“Right.” He averted his gaze again and swallowed. Then he changed the subject, as Alex might have anticipated. She’d seen how upset he was about Delaney’s fate, and his own sense of responsibility for it. “Olivia was a different problem.”
Alex was encouraged that he kept talking. “What then?”
Donovan looked at her, something of the cold predator in his expression. “She betrayed me.”
“She sent you after the Dragon’s Tooth, knowing that Magnus would attack you.”
“You saw all that?”
Alex nodded.
Donovan shoved a hand through his hair in frustration. “The firestorm doesn’t fight fair,” he muttered.
“Neither does the Wyvern.”
“Right. Okay. Olivia betrayed me, but I survived, with Rafferty’s help.”
“But Magnus threw the Dragon’s Tooth in the lake. You must have gotten it before everything fell in.”
“Of course. It was what I had come for.” His lips set in a grim line. “So, I took the prize to Olivia.”
His attitude gave Alex a bad feeling. “It was the pearl she wanted, at any price.”
His smile was cold. “It was.”
“So, what happened?”
“The price was higher than she expected.”
“What?”
Donovan turned his glittering gaze upon Alex and spoke with quiet force. “I showed her what I am.”
Alex’s heart stopped, then leapt. Donovan had shifted in front of Olivia and that was why he wouldn’t do it for her. Something really bad had happened. “Tell me.”
“I told her she could have the gem if she took me to her bed one last time.”
Alex swallowed, not sure she really wanted to hear this. “And?”
“She did. Of course.” He inhaled and turned to look across the lake. “She even locked the bedroom door. It was a small room, nearly filled with the curtained bed. I took the key, which troubled her. I could tell by the pitch of her laughter. Then I offered her the pearl, and she forgot her worries in her lust.”
“For you or the pearl?”
“Guess.”
Alex understood his bitterness. “But?”
“But when she reached for it, I let my hand change. Just the thumbnail first, just two talons.”
“The two holding the gem.”
“Yes. She hesitated and I continued to shift, very slowly. I made sure that she knew what she was seeing, that she understood that she had locked herself into a room with a dragon and that the dragon had the key. I made sure she knew just whom she had betrayed.” He swallowed and looked at the ground.
“If the room was small, you must have filled it,” Alex prompted softly.
Donovan shot her a look. “She had nowhere to go, no place to run. She tried, but I was furious. I cornered her. She begged, but I was in no mood to negotiate.” He frowned. “I’m not proud of what I did that night, Alex. I’m not proud that I acted in anger and took vengeance—even though she believed she was sending me to my death.” He glanced at her, his gaze bright. “I didn’t love her. Trust me on that.”
“What happened to her?”
“She went insane. By the time I left, she was writhing on the floor, incoherent, unable to accept what she had witnessed.” He shrugged, but didn’t manage to hide his sense of responsibility for what he had done. Nor could he hide his regret.
But he didn’t love Olivia.
“I heard she lost everything and died on the streets,” he said heavily. “I kept the Dragon’s Tooth to remind myself of what I could do, as a talisman to never repeat that crime.”
Alex watched him and felt his guilt.
He faced her again. “So now you know what you’re asking.”
What Alex knew was that they both had demons to conquer. She believed they could make those conquests together.
As a team.
“Show me.” She spoke with force and knew she surprised him.
She also knew he understood exactly what she meant.
Donovan flicked her a hot glance. “I won’t.”
“You have to show me, Donovan. You can conquer your fear of the past only by facing it.”
“Alex—”
“You have to know that a woman can look at all of what you are and not lose her jelly beans.”
He got that stubborn look. “It’s my duty to protect you, not drive you nuts.”
Alex could be stubborn herself. “Quit arguing with me. You know I’m right.”
He smiled then in his surprise. “Do I?”
“Just do it. Do it now.” She smiled back at him, hoping she looked more confident than she felt. “Prove to me that not all dragons are scary. Maybe I’ll get over my nightmares, too.”
He studied her for a long moment, his gaze so searching that Alex was sure he could read her thoughts. She wondered what he found, because he nodded abruptly and turned to face her. He glanced around, apparently assured himself that they were alone, then took a deep breath.
“Slowly,” Alex said. “Do it really slowly.”
Donovan’s grin flashed. “Slowly is always better,” he murmured, a knowing glint in his eyes.
Alex tingled right to her toes, the firestorm burning bright within her.
Then she took his hand in hers and lit an inferno.
It was the prospect of ending Alex’s nightmares that convinced Donovan to do as she asked. Donovan watched the sparks dance, felt his body respond with enthusiasm, and wondered how the hell he’d resist Alex until February.
Four months was an eternity.
He was in trouble.
The firestorm steadily became more insistent. It was as if destiny wanted to ensure that it couldn’t be ignored or denied.
Or as if everything and everyone were allied against him. All of Donovan’s secrets had been laid bare to Alex, thanks to the Wyvern’s interference. Alex knew his age—or enough of it to know that he wasn’t a normal man—his past, his nature. She knew about Olivia and the Dragon’s Tooth. Given the choice, he would never have told her so much, but the choice had been taken from him.
On the other hand, she was still standing in front of him, asking for more.
Did he dare to believe that the firestorm had chosen the perfect mate for him? Did he dare to wonder whether there could be a woman who truly accepted all of him?
He’d soon know. Donovan watched Alex carefully as he began to shimmer on the cusp of change, ready to stop if she showed any signs of agitation. He was glad she was holding his hand; it was even easier to feel her pulse and read her uncertainty. She was trembling slightly, but stared straight at him.
Fearless.
Invincible.
Willing to reconsider everything she knew.
Donovan admired that—and so much more—about Alex. The night’s shadows tangled in her hair, deepened the mysteriesin her eyes, made her face look fair and her lips dark. The flames danced between their fingertips, casting a circle of light around them like a sparkler.
“Do it,” Alex urged with a nod.
Donovan let his thumbnail change. It slowly grew into a talon, a long sharp claw, that rested against Alex’s hand. She watched it, eyes wide, then ran her fingertips over it.
She was learning his shape.
His truth.
She swallowed and smiled at him. Donovan took a deep breath and mustered every vestige of his control. The change had a force of its own, a tendency to happen quickly. It was hard to control it, to linger between forms. Donovan let the rest of his hand change, which left Alex’s hand looking fragile within his. He held her fingers gently, not wanting to frighten her with his strength.
“Where’d your watch go?”
“Garments are folded away, jewelry too, and hidden beneath the scales.”
Alex arched a dark brow, looking impish. “Because you might need them again.”
“Something like that. Okay?”
She smiled at him. “It’s easier when you talk to me a bit. It remin
ds me of whom I’m dealing with here.”
“You want to put some distance between us?”
“No. I’ve got to get used to this.”
Donovan liked the sound of that. “Okay. Up to the shoulder now; then I’m not sure how well I can control it.”
Alex nodded and tightened her grip on his hand. “Do it.”
Donovan savored the ripple of strength that rolled through him as his body did what it did best. He enjoyed the power of his dragon form, its near invincibility, its perceptiveness. He’d never shifted so slowly and enjoyed the chance to leisurely observe the change in his body.
Even if it was killing him to control it so carefully.
Alex was nearly hyperventilating, but she held on to his talon. He watched her throat work and heard the hammer of her heart.
“So far so good?”
Her breath was coming a bit quicker and she’d bit her lip. She nodded though, as tough as he’d hoped. “The teeth are going to be the difficult bit,” she said with a rueful grimace.
“It comes fast now,” he warned as the tide of change grew within him. Alex had time to nod; then the shift took ascendancy. Its force rolled through Donovan like a tidal wave.
He tried to slow it down, but his body was in the full grip of the change. In the presence of his mate, who had been threatened, his body was ready to fight. He tipped back his head and roared as the heat surged through him, as the firestorm kindled to the heat of a forest fire, as his body responded to her presence.
When it was done, he looked down at his mate.
Alex was paler, but she smiled bravely for him. And she hadn’t let go of his claw. Donovan felt triumphant that she had survived the sight of him.
“I will never get used to that,” she said with a shake of her head. “But it’s impressive. I’ll give you that.”
“You know I won’t hurt you.”
“I know. I trust you.” She nodded. “You’re a good dragon.”
Before he could reply, she took a deep breath and reached for him. Her fingertips danced over him, sparks flying as she familiarized herself with his dragon form. A line of sparks lit behind her caress.
Donovan was awed. Alex was confronting her fear, turning it into courage, and he loved her for it.
Alex ran her hand over his foreleg, her touch arousing him even in dragon form. She swallowed, then examined the plumes that streamed from his back. She touched his wings, fingering their leathery texture. She stared into his eyes, then stretched to run an exploratory finger over his teeth.
“Fighting machine,” she murmured, and he grinned.
“That’s me. Lean and mean.” He watched her become aware of his smile, watched her anxiety ease an increment. Donovan stood and let her explore. She walked around him, touching him with increasing bravery, and he tasted his relief.
She hadn’t gone mad.
Before he could consider the differences between Olivia and Alex, never mind the rest of Rafferty’s comments, Alex reached up and touched the wound on his chest. The spot where the Dragon’s Tooth had been torn away was still a bit sore, but it had scabbed over. He caught his breath—it was that sensitive that the light brush of her fingers sent a stab of pain through him.
Worse, the scale beside it fell into Alex’s hand.
Donovan gaped at it. His vulnerability had just doubled.
And he knew why.
Sloane and Erik landed on the roof of a executive house in a luxury suburb. The lots were generous; the streetlights were broadly spaced; the security systems quietly hummed. Each house was large, and rich with amenities—swimming pools, hot tubs, and triple garages. Sloane spied Niall on the peaked roof of one that was a slightly downscaled version of a French château from the Loire Valley.
The roof was all jagged peaks, with a small balcony hidden on the back side of the house. It looked to Sloane as if it led from the master suite and would give a view over the backyard and trees beyond.
It would also be an excellent place for a Slayer to break into the house. There was no ladder and the roof was steep, so humans might not be worried about securing the door. A Slayer, though, could simply land on the balcony.
It wasn’t a surprise to Sloane that Niall perched near this balcony and that his smoke was thickest outside its glass door.
“No sign,” Niall said in old-speak as they landed beside him on the cedar-shingled roof.
The three remained in dragon form. They settled with their backs to one another, each watching in a different direction, without discussion. Sloane looked down at the small balcony, where he noticed a bistro table and chairs.
“I don’t like it.” Erik sounded irritated.
There was a lot that Sloane didn’t like. He’d been reading more of that manuscript when Erik summoned him and was glad to put it aside. It gave instruction for deeds he found abhorrent, ones he had previously found unthinkable.
Now he was thinking about them all the time and he didn’t like it. He was wondering which trick the Slayers intended to use next. He was worried about almost dying and being made into something else. He was glad to stretch his wings, protect some humans, and potentially face a good old-fashioned dragon attack.
“Boris can disguise his scent and presence, remember,” Erik advised. “He may have taught the others.”
“Your smoke is good,” Sloane acknowledged, admiring the protective ring that Niall had breathed.
“I want it thicker and deeper,” Erik said. “We need to cocoon the whole house.”
“It’s big. I need help,” Niall said.
“We’ll breathe it together and interweave it,” Sloane said.
“We’ll make Peter’s house a fortress,” Erik agreed. They all inhaled as one, synchronizing their breathing and exhaling in unison. The smoke flowed thick and entangled.
And Sloane saw movement at the sliding glass door.
He bent to look closer and found a little boy staring back at him, his eyes wide with wonder. He was towheaded and blond, maybe four years old, and dressed in pajamas. He stared at Sloane in awe and his eyes were as dark a brown as chocolate.
Before Sloane could think to beguile him, the child pivoted and ran into the depths of the house. There was no way to catch him without revealing himself further.
“Shit!” Sloane said, leaning toward the balcony. He peered into the house but the little boy was gone.
Erik caught at his claw. “Children are hard to beguile,” he said quietly. “It’s better not to try.”
“But he could tell his parents that we’re here!” Sloane said.
Erik smiled. “And who will believe him when he says there are dragons on the roof?”
Niall chuckled and the three of them settled back to breathe smoke. Erik might have been right, but Sloane kept thinking about that little boy.
As Donovan fought to control his shock, Alex stared at the scale in her hand. She looked up at him; then her dismay was obvious. “What did I do?” she whispered.
Donovan wasn’t going to talk about it. He shifted back to human form fast. He scooped the scale from her hand and pushed it into his pocket, feeling it nudge up against the Dragon’s Tooth on its makeshift scale.
“Nothing,” he said, and it was true.
The issue wasn’t what she had done.
It was what he had done.
He was falling in love and his body knew the truth better than he did. It also made him more vulnerable, just when he needed to be strongest. Donovan wasn’t sure what to do with that, how he was supposed to defend his mate when his weakness was growing.
He changed the subject, rather than give Alex any clues. She’d probably figure out the truth, and he was feeling too exposed already.
“You’re really okay?” he asked, and didn’t have to pretend to be concerned.
Alex watched him carefully for a moment. “I’m fine.”
“Even watching me shift slowly like that?”
“Absolutely.” She spread her hands. “Not even
a little bit incoherent.”
“Good.”
Alex smiled at him. “Maybe Olivia was a wimp. Maybe she would have lost her jelly beans whether you shifted or not.”
“Maybe,” Donovan agreed. He was thinking that Alex was the one who was unique, the one with special gifts, but that only made him admire her more.
Just how many scales could he lose over one woman? The question was terrifying.
Alex smiled, then stifled a yawn. “I could use a bit more sleep before I get to work, but I can sleep Friday.”
Donovan halted his agreement before it was voiced. He realized her implication—she planned to work here.
Which meant she had everything she needed to do so.
Which meant the Slayers might return at any time.
To kill Alex and eliminate the Green Machine forever. Donovan felt his body on the cusp of change once more.
There was urgency in his tone, an urgency he couldn’t stifle. “Where’s the prototype for the Green Machine, Alex? It’s here, right?”
Alex’s smile was mischievous. “Guess.”
Donovan’s gaze trailed back to the garage but before he could speak, she tapped him on the arm. “Too obvious!” she chided. “Guess again.”
“Tell me instead.”
His seriousness must have gotten through to her, because her smile faded. She took his hand and drew him through the boathouse door. “Here.”
“Where?” Donovan blinked at the empty expanse of water surrounded on three sides by a dock. “Did you sink it?”
Alex pointed up to the rafters. “There.”
Donovan hit the light switch and saw the undercarriage of a car suspended from the rafters of the boathouse.
Relief rolled through him. It was here.
“Last place I’d look.”
“That’s the point,” Alex scoffed. “You don’t hide something where people will find it.”
“But how did you get it up there?” Donovan walked on the docks around the perimeter of the boathouse, staring upward in amazement. Even in the darkness, he could see there was a system of pulleys and ropes holding the car up.
“It was Mark’s project for the weekend. It wasn’t easy.” Alex grinned. “I think it was more of a challenge than he expected.”
“Who knows it’s here?”