by Mel Teshco
Baron’s eyes narrowed. “You fed her paranoia?”
Rebecca smiled. “I did.”
Piper swallowed past the lump at the base of her throat. It was true, she had tried to be normal for a time, but the more she’d fought it, the more powerful her instincts grew. Of course Rebecca had obviously instigated much of it.
“How exactly did you manage that?” Piper asked, her voice a strangled whisper.
Rebecca turned to Piper. “Oh, little things mostly, but the hidden messages beneath soda bottle labels was the most effective.”
Piper’s belly clenched. “That was you?”
Rebecca smiled and nodded. “The PDA had the scent of werewolf saturated into the labels, just enough to trigger your senses. Of course the moment you pulled any one of those stickers free, the ink was already fading. The message is designed to last ten seconds at most once air hits it.”
“So that no one else can read it,” Baron finished.
Piper hugged the bedcover to her chest, trying not to dwell on the fact her housemate—she’d never again think of her as a friend—had deceived her in the worst way. “To think that I’d truly thought I was going crazy. Bad enough that I sense things, but then to also read messages that no one else can...”
She’d truly thought she’d lost her mind when she hadn’t then been able to reread the messages because they were no longer visible.
Baron brushed a hand under her jaw. “What did the messages say?”
“Cryptic stuff mostly.” She glanced up at him. “But the last message I read at the party was much simpler to understand.”
“Oh?”
Piper blinked and whispered, “You can’t escape your destiny.”
“No wonder you ran the moment you saw me,” Baron said hoarsely. He turned back to the too smug Rebecca. “The PDA knew I was hidden in that garden that whole time, didn’t they? You deliberately parked the car next to me in the hope Piper and I would sense one another.”
Rebecca’s smile almost looked genuine. “So you’re not all brawn. I’m most impressed. But then I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Two dragons have already slipped through our net, both of them with their breeders in tow.”
Piper felt Baron’s tension. Of course he’d want to know exactly what dragons Rebecca was talking about, even as he wouldn’t divulge just how badly he wanted the information. It’d be just another card the PDA would play in their favor.
It didn’t mean Piper couldn’t try and uncover some information herself. She blew out a disbelieving breath. “There are no other dragons on Earth aside from Baron. And you’re wasting your time trying to convince us otherwise.”
“And you always have been a terrible liar,” Rebecca said. “Her lips curled and her eyes glittered as she stepped toward them, but when her focus shifted to Baron, Piper didn’t fail to note the heated interest in the woman’s stare as she took in Baron’s nude perfection. “Tell me, does the name Kadin ring any bells?”
Baron’s breath hissed out, giving away his answer.
Rebecca laughed. “That’s what I thought. I believe he was a most ingenious dragon, and led the best of the PDA operatives on a merry chase.” She leaned closer, her nostrils flaring. “Even worse, he took one of our own operatives. A woman who sensed supernatural beings just the same as Piper.”
Piper glared at her, but kept her lips pressed tight. Let her deranged housemate compare her with another woman with a similar curse. If nothing else, it might buy some more time.
Rebecca’s expression turned smug as she revealed, “She was also a breeder just like you, Piper.”
Piper didn’t want hope to swell like a tsunami within. But wishing she was Baron’s one and only lover was a powerful, unstoppable force. As a breeder she’d never have to worry about another woman. But she wasn’t stupid either. “I’m the same ordinary, oddball little Piper that you’ve always known, Rebecca. So believe what you want to believe, it doesn’t make any difference to me.”
Baron shook his head. “You’ll never be ordinary, Piper.” He swept a hand toward Rebecca. “Even your housemate is jealous of you.”
Rebecca didn’t deny it, instead she loudly sighed. “Look at you two, like a couple of damn lovebirds. And I’d almost believe it too, except this is nothing more than a dragon besotted by his breeder.” Rebecca’s laugh was shrill this time. “You know you’re right, I would be totally envious if I didn’t know better.”
Piper rubbed a hand over her face. “What are you doing here, Rebecca? Surely you’re not that self-centered that you’d allow the PDA to hurt us?”
Rebecca sighed. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that if I were you.” She arched a thinly plucked brow. “My guess is that you’ll be coddled and indulged, at least for the next ten months.” She nodded toward Baron. “Not sure I can say the same about your alien lover though.”
Piper turned to Baron, nausea climbing her throat. “They’re going to separate us.”
Baron’s eyes glowed. “Not. Happening.”
“Oh but it is,” Rebecca said airily. She nodded toward the landscape hanging on the wall. “Your lovemaking was sharp and distinct through the hidden camera over there ... fascinating to watch, really. It’s even more fascinating knowing that once is all it takes for a dragon and a breeder to procreate.”
“You’re even crazier than I thought,” Piper whispered. Her belly was tied in knots knowing this woman had convinced her they shared a real friendship, when all along Rebecca had a nasty, hidden agenda.
Rebecca smiled, but there was no warmth in her stare. “Don’t worry Piper, you’re free to leave here now. The PDA has organized a bodyguard to accompany you to a secret location where doctors will monitor you, and where the best midwife will be hired when the time comes. And of course I’ll be there until the baby is born.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
Rebecca’s eyes flashed annoyance. “Of course I’m not kidding. We can’t risk anything happening to you or your baby.”
Piper’s hands automatically spread across her flat belly. “And just what is so important about this ... so called baby?”
“The PDA has a program where paranormal juveniles are raised and trained.” Rebecca shrugged. “Let’s just say your future child has the capability to do great things.”
It was Baron’s turn to laugh, the sound filled with repressed violence. “So the PDA is training children with unique abilities to become specialized soldiers.”
Rebecca’s eyes flashed. “I guess you can put it like that ... yes.”
Baron expelled a disgusted breath. “Well I’m pleased to report the PDA will be waiting until hell freezes over for Piper to have this baby you’re all so desperate for her to conceive.”
“Really?” Rebecca tilted her head to the side and tapped the back of her fingers against her chin. “Then I guess you’re not aware Piper cut off and dyed her glorious, flame-red hair?”
Baron’s eyes jerked back to Piper, his face taut. “Is that true?”
She frowned at his sharp attention, a sick feeling creeping up from her belly. “Yes. But what’s my hair color got to do with anything?”
“Everything,” he growled.
Piper swallowed and tugged the bedcover closer around her before touching her hair self-consciously. “I’ve always hated the way my bright hair made me stand out. Lord only knows I get enough attention for all the wrong reasons. My dark hair makes me less noticeable.”
Baron clasped her forearms, his stare glinting. “Don’t you understand? It’s your flame-red hair that would have left me in no doubt that you are a breeder.” He dragged a hand over his face. “I should’ve seen the signs. Should have realized.”
“Realized what?” Piper asked softly.
“That you’re my breeder,” he leaned close and whispered hoarsely in her ear, “and my one true mate.”
Chapter Eleven
Rebecca motioned Piper to get out of bed. “Your work here now is done. You have a
minute to get dressed into the clothes that were provided; otherwise you’ll be walking out of here naked.”
Baron’s whole body vibrated with tension. “Piper’s not going anywhere. Not without me.”
Rebecca’s laugh grated on his nerves even before she said, “The general told me you’d say that.” She pointed to the soldiers behind her. “It’s why we have these men ready to dart you with a tranquilizer that’d knock a whale off its flippers.” She glanced at her gold wristwatch. “Tick tock, Piper. Your time is almost up.”
Of course now that Piper was precious cargo, they couldn’t pretend to hurt her if he misbehaved. Baron looked at his mate, wanting only to hold her and never let her go. But his feelings had to be locked away if he wanted to stay conscious and aware. “Do as they say Piper.”
For now.
Her voice quivered. “They’ll never let me see you again, you know that, right?”
His heart folded in on itself, every cell pulsing as though reaching out for her. “You’re my true mate.” He allowed his eyes to briefly glow. “Nothing and no one will stop me from losing you.”
She blinked, her stare widening with understanding. She nodded and pushed to her feet, stumbling into the bathroom with the bedcover tangling up around her.
Baron didn’t bother dressing back into his uniform, despite Rebecca’s lustful stare that turned his blood cold. It was pointless dressing when his body was internally changing into dragon.
It was a meticulously slow process when a Riddich’s body wanted to push through the agonizing process in less than a minute. But this time he had to time it perfectly, and be on the verge of shifting shape as Piper walked out the front door.
Then his mate stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom and he forgot to breathe, to think, to act. He simply stared. She was a fantasy brought to life, and he almost lost his grip on his inner shift as blood rushed to his dick and warmth surrounded his heart.
The PDA had given Piper clothes meant to entice and seduce. Not that she’d needed the clothes for the ploy of seduction to work; her wet, naked body in the shower had been more than enough to bring them together.
Piper sent him a weak, self-conscious smile. “I look like a tramp.”
He shook his head. “You’re stunning.”
Rebecca snorted. “Believe me, if you’d worn that getup to the party, your mate wouldn’t have been the only man interested in you.”
Baron couldn’t deny it. Any man would desire Piper in clothes that enhanced her beauty instead of concealing it.
Thin silver straps held up the white dress that exposed the top of her creamy breasts. The fitted beaded bodice cinched tight at the waist, before falling in gossamer drifts to her ankles. Each step exposed her thighs and bare feet, and his dragon roared impotent rage even before he snarled, “She can’t wear that outside, the soldiers—“
“Know better than to touch her,” Rebecca finished for him. She smiled, but there was no warmth behind the act. “”Your breeder is a highly valued prize now. Believe me, she’ll be well looked after.”
Piper’s scowl somehow only underscored her allure. “You can’t do this to us.”
Rebecca’s mouth firmed. “I can and I will. Besides you should think yourself lucky ... you’ll get the royal treatment.”
While he’d get poked and prodded, and experimented on, and goddess knew what else these people had in mind for him. His shudders stayed all on the inside. The bastards wouldn’t get a chance to touch him.
Piper stared at her once friend. “At least let me say goodbye ... please.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes, then sighed and snapped, “Fine. But make it quick.”
Baron met Piper halfway. She looked up at him with shining, wet eyes and he clasped her face and bent, his mouth covering hers in a kiss that reaffirmed he wouldn’t lose her. When they finally pulled apart he whispered, “Trust me, okay.”
She nodded, and conceded, “I always have.”
The warmth surrounding his heart went up a few more degrees, turning his voice husky. “We’ll be together again sooner than you think. And when we do,” his fingertips clasped the ends of her hair. “I hope you’ll agree to be with me permanently.”
“Hair bracelets?” she breathed.
He nodded. “If you’ll have me.”
A tear leeched free. “I want that, more than anything.”
His pulse galloped with joy. But it was an emotion that quickly came back to Earth. He’d only just found his one true mate, and he was taking a big gamble that his plan would work. If it failed, there was no guarantee he’d ever see her again.
He’d have to rely on his dragon instincts to track her down.
You’re a warrior, a man of honor. Believe in yourself and your strategy against opponents. It’s never failed you before.
Except he’d never had a woman he adored in the crosshairs. Because breeder or not, Piper was the only woman he wanted in his life. A woman he’d risk everything for, even his own life.
“Goodbye Baron,” Piper whispered, her face pale and strained even as she tilted her chin and pushed her shoulders back.
He couldn’t say goodbye in return. It sounded too ... final. Instead he nodded and then watched mutely as she walked out the bedroom with Rebecca, their footsteps echoing through the living and dining room. It was only when the front door clanged shut behind them that he fully surrendered to his shift.
He staggered into the bathroom even as his wings pushed free, his jaw breaking, twisting, lengthening. He fell to the floor with his screams all on the inside, his body twitching and convulsing as a curtain of darkness rushed over him...
He woke with a start.
There was no time to adjust to his dragon form. Lurching to his webbed feet with his big body squeezed between the shower stall and wall, he looked up at the round skylight and exhaled a great plume of fire.
Within seconds the intense heat cracked the glass, and his flames billowed through ... releasing not just flames but his heat signature too.
The Tantonics, with their special heat sensor tracking devices would be close, he counted on that. He also counted on the humans and alien Tantonics fighting one another, forcing Rebecca—and Piper—back inside the safety of the cottage.
The high pitched whine of an enemy flyer sounded over the hiss and crackle of his flames. His mouth snapped shut, his adrenaline skyrocketing even as he forced calm and tilted his head to better hear.
“Tantonics!” a solider shouted hoarsely.
Shit. Not only had his alien enemies been closer they he’d presumed, they were in a damn flyer. His strategy had just been blown straight to hell. This was no three or four Tantonic ground soldiers leaping into the fray, there might be as many as twenty Tantonics prepared to die for their cause.
The rattle of gunfire left him in no doubt the Tantonics were even now leaping from the hatch of their flyer to overcome the humans.
Baron began his change back to human even as a soldier screamed his last dying breath. He blocked out the sounds, he had to if he wanted to focus. As dragon he could barely fit in the bathroom, let alone through the doorways. He’d be no use to Piper if he was stuck inside the cottage.
Then another scream pierced through the sounds of gunfire and fighting.
Piper.
He knew it as surely as his lungs knew how to draw in breath.
His shift paused and then snapped back into his dragon form. But though his beast exploded with fury and adrenaline, he couldn’t exit the bathroom. His head and shoulders pushed through the doorway but his torso was stuck tight, the reinforced metal either side groaning.
He roared and pushed with all his dragon might. Rocks skidded across the floor, and warm blood soaked his sides. But he didn’t feel the pain lancing through his body as sharp rock and metal pierced his skin, hell he was well versed in pain, all he cared about was getting to his mate.
More rocks toppled along with white chunks he distantly recalled was mortar. He fina
lly burst free of the doorway and charged through the living and lounge room. Smoke poured from his nostrils, his heart hammering as he aimed for the front door.
He hit the steel door and it shrieked and pulled partly away from the stone wall. He charged again and it popped free from its bearings, his head and shoulders once again pushing through the doorway while his torso wedged tight, his wings taking the brunt of force.
He bellowed at seeing the carnage beneath the waning late afternoon light. Soldiers lay in a sprawled mess outside the cottage, dead in their own pool of blood with limbs severed from the aliens’ crystalline lasers, or dying slowly, painfully as a chill crept insidiously through their veins from the ice vaporizers that were a perfect weapon against Riddich dragons.
He should have known the Earth people wouldn’t have the weapon power to defeat the Tantonics. The PDA soldiers mightn’t even know that the aliens’ one and only weak spot, aside from heat, was their throat. Even the amulet, which allowed the Tantonics to communicate, didn’t protect their vulnerable flesh beneath.
Another shrill scream made him pause. His breath caught in his throat and every muscle bunched as Piper burst through the tree line ahead, her white dress flowing behind as she sprinted toward him in her bare feet.
His breath rushed out at seeing the Tantonic giving chase. The alien’s slitted eyes lifted and met Baron’s stare. The alien hissed and then dropped onto all fours, making better use of its galloping speed.
Shit.
His roared warning made Piper stumble and slow, her eyes bulging as she stared at him in his new form.
Piper, no! Don’t stop. Run to me!
Of course she couldn’t hear him. He couldn’t shout out words in his dragon form. But there was nothing to stop him from planting a suggestion. Piper was vulnerable and therefore mentally susceptible.