The Dragon's Heart (Dragon Lore) (5 page)

A furious Daniel towered over her.

Realizing she was in an ambulance, she scooted back on the stretcher, pulling the sheet tighter around herself. Something was very, very off. There was no pain or range of motion issue with her shoulder. There was just a blackness where the last hour should have been. Whatever was wrong with her, it ran core deep, and had everything to do with the man treating her as if she’d caused all the wrongs in his world.

She let out a pathetic snort.
He
had vanished on
her,
leaving her to face the last year alone. The media wasn’t forgiving at the best of times, and they’d had a field day–field
year
–with America’s Good Girl falling from grace. A dead body, and the disappearance of the man accused of the crime, was too good of a story for the media not to run around the clock for a month straight.

It didn’t make any sense why
he
hated
her.
For as much hell as he’d caused her in the last eleven months, professionally and personally, nothing had prepared her for the blast of emotions that rocked her at seeing him standing close to her again. She had no idea what to do with the realization she’d
missed
him. As soon as she figured out what the hell was going on, she needed deep psychological help.

“So.” She was careful to keep her left arm tucked against her stomach as she tried in vain to put more distance between them. It still didn’t hurt, but the thought of ripping the rapidly healing wound open made her queasy. She’d never been a big fan of blood. Her teeth tugged at her bottom lip as she tried not to worry about how much space he took up, even while sitting on the bench. He was huge. “You’re alive.” When he leaned forward, bringing them closer together, she tried to keep her face impassive. Her gaze dropped to the huge forearms he braced against tree trunk-sized thighs, before she snapped her attention back to his face. He was a lunatic who looked to be on the verge of major violence. She wasn’t so confused she didn’t understand the combination was a powder keg with a lit fuse. “I wasn’t sure. The police said you were gone before the ambulance ever got to the hospital.”

“Disappointed, princess?”

She almost snorted at him. She’d spent the last year hoping he was still alive, and trying not to let the uncertainty drive her out of her mind.“I didn’t get myself shot on purpose, you know. So whatever you’re mad at me about, it’s not my fault. I didn’t ask them to call you.”

“Right.” He dragged his gaze from the mark over her heart back to her face. Though she was sure she was imagining it, she could have sworn his eyes lingered on her mouth. “Just like the Hunter showing up in your bedroom was just a weird twist of fate?”

“A hunter?” She asked, certain she was missing a huge part of the conversation. “Daniel, my house was in the most exclusive part of Los Angeles. There isn’t anywhere to hunt.”

“
Ryuu
.”

She remembered that word from their first date. He’d told her it was an ancient dragon curse because his sister didn’t like him using cuss words. Funny. She’d thought it was sweet at the time. Now she was sure it just made him bat-shit crazy.

He dragged a hand through his hair, before jerking around and grabbing a blanket off the supply shelf behind him. He threw it at her. “Put it on. Stop shivering, and while you’re at it, cut the crap, princess. I’m not buying it. You know exactly what I am.”

“A madman?” she asked, barely managing to catch the blanket with her good hand. She was good at many things, but physical sports had never been one of them. She awkwardly managed to wrap the blanket around herself, realizing for the first time how badly she’d been shivering. She leaned back against the gurney as her eyes started to get heavy. “Why did you save my life? If you hate me so much, you could have let me die.”

Something dark flashed in his eyes before he clenched his jaw and turned away. Shelby knew she was delusional when, for a brief second, she thought she saw real pain etched on his rugged face. Then again, she’d also thought she’d seen his pupils lengthen, which was beyond absurd. Maybe she had a concussion. She hadn’t thought to ask.

He shrugged, his focus on a spot above her head. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“Gee,” she snapped, hating herself for the pain settling hard in her chest, “you do know how to sweet talk a woman.”

He stood so abruptly he hit his head against the roof of the ambulance. He snarled and leaned toward the front of the van to bang on the wall that separated them from the driver. “Are we almost fucking there?”

Shelby winced at the impatient growl in his voice. “You don’t like me.” It wasn’t a question. The answer was written all over his face.

* * * *

Daniel braced both hands against the wall and dropped his head for a long moment, his teeth grinding together.
Ryuu
. He told himself he wasn’t going to fall for it again. He was not going to let the fear in her eyes get to him. She was an actress, a damn good one, and he’d been played by her once. Once was enough for a lifetime.

Even knowing what she was and what she was capable of, he had this fucked up need to make her world right. He barely controlled the urge to go after and find whoever had hurt her and rip them to shreds, piece by goddamn piece. He had no idea what it said about him, other than it made him the biggest idiot on the planet.

“Look,” he snapped. Once he was sure his split pupils had retracted back to their normal shape, he sat back down. He had no doubt she knew what he was, despite her wide-eyed innocence, but he wasn’t in the habit of flashing it around. One Hunter in his life was enough. “Just stop talking, alright?”

She shivered so hard her teeth chattered. She wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders, glaring at him through exhausted pale green eyes.

A year ago, that fierce frown would have made him smile. It was why he’d been so attracted to her in the beginning. There had been no end to the demands people put on her, but she’d handled it with grace and dignity. The other actors were spoiled brats with massive paychecks, continually demanding one outrageous thing after another, or showing up late, then refusing to come out of their trailers because of one imagined slight or another. Shelby had shown up on time every day, ready to do what they’d paid her to do. More, she’d known everyone’s names down to the lowest tech on the totem pole. When she talked to them, he’d always had the impression she wasn’t just going through the motions, either. She’d listened, genuinely interested.

He’d seen her temper for the first time when he’d been working security at the studio for a little over a month. Uncharacteristically drawn to the slight, slender, beautiful woman on every level, part of him had been waiting for the ugly side of her to rear its head after seeing the tantrums the other actors pulled.

It had, but not in the way he’d been expecting. Instead of sending her publicist or assistant out to complain about something, she’d gone head-to-head with the director over his treatment of one of his assistants. He’d been berating the mousy woman in front of the entire crew, and Daniel had been about to step in himself to demand the asshole back off when Shelby had come out of nowhere, sticking herself between the director and the sobbing woman. True, courage was non-existent in Hollywood, let alone anywhere in his world, yet it was something about this rarity that had reached inside of him.

He’d moved to stand behind her, prepared to go for the director’s throat if the idiot had made a move to touch Shelby.

When she’d turned to smile at him, Daniel would have cut out his own tongue easier than denying the urge to ask her out. It had confused the hell out of him when she’d said yes without hesitating, until he’d woken up to find a Hunter standing over him in her bedroom.

Disconcerted at the way she kept watching him now, he scrubbed both hands over his face before checking his watch.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” she muttered.

“My place.” He crouched down against the wall, studying her. He told himself it was pure self-preservation. She was as beautiful as he remembered. He’d always loved her face. Her sunny blonde hair was longer than it had been, falling to the middle of her back, her soft curves, along with the wound he wasn’t up to seeing again, hidden behind the unflattering fabric of the blanket she wore. She may be an untrustworthy psycho, but she was a damn beautiful one.

“No.” She shook her head and glanced around, as if trying to find an escape route. “Just take me home. I’ll hire extra security, it’ll be fine. I’m not going home with you.”

“I need to get some weapons, and it’s the safest place I know.”

She snorted. “Like that’s a compelling argument. You need more weapons.” She pulled her knees to her chest, emphasizing their size difference and her vulnerability. “I don’t know what you have to do with this, and I am very sorry the doctor called you. Why your name was listed as my emergency contact, I have no idea, but I promise I’ll take care of it. It won’t happen again.”

He felt a slow, violent ticking start in his jaw. “Quit the act, princess. You know damn fucking well why I’m here, and why they called me. It was why you let me fuck you, right? Why else would you let a dragon touch that perfect body?”

Shelby didn’t react for a long moment before her mouth fell open, and without warning, she started screaming loud enough to shatter his eardrums. “Stop! Let me out!”

As if that was all it took, the ambulance slowed, and came to a sudden stop. Shelby pitched forward, landing against Daniel’s chest before he could protect himself.

When his mark hovered closely to hers, his emotions went into overload as her feelings flooded his system. He staggered under the onslaught. Her eyes flared, sensing the same. It took everything he had not to devour her right then, and let the dragon inside of him permanently stake his claim.

He lowered his head. For one spine-tingling moment, he debated kissing her. God, he had loved kissing her. “Keep the blanket wrapped around you,” he snapped, instead, as he set her as far away as his arms could reach, “and keep your head down. We’re going in underground, so there will be less eyes watching, but it doesn’t mean shit. We’re going to avoid cameras as much as we can. When we get to the elevator, keep your face turned into my chest, no matter what you see or hear. The last thing we need is someone recognizing you.”

“Wait.” Her good hand shot out, grabbing Daniel’s with more strength than he would have given her credit for under the circumstances. “You think I’m still in danger?”

Ryuu.
She needed to stop. He shouldn’t care about her fear, but there was something about her that drew him in like nobody else could. Even now, the possessiveness he felt for her scared the shit out of him, screwed up his thinking. He knew he’d kill for her. Die for her.

He had no idea how much of it had to do with the fact his kind mated for life.

“Why the hell do you think I’m still here?” he asked, deliberately adding enough power to his temper to rattle the vehicle. If he couldn’t keep his wits about him, he needed to make her afraid of him.

Luca Dragan stuck his head in when the ambulance doors swung open. “All clear.” His dark blue gaze went from Daniel to Shelby, a slow, crooked grin tugging at his mouth. “You must be the mate. I’m Luca.” He shrugged, moving out of the way so they could climb out. “Too bad.”

A violent snarl tore out of Daniel before Shelby could say anything. Luca had all the charm Daniel was missing, and he was going to need the other dragon’s help in finding out what the hell was going on. That would be difficult if he killed him for looking at Shelby. “Watch it, Dragan,” he snapped as he climbed out, then reached inside for Shelby. She slapped his hands away before he could help her, carefully climbing out on her own.

Luca just shrugged again. “What? It’s a compliment. You’ve always had excellent taste in women.”

“We’re not dating.” She barely spared Dragan a glance before she turned back to Daniel and poked him in the chest with a finger. “He doesn’t actually like me very much.” Daniel wrapped his hand around her good arm and started to drag her toward the service elevator. “What did he mean by mate?”

“Nothing,” Daniel snapped. “Keep your head down, damn it. There are cameras everywhere.”

Luca hit the button for the elevator. “Do you prefer wife over mate? We mate for life, so the term means forever to us.”

Shelby stopped walking as she swung around to face Luca. “What are you talking about? Who’s mated?”

Luca went still, before his gaze swung to Daniel. “Fucking hell, you didn’t tell her?”

“Thanks, asshole, but no. I hadn’t. I’m not going to, either.”

She ignored Daniel as she kept her focus on Luca. “Tell me, what?”

“You two are mated for life.”