Eternal Mates 7 - Taken by a Dragon (33 page)

“You’re insane,” Anais hissed and he looked down at her as he shifted his hand in hers, interlinking their fingers.

“Perhaps, but it seemed like the only solution to our mutual problem. I want you as my mate, Anais, and I am willing to do whatever it takes for that to happen.” He pulled her with him down through the building, sniffing occasionally and tracking the scents of immortals.

“Where are we going?” Anais looked around them as they reached an underground level.

“The cellblock. I require something from it.”

He felt her frown at him.

“You’re not going to break someone out are you, because it might not go down well. I got into a lot of trouble when I broke you out.” She was serious and very much wrong about his reasons for returning to a place he never wanted to set foot in again.

“No. I am going to steal something… other than you.” He tugged her along when she began to slow and ignored her glare. She wouldn’t be annoyed with him wanting to steal something else from Archangel too when she saw what it was and knew his reasons for taking it. He shrugged. “I am a dragon. We are drawn to shiny objects.”

The item he had seen had been very shiny and it was the solution to a problem that still stood between them, even though he was weaker in this realm and his dragon instincts were quieter.

When he reached the cellblock, he kept going straight rather than turning left down the stairs towards the cells. He stopped in the room he had seen when the guards had been dragging him back to his cell and glanced at Anais.

She stood just behind him, her blue eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.

It snapped shut and she shifted her eyes to him. “This is what you’re going to steal?”

Loke nodded.

And picked up one of the sets of thick silver manacles.

They were heavy in his hand and cold against his skin, and the thought of being shackled unsettled him, but it was necessary and he would put himself through it if it meant he wouldn’t hurt Anais during their mating.

He would hand control of it over to her.

A fierce blush burned her cheeks.

She was beautiful.

He held the restraints out to her and she just stared at them. “We will need a place in this world where I can be bound to something solid with these.”

Her blush deepened. “It’s not as if I have thick steel pipes or something like that just running through my room, you know? I really haven’t got a clue where we could go that does… oh… well… I have seen one place that might work.”

“Where?” He didn’t like the way her fear rose, surging through him too.

“That nightclub.”

“The one where I had a vision.” Loke’s stomach dropped into his feet. He didn’t want to take Anais back there. It was too dangerous. He had seen her die in that place.

“I know what you’re thinking. What if you take me back there and it all goes horribly wrong? It’s the only place I know where there are places… private places… that we can do this. It doesn’t exactly thrill me either… but I want to do this, Loke. I want to be your mate and I’m willing to risk it.” The fierce look in her eyes, the determination that he could feel in her, backed up her words.

He looked down at the shackles. They were strong and he was weak right now. If they bound him to something equally as strong, he wouldn’t be able to hurt Anais. She would be able to escape him if he lost control. She wanted to be his mate, and he wanted to be hers.

She was right.

It was worth the risk.

But only because the shackles minimised that risk until it was so small that he didn’t fear for her life.

The nightclub had strong immortals residing in it. If he lost control, they would be able to handle him and take him down. Anais would be safest there.

He nodded. “Lead the way to this nightclub.”

She pulled on his hand, leading him up through the building. The manacles clanked with each step he took, holding his attention together with the fear steadily building inside him, until Anais led him out into the night.

He released her hand and slowly walked past her, marvelling at the dark sky.

Dazzling sparkling white and coloured pinpricks punctuated it.

“They’re called stars.”

He swallowed hard and couldn’t take his eyes off them. “My mother told me about stars. She learned of them from her mother. I did not expect them to be so beautiful.”

Anais laughed. “They’re drowned out by the lights of the city. You should see what they look like from the countryside where it’s darker and there’s less light pollution.”

He dropped his head and fixed his gaze on her. “We can do that?”

She nodded and smiled warmly. “Later. I thought you had other plans?”

He did, but he was also a dragon, easily distracted by the things that fascinated or were new to him. So much in this world was new and it was almost too much to take in as he swept his gaze around them. Every building looked different. There were rectangular slabs of pale stone beneath his bare feet. Mechanical beasts prowled around with people inside of them and bright glowing white eyes that illuminated their path.

A loud roar came from overhead and Loke ducked down and snarled, baring his fangs at the giant metal beast that cut across the sky.

“A dragon,” he whispered in awe and straightened.

Anais chuckled again. “It’s a plane.”

“A plane?” He watched it as it soared into the distance. “Does it live and breathe?”

She laughed. “Hell, no. It’s a method of transport for people. Like the cars. We like to fly too, but we don’t have wings.”

Mortals had made dragons to carry them around the world. Incredible.

Anais cleared her throat, reached out and took the shackles from him, stealing his attention back to her. “Perhaps the quicker we get you to Underworld, the better. I swear I’ll take you exploring and explain everything you want to know, but after we seal this deal.”

She stole every last shred of his focus as she stepped up to him, placed her free hand against his bare chest and tiptoed for a kiss.

He bent his head and claimed her lips as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him and supporting her. She moaned and he forgot about his desire to explore the mortal world.

The desire to explore every inch of her was even more pressing and infinitely more exciting.

Her lips brushed across his, tearing a low moan from his throat as he gathered her closer and lost himself in the warm soft feel of her in his arms and her mouth on his.

Gods, he needed her.

He scooped her up into his arms and began running.

“It’s that way.” Anais pointed and he backtracked and sprinted down the narrow alley between the buildings on his left.

She clung to his shoulders, bouncing in his arms with each long stride as he ran towards their destination as quickly as his feet could carry him. He longed for his wings and the ability to shift, even when he knew that the sight of a flying man or a dragon would cause widespread panic and Archangel would be severely unimpressed, and possibly extremely angry with him. He just wanted to get Anais to Underworld as quickly as possible.

He needed to claim her as his mate.

The fierce hunger for her had returned the moment their lips had touched, filling him with an urgent need to sink his fangs into her throat and bind them as one forever. His teeth sharpened at only the thought and he growled through them as he sprinted faster, following her instructions and battling his growing need to mate with her.

The scent of desire rolling off her wasn’t helping matters.

He could feel her need pumping through him and his every male instinct demanded that he satisfy it, giving her what she desired. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could resist his own need to kiss her and touch her.

Every inch of her was pure temptation. Her black trousers hugged her long legs and her t-shirt was tight across her breasts. Gods, he wanted to kiss and lick her all over until she was begging for him to fill her and take her.

“There!” Anais shouted and he lifted his head from her jiggling breasts and spotted the colourful sign of the nightclub ahead of him.

He skidded to a halt, his eyes locked on the sign, awestruck by the sight of it. It glowed, illuminating the area around it on the dark wall and the people below it. Amazing. Was this and the other lights he had seen the result of electricity? Were they all powered by the things Anais had called batteries?

Anais slapped his cheek. “Focus.”

He shook his head to do just that and headed for the door below the sign.

He didn’t wait when the man at the door shouted for him to. He shoved his way into the bustling building and scanned the crowd, searching for the immortals he had smelled during his last visit.

There were far more immortals in the club than he had anticipated. The last time he had been here, it had been empty save for a few people. Now it was filled to bursting point and it was so loud it hurt his ears.

Anais pulled herself up in his arms, bringing her breasts close to his face and ripping a groan from his throat.

She pointed towards the bar area. “The guy with the sandy hair in the white shirt.”

Loke’s gaze darted over everyone in that area until he found the one she meant. The fair-haired shifter stood at the far end of the bar, talking to a black-haired female. Loke pushed through the crowd, clinging to Anais when people jostled and bumped him, and breathed out a sigh of relief when he reached the shifter.

The male turned curious golden eyes on him and Anais. “Said he was your mate.”

Loke could almost feel the heat of her blush on his skin.

“I don’t suppose we can borrow your back room?” She held the cuffs up and the shifter chortled.

“Be my guest. I know an uncontrollable urge when I smell one and you guys are throwing off all kinds of pheromones.” He waved towards the door that led into the rear of the nightclub. “Just be sure to let me know when you’re done and I’ll have a bottle of champagne ready.”

“Kyter,” the female admonished, and the male lifted his shoulders in a shameless shrug.

“I remember how badly I wanted to mate with you,” Kyter purred and the woman blushed and cast her gaze down at the bar. “Gods, you’re beautiful.”

“Shut up.” She pushed him in the shoulder.

“I have one thing I must ask of you too,” Loke said, needing to seize the shifter’s attention and secure his promise before the male got carried away in flirting with his mate.

The male nodded. “Name it.”

“If I lose control, knock me out and keep Anais safe for me.” Loke ignored the soft huff from Anais, keeping his eyes on the male.

The shifter frowned and then eventually nodded. “No problem… but try not to lose control… because although you seem like a nice guy, I have no desire to see your junk.”

Loke wasn’t sure what that meant but he nodded anyway. The male grinned and lifted a panel beside him, exited the bar and walked to the door. He did something with the device mounted on it and opened it for them. Loke thanked him with another nod and carried Anais through the door.

“You do know he was talking about your man bits?” Anais whispered.

Loke nodded. He did now, anyway. The shifter didn’t have to worry. Loke had little desire to show that private part of himself to the male. He was going to do his best to retain control, because he loved Anais and wanted to be her mate. He wanted to put an end to his terrible visions of her and set them on a path towards a brighter future where they could be together without fear.

He followed her directions up the metal staircase to the left of the large pale room, heading back towards the room where he had awakened. It wasn’t the one she had thought about. She pressed him to keep going when they reached it and they ended up in a different sort of room. This one had a table in the middle of it, a pale wooden floor, and cupboards.

“It’s a kitchen,” Anais said and there was an apologetic note in her voice. “But look.”

She pointed directly ahead of them.

Thick metal pipes ran up the wall there, strong enough to resist him if he lost control. His heart lifted at the sight of them but his hunger for Anais also soared, already pushing at his control. She seemed to sense it as she slowly turned her face to look into his eyes, her own dark with desire, with need that called to him.

He growled and went to kiss her. She pushed out of his arms and disappeared from the room, returning just as he was about to hunt her down, her arms laden with blankets.

His thoughtful little Amazon.

She busied herself with making a nest for them and he shut the door. The sound of it closing caused her to still halfway through arranging a pillow near the pipes.

Loke stalked towards her, his heart drumming heavily in his chest, every inch of him filled with a need to touch her.

She straightened and slowly turned to face him. Her gaze raked over him, setting him on fire as it travelled over his body and the hunger in her eyes deepened, speaking of how much she desired him. He growled again and she lifted her eyes back to his.

Gods, he wanted to touch and kiss her for a while before he let her restrain him, but he couldn’t risk it. He would have an eternity to take things slowly with her and indulge his every hunger. Right now, he needed to mate with her and make that eternity happen.

He grabbed the shackles and locked one over his right wrist. The metal was cold, tight and hard against his skin, but the discomfort would be worth it and he was sure he would lose awareness of the cuffs once he got his first taste of her.

She stepped aside and watched him as he sat on the blankets and threaded the other end of the restraints and the chain behind the pipes. They were hot to the touch, but dragons were resistant to heat. They wouldn’t harm him.

Loke pulled down a deep breath to steady himself and obliterate his nerves, and lay on his back. Anais kneeled beside him, her sweet scent filling his senses, and secured his other wrist. He tugged on the restraints and they didn’t give, not even when he used all of his limited strength.

The thought that he could mate with her without fearing hurting her, that he could lose control and she would be safe, had all of his dragon instincts hurtling to the fore.