by Milly Taiden
His cell phone rang and a quick look showed his brother had finally reappeared.
“Jae?”
“Tor, how’s everything going with Morgan?” Jae asked without preamble.
He inhaled hard, thinking of how poorly he’d slept knowing she was a few doors down and he couldn't be there, holding her. “So far so good. She knows she’s going to be one of your mates.”
“Your mates?”
“One of the brothers.”
“Not you?” Jae chuckled. “Do you not think she could be yours?”
He wanted to believe that so fucking badly but knew that would only lead to heartbreak if she wasn't. Best to get used to the idea of her belonging to one of the others now.
“No. Not me.”
“You’re still not over Sylvana, brother? You’d let her destroy your chance at happiness?” Jae asked with a sigh of frustration.
“We don’t know whose mate she is. I don’t want to grow attached to her,” he lied. He’d grown more than attached. He’d fallen in love.
“Ah, Tor. You forget, I know you. I know the man and the dragon. You’ve kept Morgan all to yourself and growl at others who even look at her.”
“Ker’s a busybody,” he growled.
Jae chuckled. “He is, but he loves you. We all do. Why can’t she be meant for you?”
“I’d rather wait than get my hopes up.”
“Your emotions are already involved and as far as I know, so are hers, so do yourself a favor, let someone else guard her until her mark shows up.”
“No,” he roared. The idea of going anywhere and someone hurting Morgan made him see red. “I can take care of her.”
Jae sighed. “This won’t end well, Tor.”
He didn't give a fuck. He’d never felt one-tenth of the care and concern he felt for Morgan with Sylvana. With her he’d been young. All lust and sex. Morgan held his heart. Her body lured him but her innocence, her eyes, the purity of her soul captured his heart and trapped him. He’d fallen for the curvy therapist and he could only hope to enjoy every second they had together until she got her mate mark.
“How’s your search for a mate?” Tor asked.
Jae growled his displeasure. “I don’t know why I had a feeling to search this side of the world, but nothing has come of it. I did see a beautiful spot, quiet and solitary, perfect for a cabin.”
“Let me guess, you bought it.”
Jae chuckled. “You know it. The sight alone soothed my dragon. There were so many trees and foliage, I was able to lay out in my dragon without worrying about anyone nearby seeing anything. It's on a mountain. The beaches are fucking amazing. Wait ‘til you see it.”
Tor could imagine how the place looked. He’d traveled enough of the world to know the Philippines had beautiful beaches. They had a great many contacts in every country in the world they used for business. Money ruled and the Drachen family had enough of it. They might be running out of time to enjoy it, but they had a lot of money.
“I need you to stop by the bank,” Jae told him. “Niko is waiting on you now. He’s handling some new investments for us. Check out the paperwork and then sign if you think it’s a good deal.”
He glanced at his watch and knew Morgan’s first client would be a few hours. He decided now was the time to do what Jae needed since Morgan was busy with one of the children. His gut told him to stay, but there was security all over the place. She’d be fine for a short while.
TWENTY-TWO
Morgan sat across from Isabelle and spoke to the little girl who’d become like a daughter to her. Her own body reminded her she needed kids soon. She wanted them badly and the urge only grew with time.
“How has it been at the new house, Isabelle?”
Isabelle shrugged in her little black cardigan and swung her Mary Janed feet on the sofa. “Okay, I guess. Aunt Sara tries really hard to make me feel comfortable.”
She sensed Isabelle was holding back and understood. Having been abducted twice due to her father’s high profile job and net worth, plus watching her mother get killed trying to stop the abductors had really destroyed the child.
“Where’s Daddy, Isabelle?” she asked and took notes. “Is he still not coming to see you?”
She shook her head and the flood of pain the child felt at that moment almost choked Morgan. She put her pad down and got down on the rug, pulling the little girl into her arms. Shoving her glasses up over her head, she made an effort to hold Isabelle tightly to her. “I’m sorry, baby. Your daddy loves you, Isabelle. He’s scared of anything else happening to you. He doesn’t want to lose you.”
Isabelle sobbed into Morgan’s suit jacket. “I wanna see my dad.”
Morgan nodded. “I’ll make it happen, baby.”
She held Isabelle while the child cried her little heart out for long moments until she finally ended in soft, quiet hiccups. “Doesn't he want to see me?”
“Oh, baby, yes. He loves you and wants to see you but when adults get scared, they do stupid things, thinking they are protecting the ones they love,” she said, thinking of her own mother and how she’d sent Morgan away, hidden her away and locked her feelings up because she thought it was best.
A knock on the door indicated the end of the session. Morgan helped Isabelle clean up before she went back to her driver who waited at the door for her.
Once Isabelle was gone, she marched to her desk and picked up the phone to dial the little girl’s father. He’d made it very clear he’d be available for anything she needed at any time. He wanted his daughter to be safe and hopefully forget the trauma from the abduction.
Morgan had been able to slowly help Isabelle put the pain and memories into a box at the back of her mind. She still had knowledge of what happened, but the pain had been dulled and the memories made hazy. It was her father’s lack of visitations that hurt the child more than anything.
“Ms. Polley, this is Kevin Malcolm. What’s happened? Is Isabelle okay?”
She heard the genuine concern in the man’s voice, which made this easier, but she knew he was scared for Isabelle. She’d felt his fear the moment of her first meeting with him. Like a pair of hands choking out the air from her lungs and every time she managed to get any oxygen in, it was a foul and bitter scent.
“Mr. Malcolm, I just want to tell you that Isabelle needs you. She misses her father and her therapy is otherwise going very well.”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea for me to go over there. What if they find her again?”
“Mr. Malcolm, I’m going to make this very clear. You’re seeing your daughter. You’re going to make arrangements for her to live with you again and you’re going to do this because I know you love her.” She took a deep breath and turned to glance out her glass window. “I know you have her best interest at heart, which is another reason why you’re going to do this. Isabelle’s therapy has been going so well, but her missing you reminds her every single day of her loss of her mother. If you truly love your daughter, you’re going to take her back with you.”
“Ms. Polley, I just don’t want to lose her again,” he choked. “With my wife gone, she’s all I have left.”
She swallowed hard, she expected this. “Kevin,” she said softly, “she needs you. She loves you so much, and she thinks you forgot her. That you don’t want her near you. Trust me, you don’t want her to grow up with that as her reality. Because even if you know it’s not true, it will be true to her.”
“I love Isabelle.”
“I know. That’s why I am telling you, please, come visit her and take her home. But I have some requests. You need to spend alone time with her, here, at the house with her aunt. You can’t just come take her back. She needs to trust that you want her with you again. She needs to know you love her and you genuinely want her to be with you.”
“But—”
“No buts, Kevin. You’ll hire the best of the best to guard your house and you’ll ensure she has the ability to be a kid, because living in
a prison, no matter how beautiful, is still a prison. She needs to be a kid. To have fun. To play. To be loved by her dad. Let her see that she might have lost Mom, but you’re going to love her twice as hard for the both of you. She needs it. You need it.”
“I’ll fly in tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Mr. Malcolm. This is the best thing you can do for her. Trust me. She will heal a lot better knowing she’s got your love and support.”
“Thank you, Ms. Polley. I will do that.”
“Have a great day, Kevin. She’ll love seeing you.”
She hung up the phone lightheaded, shaken and weak. Her back felt hot. Nausea rolled up her throat. She hated feeling so vulnerable but this was normal with clients in pain. She felt their pain and it took a toll on her.
She had a half hour between appointments. It would take that long to get herself back to normal. Sitting on her office chair, she turned to face the window that overlooked the back alley and the forest not more than two streets away.
Her mind tried to get her thinking about Tor and what it could mean for her to be one of his brothers’ mates. She refused to give that thought another moment. Not when she was so shaken already.
She sent a text to Lexi to make sure all was okay with her mom. Lexi replied just as quickly and told her she’d been sleeping and they’d given her more pain meds when she mumbled about everything hurting.
Someone knocked at her door. She glanced at her clock. She still had twenty minutes before her next appointment.
She got up to open the door but once she got there, something told her not to open it. She rushed back to her desk when the door slammed open, the wood hitting the wall and bouncing back.
TWENTY-THREE
Morgan glanced over her shoulder at a guy standing there. He wore all black, his eyes a deep burgundy and his skin the color of gold. She got to her desk and grabbed her phone but he was there, knocking it out of her hand before she got a chance to press a single key.
He picked her up by the front of her jacket, shaking her to the point her glasses fell from her face. “My mistress wants to meet you.”
“Oh, really?”
His eyes blazed a fiery red with flames licking at his irises. “Yes, she does. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”
She ground her teeth and slammed her knee into his crotch. “The hard way, asshole! Something you might never be again!”
He dropped her and doubled over in pain. She heard him gagging as if he was going to throw up. She winced and tried to ignore his pain. Block it out. Just block it out. She’d hit him as hard as possible, not caring for his ability to conceive for the rest of his life.
She crawled around him, trying to reach the phone he’d knocked out of her hand. She finally jumped to her feet, unsure where the damn thing landed and ran for the door. She yanked the door to the stairs open and hauled ass down the three flights.
A loud roar sounded at the top of the stairwell and she knew a very pissed off black dragon was coming her way. She ran to the lobby but none of the security were anywhere to be found. The phone had been ripped out of the reception desk. Goddammit!
Morgan ran outside and felt her heart stop in her chest. A van started speeding toward the front of the building. Not a single fucking person was outside at that time. She’d known the area was quiet with everyone in their offices during business hours, but dammit this was surreal. She remembered the deli around the block she always went to for coffee and knew there would be someone there.
Fuck. Now what? She darted around the corner and started crossing the alley, uncaring of the puddles of water splashing on her cream pants. She was halfway down the alley when someone landed in front of her, stopping her movement to get to the deli not twenty feet away.
It really wasn’t her day. She did the fastest U-turn known to man and almost landed on her ass trying to get away from the guy that somehow got from the damn stairs to the alley ahead of her. Fucking dragons and their super powers.
At that moment, she wished she had some kind of bat signal to get a hold of Tor. She got to the side of the alley she’d come from and stopped just in time to see the van being engulfed in flames. She gasped and glanced at Tor in his dragon of blue scales shooting and targeting fireballs at the van and those that ran out of it.
The guy behind her was no longer there. There was a pile of shredded clothes on the ground and then a big shadow went above her head.
She couldn’t believe how much bigger Tor’s dragon was compared to the black and red one. The guy’s flames were tiny compared to Tor’s. She was scared but wished she could grab something and beat the motherfucker down for making her run. She was still trying to catch her breath.
The fight was on. Tor’s dragon was angry. She could see it in the color of his scales, the blue tinged with orange. He sent missiles at the black who did a bang up job of dodging them and making some of them hit signs and buildings by changing course at the last second. The guy was clearly well aware of how the Drachen fought.
He came back with a quick attack, shooting blaze after blaze of red fire at Tor but she didn't hear him or feel him have any pain. Tor shot into the sky, pushing far and fast. The black followed. Then he headed east, so fast and far she couldn’t see them any longer. She didn't know what was going on, but she couldn't mentally reach out to know if either was in pain.
She glanced around the empty streets, the van was on fire and people suddenly came out of buildings, looking for whatever was making the racket. The sound of sirens came from down the road. Fire trucks surrounded the exits and stopped all traffic, not that there was any to begin with. Still, no sign of Tor.
Her heart bled from the thought of him being hurt. She couldn't believe he’d left only to get killed somewhere she couldn't help him.
She ran inside her building, looking to get away from the police officers asking questions and the curious onlookers. Already some were staring at her weird for her dirty, torn suit.
Upstairs, she waited what felt like an eternity, staring at her cell phone. She’d found it and her glasses on the floor, not too far from her desk. Her door creaked. Her gaze shot up and there he was, his clothes on haphazardly, but alive.
She jumped to her feet and flew into his arms. There was no hesitation. No questioning. She thanked every deity in the universe for his safety and met his gaze. There was so much anger in his eyes, anger and fear. Which she knew well didn't belong together but she could almost feel his worry like her own.
“Are you okay?” his voice was low and rough, like it had been run through sandpaper.
“Yes, you?” She gulped. “I was so scared when you flew away and I couldn’t see you.”
He held her closer and once again, the warmth in his body soothed the chill in her bones. “I’m fine. I knew I couldn't stay and kill him here, not near you.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
He cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead. “I couldn’t bear to see you suffer through his death.”
“I saw you get hurt several times with his fire balls but I couldn’t sense it.”
“I blocked it so you wouldn’t feel what I felt. I don’t ever want to know you are hurting. I’ll do whatever I have to do to stop it. Even if I have to block my pain to my last breath.”
She felt her lip quiver and kissed the hand cupping her jaw. “I wish I knew what to do.”
His shoulders slumped and for just a fraction of a second, she felt the pain of knowing he loved her but couldn’t have her. It was devastating.
“Your mark and your mate’s will show itself soon. Then we’ll know.”
She shook her head. “I already love you,” she admitted stubbornly. “I won’t magically fall in love with some other guy because a tattoo shows up on my skin.”
“You can’t fight the mate bond, love. Your love for your mate will grow and it will consume you.” His eyes glowed pure gold. “Until all you want is your mate, your family with him and no one else will matter.
Not anyone in the past.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she stayed quiet and let the moment hang in the air. “I need to change and come back for another client I have tonight. Last minute.”
He nodded. “Let’s get you home. I’ll bring you back later.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Once they got to her house, she got rid of her glasses, took a shower and glanced at the clock on her bedside table. They had a few hours before she needed to go for that last minute appointment. Under the circumstances, she was tempted to call and cancel, but she knew her client needed closure and a last moment of peace.
She padded down the hallway to knock at Tor’s room door. He opened up wearing nothing but a towel. The image of where that got them last time flew to the front of her mind.
“Everything okay?”
“Uh, um,” she glanced at the water drops crawling down his body, disappearing into the towel and only god knew down to where. Though, she could imagine. “Yes. Fine. I just wanted to tell you I’m going to take a nap. I know you didn’t sleep last night, I heard you walking around and was hoping you’d take the time and get some rest, too. After the ordeal at my office, I feel like you need some healing time.”
He gave a sharp nod, his gaze taking in her tank top and shorts. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll do better if I do get rest now.”
She walked backward, hesitantly. If only she could change the future. If only she could know who her future mate was, then maybe she would be able to figure out where to go from there.
She’d been in bed, dozing in and out of sleep when her cell buzzed. She picked it up, wondering if it was her mother or Lexi.
Sure enough, the text was from Lexi.
M: Come to the hospital asap. Don’t bring Tor. There’s something about him you need to know. He’s been lying to you. He already has a mate.