The Dragon's Heart (Dragon Lore) (31 page)

It didn’t take long to lay waste to every minion in the dungeon, and within minutes, there was no one else to stand between Daniel and Alexi.

His gaze flicked over Shelby. She wasn’t harmed as far as he could see, and while she was terrified, she was holding steady. Pride and love swelled in his chest. That was his girl. He winked, to let her know it was almost over.

She smiled at him.

He cleared his throat, and forced his attention back to Alexi. He lifted a brow as he spread his legs, deliberately keeping his stance lazy. To show any weakness to Alexi was pure stupidity. He already had the one thing Daniel refused to live without, and they both knew it.

“Let her go, Alexi. I got what I came for, and your men are dead. Let her go, and walk away.”

Alexi laughed, mania flashing in his eyes. “I have your mate. Therefore, I hold all the cards. You’re too noble,” he sneered, “to do anything that would risk her.” He yanked Shelby in front of him, pressing a knife blade into her throat. “Last chance. Bow to me, and this will all be over.”

The rage boiling in Daniel’s bloodstream went catastrophic. Alexi had nothing left to lose, and Shelby was his only bargaining chip. If he killed her, he knew he wouldn’t walk out alive, but Daniel had no doubt the bastard would take her with him.

He cocked his head slightly, his voice low. “Luca?”

“I’m ready,” Luca murmured. He tossed Daniel his sword.

“Now.”

The second Daniel’s fingers curled around the hilt, Luca and Daniel were airborne. Luca hit Shelby from the side, knocking her out of Alexi’s grip. Daniel saw a gun flash in Micah’s hand, and even as Daniel’s sword connected with Alexi’s throat, severing his head, the bullet exploded in the madman’s temple.

Daniel hit the ground in a warrior’s crouch right next to where Luca had landed with Shelby. Luca shoved her off and toward Daniel as every other weapon in the room trained on Micah.

Getting to his feet slowly, Daniel ignored it all as he stared down into Shelby’s tear-stained face. His hands shook as he started to reach for her, only to realize he was covered in blood. “Are you alright?” he asked, searching her eyes, his voice hoarse.

Her laugh was manic around the edges. “I’ll let you know after I’ve had a good cry, and I find out how much of that blood covering you is your own.” Apparently unconcerned with the fact that he didn’t want to touch her in his current state, she moved into him, wrapping her arms around him in a fierce hug. “Tell me it’s over.”

He closed his eyes, his body letting out one violent shudder, before he brushed his lips over the top of her head. “Almost, princess. Just give me a few more.”

Under any other circumstance, it would have amused him at the effort it took to peel her off, but he understood damn well the need to cling to each other. He tucked her behind him, and turned to Micah.

“What. The. Fuck.” He roared.

Micah leaned back against Alexi’s desk, unconcerned with the danger facing him. “Dragan silver.” He leveled his soulless gaze on Daniel. “Alexi wasn’t making it out of this dungeon alive tonight.”

Shelby’s hands wrapped around Daniel’s waist as she peeked around him toward Micah. “I don’t understand. Why did you kidnap me if you were only going to shoot your father?”

Micah shrugged. “You were the pawn I needed to get close to him.”

Luca cleared his throat. “Seren?”

Micah shrugged. “She’s fine. She trusts me.” His gaze scanned the room at the mutilated, burnt bodies littering the ground, before his body jerked to attention. “Where’s Cage?”

“He was right–” Bain’s voice trailed off as he turned in a slow circle. “
Ryuu
. No.”

“Ashborne.” Dallas’ voice snapped out. “Get her out of here.”

As Daniel watched Dallas stoop to check each charred figure littering the ground, dread settled hard and violent, in his gut.

27

No one knew what had happened to Cage. He’d been alive when Daniel had turned his focus onto Shelby and Micah, but by the time the dust had settled…

He was gone. No one was sure if he’d disappeared, or if his body was among the dead in the cave.

Afraid of what it would do to Seren if the news came back bad, Shelby forced herself to shove the thoughts aside for the moment as she stumbled to keep up with Daniel’s long-legged pace.

He was shutting down on her again. She could feel it. Though his hand was tight around hers as he led her through the maze of underground tunnels, he hadn’t said a word in almost ten minutes. If that wasn’t bad enough, he was slamming his protective walls back into place.

It was coming and Shelby knew it. He was going to dump her somewhere and walk away.

Or try, she thought as she let out a pathetic snort. She wasn’t going to make leaving her easy. She loved him, and he was just going to have to accept it.

His jaw ticked once at her indelicate snort. He slanted a look at her through silver eyes glowing in the darkness. “What?”

She shook her head. “Where are we going?”

“Out of here.” He dragged his free hand over his face, then sighed. “The closest motel for now. I want to make sure you’re alright.”

“I’m fine,” she murmured, “It’s okay. I’m not hurt.” Freaked out, but not hurt. A wry smile tugged at her mouth. “Well, my hand does hurt a little, but I’m pretty sure I gave Micah a black eye, so it’s kind of worth it.”

His jaw ticked again and instead of smiling at her like she’d expected, a low growl rumbled in his chest as he pulled her up the stairs.

Shelby scowled at his back as an ache worse than anything she’d ever felt before started around her heart. At the top of the stairs, in the middle of the ruins of a burned out building, she tugged on his hand.

“Daniel.”

She watched him visibly brace himself before he turned back to her. The ache in her chest tightened. She was on the verge of the worst meltdown of her adult life, and she had no idea if he’d be there afterward to help her pick up the pieces.

Without a word, she moved into him and went on her toes, grabbing his face with her hands as she fused her mouth to his. The force rocked him back a step. For a single, terrifying heartbeat, she was sure he would pull away from her, but then with a low, tortured growl, his arms locked around her as his mouth devoured hers.

He didn’t give her time to reciprocate before he pulled back. Grabbing her hand again, he started for the crumpled entrance to the building. “I need to get you out of here, woman.”

Shelby nodded, staying silent as he led her across the parking lot to his truck. Though he kissed her as he set her in the passenger seat, he didn’t speak again until after he’d pulled into a motel parking lot a half an hour later.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” His jaw ticked twice before a low growl rumbled in his chest. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’ll be fine. We took out everyone who wanted you hurt.”

Shelby’s brow furrowed as she nodded. “I know,” she murmured. She leaned up and brushed her mouth lightly over his. It was all she could think to do to steady them both. “It’s a good thing, Daniel. I’m safe. You made me safe.”

His hand shot into her hair. He yanked her to him then bent to kiss her hard. He wasn’t gentle, but frantic, desperate, and it was several minutes before he allowed her to come up for air.

Still panting, she collapsed against his chest. “Go get us a room. I think we need privacy.”

“Damn right we do.” He kissed the top of her head and gently moved her back before slamming her door shut. She had to laugh at the arched-brow look he gave her until he heard her lock the doors.

Shifting in her seat, she watched every step he took into the rundown motel. He was covered in blood. He yanked his shirt off, swiping at his skin and trying to clean off the worst as a man walked out of the small room behind the counter and jerked to a stop, his hand hovering over the phone.

* * * *

Daniel held up his hands so the old man could see he wasn’t there to cause trouble. “Hey, I just want a room.”

The man eyed him up and down twice, before nodding and shuffling toward the desk, still watching him closely. “You hurt, son? Maybe I should call someone?”

“I’m fine. I just need a room with a bed and a shower.”

“You don’t look fine,” the old man shot back at him. “You look like you had a run in with a chainsaw.”

Daniel snorted. While the majority of the blood wasn’t his own, he’d taken a pretty decent beating over the last few hours. He pulled out his wallet, then plopped three one-hundred dollar bills on the counter between them. “I promise we’ll be out of here by morning, and there won’t be any trouble.”

The money was pocketed before Daniel blinked, but as the man grabbed a room key off the peg board behind him, he arched a gray brow. “I will call the police if I hear anything coming from your room.”

“Understood.” He jerked his thumb behind him at where Shelby still sat in his truck. “That woman is mine, and I will be very pissed off if she gets hurt. If you hear any kind of disturbance, I expect you to call the authorities.”

It seemed to take the edge off the old man’s fears. He tossed him a room key. “Down at the end, in the back. You can drive around and park behind the building. I don’t need you scaring the rest of my guests.”

Daniel nodded once and headed to the truck. He’d hoped being away from her for a few minutes would have relaxed his temper some, but the second he saw her staring at him through her blood stained face, raw fury started pumping through his veins again.

He had to get away from her. He was going to explode and the aftermath was not going to be pretty.

He yanked the door open and climbed behind the wheel, his body tensing as he felt her gaze running over him.
Ryuu
. Even hurt and covered in blood, need for her was burning a hole in his gut.

Not trusting himself to talk, without a word he drove to the back of the rundown motel and slammed the truck into park. He grabbed a duffel bag from behind the driver’s seat, slammed his door shut and went over to open Shelby’s. Ignoring the pain in his chest, he forced himself to focus on the fury. It was the only way he could get through this.

“Come on,” he said quietly, “I need to get you cleaned up.”

An impish grin flashed over her beautiful face as she looked at him. “I like the sound of that.” She hopped down and snagged his hand, tugging him toward the motel. “Which room is ours?”

“Eighteen.”

Despite the battle fury still pumping in his blood, he had to grin at her enthusiasm to get him alone and naked. Now that the danger to her was over, and he could think clearly, he considered himself damn fucking lucky that his mate craved his body the way he hungered for hers.

Since he was apparently taking too long, Shelby snagged the room key out of his hand and opened the door herself, tugging him inside with her. He locked it behind them automatically as she turned to him.

His heart dropped to his stomach at the sight of her blood stained face. Without a word, he scooped her up and carried her into the bathroom. He was careful to keep her back to the mirror as he worked on slowly stripping her out of her clothes. She didn’t need to see pieces of Alexi on her skin.

When he had her naked, he pulled off the remains of his own clothes. Wrapping a hand around hers, he reached in and turned the shower on as hot as they could stand, then tugged her in with him.

She caught his hands before he could pour the shampoo on her hair. “No,” she murmured, her eyes searching his. She gently took the bottle away. She poured a small amount of the shampoo in her hand, then went on her toes. She smiled when he automatically ducked his head so she could reach it better. It never occurred to him to do anything different.

His sweet, perfect mate took her time washing his hair, keeping her fingers gentle and soothing as she rinsed it out, before lathering her hands with soap.

Her fingers traced every new mark on his skin, before a slow, wicked grin covered her mouth as she ran her arms over the expanse of his chest. “Yummy.”

He snorted. In one, swift move, he snagged both her hands and held them above her head as he backed her into the shower wall.

“My turn,” he said, opening the shampoo bottle with one hand and pouring it on her head. He caged her against the wall with his body as he concentrated on erasing every speck of Alexi off her.