by Anna Lowe
Dragons mated for life, and when one partner died, the other followed shortly after. Even if Morgan killed Kai, he couldn’t force Tessa to bond with him — not once she’d given herself to another man.
But he didn’t want Tessa to have to mate with him. He wanted her to want it as desperately as he did. To dream about it. To make the occasion the beautiful memory it deserved to be — not a business arrangement, a do-or-die.
He could just see Silas butting in and trying to explain to Tessa. I need you to mate with Kai. For your own good. Oh, and dragon numbers are down, so please bear as many offspring as you can.
Yeah, right. He could see her reaction already — Tessa with both hands on her hips, lips in a tight, angry line. No way was he going to convince her to mate with him that quickly. He needed time to win her over. To answer her questions. To put her at ease.
But, shit. He didn’t have time. The enemy was already closing in, plotting to take Tessa away.
Chapter Fourteen
Tessa reluctantly rose and stretched, wondering how long Kai would be away. She was dying for more time with him — and to ask about how he’d sustained his injuries. She hadn’t gotten around to asking earlier because of the way one thing had led to another and…
She snorted. One thing had led to another, like her naked on top of him in bed.
Just thinking about it made her body warm up and want to roll in the sheets.
But she wasn’t about to lounge around naked, waiting for a man. So she took a lazy shower, running her hands over all the spots he’d touched. Which made for a heck of a lot of spots and a heck of a long shower. The bathroom was steaming when she emerged, and when she wrapped a towel around herself and stepped toward her suitcase, a cloud of mist followed her.
She knelt to sort through her clothes, only then remembering her grandmother’s box. And whoa — if that wasn’t a sign that Kai had totally blanked out her mind, she didn’t know what was. How could she forget what she’d found in the box? She sat on the bed, holding the box, reading the note folded inside.
My dearest Tessa, the note began. A note written on brittle, time-worn paper. What my grandmother gave to me so long ago, I now give to you.
Tessa ruffled her fingers through the cloth buffer in the box and gingerly took out the gemstone hidden within.
The stone I gave you years ago was a placeholder for this one — the real thing.
Tessa tilted the emerald, and the sun blazed through it, carrying a beam of green light across the room.
“Grandma,” she whispered, unable to fathom it all. The emerald was exactly the size and shape of her pendant but much heavier, like a solid chunk of glass.
Her grandmother had barely made ends meet. And yet, she’d hung on to the precious stone for decades, refusing to part with it. Why?
Her hand shook as she read on. Now you are the guardian of this great gift from our ancestors.
She looked at the stone, wondering who those ancestors might be.
Perhaps it will reawaken the way the legends say. Perhaps it will slumber, waiting for the next generation.
Tessa studied the gem. What legends? And why did her grandmother describe the emerald as if it were a living, breathing thing?
Either way, it is your job to keep it safe. Keep it in the family. If you do so, it, too, will keep you safe.
She rubbed the goose bumps that broke out on her arms. Safe? Did her grandmother mean safe against men like Damien Morgan? But what could a stone possibly do?
Trust me, my daughter’s daughter. Trust those who have come before you, and trust your heart.
Her heart beat faster as she read on, holding her breath.
May you live and prosper and feel joy as I have, my beloved granddaughter. May the powers in you guide you well.
Tessa gulped and turned the paper over, only to find the back blank. That was it?
She searched for a postscript, then held the note up to the light, hoping some faint letters might appear — but there was nothing. She searched the box and reread the note. Couldn’t her grandmother have been a little more specific?
Tessa studied the looping script. Handwriting changed as a person aged, but she was sure her grandmother didn’t use quite as flowery a script. She held the emerald up again, turning it so that the light bounced off one edge then another, sending beams of pure green light off at different angles each time.
Then it hit her. Her grandmother’s name was Theresa — Tessa, like her. And her grandmother’s grandmother was named Tessa, too.
“Holy…” She sniffed the paper. Maybe the stone wasn’t the only hand-me-down. Maybe the note had been passed through the generations as well.
She held very still, considering the implications. What if the true meaning of those words had been lost with time? Her grandmother might have been as confused as Tessa was now. Maybe she hadn’t explained because she didn’t know how to explain.
The emerald was strung on a silver chain, and Tessa slowly slipped it over her neck, just for the feel of it. The gem had to be worth a fortune. What was she going to do with it?
Take care of this well, she remembered her grandmother saying when she’d first given her the pendant, years ago. Show me how responsible you can be.
Had her grandmother been quietly preparing her all along?
Tessa huffed in frustration. If her grandmother had been preparing her, why hadn’t she explained anything?
Trust me, the note said. Trust those who have come before you, and trust your heart.
The bushes rustled outside, and Tessa locked her hand over the stone, hiding it. When no further sound came, she dressed quickly. That sound might not have signaled danger, but she couldn’t sit around in a wet towel all day.
As she rooted through the suitcase for some underwear, she came across the cell phone she’d packed in in her hurry to flee Arizona. She held it for a moment, wondering if she should turn it on. Hawaii felt a million miles away from the mainland and Damien Morgan. Did she really want to check in on that world?
She hesitated a moment longer, then turned it on. It took an eternity to find a connection, but then it beeped, and dozens of messages appeared on the screen — many marked urgent. She winced, recognizing the numbers of clients. Clients she’d stood up when she left Arizona unexpectedly. She sat down hard. All the work she’d put into building her business could be ruined.
There were so many messages, she didn’t know where to start. She scrolled through them hopelessly until a message from a number that wouldn’t display caught her attention.
She tapped on the message, skim read, then stopped and read again as a cold sensation crept down her spine.
Urgent. Need to talk to you right away, the message said. You may not be safe. I fear there is a traitor among our friends. —Ella
Tessa stood and listened intently to the sounds outside. Ella had told her she’d be safe at Koa Point. Tessa checked the message time stamp — only a few hours old. Did Ella find out something she wasn’t aware of before?
There was a second message that went on in the same vein.
I hope to God you read this in time. Get out. Don’t tell anyone where you’ve gone. I’m coming to help. But I can’t come too close. Meet me at Kaunolu…
Tessa skimmed the instructions below, then balked. Kaunolu was on a whole separate island — Lanai. She looked out the front door and over the sea to the pyramid of land to the west.
There’s a ferry there a couple of times a day, Kai had said that day they’d driven through town.
There’s a ferry… Ella’s message echoed, detailing where Tessa should go and when.
Tessa’s pulse raced as she peered across the estate — what she could see of it, at least. Was Boone the traitor? That was hard to believe. Hunter struck her as loyal as a bear could be. But Cruz… She froze. Cruz had always been testy around her. On the other hand, he’d been pretty open in his distaste. Wouldn’t a traitor hide his true feelings better than that?
> She gasped, wondering if it could be Silas. Kai was with Silas at that very moment. Panic seized her when she thought about how long Kai had been away. Hadn’t he said he’d be right back?
He’d been injured the night before — from a fight, not just a crash. Which might mean that Kai had already confronted the traitor and triumphed. Which could mean that everything was all right.
But, shit. The shiver in her spine sure didn’t give her the feeling everything was all right.
The emerald bit into her palm as she squeezed unconsciously, and she unlocked her grasp. Did the emerald have anything to do with Ella’s warning? But how could it?
None of it made sense, but the longer she waited, the likelier it would be that…that…
She struggled to fill in the blank. That, what? What might happen?
A shadow danced across the doorway, and she remembered Damien Morgan jumping at her. Pinning her against the wall and grunting horrifying messages in her ear.
You will make me a good mate. You will breed me many heirs, and I will become the most powerful of my kind.
Her heart raced long after she realized the movement outside was just a palm dancing in the wind.
A moment later, she grabbed her backpack, stuffed the top couple of items from her suitcase in, and peeked out the door. Kai was a big boy. He’d healed quickly from his injuries, and she could scarcely imagine a foe that could threaten him. The best course of action was to follow Ella’s instructions and find out what was going on. She could call Kai once she had a clearer idea of the situation. She didn’t have his number, but that wouldn’t be hard to find out, right?
Just in case, she scribbled a note on a scrap of paper and hid it under the pillow. If anyone would look there, it would be Kai, and she was careful not to mention any details. Then she inched out the door, eyeing the shadows, walking slowly so as not to make any noise. She made a big loop around the akule hale, avoiding the others and jumping at every scratch in the leaves.
Cruz. It had to be Cruz, right? But, shit. He was a tiger. What were the chances of sneaking around him?
She didn’t bump into Cruz, thank God, and none of the others, either. The lush lawns of the estate were all separated by thick brush and trees, allowing her to move stealthily along. So stealthily, she wondered if that was what it felt like to be a wolf or a bear — or a tiger — slinking along. Dragons, she couldn’t imagine slinking, though. Just gliding soundlessly overhead.
She whipped her head up in alarm, but the light beat of wings were those of a bird. On instinct, her fingers closed around the pendant and emerald, the two necklaces intertwined and hiding under the collar of her shirt.
The garage wasn’t far away, and she could hear the hum of someone at work. Hunter? Whoever it was, he didn’t notice her quiet steps. Tessa rushed the rest of the way to the gate and stared at it for a moment. Shoot. She’d probably trip an alarm if she opened it. She followed the thick bushes to the left until she found a place where the stone wall was low enough to scale. With a soft grunt, she hauled herself over then jogged up to the road.
She looked right then left, stuck out her thumb, and started race-walking along.
The first car passed without pausing, but the second — with a friendly woman driver, to Tessa’s relief — stopped immediately and brought her right to the green shack of a ticket office at the ferry dock in town.
“One to Lanai,” the woman at the counter said, sliding Tessa a ticket. “Boarding in twenty minutes.”
Tessa chewed her lip and fiddled with her phone, rereading Ella’s instructions between anxious peeks at the road. Had Kai noticed she was gone yet? Had he found her note? She twisted the hem of her shirt in her hands, hating the possibility that Kai might think she’d left him. She never wanted to leave him.
The thought made her stand very still. Did she really mean that?
Well, yes. Yes, she did. And the second she had a chance to talk to Kai, she’d lay it all on the line. Whatever issue there might be between dragons and humans, she was willing to figure out. If Kai felt the same way. If everything worked out.
If, if, if.
Waiting was torture, even once she boarded the ferry and felt it lurch away from the dock. The sea wasn’t rough, but her stomach still tossed and turned.
Trust your heart, the note from her grandmother had said.
Her heart, though, was telling her to turn around and run back to Kai. But it was too late, and Ella’s message stuck in her mind.
You may not be safe. I fear there is a traitor among our friends.
It made her shiver, and the air conditioning in the ferry’s main cabin didn’t help, either. She headed out to the top deck, where the wind tugged her hair, making it fly this way and that.
“Bye-bye, Maui!” a tourist laughed, taking a picture.
Tessa hugged herself. Bye-bye to the feeling of peace and security she’d enjoyed for the last couple of days. The farther she traveled from Kai, the more ominous the world felt until she was just as fearful as she’d been on her flight from Phoenix. Worse, in a way, because she wasn’t sure where danger lay any more. Behind her? Ahead?
“Look at the little island, sweetie,” a woman said to her son. “Molokini.”
Tessa looked, too. Anything to take her mind off the mess of her life. She followed the woman’s hand to a sliver of an island to the south.
“Mokonini,” the boy echoed. “Why aren’t there any houses?”
“It’s a preserve. No one is allowed to live there,” the mother said.
Sounds perfect, Tessa thought. A place to get away from everyone and everything. Except she wouldn’t even be safe there — not from dragons, anyway.
“It used to be a round volcano, but it erupted, and now there’s just a crescent left,” the mom said.
Her son filled in volcanic sound effects. “Ka-boom! Lots of fire!”
Tessa stepped over to the opposite side of the deck.
The water grew rougher, and the clouds clustered over West Maui’s peaks darkened.
“Getting closer now,” a man commented to his partner, pointing to Lanai.
Getting farther and farther away, Tessa’s soul cried as she looked back, trying to make out Koa Point.
She knotted her fingers together, twisting them this way and that. She already missed Kai. So much, it went beyond emotion to the physical. Like a part of her own soul had been taken away.
She looked at her feet. Was it really possible to fall in love so fast? Was there really such a thing as destined mates? Her grandmother used to talk about soul mates. Was that the same thing?
The first part of the ferry ride seemed to take forever, but the second half went too quickly because suddenly, she didn’t feel so sure about going to Lanai any more. As green and lush as Maui was, Lanai looked browner, more barren. Thornier, if that was the word. A broken line of cliffs slid by as the ferry motored closer, giving the impression of a hostile, savage place.
Tessa squirmed in her seat and felt for the emerald she’d looped around her neck along with the copy she’d carried for so many years. Maybe she should try to contact Kai. Maybe she should rethink this. But Ella was the one who helped her flee Phoenix safely. And if Ella had come all the way out to Hawaii, it had to be serious, right?
“Come on, honey. Lighten up. This is Hawaii,” a middle-aged tourist in a bright Hawaiian shirt said.
“Oh, my gosh,” his partner squeaked. “Let me guess. You’re a runaway bride.”
Tessa gaped. A runaway what?
“Did you get cold feet?” the woman went on.
“Um…” Tessa searched for words. No, she wasn’t a runaway bride. She didn’t have a fiancé. She’d been on her own for years…until the past few days when Kai had come into her life.
Kai. Could she really share a future with him?
“Not running away,” she murmured, touching the lump of the emerald. Well, not from Kai. But she couldn’t exactly say, Actually, I’m running away from a dragon in A
rizona or, There’s a traitor among the shifters of Koa Point, and I’m running away from him. I think it might be the tiger.
She looked at the woman and pursed her lips. Nope. She was definitely not sharing the truth.
Luckily, a mighty splash appeared off the starboard side of the ferry, making the woman and her partner scramble away.
“Whale! Whale!”
It wasn’t a whale, as it turned out, but it was enough of a diversion for Tessa to slip back inside. But not for long because the ferry’s engines slowed, and a breakwater came into view.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Lanai,” the captain announced over the PA.
Tessa bit her lip.
“Please remain seated until the vessel is docked…”
The ferry eased past a couple of pleasure boats and bumped the dock. Tessa shouldered her backpack and filed out with the rest of the passengers, turning left past the green-roofed waiting area just as Ella had instructed. And just as Ella’s message had said, a green Jeep with a yellow rental sticker on the bumper stood parked at the end.
The keys will be under the rear right mat…
Tessa fished around then fingered the keys. Why didn’t Ella meet her at the dock? Why all the secrecy?
She looked around. If she was in danger, Ella could be in danger, too. That would explain why Ella insisted in a remote meeting place. Or maybe it was a fox thing. Ella had even said that of Arizona as she waited with Tessa at the airport.
I love the space, the open range.
Tessa looked around. A little island in the Pacific wasn’t exactly open range, but Lanai sure did seem sleepy, and the coast the ferry had passed was completely undeveloped. So, yes. It fit in a way.
Tessa found a marked map in the glove compartment and studied it, then slipped into the driver’s seat and straightened her shoulders. It was about time she took things into her own hands. She’d been depending on Kai too much for her own good. She had to orient herself to the area, fast.
It was midweek and late afternoon, when more passengers were heading back to Maui than arriving on Lanai. She started the Jeep and drove uphill past the imposing facade of an upscale resort, the only development in sight. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, she followed Ella’s directions over paved then increasingly bumpy dirt roads. The Jeep lurched and bounced along, but all the turns were marked, which helped her shed some of that what am I doing going to the end of the earth feeling. The sun dipped closer to the horizon, slowly staining the sky with a shade of orange close to the color of the claylike soil. Tessa found herself reaching for the passenger seat as if Kai were there.