Diamond Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 4) (8 page)

She’d never ever forget this moment.

* * *

A
s they slowly got dressed
, the rain abated, and Alistair was still astonished by what had happened.

No, not by what had happened, by the way it felt. Sex was supposed to be simple, pleasurable. But when he’d been with Bridget, it had felt like she was inside his soul. Inside all the dark, difficult places of his heart he kept hidden from the world.

He tried not to feel anything. It didn’t do any good. Being inside her, watching her trust him, feeling her accept him—it made him aware of everything inside him. The baseness, the goodness. The complications.

He felt he’d left some part of himself there on the grass beneath them, his defenses maybe, and he would never be the same.

Bridget didn’t look nearly as affected. Sure, her skin was gorgeous and flushed, her expression relaxed and pleased, but she didn’t appear as if she’d had her entire world pulled apart.

He helped her get dressed as much as possible and then dressed himself and then helped her over to the cabin.

He’d tried to be careful, to make sure she wouldn’t be sore, but he was still large and knew after a first time, there might be some discomfort.

Protectiveness washed through him as he helped her inside and shut the door behind them.

“A shower,” she said quietly, stretching. “Want to join me?”

Did he ever.

He shook his head. He didn’t know what would happen if he was with her again so soon. She was overwhelming him. If he even touched her…

No, he needed to refrain, to gain some sanity again. He’d just taken a virgin on the floor of a forest. Sure, they’d been safe, but still. She’d deserved a bed in the finest room in the finest mansion.

Yet, somehow, with her in his arms, that bed of grass had been the finest he’d ever felt.

She gave him an understanding nod and a soft smile and disappeared up the stairs as he slumped on the couch next to Scrangey. Scrangey sniffed the air and meowed and then hopped down, as if to say with the grass and rain all over Alistair, he would rather not have him as company.

Alistair grinned and relaxed slightly as he pulled another set of clothes out of the shopping bags. Black sweats that fit loosely on his hips, a white tee, and a gray hooded sweatshirt that zipped in front.

Now, warm and dry, he picked up Scrangey and set him on his lap. The cat settled in and began to purr, the sound soothing Alistair.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to keep him after all. Him and Bridget.

But the thought startled him, and he moved Scrangey and then stood abruptly, disturbed.

He walked outside, shut the door behind him, and stood on the deck, looking out.

Bridget would be out of her shower soon, and knowing her, there would be no drama. She would take what had happened for what it was. A passionate moment where they both got carried away.

But he was the one who wanted it to be more. Wanted them to stay together.

Which was such an odd thought for a dragon that had always been surrounded by people but totally alone.

“Dominic, where are you?” he said to the empty, unanswering forest.

This woman was making him reconsider everything about his life, and he needed to take a step back.

He wasn’t some gentle guy, ready to be anyone’s mate. He was a selfish, shallow person who somehow managed to be something else when he was with Bridget.

And he didn’t know how he could commit to being that for life.

Perhaps Bridget was right and he should just focus on their common goal.

But after tonight, he knew it was going to be impossible. He’d be wanting her every moment, wrestling with the confusion in his soul over who he was and who he could be.

He didn’t know what he was going to do.

D
ominic woke feeling
ready to vomit, as he sometimes did when a dream was so strong he had to fight to wake from it.

He took deep, steadying breaths and looked out at the clear, bright moonlight streaming through the window.

He still wasn’t used to the nice accommodations in this new world. In his past life, he’d lived and moved in the shadows, too haunted to take the time to stay in nice places. Even when he’d visited Diamond to get help influencing humans, he’d never stayed long enough to enjoy luxury.

After all, what was the point of physical luxury when you were being mentally tortured? It was like lying on a cloud while being punctured with needles.

Still, he didn’t have a choice right now. This was the safest place to be, and until he got Diamond back home safely with the other dragons, he needed to keep himself in the best place possible.

At least here, if he had an intensely bad vision, someone could hear him.

Maybe.

He stretched, still feeling nauseous, and tried to recall everything he’d seen in his dream.

Diamond was with the woman. Her name was Bridget. That part had been fine. But they’d been in danger. It was approaching, like a dark shadow on the horizon.

Which made sense, since the people they escaped from were probably chasing them.

But they were at some little cabin-type place in the middle of nowhere. He had no idea how to locate it.

Something else about the dream had bothered him, though he guessed it was nothing in the large scheme of things.

Ugh, it wasn’t enough to go on. He’d have to go back to sleep to hope for more snippets of Diamond among his persistent nightmares. But first, he was going to eat and see if he could settle his stomach.

As he walked into the darkness downstairs, he saw a light on in the dining room.

It would be just his luck that someone was up, just when he was looking forward to being alone.

But when he walked in and saw it was Luc, the sapphire dragon, he let out a sigh of relief and sat down.

“How’s it going?” Luc asked, pushing his plate toward him. “I just made this sandwich, but you look like you could use it more than me.”

Dom nodded and took the offering. He wasn’t going to say no to food. Truthfully, he felt too weak to make much anyway.

“You know,” Luc said thoughtfully, “we appreciate your help with this, but you don’t have to kill yourself over it.”

Dom gave him a dark glare before biting into his sandwich. Bland. Everything was bland after dreams like that. So vivid, so out of control, so suffocating.

Still, dreams weren’t the worst thing he experienced.

No, those things happened while he was awake.

“I’m just trying to hurry. I understood we were in a rush,” he said.

“Yes, but not at cost to you. You matter, too,” Luc said.

Luc was everything Dom wasn’t. Clean cut with a lightness about him that drew people in. Everything about Luc was exactly as you saw it. No secrets, no deception—as far as he knew.

And he heard Luc’s thoughts a lot.

“I don’t know,” Dom said. “I was only woken for this, and after it, I’m going back to sleep.” He finished his sandwich and brushed off his hands on his jeans. Then he leaned back, trying to remember what he’d been wanting to ask. “Oh right, I was going to ask.” He fingered the ring on his hand. “I noticed all your mates are wearing your rings. What does that signify exactly?”

Luc blinked. “You don’t know?”

“Should I?” Dom asked.

“No, I guess none of us did until it was relevant, but since you expressed no interest in finding a mate, we didn’t think to say anything.”

“So what is it?”

“Well, when we give the ring to a human female, it marks them as our mate. Permanently.” Luc scratched his neck absentmindedly. “It’s actually caused a bit of confusion with us, as none of us knew it worked that way in the past. Anyway, along with giving them some of our powers, it seems to also make it possible to mate between dragons and humans. To pair bond. Even to get pregnant.”

“Is that the final mating?” Dom asked. “Does it have anything to do with the collars?”

“Well, the mate still has to be asked to mate and accept the mating. But, um, after the ring, it isn’t really reversible, so the dragon just better damn well hope he can make it work out.”

Dom fought back a smile that crept onto his lips. It was purely a mean one, but he didn’t know how else to react to the absurd situation.

In his first dream of Diamond, he hadn’t been sure, but now he was.

Diamond had definitely given his ring to the little human he was traveling with. They were mated, and he had no idea.

He blanked his mind when he saw Sapphire looking at him, before he could read his thoughts.

“What is it?” Luc asked. “You thought something weird just then.”

“Just an unexpected twist,” Dom said, standing and bracing himself to get back to bed.

“Tell me,” Luc said.

But Dom didn’t want to. It was Diamond’s issue to work out now. And terribly amusing at that. Or it could be. Maybe it would end up catastrophic. Or not.

No one knew the future. Except for him sometimes, in confusing bits and pieces.

But all he knew was for now, Diamond and his mate’s biggest worry was the danger coming after them, which meant he needed to hurry and locate them, which meant more sleep.

“I’m headed back to bed,” he said, giving Sapphire a wave.

Luc slumped in the chair slightly, cocking his head at Dom like he just couldn’t figure him out and was waiting for him to share all his secrets.

Never.

“Sweet dreams,” Luc muttered.

Dom threw him a look over his shoulder. “Never sweet. Sometimes useful.”

Then he headed off to bed to face his nightmares.

* * *

A
listair felt
a sense of unease as he woke the next morning.

Like something bad was approaching, but he didn’t know how or why.

It had been awkward the night before, getting ready for bed. Diamond hadn’t known if he should offer to sleep in the same room, but when Bridget had gone to hers, he’d decided to just take the other one, since it was just across the hall.

Even if the entire night he’d lain awake, thinking of her body, her smile, her heart.

And wanting to spend every day with her.

Meanwhile, she’d just smiled, told him good night, and headed to bed, being her usual patient, non-demanding self. She wasn’t begging him for promises of the future or feelings, and it was kind of bugging him, even as he woke this morning, that she wasn’t.

She should want those things from him. He was a powerful dragon. He’d be rich soon, able to give her everything.

But none of that seemed to particularly matter to Bridget. What did she want, then?

He let out a huff and crossed to the window to look out the drapes as the uneasy feeling came over him again. He didn’t see anything from his window, so he put on his sweatshirt and took the stairs two at a time to go down to the front door.

Bridget was awake, making something in the kitchen that smelled amazing, and he felt a little guilty for sleeping in.

“Something wrong?” she asked, looking rosy-cheeked as she poked her head around the corner, only to see him put up a finger and peek out the window by the front door.

Still didn’t see anything. Or did he? It was hard to see in the shadows of the forest.

He made a gesture for her to stay back and then walked out the front door and onto the porch. He closed his eyes and let his body just sense things.

Scent things.

And he then he did. Two people, in the woods. With a vehicle. It smelled of chemicals, interrupting the pure scent of the forest.

He slammed the door behind him, making sure Bridget wouldn’t come out. He took a step forward.

“I know you’re out there. Come out!” he yelled, folding his arms.

He wasn’t surprised when, a few moments later, he saw two figures step out of the woods. Two men, holding long, skinny rifles.

“Who are you?” Alistair asked, remaining calm. They were only humans. Even their weapons wouldn’t be able to hurt him.

“We own this cabin,” the older one said. “And we don’t think you’ve paid enough to stay in it.”

Alistair raised an eyebrow sardonically. “I believe the rate was negotiated before we were given keys.”

The younger man hefted his gun, pointing it at Alistair. “Well, we’re going to renegotiate.”

The older man grinned. “We find it’s best to renegotiate after someone decides to stay here.”

“So you draw people in and then rob them?” Alistair asked.

“Eh,” the older man said. “Sometimes. When we know they’re on the run and can’t afford to report us…” He held up a printed piece of paper, and Alistair acted disinterested.

“This says there are people looking for you,” he said. “Says the lady with you is kidnapped. You hiding a lady in there, doing things to her?”

Rage burned through Alistair. How dare they bring Bridget into this? He walked forward and yanked the paper out of their hands. He cursed as he saw the picture of Bridget. It looked like it was taken from her employee badge, and it said she’d been reported missing and for motel owners around the area to watch out for her.

“So we’ll let you keep the girl, but you’re gonna give us any money you have first,” the younger one said.

“You can have our money,” Alistair said, sounding intentionally bored. “But what assurance do I have that you won’t bother us after?”

“I guess you’ll just have to trust us,” the younger one drawled.

“What’s going on?” Bridget asked as the door opened behind him. She gasped as she saw the guns, and Alistair cursed under his breath.

“Get back inside,” he bit out, but the men had already noticed.

“Not so fast, sweetheart. Come out on the porch. We’re here to help you,” the older one said.

“She’s pretty,” the younger commented. “Maybe we should take her back with us.” He leered. “You know, so she’d be safe.”

The older one cackled, and Alistair cursed his collar as he stepped in front of Bridget, blocking her from view.

If he had his powers right now, he’d use telekinesis to jam their guns down their throats for their audacity in talking about his mate.

His
mate
? He nearly choked on the words, but decided it was just stress making him think like that. Right now, he needed to stay focused on Bridget.

He was just feeling protective. That brought the “mate” thing up. That was all.

“Come on now, girly,” the older one said. “We ain’t gonna hurt ya. Let’s just head on out now. We’ll even let your man keep his money.”

He felt her hand twist into his shirt. Just when he’d thought these men couldn’t make him any angrier, they’d gone and made Bridget nervous.

“Get out of here, jackasses,” he grated out. “Before you’re just another reason the police are looking for me.”

The older one grinned at the younger one before pointing his gun at Alistair again as they both took a step forward. “We got weapons and you don’t. I think we’ll give the orders, if that’s okay with you.”

But they clearly didn’t care what was okay, and they were moving closer.

He could step forward and grab one of them, throw him into the forest, but would the other have time to grab or shoot Bridget?

Fear shot through him at the knowledge that even though he would recover if they shot him, as a human, Bridget wouldn’t.

The men separated and started to circle around them on both sides so Alistair couldn’t block her from both angles. His heart pounded as he considered his options, and he focused on his powers, trying to draw them from wherever they were trapped.

He heard the click of a hammer and looked over to see one of the guns pointed straight at Bridget. She let out a gasp, and he felt the hold of the collar break with an incredible rush of power.

He didn’t know if it was the sheer amount of anger and hate he’d felt in the moment, seeing someone threaten his mate, or if the collar just had odd rules he didn’t know about, but he was free to kick both their asses now, and he was going to do just that.

He closed his eyes, calming his rage so he could focus, and then snapped them open just as a rush of energy knocked both men off their feet, sending them and their weapons flying. He jerked open the door and shoved Bridget inside where she’d be safe and then calmly strode down the front steps to the middle of the clearing.

He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see. Who was it that pointed their gun at my woman first?”