Dragon's Ward Read online

  The men behind him were not much more than an inch or two shorter than him. The man to the left, who’d snaked out his tongue in an oddly serpentine way, wore his hair shaggy. The thick mop of curls on his head was darker than midnight, but shinny under the light. His face was chiseled, angular in a way that almost made him look severe, but just fell short of it. His eyes were honey-colored, if that were even possible. He was all contrasts with the dark hair, light eyes, strong jaw, but flush, full lips, tall and lean, but roped with muscle that she could see bunched as he froze, watching her. He looked like he had just rolled out of bed with his hair mousy and his navy sweats rumpled. He was just as mouthwatering as the first guy she’d seen, despite the fashion faux pas.

  The man to the right was different from the other two. His shape was more slender, his face smoother, more of an artist than the model. He wore his brown hair in a ponytail, green eyes watching her with more wonder than hard-edged desire. He was almost pretty, his slim hands graceful at his sides. He wore black slacks and a white button-up shirt with a trench coat over it. He swept back one side of the jacket to rest his hand on the small of his back, an oddly Old World gesture, as he bowed slightly to her. Amazing. He was amazing.

  Desire coiled through her again and she pushed herself further into the pillows around her. She shouldn’t be feeling this, couldn’t trust her emotions, and with the flair of desire, fear came hurdling back through her. She heard what sounded like the small whimper of a puppy and was chagrined when she realized that it coming from her and not some four-legged animal. She nipped her lip, refusing to show so much fear before these men. She’d come for help, thought she would find it here. Somewhere inside, past the fear, she felt she had made the right decision. If she didn’t get help, she was dead anyway. She tried to speak. When it didn’t work the first time, she cleared her throat and tried again.

  “Who are you?” She was happy to find out that her voice didn’t sound at terrified as she felt. The big man in front spoke.

  “I am Stefan. These are my friends, Cadoc and Nero.” She thought for a moment on his hesitation before he pointed at the dark-haired man first and then the brown-haired man when he said their names. His voice was like hot chocolate on a cold night, thick, sweet, and oh so right.

  “What are you called?” Stefan asked, his accent hard to place but she would swear he sounded Scottish or something.

  “Brook.” She forced herself to uncurl her fingers from the pillow under her. She was stronger than this. She had been running for enough years to depend on her strength. She didn’t know why she had failed in the face of these men, but she knew she was better than this. She wasn’t alive because she was a terrified puppy.

  “I need your help,” she forced herself to say. She had seen his secret. She’d seen him change from dragon to human. She’d have never dreamed that shape-shifters existed, and she knew that he would want to keep it a secret. She wouldn’t want him to be hurt, but to save herself, she’d threatened with whatever she had to. If that meant that she would expose him, then she would, no matter the twinge of her conscience.

  “I thought that you might. These men can help me help you, if you’ll tell me what is wrong.”

  She thought about it for a moment. Could she trust them? Would they think she was crazy and turn her away? Better yet, could she hope to threaten to expose this man if he didn’t help her and make it out of here? She hadn’t thought about that when she’d come to him but she should have. He could be as desperate as she to stay safe. She swallowed when she realized she really hadn’t thought her plan through and the small flame of hope that had blossomed in her chest may have blinded her to more danger. She fidgeted, watching these men watch her. They were so still in front of her it was like they were not breathing. They seemed content to wait for her to make her decision and answer Stefan’s question.

  She’d try it. She could be dead today, or dead tomorrow, but at least she was going to try.

  “For the last two years I’ve been stalked by a man who wants me to be his bride. He keeps closing in and I know, one day very soon, he’s going to catch me. I’m so tired. So very tired, and I’m never safe.” She lowered her face, her dark hair covering her face as she said her next words.

  “After I saw you…change, I thought that you could help me.”

  “Define change,” Cadoc said, his voice like the low rumble of thunder. She shuddered, reacting on some level that she didn’t quite want to examine. She shook her head, somehow not wanting to say in front of everyone exactly what she had seen. These men may be his friends, but that didn’t mean that they knew his secret.

  “Define change,” Cadoc said again, and this time he was closer. When she peered through the strands of her hair, he was looming above her. He’d been so quiet she’d never heard him move. He was just suddenly there. She gasped, fighting to keep her place on the couch and not give into the need to scramble away. She was not weak.

  “That’s his business,” she growled back, surprised enough to sit back, wide-eyed, with a hand over her mouth.

  “I suppose it is good she wants to defend you.” Nero spoke now, his voice lighter, more tenor than bass. He watched her as if he was studying her. “However, my girl, explain what you meant. It’s important.”

  She shook her head stubbornly, looking to Stefan, her eyes pleading. She wanted help but couldn’t fight the urge to not tell his secret. She had never been so torn before. She didn’t even know this man. He should have meant nothing to her. Why was she protecting him? She shook her head again, trying to clear the cobwebs. She needed help. She had to push through. She couldn’t afford to back down now just because she’d seen a pretty face, okay three pretty faces.

  “She saw me in my true form,” Stefan said then, stealing the air form her sails, and the need for secrecy apparently.

  “Yes. I saw him melt from a golden dragon into a man,” she whispered looking at him.

  “Did you say gold?” Cadoc said, and something in all the men had gone still. Brook felt like she was missing something.

  “Yes,” she answered, frowning. “I saw him from my window. I thought he could help me.”

  “She saw the gold, zhu,” Nero whispered, some inner light shining through his eyes. Brook definitely felt like she was missing something, something important. But she knew the word they’d used. Why would they be using the Mandarin word for lord, while talking to Stefan?

  “It matters not,” Stefan returned.

  “But, zhu,” Cadoc began, eyes still on her.

  “Kylin,” Stefan said, eyes swinging toward Cadoc with a warning in them.

  “Kylin? As in the mythological animal with a dragon face and claws, a wolf’s body, an ox’s tail tipped with fire, and almost humanlike hair acting as its mane?” Brook asked, jaw dropping. She’d studied East Asian Studies in college as her second major. The role of the Kylin, Tortoise, Dragon, and Phoenix were set in the times of dynasty throughout Chinese culture. But these men seemed out of place in that world.

  “Remarkable,” Nero said then, his gaze turning back to wonder.

  “How do you know that?” Stefan asked.

  “Studied East Asia in college, before,” she stopped, thoughts of Roach encroaching in on her momentary happiness of thinking about her life before he had come along.

  “Be calm, Brook. We will help you against this man. We shall always be there,” Stefan said in a soft voice.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Nero said then.

  “We can do no other,” Cadoc affirmed.

  Somehow, to the depths of her soul, Brook knew that this was about more than just Roach. They had acquiesced too easily with very little details. It made her wonder. Had she just been saved by three angels, or had she invited in the devil?

  Chapter Four

  She wasn’t sure how she made it to the spare room, or when she’d fallen asleep. All she could think of when she awoke was pure fear. She was alone, in the dark, and Roach was coming. She had never s
een him, had never felt his touch, he was like some great nebulous figure that she only knew by the horrendous letters he wrote her and the gifts he left her in her room when she’d let her guard down enough to stay in a house too long. His letters had become progressively worse, going from tentative connection to full blown anger that she had yet to realize who he was, and go to him. He was no longer interested in their game of guess who. He thought that she would remember him. That by now she would be able to name him and then she would be ready to be his bride, his consort for all eternity.

  Now she thought she could smell him. He’d made sure to use the same cologne on any package he sent her. She’d recognize that scent on her deathbed. He’d sent her a dress here, a necklace there, dead animal other times, usually animals that she had taken in during her travels for companionship. She’d stop taking strays in soon enough. Her heart pounded as she smelled him on the air. She scrambled out of her bed, falling ungracefully to the floor, before she realized that she wasn’t in her bedroom back at home. She wouldn’t be able to grasp the hilt of the knife she kept hidden between the mattresses of her bed. Nor would she find the half sword stashed behind the headboard. She hadn’t gotten a gun because to get one registered she’d have to give her personal information, something that Roach would be able to find.

  Getting one off the street would be just as hard. She was a lone woman who had looks. They were quicker to try to take her, from her experience, than Roach would be, she felt sometimes. She’d learned hand-to-hand combat, defensively at least, as quickly as possible when she realized that dilemma. Her terror skyrocketed through her as she then looked for some type of weapon, anything to get her hands on. Roach was here. He had come for her and she was never going to be safe.

  “Brook.” She heard her name as if through a fog before warm, strong arms came around her and lifted her. Her face was buried in Stefan’s throat, she knew his voice, and his scent chased away Roach’s. He smelled of life, sweetness, vanilla, and jasmine. He smelled so good, delicious even. He lowered her to the bed and stepped back. Once she could see past him, she noticed Cadoc standing at the ready, a handgun flashing in his hand for a second before he put it away. Nero was there as well, a thin, long sword, at his hip. They’d come to protect her.

  “I thought he was here. I smelled him,” she whispered, feeling small and oh so tired.

  “Your stalker? No one can get passed us, Brook. You are safe,” Cadoc said.

  “Roach has left me presents on the end of my bed with me sleeping, and slipped back out of my house without me even realizing. He’s just gotten crazy enough, finally, that he wants to have me for real now. I smelled him here.” Nero took a deep breath, scenting the air around the room. He walked toward the window and breathed deeply.

  “Maybe we should get all the details we can now. This man is dangerous,” Nero said.

  “Not as dangerous as I am,” Cadoc returned, his voice pushing through the darkness. She found herself comforted by the violence she heard in it. He would fight, he was strong, she could sense it. She didn’t know how, didn’t understand this odd connection she was having with them. It didn’t make any sense.

  “You don’t understand,” she tried then.

  “You came to us for help. You have seen that I am not completely human. He would have to be very strong indeed to harm you when you are with me,” Stefan added, and she believed him, oddly enough, but they just didn’t understand.

  “Roach has been playing this game with me. Somewhere, at some point, at some time, I met him. I spoke to him and knew his face. He fixated on me from that moment. He then started contacting me. He distanced me from my friends, one at a time, by telling me their secrets, plastering them for others to see, until they were scared to even stand by me. He slowly destroyed some of my family’s reputations. They couldn’t prove it, but I knew it was him. The police couldn’t do a thing to stop him. Finally I left my family behind, thinking that if I just ran away, just disappeared, everyone would be safe…that I would be free of him.”

  “You gave him what he wanted. He got you isolated, without any support system. In essence he wanted you to only have him,” Nero said then, his face thoughtful.

  “Exactly.” Brook had made that connection soon after she ran. She’d realized her mistake but she hadn’t wanted to see the guilt in her family’s eyes. In a way, they blamed her for the loss of their family home, the foreclosure, and the lost jobs. Even though she hadn’t personally done it, her nearness had created it. She’d run away from the pain of that look as well.

  “Then the letters and the gifts began. He could always find me, was always one step behind me. I got our ‘wedding dress,’ animals torn to pieces for doing nothing more than spending the night with me, letters about how he was going to have me, and what he was going to do when he got me, and the guess-who questions. He was positive that I knew who he was, and when I could say his name, I could admit to myself my feelings for him.”

  “Have you thought of any suspects?” Cadoc questioned.

  “No. I met countless people at college. I’m a graphic designer that deals with just as many people. It could be anyone, or no one. For all I know he could have glimpsed me on the street somewhere and picked up a nasty habit of following the damsel. I just don’t know.”

  “Fair enough. Get some rest. We are not going to let you get hurt. We will be close by. We won’t leave. Tomorrow, when you’ve had enough sleep, we’ll go get some of these items that Roach has sent. If he’s always been this close, then it’s possible he already knows that you are now with your next door neighbor.” She agreed with Cadoc.

  “A very male neighbor,” she whispered. Then a thought occurred to her. “I’ve got to get out of here.” She sprang out of bet, going around it to look for her shoes. She grasped hers and sat to put them on.

  “Where are you going?” Nero questioned.

  “I have to get away from you. He’s killed animals that have just stayed the night in my house. I can’t imagine what he would do to you. I need to leave. I never should have come here.”

  Shoes on she tried for the door but Stefan’s body surrounded hers from behind. It was then that she realized that he didn’t have a shirt on, and that her sweatshirt had been removed. She could feel the heat of his body seep into the cold of hers. Cadoc was very close to the front of her body, and he stepped even closer.

  “You are safe,” Stefan whispered to her and the heat of his breath sizzled over her nerve endings. Suddenly her fear leeched away as if it had never been.

  “You came to us. Let us help you,” Cadoc said and sighed against her, his breath blazing hot and bringing her nipples to throbbing points.

  “We won’t let him hurt you,” Nero whispered, as if he were afraid to break the tension surrounding them all. He stepped to her side and she felt like she was on fire. She couldn’t remember what she was doing, or why she wanted to leave these men. Roach had no place here. He had no hold over her in this moment.

  “What’s happening?” She couldn’t believe that needy voice came from her but it did. She didn’t sound like she was arguing against it, that she didn’t want it. She sounded as if she was begging for it to continue. She slid her eyes close.

  “Shh, little one, we are here.” That was Nero. She could tell by the very softness of his tone.

  “I thought you said we wouldn’t try,” Cadoc moaned, shifting closer until she could feel the imprint of his cock against her stomach and something wild flared in her. She felt it swell within her with a great, whooping screech, like a massive bird. She could feel its happiness, its eagerness for what was coming next. She could taste it.

  Stefan gripped her upper arms tight, pulling her back against his rock hard frame. She felt his broad cock against her back. Cadoc followed, as if he couldn’t bear to be away from her. Nero followed closely too, hovering on the edge.

  “I cannot stop. Can you?” Brook could feel the vibration of Stefan’s voice along her spine and trembled, han
ds coming up to grip Cadoc’s strong arms. She felt, and heard, him hiss from her touch.

  “No,” he growled.

  “No,” Nero sighed, and she could feel the change in them, like a decision was made.

  She could feel it in their tension, in the set of their bodies against her. She could feel it in the answering emotions deep inside of her when Stefan touched her, as if he meant to have her and she was his. Cadoc framed one of her breasts and massaged it through her T-shirt. The tension intensified when Nero guided her hips in a back and forth roll against Cadoc and Stefan, and if he were teaching her the way to pleasure them. They pressed closer against her, as if they could crawl into her and they could all become one. Brook didn’t know who was more terrifying, Roach who would take her life, or these men who had taken her very will.

  Chapter Five

  In a haze of passion she was lifted into the air. She knew that Stefan was behind her. His arms were wrapped around her body, under her breasts. Cadoc had lifted her legs, one on each side of his body, so that her groin was pressed tight against him. Nero seemed to have his hands everywhere, shifting her hair to one side so it wouldn’t get caught, helping her wrap her arms around Stefan’s neck to balance her, and then pushing things out of the way so that they could crowd on the bed in one pile. Stefan sat back against the headboard, cradling her body between his legs, and pulled her back to rest against his chest. Cadoc knelt between her legs, his strong hands massaging her thighs. Nero sat to her left rubbing her temples.

  “What—” she began.

  “Shh. Just let us touch you. Let us keep you safe. We will do nothing more,” Stefan whispered against her neck.