Dragon in the Rough (Elders Enterprises Book 1) (4 page)

         Chapter 4

              Katie walked around her quiet apartment. She was not used to being here during the day and she felt lonely. After cleaning the apartment and doing her laundry, Katie sat down on the couch and tried to watch T.V. but after about fifteen minutes, she turned it back off. Did people really enjoy watching crappy drama shows? Surely there should be a limit on how many times you kill someone off of a show just to bring them back. She stood back up and made another loop around her apartment. She felt trapped. She needed out of here, needed to be around people. Even if she did not interact with them, she enjoyed watching them and trying to figure out their lives just by their actions.

              Katie went and grabbed her purse off the kitchen table. As she slung it onto her shoulder, it brushed over her breast. She froze as the memory of last night’s dream came barreling back to the front of her mind. Paul’s hands roaming her body as his mouth devoured hers. Katie moaned. She put her bag back down and went to the bathroom, quickly stripping out of her clothes and turning on a cold shower. She hopped into the shower and welcomed the shock of the frosty water against her warm skin. She needed to get the thoughts of Paul out of her head.

              The water poured over her head and Katie moaned as a shiver ran through her body. It made her think of the way her body had reacted to Paul’s touch. “Damn it!” she screamed. This was supposed to work, not make things worse. How was she going to be able to go after a man that she kept fantasizing about? Even now she could feel his hands all over her. The dream had felt so real, the heat of their bodies entwining as they pressed against each other.

              Katie slammed the shower off, ripping the towel off the rack and quickly drying off. She tried her best to ignore her body as the towel swiped over the sensitive parts of her. Throwing the towel into the hamper, Katie quickly made her way into the bedroom and threw on some clothes. She needed to get out of here, away from her own thoughts. Maybe she should go out and pamper herself.

              Katie liked that idea. Maybe get her hair and nails done, find her some new clothes for her first day of work tomorrow. In the past three years she had not taken any time to go out and do these types of things, never took a day off for herself. It was long overdue. Plus, it kept her out of this small space she called an apartment. Maybe it would help erase Paul from her thoughts, too.

              She walked back to the bathroom and swiftly brushed her hair. She reached down and pulled open the middle drawer and pulled out make-up that she barely ever wore. She did her best to apply it. Even though no one ever really showed her how to put it on, Katie thought the end result was pretty good. She took one last look in the mirror before she turned and headed back out to get her purse.

              This was going to be a relaxing day, no matter what. She would force herself to have a good time, even if she would rather be at work. God, she was hopeless. She threw her purse over her shoulder and pulled out her keys. She rushed herself to the door and swung it open.

              Katie came to an abrupt stop. There, laying on the floor right outside her door, was a little white envelope. At first she thought that maybe someone had accidently dropped it, but then she saw her name embossed in gold on the front of it. “What the hell?” she muttered as she bent down and picked it up. Who would leave her note?
Paul,
a little voice said inside her head. Katie shook her head. Why would he leave her anything? After all, last night was only a dream. She slipped her finger under the flap and ripped it open.

             
Dear Katie,

                I know you are looking for me. Please meet me tonight where you first spotted me at dusk. Come alone or I will not show myself. We need to speak about the Elders. They are very dangerous. Remember what I said last night, we are older than any vampire.

              Sincerely,

              Paul Ivers

              P.S. That kiss was amazing. I hope to do it again, this time in person.

              Katie was hit by several emotions all at once. Her body reacted at the thought that she could possibly kiss Paul in real life and not just a dream. “Wait…that was just a dream, right?” she whispered. If she was understanding the note then no, it was something more. But what? She had a block against telepathic intrusions so how was it possible for Paul to connect with her through her dreams? Add that to the ever growing list of questions that Katie had about him. She needed answers. The best way to get them was to talk to him.

              Katie did not have anyone that she trusted, so it looked like Paul was going to get his wish. She would meet up with him, but only to get the answers she needed and then she would arrest him. Good thing she kept her handcuffs and badge. But where would she take him? She did not know but she would figure it out. Now, how would she get all the answers she wanted without giving Paul the chance to ruin it all?

              She would use the best weapon in her arsenal - her body. Hell, she was leaving to go get pampered today, she might as well just make herself look downright sexy. He would be putty in her hands by the end of the night. Everyone would win by the time she got home tonight. Well, everyone except for Paul. He would be in her handcuffs as soon as possible. Katie quickly slipped the note into her purse and left to get some shopping done. She glanced at her watch as she exited the building. She would have just over five hours to get ready. Perfect. She smiled to herself as she hailed a cab.

              The rest of the day went by quickly. Katie had her hair cut into a short A-cut bob and then dyed brown with red and blond streaks. Her nails were painted a deep purple. Katie liked that color, it sang to her the second her eyes landed on it. She then spent the next few hours hopping from one store to another, trying to find the perfect outfit. She finally ended up getting a short, silver club dress with a low-dipping V-neck. Her boobs looked fabulous in it, plus the color reminded her of Paul’s eyes. After a few more stores, Katie found the perfect pair of black leather knee-high boots. She loved the feeling of the soft leather against her skin. The way they hugged her legs but still gave her room to hide a few knives inside of them.

              Twenty minutes later, Katie was standing in her bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. The woman staring back at her was amazing. She took her own breath away. Katie did not recognize herself. For the first time in her life, she truly felt sexy. She felt as though she could bring any man to his knees. She was so use to wearing her jeans and heels that she had forgotten that she had a body under them. She loved seeing all of her curves. Sure, she did not have very many but the way the dress hugged her, it showcased all of her assets.

              With a sigh, Katie turned away from the mirror and headed to the kitchen table. She grabbed the knives off the table and slipped two in each boot. She grabbed her purse and double-checked to make sure that her handcuffs and phone were tucked inside. She cleared her throat, squared her shoulders, and made her way to the front door, pushing all her fears aside. It was time to get this all done and over with.

***

Paul stood across the street from the coffee shop, pulling on all of his magic to hide him just in case Katie decided to bring backup with her. Honestly, he was just praying that she would show up. He really did not expect her to, but he had made the offer. After he saw his family leave the precinct, Paul had watched as Katie packed up her things and left. She looked almost excited and that had confused him. If she had been fired then why was she so happy? He had already planned to contact Katie in person, this only pushed up his time table.

              Paul felt an overwhelming need to protect Katie from his family and the rest of the Elders. If they even suspected that she was a dragon, just as he did, then she would be in a lot of trouble. If she was in fact a dragon, then there was a good chance she would be dead within the next few months. The thought had Paul’s blood boiling. He needed to do something. Anything.

              Paul took another look around, hoping to see Katie in the crowd of people heading his way. The sun was starting to set and with it came a slight breeze, erasing the heat of the day. It did nothing to cool him off. He was on edge, the need to see Katie growing with every passing second. To know that she was still alive, that his family had not found out about her. To feel her soft skin again, only this time in real life and not just in his mind.

              Paul stepped out onto the sidewalk and quickly made his way across the street. He decided that he did not care if she showed up here with the Elders in tow, he was going to stand outside the coffee shop and wait for her. He slowly released the magic that surrounded him, leaning against the wall behind a couple that seemed to be wrapped up in each other. Paul longed to have that with someone.

              A clicking of heels caught Paul’s attention. He could not figure out why the sound stood out to him, until Katie walked around the corner. His knees started to buckle as he took in the view of her. His eyes followed the dip of her dress around her scrumptious breasts and he licked his suddenly dry lips. His gaze moved down to follow the curve of her body, stopping on the sway of her hips. Back and forth, back and forth. It was like she was ticking down the seconds until Paul was done for. The wind blew her hair out of her face, the movement bringing Paul back from his thoughts.

              As Katie walked up to Paul, she pulled out her badge. “Paul Ivers, you are under arrest. The way I see it, you have two choices - you can either run or you can choose to come with me willingly. Either way works for me.” She came to a stop within touching distance of Paul.

              Paul’s hand itched to reach out and run his fingers down her cheek. He shook his head to try and dislodge the thoughts of what he wanted to do to her and cleared his throat. “Can I offer a third option?” He smiled.

              Katie looked as if she was deep in thought. “You can offer whatever you like. But I will warn you, it had better be good or I will certainly decline it. Then we will be back at square one.”

              “Okay, I offer this,” Paul said with a smile that he hoped made him look charming. “We go out to dinner and talk. I would like to give you my side of things. Then if you still want to arrest me, I will not fight it.”

              Katie was silent for what seemed liked an eternity to Paul. She had a look of shock written all over her face. Paul hoped and prayed that this was a good thing. That he had caught her off guard and she would agree to have dinner with him. He needed her to hear his side of things. Needed to ask her so many questions and hopefully get the answers.

              “I guess that does not sound like a bad idea. I am hungry.” She looked up at Paul and her voice lowered. “I will agree to this on one condition. Do not try and kiss me again. I am not sure what exactly happened last night, but I do know that it should not happen again.”

              Paul laughed. “I will be on my best behavior, I promise.” He smiled. “But I am afraid that if you decide to kiss me, I will not fight it.” He winked at Katie, causing her to blush.

              Paul knew he was playing with fire, but he could not help himself. It was just so cute. The emotions that she usually kept hidden away played across her face. Over the past month that Paul had been following Katie, he had never been close enough to touch her. Now that he was, all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms. He fought himself. All it would do at that point was piss her off, and he did not want to do that. He loved seeing her smile.

                     Chapter 5

              Katie was confused and a little dumbstruck. As much as she wanted to arrest Paul, she knew that she couldn’t. She still had not figured out where she would take him if she did. Katie just liked threatening him with it. Hopefully by going at Paul from several different angles, she would get the answers she needed.

              Katie had thought about everything all day, going over and over all the possibilities. She had never expected Paul to ask her to dinner but she had to admit, it was a good tactic. He was trying to throw her off, maybe lower her guard enough that she would feel sympathetic to him. Katie admired his tactics even if she knew they would never work. Okay, so they might work. She had a feeling that by the end of the night, she would not want to arrest Paul. Handcuff him to her bed, maybe, but not lock him into a small cell. She smiled. “All right, let’s get this over with. Where are we going?”

              Paul gave Katie a knowing smile, making her blush. “I know a quiet little diner just up the road. It will give us some privacy and good food.” Paul stepped away from the coffee shop and held his elbow out for Katie to grab onto. She sighed, why did he have to act like a gentleman? It made it harder for Katie to not like him. She was going to have a hard time trying to keep things professional between them.

              They walked quietly. No words were said, only charged glances between them. Katie’s heart sped up each time she glanced up to see Paul watching her, his silver eyes dancing with emotion. What was he thinking? What did he want? What was he? The questions flooded her mind, going around in circles. She was relieved for a moment when they stopped in front of a diner.

              The moment of relief quickly passed as they stepped inside the diner. It reminded her of going to the Waffle House as a kid. The family she lived with took her every Sunday after church. They would make her dress up every week and force her to attend services, where they would then tell everyone that she was possessed. She cringed at the memories as they clawed their way out of the box in the back of her mind. Her heart started to pound in her chest, breaths coming fast and shallow.

              “Are you okay?” Paul asked, ripping Katie out of her thoughts. “We can go somewhere else if you would like.” The concern written across his face helped to ground Katie. She stared up into his eyes, her breaths starting to slow and her heart returning to its normal rhythm. Thump…thump…thump. She could do this.

              Katie cleared her throat. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Just memories creeping up when they shouldn’t.” Katie gave Paul’s arm a squeeze. He nodded his head and led Katie to the back of the diner. They passed a family sitting in one of the front booths by the door and a few rough looking men sitting at the bar, sipping coffee. They sat down in the far back corner. Paul sat on the side against the wall. Katie wished she could sit there, she did not like having her back to the rest of the restaurant, but she sat down and gave Paul a slight smile.

              The silence stretched on until after the waitress came to take their order. Katie was not thrilled at the way the waitress eyed Paul, undressing him with her eyes. God, did she have no self-respect? Wait…why did it matter to Katie? It shouldn’t. It wasn’t like she and Paul were a couple. Hell, they were the opposite. Katie picked up her glass of water and downed half of it.

              “All right,” Katie said with a half-smile. “Why don’t we start with something easy?” She waited a moment to see if Paul was going to object. When he nodded his head in agreement, Katie continued. “What are you?”

              Paul let out a small laugh. “I thought you said easy?” Katie just glared at him until he continued. “You really don’t know, do you? I thought they would have told you when they sent you after me.”

              Katie released the breath she had not realized she had been holding, her voice full of annoyance. “If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking, now would I?” Her voice was a little harsher than she really meant, but it got the point across. She would not be sorry for that fact.

              “Well, I guess that is true,” Paul replied. He looked down at his hands and started to play with a small piece of paper. To Katie, it seemed as though he was trying to avoid telling her the truth, and that pissed her off.

              “Look,” Katie snapped. “You can either tell me now or I can pull out my handcuffs. I didn’t come here to play games so just answer the damn question. Can you do that?” Katie relaxed a little when Paul nodded his head in agreement.

              He cleared his throat and shook his head. “I have never explained this to anyone before.” He let out a soft chuckle and looked back down at his hands. “Actually, we are not allowed to talk about it with anyone outside our race. But it seems I am just breaking all the rules now, so why not?” Paul glanced up at Katie quickly before averting his eyes again. “I’m a dragon shifter.” He said it so softly that Katie was not sure she heard him correctly.

              Was he telling her the truth? Deep down, Katie knew he was but she was not ready to accept it. Sure, she already suspected that there were other races out in the world, so why not dragon shifters? “Well, for the sake of this conversation let’s say I believe you.” Paul glanced up at her for the first time since he told her. Katie wanted to do a happy dance when she saw the hope in his eyes. “Now tell me why the Elders are after you.” She gave Paul a slight grin. “Also, was that a dream last night, or something else?” She did her best not to blush as the memories of last night came rushing to the forefront of her mind.

              Before Paul could respond, the waitress walked up with their food. Both Katie and Paul waited silently until she was finished setting down their dishes. Once done, they both said thank you and waited for her to turn and leave again before either one of them spoke.

              “All right,” Paul started. “Before I can go into detail about what I did, I think I need to give you a back story.” He paused to take a bit of food. “It is said that our beginning is much like some Native American tales. When the earth was created, six dragons descended upon it, claiming it as their home. They brought with them a book. To most it does not look like much, but to the dragons it is something special. It is a book of prophecies.”

              Paul looked up at Katie before taking another bite. “Okay, so how does this book fit into everything?” Katie asked. Why was he talking about a book when he was supposed to be telling her why he was a wanted man?

              “Patience, Katie, I am getting to that.” He took a quick swig of his soda and then continued. “The book is written in an ancient language that very few know. You must be of high ranking with the Elders to be able to read it.” He sat his fork down and ran his fingers through his hair. “I was told a while ago that there is a prophecy about me written among the pages. At first, I really did not care, but slowly it started to take over my every thought.” Paul looked down at his hands again. “Finally a month ago, I could not take it anymore. So I stole it.” He exhaled a laugh. “Sad thing is I do not know enough to fully translate it.”

              Katie sat back in disbelief. All of this over a stupid book? Dragon shifters she could handle, but a manhunt over a freakin’ book? Really? She shook her head. She had thrown away her life, her job, over a stupid book.

              “Okay, so let me get this straight. You are a dragon shifter who stole an ancient book from your own kind because you wanted to know what it said about you?” She looked up into Paul’s eyes. “That sounds a bit selfish, don’t you think?”

              A look of pure shock ran across Paul’s face. Katie fought to hold back a laugh. His face was just so cute. “Well, when you say it like that then yes, it does. Believe me, you do not understand just how stupid I feel for doing all of this. I honestly do not know what came over me. You do believe me, don’t you?” His words were laced with worry.

              Katie made sure to keep her face from giving away her emotions. She did believe him. He did a stupid thing, but did it really mean that his life should be over? No. It wasn’t like he killed anyone. Katie watched as Paul’s eyes dipped again. “Well,” she started. “With everything that has gone on in this world with the vampires, I would have to be crazy to not believe in dragons. I also think you are pretty upset with yourself over all of this. So yes, Paul, I believe you.” His eyes snapped up to look at her and Katie gave him a smile. “Now, you failed to answer my second question. Was that a dream?”

              Paul gave Katie a huge smile that gave her butterflies. “Ahhh, yes, that. No, it was not a dream. That was our minds connecting, though it wasn’t supposed to happen. At least not like that.”

              “What do you mean?” Katie leaned in, putting her elbows on the table.

              “I have this magical stone. It’s supposed to allow me to read humans’ minds but with you, our minds fully connected. That is possible with dragons but even then, it’s not something that always happens. I know my family possesses the skill but others do not.”

              Katie could feel the blood rush to her face as it fully sank in. It had actually been Paul last night. Touching her. Kissing her. Katie about lost it when Paul winked at her. She barely managed to get out her next question. “Why did it work between us then? I mean it’s not like I’m a dragon.”

              Paul sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “That, my dear, is the million-dollar question. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself and we can go from there?”

              Katie took a long slow breath while she tried to figure out where to start. She was not sure that she should tell him everything. Finally, she decided that she would just keep it short and sweet. “Well, there is not much to tell really. My birth mother dropped me off at the hospital right after I was born. I was put into the foster system where I moved around every few months. Then when I was old enough, I got myself a job to pay for college. I was accepted into the police academy right out of college. The rest is history.”

              “Why were you never adopted?” Paul asked in a soft voice. That one question Katie always dreaded whenever anyone ever asked about her past. It reminded her that no one would ever love her. That she would forever be alone.

              “Everyone was scared of me. I even lived with a few families that thought I was possessed.” Katie paused. She wasn’t sure why but she felt like she could trust Paul with her secret. “See, when I was a small child, I started to develop special abilities. I could jump long distances with ease. Actually, it was more like soaring. It just freaked people out.” Katie closed her eyes, she hated talking about her past. Even now she was fighting back tears as the memories came rushing back.

              Paul reached across the table and grabbed Katie’s hand in his. Katie was grateful for that little bit of comfort as it gave her the strength that she needed to push past the tears. “Was that your only ability?” he asked in a calm, quiet tone.

              Katie opened her eyes and looked at Paul. If he was in anyway disgusted with her, he was doing a damn good job at hiding it. “No,” she finally replied. “There were other things, too. They were things that I usually kept to myself, except on the occasion that I did not like the foster family that I was living with.”

              Paul seemed to take his time before he asked his next question. “Can you track anything, no matter the size or distance?”

              Katie let out a soft laugh. “I thought I could up until last night. You are the only person that has ever escaped me.”

              Paul squeezed Katie’s hand. “If it makes you feel any better, you were closer to me last night than you know.” He paused briefly. “Have you ever tried tracking down your birth mother?”

              “I requested the information a few years ago, I just never could bring myself to look at it.” Katie paused to take a drink to wet her suddenly dry throat. Her heart started to race just thinking about the envelope sitting in her closet at home.

              “Well, I think it is time that you finally look at it.” Paul gave her a smile.

              Katie pulled her hand out of Paul’s. “Why?” was all she could manage to squeak out. Her heart started to race while she waited for an answer. Katie did not like talking about her past, but this was something more. She was not ready to know who her mother was. Why was Paul telling her that she needed to find out?

              “What you just described sounds a lot like a toddler dragon, only we are not taught to hide our abilities but to embrace them.” Katie’s mind was reeling. She was hit with so many different emotions all at once. Before she could clear her mind, anger took hold and reared its ugly little head.