Fire Rising (Dark Kings) (11 page)

Her breath locked in her lungs as she watched the dragon tuck his head and roll as the amber scales changed into sun-kissed bronze skin.

The man rolled as he hit the ground and came up on bent knees with his hands on the ground and his head still tucked, his long, light brown hair falling to hide his face. Slowly, almost warily, he lifted his head and his hair fell around his shoulders in disarray.

Sammi recognized him before he stood. She knew that hair, had longed to run her fingers through it. Then he straightened.

She drank in the sight of him, from his wide shoulders corded with muscles to his narrow waist to his tight butt and long, muscular legs.

Her eyes jerked up to his lower back where she saw what had to be a tattoo, but it was so long and narrow that she couldn’t make out what it was

Then he turned to face her. Sammi had seen gorgeous men before, but not one of them compared to Tristan in all his glory. He stood as imposing as a vengeful spirit and as commanding as a god. He was startlingly handsome, dazzlingly strong.

Mind-bogglingly virile.

The wind whistled about him, as if caressing his body as she longed to do. It pushed his hair away from his face. Sammi bit her lip as he closed his eyes and lifted his face to the sky as if being in human form pained him.

Her gaze lowered from his face to his chest and his impressive body, but it wasn’t just the thick sinew that caught her attention—it was the tattoo that covered his entire chest.

The tat was done in an amazing mixture of red and black ink, making it neither red nor black, but a beautiful mix of both.

The tat itself was of a dragon. It stood on its hind legs with its wings spread wide. The tail wrapped from his waist around to his back. Her eyes drifted lower to his flaccid rod and long legs.

His eyes opened and looked at her before his narrowed gaze shifted to the mist. A muscle ticked in his jaw as if he were deciding what to do.

The decision had already been made for Sammi. He had disappeared once. She didn’t want him to leave again. When he took a step into the mist, she jumped to her feet.

His head whirled to face her, and all emotion fled from his face. He hesitated as if trying to decide to remain or go into the mist.

“I saw you,” Sammi said, hoping it would keep him near. She wasn’t sure why. She was both relieved she wasn’t going insane, and a little scared knowing Tristan was a dragon.

A dragon!

Where she might have run from him earlier, she recalled all too well how he had calmed her where others never could. He had reached a place inside her that only her mother had ever been able to touch.

The fact he could do that is what kept her from being frightened. She did, however, have a healthy dose of anxiety for just what he might be able to do.

“You’re dreaming.”

A shiver raced over her skin at the sound of his voice. How she loved his voice. Sammi shook her head. “I’m not.”

“You hit your head when you fell earlier. You’re dreaming now, Sammi. Your shoulder hurts, and you have a concussion.”

She smiled as she realized to what lengths he would go in order to make her believe she hadn’t seen him shift from a dragon to a human. “I did fall, but I didn’t hit my head. I was saved by a magnificent amber dragon. You.”

His chest expanded as he took a deep breath, causing the dragon tattoo to puff out. “With your injuries, I can see how dreaming this would help you cope.”

Irritation filled her. She knew she wasn’t dreaming, just as she knew she hadn’t hit her head. “Shift back into a dragon. Let me see you again.”

“I can no’.”

She took a step toward him. “I’m not supposed to know, am I?”

Tristan glanced away.

That was answer enough. “You’ve been with me this whole time, haven’t you? And don’t you dare say I’m dreaming,” she said before he could try that tactic again.

“Dammit, Sammi,” he grumbled and ran a hand through his hair.

She let out a long breath. A kernel of doubt had begun to fester until then. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“That’s just it,” he said. “It’s no’. They’re after you because of your connection to Dreagan.”

“Dreagan?” she repeated, grasping that he meant her sister. “Jane.”

“Aye. Jane.”

“They want Jane?” she asked, more confused than ever.

“They want us.”

Us, as in other dragons. Sammi’s eyes widened. “Banan’s a dragon, too?”

“We’re Dragon Kings, actually,” Tristan said and then frowned as he stiffened. “Shite!”

She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when he closed the distance between them in two strides and grabbed her uninjured arm as he dragged her after him.

He wedged them both between two boulders, his body pressed against hers from shoulder to thigh. Sammi looked into his dark eyes and found him staring at her.

“What is it?”

He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “They’ve found you.”

She tried to run, but he held her steady.

“Nay, Sammi. Trust me.”

But she couldn’t listen. She had seen exactly what they could do. They killed indiscriminately, brutally. Viciously.

“Listen. Listen!” he repeated when she continued to struggle.

Sammi paused and heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter. She glanced around his shoulder before sliding her gaze back to him. “Oh, my God.”

“They shouldna be on our land. No one flies over Dreagan but us,” he ground out.

She blinked. “We’re on Dreagan?”

“Aye. You left it to go to the village, but you returned when you ran to the mountains.”

Sammi leaned her head back and winced as the sound of the ’copter grew closer and closer. “What do we do?”

“Nothing. They willna find you here.”

She felt his hand alongside her face as his fingers slid into her hair. She forgot all about running with Tristan around. Her lips parted as she longed to kiss him, to run her hands over his sculpted body.

He was gorgeous, imposing. Irresistible, captivating.

Seductive.

With a look or a word, she was putty in his hands. The world seemed to be at his beck and call just waiting for him to tell it what to do.

Sammi was completely and utterly enthralled with the man who was also a dragon. A dragon who had saved her life.

A dragon who made her heart race and her stomach flutter with anticipation and excitement.

“If they do find you, they willna live to hurt you,” he vowed in that seductive timbre of his.

She calmed, because there was no way they could hurt Tristan—her dragon.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The chopper was loud as it hovered near them, and it was all Tristan could do not to lean down and kiss Sammi. He struggled to rein in his desire without succeeding.

Sammi’s hair was like cool silk against his hand. She gazed up at him with passion-filled eyes that made his cock twitch with need.

The mist cocooned them, blocking out everything but the sound. A flash of color had Tristan glancing up to see Rhi smile and point to the sky where she used magic to make it appear as if he was in dragon form and flying away.

The helicopter took the bait and flew away the same instant Rhi disappeared.

Leaving Tristan alone with a woman he couldn’t seem to stop touching. She was an enchantress, luring him in with her charismatic eyes, tempting body, and sinfully full lips.

He knew he should pull away even as he stared into her powder blue eyes and wound her sandy waves around his fingers. Tristan didn’t lie to himself for just one kiss, because he knew one taste of her would never be enough.

Since he first saw her on Dreagan he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. Her gaze had ensnared him, her delicate touch had mesmerized him, and her courage had fascinated him.

It was too dangerous to give into his desire out in the open. They might be on Dreagan land, but Sammi was still a target.

Tristan dropped his hand and moved away from her. He closed his eyes and fought to contain his raging body. His cock was hard and aching, his body heated and eager.

“What now?” she asked.

Tristan swallowed and kept his back to her. The safest place for her was back at the manor, but that would mean giving her up to Jane to take care of.

He wasn’t ready for that yet. But neither should she remain where she was.

“Isn’t this where you tell me I belong with my sister?” Sammi asked. “How she and everyone will keep me safe?”

Tristan fisted his hands. “That’s what Jane and Banan want me to do.”

“And you don’t?” she asked, a note of surprise raising her voice.

He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “There is much you doona understand.”

“I’m getting the picture now,” she said as her voice grew nearer. She walked around him and stopped when she stood before him. “The dragon on the label of Dreagan scotch. You changing from a dragon to human form. And what did you call yourself? Oh, yes, a Dragon King. And this,” she said as she traced his tattoo with her finger.

Tristan stopped breathing at her touch. The dragon part of him, the primal, beastly part of him rumbled with excitement at her touch.

He swallowed past the desire and need to focus on her eyes. “So you believe we can protect you.”

“Without a doubt.”

He narrowed his gaze. “Why then do I no’ believe that you’ll return to the manor?”

Her hand dropped away, leaving him aching to have her touch once more.

“Because of Jane. Because of Banan. Because of you. I was wrong to have brought all of this to your door. These people are dangerous. I’ve seen what they can do without hesitation. I don’t want Jane’s world shattered as mine has been.”

Tristan looked over her head and took a deep breath before slowly releasing it. He debated whether to tell her about Rhi and the Dark Fae, and was about to think better of it when he remembered the Dark One in the village.

“There is more in the world than just us Dragon Kings,” he said as he looked back at her.

She shivered and rubbed her hands along her arms. “Does this have anything to do with guys that have red eyes?”

“Shite,” Tristan said and gave a shake of his head in regret. “Aye, it does. I wasna sure you saw him.”

“In the village and here.”

“Here?” Tristan grabbed her and pulled her against him as he looked around them. All desire vanished as the threat to her took precedence. “Where? When?”

She bit her bottom lip and jerked her chin to the left. “At the stream. I was filling my water bottles and saw his reflection in the water as if he were standing over me, but when I turned around no one was there.”

“What you saw is a Dark Fae.”

“I gather the red eyes aren’t a sign of goodness.”

“Nay. They are evil. The males like to take women and pull out all the hope and laughter from their souls until they are just shells. Some then use the women for sex.”

“And the female Dark Fae?” she asked after a moment’s hesitation.

“They take men for sex. The more sex they have with them, the more the men are bound to the Dark Ones. Either way, once they have you, you’ve lost your soul.”

“Why do they want me?”

Tristan walked to where her purse was and picked it up to hand to her. “They’re working with the men who are after you.”

“Just great,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “Anyone else want to join in?”

“Doona ask that,” he told her.

She pulled out of his grip. “Okay, so the Mob is scary, and what you’ve told me about the Dark Fae is downright terrifying. But why do I get the feeling you’re more worried about the Dark Fae?”

“Because you walked away from one.”

She shrugged, her brow puckering in confusion. “So?”

“So,” he said as he tilted her chin up. “Their allure stops women in their tracks. No one walks away from a Dark.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly. That Dark wants you now that you were no’ falling all over him.”

She visibly swallowed. “Can the Dark Fae get inside the manor?”

“They’re no’ supposed to be on Dreagan land at all.”

“I lost my mother a few years ago. Jane is all the family I have. I don’t want her getting hurt.”

“It’s why you willna return to the manor,” he guessed.

She gave a slow nod. “I don’t want to die either. What do I do?”

“Do you trust me?”

“Oddly enough, I do.”

“There is somewhere I can take you.”

She slid her purse over her head and looped the strap through one arm so that it rested across her body. “Then what are we waiting for?”

“I’ll have to take you while in my dragon form.”

“I wanted a better look at you anyway.”

Tristan must be going crazy to agree to shift in front of her again, but with the helicopter full of mercenaries after her, there wasn’t time for anything else.

He walked past her until he was far enough away to shift. Her quick inhale when he stood before her in his true form made his gut clench.

There was wonder in her eyes as she looked him over. Tristan wanted to remain still and allow her that time, but it would have to wait.

He held out a palm and waited for her to walk to him. Once he had her in his grasp, he leaped into the air and spread his wings.

In two flaps of his wings he was in cloud cover. Normally he wouldn’t have cared, but with the chopper about, he didn’t want to take any chances with Sammi’s life.

Shifting into dragon form didn’t stop the hunger for her. In fact, it only increased. He imagined stripping her clothes off one by one and laying her down before covering her body with his.

He thought about sinking into her slick heat, of hearing her cries of pleasure, and he flew faster. The unrelenting yearning had a grip on him that refused to abate.

Ten minutes later he spotted the cottage they used during patrols and tipped his wings so that he flew to the ground. Tristan landed and gently set her down, already missing the way she stroked his scales.

Before he shifted back into human form, he contacted Banan over their link and let him know he had Sammi. Tristan ended the connection before Banan could ask where they were or what had happened.

They were deep in Dreagan territory, and Tristan doubted any Dark would dare to venture there. If Sammi wouldn’t return to the manor, that left only one option—having the others come to them.