Chosen By The Dragon (4 page)

Jacob’s ringtone woke him up. Confused, he picked up the bright rectangular light and looked at it. It was Wendy. As groggy as he was, relief flooded through him. He thought he’d lost her forever. If there was even the smallest chance he could win her back, he’d take it, even if that meant answering a random call at… was it really 3 in the morning? Jacob slid the bar over and answered it.

Before he could say a word she screamed, “GET YOUR LIFE OUT OF MY LIFE!”

Jacob’s head shook of its own volition and he forced himself onto his feet. “Wendy, wait, I haven’t even—“

“That asshole was in my house, Jacob. He touched my mother. He touched my mother!”

After that, she broke down into horrible sobs and incoherent ranting. Jacob listened, adding in sounds here and there so she knew he was still on the line. Whatever happened was serious, and she needed to get the worst of this out before she could make sense. He knew that. When she’d finally worked through the worst of it, he said gently, “Now, what happened tonight? Who was at your house?”

She was understandably annoyed at having to repeat herself, but when he explained he hadn’t understood a word of what she said, she laughed. Fortunately. He’d expected her to reach through the phone and murder him. The gentle tinkling of her voice was a balm to his soul.

In a much calmer tone, she explained everything that had happened from the moment she opened the unlocked door to the laughter after she’d locked it behind him. Now that Jacob understood what had happened, he knew who was behind all of this. Outside interference was strictly forbidden. For Tristan to try and apply pressure to Jacob this way was against not only the laws of the negotiations, but it was also just downright dishonorable. Without honor, dragon shifters were little more than animals, or worse, humans..

Even when she was angry and upset with him, he still held her on a pedestal. She was too perfect not to be. Hearing everything Tristan had been doing to her, Jacob shook.

“Wendy, regardless about how you feel about me, know that I’m sorry this is happening. I’ll take care of it.”

“Jacob, I…” Her words failed.

He knew she wanted to argue, but he just repeated, “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you,” she said.

They hung up, and Jacob couldn’t stop pacing his hotel room. He was unable to calm down the rest of the night.

That morning, when negotiations started, he avoided conversation with everyone. Tristan walked in with his friends, smirking and looking rather proud of himself. He even looked over at Jacob with a little nod of his head, as though he was being gracious in his victory.

Timothy came over to Jacob to say good morning, but before he could Jacob said, “Don’t talk to me.”

“I’m sorry,” Timothy said, hands raised. “Did I--?”

“You did nothing. I’m incapable of conversation.”

“Hey, you got it.” Timothy picked up an apple and tossed it into his other hand.

Just as he turned to walk away, Jacob said, “Tim.” When he turned, Jacob added, “I may need you.”

“Just let me know.”

“Oh,” Jacob said and turned his eyes back to Tristan. “You’ll know.”

As the time to begin drew close, everyone gravitated to his or her seat. Jacob stayed in the back. He paced the back row of chairs alone. It drew attention to him. Good. He wanted people to know. They needed to know that he wasn’t going to roll over, that this sort of game was unacceptable. They wanted to threaten those he cared about? They wanted to try to blackmail him? Those were children’s games, used by those too weak to meet a challenge head-on.

Jacob’s breathing quickened as he knew the seconds ticked closer to the start of the meeting. If he did this outside of official negotiation hours, it wouldn’t be valid. Holding himself back was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Timothy notice his condition. Timothy looked from Jacob to Tristan and back again.

He could see Timothy’s mouth slowly form the words, “Oh shit.”

Darren stood at the front of the seats watching the clock. He glanced at Jacob, but said nothing. Tristan looked at Jacob, but then looked away, pleased. To him it must’ve looked like Jacob was frustrated, powerless. His little sycophants all talked among themselves, ignoring Jacob as well. The fools.

At the front of the room, Darren drew in a deep breath through his nose. He then looked to Jacob, and gave him a sharp nod. They were now officially within the timeframe of the negotiations.

Screaming his rage, Jacob charged down the aisle toward Tristan. Timothy stood up from his seat and shouted, “Yes!”

Tristan looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened in shock as Jacob flew over two full rows of seats and crashed into his slender torso. Chairs crashed as they rolled into them. Jacob threw punch after punch, breaking his knuckles against the hard bones of Tristan’s face.

“You threaten a human? You threaten a sick old woman? A woman incapable of even responding to your words!”

Jacob stood, grabbed Tristan by the front of his suit, and, with a quick spin, chucked him over the front rows of seats to the front of the room. A few of Tristan’s friends tried to grab at Jacob, but he shrugged them off violently. Timothy was there suddenly, pulling them off of Jacob and standing between them.

“No,” Tristan whimpered, crawling backward away from Jacob and holding an arm up to protect himself. “You can’t do this.”

Jacob grabbed chairs and threw them across the conference hall to clear a path toward Tristan’s prone form. “Check the bylaws. You attempted to control the negotiations by threatening outside personal contacts. That allows me to confront you through one-on-one combat. The only way for you to come out of this with any power intact is to beat me. Right here. Right now.”

“No,” Tristan cried. Then looking to Darren, he said again, “No.”

“The laws allow it. Jacob acted within his rights,” Darren said. “He even stood an additional ten paces outside of the required fifteen. It’s meant to give you a head start if you wish to run. It’s no one’s fault but your own that you didn’t see the clear threat in his eyes.”

Tristan tried to scream, tried to get up to run, but Jacob grabbed him by the back of his finely-made suit jacket and jerked him back and off of his feet. Slamming him to the ground, Jacob proceeded to beat the man senseless. When he was done, he stood over him, knuckles covered in a mix of his own blood and that of the man below.

“Tristan, you are hereby excommunicated from the negotiations. The Drathmir clan, now without representation, forfeits all rights to its claims, including, but not limited to, any you claimed prior to this incident. If the Drathmir clan can assign a new representative before the conclusion of the negotiations, this can be revisited. As of now, however, your previous claims are once more up for grabs. Remove yourself from this establishment.”

Tristan stood on shaky knees. He ran a sleeve under his nose as he looked from Darren to Jacob, then to his friends. They wouldn’t meet his gaze. He seemed on the verge of tears. “You’ll pay for this,” he said to Jacob.

“No,” Jacob said firmly. “I won’t. I see you again and I’ll eat your heart.”

Tristan sniffled again and as he ran weakly down the aisle, he screamed, “You won’t get away with this!”

Timothy came up to stand beside Jacob. Quietly, he held up his hand. Jacob high-fived it, both of them watching the little weasel run.

“Want a bagel?” Timothy asked.

“Please. I’m starving.”

Wendy puttered around her house.  When she’d called Sophie to let her know she was taking the day off from work, there were no words for the relief she felt when the woman actually answered the phone. She sounded unsure, but it was clear the man had simply lied. Wendy couldn’t blame her, it had been a convincing story; still, she didn’t want to leave her mother’s side.

All she had to tell work was that her mother wasn’t doing well and someone was able to switch shifts with her. It was the best thing about working at that place. Everyone was so understanding about her mother’s condition. Wendy couldn’t settle. At any moment, she expected that man to show up again with those eyes and those teeth. That stupid grin. That laugh. It unsettled her in ways she couldn’t describe, even to herself. She’d never been more scared for her life or that of her mother’s. Sure, her mom had been sick for years, but that didn’t mean she was ready to go. Wendy sure as hell wasn’t ready to let her go.

What really unsettled her was that if he did come for her, if he did want to hurt her mother, Wendy didn’t think she could do anything to stop it. That feeling of helplessness kept her walking the halls of her home, checking the windows upstairs constantly, and coming back down to see if her mother needed anything.

When her phone rang and Jacob’s voice was on the other end, the comfort she felt overwhelmed her anger and hurt at the way he had treated her. He was there; for the moment, that was all she needed to know.

“Hey, they said you were home tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah. I didn’t want to leave my mom.”

“So you’re home?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I uh… I’m outside. Think we could talk?”

Wendy went to the front door and looked out the peephole. There, on the front porch, was Jacob on his phone, looking out over the front yard. Wendy undid the locks and opened the door. He turned quickly and smiled that awkward smile of his. Hanging up the call, he put his hands in his pockets.

“Hear me out?”

Wendy hung up her phone as well. “Hold on.”

She went back to the living room. “Mom, a friend is here. We’re going to talk outside. Did you need anything?”

Her mom looked over at her, eyes tired and smile weak, but she shook her head. “No dear, I’m fine. Go enjoy your time with your friend. I think I may drift off a little, actually.”

“Okay.” Wendy came over and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be quiet. Sleep well if you can.” Touching her, hearing her voice, Wendy was forced to face the possibility of being without her. She pressed her lips to her head again and then put her cheek to her mother’s cheek. “I love you, mom.”

“Ohh,” she sighed. “I love you too, sweetie. I never get tired of hearing it.”

Wendy touched her forehead to her mother’s, gave her one last kiss on her forehead, and then went out to the front porch. She closed the door behind her quietly. “She’s going to sleep, so keep your voice down.”

“Yeah, of course,” Jacob said.

They walked down a few steps and sat down.

“I’m sorry,” he started, “about everything. That man, his name is Tristan, I’ve taken care of it. He was out of line coming to you, and I made him pay for it.”

“Pay?” she asked, raising her brows. As sadistic as it sounded, she was glad.

“Yep,” he said, and held up his hand. The back of his hand looked like a boxer’s. The knuckles were bruised, the skin split.

“Oh my God,” she said, taking his hand and pulling it closer to look at it. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m dandy. I had him removed from the…” his words trailed off and he scratched at the back of his neck. “He’s gone. That’s all. He has no more rights, no power. There’s no reason he’d ever come to you again because he can’t gain anything from it. Know what I mean?”

“I think so, yeah. And, as an added bonus, you kicked his ass?”

“Within an inch of his life,” Jacob said, practically spitting the words.

“Good,” Wendy said and put his hand on her knee. It was amazing how calm she suddenly felt. “I can’t believe you would do that for me.”

“What?” he asked and looked at her, surprised. “How can you think that?”

Wendy shrugged a shoulder. “You got what you wanted and then you just stopped talking to me.”

“Got what I—“His eyes forced themselves closed as he realized what she meant. “Oh. Damnit. No, Wendy, no. I am so sorry. It wasn’t that at all.”

“Really?” she asked with a mirthless laugh. “Because that’s sure how it came across.”

“This conference I’m here for, it’s big. Like, really big. They’re negotiations. Aggressive negotiations. Tens of thousands of lives hang in the balance. I’d become so caught up in how I felt about you that I was losing my edge. I couldn’t focus. The day after we were together, I almost lost a major, ah, piece of business, if we can put it like that. I had to distance myself so I could focus on my work because I
wasn’t
focused on it.”

“You could’ve told me first.”

“I couldn’t have,” he said simply. “If I’d talked to you at all, I would’ve lost all will to stay away. I’m sorry that this bled over to you and disrupted your life so much. I wish…”

He shook his head and looked away. There was something so sincere about the way he couldn’t find his words that Wendy forgot about being upset with him.

“You wish what?”

He sighed. “I wish I hadn’t fallen for you so hard, that I could not care so much. Then I could work and still see you. When I’m with you, though, when I’m talking to you, it’s all I can think about. You overwhelm me, and I can’t think of life being any other way. These last few days have been hell for me. I’ve been able to work, but only because there’s this huge part of me that’s missing.”

“Jacob,” she said and took his hand in both of her own. “I had no idea you felt that strongly. I’ve been upset with you because I was so hurt. I felt stupid, like I was the only one who cared. I really fell for you and thought you were different. With you, it was so easy. Everything. Everything is so easy. All I think about is being able to talk to you again. When we had the fight and I said to stay away, I know it sounds stupid, but it hurt when you didn’t call anymore. Secretly, I hoped you would, that you’d care enough to try, anyway.”

“I did. I wanted to.” He sighed. “I guess we just had too much working against us.”

She gave his hand a squeeze. “It’s not too late. If you wanted.”

He looked up into her eyes. “I do want to, but I have to finish negotiations. When that’s done, we can spend as much time together as you like. We can do anything. Can you wait for me for the next few days? Can we not speak or be together so that I can finish my work? I wish I could do both, but you’re intoxicating. I just can’t.”

Wendy took in a deep breath. His words soothed her like nothing else could. Knowing that everything that had happened had been because he cared so much did wonders for settling everything she felt. It was okay to care about him. It would all be okay.

“Yes,” she said. “Knowing you want me, too, and that we can be together after, I can wait as long as you want me to. But, can I give you something to think of me while you’re gone?”

“Of course,” he said. “I would love that.”

Wendy nodded and stood. Never letting go of his hand, she gave it a gentle tug to pull him to his feet. She guided him inside, closing the door quietly behind her. She held out her hand for him to wait and to be silent, and then she snuck over to the living room. There in her bed, her mother slept quietly. Wendy returned to Jacob and put a finger to her lips.

“We have to be quiet, she’s asleep. Come with me.” Taking his hand again, she climbed the stairs and guided him down the hallway to her room. Once inside, she closed the door quietly. Jacob looked around her room appraisingly, a small smile on his face.

“You like it?” she asked him.

“It’s cute. So what’d you want to give me?”

Wendy grinned and stepped toward him. Pressing her body against his, she pulled his face into a kiss. Jacob hungrily met the kiss, his hands going to her hips. She felt him grow hard against her as she kissed him, and she moved her body to grind against him. When he groaned softly, she pulled back from the kiss, her lips only a hair’s breadth away from his own.

“Shhh,” she whispered, “we have to be quiet.”

Jacob smiled and pressed his lips to hers. They undressed one another, piling their clothes on the floor.

His skin felt warm against hers. The rough skin of his hands ran along her soft flesh raising goose flesh where he touched. He pressed against her, backing her up until she fell back on her bed. It squeaked as she landed, and they both giggled quietly.

They resumed kissing, hands roaming along every small nook and curve of one another. This time they went slowly, feeling one another, kissing along the curves of the neck or along the chest. They appreciated one another’s body in all of its carnal glory.

When he finally entered her, it was softer motion, gentle. They moved together slowly, enjoying the exquisite feeling of being coupled. Her wetness served them well as he slid in deeply before withdrawing nearly altogether. The sweet torture as he slowly reentered her brought both a stifled moan and a grin to her face.

“Give it to me,” she whispered. He leaned down, kissing her as he moved atop her faster, deeper.

She couldn’t help herself, the moans came louder, more powerfuly as he filled her.

“Shhh,” he whispered in her ear. She put a hand over her mouth to try and muffle the sounds, unable to stop herself from making noise. Jacob thrust deeper inside, moving faster and faster. The bed began to squeak gently with the motion, but by then neither of them could’ve cared less about it.

Jacob suddenly pressed deep inside of her, groaning with the power of his orgasm. Wendy clutched him with both hands, pulling him deeper inside of her, holding him to her as he climaxed.

When he’d finished they both rested, trying to catch their breath. He kissed her lips, repeated sweet kisses he then spread to her cheeks, down her neck to her shoulder and finally rested his head on the mattress.

“I’m not letting you go,” he said. “Don’t think that I ever would.”

“The thought never crossed my mind,” she said, and they both laughed quietly.