A Tiger's Destiny (Tiger Protectors Book 3) (13 page)

When the fire died down, she saw the men striding toward her.

Then the little wolf in her arms changed into a girl of four or five, looking up at her with curious eyes.

Melissa’s eye twitched as shock moved through her. Before the men could reach her, she fainted.

D
raven watched
Ran pace in agitation in front of the couch where they’d deposited their latest acquisition.

Apparently, despite their move to being quite civilized beasts, dragons were still all about the treasure.

And this woman was a treasure indeed. A beautiful, heart-shaped face. Warm brown skin with deep red lips. A short, generously proportioned body that begged to be warmed by two dragons. And so brave. And so stupid. Draven broke into a cold sweat just thinking about it.

But when Ran set his mind to something, he couldn’t be stopped. Having partnered with him for hundreds of years, he knew Ran almost better than he knew himself.

And when Ran got ideas about a female…

“We can’t keep her,” Draven said, threading a hand through his hair. “You know we can’t. You remember what happened last time.”

Ransom gave him an exasperated sigh, running his hand through his golden hair. “This is different. You saw her. She took on an entire pack of wolves!”

It was Draven’s turn to sigh. “Because she clearly didn’t know what she was getting herself into. She didn’t know they were shifters.”

“A pack of men, then,” Ran said softly, sitting beside her on the couch and reaching up with one hand to lightly stroke the hair off her face. “She’s a dragon-heart if I’ve ever seen one.”

Draven put a hand up to his face in frustration. “That’s just the point, Ransom,” he said, using his partner’s full name. “We don’t know if you’ve ever seen one.”

Ran just snorted and continued to stare at their new acquisition.

Draven put a hand on Ran’s shoulder, but he shrugged it off. Dragons rarely touched, but it was a surefire way to get a their attention. “I don’t want to see you hurt again,” he said to his friend. “I don’t want to see us get committed and…”

He trailed off as Ran growled and pushed off from the couch to pace the room again.

After they’d delivered the little wolf shifter girl back to her high-powered family, who was ecstatic she was unharmed, they’d sent a report to their commander and then come back here with the human female, keeping her out of sight the entire time.

The woman stirred slightly, murmuring something about cheese as she rolled and placed a hand over her head. She smacked her lips and made a slight chewing sound before grumbling and rolling onto her stomach with a little sigh.

He heard a small growl from her midsection and realized she was hungry.

Ran stepped forward. “She’s hungry. Ring for food.”

Draven nodded reluctantly and went to order takeout. They rarely left their huge New York loft located in one of the most expensive buildings in the city. After all, dragons didn’t collect treasure for nothing.

And with dragon blood being exceedingly valuable, they didn’t risk going out when they didn’t need to. Only the toughest jobs or the favors called in by the highest in command could bring them.

Though some of the lesser dragons could probably be summoned more easily.

But the black and gold dragon were a notoriously strong pair, known for taking care of some of the toughest cases and bringing down some of the most evil of rogue shifters and clans.

When the food was ordered, Draven sat on a chaise lounge and looked out over the cloudy, dreary city. He felt Ran’s presence behind him, though the other man’s approach was silent.

Despite being together for a long time, things had been silent between them. Ever since
her
.

What was there to say? They’d shared in that heartbreak, and Draven knew as much as he was protecting Ran, he was also protecting himself by distancing from the small woman sleeping fitfully on their couch.

“I want her,” Ran said simply, voice deep. “And you know I need your cooperation in this. It’s either we both take a mate or neither of us do.”

Draven knew that. Dragons had to work in partnerships to stay safe and to ensure no one came for their blood or struck in a vulnerable area. Dragons had powerful enemies, and even though one dragon could take on an entire pack of shifters, it was entirely possible even more could come at once. Thus, two dragons was widely considered the right number for no one to be able to trifle with.

No dragon enforcers had died since that rule had been instituted.

“I don’t know if I can do it again,” Draven said, running a hand through his hair as Ran came to stand next to him with folded arms, looking out at the same bleak, cold city Draven saw before him. Every day was the same, bleeding into more cold weeks, more empty beds, more nights of silence.

Something had to change. Draven knew that. But was this the change they needed? He looked over his shoulder at the woman, and softness filtered through the stone that made up his heart. What would happen to her if he didn’t accept her? Would they have to send her back to her town, knowing she could be in danger if the family of the pack they’d decimated caught wind of what happened?

He exhaled slowly. “What do you suggest?” he asked Ran. “As a first step, I mean.”

Ran sat on a chair facing him, languidly crossing one leg over the other. “I suggest we start by telling her the truth. If she’s not dragon-hearted enough to accept that, she definitely couldn’t handle being our mate.”

“And if she doesn’t accept it?” Draven asked.

Ran’s expression darkened as he looked out over the city again. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

M
elissa woke to deep
, unfamiliar voices. She sat up, blinking, and blearily became aware of two sets of eyes staring at her as she tried to rub the sleep from her own.

It was midday, though it was cloudy outside, and for a moment, Melissa felt as if she were still in a dream. For one, the apartment she was in was incomparably beautiful and upscale, with shining marble and granite all around along with modern furnishings in shades of gray.

The two men in the room were vaguely familiar, as if she’d seen them before but didn’t know them at all.

She blinked, trying to remember where she’d seen them. Surely she’d remember seeing such beautiful men.

Then the night before came flooding back. Running outside the library to defend a girl, meeting a gang. Talk about dragons. These two beautiful monsters. And then falling asleep.

She eyed them. Why did she call them monsters?

“Oh no, it’s quite accurate,” the blond said, standing and walking toward her. He wore casual gray sweats in soft cashmere and a light tee shirt in pale blue that accentuated his beautiful golden skin and draped nicely over muscles so toned they could be used to study anatomy. He crouched in front of her, and she studied his pointed, gorgeous features. They verged on delicate, but there was a hardness in his green eyes, the stubbornness of his jaw, and the straightness of his nose that kept his features more masculine than feminine.

Still, he was probably more beautiful than a lot of women. Another thrill ran through her as she studied him, this one for an entirely different reason. She could just imagine his hands on her body, stroking warmly over—

“Mm,” he said, a smirk curling the corners of his full lips. “I like it. Keep thinking.”

She blinked, this time in shock. “What?”

He stood, laughing, just as the bell rang and the other man, the taller, darker one with square features and a stern expression went to answer the door. She heard the rustling of plastic bags and money being exchanged, and then a wonderful scent filled the room, making her stomach twist with hunger.

She put a self-conscious hand over her stomach as the taller of the men placed the food unceremoniously on a table he dragged in front of her.

“Eat,” he said tersely, folding his arms.

She looked up at him. His hair, lashes, and brows were so dark. But then he had these beautiful blue eyes that contrasted nicely with everything. She seemed to remember him being called the black dragon, though she had to wrack her brain trying to remember why.

“Eat,” he said, pushing the bags toward her a little more gently. “You’ll need your strength for what Ran’s about to tell you.”

She swallowed and looked inside the bag. It looked like Chinese takeout, complete with silverware and plates. Enough for three. She took them out and looked at the others. “Should I serve us?”

The blond, Ran supposedly, shook his head. “We already ate. You go ahead.”

She obeyed him and started serving some out.

“I guess to start at the beginning, I’m Ransom, but I go by Ran. And this is my partner, Draven.”

“Partner?” she asked. “In what?”

“Here we go,” Draven said darkly. “I can’t watch.” He strode to the window, leaving her alone with Ran, who sat on a chair across from her. The apartment was big enough for a party of hundreds, so what were these two men doing, living here alone?

Were they gay?

“No,” the blond said, folding his arms and leaning back into his chair lazily. “Not that kind of partners.”

She choked. “What?”

“Not the quickest, are you?” Ran said, tilting his head curiously. “I’ve read your mind at last a half dozen times now and you still haven’t picked up on it.”

She tightened her lips in irritation. “That’s because it’s not supposed to be possible!” she burst out. Then she sighed and went back to her food, hoping an explanation was forthcoming.

“Your name’s Melissa, right?” Ran asked, folding his arms. “I got that from your mind.”

“Ran,” the one called Draven said, “stop playing and get it done.”

Ran simply sighed. “Fine.” He turned to Melissa. “Keep eating though. The last thing I need is you fainting on me before I can get it all out.”

“Why would I faint?” she asked, putting a hand to her head to stop the swirling feeling ebbing and flowing through her. She hoped he was right that she’d feel sharper soon.

He reached forward to open a takeout container, spooned chow mein onto a plate, and handed it to her with a fork. The smell made her lightheaded, and she sighed in relief as she took the first bite. After she’d finished her first plate, she set the food down, waiting for more information from Ran.

“Why would I faint?” she asked again, feeling fortified by the food. Now she just needed some water.

“Draven, water,” Ran demanded.

She bit the inside of her cheek. She’d never get used to that, feeling like her mind wasn’t her own anymore. At the same time, it was a little nice to get her needs met without asking.

But could she really believe this man could read minds? Or that she’d somehow survived a tussle with a huge gang and ended up in an upscale apartment with two unbelievably gorgeous underwear models?

No, she’d probably died and gone to heaven. Luckily, the chow mein tasted great there.

“You aren’t dead,” said the blond figment of her imagination. “And I’m not a figment of your imagination.”

She bit her lip and stared openly at him. The unbelievability of the situation brought back something else that had shocked her that she’d forgotten until now. “Last night there was a wolf cub, and she turned into a girl… Is she okay? And what was that?”

“That is what you’d call a shifter,” Ran said. “Maybe you’ve heard of werewolves?”

She nodded. “Only in books.”

“Well, werewolves are a kind of shifter. There are other species. Some of them are in the wild, some are out around you in plain sight, but you’d never know.”

“So what happened to her?” she asked worriedly.

“We saved her of course,” Ran said casually. “It’s what we do. We’re the enforcers of that world, the ones they call when things go wrong. We’re dragons.”

Her heart pounded. “Um, so by dragons, what do you mean exactly?” Somehow it was easier to believe in werewolves than in huge, mythical creatures. “Do you actually expect me to believe you can turn into great fire-breathing beasts?”

Ran looked at Draven, who shrugged. “Don’t ask me,” Draven said. “You’re the one who decided to do this.”

“When I heard them call you dragons, I thought it was some kind of gang reference or something…” she said, trailing off.

Ran let out a hearty laugh, looking over at Draven, who was shaking his dark head. “Hear that? She thinks we’re part of a gang.”

Draven rolled his eyes and turned to the window, staring out.

Ran leaned toward her. “No, sweetheart. I’m afraid what we are is much, much more dangerous than that,” he said, taking her chin with one finger and tilting her face to look at his. Heat sizzled through her. Attracted wasn’t the word for what she felt for him. It was so much more. She felt pulled to him beyond reason, beyond rational thought.

“Ran, for the last time, quit playing and tell her,” Draven snapped.

Ran sighed and released her, sitting back in his chair. Then he pulled a box of matches out of his pocket and held one up. “Dray? Can you help me with this? We both know my fire’s not appropriate.” He walked to Dray at the window and handed him the match.

Draven gave her a reluctant look and then breathed on the little stick. Fire shot from his mouth in a thin stream and lit the match instantly, bringing it to glowing life.

She’d never have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes.

Ran shook out the match and walked toward her. As he approached, she saw his eyes had changed. Instead of the deep emerald of before, they were now fluorescent green, with a single slit from top to bottom.

He grinned. “That kind of dragon.”

Melissa felt her heart pounding in her chest as she looked into Ran’s reptilian eyes glowing like green fire.

She swallowed, waiting for fear to come. Or for her to faint, as she had last night from the shock of it all.

But somehow this was different from everything that had come before. These men were something mysterious and terrifying, but they’d saved her from almost certain death with no motive of their own. Somehow, deep inside her, she felt assured, peaceful at finding out who they really were.

Even if it made no sense with the life she’d known so far.

But while Ran and Draven were something incredibly incomprehensible and frightening, she also knew they weren’t evil. That she was completely safe here, maybe more than anywhere else.

She reached out to touch Ran’s face, and he didn’t flinch away, though his eyes flickered closed momentarily as she brushed his skin, which felt warm and normal to the touch.

When his eyes opened, they were a deep green again, and there was an intense lust there that shook her to the bone. This man wanted her. And she didn’t know why.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked. “Why not take me to a hospital or leave me at the library?”

Draven leaned on the window and faced her with folded arms. “You wouldn’t have been safe. We aren’t used to humans interfering, but if they do, it’s our responsibility to make sure they don’t suffer any repercussions.”

“So you’re taking me home, then?”

His lines pressed into a thin line. “No.”

“What?” she asked, shocked. “Why not?”

“One, we need more time to make sure you’re safe,” Ran said. “But two, we’re hoping you might agree to a special kind of arrangement. One very few humans are ever offered.”

She blinked. “What?” The thought of staying here with these two gorgeous men was overwhelming enough, but knowing there was something else they wanted made her almost giddy with anticipation. “What do you want?”

“He wants to mate you,” Draven said, walking forward, looking imperious. His height was intimidating, his cold gaze more so. But still, just having him closer brought welcome heat surging through her. If possible, she was just as attracted to this man as she was to Ran. “He wants us to mate you together.”

Her jaw dropped as an image of the three of them entwined in silken sheets filled her mind, making her instantly wet. It had always been her ultimate fantasy: two men at once.

It was the chance of a lifetime. What woman wouldn’t accept it?

Ran tilted his head at her and narrowed his eyes. “Some women. You’d be surprised.”

She eyed him warily. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.” She turned to Draven. “What do you mean by mate? I heard the wolf refer to mating as well.”

Draven’s face darkened in anger. “What he meant was something that makes me want to kill him just thinking about it. What we mean is a lifetime of protection. Of commitment.”

“Um, so…
married
to two dragons, is that what you’re suggesting?” she asked. It was wilder than anything she’d read in her novels, but incredibly appealing at the same time. It felt like a dream, but the men sitting in front of her were so real.

“Yes,” Draven said, looking at her like he expected her to protest and run at any moment.

Hell no. She was staying for sure. She had to at least see what having two men like that at one time was like.

Ran let out a choked laugh. “At least she’s open to the sexual part of it. Some women aren’t so adventurous.”

Her mouth literally watered. “I can be adventurous. Definitely. I’m not seeing a downside.”

Draven exhaled slowly. “If we claim you, you’ll be immortal. You’ll share our blood. Should you choose to accept us, you’ll have to leave everything else behind. Your family, your job…” Draven eyed her carefully.

She realized she really was the perfect woman for this. “No one would miss me. I have no one to leave behind.”

Draven raised an eyebrow at that, his cold composure slightly shaken. “No one?”

She shook her head again. “Not for a long time. And as for my job, it was just a way to make it from day to day. A way to spend time in my books. To be honest…” She raised her gaze to Draven’s. “I’ve been waiting all my life for an adventure like this.”

A slow grin spread over Ran’s face, giving him a wicked look and flashing white, even teeth. “Oh, we can promise adventure.”

Draven simply gave her a long look. “Fine. We can see how we feel after a week, since you have to stay here anyway. After that, if it’s a good fit, once you truly understand what you’ve gotten yourself into, then we’ll see.”

He turned to walk away to a back room, and she called after him.

“When do I get to see your dragon forms?” she asked.

He glared. “That comes much later. It’s dangerous. For both of our sakes, you should have probably said no.”

“Then why did you ask me?”

“Because Ran thinks you have a quality that all dragons want, and he’s my partner so I have to go along with this, even if I’m not sure.”

“Flattering,” she said.

“Look,” he said. “Do what you want. But I’m not going to be the one blamed when you run.”

“I’m not going to run,” she spat out. “When I’ve set my mind to something, I do it, no matter how big or hard it is.”

Draven gave her a leer, making her realize the double meaning in what she said.

“Dammit!” she said as Ran cracked up, hitting his knee. “I didn’t mean it like that. But I’m not going to run, so you better get used to that.”

Draven just shrugged as he strode off down the hall. “We’ll see,” he called over his shoulder as he disappeared out of sight.

She frowned, indignant that he already doubted her.

“Don’t blame Dray,” Ran said. “We’ve been, pardon the pun, burned before.” He stood and reached out a hand. “You’ll win him over soon enough, dragon-heart.”

She looked up at him with shocked eyes. “What?”

He just grinned mysteriously. “Now come on. I’ll show you your room.”

She nodded slowly, following him down a hallway to a closed door. When it opened, she saw lush furnishings beyond her wildest dreams. A huge, beautiful bed with crimson covers. A large window with elaborate drapes. A nice walk-in closet. She opened it to see it was full of clothing. She supposed they must have gotten it when they went out.