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Authors: Mackenzie Lucas

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BOOK: To Have & to Hold
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Michael had been careful. Oh
,
so careful. Nothing would stick to him.
He was smarter than Grayson
. He walked to the answering machine and pushed play. He pulled out his mobile, opened
Cate

s
contact information, and punched in the new number she

d left on the message. And then, listening to the water running upstairs, he deleted the message from the answering machine.

Cate
would think her husband
had given
up on her. Satisfaction filled him.
And her
poor dope
of a husband
had no idea. The
Trojan
e-mail and Internet monitoring system would keep Michael one step ahea
d of Grayson at all times. A
quick trip to the post
mistress in the village, to
tup
the woman in the dusty back
room before he headed back to London, would be all it took to divert any post from
Cate
to her husband. He had Sherrie Davenport wound tightly around his dick. He couldn

t help the smile that blossomed. Life was good.

He reached down and adjusted himself.

This game made him feel so alive.

#

Two weeks later,
Cate
held Grayson

s definitive answer in her hands. She sobbed. A certified letter from her husband had arrived, forwarded to her from the trust manager.

This wasn’t what she’d wanted.

She

d sent a letter detailing the situation to Grayson in Cornwall the same day she

d placed the call. She now had her answer. The legalese was mind-bending, but the essence? Grayson Cooper
abdicated all custodial rights to any child
Cate
might bear as a result of their encounter on
07
February
2011
.

Cate
couldn

t believe her eyes. His signature, bold as day, sealed the legal document. Grayson Cooper had lied to her once again.
You are mine,
Cate
. And I protect to the death what belongs to me.
The words whispered through her mind. He didn

t care that he also had a child. He wanted nothing to do with
their
child or with her. Damned if she

d beg him.
Fucking p
rick.

She

d raise this child on her own after all. Well, maybe not quite alone. She

d had two weeks to think about the situation and plan a solid course of action. She understood what she had to do for her sake and the baby

s. For crying out loud, she knew nothing about giving birth to a child who might be half-dragon and half-human. There were risks she couldn

t take with normal doctors, especially country doctors in rural Pennsylvania.

The next call she made was to the
office of David Pierson, the head of the
North American Dragon Mage Consortium located in New York C
ity
. When she and Grayson had married in a huge society wedding in Martha

s Vineyard four years ago, David presided over their vows. She
’d known nothing at the time about dragon shifters, but
now
she
understood why he

d pressed his number on her, squeezing her hand affectionately after the wedding to say,

If you

re ever in trouble,
Cate
. Call me. I

d be glad to help you sort it out.
No matter how crazy or fantastical the situation seems.

He

d known about Grayson

s dragon mage heritage. She sighed. If only she

d known back then. E
verything would be different
.

She called Pierson for help
a week before the boating accident, when
she

d thought the monster would kill her. David had helped her see the benefit in giving Grayson a year to battle the dragon in the safety of enchanted confines. He

d coached her through it.
So when the opportunity presented itself a week later, she’d been ready to trap the monster.

Now, s
he needed help again.
This time, a dragon mage midwife.
Someone to walk her through this pregnancy and birth, someone to help protect her and the child in case Grayson ever changed his mind and decided

to death

meant her death or her child

s.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Four

 

One Week Later (April)

 

It had been two months since
Cate
had left him. April sun filtered through the wall of windows over
looking the cliffs. A bloom of s
pring color greeted him. Hedgerow flowers in periwinkle and purple, bluebells, fuchsia sea thrift, and golden daffodils create
d
a blaze of color that made
Grayson
long for
Cate
. She loved this time of year in Cornwall.

Do not follow me. I need distance and time to figure out what I want.
Clearly she didn

t want him. He

d not heard a single word from her. But it had been a long, tough year for her. So he didn

t begrudge her the time necessary to come around. And he understood
Cate
. She would come around. She loved him. If anyone grasped the concept of unconditional love, it had to be
Cate
.

Given a second chance, he

d have explained, early on in their courtship, the one-in-five-hundred chance he
still had of
transitioning into a dragon. The change for most dragon mages occurred in childhood, before five years old. If the male didn

t change as a child, the odds were that he

d never change. He figured he

d
only
carry the gene to the next generation
and
the dragon shifter
trait had skipped him.

He

d planned to tell
Cate
before they decided to have any children, so she could make an informed decision. And although children were high on his list of priorities, he would have forgone them if
Cate
didn

t want to bear dragon children. He would have understood. It wasn

t a normal thing for a woman to consider. But
t
he change had come upon him unexpectedly in his thirty-eighth year,
at the beginning of
their third year of marriage
before he could figure out a way to broach the subject of mythical dragons and their offspring
.

A loud knock sounded at the door. No one bothered him, except Michael. And he tolerated Michael only because he was building a case against the mongrel in order to put him behind bars for a very long time. He would exact justice for the crimes
his old friend
had committed.
One way or another.
And the
weasel
had lost no time in pointing fingers at
Cate
.
Casting aspersions on her character.
Hinting that she

d tried to kill him and she

d misappropriated her own money. God, did Michael think he was stupid?
Certainly.
He must, the slimy
git
.

Someone pounded on the door again.
This time harder.

Hold your horses.

Grayson yanked the door open,
then
stood dumbfounded for the span of several seconds.

Good God, David? What are you doing here?

Shock rocketed through him at the sight of the leader of the North American Dragon Mage Consortium on his front porch. Built like a bodyguard, David never ceased to amaze Grayson with his gentility and grace. This is what could happen if a dragon mage transitioned as a child. Calm confidence.
Strength.
Leashed control.
A
shot of envy left a glaring hole at his core.

He shook the man

s hand, bumping opposite shoulders, and pounded on his back.

It

s
been,
what? Four years? What brings you to Cornwall?

David smiled at him.

You
do,
old man.

He slapped Grayson on the arm as he stepped around him into the foyer.

Wanted to find out how you were handling
Cate
leaving you.

Grayson closed the front door harder than he

d intended. Tension gripped him. He didn

t want a challenge from any of the mage leaders. Not now. Not before he won his wife back.

Grayson
scowled at David, hating the turn this whole situation could take if mage politics played a role.

David turned to study him.

The dragon mage leader
stood over six
feet tall.
Broad and muscled.

They faced off, eye-to-eye.

David

s parents had sent him to England to attend the private boarding school that catered to
the
offspring of mages.
They’d been allies for longer than Grayson could remember. And, yet, he’d always known David would be a formidable enemy if he ever found himself pitted against the younger mage who’d proven himself a scrappy fighter and a great strategist.
Grayson had learned everything he’d needed to know about dragon lore and history and politics at the same school. Just not how to control a shift he’d never expected to hit him.

How did the North American Consortium even know
Cate
had left him? He hadn

t notified the European Council yet. No one knew
Cate
had left. She

d certainly filed no divorce papers. Not that it would do any good. As far as anyone was concerned, she

d gone abroad to visit family.

He sensed David waiting
for his response. The truth was the best course of action.

Cate
needed some time away to sort out her feelings. The past
two
year
s have
been
especially
hard on her. I

m giving her space.


Noble of you, considering you caused this situation.

Grayson studied his bare feet.

I

ve bungled everything.
Cate
only did what she had to
to
survive. Please don

t blame her.


Oh, I don

t. I
lay the
blame squarely on your shoulders. As someone with a dragon mage lineage, it was your responsibility to prepare your mate before you shared vows. You were negligent. You

ve dishonored your race.


Und
erstood.
I regret my actions. I’
ll
win her back.


Have you learned to control the beast?


Yes.

David

s eyebrow winged into his hairline.

We

ll see in a moment. First, I have a few questions for you.

A test?
The leader planned to test him? That

s
okay,
he was secure in his knowledge of his skill under pressure.
Except where
Cate
was concerned.
He never seemed to control the beast quite as well when dealing with her. He clamped down on that thought.


I

ll answer what I can.


You hurt your wife?


Yes.
In more ways than one.


You didn

t seek counsel when the transition came upon you. Why?


No. I thought I could handle it on my own.


You, better than anyone I know
,
understand
what can happen when a drag
on mage goes rogue. You were ro
g
u
e for almost a year before the situation was brought to our attention. By your wife, I might add.


Cate
?

A flush of heat crept up his neck. He

d been wrong-headed all along. God damned male pride. Thinking he could manage everything on his own and screwing it up royally in the process.


Yes, she called me for help. I advised her to use her magic to trap you in an enchantment for a year
to give you a chance to
train the beast. It was either that
,
or the European Council would have assassinated you for going rogue. She saved your life, Grayson. She

s an amazing woman. I don

t think you know how lucky you are.


I do. And I
will
ma
ke it up to her
.


You

ll leave her alone for now.

He
heard the hard edge of threat in David

s voice. It lurked quiet, deadly. He squared his shoulders, preparing for a fight.


Stand down.

Grayson tried to relax at the command. It was impossible. He bristled and chaffed under the mant
le. Alpha mages were the same, n
o matter when they transitioned. They made great leaders, but didn

t take direction well. The best learned when to take direction
from their superiors
and when to ignore it. But this was
Cate
.
His
Cate
.
He could not leave her alone. He had to fix this situation. He breathed deep. The essence of his hoard swirled around him. Peace surrounded him. He

d take David

s suggestion.
For now.


What of this test?

Grayson asked.


In a moment.
You have a bigger problem.
Cate
said you tried to kill her and
yourself
. Is that true?


No. I

ve never intentionally hurt her. The harm that

s come to her resulted from my transition.
From my inability to control the dragon.


I

m not talking about the residual fallout from the dragon change. She believes you tried
to kill her and then yourself while you were in human form, but t
he whole scenario sounded wrong. You

ve never been suicidal.
Cate
woke, after being drugged, in
the locked cabin of your yacht
. When she escaped, she found the cruiser sabotaged and sinking and you with a gunshot wound t
o the chest, gripping a Luger 9
mm
P08
.

Grayson slumped into an over-sized armchair, rubbing his forehead.

I remember the day. I didn

t drug her.


Tell me what happened.


I broke out a bottle of 1985 Krug. God, it
was
a gift from
Cate
. Who

d have suspected a three-thousand-dollar bottle of vintage champagne? Not me. We both had a glass or two by the time I heard something on deck. We were celebrating our wedding anniversary. I told her to relax, I

d be right back. The champagne must have been drugged, because by the time I got onto the deck, gun in hand, my head was swimm
ing, I could barely hold onto
consciousness with both hands. Everything became blurry. I heard a gunshot. Not my gun, but someone shooting at me a second before I felt the bu
llet
.

BOOK: To Have & to Hold
11.03Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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