Finding His Dragon (Dragon Blood Book 3) (5 page)

Jace carried her across the massive room to a cushioned platform. It looked almost like a low stage with thick red cushions covering the floor. He set her down near the center, then knelt on his knees next to her. “I’m going to have to take some clothes off to assess your injuries. Maybe Stella has a robe you can borrow if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s okay. As long as no one else is around, I don’t mind.” It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her naked only a little while ago. As a dragon, she was used to a certain amount of nudity. Not that she wanted to parade around the house in front of the other men, but baring her body, especially to her mate wasn’t a hardship.

Before he could do anything more, a tall, slender woman with long, blond hair falling in glorious curls down to her waist came in. “I looked at Brycen and Austin’s feet. They were both pretty mangled, but they’re healing,” she told Jace.

“Stella, this is Charlotte, my mate.”

Stella looked at her and smiled. “I wish the circumstances were different, but I am pleased to meet you, Charlotte. How about we take a look at your injuries?”

The woman sure was direct. “Thank you. I don’t mean to trouble you. I’m certain I can take care of my wounds if I could rest for a while.”

“I’m sure you can, but why would you want to?” Stella asked. “Unless I’m mistaken, that’s a bite mark on my brother’s neck. That means you’re clan now. Your family will appreciate us taking care of you as our own.”

At the mention of her clan, every muscle in her body tensed. It was so easy to forget that her brother was responsible for all that had happened. At one time, she would have been the first to defend her brother when people accused him of his evil ways, but not now. He’d crossed too many lines, and hurt too many people, including her.

She looked at Jace, then at Stella. It wasn’t fair of her to put them in harm’s way. If she wanted to have a future in their clan, she had to come clean. Already two of their men had been injured because of her. The least she could do was give them the information they needed so they could decide whether or not they wanted her to stay.

Stella gave her a funny look. “Whatever it is that’s troubling you, it’ll wait until you’ve healed. You’re safe here. The men who were after you are no longer a threat.”

Charlotte shook her head, and for a horrifying moment, her eyes brimmed with tears, but she blinked them back.

“If you’re thinking of bolting, don’t. They can’t get to you here. Besides, where would you go? You told me yourself that you have no home here in Glen Farley,” Jace reminded her. A pained look crossed his face. “If you don’t want to stay here with me, we can discuss it in the morning. Stay and heal until then.” His tone was soothing, but tension made his posture tight.

Just the thought of leaving and never seeing Jace again had her insides clenching. She took a shaky breath. If ever there was a place she wanted to stay, this was it. It wasn’t that she knew Jace that well, but her dragon hadn’t had doubts when she’d bitten him. Not a single one. And he’d been nothing but gentle and kind to her. She had to trust that the beast knew what it was doing, even if she wasn’t quite sure.

“Okay. I won’t go, at least, not tonight.” She’d lay it all out there in the morning and see what his clan had to say. If they were willing to fight for her, then she’d stay.

Stella didn’t say in the great hall long. He was ready to bet that only part of her reason for coming to greet them was to meet his mate. The other part was to check up on him to make sure he was okay. If he knew his sister, she’d met Brycen and Austin at the door and checked them over, too. At least he and Austin would get a reprieve from her mothering. Poor Brycen wouldn’t be able to move without his mate fussing over him over the next few days. Then again, he’d probably enjoy it.

“Let me take a look at your leg,” he said once she’d gone. He helped her to her feet and unfastened her jeans. He couldn’t help but remember peeling them off her body a few hours earlier. The frenzied mating that followed would be etched in his mind forever. He gingerly pulled them down her uninjured leg, then with even more care tried to slide it down the other, but when she hissed at the material against her skin, he stopped. Without thinking twice, he allowed his hand to transform, then, with a careful swipe, he sliced her pant leg with one sharp claw.

The material fell away, revealing a bruise covering most of her calf. Her swollen ankle was almost double the size of the other. To top it off, three blisters bulged from the side of her leg where the fire had reached her tender flesh.

“Fuck.” He took her in his arms and laid her down on the cushion. “Don’t move.” He hardly recognized his voice with the vibrating tone the dragon was emitting. If the assholes who had done this to her were still alive, he’d have hunted them and killed them for injuring her like that. He looked up at her, seeing the dark bruise on her chin where the coward had hit her. He took a breath, then another. His hands shook as fury rushed through him.

“I’ll be okay. I just need rest,” she assured him.
She
was attempting to soothe
him
.

Unable to contain it, Jace threw his head back and roared. Running footsteps came from the other side of the house, then hushed voices outside the great hall. Luke poked his head around the door. “Everything okay in here?” he asked without stepping foot in the room.

Jace tried to get his mouth to work, but his teeth had pointed, and his jaw ached with the partial transformation.

“We’re fine. Thanks for checking,” Charlotte said, her voice stronger than he would have expected it to be considering the injuries she’d sustained.

Luke nodded, then ducked out, pulling the door closed behind him.

It took him a few minutes and a whole lot of deep breaths before he could finally speak. “Stay here and rest. I’ll be right back.”

Charlotte tensed on the cushion in front of him. “Where are you going?”

She was tough. He’d give her that, but those big beautiful eyes of hers didn’t lie, she was scared. At least a little. “Not far,” he assured her. “I missed supper earlier, and I’m getting hungry. I thought I’d go into the kitchen and grab some food. Once we’ve filled our bellies, we can shift and get some shut eye.”

“Thank you for coming for me tonight. I don’t know what I would have done…”

He looked at her. Of course, he’d gone after her. What kind of mate would he be if he allowed her to be taken by the enemy and harmed? Shame flooded him.
Fuck.
They had hurt her. He hadn’t protected her when she needed him to.

Standing on feet that were shakier than when he faced an entire group of hunters, he strode over to the side where they kept blankets stacked. He grabbed the softest, fluffiest one he could find and brought it back to her. “Go ahead and finish getting undressed while I’m gone. You can use this to cover up. We’ll find you something new to wear tomorrow.” No way in hell would he allow her to put the same clothes back on. For one, the pants were ruined, and for another, he could still smell the putrid scent of the bastard dragon that had attacked her on her shirt.

Without waiting for her reply, he headed out of the room.

When he entered the kitchen, Austin sat at the table with an enormous sandwich in front of him.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“You should see what they did to her.” Jace slammed his fist against the cupboard door, splintering the wood. “I should have been there to stop it.”

Austin’s eyebrows rose. “Fuck, man, you
were
there. You got to her as fast as you could. We all did. And you might want to rein it in, buddy. Stella and Maddie are going to be mad if you wreck the kitchen.”

Jace looked down at his knuckles where blood trickled to the tip of one finger. “Shit.” He rinsed his hand under cold water as the cut closed and healed. Austin was right. Besides, his mate needed him sane, not enraged.

He riffled through the fridge grabbing a couple of raw steaks, some fresh fruit, some cheese, and a loaf of bread, placing it all on a platter before grabbing a pitcher of water.

When he had loaded his tray with as much as he could carry, he turned back to his friend. “Those guys, the assholes that hurt her, they were lackeys. The threat to her isn’t gone.”

“Agreed, but by who?” Austin said around a mouthful of sandwich.

“I don’t know, but mentioning her family almost had her hyperventilating a while ago,” he said. “Her name is Charlotte Rivers.
I’d start looking there.”

Austin swallowed before answering. “I’ll start looking. If she’s up for it tomorrow, we can get more info and put the team together.”

Jace couldn’t be bothered with computers, and trying to find any information on the web was like finding a particular grain of sand on the ocean floor for him, but not for Austin. If information was out there, he would find it. Austin could, and had, hacked into such high-security systems that had he been caught, he would have done life in prison for treason, if not had a price put on his head. Thankfully, he slipped in and out without anyone being the wiser.

“Thanks,” he said as he grabbed the tray and walked back to his mate.

Charlotte waited a full minute after Jace had left before sitting up and examining her leg. It was in rough shape. She didn’t think she had a fracture, but the swelling of her ankle had her wondering if she might be wrong. At best, it was severely sprained. No wonder standing on it had been horrendous. She sighed. Even if she wanted to leave in the morning, she might not be able to. Dragons healed fast, but not that fast.

She looked at her soiled shirt and took a whiff. The smell of the men who had taken her still permeated the material. No wonder Jace wanted it gone. Hell, she wanted it gone. She grabbed the hem and pulled it over her head, careful not to jostle her neck or aching jaw. The last time her shirt had come off, Jace had been there to drive her wild with his mouth and tongue. Her nipples pebbled at the memory. After everything that had happened, the last thing she should be feeling was sexual need, but there was no denying the slow pulse building between her legs.

She shimmied left, then right, trying to bring her panties down, but when she put pressure on her foot to lift her butt off the cushion, pain shot through her. Her pained whimper echoed through the room as Jace walked back in.

He set the tray he was carrying down and rushed over to her. “What are you doing?”

She took a breath through her nose, then out through her mouth. “I was trying to take these off,” she plucked at the elastic on the waistband.

He looked at her fingers, then brought his gaze up along her body to her breasts and down to her panties again. He swallowed, and licked his lips. “Here, let me.”

Charlotte nibbled on her bottom lip. She’d never seen such a sexy man in her entire life. None of the dragons back home had the kind of presence that Jace did.

He grabbed the flimsy material in both hands and gave a hard tug. The lace didn’t stand a chance. When she gasped, he looked up, worry making his features tight. “I'm all right. Or at least, I will be soon.” Already her voice was sounding stronger than it had been as her dragon blood worked at repairing the damage to her throat, and shifting would speed up the healing.

The muscles in his jaw jumped as he ground his teeth. He took some smaller cushions and propped them behind her, giving her something to lean against before covering her with the soft blanket. Taking her clothes, he bundled them all up into a ball, then tossed them on the floor outside before closing the door. “Let’s get you fed,” he said when he came back to her with the loaded tray.

She took a long drink, soothing her aching throat with the cool water, draining the glass he had handed her. “Thank you,” she said when he refilled her glass. “For everything, I mean. I appreciate all you’ve done for me. We’re practically strangers.”

Jace’s brows furrowed lower. “We may not know one another well yet, but make no mistake about it, you’re my mate, and I will do everything in my power to ensure your safety and happiness.”

She snorted. “If only all males had the same code of honor,” she said without thinking.

“Who’s doing this to you, Charlotte? Who sent those wannabe dragons after you?” He shoved the tray closer. “I’d prepare your food for you, but I don’t know your preferences yet.”

Her heart thudded against her ribs. She was going to have to tell him eventually. Forestalling the inevitable, she reached for some bread and a piece of cheese, feeling oddly pleased when he smiled at her. “I’m not sure,” she told him. “It might be my brother, or…”

His smile fell, and his fists clenched on his thighs. “Or, who?”

“Adrian Milnor. My brother wanted to forge an alliance between our two clans, so he sold me to him.”

Jace didn’t speak for several beats. “He sold you.” It wasn’t a question. Rage, thick, and menacing emanated from him.

“When I refused to go willingly, Reyn told me I had no choice. They locked me up for weeks. The only reason I was able to escape is because my friend found out where they were keeping me. I fear for her safety if they discover who set me free. I’ve been on the run since.”

“Reyn is your brother?” the icy tone in his voice had her heart racing a little faster.