Bound in Ashes Page 4

  “Anyway,” she started to say, but the sound of her car alarm stopped her. She frowned and sat up in bed in a rush. “Ker?”

  “What's wrong?”

  “Should there be anyone here at this time of night?”

  “No. Why?” There was a steely edge to his words. “What's going on?”

  “My car alarm just went off.” She glanced around the room, looking for a weapon. There was a poker sitting next to the fireplace across from the bed. She grabbed it with one hand and kept the phone firmly by her ear.

  “I'm sending the sheriff,” Ker said. “Stay put. I'm coming over.”

  She gulped. “How long is that going to take?”

  “I'm calling a helicopter now. I'll be there in no time. But it might be too long. Don't do anything heroic.”

  She snorted. She was so not the heroic type. “I wasn't planning on throwing myself at a thief over my car keys or wallet.”

  Not that there was much there. Her wallet wasn't bare, but she used her credit cards for everything. If she had twenty dollars, it was a lot.

  Taking the stairs slowly and quietly in her socks, she glanced at the front door. So far there was no other noise.

  “Could there be some kind of animal that hit my car?”

  “Maybe. A bear. A deer. We have foxes, too. Think that's what you heard?”

  She worried her bottom lip and tightened her grip on the poker. “I don't know. There's been no more noise. I guess it's possible.”

  Now that it was nighttime, she wasn't sure she liked the large number of windows facing the darkened woods. Though there was a nice river right outside, she hated not knowing what could be in the dark. She fumbled around and found the hidden buttons to turn off the lights for the entire lower level. Right by the front door.

  Her eyes adjust a lot better than most people. Shae always complained she couldn't see anything in the dark, but for Tiana, she could make everything out like it was daytime. There was movement by her car. She peeked from a window corner and saw two figures trying to pull the doors open. The alarm didn't go off a second time. She wondered what they wanted.

  “Someone's trying to break into my car,” she whispered. “Do you get thieves this way a lot?”

  “No. Stay put, Tiana. I'll be there soon. The sheriff is already on the way.”

  She watched one of the figures go around the cabin, trying to look inside. He pressed his hands to the sides of his face, but scrunched his nose as if having a hard time seeing. “One of them is trying to look inside.”

  A soft growl sounded from Ker. “Where are you? Can he see you?”

  “No. I'm behind a sofa. He's heading down to the other end of the cabin, by the kitchen.”

  “Are all the doors locked?”

  She cleared her throat. “Are you kidding? After what happened at my house today? Hell, yes!”

  “What happened at your house today?”

  She cursed herself and sighed. “We'll discuss it later. Let me see what they're doing now, hang on.”

  With her poker still in hand, she crawled on the floor, military style, and then hid behind the island. Then she continued moving to the back door. She glanced up in the corner of the glass and saw the men again. They appeared to be arguing. One of them was trying to open what looked like a workshop door.

  “I think they're here to steal. Do you have anything valuable in your barn?”

  “That's a game space. It's got the latest technology and games as well as a massive TV and system. It's got top of the line security. They won't get in,” he answered.

  “Okay, that's good to know.”

  One of the men glanced at the kitchen door and marched toward it.

  “Fuck!”

  “I'm in the helicopter. The sheriff is three minutes away. Hang on, baby.”

  She ducked, waiting for the guy to break the door or something. There was a sudden rattle, a loud set of screams and she hopped up to look out the back door glass. They weren't there. Jumping to her feet, she ran back to the front of the house, no longer caring if they saw her. Another muffled scream sounded. Did they get into a fight? A physical one now?

  Something hit the side of the cabin, right beside where she was looking out the window. She jumped and another scream sounded in the distance. What the fuck was going on?

  She rushed to the front of the house, threw the door open, and glanced around waiting to see if either of the men came at her. Nothing.

  Wailing sirens sounded in the distance. She flipped the light switch and all the lights came on for the bottom floor as well as the front porch. The sheriff's SUV stopped at the front of the house.

  A man in his thirties rushed over to her, his gun drawn. “Where are they?”

  She pointed to the side of the house and explained what she saw and heard. The sheriff grabbed his flashlight and turned it on. She followed behind him as he went to where the screams and the thud had come from. He flashed the lights at the roof of the cabin but all they saw was a trail of blood all the way down. She didn't believe for a second that those two men had fought to the point blood got on the damn roof. That was insane.

  The flashlight followed the blood trail down the wall until shining on a giant splatter on the side of the cabin. That had to be where she felt the thud happen. One of those guys really hurt the other.

  The sheriff turned his flashlight toward the trees.

  Another set of wailing sirens came closer and closer. She heard doors open and close and finally four more guys showed up.

  “Go scout the area,” the sheriff told the men. “I saw their car up the road. They have to still be around here. Looks like they got into an argument.”

  “Money, probably,” one of the men said and flashed her a smile. “Hi, I'm Angel.”

  She grinned. He was definitely no angel, but she kept that to herself. “Tiana.”

  “Get your ass out there, Romeo,” the sheriff ordered. “I want to make sure this place is secure.” He then turned to Tiana. “It's best if you wait inside. Ker should be here shortly.”

  She nodded. “Can I get you some coffee or something to drink?”

  His frown softened and a smile spread over his face. “That would be very nice. We've never had this kind of issue up here, so it's difficult to say what's going on right now. Most people in the area love Ker. He's done so much for our community.” He shook his head. “It makes no sense.”

  “If it's drugs, it won't make sense,” she told him and headed inside to make coffee. She sure as hell needed a cup or ten.

  SEVEN

  Ker had no idea how he could keep his dragon in check the entire flight to the sheriff’s office. All he knew was that Tiana was in trouble and she needed him. Taking the chopper had been an internal debate.

  He could have flown faster as his dragon, but he didn't want to frighten her any more than necessary—he needed to tell her what he was. Plus, he didn’t have a heliport at the cabin, so he had to land in town and come out with one of the sheriff’s men.

  As he sat in the passenger’s seat, the deputy sped down the empty roads, taking him closer to Tiana. His Tiana. Fuck! He'd been wanting her from the first conversation. Her voice had stirred life inside him. He'd been on his own, alone, for so long, that he'd forgotten what it was like to want a woman.

  She'd woken that part of him again. A new desire for more had lit. A thirst for a taste of the sweet teacher. One he wouldn't deny.

  They were fewer than ten minutes away when something landed on their car with such force, it made the SUV skid over the road. The deputy fought to maintain control, but they were going too fast. Ker braced as they swerved repeatedly.

  Reaching dry asphalt, the vehicle screeched to a stop. Another hit on the roof dented it in the middle. Ker jumped out, coming face to face with a small black dragon. One of Sayeh’s dragons. What was it doing here?

  Before Ker could shift, the dragon squawked and flew away as fast as it could. Ker looked around for the others. He’d never seen
just a single black one. They came in thunders. He waited, but no others rose from the trees or circled above. He sucked in a deep breath and only got the wilderness around him. No enemy.

  The shifter deputy stepped out and took a deep inhale. “Is that a black dragon I smell?”

  “I’m pretty sure,” Ker said.

  The shifter searched the area with his eyes. “Where are the rest of them?”

  “My thought, too,” Ker replied. After a few more moments, they climbed back in and continued to the cabin. “Did you smell anything else?”

  The deputy replied, “I thought I smelled fresh blood. Not dragon, but human.”

  “Yeah,” Ker said, “I did, too.”

  * * *

  Tiana sat on the porch, watching as more vehicles came and went. It was like being home all over again. She wondered if her bad luck had followed her here. Or...were these the same people who had tried to break into her house? But the detective doing the investigation assured her that someone had lost a lot of blood. Just like tonight. Her stomach flipped and a sour taste filled the back of her throat.

  Tires crunched as a new vehicle showed up. She saw a man get out and march toward her. She knew him. At first, his features had been hidden by the darkness, but the closer he got, the more she could make out who he was. Ker.

  Her chest compressed. Dear god. He was fucking gorgeous. She licked her lips because she had no idea what else to do. He kept coming, until he was right in front of her. He pulled her up to her feet and hugged her hard. Her world stopped at that moment. A light tremble shook her to the core. This man, he felt right. It was unbelievable, but it was perfectly natural to be in his arms.

  He smelled so good. The outdoors. Coffee. Whiskey. And something else. Something she couldn't put a finger on. It was wild and untamed. Not like any man in her past.

  “Ker?”

  He moved back from hugging her tightly and glanced at her face. Then, to melt all resistance from her, he cupped her cheek with one hand and rubbed his thumb over her jaw. “Are you okay?”

  Now that he was here? Yes. She gave a quick nod. “They haven't found anyone.”

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “They might have been thieves at the wrong place and wrong time.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I'll tell you soon, but you have to give me a few minutes. Let them finish their search and we can go inside and talk.”

  She realized he was still holding her to him with his other arm. God. He felt so great. She wanted to ask him how he was able to do that. To make her feel like they'd known each other forever. Seeing him in real life was like an electrical shock to the heart. She'd felt so many things in those moments. Desire, hope, and a desperate sense of urgency to keep him that she'd never felt. It was scary.

  “You're so much taller than I realized,” she whispered, glancing up into his blue eyes. Lord, those eyes. He had some gorgeous peeps and lips. She shouldn't focus on his lips, but she couldn't help it.

  They were right in front of her. They were calling out to her. She was trying to ignore his lips and his scent and all the clearly defined muscles under his T-shirt. But she wasn't doing a good job.

  “You're so much more beautiful than I could have imagined.”

  Those words. She tried to tamp down the surge of happiness they caused, but she couldn't. His words were exactly what she'd needed. They'd never exchanged photos and she was sure, with a quick paid search, he could have her whole life story and photos to match. But the desire she saw in his eyes, the hunger there, she knew this was his first time seeing her face. And he liked it. He liked her.

  She smiled and brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “You're a flatterer, Mr. Drachen.”

  His brows rose and that short beard of his caught her attention when he smiled. The guy was growing a beard. Good god. The tingles happening in her body were so not normal.

  “Mister?” He leaned closer and for a second her heart stopped when she thought he was going to kiss her. “Never mister, love. But feel free to get creative.”

  She cleared her throat and wished there was water nearby. She wanted to douse herself with a fire hose and calm the hormonal craze she was going through. You'd think she was a damn cat in heat. Every word out of his mouth made her slick between the legs. She might be a virgin but she wasn't without knowledge. She had toys. She had seen lots of videos. Hell, she had fantasies. But she'd never thought a man would make her body react like this. So violently needy.

  It was a while before the sheriff and his men left. By then, Ker had taken his bag inside and they were finally able to sit and talk.

  He kept giving her those hungry glances. It heated her blood and made her hot and bothered.

  “Maybe I should go,” she stammered, wishing this weird need would calm the fuck down.

  “Why? I won't disturb your time off,” he promised. A slow grin spread over his lips. Dear lord, the beard. She wanted his face between her legs. How fucking sick was she? In her twenty-six years of life, she'd been worried she was too cold when it came to sex. She hadn't wanted to go that far with any man before. Now she met Ker in person and she was ready to toss her virginity to the wind. It was crazy.

  “I know,” she breathed out. “I just...I had to get away because someone broke into my house. It was scary and I--”

  He came closer on the sofa, grabbing her hand in his. His grip was warm and he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, making her dizzy with need. “I'm sorry. Tonight should not have happened. But from what they can tell, that car isn't from town, so they were clearly looking for a place to rob. Don't get me wrong, there have been robberies up here before, but I think those guys got more than they bargained for.”

  She frowned and met his gaze. “Why do you say that?”

  “Do you know about shifters?”

  She nodded. She knew all about shifters. Her godmother told her about them. They were a known secret. People kept a distance, but shifters made up so much of the population and were so powerful, having built fortunes with their long lives. They were in the highest positions of the government and even royalty. She'd been well educated. “Why?”

  “I'm part of the Drachen dragon family.”

  She gasped. Her world tilted and quickly righted itself so fast, it gave her vertigo. “You're a dragon shifter.”

  He continued to stare at her. “Yes. I and my brothers are. We're part of one dragon clan on this planet. There is another, but let's just say we are the good guys.”

  She inhaled as he came closer. There it was. That scent of something wild again. She couldn't be sure what it was, but it was making her crazy to rip his clothes off and get a taste of him. “I should've known.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “All your photos show such a young man. For everything you've built, it was starting to make me wonder how you are still so young.”

  He lifted her hand to his lips. “I'm not so young, love. I'm hundreds of years old.”

  She opened her eyes wide. “That's insane.”

  He gave a chuckle. “Oh, I know. I've spent all my years alone, but now there's you.”

  She gave a quick shake of the head. “Wait. Wait. I know shifters have mates.”

  He sighed and sat back. “Not always. All of my brothers have met their mates, but it seems it can be almost lifetimes before that happens.”

  “But you don't choose mates. It's a natural thing, Ker. I know that much.”

  “Yes, but I don't want to wait for whatever nature wants to give me,” he told her with a determined tone. “I know who I want.”

  Oh, good god. “Ker, I didn't come all the way over here to make emotional commitments. My life is kind of complicated right now.”

  Bullshit. She so wanted to make a commitment when it came to him, but the growing desire was leaving her breathless and scaring her. She didn't know what to think. She had to take time to breathe. See if they had more than just this crazy lust
between them.

  “I don't plan on making your life any more complicated,” he said, leaning forward and cupping her face. His blue eyes sucked her into their depths, heating her to the core. His lips came closer and closer. Oh god. He was going to kiss her. Should she stop him? Hell no! Then he was brushing them lightly over hers. “I needed this,” he sighed, running his tongue over her bottom lip. “I had to taste you.”

  That admission, made with so much raw desire, did more to her than any man of her past telling her he loved her. She could trust this. Ker. And their insane attraction.

  His lips pressed harder over hers. She scooted closer to him, opening for his invasion. The kiss got deep, fast. He pulled her over his lap. She groaned into their locked lips when she felt his erection under her. Lord have mercy! The man was gifted. She wiggled on him and he tightened his hold of her waist, pushing her down on his stiffness. Their tongues rubbed over each other, dancing in an erotic waltz that pulled her into a hazy sensual state. Her nipples tightened and ached. She wanted more than a kiss. More than his hand slowly grazing up and down her back.

  Trailing her fingers over his pecs, she raked her nails over his hard abs, down to the edge of his T-shirt and immediately under to feel his naked flesh. It was pure bliss. He was hot and hard, smooth and strong. She couldn't figure out why feeling his body under her fingertips was making her so thirsty for him to take her body and make her his, but it was.

  This was not like her.

  She pulled back, panting and looking in his eyes. Liquid heat seeped from between her legs. She knew she was more turned on by that kiss than she'd been by anything in her life. Her body led her. It told her what it wanted and that was him.

  “Come on,” he said, not waiting for her to order him to get naked. He lifted her and put her on her feet before grabbing her by the hand and guiding her up the stairs. “You've had too much happen in one day. I won't be responsible for you making any hasty decisions when it comes to us.”

  “What?”

  He glanced down at her with a wicked glint in his eyes. “It means, that when we get naked, it will be because you want it more than anything else. Not because you're searching for something to help you cope with the stress of the day.”