Burning Desire (12 page)

On the other hand, she was able to truly be herself with Kiril. No lies, no deceptions … just herself.

Marrying Balladyn would make my family accept me as well as get me out from under their thumbs while ranking me high in the Dark society. It would also stop my mission with Kiril.

It was settled. She set her sights on Balladyn.

Balladyn leaned back slightly and caught her gaze. “Your family will come looking for me once they discover where you are.”

“Are you afraid of them?”

“No.” He said it with a heavy dose of wrath.

She smiled and took a deep breath, causing her chest to expand and her breasts to make contact with him. “I don’t think there is much you’re afraid of.”

“You don’t know what you’re trifling with, Shara.”

His warning caused her heart to miss a beat in fear, because she had no clue what she was stirring. She wouldn’t let him know that, however. “I guess it’s time I returned home then.”

She started to turn away only to have him grab her arm and jerk her back against the wall roughly. His nostrils flared as he leaned his face close to hers. “I don’t like being teased,” he said angrily.

“I’m not teasing.” She swallowed and knew she had one chance with Balladyn or all would be lost. There would be no second chances with him. “You’re what a Dark is supposed to be. Not what others pretend to be. You lead and rule with power unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. I had to see you. I never expected to talk to you, much less have you notice me.”

He eyed her skeptically.

Shara rested her hand on one of his biceps and felt it flex beneath her palm. “Say the word, and I’ll return home.”

“I don’t want you to leave.”

She didn’t smile. Balladyn might not have sent her away, but she had a long way to go before she was his.

Kiril’s face flashed in her mind.

Damn, but why couldn’t the Dragon King stay out of her head? He was going to mess up everything, and if she wasn’t careful, he was going to get her killed.

“I’m glad,” Shara said to Balladyn. “Show me more of this fortress you rule. I want to see what you do here. I want to see the power you command with a single look.”

“This is no place for a female of your rank.”

Shara should have known she wouldn’t get close to Balladyn. No matter his power, her father would claim he wasn’t Dark enough to offer for her. All because he had been turned from Light to Dark instead of being born into a Dark family as she had.

She wasn’t sure why it mattered since the Dark began as Light Fae before they turned.

“I should return you to your father immediately,” Balladyn said as he ran a finger along her chin. “But I won’t.”

He stepped away from her and held his arm out to the side, offering for her to walk beside him through the fortress. Shara trembled with excitement. At least she preferred to call it excitement and not dread.

She was acutely aware of how close he stood and how often he brushed against her. He wanted her. He didn’t try to hide it or play coy. It was there for her—for anyone—to see as he walked her through the great hall.

The looks of fury and jealousy from the female Darks made her grin. None had been bold enough for Balladyn. They thought to gain his attention by lounging around. He was a different breed altogether, just as Kiril was.

Damn!

She really was going to have to stop that. No matter what, she was going to make sure she ended up with Balladyn. At least then she wouldn’t have to trap Kiril. Perhaps she could make sure he was gone from Ireland so she never had to worry about him being captured.

They walked from corridor to corridor, up stairways and through towers, and though Balladyn stayed close, he kept a tight rein on his desire. Shara managed to get his attention, but she was going to have to keep it. If she didn’t do something … wild … he was liable to forget her when she left.

She waited until they were walking down the winding steps of yet another tower with Balladyn in the lead before she faked a stumble. Her effort had been done so she could fall against him, but she wasn’t prepared for how quickly he moved.

One moment she was pitching forward, and the next he turned and had his arms around her. Shara found her face even with his. She didn’t give herself time to think on it, just leaned forward and kissed him.

There was a split second when he didn’t respond, and then his arms tightened as he held her and deepened the kiss. He was a skilled kisser, but her body didn’t stir as it had when Kiril kissed her.

Truth be told, it only took Kiril’s green eyes on her to send her blood pounding and need tightening low her in her stomach.

Balladyn, for all his handsomeness and power, stirred … nothing. She continued to kiss him as if she enjoyed it. It was something she would have to get used to no matter who she married. That thought had her sliding her fingers through the thick strands of his black and silver hair. A moan rumbled his chest in response.

It was long minutes later before he ended the kiss and looked at her. “You’re very bold, Shara.”

“Was I wrong to think that’s what you wanted?”

“No,” he said with a pleased smile.

He touched her silver stripe again. Shara moved out of his arms and gave him a stony look. “Is my lack of silver an issue?”

“Did I say it was?”

How she hated when people answered a question with a question. “It’s a problem with my family. I should’ve known you’d be the same.”

Shara attempted to walk around him, but once more Balladyn stopped her with an arm across her midsection. She turned her head to find his eyes burning with anger. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know my responses. I’m not like others.”

“I’m Dark. I was born into a Dark family who all have more silver than black.”

“That doesn’t make you less,” he said and tugged on the strip. “It makes you stand out.”

“Not in a good way in our world.”

“Our world is what we make it. We live between two realms—the Fae and Earth. Look at the Dark around you. More and more are choosing to live in the human world, wearing their clothes, listening to their music, and in some cases pretending to be human.”

“All a ruse to kidnap humans for their pleasure,” she said, unsure of where he was going with his talk.

He took her hand and led her down the stairs. “Is that what you think? Look closer next time. Aye, some use it as a ruse, but others don’t.”

“My family lives in a human house. It was given to my family by Taraeth because my father controls the Dark in the lower half of Ireland for Taraeth.”

Balladyn shrugged as they reached the bottom. “Look around, Shara. Take a look at all Dark—even your family.”

She stopped, her heart thumping wildly. “I’ve been … gone … for some time.”

“Imprisoned by your family, you mean?”

Shara took a step back, pulling her hand from his. How could he possibly know? It was kept within the family, an order given by her father that no one in the family would dare disobey.

“I know much,” Balladyn said as he leaned a shoulder against a wall. “It was Farrell who brought my attention to your family, and it was Farrell who told me about his young sister and how she was locked away.”

Buckets of shame descended upon her. It mixed with fury directed at Farrell. Her brother should never have spoken about what happened, and if he had disclosed that much, she was sure Balladyn knew the cause of her imprisonment.

“So you’ve been toying with me all this time?” She should’ve known. It had been too easy to get close to Balladyn.

“I warned you not to think you know me. Yet,” Balladyn added smoothly. “I had no interest in Farrell’s sister until I overheard you today. Now, I fear that I may never let you return to your family.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Dreagan Industries

Rhys entered the gift shop and came to an abrupt halt when his gaze landed on Lily. Lilliana Ross. Her coal black hair fell over one shoulder in a long braid that came to rest at the top of her breast.

She was bent over looking into a box. Despite her wearing clothes several sizes too big for her, there was no mistaking the outline of her curves. Rhys swallowed.

Hard.

“Do you need something?” Elena asked as she walked around him to the counter, a clipboard in hand and a pencil stuck behind her ear.

Rhys looked into her sage-green eyes that now watched him curiously. He’d had no reason for coming into the shop other than for a glimpse of Lily as he had many times. But this time he had gotten caught.

His gaze darted to Lily to see that she had straightened and turned at Elena’s voice. Lily’s black eyes held a smile. When she first arrived at Dreagan she had looked fragile and … scared.

Now she just looked … gorgeous.

The sweater Lily wore was so large that it fell off her shoulder, revealing more of her skin. Rhys inhaled and shifted his gaze back to Elena quickly. “Nay. I didna need anything. I was looking for Guy.”

Elena set down the clipboard, a knowing smile upon her lips. “He’s with Tristan and Sammi at Laith’s pub. Sammi is going to start working for Laith. It should be good for everyone involved. By the way, when you see my husband, tell him he better be showered before he arrives for lunch.”

“Will do,” Rhys said and promptly turned on his heel to head out to the pub the Dragon Kings owned on the outskirts of town on the edge of Dreagan land.

He managed to walk out without another look at Lily. She wasn’t his type. He liked his women tall and well endowed. He preferred women who understood their dalliance lasted a single night only—and sometimes not even that long.

Just like the two women who would be accompanying him into Inverness for dinner that evening. They were the type of women who knew there could never be anything between them.

Lily was the type who had forever stamped on her. She was the kind of woman a man never left.

And Rhys was not that type of man.

The pebbles crunched beneath his boots as he walked around the thick hedges to the manor hidden in a way that no visitors who toured the distillery ever saw. He entered by the side door through the conservatory. Rhys hadn’t taken two steps before his mobile phone buzzed. He pulled it out and saw the text was from Phelan. It read: F
OUND
K
IRIL.
I
’M STAYING
.

Four words, but it was enough for Rhys to know that Phelan had spoken with Kiril, and Kiril had accepted his help. Rhys was relieved.

“By the smile, I imagine it’s good news.”

Rhys looked up to find Con sitting upon the two-foot-tall wall of stones that encompassed the fountain that stood in the middle of the conservatory. He pocketed his mobile and walked to Con. Rhys rested a foot on the barrier next to Con. “It was.”

“Kiril agreed to Phelan helping?”

Rhys glared at Con. “What did you do? Follow me?”

Con merely raised a blond brow. “Kiril wanted to make sure you didna come to Ireland. Since that meant the two of you had spoken, it wasna a large leap to imagine you would go to Phelan.”

“I suppose you doona agree with my methods?”

“No’ at all. I had already called Phelan once, and I planned to visit and ask the verra same thing. You beat me to it.”

Rhys dropped his chin to his chest. “I’ve a bad feeling about Kiril.”

“So do I. He willna come home. No’ yet, at least.”

“You know it’s just a matter of time before they find a way to capture him.” Rhys tilted his head to meet Con’s black gaze.

Con nodded, his face grim. “Aye, I know. It doesna help that he’s no’ only spying, but trying to find word about Rhi.”

Rhys leaned an arm on his knee. “So you knew I’d do something about Kiril. What have you been doing? Because I know you’ve no’ been sitting on your hands.”

“I do what I’ve always done—protect Dreagan and keep who we are secret.”

Rhys wasn’t buying it for a moment. Sure, Con did those things, but there was more. Always. And Rhys knew that somehow it involved Ulrik. Con had said he was going to talk to Ulrik, but so far it hadn’t happened. Maybe because Con knew if he did, the battle between the two that had been brewing for eons would finally come to a head.

Ulrik. Once best friends with Con, Ulrik was the only other Dragon King who had the magic powerful enough to fight Con to lead all Dragon Kings. Ulrik hadn’t wanted to lead, so he’d stepped aside and the role went to Con.

It was years later after humans were suddenly on Earth with the dragons that Ulrik—like many Dragon Kings—took a human as his lover. Her betrayal of Ulrik and all dragons mushroomed into a war that nobody won.

After Con sent Ulrik off for some dragon business, Con and the other Dragon Kings had found Ulrik’s woman and killed her for what she did. When Ulrik returned and discovered what had happened, his fury was immense—both against the humans and his own kind. It wasn’t long after that the Dragon Kings had no choice but to bind Ulrik’s magic when he wouldn’t stop killing humans.

For hundreds of thousands of years Ulrik had walked the Earth immortal, but without his magic and unable to shift into dragon form. It was Con’s belief that Ulrik was the driving force behind MI5 and other humans wanting to reveal them to the world. The evidence pointed squarely to Ulrik.

Con stood and adjusted the gold dragon-head cuff links at his wrists. “I’m keeping a closer eye on Ulrik. He’s remained in Perth at his shop, but eventually he will screw up.”

“And you’ll be there to stop him.”

“Kill him,” Con corrected coldly. “It was something I knew I should’ve done when we bound his magic.”

Rhys set his foot down. “It was unusually cruel of us to allow him to remain immortal but no’ to be who he really is—a dragon.”

“I didna want to kill a man I thought of as my brother.”

“But you will now?”

Con lifted his chin, his black eyes fathomless and chilly. “I do what’s best for all of us. No matter how messy or distasteful it might be.”

“I’m surprised you have no’ just gone to Perth and done away with him already.”

“I must have proof or I lose the trust of all of you.”

Rhys watched Con walk away. Each Dragon King was strong-willed, fierce, and powerful in their own right, and it took a strong man like Con to bring them all together. He had done it on multiple occasions. Con had a silver tongue when it was needed, but he didn’t hesitate to put an end to anything he saw as a conflict between them.