A low, rumbling, animal growl behind them had Michael whipping around. “What the hell?”
He scrambled off the bed.
There stood Grayson. In all his human glory. Dark t-shirt straining against his muscles, soft button-down Levis worn in all the right places. Nostrils flared. Shoulder-length dark hung wet around his shoulders. His eyes blanched, pupils elongating; one turned amber, one stayed green. He’d initiated the change.
And she’d never seen a more beautiful sight in her life.
“The cavalry’s arrived.” She jumped off the bed and moved against the wall, tugging her skirt down and holding the torn edges of her blouse together with trembling fingers. Cate shook uncontrollably, inside and out. She sagged against the wall, her weak legs barely able to support her. Fear and relief gripped her at the same time, playing a tug of war that left her throat clotted with unuttered sobs and her stomach heaving. She thought she’d retch right there on the spot. Distraught. Panicked. She could do nothing else but watch the scene unfold before her with a growing horror. She knew what had to happen and it made her sick.
There was only one way to take care of scum like Michael James.
Only one language he’d understand.
And no one in the room spoke dragon better than her husband.
Chapter Eight
“Grayson. This isn’t what it looks like,” Michael said.
He now stood at the foot of the bed and yanked his trousers from around his ankles and fastened them at his waist. His hands shook. He glanced behind him on the floor, no doubt looking for the gun Cate had knocked off the table. She spied it peeking out from the bed skirt, three feet from her. Over six feet away from Michael.
“Cate’s been coming on to me for years now. I’m a weak man. I caved. She’s a beautiful woman. You’ve been separated for months. No hard feelings, right?”
Cate snorted from her position against the wall. “Good luck with that.”
Michael stopped wheedling and sent her an If-You-Know-What’s-Good-For-You-You’ll- Shut- Up-Bitch look. How he thought he’d get out of this situation, she had no idea. He had no clue what he faced in Grayson Cooper. He’d find out. One more second. Two. When Michael turned back to confront Grayson, he screamed. A high-pitched, girly scream.
Cate wished she could feel pity for Michael. Really, she did. Only she couldn’t find an ounce of it anywhere. Not after everything she’d learned about Michael James. Within her quiet, peaceful haven, stood a monster. A monster in the form of a human man faced off with a dragon. Her dragon. Pride welled inside her at the sight of the beautiful raw power of Coop as dragon mage, his iridescent scales glowed richly against the gray-cast backdrop of the room--gold on his belly, purple on the underside of his wings, green and blue mixed over the rest of his body in intricate patterns laced with red. Folded wings opened at half span, to impress his sheer size upon his prey, but not enough to damage her bedroom. Smoke rings puffed from his nostrils. Grayson took one step forward on huge clawed feet. Sharp teeth bared.
“What the fuck?” Michael backed up, fell onto the bed and scuttled backward, crab style. He whimpered. “Cate? What is this?” Sweat dripped down his face.
“Remember that mangy shag rug you loved so much? Yowling the rafters down in Cornwall? The one you promised to dispose of for me? Michael, meet Coop, the beast in the attic--Grayson Cooper. Coop, meet the bastard Michael James, no friend of ours.”
Grayson blew a tongue of fire that crackled across the six feet of air between him and Michael.
A wet spot bloomed and grew on the front of Michael’s dress pants. “Don’t let him eat me, please. I beg you. I never meant to hurt you.”
“You are pathetic and such a liar. You were going to drug me and rape me for years on end. Who knows how many other innocent people you’ve harmed along the way?”
Grayson moved a step closer. His heavy jaws snapped together, a strand of drool dripped from the right side of his mouth. Then, he opened wide to let free a bellow that shook the lamps and rattled the bookshelves and pictures on the wall.
And no matter how scary he looked, she loved Grayson. Body and soul. Dragon or man. The tattoo on her neck warmed. She caressed it. The dragon looked at her, cocked its head. He closed his eyes. A purr sounded from deep in the beast’s chest.
Cate pushed away from the wall. She walked up to the dragon and stood less than a foot away from him. He lowered his head, blinking his eyes slowly. One green eye and one tawny eye. He mesmerized her. She stroked his nose. The hard blue-green scales, cold to her touch, felt like glass. He leaned in to her touch and closed his eyes.
Cate, I love you.
He turned his big clawed hand to run his knuckle down her cheek. A tear slipped free. Joy pulsed through her.
It is finished.
She sighed and pressed her mouth to the same knuckle he’d used to caress her.
“My, isn’t that a touching scene? Beauty and the Beast.” Michael sneered directly behind Cate now.
She whirled around to see him holding the Luger, pointed directly at Grayson’s heart.
Fear exploded in her chest.
Michael pulled the trigger.
Fire flashed a few inches in front of the barrel. The bullet hit Grayson’s scaly armor and ricocheted into the wall behind Cate. Grayson nudged Cate to the ground and spread his wings to protect her. She covered her head with her arms and curled in a fetal position to protect the life growing inside her.
A rapid-fire volley of bullets sprayed throughout the room, bouncing off of Grayson and hitting the walls, the pictures, the lamp and light fixture. Glass shards fell around her. Fiery heat ripped through Cate’s shoulder. Damn. Collateral damage. Pain seared through her. She gasped, then panted. She looked down to see blood wetting her blouse. She pressed hard on the wound to staunch the blood flow. Her vision blurred.
The dragon bellowed. A scorch of fire erupted in the room, the smell of brimstone heavy. This time, the action would be no fear tactic. This was self-defense. Pure and simple. To the death. Protecting him and his own.
The gun jammed. Michael screamed and threw it at Grayson in frustration.
Cate peeked from under Grayson’s wing just in time to see a fiery inferno blaze for a minute, then two. The fireball collapsed. Smoke cleared. A colorful stone pinged as it bounced against the hardwood floor and rolled to a stop at Grayson’s feet. Then, a fine fall of ash floated to the ground, a gentle dance of carbon all that was left of the monster Michael James.
“Grayson?” She looked up at him. Pain wound through her in tight, fiery spirals from the gunshot wound. “Help.” She panted, fighting against the darkness that threatened to overwhelm her.
The dragon folded his wings and lowered his head. His nose quivered. He nuzzled first her stomach, his warm, rough tongue swiping the bare skin of her midriff. The baby in her womb moved at his father’s greeting. A tear plopped onto Cate’s shoulder from the dragon’s amber eye. Then he lapped the wound with his tongue.
An ancient language she didn’t understand buzzed in her head. Then the words righted themselves, To have and to hold from this day forward until death do us part.
A quiet peace filled Cate. A gentle hymn she’d always known. A sacred place long forgotten, but unearthed by the healing tears and the restorative kiss of a dragon mage. She didn’t know if it’d be enough. Cate had found her hoard. And she’d never let it go. Ever. Even if she never held her baby in her arms or kissed her husband again. She just hoped it wasn’t too late and that Michael hadn’t stolen that from her, too.
#
Grayson Cooper had never been so scared in his life as when he’d seen Cate’s lifeblood soaking her clothes and smearing her body. He splayed his hand over her tummy and caressed the growing child she nurtured in her body. The baby rolled, as if he enjoyed the touch. Grayson chuckled, but sobered at the closed eyes of his wife, the pale countenance. It had been two days now since she’d passed out after the confrontation with the scumbag Mich
ael James.
Hattie had bandaged Cate’s shoulder and had given her something to ease the pain. She’d said Cate might wake when the wound knitted, when she no longer needed all her strength to fight infection and fever. The word that stuck in his throat was might. Pregnancy hormones could wreck havoc on the strongest female dragon mages and while Cate was strong, she wasn’t a dragon. Grayson didn’t even want to think what dragon hormones might do to his wife or the baby in this situation. Hattie thought she might not ever wake.
Cate would come back to him. She had to. He loved her, needed her to become the man he wanted to be, the dragon mage he wanted to be. He wouldn’t survive without valiant Cate by his side. He didn’t even want to try. And he’d be damned if he’d ever leave her or the baby unprotected again. No matter what the Dragon Consortium dictated.
A knock sounded at the sliding glass door leading to the porch. Grayson opened the door to find David waiting for him. He’d pushed his friend off yesterday, after Cate had been shot. David had given him space, but now he was back and more determined than ever.
Grayson stepped onto the porch, forcing David back a step or two. He wouldn’t allow another dragon male anywhere in close proximity to Cate or his baby. For some reason, the instinct David said would cause him to attack the baby had not materialized in him yet. But he’d always been a late bloomer. He wouldn’t take any chances with their lives around other mages and he’d need to be quick to recognize his own urge to harm them. This had been all his fault. Never again would he endanger his wife. He’d give her up before he allowed that to happen again.
“What can I do for you, David?” He sat in one of the high-backed green rocking chairs and propped his bare feet on the deck railing.
“Damn it, man. I told you you can’t stay with her.” David sat in the rocking chair beside him, but leaned forward, elbows propped on his thighs, hands steepled.
“I’m not leaving.”
“Grayson, it’s not safe.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was with Cate all day yesterday and today. Nothing happened. I felt the baby moving inside her. I will not hurt them.”
“Other dragon mages have failed.”
“I’m not other mages.”
David studied him. “No. You’re not.” He sighed. “I’m not sure what it is that makes you special. You didn’t turn until thirty-eight. Every other dragon in recent history has changed by the age of five or they never change at all. Thousands of years ago, there were a few reported cases of late changes--but they’re so rare we don’t know much about them. I’ll have to see what I can find in our archives.”
“You do that and get back to me. I’ll be right here. I appreciate all you’ve done for me and for Cate. I welcome you here any time. But I’m not leaving. This is where I belong. Beside my wife and my child.”
“I can’t officially sanction your decision. You understand my position? It’s simply not done. Most dragon mages only have one child, and the confinement is purely matriarchal. Males may guard the homestead, but they’re not allowed in the inner sanctum for those five years. And by inner sanctum, I mean their wives’ homes and their beds.”
“Yes, I understand. I won’t be honoring that tradition. I won’t miss the first five years of my son’s life. My humanity is too ingrained, too strong to neglect my wife or child for five years. We’ve already lost too much time. I won’t sacrifice a single second more.” He watched David, looking for a crack in his poker face. A sign of weakness or betrayal. He didn’t see it. “And we both know there’s still a Dignity threat to Cate and the baby. I won’t sacrifice them. Or any of my hoard. Ever again. Not even for the Consortium.”
And he sure as hell wouldn’t tell David it was touch-and-go with Cate. She’d come back. She’d live.
Grayson handed David the small topaz stone he’d picked up off the floor after Michael’s attack. A hoard stone. Each hoard possessed its own signature stone. The dragon who’d betrayed Grayson by giving Michael hoard magick used topaz as his energy stone.
“Where did you find this?”
“Michael carried it.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. It’s all that was left of him. I expect you’ll let me know who I need to thank for this mess with Michael?”
“Grayson.” David rubbed his neck. “You can’t be serious. You can’t take on the Consortium. European or American. It just isn’t done.”
“Well, neither, apparently is stealing from hoards. But someone is doing it. And I’d suspect this is all tied together. Figure out who that stone belongs to and let me know. You know the rules. If my hoard is challenged, the challenge can’t go unanswered.”
David closed his eyes, then shook his head in exasperation. “Right. I know. This will take time. And tact. We need answers. Proof. There are over two hundred natural gemstones. And the list of which hoard possesses which stone is a highly guarded secret.”
“Why?”
“Each stone carries its own magickal properties, powers, and level of strength. The Consortium has always felt if that knowledge were public, a natural pecking order would form, and the Dignity might not be better for the dragon who ended up on top.”
“Does the dragon who steals a hoard also take on that hoard’s energy stone?”
David turned away and looked out over the back yard. The silence stretched so long Grayson didn’t think the dragon mage leader would answer him. “Yes. He’s gaining strength.”
“How many? How many hoards has he stolen?”
“Five total. Each energy stone carries a different level of strength depending on the grade of the gemstone. He’s only collected minor stones thus far.”
“So, what? Diamond is at the top?”
“Not necessarily. Dragon hoards date back thousands of years. In some cases hoard stones have been passed down from generation to generation. You are from a long line. I’d assume your stone is very old and very valuable. And extremely powerful. The gemstones humans value today may not, in truth, carry the same weight in Dignity terms.”
“I want a name. I need to know who within the Dignity betrayed me. Who dared to challenge my hoard.”
“All right. Consider it done. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Just be smart. I wish you wouldn’t stay here. It goes against everything I believe. Everything I’ve known to be true about dragon mages.” David turned. He rolled his shoulder muscles, angled his chin first one way, then the next. “But I can’t force you to leave. Not now. Not knowing this is possibly a bigger problem. I’d recommend you maintain a separate residence nearby. As long as nothing draws council attention, they’ll be none the wiser. They’ll think you’re in compliance with Dignity rules. But you must give me your word that if you even feel a hint of a struggle to harm them that you’ll hightail it out of here, remain apart, and call me.”
“You have my word. I will not gamble with their lives.”
They gripped forearms and a bright orange magickal energy in the shape of a dragon twined around them, spiraling from Grayson’s elbow to David’s. The standard mage oath. They were now bound by magick.
David released Grayson’s arm and stepped back. “There is something I need from you. And I think it will give Consortium leaders answers that will keep them happy for now and explain why you’re still here, near your wife. It’ll provide you a viable venue to trap the person responsible for these mage attacks. If he’s targeting children of mages to gain access to the hoards, you’ll be able to draw him out.”
“Name it. I owe you my life. Without your help, neither Cate nor I would be alive.” Cate was a fighter. He had to believe she’d be okay.
“We need a dragon school here in North America. The only school in the world is Chadsworth’s in England.”
“You want me to start a dragon academy here?”
“Yes, this area is perfect. Rural. Plenty of land. Locals who won’t ask too many questions. Airspace to roam. Lakes to swim. It’s the ideal loca
tion. You and Cate could run it together. I broached the subject with her a couple of months ago. She wouldn’t commit to anything beyond funding the project. She holds a masters degree in Education Administration. Maybe now, with your influence, she’ll take on the administrative duties of running the school, become headmistress. Besides, it will give you something to keep you busy and focused. And out of Cate’s hair.”
He doubted anything could keep him away from Cate ever again if he didn’t allow it. But a school for dragons? Grayson considered the possibility. He’d learned a lot over the past several years. And he’d never want anyone to go through the hell he’d experienced alone. He could teach others. Maybe. If Cate was willing. “I’ll think about it. But I’d want the school to be open to dragons from hatchling to middle age--I don’t want late changers ignored or assassinated, as I fear they have been over the years.”
David inclined his head in acknowledgment of his concession. “Agreed. Talk to Cate. Let me know your decision.”
“Besides, if there is a Consortium conspiracy afoot, what better way to discover it than to open an academy that caters to their children? If it’s exclusive enough, it may even draw our thief out into the open. Money equals power, no matter if you’re human or dragon mage. Add to that magickal power and you have the perfect lure.”
“Your forensic computer skills may help you find who provided Michael with dragon magic before I can gain access to the list of hoard stones. James was a loose cannon. I’m sure he left a trail a mile wide. You’ll have the Hoard Snatcher cornered in no time.”
“That’s what you’re calling him? The Hoard Snatcher? God, David. You’re more creative than that.” Grayson laughed, his lack of humor made the sound brittle and sharper than he’d intended.
“It’s the best I’ve got, old friend. The hoard stone list is a heavily guarded secret--I think getting into Fort Knox would be easier. I’ll see what I can find. Don’t expect miracles. I’m too close to inner circles not to draw attention. My hands will be tied to a certain degree. The list exists. However, I’m not exactly sure where, or with whom. I’ll get you a name and hopefully a location, but then you’re on your own as far as official Consortium business is concerned.” David drummed his fingers on the deck railing. “Hopefully you’ll catch a break.”
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