used to getting whatever he wanted that he didn’t know how to take no for an answer. And why in the hell was the Clan Leader supporting his behavior?

  Vampires were a strange lot.

  NINE

  Rebel waited outside the door for Leigh to shower. Besides the sound of the shower spray, he heard her grumble and curse under her breath. He chuckled to himself. Of course fate would see that his mate had spark. A whole lot of spark. And smoke. And fire. Literally.

  The story she told about Merrick was deeply troubling. And Leigh said Rebel was screwed up. At least he hadn’t kidnapped her and forced her to stay with him. Strongly encouraged, yes. Forced, no. Absolutely not. In fact, Rebel could hardly imagine anyone forcing Leigh to do anything. Merrick must be very strong to have held her against her will.

  She had been very vague about the things she had to do in order to escape Merrick. It must have been really bad in order for her to hide for years. Well, her time for hiding was over. Merrick would only find her again and again. No, it was time for action. Rebel frowned upon the idea of killing him, if for no other reason than his kind were seriously pushing extinction. But still, there had to be a way for Leigh to be free of him, once and for all.

  Leigh opened the bathroom door and looked at Rebel with distain. Her hair was twisted up into a towel on top of her head. She was dressed in black sleep pants and an oversized t-shirt. The shirt was just loose enough to hide her outstanding figure. The chill in the air had made her nipples into hard points that stuck out like beacons from her chest.