The Dragon's Heart (Dragon Lore) (4 page)

Seren rounded on her husband. “This can’t wait?”

“No.” He barely spared her a glance before he re-focused his attention on Daniel. “It was Luca on the phone. He’s not sure Shelby was the one they were after. He thinks it was you.”

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Daniel blocked the urge to roar. The Hunter had lost his damn mind. “What the hell do you mean she was the bait?” Daniel asked. “I wasn’t even there.” When Cage held his gaze, Daniel let out a string of curses. “The mark.”

“Yeah.” Cage crossed his arms over his chest, his scarred face closed off. “If they’d wanted her dead, she would be.”

“What the hell do you mean
they
?” Daniel stood up so quickly his over-taxed body swayed. He planted his feet, locking his body into place as he got into Cage’s face. Fury flashed in the air around them as an inhuman sound reverberated through the room. “You know who did this.”

“No. But I’ll find out.”

“Bull. Shit.”

A slow grin spread over Cage’s face as he straightened, his dark green eyes going flat. “You want to play, fly boy? Let’s play.”

“No.” Seren snapped the word out. She poked Daniel in the back. “My husband is not behind this, you know that. Besides, he’d wipe the floor with you at the moment. You’re not thinking straight and you can barely stand.” Her face darkened as she turned toward her husband. “You. Back off. The man just saved
his mate
. We both know how well you’d handle it if I were lying on that bed. Neither of you are accomplishing anything, and I will be pissed if I have to clean up more blood because you two are acting like barbarians.”

Cage’s body relaxed slightly, though his gaze stayed locked on Daniel. “The paparazzi will get through security any minute now. Whoever did this isn’t going to be far behind. They’re going to want to finish the job.”

Seren turned, crossing her arms over her chest as she mimicked her mate’s stance “See? He’s helping. Now sit before you fall over, please. We’ll figure this out.”

Daniel did as commanded, though he’d be damned if he’d admit it was because his legs felt like rubber. He was the dragon leader, their king, and the last thing he needed was for any of his people to see him barely holding his sanity together. His head was swimming, his chest was on fire and his alter ego was too close to the surface for the enclosed space.

The involvement of Hunters wasn’t helping his sanity, either. Hunters had been created with the sole intention of destroying dragons, and they took their job seriously. They were strong as fuck, impossibly fast, and ruthless. If one of them had tried to kill Shelby, he wouldn’t stop until she was dead.

“We have to get Shelby out of here.”

Cage nodded once. “Agreed. Luca’s on his way. He can help.”

Daniel didn’t have the energy to question Cage anymore. “How much time do we have?”

“Five minutes. Ten tops.” As if reading Daniel’s mind, Cage nodded. “I’ll go round up an ambulance. It will be our best bet to get her out undetected.”

Seren nodded too. “I’ll prepare the staff, then try to keep the media distracted.”

Before Daniel could warn them against leaving him alone with Shelby, they were gone.

* * * *

Shelby was trembling before she was fully conscious. Unfamiliar noises assaulted her brain. Something felt…

Wrong.

Then she opened her eyes and saw Daniel. Confused, her gaze locked on the giant looming over her, as dark, deadly and gorgeous as she remembered.

Emotions slammed into her as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans. His gray gaze raked over her. The raw fury on his face scared her. She opened her mouth to scream for help, only to gag. Panic struck hard. Gasping for breath, she tried to grab at the tube that had been shoved down her throat, only to find her arms secured to the bed.

“Shelby. Goddamn it, breathe!” Daniel roared. When she continued to gag, he strode to the door, opened it and bellowed. “Seren! Get your ass back down here, now!”

“Hold her still.” A concerned face popped into Shelby’s line of sight. “Shelby, I’m Dr. Seren Cage. I need you to calm down before you hurt yourself and rip open your wound. I can’t remove the tube or the restraints until you calm down. Can you do that for me?”

Shelby jerked away from Daniel before he could touch her, and kept watching the doctor. As if reading her thoughts, the woman nodded once, her voice still calm. “It’s alright. He saved your life.” Reaching up, the doctor shut off the monitors, silencing the alarms. She turned her attention back to Shelby. “I’m going to remove the tube now, alright? As soon as it’s out, we’ll remove these cuffs, and I will answer your questions.”

Shelby nodded slowly, her gaze locked on the small woman’s. When she removed the tube, Shelby gagged again–she couldn’t help it. As soon as it was out, she tugged on the sheepskin restraints attached to her wrists. The left side of her torso felt funny, like it wasn’t moving wholly under her control, but she ignored it as she tried to focus on the doctor.

“Please.” Her voice sounded hoarse. She scrambled back on the bed, putting as much space between her and Daniel as she could. He was too close. He’d moved to the far side of the room, as close to the door as he could get without actually leaving, but he was still too close. She felt it. She focused on the doctor, confused by how weak her voice sounded. “Can you please get these off me?”

“Yes, as long as you promise to remain as calm as possible. I know you’re confused and scared, but whatever’s going on between you and your…Daniel, it’s going to have to wait. Your body suffered a massive amount of trauma so you’ll need time to recover first.” When Shelby didn’t answer immediately, the doctor cleared her throat. “Alright? Both of you have lost a tremendous amount of energy, and neither of you can afford to lose anymore.”

Her throat raw, Shelby barely managed a whisper, not understanding what was going on. “Okay.”

The doctor shook her head as she gently started removing the restraints. She shot a glare over her shoulder at Daniel. “Sit, damn it, before you fall over.”

Shelby sat up so quickly her head spun. She lay back down to keep from falling off the bed. “Wait a minute.” She lifted her left hand, and then waved it in front of her face. It seemed foreign. Unattached. She knew she was confused, but it didn’t exactly cover the jumble going on in her head at the moment. She turned to face the doctor, raising her voice slightly when a loud commotion echoed in the hallway. “What happened to me? Why am I in the hospital? Why is
he
here?” She pointed a shaky finger at Daniel.

The pregnant doctor was all business as she checked Shelby’s vitals, though her voice was gentle when she spoke. “You were shot.”

Shelby suddenly felt lightheaded. “What? Who shot me?” Her gaze swung back to
him.
The last time she’d seen him, he’d been the one barely alive. She’d never predicted the amount of trouble he’d bring to her life after one date, but of course if she was lying in a hospital bed, he had something to do with it.

Daniel’s tight, graveled voice lashed out. “We don’t know who shot you.”

The doctor pointed a finger Daniel, before refocusing on Shelby. “It’s being investigated. I called him as soon as I saw the mark over your heart.”

It took a long moment before Shelby worked up the courage to face the damage on her shoulder. The beautiful vintage silver Chanel she wore was gone, remnants of the blood soaked gown discarded into a useless heap in the corner. Her shoulder…was a mess. It was the only way to describe it. Though the wound was raw with blood streaked over her skin, it didn’t look like it had happened recently. She swallowed hard, but it did nothing to stop the panic from rising. “I don’t understand. What does this,” she asked as her fingers brushed lightly over the mark above her left breast before moving up to the ugly stitched bullet wound and hovering over it, “have to do with this?” Her gaze clashed with Daniel’s before she turned to the doctor again. “What does any of this have to do with
him
?”

Dr. Cage’s body tensed before she turned to the man still hulking in the doorway. “Do you want to answer that?”

Daniel’s lip lifted in a sneer. “No.”

“Daniel!” The doctor snapped.

“No,” he said, his voice hard and flat. “Drop it, Seren. I mean it.”

“Fine,” she fumed, “but you can’t purr this one away. You need to fix this, one way or another.”

Shelby glanced between them as a strange ache started in her chest. They knew each other. If their body language and the way they talked to each other was anything to go by, they knew each other well. She just couldn’t keep up with the undercurrents enough to grasp
how
well.

Shelby cleared her throat. “Drop what? What’s going on?” Her gaze narrowed on Daniel. She’d been half in love with him once. Then he’d disappeared, nearly destroying everything she’d worked for her entire life. “How are you screwing up my life this time?”

His large body went rigid. She frowned. She was sure she could actually
feel
his emotions across the room. What the hell kind of drugs had Dr. Cage given her? It was as if she felt two separate emotions–her own and his.

“Don’t worry, princess,” he snarled. “I’ll be gone the second I’m able.”

“We’re ready.” Another huge man poked his head into the room. Huge, bald and scarred, the man barely spared Daniel a glance before he turned his attention to the doctor, his face softening. “You’re going with. I’m not leaving you here with a rogue Hunter on the loose.” He glanced at Shelby. “Can she walk?”

Rogue Hunter? What the hell
? A strangled sound escaped Shelby, her head shaking frantically as she gaped at the new giant. “No. No way. I’m not going anywhere with either of them.”

Dr. Cage maneuvered her pregnant body over to the doorway, patting a hand on his chest. “It’s okay, Shelby. This is my… husband, Adrian Cage. He won’t hurt you.” Seren shook her head at the giant as she switched her attention to him. “No, Shelby shouldn’t walk, and neither should Daniel.”

“I’m fine,” Daniel grumbled.

Ignoring him, the doctor turned her attention to Shelby. “How are you feeling?”

Shelby worried at her lip as she started taking internal inventory. She hurt, but in a far off kind of way. Odd. She lifted her arm, confused when all she felt was a slight tightening instead of the agonizing pain she’d expected.

She frowned. It wasn’t numb, but she didn’t feel under the influence of anything helping to ease the pain, either. It just wasn’t right. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think there was something else inside of her taking away the pain. Like if she concentrated enough, she could hear a heartbeat that didn’t belong to her. Either that, or they were all cracked, and trying to push her into insanity with them.

Shaking it off, she decided not to mention it to the doctor. She wanted out of the hospital, not locked in a psych ward.

Still. “Shouldn’t my arm hurt?”

The doctor paused as she was unhooking the machines still connected to Shelby. “Yes. Try not to move it, even if it doesn’t hurt. I don’t want you ripping the stitches and overdoing yourself.” She straightened, shooting Daniel an arched-brow look.

“Drop it,” he snapped.

The hulking figure called Cage cleared his throat. “We need to move. Luca has the ambulance waiting, but we don’t need the staff asking questions.”

Daniel nodded once. “I’ll carry her.”

“The hell you will,” Shelby hissed as hysteria welled inside of her. “Will someone please tell me what is going on?”

“The hospital isn’t safe,” Dr. Cage said. “We need to move you. Whoever shot you is still out there, and we can’t take any chances.”

Shelby dragged in a deep breath as she started to hyperventilate. That was it. These people were crazy. She’d always considered herself a fairly intelligent person, but damn if she could understand what was coming out of their mouths.

Daniel pushed off the wall and started toward her. She scrambled back on the bed, getting as far away from the fury as possible.

She jerked away as soon as he got close. “Don’t touch me.”

He ignored her as he took her hand. Immediately, the panic building in her chest subsided. His pupils lengthened as he murmured something she didn’t understand, and then her vision went black.

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