Trouble with Gargoyles: an Urban Fantasy (Moonlight Dragon Book 3)

by Tricia Owens

  I strained to separate myself from this serpentine body with its tiger claws and fangs that snapped. I resisted a terrible history and a stigma that had not been of my making.

  I pictured a canary, surrendering her life to achieve vengeance for a black dog with blue flames around its head. That was love. The greatest power. More powerful than this dragon, who couldn't feel it. Who never would.

  Fight this. You don't need Liliana to help you. You don't need Vale.

  Fight yourself. You are who you choose to be.

  You are not a traitor.

  You are not a monster.

  You are Anne Moody.

  You are Anne Moody.

  You are…

  "… dying for a taco," I groaned as I woke up on the floor of the Runaways.

  Chapter 11

  "Did you achieve the first part of your mission, Anne Moody?"

  I tipped up my chin. "You saw it, didn't you? With your all-seeing Elvises, or whoever you use? I burned Xaran in the mountains. He's toast. If I'd known you wanted a trophy I would have done it differently. Sorry. Hazard of working with a dragon sorceress. I like to burn things."

  I was playing a risky game, throwing attitude at the Oddsmakers, but sometimes I simply couldn't help it. I felt invincible. I had pulled myself back from my dragon on my own. I had conquered my greatest fear.

  I felt like a Grade A Badass.

  I stared challengingly at the figure beneath the black curtain/shroud thingy. But as the seconds stretched, nervousness began to set in. I thought of Kleure's fate. I thought of the countless others who had suffered at their hands. Going all in with the Oddsmakers risked not only my life, but the lives of everyone I loved.

  I forced myself to think of other things, just in case they could read minds. I doubted it, otherwise my mom wouldn't have been able to trick them for three years, but you never really knew with these creepy weirdos. Safer to think of my softest blanket back home, and what I had wrapped carefully in it eight hours ago.

  "You did well," the saccharine voice said at last.

  Delayed reaction hit me like a mallet. Holy cow, they bought it. My knees were weak. If I'd been wearing shorts it would have been obvious that my legs were shaking.

  "I held up my end of the deal," I said, glad my voice was steady. "You'll leave Vale and the rest of my friends alone."

  "While you remain a friend of the Oddsmakers, the Oddsmakers will remain a friend of Anne Moody."

  Hardly a promise to embrace. Sort of like receiving a friend request from Vladimir Putin, but I'd take it for now.

  "I want to go home," I said. Though just a second ago the badassness had been strong in me, it was now rapidly draining from me like hair dye, revealing my graying roots.

  When I'd returned to my body, which had been lying on the floor of the secret meeting place beneath the Runaways, it was to find the canary shifter watching over me. All the other members of the Rebellion had fled. Like the Oddsmakers, they were now convinced that I was a traitor to my own kind. Mission accomplished, I guess.

  She hadn't said a word about my decision to spare her life and go full dragon. I didn't know if she was disappointed that I hadn't sent her to the other side to join Kleure or if she was relieved that she now lived to fight another day.

  When I'd left her, I'd done so without knowing her name. I regretted that now, but at the time I hadn't been thinking all that clearly.

  "We will call upon you when we require your services again, Anne Moody."

  "Great." I saluted the ceiling of the Oddsmakers' lair. "Can't wait for that call."

  I didn't expect a thank you and I didn't get one. The room grew colder and darker. A brick smashed into my head and the next thing I knew I was waking up on the floor of my kitchenette.

  I really needed to get out of the habit of waking up on the floor.

  A body hurtled toward me and dropped to its knees beside me.

  "Moody!" Vale hauled me up against him like I was a ragdoll made of cotton. He all but cracked my ribs. I loved every second of it.

  "I don't know," I gasped out as emotion suddenly swamped me. "I don't know if I did what I wanted to. I couldn't tell. I was in the dragon—it sees things differently."

  Vale held me away from him so our eyes could meet. "You did what the Oddsmakers demanded of you," he said, his fingers tightening around my upper arms. Though his words were dire, his face told me a different story. I let my eyes slide shut with relief.

  "Tit for tat," I whispered against his ear when he hugged me close again. Vale was an excellent hugger. All those hard muscles, that heat—you'd think he'd be as comfortable as hugging an oven. But by some trick of magick his body cradled mine like the softest, most awesomest bean bag chair. I didn't care about eating or sleeping. I only wanted to be held by him.

  "What does that mean?" he whispered back. "Tit for tat?"

  "Your memory stain of that night. No one could see…" I couldn't say more for fear of pixies overhearing, but Vale was intelligent, and maybe he'd talked with Xaran about what had gone down tonight.

  "Tit for tat, indeed." I heard the pride in his voice. He pulled back again, but only far enough to fit his mouth over mine. "I wish you hadn't done that alone," he whispered between feverish kisses that sought to turn me into a puddle right there in the kitchenette. "I wanted to be there with you. To help you find a solution."

  "You were. You did." I carded my fingers through his deliciously tousled hair, hair I'd fought to return to. I broke our kiss, needing his full attention. "I-I want you to know something, Vale Morgan."

  Curses and fate be damned. Not every chick flick ended up a tearjerker.

  He caressed my cheek. "I already know, Anne Moody. I love you, too."

  And there it was. Maybe the world would end, but hopefully not before I got some action.

  He leaned over me, his dark eyes burning with possession. "You did it, Moody."

  "They trust me," I whispered. I laughed, incredulous. "The cameos told me there'd be a betrayal and I thought it would happen against me. But it's me. I'm the betrayer."

  "For the right reasons," he murmured.

  "You know what else they told me?" I stroked his nape. "That you'd be trouble for me."

  Vale's grin was wicked. "The kind of trouble you like, I hope."

  I slid my hand down his spine. "I like a lot of things about you."

  "Let me show you a few more things to like." His voice was rough and sexy, making me shiver. But the arms he curled beneath me to lift me off the floor were gentle and revealed how achingly protective he felt toward me.

  My parents would have adored him.

  They would have been proud of me tonight.

  Neither of those things, however, were now possible. But one day, eventually, my parents would rest in peace, because I would find vengeance for all of us. And if the anticipation of that moment added a touch of spice to my lovemaking with Vale, well, that was just an unexpected bonus.

  Book 4, Forged in Fire, is coming soon! Keep informed by joining the mailing list at

  http://www.triciaowensbooks.com/moonlightdragon

  Author's Note

  I took quite a few liberties with the anatomy of the Stratosphere to make it the perfect location for an assignation between Anne and Vale. As much as I would love it, I doubt any magickal creatures would be capable of living there without notice.

  Or is that what they want us to believe?

  About the Author

  Tricia Owens has worked as a casino dealer in Las Vegas and as an editor on a cruise ship that sails around the world. Having visited more than 80 countries, she's content (for the moment) to relax in Las Vegas. She assures you the real Sin City is much weirder than anything depicted in her books.

 

 

  kFrom.Net