He sat stock still, listening to the person at the other end. The muscles in his back tensed more and more as he listened.
“Shit. Listen, Jace, I can’t deal with this. I’m with my mate—” He paused to listen to the person on the phone, “Yes, my mate, damn it. I can’t leave her right now. Get Luke on this. He can track just as well as I can, maybe even better.”
“Shit.” Brycen groaned, and his shoulders slumped a little. “Right. Meet me at the cottage. We’ll start from there.”
His knuckles were white with the grip he had on the phone when he returned it almost too gently onto the table. He didn’t face her right away, instead, taking a deep breath, then another.
“It’s okay.” Stella wasn’t sure what was going on, but she’d gotten the gist of the one-sided conversation. She could wait for him to get back. “Will you be gone long?”
“A few hours at most, it shouldn’t take much more than that.” He looked at her then, his jaw set. “I’m not going to start our relationship with lies, not even ones of omission. I have to look for Alexandra, the woman you saw with me in the woods. She’s gone missing.”
What the hell? In an instant, her insides heated and the muscles in her abdomen clenched as jealousy burned hot and bright in the pit of her stomach. Only the fact that he didn’t look any more pleased about it than she did, calmed the fury.
The hurt from the past weeks bubbled up to the surface again, but she shoved it down. He wasn’t running from her anymore. It was his job, nothing more. “It’s okay.”
“Stella…” When he turned to face her again, his eyes pleaded for understanding. “I would give anything to stay here with you, but I wasn’t given a choice. As soon as we find her, I’ll have one of the others take over the assignment, and I’ll come home. To you.”
She nodded, giving him what she hoped was a confident smile. “I believe you.” And she did. Even though he had initially hidden from her, he hadn’t given her any doubts about his intentions from the moment they had met the night before. “Go to work. I’ll be waiting when you get back.”
Reaching down, he took her face between his hands and took her lips in a sweet kiss that left her yearning for more. “Make yourself comfortable and rest while I’m gone. When I get back, I intend to complete our mating, and you’ll need all the extra energy you can get.”
Chapter 7
Brycen stomped through the forest, not caring who heard. Of all the times for Alexandra to go running off without protection, this was the worst. Stella needed him, and where was he? Chasing after Alexandra of all people. If she wanted to play games, she’d be in for a disappointment. He wasn’t in the mood. Every cell in his body screamed in protest with every step he took farther away from Stella. The sooner he could find the spoiled brat and deliver her to Jace, the better.
His skin prickled as his scales poked below the surface, responding to the anger flowing through him. Nothing should come between him and his mate, not work, and certainly not the self-absorbed woman he was tasked to protect.
Before heading to the cabin, he headed to the clearing where Alexandra had asked him to meet her before, hoping she’d gone there to wait for him. Too late, he realized two things, one, the animals were quiet—too quiet. And two, the air reeked of human sweat and fear, and a whole lot of excitement.
He should never have let his guard down. Thoughts of Stella and the need to get back to her had taken his focus from his surroundings—huge mistake.
There hadn’t been any hunting activity in the woods for well over a year, at least none that didn’t involve game and wildlife. Since they had circumvented a dragon raid almost a year ago, things had been quiet in the area. Up until a few weeks ago, he would have welcomed the distraction of tracking and eliminating a group of dragon hunters. But with Stella waiting for him at home, engaging the enemy was the last thing he wanted to do.
He sniffed the air again, this time using more of his dragon senses. He caught a faint familiar scent coming downwind and had to keep from growling. If they didn’t know where he was, he sure as hell wasn’t going to lead them to him by being more careless than he already had been. The sound of a snapping twig around the bend of the dirt path he’d been on had him ducking behind a thick patch of bushes.
“You said he’d be here.” A deep male voice with a heavy southern accent reached Brycen long before he saw the man come around the bend with Alexandra at his side. Of average height, the man stood maybe six inches taller than Alexandra, but there was no mistaking his solid build. He would pack a mean punch if he managed to land it.
She smiled up at the man, reached and squeezed his bicep, and then giggled as she leaned closer. “He will be. And he’ll bring his friends. You’ll have beautiful trophies to put on your walls. You just have to be patient, Trevor. And if you’re lucky, Brycen will bring his dragon bitch into the forest, and you can hunt her as well. I hear he’s mated her already. It’s rare to bag a female dragon these days. There are so few of them left.”
Brycen’s vision changed from normal colors to red as the dragon inside him surged forward. No one would threaten his mate—no one. Everything in him wanted to attack the couple, but something held him back. Hunts of these types didn’t come cheap and weren’t a solitary endeavor. Going after dragons alone was tantamount to suicide. There had to be more hunters nearby.
The man stopped in his tracks and looked at Alexandra as though she’d just given him a winning lottery ticket. “Darlin’ if you can make that happen, I’ll double what we’re paying you,” he said, proving that there were more of the bastards out there somewhere.
Alexandra looked up at him, batting her eyelashes. “I can’t guarantee it, those dragons tend to be a little over protective, and very overbearing when it comes to their mates, but I’ll tell you what? If she comes along, and you get a shot at her, maybe you can pay me for the bonus in other ways.” She stepped closer to the man, brushing her breasts against his arm.
“I’ll pay you that bonus whether the dragon bitch shows up or not, Lexie. What’s a pretty girl like you doing organizing a dragon hunt, anyway?” Trevor wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, all the while, leering at her overflowing cleavage. The gold band on his left ring finger sparkled in the sunlight.
“Easy money. I get paid well for what I do, and usually when the carnage happens, I’m long gone, so they’re none the wiser. The only reason I’m still here this time is because they insisted on keeping me in a damned cabin with no way to get back to town without one of them getting me there. I’m just lucky I was able to get back here to meet up with you guys before anything happened.”
“Trev, keep your dick in your pants. Something is brewing. I can feel it in my bones. Time to bag some dragons.” Another man’s voice came down the trail. For people who thought themselves dragon slayers, they didn’t try to be quiet.
Trevor grinned down at Alexandra and grabbed her breast, squeezing it in his hand even as the other man came into view. “What’s going on Bill, I was just getting better acquainted with Lexie.”
“There’s some movement on the other side of the clearing. It’s gotta be the dragons.”
Brycen sniffed the air, and sure enough, he caught a whiff of both Luke and Austin. If they were there, Jace wasn’t far behind. He should have gone to the cabin first like he’d told Jace on the phone, but he’d gambled on finding Alexandra here and dropping her off so he could get back home. If they were there, chances were that at least they had been paying attention and had noticed the hunters in the area.
His skin prickled again, and it took all he had to keep from moving and giving away his position. There were more men around, but where? Surely, they weren’t stupid enough to stand in the clearing and wait for dragons to show up. No, they had to be in the forest around him. All he had to do was wait for them to show themselves.
“Let’s get into position, boys,” the one named Trevor announced.
At least Brycen wouldn’t have to wo
rry about warning his friends. Even if they didn’t already know about the hunters, the racket the humans were making would be heard for miles around.
Out of the corner of his eye, the slightest movement caught his attention. A man, no more than twenty feet to his left shifted, giving his position away. Brycen shrank down lower. Sheer luck was all that had kept the man from looking toward the brush and seeing Brycen hunkered there. His face painted in camo, matched his outfit. This one was serious about the hunt.
Brycen waited until the man moved forward and joined his friends on the trail before breathing again. The small group had just disappeared around the bend when the hiss of an arrow slicing through the air right next to his head had him ducking. Fuck. The bastard hadn’t made a sound. He turned his head, searching for the hunter, but nothing moved. Damn it.
Staying where he was wasn’t an option. The hunter already had his location. Shifting would give the bastard a bigger target, but if he could get into the air, he had a chance of getting out of range. He needed a few seconds to shift, and another few to get into the air. If he could get the man to shoot without actually hitting him, he’d have a shot before the hunter could draw again.
Grabbing a pebble at his feet, Brycen tossed it a few feet away, hoping the sound would divert the hunter’s attention, if not draw his fire. The moment the stone landed, the whine of another arrow cutting through the air sounded. Focusing his thoughts and energy, Brycen shifted and took a deep breath. It dug into a tree less than a foot from where Brycen now stood in dragon form. With a mighty flap of his wings, he lifted from the ground. With the other hunters so close, he didn’t dare roar or breathe fire, though he’d love more than anything to do just that. Kill the filthy humans who wish to harm our mate. The dragon’s voice roared in his mind.
Not yet. Never had it been so hard to keep the dragon from raging, but Brycen held onto his iron-clad control. First we get to safety. Then we attack with our clan. We can’t take chances. We have to get back to Stella.
He pushed himself hard, getting to the top of the treeline before fire sliced through his left side. His furious roar shook the nearby trees as he climbed higher into the air. In an instant, more arrows flew, but none of them reached him. Not that it mattered, he’d been hit. It was only a matter of time before he came down again.
Brycen fought the lethargy, keeping his wings flapping hard and himself just out of range for as long as he could until the weight of his body started dragging lower. The land beneath him blurred, and he tried to come down for a soft landing, but his muscles wouldn’t cooperate. Bones crunched, and the ground shook as he crashed through trees and onto the forest floor. Hundreds of birds took flight, squawking at his unexpected landing, but Brycen didn’t hear any of them as all went black.
Chapter 8
Stella stretched and opened her eyes. Her whole body ached, but not the same sweet ache she’d had the previous day after she’d made love with Brycen. No, this was different—unpleasant. Her skin itched, burned even, and her jaw popped in the wrong spot when she tried to yawn. The orange glow of the rising sun told her what she already knew. He hadn’t come back.
When Brycen had left the day before, he’d told her to make herself at home, and she had. Preparing a nice dinner for them both had occupied her for a while. But when it had become apparent he wasn’t going to be home for the meal, she finally gave in and ate her portion, then stuck his in the fridge to eat later.
There was no point in staying in bed. Stella was wide-awake and worse, the dragon inside her was restless. Heat radiated from her, making her skin clammy. Heading into the bathroom, she couldn’t help notice that her legs didn’t move as fluidly as they should. It was as though the joints didn’t quite fit together right. Heart pounding, she turned the faucet to cool then stepped into the shower. All she had to do was keep the dragon happy until Brycen returned. Then they could take care of this once and for all.
“Come on, mate. I need you,” she whispered as the cold water sluiced down her body. She took her time, washing and rinsing her hair, oddly pleased when she smelled more like him after using Brycen’s shampoo. Inside, the dragon settled a little as though that small connection with him pleased her as well.
“When will he be back?” Stella gasped and froze when the soft rumbling voice sifted into her mind. “We need him now.”
Stella waited for a moment, reveling in her dragon’s voice. She’d wished to hear it so many times, but the beast had remained quiet all those years. “I don’t know. I want him back, too,” she finally answered.
The flash of purple under her skin had her heart racing. “He’ll be back. He’ll take care of us. Please, don’t do this,” Stella begged. All she needed was a bit more time. Everything she had ever wanted, a partner, a family, it was all within her grasp. She just had to hang on a little while longer.
She waited for a response, but nothing came. When even the shower’s spray couldn’t keep her comfortable, she toweled herself off and headed back to the bedroom. If the dragon liked Brycen’s smell, she’d surround herself with it. Riffling through his drawers, she found a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring. She’d have to roll them up so she could walk, but it would work. She eyed the soft sweaters in another drawer but dismissed them just as fast. She was already burning up, what she needed was another T-shirt. She found one and slipped it over her head. Too uncomfortable in her skin, Stella didn’t bother with her underwear.
She spent the next hour and a half pacing all over the house from one room to the other. She paused here and there to touch his things. There wasn’t a lot there. But when she found something that was a little more personal, like the half read book he had left on the coffee table, she slid her fingers over it. Or clutched his pillow to her chest and took his scent into her lungs.
Time was irrelevant, but she couldn’t help glaring at each clock as she walked past. Where the hell is he? Her discomfort grew with each passing minute until she couldn’t stand the pacing anymore. Something wasn’t right. If he could be there with her, he would. But that didn’t stop her irritation from climbing or lessen her need for movement. The energy pulsing in her grew hotter, desperate, and she had no idea what to do to, or how to release it.
She had to get out of there. Stella had never been claustrophobic, but she had to get outside, somewhere with a big, open space. Every room in the house was too small.
She didn’t bother changing back into her clothes. She could hardly stand her stilettos when she wasn’t in pain, much less now, and just the thought of putting her dress back on and taking his scent off her skin had her growling. She’d just go with what she had on.
She found a notepad and scribbled her address on it as best she could with her shaking hands, then headed out the door.
By the time she reached her house, the cuts and scrapes at the bottoms of her feet left a trail of blood for anyone to follow, but she didn’t care. The pain was nothing compared to the fiery inferno inside her chest. Breathing was more than difficult. It was near impossible. She panted as she walked but kept putting one foot in front of the other.
She stopped long enough to pull a well-worn pair of sneakers onto her bare feet before heading out again. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to keep moving. Only when it became apparent that she was making her way to the mountain, did she allow her fear to take root. “Please, hold off for a few more hours. He’ll come for me—for us—I know he will,” she begged the dragon. “He will not let us down. He promised.”
Her pleading went unanswered. She fought the compulsion to keep moving forward, but her body wouldn’t listen, the dragon’s will overshadowing her own. Tears streamed down her cheeks. The dragon was searching for a den. She wouldn’t want to live with humans or be a part of their world any longer. She would do her best to keep Stella safe and well fed, but in the end, the loneliness of a solitary existence would do them both in.
Stella ignored the sun climbing overhead. She’d been walking fo
r hours, but she didn’t care. The higher into the mountain she climbed, the fewer landmarks she recognized. Even if she managed to stave off the shift this time around, there was no way she’d be able to find her way back to Glen Farley before the next wave hit.
By the time she finally stopped moving, the sun had crossed the sky and every muscle in her body ached. She took a deep breath and looked around. A wide yawning hole in the rock face about twenty feet above her head drew her attention. So, that was to be where she lived from now on. Without a mate to protect her, the cave made sense. As a dragon, it would be easy to get to, yet hard for the enemy to penetrate. When the dragon pushed her forward again, she didn’t even bother trying to stop it. If she slipped and fell, at least she wouldn’t have to live in the damned cave for the rest of her life.
When she finally made it up to the entrance, Stella didn’t dare stop. If she did, even for a second, she wouldn’t make it into the cave and relative protection from the elements, and as exhausted as she was, who knew how long she’d be there? With her hands scraped raw, she felt her way into the dark cavern, hoping that no animal had made a home there before her.
She had only taken a few steps, and several breaths of the dank, musty air when her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The reddish tinge in her sight made her more aware of the dragon’s presence than ever.
As far as caves went, she had to admit, it wasn’t bad. There were plenty of flat surfaces for her to lie on, and it was big enough that even shifted, she would be able to move around. She didn’t bother looking in all the little nooks and dips in the walls. Even if there were other creatures in residence, she didn’t have the energy to fight them off or chase them away.
She found an area where the rock floor was smooth and somewhat hidden from the entrance before collapsing. Sighing, she closed her eyes. There was no point in crying over what could have been, but still the tears fell. She pulled Brycen’s T-shirt to her nose and breathed in his scent, willing him to appear, yet knowing he wouldn’t.
Flight of Dragons Page 5