“Kellan. We can’t keep sleeping together.”
There was a pause before he spoke.
“Can I ask why not? Did I make you feel uncomfortable?”
“No. You’ve been great.”
“Okay...”
“It blurred the lines. And you never pressured me. I wanted to. I wanted it as soon as I laid eyes on you, and even more so once I’d actually gotten to know you and seen how great of a person you are.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Kellan asked.
“We aren’t together. I’m relying on you like you’re my partner, but you’re not. You’re my boss.”
“If you would prefer a relationship, that sounds good to me. We can date.”
“That’s sweet, but it’s more complicated than that,” Clara said.” Dating only means we have more than just hooking up.”
“Why is that a problem?”
She loved that he wasn’t getting angry. It was true that the bar was pretty low, considering how her ex had always acted. “When I met my ex, I moved in with him quickly. Everything was in his name. I paid my bills, but when I left, I had nothing to show for it. I’m hiding from him now, but eventually, I’ll need my own life.”
“So what does that mean for us?”
“It means that when we get back, I’m going to move out.”
“You’re not leaving Declan.”
“No. I want to be his nanny. I feel like we’ve really connected.” She glanced up at the door and lowered her voice. “Kellan, today he asked me if I could be his mom. My living with you has really blurred the lines.”
Kellan sighed. His powerful shoulders slumped forward for a brief second. “I understand. I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t be sorry. You have been so kind. And so generous. I will never forget what you’ve given me.”
“Then why can’t you live with us? I don’t understand. I’ll keep my hands to myself, I promise.”
“I can’t. I have to start with some independence for myself. And some boundaries for Declan. I love him already, and I’m glad he loves me. But I don’t want him to be confused.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Kellan said.
“Don’t tell him what I said.”
“I won’t. I’ll make it seem natural.”
That little boy had already lost his mother. Clara didn’t want him to feel like he’d lost her too. But she wasn’t his mother. And she couldn't pretend to be.
13
Kellan
The next day, Kellan’s mind moved with the speed of molasses. His usual quick wit was gone, and so was his ability to concentrate on what was going on around him. He shook hands, and greeted people, and listened to their ideas, but he was going through the motions.
A relationship had never affected him like this.
Clara hadn’t broken up with him, because there’d been no relationship to break. At least not a formal, romantic relationship.
It felt like she’d severed their connection.
Every part of his being ached. He’d never gotten attached to a female companion before, not even as a teen, when he’d been around dragon shifters. Clara was special.
He’d been foolish and ignored how she might feel, being totally dependent on him. When she explained it, he understood. It didn’t mean he was giving up. He just had to show her that he took her seriously, and respected her feelings. And then he had to convince her to give him another chance.
His heart was not in the conference. He skipped out on the last meeting. He was going to figure out the best way to prove to her that he could do better.
On the way out of the University, he did what he always did when something happened. He called his brothers. He’d bugged Liam about this trip; now it was time to call Quinn, who was the most romantic and had dated the most, although he still hadn’t found love.
“What’s up? You better not be calling to tell me you’re staying over there.” There was a rustling sound. “Talk fast. I have a fifteen-minute break before the next patient.”
“Clara ditched me.”
“The nanny? What do you mean she ditched you? She left? What the hell! I thought she-”
“No. She didn’t leave. She dumped me.”
“Wait. Were you dating her? What the hell is wrong with you? You aren’t supposed to date the nanny.”
“I know. I wasn’t exactly dating her.”
Quinn snorted. “So you were screwing her.”
“Don’t talk about her like that. Show some respect.”
“Ah. So you like her.”
“Yes. I do.”
“Tell me everything.”
Kellan told him, and Quinn listened. “You need a grand romantic gesture. And tell her you respect what she wants, and you’ll help her move when she finds a place. Do not for any reason offer to buy her a house, or even offer to help her look for a house unless she asks. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Good. So you’re there in Scotland. She’s excited. Instead of moping around, go take her out.” Quinn ended the call without saying goodbye, which was typical of him when he was working.
If they did get serious, he’d have to eventually tell her he was a shifter. But that was a problem for the future. Today, he just needed to win her back.
He would be honest with her. He’d tell her he wanted to date, and ask her out. He wouldn’t be the obnoxious rich guy who assumed he’d get his way.
He knew what it was like to be brushed aside. Even though he hadn’t loved Declan’s mother, the dismissal had still hurt.
He stopped to buy a colorful bundle of flowers from a street vendor. The guy said they were lilies and lilacs and daffodils, and some other stuff he couldn’t remember. He picked up a bottle of wine. He could have had both delivered, but maybe the act of picking them out himself would score some points.
And while his driver took him back to their bed and breakfast, he made a mental list of all the possible castles they could visit tomorrow.
Under his breath, he practiced what he’d say to her.
“Clara, I know you need to move out. I understand that. I want to-”
When the driver turned left onto the street near their hotel, a chill passed over Kellan’s spine. It was a feeling he hadn’t had in thirteen years.
A witch was near.
There was no mistaking it. He hadn’t been hallucinating yesterday.
He dropped the flowers. The petals hit the floorboard of the car. The wine landed on the seat next to him. It rolled across the leather, unnoticed.
He grabbed his phone and dialed Clara’s number.
No answer.
Fuck.
His dragon roared, fury rolling through him. His dragon wanted to scream his rage, and breathe fire, and fight against his enemies. Yet he was helpless, unable to act.
Her voicemail picked up.
“Clara. You and Declan get back to the hotel now. Drop whatever you’re doing. Lock all the doors. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
He burst from the backseat of the car and ran, pounding up the stairs to the bed and breakfast, which had seemed so cozy and welcoming just two days ago.
He took the stairs three at a time, not bothering to hide his shifter speed and agility. “Declan! Clara!”
He shoved the door open. It splintered into a thousand fragments.
The rooms were empty.
No one was there.
On the master bed, on the stark white bedspread, lay a note. A single piece of paper read:
Dear Kellan. You think yourself witty. Yet you are not. We have known where you are, for these long years, pretending that you are one of them. A cowboy, filling up spaces that were never meant for your kind. We have what you value most. Meet us again, at the spot which is home to all of us.
Kellan dropped to his knees. His eyes flashed, and when he exhaled, flames shot from his mouth. He curled his fingers into fists, and let his claws bite into his flesh.
Once again, h
e grabbed his phone and hit the text that said “brothers.”
“911. Home. They have Declan and Clara.”
His brothers would come. They always had.
Until then, he would do his best to rescue his son and Clara on his own.
Kellan tore through the room, crashing into furniture, already transforming into the beast that waited inside him.
He didn’t care who saw him. He rolled jeans and a shirt into a ball. He stuffed the clothes and his wallet into a bag, and he hung the bag around his neck. He made one last call while he was still human. “Get the plane ready. Set the course to the Shannon International Airport in Ireland,” he said to his pilot. Then he hung up.
He would fly to the airport.
If it were faster, he’d fly all the way to Ireland. But a private jet could make better time.
He would find the witches, and he’d take care of them once and for all. And then he’d save his family.
14
Clara
Under the gray sky, Clara blinked a few times. She’d hardly slept at all the night before, and Declan seemed to pick up on it. He was going a little easier on her today, and running a little less fast.
“Next up, the botanical gardens,” Declan said as he hopped up and down.
Declan had expressed interest in the gardens, which seemed unusual for a five-year-old boy, but Clara wasn’t going to argue. He’d be free to run and skip, without the fear of breaking anything, or disturbing anyone, at least when they were outside of the greenhouses.
“Miss Clara! What’s this flower?” he asked as they walked around.
“Um. Let me look.” Clara bent down to inspect the sign posted in front of the vivid orange flowers. “It says it’s a King Protea, from South Africa. See? Look at the word.” But when she looked over to show Declan, he wasn’t there.
She straightened up. Although he’d stopped running away on purpose like he had when she’d first met him, he still had a tendency to wander off. “Declan?”
She spun in a circle, searching wildly for his red sweater and messy black hair.
Then a woman stepped forward, with Declan beside her.
Clara exhaled in a rush. Her hand came up to rest over her heart. “Oh, Declan. You scared me.”
The woman didn’t speak. And neither did Declan, although his nostrils flared and his cheeks turned red.
What had happened? Had this woman gotten onto him?
Clara noticed then the woman was holding tight to Declan’s wrist.
“You need to let go of him. Whatever happened, we can talk about it,” Clara said in her most calming voice, in case this woman was unbalanced.
“Oh, I won’t be letting go of him,” the woman said. Her accent was Irish, and much more pronounced than Kellan’s had been.
Clara reached forward, intending to pry Declan away from her, but something shocked her, like the time she’d been electrocuted by a wire where the rubber coating had rubbed off.
Hand still stinging, she pulled her fingers back. What in the world? Was the woman hiding a shock collar under her dress? “Declan, come here.”
“I can’t,” he said.
“Listen, lady, if you don’t let go of him, not only will I call security, but I’ll call the police too, and we will file charges.”
“You’ll be doing no such thing,” the woman said. And the last thing Clara remembered was Declan rushing forward to catch her.
When Clara woke up, she was on a small plane. Her vision was blurry, but from what she could tell, it was nothing like the luxury aircraft that belonged to Kellan. It shook and rattled and there were only four seats in the whole main cabin.
Clara was slumped over in her chair, and sitting up took a minute. Her head was pounding, and her body ached like she had the flu.
She rubbed her face. Where am I? Then it hit her – she’d been at the botanical gardens with Declan.
Declan!
That crazy woman had tried to take him.
She shoved herself upright, but didn’t get far. She was buckled into the seat, but not tied down in any way. She unbuckled herself and stood up, lurching forward. “Declan! Where are you?”
Then the same woman from the botanical gardens materialized, seated directly across from where Clara stood.
She shimmered into view, as if a veil had dropped.
“Where’s Declan?” Clara tried to shout, but her voice was hoarse.
“Sit down,” the woman said, and Clara’s body obeyed the woman. Clara pushed back, trying to resist, but her legs stepped backward, and she sat back down into the seat.
“Please tell me where he is.” her voice cracked as she spoke.
“He’s fine.” She made a lazy gesture to the left, and Declan materialized in the seat next to Clara’s.
Clara tried to reach out and touch his arm, but her hand met an invisible barrier. This time it didn’t shock her. “Sweetie, are you okay?”
Declan didn’t answer her, but he cut his eyes toward the woman and glared. His jaw tightened and he bared his teeth, making a hissing noise at her.
“Little beast,” the woman said. And then she laughed.
Declan’s mouth flattened out and his glare grew. At that moment, he looked far older than five years old.
“How did we get here? And what do you want with us?” Clara asked.
“I put a spell on you,” the woman said. “It was the easiest I’ve ever done. You must have a very susceptible mind.”
Shame flooded Clara, pooling in her stomach. This woman had hit a nerve; Clara really was gullible. It was how she’d had countless friends who took advantage of her. It was the reason that, in the distant past, she’d lent money to family members who would never pay her back. And the kicker – it was the reason she’d fallen for her ex.
She wanted to believe the best about people. It rarely worked out. But that was irrelevant. Right now she was in charge of a five-year-old boy who was currently being held captive by a crazy person.
“His father is going to be looking for us. He’ll call the police.”
The woman cackled. “The police in Scotland? Ha. They’re useless against me. You asked how you got here. I’ll tell you. I compelled you.”
“You drugged me.”
The woman’s mouth dropped open and she placed one hand over her heart. “Me? Use synthetic narcotics? Never. I would not lower myself to touch something made by humans.” What the hell is this woman talking about? If she’s not high on drugs, then she’s crazy. “I compelled you, with a simple spell, and you came with me.”
Clara whipped her head toward Declan, whose little fists were clenched tight. Had the woman drugged him too? His pupils looked normal, and his breathing seemed okay. But he was a feisty kid. There was no way to get him out of any public place without causing a spectacle on a good day. “What about Declan? Did you drug him too?”
“Do not use the word ‘drug’ again. You will not enjoy the consequences. And no, I did not compel the little beast.”
“Stop calling him a beast. He’s a little boy.”
The woman shook her head. “So gullible. My spells don’t work on Declan’s kind, sadly, or we would never have been in this bind.”
Clara wasn’t going to argue with her. “Who are you then? And what do you want?”
“I’m Eithne, leader of the Coven of Méabh.”
“That doesn’t tell me anything.”
“I will spell it out for you, since you are too simple to infer.” The woman turned her hands over, palm up. From her hands, a misty curtain grew, until Clara could no longer see the woman. “I am a witch.”
Clara ignored the implication that she was stupid, although she felt very stupid at the moment for getting kidnapped by this deranged woman. Clara had assumed – very incorrectly – that being in a public place like the gardens would keep her and Declan safe.
As the witch reappeared from behind the mist, Clara’s heart stammered. Witches weren’t real. This had to be fake. A parlor
trick, or magic of some kind. Technology was so powerful now, it had to be a projection. But whether or not the woman was a witch wasn’t important. Getting Declan off this plane safely was what mattered.
And since Clara didn’t have a parachute, and wouldn't know how to use it if she did, she was going to have to stay calm and try to reason with this woman.
“So what do you want?” Clara asked.
“I want the boy. And I want his father.”
So she knew who Kellan was. That made sense. This woman had invested a lot of time and money to get her and Declan, so she’d be wanting money. A ransom.
“His father will pay any amount for his safety, I can guarantee that.”
The woman threw her head back and laughed. “Money is of no interest to me.”
“What can I do? What do you need to get us off this plane?”
The woman steepled her fingers together. “There is nothing. You must simply wait.”
And for the next thirty minutes, Clara did just that. She forced herself to breathe slowly, to keep from hyperventilating. She kept her body turned toward Declan, talking to him about what Kindergarten would be like, hoping that her voice was helping him just a little bit. He never spoke back to her, but he did listen, keeping his eyes focused on hers the entire time.
15
Kellan
In his dragon shifter form, Kellan flew from the Shannon International Airport toward the Atlantic Ocean. In the distance, he spotted the place he was looking for: The Cliffs of Moher.
His old home.
The cliffs called out to him, and Kellan landed right on the exact spot where his family used to meet with the witches’ coven.
He wasn’t able to appreciate the arresting sight of them. He couldn’t greet the seven-hundred-foot cliff of sheer rock, covered in vivid green grass the way it deserved.
Right now, I have to find the fucking witch who’s taken my son. And Clara. She wasn’t just his nanny. He cared about her, and even if Declan was safe at home with his uncles, Kellan would risk his life to keep Clara safe.
Billionaire Dragon's Nanny (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 1) Page 7