Dark Heat: The Dark Kings Stories (7 page)

Tristan frowned. “I thought you said we were immortal.”

“Ah, but all immortals can be killed somehow,” Hal said. “For us, nothing a human does can kill us. It might wound us, but we’ll heal. The only way we can die is by a King using the sword when we’re human—”

“—Or battling each other as dragons,” Guy finished.

“So other Kings have been killed?” Tristan asked.

Banan sighed loudly. “Unfortunately. The King of the Ambers was killed long, long ago in a battle.”

“Why was I made into a King?”

Rhys’s aqua-ringed dark blue eyes swung to Tristan. “A verra good question, one I hope Con might be able to answer.”

“Con?”

“Constantine,” Hal answered. “He’s the King of the Kings and ruler of the Golds.”

Tristan rubbed his dragon tattoo—absently or not, Hal wasn’t sure. The dragon tats did move. It was a way they distinguished a King from a human.

Hal listened with half an ear as they told Tristan how they leapfrogged through time and always had to stay near Dreagan. Hal followed as they walked Tristan out of one cavern and into another where the Silvers were caged.

“Why?” was all Tristan asked as he looked at the Silvers.

“Ulrik, their King, commanded them to destroy mankind,” Banan said.

“That sounds verra neat and tidy. How much more is there to the story?”

Hal was impressed at how Tristan’s mind worked. Hal and Ulrik had been close friends, which was why Ulrik’s betrayal hurt so badly.

“It was Ulrik’s retaliation for humans hunting the dragons,” Guy answered. “Ulrik was betrayed by his woman, a human. She helped her people kill dragons, so Ulrik went to war.”

“Despite Con telling him no’ to,” Banan said.

Hal leaned a hand on the metal bars around the Silvers. “Ulrik had no idea he was betrayed. We discovered it.”

“And ended it,” Guy stated harshly.

Hal glanced at Guy. “Aye. We ended it. We killed Ulrik’s woman before he had a chance to know what was happening.”

“That only propelled Ulrik,” Rhys said. “His woman’s death, along with her betrayal set him on a path he wouldna move from. He wanted war, but Con forbade it. So along with killing humans, he came after us.”

Hal gave a small grunt as he pushed away from the bars. “War. Admit we all thought of joining Ulrik in his hunt of the humans.” Hal’s gaze caught Tristan’s. “The humans were killing dragons, the dragons we were supposed to protect.”

“Just as we were supposed to protect the humans,” Guy added softly.

Banan scrubbed a hand down his face. “Ulrik’s actions damned him. He went against Con’s orders, and even when Con demanded he halt, Ulrik was relentless in his destruction of humans.”

“What happened?” Tristan asked.

Hal looked at the ground, memories he wanted to forget rising in his mind. “Con had only one choice. He stripped Ulrik of his sword and his powers as well as his ability to talk to his dragons. We captured the Silvers we could, and used our magic to make them sleep.”

“Ulrik is still a King,” Banan said. “He’ll always be a King. But even if his dragons were to wake, he couldna talk to them as a King does, or shift into dragon form. So he goes through each day, all the while we watch him. We’re always watching him.”

The events of that day so long ago hadn’t been spoken about in ages. Despite the time that had passed, Hal couldn’t forget how Ulrik had gone into a rage when he’d discovered what his friends had done to his woman. And her betrayal.

Hal wasn’t sure what hurt Ulrik the most. No matter how many times he and the others had tried to speak to him, no one had been able to get through to Ulrik.

It was as if a switch had been thrown in Ulrik, altering him forever from the great King he had been, to a killer.

Hal couldn’t help but wonder if he would have done things differently from Ulrik. If it had been his woman who had been killed, his woman who had betrayed him, would he have had the strength to do as Con demanded?

An image of Cassie filled Hal’s mind, and he honestly couldn’t answer his own question.

Tristan shifted in the silence that followed. “How many more Kings are there?”

Rhys flashed a bright grin, happy to change the subject. “More than you think, but no’ as many as there should be.”

“That’s no’ an answer.”

“Get used to it,” Hal told him. “That’s all you’ll get from Rhys.”

A few moments later, Banan and Guy led Tristan away to the main house to show him his room. Hal’s thoughts turned to another. Cassie. He knew better than to let himself think of her, but he couldn’t help it.

“I warned you to guard yourself.”

Hal swung his gaze to Rhys. “Meaning what?”

“Cassie. You’re thinking of her. Why? You’ve never been so attracted to a human before, no’ like this.”

“I know.” Hal rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s all I can think about. She’s all I want, all I care about. I can no’ explain it. All I know is that something has changed.”

“Aye, just as the Silvers moved. But what has changed? More important, what is it affecting?”

Hal frowned as he realized the impact of Rhys’s words. “You doona think our dragon magic has been touched, do you?”

“I doona know,” Rhys said with a shrug. “We’ve no’ had to fight in either human or dragon form in many centuries. We spar, aye, but it isna the same.”

“Nay, no’ even close. We are Kings, though, the strongest of the strong. Ulrik’s power to shift was taken from him thousands of years ago. We’ve made sure he’s harmless.”

Rhys slowly shook his head. “I’m no’ as sure of that as I used to be.”

Hal watched his friend walk out of the caves, and all Hal could think about was keeping Cassie from any danger that might be coming their way.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Cassie blinked and found herself looking at the pale taupe wall she was in the process of painting.

“Damn, I did it again,” she said, and dipped the paintbrush into the paint.

It had been three days since Hal had kissed her. Three days of replaying the kiss over and over in her mind, of remembering the feel of his mouth and how he had crushed her against his hot, hard body.

How could someone kiss her with such passion and need and then not contact her for three days?

Cassie blew out a breath, causing a lock of hair to lift against her face. She had the phone number he’d given her, but call her old-fashioned, she didn’t want to do the chasing.

“With a man like Hal, it’s worth considering,” she said as she glanced at Duke.

The Great Dane shifted his ears toward her, but didn’t move from his position on the floor. Not that she blamed him. He’d found a blanket and claimed it as his, dragging it in his mouth wherever he went.

Except when he got in bed with her at night.

That first night had been an experience. She learned early to claim her side of the bed before he had a chance to.

She hadn’t wanted to watch the dog, and had really been pissed at Dan for assuming she wouldn’t mind. But the more she was around Duke, the more she thought of the dog as hers. She didn’t even want to think about when Dan came to collect him.

Cassie bit her lip and finished painting around the taped-off stained trim of the door before she wiped the back of her hand across her forehead.

One of the conditions of her being able to stay in the cottage was repainting it. The only good thing was that the rooms were fairly small. So far in her three days, she’d managed the ceiling and walls of the guest room and now the hallway.

It wasn’t that her brother didn’t have the money to have the house painted himself. No, the idea had been hers. She didn’t want to be a charity case. She would work for being able to stay at the house.

She glanced at the pantry on her way outside to wash the paintbrushes and realized her stock of groceries was running dangerously low. Whether she wanted to or not, she was going to have to brave a drive into town in the morning.

Cassie passed the door where Hal had kissed her and once more found her thoughts turned to the ruggedly handsome Scot whom she couldn’t stop thinking about.

She was going to give him one more night, and then call him. If she could hold off that long.

The water from the outside faucet was colder than anything she’d ever experienced. It was difficult to finish cleaning the brushes before she brought them back inside. There were several sets of other brushes drying in the kitchen since it was too cold outside for them to dry.

At almost four, the sun had already sunk behind the mountains, casting everything in dark shadows. Cassie rushed back into the warm house and stuck her hands in front of the roaring flames of the fire.

Duke suddenly jumped up and trotted to the kitchen. Cassie looked over her shoulder and spotted Hal through the glass door. She swallowed, her stomach lurching at seeing him.

How could he have gotten more handsome since the last time she saw him? Unable to find an answer, Cassie crossed the living room and kitchen to unlock the door and let him inside.

Duke demanded her visitor’s attention, and Cassie was content to let them have a moment so she could look Hal over at her leisure. His black hair looked like it had been trimmed. This time, however, those inky strands weren’t pulled away from his face.

For a moment Cassie could picture Hal as an ancient Highlander wielding a sword with his long hair hanging around his sculpted face.

Hal straightened from Duke and smiled at her. “Hello.”

“Hello,” she said, and put the kitchen island between them. How she had missed his amazing accent. “What brings you here?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

She shrugged and glanced down at the counter. “I haven’t seen you in a few days.”

“Aye,” he murmured as his wide, thin lips crooked up in a half smile. “There were things I needed to take care of.”

“And the man we found?”

“He’s with us and adjusting. His memory hasn’t returned. We’re calling him Tristan for now.”

“Tristan is a good name.”

His smile faded as he stared at her with his intense moonlight blue eyes. “I wanted to come sooner.”

“You’re here now.”

His brow furrowed as he looked away from her. “I’m no’ sure what it is about you, but I can no’ stop thinking of you.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” she asked with a grin.

Hal’s pale blue eyes met hers. “Nay. Just … curious.”

“You make it sound as if you haven’t felt anything for a woman before.”

“I have no’. No’ in … years.”

She wanted to laugh off his words, but the truth of them was shining in his beautiful eyes. It was difficult to believe, impossible to comprehend.

“There are things about me I can no’ tell you, Cassie, no matter how much I want to. Can you accept that?”

“Are you married?”

He shook his head.

“Are you some kind of criminal?”

This time he gave a slight smile as he shook his head.

She was crazy even to listen to him, foolish to consider allowing him into her life more than he already was. But to refuse him would be like throwing herself into the giant black hole of misery she had nearly fallen in while in Arizona after losing her job and running out of money.

His gaze never wavered as they stared at each other. The attraction, primal and wild, was there, but the glance also held more. If only Cassie dared to reach out and take it.

If only she dared to open herself to Hal.

“Then I can accept it,” she whispered.

His smile was slow, but soon spread across his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes. “I know I ask a lot, but I can no’ walk away from what is between us. You feel it, do you no’?”

“Yes.” Why was her voice so breathy and her breathing so ragged? Hal was across the kitchen, yet it was like invisible strings had wound around them, tying them together.

He came around the island gradually, as if he expected her to bolt at any moment. The way her heart hammered in her chest and her body heated as he neared, there was no way she could move.

A part of her brain advised her to run away, because she instinctively knew that whatever secrets Hal had could be dangerous.

But she couldn’t deny the attraction, couldn’t deny him. It was as if all her life she had been waiting to find him. And there he was.

Tall, dark, and wickedly handsome.

Everything her mother had warned her about. But everything most women fell for.

Cassie swallowed as he closed the distance between them. She only had to lift her hand and she could lay it on the thick sinew of his chest.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“A man who will do anything for another kiss.”

“Just a kiss?”

“Nay. I want it all, but I’ll take whatever you give me.”

The world faded away as his head bent to her. A dark lock of hair fell forward and tickled her cheek. Hal’s pale blue eyes ensnared her, trapped her. Captured her.

And then his lips were on hers.

He released a deep breath, then he pulled her against him, against his rock-hard body, and plundered her mouth.

The kiss was fierce, untamed, and full of the same yearning that was in her heart.

She opened herself to him, to all he was giving her. And Cassie had never felt anything so amazing in her life. With just a kiss.

He touched her heart, her soul. Her very essence.

And she never wanted it to end.

Hal deepened the kiss as she threaded her fingers into his hair. She rose up on tiptoe so that she could be closer to him. Which only caused him to moan low in his throat.

Cassie’s stomach fluttered. For the first time since arriving in Scotland, she was warm. Her skin felt on fire, her blood pounding in her ears.

Somehow Hal had steered her out of the kitchen and into the living room before the fire. She was so caught up in the kiss that nothing else mattered.

She moved her hands to his chest and shoved his thick leather coat over his shoulders. He released her to let it drop to the floor.

Cassie was reaching for the hem of his sweater when his hands touched her bare stomach as he lifted her sweatshirt and the tee beneath it. With one tug, he had both over her head and cast aside.