Haunted By Her Dragon (The Dragon Guard Series) (24 page)

Remembering the way he had kissed her until she
thought she might lose her sanity, and his promise to come back safely after
kicking Andrew’s ass for scaring her, made her sigh. He’d almost lost his mind
when she’d suggested going along with them, and had even enlisted the help of
his brothers. Each of them had given her countless reasons why she and the
other women had to stay put. They were right. She knew it, but she’d never been
someone that let others fight her battles. Lance and Royce had explained the
fight with their
lost
brother was a fight that had been going on long
before she’d entered the picture. All of it pissed her off, and added to her
need to pace and fret. Then she looked at her watch, and realized they’d been
gone almost eight hours. It was
still
early in the morning. Sydney had
wanted waffles for breakfast. The smell of them cooking had brought Grace,
Kyndel
, and Jay to the kitchen, where they all ate and
talked until just a few moments ago.

Heading down the hall opposite the living room,
she found a workout room. Deciding a few minutes on the stationary bike might
just work off some of her excess energy while the kids played, and the others
were close by, she walked through the door. Exercise had never been something
she liked. Actually, she avoided it at all costs, but there had to be something
she could do while the minutes dragged on. She pedaled and pedaled with Florida
Georgia Line blaring from her
earbuds
. She was so
lost in her pretend journey that she almost fell off the bike when Grace
touched her shoulder.

 “Oh shit, I’m so sorry, Sam. I thought
you saw us come in. You okay?” the other woman smiled.

She could tell it was taking all of Grace’s
control not to laugh, so she laughed to ease the tension, and everyone, even
the kid’s followed suit.

“No problem. I was lost in thought,” Sam
responded.

“I guess so. You looked right at us when we
came in,”
Kyndel
said as she sat Jay in the corner
surrounded by huge rectangular cushions. Sydney climbed over one of the
hedge-like furnishings, and started building with the
Legos
while the baby watched with rapt attention.

The ladies removed their jackets to show tank
tops and yoga pants just like the ones Grace had loaned her. They sat facing
each other, and began stretching. “We’re
gonna
do
some yoga, if you’d like to join,” Grace exhaled as she leaned forward for the
third time.

“Yeah, we’re not really into exercise, but
decided if we did it together it might not be so bad,”
Kyndel
added, rolling her eyes.

“Sure,” she shrugged. “It’s got to be better
than this stupid bike. My fat butt is aching from the seat,” she commented, as
she climbed down and sat between the girls, starting to stretch with them.

When she raised her head again both Grace and
Kyndel
were smiling knowing smiles in her direction, “All
right you two, what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” they said in unison, then started to
giggle.

It was Grace that spoke first, “Really it’s
nothing. We’re just glad Lance has someone, and that she fits in with all our
craziness.”

“Oh,” was the only thing that she could think
to say, and as the other two women continued to stare at her, she figured she
might as well be honest. It had worked for all her years so far. “Well,
whatever it is between us is pretty new, so who knows how long it’ll last. I’ll
admit, he
is
something else, but I have no idea if he’s looking for a
relationship or just a fling. Not to mention, I have about a year of my
residency left. After that I might be offered a position where I am, if not,
I’ll have to find something permanent.”
Where in the hell had all that come
from?
She thought to herself.
Over share, much?

Both women nodded as she spoke and then gave
each other a quick, conspiring look. They knew something she didn’t, and she didn’t
know them well enough to be blunt, but she really wanted to know what it was.
She bent at the waist, wondering if she should pursue the conversation after
Kyndel
had said they were all very open about
almost
everything. But the fact remained that they were such an incredibly close-knit
group that they knew things that she didn’t about Lance. If the roles were
reversed, she’d be pissed as shit if he talked about her and whatever
relationship they may or may not have without her at least present. So she kept
her mouth shut and stretched until
Kyndel
got up and
started the DVD.

While they were bending, stretching, and
breathing, she noticed that every so often one or both of the ladies would get
a faraway look in their eyes, and sometimes
nod
or
shake their heads. It seemed weird, but before she could think about it any
longer their exercise got much more intense. Her focus switched to keeping her
balance and breathing, instead of looking around. 
Damn! I really am
out of shape
. Then she remembered how Lance had kissed and touched her
everywhere
.
Just the thought of him brought up image after image of his face in all of its
masculine glory. His crystal blue eyes twinkling when he was joking, and almost
glowing when the look turned more heated; each look more intense than the
other, and in every one she saw
exactly
how much he liked what he saw,
and God knew he had seen it
all
.

“Earth to Sam,”
Kyndel
called, and both women giggled as she jumped for the second time since they’d
entered the room.

“Were you on Planet Lance just then?” Grace
laughed.

Sam felt her cheeks heat and laughed, “I sure
was.”

“Don’t be embarrassed on our account,”
Kyndel
motioned from herself to Grace. “We both understand
completely. Been there done that. Rayne monopolizes every spare minute I have,
even if he isn’t in the same room.” And the dreamy look returned to her eyes as
she raised her arms over head and stretched.

When she turned her head to the right, Sam saw
a flame shaped mark at the slope between her neck and shoulder. It reminded her
of a tattoo, but not really as dark or defined as any she had ever seen, and it
didn’t look like a birthmark either. She tried to get a better look, but didn’t
want her new friends to think she was a stalker or better yet, a nut job, so
she followed suit and continued to stretch.

Unable to keep her curiosity at bay any longer,
she asked, “When do you think the
guys’ll
be back?”

Again Grace and
Kyndel
looked at one another and she was sure some unspoken communication passed
between them. Their look held too much weight to be
just a look
. It was
Grace that spoke first, “No clue, but Aidan promised to call as soon as he
could.”

For the first time since meeting her, Grace’s
eyes didn’t quite meet hers, a sure sign they were keeping something from her.
Before she could think of a way to ask without being rude, Sydney called her
name, and Jay yelled. All three women turned in unison to see Sydney trying to
protect the structure she had built with arms outstretched while she carefully
hunched over it. The
Legos
stood just slightly taller
than the baby, and he looked like a miniature Godzilla, hell bent on destroying
Tokyo, as he tried to maneuver around Sydney while holding onto the corner of
his walker. Sam couldn’t keep from laughing, and was glad to hear the others
found it as funny as she did.

Grace reached the children first, and grabbed
Jay before he could destroy Sydney’s creation, swinging him into the air before
securing him to her hip. She kissed the top of his head, and lovingly scolded,
“Jay, my dear, you can’t tear down Sydney’s building. She worked really hard on
it, and it’s fantastic.”

She was rewarded with
an
‘Un huh’ from the beaming Sydney, and a long string of baby talk from Jay.
Grace pas
s
ed by her as she
carried Jay to his mother, and Sam noticed a mark similar to
Kyndel’s
on her neck. Hers was a little larger, and looked
like a flame with wings, but was located in exactly the same spot as her
friend’s. It was also the same ‘not quite tattoo definitely not a birthmark’
brand on their necks. She felt her brows furrow as she wondered why both women
would have comparable marks in the same spots on their necks. They’d told her
earlier that they’d been in college together, and she wondered if maybe it was
a sorority thing. If Lance kept her around long enough, she would have to work
up the courage to ask, because it would drive her nuts until she knew their
origin. 

Finally, feeling like she might actually be
able to sit still and read or watch TV, she called to Sydney, “Hey Girlie, get
your toys picked up. Let’s go have a rest before lunch.”

“
Awww
, man, do we
have to?” Sydney complained.

Before she could answer,
Kyndel
spoke up, “Jay has to go down for a nap, Pretty Girl. So you go rest with Dr.
Sam, and we’ll all meet you in the kitchen when he wakes up, cool?”

Sydney smiled, “Sure, Miss
Kyndel
.
See
ya
later, Baby Jay,” she waved as she made her
way towards Sam, and then stopped right in front of Grace. “You
gonna
have lunch with us too, Miss Grace?”

“I sure am, Sydney, but first I have to take a
shower.” She pinched her nose between her thumb and forefinger, indicating she
really
needed one after their workout. Everyone laughed, and Sam realized how much
happier she’d been since meeting Lance’s extended
family
.

Sydney skipped over, grabbed her hand, and
started to pull her towards the door. “See you guys later,” she hollered over
her shoulder, obviously intent to get the resting part of their day out of the
way. The little girl had just started running towards her room when what
sounded like an explosion came from the first floor. The shouting of male
voices so loud she could barely hear her own thoughts.

Calling to the child, she turned to see what
the hell was happening, but all she could make out were very loud, very angry
male voices, all vying to be heard. Her foot touched the bottom step, and it
was as if a switch had been flipped. What had been deafening shouts and angry
voices was all at once complete and utter silence, with all eyes trained on
her. The look they gave her was one she’d seen another time in her life, one
she’d done everything in her power to never see again. She started shaking her
head as Royce walked towards her, refusing to believe it was happening
again. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It felt like they had been combing the woods behind Sam’s
house for days when in all actuality, it’d been just a few hours. It was ironic
that now that he had someone to get home to, the things he had once thought
were fun just seemed tedious. There were signs that Andrew had been there, and
that he had acquired more people than the last time they had met him. Déjà vu
struck as Royce sent out a call that black SUVs were coming down the
single-lane gravel road leading to their location. Devon gave them even more
bad news,
“Guess what boys? I believe ‘The Auctioneer’ and his boys are
here.”

Rayne had immediately barked new orders, and
Lance had been hunkered in the same spot since. It seemed like forever while
they waited to see who was actually running the shit show for the evening. They
all had first-hand knowledge of what happened when they went in clueless, so
Rayne had ordered them to wait, and it was absolute torture. He saw the
werepanthers
prowling the treetops, and envied the Big
Cats, at least they got to move around.

He tried to keep his thoughts on what was
happening all around him, but no matter how hard he tried, the beautiful woman
that was to be his was all he could see. She was one of a kind, a true original
that he had no doubt would make his life exponentially better just by being in
it, and he wanted that life to start right away. He had held back, worried, and
tried to stay away, but when push came to shove, everything he had ever been
taught was true…Fate would not be denied. They were meant to be together and no
crazy ass traitor or human criminal trying to ruin the world was going to keep
them apart. He’d come to terms with that, and would do whatever it took to help
her see that she was his mate forever and always.

The images of her smile, her dazzling, dark
brown eyes, and the way she responded to his touch flooded his mind as he
waited, making him wonder if this shit would ever be over. The longer he
thought of her, the more he could feel her through their growing mating bond.
He grinned like a loon as he felt how happy and content she was, not giving a
shit if any of his emotions were leaking through to his brethren. They could
tease him all they wanted, he had Sam, and that was all that mattered.
Impatient to catch the little rat bastard and get back to his mate, he called
out to any that were listening in the way of his kin,
“What the hell? Are we
waiting for an engraved invitation?”

“No, Pain in the Ass, we’re trying to find
Andrew, and whoever’s with him,”
Royce growled.

“And we’ll move when I say to move,”
Rayne stated in full Commander
mode
.