by Sadie Sears
I shuddered at the thought, and the guy moved toward me, one arm outstretched before a flash of…huh…almost pain crossed his face. Then he turned and walked away again like he’d intended to begin pacing all along.
“A party nearby?” he prompted.
“Yes.”
“But now you’re in trouble?” He prompted me again when my words seemed to fail me as I recalled the events I’d run away from.
“Yes.” I looked back at him. “I mean, yes. The guy was chasing me.”
He whirled to face me, the movement so fast he was almost a blur, and his jaw tightened. “Who was chasing you?” His voice seemed to rumble from his chest, he kept it so low.
“I don’t know. Some awful monster thing.”
His eyes widened. Shit. I sounded crazy even to myself, and I’d seen the thing.
“It had tough, leathery-looking skin and something oozed from it. Like slime. Little pointed teeth and eyes that flashed red… And the claws. Twisted and sharp. I think it killed people,” I finished in a whisper.
I had his full attention now. He’d stopped pacing, and he was just watching me. “And now it’s chasing you?”
I nodded and held up my useless phone. “I took a video, but I need to call the police, and I need to charge this so they can see the evidence.”
“I can charge that.” Suddenly, his upturned palm was between us as he waited for me to put my phone in it.
I hesitated.
“I believe you, okay?” His words were abrupt, but his tone was gentle.
“Then you know I need to call the police.”
He stiffened at my statement, his gaze becoming hard to read. “I’m Draven Farrell.” He turned the hand that had been waiting for my phone, waiting for me to clasp it in greeting instead, but I hesitated.
I wanted to take it so badly, to touch him, but an introduction was an awkward subject change.
“Mae.” I nodded, but not taking his offered hand took all my strength. “Turner.”
He didn’t get the hint, and his hand remained between us. I sighed. Shaking his hand in introduction when I needed him to go along with everything I wanted was really no hardship. Not to mention, a huge part of me really just wanted to hold that hand.
I reached for him in a strange slow motion, electricity crackling in the air between us. When his fingers closed around mine, warmth washed right through me, and the feeling of safety from before returned.
I jerked away from him. Damn, that was weird. “Anyway. Like I said.” I looked at him pointedly. “I have to call the police. I have to go to them. I have to show them what I recorded of the attack.”
Throughout everything I said, he slowly shook his head. “No, no, and nope.” He murmured. “I don’t think the police can help.” He hesitated, but only briefly, and when he spoke again, his eyebrows were drawn down, and his voice was back to being gravelly. Fierce. “But I still need to see your footage. I need to charge your phone.” Again, he put his hand out between us.
“You?” I almost scoffed. Hell, I wanted to scoff. But something deep inside me trusted him. It believed he could help even when my head was blaring an alarm that this guy was even lying about believing me. Otherwise, why couldn’t we just go to the police?
“I’m gonna need your passcode.” His voice was soft, persuasive, and I barely even thought the decision through before I blurted out the numbers. To a complete stranger.
A stranger with something to hide because who else avoided the police? But a stranger I had a weird, instinctive trust in, anyway.
I slipped my phone into his hand because why not? It was useless to me without charge, and he could unlock it any time he wanted now. My pull toward him was clearly confusing me.
I glanced over him. Holy hell. Maybe it was all just because he was another unattainable good-looking guy. He had brown hair that waved away from his face, and my fingers itched to bury themselves in it, deep brown eyes I could drown in, and muscles I could see the edges of even beneath the fabric of his shirt. Every inch of him almost begged me to touch him, to explore him.
I stepped back. Away from him because that way lay danger. My internal alarm blared louder than ever. But not because I was scared of him. No. Shit, no. It hadn’t been warning me to fear him.
It sounded because I wanted him.
But I had one objective. One. Not looking at this guy, not touching him, certainly not licking him.
Only…something told me he could help me. My instincts had never screamed louder, and my head had never been so noisy.
He’d slipped my phone into his pants pocket, and I watched the movement before lifting my gaze back to his face, noting the tension in his muscles as he seemed to be waiting for my response to everything that was happening.
“Okay.” It was a nothing word. It conveyed nothing of how I felt about any of this, but as soon as I spoke it, he relaxed, a soft sigh escaping him as his shoulders and jaw loosened. “If there’s no other way, you can help me, I suppose.”
But I wasn’t happy about it. Hell, two sides of myself were firmly at war. I shouldn’t trust some random guy who’d literally locked me in a room. And I didn’t want to stay while he charged my phone and played at being some vigilante.
Except the other part of me that believed he could do all he said yelled right back at my sensible side that staying here with this guy—Draven—who made me feel safe, was the right choice, the only choice.
I blew out a heavy sigh, shutting down all of my conflicted thoughts. It didn’t matter what any part of myself wanted.
“I’m staying because it doesn’t look like I have much choice. This is the best out of two bad choices. I can either go out there and let myself be hunted in the woods, or I can stay with a stranger and hope you kill me fast if you turn out to be a serial killer.”
His lips tilted up in a half smile at that, but I tsked. Despite the feeling of safety, it didn’t look like I could actually win in this situation. I’d just surrendered my phone and passcode, and I couldn’t leave in case I got hunted down and killed.
Good times.
4
Draven
I stood perfectly still as a battle raged inside me. I’d never experienced anything like it, and I pressed my mouth tight against unexpected pain. Usually, my demon was an insidious hum in my mind, not even a whisper. We’d moved past the need for direct communication. We existed symbiotically. He was a hiss of desire—temptation in its purest form, always leading me to the next unworthy act, to the one that would keep Saul happy and create the most chaos and harm.
And he was thrilled we had a job to do now, and that the job was pretty much doing itself right in front of me.
She was she. Mae was the she Saul wanted me to locate for him, and she’d fucking located herself. My demon could hardly control his glee, and I pressed my mouth tighter to keep his chortles from slipping free.
But my chest vibrated again, too big to be merely indigestion, and I pressed my palm against it as Mae’s eyes widened like she could sense my battle.
“Indigestion.” I croaked the lie as my dragon flicked its tail angrily across my chest, and I bent double.
Protect her. The words ripped right into my mind in a voice ancient-sounding and underused. I almost didn’t recognize it. My dragon hadn’t been active since… Hell, I couldn’t even remember how long it had slept inside me while my demon took on all navigation and decision-supervising duties.
I shook my head as I looked at Mae again.
“What?” Her eyes narrowed as suspicion entered her gaze, and she shuffled her feet where she stood.
Everything she said was strong, but some of it was sheer bravado more than bravery. My demon enjoyed that. We could create a chink in that bravado and play with her for fun, breaking her spirit, before turning her over to Saul for him to finish the job.
Or… Two figures floated through my mind, high-value numbers inserted there by my demon. He wanted me to recall the higher figure I could earn i
f Saul received Mae dead.
But my dragon objected, and I bent over again, clutching my chest, waiting for the pain of his anger to subside.
Protect her. The scratchy voice was stronger now, and I reached out to steady myself, swallowing back a gasp as warm, small fingers entwined with mine.
“Do you need to sit?” Even the concern in her voice hurt.
I’d been considering her death, and she seemed to want to help me. I clutched her hand like a lifeline before she suddenly withdrew it.
Touching her only brought more pain as it displeased my demon. This battle would rip me apart if I didn’t get a handle on it.
“The police?” Her simple question didn’t have a simple answer.
I shook my head in reply, grateful now for the edge of pain in my ragged breathing that prevented my answer. No police. We couldn’t go to the police. Mae couldn’t go the police.
I couldn’t let her.
Saul had them in his pocket, and if she even tried, I’d probably be the first sacrifice he made. I’d done enough illegal shit for him that it would tie the whole police department up for several weeks while they created my rap sheet.
I swallowed, trying to make sense of my confusion. For the first time, I wasn’t just falling in line with my demon. He wanted one thing, and I was resisting him. But why? Saul wanted a delivery, and it should have been that simple. It always had been before.
My dragon shifted again. Mate.
The simple word rumbled through me, and my chest hollowed. It turned out that realization was cold.
“Come inside the house.” Tiredness filled my words.
It hurt to be caught between my demon and my dragon. They’d never fought this way. I hadn’t been prepared for the pain.
“Inside the house?” Mae’s eyes widened.
“It’s the safest place for you right now.” I could protect her from Saul.
My dragon instinct warred against my usual logic to complete an assignment and get paid. The assignments made my demon happy, and cold, hard cash did it for me. It allowed me to compartmentalize.
I walked ahead of her out of the garage, checking the immediate surroundings for any hint of Saul or his demon henchmen before I let Mae creep out behind me. The gravel I usually liked for security crunched loudly under our feet, and I was torn between speeding up to get the walking part over with and slowing down to make it quiet.
But we reached the house without issue, and I closed the door behind us with a decisive click.
“This really is the safest place for you right now,” I reaffirmed as I took in her huge pupils and closed posture.
She wrapped her arms around herself, tucking herself in and giving the impression of being smaller. I wanted to take her into my arms and hold her, perhaps even kiss her with the attention I’d lacked before, but when she saw me watching, she stood straighter and jutted her chin like it was a challenge.
Any hint of fear dropped away, and my dragon shifted, its interest piqued by her strength of character.
My dragon and demon were both strangely content, satisfaction radiating from both of them, although the demon was happy because we were clearly halfway to taking Mae to Saul—we had her in a second location and she trusted me—and my dragon was happy simply because she was with me. From here, he could watch her, and that seemed to be enough for now. An uneasy accord seemed to have formed between the three of us.
“Okay.” It was the only word she said as she nodded.
I breathed a sigh of relief as she relented to the situation, although suspicion still shone in her eyes.
“Come on, I’ll get you something to eat.” I led her to the kitchen, hoping to distract her from the lingering doubts she still had. “Grilled cheese?”
She laughed, although she seemed surprised she had because she flattened her lips as soon as the sound emerged. Then she nodded. “Sounds good.”
“I can make you something else if you prefer?” Something compelled me not to let her think I could only cook one thing and it was grilled cheese.
I definitely wasn’t a useless mate. The word felt alien in my mind, but my dragon grabbed it and almost rolled itself in it, content to just know.
No food.
I stiffened at the hissed demand, almost not recognizing the voice as my demon asserted himself.
“I don’t kill.” I blurted the words in answer before I had chance to think them. Starvation would eventually kill her, which was what my demon wanted, but I’d made myself clear.
Mae took a step backward, but the lift of her chin remained defiant. “I’m kind of counting on that,” she said.
I didn’t speak again, simply waved her into the kitchen so I could prepare her something to eat.
When it was ready, she took a hesitant bite, but quickly finished the entire sandwich before wiping her hands on a napkin. “So, after you’ve finished charging my phone, do we go to the police then?”
I stiffened, looking at the frying pan I was drying. It was already dry, but I kept wiping anyway, deliberately focusing my attention away from Mae as I considered my response. “Believe me, that’s still a really bad idea.” She had no reason to believe me at all, but I slid my gaze to her and found her watching me, her big green eyes assessing. “Let me show you around.” It was preferable to being under such scrutiny.
Pride, driven by my dragon, drew large breaths into a puffed-out chest at being able to show Mae our home. It contained even more of our treasures, a collection I’d carefully amassed over years of searches—surely guaranteed to impress anyone.
But my footsteps faltered.
She’d already been to Saul’s house—an estate, she’d called it. She’d seen how much a dragon shifter could offer, even if she didn’t know what exactly she’d seen. And my house was modest in comparison.
My demon wasn’t bothered by thoughts such as these. The only thing that mattered, the only point on his agenda was fulfilling Saul’s task, and leading Mae deeper into my home did that quite nicely, so he was simply glad to have her there. That was the decision he wanted me to make.
I showed her upstairs and down the hallway to the guestroom, but she stopped before we reached there, looking through the large doors that led out to my folly, my balcony, possibly the only luxury I’d allowed myself when I built the house.
As soon as I’d bought the piece of land on the bluff overlooking the cliffs, practically perched on the edge of them, I’d known what I needed to do to maximize my access across the sea, as well as making the most of the incredible views.
“You like it?” Her approval was suddenly—unexpectedly—the most important thing on my mind.
She nodded. “The sky is amazing.”
Stars glittered as far as the eye could see, and as we stood in the silence, the sound of crashing waves could just be heard from the rocks at the base of the cliffs.
I caught my breath at her fascination with the sky as she moved a step closer to the window, and my dragon murmured approval.
But the disapproval of my demon weighed me down, and I opened the door at my left. “This is the guest bedroom.” Only I hadn’t been expecting guests. “It’s clean but a bit basic.”
I walked straight to the window and drew the curtains. I didn’t need anyone to know Mae was in my house.
“I don’t think I’d call this basic.” Her eyebrow quirked, and I chuckled.
It was a nice room, but there weren’t any of my treasures in here. Nothing to glimmer or glint or shine gently in low light.
“Do you have a phone? Can I use it?”
She wouldn’t let the phone thing drop.
“I know. The police. But you can relax. I’ll deal with it.” I watched her a moment, and she didn’t say anything else, so I changed the subject. “I’ll be right back. You need something else to wear.”
She glanced down at the red dress she’d obviously worn to the party and smoothed her hand over a tear up the thigh. “Yeah.”
“I’ll be right b
ack.” Anxiety gave me a stiff-legged march all the way to my room because I had nothing for a woman to wear.
In the end, I dug out an old, soft T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. They’d be acres too big, but they had a drawstring at the waist and elastic cuffs around the ankles, so they might work for a few hours at least.
“Thanks.” She took the clothes from my outstretched arms when I rejoined her, and as she pressed them to her chest, I inhaled.
The combination of our scents filled my chest, and my dragon’s contentment increased.
Hey. Mind on the job. Now my demon had started talking to me again, I needed him to stop.
Everything about Mae captivated me, and my dragon didn’t want me to turn away, didn’t want me to even blink, but she shuffled her feet as though my presence made her uncomfortable.
“I’ll leave you to it.” I wanted to step forward and kiss her. Softly, reverently, like she deserved.
But she stepped back, and I lingered for a moment longer as my awkwardness grew to epic proportions. Finally, my demon snorted in disgust, and I wheeled around.
“My room’s just down here if you want me.” I cringed and didn’t listen to her reply as I ran my words through my head. Nice. Real smooth.
My demon laughed. Yeah, nice, dumbass.
I returned to my room and leaned against the door after I closed it, images of what Mae might look like wearing my clothes floating through my mind. I closed my eyes against them, wishing I could make it so my demon also wouldn’t see them, because as much comfort as the thoughts brought to my dragon, they riled my demon up an equal amount.
I paced, but the movement was him, all sharp movements and arms that took up too much space as I swung them.
It was no good. I had to do something. There was a woman down the hallway I wanted to kiss…to claim, and I also had pretty much a kill order for her. Saul wanted her, and what Saul wanted, I gave him.