One Night with the Demon Prince: Paranormal Fantasy Demon/Dragon Shifter Romance (Paranormal Protection Agency Book 9) (2 page)

If he let go, the glamor would reassert itself, and she’d run forward into the creature’s embrace. From there, it was anyone’s guess what would happen. Beguiled and enraptured, the creature probably wouldn’t hurt her. Probably. There was no
definite
when dealing with a juvenile unicorn. An adult—and they were always male—would have been a different matter. They were more interested in fucking virgins than eating them, unless it was in a fun way.

She started to sway. Graceful, delicate movements that drew the interest of the unicorn. Unleashing a little of the power within him, he started to hum softly. A melody she picked up and wove within her dance. Despite himself, he smiled.

They might just get out of this alive…

***

A few hours later, animal control had the unicorn locked down nice and tight, Coffee Girl returned home no harm done, and Rat’s ears rang with praises from the boss. Closing the door to Iliona’s office behind him, he allowed himself a small smile and set off down the corridor.

As always this late on Friday night, the place was packed with people. He had to weave between operatives on his way to the locker room. The PPA offices were more inclusive than a traditional office building. Hell, the whole business model was totally non-traditional. Because of the nature of its work and operatives, the PPA was more family than business.

Iliona never turned away a paranormal in need of work. Whatever their skills, whether they’d make operatives or not, she found them something. Money in the pocket, and a place to stay. The building itself wasn’t set up like the office block it appeared to be.

Sure, there were offices on the ground and first floors, but several floors above were given over to locker rooms, leisure areas, and a large gym. The rest of the rooms contained accommodation and the roof had a landing pad. Not for helicopters… but dragons. There weren’t many businesses in the city that could boast that.

Right now, though, Rat wasn’t interested in what thread-count the sheets in the accommodation up top were. All he wanted was to get through the crowd of operatives milling about before they went out for a night on the town. His immediate future contained a chest and arms workout with enough weight to bulk his muscles up for the night. Only a little. Just enough to make the white T-shirt hung in his locker fit
juuuust
nice. The ladies did love a good tight-fitting top on a ripped man.

Of course, he didn’t really need the strength training. Half pixie/half demon, the physical power he could muster had nothing to do with musculature. It came from within him, something not physiological, something…other. His demon form was heavily muscled, obscenely ripped and shredded. He could push a little of that into his more human form.

But he liked the feeling, the pain and the burn, when he worked his muscles so hard they screamed. He liked punishing himself with weight a dragon would struggle to lift. No one ever said demons were mentally stable. Him least of all.

Frustration filled him as the corridor ahead filled with chattering women, some PPA operatives and office staff. At this rate, he’d never get into the gym. Breath released in a hiss, he contemplated bellowing to get them to clear out of the way. But then they moved, the motion reminding him of the bait ball in the deep sea, parting to reveal a tall, curvy, redhead at the center of the group.

His breath punched out, muscles locked into place and gaze riveted as the world stopped turning. Every cell in his body was attuned, yearning for the female in front of him.

Baby.
His Baby…

His brain got with the program and he realized she was dressed for a night on the town. He’d only seen her in jeans and a T-shirt, her fiery hair scraped back from her face. Except for one time. When she’d first been freed, she appeared different. Her magic had dressed her in a dragon scale dress that draped and protected her form at the same time. She’d taken his breath and stolen what little heart he had the same time.

She was the last shadow-dragon queen, and far too good for the likes of him.

Since then, she’d kept her dragon side carefully under wraps, appearing solely human with an interesting bloodline. He didn’t blame her. As far as anybody knew, there were only four shadow-dragons left so she was queen of a very small kingdom. Shadow- dragons weren’t popular with other dragon races, so they were keeping her under wraps.

A demon prince could protect her,
the little voice in the back of his head whispered in temptation. He ignored it, even though it had a point. A prince of the Seven Hells would have enough clout to protect even a dragon queen, but for that, he’d have to deal with his father.

Hell—all seven of them—would freeze over first.

His gaze slid down from the utter perfection of her face, the unaccustomed makeup lending her exotic features a sultry edge that hit him in the cock. That was nothing compared to the effect the rest of her ensemble had. The curves imprinted on his memory were poured into a little black dress that should have been illegal. It clung like a jealous lover’s hands, revealing nothing, but yanking every dirty thought he’d had about her from the recesses of his mind. Replayed every fantasy, every scenario he’d imagined with his cock in his hand, jerking off to thoughts of her.

Long legs shimmered in the light, and the edge of a stocking top played peekaboo with her hem. Her feet, delicate and finely boned with the toenails painted blood red, arched seductively in strappy sandals. Instantly he wanted to strip the rest of her clothing, leaving her in just stockings and shoes.

His growl slipped loose before he could stop himself. Striding forward, he scattered the women around her, their cries of surprise ignored as he came to stand in front of Baby. He loomed over her, his darkness swirling around him and dimming the lights overhead. He hadn’t lost control that way since he was a teenager, but he didn’t care.

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

She didn’t shrink at his barked demand as another woman might. With no fear on her face, she looked at him, those golden eyes of hers unreadable.

“They’re called clothes. Try to keep with the program, Raterrenh.”

He loved when she used his real name. She was the only person who dared. The sounds rolled off her tongue like an auditory caress over his skin. He knew he was hard, erection easily visible in his jeans, and didn’t bother to hide it. Anyone oogling his groin deserved an eyeful. All his attention was on the woman in front of him.

The one giving him sass.

“Where do you think you’re going dressed like that?”

Another snarled demand. He couldn’t seem to just talk to her. Instead he growled, battling his rage and frustration. She seemed determined to drive him out of his mind.

She blinked, then smiled. “Out. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Jaw dropping as she swept past him, two friends in her wake, he couldn’t think of a comeback. Honor, a human mated to one of the three shadow-dragons, gave him a sympathetic look as she passed.

The door at the end of the corridor closed behind them.

“Fuck!” He turned, arm tensed to deliver a punishing blow to the innocent wall, only to find a claus elf watching him. It wasn’t Cole or Rhod…both he’d worked with in the past, but a new one. Probably just down from the Pole.

“Be a brave man who takes that one on,” he drawled, one shoulder propping up the wall. “If I were you, I’d pity the poor schmuck who ends up in her bed tonight.”

“What?” Rat didn’t think it was possible for his fury to deepen, but it did, red tinging the edges of his vision.

The elf shrugged and pushed off. “Heard them talking earlier. They’re planning to find a tame human to pop her cherry.”

Rat snarled wordlessly and stomped toward the locker room. Screw the gym and playing nice.

If Baby was fucking anyone tonight, it would be him.

Chapter Two

Baby had never been in a nightclub, not in the flesh anyway, but so far it more than met her expectations. It was hot, dark, and sweaty…she felt right at home. So she should. Dragons loved heat, and shadows were simply the little cousin of true darkness. As a shadow-dragon, she loved both. Basked in them, in fact.

Sighing, she leaned forward on her stool and took a sip from her drink, scoping the club over the lurid pink umbrella. The alcohol hit the back of her throat and burned all the way to her gut to cause a pleasant tingle. That’s all it was and all it would be. A tingle. She couldn’t get drunk. The substance that could inebriate a dragon hadn’t been invented. It would probably bend the laws of nature if anyone ever managed it.

After millennia of sleep though, Baby would take the tingle. Happily. She’d been locked in her dragonlet form longer than was natural, even for her kind. So long, that her developing mind had been forced to reach out telepathically and latch onto humans who lived around her resting place.

She’d ridden in the backs of their minds unnoticed as they went about their lives. Hidden. Experiencing everything they did: their lives, their thoughts, their emotions. She’d lived and died countless times. Become a mother… A father… A grandparent. The whole gamut of human experience, but she’d never
lived
. She’d never felt the sweet caress of air on her face. Never felt the sunlight, or danced under the moon. Not in her own body.

Now she could. And it was… Glorious.

Shoving the memories of her pseudo-lives to the back of her mind, she closed her eyes and gave herself to the heavy beat of the music. It throbbed through the club like a heartbeat, more felt than heard. She opened her eyes to look at the dancefloor.

Humanity crammed in tightly. A sea of bodies writhing as the music pounded. Each using the medium of dance to escape humdrum lives for a few precious hours.

She got it… Really she did.

“Chase, if you carry on glaring like that, no one will talk to us.” Honor’s amused voice drew Baby out of her trance and she looked at the other two women.

They couldn’t have been more different if they tried. Honor was a child of these times. Human, she was the bond mate of Baron, one of the only two naturally occurring shadow-dragons for millennia. Before Baron and his brother Duke, the species was supposed to be extinct. Something the other dragon species in the world celebrated. Of all the draconic races, shadows were the most dangerous. But they’d been hunted almost to extinction tens of centuries ago, and they were thought to be gone, relegated to myth and legend.

Until two brothers of unknown parentage manifested draconic powers. But not like any the world was used to seeing. They’d been thought to be a new species. An evolution. No one had thought to look to the past…

“Chase? Are you listening to me?”

Chase ignored her. Mated to Baron’s brother, she was also a shadow-dragon. Like Baby, she’d been born millennia ago, and had gained notoriety as a legendary warrior. Selected by Baby’s mother to protect her only egg, she’d slept alongside Baby until they’d woken in this time. Then there had been some hinky crap with a wannabe Dragos magician, that had ended in Baby manifesting more power than she’d ever handled, and Chase ended up bonded to Duke.

Her lips quirked… She’d been born to be a queen. The most powerful Shadow-Dragon Queen of all time. She supposed she was. It wasn’t a great accomplishment since her “kingdom” consisted of three other dragons, and a half human dragon mate.
Go, Queenie
.

She didn’t care.

All that mattered was, despite the odds, they were alive and healthy. Finally, she was awake and she had family. People who cared about her. Perhaps a little too much, she realized with amusement as she caught Chase glaring at a couple human men who looked their way with interest.

She couldn’t blame them. She’d piggybacked on enough lives to know that, dressed for a night on the town, the three of them looked good. She resisted the urge to tug at the tiny black dress Honor had assured her was suitable attire to attract a male. Since the last mind she’d occupied had been a decade or so ago, she’d had to bow to the human woman’s greater knowledge and experience. Given the looks sent their way, and the outfits some of the other club-goers wore, little black dress was obviously the way to go.

Honor let out a sigh. “I thought the point was to get Baby laid?”

Chase cut a glance over her shoulder, disapproval of that plan evident in her expression. “Your plan maybe. I think it’s a stupid plan. She should wait for her destined mate.”

Baby closed her eyes for a moment, and sighed. Sometimes, the dragon warrioress was a stick in the mud.

Surprisingly, Honor came to her rescue. “Her destined mate? Supposed to be the biggest and baddest dragon warrior out there, yes?”

“Actually,” Baby cut in, “the prophecy just says biggest and baddest warrior, nothing about him being a dragon.”

“The queen’s mate,
Babylonia
, is always a dragon,” the words exploded from Chase’s mouth like bullets from a gun, her ire evident.

Uh-oh
, her full name. She was in trouble now. Although now she was in her power, she didn’t need a bodyguard anymore. Chase still considered it her duty to protect Baby from anything, even a burn from a coffee mug. Gotta watch those coffee mugs, they’re sneaky.

Honor folded her arms, leaning back in her chair with a smug expression. “Okay, so how’s she going to manage that then? Since you and I are mated to the only two shadow-dragon warriors in existence?”

Baby chuckled softly at Chase’s expression. Leaning forward, she put her hand on the other woman’s arm. “Don’t worry, it’ll all come out in the wash.”

The warrioress lifted an eyebrow. “Are we doing laundry? Now?”

It was unfair, but Baby couldn’t help joining Honor as she chuckled. “Not yet. Maybe tomorrow.”

Swirling her umbrella in her half-empty drink, she looked up again and caught the eye of a male human looking her way with interest. Pausing, she considered him. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had dark hair and pleasant features. She’d even go so far to describe him as ruggedly handsome.

Nowhere near as good looking as the demon,
a little voice in the back of her head chose that moment to whisper.