by Jodi Redford
“Hon, I have to run. Call me later though, all right?” After delivering a quick peck on Dana’s cheek, Emmaline rushed out the door.
Dana gaped after her aunt. Huh, that wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it’d be. She turned her head at the heavy tread of Aiden and Jace’s advancing footsteps. Taking one look at their bemused countenances, she grimaced. “What did she sucker you guys into doing?”
Jace blinked. “How the hell did you figure that out?”
“I’ve been a frequent victim of my aunt’s wily strong-arming for twenty-seven years. Trust me, I’ve worn the same expression as you a dozen times or two.”
“Apparently we’re escorting you to La Luna’s employee potluck Saturday night,” Aiden said, his tone dry.
“Oh, crapazola.” She slapped her palm against her forehead. “I totally forgot about that. Don’t sweat it. It’s not like we have to go.”
“And risk your aunt kicking my ass?” Jace grunted. “I don’t think so, sweetness.”
Shooting him a look from the corner of her eye, she cackled like a chicken.
“Nice. Cock-a-doodle-doing from the woman who hid behind a crate the entire time her aunt was here,” Jace scoffed.
She tilted her nose in the air. “For your information, I was not hiding. I was strategizing the layout for the new paintings.” Bending, she picked up the dragon and princess canvas and sashayed to the hook near the small, lacquered table. After placing the painting, she stepped back to eyeball the angle.
“Give us some direction and we’ll get the rest of these up for you.”
As it seemed to constantly do, Aiden’s husky baritone sent excited shivers along her skin. “You don’t have—” She caught the stubborn set of Aiden’s jaw and gritted her teeth. Oh screw it. “The next painting in the crate goes on the hook by the door.” While Aiden carted the canvas in the direction of the entrance, she snapped her fingers at Jace and pointed to the wall behind him. “You can put the gothic fairy there.”
Jace cocked his eyebrows. “I do believe you’re starting to enjoy dishing out the orders.”
She plastered on a sweet smile. “You know what they say—if you can’t beat ’em, make ’em sweat their balls off doing grunt work.” Tucking her hands in the pockets of her lightweight wool trousers, she watched Jace align the canvas on the hook. If she wasn’t careful, she could get used to having Aiden and Jace around to carry out her bidding. She instantly sobered at the thought. If she chose to remain in this odd triangle, she’d be the one doing the obeying, not the other way around.
Aiden returned to her side and grasped the next canvas in the lineup. A nerve twitched in his jaw when he noticed which painting he held. Almost as if he couldn’t help himself, he stroked his thumb over the image of her tied to the apple tree. Muttering a soft curse, he yanked his finger away. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. She’s not as fragile as she looks.”
His gaze whipped her way and she gestured to the canvas. “I mean the painting.” God knows he wouldn’t believe her if she told him the model wasn’t exactly a fragile flower either. “You can bring it over here.” She walked toward the adjacent wall, leaving him to follow. “I wasn’t planning to showcase The Sacrifice at the gallery but my other dragon paintings really took a hit from the asshole with the spray can. Other than this one, the canvas hanging over the table, and a few others I fortunately took to the Ren fair, I’m pretty much wiped out.” Planting her hands on her hips, she inspected the hook hanging eyelevel in front of her. “Okay, I think this spot will be perfect for it. What do you think?”
No answer came from Aiden. Swiveling, she discovered him standing stock-still in the center of the gallery. She returned his stare with a perplexed look. “What’s wrong?”
“They’re the missing puzzle pieces.”
“Pardon?”
“The paintings.” Aiden stalked to the hook protruding from the wall and situated the painting before turning to survey the rest of the gallery. “Your vandal only destroyed the paintings that depicted dragons.”
Rubbing her chin, she ping-ponged her attention between the two crates across from her and the partially vacant walls. “Wow, you’re right. Good catch.”
Jace left his station by the wall and joined them. “What’s up?”
“Aiden just pointed out that the creep only damaged the paintings of dragons. Interesting coincidence, huh?”
When neither brother answered, she cocked her head to find them looking at each other. She gave a frustrated exhale. “Enough with the psychic twin routine. Whatever you’re thinking, share with the rest of the class.”
Aiden peered toward the front desk, where Tony was making inventory tags for the new paintings. “Maybe we should go into your office.”
She took one glance at Aiden’s guarded expression and swept her arm in the direction of the rear hallway. “After you.”
Once in her office, she settled her butt on the edge of her desk and gestured impatiently. “Obviously you both see some connection with the paintings, so spill it.”
“A Drakoni isn’t responsible for the vandalism.” Aiden scruffed his fingers over the nape of his neck, ruffling the ends of his hair. “If there’s one common trait all dragons possess, it’s pride.”
“What exactly does pride have to do with vandalism?”
Jace coughed into his hand before grinning sheepishly. “In simple terms, it means we dragons are too vain to deliberately destroy pictures of ourselves.”
She swung her stare to Aiden and he nodded. A snort escaped her. “And here I thought Calvin was stuck on himself. All right, so it wasn’t a Drakoni. That should help narrow the list of suspects.” Resting her elbow on her knee, she plunked her chin in her hand and contemplated Aiden and Jace. “Speaking of Calvin, he seems a likely culprit. Maybe we should have a little chat with him.”
Aiden’s face hardened. “Much as I’d love the opportunity to chat with your stalker ex, I don’t think he’s the one behind this.”
“Are you kidding? Calvin is not only a certified psycho, he has a major axe to grind, what with me dumping him.”
“I’m not going to argue against your ex being a psycho, but there’s a problem with your theory.”
She narrowed her eyes at Aiden’s matter-of-fact tone. Clearly dragons weren’t only vain and arrogant, they were also big know-it-alls. “Such as?”
“Whoever destroyed those paintings has a bigger axe to grind against dragons than anything they have against you.”
Her mouth swinging open, she jumped from her perch on the desk. Obviously intuiting that she was two seconds away from going ape shit at his clearly dumbass assumption, Aiden rubbed his hand soothingly along her arm. “Let me explain. The graffiti is terrible—and something I fully intend to snap the perpetrator’s neck for—but the paintings were slashed. Brutally. It takes an awful lot of bottled-up hate to display that kind of violence toward an inanimate object.”
Her memory flashed back to the damaged canvases, each one looking like it’d been given the Freddy Krueger slash ’n’ trash special. Good God. He was right. Someone had one hell of a grudge against dragons. “You guys must have racked up some major enemies over the years.”
Aiden grimaced. “Several centuries of pillaging and burning villages tends to bring the hunters out of the woodwork.”
“Hunters?”
Wariness blanketed Aiden’s face. “Some of our enemies have made it their life mission to hunt us down and eradicate our kind.”
It took a moment to fully digest what he was saying. Once she did, she sputtered on a cough. “You mean there are actual dragon slayers walking the earth?” When both Aiden and Jace merely shrugged, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared. “It might have been nice telling me about that sooner, you know.”
“Actually, we did. Outside La Luna, on the day you first met us.”
She stared blankly at Jace until a vague recollection started to take shape. “Wait a minute. Did the conv
ersation in question include snare nets and assault rifles?”
Aiden’s mouth twisted in wry amusement. “More than likely.”
“God, and I thought you were just being weird.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, sweetness.”
Ignoring Jace’s quip, she paced in front of the desk, shaking her head. “If you’re right about the vandalism being targeted more at you than me, that’d mean someone out there actually knows what the two of you are.”
“Yes.”
She met the resignation in Aiden’s eyes and frowned. “But how? It’s not like anyone can tell by looking at you.”
“More than likely the hunters are keeping a database of suspected Drakoni.” Aiden grunted before sliding a glance toward his brother. “It’d certainly make it easier for them to keep track of us.”
“Goddamn pains-in-the-ass,” Jace said with a growl. “They need to get a life.”
She stared at Aiden and Jace, her mind whirling. It’d never occurred to her that they were walking targets just because of their DNA. Now that she knew, it made her oddly scared for them. She couldn’t imagine going through life constantly on the lookout for some moron potentially putting a bullet in her.
Aiden cleared his throat, breaking her from her worried thoughts. She noticed the identical expressions of concern he and Jace shared.
“Dana, we’re not going to let anything happen to you.” Aiden’s tone held fierce promise.
It took a moment to realize he’d misinterpreted the source of her anxiety. It wasn’t her life she was stressing over—for once. It was his. But how could she tell him that without revealing her feelings? Feelings she couldn’t explain much less understand.
Averting her gaze, she nodded. The sense of hopelessness remained, but she chose to direct her frustration at the true idiots responsible—the hunters. If she ever crossed paths with one of the sons of bitches she’d give them a piece of her mind. And the toe of her pointiest boot up their ass.
Chapter Seventeen
An impatient rap on the bathroom door interrupted Aiden’s shower. Ducking his head around the curtain, he bellowed, “What?” to be heard over the running water.
“Dude, hurry up. I’ve gotta go.”
Growling, he did a perfunctory rinse to remove the suds and flicked off the faucet. He yanked the towel hanging from the shower rod and secured it around his waist before bundling his clean clothes under his arm. Stepping from the bathroom, he exchanged places with Jace. The door shut and locked, followed by the unmistakable sound of the shower starting up.
“You lying sack of shit.” Grumbling, he stalked down the hallway and nearly collided with Dana as she left the kitchen.
She stared intently at his chest for a moment before looking away. He didn’t miss the vivid flush creeping up her neck or the way her nipples hardened against her silky purple top.
“There’s, uh, coffee ready if you’re interested.”
“Thanks. I’ll come back in and get some after I get dressed.” He scratched his left pectoral and Dana’s focus returned to his chest. She licked her lips before scooting past him.
Rather than torturing himself further by continuing to stand in her hallway with a raging hard-on, he abandoned the house for the tent. He quickly dressed and sat on the edge of the air mattress to pull on his socks and shoes. The tent flap rustling announced Jace’s return.
“Enjoy your stolen shower, ass—” Aiden broke off when Dana sidled into the tent.
“Is this a bad time?”
“No. Come in.” He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Wow, it’s pretty spacious in here.”
“Sorry it’s such a mess.” He gave the small mountain of dirty clothes a guilty glance.
“Would you like me to throw those in the wash?”
He jerked his head around. “No.”
Her mouth crooked in a grin. “Honestly, my laundress skills are better than my cooking skills. Besides, I was planning to throw a load in before leaving for work. I’ll just add yours to it.”
Before he could reply she swiveled and ducked past the flap. She returned less than thirty seconds later with a white laundry basket.
“Really, I don’t want you to feel like you have to—”
“Don’t worry.” She plunked the basket on the edge of the air mattress. “Accepting my offer to wash your stuff doesn’t automatically make you a slave-driving jerk.”
“Err…”
Her laugh floated around him, sweet and intoxicating. Just the sound of it made his heart do a funny little flip-flop. She brushed her hair behind her ear before reaching out and squeezing his arm. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist teasing you.”
Giving into his overwhelming need to touch her, he curled his fingers over the delicate hand resting on his biceps. He nuzzled her forehead. “You can tease me all you want, sweetheart.”
Dana pulled back slightly. Her free hand crept between them and wrapped in the front of his shirt, startling him. With a persuasive tug, she coaxed him closer and nibbled on his bottom lip. His breath lodged in his throat. He was almost afraid to move for fear of her putting a halt on her unexpected but very welcome kiss.
Her lips rubbed over his before parting. Heart thundering, he waited for her next move. It took every ounce of control he possessed not to let his beast exert its dominance. This might be his only chance to prove to Dana that their relationship could be one of equality. Hell, he’d happily relinquish control to her now and then. Particularly if she was in a frisky mood like this. Her tongue ventured inside his mouth, and after the briefest hesitation, slicked over his in open invitation.
Jesus, how could he resist?
Groaning, he cupped her face and kissed her back with all the hunger pent up inside him. Her arms wrapped around his torso, hugging him tight, almost as if she didn’t want to ever let him go. The idea was fanciful, but he wished with all his being that it held some truth.
His cell phone went off, making Dana jump. She jerked her gaze toward his duffle bag, where his phone was buzzing impatiently. Her hands fell away. “You should probably get that.”
“If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.” He bent to kiss her again, but she took a step back and smoothed her hair nervously. Judging from her guarded expression, her mood had shifted from wanting to devour him alive to wanting to run out of the tent as fast as possible.
He was going to kill that damn caller.
Stalking to his phone, he flipped it open and growled into the receiver.
“Sheesh, Fortune, wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?”
Claudia. Didn’t that figure? Only it didn’t make any sense, seeing how she didn’t know his cell number. Or so he’d assumed. “How the hell did you get this number?”
“I have my sources.”
The sound of rustling drew his attention to the far side of the tent. Dana was frantically tossing his and Jace’s clothes into the laundry basket. She glanced up and caught him watching her. Giving him a wavering smile, she balanced the overflowing basket on her hip and dashed through the tent flap.
A tapping noise came through the receiver. “Hello? Anyone there?”
Yeah, he was most definitely going to strangle Claudia. “What do you want, Knoxville?”
“Well, I had some interesting news to share, but since you’re such a cranky prick, guess I’ll keep it to myself.”
His grip vised tighter around the cell phone. “Spit it out.”
“Jeez, no wonder your little sacrifice is falling at your feet. You’re such a charming bastard. Meet me in an hour at Twelve Mile and Main. There’s a divey hotel on the corner. Pull into their parking lot.”
“Damn it, Claudia, what is—” A click followed by dead air interrupted his demand. Glaring at the display on his phone, he flipped the cover shut and shoved the cell in his pocket. He was half tempted not to humor Claudia’s mysterious request, but if it had anything to do with Kinnit and the disappearance of Tucker,
he couldn’t afford to blow her off.
Abandoning the tent, he took the stairs up to Dana’s front door and entered the house. A quick glance down the hallway confirmed that Jace was still occupied in the bathroom. Aiden stepped into the kitchen and followed the sound of splashing water. He discovered a small utility room tucked on the other side of the pantry. Dana stood in front of the washer, measuring soap. He coughed loudly to be heard over the dispensing water and Dana’s arm jerked, dropping the cap of soap into the filling tub. She stared at him accusingly over her shoulder and he grimaced.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He maneuvered next to her and reached into the washing machine for the cap bobbing amongst the suds. Shaking the piece of plastic off, he settled it on the ledge near the dials. “I have to run an errand. Shouldn’t take me more than a few hours.” If Claudia wasn’t sending him on a wild-goose chase. “Have Jace drive you in to work. I’ll meet you both at the gallery when I’m done. In the meantime, do you need me to pick anything up for you while I’m out?”
She gaped at him, provoking him into a frown.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. That just sounded like something a husb—” Her lips snapped shut and rolled together in a firmly sealed line. He suspected it’d take a jackhammer to pry the remainder of the word from her. Not that it mattered. He knew what she’d been about to say.
And it gave him hope.
Struggling to contain his grin, he ducked his head and kissed her, his tongue taking a far-too-brief foray past those stubbornly fused lips. He retreated and her breathy sigh feathered against his mouth. Smoothing a finger over her flushed cheek, he rubbed noses with her, his skin warming with a delicious tingle. Yep, he was definitely going to have to try that while in form sometime. “I won’t be long.”
“Yeah, you already mentioned that.”
His grin slipped free this time at her surly tone. “Don’t miss me too much while I’m gone.”