Then why did she react so strongly toward him? Why did her body ache for his touch all the time? Why did his lightest caress result in an orgasm so strong, she felt as if her body was being ripped apart from the extreme of pleasure?
There had to be an explanation for those things.
Dylan insisted it was because he was a dragon shifter and she was his mate.
Holly half believed him.
Maybe more than half?
The next few minutes would confirm that belief one way or the other.
“Dylan!” She moved quickly to where he now stood. “I don’t—” She raised her hand to once again touch the hardness of one of his cheeks. “Whatever happens, I—I want you to know that I—” She broke off and turned sharply as she heard a sound and felt the rush of breeze behind her.
Standing on the roof not six feet in front of her was a regally majestic, dark metallic-gray dragon.
Chapter 11
Holly could only stare, too shocked to care that her mouth was hanging open and her heart was pounding so loudly she knew Dylan and the dragon must be able to hear it too.
The dragon.
Dylan had said the Pendragon brothers’ dragons were the color of their eyes, and Garrett’s eyes were this deep metallic gray…
Was it possible this was Garrett in dragon form?
“You’re beautiful,” she murmured softly.
The dragon was at least four times her own height of five foot and one inch, with intelligent gray eyes unblinking below a wide forehead. His snout was narrower, the wide mouth full of long and pointed teeth. He had wide “shoulders” and a broad back, with four powerful legs. The ends of his “hands” were tipped with the same lethal-looking talons she’d seen on the ends of Dylan’s fingers.
“So are you,” the dragon answered.
The dragon answered.
Holly took a dazed step forward, her hand raised as she reached out to touch those moonlight-and-shadow scales.
“What the fuck are you doing back here?”
Holly froze at the harsh sound of Dylan’s voice, only her head moving as she swiveled her neck to look at him. She drew in a gasp when she saw the fury blazing in his glittering blue eyes. Long black talons had sprouted from the end of his fingers, and Holly could see two rows of lethal-looking teeth in his mouth as he gave the gray dragon a challenging snarl.
The dragon snorted. “We have an emergency.”
“Such as?” Dylan’s answer confirmed he could also hear the dragon’s—Garrett’s?—words.
“While you and your…mate”—the dragon glanced at Holly—“were up here, Gayle Wilson left the apartment. Markovic’s people grabbed her as soon as she stepped out onto the street.”
“What?” Holly gasped.
“How do you know this?” Dylan demanded.
The dragon turned dark gray eyes on him. “I decided my time would be better spent remaining in London helping to protect your mate and her sister rather than returning to Wales.”
Dylan should have guessed his headstrong younger brother wouldn’t do as he asked. Nevertheless, his anger at the unwelcome arrival of his brother’s dragon and Holly’s obvious fascination with him evaporated at the gravity of Garrett’s news.
Well, it didn’t evaporate exactly, Dylan amended grimly. It was merely put to the back of his mind for now in favor of dealing with the more immediate problem. But it was a subject that would be revisited later. As would his demand to know what Holly had been about to say immediately before Garrett interrupted them.
The news his future sister-in-law had not only disobeyed Dylan’s instruction to remain in the apartment but was now a prisoner of the very man he was supposed to protect her from now took precedence over everything else.
He also had the disturbing feeling that Markovic having taken Gayle may have something to do with his phone call and conversation with the other man earlier this evening.
“Where are they now?” Dylan demanded economically.
“I followed them to where they took her into the back entrance of Utopia.” His brother’s reply was just as terse. “It’s a nightclub and casino owned by Markovic.”
“I know what it is,” Dylan growled before turning to a white-faced Holly. “I want you to go back inside and—”
“Absolutely not.” Holly’s breath left her in a whoosh as she came out of her shock. “Gayle is my sister, and if Markovic has abducted her…” She looked up at the dragon for confirmation and received it in a nod from that large, majestic head. “If the two of you are going to Utopia, I’m coming with you,” she told Dylan firmly.
“You will do as I say,” he thundered.
Her eyes narrowed. “You know that voice doesn’t work on me. Or the angry glitter in your eyes,” she added as his eyes did exactly that. “And I’m either going with you to Utopia, or I’ll follow in the rental car shortly after. It’s your choice.” She tilted her chin, the challenge of her gaze meeting Dylan’s.
If Gayle was in danger, and it very much appeared that she was, then Holly had every intention of being involved in getting her sister back safely.
Why the hell Gayle had decided to leave the apartment at all was beyond her. Although she should perhaps have guessed Gayle was up to something after her sister acquiesced so timidly to her lecture of politeness toward Dylan in future. Not that the why or how really mattered when the end result was that Gayle was now in the hands of Gregori Markovic, the reputedly cold and ruthless leader of the London Russian bratva.
“A worthy dragon mate,” the glittering gray dragon murmured with admiration.
Dylan turned angry eyes on his brother. “She’s my mate,” he bit out fiercely.
The dragon’s nostrils flared wide as he drew in a deep breath. “The lack of your scent on her tells me she is still unmated.” He drew in another satisfying breath.
Holly frowned. Could the gray dragon tell just from breathing in their scent that she and Dylan hadn’t yet completed their mating? God, how embarrassing if that were the case.
And she, Holly realized a little dazedly, now seemed to have accepted Dylan was a dragon shifter. Not only that, but that she was his mate.
She gave a self-derisive snort. Hard not to accept the dragon-shifter part when she was in the presence of a twenty-foot talking dragon whom she was pretty sure was also Dylan’s brother, Garrett.
“Mine.” The word that rumbled from Dylan’s chest had the same resonance as when Garrett’s dragon spoke.
Because Dylan was close to shifting too? Leaving Holly in the presence of not one but two twenty-foot dragons?
She stepped between Dylan and the gray dragon. “When the two of you have quite finished with this dragon pissing contest,”—she glared at each of them in turn—“perhaps we should all concentrate on the fact my sister has been kidnapped and is in danger.” Just saying those word caused Holly’s stomach to give a sickening lurch.
Her years working at the A&E department of the hospital had revealed the Russian Bratva had many ingenious ways of getting information out of people. The thought of any of those methods being used on Gayle made her feel sick.
“Make your decision, Dylan,” she snapped. “I told you the choices: you can take me to Utopia with you, or I’m driving myself there. Either way, I’m leaving now.” She didn’t wait for his answer as she marched over to where the steps took her back down to the apartment.
Dylan turned to glare at his brother as Holly disappeared into the stairwell. “We’ll meet you at Utopia. And keep your eyes, and everything else, off my mate,” he added harshly.
Garrett’s dragon gave a chuff of laughter. “A little healthy competition is good for you.”
Dylan snorted. “There’s nothing in the least healthy about it in regard to your own continuing longevity.”
His brother bared his pointed teeth in a smile. “I wonder which of my imperious brothers will fall victim to the mating heat next,” he mused.
“It could be you,” Dylan taunted.
“Much as I would love a mate of my own, I hope that doesn’t happen just yet.” Garrett grinned. “I’m having way too much fun watching my arrogant brothers fall at the feet of their mates.”
“And one day it will be our turn to laugh at you,” Dylan warned. “We’ll meet up with you outside Utopia,” he repeated and then hurried over to descend the stairs into the apartment before Holly could carry out her threat to leave without him.
One way or another, he decided, Holly must learn to obey him. For her own continued wellbeing and safety.
Their mating must also be completed at the earliest opportunity. He refused absolutely to risk having to suffer any more of Garrett’s teasing.
As for his future sister-in-law…
Gayle’s habit of getting herself into difficult situations was becoming a continuous thorn in his side. Something else that would need to be dealt with.
Once they’d rescued Gayle from the ungentle hands of Gregori Markovic.
Dylan caught up with Holly as she was about to leave the apartment, his hand firm about her arm. “We’re going in my car.”
Her brows rose as they stepped into the private lift together. “You keep a car here in London?”
“Several,” he dismissed as he pressed the button for the garage level of the building.
Yet another reminder to Holly of the yawning gap in their lifestyles and finances.
The make of Dylan’s low black sports car made her frown before she sank into the luxury of the heated leather passenger seat and acknowledged, and as quickly dismissed, that extreme wealth obviously came with a lot of advantages. The only thing that mattered to Holly right now was finding Gayle and bringing her home safely.
The rest of it, Dylan being a dragon shifter, all his brothers being dragon shifters, the fact Dylan claimed she was his fated mate, would have to wait.
Two tall, burly men in black suits, their hair in buzz cuts, stood guard beside the back entrance into Utopia. They didn’t seem to be in the least intimidated by the two even more powerful men, dragon shifters, standing either side of Holly.
“No appointment, no admittance,” one of them replied in answer to Dylan’s request to see Gregori Markovic.
Or perhaps they just weren’t intelligent enough to realize when they were out-muscled, Holly acknowledged ruefully as she heard the low rumble in Dylan’s chest. “I believe if you tell Mr. Markovic that Dr. Holly Wilson is waiting outside, Gayle Wilson’s sister, that you’ll find he will see me.” She forced herself to speak politely.
She was rewarded by a glimmer of recognition in one of the bodyguard’s eyes at the mention of Gayle’s name before he stepped away to speak softly into the mouthpiece on his lapel.
That told her Gayle was definitely here. Holly only hoped she was in time to save her sister from—
“Mr. Markovic will see you,” the bodyguard informed her gruffly before opening the door for her to enter. “Only you.” He stepped forward to block Dylan and Garrett from entering the building with her.
Dylan’s temper, usually more reasonable than most of his brothers’, was already stretched to breaking point after witnessing Holly’s admiration for Garrett’s dragon earlier. He was in no mood to charm or compel one, or even two, of Markovic’s goons.
He stepped up into the other man’s face. “Where she goes, I go, and where I go, he goes.” He kept eye contact with the bodyguard as he pointed over his shoulder at Garrett.
“Mr. Markovic—”
“Can kiss my ass,” Dylan growled. “My name is Dylan Pendragon, and this is my brother Garrett. We’re going inside with Dr. Wilson. But you’re welcome to try to stop us, if that’s what you feel you need to do.” He was in the mood to punch someone, and it might as well be this guy rather than Garrett.
The bodyguard continued to glare at him for several seconds before tilting his head as he obviously listened to someone speaking into his earpiece. “Mr. Volkov says you can both accompany Dr. Wilson,” he conceded grudgingly. “Go to the top of the stairs. Miss Rider will be waiting to take you to Mr. Markovic’s office.”
“And who is Miss Rider?”
“Mr. Markovic’s personal assistant.”
Garrett grinned as he passed the bodyguard. “Nice suit, but you really need to change your hairdresser. That style is so ex-military.”
Dylan’s teeth ground together at his brother’s deliberate attempt to antagonize Markovic’s bodyguards. Garrett loved nothing better than a fight, and the two goons were more of a match for them than most men.
Maybe punching Garrett wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Holly had no difficulty in knowing the intimidating man standing at the top of the stairs couldn’t be the expected Miss Rider.
Tall and powerful, the man wore a perfectly tailored dark suit that probably cost as much as she earned in a year. His hair was a white blond and reached down to his shoulders. The palest gray eyes Holly had ever seen dominated a harshly handsome face. Killer’s eyes, she recognized with a shiver down the length of her spine.
She hoped to God none of her nervousness showed on her face as she reached the top of the stairs.
He gave a formal nod. “I apologize for Miss Rider’s absence. She is unavailable at the moment. I am Nikolai Volkov, Mr. Markovic’s associate.”
Gregori Markovic’s head of security. Also, the Russian known as the Wolf. “Mr. Volkov.” Holly returned the nod but kept both her hands at her sides. She had no intention of shaking the hand of the man who was no doubt responsible for kidnapping her sister.
A humorless smile curved his sculpted lips. “Dr. Wilson.” He glanced past her at the two men now standing behind her. “And I see you brought two of the Mr. Pendragons with you.”
There was no reply from either Dylan or Garrett, but Holly was aware of them standing behind her. She didn’t dare turn and look at either of them, knowing instinctively the Wolf wasn’t the sort of man anyone should turn their back on, even for a second. “I want to speak to Mr. Markovic,” she prompted pointedly.
“Of course.” Nikolai Volkov turned to lead the way down the hallway, his measured and graceful strides almost as predatory as Dylan’s and Garrett’s.
Holly hadn’t know what to expect of Gregori Markovic himself, but whatever she’d been expecting, the urbanely handsome man who rose from the leather seat behind the desk as she entered the office wasn’t it.
That air of urbanity was dispelled the moment he stepped out from behind the desk. Tall and dark-haired, with eyes so dark a brown they appeared almost black, Markovic exuded an aura of power it was impossible to ignore. It would be unwise to ignore.
Hard to believe that both he and Volkov were married, with children. Holly couldn’t imagine what women had ever been brave enough to marry two such dynamic and dangerous men.
Markovic held out his hand in greeting. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Wilson.”
“Is it?” Holly replied sharply, touching his hand briefly out of habitual good manners rather than a wish to be polite to the man who held her sister captive.
“Of course.” He glanced at the two men standing behind her. “Dylan.” He nodded briefly. “Garrett.” The second nod was even briefer. “Can I offer any of you refreshment?”
“I’m not here for a social visit,” Holly snapped.
“Then what can I do for you all this evening?” Markovic moved to rest back against the front of his desk. His expression was one of mild query, but those obsidian eyes were narrowed guardedly.
Holly gave Dylan and Garrett a brief glance, slightly unnerved by their continued silence. That brief look was enough to show her that Nikolai Volkov had also entered the room and was standing with his back against the closed door. She realized this was the reason for Dylan and Garrett’s silence: Dylan’s icy-blue gaze was fixed on Volkov, and Garrett’s on Markovic.
She turned to glare at Gregori Markovic. “What you can do is return my sister to me.”
One dark brow rose
. “Gayle?”
She frowned her irritation at his familiar use of her sister’s name. “As I only have the one sister, then yes, I mean Gayle.”
He grimaced. “I’m confused by your use of the phrase ‘return her to you’?”
Holly’s lids narrowed. “Don’t try to pretend you don’t have her here somewhere, because your men were seen escorting her inside this club.”
“By whom?”
“By me.” Garrett stepped forward challengingly.
Markovic held up a hand as Nikolai Volkov also stepped forward. “I am sure Mr. Pendragon does not mean to sound or look threatening, Nikolai.”
“I think you’ll find that he does.” Dylan also stepped forward. “As do I,” he added in low warning.
Holly glanced from one man to the next, all four of them obviously on high alert. Three of them, at least, were ready to launch into battle mode at the slightest provocation. Only Gregori Markovic remained calm and unmoving as he continued to lean against his desk. Outwardly calm, at least.
Lord save her from too much testosterone in one room! “My sister,” Holly reminded him pointedly.
Markovic smiled slightly. “I’m not denying she’s here, Dr. Wilson, only your inference that Gayle was brought here against her will.”
Holly blinked, not sure she’d heard him correctly. “Are you implying—” She moistened suddenly dry lips. “Are you saying my sister came here voluntarily?”
“I am saying that, yes.” He nodded. “If you come with me, I have no doubt your sister will confirm that to be the case.” He straightened and stepped forward.
“Dylan,” Holly bit out sharply as he gave a warning growl.
Markovic turned an icy-black gaze on Dylan. “You and I will talk later, Mr. Pendragon.” It was a promise rather than a threat. “For the moment, I suggest you control your dragon so that we can put your mate’s mind at rest concerning the welfare of her sister.”
Holly’s eyes widened.
Dylan (Dragon Hearts 4) Page 10