Desired by Dragons: BBW Paranormal Romance (Dragons of New York Book 2)
Page 12
She’d been successful, pulling him back just in time to land with a thud on the concrete just as the train had flown by, blasting the horn.
The police arrested the would-be murderer, who had tried to run, and she’d been labeled a hero in the press.
In a city known for being uncaring, every little bit of good news had to be shared everywhere.
It wasn’t long after that her kidnappers showed up at her front door, pretending to be press.
She looked around the dank basement where she was being held. So much for being a hero.
Still, while she regretted the publicity that had allowed her to be targeted, she didn’t regret what she’d done. Dying under that train would have been infinitely better than living and knowing someone had died when she could have saved them.
She just didn’t understand who would target people who were brave enough to save others.
The men who came to get her had been good-looking and incredibly tall, with white flashing smiles and slightly wolfish demeanors. Despite their nice clothing, she sensed something predatory about them. Something she didn’t like. They’d taken her to a nice house and then quickly led her to a dank, unfinished basement, hiding her from the world.
So far, they’d been feeding her, though nothing that tasted good and not nearly enough.
Roxy loved her food. Loved cooking it, loved tasting it, loved watching shows about it.
She’d been working nights at the convenience store near her small apartment for years in order to save for tuition for cooking school. She was nearly there. Nearly to what she and her dad had wanted.
She just wished he could have been around to see her be a hero. He’d died of a heart attack years ago, when she was barely an adult, leaving her alone in the world.
She’d never known her mom. She only knew she’d died when Roxy was born, and her dad never fully got over it.
So she really was alone in the world. And aside from her regulars at the convenience store, and perhaps her boss and coworkers whom she’d never really gotten along with, no one would know she was gone.
She sighed and leaned back against the cold wall. She wished she knew what they intended to do with her. She had so many recipes she still wanted to cook. Things she wanted to learn.
Places she still wanted to go.
The heavy door that was the only entrance to her dark basement room creaked and slowly opened. She sat up, ignoring the chain they’d placed around one ankle.
“Who is it?” she called out. “What are you going to do with me?” It was probably just someone bringing food, and even though they’d never answered her before, she had to try again. Maybe someday her pleas would break through.
She heard low voices talking in whispers and pulled herself up against the wall, trying to see them through the darkness. No food was slid in, so perhaps they really were coming to see her.
A moment later, the door swung open and two unfamiliar men walked into the room, seeming to light up the darkness. The one in front was breathtakingly handsome, with thick, waved brown hair and glowing purple eyes underneath long lashes. He had a boyish look to him, but there were lines around his eyes that bespoke a serious nature beneath it all. He was tall, even taller than the men who had abducted her, but there was none of the predatory feeling about him that they had.
The man next to him was striking in a different way. He had light silver hair cut short and severe. His lean features and long, straight nose were contrasted by large, shimmering silver-blue eyes that reminded her of a moonlit night. And he had full, sumptuous lips, the only softness in an otherwise very hard face.
His bearing was cold and analytical. He studied her like she was a science experiment gone wrong and he just needed to figure out the missing ingredient.
Suddenly, she felt self-conscious of her predicament. She was muddy and dirty from being thrown in here. Her cropped hair with its little corkscrew curls stood in wild disarray. Any makeup she’d been wearing was long gone, and she probably stunk to high heaven.
Just the way she wanted to be when meeting two of the most beautiful men in the world.
She heard a chuckle of amusement from the other man, the one with purple eyes. Purple eyes, was that possible?
The man brushed a wavy lock off his forehead, and Roxy caught a glimpse of a perfect dimple in his lightly tanned cheek as he stifled a smile. “Sterling, she likes you. Imagine that.”
The other man, Sterling presumably, scoffed. “She’d probably like anyone coming to rescue her from this hellhole.”
Her heart jumped. “Rescue?” she asked. “Then you’re not coming to kill me?”
Gentry raised an eyebrow at her, and Sterling stuttered in indignation.
“Kill you? Why would we kill you?” he asked. “What gave you that idea?”
She shrugged, holding up her hands in defeat. “I don’t know why I’m here, but I assumed that was the end game at some point. I mean, they didn’t try to assault me, even though they could have. So I figure since there’s no way they could get a ransom, they were planning to kill me at some point.”
“What reason would they have to kill you?” Gentry asked, stepping forward with folded arms that showed off massive biceps.
Damn, if she was going to be rescued, this was definitely the way to do it. If she was dreaming, she didn’t want to wake up.
Gentry laughed again, though she didn’t understand why. “It’s flattering, but not really what we should be thinking about at the moment, human.” He bit his lip as if he’d said something wrong. “What’s your name?”
“Why did you call me human?” she asked.
“No reason,” he said. “You’re a human.”
Despite his charming demeanor that probably had most people eating out of his hand, Roxy wasn’t fooled. “The only reason someone would usually call someone human is if they were different from them. Not human.”
Sterling snorted again. “I like this one.”
Really? she thought. If the cold glare he appraised her with was affection, she didn’t want to know what he did to people he hated.
“Sterling is just like that,” Gentry said, as if reading her thoughts. “Now, we better get out of here. We incapacitated some of the wolves holding you, but others are asleep and will wake soon.”
She nodded, walking forward, but then the chain on her ankle jerked taut, nearly tripping her.
She looked up at them with apologetic, embarrassed eyes. “I can’t.”
Gentry knelt next to her, studying the chain, and then took it in his hands and broke it.
Just went ahead and tore the darn thing in half.
She looked down at the circle around her ankle, completely detached from the chain, and then at Gentry, eyes wide. “What are you?”
“Nothing that would harm you,” Gentry said, scooping her up in his arms.
She gasped. “I can walk.” She was a curvy girl, and she didn’t want to slow anyone down.
“Nonsense,” Gentry said, keeping his hold on her. “It’ll be easier this way. Dragons are great at being quiet.”
Sterling sighed and put a hand to his head, and Gentry just grinned. “My bad, I’m not used to interacting with humans, obviously.”
“Clearly,” Sterling said dryly.
“Besides, I see no reason to hide things. It would just make it more of a shock when we get there,” Gentry said.
“If we get there,” Sterling said, checking his watch. “At this rate.”
“So let’s go,” Roxy said, keeping her hands wrapped around Gentry’s warm neck. She was glad to feel safe again, and in Gentry’s large arms, she felt light as a feather. “I need to be out of here. I’ve been here for days.”
Gentry nodded. “I’m sorry we weren’t here sooner, but I promise from here on out, you’ll be safe.”
She looked up at him, feeling uneasy for the first time. “Wait, what do you mean from here on out? You’re taking me home, right?”
Gentry shook his
head and started out of the cell, looking around corners to make sure they were safe.
“What do you mean?” she asked, struggling in earnest now. Was she being rescued only to be kidnapped again? She wasn’t going into another basement.
“Calm down,” Sterling said tersely, and the command in his words was so intimidating she did as he requested. “We’re not kidnapping you. We’re just taking you somewhere safe. If we took you home, the men that took you would merely take you again.”
“Oh,” she said. That made sense. “So where are we going?”
Gentry didn’t answer, merely focused on finding a hidden staircase that he then took up to the next floor. They went to a door that opened up onto a balcony that looked over New York from high above.
Where am I?
And how were they going to get down? She shielded her eyes and looked around for a way down. It was an overcast day, but the sun was bright behind the gray storm clouds. It reminded her a little of Sterling’s eyes.
She looked up at Gentry to affirm his eyes really were purple, and they were. The color of rich amethysts.
“You ready?” he asked.
“For what?” she said, raising an eyebrow as he set her down.
“To fly,” he said. And then she felt a gust of wind and couldn’t see him anymore, even though she had the vague impression… something was still there.
She whipped around to see Sterling was gone too. Her heart beat hard and painfully as she wondered if she’d been left behind, but the next moment, she felt something catch her around the middle and she was lifted into the air.
She let out a surprised shriek and then clapped her hands over her mouth as she realized she was flying over the land below them.
How the hell was this happening?
“We’ll be home soon,” a voice said from above her, sounding like a larger version of the one she’d heard before. Gentry’s. “So just hang in there until then. Hang in there, ha-ha.” He sounded pleased by his own joke.
Roxy rolled her eyes but had no choice but to do as he said. Wherever they were taking her, it had to be better than that basement.
She’d have to wait and find out.
Destined Dragons
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Thanks so much for reading!
Terry