Reawakening the Dragon: Part One (2 page)

And risk the mission? I think not.

His beast growled.
We’ll do both.
 

I don’t take orders from you.

In this, you will listen. She is ours.

Tired of arguing, Kai decided to placate his beast temporarily.
Give me some credit. I can send her away and best the hunters. Have faith in me.

His dragon huffed.
For now, but I’ll be watching.

Kai resisted shaking his head and approached the table. On closer inspection, he noticed that the man to Jane’s right was one of the Carlisle hunters. Kai had seen him while in dragon-form on a rescue mission earlier in the year.

His dragon spoke up again.
Get Jane away from him, but don’t let him escape.

Ignoring his dragon, Kai stopped next the table where Jane was sitting with the men and kicked the outer table leg. All eyes were on him, and he caught the flash of surprise in Jane’s gaze. He growled, “There you are, Janey.”

To her credit, Jane quickly replaced her surprise with confusion. “Do I know you?”

“Of course you bloody well know me. I’m your man.”

The male he’d seen on his previous mission reached under the table, no doubt to retrieve a stolen gun. The bald man asked, “Who the hell do you think you are, mate? This lady right here is having a good time and doesn’t recognize you. So, sod off and leave her be.”

“No,” Kai stated.

The male on Jane’s other side raised his brows. “You’d best listen to my friend, arsehole, or we’ll take you outside and teach you a lesson.”

Since that was what Kai wanted he took one of the pints of lager on the table and tossed it to the side. The glass shattered and the two closest men stood up. The bald one spoke again, clutching something under his shirt. “Last chance. Leave or we’ll make you leave.”

The bartender and one of the bouncers headed toward them. Kai needed to move this outside where he could better control the situation and avoid too many human eyes. “How about a fight? If you win, you can keep the tart. If I win, you let me take her and I’ll allow you to escape alive.”

Everyone looked at the bald man, who appeared to be their leader. The urge to look at Jane was strong, but he kept his focus on the men. He’d deal with the human female after the fight.

The bald man gave a slight motion toward the door and his men started to file out. Two of them grabbed Jane’s biceps and Kai’s dragon roared inside his head and then added,
They shouldn’t touch her. They aren’t worthy and might hurt her.

Kai quickly stated,
She’ll be fine. No one is going to hurt her in front of me. If they try, they will regret it.

His beast grunted.
I will trust you for now. But you know what will happen if you fail.

If Kai failed, there’d be hell to pay; his beast didn’t tolerate failure.
Yes, yes. Now, leave me alone so I can concentrate.

With a huff, his dragon fell silent.

Only the bald man remained at the table and he motioned toward the door. “After you.”

“We walk out together. I don’t trust you at my back,” Kai answered.

“Clever man.”

Kai merely raised an eyebrow and the bald man started walking.

All he needed to do was knock the bald man out and toss him over his shoulder so he could question him later. Then Kai could take the reporter far away from there and persuade her to stay clear of the dragon hunters. A single human female didn’t stand a chance against them, especially one as pretty as Jane. There was no telling what the hunters would do to her if they found out she was a reporter.

His dragon whispered,
Protect her at all costs.

I will, but only so I can finish my mission, nothing more.

One day you will stop lying.

Kai didn’t like the confidence of his dragon’s words.

However, Kai reached outside the pub and focused on the situation at hand.
 

The bald man went around the back to the alley. As soon as Kai turned the corner, he saw Jane being held between two men at the end of the street. He resisted the urge to shift into a dragon and take them all out in one fell swoop.
 

But doing so would land him in trouble with the DDA. Any dragon that shifted inside a major city would be charged and serve out a jail sentence. As hard as it was to resist, Newcastle wasn’t his land. Being thrown inside a DDA prison would prevent him from finishing his task.

And once Kai set his mind on something, he always followed through. Always.

The bald man motioned for Kai to approach. “Come on, mate. It’s time to put you in your place.”

~~~

Jane was seething on the inside. The bloody dragonman was going to ruin her investigation and get himself killed. The bald man, Joe, had a gun under his shirt. She’d seen the butt poking out several times over the last quarter of an hour.
 

Joe and his men had just started talking about how far away they lived from their favorite pub when Kai had shown up. How dare he call her his woman. No doubt, he thought she needed rescuing.

Bloody daft dragonman.

When this was finished, she would give Stonefire’s head Protector a piece of her mind. While she rarely interacted with him, the quiet dragonman always managed to get what he wanted. She had no fucking idea why he was here, but if he was also after the hunters, he would have a wakeup call. Jane Hartley didn’t give up a lead for anyone, not even a growly, hot muscled man who could shift into a giant gold dragon.

Kai’s voice echoed down the alley and answered Joe’s taunting. Since Jane was taller than most of the men, she turned her head to watch.

“No weapons. That’s my only rule,” Kai stated.

Joe answered, “Who says you get to the make the rules? I’m only agreeing to fight because you might actually be a challenge and it’s been a while since I’ve had one. If you weren’t, me and my men would’ve taken you out by now.”

Jason at her side murmured in agreement and Jane wondered if all of the dragon hunters had guns.

“No weapons,” Kai repeated.

Despite how angry she was with Kai Sutherland, the steel in his voice made her want to obey.

And if she were honest, every time she heard it, his voice made her shiver in a good way.

Not that she was going to waste time thinking about Kai’s deep, sexy voice. She was more concerned about the hunters figuring out he was a dragonman. Kai’s jumper and trousers did a good job of helping him blend in with the humans in the area, but very few humans could thread so much dominance into their voices.

Joe moved his hand away from under his shirt. “I like a challenge. You look ex-army, am I right?” Kai merely nodded and Joe continued, “Then let’s see if what they teach you nancy boys stands up to what we learn on the streets.”

In the blink of an eye, Joe moved to the side and swung a fist.

Jane held her breath, but then Kai stepped out of the way. Even in the half-darkness, Kai was graceful as he moved. It was almost as if he were dancing.

Blinking, Jane pushed the ridiculous thought out of her head. The dragonman had ruined everything. She would not think positive thoughts about him, and certainly not wonder if Kai was just as graceful out of his clothes as he was in them.

Stop it, Jane.
She’d wondered too many times over the last few months what Kai would look like naked. But she couldn’t afford to see any man naked. At least, not until she’d finished her story and secured her reputation as a true investigative journalist.

The hunter at her side, Jason, murmured, “Tell me you want the bastard to lose.” He caressed her upper arm with a finger and she barely resisted punching him in the jaw. “We were getting along so well before. I’d like to take you back to my place and show you what a real man is like.”

Must. Not. Roll. Eyes.
Jane flashed a coy smile and looked down at Jason, who was a few inches shorter than her. “That sounds nice. I’ve always wondered what a British man would be like.”

Desire flashed in the man’s eyes. He moved toward her as if he were going to kiss her, so she added, “But I want to watch the fight first, okay, sweetie? I want the stranger who claimed to be my man to be punished for his lie.”

“Don’t worry, Joe will take care of him.” He caressed her arm some more and her stomach rolled. “But we’ll stay. Watching a fight will only make me harder.”

Ew.
Pushing aside thoughts of the man naked and hard, Jane bobbed her head. “I can hardly wait.”

“Then watch the fight, love. If you’re like me, and I think you are, it’ll make you wet.”

Only her stubbornness kept the smile on her face. Someone really needed to smack this man once in a while. That was definitely not the way to win a woman. “Maybe.”

Before he could spout out any more crude comments, Jane looked back to Kai. He and Joe were circling each other. Neither one appeared winded, nor did they have any visible injuries on their faces.

She wondered what Kai’s strategy was. He needed to hurry the hell up so she could ditch the pervert at her side.

Yet Kai took his time circling his partner and dodging one punch and then another. He acted as if he had all the time in the world.

Joe went for an uppercut, but Kai sidestepped and punched him in the kidney. In the next second, Kai turned around and clocked him on the jaw. Joe went down with a thud.

Everyone held their breath, Jane included, but Joe didn’t get up again.

Kai’s eyes sought out hers and she shivered at the mixture of heat and triumph in his eyes. That look made her want to strip naked and offer herself up as a sacrifice.

Blinking, Jane nearly frowned. That was twice now she’d fantasized about Kai being naked in the span of a few minutes. If she wanted to find her story and advance her career, she couldn’t afford to sleep with any dragon-shifter. The second she did, her opinion would be deemed biased.

She’d had to repeat that mantra over and over again the last few months. Being surrounded by a clan of hot dragonmen had been temptation itself. And who the bloody hell knew why, but she’d always had the strongest pull toward Kai, although she’d managed to stay clear.

Luckily, Mr. Tactless at her side spoke up. “Did you want me to get rid of him for you, love?” He reached down and took hold of what she assumed was a gun. “His fist can’t hurt us this far away.”

She was trying to think of how to respond when Kai bent over and took Joe’s gun. His supersensitive dragon-shifter hearing must’ve picked up Jason’s words.

Flicking off the safety, Kai pointed the gun at Jason. “The woman is mine. Let her go.”

The men stared at one another and Jane decided to fuck it. These men would never talk to her again anyway.

Turning, she kneed Jason in the balls and took his gun. Before the other men could draw theirs, she pressed the muzzle against Jason’s temple and flicked off the safety. Not wanting to completely break her cover, she kept up her American accent. “I don’t think so, guys. I’m not a prize to be fought after. Besides, I’m American and we love our guns. You won’t win against me. I suggest you run far, far away before I show you my skills.”

Jane was careful to keep her face stony. In truth, she was horrible with firearms. She only knew the basics because of her older brother, who had all but forced her to learn them a few years earlier. But the hunters didn’t need to know that.

Pressing the muzzle harder against Jason’s forehead, the man’s strangled voice ordered, “Do as she says.”

One of the men spoke up. “What about Joe?”

Kai’s voice drifted from behind her. “Leave him.”

Jane nearly turned her head and frowned at the dragonman. If he wanted to help her, he could surely muster more than two words.

As the men waited for Jason’s confirmation, Jane murmured, “Tell them to leave or I won’t be so gentle with your balls next time.”

Jason yelled to the others, “Go. Joe can take care of himself.”

Not waiting for another word, the group of men left, except for Jason, whom she still had under the gun. Before she could tell the man to flee, Kai was next to her. After hitting the man on the back of the head with his gun, Jason fell to the ground.

She hated the fact she had to look up to meet his eyes, but she did it. “Why the bloody hell did you do that?”

“Good to hear you’re British again.”

She frowned. “That is probably one of the least important things you could say right now. How about telling me why you’re here? You ruined everything.”

“All of that can wait.”
 

Kai kneeled, flipped Jason over, and tied his hands with plastic zip ties from his pocket. Putting the safety back on her gun, Jane asked, “Care to explain a bit more?” She lowered her voice. “I can’t read minds, dragonman. You sure as hell shouldn’t be here.”

Rather than answer her, Kai took out his mobile and sent a text. Jane was tempted to pluck the phone from his hands and toss it onto the roof of the pub.

Sadly, before she could execute her plan, Kai tucked his phone into his pocket as he stood up. His expression was as unreadable as always as he answered, “Stop demanding and just listen. Let’s go somewhere safe before the hunters come back with reinforcements.”

Jane’s curiosity won out over her irritation. “How do you know they’re hunters?” When Kai merely stared, she put a hand on her hip. “In the amount of time you’ve stared so far you could’ve explained half a dozen sentences about what’s going on. I get it, you’re the big, bad head Protector. But you can let that image slip with me. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Says the reporter.”

If she were on official business for work, she’d have to smile and say nothing. But she wasn’t, so she narrowed her eyes. “You know what? Fuck you. I don’t need to put up with this. I’m leaving.”

Jane walked two steps before Kai came up behind her and trapped her against his chest. For a split second, all she could think about were the hard muscles and broad chest at her back. It had been a long time since she last had a man’s arms around her in a non-slimy way. Being a female reporter wasn’t glamorous most of the time; too many men liked to cop a feel. Kai’s arms around her, on the other hand, actually made her skin hot and tight, which rarely happened.