Dragon in the Rough (Elders Enterprises Book 1) (3 page)

              Paul never let Katie answer. He dipped his head down and covered her lips with his. What started out as a slow, sensual kiss quickly turned deeper, the rhythm picking up pace. It was soon a battle of tongues and passion. It all just felt so right, like something that was once broken magically fixed itself. Paul wanted more. No, he needed it. Katie’s hands tangled in his short hair as he pulled her closer. Skin to skin. Soul to soul. This was what he needed. Nothing else mattered to him now. He needed to be with Katie.

              Just as quickly as the kiss started, it ended. Katie was gone. Paul screamed his frustration before he punched the wall next to him. Logically, he knew that something had woken Katie, but he did not care. He needed more. He lowered himself onto a nearby couch and tried to slow his breathing. He needed to get back to his body, then he would decide what to do next.

Chapter 3

              Katie woke suddenly and out of breath. She wished that she could get back to sleep so that she could get back to the dream of Paul. It had all felt so real. She could still feel his body pressed up against hers, his hands running up and down her body, his mouth moving over hers. “Damn!” she yelled at the ceiling. “I think it is time for a cold shower.” She rolled over and sat up as her phone started to ring. She reached over and plucked it up off the nightstand. Looking down, she realized that this must have been what had woken her up. There were three missed calls from her boss. She wanted to throw it across the room but answered it anyways.

              “Yo, boss. What can I do for you at this hour?” she asked, sounding grumpy.

              “Oh good, you’re awake,” he said in a sarcastic tone. “I need you in the office within the hour. There are some people here that want to talk to you about your mishap last night.”

              He sounded mad, which had the hair on the back of Katie’s neck standing on end. In the three years that Katie had worked for Director Mole, he had never been mad at her. He was always happy to congratulate her on bringing in criminals single-handedly. He even bragged about her skills.

              Katie cleared her thoughts before she spoke again. “My…mishap?” she asked, hoping that he did not hear the croak in her voice.

              “Yes,” he replied, sounding annoyed. “Paul Ivers, why did you not bring him in last night?” Katie had hoped he would just ignore her report and not read it.

              “Ahhh, yes, that,” Katie’s heart started to race as she spoke. “I will explain everything when I get into the office. I will see you in thirty minutes.” Katie hung up the phone before the Director could say anything else. She really could not deal with him being disappointed in her or mad. She’d had a lifetime of that. Plus, no one was as mad as her. She let him get away and then had a sex dream about Paul. She had no one to blame but herself.

              Katie had moved up through the ranks of the vampire division quicker than anyone else. She knew that it was because of her special abilities that she kept moving up, but others believed she had she slept her way to the top. She only had to answer to the Director himself. She did not have a partner. Mostly because she did not want one, but also because everyone was scared of her.

              “Well, at least I do not need a cold shower now.” She chuckled to herself. Katie stood and walked over to her closet. As she got dressed, she decided that it was time to find someone to take care of her needs. Then maybe she would stop having fantasies about Paul.

              Katie was dressed and out of her apartment within ten minutes. It only took her another fifteen minutes to walk to the office, and she even stopped for coffee on the way. When she walked through the door, she realized that no one else was at their desks, which was weird. It was still dark outside so the vampire agents should still be here. She knew that Director Mole and whoever wanted to talk to her were in his office so she stopped at her desk and dropped off her bag and cup. She turned and walked slowly over to the Director’s office door.

              Katie wanted to turn and run but she forced herself to keep going. As she brought her hand up to knock, the door swung open to Director Mole standing before her. He was not very tall but he was one of the most intimidating people that Katie had ever met. Katie always thought that it was because he shaved his head, but now she truly understood. The look on his face told Katie that she should tread lightly because one misstep and he could probably kill her with his pinky.

              The Director stepped aside, revealing three men standing around his desk. “Please come in, Detective. Have a seat, we will begin in a moment,” The Director said. It took Katie a moment to force herself to move. Each man watched her like a hawk as she made her way to a chair that sat in front of a solid oak desk. Once she was sitting down, Katie allowed herself to look over the other three men in the office. The first was an older man with salt and pepper hair. He was tall and held himself in a way that told Katie no one even thought about going against him. The second man looked younger, by Katie’s guess he was around 35 years old. He had muscles but Katie did not find it attractive that he wore a shirt that looked to be two sizes too small. Then Katie looked at the third man and froze. She could feel the blood rush to her face. There, standing in front of her, was Paul.

              Katie stood. “What the Hell is he doing here?” Katie asked right before she jumped over the desk to tackle him. Before she could reach him, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back. Katie knew that the man squeezed into a child shirt was the one that now held her.

              The older gentleman cleared his throat. “Detective, I would like you to meet my son, Mark. He is Paul’s twin brother.” Katie went still for a moment to take in what she just heard. Then without another thought, Katie slammed her head against the man holding her. She used the momentum from that to flip him over her shoulder so that he landed on his back on top of the desk.

              “First off,” Katie raised her voice, “Don’t you think I should have known that Paul was a twin? What would have happened if I had seen Mark on the street? I would not have believed that he was Paul’s twin!” Katie paused to catch her breath. “Now, you,” she pointed to the man who had pulled her away from Mark “Men that wear kid’s shirts to make themselves feel better about the tiny muscles they have do not get to lay a hand on me. The next time, I will rip each and every finger that touches me off.”

              “Damn, Sam, I think that is a new record. The lady does not even know your name and she does not like you. Plus, she seems like she could make good on her threats.” Mark reached a hand out to Katie. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Detective. The name is Mark, this is my older brother, Sam,” he waved to the man climbing off the desk. “And this is our father, Fabian.” Katie looked up at the older gentleman as he stuck his hand out to shake her hand.

              “Miss Palmer, it is good to finally meet the lady that is helping to bring my son in. It became apparent to me tonight that you may not have received all the information about Paul.” He glanced over at the Director, causing him to bow his head. “So let’s all start over. We are known as the Elders.”

              “The Elders of who, exactly? I mean I already figured out that Paul is neither human nor vampire, so I am guessing that y’all are not either. I mean you have the same silver eyes as he does, so that means it is genetic, also that you are not turned like vampires.” Katie paused to take a breath but Fabian cut in before she could say any more. Katie was relieved more than she was mad when she realized that she had yet again jabbered on when she should have just kept her mouth shut.

              “So you are not only quicker than my sons, you are also pretty smart. Why don’t you go ahead and sit down, tell us everything you know and what happened last night. That way we can go from there.” He led Katie back over to her chair and waited for her to sit down.

              Katie took a deep breath before she started to calm her nerves. “Well, honestly I do not know much. All I know is he is a wanted man and what he looks like. Last night it was sheer luck that I ran into him. I was out looking into reports that he had been seen a few days earlier. I had come out of a coffee shop to see him standing across the street.” Katie looked down at her hands. “As soon as he saw me, he turned and ran. I, of course, followed him, but,” Katie paused because she did not want to say it out loud. “He somehow escaped. I do not know what happened. No one ever gets away from me.” Katie looked up at Fabian. “I will catch him. I promise.”

              Mark walked over and laid his hand on Katie’s shoulder. “It is not your fault, Detective. You were not given all the information that was needed to capture Paul. That will not happen again.” He turned and walked over to stand by the door.

              “Detective,” Fabian caught her attention. “We would like for you to come work for us. We can pay you a lot more than you make here. You would also be the head of investigations.”

              “You cannot come in here and take my best detective from me,” Director Mole managed to squeak out.

              Fabian turned to look at him. “I believe I just did. Well, that is if she agrees to join us. You should have fully briefed your detective. She could have been killed.” He turned back to Katie, “If you stay here, I am afraid you will not be permitted to continue looking for Paul. I can no longer trust this with the vampires.”

              “Well, when you put it like that,” Katie stood, “consider yourself my new boss.”

              “Good, here is the address,” he handed her a card with the address and a phone number. “Be there at seven in the morning.” With that, all three men turned and walked out, leaving her alone with the Director.

              “Look, Katie, I was only trying to protect you. I never wanted to put you in danger. Just promise me that you will stay safe.” Director Mole looked his age for the first time since Katie had started working for him. It was like he aged twenty years in the past hour.

              Katie did not know what else to say, so she simply said, “I promise.” She then turned and walked out of his office and straight to her desk, quickly cleaning it out. She wanted to get out of here before the day shift arrived. She may not have made many friends here, but she did not want to explain what was going on to anyone. “It is time for a new start,” she whispered as she looked around the office one last time. She silently said good bye as she walked out, never looking back as she walked home.

                                       ***

              Paul had finally woken shortly after Katie had vanished. By the time he had realized what was going on, Katie was already leaving her apartment. He had taken a cold shower to try and calm himself down. He had not meant for things to go as far as they had but he had lost all control over himself.

              Paul had then put on clean clothes and headed out to watch Katie. He could not see anyone through the front window of the precinct, but knew Katie was there because her purse sat on top of her desk. After about forty-five minutes, the door in the back of the office opened. Paul froze almost immediately. Out walked his father and two brothers. He knew that the Elders were hunting him, but why would they send his family?

              He stepped back behind the cover of the coffee shop. Sweet aromas swirled all around him as he watched his father and brothers. They all came out of the precinct, head held high, true alphas wherever they went. Paul’s own dragon was wanting to pound his chest and show dominance. They had been in there with Katie, a thought that Paul did not like.

              They all climbed into a black town car that sped off the second the back door was closed. Paul did not dare to move. He was afraid one of them would look back and spot him hiding here so he leaned against the wall and waited until he saw Katie. Standing up straight, he watched as she made her way to her desk and started putting things into a box. What the hell was going on?

              Katie was quick about gathering her stuff. Within minutes, she was already headed out of the precinct, box in tow. Had she been fired? It looked that way, but why? Paul was not sure but he was willing to bet that it had been because of him. He gave himself a mental kick. So now not only was Katie alone, but she was jobless, too.

              Paul followed Katie as she made her way down the street toward their apartments. He made sure that he kept ample space between them just in case she turned around again, all the while berating himself for getting her fired. It was not fair that she was being punished because she had not apprehended him the night before. Pure bullshit! He would figure out a way to fix this but first, he needed more answers about Katie.

              The dream last night had left Paul with even more questions than before. With the questions came hope. He should not have been able to fully connect with Katie the way he had. The white rock only allowed him to tap into a human’s mind to find the answers he needed, but he had fully connected with Katie. Had shared an intimate dream. It made him think that she could be a dragon. If she was then why had she not grown up among them? Why was she living out there in a world of monsters and not where she belonged, with the dragon race?

              Paul was not sure, but he knew he needed to figure out why these females kept popping up. For so long, the dragon race believed that the females were dying as infants. Something was wrong, Paul could feel it in his gut. He may be on the shit list of his race but that did not mean that he was willing to let them continue thinking that the females were dead. Paul got the feeling that Katie was the key to everything, he just needed to find another way to get answers. He did not trust himself enough to connect with her mind again, so it had to be done in person this time.