by Nina Croft
She hated Mal, didn’t trust him, and it was probably just a matter of better the devil—or rather the dragon—you know, but she didn’t want to leave him. Why he made her feel safe, considering all that had happened, she didn’t know, but he did. And he was giving her away.
His face appeared at her window, and she jumped. He opened her door. “Come on, let’s go see if they’ve left us a message.”
She jumped down from her seat and fell against him, her palms flat against his chest. He took a step back, and Lily snatched her hands away and forced her attention to her surroundings. It was a strange evening, the air charged with electricity, sending prickles skipping across her skin. Perhaps there was a summer storm coming.
Mal turned and headed for the house, and she gave him one baleful glance and followed. What choice did she have?
She could just make out the building in the dim light. It was a beautiful, sprawling old farmhouse with a thatched roof and a host of mullioned windows, all of them dark. Mal pushed open the door and led her into a narrow hallway. A faint mustiness filled her nostrils as though it had been a long while since anyone had lived here. The hallway was dark, and she reached out her cuffed hands for guidance and encountered his hard body, her palms resting against him.
“Shit,” he muttered, then turned and backed her against the wall. She could just make out his form towering over her, as his head lowered and his lips slanted across hers. Her mind went numb, her body took over, and she didn’t resist as he plunged his tongue into her mouth. The kiss was hard and held an edge of anger barely contained. It didn’t matter. He tasted like her dreams, of heat and spice. Her tongue thrust back against his as a pulse started its incessant throb between her thighs. She stood unmoving as he deepened the kiss, pressing his long, hard body into hers so she was plastered against the length of him. Hunger ignited low in her belly, and she groaned against his lips while her hips shifted restlessly against him trying to get some relief from the craving building inside her.
One hand slid beneath her top to cup her breast, his palm rubbing over the peak, and pleasure shot from her nipple to her groin. Her head fell back, and she raised one leg, wrapping it around his hip so she could press her core against the hard length of his erection. Desire was building like a heaviness inside her, swelling…
A bolt of lightning lit up the room, briefly illuminating the savage intensity of his expression. His mouth stilled, his fingers tightened on her breast, then the light flashed again and he jerked free of her and swore viciously.
A second later, his fist slammed into the wall at her side.
Her hands came up to drag him back to her. She was clumsy in the cuffs and her senses returned—what sort of woman kissed a man who’d cuffed her? A crazy one, that’s what sort.
She pressed her wrists against him, so the metal dug into her skin and the fog of desire cleared enough for her brain to function. She shoved him hard. He didn’t budge.
“Get off me, pervert!”
His brows drew together. “Pervert?”
“You know, the sort of man who likes to tie women up?”
He didn’t answer, just took a step back, and shoved his hands in his pockets. He breathed out deeply and the tension drained from his body.
“Why?” she asked.
He didn’t pretend not to understand. “It occurred to me that we may not get another chance. And I was…curious.”
She gritted her teeth. “Curious?” Her tone was filled with outrage.
“Just leave it.” Lightning flashed again and he frowned, then took her arm. “Come on, I don’t like this.”
“Like what?”
He didn’t answer, just led her along the hallway and through a door. In the dim light, she could make out a comfortable sitting room. Everything appeared so normal and she blinked in confusion.
Mal pushed her toward an armchair. “Sit.”
“Yes, sir,” she muttered and sat. She didn’t understand him. Why would he kiss her like that, as though he cared?
He seemed about to say something but instead moved away to peer out of the window. She followed him with her eyes as he came back and stood over her again, rubbing a hand across his face.
“Lily…” he said.
She searched his expression, and he shifted under her gaze, not meeting her eyes. “What?”
“This man you are to meet tonight...”
“The one you’re handing me over to like an unwanted parcel?”
“Jesus,” he almost snarled the word. “Just don’t get him angry. Do as you’re told, and you’ll be all right.”
Was he actually afraid for her? “You’re frightening me,” she said slowly. “Mal”—for the first time she used his name—“am I going to die tonight?”
She held her breath waiting for the answer.
“No, he won’t kill you.” He paused. “But there are worse things than death.”
Icy cold washed through her. “Now, you’re really scaring me.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “That wasn’t my intention. Remember, he’s a powerful man, who’s used to having his own way. I’m just suggesting that, whatever he asks of you, give it to him. It will be easier on you.”
Lily opened her mouth to ask just what it was he was likely to want, but Mal turned on his heel and left the room.
Something worse than death?
Nausea churned in her stomach. What was that all about? What had Mal gotten her into? She swallowed and tried to shut her imagination down before it could come up with anything too grisly.
She rattled the cuffs. Her wrists were tied, but she could still run. She stood up and moved across to the window, peering out into the dark yard. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky. In the bright light, something moved in the shadows of one of the outbuildings. Another flash. Two figures appeared out of nowhere in the center of the yard. Lily blinked, then stepped back from the window. It must have been a trick of the light. She forced herself forward again. Two more figures appeared to the left of the yard. There were six now, all moving with careful deliberation toward the farmhouse.
She hurried across the room and stood in the open doorway.
“Mal,” she called softly.
No answer. Had he abandoned her here? A wave of fear and dismay ran over her, and she gritted her teeth and tried to get her brain working again. Sure, there were guys outside, but maybe they were here to rescue her. Maybe that Detective Cole had realized his mistake and sent someone after her.
But she knew in her heart that the men outside were not good guys. Maybe there was no such thing as good guys, just varying degrees of bad. Besides, for one moment, as the lightning lit up the yard, she was sure she’d recognized the two men from last night.
“Mal,” she called again, and he was beside her. “There are—”
“I know.”
As he reached for her hands, she stepped back. Then she caught the glint of the small silver key he held. The key to the cuffs, and she held her wrists out obediently. He released her, and she rubbed her reddened skin.
“Who are they?” she asked.
“Not who I was expecting. Stay close to me.”
Frowning, she watched as he stripped off the shoulder holsters then shrugged out of the sleeveless jacket he wore. He handed the vest to her. “Put this on. It’s bullet proof and will give you some protection.”
She slipped it on, and he fastened it for her then cupped her face with his large hands, tilting it so she stared up at him. “We’ll be okay, I promise.” He kissed her lightly on the lips and stepped back. Lily’s whole body quaked. She forced herself to take slow, deep breaths as Mal crossed the room and peered through the window.
“Can you see anything?” she asked.
He shook his head.
The roar of gunfire shattered the silence and the glass in the windows splintered into a thousand pieces. Lily stepped back instinctively. Mal didn’t move, but his body tensed. Blood trickled down one cheek, and he swiped it awa
y.
“Lily Palmer.”
The voice came from outside. Mal put his finger to his lips to indicate she shouldn’t answer. She hadn’t been planning to anyway. She recognized the voice—Stark. A bunch of dried flowers on the table burst into flames. Mal glanced at it and grinned.
Lily’s eyes narrowed. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Didn’t I mention? One of the things dragons like to do best is fight.”
”No, you didn’t. But then you didn’t mention you were crazy either.”
“Lily?” The voice came again from outside. “Come out, and we won’t harm you.”
“Yeah, right,” she muttered. Though it did occur to her that at least they were pretending they didn’t want to hurt her. That had to count for something. Mal’s words echoed in her head.
Something worse than death.
Perhaps she should negotiate. If they offered her something that wasn’t worse than death, then maybe she’d agree to it.
“You’re thinking too hard,” Mal said from besides her.
“Just considering my options.”
“You don’t have any options.”
“Two minutes,” the voice outside said. “Come out in two minutes and you will not be harmed.” There was a short silence. “Dragon,” the voice continued, “Send out the girl. We won’t harm her. After all, we want the same thing.”
Mal stepped back from the window and Lily turned to stare at him intently.
“So who are they?” she asked. “And why do they want me? And if you say ‘because you’re the Dragon Princess’ I will dive head first through that window.”
“I’d reach you first.”
“Probably, but why don’t you just save us both the trouble and tell me. I doubt I’ll believe you anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Just humor me.”
“They belong to the Conclave of Sorcerers.”
“Sorcerers? And they are what? Like witches and wizards? They can do magic?”
“Some.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Lily, what do you think is going on here today? Just how do you think they evaded the police when we rescued you?”
“I’m not sure rescued is the right term for what you did. The phrase ‘out of the frying pan’ comes to mind. And I don’t know what they did, but I have to be honest with you here, magic wouldn’t be my first explanation.”
She remembered how puzzled the police had been. But magic? Then she remembered something else. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten about it, not asked him before. “Last night, Stark said he knew my father. How?”
“How do you think?” He’d drawn one of the pistols and was peering out the window again.
She thought. “My father was one of them? He was a sorcerer. My father was a sorcerer?”
“Yes.”
“Is he alive?”
Mal glanced at her quickly. “We don’t have time to talk about your father now. They have us surrounded. Someone has betrayed us and we have to get out of here.”
She wasn’t happy, but she did see his point. “So what sort of magic can I expect?”
“They won’t use magic until absolutely necessary. It takes a lot of power and precious blood. Also much of their magic won’t work against me.”
“Why? No, don’t answer that, I can guess, it’s because you’re a dragon.” A slight smile flickered across his face at her obvious sarcasm. “So what about me?” she asked. “Will it work against me?”
“I don’t know. Normally I’d say yes, but you’re different. You shouldn’t be able to make the fire, but you do.” He shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Maybe we should call the police. What about your friend, Cole?”
He just gave her an amused glance. “There are only six of them.”
“Obviously we don’t need the police, then. So what’s the plan?”
It was weird, but she trusted him to get her out of this. After all, he had to hand her over to his king, so he wasn’t likely to let the men outside have her.
Another flash of lightening lit up the yard and two more figures materialized. Then two more, and two more after that.
“Shit. Lily, just do as I tell you.”
Then the world exploded about her. Gunshots roared outside and plaster erupted from the wall behind her. Mal pushed her down against the wall. “Stay there.” He stood up, faced the window, and sent out a volley of shots. For a few minutes, she could hear nothing but the blasting of gunfire. She huddled, facing the wall, hands clamped over her ears, trying to tuck her head in as tight as she could.
At last, there was a lull and she peeked out between her fingers. Mal crouched in front of the broken window, replacing the clips in each gun before holstering them. He peered over the ledge.
“They’re in the house.” He moved to stand between Lily and the door. “They’ll be here soon.”
***
Mal tried to concentrate on the door, where he knew they would appear any moment. But questions roared through his mind. He hadn’t been able to get hold of Vortigen. Where the hell was he and what had happened? Cassandra was the obvious culprit—she’d told him of the meeting place. Had she betrayed them?
The door exploded inward, and through the smoke, he could make out a figure. Mal reached out with his right hand and the man exploded in a ball of flame. He reeled backwards, screaming, but two more took his place. Mal reached out again but this time the flame hit an invisible wall. They had shielded. He raised his gun and pulled the trigger, keeping his finger pressed down. They kept coming, obviously wearing body armor. He aimed and shot both in the center of the forehead. More took their place.
He’d told Lily the truth, dragons loved to fight, and he’d been getting little enough lately. But he had Lily to think about. Neither side would kill the last Dragon Princess on purpose, but this was getting out of hand. Any one of them could hit her in the crossfire.
At least one of their bullets had hit him, but he couldn’t yet feel the pain. He sensed something behind him, and whirled around. Two more figures appeared beyond the broken window. He shot them but knew there would be more to take their place.
The sorcerers had them surrounded. He had to get Lily out of there. He holstered his second gun and turned back to her, drawing the knife from the back sheath. He held it in his right hand, raised his left and drew the blade across his wrist. Blood welled from the wound. He reached down, pulled Lily to her feet, and then twirled her in his arms so he was between her and the men who appeared in the doorway. He shook the blood from his wrist as he turned so it formed a circle around them both, and then he concentrated on where he wanted to go.
And the room vanished.
Chapter 7
Mal released her, and Lily tumbled, hitting the ground hard. Rolling onto her side, she rubbed the dust out of her eyes. She was lying outside on the gravel drive close by Mal’s car.
How the fuck had that happened?
Above her Mal was still fighting. Moonlight glinted off the blade as he swung the long knife at a man, slicing open his chest. In the back sweep, he decapitated a second, then lowered the knife to his side.
It happened fast, before she’d even come to terms with the fact that they weren’t where they’d been seconds ago.
“How the fuck did we get here?”
“Magic,” he replied. “Come on, we have to move. The rest of them will be here in minutes.”
“The rest of them? You mean the ones who still have heads.” She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the two bodies, and then blinked them open. Nothing had changed. Ugh! “You just chopped that man’s head off.”
“I know, and now we have to move.” Crouching down, he wiped the blade clean on the headless man’s shirt, then shoved the knife back where it had come from. “You’ll have to drive,” he said pulling the keys from his pocket.
Her whole body trembled, but she took the keys. Pushing herself to her feet, she tried not to look at the carnage. Mal g
rasped her hand and hustled her over to the vehicle and into the driver’s seat.
“Come on, Lily, I need you.” He bent down, took her face in his hands, and stared into her eyes. “I’ve been shot. You have to get me out of here. They won’t harm you…yet, but they won’t hesitate to kill me.”
She shook herself and put the keys in the ignition as Mal strode around and climbed to the passenger side.
“Go!” he said.
Lily forced herself to concentrate on the road ahead. “Lights,” she muttered, “Lights would be good here.”
Mal leaned across her and flicked them on.
The road was narrow, overhung, and winding. She kept her foot down hard on the accelerator and gripped the wheel so tightly her knuckles showed white in the dim light. The engine screamed. She fumbled for the stick as her foot groped for the clutch and with a screech of gears, she rammed the car into third.
Peering in the rear-view mirror, she could see nothing, the road behind them in total darkness. She was sure no one was following, but couldn’t seem to make herself slow down. And where the hell were they supposed to be going?
“Mal?”
He was silent. Lily slowed to a crawl and shifted her gaze from the road to glance at him. His eyes were closed, but she couldn’t tell if he was awake or unconscious.
“Mal.”
“What?”
“Do I head back to London?”
“No. They may be waiting for us.” His voice was laced with exhaustion.
“Are you all right?” He didn’t look it. The color had leached from his face, and his nostrils flared with each breath he took. Nausea churned in her stomach. She’d started to think of Mal as infallible. “You were shot back there. How bad is it?”
“I’ll be fine, Lily, I just need time.”
His left arm was cradled against his chest. The arm he had sliced open with the big sharp knife, just before they had disappeared into thin air, and then managed to pop up somewhere else.
Behind her, the road remained quiet, but she didn’t dare stop yet.
“So where do I head?” she asked.
“Go north when you get the chance.”