city of dragons 02 - fire storm (18 page)

I tried to focus on Lachlan, but all I could see was Alastair. All I could think about was Alastair.

I remembered peeling away Alastair’s jeans, exposing his dusky skin, his muscles that just kept going, his black silk boxers that contained him—hard and ready for me.

“You don’t surf,” I blurted out.

Alastair looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

I pointed. “That surf board. You don’t surf.”

Lachlan looked around Alastair. He squinted at the surf board. He tugged his phone out of his pocket and scrolled to the picture of Fletcher. “That looks like Fletcher’s surf board.” He showed the picture to Alastair.

“Yeah, I got this board on Fletcher’s recommendation,” said Alastair.

“What?” I said. “You don’t surf.”

“Sometimes I do,” said Alastair.

“You hate the ocean,” I said.

He looked me up and down. “I hate
you
, you fucking bitch.”

“Mr. Cooper,” said Lachlan through clenched teeth.

“Say what you need to say and get out of here,” said Alastair to Lachlan. “You’re fucking my wife, and it’s amazing that I’ve controlled myself thus far.”

“I’m not your wife,” I muttered. There was a ball of tightness in my core, and it was gathering with every moment. God, I wanted that man.

He turned to me, gazing deep into my eyes. “You’re worthless unless you’re naked, cunt.”

“That’s enough,” said Lachlan.

I shuddered, my tongue darting out to moisten my lips.

Alastair’s gaze was penetrating. “Unbutton your shirt, Penny. Nice and slow. I want to see your tits. Show me.”

“Stop,” said Lachlan.

To my horror, I began to obey Alastair. My fingers came up and started to undo the first button on my shirt. Then the next.

Lachlan’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?” he said to me in a strained voice.

I shook my head at him. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted Alastair so damned bad. I couldn’t control myself.

“Wait in the car,” Lachlan said to me.

I nodded. Probably a good idea. I ran to the car, threw open the door, and launched myself inside. But… once inside, I still couldn’t stop. I kept unbuttoning my shirt, as I watched Lachlan and Alastair talk.

When my shirt was completely unbuttoned, I peeled it over my shoulders.

I reached back and unsnapped my bra and pulled it off.

Alastair eyed me over Lachlan’s shoulder, leering at the way I’d exposed myself. I wanted to cover myself, but I
couldn’t
.

What the hell was happening to me? It was as if I had completely lost my own will. There had been times when I had felt so turned on by my bond to Alastair that it had been nearly painful, but it had never made me do something against my volition before.

Lachlan turned and came back to the car. He saw that I was half-naked, and his face twitched.

I started to cry. Tears started sliding out of my eyes. I was terrified.

Alastair was still standing at the door, gazing at my naked skin, a nasty smile on his face. He looked demented.

Lachlan yanked open the door to the car, picked up my shirt and thrust it at me, covering me.

I fought him, trying to move the shirt away. I
had
to show Alastair. I had to let him see.

Alastair’s eyes were dancing in delight. He shut the door.

For a minute, Lachlan and I were still locked in the struggle, and then it was as if it all passed, and I was far enough away from Alastair that the bond lost its power. I collapsed into sobs, clutched my shirt tight against my body.

Lachlan looked at the door where Alastair had come from. He looked at me. He shook his head. Wordlessly, he started the car and pulled out, peeling out onto the road and away.

* * *

“What the hell was that?” Lachlan’s voice was shaking. He’d driven for about two miles before pulling over. He’d pulled into one of the streets that had beach access and miraculously, there had been a parking space. That’s where we were now. Twenty feet from the ocean, sitting in Lachlan’s car.

I hiccuped. My sobs had passed, but I still felt completely wrecked. “I couldn’t help myself,” I whispered.

“So…” Lachlan wasn’t looking at me. “So, it will always be like that, won’t it? You’ll see him, you’ll do whatever he says?”

“It’s never been like that,” I said. “I’ve never done something I didn’t want to do. I don’t know what happened. I lost control. He
made
me do that.”

“But you want him?” Lachlan looked at me.

I looked away. I wanted to put my bra back on, my shirt. But to move the shirt would expose me again, and that made me feel too vulnerable.

“What were you thinking about when we were talking to him?” he said hoarsely.

I shook my head. “Don’t ask me that.”

He sucked in a noisy breath. “Because you were thinking about… what? Touching him? Kissing him? Fucking him?”

I didn’t say anything.

We were quiet.

He leaned his head back against the head rest. “Shit.”

“You knew this about me,” I said. “I told you this about me. You knew—”

“That night he came and knocked you around and beat me all to hell? Were you hot for him that night?”

“Lachlan—”

“No, what’s it like? Explain it to me. This man is a monster, and you’re doing a strip tease for him.”

“Please,” I whispered. “You know I can’t help it.”

Lachlan’s voice was ugly. “Are you wet for him right now?”

This was starting to piss me off. I drew myself up, glaring at him. “I’m
drenched
.”

He looked away.

I grabbed his hand, putting it under the waist of my pants, urging him downward. “You want to feel? You want to see what happens to me?”

He tugged his hand away as if my skin burned him.

I started yanking my bra back on. Damned if I was having this conversation without clothes on. “You want to compare whether I get that wet for you or not? Maybe you should just go and have a god damned dick-measuring contest with him.”

“Hey, that’s not fair.”

“You know what’s not fair?” I said. “What’s not fair is having to feel this for a man I despise. What’s not fair is being inexplicably drawn to someone—some
thing
—like that.” I started to button my shirt again. “But by all means, Lachlan, let’s make this about you.”

He didn’t answer.

I didn’t say anything either. I busied myself with buttoning up my shirt the rest of the way.

Finally, Lachlan swallowed. His voice was even and low and a little raw. “You can’t expect me to like this.”

“I’m not saying—”

“It’s human nature, Penny,” he said. “You were in my bed last night. I feel…” He rubbed his forehead. “Damn it, I don’t mean to sound like a caveman, but you’re mine. You’re not his.”

I felt a pleasant little surge inside me. “It’s okay if you sound like a caveman,” I whispered, smiling a little.

He glanced at me, smiling too. But then he looked away. “Except it’s not true. You
are
his.”

“No,” I said.

He let out a slow breath. “It’s, um, a lot to take is all. For me. It feels like hell. I’m not saying that what you’re feeling isn’t worse. I get that. But I didn’t expect it to be like…” He shook his head.

“I’m not his,” I said. “I hate Alastair.”

He just put the keys back in the ignition and started the car.

“Lachlan, damn it, I am
not
his.”

He backed out of the space and then pulled the car forward.

“Say something,” I said.

He stared ahead at the road. He drove.

I looked out the window. Part of me wanted to start crying again. The other part of me wanted to start breathing fire. “Are you going to just sit there and sulk forever?”

“I’m not sulking,” he said, but he sounded sulky.

I glared at him. “He’s got Fletcher’s god damned surf board. Did you ask him about that? I mean, he’s got to be guilty this time.”

“
You
asked him about that.”

“So, what the hell did you ask him about while I was in the car being forced to take off my clothes for him, exactly?”

“I… damn it, Penny, it was really hard to concentrate.”

“You didn’t ask him anything?”

“He confirmed that he took Fletcher home. He said that he and Fletcher were friends. That they had met while surfing, and that he took him home that night. Said that when he left, Fletcher was fine.”

“Oh, of course he did,” I muttered. “That doesn’t add up at all. He doesn’t surf, damn it. He hates the ocean.”

“He has no motive, Penny. Why would he have killed Fletcher?”

“I don’t know, but that’s hardly important, is it? Don’t we have enough for a warrant? That surf board is physical evidence.”

“Well, we don’t know if it’s Fletcher’s,” said Lachlan. “Alastair says it’s his.”

“Can’t we call Fletcher’s family and ask if his surf board is missing?”

“Yes,” Lachlan said, and he still sounded sulky. “But all of this shit makes it worse. How can we be investigating Alastair? Say it goes to trial. His lawyer is going to talk about this little love triangle and make us out to be biased.”

“It’s not a love triangle.”

“You took off your damned shirt for him!” Lachlan pounded the steering wheel.

I sank back into my seat. “I know,” I whispered.
Why
had I done that? He’d looked deep into my eyes, and— “No,” I murmured.

“No?”

“He compelled me,” I said. “He used magic on me.”

“I thought you said magical creatures couldn’t be compelled?”

“We can’t,” I said. “But he did it anyway. And that night when he came to see us, his magic was so strong.” I remembered the way he had made my magic dissipate. I’d never felt anything like that before.

“So, what does that mean?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’s got a really powerful amulet or something? Something that’s boosting his magic? Whatever the case, we have to be careful. I know we’re biased, Lachlan, but we can’t turn Alastair over to people who aren’t magical. He will eat them alive.”

* * *

“Well,” said Connor from behind the front desk, “he’s being a big idiot.”

“I
know
he is,” I said.

“But I guess it would be tough to deal with for anyone.”

“You’re not taking his side, are you?” I was strongly considering breaking out a bottle of wine for this conversation. It had been quite a day, and I needed something to take the edge off.

“No,” said Connor. “I’m just saying to think about it.”

However, I knew it wasn’t cool for me to wander around the lobby drinking wine. What would the guests think?

As if on cue, the door to the lobby opened and a female gargoyle toting three gargoyle children of various sizes came through the front door. The little gargoyles were so cute. They had teeny, tiny stone wings. I wanted to pinch their cheeks, but I held back.

Yeah, having wine was not going to help my situation.

The female marched over to the front desk. “It’s under Capallan,” she said.

“I just need to see your credit card,” said Connor.

She handed it over.

He took it. Staring at the computer screen, he said, “I see we’ve got you booked for both suites.”

“Half the clan’s here,” she said, sighing. “You know how it is.” Gargoyle families were matriarchal, with the children all staying with their mother through adulthood. Even though there was mating, they didn’t pair bond.

Connor nodded. “Sure do. Madhouse.” He grinned at her, handing over her keys. “Enjoy your stay.”

We watched her leave with the kids.

“Do you ever miss it?” I said. “Your family? Your mother?”

Connor shrugged, not meeting my eye.

Stupid question. Of course he missed it. He hadn’t left his family by choice. He’d been shunned, put out, because he was gay and would never sire children. To his grandmother’s way of thinking, he was useless otherwise. Gargoyles favored women over men, anyway. But men who weren’t potential mates or fathers? They were nothing.

“Sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

He raised his gaze to me. “It’s okay. I’m grateful to have a home here. I never felt accepted amongst my family. Here, it’s better in a lot of ways.”

I went around the counter and gave him a hug.

He hugged back. “About Lachlan. How would you feel if it was the other way around? If he was still attracted to his ex-wife?”

I shrugged, pulling away. “He probably is in some way, even though she hurt him.” I allowed Connor to change the subject from his family, sensing he didn’t want to talk about it any further.

“But not like you and Alastair. What if it was like that? Wouldn’t it bother you?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t like it,” I said. “But it’s not as if he didn’t know this about me all along. I think he’s being irrational about the whole thing.”

“Well, it’s not rational,” said Connor. “He probably can’t help it to some degree.”

“Okay, I guess I get that,” I said. “And some part of me enjoys that he’s a little possessive. But it feels as if he’s blaming me for the way I react to Alastair, and that’s not fair, because I can’t help it.”

The door opened again.

Another guest?

I turned to see that Ophelia was coming inside. “Finally,” she said to me. “You’re here.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Connor. “Becky left a note that Ophelia was looking for you.” He peeled a post-it note off the computer screen and handed it to me.

I arched an eyebrow. “Thanks for giving me the message.”

He grinned. “No problem.”

I glowered at him.

Ophelia crossed the lobby. “Are you busy this evening?”

“Why?” I said.

“It’s about what we talked about earlier. The power.”

“Right,” I said. I had forgotten about that. Hell, if Lachlan and I were so powerful, why couldn’t we do anything against Alastair earlier? I came out from behind the front desk. “What’s up?”

“I wonder if you’d come with me to meet someone. A very ancient mage in my order. I called her to ask questions, and she asked me to bring you to her.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Okay, I guess. But you seem pretty serious, Ophelia.”

She nodded, her eyes full of concern. “I think it is serious, Penny. I’m sorry.”