Taming the Dragon (3 page)

FIVE

She didn’t even consider the fact that she was still
wearing Kaden’s necklace until she’d locked and dead bolted the door of her
apartment.

Tess lifted her hand to touch the little silver dragon, which
was still wonderfully warm to the touch. She felt a measure of relief that it
was there, then wondered why on earth she should feel that way. She wasn’t
getting paid, and there was a dragon guy out there who knew what she looked
like. What if he tracked her? What if he showed up here?

She thought of him standing in her doorway, shirt off, pants
still unbuttoned, glaring at her. It was nowhere near as unsettling an image as
it should have been.

“I need to call Morgan,” Tess muttered to herself, still full
of nervous energy. First, though, she drew every curtain, blocking out an
afternoon sky that was rapidly going an ominous gray. The rain would suit her
mood perfectly. Between Kaden and the creepy guys who’d come running around the
corner of the house just as she was pealing out of there, she was ready to
barricade herself in here forever, if necessary. Not that she had forever. At
this point, she wasn’t sure who she should be more afraid of. Kaden was
obviously dangerous. But those men...there had been three of them, all big,
muscular, and wearing dark clothes. She hadn’t seen any weapons, but hadn’t been
able to shake the idea that they’d been armed anyway. They could have been
mercenaries, or hitmen, or cops, she guessed, though the last one seemed
unlikely for reasons Tess couldn’t quite explain. What had Kaden done to attract
that kind of attention?

“We will seal the bond.”
His voice
whispered through her memory. Whatever bond he was talking about sealing, it was
something Tess was positive she didn’t need to be involved in. Even if she
couldn’t stop imagining what he might have done to her—what he might
still
be doing to her—if she’d stayed.

There was a rumble of thunder that shook the house, and then a
burst of laughter from somewhere downstairs. The old Victorian had been
converted into apartments back in the 1940s and hadn’t seen much in the way of
updates since. Still, it was cute, in a safe part of town, and cheap. Not that
the latter would matter in a couple of weeks when the rent came due and she was
out of money. She’d find another bartending job, or a waitressing job, Tess told
herself. She’d keep on going. It was what she did, even if it was starting to
feel like her whole life was about running in place.

Tess stood in the middle of the little living room, furnished
with slightly shabby but still pretty things, and looked at the scattered pieces
of the life she’d lived until now. Everything she had was here. Her heart sank
when she let herself consider just how close she was to losing all of it. She
thought briefly of all the riches she’d seen in Kaden’s house—den?—but then
immediately discarded the idea. She didn’t steal. And there was no way in hell
she was going back there.

She had a feeling his threats about lighting people on fire
hadn’t exactly been idle...and given all the smoke and fangs and other
impossible things she was almost positive she hadn’t hallucinated, maybe a move
to another part of the country wasn’t such a bad idea. Maybe even a move to
another country altogether, really far away.

Like Antarctica.

Tess had just finished leaving her sixth message on the machine
at Wicked Little Things when there was a knock at the door. Two hard raps, quick
and impatient. Her heart leapt into her throat, until she reminded herself that
Kaden couldn’t have followed her home. Something told her his quick departure
had been about the guys skulking around outside. She didn’t want any part of
that. She had enough problems in her life. So thinking, Tess closed her eyes and
tried to focus on something pleasant, something to bring her heart rate
down.

Instead, all she could see was Kaden’s face in her mind’s eye,
along with a pair of bright gold eyes.

“Damn it.” Tess padded barefoot across the rug and rose up on
her tiptoes to peek through the spy hole. For a split second she was sure she
would see Kaden standing there, looking furious and completely delicious. The
reality, when she caught sight of it, left her deeply irritated...some of it
because a big part of her had actually
wanted
it to
be Kaden.

Sick.

Tess flipped the deadbolt and the other lock, opening the door
far enough to glare at the lanky twenty-something in skinny jeans whose bleached
blond hair had been stylishly brushed into his eyes.

August McEnroe, who’d been the guitarist for The Fade up until
the epic blowout a week ago, shifted uneasily from foot to foot, not quite
meeting her eyes.

“August. What are you doing here?” Tess asked.

“I just figured somebody should tell you so it wasn’t, um,
awkward.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“The Fade’s gonna be playing around again. Me and Mike and
Danny worked it out.”

Something ugly and unpleasant uncoiled in the pit of her
stomach. “Oh.”

His blue eyes flickered up to hers, then away. She couldn’t
summon an ounce of pity. August had shown up because he didn’t want her to make
trouble, not because of her feelings. Which, at this moment, were bordering on
rage. She only barely managed to keep her voice even.

“The three of you worked it out.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Just you guys.”

His shoulders hunched, as if he expected the blow she really,
really wanted to deal him.

“Yeah.”

“I guess you got a new singer, then.”

He couldn’t even look her in the face. “Um, Mike thought Shayne
would be a better fit, you know. We thought switching things up a little might
give us the push we need around here.”

“Oh,” Tess said again, fighting to keep her fingers from
curling into fists. Shayne. Mike’s talentless girlfriend. How...nice. Today was
one kick in the ass after another so far. What would be next? An invigorating
case of a flesh-eating disease?

“If you want to switch things up, maybe try playing sober once
in a while. That would be a better place to start, but what the hell do I know?
I’m not screwing any of you, so I guess my opinion doesn’t count.”

That wiped the kicked puppy look off of August’s face. “Don’t
be pissed. It just didn’t work out.”

Tess wished, just in that moment, that she had a pair of fangs
like Kaden’s. She was shocked to find herself swallowing a growl. Her skin
flushed, and she was left momentarily off-balance. She was still angry, but she
felt
weird.

“Do I look pissed to you?” Tess bit out. Her voice was slightly
rough, a little deeper.

August watched her nervously. “Well...yeah.”

She flexed her fingers. “And why do you think that might
be?”

He took a step back, and Tess knew he was going to bolt. For
all his shouting matches with Mike, August was a coward at heart. She was sure
he was only here because Mike had browbeaten him into it. Danny would probably
end up leaving them before too long, but he was in the same position she’d
been—he needed the extra money. Mike owned most of the equipment. He had the
contacts, too, so he always got the final say.

He was also going to get a kick in the nuts the next time she
saw him.

“Look, we just didn’t want you to freak out,” August muttered,
tossing his head so that the hair was briefly out of his eyes. “You know how it
is. We’re trying something different. Tough to catch a break right now.”

“No shit,” Tess replied. “I’m sure not catching any today.”

She felt the heat flare at her neck an instant before a deep
male voice rumbled behind her.

“Go away, little man. My woman has no need for you.”

August’s eyes widened as they focused on someone over her
shoulder. Tess could actually feel Kaden behind her, maybe a foot away. Dozens
of thoughts, most of them panicky, cascaded through her mind as she stood there,
completely frozen in place.

And had he said
his
woman?

“I...uh,” August stammered.

“Go,”
Kaden hissed. Smoke rolled
over Tess’s shoulder toward August, who managed a strangled sound of terror
before he half ran, half fell down the stairs.

The scene was pleasant enough that Tess managed to set fear
aside and turn to look at the dragon—or whatever he was—looming behind her.

“Do you really have to...?”

She trailed off, floored all over again by the way Kaden
looked. The black pants were buttoned now, and he’d put on a plain black fitted
T-shirt that made it easy to remember how built he was. His feet were bare,
which puzzled her for a moment until she locked eyes with him. Her questions
vanished at the memory of his touch. Though Kaden’s eyes weren’t glowing nearly
as brightly right now as they had been before, they were still a noticeably
strange color. A beautiful, exotic color. And the look in them made her feel
like she was the sexiest woman on the planet.

Tess didn’t know what it meant. All she knew was that it was
going to make it really, really hard to throw him out.

She took a deep breath, considered, and then closed the door to
the hall. If he’d meant to hurt her, he would have done it way before now.

“Thanks,” she said. “August deserved that.”

Kaden’s dark and angular face clouded with disgust. “Why would
you associate with such a cowardly man?”

The honesty of the question made her laugh “Good question. He’s
a talented musician. Unfortunately.”

Kaden snorted. “I have my doubts. What need do you have of a
musician?”

“Because most people won’t hire me to stand on a stage by
myself and sing.”

That seemed to interest him. “You sing? I would like to hear
this.”

Tess felt herself blushing. She hadn’t been afflicted with
stage fright in years, but she was pretty sure those eyes on her would do it.
Rather than answer him, Tess crossed her arms over her chest and tried to
concentrate on the more immediate problem of Kaden being here at all. He was
big, beautiful and utterly out of place in her apartment.

“What are you doing here?”

“You ran.”

“Well,
yeah,
” Tess replied. “You
tell me you’re a dragon. I see you bare your fangs and blow smoke. Then you tell
me to stay put before leaving me alone. Are you really shocked I took off?”

His lips twitched, and Tess flushed as she remembered the feel
of them as they’d moved against her skin. Her breath faltered, just a little,
and his focus on her intensified. She cleared her throat.

“Look, I know why you’re here. I still can’t get the necklace
off. I’ve called Morgan and left a message. Hopefully she’ll know someone who
can remove it without breaking it. I’m also hoping she can tell me what the hell
is going on, because I’ve given up trying to figure it out.”

“I told you, she’s a witch. She’s not to be trusted. “

Despite what she’d seen today, it still sounded insane. “I’m
not ready to accept that until I talk to her. Until then, you’re just going to
have to wait. Somewhere else,” she added. She didn’t know what to do with him in
here. She had ideas, of course, but they were all...unacceptable.

“No,” Kaden said.

Tess stared. “No?”

His deep voice was very matter-of-fact. “My
dragyn-ka
has chosen you. Thus you are mine. I will
find and punish the witch for her schemes against me, but that changes nothing
where you are concerned.”

There was a deep, dark part of her that thrilled when he called
her
mine.
It was surprisingly difficult to put that
aside when she answered him.

“Okay,” Tess said, running her hand nervously through her hair.
“I don’t even know where to start. For one thing, I am not anyone’s property.
For another, you sneaking into my apartment is freaky. How did you find me so
quickly?”

“Scent, of course. The flight was nothing.”

Tess paused, considered responding to that, and then shook her
head. “Whatever. I’m not just going to—”

“We will stay here until the hunters have moved on,” Kaden
interrupted her, looking around. “It is...adequate. Though I won’t be able to
properly enjoy my hoard.”

Her eyes widened. “You didn’t bring all of your treasure here
somehow, did you? I don’t have any room! And what hunters?”

He looked vaguely surprised. “Of course I brought it. I’m a
dragon.
As for the hunters, they have chased my
kind, in this world and my own, for many centuries. This place has been safe for
some time, but the witch seems to have stirred them up.”

Tess sighed. For as frustrating as her life sometimes was, she
was beginning to prefer it to crazy.

“Hunters. You mean the guys outside your house?” She’d found
them creepy, but at that point, nothing had seemed safe. Kaden nodded.

“You wakened me, and they arrived. But I will not be her pawn.
I am finished with that fight, as I told her. No peace offering changes
that.”

“Yeah...I didn’t understand a word of that. You
know
Morgan?”

Kaden huffed out a smoky breath. “I know she likes to meddle in
things that are none of her affair. Morgan Le Fay is no ordinary witch.”

Tess made a soft sound of agreement, though she really didn’t
want to get into a discussion about the legends surrounding the witch of the
same name in
this
world. Nor was she sure she was
ready to hear about how Kaden was from a different world entirely. It was a lot
to wrap her head around in one afternoon.

Kaden appeared finished with the subject as well. He sliced a
hand through the air. “I will deal with this. Whatever the witch wants of me,
she won’t have it. Nor will the hunters have my head for a prize.” He looked
away. “They have taken enough. I swore I would keep what was left.”

For an instant, his handsome face was so full of pain that Tess
felt it herself, blowing through her like a storm. She didn’t ask what he
meant—it didn’t feel right, somehow—but she couldn’t shake the sadness that had
come over her at his words. He was just trying to survive, she realized. And he
hadn’t asked for this situation any more than she had.