Shane: Dragon’s Savior – Ménage Erotic Fantasy (Dragon's Savior Book 4) (3 page)

“You didn’t warn me again. You have to warn me when you’re going to sit up so that this doesn’t happen.” She really didn’t think she should have to warn him when she was needing a break. “Don’t you think this would go faster if you’d just keep working on it? I mean, every hour you have to get up and move. That’s not very productive of you if you ask me. I don’t care how long this takes, I just think that you’re wasting time by not working on it very hard.”

“I didn’t ask you. And I told you this was going to take some time. More time than I can do at a continuous pace.” She stood up then and he glared at her. “Mr. Winer, why don’t you just go away? Christ, you’re driving me insane with your constant harping and whining.”

Lelani wasn’t nice, she knew this. Nor was she overly sympathetic to people. In fact, she didn’t care for them at all. She liked to be alone. People, for the most part, were noisy, manipulative, as well as a pain in the ass most of the time.

“I told you when I brought this here that I was going to keep an eye on you in the event you tried to do something to my prize, and claim that it was in a worse condition than it had been before I brought it to you. This means a great deal to me.” She glanced at the tapestry, then back at him. “I want it repaired and cleaned today. So you should get to work on it. You’re not doing as you were told.”

“And I told you, several times as a matter of fact, that I don’t work that way. You want it cleaned quickly, I suggest you take it to the local laundromat and have them do it. Otherwise, as I told you, it will be several weeks before I can repair it, then several more before it’s cleaned. And as far as claiming it was in worst shape than when you brought it in, well, that’s not going to be possible. Have you smelled this thing? Someone hasn’t taken care of it.” He lifted his finger up, and if he poked her with it again, she was going to snap it off at the joint. Taking a step back from him, she came to a decision. “I think we’re done here. It’s time you left. Take your piece of shit tapestry and get out of my shop.”

“You’ll be done when I say we’re done. And not a moment before.” She only looked at him. Surely he wasn’t going to try and make her clean this thing, was he? “You’ll get your ass back to it now. And no more breaks either, Erin. I’m not paying you to lollygag around like this. And when my friends get here, we’ll all have a nice little talk about things.”

“I see.” She moved to the rug again, but this time she rolled it up instead of leaning over it. When she handed it over to him, he stepped back, crossed his arms over his chest, and told her he wasn’t taking it. Honestly, she was a little afraid. He thought her to be her sister. He was from the Herald. “Well then, I’m going to toss it out of my shop and you’ll have to deal with it out there. And if you give me any more shit, you’ll be on the sidewalk with it.”

“You will not talk to me this way. Nor will you be throwing our merchandise out on the ground. If you’re not going to work, then you can sit your ass down and wait.” She asked him who he was waiting for. “You’ll see when they get here. We’ve been following you and your deeds for a very long time.”

“Good for you.” Reaching for the phone when he didn’t take the rug again, she dialed Roger; the man, for lack of a better term, was everything to her. He was so much more than just her friend; he was her only friend actually, as well as her familiar. When he answered, she knew that he was going to give her a hard time about using the phone to talk to him. Lelani cut him off before he could make her laugh. “Hey, can you come down here? I have an issue.” He told her he’d be right down and she set the phone back in the cradle.

“And this person you called. You think to have him make me leave here before I’m finished with my assignment? I have news for you, it won’t work, Erin. You and he both are in for a major disappointment. I have people coming that are going to show you the error of your ways.” Lelani had had enough. Reaching into the man’s head, she raped it until his ears and nose were bleeding. Finding what she wanted, she dropped the rug on the floor and stepped back from him. Christ, she was right. He was there to kill her. “Find it, Erin? Do you know who I am, what I want?”

His laughter made her skin crawl as he wiped at the blood that was now on his chin. She’d not been gentle with getting the information that she needed, and he was paying the price for it. When he drew a gun from the back of his pants, she stood still, pulling some magic around her before he hurt her. Or he tried to hurt her. Lelani was a good deal stronger than her sister had been, and smarter. But she wasn’t taking any chances with this extremist.

“I’m not Erin. You’ve got the wrong girl. My sister is dead.” He laughed again, and this time she could hear the insanity in his voice. Reaching out to Roger to warn him, the gun went off just as she was gathering more magic from around the room to protect both herself and Roger. As soon as the man dropped, his neck broken by Roger when he’d grabbed him, she sat down as well. That had been a mistake she’d not make again. Her ribs were aching from the impact of the bullet, though it had not pierced her skin.

“You okay?” She nodded and Roger told her to look at him. “You’ve been hurt. Again. I told you to put some of that magic around here. You have to listen to me, girl.”

“I just wanted to be normal.” He told her that ship done sank a few centuries ago. “Erin, he was here for Erin. They’re still after her, even now. I never felt that when he arrived. I knew he was armed but not why he was here, other than the tapestry. I should have checked, but I wanted him to be just a man needing work from my shop.”

“They’ve been practicing to keep you from finding out, I guess. Using some of the magic that they profess to hate so much. I’m betting that they got someone to help them, because Erin could feel what their intent was. But she’s gone now, and I thought them to be done with this foolishness. Mayhap they’ll quit as soon as the paper comes out. Don’t you think?” Roger reached down and picked up the man one handed. “I’ll take care of this one, and you clean up in here when I’m gone. And not before. You know I might leave droppings.”

Droppings. He meant blood or something else that might lead whoever came for her instead of her sister back to them. If they didn’t know where she was already. Lelani should have known that things had been too quiet for her for too long. Again, she had so much to thank her sister for.

When she heard the door to the back of her shop open and then close, Lelani closed her eyes and swept the room. Not with a broom, though the place could have used a good sweep, but with her magic, covering up every detail of the place that had been hers so that no one would find the man had been murdered here. Her tools were cleaned, the blood from the man’s nose gone as well. No fingerprints or shoe marks. There was no hair in the seldom used broom, no trash in the wastepaper baskets.

Then for a little extra, she did clean up the place. Dusting and sweeping had not been her cup of tea and the place looked it. When Roger returned, he looked around but said nothing. He’d been after her for a week now to at least let him dust the room’s only furniture other than her table.

“I have to move again. We can no longer stay here if they are still looking for her. And that man, the one that has her magic, they might follow that to him. I’m not sure how but they might. They did track me down, and I haven’t had a thing to do with Erin in decades.” Roger said he was ready. “You don’t have to come with me anymore, Roger. I think I can take care of myself. Usually. You must want to have a life of your own.”

“I made a promise. I’m aiming to keep it. Besides, who would you have cooking for you? You know you can’t boil water without causing a fire.” She pointed out that it had happened over three hundred years ago. “A man never forgets when his hair is on fire and his manhood is about to be taken out with flames.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” He only cocked his head at her. “Okay, it did take down that house and the one next to it, but I’ve been really careful since then. And the only reason that your manhood was in jeopardy was because you were sleeping in the hall when I came toward the door with the flaming grease. Had you been in a bed then I wouldn’t have fallen and the fire wouldn’t have hit so close to you.”

“You should not have been making yourself something to eat in the middle of the night with the flames so high on the fire. And you have been careful. The last time you caused a fire, let me see, there was only the stove that time. Oh, and the pot. Plus, there was the—”

“Enough. You’ve made your point.” She really didn’t want to leave him anyway. “I have to make arrangements here and close this place up. Money isn’t a problem, but we might want to think about a new car this time. The one we have now, it’s a little out of date.”

He told her it was a great deal out of date. As he looked around, making sure there was nothing left behind, she thought of their mode of transportation and smiled.

It was very old, and it was also a large hearse, complete with velvet curtains and a large door in the back that opened to put caskets in and take them out. When he’d gotten it, there had been a casket in the back, and it had taken her nearly ten years to convince him to get it out of there. It had been drawing unwanted attention. To this day he still spoke of how much fun it was at the grocery store when people walked by it.

“I’ll find us something fun this time. How about something compact?” She just looked at him. Compact with a man his size would mean that only one of them would be inside. “Have I told you lately that I care not for your looks when you deem to spear me with them? Besides, I could be my animal. That would save us lots of room.”

“Yes, you could do that if you wish. But I was thinking, and this is just a thought, that if someone would see me driving down the road with a wild animal, a lynx, in the car with me, that might draw more attention than your casket did. But besides that, I think we should go find this person Erin gave her magic to. I need to make sure that he’s safe. She never cared about others and how they were affected when she did something. I, however, need to make sure that the Herald doesn’t find out about him because of her.” He nodded, but she could tell that he wasn’t so sure about this. Neither was she, really. “He might be hurting from it as well. I mean, he’s old, yes, but she might have hurt him in some way. Right?”

“She could have. You thinking that she might have left you some of herself in him? A memory or two for you?” She hoped so…not for her, but if he’d let her go through Erin’s memories she might be able to figure out why her sister had hated her so much. “Lelani, if you go there, you do know that you won’t like what you find. I understand having to do this, but it might be better left unsaid. Your sister, she wasn’t a nice person.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that. But I need to know. I just.... I need to know.” He nodded and told her that he’d find a nice vehicle to use. Something big enough to carry him and whatever she wanted to take with them. There was no need for it really, but she did have a few things that were her treasures, and she’d never part with them. “Roger? Thank you for being my only friend.”

“You know as well as I that we have more than friendship, Lelani. We are one, you and I.” He was right, Roger had long since ceased being her friend, and was now all she had in this whole wide world. They had gone well beyond just being buddies. Roger, as her animal to call, was all they needed in each other.

By the time she had cleaned out the building, including the upper and lower levels, no one would ever find a trace of either of them there. Just like in her workstation, not a single hair or a print would be found should anyone go looking. Nor hers or Roger’s name on anything attached to it in rent due or outstanding bills. Not even the dead man that had lost his life there. The building was as clean as any lab at any police station, maybe even cleaner. And when they left the area, driving out of the little burg like she had always preferred when finding a home, not a single person would remember their faces either. It was just the way they needed it to be. Lelani Wayne and Roger did not exist as far as anyone knew.

“How you gonna do this, Lelani? You gonna be your usual self, or are you gonna try and be nice?” There was no point in trying to deny that she wasn’t ever nice. But she did tell him where they were headed. “Ohio again, huh? Is she there? Either of them other witches, you think them to be there too?”

“Yes, they both are, I think. Even Gobi; I don’t know her, but I have heard of her. That man, he said that both Caroline and Ariannona were there and safe.” He nodded and started the large pickup that he’d gotten them. “He said his name was Kiaran, the one that Erin gave her memories and magic to. There is something else as well. He’s a dragon, a very old one at that.”

He nearly drove them into a large semi, she’d startled him so badly. When he asked her if she was nuts, Lelani told him that honestly she had no idea. But this was something that she needed to do. While he was lost in the art of driving—as he called it —Lelani thought of the stories she’d heard as a child, of the great dragon couple that had saved her mother. Fat lot of good it had done them. Her mom had been killed by the very people that had tried before they had been born, and Lelani had come to hate even the very mention of the royal couples’ names. Not that she blamed them for her mother’s death…that was on her mother. But hearing about how wonderful they were, how they had picked her mother over hundreds of other witches, had gotten on her last nerve. Anthony and Eve had been nothing to her. Erin and her mother had had it all.

By the time they decided to rest for the night, they had covered half the distance to the man that might or might not have answers for her. She thought about contacting him again, to tell him that she was coming, but it was well after midnight. Crawling into bed, Roger as his cat beside her, she thought of the man Kiaran and wondered if he was any relationship to the king and queen. It would be her luck that he’d be their great, so many times removed grandchild, and that he’d look just like the king. Not that she knew what the king had looked like, but she’d heard stories of his handsomeness from her mother, over and over, until she had avoided any mention of the man or his equally lovely wife.