by Paula Quinn
For a moment, River was too lost in their radiance to remember her name. They were Drakkons. She wondered what they looked like in scales and spikes. Drakkons with a cat. “I’m River…” she said in a low voice. “River Wray.”
Helena Gold flicked her sharp gaze to her brother. “You told her.”
River scowled at her. How did she know that? Had she just read River’s thoughts?
“I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t do that,” River said in a soft voice, pulling Helena’s attention back to her. She’d stand her ground, but Helena Gold would be intimidating even if she wasn’t a Drakkon.
She didn’t ask River what she was talking about. She knew. She lifted her elegant brow and was about to say something when she stopped and tilted her head in her husband’s direction.
They were communicating in private, coming to conclusions about her that she couldn’t defend.
She doesn’t like me. River aimed at Jacob.
She likes strength, and you have it. She likes you.
River cast him a slight smile and then continued waiting.
They do this to me all the time. Jacob’s voice came softly to her head.
It’s rude.
He nodded, and his sister noticed.
They know we’re talking.
Good. There was satisfaction in giving them a taste of their own medicine.
She felt Jacob’s eyes on her and turned. They shared a smile. For River though, it was so much more than that. Did sharing thoughts bond one to another person in a deeper, more intimate way?
“Jacob,” his sister interrupted, “is what you told Garion true?”
What? River blinked. What had Jacob told him?
“Yes, I claim possession of her,” Jacob provided, keeping his eyes on his sister and not on River. “I’ve asked him not to probe her.”
“Jake,” his sister expelled a short laugh. “You’re not—”
River cleared her throat. “Excuse me, I’m not his possession.”
“You are to him.” Garion said, quieting the birds in the air. His voice rumbled like the foundation beneath a mountain. He smiled and River wasn’t sure if he smiled at her or because the cat he’d set free had just leaped onto his shoulder. “In his telling of us, did he mention Drakkon treasures?”
She shook her head and glanced at Jacob. “Treasure?”
“It can be anything,” the Gold king told her, touching his nose to the white ball of fluff snuggling in the crook of his neck.
“Like a cat,” his wife said beside him.
“Or a woman.” Garion pulled her close and smiled into her eyes as if she were the most priceless of treasures.
“You know,” Jacob interrupted, “I think I like it better when you keep it to yourselves.”
Garion, the bigger of the two, laughed and shot his hand out to give Jacob a playful shove.
Jacob smacked it away with a laugh of his own then reached up to pet the cat. “Come on. I’ll take you to the B&B. Carina’s freezing.”
River detoured to the shop to let Margery know she wouldn’t be coming in, then hurried back to the B&B. She met Jacob on the way. He was alone, walking toward her. His hair was tied back once again. “Is something wrong?” she asked when they reached each other on the narrow road.
“No.” He lifted a curious brow at her. “Why?”
“I said I’d meet you at the B&B. What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to ask you something.”
She wondered if it was the husky timbre of his voice or the warm caress of his gaze that melted her resolve and made her belly flip and her skin feel hot.
“Yes?”
A playful smile curled his mouth. “Did you miss me?”
She felt her cheeks go up in flames and lowered her gaze to keep him from seeing the truth in her eyes. “I saw you less than ten minutes ago.”
He laughed. “All right.”
“What?” She looked up and couldn’t help but laugh with him. “How am I supposed to answer that?”
“Honestly,” he replied a bit more soberly.
She shook her head in mock amazement at him. “Sometimes, it’s like you’re newer at this than I am.”
“I am.”
She expected him to laugh at her preposterous suggestion. How could he possibly be inexperienced at courting? His flirtations were disarming and genuinely innocent, making his natural charm that much more beguiling. Could he have kept his heart from everyone until…until now? Just as she had? She stared at him, searching his eyes, his face for the truth.
Like a breeze across her mind, he let her into his thoughts. She felt his confusion and hesitation to dive into unchartered waters. She understood that a part of him was new and unfamiliar. It was his heart. She’d somehow gained access to it where none had before. She felt his affection for her like a warm cloak covering her, desire that turned the cloak to fire. She fought to keep her heart intact. He was a dragon. It might be romantic in a book, but this was real life. She didn’t know anything about dragons! How could this ever work?
“Fine,” she said, turning for the B&B, yanking herself from his thoughts, her heart pounding hard in her chest. “I missed you. Are you happy now?”
He caught up to her quickly and leaned in to say softly against her ear, “Yes, River, now I am.”
She turned her face, wanting to see in his eyes what she heard in his voice. Her lips brushed along his jaw. Something electric coursed through her blood and tempted her to grab fistfuls of his hair and drag his mouth to hers.
“Jake!” His sister’s voice broke through the pounding drumbeats. She was running toward them.
The wind had stopped. The birds had gone silent. River’s heart slowed as she halted her breath. This had happened before when—
From up over the cliff side, it rose on twenty-plus foot, slow-flapping wings the color of blood. In the stillness, the sound of his wings moving the air was amplified. It was bulkier, more muscular than the graceful beauty of the White. It must have been flying low above the surface of the loch. No one had seen it until it was too late—and directly in their path.
River looked into its gaping mouth for an instant before Jacob closed his arms around her and leaped out of the way, narrowly escaping the red dragon’s snapping jaws. They landed in the dirt but Jacob rose up instantly and pulled off his shirt.
“Jake!” his sister shouted as the dragon flew away and the people who’d come out of their businesses to see the dragon screamed. “Not here!”
But it was too late. River watched his trousers tear away and his flesh harden into scales. She lifted her head as he rose high above her, his long, muscular neck stretching toward the sky.
Drakkon! It was Drakkon! Believing Jacob was Drakkon was one thing. Seeing him was another thing altogether. He hadn’t left her. He’d been with her all this time, watching over her, opening his heart to her. His size and sheer pearly radiance stole her breath away. His limbs were as thick as a dozen tree trunks, with golden-tipped, teardrop scales overlapping to create thick armor. He breathed and sunlight ricocheted off the iridescent hues of his scales. He lowered his large, spiked head and set his fiery blue gaze on her. Jacob.
Jacob.
Silence answered her as he swung his head toward the direction the Red had just taken. He exhaled and smoke blew from his nostrils. He swished his spade-tipped tail and unfurled his wings. One mighty flap sent dirt and pebbles everywhere and lifted him off the ground, and the second gave him flight.
Someone was screaming. Was it her? This was all really happening. A Drakkon had almost eaten her and Jacob!
She stood up and looked for Helena and Garion. They were gone. About twenty people stood around her, looking dazed and horrified. What should she do? She didn’t realize she was shaking until she leaned down to pick up Jacob’s backpack. They would have been gone in an instant if not for him. Terror crept up her spine as she looked around at the faces staring back at her. They’d seen the Drakkons.
They’d se
en Jacob.
She spotted Margery stepping in front of the shop and Ivy running toward her from the distillery. Who would the dragon try to eat next?
Jacob?
Go home, River, she heard him. Get your family and go to the barn. Wait for us there. Leave clothes for us outside. My backpack should be near you.
I have it. Jacob—
“River!” Ivy screamed, reaching her. She threw her arms around her sister. “River, I thought that thing had eaten you! It was a dragon! It tried to eat you!” She held River tight and cried into her sweater. “Then…then I saw you. Oh, thank God, I saw you…and Jacob.”
“Come, Ivy, we have to go.”
“River,” her sister stopped her. Then she wiped her eyes. “Da was right. He’s been right all this time. There are dragons!”
“Are you all right, Miss?”
River turned to the frantic voice of a man she didn’t know. A tourist.
“Yes,” she assured, still a little disheveled. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“I never saw anything like it,” he said. His eyes were wide, his lips pale. “I’m here from California with my wife.” He pointed into the small crowd. “We’re sightseeing. Never expected to see that.”
River didn’t know what to say. She needed to go, and take Ivy with her.
“I don’t know what I saw.” She choked out a laugh. “It happened so fast.”
He smiled and something about the heat in his dark gaze stopped her from moving. He was a stocky man, mid-twenties, his head shaved bald beneath a thin, woolen cap. He wore a tweed sweater and baggy jeans. He had one arm. “Too bad I didn’t get a picture.”
She nodded and pushed Ivy on her way. “We should probably get off the road.”
“Keep your eyes open,” the man called out as she and Ivy left. “That monster could be anywhere.”
Chapter Fourteen
Where is he! Jacob shouted in his head as he flew northeast with nothing but empty clouds in his wide scope of vision.
He disappeared, Helena’s voice answered from the southern sky. How could he have disappeared right under our noses?
The same way he arrived out of nowhere, Garion’s voice joined theirs, turning Jacob’s blood cold. He altered. He must have done it almost immediately after the attack. We can’t find him because we’re looking for Drakkon.
The Red was walking. If he’d changed immediately then he was likely closer to River than Jacob wanted him to be.
With a stroke of his mighty tail, he changed course and flew toward Tarbert.
Jeremy! He sent out to the four winds, hoping the Red was listening. You tried to snap her up in your jaws. I’m going to kill you for that.
Jacob White, I wish I could say this was a surprise, a thick, raspy voice answered a moment later. I knew Garion would change you once your sister got her claws into him. How is Helena, by the way? Such a pretty little morsel.
Jacob opened his thoughts to Garion so he could listen in. What are you doing here, Red? he demanded. How are you alive?
I need a mate. I’m here for Garion’s blood.
Garion’s voice came like thunder, momentarily rattling Jacob’s thoughts. Come and get it, Red.
Hello, old friend, Red greeted. I’m glad to know that you’ve finally come to your senses and agreed to alter more descendants. Jacob White is a fine example of your work. I look forward to seeing Helena—and your hot sister. Have you turned Ellie yet, big brother? May I?
Jacob would help Garion kill this piece of shit. Where are you?
Don’t worry, his voice raked across Jacob’s thoughts. I’m away from the girl with the pretty, red hair. I wasn’t trying to eat her, but you. I didn’t know she was yours until I spoke to her.
Jacob’s throat burned with a roaring fire. He beat his wings and rode the wind, severing contact with him.
River. His heart boomed in his ears, growing faster, louder with every second she didn’t answer him. The Red was right, she was his. But she was more than a possession. She was his desire, his ache, the captor of his heart. River, please—
Jacob, what’s wrong? Where are you?
He shifted the angle of his tail and flew toward Tarbert. I’m coming. Did a man speak to you? Is he anywhere near you now?
Yes, a man spoke to me. I don’t see him around. He said he was a tourist and he saw you. How did you know he spoke to me?
What did he say to you?
He asked if I was okay, and…he creeped me out a little. He told me to keep my eyes open because the monster could be anywhere. Jacob, was he the Red?
Yes, he told her, almost there. Forget the barn. Hide behind something until I get there.
The slope.
Yes, his heart warmed at the thought of her, composed and strong in the midst of this.
We need clothes, Helena’s voice broke the dreadful silence. And please get Carina.
Yes, I have her, River answered, sounding relieved by the change of subject. And the clothes. I’m almost there. I have Ivy. Hurry.
Jacob pulled his wings in close to his body and dove from the clouds above Tarbert. He saw River below, atop the hill, looking up, and Ivy pointing her phone at him. He stretched his wings and soared toward the vale. He kept his eyes on the sky and the earth, watching River and Ivy hurry down the back of the slope to deposit their clothes.
He landed with perfect ease a short distance from them and folded his wings over his back. River stared at him, much the same way she had the first time she’d seen him. Astounded, curious, in control of her emotions, except one. Her joy at seeing him hit him like a golden arrow to the heart.
It made him want to be a man. He felt himself altering. Turn Ivy around.
River did as he asked, slipping her own eyes back to him as he altered and walked toward his backpack naked.
He met her gaze and was about to smile when Ivy screamed.
It was Charlie Owens. Killed by the Red, most likely for his clothes and dumped here. Jacob pulled on his black jeans and tattered sweater and hurried to them. He took River under his arm, but Ivy pulled away from him.
She stared into his eyes, at the contours of his face, forgetting the dead body near her. “You’re one of them.” Disgust and then fear contorted her features when she looked behind him at the naked couple that had just landed. She turned her gaze to her sister’s and gave her arm—looped through the handle of Carina’s carrier—a tug. “No one is safe.”
“These three will not hurt us,” River reassured her.
“I want to protect you,” Jacob added calmly.
Ivy didn’t look convinced, but there was no time for that now. He heard Garion and Helena come up behind him and watched his brother-in-law, fully dressed, lean over the body.
“His neck is broken,” he informed them. He looked up at his wife. “I just spoke to Ellie. She’s going to stay low.”
Helena nodded and stepped forward to take River’s hand. “What did the man who spoke to you look like?”
“He was bald,” River told her, handing Carina over to Garion.
“Did he have one arm or two?”
Jacob’s gaze flicked to Garion’s and then back to River. He had forgotten what could be possible. His pulse quickened.
“One.”
River’s answer caused the same reaction in all three Drakkon. They smiled, learning a little more about the essence that flowed through their veins. It didn’t regenerate what was cut, or hacked, or bitten off. Jeremy’s head it must be then. “We have to cut off his head,” Garion told them. Jacob and Helena nodded. So did River.
They spread out and searched the ferry terminal and everywhere else in Tarbert. Jeremy Redmond was nowhere to be found.
“We need to keep them safe,” Jacob told Garion an hour later, after his brother-in-law returned from the B&B with his Onyx and their bags. “I know a place on Skye—”
“Red knows we’re here,” Garion said. “He wants my blood. He’ll be back. If we leave Harris, we just delay what w
e could get done now.”
“Right,” Jacob agreed. “But they’re in harm’s way here.”
“Until we take down the Red,” Helena reminded him, “they’re not safe anywhere. No one is. His veiled threat about being anywhere is real. But we’ll find him.”
Jacob knew she was right, and if anyone could find a man, it was his sister. She’d found Marcus Aquara and Garion Gold. Before she fell in love, she’d dedicated her life to The Bane and hunting Drakkon.
“I don’t want them here when he returns,” he insisted. Jeremy was clearly a sneaky, clever bastard. He’d gotten close to River in both his forms. Jacob didn’t want to take that chance again.
“They’re safest with us,” Garion said. “If you want to protect them, keep them close.”
“You can all stay at my house,” River offered and then turned to him. “I’m not leaving without you. I won’t go.”
He stepped closer to her and looked deep in her eyes. She had too much courage. Red was playing with them. Jeremy could have hurt her. The thought of it made him want to go on a fiery rampage. It also made him think about his days without her in them. Now or later. It was only going to get harder.
I can’t believe you told her about us, Helena’s voice sounded in his head after they started on the path back to Maraig, or that you seem interested in someone for more than a night in bed. We have a lot to talk about, Brother.
Jacob tossed her a scowl. I wasn’t that bad. He knew he was. He just didn’t want to be reminded of it.
Yes, you were. I see what attracts you to River, but it’s hard to believe you’ve noticed.
I have.
Walking beside him and taking note of his scowl, River leaned in close. “What’s she saying?”
He looked at her and thought about all the truths she’d accepted about him already. Should he push more right now or lie to her again? “She’s seeing a side of me she’s never seen before.”
“Oh?” River tilted her face to his and broke down his scowl with the slightest of smiles. “What side is that?”
“Everything that was hidden before.” He looked at her and smiled, baffled about how to explain himself or pinpoint any one part of him.