by Tully Belle
She took a mouthful of food and ate heartily. She’d worked up an appetite. So had he.
Ash could feel his need for her growing again. He’d have to get that under control if he was to get back to Dragonspark. He needed to check on Lyson to make sure he was doing okay. Still, there was something about her that he wasn’t quite ready to let go. He wondered if he could convince her to stay in town longer. The only way to do that was find out what she was doing here, which she still hadn’t told him. Not the full story anyway.
“So, you know about me,” she said. “What about you? I only know that you work with your brothers and that everyone in town knows you.”
“Not much to tell, we do various jobs for people, they pay us. Pretty simple really.”
She raised an eyebrow as she swirled a slice of bacon in the runny egg on her plate. “Where do you live? I assume it’s not here in town. I can’t imagine you’d want to sleep outside every night.”
“Out of town, not far though. Towards the outskirts.”
“Past Mount Pike.”
“Out that way.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Do you live with your brothers?”
Ash grinned. “Yeah, so you can see why I need space sometimes.”
“You want to know what happened between my mother and I, don’t you?” She leaned back on the chair, her dark hair cascading over her shoulder, the ends covering her breasts.
“If you want to talk, go for it.”
“I was studying to be a doctor. Before I finished I dropped out of my residency and that kind of pissed her off.”
A doctor! He hadn’t guessed that about her at all. “Why’d you leave?”
“My boyfriend.”
“Must have been a very convincing boyfriend to make you leave your career. Where is he now?”
Ash watched the corner of her mouth twitch before she answered. “He’s dead.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He wondered how long ago it happened and whether she still harbored feelings for him or not.
“Yeah, thanks.” She looked away, her mind clearly filled with memories. He decided not to push the topic further. Still, a doctor. Maybe he could convince her to stick around for a while after all. First he’d need to check in with his brothers.
“Listen,” he said. “I have to get back, but I was wondering if I can call you later. I might have a proposal to run by you.”
“A proposal? How intriguing.”
“Like I said, I’m not ready to give you up just yet. I’m having too much fun.”
That made her smile, and if he wasn’t mistaken, also blushed her cheeks. It made her look even more adorable.
“I’ll consider it,” she said. “If the offer’s good enough.”
He grinned and stood up, grabbing his phone on top of his clothes. He handed it to her and she entered her number while he dressed.
“Call you later,” he said. “Promise.” He came over and lifted her chin with his finger, guiding her face up to meet his. As he kissed her, he almost regretted his decision to leave now. But he had to. And anyway, if his brothers agreed to his idea, she might be around for a while longer and he could have as much time with her as he wanted.
His cock hardened at the thought.
The road up the winding mountain road was steep and narrow. His brothers had talked about getting it fixed up one day, but then decided against it. The only people that would need to take this road were those they invited. And that wasn’t many these days. It was better they dissuade other people from coming here if they could help it.
The gravel underneath the tires crunched as Ash pulled his car from the road and headed toward headquarters. They’d made a good home for themselves here. They had most of the living areas on the first five of the seven floors, including sleep accommodation for the small party of men and women that helped out with various tasks at Dragonspark.
The top two floors were restricted to Ash and his brothers. It was both important and necessary to keep their living quarters away from the rest of the people who stayed here.
He pulled up outside the entrance and got out of the car.
“Hey John,” he said, greeting the man at the door. John often guarded the entrance, not that he needed to, people rarely came here unannounced. “Anything happening?”
“Nope. Quiet as usual.”
“Good to hear.” He slapped John on the back as he made his way inside the mountain.
Ash didn’t bother making small talk with any of the others as he made his way up the winding staircase that circled the interior. The majority of the stairs were visible from all levels. From the bottom you could look upwards to all five of the visible floors. Mac had arranged a large mural of a dragon in full flight on the ceiling, with large lights surrounding it to give it an ethereal glow.
The rest of the rooms were off this main area, dug further into the mountain depths.
Ash reached the top quickly to the heavy oak doors at the entrance to his and his brothers’ quarters. They kept this part of the building locked. Only he and his brothers were permitted, unless others were invited. That happened rarely. He used his keycard, waited for the click then pushed them open. As soon as they closed behind him, there was silence.
He glanced at Lyson’s door, taking a step in that direction, before turning toward Mac’s room on the next level instead.
The door to Mac’s room was open and Ash found him sitting at his desk writing notes into a lined paper notebook.
Mac looked up and pushed the papers to the side. “Good to see you finally returned. I assume the brunette at the bar is the reason you didn’t return home last night.”
“You’d like her.” Ash sat down on a nearby sofa, stretching his legs out and leaning back.
“I’m glad you had some fun, you were starting to get testy around here.”
Ash grinned. “Have you checked on Lyson this morning?”
“Yes, I took him some water.”
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s fine. I think he’ll transform back sometime tonight, maybe tomorrow, I can see the signs.”
“Good. He always has a better time transitioning than we do.” It was easy transforming into a dragon, coming back, not so much.
Mac nodded as he got up from the desk and walked over to the open balcony doors. He stood with his back to Ash and looked outside, the sun streaming in creating a silhouette of his body. “I was thinking of doing the council job early next week. I can’t see any problems and we’ll need at least that long to scope the building to see the routines of upper management.”
“Sounds good to me. Do we need to get extra help in?” He waited to see Mac’s reaction.
“We’ve got enough people to do this.”
“What about medical?” He pretended to examine something on the back of his hand.
Mac turned and cocked his head to the side. “We have friends at the hospital if the situation gets messy.”
“It’d be good to have someone here who knew medical stuff.” Someone with a smoking hot body, he added in his head. He kept his voice casual and shrugged nonchalantly like it was no big deal.
There was a pause as Mac studied Ash’s face before the beginning of a smile twitched at his lips. He walked over to Ash and leaned against the sofa. “I assume the brunette has medical training.”
Ash grinned. Mac could always see right through him. “Yeah, she’s been to medical school and has a year or so of her residency.”
“But, we don’t know her. It’s hasty to spend one night with someone then consider bringing her aboard.”
“Actually, we might know her.” Ash stretched out. “She’s Anne Rivers daughter. Her name’s Caran.”
“Anne Rivers daughter?”
“She could be useful.”
“Useful to you, you mean. Having regular access to getting your dick wet every night.”
“Well, I can’t deny that would be a very attractive perk.” Ash grinned and linked h
is hands behind his head. “But with medical skills she could be worth having around.”
“Do you trust her?”
“I don’t trust anyone. But we’ve got a lot of people here who don’t know the full truth about us, she would be no different.”
“Except that you’d be sleeping with her.”
Ash shrugged. “Like I said, it’d be a good perk.”
“I need to think about this.”
Ash stood up and walked over to his brother. “I get that. I’m not saying we offer her a permanent position, but we could get her here and see what she’s capable of. If she proves to be an asset then it won’t hurt considering keeping her on. At the very least she might help out with the council job. It is her mother’s money we are talking about, after all.”
Mac crossed his arms over his chest. He was deep in thought and Ash wasn’t sure which way he’d call it.
“Okay, she can stay a few days. Lyson will need to meet her and agree after he changes back, and we will test her, but you’re right, having a doctor here would be useful.”
“Excellent. I’ll call her.”
“She might not agree. What if she’s already bored of you?”
“What bored of me? Nah. I’m far too handsome for that.”
Mac shook his head. “Fine, but I want to meet her first before you take her anywhere else.
9
The phone rang and Caran jumped to answer it. She’d been waiting all day for Ash to call even though she tried to tell herself otherwise. She convinced herself it was only because of her assignment. That was all it was.
After small talk, Ash dropped the news. “Do you want to come and see where I live, perhaps stay a few days? We need someone with medical experience.”
“You’re asking me to live with you?” teased Caran. “That’s an awfully big step since we’ve only spent one night together.” She needed to play this casual.
“One amazing night.”
Caran’s voice caught in her throat. Ash was asking her to go straight to Dragonspark. She could easily find the dragons when she was there. Although once she found them, that would mean she’d have completed her assignment. Perhaps she could delay a few days before she found them and have some time with Ash first. What would be the harm?
“I know nothing about you. It’s awfully arrogant of you to assume I’d want to drop everything just to come see where you live.”
“Then I’ll tell you everything you want to know. It’s not just me, we have a whole group of people. So if you can’t stand the sight of me after a few hours, you can go talk to one of them.”
He’d tell her everything? While she doubted he would, it was the only way to proceed now. “I need to think about it.”
“Come on, you’ll like it. Trust me.”
“Hmm. You know it’s people that say ‘trust me’ that are usually the most untrustworthy.”
Ash laughed. “Okay, fair call. It’s up to you. Why not come and take a look? If you’re still cool, you can stay the night.”
“I better have my own bedroom.”
“Of course.”
“And you’re sure I can leave at any time? You won't tie me up in some dungeon to be your sex slave, will you?”
“You’re not into that? Damn.”
Caran laughed. “Fine, I’ll come and see where you live, but I can’t promise that I’ll want to stay.”
“Excellent. I’ll pick you up in a few hours.”
Caran held back the squeal of excitement and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
She called Tessa immediately. “I’m in.”
“Tell me exactly what he said.” Tessa’s tone was verging on elation, although she had much more control over her emotions than Caran did.
“He’s picking me up in a few hours, I’m to stay there. I’ll have a room and free reign of most of the facility.”
“This is better than I expected,” said Tessa. “Okay, so you know what you have to do?”
“Of course. I need to locate the exact position of the dragons, and if I can’t do that, persuade someone to tell me.”
“Good. I knew you’d be the right person for this job. And that you got so close to Ash this quickly. It’s a testament to your abilities. There will be a promotion in this for you, mark my words.”
Caran ended the call and tossed her phone on the bed. A promotion would mean she was important to Princess, but getting there by seduction was pricking at her. Her abilities were in the medical field. That was why Princess kept her around for so long without completing the training. Now her skills extended to seduction too? She wasn’t sure she liked the idea of playing that role for Princess. This had been a one off job that she wanted to do, but if it was going to be a regular occurrence, then no. Just no.
Not that she minded this assignment, in fact she was having much more fun that she expected. But could she do it all over again with someone else?
She shook her head, she was being silly. Tessa wouldn’t expect that from her if she didn’t want to do it. Princess had given her everything. Now it was her turn to prove just how indispensable she could be.
Caran packed her suitcase with her belongings and took them downstairs, then checked out of the hotel. “Can I leave my bag here? I’d like to go for a walk around town before I leave.” she asked the receptionist.
“Of course. I’ll place it in the back room.”
“Thank you.”
The sun was shining outside. She checked the time on her phone and saw that she had a few hours to kill. A walk would do her the world of good and get her head straight for the coming mission.
She needed to be rock solid if she was to pull this off. And if she didn’t, at least it would be interesting to spend more time with the very handsome commander of Dragonspark.
10
Ash made his way to Mac’s floor and walked into his room without knocking. Mac was outside on the balcony. It’s where he went to think. When he heard Ash enter he turned around.
“I want to go over the plans before she gets here,” said Mac. He came into the room and swung the doors closed behind him.
“We’ve still got days,” said Ash. He remained standing filled with nervous anticipation at seeing Caran again so soon. “Lyson hasn’t even changed back.”
Mac walked through the room and over to the refrigerator in the corner, grabbed an apple, and bit into it before replying. “I suspect you’ll be busy once she arrives and I want to get this council job locked down. Early morning would be better. Less people to worry about.”
“Fine.” Ash moved across to the table located near the window and sat down. “Although it should be fairly simple.”
Mac took the seat opposite him and had another bite of the apple. “Nothing is ever as simple as it’s made out to be. I want Lyson to make sure Mrs. Rivers story checks out as well. I believe her, but it’s better to sure.” He leaned back and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Have you considered that one of us might need to transform?”
“Not if everything goes according to plan,” said Ash. “I’ve been to the council chambers before, it’s not that complicated a layout.”
“Okay, I hope you’re right.”
Ash leaned forward. “All we need to do is scope the comings and goings of management. I’ll get Pete to do that.”
“Good. And once Lyson transforms back, we’ll go over how he’s going to hack into the main computer system.”
“That’s easy,” said Ash. “We’ll get Anne Rivers login details.”
“We can’t have this come back to her though,” said Mac. “She’s trusting us to get this right.”
“And we’ll get it right.” Ash stood up and looked out of the window. “You’re worrying about nothing, it’ll go smoothly.”
“If we’re destroying the building, anything could happen. We can’t assume that no-one is going to get hurt.”
Ash turned. “All the more reason to have Caran around. If someone is hurt she can help
them on the spot.”
“I’m not sure I want her in on this.”
“Why not?” Ash moved and placed his hands on the back of a nearby chair. “Surely she’ll be an asset. We are doing it to help her mother after all.”
Mac raised a brow. “We’re doing this for ourselves as much as Anne Rivers.”
“Fine.” Ash threw his hand in the air. “We’re doing this because we’ll be a million dollars richer. So what?”
“Let’s wait until we’ve had a chance to observe Caran first. If I feel something is off, I don’t want her there. Hell, I won’t want her anywhere near us.” Ash understood Mac’s hesitancy, but didn’t think it was necessary.
“You’ll change your mind when you meet her,” said Ash.
Mac stood up. “We need to all be one on this, Ash. Don’t let your attraction to her cloud your judgment. It’s too important to get carried away.”
Ash sighed heavily. Mac was right. He was letting the idea of Caran get out of hand. He was a Dragonspark and he and his brothers’ lives relied on having their secrets safe. They couldn’t let just anyone know what or who they were. Just because he liked her didn’t mean his instincts were correct. He needed to know her better before he’d let her know the true him.
Ash nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
“That’s settled then. We’ll get Pete to do surveillance, you get the computer login details from Mrs. Rivers and we’ll schedule the job once Lyson is back.”
“Good. It’ll be enough time. I’d rather get this done quickly anyway.”
“I’d like to see our bank balance go up.” Mac smiled. “We won’t have to do any jobs for months after this.”
Ash laughed. “As if we won’t. You and I both love the thrill.”
“True.” Mac steepled his fingers under his chin. “I guess you’ll be on your way to pick her up.”
Ash looked at his phone to check the time. “I said I’d pick her up in an hour.”
“Be careful,” said Mac. “Just, keep your wits while she’s around.”