Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (49 page)

Cool stuff
. He liked that.

“You gave her…?” Matthew blinked at him stupidly. “Have I died? I’ve died.”

Thane shook his head. “You’ll probably outlive me. Actually, once I go to Havyn, I really do think you should serve Emerson. She’ll need you.”

“I’d planned to die with you, my lord.”

The old way. The beloved servant going into flame and ash with his master. In modern times, it was rarely done, but then again, neither he nor Matthew was a modern man.

Thane couldn’t turn down this gesture, not after everything he and Matthew had endured together. “I’m honored, friend. It’s decided. We’ll find another way to help Emerson take to wing.”

“She’s so—”

“Beautiful, I know. And brazen. And smart.” What a dragon should be.

Matthew lifted a brow. “I was going to say heedless. My lord, you are smitten.”

Smitten, yes
. What a bittersweet ache it was with all the other turmoil in his heart. It’d been a long time since he’d wanted anything. “You’re smitten, too.”

Matthew closed his eyes and shivered with pain. “She was so irritated at me when we first met, I couldn’t help it. And you seem more and more like your old self.”

Felt like it, too. The dragon within was smug.

“Ransom Heolstor wants her,” Thane said.

Matthew affected a small shrug, another improvement. “Strong line. And Ransom is intelligent.”

“If I had more time…” Thane didn’t finish the sentence. The thought behind it was uncomfortable. Matthew would understand anyway.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, my lord, as I’ve only served a dragon these past several centuries, but I was under the impression that Bloodkin have all the time they want.”

Thane was shocked for a moment at the idea. He could have her, if he was strong enough. In fact, the dragon wasn’t putting up much of a fight. The dragon had…changed its mind?

“If I take Emerson for my own,” Thane said as Matthew carefully stood and then toed the severed hand of Martin Fraser, “we may not be going to Havyn. There will be no fire or flight for either of us any time soon.”

He’d fought the Night Song for so many years and had almost lost to it, but he couldn’t deny that his dragon was now interested in another mistress—an end to loneliness.

How strange that Emerson should arrive in his life when Carreen and Rinc had been discovered, their murderer named. A little sooner, and Thane would’ve refused to see her. A little later, and he’d be fire on the wind.

Matthew stooped, grunting, to pick up his short sword. He wiped the blood from his blade with a handkerchief. “She might be disinclined to accept your suit, my lord.”

“You don’t think she’ll want me?” He was Ealdian, a black dragon, royal among their kind.

“I didn’t say that. But you do lack finesse.”

That stopped him. “Finesse.”

“And patience, my lord.”

“All dragons are patient,” Thane argued. It was how they watched their riches grow. Compound interest.

“She’s not just another woman to warm your bed, my lord. She’s a Bloodkin, the heir to her line. I won’t lie to please your vanity.”

“Heaven forefend you should,” Thane mocked him. “Pray, how do I win the dragon maiden? Since you are such an expert?”

Matthew sheathed his blade, ignoring Thane’s sarcasm. “For starters, don’t announce your intentions. Considering her introduction to this life, she’ll refuse you outright.”

“I wasn’t going to.” Yes, he was. He’d thought to tell her straight-out in case she
had
been considering that boy, Ransom Heolstor.

“You might compose a sonnet. Commission her portrait, perhaps. Find an undiscovered flower and name it for her.”

“I don’t understand how those things will get her naked in my arms.” Which, truth be told, was an immediate goal.

Matthew made a disapproving sound with his teeth and tongue. “You are too motivated by fire, my lord.”

“I’m a dragon, and so is she.” It didn’t help that the scent of Fraser’s spilled blood was fuzzing the edges of his mind.

“She’s also a woman of rank.
Woo her
.” Matthew lifted a hand. “I’ll say no more. I’ll wait before I cancel the arrangements for Havyn. We may be going there yet.”

“You have so little faith in me?”

“You’ve gone a bit wild these last few weeks, my lord. You’re not in any form for seduction. Carreen and Rinc’s remains were just discovered, you have a debt to settle with Lena Orvyn, and now you want to pursue Emerson? These passions are all born of fire.”

“My dragon won’t harm her.” He’d taken her to his hoard, after all.

“Fire is fire,” Matthew said. “It burns.”

“You dare a lot to speak to me this way.”

“I’m not afraid of you, my lord Thane. I’m afraid
for
you. Tread carefully. You have everything you want within your grasp.”

And both the past and future on balance. Yes, he understood. And Matthew was the only person he’d hear it from. Fine. “I suppose you won’t let me eat Martin Fraser?”

Matthew merely looked at him.

“
Hmph
,” Thane grumbled. “But you’re the one who killed this one.”

Thane returned to the vault. He descended slowly into the temperature-controlled, fire-safe lair where he stored his hoard.
Patience
, Matthew had said.
Woo her
.

Thane’s dragon disagreed. Vehemently.

Emerson was sitting on a pile of his gold, a Habsburg crown on her head, rubies and emeralds strung from her neck, large bracelets like unchained manacles on her wrists, and a strand of pearls doubled up and wrapped around an ankle. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, their color back to their human brown.

She’s also a woman
. Damn Matthew to hell for being right. Revenge and seduction were not good bedfellows.

“I take it you found something you like?” Yes, he wanted her. To see the world through her eyes. Kiss her. Lick her skin and taste the salt of her sweat.

His dragon stretched in anticipation, but Thane forced it down.
Not now
.

“I figured, why not?” she said. “Bryan said I was royalty. And royalty wears crowns ’n’ shit.”

Hmm
. This wolf brother of hers might be an asset, after all. “He was right. Among shifters, you are.” Red and black dragons together would be wonderfully terrifying.

Thane knew that she was distracting herself from what had happened upstairs with Fraser, but she’d come around.
Patience
. He had so little.

“Why do you even
have
jewelry?” she asked. “
You
don’t wear any.”

“It seems I acquired it for you.”

She gave an inelegant, tear-clogged snort. “Oh, please. They’re useless.” She shook her head. “No, don’t look at me like that. They are. Just sitting here in your vault. And no one can really wear them anywhere, either.”

She would. And nothing else. In his bed.

He approached slowly and sat on a nearby stack of gold bricks. Any closer and he’d be too tempted. “Why don’t you tell me about
your
hoard.”

“I don’t want it,” she said.

“Not that one,” he amended. “Yours. Every dragon has a hoard. It’s in our nature. A collection, maybe? My first, when I was child, was smooth rocks from a stream on the Ealdian lands. I still have them around here somewhere.” Locked in a vault.
Mine
.

“Rocks.”

He nodded. “Smooth ones.”

Something shifted in her gaze. Half her mouth tugged up. She’d thought of something.

“Are you going to tell me?” he asked.

Emerson shrugged. “Since I received my Bloodkin windfall in college, my cupboards have always been full to bursting with food. I never have an empty refrigerator. And it’s all mine.”

Thane concealed a shudder of dragon rage. She’d been hungry at some point in her life. Very, very hungry. The Herreras had much to answer for.

“And what’s your favorite?” He couldn’t help but ease closer where her scent was thicker.

“Chocolate,” she said. “And cheesecake. And cookies, or…I used to like cookies.”

“A sweet tooth.” He could work with that.

“Yeah. Every bite is an epic battle between my willpower and my waistline.”

And the spoils of that battle would go to him.

“Matthew makes an excellent cheesecake.” He didn’t, but he would learn. Immediately.

Her gaze finally met his and held. “So he’s okay?”

“Yes. He’s fine. Up and walking about, doing Matthew things.” Like cleaning up another dead body.

“He healed because of your dragon blood?”

“Yes. It’s kept him with me for a very long time.”

“And he’s served you? Basically forever?”

Aside from the bodies, it wasn’t
that
bad. “He’s amassed a small fortune himself. He could choose to go off and—what do you say these days?—live large. I wouldn’t hold him, nor begrudge him anything he wants.”

“But he stays.”

“Sometimes time moves so fast that you hold on to what is steady. To what you know. And from there, safely look out at the world.” Only years passing, one upon another, could teach her that.

“Look out at all the death, you mean.”

Thane paused for a moment. “Martin Fraser’s life had been extended, as well.”

She frowned deeply. “He didn’t deserve to die like that, no matter how long his life had been extended.”

“He did, Emerson. And Matthew was quick and efficient about it. Fraser came into my stronghold intending to shoot me in the back.”

Her lips puckered, considering.

Thane wanted so badly to kiss them. “And he told me about Lena, which will end her life, too. Fraser didn’t have that right. He never had that right. His extended life gave him innumerable privileges; all that was required was loyalty.”

He swallowed, coming to terms with the discovery of Lena’s treachery. It was
his
fault for not seeing it before. Where was the one place he hadn’t searched?

“Well, does it get any worse than this?” Emerson sounded like she couldn’t take much more.

Nevertheless, he gave her the truth. “My revenge will be complete. I will have Lena and her heir, regardless of his innocence.”

Emerson hissed and shook her head. “I meant does
dragon life
get much worse, but I guess you just answered that, too. Yes.”

“I will mete out justice. And it
is
justice. She burned my infant son, or she concealed the one who did.” He touched Emerson’s chin to hold her gaze. “But yes, it gets worse. If dragons are rediscovered by humanity, you will learn how bad it can be. We were once hunted to the brink of our extinction, and only secrecy and quiet living protects us. That is the mission of the Assembly.”

“I don’t know how you all manage
quiet living
when you like blood so much.”

You all
. She still didn’t think of herself as a dragon. She needed time, he reminded himself, and he would try to give it her, but it was a fight against his dragon he didn’t think he could win for long.

“Blood is tempting, yes. And fire, too,” he said. “And freedom and flight. But we like prosperity more. And it’s there that the Bloodkin makes their peace.”

She looked wary and tired, but he pressed her anyway. “Will you let me show you?”

She watched him for a long time, a little flash of green showing in her eyes as she considered. Of course, she had no idea that he intended to take all of her, not just her trust. But he was a dragon, so she shouldn’t be surprised when she found herself thoroughly possessed by him. A dragon took what it wanted. Took and
kept
.

Finally, she nodded. “Yeah, okay. I hate not knowing anything.”

He tried not to smile too broadly as he reached for her hand. She squeezed his tightly, and with that small movement, she sealed her fate.

***

“I’m so sorry I didn’t return your call,” Emerson said to Bryan, the phone lodged between her ear and shoulder as she carried her suitcase down the stairs. “Things got sketchy. Real sketchy.” And were going to get worse, if that were possible.

Lena Orvyn had some explaining to do.

Matthew sprinted up the steps to take the suitcase from her, grumbling, “You couldn’t wait one minute?”

“Who’s that?” Bryan asked. “What’s happened?”

“Bloodkin insanity is what’s happened,” Emerson said. “But I’m okay.”
Barely
. “A dragon shifter is helping me out. That was his, um, right-hand man.” She wasn’t going to call Matthew a servant. And since Matthew shot her a smile as he took the suitcase out the front doors to the car, she guessed she’d labeled him correctly.

“What dragon shifter is helping you out?”

Bryan was family, so she decided to go ahead and tell him. “His name is Thane Ealdian. He was involved in that mediation I was working on in Santa Barbara.”

“Thane Ealdian.” Bryan sounded surprised.

Uh oh
. “You’ve heard of him?” She stepped outside into the morning sun and squinted.

“Yeah, he’s something of a legend,” Bryan said. “Old dude. Badass fighter back in the day. Is he the one who killed his wife and kid?”

“They were murdered, but not by him,” Emerson said.
Geez
. “But he
is
old.” She tried not to stare at the way Thane filled out a pair of jeans. He was leaning up against his shiny black deathmobile, waiting for her. His arms and chest were doing merciless things to his shirt. “Positively decrepit.”

Thane smiled, and she flushed. Big day ahead.

“Ember, I have a bad feeling about this,” Bryan said. “You wanted out.”

“Your bad feeling is warranted. Two people have died recently regarding the mediation.” Her stomach was leaden even as her heart fluttered erratically at random moments. This time she was deliberately going in search of Bloodkin mayhem rather than it finding her. She wasn’t sure the turnabout was an improvement.

“Three,” Thane said as he walked around to the driver’s side. “The assassin.”

Oh yeah
. “Three,” she told Bryan while mouthing a thank-you to Matthew, who’d just slammed the trunk shut. The trunk was apparently in the front of the car, not the back.

The plan was to hear what Lena had to say. At the very least, she’d betrayed Thane by withholding information about his wife and child. At worst, she was directly responsible for their deaths. Emerson would get answers to her own questions, as well. And then Thane would decide what to do from there. But Emerson knew vengeance against Lena and her heir—a two-hundred year old man who lived in Vegas—was probable. The son first, so that Lena would know Thane’s pain. And then he’d come back for her. Very medieval. No, older than that. Old Testament.