“I’ll come for you,” she promised with a growl. “So hard, Dragon…”
His lips were on her neck now, drawing her chin up as he rammed into her, her back arching under him, taking him inside, her arms and legs trembling with tension and ecstasy.
“Yes, come for me, beautiful,” he said. “And I’ll do the same for you.”
She drew herself up, arms wrapping around his neck. Her nipples peaked against his chest as the first explosive wave crashed over her, eliciting a cry of sorrowful pleasure from her lips. She never wanted to give this up—to give him up. Never.
The orgasm swept her up in perfection, her body clenching around his cock even as his tempo sped up to join her bliss. Furiously now, he slammed into her, unrelenting in his power. He knew that she could take it. Knew that he wouldn’t break her; that she wanted all of his strength now.
Neko’s arms stayed locked around his neck, soaked with sweat. And she drew him into her with each thrust, urging him on.
“Mine,” she growled, wrapping her legs around him in a gesture of possession and want.
Kill me. Oh, kill me like this, my Dragon. It would be such a sweet way to go.
But this wasn’t to be her end.
“Yours.” The word came out as a low rumble, even as the white heat of a Dragon shifter filled her with his final thrust.
His powerful aqua eyes looking into hers, all the love in the world in his stare. Protection, need, want. Given for her, to her. He would do anything for his Hunter, and she knew it.
Anything but give her his blessing to hunt.
A tear streamed down her temple as Lumen pulled her up, her legs drawing tight around him as he held her tight, needing the embrace as much as she did.
And she never wanted to let go.
She wished that she could ask him for his help. She wished she didn’t have to take on her task alone.
“My Dragon,” she said.
“My Neko.”
Departure
At two-thirty a.m. Neko rose from the bed and slipped out of the room, closing the door quietly to step to the walk-in closet that opened out onto the hallway. She threw on her clothes, draping herself in all the weapons she could carry, and made her way stealthily into the kitchen. Thankful that she’d become so skilled at sneaking about that even a Dragon shifter wasn’t to be awoken by her movements.
Finding a blank sheet of paper, she scrawled a note, her hand shaking with the emotion welling up inside her:
Dear Lumen,
I hope you can forgive me for what I’m about to do. None of it will make sense to you. So just know that I’m doing what I believe is best for you, for the Dragons, and even for myself.
I think the Relic is in the Syndicate’s Tower, though I don’t know where exactly. Go there with your fellow Guild members, and see if you can find it. If I succeed at my own task, I’ll find a way to join you.
If I don’t, pull each stone of the Tower down until you find it.
I’ve never said these words to anyone, my Dragon, but I love you. More than anything in the world. And more than I ever knew possible.
Your Neko
She left the note folded on the kitchen table and stepped lightly down the hallway towards the round room that would lead her out to London’s streets. Searing tears stung her eyes, blurring her perfect vision for a moment. She wiped them away, determined to proceed.
To succeed at her task.
She would see him again. She would make it through this day. She had to, or else what was the point?
But even if she failed, at least she’d die knowing that she’d helped. That her life had been given for a cause larger than herself.
For the Dragons, and for the future of London.
* * *
The taxi from the city took about thirty-five minutes to reach her country house. And as the small car entered the village where Neko had spent years of her life, the thought struck her that she hadn’t been there since the first morning when she’d woken up next to Lumen, a captive in her own home. Excited by the Dragon shifter and angry at him, all at once.
She paid the driver when he pulled up in front of the cottage, and got out, slipping into the dark of night. The small town was so still, so quiet. Its residents dead to the world, unaware of the horror that Neko intended to bring down upon their peaceful community.
But if she had her way, there would be no threat to any of them. Umbra would be stalking her, and her alone.
As she stepped towards the front door a shudder overtook her, as though the place was no longer her home, but an unwelcoming entity, filled with foreboding and danger. A stark difference from the safety and light of the home she now shared with Lumen.
She unlocked the door and stepped inside, immediately shutting and locking it behind her. Hurriedly she moved through the house, opening the leather bag that she’d brought with her containing several of the Dragon bone blades.
A few were tucked into their sheaths on her bandolier, the curved knife in the Khopesh’s place at her side. But others she slid into her hiding spots under the kitchen table, behind pictures hanging on various walls, on the underside of book shelves. No room was left without weaponry, not even the small bathroom.
When she’d finished she moved about the house, pulling thick curtains shut in each room. The sky outside was overcast, the countryside still as dark as black velvet, and inside the house no normal human could have made out a single shape. But Neko’s bright eyes, enhanced by her bond with the Dragon shifter, flashed in the dark, picking up outlines of familiar furniture, her ears so keenly attuned to the world around her that she could hear the scurrying, tiny feet of a mouse in a wall two rooms over.
Her best chance on this night was to rely on her newly honed senses. She could only hope that they wouldn’t betray her.
She sat down at the kitchen table, eyes moving about the room. Over the sink was a small, square-paned window that looked over the back garden. The only window in the house not covered by a curtain.
Her gut clenched into a tight ball of muscle as she began the wait. The anticipation, she knew, would be as difficult as the battle to come. But no doubt ever surfaced in her mind that Umbra would show. A beast like him would never pass up the opportunity to take her on, isolated, far from her Dragon protector. To finish what he’d started.
An hour had passed before Neko’s nose caught the all too familiar scent in the distance. He was walking along the road outside; she knew by the far off sound of footsteps in the night, his feet occasionally kicking pebbles before him. The Forsaken, it seemed, was in no rush to find her.
As his scent grew stronger, sweet, enticing and repulsive at once, Neko braced in her seat, calculating her next move. From the aroma, she could tell that it had been several hours since he’d fed; his smell was losing something of the sugary overtones that she’d noted in Beggar’s Alley.
Good. Things were beginning as well as she could have hoped. Her best chance was to take him on in a weakened state; at full power she wouldn’t stand a chance.
Quietly she extracted a white blade from her bandolier, eyeing it in the dark. It could no doubt have sliced the kitchen sink in half, if she’d had any inclination to do such a thing.
She could only hope that it would do the job on Umbra’s throat, when the time came.
* * *
Lumen stirred with the rising of the sun, a contented purr emerging from his throat. He’d been in the midst of an erotic dream about Neko, picturing his mouth on her, her hips writhing beneath his touch as he urged her towards climax.
And for the split second between sleep and wakefulness he could taste her on his lips—that salty deliciousness that her body loved to create, for his pleasure alone. With the memory vivid on his tongue, he turned his head to smile at her, his right hand reaching for her body.
But her side of the bed was empty, her lovely face nowhere to be found.
Strange, but no need for immediate panic. After all, she could ve
ry well be in the bathroom, the kitchen or any number of other places.
Neko? his mind shot out into the space around him.
No response.
Neko, are you here?
Nothing.
“Fuck,” he blurted, slipping out of bed and dashing to each room in search of her. In the hallway he saw that the closet door was ajar. Stepping inside, his breath caught in his throat. Her jacket was gone, and her bandolier. A very, very bad sign.
It was only when he came to the kitchen that he saw the note.
“If I succeed at my own task, I’ll find a way to join you. If I don’t, pull each stone of the Tower down until you find it,” he muttered as he read. “No, no, no! God damn it, Neko. What have you done?”
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to answer his question. She would be on the hunt, stalking Umbra with all her newfound skills. But by now she could be anywhere in—or out of—London. She’d told him to go to the tower with the Guild members. Would he find a clue as to her whereabouts there?
He recalled what Bertie had said about pulling an all-nighter in her office. At the moment, she was Lumen’s best hope.
He threw on some clothing, calling out to Neko again in a futile attempt to connect. But his mind found no sign of her. She’d shut herself off from him, torn herself from their bond.
She was protecting him, just as he’d always tried to protect her. And in that moment he loved and hated her for it. She was likely far away, either pursuing her prey or encouraging him to pursue her. It really didn’t matter; any altercation with that beast would no doubt result in a slow and painful death.
Making a decision, he dashed to the round room and selected a door on his right, which led almost directly upwards to a round glass hatch. Lumen pushed it open, allowing water to pour off its surface, and climbed out, transforming almost immediately into his rippling silver Dragon. Massive wings spread out at his sides, stretching over the water, lifting him high into the air.
Misery flowed through him like a toxin. The day when he’d come upon Umbra trying to kill Neko in the alleyway had, he’d thought, been the worst of his life.
But now he knew that it had only been the second worst.
Umbra
Inhaling deeply, Neko felt her heart accelerate once again, adrenaline charging her body in preparation for what was to come. She could smell the Forsaken’s scent so clearly now, a callous invasion of her senses.
He was close, so close.
“I must be living inside a nightmare,” she muttered, the fingers of her left hand digging into her thigh in an attempt to prove to herself that this was no dream. Why on earth had she done this to herself? Had she really orchestrated yet another clash with a man so much stronger than herself?
Yes, she had. And there was nothing left to be done but to fight. To kill him, as she was meant to do.
She rose to her feet, silently moving the chair away from the table, her hand trembling. As much as she tried to keep herself steady, her legs felt like they belonged to a newborn deer trying to keep its balance, knees making a constant effort to give way beneath her.
Nerves were kicking in now, self-doubt a vicious enemy beating down her defenses.
“You can take him,” she told herself, fingers reaching once again for Lumen’s knives. “Don’t let doubt eat away at you. Not now.”
Legs strengthening beneath her, she made her way into the hallway. Her ears twitched, the sound of soft, slow footfalls coming at her from outside.
He was nearly there. Nearly close enough to kill.
But the footsteps stopped for a moment. Umbra, it seemed, was hesitating just outside. What the hell are you waiting for? Get in here and do your fucking worst.
At last the doorknob turned and the door itself began to swing inwards. Apparently the lock did little to impede the entry of a Forsaken. But no matter; he was of no use to her outdoors.
Neko grasped a dagger in each hand, hoping against hope that Lumen had been right about the Dragon bone blades as she watched the tall man step inside, shutting the door behind him.
The veil of darkness still surrounded them, and she watched as Umbra fumbled for a light switch, seeking to illuminate the house’s interior. So. Despite his bloodline, descended from creatures who thrived on darkness, it seemed that his eyes weren’t as keen as hers. At least not at the moment. Further evidence that he needed to feed, his powers waning.
Neko inched towards him, hoping to catch him off his guard. To take advantage of his temporary blindness. But after a moment he stiffened, turning her way.
“You’re here, Hunter,” he said, the words coming out in a slow breath. “You’re close.”
“Hello, Umbra,” she said as the cold eyes of the killer searched the blackness for hers. “Welcome to my home.”
“Neko,” he said. In the blackness she saw his eyes dart about, seeking her out but failing to pinpoint her face. “How strange that you should have isolated yourself in this place. Have you given up on your Dragon mate, or your search for his Relic? Or perhaps there’s trouble in paradise? A fight?”
So, she thought. No doubt he knows that I was angry when Lumen tore me away from him. All the better if he thinks I’m upset; he’ll assume that I’m weakened by it.
“My personal life is not your business,” she said, venom tinging her voice as she moved to the side of the hallway, testing to see if his eyes followed her. Despite the veil of darkness around them she could make out his features. That odd face, such a disturbing mixture of beauty and ugliness. A smile so malicious that for a moment she wanted to flee. To deny that such an evil presence could exist in this world.
“Well,” he said, moving forward, his pace slow, calculated. No speed-of-light darting this time; only tentative, uncertain steps. Perhaps he was too weak to move as he had in the alleyway.
“How excellent for me that you’ve been fool enough to come here alone. Those Dragons are a handful, after all.”
“A handful. Yes, they are,” Neko said, unable to help the smile that formed on her lips for a moment. May as well savour a brief thought of her mate and his astonishing nature. A pang of regret hit her, to have left him in the way that she did. He would be panicked when he awoke, searching everywhere, no doubt. Hurt and betrayed.
Umbra was still moving forward, Neko now backing along the wall adjacent to her small country kitchen. The knives remained firmly in her grasp, ready to do the job they were intended for, as soon as she’d cornered him properly
“You think that you can best me,” Umbra hissed, his voice accusing, paranoid. “That you can make up for what happened in the alleyway. You mean to take my life.”
“Quite right.” She raised her chin as she spoke, proud, stubborn and strong. “I intend to do exactly that.”
“You know that you cannot take me on,” he said, his voice altering to a soothing lilt, as though he were speaking to a small child. His eyes were still moving about, still unable to pinpoint her location. “Just tell me where the Relic is, Neko. It’s so simple. I will leave you to your life with your Dragon, such as it will be. Why complicate matters?”
“Let you have the Relic?” she shot, her eyes narrowing with rage. “That will never happen.”
“So—it’s really come down to this. You’d sooner sacrifice your life for those bastard Dragons than allow me to flourish as I was meant to do.”
“Yes, I would.” She’d reached the kitchen’s entrance, and in her periphery she could see daylight creeping in through the small window.
“Do you know why we want it, Neko? Why the Forsaken would want the Dragons’ trinkets?”
She didn’t respond as she slid around the doorway into the kitchen, forcing her breaths to remain shallow so that he wouldn’t hear them.
“All we want is a chance at a normal life. We’re not fond of feeding on the blood of humans,” he told her. “With the Relics we would be powerful without such barbarism. Imagine it. The Forsaken, come into their own. Is that not what you
want, as well? Surely enough blood has been shed already.”
“Powerful?” she asked, unable to help herself as she pressed her back to the kitchen’s wall. “You want power so that you can destroy the Dragons. You’ve as much as told me. I would never support you or your kind.”
A quiet laugh rattled up from his chest. “I have no love for the Dragons, it’s true. But the only destruction I care for is in preparation to rebuild. I want to change the world. To restore it to its rightful order. We once had it, you know. We Forsaken were the strongest creatures alive.”
He was moving closer. Almost in the same room as her now.
“The Dragons took you down. They won that battle, as they should have.”
“Yes, they did. But with a little more power, we’d have been invincible. We would have been the keepers of the peace. We would have ruled fairly.”
“You would have been monstrous.”
“So, you’ve come here, prepared to die. You’d really rather the Relic remain hidden from the Dragons, even at the expense of your life…”
In the doorway he paused, as though a thought were forming in his mind.
“But you’ve told them,” he said, freezing in his tracks. “They know where it is now. So even if I kill you, you think they can find it.”
Neko allowed her smile to fill itself out. “Yes, they know. And here you are, miles and miles away from them, and from it, you pathetic creature.”
At those words, Umbra let out another low, menacing laugh. “Stupid girl,” he hissed. “They won’t find it. Not without the Seeker. You could tell them within an inch of its location where it is, and they would never see it without your eyes. You’re their one hope.”
“That’s not true,” she said. “You wanted me to tell you where it is…”
“Yes, well, even I require help. You would have to accompany me. Yours are the eyes meant to find it.”
Neko’s heart sank. Was it really true? If it was, and the Dragons needed her to find it, she’d hurt their cause. If Umbra killed her before she’d guided them to it, they’d never find it.
Dragon Hunter Box Set: A Dragon Shifter Serial Page 27