The Dragon's Heart (Dragon Lore) (14 page)

Something she couldn’t define flashed in his eyes as a tortured sound rumbled through him. “I’m not good for you, damn it!” he roared. “Why don’t you get that you were shot because of me? Someone is using you to get to me, all because I was too fucking stupid to realize going down on you fucking counted! I didn’t give you a choice, and now you are stuck with me, the biggest bastard in the fucking world for all eternity. You want to know why you should hate me? Isn’t it fucking obvious?”

She couldn’t breathe suddenly. Terror shone in his eyes. Sheer, absolute terror. Before he could yank away from her, her hands shot out, cupping his face so he had to look at her as she gave him the words that had been squeezing at her heart since she’d woken up to find him back in her life. “I was half in love with you before you disappeared, Daniel. If you had asked me, I would have said yes. I’ve spent the last year trying to convince myself…”

Her mouth snapped shut as his body went rigid against hers, but before she could even think of a way to take back what she’d said, his hand came up to fist in her hair. He tugged her head back. “Say it again.” He demanded.

“Nothing.” She blushed, her entire face going pink. “Daniel, just forget–”

“Say it!” he bellowed.

“Fine,” she gritted out as she glared up at him. “I said I was half in love with you, and falling quick.” She was determined to kick him for making her repeat herself as soon as she was sure he was a little more stable. “Happy–”

She didn’t get to finish. Before she knew what he was doing, he’d tugged her into him, his mouth desperate as it closed over hers.

* * * *

Daniel half expected her to hit him, or shove him off after the bastard he’d been to her. Instead, she let out a raw moan of pure need that matched his own as she arched, wrapping her arms around his neck as she matched his desperation with a fierceness of her own.

Heaven. She was Heaven and she was home. Everything he’d ever wanted, ever needed. She was his.

He tugged her head back gently, letting his mouth devour her throat. Her soft moan fueled him, the way her short nails bit into his arms reminded him of just how much she’d loved his mouth on her throat. It had only taken him moments on their date to realize the skin there was her weakness.

He smiled, his teeth nipping gently at the delicate flesh. “You missed me, princess.”

Instead of answering, her head fell back on another soft sound. “Daniel.”

Ryuu.
He loved the way she purred his name in her soft voice. His body tightened, his cock aching.

She smiled at him, the smile capable of driving every man in the world insane, but this time, it was just for him. It would have sent him to his knees if he’d been standing. Her body rubbed against his as she tried to get closer. “There you are,” she murmured softly, her eyes searching his. Her fingers gently traced the muscle twitching in his jaw. “I forgot you never realized I spent six months lusting after you before you finally asked me out.”

He jerked, his arms threatening to give out and crush her beneath him. “What?”

“You’re gorgeous,” she said simply, the honesty in her green eyes mesmerizing him. “You had this…I don’t know, intensity about you. You didn’t talk to anyone, and no one was ever brave enough to get close to you, but I just knew you saw everything. Nothing was going to get passed you.” Her teeth caught her bottom lip before she gave him a shy smile. “I felt safe, but even more confusing since you never once cracked a smile, I found it very hard to breathe whenever you were around. I’d forget my lines, or trip over my feet, or crane my neck to see around any obstacle to make sure you were still there.”

She ducked her head and grinned. “At night, instead of sleeping, or running lines, or calling my agent back, I’d try to come up with a fool-proof way of introducing myself to you. Only no matter what I came up with, it sounded obvious and self-centered. Since I never once caught you looking at me, I just figured you could care less that I existed.”

“I never looked at you, because every time I did, it became harder and harder to remind myself why I couldn’t smash in every man’s face who dared to get close to you.”

Shelby went still, her gaze locked on his as confusion flickered deep in her eyes. “Really?”

It occurred to him, then, the woman didn’t see herself beyond how the world did. “I was there to do a job, not lust after the lead actress. By the time I finally asked you out, wanting you had almost driven me insane. Luca was threatening to beat the hell out of me just to get me to pull my head out of my ass.”

A slow, radiant smile lit her up. “I didn’t think I was your type.”

He snorted again, thinking of how pissed off he’d been when he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head. He stood, pulling her up with him. “You weren’t my type, but I had spent a majority of my day devising ways to get rid of every man who touched you.”

She canted her head as she studied him, a soft smile tugging at her mouth, until Luca cleared his throat behind her. She scowled at Daniel. “He has perfect timing, doesn’t he?”

“Remind me to kill him when he’s no longer useful.” Without putting her down, he turned to the man who was obviously trying to get himself killed. “What?”

“We have a situation. We need to move her, now.”

Daniel nodded. With a quick shift of his arms, he tossed her over his shoulder as he headed for the elevator. They needed to get to the roof. “Hunters?”

“I didn’t see any, but it doesn’t mean they’re not out there. It’s the only way anyone would be able to find you.”

“Whoa.” Daniel felt her poke him in the back. “What are you two talking about? Who found you?”

He didn’t want to tell her. “The media.”

She scoffed. “We don’t need to run. We just have to wait them out.”

“Not an option.” As soon as they were all in the elevator, he hit the button for the roof. “No one can find me unless I either want to be found, or they have a Hunter on their side. The media never knew my name after what happened at your house, right?”

“Right. I didn’t even know your last name until today.”

“Exactly. I shouldn’t be connected to you.”

He heard her swallow hard. “A Hunter…you mentioned that before.”

“A dragon Hunter.” He didn’t waste time as the doors slid open. Setting her on her feet when there was danger near was harder than he’d expected it to be. “This,” he said quietly as he unzipped the sweatshirt she wore, pressing his palm to the mark over her heart, “marks you as my mate. A dragon mate is just as much a target as a dragon. Neither one of us are safe now. We have to move.”

To his surprise, his little hellion didn’t argue. “Alright,” she murmured. “If you say run, we run.” She drew in a shaky breath, and offered him a determined smile, her eyes steady. “How?”

11

Daniel stared down at her for a long moment, not speaking. Every time he opened his mouth to say something, he ended up dragging his hand down his face instead. Nerves leapt in her belly.

“That bad?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

He nodded. “Yeah,” he murmured, “that bad. There’s no other choice. We can’t go down so there’s nowhere left for us to go but up.” His eyes deadlocked with hers. “I need you to trust me.”

She searched his eyes for a long time. “Daniel, I’m not crazy, right? You are a dragon?”

“No, princess, you’re not crazy. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” He held out his hand for hers. “Trust me.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a command, but still, she knew he’d find a different way if she wasn’t ready for this. It would make both their lives more difficult, but she knew he would hurt himself before he would push her into something she wasn’t ready for.

Nodding slowly, she took a hesitant step closer to him. She trusted him, even if he was asking her to believe in the fantastical–

She didn’t have time to finish the thought. As soon as her hand touched his, they were airborne.

Her scream of terror died in her throat before it could escape, as she found herself on the back of a giant, mythical beast. They were circling up and up and up, the steady, rhythmic pulsing of giant, powerful wings on the air the only sound in the world.

Shelby squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to look down or around, but when everything went still around her, she managed to pry one eyelid open. She gasped as she found herself face-to-face with a very large, very calm, dragon eye.

“You did that on purpose,” she accused, even as she tightened her arms around his thick, powerful neck. While he only bobbed his large head once, Shelby was certain there was amusement in his eye. They’d been in a hurry, and the whole idea of agreeing to ride on a dragon…

Her eyes went huge. “Daniel,” she whispered stupidly, “you’re a dragon.”

Yeah, that was definitely amusement in his silver eye. She scowled at him, but there was no heat behind it. The thrill of–holy hell, she was riding a dragon. The thought was just too amazing to stick in her brain.

Sucking in a deep breath, she expelled it on a jubilant whoop before carefully shifting her view to the ground. She didn’t know high up they were, but she could see Los Angeles spread out beneath them.

She’d never paid much attention to the city she’d lived in for the last ten years. It was simply where she worked. She’d never felt any kind of connection to the lifestyle or people in LA.

Then again, until Daniel, she hadn’t felt a real connection to anyone or anything in so long, she’d started to wonder if she was as empty inside as people believed.

Too exhilarated to be afraid, Shelby pressed her cheek against the dragon’s neck as his powerful wings beat a slow rhythm against the air. While she didn’t know how fast they were going, she had the sense he was taking his time for her benefit. Geez. The man did make it impossible not to like him.

Then suddenly, fear replaced the warm fuzzies growing inside of her. She tightened her arms around his neck as worry for him almost strangled her. “Daniel! They’ll see you!”

His massive body stilled for a heartbeat, before he swung his giant head back and forth.
Magic.

Shelby relaxed. It didn’t occur to her she was imagining his voice in her head. “So they can’t see you?” When he swung his dragonhead back and forth again, the tension in her started to ease. “Good,” she whispered. The idea of Daniel being under a spotlight and microscope was enough to make her violently, physically ill.

His head cocked at a curious angle as he studied her. She shrugged as much as she could with her arms locked around his neck, then made a face at him. “I like you, you know,” she murmured. “I don’t want you to be some science experiment or media sensation. I can’t think of anything you’d hate more.”

His large dragon eye winked at her.
I like you too. Don’t worry. We’re safe.

In a move as natural as breathing to her, Shelby rubbed her cheek gently against his neck. It was scary how easily this man could get inside her heart no matter how hard she tried to keep him out. “Where are we going?”

Before he could answer, something caught out of the corner of her eye. She gasped as she realized there was another dragon next to them. It was dark silver, but when he turned his head to look at her, she’d only seen that particular shade of blue eyes twice before. Seren and Luca. She couldn’t imagine the tiny doctor being a dragon the size of this one.

“Luca?”

When the dragon winked at her, she relaxed slightly until movement from every direction caught her attention. Finally getting the courage to sit up straighter, she released her death grip on Daniel’s neck until she was no longer in danger of choking him.

“What are they doing?” she asked, dazed at the way they surrounded her and Daniel in effortless formation.

Protecting you.

Luca was at their right, a dark, blood-red dragon at their left, a dark green dragon behind them, and a pure iridescent gold one at the front. She smiled at the one behind them because he was watching her, then leaned down to wrap her arms a little tighter around Daniel’s neck. “What about you?”

A very disgruntled male snort sounded in her head.      Well…yeah. Of course. He was freaking
huge.
Of course he could take care of himself, but who was going to watch out for him if they were all protecting her?

She poked him in the back of the head. “You are not allowed to get yourself hurt, Daniel, got it?” Thinking of it made her chest ache, suddenly hard to breathe.