The Dragon Billionaire's Secret Mate: BBW Dragon Shifter Paranormal Romance (9 page)

Theresa looked around frantically. She was lying on something that crinkled when she moved—a tarp, she realized, spread out on the ground in the middle of a field. She could see a forest in the distance. A car was parked a few feet away. Samuel's brother was crouching beside her, still in his perfectly tailored tux. Samuel himself was nowhere to be seen.

"Finally awake?" Severin asked.

"Where am I? What happened?" Theresa twisted her head around. There wasn't anyone else around. She was alone with Severin. Her head swam up when she pushed herself up to sit.

"We're in Du Page County," Severin said. "That was a clever trick the two of you came up with. I almost didn't realize until it was too late. But then I guess Samuel didn't realize it himself, or he wouldn't have flaunted it at the ball."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Theresa asked.

"I'm talking about you and your bondmate," Severin said.

Theresa blinked at him." I seriously have no idea what you're talking about, but this is creeping me out. Can you please just take me back to the city? Or at least tell me where I can find a phone?" Her handbag was gone, her cell phone with it.

Severin sighed. "I'm sorry. I can't let you go back to him," he said.

"I'm not going back to Samuel," Theresa said, swallowing hard. She didn't think she could stand it anymore, being around him knowing he didn't reciprocate her feelings when she loved him so much it felt like her heart might burst with it. Their ten days were almost up, and she didn't think Samuel would stop her leaving a little earlier, not if she explained what had happened. She was going back to Clarksburg and never looking back, and maybe eventually she'd stop feeling like her heart had been torn out of her chest.

Her eyes were stinging again. Theresa swiped at them angrily.

"Oh, stop it," Severin said sharply. "I didn't believe it from him, and I'm not gonna believe it from you, either. You think I don't know my own brother? Anyone could see how much he loves you, even if I couldn't tell about the bond."

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Theresa snapped, losing her patience with the whole cryptic, creepy conversation.

Severin squinted at her narrowly. "Did he tell you what he is?"

"Yes. I know," Theresa said impatiently. Presumably the dragon thing wasn't a secret from Samuel's own brother, who had to be a dragon shifter himself, didn't he? Probably even a full one.
Unbonded dragons can't transform all the way
, Samuel had said, but the way he'd talked about Severin's feelings for Vivienne, she was pretty sure Severin had found his mate in her. "I still don't know what you're talking about, though."

Severin laughed. "The two of you really didn't realize, did you. You're his mate."

"But he's not in love with me. You heard what he said." Her voice cracked. The memory still hurt.

"I heard what he said when he was lying to protect you," Severin said. "I also saw the way he was looking at you. He's my brother. I'd have noticed he was in love even if I couldn't sense the two of you were halfway bonded already."

"He's in love with me?" Theresa asked. Her voice shook. A spark of hope was blooming inside her chest, so intense it was almost painful; like life coming back into your fingers when you'd been out in the cold too long. "
I'm
his mate? But… I'm human."

"So's my Vivienne," Samuel said. "That's no obstacle."

"He never said anything."

"I don't suppose he realized it himself," Severin said. "It took me almost a month to realize, with Vivienne. That's pretty common, actually. It happens so gradually, and it feels so natural, I didn't ever consciously think about it. And then one day I looked up and knew I'd found my mate, and I hadn't even noticed." The hard look in his eyes softened for a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a smile at the thought of his mate. Theresa's heart clenched. Could that really be how Samuel felt about
her
? But if he really loved her, then why had he lied to Severin?

"I need to get back! I need to talk to him."

Severin shook his head. The smile was gone from his face. "I can't let you do that," he said. He sounded genuinely sorry. Theresa blinked at him, confused.

"He'll challenge me, once he's bonded," Severin said. "He's always thought he'd make a better alpha than I do."

It didn't make any sense to her for a moment until she remembered what Samuel had told her: Dragons didn't gain their full powers until they met their mate. So Severin would have been the stronger of the two of them—until Samuel met his mate. And if she
was
his mate…

"You understand now, don't you?" Severin asked, watching her face. "That's why I can't let you live."

"What?" Theresa asked. He couldn't really mean…

But he did, didn't he. The whole picture was becoming clear now. This was what Samuel had tried to protect her from, with that whole elaborate set-up—the ad, the money, the lies: Severin deciding she was a threat.

"But—"

"Believe me, I don't want to do this," Severin said, and weirdly, she did believe him; something about the little crack in his voice when he spoke. He sounded genuinely miserable about this. "I'm a businessman. I've never killed anyone in my life, and I'd really rather not start with my brother's mate. But I have to," he added. She thought he was talking more to himself than to her now. "He'd come after Vivienne once he's the alpha. I have to make sure she's safe."

"He wouldn't," There said, horrified. "He'd never—"

"Of course he would. Don't you understand? He doesn't want to kill me. I'm his own brother. So you go after the mate. That's how it's always been done, between dragons."

He really did believe that, Theresa realized. He couldn't see that Samuel would never do anything like that. Killing a woman just to gain power for himself? Never.

But Severin would. She could see it in his eyes. He was bracing himself to go through with this.

"I need you to drink this," Severin said. He handed her a little vial. A clear golden liquid sloshed inside. "It won't hurt," Severin said. He gave a low, shaky laugh. "I'm told it won't even taste bad."

Theresa stared down at the vial in her hand. She could throw it away, shatter it on the ground. Except she didn't think she wanted to find out what he'd do then.

Severin shook his head as if reading her thoughts. "Don't," he said. "Don't make this any worse, okay? This is the easy way. You can drink this, and just go to sleep."

There'd be a hard way, too, he didn't have to add. He'd have a gun, maybe, or a knife. Or, God. He could probably turn into a dragon and bite her head off.

Theresa looked down at the vial again. "He won't even have to know," Severin said. "I'll tell him you ran away, you don't want to see him anymore. He'll be sad for a while, but he'll get over it. I'll make sure your family's taken care of. All you have to do is drink."

Theresa held the vial in shaking hands. Oh God, what was she going to do?

There was a sound in the distance, the whine of an engine strained to its limits. A car was flying down the dirt road, bouncing madly over potholes, a thick cloud of dust rising behind it. It screeched to a halt beside them.

Samuel jumped out. Her heart soared at the sight of him.

"Get away from her!" Samuel roared.

A golden glow surrounded him. His wings rose towards the sky, the flash of red limning their edges glowing like fire in the light of the moon.

Severin answered with a roar of his own. When Theresa turned to look at him, he was only a shadow in a golden cloud. The shadow grew and grew, resolving itself into the shape of an enormous dragon. It towered over her. When it spread its wings, it seemed to blot out the night sky.

Theresa's breath caught in fear. Samuel couldn't fight this. No one could.

But Samuel didn't even hesitate. He launched himself at the dragon's enormous head, claws flashing. The dragon roared in pain when Samuel's claws slashed across its face. It swung its great head around, jaws snapping. But Samuel was the faster of the two of them. He was already darting backwards, out of reach. The dragon's jaws closed on empty air.

But there wasn't any way this could end well. Severin's advantage in size and power was just too great. Samuel only needed to make one single mistake, to be a fraction of a second too slow—

A car door slammed. Vivienne climbed out of Samuel car. She must have been waiting there the entire time, Theresa realized.

Vivienne stretched out a hand. Green light rose from her fingers and caught around the edges of Samuel's wings. Theresa remembered the terrible cold that had crept up her arm from Vivienne's hand. Samuel's movements were slowing. Vivienne fell back, gasping, obviously exhausted by the effort; but the damage was already done. Frost glittered on the edges of Samuel's wings, and his movements were awkward and stiff.

The dragon swung one enormous paw and batted him out of the air, his claws rending three deep slashes across Samuel's chest. Samuel hit the ground with an awful, shattering sound.

Theresa screamed. She ran, stumbling over her dress. Fell to her knees by Samuel's side.

He was lying very still. His chest was an awful, bloody mess.

"No!" Theresa's voice cracked, a sob clawing its way out of her chest. "Samuel, no."

Samuel slowly opened his eyes. He reached out with a shaking hand to touch the side of her face.

"Theresa. It's okay. You're going to be safe now," Samuel said. His voice was soft and kind. Theresa sobbed again."He's got no reason to hurt you once I'm dead."

"No!" Theresa said frantically.

"I love you," Samuel said.

Of course he loved her. Of course he did. How could she have believed otherwise even for a minute, no matter what he'd said to Severin? He'd been showing her with every word, every action since they'd met how much he liked and respected her.

If she hadn't ran away, if she'd trusted him, maybe none of this would have happened.

"You can't die. You can't, I love you," she said, pressing her hands to the wounds on his chest, trying to stem the terrible flow of blood. She could feel the life running out of him. "I love you. Don't die. Please don't die." She was crying, hardly aware of what she was saying. He couldn't die. She loved him, and he couldn't die.

"I'll always love you," Samuel said, and she knew he meant "goodbye".

"No!" she said angrily. "No! I won't let you!"

She pressed harder down on his chest, as if she could force life back inside him by sheer force of will. "I love you, I love you," she whispered, like a magic chant, like a prayer.

A faint red glow appeared beneath her hands, threads of light running down from her wrists to the tips of her fingers, spilling out of her into him, growing brighter until the trickle of light became a torrent.

Samuel's eyes snapped open wide. He gasped.

The flow of blood slowed, then stopped. The ragged wounds on his chest started to close at the edges. Theresa pressed down harder. She felt as if all her strength was running out of her along with that flow of red light. But that didn't matter at all. Samuel was healing. She'd give him all her strength, everything she had.

The wounds were closing, his flesh knitting together beneath her eyes, first the little cuts and then the big ones, faster and faster, until there was nothing but whole, unbroken skin beneath her hands. And still the light was running out of her, filling his entire body, until his skin seemed to glow from within: health and strength filling him to the brim.

The light went out. Theresa fell back onto her hands, gasping.

Samuel stared at her with his eyes wide with awe. "My mate," he whispered.

He rose to his feet, his wings stretched out wide and sheltering above her. The golden glow of transformation surrounded him again. She could see him silhouetted against it, his shape changing, his wings growing, until a dragon was standing where Samuel had been. He was big, bigger even than Severin. His scales were dark as the night sky surrounding them, but the red glow still limned his wings.

When he roared, it seemed to shake the earth.

Severin launched himself into the air. Samuel followed.

They clashed in mid-air. Theresa watched, wide-eyed. From the corner of her eyes she could see Vivienne watching, too, her chest heaving, just as drained by the use of her powers as Theresa felt herself. Neither of them could do anything to help now.

It was a terrible fight, the dragons tearing at each other with claws and fangs; tails lashing, wings beating the air so hard trees bent all round them.

But this time Samuel was the stronger one, and he still had the advantage of speed. He forced Severin to the ground beneath him, his enormous jaw closing around the soft, unprotected underside of Severin's neck.

Viviene made a low, keening sound of despair. Theresa was on her feet before she even knew she'd moved.

She put a hand on Samuel's jaw, stopping him before he could close his fangs on Severin's neck.

"Don't."

"He tried to kill you," Samuel said, turning his great head to look at her. Severin didn't move. His enormous body lay defeated beneath Samuel's, bleeding from a dozen slashes and cuts.