city of dragons 02 - fire storm (24 page)

“Stop doing that.” I furrowed my brow. “I don’t blame you.”

“Do you blame anyone?” He raised his gaze to me. “You don’t have to be completely over this, you know. You could try to stop running from it.”

“I’m not running from it. It’s just that it’s been so much worse than this, and I’m—”

“Yeah, yeah.” He sighed. “Right. You’re
fine
. It’s been
worse
.”

I put my hands on my hips. “It
has.”

He shrugged. “Okay, then. Well, there’s no point in talking about it anymore.”

“There really isn’t,” I said. “Let’s put this behind us and move the hell on.”

He let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, sure. It’s no big deal, Penny.” He went back the hall and threw open my linen closet. He started to pull out some blankets.

“What are you doing?” I said.

“Is it okay if I use these?” he said. “I’m going to bed, since we’re moving the hell on.”

I glared at him. “Whatever,” I said. I stalked back the hallway to my bedroom and I stood there, hugging myself. Tears were threatening, but I swallowed them.

I took off my clothes and I looked down at my body, which was unmarred and perfect and all my bruises were gone. I thought of Alastair’s fingers between my legs, and I started to shake.

“It’s been worse,” I muttered. “Don’t think about it.” I put on a big nightshirt that swathed my body, obscuring all my curves.

I turned out the light and crawled into my bed.

But I couldn’t close my eyes. It was too dark, and I kept thinking I could see the shadows move. I kept expecting Alastair to climb out of my closet or from a crouch behind my dresser.
Do you really think I stopped, Penny?
he would say.

I shuddered. I tried to close my eyes, but I was afraid to do it.

If he was coming for me, I wanted to see him coming.

I shoved aside the covers, switching on the light and bathing the room in brightness. I went through the room, shoving aside the clothes in my closet, looking in all the corners. I opened the door to my bathroom. I pushed aside the shower curtain to make sure it was empty.

And then I felt like I needed to check the rest of the house.

I went out into the hallway and across to Felicity’s old room which was just an empty room for storage right now. I turned on the light, walked around the piles of boxes.

When I came back to the hallway, Lachlan was standing there.

I screamed.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Don’t sneak up on me,” I snapped.

“What are you doing?”

“Just… checking… making sure there’s no one else in the apartment.”

He nodded. “Sure. We can do that.” He took me by the hand and led me to the other bathroom.

We looked in there, opened that shower curtain. We checked the linen closet. We checked the closet in the living room. The kitchen. Lachlan even opened the refrigerator.

I went back out into the living room and I turned in a circle, hugging myself.

“You okay?” he said.

I shook my head. “Maybe not.”

“You know it’s all right not to be okay.”

I swallowed.

He opened his arms, and I walked into them. He kissed the top of my head.

“I’d feel better if you weren’t on the couch,” I said.

He took me by the shoulders and pushed me back so that he was looking into my eyes. “Penny, I don’t know if…”

“Just to sleep?” I said. “That couch isn’t very comfortable anyway, and there’s room in my bed.”

“Okay,” he said. “If that’s what you want.”

I nodded.

We went back to my room, and we got into opposite sides of the bed.

I turned out the light, and we lay there, next to each other, on our backs, clutching the covers, not touching.

“This blood bond thing?” he mumbled. “That’s weird.”

“But it was good, right?” I said. “You didn’t have any trouble stopping, not like the other times.”

“You said we have power together. What kind of power are we talking about here?”

“I don’t really know,” I said. “But you remember the first time you bit me? How we stopped bullets in the air?”

He was quiet. “Yeah.”

“It freaks me out too,” I said. “I think you’re amazing, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know how much more magical bonding with men I can take.”

“Hey.” He propped himself up on one arm, looking down at me. “That isn’t why you still wanted me, is it? Even after I kept nearly killing you by taking too much blood? Did the bond make you want me?”

“No, of course not.” I rolled over on my side to face him. “I didn’t choose Alastair. The bond found me. The way I’m attracted to you, it’s completely different.”

“Less?” he said. “Are you less attracted to me?”

I hesitated. “You’re still insecure about it.”

“No, I’m not.” He rolled onto his back again. “I won’t be. I’ll stop.”

I moved close, putting a hesitant hand on his shoulder. “I’m more attracted to you. It’s real, not some stupid weird magical bond screwing with my head. I
choose
you.”

He seized my hand. Kissed my palm. “Okay,” he said in a gravelly voice.

I touched his face. His chin was a little prickly, stubble starting to come in. I brushed my thumb over it.

His mouth found mine.

Our bodies pressed close.

We kissed, and it was soft and slow and sweet.

He pulled away. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said. “I feel safe with you. I like kissing you.”

He kissed my forehead. “Try to sleep, Penny.”

I clutched him. “Can we stay like this? Stay close?”

He wrapped a strong arm around me. “Of course.”

* * *

I awoke to the sound of Lachlan swearing.

I sat up in bed. I was alone in the bedroom, and it was dark. I put my feet over the side of the bed and went out to open the door. Lachlan’s voice filtered up the hallway.

“…isn’t like a typical domestic violence case, and I told you that, and not just because I’m involved with her… Yes. I think diverting some manpower to this would be a good idea. He’s volatile, and you’re sitting on your hands here.”

I eased out into the hallway and walked toward the living room, where the light was on.

“We don’t know that, and even if it’s true, there’s no reason to not arrest him.” Lachlan was on his phone. He looked up and saw me. His shoulders sagged.

“What’s up?” I said.

He held up a finger, indicating I should wait a minute.

I leaned against the wall.

“Yes, I know how much money he has,” Lachlan was saying. He paused. “Yes, I realize it’s late.” He was quiet again. Listening. “Well, I don’t agree with that, and you know it. But if I can’t talk you out of it—” Another pause. “Fine. If that’s how you’re going to play this thing, fine. I’ll talk to you in the morning.” He yanked the phone away from his ear and tossed it on the couch. “Fucking idiots.”

“What?” I said.

He crossed to me, putting his arm around me and kissing me on the forehead. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“It’s okay.” I leaned into him, liking the feeling of his body close to mine. “Is it Alastair?”

“He wasn’t at home,” said Lachlan. “So, they just decided to call it a night and try to arrest him tomorrow.”

I furrowed my brow. “Well, that’s not good.”

“I thought we had a bit of time,” said Lachlan. “Because I figured that he wouldn’t cause a scene, you know, try to take you forcibly in the middle of the day or something. It would make him look crazy, and I know he has business interests to protect from that kind of a hit to his image. But there’s no mistake that he’s enraged over the fact you got out of there.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s true.” Why hadn’t I been thinking about how Alastair would have reacted to my leaving? I guess I’d been too preoccupied with getting through what had happened to me.

“He thinks of you as a piece of property,” said Lachlan. “He wants you back. If he’s not under arrest, you’re in danger, and we should probably leave here. Maybe go to my place. I don’t think he knows where I live, but he knows about this place, and he could be outside right now.”

A tiny tendril of fear began to wind its way up my spine. I went over to one of the windows and pulled the curtains away. Outside, I could see the lights of the nearby hotels, of the street. I could see the dark, empty beach, but the black water faded into the black sky. “I don’t want to run from him.”

“We don’t need to be heroes here.”

“This blood bond thing might be the only thing that can stop him right now.”

He came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. “We don’t even know how that works.”

“You drank my blood earlier today, so you should have enough of my blood, enough of my magic…” I turned to look up at him.

He rested his forehead against mine. “We’re leaving, and that’s that.”

“You can’t order me around,” I said quietly, kissing him.

His voice was a low rumble. “I just did. Maybe you didn’t notice. Go get dressed.”

I thought about arguing, but maybe he was right. Maybe it was better to lay low for a bit. Just until we were a little more ready to face all of this. So, I nodded. “Okay.” I turned and started to walk back the hall.

And the door to the balcony burst open and Connor came through it. He slammed the door closed and collapsed against it, out of breath. “Penny,” he rasped. “
Run
.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I wasn’t running anywhere. “Out of the way, Connor,” I said, nostrils flaring, hands clenching into fists. “Is it Alastair?”

“He’s right behind me,” said Connor. “I can hold him off, but you should get the hell out of here while you have the chance.”

“Move,” I said.

Lachlan stepped up behind me. “Penny, maybe we should—”

“No,” I snarled. “I want to finish this.”

“Penny—” said Connor.

“Move,” I said.

He didn’t.

I reached out with magic and shoved him to the side.

“Hey!” he protested as he stumbled into Felicity’s old room.

The door flew open and a harsh, cold wind blew in, scattering sand and shells and dead leaves over the hallway.

Then Alastair stepped up onto the threshold.

I threw out both of my hands, funneling all my magic into them, forcing the magic out and into Alastair.

He raised his own hand, made a motion to wave it away from him.

And my magic rushed back down the hallway, into me. My own magic propelled me back into Lachlan, and the both of us went sprawling onto the floor.

Alastair chuckled. He used magic to lift me into the air so that I hovered there.

I fought. I used all the magic I had to try to get myself down to the ground. But it was ineffectual, like I was a tiny girl pounding on a steel door that wouldn’t budge.

Alastair’s eyes glowed orange. “You will come with me, Penny. And you won’t leave this time.” He dropped me. The magic wasn’t holding me up anymore.

I stumbled, grabbing for the wall. And my legs started to carry me toward Alastair. What was happening? He’d compelled me, but he wasn’t close enough. He wasn’t looking into my eyes. How powerful
was
he?

He smiled. “You know, I keep discovering all these wonderful skills that I didn’t even know I had,” he said. He pointed at Lachlan. “You. Why don’t you run out onto the balcony and take a flying leap?”

Lachlan stood up, his face grim. I could see that he was fighting, but it was no use. His legs were already pumping.

I reached out for him.

Alastair used magic to make me crash into the wall, out of the way.

Lachlan hurtled out of the doorway onto the balcony, and I saw him jump.

I screamed.

Alastair laughed. He picked me up with magic as well, sent me through space, flying down the hallway, past the balcony.

I hovered in space there. I could see Lachlan below me in the sand. He was moving, but he was obviously in pain.

“You little bitch,” Alastair said to me. “You left me.
How
did you break my magic?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I said. I flung magic at him again.

It seemed to bounce off him, not doing anything at all. He laughed again. “If you weren’t my mate, Penny, I would kill you for what you’ve done to me. You’re lucky I have a soft spot for you, even though you don’t deserve it.”

And suddenly I was falling, my stomach in my throat, the ground rushing up.

Crunch
.

I landed on the sand. Pain reverberated through my body.

Alastair came to the edge of the balcony, staring down at me. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be punished.”

I sucked in breath, gathering my magic.

“You’ll watch as that cop of yours dies,” said Alastair. “You’ll watch me kill him.”

I blew out a huge ball of fire, sending it straight for Alastair’s head.

Alastair’s eyes widened in alarm. But then he moved fast, ducking away from it.

And the fire ball hit my balcony, which burst into flames.

“Damn it,” I muttered.

Alastair rushed down the steps. He went over to Lachlan, who was on his hands and knees, trying to get up. Alastair picked him up by his neck, using magic so that it looked as easy as lifting a rag doll.

Lachlan screwed up his face, trying to pump magic into Alastair. But it wasn’t any more effective than my attempts.

“I’m going to kill him with my bare hands,” said Alastair. “I’m going to squeeze the life out of him.”

“No.” I crawled to them. I reached up to grab Lachlan’s hand.

And the minute we touched, it was as if the stars and the comets came swirling for us, zooming into our bodies and welling up, bursting.

And then shooting out of my body—bright and white and hot—through my eyes and mouth and my nostrils.

I had no control of it.

It engulfed Alastair, lifting him into the air and catching his clothes on fire, his hair.

But it kept going, into the steps to the balcony, reducing a huge circle of them to cinders.