Mate Dance (2 page)

"I want Raven. No, no, no." Her hysterical screams

got louder and louder until a security officer raced over to

Raven, pulling the little girl by her wrist behind him. "I'm

going to have her ride back here with you."

Raven slid onto the back seat and scooted over for

the little girl. For the first time Raven got to see what a

pretty thing she was even with her blond ringlets flattened

against her head and her face blotchy from tears. Cleaned

up and smiling, she probably shattered little boys' hearts all

over the place.

Surprise overtook him when she scooted closer,

rested her head on his chest, and wrapped her thin arms

around him. Silent sobs shook her slender body while two

security agents slid into the front seat of the hovercar. The

driver flashed them a brief look before taking off.

Raven muttered nonsense words as he stroked the

golden head, trying to figure out where along the way his

night of debauchery had turned into a baby-sitting

assignment.

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CHAPTER TWO

As they walked into the security station, Raven

didn't understand all the stares sent his way until he

realized he didn't have his hat and glasses anymore. He

must've left them back in the alley. Raven hoped the

onlookers weren't transmitting his image across the

galacticnet.

His agent would have puppies.

Man-eating puppies.

The security officers led them to a room with four

chairs and a table—an interrogation room—though Raven

hoped they weren't going to use it as such.

"Want something to drink? A cookie?" one of the

officers asked.

"Want a cookie, sweetheart?" Raven asked the little

girl. She shook her head. "Maybe some water for us both."

After all that crying, she needed fluids.

A moment later they were given two glasses of

water.

"I'm Officer Baines, and this is Officer Trewel."

Trisha looked at them with distrust but didn't say anything.

Then the questions began. The two security officers

listened intently to her story after determining her name

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was Trisha Lily. She haltingly told of a trip with her

grandmother to watch Raven's performance, a trip that

ended badly when, while returning to their hovercraft,

bandits shot the little girl's grandmother for refusing to give

up her purse. At least her story cleared Raven of any

wrongdoing.

"What is your connection in this?" Officer Baines

asked Raven.

"I came by the alley and heard her crying. When I

saw the situation, I called you."

They turned their attention back to the little girl.

"Where's your mother?" Trewel asked.

"She's dead," Trisha said. Her voice sounded cold

and distant as though what had happened in the past didn't

relate to her. Raven noticed that, while her voice had a

toneless robotic sound, the water sloshed from the slight

tremor of her hands. It had been a harrowing night for her.

"How did she die?" the officer continued.

Trisha shrugged. "It was when I was little."

Raven held back a grin at the mature tone in her

voice. When she was little couldn't have been more than a

few years ago.

The officers persisted.

"Where's your father?"

Trisha shrugged. "I don't have one."

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"Did he die too?"

The little girl shook her head. "No. Mommy didn't

tell him I was born. She said he didn't want kids."

Raven saw the officers relax a little. A man who

didn't want his daughter was at least someone they could

track down.

"Do you remember his name?"

Trisha nodded solemnly. "Prince Kaemon."

The officers laughed.

"Sure he is. Prince Kaemon is gay; I doubt he's your

daddy," Officer Baines said, not unkindly.

"Don't completely discount it," Raven advised. "A

lot of gay men try out women first. A DNA sample will

confirm if she's telling the truth."

The officers exchanged looks. Officer Trewel

cleared his throat. "All right. Let's run a test. We have the

entire royal family in the system in case of kidnapping. It

will be easy enough to check her DNA."

The burly officer left the room and came back with

a small box. "Lick your finger and press it against the

scanner."

Raven watched with fascination as the officer

opened the box, exposing a blue scanning screen. He loved

those forensic shows on the net.

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Trisha licked her finger and placed it on the screen.

After a few minutes, there was a loud beep and two names

showed up on the screen.

Mother: Leona Linnett, listed on birth record,

probability 100%

Father: Crown Prince Kaemon Dragonspear,

probability 99.999%

No other matches found.

Raven looked at the girl with new eyes.

She was half dragonkin.

Trisha must have felt him watching her because she

looked up at him with a wary expression.

"Do you not want to be my friend now?"

"What?"

"Nana said people are afraid of the dragonkin."

Raven wrapped an arm around Trisha and gave her

a sideways hug. "Never be ashamed of who you are. I don't

live on this planet so I don't know how people feel about

dragonkin, but it makes no difference to me."

Officer Baines gave Trisha a reassuring smile. "The

dragonkin are a protected sect of society. Since most of the

royals are dragonkin, it is considered a privilege to be one.

Her grandmother probably wanted to protect her from

being taken away. Even if the prince didn't want her, the

king would have since his chance of having another

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grandchild is small."

Raven gave her a quick smile. "See, you are

wanted. We'll have you with your father in no time."

"No!" Trisha clung to him, sobbing. "I want to go

with you."

Raven sent a panicked look towards the officers.

"Why don't you come with us to help escort her to

her new home? That might ease the transition," Officer

Baines said with a rueful smile.

"Fine." Raven sighed. This was definitely not how

he had planned his evening to go.

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CHAPTER THREE

Prince Kaemon paced the foyer waiting for a girl

supposedly his daughter. How could he have a daughter

and not know? Shouldn't his dragon senses have kicked in

to let him know another person with his DNA walked the

planet?

Thank the dragon goddess for the man who'd found

his daughter.

"Sit down, Kaemon." His father, King Avin, waved

a hand towards a bench beside him. "She'll be here any

minute. You seem excited. I thought you didn't want

children."

The prince spun on his heel and glared at his father.

"Not wanting a child in theory is not the same as not

wanting a child once born. If I'd been aware of her birth, I

would've participated in her life."

Fury ate away at Kaemon. The fact that he could

barely remember the woman who gave birth to his daughter

didn't take away from the fact that she'd stolen those years

from Kaemon. Years he could've spent bonding with a girl

who had his blood pulsing in her veins. If the mother

weren't already dead, he would've killed her. The idea of

having someone to carry on the family name caused an odd

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combination of joy and anxiety.

The sound of a hovercar pulling up outside had him

spinning towards the door. He held himself in check as a

servant stepped forward and opened the front door.

Kaemon ignored the mildly reproving look he received

from the elderly servant. This was his one chance to meet

his little girl for the first time.

Three men stepped through the doorway. One was

holding the hand of a little girl who clung to him like a

lifeline. A pretty thing with long blonde hair and big brown

eyes flecked with green.

Dragon eyes.

As a female, she'd never shift, but her eyes gave her

bloodline away.

The officers approached, bowed low to his father

first and then to Kaemon.

"I'm Officer Baines, and this is Officer Trewel," the

sandy-haired man said, waving a hand towards his partner.

"Officers." King Avin gave a genial nod. "Thank

you for finding her and bringing her to her new home.

Good evening, Trisha," he said gently to the little girl.

"This isn't my home," the girl piped up, glaring at

the men surrounding her. "My home is downtown. It's a

white house with green trim."

"Don't you want to live here?" his father asked the

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girl, waving a hand to indicate the enormous stone

entryway. "Haven't you always wanted to be a princess in a

castle?"

"No." The girl stamped her foot.

"Now, Trisha, you're going to hurt the king's

feelings," a smooth voice drawled. To Kaemon's

astonishment, the girl immediately subsided. She flashed a

guilty glance towards Kaemon's father but didn't say

anything more. Kaemon took his first good look at the man

standing beside her and his heart stuttered in his chest. As a

prince he had dated many beautiful men, but none of them

were as breathtaking as this one. The world dropped away

as he looked into a pair of impossibly gorgeous blue eyes.

In the back of his mind, Kaemon thought the other

man looked vaguely familiar, but he just couldn't seem to

come up with a name to go with the beautiful face.

"Do you have a name?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry." The man gave a graceful bow to each

royal. "I'm Raven."

Kaemon's throat went dry as recognition jolted

through him, and for the first time in his life, he felt star-

struck. The most famous dancer in the galaxy stood in his

foyer holding the hand of his previously unknown

daughter.

"I-I'm Prince Kaemon."

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Raven flashed him a wide smile that exposed a pair

of deep dimples. Kaemon had seen that smile on more

news stories than he could remember. He blamed his

excitement over meeting his daughter for not recognizing

the bachelor of his dreams. More than one jerk-off fantasy

had featured the gorgeous man before him.

Yum.

Visions of licking the dimples and sampling the

man's flavor flashed through Kaemon's mind. His dragon

stirred within. They both wanted this man.

Badly.

The gorgeous man was talking, but it took a

moment for Kaemon to yank his attention from Raven's

lush lips to focus on what he was saying.

"I only came to make sure Trisha made it here

safely. I'll be going now. It was nice to meet you both."

Raven bowed again and tried to free his hand from Trisha's

tight grip.

Kaemon's dragon growled at the thought of the man

leaving.

The little girl screamed, an ear-piercing screech that

brought a smile to the prince's lips. It looked as if they both

had the same idea: keep the pretty, pretty man.

Kaemon rushed forward, trying to appear every inch

the concerned parent. "No. Mr. Raven, I think you should

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stay at least one night. Trisha has had a traumatic day, and I

think she would do better if she had someone familiar

around her."

Not to mention Kaemon knew he'd sleep better if

his bed included the sexy dancer.

Trisha stopped screaming and gave Kaemon a

watery smile before turning back to the hunk she was

clutching like a lifeline. "Raven, please stay."

Obviously a soft touch, the dancer gave Trisha's

hand a gentle squeeze. "All right, sweetheart, I'll stay for

tonight."

"Thank you, officers. We'll take it from here."

Kaemon nodded to the men. "Let us know if you learn

anything further about the case." Despite the happiness

both he and his father felt over getting Trisha in their care,

there was still the fact someone had killed her grandmother.

However Kaemon felt about the deceased woman, she had

been important to Trisha.

The officers left after agreeing to keep him updated.

"Hello, Trisha. I'm Prince Kaemon, your father."

She gave a polite curtsy, still clutching Raven's

hand.

"Say hello," Raven told her.

"Hello," she said in a sweet soprano.

Her voice was quite pleasant when she wasn't

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