by Donna Grant
Grace went back to writing, intending to reach the fifty-page mark. She was on a roll, and nothing was going to stop her now.
* * * *
Arian paced the cavern in his mountain in agitation and a wee bit of anxiety. He was shaking off the dragon sleep from the past six hundred years. Not only had it been six centuries since he had been in human form, but there was a war the Dragon Kings were involved in.
Con and the others were waiting for him to join in the war. Every King had been woken to take part. After all the wars they had been involved in, Arian wasn’t happy to be woken to join another.
Because of Ulrik. The banished and disgraced Dragon King hadn’t just made a nuisance of himself, but he somehow managed to get his magic returned.
Which meant the Kings needed to put extra magic into keeping the four silver dragons sleeping undisturbed deep within the mountain. They were Ulrik’s dragons, and he would want to wake them soon.
But it wasn’t just Ulrik that was causing mischief. The Dark Fae were as well. It infuriated Arian that they were once more fighting the Dark. Hadn’t the Fae Wars killed enough Fae and dragons?
Then again, as a Dragon King as old as time itself, they were targets for others who wanted to defeat them.
For Ulrik, he just wanted revenge. Arian hated him for it, but he could understand. Mostly because Arian had briefly joined Ulrik in his quest to rid the realm of humans.
Thoughts of Ulrik were pushed aside as Arian found himself thinking about why he had taken to his mountain. When he came here six hundred years earlier, it was to remain there for many thousands of years.
The Dragon Kings sought their mountains for many reasons. Some were just tired of dealing with mortals, but others had something they wished to forget for a while. Arian was one of the latter.
There were many things he did in his past when the King of Kings, Constantine, asked. Not all of them Arian was proud of. The one that sent him to his mountain still preyed upon him.
He didn’t remember her name, but he remembered her tears. Because of the spell to prevent any of the Dragon Kings from falling in love with mortals, Arian had easily walked away from the female.
Six centuries later, he could still hear her begging him to stay with her, still see the tears coursing down her face. Though he hadn’t felt anything, it bothered him that he had so easily walked away. Because Con had demanded it.
Loyalty—above all else.
The Dragon Kings were his family, and Dreagan his home. There was never any question if he were needed that Arian would do whatever it took to help his brethren in any capacity asked of him.
Arian wasn’t angry at himself for choosing loyalty for Dreagan. It was expected. What he had grown tired of was the monotony of his existence.
He halted, a shiver of awareness overtaking him. With his mountain being one of those closest to the border, Arian was attuned to anything that crossed through their dragon magic barrier.
And something significant just crossed onto Dreagan.
Arian shifted into human form. He flexed his fingers several times before fisting his hand. Then he rotated his shoulders. Next he dropped his chin to his chest and rolled his head from one side to the other, stretching muscles that hadn’t been used in centuries.
He had no clothes, but then again there wasn’t a need for any. Con visited each King who was sleeping every ten years and passed on everything that was going on in the world.
And a lot had happened.
When Darius , another Dragon King, woke him, he informed Arian of the recent happenings regarding the Dark Fae and Ulrik. It could be a Dark Fae out there, or it could be an MI5 agent.
No way was Arian going to let anyone onto Dreagan—mortal or immortal. They were going to die before they could go a step further.
Arian strode from the cavern through the tunnels in his mountain until he came to the entrance. Before him stood a large pool of water that was as still as glass.
Stalactites hung from the ceiling in various sizes. Only a paltry scrap of light penetrated the thick darkness from the cave entrance.
Arian eyed the opening that was large enough for him to fit through in dragon form. He made his way around the body of water, his feet making nary a sound. Then he paused at the cave entrance.
The world was cast in a gray sheen that made him blink several times for his eyes to adjust. A light smattering of rain fell, wetting everything.
He kept to the shadows of the cave and peered outside where he felt the intruder. Arian spotted a bright orange shoe. What had Con called them when he visited a few years ago? Aye. Tennis shoes.
Arian closed his eyes and used his dragon magic to sense who he would be fighting. Instantly he felt the human. His eyes snapped open. It was going to be an easy fight.
Just as he was about to step outside, the rain began to fall harder. He heard a curse from what sounded like a female. Arian frowned. He didn’t like fighting females, but he would do what he had to do.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shitttttttttt,” said the distinctly feminine voice with a slight accent to it he couldn’t quite place.
There was fear in her tone that stopped him. He stilled as she stood and clumsily began to come closer to the entrance, an entrance she wasn’t supposed to be able to see because it was cloaked in dragon magic.
So she had found his cave. It made no difference. She would get no farther than where he was. And…he was going to learn how she was able to see through the magic.
She barreled past him, her back to him as she shook out her blonde locks that stopped at her chin. She raked her hand through her wet hair and sighed loudly, her gaze never leaving the rain.
Visibly shaking, he wasn’t sure if it was due to the cold or if she was filled with terror. By the pallor of her skin, he was beginning to think she was frightened.
After several moments, the female relaxed a fraction. It was almost as if she had been waiting for something.
“It’s just rain. Only rain.” She briefly closed her eyes. “I was making such progress too.” She held up a thin rectangle object and spoke to it. “You better not have gotten wet. I need you.”
Arian raised a brow. Was she daft? Or was it some trick to keep him off guard.
She turned around before glancing outside again. Her gaze slid right over him, never seeing him in the shadows. Arian was taken aback by her earthy beauty.
Her creamy skin was flawless. She had large, thick-lashed eyes that were a blue so dark Arian had never seen the like. His gaze raked over her heart-shaped face, from her forehead and slightly arched brows to her high cheekbones, and finally her plump lips.
She hugged the thin object against her and shivered in the green jacket that hid her figure from him. But if her slim legs encased in denim were any indication, he was going to like what he saw beneath.
Her blonde hair was a soft yellow that made him think of daisies bending slightly in the wind. With her locks hanging thick and wet against her damp skin, all Arian could think about was touching her hair, running his fingers through it.
She sighed, drawing his eyes back to her mouth. A mouth that was too seductive by far. The fact he was wondering how her lips would feel against his was a prime indication that the last thing Arian should encounter after six centuries of sleeping was a beautiful woman who made him ache to touch her.
Chapter Two
Grace couldn’t believe her luck. It seemed too good to be true to find a place that opened up her creativity and allowed her to get the book written.
Of course, she’d only written fifty pages out of four hundred. That wasn’t nearly enough. But it was a great start. If only it hadn’t begun raining harder. It was like someone had turned on a faucet. Add in the gusting wind and Grace was quickly soaked.
It was by sheer chance alone that she’d seen the cave. Thankfully, it was close enough that she was able to get to it without too much effort. The fact she’d been able to move through her fear was an improvement.<
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She opened the laptop and sighed when the screen lit up. With the amount of water that hit her, she’d been worried it had been too much for the computer.
Grace felt her muscles ease as the tension began to subside. Every moment that passed without thunder or lightning made her anxiety diminish.
Then a chill raced down her spine. Slowly, she turned and looked behind her. She suddenly realized that she had no idea how big the cave was. Or if she was the only occupant.
She grabbed her mobile and turned on the flashlight. Her eyes widened as she took in the size of the cavern. The ceiling began just a few feet above her, but the deeper the cave went, the higher the ceiling soared.
Small and insignificant. That’s how the cavern made her feel.
The light from her mobile then met the water, and she sucked in a breath. Slowly, she moved the light from one side of the water to the other, noting the expanse of it all.
“Wow,” she said in a whisper.
If only she could see it better. The meager light from her phone showed a lot, but not as much as she wanted to see. She wanted to walk around the water, but she hesitated when another chill snaked through her.
The weight of her laptop in her hand reminded her that she should work while she could. Grace turned off the flashlight and pocketed her mobile.
Then she sat her laptop down and removed her raincoat. Once she was seated and leaning back against a rock, she placed her raincoat over her damp jeans for warmth then positioned the computer atop her legs.
A quick check of her watch for the time told her she had been on the mountain for almost three hours. She smiled, happy in all she had accomplished so far. Even with the rain.
In moments she was back to typing, immersed in the story once again. Despite her stomach growling, Grace kept going. The rain couldn’t last forever. Could it?
She didn’t know what caused her head to jerk up and look to her left. Grace stared into the shadows as she fumbled for her mobile and turned on the flashlight.
A loud sigh escaped her when she saw nothing but rocks. It was her imagination playing tricks on her. With the deafening sound of the rain hitting the rock at the entrance and the quiet of the cave, it was a tad unnerving.
Looking around, she realized just how dark it was in the cave. The light from her laptop made her forget until she looked up from the screen.
Grace saved her progress after she saw she had now written another ten pages. Maybe it was a good thing she was stuck on the mountain. It was obviously just what she needed to write.
Please no thunder and lightning.
She closed the laptop to save battery and stretched her arms over her head. Her pants were drying, but still damp. How she hated wearing wet jeans.
The dampness from the cave was beginning to sink into her. Grace put on her raincoat and got to her feet. She walked to the entrance and looked out.
The rain hadn’t slacked off at all. If anything, it looked like it was coming down even heavier. She leaned out to see if she could spot her car, but she didn’t have any luck.
She was well and truly stuck until the rain stopped. Grace wrapped her arms around herself. Her stomach soured as she imagined a thunderstorm rolling in.
“Please no,” she mumbled.
At least she wasn’t without resources. She might be hungry and thirsty, but she had a source of water behind her. Not to mention she still had plenty of battery on her laptop to get more writing done.
That is if she could with the rain continuing. She was doing all right in the day, but at night? That was another matter entirely.
The only thing that made her worry was if she had to stay overnight. It wasn’t that Grace minded sleeping on the ground. In fact, she loved to camp. Never mind that it had been over twelve years since she had done it.
Sleeping bag or not, she would be fine if she was forced to have an overnight visit in the cave—as long as it stopped raining. And things could definitely be worse. She could be outside in the weather.
Or it could be thundering.
Or someone could be in the cave with her.
Grace chuckled to herself. A heartbeat later the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She whirled around. Someone was there. She knew it. She might not be able to see them or hear them, but it was an instinct she couldn’t ignore.
Unless...it wasn’t a person at all. It could be an animal.
Which didn’t make her feel any better about the situation.
Grace turned on the flashlight on her phone again. She walked far enough from the entrance so that she could hear. Halting next to the rock where she had been writing, Grace slowly moved the light from one side of the cave to the other. She pointed it specifically into the areas with the most shadows.
She was just about to turn it off when she felt a presence behind her. Grace stilled, her heart jumping into her throat.
“What are you doing here, lass?” asked a deep, masculine voice with a thick Scot’s accent.
Grace whirled around. His face was hidden by the light from the entrance behind him. He was so tall she had to look up at him. And if he was trying to intimidate her, he succeeded without much effort at all. The shadows hid him almost completely. “Who are you?”
“It doesna matter. You’re on private property.”
She blinked, wondering if she could reach the entrance before he could grab her. That would put her out in the rain, but it was either that or deal with a crazy man. Damn, but she hated her options.
Grace decided to take another approach. Truth and meekness. It might buy her enough time to get away. “I didn’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Well, hell. Could his voice be any sexier? It had a rough edge to it. As if he hadn’t used it in a very long while. And why did she yearn to see his face? It shouldn’t matter if he was as gorgeous as his voice.
Yes, it does.
“I do expect you to believe me,” she stated. “I’m not from here.”
“Aye. I gather that from your accent.”
There was no denying he wasn’t happy she was in the cave. As intimidated as his size made her feel, she didn’t feel threatened. Odd. Very odd.
Grace pointed outside. “Have you seen the rain? If I go out in that now, I could fall to my death.”
“How did you get inside?”
At this she nearly laughed. “Um…well, I saw the entrance and walked in.”
“How did you see it?”
Was he for real? Was he messing with her or high on some drugs? “With my eyes.”
“You shouldna have come here.”
“Here?” she asked as she looked around, her arms out to her sides. “Where is here?”
She could almost feel him raising a brow at her. Oh, if only she could see his face!
“As if you doona know,” he replied acerbically.
Grace crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave him the best glare she had. It was more than difficult, especially when she happened to glance at his chest and noticed that he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
All Grace could see was his right shoulder all the way to his neck, where his long hair came into view. Even with just a hint of light from the entrance, she could ascertain that his hair was very dark. Black? Or dark brown? Hard to determine.
She could tell it was long, but the shadows kept her from seeing where the ends were. Never had Grace encountered a man with such hair. It should make him appear feminine looking, but even from the partial silhouette and his voice, he was anything but.
It was then she realized she had been staring. Grace lifted her chin. “I don’t know where I am. Why can’t you believe me?”
He chuckled, but it held no mirth. His head then tilted to the side and she saw more of his hair fall over his very wide, very thick shoulders.
Something stirred within her, as if the longer she looked at him the more aware she became. Every time he breathed she noticed how his chest expanded. With just the
slightest movement, his long locks moved.
Was it wrong that she wanted to sink her hands in his length and press against him?
“I doona know you,” he replied.
It took her a second to realize he was speaking. Then it dawned on Grace that she shouldn’t be getting angry with him. She dropped her arms to her side and pointed to her laptop. “I came to Scotland to write. You see, I’m desperately behind on my deadline, and I must finish. I found this mountain and its beauty. I’m able to write here. Please, allow me to stay during the day and write. I’ll be happy to pay for that privilege.”
She waited for him to scoff at her words. Instead, there was only silence.
Grace shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. He had full view of her where she could only see one shoulder. Granted, she could make out the detail of corded muscle, but it still wasn’t enough. She couldn’t see his face or read his expressions.
“Nay. You need to leave.”
She opened her mouth in shock. “Leave? Have you looked outside? I can’t leave in this!”
She wouldn’t. It was raining, and where there was rain, there were thunder and lightning. Not happening. She shook her head to prove her point, even if he didn’t know her inner monologue.
“Sure you can. Pick your way slowly down the mountain. You can no’ remain here.”
Grace snorted in disbelief. “I thought Scottish men were chivalrous. Apparently, I was misinformed. I’m not about to go out there and fall to my death just because you’re being stubborn.”
Long, strong fingers wrapped around her arms and lifted her to her tiptoes. She could feel the power in those hands, could sense the barely leashed animal inside him.
Yet, his hold was strangely gentle.
“You need to leave,” he stated. “Now.”
She glanced outside and saw that the rain had stopped. How...odd. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he turned it off just by wishing it so. Which was ludicrous. No one could do that.
“Fine. I’ll leave. You might’ve just sealed my fate as far as my career goes, but I’ll leave your mountain.”